When our sons were younger, I would play with them after dinner until it was time for bed. One night, after they were in bed, I started doing something that had to get done. Read More
I was trying to catch-up on some reading, sifting through my file folders of various articles that I have collected over the years. Suddenly, I found myself reflecting on an excerpt from The Merton Institute for Contemplative Living on living a contemplative life. I found it to be very enlightening and inspiring.
I just came to the realization that yesterday was February 2nd. Fortunately, I did not find myself living Groundhog Day all over again – as is the premise of the 1993 romantic comedy, Groundhog Day.
I thought it was going to be just an ordinary, everyday haircut, but it ended up being a faith-filled encounter with God. Here are the 5 ways I found God at the hair salon.
Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you.
All things pass away, God never changes.
Patience obtains all things.
He who has God lacks nothing.
God alone suffices.
I found these words in a Catholic magazine that I was reading while on retreat. I have seen these words before, but at this particular moment in time, something was different.
Too often in my life, I have let those petty little things “get to me.” So much so, that it manifests within me and changes my physical being. For example, I often won’t be able to sleep at night or I experience severe internal stomach issues. Many times, as much as I hate to admit it, my moods seem to frequently shift throughout the day. Thankfully, I’m not experiencing any of these symptoms while on my retreat, but the above words immediately took me back to all of those times when I have lived these symptoms. And now, as I reflect on these words, I realize the absurdity of my actions and behavior.
Why do I allow these things that are out of my control to ultimately take control of me? Why should I get disturbed over situations that arise that, when you really think about it, just come and go? And the patience thing? Oh my, this is a huge one for me. Every morning I pray for patience to get me through the day. (When they were passing out patience at the beginning of my life, I must not have been paying attention – or I was distracted by a shiny, fancy guitar.) But for whatever reason, these words really touched my heart today.
With all the things that are happening in our lives such as work, home, family, etc. and the various tasks and responsibilities hitting us from all angles, isn’t it comforting to know that God never changes? It is an incredible feeling to be reassured that when we have God in our lives and have a personal, active relationship with him, that we have all that we need. We lack nothing because God alone suffices. If we change our mindset to think this way, we will be filled with an amazing sense of peace which nothing else in this world can provide.
Read these words at the start of each day and you will realize that God is right there with us giving us all that we need – and that’s all that really matters!
For those who have not noticed, I am now wearing eyeglasses all the time. This was a Christmas gift from my eye doctor – although, it wasn’t much of a gift because I had to pay for them. I’ve worn glasses for reading and computer work for years, but a change was needed in order for me to see more clearly all the time. And that is precisely the message for us in today’s gospel (Mark 9:41-50).
The text we heard this morning is extremely powerful, as long as it’s not taken out of context. The danger of this gospel is when people take the words literally and start cutting things off and plucking things out. But Jesus isn’t instructing us to hurt ourselves. After all, the body is sacred because we were made in God’s image. But the true meaning of the gospel goes much deeper than the physical – it goes directly to the eyes of our hearts.
If we can put on our spiritual glasses, we would be able to see how each of us needs to change. We would clearly see how we sometimes neglect to treat others as sisters and brothers of Christ. We would clearly see how we sometimes focus on our own needs and wants instead of the needs and wants of others. We would clearly see how we sometimes abuse others by our actions and language, or how we manipulate others so that we have power over them. Sometimes, we lose sight of who we are because we become blinded by a society who tells us who we ‘should’ be. If we could clearly see and believe that deep down, we are all good – but sometimes, we just make bad choices.
Today is our wake-up call. Let us begin this day with a new set of eyes. Let us clearly see that we need to change, to become better people, better listeners, better friends, better neighbors, and better disciples. Let us not make a “spectacle” of ourselves by focusing on us, but truly see life through the “lens” of God so we know how we are called to live. If we want to find true peace in this life, we need to put our hope in the Lord. Only then will we be able to clearly see.
Over the course of my life, there have been many times when I have leaped for joy. Read More
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.
Just in case anyone’s stressing over this, getting ashes doesn’t mean we’re holy. In fact, getting ashes means we’re not holy. Read More
Today, Jesus teaches that we should pray with persistence (Luke 11:5-13). Of course, the question comes to mind: if God is such a loving and caring parent who will only give “good” things to us, why do we have to persist in asking? Why do we have to ask at all? The reason is not because God needs persuading. Persistence in prayer is for our benefit. Read More
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