For those of us who believe in heaven, an age-old question resurfaces with readings this coming Sunday...Who gets to go to heaven?
Sub-questions abound:
Is it sufficient to believe (intellectually) in Jesus? as some might interpret the gospel this coming Sunday (John 3:18). What about those who never even got to know about Jesus? What about those who, perhaps for lack of a convincing Christian role model, heard of Jesus but weren't really convinced?
You know how you sometimes feel something coming on? Began for me last Wednesday afternoon. Looking out at the Reconciliation Service at 7pm, I was pleased to see over two hundred people gathered, but four priests having cancelled left three to begin and a fourth coming partway. I did the math and gave my fastest homily ever (blessing 1). With the chills coming on and my energy dropping like a leaking fuel tank, came blessing 2...a rather intense prayer for God's strength to get through. By the time I crawled into bed my internal thermostat was going haywire. Just in case it didn't return to equilibrium, I consciously gave my life to God (blessing 3). On a diet of aspirins and Gatorade, Thursday morning dawned. I'm told we got a lot of snow. Bishop Dudley and parishioners filled in for me for the next two days (blessing 4) reminding me how replaceable, although missed, we all are (blessing 5).
A month has gone by since some friends from the parish and I returned visiting Maltrata, Mexico, hometown of many Hispanic residents of Northfield. I wrote 
about the trip in a recent issue of the Northfield News . Luigi Sison took lots of photos which can be found at his photo site. I am including a few here to give you a little flavor of the town and its people. We are looking into establishing a "sister parish" relationship between St. Dominic and San Pedro Apostol including annual visits back and forth between members of each community...and the bonus of bringing the Hispanic and Anglo communities closer right here in Northfield.
(more photos in the post continuation)
I've added the options to subscribe to Father Denny's weblog either via email (using Feedblitz) or via a newsreader (RSS/webfeed). And if the latter is confusing to you, I've added a link to the Wikipedia that helps explain it.
Look for these underneath Fr. Denny's photo on the right sidebar.
The beautiful image of God making his rainbow covenant with Noah in last Sunday's first reading follows a darker portrayal of God who had just intentionally drowned nearly all of humanity in a flood, a MEGA-punishment for sin. God will later entomb the sinners of Sodom and Gomorrah in volcanic ash and send venomous snakes upon sinners worshipping the golden calf in the Sinai desert. This darker side of God seems quick to anger, harsh and vindictive against sinners. Is God really like that? Some people, even some Christians today, think so…
When the tsunami hit Indonesia in December 2004, Islamic clerics said the giant killing wave was God's punishment for sins. In September Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans claimed hurricane Katrina had been God’s punishment for the invasion of Iraq. Evangelist Pat Robertson declared that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s stroke in January was God’s punishment for endorsing division of the Holy Land with the Palestinians. Two weeks ago a Christian group from Kansas picketed the funeral of Corporal Andrew Kemple in Anoka , asserting that his death in Iraq was God’s punishment for our country tolerating homosexuality. Is God really like that...vindictive and punishing?
Spring training...that's what it. When I was a kid, Lent was an exercise in giving up something like c
andy or TV. Okay, as far as that goes. But Lent is, as with sports, a time of spiritual "spring training" or like the training for those athletes we watched in the Olympic games...or like Lance in the picture on the left (okay, so biking a good distance is one of my Lenten resolutions as well...sound mind, body and spirit do have a connection) . What training schedule do I need to follow to get in great spiritual shape...to get past good intentions to good follow-through?
My list, like many at church, is up on the wall for people to see (if you can find mine among the hundreds of others!). What about you?
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