Seek The Lord

When Christianity is discussed many people accept and expect the fire and brimstone verbal lashings of some Fundamentalist Christians who are determined to present faith as sin and punishment or as sin and hypocrisy. Fundamentalist Christians appear ready to judge everyone as a guilty sinner, ready to chart the course to hell. That Jesus Christ was born and taught love and forgiveness barely registers, religion is not a love story, nor a hope story. There is something unhappy, something sad, something misleading in some fundamentalist teaching.

God offers love, hope, salvation. Believers offer God prayers, respect, loyalty, obedience, love.

The intensity of the religious experience, of the conversion experience is a story of diligence, hope, discernment. The importance of discovering and sharing the beginning of an awareness of God is good both for each individual and the faith community.

What is the predecessor to the moment of awareness? A Laurel and Hardy film? Star Wars? A Charlie Chaplin film? An Aretha Franklin song? A Gospel choir? For each person something connects the dots, creates an alignment of God, love, faith, belief, acceptance. Something allows, even encourages our Gminds to linger in moments of enlightenment, moments of reverie. We seek something which we sense is all around, very near and yet very far away, just beyond our physical touch.

We seek an emotional connection, a spiritual connection, a mystical revelation. We seek answers to unasked questions, unanswered prayers. We seek truth, love, hope.

Those who seek God need both confidence and courage. Those who seek God use their souls, minds, hearts. Seeking God requires, demands active participation. Seeking God turns into something more. Seeking God asks us to try love, to try forgiveness, to try fairness. Being Christian involves developing a philosophy based upon simplicity, based upon justice, based upon charity. Being Christian involves a daily exploration of personal humility, of personal humanity. Being Christian is an invitation to love everyone unconditionally. Being Christian is also about rethinking who you are, what is your purpose in life.

Christianity is a search for identity, a search for self-definition, a search for the desire for obedience to God. Christianity is a story of falling in love with God, with serving God, with helping our neighbors. Christianity offers a quiet, understated resonance of goodness, holiness, kindness as each believer, each follower finds their personal path and begins to follow the footsteps of Jesus Christ.

Those who hear and obey God’s voice accept and believe that God is always with them.

The Christian experience often is a very romantic experience of determination and humility.

Notes on Existence

Concerning our existence, there will always be need for prayer, reflection, and patience. Concerning our journey toward God, there will always be questions, doubts, and fear. Many of the events in our lives occur with randomness, without a sense of overriding or guiding logic.

The human existence is an exercise in vulnerability. We exist at the mercy of the elements, at the mercy of God.

We are asked to love our brothers and sisters. We are asked to be prepared to serve God. We are reminded that we live to serve God.

There is nothing new in any of this. There is a great difficulty in remembering and applying this to our daily lives. How we treat each other, how we speak to each other, how we think about each other is important. The great lessons of Christianity are constant love, constant preparation. We are asked to love our neighbors as we love ourselves and we are asked to always be prepared and willing to serve the Lord.

Peace and security are temporary, they are goals; they are ideals. The secular world uses peace and security to provide false hope, false confidence. Both are familiar themes employed by politicians. Both are fragile, require an infrastructure of other ideals and ultimately can be empty ideals, empty words if God is not present. The only true peace and true security can only be found in God, in following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, and being willing to sacrifice everything in your life for God, in being able to honestly, lovingly serving God.

Without God’s mercy and charity, there is no escape from the sadness, despair, loneliness that have become hallmarks of modern societies of alienation, ignorance, fear. So many people forget to be prepared, forget to stand watch waiting for God to arrive. So many people allow themselves to forget that there might be a waiting thief in the night waiting to steal your hopes, your dreams.

As God’s adopted children we are all brothers and sisters. Please remember this. It is important to live and prosper in the day, in the light. It is important to remain alert, to remain sober at all times. As Christians we are asked to remember this fact as we pray for salvation for ourselves and our neighbors. As Christians is important to always be seeking to live with a state of Grace.

Concerning love and hope allow them to reside in your heart, soul, and mind. Allow love and hope to protect you, to direct you to Jesus Christ. Concerning love and hope may they both lead you to a better understanding and a closer relationship with God. Concerning love and hope may they always remind you that you are an adopted child of God with unique gifts, unique prayers.

and he might send them forth

How did Jesus want to share the Good News with the people? Did he create a Facebook page? Did he create an Youtube channel? Did he create a blog? As Christians we must remember that we have been summoned by God. We each have a special purpose, some special task which God asks us to do. We each will struggle with our task from time to time. We all need to pray to God. We are reminded to praise and give thanks to God. We also are asked to look inside ourselves, to search for and then to share all of our goodness, holiness, kindness, and love. Our daily existence does have significance. Our daily actions, how we choose to live our lives can be a silent sermon of hope, social justice, love, fairness. When we live with truth, kindness, and mercy in our souls we can preach without saying a word for God can be seen in each movement, God can be felt, faith inspired. We must choose to live our lives with that special purpose of love, unconditional and universal. We must choose to think of pleasing God with all of our decisions. We must remember that we are all asked to do something in the name of God. We must listen for the request. We must have patience. We must pray. Prayer is essential for the spiritual growth of all Christians. The more we pray and listen to God, the closer our bond will be with God, the closer our relationship will become. By Baptism we are appointed. We must decide whether we are going to take the challenge and follow the footsteps of God. With patience, humility, and prayer we can achieve all types of good works in God's name. We all are asked to try. How did Jesus want to share the Good News with the people? Did he create a Facebook page? Did he create an Youtube channel? Did he create a blog? Jesus did it simply by living his life, obeying the Ten Commandments, and treating everyone with fairness, social justice, love, and understanding. The miracles may have motivated people to seek him out but the miracles were done with love. Christianity is not just reserved for the churches and cathedrals. Christianity must be nurtured, must be allowed and encouraged to grow in the coffee shops, subway platforms, street corners, gin joints. Christianity must be everywhere that each Christian goes.
The image of Jesus on the mountain suggests that he took time to reflect on what was happening and that he took time to pray. He gave himself time to breathe, time to organize his thoughts as he decided upon the Apostles and summoned each one of them to join his ministry.
How wonderful it would have been to hear Jesus speak, to hear him speak Aramaic. How wonderful it is to hear that he renamed Simon. How amusing it is to hear that he renamed James and John Boanerges which translates as sons of thunder. Even as the Apostles are being organized to preach and given the authority to drive out demons Jesus provided a glimpse of his humanity, of the humanity he hopes that each Christian will continue to share.

he would withdraw to deserted places to pray

Listening to the Liturgy of the Word should be an active process, the entire mind should be engaged with each word that is spoken during this time. The Bible is filled with activity. People are always moving around, obeying God, disobeying God. The people in the Bible are always up to something. Although the Bible does not mention texting, email, smart phones, the people of the Bible knew how to communicate with one another without using a telephone or Facebook or Twitter or Youtube. The People of the Bible were good at getting the message.

Jesus was a very busy person. He was always on the go, moving from town to town. His ministry involved motion, involved going to the people, involved listening to the people, involved serving the people. Jesus did not limit his ministry to one neighborhood in one town. He was in Nazareth, Capernaum, Bethabara, Cana, Galilee.

Two Thousand years later there is something magical, something powerful in the names of these places and the connection to Jesus. His ministry moved from the countryside to the synagogue to the countryside. His ministry moved along country roads and city streets.

His message was simple love God and love each other. His message was radical then, and is still radical now.

Even with all the moving about from town to town Jesus always found time to pray.

Christianity asks each believer, each Christian to spread the Good News, to share their blessings and gifts with others, to praise and love God each day. Christianity asks each believer to join a journey of goodness, holiness, kindness, to join a journey of faithfulness and loyalty to God.

It is important to always be attentive, to always be listening for the voice of God. Being Christian often involves a period of discernment, of contemplating, praying reflecting on how to move closer to God, on how to serve God.

Each day there are signs of the Holy Spirit in our lives, encouraging us to pray, encouraging us to help others, encouraging us to avoid temptations and distractions. Each day there are signs of the Holy Spirit directing us toward God, directing us to the path of Jesus. Each day there are signs of the Holy Spirit asking each of to be active Christians, loving and serving God, loving each other unconditionally.

Even with our busy lives of work, family, friends, volunteer activities, each Christian should find time to pray.

Each day I wonder what Nazareth, Capernaum, Bethabara, Cana, Galilee were like when Jesus was alive and moving from town to town. Each day I wonder if there is something more that I could be doing to love and serve God.

A sense of courage is needed. A sense of humor is required. Simplicity is needed. Love is required. Being Christian requires active listening, active participation. Being Christian requires gracious words, loving deeds.

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.

Goodness and Holiness

I have been writing, for two or three hours without stopping; writing and revising and thinking. Should I add a quote from the Psalms? Should I mention Saint John Viannay or Saint Francis de Sales? What is my theme going to be. I must admit a very strong attraction and affection toward goodness and holiness, and a deep interest being a faithful, humble servant of God, but I understand my limitations and that I have many lessons to learn. I must accept both the mystery and the logic of being Christian. There are guiding principles. There is a definite philosophical foundation to Christianity. Faith provides a way to organize our scattered and fragmentary thoughts and ideas. Faith suggests that we use our reason power to further understand and to serve God. Faith provides us with the vigor to do what is right, to be righteous, to develop an exquisite sensibility filled with obedience, charity, and humility. Our philosophy is neither modern or popular but without fail it directs us to do the right thing, to be better people. Being Christian is a twenty-four hour , three hundred sixty-five day a year vocation. We must remember this and live our lives accordingly. We have intelligence. We have creativity. Our Faith offers compassion and continuity. Our Faith reminds us that we each have a limitless capacity for goodness and holiness which we have to develop, nourish, maintain and protect. We must remember to make time for prayer in our lives. We all need time for silent contemplation in our busy imperfect chaotic noisy lives.

Hearing

I have a practiced ear, capable of listening to and remembering multiple conversations as long as I remain mute, keep my mind in listening mode.

At times with great patience I can be simultaneously auricular and an oracle.

Depending on who we listen to our lives are filled with either collisions or coincidences. Depending on my mood I find it hard to separate them. I think that my life is dreamily spasmodic, ordinarily episodic. Faith leaves me quenchless, wanting to be better, wanting to be more compassionate, forgiving, and merciful.

Learning about venial and mortal sin, I sometimes feel like a gun-toting, wisecracking lammister hiding from both the police and the mob.

Each day I want to learn more about God, more about Christianity, more about how I follow in Christ’s footsteps. Each day I want to be more humane, more loving.

The minute I recognize that there are two choices, then I immediately realize the possibility of imminent danger, confusion, or delay. Nevertheless I do enjoy playing with this cauldron of ideas, creating rhetorical questions, circulating excessively genteel fears throughout my mind.

I sometime feel that being a good Christian means being a good listener. We need to listen first, then analyze what has been said, and then respond. Listening requires an extra dollop of silence. Silence is not always awkward. Silence is often natural. People trained to expect instant gratification, immediate responses are suspicious of silence and try to fill it with all types of brittle noise.

We, as Christians, always need a bit of silence. It is a time for reflection, prayer, meditation. Silence is not always negotiable. We may hear life’s gamelan gently or boldly playing in the background. We must train ourselves to be mute. Silence can be capacious. Silence can allow us to hear God.

As Christians our lives should be an ongoing, continuous discernment process as we strive to learn new ways to serve God and to share his love with those whom we meet each day. We should educate ourselves to do more and more without requiring any acknowledgement or reward. Let love be our signpost, guiding us toward God.

The Triumph

Our lives are filled with many moments equivocal, moments caustic. Our society creates and exaggerates spiritual and existential conflicts. Our materialist culture is a jumbled mixture of assumptions and ambitions, praising decadence and moral and ethical ambiguity while hiding moral deprivation.

How abstract life can sound when certain words are utilized to manipulate our emotional response to a topic, to temper our reactions and our interactions! How absurd modernity is when society encourages distance and distrust among its diverse members. In many ways modernity will always be at war with Christianity.

The triumph of God is love. Faith is the centrifuge of the soul’s longing for God. Within faith there is something euphoric, something symbolic.

Of course within our individual narrative lines there are always examples of God’s mercy, compassion, and love which we sometimes overlook. We must acknowledge always acknowledge and offer praise to God, our lives must involve holiness.

It is easy to forget that being Christian means being part of a community. Christianity does not grow in a vacuum. In each of us Christianity’s formation has been a continual activity of our hearts, minds, and souls. It’s impact upon our imagination is hard to calculate.

The Sacraments of the Church allows us to develop and maintain an identity as believers and followers of Jesus Christ. The characteristics of Christ’s teaching provides a model for living a simple life filled with forgiveness, mercy, and love.

Modernity offers and promotes a complicated network of relationships. Even when modernity suggests simplicity, rarely is simplicity ever achieved without rejecting and/or limiting access to some core parts of modernity.

For those who allow themselves to believe and to follow the teachings of the Christianity, life can be a more simple, more spiritual, and more beautiful. This is not meant to suggest that Christian life is easy. It is not. Being Christian is often a daily struggle between good and bad; moral and ethical choices confront us each day at work, home, and many places in between; the meagerness of consumerism constantly battles our sense of social justice.

Being Christian helps us to understand the world in which we live, understand that many of the problems and concerns have been around in one form or another for thousands of years. Being Christian gives us hope and strength to survive. Being Christian allows us to believe in God, his mercy, his forgiveness, his love. Being Christian encourages us to believe that we are not alone.

A Christian life is filled with hope and love.