Fr. Simon's Letter - May 19, 2024

THANK YOU to everyone who, through your presence and active participation in this year’s United Parish Program, have not only helped us celebrate our community but also played a crucial role in supporting our ongoing efforts as the parish of Queen of All Saints. Your involvement has brought immense joy and pride to our faith community, and your commitment to our many ministries and activities is truly commendable.

I cannot say enough about the wonderful work of the chairs of this year’s UPP, Jill Fowler and Carolyn Turner, along with Laurie Vlasic and co-chairs Katie McKenzie and Kristen Henry. They spent countless hours week after week planning, building a team, and coordinating the efforts of many to orchestrate a spectacular evening. 

The success of our UPP extends to every member of our parish. Whether you had the pleasure of attending Friday’s gala or were unable to be there this year, each of us is a recipient of its success. On behalf of every member of our parish, I wish to extend my deep and sincere gratitude to this year’s UPP team for all they did to create such a wonderful and successful event. THANK YOU!!!

Speaking of community and meetings, we all belong to all sorts of groups and committees that meet often. There is an endless variety of issues that call for our participation in group discussion and community discernment: Church issues, education issues, justice issues, moral issues, political issues, social issues, economic issues, and cultural issues. It’s a bottomless well of concerns. Too many of those meetings can seem like a huge waste of time and energy and a distraction to “real” work. Moreover, at some point, we can’t help but wonder, “Are all these meetings actually affecting anything? Would our lives be any different, other than more leisurely and pleasant, if we stopped having all these meetings?” It’s easy to grow tired, discouraged, and cynical about all the meetings we’re asked to attend.

As we celebrate Pentecost, we need to keep something in mind, which is that Pentecost happened at a meeting! One of the central events that shaped Christian history happened not to an individual off praying alone, a monk on a mountain-top, or a solitary Buddha meditating under a tree—none of these. Pentecost happened at a meeting, and it happened to a community, to a Church congregation assembled for prayer, and to a family of faith gathered to wait for God’s guidance. It is important that we remember this. Our search for God should take us not only into private places of quiet and contemplation. Our search for God must also take us to gatherings and meeting rooms.

Christian spirituality and Judaism agree that a privileged experience of God can be had only in private, alone, in silence. To find God and receive God’s spirit, it is important that we pull away from the group at times, that we set off to the desert, to the chapel, to the lonely place, the quiet, and to be alone with God. We see Jesus doing exactly that. Mark’s gospel tells us that when his ministry was most intense when it was “too busy even to eat,” Jesus pulled away to be alone for a while. There are certainly times that call for withdrawal and silence. 

But Christianity and Judaism differ somewhat from some of the other world religions in our belief that there is an equally privileged experience of God that can be had only in a group, in a community, in a family, at a meeting. Surely, we can meet God in the desert or the deep, quiet parts of our souls, but we also meet God in the group, the community, the family, at the Church gathering, at the meeting. “For where two or three gather in my name, I shall be there with them!” In Christian and Jewish spirituality, there are two non-negotiable places where we meet God: alone and in the family. These experiences are not in opposition but complementary, relying on each other to keep our experience of God deep and pure.

Pentecost, it is important to note, happened not to an individual alone in the desert but to a group at a meeting. It can be helpful to keep that in mind when we tire of meetings, despair of their effectiveness, or resent that they pull us away from important personal endeavors. The fact that Pentecost happened at a meeting can also help keep us focused on why we are going to all these meetings in the first place.

“When you don’t know what else to do, keep going to meetings!” Sound advice! Meetings are the “upper room,” the place where we wait for Pentecost. And what are we waiting for? Why are we in the “upper room” at a meeting? Because we are waiting there, with others, for God to do something in us and through us that we can’t do all by ourselves. Namely, we are called to create community with each other and bring justice, love, peace, and joy to our world.

Our primary meeting place, our “upper room,” is around the altar in the basilica when we gather to celebrate the Eucharist. This is where our faith community truly comes alive, and your presence is what makes it so special. So, let us continue to come together at our primary meeting. Let us spend time in prayer, celebration, and listening for God's guidance. Let us eagerly await a new outflow of heavenly fire that will give us the courage, language, and power we need to bring our faith and love to life in the world. 

I look forward to seeing you at our most important meeting – the Eucharist!!


Blessings!!