Fr. Dave Matz, c.pp.s. with parishioners from St. Agnes Parish
Live the Questions
by Fr. Dave Matz, c.pp.s., St. Agnes Parish, Los Angeles
When I think about the New Creation Commission
and my participation in the process we have embarked
upon in our community, I am reminded of Rainer
Rilke’s letter to a young poet and the hope it can
inspire for us missionaries, an apostolic society living
into the questions of becoming a New Creation.
Living the interplay of phrases, “Try to love the
questions. Don’t search for the answers ... Live the
questions now,” it takes great courage and the ability
to risk not stopping at the easy answers and allowing
our spirituality to guide us into the renewal of our
ministerial and communal lives.
Courage and the ability to take risks, I believe are
some hallmarks of our Precious Blood spirituality.
One of our prayers begins, “Spirit of Gaspar, take us
to the edge. With a gentle push send us forth to fly
beyond the confinement of our minds to the heart
6 • The New Wine Press • October 2018
of mystery.” I moved to the edge when I accepted the
call to minister in Los Angeles at St. Agnes Catholic
Church. It was a courageous step for this midwestern
man and an intentional choice for both provinces to
work collaboratively and to envision a way for us to
create anew a mission house here and to apply our
charisms of renewal and reconciliation to the needs
of an inner-city parish made up of diverse racial and
ethnic groups of people. I want to share some of the
challenges and some dreams, albeit, questions that we
want to dynamically live into not for quick answers but
with hope that someday the Spirit of Gaspar will lead
us into an answer, a new creation.
St. Agnes has long had a history of participating in
justice issues that affect the inner-city neighborhoods
and communities. Fr. Bill Delaney is well known for
his activism and ability to gather our community when