I hope everyone had good 4th of July celebrations. The biggest part of my celebration was actually on the 3rd, I went down to AY McDonald Park with the Radio Station to watch the Airshow and the Fireworks. As always, it was really good, I am behind the scenes enough to know how much work goes into them year round from Perry and his crew, so I appreciate their efforts and the show even more that way, they put a lot of work into it and people never see that. 

My sister and her family came for the first time from Cedar Rapids, as well as some of my friends who are new to town from Muscatine, and they absolutely loved it. My niece and nephew especially loved the fireworks, they were so impressed, they said it was the longest show they had ever seen and they counted between 800 and 1000 fireworks. 

As I sat there watching the fireworks, I realized that every firework looked like it exploded and came towards me. It was like every single one exploded in my direction, and it all cascaded directly towards me. But I knew in my head, at least physically I knew that fireworks don't explode directionally, they explode outward, typically in every direction, and we just perceive them as coming towards us. 

In fact, once I started to think of that, I started to try to look for the explosions that went opposite from me, especially in those big cascading ones, it was very hard to see, hard to tell the difference. 

I was thinking about that image when I was praying with this Gospel passage. Jesus goes to His hometown and begins to preach and teach in the synagogue. They have heard about all He has been doing, healing people, performing mighty deeds, and now they see it first hand, and what do they do? "They took offense at him." They took offense, not because of what He was doing, but because of who He was in relation to them and how they were not doing those same things. 

They were offended because they were jealous or envious or whatever - they grew up with Him and His cousins (it says "brothers" but the word for brothers and cousins is the same in Greek - adelphos, see Mark 15:40 to see these cousins have a different mother), they went to this very same Synagogue with Jesus yet Jesus was doing all of this amazing stuff and they weren't, so they were offended. 

And I think about it like this, Jesus was like the biggest firework. He was this big explosion that affected everyone in every direction, but the people could only see how it affected themselves, so many were offended by Him for selfish reasons. 

I feel like this happens quite often in our lives. Little fireworks, little explosions going off all around us in our families, friends, at work, and all we really see is how it affects us, even though, usually, it isn't about us at all, it has nothing to do with us in fact, but we look at it and think it's coming right at us, it's even directed towards us. 

My encouragement is to bring each explosion around us to God, take it to prayer, and try to see what He is doing all around it. We might not fully understand, but to just automatically think that it is about ourselves, directed primarily towards us, that is not the right attitude. 

Speaking of explosions around us, we had one last week in which a former pastor here was named a Bishop. Fr. Scott Bullock was named Bishop-elect of Rapid City, South Dakota, and he will start that assignment September 23rd. 

Bishop-elect Scott is a good friend of mine. He was in charge of my seminary formation when I was here at Loras from 2012-2014 and we have become good friends since then, so I am really disappointed to lose him, but that is only thinking about myself. I would regularly get meals with Him, we went on some vacations together, we were doing ministry together as part of this Holy Spirit Healing Fire Parish Mission - he was our elected leader and that was going great, we have two more scheduled even, but just like that, he is called away, I'm losing a friend and a mentor just like that. 

But God called Him to go, like the prophet Ezekiel being sent in our first reading, God is sending Scott to the people of Rapid City, and it isn't about me, it's about what God is doing in Him, and how He wants Him to minister to even more people in South Dakota. 

Now, unfortunately, when a big thing happens like that it does affect a lot of people very directly, changes must be made to cover Fr. Scott's parish in Waterloo, like the chain-reaction of a firework setting off another firework, and Bishop-elect Scott, like a prophet, told us in his letter to his brother priests he said, "With my departure from our ranks, I am acutely aware that the obligations of my current ministry will need to be shouldered by another and, by the chain-reaction that is set off among the body of the presbyterate, most all of you. Thanks for your sacrifices to allow me to serve in this new capacity!" 

I regret to inform you that I am part of that chain reaction, I am included in the middle of the five moves that need to happen. 

I received a letter from the Archbishop on Wednesday assigning me to be the "Pastor of St. Joseph Parish, Bellevue; St. Catherine Parish, St. Catherine; St. Donatus Parish, St. Donatus; SS. Peter & Paul Parish, Springbrook; and pastoral coordinator of the Bellevue Area Consolidated School and Marquette High School, Bellevue. This appointment is for a period of six years and becomes effective Thursday, August 1, 2024, at noon." That was from the letter I received this week. 

That is a quick turn around for us five - I am thankful that we don't all have to move this Tuesday with all of the other moves, tho still fast. Throw in that I will be leaving on retreat this week and be gone for ten days, and it will go even faster. 

It is obviously hard to think about this from a different point of view - selfishly ! want to stay, I love this community and had hoped to stay here for another term, there are so many wonderful people here, a lot of great things going, God is doing something here, I trust that, and it is not about me, and it's not about you, I'm going where I am being sent, and it affects you and I am sorry for that.

I would not have chosen to move right now, but I made a promise of obedience, and I don't know how I could pray the "Our Father" each day for "thy will to be done" and not go when called by the Archbishop to go. 

I am still processing this all with God, and I am thankful that I have this week to take this to prayer while on retreat. I hope that you will take it to prayer also - pray for Bishop-elect Scott, pray for me, pray for your new pastor. 

Speaking of your new pastor, I don't know who it is. I have talked to the Vicar General about him and apparently he is a great guy, a very joyful priest, and he will be here full time as far as I can tell. My assignment here was only 75% here at the parish and 25% to the schools, but Fr. Jeff Frieden will be going to Wahlert and Mazz and he will be there 50% of the time, staying at Holy Spirit 50% of the time as the Associate. 

This is a good sign for Nativity that they feel this parish is worthy of having a full time priest. There are a lot of positives taking place within our parish and I believe any priest would be happy to come here and keep it all moving forward. 

So like I said, I will be gone for about 10 days, then that weekend I am back on July 20 & 21st I think there will be a going away party, then on my last weekend, on July 28th after the 9:30am Mass I will be getting on a bus and going to Wisconsin with all of you that signed up, a going away trip! Then at noon on August 1st, I will hand over the keys and welcome the new pastor in. 

With everything in our lives we are tempted to think it is about us and only see how it affects us, but I'd like to encourage you to try to see the fireworks from a bigger perspective and take it all to God in prayer. Yes, it affects us, but it isn't really about us, and God is there to love us and guide us through it all.