Accepting Your Own Goodness!

For many shame based reasons, it is always easier to acknowledge our flaws than our good features.  Perhaps, in the beginning, we sought modesty over vanity when we learned to focus on imperfections.  Since we didn’t want to be conceited, we downplayed our good qualities until we forgot they existed.  But even the best intentions can backfire.

To be healthy is to comprehend truth.  And the truth is, there is much that is right about us.  The fact that we are thinking, reflecting and even perhaps trying, says many good things about us – that we are open-minded, sincere, and willing to make an effort.  Until we accept the truth, our reality is based on partial truth.  Habitual self – depreciation isn’t a virtue; it’s a handicap and needs to be eliminated.  “I am a good person, and I am becoming better everyday.  I will not define myself by my flaws. 

Today’s Thought: “Unless I accept my virtues, I most certainly will be overwhelmed by my faults.” Robert Coleman

Advice this Mother's Day

Take into account that great love and great achievements involve risk…..Be gentle with the earth…..Follow the three R’s: Respect for self, Respect for others, Responsibility for all your actions….When you lose, don’t lose the lesson….don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship….Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other….Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values….Share your knowledge, it’s a way to achieve immortality…Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before….Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a stroke of luck…When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it….A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation of your life….In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation.  Don’t bring up the past….Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon….Appreciate your mother for all she does for you, remember you only get one mother.

39...and Counting!

On May 5, 1973, 39 years ago, I was walking down the aisle of St. Paul Cathedral with 26 of my classmates to be ordained by Bishop Vincent Leonard to serve in priestly ministry for the Diocese of Pittsburgh.  We were and still are the largest ordination class in over 100 years for the Diocese.  There are 16 of us still serving in priestly ministry.  What   Bishop in the country wouldn’t give to have an ordination class of that size, not only in size but in quality?  The ordination class of 1973, has had an impact and has made a mark on the Diocese.  We have served the parishes to which we were assigned with creativity, enthusiasm and have used our own unique qualities, talents and gifts to serve our people and thus build the church, the Body of Christ, wherever we were planted.

Anniversaries are special times to pause, reflect, remember and give thanks.  It is overwhelming to see how wonderfully God has worked in my life and called me to be part of the places and peoples lives whom I have had the privilege of serving.  It is hard to believe that 29 of those years have been spent serving the Churches of Duquesne in one form or another. I am grateful to all those people who over the last 39 years have allowed me into their life, their heart and their family.  I am convinced that “priestly ministry” is about relationship – all of us together experiencing Jesus and church through the sacraments and at the same time touching each other’s lives in a way that we can never ever be the same again.  I wish to thank all of you for allowing me to enter your life as we continue to build bonds of love and friendship in the name of the Lord ... Peace,   Fr. Dennis

Some of Life's Lessons!

If I had a chance to ask God a question, I would ask Him, “As a parent, what are some of the lessons, you would want me to teach my children.  God would reply with a smile and say:  “To learn they cannot make anyone love them.  What they can do is let themselves be loved.” “To learn that what is most valuable is not what they have in their lives, but who they have in their lives.” “To learn that it is not good to compare themselves to others. All will be judged individually on their own merits, not as a group on a comparison basis.” “To learn that a rich person is not the one who has the most, but is the one who needs the least.” “To learn that it only takes a few seconds to open profound wounds in persons we love and that it takes many years to heal them.” “To learn to forgive by practicing forgiveness.” “To learn that there are persons who love them dearly, but simply do not know how to express or show their feeling.” To learn that money can buy everything but happiness.” “To learn that two different people can look at the same thing and see it totally differently.” “To learn that a true friend is someone who knows everything about them  and likes them anyway.” “To learn that it is not always enough that they be forgiven by others, but that they have to forgive themselves.”

Christianity - A Call to Mutual Service!

In his reflections on Jesus’ call to mutual service, Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Life Together, Harper & Row), suggested that every Christian community must confront the ambitious wrangling that set the apostles, James & John at odds with the other disciples.  Bonhoeffer called the desire for position and greatness “the struggle of the natural person for self-justification” whereby a person compares themselves with others and judges or condemns them.

Bonhoeffer suggested certain modes of ministry or service that will edify and encourage holy and wholesome community life.  1) the service of holding one’s tongue so as to prevent undo scrutiny, criticism and domination while allowing the other to grow freely in God’s image rather than mine.  2) the service of humility that places the honor, opinion and well-being of another before my own.  3) the service of listening that does not listen with only half an ear or presumes to know what the other has to say but listens carefully and attentively, as if with the ears of God.  4) the service of active helpfulness that remembers nobody is too good for service to others.  5) the service of bearing one another’s burdens in a way that does not make the other person feel like a burden.  6) the service of proclaiming of communicating consolation and speaking the truth of God’s ways in the seasons of human experience.  When these are in place then we are following the call to service.