Weekly Reflections on the Gospel by Deacon Ray Burger
February 27
Rest in Peace
Deacon Ray
This past Sunday evening (February 20) we learned of the death of Deacon
Ray Burger. Deacon Ray with his wife Mary Lou, have been long time
members of St. Margaret Mary Parish community. In 1983 he was ordained
as a Permanent Deacon for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and he continued
to serve the people of St. Margaret Mary Parish until his death. Deacon
Ray touched the lives of many people of our parish community through the
programs he was involved, whether serving on the RCIA team, providing
catechesis for sacrament preparation, his presence at parish liturgies
or through his ministry to the sick and homebound of our parish
community.. We knew him through his humor and his down-to-earth view
toward faith and life in his weekly bulletin article. We pray that Mary
Lou, their children and their families know the strength of faith and
the support of our prayers during this time. May our Lord welcome his
faithful servant to his eternal rest.
February 6
A while ago, I was
browsing through my “stuff to keep” file and found this article about
how we are the light of the world and how we fit that description. We
are like a ballroom globe's mirrored sides, reflecting and
re-reflecting the light through the entire room as it slowly turns. The
ball itself is God, and each of us is a
mirrored piece, of a different shape and size, all reflecting our
good works to the glory and light of Christ.
Sounds good to me.
We do have to keep ourselves "Windexed" up, though.
January 30
One part of today's
Gospel, "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy," (and
last week's snow), reminded me of a story I heard about a cop and a
drunk in one of tougher and seedier areas downtown. This story is kind
of involved so I'll just tell you the pertinent facts. This veteran cop
knew everybody on his beat; he also knew their hang outs, and hideouts
where they "holed up" when they were sleeping it off, or when the
weather was cold and miserable. One day the cop noticed one of the
'regulars' was missing so he started checking around. Sometimes nasty
things happened to guys who couldn't defend themselves. One of the
doctors at the charity clinic said he had been in a couple of days
before and was really, really sick but wouldn't stay there. It was the
doctor's opinion that the poor guy wouldn't last more than a week. So
when the cop finally found him he knew the doctor was right.
"Hey, I been looking all over for you!"
The dying
man whispered, "What did I do?"
"Nothing. I just brought you a present," and he gave the man a bottle
of wine.
The man cried.
Later on, when questioned about the incident the cop said, "Look, he was
too far gone for that bottle to hurt him any. I thought that a guy
shouldn't die thinking that no one cared about him. That wine told him
that someone did.
January 23
As I was
writing about today's Gospel, I managed to inadvertently delete it, so
this is not what I originally intended to say, so I won't say it again.
I'll say something different and hope that I don't delete it again.
Peter and Andrew, James and John without hesitation, responded to Jesus'
invitation to follow the path to God. We have responded to that same
invitation willingly, but sometimes we make a choice (or choices)
that move us from that path, sometimes sideways or even backwards
(depending on the situation). When that happens we need help, and that
help is Jesus Himself, who constantly calls us to "think things
over" and reverse gear.
This is part of our everyday life; to make the right choices to keep
moving to God. That is the only thing that Matters!
As for me, I can't even avoid hitting the DELETE button.
January 16
During the years of
1953-1957 there was a TV program dramatizing great events in the
world, as well as happenings in our own country's history. Famous
newsman Walter Cronkite was the commentator on each program, and he
would give a brief outline of a different event each week, "setting the
stage" for us as though we were actually there at the event. As each
"event" began Walter would say, "and you are there," which was also the
name of the program - You Are There.
I remembered that when I was thinking about John in today's
Gospel. Like Walter Cronkite's events, John was retelling what happened
to him as he baptized Jesus, ending with, "Now I have seen and testified
that He is the Son of God."
What a glorious thing for John to have heard and seen - the Voice of
God, the Holy Spirit, and of course, his own great privilege of
baptizing the Savior of the world!
I doubt that Walter Cronkite ever presented this event - but he should
have. In fact, we don't really need any re-enactment because we
actually were there.
In God's mind and in His Heart!
