We’ve all seen those signs outside of churches that have those funny or witty phrases. I love these! They always seem to put a smile on my face. Read More
Ah, the seasons are a changing. I can feel it in the winds. Summer is trying to hang on with it nature-made hands, but its seasoned grip is beginning to grow weary. Read More
I spent this past weekend in Villa Maria, Pennsylvania where I was blessed to lead a retreat for deacons and their wives from the Diocese of Youngstown, Ohio. Here are a few random thoughts from the road. Read More
There’s nothing better than sitting in the shade of a tree on a hot summer day, sipping on a cold beverage while contemplating God’s beautiful creation. We often take these enormous, leafy landscape-enhancers for granted – until these are gone.
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“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” ~Mark 8:34
If you are anything like me, you have probably thought about this verse more than once over the years. What did Jesus really mean by following him? What does it truly entail?
Following Jesus means responding to his call every day and believing in the gospel. But it is more than just following and believing; it is also about imitating his example. We need to be asking ourselves these questions: Are we living in a manner that reflects Christ to everyone we encounter? Are we putting the needs of others before our own? Are we being kind and treating our neighbors (and I mean ALL our neighbors) with dignity, respect, and love – acknowledging that they, like us, are made in the image and likeness of God?
Honestly, following Jesus is downright difficult; however, it can be done. During every step of our journey, we must make a conscious effort to follow Jesus through the narrow gate of life into the abyss of the unknown. If we can faithfully do this, we will find peace. Fellow composer and musician John Angotti wrote about this when he quoted Jesus in a song:
“He said to me, ‘Come and follow me.’ He said to me, ‘Come and follow me.’
There you’ll find peace of mind if you just come and follow me.”
And this is what I now ask of you: to make that conscious effort to come and follow me, too. I want to assist you on the journey by providing spiritual and faith-based guidance through my thoughts, writings, and insights. But due to my busy schedule, my blog posts do no appear as often as I would like. Therefore, the best way to keep up with me is to follow me on social media. Hopefully, I can provide you with some peace of mind through my Daily Thoughts, Noonish Nuggets, PM Ponders, and just a little bit of my ‘Deacon Allen’ humor. Here is where you will find me:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DeaconAllenT
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DeaconAllenT/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deaconallent/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deaconallent
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/DeaconAllenT
Website: https://www.deaconallen.com
Blog: https://www.deaconallen.com/blog
In the words of author Francis Chan, “We never grow closer to God when we just live life. It takes deliberate pursuit and attentiveness.”
I would be honored if you would come and follow me. May God bless you on your journey.
Deacon Allen
Where is the one who brought up out of the sea, the shepherd of his flock? Where is the one who placed in their midst his holy spirit, who guided Moses by the hand, with his glorious arm?
Where is the one who divided the waters before them— winning for himself an everlasting renown— who guided them through the depths, like horses in open country?
As cattle going down into the valley, they did not stumble. The spirit of the Lord guided them. Thus, you led your people, to make for yourself a glorious name. ~Isaiah 63: 11b-14
Since the very beginning of this pandemic, there has been one phrase that we continue to hear: “We are all in this together.” It reminds us that you are I are not the only ones facing the challenges and struggles of COVID-19. Like it or not, we are all in the same boat.
As part of my day-job, I get to speak with people from across the globe every single day. This past week, I spoke with individuals from Japan, China, Sweden, Mexico and the United Kingdom. Every call begins with the topic of self-isolation, how we are surviving in this current environment, and if our families are safe. I see on a daily basis how we really are ‘all in this together.’ This is truly a global experience.
I have been thinking about this and how we can make a direct connection with our own Catholic faith. Catholic means universal. The Mass and the other sacraments are celebrated exactly the same throughout the world, bringing all Catholics together in a spirit of unity.
When I have attended Mass in other countries; even though I may not have fully understood the languages, I was fully aware of what was taking place. No matter where we may be, our Catholic faith is universal, centered around Jesus Christ and our belief in Jesus’ presence in the Eucharist.
But being Catholic is also about having an ongoing personal encounter with Christ so that we may be a witness of God’s love in the world. This means that we are called to live like Jesus and to work for peace and justice for one another by living out the Gospel.
We are part of this universal Church together, believing that God is not only present in the Eucharist, but is also present within us. This means that whatever we are going through, whatever comes our way, whatever obstacles we encounter, we are never left alone. God is always with us. Now I’ll admit, it’s not always easy to recognize Jesus when our eyes are cast down, when life is difficult, or when we find ourselves in our own personal pit of despair. But that is when we must fall back on our faith, trusting and believing that Jesus is the only one who can lift us out of our pit. We just need to be able to lift up our eyes and our hearts to see that Jesus is right there and to feel his presence.
My sisters and brothers, as Catholic-Christians “we are all in this together.” We always have been, and we always will be. May the spirit of the Lord guide us always and let us remember that Jesus is with us; Jesus is here – and we are never left alone.
In our first reading (1 John 2:22-28), John tells us that as we have received the anointing from Christ, that anointing must remain in us. When the anointing remains in us, it teaches us about everything and is true. When that teaching remains in us, then we will remain in Christ.
The word “remain” really means persistence. When we “remain” in someone, that means that we are persistently living in that location. When we are persistently living in Christ, then our life is all about him and we are staying with him. In the same way, when John said that the anointing abides in us, this means that we need to think about the word of God persistently living in us and directing our lives. When we pray the words, “remain with us,” we are asking for the Lord to stay with us through all of life’s good times and bad times. We are asking for the Lord to persistently hold on to us and never let go. John is calling for us to live our lives in Christ and in his word, and not in the world.
To remain in Christ daily requires us to do three things:
So, as we begin this new year, let us make this our daily mantra: that we have a constant connection with God, are dependent upon God, and continue to remain in God. For when we remain in Christ, Christ will remain in us and abide with us always.
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.
When I was in junior high, my mother asked me one day to clean my room. I decided to go all-biblical on her because we had just talked about today’s gospel in religion class. I said to her, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” (Kids – do not try this at home!) I honestly didn’t know how quick her reflexes were or how strong she was until that very moment when her hand quickly smacked across my face. That was not a joyful experience.
Something that was a joyful experience happened a few years later. I bought my parent’s a wall calendar – and their reaction was truly priceless. It was called “Nuns Having Fun,” and it was filled with a variety of images of fully-habited nuns doing fun things. There were nuns in bumper cars, nuns on roller coasters, nuns having snowball fights, nuns skeet shooting, and on and on. My favorite was a group of nuns running in the ocean, arms up in the air with the biggest smiles on their faces! It was a really goofy calendar, but it brought up a great point: the Christian life isn’t a life of suffering, but it’s a life of joy!
And we can see this in our Gospel today. A lot of things are going on. It is Jesus’ first public miracle and it really kicks off his public ministry. It also shows us the deep relationship that Jesus had with his Mother. And the transformation of water into wine reminds us of the Eucharistic imagery that we experience during the Mass. But one detail that is overlooked is that Jesus was doing all this at a wedding feast! This is no small thing. Jesus lived a life of joy – and he actually went to parties! (OK, so he went with his mom, but still!) It shows us that Jesus wasn’t a stranger to the good and fun things in life. It’s important for us to remember that the good things in our lives are gifts from God.
There are two distinct parts in our gospel that I want to point out: one, Before Christ; and another, After Christ. The first scene that St. John describes is one of emptiness, and the second, on the contrary, is marked by abundance. And what brings about the difference between these two time periods is key: it’s the intervention of Jesus.
The marriage feast had come to a complete stop because they ran out of wine. Wine is a symbol of celebration and happiness. No wine meant that they had no joy. There were experiencing emptiness!
Mary noticed this, so she turned to Jesus for help. Though he initially hesitated, Mary trusted that Jesus would make everything right and instructed the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” The rest, as they say, is history. Jesus changed water into wine and saved the hosts from disgrace.
But of course, the point isn’t just the wine. The wine is a “sign.” As we look at our own lives, we can’t help but notice that the wine always runs out. Whatever the gains, life always brings losses. We grow up and we grow old. We have children (sometime in pairs). Children grow up and lose their innocence. Parents see their kids leave home (and sometimes come back again). We find jobs; and sometimes we lose jobs. We work and work and work until one day, we find ourselves facing retirement. Our body parts eventually lose the battle against gravity and we lose hair where we want it and gain it where we don’t. Aches and pains become more frequent, so we moan in despair. And no one gets out of here alive. Add all the technology you want, but our human resources eventually come to an end. That’s the bad news.
The good news – the great news: the resources of God never run out! New energy springs out of weariness, new opportunities emerge from failure, and new hope arises in the ashes of doubt and despair.
Jesus asks the servers to fill the six empty stone jars with water. (Interesting fact: six is a symbol of chaos, imperfection and evil.) When they drew out some of the water, they discovered that it was the best wine! The party could continue! There is abundance, order and celebration – all because of the intervention of Jesus.
The question for us is how do we keep our water jars filled?
We first must continually invite Jesus into our lives. We need to pray daily and believe that God is always right by our side guiding us every step of the way.
If we trust Jesus, our wine – or our happiness – will never run dry because when we realize that God is our first love, the wedding feast never ends.
And that superior quality of wine that he transformed is the quality of life that we will find in and with Jesus. We no longer feel abandoned because we are espoused to a God who gets involved in our lives by entering into it constantly so that he can share in our little and big joys.
And this brings me back to my original point: that the good things of life are gifts from God. God gives us so many good things and so many causes for joy for a reason – to draw us back to him. They give us little hints about what true communion with God will be like. Jesus didn’t just change water into wine to keep the party going, but to draw us into the mystery of God’s power and love. And what greater love does our bridegroom have for us then his ultimate sacrifice on the cross. As we approach this altar today to receive Jesus, let us thank God for our earthly joys, and to remember that when we entrust our lives to Jesus and do whatever he tells us, we will discover an abundant life that is overflowing with love, happiness and immeasurable joy!
Albertus Magnus, or St. Albert the Great, was born in Germany in 1206. He was fascinated by the relationship between faith and science so he studied astronomy and biology and loved logic and math. Therefore, he is the patron saint of medical technicians and scientists.
His family could afford the best education for Albert. But when he graduated, he joined the Dominican order over his family’s objections. (Ironically, the Dominican’s relied on begging and charitable donations to survive.) Albert was made a bishop of Regensburg, Germany in 1260 and was an advisor to the pope, but resigned after less than three years asking to return to teaching.
As a teacher, one of his most famous students was Thomas Aquinas, who was later canonized a saint. Albert helped prepare Thomas to write his books on theology which are still studied today.
Albert also helped Thomas to understand that God had given him the gift of intelligence that he could use to help others know and love the Catholic faith, and for Thomas to believe in his own talents.
The Gospel (Luke 17:20-25) reminds us that the kingdom of God is within our reach. We just have to decide if we want to receive it or not. However, it does not come by watching. We need to make a move. Therefore, we are called to use our gifts and talents to help bring the kingdom to others by living the gospel. We must help others discover that the love of Jesus can change their life; and that our world is in desperate need of Jesus right now!
Today, the Church honors Albert as both a saint and a great teacher. May we realize our calling to be great teachers of our faith as well – bringing the kingdom to others by the way we live our lives.
© 2024 Deacon Allen Tatara Catholic Speaker. All rights reserved.
