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Christmas 2011 — The Nativity of the Lord

Thursday, December 22nd, 2011

Sunday, December 25, 2011          

Isaiah 9:1-6     Titus 2:11-14      Luke 2:1-14 

Merry Christmas everybody! 

Today we celebrate the coming of God as a human being.  God became one of us in a planned, deliberate way.  God chose the time and place of His birth and identified with the poor and the “have-nots.”  As I was thinking about the first Christmas, it struck me that God also chose His mother.  It is said that at the time of her pregnancy Mary was young, an early- to mid-teenager.  God chose a teenager to be His mother!  God’s ways are surely not our own!  If I were to choose my mother, wouldn’t I choose a more mature woman who had experience with motherhood?  Do we think that God “took a chance on a teenager?”  When we think like that we short change teens.  In reality, as awkward as they can be, teenagers are basically very resilient, creative, and generous.  They are full of pep and energy and to them anything seems possible.  Like the old saying: “Everything is possible.  The impossible may take a little longer!”

In Mary’s first encounter with God’s messenger (angel), who announced to her that she would have a baby, she reacted like a typical teenager.  “How can this be since I have had no relations with my fiancé?”  The angel continued: “The Holy Spirit will overshadow you and you will conceive a son.”  After thinking about it Mary said: “Whatever!  Let it be done as you said!”  Think about it.  Only a teenager would be able to accept this “far out” scenario as possible.  The gospel writings go on to say that Mary “kept this in her heart.”  This is another teen trait.  Did you ever ask your teenager: “How was school today?”  And you received a one-word response: “Fine.”  Getting information from a teenager is like digging for gold. If you get any, it is always a small amount at a time.  For Mary, no matter what others may say about her, she has a great secret inside her and is secure in who she is.  Any new mother’s dream is that her baby will be special.  And Mary kept all this in her heart!

Then Joseph and Mary had to travel to Bethlehem to register for the Roman Census.  At the time of this trip, Mary was due.  Then came the moment of birthing.  There was no place at the inn.  Jesus was probably born in a cave where animals were kept.  Mary accepted help from local midwives and they used an animal feeding trough with fresh hay as a crib for the newborn.  (It’s easy to imagine that Mary would think that using a trough for a crib was a great idea.)  The baby is born healthy and the parents and the helpers are happy and all smiles.  Then a bunch of shepherds came in to see the newborn and to visit with the new parents.  Those shepherds must have felt really welcomed by Mary who was probably their age. The shepherds probably didn’t have gifts but they had smiles and energy.  And Mary must have just loved showing off her newborn baby boy!

Then the Gospel narratives tell us that the young family had to get out of the country because they were in danger.  So they fled to Egypt to be safe, as long as her baby was thriving and safe.  Mary took all this in stride.  Joseph must have appreciated the fact that his young wife was able to adapt to a new country, making new friends out of strangers and showing off her baby as mothers do.

I love working with teenagers, probably because part of me never grew up and probably because I’m prejudiced in their favor.  I believe in their overall strength and sense of adventure.  I believe in their basic goodwill.  And when I get to peek under their surface defenses, I usually find goodness and honesty … for sure, a not very experienced goodness, but goodness in the “raw” so to speak.  And that is very exciting.  It allows me to see “previews of coming attractions.”

In our hospital, a set of chimes rings over the intercom system whenever a baby is born.  The chimes ring year round.  Every new life is acknowledged and celebrated and eagerly received.  We do our best to recognize new life around us.  It serves to remind us of the life inside us that we already have and that probably needs to be “renewed.”

When we think about the “teenage phase” of life, we should think that it is a great way to prepare for adult life.  It should not surprise us.  God planned it this way.

Kenn Rancourt
Chaplain  

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Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Monday, October 24th, 2011

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Matthew 23:34-40

In order to understand today’s Gospel reading, we need to say a few words about the social culture of Jesus’ time.

- A widow was a childless woman whose husband had died. She was reduced to begging.

- An orphan was a child who had no male guardian.

- Aliens were strangers who lived among people who were not relatives.

These were the “at risk” people in those times. Since they were most vulnerable and without personal or societal power, God’s love was clearly focused in their direction. God has always been attentive to the needy, defenseless, and oppressed. In fact, that’s how Israel got to “know” God – while they were aliens and strangers in Egypt. With this in mind, let’s now hear the Gospel for today.

Jesus lived a public life. People took notice of Him because he had complete internal freedom. He was a teacher and He taught what He had learned from His Abba. Jesus said what He wanted, when He wanted, with a self-assurance that “riled up” the graduates from Rabbinic Schools.

One day, a lawyer, who knew the laws and commandments in detail, confronted Jesus. (There were, at that time, 633 commandments to obey: 365, one for every day of the year; and 268, one for each bone in the human body.) The lawyer, knowing that Jesus did not attend “law school,” asked this question. “Which is the greatest commandment in the law?” With His usual aplomb, Jesus replied: “Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” And before the lawyer could react, Jesus quickly added: “And the second commandment is like the first: ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’ The whole law of Moses depends on these two commandments.”

In Hebrew, the word for “love” is the word RAHAM, which is derived from the word RAHAMIN, which means the “womb where children are made.” So God’s love is the intimate love a mother has for her children. This describes God’s attachment to His people. The term was very bold and personal, but its meaning somehow got lost in the overwhelming numbers of commandments. Jesus cut through those numbers and reduced them to two easy to remember commandments. In Jesus’ mind and 5 through His words, Jesus simplified life for anyone listening.

We show we love God not so much by observing the numerous commandments, but by loving what God loves. And God favors the widow, the helpless, the oppressed, the powerless, the suffering, etc.

It sounds a lot like Health Care, doesn’t it, where we care for the sick, the feeble, the elderly, the suffering, the helpless, the depressed and the dying? That’s why working in Health Care is more than just a job. It’s a response to a calling. It’s loving and caring for the people God loves the most. It’s like being the hands of God’s love. That is one of the reasons I don’t retire. As long as I can serve the patients, I plan to keep doing it. It assures me that when I die, I’ll die alive!!!

Kenn Rancourt

Chaplain

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20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Monday, August 15th, 2011

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Isaiah 56:1,6-7      Romans 11:13-32       Matthew 15:21-28

I have always thought that mothers are more powerful than God. In nature a mother animal is more ferocious in protecting her little ones than the fathers. That’s one of the reasons that I deplore the fact that we know very little about God’s feminine side. For centuries we have diminished our perception of God by calling God a “HIM.” We have, in fact, created a god in our own image and that’s not right.

In today’s gospel story, Jesus meets up with a loving, worried, and even panicked strong mother. She is a Canaanite woman who wants to “save” her daughter. (At that time, the gospel story tells us that Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. People who lived in these places were non-believers. But in this case, it was Jesus who crossed those boundaries and who went to Tyre and Sidon. But Jesus is known to cross boundaries and barriers that no one else dared to.)

As Jesus and his disciples were walking and minding their own business, this woman kept yelling: “Have pity on me, Son of David.” At first Jesus does not acknowledge her, so the woman keeps yelling: “Have pity on me, Son of David!” The disciples are getting annoyed and say: “She won’t stop yelling. She’s a real pain. Please make her stop.” Jesus says to her: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But “mom” keeps on yelling. Then Jesus says to her: “It’s not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs!” Mom should have been insulted but motherhood pre-empted her personal feelings, and she got in Jesus’ face and said: “Please, Lord, even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters!” Mom would not take no for an answer, and she challenged Jesus. She got the best of that argument!!! To Jesus’ credit, he bowed before motherhood. (I wonder if this intense mother reminded Him of His own mother?) Jesus looked at her and said: “Great is your faith!” (He was probably thinking to himself “ . . . and you’ll keep yelling until you get what you want!”) Her daughter was healed from that hour. Mom wins again! Yay!!!

Those of you who are reading this reflection and who are mothers know what I’m talking about. To you, this way of acting is not unusual or outrageous at all! For mothers, this way of acting is everyday “normal”! Isn’t it?

Motherhood is a direct sharing of how God loves us. It’s not rational. It doesn’t have to make sense. We are loved by God because God loves us. Period. We had nothing to do with it. God loves us first as only a mother can.

If we personally realize and accept this, we will forever be secure and safe and God’s love will never let go!!!

Yay for us!

Kenn Rancourt
Chaplain

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15th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Thursday, July 7th, 2011

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Isaiah 55:10-11      Romans 8:18-23       Matthew 13:1-23

My mom was the oldest of 18 children. She was the first to marry and I became the first grandchild. When I was about 7 years old, I knew my aunts and uncles as teenagers. In fact, my uncle Roger, the youngest of the 18, was only 1½ years older than me. Every summer I’d go spend 2 weeks at my grandparents and was part of the “Tribe” of my extended family. I remember my grandfather coming home from work in Augusta’s Edward Mill every day around 3:30pm. He would change clothes and always go to work in his garden. With 18 children to support, he always had a 5-acre garden about 2 blocks from his home. The family went to the store mostly for bread, cereal and milk. My grandmother would can hundreds of jars of vegetables in the fall and it would last them until the following harvest.

I could help in the garden only when my grandpa was present. His garden was not just a hobby, but it was survival. I also remember him bartering his vegetables for chickens and pigs from his neighbors.

The gospel reading this Sunday is about a gardener who planted his garden. Jesus seems to speak from personal experience as he compares the Word of God to seeds. A farmer went out to sow his garden seed. Some seeds fell on the path and the birds came and ate them up. Some seeds fell on rocky ground and they sprouted but quickly withered for lack of roots. Some seeds fell on rich soil and produced fruit a hundred, or sixty, or thirty fold. The disciples approached him and said, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” So Jesus took a deep breath and said: “hear the parable of the Sower.” The seeds are the Word of God…Seeds that fall on the path are like the Word of God received by people who don’t “get it.” Seeds that fall on rocky ground are like the Word of God received by people who receive the Word but have no lasting power. Finally, seeds that fall on fertile ground are like the Word of God that is accepted and understood and produces a hundred or sixty or thirty fold fruits.

Jesus’ patience is truly astounding. He cannot be clearer than he’s just been. The Word of God comes from God, but the ground it falls upon is us. We are challenged to be rich soil. And in order to be rich soil, we need to develop our characters and personalities and translate our words into productive actions. The Word of God is growing in us and is meant to grow in others through us.

When we care for others, we share ourselves as well as God’s living word. We are more than healthcare professionals; we are God’s living gardens. The sole purpose for gardens is to feed us and keep us living. Today, it gets to be difficult to tell the difference between curing and healing . . . but both make patients feel better . . . and that’s what hospitals are for.

P.S. St. Francis said: “We need to preach the goodness constantly…and sometimes we can use words!”

Kenn Rancourt
Chaplain

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Trinity Sunday

Friday, June 17th, 2011

Sunday, June 19

Exodus: 34:4-6, 8-9           John 3:16-18 

Our parish in Waterville was the last parish to accept the new liturgy of Vatican II.  One day, I was trying to explain to my dad the reasons for the liturgical changes.  My point was the Tabernacle was on one side of the altar and the open Bible (Word of God) was on the other side and the middle altar, now facing the people, was where God’s presence happened.  My dad had a hard time understanding how God was genuinely present in His word.  In the course of that conversation I said to him:  “When you said ‘I do’ to mom on your wedding day didn’t those words change yours and mom’s lives?  You’re present and powerful in your words too!”  That did it.  He got it.  He understood that words can affect people.  When my dad said to me “I love you,” those words became my rock of belonging.  We continued on that level of discussion until we were able to say that our words were the fabric of our relationships.  What’s the point of words if we don’t build relationships with them?

One of the prayers of Trinity Sunday says: “you are children of God.”  So God has given you the Spirit of His Son to form your hearts and make you cry out “Abba, Father!” 

The Trinity is not catholic math.  The Trinity is celebrated to show that God is relationships . . . God, the Abba, loving His Son and that love is Spirit.  We just can’t believe in God and do nothing with that faith.

I just finished reading the book by Kirk Douglas, the actor.  The title of the book is “My Stroke of Luck” . . . which he wrote after he suffered a stroke.  Towards the end of the book he digs deeply into his Jewish tradition and imagines God saying:  “You can pray all you want.  I’m sick and tired of being told that I’m all powerful and all this and all that.  How about praying less and doing more!  More action, more loving your neighbor.”  Kirk Douglas goes on to say:  “I don’t know if God talks like that, but that’s what I’d say if I were God!”

That’s what relationships are.  It’s doing something for others.  It’s being active in developing bonds with someone you love.  God is not static but always active and we proclaim that when we say that God is Trinity.

Let it be our goal to treat patients and clients with an active faith that reaches the others in the depth of their needs.  If we are health care workers in any sense of the word, then we live our faith through our service, through our professions.  Through our work we enter into relationship with people who are in need, who are sick and who may be dying.  I can’t think of a better way to be alive!

Kenn Rancourt
Pastoral Care

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Third Sunday of Easter

Thursday, May 5th, 2011

Sunday, May 8, 2011                 

Acts of the Apostles 2:14, 22-33                   Luke 24:13-35

The event of Emmaus is full of wonderful details we need to notice.  On the first day of the week, two of Jesus’ followers were going to a village, seven miles from Jerusalem, called Emmaus.  They were conversing about the things that had occurred.  While they were debating, Jesus drew near and walked with them.

He said: “What are you guys discussing?”  They replied: “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place in these days?”  Jesus said: “What sort of things?”  And the two friends went on to describe how let down they were . . .   “We were hoping that He would be the one to redeem Israel.”  In response, Jesus, beginning with Moses and all the prophets, interpreted to them what referred to Him in all the scriptures.

It was getting dark and the two friends begged the “visitor” to stay with them that night and to continue His journey in the morning.  While He was at table with them, He took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them.  It was then that the two friends recognized Him, and as soon as they did Jesus vanished from their sight.  (In His newly risen body, Jesus just loved to appear and disappear that way . . . going through locked doors and leaving abruptly by vanishing.)

Why didn’t the two friends recognize Jesus when He joined up with them walking?  First, Jesus had just been executed and they didn’t expect to see Him alive.  Second, as an ordinary traveler, Jesus had to be dusty and He wanted to know how He was perceived by others.  The two friends were sympathetic but depressed that Jesus had met such an end.

At the breaking of bread they had recognized Him and, as expected, Jesus pulled the disappearing act.  The two friends hurried back to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the eleven apostles.  The two friends recounted what had taken place on their way home and that they had recognized Jesus at the breaking of the bread.

This Emmaus encounter seems to have taken place on Easter afternoon.  Jesus was just getting use to His newly resurrected body.  I suggest that’s why He “played around with it.”  After the resurrection, Jesus remained human.  We know that not long after that Sunday He crashed in where the eleven were gathered, went through locked doors and interacted with His disciples.  The message of this story is that the risen Jesus maintains His humanity and reacts like the man that He is.  He’s curious about what others are thinking about him.  He visits His friends and lets them see Him and touch Him to show how real He is!

During one of His sudden visits, He asks for some fish to eat, “I’m not a ghost. I’m me!  Ghosts do not eat fish.”  His followers had to get use to seeing Him risen and alive.

Another time, Jesus is on the shore while His disciples are out fishing.  When they land their boat, Jesus has already prepared for them a “fish fry.”  Even a risen Jesus eats and cooks.

Now that’s a Jesus I can relate to.  He is the Son of God and He tells me that I too am a child of God.  “When you pray, say Abba – holy be your name, etc.”  Only a child can call his father Abba!  That I can relate to!  I believe that what happened to Jesus in His resurrection is suppose to happen to me and to you, too.  I’m not sure how this will happen, but I believe it will.  I trust that Jesus is the first born of many and we are the many.

When I meet patients in the hospital who are down on themselves, I remind them that they too can pray the “Our Father” by starting with Abba!  We can screw up, but we are not screw-ups.  We can have illnesses, but we are not a disease.  No matter how we feel, we always remain Abba’s child.  Now that feels good.  Our Abba’s love for us does not depend on the good or the bad we have done.  God’s love for us started with God.  And no matter what, we are loved by Abba. Why? Just Because! 

Kenn Rancourt
Pastoral Care

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Third Sunday in Lent

Monday, April 4th, 2011

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Romans 5:1-2, 5-8          John 4:5-42

Jesus engages a Samaritan woman in conversation and asks her for a drink.  (His disciples had gone to town to buy food.)  The Samaritan woman is shocked that Jesus, a Jew, would accept a drink from her . . .  “for Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.”  When the disciples returned with groceries, they were genuinely surprised that Jesus was talking with “that woman.”  Jesus noticed their amazement, but neither Jesus nor they said anything.

What is striking here is that Jesus never judged this woman.  “I have no husband,” she said.  And Jesus responds, “I know.  You’ve had five husbands and the man you now have is not your husband.”  Had this been a harsh judgment against this woman, she would have stomped away never to come back.  But she went home and came back with neighbors who invited Jesus to stay with them a little longer.  He stayed two more days, accepted their hospitality, and ate with them.  Many more began to believe in Him because of His word.

People were always critical of Jesus because He associated and ate with sinners.  “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”  If Jesus had not eaten with sinners, He would have had to eat alone all His life or starve to death.  It’s so easy to fall into the practice of judging others to be not as good as we are.  After all, He did come for sinners.  Thank God, that includes me and everybody whom I know.

Where do we come off judging people?  Who are we to send people to hell?  We who are with sin and imperfections pointing accusing fingers at others and telling them how bad they are? What arrogance!

I admit my mistakes, but I genuinely try to learn from them.  Isn’t that the way we all learn?  When we don’t learn from our mistakes, we keep on repeating them until they become habits.  We all know how habits are really hard to change.

Elie Weisel is a well-known author, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, and a survivor of a Nazi concentration camp.  He tells this story.  One day in the concentration camp, the Nazis hung a 13-year-old, emaciated boy.  He was not heavy enough to hang and it took him more that 30 minutes to die at the end of the rope.  A prisoner, horrified, asked Elie Weisel:  “Is the Lord in our midst or not?  Where is God, huh, where is God?”  Elie answered with tears in his eyes, “He’s right there hanging and dying!”

No wonder Mr. Weisel went through a period of not believing in a Good God!  He had witnessed so much death and suffering that he could not reconcile that with a God who watched over His people.  In the 1970’s, I met Mr. Weisel at Bates College.  I felt his unspeakable suffering and marveled that he still had hope.

We meet many sick people in our health care facility and many do not consider themselves a member of a church anymore.  They have been too hurt by someone in that church.  Sometimes patients can talk about it and sometimes they can’t.  But along with the non-practice of their religious traditions, we can tangibly feel the long-standing, deep hurt that has ruined their inner peace.  Are these people to be judged as “fallen away” or “faithless” or “weak”?   I always assume that they are wounded and their wounds are still raw!  These wounded people still relate to God, but no longer relate to church.  Jesus came for them, too.  If Jesus were here today in person, He would certainly speak with them, too.  In fact, the lesson from today’s gospel is that Jesus will engage everyone and anyone with no exception.  It is not everyone except “Samaritans” or “gays” or “punks” or “hookers” or “unbelievers.”  It’s everyone who wants to speak with Him — no exception!  Are we lucky or not?  We will not be excluded from Jesus’ care no matter who we are or what we have done!

Kenn Rancourt
Pastoral Care

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Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Monday, February 14th, 2011

Sunday, February 13, 2011    
1 Cor. 3:16-23            Matthew 5:38-48

In today’s reading, St. Paul says: “If anyone among you considers himself wise in this age, let him become a fool so as to become wise.  For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of God.”  St. Matthew says the same thing this way: “But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil.  If someone wants to sue you over your tunic, hand over your cloak as well.  Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go for two miles.  I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who are against you.”

I have read these passages often in my life and, way down deep, I’ve always believed that “off beat” point of view.  One day my belief was tested.  In the late 1960s, I was invited to preach a parish retreat in one of our Oblate Fathers parish in Plattsburg, New York.  I was known as the “hippie-priest” with long flowing hair and a full brown-reddish beard . . . but I was a good storyteller and a decent preacher.

I was driving from Rhode Island to upper state New York; and on my trip, I picked up a hitch- hiking sailor who was going to Plattsburg to visit his family.  About an hour into our ride, he said: “Would it surprise you if I told you I had a gun?”  “No,” I answered.  “What if I robbed you?  What would you do?”  “Nothing,” I said, laughing.  “You wouldn’t get rich robbing me of about $45 of travel money.  I’m a priest and responding to an invitation to preach a parish mission in Plattsburg.”  “Well,” he said.  “I could leave you on the side of the road and steal your car.”  “Yes, you could,” I sighed.  “But robbed or alive or dead, I’d still be more of a man than you would be!  I’m stopping for lunch.  Do you want to eat?  My treat.”  “Sure,” he said, somewhat puzzled.  We had lunch together and he reassured me that he was just kidding when he talked about the gun.  I drove him home to his front porch and we parted with friendly goodbyes.

When I left his house, I couldn’t help but think about today’s gospel reading.  Although that sailor had said threatening and scary things, I had not acted threatened or scared.  Yet he was completely “disarmed.”  This episode confirmed my “weirdness” and contributes to how I am inside and always will be.  It may be odd or “ditzy,”  but I feel wise in the Bible way.

About 15 years ago, I was confronted by three teenage punks on an Auburn sidewalk.  When I came face to face with them, they blocked my way and one of them said: “Hey, old man, we don’t move for idiots.”  They stood their ground.  I looked at them very calmly and said: “Well, today is your lucky day because I do!” and instantly crossed the street to do my food shopping.  It took the “punks” 30 seconds to figure out that I had won that confrontation.  They shook their fists at me and I just smiled at them and proceeded to do my groceries.

Now that I’m old and slow and have to walk with a cane, I think about those interesting events in my life and realize that being foolish in the eyes of people can be being wise in the eyes of God.  I may be old and slow and handicapped, but I’m facing my life’s conclusion with a smile in my spirit that nothing can erase.  Being wise in the eyes of God is not just the spiritual thing to do… it works in this life.  It’s practical and keeps others scratching their heads, wondering if I’m for real!  I have always considered spirituality practical and of-this-world.

We meet practical spirituality every day in our healthcare duties . . . in people who are suffering and don’t complain . . . in patients who hear one bad news item after another . . . in people younger than we are who are dying yet manage to smile at us . . . in people who face death with a living faith that puts us to shame.  Oh, yes, spirituality is alive and well and all around us, and it’s up to us to recognize it and be strengthened by it. 

Kenn Rancourt

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Baptism of the Lord

Thursday, January 6th, 2011

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Matthew 3:13-17

 John the Baptist was baptizing in the Jordan River when Jesus showed up and asked John to baptize him.  John objected and said: “I should be baptized by you!”  A friendly argument ensued when Jesus said, “just allow it for now.”  Don’t forget, John and Jesus were related and were about the same age.  They grew up together and played together, so they were familiar with each other.

“But when Jesus came up from the water, the heavens were opened for him and John saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon Jesus.  And a voice came from the heavens saying, ‘This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.’”

I can personally relate to this affirmation of Jesus by his Father.  When I was 12 years old, I was in my cellar quietly painting our furnace and listening to the Red Sox.  (The furnace was supposed to be painted two shades of green and I painted it gray and black.  That’s when I found out I was color blind.).  From the cellar window I could see my father’s legs along with our neighbor’s, Val.  They were sitting on the front steps of our porch.  I turned off the Red Sox game to better eavesdrop on their conversation.  They were planning a fishing trip to a local lake.  The neighbor asked my dad, “Are you planning to bring your oldest son?”  “Yes,” he said.  “Are you?”  “No,” Val answered, “My son doesn’t like fishing and he can be a pain in the neck.  Maybe we could just go the two of us?”  “No,” replied my father “my son is coming.  He loves fishing and he’s helpful around the house and he has good grades in school.”  (I loved being with my dad more than I loved fishing, but my dad didn’t know that.)  My father was proud of me and he was bragging about me.  I never forgot it.  His words to our neighbor now sound like “this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.”

We all have moments in our lives when we’re not sure of ourselves.  At one time or another we all need to be reassured.  I hope that you’ve experienced moments when someone in your life cycle affirmed you like, “I couldn’t ask for a better daughter.” “I couldn’t ask for a better son!”  “This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.”  This statement sounds very much like:

“I am so proud of you!” when you graduated from high school or college.
“I’m so happy for you” when you got married.
“Wow a new grandchild.  Thanks so much.”
“You’re the best friend I could ever have.”
“What would I do without you?”
“Thank God you’re around.” 

My son and my daughter are adults now and on their own.  But every conversation we have, in person or on the phone, is always punctuated with, “Bye Dad, I love you!”  I never take it for granted and I’d be very disappointed if I didn’t hear it! 

When God can’t be everywhere at once, He created mothers and fathers and best friends and siblings and children and grandchildren and special aunts and uncles who are not even related to us.  All these special people can remind us of how special we are to someone. 

Much of our work in healthcare is focused on helping patients through serious illnesses.  That’s called “curing.”  But our personal attention to patients can make them feel special and worthy.  That’s called “healing.”  Curing is not always guaranteed, but healing is always in our power and somehow patients instinctively feel that. 

The next time someone affirms you, please pay attention to the comment, accept it, appreciate it, and especially don’t forget it.  I never forgot when my dad included me in his fishing plans (that was 63 years ago).  I’ll bet that Jesus never forgot “this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.”

Kenn Rancourt
Pastoral Care

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Second Sunday of Advent

Sunday, November 28th, 2010

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Matthew 3:1-12

The prophet Isaiah had announced him, John the Baptist: “A voice of one crying in the desert… Prepare the Way of the Lord! Make straight his paths. Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand!”

At best, John the Baptist was an original character. At worst, he was a weirdo. It is said of him: “He wore clothing of camel’s hair and had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts (bugs) and wild honey.” And yet he was effective as he preached “the coming of the Kingdom.” He got people’s attention. Even the religious leaders, the Saducees and the Pharisees, sought his guidance. But John was tough on them. “Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance. It isn’t enough to have Abraham as your ancestor. You will be judged according to the good fruit you produce!”

“Good fruit?” What is John talking about? It isn’t very complicated. We’re all called to produce good fruit, like kindness, giving people hope, helping others, raising children, being good to our pets, caring for family members, being a willing taxi driver for our kids and their friends, etc. Producing good fruit is the ordinary, everyday response to our personal, professional, and family responsibilities. We don’t think much about it, but we usually give it our best. When we do our best with generous love, the fruit we produce is really sweet.

On November 1, 2010, we celebrated All Saints Day, which is the official recognition of day by day good fruits, the celebration of good people doing what we’re supposed to do. Nothing in the spiritual life is automatic. The Saducees and Pharisees thought, “all I need to do is to be baptized and I’ll be all set!” No one is ever once and for all “all set.”

As life develops and as we get older our circumstances change, but we still are called to produce good fruit. Once it was toward our children, now it’s our grandchildren and helping out our grown children. Our own children never outgrow the need for parents; in fact, many grow to bear good fruit themselves as they now help and assist their own parents meet their aging needs with diminished capabilities. It’s called life cycle. It’s called full circle living.

We work in a healthcare facility. We all have different jobs to do. We produce “good fruit” when we do our jobs well. We can be trained to be housekeepers or nurses or aides or doctors or case managers or secretaries or chaplains or food specialists or material managers or department heads. We produce good fruit when we perform our jobs with competence and when we live our lives according to our personalized spiritual convictions.

In Advent, we prepare the “way of the Lord” inside us. Jesus is already born and has been for 2000 years. During this Advent, we are celebrating Jesus being born in us. Together we can indeed bear very sweet fruit. 

Kenn Rancourt
Pastoral Care

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