Beacons of Light, Saving our Parishes’ Cultures

At a weekday Mass several weeks ago, the Gospel (Luke 19: 11-20) reading proclaimed a parable of Jesus that is not included in the Sunday cycle.  It tells the story of a king who practices shocking violence toward his enemies.  The essential part of the parable is that the king who is going away for a time gives gold coins to some of his servants and tells them “engage in trade with these until I return.”

A Little Heard Parable
Two of the servants multiply the gold, one ten times and another five times, with the implication that the servants get to keep the proceeds!  We don’t hear about most of the ten servants who receive a coin.  However, one of the servants protects the coin in a “handkerchief,” a place I suppose nobody would be keen on looking.  Obviously, the gift coin is not fruitful.  Even more, the coin is taken from the servant and given to the one with ten, Jesus proclaiming:  “…to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”  As I often do these days, I reflected on the reading in the light of Beacons of Light.   I was surprised by the possible application.

Our Parishes’ Cultures are Gold Coins
Each of our parishes has a culture.  Some of our parish cultures, such as the Church of the Resurrection (COR) and Holy Trinity even have a distinct “culture within the parish culture.”  For example, COR has a Black Catholic culture within it and Holy Trinity has a Spanish-speaking culture within it.

 If we apply the parable above to our parishes, all of our parishes have been given something of a gold coin in the parish culture that is unique to it.   Beacons of Light is calling us to take that coin of culture and “engage in trade” with other parishes in our family.   We are called to have faith and trust to, in a sense, risk giving our culture away to our other parishes, investing it if you will.  When all of our parishes risk making that self-gift, all will be increased/blessed by what the one, new parish is.

The other approach is to fearfully isolate and protect our culture, in a sense, putting it in a handkerchief.  Sure, the culture will be preserved, but at what a price:  no multiplied fruitfulness, no growth.  The parable describes the result even more sharply.  What we have will be taken from us, lost as it were.  

Beacons of Light Saving Our Parish Cultures
Therefore, in a real sense, Beacons of Light is trying to circumvent the loss of our parish cultures by inviting them to merge them.  How counterintuitive is that?  Know and invest your culture in Beacons of Light and the culture will be surprisingly multiplied!!  That is the paschal mystery for sure!

A Date for Merging?
At the December pastoral council (PC) meeting, I will be asking our pastoral council members about merging our parishes.  I will be asking PC members what they think and feel about merging, as individuals, and as individual councils, and what kind of a read they have on how ready parishioners are.  All this leads up to a question:  Should we set a target date for merging our parishes?  In this way, we can set a timeline, accomplish what more we need and make it happen, perhaps even before we are asked to.  Please pray for Crescent leaders and parishioners.  

Apocalypse and Priorities
Two Sundays ago, the readings for Sunday Mass were a close parallel to this First Sunday of Advent Readings.  That is not surprising, since at the end of the Church liturgical year, the apocalyptic/end of time/second coming of Christ theme is prominent.

One of the observations I made in the homily is that if we have our priorities well ordered at any given time, we can say we are ready for Jesus’ second coming.   Of course, one of the best ways of determining our priorities is to look at the top allotment of time.  
 As a concrete example, I related that Leila, my niece and godchild, was in town from California.  She was bringing their eight-month-old girl, Violet, with her.  My hope was that Leila would make it a priority to take Violet to see her great-grandmother for the first time.  

However, my intuition was faltering as to whether that would be a priority.   Her father, my brother Tim, sent a text that Violet had an earache and sickness might prevent a visit.  I texted back that mom was just getting over a cold and her immune system was just fine.  No need to worry about great grandma! 

 Also, Leila had relayed that they would visit the rectory to see Mom and me on the way to the airport.  My fearful intuition questioned how the very last scheduled item on the itinerary was high on the priority list!  Wonderfully, her brother Matt along with his two children spent an hour with great grandma on the way to the airport, a thrill for mom and me!

 Blessings to all as we begin the Advent Season.  May we examine our priorities and be unafraid, with the help of Jesus' grace, to make some changes small and big, so that we can better be ready for his coming at the end of time.  Having our priorities aligned well, we will also be able to celebrate Christmas with greater joy and a better focus.

Sincerely and with Love in Christ,
Fr. Pat