" ...There is a boy here that has five barely loaves
and two fish; but what good are these for so many?" John 6:1-15
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A Letter from Father John
Dear Friends,
IT WAS NEVER A CHOICE; Charlie Sanaghan was born a coal miner. In 1879 Craignuck, Lanarkshire, Scotland if your father was a miner then, soon enough, so were you. Charlie’s father, John, was a coal miner. Around 1905 my Grandfather and Grandmother and the first two of their eventual nine children sailed to Nova Scotia, later they headed for central Illinois and finally to Chicago.
Grandpa had most of a grade school education and read everything he could get his hands on but his joy was music. Once his kids were raised he bought himself a sharp looking, old upright piano and he would play for hours at a time for an audience of one- himself. He never read notes on sheet music, he had no need. Grandpa simply listened to a song and then searched for it on the keyboard— first the melody, then the chords. Once he had the tune in-hand he’d play around with it, alter ing the key, rhythms and sound until he’d made it into something of his own. As little kid I sat next to him on the piano bench once or twice and watched him make music.
By contrast, as far as anyone could remember, my mother’s family had no musical talent whatsoever. She said even the family’s Atwater Kent radio played out of tune. Listening to her father-in-law play, however, mom imagined her children might have inherited his gift so when I was about eight she arranged for me to take weekly piano lessons after school with Sister Marie. After a torturous two years of lessons and one infamous recital performance, Sister Marie took my mother aside for a heart-to-heart conversation. She told mom that, except for two things, I could be a concert pianist. One thing was a total lack of talent and the other thing was my complete lack of ambition. To emphasize her point Sister Marie said I could read the notes fine but I just had no music, not an ounce.
She said even if I had all the notes in the world without music I’d never make anything but noise. On the other hand, Grandpa didn’t have any notes but he couldn’t help but make music.
Like Grandpa, Jesus didn’t deal much with notes either-- mostly he was about the music. Dogma and doctrine were not His focus. Life was.
St. Augustine in his autobiography described his own conversion as “faith seeking understanding” which is something like Grandpa having the music and only then searching for the melodies and chords on the keyboard, bypassing the need for notes.
Many of the Gospel stories tell of the disciples, His students, who were already very familiar with the “Law and Prophets” (the notes), learning to make music by watching Christ and listening-- and then imitating what they had seen and heard but always each in his or her own way. Basically, each of them made Jesus’ Gospel something of their own and then passed the gift, the music, on to the next generation and eventually to us.
On a similar note this past Sunday, listening to Jennifer sing Psalm 22 (The Lord is my Shepherd), faith and music blended and became one. Grandpa, I think, would have understood.
God Bless
Fr. John
Announcements & Upcoming Events
RCYA
The Ravenswood Catholic Young Adults is looking for additional leadership committee members to help plan social, spiritual, and service activities. It is a commitment of about 4 to 6 meetings per year. We will be meeting on Sunday, August 19 at St. Benedict's after the 6:30pm mass. Please e-mail RavenswoodCYA@gmail.com if you have any questions or would like more information.
Theology on TAP
Ravenswood Catholic Young Adults (RCYA) host Theology on Tap, a free event for those in their 20s and 30s, single or married. It is an exciting speaker series that includes discussion, food, and fellowship. This year we are partnering with St. Gregory the Great parish and St. Andrew's parish to offer more theology on tap. This week discussion:
Tuesday, July 31
St. Gregory the Great Parish, 5545 N. Paulina
Brian Welter; God’s Invitation and Our Response
Wednesday, August 1
Irish Bistro, 3905 N. Lincoln Ave
Beth Knobbe; Living Single with Faith Purpose and Passion
School Supplies
St. Vincent de Paul is collecting new school supplies for our neighbor children in need. We especially lack: Scissors, Markers, Colored Pencils, Spiral Notebooks, 24 pack Crayons, Ring Binders, Pencil Cases, and Notebook Paper. Please place donated supplies in the collection box at entry area of the church. We will be collecting supplies now through August 26, 2012 .
Developing Developments
I had an argument with my sister the other night which is not unusual. TheTuohy’s are very competitive at times. The argument was over all of you at St. Matthias. Well not you individually but as a collective whole. She insists that everyone today has email addresses. I countered by saying many do; but many seniors don’t.
Well I’m not sure if she is right (which would drive me nuts!) My reasoning is that over the last year St. Matthias has asked people to email their email address tuohyterry@gmail.com. And although I have received quite a few ,there are still hundreds of church members that I do not have their email addresses.
The reason for the need is twofold; first we would like to communicate to the parishioners a few times a year through an email letter or notice. To often important information is put in the bulletin but if you were out of town on that weekend you would miss it. Secondly, we are always trying to scale back on printing whether it is an invitation or an appeal letter. It cost us nothing to send you an invitation to our events via email.
Autumn is around the corner and with it comes lots of activities, fundraisers, appeals, religious events and our 125th special mass with the Cardinal. The church will continue to promote everything through the bulletin but it would be nice to have everyone’s email to inform you of the most current information. And according to my sister everyone has an email so please forward yours to tuohyterr@gmail.com
Friends of the Grape
Please mark your calendar for Sunday, October7 for the 13th Annual Friends of the Grape. The next “Friends of the Grape” meeting is scheduled for August 7th at 7:00 in the Rectory. All are welcome to attend.
Take Five for Faith
Invest just five minutes a day, and your faith will deepen and grow - a day at a time.
Look up the daily passages from the New American Bible online at www.usccb.org/nab/bible.
SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2012
SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Take me to the king
The story of Jesus’ feeding of thousands from only a few loaves of bread and some fish is a miracle all the gospels tell at least once, some twice, for a total of six times. That means it was important for just about the whole early Christian community. The people in the story who originally ate the food, however, got the meaning a little wrong. Who is this person, they asked? He must be a prophet (good thinking!). Let’s make him king (bad thinking!). Jesus did not want to be a king, or at least the kind of king the people desired. No, he was something much more important: the Bread of Life. If you read the story, you’ll notice it sounds a lot like the Eucharist. The next time you’re in the “crowd” at the sacred meal, remember you’re partaking of eternity.
TODAY'S READINGS: 2 Kings 4:42-44; Ephesians 4:1-6; John 6:1-15 (110)
“Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them.”
MONDAY, JULY 30
FEAST OF PETER CHRYSOLOGUS, BISHOP, DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH
Not only golden words but golden deeds
After Mass, a tall, lanky parishioner with the drawl of the Southwest greeted the priest, who was anything but tall. Instead of the usual mumbled “nice sermon, Father,” the cowboy-like gent looked down and said, “You know Father, if you lived among Native Americans out West, they might give you a name: ‘Short-Man-Who-Talks-Long.’ ” Saint Peter “of the Golden Words” (Chrysologus) had the short homily down pat. People loved his preaching—not merely because he didn’t give long sermons but because he made sense, so much so that he became known as the Doctor of Homilies. Whether you are a preacher by trade or not, you carry messages of goodness, kindness, compassion, and holiness in how you live.
Today's Readings: Jeremiah 13:1-11; Matthew 13:31-35 (401)
“I will open my mouth in parables.”
TUESDAY, JULY 31
FEAST OF IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA, PRIEST
Find the sense in suffering
Studies suggest that human beings can tolerate a great deal of pain and suffering as long as they can find meaning in it. A young Spanish warrior hit by a cannonball in 1521 and confronted by a long, painful convalescence was forced to search for that meaning. The result was the Society of Jesus, one of the largest and most influential religious orders in history. The meaning Saint Ignatius of Loyola found on his sickbed gives hope to those who face disabling injury or illness, as nearly all of us will at one time or another. All things can work for good, “for the greater glory of God,” as the Jesuits say.
TODAY'S READINGS: Jeremiah 14:17-22; Matthew 13:36-43 (402)
“The righteous will shine like the sun.”
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1
FEAST OF ALPHONSUS LIGUORI, BISHOP, DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH
Good things can come in small packages
Saint Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787) went looking to cultivate the faith in out-of-the-way places. In Naples he organized little “chapels” of folks who met in places like the back rooms of barbershops or corners of public squares to pray, sing hymns, and receive basic religious education. These groups were the uneducated, street-sellers, longshoremen, ex-soldiers, and others. For them Alphonsus wrote a cheaply reproduced, pocket-sized book of devotions called Maxims of Eternity that they could carry with them and read throughout the day. Find some short moments every day for prayer and learning.
TODAY'S READINGS: Jeremiah 15:10, 16-21; Matthew 13:44-46 (403)
“The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field.”
THURSDAY, AUGUST 2
Leave the sorting out to God
The Kingdom of heaven, Jesus once said, is like a net put into the water that collects all kinds of fish. On shore the fishermen save the good fish and throw away the bad. “Thus,” he said, “it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous.” Note, however, it’s the angels at the end, not human beings now, who do the separating. The 20th-century Scottish scholar William Barclay wrote: “It is not a person’s place to say who is committed to Christ and who is not. . . . Therefore, it is our duty to gather in all who will come and not to judge and not to separate, but to leave the final judgment to God who alone can judge.”
TODAY'S READINGS: Jeremiah 18: 1-6; Matthew 13: 47-53 (404)
The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea.”
FRIDAY, AUGUST 3
Are the prophets in?
It’s hard to find a good prophet nowadays. No one wants the job; neither did Isaiah nor Jeremiah. Why? Because it usually ends with both message and messenger rejected, sometimes violently. As Jesus reminded his opponents: “You killed the prophets!” Jesus did embrace his role as prophet, as God’s Son, as God’s call to repentance and salvation, though his family and neighbors wondered, “Who does he think he is?” We might not consider ourselves prophets, but the Second Vatican Council makes it clear that the People of God share in Christ’s prophetic office, “especially by means of a life of faith and charity and by offering to God a sacrifice of praise.”
TODAY'S READINGS: Jeremiah 26:1-9; Matthew 13:54-58 (405)
“Speak to the people . . . ; whatever I command you, tell them, and omit nothing.”
SATURDAY, AUGUST 4
FEAST OF JOHN VIANNEY, PRIEST
Good is good enough
Some of the Hebrew prophets only reluctantly accepted their call, but when they did they committed themselves completely to their missions, which involved setbacks, opposition, even death. The life of Saint John Vianney reflects similar paradoxes. He was a poor student but was ordained a priest anyway. He got drafted but escaped from the army. His parish was a spiritually moribund village, but he transformed it into a place of great devotion. Burdened by his unrelenting work, he left town three times only to be begged back. Being dedicated doesn’t mean doing everything right or never having doubts or fears. If that were true, no one would ever accomplish anything good.
TODAY'S READINGS: Jeremiah 26:11-16, 24; Matthew 14:1-12 (406)
“In truth it was the Lord who sent me to you, to speak all these things for you to hear.”
©2012 by TrueQuest Communications, L.L.C. PHONE: 800-942-2811; E-MAIL: mail@takefiveforfaith.com; WEBSITE: PrepareTheWord.com Licensed for noncommercial use. All rights reserved. Scripture quotes come from the New American Bible.
Contributors: Alice Camille, Daniel Grippo, Caroline Hopkinson, Father Larry Janowski, O.F.M., Ann O'Connor, Joel Schorn, Patrice J. Tuohy, and Sister Julie Vieira, I.H.M.
