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March 28, 2021: Emptying

 

This is a Chinese fable. Once upon a time, there was a great garden and it was attended to by the Master Gardener. The Master Gardener loved all the plants and trees in the garden, but he loved the large Bamboo tree the most. [Display a long bamboo trunk] One day, the Master of the Garden came to Bamboo. “Bamboo, I must use you,” the Master said gravely. “Master, I am ready. Use me as you will.”   “Bamboo, I must cut you down.”   Bamboo was stunned. “Cut me down? Can I not serve you as I am?”

 

The garden grew still and the wind held its breath, the sun hid its face.  “Beloved Bamboo, I cannot use you unless I change you.” Bamboo bent her head. “Master, if you cannot use me unless you change me, do as you must.”

 

Then the Master Gardener said, “Bamboo, I must also strip you of your leaves and cut away your branches.” Bamboo pleaded, “Must you take my beautiful branches and leaves?” “Bamboo, if I do not cut them away, I cannot use you.”

  

And so, the Master of the Garden took Bamboo and cut her down. [Tip over the bamboo trunk]. The Master cut off Bamboo’s branches and stripped Bamboo of her leaves [pretend to do so], then cut open Bamboo and emptied her of her insides [Display the opening slit in the trunk]. The Master of the Garden then gently carried Bamboo to a spring of fresh water. The Master put one end of Bamboo into the spring and put the other end onto a field. The clear water raced through Bamboo’s torn body into the waiting fields. Then the rice was planted and, as the days went by, the shoots grew and the harvest came and people were fed.

 

On that day, Bamboo, once so glorious in stately beauty, changed and became even more glorious in her brokenness and humility, when Bamboo became the channel of abundant life in the great garden the Master.

 

In the second reading, St. Paul beautifully expresses the mystery of this Holy Week: Jesus empties himself of his very divinity to take on the cross for us. He changes from life to death. Hence grace, forgiveness and love could flow through him.   This week we are focusing on St Mother Teresa (or Teresa of Calcutta as she is known) and also St. Benedict. Both let God’s grace flow through them as they went on to start religious communities.

 

It is also our task, to empty ourselves and let God’s goodness flow through us. Too often we hang on to control, and demand things “our way.” For example, that this person be “this way” or that this situation become “that way.” This can happen at work, among family members, with friends. But always, we are invited to let go, and to let God’s grace work through us.

 

Well, we now have a significant opportunity to let God’s grace flow through us as a big change is about to occur with our buildings. As you know our two churches have been on the market for quite some time now. During this time, we raised nearly 2 million dollars, we have purchased 107 acres for the new church and the Parish House that I am currently living in. We made improvements to the buildings out there. This past fall we sold the rectory here in Zimmerman and a family has moved in and they love the house as much as I did.

 

Pastoral Council and Building Development Team is starting to secure bids for the road (driveway) going into the new property. Well as of this week I am delighted to announce that we have signed a Purchase Agreement for the sale of South. Now this is complex, it’s bigger than selling a home. There is period of due diligence, which includes an inspection and the sale is not finalized until some many things happen.

 

But I, the staff and Pastoral Council want to be transparent about what is occurring. We can’t share details yet, but we will when we are allowed. If everything falls into place the new owners could take over by summer.

 

The sale is NOT to the Elk River School District. We tried, but they could not afford our price. And they probably would tear down this building anyway. Instead we have been in negotiation with an entity, that we can’t announce yet, but if all things go well this building will be repurposed, not torn down, and it will have new owners by the start of summer.

 

There may be some sadness for many of us love this building . . . some of you have loved it for decades and some only recently. But we, like the bamboo tree, are invited to change and allow goodness to flow . . . as we move closer to creating a new church to water the needs of Catholics now and for the future.

 

Many of you received this Daily Devotional book from us at Ash Wednesday. It contains quotes from Mother Teresa. Well, sure enough the quote for Palm Sunday is “The future is not in our hands. We have no power over it. We can act only today.”

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