Monday, April 25, 2016

Officially off the list..."Boston Catholic Insider"

There was a time I really thought a blog like "Boston Catholic Insider" was necessary.

Actually a blog like Boston Catholic Insider still is necessary.

Only not the current one.

Please pray for the folks who administer it. And don't expect to find a link to it on this blog.

May God continue to bless you,

Kelly

Saturday, April 09, 2016

Charcoal Fire

Charcoal fire.
You are burning.
I'm afraid.
Charcoal fire,
Warm me, save me.
I'm afraid.

I don't know Him!
Never seen Him!
Charcoal fire.
Just don't burn me!
Only warm me!
Charcoal fire.

Charcoal fire.
Don't desert me!
I'm just trying,
just to save me!

Charcoal fire!
Keep on burning!
Keep me safely,
Without burning.

. . .

Charcoal fire!
What have I done now?
What has He done now?
Charcoal fire?

Charcoal fire?
Where has He gone now?
He Who had loved me?
Charcoal fire?

Charcoal fire?
Where have you gone now?
Where has He gone now?
Charcoal fire?

Charcoal fire!
You have left me!
I have left Him!
Charcoal fire.

Charcoal fire.
You have left me,
cold and lonely.
charcoal fire.

. . .

Charcoal fire!
You are burning!
I can see you!
I am turning!

Charcoal fire!
Somebody made you!
Someone's waiting,
Waiting for me...ME!

Charcoal fire,
Don't go out now!
Let me reach you,
Let me find you!
Charcoal fire.

Charcoal fire?
It isn't you, now,
Only Who tends you.
Charcoal fire.

Charcoal fire,
I said no, no, no!
Charcoal fire
No warmth was had by you.

No fire needed by you!
Charcoal fire!
Charcoal fire,
I'm just a little child,
Looking for Him, my friend so mild.

Charcoal fire.
Scared as I was, the hateful rood,
Now you exist to give me Food.

Charcoal fire,
I said Yes, Yes, Yes!
And want to follow Him.

Charcoal Fire?
Where you and I first met?
Jesus has decided to forget.

Amen.





Sunday, April 03, 2016

In tribute to a priest: Father Steven Koehler

(My Mom, Marie Kelly, wrote this on November 19, 1995. She was a parishioner at Saint Vincent Ferrer Church in Madison Heights, Michigan.)

"A Thanksgiving Poem for Someone Special: Our Father and Our Friend"

He wears so many faces
This man who leads us now.
We are his sheep
and he, our shepherd.

To take the road to Heaven
And not to go astray --
Because there are so very many
Who need to find the way.

Another thing this father does
is beg for all the poor,
to nourish and to clothe them
and give them shelter, too.
Who never hesitates to ask
For help from me and you.

A smile and hug, this father gives,
to all who come his way.
He always tends to all their needs --
no matter, night or day.

A special gift this father has
of speaking from his heart.
He always knows just what to say
and knows just where to start.

And when he shares the Eucharist
he and God become as one.
His voice is soft and reverent,
his face shines like the sun.

We are so very thankful
to have this father here,
this man of many faces,
to us, is very dear.

God, keep him in Your loving care,
don't ever let him leave!
We couldn't do without him,
our precious Father Steve!
~~~~~
Dedicated to Father Steven C. Koeler, Paster of Saint Fincent Ferrer Church, Madison Heights, Michigan.

[I understand that Father Koehler is now pastor of Saint Rene Goupil Parish in Sterling Heights, Michigan.]


Saturday, April 02, 2016

The Words of a Saint: John Paul II

Eleven years ago today, Pope Saint John Paul II left this world into eternity.

His last words have been reported by many, including:

"Read me the Bible."
"Let me go to the House of my Father."
"Amen, Amen, Amen."

Beautiful words to end one phase of life. But beautiful and joyful, also, are the first words the Holy Father said upon his election to the Chair of Peter:



Praised be Jesus Christ! Dear brothers and sisters, we are still all very saddened by the death of the very dear Pope John Paul I. And now the most eminent cardinals have called a mew bishop of Rome. They called him from a far-away country...far, but always near in communion of faith and the Christian tradition. I was afraid in receiving this nomination, but I did it in the spirit of obedience to Our Lord and with total trust in His Mother, the Most Holy Madonna. I don't know if I can express myself well in your — in our — Italian language. But if I make a mistake, you will correct me. And so I introduce myself to you all, to confess our common faith, our hope, our trust in the Mother of Christ and of the Church, and also to begin again on this path of history and of the Church with the help of God and with  that of men.

Saint John Paul II, pray for us. And? Keep those eyes of yours ever upon us!


Friday, April 01, 2016

Good Friday and the Feast of the Annunciation. On the same day.

Generally....pretty much always...the Feast of the Annunciation -- the conception of Jesus in the womb of Mary -- is on March 25.

Not this year. This year, it fell on Good Friday. On the day Christ's conception is usually celebrated? Instead we celebrated His death.

When I realized this last week, I thought I'd discovered something amazing...and I did. But poet John Donne was 'way ahead of me. Enjoy.

"Upon the Annunciation and the Passion on the Same Day"

TAMELY, frail body, abstain to-day ; to-day
My soul eats twice, Christ hither and away.
She sees Him man, so like God made in this,
That of them both a circle emblem is,
Whose first and last concur ; this doubtful day
Of feast or fast, Christ came, and went away ;
She sees Him nothing, twice at once, who's all ;
She sees a cedar plant itself, and fall ;
Her Maker put to making, and the head
Of life at once not yet alive, yet dead ;
She sees at once the Virgin Mother stay
Reclused at home, public at Golgotha ;
Sad and rejoiced she's seen at once, and seen
At almost fifty, and at scarce fifteen ;
At once a son is promised her, and gone ;
Gabriell gives Christ to her, He her to John ;
Not fully a mother, she's in orbity ;
At once receiver and the legacy.
All this, and all between, this day hath shown,
Th' abridgement of Christ's story, which makes one—
As in plain maps, the furthest west is east—
Of th' angels Ave, and Consummatum est.
How well the Church, God's Court of Faculties,
Deals, in sometimes, and seldom joining these.
As by the self-fix'd Pole we never do
Direct our course, but the next star thereto,
Which shows where th'other is, and which we say
—Because it strays not far—doth never stray,
So God by His Church, nearest to him, we know,
And stand firm, if we by her motion go.
His Spirit, as His fiery pillar, doth
Lead, and His Church, as cloud ; to one end both.
This Church by letting those days join, hath shown
Death and conception in mankind is one ;
Or 'twas in Him the same humility,
That He would be a man, and leave to be ;
Or as creation He hath made, as God,
With the last judgment but one period,
His imitating spouse would join in one
Manhood's extremes ; He shall come, He is gone ;
Or as though one blood drop, which thence did fall,
Accepted, would have served, He yet shed all,
So though the least of His pains, deeds, or words,
Would busy a life, she all this day affords.
This treasure then, in gross, my soul, uplay,
And in my life retail it every day.