One constant in life is everything changes; children grow, families move, jobs are uncertain. In the past eleven years change has been a constant companion to the community of Saint Anne. We have worshiped in different sites. We have been blessed with new families. We have mourned the loss of friends, and we have embraced new life. In the next year we face a new challenge – Father Don will be moving to a new position in June 2010. 

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee has a policy that priests’ assignments are six-years in length. At one time pastors were assigned for life, but wisdom and experience showed that this practice brought complications and problems for both pastors and congregations. Term limits allow parishes the chance of growing with different pastors and they allow pastors to experience the gifts and talents of new communities. Should they desire it, pastors and congregations are given the opportunity to extend a six-year term to a maximum of twelve years. Father Don will be completing his twelfth year next June and will be assigned to another position in the Archdiocese.

Change can be hard. It is especially difficult to say good bye to Father Don, our leader for the last eleven years and a wonderful example of what it means to be a disciple of Christ. While the news of pastoral rotation comes wrapped in a bittersweet package, we must stand assured that this is indeed the work of God and an opportunity for greater growth and increased faith. This will make Saint Anne a stronger parish, and like every other change at Saint Anne, will be another marker of success for our parish. Saint Anne is known for its unconditional fellowship, unwavering faith, and time tested resiliency. This will be no different. Coming together as a community, praying together, and embracing this process will ensure a smooth transition for everyone.

Changing leadership is a process. There is a Transition Team at Saint Anne working to prepare us for our upcoming pastoral change. As we walk through the necessary steps, we ask for everyone’s prayers. Our team believes that preparation is the key to a smooth transition. Our goal is to keep all parishioners informed as we move through this process. We plan to communicate through all possible channels. Please watch for our communications and talk to us about your concerns.

There is a temptation to see Father Don as an irreplaceable core of Saint Anne. However, as Father Don has constantly and consistently taught, Saint Anne is its members, their faith, their fellowship, and their love for one another. It is our mission, to embrace this pastoral change with confidence and optimism. With the challenge of a pastoral transition before us, we may wonder, “What are we going to do? What role does the parish have in selecting and welcoming a new pastor?” We will continue to pray together, believe in each other, and have faith in the Archdiocese to do what is good for our parish. We will have opportunities to share our vision of a pastor and express who we are as a community of faith.

We will honor the work that Father Don has done here by following his teaching and example of servant leadership.  We will express our gratitude for the gifts he has given us by continuing to be a welcoming parish.  We will welcome our new pastor, who is coming to pray with us, to learn from our experiences, and to walk together with us on our ever-changing journey with Christ.

This is an important year of transition for Saint Anne’s community. Next Spring we will gain a new pastor as Father Don moves on to a new assignment. In the Archdiocese of Milwaukee the assignment of a new pastor is a year-long process.

October 2009 – Father Don submitted notice to the Archdiocese that his 12-year term as pastor would end in June of 2010.

January 2010 – Saint Anne’s will be “open listed”. Priests who are ready to transfer or who might be interested in serving here at Saint Anne are able to request a pastorate through the Priest Personnel Board.

January 2010 – The Archdiocese will send a “Parish Profile” to our Parish Council. They will be asked to provide details about the parish (population, finances, building conditions) and to submit a “picture” of the parish’s priorities, goals, and mission.

February-March 2010 – Members of the Priest Personnel Board will host an open meeting for the parish to listen to our concerns, hopes, and priorities regarding a new pastor. They do not take “requests”. Rather their task is to get a better feel for the community with the aim of making a good “fit” in recommending a new pastor.

April-May 2010 – The new Archbishop, after considering the recommendation of the Priest Personnel Board, will announce a new pastor.

June 13, 2010 – Father Don’s last Sunday as pastor at Saint Anne.

June 20, 2010 – We welcome our new pastor.

The St. Anne Pastoral Transition Team

Manoj Babu manojbabu@sbcglobal.net 308-2049

Ed Duncklee eduncklee@saint-anne.org 694-0026

Judy Hains judy.hains@sbcglobal.net 697-9441

Judy Hutchins gj5hutch@aol.com 496-8474

Sandy Milligan samilligan@wi.rr.com 652-5784

Barbara Scavone bscavone@wi.rr.com 914-2660

Carol Seitz cseitz1@wi.rr.com 694-0541

Recently, I was asked by the World Mission Office to speak at St. Roman’s weekend Masses on behalf of the Mission Appeal for La Sagrada Familia. The weekend readings included Numbers 11:25-29, James 5:1-6 and Mark 9:38-48 and I attempted to share an experience of humility and humor with the good people of Milwaukee. Since St. Anne’s is near and dear to me I mentioned you, of course, and thought you might like to read about my sometimes sane, sometimes silly moments: …My name is LeAnn Rogan and I am from St. Anne’s Parish in Pleasant Prairie. Round trip from my home to St. Anne’s is 23 miles. Some parishes are worth the drive! Worth the time and effort it takes to celebrate a weekend Mass together. I hope you feel that way about St. Roman’s. I already do! Thank you, Father Brian…

I am here at the request of the sisters from World Mission Ministries on behalf of the people of La Sagrada Familia, our Archdiocesen sister parish in the Dominican Republic. Last summer my teenage daughter and I took the 2,000 mile journey to spend 8 days with the beautiful people of La Sagrada Familia. Another parish, so worth the effort of traveling those many miles!

While it was difficult to leave my husband and son behind, we soon discovered many blessings in our huge extended human family abroad. Of course, we missed our shower at home. A bucket of non-drinkable water poured over one’s head is marvelously refreshing on a hot day in the Dominican Republic (which is every day in the Dominican Republic). About 25% of the homes in the village where we stayed do not have bathrooms. I am asking for your help today to change that.

There are 22 villages in the parish, which serves 30,000 people, with just two spectacular priests.
Masses in this desert-like province of Azua near the Haitian border are celebrated about once a month in each community as the good priests of our Milwaukee Archdiocese, Fr. Oriol and Fr. Marti, travel from village to village trying to meet the many needs of the poor. Some parishioners there will walk 10 miles to a neighboring village just to experience the miracle of Eucharist more often than once a month.

On Monday of this week I decided to walk 10 miles. I wanted to make real this experience of solidarity with our sister parish of La Sagrada Familia. I wanted to feel in my body, in my legs, this experience of “being” church even as I walked to church buildings. My intention was to pray for the people of La Sagrada Familia as well as the people of the parishes I passed, St. Lucy’s in Racine and St. Sebastian’s in Sturtevant, for those of my own parish at St. Anne’s, and of course for YOU here at St. Roman’s…which I did…but I confess that one’s mind wanders when they’re on a journey that’s sure to take longer than Gilliagan’s “3 Hour Tour”!

I wondered: “Will Jesus be disappointed that I brought along a cell phone and a bottle of vitamin water in lieu of a walking stick and sandals?”

I got distracted by my wet shoes and socks from Sunday night’s rain-water soaking the grass…At least I HAVE shoes, I remember thinking. Most of the children we met in the D.R. were barefoot, but Fr. Oriol sent me a recent picture showing many of the kids wearing matching pink Crocks surely donated by a generous someone here in the states. Maybe YOU…

I was distracted by how noisy Highway 11 was that day – full of traffic and construction noise. That made me think two things: one, that our taxes and stimulous dollars are actually hard at work, and two, boy, there are roads in the D.R. that get washed away in the rains over and over again prohibiting people from getting food, medical care and even the Holy Eucharist! Our stewardship can help with that…yours and mine! Fr. Oriol drives a 4-wheel drive truck that will one day require maintenance to keep him able to get to the people that so desperately need him…that so desperately need YOU!

I passed the Associated Bank on my walk and saw men washing it’s windows, and again thought two things:
one, they are blessed to have jobs, however menial, in this economy, and two, windows! Most homes in the village of Ganadero where we stayed do not have glass windows, nor even screens to keep the bugs out. In fact, one night a cat jumped right on my bed in the middle of the night! I remember our first night in Ganadero an arm came through the whole in the cement that was our “window”. It was our house-mother trying to show us how to open and close the metal blinds for privacy as we got ready for bed. I said in my Sesame Street Spanish, “Oh, abierto, cerado, abierto, cerado…Gracias!” and we all laughed together.

I passed a strip mall with many empty stores on my walk, too. While it is a sad example of our economy’s slump, how much worse it is in the Dominican Republic! The villages do not have stores as we know them. Where we stayed there was one little building about the size of the old FOTOMAT’s that used to dot the streets of Milwaukee. Remember those? It sold individual boxes of cereal and bags of water. Yes, I said “bags”, about the size of a ziplock sandwich bag. You bite off the plastic corner and squirt clean water into your mouth. Pure refreshment! Yet another way for you and I to live today’s Gospel…Perhaps YOU can be the one who gives drink to the thirsty…Please give to this mission appeal, for we are the Body of Christ, so when one of us is thirsty …all of us are thirsty…

As I neared St. Lucy’s on my walk the church bells began to chime, but as I neared St. Sebastian’s dogs were barking. This, too, took me back to Ganadero where many wild dogs, skinny, sickly, flea-infested dogs, wander sadly during the day, and fight madly in the dark. They do not know the hope of the people, the people who smile easily, love deeply and give generously of what little they have to us who visit, and who pray for YOU at every Mass in the D. R.

There are two teenagers from Ganadero, now my friends, who walked to neighboring villages weekly to catechize children and adults before my daughter and I arrived. We celebrated over 100 baptisms while we were there made possible by the witness and the walking done by Ana and Andreina. (Perhaps we should call them Eldad and Medad today !) What joy! What a privilege for us to see this commitment by teenagers to their neighbors! To Christ!

It was thoughts of THEM, thoughts of Ana and Andreina, that got me through the end of my long 10 mile walk. Ahead of me was what seemed like a mountain. Now, you must know that I live in Mount Pleasant and the joke has always been that there are no mountains in Mount Pleasant (unless you count the dump), but sure enough, ahead of me across from the Walmart was what looked like a very steep hill for my very tired legs to climb. I swear I had never noticed it before, not from my car anyway.

Now, of course, by this point in my 10 mile walk my Vitamin Water bottle was empty…and I thought to myself…That’s it! Empty thyself…Like I tell my daughter who runs cross country for St. Catherine’s High School, “Leave it all on the course!” Empty thyself….Less of me…more of Jesus…Empty thyself…because, of course, we’re never really empty, but full, fueled by the Holy Eucharist from the day before I could complete my walk; I could rush home to draft these humble words, with the Holy Spirit’s help, for you fine people…to encourage you to give generously to this Mission Appeal…to live the words of St. James today and not let your “wealth rot away”…Please share with the people of La Sagada Familia…Show them you stand in solidarity with them by your actions from abroad…

Turns out I beat Gilligan afterall – my walk only took 2 hours and 36 minutes!
So I can thank you from the bottom of my gluteous maximus, thigh and calf muscles, too, and most especially I thank you from the bottom of my heart for all that you will generously share with the people of La Sagrada Familia… Thank you for listening. May God bless you abundantly, and may He help you find the time and energy to take a good, long walk!

You have been hearing about our air-infiltration problems and the $40,000+ bill that will be arriving soon. I thought you might welcome a bit more background and information.

As we were preparing to celebrate our first Christmas in our new home, a cold wave with strong winds from the west also joined us for this December feast. We became aware of very cold drafts entering the building and temperature in the upper 20’s and low 30’s above the ceiling tiles. The major initial concern was the fire sprinkler system above the ceiling of the church. Would they freeze up and break? We gathered our architect and construction partners who came quickly, crawled all throughout the building, stuffed new insulation in various places, and drained the water from our fire sprinkler system and replaced it with an “anti-freeze” to protect us from freezing damage. That helped us get through Christmas.

Our partners reviewed the construction documents to attempt to identify where this air could be coming from. They crawled into every corner of the building they could to locate the source of the drafts. There was no quick or easy explanation for these drafts. Our situation was presented at various conferences and groups for “new eyes” to identify the problem and solutions. Over the years a variety of strategies were agreed upon by the architect and the parish to resolve the issue. The architect has spent almost $35,000 to resolve the issue. The parish has purchased materials and provided parishioner labor for other strategies. However the issue was still not completely resolved. The construction partner walked away from the problem and has since gone out of business.

Last summer our architect engaged a consultant who specializes in air-infiltration issues to help resolve our problems. We came up with a new strategy which was tested earlier in the year and found to be successful. This summer contractors completed the work. They found areas in the building where air could easily get in – an inch here or 4 inches there all adds up. We believe the insulation and caulking have finally resolved our problem.

In this last effort we agreed to fix the problem and not look to place blame. We pursued legal action for the construction partner’s builder’s risk insurance but were advised against it for additional costs this would create with no guarantees to recover our legal fees or project costs. Since there was no construction partner at the table to share the financial costs for our problem, I agreed the parish would need to do so.

I can certainly understand anger at the parish having to pay to fix a new building but I have learned that “new” does not guarantee there will be no problems. It can happen with a house, a car, a computer, a stove, or a church.

You may be wondering what the big deal is about some drafts in our building. Well freezing our sprinkling system is one major concern. Another is the use of our natural resources. When cold winter winds come into our building, it calls for heat to be warmed. Our heat also leaves the building and does nothing to raise the outside temperature. It works the same for air-conditioning in the summer. Doing nothing means more than living with a little discomfort. It means wasting our natural resources and the money to pay for them.

How long will it take to “pay back” our investment? That is a great question. We will begin to create a savings column in the bulletin for our gas and electricity costs as a result of the work done this summer. There is never a good time to pay for such unexpected emergencies. This will deplete our savings from the sale of the Parish Center. I ask for your help once again – to make sacrifices in gratitude for the bounty God has given you and us.

As the new school year begins, and as the activities at St. Anne percolate into a higher gear, I thought it would be appropriate to share with you some of my thoughts and vision for the Music Ministry. Flatly stated —St. Anne is a musical church. It’s one of the reasons I accepted the position as Music Director. Imagine with me the possibilities that may present themselves in our journey together.

The current adult choir is about 30-35 strong when everyone is present. There are approximately 20 cantors to help lead us in song. About 30 parishioners who have instrumental talents (of all ages and levels of expertise) have volunteered at points in the past to share their abilities at Mass. 40 children signed up for choir last year, unfortunately dwindling to 15 or 20 by year’s end.  (I’m relating these figures based on casual conversations I’ve had since arriving here.)

Now, here are a few of the things that I think are possible in this next year.

• With the number of instrumentalists available, it would be good to have one or several or an ensemble accompanying the liturgy at every Mass. To form those ensembles we need anyone who can play to participate: guitarists, bass players, drummers, wind, brass, and string players, and keyboards, harp, dulcimer, and accordion. ALL instruments have a place in praising God, and we’ll make room for you! No matter whether you haven’t played since high school, or if you a beginner, or if you make your living as a professional: all are welcome!
• The hardest part of forming a children’s choir is finding time in a young person’s busy schedule. I know that soccer or gymnastics, lessons or other opportunities create busy schedules for child and parent alike. So the hardest part is making that commitment and keeping it. This year children’s choir will be on Wednesday nights at 4:45 p.m. Once a month it will lead directly into the regular Whole Community Catechesis session on the first Wednesday of the month at 5:45. We will sing at Mass on a regular basis, maybe two times a month, sometimes on Saturday.
• One of the new ensembles that I would like to start is a bell choir, or rather several bell choirs: children, teens and adults, with and without prior musical experience. Bell choirs require one thing above all others: commitment. When one player is missing, it is like playing a piano with broken keys, or a trumpet with a stuck valve. Bells can also be expensive. I have several solutions that I am working on. One is that a set of tone chimes (similar to hand bells, but 1/10 the cost) be obtained as a start. Another is that the local association of hand bell ringers loan sets of bells to schools and churches for a year, and provide help in getting the groups started. The third is the least expensive. I was browsing the web a few weeks back and discovered plans for making a set of hand held bells for about thirty dollars in materials found at any hardware store. If there are any parishioners or friends of St. Anne that are handy with tools and would like to put a set together, come see me after Mass. You can check out the website at http://www.campbell.edu/faculty/whitley/ToneChimes.pdf .

 Another thought: inviting friends, neighbors and acquaintances who have musical talent to become part of the music ministry is a great way to enlarge and enrich our community. It is an evangelistic opportunity to share what is so exciting about being a part of St. Anne.

None of this can happen without you. The most important ministers of music are the community that gathers to pray. Some of the possibilities that I have in mind include part singing by the assembly, antiphonal responses, and a wider musical vocabulary with which to praise and pray.  Imagine a Palm Sunday procession with 20 instrumentalists from saxophone to flute and trumpet.  Imagine processional banners and palms, a large choir and maybe dancers. And there are hand bells and drums and loud praise-filled singing from the gathered assembly.  In my mind’s eye it is awesome AND possible.

So, the first meeting of the Adult Choir and anyone interested in being an instrumentalist will be a purely social event. On Thursday, September 3, at 6 p.m. we will gather at St. Anne for a summer’s end potluck and grill out. Anyone who would like to be part of the choir, or if you just want to find out more about the choir should bring a dish to pass (desserts, salads, veggies, etc.). Meat for the grill will be provided. (And we’ll need help with the grilling.)  Invite a friend who might be interested. This will be a great opportunity to share your thoughts about music at St. Anne.

Rehearsals will begin the following Thursday, September 10, at 7 p.m. in the church. 

 If you are interested in being involved as an organizer, leader, assistant, or music filer, sound person, composer, dancer, cantor, choir member, bell ringer: email me at lstahl@saint-anne.org or contact me at church on the weekend. To make this vision a reality will take many hands and many types of talent.

Everything I know (well almost everything) I learned from musicals (opera, too). Oh, and church (I’ve been a music director/organist/liturgy guy since 1960 or so). Then there’s my dogs. Maybe I’ve learned the most from them. So I begin. . .

Hank, Sadie, Cassie, and Dexter (l to r)

Let me tell you something about my life in Wisconsin with my dogs. A little over five years ago I retired (I thought), and my good friends Mitch and Paul and I combined our households. Mitch’s dog Cassie, a lab mix, and Dexter, my then 3 year old Scottish terrier got along famously. And they are both better dogs for it. Dex was suffering from the inattentiveness of my 12 hour work day coupled with frequent business road trips. Perhaps he was just a little psychotic, and with his terrier stubbornness, was a real handful. Cassie, who was a well-trained “lady” with impeccable manors, had a good influence on Dex, modeling good behavior that somehow rubbed off.  He actually listens, and occasionally even exhibits model behavior. Cassie became more active, “puppy-like,” and benefited physically and emotionally from the challenge of living with Dexter. We moved to a house in Milwaukee with a huge back yard (chosen, in part, for the benefit of the dogs).

Sadie joined the household in November 2005. She is a border collie, abandoned because of owner allergy issues. I’d never had three dogs at one time, much less a border collie, and wasn’t quite sure what to expect. (Those of you familiar with border collies are probably rolling their eyes at this point.) They demand attention, and need a job to feel satisfied. (Hmmm…reminds of myself in some small way…)

Of course by adding a puppy to the mix chaos ensued. Carefully established boundaries were breached. A border collie puppy’s desire for constant attention upset Dexter, who had gotten used to being the ruler of the roost, the boss of all he surveyed.  Cassie again took charge and shepherded Sadie through the dog relationship maze, putting Dex in his place if he got out of hand. And Sadie’s unfocused puppy-ness was transforming itself into channeled obedience. Things have worked out just fine.

Hank is the latest and last addition, another Scottie. He was abandoned in the northern suburbs of Chicago and was about to be euthanized in a shelter (interesting juxtaposition of words, shelter and euthanized, almost oxymoronic). My over actively creative mind has developed a back story for him that includes running away from a cat filled home to join a circus as a water diving dog, his story going absurdly downhill from there. Hank, too, has been assimilated into our own family circus.

This all has got me thinking about how owning dogs has transformed and enlightened the way I think and live. Here are some of the things I realized.

Dogs enjoy simple pleasures and take each day as it comes.

Like a true Zen master, dogs eat when they are hungry and sleep when tired.

Dogs feel guilty when they’ve done something wrong. How often do we entrench rather than acknowledge that maybe we’re the ones who screwed up?

Dogs think you sing great. Dogs love long car trips. Dogs love the wind blowing in your face.

I used to look at Dexter and think, ‘If you were a little smarter you could tell me what you were thinking,’ and he’d look at me like he was saying, ‘If you were a little smarter, I wouldn’t have to.’ Sometimes we’re just too dumb to see what’s what and hear what is really being said. How often in our lives does our superior attitude get in the way of getting the point? Corollary #1: Dogs don’t feel threatened by our intelligence. Corollary #2: No dog ever brought a Kenny G or Michael Bolton album. Just how smart are we?

When someone is having a bad day, dogs are silent and sit close by and nuzzle gently. Have you noticed that our pets have an uncanny way of knowing when we’re having a lousy day? I saw a PBS special about dogs that are trained to assist people with handicaps. There are some dogs that have a way of sensing when a seizure is coming minutes before it ever happens. They are trained to alert the person so they can lie down, and then the dog stays by their side until their master is safe and out of harm. My roommate Mitch, who has stage two leukemia, gets the benefit of Dexter’s awareness on a regular basis. When he’s having a bad day, Dex senses it, even before Mitch realizes it, and is there on his bed offering his quiet but unyielding support.

Best of all, they befriend me with an unconditional love that we would do well to imitate. Is it any coincidence that the species name of Dog is a reflection of God?

Of course my dogs have their failings. Dex is afraid of firecrackers and Sadie hides in the closet whenever we have a thunderstorm. But unlike me, they are not afraid of what other people think of them, or anxious about their public image.

Every time feeding time comes around, a passage from Psalm 145 rolls around in my consciousness: “The eyes of all wait on You, and you give them their meat at the right time.” As a quartet of eyes follow my every move, food being spooned into bowls, I think about their relation to me, filled with trust and dependence, a mirror of my trust and dependence on the God who spoons the grace and love that makes up the bowl of my life. Their dependence on me profoundly serves as an example of my utter dependence on God. And when I place the dogs bowls on the floor I can see their gratitude freely expressed in their enthusiastic acceptance of what I have offered them–a mirror of the relationship between God and me. It is just like our gathering for worship on Sundays–served up a full helping of God’s Words to us, a meal filled with grace, thanksgiving and praise.

So my dogs are my teachers. When I become too serious and preoccupied, they remind me to play. On their own canine level, they show me that it might be possible to live without inner conflicts or neuroses — uncomplicated and glad to be alive. And they remind me of how I stand in the awesome presence of a God that knows my name.

We have a lot to learn from dogs. Just because they haven’t invented anything, or written anything doesn’t mean they aren’t spiritually evolved. I have a set of spiritual guides and enlightened teachers. I have four dogs named Hank, Sadie, Dexter, and Cassie.

Now what! I need it now – not yesterday! I want it now! Now is not a good time. That’s never going to happen! No! I just can’t or won’t. Not in my lifetime. No way. No how!

Being anxious about the future or carrying regrets from the past can make it very difficult to stay in the present – the here and now. It is easy to be so busy that we lose any awareness of the present moment and its opportunities or graces. Being overwhelmed with life and just trying to survive can result in saying no to anything new. Gaining perspective is an important challenge for those who want to grow in maturity and holiness. Perspective can come from reflecting on one’s life, someone else’s life, as well as the challenges of the moment. Let me share an email I received:

“I was watching a program on TV last night. It was about the effect that the current economy is having on people and the changes in lifestyles. It focused on a family that hadn’t been living very comfortably. The mother made at least $70,000 per year before she lost her job over a year ago. Since then they’ve lost their home and are living in an apartment that they can’t really afford but the landlord is helping them out until they get back on their feet. The interviewer asked her if she had it to do over again what she would do differently. She responded that of course she would save more but that she would also tithe. I was floored (and inspired) by this. In the face of her current struggles she wished that when she had more she would have given more to others. There’s a homily in there!”

Lent is that invitation to learn to say “no” to those habits and behaviors that are harmful and to say “yes” to habits and behaviors that will lead to greater health, deeper faith, or more serenity and holiness. The first step is often the most difficult. There is no time like NOW!

Living can be hard work and ever so tiring. Long, cold winters do not help. The anxiety about our economy can deaden our hopes and dreams and fill us with fear and dread. The daily demands and routines can tempt us to be on “auto pilot” and unaware of what is happening inside us or around us. We can dream about spring or summer or a different time and place but it still does not change the “here and now.” It is all too easy to be weary and down on life.

So where does your life come from? Who brings life to you? Who do you bring life to? Where does your energy and enthusiasm come from? Lent can give us the opportunity to take a closer look. What do you see?

It may be easier to identify what deadens your energy and life, e.g. other people, habits, your employer or coworkers, family, neighbors, politics, fears, past experiences, waiting for something to change while continuing to do the same thing over and over, illness, death. The list can go on and on. Can we eliminate or change or remove ourselves from any of these situations? What are the excuses we make to keep ourselves stuck in life-destroying situations? What we give energy to tends to have power over us. Who or what consumes your thoughts and feelings?

Enthusiasm comes from the Greek “en theos” which has to do with God which suggests to me that it is very important. We who choose to follow Christ want very much to be about God. We would be wise to be very aware of whom or what brings that rush of enthusiasm and energy into our lives and our world. It may be possible to purchase energy bars or drinks or “stuff” to give us a boost, but they tend to be short term and wear off. Where do you find that deep and sustaining source of energy and enthusiasm? Have you noticed that enthusiasm is contagious and changes people? Have you noticed that energy and enthusiasm can result from helping those in need or from exercising? It almost feels counter-intuitive to give away or use up our energy but it is how we are renewed and find more life and energy. It may be tempting to think we can “run out” and therefore we need to keep some in reserve. So often we can fear a scarcity and then the grace of enthusiasm and energy come into our lives and then there is abundance. God is about life and about abundance.

So where do you find energy and enthusiasm? It may be wise to express gratitude for that gift and to re-dedicate your commitment to those people, places, and habits that bring you life.

It’s Lent again! So now what? It is a period of 40 days – in biblical terms that means a significant period of time. What is this time for? That is the question!

One answer could be that it is time to listen and look. Perhaps that sounds easy and simple but it isn’t. That is why we are invited to do Lent together. We need to be reminded that these days are meant to be different for us so that we might be different! So who are what gets are best listening and looking? What catches our attention? What do we return to over and over again? What are we avoiding or closing our eyes and ears to? This is a time to “turn down the volume” and “tune in” more clearly to what is happening in our lives – especially as a baptized disciple of Jesus.

“How are you?” is a very common greeting – so common that we don’t expect anyone to really tell us or listen to our answers. Lent is a good time to ask “how are you” with

• Yourself
• The members of your household
• The earth we share with the other members of our planet
• The poor and hungry and homeless
• Your church
• Your faith
• Your God

As you listen and look at your life and the lives around you,

• What brings you life and hope?
• What brings you illness, destruction, and despair?
• When do you listen and look? (Sounds like prayer to me.)
• Would anyone be able to tell that you are a disciple of Jesus and a member of the Catholic Church? Would you want someone to be able to see this?
• What do you bring to life, to work, to your household and family and friends, to our planet, to the poor, to your church? Jesus teaches that it is in giving that we receive. Is that true in your life?

Do you like what you see? If you do, that is great. What can you do better? If you don’t like what you see, what will you begin to do differently? Name one thing! That is a great part of Lent – 40 days is a significant period of time. Experts say we need 21 consecutive days to create new habits. Let’s begin – together.

My husband, Gary, and I are both from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Whenever a holiday rolls around we head back to Iowa to spend time with our families. During the holidays we attend Mass at our parents’ parishes. It is during those celebrations that I often reflect on St. Anne. In our hometown churches it is taboo to greet those around you and visit with each other before Mass begins, so right away I feel a separation from those with whom I will soon be celebrating Eucharist.  After Mass begins, I sit in church wondering, “What would Fr. Don be saying during the homily right now? I think his sermon would be more meaningful to me. ” Or I brag to myself internally, “Our music at St. Anne is much better than this!”  

I always feel a little sorry for myself that I don’t get to experience the holiday Masses at St. Anne. I hear about the wonderful music from our adult and childrens’ choirs and wish I had been there to experience it. I miss the homilies and reflections from Fr. Don that are so down-to-earth and practical. I miss the friendly atmosphere within our worship space as people smile and greet one another upon entering church. So even though I love being with my family over the holidays, and wouldn’t trade those moments for the world, there is a part of me that wishes I was back at St. Anne. Recognizing that helps me appreciate the strong feelings of community and family we have developed in our parish.