Oddwalk Ministries

Category: NPM

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We Cannot Do Everything

The wreath, with a candle marking each week of the season, is a traditional symbol of the Advent. (CNS photo/Lisa A. Johnston, St. Louis Review)

This morning, I (Orin) was briefly interviewed by Matt Reichert, who hosts the NPM Ministry Monday podcast, and is co-host of the great “Open Your Hymnal” podcast on Catholic liturgical music. Matt is reaching out to several parish music directors – who this time of year have 12 or 14 irons in the fire – to ask them, “What do you do to remain sane during Advent?” It’s such a busy time for folks in church music, so the question and the podcast episodes could not come out at a better time. It will likely be split into two parts, with my part likely airing a week from today, or possibly in the next one. We’ll be sure to let you know!

One of the things we briefly talked about was a few lines from what is commonly known as the “Oscar Romero Prayer,” even though he didn’t write it. Check the endnotes at the link above:

This prayer was first presented by Cardinal Dearden in 1979 and quoted by Pope Francis in 2015. This reflection is an excerpt from a homily written for Cardinal Dearden by then-Fr. Ken Untener on the occasion of the Mass for Deceased Priests, October 25, 1979. Pope Francis quoted Cardinal Dearden in his remarks to the Roman Curia on December 21, 2015. Fr. Untener was named bishop of Saginaw, Michigan, in 1980.

The line that came up is this:

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.

This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.

For me, it’s very freeing, perhaps even joyful, this particular sense of liberation. I, and we, do the best we can with the time, energy, and resources available to us, knowing that we can’t do it all – and that there is a broad Christian community who is also working very hard to build the reign of God on earth.

If you don’t know the whole prayer, please do take a moment to read it and pray it, perhaps even make it a daily part of your advent spirituality.

catholicism, friends, Jesus, JesusJusticeJoy, ministry, NPM, quote, reflection

The Most Important Catholic Word

Robert Feduccia at NPM

I (Orin) just returned from a week in Baltimore attending the National Pastoral Musicians (NPM) 41st annual convention. This gathering is a time for seeing old friends, hearing wonderful speakers and breakout sessions, and encountering new music for the liturgy.

Oddwalk friend Robert Feduccia gave a fantastic keynote Wednesday morning, titled “The Liturgy and the Church’s Mandate to Grow.” There were so many takeaways from the presentation; I want to share just one here.

Robert told the story of a conversation he had once with Bishop Caggiano of Bridgeport. The Bishop had asked Robert what the most important Catholic word was. After a couple failed guesses, the Bishop informed him that, to him, the most important Catholic word was “and.”

And.

So deceptively simple and so important to our faith and world today. Those of you who know me reasonably well know I have been beating the “Both/And” drum for at least a decade now. When our faith paints, I think, far too many things as “black and white,” and when our world seems to create more and more “us vs. them” moments all the time, it is important for us to remember that our faith calls us to both/and, just as our savior Jesus was himself an earthly both/and: both God and human.

Now, of course there are times things truly are black and white, and there are times where some subset of humanity must be distinct from some other subset for valid reasons. We do well, though, to limit those times to only the most necessary and not try to superimpose distinctions where there are none really to be had and especially when they are not helpful.

Our faith is one pf paradox – one where things that seem to be opposites dwell together in mystery and without conflict: death is life, weakness is power, being last is being first. That is, we are called to both death and life, to both weakness and power, to both being last and being first. Just as Jesus himself lived as a both/and, so we too must try to first see the “and” in every situation, every person, and every relationship. Only then are distinctions and discussions of them coming from a place of love and dignity.

And: the most important Catholic word.