Turning "Pro"

I put the "PRO" in procrastination.  There--I said it.

"I don't want excuses. I want answers!” I really have a hard time differentiating between those choices. What is an “excuse” that is acceptable? I'll throw a couple of excuses out there to explain why I haven't posted in quite a while and let you decide whether to accept the excuse or not.

• I actually did write a couple of entries, but after proof-reading them I determined they weren't what I really wanted to say (at least not on a public website!).
  
  
• I was very sick for about 2 weeks and didn't do a darned thing in all that time.

• I've been extremely busy at work and I was just too tired in the evenings to attempt a meditation, much less a reflection.

• I've had other things on my mind—my brother's passing, my daughter's wedding, and how I was going to juggle my time around running a couple of centers at once. It used to be relatively easy, but as I get older, it's a bit tougher.

On this eve of Sarah's wedding, I was brought to tears listening to Tony speak at the rehearsal dinner. He's a very good man. I can tell he loves Sarah by the way he looks at her and more importantly, the way he treats her with respect.

He stood up and thanked all who were present—some, he said, who were long time friends, and those in the room (here he looked at Marilyn and I and his Mom) who have known them “from the beginning”. He got a good laugh at that one. He went on to say that he appreciated the love and support that we give him and Sarah through the ups and downs that define our lives. I was ready to bawl at that point of the speech, but I held back.

Then he looked a Sarah and she kind of nodded at him. He explained that he was going to attempt to put into words what Sarah had told him about her decision to finally say yes to his proposal. He went on to say that Sarah waited so long to get married because she wanted to find someone who could love her as much as her dad loves her mom. I blew it. No one else in the room saw it, but I was bawling my eyes out. What a terrific thing to say! Makes me think Marilyn and I did something right!

That's how I know this relationship will work. If Tony loves Sarah even half as much as I love my wife, they are in for a wonderful life for a long long time.

After all of the hullaballoo is over tomorrow, I want to get back to a regular posting regimen. I have a few things to talk about while October is still with us.

Hakuna Matata

So often, the cares and problems of daily life can get us down. There is always something to worry about, isn't there?

It may be a worry as mundane as a traffic tie-up to make us late. Or it may be something as serious as major surgery or financial problems that have come to a crisis point.

Whatever our worries may be, we must remember that this world is temporary - and all our worries are temporary too!  All these worries of ours will pass.  

 

After that, what will be constant is our place in eternity.  St. Paul expresses to the community of Christians at Thessalonica, “the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.”  (1 Thessalonians 5:1-6, 9-11)  We definitely don’t know the day or the hour when a person will pass on to the Lord; there’s no predicting that event.  We all know with certainty that we will die; that death is the ultimate act of our lives.  It is certain, but yet it remains an unsolvable mystery: we don’t know the when or the “how” of our death; we only know that it will occur.

How do we deal with that mystery?  One clear way is by living each day fully as a gift of God.  St. Paul reminds his community to live their lives alertly and know that “God did not destine us for wrath,” but for living with one another and for the Lord.  Paul’s words here remind me of St. Irenaeus that the glory of God is the human person fully alive.  The challenge for us is to appreciate that even our ordinary, every-day actions are important in the eyes of God, especially in our interactions with others. 

Lord, help me to prepare for a happy death by focusing on the moments you give to me.  Let me be aware that my actions today are a foretaste of my life fully alive in you.  Keep me close to you and attentive to those you have blessed me with in my life.  Thank you for your constant invitation to grow as a person of faith, hope and love.

Do I measure up?

In Matthew, Jesus tells the parable of the bridegroom and the ten virgins.  Jesus warns, “Stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour”. (Matthew 25:1-13) This warning is hitting close to home these days as I pray for my brother who, from most reports, is close to that hour. 

Parables of judgment almost always seem to make me nervous.  I worry; am I measuring up?  How do parables of judgment fit with grace?

I have up times in my relationship with God.  And I have down times.  Times where I feel like God is distant and I can’t reach Him.  I sometimes wonder….  If Christ returns during one of my down times, what happens?  Will I be one of the virgins who didn’t bring any oil for their lamps?  Will my faith be sufficient?

It seems my faith (my oil) requires constant replenishing.  I worry, will I have enough?  Yet nowhere have I ever heard God say, I’m only going to give you this much faith, so you’d better hoard it.  It seems the supply of faith available to us is inexhaustible.  So why do I have the fear?  Faith is definitely a choice.  It is both incredibly powerful, but also fragile.  Worry tends often to squeeze the faith and hope out of my life.  Worry can rob us of our faith.  When we worry, we lose our joy and it affects our ability to serve God.  When we simply trust God and put God first in our lives, then we glorify Him and our joy can return.

An image that keeps running through my mind as I write this is one of Lily when she was learning to walk.  I’m sure every parent and grandparent has done the same thing.  Mom or Dad will sit on the floor and “aim” the kid toward the other parent.  The kid stumbles across the floor and launches herself into her mom or dad’s arms.  If they were not there to catch her, she would definitely land face first on the floor.  And yet she plays the “game” again and again and every time she will look back at the “launching” parent and grin with such pride and joy at her accomplishment.  There isn’t any thought in her head about, “what if they didn’t catch me?”  She simply trusts completely.

How I wish I had that kind of faith and trust.  It is so easy to fall into the worry trap and lose our joy.

My prayer today is for those of us who stumble with our faith and trust.  Instead of expecting the worst, we should be preparing for the best.

Recognizing God's Work in Our Own Work

The Old Testament story of Gideon is one (Judges 6:11-24a) all of us can probably relate to. I love the words of the angel of the Lord to Gideon while he was hard at work grinding wheat one day.  “The Lord is with you, O champion!”  My response would be similar to Gideon’s response.  “What do you mean, “Champion?”  I’m just stuck here at work that never really makes a difference….except to keep me and my family fed.  There must be more to life if I am supposed to be a champion.”  The Lord has done wonderful things for me, surely, but now what?  I’m just not one of the movers and shakers in the world.  But the Lord has an answer to my doubts just as with Gideon’s doubts.  The Lord says, “Go with the strength you have and do what needs to be done, because I am sending you.”  And I like Gideon say, “I don’t have much strength, I’m really pretty insignificant.”  And the Lord says, “I’ll be with you.”  And I say, again like Gideon, “OK, but give me a sign.”  And the Lord does.

There are signs that the Lord is with us.  We will see them if we trust in God.  What is important here is that God is with us, not that we get stronger.  It is about God’s strength and not ours.  We don’t get very far if we ask for strength to go it alone to do what we want to do.  We all know that.  But we are champions if we go with God where God needs us to go.  When we hear what God wants us to do, we read in the Psalms (Psalm 85:9, 11-12, 13-14) that miracles will happen.  We will see the signs.  We will be champions!  Accompanying our faithfulness and hopefulness will be truth and justice, springing out of the earth and down from heaven.  Wow!  It is all there if we look for it.

We can inherit eternal life.  But we can’t do that by ourselves either.  Jesus reminds us that it is impossible on our own; only with God.  Still, I can’t help but think that trusting in God to deliver is only half of the human story.  It is what we want God to deliver that is the problem.  Most of us want something other than what God promises to provide us.  We want earthly riches, power, and recognition of it all more than we want peace and justice and eternal life.  We really think we can enjoy wealth and power more than we can peace and justice.  Jesus understood that.

The other half of the human story is about our desiring to follow Jesus.  But that too is not all up to us….Jesus reminds us that it is impossible for our desires to be made perfect without God. (Matthew 19:23-30). For the sake of the name of Jesus we do our best, but we must rely on God to be with us to stay on track.  So today, and every day, we can stop to pray at work in gratitude for the Lord’s presence.  Just listen for the angel saying, “The Lord is with you, O champion!”  Then we can get our priorities straight and get back to work….God’s work.

A Heaven Sent Comment

Just when I thought my blog wasn’t being as effective as I hope to make it, I got a comment from an old friend and co-worker today:  “I haven’t been here in a while but I remember our talks and still have the Rosary that you gave me.” He signed it “Anonymous”, but I know exactly who it is and I am grateful for the timing of his comment.  He may not realize it, but this simple comment provoked me to a deeper meditation on the Gospel than I’ve had in quite a few weeks with the hope that he will read today’s entry and use that rosary I gave him.  It’s such a powerful prayer!  And it was given to us by our Blessed Mother herself to bring us closer to Jesus Christ through meditations and reflections on His life, death and resurrection.  I'm quite sure the Holy Spirit used this comment (and by extension, my friend) to help me realize I've been getting lazy in my meditations. 

Normally, I would be praying the Joyful mysteries on a Monday night.  But since tomorrow’s gospel is Luke’s account of the Transfiguration (Luke 9: 28b-36), I thought that tonight I’d meditate on the Luminous mysteries….at least on a particular part of the account:

"Jesus took Peter, John, and James and went up a mountain to pray.  While He was praying His face changed in appearance and His clothing became dazzling white."

I can imagine the dazzling white garment.  I can picture Jesus' face transfigured so brilliantly that only a divine power could transform it.  But these aren’t the point of the gospel.   Jesus didn't go up the mountain to put on a show.   Rather, Jesus "went up a mountain to pray."  And furthermore, this fantastic transformation occurred "While he was praying."  Prayer, then, was the matrix for the Transfiguration.  Prayer was the "takeoff" point of this supernatural event.

Every time Jesus prayed, something "ignited."  Not always so dramatically, but always His communication with His Father was powerful, like touching a lit match to gasoline.

When we pray, we too can "ignite" supernatural communication with God.  It needn't be dramatic.  It may not even be verbal, or visible.  It can be as quiet as a thought, as unnoticeable as the blink of an eye.  But does God see us?  Yes!  Does God hear us?  Definitely!  Does God understand our hearts, as well as our words?  Absolutely!  And is it worth it?  Totally!

Whenever I get in a “prayer slump” all I need to do is ask Jesus to help me.  ‘Lord, help me to pray, right now, even if only for a moment.  Lord, You have taught us how to pray in so many ways, with the help of the Holy Spirit, with the words of the "Our Father" with our hearts and our hands, just to name a few.’

We may not "go up a mountain" to pray.  We may not have our clothing turn dazzling white.  We may not even have our facial expressions change.  But prayer always, ALWAYS changes things.

Prayer changes US.  It changes our hearts.  It can change our circumstances, or the way we look at things.  So, Anonymous, don’t just remember that I gave you a rosary.  Pick it up once in a while and remember me in your prayers, won’t you?

The Pope and a heat wave trigger some fond memories

I’m having one of those weeks that we all experience from time to time.  Nothing is wrong, but everything seems askew, right?  Almost like the feeling you get when you’re trying to remember a person’s name, and you KNOW it as well as your own but can’t quite get it.  Or when you know you put something somewhere familiar but you can’t find it.  Or when you’re looking for something for so long you forget what you were looking for. Or knowing a date is important, but you can’t remember why.  It happens to all of us.  For me, it’s been happening all week.  In fact, it usually happens twice a year for me and when I finally figure it out, it’s like finding the Holy Grail!

What two weeks are those, you might ask?  The week just before Christmas is one of them—December 20^th to be exact.  The other week is the last week of July.  July 27^th is a day I don’t think I’ll ever forget.  And yet I do.  Sometimes.  Like this week.  Until today.  What triggered my sudden realization?  The heat. I’m working in Ridgecrest California this week where the temperatures have not been less than 105 degrees . 

 

And the news about Pope Francis during World Youth Day.

 

So what did I forget and how did the heat remind me?  I forgot the anniversary of my dad’s death (or as I like to think of it—his “feast day”).   It was on July 27, 1970 that he passed away on a pretty hot day in Northridge California.  He and Mom had spent the day at my brother Bob’s house visiting and—to  hear my brother tell it—laughing and chiding him while he mowed his lawn in the heat! 

Heat also reminded me of Dad this week when I was trying to cool down and couldn’t, no matter what I drank or how I dressed or what kind of air conditioning was present.  I thought to myself, “Dad would have a hot cup of coffee right now!” 

I remember asking him one time during a heat spell how he could drink hot coffee when it was so hot outside.  He replied “I get the temperature inside my body to match the outside of my body and I don’t notice the heat so much.”  I laughed at him then, and I still laugh when I think about it.  You know what?  His reasoning was a bit off, but his advice was scientifically correct!  But that was my dad.

The other reminder I had was thinking about what Pope Francis means to me.  He reminds me a lot of Dad.  His gentleness, his kindness, his humility, his simplicity.   Always there to help someone in need without asking for recompense.  He lived the Gospels.  As Pope Francis asked us all to do last week in his speech to the youth of the world, Dad “put on Christ.”   He was certainly an example of  loving one’s neighbor as self.  I can only strive to be as good a man as he was.

By the way, the other date that really triggers my memories of Dad?  His birthday, December 20^th.  I mention this because I may need someone then to hit me upside the head again.  Maybe the Pope will say something. 

Belated Happy Feast Day, Dad.

Who said "tweets" are bad for you?

I love Pope Francis!  He has so much wisdom in his humility, and he shares it with us every day in his homilies and in his "tweets."  I would love to dissect and discuss every single one of the tweets, but I just don't have the time!  But three recent tweets all shared the same theme which, in my opinion, tie in nicely with our Independence Day celebrations this past week.  I hope you enjoy. 

 

“We cannot live as Christians separate from the rock who is Christ.  He gives us strength and stability, but also joy and serenity.” (Pope Francis, July 2.)

Whenever there has been or is a rebellion for independence, whether that be a nation or a teenager, there follows a necessary search for identity. When the first thirteen rebellious colonies broke from England they then had to spend years figuring out and fighting among themselves about who they then would be. We can spend our lives making personal declarations of independence and thereby we think we are free. I remember a commercial from years ago about a brand of bread. The little boy told his mother he was running away from home. She asked him if he would like her to make a sandwich or two for the trip. He softly said that would be okay. Then he asked his mother if she would drive him.

As much as we love and fight for freedom personally and nationally, spiritually we have to fight to retain our sense of relational dependence upon God. While everything around us invites or urges us to shake off anything that hinders our freedom, that kind of rebellion leaves us alone with just what we wanted, our selves. While self- reliance sounds psychologically healthy, religiously and spiritually it is a phrase of foolishness. We can celebrate “self-made” persons for their independent works, but they really were not self -made at all.

We are given life, nourished by the loving motherly sandwiches of life. We breathe the sustaining air, receive the nurturing sun and rain and then, we can rebelliously stamp our foot and shout, “I am who I choose I am!”  In the very midst of our declarations, Jesus sends elders, apostles, advancers to tap God’s foot towards us, around us and announces that the “kingdom of God is at hand for you.”

“The world tells us to seek success, power and money; God tells us to seek humility, service and love.” (Pope Francis, Jun 2.)

“How many kinds of moral and material poverty we face today as a result of denying God and putting so many idols in his place!” (Pope Francis, Jun 12)

We are similar to the “First Thirteen” colonies then who know from whence we came, but rebel at that kind of dependent identity.  Who we are is a bit tangential to who we will be through our own achievements.  It does seem in the history of God’s relationship with humanity that God expects this resistance as part of God’s relational pattern with us.  It seems that we struggle for our own identities by resisting and shaking off so that we can create our own kingdoms which are at our hands and for ourselves.  It seems that God says, “Well, you won’t know who I really am until you try to find out who you are by your own self-identifying efforts.  Good luck and I will not be waiting for your return, but laboring for your emptiness to free you to look up and smile.”

Hot enough for ya? Ha Ha

Man, was it hot today!  Thank God it's supposed to cool down (at least out of the 100-degree range anyway) for the end of the week.  Marilyn just called me to ask if I want to go to the cabin on Saturday.  My feeling on the matter is if that is where my family will be, there will I be also.  And, it's generally 10-15 degrees cooler up there.  It's a win-win.
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Today's July 4th post is courtesy of Father Leo Patalinghug:  Just click here.

I'm going to go sit under the air conditioning vent for a while.  Enjoy Father's post.

Papal Profundity

@Pontifex: We cannot live as Christians separate from the rock who is Christ. 

He gives us strength and stability, but also joy and serenity.

Profundity

I just realized I spent about 2 hours writing the previous entry.  Because my busy season has now begun, I can't really afford the time more than once a week to write one.  But I think a fun idea will be to share the quotes I get daily inspiration from with you.  Usually they are from Pope Francis' "Twitter" feed, but occasionally from other sources as well. 

One of the Holy Father's recent quotes has actually effected changes in the way I order food in restaurants, as trivial as that sounds.  I have never really been concerned when I haven't finished everything on my plate.  After all, I paid for it.  Who cares if I decide I don't want it all?  Guess what?  After Francis' recent comment, I do.

Here's the quote:

"Consumerism has accustomed us to waste. But throwing food away is like stealing it from the poor and hungry."

YOUR will, not mine, LORD

I’ve been trying for several weeks to get to the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation (Confession) but work kept getting in the way.  And it seems the longer I stay away from this necessary sacrament of confession, the easier it is to cave in to temptations.  I finally told myself “enough is enough!” and decided I couldn’t wait any longer.  So I checked the diocesan website and found a church that offered the Sacrament on Thursday evenings at 7pm.  At first, I was hesitant because that’s relatively late and would not allow me time for dinner.  I determined that mind-set was the devil trying to keep me away from the healing I desperately needed. 

My workday on Thursday seemed to drag on and on.  I guess I was anxious to bare my soul to Christ in the confessional.  It didn’t escape my notice that the church is the same church I was baptized in nearly 60 years ago.  That really added to my anticipation. I made plans to get to the church at 6:30 to say a rosary and examine my conscience. 

When I first walked into the church, there was about 20 people already there.  My thoughts went into overdrive.  I decided to keep it positive. “Oh well, not a problem-I’ll just be patient and make a good confession.”   It was extremely hot weather and the air conditioning was not on.  “OK, Lord, I get it.  I’m still going to do this.  You did so much more for me, after all!”  Then a group of musicians showed up with their instruments.  “You’re kidding, Lord!  Are you telling me I misread the time for penance?”  I was getting ready to leave when another man shows up and starts addressing the crowd (about 50 or so now) in Spanish.  I had already recited my rosary and examined my conscience.  I was sure this was going to be the most comprehensive confession I’ve ever made, and here I was standing up ready to leave.  The man took notice of me and in a thick Spanish accent started repeating in English what he had just told the others.  I know it was for me specifically, because he was looking right at me as he spoke.  He said he was sorry he was running late, but he would be staying as long as it took to hear everyone’s confession.  Since he wasn’t wearing his collar, I had no idea he was the priest!  He went to the Sacristy and brought the monstrance out.  We had an adoration service and recited the rosary (my second) in Spanish.  Then as the musicians played and sang Mexican spiritual songs in front of the Blessed Sacrament, the priest began hearing confessions.  After he heard my confession I was so in awe of all that had transpired it didn’t occur to me that it was after 9PM until my stomach said “FEED ME!”  at the same time my soul was prompting me to say “I will follow You wherever You go, Lord.” I am so weak in my faith.  But….. 

The Lord is kind and merciful.  God redeems our life from destruction.  However, this life free from destruction may look very different than the life we would imagine.  As Jesus tells us time and time again, a life following Him will not follow general conventions about “the good life.”  As Jesus teaches over and over again, we must give up our focus on building our own lives to fit our own desires in order to enter the abundant life that He wants us to enjoy with Him.  The challenge each day is to be willing to give up the place to lay our head and the burying of the dead that distracts us from the greater purposes to which He is calling us.  Yet we still do have day-to-day tasks that are part of our calling and our life of love.  I know in my own life it’s easy to allow my days to become destructive for myself and for those around me when I focus on the anxieties of tasks that seem overwhelming and the need to have everything under control.  I need to pray, today and every day, for help in redeeming my life from this destruction – to help me to focus on love and service rather than accomplishment and control.  I want to follow Jesus with abandon – whatever that means today.

How many times have we prayed the words “I will follow You wherever You go, Lord.” (Matthew 8:19) in all sincerity from our hearts?  Perhaps it was after a retreat, during a period of crisis when we are praying for help, or the many times we have felt the presence of Jesus close within us just as I felt after my confession last week.  Then what happens?  We get busy; life's responsibilities pull us in a multitude of directions.  We step out into the world and the culture of the times is often counter to the teachings of Christ.  It’s easier to just "go with the flow" and then retreat back to our safe haven at home.  It’s almost like living two lives!

The hard reality is to recall that, as Christians, we are meant to bear Christ wherever we go.  There is never a vacation from being a Christian once we have said that we will follow Christ.  We have the responsibility to serve by our own examples, by our actions and words.  We cannot remain silent when we see injustices and misinformation.  It means staying informed about our faith-beliefs and what is happening in our local and national spheres.  It is a big responsibility, but also a privilege.  We don’t go alone, as God is always with us.

Looking at two sides of the same coin

In the course of my job, I often have to choose between what is good for the company or “right” for the customer.  Yesterday was a good example.  

I was assigned the simple task of paying for, then recovering a trailer that was impounded by the police when the driver of the car pulling our trailer was arrested for some reason or the other. Long story short, I had the option of taking possession of the goods in the trailer and taking them to a safe self-storage facility or allowing the customer’s wife to unload the goods before I took the trailer.  Since she was a three-hour drive away and I was in the high desert in temperatures well over 100º, I was really leaning towards just getting my trailer and heading for cooler temperatures in the 90’s.  But when she related some hard luck stories to me that she has been experiencing recently, I wanted to make her life just a little more pleasant and hopefully show her a Christian attitude.  So I told her I would wait.  Three hours turned into four and I was feeling a bit hot under the collar (and not due to the weather).  When she finally did show up, she had the audacity to ask me if I would deliver the goods to a nearby city that the trailer was headed for when her husband was arrested!  

There were two reasons why I agreed to help her out:  I had to go through the city to get back home anyway, and she had brought along as company her elderly mother!  When I saw the old lady struggling to walk and stay positive in the oppressive heat of the afternoon and circumstances, I can’t call what came over me anything except a feeling of compassion.  I was going to help her to help her daughter cope with the situation in any way that was in my discretion.  So I basically wasted a day of the company’s time, but somehow I think the outcome was worth it.  By the way, so did my boss when I related the story to him this morning.  After all, the two of us have been trying to get our teams to understand that in today’s business world, we have to be advocates for the customer!  Other colleagues in our company thought I went too far.  I don’t think so.  

Would I do it again?  I probably would, if I was put in the same circumstance.  Would I handle it differently?  Yes.  I wasn’t as charitable in my thoughts as I was in my deeds.  In fact that phrase in the Confiteor that we recite near the beginning of most Masses went through my mind as I reflected on the experience: “I confess to Almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned—in what I have done and in what I have failed to do…..”

  

We often seek clear and straightforward guidelines that help us to know what is important and to decide what to do. At the same time we are also aware that such guidelines don’t exist, because of the complexity of the human experience and of diverse Christian beliefs and values that address the human experience. We know that simple guidelines are usually just that—simplistic—and can do more harm than good. Throughout human history and the history of Christian communities, individuals and groups, who took certain beliefs and values very seriously, caused immense human suffering because they did not consider the wider context of these beliefs and values as well as of their actions.

In the Gospel (MK 12:28-34) a scribe who asked Jesus, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” wanted a simple answer. Jesus responded saying that there are actually two answers to this question. First, you should love God.  Second, you should love your neighbor. We have to recognize that a neighbor is anyone in need, who is in our reach, and who can be supported by us. No commandment is greater than these two. And these two commandments are inseparable, like two sides of the same coin. 

You cannot truly love God if you do not love your neighbor and you cannot truly love your neighbor if you do not love God. These inseparable commandments also mean that you love your neighbor through God and God through your neighbor. Ultimately, the core commandment of our faith is to love. Saint Augustine of Hippo summarized it saying “love, and then do what you will.” When love is the starting point of all what we do, we will know every moment of our life!

A reading from the book of Tobit, presents us with an example of what this means. (TB 6:10-11; 7:1BCDE, 9-17; 8:4-9A)  Tobit sent his son Tobiah to a distant relative, accompanied by the angel Raphael. When Raphael and Tobiah arrived, Tobiah met Sarah, the daughter of his relative, who was struck by extreme misfortune, was depressed and wished to die. She had been married seven times but all her husbands died soon after the wedding. Tobiah realized that marrying Sarah was the right thing to do, and they got married. He recognized Sarah as his neighbor and showed her the appropriate support and love. His action was embedded in his love of God. Sarah and Tobiah trusted God, prayed and death did not harm Tobiah after the marriage. This story illustrates how God cares for those who love Him and who love others. It is a story of victory over hardship and deliverance from suffering through loving God and loving our neighbor.

We need to listen to our hearts, inspired by the Gospel, to discover what we should do each day as we strive to love God and love our neighbor completely and without reservation. 

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.

The Source and Summit of our lives

Living is growing.  Living is moving, moving freely by choice and action, from being limited – materially, intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually – into self- transcendence, into a horizon that gets bigger with each new step further into life.  It comes down to moving from desires to satisfaction, and the process is what is thrilling.  Coming to a well of cool water as a long walk is finally ending.  Going to a relative’s house for Thanksgiving, getting there, reveling in the warm, welcoming embraces, and then moving forward to delicious foods, memories, laughs and comfort.  Getting through what seemed our longest years and finally becoming a teenager.  Raising a family.  Becoming a good, magnanimous, loving person.  And living out the pursuit of all these good things in the company and in league with others -- with family, friends, and community.  These all take time:  some of it hard, much of it joyous, all of it necessary.

God portions our lives out into moments, days, weeks, and years.  Along with that, God also gives us the means, the way, and the truth to figure out, decide and act upon on a whole hierarchy of desires which He has placed within us. They make up the fuel moving us to pursue what is lacking -- to search for it, go after it, and find it.  Food.  Love.  Intimacy.  New experiences, knowledge, and understanding.  Safety and security.  Companionship and community.

Our bodies and souls, full of desires for these things, testify that we long for fullness of life.  Along the way, we have moments when we taste it, not to the full, but the taste is real and it satisfies—for the moment.  But we always seem to hunger for more.

Sometimes we seek and go after momentary satisfactions willy-nilly, in no particular order – like a puppy going from his master, to his food, to scampering about, then back again to the others.  Sometimes we go after them according to what we think is more fulfilling, and we plan accordingly.  Sometimes we pursue them according to what is more fulfilling, and for these reasons we discern and pray – sometimes in solitude, sometimes with others – and then decide and try to live accordingly.

 

Underneath all our desires, mingling with them and undergirding them, is the desire for God.  Life is sorting out and ordering all our other desires to the one that is deepest and most passionate, the one that gives ultimate meaning and relevance to all the rest.  We sometimes know it and are sometimes unaware of it, but what we want ultimately is a loving relationship with God—and through that, a loving relationship with everything and everyone else.

God is the only one who can slake our deepest thirst, feed our deepest hunger, satisfy our desires to the full.  We want God’s company, God’s protection, God’s love.  We want intimacy with the One who gives us our very life, with all its desires.

Often we grab for substitutes.  Fast food.  Faster living, faster cars.  More convenience, more comfort, unrestricted sexual fulfillment (without responsibility), and the so-called “right” of complete freedom to do whatever I want whenever I want to.

Jesus offers us the ultimate food and drink:  giving us bread that is His body and drink that is His blood, poured out for us. We need to calm down, become more simple, and receive quietly this Body and Blood of Christ into our own fleshly selves.  Doing so puts us squarely in God’s company, secures us under God’s protection, and engages us in God’s intimate love.  It unites us with the One who is giving us our life, with all its desires.

We can do this at Mass, thanks be to God. The Eucharistic Prayer makes ready the food we receive at Communion. Here we ponder, choose, and act to fulfill our most real hunger and thirst. We eat the bread which Christ identifies as “true food,” and we drink the blood which is “true drink.”  In doing this, we enter into the kind of communion Our Lord speaks of in the Gospel:  “Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood remains in me and I in him.”  (John 6:52-59)

This communion will nourish the moment-by-moment course of our lives, if we let it.  It will bring order to our desires.  It will lay out the way for us, serve up the truth of things, and move us to the very pulse of life.  It will satisfy our desire to unite our hearts and minds to one another and to God.

Belief is not a one-time thing

As the saying goes, “There’s one in every crowd!”  On the third Tuesday of every month I have to attend a meeting along with all of the General Managers on my team and my boss.  One of the GMs is “that” one.  He has an opinion on just about every topic (usually wrong) and when confronted, he is childishly defensive, but never offensive in his rebuttals.  But his abilities as a GM far outweigh these shortcomings, so he’s a great guy to work with.  I have known him and worked with him for twenty years. In fact we celebrated his twentieth anniversary with the company at today’s meeting.  I celebrated my own twentieth anniversary last month.  Tradition at these events holds that the honoree says some words about his career and the people he has worked with.

When I gave my speech last month, I tried to keep it humorous, but I also choked a few of my co-workers up when I referred to them as members of my family.  I thought I knocked it out of the ballpark.  Well, Charlie outdid me today.  How could he do that?  Isn’t he the “one in every crowd?”

 

What floored me was his opening statements; “While I appreciate this recognition, I give all the glory and honor that my career has brought me to God. It is through His providence that I’ve been successful.”  I must admit I didn’t listen much to the rest of his speech. I was too embarrassed by my own lack of humility and shame that I didn’t give God the same credit last month when it was my turn.  I also felt a new-found surge of respect for Charlie, because he was unabashedly Christian.  Of course, I’ve known for a long time that he is very active in his church (that he described to me once as “Apostolic”), and that he takes his Christianity VERY seriously.  He uses his vacation time to attend retreats and lead youth groups on their retreats.  And I have NEVER heard him raise his voice in anger. After his speech today, I felt very inadequate by my failure to publicly recognize God’s graces in my own life.

At times in our lives our faith can be challenged by things around us.  It could be people that we interact with every day (like Charlie), or horrible acts of violence or disasters that we see on the news—I’m thinking of the tragedy in Boston yesterday. Regardless, each act has the opportunity to shake the foundations of our faith.  The key for us is to stay strong in what we believe.  To push forward through the pain and suffering while continuing to look towards the Lord since he will protect us and guide us to eternal life.  He will be there for us always, even in the toughest times when we think he has abandoned us, he will still be there.

Faith as strong as this is rewarded by the Lord.  As Jesus says, “Whoever believes in me will never thirst.”  This belief is not just a onetime thing though; it must be a constant showing.  Faith is not a light switch that you can turn on and off whenever you like, but instead it is something you should show every chance you get.  Jesus urges us to live our lives like this every day.  Demonstrate your faith by showing love and respect to everyone around you.  If you do this, just as Jesus said, “You shall be raised on the last day.” (JN 6:35-40)

God Bless