All Posts By

Deacon Allen

Deacon Allen | Deacon Allen Tatara Catholic Speaker - Part 21

On the Inside; On the Outside


 
Aug 11 2016
Love0

3 Things You Need When You Pray

Posted by | Prayer | No Comments

How is your prayer life? Is it improving day-by-day, or are you stuck right where you stand?

I always suggest to people that if they are struggling with their prayer life, or if they find themselves stuck in the same-old, same-old, to shake things up a bit. It is always a good thing to try out different prayer forms to get your creative and spiritual juices flowing once more. I believe that it often helps one to re-connect with their Creator and develop a deeper relationship with Christ. Read More

Jul 28 2016
Love0

Are You Living Upside-Down?

Posted by | Everyday Life | No Comments

two-toed-slothA sloth is a strange looking animal, isn’t it? Whenever I look at a sloth, I say to myself, “I am sure glad that I am not a sloth!”

Who am I to say that a sloth isn’t thinking the same thing about me? A sloth might be glad that it’s not a human being. I guess what you think of others depends on who or what you are. But since I am a human and not a sloth, I think sloths are kind of weird looking.

A sloth has almost no tail and no ears, a short snout, and only has two or three toes, depending on the species. And sloths are slow moving animals that live in trees. But by far the strangest thing about the sloth is that it is an upside-down animal. If you want to look at a sloth straight in the eye, you have to turn your head upside down. Sloths live upside down. They eat upside down, and they spend their whole lives living upside down in trees.

I don’t know about you, but I would certainly not want to live that way. I would never want to walk upside down, eat upside down or even sleep upside down. It just sounds uncomfortable.

Yet, strangely enough, this is what many people do. They live upside down. Not really, of course. They don’t walk on their hands or eat hanging upside down from the kitchen ceiling. But they live upside down in another way. They don’t live the way that Jesus wants them to live.

Jesus says that we must seek God first. He says that we must make God number one in our life and ourselves number two. He says that when we do that, we’re living right side up. But many of us do the opposite. We make ourselves number one and God number two. That’s turning Jesus’ words on their head. That’s living like a sloth.

How can we make sure that we are living right side up? The best way is to live every day, with Christ’s help, in the way he has shown us: by loving our neighbor, helping one another, and spreading the Gospel by the way we live our lives. If we can do that on a day to day basis, the future will take care of itself and there will be no need to worry.

Jul 24 2016
Love0

Who Ya Gonna Call?

Posted by | Prayer | No Comments

There’s something strange in the neighborhood. Who Ya Gonna Call?
There’s something weird and it don’t look good. Who Ya Gonna Call?

Most of you probably know the song and the movie quite well. Ghostbusters was a huge hit back in the day and the new version is doing quite well in theaters now. If there was ever any dreadful danger or spooky situations, the Ghostbusters were the best at saving the day. The song is still great and the movies are still funny, but spooky ghosts and goblins aren’t real. Proton packs and ghost traps don’t exist. There’s nothing spooky to be afraid of. Read More

Jul 14 2016
Love0

Undesirable Prayer

Posted by | Prayer | No Comments

Once again, I find myself going through some old notes that I had taken on a prior retreat. And behold, I found this anonymous quote:

“The more words in prayer, the more undesirable the prayer is.”

So what exactly does this mean? Well, let’s be honest with ourselves – sometimes, we pray with too many words. We find ourselves going on and on to God about all that is happening in our lives, what prayers we want answered and what intentions we want to be granted. We deliver a long list of requests, needs, wants and desires – and we expect immediate action on every one of these.

prayer
Often times, we make our prayers too complicated. Simplicity is often needed in order to pray. Otherwise, we are just telling Jesus about ourselves. When we approach prayer, we need to have the simplicity of a child. If you’ve ever listened to a child pray, there is both a beauty and an innocence to their words. They are not weighed down by negativity, but are lifted up in positive spirituality. Their way of praying is simple, to the point, and from the heart.

One of the best ways to experience God in prayer is by forgetting yourself. Ultimately, if you want something, you must experience nothing. Our prayers should not be filled with meaningless words or just going through the motions. We must come to prayer  with a simplicity of speech and a willingness to listen to God. Always remember that prayer is a two-way dialogue with God. The challenge is to forget ourselves and to let our prayer be a loving experience with God our Father. We must be willing to let the Lord speak to us and to be open to receive what he has to say. If we can find a way to truly listen with our heart, we will then be able to experience desirable prayer.

Prayer is the most concrete way to make our home in God. ~Henri Nouwen

Jun 29 2016
Love2

You Are Special

Posted by | Prayer | No Comments

I recently came across some notes that I had taken while on a silent retreat a number of years ago. There’s something special about finding little nuggets of information from past moments in life that bring back not only fond memories, but often times new-found joy. It’s like re-learning something you already knew – but kind of compartmentalized far back in the recesses of your brain.

man_silhouette_clip_art_9510One of the things that I had written down from our retreat master was something that he told us to remember: I am special, and God has plans for me. This is certainly a statement that we need to keep repeating to ourselves each and every day. It needs to be a part of our core values as Catholic Christians. It needs to be spoken by us when we are struggling with the stresses of our lives. It needs to be a part of our daily language.

We so often forget that we have been uniquely created by God and that each one of us is a major part of God’s plan. Yet, here is something to reflect upon: How often do I try to interfere with God’s plan? How often do I try to do what I think is best for me instead of first asking God? Sometimes, we get so stressed out trying to figure out what we should be doing with our lives that we forget that it’s really not up to us in the first place. God has destined us for greatness.

We truly need to feel and believe the fact that God knows what He is doing. We need to stop second-guessing God and simply listen to His directions for us. This can only happen if we take time each day for prayer. We need to be able to voice our questions and concerns to our Creator, but then we have to be able to be silent and listen.

Try repeating this phrase each morning as you arise from your sleep and several times throughout your day: I am special, and God has plans for me. You’ll be amazed at how your perspective on life will change.

Jun 16 2016
Love0

Meditation on The Lord’s Prayer

Posted by | Prayer | No Comments

We live in a crazy-busy world. We struggle to find time to do the things that are required of us, yet alone do things that we would like to do. Sometimes, life simply gets in the way of living. We find ourselves so preoccupied with duties and tasks that we often forget to take time for personal prayer. And when we do take time for prayer, we tend to jump right in and quickly jump right out again. We never seem to actually prepare ourselves for prayer: to find the right place, the right presence, and perhaps even the right material. We may not always find the right words to say, but saying The Lord’s Prayer is always a great place to start. As Jesus said, “This is how you are to pray: Read More

Jun 07 2016
Love0

The Light in the Dark

Posted by | Everyday Life | 2 Comments

A few years ago, Stephanie and I were on vacation when it took an unexpected turn, leaving behind a memory that neither one of us expected. We headed off to Maine to do some wilderness hiking for a few days, and then headed up into Canada to spend some time in Quebec. Read More

May 29 2016
Love0

Living the Way God Intended

Posted by | Discipleship | One Comment

Whenever I ask a group of teenagers to share their favorite story about Jesus, today’s Gospel is the one that always comes up (Luke 9:11b-17). “So much food!” they say. I think one of the reasons this is also such a memorable miracle story is the “go big” nature of it. Jesus doesn’t just give the hungry crowds a little to tide them over, but fills them with so much food that there are leftovers. Read More