It's back to the ordinary. Or is it?

On the liturgical calendar the Church has moved back into the season of Ordinary Time on this1st Sunday of Ordinary Time. We have completed our celebrations of Christmas, Epiphany, and the Baptism of Jesus — with New Year's celebrations in the mix. The decorations have come down. Fr. Brown and I are both back from spending some holiday time with our families and taking a little quiet time at the end of a very busy season. Learning the prayers and responses of the New Roman Missal sure added to some of the busyness of the season. As much as I love Christmas and the holidays, it is kind of nice to get back to the more ordinary.

In the completely ordinary moments of sleep, Samuel hears a voice in our reading from the 1st Book of Samuel. "Here I am, Lord." Samuel responds to each of God's calls even when he thought he was responding to Eli's call. Once he learned it was God's voice, he responds with a (we can imagine) heartfelt, "Speak for your Servant is listening!"

It is new enough in the year that we may be still attempting to respond: "Here, I am," to the nudges that prompted our set of 2012 resolutions. In the silence of our hearts, what message do we hear with which to embrace this new year with relish and fidelity? Maybe it's a call to a healthier lifestyle. In this political season, maybe it's a more compassionate response to the people behind the headlines, whether we agree with their politics and ideas or not. Maybe it leads us toward a focused attempt to be a more informed voter in November. Maybe it's the challenge of living a less consumeristic and more simple lifestyle.

We always try to remember and respond in ways acknowledging what St. Paul says to the Corinthians, "Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit and that we are not our own" (Cor 6:19).

As we turn to the Gospel we see Peter, going about the ordinary responsibilities of his day, when his brother, Andrew takes him to meet Jesus. This becomes an extraordinary encounter that changes his life. Today's readings leave me consoled and eager for another "ordinary day." I am comforted by knowing that despite my inability to keep 2012 resolutions any better than the ones I made in 2011, it's not up to me. In the ordinary moments of today, let us recall the extraordinary that we've just celebrated — God with us — Immanuel. And let us continue to open ourselves up to God who comes in ordinary and extraordinary ways. It is with this knowing that we pray today and every day in the words of the 40th Psalm, "Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will" (Ps 40:8a and 9a).

May your week and our year be filled with everyday blessings of faith, hope and love, of peace, of patience when we need it, and of a constant awareness of Emmanuel — God with us!

Happy New Year!

With love and prayers,
Your fellow dreamer and brother in Christ,
Fr. Matt

It is with great joy that I anticipate my arrival as a member of the St. Hilary parish family September 1st. I wanted to take a minute to tell you just a little bit about myself and where I've been, and about some of the life experiences I bring to ministry.

I am a member of a religious order, the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, Kansas City, Missouri Province (Western US). I've just recently celebrated my 6th year anniversary of ordination to the priesthood. If you take a look at the photo I've included, you'll surely notice that I've had more than a few life experiences before becoming a priest. My first vocation was in high school education as a science teacher. I walked with many students in my inner-city classroom, and they taught me much. After seven wonderful and often challenging years in the classroom, it was time I step away and prayerfully consider whether God was calling me to a life of service as a priest. I really first thought about priesthood when I was in the fifth grade. God is patient and persistent. My Mom's prayers probably had a lot to do with it as well. In 1997, many years after first hearing what I thought might be a call, I entered religious life and began my seminary studies at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.

I was born in a very small town in Northeastern Montana and spent my later childhood in the Midwest, mostly in Kansas City, Missouri. I am the seventh of nine children and my mom and most of my siblings and their families still live in the Kansas City area. I was blessed with good and loving parents who worked very hard to raise their nine children. The struggles, challenges and joys of our family life gave me the gift of a compassionate heart, and I take my call to minister and to serve very seriously. As a young person, the church always felt like a second home, a place where I felt safe, loved and accepted just as I was. Today I am feeling excited and grateful to be given the opportunity to be a part of such a warm, welcoming and hospitable parish family as St. Hilary Church.

I believe that a consistent strength I bring to ministry is that I am energetic in, and energized by ministry and by the people with whom I am blessed to walk. I have a great passion for the priesthood, both Baptismal and Ordained. I truly love being a priest, and I am forever grateful for my vocation and for all of the special people I've met along the way.

Before ordination, I spent a pastoral year at St. James Church, a suburban parish just outside of Kansas City, Missouri. My Deacon year was spent in another suburb of Kansas City, St. Francis Xavier Church in St. Joseph, Missouri where I served as Director of Campus Ministry at the Newman Center at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, Missouri and where I also served my Deacon year in the parish.

My first assignment as priest was to return to the Kansas City suburban parish, St. James Church, Liberty, MO as Associate Pastor. St. James is a large and growing community that has always responded generously with time, talent, and treasure to the many and diverse needs of a world that is all too often hungry, lonely, and hurting. This was a great first assignment, and this parish family continues to teach me what it means to act with justice, to love tenderly, and to walk humbly with our God.

In August of 2008 I accepted the position of High School Theology teacher and part-time Campus Minister at Cristo Rey High School, Kansas City, MO. I also continued to serve as part-time Sacramental Minister and mission priest for the Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (CFCAusa.org). I moved to a Mission House of my religious order here in the Bay Area in 2009. My most recent assignment has been Parochial Vicar at St. Leander Catholic Church, San Leandro, CA.

It is often said that life is a journey, a pilgrimage, a sacred adventure. I strive to live each day with an "attitude of gratitude." I am grateful to God for the scenic journey that is my life. I am invited and have been allowed to walk with so many wonderful travelers along this sacred way, and I am so grateful for this mighty blessing. I have to say that I am very excited as my time to join St. Hilary's pastoral staff as Parochial Vicar is growing near.

So that is where I've been, and now I look forward to the places we shall go together.

Fr. Matt Link