It helps to have a Spiritual Director in the family, even if he doesn't know it!

Here is an absolutely inspired post on Facebook by my nephew Tim.  I think he'd make someone a fantastic spiritual director!  I'm thinking of asking him to take over where his father left off in my life! 

The Holy Spirit answers some questions for me through His divinely inspired Scriptures

I really have to start going to daily Mass more often.  I feel so much more capable and confident in my abilities to defend the Faith after Mass.  The Holy Spirit spoke loud and clear to me through the readings this morning at Mass.   At one point He humbled me by pointing out an error I made in a discussion with my sister-in-law Marilyn recently.  The topic of our “ranking” in creation was brought up and I said I thought one of Paul’s epistles said we were higher than the angels.  Oops!  Psalm 8 states our hierarchy pretty succinctly.  Here is how our “ranking” in creation is explained at Catholic Online:

 When the first man was being created:

"Let us make man in our image. after our likeness ... So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him: male and female created he them." (Genesis 1:26-27)

This does not mean that the first of the human race had exactly the same physical nature as the angels, for the angels were made to live forever. Adam and Eve were not made never-dying: they did sin, and they suffered death as the punishment for it. That is why the whole human race has been dying ever since.

Psalm 8 is a Psalm in which the creation of the earth is extolled. Here we are told that man's position is lower than the angels:

"What is man, that thou art mindful of him? ... For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour." (Psalm 8:4,5)

The New Testament quotes this passage, and tells us that mankind - including the Lord Jesus himself - was made a little lower than the angels, "for the suffering of death" (Hebrews 2:9). Angels do not die, but men and women do. Even Jesus, the Son of God, was a mortal man, but has now received the glory and honour which was his due when, as he said after his resurrection, "all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth" (Matthew 28:18).

During that same discussion with Marilyn, she said she was sad that a lot of people just don’t understand what Catholicism has to offer.  She feels a lot of people are turned off by our acceptance of pain and suffering as God’s Will in our lives.  It should be noted that even very "good" Catholics forget this concept sometimes. They will say “How can a loving God inflict or even allow pain and suffering to continue?  Didn’t Jesus’ death and resurrection atone for the sins of Adam and Eve?” 

Paul answers these questions forcefully, I think, in his letter to the Romans (Rom 5:1-5):

Brothers and sisters:

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in hope of the glory of God.

Not only that, but we even boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.  

Ever since my chat with Marilyn last week, I was feeling inadequate in my responses to her.  Being the prideful man that I am, I would not have admitted it to her face, though.  I have been praying that I can find the strength that comes with humility to admit I didn’t really know the answers to the questions she was asking, and along comes the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity with 2 readings that explain some of the topics that were brought up!  Way to go, Holy Spirit—and thank You!  In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

A friend indeed

Thanks to all of you who prayed for my mother’s successful surgical procedure a couple of days ago.  She came through like a trooper, although she is still understandably sore and can use your continued prayers for her recovery.

 

As I waited in the “family room” of the hospital with my sister-in-law,  we idly chatted about this and that and the other.  One of the topics that came up was after I checked my Facebook and Twitter accounts on my cell phone.  I joined the social media sites to help me keep up with my extended family members and their lives.  I remarked that there were 2 especially prolific “friends” of mine who I could count on for daily updates.

 

One is a cousin who—although I love her dearly—drives me crazy with her political views that I can only guess at, since her “LIKES” appear to come from all over the political spectrum.  One day she’s posting links to extremely left-leaning sites and the next day the sites are all leaning far-right!  I “unfriended” her once because she was driving me nuts, but when I saw her at a family gathering shortly thereafter she asked if I had seen her post about something (I forgot what it was), I had to lie through my teeth saying, “No, I don’t know why but I can’t see your posts lately.”  We determined it was Facebook’s fault with all of the recent updates that had occurred.  OK, I can live with that.  I told her to submit her name again as a friend and I would accept it and see if that fixed the “problem.”  It did.  Oh boy, did it!  I rarely read them because no matter which side of an issue she is on, I seem to be on the other.  I think I would be more apt to read her “updates” if she backed her opinions up with some commentary of her own, but she simply posts links to others’ opinions.  I really can’t take them seriously.

The other “friend” I can depend on for a daily post is my nephew Tim.   He is a very faithful Catholic who, in my opinion, knows who he is and where he stands on every issue and always backs up his opinions with a well-formed conscience and moral compass.  I think it helps that he also has a very personal relationship with Jesus—a relationship I am envious of.  He wears his faith on his sleeve.  His updates always uplift my spirits.

These two Facebook “friends” came immediately to my mind when reading the Scripture for today’s Mass.  Sirach writes, “Let your acquaintances be many, but one in a thousand your confidant.” (Sirach 6:5-17)  In our human world, the word “friend” is used liberally to refer to the many acquaintances we keep in our day-to-day living; people with whom we talk and share with, at least superficially, on a wide range of topics and experiences.  As social media applications become more and more integrated into everyday interactions, we now live in a world where “social networks” and quantifiable lists of “Friends,” “Contacts,” and/or “Followers” simultaneously measure the vastness of our social linkages and promulgate our triumphs and tribulations, wisdom and whines, whether banal or vital.  While these networks and personal connections have value and enrich our human experience, Sirach cautions us of the all too often self-invested purposes of these friendships, and addresses the characteristics of a “faithful friend.” 

Sirach goes on to write, “A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter; he who finds one finds a treasure.”  So, while counting a multitude of friends seems essential, we learn that some people will not be our faithful friends.

Even so, we find sturdy shelter in our few confidants.  As I reflect on the more intimate (and diverse) group of people who hold this confidant role in my life, I cannot help but to think about Sirach’s final thoughts on faithful friends:

“A faithful friend is a live-saving remedy, such as he who fears God finds; for he who fears God behaves accordingly and his friends will be life himself.”

In my life my faithful friends have been those people who have brought me closer towards God—knowingly or unknowingly--, those who have been a means for God to work through to offer guidance, hope, and love in times of both consolation and desolation.  In times of distress and joy my true companions bring me closer to God.  In this way, my faithful friends (like Tim) allow me to grow in my friendship with God.

Thanks, Tim

A special place in God's Heart

Procrastinator that I am, I have to write this in the ½ hour before Mass begins.  That’s not to say I haven’t been meditating on it all week, but that I just couldn’t (or wouldn’t) find the time to put it all down in a timely manner.

Happy Mother’s Day, MOM!

 

As I meditated on motherhood in general and what you mean to me, I can’t help but start meditating on our Blessed Mother as well!  What a great honor our Lord holds towards motherhood!

 

He honors it so much He made sure His own mother was present at the three most significant periods in the history of salvation—His birth, His Passion, death and resurrection, and at Pentecost, when He sent His Holy Spirit upon the Apostles.

 

God the Father honored motherhood so greatly that He became Incarnate through an earthly mother!  God trusted Mary since before her conception to teach her son in his humanity to know, love and trust in Him and to set the example for all other mothers who followed.

There are lots of mothers in the world who aren’t appreciated for who they are or their importance to God’s eternal plan.  I just wanted you to know that all of your children (especially me—since I’m your favorite [lol]) do appreciate and love you for the gift of life you helped God to create.

 

Sorry for the brevity, but you have to know how much I love you.  As Mary taught her Child in His humanity how to love and serve the Lord, so you have taught me, which gives you a special place in God's heart.

 

May the Almighty God bless you especially today, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen

Ain't it the Truth!

Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy. (John 16:20)

Do you ever feel out of step with the world and maybe even at times try to "get with it," but to no avail?

While everyone seems to be rushing headlong toward the next exciting thing, you on the other hand seem to find nothing much to be excited about, or so it seems. It may even make others think that you might be a little depressed.

What may be going on instead is not, as they say, "further from the truth," but rather it is THE TRUTH. There is more than what the goods and pleasures of the world can supply, not rendering you any less joyful, but more hopeful, more loving.

I pray it is so, Lord.

Work CAN be fun--and it can lead to salvation, too!

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been chastised by many, many friends and family for working too hard and too many hours.  While there certainly are days when I feel exhausted, I love my job.  It’s fun.  I can work as hard as I want or goof off some days—as long as the work gets done.

 

I work very closely with my boss, spending most days traveling from location to location, helping the general managers and their teams become more productive.  We use a lot of humor and “shtick” to help allay the intimidation a visit from a company superior can bring.  We were at a location yesterday where we haven’t placed a GM yet.  The location is small, and being run day to day by a young man who is going places in this company.  Anyway, Todd (my boss) and I were in the middle of one of our usual give and take “dog and pony shows” when the kid says “You guys ought to go on the road!  This is very good stuff!”  We laughed it off of course, because we know it’s just banter between two very good friends that makes the workday shorter.

 

Today was the memorial of St. Joseph the Worker.  In reading the Scriptures and some meditations a thought occurred to me.  Work done with love and out of love (sometimes accompanied with humor) can be one of our most powerful means we have to speak of Jesus in this lost and darkening world.  When it comes right down to it, I think I love my job most because it is a service that helps make peoples' lives better.  

 

How wonderful it is that our daily work can be a means for our salvation! Work done for the glory and honor of God is just that -- a means for our salvation!

Let us pray that like St. Joseph, the Worker, our daily work may be done with humility, love and gratitude for the coming kingdom of God among us.  I’m sure he wouldn’t begrudge us if we use a little good-natured humor along the way.