Sing Alleluia

The last day before Advent. The candles are ready on the table; even my Christmas cactus has buds, ready to bloom. And thoughts of the change in season fill the air (and some even anticipated it way too soon). But it is a good time, this time of change, however with all change comes anxiety.

In the last reading this morning I saw the words of a sermon by Augustine. If you want a great Christmas present, buy (or hint for) the book of his Essential Sermons. There you will find wisdom and peace for many a day to come. In today’s readings he spoke on anxiety. I was tempted to put the entire sermon here, but you can just look it up on the net. I’ll be content with just writing the portions I underlined, for you:


"Let us sing alleluia here on earth, while we still live in anxiety, so that we may sing it one day in heaven in full security."

"Every day we make our petitions, every day we sin. Do you want me to feel secure when I am daily asking pardon for my sins, and requesting help in time of trial? Because of my past sins I pray: Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and then, because of the perils still before me, I immediately go on to add: Lead us not into temptation. How can all be well with people who are crying out with me: Deliver us from evil?"

"You have entered upon a time of trial but you will come to no harm --- God’s help will bring you through it safely. You are like a piece of pottery, shaped by instruction, fired by tribulation. When you are put into the over therefore, keep your thoughts on the time when you will be taken out again: for God is faithful, and he will guard both your going in and your coming out."

"Keep on making progress. This progress, however, must be in virtue; for there are some, the Apostle warns, whose only progress is in vice. If you make progress, you will be continuing your journey, but be sure that your progress is in virtue, true faith and right living. Sing then, but keep going."


Advent’s the start of a new season, my friends. Let’s get going, and singing. (And for those with voices like mine, you can just hum along.)

There Is One! There Is One!

The movie Miracle on 34th Street nears the end, and young Natalie Wood runs down the stairs, declares Kris Kringle to be Santa Claus, then rushes to the back door to check the yard for a swing: She screams: “There is one! There is one!!”

Ahhhhh, it IS Thanksgiving Day.

“And the Lions lose yet again.” Yes, it is indeed Thanksgiving Day.

Your day today may have been hectic, but mine was quiet. At mass this morning, Fr. John stressed our need for reflection after the reception of Holy Communion and at the end of the day; both times for thanksgiving, but also times for reflection on our relationship with God. Father? Brother? Friend? Acquaintance? Stranger? Should we change that? Will we? Tomorrow is another day; what will WE (us and Him together) make of it?

In the quiet of my day I took time out to reflect on my relationship with Him, and the things for which I give thanks this day:

1) I Was Found. I lived my well-planned life for many years. Some admired my success, but increasingly, I knew better. I was lost. One day I realized all my plans and all my successes were nothing, and I told Him so. I didn’t plan THAT thing, but suddenly there it was: I was lost, but now I am found. And He was with me. I am so thankful.

2) The Eucharist. Communion with God, or at least it was supposed to be, but for many years I felt it was just me. Then it changed. Along with being found and knowing it, He stayed. Suddenly I knew that Host on the altar was Him, really Him. And He was always there for me. I’d never feel alone again. Ever. I am so thankful.

3) Re-Gifting. Most people think of re-gifting as a bad thing, the giving away gifts received that you don’t want. I see re-gifting as a great blessing, when I am able to give away the things that I DO want. God the Father did that for me. A precious gift He had, His Son’s life, but He gave away for me. I could never give away such a precious gift as He did, but I can give away other gifts He gives me. The wonderful graces and blessings He bestows on me are always given in excess, so that I can choose to give some away, precious gifts from Him re-gifted to those I meet, His friends. I am thankful that He helped me understand the value of re-gifting.

4) Those Who Work for Me. Catholic book stores, Catholic radio, those dedicated to the poor, and those speaking up and participating in politics. Those people work for me, doing things for me and others that I would wish I could do, but I have been given other talents and things to do. I am thankful for their dedication, working for me.

5) Those Who Pray for Me. Like the elderly man, Mario, who spends all his day in the local chapel, caring for things --- and people --- there, and praying, for me. There are many religious orders whose members spend all their day praying, for me, among others. (And I remember them, too.) For all these, I am thankful. I need them so much.

You cannot be thankful for things you earned, money, prestige, or even power. That is only justice for your efforts. Things which you are freely given however, which you did not earn yet receive great benefits from, those are gifts for which you should be thankful. God has blessed me with many gifts, many sudden unexpected blessings. I look back and see how often that has happened.

Today I think on these gifts that I have received, through no merit of my own. Every time I come across a new one of them and suddenly realize that God has blessed me yet again, I smile quietly at His generosity, but I want to point and scream out at the top of my lungs: “There is one! There is one!” Something so wonderful, yet so unexpected. A gift.

I am so thankful.

Good Timing

I think all of us wonder at some point or other how we are doing on God’s scorecard. Some of us take a negative view of the scorecard --- let me count my sins, which can lead me to worry about my sins. Some of us take the opposite view --- let me count my accomplishments, which might lead to pride or self-satisfaction, thinking how great God must be rating me. And some of us don’t look at the bad or the good of the past, but look forward to what we might accomplish in the future. Regardless of what we did before, we ask ourselves: Can I do better?

I usually take that latter view of things. (Perhaps I’m just too scared to think of how God might be rating my past.) Looking forward, I think of the parable of the talents and how God has blessed me greatly, from the country I was born in to the place I live now. He has blessed me greatly --- and, as the parable of the talents explains, He expects a return on those talents He gave me, those blessings. That’s His real scorecard, I think: it’s not just whether I did poorly or did well, it’s how I did with the talents I had.

If I’m on a major league baseball team and I realize God is only counting victories, I’ll schedule every Little League team I can find --- we’ll slaughter them all. But God will look at those victories AND my talents and say: “That was nothing at all; you wasted all those talents.” Conversely, if I am a Little Leaguer and I can’t remember which hand the glove goes on or how to hold the bat, he won’t hold all my losses against me.

There is one thing wrong about my examples though, the talents God gave me are with me throughout my life, and I can not only use those talents when I am a child, but I can hone those talents as I grow, and use them even better as an adult. So, maybe I CAN win some games against other inept Little League teams, and maybe as an adult I use my improved talents to lead a major league team to victory against other very good teams. Throughout my life, I can improve the talents God gave me to do even better things, to give Him the return He expects on His gifts.

While we can direct our lives toward using the talents God gave us, it is also important to remember that God also had plans for our lives: He saw us even in the womb. The meshing of God’s plans with our plans is sometimes just a matter of timing. If we become aware of God’s plans, and we see the opportunities He is laying out before us, we can see the perfect fit of our talents and His opportunities, and we can accomplish so much more than whatever we might plan alone. I know some great stories of people who were open to God’s plans, and were able to use the talents He gave them to do remarkable things. I’ll tell them to you some day.

Meanwhile, look at the picture above. What do you see? A lot of open sky and gray clouds. Remember the picture from a couple of weeks ago? There was a big tree there, filled with birds looking for God’s light of day. I saw those birds in that big old tree for months and months, and finally decided to take the picture and tell you their story. Two weeks later the tree has fallen, and I don’t know why. I do know that if I had waited until today, I couldn’t have told you the story of two weeks ago. I couldn’t have meditated on the message that perhaps God was telling me there. It would have just been a curiosity --- hey, I remember there used to be a big tree there; I wonder what happened. And I would quickly forget about it. It would have been an opportunity, a little whisper from God, that I was too busy to stop and listen to, and to look at. And on God’s scorecard might have been been written: “A pitch right down the middle, and he just stood there looking at it – strike one.”

Has God been throwing you any pitches lately? Regardless of all that’s going on in the stands around you, you have to be ready, or it will just pass you by. He’s out there throwing you simple under-handed tosses, ones you can hit out of the park --- if you’re ready. It’s all about good timing. He’s giving you every opportunity to use your talents to their fullest. Or you can stand there making YOUR plans for the girl or guy in the stands, dreaming about your victory, and lose the game.

Just remember what the trophy, for victory in this game of your life, is.

To New Catholics

I follow the thoughtful blogs of a couple of new Catholics, marveling at their spiritual growth (most often faster than mine), and having sympathy for their difficulties, both with certain teachings and (unfortunately) sometimes with less-than-understanding friends. I offer this post, today, to any new Catholics who may happen here.

Today I read something in the Office of Readings, in the Liturgy of the Hours. I thought it spoke to all who sometimes need encouragement in their faith journey. It was taken from The Second Letter of the Apostle Peter, chapter 1, verses 1-11. I’ll just type the lines which I have underlined in my book, with comments I wrote there in parentheses:

May grace be yours and peace in abundance through your knowledge of God and of Jesus, our Lord. (Best blessings wishes).
Make every effort to undergird your virtue with faith, your discernment with virtue, and your self-control with discernment; this self-control, in turn, should lead to perseverance, and perseverance to piety, and piety to care for your brother, and care for your brother, to love (How to love: start by self-control)


(You want to know God?) Qualities like these, made increasingly your own bear fruit in true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(My call is to Him: Lord, help me to do your will.) Be solicitous to make your call and election permanent, brothers; surely those who do so will never be lost.

The Liturgy of the Hours from which this is quoted is a 4-volume set of books which all Catholics, indeed all Christians, are encouraged to read. I find it to be like Scripture (in fact, much of it is Scripture), in that I seem constantly to find something new and relevant for me almost each time I read it. I have been using these books for daily readings, especially in mornings and evenings, for approximately 25 years.

For you new Catholics, or for any newly married people, your vows are just the start. In Matrimony, the vows are just the start of growing in love, there is much still to be gained in marriage. For the newly converted, or those seeking God, their commitment is also just the start of a journey, a faith journey. Both journeys are to last a lifetime, of growing in holiness through these partners you have been joined to. I’ve found these daily readings help me prepare for and understand my journey. Perhaps you may find them equally valuable.

I wish you a safe and blessed trip.

Life Everlasting

It took me a long time to know and understand the Church’s teaching about heaven: life everlasting. Oh, I knew there was a heaven, and it was beyond all my understanding --- but, well, I wanted some understanding anyway. The thoughts of wings, and clouds, and harps, or just sitting at God’s feet adoring seemed unsatisfying. That can’t be all it is, or at least that can’t be all of my understanding of it. There must be more I can understand, to make it more appealing. Eventually I did see and understood those parts of Scripture, the writings of the saints, and the teachings of the Catholic Church about what heaven is. And once I understood the teaching, I found it everywhere. And I did find great comfort.

This morning I found all I had learned about heaven summarized very succinctly by Saint Thomas Aquinas. Here’s his words regarding heaven and what it is:

It is fitting that the end of all our desires, namely eternal life, coincides with the words at the end of the creed, “Life everlasting. Amen.”
The first point about eternal life is that man is united with God. … This union consists in seeing perfectly. Next it consists in perfect praise.
It also consists in the complete satisfaction of desire, for there the blessed will be given more than they wanted or hoped for…. Only God satisfies. As Augustine says: “You have made us for yourself, Lord, and our heart can find no rest until it rests in you.”

Again, eternal life consists of the joyous community of all the blessed, a community of supreme delight, since everyone will share all that is good with all the blessed. Everyone will love everyone else as himself, and therefore will rejoice in another’s good as in his own. So it follows that the happiness and joy of each grows in proportion to the joy of all.

That is a great summary of heaven, as I understand it: Union with God, seeing perfectly, perfect praise, and satisfaction of all desires. But it is not just union with God, because if I am united to Him, so are all others, so the community is united in all things with God. Through union with God, everyone loves God and his neighbor perfectly ---- but wait, those are the two great commandments for here on earth, too! What Aquinas and the Church’s teaching is saying, then, is that we will never perfectly live out those two great commandments here on earth; the perfect fulfillment of them will be in heaven. With the charge to grow in holiness, all our life, we should be transitioning here on earth through focus on those two commandments, to that heavenly bliss.

I think, however, that some of us are too focused on transitioning to the “complete satisfaction of desire” and not enough to the “joyous community of all the blessed.” Especially now, when our neighbor needs us so much.

Breast Cancer and Abortion

I came across this message from Fr John Riccardo, of Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish, in Plymouth, MI. His message, stated in the parish weekly bulletin is one that should be re-printed in every Catholic parish in the country. It tells the truth (with supporting documentation) on the relationship between abortion, hormonal contraception and breast cancer.

I'll leave this link to his parish bulletin here, for as long as the link is active. I encourage you to read his message to his parishioners.

http://www.catholicweb.com/bulletins/59371/Nov-14-2010.pdf

Waiting for the Light

Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? (Mt 6:26)

As I leave the church in the early morning hours, I walk across the parking lot and look up to see these birds. I always wish them a “Good Morning”, (but they don’t respond back, except perhaps for a few chirps). They sit in the highest branches of the tallest tree on the West side of the lot. To the East, behind the church, the sun is rising. They’re waiting for it. On some mornings I come out at just the right time, and I can see them bathed in the sunlight, with the shadow line of the church cutting across below them. On some mornings, there are upwards of a hundred birds in those branches, waiting for the light.

They begin to gather almost as soon as the black of night begins to turn to grey. They seem to come in groups, of five or ten, kind of like families gathering at the church. Oh, the tree even at its fullest is mostly empty, but I think the ones who really want to be there are --- or perhaps the ones who really NEED to be there are. For some the increasingly cold nights are probably a burden, and they can’t wait for the warmth of the light. Perhaps for some, I don’t know, maybe they are somewhat afraid of the dark – in the late evening I sometimes hear a bird crash into mom’s front window, disoriented in the dimness as it looks for the bird feeder and seeds. Regardless, they are there in the tall tree for a reason, and they must believe it to be a good one. They are very loyal; most appear every day, looking for the light, looking for the warmth, looking to ward off the fears of the night.

Earlier, I saw similar groups of people flock to the early morning mass. Perhaps they were there for the similar reasons. Are they satisfied in what they seek? I don’t know, but they too come back there each day, waiting for the Light.

Stones

I looked at the mess, piled up there on the beach.
Was a child at play here?
Flotsam, trash, mud; it looked smelly.
Sand, pebbles, and some sea shells lay there, mostly broken,
But one looked surprisingly whole and almost beautiful.
Once, I knew, the shells contained life,
But not now.
And there was a piece of wood.

I saw the sand piled up around these things.
The child had tried to create something of it all;
It looked like he failed,
Or perhaps the waters have just eroded his work.
I can’t imagine what he was thinking;
But perhaps the child once created a thing of beauty here, at least to him.
Will he return again, I wonder, to renew it?
Will I be there to see his vision?

I remember another jumbled “creation” that I see today,
Another hodge-podge piled high; and some people laugh at it.
I hear people laughed even at its start; for it was a mess then, too.
But, I read, in the hands of a craftsman,
A miracle happened, and a great thing was created, to stand forever.
It seems eroded now, to me, and it takes
Great imagination to remember what it was,
And perhaps may be again?

It all started with a young maiden, Mary, and, some said,
A strange husband. What an odd pair.
And then a child. Only one?
(Perhaps they were not blessed.)
But he grew, and wandered, and over time
Brought home odd friends, Peter and Paul,
Thomas and John --- and Mary Magdalene!?
What beauty or good could ever be created from this eclectic mess?

The Child’s creation seems all jumbled now; His vision clouded to our eyes.
It started surprisingly well and endured, but now the Master’s work seems in disarray.
It’s said beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and its Creator.
Perhaps I need glasses.
Or perhaps I need to trust in visions I cannot see, because I did not make them.
All my creations have quickly crumbled, like the one on the beach;
No one imagines them today, as I planned and saw them then.
Perhaps all that exists today, for all these efforts, is stones, for great buildings yet to be.

The Church of Sinners

This morning I was thinking about how easily I jump to judge other people, and how I set my expectations higher for some than others, largely because of their positions of authority. It makes sense, to me, my expectations for business leaders to know how to run a business, and for church leaders to know the faith, and to teach it well. Those are business behaviors. It’s funny, though, how high of standards we (sinners) set for the moral behavior of others, especially priests and bishops. Because they are Church business leaders, we expect them to be supermen. The facts are, however we wish they were not, that they are just men.

Only one man in Scripture confessed directly to Jesus that he was a sinner (Lk 5:8); Jesus made that man the head of his Church --- so much for Jesus’ moral expectations of Church leaders! One of the twelve leaders he picked even betrayed Jesus --- and Jesus even knew he would! Jesus knew the moral weaknesses of men, all men.

Way less than one in twelve priests were involved in the recent sexual abuse scandals, a better morality rate than that of the apostles. Perhaps priests are becoming holier since Jesus’ time?? But they still sin, and we should not be surprised, nor expect otherwise. Oh, we can fault the bishops for failing in their leadership roles and teaching roles, for not doing something about those priests, but as I have written elsewhere here, I don’t believe that the whole story has been told on this issue. We may be justified (to some degree) in railing against the bishops, but I think most of us are saddened or angry at the priests. In that I believe, perhaps, we are wrong.

For those of us who are outraged that any priest sinned, we seem to be setting standards higher than Jesus did for His Church leaders. Will we get dizzy in those heights, you think, where we proclaim ourselves a better judge than He?

I Have No Friends

I read recently about someone who was giving up their Facebook page; she seemed reluctant to do so. She noted how easy it was to keep up with her family, despite vast distances separating them, and to feel part of their lives --- and to let them be part of hers. Oh, and her other friends, too. She was interested in what many did, and enjoyed their ‘company”. This seemed a good thing. But, she continued, she noticed how often she was updating her page, and the time she was spending there. She noticed that no one in her family was updating their page, or responding to her comments, nearly as often as she. And she realized that this computer screen had become a major part of her life. And she realized that the screen, for all the time she spent with it, was no friend, and really, neither were the vast majority of the “Friends” who were sent her words. And so she quit, as she noted in her blog. And her blog posts, in subsequent days and weeks became less frequent. I think this was a good thing for her.

I have no “Friends”.

Those who seek to read words written on this blog are called “Followers”, not friends – a better word, I believe. I don’t consider anyone who might read these words a friend, many I do not know and in truth I do not wish to know. As noted in the sidebar comment I wrote on “Why Follow This Blog”, I hope some of the words I write here are in some way inspired or uplifting, words of truth as I understand them, words which may help some others, God knows who not I, to also understand truth. And perhaps knowing the truth, they may lead better lives, and grow closer to Him. If they follow in hopes of learning, I welcome followers --- and I pray God use me as His teacher. The few blogs I “follow”, I do so in hopes of growing in holiness through graces which may seep through their words, from them to me, so that I might follow Him better.

Stay with me, Lord, to show me Your will.
Stay with me, Lord, so that I hear Your voice and follow You.
--- from Padre Pio’s Prayer After Holy Communion

I read a book recently which had a homosexual character in it; he led the “gay” lifestyle. As the book followed his life, and his thoughts, you could see, however, that he was anything but gay. He hid his thoughts and actions from friends and family, not only aware of their disapproval, but also aware that he, in his heart, was uncomfortable with his actions. Yet, he felt a longing for them and a wanting to explain or justify them --- in many ways they seemed “right” for him and his body. As the book progresses, his friends, his true friends, explain that what may seem right and good for the body may not be right and good for the soul. That’s the way sin is. His lifestyle was not “gay”; the word had been hijacked from its true meaning, to one which the body wished it to mean. That is the way with sin, also.

I think the word “Friend” has been subtly hijacked also. For many people, they perceive their human value by the number of Facebook “Friends” they may have, and gain comfort in talking to others about how many people they have befriended. They are kidding themselves. They have and are no more “friends” than that book character was really “gay”. The word is an illusion to justify something they want, their body wants: it wants to justify sin.

Our life is our interaction with real people. The people who see us on television, hear us on radio, hear our sermons, or read our words on Facebook --- or even our blogs --- are not part of our life. Oh, the Holy Spirit may indeed use us to reach them, to share His graces through us, but we don’t gain His graces from tens and hundreds and thousands of “Friends.” No, He reaches out to us very personally, one person to another. That is how love is given or shown. That’s how Jesus spread His word, worked His miracles: one to one, with love.

Some words of Psalm 6, which I read this morning, reminded me of the woman who would give up her Facebook page, the homosexual who would change his life (and of any sinner who would change his ways), or even the person who might convert to the Church and live out its teachings: many of their “friends” won’t like it, and they won’t understand. Many will be content to live the lives they lead, and not make the hard choices of those who would change for the better.

Lord, do not reprove me in Your anger: have mercy on me.
Return, Lord, rescue my soul.
Save me in your merciful love.
I am exhausted with my groaning;
every night I drench my pillow with tears;
I bedew my bed with weeping.

Leave me, all you who do evil;
for the Lord has heard my weeping.
The Lord has heard my plea;
the Lord will accept my prayer.
All my foes will retire in confusion,
foiled and suddenly confounded.

Show me Your mercy, Lord, and keep me safe.

For all those who would make the hard choices to change their lives, give up their “friends”, I pray for you.