|
|
|
My
High School Reunion
Baba Jude
Updated
January 15, 2001
Back last November; I attended my high school's 35th
class reunion, something that I had looked forward
to for quite a while. I would see again people whom
I hadn't seen for, well 35 years, as well as those
with whom I have kept contact with. We were quite
a class. In fact, at graduation, it was very difficult
for the principal to put into words how he felt about
us. He was, however, very, very happy to see us go,
all 479 of us.
That night, seeing the "Hyes" brought back memories
of Sunday School and ACYOA days. The dances, which
there were three a month in our area; the beach parties
at fireplace 17 Nahant beach where the Armenians always
took over the area; the picnics each Sunday at Camp
Ararat, in Maynard MA where you would see a lot of
match-making going on by the grandparents while the
kids would dance and maybe sneak a kiss from a boyfriend
or girlfriend; the days of skipping school and driving
to the Cape for a swim with the guys; the list is
endless, but too much confession is not always such
a good idea.
As for the non-Hyes, they also brought back some great
memories as well. Having names such as "Doody," "Tootie,"
"Greek," "Gonz," "Popeye" and a few others, we made
for an interesting class of "65".
I wanted the night to last a week, to retell old stories
with friends and for a while, to recapture some of
those days and some of that spirit that we had back
then when our lives were simpler. Funny thing though.
As I looked around the room, I saw a lot of people
with either graying or balding heads. I saw people
who were athletes in the "60's" and were now overweight.
I saw people who were brilliant students and who were
expected to excel in life, working at menial jobs.
I saw friends who were now divorced, trying to make
it on their own. I saw the losers back in the 60's
become the winners of today. And many I didn't see
because of Vietnam, drugs, cancer or other such tragedies.
The events of that night stayed with me for a few
weeks. I couldn't get those people out of my mind.
I began to think and remember things that happened
in high school. I began to listen more to the "oldies"
on the radio. I wanted to watch "Happy Days" on TV
and the movies "Animal House" and "Diner". But after
the dust on my brain settled down a bit, I realized
one thing, that it really is impossible to go back,
that people change, situations change, and yes, the
most startling revelation of all was that I was just
like them and I had changed. Yearning for those days
gone by was O.K. for a night, but that was enough.
The question that I was most asked by my classmates
was "are you happy"? After all, they knew me as a
person who loved to have a good time, who didn't take
the world too serious, who was not, shall we say,
the "priestly type" in high school.
Was I happy or more correctly, am I happy?
I have a special family. I have a wife who loves me,
who has shared 32 years of my life and who has always
supported me in whatever needed to be done. I have
seen my two children grow into adulthood, always granting
me honor and respect as their father. I celebrated
my son and new daughter's wedding. I baptized my grandson.
I had parents who raised me with all the love and
energy they had, while my wife's parents loved me
as their own son. I am serving my people as a priest
in the Armenian Church, a dream started when I was
8 years old. I am doing what I like to do. Are there
bad days? Sure. But I wouldn't change one thing, not
even the tragedies, for each one has taught me something
that I can share with others to perhaps lessen their
grief or their worries. I love what I am doing.
At the start of this New Year, maybe you can ask yourself,
"Am I happy"? And if the answer is "no", how about
doing something to change it. If you noticed, I mentioned
love a lot in my reasons for being happy. There is
a lot of it out there. You simply have to give it
away in order to find it. If your answer is "yes",
then do more of what you are doing.
Life really is to short. The graying and balding heads
of old friends at a high school reunion just made
me realize it even more.
The New Year brings uncertainty with each new day.
But the opportunity to find a new friend, to appreciate
a new day, to love a little more makes that uncertainty
a little less terrifying. We simply have to go after
it. Be happy my friends.
Real Renewal
Baba Jude
Whenever I had trouble sleeping at nights during my
seminary stay, I would start reading from the Old
Testament Book of Leviticus. The book deals with the
laws of Moses - ritual legislation about uncleanliness,
sacrifices, what offerings you would bring to God
for whatever sin, etc. If you were looking for high
adventure, something to keep your interest, you looked
elsewhere. Hence the reason I read it when I had trouble
falling asleep. Recently, I had occasion to refer
to Leviticus, not because of insomnia, but concerning
the subject of sabbaticals.
We all know the term "Sabboth" (in Hebrew shabbath).
The Sabboth, the seventh day, was created for man
to be a day of rest from the routine of daily living.
It was a holy day, a time to reflect on the glory
of God in the world. It was never intended to be a
day of indolent laziness that we Americans have made
it into, but one of awakening and self-realization
of just how dependent we are on our Creator.
According to the Law of Moses, the ancient Israelites
were also to observe not only the sabboth every seven
days, but a "sabbatical year" every seven years. They
were instructed by God through Moses that on the seventh
year, they were not to till the land or prune the
vineyards, but to allow that the land should keep
"a sabboth of sacred rest, a sabboth to the Lord."
God would give the people enough harvest on the sixth
year to provide them with food for three years so
that when the time came to sow their fields on the
eighth year, they would still be eating the harvest
from the sixth year.
A "sabbatical", a leave of absence with pay for a
professor, a clergyman, an artist to travel, do research
or simply refresh in order to place things into proper
perspective, also has its origins from this practice.
These individuals may have had positions of great
responsibility in their professions, but they realized
that in order to continually produce a good and healthy
crop, one needs to rest the soil of the mind. To step
away for a period of time, I believe, takes a great
deal of courage, for who among us doesn't believe
that without our input, the world would go askew?
Our Church is in need of a sabbatical - from the local
parish to the Holy See. For too long we have been
plowing the sand and sowing the ocean, a meaningless
vanity in spite of logic and common sense, in order
to produce a harvest. What we have produced is a crop
of self-appointed masters of ceremony, worldly individuals,
who do not understand that it takes holiness to direct
holiness. Our labors have produced such an abundance
of this crop of worldly individuals who are so liken
to each other, while the saints, those to whom we
desperately need to feed off of, who have somehow
managed to grow in spite of our efforts, are so different
and few.
The time has come to rest the soil, to pause and to
seek re-creation. And in doing so, it is possible
that we will realize new products, new ways of planting
and sowing, new saints.
Maybe this is how we need to observe the 1700th Anniversary.
For more info: e-mail office@stsahmes.org
|
|
| Church
Last Updated January 15, 2001 |
 |
|
|
Burn Out
Baba Jude
I was talking to a fellow clergymen a few weeks ago, who has
been experiencing a sense of "burn-out", a total sense of frustration
in his vocation of priesthood, questioning whether it was all
worth it. He talked of all his responsibilities within his parish,
outside involement in the community at large, his diocesan duties
and committee responsibilities, his family obligations - the
list seemed endless. It wasn't so much that the workload was
overpowering although demanding; but that he felt that what
he was doing really didn't make one bit of difference in the
spectrum of things.
My friend talked about how he had assisted people with serious
family problems, coming to him for help, of giving his time,
support, counsel, only to be shunned by those same people once
the crisis had ended. He spoke of how it hurt him when people
whom he had considered friends over the years suddenly change
their attitude because, as a priest, he advocated or defended
certain ethical or moral teachings of the church rather than
turn away and just go along with the crowd.
But my friend felt real frustration when people in his parish
showed a base indifference to God, to the Church, and a lack
of spirituality which turned the act of worship into "Act I"
of the weekly theatrical performance. In this, he felt most
ineffective, for he took very seriously his basic responsibility
as a priest to bring people to Jesus Christ. He tried various
approaches but with little success. Now, with more questions
than answers, he is considering leaving the active ministry
for other pursuits.
My friend's situation is not unique. Various clergymen, both
young and old, have expressed these same frustrations. Dealing
with the many social issues that surfaces within a parish -
drug and alcohol dependencies, physical and mental abuses, divorce,
AIDS, death and dying, the pettiness of vanity, peer pressures
among teens, simple hatreds, . . . it can get to you.
As a man who is obedient to God, my friend lives with the awareness
that there is goodness to life that must govern his thoughts,
words and deeds. But this daily struggle, for him and for others,
is a labyrinth of complexities and difficulties becoming more
and more barely comprehensible.
Thomas Merton, a Trappist Monk, wrote these words: "We can
only become saints by facing ourselves, by assuming full responsibility
for our lives just as they are, with all their handicaps and
limitations, and submitting ourselves to the purifying and transforming
action of the Saviour."
I can only offer to my friend an understanding and my continual
friendship. I hope he comes to realize that the most important,
the most real and lasting work of a priest is accomplished in
the depths of his own soul. It cannot be seen by anyone, even
himself. It is known only to God.
|
| Church
|
|
Time
and Again
by Baba Jude
Just when I thought it was safe to relax a bit, January showed
up again on the calendar. It does so every year at this time.
I took a look back and wondered whatever happened to summer with
its supposed relaxation and playtime; the fall with its beauty
of color; the Christmas season with its sounds of laughter, gathering
of family the Norman Rockwell picture. Projects that I had planned
to do for the most part never did get started. Books that I bought
to read were left on the shelf. Time that I was to spend with
my family and loved ones was all too little. I did get to see
some old friends, but the time spent with them was all too short.
With each year's passing and the number of candles on the birthday
cake increasing, time becomes more of a precious commodity. I
see this thing called time traveling toward a finish line somewhere
off in the distance we call the future, gaining speed and momentum
as it races forward. The closer it gets to that finish line, the
slower I want it to go, for I know that once it crosses that line,
the race will be over. The real problem is that we never realize
how close or how far away we are to that line until it smacks
us right in the face. Then, of course, we know that it is too
late.
Ready or not, the holidays came and went. As we start the New
Year and watch Dick Clark once again from Times Square, we all
seem to become a bit melancholy and ask the question "where did
the year go?" So what is our response.
Life is a gift from God, to be enjoyed lived, celebrated, nurtured
and given to others through our actions. If we don't use the time
we have to do those things that produce only special memories,
like watching a summer sunset with a loved one, playing a game
of catch with our kids, being on a family picnic rather than on
the golf course . . . you can add your own special times to the
list . . . we will finish the race, look back and say, " (this
is where we, each one of us, must fill in the words ourselves)."
You have read these words before about life being a gift. Maybe
with January here again and the routines of school, work, church
meetings, etc. along with a few more months of winter ahead of
us, maybe it's time to look at the day given to us to live with
a different mind. Maybe we will learn to take a few moments to
do the special rather than just the mundane. Maybe we will try
to open ourselves up to the goodness of God, to experience His
definition of life rather than just our own. And just maybe, the
words of St. Paul to his beloved friend Timothy will have true
meaning to us:
"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race. I have
kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award
to me on the Day, and not only to me but also to all who have
loved his appearing."( II Tim 4:7-8).
It's All Greek to Me
Baba
Jude
For
most of us, Greek mythology is a relic of our high school days.
Maybe you remember the story of the Greek hero Achilles. His goddess
mother Thetis dipped him, as a child, into the river Styx, whose
waters made a man invulnerable. But her hand held and covered
his heel as she plunged him under the water. For many years, Achilles
led a charmed life; arrows, spears, and swords could not harm
him. But eventually his enemies discovered the one weak spot in
his body. They shot a poisoned arrow into his heel as he was running
into battle, and they killed him.
Each one has his Achilles heel, and he is foolish if he thinks
he doesn't. One may have many virtues as well as failings, but
among them, a single weakness that can most easily cause his ruin.
For one, it may be pride and arrogance. For another, it may be
vanity, whereby he unduly seeks the high regard of others. It
may be the lack of trust in God which causes him to cave in at
the first set-back. It may be self-will, by which he stubbornly
resists correction and prefers to choose his own sweet way. It
may be avarice that leads a man to build up the wrong kind of
treasure. It may be sensuality, in that he seeks always the most
comfortable way of doing things. There are many Achilles' heels,
and Satan knows our particular one.
Spiritual ruin rarely comes suddenly. No man is a saint today
and a depraved sinner tomorrow. The way from saint hood to sinfulness
is not over a cliff but by a downhill road, often with so gentle
a decent that the unwary man does not notice it. Usually it begins
when childhood innocence decreases and is replaced by the "lessons
of life" which teaches us to watch out, get the other guy first,
and make it any way you can.
Some are, but none should be so foolish to think that there is
no serious flaw in the individual character. All of us have them.
Whatever it may be and where ever it may lie, in the hidden or
not so hidden recesses of the soul, our weaknesses are there.
We cannot remain unconcerned. Fighting our besetting sin is serious
business for the Christian. This is where daily self-examination
and a real searching of soul comes in when we offer our prayers
to God.
For the New Year, two things. If you have the courage, come to
know yourself. Examine yourself honestly before God and expose
your flaw(s) to at least yourself. Ask for his help to open your
eyes and mind to his grace to resist the weakness which can most
easily separate you from God because of your sinful flaw. Then
remove the log from your eye before you try to remove the speck
from you neighbor's ( Matt. 7:1) You'd be surprised how much clearer
things will become.
|
| Music
of the Church and Sermons |
|
|
|
Online Sermons
Badarak.com
Diocese
Links
Diocese
of the Armenian Church of America
Music
and Literature
bazaarplus.com-
The largest selection of Armenian and and Middle Eastern Music
anywhere
armenianmusic.com- Armenian Music, Parseghian Photo and
Records
narek.com- Armenian
Music, Books Film, and Art Gifts
Tourist
Info- Pilgrimages
Levon
Travel
|
|
| |
This
Web Site is property of the CAKE Foundation
Reproduction and/or use of images or content without
the written authorization of the CAKE Foundation
is strictly prohibited
|
|