September 16, 2022
Dear Friends,
We are moving into one of the more unique times of the year. I like to call this time of the year pre-fall, since it can be freezing cold in the morning, hot as anything in the afternoon, and the night can be pretty much anything. While I know some people love this time of year, I am always conflicted. The main reason being as we haven’t even started fall yet, which officially begins next Thursday. The perennial conflict begins anew. What is the flavor of Fall? Are you in the pumpkin spice camp or the apple cider camp?
Obviously, all of us here in the offices of St. Matthew’s are pro-cider (no polling was actually taken) because of our themed parish picnic, Saints and Cider. There will be no pumpkin spice at this picnic, sorry. It amuses me though that THIS is the cross on which some people will die. I know some people are anti-pumpkin spice because they want to go to their favorite star themed coffee place and get their venti mochaccino with 3 shots of espresso, oat milk, and organic sugar and not wait as the poor barista makes their umpteenth Pumpkin Spice Capp or Frapp of the day.
I honestly couldn’t care less, but it amuses me to no end. If you go to that place that sells everything from A-Z and type in Pumpkin Spice, you can find creamer, syrup, goldfish (yes, goldfish), Poo-Pourri (that’s an entirely different story), but you get it the list goes on and on and on. Hot Cocoa!!! Sorry I kept scrolling and that just ended me. As we can see, people are passionate about things and retailers will easily jump on the bandwagon to try to sell people anything branded with that in item.
Maybe because I am not a fan of all things pumpkin, I don’t get it. I have accepted the ignorance and moved on with life. Yet, there are other things that I am passionate about and will discuss. Ask me about superhero stuff. Ask me about Star Wars/Trek. Ask me about the Sacraments or the gifts of the Holy Spirit. I can go on and on about those because they are what I am passionate to discuss. Last weekend, if you were at a mass I celebrated, I spoke about the joys of the Sacraments and why reconciliation is important and is one of the most under-utilized of all the sacraments.
We need to find the aspects of our faith that excite us. Hopefully, it is the Saints and you come as we teach our Faith Formation students about some of them, during our parish picnic. We cannot say, this is not my thing, this does not excitement me if we do not give it a try. Our faith and parish are more than just Sunday and Daily masses. It is our Men’s and Women’s groups, Bible Study, our choirs, our Cornerstone retreats. It is somewhere that we find our place and get excited. As we move towards fall and all the cidery joys that are out there, so too must we find the time to find the flavor our church offers to us, that we enjoy and are excited about.
God Bless,
Fr. Brian
P.S. When is the best day to drink cider? Ciderday!