Are we in the Matrix?

As I read the Facebook walls of many of my friends, I am inundated with news commentary and articles expressing praise or disdain for the current administration.   I feel like Switch in the Matrix movies when the antagonist begins pulling out their 'plugs.'   In that terrifying scene the man says "If you have anything to say to Switch, I suggest you do it now."   Switch knows what is happening, she knows she's about to die.  "No, not like this. Not like this."   Then it's over.  She's dead.  A woman who was a warrior, a freedom fighter, an outcast who keeps coming back in to the fight for the rights of others;  broken in a moment where she has no way to fight back, with an enemy who doesn't even let her see his face.

I just read a news article in which a family from one of the countries that our President has put a 'ban' on.  They apparently had come to America to see their family and were refused admission, even though all of their papers were in order.  They had to board a plane and fly back to whatever country they were from.  Is that the answer?  Something does have to be done, doesn't it?   We have an illegal immigration problem that is out of hand.  We have terror attacks occurring on U.S. soil by radicalized people who want to harm as many as they can, to go out in a blaze of glory!  Building walls?  Banning people from entry because of where they happened to be born?  Refusing even refugees of war torn countries?

Today's readings remind us of the need for humility.  The need to trust in God and his providence, but also to realize that we alone are not worth much.   We often think of America as the greatest of countries, and in many ways it is.  From freedom to resources, we are indeed well off compared to many other places of the world.  We have more food than we need and often abuse that, gluttonously devouring more than our share.  We have wealth, power and prestige... but all of this is nothing.   God lifted up the lowly and cast down the mighty.   That doesn't mean that the wealthy should be under the poor.. or the poor given a pedestal... but rather that they both be brought to the same level... human.. a sinner.

Jesus reminds us in the beatitudes of that calling.  The calling to be a humble, coheir to the kingdom.   One that has nothing to boast for, except in Christ.  Thomas Aquinas, one of the most brilliant minds in the history of mankind, wrote volume upon volume about God.   As he placed his works under the cross he said "Here lord, I hope this is worthy."   Christ said from the cross, "You have done well.   I will answer any request you ask, give you anything you desire."   Thomas said, "Only you lord, only you."  Wow.   That's what the beatitudes call us to.   A radical divergence from self desire and ego.  To become like Christ on the cross... poor, meek, humble.   To rely totally on God's plan, regardless of who we are, how much we have, or where we come from.

You and I were born into this.  We didn't earn it.  We just happened to be born on American soil.  They were born where they were, not because they chose.  Not because they failed to be as 'worthy.'  Now they flee from those people who want to kill them, harm them, tax them into non-existence.. and we do what?  We shut the door on them in the name of American exceptionalism.  Don't get me wrong.   I am a patriot. I love my country.   I however am not a nationalist.  I will point out when our country does something wrong. We are making a mistake when we say America first, period.   It should be humanity first.  It should be the widow, the orphan, the refugee, the alien... that's what Scripture calls us to.  So if you're a Christian, and you believe this to be a Christian nation, we need to step up and say "No, not like this."  To be merciful, to be meek, to be clean of heart, and above all to thirst for justice and righteousness.


His servant and yours,
Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease."

A reflection on the readings for the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, January 29th, 2017 .

Torn between two worlds

The day after the feast of Saint Paul, we celebrate two of his closest co-workers and friends, Timothy and Titus.   Two young men torn between two worlds.   One was a man of a mixed marriage, Jewish and Greek.  The other a Greek as well.   They were bombarded with difficulties in their lives both from society itself, and even in the Church.  The reality of it is that while the Church is Divine, she is also Human, just like the Messiah Himself.  So Paul urges them on in his letters to be peaceful, patient and loving.. but to stand up for their faith.

Last night I met a man in the parking lot outside of the Church.   It wasn't our first encounter.   He actually scared me by talking right behind me in the dark.   He apologized for scaring me of course, and then went on to tell me about his problem.   He had a jug of milk in his hand.  He seemed very proud of that jug.  He had gotten it himself he kept saying.  The problem was he didn't have any cereal.  He just wanted some cereal to eat with his milk.

There I was, torn between two different mindsets, two different worlds.  On one hand, we encourage people to "not let their right know what their left is doing."   That is give without thinking of where the money is going to go.   Here was an opportunity to give from what little I do have.  I knew I had some money in my wallet. I had planned to go to the store and grab a snack with it.  I had an hour to kill and that's the very reason I was in the parking lot heading out in the dark.   The other world tugged at me saying, this man has asked you for money before, again and again.  How many times have I heard others proclaim: "You don't know what he's going to do with that money."   "He's just going to buy alcohol!"  "How will he ever learn to help himself?"

Patience.   Love.   Faith.   I took a moment to truly look at him.  I noticed his beard was dripping with the cold rain.  He's hands were shaking from the low temperatures.   This jug of milk had obviously become heavy from whatever distance he had carried.   I was overwhelmed with love.  I gave him money and told him to get some cereal.  Like Timothy and Titus we are all torn between two worlds.  The world that tells us we should take care of our own, our selves, before we serve others; and the calling of Christ that says "What I have done in washing your feet, you should do for each other."

Today's Gospel reminds us that we are infused with the Light of the Holy Spirit.  In that moment in the dark, cold night I was given a chance to take my light and hide it under a basket.   To keep that money for a snack for me, a snack that when you look at me I clearly don't truly need.  Jesus reminds us that with "what measure we measure, will be measured to me."  Not all of us are called to be Bishops and Apostles, like the Saints we have celebrated the past days, but all of us are called to be Servants to a hurting world.   I could have just prayed for this man, as I have done in the past.   I could have told him to come back next week when Father got back.  I could have honestly told him I can't afford to help you.   Saint James tells us If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit?

Don't hide your light.  Don't take your gifts and bury them in the sand.   Invest them in each other.  Give freely of your heart.   Give freely of your love.   Don't be afraid of being hurt, or what others might do with your gift.  Remember that nothing that is hidden will not be made visible, and that includes the contents of our hearts and minds.   Will this man be back for more?  Probably.   All I know is that for one moment I was able to let Christ shine into the darkness of that cold night.  Not to lift me up.  Not to make me more boastful and ego filled.   Not for my own sake, but for someone else's... and that's what we all have to hope for.

In a world filled with conflicting thoughts, opinions and lifestyles; our children are stuck between two worlds. One world encourages them to life a life of hedonism, a life of false freedom, in which they do whatever their hormones and desires tell them to do.   The other tells them to follow Christ and deny those things inside them their hold on them.   It's up to us to reach out to them, to show them that a life with God at the center is one of joy, of hope, and of charity.  Saint Paul says we are given a spirit of power, and love, and self control... does our life shine that?

His servant and yours,
Brian


A reflection on the readings for the Feast of Saints Timothy and Titus, January 26, 2017.

The Antidote

Yesterday was a difficult day for most.  As we stood outside in the cold tolling the bell and praying a divine mercy chaplet for our country and the unborn, it’s somber notes echoed through my soul.  The news was inundated with images of women saying, wearing and doing some very strange things, all in the name of progress.   From celebrities claiming they wanted to blow up the white house to women wearing sexual images on their heads, all had one thing in common.  Pride and fear.   Their eyes spoke of a fear that someone was going to take away something they wanted to hold on to.   Their freedom, their desires, their dreams.  They had been manipulated by a deceitful enemy into believing that the gift of life was a burden and to be a real woman meant not being a woman at all, but becoming exactly like the men of old.

What is the antidote to fear and pride?   Humility and hope.   It’s realizing that God came as man, incarnate in flesh to show us a better way.   That being a human being means being a reflection and image of that God.   That his plan for us is not broken.  That we should not be ashamed of who we are.   Too many of us think we must change ourselves, and we convince others that if they feel this way or that way that they aren’t who they should be.   So we spend thousands of dollars of cosmetic changes to try and make us look like what we society has convinced us we should, when all we need to do really is become comfortable with who we see in the mirror.

Today in the Gospel Jesus reminds us that doing the will of God makes us family.   Brothers and sisters of the Lord.   It’s not a slight to Mary, as some would have it seem.   Rather it’s a reminder of her perfect yes to God’s will.   It’s showing us that we too are asked to say an unconditional yes to who we are, to God’s plan, no matter how difficult it seems or how dark the day may become.   We are the light of the world gathered together at the feet of Christ learning daily.  That when we say yes we are living life to the fullest of what we are created to be.   We no longer feel uncomfortable in our skin, no longer feel ashamed of who we are or what feelings or desires we have.. But realize we have been complete all along, even in our brokenness.

What does that mean to you and I when we see such images of people filled with fear and pain? It’s a reminder that they too are created in God’s image.   That in them we get a glimpse of the Garden of Gethsemane.  It’s a moment to comfort our savior in His hour of need.  Not a moment of condemnation or to trivialize what He is feeling, but to journey with Him and say I know that it’s scary.  I know that you are afraid, but God has a perfect plan for us.   To be an example of humility, hope, and charity.   It’s a moment to be Church to a hurting nation.   A moment to understand and to understand we have to listen.

In that first reading we have this beautiful line:

Then he says, Behold, I come to do your will.

He takes away the first to establish the second.

By this "will," we have been consecrated

through the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Consecrated.  Set apart.   Chosen.   That’s our hope.   Not a prideful and vain hope, but rather one filled with the humility of knowing that none of us are worthy.   The world is not going to believe any of our words until we show them that we live it.   We can claim we love everyone but until our actions show that we do, until we have begun to pour our lives out like the very cup which Jesus drank, until we too can look in the eyes of others and truly say I am here for you… then we aren’t living our own calling as brother and sister.   A brother protects, he stands up for his siblings, and he guides.    A sister nourishes, heals, and hopes.   We are called to both… are we ready to do as we pray?  Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.   

Saint Frances de Sales understood this.   In his lifetime he worked till his feet froze and bled trying to teach others about Christ and His Church.   He listened for God’s will before embarking on things He wanted to do and in all ways served even at the detriment of his own health.  Too often in society we are encouraged to put ourselves first, then worry about others.  That’s why we have this very movement in our midst.  Christ instead challenges us to be least of all, and too choose others over ourselves.   Francis didn’t encourage a dry, dreary life of penance and brokenness, but one of joy, laughter and dancing.  He showed us the true freedom and elation of doing God’s will.   It’s about time that we embraced that, and that begins by looking into Jesus eyes in the Garden and saying, “I love you.”

His servant and yours,

Brian

“He must increase, I must decrease.”

A reflection on the readings for daily Mass, January 24, 2017. The Memorial of Saint Frances de Sales

Life is a whirlwind

It's been a very long time since I've had a chance to sit down and write on my blog.  Some of you already know all the things that have happened.   I ended up in the ER with an infection brought on by some medicine the doctors had given me that weakened my immune system.  The very next day Julie and three of our daughters were hit by a semi truck in our Prius.  The Prius was totaled and all of them walked away from it.   Then we signed a loan on a new Prius.  The very first time it was driven to work someone rear ended it.  Now we are working with insurance to get it fixed.  Between that, and all of the other obligations we have both socially, educationally, professionally and in ministry have left me moving at a pace that keeps me from catching my breath at times.

Today's readings though, they spoke to me.   The Homily that Father gave this morning was one of those that reminded me what I already knew, but seemed as if it was aiming right at my heart.   Before I get to that, let's talk about the readings.  The Gospel is a very familiar one to most people.   One man builds a house on sand, another on a solid rock foundation.   Then a storm comes.   The house is torn down that was built on sand, but the one with a solid foundation?   It remains standing.  Jesus tells us then that those who build on rock are the ones who hear the Word of God, and acts on them.   It's not enough to simply hear the word or confess your faith, that's building on sand.   It's hearing the word, and living the life.  Walking the walk. Talking the talk.

How many of us do that?   It's easy to say that we do during times of comfort.   When everything is going right it's very easy to say Thanks God!   It's a little harder to do that though when things are going down hill.  When your health crashes, when your life goes a way you didn't expect, when Christmas is coming and you have no cash for gifts for your kids.  How hard is it then to say "Thanks God!"  Thank you God for the car wreck.   Thank you God for that tornado?   Thank you God for the fires?   It's because we aren't seeing with his eyes.   We get self absorbed.   We think about the stuff lost.. not the people still with us.   Thank you God that all of my children and wife are still with us!   Thank you God that my friend who lost her house and everything in it to the fires in Tennessee is still alive and able to reach out and tell us so.   Thank you God that we have opportunities to walk the walk and talk the talk, to reach out to those who have lost all they have and give them from our money.. Not from our excess... but even till it hurts.

The danger though is to think that God causes these things because you 'sinned'.   Yes, if you walk way from God you can lose His protection.  That's not His will for you.   He doesn't sit around planning tornadoes on those who did bad things.   He's not punishing the U.S. for this or that.  What He is doing is trying to move our hearts after bad things happen... trying to get us to pour out justice on the planet like rain from the skies.  Are you ready to do that?  To give even when you are the one hurting?   To love even when you aren't loved?   To console when no one consoles you?   That's what it takes.   That is what it means to be a Christian.  To pour yourself out like a libation for the world to consume, because you have to become Eucharist to the world... even when they don't want it.

His servant and yours,
Brian

Islam: A religion of peace?

One of the most challenging teachings for me personally from our current set of readings had to be the teaching on jihad.   For me it challenges everything I have ever known or heard about the Islamic religion.  The book (World Religions, A Voyage of Discovery by Jeffrey Brodd) indicates that Jihad does indeed mean struggle or exertion, but that it is first and foremost a struggle against the self.   A personal, spiritual battle against the flesh that must be disciplined into submission to Allah.  Secondly, it is the concept of social reform.  That jihad is then taken and understood in the context of social reformation.   Both of these notions are notions that I as a Catholic understand and would be welcome to see more of in our own Church and society.  

My experience though, both through the media narrative and my journey through various protestant churches, indicated that jihad was first and foremost the concept of a Holy War.   Most of the news and media outlets seem to indicate that this is what we are up against.   That the average Muslim hates America, hates what we stand for, and even refers to us as the “Great Satan.”   That does not seem to be the actuality of Islam though.  Even today I saw an interview with the Dalai Lama in which he indicated that the words “Buddhist terrorist” and “Muslim terrorist” are already a step in the wrong direction.  That all world religions strive for peace, unity, and living together in a better world socially.  He even indicated that the Qu’ran dictated that once a Muslim committed an act of violence he was no longer an authentic Muslim.  

How do we reconcile that with what we believe to be true?  I guess it means taking a longer look at those who hold this belief.  Asking questions with genuine interest in understanding them and hoping that in doing so we can build bridges between our two faith traditions.  I imagine this to be a difficult journey.   It’s one that is going to take time for me, one that is going to take prayer, and hopefully the grace of God will allow me to overcome my own preconceived notions and to take another look at a culture and faith that I believed to be completely alien to me; but one that upon further inspection had much more in common with my own beliefs that I could have imagined.  Their respect for Jesus, Mary, and the prophets, their love of God, their belief in the monotheistic deity, fasting, prayer, and alms-giving just to name a few.  

I think that this is a good reaction to have.  To not always be comfortable with what we already think we know, but to be challenged to seek the truth regardless of what our mind has already cemented as fact.  If I had kept to some of the beliefs I had growing up I would not be who I am today, nor would I be Catholic.   I believe that to be an indication of the grace of God alive in our lives, asking us to reach out in understanding to our brothers and sisters from other nations, creeds, and races.  That’s truly what I believe to be the axis and means of evangelization: make a friend, be a friend, teach that friend about Christ.   It all starts with relationship.  Honest, authentic relationship.   One cannot even begin to be friends with someone on a deeper level without first truly taking time to learn what they hold dear, what they hold sacred, and truly taking time to listen.

His servant and yours,

Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease."

Turn your life flip upside down.

In today's Gospel we see Jesus continuing to call out the Scribes and Pharisees.  He doesn't condemn them for what they are doing.   There is nothing wrong with building a memorial to a loved one or a statue to remind you of an important event or person.   The problem is truly one on the inside.  These men have been taught everything they need to know.  They know the law inside and out.  If they were alive today they would be the guy who when you ask where it says something in the bible, he would instantly respond with the book, chapter, and verse.   That's a laudable thing.

What they did not have though was conversion.   Though they knew the right thing to do, Jesus could see into their hearts.   He saw that even now they would kill the prophets again, just as they were destined to do shortly with Jesus himself, the ultimate of prophets, the son of God.   They put on a good show.   They knew the right things to do, the right things to say, the things to do to show people how great and pious they were... but they were 'white washed tombs'.   The inside was still full of evil thoughts, petty desires, and attachment to all the things of this world.  Even as Jesus spoke to them they began to plot how to catch him in some way to get people to turn against Him.

How do we apply that to to day?  In a world where we have statues of Saints, relics, photos of family members, football jersies and the like hanging on our walls?   Nothing wrong with those things, if they are used properly.   The problem becomes with what is in our heart.  Have we changed?   Have we begun changing?  Are we even willing to do so?  Or is our comfort zone our own tomb?   When God looks into the dark, mortal recesses of your heart who does He see staring back at Him?  The child who he created in His image?  Or the image we ourselves have tried to form ourselves into?  Jesus himself is the very key of knowledge that unlocks the scriptures.   Are you helping others to find and know Him?  or are "you yourselves not entering and stopping others from entering also."

His servant and yours,
Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease."

A reflection on the readings for Thursday of the Twenty-Eighth Week in Ordinary Time. Lectionary 470

Who is to blame?

I've been avoiding Facebook a bit lately.  The vitriol and venom that drips from the pages seems to saturate the very fabric of my skin, leaving me want to bathe in something harsher than water to remove it's stain.  I see people who on a normal day would have nothing bad to say about anyone smearing a man or woman they do not personally know and spouting diatribes filled with semi-factual statements to ram their point home.  Every skeleton in every closet seems to have been shaken out into the streets to run rampant with a life of their own.  Even the names of the candidates have been twisted into pithy sayings or to draw even more ire on the persons stance on this issue or that.   I can't help but wonder, how did we get to the point where these are the two most qualified men and women to run for President in our country in the mainstream parties?

It's our own fault.   We've created a world in which we not only expect politicians to be people who dance around the truth but we support and laud men and women as 'good' even after their actions show otherwise.   The top selling books now are soft core pornography scripts and then we demand that the candidates rather not use that sort of language.   We avoid the hot button issues and sweep horrendous crimes under the rug by simply labeling them with softer language:  choice, freedom, love.   We listen as politicians declare that 'religions will simply have to change' under their watch and still claim that we are a country that demands toleration...

What we demand rather is toleration of those who agree with us.   It's that age old battle that began with two young men, one a shepherd offering of his flock, the other a farm of his field... then ended with a rock and spilled blood.   It is again, our own fault.   We have allowed society to erode around us into the state it is now existing in.. one in which people drive up and down the streets of our cities shooting one another and anyone in the way... where the police are now being portrayed as untrustworthy, and anyone who gets shot is innocent and a victim.... where sexuality is all that is on the television and the music is filled with messages of drug, sex, and hedonism...

So how do we then vote?   How do we reverse this course?  How do we decide which candidate is the lesser of two evils?  I don't have those answers... what I do have is this:  These are human beings.   They are created in the image of God...  Too many Christians that I see are refusing to offer dignity to them.  They are smearing their name in the name of politics, making fun of them, constantly speaking of them in ways that we should never speak of another human with... Can you look into Trumps eyes and see Jesus there?  The image of God looking back at you, even if he is not living up to that image?   What about Hillary?  I've heard both of them ask recently for forgiveness for their past errors.. and seen hundreds refuse to give that forgiveness... but what does God say about such things?

His servant and yours,
Brian

Stewardship.

Thank you Father Don and all of you in the congregation for this opportunity to speak before you.  I want to begin this talk with a story I found on the internet.

A man came home from work and found his three children outside, still in their pajamas, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and wrappers strewn all around the front yard.

The door of his wife’s car was open, as was the front door to the house and there was no sign of the dog.

Proceeding into the entry, he found an even bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked over, and the throw rug was wadded against one wall.

In the front room the TV was loudly blaring a cartoon channel, and the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing.

In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter, the fridge door was open wide, dog food was spilled on the floor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door.

He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried she might be ill, or that something serious had happened.

He was met with a small trickle of water as it made its way out the bathroom door.

As he peered inside he found wet towels, scummy soap, and more toys strewn over the floor. Miles of toilet paper lay in a heap and toothpaste had been smeared over the mirror and walls.

As he rushed to the bedroom, he found his wife still curled up in the bed in her pajamas, reading a novel.

She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went. He looked at her bewildered and asked:

“What happened here today?’”

She again smiled and answered, “You know every day when you come home from work and you ask me what in the world I do all day?”

“Yes,” was his incredulous reply.    She answered, ‘”Well, today I didn’t do it.”

This cute little story makes us chuckle but it also illustrates something that was true in my own life.  When my wife and I got married I went from being a bachelor traveling alone across the East Coast, living out of hotels with room service and continental breakfasts, to a father of four.  My idea of helping was picking up the kids from the babysitter after work, stopping at McDonald’s to get dinner on the way home, or maybe using my elbow to nudge her ever so gently awake when the baby started crying at 2:00 in the morning.  

Then, as most of you know, in 2007 I had my spine fused.  I went from being someone who worked outside the home to Mr. Mom.  It was then I found out just how much had to be done.  From the obvious daily chores of dusting, sweeping, mopping, and cleaning; to the ones I had not put much thought into.   The doctor’s appointments, the after school practices, band rehearsals, concerts,  from theatre practices that lasted well after the time they were supposed to end, to emergency shopping trips for those things that were supposed to be picked up weeks ago and needed to be done “right now!”

Along the way I learned something that I wish I had put into practice years before.   Things are much more pleasant when everyone in the house pitches in.   It’s very hard for one person to do it all.  Granted, as the kids were growing up there were different things they could not do, yet there was alway something they could help with.  A home is a beautiful place though when everyone is helping.   

We here in this room are gathered to worship God in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.   We too are a family.  This building is our home.  As a member of the buildings and grounds committee I have seen first hand just how much work goes into keeping this place running.   We have volunteers who come in every week to clean up the messes that inadvertently get made in that celebration.  We have men and women who get up here and proclaim the Word of God as lectors.   Our worship is enhanced by the beautiful music of the choir.  We also have people who come and fold up the brochures that we are about to talk about.   

Just like the home that we live in, we are each asked to do something to help take the burden off the others who live in the house with us.   Now you may not be the kind of person who is comfortable getting up here and giving a talk, I understand that.  But each of you is unique and wonderfully made!   You have been given gifts and talents that make you who you are.   Today we are asking you to give back to God and your church family by choosing just one way in which you can use those talents to help others.   In the second reading St. Paul encourages Timothy to use his gifts to help share in the burden of the Gospel, and we are challenged to do the same here today.  Whether that is in cooking a dish for funeral lunches, standing in a room full of kids as an aide in Religious Education, or washing some linens once in awhile… we need you.   You make us more complete.   

So let’s talk about these time and talent cards that you’ll find at the end of your pews.  

• Notice there are two forms: Adult and Youth.
• Please look through the form and prayerfully consider an area that you might be willing to explore
• Don’t try to take on too much.  If every person takes just one area we will have more than enough.
• If you are already doing something, please fill out the form anyway!   That way we know if you want to continue doing it.  
• If you’d like to try something new, or to step down from one of the things you are doing now, make sure to fill that out as well.
• If you are confirmed you can be a Eucharistic Minister or a Lector, we also need Altar Servers!
• If you need more time feel free to take it home with you and pray and think about it.
• Also, grab a ministry directory from the greeters at the door.  The names of all those who have stepped up to lead the different committees are in there.  Call them up, ask them about it, see how you can help.  
• Thank you for your time.  May God bless you.

Keep your eyes on the road!

One of our daughters is learning to drive.  It's a frustrating, fun, and yet dangerous time in a person's life.  You have to learn to look at the road and glance at everything else.  The mirrors have to be checked frequently, the speedometer gauged, an eye kept on the edge of the road for people coming out from hidden drives, between cars, or even just running out of a yard after a ball.  All of this while keeping your eyes on the road.  I remember when I was learning to drive that I had a huge tendency to go where I looked.   If I looked in my left mirror?  I went to the left.   If I looked at a car on the right?  I inevitably went in that direction.   It takes some getting used to in a car to be able to look without going in the direction of our gaze.

We as a people tend to do that though.   We tend to go in the direction of that which we are looking at.  It is how we are designed as a species.   In the brief few days of wrestling in High School we were taught that if you control the other persons head, their body will follow.   It never fails.  I think it works that way spiritually too.   Where your mind is, is where you end up as well.  If your mind is on things of this world?  That's where you'll stay.   If your mind however is on things of Heaven?  Then that's where you will be drawn up to. That's the beauty of the cross.   This contradictory symbol that is so rough, so distasteful... is the method by which God himself draws us into His realm.. into the true reality that is beyond what we can see with our limited vision.

The image of the bronze serpent teaches us a simple truth about God.  It reminds us that like the Israelites in the desert, Satan prowls around seeking whom he may devour.   He doesn't do it by convincing you that you are in the wrong.. rather he gets you to take your eye off the road.  With texting while driving rampant, it is even more clear how quickly something can happen with even just a glance away from where it needs to be. So it is with our spiritual lives... it only takes a moment for us to slide back to where we were.  For something to get in our way, for a stumble to occur because we aren't looking.  It's only when we keep our eyes fixed firmly on Christ, firmly on the Cross... that we can keep going on the correct path.

The thing is we are going to stumble, aren't we?   I tend to do so daily.   I forget where I need to be headed and I find myself in the desert surrounded by those silly serpents.   The key, I've found, is to immediately stop what it is I am doing.. realize that I it is only when I turn it over to God that the serpents leave me, and I fix my spiritual gaze back on the 'road.'

His servant and yours,
Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease."

A reflection on the readings for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.

Are you coming to dinner?

Today's Gospel has a very familiar scene to Christians all over the world.  The story of the prodigal son has been discussed ad nauseuam for hundreds of years.  The beautiful thing about Scripture though is it that it speaks to us when and where we are.  The message it gives us, while tempered with the ages of Wisdom, has also a fresh look to each of us in each generation.   To me it speaks of God's astounding love and His relationship with us.  Like Saint Paul, I consider myself the foremost of sinners.   That's why I find so much comfort in this beautiful parable.

The first and most important part to me is the way the encounter happens.   The lost son is coming back repentant, hungry and covered in the filth of the world.   As he walks along he's practicing what he is going to say to his Father.  He's coming back begging for a place in the home, not even as a son.. but even as a servant.   The Father though runs out to greet him.   The moment the Father sees him in the distance he does not wait for the rehearsed speech, or for the son to shower and clean up, he just runs out with open arms.  This is what confession is all about.   It's God reaching out to us with open arms and saying I am here, come into my arms.

Then He is the one who cleans the son up, right?   He has a robe put on him, He puts a ring of authority on Him, He has a dinner prepared for him.   God does that work.   We have to come into the house though.  There are those who will say "God puts the robe on us, and that's that."  You still gotta come into the house.   You still gotta put on your table manners, and work to become a better person.  To live up the dignity of that robe you are wearing.   Saint James tells us that it is not just faith.. it's faith and works.. without works, faith is just dead.  The key is letting God work in your life.   It's giving Him the opportunity to robe you, to give you back your dignity, to reveal your status to others through the fullness of life, the joy and peace He offers to those who love Him.

The sad part is that while we are all prodigal sons and returning daily to Him through a process of continual conversion... we are also often the son who remained home... the one who was angry that the others were being brought into the fold.   Refusing to come to dinner because of "them."   We all have a "them."   Be it someone with a different skin color, different faith, political affiliation, or even just a fan of a different sports team.   The refugee is turned away because of 'them.'   The widow and the orphan go hungry because of 'them.'  It reminds me of these meme I saw on the internet that said "I thought to ask God why he allowed people to go hungry today and I was afraid He might ask me, why did you?"   He created us to be the hands and feet of his body... in order to do that we have to be welcoming of the prodigal sons as well.  Are your arms open?  Are you offering them food and drink?  Clothing and shelter?  Or are you refusing to join them at the feast even though all of this was already yours?

It's been 15 years now since the attack on September 11th.   Many of us have allowed that attack to create a world in which their is perpetual hate and a constant 'them.'   Today is a day to remember to pray not just for those whose lives were lost but also for those who took those lives... and for those who would do the same today to their 'them.'

His servant and yours,
Brian

A reflection on the readings for the Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time.  September 11th, 2016

Bright lights

Back when I was a boy my father used to take me fishing on Flannagan Lake.  One year he bought a portable spotlight that had a million candle power!   That thing was so bright that on a dark, cloudy night you could shine it up in the air and see the light on the clouds.   I used to get such a kick out of catching my brother unaware and shining it in his eyes.  The things we do as kids eh?   He of course would get me back.  For many minutes (felt like hours) afterward you would see nothing but green.   The funny thing is, when it's pitch black out there and someone lights a match.. you get the same effect don't you?   You know that sensation when you're sitting in the dark and someone turns on the light?  It's startling how bright it is!  Even the dimmest of light compared to the darkness is amazing!

In the readings today, especially the one from the book of Wisdom, there is this beautiful rendition of a thought that God is so beyond us that we cannot possibly express who He is in mere words.  The enormity of who He is, is beyond human reasoning.   We have spent thousands of years of human existence trying to figure out the right words, the right phrases, the right metaphors to convey exactly the properties of God.  The author reminds us though that plumbing the depths and experience who He is would be impossible without God himself at the helm steering our thoughts, guiding our tongues.  It is in that light that we have received the revelation of the Incarnation.   Christ is the key to understanding God. 

Christ gives us continual examples of what it means to be disciples, what it means to follow this God that we are trying to be in relationship with.  Today He teaches his disciples that detachment is the key to growing closer.   That giving up everything we have and desire, that relying solely and only on God is the only way we can truly begin to glimpse further the mystery.   St. Paul in the second reading does just that.   Here he is in prison and he sends his friend, the one closest to his heart, back to his owner.   In a revolutionary statement he tells the owner to receive the slave not as a slave, but as a brother.   Considering the time, the thought process, etc.... this was astounding!   Even more astounding is that Paul put others before himself, gave up the one comfort he had left, all for Christ.   That's the detachment Christ is calling us to. 

hyperbole [hahy-pur-buh-lee]
noun, Rhetoric.
1. obvious and intentional exaggeration.
2. an extravagant statement or figure of speech not intended to be taken literally, as “to wait an eternity.”.

Jesus uses a method called hyperbole often in his parables.   This mornings is one that many have used over the years to hate others.   Rejecting their families, their wives, their children... all in the name of God.   That's what happens when we become fundamentalists.   When we ignore the writing methods, the genre, the historic context of what was said.  So what did Jesus mean?  He meant that compared to the love we have for humans, the love we have for God should be first and foremost.   In English we have just that one word.. love. In other languages there are often four or more ways to convey love.   The things I think most of though when I see this verse about hating family is one that Catholics are very aware of: dulia, hyperdulia, and latria.  Dulia is the love we have for each other and for the Saints.   It's a respect, a friendship, a brotherly love.   Family.   Hyperdulia is the love we have for the Virgin Mary.  First and foremost of disciples, the one human who have a complete and unconditional Yes to the Father. It's a little more.  Then there is latria.. that is worship, honor and praise only for God.   That's the love we aim for.   The love of the Father for us, returned to Him.  

In the scheme of things it's like the little parable I started with.   Dulia is like a spark.   It's a little bit of light.  Hyperdulia is more like a match in the darkness.   It's brighter.   Just a little.   Latria?  It's like that million candle power light.   It's so far above and beyond the other two that it leaves you reeling.   That's what we offer to God.   So in comparison the love we have for family?  Looks very dim compared to the others.  That's the thing Jesus is teaching us... that we learn to love God with Latria.... so that He can fill us with His spirit.. who then in turn can give us the eyes of God... so that we can take that overwhelming, blinding love of God and turn around and give it to others.   Are you being a conduit?  Or a clogged pipe? 

His servant and yours, 

Brian 

"He must increase, I must decrease."  

A reflection on the Mass readings for the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time.  September 4, 2016.

I'm OK with that.

I am pretty sure I traumatized a little girl last night.   I imagine she went crying to her mother after our encounter.   My new cell phone doesn't have all the settings right and has done some strange things.   Yesterday I sent a text to one of our middle daughters asking her if she made it OK.   She sent back "Who is this?"  I figured my phone had some setting on it or something that kept her from seeing.  I knew she was responding and I had things to do so I would respond in a few minutes.   Less than thirty seconds later she called me.

Me: Hello?
Her: Who is this?
Me: (almost yelling) You mean to tell me you don't recognize the number... and you have no idea who it is... yet you called them?   You know better!  What are you thinking!?
Her: (hangup)

So I look at my phone incredulous.... then I notice the number.   It's not hers.  It's not a number I know at all.  It is the old number she used on her IPOD years ago.  Someone else has it now.  I imagine it was scary to have someone yelling at her through the phone.. this strange girl... this child who is probably a tween or less.   I am sorry.   I am sorry that we live in a world where young children need cell phones that can give them access to strangers and pornography.   I am sorry that there are men out there that will abuse the system and try to get to meet you and do things to you that are much scarier than being yelled at.  I am sorry that you don't know better than to call someone you don't know instead of deleting the message or going to your parents and saying "Hey some strange weirdo is calling me."   I am not sorry that I yelled at you.

Rather I hope you learned something.  I hope you learned that calling someone you don't know is actually dangerous.   That giving out personal information or phone numbers can be as well.   I hope you learned from our encounter.   I hope you do not call people you don't know and don't respond to texts from random strangers... and more importantly I hope you're safe.  I hope none of the things that could happen to you ever do.  And to the parents?  If I yelled at your child?  I hope you comforted her and explained to her all the things I said above.   I hope it was a learning moment for all of us.

His servant and yours,
Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease."

I need more!

We are always looking for something a little more exciting, a little more stimulating.  As a young man I put that into action when it came to church.   I went around looking for worship that was a little more upbeat.   A little more loud.   From stage band worship to Pentecostal shouting, I kept going to find that next mountain top experience.  Wherever I was, regardless of the quality of the music, or the eloquence of the preacher... it wasn't enough.   I needed more... because the one thing I was doing wrong was trying to find something for me in it.   I wasn't worshiping God because it was the right thing to do.  No I was trying to find my next experience, me... my.. I... ego.

In our search for the perfect experience we often forget exactly what we have been given.   The enormous gift of the Holy Spirit is too frequently ignored or placed in the back of our minds.   As Christians we do not believe the Spirit is just some sort of non-tangible, ethereal force that can be controlled with enough knowledge or somatic gestures.  The Holy Spirit is a person, the third person of the Trinity.  One we should have a relationship with.  One who as St. Paul eloquently puts it describes to us "spiritual realities in spiritual terms."  When our minds are so caught up in our own selves... that's what St. Paul calls the natural man... that's when we are unable to experience fully who God is.   It's in this ignoring of the Holy Spirit, the presence of God in us, that we completely miss the amazing gift we are endowed with!

In our daily lives we are bombarded with desires and emotions.  From the flooding of sexual images in the various media to the constant attack on the sanctity of marriage we are called to be worldly, natural people.   What God wants to give us though is a fuller existence, a more joyful reality that exists.   He wants to give us the life He created us for!   We are called to be Spiritual people, a living temple for God.  Just as Jesus commanded the demon in the Gospel to be quiet and come out of the man in the synagogue, He is calling out to those things which stand in our way of being who we truly are.   He is telling our addictions, our sorrows, our fears... "Be quiet!  Come out of my child!"  We have to let go of our self though and let Him work in us through the Holy Spirit we received at Baptism.

We do not need a better Parish.    The music whether excellent or sub-par is not why you are there.   The homily, while an important and beautiful part of the spiritual nourishment you receive, does not have to be the best or most powerful one.   The Priest does not have to be the kindest or most generous man alive, he alone is not who you are there for.   You are there for Christ.   Present in the Sacraments of the Holy Catholic church.   You're not going to find a different one the next town over... He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.    It's not about you, it's about Him!   That's why we go to Mass... to worship the most High God.   Not to get something out of it.   Now if there are problems in those other areas?   Do something about it instead of bickering and gossiping.   Join the choir.  Become a Lector.   Join the building and grounds committee.   Volunteer on the Pastoral Council so you can get to know the Priest.. but above all spend some time speaking and listening to the Holy Spirit in your prayer life... for it is through Him that we can "understand the things freely given us by God.

A Prayer for Today

His servant and yours,
Brian

"He must increase, I must decrease."

A reflection on the readings for Tuesday of the Twenty-Second Week in Ordinary Time.