Book 'em, Dano!

Who reads anymore?  I just finished an article that explored the reality of a new generation who do not read for pleasure, who have lost the habit of reading books.  I admit to my own guilt, since I do not read nearly as much as I used to; too much time on the internet.  That, and I watch baseball now.  Though I have pretty high standards for what I read online, such as one can, I readily confess that those things are not of the same level of substance as the books that I have read and could be reading.

My college years were filled with excellent books, presented by excellent teachers.  The first week of freshman year I took to heart what my advisor told me: what makes you a serious student is that when you encounter the mention of a significant book, you take it upon yourself to read that book.  In the course of that conversation, Voltaire’s Candide was mentioned; so, later that week, I read it.   This was a good way to go through college, if demanding.

But even before that, some of the books that I still find most helpful to have read, I took up in high school.  Public school, in Alabama, in the 1970’s – who knew anything was to be learned?  But reading one book a week for a year in my “Modern Novel” seminar got my juices flowing, and provided touchstones I still use today, the best of which I have since re-read.   

Evaluating now the books that shaped my understanding, I am amazed how many of them I took up after I had finished college but before entering seminary.  I was clearly discerning my identity and my vocation, but before I even spoke to a vocation director about priesthood, I had a time of voracious reading.

In my homilies and in these columns, I will share with you this or that book I have read and what it has to offer.   But those are simply grace notes on the real project of reading that you and I share; we read the revelation of the living God, the Word made flesh whose life comes to us in privileged words that convey the truth.

Clearly, the sacred scriptures are the books that open before us the knowledge and understanding we need to live life and to give life.  The lectionary is the Church’s selected program of reading from the scriptures that provides the readings we hear at Mass, laid out in a three-year cycle built on a working through of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.  You would think that being in my fourth time through this program just since becoming Pastor here, it might get …old.  But no!  Every time I open the scripture for a Sunday or a weekday, I find new insight or nuance or instruction or help or even a burning question for me that I had never noted before.  And the “frequent flyers” – passages that recur at weddings and funerals – grow in depth and complexity each time they are juxtaposed to another life and situation.

But so much of this understanding that God offers us, of Himself and of us, is laid out in literary form.  How are we to make sense of it if we are not in the habit of reading?  How can we picture a scene, understand a statement, relate to a protagonist, catch an allusion, follow a trajectory, or grasp a parallel, if we are not in the habit of reading? 

Who reads anymore?  It had better be us, and it had better be our children.  Because the reading of books, good books of literature and history and biography and serious thought, help us to read the writings of God, especially but not only in “the Good Book.”  This, and this alone, will keep us free from the thrall of salesmen, madmen, and experts, with all their scribblings.  God has revealed Himself in the Eternal Word, Jesus, whom Peter recognized as the only one who has “the words of eternal life,” and has made Himself not a hidden God, but an open book.  And to know Him, to love and understand Him, we have to keep reading.

Monsignor Smith

Nothing Fake

After all those quiet Sundays, the announcements at Mass are suddenly filled with news you can use.  Last week, there was a call for help with the upcoming Fall Festival.  I mentioned to the folks at the nine o’clock Mass that it’s a great thing to which to invite friends, neighbors, co-workers, and passersby who are not parishioners, or not even Catholic.

The Fall Festival this year will be the afternoon of Sunday, October first – only two weeks away.  It is usually the most beautiful weather of the year, and a great time to be outside with the family.  There are games and activities and vendors and tents and ponies and Boy Scouts and baked goods and just about everything, but mainly there’s US – the people of Saint Bernadette.  It’s a beautiful time to be together.  And because of that, it’s a beautiful time for other people who ordinarily are not, to be with us.

This is NOT a fundraiser; it’s what we call a community-builder.  We try to bring in more than we lay out, but the last few years we haven’t cleared that bar.  You know what?  It is STILL worth doing!  But the more folks who come, the less it will cost us.  And folks need to know we are not trying to get anything out of them; we are simply inviting them to get to know us.

So please, this week, start inviting folks to come to the Fall Festival here.  Your neighbors who have kids.  Your neighbors who don’t have kids at home anymore and might enjoy spending time around ours.  Your friends from work who might be looking for a family activity for a beautiful fall weekend afternoon.  Invite people!  It will make it more fun for all of us.

That’s not the only thing happening around here.  We had Back To School Nights this past weekend, and it was great to see the parents re-discovering, or learning for the first time, what an excellent school we have.  The kids grow and learn so fast, it is a real marvel to see all that goes into filling that growth with not only knowledge, but also truth; not only ability, but also virtue.   The people who make it happen in our school are truly gifted, and graced. 

Speaking of grace, and wisdom, and truth, I need to restock the tank.  Taking heed of the Master Himself, who said "Come away by yourselves to a lonely place, and rest a while." (Mark 6:31) I will be going on retreat this week.   I would be grateful for your prayers.  And since I will be driving that direction, I will be visiting Fr. Nick Zientarski in his new parish, Saint Christopher in Baldwin, New York.  He has invited me to concelebrate the Mass at which he will be formally installed as Pastor, Sunday morning September 24^th.  That is too good to pass up, so I will spend next weekend with him, and you will not see me about the place here as I usually am at all the Masses.  But we have a deep bench here on Team Bernadette, so you’ll hardly suffer the loss.  I will assure Fr. Nick of your prayers and love, so don’t forget to send what I am promising!

These are exciting days at the parish, and it would be easy to take it for granted that everybody is as busy and as blessed as we are.  But that is not true; our parish, our Church, our Faith are a great gift, which we have all received from someone who loved us, and cared for us.  One of the best ways to demonstrate our awareness of this debt, and our gratitude for this gift, is to extend it to others whom we love. 

Talk up the Fall Festival; it’s a blast.  If you hear someone expressing dismay with the school situation of one or more of their kids, invite them to examine ours.  It’s a good time to transfer rather than endure a bad year!  And offer somebody a glimpse of the Faith that sustains you, and an invitation to explore it in RCIA.  You see, you have the news that your friends can use.

Monsignor Smith

Of all people!

Let me just say that Gov. Larry Hogan has done a great thing, and we should all thank him.  No, no, I don’t want to drag you off into the realms of political controversy; I am talking about something that is easy for everyone to applaud: starting school after Labor Day.  Gov. Hogan initiated it for the public schools, Montgomery County parish schools chose to follow, and it was GREAT.

As something of a seasoned observer of families and schoolkids, let me just say that several years ago, as the start date for schools continued to creep earlier and earlier until it was more than a week before August was over, I saw discombobulation, disappointment, and disorientation in our kids and their families.  They were not ready yet; they were not done with summer yet.  It was untimely.   

Of course, it was exacerbated for the teachers, who start a week before classes begin, and for the administration, including me, who start in earnest several weeks before that.  It was as if August was not a summer month at all!

This year, it was clear on the first day of school that the schoolkids and their families were ready.  It was obvious in the preceding weeks that they were enjoying having time to wind down their summer program, and to do their preparatory work for the change in mission that comes with the school year.  There was less angst, less anguish, and far less anxiety.  In their place was eager anticipation.

Our start to the school year was marked by the careful oversight of our new principal, Mr. Ted Ewanciw.  Having been in the leadership of the school for years, and being a parishioner here for decades, he has a clear vision of what our school can be and should be.  It was clear in the preparation for the beginning of class, and there is also a clue in the motto he has chosen for the year:  I must become a saint.  These are the words of our own patroness, Saint Bernadette Soubirous. 

The first day of classes fell on the new feast of the newly proclaimed Saint, Theresa of Calcutta.  Most of us remember Mother Theresa as someone who was very much of our times, and even of our place, as she visited the US frequently.  Saints are not long ago and far away, they are here and now!

And the first Friday morning school Mass fell on the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the seventieth (70^th) anniversary of the first opening day of our parish school, September 8, 1947.  Can you believe?  Harder for me to believe is that I have been Pastor for more than one-seventh of those first days: this was my twelfth, and counting!

It is important to keep these anniversaries, and we have more of them as the year unfolds.  But it is also important for families and kids to have time together to play, to travel, and to learn in other ways, as well as to prepare for school.   That all of this occurred for our kids this year on days that are blessed with local and eternal significance is a good reason to thank, of all people, our state’s governor.

Monsignor Smith