Catholic Transcript Online

As we enter the New Year, I extend to you the greeting with which Saint Paul begins so many of his Epistles: “Grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”

 There is an inner wisdom here, an inner coherence, a harmony of human existence. When human life is not centered on God, the harmony of the human being is broken.

 We begin a new year with fresh starts, new chances, beginnings made available. We look to the past and see resolutions we kept, others we did not. All of us, even the mystics, can look to the blind spots, shadows, failings, faults, and sins in our lives. We focus not just on the successes and failures, but on how we have begun again.

We have heard the shepherds and the angels glorifying and praising God for what they have seen and heard. We have seen Mary, in the eye of the storm, as an island of peace and serenity treasuring all these things and reflecting on them in her heart.

 God had intervened in Mary’s life. She said “Yes,” and then, in communion and harmony with God, she became so much more than she thought she was, the Mother of God.

 Paul, breathing murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples, was on his way to Damascus when the Lord intervened in his life. Following his positive response, and in communion and harmony with the Lord, he became so much more than he thought he was, the Apostle to the Nations bringing the Good News of God’s love to the world. Advancing from murderous threats, he would be inspired to give us the magnificent Canticle to Love which is the 13th chapter of his First Epistle to the Corinthians.

 The year 2009 presents daunting challenges to peace, harmony, and love in our lives. Terrorism and war summon us to deeper dimensions of prayer and fasting.

 The deterioration of the economic climate besets everyone in one way or another. The large-scale loss of jobs and benefits and the foreclosures on homes, with people at times living even in cars, create terrible uncertainties and anxieties.

 Such tragedies at the same time can prompt us to rediscover our fundamental values: love of God and concern for one another. Faith, hope, and charity are never out of season.

 We all are called individually to do our part, but we must face the current scene in organized ways as well. The 2009 Archbishop’s Annual Appeal is an opportunity to do just that. We will be focusing intense attention on emergency assistance necessary to meet basic human needs. While our parishes and Catholic Charities have worked together on these matters in the past, these services will now be more strongly organized, upgraded, and expanded.

 When parishes are not able to provide help for individual parishioners and families, they will be encouraged to refer the people in need, with a proper endorsement, to Catholic Charities. These referrals will be coordinated centrally, but the services will be delivered through the various Catholic Charities agencies located throughout the Archdiocese.

 The services include: food, clothing, rental assistance (including security deposits), utilities payments, furniture, medical prescriptions, car repairs for traveling to work, tuition assistance, and financial counseling. We are also increasing our support for the Malta mobile vans providing health care for people without insurance. They will now be operating four days a week in Hartford (an increase from three), and a new van will be opening in Waterbury. The theme for the 2009 Appeal is, “People of Hope Giving in Faith.” We pray that the results will be more than tangible. The needs are only too visible.

 We build on the success of the 2008 Appeal, with the theme “Sharing Our Gifts.” As I am writing this, the final results have not yet been tabulated, but as of December 29 they are most gratifying. The total at this point is $9,431,611. That is $53,831 more than the sum on the same day in 2007. There was a special bequest to Appeal 2007 of $247,639, which brought that total to $9,625,419, but that was extraordinary. Given the difficult times that we have been facing for a good part of 2008, your generosity is truly amazing and inspiring. You certainly know how to share your gifts.

 We are in the middle of the Pauline Year, proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI to celebrate the 2,000^th anniversary of the birth of the Apostle to the Gentiles. It began on June 28, 2008, and will close on June 29, 2009 (the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul). You have been informed, in The Catholic Transcript and elsewhere, of the various events in our Archdiocese to commemorate the Jubilee Year, the churches of pilgrimage, the indulgences, etc.

 There are two special events in observance of the Pauline Year scheduled this month in our Archdiocese. On Saturday, Jan. 24, in the Archdiocesan Center at St. Thomas Seminary, Bloomfield, Father Frank Matera, a priest of the Archdiocese and a professor of New Testament studies at The Catholic University of America, will speak on “St. Paul’s Conversion as Recorded in the Acts of the Apostles and in His Own Writings.” The sessions will run from 8:30 a.m. until noon.

 The next day, Jan. 25, the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, we will celebrate a special Mass for the Pauline Year in the Cathedral of Saint Joseph at 2 p.m. All in the Archdiocese are invited.

 In his Epistle to the Galatians (2:9), Saint Paul describes his meeting in Jerusalem with the “pillars,” Peter, James, and John, and how they reminded him to be “mindful of the poor.” Paul says in response that it was the one thing he “was making every effort to do.” Thank you for the beautiful ways you follow his example.

 I close, with profound gratitude to you, in the sentiments with which Saint Paul concludes his Second Epistle to the Corinthians (13:13): “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”

 Happy New Year!