From the Pastor:
You may remember not too long ago of how Pope Benedict XVI would often be seen wearing red leather shoes. The news media (sigh!) would subtly criticize him for doing so, suggesting he considered himself as royalty. However, Pope Benedict wasn’t trying to draw attention to himself but instead to another group of people – Christians throughout the world who were being persecuted, and even martyred, for their faithfulness to Christ.
The news media wasn’t interested in the truth. They presented a false story because they wanted to disparage Pope Benedict, with whom they disagreed on important moral issues. However, for the persecuted Christians throughout the world, they felt the solidarity of the Holy Father. The color of his red shoes said to them, ‘Your struggles, pain, and suffering are not forgotten. The Pope remembers and prays for you in whatever far corner of the world you live!’ Pope John Paul II would sometimes wear red shoes, as would other popes before him, for the same reason.
If you haven’t already seen, you will in the weeks ahead see that my left hand is wrapped in gauze, especially around my thumb, making it look four times bigger than normal. It’s almost like something seen in the cartoons. My left thumb needed a bone reset and some tissue work. That was not my choice but, unfortunately, just something that needed done. So for the next seven weeks (one week already completed) my “red shoes” are my wrapped hand/thumb. We priests remember the sick and suffering in our prayers, but the weeks ahead for me will involve another level of solidarity with them.
The little yellow ball on the top of my thumb is the head of a steel pin temporarily inserted into my thumb bone. Thankfully it will be removed after the bone has healed. If you are wondering, yes, it’s painful!! But crosses can be blessings, as much as we don’t like them at the time. We have parishioners, some even children, who like me didn’t choose their ailments but still must contend with them. Some will recover and others will not. They can always use our prayers and assistance.
So in the weeks ahead, when you see my wrapped hand, let it be the red shoes of the popes for all of us. When you see my hand, please remember our parishioners who are in need of our prayers, and maybe even your physical assistance. I gratefully accept your prayers, but please direct anything more than that to others who are in much greater need than me. Let us not forget the homebound and elderly in care facilities who may not have any acute illness but are also in need of love and friendship.
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Cor 4:16-18)
In His compassion,
Fr. Miller
Pastor