Dear St. Mary of the Valley Parishioners:
I continue to enjoy this time in Peru and to remember you each day at Mass – and other times of prayer. I ask your prayers for me and for the families and children of Peru, especially those served by the Mary Bloom Center in Puno.
This week Fr. Nathe is with me. He arrived in Peru on Monday and will return to the U.S. with me on January 17. We are enjoying the hospitality of the Vincentian Daughters of Charity and will be spending a few days in the parish of San Miguel, Ilave (where Fr. Narciso Valencia is pastor). Ilave is an enormous parish of about one hundred thousand souls. The parish is divided into several sectors and Fr. Nathe’s parish (Queen of the Angels, Port Angeles) is consolidating a sister-parish relationship with a sector called Mazo Cruz. Mazo Cruz is seventy kilometers from Ilave, higher up in the Andes Mountains so we will be breathing very thin air for a couple of days. When I was a Maryknoll Priest-Associate in Peru I loved going to that remote place and I am happy that Queen of Angels is establishing this relationship with Mazo Cruz.
I mentioned last week about the Vacation Bible School conducted by the six young adults from our parish. They focused on the theme of God’s love and used Abraham as an illustration. Each child had to learn the answer to five questions in order to win a prize. I listed the questions last week; here are the answers:
1. What is the meaning of Abraham’s name? Father of many nations (Gen 17:5)
2. Who was his wife? Sarah
3. Why could they have no children? Because of their advanced age
4. What is the name of their miraculous son? Isaac
5. What did he carry on his back when they climbed the mountain of Moriah? Wood for the sacrifice (Gen 22:6)
The fifth question led to a discussion of the love of God shown in Jesus. Abraham, as a loving father, carried the things that could harm Isaac (the knife and the fire), but Isaac carried the wood on this back – a foreshadowing of the Cross. When they arrived at the top of the mountain, Isaac asks his father, “Where is the lamb for the sacrifice?” The answer to that question would come two thousand years later when John the Baptist pointed to Jesus and said, “Behold the Lamb of God.” (cf Jn 2:36) Jesus, the true Lamb of God, offered himself as the perfect sacrifice, taking our sins upon himself. He shows us the full love of God.
Speaking of sacrificial love, I read a wonderful book while in Peru: Rediscovering A Pearl Of Great Price: The Surprising Sacramentof Matrimony by Fr. ThomasVandenberg. Many of you remember Fr. Vandenberg from his visit to our parish last January. With his trademark good humor, Fr. Vandenberg brings to bear his fifty years of pastoral care on one of the most important matters for our society and Church – the Sacrament of Marriage. He not only gives practical counsel for married couples, but reflects on what marriage means for priests and for all Christians. He does not dodge the difficult questions, including appendices on Contraception, Same-Sex Marriage and Cohabitation. He concludes his book with wonderful poem celebrating married love. Since next Sunday’s readings speak about marriage, I will say more about Fr. Vandenberg’s book in my homily. For now I would like to conclude with a quote:
“Parishioners want their priest, as a priest, to spend his life for them, right? After all, that’s a priests call from God and the Church… Why can’t we priests, in the name of all God’s people, ask our married couples, call them, invite them, encourage them to spend their love for us? It’s not just between the couple. When they marry in the Catholic Church, they let the People of God in on their love.”