(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: https://brothersinchristcmf.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Mass-Blog-for-the-3rd-Sunday-of-Ordinary-Time-2025.mp3)
Author’s note: The following message from Kathy O’Brien-Carter, daughter of St. Michael parishioner Joe O’Brien, inspired this week’s meditation:
“Recently a friend from St. Michael’s texted me a photo of the Adoration Chapel meditation written for last year’s Solemnity of Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. It was dedicated to my late father, Joe O’Brien, and mentioned the sacred meaning of “King” and how God’s Kingship is celebrated. He would have been so honored to be mentioned in the church bulletin, let alone to be considered ‘the model of what it means to be a worthy servant of God the King.’”
“The Knights of Columbus Lafayette Council of St. Michael was an important constant in my Dad’s life, not just because of its mission, but because of the people committed to the mission. Just a month or so before he died, he said he would love to get more young men involved in that mission.”“Thank you for honoring my Dad in this wonderful way. May God Bless the Knights of Columbus!”
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Anyone’s passing leaves friends and relatives with a difficult task. Who will write the eulogy?
The task of testifying to someone’s qualities is usually given to a close family member or best friend, but in the cases of Joe O’Brien, Kenny Cuglewski or Tony DiSalvo (all of whom passed away in 2024), any one of their friends in the Knights of Columbus Lafayette Council or Holy Name Altar & Rosary Society at St. Michael Church could have handled the task—using Scripture for inspiration. Take Paul’s letters, for example.
Any church organization like these depends on many people of diverse talents to help it live up to a mission statement. Just so, a human body has many parts to help it accomplish the mission God intended for every member. As Paul tells the Corinthians in Sunday’s second reading (1 Corinthians 12:12-30), God has constructed the body so that there may be no division in it—so that the different parts may have the same concern for one another. If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy.
Sharing joy was a talent each of these gentlemen had, as anyone on the receiving end of one of Joe’s jokes can testify, or those who saw Kenny bust a move on any dance floor doing “The Sprinkler,” “The Shopping Cart” or “The Lawn Mower.” And Tony was known by his closest friends in the Holy Name Society as “Mr. Fish Fry” for the ownership he took of his duties during this annual Lenten tradition at St. Michael.
Imagine these organizations were corporations. In the best ones, co-workers operate as they do in their private lives, making others feel they’re teammates in the business of living—even the co-workers on lower corporate strata.
In Sunday’s first reading (Nehemiah 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10) and the reading from Luke’s gospel (Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21), for example, both Ezra the priest and Jesus the Savior take on the job of reading the word of God in a public forum. These two couldn’t be further apart in status, but both deliver the same message to everyone: Rejoice! The Lord has set you free from worldly cares and opened a channel of unity with the Divine!
In one of Joe O’Brien’s favorite books about Thomas Aquinas, Bishop Robert Barron writes about the teamwork of being:
“As the ground of being, the deepest source of the universe’s existence, God is that power in which we find our authentic freedom, in whom we can be most ourselves,” Barron teaches. “The ultimate happiness of human beings is coming home to ourselves by embarking on the fascinating journey outward to God.”
We all play an important role in that mission to free each other from worldly bonds and divisions while we’re still in the world. In life’s job of being, the journey’s end is to become one with God’s Holy Spirit. That means living our eulogy for each other before someone else has to write one for us.
–Tom Andel
In this excellent blog, it makes one pause and consider how we use the precious gift of time we all seem to take for granted. Today is not a sure thing, and tomorrow is not guaranteed. But who of us reading these words actually believe this? We just keep rolling on to somewhere!
Wakes and funerals are always a great reality check. They have a way of making us pause even if briefly, to consider our own mortality and more importantly our direction and destination. They can inspire us to become more conscious of where we stand in the big picture, and if we are being the best version of ourselves, how useful are we in building God’s kingdom and at what level we are a reflection of Jesus Christ?
So much to ponder!
Carpe diem
Thomas, one of the books Joe O’Brien left me was “Thomas Aquinas: Selected Commentaries on the New Testament,” by Jason Paone. One of the highlights in it is a discussion of Jesus as the Word made flesh who dwelt among us. His purpose as God’s Word? “To show the marvelous likeness of the Word to men, among whom he lived in such a way as to seem one of them. For he not only willed to be like men in nature, but also in living with them on close terms without sin, in order to draw to himself men won over by the charm of his way of life.” The Word is the blueprint we are called to follow in building our life. That blueprint is an ever-living document.
Several things standout in your blog. First the devastating loss of three amazing parts of the body of Christ in one year. Secondly the need to understand that everyone’s role in being part of the body of Christ is different. Third rejoice, rejoice in the knowledge of our Savior. If we live for our Savior and rejoice in our journey towards him, others are sure to find their way to Him. Thank you for your thoughts.
Thank you for weighing in on this, Deb. Our faith tells us that Christ’s body never loses parts. When our life here is finished, we become one with the Holy Spirit, who is one with Jesus, who is one with God. That faith sustains us on this earthly journey.