Pray at All Times

 "With every prayer and request, pray at all times in the Spirit"

The Bible tells us we are to pray without ceasing, but for many believers this is not understood in a practical sense. Prayer for each individual must become a daily, constant, and consistent way of living. In any given moment we are only a thought and breath from communicating with God. In a day and age when we pride ourselves on having high-speed internet connections, we also have a high-speed instant access connection with the Heavenly Father.

In the book of Psalms we get some insight into the approach that David took in praying at all times. In Psalm 4 we are reminded that he prayed before ending the day. In Psalm 5 we see him start his day in prayer. In Psalm 6 we see how he prayed in the aftermath of his failures. In Psalm 7 we read how David prayed when the pressure was on and he was under attack. In Psalm 8 he prayed when he thought of the creative power of God. In Psalm 9 we see that he prayed in times of joy. In Psalm 10 he prayed when he felt isolated.

It is safe to say that David as a lifestyle prayed without ceasing and stressed how important it is to keep the lines of communication open to God.

One Tick at a Time

We have both analogue and digital watches and clocks. Some prefer one to the other.

But as we look at the analogue clock or watch, there is also something worth reflecting about the ticking of the second hand.

If we do some calculations, that second hand goes 60 ticks a minute, 3600 ticks an hour, 86,400 ticks a day, 604,800 ticks a week, and 31,449,600 ticks a year.

Now that is a lot of ticking. Yet that humble second-hand shows us something.

It takes one tick at a time.

We don't have to worry about how many ticks we have to accomplish in a year, or in a week, or in a day or even in a minute.

That is all taken care of by God.

What we need to do is to let love, joy, peace, patience, compassion, kindness, generosity start ticking in our lives.

That is what is meant by setting our hearts on the Kingdom of God and on His righteousness.

Keys to Success

Awareness - know yourself
Understand "stages of life" (expectations)
Seek support - don't journey alone
Be responsible - healthy self-care
Be human - allow for mistakes
Be honest - keep looking in the mirror and beyond
Understand needs and wants
Set long- and short-term goals
Think straight
Trust your feeling

Attitude - positive, optimistic, hopeful, grateful, committed

Self-care = self-esteem = mental, physical, emotional

Spiritual care - personal prayer, community prayer, spiritual direction, scripture, spiritual literature, awareness of and respect for all of life and Creation.

The Lake Isle of Innisfree

 

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

One of my favorite quotations from St Francis of Assisi is, “It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching.” St Francis goes on to say that his desire is “to convert the world by obedience to the Holy Rule rather by example than by word.” What brought this quotation from St Francis to mind is today’s second reading from St Paul’s letter, 1 Thessalonians 1:5c-10. St. Paul reminded the Christians of Thessalonica that they were models “for all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia”. They were models because they tried to imitate the Lord and because “the word of the Lord has sounded forth not only in Macedonia and [in] Achaia, but in every place [their] faith in God has gone forth.” As I reflected on these two verses and the quotation from St Francis, I wondered if the Christians of Holy Trinity Catholic Church are considered models of faith for all the believers in Peachtree City, or Fayette County, or the State of Georgia or the nation. Does the word of the Lord sound forth from us? Are we good imitators of the Lord?

Throughout the New Testament we read that love is our Christian benchmark. Jesus confirms importance of love in today’s gospel from Matthew 22:34-40. Here the Pharisees challenged him again with the question, “"Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" Jesus addressed the challenge by answering "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."

Both St John and St Paul continued the theme of love in their Epistles. In the First Letter of John 4:16 we read that “God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.” God loves us completely with a generosity that cannot be measured. St. Paul tells us in Romans 5: 5 that “the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us.” We, in turn, are expected to share that love with all the people we encounter. Our love of God is what enables us to love other people. And it is our love of other people that identifies us as exemplary Christians.

We don’t need to proselytize to sound forth the word of the Lord; we need to love. If we can demonstrate a fraction of the love God bestows on us, we can change the world.

God, you display your almighty power

in loving us without regret.

In the human heart of Jesus your Son

you have shown us the boundlessness of your love.

Give us a love that is forgiving,

generous and gentle like his,

that we may recognize and welcome him

in our brothers and sisters.

And may our hearts reach out first

to the poorest and the least lovable,

with the gratuitous love you have given us

in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen

Thank You, God, for Another Day

 

Whole

It’s no wonder that sometimes we feel fragmented and disjointed. The world looks like it's divided into billions of pieces, all separate and distinct. What is the force that unites all the parts and keeps everything from colliding in random motion? Is there a Whole? 

Emerson called it the Soul. Others call it the Life Force, Brahman, the movement of energy, Higher Power, God.

If we imagine the Whole is the Soul and we acknowledge that each of us also has a Soul, or is a Soul, then we have outlined the great paradox, the mystery of the universe: All that is out there, everything on earth and in the heavens, is also part of us. We reflect the majesty of all the pieces and all the pieces are a reflection of us. To know the Whole, the unifying thing itself, we must turn to our own Soul and get to know the God within.

My life is one piece, a Whole, just as the world is one piece, a Whole. Contained in my Soul is all the mystery and magic of the universe.