Freedom Isn't Free

I watched the flag pass by one day.

It fluttered in the breeze.
A young Marine saluted it,
and then he stood at ease.
I looked at him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud,
He'd stand out in any crowd.
I thought how many men like him
Had fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil?
How many mothers' tears?
How many pilots' planes shot down?
How many died at sea?
How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?
No, freedom isn't free.

I heard the sound of TAPS one night,
When everything was still
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times
That TAPS had meant "Amen,"
When a flag had draped a coffin
Of a brother or a friend.
I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives.
I thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in Arlington.
No, freedom isn't free.

~Kelly Strong

Pentecost Sunday

 After Easter, Pentecost is one of the most important feasts of the liturgical year. Pentecost is the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise to his disciples and to us that He will ask his Father to send “another Advocate to be with (us) always” (John 14:16). This Advocate, “will teach (us) everything” and remind us of all that Jesus told us throughout his ministry here on earth (14:26). Pentecost is the birthday of the Church but it is not a “once a year” event. It is a perpetual rebirth and renewal of God the Father’s creative energy working through us.

St. Paul tells us in today’s second reading from 1 Corinthians 12:7, “to each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit.” We all receive the gift of the Holy Spirit at our Baptism and we receive an extra boost of the Spirit at Confirmation. However, there is a catch attached to this gift. We are expected to use our God given gift to advance the Kingdom of Heaven in our parish, in our local community, in our state, our nation and in the world. St. Augustine said “Perhaps this double giving of the Holy Spirit was done in manifestation of the two commandments of love, that is, of neighbor and of God, in order that love might be shown to belong to the Holy Spirit."

Each one of us has spiritual gifts, given to us by the Holy Spirit. Our gifts are different. One person may have the gift of healing; another person may have the gift of music, someone else might have the gift of teaching. When these gifts are used as God intends us to use them, we each become an integral part of the Kingdom united by the Holy Spirit.

In every generation, O God of Easter glory,

you send forth your Spirit

to breathe upon the world and make it come alive!

Fulfill the promise of these Fifty Days

with the abundant harvest of your Spirit's gifts.

May we, the community of believers in Christ,

adorned with various ministries and gifts,

be continually formed into one body

by the one Spirit which has been poured out on all of us.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ,

who sends us the Spirit of truth from you,

and who lives and reigns with you,

God for ever and ever.

AMEN.

Good Luck

It’s hard to detect good luck; it looks so much like something you’ve earned. ~ Frank A. Clark

A little boy wanted a taste of molasses from the large barrel by the door of an old-fashioned country store. He slid a box beside the barrel, stepped up on it and leaned over the rim as far as possible, stretching out his finger toward the sweet goo below. He stretched and strained and toppled headfirst into the barrel.

Dripping with molasses, he stood up, lifted his eyes heavenward and was heard to utter, “Lord, help me to make the most of this fantastic opportunity!”

Most of us will never fall into a barrel of opportunity. We won't be awarded a great sum of money (though I am never sure that is in our best interest), we won't be offered a “dream job,” we won't have all of our needs suddenly provided for. We can spend years waiting for opportunity to knock only to find that we wasted precious time wishing for something to happen that never was to be.

Yet some people seem to luck into these things, don't they? It's as if they were in the right place at the right time and they just fell into it.

But that is not the way it happens. Those people who seize opportunities others seem to miss, find them for one specific reason: they have trained themselves. People who seem more fortunate than the rest of us are those who have taught themselves to look for possibilities in every circumstance and every obstacle.

I think David Boren, president of the University of Oklahoma, is such a man. Years ago, Boren learned from professional pollsters that he would most likely lose his state gubernatorial race, and lose it big. The professional polling agency he hired reported his strength to be only about two percent of the population.

Many people would quit the moment they receive such news. And in truth, that was his first reaction. Could anything good come out of such a bleak situation? But he had trained himself to look for opportunities, even when confronting great obstacles. He stayed in the race and approached his campaign in a different way. He told his listeners, “I had a professional poll taken and it shows I’ve got great potential for increasing my support!”

That may sound a good deal better than it is. But he didn't give up and people began to listen to what he had to say. Boren eventually won the election and served as governor of the US state of Oklahoma.

People who spot opportunities may simply be people who have trained themselves to look for the best possible outcome in every situation and act on it. It takes a different way of thinking.

To everyone else it may just look like you're lucky. But you will know better.

Pull, Buddy, Pull

An out-of-towner drove his car into a ditch in a desolated area.

Luckily, a local farmer came to help with his big strong horse named Buddy. He hitched Buddy up to the car and yelled, "Pull, Nellie, pull!" Buddy didn't move.

Then the farmer hollered, "Pull, Buster, pull!" Buddy didn't respond.

Once more the farmer commanded, "Pull, Cocoa, pull!" Nothing.

Then the farmer nonchalantly said, "Pull, Buddy, pull!" And the horse easily dragged the car out of the ditch.

The motorist was most appreciative and very curious. He asked the farmer why he called his horse by the wrong name three times.

The farmer said, "Oh, Buddy is blind and if he thought he was the only one pulling, he wouldn't even try!"

(It’s nice to know we’re not alone when we know Jesus is with us for his yoke is easy and our burden becomes light!)

Footprints

One night I dreamed a dream.

I was walking along the beach with my Lord. Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life. For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand, one belonging to me and one to my Lord.

When the last scene of my life shot before me I looked back at the footprints in the sand. There was only one set of footprints. I realized that this was at the lowest and saddest times of my life. This always bothered me and I questioned the Lord about my dilemma.

"Lord, You told me when I decided to follow You, You would walk and talk with me all the way. But I'm aware that during the most troublesome times of my life there is only one set of footprints. I just don't understand why, when I need You most, You leave me."

He whispered, "My precious child, I love you and will never leave you, never, ever, during your trials and testings. When you saw only one set of footprints, It was then that I carried you."

Margaret Fishback Powers, 1964

7th Sunday of Easter

Our first reading today from the Acts of the Apostles 1:12-14 and the Gospel from John 17:1-11a, focus on prayer. Just before He ascended into Heaven, Jesus told the Apostles to stay in Jerusalem and wait for "the promise of the Father” to be fulfilled; their baptism with the Holy Spirit. Immediately after the Ascension, the eleven apostles returned to Jerusalem and joined Mary the Mother of Jesus and other women followers in the upper room; the same room where they gathered for the Last Supper. And the same room where they gathered after the crucifixion. Only this time they are not cowering in fear and confusion. They gathered together filled with faith and hope. As we heard in our Gospel on Ascension Thursday, Matthew 28:16-20, Jesus just gave them a huge challenge, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” It is time for them to get to work. But first they sought discernment by devoting “themselves with one accord to prayer.” This is the first gathering of the new Christian Community of faith.

In today’s Gospel, we hear the conclusion of Jesus’ Last Supper discourse, also known as the ‘high priestly prayer.” We are back in the upper room with Jesus and his apostles as Jesus prays to the Father for his followers who “are in the world, while I am coming to you.” The followers Jesus prays for are not just those in the room with him, Jesus is praying for all his disciples throughout history. Jesus is praying for the twelve apostles and for his Blessed Mother. He is praying for all the future martyrs and saints and Jesus is praying for us, his disciples in Peachtree City, Georgia, and he is praying for the generations who will follow us as believers.

The prayer of Jesus at the Last Supper, the prayers of the disciples gathered in the upper room after the Ascension and our prayers as a community of Christian believers are that God’s will might be done fruitfully through our lives. And we should pray that that each one of us will reveal God’s love and care to the whole human family. As we approach the great Feast of Pentecost next week, we should carry these prayers in our hearts.

Breathe in me O Holy Spirit

that my thoughts may all be holy;

Act in me O Holy Spirit

that my works, too, may be holy;

Draw my heart O Holy Spirit

that I love but what is holy;

Strengthen me O Holy Spirit

to defend that is holy;

Guard me then O Holy Spirit

that I always may be holy.

St. Augustine of Hippo (AD 354-430)

Value of a Rocking Chair

It's hard to believe, but in April, 1996, a used rocking chair sold for more than $440,000. In the same auction, a partial set of golf clubs brought more than $770,000, and a few salt-and-pepper shakers that cashed out for $11,500. All in all, this amazing garage sale brought in more than $34.5 million! No, none of the items were encrusted with diamonds, or covered with gold. The items weren't overly special in any way . . . except one. They had all once belonged to John and Jacqueline Kennedy.

The value of an old rocking chair isn't always in the way it rocks. Sometimes, the value is there because of whose chair it is. Likewise, the value of your calling isn't in what you can do in your own power, but in what God can do for you once you accept His calling.

Diamonds

A century ago, Russell Conwell traveled the United States with a speech he called, "Acres of Diamonds." He told of a young man who stud­ied at Yale to become a mining engineer. Upon gradua­tion, "gold fever" struck him and he set off to California to seek his fortune.

Yale had offered him a position as an in­structor, which he turned down. He persuaded his mother to sell their Massachu­setts farm and ac­com­pany him. But the trip was futile as he found no gold and eventually accepted a job in Minnesota working for a mining company -- at a lower salary than he would have received at Yale.

More interesting is that the man who bought the family farm from the widowed mother was har­vesting potatoes one day. As he slid a heavy bushel through an opening in the stone wall, he noticed a shiny stone. He had it assayed and learned it was native silver. The farm was sitting on a fortune in silver!

Why had the mining engineer, who had undoubt­edly passed by that same rock and others like it hundreds of times, not discovered the ore? Could it be that he never dreamed a treasure could be found so easily? Was it because he believed that one must go elsewhere to fulfill a dream?

What we are seeking may be found right where we are! There are certainly times to make life changes, but sometimes we must simply change our thinking. What you seek (happiness, security, fulfillment, challenge) may be at your fingertips, though yet unseen.

There may be hidden potential in your pre­sent job, your current relationships or the location in which you live. The answers to your dreams may be found at your fingertips if you only believe it is possible. Before making that big life change, look carefully around. You may be sitting on acres of diamonds!

Whisper

1 Kings 19:9a. 11-13

“At the mountain of God, Horeb, Elijah came to a cave where he took shelter. Then the Lord said to him, “Go outside and stand on the mountain before the Lord; The Lord will be passing by. A strong and heavy wind was rending mountains and crushing rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind, there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake, there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. After the fire, there was a tiny whispering sound. When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak and went and stood at the entrance to the cave.”

When did you hear the whisper?

A Mother's Love

 

Dear God, I Need your Help

Dear God:

I need your help.

Please help me to…
Always cherish those who love me,

Please help me to…
Love People and not things,

Please help me to…
Remember that love means forgiveness,

Please help me to…
Accept the things I cannot change,

Please help me to…
Know your will for me,

Please help me to…
Meet anger with understanding,

Please help me to…
Let go of yesterday,

Please help me to…
Rejoice in today,

Please help me to…
Expect a miracle,

Please help me to…
Learn to love myself as I love others,

Please help me to…
Freely give away the gifts You give me,

Please help me to…
Wrap myself in Faith!

Amen.

6th Sunday of Easter

A number of years ago, on the 6th Sunday of Easter, a friend called to ask for my prayers for himself and his family because they just discovered his mother had died in her sleep. He was distraught because he loved his mother very much and no one was with her when she died. He could not imagine what life would be like without her. His sense of loss was profound. We talked for a while and I offered to pray with him over the phone. As we prayed a phrase from today’s Gospel kept repeating in my head, “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live.”

Jesus spoke these comforting words to his disciples because he knew that he would be leaving them to return to his Father in heaven. However, he was not leaving them alone. Jesus assured the disciples and he assures us that God the Father will give us “another Advocate to be with you always.” This Advocate, the Holy Spirit, helped the disciples understand Jesus’ mission on earth and his special place in heaven. And the same Holy Spirit helps us too. St. Peter reminded the faithful in our second reading that although Jesus was “put to death in the flesh, he was brought to life in the Spirit,” giving them a reason for hope.

This hope extends to each one of us who call ourselves Christians. Jesus is with us always and in all the life situations in which we find ourselves. It is at times of great loss when many of us most need the consolation and hope the Holy Spirit provides. We simply have to remember the words Jesus spoke to the disciples and to us before he Ascended into heaven, “And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

On this day we celebrate our mothers. We thank them for giving us life. We honor the women who raised us, nurtured us and love us unconditionally. May God’s blessing be with all our mothers, both living and deceased.

God our Creator, we pray: 

for new mothers, coming to terms with new responsibility; 

for expectant mothers, wondering and waiting; 

for those who are tired, stressed or depressed; 

for those who struggle to balance the tasks of work and family; 

for those who are unable to feed their children due to poverty; 

for those whose children have physical, mental or emotional disabilities; 

for those who have children they do not want; 

for those who raise children on their own; 

for those who have lost a child; 

for those who care for the children of others; 

for those whose children have left home; 

and for those whose desire to be a mother has not been fulfilled. 

Bless all mothers, 

that their love may be deep and tender, 

and that they may lead their children to know and do what is good, 

living not for themselves alone, 

but for God and for others. 

Amen.

Where do You Start?

A tourist once visited a cathedral where an artisan was working on a huge mosaic. A vast empty wall was before the artist, and the tourist asked, "Aren't you worried about all that space that you need to fill up and how you will ever finish it?

The artist replied simply that he knew what he could do in each day. Each morning, he marked off the area he would complete, and he didn't allow himself to worry about what lay outside that space. He just took one day at a time, and one day the mosaic would be finished.

Many of the great obstacles that stall our momentum are very much like that great wall. We can worry about the bigger picture we have to create. Or we can simply start to fill them with wonderful, unique images - the imprint of our lives - by doing the very best we can with each day we are given.

Where do you start? The best place to start is wherever you are today.

I am a Christian

Five More Minutes

While at the park one day, a woman sat down next to a man on a bench near a playground. "That's my son over there," she said, pointing to a little boy in a red sweater who was gliding down the slide.

"He's a fine looking boy," the man said. "That's my son on the swing in the blue sweater." Then, looking at his watch, he called to his son. "What do you say we go, Todd?"

Todd pleaded, "Just five more minutes, Dad. Please? Just five more minutes." The man nodded and Todd continued to swing to his heart's content.

Minutes passed and the father stood and called again to his son. "Time to go now?"

Again Todd pleaded, "Five more minutes, Dad. Just five more minutes." The man smiled and said, "O.K."

"My, you certainly are a patient father," the woman responded.

The man smiled and then said, "My older son Tommy was killed by a drunk driver last year while he was riding his bike near here. I never spent much time with Tommy and now I'd give anything for just five more minutes with him. I've vowed not to make the same mistake with Todd. He thinks he has five more minutes to swing. The truth is, I get five more minutes to watch him play."

Gratitude

5th Sunday of Easter

In today’s Gospel from John 14:1-12, Jesus says, “You have faith in God; have faith also in me.” Those who did have faith in Jesus while he was here on earth received extraordinary gifts. Two men who were blind suddenly could see (Mt. 9:28-29); a very sick woman was healed merely by touching the hem of Jesus’ cloak (Lk. 8:43-48); Jairus’ daughter was brought back from death (Lk. 8:49-56) and a centurion’s servant was miraculously healed (Mt. 8:5-13). None of these people were “disciples” of Jesus; nor were they great theologians or intellectuals. They were simple people of faith.

Jesus says in Mark 9:23: “Everything is possible to one who has faith.” And in Matthew 17:20 he reminds us that faith the size of a single, tiny mustard seed can move mountains. The twelve apostles had a hard time keeping faith in Jesus. Their faith seemed to come and go in a flash. However, they struggled on and their fledgling faith grew strong through perseverance, prayer and through the power of the Holy Spirit that came upon them at Pentecost.

Like the disciples, we too are empowered by the power of the Holy Spirit. The same Holy Spirit we read about in the gospels, the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles is given to us at our confirmation. Having received the Holy Spirit, our capacity to grow in faith is enhanced beyond measure. In the closing lines of today’s gospel Jesus promises us that, “whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these.”

We do not need to see Jesus, or to touch Jesus to do great things. All we need is our faith in the resurrected Jesus and we too can work great miracles.

Father, 

you restored your people to eternal life

by raising Christ your Son from death.

Make our faith strong and our hope sure.

May we never doubt that you will fulfill

The promises you have made.

Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

Who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

One God, forever, and ever.

Amen

Love

We stumbled on in the darkness, over big stones and through large puddles, along the one road leading from the camp. The accompanying guards kept shouting at us and driving us with the butts of their rifles. Anyone with very sore feet supported himself on his neighbor's arm. Hardly a word was spoken; the icy wind did not encourage talk. Hiding his mouth behind his upturned collar, the man marching next to me whispered suddenly: "If our wives could see us now! I do hope they are better off in their camps and don't know what is happening to us."

That brought thoughts of my own wife to mind. And as we stumbled on for miles, slipping on icy spots, supporting each other time and again, dragging one another up and onward, nothing was said, but we both knew: each of us was thinking of his wife. Occasionally I looked at the sky, where the stars were fading and the pink light of the morning was beginning to spread behind a dark bank of clouds. But my mind clung to my wife's image, imagining it with an uncanny acuteness. I heard her answering me, saw her smile, her frank and encouraging look. Real or not, her look was then more luminous than the sun which was beginning to rise.

A thought transfixed me: for the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth – that love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which Man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of Man is through love and in love. I understood how a man who has nothing left in this world still may know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved. In a position of utter desolation, when Man cannot express himself in positive action, when his only achievement may consist in enduring his sufferings in the right way – an honorable way – in such a position Man can, through loving contemplation of the image he carries of his beloved, achieve fulfillment. For the first time in my life I was able to understand the meaning of the words, "The angels are lost in perpetual contemplation of an infinite glory.”

Victor Frankl

Change

Today I pray that I may understand there are some things I cannot change:

I cannot change the weather.
I cannot change the tick of the clock.
I cannot change the past.
I cannot change another person against their will.
I cannot change what is right or wrong.
I cannot change the fact that a relationship ended.
I can stop worrying over that which I cannot change and enjoy living more!
I can place those things into the hands of The One Bigger Than Me.
Save Energy!
Let Go!

Instead of trying to change someone else:
I can change my attitude.
I can change my list of priorities.
I can change my bad habits into good ones.
I can move from a place of brokenness into wholeness, into the beautiful person God has created me to become.

Perseverance

I like the story of Dack Axselle. In October, 1984, they held the annual marathon in Richmond, Virginia. Some 831 runners started the race, a race that would cover a torturous 26.2 miles. In about three hours, the winner had crossed the finished line, and only a handful of people knew 10-year-old Dack Axselle was still running.

What Dack was doing, however, wasn't really a run. It was more of a fast shuffle. Dack was born with spina bifida, and doctors were sure he would never walk - if he lived at all. But Dack did learn how to walk with heavy leg braces and crutches. He developed a love for running, and he aimed for the toughest race of all.

So as he swung those leg braces down the road of his marathon, more and more people heard that he was still running. Twice near the end he had to stop to change gloves and re-wrap the gauze around his forearms. But each time he got up to race again. Finally, he came to the finish. It took Dack 11 hours and 10 minutes to get there, and the race had officially ended an hour and a half earlier.

The officials, the helpers, those who had run the race earlier had all packed their bags and gone. But as Dack neared the finish line, word spread like wildfire. Officials found the finish line, and put it up again. And more than 1,000 people cheered wildly as Dack pressed on, and many wept when he finally finished his marathon.

More than half the runners with good legs couldn't finish the race, but Dack became the biggest winner of the day - simply because he pressed on toward the goal. It didn't matter that his time was so slow. It mattered only that he finished. Dack said he had modeled himself on St. Paul. In finishing his race St. Paul had gained a new perspective on life. Once a persecutor of Christians, he was suddenly delighted to be part of the persecuted. His encounter with Jesus Christ had so profoundly changed him, it put a new perspective on everything in his life.

When we open Paul's letter to the Philippians, however, more than 25 years have passed. On the downside, Paul was dealing with the usual aging process and a painful "thorn in the flesh." But on the positive side of things, Paul possessed a maturity only time can bring. Part of that maturity was a new perspective, something that gave him encouragement for the long haul. He was determined to cross his finish line in a full run.

If you've been a Christian for a great many years, make it a point to model your life on St. Paul's perseverance. It worked for Dack.