More than two hundred years have passed since the first public Anglican liturgy was held in Rome for a group of English residents in this part of the city. A great deal has changed in Rome and in the world since then. In the course of these two centuries, much has also changed between Anglicans and Catholics, who in the past viewed each other with suspicion and hostility. Today, with gratitude to God, we recognize one another as we truly are: brothers and sisters in Christ, through our common baptism. As friends and pilgrims we wish to walk the path together, to follow our Lord Jesus Christ together...
As Catholics and Anglicans, we are humbly grateful that, after centuries of mutual mistrust, we are now able to recognize that the fruitful grace of Christ is at work also in others. We thank the Lord that among Christians the desire has grown for greater closeness, which is manifested in our praying together and in our common witness to the Gospel, above all in our various forms of service. At times, progress on our journey towards full communion may seem slow and uncertain, but today we can be encouraged by our gathering. For the first time, a Bishop of Rome is visiting your community. It is a grace and also a responsibility: the responsibility of strengthening our ties, to the praise of Christ, in service of the Gospel and of this city.
Let us encourage one another to become ever more faithful disciples of Jesus, always more liberated from our respective prejudices from the past and ever more desirous to pray for and with others. A good sign of this desire is the “twinning” taking place today between your parish of All Saints and All Saints Catholic parish. May the saints of every Christian confession, fully united in the Jerusalem above, open for us here below the way to all the possible paths of a fraternal and shared Christian journey. Where we are united in the name of Jesus, he is there (cf. Mt 18:20), and turning his merciful gaze towards us, he calls us to devote ourselves fully in the cause of unity and love. May the face of God shine upon you, your families and this entire community!
According to the Live Science website: “If you're ever stuck out in the wilderness, remember what survival experts call 'the Rule of Threes'. You can live 3 minutes without air... In a harsh environment — it's snowing, say — you have 3 hours to survive without shelter. After 3 days, you need water or you'll perish. You can make it 3 weeks without food, though we promise you that won't be fun…” (http://www.livescience.com/32320-how-long-can-a-person-survive-without-water.html)
Salva Dut is a son of a Dinka cattle herdsman, has a smile that will light up any room. History calls him, and thousands of other children who fled Sudan, Lost Boys. At age 11, Dut, with other children, fled from his school into the bush through gunfire and jet-bomb blasts. As he ran, each day he was in danger of being conscripted by rebel armies or killed by militiamen from the north…Finally, those who remained settled at an Ethiopian refugee camp.
Forced by Ethiopian soldiers to flee the refugee settlement in 1991, thousands fled across the crocodile-infested Gilo River to Kenya. After another five years in refugee camps, Dut came to the United States under sponsorship of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Rochester, New York, whose parishioners are involved in refugee resettlement.
At Christmas time a decade ago the parish helped him travel to Africa to visit his sick father, who he had not seen in 19 years. At the United Nations hospital there, doctors said that if his father was to live, he must have clean water to drink. Unfortunately, there was none in the village where he lived.
When Dut returned to Rochester, he himself was sick and 10 pounds lighter. He first thought it was from eating peanuts, but believes now it could have been the water. The trip opened his eyes to the plight of his people. "I wish I could do something to help my father and my friends," he said at the time.
As a result, Water for South Sudan was born. To this day they have drilled over 282 wells in South Sudan, providing fresh, clean water to many villages. Dut along with two former "Lost Boys" have gone back to South Sudan to help their young country develop. (http://www.episcopalchurch.org/library/article/sudanese-refugee-helps-provide-wells-his-homeland)
“The light came into the world, and the people preferred the darkness to the light because their ways were wicked. For the person whose life is false shuns the light and won’t go near it, for fear that their ways will be rebuked. But the person whose life is true comes out into the light, so that it might be clear that their ways are rooted in God.” (Cotton Patch Gospel – John)
Once there was a good and faithful rabbi who led a devout congregation in a poor Russian village. On the night of Yom Kippur, as the congregation gathered to ask God's forgiveness, the rabbi begged for some sign from God that their prayer was heard and his mercy was theirs. And, suddenly the rabbi heard the voice of the Holy One:
"Have Tam offer your prayers to me, and I will graciously accept all of you back into my heart, forgiving all things and showering my mercy upon you."
“Tam? Why Tam?,” thought the rabbi. Nobody really knew Tam - he was hardly ever in the synagogue. And no one was more stunned than Tam, who was in the congregation that night. Tam was poor, unlearned and worked hard so he often missed services. He was a good-hearted soul, but was all but invisible in the community.
The terrified Tam was brought up to the front of the synagogue. The rabbi said to Tam, "I have been praying for mercy and forgiveness for all of us on this night and I have been clearly told by God, blessed be his Name, that we all will be forgiven and taken back into the heart of God if you pray for us, if you give your prayer to God on our behalf."
Tam was speechless. How could he pray? He couldn't even read the prayers in the service book. But the rabbi was insistent: God would only take the community back into his heart and give them a year of blessing, grace, and mercy if Tam prayed for them.
Finally, Tam agreed. But he looked at the rabbi and said: "I have to go get my prayers."
Tam ran from the synagogue to his little cottage not far away. He returned a few minutes later and stood in the front of the synagogue, holding a large earthen pitcher. Tam lifted the pitcher high and prayed:
"O Holy One, you know I am not good at praying, but I bring you all I have. This pitcher holds my tears. Late at night, even when I am tired, I sit and try to pray to you. And then I think of my poor wife and children and the fact that they have no clean clothes to wear to service and are ashamed to come to the synagogue, and I cry. And then I think of all the hungry ones, the beggars on the steps of the synagogue and in the streets, in the cold and rain, miserable and so alone, and I cry some more.
And then, God, I think of what we do to each other. I think of all the gossip and hate, all the quarrels and wars, and I think of you crying, God, of you looking down on us hurting one another so, and I know that you weep for us always.
"God, I cry for you and how we must break your heart and sadden you so. Please, take my tears, accept my prayers, and take all of us back into your heart once again. Give us a blessing and forgive us in your great mercy and kindness."
Tam then took the pitcher and poured his tears over the floor of the synagogue. There was a long silence, and then the rabbi spoke haltingly, "God has heard Tam, and we are forgiven. We are once again the people of God. Let us live this year with grateful hearts.'
The people sang, and then left the synagogue quietly. They never forgot Tam's prayer or his pitcher of tears. Throughout the year they were devoted to making sure there would be less to cry over in the years to come. They looked at Tam and his family differently, more kindly, and their neighbors too. Some even reconciled with their enemies. And they all went home thinking of the tears of God. [From Lent: Reflections and Stories on the Daily Readings by Megan McKenna.]
I guess I’m giving up silence for Lent this year.
That’s an odd thing to say when you make a living yapping about sports on ESPN. And odder when the show I host, “Around the Horn,” makes a game out of LOUD NOISES. (That is to say, loud, perspicacious noises from the most insightful sportswriters in America!) I press a mute button to shut them down if (when!) our sports debate careens out of bounds (Fake News!). Silence is how I penalize. Silence works. But is silence good?
I’ve been on national television for 16 years and for all 16 I wore an ash on Ash Wednesday. I am grateful to ESPN and fortunate to work in an environment that allows me to be myself. But it’s shocking to me that I’m one of the few faces you see on TV wearing an ash. I did an interview where the reporter told me if you put “The Guy Who Wears Ashes on TV” into Google, I’m the first name that comes up. That’s surprising. (Also true: I’m the first name that comes up for “The Guy Who Proposed In Between The Men’s and Women’s Bathroom at LaGuardia Airport.” Not as surprising.)
Among ESPN viewers, it’s well known I’ll be wearing the ash and there’s an expectation. I’m not sure how I feel about that. Sports websites have kept a running tally of my ash through the years. ‘How Heavy Thumbed Will Fr. Mario Be This Season?!’ I see the humor in that; I was tattooed in ‘06, crop dusted in ‘09, this year: “clean, minimal, very on trend for 2017,” according to one tweeter. While I get questions like: “dad n em wana kno wats on ur coconut man,” the overwhelming energy has always been support and praise.
I struggle with the publicness of the ash. I was rolling in the pew laughing (RIPL!) when this year’s Gospel started with “Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them.” Isn’t that what I’m doing when I get the ash in the afternoon and go on TV a few hours later? Could I not go to Mass after work? I’m still not sure I have answers to those questions. I want viewers to see an authentic version of me, and on this one day that includes the ash...
The Lord God commanded the man, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.”
“The worst part about sin is not that we give into temptations, but we gradually adjust to the temptations and begin to see them as normal.” (Prof. Max Stackhouse)
“One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God…Do not put the Lord your God to the test...Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”
There is an old rabbinic story about a faithful Jew who every morning would write down on a piece of paper the words I am but dust and ashes and place the paper in his pocket. Throughout the day he would take out the paper and read it; the words, spoken by Abraham in the Book of Genesis (Genesis 18:27), served as a prayerful reminder of his unworthiness and humility before God.
One day he showed the paper to his rabbi. The rabbi was moved by his congregant's reverence. But the rabbi took out a second piece of paper and wrote the Hebrew words Bishvili Novra haslam - For my sake, the universe was created.
"Take these words, as well, and carry them too," the rabbi said. "Let there be balance in your life. Realize that of yourself, before God, you are nothing - but because you are created in God's image, out of love, you possess the greatest dignity imaginable: you are a child of God." [As told by Burton Visotzky in Genesis: A Living Conversation by Bill Moyers.]
God, give me grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.
Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.
I believe in Almighty God,
who guided the people in exile and in exodus,
the God of Joseph in Egypt and Daniel in Babylon,
the God of foreigners and immigrants.
I believe in Jesus Christ, a displaced Galilean,
who was born away from his people and his home, who fled
his country with his parents when his life was in danger.
When he returned to his own country he suffered under the oppression of Pontius Pilate, the servant of a foreign power. Jesus was persecuted, beaten, tortured, and unjustly condemned to death.
But on the third day Jesus rose from the dead,
not as a scorned foreigner but to offer us citizenship in God’s kingdom.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the eternal immigrant from God’s kingdom among us,
who speaks all languages, lives in all countries,
and reunites all races.
I believe that the Church is the secure home
for foreigners and for all believers.
I believe that the communion of saints begins
when we embrace all God’s people in all their diversity.
I believe in forgiveness, which makes us all equal before God,
and in reconciliation, which heals our brokenness.
I believe that in the Resurrection
God will unite us as one people
in which all are distinct and all are alike at the same time.
I believe in life eternal, in which no one will be foreigner
but all will be citizens of the kingdom
where God reigns forever and ever. Amen.
God, give me grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.
Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.
The words used at the presentation of the Bread and Cup derive from St. Augustine’s Sermon 57, On the Holy Eucharist, a sustained teaching pointing to one of the deep truths of Christian faith: through our participation in the sacraments (particularly baptism and Eucharist), we are transformed into the Body of Christ, given for the world. St. Augustine (354 – 430 c.e.), together with St. Paul and Thomas Aquinas, is one of the most influential voices in the Christian tradition, and the clerestory windows of the monastery feature a window in his honor. (from SSJE)
Those who knew Mike Ilitch, the Little Caesars founder and Detroit Tigers & Red Wings owner who died a few weeks ago, have spent the time fondly remembering his impact on friends, on Detroit residents, and on the sports community. Ilitch also had an impact on the daily life of one of the most iconic figures from the civil rights movement.
Rosa Parks, who after her famed defiance of segregation sparked the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott, moved to Detroit and became an important presence in the city for years afterward. But in 1994, Parks was robbed and assaulted in her home at the age of 81.
Ilitch read the story in the newspaper and called Damon Keith, a Detroit native and federal judge, who was finding a new and safer home for her, offering to pay for Parks' housing indefinitely. With no fanfare, Ilitch continued paying for the apartment until Parks died in 2005, Keith said. (CNN)
