Choices

You didn’t choose me. I chose you. - John 15:16

Speaking on the last night of his mortal life, Jesus reminds his disciples that he chose them, It was usually wannabe disciples who first approached a rabbi seeking to become a student, but here Jesus says “You did not come to me. Rather, I came to you. I was the one who did the choosing.”

Jesus called them from the lakeside and from the boat. He called them from under the fig tree and from the tax collector’s booth. He called them from their homes, from their occupations, from their families, both men and women. The Gospels give few details but it is Jesus who is shown making the first move. This is in the enduring character of God. God chooses to create and God chooses to be in relation with creation, walking in the cool of the morning and talking with our ancient ancestors. And when things get sideways, God chooses to come among us as one of us to set things to rights. God chooses for us and then gives us the opportunity choose, to say yes or to say no.

When God chose to be with us in Jesus, Mary was asked if she would be the mother of God’s holy child. Mary was chosen, but Mary could also choose. To be chosen by God is grace and is an opportunity to choose. Mary can say yes or she can say no. Honestly, it is a very big and scary and dangerous and mysterious thing God is asking by choosing Mary. Yet, Mary chooses yes. She says yes to the incarnation, to God with us and us with God. Mary says yes to taking on the risks and sharing the costs of incarnating God in the world. God’s yes to us is reciprocated.

Then one evening, after Jesus had been preaching, teaching, and healing for some time, he was at dinner with his adopted family in Bethany. He had been saying some concerning words about his betrayal and his death, and one among them seemed to understand what others did not. During dinner, Mary of Bethany takes what may have been her marriage dowry and pours it out upon Jesus, anointing him with expensive perfume, the scent of which fills the house and overwhelms all else. Mary understands the mystery of his words. Mary understands that her beloved rabbi and friend has made a choice. Jesus chooses to give himself totally for their sake and for the healing of all things. Mary understands that he chooses to do this for her and Mary says yes. While others like Peter object to his choice, Mary says yes to his death and burial. Mary says yes to sharing in the costs of bringing God’s healing into the world. God’s yes to us is reciprocated.

And on that Easter morning, a third Mary says yes. His life has ended and hopes have died along with him. Mary Magdalene has gone back to the tomb. It is love, and grief, and a broken heart that have brought her there. It is in this place of death that she encounters the risen Christ. While embracing the one she loves, Jesus says to her to let go and to go tell the world about his victory over death. Mary Magdalene says yes to his resurrection. She say yes to the cost of letting go of her greatest love, the sure thing she embraces, for what the new resurrected life of Christ will bring to her and to the world. God’s yes to us is reciprocated.

For each of these Marys, something was given up and something for the world was gained. For each, there was a cost as there was a cost for God. God chooses and we are also given the chance to choose. In this season of stewardship, we are given an opportunity to say yes when we make choices about the use of our time, talent, and treasure.

God chooses us and says yes to us. What do we say?

Grace and peace,
Fr. Bill

Riches and Purity of Heart

“Today salvation has come to this house.” - Luke 10:9

We have been in the gospel of Luke in this year of our three year Sunday lectionary cycle. Luke, more so than the other evangelists, emphasizes Jesus’ words on power, wealth, and honor. Luke’s Jesus is the one whose mother Mary sings of the overthrow of the status quo, of God casting down the mighty from their thrones and lifting up the lowly, of filling the hungry with good things and sending the rich away empty. Luke’s gospel is the one that many have said shows God’s preferential option for the poor. These are descriptive statements of what is true of God’s Kingdom that may just lead us to question how we think about the world and maybe even how we live. We also recall that Luke addresses his gospel to one named Theophilus who is perhaps a very wealthy man. Luke’s Jesus is inviting Theophilus and us into a vision of God’s Kingdom.

Luke’s gospel is noted for providing stories that contrast how people handle wealth especially in light of the presence of God’s Kingdom. Not many Sundays ago, Luke’s Jesus told us a story of a rich man whose land produced a surprise surplus so large he did not have sufficient barns for storing this windfall. So the man, seemingly unaware that he has been blessed by an act of grace, does not respond with an act of thanksgiving or charity but builds larger barns. There is no evidence of gratitude or that his unmerited windfall might be used to help others. The man dies before he can either enjoy this gift or use it to show God’s love to others.

In another story Jesus encounters a rich ruler who is living a seemingly pious life. When he asks what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus mentions several of the commandments, to which the ruler says he has kept these since his youth. He sounds like a good community member. He is law abiding, studied in the scriptures, and serious about keeping covenant with God. Then Jesus challenges him to give all his money to the poor. The text says that the man became very sad because he was very wealthy.

It can be very hard to give away money in large amounts - amounts that are costly and sacrificial. Surprisingly, we then read about a man named Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector and wealthy. He is not a pious ruler who knows and lives by the commandments, but a traitor and enemy of his own people. Expect nothing good of this man, yet here we find that a notorious sinner sees and responds to the presence of God. Zacchaeus sees and questions and changes how he thinks about his life and his wealth. Responding to Jesus’ acceptance of him, Zacchaeus pledges to give away half his wealth to the poor and pay back four times what he has cheated from anyone. My guess is that he will soon be broke, yet at the same time he has gained everything. Jesus tells everyone with ears to hear, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.” Welcome to the fold, Zacchaeus.

There is an irony that this man’s name is Zacchaeus. The name means “pure” or “innocent,” something he was not until he met his salvation in the Lord. When he did, he really did become Zacchaeus. He was rich in charity and pure in heart like the people of God should be. Zacchaeus, the little man up a tree, provides for us a model of reflecting on where we are and what we are doing with our time, talent and treasure, of seeing the better thing that Christ offers, and responding to the gift of salvation with a greater generosity.

As we move into our fall stewardship season, let us keep the story of Zacchaeus fresh in our thinking, and may salvation come again and again to this Good Shepherd house of worship and to all our homes.

Fr. Bill

Keeping Faith

“When you come to the land that the Lord will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this observance. And when your children ask you, ‘What do you mean by this observance?’ you shall say, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt, when he struck down the Egyptians but spared our houses.’” Exodus 12:25-27

Rituals are occasions for remembering and reaffirming, or with a good dose of humor and humility, of realizing that we have forgotten something that we would like to recall.

Several weeks ago I saw that one of our major retailers was putting out school backpacks. A sign of things soon to come. “What do you mean by this observance?” It seems far too early for summer vacation to be over for our young people. Two years of pandemic weirdness should merit them another month or two off in compensation. Working moms and dads may not find that helpful.

Most of us are far removed from those days of backto-school, but we likely remember some of the rituals we had. Rituals in preparation and rituals of the first day and weeks to begin the new year. Like shopping for school clothes and wrapping textbooks in brown paper bags. Like finding our bus stop and classroom, wearing name tags, and seeing friends we had not seen much in the summer. Like lamenting that our best friends are together in a different class. And then all the learning or being reminded of norms and what we should have learned the year before. There was the standard warmup exercise: “Please take out a sheet of paper and write an essay on ‘What I did on my summer vacation.’”

All of this is to say that we are familiar with the rituals of regathering and restarting, with checking where we are before moving forward, of rituals of remembering and reaffirming the basics. That these are tradition signifies that they are helpful, that they work.

This year as I see those backpacks, I wonder about our beloved faith community and how we are doing spiritually. I wonder about what traditions, what ritual observances, are necessary and helpful to us and to you. Is there something that we are doing that helps you? Is there something you miss that you would find helpful if we brought that back? And about the good news of the Gospel, I wonder about what remembering and reaffirming would be helpful. Can you tell the story of the Gospel in less than five minutes? Can you explain the hope in Christ that you have?

I wonder about what questions of faith are on our hearts and what reassurances are needed. What are your big faith questions? Where do you find your faith, your hope, your dreams most challenged and in need of spiritual support?

I welcome hearing from you. You need not “take out a sheet of paper” but drop me a note by email rectorgsec@brmemc.net or call me 828-389-3397 at church if there is something on your heart that you want to share.

Grace and peace,
Fr. Bill+

Catechism

The Prayer Book provides a catechism - a summary teaching - for use by clergy and laity alike. It is based upon the major points of faith identified in the Apostles’ creed. It is meant to provide a framework and an entry point into deeper discussion and reflection. It is not meant to cover all topics and every aspect of faith and Christian living.

Employing a brief question and answer format, the Prayer Book catechism can be a helpful tool for those new to the Episcopal church and for those who want to once again ponder the foundations of our faith after years of spiritual formation. Summertime is vacation time and there is vacation reading to do. Maybe add the catechism to your summer reading list.

Our catechism begins with a question of what we are. It asks, “What are we by nature?” and answers, “We are part of God’s creation, made in the image of God.” As I think about that question and the answer provided I am looking out a window of my home. I consider for a moment God’s creation and I see various shades of green, sunlight dancing off the water in the creek, a faded purple umbrella, and a pale blue sky with disorganized but gathering clouds. What I perceive is that God is an artist and God’s creation is a work of art. It reveals God as a God who appreciates beauty, goodness, and life.

As part of God’s creation we are made from that same material as the trees, the sky, and the water. and with that same imprint showing the character of God. That is to say, each of us is a work of art, a thing of beauty, a being of original goodness because that is what the Good Artist does. As a clergy mentor once said “God does not make junk.” Our human standards are not God’s standards and while we might divide things and people into more or less beautiful or good, God does not.

I remember a movie from some years ago with a scene where an African man was coming upon a shapely blond western woman who was using some bushes as cover while changing her clothes. His thoughts were not “how lovely” but “Yuck, she has no color and looks dead. And look how tall she is. She probably eats a lot.” Cultural standards vary. Those of God the artist do not.

In a culture like ours that promotes a narrow image of attractiveness and where that causes so much anxiety, it may be helpful to remember that all of us are a handmade work of art, beautiful to the God who made us, and beautiful to those who see with Godblessed eyes.

Next, our catechism asks, “What does it mean to be made in the image of God?” The answer centers on the gift of freedom given to us by God. To be created in the image of God is to be free to make choices: to love, to create, to reason, and to live in harmony with creation and with God. Freedom is a cherished value in our nation and many others. Coming up very soon on July 4 we will celebrate once again the freedom sought by our founders in the war for independence. On other occasions we remember and give thanks for those who sacrificed to maintain our freedom and to gain freedom for the unfree. We were created to be free to make choices and it is Christ-like for us to work to set others free to make choices.

I will leave this with you to reflect on the gift of choice. Freedom to choose comes with much responsibility, with blessing and with pitfalls. The freedom to choose is also the freedom to choose poorly. God bless your summer and your summer reading.

Again, consider the catechism.
Fr. Bill+

A Letter to the Parish

Dear Friends,

Those who recall the history of this parish, know that Good Shepherd was established when four local families attending Church of the Messiah in Murphy formed their own fellowship at the encouragement of their priest. They met in each other’s homes and shared welcome and hospitality along with prayer and worship. In each family only one spouse was an Episcopalian, meaning that from its beginning this parish has been ecclesiastically and theologically diverse. At its genesis moment, then, openness and welcome and hospitality were there as the foundational spirit that has established, built, and sustained this parish. It is no surprise to me that the people of this parish are so friendly toward each other and our many visitors. It is in agreement with our foundational spirit to do so. It is also no surprise that the last parish renovation focused on the parish hall and parish kitchen. They are wonderful assets for expressing the gifts of welcome and hospitality that are defining gifts of this community.

It is those same gifts of welcome and hospitality that fuel the outreach of this parish. All that is done to bring the love of God to those with bodily and spiritual needs are ways of extending the welcome and hospitality of God’s kingdom. The hungry are fed, the unsheltered are housed, those in danger are provided sanctuary, and more as signs of God’s welcome and hospitality.

My prayer for this parish is that we neither lose sight of that foundational spirit nor fail to practice that spirit. May we continue to be people who give thanks for and celebrate these gifts and continue to seek new ways of expressing them. To that end, your vestry and I are mindful of an opportunity we have for doing so. For some ten years we have carried a mortgage on God’s house that is now down to about eighty thousand dollars. Imagine those mortgage payments, about one thousand dollars a month, being used to show welcome and hospitality to those who are experiencing shelter insecurity: additional support for the only homeless shelter in within one hundred miles of our parish; additional support for sheltering women and children in crisis, and; additional support for the increased number of transient people passing through our area.

Your vestry and I have made our gifts to paying off the mortgage and becoming Debt Free in ‘23. We invite your gift, large and small, with gratitude for anything you can prayerfully and sacrificially contribute. We have designated June and July for this effort and will be hosting a special coffee hour on June 5 in celebration. Please join us for that and be sure to note on your gift that you are giving toward “mortgage payoff.” With your help and God willing, we will enter 2023 with only an ongoing debt of gratitude to God for all God continues to do for and through this parish.

Grace and peace be yours,
Fr. Bill+

Homecoming

In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the surviving remnant of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the Mediterranean. He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth. Isaiah 11:11-12

‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land. I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel.’ Ezekiel 37:21-22

The story of the people of God is a story of returning. Those among us who love gardens and gardening may be pleased to know that the story of the Bible both begins and ends in a garden. Those who long to know and experience the full presence of God will delight to know that God lives with us in the garden at both the beginning and the end. Intentional or not, the music group Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young are biblical when they sing “We are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year-old carbon, And we got to get ourselves back to the garden.”*

We have got to get ourselves back to the garden. We have to come home. That appears to be God’s dream, too. We should want to come home. Multiple times, the people of God find themselves scattered, exiled to foreign lands, and under the control of foreign powers. The people of the northern Kingdom of Israel are exiled to Assyria. The people of the southern Kingdom of Judah are exiled to Babylon. But this is not their home. This is not where they are meant to be and it is not God’s dream for them. Through the prophets, God calls them home. Homecoming is God’s wish, God’s heart, and God’s will. Yet, as time is spent away and the generations pass, the people settle in and make their way in a foreign land. Some forget their home. Some have found what they believe is their new home. Some have found what they believe are good reasons for not returning.

While these are ancient stories, they are our stories, too. In our own time, exile happens. We get separated from home, we develop new patterns of life, and we may even tell ourselves that this is okay.

This beloved parish is home in many ways. We call the church family the household of God. It is a household in the sense of an economy with roles and relationships as in the Greek word oikos. But even more so, this parish is home because it is where so many of us center our lives and share our lives. It is home because in the absence of nearby consanguineal or affinal kin, as is true for most of us, this parish is the home where we gather with our adopted family.

After two years and more of COVID or other caused exile, God’s dream is still the same. If you have been away a while, God is calling you home. In this season of sacrifice and resurrection, come home for Holy Week and stay for the Easter Season. We are having a parish brunch between the services on Easter day. Come join your family at the Easter table. And then join us for Country Fare. There will be a place for every one in the household to serve. Things are looking green outside my office window. Flowers are dancing in the breeze and the buds on the trees are starting to pop. It is time to get ourselves back to the garden.

Grace and peace,
Fr. Bill+

* Lyrics by Joni Mitchell

Why Lent?

Deriving its name from the Anglo-Saxon word “lencton” - meaning lengthening - the season of Lent occurs at a time of year when the days are lengthening. It is a most appropriate name for that reason but even more so because it is the time of year in which the light that has come into the darkness is made most manifest in the passion of Jesus Christ and it is the time of year during which people turn toward and make preparation to receive that light anew on Easter Sunday.

Because it is the season of reparation and preparation, it became the time in the Church year in which notorious sinners underwent public penance and were readmitted to communion before the Easter feast and the time of year in which those seeking for the first time admission into the church would undergo their final preparation for baptism at the Great Vigil of Easter.

While the church has moved away from excommunicating and then readmitting notorious sinners the feel and themes of Lent remain penitential and it is now the whole body of the faithful who share in corporate confession and reparation. With practices brought forward from the Old Testament, where repentance is given symbolic expression in the donning of sack cloth and ashes, Lent begins on Ash Wednesday with the declaration that God hates nothing that God has made and forgives the sins of all who are penitent, and the imposition of ashes for those desiring an outward expression of their inward penitence. While sack cloth is not in keeping with current fashion, churches do something parallel in the veiling of crosses and statuary and the use of unbleached linens. In our readings for the season, we listen for, hear, and reflect on messages of conversion, baptism, and the promise of new life.

This Ash Wednesday we will again take blessed ashes out of the church into the world for those whose work and whose school schedules keep them from attending the traditional service at noon that day. Please join us at 7am in the courtyard if you are in that former category and invite your friends to Ash Wednesday at Good Shepherd. During the forty days of Lent we will be gathering on Wednesday evenings at 5:30 pm for a simple supper and a teaching on the Book of the Maccabees I and II. Those books tell the story of God’s faithfulness to God’s people and their faithfulness to the covenant during a time of severe hardship. The theme of faithfulness is an appropriate one during the Lenten season when our lectionary readings amplify the faithfulness of Jesus during his time of severe hardship.

Holy Week is the final week of Lent. Holy Week takes us from Jesus’ humble entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday through his death and burial on Good Friday and the Great Vigil of Easter where we welcome back the light of Christ. Keep an eye on the announcements and newsletter for information on these and other opportunities to experience the meaning of Lent. And because it may be the most appropriate time for them to do so, I encourage you to invite someone you know who has slipped in their faith journey to reconnect with God this Lent. Invite them to come and see, and let the Holy Spirit do the rest.

“I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.” - Book of Common Prayer, p. 265.

Grace and peace, Fr Bill+

Happy New Year

“Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild animals will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.” Isaiah 43:19- 21

The prophet Isaiah brings a message from God to his people who are suffering in exile. It is a message of hope. There is a better future now breaking forth. Yes, things have been hard, mistakes were made, and the people are suffering the consequences of their actions and the actions of others that have impacted all the people. God says, “let it go.” Do not remember those former things. They poison the soul. They keep us from looking forward and seeing the new opportunity and new blessings because they keep us anchored in past. God says, “let it go, lift up your heads and see the new thing before you.”

As we enter this new year, do reflect on what is past, give thanks and make your confession, but then let go of memories that do not bring light and joy to your life. Look to the present moment for the new thing God is doing and with anticipation of blessing, look for what good thing God is bringing into your life.

We likely all have our wilderness and desert experiences, times like in the wilderness and desert when circumstances were hard and our resources sparse. Times when we and others were not our best selves. Learn from those, but remember that you are not meant to stay in the wilderness. The Lord has a made a way forward. That means you should take the way out, not stay there. The way out is to forget the former things and look for the new thing. Some may need more help with this than others. The former things can be very difficult for some and your prayers for them are a help.

A friend recently said to me that “You do not have a choice but to go through this. The choice you do have is how you will do it.” His name is not Isaiah, but he also is saying to look for the new thing, to remain a person of hope. I will carry that with me into this new year. I will look for the new thing. I will offer praise to the God of our salvation.

Grace and peace be yours in this new year,

Bill+

The Gift of Presence

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14

Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones, those with us and those who have gone before us. Yes, we are in Advent and yes, it is important that we observe the Advent season with the holy commitment due in itself and not merely as preliminary to Christmas. Still, Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones, those with us and those who have gone before us for they are alive in the Lord. Merry Christmas, Saint Nicholas of Myra. Merry Christmas, Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Merry Christmas all you past and present saints of Good Shepherd, Hayesville.

Every Christmas Day we hear John’s Christmas story. No trek of the Holy Family from Nazareth to Bethlehem. No donkey ride for Mary. No inn, no manger, no shepherds in the fields keeping watch over their flocks, no angel choirs. No star in the night sky and no gift-bearing visitors from the east coming at Epiphany. Most of everything we usually think about when we recall and share the story of the incarnation is missing from John’s Christmas story. It does not seem suited for a Hallmark movie of the week or even a Hallmark card. How would a children’s program enact this story before adoring parents and grandparents? Good thing we have Matthew and Luke’s stories.

Yet, there it is according to John. Merry Christmas! The fullness of God in Jesus has moved into the neighborhood. He has pitched his tent and in more ways than one. He has pitched his tent by choosing to take on human form and he has pitched his tent by choosing to live among us. This twofold enfleshment, embodiment, incarnation, is the gift of God becoming one of us and living among us. The incarnation, then, is both personal and relational. It is personal in that God came as a person and it is relational in that the person of God came to dwell among us as a family member. God incarnate is not someone who buying the home next door is seen only coming and going as the garage door opens and closes.

The sense of the Greek term for dwelling suggests someone who regularly comes over for dinner, someone you share raising your children with, someone who is there for you when there is celebration and there is loss. Long before State Farm, like a good neighbor, the incarnate God is there.

The spirit of the incarnation, then, is properly about being present and being involved. As followers of Christ, we acknowledge and welcome at Christmas the one who came among us to be one of us and to be for us. As followers of Christ, we live that spirit of the incarnation by being among and for others as Christ was and is. Think about who you know who could use the gift of your presence this Christmas. May your presence be a present to them and to you this Christmas season and beyond.

Merry Christmas,
Fr. Bill+

Oblation

ob·la·tion
noun: a thing presented or offered to God.

The Hebrew scriptures contain many passages about things offered to God. The system of sacrifice and offering described in the book Leviticus is a bit complex with its many commands about what to offer and when for expressions of thanksgiving, restoration, guilt, and for making atonement. I remember from my seminary days when our liturgy professor would check our homework by asking for a so-called “wave” offering (Lev. 8:27). He would say “Show me your homework by wave offering” and we would hold up and wave our homework papers like they were a sheaf of grain.

In actual practice, the Temple priests would take the wave offering and wave it before the Lord in thanksgiving on behalf of the people. One occasion for the wave offering was following the first harvest of the year. This was the barley harvest and corresponded to the Feast of Unleavened Bread. People would present a sheaf of barley grain as an offering of the “first fruits” - the best - of that harvest.

In the Gospels, we hear of another form of oblation. For several weeks recently in our Sunday readings, we have heard Jesus talk about his own self-oblation. He tells his disciples several times that he is to be betrayed, handed over to the authorities, made to suffer and be killed. He tells them plainly that he gives his life for the sake of others (Mk 10:45).

The Letter to the Hebrews makes much of the comparison and contrast of the offering of Jesus Christ and the Levitical priesthood. Unlike the repeated sacrifices in the Temple, his life self-offered is the perfect sacrifice once made for atonement that ends the need for all further atoning sacrifices (Heb 7:27).

In their differing ways, each of the Eucharistic prayers in the Book of Common Prayer, makes mention of this oblation. You will read this most fully stated in the Rite I prayers but it is found in all of them when they speak of his sacrificial and atoning death. Like the Hebrew scriptures that call for the participation of the people in making an offering, the Gospels invite all into the practice of self-oblation. Jesus invites all who would be his people to take up the cross and follow him. That is an invitation to imitate and walk in the pathway of self-offering that Jesus walked.

As people who make self-oblation, like Jesus Christ we offer our selves, our souls and our bodies, for the sake of the Gospel. The Gospels tell us that this is neither easy to accept nor to live out without some good measure of grace. The disciples failed to understand Jesus’ talk of his death and resurrection. They likely failed to initially grasp what he meant when he reinterpreted the offering of bread and wine as an offering of himself.

The self-oblation of God is a deeply mysterious thing and one that distinguishes the Christian faith from others. Our own walking the way of Jesus and practicing self-oblation is also a mysterious thing but understand that our gathering for the celebration of Holy Eucharist plays an important role in this. When we gather and receive the sacrament, we are being lifted up, encouraged, prayed for, forgiven, healed, and fed with grace so that we may be sent out to do the work God has given us to do - to go in peace to love and serve the Lord.

All then that we do, when we are mindful of who we are and who we serve, can be a self-oblation and the stuff of a life lived as an offering to God.

Grace and peace and self-oblation be yours,
Fr. Bill+