It is Sunday morning, and the night before has brought forth a frosty-white blanket on the ground; remnants left behind from an early morning freezing rain that tapped upon our windows at 4:11am. I awoke to something that sounded like a sharp object tapping relentlessly on the bedroom window. It was at that very moment when my day started. Read More
I love modern technology! Maybe this is because I have spent the bulk of my career surrounded by its bleeding edge innovations, but I am constantly in awe of the immense impact it’s had in our lives. However, it has been said that technology has exceeded our humanity. Well, I don’t know about that, but technology is super cool – especially if you know how to use it. Read More
Last night while sifting through some old notes and quotes of mine, I found this paragraph in the chapter about self-conceit from the book “The Imitation of Christ” by Thomas a’ Kempis. I was deeply moved again as I was the first time I read these words: Read More
With Christmas fast-approaching, I wanted to share this true story that I discovered from many years ago as I was sifting through some of my older writings. My prayer is that each of you will experience the true meaning of Christmas, discovering the true peace and joy of the season.
For the past several weeks, I have been under
an overwhelming amount of stress. Most of this was work-related: working long
hours with short deadlines. Throw in several church-related activities and
tasks on top of that, and I was running on non-stop overdrive.
In
the midst of all of this, we had a family emergency at the hospital. Upon
driving to the hospital one day, I noticed that I was having difficulty
breathing and felt some odd pains in my chest that I had never felt before. I
thought that I was having a heart attack. I immediately broke into prayer
asking God to help calm me down. At that very moment, a song came on the radio
– and I heard these lyrics:
Every anxious thought that steals my breath,
It’s a heavy weight upon my chest.
As I lie awake and wonder what the future will hold,
Help me to remember that You’re in control.
You’re my courage when I worry in the dead of night.
You’re my strength ’cause I’m not strong enough to win this fight.
You are greater than the battle raging in my mind;
I will trust You, Lord, I will fear no more.
As
soon as these words touched my ears, I felt the power of God within me and I
began to realize that I could not handle all of this weight on my own. I suddenly
felt a calmness come over me and began to breathe normal again.
In
our first reading, Queen Esther, filled with anguish, breaks into prayer and
realizes that there is no one else who can provide her with the help she needs
other than her Lord and Savior.
Every
now and then, you and I need a little reminder that we need to turn to God for
help. We cannot handle our stress alone but need to rely on the one who can help
us carry our load.
During
this Lenten season, let us get into the habit of turning to our Father in
prayer. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to
the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
Lord, turn our mourning into gladness and our
sorrows into wholeness. Praise be to God, now and forever. Amen.
Today, we meet a Syrophoenician woman (Mark 7:24-30), which means she was from the area near Tyre and Sidon, just north of Galilee. These were cities truly lacking in faith, and those that lived there were Gentiles. Bottom line: if she was not a Jew, she was considered an enemy of Israel. But this was one brave and determined woman.
She
cried out to Jesus to heal her daughter, who was possessed by a demon. But she
was a Gentile, so he would not help her.
But she persisted. Finally, he acknowledged her, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” (Many Jews referred to Gentiles as ‘dogs’.) The children of the Israel were to be fed first, meaning that she might expect that her turn would come, if she waited. But she wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. She basically humiliated herself in a desperate effort to save her daughter, refusing to give up even when Jesus pushed back. Jesus is no match for her: she won’t leave; she beats him in the argument (willingly, I might add). She ends up breaking down his resistance and he changes his mind. Then, she ends up placing her complete and total trust in him.
It’s a great story of a mother’s love. The Syrophoenician woman teaches us something about prayer: sometimes God keeps us waiting so that we can deepen our faith. Persistence is key; that’s the reason God responds to persistence because prayer changes the one who is praying. Prayer doesn’t change God – it changes us. As we pray, God is making us spiritually ready to receive what God is already willing to do.
Let us put our complete trust in the Lord and remember that persistence in prayer makes all the difference in the world.
Today is the feast of St. Vincent, Deacon
and Martyr. Vincent was ordained a deacon by his friend
and bishop St. Valerius. The Roman emperors had published their edicts
against the clergy in 303, so Vincent and Valerius were imprisoned in Valencia,
Spain. They seemed to thrive on suffering, for hunger and torture failed to
break them.
Valerius was sent into exile, and the Roman governor now
turned the full force of his fury on Vincent. Many types of torture were tried,
but all failed.
Finally, the governor suggested a compromise. If Vincent would
give up the sacred books to be burned according to the emperor’s edict, he
would stop the torture. But Vincent would not give in, so the torture continued.
Vincent remained courageous, and the torturer couldn’t take it anymore. So, Vincent
was thrown into a prison cell and ended up converting the jailer. The governor
wept with rage; but strangely enough, ordered the prisoner to finally be given
some rest.
The faithful came to visit Vincent, but he was to have no
earthly rest. For when they finally settled him on a comfortable bed, Vincent fell
into his eternal rest.
Even in the midst of turmoil, God sticks with us and uses
those challenges that we encounter to shape us and make us better disciples. As
it says in the psalm, ‘In God I trust; I shall not fear. When we remind ourselves
of this, we no longer see our setbacks as failures and our problems as obstacles;
we see them as moments when God is working in us, strengthening us for our earthly
journey.
We will be rescued from our stumbling. All we
have to do is trust in the Lord with all our hearts. For when we trust in the
Lord, we have nothing to fear.
In
July of 2005, our family vacationed out west, and the highlight of the trip was
going to Zion National Park in Utah.
All
of us love hiking, so I was super-excited that our three sons and I were going
to venture on an adventurous hike. (Stephanie had surgery a few weeks before
our trip and didn’t want to risk going on this particular hike.) We decided to
do the ‘Angel’s Landing’ trail which was advertised as ‘5 miles of strenuous
and steep paths with high elevation and exposure to long drop-offs.’
So
off we went, climbing higher, and higher, and higher. We finally reached a flat
cliff and decided to take a break. The view was spectacular. As we caught our
breath, one of my boys (who will remain nameless) suddenly said to me, “Dad, I
think I’m afraid of heights.” I couldn’t believe that he waited until that
point to tell me this important piece of information. I pointed to the visible end
of the trail stating that we were almost there. I asked his brothers if they
wanted to continue on; but after seeing how high we still had to climb and the extremely
narrow ledge we had to ascend to get there, they all wanted to go back.
I
was really hoping to continue; but I was also very fearful for their safety.
So, we headed back down the mountain. To this day, I still wonder how it would
have felt to have continued our journey to the top of that summit.
The reading from Isaiah (Isaiah 2:1-5) talks about our spiritual journey as an ascent up the Lord’s mountain. And that is what Advent is all about. It’s a time for us to step back from life as we know it or life as we live it, and re-look at the direction of our spirituality. Are we walking toward the Lord, or walking away? Are we trying to deepen our relationship with God, or are we burying ourselves in the black hole of busyness? Are we taking steps to improve our prayer life by following the light of Christ, or are we falling into the darkness of temptation and deceit? Are we in such a hurry to reach the destination of Christ’s coming at Christmas that we’re not being patient enough to enjoy the journey?
It’s
only the second week of Advent. There is plenty of time left for us to focus on
the Lord’s coming. And it all starts with a desire to journey forward and not
let fear get the best of us – and to prepare the what lies ahead so that we are
able to tackle the obstacles that we face on a daily basis. If we can improve our
relationship with Jesus, our ascent up the Lord’s mountain – although
challenging – will be achievable.
During
this busy season, let us begin tonight by stepping back from the busyness and walking
toward our God who loves us so deeply.
Jesus is coming, but He is
also here right now. Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.
Halloween is an ancient Celtic festival that
dates back some 2,000 years ago when the worlds of the living and the dead
became blurred. It was believed that on the night of October 31st, the
ghosts of the dead returned to earth. Ghosts? That’s pretty scary!
What else do we find scary? According to a
recent Internet poll: spiders, snakes, clowns, death, heights, falling, and fear
of the unknown, just to name a few scary things.
As Catholic-Christians, we frequently find
ourselves doing other scary things such as: talking behind each other’s backs, seeking
revenge for something that was done to us, treating others unfairly, judging
others because of who they appear to be in our eyes, neglecting to look out for
those in need, not standing up for what is right – doing things that we think
will disappoint God.
Yet no matter what we do, how we act, what we
say, or who we betray, God is always looking at us with great mercy. God loves
us no matter what. God is always with us, encouraging us to keep moving forward
and to keep striving to live the gospel each and every day. God wants us to
understand that although we may not be perfect in our eyes, we are made perfect
in God’s eyes.
When the darkness of this world envelops us and we feel like we have been left alone, abandoned or forgotten, let us remember that nothing or nobody will ever separate us from the love of God.
My grandmother was one of the most positive
persons that I ever met. And although she was taken from this life far too
early, she still has an important impact on me today.
The thing about grandma was that she always
seemed to keep on the sunny side of life. Whatever difficulty or hurdle that
crossed her path, she took it all in stride. When she couldn’t find answers to
her problems, she never despaired. Whatever challenges were presented to her,
she never appeared to be put into a corner and always found a way out. She was
always so positive in a world that is often so negative. That is something that
I truly admire about her, and it is something that I find very difficult to
emulate.
But I believe that she had a great
understanding of today’s reading from St. Paul (2 Corinthians 4:7-15). She knew
that no matter what we are going through, we are not alone. Jesus is always
within us, beside us, and in those around us. God works through others for us
just as God works through us for others. We are earthen vessels molded in the
hands of the Father, shaping us like a potter molds his clay. God’s hand is
always guiding us away from our despair and towards new life in Him.
Whatever hardships come our way or when we are
challenged by our afflictions, let us remember that we have the power to
overcome them with God by our side. May we always keep on the sunny side of
life, living in the moment, and praising God for the gift of His constant
presence. The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad indeed.
Peace on the outside comes from knowing God on the inside - spreading the message that work and the circumstances of everyday life are opportunities for growing closer to God and serving others.