Fr Greg Schaffer left a mark!

Pat in Guatemala in January of 2007... he was changed by the faith and love of people who had nothing material to come between them and Christ!  In their humble poor lives they glowed with LOVE and JOY!  Fr Greg was hugely responsible for their newfound prosperity with food, and shelter, and respect that had been denied them for many years!  Fr Greg Schaffer died last evening and the world mourns his passing!

I know that this entry will seem a bit jumpy... I had been writing about my experience with prayer - the grocrey store girl - and then found these pictures of Pat and Ratera's trip to San Lucas with the death of Fr Greg... I saw two people forever changed by their experience there!

So with deepest sympathy to the people of San Lucas, who today are in the deepest of mourning for this man who answered Christ without hesitation when he asked him, as he did St Peter in the Gospel today - "...do you love me?"  "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you."  "Feed my lambs."  And he did!  Thanks you Lord!

Who would have thought that we would have the wonderful wet world complete with huge mud puddles after the almost year long drought we had?  We had that huge storm on July 1st last summer and then the faucet turned off!  After many hopes and prayers we now have plenty to get the crops off to a perfect start, and the grass to grow for the cows in the pastures, and water in the creeks for them to drink.  I arrived home last night after a meeting to see this sight in the pasture by our house...

Snowball on the hill, the cows and calves in deep lush grass up to their bellies... its fun to even see the calves with their heads down eating the wonderful grass.  They have all been through the "cow-calf wash-rain" and they look shiney and clean.  This is a picture of contentment.  After a winter in the yard and in the mud with all the rains over the last month... this is a beautiful sight to behold!  I had just returned from a meeting where a friend announced that she has just discovered that she has cancer, and will be having surgery.  As she was sharing with the sound of fear and shock in her voice... I just had this burning desire to jump up and pray for her right there and right now!  Looking around I saw that there were some good friends that have worked many TECs with me, and I knew that they would be comfortable/willing to pray over someone, so I mustered the courage to ask them if we could pray over her.  "Sure!  I would love it!"

So we gathered around her and layed our hands on her and through tears we prayed with her... it was a powerful thing!  And for me it was thanks to the Grocery store girl, early in our cancer journey, that I know that I must offer this and go forward with this prayer ministry - no longer do I say that I am going to pray - I pray right then and right now!

Early in this journey called Cancer –Healing with our son, John… We were up in the Cities and I had a day when I wanted to get back to somewhat normalcy, and wanted to cook for my family… I went to the big Cub store in downtown St Paul… After wandering around and getting this and that… I ended up in a check out lane of a black lady about my age. As usual she asked me how I was… I just couldn’t say the usual “fine”. Instead I said that I wasn’t doing that great. “Well at least you have money for groceries unlike that man.” She said… She meant the man that had checked out ahead of me and had to use food stamps…. I agreed with her and then blurted out; “ My 20 year old son has brain cancer. Could you please pray for him?” She looked at me shocked and assured me that she would.

At that exact moment a young girl in the next lane asked me if I was from Marshall, and said that she had gone to school with one of my daughters…”and did I hear you say that your son has brain cancer?” Then she asked me if she could pray with me right there in the check out lane of the big Cub store… I was taken aback but agreed.. She immediately started to pray for John’s healing and for his family to have strength. I looked up to see the checkout lady with her head bowed, and the man ahead of me that had been there bagging his groceries! I think we were all amazed and changed by this brave young woman! We shared in a very deep spiritual level that could have been the first time… This really changed me for ever.  How I witnessed the courage that this took for her, and how it bridged the gap between total strangers and brought us together in prayer!  How powerful to "see" how prayer is needed and appreciated in the storms of life that come washing over us!  I saw how the Cross is impossible without Christ there to transform it into the resurrection.  I am not saying that we ever understand the Cross that comes our way, but it is necessary for us to reach the resurrection and we need to have Christ carrying us in our weak state. 

Jesus shows us how he "feed my lambs" and "tend my sheep" and "feed my sheep" - passing this on to St Simon Peter today in the Gospel - John 21: 15-19  The Church truly does this for us... St Peter as the first Pope took his LOVE of Christ, and built the Church upon it.  We are fed and tended with love and concern for us to attain eternal LIFE!  The word is just out that wonderful man-of-God, Fr Greg Schaffer, died last evening - he truly took his priesthood in our diocese and the orders of Jesus to St Peter to heart in his work in our diocesan mission in San Lucas Toliman, Guatemala!  He cared for and "fed and tended" the lambs and sheep in San Lucas.  A TEC friend put this amazing picture on fb today -

I showed this to Pat and he thought that it was a wonderful visual reprensentation of how beloved Fr Greg was among the people in Guatemala, and how much he in turn loved them and cared for them - the poorest of the poor!  He changed their lives and greated them with tremendous repect and love in the name of our rural diocese in Minnesota!  Pat and his sister were forever changed by their visit there!  Thank you, Fr Greg, for saying to Jesus when he asked you if you loved him - "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." 

"Oh,how blissful and pure was the conscience which did not feel apprehensive about saying to its Maker, to whose eyes everything is open and clear,  'Lord, you know that I love you!'  How chaste and holy was the soul which did not hesitate to lay open its own thoughts to our Lord, and was well aware that it was thinking nothing else that what our Lord approved of!"  St Bede the Venerable (735) on this his feastday... expresses the exteme beauty and reality of the LOVE which these men have shown the world - St Peter, the first pope, and Fr Greg in the missionfield of Guatemala! 

I just went back to find the pictures that Pat has from his trip in January of 2007.. this was Fr Greg when they first arrived in San Lucas.  He loved to share the journey of faith that had blessed him as well as the people of San Lucas!  Jesus, we thank you for the gift of Fr Greg.  He showed us a beautiful example of someone who is tending and feeding your sheep!  The world has been touched by your light and truth through his answer to your call with a resounding "Yes!" heard throughout the world!  We are tied with a special bond to the people half a world away by this man of God, who served and tended and fed with all that he had to give!  We ask to have only a small measure of his saying "yes!"  and going forward with faith and trust and Hope!  Jesus, we trust in you!  Jesus, we have faith in you!  Jesus, we have hope in you! Amen and Halleluia! 

So beautiful!  Bless-bless, Barb

"When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will teach you all truth, says the Lord, Halleluia."

John 16: 13

"Christ loved us and washed us clean of our sins by His Blood, and made us into a kingdom, priests for his God and Father, Halleluia."  Revelations 1: 5-6