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.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Do not hip-hop into hardheartedness
A sense of courage is needed. A sense of humor is required. Simplicity is needed. Love is required.
Poetic license did inspire and encourage this poetic reflection on a homily given at the Cathedral of Saint Matthew the Apostle.
Do not hip-hop into that harsh hardheartedness,
Truth shall burn and smoke and pry open thoughts moral
Pray, pray for the advance of gentle goodheartedness.
Wisdom’s shadows can create lightheartedness
With words hallowed, silence hesitant yet choral
Do not hip-hop into that harsh hardheartedness.
Find words good, find words wise, find your kindheartedness.
Against another’s little deeds neither complain nor quarrel.
Pray, pray for the advance of gentle goodheartedness.
Those who seek the moon and forget greatheartedness
And live in selfish warm seas, stony reefs coral
Do not hip-hop into that harsh hardheartedness.
Death approaches, fear encroaches. And with wholeheartedness
in thought and speech marshmallow white be aural,
Pray, pray for the advance of gentle goodheartedness.
And melodious, mathematical softheartedness
Bless, motivate each heart, mind, soul with hope’s laurel.
Do not hip-hop into that harsh hardheartedness.
Pray, pray for the advance of gentle goodheartedness.
Poetic license did inspire and encourage this poetic reflection on a homily given at the Cathedral of Saint Matthew the Apostle.
Do not hip-hop into that harsh hardheartedness,
Truth shall burn and smoke and pry open thoughts moral
Pray, pray for the advance of gentle goodheartedness.
Wisdom’s shadows can create lightheartedness
With words hallowed, silence hesitant yet choral
Do not hip-hop into that harsh hardheartedness.
Find words good, find words wise, find your kindheartedness.
Against another’s little deeds neither complain nor quarrel.
Pray, pray for the advance of gentle goodheartedness.
Those who seek the moon and forget greatheartedness
And live in selfish warm seas, stony reefs coral
Do not hip-hop into that harsh hardheartedness.
Death approaches, fear encroaches. And with wholeheartedness
in thought and speech marshmallow white be aural,
Pray, pray for the advance of gentle goodheartedness.
And melodious, mathematical softheartedness
Bless, motivate each heart, mind, soul with hope’s laurel.
Do not hip-hop into that harsh hardheartedness.
Pray, pray for the advance of gentle goodheartedness.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
The Time
Although New Year Parties and resolutions create a conversational mosaic of brittle, polite chit-chat, the post-Christmas times becomes a clatter of Madison Avenue jingles and video vignettes and newspaper inserts presenting smiling, happy, faces finding more sales, more bargains and more beautifully photographed stuff waiting to be purchased, waiting to be returned. How colorful and entertaining and predictable these advertisements are!
For many the New Year is a time of anxiety, a time of angst as one year ends and another begins. The problems of the old year carry over into the next year. There is a selfishness attached to some of the current contemporary New Year's rituals with so much attention being placed on anticipation and expectation. There is no time to be mellow. There is no time for repose. Tranquility and serenity are banished. Often there is little time for reflection between shopping, attending parties, recovering from the shopping, recovering from the parties.
The beginning of a new year requires each Christian to examine his conscience, to examine the good and the bad from the previous year, to examine the relationship with the people in his life, to examine the relationship with God. The central focus of each Christian might involve how to love better, how to love his neighbors, his family, his friends, and God better. The central focus might involve how to serve God better with his entire being, how to share God's love with all the people around him.
Serving God requires a special humility, a benevolent placidity which leads to a loving obedience.
This is the time for prayer, the time for silence. This is the time to use the Rosary. Loving and serving God are very important activities which take time, effort, patience. Saying that we love God is easier than showing it. As Christians we must learn to put God first.
Find the courage to be humble, to be patient. Find the courage to love, freely, unconditionally, universally without anticipating, desiring, or expecting anything in return. Simply allow yourself to freely, quietly love all whom you come into contact with. Let love for God diffuse all your fears, all your jealousy, all your anger. Let love for God lead you to the peace and quietude of devotional expression. Let love for God guide you away from temptation and sin.
For many the New Year is a time of anxiety, a time of angst as one year ends and another begins. The problems of the old year carry over into the next year. There is a selfishness attached to some of the current contemporary New Year's rituals with so much attention being placed on anticipation and expectation. There is no time to be mellow. There is no time for repose. Tranquility and serenity are banished. Often there is little time for reflection between shopping, attending parties, recovering from the shopping, recovering from the parties.
The beginning of a new year requires each Christian to examine his conscience, to examine the good and the bad from the previous year, to examine the relationship with the people in his life, to examine the relationship with God. The central focus of each Christian might involve how to love better, how to love his neighbors, his family, his friends, and God better. The central focus might involve how to serve God better with his entire being, how to share God's love with all the people around him.
Serving God requires a special humility, a benevolent placidity which leads to a loving obedience.
This is the time for prayer, the time for silence. This is the time to use the Rosary. Loving and serving God are very important activities which take time, effort, patience. Saying that we love God is easier than showing it. As Christians we must learn to put God first.
Find the courage to be humble, to be patient. Find the courage to love, freely, unconditionally, universally without anticipating, desiring, or expecting anything in return. Simply allow yourself to freely, quietly love all whom you come into contact with. Let love for God diffuse all your fears, all your jealousy, all your anger. Let love for God lead you to the peace and quietude of devotional expression. Let love for God guide you away from temptation and sin.
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.
Monday, January 3, 2011
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.
Courage is needed. Faith is required. Simplicity is needed. Love is required.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Getting the Right Steps
Now is the time to think of the International Date Line! Now is the time to wish that there was an International Prayer Line. Each Christian must always remember that God is always close by, that God is always waiting patiently whether we are in the Black Forest or in the Loire Valley or Palestine.
Now is the time to renew the quest for goodness.
Now is not the time to talk about morals; it is the time to create and to protect them. Each second of our lives should be filled with the charity, humility, obedience, and love which Jesus Christ preached about.
Now is not the time to talk about high ideals; it is the time to fill each moment of our lives with love and service for God. It is time action. It is time for prayer. It is time for righteousness. Whether we are in Death Valley, or listening to an anecdote about a vacation in the Great Sandy Desert, or looking at a photograph of the Painted Desert allow your eyes to discover the beauty, the mystery within each minute of your life. Allow yourself to accept God's love, to welcome God's call, to embrace humility, charity, obedience.
God is present in Aberdeen and Bethlehem. God receives prayers from Bangkok and Buenos Aires. Canterbury provides God with tales and reconciliation. God is present in London and Thunder Bay. God receives prayers from Saint Andrews and Sarajevo. Tokyo provides God with tales and reconciliation. God is present in Uranium City and Zurich. Where is God in your life?
Now is the time to renew the quest for goodness.
Now is not the time to talk about morals; it is the time to create and to protect them. Each second of our lives should be filled with the charity, humility, obedience, and love which Jesus Christ preached about.
Now is not the time to talk about high ideals; it is the time to fill each moment of our lives with love and service for God. It is time action. It is time for prayer. It is time for righteousness. Whether we are in Death Valley, or listening to an anecdote about a vacation in the Great Sandy Desert, or looking at a photograph of the Painted Desert allow your eyes to discover the beauty, the mystery within each minute of your life. Allow yourself to accept God's love, to welcome God's call, to embrace humility, charity, obedience.
God is present in Aberdeen and Bethlehem. God receives prayers from Bangkok and Buenos Aires. Canterbury provides God with tales and reconciliation. God is present in London and Thunder Bay. God receives prayers from Saint Andrews and Sarajevo. Tokyo provides God with tales and reconciliation. God is present in Uranium City and Zurich. Where is God in your life?
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.
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