Mary Oliver in her poem “When Death Comes” ends the poem with the following:
When it’s over, I don’t want to wonder
If I have made of my life something particular and real.
I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened, or full of argument.
I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.
That is such a marvelous prelude to and examination of conscience. Worlds like “but,” “if only,” “When I finish this” and “I meant to” will probably not mean much to St. Peter on that last day.
God is not asking us to visit this world, to come and not unpack our bags, to come only to take pictures to remember it by. This world is not meant to be an amusement park where you come to enjoy but not be part of. The world that we live in is not The Garden of Eden. We do however live in a world that is a garden, a garden that God wants us to cultivate. He expects life to be an effort and to take work. He does not want you to say of his creation: It was a great place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.
The poem has the phrase “made of my life something.” I find that most interesting. Life goes from birth to death. You can just follow it along, let it control you or you can “make something” of it. God gives us this gift of life, but as our response to his love, we have to make something of it. You make something of your life by making a first effort, getting use to that step and doing the next thing and continuing on this process throughout your whole life. You don’t make something of life all at one. You work at it and build you own special life.
One can look at the time of birth as the laying of the cornerstone of your life. Once the corner stone is laid, you have to begin the building process. This takes your whole life.
But it will be great when it is finished.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Let His face shine upn you
“Let his face shine upon you”
Numbers 6:25
What a marvelous reflection. Every time that I think of His face, I feel a warmth come over me. If we stop and think of all of the various times we have used the phrase or heard someone else say “His or Her face shines,” I picture a person who is radiating happiness. I think of a bride’s face shinning. I think of a mother’s face at birth as shinning. I think of a sport fan’s face after a championship as shinning. Sad, lonely, mad, self-centered or busy people do not have shining faces. Think of the times that you have been in the presence of one of the first examples that I have given, you can’t help but feel good. And when God shines his face on you, wow. That means that his happiness is directed towards you. His happiness and goodness will warm you, will brighten you up and will give you strength. Hopefully we can get to the point that as he shines on us so can we shine on others.
Numbers 6:25
What a marvelous reflection. Every time that I think of His face, I feel a warmth come over me. If we stop and think of all of the various times we have used the phrase or heard someone else say “His or Her face shines,” I picture a person who is radiating happiness. I think of a bride’s face shinning. I think of a mother’s face at birth as shinning. I think of a sport fan’s face after a championship as shinning. Sad, lonely, mad, self-centered or busy people do not have shining faces. Think of the times that you have been in the presence of one of the first examples that I have given, you can’t help but feel good. And when God shines his face on you, wow. That means that his happiness is directed towards you. His happiness and goodness will warm you, will brighten you up and will give you strength. Hopefully we can get to the point that as he shines on us so can we shine on others.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
It's Loaves and Fishes Time
“Five loaves and two fish are all that we have here.”
Matthew 14:17
I have heard from time to time an interpretation of the five loaves and the few fish that basically talks about how the apostles went out and gathered whatever food people had brought and redistributed it to each of the 5000+ people to eat. At the end there was much left. I am not sure of the scriptural validly of this interpretation, but I am interested in that concept. At this time in the history of our Catholic Church in North America and in the world, we have come to a standstill. We are hungry and look to the
Hierarchy of the church and the ordained to feed us. We have expected them to have all of the food. I am beginning to understand that that just isn’t what is going to happen. It is time for us, the figurative five thousand (plus women and children) to bring our loaves, our crusts, and our small fish to the community to be shared according to our need. Africa at the moment has a bigger need than I do. I believe that if we do that, we will have twelve baskets of generosity left which will spill over into taking care of or feeding peoples outside of our community. The bishops and other religious are still needed, but they are stymied because we are not stepping forth. Many of us have little to offer; what each has to offer will be different. But we need to step forward and offer that to the community to help it feed itself or reach its goals. We each need to help to make the church whole again. We start here with each other. What do I have that I can offer the community that will help this community to stay together and grow in Faith? Pretty simple, isn’t it? Let’s not make it complex. Let’s for once just return to the basics of the gospel lesson.
Matthew 14:17
I have heard from time to time an interpretation of the five loaves and the few fish that basically talks about how the apostles went out and gathered whatever food people had brought and redistributed it to each of the 5000+ people to eat. At the end there was much left. I am not sure of the scriptural validly of this interpretation, but I am interested in that concept. At this time in the history of our Catholic Church in North America and in the world, we have come to a standstill. We are hungry and look to the
Hierarchy of the church and the ordained to feed us. We have expected them to have all of the food. I am beginning to understand that that just isn’t what is going to happen. It is time for us, the figurative five thousand (plus women and children) to bring our loaves, our crusts, and our small fish to the community to be shared according to our need. Africa at the moment has a bigger need than I do. I believe that if we do that, we will have twelve baskets of generosity left which will spill over into taking care of or feeding peoples outside of our community. The bishops and other religious are still needed, but they are stymied because we are not stepping forth. Many of us have little to offer; what each has to offer will be different. But we need to step forward and offer that to the community to help it feed itself or reach its goals. We each need to help to make the church whole again. We start here with each other. What do I have that I can offer the community that will help this community to stay together and grow in Faith? Pretty simple, isn’t it? Let’s not make it complex. Let’s for once just return to the basics of the gospel lesson.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Omission
“And what I have failed to do. . .”
Act of Contrition
Recently I heard a sermon about the reading of the rich man who lost heaven because of what he did not do. Omission. Frankly, every time I am exposed to that gospel reading, I cringe. What a better example of our gifted lives in America and our greatest barrier to obtaining heaven, Omission. The phrase “and what I have failed to do” is haunting. Could we be a nice clean living community that is missing the point? Omission.
If it is a Sunday morning and offertory time and I am there and trying to remember one instance where I worked in the vineyard outside of my immediate family during this past week and I can’t; What do I really have to offer? There is that “Omission” concept again. Surely there was at least one time I could have: volunteered somewhere for three hours, take a cake to someone who could use one, visit a person who doesn’t get other visitors often, assist a child of a friend, a letter that could have been written, or a new parishioner to welcome. Omission. It scares me.
Act of Contrition
Recently I heard a sermon about the reading of the rich man who lost heaven because of what he did not do. Omission. Frankly, every time I am exposed to that gospel reading, I cringe. What a better example of our gifted lives in America and our greatest barrier to obtaining heaven, Omission. The phrase “and what I have failed to do” is haunting. Could we be a nice clean living community that is missing the point? Omission.
If it is a Sunday morning and offertory time and I am there and trying to remember one instance where I worked in the vineyard outside of my immediate family during this past week and I can’t; What do I really have to offer? There is that “Omission” concept again. Surely there was at least one time I could have: volunteered somewhere for three hours, take a cake to someone who could use one, visit a person who doesn’t get other visitors often, assist a child of a friend, a letter that could have been written, or a new parishioner to welcome. Omission. It scares me.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
The Keystone
“The Stone rejected by the builder has become the keystone of the structure”
Acts 4:11
The keystone is the central wedge shaped stone that locks the parts of an arch together which in turn supports the building. How many times in life do we neglect or reject someone who does not impress us only to find out later that he or she is the one that completes a task or job that is the key to some success that we are involved with. This goes to show us that no mater what we think, each person is important to God and has a part in his plan. In your own life the attributes that you think you might be the most inexperienced at might, at some point, save the day, i.e. you said the right thing to the right person at the right time. We might never know if that extra prayer might be the keystone that helped a person over their difficulties. What attribute do I need to improve so that my faith life locks in place?
Acts 4:11
The keystone is the central wedge shaped stone that locks the parts of an arch together which in turn supports the building. How many times in life do we neglect or reject someone who does not impress us only to find out later that he or she is the one that completes a task or job that is the key to some success that we are involved with. This goes to show us that no mater what we think, each person is important to God and has a part in his plan. In your own life the attributes that you think you might be the most inexperienced at might, at some point, save the day, i.e. you said the right thing to the right person at the right time. We might never know if that extra prayer might be the keystone that helped a person over their difficulties. What attribute do I need to improve so that my faith life locks in place?
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Prayer
PRAYER:
“Prayer is a Good thing.”
Me
Payer is the human response to God’s existence and his love. A meaningful prayer life must be developed; it is not an art or a science or something that one is born with. Prayer must be natural. As we as individuals have different styles of music that we love from Country, through Rock to Classical, we will all have different ways of praying. It can be prayer to accept something learned and loved in our youth like a Latin hymn. Take ownership of your prayers. Each of us should be building our own collection of prayers that we find right for us. The Lord’s Prayer is not God’s prayer to us, but each believer’s prayer to God. Prayer can be read, made up, sung, danced or painted. Prayer is your expression of your love for God and remember that we will express that love a bit
“Prayer is a Good thing.”
Me
Payer is the human response to God’s existence and his love. A meaningful prayer life must be developed; it is not an art or a science or something that one is born with. Prayer must be natural. As we as individuals have different styles of music that we love from Country, through Rock to Classical, we will all have different ways of praying. It can be prayer to accept something learned and loved in our youth like a Latin hymn. Take ownership of your prayers. Each of us should be building our own collection of prayers that we find right for us. The Lord’s Prayer is not God’s prayer to us, but each believer’s prayer to God. Prayer can be read, made up, sung, danced or painted. Prayer is your expression of your love for God and remember that we will express that love a bit
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Loving God
“Love me as I have loved you”
John 13:34
Your love relationship with God is what spurns your prayer life or your attempts at communicating with the God you love and who loves you. For example it can be compared to your human loving relationships. Some meet their spouse and it is love at first sight, others gradually see the beauty of their spouse and develop their interpersonal communication on a gradual basis. Or take a look at your loving relationship with your parents for another analogy. It will take different forms at different times of your life, but it does start from your earliest memories of their total love for you as infants and children and then we gradually learn how to respond to that love in a growing maturing way as we age. There are times when we let the relationship go by the wayside, the most obvious being in high school or college years. We take that love of parents for granted and do very little to respond to it except on the major holidays like Christmas and, of course, Mothers’ Day. But as we grow older we can deepen that communication, that loving relationship. We get better at responding to God’s love for us.
John 13:34
Your love relationship with God is what spurns your prayer life or your attempts at communicating with the God you love and who loves you. For example it can be compared to your human loving relationships. Some meet their spouse and it is love at first sight, others gradually see the beauty of their spouse and develop their interpersonal communication on a gradual basis. Or take a look at your loving relationship with your parents for another analogy. It will take different forms at different times of your life, but it does start from your earliest memories of their total love for you as infants and children and then we gradually learn how to respond to that love in a growing maturing way as we age. There are times when we let the relationship go by the wayside, the most obvious being in high school or college years. We take that love of parents for granted and do very little to respond to it except on the major holidays like Christmas and, of course, Mothers’ Day. But as we grow older we can deepen that communication, that loving relationship. We get better at responding to God’s love for us.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
The Faith of Jesus
The Faith of Jesus
Some priest’s sermon
Recently I heard a phrase in a sermon that I had not pondered before. It referred to the “Faith of Jesus” I have always thought on Faith “in Jesus.” I keep forgetting how good a role model Jesus has been for us. All throughout the Gospels are recorded acts where Jesus is preaching of faith not in Him but of faith in the Father. I forget often that this is something that he experienced also. We see His faith being tested especially during the 40 days on the mountain at His meeting with Satan and with his comment, “Let this cup pass from me.” He expressed doubts or at least hesitations like we do. He had inner turmoil at times also like we do. Knowing that he understands our turmoils gives me comfort and strength as I face mine.
Some priest’s sermon
Recently I heard a phrase in a sermon that I had not pondered before. It referred to the “Faith of Jesus” I have always thought on Faith “in Jesus.” I keep forgetting how good a role model Jesus has been for us. All throughout the Gospels are recorded acts where Jesus is preaching of faith not in Him but of faith in the Father. I forget often that this is something that he experienced also. We see His faith being tested especially during the 40 days on the mountain at His meeting with Satan and with his comment, “Let this cup pass from me.” He expressed doubts or at least hesitations like we do. He had inner turmoil at times also like we do. Knowing that he understands our turmoils gives me comfort and strength as I face mine.
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