Bearing Fruit

Fruit - in botanical terms - the seed bearing structure in flowering plants formed from the ovary after flowering.  Most people hearing the word fruit - think of apples - oranges - grapes - berries - easily harvested from various plants.  Less often - the product of any concentrated effort - the fruit of hard labor - the outcome of concentrated effort.  Before fruit of any kind can be harvested - much work - effort must be invested.  Soil needs to be tilled - seeds - planted - nurtured with nutrients - water from above - sweat from the brow - warmth from the sun - no one ingredient more important than the other.  After many long hours - results finally seen.  In time - all bear fruit.

In today's Gospel - the story of the fig plant - barren - not producing any fruit.  The impatient owner suggesting to dig up - remove the plant - to stop putting additional effort in an attempt to harvest fruit.  The gardener - refusing to comply - willing to invest more time - energy into the plant - wisely knowing that all will eventually produce if given enough time.  So often we see the same situation with people - people who appear to be going no where - taking up space - non productive members of society.  God knows differently - even with the worst - willing to give each of us all the time we need - to grow - to learn - to blossom into the gifts that we can be.  Each of us is a promise - a possibility - to untold greatness - in small - grand ways.  In this season of Lent - we seek that which will nurture us - prayer - fasting - giving to others.  There is still plenty of time this Lent to bear fruit in your life - for yourself - for others.

Deacon Dale 

Building Bridges & Tents

The Second Sunday of Lent and most are attempting to have a meaningful Lenten experience.  Praying more - fasting - making sacrifices - giving alms - basically doing the right thing.  Most are doing this - not all.  For some - no interest in participating in any sort of spiritual exercise - others - too many other issues they are coping with - more important at the moment.  None of us has the right answer - all doing the best we can - at the moment to face our individual lives - praying - hoping that we are on the correct path.  

Mount Tabor - Church of the Transfiguration

God calls each of us - to discipleship - to be aware of His presence - in our daily lives - the things we experience - see - hear - observe.  When Jesus' disciples saw Him standing with Moses and Elijah they had no idea what they were seeing.  Peter wanted to erect tents - one for each of them - his immediate reaction to what had been observed.  There is no mention what John and James wanted to do - caught up in the moment - processing in their minds what they had seen.  Just like them - all of us - standing at their sides - in the beginning of the Second week of Lent - sorting out what we need to do - how to accomplish what we are suppose to do.  With Jesus at our sides - not to worry - in His time - we will figure this all out.  In the meantime - eat less - drink less - give alms - pray like there is no tomorrow - build bridges with others - if you have time - erect a tent.

Deacon Dale 

In The Beginning

In the beginning - God created man - male and female He created them - to dominate and rule the World.  All was good - for a time - then - things changed.  Utilizing the Gift of Free Will - man began to think - that is when things started to change.  Men and women thought - communicated - developed ideas - most good - some not so.  Over time wrong thinking invaded God's World - clashed with the good - created tension.  Tension as such can be good when utilized to create - develop - advance society.  Tension between individuals - the opposite effect.  

Because of the development of society - how people interact - mankind allowed itself to drift away from God's Plan.  Rather than seek what God intended - people started overly focusing on what they wanted - whether good or bad.  In the course of time as religion became formalized - as moral codes developed - the need to pause and examine one's life - what they were doing - where they were headed - how they had fallen short of life's goals - drifted towards the selfish side  - the need for Lent became obvious.  Thus - today - we observe the First Sunday of Lent - the first of many Sundays and an entire forty day period to do a self examination - to help each of us to get back on course - to guide our lives in the proper direction - to make our life meaningful and of value to the world in which we live.  With Jesus - the God who walked this Earth - it is a task that can be undertaken with joy and peace.  May your personal Lenten experience be one filled with a multitude of blessings.

Deacon Dale 

Smudges & Smears

When working with different media many artists intentionally allow smudges and smears to enter into their work - others go to extremes to avoid anything that looks like a smudge or smear in  their works.  Through their efforts - the artist is seeking to convey a message to the observer - tell a story - share an emotion.  The final product accomplishes this otherwise the efforts was in vain.

Most clergy are not artists - on Ash Wednesday - as seen above by @BillDonaghy - the ashes imposed on the foreheads of the faithful take many various forms.  As an artistic effort - most clergy fail - their goal not an artistic feat - rather an act of love - imposing ash from the previous years palms used on Palm Sunday - to bring the faithful closer to their faith - their belief in the death and resurrection - their own sins - their opportunity to look deeper inside to what they need to do in order to worthily celebrate Jesus' resurrection on Easter Sunday.  As we enter Lent - we pray for ourselves - each other - that Jesus will truely be the Lord of our lives.

Deacon Dale 

Pancake Day - Pączkis Day - Fastnacht Day

Pancake Day - Shrove Tuesday - Mardi Gras - Karnival - Fat Tuesday - all the same observance on the Tuesday immediately preceding Ash Wednesday - by Christians everywhere - in particular Anglicans - Lutherans - Methodists - Roman Catholics.  This observance in current times no longer limited to people of these groups - Christians of numerous denominations everywhere now - officially - unofficially - preparing themselves for the beginning of Lent - eventually Easter.  Today is celebrated as the last day when one may indulge in excesses - food - drink - partying - as they embrace the solemn days of Lent.  In England the custom of eating pancakes - in Germany fasnachts - in Poland pączkis - in the USA  - almost any pastry depending on your cultural heritage.  Parties are common with fun and fellowship.

On this day - wherever one may be - time should be spent with family and friends - celebrating all that God has blessed us with - rejoicing in the lives we live - preparing ourselves through prayer - fasting - giving to others - for the days of Lent when we look inside to see who and what we are - who and what we should be - in God's eyes.

Deacon Dale 

He Saw His Shadow

As He gazed around at everything surrounding Him - people - daylight - vegetation - ground - He saw His shadow.  Stretched out there before Him - His likeness - crawling out from His feet - slowly meandering away from Him.  Easy for all to see - the two of them - the One created by God Almighty - the other - a darkened image of who He might be.  Looking upon either - revealing only the shape - not the inner substance - the heart - mind - soul - the potential of a life lived well - the hopes and dreams - the possibilities.  Shadows fail - always - to reveal the Truth - darkened reflections of a shell - plant - animal - mineral - all casting  their own shadows - painting the surface of the surrounding earth with darkened shapes - masks of a reality - unknown.  

Not the shadow of Punxsutawney Phil, the world-famous meteorologist/groundhog - rather the shadow of the One who gave everything - for you - for me - that we might have life and live it  to the fullest.  To appreciate His shadow - understand what it represents - one must know the One who cast the shadow.  His name is Jesus - waiting for each of us - to answer His call - to come close to Him - to learn who He is - how much He loves us.  It only takes a second - He will come - you only have to invite Him into your life. 

Deacon Dale 

Rites Of Passage

A rite is a ritual of various natures observed by many different groups.  Some rites are religious in nature - baptism - confirmation - marriage - ordination.  Other rites are secular observances - reaching puberty - birthdays - coming of age - graduation - joining various groups.  All rites confer a change in status - observe a transition in one's life - recognizing a new period - a beginning or end.  Throughout everyone's life - all will experience  these rites of passage.  Not always recognized - birth and death - for all people - two rites of passage that all will experience. In the world view - births a rite to be celebrated - death a rite to be mourned.  In people with religious beliefs - death should be celebrated as the next step in one's spiritual life - reaching heaven - getting closer to their eventual goal - attainment of a completeness of their life.  For those with spiritual beliefs - death is not to be feared - rather expected.  

God created the world and all that is in it - that which we can see - things not visible to the naked eye.  No one can see atoms and molecules - with the aid of instrumentation - readily viewed.  All can smell the freshness of the morning air - none can see it.  Most can hear the sounds of nature - never view able.  So many things that exist in the world - intangible - untouchable - physically out of reach - grasped only by our minds and intellect.  For those who believe in a life after death - belief that once conceived - life eternal - ongoing - changed but never ending.  All will share these rites - embraced - and experienced - one life at a time.

Deacon Dale 

Walking To A Different Beat

I have a lot of people that I know who are different from the main stream world - doing their own thing - in their own way - walking to a different beat of the drum.  What is interesting - they are the ones that I prefer to be with.  In fact - as I think about it - my entire family is that way - each of us - using different thought processes - arriving at the same conclusion - the majority of the time - often in loud voices.  As my cousins like to say - we are not arguing - we are just Italians and we talk very loud - with passion.  Passionate - definitely - for different things - work - sports - relationships - faith.  As I ponder the people in my life - those who have had a major influence - living or dead - the majority - were different.  Many would call them - weird - stubborn - arrogant - laid back - over the top - someone most would avoid.  It is from these people that I have learned the most - intellectually - spiritually.  All of my brothers and sisters - my wife and sons - friends - at one time or another - real pains in the rear - but all of them have added real value to my life.  They are the ones who have shaped me into the person that I am today - all of us - just a little bit different from the others.  Those most influential - people that I will never forget. 

Walking To A Different Beat 

Jesus - definitely was different from all the rest - did things that were misunderstood - went against the flow - swam up river - walked against the winds of time - teaching those who would listen - how to do the same - to go - not as the world goes - but against the common - popular flow.  Too many - comfortable with what is - seduced by the easy - popular - politically correct - doomed to uneventful lives.  Following Jesus - always a challenge - not an easy task - many barriers to climb over - always defending that which cannot be seen - walking - not blindly - but by faith alone.  Faith in God - His Son - His Words - His promise - that He will always be there - at our side - as we walk with Him - to a different beat.

Deacon Dale 

R.I.P. Father Jerome Zalonis M.I.C.

Thursday - January 17, 2019 - the angels and the people of God cried at the news of the death of Father Jerome Zalonis MIC - fondly known as Father Jerry.  Ordained on May 23, 1959 - along with his twin brother - Father John Zalonis - Father Jerry served the Catholic communities of believers in numerous locations - his final assignment at St. Patrick Parish in Yorkville, Illinois.  In his 60 years of priesthood - Father Jerry laughed - cried - comforted more people of all ages than can be counted.  He will be missed by all who knew him.  My first encounter with Father Jerry was in June 1988 - newly assigned to St. Mary Church in Plano, Illinois and St. Patrick Mission in Bristol, Illinois.  I was nervous - a deacon candidate about to meet his new pastor for the first time.  Opening his office door at St. Mary's rectory - my nervousness completely disappeared as I gazed at his darkly bearded face - an almost mirror image of my own darkly bearded face.  At least he approved of beards - and after asking his one question - what did I preach on - a large smile and a laugh of approval - the beginning of a long friendship - he serving as my vesting priest at my ordination as a Permanent Deacon.  Together - especially at St Patrick Mission - we built a parish community with numerous new programs - reaching out to the community - eventually constructing a new parish church in Yorkville - saw it officially designated as a parish - shedding 117 years of Mission status on February 15, 2002 by Bishop Joseph Imesch DD - Bishop of Joliet-in-Illinois Diocese.  

Father Jerry at His 50th Anniversary of Ordination

Father Jerry was not afraid to offer correction to anyone who needed it - always with a smile and words of encouragement.  Shortly after my ordination he politely told me to quit reading my homilies - instead to speak from my heart with the knowledge and love that he knew I had for Our Lord.  Needless to say - my homilies improved very quickly - as did the length - a fact that became a private joke between us.  

I am thankful that we were out east at Thanksgiving of 2018 - a time when my wife and I were able to visit him - to spend time talking about the ministry that we shared between the three of us - attending one final Mass together.  His smile - as seen above - permanently embedded in our hearts - he will never be any farther than our hearts and memories.  

Rest in Peace - Good and Faithful Servant
Deacon Dale 

Felice anno nuovo - Feliz año nuevo - Bonne année - Happy New Year

No matter how you say it - welcome to 2019 and all that is waiting for you to experience.  Ending one year - leaving behind both happy and sad memories - propelling ourselves into a new year - a fresh start - new beginnings - new challenges - another chance to do the right thing.  The past is the past - that is where it belongs.  There are very few things that can be undone - we cannot go back in time to correct our errors - moving forward we can attempt to avoid repeating mistakes - changing our ways - seeking other paths and directions for our lives.

Zakochany aka Zako (Our 3rd Keeshond)

In this New Year of 2019 - all things are possible - with God.  With Jesus at your side - you can do and achieve so much.  With a smile on our face - we look at the New Year and all the possibilities that exist.

Happy New Year
Deacon Dale