Blessings

Dear sisters & brothers in Christ,

I pray that you are blessed. This week was the eleventh anniversary of my bypass surgery. I, like so many, had been putting off a stress test. Then I received the sad news that a good friend, who had been experiencing the same symptoms as myself, passed away suddenly from a heart attack. I scheduled mine right after the funeral. To make a not-so- long story short, 48 hours after starting the stress test I was being wheeled in for emergency bypass surgery. My cardiologist and surgeon informed me that I had been very lucky (translate = “extremely blessed”). They explained that if I would have had a heart attack there was a less than 1% chance that I would have survived it. Sometimes we just do not know how blessed we are, and the unseen dangers from which our Lord has protected us.

Other blessings are very evident if we only open our eyes. It is easy to get caught up in our own problems and struggles. So much so, that we can become blind to those who are suffering all around us. Confronted with someone in need, someone struggling with an illness or other heavy burden, I try to remind myself, “There but for the grace of God go I.” I know I was very blessed to be born in this country and into the family I have. Perhaps my greatest blessing is my calling to be a Redemptorist. If we only shift our focus from what we don’t have to the many things we do have, we will see those many blessings. I think this is key to living the Scriptures, especially today’s first reading and the commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves.

When I went to Haiti I was shocked to see the level of poverty and the absence of some of the most basic needs that we so often take for granted. Yet, no one complained, no one told us how much we had and how little they had. Instead, I experienced people of joy, joy that often surpassed that which I experience here in this land of plenty. Our God has been so good to us. It is important to stop and smell the roses, to pause and reflect on our many blessings and give thanks to our God for each of them.

I want to remind our young people that due to the social distancing restrictions that are in place, we are inviting them to wear their Halloween costumes to church on the weekend of Oct 31st - Nov 1st. As long as they don’t try to trick Fr. Chung or myself, we might have a treat for them. I also will extend this invitation to our newly Confirmed teens. Since you did not have the chance to dress up as your Saint and explain to us why you chose that Saint, if you would like to do so at the end of mass I invite you to let the presider know before hand and then come up during the announcements and share this reason briefly with your fellow parishioners.

In the Redeemer, Fr. Rick