Blog Archives
Joy Overflows
If you are joyful
it will shine in your eyes and in your look, in your conversation and in your contentment. You will not be able to hide it because joy overflows.
Mother Teresa said
Joy is very contagious. Try, therefore, to be always overflowing with joy – wherever you go. Joy must be one of the pivots of our life. It is the token of a generous personality.
Sometimes – it is also a mantle that clothes a life of sacrifice and self-giving. A person who has this gift often reaches high summits. He or she is like a sun – providing the safety and warmth which allows others to grow.
Joy is reciprocal
Think of someone you know who fits the “JOY” description. List three things out loud that they possess – qualities – that seem to be part of their JOY formula.
Here are my top three for the person I am thinking about:
1. This person is someone who has suffered – and yet, doesn’t let the pain, experience, or memory of that suffering shape everything in their life.
2. This person knows how to laugh at themselves…roll with the punches…roll their eyes at what life dishes.
3. This person loves…or tries to love…most of the time. Love motivates their patience and their presence.
I feel good!
You know what? It makes me feel good around them…it makes me joyful, too! Joy IS contagious – yet, a joyful person is not someone going through life with rose-colored glasses.
JOY looks at life straight on – with both eyes – and then blinks.
Yet, there is a price to pay for being joyful…I guess…or we would all be that way. Is our cynicism too precious to us?
Ok – so…two seconds…list three things that you would have to give up to be JOYful. What would it cost?
Worth the price?
Mother Teresa also said this:
We should ask ourselves, ‘Have I really experienced the joy of loving?’ True love is love that causes pain – that hurts – and yet brings us joy. That is why we need help, we must ask God’s help – we must ask for the courage to love.’
Who would have thought that love and joy had so much in common?
I want to be that joyful person that looks at life straight on and blinks. I want to be more loving. Some people would say it takes a village. OK – I pick you for my team! What if – this week – you and I tried to bring a little joy, a little more love, into our world? What would that look like for you?
Game On!
God Loves Slackers too
Does God love slackers?
The first gut answer that escapes the mouth before the brain clicks into gear might be a resounding “No!” After all, the old adage is true… God helps those who help themselves… right?
Then… after a few thoughtful moments, the brain says… Okay, let’s backtrack a bit. It is God we’re talking about after all.
Maybe a little while later, the heart kicks in and says… Hmmm… that whole Easter dying-and-rising-thing was for everyone… so I guess that includes slackers as well.
And then in prayer, the spirit jumps up and chimes in: You know, I might be a slacker… and I sure do hope that God loves me, even when I’m slacking.
I am a slacker too.
I don’t like to admit that out loud… like it even less to say it on a blog. But I’m human and so are you… so I’m banking on the fact that you might be able to relate to this.
I have dropped the ball frequently… on occasions when I had really good intentions but didn’t follow through for one reason or another.
There is a pile of laundry stacking up in the corner. I really need to sweep my floors. Dishes are filling the sink. I need to write some more blogs here. Nothing overly critical… but a lot of things I really need to catch up on.
How about you? What’s on your list of To-Do’s that need attention? What’s keeping you from crossing them off?
Procrastination
I could justify and rationalize and offer a bunch of reasons why certain things have fallen off my radar, but honestly, I can’t give you any good excuses. We all know that we make time in busy schedules to do the things that are really important to us. And so the deductive answer might be that none of these things I’ve let slide are significant to me. Except that wouldn’t be exactly true.
I love living in an organized, clean environment where everything is neat and tidy and in its place. I love wearing fresh clothes, walking on non-sticky floors, eating off of sparkling dishes. I love writing and sharing stories of faith with people. I suspect that all those are important to you… although perhaps you too have piles of laundry and dirty dishes hanging around. So what’s the deal?
For me, it’s procrastination. I have known for a long time that I work better on deadline. I always rise to the challenge of an impending due date… and frankly, some of my best work happens in a crunch. Still not an excuse for delaying.
I don’t really have any other best guess. I try really hard to not be a slacker… but sometimes my motivation fails. When I am not invested in a project or circumstance, it’s easy to let others carry the ball. I’m happy to be the cheerleader on the sidelines.
Eventually, it all catches up with me and I have to pick up the ball again.
God loves slackers too.
My great comfort comes in remembering that God loves slackers too… not just the ones who are always on top of their game. Not just the ones who can show off a clean and organized office or a color-coordinated closet.
When the rest of the world gets frustrated with me because I haven’t crossed every ‘t’ or dotted every ‘i’, I can rest assured that in the end, God’s got my back and loves me just the same.
So for all you blog-followers out there, I apologize for a sporadic presence these past weeks. It’s not that you aren’t important to me… you definitely are. I’ve just been a slacker. After our pre-Easter encounter with Peter denying Jesus and how he will be transformed in our coming weeks leading to Pentecost, I feel like I might be in good slacker-company.
Hope that you are not feeling like a slacker… but if you are, hold onto hope. God loves you deeply and all shall be well.
What? Me Worry?
Lots of us huddled in the cool air last night around the “new fire” that was sparking in the breeze. Overhead the clouds warned of rain, yet looking around me at the faces lit with only a small candle, there was something else in the air…HOPE.
Christ our Light…Thanks be to God!
Father George – on his 5oth anniversary of ordination, no less – called out from within the body, “Make this new fire holy, and inflame us with new hope!”
It was clear last night that the hope we long for – the hope that will ease the ache and sorrow of the struggles of this world – is so much bigger than ourselves. Our hope lies not in our own efforts to “put on a happy face” and wear “a stiff upper lip.” Our hope – that is meant to carry us forward when our own strength is drying up – is Christ. The Christ that is not conquered – by anything.
Christ our Light…Thanks be to God!
Over and over again in the readings this night we hear the same message made to everyone who has ever lived before us – “Unplug your ears! Open your eyes! I LOVE YOU and will not let you go!”
What seems crazy, unimaginable, ridiculous…becomes a reality! BREAK OUT THE PRESSES! God is in charge and “all things work for the good of those who love God.” Sarah, the ancient bride of Abraham, will finally have a child! The chosen people, stiff-necked and stubborn, will be led through the desert with a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night due to God’s pure mercy. No one will be lost. No one will be forgotten. If God counsels trust – and no worry – to my relatives in the old and new testaments, then I will embrace that for myself as well!
Christ our Light…Thanks be to God!
Fire transforms. Fire changes the substance of things. It is no coincidence that the church uses fire for the rituals which begin the celebration of Easter.
We hear, in Scripture, about “fire-tried gold.” At a certain temperature the impurities within the gold ore dissolve and melt away, leaving the gold pure, strong, able to be molded and shaped into something precious and lasting.
No other analogy needed here. We get the point.
In the light of Christ’s fire - a fire of love that burns without ever being quenched - CAN YOU ACTUALLY IMAGINE BEING LOVED SO COMPLETELY? – we can never be the same. We don’t walk out of that kind of reality the same way we walked in.
Lent is over. Today we celebrate being loved in ways that we will never deserve…by a God that just won’t call it quits on who we are. He is Risen!!! Alleluia!
I get it on one level and I don’t get it on many more…this is so much bigger than my head can comprehend. So – I am going to leave it to faith and stop worrying. God I believe – help my unbelief! Thank you for your love!
Spread the Good News!!!!
Grace Is A Gift
What if we changed it up?
Yesterday at Mass, Fr. Ed started his pre-Superbowl homily by asking us:
What if Commissioner Goodell comes on stage after the Superbowl and says to the crowd: “Congratulations to both teams! You played an excellent and entertaining game today and we are all very grateful! We’ve decided to do things a little differently this year. All of the teams in the NFL have worked hard and played well this season. And all of these teams are full of winners. So we are going to give the Lombardi trophy to everyone!”
What would happen?
Probably there would be a lot of angry players, coaches and fans. Superbowl is by definition a championship football game and there should be a designated winner. Right?
That’s how it’s always been.
A Still More Excellent Way
And then Fr. Ed went on to talk about the readings of the day. Click HERE to refresh your memory. We heard the classic words from St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians:
Brothers and sisters:
Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts.
But I shall show you a still more excellent way.If I speak in human and angelic tongues,
but do not have love,
I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal.
And if I have the gift of prophecy,
and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge;
if I have all faith so as to move mountains,
but do not have love, I am nothing.
If I give away everything I own,
and if I hand my body over so that I may boast,
but do not have love, I gain nothing.Love is patient, love is kind.
It is not jealous, it is not pompous,
It is not inflated, it is not rude,
it does not seek its own interests,
it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,
it does not rejoice over wrongdoing
but rejoices with the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.Love never fails.
When It’s Hard to Love
Love is the call of all disciples. When we give love, we receive God’s grace in return. But we know that sometimes it can be difficult to love.
Another priest I know gave some advice in a homily once: The surest path to heaven is to truly love your family.
Now, don’t interpret that to mean he actually knows how to get to heaven… but it is a piece of profound wisdom, don’t you think? Loving our family can be really hard… because we know them, warts and all. If that isn’t true for you, then think of those people in your life that you do know really well. Sometimes they do stuff that just makes you mad. Sometimes relationships are strained and need to be fixed.
When we can do the work of forgiveness and reconciliation to get back to a state of loving one another, God’s abundant grace can fill our hearts.
We Don’t Earn It
God gives grace freely to all who would receive it. We can’t do anything to earn it… only accept it as a gift. That’s what Fr. Ed was getting to in his homily.
Could we as a people get to a place where we would sincerely award the grand prize trophy to everyone? Or are we so inculturated in competition that we can’t see all people as winners?
Football is one thing. In the case of Superbowl, it is set up as a winner-take-all battle.
But in life, we sometimes do the same thing. The people on ‘our team’… the ones who look like us / think like us / act like us… should be the ones who get the trophy.
Everyone is the Apple of God’s Eye
But God doesn’t work that way. Everyone deserves special treatment. Everyone is entitled to receive the gifts God gives. Everyone is worthy to receive God’s grace.
Everyone. Not just those who work hard. Not just those who go to liturgy regularly. Not just those who have received the sacraments. Not just those who believe as we do.
Everyone is the apple of God’s eye.
A Prayer to Help Us Remember
We can easily get so caught up in our own lives that sometimes we forget how we are called to love. In those moments, we have a simple prayer from a simple man to remind us. Plant this prayer in your heart and print it out and put it somewhere to see it daily.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.Amen.
Lord make me an instrument of your peace. Let me be a channel of your grace this day and all days.
Wake Up! Beware the Ambush!
Southern writer Flannery O’Connor, with her eye for the grotesque and her ear for the bizarre, was so riveted by the reflections Jesus had regarding John the Baptist in the Gospel of Matthew that she wrote a 150-page novella titled after one of the lines: The Violent Bear It Away.
Unfortunately, like generations of Bible scholars before her, even a literary genius of O’Connor’s ilk could not quite pin down what Jesus meant by this strange statement. Like many of his sayings, it is both profoundly mysterious and more than a little disturbing. But one thing is clear: he is trying to tell us something more important about this spiritual path we are on.
First, Jesus is warning us not to get ambushed by our familiar old worldview.
The Kingdom of Heaven is nothing if not utterly surprising, and if we keep trying to comprehend it through a lens that makes us feel comfortable, we’ll never even get close.
For – whatever we think – it is no longer the simply the scholars, those who may seem to us to be wiser and holier than we are, who are winning the prize, but those, like yourself, whose longing for God knows no bounds…who are stepping forward in faith and hope and claiming for themselves what more cautious people have rejected.
Secondly, Jesus is urging us to wake up!
Throughout the Gospels, miracles are occurring and the great prophecies are being fulfilled, still we hesitate.
Despite divine intervention lying on our doorstep, we’d rather huddle inside, peering through the peephole at the Kingdom bursting with fire and light: God transforming the world while we watch from a safe distance.
Wake Up! Beware the ambush of apathy and familiarity. The coming of Emmanuel reminds us that we are here in this world only temporarily; we are really made for the Kingdom.
Wouldn’t it be great to know more about our ultimate destination than what the pretty cards of Christmas show us? Do some homework. This is YOUR personal destiny.
-Taken, in part, from Paula Huston’s writings
Our Ultimate Destination – Here We Come!
Putting Two and Two Together
The culmination of the Gospel narratives is when Jesus is ”resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem” and sets his face toward the city because “the days for his being taken up were fulfilled.” Luke 9:51
This is the end for which Jesus came, the purpose of his mission from God to this world, the goal that gives ultimate significance to everything that goes before.
Starting with the feasts of All Saints and All Souls and moving toward the end of the calendar year, we think about our human journey and our ultimate destination.
In the ultimate destiny of Jesus we discover the ultimate direction for our own lives. Our lives are about making of them the best and most complete gift of love to God for the sake of the human family.
In the saints, we rejoice in the gifts fully given and embraced in the eternal love of God. In the souls of our departed loved ones, we continue to respond to the call to help them in completing their total gift of self to God.
In the middle of our journey, in our own Jericho, we find ourselves crying out, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!” and saying, “Lord, please let me see!”
Lord, today let me see the ultimate goal of my life’s journey. Let me see clearly that I am made for eternity in God’s embrace of love and that I arrive there by finding ways, everyday, to give my life in love for others. -Father Anthony Oelrich
We Gotta Do Much More than Believe
What will it take?
We know that we live in an unprecedented day and age.
The world is immensely different than it was 50 years ago… vastly different than it was 25 years ago… hugely different than it was 10 years ago… totally different than it was 5 years ago.
We know deep down inside that next year will be entirely different than even today.
Everything around us changes at lightning speed.
We have a sense of life spinning all around us… but more often than not, it tends to prompt us more toward resistance than change. There’s a balance in there… between changing for the good and change for the sake of changing.
We have to be discerning. Not all change is necessary and not all change is good.
But when it comes to the big things… like changing our hearts / growing in love for each other / world peace / building the kingdom of God… change is needed. In us and in the larger world.
What will it take for us to move toward change?
Another Great Song
I shared that music video from the Dave Matthews Band the other day: Mercy. [<--- click to go back and watch it.]
Here’s another song from that same album… it’s called Gaucho. {<— click to go and listen on YouTube.}
As I was driving into work, I found myself cranking the volume on my CD player… the words and message were that good! Here’s a sampling of what I mean:
we gotta do much more than believe if we wanna see the world change
we gotta do much more than believe if we really wanna change thingsoh, my little baby
i’ll show you this movie
you know we landed a man on the moon?
i know its hard to imagine
but we could do anything
under the stars.
What legacy do you want to leave?
As a parent, my heart-strings get tugged whenever I think about what kind of world I want my children to inherit from me. And these days, we have a lot of issues to be concerned about… future generations stand on our shoulders… and I want to feel proud of what I leave in their hands.
This song challenges the mama-bear in me to start acting with more intention to shape a world that will be good for my children and their children.
We gotta do much more than believe if we wanna see the world change.
Again, we come to the heart of Christian discipleship.
It’s not enough to just believe. It’s not enough to just go through the motions. We have to act.
True disciples of Jesus put their faith in action… in every corner of their lives… in every conceivable way possible… in all the seconds and minutes they have breath in their lungs. Faith is such an intimate part of everyday living that life feels empty without it.
I really like this song. It reminds us all that we can do anything… we can live in the kingdom of God here in this moment if we choose to work for change. The world doesn’t have to be the way it is.
We have the power to make a difference now.
What will you choose to do?
Frozen and Fearful?
There are so many layers to fear. When we pay attention to what we fear most it is clear that there is a lot more at hand than the fear itself.
Think for a moment about this.
Some of us are afraid of heights, does that mean that the underlying fear is a lack of feeling safe?
Some of us fear the dark, could that be related to vulnerability, a sense of exposure, or trust?
Others fear tiny, creepy, crawly things about a thousand times smaller than they are – spiders, for example – and maybe the feeling of being “crept up upon” or the erratic, unpredictable nature of these creatures heightens awareness of a lack of control?
Years and years of intelligent study by many psychologists, physiologists, chemists, medical doctors, theologians, and the like, have resulted in substantial, valid theories of whywe fear what we fear – but, really – do you feel any less afraid?
The trouble with feeling afraid is that often we are too frozen by this fear to look at it straight on, with both eyes – we look at our fears ”sideways” with only half our attention, half of our focus, half of our brain.
How can we develop a practical approach to what we fear by applying only half of our faculties?
I admit that not all fears are created equal. 
Some fears – phobias – defy an easy fix or results based on will-power. We aren’t talking about phobias, here.
Fear of God?
The Fear of the Lord has been understood over the years as a gift of the Holy Spirit…one of the gifts we receive at Confirmation, to be exact.
Yet, deeper study on this gift will reveal that “Fear of the Lord” is actually meant as AWE. A “fearful awe” – as in “I give you thanks O God, that I am fearfully, wonderfully made” – which causes a deep sense of amazement and wonder…an awe which actually is filled with a deep love for God and a desire never to do anything which might possibly harm the relationship with God.
This is why ”Fear of the Lord” is considered a gift. The gift of Fear of the Lord also gives us the strength to keep our eyes on the prize…and not to let our eyes/our heart be swayed from remembering that God is there – when we are most afraid – most alone – most vulnerable.
I visited the Anne Frank House many years ago in Amsterdam. This is the house where Anne and her Jewish family 
spent the last years of their lives hiding from the Nazis. Ultimately, only her father survived the death camps. Otto Frank found Anne’s diary after the war, in which she scribbled her dreams for life, stated her unwavering belief in human nature, and struggled with emotions so typical to young teens.
Within the house is a bookcase which acts as a secret door behind which an entirely separate refuge existed. Upstairs, above Anne’s room, there is an attic. There in the attic is a window, from that window the steeple of the nearby church could be seen.
What do you hang onto when you are most afraid? When you feel frozen and unable to take steps forward, does something help you to focus so that you can keep moving forward? What’s in your back pocket - that works?
Does love play a role? Love isn’t really about what we deserve, is it? Love is free. With true love there is freedom from fear. You don’t have to work for this love – you already have it. You have been loved by God before you were born.
Jesus isn’t clueless. He knew that fear is blinding/freezing/spirit-breaking at times – he felt it, himself.
Trusting the Power of Love
The Empty Cave That Was His Tomb
Reflecting on the empty cave that was the tomb of Jesus and hearing the story of the Resurrection every single year might leave us feeling, well…what’s new? Jesus “did all the same stuff” last year. So, why are we still talking about Easter? The only sign of Easter in retail, right now, is everything that is on sale – cheap. The holiday is history.
Really?!
Actually, you and I know that’s true – this season, this day IS history! So much changed at once and forever because Jesus trusted the power of love. It might be simpler to believe that because Jesus was God and understood the message he spent his life sharing with others, that his murder and resurrection were just “part of the salvation package.”
Robot Jesus?
If we really believe that Jesus just played along with what was required without any personal investment, struggle, or connection, then we may as well believe that Jesus had no free will and that he was programmed – acting as a sophisticated robot. Our faith tells us that Jesus was like us in all things but sin. He wrestled with what he saw ahead of him. He wrestled because he loved his life.
The Measure of Love
I found myself reflecting a lot this Holy Week about what happened – visibly and invisibly – at the Last Supper. I was moved by the image of Jesus washing his friends’ feet. Sure, he used this as a lesson for all of us – but ultimately, I really think he pulled out the dish and towel was because he HAD to. He knew time was desperately short. He loved these guys. He couldn’t say it enough. He couldn’t show it enough. No task was too menial…he washed their feet because he wanted to touch them and say he would go the distance for them, every time, because of love.
The example was an odd one. Peter even wanted to dismiss it…”please, don’t do this – I am not worthy of this from you..” Yet, Jesus persisted. He was showing Peter that the ability to accept love is a pre-requisite to offering love.
The Easter story is all about love. God loving us. Jesus loving us.
If we let this reality get close to us – and not hold it at bay intellectually – then we realize Jesus’ Resurrection is not just about love but about the ability to trust love.
The only way Jesus could offer his spirit to God through his death and resurrection was by trusting the power of love. This is our story, too. Love is difficult to define. We have experienced situations when love has failed us. The amazing story of Jesus’ coming back to life through resurrection reminds us that there is MORE to our experiences of love than how it has failed us.
Trusting the power of love is what brought Jesus back to life again. Has something been dead inside of you that now begs for resurrection? Love has to play an integral part. What will it take for you to trust again? What kind of “coming back from the dead” will it take to trust the power of God’s love for you?
