Driving in the Dark

Advent 2011
A few months ago I had blown out a headlight on my car and my family kept pointing it out to me. I thought I saw okay at night… I’ll get to it when I have time… and then… the road, more recently, was getting really dark and I thought I’m getting old, my vision is going. Then one evening, while parked in front of the Shea Center, at night, I turned on my car and now noticed that BOTH of my headlights were out! I wondered how long I’d been driving in the dark with no headlights. The very next day I got new headlights and God said let there be light for Holly! Our faith journey is much like driving a car… the new car has very bright headlights and we see very clearly the road ahead… then we drive through mud and our lights dim… we clean them off… but then one light goes and then another and soon our faith, and our car, are now in darkness. We need to constantly pay attention to the light of our faith. We need to pay attention- clean it up and replenish it from time-to-time.

The holy season of Advent is a period of darkness and reflection. In many ways we are steering our faith in the dark as we await the coming of our risen Lord. How often do you feel like you are living in the dark? Do you feel as if your faith is hidden from you at times? How you may long for new headlights to see the road ahead! Christ will bring us new light when He comes again.

Today, before you light your first Advent candle, reflect upon areas of your life where you feel in darkness… pray for light and guidance. Light your candle and feel the soft glow upon your face. Notice that you may not see too much in the darkened room. But next week notice how the lighting of the second Advent candle brings more warmth and light and you can see slightly better. Let us look forward to the time when all of our candles are lit and we see our faith clearly in the light of Christ.
God bless, Holly Clark

Counting Blessings

A while ago I read a book called 14,000 Things to be Happy About by Barbara Ann Kipfer. This was a book that just simply listed 14,000 reasons to be happy, such as: new babies, a well-crafted chair, having a sense of your own space, a real person answering the phone, autumn leaves, family, friends, etc. I took out a highlighter and highlighted all the items that I was happy and thankful for. I found myself highlighting more items than not. While I did not highlight radish spread, the buzz of a bumble bee or full body stockings [don’t you dare picture me in one!]… I discovered so much that I was happy about and thankful for. It is the little everyday things that we take for granted…

I pick up this book every now and again and discover new blessings to be thankful for and I now read it in the light of faith. St. Augustine challenges us to question our realities and examine what we are thankful for. St. Augustine asks “Who made them if not the Beautiful One?” As I look over what I have to happy about I give full credit to our Father in Heaven. It is God who created us, gave us our creativity to paint, invent, observe the universe and is ultimately responsible for everything we touch, hear, taste, see and create. This Thanksgiving Day, perhaps after dinner, see if you and your family could come up with at least a hundred little (and big!) things and persons to be happy about and then give thanks to God`. Today I will be remembering all of the little things in life that I am grateful for and thanking God for allowing me 14,000 plus things to be happy about.

God Bless, Holly Clark

Our Beloved Dead

The month of November has traditionally been reserved for remembering all of our beloved dead. Here at Sacred Heart and St. Rose we offer Masses of Remembrance where we remember those who have had funerals here and elsewhere in the past year and offer special prayers for them and their families and friends. In my position I often take the initial phone call from a funeral home, or sometimes a family, and as I take down the information I ask myself what this person was like, who were they and how are their families coping. And I say a little prayer, when I get off the phone, for the deceased and their families. As loved ones come into my office to arrange the funeral liturgy with the priest I am able to give words of comfort and am reminded of the words of Jesus: “Blessed are they who mourn; they shall be consoled.” By virtue of our Baptism we are all called to console all those who are grieving.*

The Ministry of Consolation begins with the parish community. We offer our love and strength to those who have lost their love and strength. We offer our prayers to those who have lost their voice or perhaps cannot see or hear our Lord. And we share own experiences of grief and faith so that no one has to journey alone. Jesus is with us on the journey, but you and I are His ears and voice, His bridge to the bereaved.

This month I will be remembering your deceased loved ones in prayer and I will pray that the Lord brings you comfort in your grief journey. My own Father is with Jesus now and when I hear of a death I like to think of Dad up there greeting them along side of St. Peter.

—God Bless all who mourn, Holly Clark
*Source: Console One Another, Rev. Terence P. Curley

The Communion of Saints

When I was a child I learned our faith as a child would, in very simplistic terms. I learned Jesus loves me; I memorized prayers, the 7 Sacraments and the Beatitudes. In 8th grade I was confirmed and like all Catholic teenagers, I felt “graduated” in the Faith. How wrong I was! I didn’t realize then that Confirmation was really the beginning of an adult faith. The Holy Spirit has now come into my life and guides me towards an adult understanding of faith.

Over the past year and a half I have been exploring the concept of the Communion of Saints. As a child, I was taught all about the lives of the Saints, now in heaven, and how they help guide us in our daily lives. But my definition of a saint was someone who was really good and holy and perhaps martyred for the faith. It never occurred to me that you and I, when we pass on and go to heaven, that we too enter into the Communion of Saints.

A little over a year and half ago my beloved father passed away. There came an emptiness that can never be filled. I turned to my faith to bring me answers about suffering and death. As I prayed with Jesus and I delved into Church teachings and talked with persons more knowledgeable than I, I discovered that my Dad was up there in the Communion of Saints. I learned that he too, along with St. Peter, St. Paul, etc…, was still looking out for his little girl and now he has help from St. Peter and all of angels to keep me safe.

Every so often I feel my father’s presence on one side of me and Jesus on the other side of me and behind us my deceased grandparents, and the army of Saints ready to help where needed. Ask yourself today “Who do I know in the Communion of Saints?” and then feel their loving presence. While our loved ones may pass from this life, they are always present in our lives.

—God Bless all our Saints in Heaven and Earth, Holly Clark

Who are Our Neighbors?

You shall love your neighbor as yourself. –Mt 22:39

Very often when I put together the weekly bulletin I save writing this column last so I can feel the spirit move me! I will often read the Sunday scriptures ahead of time and the Holy Spirit will inspire my little brain with an idea. Today we ask ourselves “Who are our neighbors?” Pause a moment and think about your answer. The obvious answer is those whom we know, those in our Church and town… but Jesus would suggest also those whom we do not know and perhaps even our enemies. Who are your neighbors?
As I put together this week’s bulletin, and I read everyone’s articles, I was moved by so many of you helping your neighbors, both friends and strangers to us, through your participation at Sacred Heart and St. Rose. Please journey with me through the bulletin and explore how we help and love our neighbors…

We help our neighbors in need with our Parish Tithes; we pray for our neighbors who are ill; we remember our parishioner-neighbors when contributing to the Grand Annual collection; we are helping our elderly and ill neighbors through a Generations of Faith project; we are giving comfort to our bereaved neighbors by remembering their deceased love ones in song and in our Mass Intentions; we help our poor and needy neighbors with the SVDP Food Pantry; we help handicapped young neighbors by selling Tootsie Rolls; and lastly we enthusiastically come together in faith and fellowship thus spreading the joy of Christ and the Love of Christ to one another and to the world!

—God Bless all our neighbors, Holly Clark

Letters for Today…

We give thanks to God always for all of you, remembering you in our prayers, unceasingly calling to mind your work of faith and labor of love and endurance in hope of ourLord Jesus Christ – 1 Thes 1:2-3

In the early days of our faith disciples of Jesus established Christian communities and Churches throughout the known world. These early communities were often besieged, ridiculed, and made to suffer at the hands of the authorities and unbelievers. Paul journeyed to these Churches to the local communities to establish a working, functioning Christian faith. He would also write letters to these cities of Thessalonia, Rome, Corinth, etc. to answer theological questions and to bolster their spirits.
As you listen to Paul’s letters proclaimed from the pulpit do think of the early Churches and how much of a struggle it was to actually be a Christian and proclaim the faith? As I hear and read Paul’s letters I close my eyes and I realize that not only is he addressing the Thessalonians, Romans, Corinthians, he is also addressing us today in our time, Middleboroians, Rochesterians, Americans, Chinese, and all the world’s Christians of today.
Paul is thanking us in the here and now, for our faith, labor of love and enduring hope in our risen Lord. He is giving us encouragement in a time when people are “offended” by the phrase “Merry Christmas” and society seems to be more materialistic and atheistic. He is telling us to take heart! Do not be discouraged! Our Lord is with you! Pauls’ letters are indeed for all time!
As we listen to Paul’s letters, imagine Paul addressing you right now. Pay attention to his message to you… let yourself be buoyed up in faith, hope and love. Paul is praying for you as is our risen Lord…
—God Bless, Holly Clark

Gimme Quiet… Please!

When do you find time to pray? In our busy, busy lives, running here, running there, it is very difficult to find time to pray. We have to be creative and steal precious minutes where ever we can during the day to just be with Jesus or ask God for an intention or ask the Holy Spirit for guidance. I try to fit in prayer in some very unusual places. For example, instead of reading two year old magazines in a doctor’s waiting room, I close my eyes and pray for those around me and if alone I talk to Jesus about my day; at the gas pump I close my eyes, listen to the gentle gurgling of the gasoline while I ask for God’s help to get me through the day; and while I wait for my morning coffee at Dunkie’s I listen to the chatter around me and thank God for the gift of life- (and good coffee!).
But something is amiss--- The other day I sat in my doctor’s office and a humungous flat-screen TV had been installed, blaring some inane talk show. Gone my quiet time to pray. I went to get gas and a recorded voice was yelling at me telling me to buy a Coke with my gasoline. Gone my quiet time. I went to Dunkie’s to get coffee and there is a small closed circuit TV running ad after ad for things we do not need. Gone my quiet time. I ask myself if we really need to be “entertained” all of the time or be bombarded with noise everywhere we go?
Jesus was surrounded by quiet. Gunpowder had not even been invented yet. Jesus taught us how to pray and often went to quiet places to be with His father. Let us start a small rebellion and ask for peace and quiet. Ask the doctor’s office to turn off the TV… ask the gas stations to turn off the ad bombardment…, etc--. in short, ask politely to “gimme back my peace and quiet, please!”
—God Bless, Holly Clark

Autumn- Part II

THIS is the forest primeval.
The murmuring pines and the hemlocks…
Evangeline by Longfellow

A friend of mine from Brighton came down to visit us not too long ago. She had never come to this area and had gotten a bit lost trying to get here. When she finally did get here she remarked to me several times how pretty our town was with all the trees and country roads. I just said… come back in a few weeks and your eyes will pop with the foliage!
We can look at fall foliage and think back to our high school biology class and know the leaves turn color as the tree shuts down its circulatory system in preparation for winter. The leaves turn color as they die and fall to the ground. Looking at foliage with a scientific eye is called “reason”. We can look at nature and through science we can explain away most everything. We can reduce our world to scientific equations and pat ourselves on the back for figuring it all out. But where does faith come in?
Pope John Paul II, in his encyclical, Fides et Ratio (Faith and Reason), states that faith and reason (or science) do not have to be opposites of one another and totally separate. God created the world and the cosmos to be understood and by understanding God’s creations we can come to know and appreciate God: through “all that is created the ‘eyes of the mind’ can come to know God (Fides et Ratio, no. 22).
In my previous profession I had the opportunity to look at life under a microscope. My schooling had taught me about cell structure, chromosomes, etc., but as I gazed into the nucleus of a human cell I would always find myself appreciating God’s creation and the complexities of life. So too when I gaze into a fall leaf tinted red or gold. I see, in the leaf, the face of God…
Another poem I had to memorize in school was the intro to Evangeline by Longfellow. I find just reciting the first line (quoted at the top) when I am walking in the woods (for real or in my mind) puts me in a contemplative mood. This month as you observe the changing seasons contemplate the challenge put forth by St. Augustine:

Question the beauty of the earth, question the beauty of the sea, question the beauty of the air distending and diffusing itself, question the beauty of the sky. . . question all these realities. All respond: "See, we are beautiful." …Who made them if not the Beautiful One who is not subject to change? (CCC no.32)
God Bless, Holly Clark

Autumn- Part I

When I was a child, in school, we were “forced” to memorize poems. At the time I never understood why… but this particular poem, Trees by Joyce Kilmer, has always stuck with me. As a child I could not understand the simplicity and beauty of what Kilmer was trying to say. Every autumn I think of this poem as I reflect upon the fact that “only God can make a tree.” Here in New England we are so blessed to have the seasons that fully express themselves in nature, especially in trees.

This week, as we “mourn” the ending of summer and begin to appreciate the show God is about to give in the splendor of fall foliage let us reflect upon the fact that only God can make a tree, a flower, the sun set, the moon rise, etc. Let us reflect upon Kilmer’s poem and thank God for his gift of nature. (and I will also thank God for the English teacher who made me memorize this poem!) God Bless, Holy Clark

TREES
Joyce Kilmer

I THINK that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the sweet earth's flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.