Over the course of my life, there have been many times when I have leaped for joy. Read More
Advent | Deacon Allen Tatara Catholic Speaker - Part 2
On the Inside; On the Outside
Not too long ago, I was at the grocery story waiting in line to check out. All was good with the world when suddenly I noticed that the checker ran out of change and had to call a manager; and I had to wait. So, I switched to another lane and quickly learned that the person in front of me had some sort of problem. The checker had to call for a price check, and I ended up waiting and waiting and waiting.
We get so easily frustrated and impatient with the little things of life, especially this time of year: the irritations of what happens around us, the daily struggles with our own attitudes, and the busyness of the season. These small, seemingly innocent circumstances have a way of piling up until we finally explode from the pressure.
What would happen if we were to put all this behind us and just focus on our relationship with God? Instead of groaning and complaining, we chose to be joyful and giving. What would happen if we lived every moment as a prayer, being in constant communication with the One who is to come and the One who is already here? Perhaps we would live our lives with more happiness, thankfulness, peace and love.
Lord, we come to you just as we are – right where we are. Help us to use these remaining days of Advent to constantly seek you, perhaps even grope for you as we patiently wait with hopeful anticipation.
O come, o come, Emmanuel!
After going on a couples retreat at the Benedictine monastery St. Meinrad, I wanted to learn more about the Rule of St. Benedict. I bought a book that described the three vows that convey the core of the Rule. These are stability, obedience, and conversion of life.
Stability is a calling to remain where we are and to find grace in each relationship, place or situation. Basically this means that we can find God at the very center of our lives including in our family, friends, marriage, church community, etc.
Obedience is the ability to listen to what God is saying and responding to what we hear. We need to figure out what God is asking us to do and then respond to that call.
Conversion of life is really the balance to the concept of stability. While stability calls us to remain, conversion of life calls us to change and grow. We’re not fully the person God created us to be; so we need to open ourselves – which enables God to change our hearts.
We hear this same message in today’s readings. We need not fear for the Lord is always with us. We must find God in our daily lives, rejoice in Him being there, and then have the ears to listen to what He wants us to do.
In these remaining weeks of Advent, let us focus on remaining present and faithful to others. Let us listen and respond to God’s direction for us. And let us remain open to being transformed so we can experience conversion of life as we await the One who is to come. With Christ all things are possible; without Christ, nothing makes sense.
How can this be? Those four short words make up one of the most famous questions in all of Scripture – and it’s also a question that I find myself thinking a lot about this Advent.
There is no shortage of waiting in life. Waiting for the weekend. Waiting to find out if you got that new job. Waiting to find out if you made the team. Waiting to hear the test results from the doctor. Waiting to get a driver’s license. Waiting to hear from colleges. Let’s face it: our days are packed with family obligations, work, school, sports and Netflix. But there is also a great deal of waiting in the midst of all the activity. Read More
What does it take to be great? According to the Lord, it takes humility. “The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger, and of great kindness.”(Ps 145:8) Let’s dive into these four attributes.
The Lord is gracious. The Christmas story is powerful because it is gracious. The Creator of the Universe, the One who is not like us, became one of us so that He could be one with us. This story is retold in many different ways. I think back to the movie, “Avatar.” A man traveled to another world. He became one of them. He fell in love with them. He was willing to die for them. He saved them from the evil ones. He was betrayed and nearly killed by his own. Sound familiar? There is no more gracious God then the Lord who became one of us.
The Lord is merciful. What does mercy mean? It means getting filthy, downright dirty, for another. It means sticking your hand into something slimy and gooey to help someone. For example: a bus driver who stopped to rescue two families from a burning house – and went on to finish his route; a grad student who lost her leg in an earthquake in Haiti, then returned to the country to build a school; a woman who donated her kidney to a Facebook friend. The Lord defined what mercy truly means: to do something beautiful, unexpectedly. The Lord is merciful because he gets right into it!
The Lord is slow to anger. We know what this means. We have all experienced it. We are all recipients of it. We live, breath, smile and give a big sigh of relief because the Lord turned the other cheek. Who would tell us the truth without fear of being rejected, rebuked or ridiculed? Only the Lord does not fear being hurt by our feelings. The Lord is slow to anger because He is rich in kindness.
The Lord is great in kindness. He gives what we need. He takes what we give. The difference between the two is immense. He gives us His Son. What do we give Him? For this reason, the Lord is great in kindness.
Let us imitate the Lord by living these four great attributes. Our God is amazing, full of humility and love. There is none greater!
We are Emmanuelites…God is with us!
We used this call and response in Youth Ministry many years ago. And it had two purposes: first, to gain the attention of the teens so they could focus on what was about to happen. And second, to remind them to trust in the fact that God is with us at all times.
We are Emmanuelites…God is with us! Read More
Last Sunday, we experienced something that hasn’t happened in quite some time; something that may not happen again anytime soon. Our three young adult sons were all home at the same time! Due to work schedules, college schedules, and the fact that each resides in a different state, it is becoming increasingly difficult to have all three at home together. So we took this opportunity to plan an early family Christmas celebration.
As we were watching the weather reports for the impending snow storm, we were very hopeful that all would be able to travel home safely. So we patiently waited for their coming. Despite snowy roads, all arrived safe and sound and we had a very enjoyable day together as a family. It was certainly worth the wait!
Today’s readings instill within us a deep and passionate desire for God. Just as we were anxious for our boys to come home, so must we be anxious for Jesus’ coming with that same desire and passion. But often times we find our patience being challenged during our waiting.
We are challenged in so many ways, and we often find that Advent (that season of hoping and waiting) is not always an easy thing to live out. In our world, we face the threat of war, terrorism, and violence. In our society, there is a lack of respect for life and for the dignity of all people. In our own lives, we struggle with family issues, work stress, illness, and trying to do the right thing. Our patience often runs thin when we are forced to wait for an answer.
But there is some good news: regardless of our hardships, Advent cultivates hope for each of us to carry on. We know as a people of faith that Jesus is always with us; both in our joys and in our sufferings. We are never left alone.
In these remaining days of Advent, let us prepare the way of the Lord. No one is greater, and no one is more worthy of our praise. Jesus is coming, and he is certainly worth the wait!
Most of us can remember being told to ‘wake up’ when we were growing up. Maybe the words came from one of our parents after we tried to catch a few extra minutes of sleep on a school day. Maybe it was in the classroom when we discovered that not only did we not know the answer to a teacher’s question but we didn’t even hear the question! For many of us, waking up is hard to do!
In the next four weeks, the Church invites us to enter into the longing of those who first waited for the coming of the Messiah. Scripture helps us to do this through the figures of Isaiah, John the Baptist and Mary. Advent also directs our minds and hearts to await Christ’s second coming at the end of time, spoken of in Matthew’s Gospel (MT 24:37-44): stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord will come. Advent is a time to wake up to God’s love, and to realize more fully that God wants us to love one another as God loves us – unconditionally. It is a time, especially, to renew our hearts in and through love; for the best way for us to prepare to remember the celebration of God’s coming among us in Jesus is through a conversion of our hearts.
It’s time for us to wake up! Advent invites us to wake up to something wonderful, to some good news – and that news is this: Jesus is coming! Let us prepare ourselves to receive him.
Maybe it’s just me, but I’m getting really tired of those prescription drug commercials on TV. Now I don’t watch a lot of TV, but it seems like when I do, there are more and more of these drug companies advertising their particular drug. And it’s not that I’m bothered by the dancing elderly people, or the guy playing with his grand-daughter and her dog, or the frisky couple sitting in two separate bath tubs overlooking a lake; what gets me is the never-ending warning labels within those commercials. Here is an example of one I recently saw: Read More
