Thought for the day...

Last night was the first night spent in our new home. This morning I sat outside as the sun was coming up and I was rewarded with a beautiful dawn that broke softly over the east valley and the mountains beyond.

Recitation of the Canticle of Zechariah took special meaning in the half light of daybreak:

In the tender compassion of our God
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

What a wonderful place we find ourselves in when we allow the Lord to guide our feet into the way of peace.

From St. Colm Cille

Here is the thought that has stayed with me today:

“Such a soul seeks the fountain of eternal life and drinks from it, although it continues to thirst and its thirst grows ever greater even as it drinks. Therefore, the more the soul loves, the more it desires to love…”

After years of trying to quench a thirst that could not be quenched, pursuing a relationship with a loving God has proven to be where hope is found.

Mary....

The first and second readings from the Divine Office today are strongly linked together. The first reading from Isaiah 11 is the famous scripture foretelling the birth of Jesus. I can remember pretty vividly when as a young man first studying theology how excited I became when I realized how tightly Old Testament prophecy and the revelation of the New Testament are woven together. The second reading shone a whole new light on the prophecy of Isaiah. Typical of many converts to Catholicism, I was slow to come to a full appreciation of role of Mary in our faith. Even now I still don’t feel completely in step with the depth of most Catholic's devotion to Mary but I have developed enormous love for her and when I am really frazzled, saying a rosary is the quickest way back to some degree of calmness. Mary was flower from Jesse’s root that bore the fruit that became the Son of Man. She was the mother of God and her role was fortold in scripture. When we pray to Mary, it is to ask for her intercession for us with her Son. She is not God or like God and we don't worship her but through her we workship the fruit ofher womb.

Thought for the day...

A thought stolen from the homily of Father Sean Raftis today:

"Forgiveness is an act not a feeling."


This means that often times we are asked to forgive while we still hurt. This requires courage and faith that in the act of forgiveness, true healing can begin. Foregiveness purifies pain and turns it into an offering to God.

Peace and Light

St. Gregory of Nyssa in a treatise on Christian Perfection wrote about two topics that have been much in my mind recently, peace and light. He remarks that if we are to think of Christ as being our peace, our lives must express Christ by our own peace. Similarly, he states that if Christ is our true light, our lives must also shine with the rays of the true light. Our call is not to just speak of being at peace and being of God’s disciple, but to demonstrate it. Profession is just the first step. The words of St. Francis comes mind: “Go forth and speak the gospel and, if necessary, use words.”

The spoken word can convince or convict, inspire or frighten, illuminate or disseminate the truths that define a divine relationship between God and his people. The essence of ourselves that is revealed to our brothers and sisters through our displayed countenance is what will change hearts and bring others to conversion. We should not just speak of peace but to be at peace with ourselves, each other and God. That peace will be seen by the world as a reflection of the true light that falls on us from the face of God looking down upon us as he grants us peace.

Seeking humility

From St. Cyril’s homily on Mary: “Of course no one could be prevented from living in the house he built himself , yet who would invite mockery by asking his own servant to become his mother?”

The answer, to our great benefit, is, of course, God. How can we struggle with humility when the master of the universe, motivated only be us love for us, gave himself up to mortal form born of a virgin destined to die the most humiliating of deaths? The reality is that we still struggle with our egos or at least I struggle mightily with mine. Look also to the example of Mary herself. She also willing accepted the role of mother when doing so subjected her to public shame. All of this is a strict reminder to me that my ego is not my friend. We all need to remind each other with the greatest of love but with equal urgency to put our egos aside and seek to be humble before the face of God and all of his people so that His will, not ours, be done.

Peace be with you.

"A need in the world meets a deep joy in me.”

"A need in the world meets a deep joy in me.” St. John Vianney
It has been ages since such a simple nine word sentence has had such a profound impact on my thought process.

As Christians we are constantly made aware of the need for good works. We understand the divine nature of charity and social justice. We are called to argue for the right of the unborn to live as fully formed human lives. We are asked to feed the poor and to educate the illiterate. Our calling is to make a postive difference in the world around us. God created us in his image so that we could love him to fullfil his commandment to love one another. And so we all do those things to some degree or another. We are adept at recognizing needs in the world that need to be addressed.

For most of us, however, doing good works is thought of as a sacrifice, to give of ourselves to others means that we have to give up something whether it ir our time, our talent or our wealth.

St. John Vianney, however, turns the whole concept of meeting needs as being an active sacrifice on its head. Serving the needs of the world is not obligation but an opportunity. We are not asked to give with regret and sorrow but to accept the opportunity to serve as a gift.

To love and serve the Lord is not a burden but a treasure. The Lord will accept all that we have to offer in His service but it is not his will that we do with grudging reluctance. It is His will that we greet the world with same joy that He greet us.

The reflection that accompanied the quote that leads this posting called it a discription of a call to vocation. In broader terms it not just a call for ordained vocations but also a call to the priesthood of the laity.

I see this call expressed all around me. Stopped at a stopped light this morning, I listened as a mother in the car next to me sang joyfully to her her children in the backseat. Her voice was not angelic or sweet but it was filled with harmony of love. I saw it again when a junior high aged boy stopped in the store parking lot to help an elderly lady pick up a sack of groceries she had dropped. My friend has long hungered to be able to go back to Indonesia to do mission work under the cloak of other work and she was able to accomplish the goal this summer. She found great joy in being blessed with the opportunity to meet a need in the world. The children in the car had a need to be loved and the older lady needed assistance in gathering her groceries before a passing car flattened them. The needs of both young and the old were met by others who were clearly happy to be of service.

I have to asky myself why is it difficult to be joyful when I consider the needs of the world that are made known to me? In my case it is because I worry that I will be asked give up something I need or want. Being self centered makes it difficult to meet the needs of the world with joy. I have learned, however, that happiness is a choice we make. Each day I have the ability to chose whether or not I am happy. If I make the choice to be happy then ability to serve with joy follows with ease.

Lord, we pray that we can focus on chosing joy so that needs in world we encounter become gifts not obligations.

Peace be with you.