Created for Greatness

The Satan Combo

2012-03-05T15:53:00.000-05:00

“Whomever you forgive anything, so do I. For indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for you in the presence of Christ, so that we might not be taken advantage of by Satan, for we are not unaware of his purpose.” 2 Corinthians 2: 10-11

We all sin.

And by sin I mean we know what God has commanded, we know that He commands it for our benefit because He loves us, and yet we still freely choose to disobey His command. Why? Because we are tempted and sometimes we give in to the temptations and because our fallen nature tends to be inclined towards sin. In other words, it is easier to sin than to NOT sin.

We know this is true in our hearts and in our own experience of life. Which is harder? To stay silent when someone has made fun of us, or to say a harsh comeback? To get angry when someone cuts in front of us or to give them a sincere smile? To yell and scream at someone or to control our anger? To cheat on the test and get an “A” or to get the “C” we deserve? To put ourselves first or to put others first?

We have to recognize our enemy. Satan is a fallen angel who masquerades as an angel of light, a wolf who comes disguised as a sheep and a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. He does not stop to sleep or to eat, he has spiritual powers at his disposal and he knows how to tempt each of us in ways that are unique to our own weaknesses, personalities and temperaments. But in general, Satan has two big weapons that he uses in combination to tempt us in so many ways.

The first weapon is fear. Not a fear of the dark, his power, or of evil itself. But the fear of missing out, the fear that God couldn’t love us, the fear that God is trying to take away our freedom, the fear that others will have and we won’t, the fear that we won’t be happy, or loved, fear that we will be made a fool or embarrassed. So often, fear is the driving force behind many of the sins we commit. Like Adam and Eve, we are afraid that God does not have our best interests in mind, but that He is trying to hold out on us. And so we reach for the “apple”, we reach for the temptation dangling just out of reach, hoping that it will assuage our fears.

Satan’s second weapon is pride. Not a pride to make us feel good about ourselves, others, our country, our school or our place of business. But a pride that tempts us to think that we can know better than God, that we can become equal with God, or a pride in realizing that our free will gives us the power to limit God’s love and mercy in our own lives—a pride that tells us we do not need God. So many more sins are driven by this temptation of pride. We want to be independent, we want to be free, we want to make our choices and we don’t need ANYONE to teach us, guide us, show us or stop us! We don’t like being told “no” and so in our pride we think, say and do whatever we want, whenever we want. But in the end, like Adam and Eve, we do not become like God, we only become aware of our own nakedness.

If we can become aware that these two temptations of fear and pride are the weapons of choice for Satan, then we will have an easier time fighting and resisting them. The reality is that Satan used these same weapons against Jesus when tempting Him in the desert. Jesus knew Satan and his tactics. He defeated Satan in that desert and Christ defeated Satan for good on the Cross. And the grace He merited for us on the Cross is the weapon we use to fight back Satan’s weapons of fear and pride. With the grace of Jesus won for us by His unconditional love, all fear is driven out of our hearts and with the grace given us by the humility of Jesus, pride loses its power. This Lent, may we turn more and more to Jesus and allow His light to penetrate our hearts, casting out the sin and shadows of fear and pride.

Dear Jesus, please protect me from the fear and pride that Satan attacks me with each day. Help me to be secure in Your love for me. Help me to humble myself to Your will. Bring me more and more into the light of Your Presence each day. Amen.

“Leap” of Faith

2012-02-29T13:23:00.000-05:00

“While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them, ‘This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah.’” Luke 11: 29

I would wager that most of us have at one time or another asked God for a sign. Or at least we hoped for one even if we didn’t outright ask Him. Does this mean we are evil? I think we need to understand the difference between asking for a sign out of humility and a deep desire to only do God’s will and asking for a sign out of pride and doubt where we are only willing to believe in God or follow God IF He gives us the sign first.

I have encounter many people that are sincerely not sure God exists, but they WANT to believe. These people humbly call out in the darkness of their hearts and minds, yearning for hope and something real to base their lives on. They are seeking the Lord but do not know Him yet. In time, some sooner and some later, all of them found Christ. Their hearts were innocent and God revealed Himself to them over time, subtly, so as not to scare them away. But once they came to have that gift of Faith, nothing could hold them back.

On the other hand, I have encountered some people who are angry, resentful or filled with a knowledge based in pride that there is no God. And they are not sincerely seeking Him—at least not consciously. They do not ask God to reveal Himself, they CHALLENGE God to reveal Himself, assuming He won’t, because He can’t, because He isn’t. The sign they look for is a burden of proof, beyond ANY doubt, that God is real. They do not ask for Faith. They ask for proof and rarely do they come by it.

That is the real difference, one person asks for Faith, while another asks for proof. A person of Faith does not need a “sign” because we are going to follow the Lord whether we receive a sign or consolation, or not. Faith does not need a sign. Sure, they’re nice when we do get them, but we don’t need them to believe.

The greatest sign that anyone could ever need has already been given to us: Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, Who took on our lowly, human form and spread out His arms and died for us, so that we may live forever. We do not need any other signs to show us the love that God has for us. Jesus is not promising to lay down His life for us, He already has. And for 2,000 years, men, women, and children have believed in a God of such love. Once this unconditional love is accepted into our hearts and minds, no other sign is needed. Apostles preached this Sign, virgins sacrificed for this Sign, martyrs died for this Sign. And without seeing, we are blessed for believing in this Sign—the Person of Jesus. Let us take a “leap” of Faith today and ask for the gift of Faith—or a deeper Faith—so that we in turn, may become visible signs of Christ’s love to those who still seek Him and to all Whom He loves.

Dear Jesus, I ask You to grant me deeper Faith today. And please bless all those who do not believe in You with the absolute gift of Faith in Your love for them. Amen.

A Journey

2012-02-22T11:12:00.002-05:00

“And he sent them to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal [the sick]. He said to them, ‘Take nothing for the journey, neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money, and let no one take a second tunic.’” Luke 9: 2-3

Have you ever been on a journey? Perhaps it was a road trip, or you flew to another country. Maybe you did a hike or visited a new place. I remember when my wife and I moved from New Mexico to Pennsylvania almost 17 years ago. We were pregnant with our first-born and we packed all of our junk into the largest U-haul truck we could get. Then we rented a full car trailer and put our little brand new Geo Metro on it and pulled it across the country behind us. My wife had meticulously planned out the trip day-by-day with KOA campground stops each night along the way (with “pull-through” camp sites so I wouldn’t have to back-up the truck and trailer). We were young, in love, had little money and hit the road with optimism. And the very first day only hours into our trip, as we attempted to cross over the mountains of eastern New Mexico, the truck overheated and we had to pull over. This was before everyone had cell phones and we were stuck in the mountains in the middle of nowhere. We kept trying to restart the truck with no success, hoping a car would pass by. But no one passed us by. We prayed a LOT (and I am sure I got angry and yelled some too). Eventually the truck cooled down enough to start and we made our way down the mountains. But by this time we had lost so much time there was no way we were going to get to our first planned KOA campground. So we had to switch plans, stop at a hotel and go extra hard and long the next day to make-up for lost time. Eventually, after many days and other stops, some good and some not so good, we made it to Pennsylvania. I’m sure many of you have similar stories. This reminds me of Lent.

Lent is a journey, not an event. But many times I think we forget this. We start off with all of our plans set: what were’ giving up (chocolate, facebook, coffee, etc.), what we’re going to do more of (pray, go to daily Mass, be in silence), what relationships we are going to heal, what sins we need to confess, etc., etc., etc. And then by the first Saturday after Ash Wednesday we have often failed so miserably at our goals that we admit defeat and just give up. Or maybe we scale back our plans to more reasonable levels of success. But Lent is a journey and on any journey there will be set-backs, problems, failures, delays, triumphs, and unexpected surprises.

Lent is a time to remind us, like any pilgrimage we go on, that LIFE is a journey, too. Some days we will do well and others we won’t do so well. We will encounter sickness, injuries, and unexpected surprises along the way. We will encounter people that cheer us up or send us spiraling. We will do great things for the Lord and we will sin like we’ve never sinned before. We will ride high and we will crawl on the ground—and some days we won’t even be able to get out of bed. But life is a journey and we ALWAYS have the next day! We always have the love of the Lord for us! We always have His unending mercy!

So this Lent be not afraid to set your spiritual goals high, but do not get discouraged when you don’t always succeed. And if you are failing miserably by this coming Saturday, start over again on Sunday. Jesus has already done this journey and shown us the Way. All we need to do is pick-up our own crosses and follow Him.

Dear Jesus, give me the grace and desire to follow You more closely this Lent. Allow me to see this journey as a pilgrimage and example of my life’s journey. And when I fall, help me to get back up as You did, with my eyes ever on the prize. Amen.

Feast or Famine?

2012-02-09T18:19:00.000-05:00

“Therefore, let us celebrate the feast, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” 1 Corinthians 5: 8

Lent is fast approaching. And to be honest with you, I have a love-hate relationship with this annual penitential season of the Church. I love it because I know I need it for I am still far too selfish, greedy, and prideful. But I hate it because it is hard—well it is hard if you follow what the Church teaches about it, do what She obligates us to do during it and maybe even go a little beyond the minimal expectations of it. So I have to begin mentally preparing myself for it a little ahead of time, which is probably why I am thinking about it today.

I need to get ready to fast. Not just from food and not just on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. No, I need to get ready to fast from noise and busyness. I try to slow down a bit in my life during Lent (if possible) and I try to spend more time in quiet listening to God speak to me. I do this in a special way when driving in my car when I don’t turn on the radio or listen to my iPod. That’s right, no music, no sports talk, no games. Nothing. And sometimes for ministry I have to be in the car for hours driving from one retreat or another. But this is good for me.

I need to get ready to pray. Sure, I try to pray every day now, but in Lent I try to take it up a notch. I try to spend more time in prayer. I try to do the Stations of the Cross with my kids. I try to read my Bible more and with more reverence and focus, not just for my job or ministry, but to see what God is speaking to MY heart for ME. I try to engage more of my heart and mind at every Mass I attend.

I need to get ready to give alms. While my family tithes already, we try to eat more simply during Lent. No more eating out, less fancy meals at home. Less snacking, more sacrificing. And perhaps give more financially to others in need during this season; as a matter of justice, as a matter of faith.

What might God being calling you to do this Lenten season to prepare your hearts for the Paschal Triduum and for Easter? What will you fast from? How will you pray better? What alms shall you sacrifice?

At times the 40 days of Lent can seem like a famine in our lives, especially as we suffer through it while others do nothing different around us except perhaps enjoy a cheaper #9 value meal at McDonald’s (the filet-o-fish). But in this “famine” we find a spiritual banquet. And come Easter, we will have 50 days of “feasting”. A stark reminder of our lives: that when the days of our earthly lives come to an end, hopefully we will be worthy of the eternal feast of heaven. Not for 50 days, but forever!

Dear Jesus, please help to feast with You, to fast with You, to spend each and every moment with You in this life, so that I can spend eternity with You in the next life. Amen.

A Hole in the Brain

2012-01-24T18:06:00.002-05:00

“A fool’s mind is like a broken jar—no knowledge at all can it hold.” Sirach 21: 14

What is the biggest issue facing any government?

A thriving economy? Taxes? Care for the poor or disadvantaged? Having a powerful military to protect the nation or secure its interests abroad? Healthcare? Education?

What do you think the biggest issue is?

Are all issues equal, or is there a “hierarchy” of issues? Are some more important than others? Do any issues build upon other issues? Is there any one issue that takes priority over all of the others?

Well, let’s put it out there: there is no more important issue than the sanctity of life; especially for the most weak and vulnerable in our society—the unborn. In our current secular culture they have no voice, they have no rights. This is THE fundamental issue upon which all other issues and rights are built. If you and I do not have a right to be born, then what else matters? You don’t have to feed the dead, clothe the dead, protect the dead, listen to the dead, support the dead, heal the dead, or educate the dead. Interestingly enough we can and do tax the dead, but that’s another discussion.

Everyone should have a birthday. And so many don’t because in our culture unwanted children are a burden, pregnancy is a disease, and people want to live their lives and do what they want without consequences or obligations.

So if this is the most important, primary and foundational issue upon which all others are built, they why do so many good, well-intentioned Catholics vote for people who support and expand abortion in our world? I was speaking to a priest I know recently that said he has encountered several Catholics that go to Mass every week, live seemingly moral lives, are faithful to the Church in many ways, but at the same time, when it comes to the issue of abortion, they not only do not recognize the primacy of the right to life, but they do not even want to discuss it when it comes to politics or the “issues” that should be important to the government. His only way to explain this disconnect in the thinking of these people is that they must have “a hole in their brains” that simply keeps them from seeing how flawed their logic is in this regard. Rather than trying to be mean, this holy priest was trying to be charitable. He just could not comprehend how intelligent, Mass-going people could so easily disregard the issue of abortion as unimportant.

The reality is that if you are reading this and were born after 1973, you are only here because your mother allowed you to have a birthday. She could very easily have decided that you were an inconvenience, nuisance or burden and had you aborted. If we were blessed to have mothers who chose life for us, we have a moral obligation to speak for the voiceless today. Babies in the womb are more in danger from being “legally” killed than bald eagles, dolphins or certain kinds of turtles. It may not be politically correct, it may not be popular and it certainly won’t get good coverage in the media, but we need to understand and publicly promote that life is precious, that everyone conceived has the right to life, and that the other issues only matter if we protect this most fundamental right of all.

Dear Jesus, please give me the courage and conviction to stand up for the sanctity of life. Give me words of wisdom and a heart of charity to promote life at every opportunity. Thank you for the gift of my life. Amen.

If We Are the Body…

2012-01-19T18:28:00.002-05:00

“If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, his religion is in vain. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” James 1: 26-27

There’s a lot of people who say that you can have Jesus without the Church. They say that Jesus did not come to start a religion, but to bring us salvation by offering us a chance to have a personal relationship with Him and as long as we have that, everything else is extra, man-invented and often negative. But is this true? This is an important question.

Is it possible to believe in Jesus without the need for anyone else—either organized or unorganized? Is it possible to learn about Christ and come to know Him all by ourselves? Is it possible to know how to imitate Him and live our lives according to His teachings more than 2,000 years after He left the earth without anyone or anything to tell us everything He actually taught?

I don’t think so.

Even people who don’t believe in the Church or who see religion as extemporaneous will cling to the Bible as the Word of God—and as ALL they need. And yet the Church came before the Bible and in fact the Bible came out of the Church. Jesus never wrote ANYTHING. His followers did. And they were organized and preaching and doing missionary work and spreading the Good News LONG before the books of the Bible were fixed into place by the Church. The Apostles were even convening and praying and deciding things (like choosing a successor to Judas the Betrayer) before they starting going all over the world telling people about Jesus. Before most books of the Bible were written, leaders were being chosen and ordained (presbyters or priests) and deacons were being assigned to the tasks of the community. A structure, a Church, dare I say, a religion was in full force from Pentecost onward. Jesus even promised us in the Gospel of John that He would send the Holy Spirit to the Church in order to teach and remind us of all that He told us (John 14: 26).

St. Peter was made the leader of the Church when he confessed the Divinity of Jesus in Matthew 16 and in the same breath Jesus gave Peter the same authority that the Father had given Him. And upon this rock (Peter), Jesus said that He would build His Church. Finally, in Ephesians 1 St. Paul reminds us that Christ is the head of the Church and that the Church is His body. Jesus never wanted us to have a relationship with Him apart from the Church. He wants us to have a relationship with Him IN the Church. To become part of His BODY, a member of His body, not dismembered.

Are the people (you and me perhaps) in the Body, the Church, imperfect? Yes. Are we sinful? Yes. Are we at times the greatest hindrance for someone looking to find Jesus? Yes. Have horrible things been done throughout history in the name of religion? Yes. And should each of us in the Church seek the grace of Jesus each day and beg Him to help us be better members of His body—to be more loving, more merciful, less judgmental and more sincere and authentic? Absolutely. But Jesus knew that there would be weeds among the wheat of His people. And He promised that at the end the weeds would be separated and sent into the fire. He did not predict this to give us an excuse to be mediocre in our Faith, but to reassure us that He did come to build a Church and to establish teachings and moral commandments that would comprise a new and everlasting religion. The Church is holy because Jesus is holy and the Church is His body. It is THROUGH the Body that the Head teaches, sanctifies, forgives, nurtures, dispenses, evangelizes, admonishes and inspires us to greatness. Let us be thankful that He didn’t leave us on our own to try to figure everything out.

Dear Jesus, thank You for leaving us with the Church imbued with Your authority. Help me to be a holy member of Your Body so that I may be an authentic witness of Your love and mercy and not a stumbling block for others. Amen.

Superstar

2012-01-09T10:58:00.000-05:00

“After their audience with the king they set out. And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the child was. They were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” Matthew 2: 9-11

So what is leading you to Jesus today? For the magi it was primarily a star. Interesting that God used what was familiar to them in order to bring them to Jesus. They were not Jews, they had no prophetic books to tell them of the coming king. They were foreigners from a distant land who trusted in the signs of nature and the night sky to point them in the right direction and when the fullness of time came, The God of the universe and the stars used a star to point them in the right direction—in the direction of Jesus. Of course part of the reason for the magi and their visit was to begin to let us know that Jesus did not just come to save the chosen people, but He came to save everyone.

What’s also interesting about the story of the magi is that when you read Matthew 2 1-12, we see that God used many things to point the magi to Jesus, not just a star. And for us reading these ancient passages, it comes alive to us here the present by showing us how many things pointed them—and us—to Jesus. How many things in these short verses pointed to Jesus and His birth? For starters, there was the star. Then Herod assembled the scribes and priests which represented the people of God. Then there was the prophetic texts they read to show us that the Christ would be born in Bethlehem. Then, even the wicked King Herod told them to “Go and search diligently for the child”. Finally, even in a dream was used by God to communicate with them. So God used five different means to show them the way. From nature, to religion, to the Bible, to a wicked person, to a dream; God used them all.

So again, how in your life is God leading you to Jesus. There is only ONE WAY to the Father, and that is through Jesus. He said that He was the “way the truth and the life”. But the Father uses many, many ways to point us and lead us to Jesus, who in turn will lead us to the Father. It is in God’s mercy and goodness that He seeks to show us in so many ways how to reach His Son. Perhaps in our own lives it will be something we read or a song we hear on the radio. Maybe a story told to us by a co-worker or classmate. More often than not our sickness and suffering may just be the means that the Father uses to show us the love of Christ in our lives—not that He causes the pain or suffering, but that through it He brings about the greater good of uniting us more closely to Jesus. Maybe, just maybe an enemy will speak Truth to us without even realizing it. Perhaps we will encounter someone in need that will be the concrete image of Christ for us today. And even from this person we will gain insight into finding a deeper place in our relationship with Christ.

If we are seeking the King, as the magi did—if our eyes and ears and hearts are open to finding Christ, then the signs will be everywhere; the signs that show us His love, His power, His mercy, His glory! But if we are looking for ourselves, or pleasure or simply our own interests, then nothing will appear as a sign for us, no matter how many of them God throws in our paths. God’s only desire is that you and I should come to know Him. And He will use any means to help us see Jesus.

Dear Jesus, help me, like the magi, to seek You this day and always. Help me to see the signs the Father puts in my life everyday that point me to You. Amen.

Poured Out

2012-01-05T17:21:00.000-05:00

“Then he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me.’ And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be poured out for you.’” Luke 22: 19-20

If you are Catholic then you know that recently we had a new translation of the Roman Missal introduced at all of the Masses in the English-speaking world. One of the most significant changes in the translation occurs during the consecration. Instead of saying the word “shed” for what Christ will do for us with His blood, we now use the more accurately translated words “poured out”. This is significant and worthy of our reflection.

Anyone can shed their blood, right? I just had to put a band-aid on one of my sons this morning where he shed his blood from his toe after his younger brother pushed him down during an argument. All of us have had knicks, cuts, scrapes, etc that caused us to bleed. And while these were not necessarily voluntary, they were times of shedding blood. Some of us have even voluntarily shed out blood to donate it to the blood bank or the Red Cross to help someone else in need—most of the times a complete stranger. But have we “poured out” our blood for another?

If we imagine Jesus on the cross merely shedding His blood for us, the image seems somehow incomplete in my mind, as if somehow He were being forced against His will and His power to endure this action against Him. And yet, Jesus while fully human was and is also fully God. And in this mysterious union He willingly laid down His life for us. It was not an action forced upon Him but an act of His will, both human and divine to pro-actively pour out His entire self, all of His Body and all of His blood in order to show us how much He loves us; in order to free us from the chains of sin and eternal death. Jesus was not merely a passive victim on the cross; He was actively offering Himself for us, holding nothing back and sparing not even one single drop of His precious Blood to save us. When the soldier pierced His side, the Blood and water poured out from His Sacred Heart washing away our sins and cleansing us from our iniquities.

He shed His Blood during the scourging, but on the cross He poured it forth for our salvation. And in the Eucharist, at every Mass, He continues to empty Himself for us in an unbloody manner, but all the same completely offering Himself to the Father on our behalf just as He did at Calvary. At that moment in the Mass the veil between heaven and earth is lifted and the sacrifice of the cross is made present to us and the Blood of Christ is poured out into our bodies as we receive Him in this Blessed Sacrament. May we seek to empty ourselves for Him and for others in imitation of our Lord.

Dear Jesus, thank You for pouring out Your Blood for me. Through the grace of Your complete sacrifice, may I offer myself more completely to You and to others each day. Amen.

Not the Christ

2012-01-02T13:20:00.000-05:00

“And this is the testimony of John. When the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to him to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ he admitted and did not deny it, but admitted, ‘I am not the Christ.’” John 1: 19-20

Of all the things St. John the Baptist said as he prepared the way of the Lord, perhaps his simple declaration “I am not the Christ” was the most important. And it is a lesson for us as well because it is a declaration that each of has to admit in our own lives, perhaps many times over. To make this statement is to at the same time be filled with a sense of freedom as well as apprehension to some degree.

On the one hand, to admit that “I am not the Christ” is freeing because it allows us to let go of the control we try to hold onto in our own lives or in the lives of others. It allows us to relinquish everything to Jesus. I am not the one who saves, He is. I am not the one who will solve all of the problems in my life, He is. I am not the one who can change myself or others, but He can. In this freedom we can be more peaceful, more hopeful, knowing that everything does not ultimately depend on us, but on Him. It is much easier in life to be the “saved” than the “savior”. All we have to do is admit that we do not know everything, that we do not control everything, that we cannot do everything…and let go. This admission of His sovereignty is freeing. It allows us to be who we were created to be.

On the other hand, when we acknowledge that “I am not the Christ”, we also admit that we are not the Lord, but Jesus is. And so in this sense we are perhaps filled with a certain amount of apprehension or holy fear, knowing that when we admit that He is the Christ, we are saying that we will obey Him and follow His will. Part of the letting go of this statement is also letting go of the desire to do as we please when we want. We are saying that Jesus is the Lord of our lives, not us. We are saying that He is the one we will follow, not our desires. We are saying He is the one we will listen to, not our culture. This side of the declaration requires humility and reverence on our part. It also requires us to trust Jesus with our lives. It helps us to point others to Jesus and not to ourselves and our accomplishments. It allows us to see our place in the world and in God’s plan, without becoming overly inflated.

St. John the Baptist had a large following and he spoke Truth with conviction and he lived a radical lifestyle and people were attracted to that, as we all are, because we are attracted to greatness. But he also lived in the humble and freeing knowledge that he was not the Christ. His desire was not to gather followers, or to be known, or to become popular. His desire at all times was to point people to Jesus, the Savior and Lord of his heart, the One who would bring salvation, peace and joy to every human heart that accepts Him with the same declaration “I am not the Christ”.

Dear Jesus, grant me the grace to declare to myself and to others that “I am not the Christ”! Like St. John the Baptist, may my life and words only point to You, my Savior and my Lord. Amen.

Nonperishable

2011-12-29T17:19:00.000-05:00

“God so loved the world that he gave his Only Begotten Son, so that all who believe in him may not perish, but may have eternal life.” John 3: 16

Perhaps you have seen the unmistakable banner held aloft in the crowd behind the end zone as the kicker tacks on the extra point after a touchdown. Or maybe you saw a bumper sticker on the back of the car in front of you while you were stuck in traffic. Then again, maybe you were handed a Bible tract on the streets of your downtown by a well-meaning Christian trying to spread the basic Gospel message on a warm Spring afternoon. John 3: 16. One of the most famous and often-advertised verses of the entire Scriptures and one that many people know by heart. The basic message of God’s rescue plan in a succinct sentence; the Gospel in a nutshell. It’s no wonder that this verse is used during the Christmas season because it was for this, for love of US, that God became an infant and was born of the Virgin Mary. It was for love of US that He humbled Himself and became one of US in order to save us. It was for love of US that He healed the sick and cast out demons from the afflicted. It was for love of US that He subjected Himself to obedience to the Father’s will and suffered and died at the hands of His own creation so that we might be with Him forever in heaven.

If we believe.

If we believe. And this is the crucial point. We live in a cynical and sarcastic world. We are surrounded by hypocrisy, arrogance, confusion and doubt. But what will convince someone, in the end and to the heart, of the reality of God and His love for them? Will it take a miracle? How about good preaching? If we win an argument or a debate with an atheist? No. What will convince the majority of unbelieving people to believe in God is when they see those of us who do believe living that way. So a guy holds up a John 3:16 banner at a football game, while at the same time gets drunk at the game. So the person driving the car in front of you has a John 3:16 bumper sticker, but then flips someone the bird when they cut in front of her. So the sidewalk evangelist hands out tracts all day while condemning and judging anyone that does not take a tract. Is it harder to hold up a banner, or glue on a bumper sticker or hand out a tract, or is it harder to truly LOVE others as God loves them?

Once upon a time a Hindu government official from Indian remarked that if all Christians were like Mother Teresa, then there would be no more Hindus. Presumably he meant that if all Christians lived out their beliefs with such love as Blessed Teresa of Calcutta that every Hindu would convert to Christianity. All of us sin and fall and thanks be to God for His limitless mercy. But we must realize that WE are the only Gospel someone might read today. WE might be the only Jesus someone encounters today. WE might be the only love that someone experiences today. And this is what will ultimately bring belief to the heart of an unbeliever. We will never be perfect in our actions, but we can seek perfection in the way we love; so that we may believe more sincerely and be the means of belief for others through the grace of Jesus.

Dear Jesus, help my unbelief this day and help me to live in Your love in such a way that it draws others into true belief in You. Despite my failings, may I each day be an instrument of Your grace. Amen.

Breaking Dawn

2011-12-22T12:00:00.000-05:00

“In the tender compassion of our God the dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace.” Luke 1: 78-79

The word “passion” comes from the Latin root meaning “to suffer”. This is why the crucifixion of Christ is often referred to as “The Passion”. Christ was so passionately in love with you and me that He was willing to endure the ultimate sacrifice and suffering in order to open the doors to heaven for us so we could be with Him forever. When we look at the Latin root of the word “compassion” it means to “suffer with”. This is huge! Many times perhaps, we think of compassion as sympathy—merely feeling sorry for someone hurt or in need. But compassion is so much more than feeling bad for someone else; it moves from sympathy to empathy in action. And this action is to join with the person in their suffering: we go to the homeless, we hug and cry with the sorrowful, we visit those in prison, we get cut and dirty and sweaty working on projects for a workcamp or service mission with our church. We live with and eat with the people in Africa or Asia or Central America when on a mission trip. We sacrifice our own time for a friend that needs to talk. In other words, we don’t just go around feeling sorry for people while still continuing to live our own isolated lives.

And this is what God did (and still does) for us. He did not stay in heaven feeling pity and mercy for His people who had turned from Him while at the same time content in the love of the Trinity. No, His perfect love compelled Him to come down to this Earth He had created from nothing, to become one of the creatures He had made in His own image from clay, to humble Himself and come as an infant, helpless and in need of His own creation to care for Him, feed Him, change His diapers. He grew-up like each of us grows-up. He went through acne and puberty and school (at home). He learned obedience and sacrifice from Mary and Joseph and He got cut when he fell down, He got blisters from working carpentry, He experienced hunger and thirst, He was too hot and too cold at times and He knew fear and anger as well as joy and gladness. And in the end He knew what it felt like to be abandoned, betrayed, falsely accused, humiliated and hated.

Jesus came into our darkness like dawn breaking over the horizon and His light will penetrate deep into the darkness of our hearts if we allow Him to join with us in our suffering. This Christmas let us meditate on the tender compassion of a God who loves us so much!

Dear Jesus, thank You for Your tender compassion. Thank You for joining me in all of my sufferings so that I can trust You at every moment. With Your grace, may I open my heart fully to the dawn of Your presence in the very depths of my heart. Amen.

Tim Tebow’s Secret

2011-12-16T16:30:00.003-05:00

“Brothers, I for my part do not consider myself to have taken possession, Just one thing: forgetting what lies behind but straining forward to what lies ahead, I continue my pursuit toward the goal, the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3: 13-14

There is so much fascination right now with Denver Broncos’ quarterback Tim Tebow—from that fact that he is a good football player, an outstanding role model and an outspoken follower of Christ. And people can’t wrap their minds around what makes him so fascinating. Media pundits, football analysts and other “talking heads” keep trying to figure out why this young man is so positive, so energetic and so contagious. They say he is not a good quarterback, and yet he keeps winning. They keep trying to catch him doing or saying something “unchristian” and yet he doesn’t. He gets baited in almost every interview and some opposing players mock him outright on the playing field. And all the while he keeps winning and smiling and blessing people.

But you know what? Tim Tebow’s secret is never going to be figured out by people without Faith because it isn’t about football, or being a good quarterback, or even being a nice guy. Tim Tebow’s secret is that he is more passionate about Jesus Christ than anything else in the world. And with this intimate relationship with the Savior as the foundation of his life and the center of his heart, everything else falls into place and nothing else matters. So he loses a football game, no biggie. So he loses the starting job, no biggie. So people don’t like his outspoken beliefs, no biggie. So people say he can’t play in the NFL as a quarterback, no biggie. Everything can roll off of him and he can smile because the God of the universe is his BEST FRIEND! If you’ve got that, you’re good. And on the flip side, when you don’t have to worry about pleasing people and making a name for yourself, you can just do what needs to be done and do it well because there is no pressure. So because of his relationship with Christ, because of this security, he IS a good football player, and he is winning and he can be a nice guy and smile even in the face of scorn or defeat. Tim Tebow knows what so many in the world do not: that his happiness is not dependent upon anything or anyone on this earth, but only in Christ.

The reason people are drawn to Tim Tebow is because he does everything to give God glory, not himself. He is kind, generous, humble, self-sacrificing, hard-working and dedicated; all traits that people are naturally drawn to, because our hearts are seeking Greatness whether we know it or not. If we could realize that we were created to find Greatness in Christ alone, then the world would be a different place. And Tim Tebow’s secret wouldn't be a secret any longer.

Dear Jesus, please grant me the grace today to keep my eyes on You and not be distracted from looking at things that can never satisfy my heart. May I come to love You more and more each day. Amen.

Occupy Heaven

2011-10-27T16:39:00.000-04:00

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea was no more…I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, God’s dwelling is with the human race. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will always be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, for the old order has passed away.’” Revelation 21: 1, 3-4

People have been trying to create heaven on earth for as long as history has been recorded. Perhaps this desire for a paradise on earth is simply a logical result from being kicked out of the Garden of Eden. Maybe there is something within us that wishes we could go back to a place that never will be again. Or maybe we desire it because we know this earth is broken and temporary and that God created us to yearn for wholeness and permanence. But will we EVER find that and be satisfied in this life?

Of course as followers of Christ we should be at every moment seeking ways to bring justice and peace to our earth right now. Just because our hearts and souls long for our eternal home does not mean we should abandon the cries of the oppressed and poor during this earthly journey. We should use our time, talent and treasures to further the kingdom of God on earth. We should seek to serve others and show others the love and hope of the Lord. And yes, we should use our freedom and democracy in America to vote for leaders who will also seek to use the weight and power of the government to join the Church in seeking justice and peace, not only in our land, but around the world as we are able to do.

However, if we think that the government is going to save us, we are sadly mistaken. If we think that some form of economic socialism will bring utopia to the world, we are missing the boat. If we think that we can simply throw enough money, goods and military might around the world and people will be at peace, we are not recognizing the fundamental Truth that every human being is broken, sinful, wounded and capable of giving into the temptations of power, greed, and corruption. There is no human institution, government, military or economic model that will bring paradise to this earth.

Only the grace of Jesus can motivate us and give us the strength to bring any semblance of peace or justice to our world. And occupying the inner cities of the world demanding money and resources and jobs is not going to work either. We need to stop demanding things! We need to humbly SACRIFICE in our own lives and love until it hurts, like Jesus. Then, and only then, will we begin to see true peace and justice in the world. And even then, there will still be brokenness, selfishness and temptations for us to act contrary to love. So does this leave us with no hope? On the contrary, as we continue to cooperate with God’s grace, make sacrifices for others and try to love others by meeting their needs, we also offer hope in a life to come—in a home that is eternal, where no one will go hungry, homeless, naked or in fear; a place where every occupant is completely filled with love, peace, joy and ecstasy forever and ever. Amen?

Dear Jesus, please help me to look at my own life and find ways that I can sacrifice more to help others in need. Help me to fight the temptations of greed and power in my own heart and through my actions to bring others the hope that can be found only in You—the hope of everlasting life in heaven. Amen.

I Can Do All Things...But Should I?

2011-10-24T16:08:00.003-04:00

“I have the strength for everything, through him who empowers me.” Philippians 4: 13

There is nothing that we cannot accomplish because the grace and power of the Lord Jesus Christ lives in us and if we are open to allowing this power to flow through us and animate us then nothing can stand in our way. It is this power and grace of Jesus in and through the Holy Spirit that gives us the ability to love, to be compassionate, to lead others closer to Christ, to be patient, to be humble, to follow in His footsteps along the Narrow Road. With Christ we can do all things, but apart from Him we can do nothing. Without God’s grace and power, martyrs wouldn’t give their lives, people wouldn’t repent and conform their lives to the Gospel, no one would answer God’s call as missionaries, no one would preach or teach the Truth and no one would be healed in body or soul.

But just because we can do all things through the power of God, does not mean that we are called to do ALL things. God is not giving you the power to do EVERYTHING, just the power to do His will for YOUR life. This many seem like an obvious distinction, but some people seem to miss it by the way they live their lives. The world is so busy and fast-paced today and we forget that our lives as Christians should be impacting our culture, not merely reflecting it. The reality is that even as Christians, doing Christian things, we can get too busy. We can begin to convince ourselves that because the things we do are for God or the Church, then we are supposed to be doing them.

All things we do for Christ MUST be because Christ asked us or led us to do them, not simply because we think we ought to because they are good in and of themselves. I am not speaking about moral good and evil here. Obviously we need to always do the good when compared to evil. I am talking about all the things we volunteer for, or help out with outside of our families. There will always be people in need. The question is not whether we should help or not, we should. The question is where and how much? And the answer to this not only depends on our state in life and other obligations, but most importantly, where is GOD leading me?

The only way we can be sure that we are doing the things Christ wants us to do, and no more or less, is to be in prayer and contemplation every day. If we are not always seeking deeper union with Him, if we are not listening to His voice, if we are not slowing down to contemplate and meditate on what is really important, then we risk missing the big picture and doing things for the sake of doing things. And at that point we don’t offer anything of value or hope to a world that so desperately craves it. We only look like a Christian version of everyone else and we end up burned out. Is that what God really wants of us?

Dear Jesus, I desire to serve you with my whole heart and with all my being and I know that with Your power I can do all things. Help me to spend time with You each day so I can authentically discern what exactly it is You are actually calling me to do and what You aren’t. Amen.

The Ties That Bind

2011-10-13T17:59:00.002-04:00

“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” Ephesians 5: 31

There is a LOT of talk about marriage these days isn’t there?

Who should be allowed to marry? Why are people getting married later in life? Why are so many people getting divorced? What’s wrong with homosexual marriage? What’s the difference between divorce and an annulment? But are we really asking the right questions? Are we asking the foundational questions upon which the answers to all other questions can be based?

For instance, the best first question about marriage is: who created marriage? If it is nothing more than a contract between two people recognized by the state, then that leads to a host of one set of answers to the other questions we mentioned above. As Christians we do NOT believe that marriage is a human institution. We believe that marriage was created by God. In fact, we read in the book of Genesis (repeated in the passage from Ephesians above), that marriage was the first sacrament, the first sign of God’s covenant with us. Bl. Pope John Paul II called marriage the “primordial” sacrament. Marriage is a covenant between man and woman that binds them together. This covenant is the sign of God’s love for the Church and it is the first thing done after creation is complete. And nothing else in creation marries but the man and woman. No animals, no birds; only Adam and Eve who are our first parents and also represent all of humanity.

The next foundational question we must ask is: what is the purpose of God creating marriage? The rest of the world might say again, that it is a legal contract between two people, any two people, who are in love (and some might argue more than two people). As Christians we believe that the purpose of marriage is unitive and procreative. In other words, marriage is for bonding and babies. Why? In this sacrament, the one man and one woman give themselves to one another in self-donating love that is free, total, faithful and fruitful. They are bonded to one another in the sacramental grace given to them and this selfless, sacrificial love, then bears fruit in the form of another human person.

If we understand and accept the Truth of these two primary and foundational questions, then all of the other questions about marriage can be answered from a place of hope and honesty. Without the knowledge of where marriage came from and what it is for, we are left to the whims and waves of this present culture to determine for each person their own definition of marriage and how to live that out. By understanding that marriage was created by God, not man, we realize that it is sublime and mysterious and that we cannot tinker with it without dire consequences. By understanding that the purpose is to bond man and woman with God and each other in such a deep, covenantal, sacrificial, self-donating love that the marriage becomes a family and communion of intimately connected persons we realize it is more than just a fulfillment of one’s own needs or desires. Let us pray for a greater understanding of marriage and a greater desire to embrace self-donating love.

Dear Jesus, may I always seek to love others as You loved. And with Your help and grace, may the dignity and sacredness of marriage be protected and encouraged in our culture. Amen.

May the Force Be With You

2011-10-11T16:12:00.002-04:00

“Therefore, remember that at one time you…were at that time without Christ, alienated from the community…and strangers to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who were far off have become near by the blood of Christ.” Ephesians 2: 11-13

There are a lot of people in the world, in the United States, maybe in your community or school, who are atheists or agnostics. They do not believe in any kind of God or “higher power”. Most of them subscribe to one form of communism or secular humanism—the belief that this world is all there is, science tells us what is real and truth is really whatever you want it to be. The belief that this life is all that there is, there are no angels, or demons, or any kind of “unseen” powers in the universe and that ultimately when we die, that is the end. So this life is about making utopia for real for now, or else to simply try to live life obtaining as much pleasure as possible.

On the other hand, a lot of other people are “spiritual”. Ancient Greeks were spiritual. American Indians are spiritual. Tribes and peoples in Africa and Central America are spiritual. Eastern mysticism from the Far East is spiritual. Yoga is spiritual. Heck, astrology is kind of spiritual too. At this point in the United States the majority of people would say that they believe in God or a “higher power”. In other words, they are spiritual. But is just “spiritual” enough?

Perhaps atheists and spiritualists are really the opposite sides of the same coin. Despite their differences in beliefs about the existence of unseen powers, they both want to live lives according to themselves, without any interference from anything or anyone, be it seen or unseen. In other words, they do not want to be held accountable to any standards not set by their own minds or emotions. Atheists want to advance their lives through science and spiritualists want to manipulate the spiritual world for their own benefit. Both are disconnected from “religion” or a personal, intimate God. Neither recognizes Jesus Christ as our Savior and neither feels compelled to live according to an objective moral standard or worship anything outside of themselves.

Living by either of these philosophies can be dangerous. The secular humanists offer little hope and the spiritualists offer too much. What the worlds needs is Jesus. We need to become so intimate with Him that others cannot dismiss Him. Our words need to be His words, our thoughts His thoughts: our deeds, His deeds. Without an intimate relationship with Christ grounded in a joyful, obedient presence in the Church, we offer the world nothing different than secular humanists or spiritualists.

I think it is very easy to see that world is not devoid of spiritual powers and beings. I think it is easy to see that these spiritual powers and beings must be more than some impersonal “ying-yang” force. And yet, so many people miss this reality and settle for believing only that which can be understood or manipulated by either the mind or the heart. May we have the humble courage to show them another way, a way of authentic hope and true freedom.

Dear Jesus, help me to reflect You in all I think, say and do today. May my relationship with You expose the reality of the spiritual world to those who do not believe and may my presence in the Church expose those who believe in anything to be grounded in the Truth. Amen.

It Takes All Kinds

2011-10-04T16:57:00.002-04:00

“The Lord said to her in reply, ‘Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.’” Luke 10: 41-42

It appears from this passage about Martha and her sister Mary that Martha gets a bad rap, doesn’t it? Here she is serving Jesus and the apostles, feeding everyone, taking care of everyone’s needs, washing the dishes, etc. and all the while Mary just sits at the feet of Jesus listening to Him. At first when Martha complains we sympathize and expect Jesus to chastise Mary for her apparent laziness and inconsideration to her sister. And yet, somewhat surprisingly to some people, Jesus actually gentle challenges Martha to spend less time worrying and trying to control things and to let go and rest in His presence like Mary. Wow! Didn’t see that coming at first, did we? Especially in America, where hard work and productivity are highly praised and someone without work is labeled as lazy (many times unjustly).

But is Jesus really praising the fact that Mary is doing nothing? Of course not. It’s not so much that she is doing nothing, but she is doing something that has more value at that moment. There is a time for everything and when in the presence of Jesus, He is telling us to simply let go of our worries, put down our burdens, forget about what people think of us and allow Him to speak to our hearts and be refreshed in His presence.

However, if we look a little deeper into Scripture we find another story about Martha and Mary. In the Gospel of John we learn that Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary has died. Jesus goes to the tomb and when Martha hears about His coming she runs to Him and talks to Him and shows her faith in Him as the Savior. She still has hope at this moment of grief. She is bold and she is trying to solve the problem. All the while this is going on, Mary, the one who basked at the feet of Jesus, is not even able to go to Him now. She stays at home wallowing in her grief until Jesus calls her.

What this tells us is that there are all kinds of people and personalities. Martha is more of a go-getter, a doer, perhaps a leader. But her weakness is that she tries to control everything and trusts herself too much. In addition, she judges others easily because she expects others to be as productive and attentive as she. Mary on the other hand appears to be more free-spirited. She loves deeply, feels deeply and has dramatic emotional highs and lows. When she is feeling “up”, nothing can stop her, but when she is feeling “low”, nothing seems to give her hope. Perhaps this is a weakness for her. One is not better than the other. The reality is that God has made all kinds of people and He calls each of us to Him and while we respond in different ways, there is much that we can learn from one another. Where our weaknesses lie, another might have strengths and vice versa. Instead of attacking, judging and condemning one another, let us learn from one another as we all seek to respond to the Lord’s call.

Dear Jesus, both Martha and Mary loved You. Both had to learn to trust You and let go of what they were holding onto. Please give me the grace to trust You, to let go of what I need to and to follow You every day. Amen.

Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

2011-09-29T13:45:00.000-04:00

“Those who want to be rich are falling into temptation and into a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge them into ruin and destruction.” 1 Timothy 6: 9

Do you want to be rich?

I know, being “rich” is a relative term isn’t it? I mean, most of us would not think we are desiring to be rich just because we wish we had enough money to cover all the bills, put food on the table, pay the mortgage, keep the kids in activities and sports they want to do, take a nice vacation every year, have a few nice cars, be able to put aside some money for retirement and pay for our kids’ college—and all without the uncertainty or fear of where the money was going to come from, whether we had enough each month or if we will still have our jobs next month. That’s not too much to ask is it?

Or perhaps as a young person all we want is enough money to buy a car, pay for the insurance and gas, have an iPod and nice cell phone and some money leftover each month to hang-out with friends at the movies or a restaurant. Again, not too much to ask for, right?

I think we have to understand that Jesus is never saying that money or possessions is sinful in and of itself. So having money for all the things mentioned above is not bad. But what Jesus does warn us about in the Gospels several times is the desire for money or wealth or things. And this is where we can easily get into trouble. Why is this desire for financial security sinful? Basically because it implies two things: 1. We need this stuff to be happy and satisfied and 2. We put more trust in money than in God.

Of course we know the reality is that we do NOT need money or things to make us happy. And in many cases having lots of money or possessions actually leads to unhappiness. Think about people who win the lottery. I’ve seen some statistics that within 5-10 years after winning many of them are bankrupt and/or divorced. And what about all the famous movie and rock stars that drug themselves constantly, sometimes to the point of death? Shouldn’t they be happy with all the money and wealth they’ve acquired?

What happens when we place our trust in creation instead of the Creator? We know too well that we were created for the eternal, not the temporary. If we place our hope and trust in money, there is no amount of money that will ever satisfy us. And our God is a jealous God. He created us for Him and Him alone and He will not stand by and watch us make gods out of things He has created. He loves us too much to allow us to live lives of comfortable mediocrity. And so He will call out to us, He will invite, He will knock, He will whisper to our hardened and jaded hearts. He will never give up pursuing us and drawing us to Himself. He knows that when we pursue things other than Him, that it will ultimately lead us to destruction. And so because of His great love for us He rocks our world. He allows us to suffer, to fall down, to get hurt, to fail. In the hope that we would recognize that nothing in this life is permanent and nothing we do or accomplish or acquire will protect us, fill us—save us! He wants us to live a life of greatness and He will not stop until either we say “yes” or go to hell saying “no” for all of eternity. Our heavenly Father wants us to be rich for all eternity, not temporarily in this life.

Dear Jesus, please help me to only desire You. If my heart ever begins to turn from You and is tempted by the gods of this world, do whatever is necessary to bring me back to You. I want to know the riches of Your glory, Lord. Amen.

Not Against Us

2011-09-26T20:14:00.002-04:00

“Jesus said to him, ‘Do not prevent him, for whoever is not against you is for you.’” Luke 9: 50

At the end of the American Civil War, many of the Union generals and politicians wanted Lincoln to punish the South very severely and have them pay, both financially and otherwise, for the war that ravaged the nation. But Lincoln was not of that mindset. He was concerned that if he proceeded with justice, that there would never be peace between the North and South. Perhaps to this day there would be hostilities of some kind in our land if not for the foresight of this noble man; so instead of continuing to exact a toll of consequence on the South and its people after the war was over, he instead reached out to the South and had the federal government begin a plan to assist the South in rebuilding. His agenda and goal was clear when he said, “Does not he who becomes my friend cease to be my enemy?”

I think we can learn a great deal about how to live as Christians in the post-modern world from the example of Abraham Lincoln and his response to the South at the end of the war. It is easy (or easier) to look at others not like “us” and consider them outsiders, imposters or cheats. Maybe we look down upon certain kinds of people as stupid, uncultured or backwards. Perhaps we are suspicious of others different in some way from us. But don’t you think there are enough enemies and threats in the world without us creating them?

Certainly Satan is the enemy, not another person. And any person who is doing Satan’s work is to be pitied, not scorned. For surely that person is being used with or without their permission. Did Jesus or the Apostles hate Judas for betraying Jesus? No. The point is that Satan is going to throw things at us our entire lives, both big and small and the best way to counteract his darts is with prayer, humility and love. We have to realize and recognize that God can use ANYONE and He has used anyone. Who WE think He should (or could) use is not relevant. In fact, more often than not, God chooses to use those that we might least expect for the greatest accomplishments.

How often have we prevented someone from becoming what God was calling them to be? How often have we prevented someone from living a life of greatness? How often have we prevented someone from achieving success? All because we held to a prejudice or judgment against that person. God never holds anyone back, but we sure do, don’t we? Perhaps this day we can seek to empower and encourage, to lift up and to advance others, thus created friends, brothers and sisters, where the potential for enemies once stood.

Dear Jesus, help me to see others as You see them and to always seek to win them over by love. Do not allow my prejudices to ever hinder someone from living the life of greatness You have called them to. Amen.

Flip Flopping

2011-09-25T17:54:00.002-04:00

“When John came to you in the way of righteousness, you did not believe him; but tax collectors and prostitutes did. Yet even when you saw that, you did not later change your minds and believe him.” Matthew 21: 32

When most of us hear that someone has changed their minds about something, especially a politician, we assume the worst about them and accuse them of “flip flopping”; which means we question their sincerity about their new position. And perhaps in some, maybe many cases, people do change their minds for expediency sake or for personal gain. But isn’t their plenty of times and situations where being stubborn is not a positive quality, but rather shows foolishness? Wouldn’t it be better at times to change our minds or our positions on an issue or an opinion rather than stubbornly stick to our guns? I could argue that in some cases we might be tempted by the sin of pride to “tow the party line”.

This is what Jesus is talking about in our Gospel today. And once again we see Him challenging the Pharisees who remain so stubborn to their prejudices. Can’t we be like them? We can be tempted as Christians to think that we are better than others, that we have sacrificed so much to follow Christ, that we do so much for Him. We can sometimes think that we deserve more or that others should be punished while we are rewarded. Perhaps, like the Pharisees, we are jealous of God’s mercy. Maybe we would get mad to think that a major public sinner might make it to heaven before we do. Maybe we think God should be harsher on people than He is.

But to think and act like Jesus is to REJOICE when others come to Him. It is to be filled with hope and happiness when others excel in the faith. It is to praise Him when others advance beyond us in spiritual maturity. So many people say “no” to the Lord, including us. How heaven must rejoice with one voice when someone says “yes”. And does it matter whether that “yes” was as a child, a teen, middle age or at the end of one’s life? It seems to matter less to God when we say “yes”, but that we do. And we don’t know when God is really calling someone. We don’t know when He sent the grace needed for someone to heed the call. We don’t know what was going in their lives before they said “yes”. Often it is those who are broken that have less pretense. And this humility means that when they do say “yes”, it is true and real and comes from the heart, rather than from the lips. May we say “yes” with our hearts and actions and not only with our words.

Dear Jesus, give me the grace to respond to Your call today and to help others hear Your call by loving as You love. Amen.

Skimming the Surface

2011-09-22T14:15:00.002-04:00

“Here deep calls to deep in the roar of your torrents. All your waves and breakers sweep over me.” Psalm 42: 8

The other day I was on a retreat and there was a beautiful pond on the grounds. During some quiet time I went down to the dock and laid down looking over the edge into the water. I could see about two feet down before the vegetation and lack of sunlight blocked my view. Curious as to how deep the water might be at the end of the dock, I went back to where there was a tree o the shoreline with branches scattered on the ground. I picked up a long, flexible switch and went back down to the edge of the dock where I proceeded to poke the stick down, down into the inky blackness below. Right about the time the end of the stick began to near the surface of the water, the top of the stick hit the bottom of the pond. It ended up being about five to six feet deep at that point.

As I continued to lay there thinking, I began to swing the stick back and forth across the water in front of me in a giant sweeping motion, just skimming the surface, like making the stick skip across the water. I began to go faster and faster, using more strength as the stick jumped and skipped across the top of the water, causing really cool little waves and patterns in the water. All the while tiny droplets of water would spray into the air gleaming like diamonds as the sunlight hit them just so. It was all kind of child-like and magical until WHAM, I went a little too downward with my swing and instead of skimming across the surface of the pond, the stick plunged a good foot into the water below. Talk about almost ripping my arm out! But I was then curious to see what it would take to pull that stick through the water instead of just skipping across the surface. And so several times I would plunge the stick into the depths and try to swish it through. What I found is that I had to use both hands, more energy and that the results didn’t seem as spectacular as when I skimmed the top. No cool patterns or waves, no magical mists, no gleaming liquid diamonds arching through the air; just a tough struggle to pull that stick through the water and up and out the other side.

I think this is a lot like our relationships or our ministries. It seems easy and fun and cool to keep everything on the surface level, right? We can spend time with someone, do something fun together, work together, minister together, but not get too involved with who they really are on a deeper level. I’ve seen marriages like that, friendships like that, youth ministry like that, Mass done like that, kids treated that way by the parents. But when we have those types of relationships, when we experience that kind of prayer or ministry, don’t we yearn for more?

I know that we can’t—and shouldn’t be—truly deep with everyone we meet. But does that mean we have to be as shallow as possible all the time? I think people stay on the surface because things start getting messy when you break the surface. We start to let down our guard, we show our weakness, we share our pain and sorrows, we admit we aren’t perfect and that we need help. People stay shallow to protect themselves. But when we do ministry this way, or never attempt to go deeper with others, then we are missing something special in our lives. Yes, it is harder, no it isn’t as flashy. Yes, it requires more time and attention and gift of ourselves. No, it isn’t as fun. But in the end, the more we attempt to connect with people on a deeper level, the more enriched both lives will be.

Certainly God is looking to go beyond the surface of our hearts today. Have we let Him? Or are we keeping the Lord from reaching into the depths of our hearts. Maybe it’s time to open wide the doors to the deepest part of our hearts and let God call out to us and show us His love, so that in turn we can do the same for others.

Dear Jesus, I want don’t want to be shallow. Help me to go deeper with You today. I want to experience You below the surface so that I can relate to others at a deeper level. Amen.

This is the Message of the Cross

2011-09-14T15:33:00.002-04:00

“And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” John 3: 14

Our sin is greater than we can imagine.

After everything that God has done for us, all out of love, we still choose to follow ourselves and to reject His love. Even the weight of one venial sin would be enough to condemn us to hell, let alone the countless mortal sins committed every moment around the world. Yet for all of this sin and all of the punishment that it deserves, our perfectly just God is also a God of infinite mercy. And so instead of allowing us to go to hell for all of eternity because of our sin and inability to atone for it, He loved us in the most profound, most perfect, most sacrificing way by allowing His Son to die on the cross in our place. Only the atoning sacrifice of CHRIST could cover the justice our sins demand. And freely, out of unconditional love for you and me, Jesus humbled Himself, took up His cross and allowed His own creation to kill Him.

We really cannot begin to grasp the immeasurable love it took to do this. We truly cannot fully comprehend the grace merited for us and for all people through this supreme act of selfishness on the part of our God. And there is no way we can ever repay it because it is so exulted above anything we can offer. There is nothing we can say or do, no holiness that we can achieve, no sacrifice we can offer—even our own lives—that can equal what Christ did for us.

All that we can do is to accept this love. The real difference between someone who chooses hell versus a person who chooses heaven is whether or not they were able to humbly and fully accept this love of God. That’s it. But God will not force us to accept His love. So, are we humble enough to accept the love offered us from the cross? Are we willing to admit that we cannot save ourselves? Are we honest enough to confess our sins?

To sin in any capacity is a rejection of this love, but to reject this love is to reject the gift of eternal life offered with it. And for those who reject this love to the end, there is no remedy.

Dear Jesus, thank You for saving me through Your sacrifice on the cross. Help me to accept Your amazing love and gift and to love You back as best as I can. Amen.

Aroused

2011-09-13T16:07:00.000-04:00

“The Lord has given me a well-trained tongue, that I might know how to speak to the weary a word that will rouse them. Morning after morning he opens my ear that I may hear…” Isaiah 50: 4

Have you ever heard a sermon or a speech that woke you up, put a flame in your heart, or ignited some passion that was buried deep within you? Have you ever read something or heard a piece of music or a song that struck right to the center of your heart and moved you to tears or made you get up and dance?

I think the human soul has a great capacity for emotion and honor and ideals. I think we all aspire to something better, higher, greater. We are elevated by eloquence and beauty, by passion and determination, by Truth and loyalty. We recognize goodness and we want it. We yearn for peace and love. We hope for compassion and mercy.

But the culture of death seems to strike at these aspirations at every opportunity. People are mired in sin, people hate, they murder, they tear down and make fun of one another. People don’t forgive, they hold onto grudges, they want revenge. People are stressed, marriages are falling apart, we work too hard, we strive for things only to watch them crumble before our eyes through divorce, lay-offs, broken promises or natural disasters. And so as the ideals and aspirations of our souls collide with the realities of life thrown at us each day, we get weary. We get overwhelmed. We stop dreaming, stop hoping, stop trying and settle for mediocrity and “just getting by”.

This is not the life that Christ has called us to. Even in times of real sadness and strife, real pain and loss, the light of Christ should still burn deep in our hearts and bright enough for others to see. Recently Pope Benedict XVI said that Christians were not living faithful lives and that people are missing Christ because we fail to show Him to them. How do we do this?

Let’s start with the simple task of trying to daily rouse others. You know the person I am speaking about: the guy at work that is always down, the girl in your class at school that walks around with that painted smile on her face. The people you see in the grocery store, the mall, at the post office, driving around town. That kid on your soccer team, the elderly next door neighbor, the harried waitress serving you lunch. The words, tone of voice, facial expressions and body language we use has the power to rouse these people from their weariness. Can we solve all their problems? No, in fact we won’t even know what all of their problems are. But for the moments they encounter us, they will experience a kindness, a smile, an uplifting word. We might make their day or just give them a small moment to feel special, to feel noticed, to feel unique. To feel LOVED. And who knows, once they are roused from the burdens weighing them down, even for one brief second, the grace of God through that encounter might take root in their souls and remind them of the aspirations for beauty and Truth and greatness. And maybe, just maybe, they stop settling for second best, for mediocrity, for just getting by, and they wake up the next day and begin to change the world.

Dear Jesus, please help me to see beyond my own pain and suffering and become a word to others each day. A word that will rouse them from their weariness and instill a desire for greatness in all that I meet. Amen.

Famous Last Words

2011-09-11T14:22:00.002-04:00

“Let the words of my mouth meet with your favor, keep the thoughts of my heart before you, Lord, my rock and redeemer.” Psalm 19: 15

Today we remember and we will never forget.

What is stressing you today? What is bothering you? Is there anything causing you to lose sleep or fell anxious with worry? Do you believe the lies others tell you about yourself or are you trying to live up to standards that others have set for you? Do you feel like a failure? What is the measure of “success” that you are striving for? Perhaps you wonder what life is all about or if what you work so hard for is worth it?

I have a feeling that these were the kinds of questions that daily crossed the minds of many of the people who perished on September 11, 2001 in the Twin Towers. That is, until they were faced with imminent death and the stark reality of their own fragility, their own helplessness, their own mortality. And in those moments, between when the planes hit and the buildings fell, many of them were able to make phones calls and talk to loved ones, 911 dispatchers or leave voice mail messages. And you know what? At THAT moment, under THOSE black and white, life and death instances, each of those people talked about family, about love, about God, about forgiveness. They told parents and spouses and friends to take care of those left behind, they said good-bye, they saw in fine detail the only real important things in life. And they spoke the Truth.

With their last words and last breaths, they reminded us to have perspective and to see the BIG picture, the eternal picture. The reality that life is precious and precarious. That we need to let things roll off us, that we need to stop sweating the small stuff. That we need to live for others, not for what others think of us. That we need to love and love big and love deeply and love unconditionally. That we need to forgive and stop holding grudges. That we need to be prepared to meet our Lord at anytime.

What started for so many that morning as a “normal” day ended with the dawn of eternity. And their greatest legacy is what they left behind for us: their courage, their hope against hope, their voices, their now famous last words. May we never have to endure something like this again, but may we also never lose sight of the Truths taught to us by strangers caught in the fleeting moments between life and certain death.

Dear Jesus, welcome into Your eternal Kingdom all the innocent victims of this horrible day. May we honor them by remembering their last words and living for You with the knowledge that each day could be our last. Amen.

You’ve Been Warned

2011-09-06T18:16:00.002-04:00

“If I say to the wicked man, You shall surely die; and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his wicked conduct so that he may live: that wicked man shall die for his sin, but I will hold you responsible for his death.” Ezekiel 3: 18

Anyone feel like being a prophet today?

If you do then you probably haven’t read much of the Old Testament and don’t know what normally happens to prophets: they aren’t popular, they don’t have many friends, they aren’t too liked, they are attacked from every direction, they are often in trouble with the government or leaders and more often than not were either sent into exile or executed because they wouldn’t shut-up. So again, anyone feel like being a prophet?

The world is in desperate need of prophets right now. And we’ve had some good ones recently like Blessed Mother Teresa, Blessed Pope John Paul II, Pope Paul VI and our current Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI. But how many young people in your school, or on your sports team, are listening to the pope? How many of your friends search the Internet for the writings of JPII or Paul VI? How many teens are really going on retreats and conferences where Truth is being spoken and where they are being show charity in the form of warnings about sin and its consequences? How many teens are being respected enough by the adults in their lives to be challenged to live in the manner they were created for? Who are the prophets that the Lord is calling up in your school, your town, your parish? Could it be you?

I think all of us are called to be prophetic in one way or another. I doubt if many of us are called to jump up on the table in the cafeteria at school or work in the middle of lunch and start shouting out spiritual warnings to our peers. But perhaps being prophetic is to live our lives with such holiness and love that people want to be like us (which really means they want to be like Jesus, right?). Perhaps there is a friend in your life that is heading down a wrong path that really needs you to show them the way.

We all want to be liked, but is that the highest calling we have in our lives? Is that what will fulfill us the most? Is that what we want to be able to hang our hat on at the end of the day? Is that what we want our obituary to say about us: that people liked us? Because honestly, it is pretty easy to be liked. But most of the time it involves compromising who we really are and avoiding all conflicts. And in the end, we might be liked, but will we be able to respect ourselves?

Many people in our world today are caught in sin and don’t even know that they are spiritually dying. But they know they are unhappy and unfulfilled. They are desperate for someone, anyone, to show them a better way. Will it be you and me? If so, here I am Lord, ready to do Your will.

Dear Jesus, give me the grace to be prophetic today. Allow my life to reflect Your Truth and love and when I need to speak warnings, let me do it with courage and with love, so that I may help others. Amen.

Curiosity Killed the Cat

2011-08-17T17:48:00.000-04:00

“I, the Lord, the God of Israel, warn you not to let yourselves be deceived by the prophets who live among you or by any others who claim they can predict the future. Do not pay any attention to their dreams.” Jeremiah 29: 8

Have you noticed lately that it’s cool to have a Daily Horoscope app on Facebook? Even among professed Christians and Catholics I see this pop up every day on my newsfeed. Of course, horoscopes are still a popular piece in most newspapers and women’s magazines. Drive around almost any city in the United States and you can find people that claim to be fortune-tellers or psychics putting out shingles and setting up shop. And we see more and more Christians involved in New Age mysticism, crystals, healing magnets and even yoga. This stuff isn’t new. Astrology, palm reading, reading tea leaves—they’ve been around for thousands of years. Perhaps in different forms from culture to culture, but black magic, voo-doo, soothsayers, “spirit guides” and the like have always been around.

In today’s culture Christian people that dabble in these things often say that they are just forms of entertainment, exercise, stress-relievers—or they are just curious. They don’t really believe in it, so why not get out the Ouija board or Magic 8 Ball and ask some questions, or read the horoscope in the paper, or use the Daily Horoscope app on Facebook or go to the yoga class at the local community college? What’s the harm, right?

The problem is that whether one believes in the powers of these things or not, the powers are there. And they aren’t from God. So if there are really supernatural powers behind these types of activities, and they aren’t from God, then they are from Satan. And do we really want to be messing around with the powers of Satan—even for entertainment or exercise? This is why the Church so strongly condemns all of these kinds of things. And Scripture is pretty clear about all this as well. As people of faith, we are supposed to be putting all of our trust in the providence of God, not trying to figure out what the future may hold. Ultimately, trying to learn knowledge apart from God or to gain peace apart from God, will lead us to despair. We don’t need yoga to bring our minds and bodies into a place of peace, we need the Prince of Peace. We don’t need to know what the future holds, we need to know the One who holds the future. We don’t need to speak to or hear from relatives and friends that have died, we need to pray for their souls. We don’t need to ask a Ouija board for the answers to life, we need to ask the Author of life. We don’t need charms to protect us, we need the Blood of Jesus!

Dabbling in these forms of evil and thinking they are innocent is like swimming in the ocean unaware that a tidal wave is on the way. As followers of Jesus we need to be very sober about the ways Satan uses to trick us and ensnare us, especially the ways that seem innocent. The Bible says that he will masquerade as an angel of light and a wolf in sheep’s clothing, but that he is a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. May we always steer clear of these false and dangerous gods and instead throw ourselves more and more into the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the grace of the sacraments, Scripture reading, prayer and works of mercy.

Dear Jesus, help me to see clearly the ways of Satan and to always keep close to You. Through Your grace may I trust in You alone and allow You to hold me and my future in the safety of Your loving arms. Amen.

Intruder Alert

2011-07-25T17:23:00.000-04:00

“All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.” John 10: 8

So last night after my youth ministry meeting one of my core members went to turn-off the lights in a closet of the gym that we forgot about and as they opened the door, someone jumped out of the closet, pushed them over onto the gym floor and went running out of the building into the night. Talk about scary! Naturally the police were called and burly guys with guns and flashlights and K-9 dogs came to search the building and the surrounding neighborhood. Fortunately no one else was in the building, but unfortunately they didn’t find anyone in the neighborhood matching the description of our intruder.

Of course, now the questions linger: how did he get in a locked building? Did he sneak in at the beginning of youth group as people were coming in? Did he nonchalantly walk through an open door as people were leaving? Did anyone see him but think he was just someone’s dad or older brother? What, if anything, could we do differently or better to keep everyone safe? What was this guy planning to do in the empty school building after we left?

So a lot of my time and energy has been spent reflecting on this incident and talking with the principal and pastor. And as I have been thinking of all that happened, it dawned on me that in our spiritual lives we have thieves and robbers constantly trying to get into our souls, minds and hearts. And I wondered if we always recognize this reality? And are we putting enough time and energy and thought into protecting ourselves from these dangers?

These thieves and robbers are of course Satan and his minions, all the rest of the demons who manipulate and pervert and corrupt our culture and attack us in a myriad of ways. The lies and deceit that he throws at us in our own minds: self-doubt, self-hatred, confusion, anger, despair. The false hope of happiness he offers us through our daily consumption of what the media has to offer us through music, TV, movies and the Internet. The heresy he spews through false preachers and prophets that leave us in confusion and fear. So how do we protect ourselves from these constant assaults?

We pray, we keep ourselves connected and rooted to Jesus through the sacraments, especially Eucharist and confession, we join with other believers in community, we fill our minds with Truth from Scripture, the Catechism and from other writings of people holier than us and we keep our minds and hearts from the perversions of the mainstream media.

If we can lock doors to buildings, keep lights burning all night, set alarms, stay with others, keep out of dangerous parts of town, carry weapons for self-defense, be aware of our surroundings, put up fences and pay taxes for a police force, why can’t we be more vigilant with our souls, minds and hearts? I guarantee the price we pay for losing or damaging them is far higher and more lasting than the things of this world which we are so good at protecting.

Dear Jesus, please help me to recognize the threats against my soul and cling to You more closely and trust in Your protection. Help me live in the light so that the smallest threat against me can be exposed quickly and dealt with. Amen.

Terrorism

2011-07-24T16:31:00.002-04:00

“God’s faithfulness is a protecting shield. You shall not fear the terror of the night nor the arrow that flies by day.” Psalm 91: 4b-5

This past weekend a madman in Norway killed almost 90 people, many of them young people at a youth camp. He apparently entered the camp dressed as a police officer and not only shot people point blank, but would lure people over to him with his disguise and then shoot them while looking them right in the eyes or as they ran away or tried to swim to safety. Terrorism has many faces and it comes in many forms, but at its heart it is the same: take people from their safety and comfort and not only injure or kill them, but do it in the most terrifying way and fill their hearts and minds with terror at the same time. And the other point is to leave fear in the hearts and minds of each of us who see the images or hear about the attacks. Unfortunately this is not new and more unfortunately, it will not be the last such attack in the world. From the Middle East to Africa, from Europe to the United States, there are people bent on filling the world with fear, destruction and death until they get their way. In addition, there are also very unstable people who inflict this kind of mayhem on others without any kind of reason or ideology.

So what is our response as people of faith? Well, certainly prayer for the victims and for those who think killing and terrifying others is a morally acceptable course of action. Others may be called to heroically defend innocent people as members of the military or as police or other defense officials. Still others may be called to help find and mend the injured as rescue personnel or medical professionals. But most of us will simply try to live our lives and hope to not get caught in the middle of someone else’s hallucination or agenda. But as we do this, will we live in fear? Will we always be looking over our shoulder? Or will we just try to ignore the danger and try to acquire as much wealth as we can and have as much fun while we can?

I think that if Jesus is the center of our heart and the foundation we walk upon, then we have no reason to fear anyone or anything. Certainly there are times and situations where we will be afraid and there might be instances where our intuition saves us or protects us from being vulnerable. But I think as people of faith we go through this life realizing that this life is not the only life we were created for and that we need to pursue greater things than simply the goods and pleasures this life has to offer. We also realize that even if everything and everyone in this life were taken from us, that Jesus remains and that He is in control and that He will not abandon us or leave us. Ultimately we realize that while we do not have to let this world become hell, we also do not want to think it will become our heaven either.

And so with this mindset, this faith, this grace filling our hearts, there is no room left for fear. God does not promise that we will never get sick or die. He does not promise that we will not suffer. But He promises to be with us at all times—even in the face of terror. And with this comforting thought we journey on ready to face whatever the Evil One throws in our path.

Dear Jesus, thank You for Your presence with me. Thank you for protecting me and being faithful to me. Help me to always keep my heart and mind filled with You and Your grace so that there is no more room left for fear. Amen.

Too Much Spice?

2011-07-21T19:04:00.000-04:00

“Children too are a gift from the Lord, the fruit of the womb, a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children born in one’s youth.” Psalm 127: 3-4

Not sure if you heard the world-wide news yet, but David Beckham the soccer star and his Spice Girl wife just had their fourth child. Who cares you might ask? Apparently lots of people; especially in the UK, where the birth of this precious little one has been met with cries of criticism. The naysayers protest the births of this many children to one couple, claiming that it is irresponsible to the environment, global warming and overpopulation. People in the media and the government are now asking—demanding—a national debate on what the appropriate number of children a couple should have might be. Really?

Consider that most of Europe is in such population decline that most of the governments have to import immigrants from Africa and the Middle East to keep their economies afloat. Consider that many countries like Russian and Japan actually offer monetary incentives for couples to have children because their birthrates are so low. Consider that while the world’s population may top 8-9 billion by the year 2050, most population experts expect it to begin dramatically dropping after that. Consider that we do not have a food shortage in the world, rather we have a distribution problem and a problem of corrupt governments and tyranny in too many countries. Consider that we too, are often wasteful and not willing to sacrifice as much in wealthier countries so that others could enjoy more of what we take for granted.

Children are NOT the problem! Children are always a gift. Isn’t it interesting that in poorer countries, people keep trying to have more and more children. Prideful “Ivory Tower-types” from Western countries claim that this is because of the ignorance of these people, as if they are not much more than cattle or animals. But the truth is that children represent HOPE to people in poverty. Children are seen as treasures, not as burdens to avoid as is so often the case in First World countries.

Raising children is hard work. It takes money to feed them, clothe them, care for them and educate them. But they are a BLESSING! Every one of them, no matter the circumstances of their conception, no matter what they look like or what they act like. Children cause us to try to improve ourselves, sacrifice ourselves and become more noble and less selfish. They give us hope and they help us to rediscover the beauty and joy of the world as we watch them explore and squeal and feel things so deeply. Their innocence cuts to the core of our hearts and challenges us to be better so we can preserve their innocence and so we can live a bit of their lives all over gain in our own hearts and minds.

Dear Jesus, thank You for new life and for the blessing of children. May the world come to understand the treasure of children. Amen.

The Kingdom of Heaven

2011-07-20T17:32:00.002-04:00

The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.” Matthew 13: 44-46

What is the kingdom of heaven? On first glance when reading these parables in Matthew’s Gospel we might think he is actually speaking about heaven, as in our eternal home. But a close read shows us that this cannot be: how can the Evil One come and sow weeds among the wheat in heaven? When will the end come that the weeds and wheat need to be separated? When we look closer at these parables we see that Jesus is referring to the Church when He speaks of the kingdom of heaven.

So yes, we can have weeds among the wheat in the Church. And yes, they will be separated at the end of time. But do we see the Church as a treasure? Do we view the Church as valuable as a pearl of great price? Have we come to understand the depths and greatness of value that we receive from the Church and from being members of Christ’s Body? If we did, then why are we so hesitant to sacrifice EVERYTHING for the Church? Why are we so willing to abandon the Church and Her teachings at the first feelings of peer pressure or when the media and culture bash Her? Why are we so ashamed to bring Christ and His Body into the public arena?

We have lots of businessmen and women who happen to be Catholic on Sunday, but what the world needs is more CATHOLIC businessmen and women. We have lots of physicians that happen to also be Catholic, but what the world needs are CATHOLIC doctors, willing to bring the moral and ethical teaching of the Church into the operating room and the exam room. We have lots of politicians that happen to be Catholic (and some that think they are Catholic), but what the world needs is CATHOLIC politicians, willing to bring their Catholic beliefs into the way they vote and try to help and lead society. We need men and women ready to sacrifice their lives for their spouses’ and their children. We need men and women ready to sacrifice everything and become priests, sisters and brothers.

But are we willing to do this? Or is it too hard? Many businessmen and women seem to choose riches and short cuts over ethics. Many doctors seem to choose science and cultural prejudices over Catholic moral teaching. Many politicians seem to choose a political career over following their personal convictions as Catholics. And perhaps you and I are too willing to succumb to peer pressure or cave into the culture when it comes to how we live and act as well.

We need to recognize the great treasure we have in the Church: the Eucharist and the other sacraments, the huge body of moral theology to guide us, the rational and historical reasons for Faith in Jesus, the Saints, Sacred Scripture—so much offered and yet we so often view the Church as archaic or out-of-touch or irrelevant. Shame on us! May we come to see the kingdom of heaven in our midst and be willing to sell and give up everything in order to gain it and help others to find it.

Dear Jesus, thank You for Your Body, the Church. Help me to recognize the beauty and worth of this gift to the world. May I always sacrifice everything to be one with You. Amen.

To the Last Drop

2011-07-19T18:43:00.001-04:00

“But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out.” John 19: 33-34

I helped save a life today. Maybe even more than one. How? I gave blood. And the one pint of blood taken from my body can be used to help people in surgery, or NICU babies or people involved with traumas that have lost several pints of their own blood. And you know what? It feels good to donate blood. In fact, since I am not afraid of needles, am relatively healthy, am not anemic and have the time to do it, I feel like blood donation is a moral necessity for me. To be given the ability and the chance to help save a life doesn’t come every day and so I try to give as often as I am allowed.

But if I really think about it, it doesn’t take much for me to do this. There isn’t really much sacrifice and truth be told, I still get to keep more than 90% of my blood. So my gift, while generous, is not a total gift of self. Jesus, on the other hand, spared not even one DROP of His precious blood to save not one life, but all of humanity—all who have ever lived, all who live now and all who ever will live. From the first droplets that flowed from His burst capillaries through His sweat glands in the Garden of Gethsemane to the rivers that flowed from His scourged back and nail-pierced hands and feet to the very last remaining reserve in His heart before it was pierced with the lance—Jesus gave it ALL. He held nothing back.

Jesus’ gift to you and to me was complete and it was TOTAL. He gave everything so that we might be saved from the fires of eternal damnation. So that we could live with Him forever in heaven. So that we could become what we were truly created to be. So that we could know love in every fiber of our being without end. What a God we serve! A God who would sacrifice Himself on behalf of His creation. A God who would humble Himself to become one of us. A God who would love us first and who ALWAYS initiates relationship with us. A God who gave us every bit of Himself on the cross, even to His last drop of blood. May we seek to love as He loved, to give of ourselves TOTALLY to Him and to others in return.

Dear Jesus, thank you for saving me with Your Precious Blood. Thank You for Your endless mercy. Give me the grace to respond to Your love with a total gift of myself. Amen.

Signs for the Times

2011-07-18T18:15:00.002-04:00

“Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to him, ‘Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.’ He said to them in reply, ‘An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah the prophet.’” Matthew 12: 38-39

Have you ever spoken with someone that didn’t believe in God, or miracles or the supernatural and the reason is because they have never seen a “sign” from God? Or you talk to people who are trying to discern God’s will and they won’t make a move until God gives them a clear “sign”? You know what? I think when it comes to faith, it is a gift and you either have it or you don’t. And I think that if you have it, then EVERYTHING is a sign that shows us the existence of God. And if you don’t have it then NOTHING will be seen as a sign of His presence or work in the world.

In October of 1917, there was a miracle of the sun in Fatima, Portugal that was witnessed by over 100,000 people, including atheists and the secular press. The sun danced for 12 minutes in the sky and then came hurtling at the earth. People thought they were going to die. And then, just like that, the sun was in its normal place. The difference is that the ground which had been wet and muddy from three straight days of rain was instantly dry and the wet muddy clothes people had been wearing were instantly dry and clean. And yet people still did not believe the story. And today you can go online and see web sites devoted to showing this miracle as a fraud.

In Italy, there is a church that holds the Eucharistic Body and Blood of Christ that was miraculously changed from bread and wine to actual human flesh and blood hundreds of years ago in the middle of a Mass when the priest doubted the Real Presence of Jesus. All of these centuries later the flesh and blood are still fresh and have not decayed and numerous independent scientific tests have been done on them, but yet people still do not believe in the Eucharist.

There are hundreds of stories of supernatural phenomenon happening to saints, from the stigmata (wounds of Christ in their own flesh), to levitation (people floating in the air while in prayer) to bi-location (one person being in two different places at the same time) to the incorruptible (saints whose bodies have not decayed even years and years after their deaths). And you can read about these events, that have been recorded and witnessed and tested and yet people still do not believe.

We even have modern-day Scripture “scholars” that spend their careers trying to explain away the miracles in the Bible. They say that things like the dividing of the Red Sea and Jesus walking on water have scientific or coincidental, not supernatural rationale behind them.

But who can argue with personal experience? Bl. Mother Teresa had a vision of Jesus that began her ministry to the poor. Bl. John Paul II was shot on the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima and the bullet was miraculously guided through his abdomen without hitting any vital organs. I have seen several miracles like people being physically healed or brought back to fullness emotionally, mentally or spiritually. What miracles have you witnessed? A baby being born? Someone forgiving another? Watching a married couple love one another? Teens worshipping God with their whole hearts, minds, bodies and spirit?

The signs are everywhere for those who have the faith, but we don’t need them. And they will not be given for those who claim they do, for they won’t see them anyway. May we all pray for the gift of Faith for ourselves and for others.

Dear Jesus, please help me to believe more wholeheartedly and unreservedly in You. May my faith in You and the way I live be the sign that brings others to seek the gift of faith You have instilled in me. Help me to always be grateful for this privilege of belief. Amen.

There But for the Grace of God Go I

2011-07-14T17:32:00.002-04:00

“Therefore, whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall.” 1 Corinthians 10: 12

It can appear at times that when it comes to the Church or our wonderful priests or lay leaders, that there is nothing but bad news. We often hear in the secular media AND in the Catholic press about the scandals and abusers and those who have “fallen from grace”. The secular media of course loves it when a priest or someone with recognition in the Church can be flaunted in front of the cameras as a hypocrite and even within the Church there can sometimes seem to be a willingness to condemn and sentence anyone accused of anything without regard to the facts or whether they are truly guilty or not.

But all of us are susceptible to temptation are we not? It seems that every time there is a horrific shooting spree, the people who knew the shooter get on the news and tell us that they can’t believe the person was capable of doing what they did. The point is that ALL of us are capable of any sin if given the right conditions. If left unchecked, our consciences begin to quiet in our hearts. If allowed to be exposed to enough violence or perversions, our hearts and souls become dull and capable of anger and abuse. If we were to refrain from repenting or acknowledging our weaknesses, we could be become so cold and hard that we would cease to recognize our own sinfulness. The deceptiveness of pride is a potential cancer to all of us.

So how do you and I protect ourselves from going down this road? With an acknowledgement of our own sinfulness and weakness and a realization that we cannot save ourselves. Only by the grace of God can we live for Him and avoid sin. If we are deceived into thinking we are good and holy because of our own hard work and efforts alone, then we are being deceived and we are certainly setting ourselves up for a fall. Do we need to cooperate with the grace given to us? Absolutely. And do we have to use our free will to make choices that are good and holy? Yes. But if we are to protect ourselves from falling and causing scandal to others, then we need to accept that it is the grace of Jesus working in and through us that deserves the credit.

And what if we do fall (in a big noticeable way or even in a more private situation)? We need only look to the mercy of God in the sacrament of Reconciliation, go to Him and repent with humility and honesty and trust that we will be forgiven. Trust that He is a big God: bigger than our sins, bigger than our weaknesses, bigger than our pride. And then use this grace to try harder and to keep ourselves from the near occasion of sin. The more “holy” we become the more Satan is going to attack us. He never ceases to look for ways to tempt us and we must always stand guard against his attacks. But where sin abounds, God’s grace abounds more so. May we always walk in the grace of our Lord.

Dear Jesus, please give me the grace and the humility to walk secure in You and not in the false security of myself. Amen.

Rooted

2011-07-13T10:28:00.000-04:00

“So, as you received Jesus Christ the Lord, walk in him, rooted in him and built upon him and established in the faith as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” Colossians 2: 6-7

Where are you rooted? What is the foundation that you are building your life upon? For many people it is a career, or a relationship or success in athletics or music or even money and fame. We all want to be known and we all want to be successful because we figure that will make us happy. But everything depends on our roots.

Our roots first begin in our families. Some of us come from good families and some do not. Some of us come from unified families and some of us come from broken families. Some of us are close to our families and some of us are estranged from our families. No family is perfect and no one, no matter how skewered their memories, had a perfect childhood. Most importantly, some of us came from a background of faith and some of us didn’t. The reality is that the family we grow up in, for good or for bad, has a huge impact on shaping the way we think, feel, act and react to the world around us. But you know what? Our family is not ultimately supposed to be what we are rooted in and even if our growing-up years were less than perfect, we can be “transplanted” and start to sink our roots into things that will last.

How do we do this? First of all we have to realize that where we sink our roots will determine how we grow and develop as a person and will dictate our level of happiness or lack thereof. If we sink our roots into things that are shallow and meaningless we will not have much growth and we will not be happy. But if we can find things that are rich and filled with lasting Truth and beauty to sink our roots into, we will find growth and happiness.

Of course the obvious reality is that we need to sink our roots into Jesus. But how is this done? First of all, we need to be in the Church, because the Church is the Body of Christ. The Church brings us nourishment and grace through the power of Christ in the sacraments. Second, we need to read Scripture. We need to become familiar with the God of the Bible and let His Word dwell in us richly. Third, we need to talk to the Lord and listen to Him speak to us each day. This is called prayer. We need prayer to be in relationship with Jesus, to stay intimately connected with Him. Fourth, we need to spend our time and energy on things that bring us deeper into the mystery of Christ: music that edifies our souls, art and drama that cause us to seek Truth, being in nature and partaking of the wonders of the Lord’s creation, spending time doing the hard work of building good, loving relationships with our families and finally, seeking ways to serve others each day.

But so often we spend our time wasting our lives on entertainment, partying, fighting, trying to advance in some way or form in the riches and fame of this world. For what? I recently heard a famous actor say that “fame is obscurity biding its time”. And so many people are sinking their roots into things that will ultimately leave them lonely and obscure. Let’s instead sink our roots deep in Christ so that our lives can be fulfilled and brought to completion in eternity with the Lord.

Dear Jesus, help me be rooted in You so that my life can flourish and I can grow in holiness and become the person You are calling me to be. Amen.

Cost Cutting

2011-07-07T17:17:00.000-04:00

“Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.” Matthew 10: 8b

Most people want something if they give something, don’t they? Parents give love and look for obedience from their children. Children do chores and then expect money or privileges from their parents. Teachers work hard and expect their students to give the same effort. People do their jobs and expect to be well paid in return.

If we buy a meal out, we expect good service and a good meal. If we buy a new cell phone, we hope it is better than our last one and won’t drop so many calls. If we help a friend move or paint their deck, we expect their help in return when we have to move or remodel. We’ll drive someone but gas is expensive, so we expect they will chip-in to help pay for the gas. We invite someone to our wedding and give them a good party and meal and we expect a nice present. Some guys spend a lot of money on a date and then expect the girl to “repay” at the end of the night. And when we do not receive back in return we hold it over someone’s head or vow to never help them again.

And yet Jesus tells us as His disciples that we are to give without cost. What does this mean practically speaking? I think it means to be generous with our time, talents and treasures and NOT expect the same treatment in return. It means that we should give to anyone in need that we have the ability to help simply to bless them and show them the love of Christ, not because we are expecting or hoping for them to do the same for us.

We received the love, grace and mercy of Jesus without cost because there is no way we could ever earn or repay Him for His sacrifice on Calvary. And yet knowing this, Jesus still gave Himself freely and completely to each of us on the cross. And all He asks of us as His followers is to do likewise. So how do we do this?

It is easy to help others that are like us. It is easy to help others who we know will treat us the same way even if we are not hoping for it or expecting it. But what about people and situations where there is no hope of expecting anything in return? What about serving and giving in these situations and to these people? What about when we don’t feel like it? What about when doing it will bring us little joy? What about when the giving results in some kind of suffering for ourselves? This is when the rubber meets the road. God is not asking us to be door mats, but He is asking us to join Him on the cross.

So where is God calling you to serve Him today? Who is God calling you to reach out to today? Where does God need you to be His hands and feet and voice RIGHT NOW? Pray for His direction, look around at your world and then give without counting the cost.

Dear Jesus, help me to give not for what I get in return, but simply because You call me to be like You. I want to give everything in my life to You and for You. Give me the grace to serve those You put in my sphere of influence today. Amen.

Pure Resistance

2011-07-06T17:29:00.000-04:00

“In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood.” Hebrews 12: 4

A twelve year old girl is attacked by her older male cousin who attempts to sexually assault her. She resists his advances and pleads with him to stop and not give in to the lust and sin in his heart. In his fury against her stabs her repeatedly with a knife. She dies a few days later after suffering greatly. All for purity. Thus is the story of St. Maria Goretti, patron saint of youth. And the Church holds her up for us as a model of purity, something desperately needed in today’s world wouldn’t you agree?

Yet we sometimes still miss the point. Some people mistakenly think that if they were in a similar situation that they would be sinning if they did not resist to the point of death. Others think that Maria was concerned only for herself because of the social norms of the time—that perhaps after this crime was done to her, she might still carry a stigma of shame for it. But the reality is that Maria was just as concerned about her cousin and his purity as she was for her own. She wanted HIM to go to heaven as well and after the attack she even forgave him and appeared to him in a vision after she died to tell him and to ask him to repent, even after years of prison and bitterness. We may not ever be asked by God to resist sin to the point of shedding our blood, but we are all called to fight against the temptations of impurity.

St. Maria Goretti knew that there is more to this life than meets the eye, and not only did she seek to follow Jesus passionately with a pure heart, she wanted that for others as well. How many of us live this way today? Or do we instead only think of ourselves, our needs and wants, our desires for pleasure? Do we dress the way we want simply because we want to without any regard for how it might impact someone else’s struggles with purity or lust? Do we use others or view others’ bodies as mere objects?

We all have much to learn from this pure little girl who became a martyr and a saint. May we strive to live as she did, from a pure heart, not only for our own salvation, but out of the concern for the salvation of others as well.

Dear Jesus, thank You for the example of St. Maria. Please help me to cooperate with the grace You give me to fight impurity in my life and to help others live purely as well. Amen.

Weed Whacking

2011-07-03T15:49:00.002-04:00

“He proposed another parable for them. The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat then went off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well.” Matthew 13: 24-26

Can you guess what I did the other day? That’s right, I was weed whacking. And not with one of those fancy, powerful, gas powered string machines (mine is broken), but with an old fashioned woodened-handled bush whacker with a blade at the end like the Grim Reaper. I have a hill on my property that I can’t reach with the lawn tractor and my push mower is on the mend too. So the only way to control the foliage is to whack those weeds. So there I was, back and forth, up and down, hour after hour, whacking those stubborn weeds. And I learned a few things.

First of all, no matter how sharp the blade is, some weeds are just going to bend rather than get cut. Secondly, the more weeds there are together in a cluster, the harder it was to cut them and whack them down. Finally, weeds have deep roots and despite my efforts, they will be back. Talk about discouraging.

I also began thinking about how our lives get weeds in them as well. Perhaps the weeds come in the form of our sins and bad decisions and begin to take root in our hearts and souls and choke-out room for new growth in the Spirit. Sometimes other people cause the weeds to grow: weeds of hurt and pain, weeds of loneliness and abandonment, or weeds of neglect. Finally, weeds grow in our hearts and souls due to things out of our control: sickness or disease, accidents, physical, emotional or mental pain. Things that happen to us that we did not ask for and have no control of stopping and those weeds of discouragement, despair and hopelessness begin to grow in us and cloud our minds and obscure our view.

The problem is that we try to pull those weeds out or try to cut them down by ourselves. We think we should be strong enough to get rid of them. Or we think if we just put enough thought, energy and effort into it, they would be gone forever. But weeds like the ones I just mentioned require more than our feeble power. For even if we were to whack some of them down, they would certainly come back. No, the reality is that you and I need a Divine Cultivator; a Savior to whack down the weeds, then pull out the roots, clear the soil, put in fertilizer and weed prevention and then plant good seeds to replace the weeds and leave no room for them to grow again. Thank goodness we already do. His name is Jesus. If only we would go to Him let Him take control of our lives.

Dear Jesus, help me to recognize the weeds in my life and to let You cut them down and pull them out and make me new again today. Amen.

Who Am I?

2011-06-29T18:09:00.002-04:00

“He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter said in reply, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus said to him in reply, ‘Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.’” Matthew 16: 15-17

People spend a lot of time trying to find themselves or figure out who they are, don’t they? We spend years and sometimes thousands of dollars in this search. We try to find our identity in our past, where we came from, our family (whether good or bad), the clothes we wear, the music we listen to, the teams we belong to or root for, the people we hang around with or the relationships we are in. And yet for the time and energy spent in this pursuit, we seem to find ourselves more and more lost. Why is this?

The only way we can truly ever find ourselves is to throw ourselves, immerse ourselves—lose ourselves—in the mystery of the mercy and love of Christ and His Sacred Heart. Like Sts. Peter and Paul, our full identity and purpose will be found when we truly encounter Christ and begin to see Him for who He is. Only then can we begin to understand who we are. Before St. Peter’s confession, he was Simon. After he was the rock that Christ built His church on. Before St. Paul was knocked off his horse on the way to Damascus, he was Saul. Afterwards he became the most prolific and zealous missionary the Church has ever seen; all because they lost themselves in Christ.

Perhaps we are tempted to think that God could not use us in a similar fashion because we are too weak or afraid or sinful. But look at these two giants of the Faith. St. Peter began as a lowly, uneducated fisherman, quick to judge and filled at times with paralyzing fear. And yet in Christ he became the first Pope. St. Paul began as an elite, educated man filled with self-righteousness and anger who became the lowest of the low to serve others in his evangelization and preaching efforts. If God could use them, He can use you and me.

And why do we need to lose ourselves in the mystery of Christ’s mercy and love? So we can selfishly bask in the glow of His sight and pull ourselves away from the world? No, so that in losing ourselves in Him, we can find the strength and the passion to lead others to this great mystery as well. Let us this day and always, find the courage to leap into the immensity of God so that our lives will always point others to Him like Sts. Peter and Paul.

Dear Jesus, I want to know who You are so that I can know who I am. Help me to immerse myself in Your Sacred Heart. Amen.

So Long Farewell

2011-06-28T17:09:00.002-04:00

“Naked I came forth from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I go back again. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!” Job 1: 21

Don’t you just hate goodbyes? I do. I just found out that a really good priest friend of mine has been reassigned and is moving to another state. And it is hard to imagine things here at the parish without him. But goodbyes happen in all kinds of ways don’t they? People move, people die, kids go to college, parents or spouses go on business trips, friends’ parents get transferred.

Saying goodbye is just plain hard. Why? Well first of all I think we like things the way they are. We don’t like change; and also because we get comfortable with our situations. When we find something we like we want to hold onto it—our dream house, our “perfect” childhood, our best friends, a good book or TV series, etc. We don’t want our kids to grow-up, or our parents to get old, our friends to move away or our spouse to die—or our priest to leave. But they do. And this happens more and more the longer we live.

I don’t think goodbyes were an original part of God’s plan. Seriously. The first “goodbye” came when Adam and Eve had to leave the Garden of Eden. In paradise there were no goodbyes. Goodbyes are a consequence of sin and the fallen nature of the world. They are also a stark reminder that this world is temporary and our hearts long for permanence. Our hearts long for the eternal, where there are no more changes, no more death, no more goodbyes. And so God allows these times of pain, when our hearts are torn by the separation or the departing, not so that we fall into despair or grief, but so that we long for heaven all the more. It is at these times that God is closest to us and pulls us close to Him and that ache in our heart for the person or thing we miss is actually transformed into the realization that it is really God and our true home we are missing. And from that desire can—and should—come a holy zeal and desire to do whatever it takes to reach heaven so we never have to experience a goodbye again for all of eternity. If we think about it, the eternal goodbye is hell and none of us want that, do we?

Dear Jesus, blessed be Your name when You give and when You take away. I long to be with You forever. Amen.

Holy Humility

2011-06-27T16:37:00.002-04:00

“Fear of the Lord warms the heart, giving gladness and joy and length of days. The beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord, which is formed with the faithful in the womb.” Sirach 1: 10, 12

The seventh and final gift of the Spirit we receive in Baptism and Confirmation is the gift of Fear of the Lord. When you read that what goes through your mind? What emotions does it stir in you? For quite a few modern sensibilities the notion of fearing God seems antiquated or ignorant. Aren’t we supposed to love God? Yes. Does God really want us to wander through life cowering from Him? Of course not. I think it helps to better understand this special gift if we refer to it as “Holy Humility”.

Ultimately this gift helps us to recognize that there is a God and we are not Him. The new atheism, steeped in pride, would say that “there is a god, and he always agrees with me”. This gift gives us the humility needed to realize our need for a Savior and the ability to conform our wills to His. It helps us to be humble enough to admit that we cannot save ourselves; to admit that no matter how hard we try, work, scheme, and dream, we are not strong enough, we are not good enough, we are not smart enough. And that is OK, because He is.

It gives us the ability to place ourselves in His hands and trust in Him. If the gift of Piety helps us from making the things of this world our god, then fear of the Lord helps us from making ourselves god.

In some places, including the rite of Confirmation, this gift is referred to as “awe and wonder” and we should certainly have a sense of awe and wonder before God. But God is greater than a beautiful sunset, or a rainbow or the Grand Canyon, is He not? When the tsumani hit Japan recently, people were rightly terrified at the 30-60 foot high walls of water rushing in at them destroying everything in its path. So doesn’t it make sense that we should have a respectful fear of the God that can stop that wall of water in its tracks? And doesn’t this go beyond awe and wonder?

We all need something bigger than ourselves, more powerful than ourselves, more holy than ourselves; to show us the way, to guide us, to give us strength and to save us from ourselves. Without this gift of holy humility we would be lost in the arrogance of self and reject the mercy of God.

Dear Jesus, help me to worship You with humility and reverent fear, knowing that You are all-powerful and all-merciful. Help me to see that You are greater than my sin and doubt and that I can place all of my trust in You. Amen.

Holy Detachment

2011-06-26T16:29:00.002-04:00

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also is your heart.” Matthew 6: 19-21

The sixth gift of the Spirit we receive in Baptism and Confirmation is the gift of Piety. What do you think of when hear this word? I think we often miss the beauty of this gift because when we heard this word we think “pious” and when we think of people we consider pious we tend to have a negative reaction. Right or wrong, I think we judge people who seem to be a little too outwardly “religious” as trying to show-off, or be better than us or as maybe trying to overcompensate for some big hidden sin by publicly being holy. Are you guilty of these thoughts? I know I am.

But the truth about this gift is that is has to do much more with our interior life than with our exterior life. I like to refer to it as “Holy Detachment”. The idea of detachment as a spiritual practice or attitude is not talked about much these days, but it is so important. It basically helps us to keep our eyes on heaven and not get so absorbed in this life that we begin to make this life and the things in this world our god. How can this happen?

Let’s face it: this world is good! God created it and He said it was good. And He has given us many things in this earth for our happiness and pleasure. But the things of this earth are really just the hors d’oeuvres compared to the wedding banquet of the Lamb in heaven. And just like at a real wedding reception, if we were to fill-up too much on the appetizers, not only would we not be hungry for the main meal, but we might even be disgusted by it because we are so full. It would be easy to get filled-up and distracted by all the good things of this earth if our hearts are not detached from them.

God has given us these things to use in this life and to help point us towards the eternal happiness of heaven. They are supposed to be arrows pointing us to a greater and lasting fulfillment, not become our destination. If we become too attached to them in our hearts, if we seek our happiness and peace in this world, then we might miss out on heaven. It is easy to fall into the trap of believing that the things we can see, taste, smell, hear and touch are the most real things of our existence, but we were created for MORE! It is easy to think that this life is all there is and we should try to use as much of it as we can for our own selfish pleasure. But in allowing ourselves to become attached to this world, we risk forfeiting the next.

With this gift of Holy Detachment, our eyes will be fixed on heaven and we will see things with eternal vision. We will use the things of this earth for our journey and we will be grateful to God for them and the happiness and pleasure they bring, without sacrificing our eternal home for things that are passing.

Dear Jesus, I want to see things as You see them. Help my heart to stay detached from the good things of this earth so that I will always desire the eternal happiness and fulfillment of heaven. Amen.

Holy Courage

2011-06-16T11:59:00.000-04:00

“Be on your guard, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong. Your every act should be done with love.” 1 Corinthians 16: 13-14

The fifth gift of the Spirit we receive in Baptism and Confirmation is the gift of Fortitude. There are a lot of things in life that require courage: jumping out of an airplane with some rope and silk hanging from your back, jumping off a bridge with a big rubber band attached to your butt, dancing with wolves, going in a shark cage…but these things require crazy courage. What the gift of fortitude imbues us with is HOLY courage.

Remember that the gift of counsel helps us to know the difference between right and wrong. And while that it is a good start, we all know there is a big difference between just knowing right from wrong and doing the right thing or avoiding the wrong thing. And so God gives us this gift of fortitude to DO what we know is right and to avoid what we know is bad. It is like fuel for the soul.

In fact, fortitude helps us in two main ways. First, it helps us to do what is right no matter the cost or consequences and second, it helps us to follow through on the commitments we have made before God. How does this work in real life?

There is a lot of pressure out there to do the wrong thing (especially for young people). This gift gives us the holy courage to stand up for our beliefs as Catholic Christians and live for Jesus no matter the flack we might get. Like the Apostles on Pentecost, we will not let fear keep us from living our faith. And people will be drawn to Christ as we live a life of purity, love, and joy. Our actions will be born from intentions based in love.

In addition this gift might help us to keep volunteering somewhere when it gets tough, or keep helping a neighbor when it gets boring or even stay in a difficult marriage when instead of just giving up without a fight as so many people in our culture do these days. It helps us stay committed to God and to others and to think less selfishly and be more generous to give ourselves away in love and service to others.

So often today it is easy to be a “closet” Christian. You know, we go to church and maybe even get involved in youth ministry or Bible studies, but generally we still do what everyone else is doing at school or work or when out with friends. And so instead of being agents of hope and change in our lost world, we simply blend in and go with the flow. This gift of holy courage will help us to be difference makers in our world. It will help us live counter-culturally, not to condemn the world, but to offer something better, something real, something that every human heart is looking for. The question is: will we cooperate with this grace or not?

Dear Jesus, thank You for the gift of fortitude. Help me to use this holy courage to live for You and to show people the joy and peace that comes from following You. Amen.

Holy Judgment

2011-06-12T16:20:00.000-04:00

“…so that we may no longer be infants, tossed by waves and swept along by every wind of teaching arising from human trickery, from their cunning in the interests of deceitful scheming.” Ephesians 4: 14

The fourth gift of the Spirit we receive in Baptism and Confirmation is the gift of Counsel. Some people also refer to this gift as “Right Judgment”. I like to call it “Holy Judgment” because this gift helps us to know the difference between what is right and what is wrong.

This is such an important gift from the Lord and so needed in our world today. In every age there has been sin and temptation, but it seems that more than ever we are faced with a growing sense of moral relativism to go along with the daily sins and temptations we face today. What was once sin is now neutral at best and celebrated at worst. Just this week I read a quote in the paper from a teen speaker at one of my local graduation ceremonies and she said, “There are no wrong decisions. Whatever choices you make in life are the right ones because you made them.” What? So if someone from her class was to choose to kill someone that was OK because it was their choice?

We have all kinds of things that our culture has confused us about: abortion, contraception, sex outside of marriage, modesty, homosexuality, cheating…you name it, the culture is trying to tell us that it isn’t wrong, or it is at least morally neutral. There are even some college professors who claim the holocaust was not “wrong” because we can’t really judge what Germany was like right before and during World War II. And still others offer undergraduate classes on human sexuality that include viewing pornography or going to strip clubs as part of the curriculum. And at the same time our culture also labels and attacks the Church as out-dated, hypocritical or even sinister for standing up for moral truth.

Yet there She stands still proclaiming the Truth no matter how inconvenient. And through the gift of counsel, we begin to be more open to listening to the Voice of Truth through the Church as the Spirit enables Her to proclaim in our world. We begin to grow in humility and we begin to hear the reason and the sense of the Church despite the clouds of confusion sown by the Evil One. We begin to see the foolishness and emptiness of a life lived without morals. And not only do we begin to wish to avoid that for ourselves, but we begin to desire that others might know what we know. Through the power of this “Holy Judgment” we can make moral choices based on faith and reason, rather than the winds and waves of human trickery, folly and emotions.

Dear Jesus, help me to know the Truth in all areas of my life. Help me to root out sin by becoming more aware of it in the world and in my own soul. Through Your grace may I always know right from wrong. Amen.

Holy Hope

2011-06-10T17:41:00.002-04:00

“Let your life be…content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never forsake you or abandon you.’” Hebrews 13: 5

The third gift of the Holy Spirit that we receive in Baptism and Confirmation is the gift of Understanding. This special gift protects us in two ways, one general and one specific. First, it helps us to understand that God loves us unconditionally. What does this mean? It means that He cannot love us more when we do good or less when we do bad. He loves us perfectly all the time. It doesn’t mean He is pleased when we sin, but God does not love us any less when we do. Why is this important for our lives? It protects us from the lies of Satan.

Let’s face it, when we have sinned, Satan is at his greatest level of influence with us. We commit the sin and get knocked down and he is not satisfied is he? No. At this very moment, when we are broken and distant from God through our own choice, he lurks around us and whispers lies into our souls and hearts. Lies like: God couldn’t love you. You’re not good enough. Just give up, you’ll never be holy. Don’t show your miserable face around Church you hypocrite. Sound familiar? But when we have an understanding of God’s unconditional love for us, we realize that in these dark times, in these moments of weakness, that God has not abandoned us, we have abandoned Him. More importantly, we understand that no matter we have done, He will take us back.

The second way this gift protects us is more specific. The tough reality of life is that no matter how we try to avoid it or prevent it, tragedy strikes. People lose their jobs, friends backstab us; relatives get sick; children die. We cannot avoid suffering. The problem is that when you have made a decision to love and follow Christ, there are only two reactions we can have in the face of tragedy. On the one hand we can either fall more deeply into the arms of Jesus, or we can blame God for our problems. And in these most difficult moments of life I think it is very easy to choose the later and blame God and become angry with Him. From there we run the risk of becoming more distant from Him.

While the gift of understanding might not help us understand why the bad thing happened, it offers us Holy Hope. It helps us to realize that God did not will or cause the suffering in our lives. It helps us to realize that He is right there with us, crying with us, holding us, down in the mess and the grief and the sorrow with us. It helps us to know that despite our feelings or the circumstances, He is THERE! This gift is like a bridge over the chasm of despair, as Jesus carries us to the other side of our sorrow. So whether we are in sin or a time of suffering, this gift offers us protection from despair and destruction in the arms of Jesus.

Dear Jesus, thank You for always being with me and for never abandoning me. Help me to understand Your unconditional love and to recognize Your presence with me in times of suffering. Amen.

Holy Intimacy

2011-06-08T16:08:00.002-04:00

“I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father…” John 10: 14-15a

The second gift of the Holy Spirit we receive in Baptism and Confirmation is knowledge. I like to call this gift “Holy Intimacy”. I think on the surface, when most people think about the word knowledge, they think of head knowledge or what we can know intellectually. But with the gift of knowledge, God seeks to give us something much deeper than brain power; He wants us to have a relationship with Him and an understanding of the Truth.

Let’s face it, we live in a world of relativism where it is hard to see the Truth. And yet it is there. And we know that the real Truth is not a list of rules or laws or doctrines, but the Person of Jesus. Of course it is important to know our Faith, but God is not looking for us to become walking, breathing Catholic encyclopedias. He is looking for intimacy with us. A knowledge of one another that goes beyond the surface to the core of our being—a relationship that defines who we are by who He is.

The gift of knowledge helps us to see Truth, no matter how much confusion the devil has strewn about. By knowing, loving and then living in the heart of Jesus—in Truth Itself—we will be able to see things as they really are, for what they really are and then live and walk in that knowledge. It is like putting on a special pair of spiritual X-ray goggles that causes us to view the people and events of the world through the eyes of God instead of through our own.
Ultimately, this gift will help to sustain our moral life by bring us deeper and deeper into relationship and intimacy with Christ. And the more we get to know our Savior, the more we will want to know about Him and all that He has done for us and all the ways He loves us. And we will desire to love Him back with purity and a zeal that others may not understand because they do not know Him. Then, hopefully by our example, they will want to know Him.

Dear Jesus, I want to really know You, not just know about You. Help me to spend time with You each day so that we can grow in intimacy. Amen.

Holy Insight

2011-06-07T16:50:00.002-04:00

“Yet we do speak a wisdom to those who are mature, but not a wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age who are passing away. Rather, we speak God’s wisdom, mysterious, hidden, which God predetermined before the ages for our glory…” (1 Corinthians 2: 6-7)

In the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation we receive an outpouring of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. These are the same gifts mentioned at the beginning of the book of Isaiah and they are given by the same Spirit and with the same power as the first Apostles received them on that first Pentecost 2,000 years ago. The question is: do we use them in our lives or do they sit on some kind of spiritual “shelf” in our soul gather dust?

Each of the seven gifts of the Spirit is given to help us grow in holiness in some area of our lives. The first is Wisdom. I like to call this gift “Holy Insight”. Scripture clearly points out that there are two different kinds of wisdom: the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God. Which are we following today?

The wisdom of the world is flashy and loud and often preys on our feelings and emotions. Advertisers use it all the time to get us to buy things. And we listen to it every time we do something we want, even though it might not be what we need or what is best for us or someone else. It often tempts us to “go for it” without thinking through any of the consequences.

On the other hand, the wisdom of God is more subtle, yet more powerful. Kind of like a giant river. It might not look like much is happening, but try throwing a tractor trailer or a house into it and see what happens. We have to really LISTEN to hear the wisdom of God amidst the noise of the culture. We need to spend time in quiet to hear God’s wisdom in our hearts.

The wisdom of God is telling us to live for something more than just ourselves. To make decisions based on more than just what “feels good” at the moment. To put God and His righteousness first in our lives, rather than push God aside until we decide we really need Him. Wisdom helps us to have a holy insight into the mind of God. To think the way He thinks so we can act the way He acts; especially in right versus right decisions. These are times when we need to decide between two things and neither thing is morally wrong—like our vocation, or where to go to college; things that require discernment to know God’s will and direction in our lives.

If everyone listened to the wisdom of the world, there would be no one like Bl. Mother Teresa or St. Max Kolbe or Dorothy Day. All we would see in our world is people living for themselves and the moment and what a sad place this world would be then.

Dear Jesus, help me to hear Your wisdom in my heart. Help me to seek You in quiet each day so that I can follow Your direction and not the voices of the world. Amen.

Accepting the Gift

2011-05-24T13:49:00.000-04:00

“Jesus answered and said to her, ‘If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.’” John 4: 10

What is at the heart, the beginning, the starting point of our Christian Faith? Is it trying to be holy? Trying to do good things? Being obedient to God and His laws? Serving others? No. At the very beginning, the Christian Faith is about God giving us the gift of His grace, His love—Himself.

Do we truly understand this? Do we realize that the starting point of our relationship with God is not what we can achieve or accomplish, but that God has loved us and wants to give us this gift of Himself. Everything else in our journey is a response to this love. Everything we do is secondary to what He has done. Everything we give is a reflection of what He has given. Loving God, obeying God, following Jesus, keeping the commandments, serving others—all come as a response to the gift of God’s love given to us first.

But have we accepted this gift? Have we allowed God to love us? For we have the power to reject it, to ignore it, to limit the power of this gift in our own lives and therefore in the lives of all who come in contact with us. Are our lives a reflection of this love, this gift for us, or are they shadows? What joy our lives would produce if we truly lived in the acceptance of this gift. What hope and love our lives would bring forth if we truly allowed God to love us.

Yes, there are obligations and duties and commandments to follow. Yes, there is sin that we can commit. But all come after the acceptance of the gift of God’s love. All come after we allow Him to die for us, to save us, to redeem us. Without accepting this gift first, we are not responding to anything, but reacting to fear, or ignorance or shame. And lives lived in these shadows does not attract. When we accept God’s gift and allow His love to permeate our lives, then the laws, commandments and duties become sweet opportunities to love our Lover in return for His love. At that moment they cease to be burdens and instead become occasions of joy and communion with our Lord.

This is the secret of the Saints. With humility, knowing their true worthlessness and what their sins deserved, they accepted the gift of God and His love for them. And in this way, not only was pride dissolved from their hearts, but it allowed them to love God back with their whole hearts, follow Jesus with passion, serve others with selflessness and gain eternal life. If only we would fully accept God’s gift to us as well, what lives of greatness would emerge!

Dear Jesus, help me to accept Your love for me, Your sacrifice for me, Your gift to me. And then allow all of my life, my thoughts, my words and my deeds become a response to Your love for me. Amen.

Thorns in the Flesh

2011-05-23T16:30:00.002-04:00

“Therefore, that I might not become too elated, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan, to beat me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me, but he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’ I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me.” 2 Corinthians 12: 7b-9

St. Paul had a “thorn in the flesh”. I wonder what it was? Perhaps you and I can relate to St. Paul. What might your “thorn in the flesh” be? Maybe you suffer from some kind of illness or disease. Maybe you suffer inwardly with emotional or mental issues. Perhaps there is someone in your life that makes you feel little or insignificant or bullies you? Or maybe you just have a real thorn in your hand right now.

For centuries, scholars have debated about what St. Paul’s “thorn” might have been. I don’t think it matters really. What matters is that St. Paul was suffering and he was weak and he begged God to take the suffering and weakness away and God said “no”. The reality is that on some level, all of us can relate to this. I know in my own life that I have certainly gone through periods of intense pain, either physically or emotionally, and I can clearly remember asking God to either take away or the pain or to let me die. And God said “no”.

I think we might assume that when God says “no” to our requests that He is being mean. Or that He is trying punish us. But the truth is that in our times of suffering or weakness, we can more clearly see that it is God and His grace that we should be dependent on, rather than our own power and actions. It is in the times that we are desperate and knocked down that we have a better view of the world. A view that allows us to see that we are not in control, that we are not the center of the universe, that we are not omnipotent or all-powerful. It is at these times when our realization for something bigger, stronger and more stable than ourselves becomes more acute. It gives us perspective.

As a Christian witness, these times also make us more approachable, relatable and effective in spreading the Gospel. How? Well, most people are intimidated by people who seem to have it all together: the beautiful, the stylish, those ones with the best grades, skills, talents, speaking abilities, etc. People with all sorts of abilities and confidence can make others feel inadequate or insecure. But when we allow our pain and weaknesses—our imperfections—to be seen, people are more apt to confide in us, question us and trust us. Think about how much more beloved Blessed Pope John Paul II became when the signs of his Parkinson’s disease began to show?

The world does not need Christians to be more of the perfect, got-it-all-together, have-no-faults people that Hollywood seems to parade out to us year-after-year, movie-after-movie. In their heart of hearts, most people are looking for other broken human beings that have peace, joy, love and hope, despite their brokenness. When we can embrace our “thorns” instead of trying to hide them or get rid of them, then the power of Christ will work through us to transform the souls of others.

Dear Jesus, I ask you to allow my “thorns” to cause me to rely on You more in my life so that Your power can shine forth to others in need. Let my hope in You, born from my brokenness, bring others closer to You. Amen.

Final Hour

2011-05-22T15:29:00.002-04:00

“But of the day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone…therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come…so too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.” Matthew 24: 36, 42a, 44

The world didn’t end. The Lord didn’t come back. People weren’t raptured. But lots of people spent their life savings, quit their jobs, left their spouses and joined the fray of doomsday “prophets”. More sadly, many people lived in fear or ignorance and now face a life of uncertainty or ridicule.

In case you hadn’t heard, the world was supposed to end—or start to end. Again. Why do people keep trying to pick a date? Why do people rally around them? Seventh Day Adventists, Y2K, the Mayans, Harold Camping…the list goes on and on. On one level people are looking for hope and for something bigger and better than their lives or this world. And they’ve got a point. There’s a lot of violence and sickness. A lot of natural disasters and selfishness. Sometimes we might all be tempted to just wish it would all go away (or we could all go away) and we’d be in a better place. But at the same time God created the world good and no matter how bad sin and the consequences of sin can make things, we always have to remember that God created it—and us—good.

People are also looking for something to belong to, something to believe in, something to hold onto. Our culture is quick and slick and fast-paced and all of us can get lost in the shuffle from time to time. We all want to know that there is something that we can be part of that will give us purpose and direction.

We are also tempted with wanting to control things. We have trust issues. It’d be nice to change our spouse, our kids or our parents. It’d be nice to cheat death as many times as we wanted. It’d be nice to be “in the know” about things that are uncertain. And so we try to see into the future, bring back the dead or figure out when Christ will return or the world will end.

But it all really comes down to trusting in Jesus and then finding the extraordinary in the ordinary situations of our daily lives. Could the real end of the world happen in six months or a year? Sure. But if you died tomorrow, then tomorrow is the real end of YOUR world. I wonder how many people who have predicted and then spent their lives preparing for the end of the world died before the “date”? I bet that was anti-climactic. The point is that we need to live each day for today, knowing that any day could be our last. Not because some guy predicted it to be so, but because we want to be ready at every time and at every occasion to meet our Savior face-to-face, so that when we see Him, He can welcome us home as good and faithful servants.

Dear Jesus, I place my life into Your hands. I relinquish all control. I will live each day for as many days as You allow and I will welcome death when it comes. Please grant me the grace to trust You in my living and in my dying. Amen.

Better Than Jesus?

2011-05-19T16:47:00.000-04:00

“Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it.” John 13: 16-17

Have you ever been treated badly for being a Christian? Have you ever been made fun of or mocked for what you believe? Have you ever felt judged or condemned or betrayed for being a follower of Jesus? Not too fun, is it?

I think sometimes in these instances we wonder…why? Why am I being treated this way? Why are people “killing the messenger”? Why do I have to suffer so much humiliation? We start to wonder if we deserve it and if following Christ is worth it? But you know what? Why do we think we should be treated any better than Jesus?

If Jesus was rejected, so will we. If Jesus was betrayed, so will we. If Jesus was condemned unjustly, so will we. Ultimately when people are rejecting us or the way we live or the beliefs we hold, they are rejecting Jesus. Why are we surprised?

Most people in today’s culture want to live however they want and they don’t want anyone telling them what to do. And yet there is Truth that must be lived and proclaimed. Not to condemn people but to show people the greatness they were created for—and yes, to sometimes point out how they are living below that greatness. But people don’t like being told what to do. Do you? The hair on the back of our necks normally goes up when we feel someone thinks they know more than we do.

However, God DOES know more than we do. And He has tried to communicate what is best for us in so many different ways throughout the history of salvation, even to the point of allowing His only Son to be executed in our place. But we still sometimes miss it. The situation in our world today though, has led to the point where many people do not just view us or the Church as a nice, little side-show trapped in ignorance or naivety, but as evil; as a threat—and the biggest threat—to living how one wants to live. So despite the fact that the Church has no armies or temporal power, She is the enemy. And so as members of the Church, we too become the enemy.

Our response to this is to love, love and love some more. As Jesus did. And in return we may be mocked, judged, condemned and made to suffer in various emotional or physical ways. But why not, are we better than Jesus?

Dear Jesus, help me to love even when mocked or hurt for following You. Help me to stand up for You and for Truth with charity and to suffer any hardships that come my way with patience and perseverance as You did. Amen.

Misunderstood

2011-05-18T16:29:00.002-04:00

“As for you, Solomon, my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a perfect heart and a willing soul, for the Lord searches all hearts and understands all the mind’s thoughts.” 1 Chronicles 28: 9a

Have you ever felt misunderstood? I bet we all have. And it’s not too fun. Perhaps you were in a situation with a classmate or co-worker and you made a comment and they took it the wrong way. Or you tried to make a joke with a friend or sibling and it hurt their feelings and they accused you of being mean. Maybe someone made a judgment about you because of the way you were dressed, or the color of your skin, or because you were wearing a crucifix around your neck. Maybe you’ve stood up in class or in other public situations for your faith and people have mocked you for it and accused you of being bigoted for your beliefs.

But at the core of our being, we all just want to be understood. At times don’t you just wish that people could look past your words, appearance or actions and see your heart and your intentions? I think this is one of the reasons the human heart seems to yearn for an intimate relationship with another. We want to be understood by our parents. Then we want to have friends who understand us. And ultimately we seem to desire a permanent, intimate relationship with another that will bring us the understanding we seek. This is really one of the purposes of marriage (along with procreation)—the idea of intimately bonding with another soul in such a way that it becomes as much of a concrete image of the Trinity that it can be in our imperfect, fallen world. However, even in the best of marriages, where the man and woman are connected in every way, there can still be times when one spouse feels misunderstood by the other. Even in this most intimate of relationships, one can feel lonely.

This is why all of us, no matter our vocation, need to have Jesus as the most intimate of friends. Only He and He alone will never misunderstand us. In fact, He understands us better than we even understand ourselves. If we are really honest with ourselves, there are times when even we don’t understand why we said something or did something. Ultimately, we need to take comfort in the fact that Jesus will never misunderstand us and that if we have Him as our best friend it will not matter if everyone else in the world misunderstands us. Only Jesus can satisfy this desire of our heart. The sooner we learn this and invest more time into growing in love with Him, the sooner our hearts can be at peace and our lives can reflect the joy and confidence of Jesus to the rest of our seeking world.

Dear Jesus, please comfort me when I am misunderstood by others. Help me to invest more time into my relationship with You so that I can reflect Your love and peace in all of my relationships. Amen.

How Long Have I Been With You?

2011-05-17T18:10:00.000-04:00

“Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father…’” John 14: 9a

Do you ever get exasperated by anyone or anything? I know I do. And you know what? So did Jesus. During the Last Supper Discourses he kept trying to get His Apostles to understand His words and they kept misunderstanding or questioning. And Jesus got exasperated with them. You can almost imagine Him throwing His hands in the air, looking to the sky and saying, “Father, what am I going to do with these guys?” But despite this, Jesus just kept continuing to explain what He was trying to get them to understand, no matter how many times it took.

This should give us hope because I am sure that all of us from time to time get confused by the teachings of Jesus. I bet there are times when we question or doubt what we have been taught in regards to the Faith. Perhaps we have misunderstood what the Church has been explaining to us through Scripture and Tradition and we need it explained again and again and again. Just like Philip and Thomas and all the rest of the Apostles. So we stand in good company in this regard.

The reality is that the Apostles ate with Jesus and lived with Him and saw and heard everything He did for three years. And yet, even after all that, they still misunderstood. They watched Him raise Lazarus from the dead, cast out demons, restore sight to the blind and pull lame to their feet. And yet they were still confused at the Last Supper. They still had fears and doubts. I think they wanted to believe everything Jesus was saying, but sometimes the limited human mind cannot grasp all the subtleties and mysteries of God. And yet here we are 2,000 years later dealing with situations and events that the apostles could’ve never even imagined (like abortion, gay marriage, nuclear bombs, etc.) and we are called to the same level of faith as they, without the benefit of seeing all that Jesus did or hearing directly from His mouth all that He taught. Should it surprise us that we might have some fears, doubts or confusion?

I think perhaps in these instances of fear and doubt and confusion, rather than get stuck on that which is causing these feelings in our hearts and minds, we should focus even more on Jesus. Go to Him in the Mass, in Eucharistic Adoration. Receive His mercy in Reconciliation. Listen to Him speak to you, listen as He explains His love for you, what He has planned for you, what He is preparing for you. Hear the love and gentleness in His tone of voice as He repeats Truth to you over and over and over. His desire is for you to know Him and to know the Father. We need to allow His voice and His Truth to enter our hearts and stop allowing fear, doubt and confusion to reign over us. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, even with our doubts, our fears, our confusion. He remains the same and He always seeks to lead us to the mansions in His Father’s house.

Dear Jesus, help me to know Your love and Your Truth even in the midst of doubts, fears or confusion. Give me the grace to trust in You and all that You have prepared for me, not only in this life, but in the one to come. Amen.

Love…True Love

2011-05-16T19:15:00.000-04:00

“You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride; you have ravished my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one bead of your necklace. How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride, how much more delightful is your love than wine…your lips drip honey my bride…” Song of Songs 4: 9-10a, 11a

After reading those verses above does anyone think the Bible is way more cool than you originally thought? And guess what? There’s more from where that came from. Seriously. I think sometimes we assume the Bible, or God or the Church doesn’t hold much weight for romantic love; that perhaps love between Christians is meant to be more like a contract or business agreement—a decision without any feelings. But this couldn’t be further from the truth. Of course it is true that real love is a decision to do whatever is best for the other, no matter if you feel like it or not. But does this mean that feelings have no place at all in love?

When I married my bride 18 years ago this month, I certainly was filled with LOTS of different feelings. And when I read the Song of Songs, I see those feelings echoed in the words of Scripture. I felt gratitude and humility as I watched her walk down the aisle of the Church towards me that wedding morning. I felt chills as she said “yes” to me forever. I felt emotional when I tried to say my vows to her. I felt a holy desire for her. We did not come together in a contract of love, but a covenant of love. Yes, feelings were very much a part of that day and they are still very much a part of our love for each other today.

Do I base my love for my wife on my feelings? No. Because there are times when I don’t feel like loving her. It is in those moments that the depth of my love is given the opportunity to reveal itself by doing the loving thing even when my feelings don’t want to. And I can tell you for certainly, that there are times when my wife does not feel love for me. But she still chooses to love me in those instances.

We need to understand that God does not have a kind of contractual love for us either. He feels His love for us deeply. He is filled with passion when He thinks of you and me (which of course is at every moment). In fact, it was this very passion that led Him to THE Passion. The Song of Songs is written about the love between a man and his wife, but it is also a sign of the passionate love that God the Father, Son and Spirit has for us—His covenant of love with us. You may not always feel worthy of this kind of love, but it is the kind of love that God pours out on you every second nonetheless and it was this love that motivated Him to die for you.

And when we imitate God, we are choosing to love as He loves. So don’t base your love on feelings or make judgments by trusting your feelings, but when you have discerned that your vocation is marriage and God brings you to that place where you meet and fall in love with your best friend, the one God had intended for you from all of eternity, then yes, at that point there should be some feelings involved, wouldn’t you say? While my wife and I choose to love each other each day regardless of our feelings, I can tell you from the depth of my being that even after 18 years she can ravish my heart with one glance, that she is more delightful than wine and that her lips are still sweeter than honey. Who wouldn’t want that?

Dear Jesus, thank You for Your passionate love. Thank You for giving us feelings that can motivate us for greatness. Help us to allow our feelings to be part of our lives without basing decisions on them. Help us to love as You love us. Amen.

Let Go

2011-05-11T17:50:00.000-04:00

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me.” John 14: 1

There once was a young man taking a hike in the mountains. As he hiked he kept going higher and higher, all the while enjoying the majestic views and awesome splendor of God’s creation. Finally he reached the top and spent a few hours of the afternoon just relaxing and marveling at the handiwork of God. But then he began to notice some storm clouds moving in from the west and decided to beat a hasty retreat down the mountain. Shortly after beginning his descent however, the storm began to roll in with heavy fog and mist blotting out the sun and making it almost impossible to see. In a near panic, he started to run down the trail, tripping over rocks and getting smacked in the face with branches. As the thunder began to boom he burst into an all out frenzied run and within minutes could not tell whether he was still on the path or not. All of a sudden, he found himself free-falling through the air. As he descended over the unseen cliff face, he grasped in desperation for anything he could find to stop his fall when miraculously he was able to snag a branch and pull himself up onto a small outcropping of rock.

He tried to look up to see how far he had fallen, but all he saw was fog and dark clouds. He looked down to see if he could gauge how far he was from the bottom, but all he saw was more fog and a swirling sea of mist. In fear he began to scream for help at the top of his lungs. After what seemed like hours he finally lay down precariously on the sliver of rock and began to pray. Hearing nothing in reply he began to shout again for help. Suddenly a voice boomed down to him from above, “I can help you!” “Awesome” replied the hiker. “Who are you?” “I am God” said the voice. “But do you trust me?” The hiker replied, “Of course I trust You, You ARE God.” “So you’ll do exactly what I say, no matter what I say, right?” “Right” replied the hiker. And then God said, “I want you to let go.” At that point the hiker paused and then shouted, “Is there anyone else up there that can help me?”

What are you having a hard time letting go of today?

Anger? Fear? Resentment? Laziness? Over-commitment? What about friends that lead us down the wrong path? Or grief? Perhaps we hold onto our loneliness or our grudges or our pain? Maybe we’re addicted to a substance or sin or another person? What about your past or worrying about your future? Sometimes it feels safer to stay in our place of misery than to set out into the unknown of recovery or change or community. Maybe we’d rather stay trapped on that sliver of rock because at least we know where we are and if we let go we drop into the mystery.

But did you ever notice that most of the time the things we’re holding onto are precisely the things that are holding us back? Back from what? From freedom, from peace, from possibilities, from change, from adventure, from creativity, from joy…from GREATNESS! Obviously if we were to just let go of everything all at once without any faith or relationship with God the results could be as disastrous as not letting go. But when we know that God is there for us, when we know that He loves us and when we know that He only wants the best for us and He is saying “Let go!” how can we stay on that ledge?

Dear Jesus, I want to let go and fall deeper into the mystery of You. Help me to let go of whatever ledge I cling to in my life that keeps from experiencing all that You have in store for me. Amen.

What Am I Willing To Do?

2011-05-10T18:51:00.000-04:00

“Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.” Matthew 5: 6

I recently saw some clips from a new BBC show called Human Planet. It’s like their blockbuster series Planet Earth from a few years ago, but instead of focusing on nature, it focuses on man’s interaction with nature and his ability to adapt and survive in the harshest of circumstances, geographies and climates. It is fascinating stuff. What I found is that because a lot of the focus is on survival, many of the stories or clips focused on what the people in a certain location had to do or go through in order to eat.

Hunger can cause us to go above and beyond what we think we are capable of or what would normally be considered “safe”. We know that without food we will die and so on the risk/benefit scale, we are willing to risk some pretty amazing things to get food since the alternative is a slow, painful, guaranteed death. Of course for most people in the developed world, the greatest risks we’ll have obtaining food is getting in a car accident on the way to the grocery store, getting a sun burn working in our backyard gardens or getting food poisoning from a bad tomato at a restaurant.

But what the people in other parts of the world do for food is truly amazing—and in some cases very scary. On this BBC series, I watched people crossing rapids on flood-swollen rivers by walking across a wire suspended between two heights. With the wire about 30 feet over the rapids while wearing flip-flops, the men would carefully cross the river to get to an ideal fishing ground on the other side. One false step and he goes into the rapids and is gone forever. In another part of the world men were fishing very carefully near a seemingly tranquil pool of water. But when the camera pulled back you saw that they were literally 2-3 feet from the edge of Victoria Falls in Africa. One slip on a wet rock and over they plunge to the crushing rocks at the bottom. Another clip shows three men holding sticks walking slowly, but deliberately towards a group of 15 lions eating a wildebeest. The men lock eyes with the lions and keep walking until about ten feet from the animals, the lions scurry away about 30 feet. The men quickly cut off a portion of the dead animal for their own dinner and then hastily retreat before the lions realize they are being duped and attack them! One wrong move or breaking of eye contact and the men become a side dish to the wildebeest! Finally, one last clip showed a man in Indonesia who swims down to the bottom of the ocean (about 20 meters) and walks around with a spear gun until he can shoot a fish for dinner, before he comes back to the surface. The man can hold his breath for upwards of five minutes! But one moment of panic and he involuntarily inhales and drowns!

So the question today is: am I this hungry for God and for righteousness? If not, why? If so, then what I willing to do to satisfy this hunger? Am I willing to lose what others have? Risk losing my friends? Suffer ridicule? Be alone? These and many other things can certainly happen if we choose to really hunger and thirst after God and work hard to satisfy that hunger. But in the end, we are fed, and fed more abundantly and filled more completely than we could have ever imagined.

What is the alternative? A slow, painful, guaranteed spiritual death that will leave us empty, jaded and even more hungry as we keep looking to fill ourselves on things that cannot ever truly satisfy our hearts, minds, souls or bodies. Let us be inspired by those who risk much from their hunger to find food and be willing to risk as much to live for God.

Dear Jesus, You alone can satisfy all of my needs and desires. Help me to hunger after You and Your will more than anything else in this life. Give me the grace to risk everything to follow You. Amen.

OMG(osh)!!

2011-05-09T17:47:00.000-04:00

“Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.“ Philippians 2: 9-11

In Biblical times, someone’s name signified the essence of who that person was. This is why so many of those Biblical names seem whacked by modern sensibilities. Could you imagine having little Habbakkuk or Peleg running around underfoot? Perhaps today we see things a little different with names like Jayden and Madison making the top ten baby names list for 2010. I mean, what does “Madison” say about your essence? More popular than popular names has been the practice of using Biblical or Saints’ names to signify not the essence of the child, but a strong filial connection on the part of the parents to the person who originally bore that name.

Names are powerful, even if they don’t signify our essence anymore. They do signify who we are in some respect and they differentiate one person from another. And from an early age we identify with our name and it means something to us. It is important to us that other people take the time to learn our name and remember it, as opposed to just calling out “hey you” every time they see us.

Names are powerful to God as well. That is why they used to signify one’s essence. God calls us by name. His followers’ names are written in the Book of Life. And while He has many different titles, God also has a name: I AM. And there is such power in the name of God that at the end of time, even those who did not follow Jesus, or who rejected Him, or who denied His existence will still bend their knees and proclaim that He is Lord. The name of Jesus can be used to cure people and to cast away demons. Many Saints have died rather than defame the name of Christ. The Old Testament people had such awe, respect and holy fear for the name of God that they would not utter it—even in prayer!

And yet so often we reduce the holy, powerful name of God to an exclamation, curse word or casual statement. We say His name not in prayer or worship with tender love and reverence, but in apathy, anger, excitement, fear or indifference. For many of us, it has simply become a bad habit formed out of ignorance or laziness. But for God His name is so important that the First Commandment given to us is to not use it in vain. What does this mean? It means to use the name of God devoid of its power, devoid of the honor and dignity it deserves; to use it in mockery of all it stands for and accomplishes. To waste the power and grace it should bring to our lives through carelessness or sin, in the end turning the power of the name against us to our own condemnation. Let us strive instead to use the name of God in prayer, with great affection and with a realization of the power we unleash simply by uttering it.

Dear Jesus, let me only use Your name with love on my lips and in my heart. Let me praise Your name and bless others with Your name. May the power of Your name transform my life and the lives of all I met today. Amen.

I Belong to….

2011-05-06T20:30:00.000-04:00

“I urge you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and in the same purpose…I mean that each of you is saying, ‘I belong to Paul’, or ‘I belong to Apollos’, or ‘I belong to Cephas’, or ‘I belong to Christ.’ Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you?” 1 Corinthians 10, 12

It’s interesting that these words of St. Paul were written 2,000 years ago when they seem to apply so aptly today. It seems that throughout history the Evil One has been trying to rip apart the Body of Christ.

With the Protestant Reformation people followed Luther or Calvin or others. In today’s world it seems like people are squabbling over being a follower of Benny Hinn or Joel Olsteen or Rob Bell. Even among Catholics one finds followers among the myriad of Catholic “celebrities” on the left or right. Everyone’s got an opinion and everyone has a voice—especially in today’s world with the new media.

So whose opinion are YOU going to listen to? Who are YOU going to belong to? St. Paul was very clear that we need to be of the same mind. Jesus prayed that His followers would be one. And yet here we are 2,000 years later and we are divided among thousands of different denominations. But we are called to follow CHRIST and belong to Christ ALONE. So how can we do this? The only way is to follow Truth. How are we to know what Truth is among the cacophony of opinions? By following the words of Jesus as protected by the Church He established and gave His authority to. There is no other way.

The fullness of Truth resides in the Church that Christ left for us and every opinion is only true to the degree that it reflects THE Truth. Apart from this Truth, opinions are just opinions, no matter how persuasive or eloquently delivered. No matter if they come from a Protestant, Catholic, or even an atheist. Some people would argue that we can interpret Scripture and Truth for ourselves; that we do not need a Church to do it for us. Really? Even our own opinion is only true to the degree it coincides and reflects THE Truth of Christ. And without the safeguard of His authority and the Church He gave it to, how could anyone be sure of even their opinion?

It is tempting, and perhaps easy, to listen to the voices of so many or to become enamored with the dynamic speaking abilities or sensibilities or apparent knowledge of one of the many current Christian voices in our world today. But who is really speaking the voice of Christ. Who is really teaching the Truth? Who should we belong to? And who is really pointing us at every moment to the Lord Jesus Christ? And if we belong to someone other than Christ, what then?

Dear Jesus, help me to know and hear Your voice and help me to trust that the Church You established still speaks for You in our world today. I want to belong to you alone! Amen.

Chasing After

2011-05-05T19:33:00.002-04:00

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” John 3: 16

At the very beginning of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, we are reminded that God created us simply so that we could share in His divine love. Freely, we were created and invited to share in love. God does not need us or our love. He does not need our approval or adulation. He does not need our help or companionship. In fact, God is prefect love and contentment and glory within the One that He is in the dynamic, mysterious relationship of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. So with no other motive than for us to be happy and share in the joy, peace, goodness, brilliance, greatness and love that is God, He created us.

And how did we repay Him? By going our own way. By deciding against Him. By choosing something other than greatness and joy and peace and love. It began with Adam and Eve, but continues to this day in our own hearts, with our own Garden of Eden and our own “tree” that we should stay away from. And yet we do not recognize God’s protection and providence in His commandments. And so we turn from Him and disobey Him and do things our own way. And suffer greatly for it.

But you know the crazy thing about God? He had EVERY reason after Adam and Eve to destroy us or to stop thinking about us and let us fade into nothingness. He had every reason to send us all to hell. And yet instead He sent His only Son to die in our place as justification for our sins so that the only atonement known to His great justice could be transformed into His great mercy.

And how did we repay this ultimate act of sacrifice? We still reject Him. We still go our own way and we still sin. In short, we often limit or make ineffective the power and grace of the cross in our own lives. We go on living a life filled with love substitutes and shadows of greatness, for hollow hearts and empty promises. And yet even after all this, our God continues to reach out to us, to call us, to chase us, to keep knocking, knocking, knocking on the doors of our hearts. Not for anything that HE can gain, but for our gain, our peace, our happiness. And we are called to do the same with one another.

Dear Jesus, thank You for never giving up on me. Amen.

Vengeance is Mine…

2011-05-03T13:01:00.000-04:00

“Rejoice not when your enemy falls, and when he stumbles, let not your heart exult, lest the Lord see it, be displeased with you, and withdraw his wrath from your enemy.” Proverbs 24: 17-18

Let’s be real honest today, ok? Sometimes it is just plain HARD to be a Christian and to live up to the ideals and way of life that Christ has set before us, isn’t it? Love our enemies? Pray for those who persecute us? Return curses with blessings? Turn the other cheek? How are these things possible? Especially in today’s world.

Let’s face it, the hardest part of trusting God is when it comes to His mercy and justice. If we truly follow the teachings of Jesus, then when someone hurts us it is the ultimate amount of trust to believe that God will handle the situation and that whatever the offender deserves, they will get. But are we really prepared to accept that the person who hurt us can be shown mercy by God? Can we accept that God loves them just as much as He loves us? Whether that be a bully on the playground, a stalker in high school or a terrorist? Or do we truly believe that only the “good” are worthy of God’s mercy? If this is true, then first of all, it isn’t mercy and secondly, we don’t deserve it either because none of us are “good” all the time.

It is easy when we have been hurt, either as an individual, a family or even a nation, to rejoice and exult when we see our enemy fall, stumble or be put to death. But this is not the way of the Lord. Does justice need to be carried out in our lives, in our families and in our world? Yes. But when someone is being punished there is an evil associated with rejoicing as that person is punished. There is something that hits us deep down inside with guilt and disgust when we see people cheering at an execution, or dancing in the streets because someone is going to jail, or even when we see one sibling happy because another is being spanked or put in time out. While punishments do need to be meted out from time to time, there is no need to be happy about it. We should be sad that they had to happen in the first place.

We need to see people and situations through the eyes of Christ, with eternal vision, and not with the limited, temporal sight our limited minds offer us. We need to trust that He knows the hearts of all people and that He is in control of all situations and that His mercy and justice will be handed out with infinite fairness based on what HE knows and not on what we know. And when we do need to issue temporal justice or punishment, may our hearts be burdened with the solemnity of the act, not enraptured with a sense of joy at the pain or demise of another.

Dear Jesus, some days it is really, really hard to follow You, think like You, and act like You. Sometimes it is easier to act on my own sense of justice then to trust in Your justice and mercy. Grant me the grace today, and all days, to respond to the world around me with Your love and with Your peace. Amen.

Mercy, Me?

2011-04-28T18:24:00.002-04:00

“But a Samaritan traveler came upon him and was moved with compassion at the sight. He approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them. Then he lifted him up on his own animal, took him to an inn and cared for him.” Luke 10: 33-34

I’m sure we’ve all heard the whole story about the “Good Samaritan”. After several “holy” people had walked by an injured man with nary a glance or concern for him, the Samaritan (one looked down upon in society), came along and helped the hurt man and showed him mercy. It would be as if in our society a man was mugged in a city and several well-to-do pedestrians or a police officer saw him and ignored him, and then a homeless man, gang member or teen-ager was to help him.

Did the man deserve this help? Not really. Could he repay this help? Probably not. Was the Samaritan looking for reciprocation? No way! Of course, this is why what he did is called mercy. If we deserved it, then it wouldn’t be merciful. If someone demanded repayment or reciprocation then it wouldn’t be mercy.

And so in this instance, the Samaritan keenly reminds us of how we can be Christ-like in our world today. So how can you and I be Jesus to others in our world? How can we show mercy? First of all, we need to accept the mercy that God has shown us. We need to recognize His grace and love for us. It must animate us and give our lives energy. And then from this place of passion and power, we can begin to look for ways to spread it to others. And then when the Spirit moves in our hearts, we must ACT upon that movement and do the will of our Lord.

This is the message of mercy. The message of sharing Christ with others, especially if they seem not to deserve it. For none of us do. And yet we are given it anyway. And so we share this mercy with others through a gentle touch or kind word. A smile or an affirming nod of the head. By holding the door open or helping someone carry their groceries out to their car. By eating lunch with the “loner” or making friends with the person everyone else stays away from. By continuing to be respectful and loving to those that hurt us or who have been rude to us. By accepting others even when they disagree with us—even if they are wrong and don’t know it or acknowledge it.

There are so many people knocked down and hurting in life. There are so many wounds in need of bandaging. There are so many people that need to be lifted up and helped along the way. There are so many people in need of rest and recuperation. Who will go to them? Who will comfort them? Who will provide for them? Who will show them mercy? Who, if not you and me?

Dear Jesus, help me to see others and their needs and give me the grace to show Your mercy to everyone through deeds and words of compassion and kindness. Amen.

Distressing Disguise

2011-04-27T15:06:00.000-04:00

“And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.” Luke 24: 15-16

The story of Jesus appearing to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus is one of the most powerful, more popular stories we hear about every year during the Easter Season. It is amazing because Jesus came up to them, asked what they were talking about, walked and talked with them and the whole time they didn’t recognize Him until He broke the bread (the Eucharist).

How often in our world today does Christ draw near to you and me? Do we see Him or do we fail to recognize His presence among us? Perhaps we have a pre-conceived notion of what Christ looks like. But I think Christ comes to us each day in the most distressing of disguises. Not to fool us, but to help us to grow in humility, meekness, selflessness and charity. He is NOT what we are expecting.

He comes to us in the poor, the hurting, the sorrowful, yes. But He also comes to us in the ones that annoy us or hurt us. He comes to us in the normal, humdrum events of each day: taking out the garbage, washing the dishes, doing our homework, talking with a friend—He is there. He greets us in the morning when we look in the mirror and throughout the day in a myriad of ways. And He is with us to end our day in the silent darkness of night. He is found in drug addicts and alcoholics, prostitutes and the homeless. He is in foster care and abortion clinics, mental hospitals and day care centers. He is even in courtrooms, government buildings and castles. And if we look hard enough He can even be found on battlefields and in the midst of terrorism, violence and hatred.

So if Jesus is EVERYWHERE, how come we fail to recognize Him so often?

Perhaps because we fail to recognize Him in the Eucharist. A recent CARA poll suggests that 91% of Catholics who attend Mass every week believe that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist. That’s the good news. The bad news is that only 23% of Catholics go to Mass every week; when you factor in monthly Mass goers or those who only attend a couple times per year, the percentage who believe in the Real Presence drops dramatically. If we really recognized the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, we would be flocking to Mass and worshipping with reverence and humility. But if we aren’t recognizing Him here—in the Source and Summit of our Faith—how can expect to see Him in others? And without the grace that comes to us from the Eucharist, how can we expect to treat others the way Christ commands us?

When the disciples on the road to Emmaus finally recognized Jesus they realized that His words had been burning in the hearts and they were then inflamed to share their encounter with Jesus with others. The more we recognize Jesus in the Eucharist, the more our hearts will be engulfed by His love and the more we will desire to share about our encounter with Him to all we meet.

Dear Jesus, help me to recognize You in the Eucharist more and more, so that I can have the grace to recognize You in others and love them as You do. Amen.

I Can’t Get No Satisfaction…

2011-04-26T17:23:00.000-04:00

“The nether world and the abyss are never satisfied; so too the eyes of men.” Proverbs 27: 20

One day it rains and people complain and wish it were sunny. Another day it is sunny, but then it is too hot. Or it is too windy. Still another day it snows and we wish it was spring, then spring and we wish it were summer, summer and we wish it were fall, etc., etc., etc.

We try to eat at home and the food takes too long to make and there are too many dishes to clean-up. We go out to eat and they don’t cook our food the right way. We go to a fast food restaurant and the food takes too long to get to us.

We go to watch our favorite team play and they play bad and lose. Or maybe they win but the tickets and concessions cost too much. Or there was no good place to park. Or the lines going into the stadium were too long and slow. We go to the movies and the people around us are talking too loud, or blinding us with the cell phones as they text the whole time. Or we rent a video but it was too long, or too violent…or not long enough or not violent enough. Or the acting just sucked. What a waste of five bucks!

We go to Mass and the homily is too long or boring…or intellectual. The music is too traditional, or too contemporary. The pews are too hard, or too narrow. The incense smells weird, the wine tastes weird; the lector has a lisp. And what’s with the nature powerpoint slides on the wall behind the altar? Besides, the people here are too holy, or too sinful, or they can’t sing, or they won’t sing. Or they flip you off in the parking lot on the way out right after consuming Jesus in the Eucharist. And what about that family with the loud kids who eat pop tarts the whole time? Or the older people who yell every time they talk? How come there aren’t any younger people…or how come there are so many teens?

Any of this sound familiar? It seems like you and I are never satisfied, are we? There is always something to complain about. We can always find fault with others. We can always be wishing for something better. Something perfect. But you know what? Good luck with that. Because this world is fallen and the people in it aren’t perfect. And one of Satan’s greatest tactics is to keep us dissatisfied with everything and everyone, especially when it comes to God, the Bible or the Church. If the devil can’t stop us from praying or believing or attending Mass, then the next best thing he can do is to keep us always finding fault and seeing all the imperfections and distractions around us. As long as we keep doing this and thinking this way, we will never really pray or worship. We will never really grow in humility and we will never really become less selfish.

Let’s try to find at least one thing each day that we can be satisfied with. Whether it is our computer, our cell phone, our home, our parents, our kids, our siblings, our friends…something, anything. If we can learn to be satisfied with what God has given us and live each day with that attitude, the world will be a better place, not only for us but for everyone around us.

Dear Jesus, I want to stop complaining and seeing all the things I don’t have or all the imperfections in other people. I want to be satisfied with all that you have given me and with all that I have, especially all the treasures of the Church. Please give me the grace to do this each day. Amen.

He Knew

2011-04-25T17:37:00.000-04:00

“Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end. The devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over. So, during supper, fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God, he rose from supper and took off his outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel around his waist.” John 13: 1-5

This is part of the reading from The Mass of the Lord’s Supper celebrated on Holy Thursday each year. What strikes me the most about this particular passage is that it makes it abundantly clear that Jesus knew several things:

1. That Judas was going to betray Him.

2. That He was going to die a horrible and painful death.

3. That He was the Son of God.

4. That only He could accomplish this mission of salvation.

5. That He had omnipotent power.

6. That this decision to sacrifice Himself for our sake was fully His own choice.

This is astounding! And not because Jesus knew all this, nor that He is God, nor that He could’ve said no. But what is so amazing is that knowing all that He is and all that was going to happen, He got on His knees and washed the FEET of His followers. And while the focus is normally on St. Peter at this moment because of the conversation he has with Jesus, think about the absurdity of the fact that Jesus washed the feet of JUDAS as well. Of course Jesus revealed the depth of His love when He died on the cross the next day, but we should be overcome with how He knew everything and still got on His holy knees to wash the feet of the one who was going to betray Him a few hours later.

What do the actions of Jesus say to us? That no matter what we have done, no matter how far we have wandered, He loves us and He wants us back. He is not standing in the throne room of heaven waiting to condemn us and send us to hell. Rather, Jesus runs to you and me and seeks to wash our feet and put on a clean robe and kill the fatted calf for us if we would see the errors of our ways and turn back to Him.

Are you in need of new life? If Jesus could conquer pride through the humility of washing feet, if He could conquer betrayal by loving His enemies, if He could conquer torture and mockery through silent witness and if could conquer death through resurrection, then He can produce newness in your life as well. And what should this new life produce in us? A willingness to be more and more like Jesus; to cooperate with the grace He merited for us on the cross and to bring new life to others. Despite how we might normally think and act, we are not the center of the universe and the world does not revolve around you and me. But it does revolve around the cross of Christ. And the more we become humble, prayerful and less concerned for ourselves than for others, the sooner the Kingdom of God will be built up in our world through the power of Jesus living in us.

Dear Jesus, help me to humble myself as You did, to wash the feet of those around me, especially the ones I struggle with or the ones who have hurt me. Despite how hard Your way of life seems, I want to follow You, Jesus and bring new life to others. Amen.

4/20

2011-04-20T15:40:00.002-04:00

“Whoever clings to me I will deliver; whoever knows my name I will set on high.” Psalm 91: 14

Why do people take illegal drugs? For the high. But why do they want the high? Probably to escape from some kind of pain or stress or perhaps to feel good. Maybe they want to have a good time and lower their inhibitions or they want to mask reality. And so people begin to experiment with mind and mood altering substances in order to get to a different place than where they are at. Even legal drugs do the same things. We take them to mask our physical pain, balance our emotions or connect the synapses in our brain so that we can function in life. But while taking legal drugs is an attempt to get us back to our normal lives, taking illegal drugs is an attempt to reach somewhere outside our normal lives.

In essence, taking illegal drugs (or abusing legal drugs or alcohol) is really a rejection of the trust we should have in God. We don’t trust Him to make us happy, or to heal our pain or to give meaning to our suffering—and so we drug. We don’t trust that He can bring us out of whatever situation we are in or to deal with whatever issue we are facing—and so we drug. We don’t trust in His laws and His plan or His will and when we fail at living according to our own designs…we drug.

So many young people simply drug to feel something, anything. They are so lost in hopelessness and despair that the only way they can remember they are alive is to alter their reality with chemicals. And in the end, whether young or old, many people who begin down this path end up addicted to the “high” and live in dread of the crash and begin to do whatever it takes to get their next fix. Stealing, robbing, mugging—selling themselves. Whatever it takes. And in the end, most find themselves worse off than before they started down this path—many in jail and many others dead.

So what is the solution, what is the answer? It is Jesus. From an early age we need to learn to CLING to Him. Not simply learn about Him, but learn to cling to Him, like a baby clings to its mother. Like children cling to their parents when they are scared. With that child-like faith knowing that He will not abandon us, knowing that His plan is best, knowing that He wills happiness and all good things for us in this life and in the life to come. Knowing that even when in the midst of suffering and pain and grief, that He is there with us: crying with us, holding us and guarding us. Trusting that when we cling to Him in whatever reality life brings us instead of trying to escape into another reality, He will set us on a true high, a high that will never end, a high where we cannot be reached by the evil and despair of Satan. A high without a crash. A high where there will be no coming down, but only higher and higher to go.

Dear Jesus, help me to reach for Your name and cling to You so that my life may be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit so I can be set on high by Your love and peace. Guard me from the fear, hopelessness and distrust that can tempt me to turn away from You. Amen.

Sell Out or Sold Out?

2011-04-19T16:50:00.000-04:00

“When it was evening, he reclined at table with the Twelve. And while they were eating he said, ‘Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.’ Deeply distressed at this, they began to say to him one after another, ‘Surely it is not I, Lord?’” Matthew 26: 20-22

Have you ever had anyone betray you? I mean really, truly sell you out? If so, I bet you had a hard time forgiving that person or loving that person. Or perhaps you still haven’t. Maybe you are still angry with them right now. Maybe just reading this is causing your blood to boil or your heart to beat faster as you see in your mind’s eye the betrayal and the humiliation comes flooding back into focus. I can relate.

But now ask yourself a tougher question: have you ever betrayed anyone else? Is anyone squirming yet? It’s a lot harder to look in the mirror than to point the finger.

Now ask yourself the toughest question: have you ever betrayed our Lord? I’m ashamed to admit that I have. I know that I have said those words of the Passion Story “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” too many times. And I know I need to say them each year on Palm Sunday and Good Friday. I need to acknowledge that so often by my actions I betray the One I love in my heart. The important question is whether or not we are willing to accept the mercy offered to us by the One we betray. Judas was not willing or able to accept this gift, but St. Peter was. All of us deny Jesus and betray our Lord at various times in our lives. All of us will double-cross Jesus. All of us can be tempted to sell Him out in front of our friends or co-workers, or by living and believing according to our cultural standards rather than His standards. But all the while we are selling Him out by our thoughts, words and actions, He is offering us everything. Jesus was and IS sold out for you and me. No matter how many times we sell Him out, He continues to be sold out for us. And we can either fall on our knees with our faces to the ground and accept this undeserved gift of mercy or we can try to run away from it.

This Holy Week, Jesus asks each of us, His deniers and His betrayers, “Do you love me?” And He asks it for every time we have been weak and ashamed of Him. Rather than offer us His ultimate justice (which we deserve), He offers us His life and His love and simply asks us for our love in return as gratitude for His sacrifice. The only way we will ever stop selling Jesus out is when we finally decide to be totally sold out for Him. May we use this Holy Week to stop running from His grace and fall into His arms of mercy, so that like St. Peter, we can “feed His sheep” with our lives from this day forward.

Dear Jesus, thank You for dying for me and offering me Your mercy, even when I betray and deny You. Help me to overcome my sin and weakness by humbly accepting Your mercy and love. And help me to always love You faithfully in return. Amen.

Imbalanced

2011-04-18T17:20:00.001-04:00

“Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. May your kind spirit guide me on ground that is level.” Psalm 143: 10

A few years ago I went to Warroad, MN to speak at a youth rally and I had to fly there. I don’t mind flying, but after I left Minneapolis, the planes I was flying in got smaller and smaller by degree with each layover. The last plane I ended up in was an 18-seat turbo-prop that had to wait for take-off until a caribou cleared the runway. Needless to say, I was a little nervous as I climbed the steps into the “cabin”. But the fun started as we were getting settled. I was sitting in one of the front seats on the right side of the plane putting on my seatbelt when a very nice, smiling, no-cares-in-the-world flight attendant came over to me and asked if I was Mr. Anthony. I replied that I was and then she proceeded to tell me very nonchalantly that they were going to have to ask me to change seats and move to the back of the plane on the left side. Innocently I asked why and she responded by telling me that they needed me to move so that the weight on the plane would be balanced and if I didn’t move we couldn’t take-off because the plane wouldn’t be able to fly level.

Gulping back my shock I just shook my head yes, grabbed my carry-on and headed to my new seat. But as I got settled and started to really look around at this small, tubular recycled soda cans with propellers, I began to sweat thinking about how it was ME who was responsible for keeping the plane level. For the next 45 minutes I was so scared I didn’t even use the bathroom because it was across from me on the right side of the plane and all I could picture was the plane going into a death spiral because I was urinating and shifting the weight of the plane. I know, I was being a little over-the-top.

But you know what? I think in life we get stressed or scared thinking that the balance we crave in our lives is solely up to us. Our lives keep swaying from level ground because of the choices we make, the things thrown at us, situations and circumstances we can’t control or simply because we are too busy. And yet the more we try to shift one part of our lives to straighten out another, the more imbalanced things seem to become. The more we try to keep our lives level the more they seem to spin out of control.

So what is the solution? Seek the will of the Lord. At all times. In all circumstances. Maybe He does want you to volunteer at school or your parish. Or maybe He wants you to spend more time with your family. Maybe He wants you to take that new job and the raise and move to another state. Or maybe He wants you to stay where you are and be content. Maybe He wants you to attend that certain college away from home. Or maybe He wants you to keep close to your family for a few more years. Just because something seems good, or feels right or is even morally neutral (or good) does not mean it is God’s will for you. Perhaps the reason why so many of us can feel so imbalanced is that we are trying to do what others (or even ourselves) think is right, but we’ve never asked God whether it is right for us.

Jesus ALWAYS did the will of His Father. If we want to live lives of greatness, we need to follow the will of the Father as well. Then, and only then, can we be confident that we are not doing more or less than what He desires us to do. And in this reality we find peace, balance and lives lived on level ground.

Dear Jesus, help me to do ONLY Your will in my life. I want to walk on the level ground of Your perfect plan. Stop me from chasing after things that are not of You and allow my intentions to always be pure and holy. Amen.