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Priest’s Diary

Priest’s Diary for September 5, 2010, by Father Victor Muzzin: Reflections

by admin on September 4, 2010

I mentioned at Mass last Sunday (12:30) that I asked a nice young lady of color why she went to Mass at St. Ignatius; why she didn’t go to the parish where she lived, a nice parish too. Here is what she said: I want to be with the beautiful people. Her answer saddened me. What a bad job we priests must be doing with the gospel that this young woman needs to be with whites (and rich) in order to feel beautiful. And when I tried to explain I don’t think she understood and I didn’t press the point. But the funny part of the story is that at the end of the Mass a distinguished lady approached me and said I belong to St. Ignatius and I love coming to Mass here.

There was a good attendance last Sunday at 8pm and this is the heart of summer. The money may not be great but the turnout certainly seems so. Well, we have a lot of young people and it does good to my heart to see them there in this secular age. One nice lady at the end of the Mass said gratefully: we get so much affirmation here. Your words always seem to touch a chord and bring us closer to God. I was touched and thanked her. I too get so much gratitude and affirmation from my people and I am hugely grateful and thank God for such lovely congregation.

You may ask: Don’t you get big headed hearing all these good things about yourself? Not at all. In fact quite the opposite. I feel rather humble and apologetic and a little out of place. Too aware of my personal faults and failings, which thank God I don’t have to list out here; my ability to put a few words together I regard it as a gift of God, a talent God gave me. It has nothing to do with me. And what I get out of it is mostly anxiety, apprehension for I cannot help thinking and praying and asking: God did I do a good enough job for you? That’s what I get. Did I waste your gift? So I am always pushing myself to do the best I can because I cannot stand being a wastrel of God’s talents. Sometime I feel like the old Jew, tired of being part of the Chosen people that had brought blessings for sure but also a lot of trouble, responsibility and hassle. God maybe next time you choose somebody else.

– Jesus noticed that they were all trying to occupy places of honor and found it amusing and used the occasion to say something very profound about human nature and the need we all have to be humble. A virtue that endears us to God no end. Yes indeed we all love to grandstand, to court the limelight. Mirror mirror on the wall we all want to be the prettiest of them all type of thing. The smartest, the richest, the coolest, the hottest etc… And often this race to the top is a stampede leaving behind nothing but human wrecks. It is almost congenital, this original sin of ours, this invincible craving for more, this restless discontent we carry around in our soul. This wanting to be like God the center of everyone’s attention and envy and worship. Do you remember Muhammad Ali: I am the greatest!! But at least he was! We are not. And it only compounds our unhappiness, our inability to accept that we are poor and fragile and limited and mortal and no- God. With every fiber of our being we want to be upwardly mobile. God instead seems to be totally downwardly mobile.

And it is not out of spite but out of compassion. As the word means literally to suffer with. Jesus comes from the perfect realm of love, the Trinity—remember the most perfect icon in the world, the Trinity by Rublev, the three angels gathered around the table in Abraham’s tent: all different in color, yet same in shape and in perfect harmony, three divine persons with different jobs, work, yet united in one common divine purpose of generous gratuitous love. Jesus comes out of this furnace of love, lives a life of poverty and obscurity. Unleashes his divine powers of healing for all. Cannot stand unmoved before a human being in pain. Places himself an innocent victim on the cross to atone for all the sins, suffering and injustices of the world. He is exalted from that bottomless pit of darkness and raised above angels and saints.

I know it is crazy to live like Jesus. But Mother Theresa lived like Jesus. She did everything out of love for God. She wanted nothing except being of help to the poorest and most deprived. What a shining example! Can you imagine a more splendid life than Francis of Assisi? The immense harmony that existed in this blessed soul that was the exact replica of Jesus has been an inspiration for millions of people. Why can’t we do something good for nothing? Blessed are you, says Jesus, if they cannot repay you because you shall be repaid in the glory of the Resurrection.

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Priest’s Diary for August 29, 2010, by Father Victor Muzzin: Reflections

by admin on August 26, 2010

Archbishop Dolan and the Governor met yesterday trying to work out a compromise to the mosque, unfortunately the most important party was missing, the people of the mosque themselves. Last Sunday Arch. Dolan was in Staten Island saying Mass in Spanish, trying to reassure the Mexicans who have been under attack there. Good for him. The other day the Archbishop went to visit Covenant House, which is a charity here in NYC that caters for the most venerable of our children, those who run away from home and get afoul of the law, who get in a spot of trouble and have to deal with courts. In Ireland I was doing similar challenging work that is why the visit by the Archbishop registered with me. As far as I am concerned the Archbishop could not give support to a more deserving and praiseworthy apostolate.

We celebrated the memory of Mother Theresa last Thursday and the Empire State Building refused to honor her, but we certainly did by celebrating Mass in her honor and memory. Mother Theresa still holds a special place in our hearts for her goodness, generosity and great love for the poorest. She bore witness to the love of God that transcends all limitations and barriers. If there was one shining symbol of God’s compassion was Mother Theresa. In this Sunday gospel Jesus exhorts his followers to do things for nothing, just for the love of God and not for lucre or profit. I cannot think of anyone better than Mother Theresa at doing precisely that. Maybe we should try and introduce a bit of this generosity in our little lives.

Sometimes there are simple occurrences that make me pause and reflect. An elderly parishioner brought to me a nice cake and some fruits and when I looked at the bananas they were gorgeous. Now the elderly lady lives in the neighborhood and buys stuff at the same shops that I do how come her fruit seems much better than mine? Because I am too fast and careless and don’t know how to select properly. Maybe it is high time that I start putting more diligence in how I spend my money, in how I purchase my things, spend more time in the shop instead of in and out as I do, show more care; there is product and product.

I wanted to cook for myself Saturday evening a dish of simple spaghetti with tomatoes and instead of using a tin I wanted to use real tomatoes. I had the spaghetti and the onions but I didn’t have the tomatoes so I went to Gourmet to buy some tomatoes only. But once I was there I almost bought the entire store. It always works out like that. And I was at the counter telling this story to the girl and she thought it was funny and my bill came to 102 dollars, which by my standards is a very big bill and I was taking my purse out to pay. I always use cash. It is the safest way because if you have money you buy whatever and if I don’t have it you don’t go shopping. Period. I am not into credit cards somehow. I was just doing that when a gentleman, a parishioner, whom I knew well, stepped forward and said to the girl: I’ll take care of it. I don’t think I was wearing my collar, so I don’t know whether she knew I was a priest, but she may have suspected it because she was not surprised or taken aback and when he offered his credit card she swiped it even before I could say thank you. I was there with my mouth agape and frozen as if time stood still. Of course I thanked him and blessed him deeply moved. What can I say!!

Nobody likes to be told what to do, so when I asked a couple soon to be married that they had to attend a Pre-Cana course the young man was annoyed. What for and all that jazz. Rules are rules. So they selected a course and joined the many couples in attendance, from like 9am to 3pm etc. I was later told by the woman that her fiancé at the end of the meeting came out with this sentence: Wow! That was most interesting and enjoyable. Now, wouldn’t you want to murder him, she said.

A friend of mine has given me a mountain bike and a helmet so that we could go cycling together in the park. Our park is so uneven and there are two steep hills and quite lengthy. Jogging is so boring, so slow, so hard on your joints, whereas biking can be fun. The last time I was walking in the park I noticed how the bikes have multiplied. There used to be many roller blades but seem to have disappeared. Instead now everybody in on bikes, hundreds of them. It took us a good half hour to do the six miles loop taking it easy. Up those hills is a good cardio. You huff and puff and feel like spitting your lungs out. I was very careful downhill. Lots of sweat. Lots of fun. Something new to do.

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Priest’s Diary for August 22, 2010, by Father Victor Muzzin: Mostly Mozart

August 19, 2010

Well, I can’t believe we are almost at the end of August. I am afraid that when the weather breaks we’ll probably be plunged into winter, oh what a melancholic thought! I am a summer person. They tell me that Italy since I left it has been nothing but rain and cold. It’s also back [...]

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Priest’s Diary for August 15, 2010, by Father Victor Muzzin – Lu Monferrato

August 15, 2010

Short-termism and inane sound bites have to go. There is no question that the most pressing problem facing the country is jobs. But jobs are not going to come back because America is changing. You can throw as much money as you want into the system, as the government has been doing, but there is [...]

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Priest’s Diary for August 8, 2010, by Father Victor Muzzin: The Rich Fool of the Gospel

August 8, 2010

Priest’s Diary – The rich fool of the gospel The parable of the foolish rich man of last Sunday has been buzzing like an annoying drone in my mind. Like the vuvuzelas of the World Cup. It must have touched a sensitive spot in my soul. Something like guilty feelings. We can all become so [...]

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Priest’s Diary for August 1, 2010, by Father Victor Muzzin: Elena, My Sister in Law

July 31, 2010

Elena, she couldn’t do enough for me. She is my older brother’s wife. Works part-time four hours every day in one of our Order’s homes for elderly people in Pontecurone the very birthplace of St. Luigi Orione. To mark the spot of his birth an insignificant little house was built many years ago, quite poorly [...]

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Priest’s Diary for July 18, 2010, by Father Victor Muzzin: Daniele and Valentina

July 15, 2010

On Saturday July 10, 2010 in the church of St. Matthew in Tortona I performed the wedding Mass of my nephew Daniele (32) to Valentina (29). Both mature and well prepared. They knew what they wanted. It was the 5:30pm vigil Mass for Sunday  and they had prepared a nice booklet with all the liturgy. [...]

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Priest’s Diary for July 4, 2010, by Father Victor Muzzin: Travel Light

July 2, 2010

There are so many little topics crowding up my brain, that I don’t know what to choose as the theme of my diary this week.  I am split and torn asunder by so many contradictory thoughts and feelings. The fourth of July should give us some comfort. The country on its journey to Freedom and [...]

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Priest’s Diary for June 27, 2010, by Father Victor Muzzin: Padre Paquale Ruggieri

June 24, 2010

On Monday I was there to say goodbye to Father Pascual, that is how everyone called him, who said the last Mass at St. Ann’s. In attendance were a good, respectable group of ladies of the parish, of his faithful followers, of regulars of the Spanish Mass. They were there to see him off. Using [...]

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Priest’s Diary for June 20, 2010, by Father Victor Muzzin: Out of Order

June 19, 2010

One of the things I need to learn to control in my old age is the sense of panic, paralyzing panic. When you get into a state, into a heap and you don’t know what to do next. Everything seems to be the end of the world. When you and I know that the world [...]

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