Politics and Religion...

A friend of mine reminded me of how easy it is to get drawn into the political turmoil that is being made even worse by our American mainstream media.  While not necessarily always false, too often they are simply portrayed in a way that is either negative or makes a single scapegoat out of a situation that has not only a much more varied and nuanced truth but also has the involvement of many people.  We do have to be aware of who these people are, and what they've done.. but we also have to bring into the arena compassion and not forget the dignity of that person.  Am I defending any of the candidates?  No.  I personally am not a fan of the political stance of either of the front runners.  Simply reminding myself that kindness is paramount and that we must check our sources diligently to find the truth.

In tomorrow's Gospel Jesus reminds of us of that as well.  “I pray not only for these, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me."  Jesus sent the Apostles with a unique mission that we too take on, but they fulfill in a specific and distinct office.  These Apostles were chosen to initiate that mission, to be the first to evangelize the world, and to go forth with the authority of Christ himself to forgive sins and baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  They were sent into the world to teach the word of truth.  Christ is that word, it is in him that we understand exactly what their mission was and exactly what our mission is.

Jesus is the Father's Emissary. From the beginning of his ministry, he "called to him those whom he desired; . . . . And he appointed twelve, whom also he named apostles, to be with him, and to be sent out to preach." From then on, they would also be his "emissaries" (Greek apostoloi). In them, Christ continues his own mission: "As the Father has sent me, even so I send you." The apostles' ministry is the continuation of his mission; Jesus said to the Twelve: "he who receives you receives me."   (CCC 858)

How then do we see the Christian church divided?  The Apostles appointed successors, of that we see the truth in the appointment of Matthias. (Acts 1:12-26)  Eventually these became known as Bishops and the Chair of Peter as the See of Rome.   For 1000 years there was only one church, the Catholic church.   Then men started breaking off of it and making their own version, deserting the teaching of those Apostles.   The very Gospel which Paul declared we should reject even if "an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we preached to you, let him be accursed."  (Galatians 1:8)  How do we justify that in our own minds?  I did myself for many years, mostly because I was unaware of history.   Mostly because I had spent all of that time only reading a book, a book that belonged to the Catholic church, without listening to the author.  That would be like taking a book on science, reading it and then ignoring the writer when he tells me I got it wrong.

Why is it important?   Because in Jesus Christ we have the fullest revelation of God.. the final revelation of God... everything we need to know is in that revelation.  If that is true, if we truly believe that Christ is the Son of God and that He Himself is a part of the trinity.. then knowing Him.. being in relationship with Him, learning about Him... loving Him is paramount.  We can't know Him if we don't get the full story, if we don't realize He is more than text on a page.. but a living person.   He didn't stop being man when he went to Heaven, and he didn't stop being God when he came to earth.  He will be the same person for eternity, and the Apostles knew Him, walked with Him, learned from Him.

In Jesus Christ, the whole of God's truth has been made manifest. "Full of grace and truth," he came as the "light of the world," he is the Truth. "Whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness." The disciple of Jesus continues in his word so as to know "the truth [that] will make you free" and that sanctifies. To follow Jesus is to live in "the Spirit of truth," whom the Father sends in his name and who leads "into all the truth." To his disciples Jesus teaches the unconditional love of truth: "Let what you say be simply 'Yes or No.'"  (CCC 2466)

Jesus is that Word of truth.   So take advantage of that.   Begin to read and study history, both secular and Church history.   Look at the writings of early Christians and see what they believed.   Find your way to one of successors of the Apostles,  of which only the Catholic churches can claim an unbroken line of succession directly to one of the twelve themselves.  Then open yourself to the reality that Christ has poured himself out into our lives through the Sacraments of those churches to bring us into full communion with Him and the Father.   "I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one."  What more perfect description of communion can you get?  Than to receive Jesus Christ himself; body, soul and divinity; into your very body? All too often people smear the Catholic church and drag it through the mud.. but it's time.. it's time to check your sources and to see exactly what we believe.

His servant and yours,
Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease."

So help me, I dropped it.

Offer it up.  Suffering can draw you closer to God.  Just trust he has a plan in this.  Words that I myself have thrown out when someone else was suffering.  How can suffering draw you closer to God?  I had an inkling before these past few pain ridden days, but the clarity that I see with now is different.  I can't tell you how your suffering will draw you closer, but I feel the need to share with you how mine did.

Until the other night I would have told you that the one time I experienced true pain was about seven years ago.  It's a day which I will never forget.  I had just had my spine ripped open by a doctor.  Rods, screws, and various twisty pieces of metal lanced into my frame like a sadistic pin cushion.  A living voodoo doll for someone very unpopular.  The pain was unbearable.  Then I experienced true pain.  Sure, I would have told you then that I had been in pain all day.  After that day though, pain had a different meaning for me.

Just after my surgery they needed an xray of my spine with 'weight' on it in order to make sure everything was bolted together properly.  So they wheeled me, mostly sedated, down a hallway to a room designed to torture and haunt my dreams for years to come.  Over by the wall were two bars... they told me to hang on them.   That's right... put your hands on the bar, we need you to hang all your weight on your arms while we take an X-ray of your spine.  They were not kidding.  So I did as asked.. they lifted me up, I couldn't even put weight on my legs yet... placed my hand on this rod and said ok hang on.. and then they lowered me till all my weight was hanging there.. hanging on those freshly spiked screw holes... twisting through those muscles which had been sliced through just days before.

Everything went white.  I couldn't think.  I couldn't breath.  I didn't know who I was.. or what I was doing.. all I knew was, "I have to hold on to this bar."  So I did.  I don't remember what decade it was that they came back to get me... or how we time traveled back to the present day, but eventually, centuries after the command to hold on.. they pried me off the bar and into my seat.. and I lost consciousness.  Everytime I see that scene in the passion of the Christ where they give him the cross and he embraces it, holding it.. almost reveling in the pleasure of that knowledge that he is holding on... I am reminded of what that feels like.

This time in the ER I experienced a glimpse at the living stations of the cross.  Up until this point it had hurt.. it had hurt bad..  enough that this man asked to be taken to a hospital... asked to be moved into a room with needles.. like a vampire asking for daybreak.  I shuffled in towards the room, a familiar one.. it's our date room... some how they always put us in there... as we drew closer the pain hit.  I gasped a few times, moaning out loud.  Then I couldn't see.  My eyes had become overwhelmed.  I felt the tears going down my face.  I felt the shame of crying out loud like a child, weeping in front of all these people... I gasped out something to the effect of, "I can't do it."  So help me God.. I dropped my cross.  Everything was white again with pain.  I couldn't think.  I couldn't move.  I couldn't speak or breath.  All I could do was stand there and exist.

Then my wife, the living Simon of Cyrene, put her arm around me and said just walk with me.  She moved me into the room and onto the bed.  For eternity I lay there waiting for a diagnosis, waiting for pain pills, waiting for something..  Then the nurse informed me she couldn't give me the medicine they had prescribed because I was allergic to it.  I was going to have to hold this cross again.. guess what?  I dropped it again. I begged her for it.  Please just make it go away!  Do something!  She told me she couldn't give it to me because I could stop breathing.. I didn't care, I said.. that'd be better than this..

Sunday my wife brought me the Eucharist and I felt unworthy.  I received Jesus asking him to forgive me for carrying the cross so poorly.  For giving up. You see, I now know the answer to what I would do if I were on the cross... would I go to my death?  I've always said I hope so.. but Jesus took more pain than me.. and begged for forgiveness... he suffered willingly for others, refusing the wine to numb his pain.  Me?  I cried out for anything..  sure I tried to offer it up.. I tried to pray a rosary.. but the words wouldn't come.. an our father? and nothing but moaning escaped my lips.  I sat musing over this while praying my morning office.

Then he showed up.   At the door.  Offering me communion.  His name was Deacon Mike, but I knew him the moment I saw him.... Jesus was there before me.  I felt shame.  Misery.... I told him that I had already received and he said, "Can I bless you then?"  I acquiesced and he placed his hand on my forehead.  He said in a gentle voice something that I will not forget any time soon.  God has created you unique.. so go forth in comfort living your life with joy as the person he created you to be.  No one else can do it the way you do.  Then he blessed my wife in a similar fashion.  Warmth flooded through me.

Yes, I dropped my cross.  I'm not Jesus.... but you know what?  I've picked it back up.. because he's making me more like him.  I am going to try to carry it with joy.. knowing that through this pain and this suffering I learned first and foremost.. who I am not... but secondly, I am more aware of who He is... and even if I have to drop it 100 times more... I will do so.. if only to glimpse Him for a moment saying how much he loves me.. as he helps carry the load I am unable to.

His servant and yours,
Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease."

Misericordia

Tonight I attended a Spanish Mass at our Parish.  Both to work on my Spanish listening skills and to
attempt to build some friendships and familiarity with a part of the Parish that I often do not get to see.  I have several friends who come to daily Mass or who are involved in other ministries whose native tongue is Spanish and it was good to see them and spend time with them in worship.  I did feel a little out of place though.

Why?  Probably ego?  Pride? Unfamiliarity?   It was good for me though, that is for sure.  I kept hearing this one word though, one I recognized from my studies and from preparing before hand.  "Misericordia."  Mercy.  Kindness.  I heard it in the antiphon of the Psalm.  I heard it in the singing.  I heard it in the readings.  I heard it Father Dorado's homily. (Most of which I was lost in, but I did understand parts of it!)

At the end a friend of mine, Ignatio, grabbed my hand and welcomed me.  Made sure to encourage me and talked about his experience of going to daily Mass in English.  He talked about how he at first did not understand much, but now after a few years, really has begun to understand it well enough to feel comfortable.  Here was a man willing to put his ego to the side.  A man willing to go where he was uncomfortable, where he didn't know many, but persisted through those feelings in order to learn enough of a language to help those of us who did not know his own to be able to experience one another in the body of Christ.

There are those out there who will tell you, "You are not an American if you don't speak English."  "I refuse to learn another language!"  "Why the hell should I have to press 1 to get English? This is America!"  To that I say rubbish.  Today's gospel calls out to us to put ourselves to the side and to instead humble ourselves to be servants.  Servants don't make those they are serving learn their language, rather they humble themselves and put forth the effort to learn the language themselves. "You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority over them felt.  But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all." 

Think about this for just a moment.  The God of the universe is so far beyond us that it would be like comparing a human to a worm.  This God of ours humbled himself so much that he condescended into one of us, becoming one of us in every way, except sin.  He learnt our language.   He took on our ways.  He didn't expect us to suddenly learn to speak God's tongue.  How much more so should we be willing to approach our brothers as if they were Christ himself?  Learning a language is the least we can do.   Learning who they are, where they are from, their name;  those are other steps we should take.  Their customs, their cultures, their families.  They are part of us.  We are one body.  There aren't 500,000 bodies of Christ.. only one. 

So go out into the world.  Serve your brothers and sisters.  Learn to speak to them.  More importantly learn to listen and understand them.  Try to learn their names.  Their families.  Their interests.   Let them know how important they are to you.  How much you love them.   Don't expect anything in return.  Just offer yourself for them, as Christ offered himself to us.  Then we can cry out together, with our brothers and sisters, in all tongues: "Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you."

In Christ,

His servant and yours,

Brian

The Heavens Proclaim the Glory of God

My wife and I have made it a habit lately to jog in the late evenings after all of our obligations and such begin to wind down.  Tonight as I meditate on the readings for tomorrow's Mass, it reminds me of the jog/walk we just completed.   I was in just too much pain to run tonight, so I ended up walking most of the time we were out there. It helped me though to think quite a bit about many of the things I've been mulling over, and more especially to spend some time just walking along talking to my sacramental partner.

Tomorrow's readings are some of my favorites in scripture.  As we walked along tonight, a strong wind kept blowing through the trees.  The sky was cloudy and dark, almost ominous.  Occasionally we would hear the breaking of twig or rustling of a leaf as some woodland creature ran off in fright to our presence.   The river under the bridge reflected back the street lights in the distance, it's ripples creating a movement in time where there really was none.  The changing colors of the autumn in their many shades of monochrome night created a blanket of waving patterns, all shifting away anytime the eye tried to focus on them. The tall, uncut grass of the gentle sloping hill flowed back and forth like an ocean of it's own accord.

All of it called out to one simple truth, one fact that my mind has never been able to understand why others do not come to this conclusion as well, to the existence of God.  The first reading tells us that "Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made."  God created us in his image.  He gave us the gift of our senses, combined with our faculties, that give us such a powerful bond with all of creation.  We can see the beauty of all it's many faceted creatures.  Smell the scents and odors of our vastly complex universe.  Reason and grapple with concepts and words to try and express all of this in some way that is beyond a mere simple thought.

Just walking with my wife, though filled with pain and limping, I am still struck by just how fortunate I am to be gifted with someone as beautiful, intelligent, and caring as her.  Just looking at our lives, the circumstances that led us to become the people we are, the events that brought me to

move 600 miles away from the town where I had always been, and to have my life filled with these 5 ladies.... all of it tells me that there are no coincidences.  There is something more than us, something greater than us, a designer, a creator.

When I was in my teens I attended Magnet school at a local college to study some advanced mathematics and computer science skills.  While we were there we studied Chaos theory.  Many of you will remember Malcom from Jurassic Park, the slightly nerdy and awkward genius who talked about a 'butterfly' flapping it's wings in one part of the world, creates a monsoon in another.  That was the kind of math we were studying.   The one thing I learnt that summer was that even in things that seemed to be completely random, there were found mathematical patterns.  That everything in the universe was ordered, even 'random' chance itself.   The heavens themselves proclaim the glory of God! 

That brings us to the Gospel.   Here we see Jesus being condemned again by a Pharisee for not washing himself ritually before sitting down to a meal.  They felt there was an order that must be done before he could eat. Jesus reminded them that God made everything!  There was no need for ritual cleansing because he was already pure.  Then challenged them to clean themselves, spiritually.  Both inside and out.  We have many people out there today who teach a prosperity gospel, a gospel of health, a bed of roses so to speak.  They claim that if you 'speak it,' God must do it!  As if God were some ATM that you could control.  Then when suffering comes that way, they proclaim that you didn't do it right.  Your faith must be weak, or you must not really believe.  It can be shattering to those who believe this way to actually see someone they love suffering from some disease, or they themselves begin to go through a Dark Night of the Soul. 

Jesus reminded us that ritual is meaningless unless the inside of the soul is cleansed.  He challenges them to give alms to reverse the condition of their heart.  He told them already of their problem, they were filled with plunder and evil.   They were greedy, they wanted more.  He told them to give away to those who need, and it would fix them.   I think that's the message he has for us, all of us today.  Suffering is hard to see, especially if the inside of our heart is attached to things of this world.  It's only through detachment that we can begin to be free, to cling to the only attachment that matters, that is God himself.  Once we place him first and foremost things begin to fall into place.  It doesn't mean a bed of roses.  It doesn't mean that we'll be rich.  It doesn't mean that our relationships will not require a lot of work or effort.  It doesn't mean that some people aren't going to pass away from a disease or suffer a long time with one.  What it does mean is that we can look to God for our comfort during those times, and look out into creation itself when we struggle with doubt to find glimpses of Him shining back towards us.

In Christ,
Brian

How can church Doctrine help me grow closer to God?

How Can Accepting the Doctrine of the Church help you come closer to God?

As a convert to the Catholic faith, the organic nature of the development of doctrine is something that I have experienced first hand.  During my formative years I began to do what is most common in the Protestant denominations; that is I began to church shop.  Many protestants are taught that the bible is the sole authority of their faith, and that they should continue looking for a church until they find one that teaches the bible and only the bible.  The problem then becomes whose version of interpretation is the correct one? Who is the authority who has the final say in interpretation? The Holy Spirit of course is the answer, but in the physical world we also have to have someone speaking via the Holy Spirit to make decisions in matters of  faith.

One of my first memorable experiences of this sort of process in action was in a church in rural southwest Virginia.  As the preacher began his sermon for the day, he began talking about another preacher from a different church and condemned him for smoking tobacco.  He talked about how it was bad for the body and that scripture had clearly shown that our body was a temple, and that smoking was desecrating that temple.  He kept preaching into a fevered pitch and paused just long enough to spit his ambeer into the cup.  This man of God had just been preaching about the sinful use of smoking tobacco while clearly chewing tobacco himself. I began to look for another church.

My next experience of this sort of doctrinal formation was in a Pentecostal style church where they were very animated and vibrant. They began to argue though shortly after I arrived about the necessity of one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, glossolalia. One of the more prominent ministers argued that one must indeed speak tongues in order to be saved.  The pastor began to refute that argument with scripture and indicated that while it was indeed a sign of being saved, there were other gifts of the spirit and that speaking in tongues was not required of every single person. A few weeks of arguing back and forth, during church service mind you, and they decided to go their separate ways. So one minister who disagreed with the preacher, along with all those who agreed with him, formed his own church just a few miles away.   Now we had two separate churches just a few miles apart that agreed in every issue but one, but both would point to the other and say that they were going to hell. I again began to look for another church.

After a while I settled down in a small church of the non-denominational variety, where they preached 'the bible' and studied it quite often together. The Pastor seemed to be a very nice fellow who gave a very good sermon, and they often had visiting singers and preachers who would get the congregation 'stirred'.  Everything here seemed to be right on the mark, they talked about hell, gave altar calls, shared scripture in snippets just like always.  In Sunday school they had us memorize the 23rd Psalm and various bible verses that we should be able to speak at a moments notice. Then one day before Christmas, the pastor began to preach against Santa, and instead of sharing the Christmas story and God's love for us.. it became a tirade about how Santa was truly from Satan.  Each holiday became just the same, the Easter Bunny next, then Halloween. Eventually it was that time again, I began to look for another church.

One day, shortly after I began to really research the Catholic church at the insistence of my wife, I stumbled upon a verse that I had read many, many times in the past. “Then said Jesus to the crowds and to his disciples, 'The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat;  practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do; for they preach, but do not practice.'”  Here in Jesus own words was a verse telling me not to simply walk away and search for another church every time they did not agree with me. So I began to ask myself, which church is it that Jesus established? How can I know? What do they teach?

After many years of study and fighting the call of the Holy Spirit to become Catholic, I knew that it was here that I needed to be. It was only here that we had the seat of St. Peter, from whose authority the bishops and priests receive their anointing. It was here that we have the church with the power to bind and loosen.  It was here that we have the sacraments as Jesus himself initiated them. It was only in the Catholic church that I would find the fullness of faith, the teachings of the Apostles and of the Holy Spirit himself.

So how do those teachings help me to grow closer to God? For the last two thousands years men much smarter than myself have been studying, philosophizing, agreeing and disagreeing about various questions that I myself have seen others speaking about and arguing about.   Many of these have been put into documents, encyclicals, and into the Catechism of the church. By the guidance of the Holy Spirit many of those very questions that I have seen protestant churches splitting over, have already been answered and cemented as Dogma. Not only can I find the answers when there is a disagreement, but I can find the documents and biblical verses that back up those teachings as well. By following Catholic doctrine I have freed myself from a world where two men can split an entire congregation into two separate bodies; and joined myself to a church, that guided by the Holy Spirit, instead tries to keep the body of Christ as One Body.

The doctrines, teachings, and dogmas of the church also help me to find aspects of God that help me to further understand the mystery of his incarnation, of the trinity, and of the Sacraments. Through each of these wonderful teachings and writings on those teachings, I can further understand who God is, what God did for me, and how I can live to better please God.  I also have access to the treasure of the doctors of the church who have expounded in words much more eloquent than my own matters that sometimes seem very difficult to understand. As St. Peter said, “There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures.”  By finding the church, guided by the Holy Spirit, lead by the seat of Peter himself, I have found the key to understanding those scriptures.  I have found the source which will allow me to further understand and further grow closer to God, to find answers to those questions and find hope and grace in the Sacraments. That hope and grace draws me closer and closer to God himself.

Personal Relationship?

There are three camps in Christianity right now that seem to be the most prevalent, and two of them I find to be fatally flawed and separate from the Gospel according to Jesus Christ. Both have their merits, but both are lacking something to be complete.

The first is the camp that our relationship with Jesus is a personal relationship. You often see people say don't judge me, I only answer to God! In a way that's correct, just as David said, I sinned against you and you alone, our concern should be first and foremost with God. That's what Jesus said the most important commandment was right? So in a way our relationship with God is personal, it's primary.. but it's not just. Just said that was the first and greatest commandment, but then he went on to say there was a second, like it. (Another translation says "A second, equally as important" (see Mark 12:28-33). That makes a big difference doesn't it?

Then the second camp, one less common but one the Pharisees themselves seem to have been guilty of, is that it's a community relationship and only a community relationship. These are the people who put the commandments before the people. Their relationship is ONLY religion, only about the community. The Pharisees were very guilty of this, and if you watch the recent 'Bible' television series, you see some of that attitude. The "I need to protect my religion, my people" at all costs mentality.  The man who follows his religion to a T but neglects the needs of his fellow brothers and sisters, this man puts community before person, there is no personal relationship, even among the community.. only the community structure. The white washed tomb that Jesus called them greatly expresses this ideal. They appear clean on the outside, because they do everything right, but on the inside.. it's still dirty, still hate filled. We all seem to fall into that trap from time to time.. but notice that Jesus didn't say for people to ignore the tradition? No.. Then said Jesus to the crowds and to his disciples,  “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat;  so practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do; for they preach, but do not practice.  They bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with their finger. (Matthew 23:1-4)

So then what are we to do? We see here clearly that Tradition is not bad.. no the Tradition of the Pharisees was beautiful and had many beautiful teachings in it.. but they weren't practicing what they preach. We also see that God is important, the first and foremost.. but so are our brothers and sisters.. So neither of these approaches work. Why? Because they try to separate the body from the head. You see with the first, you take you and try only have communion with the head, Jesus.  With the second, you only have communion with the body as a whole, and not the head at all. Both ignore the other parts of the body and Sacred Scripture clearly tells us that we cannot separate the parts of the body. The eye cannot tell the hand I have no need of you (1 Corinthians 12:21), etc.

So we need all of it. We need the head, the body, and the parts! In order to be in communion with God who is a trinity.. we must also worship in a trinity (you'll find this pattern all through scripture!) We have to be in communion with God, with the body, AND with each other! So that is the simple answer. Tradition is beautiful, but so is love. God is important, but so is your brother and sister. You love God BY loving each other. It's really that simple.

That was one of the first things that drew me to Catholicism, and it's the thing that keeps reminding me that this is home for me. That there is a huge emphasis on God, worshiping him and him alone.  Yet, there is an emphasis on still talking among the body (both here and those already gone to Heaven), in the communion of saints. And yet there is still the personal relationship, how much more personal can it be than to go forward every Sunday and touch Jesus in such a unique way in the Eucharist? It's all there.

And remember, the only person scripture records as saying "Am I my brothers keeper?" was the one who had just killed his brother.

Peace be with you,
Brian

Stewardship

Just wanted to share with you the speech that I prepared for this weekend and had the honor of delivering at our parish. God really helped me through it and I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would :)

When Father Don asked me if I would be interested in saying a few words about Stewardship at the weekend masses, I was very excited! Perhaps a bit scared and nervous too. It such and important topic in the Catholic life, one that I am very passionate about. Most of the time when we hear the word Stewardship our minds immediately go to tithing and money. Don't get me wrong, that is an extremely necessary part of the Christian life. Without funding the church itself could not continue to lead the world in charitable works, missions, and ministries.  Hospitals, schools, soup kitchens, and homes could not continue to work without that money.

But stewardship does not end there at all. Stewardship involves realizing that everything we have comes from and belongs to God. As our responsorial Psalm today says, “Behold God is my helper, the Lord sustains my life.”  It is so very easy in our materialistic society to get caught up in the daily life of earning things. “He works hard for the money” has become a mantra and it has allowed us to lose sight of the simple fact that those skills, talents, and even our lives themselves are gifts from God. We do often work hard to earn what we have, and that's good. Yet we must remember where we get the ability to work, the ability to breath, the ability to earn that gift and that the gift itself still belongs to the one who created all that we are and have.

How often do we ponder that the home we have, the car we drive, even the dishes we use for our meals are all gifts from above? Do we treat them as such? I know that when I borrow a car that belongs to someone else, I often take better care of it than I do my own. When I spend the night at someone else's home I take care not to throw my clothes on the bathroom floor, and usually make the bed in the morning, something I fail to do at my own home nearly every day. If we truly believe then that every thing we have, everything we use belongs to God, why then do we treat them as our own personal things?

When I was a  young man fresh out of high school I had the privilege of joining a fraternity. Being a member of that organization helped to shape my view of what stewardship is all about. As a young member interested in moving up through the ranks of officers I was installed as a Steward. It was an interesting position and essentially it meant that I got all the grunt work. Here I was the youngest member, and I got to clean the toilets, change the lights, and make sure the air conditioner was on before meetings. I wasn't allowed to just do anything I wanted. It wasn't my building. It belonged to the entire organization. Rather, it was my job to make sure that when members showed up, the building was in an acceptable state of repair. It was my job to take care of what had been given to us, to make sure that it was there when the 'owner's returned.

Now so far I've been talking about 'things'.  I'm not a wealthy man and in 2007 I had my spine fused. This has led my family and I into a much lower income bracket than we were used to. We are by no means rich, and we don't have a lot of 'things' to give. What we do have though, especially myself, is time. We also have talent to give, as does every person in this room. God has created each one of us as unique individuals.  Only you can do what you do, the way that you do it. There are likely many people in this room who can paint a wall, but there are some in here who really know what they are doing. There are others in this room who can sew together a blanket if they had to, but then there are some who can make beautiful quilts like the ones for our centennial. There are those who can speak well, and those who wouldn't want to be up here talking for any amount of time at all.

You see God wants us to take care of our time and our talents as well. When we truly search our hearts we all have a little time here or there to give. It may not be much. It may only be a few minutes on a Saturday morning. Or 10-20 minutes on a Thursday afternoon as your coming home from work. If we analyze our lives, especially when I analyze mine, I find that there are many moments in which I'm sitting watching television or looking at Facebook on the computer. I agree there is a time for relaxation, we all need to wind down after a long day of work, or a stressful day of raising the children, or even just recover from an illness or deal with some sort of cross that we are bearing. If we earnestly look at our lives though, we find there is a great deal of time in our life that we could be doing something for each other.

Here at Saint Catherine's we are blessed with a great deal of councils, committees, and groups that help out. One thing you find though is if you begin to look through the list of names on those committees you begin to find that many of them are the same names over and over. We need each and every one of your talents. There are things only you can do, that I cannot. Each of you has a singular unique individuality that you bring to the table that no one else can bring. God wants you to use that in your life, to help build his Kingdom here, to help keep it present and to help others come to know it.

I'd like to talk just briefly about a few of the ministries that I've been involved with. First and foremost, one of the most important ministries to me is the RCIA. It is through the RCIA that we as Catholics reach out to those who are not, and we offer them the beauty of the faith, the beauty of the Eucharist that we come to receive every chance we can. The source and summit of our faith, when Jesus Christ himself becomes present and allows you to receive him into your body, into your soul, and allow him to change you and bring you to eternal life. There are so many out there who are calling out for that chance to receive Jesus Christ, a chance to fill that emptiness with the only thing that can truly fill it up. So many out there are trying to fill it with something else, with television, with games, with entertainment, chemicals and substances. We need people to step forward and help find candidates. To reach out to those they know that are interested, or even to simply mention to those you think need it. We also need people to step forward and say, you know.. I'd be interested in helping out with this. This is dear to my heart and I want to help.

I have also had the wonderful opportunity to be on our evangelization team, which offers those wonderful programs like Awakening Faith, Living the Eucharist, and soon to come Seeking Christ. It is through these that we help each other grow, to learn more about our faith, and to learn more about one another. We are a community of believers, not just a personal relationship. We are a family and through this we can continue to grow as one. These programs need leaders who are interested in helping small groups get through the program. We also need members who are willing to come to the sessions.

During the summers I tend to come to daily mass a lot. This is an important part of our lives. Being able to receive Jesus daily is such a powerful reminder of how free the grace of God is, and how important it is for us to make an effort to come forward and make a commitment to him. During this time I've been allowed to be one of the daily lector's. I cannot tell you in words how powerful it is to come forward and be a part of that service. To stand up here and read to my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ from the very word of God. How powerful a moment it is for the Lector when he says the 'Word of the Lord', and everyone responds thanks be to God. For us to realize that God has just spoken to us through the scriptures, and through the mouth of one of our own.

Last year I began to help out teaching our 8th graders in the per-confirmation class. Here is an opportunity for someone to make a difference in the life of our children, and at the same time to help develop their own faith. While teaching you help share that faith with our youth and often I find myself learning things that I myself did not know, and getting fresh perspectives on our faith from children who see things in such an amazing way that we adults often miss. It doesn't take a great deal of skills or talents to help out, it just takes someone willing to try. We need teachers and we need aides. As the popular song says, “I believe the children are the future, teach them well and let them lead the way.” We need our children to understand our faith, to grow in it, to help continue the life of the church.

I've also had the privilege of being a part of the respect life committee and I must say it's been one of the most rewarding ones to me personally. Being able to help out with our youth, knowing that the work we are doing is making a difference, and seeing the fruit of those labors in action is something that truly touches the soul. The various events that I've been able to attend and places I've been able to visit have reminded me just how much work we have to do. A few months ago Linda Dolder and I had the chance to visit our state capital and spend the day as lobbyist. It gave us a valuable look at our political process and how we can make a difference. We also visited the We Care pregnancy center, delivering some much needed supplies that will be given out to parents who are in need of them. This ministry allows us to spread the message that all life is sacred, and that is a message that our society is very much in need of hearing.

In Christ,
His servant and yours;
Brian

A personal relationship

I hear this phrase being thrown around a lot. It's very interesting to see how that people use it to mean something a bit different than what it really says. A personal relationship simply means a relationship between two people.  All relationships are personal relationships, no matter how many people are involved. But that isn't how it is being used. I find it is being used to say "My relationship is with God, not with you." I find it is being used to say I don't need to agree with you, or with the Bible, or with anything that anyone else believes; only with God.

There is a problem with that logic though, because God is not just a personal God, but a communal God. Let me try to give an example from my own life that will show what I mean. Back before my wife and I ever started dating we had a circle of friends, and then we had our 'own' friends. Our personal friends. Now one of those friends, a female friend of mine, decided that she did not like my wife to be. As far as I know my wife never did anything to her, but regardless of the story in the background, suffice it to say that this lady didn't like the woman I was marrying.

Now that's fine. She doesn't have to like her, but this is my wife we are talking about. As a Christian I am to love my wife as Christ loves the church. This 'friend' of mine decided to inform me that I could still hang out with her, but I couldn't bring my wife. That I could come visit her alone, but never with my family. There is a problem with that. I am part of that family. That is my wife. Those are my children. They come with me. They are a part of me. You don't want my wife around? Then I won't be around either.

Maybe that seems cold. Maybe. I am human after all. How can I say though that I love my wife, if I am willing to go hang out with someone who can't stand her, who bad mouths her, and simply choose that friendship over defending my wife. We cannot. Anytime we allow someone to demean someone in our presence that we love, and do not stand up for them, then we cannot say we truly love them. And oh how many times in our lives we have done just that?

So back to the topic at hand, a personal relationship. How can one claim to love Jesus, but not His body, the church? It's the exact same thing as saying to a husband, you can come but don't bring your wife... they are one person after all. (Ephesians 5:31) The same with Jesus.  You cannot divorce his body, and then claim to love him. You cannot take part of him, you must take all of him, body and soul, blood and divinity. Christianity is not a singular relationship between only you and God, but it's a family. That's what a covenant bond is.

You are part of the Family. That means you spend time with them, even if you don't like them. Our society is slowly eroding the family unit, the family structure in general. In the case of our spiritual family, we cannot simply walk away and pretend they are no longer one of us. God is who determines who is in our family and who isn't. It's not our job to do that. It's our job to live up to that family obligation. To love one another. To serve one another. To have a personal relationship not just with God, but with each other!

His servant and yours;
Brian

The Washing of Feet

I've always wondered what it would be like to be the one who had their feet washed. My mind can easily wrap around how humbling and moving it could be the be the one doing the washing. To emulate our Lord in each  movement, doing exactly what he commanded us to do. I never really thought about the person sitting there having their feet washed by someone who loves them, someone who cared enough to do something so menial, so base, to serve our very needs.

Last night as Father Tim moved from person to person, my mind was transported through time. As he bent over before each candidate, sponsor, and young child... my heart and soul began to cry out with Peter, Lord what are are you doing? Why are you washing my feet? Is it not I who should be serving you? I am not worthy of this. No Lord, you shall never wash my feet! I never really understood those lines from John 13 until last night as I was put in that very place. Like Peter, I realized that the man washing my feet was a much better man than myself.

As Father Tim gently pulled my foot over the polished basin to wash it, I was reminded of Jesus other words in that situation, "If I do not wash you, you have no part in me."  Oh how my heart was rent, my soul cried out with Peter "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" I finally understood Peter, realizing he must submit to this action in order to follow the will of God! I too wanted to shout out with joy, with exultation! Then Father lifted his eyes to mine as he was drying my unworthy feet, the very feet that had carried me through this life, the feet that were soiled with the 'dirt' of this world, the very feet that had walked me into sin many times... and I saw in his eyes something that went straight to my core.

I know Jesus is alive in each of us. I know that he lives very specially in all of our hearts. But there in those eyes, last night, without a shadow of a doubt, I saw a man filled with the Holy Spirit. I was once again transported through time. As my priest sat in persona Christi, washing my feet.. I knew that Jesus had once again washed the feet of his disciples.. and was challenging me personally:

"Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them."

The Last Supper

Leave me a note telling me what you think, or explaining how you feel about the topic. I enjoy hearing from people, and look forward to it :)

1 Corinthians 11 -
23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes

I was reading last night as I was trying to find sleep, and I turned to one of the more famous instances in the New Testament. When Jesus was breaking bread at the last supper, and passing it out to his disciples. I began to meditate on what it meant and exactly how we were to think of it. Of course I realize this is the basis for Communion, and I find that a beautiful thing. However, my mind begin to mull over other things as well.

When we look at this many of us just see it as institution of Communion, but there was so much history behind the event that we often overlook. The Last Supper was actually passover, and as such they were eating the unleavened bread that the Israelites had to quickly make when fleeing from Egypt. They were celebrating their liberation from Egypt! They were now free. Yet they were also slaves of another sort, slaves to the law. The law was our way of being like God. He showed us right and wrong in 10 simple commandments. Yet, as the Bible tells us, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We have trouble with our flesh and often sin against God. We are slaves to sin.

So how does one rectify this? Jesus did that for us. You see when the angel passed over the Israelites in Egypt it knew the people not to touch, based on the blood of a spotless lamb, whose bones had not been broken, painted on the door frames of the home. The angel of the Lord did not pass judgment on the people who were covered by that innocent lambs blood. Jesus then went to the cross to provide for us that same covering. Now when the we are standing before God in judgement, he passes over us because we are covered with the blood of the Lamb (those of us who choose to accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour).

Thus the Last Supper becomes a celebration of a Christian Passover. We know that the body and blood was shed for us, that the meal we are partaking of is a celebration of our liberation. Liberation from what? From the Law! We are no longer slaves to sin, God has freed us from that. We are now beings of the spirit, that live based on what is good and right! Does that mean that we can break the 10 commandments? No. The 10 commandments are still God's judgment, and we are to live as close as we can to them, not because we have to, but because we love Him and want to be holy and sanctified before him. We however have a savior who will carry that weight of addiction, that weight of lustfulness, that weight of gluttony. He will help us to overcome the flesh, because we definitely aren't doing such a great job on our own.

Then it struck me. There was another message in Jesus' offering. He said as often as you do this, do this in memory of me. Many of us take that to mean that communion is done in his memory, and every time we do communion it should be done with great honor and reverence to God for his gift. I agree. However, we should also see that Jesus wants us to be ready to give our body and our blood for our brothers and sisters, not of our own accord but in memory of him, for God's glory. You and I should love one another enough that if it were possible, we would go to the cross for each other. That we would spill our blood to save one another. That we would live as a living reminder to all others, not of ourself, but of Jesus. Walking in active Communion with God at all times, not just once a week or however often you may celebrate this sacrament.

That opens my eyes to a reality, that I may not be able to live up to that standard. That I may not have the courage to step in front of a gunman to protect someone else, that I do not even know. That I may not have the nerve to dive on a bomb, to protect a crowded subway from it's detonation. It is then that I realize the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross. The sacrifice where he went to the death of a sinner, of a thief, for people he didn't even know. People who weren't even born yet. It is then that I realize that I need the blood of passover more than ever.

I pray that each of you are richly blessed, and that God will look on you with favor.

In Christ,
Brian