graves and graces

bike in cemetery just after fixing

Dear Family and Friends,

I was coming back from a long bike ride the other day when my gears got stuck. Jammed. Bad.

It was the hill that did it - the bike path crossed over a little stream then up a hill and across a cemetery. Shifting gears too quickly as I went up the hill, the chain got stuck in between a sprocket and the wheel. I stopped and  leaned over and tried to wrench it free with a stick - but to no avail. Greasy hands are not my favorite, but I had to give it a go. Still, even yanking on the chain with all my might only made it wedge itself in more.

So I flipped the bike over. I was frustrated, very frustrated. I had planned my ride with just enough time to make it home, shower up, and then head over to some friends for lunch. But it didn't look like that was going to happen. This was the worst bicycle problem I'd ever had!

tunnel on the way home

"God, how could you do this to me?!?!" flashed through my head. Of all days, of all places!

It was my own ridiculousness that made me laugh. "God didn't break your bike, you did!" And it was true. I had shifted the gears, I had made the mistake. God had nothing to do with that.

And hey, what's a broken bike?

I looked around me at the graves. 1899, 1903, 1834. "What would they think of this spectacle in their graveyard?" I wondered.

Then I set to work on the bike in earnest. Undoing the bolt on the rear wheel, pieces started falling everywhere onto the grass. The bolt itself saved the day. It doubled as a lever that worked to pry the chain links out, one by one.

After the bike was back together, I surveyed the scene again. Took a picture. Realized the whole thing had taken no more than ten minutes, that I wasn't late, and that I had learned a great lesson in patience and humility.

In the face of eternity, a feisty bike chain isn't really all that important, and definitely not something to get bent out of shape over. I'm sure the souls there in the cemetery - souls full of all kinds of life experience - had a good laugh at me.

Hope you are enjoying these quiet first weeks of August. I am!

God bless you all,

Father Kevin

five fish for five priests

my last cast

Dear family and friends,

Not even a bite.

We had been fishing all afternoon - three of us priests - and we had caught nothing. Two other priests had been setting up our cookout, waiting for us to bring in our catch. We were on vacation together at Yellowstone Park, having a wonderful time, but just one little fish would have made it so much more wonderful.

 

sunset over Yellowstone Lake

The weather was gorgeous - sunny skies, perfect temperatures, just enough breeze to keep the bugs away.   The air was sweet with the butterscotch scent of the Ponderosa pines. Huge cumulus clouds blazed picture-perfect purple as the sun set over the lake.

One little fish - that was all I asked of the Lord. I had been thinking of Him and how he helped Peter make his miraculous catch. I didn't need a hundred and fifty-three, just one. And maybe a few more so that all five of us could have something to eat for dinner.

 

full moon over Bridge Bay

It was already 8pm, and the light was fading fast. I gave one last cast, hoping for the best. As I reeled in the last little bit of line and pulled my lure from the lake, I thought to myself, "Well, I'm ok with not catching anything, the beauty here is enough." A group of about eight loons had appeared, leaving large wakes in the water. The moon - full, or almost full - cast an undulating mirror image of itself in the lake. A few sleepy stars had already begun peeking out their heads from the gathering darkness.

So I headed for the picnic table and the other priests. "That's strange," I thought. "Who's that guy wearing a fishing vest?" An old man stood by our picnic table, chatting with one of the priests. As I leaned my rod against a tree, something on the picnic table caught my eye. There were five large trout laid out next to each other!

 

the miraculous trout

This man, Norberto, had seen the priests setting up the fire, and had offered his catch to us. He had no idea we had been fishing for so long without catching anything. "My wife doesn't like fish," was his only explanation.

There were five of us, and he had given us five trout.

Now if I remember correctly, in the miracle of the loaves and fishes, Jesus made five loaves and two fishes feed more than five thousand people. In a sense, He had just worked a greater miracle for us. From no fish, he had given us each one. Five fish. For five priests. From a day of catching nothing.

Once he discovered that we were five priests, Norberto hung around with us through most of our dinner. He had brought a lot of joy into our lives that day by giving us his fish, and perhaps we brightened his day with our conversation.

 

grilling the trout

 

As I savored the last few bites of that delicious, charcoal-grilled trout, I thanked God for once more showing me and my companions how much He loves us. It sure was easy to get down after about the hundredth unsuccessful cast, but God just wanted to show us that He's in charge and He is a better fisherman than we are.

Isn't that the lesson God is often trying to teach us through all our worryings? We are so little and can do so little on our own, but He can do everything. He can - loves to - work through what seem to us to be the most impossible of situations. Through it all, He's patiently waiting for the moment when we will patiently wait on Him, and really trust Him with all our heart.

Just the fact that I can go to Yellowstone and spend time on vacation I consider a tremendous gift from God. For Him to show His love through little miracles like the five miraculous fishes – well, it just makes me wonder what gift He has in store tomorrow. He always does.

May God bless you, and I hope you can go on vacation sometime soon!

Father Kevin 

5 reasons I love being a priest - in pictures

Dear Family and Friends,

I sure love being a priest. Here are five reasons why in pictures:

1. Little Prayer Partners - Whenever I'm praying in the chapel and the students come into pray on their own, I get little prayer partners!

2. Altar Servers' Rules - Numbers 10 and 11 are my favorites!

3. Preschoolers - Nothing is quite as much fun as visiting the preschool - here we just compared their plush toy mass kit to the things I use at mass!

4. Catfish! - The other day at a family picnic about 8 little boys and girls helped me land this 3 pound catfish!

5. The Mass - Catching catfish may be plenty fun, but nothing beats getting to celebrate the holy sacrifice of the Mass every day. Nothing.

God bless you all,

Father Kevin

smashing mailboxes

Dear Family and Friends,

If you were to make a list of ways to become friends with people, smashing into their mailbox would probably not be on it.

But that’s exactly what I did the other day, as I was pulling out of the driveway. It was rainy and I had just put a bike rack on the car I use, when from behind I heard a sickening crunch. The bike rack had slammed into one of our neighbors mailboxes, leaving it in pretty bad shape. Gulp!

No one answered when I knocked on the neighbors door, so I left a note. “Yes, a priest has just vandalized our mailbox” – Imagine them trying to figure out that one!

It was only a week later that we were finally able to talk and I could apologize. We struck up a conversation, and it turns out we know all kinds of people in common. The wife had gone to the prom with my dentist back in High School. They are heading to Italy soon, so I was able to give them some advice on how to spend their time. One of the other priests I live with joined in, he told them about his home country of Spain, and we had a grand old time. We ended up chatting for about an hour and a half.

And became friends! And it all started with that horrible, terrible, no-good rotten rainy day when I slammed into their mailbox!

Sometimes it’s hard to understand why God lets bad things happen. It’s because we’re free (He’s not the one who crashed the car into the mailbox, I am) and because He loves to bring good out of what we think can only be bad.

Maybe it’s also part of his sense of humor!

You are in my prayers,

Father Kevin 

Almost-Miracles

In Adoration during the Boys' Retreat, Red Candle in the Back

Dear Family and Friends,

There’s something about the Eucharist. It’s kind of hard for me to explain what I mean, but here goes.

Perhaps you remember my story about finding a 5-year old fragment of the Eucharist in a service panel underneath the altar at a parish church. I wrote about that here.

That was just the beginning. A few months ago I was visiting a small adoration chapel and was asked to put the Eucharist back in the tabernacle. As I took the host out of the monstrance (a special holder for adoration) I noticed another small fragment sitting inside the monstrance. This was the only time I have ever touched that monstrance. Jesus has a way of being found!

Fast forward a few months. Recently I was celebrating mass in another parish and when I went to put the Eucharist away, I noticed something sitting in the corner of the tabernacle. It was a whole host and another half of a host. I wonder how long they had been there!

Then there was the boys’ weekend ski retreat. We keep the Eucharist in the tabernacle of our small chapel in the countryside during the retreat. During the last mass before we went skiing, I consumed the last host since we wouldn’t be using the chapel for a while. Most chapels have a red candle that is lit to show when the Eucharist is there. When you take the Eucharist away, you blow the candle out. I remember glancing at the candle at the beginning of mass that morning, and sure enough, it was lit. Then as I went to take the Blessed Sacrament out of the tabernacle before communion time, I noticed again that the candle was lit. After giving out communion and consuming the last host, I was about to tell one of the servers to blow out the candle, when I noticed that the candle was not lit. It had burned out by itself just as the last host was consumed.

What moves me to write about these experiences is what happened just the other day. I was on my way to give the Anointing of the Sick to a grandmother after school. I brought one host with me so she could receive communion. As I pulled out of the school I got a green light where usually it was red. Then I got a green left arrow where I always have to wait. Then another green light, then another, then another. Each time I would approach a light, it would be red, but just before I started slowing down, it would turn green. I went through 9 green lights in all. I had traveled that road many a time before, and this had never happened. I almost felt like Batman.

It was as if the lights were turning green out of respect for the Eucharist! And before, it was as if the candle had held out, just as long as it needed to. And finding the fragments of the Eucharist – it was like God put me in the right place at the right time.

In all of this, it seems that God doesn’t go so far as to use miracles to show us His presence, but He does use everything short of miracles to confirm it for us.

Sure, perhaps you could say these things are all coincidences. The Eucharist looks just like a piece of ordinary bread, and tastes and smells like one. Oftentimes it is hard to believe that Jesus really meant what he said when he took bread, and said “this is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me”. To believe that requires a lot of faith! But for me at least, these glimpses over the last few months have helped me see a little bit of what I usually can only believe.

Hope they help you see too!

And hope you had a Happy Easter!

Father Kevin

Happy Feast of Saint Joseph!

Pope Francis' sleeping Saint Joseph Statue

Dear Family and Friends,

Today is the feast of Saint Joseph, the husband of Mary.

Did you know that Pope Francis has a statue of Saint Joseph on his desk? It’s a pretty unique one too, since it’s Saint Joseph asleep!

Take a look at this video from romereports which shows the statue. Pope Francis explains that when you need to ask saint Joseph for help, you should put a little note under his statue.

Francis has quite a special relationship with Joseph. Referring to him, he says elsewhere, “You know, you have to be patient with these carpenters: they tell you they’ll have a piece of furniture finished in a couple of weeks and it ends up taking a month even. But they get the job done and they do it well! You just need to be patient…” Reminds me of some carpenters I know!

At one point in the video, Pope Francis even speaks a little English! Pretty neat!

May Joseph watch over all of you,

Father Kevin

Sorry Saint Anthony!

Dear Family and Friends,

I lost my wallet a few months ago. It was hard remembering where, but I assumed it was at a park where I was playing disc golf with some of my fellow priests. I waited a week hoping someone would find it and return it, but nothing happened. So I drove an hour to the park, hunted for it, and came back empty handed. Then I called the park service and asked them to keep an eye out for it.

All through this time, I had been setting Saint Anthony on the back burner. Let me explain.

Saint Anthony of Padua was one of the first followers of Saint Francis of Assisi. He was a miracle worker like Saint Francis – for instance, one day he preached to thousands of fish who came up to the surface of the sea together to listen to him when the stubborn citizens of a town wouldn’t.

It’s an old tradition that when you lose something, you should pray to Saint Anthony, because he’ll help you find it. He keeps working miracles – especially the lost-and-found kind. Over the years, he has found many a lost thing for me and others I know. One time he found the wedding ring of my mom’s friend. Another time he found my stolen bike.

But as far as my wallet goes, I had been giving Anthony the cold shoulder. To be honest, I did say a quick prayer to him. But I didn’t plead with him. I searched everywhere. I guess I was trusting in my own strength. I remember mentioning the lost wallet to a friend, who emphatically asked me if I had prayed to Saint Anthony. And for a moment I resolved to do so. I thought, “I should go to my room and pray and Saint Anthony will find it for me.” But I didn’t. I didn’t let Anthony and his amazing honing ability guide me.

Anyway, the other day I finally went to get a new driver’s license. I had given up all hope.

As I walked in the door of our house with my new license that day, I was met by one of the priests I live with. It turns out that he was looking for something in my room, when he found my wallet under a stack of papers. It was in the little shelf on the kneeler – precisely where I would have gone to say my prayer to Saint Anthony!

Sorry Saint Anthony! Sometimes we can be such knuckleheads!

May this special saint intercede for you!

Father Kevin

the frisbee Saint Anthony found!

Turns out we were playing disc golf again the other day and lost a disc in a large field. After ten minutes of searching in vain, I remembered the whole story of the wallet and said a quick prayer to Anthony. Sure enough, moments later I stumbled across the missing disc! I’m sure Anthony was laughing!