A woman of persistence

“When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”  Luke 18:8b

This is a good and interesting question that Jesus poses.  He poses it to each one of us and asks us to answer it in a personal way.  The answer is contingent upon whether or not we each have faith in our hearts.

What is faith?  Hebrews 11:1 describes it this way: “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”  In other words, it can be said that faith is a response from each one of us to God speaking in our hearts.  In order to have faith we must first listen to God speak.  We must let Him reveal Himself to us within the depths of our conscience.  And when He does this, we manifest faith by responding to all that He reveals.  We enter into a belief in His Word spoken to us and it is this act of believing that changes us and forms faith within us.

And so at this time the question of Jesus seems very pertinent.  He is asking if there will be faith on this earth when he comes at the end of the world.  We can’t see the future and so are unable to answer the Lord’s question.  What we can do is to make sure that faith is present among us in our time and that we pass it on to our children and grandchildren.  If succeeding generations can continue to do that then the answer to the question of the Lord will be yes. 

There are many challenges to faith in today’s world.  Many Catholics pay lip service to being Catholic but do not really practice their faith.  Other Catholics find the practice of their faith difficult because of the challenges and struggles in their lives

One of the means of renewing our faith is through the strengthening of our contact with the Lord.  We do this through prayer.  And prayer is the subject of today’s gospel.  In his parable Jesus calls upon us to be like the widow who persisted in her demand for a just decision.  He wants us to be persistent in prayer and never grow weary of asking Jesus for what we need, just as the widow never tired of asking the dishonest judge for a decision.    Perseverance in prayer is not always easy, but it will be rewarded.  Jesus is listening to us.  We know that through faith.

I have a couple of images that come to mind when I think about my mom’s persistence in praying for others.  One is today’s gospel.  The other is like when taking a flight somewhere, the flight attendants will explain the safety features of the aircraft.  In case of the loss of cabin pressure, the oxygen masks will drop from the ceiling above you.  You are supposed to put your own mask on first, then help the others around you, especially the small children and elderly.  I know Mom felt like her rosaries and novenas were not necessarily for HER sake, but for those of us who haven’t put our own masks on yet and expressed our love of God and neighbor through the prayers our Blessed Mother has asked us to pray.  After her retirement, you could say her full-time job was her prayer life!  And Mom was very, very busy! I crunched some numbers a few years back and I figured she had said over 1 million prayers on behalf of her family, just from the time of her retirement!  

Faith is not just believing.  It’s believing in what God speaks to us.  It’s the belief in His very Word and in His very Person.  When we do enter into the gift of faith, we grow in a certainty about God and all He says to a radical degree.  That certainty is what God is looking for in our life and will be the answer to His question above.

“When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” 

Progress? Or the rejection of Truth?

But now, Lady*, I ask you, not as though I were writing a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning: let us love one another.  For this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, as you heard from the beginning, in which you should walk.

Many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh; such is the deceitful one and the antichrist.  Look to yourselves that you do not lose what we worked for but may receive a full recompense.  

Anyone who is so “progressive” as not to remain in the teaching of the Christ does not have God; whoever remains in the teaching has the Father and the Son.  If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him in your house or even greet him; for whoever greets him shares in his evil works. (2John 5-11)

*The “Lady” whom John is writing to, is the growing Catholic Church in the first century, but John’s advice is timeless and oh so needed in today’s world!  Here is my interpretation of his advice:

When "progress" means redefining the truth to suit our own purposes, we no longer have God, as today's first reading at mass points out. "Progressive" decisions occur when we allow ourselves to be swayed by the winds of non-Christian influences. We're most vulnerable to this when we don't like what the Church teaches, which happens because we don't understand what the Church is really teaching. To use the analogy that Jesus provides in the Gospel reading, "wherever the carcass is, there the vultures will gather." (Luke 17:37) We flock to what's decaying, because the world tells us it's appetizing and we choose to believe it.

The "antichrist" or "deceiver" is anyone who rejects the truth. We can discern what is not a truth - what is not truly of God - by its unloving character and its unscriptural basis. However, love and scripture are often claimed as validations for deceptions. We must become better educated, double-checking everything against the documents of the Church (which are readily available on the internet), because these teachings are based upon and help explain the scriptures.

Every day, we're exposed to the ideas and pressures of people who are gambling with their eternal happiness. Several prominent “Catholic ‘Progressive’” politicians from both parties come to mind, as well as some "believers" who would like to "Make America Great Again".  I will not name names, as I don’t wish to “bring him/her into my house and therefore share in their evil works”. They are like the folks in Noah's day, as Jesus pointed out, doing what feels right to them up until the very end, without regard to the warnings and commandments of God. They think they're sparing themselves from unhappiness and destruction, but "whoever tries to preserve his life by his own methods will lose it."

The laws, norms, and regulations of the Catholic Church are based on the supreme Law of Love so that we remain eternally alive in the saving love of Jesus Christ. If you doubt any of it, research it. If you doubt the adaptations, research it. If you see Church rules being practiced without love, don't let others dictate your understanding of the rules, research it. There is no excuse for mixing untruths with the truth, not in today's Information Age.

The Kingdom of God is Among Us

Asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, Jesus said in reply, “The coming of the Kingdom of God cannot be observed, and no one will announce, ‘Look, here it is,’ or, ‘There it is.’ For behold, the Kingdom of God is among you.”  Luke 17:20-21

The Kingdom of God is among you!  It’s the Kingdom present by grace living in our hearts and present to us in countless ways every day.

Jesus longs to reign in our hearts and rule our lives.  He is not the sort of King who imposes Himself in a dictatorial way.  He does not exercise His authority and demand we obey.  Of course, this will happen in the end, when Jesus returns, but for now His invitation is just that, an invitation.  He invites us to give Him Kingship of our lives.  He invites us to let Him take full control.  If we do that, He will issue commands to us which are commands of love.  They are decrees that draw us into truth and beauty.  They refresh us and renew us. 

Jesus’ presence is all around us.  His Kingdom is present every time charity is present.  His Kingdom is present every time grace is at work.  It’s so easy for us to be overwhelmed by the evils of this world and to miss the presence of God.  God is alive in countless ways all around us.  We must always strive to see this presence, be inspired by it and love it.

Am I a "Thankful" Christian?

And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan.  Luke 17:15-16

Most of us think we don't have enough faith, especially when our prayers don't get answered the way we'd like or when miracles we seek don't happen.

However, the opposite is true: We have more than enough faith, because it's a gift of the Holy Spirit, but we underestimate our faith. Our faith is mediocre because our lives as Christians are mediocre. We are an extraordinary people, but we're content with living merely ordinary lives so that God cannot ask us to do something outside the box of our comfort zones.

I’ve noticed that converts to Catholicism tend to be more on fire in their faith and more involved in the parish than "cradle Catholics".  I liken them to the non-Jewish leper in today's Gospel reading, who returned to Jesus full of praise. But, given human nature, I’m sure even they take at least some areas of our faith for granted. Converts tend to be more excited about their faith because they gave up something to get it.

The first reading at mass today reminds us of our responsibilities as Christians. Sometimes we take for granted God's mercy and so we presume that if we break laws, cooperate with dishonesty at work, complain about others, quarrel, or react rudely, etc., God will so quickly forgive us that he won't even notice it. When we take our faith for granted, we rationalize away the wrongness of wrong-doings. This is the sin of presumption and one that I confess to quite regularly, I’m afraid.

Have you ever noticed how many times Jesus says “Thank You” in the Gospels?  It seems he says words of thanks only to His Heavenly Father. Before He raised Lazarus from the dead Jesus prayed: “Father, I thank you for having heard me…” (Jn 11:41) At the last Supper the night before Jesus died “…taking bread and giving thanks, he broke it and gave it to them saying: ‘This is my body to be given for you.’” (Lk 22:18) Again before Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes to feed the 5000, “Taking the seven loaves, he gave thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute…” (Mk 8:6) Since everything belonged to the Father, His only possible response to God was a simple “Thank you!”

But to everyone else who befriended or helped him Jesus didn’t say “thanks”; instead he did something for them to show his gratitude. When Peter allowed Jesus to use his boat as a pulpit, he didn’t say thanks. Instead he provided him with the miraculous draft of fish. When Mary supplied the amenities that Simon failed to offer, Jesus said her act of kindness would be retold till the end of time. And when the Canaanite woman responded to his request for a cup of water, Jesus gave her water springing up to eternal life, the gift of faith.

When someone thanks us we know how it makes us feel satisfied, sometimes even needed. This feeling bonds people together making us realize that we are our neighbor’s keeper. Whereas ingratitude breeds ingratitude. When people react in an ungrateful way, it distances people one from another making them feel superfluous, perhaps even a nuisance or menace.

Following Jesus’ example is the path to holiness and eternal life. So being ever ready to express gratitude by deeds, or at least words of thanks, should be our spontaneous response to every act of help or kindness shown to us.

Elders' obligations

This reflection is really about and for elders….for people like myself. 

Anthropologists pay a lot of attention to elders.  It seems that our society so values youth that we often fail to see where the age and experience of older men and women can serve as valuable resources for younger men and women.  But sometimes I think that the frequent failure of young men and women to honor their elders has as much to do with the fact that elders need to make sure they are worthy of respect.   I am an elder and I accept what Saint Paul says to Titus (and to me, ultimately) about being consistent with sound doctrines in our behavior such as the ones he identifies.  No one disagrees that it is good to be temperate, dignified, self-controlled, faithful, loving, chaste, enduring and reverent; nor should we be slanderers or addicted to drink. 

Paul describes holiness as the sharing of our strengths and giftedness with others. Those with more experience should serve as examples of holiness. It's the ministry of evangelizing by mentoring.

Mentoring involves noticing which people God has placed in our path on the journey to heaven, then choosing to walk beside them. Sometimes they're crippled and need us to push their wheelchairs down the road until they can walk. Sometimes they're limping along and need us for a crutch until their legs get stronger. Sometimes they just need us to hold their hand as they make their way through a scary or confusing forest.

We have much that the Holy Spirit wants to offer them through our help, taken from our own healing, growth and learning processes. God has placed people around us who need what we can give. If we don't mentor them, they suffer from the absence of what we could provide. The consequences of this could be dreadfully long-lasting. We'll have to explain to Jesus why we refused to help when he comes to take us home to heaven.

We need to tell our own stories about trusting in God.  That is the power of faith stories.  Teaching younger people to do good instead of evil isn’t going to work if we take credit for our own goodness by bragging about how we followed the rules.  We’re just not that good and everyone has different challenges.  But if we share that our goodness comes from recognizing that our salvation comes from the Lord, we become more human and more credible.  And that should make us humbler.  None of us has earned the right to shame other people because of our own goodness.  I think Jesus, in Luke’s Gospel, is trying to tell us that we are good because we are obliged to be, not so we can pass judgment on others to secure a higher place for ourselves. 

Jesus warns us that if we do nothing more than our duty -- fulfilling our minimum Christian obligations so that we get to heaven -- we are "useless servants." Wow.  Let's become truly useful to our Lord! Let's not just go to Mass to fulfill our Sunday obligation; let's uplift the person who sits next to us. I pray that each of us can find a way to share our experiences of trusting in the Lord during our own struggles with a younger person who is struggling to do good. 

The hardest thing in life can be forgiveness

“Be on your guard!  If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.  And if he wrongs you seven times in one day and returns to you seven times saying, ‘I am sorry,’ you should forgive him.”  Luke 17:3-4

Complete forgiveness can be very difficult at times.  This is especially the case when the same person sins against you “seven times in one day” as Jesus says.  Parents know this feeling all too well, when their children continue to do things they have been told not to multiple times during the day.  We get very frustrated with our children or grandchildren, but Jesus’ words should be taken to heart.  He was not being idealistic; rather, He was being very realistic.  Forgiveness must be given, over and over and over again.  We can’t hesitate in offering it, especially to those who sincerely repent.

One of the first things we should notice from this passage is that when someone sins against us, we should rebuke him.  The rebuke is not to be an act focused on revenge; rather, it must be done so as to invite repentance.  This is the only reason for the rebuke of another.  If we have a sense that someone who sins against us may be open to change, then we must offer them a rebuke of love.  And when they accept it and seek our forgiveness, we must offer it.

But, as mentioned, this can especially be difficult when the sin is committed repeatedly.  It can become wearying and discouraging.  And when a sin is committed over and over again, it’s easy to become skeptical about the authentic sorrow of the one seeking forgiveness.

But none of that should be our concern.  Our only concern should be to hear those words, “I’m sorry.”  This is the command of Jesus.  When one says these words, we must forgive and do so immediately. I remember a line from an episode of the old series “Touched By An Angel”; “If you can’t find the love for another in you, let GOD love him through you.” Even when you think you can’t forgive, you have to anyway, as many times as necessary to understand what God’s love is for all of us.

Today’s Scripture verse also reveals to us the importance of expressing our sorrow to those whom we hurt.  It’s dangerous to simply presume that another will forgive.  There is great power in actually saying to another, “Please forgive me, I’m sorry for my sin.”  Though these words may be difficult to say, they are words of great healing.

We are all given numerous opportunities every day to forgive and seek forgiveness.  Do not hesitate in doing so and you will be grateful you did.

Lord, I am truly sorry for the many sins I have committed against You.  Please forgive me.  When I am obstinate, please offer me a rebuke of love.  When I need to ask forgiveness of another, please give me the courage to do so.  Jesus, I trust in You.

Prayer: A conversation with God

When I got to the church this morning to meet up with Alicia and Lily for mass, I had to park almost two blocks away, so I had a feeling something special was happening at this mass.  Sure enough, when I entered the church the first 10 rows of pews were reserved for catechumens and sponsors.  I thought “Someone is overestimating the number of pews they’re going to need.”  Then they started processing in with Monsignor Silva—all 60 catechumens and 60 sponsors!  Praise God!

While the Gospel was being proclaimed, a certain paragraph caught my attention and prompted my reflection today:

“Beware of the scribes, who like to go around in long robes and accept greetings in the marketplaces, seats of honor in synagogues, and places of honor at banquets. They devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext recite lengthy prayers. They will receive a very severe condemnation.”  Mark 12:38-40

The bottom line is the scribes were frauds.  They were consumed with a desire for “places of honor.”  They clearly treated others poorly: “They devour the houses of widows.”  What’s worse, they presented themselves as people of prayer when they clearly were not.  As a result, Jesus severely condemned them.  It reminded me of some career politicians on both sides of the aisle, as well as the occasional “flash in the pan” politicians. 

I think we can learn two things from this small passage from today’s Gospel:

1) The true “place of honor” is the place of the greatest humility.  True honor, in the eyes of God, is found when we serve without notice and give without recognition.  In this way our giving and serving are done purely out of a motivation of love and not self-serving intentions.  The humble person does not seek to be praised and honored for the love they give.  The act of giving and serving is itself the gift they receive.

2) Prayer is about one thing.  It’s about entering into communion with God.  It’s about establishing a relationship with Him in a deep, beautiful and abiding way.  It’s about love.  Prayer is not for show or to gain the admiration of others. 

Each one of the candidates at mass today was given a Bible to read and study during their discernment process until the Easter Vigil.  Monsignor Silva told them to “Read the word of God.  Read it out loud.  When you read it out loud—even to yourself—it allows you to listen to His Word, as well!”  Great advice I would give to anyone.

Lord, help me to be a person of true prayer and worship.  Help me to remain humble and true.  Help me to love You out of love of You alone.  Jesus, I trust in You.

An important feast day, and vacation memories

Lily and me praying in front of one of the relics from the Holy Land brought to Rome by Constantine's mother St. Helen.  This is said to be some wood that was part of the crib of Jesus.

Today in the Catholic Church we celebrate the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica in Rome. Constantine built it in the fourth century and the Church has been celebrating this on November the 9th at least since the twelfth century. This is a day to remember our unity with the Chair of Peter and the mother church. The great Basilica of St. John Lateran is the oldest of Rome’s four major basilicas and, unknown to many, the cathedral of the Church of Rome.  It is thus the official seat of the Pope and holds the title of “Mother church of the whole world” among Catholics. It ranks above all other churches in the Roman Catholic Church – even above St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. When my family and I visited Italy in 2015, and Rome in particular, we were blessed to be able to see and pray in the Lateran Basilica as well as the other 3 “Major Basilicas” of the Holy Catholic Church—St. Peter’s, St. Paul-outside-the-walls, and St. Mary Major. However, if we look at the readings for today, they challenge us to look beyond physical structures, even important, beautiful ones, and meditate upon our call to be holy temples of God.

A temple is to be a sanctuary, a holy place. From that temple should flow love, joy, peace, healing, and holiness. Ezekiel “saw” such a temple. Water flows out of it. That water makes salt water fresh and causes living things to multiply. Trees along the river produce abundant fruit and their leaves are used for healing.

The apostle Paul takes this image even further. He says that we as a people are God’s temple. To be his temple we need to stand on the firm foundation, the only foundation of this temple, Jesus Christ. Thus, when we serve the Church as builders by sharing our faith and bringing others into God’s temple, we need to be sure that we are bringing them into the temple that has Jesus as its foundation, and not a building of our own choosing. In fact, he gets fairly blunt about it. This temple is holy because the Holy Spirit dwells here. So, if we do anything to destroy that temple, God will destroy us.

John’s Gospel shows us how serious this is. Jesus drives the money-changers out of the temple. They had turned a house of prayer, God’s temple, into a marketplace. Did Jesus have the right to make this judgment and do what he did? Wouldn't it be wonderful if zeal for God's house would consume us all? Wouldn't it be wonderful if our first thought upon rising in the morning was, "Zeal for your house will consume me"? What does zeal for God's house look like?

For me, Zeal for God's house takes the natural form of loving each person as a separate and unique and loveable image of God. It does not consist in long lectures about right and wrong, or in diatribes about who is right and wrong. Instead it lives in leading by good example. You do what you expect others to do and you don't make a point of the failings of others, but instead, of how you love them.  How you love others shows the world what the House of God looks like; the extent to which we live that love shows the extent of our zeal.

Today we celebrate a basilica in Rome. We should look in the mirror and celebrate “that” basilica, too. May zeal for God's house consume us all and show us the way to love each person to an eternity of happiness with God and the whole human family who clings to Him. 

St John Lateran Basilica

Like all of the Basilicas, St John Lateran is beautiful and impressive

It is dedicated to both St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist

A Father's (and Grandfather's) Love is Boundless

 

One of the blessings God has given me in my newly-retired life is an “awakening” of my soul to the wonders of His unlimited and merciful love for His children.

A few years ago, one of my nephews posted a simple but profound statement that I’ve been thinking about the last couple of days after the birth of my 3rd grandchild, Paloma. “If we all give more to each other, we all end up with more for ourselves.”

I think a simpler way to put Alex’s statement is that love is never divided, only multiplied.

When Marilyn told me that she was pregnant with our first child, I was extremely worried. I didn’t know anything about raising a child! All that worry I went through vanished when I was in the delivery room, as I watched Alicia’s face appear and she looked right at me!  At that moment, I realized two things:  I learned what paternal love is all about—it’s an unconditional, no-holds-barred head-over-heels love with a built-in confidence in oneself. Nothing can take it away. And I realized that—biology aside—God creates children and presents them to loving parents, so they can experience the type of love He has for each of us!

A couple of years later, Marilyn told me we were going to have another “little one”.  My worry this time was different! I love Alicia with all my being, how could I ever love another child so much? Would I have to “split” my love between them?  Again, I didn’t have to worry. The minute Sarah was born, God gave me the grace to multiply my paternal love. I love each of my daughters the same—boundlessly, the same way our Heavenly Father loves us.

This same grace of paternal love was multiplied in my heart of soul for each of my granddaughters; Lily, then Josephine, and now Paloma. 

When God gives us children and grandchildren, He is putting trust in us to show them His love and to guide them on their own journeys towards an everlasting life with Him.  I, for one, plan to keep that trust.

An examination of conscience before casting my vote.

Tomorrow is Election Day. I voted by mail already, but for those who haven’t voted yet, may I suggest reading the scriptures read at Mass this morning for a little examination of conscience as well as an examination of the candidates and issues?  The readings can be found here:

Philippians2:1-4

Psalm 131:1bcde, 2, 3

Luke 14:12-14

Americans are in the process of discerning the right candidates for both national and local elections. We are asking, “Who can do the best job for us?” Implicit in our thinking is the question: Which candidates can best contribute to our personal prosperity. More starkly put: Who can do the most for me?

But in his letter to the Philippians Paul suggests a quite different criteria, a criteria that has less to do with personal self-interest and more to do with the welfare of the community: “Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but also everyone for those of others.”

As Christians approaching the election booth, we are encouraged to keep uppermost in our minds those candidates embracing programs fostering the best interests of our neighbors, and especially of our neighbors most in need.  As Christians we are asked to look beyond narrow self-interest and to ask who is advocating programs that can most contribute to the common good of our local and national communities. 

Scripture asks voters to transcend a cultural American individualism that focuses on personal interest and asks us to consider what best serves our communities.  And like everything else for those who wish to follow Jesus, the choices are never easy because each of the political parties embraces policies that hurt the most vulnerable of us.  Abortion is always wrong.  The death penalty is always wrong.  Discrimination and racism are always wrong.  Welfare programs are not evil, and they do not ‘breed’ criminals, they are charitable—although some take advantage of the generosity of others.  (Side note:  who cares?  As Christians we are called upon to be charitable for charity’s sake, not our own.)   Immigration and compassion must go hand in hand. Because someone has entered the country in a manner contrary to law and happens to need medical or other basic needs, it isn’t Christian to deny those needs, nor to complain about it while providing them.  Taxes are a necessary expense and should be paid, but we should also elect representatives who will use those revenues prudently and judiciously.  By these examples you see that I have pretty much offended hard line Democrats, Republicans, Independents and Socialists.  The only real choice we must make is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.  And to love our neighbor as ourselves. 

Pray before marking your ballot and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you.  He will, if you are truly sincere.  Don’t overthink your vote.  Whenever I notice that I am overthinking an issue, I try and remind myself that it’s not about me and my wants.  It’s about getting to Heaven and loving God and neighbor unconditionally.   I find that when I have stilled and quieted my soul and let the love of God and neighbor take over my mind…I have found my peace and I know I’ve made the right decision.  And if not, God knows my heart and will have mercy on me.

Let us each gently pray today about any areas of our lives where we are tugging, pushing or blocking God’s love and peace.  May God win, and may He bless America.

The greatest commandment

During our adventure in Murphys yesterday for the Day of the Dead festivities, Sarah and I had a few minutes of one-on-one “grownup talk”.   At one point I told her that my ‘job’ is to help her mother (and all of my family) to get to Heaven. And vice versa. I personally think I have the easier job. I sometimes make is very difficult for them.  It’s something I thought about again today after hearing the Gospel of Mark when Jesus is asked by a Scribe “What is the greatest commandment?”

His answer is to ask the Scribe the same question.  The Scribe gets it half-right at first. He says the first and greatest Commandment is to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.  But Jesus goes on to give us the second most important Commandment.  “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 

I think it’s rather obvious that loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strenghth is the greatest Commandment because how are you going to love your neighbor unless you love God?  God is perfect love.  Love of neighbor hinges on whether you love God with your whole being.  Only when you love God can that love overflow into other relationships.

Loving God with your whole self is, in my opinion anyway, the best way to also love yourself.  We were made for love and communion with God.  Loving God is not some extra favor we do for God; rather, it’s a way of fulfilling the deepest meaning of who we are.  We are made for love and we are made for God.  So, it stands to reason that loving God is the best way to love yourself.

From this starting point, we then move to a better understanding of how we are called to love our neighbor.  If the fulfillment of loving yourself is found by loving God and being in an intimate relationship of love with God, then you love your neighbor as yourself by drawing your neighbor into a relationship of love with God also.  There is nothing you could do that is more loving for others than to act as a bridge between them and God.  And the more directly you act as that bridge, the greater your love for them and the more completely you fulfill this Commandment.

"Love is our origin, love is our constant calling, love is our fulfillment in heaven."  These words are taken from the Preface of the Mass for weddings. Something there is within us of God as our origin and we need little explanation about our calling.  We need encouragement to keep learning, keep trying again and again to fulfill our deepest desires to be loved and to live in that holy land of loving others.

I recognize my marriage as my absolute duty, privilege and honor.  I hope the love I have and profess for Marilyn is a good example for my children as well as others.  Love is contagious, and it must consume everything we are and everything we do.  A heart full of love leaves no room for hate.

She gets it

Today Marilyn and I,  along with our daughter Alicia and granddaughter Liliana met up with our youngest daughter Sarah, our son-in-law Tony and our 2nd granddaughter Josephine in Murphys California for a dia de los muertos festival.  I think it’s a very good way to encourage my grandchildren in their Mexican heritage, since their fathers are both of Mexican descent.  It was our first time participating in this Mexican tradition.  We all had a lot of fun, with Lily and Josie dressed in traditional garb and make up.  

The purpose of the tradition is to remember family and friends who have died and to erect “altars” or “ofrendas” with a picture or two, some candles, maybe some sweets and beverages and to help them on their journey to heaven and to CELEBRATE rather than mourn their passing from this world to the next.   

The organizers of today’s event offered a table where any family who wanted to could erect an ofrenda and invite others to help them in their remembrances.  We decided we would participate, so we spent the last week getting a few things together to celebrate both mine and Marilyn’s parents.  It came out quite nicely, I think.  We were one of only about 4 families who put pictures and other things on the “community table” and by far ours was the most elaborate.  

The organizers also put out “sticky notes “ and pens so anyone who wanted to could write notes to their departed loved ones and leave them on the table in the hope that the rest of the community would pray for them as well.

By the end of the day there were about a hundred notes wishing well to numerous grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, and even children who had passed away.  It was quite moving.  But the note that made me cry the most, not because it was written by my granddaughter Lily, but because of its selfless sentiment was the note that read:  “I pray for people who have family that have died”.  

Stopped for ice cream. Yum!

A soon-to-be 10-year-old who instinctively understands and is a ‘card-carrying ‘ member of the Communion of Saints!  

She understands, without really “knowing”, that one of the most important things we can do is pray for those who may be in purgatory waiting to be made ‘perfect’ so they can enter the gates of Heaven, so that those in Heaven will in return intercede for us to Christ  and we may meet again in the Glory of the Father.  

Way to go, Lily!  “Oompah” loves you very much and is grateful you have my back when my time comes!