Tonight is made for

Each New Year’s Eve is accompanied by frantic, desperate people singing in the highways, crying on the sidewalks and trifling and teasing different passersby with stories from the past year, with sordid adventures, and melodramatic tragedies. So many private moments haphazardly shared publicly during cell phone conversations on Connecticut Avenue. And the modest pedestrians offer silent prayers as they pass by.

And still the modest pedestrians know that this is the time for prayer. This is the night for moderation; all virtue must be remembered and protected. Time does continue to advance; each second, minute, and hour are merely attendants in the courts of Time. All the hoopla is worthless. Being boisterous has no effect on time. Life is made of many perishable things. Pleasure and fun are perishable.

And this life is temporal with carnations, roses, garlands, and champagne trying to tempt the modest pedestrians walking by with laughter and snazzy slogans and delicate perfume. How worthless it all is! Watch as it dies! Watch as it decays! Hear the desperate people singing.

And this night bitterness accompanies happiness; Faith, hope, and charity do patiently stand watch over this night. For all those who believe and remember, God is love; God’s love should be share by everyone.

And this night symbolizes so much and yet means so little. It is really just an ordinary night that briefly touches the dreams and aspirations of the masses with an intense moment of anticipation leading to smiles, laughter, kisses, hugs, and a rushed dreamlike politeness and goodness.

But this night often does mock and confuse the unsuspecting and immodest.

And still the modest pedestrians do walk on the sidewalks filled with thoughts of prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude. They continue to look forward, saying little prayers to themselves, praising God, asking for help for their friends and neighbors.

Disclaimer

“All sandwiches served with fries unless otherwise noted.”

Wouldn’t life be great if each action in our lives came with a little disclaimer that would let us know whether it was beneficial, detrimental, neutral, or other?

Modern life is filled with questions, answers, assumptions, and everything in between. Each day presents us with the opportunity to make an endless amount of choices for altruistic or selfish reasons.

I feel that our secular society, dominated by the media encourages us to interact with the world and each other as the individual against the world, to think of ourselves, our well-being, our needs first before recognizing that there is a world beyond our front door. Being selfish is both glamorized and encouraged.

Being humble is often seen as a weakness. Being humble is often misunderstood. Humility is often at odds with the secular world. Christians are encouraged to live lives of charity, humility and love. But, this is often difficult to do when so many influences promote just the opposite, present the alternative in glorious sin free color.

This is definitely a time to remember the power and the beauty of prayer. We do not have to always be the center of attention. We do not always have to give our opinions. We should always remember to pray, to give thanks for each day that we are alive. We should remember to offer God praise. We should remember to pray for our friends and loved ones, living and dead. We should remember to offer prayers for the Church and all of the goodness, inspiration, and hope that the Church offers to each of us and to the world each day.

Wouldn’t our lives be great if each of us found little ways do good deeds quietly, not wanting any recognition? Wouldn’t it be great if everyone treated each other with a level of respect and dignity? How difficult is it to incorporate social justice into our daily lives?

I wonder what I should include in my personal disclaimer.

End of the Year

Those prayers direct us toward being meek
The gentle pause where every ear does rest,
Will provide answers and questions to seek
A moment of silence with patience is best;
For summer does inspire praying, walking
enjoying the living wonders here and there;
Lusty leaves, blue skies us playing, walking
Beauty, prayers rest over every chair:
Then with summer's discernment perchance,
All my hope, all my love somehow did grow
Prayer's effect with prayer sweet remembrance,
Beauty, prayer, love help us -- faith to know
But this summer pause was no vacation,
With gentle cause and call for vocation.

Around the corner from St. Matthew's Cathedral

And this Wednesday night, I am seated at a wooden bar with a wall of sixteen ounce glasses arranged neatly on a green rubber mat. I am amazed at the names of some of the beverages offered for sale by the bottle. I am very amused by the permanent, never changing weekly specials: fifty cent tacos, twenty-five cent wings, half price cheeseburgers.

All around me voices collide with my ears. Men are ordering pitchers of beer; women are asking about tables; the staff listen, smile, and respond or listen and respond. The cacophony is not loud, not overpowering. It is just loud enough, just overlapping enough to be background noise. There is nothing distinct or original or interesting about any of the conversations. They concern sports, wives, bosses, daily commutes, bosses, coworkers, husbands, children, girlfriends, holiday trips, holiday mishaps.

And I am thinking about confession. Behind a poinsetta one of the servers processes a credit card transaction and I wonder about all of the transactions of my life, all of the times when I act purely, honestly altruistically not wanting any recognition or reward; I wonder about if goodness is present in my life and I wonder about all of times of quiet dignity, sincerity, and humility. And I am thinking of confession. Looking up at a floating widescreen television I watch two basketball teams run back and forth and appear to make a basket. I wonder about all the times when I thought about sinning, planned to sin, actually sinned, rationalized sinning, blamed my mistakes on someone else.

The bartender accidentally drops some change and it slides across the bar towards me, toward my computer. Somehow the coin is stopped by the green mat. The voices raise up as if in competition with each other. It is a happy crowd. I can hear a woman laughing at a nearby table.

How do I see myself? How do I see the world? Sitting here typing at a bar, I am silent, strangely anonymous, totally forgettable as I worry about spelling, grammar, and attending Mass tomorrow. What analogy can I create which describes my experience? Is there a simple metaphor? I am drinking soda, patiently, calmly thinking about finding more ways to be of service to God, thinking of saying a prayer that all of these people get home safely, that I get home safely.

In the background there is an uptempo love song with a strong beat and good guitar line with a strong male lead singer probably British. It is December, Advent. Each day should be a day of preparation. Each day should include some meditation on what it means to be a Christian.

The voices become louder.

Outside, there is darkness, street lamps, silence, time to imagine, time to reflect in the cold December night with the slight breeze.

Remembering August, Remembering Vocations

Construction workers surround my building. New construction on one side, renovation on the other. Different machines whirr and grind and spin and cut creating a cacophony of creation and destruction. When something is made, often there is something to be discarded.

How people relate to each other remains a topic of interest as strangers become friends, and friends become rivals. How people relate to God when there are all types of distractions, diversions, and responsibilities remains a good way to examine and strengthen an individuals faith. It is sufficient to recognize personal fallibility, acknowledge Original sin, and be thankful for baptism and the other sacraments. It is sufficient to say the Rosary, the Lord’s Prayer, the Twenty-Third Psalm. It is sufficient to read the Bible. How an individual wants to build a relationship with God is private and unique to that person.

The prayer for vocations is beautiful, universal. Parishes all across the world offer prayers for vocations during Mass and on various websites. The need for priests, clergy, is real. I am a proponent of Vocations.

Summer mornings when school playgrounds are empty of children, looking at the empty equipment, empty basketball courts, soccer fields the need to have people scurrying about becomes immediately apparent.

Once while waiting for Mass to begin, a strange desire to be of service to God exploded in my mind. I was seated in the front of the church, a couple minutes before the 5:30 Mass was to begin. I had time to contemplate St. Paul and St. Matthew and remember certain words and phrases. Images of sheep, shepherds, seeds, loaves of bread, boats on water, fishermen with nets burst in my mind. I felt melancholy. I felt patient. I did not have the energy to speak. I felt bewildered, insignificant. My entire existence flashed and faded in my mind. “What have I accomplished? What will I accomplish? What have I done for God?

What have I accomplished for God?” These questions and others began a coordinated attack on my mind and soul. Faith provides a private cognisance and melancholy.

This was a moment of terror which faded in a sense of calm. My mind was not allowed to remain placid. More questions exploded and expanded. Nothing was too trivial or too obscure. I was conscious of something that I was not ready to accept. This moment of possibility and humble recognition both pleased and frightened me. At some point a response will be needed.

The construction cacophony fades in the heat of the approaching afternoon.

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.

How We View Our Footprints

I have a Mac computer with all types of imaging programs. I have become very good at manipulating images. Last week when it snowed I rushed outside and took some pictures as the snow was falling early Saturday morning. As a child I always loved snow and wished that it would be on the ground, ready to be turned into snowballs, snowmen, and snow forts from early November until late March.

As a Catholic each day there is a new opportunity to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. Each day we can pray. Each day we can make different sacrifices. Each day we can live lives that are filled with social justice. Each day we can allow ourselves to love everybody.

As a Catholic there are many rules and laws that we are asked to obey in our daily lives. Some are easier for us to follow than others. In the end when we follow these laws our lives are better.

For me being a Christian is like foot prints in falling snow. We are given opportunities to move ahead, to act like Christ. We are reminded to keep our focus on God. No two days are the identical, no two snowflakes are identical, no two people are identical.

Each moment that we are alive provides us with an opportunity to share and to inspire God's goodness and grace. Each moment that we are alive provides us with another example of God's mercy and love for us.