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Turning God’s gift into gifts for others

Posted on by Cori Urban

Russell Marchand of Milton turns God’s gift to him into his gifts to others.

Marchand has plenty of non-material gifts to share: love, support, counsel, guidance, a friendly smile and a listening ear. But when he gives material gifts, they are often made of wood.

A skilled carpenter, Marchand has made all kinds of things like walking canes, cutting boards, indoor and outdoor creches; he’s using his lathe to turn mugs and cups.

He built the covered porch on his house as well as built the 20 x 24-foot barn in the back yard. And he made a television cabinet for the hall at Our Lady of Grace Church in Colchester and a folding catafalque for the St. Philip Neri Latin Mass Chaplaincy at St. Anthony Church in Burlington.

“The liturgy is the work of the whole church. When we think of the vast and varied work that goes in to church building, vestment making, the vessels, pipe organs, candles etc., we realize that every human skill is used and comes together in the liturgy for the worship of God,” said Father Steven Marchand, Marchand’s son who is parochial vicar of the Rutland-Wallingford Catholic Community. “It’s moving to see my father take his place in that great work.”

The carpenter, St. Joseph, helps Marchand grow in the virtue of patience. “Taking the time to do something right and well in any craft can test us. St. Joseph spent a lifetime in a workshop. I’m sure his skills weren’t developed in a day,” Marchand said.

A member of Our Lady of Grace Church and the Latin Mass Chaplaincy, he is a member of the Knights of Columbus. He and his wife of nearly 45 years, Linda, have three children and five grandchildren.

His father, Alfred, was Marchand’s primary influence in woodworking. “When I was about 10 years old, he let me use a power scroll saw, and from then on I was hooked,” he said, noting that his father also showed him how to maintain hand and power tools.

In 1974 Marchand enlisted in the United States Air Force and became a structural technician at Plattsburgh Air Force Base in New York. He spent about six years with the civil engineering squadron, learning construction methods and techniques with plenty of hands-on experience. “Being in civil engineering also gave me the opportunity to dabble in plumbing, basic electrical and masonry,” he said.

Marchand retired from the U.S. Postal Service in 2019 after 35 years of service; he now drives for Special Services Transportation Agency.

Though he enjoys golf and riding his 1983 Honda Goldwing, Marchand gets special satisfaction from woodworking. “When you build something with your own hands, it gives you a sense of accomplishment. The same holds true for those who grow a garden or repair their car,” he said. “But for me it’s more like therapy. If I am not making sawdust something is wrong! It’s a great way to relax and wind down.”

His workshop is in what used to be the single garage at his raised-ranch home.

There he has a 10-inch Craftsman table saw given to him by his father-in-law and a radial-arm saw with a work table. His newest and “most prized tool” is a 12 x 33-inch wood lathe. “And although my family always laughs when I say this, you can’t have too many clamps! They always come in handy!” he enthused.

Prominent in the workshop is a photo of his father and an article written about him entitled “No gift problems for this man.”

It’s something Marchand relates to, giving gifts. “If it’s not for the house or something for church, what I make is mostly for gifts to family and friends,” he said.

When wood turning, he prefers to use mahogany and maple; when building he favors birch, red oak and cherry.

Asked what goes through his mind when he is working on a project, Marchand replied, “The next step. Sometimes you can get wrapped up in the details and it can feel overwhelming, but when the finished product is sitting in front of me I always think of my Dad and feel grateful for him getting me started with this hobby. I also think of the person who I am making it for and the enjoyment it will hopefully bring.”

He gets ideas from DIY magazines, YouTube and people who ask him to make or fix something. (He has been cleaning thurifers for the Latin Mass Chaplaincy and for his son, Father Marchand, who noted his father has also refinished candle lighters/snuffers, and even repaired wooden cutting boards for rectory kitchens.)

“St. Joseph never speaks a word in scripture; he is the original ‘quiet man.’ My father may not be that demure, but he is a man of few words with a constant presence, dependable,” Father Marchand said.

“Oftentimes people stop to smell the roses or pull off the road to see a beautiful vista as I on occasion do too, but seeing the grain pattern on a smooth piece of lumber is awe-inspiring,” Marchand said. “After all, [God] created that lumber, and I get to see it first-hand and up close. God has given me the opportunity to use my talents to share with others. People really appreciate it when they receive something made by hand or get a squeaky door fixed. I love doing this. It truly is God’s gift to me.”

—Originally published in the Spring 2021 issue of Vermont Catholic magazine.

‘Tune in’ to blessings and they show up everywhere

Posted on by Kay Winchester

I have a particular fondness for doing all kinds of puzzles, so there was a part of me that was pretty pleased when my doctor told me it was perfectly all right to not only continue doing what I had been doing, but to do even more. “Keep your mind active,” he said. “Reading, puzzles, learning new things – they all help.” Kind of like a prescription for puzzling – not bad.

So naturally, I began to look around for what else was available puzzle-wise. In the course of my research, I happened upon one entitled “Spot the Difference,” and I immediately remembered how much I enjoyed doing these when I was a kid. (If you ever read Highlights magazine, you’ll remember them also.) So, I decided to try it; after all, I wasn’t half bad at them when I was 10, and now that I was an adult – easy peasy.

Except that my first attempt was, shall we say, abysmal. Out of the 10 differences you were supposed to find, the first three were not difficult. Four was a little more challenging, and from five on I was eying the “Help” button more and more often. By seven, I finally pressed it because I didn’t care if it would affect my score. I simply couldn’t see any more differences without it.

Turns out, my powers of observation weren’t quite as sharp as I thought they were. Though as time went on, I became better at seeing what was actually in front of me, it made me wonder what else I was missing. I recalled the words from the Gospel of Matthew, “They look and look but do not see” (Mt 13:14) and wondered if that could possibly apply to me. Am I, for instance, truly seeing all the ways that God has blessed and continues to bless me each day? Or is a lot of it getting lost in the unrelenting inundation of bad news that surrounds us all? Can I spot the difference between the Good News and what is presented to us as just plain old news?

One of the first things I discovered when I went out of my way to become conscious of this is that my life is, quite literally, bursting at the seams with blessings. Once I had my antennae “tuned” so to speak, to pick up their frequency, they showed up everywhere. A lot of them are small reminders from God, like post-it notes left on the bathroom mirror. Some of them I only appreciated in hindsight, and many, many of them I would have missed altogether if I hadn’t made a point of noticing them.

The size of the blessing doesn’t matter; the One sending it your way does. Like Elijah who found God, not in the fire or wind or earthquake, but in a “small, whispering sound,” if we listen closely, we will discover that we are constantly in His embrace. And once we spot that difference, everything else will be blessed.

—Originally published in the Spring 2023 issue of Vermont Catholic magazine.           

 

Tuition-free fourth quarter at Mount St. Joseph Academy

Posted on by Submitted Article

Mount St. Joseph Academy in Rutland is welcoming students who want to join the school family by offering a tuition-free fourth quarter for those who transfer from another school. The free fourth quarter runs from April 1 to the end of the current school year and is available to students in grades 6 through 11.

MSJ provides a strong college preparatory curriculum, which has led more than 95 percent of graduates to college during the past 10 years. It also offers a traditional grading and class-ranking system that is easily understood by parents and favored during the college admissions process. The academic opportunities at MSJ include AP courses, attendance at Stafford Technical Center and National Honor Society.

Students at MSJ enjoy a wide variety of activities and opportunities, including student government, school dances, community service and athletics. MSJ offers soccer, cross country, basketball, cheerleading, alpine skiing, track, baseball and softball. Students who want to play a sport that is not directly offered at MSJ can find opportunity to play at another school through the school’s member-to-member program.

Mount St. Joseph Academy welcomes students of all faiths and is committed to providing educational opportunity to all students who qualify for admission. Students will not be turned away because of financial need.

For more information, call 802-775-0151.775.0151

 

 

Trust with a loving heart

Posted on by Vermont Catholic

How do we pass on the beauty of our faith and values to the next generation?

Sometimes we think we need to come up with just the right words. Maybe we worry about what to say next, even while the other person is still talking.  Or we get frustrated and talk louder.

Let us look to St. Joseph as a model — a teacher who teaches without saying a word.

A good teacher models what he or she teaches. A few years ago, a young priest came to our church and gave a homily that stuck with me. He preached on the idea that we become like our parents, our leaders and those we spend time with.  As children, sometimes we say we don’t want to be like our parents. Inevitably we end up sharing many of their traits, both good and bad.

St. Joseph, as head of the Holy Family, modeled behavior of how to be a good man, a good person.

Being pro-life sometimes means we are misunderstood. I wonder if St. Joseph encountered a similar misunderstanding when it was found Mary was with child. If people gossiped about Mary, I wonder if he felt protective; did he have to fight against the temptation to be angry with them and to want to “set the record straight?”

It is difficult to be misunderstood or vilified. We fight on two fronts: our reluctance to take a public stand and the negative idea of what we are.

When some people learn you are pro-life, some agree, some disagree, some respond with anger. At that moment our response means everything.

We look to St. Joseph’s example of quiet. When people despise you, respond with gentleness.

We are challenged to act in a way that conveys a message of hope. We are called to seek out the lost, to give hope to the hopeless.

We know we have the truth; we are trying to help save souls, bring them home to Jesus. We have a treasure so precious that we must share it with others. How could someone not want this? Yet they are deceived, and we are shunned, disliked for going against a perceived right to choose.

How do we pass on the beauty of our faith and values to the next generation? Our actions speak louder than our words. Let us stop talking and using words to tear down people on the other side of the argument — even those who hurt us or promote the unthinkable.

Let us trust that the Lord is in charge.

We look to St. Joseph. He put the needs of two people ahead of everything else. He remained quietly hidden in the background of the lives of Jesus and Mary. He trusted with a father’s loving heart.

— Phyllis Harkonen is respect life coordinator for the Diocese of Burlington.

—Originally published in the Fall 2021 issue of Vermont Catholic magazine.

 

‘Trust in St. Joseph’s loving care’

Posted on by Father Lance Harlow

The Solemnity of St. Joseph ranks as a high holiday for Catholics on March 19. The Scripture readings are taken from 2 Samuel, Psalm 89, Romans 4 and the choice of two Gospel readings: either Matthew 1 (the story of the Nativity of Jesus) or Luke 2 (the story of the finding of the child Jesus in the Temple). The central thread that connects all of these readings is the promise of fulfillment through “fatherhood” in the line of King David. Jesus, of course, is the goal of the Davidic promises, but St. Joseph is the legal descendant through whom these promises are fulfilled. As one who is begotten, and not created, Jesus, who is the creator of the law of Moses, is also the beneficiary of those laws and rights through Joseph’s legal (albeit, adoptive) paternity.

In 2 Samuel, God the Father speaks through Nathan the prophet and tells him to go to King David with some extraordinary news: “Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me; your throne shall stand firm forever.” The prophecy is fulfilled proximately through King Solomon, but with the later destruction of the Kingdom, it will find its remote and perfect fulfilment in Him who is called by His detractors centuries later, “the King of the Jews,” whose kingship even death itself could not destroy.

In Psalm 89:35, the psalmist sings: “Once and for all I have sworn by my holiness; I will not lie to David. His line shall continue forever, and his throne endure before me like the sun. It shall be established forever like the moon, an enduring witness in the skies.” The royal line of sinful men will be terminated by their enemies, but He who is born without sin, Jesus, is the perfection of enduring kingship. St. Joseph is the threshold between the long line of those fallible royal descendants and Jesus, the perfect descendant of King David.

In Romans 4, the words of St. Paul describing the faith of Abraham are applied to St. Joseph, who is a faithful Jew and descendant of Abraham: “Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become ‘the father of many nations. …’” The Church, from her perspective of Jesus’ death and resurrection, sees in St. Joseph a new fatherhood. This fatherhood, which legally recognizes Jesus as a descendant of both Abraham and King David, gives birth to “many nations” — that is; the Catholic Church, which is comprised of people from every race, language and tongue, united under the kingship of Jesus.

Lastly, in Matthew’s Gospel, the righteous Joseph is presented as a Jew faithful to the law of Moses but is also obedient to the law of the new dispensation where he cooperates with the Holy Spirit in his role as protector and father of the Word-made-flesh: “When Joseph awoke, he did as the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.” Luke’s Gospel presents Joseph as the man to whom God gives authority over His only begotten son. After Jesus explains why He was in the temple, Luke emphasizes, “He (Jesus) went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them.”

Just as God the Father places trust in Joseph’s ability to love and protect Jesus, so too, does the Church encourage us on this feast day to place our trust in St. Joseph’s loving care.

—Father Lance Harlow is rector of St. Joseph Cathedral in Burlington.

—Originally published in the Spring 2021 issue of Vermont Catholic magazine.

 

True prayer, like true faith, leads to care for others, pope says

Posted on by Catholic News Service

Being indifferent to or hating others is to deny the existence of God’s presence in one’s neighbor, Pope Francis said.

“This is practical atheism,” the pope said Oct. 21 during his weekly general audience.

“To not recognize the human person as an image of God is a sacrilege, an abomination, the worst offense that can be directed toward the temple and the altar,” he said.

Arriving in the Paul VI audience hall, the pope once again observed social-distancing measures by taking his seat immediately rather than going to greet members of the crowd up close.

He also apologized and explained that mingling with them would increase “the danger of infection for you.”

“I am sorry for this, but it’s for your safety,” he said. “But please know that I am close to you in my heart. I hope you understand why I do this.”

Before his main talk, the pope said he noticed a mother cuddling and breastfeeding her crying baby at the start of the audience.

Upon seeing this, he said, “I thought, ‘That’s what God does with us, like that mother, who with such tenderness tried to rock the baby, to feed the baby. It is a beautiful image.”

“Never silence a child who cries in church. Never. Because it is a voice that recalls God’s tenderness,” he said.

Continuing his series of talks on prayer, the pope talked about “the wicked” person often mentioned in the Book of Psalms and described them as someone who “lives as if God does not exist.”

The Book of Psalms, he said, presents prayer as a “fundamental reality of life” that serves as a “boundary,” which prevents “us from venturing into life in a predatory and voracious manner.”

However, he said, there are “the wicked” ones, like those who go to Mass “only to be seen” or to show off, or those who pray out of habit and with no depth, thus rendering “a false prayer” to God.

“The worst service someone can give God, and others as well, is to pray tiredly, in a habitual way, to pray like a parrot: blah, blah, blah. No. We must pray with our hearts,” the pope said.

“Prayer is not a sedative to alleviate life’s anxieties; or, in any case, this type of prayer is certainly not Christian,” he added. “Rather, prayer makes the person responsible” for others as can be seen “clearly in the ‘Our Father’ that Jesus taught his disciples.”

Pope Francis said the psalms teach Christians that prayer is more than just seeking God’s help for oneself but rather a “collective patrimony, to the point of being prayed by everyone and for everyone,” the pope said.

“If you pray so many rosaries and then gossip about others, you have resentments, you have hate against others, this (prayer) is purely artificial,” the pope said.

— Junno Arocho Esteves