LORD POLONIUS Shakesphere’s Hamlet And these few precepts in thy memory See thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue, Nor any unproportioned thought his act. Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel; But do not dull thy palm with entertainment Of each new-hatch'd, unfledged comrade. Beware Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in, Bear't that the opposed may beware of thee. Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice; Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment. Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy; For the apparel oft proclaims the man, And they in France of the best rank and station Are of a most select and generous chief in that. Neither a borrower nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend, And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. This above all: to thine ownself be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man. Farewell: my blessing season this in thee!

Identify Two Important Aspects of Ubuntu Theology: Reflection on Bishop Tutu The most basic meaning of Ubuntu theology is humanity. Ubuntu means humanity and is related both to Umuntu, which is the category of intelligent human force that includes spirits, the human dead, and the living and to Ntu, which is God's being as metadynamic, active rather than metaphysical. (p.39) African philosophers employ an African concept of personality called Seriti (plural, Diriti), which identifies a life force that makes no distinction between body and soul. (p.50) God's creation is seen both through the lens of Ubuntu, as an African influence, and of ‎Kenosis (p.60), in which God's love redeems creation through the outpouring of the divine ‎life made known in Christ. ‎ The first important aspect of Ubuntu theology is that all humans are born with potential, a God given potential to see God in oneself and to see the same God in all other people leading to unconditional love and interdependence between all peoples. Tutu's model of Ubuntu claims that human identities are interdependent in such a way that any one person's survival is dependent on the survival of all others. (p.159) Ubuntu proposes an alternative to reprisal and retaliation and retribution because it provides an invaluable ‎perspective in which white and black and all other racial configurations people may see themselves as other than racial rivals.‎ When you look at someone with eyes of love, Tutu believes, you see a reality differently ‎from that of someone who looks at the same person without love, with hatred or even just ‎indifference.‎ This concept is understood in a community-based framework of people networking one with another. Viewing others with the eyes of love immerses one in the reality different from that of someone who looks at any other person with hatred or indifference, which is a byproduct of apartheid. It is only through an understanding of universal human networking and cooperation that people can understand how God's image encourages diversity in a hostile world. Implicit in this theology is the understanding that humans do not develop their potential in emptiness but only in interdependent community transactions, giving and sharing, and are uniquely made to be more supportive than cutthroat summoning all persons to realize their need for one another. For Tutu, then, racial distinctions matter only insofar as they demonstrate God's phenomenal ‎creation, in which interdependency is the outcome.‎ The second aspect of Ubuntu. The second aspect of Ubuntu, the consequent accomplishment of Ubuntu, lies in the establishment of the church in the world. Tutu's austere preparation leads him to take action through the church to support corrupted forms of human societies to see the truer image of God (p.161). This newness is clearly expressed in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ when God broke the frantic cycle of death and effected salvation (p.164) by proclaiming that the greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. In this light, Tutu's distinctive Ubuntu theology, formed out of his African culture and the Anglican theology of the church, emphasizes the discipline of Christian personality within the church community. (p.124). The very nature of God related in three persons becomes the Christian paradigm of Ubuntu. Aggressive schemes of power cannot be tolerated, and no longer can deterministic ideologies fix human identity, because the Christian God is always creating anew. (p.164). Imago Dei. The pinnacle of Ubuntu theology and the systematic theology which is proposed in Battle’s book is an emphasis on the integrity of creation and ‎the habitual recalling of our image of God (Imago Dei) in the midst of human conflict. (P.4‎). Here, racial ideology as demonstrated and defined in apartheid is inconsistent with any forms of Christian faith, hope, and charity to one’s neighbor irrespective of a person’s national origin, sexual identification, color, theological position, creed, and any other factor designed to elevate one group higher than another group causing inequality, hatred, and social divisiveness. The absolute focal point is dependence on God and neighbor created in God's image, our common Imago Dei, viewed through ubuntu as Imago Dei, ‎‎ the absolute locus of one's identity. (P. 46‎) Race, then, cannot be a person's most important basis of personality because personality comes from the Imago ‎Dei, a spiritual truth possessed by every human being.‎ Tutu aims to stir his culture toward a model of understanding in which racial and cultural differences are no longer to be found in a hierarchy of power. ‎" By implication, accepting the premise of the Imago Dei demands a high view of the human capacity ‎to know God, and it testifies to the essential goodness of creation”. (p. 127) Consequently, ubuntu would reject the definition of a black or white church since it gains its definition historically by being in opposition to either white or black identity and, ‎therefore, lacks the ability to model the Imago Dei. (P.168)‎ Several 20th century theologians also discover the Imago Dei as a focal point of theological investigation and research. In his treatise on Baptism, Rahner states the following. We believe that holiness is always the work of Christ. Because we are by nature divided, torn between two opposing tendencies in us, the decision making the selfless triumph over the selfish tendency within us is God’s merciful doing in us. Wherever a man finds in himself the freedom to renounce his self-centeredness and give way to a selfless concern for another, what happens to him may be described as a dying unto himself and a raising to a new life, liberated from the connatural ambiguity of his own striving. Since a victory is the work of grace, we may justly describe what happens to such a person as a share in the death and resurrection of Jesus, in other words as a kind of baptism. In some way, however tentative and faint, the image of Jesus has been imprinted on that person. Edward Schillebeeckx reflects the same conclusion. I find it difficult to imagine that a sincere militant communist atheist possesses not one shred of authentic theist faith. Anonymous religion can take many hidden forms. Wherever there is some sense of justice, truth, and above all genuine brotherhood, there is God too. God does not leave himself without witness. His grace seeks out all men. (Acts 14: 16-17 17:22-30) Reconciliation: Many people are leaving the Episcopal Church who are in disagreement with the certain positions ‎regarding statements and holdings of the Episcopal Synod of America concerning the ordination of ‎persons of differing personal backgrounds. Here there is a scriptural lack of trust in the decisions of ‎Bishops who, with complete good conscience and moral integrity, approve those persons that they ‎judge to have a vocation from God to be fitting and committed priests and deacons in the Episcopal ‎Church.‎ ‎ This is a reflection of an historical phenomenon that has been evidenced in the Church since the ‎earliest days. Problems causing conflict between groups within the Church have been chronicled since the first Christian communities were formed. The early communities of Christianity demonstrated a great ambivalence about the relationship of ‎‎law and faith.‎ Custom lived out in everyday routine governed Christian communities, not a body of written law.‎ It was custom conversant with oral traditions and sacred scripture.‎ Christians did not put their lives together according to a Christian law but according ‎to ‎the spiritual goals of the community and of individual Christians.‎ St Paul wrote to Roman Christians who knew and lived under the law created ‎by ‎the Roman state and reminded them that reliance in Christ replaces worldly law ‎with a pursuit for ‎salvation (Romans 7:1-12 and 10:1-11).‎ Christianity and our own Church will become more highly developed by appreciating the practices that are ingredient to faith, practices of learning, forgiveness, shared aims with the underprivileged, benevolence, diplomacy, total comprehensiveness, and entrenched trust in God. These practices may be the required foundations for understanding the tradition of faith and the actual world we live in. Law cannot make a man worthy to ‎God; only ‎faith can bring life to the just man.‎ The inherent tension between the faith and conscience of the individual ‎and the ‎rigor of law has never been and never will be completely resolved ‎in religious law.‎ We have repeatedly observed and felt that Tutu aims to stir ‎his ethnicity toward a representation of understanding in which racial and cultural differences are no ‎longer to be found in a hierarchy of power.‎ One defined group cannot seek control and power over another group distinct from themselves, especially within the same church, by condemning them and then theologizing their own position as Mahan did with apartheid ‘s pseudo theology that was inherently immoral. Karl Rahner. Encyclopedia of Theology: The Concise Sacramentum Mundi. (New York: Seabury Press, 1975). V.1., 146. Edward Schillebeeckx, World and Church: (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1971). 32-33

‎Good morning: Buenos dias. This Christmas weekend-morning, we have witnessed Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ enter humanity. His entrance is the first page of the beginning of a calling, a vocation for all of us. This morning, let us pray and think about vocation, God’s special and beautiful calling to us all. Every one of us has a vocation to become Disciples and Followers of Christ. Each of you receive the invitation to follow Christ with Jesus’ own words, “…come follow me…” If someone were to come up to you and say: “….come follow me!” what would your reaction be? Am I under arrest? No, you got the wrong person. My mommy said never to talk to strangers. Sorry, bubba, I do not want any. How much is it going to cost me? Didn’t I see you on TV? If you are trying to sell me kingdom keys, you will get us both into trouble. Are you an undercover cop or something? ‎ Let’s pray for a moment over the words “…come follow me…” in the New Testament. As Jesus was walking beside the Sea ‎of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother ‎Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. He invited them to come and follow him. (Matthew 4:18). Later, he would call them to change their jobs and become Sheppards of his flock. We must notice something here. The vocation of obedience, love and service is the same, but the job at hand is different. ‎ Dietrick Bonhoeffer, a German Lutheran pastor and theologian, executed by the Germans in World War II, wrote that Jesus calls upon men to follow him, not as an educator or a model of the good existence, but as ‎the Christ, the Son of God.‎‎ We are not expected to contemplate the disciple, but only him who calls, and his absolute authority.‎ ‎ According to our text, there is no road to faith or discipleship, no other road only ‎obedience to the call of Jesus.‎ And what does the text inform us about the content of discipleship? Follow me, run ‎along behind me! That is all.‎ The disciple is dragged out of his relative security into a life of absolute insecurity. Again it is no universal law.‎ Rather is it the exact opposite of all legality.‎‎ No other significance. ‎ There is a striking parallel between the way that Peter and Andrew receive their call to discipleship and Matthew’s call. Notice that our Lord does not engage in lengthy interviews, background checks, psychiatrist’s reports, and so on. His call is simple. He wants his disciples to immediately follow him and effectively learn as they go, imitating His example. After accepting their call, they are instructed and empowered with different skill sets appropriate to their ministry. Notice how learning and empowerment come after they accept and obey Jesus’ call to ministry and not before. This tells us that we must ask what He wants us to do as we turn our wills and our lives over to the care of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then. Become Sheppards? Become fishermen? Maybe both. But our vocation of love and service is the same. From the moment we are baptized by water and the spirit, we Jesus calls us to follow Him, each moment of our lives being a progressive deepening of our commitment. Our Church, our bible, and our life’s experiences continually beckon us to renew this call with discipleship. ‎ As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man ‎named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," he told ‎him, and Matthew got up and followed him (Matthew 9:9). ‎Then Jesus went around teaching from ‎village to village. Calling the Twelve to him, he sent them out two by two ‎and gave them authority over evil spirits (Mark 6:7). ‎ ‎Bonhoffer also notes the following: When we are called to follow Christ, we are summoned to an exclusive attachment to ‎his person.‎ ‎ The grace of his call bursts all the bonds of legalism.‎‎ It is a gracious call, a gracious commandment.‎‎ It transcends the difference between the law and the gospel.‎ Discipleship without Jesus Christ is a way of our own choosing. ‎ It may even lead to martyrdom, but it is devoid of all promise.‎ The initial calls that Jesus makes in the New Testament sometimes surprise and astonish us. ‎After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by ‎the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. "Follow me," Jesus said to him (Luke 5:27). The gospel of Luke tells us that Levi was called while sitting at his tax booth, the site probably heavily disliked by the people. When Jesus calls Levi, a tax collector, the other disciples must have wondered why Christ would want someone who was probably very disliked by the public at large since they had to pay taxes to the Roman and local government. Tax collectors then and even now in the form of IRS agents cause consternation, stress, and anxiety. Bonhoeffer looks at the responses of all the disciples and apostles and poses a very interesting question. What comes first, a confession of faith in Jesus or obedience to his call? What do you think? Bonhoeffer answers that obedience precedes an expression of faith. The response of the disciples is an act of obedience, not a confession of faith in ‎Jesus.‎ ‎ It displays not the slightest interest in the psychological reasons for a person’s religious ‎decisions.‎ ‎And why? For the simple reason that the cause behind the immediate following of call by ‎response is Jesus Christ himself.‎ It is Jesus who calls, and because it is Jesus, Levi follows at once.‎ Another element of discipleship is a total redefinition of one’s life. A true disciple does not engage in nefarious activities, egocentric pursuits of money, self-centered political activity, or the blatant discrimination of any member of God’s church. St. Paul even reminds us in Two Thessalonians that we should pray for the guidance to allow God to fulfill every good ‎purpose and every act prompted by faith (2 Thessalonians 1:11). ‎If we would follow Jesus we must take certain definite steps.‎‎ The first step, which follows the call, cuts the disciple off from his previous existence.‎‎ ‎The first step places the disciple in the situation where faith is possible.‎ ‎ Lastly, we should always be conscious and appreciative that God imbues discipleship on all of humankind, whether they are within organized religion or not. The triune God invites all of humanity to receive God into their lives and to follow him. In a book entitled Alcoholic Anonymous, the authors propose a plan of recovery - a plan of recovery within a community of other addicts and alcoholics in which the troubled and possessed addict not only tries to sober up from drugs and alcohol, but endeavors to seek after a spiritual life that allows them to turn their will and their lives over to the care of God as they understand God. A.A. proposes a twelve-step program whose spirituality is unquestionable. As one enters into the third step, those fighting addiction find a prayer for all to pray and meditate upon which reflects all the elements of a divine call to obedience and leaving one’s self behind. In the shadow of Bonhoeffer, the addict, in communion with others in AA, recognize God by being obedient to His will and engaging in a willingness to do God’s will always. ‎God, I offer myself to you--to build with me and to do with me as you will. Relieve ‎‎me of the bondage of self, that I may better do your will. Take away my ‎difficulties, ‎that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of your ‎Power, your ‎Love, and your way of life. ‎May I do your will always!"‎ Today as leave this worship service within our Church, let is open our minds and our hearts to recognize that all of us as Christ’s disciples both within and without the Church, rich and poor, sick and healthy, are called. Let us work together, supporting each other in our common quest to follow the God and the Christ of our understanding as disciples. All of us are called. BIBLIOGRAPHY Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How Many Thousands of Men and Women Have Recovered from Alcoholism. New York City: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, 2001. Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. The Cost of Discipleship. New York: Macmillan, 1959. The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha, Augmented Third Edition, New Revised Standard Version. s.l: Oxford University Press, 2007.

Spent all of Christmas eve in the 30 bed Intensive Care ward at UMC here in El Paso as the new head hospital chaplain for the first time in my three years here. The Holy Spirit works overtime through me in these moments to bring a message of care, concern, and love to the near dying, the broken bodies of car accidents, gunshot wound victims, the neglected of society, young women whose exterior beauty is no more but whose interior beauty is radiant, patients waiting for life giving surgery on Christmas day, elderly awaiting their moment with God at the portal, and to all the dedicated IMC staff like Elsa, Carmen, Jesse, Kathy, Daniela, Christy, Espe, Pat, Blanca, all the UMC guards, Jennifer, and so many more. May all of you have faith in how much God loves you all. It is 300am and I can hardly wait to celebrate Mass at the hospital at 400pm , today, the day of Christ's birth

Ministry at the bedside, in the jail cell, in the homeless shelters

St. John of the Cross: "Strive always, not after that which is most easy, but after that which is most difficult... not most pleasant, but most unpleasant...not after great things, but after little things...not after which is higher, but which is lower...."

BIRTH OF A PRIEST

This is the house of God where my spirituality and dedication to ministry was really born in the 1950's and 1960's. St. Ignatius Church in San Francisco, California.

ST. IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA

The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius form the cornerstone of Ignatian Spirituality - a way of understanding and living the human relationship with God in the world. For many years, I studied Ignatian Spirituality and worked for the Society of Jesus as a teacher both in the United States and Mexico. I also received the greater part of my education from the Society of Jesus. Today is the feast day of Ignatius of Loyola. My prayer is that the Jesuits continue their work. Pope Francis 1, SJ, is constantly directing all Christians and Jesuits to reach out and serve the most marginalized of God’s people. Ignatius had a tremendous ambition to lead a life of self-denying labor and to imitate the heroic deeds of Francis of Assisi and other great monastics.

The war continues with the DARK SIDE. Juarez women bones. Remains of slain Juárez girls given to wrong families. By Lorena Figueroa \ El Paso Times. 07/20/2013. The pain two Juárez families endured in the slayings of two young girls whose remains were found in the desert last year got exceedingly worse this week. The remains of the girls were switched at a funeral home and given to the wrong families, officials said Friday. One set of remains also was mistakenly cremated. The mother of one of the girls said she was angry and saddened by the mistake. The cremated remains of 15-year-old Yanira Fraire Jaques, who disappeared from downtown Juárez in June 2010, were wrongfully given to the mother of Jessica Leticia Peña, also 15, who disappeared May 2010.

Christian Priests returning to Mexico after the 1920’s religious persecution of Christian churches in Mexico. Here in El Paso, during the 1920's, thousands of priests from Mexico found a safe haven. The Mexican province of the Society of Jesus relocated their entire seminary novitiate program in Ysleta, just a few minutes from where I reside.

Our Lord put it well: Give to that Dude Caesar what Caesar thinks he deserves, Give to God what is God's. The power of true priesthood based on love and commitment to God and neighbor is greater than Caesar's greatest nuclear bombs. True priesthood knows no bounds.

JUST DO IT. NO EXCUSES

THAT WHICH WE ARE, WE ARE

Tennyson: Ulysses "We are not now that strength which in old days Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are; One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." Some thoughts very appropriate to a consideration of true Christian ministry.

The exemplary priests of our American Catholic Church in the United States.

BASKETS BRIMMING OVER

My plate is overflowing and I am very pleased. I am now teaching LAW classes 9 hours a day and reaching out to a lot of young women, single parents who are studying under me. I also continue my work as CHAPLAIN at the Hospital, planning a new CHAPLAIN training program that will have some far reaching consequences for the EL PASO community at large. And my spinal therapy is really working and my psyche has adapted to the fact that I will have this condition for the rest of my life. Ron Reagan said in the 1950's, progress is our most important product.

SENOR BURRO FOR MAYOR

El Burro Chon mayor of Juarez, State of CHIHUAHUA, Mexico Dissatisfied Juarez voters nominated "El Burro Chon" for mayor, "it is better to have a donkey for a mayor than a donkey mayor." This long-eared, brown short-haired candidate -- with no political party affiliation -- promises to do nothing for the city: He is a donkey. Yes, the four-legged kind. (Jesus Alcazar / Special to the Times .

LETTING GO

Mary Oliver :::: Look, the trees are turning their own bodies into pillars of light, are giving off the rich fragrance of cinnamon and fulfillment, the long tapers of cattails are bursting and floating away over the blue shoulders of the ponds, and every pond, no matter what its name is, is nameless now. Every year everything I have ever learned in my lifetime leads back to this: the fires and the black river of loss whose other side is salvation, whose meaning none of us will ever know. To live in this world you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go.

COLLEGE INVOCATION

on June 27, 2013, I delivered the following invocation at the International Business College where I teach: Heavenly Spirit of wisdom and power, love and sacrifice, This has been a long journey that started before anyone arrived at International Business College. We take time to remember all those who have encouraged, taught, nurtured, prayed and paid that we could be at this crossing place today: • We give thanks for the proud parents, grandparents, husbands, wives, and children; • We give thanks for the teachers, mentors and professors; • We give thanks for the faithful friends. At this crossing place we look back over the years of study at International Business College--the papers, exams, classes, deadlines, extensions, “chismes calientes”, relationships, road-trips, games, sleepless nights, laughter and sadness--and give thanks. We pray that you guide those graduating today in the paths of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control

CHILDREN'S FLIGHT FROM JUAREZ

EL PASO TIMES: 7-4-2013 Rival drug cartels have been fighting in Juárez since 2007 with nearly 7,000 deaths. As the violence in Juárez has increased, the El Paso Independent School District has seen the largest increase citywide From 2007 to 2010, Franklin saw a 350 percent increase in students enrolled in ESL programs. The increase is the largest in the city. According to figures obtained from the Texas Education Agency's website, Franklin also had a 74 percent increase during this period in the number of students classified as LEP. A science teacher at Franklin, who asked not to be identified because he did not have authorization from school officials to talk on the record, said that he has seen these changes in his classroom. "I've seen more students who are coming into the classroom and know barely any English at all, and it is obvious that their first language is Spanish," he said. He said that since 2007 -- and especially this last school year -- it seems he has been getting more LEP students in his classes.

GOSPEL ON THE FOURTH OF JULY

Gospel Mt 9:1-8 After entering a boat, Jesus made the crossing, and came into his own town. And there people brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Courage, child, your sins are forgiven. “At that, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming. “Jesus knew what they were thinking, and said, “Why do you harbor evil thoughts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven, ‘or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”–he then said to the paralytic, “Rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home. “He rose and went home. When the crowds saw this they were struck with awe and glorified God who had given such authority to men.

CHAPLAIN PROGRAM/CURRICULUM OBJECTIVES

• CHAPLAIN Program/Curriculum Objectives • Biblical self as a pastoral care giver • Worship/Sacramental Leader – Acquire the ability to develop liturgy for the gathered assembly in its unique cultural context; acquire the skill to function as a liturgical leader. • Homiletics – Acquire the skill and ability to craft and articulate a sermon for the work of proclamation • Teaching – Acquire the ability to teach the scriptures and the Christian faith in the normal venues of hospital life, i.e. bible studies, confirmation, etc. • Public Leader – Acquire an understanding of the polity of the UMC and its implications for one’s role as an ordained and public leader. • Interpretation - Acquire the basic skills for interpreting the Scriptures for preaching and teaching in one’s context • Theology and Ethics – Acquire a basic understanding of theology/ethics as well as a basic ability to critically analyze one’s context through Chaplain and ethical lenses. • Church History – Acquire a basic understanding of the history of Christianity in the U.S. • Pastoral Care – Acquire the ability to engage and accompany people in the circumstances of their life; develop the awareness of o In addition to these competencies, the following are desired formation goals: • Develop awareness of self as a CHAPLAIN pastor • Develop an awareness of the meaning of the CHAPLAIN tradition for one’s contextual reality • Develop awareness of self as a cultural being • Develop the ability to read and interpret ones cultural through a Chaplain and contextual lens • Develop the ability and competency to identify and cross the cultural borders in one’s context and practice of ministry

TRAINING HOSPITAL CHAPLAINS

I am in the process of developing a training program for lay chaplains. The proposed UMC Hospital Chaplain Program is a care program available to patients and their families. They are hands-extended, caring for the patient’s spiritual needs. The Hospital Chaplains, staff of the hospital who completed orientation on the Hospital’s patient privacy and HIPPA regulations, will make rounds, as a doctor does, to visit patients in the hospital. While the doctor tends to the physical, medical needs of the patient, the Chaplain tends to the patient’s spiritual needs. The Chaplain’s interaction with patients is one of comfort and counsel: the visit is not for proselytizing or recruitment. How it works is the Chaplain consults the Hospital patient census to organize that day’s visit schedule. Highlighted on the census are those patients who answered yes to the “request for Chaplain Visit” question at the time of hospital admission. If a patient is unsure or declines the Chaplain visit at admission, then later changes their mind or a family member seeks the Chaplain, they need only to make their request known to the nursing staff and that patient will be included in the Chaplain’s rounds. For patients having a medical emergency or taken to the Emergency Department due to a trauma, the chaplain is on call 24 hours a day/7 days a week. The Chaplain will arrive at the Hospital to provide comfort to patients and their family. Reverend Dr. MacPherson says that “serving as a Chaplain helps build a relationship with the staff, too.” This relationship is important because in a trauma situation the Chaplain may also serve as a communications link between family members and the nursing staff caring for the trauma patient.

MASS ON SUNDAY

I am so grateful to the University Medical Center to allow me to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in this chapel every Sunday afternoon at 4:00 p.m.

EL PASO MOONSHINE

I have been to Russia, Rome, Bogota, Montreal, New York City, San Antonio, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, South Carolina, Norfolk, Washington, DC, Guatemala City, Costa Rica, Columbia, Honduras, Mexico City, Oaxaca, Monterrey, Torreon, Chihuahua, British Columbia, Milan, Genoa, Venice, Austria, the Alps, all Northern Italy, Virginia Beach, all Southern states, Idaho, Oregon, …just to name a few.Honestly I really love El Paso in the evening. Can look out over two countries simultaneously.

LOCALE OF NEW RESIDENCE

My new residence. Hopefully, my ministries will flourish here.

COMUNIDAD DE INSERCION

Just moved to 610 River Street here in El Paso several months ago, right in the heart of the migrant Hispanic community. Really increases a lot of ministry opportunities. Just a short walk to Ciudad Juarez across the border in Mexico.

HOSPITAL CHAPLAINCY

Hospital chaplaincy has no material advantages nor financial rewards, but I have found it to be the most deepening and rewarding experience of my life. Yes I love my four children, 30 years practicing law quite successfully and sometimes tragically. In the 1970's I was an "asset" for the United States Information Service abroad in Latin America, travelled to over 20 countries, served as a police officer in California, taught and practiced law in the US and Mexico, and had a wonderful life with a spouse from Mexico who died 10 years ago. Today working with the critically ill both at the moment of death and as they so slowly recuperate from tragic accident and illness, has given me a profound spiritual and emotional understanding of God's mysterious yet perfect loving plan for humanity. My cathedral is the hospital, my chapel is the patient's room, my sanctuary is the Sunday spot where I celebrate Mass in the hospital every Sunday

ANONYMOUS PRIEST

"...bring the sacraments to where the people work and toil..." the Anonymous Priest.

GOT SPINE - WILL TRAVEL

It is really hard at times to ask for prayers. Seems somewhat selfish and self centered. However.. I have to have my left hip and left knee reset, realigned tomorrow at 2:00pm. The pain has been excruciating and very limiting. Being a single parent, a dynamic priest, and a widow, I want to be totally self reliant, but these types of events in one's life are humbling right down to the core. I have so many great events in my ministry this week and really want to get back on track asap. If you pray for me, it will happen. If you build it it will come. (Kevin Costner)

GET SPINE - DO MINISTRY

Thanks for all the mountains of prayers. My spine was realigned today and will be entering into 6 weeks of intense therapy. I told the doctor that my main concern was performing all my liturgical duties and hospital chaplain duties. Aside from giving up skydiving from 100,000 feet, parachuting at 200,000 feet, and playing professional basketball, (all just kidding), I should get another 30 years and 300,000 miles out of this divine gift of a human body.

CHER IN THE MORNING

What a great way to wake up in the morning. Cher born Cherilyn Sarkisian, May 20, 1946 is an American singer and actress, known for her distinctive contralto singing voice and for working so hard for over 40 years. Listen to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFtLVogB87c

A GRIEVING FAMILY

Just prayed intensely with a family whose close relative was shot by police. I am so profoundly overwhelmed by GOD'S presence in these moments, over 200 in during the last 2 years, and how God wants us to trust in the Trinity. There are no human answers; but into His hands we must commend all of our spirits and Trust in God. — at University Medical Center of El Paso.

CHURCH AND SAME SEX MARRIAGE

When the Fathers of the Constitution wrote the 1st amendment, the basic holding of the entanglement clause was that Church and State should be separate, i.e. the civil government cannot tell the Church (any Christian, non-Christian, recognizable religious group) how to run their Church business. Concurrently, Churches cannot get involved telling the civil government how to legislate. Same-sex marriage laws are civil in nature and cannot mandate any duly formed Church organization to accept the civil marriage within the ranks of their membership. United States residents can choose whether or not to belong to a Church; they cannot choose which civil government to be subject to. When two people decide to make a lifelong commitment to each other, their only resource is civil government to recognize their decision and call it marriage. No government should deny the right of two people to marry. Churches can freely choose how to manage same sex marriages within their own membership.

2nd ANNIVERSARY

Two years ago on June 12, 2012, I was ordained a priest in the American Catholic Church in the United States by the Most Rev Archbishop Lawrence Harms. By God's grace and mandate, I have been able to make chaplain visits over 2080 patients in the Intensive Care Unit here, 620 addicts and alcoholics in local rehab centers, taught over 900 hours of legal ethics, constitutional law, property rights, criminal law and procedure, celebrated the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass on over 480 occasions, sacrament of the sick to over 300 patients, visited fellow clerics in Washington State and South Carolina, 156 hours of ESL at the Lutheran Center, and most of all, I was charged and enriched with the beauty of God's presence in the most marginalized people of society. God willing, it is just the beginning. I pray: teach me to be generous, to serve as You deserve to be served, to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seeks for rest, save that of knowing that I do Your will.