Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Message of Love

We live in a time of institutionalized sin. We accept all types of deceptions, falsifications, and temptations. Our secular cultures abuses us with all types of scandals and rumors which encourage and nourish all types of vices and sins to fester and grow within our hearts with greed, selfishness, and other undesirable, unloving traits promoted as beneficial and natural.

As Christians we accept that we are sinners and try to avoid sinning. The Church reminds us to love our neighbors as ourselves, to worship only God.

Still the sinning and temptation continue, but we have the lessons from the Gospels leading us to the power and glory of God.

Sinfulness causes our hearts and souls to feel fatigued, confuses us. The glamor of evil is a serpentine road which crosses itself several times; it is a harsh course full of discontent, anxiety, selfishness of heartlessness, of fear, of destructive inquisitiveness to the poor decaying clamor of indecision and deception. Our secular culture deliberately challenges and ridicules all that was good, decent, and noble within our lives, and now we constantly have to assert what is sacred, what is essential.

How beautiful is the kingdom of God, which encourages goodness in the world, where all that which is divine waits, all love, all mercy, all forgiveness, all hope—a kingdom of charity, humility, obedience. How wonderful to live in peace, to live with God’s love for eternity!

We all have been tempted by the secular culture; we all have learned ways to resist it.

Our secular culture does not want our sincerity or our respect; it provides enough stimulation to make each of us a conversational diletante, with only trivial information and its derivatives to guide us away from seeking God’s forgiveness and mercy.

We must learn to pray to God in humble, honest, loving words. We must praise God for each breath we take, each mountain we see. We must thank God for the entirety of our lives, the good, the bad, the misspelled, the ungrammatical, the typographical errors, the beauty, his goodness and kindness to us. We must always thank God for all the priests, the clergy. For it is in our Church that Christ’s lessons of love continue to be shared, to be taught, to be lived every day.

The mission of the Church remains one of love, education, and preparation. The message of the Church is love.

“The church would betray its own love for God and its fidelity to the gospel if it stopped being . . . a defender of the rights of the poor . . . a humanizer of every legitimate struggle to achieve a more just society . . . that prepares the way for the true reign of God in history.” Archbishop Oscar Romero

Prayer

We are always in need of prayer. And so we must allow ourselves a minute or two of silence; we must also respect others when they are praying.

Life is filled with all types of distractions and temptations. A healthy prayer life will provide a calm respite. We will behold the majesty and magnificence of God. We will learn patience and confidence. We can breathe without anxiety, without angst, without worry. Contemplation leads us toward God.

A rigorous prayer life prepares us to follow Christ, to live with Christ’s fairness and social justice lessons in our hearts. A rigorous prayer life makes us aware of our own individual situation. We can see our strengths, our weaknesses. We can ask God for assistance. A rigorous prayer life will help us become closer to God.

Goodness requires diligence and perseverance.

Lent provided us with forty days of a journey into the desert for purification and provided a picturesque of hope through the various liturgies read during Mass. Lent does not have to provide us with discomfort. It only requested that we attempt to move closer to God, that we attempt to be better Christians. The great problem we face is sin, and the solution is not always easy to accept and follow. When sin appears before us, we must remember to pray to God for strength to avoid sin, for guidance away from sin.

Lent provided us with many reasons to pray to God, to remember that we are refugees searching for forgiveness, mercy, and love. We are not the rulers. We are wounded by our various sins, seen and unseen.

Lent provided us with an education, very private and personal; we were asked to examine our consciences. When we went to Confession, we were told to “sin no more” and we returned to our lives of road rage, crazy bosses, and secular supported and encouraged vices.

We can always trust in God. We do not have to be a member of the distraught population bouncing between each sin and deception displayed on magazine covers and television screens. There is another solution.

Silence. Contemplation. Prayer.

Splendid Prayer.







Chrism Mass March 29, 2010 Cathedral of Saint Matthew the Apostle

The Chrism Mass on Monday evening at the Cathedral of Saint Matthew the Apostle was a wonderful liturgy and opportunity to see the various priests of the Archdiocese of Washington. It is an evening of respect and reverence for the Gospel, the Eucharist, and priests.

Archbishop Donald Wuerl was the celebrant; every priest in attendance was concelebrant.

The Chrism Mass was simply a Mass for priests. Seminarians were recognized. Priests who have died recently were recognized.

This Mass more than any other celebrated the extraordinary daily lives of priests as they live and work in their various ministries. One important part of this Mass was the blessing of the holy oils which will be used within the sacraments during the next twelve months. Each parish in the archdiocese received the oils which were blessed by the Archbishop.

Seeing all priests together in white vestments was impressive. How solemn yet moving the procession of priests into the Cathedral was! Both enthusiasm and hope were present. Love, universal and unconditional, was present also. This was a celebration. This was an evening when priestly vows were renewed with a youthful vigor.

A priest’s life is not easy. Their work never ends. Weddings, baptisms, confessions, hospital visits, parish meetings, and balancing the parish budget keep all priests busy in addition to their individual prayer times and Mass schedules. Being a priest is more than just saying Mass on Sunday.

A priest encourages us to love, to follow in the footsteps in Christ. Each priest in his own unique way illuminates God’s perfection, God’s mercy, God’s love, God’s forgiveness. Each priest in his own unique way illuminates our imperfection, our secular culture’s imperfection and destructiveness. Each priest in his own way provides light, hope, love, understanding leading those willing to listen, willing to follow away from the darkness. Priests are here to serve us, to direct us to salvation. They encourage us to examine our consciences, to live our lives filled with charity, humility, and obedience to the commandments of God. By their example we are presented with goodness and a view of a holy life of prayer and good works. A priest is a human being who needs our love, our assistance, and our prayers. And because many parishioners only see them during the rituals of the Mass, celebrating the Eucharist there is a tendency to elevate them, forget that they are all human and need our compassion, our empathy, and our friendship.

Evangelization must exist beyond the Mass. By example, each priest provides ways for us to incorporate the gospel into our lives and helps us develop the courage to spread it. We must always remember that the teachings of Jesus Christ centered on the notions of fairness, social justice, and love. Our priests do this each and every day.

The priesthood is an important, vital institution which provides sacramental assistance, directions, and prayers to and for believers and assistance, directions and prayers for nonbelievers. Priests are often very important in both their parishes and neighborhoods. The strength and beauty of the priesthood is dependent upon the love, support, and prayers of the faithful. We must pray for the health and well being of the current priests and of the future priests.

The Chrism Mass splendidly looks toward the future and asks us to always remember our priests in our prayers.

Monday, March 29, 2010

Challenge Ourselves

We must always challenge ourselves and our views of our world. Being Christian is difficult. There is a tension between what Christ taught and how our secular society encourages us to live. The greatest danger that a Christian can face is complacency, accepting everything, questioning nothing. This in essence can render your faith moot, meaningless. If we allow ourselves to love our neighbors, we must hope and pray for fairness in their lives; we must also act to achieve this fairness in their lives. It will not occur without our effort, our support, our patience. Prayer is essential. When we allow ourselves to love our neighbors, we become involved in their lives and struggles, we allow ourselves to suffer with them, we allow ourselves to share compassion with them. As Christians we can never accept the status quo. We must look at our society, at our world and see how the poor and marginalized are treated. We must work for true equality which will foster freedom, peace, human dignity for all mankind.

“The Church is obliged by its evangelical mission to demand structural changes that favor the reign of God and a more just and comradely way of life. Unjust social structures are the roots of all violence and disturbances.” Archbishop Oscar Romero

Reflection - Logical Parishioners

The logical parishioner, modern, involved, busy has infinitely more to do with Love and Prayer than the Young and the inexperienced, whether student or observer, ever imagines. Social Justice promotes a special type of love and hope unencumbered with any desire for reciprocal behavior or any desire for possession.How lucky for us that sin creates an ancient form of amnesia (inability to love God and neighbor) and a modern form of jealousy (inability to remember and to share all the goodness that I have received); you might expect that I would have enough common sense to remain quiet and to mind my own business. What makes the “new” love based upon fairness and the Social Justice teachings of Christ so appealing is its insistence to recognize that love requires a foundation of both spiritual and intellectual, prose and poetry, sound and silence, motion and stillness, ignorance and intelligence. Within all love reside many unasked questions. Love itself is often an ethereal mystery which appears and disappears within our hearts when we allow ourselves to be vulnerable, to be open, to look upon the world with an universal hope and concern for our neighbors which matches or exceeds our hope and concern for ourselves at a specific moment.The modern thought and acceptance of sin within some secular thinking reduces the evil within sin, reduces our responsibility for our actions. We must accept that sin is often unavoidable. We must believe that prayer and penance are always necessary.

We can allow ourselves to be part of God’s procession, surrounded by all the Saints, surrounded by angels, resplendent in love and hope, glittering with humility, charity, and obedience the most precious jewels of faith and love.

Let us reverse things. Instead of asking how we can teach social justice, suppose we ask how social justice can teach us. What might we learn from Christ’s lessons on fairness, for example, about service to the poor to which he was devoted? Some of Christ's lessons are so advanced that only the youngest and poorest will recognize them. But his ideas of love, fairness, and social justice can also teach us something personal yet perhaps revelatory: that thinking and doing matter crucially as we follow him, increase goodness and love in our lives. Again and again, he emphasizes prayer, and the need to serve others; through prayer we can find both the confidence and patience to become God’s humble, loving servants.

True, the desire to pray and to find goodness becomes an insatiable desire and you must pray. Nevertheless, you must also think . . . Contemplation, when it it true, honest, selfless leads us to Christ, opens up the beauty and majesty of his Passion which will grow stronger within each of us as our knowledge and understanding of the humiliation, suffering, and sacrifice grows. For each of us there is something of particular interest, particular meaning within Christ’s Passion which binds it to our hearts, links us to the universal Church. Allow yourself to spend fifteen minutes or more every day thinking about what the Passion means to you; allow your thoughts to be childishly chaotic, undisciplined, unfocused when you begin. This is natural; our lives are often simply a collection of episodic confusion and desperation. Contemplation and prayer can lead us to God, when we allow ourselves to be believe, when we allow ourselves to live as Jesus instructed us to live, when we allow ourselves to love.

The logical parishioner understands and accepts the illogical; love is rarely logical. The logical parishioner understands and accepts Prayer; petitioning God is a natural part of the existence of all men.We are all young and inexperienced. Each day we grow in goodness, hope, and love. And true love often remains something more beautiful, more bountiful, more mysterious than that which we allow ourselves to imagine.

Contemplation and silence.

We, you and I, with contemplation, silence, prayer, more thinking, some action can become the logical parishioners.


Friday, March 26, 2010

Unity

We live in an age where everything is complicated. We live in an age of technology. We live in an age of avoidance and loneliness.

Christ encourages us to develop and to share unity and simplicity. The more we are able to do this the more we are able to understand the world. We must learn how to interpret intense, impassioned discussions about life, politics, relationships, religion, and the world. The true test for Christians is the requirement to apply Christ’s teachings to these discussions to determine their fairness and validity. We must always be open to learning new things, hearing new things. But, we not automatically accept these new things. Newness is often seductive, flattering to our ears; as Christians we need to contemplate, to pray before accepting the many wonders of this modern electronic world. The light of Truth appears after we labor, after we are silent and allow ourselves to think, after we pray for understanding. Remember men like to change their minds. Everything which is new and revolutionary today will be revised tomorrow. The one constant in this world is God. We must strive to live with hearts, souls, and minds filled with purity and love, filled with sincerity in thought, action, and word, completely steadfast with the entirety of our being. We are human beings yes, but as Christians our lives are meant to praise and honor God. We live in a time of institutional violence, institutional sinfulness. All that we belief is sacred is constantly, continually under attack. Our Faith is a threat to the goals and ambitions of commercialism, secularism. Undisciplined hearts are easier to control and manipulate; selfishness leads to weakness and fear. As Christians we must always remember Christ, allow our existence to progress one footstep at a time in a path chosen by Christ. Allow yourself time to become good and devout. Allow yourself time to learn how to do good works in your community. Allow Christ to direct your heart in the right way to avoid the clamor and glamor of evil. Move beyond tolerance. Seek an understanding of yourself and your neighbor. Seek social justice for all; be not afraid of social justice. You will not lose anything because of it. You will gain many things as fairness grows within your heart, soul, and mind. Allow social justice to lead you toward God and goodness.

Daily pray to God, remember everyone in your prayers, both known and unknown, seen and unseen; remember the widows and orphans, the lame, the sick, the afflicted. Remember them all. Love them all.

A Change of Pace

As a joke a friend asked me what I liked about Lent. At first I gave very serious answers which went above his very intellectual secular mind. Then, I revised it.

  1. I like fasting. How wonderful it is to go to a dinner party and be able to refuse having a second helping. Especially when you do not want the second helping.
  2. I like penance. How wonderful it is walking into a confessional and telling a complete stranger all those things that your Mother told you never to talk about.
  3. I like abstinence. I like how the word sounds. Visually it reminds me of an aircraft carrier. I like how it looks too. Beef, pork, chicken, buffalo, venison, turkey, pheasant, how the list seems to grow. It does take thought and effort to avoid them. How much of our diet is based upon consuming beef and chicken and pork! Those poor animals! Yes, abstinence is good. One day without meat isn’t so bad. I can have iceberg lettuce instead. Now, iceberg lettuce is a real sacrifice.
  4. I like examining my conscience. I somehow went through life more concerned with being conscious than expanding my conscience. Homonyms are always a recipe for disaster. “My conscious has no conscience.” “My conscience is too conscious.” “My conscious mind refuses to tolerate my conscience.” “Between my conscience desires and my conscious reality is a gulf of quips, wisecracks, and puns.” “So how do you spell conscience?”
  5. I like thinking about being good. Especially when someone annoys me and I wish that I had some magical power to deflate their tires or to turn them into a camel or a mule.
  6. I like remembering people to include in my prayers. There are always the usual collection of relatives and friends. But, then one day you turn on the television and hear a story about a soapbox derby and remember someone from my childhood who won the soapbox derby of your youth and you wonder what happened to this person are they still racing in the soapbox derby circuit, are they still racing, are they still alive and using soap, and you add them to your prayers for that day.
  7. I like almsgiving but the word reminds me of almonds. I am not sure if I really like almonds. I wouldn’t buy almonds by themselves. I wouldn’t add almonds to a salad unless it was made with iceberg lettuce and served at a soapbox derby.
  8. I like thinking about going to Mass. Then, my mind creates a list of such wonderful diversions and distractions like experimenting with fonts to create artwork while typing, uses for iceberg lettuce, how to obtain super powers, how to encourage dinner party invitations from single serving hostesses, sponsoring a soapbox derby.
For Lent to be successful for us, we need to encourage and to allow ourselves to enjoy the journey, to the things that we are learning about ourselves and our relationship with God. Lent is a journey of enlightenment and purification. Do not be afraid of being alone in the desert.

Remember iceberg lettuce and a soapbox derby.

And then simply pray.

Search Within The Silence

Outside there are raindrops again. It is Friday. Sitting here in silence and hope, voices talking, voice laughing can be heard. Horns from automobiles can be heard; the hiss of quick moving tires also disturbs this silence.

As Christians we are encouraged to create and protect a “willing expansion of belief” in ourselves and our world. We live with the premise of communicating with God. We praise God. We offer thanks to God. We petition God. We are confident that he will show us mercy. We learn patience as we wait for his response. We do not expect his correspondence to be instantaneous like a text message. We can not rush God.

Sometimes our honesty, our enthusiasm in our prayers or good deeds creates a kinetic energy, an intensity which can inspire others and move us, unlocking emotions, diminishing fears, restoring hope. As Christians we are always looking for ways to become closer to God, always trying to move toward God. We talk of goodness, we talk of holiness. The true orientation of a man is often not found in his oration but within his silence, within something imperceptible to the naked eye. Our true orientation toward God is hidden somewhere between or hearts and our souls; it is at once powerful and vulnerable; it sees and feels both good and evil.

How wonderful it would be if we all would take time, become a didacticist for a day, focusing all of our energy on sharing what we have learned from the Bible, from the life, death, and resurrection of Christ!

We do not talk about God enough! We do not apply the teachings of Christ enough. We have too many distractions, soccer games, celebrity philandering, political corruption. How completely sad our world is! Everything has a price! Dying soldiers help sell auto insurance and detergent. Murdered children help sell frozen pizza and deodorant. Tearful families help sell birth control pills and diapers. This critique is not new. It is only mentioned because we must always remember God, always add God to both our thoughts and conversations. Christ is that unknown soldier, Christ is that murdered child. We must acknowledge our role in the violence which occurs in our society and within this world. As we grow in our faith, as our goodness blossoms within us, hopefully we will transform us, give us the courage to say enough killing, enough violence, enough war!

We do not talk about God enough! Why do we come to Church each week? What do we get out of it? Do we get anything out of it? Do we listen to the readings, to the homily? Do we really listen or are we thinking about work, the stock market, player statistics, happy hour drink specials?

Each Mass presents a lesson in love, a simple type of love without attachment, a love of purity and hope, a love which inspires love and goodness, a love filled with compassion and empathy, and a love of sacrifice and suffering.

This is not the love of your New York Times bestseller or your Hollywood blockbuster. This is a love created with charity, humility, and obedience; a love filled with hope, filled with praise for God; this love encourages each of us to willingly expand our belief in the goodness and hope with ourselves and our neighbors and the belief in our ability to share our goodness, our hope with our neighbors. We are not asked to tolerate our neighbors but to understand and love our neighbors. We are not asked to say yes to social justice but to protect it for everyone.

“God is found on the way of justice, conversion and truth.” Archbishop Oscar Romero

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Oscar Romero

Each moment of our lives presents a chance for us to proclaim God’s works, to praise him, to offer him thanks. Each moment of our lives presents an opportunity for us to seek fairness for everyone, to seek social justice for everyone. As Christians it is not enough to have definitions for words; we must also have understanding. We hear so many words every day, with so many being lost, misunderstood.

How often do we hear freedom, liberty, dignity, peace, liberation? How often do we really truly understand the context. It is not enough to have dictionary definitions; these words must ignite something within our souls and hearts; these words must provoke some universal thoughts for all mankind; these words ask us to look beyond our neighborhood, beyond our town, beyond our state, beyond our country; all human beings deserve the same basic things, freedom, peace, liberty, dignity.

Thirty years ago today, Archbishop Oscar Romero was assassinated while saying Mass. He became an advocate for justice for everyone including the poor.

Technology does not change man’s basic instincts; human beings have always been sinners controlled and influenced by all types of desires and impulses. Jealousy, greed, selfishness can lead individuals and entire nations in the wrong direction. Archbishop spoke out against the injustice and the abuse of the poor people in El Salvador. By doing so he became a role model for us, reminding us to have compassion and empathy for our neighbors, reminding us to seek the Truth, share the Truth.

“A PREACHING THAT DOES NOT POINT OUT SIN is not the preaching of the gospel. A preaching that makes sinners feel good, so that they are secured in their sinful state, betrays the gospel's call. A preaching that does not discomfit sinners but lulls them in their sin leaves Zebulun and Naphtali in the shadow of death”—(Jan. 22, 1978).

Echoes and other Prayers




After watching a movie about Archbishop Oscar Romero from El Salvador, watching my fellow parishioners prepare to leave the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle had a greater poignancy than I had imagined as I rushed down Connecticut Avenue.

Here were men, women, children all gathered on the steps of the Cathedral after the 1:00 PM Sunday Mass. Here was hope, enthusiasm, and love. It was a moment of wonderful fellowship.

Watching the signs and banners move from hand to hand, overhearing bits of conversation some in Spanish, some in English I was happy to be a part of this moment.

What a wonderful procession we made as we walked down Rhode Island Avenue. A child carrying a cross lead the procession. The American flag was there also, blowing this way and that way according to the wind.

The US Treasury Building was briefly our backdrop as our group merged with other groups united for this cause, immigration reform. We chanted in Spanish. We chanted in Spanish. We were able to see the Washington Monument in the distance. We were able to stop traffic, march across Constitution Avenue. We passed the remnants of Saturday's antiwar rally.

And as we marched onto the Mall, I could almost hear one of Archbishop Romero's homilies.

And, like everyone who has the smallest degree of foresight, the slightest capacity for analysis, the church has also to denounce what has rightly been called 'structural sin:' those social, economic, cultural, and political structures that effectively drive the majority of our people onto the margins of society.
(Archbishop Oscar Romero Aug. 6, 1977)


Reflection on Attending Mass

Celebration. Unity. Peace. Freedom. Hope. Dignity.

The Mass offers these things to each of us each time we walk into the Cathedral and experience the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. How we encounter God depends on how open we are, what is in our hearts, minds, and souls. The Mass remains the same; it is a time to praise God, a time to petition God, a time to offer thanks to God. The Mass reminds us of God’s love for us and offers us hope. We must always remember the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Within each Mass is a splendor, a moment of intense love and hope which often is missed if we allow worldly cares to cloud our hearts and souls.

The Liturgy of the Word provides lessons on how to live in a manner pleasing to God; it is a celebration of hope, an education in obedience and humility; and a celebration that teaches us, inspires us to evangelize. The Liturgy of the Eucharist provides all Christians lessons in sacrifice and love; it is a celebration of God’s splendor, God’s mystery, God’s mercy; we hear Christ’s words, share this meal with him and allow our hearts and souls to be nourished.

Open your souls, open your hearts. In each Mass allow yourself to listen and to find Christ. Each Mass is a reminder, a memorial to Christ who gives his body, who gives his blood for our life to the world.

Allow each Mass to be a moment of hope. Accept our unworthiness, our need for continual penance for we are all sinners. Do not get swept away in freedom or hope offered by the secular world. It often is an inauthentic freedom offering anxiety, envy, and selfishness. Allow the Mass to baptize your hearts and souls with God’s love, God’s mercy. Do not search for happiness, instead search for humility before God. It is better to learn how to be a humble, loving servant of God than to lost within a never ending pursuit of ever elusive worldly pleasure.

Allow each Mass to call to you; allow your faith to answer the call.

Remember that each Mass is a celebration of Christ who sacrificed his body and blood for the eternal life of the world.

Allow your hearts to understand the solutions presented within the Liturgy of Word; the ideas may be in direct conflict with our society with its technology and commercialism leading us away from acting as compassionate human beings; Listen for the voice of Jesus offering each of us hope, offering each of us love, offering each of us freedom.

We live in a world, subversive, morally ambivalent, violent, and restless. Our society tries to numb us to the unpleasantness, suggesting that this is part of the natural order. Our society encourages us to live in fear of our neighbors. As Catholics allow our eyes to see Christ’s hope and love in ourselves, our families, our friends, our neighbors, and all strangers we meet. Allow your hearts and souls and minds to be alive with Christ, filled with compassion, empathy, humility. Desire only goodness; desire only humility; be only loving to your neighbors, to yourself, and to your God.

Allow Christ’s fairness and social justice to direct your life. Use your life as an instrument to evangelize for the Lord. Remember to offer your weaknesses and inabilities to God. With prayer and contemplation courage and confidence will flourish within you. Always remain united with God; remain united with his son, Jesus; remain united with the Holy Spirit; and remain united with the Church.

The Church offers us the Truth; the Church offers us the Word; the Church offers us what is Real.

We must find what is authentic, what is sincere, what is beneficial to our entire being.

Look to the sacraments for strength, hope. Look to the sacraments for understanding. Look to the sacraments to lead you closer to God.

Allow a moment of silence. Allow a moment of patience.

Let your life be filled with prayer, fasting, almsgiving.

Approach each Mass filled with hope, joy, and love; depart each Mass filled with love, joy, hope.

Each Mass is a time of liberation.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Reflection - Rain

Today was rainy, slightly cold. There were umbrellas everywhere. The sky was ambiguous; it displayed varying shades of gray. The weather was uninviting. It was the perfect afternoon to examine my conscience, to praise God, and to remember different people in my prayers. Nature helped to focus my attention on God instead of the usual suspects and other diversions.

Watching the raindrops collide with the pavement reminded me with two very different things. Briefly I imagined that each raindrop represented sin; sin imagined, planned, carried out, not carried out, concealed. Sin can be very, very small, almost undetectable but still able to be an obstacle to a loving relationship with God. Sin encourages us to rationalize it, to defend its wrongness, to hide from God's truth and love. Then, I imagined that each raindrop represented prayer. I find myself praying constantly. I pray when I walk by homeless people, I pray for sick relatives, I pray for sick friends, I pray before meals, I pray during meals (especially if I have any doubts about the cook), I pray about the weather, I pray during Mass. And I still feel that more prayer is needed. Prayer and raindrops are both very necessary in this world.


As a pedestrian there are always moments when I am able to think about my destination, adjust my itinerary, notice all types of things in storefront windows, on the sidewalk, in the faces of other pedestrians. Sometimes I am simply looking around, sometimes I am looking for topics, sometimes I am looking for something new to pray about.

I can hear rain on my windowsill. There are sounds of cars on the street. I hope that it isn't too windy. I will soon be walking outside again. I will soon be looking for goodness and hope, looking for Christ in the faces of the other pedestrians.


Photo Essay - Immigration Reform Rally

Sunday, March 21, 2010

What A Reference

“If you want fresh air, don’t look for it in this town.” The Asphalt Jungle

Our lives are filled with so many movie quotes and literary references. Our lives overflow with metafiction, all types of trivia and stuff continually percolating within our hearts, minds, souls. We hear or see and then retain so much slang, jargon, catchphrases, cliches, bits of poetry, political speeches, movie and television dialogue, and prayers. All of this and more is constantly being churned, being turned into our thoughts, being churned into our conversation. We should look within ourselves, search for those secret words which describe us, those lines of dialogue which govern and influence our lives. Whether we like it or not, want to accept the reality that the media can and does have an impact on our lives, both directly and indirectly. We must look within ourselves and discover what words and ideas truly govern us, give us comfort, give us hope.

As Christians our minds need to be nourished with love and hope and freedom and justice. As Christians our minds need to be directed toward God and being humble, loving servants.

How wonderful our lives would be if all our conversations mentioned the Eternal Word. If our minds contained the majesty of the Psalms or the justice of the Beatitudes. Within the Holy Scriptures God reaches out to us; God speaks to each one of us when we take the time to read the Bible. Everything in this world, in our lives speak about God; our ears may not understand the language or accept the words. Saying our prayers is a start. With patience and hope and reverence allow God this Beginning, this conversation with our hearts and souls. Listen, contemplate, silence your tongue. Jesus wanted us to be governed by love, wanted us to share love. Our responsibility, our obligation as Christians is to learn how to incorporate this love into our lives. In time we will gain understanding; in time we will learn how to judge ourselves and each other with fairness and compassion. The Word is our guide, our protector, our teacher. As we learn how to better love ourselves and each other, we learn how to better love God. As we learn how steadfast of spirit Jesus was, we will try and fail with our own attempts at being steadfast of spirit. Look to your failures for inspiration, encouragement. Allow your failures to lead you closer to God. Please do not allow any failure to detour you or lead you away from your journey to God. Remember to follow the path that Jesus Christ made for us. Remember that God is the Truth, God is the Word. Ask God for mercy, love, forgiveness. Protect your soul, your heart, your mind; our world is often bothersome, worrisome. Desire only humility, charity, and obedience. They are the foundation of goodness. Remember to leave the chaos and confusion of this world. Create a private secret silent place for yourself and God. Allow for God to gently speak to you in private.



Yesterday I Woke up




This morning I woke up early. An acquaintance had casually told me about a marathon which would be on my street. I decided that I would like to photograph it. I planned to take only a handful of shots, no more than twenty. I knew that I would take a few more than twenty. I have photographed marathons before. So I realized that there might be a few more shots than twenty. All runners look the same especially when taken out of context and frozen for a photograph. That morning there was a quick prayer said as I picked up my camera bag and keys. That morning I walked into the coolness, the freshness of a new day thinking of the word procession, trying to develop an essay on movement in my mind. That morning I was happy to be a Christian, happy to be standing up, happy to be planning on attending the 12:10 Mass at the Cathedral. My mind was filled with all types of thoughts and images as several motorcycles moved by my building. Of course I did not automatically know what was to follow. Being awake does not always mean being alert or being aware. And so I watched the motorcycles with a little wonder, expecting a motorcade. How amazed and amused I was when I saw the first runners, moving together, four individuals, eight legs gracefully attacking the asphalt and so of course I aimed at them with my camera and tried to capture the moment. This morning I decided that I wanted a tee-shirt from the bank which was sponsoring the race. This was the true motivating factor which lead me out of my house into that most glorious and inspiring moment. Standing there I was happy to be Catholic. As the runners ran by I allowed myself to think of the Procession of Palms which easily folded into the Eucharistic Procession. As more and more faces and feet attacked the pavement around me I thought of the Procession of the Cross. Marathon running is a solitary experience, it is a contest of man against himself, man against nature, man against man. There is no ball; there is no team. It is truly an individual sport. Looking at the expressions on the faces of the runners I saw hope, enthusiasm, fear. Initially, I was standing in the middle of the street near the double line which separated the street into two lanes. Initially all of the runners remained safely, comfortably away from me within the other lane closest to the bank and the curb. Suddenly, I was trapped on the street, feet and faces were aimed directly at me. My focal points were changing. I was briefly concerned about causing a collision, I said a brief prayer to God for myself and then started praying for each runner that I saw. The runners kept appearing, moving toward me, I was crouched on the pavement near the double orange line filled with hope, filled with joy. There was so much movement, so many arms waving, arms robotically jousting the air. And there were spectators with witty, suggestive signs cheering and encouraging the runners. This was a moment of true liberation, all present were human beings with peace and hope and freedom and dignity. Sharing this moment with these complete strangers, runners and spectators allowed a deep compassion to wash over me and I forgot myself, my desires. Goodness does exist in the world if we are quiet and allow our souls to find it.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Photo Essay - Friday Night in the Cathedral

Friday night I was happily, busily in the Cathedral holding a camera, trying not to be annoying or distracting to others who were there for the Stations of the Cross. It had been my plan to start my journey in the Sacristy with a few posed shots before the actual procession began. Due to scheduling conflicts, that did not happen. So the Stations of the Cross began while I was helping to clean the Altar after the 5:30 Mass. Every Catholic should attend the Stations of the Cross during Lent, our lives would be deeply enriched if we continually meditated on the final moments of Jesus’ life, his pain and suffering. And so armed with my camera I decided to capture this moment. I was following the readings, but sometimes in front of the Cross trying to find the best angle and lighting. Each time I pressed the shutter button there was a silent prayer released for peace and love and hope for everyone. From Stations of the Cross I went to the Simple Lenten Meals and took several quick photographs of those present. I listened to the presentation from the representatives from Catholic Charities. I talked about something, had some soup. Then, I went into the Cathedral and listened to the second part of the organ recital. I allowed myself to relax, to enjoy the music for a moment. How beautiful, how inspiring is the Cathedral of Saint Matthew the Apostle! It is a house of the Lord and so much more.



Friday, March 19, 2010

Truth asks us to find Meaning

through the righteousness that comes from faith. Romans 4:13


Being Catholic affords us many opportunities for a continuing education in the mercifulness and love of God. We have daily Masses, we have the Liturgy of the Word, the Liturgy of the Eucharist, we have the sacraments. The aim of the Church is to provide the tools necessary for us to live simply, lovingly as Christ lived and as Christ wants us to live with fairness and social justice. We have the opportunity and responsibility to encounter and learn how to become better Christians every day. Our education in being Christian is not finite; new things are being added every day. The teachings and dogma of the Church are constant, lasting for thousands of years in some cases. How we apply the teachings and ideas of the Church does change.

We live in a time of white lies, coverups, statements, and declarations. So many words bombard us constantly. Politicians misleading voters, celebrities being unfaithful to their spouses, athletes having controlled substance problems. We hear these things every day. We read about them in newspapers and magazine. We wait for the next person, the next story, the next white line, the next denial, the next press conference with a short apology and some statement of regret.

Saying that we are sinners is easy; our society teaches us to admit this when we are caught with our hands in the cookie jar without a plausible explanation. We live in a time when every sin can be downgraded. The concept of sin is difficult for some people to accept. There are choices, good and bad. Sin surrounds us. We are in a guerilla war with sin and many of us do not know it. Our society now desensitizes us to sin, encourages us to sin, to act immorally.

As Christians we must always remember God. We must always remember that our lives are not simply for us but for him; we have the responsibility to be humble loving servants for God.

It is not enough to admit that we are sinners; we must understand what it means to be a sinner. The words are meaningless without knowledge and understanding. We live in a time of over-stimulation and meaninglessness. So much information is available to us in all types of formats, amounts, places. We can not process it all. We can not understand it all.

Sometimes, it is easier to focus on one thing, to try and learn about that one thing. Let everything else fall to sides temporarily. The Beatitudes are great for this. The Lord’s Prayer is also great.

As an example the Lord’s Prayer provides a great place for us to focus briefly. The Lord’s prayer appears in two of the Gospels. It’s structure is similar to the Ten Commandments. The first part relates to God, the second relates to us. The Lord’s prayer presents Christ’s idea about community to us. Notice the complete absence of the word “I”. Notice the use of the word “our”.

As Christians we must remember to seek out goodness. Being good is not a weakness; it is a sign of strength. As goodness grows within us, our knowledge of God also grows.

Truth waits for us. God waits for us. Words are transient. God presents each us with many opportunities to observe goodness, to learn about holiness. We have the Holy Scriptures, the lives of the Saints, prayers, the Liturgy of the Word, the Liturgy of the Eucharist, the Sacraments, and we have each other. At some point in time when even we ourselves neither know or realize it we are by our actions teaching someone about our faith; about goodness, fairness, love; about God. It happens quietly, it provides hope to someone in need.

With patience and hope allow yourself time for a relaxed period of discernment, seek only Truth, listen only for God’s voice. Let your personal conceits and judgments fade into the background. Lead your thoughts toward the Light, do not worry or fret about dark, shadowy ideas. Concentrate on finding ways to be pleasing to God. Allow yourself to avoid any thoughts which would encourage you to neglect loving God. Simply believe and accept that being lovingly obedient and humble before God is necessary and profitable for our souls.Only direct our minds toward goodness, hope, forgiveness, mercy, love; the connection with God will grow. With patience, prayer and hope our eyes will see the Truth, our ears will hear the Truth.

Our Faith reminds us

The LORD is gracious and merciful,
The LORD is good to all, compassionate to every creature
.
Psalm 145:8-9

Our world consistently presents us with different challenges, different priorities which often are in conflict with Church teaching. If we simplify the leading tenets of our society, several key points can be made: a pervasive lawlessness exists, a frequently stated mantra that all rules are made to be broken and complete obedience is viewed as a weakness; authority is frequently challenged and ridiculed, the rise of the individual creates a conflict between order and chaos when no safeguards are present, when the role models are corrupt, when there compassion is not deeply, strongly encouraged, then humility is often absent; sin and vice are accepted, encouraged, promoted all behaviors become natural, organic to humankind, moral thought is relegated to the fringes of our lives, right and wrong become abstracts, placed into a vacuum to be rationalized or worse to be stripped of their meaning without moral thought as a guidepost charity is meaningless, just another activity or diversion. Such is the secular world which harshly likes to attack it’s citizens and institutions.

Our curiosity needs to be directed toward serving God, toward being humble and loving. We must learn to control both our curiosity and our thirst for knowledge. Both can lead to sin; both contain hints of diversion and deceit. Avoid the temptation to be celebrated as learned or wise; the goal of our education is to share with our community, to learn from our community. An intellectual aristocracy can create many unseen dangers. Our education, our lives must be directed to enriching the souls of our community. We must always remember the importance of nourish both our own personal souls and the souls of our community. Technology does not always improve the soul but makes some area of our lives a little easier; learn how to use technology to satisfy hungry minds with words of goodness, to quench thirsty souls with unconditional love. Our goal is to follow Christ, to walk on his path, to develop a pure, honest conscience which will allow hope and love to flourish as it helps us to grow in love and confidence toward the Lord.

Let us make loving and serving God our priority.





Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Washington Choral Arts Society Rehearsal, St Matthew's Cathedral

WIN Presents New Campaign to Mayor Fenty

An Observation







Within my heart I sometimes feel a slight hint of inferiority or a twinge of mediocrity when confronted with conspicuous vulgarity and rudeness.

During the last couple of years earnest prayer has entered my life. Praying benefits both the human face and the human soul. Each day my suspension and contempt for commercialism grows. I try to add more fairness and social justice to my life. I am amused and bewildered by the rhetorical games used to try and influence me into buying this product, supporting this cause. Almost every day I confronted with canvassers on the street asking for help to feed the children, save the Chesapeake Bay, save the environment. Everyday I am polite, keep walking. We live in a society where being an impetuous baby, enthusiastically, bombastically is encouraged and where we hope there is someone to keep us out of dangerous mischief. I attend Mass daily because I like how I feel while I am there and immediately after as I leave the sanctuary and return to the brutish world of consumerism and selfishness. Society now is concerned with fetching this objecting, creating that spectacle. Manners, morality, propriety are discarded or labeled hypocrisy by many. It is a time when profanity dominates our lives; violence defines us; our world has duplicated the informality and lawlessness of a toddler’s nursery. Commercialism wants us to be impatient, impertinent fools, buying and wanting recklessly without thought or consideration. Commercialism rewards us by reminding each item we purchase will immediately be out of date, need to be replaced. Commercialism encourages selfishness and jealousy.

I have been foolish: I think a Christian can learn much when we stop talking and simply observe ourselves and people around us with an open mind. I am contrite: I ask myself if I remembered to ask God for forgiveness. Incorporating Christ’s social justice teachings into daily life is easier said than done sometime. Every block there is some new need which asks for a response, monetarily or human acknowledgment. The love which Christ encourages us to develop and share is difficult and in many ways in direct opposition to this culture. It is amazing that after two thousand years Jesus Christ remains a radical, a rebel.

Developing and sharing Christ’s love and fellowship takes time, effort, patience. Charity, Humility, Obedience are difficult to learn and practice. But, they provide a wonderful foundation for a loving relationship with God; they provide a wonderful framework for considering a vocation; they provide an outline to refer to when we prepare for confession.

Christ encourages us to use our hearts, minds, souls to search out the divine within each of us, to seek the good in each of us, to share our goodness, our hope, our faith. The imagination can and should be a tool used to move each one of us closer to God; all that we do should promote this. With adequate contemplation Christ’s social teachings can help improve our lives.

Before the piano sounds, before the wisecrack always remember to pray.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Last Night

That dark rainy Friday evening about 100 people attended the Stations of the Cross at the Cathedral of Saint Matthew the Apostle.

I was there. I wanted to capture the experience, preserve this moment as the Passion of Christ was remembered by members of this parish. It was a time to listen to readings, to reflect upon the events of Christ’s death and resurrection. Stand. Genuflect. Kneel. I like the movement involved with this event. Some people walked around the Cathedral, following an Alter server who was carrying the Cross. Others remained in the pews and changed positions to always be facing the Cross.

A Cantor led the assembly in short hymns after each station. Both a Deacon and a Lector read different parts.

We can not relive Christ’s Passion; we can imagine it, experience it spiritually, intellectually. Hearing the words, watching the Cross, slowly, somberly move around the room is moving, encouraging. Participating in the Stations of the Cross does bring the suffering and sacrifice of Jesus Christ alive.

And there is agony and misery, human betrayal and human weakness; also, hope does survive and encourage us to be better, think better, act better. As Christian each day our goodness will improve each day.

So, people do come here in order to learn about it, to deepen their faith; I discover something new each time I hear it, each time I participate in the Stations of the Cross.

The Stations of the Cross remind me of the dangers of the modern, technological wilderness of this society, of this world; our conversations often reference a desire for peace and love; our actions allow all types of violence and destruction to occur; we allow ourselves to become silent conspirators unwilling to stand up for social justice, for fairness, for God; the Stations of the Cross is a wake-up call, a reminder: and as I listen and recite I pray a special prayer.

After the Stations of the Cross the Social Justice and Community Services Ministry hosts the Simple Lenten Meals which generally consists of some type of vegetable soup, bread, and water.

Last night there were two soups; one was shrimp and yuca, the other lentil.

For a long time I worried about accidentally eating meat on Friday. This one meal relieves me of this worry.

I have attended Simple Lenten Meals since before I joined the parish. I had had this Lenten meal before; first in 2006 on a cool Friday night, when there was talk of college basketball tournaments and St. Patrick’s Day and the silence heavy with the whispers of hope; it was a night of unconquerable splendor, such as when our Faith encourages us to remember, to live the Beatitudes, when hope and love and fellowship with friends and strangers praise and proclaim the glory and mercy of God; and the mood of the Simple Lenten Meals is festive, animated there is a definite current of shared faith, shared hope, shared love.

Lively was a word to describe this meal. Love creates and then maintains this community, each Friday night with styrofoam bowls, plastic spoons, paper napkins. There was something irresistible, irradiating the goodness of everyone present at this Meal. It was a moment of goodwill.

Searching for Personal Humility

It rained in the morning. There was a childish desire to stare out the window in the wet grey vastness, this temporary damp landscape, to pout because of the baseball games, picnics, soccer games, barbecues that would have to be postponed or canceled. Even though there was nothing planned for the afternoon except being indoors there was a tiresome desire to be peevish, to be whiny. Of course this feeling only lasted a minute or two and I was off thinking about something else, trying to arrange words in my head, on the computer screen. I was trying to imagine the right image to punctuate my thoughts.

Lent dominates my imagination. I am afraid to open my eyes for fear of sinning. By nature I am very observant. At times I like to share my observations in mischievous, playful tones and words with close friends. I am often filled with all types of wisecracks. I am a social color commentator, there to amuse and challenge my friends with my wit and wackiness. But, within some wisecracks reside impure thoughts. And, this being Lent I am trying to reduce my impure thought production.

There is always something to capture my attention, to make me laugh as I walk on the sidewalk.

There is always something which tugs at my heart, makes me say a little prayer to God as I walk on the sidewalk.

And so I move along, looking and listening and learning about myself and God.

Some days I try to see Jesus in every face that I walk by. Some days I try to say hello to every face that I walk by. Some days I say a prayer for every faces that walks by.

Many strangers possess familiar faces which make me remember friends and family members in distant place, which make me remember to pray for this cousin, that aunt.

How easy it is forget a simple act of kindness and love!

Friday, dodging raindrops, worrying about typographical errors, worrying about grammatical errors, searching for umbrellas, searching for puddles reflecting the light.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Insomnia 101

We live in an age of insomnia. Our computers have a sleep mode; we have multitasking. Temporal ideas constantly shift around us, causing angst, releasing anxiety. We want to believe that our daytime dreams, inspirations are individual, personal, specific only to us; we want to accept that our nighttime fears, apparitions are also specific to us. But neither are completely correct.

Our cultural insomnia leads us into a wasteland, into a desert, not for purification or to become closer to God but to gently, quietly, clandestinely break our relationship with God. It occurs easily, naturally. Society numbs us with all types of temptations which we try to resist. Science ever the handmaiden to sin and vice provides an objective truth which in popular culture can easily supersede moral and ethical concerns. Quickly reductionist ideas are introduced and spread throughout a culture in search of leisure, pleasure, relaxation, sleep. Anything that requires extra effort, extra thought is discarded. This can lead to both intellectual and spiritual confusion.

Popular culture exists only to entertain. If education occurs it is incidental. Pop culture wants to inspire laughter, tears, and gasps. Pop culture wants to be remembered. Pop culture understands that it is always temporary; it is cyclical creating and destroying. Ideologies and idealism bob in the currents of popular culture before sinking in the current of a new, fresh trend. Pop culture reminds us that nothing lasts forever. There are syndicated television shows from various eras, radio stations playing oldies songs. Pop culture exists to keep us awake. It presents aspirations to us in living color, high definition. And sadly many humans are nothing more than laboratory rats in brilliantly appointed cages, running on treadmills, chasing thinks we do not completely want, saying things we do not completely believe. Pop culture provides information, provides doubt. Pop culture becomes an amoeba, dividing itself again and again until it encompasses so much space in our lives filled with sinister trivia about celebrities deified and defiled in quick order, trivia about sporting contests which leads spectators to rowdy, violent behavior, trivia about political programs which misinform and confuse the electorate, trivia about interpersonal relationships which cause divorce, loneliness, anxiety. Pop culture never presents the truth, merely a representation of the truth.

Where can any human being find the truth? What one thing is based upon the truth?

Religion is based upon truth. As Christians always remember Saint Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, “One God, one faith.”

Our baptism ordains each of us to God. It is our duty, our obligation to learn how to use our entire lives to show reverence to God. Our religion maintains faith in God and instructs us to maintain faith in God. By attending Mass regularly we experience the varied actions of religion; we learn how to suffer, to make sacrifices, to make vows, to worship, to serve, to pray, to love and how to think and contemplate about our lives, our actions, our world. Consequently we learn about God’s power and God mystery each and every day of our lives. The actions of religion deepen our relationship with God, allow us to hear his call, provide a guide to a virtuous life of goodness. We are asked to allow our lives to become permanent adoration vessels for God, projecting our love and reverence for the Eucharist, sharing our love and reverence for God.

We must never forget the significance of Jesus Christ in the role of the Church and in our lives. We must always strive to do the right thing, the fair thing, the just thing. Justice based upon the Beatitudes should always be our guide. We must allow our ears to listen for God’s call. “Hear my voice: I am the Lord your God.” We must allow our hearts and souls to respond to God’s call.

Christ instructs us to love God with our complete heart, complete mind, complete soul, complete strength. Christ instructs us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.

Christ provides a simple lesson of love which he knows will be difficult for us to do always but he wants us to try and fail and try again and again. Failure should not become an obstacle, our failure should encourage us to redouble our efforts.









Thursday, March 11, 2010

Thursday Afternoon



Thursday afternoon. I am thinking about creativity and divinity. At this moment I do not believe that I am a creative person. I am a photographer but I just capture what I see. I am not a painter, I am not a sculptor. My spelling has vanished because of reduced usage. As a photographer I am reliable because I treat everyone as if they each were equally important.

My life as a Catholic asks me to be humble, obedient, forgiving, loving. How easy it is to be all of those things in theory! The one charm of our individual lives is that it is an individual life. Some people never learn the proper time for a martini or the proper time for prayer. Every Christian is a rebel, a radical, and engaged in guerilla warfare against himself/herself. Each one of us understands sin and how to rationalize and justify our sins. This is one of the great talents of our society, rationalizing this and that. One can talk religion for a lifetime without ever being religious. One can talk about Jesus Christ without ever know how to communicate with him.

Solutions and dilemmas and questions surround us, confuse us.

Temporal things gain great importance; we sometimes forget that nothing is greater, more important than God. But, the loudest noise, brightest light captures our attention, diverts our attention away from God.

Vulgarity and stupidity are two of the most valued distractions of modern life. With common sense one tries to avoid them naturally. But they are intrepid, repetitious.

I have learned only one thing in my life; I do not pray enough. I keep trying to amend this fact.

My faith deepens each time I attend Mass. I allow myself to be open to the readings, to the Gospel, to the prayers. I admit that sometimes I have been distracted during Mass worried about this or that. I am becoming better now. I am learning how to discipline my mind, to focus on one thing.

Everyone talks about the instinct. Everyone tries to conceal the obvious. Everyone has insecurities. Consumerism magnifies our fears in an attempt to manipulate individuals into buying or doing something. Our society wants a response. Our society teases us with pills to extend our lifespan, anti-aging lotions and tonics. The reality of our death remains with us. In fact we are destined to die from the moment we are born. Our society tries to make us forget this, encourages us to desire a long life.

We do not own our bodies. We do not own our minds. We exist at the mercy of God because God wants us to praise and glorify him. Our society tells us that we own this and that. God allows us to use these bodies. Jesus Christ instructs us to love each other.


We must slow down our lives, find ways to add obedience, humility, and charity to our daily routines. We must slow down our lives and find new ways to listen to God.

Technology creates a wonderful cacophony which keeps us numb, keeps us distracted. We do not have to think, to feel or do anything. Our computers and cell phones can do everything for us, everything except pray for us.

People are constantly trying to get our attention, to share anecdotes, to give admonitions, to ask for assistance. We are constantly making decisions to talk, not talk, contribute, not contribute. Christians constantly are reminded of Christ's sacrifice and suffering, constantly wonder if their lives are compassionate, hopeful, if they are sharing their love in a manner pleasing to God. Christians want to please God, want to love everybody, believe in fairness and social justice.

Goodness is sometimes elusive but we must keep searching for it, trying to discover it.


Attracts Attention

A darkening sky. Windows alive with golden electric light. Looking up at the buildings, all concrete and glass and realizing, imagining that I am in another city, a larger city, no imagining that I am in a movie city, larger, grander, more eclectic. Looking at the pedestrians, smartly dressed, neatly dressed; looking at the shiny cars speeding through the intersections as the traffic lights change from yellow to red. This was how a visitor described the office buildings surrounding Farragut Square.

Offering hope, teaching love and forgiveness to an apprehensive, angst-ridden society engrossed in disproving everything, deconstructing goodness and holiness, depositing malignant doubt in the hearts and minds while talking peace and security. Amid the cataclysmic anxious downpour of fear and jealousy prayer can still help each person who takes the time to pray. Instability rules, encourages people to move away from their families for all types of temporal reasons. But, Christians are taught to praise God, to trust God, to love God, to obey God. These items will never change.

How do modern Christians describe their relationship with Jesus Christ, with God?

The gradual changes in the function of Christianity, as society alters, will, I hope, continue encouraging the conversion of adults. Being Catholic is a big commitment; being Catholic is offering your life to God; being Catholic is being a humble servant of God; being Catholic is learning how to love everybody and how to forgive everybody. These are just a few general statements about being Catholic.

Each Catholic interprets and practices the faith however they choose. We can not see what is in anyone’s heart. We look at individual interactions, how we talk to each other, whether we volunteer or not, whether we pray in front of the Blessed Sacrament, if we know what the Blessed Sacrament is.

Although Christianity is over two thousand years old, it is not static, not out of touch. The commandments and teachings are as relevant today as they were when they were first written. Mankind may have technology, but human behavior has not changed. The commandments can easily be expanded to fit all of the technological advances.

Since the beginning Christians have been criticized and ridiculed. At times there are lessons to be learned from the criticism. Sometimes this criticism is retrograde, irreverent, irrelevant. The basic sensibilities of love and forgiveness appear to alarm many non-believers who attack the validity of God, the Church with anger, heresy, misinformation. Humanity today faces the same problems as it faced in the past. The influence of the Church seems to ebb and flow; however, the message does remain the same. The nature and function of being Catholic involves a continual education process asking each one of us to listen to the Word of God, to contemplate about the Word of God, to apply the Word of God. Simply stated each Catholic is asked to constantly think about his/her belief in God and how to do God’s work. There is nothing decorative or extravagant about being Catholic. The principles of humility, charity, obedience remain very important and contain the essence of good behavior within the Church and in the society at large; all civilizations require good citizens who obey the law. It is in the Catholic mind and sensibility that the knowledge about the sacrifices, suffering of Jesus Christ is shared and remembered. This sensibility is plainly visible in the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The mind can associate so much Church history and dogma with the Eucharist. Therefore, the importance of the Eucharist can never be denied; the Eucharist reminds us of God’s love for each of us, God’s hope for each of us; the Eucharist encourages us to share our hope, to share our love.

Christianity contains a natural appeal as it encourages love and hope. Believing in God always attracts attention.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Wednesday In the City

Wednesday afternoon was quite interesting. The weather was pleasant, the sky clear. It was a moment animated by a slowly building hope. At last it seemed as if winter was finally over. Each second seemed to pull the warm temperatures of spring closer. The Cathedral asked the faithful to stop by for Reconciliation.


How patiently the sign waited on the sidewalk as pedestrians walked by searching for office supplies, searching for food, searching for newspapers and magazine. Every now and then a pair of eyes would notice the sign. Some would slow down, others look up the steps.


And there were fire trucks and taxicabs speeding by. And there were people talking of health care, talking of salad, talking of confession. And there were people talking and laughing about office politics, Spring Break, pub food.

There were people protesting this and that. How wonderful it was to see the plump pink pig standing near the water fountain at the corner of the street. How amazing what a difference one plump pink pig could make as several people stopped to taking photographs and videos with their cell phones, with their cameras.



Restaurant windows were filled with individual characters, colorful and animated and yet―

This was a time of motion, of anxious activity. This was a time of looking around, thinking of times past, listening to honking horns, listening to chattering voices, listening to the soft breeze blowing gently, sporadically into some faces.

And some people take time out to sit by and observe the mid day parade.

How great it is to live in the city! How great it is to praise the Lord with all of this activity! How great it is to offer all of this to God! To offer all that eyes see, all that the ears see, all that senses feel―all these and more to God. Lucky are those who find ways to glorify the Lord while doing the ordinary things in their lives. How blessed their lives must be.

The sidewalks are filled with people, people moving, people standing, people gazing, people grazing.


There are people and signs everywhere, signs neon, signs painted, signs handwritten. At times there seems to be more signs than anyone can read and yet―



The need for hope and prayer waits at each intersection, waits within each face observed, each face not observed. The need for peace and love remains constant, remains universal.




And with all of the noise, all of the activity, all of anxiety, all of the angst there is always time to praise and glorify God. There is always time to listen for his call. There is always time to listen to his call.

Remember to praise and glorify the Lord as you walk around the city.


A Thought - Generational

We conceive, perceive, believe.

Each generation likes to promote itself as the best; everything which preceded the current generation is inferior. There is an antithesis between morality and reality, social criticism and social advancement; and it is sometimes thought that social morality flourishes by hiding prejudices while social advancement attacks the hypocrisy and other defects. These are very generalized, simplified statements which can easily be destroyed, pulled out of context, rearranged, ridiculed and forgotten. We live each day searching for an elusive vigor within ourselves, our friends, our colleagues. We live each day developing, revising, and disposing assumptions about ourselves, our friends, our colleagues, strangers. We want to believe that because we are alive today, we are the great wise sages. We understand all criticism, all human behavior, all human desire. In reality many human beings live a very narrow existence, with very narrow viewpoints. As social norms change many people accept the cultural extenuation of sin and vice; when being bad is socially acceptable making good choices becomes difficult. Which path should be followed the good open new path or the old prudish ways. Modern life is an epoch of extenuating exercises of selfishness and arrogance. Without realizing it, the souls of each person is ready to be purchased at reduced rates as each person runs around listening to and saying all types of profanity, racing from one sinister locality to another with a dizzying insanity. How easily this is called entertainment or an active social life! How great it is when both decadence and greed are socially acceptable, socially desirable. The ultimate goal of this society is how to spend our leisure time, how to obtain the ultimate pleasure, how to control life. These are assumptions which are flirting with the basic prejudices and dangers of a secular society. The aims of a secular society are immediate, very tangible, something to be touched, tasted, experienced now. That is one of the dangers of a secular society the insane search for immediacy; immediacy must be controlled, must be influenced. How easy it is to flatter one another to achieve a short term goal! How easy it is to isolate the truth in order to obtain something! How easy it is to accept all types of social falsifications. Modern life is now very interconnected, intertwined with corporate life; powerful corporations do dominate our lives and in ways sometimes subtle, and not so subtle, do influence the lives of everyone in this society. There is conscious and intentional manipulation attacking each member of this society with things to buy, candidates to vote for, animals to save, hungry children to feed and educate, birth control pills with side effects.

Christians learn about the dangers of selfishness, greed, sin. Each age the dangers increase even as society might look another direction because science says “it is okay to do this in this context.” There is no context where sin is acceptable. But without a moral compass, moral direction sin becomes inevitable.

And prayer is needed now; love is needed; hope is needed.

So many people need to be directed toward God, away from materialism, consumerism; so many people need to be asked to come home to God; so many people need to be reminded about God’s love; so many people need to be asked to become humble, loving servants of God.

Now is the time for contemplation, time for prayer.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

A Struggle

Being human is a constant struggle between being critical or uncritical; each moment of our lives calls for some choice to be made, some judgement to be made; our criticism defines how we think, how we behave, how we love; as Christians we are asked to examine ourselves internally, examine our lives and how we relate to the world externally and then develop a road map to move closer to God, following the lessons and instructions from the Gospels.

Jesus Christ offers to his followers, a foundation of love and hope. This foundation is fortunate for all believers who have sympathy for themselves, their neighbors, their community, their country, their world. These believers learn how to do the beneficial thing, to say the honest courageous thing, to contemplate the loving faithful thing: that is the beginning of a Christian life. Learning how to balance the public and private components of a life with Christian ideals, Christian believes provide an opportunity for a close relationship with God, better relationships with others. Each Christian receives this opportunity at Baptism, it is renewed each time we freely attend Mass, each time we freely acknowledge that we believe in and love God. For Christians there is no public face; we believe, we love God. For Christians there is no private face; God sees and knows all.

By simply trying to love our neighbors we are being radical. By simply trying to obey the commandments we are being radical. Our simple actions can open us to all types of criticism from friends, work colleagues, family members. Jesus Christ taught us how to overcome this criticism. It is not always easy to do. We must remember that we love God; that we want to be humble, loving servants. We must pray. We must be silent. We must be patient. We will learn when it safe for us to walk through the angry mob.

Christ did not offer assumptions, suppositions; he offered a peaceful, just, loving thought and sensibility. The philosophical questions of his preaching and his action challenged the dogma and customs of his time. He followed his course, did the things that he had to do. As Catholics we are called to live our lives with a direct connection to Christ, with a direct experience of Christ through the Liturgy of the Eucharist. As Catholics we are called to commemorate the life of Jesus Christ when we attend Mass and also by all the choices that we make in our lives.

Being Christian requires activity, not rhetorical ingenuity. Christian lives involve the formulation of faith, hope, love from their abstract dictionary meanings into something alive, personal, vibrant leading us toward God. We live in a time of mass communication, mass confusion; the truth is often somewhere else; the secular world promotes the idea of the truth but then quickly debunks it, questions it, searches for some reason not to accept it. The validity of our faith, of our religion often is attacked within the media; this occurrence is sad—and yet expected.

Our appreciation and love for God is ongoing with prayer, almsgiving, fasting and other activities of humility, charity, and obedience. How others view this remains beyond our control! Our behavior must remain true to God’s teaching.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Looking for a Definition

An impure thought is simply any thought that becomes an obstacle to out individual relationships with God; more basically, they are bad thoughts. They can flash in our minds for an instant when some does something that we do not like. When we hear profanity, they can flash in our minds. Some movies can create these thoughts. It is sometimes difficult to escape impure thoughts; the secular world use impure images to encourage us to buy products.

We live in an era dominated by impurity. It is in our television shows, movies, books, magazine covers, newspaper headlines. We can not escape it. There is so much impurity attacking our sensibilities that it is sometimes difficult to analyze what is impure.

My initial approach was too analytical; it searched for an internal movement. I wanted my impure thoughts to be active. I wanted to believe that an impure thought made me jealous. I was looking in the wrong place. I wanted a cause and reaction.

Impure thoughts had to be the band leader for all sin and vice.

Impure thoughts are simply there. They provoke responses. There is a little dollop of objective reasoning associated with impure thoughts. Our mind has to process the information and make a judgment.

Modern life provides us with many detours and diversions to living good Catholic lives. As a Catholic I am surprised at the number of contraception commercials on television. Within each message along with all of the potentially dangerous or harmful side effects is a subtle message to live in a manner that is not in keeping with Church teaching.

Sexual imagery is used to sell everything. It is so pervasive that is benignly accepted. With the Madison Avenue advertising world, everyone is secular, everyone has a price, everything needs to be replaced. Our consumerism creates a world of impurity; it permeates so many levels. This impurity is beyond simply bad; it constantly attacks our morals, attacks our goodness.

This impurity is rotting our society. Deciding between good and bad becomes more difficult each day because of the proliferation of impure images used to promote all types of concrete products and ideas within our society. We can turn off the television, avoid the movies; but the problem is still there.

How sad it is that there is no public morality anymore. Each day we exist within a conflicted, dirty society; everything is for sale in our society — including access to our souls. Constant exposure to these images, wears us down, confuses us.

Lucky are those who believe in God and who understand the danger of impure images used within a consumerist free economy. Lucky are those who are able to live with limited access to these image. Lucky are those who pray to God and ask for strength.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

How to Respond to God's Call

Like many educated people, Priests talk to themselves. Maybe it occurs because of Aristotle or Saint Augustine or Saint Benedict or Pope Pius. Priests are human beings, who like to learn, who like to teach, who live to serve, who live to love.

I sometimes wonder about all the lessons from the Gospels, all the teachings of social justice and fairness, if this crazy noisy world is able and ready to understand the responsibility that all human beings possess to live just lives of peace.

But whether we learn to love our neighbors as we love ourselves from listening to the Gospels and homilies, or from fresh devotion of Him Whom we have arrogantly abandoned, or from careful observation and careful imitation of His faithful followers, it properly presents a definite relationship with God. For it is Jesus Christ by his Passion who does provide both an example and definition of love to Whom we ought to be especially grateful and humble before as our undeniable exemplar; to Him we diligently, patiently direct our free will as our way to follow him. As Christians we must accept that throughout our lives that different types of temptation and sin will cause us to abandon God; our lives will filled with prayers of hope, prayers of forgiveness, prayers praising him, prayers professing our love in him. Blessed is the Christian whose life and actions reflect a natural, loving belief and faith in God.


Observing the simplicity of the Liturgy of the Eucharist—and that not only the spoken prayers, but even the unspoken prayers—implies that some type of basic compassion or love be shown towards all human beings, this word 'love' might attract some secular cynical ambiguity when defined by others who might not believe in God like we do; however we can assert with absolute confidence that love is necessary when we worship God. Love, then, will not limit our relationship to God; but encourage and inspire each of us to embrace our neighbors also.


But it is only by learning to freely share our "love" without desiring any reciprocal action that we will discover and/or recover our personal humanity; it is a lesson of sacrifice and suffering and forgiveness. There is a moment when we publicly accept our unworthiness and request forgiveness. A Christian life requires reconciliation.


Love, in Ecclesiastical terms, seems to direct each Christian, away from the individual, physical, and earthly self, toward goodness and God. This love does not seek to possess; it only seeks to serve.


Further, humility accompanies this love. Humility directs our actions toward service. Our lives must contain service for God and for our neighbors. As Christians we have a natural relationship and concern for social justice and fairness for all our neighbors. Humility with our neighbors can lead us to beautiful spiritual awakenings.


Lastly, faith in God and love of God and neighbor can lead us to salvation. Allow yourself a moment to relax and to pray in your local parish church. Allow yourself time for a religious retreat. Allow yourself to listen for God’s voice. Always make time for to listen for God’s call.


And then learn how to respond to God’s call.


Friday, March 5, 2010

We Pray at Twilight

We live in a era that emphasizes leisure. We are sinners. Sibylline talking heads reinterpret the Bill of Rights. Byzantine parrots joke about how complicated our lives become as each new technological advance allows us to stay connected with each other. We murmur communication to ourselves in barely audible tones. We are trying to improve our lives.

Our lives still contain mistakes, failure, sin; modern society has removed public morality from the public’s conscience. Every behavior is accepted, every behavior is expected. Many people live moments of great compromise and confusion behind faded brocade curtains of sin and vice.

We live within great metropolises with malignant friends leading us into subterranean antechambers, crumbling and dark; our subways offer a glimpse of purgatory, a noisy chaotic moment when we must depend upon prayer, our own and our neighbors. Flattering acquaintances present florid complements to the bad weather, our bad natures revolving in the revolving doors, revolving with jealousy, revolving with avarice, revolving and revolving.

There were prayers to say on Sunday, hymns to sing on Sunday, and ideas and ideals to reflect upon, to incorporate into our lives. We listened on those poetic Sunday mornings to lessons about goodness, about morals; and we decided which restaurant we would be best for our brunch party.

Urban life beckons us with unending choices and sweet popular possibilities preserved within television commercials and glossy magazine advertisements present unending promises of happiness, fulfillment. Ironically we live with an era of typographical and grammatical errors.

The secular color of the moment remains an aggrieved gray, mourning, weeping like a discarded courtesan demanding the attention and courtesies from a younger yesterday. The sound of this discontent does not disturb us as it tries to attack our hearts and souls.

There are prayers before and after Communion for us to listen to, for us to think about. Being Christian is sometimes like being a travelling salesman moving from room to room, searching for leads, laying foundations for future sales. Being Christian is always examining ourselves, always trying to apply the Gospel teachings to our lives.

Sibylline coffee cups with enticing whipped cream wait to protest social justice, wait to lead you astray with words of discouragement, words of discontent.

But the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist are beautiful yet ancient; they both offer and gently encourage love. We are asked to look within the unopened rooms within our hearts to find and release all of our love. Sharing our love will improve our lives.

There is always talk of murder and mayhem. Euthanasia, contraception, abortion have become accepted as natural modern living rights with slogans, supporters, and advertising campaigns confusing and/or losing the issue of the value of each life.

The hateful, profanity covered lyrics from some popular songs attack the pedestrians with machine gun like intensity from behind tinted glass. The faces on the street are lost, disillusioned, desperate and so much denim and so many people simply moving between eutectic points, freezing or melting, sinning and regretting. . . . We pray at twilight.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Serendipity

Once upon a time a long, long time ago I went to a Catholic grade school. Between the semesters there was one special week that I used to look forward to each year. This one week was called Serendipity. It was a time when most classes were not held; it was a time of art classes, craft classes. We made pottery, papier mâché puppets, papier collé posters. It was a respite. It was a time of great enthusiasm.

As an adult the liturgy of the Eucharist provides my life with a sense of serendipity each time I attend Mass and hear the prayers recited by the priest.

As an adult I do feel unworthy, weak because of some of my thoughts and actions. I am always asking God for forgiveness.

The liturgy of the Eucharist reminds me of God’s sacrifice, of Christ’s suffering for all of us.

With a contrite heart I pray for love and mercy for everybody.

The Incomplete

No matter what anybody says, our lives are all incomplete. We are all dreaming of something, hurrying pass something. With cursory eyes we look, glance, gawk at our neighbors; sometimes we are filled with compassion and empathy; others we are indifferent and icy.

Our lives contain their own individual tempos and natural rhythms. We are pulsatile beings. Our lives are governed by the simple hopefully regular heart beats.

When we accept God into our lives, we are moving toward completeness. When we believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are moving toward an union with God.

It is important to protect our belief in Christ and in God; this belief must be carefully nurtured, constantly nourished; this belief needs to be shared.

As Christians remember to develop and allow the synchrony of our lives to reflect our love for God, our desire to be humble, loving servants. Simultaneously remember also that this is a continual trial and error; we will make mistakes, we might fail. Our success is not what is important; it is the constant trying again and again and the honest, natural emotions within our hearts.

We live in both a natural and an artifactual world. We bounce between being random, being rigid.

Let your relationship with God always be extensive, always be limitless, always be loving.

The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ can give coherence and meaning to our lives.

We simply have to believe it with an entirety of being, a totality of emotion. All our senses, our complete imagination must exude this belief, this beautiful love for God.