10/24/2021

The Fall Fest last Sunday was blest with great weather – cool, clear skies – and children having a ball. As it got to dusk, the skies were so clear that we were even able to look at the moon, Jupiter, and Saturn through a telescope, for those who were there at the end. Autumn is such a great season!
Things have been going well in the school this year with Mrs. Karma Coleman in charge. Without having taken a poll, parents, teachers, staff, and members of the PTO and SAB (School Advisory Board) have independently asked if she could become our permanent, rather than Interim, Principal. So recently I petitioned Bishop Johnston to change her status and he granted my request provided that I take “a personal role in seeing to it that the school maintain its Catholic vision and mission.” The news has been well received in the school and among staff, and I am delighted to place the school in her capable hands. It also allows us to make plans for the future. Let us pray for steady growth in our school, both in numbers and in our ability to transmit the Catholic faith to our children.
At 2 PM this weekend Bishop Johnston will be here to confirm our latest Confirmation class. We are always excited and appreciative that the Bishop would take the time to come and celebrate here at St. Gregory Barbarigo. Please welcome him warmly.
Last week I introduced the Capital or “deadly” sins and discussed gluttony, the first of the Capital sins regarding the body. In the space remaining here, I would like to talk about greed. Greed or avarice does not begin as an urge inside of us as do gluttony and lust. It has to do with the story we tell ourselves, and often comes from the culture we live in. It has to do with the goal of always improving our material state in life and our attraction to money and things. In the USA we are barraged with commercials, friends, neighbors, classmates, etc. who have a better car, house, appliance, more fashionable clothes, healthier food, etc. We are told we deserve better, that we are lacking something essential if we don’t have the latest gizmo, that a certain kind of bed or chair will make us relax better and so make us happy. We are also advised to multiply our nest egg so that in our golden years we can live as we want. As the standard of living goes up, what we formerly “desired,” we now “need” – remotes for T.V., cell phones, and computers for example. Greed is more in the mind than in the body – it is how we picture “the good life” and how we ought to live. In America, avarice takes the form of addiction to consumption. We even sell our spiritual goods – it costs us about $2,000 to belong to FORMED.ORG so that we all can access the spiritual riches which it makes available. I knew a priest who formerly had been a missionary in Central or South America. He came home to the states and never adjusted to living here. He had been in a Third World culture where his parishioners did not have enough food, where they were persecuted by the government, and lived in the midst of violence. When he came back to the states, he listened to people complaining that the air conditioning in their car or house did not work, that they had to wait an hour to see a doctor, that traffic was backed up and they came home late to start supper. He could not relate since these people had a car, a house, a meal, and access to medical help. Though he grew up here, he saw in us Americans the avarice of a privileged country and culture. Greed is relative in that sense, and it also tends to make us want our desires filled NOW – we become impatient. The cure? 1) Recognize that all things come from our Creator, and we only use them, we don’t really OWN anything – ownership is an illusion; 2) Use things reverently, rather than seeing them as disposable; 3) See our possessions as gifts to be shared, with others; 4) Seek to align our physical desires with those of our heart and soul, focusing on God to satisfy our needs. Sometimes it is good to ask if we own and use our money for higher goods, or if these things own us.
It is always a joy to celebrate Eucharist with you.

Father Albert, O.S.B.