TrulyGrace

Father Scott Seethaler

On Sunday Maureen, Karina, and I went to hear Father Scott Seethaler deliver a mission talk at Holy Spirit Parish. He mentioned a number of things, especially:

That we need to talk about intangibles, we need to make this place and space Holy
Ground. There are three Acts of Faith:
1. That there is a God
2. God is there on a day-to-day basis
3. God answers prayers.

We then stood and sang Be Not Afraid

He spoke of the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 6), and mentioned that the healthiest people live in an airtight compartment: Today.

To the worriers in the crowd, he said, "Let go, Let God." He pounded his hand upon the altar and said, "Leave your stress at the altar....Right here."

He said the Pater Noster/ Our Father backwards, so that we would better understand it. He made a joke about a woman who was trying to leave her worries behind in church.

Father Scott spoke about going from BC ---> AD, from going from fear to trust; from Mary going from the Annunciation to the Wedding Feast at Cana.

He spoke about Christ's going from victim to victor.

He spoke about the "daily bread" from the Pater Noster. How the bread is daily, and not weekly.

He spoke of the differences in Allegheny and Dade Counties.

He said to RELAX: He spoke of Psalm 23, and how the text changes from third person to second person references of God when times get tough.

Life is Difficult---one must know God in a personal way and that God is good.

Christianity is an Adult Religion. The Cross in focus says that Christians have to look good on wood. Christianity is not taught, it's caught. Christ says, "Did you really believe that I loved you?"

He told a story about Helen Keller, who said one day that a person that loves her very much is in the room and that she would like to speak with that person...He likened that story to your relationship with God.

He quoted the poem, "Said the Robin to the Sparrow."

God may love you, but He's not saying that life is easy....

He pounded the altar, encouraging us to leave our worries there again.

There were some stress reduction breathing exercises we did as a group, and after an interlude of organ music, prayed intercessory prayers, responding "I believe you love me and I won't be afraid."

We prayed the Pater Noster again.

Thus ended the formal session of the first talk in a series of the mission of Father Scott Seethaler to Holy Spirit Parish in October 2009.

Labels: Church, diocese of Pittsburgh, Faith, Pittsburgh

posted by Grace @ 10/21/2009 10:08:00 AM