Courage

Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is that little voice at the end of the day that says: “I'll try again tomorrow.
~ Anne Hunninghake

A key quality that distinguishes a successful athlete, or a top-notch performer in any field, is the way he responds to his bad days. Everyone has good days and bad days, and the good ones are certainly easier to handle. But do we allow the bad ones to throw us off our course? Are we so shaken by our mistakes or troubles that we lose our focus on our goals?

Adult development is a process; it's never an end goal that we reach and hold. Our healing and recovery includes preparing ourselves to respond well to the bad days. We can do that by keeping our eye on the big picture, knowing that however bad things may seem at the moment, they will change. We learn to reach deep into our spiritual center for the courage to stay focused in the midst of our hardest days. We don't have to do it alone. We have the spiritual support of our Higher Power and the companionship of our friends to keep us on the path.

Today I will stay in touch with my spiritual center to find the courage for another day.

Learning Along the Path

Life is like a path...and we all have to walk the path... As we walk... we'll find experiences like little scraps of paper in front of us along the way. We must pick up those pieces of scrap paper and put them in our pocket... Then, one day, we will have enough scraps of papers to put together and see what they say... Read the information and take it to heart.

~ Uncle Frank Davis (quoting his mother), Pawnee

The Creator designed us to learn by trial and error. The path of life we walk is very wide. Everything on the path is sacred - what we do right is sacred - but our mistakes are also sacred. This is the Creator's way of teaching spiritual people. To criticize ourselves when we make mistakes is not part of the spiritual path. To criticize mistakes is not our way. To learn from our mistakes is our way. The definition of a spiritual person is someone who makes 30-50 mistakes each day and talks to the Creator after each one to see what to do next time. This is the way of the Warrior.

Today let me see my mistakes as a positive process. Let me learn the aha's of life... Awaken my awareness so I can see the great learning that You, my Creator, have designed for my life.

~ Elder's Meditation of the Day​

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

A pithy summary of all today’s readings could be “you can’t take it with you.” The bottom line for all of us is that when we die, all the earthly things we have worked for and accumulated mean nothing. What matters in Heaven is totally different from what matters in our lives here on earth. Wealth in and of itself isn’t bad. What counts in Heaven is what we do with our wealth. Do we hoard it like the doomed rich man in today’s gospel from Luke 12:13-21? Or do we follow St Paul’s suggestion in the second reading from Colossians 3:1-5, and “Think of what is above, not of what is on earth”?

In his encyclical, Evangelii Gaudium (2013), our Holy Father Pope Francis wrote “We have created new idols. The worship of the ancient golden calf has returned in a new and ruthless guise in the idolatry of money and the dictatorship of an impersonal economy lacking a true human purpose” (56). St Paul also likened greed to idolatry in today’s reading from Colossians.

As Christians our lifelong goal should be making ourselves rich in the eyes of God. Who are the rich in the Kingdom? Once again St Paul comes to our rescue giving us guidelines for citizenship in the Kingdom. “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do. And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection. And let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as in all wisdom you teach and admonish one another, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Col 3:12-17). If we follow St Paul’s guidelines our heavenly wealth will be abundant.

Creator God,

Lord and giver of life,

how generous you are to all your creatures.

With such generosity ever before our eyes,

help us to avoid greed in all its forms,

to measure life’s worth

not by the quantity of possessions,

but by the life and love we freely place at the service of others.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

God for ever and ever.

AMEN.

That's God!

Have you ever been just sitting there and all of a sudden you feel like doing something nice for someone you care for?
THAT'S GOD! He speaks to you through the Holy Spirit.

Have you ever been down and out and nobody seems to be around for you to talk to?
THAT'S GOD! He wants you to speak to Him.

Have you ever been thinking about somebody that you haven't seen in a long time and then next thing you know you see them or receive a phone call from them?
THAT'S GOD! There's no such thing as coincidence.

Have you ever been in a situation and you had no clue how it is going to get better, but now you look back on it?
THAT'S GOD! He passes us through tribulation to see a brighter day.

Don't tell GOD how Big your storm is.
Tell the storm how Big your GOD is!

Plato

And God Said

The Holy Shadow

There is an old story about a man who is so good that the angels ask God to give him the gift of miracles. God wisely tells them to ask him if that is what he would wish.

So the angels visit this good man and offer him first the gift of healing by hands, then the gift of conversion of souls, and lastly the gift of virtue. He refuses them all. They insist that he choose a gift or they will choose one for him. “Very well,” he replies. “I ask that I may do a great deal of good without ever knowing it.” The story ends this way:

The angels were perplexed. They took counsel and resolved upon the following plan: Every time the saint's shadow fell behind him it would have the power to cure disease, soothe pain, and comfort sorrow. As he walked, behind him the shadow made arid paths green, caused withered plants to bloom, gave clear water to dried up brooks, fresh color to pale children, and joy to unhappy men and women. The saint simply went about his daily life diffusing virtue as the stars diffuse light and the flowers scent, without ever being aware of it. The people respecting his humility followed him silently, never speaking to him about his miracles. Soon they even forgot his name and called him “the Holy Shadow.”

Touch of the Master's Hand

The Touch of the Master's Hand
By Myra Brooks Welch

T’was battered and scarred, and the auctioneer
Thought it scarcely worth his while
To waste much time on the old violin,
But held it up with a smile.

"What am I bidden, good folks," he cried,
"Who will start bidding for me?
A dollar, a dollar" --then, "Two!" "Only two?
Two dollars, and who'll make it three?

Three dollars, twice;
"Going for three --" But no,
From the room, far back, a gray-haired man
Came forward and picked up the bow;

Then wiping the dust from the old violin,
And tightening the loose strings.
He played a melody pure and sweet
As sweet as a caroling angel sings.

The music ceased and the auctioneer
With a voice that was quiet and low,
Said what am I bidden for the old violin?
And he held it up with the bow.

A thousand dollars, and who'll make it two?
Two thousand! And who'll make it three?
Three thousand, once; three thousand twice;
And going, and gone!" said he.

The people cheered, but some of them cried,
"We do not quite understand
what changed its worth?" Swift came the reply:
"The touch of the master's hand.

And many a man with life out of tune,
And battered and scattered with sin,
Is auctioned off cheap to the thoughtless crowd,
Much like the old violin.

A "mess of pottage," a glass of wine;
A game -- and he travels on.
He's "going" once, and "going" twice,
He's "going" and "almost gone."

But the Master comes and the foolish crowd
Never quite understands
the worth of a soul and the change that's wrought
by the touch of the Master's hand.​

Secrets to Happiness

All of us will live longer and more happily if we stop trying to arrange other peoples’ lives. Jesus challenged us not to judge but to live with the tension and let God and history make the judgments. So we need to live by our own convictions and let others do the same.

Be giving of yourself to others.

Happiness lies in giving ourselves away. We need to be open and generous because if we withdraw into ourselves we run the risk of becoming self-centered and no happiness will be found there since “stagnant water becomes putrid.”

Stop being negative.

Needing to talk badly about others indicates low self-esteem. Negative thoughts feed unhappiness and a bad self-image. Positive thoughts feed happiness and healthy self-esteem.

Don’t proselyte, respect others’ beliefs.

What we cherish and put our faith into grows “by attraction, not by proselytizing.” Beauty is the one thing that no one can argue with. Cherish your values, but always act towards others with graciousness, charity, and respect.

Work for peace​.

Peace is more than the absence of war and working for peace means more than not causing disharmony. Peace, like war, must be waged actively by working for justice, equality, and an ever-wider inclusivity in terms of what makes up our family. Waging peace is the perennial struggle to stretch hearts, our own and others, to accept that in God’s house there are many rooms and that all faiths, not least our own, are meant to be a house of prayer for all peoples.

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The theme of today’s readings is prayer. The first reading Genesis 18:20-32 provides us with an example of intercessory prayer. Our Responsorial Psalm, 138, is an example of a prayer of petition and the Gospel, Luke 11:1-13, is the Lord’s Prayer – the prayer Jesus gave to us himself. Although St. Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer is shorter than the more familiar version from St. Matthew

(6:9-15) all the essential ingredients are there.

What strikes me most about this passage from St. Luke’s gospel is the example Jesus set for the disciples (and us) and their desire to learn. They watched Jesus pray and then asked him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” Jesus then taught them a prayer that is so universal we continue to pray it two thousand years later.

For many of us the Lord’s Prayer is one of the first prayers we learned. My mother taught me the Lord’s Prayer. In fact, my mother taught me most of the prayers I pray regularly today. She prayed and my brothers and sisters and I learned from her example and through her insistence that we pray with her.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, “The Christian family is the first place of education in prayer. Based on the sacrament of marriage, the family is the ‘domestic church’ where God's children learn to pray ‘as the Church’ and to persevere in prayer. For young children in particular, daily family prayer is the first witness of the Church's living memory as awakened patiently by the Holy Spirit” (section 2685).

If you have young children in your family now is the time to teach them this prayer that Jesus gave to all of us.

Across the centuries, heavenly Father,

on countless lips and in every tongue

the prayer of your Son resounds.

Yet we who know the words so well

need still to learn their power.

Give us your Holy Spirit

so that our prayer may be filled

with childlike trust and unwavering perseverance.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

God for ever and ever.

AMEN.

Acceptance

Acceptance is not approval, consent, permission, authorization, sanction, concurrence, agreement, compliance, sympathy, endorsement, confirmation, support, ratification, assistance, advocating, backing, maintaining, furthering, promoting, aiding, abetting or even liking what is.

Acceptance is saying, “It is what it is, and what is is what is.”

All Philosophers have understood this That a rose is a rose is a rose. And even Popeye says: "I am what I am.” All have understood that this is the way to acceptance.

Spiritual Longing

In everyone's heart stirs a great homesickness.

~ Rabbi Seymour Siegel

We ask ourselves what drove us to do some of the things we did? We went to extremes even when we knew our actions were not rational. Still today, we are drawn to extremes. At times we still long for things that we know will hurt us. Are we puzzled by these desires? Wise men and prophets have searched their own deep truths to understand their desires and longings. Many say that our desires and hungers are, at the base of our being, a search for a spiritual home, a place where we know we are welcome, safe, and loved. Perhaps we are all born longing for that home. Maybe we first taste it when we first experience the warmth of loving and caring parents, even when it was only a taste, and only partially satisfied. Then we spend the rest of our lives in pursuit of that good feeling again.

The wisdom of our Faith in a God of love points us toward that spiritual home, a lifetime of growth and development follows in which we feel the spirit in our fellowship with other men and women, and we learn from others how they have found their way home.

Today the stirring in my heart will be a sign of my spiritual longing.

Look Into My Heart

You don't know how an apple tastes until you taste it. You don't know what a fish tastes like until you eat it. You don't know how it is to be a woman unless you are one. You don't know what it means to have a baby until you have one. So it is with the natural laws. An example: the natural law of forgiveness says, if you hate someone, pray for the person to be blessed with happiness, joy and all the blessings of the Great Spirit. You will not know about this law unless you do it. The natural law says love others as you love yourself. If you hate yourself or feel guilt in some area of yourself, you will tend to judge and condemn your neighbor. You cannot give away what you don't have. You teach your children by your example, not by your words. The natural laws are written in our hearts.

Great Spirit, teach me how to look into my heart.

From - Elder's Meditation of the Day​

Sin

According to Christian teachings, the normal collective state of humanity is one of “original sin.” Sin is a word that has been greatly misunderstood and misinterpreted. Literally, translated from the Greek in which the New Testament was written, to sin means to miss the mark, as an archer who misses the target, so to sin means to miss the point of human existence. It means to live unskillfully, blindly, and thus to suffer and cause suffering. Again the term, stripped of its cultural baggage and misinterpretation, points to the dysfunction inherent in the human condition.

Eckhart Tolle in “A New Earth, Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose” p. 19

Ball of Yarn

“When I look back on all these worries I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which never happened.” ~Winston Churchill

A rolled-up ball of yarn does not take up much space--it sits, ready to be used when needed. It gets unrolled a little bit at a time--just as much as is needed and no more. But a ball of yarn that gets unraveled can be strewn across an entire room. It becomes a jumbled mass, entangled and confusing.

When we live our lives a day at a time, we are like that rolled-up ball of yarn. Our thoughts, feelings, and skills are ready to be used as they are needed. But when we worry, our spirit becomes a jumbled mass of yarn. We get ahead of and behind ourselves--our thoughts are scattered and often our feelings are confused. Worry adds clutter and confusion to life.

What is most helpful is to put the worry away--to roll up the ball of yarn and bring ourselves into the present moment. In this way, we stand ready for each new stitch--and we will never be given more than we are able to handle.

Do I have worries that are cluttering my life today?

Beauty of the Soul

 

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Have you ever felt that no one is listening to you? As a priest, I often hear about children who don’t listen to their parents, parents who don’t listen to their children, husbands who don’t listen to their wives and wives who don’t listen to their husbands. Bosses don’t listen to their employees; coworkers don’t listen to each other. Why does this happen? It could be that adults are stressed or overburdened or tired or distracted. Children also experience a multiple of distractions in their lives. In all these situations, people can and do shutdown simply to shut the noise out. However, if we want to sustain healthy relationships in all the different facets of our lives, it is important for us to be present to each other. It also is important for us to acknowledge each other and to affirm each other.

Two of today’s readings, the first reading from Genesis 18:1-10A and the Gospel from Luke 10:38-42, focus on the importance of hospitality and on the Ministry of Presence. Hospitality was a significant virtue in Biblical cultures. A Jewish scholar observed that in the Torah there are thirty-six warnings against improper action towards strangers and that the commandment, “Thou shall love the stranger,” occurs frequently. In those days one’s life could depend on the hospitality of another. And Jesus often depended on the hospitality of other people because he did not have a home of his own.

Today’s first reading from Genesis 18:1=10, is one of the great stories of welcome and hospitality in all of scripture. Abraham welcomed the Lord, in the guise of three angels, into his camp. He directed Sara and a servant to prepare a meal for them and at the end, Abraham and Sara received a blessing for their gracious hospitality.

In today’s gospel, Luke 10:38-42, Martha and Mary welcomed Jesus into their home. Like Abraham in the first reading, Martha was galvanized into action when Jesus entered the house. Unlike Abraham, she did not have a servant or a wife to do all the work. Martha was” burdened” with all the serving and probably did not enjoy the visit. In the meantime, Mary sat at Jesus’ feet “listening to him speak.” In his commentary on this Gospel William Barclay calls the tension in the story The Clash of Temperaments. I am not sure that the issue is temperament. It seems to me that St Luke is drawing a clear distinction between hospitality and presence. Abraham and Martha both fulfilled the requirements of hospitality. After Sara and the servant did all the preparation Abraham waited on the men and attended to all their needs while they ate. But Mary chose to be totally present to Jesus. She sat and listened.

Hospitality is important. But Presence is so much more important. Being present requires focus and discipline. Being present means putting aside all those things about which we are anxious and worried and concentrating on what really matters. When we are in church being present means being open to the Word of God and open to the presence of Jesus who is present to us. When we are with other people being present means directing all our attention to them so that we really see and hear them.

Loving God and Father,

you draw near to us in Christ

and make yourself our guest.

Amid the cares of our daily lives,

make us attentive to your voice

and alert to your presence,

that we may treasure your word above all else.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

God for ever and ever.

AMEN.

Perpetual Quietness

Perpetual quietness of heart. It is to have no trouble.

It is never to be fretted or vexed, irritable or sore;

to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me.

It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I am blamed or despised,

it is to have a blessed home in myself where I can go in and shut the door

and kneel to my Father in secret and be at peace, as in a deep sea of calmness,

when all around and about is seeming trouble.

~ Attributed to Andrew Murray, South African Missionary, 1828-1917

Forgiveness

"I once picked up a woman from a garbage dump and she was burning with fever; she was in her last days and her only lament was: ‘My son did this to me.’ I begged her: You must forgive your son. In a moment of madness, when he was not himself, he did a thing he regrets. Be a mother to him, forgive him. It took me a long time to make her say: ‘I forgive my son.’ Just before she died in my arms, she was able to say that with a real forgiveness. She was not concerned that she was dying. The breaking of the heart was that her son did not want her. This is something you and I can understand."

Sharing the Experience

Three men are walking along and talking – The conversation is along the lines of “I’ll be happy when…”

Suddenly a wise man walks nearby and hears the conversation. He says, “Excuse me, friends, but I can show you how to be happy forever if you’ll follow me.”

The 3 men agree to go with him. After walking a while, they come to a wall about 10 feet tall. It has a ladder leading all the way to the top.

“Climb this ladder and go over the top of the wall. You can have whatever you want on the other side – money, jobs, fancy cars, large luxurious homes, and whatever you ask for. I promise you will be happy forever. The only condition is that once you go over the wall, you cannot return.”

The first man climbs the wall and looks over. He turns back and says, ‘This is fantastic.” and goes over the wall.

The second man climbs the ladder and also looks back to describe what he sees. Then he climbs to the top of the ladder and continues over the wall.

They both appeared to be immensely happy and eagerly exploring their new world.

The third man climbs the wall and looks over. He is also amazed by what he sees. Then he slowly climbs back down the ladder and begins to walk away.

The wise man stops him and says, “I’ve never seen anyone climb back down the ladder. Where are you going?” The third man says, “I am going to bring my family and my friends.”

The moral of the story is found in Christ.  His greatest desire was to share this wonderful experience with others!

Cardinal Newman

Contradictions of Life

Thirteenth Century priest Thomas Aquinas once said, “No one can live without joy.” But many people do live joyless lives. And the reason is often simply because they don’t know how to be happy. They are so intent on the three Ps – power, prosperity and prestige – that they miss out on simple joy.

French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson pioneered modern photography as an art form during the early decades of the 20th Century. He was a master of candid photography and something of a genius at spotting and photographing apparent contradictions: pictures that left mysteries unexplained.

One of his famous photographs was shot in a poor section of Seville, Spain in 1933. The picture depicts a run-down alley surrounded by decaying walls, strewn with rubble and riddled with bullet holes dotting gray walls. The setting alone evokes feelings of sadness and despair.

But then, the contradiction. Within the grim alley children are playing. They wear dirty and tattered clothes, as one might expect in such a setting, but like playing children everywhere, they laugh with carefree joy. In the foreground, a tiny boy on crutches hobbles away from two other boys, his face lit up with a broad grin. One boy is laughing so hard he has to hold his side. Others lean on the cracked walls, beaming with delight.

It is easy to spot the contrast – and the point. Joy amid the rubble of life. Laughter among life’s ruins.

We cannot avoid pain, however hard we try. But we can avoid joy. We cannot escape hardship and trouble, but we can miss out on much of life's peace and laughter.

If you feel as if you could use more joy, here are a few tips:

• Do something today just for the fun of it.

• Decide to fill your thoughts with less anxiety and more peace.

• Laugh a little more. A little more heartily and a little more often.

• Practice a hopeful attitude.

• Love as much as you can. Love people. Love experiences. Love ideas. Love beauty. In short -- love life.

You may occasionally find yourself amid life’s rubble. But strangely - even there you can discover joy.

It’s one of the beautiful contradictions of life.

Be

 

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sometimes the lectionary readings baffle me.  I was going through the readings to prepare the Pastor’s Desk and it occurred to me that in the first reading from Deuteronomy 30:10-14 they left out the punchline.  How frustrating is that?  So, I am going to give you the missing punchline. It isn’t funny; it is confronting.  And the punchline is: “I call heaven and earth today to witness against you: I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live, by loving the LORD, your God, obeying his voice, and holding fast to him. For that will mean life for you, a long life for you to live on the land which the LORD swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them” (DT 30:19-20).    

There is a strong connection between this reading from Deuteronomy and today’s gospel from St Luke, the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10: 25 – 37).  When the young scholar in the gospel tried to test Jesus with his question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”  Jesus quickly responded with his own test question, “What is written in the law?”    The scholar’s answer is called the Great Commandment found in Deuteronomy 6:4-5: “Hear, O Israel!  The LORD is our God, the LORD alone!  Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.”  The second part of his answer comes from Leviticus 19: 18, “You must love your neighbor as yourself,” the second Great Commandment.   Since the time of Moses to the present day every Jewish person over the age of thirteen knows these two commandments.  Jesus acknowledged the scholar’s correct answer saying, ““You have answered correctly; do this and you will live” (Luke 10: 28). 

But the scholar was not satisfied.  So, he pushed Jesus by asking “And who is my neighbour?”  When Moses dictated the law as written in Leviticus and for thousands of years thereafter, neighbor meant “fellow Jews.”  Jesus’ parable must have been shocking to the scholar and to those who heard it because he was redefining the law.  For Jesus your neighbor could be anyone, anywhere in any situation.  By using a Samaritan as the hero of the parable Jesus picked one of the most despised groups of people of his day. 

For us the challenge is the same as that of the scholar.  If we ask Jesus “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”  We probably would receive the same answer.  We know what we need to do.  We must choose life.  We must love God, obey his voice and hold fast to him.  In St John’s gospel Jesus gave us a new commandment “love one another.  As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.  This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for another” (John 13:34-35). 

Love is the foundation on which all God’s commandments are built; love of God and love of one another.   God loves us all unconditionally.  I am not sure it is possible for us to love each other as much as God loves us.  But we can strive to love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves.  Just remember that what Jesus said to the scholar, he says to each of us and he says to the world:  “Go and do 

likewise.”

God most merciful,

you have established the great commandment of love

as the summary and the soul of the entire law.

Fill our hearts, then, with compassion and generosity

toward the sufferings of our sisters and brothers,

so that, like Christ,

we may become Good Samaritans 

where we live and work.

We ask you this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you 

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

God for ever and ever.

AMEN.

Contemplative Prayer

We are meant to bring ourselves, with all our complexities and weaknesses, into God’s full light every day. In the great prayer traditions, one particular form of prayer, contemplative prayer, is singled out as being most helpful in doing this.

We pray in this way by wordlessly bringing ourselves into God’s presence in a way that we hide nothing of ourselves. Perhaps a description of how this kind of prayer differs from other kinds of prayer might best serve us here.

Normal, meditative types of prayer essentially work this way: You set off to pray, find a quiet place, sit or kneel down, make a conscious act to center yourself in prayer, focus on an inspiring text or thought, begin to meditate on those words, try to hear what is being said inside you, articulate the challenge or insight that is making itself heard there, and then connect this all to your relationship to God, through gratitude, love, praise, or petition. In this kind of prayer, your focus is on an inspiring word or insight, the response this creates in you, and your own response to God in the light of that.

Contemplative prayer, by way of contrast, is prayer without words or images. It works this way: You set off to pray, find a quiet place, sit or kneel, and make a conscious act to simply place yourself before God. Then you simply stay there, naked and unprotected by any words, images, conversations, rationalizations, or even by any holy feelings about Jesus, his Mother, some saint, some icon, or inspirational idea.

Contemplative prayer brings you into God’s presence without protection, with no possibility of hiding anything. The silence and absence of prayerful conversation is what leaves you naked and exposed, like a plant sitting in the sun, silently drinking in its rays.

Each day, we should set aside some time to put ourselves into God’s presence without words and without images, where, naked, stripped of everything, silent, exposed, hiding nothing, completely vulnerable, we simply sit, full face, before God’s judgment and mercy.​

Lord, Let Me See

You must see the invisible to do the impossible

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Hebrews 11:1 (NIV)

The architect does not design a house that has already been built. That is called copying. To truly design something the architect must first see the completed project in his mind.

The teacher does not encourage a child who has reached old age. That is called remembering. To truly encourage the child the teacher must see the child’s potential before it comes to pass.

The preacher does not inspire others to set their sights on heaven if all he does is read from the Bible. To truly inspire the preacher must first see that city from afar.

Faith is a gift and a blessing. Faith can be strengthened and stretched. Faith can accomplish much.

Faith can accomplish the impossible.

Faith is nothing if it does not see what is invisible.

What we see in our own mind’s eye is called a dream.

What we see in God’s mind is faith.

Dreams may or may not come to pass.

Faith is an absolute—it will happen!

Lord, let me see what you see and let me keep my eyes focused on it until it comes to pass.

I Am Your Friend

 

Independence Day

 

Come Sit with Me

In the evening when I am tired God says, “Come sit with me.”

I speak about the little things that have happened to me during the day and I know I am heard. I share my fears, angers, doubts, and sorrows, and I feel like I am being held. I smile with what energy I have left and I am gently teased.

Then when all the conversation is over and the day has been opened up and emptied out, I am ready to rest. Nothing is solved. Nothing is under control. But also nothing pressing remains. 

But as I go to sleep a fleeting thought breaks the smooth surface of my peace: What would I do each night if God didn't say, “Come sit with me.”?

Psalm 115

Psalm 115

Not to us, O LORD, not to us

but to your name give glory

because of your kindness, 

because of your truth.

Why should the pagans say,

“Where is their God?’’

Our God is in heaven;

whatever he wills, he does.

Their idols are silver and gold,

the handiwork of men.

They have mouths but speak not;

they have eyes but see not;

they have ears but hear not;

they have noses but smell not.

Their makers shall be like them,

everyone who trusts in them.

The house of Israel trusts in the LORD;

he is their help and their shield.

14th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Independence Day is a time for us to stop and give thanks for our country, for democracy and for freedom. It is a time for us to remember all the people who sacrificed so much to preserve our democratic way of life. It is a time for us to remember that our freedom was born out of persecution and suffering. And it is a time for us to remember the great principles that grew out of that persecution and suffering. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people] are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." As citizens of the United States of America, we have an obligation to uphold the rights our founders held so dear. We uphold these rights by fulfilling certain responsibilities: obeying the laws, paying our taxes, serving as witnesses when necessary, serving on juries and voting. And, in times of conflict, we are expected to defend our country.

Jesus reminds us in today's gospel, Luke 10:1-12, 17-20, that in addition to our worldly citizenship, God calls us to citizenship in His kingdom. Our obligation as citizens of the kingdom of God is to put God at the center of our lives. Our responsibilities as citizens of the kingdom of God are to be willing workers, to deliver God's message of peace and to be visible signs of God's presence in our world. With God at the center of our lives, we can experience the same nurture and comfort that graced the lives of the people of Judah in our first reading from Isaiah 66:10-14c. We too can rejoice, exalt and be glad because our "names are written in heaven" (Luke 10:20).

So, on this Independence Day, we should thank God for the gift of this country, for the gift of freedom and for the gift of democracy. We also should thank God for the gift of His Son Jesus Christ who sacrificed his life assuring that we can be citizens of God's kingdom.

God of all nations,

Father of the human family,

We give you thanks for the freedom we exercise

And the many blessings of democracy we enjoy

In these United States of America.

We ask for your protection and guidance

For all who devote themselves to the common good,

Working for justice and peace at home and around the world.

We lift up all our duly elected leaders and public servants,

Those who will serve us as president, as legislators and judges,

And those in the military and law enforcement.

Heal us from our differences and unite us, O Lord,

With a common purpose, dedication, and commitment

To achieve liberty and justice in the years ahead for all people,

And especially those who are most vulnerable in our midst.

Amen.