 Blog--Click here for Fr. Perry's introduction..."I am hoping that you will find a way to share your wisdom with me and others who may read this column. If we all contribute what we know, treasure and value others might become more wise as well." To share your wisdom: brperrycap@yahoo.com
February 20:A PIECE OF WISDOM: Being loved
I like to think that God loves me, but every now and then I need a visible reminder.
When I visited my elderly Mother in a full-care facility she would not have much to converse about, but there were occasions when she would just look at me with those blue-grey eyes for a long time, with a tight grin on her mouth. It unnerved me because I wanted to have a conversation, not just a long glance.
It helped me a lot to read what a Jesuit author, Anthony DeMello, wrote about God loving us: “Behold the One beholding you, and smiling.” After Mom died I would often glance at her picture that I have on my bookshelf. She gave me that picture many years before she died. It always was a good picture of her, but now I look at it and say: “There she is again, looking at me and smiling.”
Whose the one who looks at you and smiles?
February 16: A PIECE OF WISDOM: Am I blessed or not?
When I moved to Milwaukee to become the Pastoral Director of the House of Peace I needed to make a choice where I wanted to live as a friar. I had four possibilities choices for a residence. All of them seemed to be satisfactory to me, but St. Francis Friary offered the possibility of a heated garage which no other friary could offer. I am almost embarrassed to admit it, but the blessing of a heated garage during cold Wisconsin winters, and better security than having my car parked outside was what tipped the balance towards St. Francis. It’s a blessing that I have immensely enjoyed.
But something more came to me than I had expected. This 102 year old friary is gradually undergoing renovation and I was asked if I wanted my own bathroom which could be provided by knocking a hole in my wall and constructing a bathroom in the large room next to mine. The job is done, and it’s an unexpected blessing.
The Gospel of Mark tells a story of the friends of a paralyzed man who so wanted Jesus to cure him that they carried him on a mat to the home where Jesus was preaching, and, being unable to get near Jesus because of the crowds, carried the man to the roof, tore it open, and dropped down the mat and the paralytic in front of Jesus. Confronted with the need, Jesus immediately acted and said: “Child, your sins are forgiven.” Forgiveness of sins was not what the paralytic or his friends were asking for. But when some in the crowd challenged the right of Jesus to forgive sins, he added another blessing: “Rise, pick up your mat and walk” which the paralytic promptly did. The paralytic was doubly blessed, unexpectedly. He must have joined the crowds who said: “We have not seen anything like this” as he used the blessing of walking away carrying his mat.
People who leave the House of Peace with some groceries in response to the question: “how are you today? say: “I’m blessed” and smile.
Are you blessed? What have you done about it?
February 13: A PIECE OF WISDOM: Hearing the voice of God, again.
Being able to respond to God’s voice because I knew I had the time, talent and resources (plus having ways to handle to presumed difficulties) came into play for me also when I was asked to become the Pastoral Minister of the House of Peace in Milwaukee. At the time I had just completed nearly 20 years of helping to train young men joining the Capuchin Order and had been given a full year to take a sabbatical, a long time for personal study and leisure.
During that sabbatical time it became evident that a friar was needed to fill the role of Director of the House of Peace because the previous Director had completed his six years commitment. Hearing about the opening, I naturally concluded that I didn’t want the job because I no desire, and not much ability, to manage and lead a large operation like the House of Peace.
After no friars responded to the request to fill the position, the provincial leadership decided to change the nature of the position. They decided to hire a lay person to administer the House of Peace and to create a new position of Pastoral Director for the Capuchin. The responsibilities of the Pastoral Director was to help the staff stay focused on Capuchin values inherent in the ministry, relate to the public, guests, volunteers and donors to help all to see that the Capuchins are very much present in this ministry to the poor. Besides all that, it was decided that the Pastoral Director would be only a half-time position.
With the new job description in place, I was asked to consider helping out at the House of Peace as the Pastoral Director. It took only one meeting with the previous Director to know that this was the voice of God addressed to me. I had the talent, the time, and the resources to fulfill the role as Pastoral Director. Plus, it had the added benefit of being only part-time, something I knew I would need as I approached the 70th year of my life.
Has God spoken to you in a similar way recently?
February 9: A PIECE OF WISDOM: Helping outsiders
Like most people, I readily show my willingness to help people I know. Unless they are a constant pain for me, I will try to be available to them and do what I can. But outsiders, strangers, people different from me in race or skin color invite me to go deeper in my charity and to overcome the instinct to ignore them or turn my back.
I can easily see how people in olden days did little for lepers except to run away from them. In the time of Jesus almost until the present day, lepers were forced to live apart from people. The Book of Leviticus gave detailed instructions on how lepers were to be seen as unclean and treated as outsiders. But the Gospel of Mark tells us how Jesus violated all the normal rules and expectation on how to treat lepers. When one came to him, asking to be cured, Jesus touched him (something no one would do since it could lead to contamination) and cured him.
It seems that many of us white people want black people to stay apart in their ghettos. We are quick to notice the tell-tale signs that others are poor: missing teeth, listless faces, street language, the color of their skin. I know that I often have to push myself to relate pleasantly and calmly with them.
I hope and pray that Jesus can give me whatever inner strength that he showed that encouraged the leper to approach him comfortably and which led Jesus to touch a leper compassionately and heal him. But the longer I minister at the House of Peace the more comfortable I have become with people who seem initially to be different from myself. Perhaps I am learning that the differences are minor, that we all lack something, and if we recognize each other as brothers and sisters, differences don’t mean anything negative.
What motivates you to help others who are obviously different from yourself?
February 6: A PIECE OF WISDOM: Hearing the voice of God, again.
While I am no expert when it comes to hearing the voice of God I think it happens to me when someone makes a request of me. It can be a simple as asking me to drive them to the airport, helping them to move a table, or asking me if I can spare some change. If I have the time, talent and resources to respond to what is requested (and can handle some of the negative possibilities or difficulties) then I conclude that this is the voice of God for me. This is really the reason why I decided to write this blog.
Over the past few years our Capuchin community has seen the need to become more involved in the prevalent and popular social media outlets: Face book, Twitter, and Blog of various kinds. We hear that people these days are aching for community, as they always have been, but in new ways made possible by the internet. Our Public Relations Director asked me if I would be willing to write a blog that would be associated with the ministry of the House of Peace. When the request first came, I told her that I would need time to think about it. I had doubts that anyone would want to read what I thought about various topics, and I didn’t think I wanted to feel the obligation of often writing hanging over my head.
But after some conversations with her I began to realize that not only did I have the time to do it, I had talent for simple writing. I also had plenty of resources of topics to write about from my experiences of preparing homilies for liturgies and from topics that I had taught during the my twenty years as one who trained young men newly entering the Capuchin Order. So, there it was – I had the time, talent and resources to respond. I also figured that I could deal with the pressure of writing often if I could create a number of articles ahead of time so that I could let some days and weeks slip by without writing anything if I had to. It also helped me to have the PR director say that if it didn’t look like many readers were following my blog then I could stop it after six months.
Is my experience similar to yours?
February 2: A PIECE OF WISDOM: Being an anonymous disciple of Jesus
Many people, in fact most of them, who change the course of history are anonymous.
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The decision over-turned state sponsored segregation. Handed down on May 17, 1954, the Warren Court's unanimous (9–0) decision stated that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." As a result, racial segregation was ruled a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. This ruling paved the way for integration and the civil rights movement.
History has recorded the names of the members of the Supreme Court and the names of the leaders of the civil rights movement that led to this decision such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. But most people who aided the movement remain anonymous, yet each contributed to a changed history.
The name of St. Peter’s mother-in-law remains unknown. In Mark’s Gospel, sick in bed with a fever, she is the first person that Jesus cured. She also is the first woman to become a disciple of Jesus by “serving them”. While these words give us the idea that she served them brunch, she does the same thing that Jesus did in serving food to the hungry multitudes. She was a disciple, although an anonymous one.
Many people who help the poor at the House of Peace are also anonymous disciples. Without a splash they are helping the Reign of God become more real and concrete in our world. Fewer people are hungry, without clothes, without medical help because of their combined efforts. Although nameless to most of us, they are not nameless to Jesus: “What you have done to the last of my brethren you have done to me.” Like most of us I would prefer to be more well-known and not so anonymous. But if Jesus knows my name and sees me as one of his disciples, that is good enough for me.
Do you feel anonymous? How do you help yourself?
January 30: A PIECE OF WISDOM: Hearing the voice of God, again
As I wrote previously, the voice of God is heard when some situation arises that jives with my value system or not and I feel impelled somehow to respond. I think this is what drives people to give money to a charity or volunteer their time to help the cause of the charity. I experience it all the time at the House of Peace.
Many of the supporters of the ministry of the House of Peace are upset that so many people in Milwaukee experience the adverse effects of poverty or joblessness. Their inner value system tells that that this simply isn’t right, that no one should have to go without proper clothing, worry about whether they will have enough food to feed their loved ones, or be without resources when they have medical needs. They feel that especially when they know that four out of ten children in Milwaukee are living in families whose income is below the federal poverty level guidelines. Children should not be deprived of what they need, even if their parents have sometimes made bad decisions. They feel compelled to respond especially during the holidays. But a surprising number will continue to be helpful regularly during the whole year, for many years.
They are hearing the voice of God through their sense of common decency or common humanity with those who are struggling.
What drives you to help others? Is it the voice of God?
January 26: A PIECE OF WISDOM: Hearing God’s voice
Psalm 95 says: “Oh, that today you would hear His voice. Do not harden your hearts....” I have an idea about hearing God’s voice. But it presumes that we are aware that God’s voice is spiritual. One must have a desire to hear God’s voice, a listening prayerful heart, and a willingness to carry it out when it comes.
I believe that within every person there has been placed by God a desire and ability to live by spiritual values, and it shows up in each of us in the desire to do what is good, indeed what is the best. I think this desire begins to glow after infancy when a child, after having experienced daily the love of parents, wants to show some of it back to Mom and Dad. Of course, if this reception of goodness from another is never experienced, then a person might become a psychopath, having no feelings for another. This desire is flamed by others who model goodness, generosity, and even sacrifice, something Christian parents and teachers normally do. Eventually a whole spiritual value system begins to be formed.
I believe that this is what is meant by conscience – a value system that is formed into an instinct to do good and avoid what is evil, developed over many years. When we act according to that inner value system we are responding to the voice of God.
A group of religious sisters whom I know had a car that was giving them lots of mechanical troubles. Finally, when one of the tires fell off as they were driving slowly (thank God!) on city a city street, they decided to get rid of the lemon. Their trusty local mechanic volunteered to buy the car from them and they took the amount of money that he offered. This mechanic fixed the car as best he could and sold it. The man who purchased it, once he realized it had previously belonged to the sisters, came to their convent and gave them $3,000 dollars, telling them that the car was worth far more than the mechanic paid them for it and far more than the amount he paid to purchase it.
This man, I believe, was following his conscience; this man had heard the voice of God in and through his value system, and responded.
How do you hear the voice of God?
January 23: A PIECE OF WISDOM: Heaven, again.
I wonder what I will do with all the time I will have in heaven. Eternity seems to be such a long time, and I can’t imagine anything that will keep my attention for that long. I have a bunch of ideas, but I have never heard anyone describe heaven like the following.
I wonder if we will spend our time (if there is such a thing as time in heaven) watching movies or re-runs of every second of every persons’ life who ever existed on this earth, and learn how God was active in that person’s life every second of time. I think, for example, that we will watch a movie of the life of Abraham who lived 170 years according to the Hebrew Scriptures, or Moses who lived 120 years. Can you imagine how interesting it might be to watch a movie for 170 earth years of the life of Abraham and what God was doing to and with Abraham each and every second of those 170 years? Or Moses during his 120 years? That’s already 290 earth years of heaven!
We know very little about the lives of Mary and Joseph, the foster parents of Jesus. We know nothing about when and why Joseph died when he did, or what Mary did after he died. Why did God allow all those things to happen to them when it did? What was Mary’s Assumption all about? Imagine watching a movie of 27 years of Joseph’s life and how God was working in his life or interacting with him each second of those 27 years. That’s another 27 years of heaven when we would be confounded and surprised at what God was doing.
And how was God interacting with the universe when it was forming over all those millions of years?
Heaven just might be the time when we watch movies of each and every second of a person’s life who ever existed (yes, even Hitler’s), or the universe’s life and see what God was doing to try to help. I don’t know how long eternity is, but I can see how I would actually be interested in how God was using Divine strength, inspiration, grace, favor to help each and every person that ever lived on earth (or the universe for that matter).
As a matter of fact, I would be interested in finally knowing what God was doing to me all my life long as well. Wouldn’t learning about all these things and marveling at what God was doing be a fascinating way to spend eternity?
What do you think?
January 19: A PIECE OF WISDOM: Time
I usually think of time as just a succession of ordinary moments in a day. Nothing much special about this moment of time as I type this, I say. If I were living in the Greek culture, they would say I am experience “kronos” – just ordinary time.
But if I experienced a heart-stopping moment of time, a moment when my head swirled around to see where a loud noise came from, a moment when my heart was about to burst because of love for another, a life-changing moment, the Greeks would say that I just experienced “kairos”, a special time.
A “kairos” moment is what St. Mark announces in the first chapter of his gospel: “This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand.” God, in the flesh of Jesus, had just burst upon the human scene. Now everything is different. Even time has changed. God has captured time to use it for His purposes, that is to build the Kingdom of God.
I spend a lot of my time acting as if I am no one special, with no special calling or responsibilities, with only ordinary time. Perhaps if I would see with different eyes that every moment is a kairos moment I would become much more excited about life. I wonder how different I would be if I saw myself as a partner with God, given special time to help build God’s Kingdom. That would be quite a switch! I probably would help the poor a lot more.
Maybe that’s why Jesus says right after “This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent!”
How is time for you?
January 16: A PIECE OF WISDOM: Making good use of my time as an elder
As a Capuchin I have a ministry at the House of Peace in Milwaukee. It is a job that is part-time, half the week actually. When I started the job I thought that I had fallen into hog heaven with some much discretionary time on my hands. And I thought that since I was nearing 70 years old then that I had earned the right to slow down work-wise and I would enjoy all the leisure I had. When I was in my 40's I imagined that I would be fully retired by the age of 65 and would have hobbies like growing a rose garden or making grandfather clocks. Well, I’m 70 now, and I have no interest in growing roses or building grandfather clocks.
What to do with my time? I’ve tried reading novels, reading books about the civil war, volunteering at a meal program, telling others that I am available for various preaching activities offering to celebrate Mass at different churches, or teaching material from the past. I’ve tried to take extra time to pray, to read spiritual poetry, to visit the sick or the elderly. But no one activity is a sustaining event, one that I feel regularly called to do. My family is scattered around the country and it would take a good deal of money to visit them regularly.
It’s odd to have time on my hands. I’ve invited God to intervene, to give my a sign to know what to do. Ultra-busy people could respond that they wish they had my problem! I know that I am lucky to have good health and time on my hands. There’s a temptation to get involved in unhealthy activities, like surfing the internet. I’m hoping that the writing of this blog is a partial answer for me.
What have you done when you have extra time on your hands?
January 12: A PIECE OF WISDOM: Glorifying God with my Body
Sometimes what St. Paul writes startles me as he does in his Second Letter to the Corinthians when he writes: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the holy Spirit within you...Tsherefore glorify God in your body. (2 Cor 6:19-20) It’s hard for me to imagine that myIDSbody, even though washed clean in Baptism and which has fed upon the Eucharist, is really a temple. Temples are special places, like churches and shrines. In them, one can experience the Holy One. I don’t often view myself that way.
I suppose that’s the problem. If I did, then I would act more like a the Holy One, as Jesus tried to show me while on this earth.
And to glorify God with my body would seem to mean that I need to use my body (with my time, talents, energy) as an instrument of love as Jesus did: embracing others as I forgive them, serving a meal to the homeless, gathering grocery items for food pantries, running the rosary through my hands as I pray for others, driving a relative to the doctor, donating more of my hard earned money to charity, getting on my knees in prayer.
And if my body is a temple of the holy Spirit, imagine the reverence with which we would look upon others, the sick, the broken, the addict, the AIDS patient, the prisoner, the tear-filled child, the immigrant.
Do you understand that your body is a temple of the holy Spirit?
January 9: A PIECE OF WISDOM: Heaven
I can’t prove that there is a place or a situation called “Heaven”. But I sure hope that there is.
There’s too many good things of this present life that are undone or never get completed that there must be another time or place for it to take place. I think about the fact that I never had an adult relationship with my Father who died at the age of 52 when I was only 21. We had great times together when I was a child and in grade school. I remember him teaching me how to catch a baseball, hit on the ground and catching it without fearing the ball would bounce into my face. I went away to a boarding school for my high school years, and then joined the Capuchin Order right after high school. So during the five years after I left home I only saw my Dad periodically, and often times I had too many adolescent activities going on that I never had a lot of time to associate with him.
I still want time to know him better and for him to get to know me. I think we would like each other a lot. I’m hoping that in a time and place called heaven I can do just that.
But don’t most of us have relationships and situations that remain undone, no matter how long we live? I think that our emotional emptiness reminds us that there is another time and place still to come when we can experience completeness. That tells me there’s gotta be a heaven.
What do you think?
January 5: A PIECE OF WISDOM: Jesus is my Star
Once when I was returning by airplane to the city where I lived, as we were getting closer to the land, I saw a bright light – one of those search lights which are often situated at car dealers or some other type of store trying to attract attention. The beam of light actually hit my side of the plane as we came close to the landing strip. My eyes were startled by the bright light.
In every age there are people who become bright stars: Napoleon, Marx, Franklin Roosevelt, Mohammad Ali, Michael Jackson. They attract a lot of attention, fans and followers.
The Catholic Church celebrates the feast of Epiphany next Sunday. The Gospel of Matthew tells of magi from the East had followed a star which preceded them and stopped over the place where “the child” was. They prostrated themselves and did him homage, we are told.
These magi represent all who were seeking truth, inspiration and leaders they could trust. God was indicating that Jesus was their star, the one who could bring extra meaning into their lives. I am happy to say that, like them, I have found Jesus as my Star and guiding light, the reason why I am a Capuchin and serve at the House of Peace.
Many who seek the services of the House of Peace are followers of this Star as well. Often they say quite loudly “Thank you Jesus!” as they leave the House of Peace with their arms full of provisions for the rest of the month. The staff and many of the donors find the special meaning in their lives from the Star who Himself demonstrated great affection for the poor and suffering.
Is Jesus your Star?
A PIECE OF WISDOM...
from Father Perry, House of Peace
 Wisdom means having both a high degree of knowledge as well as common sense.
We all probably know people whom we consider wise who have many academic degrees that provide them with multiple wells of knowledge. One like that for me is Fr. Richard McBrien, professor of theology at Notre Dame University, author, historian and regular columnist in Catholic newspapers. People with a lot of common sense, and also wise because of many life-experiences, are folks with whom I share a ministry at the House of Peace, like Gerri Sheets-Howard, Linda Barnes and Shirley Patterson-Bordeaux.
I like to think that I have some wisdom too that comes from 70+ years of living, 51 years of living as a Capuchin, 47 years of being a priest. I become even more wise as I work with the staff at the House of Peace while listening to the guests who come for our services and the donors who support the ministry. So, while I may not understand lots of things (like mathematics), I have gleaned some wisdom from life, especially from my reflections on the Bible and religious topics. In this blog, I intend to share what I have learned, offering a piece of wisdom.
But I know that you also have a slice of wisdom as well. I am hoping that you will find a way to share your wisdom with me and others who may read this column. If we all contribute what we know, treasure and value others might become more wise as well. To share your wisdom: pieceofwisdom@theCapuchins.org
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