(Editor’s note: The following is a submission to The Recorder’s weekly column titled “Faith Matters.” Each Saturday, a different faith leader in Franklin County offers a personal religious perspective in this space. For information on becoming part of this series, email religion@recorder.com or call 413-772-0261, ext. 265.)
By REV. TIMOTHY J. CAMPOLI
Pastor, Blessed Sacrament Church
As a priest of the Catholic Church for the past 42 years, today, more than ever, my heart is sad. Just turn on the news any night of the week and you will understand my sorrow. We see so much darkness, suffering and despair. We see ISIS brutally killing people all over the world, random shootings which kill innocent men, women and children, and unprecedented weather patterns causing destruction and death. In our own area, we see drug abuse, especially heroin addiction and deaths unlike ever before. Many children suffer from broken families with suicides being the second leading cause of death for 15-to-34-year-olds. Why so much suffering, darkness and despair? I believe that it is because we, as a society, are turning away from God. He is being taken out of everything; we are slowly becoming a Godless society. And that is why my heart is sad.
Churches are no longer full. Very few people have time for God. As a priest, I have given my life to bringing the message of God to His people, but that is becoming more and more difficult to do. I have a longing in my heart, and that is to share what I know to be true: everyone is looking for happiness and that happiness can only be found in God. It is the universal desire of all people. We all do certain things because we believe they will bring us happiness. Sometimes those things do, but much of the time they don’t. Sometimes the things we think will make us happy leave us feeling empty, miserable, used, deceived or worse. The wonderful news is that God made us for happiness! Since He created us, He knows what we need to be happy.
We, as a society, tend to look for pleasure instead of happiness. What is the difference? Pleasure cannot be sustained beyond the activity producing it. Happiness is sustainable; it lasts. Take eating, for instance. We derive pleasure from eating, but the pleasure stops when we stop eating. On the other hand, take helping a person in need. Even if we don’t feel like helping at the time, after we actually do help, we feel glad. Happiness can be sustained beyond the activity producing it, pleasure can’t. So what will make us happy and keep us happy? Right living, making the right choices, practicing virtue; that will make us happy. At the end of the day, when we have done the right thing, we are happy and at peace. How do we know the right choices? By following the path God has given us. He has given us guidelines in the Ten Commandments and in the Beatitudes. And what is the fruit of following this path of God, this right living? It is peace and hope. When we believe in a God who loves us, we have faith that what He desires from us will make us happy.
I believe that life is a pilgrimage of faith. Without faith, there is no hope and without hope there is only darkness and despair. I believe that is why there is so much hate and despair in this world today; people have lost faith in a God who loves them. But with faith, we see beyond this life, beyond the darkness and suffering, to the life to come. Jesus went through this darkness of suffering and death so He could conquer death and rise to new life. With faith, our life is one of light, hope, love and peace.
As a priest, I see and believe that faith is the answer to the happiness and peace for which we are searching. I have seen lives transformed when people open their hearts to God. So many people are living in darkness with no hope. Believing that there is a God who loves us and wants us to be happy forever can change everything.
As Catholics, we believe that Jesus is truly present in the Blessed Sacrament, which is the Eucharist we receive at every Mass. At Blessed Sacrament Church, we have an Adoration Chapel for all of Franklin County and beyond. The chapel is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Here we meet God face to face, so to speak, and open our hearts to Him, ask Him for help, pour out our troubles and anxieties to Him and ask for that peace we so desire. The chapel is open to all.
Come to Jesus, come back to church, come back to God and find that peace.
Blessed Sacrament Parish was founded in 1960 and the church itself was built in 1970. The Adoration Chapel was opened for Franklin County in 1994 and has been a place to adore the True Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament 24 hours a day, seven days a week for over 21 years. We are located at 221 Federal Street and our schedule of Masses is as follows: Monday – Friday 9 a.m., First Saturday 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., Saturday Vigil Mass 4 p.m., Sunday Masses 8 and 10:30 a.m. Confessions are heard after every weekend Mass and on Saturdays from 2:45 until 3:30 p.m. For more information, please call the rectory at 413-773-3311. Our website is: www.blessedsacramentgreenfieldma.org