Open Sky

by Rev. Richard Barker

My dear parishioners, in a few short days the Year of Grace 2020 comes to a close in the Church. We remember how the liturgical seasons and feast day celebrations unfolded in spirit and in truth this past year. Surely, the important things of life have value both on earth and in heaven, chief among them being salvation in Christ and the glory of the eucharistic celebration.

God is the sum and summary of your faith’s journey, the path and the destination of your hope. He alone can satisfy the longing of men and women everywhere for life, peace, abundance and friendship. And let us not forget the vindication of our trust. When you realize how attentive God is to you personally and providentially, you approach God with the confident assurance that he is calling you. The moment you grasp that “God will be everything to everyone” [1 Cor 15:28], you awaken like a bird that stirs restlessly before a long and ancient migration.

So many persons stagger under a backbreaking burden they have no right to carry. Little wonder that countless human beings, overpowered by evil, are driven this way and that, like dried leaves exploding before the cold blast of winter. They look everywhere for a place to rest but cannot see the truth and goodness of God. So they struggle alone in this life, hounded by anxiety and fears. Few things are more fleeting and erratic as man's conflicted nature. He applauds the good while simultaneously romancing evil. He is horrified by the scandal of his own mortality, yet craves solace and comfort in wealth, power, and sensuality as if these could save him. Ironically, the soul that rejects God compulsively desires to fill itself, quickly importing shiny trinkets and novelties, inviting false gods to move in.

In the present generation’s way of thinking, reliance on a comfortable life and social empowerment is sufficient. This is not the content of faith but rather an admission of servility. Materialism matters a great deal to people who live without God. It matters to captured birds as well, but not so much that birds will forsake their true nature. As their unhappy owners will tell you, a bird will aim for the open sky if given a chance. It will forsake a comfortable lodging, toys, food and its attentive warden for the rush of wind, the joy of flight, the splendor of the treetops and, I might add, for an immense encounter with freedom. The human being who denies God cannot do this. His material world is an immense cage from which escape is impossible on his own terms.

Think about it. When have you or anyone prayed to the “scientific method?” When have you prayed to your healthcare provider or investment banker? To your beautiful SUV or boat? When, in great need, does one call out to his or her very own self for help?

“When I was a boy,” recalled the late Monsignor Luigi Giussani of Milan (Milan, Italy), “I got lost in the great forest of Tradate and, seized with panic, I cried out for all of three hours as the sun went down. That experience showed me—afterwards—that man means ‘seeking’: man becomes ‘seeking’ if he cries out, but he only cries out if there is something other. His cry implies the existence of something other. If not, why would he cry out at all?” Dear friends, that “other” is God our Creator!

Understand that human faith, impelled by hope, seeks a perfect home for love. Give your all to God on earth, and God will be your all in heaven. “He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” [Mic 6:8] God will be won over by your feeble but persistent spiritual efforts. He will pour out his truth and his grace to prepare you for the journey. The time to strengthen your spiritual wings grows short, and you must rise up to heaven, for the “form of this world is passing away.” [1 Cor 7:31] Sincerely in the hearts of Jesus and Mary. Your pastor, Reverend Richard Barker.