Stephen Yusko's Blog

Phoenix: “defined as a person or thing regarded as uniquely remarkable in some respect.” A bird that lives on, flying so close to the sun that it is consumed by fire, dying on the funeral pyre, yet to be born again, resurrected to live on.  Recognizing my own prejudice, to size people up on the quick, I hope to achieve a new sense of enlightenment and to heal my tendency to categorize and divide. Maybe it comes with age, as I long for the onset of senior wisdom. Our country, our conversations are experiencing a great divide. Unfortunately, we’ve surrendered to dualistic thinking. It’s either this or that, black or white, liberal or conservative, it’s either me or you.  I’m trying to rewire, retire my old way of thinking. In a false sense of order, many of us are drawn to place people in categories, subjugating each one unfairly into one camp or another without taking the time to consider what they are actually saying. We scan each other’s comments with the keenness of a we

What do Bob Marley, Taylor Swift, and Fr. James Martin, SJ have in common? Indulge yourself and read on. The cards I’ve been dealt with and  the ones I’ve traded in have left me with an interesting hand.  Impulsiveness, sarcasm, and passive-aggressive actions are all cards I have held in the hold, in the bundle of pride.  In my ministry zeal, I realize that I have been less compassionate and charitable in seeking justice.  I know, I know I need to trade these “cards” in.  I am a sinner searching for the right path. Building a House of Cards  These past few days I’ve found three of kind in my hand and there’s no way I’m going to fold. I recently watched the Netflix documentary on Taylor Swift.  Miss Americana. I’ve appreciated her music, vulnerability and her talent to write and perform heartfelt songs. She has a gift and an Achilles’ heel which we see in the movie. As a young girl, she seemed to strive for stardom being the “Good Girl” ever seeking approval. Spoiler A

My journey on becoming a full-fledged “Sports Agnostic” began with Little League baseball in the early seventies as a ten-year-old. Maybe it was my less than athletic prowess or the fact that I never developed the skills many of my friends achieved with such admirable effectiveness.  The basics, hitting, running and ball catching eluded me as I learned to be quite the bench-warmer in my early youth.  I think back to my schoolyard days and the regret and shame I internalized of not being good enough to be selected for either team for the lunchtime slap ball game. Numerous rejections relegated me and a couple of the boys to the sidelines until we finally accepted the fact that being one of the chosen athletes was in the statistical category of “slim to none”. I could blame my dad for not taking the time to help me hone my skills, or I could blame my flat-footed feet or even the childhood asthma attacks I endured, but for some reason, I never got the hang of being a full-fledged, team

Today on the Feast of the Epiphany, we doubled up on our Church services.  First, we attended 8:45 Sunday Mass at the Church of St. Joseph, where I recently served as a Permanent Deacon, then Debbie and I attended the launch of Community Church in Babylon Village at their first-ever church service at 10:30.   How truly fitting it was to do this on the   Feast of the Epiphany of Christ , as Father Francis explained in his homily, Epiphany is the “manifestation of Christ”.  Those who know me have come to realize that I hate shopping, and this day was not meant to be “shopping for a new church day” , but considering the state of scandal within the Church, we felt impelled to see what this new church was all about. As a couple with an experience of outreach in the community we are called to wonder, and ask the deep questions about our faith, our institutions and to see Christ in and be Christ to others.  We arrived a couple of minutes before the service began in the basemen