Open Doors

Dear sisters & brothers in Christ,

I pray that you are blessed and doing well, especially as spring continues to take a greater hold on our weather. I also hope you are finding your way through these latest directives from the CDC. A number of people have been asking me when we are getting rid of the masks and social distancing. Then there are others who are encouraging me not to move too quickly and, thereby, placing some people’s health at risk. I have been telling both groups that we will first take our lead from the bishop’s directives. We will then discuss our options and any changes with the staff and the parish council. My tendency is to move ahead cautiously as we keep in mind those sisters & brothers who are too young for the vaccine and those who cannot receive it due to health concerns. I have heard that some parishes are setting up mask and non-mask zones in their churches.

As many of you probably know, Tuesday was my 30th anniversary of ordination. Later this year will be my 35th anniversary of profession and my 60th birthday! (I have been reminding all of my grade school classmates as they turn 60 that Marcia Pounds and I are the youngest in our class.) I have also been doing a bit of reflecting on these 30 years. They certainly didn't go as planned when I first entered the college seminary at 17 years old. There were even moments when I felt a bit like Saul, knocked off a horse and lying flat on my backside. Just like Paul, it took a while for me to see that it was simply God trying to get my attention, for I have ended up in places and done things that I would otherwise never have imagined myself doing.

My original plan was to be a diocesan parish priest, not a Redemptorist. Growing up in Jefferson County, Missouri, I never imagined myself ministering in an African-American parish, let alone clapping & stepping down the aisle in beat with Gospel music. Nor would I have ever imagined myself wanting to go back to school to earn a second masters, and in Black Theology! Nor would I, or any of my English teachers, have ever imagined that I would be the Editor-in-Chief of Liguorian magazine.

There have been many other surprises along the way. I am a living witness that when someone closes a door on you, Jesus opens another. It might be a window or even a trap door, but He certainly opens The Way. It is up to us to go through it. To seek out God's will and open our lives to the wonders that God has in store for us. Sometimes when that door slams in our face it is just our Lord trying to get our attention, because quite often God has prepared a blessing for us that we never knew we needed. To have faith that our Lord has set a path before us that we would never had envisioned ourselves traversing. It is all about opening our lives up to God's Will & Way, to boldly take the hand of our Lord and let Him lead the Way...and to perhaps go places and do things that you never would have imagined yourself doing! All for the sake of spreading The Good News!

In the Redeemer, Fr. Rick