FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT

A V B

“I am troubled now. Yet, what should I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour?’ But, it was for this purpose that I came to this hour.” (Jesus in Today’s Gospel)

I asked the Middlers why Jesus was troubled. What was he afraid of? And I put up these three letters: A V B. The Middlers filled in the blanks: Aggressors—Victims—Bystanders. In three words, the whole Passion narrative finds its summary.

Then, I told them where I had gotten these three letters and the words that completed them. I have been researching the problem of bullying among young people, especially middle school students, and I came across a program in the Anchorage, Alaska, School District (reported on WAMU, an NPR affiliate at American University) The program is called “AVB,” and it explores the problem of bullying from all three sides. I hope to learn more about this and other programs on bullying and to begin addressing these issues with our kids. Since time is running out on us for this year, we may have to wait until next year to incorporate this into our program in a formal way.

The Gospel? Afraid as he was of the hour to come, Jesus defeated his aggressors with forgiveness, refused to be a victim with self-dignity and challenged the bystanders with empathy. Jesus not only died to save us, but to save us from ourselves, and to change by his life-affirming death our death-affirming life. A whole different way of looking at our enemies, ourselves and others—a whole different Way!

The Elementaries played a match game and did very well. They taught each other that the first item of each match made the second: tree & chair, lamb & sweater, flowers & perfume, caterpillar & butterfly. But more than that—to make something good one has to lose something. Or to put it another way: Love isn’t love without sacrifice.

First Communion FAQs Meetings

On Thursday, April 12, I will be available to answer any of your questions about First Communion at two meetings: 12 to 12:45 pm and 7:30 to 8:15 pm. I hope these times fit your family and work schedules.

***Do both parents have to attend?
NO!
***Are the meetings mandatory?
No, but it will make my life and yours easier if one parent attends.

Enjoy the Spring Recess!

Love,
Deacon Charlie

FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT

Here’s the story, as it was told to me, and as I told it to the Middlers.

There was once a tribe in the deep recesses of the African jungle. Among its many tradition was a rite of passage for its young men. Every spring, the 13- year-old boys in the tribe were sent out alone into the jungle where they had to live by their wits and survive the challenges of the land and of each other. Every day before sundown, the boys would gather for games of fierce competition. Two young men soon stood out among the crowd as leaders in all the contests. And as leaders, they attracted their followers, or, should I say, fans. After about a week of this, emotions were raw and tempers became unpredictably explosive—between the leaders and among their fans. On this one night, it began as a wrestling match. Twists and holds, flips and pins were covered in sweat and dust. And then blood. The crowd’s cheering became screaming and yelling. Wrestling had turned to anger and hatred; to beating and strangling, and to death and silence. No longer fans of victor or victim, the crowd turned mob and chased the murderer through the jungle. Stunned by his own crime and in fear of the mob’s frenzy, the young man rushed from the jungle into the village clearing and stumbled into the hut of the tribal chieftain. In shame and anguish, he confessed his crime. The mob surrounded the chieftain’s hut, as he emerged with the young man to cries of murder and demands of punishment by death.
“He has confessed and seeks forgiveness,” said the chieftain.
“His crime is murder and his sentence must be death,” cried the mob.
“Again,” said the chieftain, “he has confessed and seeks forgiveness.”
And a lone voice cried out from the crowd, “But it was your son whom he murdered.”
Silence—dead silence.
The chieftain stared at the crowd, turned to the young man beside him, looked back at the crowd, and again at the young man. Placing his hands on the young man’s shoulders, the chieftain said, “Then, from this day on, you shall be my son.”

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish, but might have eternal life. (Jn 3:16 in Today’s Gospel)


All of the Elementaries got a cross to carry in their pockets for the rest of Lent. With it came the poem “A Cross in My Pocket,” which was given to me by a parishioner Martha Chaleski. If Martha were still with us, she would have been 103 on March 15. She died four years ago at age 99.

I hope the kids showed you their crosses and shared the poem. If the poem didn’t make its way home, here it is:

I carry a cross in my pocket
A simple reminder to me
Of the fact that I am a Christian
No matter where I may be.

This little cross isn’t magic
Nor is it a good luck charm.
It isn’t meant to protect me
From every physical harm.

It’s not for identification
For all the world to see.
It’s simply an understanding
Between my Savior and me.

When I put my hand in my pocket
To bring out a coin or a key
The cross is there to remind me
Of the price he paid for me.

It reminds me, too, to be thankful
For my blessings, day by day.
And to strive to serve him better
In all that I do or say.

It’s also a daily reminder
Of the peace and comfort I share
With all who know my Master and
Give themselves to his care.

So, I carry a cross in my pocket
Reminding no one but me
That Jesus Christ is Lord of my life
If only I’ll let him be.

Love,
Deacon Charlie

THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT

It was Sunday morning and Mary picked up the local newspaper. The Early Edition reported a tirade in the Temple in Jerusalem on the Sabbath. An unidentified man rushed in, shouting at the sellers and money-changers, turning over tables and chasing out the animals with a whip he had made out of cords.

No, thought Mary, couldn’t be.

The Morning Edition of the paper reported that some officials challenged the unidentified man, questioning why he had done this. They told police that he had given some crazy answer about destroying the Temple and rebuilding it in three days.

No, thought Mary, couldn’t be.

When the Evening Edition arrived, Mary read about the ongoing police investigation. Authorities reported that they were tracking some strong leads and hoped soon to arrest the man charged with the Temple tirade. The police had interviewed friends and supporters, who believed in him and suggested that he was convinced that local leaders were out to kill him. But he promised that if he were killed he would rise from the dead in three days.

I thought so, Mary whispered to herself.

The Middlers read the same newspapers Mary had read. And we asked them to put themselves in Mary’s place. How did they think Mary felt? What would she say to neighbors about her son’s behavior? Why did he do what he did? Why did he say what he said? Ask them how they answered those questions. Ask them about Jesus in the beginning of John’s gospel, who doesn’t get angry, but passionate, about the evil that confronts him and tries to overcome him. How he links that evil to its cosmic display in his Passion. And how Jesus with the same power and authority as in his Temple tirade defeats evil and in his Resurrection fulfills the promise made on the Temple steps.

For the Elementaries, we finished confessions on Tuesday and had no class on Wednesday (early dismissal). On Thursday, it was a beautiful day—almost 70 degrees. So, we prayed Psalm 136 together, which praises God for making the heavens and earth and for his love, which lasts forever. Then, we went out to play in the sunshine—just for a little—and back for classes.

Love,
Deacon Charlie

SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT

Big, family, birthday party—MomMom Keenan’s 90th. The house was filled with children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. A perfect crowd for our one-year-old grandson Asher to play Peek-a-Boo. And play he did. With a dish towel over his head, he went from room to room (sometimes walking into walls) to find that someone or more than one someone to say:

“Where’s Asher; where’s Asher?”

And the dish towel would whip off to, “Ah, there he is,” and big smiles all around.

I asked the kids what they thought made Asher smile the most—hiding from the crowd or making his big appearance? After counting the votes, I told them I thought it was neither, but instead it was that split second of a moment when he absolutely believed that he had everything to loose and nothing to gain by hiding and nothing to loose and everything to gain by making his big appearance. Better to be for others than to be alone. Believe it—really believe it—and smile.

The Transfiguration of today’s gospel is a little like Ahser’s Peek-a-Boo. The glory of the Lord promises to make a big appearance, but the disciples are warned to keep it hidden. Why? Because Jesus knows that they have not yet come to that split second moment of belief. And they won’t, until they witness for themselves the Lord loosing all of himself to gain all for others. And until they believe it—really believe it—and smile.

Girl Scout Troop 1023 says “Thanks!!!”

The Girl Scouts’ collection for the Food Bank for Westchester was a huge success. And your generosity made it so. The Girl Scouts wish to express their thanks for your many contributions. And we wish to express our thanks to the Girl Scouts for their good work.

Altar Server Training

Many have expressed interest in becoming altar servers. That’s great! We will be scheduling a training session very soon. But scheduling a conference call with the UN General Assembly is easier than scheduling anything in Chappaqua. So stay tuned. My idea is to open the training session to new altar servers in 4th, 5th and 6th grades and include our veterans for a refresher. We would all meet for a Sunday 10:30 Mass, have the training immediately after and then stay for a pancake breakfast.

In order to make this real, I will be asking parents to register their kids with the understanding that there is a commitment to serve when assigned. I will also be asking for your child’s height, so that we can have cassocks and surplices or albs ready when they are ready to serve.

That’s the heads-up. Watch for the date and registration details.

Love,
Deacon Charlie

FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT

I enlarged our KidsRelig masthead because I found it to be a small reminder of this week’s gospel, and I wanted it to be just a little larger.
Jesus struggles for forty days in the desert with Satan and all that corrupts the world. Undefeated, and yet, still challenged, he immediately comes out of the desert to begin preaching the Gospel.
I couldn’t help but think how we struggle at times in KidsRelig with the many challenges of teaching our kids and learning from them. Undefeated, and yet, still challenged, we always make our way out of the desert to do what we are committed to do at KidsRelig—“Passing on the Gospel.”
Pray for us—our teachers, who are so generous with their time and talent, and our kids, who are really so patient with us as we try to find just the right Word.

Welcome Back!

Classes resume this week—February 28, 29 and March 1.

First Penance

Our Second Graders will celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation in their First Penance this week. Confessions for the Second Graders will take place during the regular sessions Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Remind your Second Grader, as we have, that the real celebration of the sacrament is in God’s gift to us of a second chance. God knows us better than we know ourselves. So, we are hardly letting Him in on any secret that we haven’t been all that perfect. But God is letting us in on something He can’t keep secret—that He is a God of second chances, always ready to forgive those whom He loves.

Confessions for Middlers

Confessions will continue this week during the first sessions on Tuesday and Thursday for middle school students.

Love,
Deacon Charlie

SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Last weekend, it was Chicago with our son Patrick and his fiancé Lauren. Near the University of Chicago, we passed a neighborhood called Kenwood, and I remembered from my law school days the 1924 “Crime of the Century.” Told the Middllers about Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, two U of C graduate students, who lived with their very wealthy families in Kenwood; both geniuses, they thought themselves Nietzschian supermen. Told the Middlers how petty crimes one day turned to the murder of their teenage neighbor Bobby Franks and how the two had convinced themselves that they were too clever to be caught. But they were—by a couple of smart enough Chicago cops. Clarence Darrow, the best lawyer in the land, couldn’t get them off. All he could do was save them from the hangman’s noose. Loeb died in prison, and Leopold was paroled from his life plus 99 year sentence in 1958. Finally, I told the Middlers about another law school memory—Ephraim London, a professor of mine, who came to know Nathan Leopold in the last years of his life. He lived in Puerto Rico and worked as a nurse’s assistant and x-ray technician in a poor, rural hospital. Leopold said, “The worst punishment comes from inside me. It is the torment of my conscience . . . The only thing I have found in all these years that helped at all is to try to be useful to others.” Superman had changed his attitude.

This Sunday’s gospel appears to be about the cure of the paralytic. And it is. But it’s about something else—attitude. Jesus blessed the attitude of the paralytic’s friends—faith and confidence. He cursed the attitude of the Scribes—cynicism, condescension and disbelief. And what was even more troubling to Jesus was that the attitude of the Scribes was set in concrete, which would continue to harden into murder.
The Middlers sat quietly as we exposed the Blessed Sacrament and thought about our own “Superman” attitudes and how hard and unchanging they can be. And we prayed that Lent might be a time for changing those attitudes.

The Elementaries also spent quiet time before the Blessed Sacrament. We remembered how the paralytic and his friends couldn’t get close to Jesus and had to tear off the roof to get near him. And how blessed are we to be able to get off a school bus, walk into church and be right there next to Jesus. We prayed for family and friends who needed healing. And the kids gave us some amazing definitions of healing—“making people better,” “comforting people,” “caring for people and letting them know people care.” Not curing, but healing. Amazing!!!

Girl Scout Troop 1023

Don’t forget the Girl Scout Troop’s collection for the Food Bank for Westchester. Their box is still in the front hall of the Upper Church for needed items: pretzels, canned vegetables, lentils (bag), and canned tuna.

Enjoy the Winter Recess. When we return, there will be First Penance on February 28, 29 and March 1.

Love,

Deacon Charlie

SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Mark Twain once said: “A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.” Maybe that’s why Jesus warned the leper he cures in today’s gospel to tell no one of the miracle. He worried that all kinds of lies would start flying around about a magician and his magic before the truth could be revealed that the “Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected . . . and be killed , and rise after three days.” It’s not that Jesus was trying to suppress good news, but to make sure that everything he said and everything he did was understood in the context of the Good News to come. If not, it meant nothing—a pretty good definition of a lie.

Sometimes, we still try to lie to ourselves that what Jesus says and does is magic. But there is no magic here. It’s making life rise out of suffering and death, which demands an everyday faithfulness to a lifelong commitment that with the Lord we will make this happen. And rejoice!

Sacrament of Reconciliation

Confessions continue for the upper grades and, if the schedule holds, we appear to be on track for First Penance in the last week of February.

Calendar Reminder

I am sure no one needs to be reminded because everyone is anticipating Winter Recess. During Winter Recess, there is no KidsRelig.

Girl Scout Troop 1023

Kaylie Eiden (Bell 7) is leading the effort of her Girl Scout Troop to collect needed food items for the Food Bank for Westchester. There is a box in the front hall of the Upper Church for donated items. All the kids in KidsRelig were asked to bring items during February to help fight hunger and support this good work of Girl Scout Troop 1023.

Needed Items

Pretzels

Canned Vegetables

Lentils—Bag

Canned Tuna

Our thanks goes out to the Girl Scouts and especially to Kaylie Eiden.

Love,

Deacon Charlie