Roots

Today is October 19th, and 46 years ago today, a man a woman stood before God, His Church, and their family and friends and committed themselves to living the rest of their lives as husband and wife. The commitment to marriage is no small one, and it certainly creates many challenges for those who enter such a covenant. On this day 46 years ago, my parents started something they would never be able to imagine would grow into what it has....a family.

We certainly would never become the Waltons, or the Brady Bunch, where everything is delightful and lovely, and everybody have the perfect relationship. Then again, nobody does...no family does. As our family grew and developed many relationships grew strong, and some were subsequently dissolved, but the fact remains that weather we like it or not, we are a family. We share a common name...we aren't the Bradys, or the Waltons, we're the Martins. And that is more then "just a name", it's my roots, it's what makes me who I am.

What’s in a name? We can often tell a lot about a situation just by the way someone says our name. Growing up, I remember when my mother called me by my first and middle name, I knew I was in trouble. Different nicknames we earn along the way are often the result of another persons affection…or lack thereof. When we are Baptized, the priest formally asks, “what name do you give this child?”. At our Confirmation, we are asked to claim a name with which to be Confirmed. When we get married, we take the last name of our spouse to formalize the union in which we enter. Do we ever consider however, what name does God call us by?

Indeed God calls each and every one of us, without exception to live good and decent lives, and live that life as a testimony to Him and His Church, to different degrees. But when He calls us, what is His tone? How does He call our name?

Choosing a name for a child is obviously very much a beginning. We, at the Church of the Holy Paraclete, after prayer and conversation, have decided that we are going to enter a “Year of New Beginnings.” To spend the next year reflecting, praying, and working towards recognizing, and answering God’s unique call to each and every one of us. In this year we will work, as a community to identify, and respond to that individual call God places to each of us in our lives.

It is therefore all together appropriate that we begin this journey on All Saints Day, when the Church celebrates the men and women throughout the centuries who heard that call, and answered it with their whole hearts.

We have officially entered Autumn, a season of change, both in the leaves, the weather, and why not our very hearts. Our parish is brand new, and our clergy are all undergoing changes, not only to their names, but new beginnings. These changes are new beginnings in our ministry, in our souls, and in our everyday lives.

In the coming year our Parish will begin to aggressively insert itself into the local community in various forms of ministry, all of which will require not only support in terms of presence, but also prayer. As we enter this year of New Beginnings let us do so with an open heart. Let’s pray that in this discernment each and every one of us will hear the call of God in our hearts, and answer it whole heartedly. Let’s pray that we will hear God calling us by name, by that unique name whose tone speaks directly to our soul, and more importantly…may we have the fortitude live the answer to that call in our homes, our workplace, and our social circles. Let’s each and everyone of us build that individual relationship with the Lord, to which He invites us. The sacraments serve as a strengthening and bold reminder of His presence in our lives, this year we pray that we will live those sacraments and by doing so, bring the Lord to others.