Make a Friend at Frank's Cafe!!

We know we are all called to welcome one another at church. We know it's not just the 'job' of the folks who greet you at the front door. One of my favorite moments at Mass is right at the very beginning when we are invited to say 'Hi' to the folks sitting nearby, the folks we will be praying with for the next hour or so. I just love how the noise level rises in the church as folks greet one another. Then after a few minutes, we all settle in for some good prayer. It speaks to me of what we are really about...joyful community, family connections, trying week after week to share the love of Christ with one another. I do believe at St Francis we do this well.

For the last few months we have been rebranding the downstairs parish hall as "FRANK'S CAFE". So far, this new project has been going well, and more folks come down each Sunday to see what's going on down there. Thank you to the folks who keep bringing bakery goods for the table, (we will always say YES to whatever YOU want to bring to the table!) Thanks to to one special family for the donation of couches. To the friend who was passing by and donated the high top tables, much thanks to you too! We are grateful for all the gifts folks have shared with the parish.

So here's the challenge now, for each of us. It's fun to come downstairs, grab a cup of coffee and catch up with our friends. It's a great time to catch one of the staff to ask a question, or plan a meeting.
Do you notice that person sitting by herself over there with her cup of coffee? Can you see that there's a new couple by the couch and they don't look like they know anyone else? What could YOU do in that moment?

Ok, yes, we all live in NY, but at church we can be brave enough to leave our 'subway persona' aside and go over to that new person or couple and introduce yourself! One of my nieces when she was little went up to someone at a party where she didn't know a soul and simply said: "Hi, I'm Nadina, I'm 7...who are you?" I was amazed at her ability to reach out to someone else, and when I'm feeling shy, I often pray for that kind of grace...

For when we think about it, if we were the new person sitting alone, wouldn't we want someone to come say hello? Church is the perfect place to practice a bit of extroverted welcoming behavior. Don't go crazy...just check and see if there's anyone by themselves and invite them into the conversation you're already having with your friends. We have such interesting parishioners that I guarantee whoever you say hi to is going to be someone you will be happy to have met.

This weekend, in Cycle A, our Gospel is about the healing of the man born blind. Let's challenge ourselves to be a bit better these days at not being blind...at really looking and seeing one another and keeping an eye out for the stranger, so we can make them feel welcome at our St Francis de Sales home. (Everywhere else too!)

How Will You Celebrate Today?

Happy St Patrick's Day!

Whether you are Irish or not, I hope just the thought of St Patrick's day gives you a reason to smile. It might be the sea of green that we will see this weekend, your love of Irish soda bread, sugar cookies bathed in green sugar, coffee with whipped cream (and a little something extra perhaps?), parades, fun music, and general merriment. Any one of those things is enough of a cause for late winter joy.

Even as a full blooded Italian I love to celebrate this day. I often think I'm Irish by "friendship", so many of my dearest friends both now and when I was younger are of the Irish persuasion. When I finally got to visit Ireland a few years ago I discovered for myself what I've always heard was true, folks on the Emerald Isle are some of the kindest, most welcoming people I've ever met.

A word about St Patrick. Whatever is true or whatever is legend, surely he is an example for us of superb evangelization.  He brought Christianity to a people who had not yet known who Jesus Christ was. He used simple tools he found around him to teach great lessons of faith. He lived with and worked with the people he came to teach. He is a missionary par excellence!

What does the story of St Patrick teach us today?
Do we accept people where they are?
Are we proud of our faith and are we willing to acknowledge what and who we believe in?

As we move into our second week of Lent, may St Patrick be an inspiration for us to find God in the simple moments of life all around us.  Be it all the stars in the heavens, or the transforming power of love and friendship,  God is with us always, in big and small ways. May we have the eyes to see!