2 Responses to “Sea Food Stews”

• Thank you for this particular lesson, Grace under Fire. I was under great distress upon the closing of several local parish schools in the area including TC, but you message has given my some guidance in how I should proceed with my feeling of lost and to remember that there is no need to hold on to physical objects just the spiritual ones. I have many fond memories of TC and will be forever thankful for my experiences there. I hope that the archdiocese is able to provide this kind of environment in another school for the many children out there that thrive in the close knit community of the coed high schools of the archdiocese of Baltimore.

  Donna

  Posted by Fr. Leo on July 12th, 2010 at 5:20 pm.

• From: Ken Hess [mailto:hessk376@yahoo.com]
  Sent: Thursday, July 08, 2010 8:19 AM
  To: askfrleo@gracebeforemeals.com
  Subject: When Grace Is Under Fire

  Fr. Leo

  Thank you so much for your words on church buildings/schools being closed. I was very much involved with Cardinal Gibbons School in Baltimore and was very hurt by the decision to close it. And, I am originally from the Cleveland, Ohio area and over the past year they have had to close many parishes. It has been a real test for myself, but like you say, it’s not the building itself. When we stand before God, I don’t we are going to say “well I was upset because a church or school was closed”.

  Back on Thursday, May 13, I went to St. John’s in Severna Park for daily mass and this was the gospel that day:

  (Acts 18:1-8):

  Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.
  There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus,
  who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla
  because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome.
  He went to visit them and, because he practiced the same trade,
  stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade.
  Every sabbath, he entered into discussions in the synagogue,
  attempting to convince both Jews and Greeks.
  When Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia,
  Paul began to occupy himself totally with preaching the word,
  testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus.
  When they opposed him and reviled him,
  he shook out his garments and said to them,
  “Your blood be on your heads!
  I am clear of responsibility.
  From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”
  So he left there and went to a house
  belonging to a man named Titus Justus, a worshiper of God;
  his house was next to a synagogue.
  Crispus, the synagogue official, came to believe in the Lord
  along with his entire household, and many of the Corinthians
  who heard believed and were baptized.

  The sermon by Fr. Stew Bullock spoke directly to me as I had been thinking about the Gibbons situation Wednesday night and early Thursday morning.

  Paul had been trying to tell the Jews about the risen Christ and they would not accept it. However, the Gentiles would. Paul was discouraged and frustrated but he proceeded to preach to the Gentiles. At the time Paul was frustrated and did not understand. However, looking at it now, it enabled the word of the Lord to be spread around the world into what is now the Catholic Church. God has a plan and at the time it did not make sense to Paul. But, down the road it made sense. Things may happen in our lives that don’t make sense, but God has a master plan.

  The timing of this really hit me especially since I was thinking about the Gibbons situation right before going to mass. I know this was God speaking to me in an indirect manner.

  Fr. Leo, thank you for all you do! And, when you see Fr. Brian (Nolan), tell him I said hello.

  Ken

  Posted by Fr. Leo on July 12th, 2010 at 5:22 pm.

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