There’s a story about a priest and his friend, a soap maker, who were out taking a walk. The soap maker said, “What good is religion? What good is Jesus? Look at all the trouble and misery in the world. People fight. People steal, People kill. People hate. After thousands of years of talking about goodness, truth, and peace – after all the prayers, homilies and teachings, things haven’t gotten any better.”
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There was one thing that my family took very seriously when I was growing up, and that was Family Night. This usually involved playing a game or watching a movie, like those on Family Classics, The Wonderful World of Disney, or network TV. One of our all-time favorites and one that we would never-ever miss was The Wizard of Oz.
Last weekend, our oldest son got married. It was a beautiful day and everything went as well as could be expected. It was a wonderful time filled with happiness, family and a really good party.
But as we were waiting for the wedding to begin, my mind started reminiscing as I happily watched our son in the final moments before the ceremony. I started thinking about his early birth into this world (three months early to be exact) and how Stephanie and I watched him overcome the many obstacles as he grew. I started thinking about all of the good times we had when he was a young boy and all of the activities that we did together. I started remembering all of the joy and sadness that we encountered along the way of watching him grow into the young man that he is today. I also thought about how unprepared I was to be a parent.
Raising children is not easy. We do the best we can with the knowledge gained from our own upbringing and experiences. Sometimes it’s a struggle. But we do the best we can do and pray that our choices and decisions will benefit our children for years to come.
In our Gospel today (Matthew 10:7-15), Jesus informs us of what we need to do in our mission to be his disciples. It’s similar to parenting. Sometimes, things fall right into place. Other times, we have no clue as what to do. The job is not always easy and sometimes we have doubts. So we need to trust and remember that God, our Father, is always with us guiding us and showing us the way – just like any parent would do.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not upon your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your path. ~Proverbs 3:5-6
“Whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”
Sara was a college senior playing for the championship of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference softball league. In the second inning, she hit her first home run ever. Then, rounding the bases, she realized that she had failed to touch first. So, she turned back. But, through a twist of fate and her knee, she found herself down on the ground with a torn ligament, crawling in agony back to first base. According to the rules, she would have been out if anyone from her team helped her.
That’s when Mallory and her teammate, Liz — from the other team stepped up to help. They carried Sara around the bases, making sure to tap her left foot on each base. Though Mallory and Liz lost the game that day, they clearly accomplished something more important. In a moment that really counted, those young women showed good character. It’s one thing to proclaim the importance of living up to your values. It’s another thing to do it.
Each one of us is a messenger of God. Everything we do reflects upon the one who sent us. Therefore, we all were sent by God and each of us has a mission – to bring about the Kingdom. That is done by sharing fully in Jesus’ own attitude of service.
Whether it’s through regularly attending Mass, committing yourself to volunteer work, or even consciously folding your values into daily life in small ways (e.g. being kind to someone in need), we must practice living our values to make them a part of us.
Service in the gospel is primarily love in action. Love is the desire for the well-being of the other. That love is actualized by service, by the doing of acts for the good of the other.
That is our baptismal calling. That is what we are called to do. And that is how others will know that we are sent by God.
Who wants to be an evangelist? Typically when I ask this question when giving a talk somewhere, no one raises their hand. On very few occasions one or two people have.
It seems evangelism has become a scary word for us. In general, it is a word with which we do not want to be associated. For some, it comes from being on the receiving end of someone else’s evangelism, often coercive, even threatening. For others, it may be that religion isn’t something people talk about; or that one’s faith is private; or simply the desire not to be perceived as one of “those” people.
Whatever the reason, most people not only have little experience in evangelism but are downright frightened of it. And that, of course, cripples our ability to reach out to others with the good news. Today’s story of Jesus’ baptism (John 1:29-34) might be the perfect reading to invite us not only to admit our discomfort with evangelism but also begin to overcome it. Read More
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
A few years ago, my wife Stephanie and I took a group of our parish teens on a summer mission trip to Cincinnati, Ohio. We were blessed to spend the week working with an organization called Little Brothers: Friends of the Elderly. This is a group that works with elderly people who have lost ties with family, have no family at all, and face the reality of simply being alone. Read More
Over the years, I’ve met several people who have decided to temporarily leave their everyday lives in order to travel. They would travel to Europe, moving from town to town with no plans, no set destinations, no reservations and no particular schedule. They often needed to rely on the kindness of strangers for food and shelter. Read More
I am so stressed! I am stressed out beyond belief! In fact, if stress burned calories, I’d be a supermodel. I am being bombarded from so many different directions that it’s beginning to take a toll on me mentally and physically. I am in the midst of moving my mother out of her home into a smaller place; my daily job has been insanely busy and hectic; the band that I play in has been working every single weekend; my responsibilities at church have been steadily increasing; and family and household obligations are thrown into the mix as well. It just doesn’t seem to stop. I am running nonstop. I am so stressed! Read More
Having spent three days this week with our parish teens at Youth Ministry talking about vocations, you can imagine that this topic is still fresh on my mind. The very fact that each one of us is called to a vocation is a powerful thought; but to be able to discern your vocation and live it out is an entirely different story. Read More
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