Homily...Love is a Verb

At most weddings I preside at, today’s reading from Corinthians, Chapter 13, is usually chosen by the couple. It is a well-known and beautiful passage from scripture about love, though it’s not really the kind of love that people seem to talk about today. We often equate love with romance. And some love is romantic. But it’s not the kind of love that St. Paul is talking about here.

St. Paul’s idea of love has little to do with emotions or feelings. For him, love is not a feeling but an action, a verb. It is patience. It is kindness. It is respect. It is not rudeness or anger or arrogance. 

We can help someone out even if we’re tired. We can respect someone even if we’re angry. We can do something meaningful even if we’re bored. Next week is our Catholic Charities Appeal. We don’t have to feel generous to make a pledge. We don't have to feel compassion to decide we’re going to help someone. We only need to do what is good for the other person…for that is love.

Pastor's Column

     We welcome a young lady named Sadie Vazquez into our Catholic Community as she was baptized this past Sunday. May God bless her and her parents Michelle & Larry as they raise her in the practice of our faith.

    Today (January 31st) begins our Diocesan-wide celebration of Catholic Schools Week. We will be having an Open House today (Sunday) from 11:00am until 1:30am and all are welcome to visit the school and take a look around at the environment we have worked hard to create so that our children may be educated well. My sincere thanks to Sister Erin Zubal, OSU, our new Principal this year who has done an outstanding job of leading our faculty, staff and students into a year of academic excellence in the atmosphere of faith. I am proud of all of our teachers and school personnel who put their heart & soul into their daily work with the children entrusted to our care. I thank also the parents for recognizing the benefits of providing a Catholic Education to their children. While we excel at offering our students a personalized education that will prepare them well for high school and beyond, we also do this in the atmosphere of faith so that the character of these children will be as important as their intellectual abilities. We all know how important our parish school has been in the history of our parish. Please continue to support us with your prayers so that what was begun many years ago may continue to reap rewards for our parish and our community today. 

    My continued thanks for your participation in our Parish Directory! We are very pleased with the number of parishioners who have signed up to get their picture taken and hope that many more will be willing to do the same so that our Parish Album may be beneficial to all of us. In a parish our size, it takes a long time for a Pastor (as well as fellow parishioners) to be able to put a face and a name together so I will be very grateful for this tool and I know many of you will be as well. Please call the rectory office with any questions you may have & let us know how we can help you to be a part of this effort. 

    Last week I asked your prayers for Pat Huston who was under the care of Hospice. Pat passed away last week & we celebrated her funeral Mass on Friday. She was a long time member of St. Leo's who was very active in both the parish and the school, and retained many good friendships with people here. Please remember her & her family as we entrust them all to the loving hands of God. 

Pastor's Column

     Many parishioners were grieving this past week the unexpected passing of Jim Gabel. Jim died from complications from a sudden illness. He and his wife of 58 years, Eileen, have been very active members of St. Leo's for many years. They did so many things...changing the altar candles, ordering hosts & wine, filling up the holy water fonts, helping with St. Vincent de Paul, counting money, and so much more, like working at the festival. The contribution of their time and effort has been a great blessing to the parish and Eileen is anxious to get back to work in honor of her husband. They have several children & grandchildren, all of whom were able to be with Jim in his final days. My cousin, Fr. Dan Schlegel, longtime friends of the Gabel's, presided at the funeral Mass as Fr. Vesely & I concelebrated. He will be missed but not forgotten. We pledge our prayers to Eileen as we entrust her husband to God's loving care. 

    Pat Huston was a parishioner for many years at St. Leo's and is under Hospice Care in Macedonia. Her daughter called & asked for our prayers. Her family is taking very good care of her and she is grateful for the friendships she still enjoys with people from our parish. Please remember her & a parishioner named Leonard, and all those members of our community in need of strength & peace. 

    John Sabol has graciously agreed to work on organizing an archive of historical items for the parish. He is collecting, organizing & marking many items that are of historical interest. History is an important dimension of a parish as it tells us where we have been & helps us to see more clearly where we are going. If you have any items that may be of interest to us such as pictures, movies, or any other items that you think may be useful, please let us know. You can drop them off at the rectory office or just hand them to me after Mass. We are happy to make copies that we would keep but then return the originals to you. Thanks for helping us put the pieces together. 

    This past Friday, January 22, marked the 42nd anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision which legalized abortion in our country. We continue after these many years to mourn the loss of so much innocent life. We pray for those who may be considering abortion as an option & pray that they may recognize in the unborn the reality of human life.  May those who have recognized their wrong choice in the past know God's mercy and healing today. 

Pastor's Column

We had a good response last weekend from our request to sign up after Mass to have your picture taken for our Parish Pictorial Directory. We're very grateful for you cooperation as this photo album will only be useful if many people are willing to participate. Again, you need not buy anything but you will have many choices available if you choose to purchase pictures to give to your loved ones. You will also receive a FREE 8 x 10 & a FREE directory. You can sign up for al time slot after Mass in the vestibule or on our website at leothegreat.org. Remember you can have your pet(s) in the picture with you (except for snakes). 

    Here are some people I would ask you to keep in your prayers at the start of this new year: Rich (and Eva) Bunosky who are adjusting to changes that are necessary for Rich's care. Irene Venesky is at home recuperating from a fall at home. She is progressing nicely but still has some pain in her right arm. Helen Salmon is a parishioner dealing with pancreatic cancer and is living with her niece in Rocky River. I told her that the distance does not separate her from our community. I also promised our prayers to Mrs. Shultz whose husband Edward recently passed away. They were members of St. Leo but have since moved away yet we continue to remember those who were once a part of our parish. Dorothy Forester and Jeanette Klaehn are at Broadview MultiCare, and so we remember them as well as Jack, Doris, Walter, Linda, Carol and all of our homebound and ill parishioners. 

    We express our sympathy to Lynn Sexton whose husband Charles was remembered in a Memorial Mass this past Wednesday at our parish. They were married for 32 years and moved here a year ago. They both enjoyed traveling and visited 28 states. May he rest in peace after his journey home to God. 

    Finally, we extend our prayerful support to our Principal, Sister Erin, on the death of her father Jack Zubal. She is comforted in knowing that she has especially the prayers of our students who have been remembering him now for a few months. Members of the faculty and parish staff attended the wake and funeral Mass this past week and will continue to extend our support to Sister Erin. 

    It looks like winter has finally caught up with us. As Michaela frolics in the snow, I hope that you be careful as you walk & drive the snowy sidewalks & streets. We've barely had much of a winter but still hope spring will be here quickly. Then you can frolic all you want in the green grass. 

Homily...God Will Not Disappoint

"The people were filled with expectation." While these words set the scene for Jesus' baptism, they are not referring to Jesus or to his baptism but of how the crowds were hoping that John the Baptist would be their Messiah & change their very hard lives. But John disappoints them when he says, "Sorry, but I'm not the one. Jesus is!"

We expect and hope for new things from time to time...for a new president, knows, relationship, career or new relationship. Then we feel like our prayer is finally answered but realize that we were wrong and we become discouraged, disappointed. Just like the people who thought John the Baptist was the one. 

But those people of faith eventually learned that God still came through for them. And we must do the same. People of faith express this all the time. Like when they pray for a loved one who is ill they can say, "I know God has a plan for them." Or even when things are more dire and someone dies, I hear people of faith say, "I know that God has something better for them." We don't give up. We keep praying, hoping, searching and believing. The people following John the Baptist were expecting a Messiah. But they received much more...God's own beloved Son.

Pastor's Column

We celebrated the Mass of Christian Burial for Lucy Cline on Thursday, December 24th (the morning of Christmas Eve). She was a devoted mother & grandmother. I'm sure she was especially missed by the family on Christmas Day but she can be in heaven because of Christ's birth on earth. May she sing there with the Angels.

We also had the funeral for Mary Lou Venditti on Wednesday, December 30th. Mary Lou was a real icon of St. Leo's during the years when lay people were encouraged to use their gifts for the good of the parish as that is part of our baptismal call. Mary Lou did that with extraordinary generosity as she prepared liturgies and ministered in many ways in the parish along with her husband Armond. Some parishioners had visited with her just days before her unexpected death and expressed how grateful they were to her for all that she had done here at St. Leo's. And here's another great gift they gave to the Church: they were married for 74 years and would have celebrated their 75th anniversary this June. What an incredible witness of love and commitment. We are indebted to people like Mary Lou and Armond who have built a foundation for us who continue to benefit today from their commitment many years ago.

We were happy to have received the other 3 railings that were installed in the sanctuary on the Wednesday before Christmas. I strongly encourage our Lectors and Eucharistic Ministers who may be fearful of the steps to use especially the railing to the left of the pulpit when entering or exiting the sanctuary. Again we are grateful to Jan Papez & to Irene Venesky who donated these to us.

Please don't forget to sign up to have your mug shot taken for our pictorial directory. There are so many times when someone says, "I know that name but can't put a face to it" or "I know their face but I don't know their name" and this can help with those two situations. We're making it as simple as possible for you & will even bribe you...if you participate you get a free directory which will have my picture in it! What more can you ask for?

As we leave the Christmas Season today with this feast of the Baptism of the Lord which takes us back into Ordinary Time, I express our communal thanks to Mickey Stitt and to the choir and our school children for the wonderful music they worked hard to provide for our Christmas celebrations. We're also thankful to all those who decorated the church so beautifully and who will be taking it all down again today.

Pastor's Column

It's 3 days before Christmas as I write this so I am hoping as you read this that we all had a wonderful, though warm, Christmas celebration. Personally I would have preferred some snow glistening outside the windows. The poor reindeer must have been a muddy mess when they got home. But worse than that I caught something when I was visiting friends before Christmas and thought I was over it when I returned home but I still had some mending to do. Hopefully this new year will bring health to us all, especially to our fellow parishioners who have been suffering the effects of illness in the past year.

I'm very grateful to Father Vesely for all he did during my absence before Christmas to make sure the spiritual needs of the parishioners were met. He celebrated Mass and funerals, heard confessions, and is always a great support when I'm in need his extra help. It would be a lot tougher without him, and it's always enjoyable with him around. He and I in turn extend our appreciation to all of you who sent cards and eatables for us to enjoy during the holidays. Your kindness to us is always noted.

Our prayers go out to the family of Stephen Kovaca whose funeral Mass took place on Friday, December 18, and again to the family of Ivan Sevel whose Memorial Mass was the following day. I'm sure their absence during the Christmas holiday was especially acute, but hopefully the message that God is With Us was also heard in a special way by those who loved them. May they rest in Christmas Peace.

Many of you will remember Noel Ilg, an accomplished Music Director here at St. Leo's a number of years ago. Noel passed away on December 15th at the age of 88. Noel had quite a reputation here in the Diocese of Cleveland as he was President of the Diocesan Music and Liturgy Commission and directed the Diocesan choir at St. John Cathedral in Cleveland. He received many awards and was involved in many civic organizations as well. He served God generously and well. May he who helped others to worship God through music and in song here on earth now hear the choirs of angels in heaven.

Through baptism we welcomed Charles Kindry into the family of God's Church last Sunday. May he and those adults preparing for the sacraments of initiation at Easter find the Lord each day of this new year.

As I begin my third year year at St. Leo's, I continue to be deeply grateful for the opportunity to serve you and proclaim to you the God of Mercy. Pray for me as I do for you.

Homily...Getting Back to Work

A week ago, our attention was focused on Jesus, Mary & Joseph as the members of the Holy Family. Today we shift our focus onto the 3 Kings who visited the Holy Family. These 3 men in our manger scenes simply stand or bow or kneel as they gaze upon the infant in the manger.

We don't know how long they stayed but we are told that they finally left in order to return home. There are 3 other men in the gospel who also gazed at the beauty & glory of Christ when he was transfigured before them on a mountaintop. But they too had to go back down the mountain to their family & to their work, even though Peter wanted to stay there forever because the experience was so incredible.

We too come to church each week & we gaze on Christ in the manger or on the cross or present in the sacred bread & wine that are held up for our adoration at the consecration. We too worship, offer our gifts & find solace as we look upon the face of God. But like the 3 disciples on the mountain & the 3 kings at the manger, we too have to return home, to our work & to our families. We have work to do: "When the song of the angels is stilled, the star in the sky is gone, the kings & princes are home & the shepherds are back w/ their flocks, then the WORK of Christmas begins...to find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoners & to bring peace to all peoples." Let us begin now the work of Christmas, the work of learning how to live in charity