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August 19, 2014
Spirituality
Fr. Brendan McGuire is pastor of Holy Spirit Parish in San Jose and a Vicar
General of the Diocese of San Jose. As Vicar General, he is responsible
for special projects such as the recently launched Saint Katharine Drexel
Initiative to revitalize Catholic Schools in the Diocese. Before being ordained
in 2000, Fr. Brendan was an executive in a technology company and still
loves to use technology such as Facebook, podcasts and YouTube to bring
people to a deeper relationship with Christ. Email him at [email protected].
21st Sunday in Ordinary Time • August 24, 2014
I Know Who I Am?
Every day, Tim would go to the care home and visit with her. Each time she
would ask Tim who he was and why he was visiting her. Each time Tim would
explain who he was and why he was visiting. He would tell the story of all his
children and grandchildren, all the activities and news of his family.
While he was feeding her lunch each day, he would gently remind her he was
married for 52 years to the same woman and that woman was her. Then each time,
she would smile brightly as if told for the first time. That woman was Margaret,
and Margaret suffers from Alzheimer’s; she goes in and out of consciousness.
Tim tends to her each and every day and before he leaves, he caresses her gently,
kisses her and tells her that he loves her dearly. Knowing well, that tomorrow he
will have to repeat the whole routine.
His friends plead with Tim as to why he continues to put himself through this.
They tell him, “She does not even know who you are any more.” He would always
respond the same way, “But I know who I am.”1
The reality is that we are known by our actions. If we want to know who we
really are then we need to ask ourselves how we treat other people. It is for our
actions that we will be known.
In the Gospel for Sunday, August 24, Jesus asks, “Who do people say that I am?”
He knew he had healed them; he had forgiven them; he had preached to them. But
he wanted to know if they knew who he was, not because he didn’t know who he
was but because he wanted to know if the people could recognize in his actions
that he was truly the Son of God.
Peter knew who Jesus was, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,”
because he witnessed Christ in action time and time again. We have to be honest
with ourselves in asking, “Who do people say that I am?” Am I really living up to
those difficult works of discipleship: to love others, to forgive others and to serve
others? These are not easy things to do, but that is our claim as followers of Christ.
Tim continues to love his wife Margaret, not because she knows who he is,
but because he knows who he is; he is her husband of 52 years. You and I have
responsibilities as members of the body of Christ, to love others, to forgive others,
to serve others and it starts with a question that we must first ask ourselves, “Who
am I” and “Who do people say that I am?”
T
he Valley Catholic
22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time • August 31, 2014
Simplexity: Every Action Counts
There is a new field of study called “simplexity.” It maintains that all major phenomena such as major world events, traffic and even politics contain a series of events
that can all be traced back to a trigger event which is a simple incident. If that simple
incident had not happened the way it happened, then all the other things would not