Showing posts with label kindness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kindness. Show all posts
Saturday, January 22, 2011
This is called the Holy Place
Eternal redemption is the reward, our goal for creating and living with kindness and truth in our hearts. As Christians we must remember to give thanks and praise to God. We must always thank him for the many blessings he have given to us. We must always thank him for the many sacrifices he has made for us. The Passion of Christ should always be in the mind, heart, and soul of every Christian. We must remember that we are asked to avoid sin and to worship the living God. The conscience of each Christian must avoid the evil, fear, hate, envy; anything which would inhibit or block a relationship with God must be avoided. Prayer must be used in this time. The unblemished, loving offering of his life gives Christ an importance for all Christian; an importance and a model. We as Christians are asked to make sacrifices, to learn forgiveness, to cleanses our consciences of all vice, all evil and wicked thoughts. Satan waits to tempt everyone. No one is immune to temptation. With the help of the Holy Spirit and God we can learn how to avoid and to overcome temptation. We can learn how to nurture love, hope, kindness, goodness, holiness and truth in our entire being so that our soul may become filled with charity, humility, obedience, compassion, and mercy. Christians continually seek redemption; we continually pray for it for ourselves and for others.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Know the Lord
What is the reason that we are all Christians? What are we trying to do? How are we trying to do it? As Christians we are all asked to love and serve the Lord. We are given the Ten Commandments and asked to obey them. We are given the Beatitudes. We are given one additional request to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. We are asked to praise and give thanks to God. We are encouraged to pray to God. What is the real purpose for all of this activity? What will happen to each of us if we do it with love in our hearts, kindness in our souls, honor and holiness in our minds? Our entire being as Christians is a preparation for our eternal life with God. Each moment of each day we are asked to work for our salvation. Each moment of each day we are asked to be compassionate, humble, merciful. Each moment of each day we are asked to work to please God. Our daily lives give us opportunities to serve God. We must work to establish, nurture, and protect a relationship with God. The most important relationship for a Christian is his/her relationship with God. Wanting salvation by itself is meaningless, completely worthless unless we want to know the Lord. Prayer is essential to this. We must learn how to pray. We must make time for prayer in our lives. Prayer filled with kindness, truth, goodness, love, holiness and hope can lead us to closer relationships to God. As Christians we must take time to listen for God's voice, God's gentle call. We are all living, breathing, articulating, gesticulating members of God's ministry. We must understand this with the entirety of our being and then use our lives to share the Good News with everyone with whom we interact. Our actions as Christians are often more important than our words. Each generation searches for something new, something improved. Each generation listens to the campaign promises. Christians have been given a better covenant with better promises. We simply have to believe. We simply have to remember our baptismal promises and try to live a better, more loving life of charity, humility, and obedience. Our purpose here is not to purchase the biggest house, wear the trendiest clothes. Our purpose is to love and serve God. Our purpose is to prepare ourselves for eternal life, to prepare ourselves for salvation.
Friday, January 7, 2011
he would withdraw to deserted places to pray
Listening to the Liturgy of the Word should be an active process, the entire mind should be engaged with each word that is spoken during this time. The Bible is filled with activity. People are always moving around, obeying God, disobeying God. The people in the Bible are always up to something. Although the Bible does not mention texting, email, smart phones, the people of the Bible knew how to communicate with one another without using a telephone or Facebook or Twitter or Youtube. The People of the Bible were good at getting the message.
Jesus was a very busy person. He was always on the go, moving from town to town. His ministry involved motion, involved going to the people, involved listening to the people, involved serving the people. Jesus did not limit his ministry to one neighborhood in one town. He was in Nazareth, Capernaum, Bethabara, Cana, Galilee.
Two Thousand years later there is something magical, something powerful in the names of these places and the connection to Jesus. His ministry moved from the countryside to the synagogue to the countryside. His ministry moved along country roads and city streets.
His message was simple love God and love each other. His message was radical then, and is still radical now.
Even with all the moving about from town to town Jesus always found time to pray.
Christianity asks each believer, each Christian to spread the Good News, to share their blessings and gifts with others, to praise and love God each day. Christianity asks each believer to join a journey of goodness, holiness, kindness, to join a journey of faithfulness and loyalty to God.
It is important to always be attentive, to always be listening for the voice of God. Being Christian often involves a period of discernment, of contemplating, praying reflecting on how to move closer to God, on how to serve God.
Each day there are signs of the Holy Spirit in our lives, encouraging us to pray, encouraging us to help others, encouraging us to avoid temptations and distractions. Each day there are signs of the Holy Spirit directing us toward God, directing us to the path of Jesus. Each day there are signs of the Holy Spirit asking each of to be active Christians, loving and serving God, loving each other unconditionally.
Even with our busy lives of work, family, friends, volunteer activities, each Christian should find time to pray.
Each day I wonder what Nazareth, Capernaum, Bethabara, Cana, Galilee were like when Jesus was alive and moving from town to town. Each day I wonder if there is something more that I could be doing to love and serve God.
A sense of courage is needed. A sense of humor is required. Simplicity is needed. Love is required. Being Christian requires active listening, active participation. Being Christian requires gracious words, loving deeds.
Jesus was a very busy person. He was always on the go, moving from town to town. His ministry involved motion, involved going to the people, involved listening to the people, involved serving the people. Jesus did not limit his ministry to one neighborhood in one town. He was in Nazareth, Capernaum, Bethabara, Cana, Galilee.
Two Thousand years later there is something magical, something powerful in the names of these places and the connection to Jesus. His ministry moved from the countryside to the synagogue to the countryside. His ministry moved along country roads and city streets.
His message was simple love God and love each other. His message was radical then, and is still radical now.
Even with all the moving about from town to town Jesus always found time to pray.
Christianity asks each believer, each Christian to spread the Good News, to share their blessings and gifts with others, to praise and love God each day. Christianity asks each believer to join a journey of goodness, holiness, kindness, to join a journey of faithfulness and loyalty to God.
It is important to always be attentive, to always be listening for the voice of God. Being Christian often involves a period of discernment, of contemplating, praying reflecting on how to move closer to God, on how to serve God.
Each day there are signs of the Holy Spirit in our lives, encouraging us to pray, encouraging us to help others, encouraging us to avoid temptations and distractions. Each day there are signs of the Holy Spirit directing us toward God, directing us to the path of Jesus. Each day there are signs of the Holy Spirit asking each of to be active Christians, loving and serving God, loving each other unconditionally.
Even with our busy lives of work, family, friends, volunteer activities, each Christian should find time to pray.
Each day I wonder what Nazareth, Capernaum, Bethabara, Cana, Galilee were like when Jesus was alive and moving from town to town. Each day I wonder if there is something more that I could be doing to love and serve God.
A sense of courage is needed. A sense of humor is required. Simplicity is needed. Love is required. Being Christian requires active listening, active participation. Being Christian requires gracious words, loving deeds.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Hear Them
Learn all you can about love; learn the meaning of love; learn the signs of love; learn all you can about Jesus Christ, his life, his times, his ministry, his death, his resurrection. Allow the knowledge about Jesus Christ guide you toward holy living. Learn how to lift up your soul and others. Seek and understand goodness and kindness. Fill your mind with the Good News and words from good books. Allow yourself to remain ignorant of about much of the secular world when it goes against the laws and wishes of God, when it blocks access to God with deceit, deception, distraction, diversion. Learn to confess your sins frequently as needed. Always strive to be humble. Always read and reflect on the Word of God. Search for ways to serve and to obey God. Remember that life begins with love.
Are you a member of God's flock? Are you one of the herd? Is this your weekly rendezvous? How do you consociate with God? It is time to be lionhearted for God, to display a bold dauntlessness defending the faith, to share a compassionate valiance in the name and glory od God.
Allow charity, humility, obedience to help create the hypotenuse of your relationship with God; explore the hypostasis of love, universal and unconditional; and seek the essence of goodness, kindness, and holiness within your soul.
Are you a member of God's flock? Are you one of the herd? Is this your weekly rendezvous? How do you consociate with God? It is time to be lionhearted for God, to display a bold dauntlessness defending the faith, to share a compassionate valiance in the name and glory od God.
Allow charity, humility, obedience to help create the hypotenuse of your relationship with God; explore the hypostasis of love, universal and unconditional; and seek the essence of goodness, kindness, and holiness within your soul.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
A Moment Please - January 1, 2011
It is great to begin a new year wishing everybody warmheartedness. It is great to begin each year with an expanding feeling of tenderheartedness. Now, prepare for the journey thru the next twelve months. Accept that each day will not allow you to feel "fine and dandy" but resist the temptation to complain. Now is the time to accept life, to accept all that is presented with great humility. Embrace pain and adversity with love and charity. Avoid anger and rudeness. Allow yourself to welcome the mystery and beauty of each moment of your life. Avoid rushing, avoid anxiety. Time does not stop for a slice of apple pie but you can. Always remember to pray. Always remember to praise God each and every day. Always remember to give thanks to God, each and every day. Always remember to love God forever.
Do not be afraid to be moral. Allow yourself to use the lessons of the Bible to develop your moral code. Love, universal and unconditional, is the foundation of moral integrity. Avoid jealousy, selfishness. Look to those who exhibit qualities of charity, humility, obedience, mercy, goodness, holiness, kindness, and love. Learn from those. A good character leads to honor, honor leads to virtue, virtue leads to God. Always move toward God.
Live a life that is favorable to God; listen for God's request; allow yourself to make loving sacrifices for and to God.
Let each second of your life be in service of God, each second be lived with the wonder and mystery and newness of a first pilgrimage, a grand pilgrimage of love, obedience, and service.
Do not be afraid to be moral. Allow yourself to use the lessons of the Bible to develop your moral code. Love, universal and unconditional, is the foundation of moral integrity. Avoid jealousy, selfishness. Look to those who exhibit qualities of charity, humility, obedience, mercy, goodness, holiness, kindness, and love. Learn from those. A good character leads to honor, honor leads to virtue, virtue leads to God. Always move toward God.
Live a life that is favorable to God; listen for God's request; allow yourself to make loving sacrifices for and to God.
Let each second of your life be in service of God, each second be lived with the wonder and mystery and newness of a first pilgrimage, a grand pilgrimage of love, obedience, and service.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
ABUNDANT JOY AND GREAT REJOICING - December 25, 2010
training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age Titus 2:12
It was a time of warmheartedness, a time of tenderheartedness surrounded by hope. There were thick white candles with delicate orange flames reaching toward the ceiling, dancing toward heaven.
How easy it is to forget the journey, to allow the moment, this minute to dominate the mind, the imagination. Life does not stop. Each minute flows into the next. Minutes flow into hours; hours flow into days. The journey continues whether we are prepared or not, whether we are able to upgrade or not. There is always motion, always a need for patience.
And here is a moment of delicate welcome, the lingering embrace of remembrance and forgiveness which recalls yesterday's hope, yesterday's love.
This is a moment of familiar songs, familiar sayings. For this instance the thick white candles offer reassurance, offer hope, offer continuity and faith. Here in this instance each individual is fine and dandy, each individual cannot complain. Here is a moment when good is allowed to triumph!
This is a moment of red and white and green leaves. This is a moment of soft lighting. This is a time to remember to be moral, to remember the Church's moral code. How romantic and perfect this night appears with the white lights on the evergreen trees. What a great moment to reflect upon personal morals. Each Christian is asked to live a morally-sound life of goodness, kindness, holiness; of charity, humility, and service to God. Each day provides opportunities for moralistic evaluations and decisions. Each day provides opportunities for honor, good character. Remember that each candle has one purpose: to provide light. High ideals are great companions to have as we walk on the right road, following the footsteps of Jesus Christ.
Sharing love and hope freely, gently is always a boon. Each day we are given an opportunity to exalt the goodness, the mercy, the presence of God in our lives. We constantly make choices. We must remember to do what is productive for God, what is beneficial to God. As Christians, God must always be an active part of our individual decision making process.
The candles stand guard, patiently sacrifice their wax to provide light. Allow each Mass to be a pilgrimage, an expedition to holiness, to love universal and unconditional.
It was a time of warmheartedness, a time of tenderheartedness surrounded by hope. There were thick white candles with delicate orange flames reaching toward the ceiling, dancing toward heaven.
How easy it is to forget the journey, to allow the moment, this minute to dominate the mind, the imagination. Life does not stop. Each minute flows into the next. Minutes flow into hours; hours flow into days. The journey continues whether we are prepared or not, whether we are able to upgrade or not. There is always motion, always a need for patience.
And here is a moment of delicate welcome, the lingering embrace of remembrance and forgiveness which recalls yesterday's hope, yesterday's love.
This is a moment of familiar songs, familiar sayings. For this instance the thick white candles offer reassurance, offer hope, offer continuity and faith. Here in this instance each individual is fine and dandy, each individual cannot complain. Here is a moment when good is allowed to triumph!
This is a moment of red and white and green leaves. This is a moment of soft lighting. This is a time to remember to be moral, to remember the Church's moral code. How romantic and perfect this night appears with the white lights on the evergreen trees. What a great moment to reflect upon personal morals. Each Christian is asked to live a morally-sound life of goodness, kindness, holiness; of charity, humility, and service to God. Each day provides opportunities for moralistic evaluations and decisions. Each day provides opportunities for honor, good character. Remember that each candle has one purpose: to provide light. High ideals are great companions to have as we walk on the right road, following the footsteps of Jesus Christ.
Sharing love and hope freely, gently is always a boon. Each day we are given an opportunity to exalt the goodness, the mercy, the presence of God in our lives. We constantly make choices. We must remember to do what is productive for God, what is beneficial to God. As Christians, God must always be an active part of our individual decision making process.
The candles stand guard, patiently sacrifice their wax to provide light. Allow each Mass to be a pilgrimage, an expedition to holiness, to love universal and unconditional.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Assemble and listen - December 17, 2010
There is but one thing necessary thing in life. That is to know and love God; to have God within your heart, mind, and soul; to have the benefits of God within your entire being.
It is essential that we learn how to approach and how to adore God, both during Mass and outside of Mass, inside of a church and outside of a church. Personal resources will have to be developed to seek and to experience divinity. We must learn how to detach ourselves from our possessions, from our thoughts, from all things which might be taken, all things which might be lost. It is important, absolutely essential to understand and believe what is eternal. Everything in life which is not eternal is temporary, simply borrowed. All those things which help us gain admittance to heaven are real, are beautiful when they are used appropriately for the glory and love of God. As Christians we are asked to learn, to adore, to understand, to accept, to experience, to share, to teach about God, about his love and mercy for each of us, about loving our neighbors as we love ourselves. This is a responsibility. This is our duty. This is God’s law, God’s plan. When we follow it, we experience happiness, we move closer to God, closer to heaven. When we truly, honestly, deeply love and serve God nothing can stop us, not even death. The purpose of our Christian life is to develop a peaceful mind, to discover and extoll the presence of God, to discern how to better serve God. Being in communion with God, listening to and following his instruction is the goal. There is no reason to have fear. Let the love for God give you strength. Let it teach you to sacrifice, teach you to pray, teach you to love, teach you to live with the beauty and peace of the principles of fairness and social justice as taught by Jesus Christ. All moral thought and ethics will begin with love and loyalty to God. Let his will act as your guide. All greatness exists for those who do his work patiently, lovingly, gently. Being Christian means allowing and wanting God to dwell within our beings, our complete beings and wanting this completely and consciously. The potential for goodness, kindness, and holiness waits to expand within each Christian, waits for moral fairness, moral decency, moral superiority to flourish. A superiority of spirit, a kind of purity which is obtained and maintained by prayer and discernment is necessary when doing God’s work.
All of this begins with love; all is nurtured by love.
It is essential that we learn how to approach and how to adore God, both during Mass and outside of Mass, inside of a church and outside of a church. Personal resources will have to be developed to seek and to experience divinity. We must learn how to detach ourselves from our possessions, from our thoughts, from all things which might be taken, all things which might be lost. It is important, absolutely essential to understand and believe what is eternal. Everything in life which is not eternal is temporary, simply borrowed. All those things which help us gain admittance to heaven are real, are beautiful when they are used appropriately for the glory and love of God. As Christians we are asked to learn, to adore, to understand, to accept, to experience, to share, to teach about God, about his love and mercy for each of us, about loving our neighbors as we love ourselves. This is a responsibility. This is our duty. This is God’s law, God’s plan. When we follow it, we experience happiness, we move closer to God, closer to heaven. When we truly, honestly, deeply love and serve God nothing can stop us, not even death. The purpose of our Christian life is to develop a peaceful mind, to discover and extoll the presence of God, to discern how to better serve God. Being in communion with God, listening to and following his instruction is the goal. There is no reason to have fear. Let the love for God give you strength. Let it teach you to sacrifice, teach you to pray, teach you to love, teach you to live with the beauty and peace of the principles of fairness and social justice as taught by Jesus Christ. All moral thought and ethics will begin with love and loyalty to God. Let his will act as your guide. All greatness exists for those who do his work patiently, lovingly, gently. Being Christian means allowing and wanting God to dwell within our beings, our complete beings and wanting this completely and consciously. The potential for goodness, kindness, and holiness waits to expand within each Christian, waits for moral fairness, moral decency, moral superiority to flourish. A superiority of spirit, a kind of purity which is obtained and maintained by prayer and discernment is necessary when doing God’s work.
All of this begins with love; all is nurtured by love.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Be strong, fear not! - December 12
See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. James 5:7
I meant to write this entry earlier but it was such a busy day that I spent more time at the Cathedral than I had originally planned. I participated in one Mass, photographed another Mass, photographed another celebration, photographed a Christmas present wrapping party, participated in another Mass, had pizza and photographed more gift wrapping, then photographed the choir evening concert, and then photographed happy parishioners singing Christmas carols and drinking wassail. It was a delicious day, filled with prayer, filled with thoughts about the Lord.
It was a day of standing on the marble. It was a day of giving thanks.
The day was dedicated to God. There was something nurturing and playful; there was something healthy and alive, energizing my spirituality, evangelizing my spirituality. There was so much to observe, to experience, to remember.
There were children. There was a procession. There was a recreation.
A miracle was replayed and presented in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
There is something beautiful, something immense in being a part of this parish. Each day can be an expedition leading to goodness, kindness, holiness; leading to God.
Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another? Matthew 11:3
I meant to write this entry earlier but it was such a busy day that I spent more time at the Cathedral than I had originally planned. I participated in one Mass, photographed another Mass, photographed another celebration, photographed a Christmas present wrapping party, participated in another Mass, had pizza and photographed more gift wrapping, then photographed the choir evening concert, and then photographed happy parishioners singing Christmas carols and drinking wassail. It was a delicious day, filled with prayer, filled with thoughts about the Lord.
It was a day of standing on the marble. It was a day of giving thanks.
The day was dedicated to God. There was something nurturing and playful; there was something healthy and alive, energizing my spirituality, evangelizing my spirituality. There was so much to observe, to experience, to remember.
There were children. There was a procession. There was a recreation.
A miracle was replayed and presented in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
There is something beautiful, something immense in being a part of this parish. Each day can be an expedition leading to goodness, kindness, holiness; leading to God.
Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another? Matthew 11:3
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Send Them - December 1, 2010
"My heart is moved with pity for the crowd, for they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, for fear they may collapse on the way." Matthew 15:32
How we interact with each other is very important. Each person's interactions can have either a negative or positive impact upon other people. Whether one person acknowledges another, listens attentively, opens a door can affect the actions and statements of others. Human beings exist within a hazy blur of hyperbole, creating crazy hypothetical questions about life, using hypotenuse triangles to explain this and that while trying to find each other's hypostasis. It is the search for the essence of the individual which sometimes leads men to God. The key ingredient of this search is whether we can see and/or sense evidence of goodness, kindness, holiness in each other. The essential element which we are all looking for is a sign of love. For unconditional love is the meat and potatoes of charity, humility, obedience to God. The key component is the ability of the individual to act in a way that is tender and non-selfish, a way that expresses honest concern and shows honest compassion. When this occurs, there is a moment of bliss, a moment of peace, a moment of hope when everything else is forgotten. This is a moment which should be cherished. The lessons of goodness, kindness, holiness are difficult to hear, process, accept, and imitate because they are often in direct conflict with how the popular culture dominated society behavior patterns where nothing needs to be respected, where being irreverent is considered the norm. Popular culture does not respect the soul of the individual, the souls of all human being. The essence of the individual is courageous in goodness, kindness; faithful in compassion, obedience; caring in words, actions.
Christians are asked to be gutsy, to have moxie, to develop and display dauntlessness, to be lionhearted, to have valor, to be valiant in the name of Jesus Christ, in both their thoughts and their deeds. Christians, simply, are asked to love and fear God and to love their neighbors. When a person is able to love, unconditionally, without compromise then finding the inner peace and the inner strength to be courageous.
Learning to commiserate with other people is a beautiful skill to have. This skill requires a level of courage. Being truly, honestly empathetic can provide understanding, hope. Being empathetic is active, asks each person to participate, to use their senses to explore and share the experience in a way pleasing to God, in a way that leads toward God, in a way that reinforces the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Christians are part of a group. How each individual describes and interacts with the group is very important. Attending Sunday Mass is important, but there is an underlying desire for each Christian to do more than that, to incorporate the lessons of love and sacrifice of Jesus Christ into their daily lives. Christians are often described as a flock of followers, a herd of believers, the assembled, the gathered. Christians consociate. Each Sunday Christians rendezvous and experience the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist.
Each Christian has the responsibility of sharing his experience, the responsibility of asking others to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. The experience of being Christian can provide hope, love, courage. Being Christian is a beautiful consociation. Being Christian asks us to find the essence of goodness, kindness, and holiness within ourselves.
How we interact with each other is very important. Each person's interactions can have either a negative or positive impact upon other people. Whether one person acknowledges another, listens attentively, opens a door can affect the actions and statements of others. Human beings exist within a hazy blur of hyperbole, creating crazy hypothetical questions about life, using hypotenuse triangles to explain this and that while trying to find each other's hypostasis. It is the search for the essence of the individual which sometimes leads men to God. The key ingredient of this search is whether we can see and/or sense evidence of goodness, kindness, holiness in each other. The essential element which we are all looking for is a sign of love. For unconditional love is the meat and potatoes of charity, humility, obedience to God. The key component is the ability of the individual to act in a way that is tender and non-selfish, a way that expresses honest concern and shows honest compassion. When this occurs, there is a moment of bliss, a moment of peace, a moment of hope when everything else is forgotten. This is a moment which should be cherished. The lessons of goodness, kindness, holiness are difficult to hear, process, accept, and imitate because they are often in direct conflict with how the popular culture dominated society behavior patterns where nothing needs to be respected, where being irreverent is considered the norm. Popular culture does not respect the soul of the individual, the souls of all human being. The essence of the individual is courageous in goodness, kindness; faithful in compassion, obedience; caring in words, actions.
Christians are asked to be gutsy, to have moxie, to develop and display dauntlessness, to be lionhearted, to have valor, to be valiant in the name of Jesus Christ, in both their thoughts and their deeds. Christians, simply, are asked to love and fear God and to love their neighbors. When a person is able to love, unconditionally, without compromise then finding the inner peace and the inner strength to be courageous.
Learning to commiserate with other people is a beautiful skill to have. This skill requires a level of courage. Being truly, honestly empathetic can provide understanding, hope. Being empathetic is active, asks each person to participate, to use their senses to explore and share the experience in a way pleasing to God, in a way that leads toward God, in a way that reinforces the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Christians are part of a group. How each individual describes and interacts with the group is very important. Attending Sunday Mass is important, but there is an underlying desire for each Christian to do more than that, to incorporate the lessons of love and sacrifice of Jesus Christ into their daily lives. Christians are often described as a flock of followers, a herd of believers, the assembled, the gathered. Christians consociate. Each Sunday Christians rendezvous and experience the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist.
Each Christian has the responsibility of sharing his experience, the responsibility of asking others to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. The experience of being Christian can provide hope, love, courage. Being Christian is a beautiful consociation. Being Christian asks us to find the essence of goodness, kindness, and holiness within ourselves.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Each Voice - November 30, 2010
"Their voice has gone forth to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world." Romans 10:18
Each time I speak or write a word, a choice has been made. One word, one choice, one voice. Being Christian means lowering your gaze, lowering your voice, kneeling down. Being Christian is an inward journey, listening for sounds from God within prayers, announcements, conversations; listening for comments from God within the wilderness of neon lights; listening for the music of God within crowded bars filled pints of beer and floating television screens. Being Christian means searching and striving for goodness, kindness, holiness. Being Christian will often be difficult. Each word, each choice, each voice can be important for our individual salvation and for the salvation of our neighbors. Being Christian means following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ and asking others to do it also. Within each Christian there is a voice haunting, a voice heavenly, a voice comforting. Within each of us is God's love and we are encouraged to share this news and to rejoice.
Each day presents many of us a battle of choices, ideas, actions. Do we make time for prayer? Do we take time to praise and thank God? Do we simply have another cup of coffee, another cigarette, another two minutes of office chitchat. Each prayer is worth a million jokes. Prayer illustrates our faith, our hope. Prayer illuminates our charity, our humility, our obedience when it is done honestly, lovingly, kindly with reverence. Prayer asks only for our truth, in emotion, in spirit. Prayer offers patience, kindness, wisdom. We can choose to live each day filled with prayer. Prayer is both harmony and melody. Prayer is passionate. Prayer is creative. Prayer offers tranquility. All's prayer that loves prayer.
As Christians each day that we are alive is a day for discernment, a day for giving thanks and praise to God. Our search for goodness, holiness, kindness never ends. Our journey to charity, humility, obedience never ends.
Each day we are given opportunities to improve our lives and the lives of our friends, families, neighbors. This is a wacky culture of conflicting moral messages. This is a time when goodness, kindness, holiness are often seen as the voice of dissent, the voice of the minority. Here is a world, pernicious and licentious, starving for attention, acceptance, love. Here is a world of pill-popping, make-believe, instant solutions with many dangerous side effects written in extra fine small print. Every day this world, our culture attacks us, tempts us, tries to seduce us, tries to lead us away from goodness, holiness, kindness. Every day our culture tries to lead us away from God for a second, an hour, a day.
Every day we must use each word, each choice, each voice to remain steadfast with charity, humility, and obedience within our hearts, minds, and souls.
How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news!
Each time I speak or write a word, a choice has been made. One word, one choice, one voice. Being Christian means lowering your gaze, lowering your voice, kneeling down. Being Christian is an inward journey, listening for sounds from God within prayers, announcements, conversations; listening for comments from God within the wilderness of neon lights; listening for the music of God within crowded bars filled pints of beer and floating television screens. Being Christian means searching and striving for goodness, kindness, holiness. Being Christian will often be difficult. Each word, each choice, each voice can be important for our individual salvation and for the salvation of our neighbors. Being Christian means following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ and asking others to do it also. Within each Christian there is a voice haunting, a voice heavenly, a voice comforting. Within each of us is God's love and we are encouraged to share this news and to rejoice.
Each day presents many of us a battle of choices, ideas, actions. Do we make time for prayer? Do we take time to praise and thank God? Do we simply have another cup of coffee, another cigarette, another two minutes of office chitchat. Each prayer is worth a million jokes. Prayer illustrates our faith, our hope. Prayer illuminates our charity, our humility, our obedience when it is done honestly, lovingly, kindly with reverence. Prayer asks only for our truth, in emotion, in spirit. Prayer offers patience, kindness, wisdom. We can choose to live each day filled with prayer. Prayer is both harmony and melody. Prayer is passionate. Prayer is creative. Prayer offers tranquility. All's prayer that loves prayer.
As Christians each day that we are alive is a day for discernment, a day for giving thanks and praise to God. Our search for goodness, holiness, kindness never ends. Our journey to charity, humility, obedience never ends.
Each day we are given opportunities to improve our lives and the lives of our friends, families, neighbors. This is a wacky culture of conflicting moral messages. This is a time when goodness, kindness, holiness are often seen as the voice of dissent, the voice of the minority. Here is a world, pernicious and licentious, starving for attention, acceptance, love. Here is a world of pill-popping, make-believe, instant solutions with many dangerous side effects written in extra fine small print. Every day this world, our culture attacks us, tempts us, tries to seduce us, tries to lead us away from goodness, holiness, kindness. Every day our culture tries to lead us away from God for a second, an hour, a day.
Every day we must use each word, each choice, each voice to remain steadfast with charity, humility, and obedience within our hearts, minds, and souls.
How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news!
Thursday, November 18, 2010
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.
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.
Saints and Other Models
Once upon a time, in a school district far, far away, each morning half-asleep school children would place a hand over their heart and recite the “Pledge of Allegiance.”
“Neither Hollywood nor Broadway produces entertainment the way they used to. They just don’t create great movie dialogue the way they used to. As a culture we don’t say great prayers the way we used to. As a culture we don’t dream great dreams the way we used to. Now, everybody wants to be a pampered, photographed local celebrity.”
It is natural to seek goodness and kindness in others. Our lives are filled with the search for the perfect role model, someone with whom we can identify, someone with whom we can imitate. It is natural to want a hero. We need to have someone to believe in, to encourage us to dream, to inspire us to be better, to challenge us to be more, do more. From our childhood we seek companions, we seek heroes. We create a private mythology filled with damsels and demigods, wishes and wisecracks. The situation is lyrical, the implication is ethical, the circumstance is moral. We look to literature, cinema, everyday life for role models, for unofficial teachers to help us navigate the lows and highs of the human condition. As Catholics we have the lives of the Saints to provide a blueprint on how to live a good Christian life of chastity, humility, charity, and obedience.
The existence of their Faith provides them with an excellent courage and conviction to do God’s work, to help the poor. Each day I think of the veracity of good men. Each day I think that humankind is moving away from being wholesome and altruistic toward being selfish and vain. Being Christian allows me to view the world with hope and mercy. Being Christian allows me to see that the Holy Eucharist is beautiful and nutritious. Prayer, believing in God, attending Mass sweetens life, makes each moment more tolerable. Our belief in God can help us improve our lives and our society, when actually, or ideally, we manage to love our neighbors unconditionally without any strings or expectations. Remember we are children of God. We listen for his call. We obey his Commandments. We have the Bible and other good books to guide us toward God, with meditation, with prayer. Remember that love and hope create the language of God. Let our humility, charity, mercy and each circumstance of our days create anecdotes of tenderness.
The search and desire for goodness and kindness often is the dream of youth, and the most serious occupation of our mind. We travel into different neighborhoods, different churches to find evidence of God, to see a glimpse of him in the life and actions of others. We must always remember and cherish our faith. We are Christians; we are hospitable and hopeful; we are believers; our Faith is more valuable and precious than gold; our Holy Eucharist is more delicious, more nutritious for our souls; we gather for prayer; we gather to remember the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Our lives do not have to be comfortable but we must have humility and offer hospitality to all, especially those who are destitute, marginalized in any way and who need mercy, charity and compassion. Our lives do not have to be comfortable but we must create a time for prayer in each day, for prayer and reflection can make our Christian lives intrinsically rich with love, hope, and understanding. As Christians we must always be hospitable, humble people.
“Neither Hollywood nor Broadway produces entertainment the way they used to. They just don’t create great movie dialogue the way they used to. As a culture we don’t say great prayers the way we used to. As a culture we don’t dream great dreams the way we used to. Now, everybody wants to be a pampered, photographed local celebrity.”
It is natural to seek goodness and kindness in others. Our lives are filled with the search for the perfect role model, someone with whom we can identify, someone with whom we can imitate. It is natural to want a hero. We need to have someone to believe in, to encourage us to dream, to inspire us to be better, to challenge us to be more, do more. From our childhood we seek companions, we seek heroes. We create a private mythology filled with damsels and demigods, wishes and wisecracks. The situation is lyrical, the implication is ethical, the circumstance is moral. We look to literature, cinema, everyday life for role models, for unofficial teachers to help us navigate the lows and highs of the human condition. As Catholics we have the lives of the Saints to provide a blueprint on how to live a good Christian life of chastity, humility, charity, and obedience.
The existence of their Faith provides them with an excellent courage and conviction to do God’s work, to help the poor. Each day I think of the veracity of good men. Each day I think that humankind is moving away from being wholesome and altruistic toward being selfish and vain. Being Christian allows me to view the world with hope and mercy. Being Christian allows me to see that the Holy Eucharist is beautiful and nutritious. Prayer, believing in God, attending Mass sweetens life, makes each moment more tolerable. Our belief in God can help us improve our lives and our society, when actually, or ideally, we manage to love our neighbors unconditionally without any strings or expectations. Remember we are children of God. We listen for his call. We obey his Commandments. We have the Bible and other good books to guide us toward God, with meditation, with prayer. Remember that love and hope create the language of God. Let our humility, charity, mercy and each circumstance of our days create anecdotes of tenderness.
The search and desire for goodness and kindness often is the dream of youth, and the most serious occupation of our mind. We travel into different neighborhoods, different churches to find evidence of God, to see a glimpse of him in the life and actions of others. We must always remember and cherish our faith. We are Christians; we are hospitable and hopeful; we are believers; our Faith is more valuable and precious than gold; our Holy Eucharist is more delicious, more nutritious for our souls; we gather for prayer; we gather to remember the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Our lives do not have to be comfortable but we must have humility and offer hospitality to all, especially those who are destitute, marginalized in any way and who need mercy, charity and compassion. Our lives do not have to be comfortable but we must create a time for prayer in each day, for prayer and reflection can make our Christian lives intrinsically rich with love, hope, and understanding. As Christians we must always be hospitable, humble people.
Friday, November 12, 2010
An Old Fashioned Paragraph
As one of those who believe that the spiritual life of an individual is important for nourishing the soul and inspiring the mind to search for ways to be pure and content among its people, I regard popular culture as a dangerous concoction of thoughts and desires presented without wisdom, prudence, or love. The secular world allows pop culture to exist as a supreme inexorable law, of cause and effect, of sequence and ascension. Pop culture attacks our individual spiritual character with all types of transient passions of the flesh. This is a material age, everything is a commodity to be bought and sold, to be used and discarded. This is an age of exhaustion. The secular world encourages our society to be selfish, wasteful. Decadence and extravagance attack our eyes from magazine covers, television screens, computer screens. We are encouraged to forget or downplay spiritual things. The secular world works to create and nurture writers who exist only to spread doubt about the viability of religion, doubt about the reality of God. The mood of our society is addled. The quest for happiness is dangerous. Happiness isn't really tangible, it isn't lasting. A diamond necklace or a Mercedes might be purchased but happiness often only encourages us to want more. The idea of happiness that the secular world mass produces a murky angst. Modern life often appears like a heathen life of excess, of extreme selfishness, of rudeness. Although filled with material items and all types of experiences, modern life can be very empty, a distempered culture of insecurity, self hatred, ignorance, bigotry. Love is casually mentioned, casually discarded in the secular world. Love is neither unconditional nor universal in the secular world. Love is a motivating factor, an argument used to rationalize and justify material purchases and all types of social behavior. Love in the secular world produces neither joy nor hope. In the secular world love is lost within the gridlock of weariness and anxiety. How anxious is modern life! How we fear dirty bombs, serial killers, aging, terrorists, having last year's gadgets. However as Catholics our faith allows each one of us to define our lives as Children of God, our faith allows us to refine our lives based upon humility, charity, and service to God. True goodness and kindness are rare. As Christians our duty is to find a way to share God's exquisite love with ourselves and our neighbors. As Christians our lives should be both a reflection and an expression of God's love. There is a vitality within hope and faith which can help us follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. There is a newness in life when we believe in God and when we share our faith. The golden fleece within our spirit needs to nurtured by prayer, refection, good deeds. The more we love God and share our love of God, the more precious our lives become. We must reject the fashionable wolfish lust, hiding within song lyrics and imported silk shirts. Our love for God must never be placed beneath anything. It must always be the focal point of each day. We must strive to love and serve God each day. We must strive to love our neighbors as we love ourselves each day. Allow your spirit to lead you from the corruption of the secular world. Allow your spirit to show you that the world is still beautiful. Allow your spirit to present the saintly things in modern life. Allow your spirit to show you how to believe in God. Allow your spirit to create your literature of hope, love, mercy, and service
Thursday, November 11, 2010
The Return
This November day I am happy to be alive. I am constantly seeking new things which will inspire me to act with goodness and kindness. I am learning the importance of humility. I am learning the importance of serving God. All things in our lives are connected. Serving God should be important to each Christian. Serving God extends beyond attending Mass. It is a way of life, a way of being. Our lives should be directed toward moving toward God. Our individual movements should inspire others to follow and move toward God. Kindness and goodness should not be treated as simple afterthoughts. Each day provides valuable lessons about compassion, mercy, and love. Our goal should be to grow in love of God each day. Each day we must allow time for prayer and reflection. Each day we make decisions about clothing, food, email, seeing friends. Each day we should remember to make a decision to offer a small bit of our lives to God, and then to slowly, increase this offering. Although each day we might repeat our actions, remember that each day is new and different. Each day is an opportunity to do good, to love our neighbor, to follow the path of Jesus Christ.
We live in a restless time of conflicting impulses. The secular world encourages each one of us to treat life as an open field or a gymnasium floor, running, jumping, careening around all types of temptation and sin; romping, playing, laughing while allowing the secular world influence our understanding of venial and mortal sin. We must acknowledge that we are sinners. Each one of us. We are sinners who hopefully are trying to avoid sin with each new decision, each new thought. Yes, there will be times when we might fail, when we will sin again. All we can do is acknowledge our failure, ask for God’s forgiveness, and try to avoid sinning. This war never ends.
We live in a restless time of secular confusion. Always remember God’s love. Always remember the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
In November do you look back toward the summer days or are you looking for the December holidays? What governs your mind? What governs your heart? Where do you find God? How do you share God? Create a simple plan for goodness, kindness, humility, and charity each day.
Live a simple life of love and service to God.
As adults do not forget the lessons and ideals of childhood; being an adult means being open to growing in mind and spirit, being open to exploring the Mysteries of faith, being opening to sharing hope. We do not need to have every question answered. We need only to keep our lives and spirits balanced. We must place God at the center of our lives. We must strive to grow physically, mentally, spiritually each day and to encourage others to do so. Allow yourself time of reflection and prayer each day. Allow yourself to marvel at the living things, to marvel at the sky, the trees, the flowers, the animals. Allow yourself to enjoy the out of doors without rushing from point to point.
Remember that each decision provides us with an opportunity to move onward, to grow inward, to experience life outward, to hope and pray upward, to journey Godward.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
encourage
We must do whatever we can do to encourage ourselves to live lives filled with pure and clean love.
It is the heroic type of love, universal and unconditional. It is the love which expects and deserves only the most unreasonable responses; both kindness and goodness are truly immortal, occurring despite the intentions of the worst of mankind. It is the love from the churches, the cathedrals, the parishes. It is the universal Christian love. It is the golden desire for peace and social justice taught by Christ. There must be prayer. There must be hope. For faith to grow it must be allowed to grow freely in each person; free will must direct each of us toward God and a life of service and sacrifice.
Our lives should always direct us toward God’s glory. We must consider each day, each choice that we make as a ticket for our eternity. Our lives must always inspire others to want to do God’s work, to bear witness for the Lord, to work to have lives filled with goodness and love.
Make all sin and things which might lead us to sin in our lives diminish in importance to us with each new day; let it vanish from our lives.
It is the heroic type of love, universal and unconditional. It is the love which expects and deserves only the most unreasonable responses; both kindness and goodness are truly immortal, occurring despite the intentions of the worst of mankind. It is the love from the churches, the cathedrals, the parishes. It is the universal Christian love. It is the golden desire for peace and social justice taught by Christ. There must be prayer. There must be hope. For faith to grow it must be allowed to grow freely in each person; free will must direct each of us toward God and a life of service and sacrifice.
Our lives should always direct us toward God’s glory. We must consider each day, each choice that we make as a ticket for our eternity. Our lives must always inspire others to want to do God’s work, to bear witness for the Lord, to work to have lives filled with goodness and love.
Make all sin and things which might lead us to sin in our lives diminish in importance to us with each new day; let it vanish from our lives.
Modernity allows us to interpret our lives based upon archetypes. psychological traits, and stereotypical character traits. Modernity allows us to witlessly accept sin in our lives and in our hearts. We must encourage our souls to combat this. Our souls must always remember and inspire goodness in us.
We must build lives filled with humility, charity, mercy, and forgiveness which will help us inherit God’s love. Our humanity requires love. We must always have God as the focal point of our lives, as the central point of certainty of our lives. We must always remember the consequences of both our good and bad choices. Our lives should not cause the reduction of either our hope or humanity. We must confront all uncertainty and unfulfillment with faith and love. It behooves us to minimize the importance of God in our lives; we must analyze all the material of our lives as we try to move closer to God and build lives based upon Christ’s life and teaching.
We must always project love and hope in our daily lives.
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