April 12, 2009

Dear friends in life and in ministry . . .

There is no doubt about it. Easter is a great day for a Baptism . . . especially so if you are baptizing your grandson. I had that privilege today. The baptism took place at St. Mary's in Bath at the 9:00 a.m. Easter Mass. Jack is the son of my daughter Annie. She and Adam chose friends Paula and Rick Koerner as godparents. I've uploaded a short photo video of
the baptism onto You Tube. The video also features a brief segment of my song "Welcome Jackson!" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6sAjnXiuLk

Jack was joined in the baptismal waters by 8 month old Lucas Scott Baroody who was baptized by Father Jim Jaeger.

My personal journey into a healthier life continues. As of last Wednesday, I've shed 31.5 pounds and my three member YMCA Weight Loss Challenge Team has lost a total of over 70 pounds. The final weigh in will take place on May 8, but I hope to keep losing through my June 30th retirement date.

Speaking of retirement, I am so pleased that my friend Deacon David LaFortune has been chosen by Bishop Clark to replace me at St. Mary's in July. Dave was a parishioner of mine at St. Patrick's in Corning. He currently serves as a pastoral associate at the Schuyler Catholic Community in Watkins Glen and Odessa. Dave's spouse Trish holds a similar position at All Saints Parish in Corning. I am confident that Deacon Dave will love the people of St. Mary's and I know that they will grow to love him. The other good news is that Fr. Jim Jaeger will continue as sacramental minister.

May God's great love embrace you and all you love during the Easter season.
Deacon Ray

Their Story Seemed Like Nonsense

The women who went to the tomb early this morning returned with an astonishing report. So astonishing that everyone who heard it thought their re-port was nonsense. It is important for us to share in both of those emotions. Otherwise, we risk taking Jesus' resurrection for granted. Of course, Jesus rose from the dead. He said he would rise, and he did. We
have heard this from our youth, we have seen the paintings. We have read the Gospels and seen the movies. Like the sunrise and the early growth of springtime, we remember the resurrection and we are comfortable with it. But No, we need to be astonished; we need to experience the same feelings as those who thought the news was nonsense, outrageous, impossible. One of the fun things about my mother was that you could retell her an old joke and she would laugh heartily. She never remembered jokes and so she delighted in hearing them all over again. She never took them for granted, never got used to them, never became bored with them. So it must be with us.

Every time we hear the news of the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth we need to be astonished, amazed, delighted. It's like waking up and suddenly remembering it's our birthday, or that today is the first day of summer vacation - even though we already knew it when we fell asleep. In fact, that is a good way for us believers to hear the news of the resurrection.
When we walked into church at Easter, we were asleep, unconscious, distracted. But now we have heard the Alleluia, the Exaultat, the Gloria, and the Good News of the Resurrection. Now we are finally awake; we are finally alive because of the Good News of Jesus' resurrection. The Good News is never old news. God didn't create us once; God is creating
us always. God didn't save us once; God is always saving us. Peter hustled himself out to the tomb that same morning and saw that it was empty. I wonder if Peter did that very same thing everyday from then on. That's what we should do. Every morning when we get up, we should run ourselves out to the tomb and peek inside. Wow. The tomb is empty. Alleluia. Jesus is raised from the dead.

If we did receive the Good News again with every new day, a whole lot of other things would also change for us. That is of course the reason for doing it: every-thing has in-deed changed for us. Everything is new for us. Christ is risen: we are saved. Death no longer has the last word over us. Weakness and failure and sin no longer determine our future and we dare not let them determine our present.

This is the night, the Exultet sings, when the people of Israel escaped from slavery and passed through the flood. This is the night when the pillar of fire guided our ancestors into the Promised land. This is the night we were born, we were baptized, we were forgiven. This is the nightwhen we will be received into heaven. St. Paul told us to-night that as we
shared in Jesus' crucifixion at our baptism so are we united in Jesus' resurrection.

No more is it Jesus' resurrection that is nonsense, now it is nonsense tokeep this Good News to ourselves. It is nonsense to remain fearful or depressed. Yes, things will still fall apart for us. Friends and family members will die. We will still miss opportunities to do good and sometimes we will choose to do things that are wrong. Evil and sadness will seem to
pile up our life as in a tomb. But the women will still come back from that tomb and report that they find it to be empty. Yes, it is nonsense. God's love for us does not make sense; it is a miracle, a gift, and always a surprise. Let it be a surprise again tomorrow and next week and next month. Jesus is risen from the dead. Alleluia!
_______________________

This is a very special Easter for me. At to-day’s Mass Fr. Jim and I will baptize two children: Lucas Baroody and my grand-child Jackson Gabriel Meek. What a wonderful day to celebrate life.
Have a blessed Easter. Serve one another well!

.Deacon Ray

Lands of the Bible Cruise

On November 11, 2009, you are invited to join Deacon Ray and Pat Defendorf and pastoral leaders from throughout the Diocese on a twelve-day Cruise to the “Lands of the Bible”.

Our itinerary includes an over-night flight to Athens where we will visit the Acropolis and the biblical city of Corinth before boarding the mv Cristal, a new 471 passenger cruise ship. We’ll dock at Port Said for a visit to Cairo (the Egyptian Museum and the Pyramids at Giza) then on to the port of Ashod in Israel. For two days we’ll visit sites in Jerusalem and Bethlehem returning to the ship each evening for dinner and overnight.

Our next port is Haifa where we’ll disembark to tour the Galilee with stops at the Mount of the Beatitudes, Tabgha (the site of the miracle of the loaves and fish), a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee and renew our baptismal vows at the Jordan River.

After a day at sea we’ll visit the Isle of Patmos where John wrote Revelations and then to Ephesus, Turkey where St. Paul established a Christian community on his first missionary journey. After a visit to Piraeus we’ll return to Athens for our return trip home.

The price of this journey of a lifetime(including roundtrip airfare, chartered cruise ship, guided shore excursions, daily breakfast, lunch and dinner while aboard ship, study guide, entrance fees and deluxe motorcoaches), starts at $2398 plus taxes, tips and fees.

Follow this link to download our itinerary:
http://www.deaconray.com/travel.htm

This cruise is expected to sell out so early reservations are very important. For more information and a brochure, please contact me by email or phone (607-426-1100).

Serve one another well!

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Bulletin: April 12,2009