Hear the Sounds of Hearts Returning to You

This afternoon and tomorrow morning Christian’s all around the world will celebrate the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ into the city of Jerusalem.   This celebration leads up to Holy Week and Easter, our greatest and most important celebration.  Last night as we gathered together to relive the stations of the Cross, we meditated on what it might have been like for Mary to experience this journey alongside her son.   A mother watching her child be welcome in such a powerful way on Palm Sunday, only to see him a few days later being ridiculed and murdered.  It was so very powerful for me personally, that as we looked up at the wooden cross held high above our heads and read the 15th station, the Resurrection of Our Lord, my heart too felt as if it would burst with joy.   Tears streamed down my face and I found it difficult to say the words, not because of my sorrow but because of the immense ecstasy that I felt pouring out on me.

This morning as I prepared to be a lector for Palm Sunday it struck me again that we as Catholics do that a lot.   We don’t just sit passively and watch someone preach or perform, but on many of our special holidays we relive the events.  We read the entire experience from Scripture with one person reading the narration, another the response of specific people (centurions, officials, pharisees, etc), the Priest reading the words of Jesus, and the entire audience the words of the ‘crowds.’  The story of Palm Sunday to many is just that, the story of one day two thousand or so years ago, in which one man had one experience.  We as Catholics do not see it that way.  Last night at the Stations of the Cross I was reminded of that truth.  At the triumphal entry there were two kinds of people… there were those singing “Hosanna,” and those plotting revenge.    There were those waving palm branches, and those sending daggers from their eyes.

Last night’s Stations reminded me of that.  At each stations we are asked a question, challenged in our walk.   Are you condemning Christ to death in your actions and words?  Or are you bringing instead life and joy? Are you looking on as Jesus begins the walk to calvary? Or are you participating in carrying his cross? When Jesus falls are you helping him get back up?  Laughing at his failure?  Being compelled like Simon to do something you don’t want to do?  Rushing forward like Veronica to comfort and console him? Crying for him but missing the message? Are you stripping him of his clothing and dignity?  Or trying to restore him to the place he deserves? So many questions that there isn’t enough space in any amount of storage to contain the words that could be written about these simple 14 events.

The thing is they, like the scripture and tradition they are based on, speak to us in the here and now.   They aren’t just about the time of Christ, but they are about our everyday life.  Once again I must quote Blessed Mother Teresa as she paraphrases one of my favorite pericopes of scripture:

“At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made, how many great things we have done. We will be judged by "I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was naked and you clothed me. I was homeless, and you took me in.”

As Christians we see Jerusalem as the early model of the Church.   So when we see Jesus being welcomed and reviled by the same people, we must ask ourselves.. How are we doing Church?  When St. Matthew wrote those words in scripture he reminded us that we as the church must see Christ in every person we meet, not just in the building.  Though Jesus is substantially present in the Sanctuary of the Eucharist, he is not trapped.. Not limited to that place.   He is in every person we meet, every encounter we have is a moment in which we can serve Christ.  So how are we doing?   Are we welcoming them into our lives, into our domestic churches, with fanfare and joy?  Or are we like Simon carrying their cross only because someone forced us to?  Like Veronica are we wiping the face of those who need comfort? Or are we pushing them away?

In our current political sphere we see people who want to build walls, evict families from our presence, even if it means separating mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, infants from caregivers.   How do we reconcile that with the message of Christ?   It is to the alien, the refuge, the widow, and the orphan that we must look for the vision of Christ in our lives.   It is to them that we must give a drink, not pluck their beard leaving nothing but bloody and raw skin.  We must offer them dignity and clothe them with respect and love, not tear apart their clothes and gamble them away for our own comforts and benefits.   We must rush forward to see him as a Mother sees her only child.. To see their suffering as our own.. To be like Mary and see their pain as a sword piercing our own hearts.. That we can strengthen one another.

Yes, we have an opportunity here to help those who are fallen by gossip, trash talk, bullying or teasing.. To help them get back up.. Clothe them with the armor of Christ, the breastplate of righteousness, the boots of peace, the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation. So we must look around and ask those questions of ourselves, to examine our lives every day, and say when I am standing at the water cooler am I building up or tearing down?  When we take a smoke break are we gossiping or edifying?  When we are away from parental supervision and authority figures are we watching things that help build each other up?  Or watching things we know will tear someone down?  Do we glorify God with every breath we breathe?  Or are we letting Him down?

It’s Palm Sunday.  Let us lift our branches both in the Sanctuary and in the world! As you go forward to receive that Sacrament, the Most Holy Eucharist, remember that it's not enough to just receive Jesus.. it's necessary to journey with Him... to pick up our own Cross and journey to our own Easter... That's what it means to live a sacramental life... Not just to receive it.. but to give it away. Not just to be aware of Christ.. but to allow the Sacraments to transform you into a 'little Christ' who then can begin to transform the world. Are you ready for that?

His servant and yours,

Brian

“He must increase, I must decrease.”

Our Lady of Sorrows

I haven't had much time lately to write.  Between Volley Ball, Color Guard, Band Practices, picking up and dropping off for school, ministry duties, and Diaconate studies and meetings (while still trying

to make sure to keep a healthy balance of time for my wife and children as my primary vocation) I just haven't had a moment to sit down and write.  I felt the need strongly today to do so.

Today is the Memorial for Our Lady of Sorrows.  That day when we recognize the pain and suffering that Our Blessed Mother went through as she stood at the foot of the cross.  Simeon phrased it well when inspired by the Holy Spirit  proclaimed in the presence of Our Lord and Lady, “Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel,and for a sign that is spoken against (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed.”  (Luke 2:34-35) Today as I have gone through my morning prayerfully and considered the images and thoughts that have been put in my path, my mind is drawn back to a blog I wrote a few years ago.

A while back I had been convicted about my weight.   Not in the "you are the temple of the Lord" way that many of our Christian brothers and sisters use to encourage health (one I agree with to an extent.)  (1 Corinthians 3:16-17)  Rather I felt the need to think about my food choices in relationship to how many calories I was consuming in my comfortable first world home, while there were people starving in other countries.  At the time I was beginning to read many more books about a healthy

vegan diet vs an unhealthy one loaded with fat and Oreo cookies.  I also began to look at how heavy I had gotten.  

At my heaviest point I was 380 lbs.  That's roughly 180-200 lbs more than I should weigh according to which chart/doctor you go with.  I started wondering, what does that mean in terms of food consumed?   Well most science agrees today that it takes 3500 extra calories to gain a pound of fat.  That means (not counting all the times I had lost weight and gained it back, in a vicious cycle of indulgence) that I had consumed somewhere near 700,000 extra calories that I did not need. Wow, I thought to myself.. that's a huge number... but how can I express that in a meaningful way?  How can I express that in a way that means something?  A big number just means I had too much, I already knew that. 

So I wondered, how many calories does it take to feed one of these starving children you see in the commercials on TV.  You know the ones with Sarah McLachlan singing "In the Arms of an Angel"

in the background?  That would give me something concrete, a face to put with a number so to speak.. or faces.   So I looked into it. Somewhere over 1500 calories a day.  That's just to keep from starving.  That means for every pound I have gained, I could have feed a child for nearly two days.   At my heaviest I had literally eaten enough food to feed a starving child for over a year!  How much shame that brings to my heart.

Jesus Christ tells us in one of his may parables, a parable Mother Teresa mentioned in a very succinct and profound statement, " "At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made, how many great things we have done.  We will be judged by "I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was naked and you clothed me. I was homeless, and you took me in."    (Based on Mathew 25:31-46)  What does this have to do with starving children and Our Lady of Sorrows? 

Well, our Lady stood at the foot of the cross of Salvation and watched her own child dying a horrible, painful death.   Then as He, the God of the universe, was losing his life;  he turned and gave His mother to His beloved disciple.   You and I are that beloved disciple.   Mary is our mother, Mary is their mother.  We are all part of the body of Christ.   When that child is laying, dying of thirst and hunger in some foreign country; Christ and the Body of Christ, including the blessed Mother are there.  We are in some way responsible for that.  We who do not reach out and feed, clothe and visit those children in need.   They are bearing their cross, and she stands at the foot of it in Sorrow for their agony.  

Whatever we do for the least of these.... doesn't that mean that we should at least consider, at least have the conversation of what our food choices are doing to others in this world?  We sit here feeding thousands of pounds of grain to one animal, to make a $.99 hamburger.. instead of taking those grains and feeding those starving children.   We eat our twinkies, drink our coffee, and celebrate so many festivities, sports events, holidays, birthdays, etc at the drop of a hat.. often with much food waste and excess gluttony.   By making simple choices and then using the extra to feed the rest of the world, we can make a difference. 

Does everyone have to give up all treats? No.   Yet, it should not only be during Lent that we

consider taking part of our money and feeding someone else.  It should not only be during Lent that we make a change to our coffee and put the extra money in a CRS rice bowl or send it to Feed Em Soup.  No Lent is a time for change.. permanent change.   We are supposed to continue those changes throughout the year.  

All Saints day is coming.  Thanksgiving will soon be upon us. Advent is coming in 10 weeks.  Then Christmas before you know it.   This year let's consider making all of these times not just a time for personal celebration, but also a time of cheerful giving.  A time in which we sacrifice a little of our excess (maybe even going as far as not just giving from the excess but from the normal day to day) and then take the extra and give it away.  Let's look for ways to improve our world.  One step at a time.  One child at a time.  Even one bite at a time.

In Christ, 

Brian

The dishes, again.

I looked into the kitchen this morning, after spending the day in bed in pain.  I lifted too much yesterday and was just unable to get up this A.M.  The dishes weren't done.  I for some reason expected to magically get up at noon and find them washed.  There they were though.  Still waiting for me.

I've put them off a good portion of the day.  Waiting for someone to decide that's their cleaning for today.  Then I made the mistake.   I went to the bathroom and decided to read the Pope's homily.  Doesn't that always kick your butt into gear?  I was reading about the wedding of Cana and how that Mary wasn't concerned with herself whatsoever.  She didn't go gossip to her friends about the poor organization.  She didn't run and say did you see that?  They ran out of wine!  How shameful!   No, rather she was concerned for the other.  Mother Mary instead went to Jesus.  She prayed.  Then she went to deliver a message.  She said "Do what he tells you."  Then the Pope used those words that convicted my heart, "after all Jesus came to serve, not to be served."

My mind began to meditate on so many things.  First and foremost on the life of Father Solanus Casey, whose example often convicts me to shame and repentance.   Father Solanus took the hardest chores, took the tasks he was given with obedience and joy.  He, even in his pain, often ran up and down the stairs to get where he was going.  Never complaining.  Even when in confined to a bed in the hospital, he would hear people's problems with compassion and joy.

Father Solanus Casey

Then my mind wandered to Mother Theresa and her example of taking the hardest job for herself.  My mind reels at how often I want someone else to do the dishes.  I think of my friends, one of whom hates the dishes and another who loves them.  What makes that difference?  Why do we hate it?  Why do we love it?  Isn't it really just perspective?

Then I go back to Thich Nhaht Hahn and his writing that doing the dishes can be a moment with God, a moment of interconnection and love.  If we think and ponder on the reality that is a plate.  How it got there?  How many things it touched on the way.  How many lives were involved to get these pieces of sand to my hands.   How that God created it all and it belongs to Him.  Ah, so much to think about, and what better way than to place your hands in the warm sudsy water and begin to contemplate the mysteries of the universe.

So here I am.. off to do the dishes.

Mother Teresa