Batman's Column

My Deer Parishionez o St. Padre Pio Parish,

It iz me, Batman, da rectory doggo! My daddo sitz at his desk a lot. He iz always writing da emailz o talking 2 peoplez on da phone. But while my daddo iz preoccup.... preoccup... super busy, he forgetz someting .... ME!!! So I haz 2 go up to him in his chair and nudge him. And den I pawz him. If dat doesn't work, den I whine (I iz very good at it). My last resort iz 2 bark and bark and bark and bark and bark and bark and bark and bark and bark and bark and bark (You getz de idea). My daddo FINALLY givz up and takez me 4 a walk. I haz 2 do dis 2 him AT LEAST twice a day! It iz important 4 him 2 get up and move around (and more importantly let me go 4 a walk around my favorite parish grounds IN DA WORLD!). It iz very easy 4 hoomanz 2 get distracted-ed by stuff from da really important tingz in life. Datz wut Martha wuz strugglin' wit in Luke's Gospel. She wuz serving Jesus. Dat in itself wuz not a bad ting. But Martha wuz burdened and anxious about it. Serving wuz takin up da space dat wuz meant 2 listen 2 Jesus (dat ting Mary wuz doing and I STILL haz trouble doing). We doez a lot in our livez. Dere r so many tings, actvities and eventz dat dominate our livez. In itself, dese tingz r not bad, BUT if dey tak da place o God o da time dat iz meant 4 God, den itz a BIG PROBLEM! Even when we iz at Mass, r we focused-ed on Jesus o r we tinking about someting else? R we anxious about da life outside o da church o r we ready 2 let God enter in2 our heartz, mindz and soulz. So don't b anxious and worried about all da crazy stuff in da world! Instead, focus on WHO iz most important in our livez, not da wut!

God Bless (and r u talking 2 me?)! Batman, da rectory doggo