Reflections of a Simple Priest

There comes a point in everyone's life when we have to realize the power of the word no.  It's a powerful word when you really think about it.  The ability to say no is the very thing that enables us to set up boundaries in our lives.  It's the thing that allows us to actually say yes.  When we are about to say no to one thing, we can truly dedicate ourselves to something else.  For many of us, we often struggle with that word.  We find ourselves pressured into doing things we really don't want to do because we're nice, because we can't say no to people. I remember a skit that we always used to do with the kids that illustrated the point perfectly.  A boy was standing next to Jesus and said to Jesus, you're my number one, I love you and I want to give you my all.  Then, we see his teacher, who says.  You have an exam coming up…you really need to study.  The boy says, "Hold on Jesus, I'll be right back, I need to study.  Along came...

One of the things about Johnstown, as I know we're all aware is that there simply aren't a whole lot of Jobs here.  As our kids grow up.  Often, they move away to find work.  Sometimes they'll come back to visit, but their life is elsewhere.  It's a funny thing about human nature when they actually do come back.  I know we've all see it happen.  They come back and they can't possibly have done anything good, they're from here, don't you know… I've worked our diocesan youth camp, Camp Zacchaeus 14 years now, and I had the same experience not too long ago, when I went to the eye doctor and realized…one of the little campers I had that first year or two…was now my eye doctor…  I'll admit I caught myself going…"ok, this is strange" and sometimes we mistrust that…after all, what could this kid possibly know? Or how about the guy who runs for office, gets elected, and returns home to hear, Just who does he think he is?….All tho...

Well folks, August has arrived.  This past year I had the opportunity to teach Morality to Seniors at Bishop McCort, and well, as I'm sure you can imagine it was quite the experience.  Still though, I got to know a number of the kids, and now is a very scary time of year for them.  Very soon, many of them will leave home for the first time, move into a dorm, and in a real way, be on their own. I'm sure if we search through our own lives, most of us remember moving into that first dorm, first apartment, or that first house, walking in the door, looking at the room and saying….my God, what did I get myself into….I'm really on my own now…. Most of us have had that experience at one point or another, beginning a new phase of life, not sure if we're ready, but yet, moving on because well, we'd made our decision and now we've got to make it work somehow.  If we keep that feeling in mind, it might give us just some small inkling of the experience the Isr...