Hail Mary, full of grace”
Prayer “Hail Mary”
When examining the role of Mary in God’s world, it behooves us to concentrate on her total humanness. The whole paschal mystery is centered in God connecting to man here on earth in human terms. Mary was 100% human and served as the conduit for God to be able to explain Himself and deliver himself to us as humans. Mary is that magnificent manifestation of the statement that God works with and through humanity to bring himself and, therefore, salvation to the human race. God appearing from some miraculous cloud or other extraterrestrial event would have presented God in his supernatural state only. As He comes into this world through Mary, He reveals Himself as a God with humanity. If I lived back then and met Mary on the street she would have looked like all others, like one of my sisters or neighbors. Mary taught us what total acceptance was. She accepted God’s word through various sources. If we could all accept the will of God like she did, we would be well on our way to salvation. She didn’t argue, she didn’t put up conditions. She accepted all that God had in mind for her. I am not only speaking of the birth of Christ but the acceptance of watching Him as her son, grow, preach, be ridiculed, die on a cross and then rise from the dead. Can we as Christians see Jesus as His mother would?
Monday, November 30, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Sodom Today
“As he looked down towards Sodom and Gomorrah. He saw smoke over His land rising like fumes from a furnace.
Genesis 19:28
I wonder how Sammy Sinful felt when he awoke in Sodom the day before it fell. Did he feel totally bad, did he know the end was coming? Did he think that he was the cause of it? Or did he feel a lot like I might feel this morning? Do you think that he woke up everyday thinking of ways to tick God off? Do you think that what he did that upset God was a goal of theirs?
I have heard three different interpretations of the Sodom and Gomorrah story: They were singled out by God for destruction because:
1) They had no regard for the poor.
2) They had a complete disregard for social justice.
3) They had a general immorality centered on self pleasure.
I find it to be quite possible that they didn’t wake up every day with evil in mind. I think that they woke up every day without God in mind and let those other things happen. What concerns me is that these are the same things that we face here in America today. Do we wake up and focus our day on other things: that are not on God or Christ centered things. Our measly two minutes of rote morning prayers might be negated by a life style and goals that are not consistent with those prayers.
The people in Sodom could have woken up every morning just like we do today. They lived their day to day existence filled with activities that were self-centered, me centered and me and my family centered activities. “Me” was the center of their lives. Isn’t it the same today? Do we sometimes spend five times as much on our annual vacations as we give to the poor? Are our political decisions based solely on how things affect “Me?” Not how they might affect the poor.
Can what happened to Sodom happen to us. I don’t know but personally I don’t want to take the chance. What I offer is the supposition that there is a crack in our covenant with God. I do not believe that we are at the point that the people of Sodom were when God dealt his destruction, but I have a feeling that we might be on our way.
Genesis 19:28
I wonder how Sammy Sinful felt when he awoke in Sodom the day before it fell. Did he feel totally bad, did he know the end was coming? Did he think that he was the cause of it? Or did he feel a lot like I might feel this morning? Do you think that he woke up everyday thinking of ways to tick God off? Do you think that what he did that upset God was a goal of theirs?
I have heard three different interpretations of the Sodom and Gomorrah story: They were singled out by God for destruction because:
1) They had no regard for the poor.
2) They had a complete disregard for social justice.
3) They had a general immorality centered on self pleasure.
I find it to be quite possible that they didn’t wake up every day with evil in mind. I think that they woke up every day without God in mind and let those other things happen. What concerns me is that these are the same things that we face here in America today. Do we wake up and focus our day on other things: that are not on God or Christ centered things. Our measly two minutes of rote morning prayers might be negated by a life style and goals that are not consistent with those prayers.
The people in Sodom could have woken up every morning just like we do today. They lived their day to day existence filled with activities that were self-centered, me centered and me and my family centered activities. “Me” was the center of their lives. Isn’t it the same today? Do we sometimes spend five times as much on our annual vacations as we give to the poor? Are our political decisions based solely on how things affect “Me?” Not how they might affect the poor.
Can what happened to Sodom happen to us. I don’t know but personally I don’t want to take the chance. What I offer is the supposition that there is a crack in our covenant with God. I do not believe that we are at the point that the people of Sodom were when God dealt his destruction, but I have a feeling that we might be on our way.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Forgiveness
“As we forgive those who trespass against us”
The Lords Prayer
Unfortunately “Hating” is something that humans can do. I have found myself over time hating another person or some misfortune. It is interesting because at those times in my life when I have hated someone, I have had a tendency to think of this hatred as spikes that can flow out of my eyes and hit the offending person causing him or her pain. What I have discovered is that is the opposite of what happens. The pain of hate is internal. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me, if some of the people that I have hated in my life, never even knew it. Hate like other sins, has possibly its biggest negative impact on me. It can consume me. It can cloud my sense of love and well being.
That is why; I think that one of the greatest gifts that God has given to mankind is the ability to “forgive.” It is in us forgiving others and in a sense ourselves that we become happier people. What happens to the people that we hate is irrelevant. Our “Thirst for Vengeance” just consumes us and turns us away from God.
As we can tell his command to “Love one another as I have loved you” doesn’t really fit with the concept of us not forgiving others. Remember someone doesn’t have to be guilty for you to forgive them. It is what you think happened that you are forgiving.
“To forgive” is one of the most joyful things that we experience. We immediately feel better and back in whack with God and others and most importantly ourselves.
The Lords Prayer
Unfortunately “Hating” is something that humans can do. I have found myself over time hating another person or some misfortune. It is interesting because at those times in my life when I have hated someone, I have had a tendency to think of this hatred as spikes that can flow out of my eyes and hit the offending person causing him or her pain. What I have discovered is that is the opposite of what happens. The pain of hate is internal. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me, if some of the people that I have hated in my life, never even knew it. Hate like other sins, has possibly its biggest negative impact on me. It can consume me. It can cloud my sense of love and well being.
That is why; I think that one of the greatest gifts that God has given to mankind is the ability to “forgive.” It is in us forgiving others and in a sense ourselves that we become happier people. What happens to the people that we hate is irrelevant. Our “Thirst for Vengeance” just consumes us and turns us away from God.
As we can tell his command to “Love one another as I have loved you” doesn’t really fit with the concept of us not forgiving others. Remember someone doesn’t have to be guilty for you to forgive them. It is what you think happened that you are forgiving.
“To forgive” is one of the most joyful things that we experience. We immediately feel better and back in whack with God and others and most importantly ourselves.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Amending
Amend my life…”
Act of Contrition
When we talk about getting right with God, when we talk about confessing our sins and then doing better, we use the phrase “amend our lives.” I like this phrase because it emphasizes that no matter what we have done, we are trying to put it right. Our whole being is a gift from God and God created it good. We screw up; we damage part of our lives, so we amend it. The whole is still good. The amending can make it better and stronger. Amending can be thought of as pruning. Our country’s constitution was good. The various amendments that we have accepted have made it better. In this instance we can look at our lives as we live it each day. As we slip into a bad habit or two, we seem to do them on a regular basis maybe even each day. We don’t want to change our whole life but just correct the things that have gone awry. We amend, we don’t replace, we don’t condemn. The ability to amend our lives is truly one of the gifts that God gave us to help us love Him as humans who don’t love 100% all of the time.
Act of Contrition
When we talk about getting right with God, when we talk about confessing our sins and then doing better, we use the phrase “amend our lives.” I like this phrase because it emphasizes that no matter what we have done, we are trying to put it right. Our whole being is a gift from God and God created it good. We screw up; we damage part of our lives, so we amend it. The whole is still good. The amending can make it better and stronger. Amending can be thought of as pruning. Our country’s constitution was good. The various amendments that we have accepted have made it better. In this instance we can look at our lives as we live it each day. As we slip into a bad habit or two, we seem to do them on a regular basis maybe even each day. We don’t want to change our whole life but just correct the things that have gone awry. We amend, we don’t replace, we don’t condemn. The ability to amend our lives is truly one of the gifts that God gave us to help us love Him as humans who don’t love 100% all of the time.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Poverty and Freedom
“Where there is poverty, there is found abundance, where there is plenty there is always a need for more”
St. Anthony of Padua
I combine the above phrase with a tribute that I heard Garrison Keilor give the Sisters of St. Joseph. He talked about those women as being the first true liberated women. That caught my attention because we always think of the nuns of our childhood more for their poverty than their liberation. What both items mean to me is that it is only when we can get away from all material possessions as goals that we can we become centered on our true meaning. Maybe there should be a term “poverty of thought” to indicate that state that you can attain when you are ambivalent to your surroundings and possessions but concerned with faith and others. It is hard to pray to God for love when you are really praying for a new gas grill. Using this concept of “poverty of thought” we don’t see it as emptiness as one would first think, but we see this state as one of freedom. In one sense your heart and mind have to be emptied of other things so you can fill it with love, prayer and caring.
St. Anthony of Padua
I combine the above phrase with a tribute that I heard Garrison Keilor give the Sisters of St. Joseph. He talked about those women as being the first true liberated women. That caught my attention because we always think of the nuns of our childhood more for their poverty than their liberation. What both items mean to me is that it is only when we can get away from all material possessions as goals that we can we become centered on our true meaning. Maybe there should be a term “poverty of thought” to indicate that state that you can attain when you are ambivalent to your surroundings and possessions but concerned with faith and others. It is hard to pray to God for love when you are really praying for a new gas grill. Using this concept of “poverty of thought” we don’t see it as emptiness as one would first think, but we see this state as one of freedom. In one sense your heart and mind have to be emptied of other things so you can fill it with love, prayer and caring.
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