Homily...The Gift of Law

Moses gave a “pep talk” to the Israelite people, telling them they should be proud that they are different from their pagan neighbors who do not share their faith (and not be jealous of them). Why? Because who has a god who is as great as our God? (No one!). Who has commandments & laws that make so much sense & that help us to live in harmony w/ each other? 

People without faith say that it’s better not to have to live by God’s laws, by the rules of a Church or by the commandments of faith. But they don’t understand this: that for us, the commandments & laws of God are gifts, not burdens! Moses said: “You must keep God’s commandments that I give you today so that you & your children may prosper & have a long life which God gives to you.”

We don’t obey laws because God wants to make life harder for us but because he wants to make it better for us. It’s how we prosper, how we grow, how we change for the better, how we live in friendship with God & in harmony w/ each other. The commandments are gifts, not burdens.

Pastor's Column

     We extend our sympathies to Donald Waken on the death of his wife Violet who was 90 years old. Her funeral Mass was celebrated last Wednesday and Deacon Tom Waken, who served here at St. Leo’s, was Donald’s brother. Don & Violet were married here in the old church (which is now Lux Hall) so they have been parishioners from the beginning of the parish. We ask the Lord to receive her into his heavenly home.

    We also remember Linda Krol who was married to her husband Joe for 42 years & who had been suffering from MS for many years. They have three children, two of whom attended St. Leo Parish School (& remember well the nuns who taught here). I had the opportunity to give Linda the last rites before she died and was glad that we could pray for her to be received by the angels into heaven. May she too rest in peace.

    Several people who participated in the ARISE small group sharing sessions during Lent came to the Parish Center to enjoy a delicious meal together last week. I was touched by the stories they told of how this ARISE experience has helped them. I am very grateful to all the team members and group leaders who made this possible for our parish! Their leadership is commendable and is a great example of what is hoped for from the laity who are called to live out their baptismal call with the power of the Holy Spirit. We look forward to the next 6-week session which will begin in the Fall.

    We are in the process of keeping our lawn well mowed, along with planting flowers and getting rid of dead and fallen branches and the dead leaves & other debris that fall from the trees & bushes. We would love your help! If you’d like to take over just one small area of the property where we could use some flowers or other care, please let us know. We should take pride in the wonderful property we have here at St. Leo’s and do what we can not only to maintain it but to make it a beautiful place to visit. It is my hope that we can encourage you to make use of the large area of grass & trees that is behind the church & rectory. We’ll think about how we can make that space welcoming & more utilized by parishioners. Do let me know if you’ve got a green thumb you’d like to put to good use. Unfortunately when it comes to gardening, I’m ALL thumbs so I’m not good with that. I also have two left feet when it comes to dancing. But I have two good eyes and ears so see me or speak to me if you’re willing to help.

Homily Thoughts for May 24, 2015 (Pentecost Sunday): Making Room...

This past Saturday, 4 men were ordained as priests by Bishop Lennon at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in downtown Cleveland. At one point in the ceremony, something very subtle takes place. The priests & bishops who sit on the "presbyterium" or semi-circular seats on either side of the bishop's chair (called the "cathedra" which is where we get the word "cathedral"), move over & make room for the newly-ordained to sit there after Holy Communion. Earlier in the ceremony, they sat on chairs in front of the first pews. 

The message is subtle but important: we make room for the new priests. We welcome them to the fraternity of the diocesan presbyterate for they are now called forth from the People of God to lead and serve those same people through the ordained ministry. 

That’s one of the roles of the Holy Spirit in the Church & in each of us…to help us feel that we are a part of something, a part of a unique community. Each of us are here today only because of the Holy Spirit…he has somehow led us here, called us to be part of this community in prayer & worship. But the Spirit  also sets each of us apart to do the work of God in whatever vocation we have been given.

Pastor's Column, May 24, 2015

     This Friday, May 29th, the Parish School will celebrate the last Mass of the school year. During that Mass, we will honor and thank Mrs. Diane Weiss for all she has done for St. Leo’s School in the 30+ years she has been here as teacher and principal. I am so grateful that she decided to stay for another school year after I first arrived so that my transition would be smooth. But she is now looking forward to enjoying her hobbies and retirement. I can’t express enough how much I have respected and appreciated her leadership, her sincere love of the students, her warm personality and her deep faith in God and loyalty to the Church. I pray that the Lord will bless her abundantly as we sadly say goodbye and wish her the best of luck in this new journey of life. You are welcome to join us for the 8:30am School Mass this Friday or to stop in the school any time Friday from 10am until 3pm to offer your thanks to her and wish her well. On Saturday, May 30th, the graduates will be at the 4pm Mass (their graduation ceremony will be AFTER Mass), so you may also wish to see her at that Mass. If you’d like to send her a card, you can send it or bring it to the rectory office or to Mass & we’ll be happy to forward it to her. God’s blessings on Diane Weiss!

    We are calling on all alumni from our Parish School to consider joining our new Alumni Association. You can easily sign up or request more information by going to our website (leothgreat.org) & clicking on the large picture of our past students or by going to the Organizations menu. 

    We are also now selling gift cards online. You can use Paypal, a credit card or debit card to order gift cards (& pick them up at the rectory office) or to pay for school fees such as tuition. Soon you will be able to buy wearables such as sweatshirts, etc. that have our parish/school logo on them. I’m thinking about having a clothing line with my picture on it along with Michaela & Abby, which I think would be a really hot seller. When you wear my picture, you can’t help but look good! (I’m just practicing my marketing skills here…)

    Join us for the Memorial Day Mass this Monday at 9am as we remember our loved ones who have died, and especially those we may not even know who died for our country and our freedom. May God reward them all with eternal life.

Homily Thoughts for May 17, 2015

The Diocese of Cleveland has informed us that due to the bitter cold & snowy conditions on the weekends of our Annual Catholic Charities Appeal this past February, the in-pew pledges for Catholic Charities this year were 25% below last year's. People were harmed by the cold weather of this past winter. Now they may be harmed by the lack of funds we have to help them in the spring & summer. 

The Bishop is asking us those who may not have been able to be at Mass during those weekends of February to please make a pledge today. Envelopes & pencils are in the pews. 

On this feast of the Ascension, the gospel tells us that signs accompanying people of faith. What are the signs of our faith? Will those signs allow others to hear and see the gospel through us? Will those who depend upon the assistance of Catholic Charities be able to see the sign of our faith & hear us proclaim the gospel of mercy by our generosity?

Pastor's Column, May 17, 2015

     Last weekend, your generosity produced over $2000 to aid those whose lives have been so sadly changed by the earthquake in Nepal. Thank you for recognizing in these people whom you will never see, the person of Christ who lives especially in the poor and downtrodden. 

    On May 5th I celebrated the Mass of Christian Burial for Frank Veverka who was a parishioner of St. Leo’s for many years. He would stand in the back of the church after Mass to talk to anyone and everyone as he so easily befriended people. He was generous & supportive of his parish & like all of us, had his favorite pew where he sat week after week. May the Lord, who in last week’s gospel, called us his friends, welcome this friendly man into his kingdom. 

    Last Tuesday I also had the funeral of George Malachin who was married to his wife Ruth for just shy of 40 years and who had 5 sons with her. He survived cancer for over 5 years through the help of chemotherapy. A beautiful rosary made out of red roses hung from the lid of his casket. We trust that Mary may indeed pray for us now and at the hour of our death. May these two men rest in peace. 

    I celebrated Mass with the PSR students, their teachers & parents a couple weeks ago. We are so indebted to the men & women who teach the faith to these children. I thanked them then and I want to thank them again here & ask you all to keep these children and their catechists in your prayers as they enjoy the summer months. 

    Congratulations to the parents of Annaleigh Combs who will be baptized this Sunday after the Noon Mass. May she carry the light of faith with her always and never let it be extinguished in her life. 

    Next Saturday, May 23rd, Father Rob Ramser will celebrate the 4pm Mass. Father Ramser was a student in our elementary school and I’d like to believe that the seed of his vocation was planted during that time as it was for me. Father Ramser will be ordained this weekend with 3 other men by Bishop Lennon at the Cathedral downtown. So we are happy to have him celebrate Mass for us a week later. Please be sure to congratulate him and offer him the support of your prayers. 

    We had a May Crowning this past Friday with the school children so this weekend you will notice the crown of flowers on the head of Mary’s statue to the left of the altar. We will offer a prayer asking that her image may inspire us to come to her who is our Mother.

Homily Thoughts for May 10, 2015…CHOSEN BY GOD

Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple Inc., knew from an early age that he was adopted. He had this vivid memory of sitting on the lawn of his house when he was 6 or 7 years old, telling the girl who lived across the street that he was adopted. But she asked him a disturbing question: “Does that mean that your first parents didn’t want you?” Steve went running into the house crying but his parents took him by the arms, looked him straight in the eye & said, “You have to understand. We CHOSE you. We picked YOU to be our child. For the rest of his life, Steve felt chosen & special because of what his parents said to him that day.

The Jewish people had a similar experience. God told Abraham that despite all the nations that existed in the world around them, they were to be his Chosen People. So some of the Jews who became Christian had a hard time accepting the fact that Gentiles wanted to be baptized as well. But they had to realize that God also chose them to be his adopted children as well. 

Jesus says to us: “It was not you who chose me, it was I who chose you.” And St. Paul: “It’s not that we have loved God, but that God has loved us.” We are loved, we are chosen. We honor our mothers because they loved us first. This is what makes our joy complete.

Pastor's Column, May 10, 2015

     Someone told me last week that they missed the funeral of a parishioner because the Cleveland Plain Dealer is no longer delivered every day. So I thought I’d offer a reminder that information about funerals and other happenings at our church can be found on our website (leothegreat.org) as well as through our free mobile app for Apple & Android devices. We will  also have a mailing list so that as soon as a funeral is scheduled at the parish, we can push that information to your email inbox (check our website to sign up). We already send the parish bulletin to those who signed up for that and we want to make as much information quickly accessible to you as possible so please let us know what other information from us you would like to access online. 

    Bishop Lennon, along with other bishops throughout the country, are asking the faithful to take up a second collection to benefit the people of Nepal following their devastating earthquake. You can also make donations online (see the diocesan website at dioceseofcleveland.org). We will be taking up that 2nd collection this weekend, May 9th & 10th. Thank you in advance for your concern for those who are suffering such devastation. 

    More locally, we ask donors to pledge to the Catholic Charities Annual Appeal through a variety of ways with the majority of new donors each year being added through the in-pew appeal. Unfortunately, February's bitter cold, winter storms, and accompanying low Mass attendance on the in-pew weekend has left the 2015 in-pew appeal approximately 25% behind previous years in both dollars pledged and number of donors. Given these challenges, Bishop Lennon has sent a letter to all pastors asking each parish to conduct a second "special" in-pew collection the weekend of May 16-17 to benefit the Catholic Charities Annual Appeal. So please know that we will give you the opportunity next weekend to fill out a pledge envelope if weather or some other obstacle prevented you from making your commitment this year. Once again, thanks for helping those who are suffering to have their burdens eased because of your thoughtfulness.

    Today we remember to honor our mothers, both living and deceased, for giving us the gifts of life, love and faith. Any time I am at Holy Cross Cemetery to say prayers after a funeral Mass, I stop by my mom’s grave to pray for her (my grave is there too next to hers as well as my dad’s…my dad keeps threatening to chisel in the date of my death unless I behave!). We also remember to honor Mary, the Mother of us all, as we crown her image with a halo of flowers.

Homily Thoughts for May 3 2015…Vine & Branches

Jesus was a great teacher because he used the things of every day life to teach us about God. 

Today he speaks of how we must remain connected to him like branches on a vine. Visualize a bunch of grapes. Remove the branch from the vine & the grape withers & becomes sour, and even turns into a raisin. It must remain connected in order to bear good fruit. 

What disconnects us from God?

Pastor's Column, May 3, 2015

     Last week Grady Wilson made his First Holy Communion at the 10am Sunday Mass but I mention this again because I misspelled his first name & wrote Brady instead of Grady. My apologies to him. I made a mistake once before several decades ago so I wanted to acknowledge this one today as I did back then. Congratulations to him and to all those who will be making their First Eucharist during the 4pm Mass this Saturday. We welcome them to the Table of the Lord!

    While I was away a couple weeks ago, parishioner Paul Andrew passed away suddenly and his Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on April 20th. Paul’s son Daniel had died almost a year ago, and we trust that both of them are together again in God’ kingdom. Last week I celebrated the funeral Mass for Daniel Sholtis, so please keep all of these in your prayerful thoughts. 

    I want to express my gratitude to you again for your generosity. We received another quarterly check in the amount of $3035 from the Rooted in Faith contributions you continue to make. I also received many thank you notes from the organizations that we supported financially through our Lenten opportunities, and one in particular really struck me. The organization called “Womankind” whom we donated to through our baby bottle campaign in Lent received $2278.61 from your donations. That’s a big help to women who need our financial support as they bring new life into this world. But here’s what really surprised me…in the years this parish has been donated to Womankind, they have received $24,648.86 from the people of St. Leo’s. That’s just incredible. Thanks again for your generous almsgiving and for your faithful donations each week which allow us to offer many services to you and to others from our parish. 

    Congratulations to Rebecca Mandoza & Andrew Zint who will be wedded here next Saturday. May they have a long and fruitful marriage. 

    Finally, you will see published here in the bulletin & on our website, the names of our Parish and Finance Council members. When you receive the latest News & Views Newsletter which has my article on the “State of the Parish” in it, please feel free to offer feedback to any one of these people or to me. The members of our new Parish Council met again last week and discussed this article so they will be prepared to answer most of the questions you may have related to what I shared with you. Pray for these parishioners that we may work well together for the spiritual and financial goals of our parish.