After being pastor at Sacred Heart Parish for over 12 years, with a congregation that now numbers around 1200 people, I have to admit that there are many who I know by face, but not always by name, and others who have to tell me they are parishioners when I see them outside of the parish facilities. Then there are those that I have gotten to know quickly by face and name because they are so active in more than just participation in the pews on the weekends and weekdays. Two of these are the couple that was chosen as the VIPs for October, Gerald and Ann Krawczynski. In the ministry of liturgy, Gerald has served as a longtime lector (since 2000), both Gerald and Ann have served as Extraordinary Ministers of Communion at Mass, and Ann for a time in the choir. They have been, and still are, regularly scheduled Eucharistic Adorers and feel blessed to participate in this ministry. Ann is a memeber of LOSH and has been active in the St Anthony and St Monica Guilds. In her role as a realtor, she was instrumental in selling off the "off campus" rectory and its property. She was on the organizational team for the first parish treasure sale. She served as the coordinator of the "Hand and Foot" club in the parish and recently participated in the lower hall kitchen renovation project (which is happening right now). She and Gerald were involved in the "Sociable Six" activity which seeks three couples who are each willing to host each other for dinner to get to know new people and enjoy one another's good cooking. (We will be restarting that activity in the near future). Not surprisingly, they are an active couple on our welcoming committee that visits with new parishioners to introduce them to the many activities and ministries that the parish offers. Gerald has been a Knight of Columbus for 55 years and after being a very successful insurance agent fo the Knights which involved (besides offering great insurance products) helping our council recruit new members. Gerald's activities and responsibilities in our local Council 10208 have been so many and varied that he was named State Knight of the Year in 2014 and he and Ann "Family of the Year" for the 2009-2010 fraternal year. Gerald and Ann have been actively involved in the Arkansas Pregnancy Resource Center of Little Rock in fundraising efforts and Gerald was a driver for their mobile unit that goes into neighborhoods to make protable ultrasounds available in the behicle for moms to see the baby growing within them. They have both been longtime members of our parish bowling league and enjoyed both the bowling (sometimes) and always the socializing part of the league. They are one of many couples in our parish for which Sacred Heart parish is their second home and their fellow parishioners like extended family. They are here frequently for liturgical and private prayer opportunities, educational offerings and many social gatherings as participants and leaders. I am blessed to have known them for all the time have been at Sacred Heart Parish and came to know them by name early (though I still struggle with spelling their last names.) God bless Krawczynski's, our VIPs this month.
A number of weeks ago, I asked our weekday Mass participants to e-mail to me reflections on why they make weekday Mass a part of their faith lives. I have not shared any of those reflections with you yet as I have't figured out how to share them with you. Believe me, I received more than a few responses, (for which I am grateful) and I look forward to sharing some of what was given to me with you. Today I want to share with you something I found out about our recently deceased former deacon, Bernie Bauer, that I included in the remarks I sent for the priest at St Peter/St Lambert to use at Deacon Bernie's funeral. If you want to read all of what turned out to be the homily at his funeral Mass, please look for the link on our church website www.hsvsacredheart.com.
In the wonderfully descriptive obituary that the family composed about him, they shared that in his growing up years in Indiana, he LOVED getting up in the wee hours of the morning for his 6:30 a.m. daily Mass assignment as an altar boy. Recalling these cherished memories, Deacon Bernie said, "I was so full of joy at leaving church, that I would run and leap like a stag and scream. I was so happy!" One of these days, young Bernie paused, knelt at the statue of St Joseph and asked the Lord to teach him how to love. Those of us who knew the much older Bernie can attest that his prayer that day was answered, and I believe St Joseph interceded for him then and in the future which made him a loving husband to Marilyn, his wife of 72 years and a loving father to his six children. His love for Mass on the weekends AND most weekdays continued into his later years, including the many years he spent as a deacon at Sacred Heart Parish, as he often assisted at those Masses, preached at least once a week (with a well prepared homily) and ministered the Holy Eucharist to his fellow parishioners. I truly believe his participation in all those Masses fueled his pleasant, happy personality, and inspired his many works of love and mercy for others as a deacon, and in care for his dear wife, Marilyn in their last years in the Village and when they moved in with their daughter, Mary in Des Plaines, Illinois. Since his driving days were over when he moved there, it is not surprising that he went to daily Mass in Des Plaines through Mary, his chauffeur and loving daughter. Though his experiences of weekday (and weekend) Masses were plentiful and fruitful during his long life, starting in those early years, I am confident that he would encourage everyone, including those who have had little or no experiences of weekday Mass to give it a try, at least once a week on the same day each week (for consistency)and see your quality of life (and maybe even quantity of life, like Deacon Bernie's almost 100 happy and blessed year) increase in many blessed ways for you and for others you encounter and minister to in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ!
In the wonderfully descriptive obituary that the family composed about him, they shared that in his growing up years in Indiana, he LOVED getting up in the wee hours of the morning for his 6:30 a.m. daily Mass assignment as an altar boy. Recalling these cherished memories, Deacon Bernie said, "I was so full of joy at leaving church, that I would run and leap like a stag and scream. I was so happy!" One of these days, young Bernie paused, knelt at the statue of St Joseph and asked the Lord to teach him how to love. Those of us who knew the much older Bernie can attest that his prayer that day was answered, and I believe St Joseph interceded for him then and in the future which made him a loving husband to Marilyn, his wife of 72 years and a loving father to his six children. His love for Mass on the weekends AND most weekdays continued into his later years, including the many years he spent as a deacon at Sacred Heart Parish, as he often assisted at those Masses, preached at least once a week (with a well prepared homily) and ministered the Holy Eucharist to his fellow parishioners. I truly believe his participation in all those Masses fueled his pleasant, happy personality, and inspired his many works of love and mercy for others as a deacon, and in care for his dear wife, Marilyn in their last years in the Village and when they moved in with their daughter, Mary in Des Plaines, Illinois. Since his driving days were over when he moved there, it is not surprising that he went to daily Mass in Des Plaines through Mary, his chauffeur and loving daughter. Though his experiences of weekday (and weekend) Masses were plentiful and fruitful during his long life, starting in those early years, I am confident that he would encourage everyone, including those who have had little or no experiences of weekday Mass to give it a try, at least once a week on the same day each week (for consistency)and see your quality of life (and maybe even quantity of life, like Deacon Bernie's almost 100 happy and blessed year) increase in many blessed ways for you and for others you encounter and minister to in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ!
Last weekend I shared in my homily that I had a hard time deciding what direction to go in preaching on the scripture of the day because there was so mucn for all of us to reflect upon and take with us to use in our life in the Lord. I am supposing that the most difficult thing to hear was Jesus' parable of the "unprofitable servant" who came in from the field after a hard and long day's work for his master in serving (and I assume preparing) his master's dinner. It says after doing all of that for the master he should not expect any gratitude from him for all the hard work he had done. Jesus concludes the parable by speaking to his apostles (and, now, to us) saying that when we have done all we have been commanded to do by our Master (God), we should say "We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do." (Lk 17:10). Unlike the master of slaves of the past (or, sadly, of the present) our divine "Master" only commands us to do things that do not benefit God, but that truly benefit others and the people we are called to serve. When we choose to love as God loves and all people whom God loves, when we show mercy to others as God shows mercy, even when it is not deserved, then we live as God lives, in eternal peace and harmony. Jesus is not saying that expressions of appreciation that originate from us or given to us by others, and firstly by God, are bad in themselves. I must admit that, at times, I appreciate when someone shows gratitude toward me for something I say or do for them, AND I try to always encourage them to give thanks to God for all the blessing that come to them and I do so as well. When I reflected on the last verse of last Sunday's Gospel (see above), about doing what we are obliged to do, I think of the "obligation" Catholics have to ATTEND and participate actively in mind, heart and voice in the celebration of the Eucharist on Saturday evening or Sunday, and all Holy Days. I wonder if we ever reflect on our motive for faithfully doing what we have been commanded (by the third Commandment and one of the precepts of the Church) to do. Is it to avoid "Mortal Sin" which can threaten our eternal salvattion.Is it something I've always done, and just keep doing? I hope and pray that at some point in the past it became something we do because it is the best way for us to give proper and fitting worship and praise to God WITH my fellow companions on the journey to heaven. It is a foretaste of heaven when everyone gives full and complete worship and praise to the Lord. Just as a packed stadium or arena of cheering fans is good for the players AND pleasurrable for the fans, so our participation fully in Mass on the weekends (and weekdays for some) is pleasing to God and a blessing for all of us, as well as for those we pray for publicly and privately during Mass. Sometimes sportscasters will say something like "Though some would call what I do work", it is truly not work or burdensome for me, so I, and hopefully, you can say what a blessing it is to do the work of praising and thanking God (liturgy) in something we are "obliged" to do!