Can Humans be Human to Each Other?

In recent news, we have seen bombings in Boston and now chemical warfare against civilians in the Middle East.  Why is it that humankind can not interact as human to human but rather with animal instinct as survival of the most powerful? It is society at its worst. It does not matter who we step on, what happens to the other person, or what means we us, as long as we get our way, our success, we win. Well it is not really we is it? It is I. That the person behind the words or actions is only interested in what he or she ultimately gets in the end. And we must be careful about lumping everyone in a particular group with those individuals.

 In His time walking among mankind, Jesus taught compassion, understanding, acceptance. In all that Jesus said and did, it was clear that the first step to conversion of belief in the one true God was allowing the individual the opportunity for a new start. To change lives and being anew. And yet society still does not get it. If I don't have the current 'correct' view, I am an extremist or right wing. I am a bigot or 'unChrist-like'. We need to remember that Jesus never condemned any for not accepting him. He would be saddened and continue to try to reach out for acceptance of the good news, but He never attacked others. Exception given for overturning the money changing tables in the temple. That's for another post.

  Even the Pharisees and Sadducees were constantly given the chance to accept the word of God. As followers of Jesus, we need to remember this not matter which side of an issue we stand for, we need to remember that on the other side stands another of Gods children. We have to remember that we have a right to agree or disagree, no matter how badly that may make us fell. And above all, we must remember that if some individuals forget this and go to extremes, it does not mean all who are on that side of the issue feel that extreme was right. We must forgive, accept and move on, else we are doomed to be visited by regret, despair, and defeat.

When the young man who desperately wanted to follow Jesus was told to give up all that he had, he turned and walked away because he could not change his life so drastically. And Jesus? He watched the man leave. he did not chase him. He did not condemn him. He did not declare him an enemy. He simply said that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. No one said following Christ would be easy. It sure hasn't been for me and my family. But we do our best. And we don't try to change our beliefs to fit our lives, we change our lives to follow our belief in the Catholic faith.

Desert

In the gospel of Mark, a blind man is brought to Jesusnand asked to have his sight restored. Jesus takes him away from every, out of the town. Jesus then spits on the man's eyes and He then asks the man if he can see. The response is that he can make out shapes but not clearly. The people look like trees, he says. Jesus does this action a second time and then the man's sight is restored.

 One might be tempted to say why, if Jesus is the messiah,did the first attempt to heal the blind man fail? It certainly appears that way doesn't it? It seems Jesus slipped up. But there are some very important ideas here that I find intriguing and exciting. And comforting.

Note that Jesus takes this man away from everyone,. Away from the town. Away from his job. Away from his home. Jesus takes him to the silence of the desert area outside the town walls. In the silence he is left alone with The Lord to truly find Jesus and here His voice.
  And then there is that failure thing. Remember that every time someone is cured Jesus never says,'there you go! I did it again!' He always tells the stricken that they have been healed by their faith. So there in lies the failure. That the man's faith was not yet fully matured, not yet fully ready for the entire healing process. He was not yet ready to see through the eyes of God.
  How great is that? That if we are not fully ready, if we still have a way to going our journey of finding God in this life, that Jesus will keep healing us over and over again until we can see as the Father, love as the Father, Live as the Father. And notice that this passage seems to emphasize that time alone with Jesus is necessary to get that process moving.

We must take the time out of our busy lives to pray. Away from our friends. Away from our jobs. Away from our cities. Away from our noise. We must find the silence of our deserted place and let Jesus being to heal us, for we all need some healing. After all, as one man once told me, the church is not filled with holy people, because if that is what the church is for, it would be empty. The church is filled with sinners trying to change their lives. Trying to be the best people they can be. Trying to help others achieve that same goal. Trying to find their deserted place.

The Good Shepherd

Today is good shepherd Sunday. The gospel reading speaks of Jesus taking care of his followers. But we need to understand the role of the shepherd, especially in the time in which the gospel was written.

  Those who tended sheep were the sole source of protection and guidance for their herd. They spent every waking and sleeping, hour with their sheep.their sheep became family. And the sheep responded. The herd knew the voice of their shepherd and when he would call, they would respond to his voice only, no matter how many other shepherds were calling herds. The herd would be protected at night in a cave and the shepherd himself would sleep across the entrance to the cave so that non of his herd could leave without waking him and nothing could enter without waking him. In essence, he was the gateway in and out.

Jesus is still our gateway. We affirm that Jesus is the way. That He is the good shepherd protecting us from this world's evils and leading us to a new and better life. But we need to respond to his voice in a day and age where many voices call out to us. The voices of society tell us all about what we should believe and how we should live and they try to yell louder than our shepherd's voice. The voices inside of us: regret, fear,failure, defeat, uncertainty yell just as loud in a desperate attempt to disrupt the peacefulness of out master's voice.
  We must strain to hear His call. To take moments of silence and listen for the whisper amid the storm that is Jesus beckoning us along the way, His way. We must pray, reflect, and respond.

Do You Love Me?

In today's gospel, Jesus appears again to His disciples post Resurrection. The disciples have gone fishing and Jesus is at the shore. There are a lot of things going on in this passage. Many of them seem to be minor type comments, but they are very meaningful facts. The disciples find Jesus cooking breakfast for them. Seems Jesus is always feeding his followers doesn't it? And why not? We are still fed by him through the Eucharist as he prepares us to be commissioned each week just as He prepared His followers in today's gospel.
  Then there is that little tidbit of exactly 153 fish. This may relate to Jewish numerology, but I rather like the following idea: the disciples were called to be fishers of men, all men. (Women and children too but as we know the bible is written in the male person). At the time of the resurrection there were exactly 153 known species of fish in the world. So perhaps the fish symbolized all inhabitants of the world. I kind of like that idea since we are told to accept everyone by the gospel regardless of their short comings or former life and teach them this new life in Christ.
  And, of course, there is the request of Peter. Do you love me? Three times even! Why three? Well, we know that Peter denied knowing Jesus three times, and this disturbed Peter so much, that he wept bitterly. But her is Jesus, asking Peter three times to reconcile for that past denials. A perfect example of ow God is constantly giving us a chance to heal our relationship with Him and continue anew, tending His flock.
   So now what? What does this mean for the new week and our own lives?
   Jesus has fed us at mass with His word and Body so that we will be strengthened to go out into the world, into our workplaces, onto the buses and subways, streets and avenues cities and countrysides. We have been prepared to reach out to all people we meet and to offer the good news of a loving, merciful, forgiving God who will never give up on any of us and always offer us the chance to turn into His loving arms and say, "I may not always show it Lord, but you know I love you."

Interference

Life can get extremely busy, as I have found out the past few days. While trying to write on my blog, which helps and uplifts me spiritually, many things in my current situation continued to get in the way. Requirements from my job, information gathering for my new job, preparing for an upcoming retreat, not to mention household and family needs, left little time for writing. Thank God for prayer.
  Now I have to wonder if this busy lifestyle that we create for ourselves is the work of other forces trying to keep us from hearing God's voice. I can't help thinking back to Jeremiah on the mountain, seeking God's call. Al kinds of storms with lightning, high winds and heavy rains kept coming as he was listening for the Father's voice. But when the voice came, it was as a quiet whisper on a gentle breeze, which would have been drowned out by all those other events.
  We keep ourselves so busy, that we do not leave time to spend with God. Even we we take our hour on Sunday, it may not happen. There is always a cell phone honing off during services. We can't get away from the distractions. So what is the answer?
  The answer is to take time to shut it all down. As I look toward a retreat this week, I am looking forward to concentrating on my own spiritual well being. My wife is currently taking care of her own spiritual well being this weekend . And if you can't spare a few days? How about an evening. Pick a night, shut off the phone, the television, the radio. Even for just a few hours and read the bible. Yeah, that book that you probably have somewhere in the house. Pick a passage and think about how it relates to your life. And hear the voice in the quiet breeze.

Let Go

You condemned the rich, Lord Jesus, because they have already received their reward, and you proclaimed the poor blessed because the kingdom of heaven is theirs. Teach us to seek for imperishable goods and to have confidence in your blood, poured out as the price of our redemption.

These days it's a bit hard to not seek riches. Things cost a great deal of money in this age, even if one just wants to get by. It is because of this fact that one can lose sight of what is really the more satisfying rewards.
Several months ago, my wife and I had to deal with the stark reality that the economy was taking its toll on us. I had a part time job in addition to teaching that I lost, due mostly to financial restructuring. This prompted a great deal of upheaval in our lives. We had to sell our house, simply because we could not meet the mortgage without the other income. My mom, who had moved in with us, was forced to go to a senior living facility. Mary and I moved to an apartment. This resulted in my switching dioceses and assignments as deacon. It was a bit unnerving to say the least. I had no idea if the move would even help. I was unsure if we could afford the new home, since my masters student loan was kicking in and had to be paid.  But we put our trust in God. We just trusted that everything would work out.
  Well, it has been almost nine months we are here. Things were a bit rocky as money became tight, but God provided. We have a lovely apartment. The new parish has accepted me with open arms. And, to top it off, a new part time position was offered and acquired that will give our budget a little breathing room.
    I can't help but feel that if we did not trust in Gods plan, and just concentrated on this life, things would have been more difficult. And the added bonus? I feel closer to my wife than I have in years, because we have more time to spend together. And there is one of those intangible rewards.
  So place your worries at the foot of the cross, whether they are emotional, monetary, or physical. As the saying goes, let go and let God.

The Doubting and The Divine

Today we celebrate the feast of the divine mercy. This day was established by Blessed John Paul II due to his own personal devotion to the visions of St.  Faustina Kowalska.  we celebrate the Father's mercy. What is mercy? Mercy is defined as showing compassion and kindness and releasing someone of a distress even if it is undeserved.
   We also hear, today, the story of the apostle Thomas after the resurrection. The story that labeled him as doubting Thomas throughout history. I remember a priest friend, Fr. Ed, who referred to this day as doubting Thomas Sunday. Interestingly, doubt is defined as a time of unsureness  or distress over a situation or possible fact. Hmm, there is that word distress again. So perhaps the relieving of Thomas's distress over his faith in the risen Christ is an example of God's divine mercy? Of course it is.
  St. Paul writes in his letter to the Ephesians that God in His mercy raised us, from the dead life we had through our trespasses, to new life with the gift of the risen Christ. So this scene that plays out of Thomas, depicts ourselves and our own reception of God's mercy.
  Let's think about all of this. Many have doubted the basis of our faith. That may even be true for some of us. Doubters will ask what proof we have of the resurrection other than these stories in the bible. Some have suggested this was all a great hoax to keep the followers of Jesus as followers of the apostles.
   Now if I were one of the apostles writing this story, I think I would have been a little kinder to myself. Throughout Jesus' ministry, the apostles never seem to get the real message of Jesus' mission. Jesus repeatedly tries to help them understand, but it never gets through their thick skulls. And now, after the crucifixion, they still don't get it. His body is gone and instead of understanding, they hide away in the upper room in fear and despair. Add to that the sudden turn around in their lives from that hiding to putting their lives on the line. I'm not sure someone would die for a hoax.
 But doubters would say they need physical proof, like an appearance. So here we are, followers of Jesus, gathered in this large room together, having the same belief in the risen Christ that others will doubt. And no matter how much we can say, how much we can relate what we believe, they will stand in our midst and utter those same words as Thomas, about absolute truth.
  And in God's divine mercy, Jesus will appear. We know it through our faith. He appears when we are together, today, in the real presence of the Eucharist. For, you see, poor Thomas, never really did not believe. He just had a moment of doubt. And in mercy was granted what was needed to help him understand because he never lost faith, just looked for confirmation. And we, who have faith, receive that confirmation today, in the body and blood of the risen king. And for those doubters, they too can receive the gift of faith through the mercy of our Father. All they need do is open their hearts to his divine mercy, and their eyes will be opened to His divine presence.

God's Calling

People have often asked me why I became a deacon. Was there a specific reason? Was there a calling? Initially, when these question began to be proposed to me, I responded that there was a calling of sorts back in grammar school. I had thoughts of the priesthood since then. But after a visit this week with my mother, I was reminded of a calling much earlier than this.

Let me begin with the first comment. As we were closing in on graduation from St. Robert Bellarmine School in Bayside, New York, the priests came to the classroom and spoke with the boys about the priesthood. If it was a consideration, we were encouraged to go the Cathedral Preparatory High Scool Seminary. Here was an all boy school with a student base of young men who were considering the priesthood as an option. I was intrigued. In fact I sort of thought the idea was  kind of interesting, serving God's people. However, there were other pressures to go elsewhere. My parents were not sure if the priesthood was right. At that time I had a problem dealing with death, so perhaps that was a consideration. I also had the I intrigue of the opposite sex, and that was a totally different consideration. I chose St Francis Prep High School.

At St. Francis, during junior year, I was considering the priesthood again. I began to speak with Msgr.  Coney, then Fr. Cooney, about the possibility. I was meeting with him on a not so regular basis. At that same time, I began to date a young lady,who would eventually become my wife. Fr. Jim  thought that perhaps my interest in the priesthood was not as exclusive as it should be and advised me to wait. I had no problem with that, since I had fallen in love with my future wife and was not sure how to tell him this.

Mary and I attended the same college, married right after and started our family. Years later, while we were both active in the parish music ministry, I heard a description of the ministry of deacon at a mass on vocation Sunday. I was intrigued and Mary supported my desire to check it out. The rest, as they say, is history.

But here the story does not end. After ordination. After my run in with dark figures (see earlier post). I began to see faces and events in my mind as I prepared for sleep. These are people I had never seen before and I events that I do not recognize. I have tried relating them to my own life experiences or thoughts at the time, but there is o connection and they are never the same. Up until recently, I was an observer of a silent show. The events would take place, but I would see them and here nothing. I have discussed this with several people, priests and lay persons, and my conclusion is that Godis sending these to me for a reason, I just have not understood what that reason is yet.

Now here is the interesting part. While visiting my mother, she reminded me that I could ot sleep well when I was younger. She said I complained that as I tried to go to sleep I would hear voices. Suddenly I saw a connection. I had forgotten this fact and immediately related the recalled events with theses new mages I am seeing. And, perhaps there in was my problem dealing with death.

Although I am still trying to make sense of all this, me thing has e come extremely clear to me. God called me at a very young age. The plan was always for me to be in His service. And the call continues. I am just on a very slow path to discerning what that call fully means.

So perhaps you too are called by God. Perhaps. You too are having a hard time hearing or nderstanding His voice. Perhaps you too should sit in the stillness and pray, 'O Lord, what are you trying to tell me today?' I pray this at night, and He continues to to tell me, I just need to continue to try to understand.

The Narrow Way

“The Narrow Gate. * “Enter through the narrow gate;* for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few.”

This is the statement that Jesus made to His followers regarding the path to everlasting life. I can't help but think how our society keeps trying to construct its own path to eternal life, widening the ideals that Jesus set forth by trying to reinterpret Christ's words.

Now I understand that there has to be some interpretation of scripture based on the time frame in which the events took place. I agree that the parables were based on the understanding of the time and need to be interpreted as to how the message speaks to us today. But in this passage, these are direct words. Jesus tells us that the way is not easy. Jesus tells us that it is a tight line to toe to get to heaven. So why is it that mankind keeps trying to reinvent how narrow the path really is?

Society will have us believe that we can change the requirements based on current times, current trends, new information, better knowledge. In some aspects this may be so. But the root of our entry to heaven is how we live our lives, and do we follow Jesus' way.

Yes, Jesus called us to love one another and accept the downtrodden and outcasts. But there is an aspect here that many fail to acknowledge. When tax collectors, prostitutes, thieves and lepers were called to follow, they were also asked to change their lives. To tax collectors, Jesus asked them to extort no more money, only collect what had to be collected. To thieves and prostitutes, He asked of them to sin no more, no more theft or adultery.  To the lepers and the blind, He healed them thus changing them from their former lives. He did not adapt the way. He did make following the path to eternal life easier for them because they were different, or in a different situation. He simply prepared them to follow His way.

This is why it so difficult for us to follow the narrow path. We are humans and prone to stumbling and society keeps throwing more things in our path. And all of us, you, me, ordained, non-ordained, struggle with this journey every day of our lives. The best we can do is keep trying to stay on the path and helping each other to stay on the path. How? By sharing the love of God first, that all are welcome. Then, by sharing the calling of God, that our lives are changed.

I Am Not Worthy

Lord I am not worthy for you to enter under my roof. These are some of the new words that have ow become so natural for all of us as we attend mass. It recalls the song of years ago

O Lord I am not worthy
That Thou should'st come to me,
But speak the words of comfort,
My spirit healed shall be. 

These words should be the beginning of any repentance. I have spoken of forgiveness previously, but to receive forgiveness, one must first repent. To truly be sorry for an action or thought. It is this, and only this, that places us in the proper ideal of humbleness in which we can be ready to ask and receive forgiveness. We have all had the experience of a friend or loved one saying they are sorry, but in the tone of voice or action, we can see that they really do not believe their own words. They may be saying theses things to move on, but the forgiveness is not there. In a similar way, if we seek forgiveness, we must truly want it. To ask for forgiveness when we see nothing wrong in what we have done or said gains nothing.
  Anyone who was forgiven by Jesus or was healed by Jesus did so because of their own faith in Him.
They were ready to receive what they sought. The understood their own unworthiness and that the forgiveness and healing was at the option of our Lord. This is the same for us, whether we seek forgiveness from God or from a friend or loved one. We need to understand that the option of forgiveness is from whom we ask it, and we are unworthy to just take it. 
  So we try to live our lives knowing we will always be unworthy. We try to live knowing we should always be humble. But if we do, we will hear words of comfort from others as well as Jesus. And our spirit will be healed and at peace.