Today was the Memorial of Saint John Bosco, priest.
This society is fragile. There are many people in need of so many things. Some need food, clothing, shelter, health care. Often society hides these individuals, or encourages that these people be ignored, be forgotten. Each day there are new reasons for prayer, new reasons for reflection.
There might be a person crying and yelling while having a cell phone conversation on the sidewalk in front of you. There might be a businessman using all types of profanity in a conversation at the next table during lunch. There might be a toddler running around a bookstore, playing peekaboo with their parents. All these people need our prayers, need our compassion, need our love.
We must always remember to include everyone in our prayers, especially the strangers and those who are most in need.
Rescue us, Lord our God, and unite us, your children with love and obedience that we may love and respect ourselves and our neighbors. Lord please help us learn to rejoice in your kindness, goodness, mercy and to offer praise and glory to your holy name.
Each day we struggle with sin and pettiness. Each day with prayer and patience we can gain strength and wisdom to avoid sin.
The purpose of our lives as Christians is to prepare for eternal salvation in the kingdom of heaven by being loving, obedient servants of the Lord.
As Christians we should display humility, charity, obedience to God in all of our actions and our words.
Lord our God
help us to serve you with our entire beings and to love all neighbors as you love them. Help us be humble and loving, help us to put our faith into your hands. Each day let us focus our hearts on loving God and leading a life of goodness, holiness, and kindness. Help us remember that each day is an opportunity to prepare for the kingdom of heaven. Please grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son.
Remember to give thanks to the Lord each day. Remember to offer praise to the Lord, Most High.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Sunday, January 30, 2011
I have a Prayer
The kingdom of heaven is a beautiful phrase to hear, a beautiful goal to seek. An idea of heaven is a central part of Christianity. Each Christian attempts to obey the words and laws of God. The reward for this obedience is heaven. Within our spirituality heaven has an important place. The Beatitudes in St. Matthew's gospel present a certain spirituality of fairness and social justice as taught by Jesus Christ. The language is beautiful to read. It is easy to meditate on these Beatitudes for hours. Learning how to live them is a little more difficult but a certain behavior pattern is presented.
Being Christian often means letting go of some conveniences, letting go of some ideas, letting go of some sins. Being Christian often involves some form of sacrifice, involves doing something just because their is a true, honest need. Each day there are opportunities to do good, to live the Beatitudes. Each day each Christian struggles to do the right thing. From each struggle the body of the church grows stronger, from each struggle the individual Christian can grow stronger in faith, stronger in love with God, stronger in love with all humans.
Both the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes are there to guide people on the correct path to God. Both direct those who follow and obey the words to a special type of enlightenment, unencumbered with desire for pleasures of the flesh, a special type of love for God, for self, and for other human beings. When a person learns to live without selfishness, without greed, without envy, without malice the world will appear differently.
At one time or another we all will need to have mercy in our lives. Either a colleague or a friend will need us to show our mercy, our compassion or we will need it from someone. This society provides each member with different levels of status and power based upon wealth and other variables. God does not see the different levels. We are all his children. He requests that we ignore the differences and treat each other with respect, with love.
Heaven waits for those with humility, obedience, charity. With patience and the guidance of Holy Bible and other good books, our spirituality will allow us to live lives of righteousness, will allow each day to be a reason to rejoice in the wonder and mystery of God, will allow each Christian to discover those who are Blessed and living among us.
We live in a visual time. We live in a verbal time. Our society is filled with special effect laden movies. We have come to expect all types of sound bites from politicians. We have come to expect all types of speeches. We are prepared for everything to be taken out of context, to be deconstructed.
We live in age of dreams, an age of commercials in glorious living color on television, on the internet, and in the cinema before the latest special effects move in 3 - D starts. Yes, we all have dreams.
Isn't time that someone takes the time to breathe, and to say, "I have a prayer."
The Beatitudes are the perfect path to use to follow Christ, to find your way into daily prayer and reflection.
"I have a prayer..."
Being Christian often means letting go of some conveniences, letting go of some ideas, letting go of some sins. Being Christian often involves some form of sacrifice, involves doing something just because their is a true, honest need. Each day there are opportunities to do good, to live the Beatitudes. Each day each Christian struggles to do the right thing. From each struggle the body of the church grows stronger, from each struggle the individual Christian can grow stronger in faith, stronger in love with God, stronger in love with all humans.
Both the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes are there to guide people on the correct path to God. Both direct those who follow and obey the words to a special type of enlightenment, unencumbered with desire for pleasures of the flesh, a special type of love for God, for self, and for other human beings. When a person learns to live without selfishness, without greed, without envy, without malice the world will appear differently.
At one time or another we all will need to have mercy in our lives. Either a colleague or a friend will need us to show our mercy, our compassion or we will need it from someone. This society provides each member with different levels of status and power based upon wealth and other variables. God does not see the different levels. We are all his children. He requests that we ignore the differences and treat each other with respect, with love.
Heaven waits for those with humility, obedience, charity. With patience and the guidance of Holy Bible and other good books, our spirituality will allow us to live lives of righteousness, will allow each day to be a reason to rejoice in the wonder and mystery of God, will allow each Christian to discover those who are Blessed and living among us.
We live in a visual time. We live in a verbal time. Our society is filled with special effect laden movies. We have come to expect all types of sound bites from politicians. We have come to expect all types of speeches. We are prepared for everything to be taken out of context, to be deconstructed.
We live in age of dreams, an age of commercials in glorious living color on television, on the internet, and in the cinema before the latest special effects move in 3 - D starts. Yes, we all have dreams.
Isn't time that someone takes the time to breathe, and to say, "I have a prayer."
The Beatitudes are the perfect path to use to follow Christ, to find your way into daily prayer and reflection.
"I have a prayer..."
Lessons
Each Christian is asked to remember his or her imperfections. Each Christian is asked to remember his or her fears and weaknesses. Each Christian is asked to remember his or her sins. Each Christian is asked to give all these things and so much more to God, and to ask for forgiveness, to ask for strength, to ask for God's grace and love.
People are foolish. People make mistakes. People make assumptions. People forget this and that. Pop culture creates the illusion of the Divine Right of the Rich, the Famous, the Over-Exposed. Magazine covers and television talk shows are filled with people talking, talking, boasting, boasting. Everyone has a fabulous vacation house in the South of France. Everyone has a fabulous favorite sushi roll. Everyone has a life filled with goodness, hair extensions, tight jeans, touch screen smart phones.
In the eyes of God, every human being is equal. No one is better simply because of wealth, lineage, power.
It is important that as Christians, each day we remember the life and death of Jesus Christ. His ministry is a guide for righteous living, righteous decision making. His ministry is filled with social justice. His ministry challenges each Christian to live lives of compassion, charity, and mercy. His ministry challenges each Christian to learn how to be a better Christian, a better servant of the Lord, a better human. His ministry encourages us to prepare for our eternal life each day of our lives by doing little things, quietly, gently, humbly.
As Christians we will learn to develop the confidence which asks us to avoid bragging, avoid boasting. As Christians we will learn how to give glory to God. As Christians we will learn how to praise God.
Wisdom waits with lessons for each Christians. Lessons of goodness, holiness, kindness. Humility is important for each Christian. We must always remember our imperfections, our fears, our weaknesses, our sins. We must always ask God for forgiveness. Patience will develop over time. We must learn to develop and share understanding and compassion for all humans. Our choices in life might help lead another on the path to redemption, righteousness, and sanctification.
People are foolish. People make mistakes. People make assumptions. People forget this and that. Pop culture creates the illusion of the Divine Right of the Rich, the Famous, the Over-Exposed. Magazine covers and television talk shows are filled with people talking, talking, boasting, boasting. Everyone has a fabulous vacation house in the South of France. Everyone has a fabulous favorite sushi roll. Everyone has a life filled with goodness, hair extensions, tight jeans, touch screen smart phones.
In the eyes of God, every human being is equal. No one is better simply because of wealth, lineage, power.
It is important that as Christians, each day we remember the life and death of Jesus Christ. His ministry is a guide for righteous living, righteous decision making. His ministry is filled with social justice. His ministry challenges each Christian to live lives of compassion, charity, and mercy. His ministry challenges each Christian to learn how to be a better Christian, a better servant of the Lord, a better human. His ministry encourages us to prepare for our eternal life each day of our lives by doing little things, quietly, gently, humbly.
As Christians we will learn to develop the confidence which asks us to avoid bragging, avoid boasting. As Christians we will learn how to give glory to God. As Christians we will learn how to praise God.
Wisdom waits with lessons for each Christians. Lessons of goodness, holiness, kindness. Humility is important for each Christian. We must always remember our imperfections, our fears, our weaknesses, our sins. We must always ask God for forgiveness. Patience will develop over time. We must learn to develop and share understanding and compassion for all humans. Our choices in life might help lead another on the path to redemption, righteousness, and sanctification.
Humility for All
Each Christian has one real purpose in life, one simple purpose in life. This purpose is easily hidden within our loud, brash, neon bright, rain forest scented, Corinthian leather accented society of abortion, drug addiction, death penalty, child abuse, gun violence, and all consuming greed. The one real purpose challenges all this, all the chaos, all the mayhem, all the craziness that can be created and condoned within this crazy world filled with angst, anxiety, intolerance, hatred, bigotry, and fear.
Modern, capitalist society encourages each member of the society to make acquiring different items the purpose of life. The easier it is to be seen, the more this society can understand it. American society no longer values individualism, consumerism controls the cultural conscience. Humility is often viewed as an unwanted, uninvited guest only allowed to be seen occasionally and very briefly. Each American is encouraged to be a king, a superstar. Pop culture encourages each member of this society to behave with indifference to their neighbors, to question and challenge the faith of those members of society who do not believe exactly the same way, to challenge the faith and fidelity of those who do believe in God.
Believing in God is often not fashionable, barely tolerated. Believing in God opens Christians to ridicule.
Now is the time to find the confidence to be good. Now is the time to learn and to share the lessons of true, honest, loving humility. Now is the time for prayer. Now is the time to love God with the entirety of our lives. Each day presents opportunities for each of us to learn to do the right thing, to learn how to make the right decision, to love God. Now is the time to learn how to pray. Now is the time to learn how to speak in name of God, to speak only for the good of God. Now is the time to learn how to speak with love, humility, mercy.
Now is the time to accept and embrace the one real purpose that any Christian, any faithful, loving believer can have.
Modern, capitalist society encourages each member of the society to make acquiring different items the purpose of life. The easier it is to be seen, the more this society can understand it. American society no longer values individualism, consumerism controls the cultural conscience. Humility is often viewed as an unwanted, uninvited guest only allowed to be seen occasionally and very briefly. Each American is encouraged to be a king, a superstar. Pop culture encourages each member of this society to behave with indifference to their neighbors, to question and challenge the faith of those members of society who do not believe exactly the same way, to challenge the faith and fidelity of those who do believe in God.
Believing in God is often not fashionable, barely tolerated. Believing in God opens Christians to ridicule.
Now is the time to find the confidence to be good. Now is the time to learn and to share the lessons of true, honest, loving humility. Now is the time for prayer. Now is the time to love God with the entirety of our lives. Each day presents opportunities for each of us to learn to do the right thing, to learn how to make the right decision, to love God. Now is the time to learn how to pray. Now is the time to learn how to speak in name of God, to speak only for the good of God. Now is the time to learn how to speak with love, humility, mercy.
Now is the time to accept and embrace the one real purpose that any Christian, any faithful, loving believer can have.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Notes on the March for Life
The number of participants in this year's March for Life is not important. The number of speeches given by politicians, religious leaders, and concerned citizens are not important. The March for Life is important because it asks each participant, each person who witnesses it to think about the sanctity of life, the beauty of life.
Being with a group of enthusiastic people praying and cheering against death, against abortion is inspiring and beautiful. Attending the rally and marching on the streets of Washington, DC should be a requirement for all Catholics. Seeing all the different people priests, nuns, seminarians, mothers, fathers, toddlers, babies in strollers, college students, high school students, middle school students is an uplifting experience. Hearing all the different sounds singing, chanting, cheering, laughing, talking, praying is an uplifting experience.
The March for Life provides a simple opportunity to bear witness to the beauty and mystery of our faith. For those who attend there is the possibility of doing the right thing, of doing the hard thing walking in the footsteps of Christ, believing in the value of all life, showing compassion and mercy to all.
Several people spoke about the culture of death that permeates the American society. Our culture revels in violence, real and imagined for movies and television. Death is no longer respected. Science has explained the mechanics of death. Abortion is just one sad symptom of our cultural death acceptance. All life needs to be valued, not merely our lives and those our loved ones. All life needs to be valued.
The March for Life offers hope to all those who participate. For the most part the speeches are hopeful, inspiring. There are a few dull speeches but the March for Life is not about speeches, it is about moving, it is about walking in large numbers, walking saying the rosary, walking holding hands in silence, walking saying the Lord's Prayer; it is about pushing a baby stroller, pushing a wheelchair; it is about people giving of their time to take a stand against an injustice of great proportion.
As long as abortion is legal we are all victimized by it, we are all prisoners of it, we are all touched by the deaths of the innocent unborn, and the consequences that affect their parents.
People from all across the country attend the March for Life. People from Alaska, Oregon, Nebraska, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Maine, New York, Florida were there. It is great seeing and hearing them and sharing this moment.
Many lessons can be learned during the March for Life. Many prayers can be offered. The March for Life always needs more participants. It also always needs donations.
Wonderful, amazing things can occur at the March for Life.
Being with a group of enthusiastic people praying and cheering against death, against abortion is inspiring and beautiful. Attending the rally and marching on the streets of Washington, DC should be a requirement for all Catholics. Seeing all the different people priests, nuns, seminarians, mothers, fathers, toddlers, babies in strollers, college students, high school students, middle school students is an uplifting experience. Hearing all the different sounds singing, chanting, cheering, laughing, talking, praying is an uplifting experience.
The March for Life provides a simple opportunity to bear witness to the beauty and mystery of our faith. For those who attend there is the possibility of doing the right thing, of doing the hard thing walking in the footsteps of Christ, believing in the value of all life, showing compassion and mercy to all.
Several people spoke about the culture of death that permeates the American society. Our culture revels in violence, real and imagined for movies and television. Death is no longer respected. Science has explained the mechanics of death. Abortion is just one sad symptom of our cultural death acceptance. All life needs to be valued, not merely our lives and those our loved ones. All life needs to be valued.
The March for Life offers hope to all those who participate. For the most part the speeches are hopeful, inspiring. There are a few dull speeches but the March for Life is not about speeches, it is about moving, it is about walking in large numbers, walking saying the rosary, walking holding hands in silence, walking saying the Lord's Prayer; it is about pushing a baby stroller, pushing a wheelchair; it is about people giving of their time to take a stand against an injustice of great proportion.
As long as abortion is legal we are all victimized by it, we are all prisoners of it, we are all touched by the deaths of the innocent unborn, and the consequences that affect their parents.
People from all across the country attend the March for Life. People from Alaska, Oregon, Nebraska, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Maine, New York, Florida were there. It is great seeing and hearing them and sharing this moment.
Many lessons can be learned during the March for Life. Many prayers can be offered. The March for Life always needs more participants. It also always needs donations.
Wonderful, amazing things can occur at the March for Life.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Simple Thoughts on Abortion
This week my imagination has been busy alternating between thoughts about abortion, snow, and being more productive. Other thoughts have been able to survive, even thrive for an hour or two to be replaced and forgotten. Abortion as a real world reality dominated my thoughts, caused me to rethink how I view the world. All other thoughts this week except those at the grocery store which were on a search and avoid corn starch syrup were filtered by an awareness of the impact of abortion.
I have always believed abortion to be wrong. In many ways it always seemed like a doomsday literary device, the crisis is temporarily averted but the danger remains, the anxiety, the angst, the depression remains.
Attending the March for Life on Monday was beautiful, inspiring. My mind was not prepared for all of the people present on the Mall or marching to the Supreme Court.
My day began with a beautiful Mass at the Cathedral of Saint Matthew the Apostle, then a journey on the Orange Line to the Mall. How amazing it was seeing all the young people walking near Federal Center South West! How wonderful it was watching them huddle together, listening to instructions, listening to prayers.
I had no idea what the Mall would look like. It was a cold January afternoon. I was dressed in several layers. I was carrying a big, black camera bag. My initial thoughts were centered on lens and camera angles and cold fingers and other things that photographers worry about whenever they pull out their cameras. There was a moment when I imagined that I was either F. Scott Fitzgerald or Ernest Hemingway or Howard Hawks or Frank Capra.
There was something all crazy and upside down about our culture, like a thirties screwball comedy without the happy ending or a sense of moral redemption or even a sense of cultural morals or ethics. Thoughts like these often flash into my imagination on days when I am being unnaturally quiet and anonymous.
Abortion remains the quiet anonymous aberration, the post sexual revolution paradox of the convergence of convenience, consequence, and responsibility. Abortion remains an instant polarizing conundrum. Everyone has a point of view, everyone is ready to argue this topic. Few people are ready to listen to what their opponents are really saying.
A fundamental shift in our culture will be needed to combat or stop abortion. All people must be educated on how to make good choices, how to avoid hormones and peer pressure, how to do the right thing. Our society provides mixed messages regarding sexuality. We are routinely told sex is good, encouraged to have sex. Each day our sexual openness provides new risks and dangers for us all. Sex has become just another consumer good, another commodity. There is nothing beautiful or sacred or mysterious about sex. For many sex is like a large order of french fries or a latte. Our culture encourages and allows us to use sex for instant gratification.
Hopefully with time our society will again value goodness, holiness, and kindness and encourage all its citizens to respect themselves, to have patience, to remember God and his laws. Our society likes to talk about Plato, Socrates, Einstein, Darwin. We like to talk about natural laws.
There is nothing natural about abortion. It is truly barbaric. It does not simply kill unborn babies. Abortion attacks the spirit of all those living, breathing, and praying. Abortion is an attack on our way of life, on our dreams, on our future.
I have always believed abortion to be wrong. In many ways it always seemed like a doomsday literary device, the crisis is temporarily averted but the danger remains, the anxiety, the angst, the depression remains.
Attending the March for Life on Monday was beautiful, inspiring. My mind was not prepared for all of the people present on the Mall or marching to the Supreme Court.
My day began with a beautiful Mass at the Cathedral of Saint Matthew the Apostle, then a journey on the Orange Line to the Mall. How amazing it was seeing all the young people walking near Federal Center South West! How wonderful it was watching them huddle together, listening to instructions, listening to prayers.
I had no idea what the Mall would look like. It was a cold January afternoon. I was dressed in several layers. I was carrying a big, black camera bag. My initial thoughts were centered on lens and camera angles and cold fingers and other things that photographers worry about whenever they pull out their cameras. There was a moment when I imagined that I was either F. Scott Fitzgerald or Ernest Hemingway or Howard Hawks or Frank Capra.
There was something all crazy and upside down about our culture, like a thirties screwball comedy without the happy ending or a sense of moral redemption or even a sense of cultural morals or ethics. Thoughts like these often flash into my imagination on days when I am being unnaturally quiet and anonymous.
Abortion remains the quiet anonymous aberration, the post sexual revolution paradox of the convergence of convenience, consequence, and responsibility. Abortion remains an instant polarizing conundrum. Everyone has a point of view, everyone is ready to argue this topic. Few people are ready to listen to what their opponents are really saying.
A fundamental shift in our culture will be needed to combat or stop abortion. All people must be educated on how to make good choices, how to avoid hormones and peer pressure, how to do the right thing. Our society provides mixed messages regarding sexuality. We are routinely told sex is good, encouraged to have sex. Each day our sexual openness provides new risks and dangers for us all. Sex has become just another consumer good, another commodity. There is nothing beautiful or sacred or mysterious about sex. For many sex is like a large order of french fries or a latte. Our culture encourages and allows us to use sex for instant gratification.
Hopefully with time our society will again value goodness, holiness, and kindness and encourage all its citizens to respect themselves, to have patience, to remember God and his laws. Our society likes to talk about Plato, Socrates, Einstein, Darwin. We like to talk about natural laws.
There is nothing natural about abortion. It is truly barbaric. It does not simply kill unborn babies. Abortion attacks the spirit of all those living, breathing, and praying. Abortion is an attack on our way of life, on our dreams, on our future.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
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