Archives for June 2017

Dear Our Lady of Peace Family,

So many of you have loved and supported us through this difficult time, and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Thank you for the prayers, condolences, cards, letters, and food. Thank you for the hugs, phone calls, and offers of rides. Thank you for your expressions of love, stories of Dad, and gratitude for him.

We know that Deacon Paul touched all your lives, which was evident from the long lines and heartfelt stories. Even though we are sad here on earth, we rejoice that—what he spent his life trying to achieve—he achieved. “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Most of all, thank you for your prayers. They lift us up and help us carry on until we see him again. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

The Family of Deacon Paul Brachle

Nothing motivates us like having a goal. The motivation gained from having goals comes specifically from the fact that we now have good reasons to do something. Isn’t it fair to say that following Christ is our goal? Allowing for our assent to this question, what can we say then are some good reasons for being spiritual? I am going to try to respond to this question from the perspective of a family person.

The first reason is the one people most commonly share with me. “I want to ensure that I and my family go to heaven.” I cannot be anymore simple in discussing this one. I want to be saved. I want to be with them when we die. The very thought of one of my loved ones being lost to God is repulsive. So, on this basis I and my family attend Mass and go to Confession. I insure the Sacrament of Baptism for my newborn child, and immediately if there are any health risks.

These are some feelings that people have shared in explaining this reason to me. Seeing that these reasons are so important for so many people, I believe that I can interchange the word “reasons” with values. So, if I were to rephrase this reason from the perspective of a family person, I could say that I value the goal of my family and I’m going to heaven, and I act on this value by frequent participation in church sacramental life.

Another reason that is shared with me could be worded as “I want to nurture a virtuous life.” I want my children to live virtuous lives. To live a virtuous life is to live a stable, balanced life. I want my children to know right from wrong. It will be evident to anyone who knows us that I and my family are “good people.” As a result of holding strongly to this reason, and living from it, we will all be major contributors to our neighborhood and for that matter to our overall society. We will be there for each other; we will be faithful to each other. We will be law abiding citizens. So, we can see that living a virtuous life is what it means for many people to walk with Christ.

A third reason to live a spiritual life is to be able to perceive God in my daily walk. This reason is a bit more abstract than the first two reasons. To draw closer to God here is to draw closer to the Light. What can we expect from Light? Light makes things visible. Mystics would say that it makes Reality a bit clearer. Without Light, I cannot see very well. It becomes more likely that in my darkness I will stumble and fall. With Light, I can see where I am going. In other words, I get clarity; I am capable of getting clarity. With Spiritual Light, I learn, perhaps to my own astonishment, that I am growing in Wisdom, simply because I am developing insights which naturally surface when the path ahead of me is now more clearly seen.

Other people might be helped by my insights. After all, we are all walking up the mountain of God together and here my insights will act as a flashlight for them. Being helped in this way, they are not risking anymore the possibility of stumbling and falling. Perhaps, as other people walk with clearer, firmer steps, they may hold out the flashlight of their own insights for me. And so, in this way we help each other. With spiritual growth, I can see even more the importance of living the virtuous life I mentioned earlier in this letter. As a result of that foundation I am more than capable of being forgiving and helpful. I am more capable of demonstrating patience. A virtuous life is the beginning of Wisdom. It’s wise, after all, to choose a virtuous life.

It’s good to remember that all of the reasons mentioned in this letter overlap each other. Such remembering and understanding as to how they overlap can bring further light to the path upon which we all walk. Who knows what more I’ll see and understand? With God’s Light, so much Truth becomes visible and available now to all of us as we progress.

It’s wise to be spiritual just as it is wise to be virtuous. We can see some obvious overlapping here, too. On my part, I am just honored that we are all walking this path together.

Peace, Fr. Walter

https://olopdarien.org/blog/1248/

The Religious Order I belong to thought it auspicious when the late Pope Saint John Paul II died on the Feast day of Divine Mercy. I find it auspicious when our own Deacon Paul died so closely to the Feast day of Pentecost. It’s as if God was strongly inviting us to witness how the Holy Spirit speaks through the example of Paul’s life.

I didn’t spell out Paul’s name above. I spelled out how people knew him. He was for one and all, “Deacon Paul.” This is how people knew him, and that’s the problem with us and the Holy Spirit. The third person of the Trinity is not seemingly known by us. He remains a stranger to many; at best, we merely know his name, the Holy Spirit, and not much more. That must change.

Christ makes great strides here. He introduces the Holy Spirit, and it happens around the time of His death and Resurrection. The language used isn’t typically associated with an introduction but that is what it is. You can meet the Holy Spirit through Light and Love. I have those words inscribed on a replica of an ancient Christian cross that I bought at the Smithsonian Institute. Light on the horizontal beam and Love on the vertical. Powerful words. After all, no light was revealed to the world in such splendor as when Christ died and rose. How do you rid a room of darkness? Turn on a light switch. The darkness immediately vanishes. Same experience happened with the world when Christ lived. And we can all contribute to that same effort in imitation of Christ. That is what the followers of Christ have done and continue to do.

This is where Paul comes in. He contributed greatly by continuing to reflect Christ’s light. His preaching of the Lord and his living out what he preached are all amazing contributions to the spiritual light of this parish. Want a contrast? Don’t you admit that when you read or hear of shootings someplace or international terrorist activity, you feel like you are looking into a pit of darkness? Well, don’t you feel like you are looking directly into light whenever you witnessed Paul’s enthusiasm in his preaching or in other forms of ministry, whether in Baptisms or the Food Pantry? I sure did.

The world is a much brighter place because of Paul’s life. You know, in most accounts of “near death experiences,” people typically recount moving through a tunnel toward a bright light. Then a voice from the light tells them to go back. That experience didn’t happen to Deacon Paul. The light embraced him instead. But not before Deacon Paul opened the window of his own life and shined a good part of that light on us first. Thanks, Deacon Paul. Go into that light now. Go deeply into it. And rest in peace.

Blessings, Fr. Walter