Monsignor Patrick Thompson
In Residence

Welcome Fr.Pat!
Msgr. Patrick Thompson is a native Angeleno and recently celebrated his 50th year as a priest. He was ordained in 1960 and has had a long and fruitful career. He has served as associate at a number of parishes, has served in Newman ministry at various colleges, and has been on the faculty of St. John Seminary, Camarillo. He has also served in the Senate of Priests, the South Coast Interfaith Council and the Archdiocesan Commission on Evangelization. Since 1997, he has served as pastor of St. Margaret Mary, Lomita where he will be well missed.

Recommended by Fr.Pat:
On Not Running with the Crowd, by Fr.Ron Rolheiser, OMI

WHAT IS A BEATITUDE?
(Fourth Sunday, Ordinary Time)
Chapter five of Matthew's gospel reports Jesus' teaching of eight powerful, puzzling, challenging statements about life called "The Beatitudes." Jesus says that true bliss/joy/blessing/ happiness is to be found where we might least expect to find it. It lives in those who are poor, who mourn for others, who are gentle, who long for total righteousness, who get right inside other people, who always act from unmixed motives, who establish right relationships from person to person, and who suffer persecution for their beliefs rather than give them up. This is the core of Jesus' preaching and the key to entering into God's kingdom. The beatitudes dramatically point out that the blessing of God is not found in the same place as the blessings of this world. Matthew summarizes the heart of Jesus' message in chapters 5, 6, and 7 of his gospel, a section known as the Sermon on the Mount. This is not one ultra-long sermon but a summary of what Jesus proclaimed during his whole public life. First comes the Eight Beatitudes; then in the following 97 verses Jesus unfolds and exemplifies how a life directed by God is to be lived in daily practice.

Getting Down to Basics
Gifted biblical commentators like William Barclay have studied the languages, the history, the ancient Jewish customs and usage of words, and have come up with some very helpful renderings of the Beatitudes for us today. But we must understand that what is at stake is our own salvation, not just some clever way of putting interesting ideas together. It is the core of Jesus message, so we need to put it into our lives and keep it there. The text exclaims that those who live these beatitudes have already entered into blessedness and bliss. What we really have is a declaration, "How blessed are they who....."

(1) How can poor be good?
It is the "poor in spirit" Jesus speaks of-a person who has realized that things mean nothing in the end, and God means everything. Until I can accept my own dependence upon God and accept being loved by him with my sins and limitations, I will not find the peace and bliss that comes only to the humble. Ask yourself what has helped you move in this direction-poorer but richer. Have you ever wished to be more like someone who has much less than you do and yet has so much more inside?

(2) Life on the surface or life in depth?
What kind of blessing does mourning confer? It means that I can truly feel what others feel, and see how alike we really are. It means that I can see what sin can do to God's image in people, and especially in me. This is the kind of twofold mourning Jesus is referring to-(1) getting beyond my own sadness and living in others, and (2) seeing sin as the destruction of what we are meant to be. For example, do I cry for others? Can I look at the Cross and say, "That is what sin can do. Sin can take the loveliest life in all the world and smash it on the Cross" (Barclay). We need hearts broken for the world's suffering and for our own sin, and only then will be getting to the depth of our being and finding the joy that God alone gives.

(3) Too bad about the word "meek"
The bible says that Moses was the "meekest of men." And he was one of the strongest characters in all of biblical history-a leader in every sense. Obviously then, meek in its scriptural context does not mean weak and spineless, but a person ready to deal with challenges and mistakes, and always to draw something right from them. It means a person who admits to not "knowing it all," who accepts that he is the creature and that God has given him something important to do, something that cannot be done without obeying God. Such a person knows his own weakness and God's strength. There is plenty of room for God's joy to live in such a heart!

(4) Nothing less than total righteousness
Some people are very religious but downright nasty, unjust and selfish to those around them. Some people are enmeshed in all kinds of sins and vices, but are so basically generous they would give you whatever they had. There is a basic disconnection here. But the person who hungers and thirsts for full and total righteousness is neither of these. He or she is not content with any partial, controlled service of God and neighbor. Their watchword is, "Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will!" Even though that person never reaches full righteousness and justice, he or she is haunted by it, pulled towards it always, hungers for true goodness, not just for "good enough." The world always looks for a deal or a compromise; but Jesus doesn't operate that way.

(5) God inside our human skin
"How blessed merciful people are!" says Jesus. The Hebrew word for mercy (chesedh) means "the ability to get right inside the other person's skin until we can see things with his eyes, think things with his mind, and feel things with his feelings." This is not something most people even try to do. But love always does this! If we know the reason why a person thinks and acts as he does, it is so much easier to understand and to sympathize and to forgive. And this is exactly what Jesus Christ has done for us by becoming one of us. He is the supreme instance of mercy. When his spirit gets inside us, we just naturally show mercy to everybody. And that really does produce blessing and happiness., doesn't it?

(6) What do the pure of heart see?
A heart cluttered with jealousy, egotistical motives, and habits of vice and sin is incapable of recognizing the goodness of others or the reality of love. Only if our heart is clean of lust and our motives are absolutely pure will we be able to see God. People see what they are fit to see and capable of seeing. A pure-hearted person sees the glory of God everyplace. A sinful-hearted person gets fixated on what is wrong, no matter what else is going on. In every situation, however, God is there; and the pure of heart will always be seek out what God is doing, and what God wants done next.

(7) Peace-makers lift the world up
Evading issues in order to have people "just get along" is not at all what Jesus commends. The one who is declared blessed faces the issues and gets involved in the work of making peace, even when the way to peace is through struggle. Working for justice through peace-making is an endless task but a divine task, and blessed is the one who follows that path. It takes place in the raising of children, the interaction of employers and employees, the relationship of neighbors, and the world-scale encounters of those who wield power. Peace, in the biblical context, was always be guided by two principles: what makes the world a better place to live in, and what establishes right relationships between person and person. As a little reflection, Who would you say is the best peace-maker you know?

(8) It is right to suffer with one you love
The people hearing Jesus' Sermon on the Mount will pay a steep price for being Christian. Certain kinds of work will conflict with their faith. Many accepted social activities will be prohibited as immoral and unacceptable. Families will get disrupted by religious differences, causing bitterness that can last for generations. The church, if it really follows Christ, is bound to be the conscience of the nation, the family, and society. And this will never be a popular position to be in. It invites the scorn of those who call it arrogance or hypocrisy or stupidity. But, as Peter would respond when asked if he would walk away, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." We are promised that if we suffer with him, we shall reign with him. Only a great love and a firm heart can be purified by persecution, not destroyed by it. How are we doing, brothers and sisters?

(Father Patrick Thompson)

"May He let His face shine upon us"

The Lord has certainly let his face shine upon me these fifty years of priesthood. There has never been in all these years a doubt that this is what God has given me to be and to do. I treasure the love and joy that has come to me through the interaction with people in all the really important situations of their lives and my life. If you believe with your whole heart and soul in what you are doing, then everything becomes grace and constant blessing and this is how I see my life with you as your priest and pastor. It may seem strange to you, but I have treasured also my mistakes and sins, my words and actions that have wrought some harm, but have also helped my to be a better servant. I am deeply grateful to God and to all of you, with whom I have sought to search out what God wants of us. I am convinced that the desire to learn and to find wisdom is a mighty part of real happiness. I find that the way out of the win or lose attitude toward life is to be a lifelong learner, not getting mad when we learn something new. My dad was a man of strength and focus, honorable and popular, and yes, with a touch of stubbornness and pessimism showing through his very positive enjoyment of his life and family. My mom was the soul of outgoing spirit and generosity, sensitivity and caring, almost totally unaware of evil and negativity. They gave me such a wonderful outlook on life that I can scarcely believe how good it was, even to this day. My education and friendships developed on that foundation, and it all pointed me toward the priesthood, which gave me the gift of parish life, study in Rome, teaching, campus ministry, renewal projects, and back full circle to the parish pastoral life which is, in my experience, the jewel of it all. I want to tell you, my brothers and sisters, thanks from within my heart and soul for these sixteen years of serving God and listening to his word with you here at St. Margaret Mary. We seem to be growing in Christ, and hearing his words more deeply as the years go on. This will continue with God's grace into the next chapter in the life of this community. I will be here until the end of June, and then I will be living at Incarnation parish in Glendale. I am absolutely sure that your new pastor, Msgr. Marc Trudeau, will be a very generous, loving, admirable pastor starting here in July. I only hope that he finds in this community even a small measure of the great love which I have received from you. Thank you.