Dear Parishioners,

Well, Lent is “just around the corner”. Yes, Ash Wednesday is this coming Wednesday. It’s been good to have almost two full months or ordinary time to take a few deep breaths after the Christmas Season. It has also given us the opportunity to hear the Sermon on the Mount and reflect on our own life priorities. But now that Lent is “just around the corner” we are invited into a time of reflection, self-searching and listening to the voice of God who speaks to us through Jesus and through the “other”. As I said last week, the theme for Lent that came out strongly through our parish reflection session “Looking towards Lent” was “listening to the voice of the “other”. As one person said, “The other and us are one”. Or as someone else said “ Can Lent be a time of fasting from “us vs. them”? I hope we can listen closely to the “voice of Jesus” during this Lenten season to discern the best ways to be his disciples and friends and communicate a message of hope, especially to those who experience themselves as the “other”. Lent is always an invitation for a “change of heart”, a conversion. Perhaps that transformation is “just around the corner”!

I am grateful that some of you have responded to my invitation to read together, Amy Jill Levine’s The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus. I’ve begun reading it again and it’s really a wonderful read. Our Jewish brothers and sisters have been regarded as “other” for centuries. The Gospels and their interpretations have contributed to this alienation from a people with whom we share an inheritance. I do hope that more of you will be able to join the conversation. For the first session on March 4th we will be reading the Introduction and first two chapters. 

If you are here for the 11:30 liturgy this weekend, you will hear a song whose lyrics I wrote on my 8 Day retreat while reading Pope Francis’s Encyclical “Laudato Si”. The music was composed by Paul Melley a dear friend with whom I have collaborated before. I want to thank John Uehlein and the choir for performing the work on this Sunday when Jesus speaks about the beauty of creation and God’s care for this world.

Another friend from Boston has been joking with me since I arrived in NY because I’m always saying things like “Such and such restaurant is “just around the corner”. It seems like everything here is “just around the corner” JI hope and pray that this Lenten season will give us all the opportunity to “turn the corner” and deepen our relationship with God and with each “other”.
 

Sincerely,

Fr. Bob