PALM SUNDAY

GODSPELL

We all had snacks together.  Then, as we walked to the “movie theater,” we passed the Stations of the Cross hanging on the classroom wall. In the theater before the movie began, we asked the kids to watch and listen for the Stations as they appeared in Godspell, whose dialogue is taken entirely from St. Matthew’s Gospel.  (We only watched the end of the movie, which depicts the Passion and Resurrection stories.)

 

Watch and listen for the monstrous powers of darkness lining up against Jesus!

Watch and listen to Jesus gathering his friends close to him in their confusion over his struggle with darkness!

Watch and listen to Jesus as he “triumphantly” marches through the city just before his suffering and death!

Watch and listen to Jesus as he sits down for Passover with his friends and washes them clean!

Watch and listen to Jesus as he breaks bread into his body and shares wine into his blood!

Watch and listen as Judas runs out on Jesus and betrays him!

Watch and listen to Jesus as he prays to his Father for strength and begs his friends to stay awake and remain loyal!

Watch and listen as the police are led to Jesus by his betrayer and arrest him at the sign of a kiss!

Watch and listen as Jesus is hanged, made to suffer and to die!

Watch and listen as the powers of darkness are fooled into thinking they had killed God!

And watch and listen as Jesus, the God who lives forever, rises in all who believe in Him--

DAY BY DAY!!!

 

Watch and listen as the story is retold by a Clown among clowns.  To remind us, in the words of St. Paul, that “the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.”  (1Cor.1:25)

 

They keep trying to put a Clown on the cross, because “[t]he message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (St. Paul, 1Cor.1:18).

 

Love, Deacon Charlie

 

 

FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT

Our Second Graders celebrated First Penance this week.

Before we did anything, we came into church, sat on the floor, looked up and saw the Act of Contrition displayed in big, bold letters on the front of the altar.  The kids were asked whether any of them had a friend, and, thankfully, they all did. 

“Ever do anything wrong to your friend?”

“Yep.”

“Did you have to say sorry?”

“Yep.”

“Tough?”

“Yep.”

“Tough as it was, did it fix things?”

“Yep.”

“Still friends and were you all happy about that?”

“Yep.”

Then, we looked back up to the altar and saw that in the very first words of our big, bold Act of Contrition was the word “sorry.”  And we discovered that confession (Penance) is nothing more than God giving us a chance to practice saying “sorry” while God listens in and says, “Perfect; now keep practicing.”

The woman caught in adultery, the scribes and Pharisees, and Jesus—the cast of today’s gospel.  And the scene?  Jesus doodles while he waits for somebody to say “sorry.”  But everybody seems to be out of practice. 

God knows our imperfections and doesn’t need us to tell any secrets, and surely doesn’t need us to repair any divine, hurt feelings.  “Sorry” is not about God; it’s about us.  It’s about us not faking it by playing the perfect to others’ imperfections and securing the secrecy of our own sinfulness. 

“Sorry”—we gotta practice!

 

First Communion News

Mass Assignments for our First Communion on May 11, 2013:

9:30 AM: Thursday (Roaring Brook) 2^nd Grades + Ms. Aurora/Ms. Metcalf’s Wednesday (Grafflin ) 2^nd Grade

11:30 AM:  Tuesday (Westorchard) 2^nd Grades + Ms. Galvin’s Wednesday (Grafflin) 2^nd Grade.

 

Love, Deacon Charlie

 

 

FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT

The Prodigal Son

Two boys, two stories, the same page—New York Times, March 5, 2013.  Amar (6 years old) lay dead in the roadway at 117^th Street and 1^st Avenue in East Harlem.  On his way to school, the little boy had been struck by a tractor-trailer, whose driver sat so high up in the cab that he couldn’t even see the boy and didn’t know he had hit him.  Khalil (17 years old) was at the County Center last Sunday when “in one motion pushed up the desperation heave” that would beat the buzzer and secure the win for New Rochelle over its basketball rival Mt. Vernon in the Section 1 Class AA final.  A reserve player, and an injured one at that, Khalil nearly missed the playoff game with a bum ankle.

Two boys and the accidental happenings that led to a tragic loss and a moment’s victory.  Just not fair!

Today’s gospel story of the Prodigal Son—two boys, two stories, the same page—St. Luke’s Gospel.  And the accidental happenings of their lives led to a moment’s victory and a tragic loss.  Just not fair!

But the father’s love is not measured by its fairness; it’s measured by its generosity, which knows no measure. 

To demand fairness may make us fair, but to embrace generosity will make us generous.  And although love is never unfair, it is always generous.

 

First Penance—This Week!

First Penance for our 2^nd Graders will take place during their regular KidsRelig sessions on Tuesday (3/12), Wednesday (3/13) and Thursday (3/14). 

 

First Communion News

Mass Assignments for our First Communion on May 11, 2013:

 

9:30 AM: Thursday (Roaring Brook) 2^nd Grades + Ms. Aurora/Ms. Metcalf’s Wednesday (Grafflin ) 2^nd Grade

11:30 AM:  Tuesday (Westorchard) 2^nd Grades + Ms. Galvin’s Wednesday (Grafflin) 2^nd Grade.

Love, Deacon Charlie