Monday, August 2, 2010

Saint Mary's, Bellevue - August 1, 2010 - Eric

What's Happening:
Surprise, we went to Saint Mary's in Bellevue! This was quite the shock to me also. I got an excited phone call from Brianne at 11:15 saying the Mass at Saints Peter and Paul was at 10:30 and it's their parish festival. I pulled over a few blocks from the church and we quickly reformulated a plan. Unfortunately, it wasn't just the issue of attending Mass, we had our FOCUS missionaries with us, Amy and Shannon, and this was when we were going to meet with them and 'formalize' our support. Plus we had people that hadn't come before, if we missed you, we are so sorry.

Fortunately the group of people that go to Mass Chaos make being flexible easy. I am probably the most uptight one in the group. I suggest that Saint Mary's in Bellevue had a 12:30 Mass, but it turned out that Amy and Shannon couldn't stay that long, and Frank wouldn't be able to go either, but we did have time to meet ... at Dairy Queen in Old Towne Bellevue. So off we went.

I am so thankful to have the friends that I do. They make regular occurrences seem adventurous, and missteps like today seem easy to adjust to ... I am particularly thankful because I like to plan, and can get flustered when things don't go the way I thought they would. My friends and the people I have met on this adventure have taught me much and well. God has so blessed me with the people I have in my life, what more could I possibly want or need? I'll store these treasures up in Heaven, and then I can take them with me when I pass.

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Frank, Teri, me, Amy, Shannon, Brianne, Ruth, Frank, Joe. Some might ask why we are outside a Dairy Queen, but I ask 'why not?'

Location and Architecture:
Saint Mary's, 2302 Crawford Street, Bellevue. Saint Mary's in Bellevue is my home parish, and so I'm obviously very comfortable there. Instead of something about the architecture, I'd like to tell a story with a picture.

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Not long after I began to attend Saint Mary's I was at church one Sunday, sitting about in the spot where I took the picture above. I was sitting during the Homily listening when I got this feeling that someone was standing behind me, it wasn't a bad feeling or a 'someone is watching me' feeling, I just felt the presence of someone. I turned around and looked up, expecting to see someone standing there, but instead what I saw was the sun shining through the halo surrounding baby Jesus in the picture above. I still get chills every time I think about it.

100_4791.JPG - Eric 100_4789.JPG - Eric
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You can see all my pictures from Saint Mary's in Bellevue here.

FOCUS:
Several weeks back Joe and Brianne started thing about a service project that we could do. As we prayerfully considered the options, we went to Saint Columbkille, we had the pleasure of hearing from FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students) missionary Shannon Zurcher describe her mission, and it was fun to see Frank perk up when she said she'd be at his alma mater at the University of Illinois Chicago. The next Mass Chaos we were joined by Amy Brammer, a FOCUS missionary who will be at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois this year. After meeting them both, it became apparent that, although this is a little bit of a stretch to call it a service project, it was what God was putting right in front of us to do ... and if I needed any other sign, at Saint Mary's today there was another FOCUS missionary there to make his pitch for help.

Mass Chaos and myself have committed to supporting Amy and Shannon this year as best we can financially, but more importantly through prayer. I invite you to do both. Their mission of helping college students to establish or keep a relationship with Jesus Christ is not just a great way to find to keep young adults connected to God, but it will help to establish the next generation of leadership in the church.

We hope to bring you some stories from Amy and Shannon here, and we'll have a blurb about each of them on them side, and how you can help to support them too.

Lord, I pray that you watch over your servants Amy and Shannon, bless them with your Spirit that they made be good guides, and protect them from all that would harm them during their missions.

Gospel:
"Then he said to the crowd, 'Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one's life does not consist of possessions.'" Luke 12:15

Did you know that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with being wealthy? There also is nothing fundamentally wrong with being poor either, or anything in between. Why is this? Because all that you possess, be it little or much, is meaningless to God. Anything that you own, anything you have, anything you desire, God can make, or unmake for His own reasons anytime He so desires.

When I first came back to God, I was in a small group, and in this group was a man who described a time in His life when he was very concerned about money. My friend said he was praying and discussing this with God when he said he heard a voice in his head that said "Don't you think I have all the money you need?"

Jesus does not warn against wealth, he warns against greed. Greed is not limited to just the wealthy either, it affects people of every socioeconomic background. Greed is when we place money and/or possessions ahead of our relationship with God, we supplant our desire for God with desire for something that cannot bring us to Heaven.

My friends, don't do it. There is nothing in this life that can replace an eternal relationship with God. What we actually need is God, desire Him alone. He will supply us with everything we need, and by everything, I mean everything.

Prayers:
Please pray for:
Tom who is being deployed to Afghanistan, and his wife and two daughters.
Amy for protection on her mission.
Shannon for protection on her mission.
Frank who is looking for meaningful employment.
Kevin as he prepares for his final year of seminary and the priesthood.
Marcus as he has been accepted into seminary and will be discerning the priesthood.
Me for the courage to do what God is putting in front of me, and (go ahead and laugh if you want but still pray) that I am able to kick the soda habit.

Next:
August 15 @ 1030: Saint Stanislaus in South Omaha (4002 J Street) - followed by their annual festival (Polish food!)

Peace, Eric

1 comment:

  1. That was an awesome group picture, only made better by actually being there. :)

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