Having 'blue sky days': Even in January

		Notes from the  Vicar General  Msgr. Paul J. Swain

On one wall in my bedroom hangs a picture of a scene of nature with a glorious blue sky.

I put it there so that each morning I would wake up to a blue sky day. It reminds me that whatever is going on in our personal or professional lives, we live in a blue sky world touched by God's love.

It is important to remember on those days we feel burdened, specially challenged, or in wonderment that this is God's world and Christ's church, despite the unexpected events of nature or the consequences of human weaknesses.

As I write this column the temperature is hovering around zero, icy paths limit movement for many, and daylight seems all too brief.

When the Christmas decorations were taken down in church, a common comment was how empty the church looked and felt. No more crèche to pray before. No more beautiful evergreens with sparkling lights to take in. No more colorful flowers or festive wreaths to lift the spirits.

January can have an empty feeling after the activities of Christmas and, especially as we get older, winter doldrums can get us down.

Sadness on abortion anniversary, yet hopeful

There is a sadness too that comes every January 22, the anniversary of the first United States Supreme Court decision that effectively enshrined into law abortion on demand.

Our hearts ache for those never given a chance to become who God created them to be. Our hearts ache too for those who have personally struggled and do so today on issues of life.

The church has declared January 22 "a day of penance for violations to the dignity of the human person committed through acts of abortion, and of prayer for full restoration of the legal guarantee of the right to life."

Next Saturday the 8 a.m. Mass at St. Raphael Cathedral will commemorate this sad anniversary. Yet, we can do so with greater hope because public opinion seems to be moving toward greater protection of the unborn.

This is happening in part because of those who have boldly and often sacrificially witnessed to the sanctity of life from conception to natural death. It is true in part also because advances in medicine and technology have made it more evident that what some call a fetus is in fact an unborn child.

At this time of year I am reminded of the poetic words of Percy Bysshe Shelley: If winter comes, can spring be far behind? That is a blue sky day thought. We need to express each day blue sky attitudes.

Consider our "empty" church with the Christmas decorations gone. There are those who gather each day or each Sunday in prayer, in song, in faith sharing, and in works of mercy. There are those who before Mass reverently pray the rosary or rest in a quiet moment with God.

While gathered together we remember those who went before who built the church and maintained the parish while facing their own life struggles. They kept the faith and passed it on for us to pass on. They inspire and encourage us.

Church never empty, Christ always present

There is the ambo and the Word of God that is proclaimed from it, inspired words recorded centuries ago yet as full of life and counsel as when first written.

There is the altar on which the bread and wine is mysteriously and miraculously consecrated into the Body and Blood of Christ, a sacramental sacrifice and paschal banquet.

There is the tabernacle in which rests the Blessed Sacrament before whom we can rest in prayer of petition, praise, and adoration. There is the confessional where God's love, mercy, and forgiveness are present. There is the statue of the Blessed Mother, our model and guide, and other saints whose intercession we can call upon and whose lives give us hope.

There are the Stations of the Cross and the Crucifix that remind us of the cost of our Lord giving his life for his friends and the victory of life over death he won for our salvation. Our churches are never empty because Christ is always there. In the Lord is our hope.

Pope John Paul I once said: The strength to see the good side of things should be characteristic of the Christian. If the Gospel really means 'good news' then being a Christian means being a happy man, one who spreads joy.

That too is a blue sky thought to reflect on each morning as we rise to receive the unearned gift of another day.

March for Life:
It's a strange combination of sorrow and joy

	Guest commentary  Fr. Frank Pavone

The March for Life in Washington, D.C., is a strange combination of sorrow and joy.

The sorrow comes because we commemorate a court decision that, although it lacks all authentic validity, continues to allow the destruction of over a million children a year. Yet the joy comes because we gather with thousands of other pro-life activists, proudly taking part in the greatest human rights cause of our day, and we know that our cause will prevail.

Educational effort on 'Life Principles'

This year the March for Life will be held on Monday, Jan. 24, rather than the 22nd (the date of the Roe vs. Wade decision), because the 22nd is on a Saturday.

While it is important to march, we should also understand that the March for Life is, at its core, an educational effort about the "Life Principles." Miss Nellie Gray, founder and president of March for Life, has always stressed this point, and I want to re-echo it.

The Life Principles express, in a succinct way, the absolute inviolability of every physical human life, and the fact that such a life has a right to protection regardless of the circumstances of its conception.

Equality of all life

The Life Principles are about equality - the equality of the born with the unborn, the healthy with the sick, the strong with the weak, the adult with the embryo.

One of the Life Principles states, "The life of each human being shall be preserved and protected from that human being's biological beginning when the father's sperm fertilizes the mother's ovum."

This formulation protects us from the linguistic tricks some play when they re-define "conception" or speak in abstract terms about their philosophy of when a human being becomes a person. The fact is that every biological, living human being is a human person.

No exceptions

The March for Life, as an educational effort, has a theme every year, and this year's theme emphasizes that it is the duty of each American to uphold the Life Principles without exception or compromise.

Our duty to these children is absolute, and admits of no exceptions. Although it is legitimate to work step by step, incrementally, toward the protection of every life, it is equally necessary to clearly and frequently articulate where we want to go: to the protection of every life, without exception. The children conceived in rape and incest must have equal protection. The children of mothers with medically complicated pregnancies must have equal protection.

In an excellent analysis of the legitimacy of the incremental approach, Angel Rodriguez Luno, professor of moral theology at Rome's Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, writes, "the absolute personal opposition to abortion on the part of the lawmaker [must be made] known to all, thus preventing any confusion or scandal."

Leaders in the pro-life movement must, with even greater reason, avoid the scandal that can unintentionally arise if people think that we are granting moral legitimacy to even a single abortion.

We are not; we never can. The sad commemoration that comes every January is a good time to reaffirm that fact.

Fr. Frank Pavone is national director of Priests for Life. For more information, go to the Web site: www.priestsforlife.org

Seniors involved: If today you hear his voice

		Grand Mom  Audrey  Mettel Fixmer

The refrain for today's Mass was that all too familiar one: "If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts." If ever there was a powerful call to ministry, it is that message from the psalms.

I looked around me and noticed how most of the congregation consists of senior citizens like me. That's because it is daily Mass and we oldies are cramming for our finals. Besides, we have more time for prayer now that our kids are raised and we no longer have to be breadwinners.

Working together

I know that I have used this column before to sing the praises of daily Mass and how it becomes a glue that binds us to one another. The feeling of community is so powerfully felt when we share the Eucharist!

In my earliest years of retirement I wrote about the social aspects: going out to breakfast together, celebrating birthdays, praying for anyone going through surgery, or grieving the loss of a loved one.

Today it seems that we seniors no longer take the time for breakfasting together, but instead we are working together. In the case of our parish, we are working together to build a new church and school.

Active seniors

Around me in Mass I see so many active senior citizens who are helping to make it happen for generations to come.

There's John, the retired banker, who oversees the money aspects: bonds, donations, grants, special gifts and memorials, and literally hundreds of meetings over the past three years.

And there's Pete, the retired anesthetist, who heads up the building committee and after four years of meetings now spends 40 hours a week at the job site.

Not to mention Ron, a retired engineer, who also spends that much time as the overseer of the workers at the building site. All are volunteers.

There's Mike, a retired carpenter, building altar furniture out of our old pews. We have retired painters and other laymen spending hundreds of hours painting all the new classrooms, and dozens of other handymen and women, retirees all, who are volunteering their time to shove insulation between walls, lay ceiling tiles, landscape, and just clean up after the workers.

Where would we be without all that generous volunteer help of the senior citizens?

'Here I am'

The only thing I am good for is editing the monthly newsletter to keep parishioners informed of the progress. My legs are giving out on me these days, so the physical work is beyond me.

I have my daughter write a monthly profile honoring one of these special people at a time. We call the column "Profiles of the Gifted and Generous."

The problem is that we can't begin to cover all of them who deserve recognition. We can hope the Holy Spirit guides us to pick the right one each month.

I certainly don't mean to imply that only the retired generation is volunteering for the new buildings. We also are blessed with men and women who are still in the work force but still pitch in giving hours of their time each week.

Nevertheless, I am struck once again by the value of our senior citizens. These are people who "hear His voice" and respond in the words to the song, "Here I am, Lord, I come to do your will. Make of me what pleases you. Here I am."

Called to help

Isn't it wonderful that we can still feel needed? In my mother's or grandmother's generation, they might help their sons and daughters raise their children, but they didn't enjoy the good health that we have. We replace knees and hips, borrow organs from other people, and like the Energizer bunny, we keep right on going!

Do you think it is just a coincidence that the church suffers a priest shortage at the same time that science has advanced so that we are healthier and live longer? I think not.

I think God is speaking loudly and clearly. We are all called to minister to one another. We are the church!

So if today you hear his voice, harden not your heart.

"Grandmom" likes hearing from other senior citizens who enjoy aging -- contact information.