Faith

Faith is not about having the right answers –

 
10 Commandments,

12 Apostles,

7 Deadly Sins.

It's about our hearts and how we live our lives –

How we make God's love real for each other.

I Wish You Enough

Recently, I overheard a mother and daughter in their last moments together at the airport as the daughter's departure had been announced.

Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the mother said, "I love you, and I wish you enough."

The daughter replied, "Mom, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Mom." They kissed and the daughter left.

Then the mother walked over to the window where I sat. Standing there, I could see she wanted and needed to cry.

I tried not to intrude on her privacy but she welcomed me in by asking, "Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?"

"Yes, I have," I replied. "Forgive me for asking, but why is this, a forever good-bye?"

"I am old and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is the next trip back will be for my funeral," she said.

"When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, 'I wish you enough.' May I ask what that means?"

She began to smile. "That's a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone."

She paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail, and she smiled even more.

"When we said 'I wish you enough' we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them."

Then turning toward me, she shared the following, reciting it from memory:

"I wish you enough sun, to keep your attitude bright.

I wish you enough rain, to appreciate the sun.

I wish you enough happiness, to keep your spirit alive.

I wish you enough pain, so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger.

I wish you enough gain, to satisfy your wanting.

I wish you enough loss, to appreciate all that you possess.

I wish you enough hellos, to get you through the final good-bye."

She then began to cry and walked away.

Pentecost Sunday

Historically, the Feast of Pentecost is an ancient Jewish agricultural festival that celebrates the first fruits of the grain harvest fifty days after Passover and the spring planting. The significance of Pentecost took on dramatic new meaning after the Passion, Death, Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus. Now instead of thanking God for sun, rain good soil and a bountiful crop, Christians celebrate God’s gift of the Holy Spirit, a gift given to the disciples and a gift given to each of us. We have so much to celebrate. Not only did God give all of us the Holy Spirit “to be with [us] always,” God gave us our Church and Pentecost is the birthday of the universal church.

What makes Pentecost so special is that it is more than an historic event that happened over 2000 years ago. Pentecost is an infinite interaction between God and us that can touch our lives very day if we are open to the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the force that inspired Jesus in his ministry. The same Spirit animated the disciples in the upper room and transformed them from cowering, fearful people into bold, dynamic preachers who became witnesses of Jesus throughout the world. This same Spirit animates us.

When we are baptized, we are anointed with oil that “signifies the gift of the Holy Spirit to the newly baptized, who has become a Christian, that is, one "anointed" by the Holy Spirit, incorporated into Christ who is anointed priest, prophet, and king” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1241). At our confirmation, the Bishop anoints us again to “confirm” and complete our baptismal anointing. Confirmation “increases the gifts of the Holy Spirit in us” and “it gives us a special strength of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the faith by word and action as true witnesses of Christ, to confess the name of Christ boldly, and never to be ashamed of the Cross” (CCC 1303).

Through these two sacraments, we receive all the tools we need to become bold, dynamic witnesses of Jesus. There is a catch, however. We have to be willing to do it. In our second reading today from 1 Corinthians 12: 3b – 7, St. Paul says, “There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit.” The Spirit is here. The Spirit is with us and the Spirit is in us. Each of us must look into our own hearts and prayerfully discern where the Spirit is leading us.

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.

Biscuits

A minister was attending a men’s breakfast. He asked one of the older farmers in attendance to say the prayer that morning. The farmer began, “Lord, I hate buttermilk.”

The pastor opened one eye and wondered to himself where this was going.

Then the farmer said, “Lord, I hate lard.” Now the pastor was worried.

But the farmer prayed on, “And Lord, you know I don’t care much for raw flour. ”

As the pastor was about to stop everything, the farmer continued, “But Lord, when you mix ‘em all together and bakes ‘em up, I do love me those fresh biscuits.

So Lord, when things come up we don’t like, when life gets hard, when we just don’t understand what you are saying to us, we just need to relax and wait ‘til You are done fixin’ and probably it will be something even better than biscuits.”

Amen

Searching

In the search for me,

I discovered Truth.

In the search for Truth,
I discovered Love.

In the search for Love,
I discovered God.

And in God,
I have found Everything.

Our Human Nature

Our nature is not to go forward all the time. It has its to’s and fro’s. – Blaise Pascal

We prefer straight, unrelentingly, upward paths and the slightest dip is often enough to throw us into confusion.

We diet for eight days and fill up on the ninth and then berate ourselves as though the eight days don’t count, as though they never happened.

“Look at me. I’m a failure. How come? I was doing so well.”

And the answer comes back: “Because it’s in our nature to forever gain a little, and forever to lose a little. Life has a lot of two steps forward and one step back.”

The spiritual journey is no exception, because we make the journey as who we are … human beings … not as what we would like to be, escapees from a frail, inconstant humanity.

For eight days we set aside time to prayer. And on the ninth we set aside time for a mindless sitcom.

But the journey is all the steps, even the backward ones. It’s no in our nature to go forward all the time.

It’s certainly no what God expects. So why are our expectations higher than God’s?

- John Kirvan in “Raw Faith”

Primordial Souols

Some mystics taught that the human soul comes from God and that the last thing that God does before putting a soul into the body is to kiss the soul. The soul then goes through life always dimly remembering that kiss, a kiss of perfect love, and the soul measures all of life’s loves and kisses against that primordial perfect kiss.

The ancient Greek Stoics taught something similar, that souls pre-existed inside of God and that God, before putting a soul into a body, would blot out the memory of its pre-existence. But the soul would then be always unconsciously drawn towards God because, having come from God, the soul would always dimly remember its real home, God, and ache to return there.

In one rather interesting version of this notion, they taught that God put the soul into the body only when the baby was already fully formed in its mother’s womb. Immediately after putting the soul into the body, God would seal off the memory of its pre-existence by physically shutting the baby’s lips against its ever speaking of its pre-existence. That’s why we have a little cleft under our noses, just above center of our lips. It’s where God’s finger sealed our lips. That is why whenever we are struggling to remember something, our index finger instinctively rises to that cleft under our nose. We are trying to retrieve a primordial memory.

Our souls dimly remember once having known perfect love and perfect beauty. But, in this life, we never quite encounter that perfection, even as we forever ache for someone or something to meet us at that depth. This creates in us a moral loneliness, a longing for what we term a soulmate, namely, a longing for someone who can genuinely recognize, share, and respect what’s deepest in us.

The Mother Watch

She never closed her eyes in sleep till we were all in bed;

On party nights till we came home she often sat and read.

We little thought about it then, when we were young and gay,

How much the mother worried when we children were away.

We only knew she never slept when we were out at night,

And that she waited just to know that we’d come home all right.

Why, sometimes when we’d stayed away till one or two or three,

It seemed to us that mother heard the turning of the key;

For always when we stepped inside she’d call and we’d reply,

But we were all too young back then to understand just why.

Until the last one had returned she always kept a light,

For mother couldn’t sleep until she’d kissed us all good night.

She had to know that we were safe before she went to rest;

She seemed to fear the world might harm the ones she loved the best.

And once she said: 'When you are grown to women and to men,

Perhaps I’ll sleep the whole night through; I may be different then.’

And so it seemed that night and day we knew a mother’s care–

That always when we got back home we’d find her waiting there.

Then came the night that we were called to gather round her bed:

‘The children all are with you now,’ the kindly doctor said.

And in her eyes there gleamed again the old-time tender light

That told she had been waiting just to know we were all right.

She smiled the old-familiar smile, and prayed to God to keep

Us safe from harm throughout the years, and then she went to sleep.

~ Edgar Albert Guest

Look Up

THE BUZZARD: If you put a buzzard in a pen that is 6 feet by 8 feet and is entirely open at the top, the bird, in spite of its ability to fly, will be an absolute prisoner. The reason is that a buzzard always begins a flight from the ground with a run of 10 to 12 feet. Without space to run, as is its habit, it will not even attempt to fly, but will remain a prisoner for life in a small jail with no top.

THE BAT: The ordinary bat that flies around at night, a remarkable nimble creature in the air, cannot take off from a level place. If it is placed on the floor or flat ground, all it can do is shuffle about helplessly and, no doubt, painfully, until it reaches some slight elevation from which it can throw itself into the air. Then, at once, it takes off like a flash.

THE BUMBLEBEE: A bumblebee, if dropped into an open tumbler, will be there until it dies, unless it is taken out. It never sees the means of escape at the top, but persists in trying to find some way out through the sides near the bottom. It will seek a way where none exists, until it completely destroys itself.

7th Sunday of Easter

Today we celebrate the Ascension of the Lord, when Jesus re-joined his Father in Heaven. And, we celebrate Mother’s Day. On this day we honor our mothers. We thank them for giving us life. We remember the women who raised us, nurtured us and love us unconditionally.

In our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, St. Luke tells us that Jesus appeared to the apostles many times during the forty days between the Resurrection and the Ascension. During this time, he spoke to them “about the kingdom of God” (Acts: 1:3), and he told them that they were to be his “witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1: 8). Then, he left them.

While the apostles were “looking intently at the sky,” two men dressed in white, presumably angles, appeared and asked, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky” (Acts 1:11). Clearly, the apostles could not be effective witnesses if they were standing around gazing at the sky waiting for Jesus to return. They needed to get on with the business of bringing about the Kingdom of God here in this world, which they did. St. Mark tells us in his Gospel that the disciples “went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them” (Mark 16:20).

The Lord works with us too when our hearts are open to the Spirit. Today’s second reading from Ephesians 1:17-23, is a prayer for all of us asking God to give us “a Spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him.” The prayer also asks that this same Spirit enlighten “the eyes of [our] hearts” so that we will know God’s call and respond appropriately. If the eyes of our hearts are enlightened then we will recognize the presence of Christ in each other. We will see Christ in the people around us who are sick, suffering, hungry, homeless and rejected. If we are gazing at the sky, we might overlook the very people who can lead us into the Kingdom of God.

Gracious God,

We thank you for adopting us into your family 

through the miracle of

your grace, 

and for calling us to be brothers and sisters to each other. 

 Today, loving God, we pray for our mothers: 

 Who cared for us when we were helpless 

 Who comforted us when we were hurt 

 Whose love and care we often took for granted.

Today we pray for: 

 Those who are grieving the loss of their mother, 

 Those who never knew their biological mother, and now yearn for her 

Those who have experienced the wonder of an adopted mother's love 

 The families separated by war or conflict. 

 Lord, give them special blessings. 

 Keep us united with you and with each other, 

so that we can be and become all that we are meant to be.

Amen

This is Life

 A son and his father were walking on the mountains. Suddenly, his son falls, hurts himself and screams: "AAAhhhhhh!"

To his surprise, he hears the voice repeating, somewhere in the mountain: "AAAhhhhhh!"

Curious, he yells: "Who are you?"
He receives the answer: "Who are you?"

Angered at the response, he screams: "Coward!"
He receives the answer: "Coward!"

He looks to his father and asks: "What's going on?"
The father smiles and says: "My son, pay attention."

And then he screams to the mountain: "I admire you!"
The voice answers: "I admire you!"

Again the man screams: "You are a champion!"
The voice answers: "You are a champion!"

The boy is surprised, but does not understand. Then the father explains: "People call this an ECHO, but really this is LIFE. It gives you back everything you say or do.

Our life is simply a reflection of our actions. If you want more love in the world, create more love in your heart. If you want more competence in your team, improve your competence. This relationship applies to everything, in all aspects of life; Life will give you back everything you have given to it."

Your Life is not a coincidence. It's a reflection of you!

One Tiny Light

Imagine that you are in a huge cave 250 feet below the surface of the earth. You're down there with about 40 other souls. The cave is artificially lit, as no daylight ever reaches its interior. Suddenly the lights go out.

The darkness closes in and encases you like a velvet glove. You can't see your hand in front of your face. No one makes a sound. Total darkness. Total silence. Total stillness. You're in the heart of Mother Earth.

Then your guide strikes a tiny match. The thick darkness disappears like magic and your eyes take in a marvelous scene.

The light from that one match illuminates the whole cave quite clearly. You can see everyone there. Amazing!

All it takes to dispel the darkness of that huge, dark cave is just one person's tiny light.

And the old saying “let your light shine” takes on a deeper, “secret” meaning.

You don't have to overwhelm those you meet with your knowledge, wisdom, accomplishments, or connections. Why use a floodlight when an ordinary lantern (or even a candle) will do?

By all means let your light shine, but please: Make it inviting, not blinding!​

Parable of Two Apples

Today in one of our classes I introduced the children to two apples (the children didn't know this, but before the class I had repeatedly dropped one of the apples on the floor, you couldn't tell, both apples looked perfect). We talked about the apples and the children described how both apples looked the same; both were red, were of similar size and looked juicy enough to eat.

I picked up the apple I'd dropped on the floor and started to tell the children how I disliked this apple, that I thought it was disgusting, it was a horrible color and the stem was just too short. I told them that because I didn't like it, I didn't want them to like it either, so they should call it names too.

Some children looked at me like I was insane, but we passed the apple around the circle calling it names, 'you're a smelly apple', 'I don't even know why you exist', 'you've probably got worms inside you' etc. We really pulled this poor apple apart. I actually started to feel sorry for the little guy.

We then passed another apple around and started to say kind words to it, 'You're a lovely apple', 'Your skin is beautiful', 'What a beautiful color you are' etc.

I then held up both apples, and again, we talked about the similarities and differences, there was no change, both apples still looked the same.

I then cut the apples open. The apple we'd been kind to was clear, fresh and juicy inside. The apple we'd said unkind words to was bruised and all mushy inside.

I think there was a light bulb moment for the children immediately. They really got it, what we saw inside that apple, the bruises, the mush and the broken bits is what is happening inside every one of us when someone mistreats us with their words or actions.

When people are bullied, especially children, they feel horrible inside and sometimes don't show or tell others how they are feeling. If we hadn't have cut that apple open, we would never have known how much pain we had caused it.

I shared my own experience of suffering someone's unkind words last week. On the outside I looked OK, I was still smiling. But, on the inside someone had caused me a lot of pain with their words and I was hurting.

Unlike an apple, we have the ability to stop this from happening. We can teach children that it's not ok to say unkind things to each other and discuss how it makes others feel. We can teach our children to stand up for each other and to stop any form of bullying, just as one little girl did today when she refused to say unkind words to the apple.

More and more hurt and damage happens inside if nobody does anything to stop the bullying. Let's create a generation of kind, caring children.

The tongue has no bones but is strong enough to break a heart. So be careful with your words.

Source Unknown

Inner Choice

Often we look at the outside world and find it in a state of seeming chaos or disorder. We feel compelled to transform the situation from one of turmoil into one of peace, yet we are often disappointed in our best attempts to do so. One reason for this is that we cannot bring to the world what we do not have to offer. Peace starts in our own minds and hearts, not outside of ourselves, and until its roots are firmly entrenched in our own selves, we cannot manifest it externally. Once we have found it within, we can share it with our family, our community, and the whole wide world. Some of us may already be doing just that, but for most of us, the first step is looking within and honestly evaluating the state of our own relationship to peacefulness.

Interestingly, people who manifest peace internally are not different from us; they have chattering thoughts and troubled emotions like we all do. The difference is that they do not lend their energy to them, so those thoughts and feelings can simply rise and fall like the waves of the ocean without disturbing the deeper waters of peacefulness within. We all have this ability to choose how we distribute our energy, and practice enables us to grow increasingly more serene as we choose the vibration of peace over the vibration of conflict. We begin to see our thoughts and feelings as tiny objects on the surface of our being that pose no threat to the deep interior stillness that is the source of peacefulness.

When we find that we are able to locate ourselves more and more in the deeper waters and less on the tumultuous surface of our being, we have discovered a lasting relationship with peace that will enable us to inspire peace beyond ourselves. Until then, we help the world most by practicing the art of choosing peace within.

Susan's Secret

 A woman named Vicki once knew a young person at church named Susan.  Susan always seemed effervescent and happy, although Vicki knew she had faced struggles in her life. Her long-awaited marriage had quickly ended in divorce. She had struggled to get a grip on her single life. 

She hadn't chosen it, but she decided she would live it with utmost enjoyment and satisfaction. Susan was active in Sunday school, in the choir, as a leader of the junior high girls' group, and in the church renewal movement. Vicki enjoyed knowing Susan. Susan's whole face seemed to smile.

One day Vicki asked Susan, "How is it that you are always so happy, you have so much energy, and you never seem to get down?"  With her eyes smiling, Susan said, "I know the Secret!"

"What secret is that, what are you talking about?" Vicki asked.

Susan replied, "I'll tell you all about it, but you have to promise to share the Secret with others.

"Vicki agreed, "Okay, now what is it?"

The Secret is this: "I have learned there is little I can do in my life that will make me truly happy. I must depend on God to make me happy and meet my needs. When a need arises in my life, I have to trust God to supply according to HIS riches. I have learned most of the time I don't need half of what I think I do. HE has never let me down." Since I learned that Secret I am happy.

Vicki's first thought was, That's too simple! But upon reflecting over her own life she recalled how she thought a bigger house would make her happy... but it didn't! She thought a better-paying job would make her happy... but it hadn't. When did she realize her greatest happiness?

Sitting on the floor with her grandchildren, playing games, eating pizza or reading a story, a simple gift from God. Susan knew the secret, Vicki learned the secret, and now you know it too!

We can't depend on people to make us happy. Only GOD in His wisdom can do that. Trust HIM! And now I pass the Secret on to you!

Not Going that Way

As you travel through life there are always those times

When decisions just have to be made,
When the choices are hard, and solutions seem scarce,
And the rain seems to soak your parade.

There are some situations where all you can do
Is simply let go and move on,
Gather your courage and choose a direction
That carries you toward a new dawn.

So pack up your troubles and take a step forward -
The process of change can be tough,
But think about all the excitement ahead
If you can be stalwart enough!

There might be adventures you never imagined
Just waiting around the next bend,
And wishes and dreams just about to come true
In ways you can't yet comprehend!

Perhaps you'll find friendships that spring from new things
As you challenge your status quo,
And learn there are so many options in life,
And so many ways you can grow!

Perhaps you'll go places you never expected
And see things that you've never seen,
Or travel to fabulous, faraway worlds
And wonderful spots in between!

Perhaps you'll find warmth and affection and caring
And somebody special who's there
To help you stay centered and listen with interest
To stories and feelings you share.

Perhaps you'll find comfort in knowing your friends
Are supportive of all that you do,
And believe that whatever decisions you make,
They'll be the right choices for you.

So keep putting one foot in front of the other,
And taking your life day by day...
There's a brighter tomorrow that's just down the road -
Don't look back!
You're not going that way!

~~ Author Unknown

6th Sunday of Easter

Today is the 6th Sunday of Easter. This holy season is ending soon. Next Sunday we celebrate the Ascension of the Lord into Heaven and the following Sunday we celebrate the great Feast of Pentecost. Now is a good time to assess where we are in our journey of growth with the Risen Christ as we prepare our hearts and minds to be open to the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.

For the past two Sundays, we have focused on Jesus as a role model. He is the ideal shepherd who guides and protects his sheep even laying down his life for them. Jesus is the true vine that sutains us so we can bear abundant fruit. Today Jesus presents us with another ideal, the ideal friend. What makes an ideal friend? The ideal friend is the one who is willing to die for us. Jesus tells us, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). Jesus chooses us to be his friends. And we keep his friendship by obeying his commandment, “love one another as I love you” (John 15:12).

Jesus proved his friendship and love for us by submitting to crucifixion and death. He asks us to prove our love for him by loving our sisters and brothers all over the world the same way he loves us. With every loving act we accomplish, we are sharing God’s overwhelming, unconditional, accepting and sacrificial love. In today’s second reading, 1 John 4:7-10, St. John reminds us that we should “love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him.” This is the greatest gift of love possible.

And so, on this Sixth Sunday of Easter we give thanks to God who loved us so much that he sent his son Jesus into our world to teach us how to love.

Ever-living God,

Help us to celebrate our joy in the resurrection of the Lord

And to express in our lives the love we celebrate.

Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

Who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

One God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

Spirituality is not a formula

“Spirituality is not a formula; it is not a test. It is a relationship. Spirituality is not about competency; it is about intimacy. Spirituality is not about perfection; it is about connection. The way of the spiritual life begins where we are now in the mess of our lives. Accepting the reality of our broken, flawed lives is the beginning of spirituality not because the spiritual life will remove our flaws but because we let go of seeking perfection and, instead, seek God, the one who is present in the tangledness of our lives. Spirituality in not about being fixed; it is about God's being present in the mess of our unfixedness.”

~ Michael Yaconelli in "Messy Spirituality

Boxes of Love

I have in my hands two boxes

Which God gave me to hold

He said, “Put all your sorrows in the black,

And all your joys in the gold.”

I heeded His words, and in the two boxes

Both my joys and sorrows I store

But though the gold became heavier each day

The black was as light as before

With curiosity, I opened the black

I wanted to find out why

And I saw, in the base of the box, a hole

Which my sorrows had fallen out by

I showed the hole to God, and mused aloud,

“I wonder where my sorrows could be.”

He smiled a gentle smile at me.

“My child, they're all here with me.”

I asked, "God, why give me the boxes,

why the gold, and the black with the hole?”

“My child, the gold is for you to count your blessings,

the black is for you to let go.”