Lemons into lemonade

My classmate Fr. Luke Strand was recently rewarded with a cease and desist order from the corporate lawyers of Best Buy for trademark infringement for his use of a decal on his car which uses the term "God Squad," which happens to resemble Best Buy's well known "Geek Squad " trademark. After publication in the Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel, it seemed this issue went "viral." USA Today, many west coast papers, WTMJ talk radio, and even a four minute interview with national cable Fox News network were but a few of his interview requests. What seemed to be a negative for his ministry, came a backlash of negativity to Best Buy and people actually defending God and the message of the Gospel.

I know Luke did not want to harm Best Buy, but through all the press he has been given and interviews, He was able to proclaim the good news of Christ and the love of God to a national audience. That is what He has always been about...praising God and God rewarded him with that opportunity to do it on a large scale for a brief time. It was nice to hear Catholics coming to his defense and the general public for that matter in a society that so often wants to shut down the merest mention of God. The Church looked good in this matter and even the press seemed to respond positively.

It is God who blesses the work and produces fruitful opportunities for all of us as long as we do things with the motive of glorifying God and not ourselves. As Fr. Luke would say to anyone "Praise the Lord and God Bless you."

Lost another good one

Congratulations to the La Crosse Archdiocese for their new Archbishop that once again will take its toll on Milwaukee. Losing Archbishop Dolan was hard but he was a great hope for New York. In the same way, La Crosse is receiving a good and Holy man. I did not know the new Archbishop Callahan until he was announced as an Auxiliary Bishop for Milwaukee. He lived at the Seminary for his entire stay as a bishop of Milwaukee. Often, he looked "dog-tired" at the end of the day when he came home but if you met him in the hallway, he wanted to say high and encourage us even when we recognized every bone in his body screaming to go to bed.

I do not know how many Masses or times I heard him preach, but the totality of these and his witness to us about Jesus gave us all an opinion of great holiness. I was fortunate to be in a class that became the first he ever ordained as a new bishop. In April 2008, he ordained me and four others to the diaconate. Five minutes before ordination began, he called us into a private room for a prayer and he began weeping at the privilege God gave him to be there. He stated that he began praying for the unknown men he would ordain that very day he was asked to be a new bishop. A few weeks later, he found himself in the hospital and our entire class went to visit him. He wept as we gave him communion and blessed him together. He never took for granted the blessings of God.

Again, he ordained my class to the Presbyterate the next year. Our class had the good fortune of saying goodbye privately as we took him to dinner last week. On this feast of St. Clare, (Aug 11) we say goodbye to him and wish him good luck. He will not need good luck though as Christ is the beacon he follows in this life along with that Franciscan model of life that Francis and Clare exhibited. Luck is something for the superstitious...with Christ it is a certainty.

Transfigured

Friday is the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord. God the Father gave a taste to come of the glory Christ would have. Jesus' day was not here yet however so the transfiguration came and went without fanfare because Jesus swore secrecy to Peter, James, and John who had been the only earthly witnesses.

We all know that the real story of the book of Revelation is that Jesus wins. We are all waiting for that final victory and it seems like it will never come, especially with what we all witness in the world. I remember a 1993 football playoff game between the Buffalo Bills and the Houston Oilers. Houston took a 35-3 lead into halftime with them. Buffalo had lost their starting quarterback, linebacker, and the star running back was not 100%. It was not a recipe for victory. Miracle of miracles...Buffalo wins that game 41-38 in overtime.

We could go back and watch that game now...I'm sure it is some place on the Internet. We could watch it and know the final outcome just like we know our final outcome as Christians...Jesus will win. I think this game is also a metaphor for our Christian lives. We watch life and sometimes the brutality of it and the feeling in our stomachs that we can't possibly believe this will turn out right. We are down 35- 3 with little time remaining. God gave the early Christians a pep talk with the story and actuality of the Transfiguration at halftime. It is our faith that gives us hope that Jesus will win and everything will be alright. The Transfiguration and the Resurrection are our certain hope of Christ's final victory. We will get slapped around in life because we dug a deep hole for ourselves. We may be losing, but we are coming back, and it God who will provide victory and Christ who will lead the way. We are down but the outcome has no doubt. We lift ourselves up with this hope and continue to play hard.