A Positively Poetic Priest

I want you to picture in your mind our local drug dealer. Every town has one or two and by the way the local news talks about the drug crises we have more than one or two in Franklin. I want you to try to picture our local drug dealer, wandering down Buffalo Street, thinking about his business, when he stops and looks up at St. John's doors. For some reason, he decides to walk in and say a prayer. He says, Hey God, to you, I'm messed up. Forgive me, will ya? Also in the church at that time is one of our long time faithful regulars, praying. This long time member is giving thanks for something going really well in their life. Then Jesus walks in with a bunch of people and points to the two people praying. He says that the drug dealer is in better standing with God at that moment than the long time faithful member. What? Its a confusing and shocking and harsh parable. What can Jesus possibly mean? Interestingly, this parable only

"My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone." This is one of Thomas Merton's famous prayers, and an extremely useful one for daily life.  Though my favorite Thomas Merton prayer  is one about tulips.  One of the lines says, "Up with the revolution of tulips

Living the Story "Life is a story. You can choose your story. A story with God is the better story." At least this is what Life of Pi author Yann Martel once said, in talking about his novel.  A story. Life is a story.  I think most of us would agree with this statement.  We understand our lives in stories.  The story of what has happened today, or this week.  The stories from our pasts. Though some of us are still probably working on believing that  we can choose our own stories.  We may not be able to change the past, but we can change the present and the future and thus change our stories, especially how they end.  A story with God is the best story. Here we all sit in church,  interacting in our stories with God, but there are hundreds of people who are missing out on this part of their story. Lots of people don't have God in their stories. They are sadly missing out. But we can help change their stories to