has given us discernment

So this joy of mine has been made complete. John 3:29

Being Christian is a journey to warmheartedness. It is a journey to love, a journey of faith, a journey of loyalty, a journey of confidence. The destination is a close relationship with God. Being Christian is a journey of sacrifice.

Patience is a necessity which all Christians need to possess. Anxiety can cause doubt, can impair a person’s judgement.

Simplicity is a Christian’s best friend. Learn how to love unconditionally; learn how to love all mankind universally. The love that Jesus wanted us to share with each other is more broad, more powerful than romantic love and infatuation. Keep love simple, keep love humble.

Learn who is your beloved in Jesus Christ. Allow yourself to be silent, to look for goodness, kindness, holiness in yourself and in others. Remember that a Christian life is a journey. Remember to avoid complaining, remember to remain alert. As Christians we should always be ready to accept God’s request for us to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, accept God‘s request that our lives be filled with charity, compassion, humility, and obedience, and accept Jesus Christ as the only begotten son of God who will lead us to eternal life.

Each Christian is asked to believe and embrace love universal, love unconditional. It is important that we learn how to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. It is important that we learn how to praise and petition God. It is important that each Christian learns how give thanks to God. Having a close relationship with God is the primary goal of Christianity. Love, universal and unconditional, is a vehicle for faith, hope, mercy to be shared. This form of love is difficult to master. It requires a selflessness, it is completely unselfish. This love is simple, youthful, fair; the basis for this love begins with the social justice teachings of Jesus Christ.

Universal and unconditional love prepares each Christian to remain in a state of welcoming to all people encountered, especially those in need. As Christians we must be prepared to welcome God into our lives.

Pureness in thought and deed will help us find righteousness, help us move closer to God. Christian morality starts with obeying the word of God. We must honor and praise God with our entire lives. Our hearts, minds, and souls must become incorruptible to sin.

If we observe anyone sinning or if we ourselves are on the verge of sinning always remember to pray. Prayer does help. Use prayer to walk on the right road, to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ.

Learn the power and beauty of self-appraisal. Always seek to improve all your activities done for or all the activities in the name of the Lord. Examine yourself fairly, learn from your vulnerability, learn from your fear. Be fair, be just. Remember that you are human. Accept that you might fail, accept that you might sin. Learn to forgive both yourself and others.

This is a great expedition of faith and hope. Allow it to be your life’s great purpose and pilgrimage.

Always remember Jesus and the Apostles preaching and baptizing in Judea. Let your life proclaim that Jesus Christ is the true son of God and he is the true God.

Simple Thoughts

Being Christian is being part of a never-ending expedition. It is an adventure. It is a way of life. Words like morality, moralistic, morals, good character, incorruptibility, virtue are frequently mentioned. Being Christian is an exercise in charity, humility, obedience to God. It is not simply high ideals. It is action, it is reaction. It is prayer and reflection and hope. It is tears and laughter. Being Christian is an eternal struggle of good against bad. Being Christian is an intimate interior dialogue between the soul, the heart, and the mind. It is an argument. It is a choice. Being Christian is often difficult. Being Christian means saying yes to God, yes to sacrificing for God, yes to being obedient to God's wishes. Being Christian can be very public or very private. Being Christian means believing in and loving God. Being Christian means seeking out those others who believe and love God, too.

Courage is needed. Faith is required. Simplicity is needed. Love is required.

We have fellowship with him - December 28, 2010

Have the courage to allow yourself to be humble. First read the Bible. Reflect upon the lives and the decisions of each individual mentioned in the different books and chapters. Each person mentioned is important; each person provides a clue about acceptable and unacceptable behavior. Not all people in the Bible are humble. Not all people in the Bible are Good. The Bible provides valuable lessons about how to serve and how to love God. Humility is very important.

Remember to always share and present reverence and respect for God. Have the courage to seek the charity in others as a way of finding it within. Remember to praise those who need to be praised, to love all without condition, and to use each moment of your life to praise God, to love God, to serve God.

Allow your faith to move you closer to God naturally. Allow your faith to help you become God's loyal servant.

Strive for humility, avoid pride. Learn from the Bible. Love humanity with the entirety of your being. Have the courage to allow this love to direct you toward the heavenly kingdom.

Each movement taken forward in the name of God, for the glory of God, is important when done lovingly, when done with charity, humility, and obedience to God.

your redeemer is the Holy One - December 9, 2010

Whoever has ears ought to hear. Matthew 11:15

Different generations have had different people that they have listened to, followed, imitated, and been entertained by. Each of us have both the responsibility and the ability to share the Good News with others, to use our lives to evangelize. This does not mean fire and brimstone oration on street corners or in parks on Saturday afternoons. Each choice we make, each word we speak is important when it is done for the Lord. Each of our little decisions when done with charity, humility, and obedience to God’s rules can lead others to follow us, to deepen their relationship with God.

Our goal is to nurture and grow the grace of Lord in our daily lives. We must always remember to proceed with faith and love in Jesus Christ.

Our goal is to trust in Jesus Christ and to allow ourselves and our faith to be strengthened by the grace that flows from Jesus Christ.

As we search for salvation we must also want our neighbors to find and experience salvation. Our prayers are always inclusive, our hearts are always open, our souls are always filled with hope, love, compassion.

When you attend Mass listen attentively, actively with all your senses, participate actively with all your senses. Allow yourself to be vulnerable, allow yourself to listen and feel the words of the Good News. Allow yourself to be God’s “Beloved.” Understand and accept the responsibility of being God’s servant.

The Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist feed and nurture our minds, our souls.

As Christians we are encouraged to find our individual way to examine the beauty of living life following in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is so many things happening within our lives, so many opportunities to evangelize, so many questions to discern.

We each can and must create our own snapshot of our life with Christ.

a spirit of counsel and of strength - December 5, 2010

Allow yourself to cherish the Sabbath and attending Mass on the Sabbath. Allow this to be a day of charity, humility, and obedience.

Remember the half forgotten prayers of childhood, create some prayers with echoes from yesterday.

Within each prayer rests a portion of your youth, a dollop of all that which is good, kind, and holy within you

And so remember the comfort that prayer does offer

Each time you do acknowledge what you have done

Each momentary strength, momentary weakness

Each prayer does unlock childish memories of faith,

And of Easter, and of the greatest sacrifice you ever heard,

And of a candle-lighted Lent of abstinence and silence

Now, vivid, cinematic, asking me to discern.

Presenting faces of hope, faces of faith, faces of love; faces serving, faces following

Tragedy is the handmaid to all human beings

And yet, those who believe with their entire being

Will surely find salvation and eternal life with God.

I am thinking of a child's prayer now

Said proudly, happily before their father at mealtime.

Serve

Prepare yourself to serve the Lord. There is always work to be done. We must always be ready to volunteer. Make time to serve the God by working on a committee at your church. Find something which interests you. Find something which might help you learn something new about your faith. May you find a way to serve God. May you learn the beauty of humility, charity, compassion, and mercy. May your faith be strengthened by your effort.

Messages

I took the small scroll from the angel's hand and swallowed it. In my mouth it was like sweet honey, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. Revelation 10:10

What a mysterious reading! What a beautiful reading! What a great mingling of good and bad! How wonderful it is to receive the good first, then deal with the bad. All Christians should be encouraged to learn this chapter and recite it every day. Depending on how you want to interpret this chapter, it describes our daily lives as Christians. We have God’s love; God’s love asks us to make sacrifices. Our choices help us on our journey to salvation and eternal life with God. As Christians our choices are not always easy.

When I first read this chapter, I imagined this as a pharmaceutical commercial on television extolling why this new drug should be taken before mentioning the countless side effects. How sweet the pills sound to us until we hear about the side effects!

I like the scene of the angel, the scroll, and John. I like the idea of the angel standing on sea and on land. I like the familiar voice instructing John. I like the angel’s message, the order of the words. John is first warned about his stomach’s reaction to the scroll. His stomach is going to turn sour. So, this message will upset his stomach. Then, the angel told him that the scroll would taste sweet in his mouth like honey. How pleasant that sounds! How good that sounds. What rich symbolism this chapter provides for us to reflect upon!

As Catholics we accept our Faith. Being Christian is difficult. Each day there is a choice of goodness, kindness, compassion, mercy, and love to be made. Being Christian is complicated. Our eyes must be open to looking at the world, through both our eyes and God’s eyes. Our reactions should be his reactions. His love should always be displayed in our every action. Our lives should present a view of happiness and peace built upon a foundation of obedience, hope, charity, and love.

As Catholics we must be listening for God’s personalized, individual messages to each of us. We do not know when or how the messages will be sent. We simply have to be prepared to receive and to obey God’s messages to us. We must be ready to be faithful and obedient. Remember that God had a message which was followed by a message from the angel. We must be prepared to hear God’s voice and to hear an angel’s voice.

Doubt

Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “O man of little faith, why did you doubt?” Matthew 14:31

Our faith journey often resembles a quest. We search for patience, humility, charity, compassion, mercy both internally and externally. The search for goodness often resembles a dream of youth, when innocence, honor, kindness are valued seriously, objectively as part of the foundation for life’s vocation. We travel into foreign parts of our minds and souls when we allow ourselves to share kindness. We are able to glimpse God through our own acts of goodness and kindness.

As Christians we should expect that there will be moments of doubt in our lives. We will question are believes. We will question our actions, reactions, lack of action. We will question our prayers, when we pray, how we pray. This is natural. This should not hamper us. We must use our doubt as a tool which can help deepen our faith. Instead of allowing doubt to make you anxious or angst ridden, simply allow doubt to teach you about your faith. Doubt can restore Faith to our Faith with a combination of patience, prayer, reflection, and humility.

Always remember to be humble. Always look for goodness and kindness in yourself and others. The more you look for them the more you will find them.

Modern life used to use the metaphor rat race to describe the craziness, unpredictability, ruthlessness of our society as we, the people, worked to make a killing to afford big houses with two car garages with four cars, a golf cart, swimming pool, two ponies, six bicycles, a swing and two hammocks. Our material possessions became a short hand description, presentation of our lives and values. Our material lives provided a glimpse at our presumed live and values. Our private lives were hidden beneath the public expectations created by dressing this way, talking that way. Appearances became more important than reality. Knowledge is secondary to perception. The rat race does not want you to value anything. The rat race simply wants you to purchase this and that. The rat race wants you to meet the right people at the right places at the right time. The rat race wants you only to acknowledge those who can help you tomorrow not those who helped you yesterday. The rat race is built upon doubt, fear, denial. As Catholics we must always remember social justice. Both our prayers and our actions must reflect our understanding and love for all our neighbors, from anonymous, forgotten beggars bundled up with discarded, flattened cardboard boxes and sleeping bags to smiling, waving politicians in tuxedos and shiny leather shoes talking about global warming.

Doubt shall always be with us. Some days it will be stronger, others it will be weaker. Remember that doubt is natural, like sleep, hunger. The knowledge, that doubt exists within all humans should give you comfort. Do not fear doubt. Simply recall the image of Jesus on the water extending his hand to save Peter. Let that image raise your thoughts, your actions. We are all called to help our neighbors, to live lives that reflect, and follow the teachings of Jesus Christ.

The enormous populations of the world need our prayers, the beggars, celebrities, politicians they all need our prayers. Let there be no doubt about that.

An Opportunity

Remember that each time you attend Mass, there is an opportunity to learn more about God and an opportunity to share your faith with others after you leave. This does not require a recitation of the Gospel or the homily. It can simply be how you treat your neighbors, with compassion and love. Each moment of our lives should have some movement upward, higher, heavenward. Our gaze should always be upward, toward God. Each moment of our lives we should strive to avoid the mediocrity of sin. Our aim should always be toward pleasing God. Our ambition should be for eternal life and salvation. The arena of life presents us with an opportunity for prayer, penance, and obedience.

We must strive to be pure and triumphant servants of God.

Be ambitious then, with sincere prayers, keep love in both your heart and your life; remember to pray for something great for yourself and for mankind. Each of us will have only one life in this world, prayer will help us to make the most of it. Take advantage of each opportunity to praise and thank God. Attend Mass and pray as often as you can. Let your life be filled with the Good News. Each day increase your knowledge and learning about your faith. Allow your prayers to carry you higher and higher, closer and closer to God.

Allow your prayers to guide you to legitimate pursuits of love, life, and peace. Allow your prayers to guide you in the path to serve God. Allow your prayers to teach you fidelity to duty. We each have the opportunity to bring glory to God, to sanctify ourselves, and to be a soldier for God.

The Learned Men and Women Always Require Evidence, not Truth

The conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus continues in varying degrees today within all of us. At one time or another there is doubt. At one time or another we all want something concrete, something definite and visible to our eyes. We live in a time of information overload. We live in a time of outrageous claims and scary warning labels providing a litany of possible harmful side effects. We want to believe in Heaven, we really do! We want to believe in God, his love and mercy for us! Our secular world tries to convince us that there is no God, asks us to consider other ideas about creation, other ideas about the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. The reasons often cited is that there is no scientific evidence to support these theories. The secular world likes to provoke and promote this warfare between science and our Faith. We accept scientific evidence only because some learned men and women write learned documents contained multisyllabic words which other learned men and women read and pronounce true because the claims sound true and are temporarily demystifying. We must remember that neither science nor our religion are enemies. We must remember that the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus will continue within ourselves, within our world forever.


Our lives have purpose and meaning when we believe. Our lives inspire goodness, holiness, love when we are obedient to God. When guided by humility, charity, and obedience our intellectual activity leads us toward God. We do not need to see volumes of raw data, we do not need to see petrie dish samples. We simply need to look within our hearts and souls to feel the presence of God’s mercy, God’s forgiveness, God’s love.


Non-believers will continue to present their opinions, their evidence challenging our beliefs. As Christians we must continue with our prayers, our fasting, our almsgiving. We must continue being humble, loving, obedient servants for God. That is our evidence, our good works, our love for our neighbors. We live in a time where opinion masquerades as fact. Truth is often distorted. Everyone challenges everything that they dislike or do not want to accept. Authority is routinely challenged. Traditions and rituals are ridiculed and criticized. So irrational is the realm of the secular world, that extremism falls in and out of favor quickly. There will always be learned people, so enamored with themselves and their predetermined theories about God, Jesus Christ, Christians, that they miss the truth, the reality and beauty of believing.“If I tell you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?”


The truth is that there is evidence of God that can be readily, easily studied. It is right in front of all of the learned people. The evidence is also right in front of each of us, right next to each of us. Look around and see the evidence of God’s love and mercy. Look around and see the evidence of Jesus Christ’s life, crucifixion, and resurrection. We are all evidence. As Christians, we are believers in something which we can not see with our eyes but which we can feel and accept with our hearts and souls. Our good deeds, our words can inspire and encourage goodness, holiness, and love in others. We are not trapped within a petrie dish of tradition and ritual. We are God’s living, breathing, praying children who allow our free will to guide us toward heaven.


“And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

The learned men and women will always require new evidence, not truth. This is neither good nor bad. For our Faith to continue to grow there must always be debate, dissent, communication. Science simply creates a series of questions, a series of possibilities for us to consider. As Christians we are always asking ourselves questions about love, fairness, social justice. Following in the footsteps of Christ present us with many possibilities to experience and share goodness, holiness, and love. Each day, our choices should reflect and renew our baptismal promises. Our lives should present our love and reverence for God. Through all of our good works, all of our conversations Jesus Christ should be seen. The splendor of our love for God and our love for all mankind should always be felt. Our lives must have the splendid order of humility, charity, obedience to God, to God’s will, directing us, guiding us, protecting us.


“You must be born from above.”

Today's Gospel MK 16:9-15 - A Couple of Thoughts About Unbelief and Belief

How do we approach God? How do we live the Faith? How do our choices reflect our belief in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ? We live in time of media hype. Everything is promoted. Everything is commercial. Each day we have choices to make. Do we eat a hamburger or a salad for lunch? Do we buy Italian leather shoes or made in China shoes? There is so much advertisement trying to influence our decision with so much information, so many statistics, so many testimonials that it is often difficult believing any of it. We want to see the results with our own eyes. We want to see the data and make sure that it is correct. We are encouraged to believe so many claims based upon nothing. In many ways our lives are governed as much by a grudging unbelief in so many claims as it is by a humble, natural belief. Trust is often desired but takes it time arriving. We allow ourselves to be suspicious of new ideas, new people, new claims. If our eyes can not examine the data, it might be unacceptable.

When God makes his appearance in our lives how do we greet him? When God makes his appearance in our lives, how do we react to him? Are our Christian lives filled with examples of hope and belief or filled with examples of despair and unbelief? Existing with unbelief is easier than living with belief for some Christians. There is always something to challenge, to doubt. Belief requires a certain amount of trust, a certain amount of hope, and a certain type of faith and acceptance.

We often pray for God’s mercy, God forgiveness. It is not easy for us to show mercy to each other, to show forgiveness for wrongs and slights done by our neighbors. We often talk about loving our neighbors as we love ourselves. It is great to talk about loving our neighbors as ourselves but more difficult to do it. We can talk of living our lives to please God. But, actually doing it is difficult.

We are like the Apostles who after hearing of Christ’s resurrection did not believe it. We have so many ideas, so much evidence, so much information, so much proof that it is easy for unbelief in goodness, unbelief in love, universal and unconditional, unbelief in fairness, unbelief in social justice to fester into a coldness, a hardness of heart and soul.

Do we need to have seven demons driven from our bodies to accept and to follow Jesus? Do we have the confidence and hope to bear witness for God. With prayer and patience we will learn how to follow this request, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.”

We live in a time of such great intelligence and innovation in technology and shocking ignorance of the necessity and power of goodness, holiness, and love. We live in a time where so much of our energy is concerned with acquisition and consumption. The focus of our intellectual energies is often so narrow, excluding everything that is not essential to the present moment. We miss so many opportunities to be good, to observe goodness in others. How we live as Christians should not be influenced by the whims and caprices of pop culture or the secular world.

As Christians we must simply remember to live each day with the desire to please God. Our words and actions must always echo, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.”

Spiritual Deterioration

We must always be concerned with our own spiritual deterioration. If we are not careful, it can happen to each of us. Our secular world prefers soft lighting, dimness; sin and vice flourish and spread with the favor and assistance of secular obnubilation. Although we have electricity and neon lights, we live in dark times, the darkness is ever increasing, ever coarsening our hearts and imaginations. We must always beware of this. Our baptism provided each one of us with enlightenment. We must not forget that. We must find the courage and hope to continue and expand our spiritual activity. Our actions as Christians should always encourage the diminution of evil, vice, and sin. We must work to remove the glamor, the power of sin each moment of our lives. We must always promote living based upon the Beatitudes and the commandments. Our secular world offers a wickedly relaxing decadent slumber which we must always resist loudly, proudly with a sanctimonious fury. We have theology, we have devotion, we have God. With prayer learn how to avoid the formulaic traps of sin and temptation. With silence observe the formalistic strategies of evil and vice as they attack our hearts, our minds, our souls, and our God. Pop culture often behaves like a cruel dictator lavishing praise and attention only on the favored subjects. Remember and be prepared for sudden attacks on God, your personal faith, our religion. Not every laugh and joke is innocent and acceptable. Simply be prepared. Simply do not condescend to the unpleasantness, the impertinence. Remain at peace, with your mind fixed on God. Think of Jesus Christ. Trust in the Holy Scriptures. Your spiritual, intellectual, and moral existence is based upon “radical” teachings of universal unconditional love. Display that love reverently.

Ending

The month ends today. We have had thirty-one days to journey toward God in which we have passed through some picturesque moments of faith, hope, love; we have seen the extreme discomfort of others grieving, in Haiti. We have questions about life and death, being human, and the solution is not easy when there are only thirty-one days to examine, prioritize, negotiate, compromise.

As Christians we can observe every moment of life, and then offer up the experience to God in prayer. We do not have to become unhappy bitter refugees from life, from heartache. We must remember that life will always involve a little suffering. We all will be wounded, will be asked to make a sacrifice. Hope and love will protect uss.

Each day we must learn humility, obedience, charity. We must learn from our temptations to avoid them, and to help others avoid them.

Splendid winter weather.

Antidote

--Pray when you wake-up. Live your life based upon fairness, social justice and love. Make time to both read and reflect upon each book of the Bible. Let the teachings of Jesus Christ inspire you to revolt against all evil and injustice. Live your life with joyous expectation. Have hunger only for God’s love and mercy. Open your soul up to the idea of and responsibility for your own discernment to listen for and to answer God’s call. Seek the style and beauty of goodness and holiness. Allow yourself to be conscious of each impression of gentleness, softness, of hopefulness, of prayers, of reflection, caressing, encouraging—an emphasis, calm yet confident, contemplative and passionate, with serenity and loving humility. Sense the greatness of God’s love; allow all your labors to be an opportunity to praise and give thanks to God. Do not be obstinate and seek only definitions and answers; instead be mindful of your anxiety and nourish your questions; allow them to grow, to expand, to contract over time; let your questions change and mature with time, with prayer, with reflection. Seek silence. Seek forgiveness. Be compassion. Be Love. Pray, pray, pray and pray again.

--Pray the Rosary at least once a week. Find good faith inspiring books for reading and reflection. Create a life of humility, obedience, and charity. Concentrate only on improving the best qualities of your life; the love within your heart, the hope within your soul should be your guide. Be conscious of the presence of God within your life. Always show respect to God. Always show reverence for God. Keep good company. Pray, pray, pray. Remember the virtues.

Let the impression of your life be filled with the humility, obedience, charity of God’s loving humble servant.

Do not fear austerity; simplicity allows us to find and share our love for God. Let love be the emphasis of your life with him. Be conscious of every impression of charity, obedience, humility. Examine your philosophy, your ideas of self and community. Where do you position serving God?

Goodness and Holiness

I have been writing, for two or three hours without stopping; writing and revising and thinking. Should I add a quote from the Psalms? Should I mention Saint John Viannay or Saint Francis de Sales? What is my theme going to be. I must admit a very strong attraction and affection toward goodness and holiness, and a deep interest being a faithful, humble servant of God, but I understand my limitations and that I have many lessons to learn. I must accept both the mystery and the logic of being Christian. There are guiding principles. There is a definite philosophical foundation to Christianity. Faith provides a way to organize our scattered and fragmentary thoughts and ideas. Faith suggests that we use our reason power to further understand and to serve God. Faith provides us with the vigor to do what is right, to be righteous, to develop an exquisite sensibility filled with obedience, charity, and humility. Our philosophy is neither modern or popular but without fail it directs us to do the right thing, to be better people. Being Christian is a twenty-four hour , three hundred sixty-five day a year vocation. We must remember this and live our lives accordingly. We have intelligence. We have creativity. Our Faith offers compassion and continuity. Our Faith reminds us that we each have a limitless capacity for goodness and holiness which we have to develop, nourish, maintain and protect. We must remember to make time for prayer in our lives. We all need time for silent contemplation in our busy imperfect chaotic noisy lives.

Devotion

A another thought about devotion to God, instead of modern compromise, it requires action and obedience. I had the joy of seeing many members of the parish kneel and pray during the liturgy of the Eucharist; I had the joy of hearing the prayers spoken by the priests; and yet, the expressions on some of the faces, expectant, anticipating, reverent, as the words “Body of Christ” were spoken which were both beautiful and inspiring. All of this happened in front of me. I had a feeling that I was unworthy.

It is the most delicate of hours; the love of God continues to flourish, but our deliverance will be guaranteed only by the price of our efforts when we feel and share our charity, humility, and obedience.

I wish my devotion was covered with flowers, and singing. My greatest consolation is that I understand the necessity of goodness and holiness; in small increments my life is changing to include them; being a humble servant of God is a complete way of life.It was a deep consolation to be together till the end.

It is fine of Jesus Christ to have saved this drowning disciple by providing the Beatittudes. We don't always realize and understand the reserve and beauty of heroism there is in being Christian, and among the young spiritual followers who believe in and understand the principles of fairness and social justice.

In regard to our Faith, I may tell you that daily prayer and weekly attendance are important. But what is in our hearts and souls are equally important. Please pray and strive to keep your hearts clean and pure.

As for my state of Faith, my devotion is increasing, my love of God does give me strength and hope, my desire is to be a patient, humble servant. Each day I learn a little more about obedience. As a Christian I must always understand that my duty is to love everyone as I love myself and to be a willing, loving, humble servant of God. I must always be ready to suffer and sacrifice in the name of God. I must always work to have a clean undefiled conscience and an enthusiastic spirit willing to offer praise and glory to God through all of the actions of my life.

A New Walk in A New Year

Today a walk along Connecticut Avenue. Rigorous weather after a the snow. A pleasant interlude in these troubled times. I am still learning about prayer, trying to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, but I have happily a few close friends filled with love and patience. I have wanted to go outside with the camera and photograph the landscape, to see the beauty and serenity of God’s creation. These fine trees and clouds suggest the best in natural serenity, natural law of composition. Their are moral and ethical questions to consider, the impression of life in stillness leads me toward questions about how to be more good, more holy. I hope that in time I am able to develop my fortitude and patience.

The camaraderie of Church volunteer life energizes me, but I can't explain how. There is something to be learned each time I do anything for the Cathedral. Hope, Love, and Faith are rediscovered again and again, with prayer and devotion. Right now I truly want to learn how to be a better servant of God, a better servant filled with grace and obedience.

The good-fellowship of the Mass has been replaced by a finer solidarity and a praiseworthy community of believers sharing both the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. One of the advantages of my situation is that I can, as it were, observe others in their states of goodness and holiness; how wonderful it is to see such fine inspiring behavior. All the readings and the prayers, which are important to hear and important to understand, provide both spiritual formation and inspiration. Attending Mass regularly can help us all improve both our goodness and holiness as we allow ourselves to become humble servants of the Lord. Then the great power of the Mass occurs when we allow ourselves to forget our earthly trials and tribulations and look for ways to serve God which sometimes creates a profound, feeling of brotherhood which turns all hearts towards humility, obedience, love and mercy.

Attending Mass provides me with an additional time when God is the true focal point in my mind. Each time that I walk into the Cathedral I do feel unworthy of being there; then I remember my reason for being there and I feel better. Each time I attend Mass I learn more about what God is asking me to do, how he wants me to live my life.

There must always be time for prayer. There must always be time for sacrifice. There must always be hope. There must always be love.

Prudence

Having snow on the ground provides a great opportunity for reflection. Extra time has to be allotted for travel, a person's mind should be alert. An alert mind is necessary for contemplation about prudence.

Each person who describes himself as a Christian has the duty, the obligation discern his true good in every situation in his life. Prudence involves both his perspective, how he looks at the situation and how he goes about achieving his goal. Prudent acts must always be filled with goodness.

St. Thomas Aquinas described prudence as "right reason in action."

Life is filled with many choices. Life is filled with so much information from so many sources. So much in modern life stands in direct opposition to the will of God and to most Christian teachings.

Once a man develops and learns to trust his personal prudence, then he can understand patience. All decisions do not need to made quickly on the spot. A Christian must always allow time for special considerations. A Christian must always ask himself how this decision will impact the faith, hope, and charity of himself and his neighbors. Prudence requires a man to think of God, to think of loving God, to think of loving himself, and to think of loving his neighbor.

Prudence is always a sign of goodness and love.

Prudence develops and provides guideposts for each Christian's conscience judgement. Each Christian with trial and error learns how to determine and how to direct his thoughts, actions, and behaviors in accordance with prudent judgement. To be Christ like we must develop and employ prudent judgement of conscience.

In his/her daily lives each Christian needs the assistance of prudence as moral principles are considered, debated, and applied to particular circumstances; with prudence as a guide the Christian knows what evil to avoid, discourages doubt about achieving goodness.

The charioteer of the virtues is prudence.

Reverence, Humility, Obedience

Several lessons I learned about love as I observed holiness in others have helped me move toward God.

Let reverence be the guiding force in your entire life that directs your gaze toward the mysteries and wonders of life; as you observe God’s patience and mercy let your goodness in your actions and words be a persuasive witness to the power and the glory. We must remember to always share the gifts that God presents to us. Let grace always accompany your part in any conversation; season your thoughts with compassion and love. When a man’s heart and mind are filled with reverence for God, his entire life overflows with the fruits of hope, faith, charity, humility, diligence, patience, his entire life inspires him each day to love God more than he did the previous day, inspires others to imitate the goodness in his gestures and speeches, to move one or two steps closer to God,

How empty is a life without humility! (and yet humility is often absent or distant in many modern lives). As Christians in our lives . . . God requests that our daily lives be filled with a natural humility, with an undying kindness, with a glorious patience, with a brightly beaming diligence, with a heavenly charity, with a joyous temperance, and with a victorious chastity. Here, then, are some of the attributes of our faith which when applied to our daily lives will improve them by helping us to love ourselves, each other, and God with a more perfect, beautiful profundity. The humble man possesses and displays his faith and love in his gestures and sentences, but who is inwardly and radiantly rich in blessings and rich in hope. Nothing in our lives remains so unbelievable that humility cannot encourage understanding, tolerance, and compassion. Our lives must have humility. We must remember to have obedience for God’s laws. Humility and obedience are allies with each other, they provide strength for all Christians when we practice them out of love and faith.

And obedience challenges independent thinking minds, reminds us that God has given each one of us free will which we use with every decision; understanding is not always ready made for us but our lives provide opportunities to learn about how to serve the Lord. Obedience may be perplexing sometimes; a lawless, selfish heart calculates how to enjoy all types of earthly temptations, earthly vices by stabbing into the fabric of God’s love and mercy with all types of knives, daggers, and swords. Obedience to God is sometimes difficult. Many ecclesiastical texts have been written about this subject. Man’s frailty will allow him to be disobedient at noon; man’s frailty will encourage him to be obedient at nightfall. Such is the cycle of knowledge, hope, and love. Obedience is the foundation of faith, as all goodness and holiness are formed in our silences, our gestures, and our actions. The finest obedience is a blessing that which serves God joyously and accomplishes beautiful, divine things. Obedience is learned and improved each day of our lives.

In your prayers please remember to continually ask for God’s help with reverence, humility, and obedience.

Advent

I sometimes like to describe the world in which I live as a boisterous donnybrook filled with double entendres, dark horses and other delusions. Everyone enjoys talking decadence and hiding behind diplomatic immunity. We create conflicts and explanations; we destroy peace and hope.

If only our sins were naturally deciduous like leaves on many autumn trees, then our natural goodness and love could flourish.

Advent provides an opportunity for each one of us to examine ourselves, our hearts, our minds, and our souls as we prepare for the arrival of our Lord. The Church encourages us to examine our lives and to put things in the right spot as we move toward Christmas.

I like to think of faith as a covalent bond. Some people like to imagine faith as a coup de théâtre. Some need to look at any belief in God in the broadest, most extreme and exaggerated terms. Humility, charity, dignity, mercy, and love are seen as weaknesses. Nihilism is easy for some adults to accept as magazines, television, and other instruments of the media create a complacent world of ever changing adultery, ever accepting idolatry. Faith in God allows us to desire peaceful coexistence. Faith in God is the one efficient renewable resource.

We live in a world concerned with saturated fatty acids and sacred cows. We allow ourselves to be selfish, to live lives with minimal compassion, mercy, sacrifice. Life is a satire and we all know one or two satyrs.

As Christians we need to develop the skills to examine our lives and make adjustments to correct our lives, to move toward goodness and holiness. As Christians we must remember to love all mankind, to believe and promote social justice for everyone. As Christians we must acknowledge that our lives contain many unexpected tangent moments.

Everyone knows about the Ten Commandments; we have to follow them. We must find ways to incorporate the Beatitudes in our daily lives. As Christians we are called to be evangelistic about and for our faith and our God.

We are all called to be more, to do more, to pray more, to learn more, to hope more, and to help more.

Our faith needs to be an active and assertive part of our lives. A life of holiness encourages hope and joy.