Prayer for the Day - October 7

O my dear Jesus, I am sinful please forgive my sins. May your mercy lead me to live in service for you doing your will. May your mercy guide me and my soul to heaven. May your mercy guide me to help other souls find their way to heaven. May your mercy protect me from the smoke and fog of temptation, from poisoned thorns of sin. Always keep me in your mercy, in your love. Amen.


My God, help me to share that I believe in you, in your glory; help me to show that I adore you, your majesty; help me to trust in your will and your love; help me to love you first and completely with my entire being. I beg for mercy and forgiveness and redemption for those blinded, those corrupted, those afraid to love and serve you. Amen.

Prayer for the Day

From Sacristy, Cathedral of St Matthew the Apostle

Thought of Today

Like Jesus we are asked to journey from neighborhood to neighborhood, town to town proclaiming and sharing the news of salvation, the news of the Kingdom of God, the news of the Kingdom of heaven.

Ruminations

There are times when I try to imagine life in Galilee. There are times when I try to imagine being in the Capernaum temple with Jesus on the sabbath. 

How wonderful it would be to hear Jesus Christ speak his words, to experience his syntax. Sitting in Mass I sometimes close my eyes briefly and try to create a scene hurriedly and vaguely. There is much artistic license and Hollywood spectacle but this can be helpful in unpacking the reading. Sometimes additional questions spring up and surprise me with a search for meaning, a search for deeper understanding. Each time I attend Mass there is an opportunity for further learning on how to be a better loving Christian, how to serve God with humility, charity, mercy, and compassion.

In between news about Hurricane Irene, hunting feral pigs from helicopters, searching for Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi's remaining forces, there is always time to be surprised by God.

God’s love is inexhaustible.

The search for connection between Holy Scripture and our daily lives is very important. Finding resonance in the readings can encourage greater love for God. Our faith does ask us to be cerebral, to use our minds to serve God, to use our minds to serve God. Our faith asks each of us to use our ganglions to form gangs of hope and love in ourselves and our communities.

Ebb and flow is natural in life; there is always advance and retreat. In the life of all Christians there are times of solitude, times of solicitude. There are times of vague desire to do good, there are times of gradual acceptance of loving God. Each Christian is allowed to learn when to speak, when to shut up.

I seek faith in a faithful place. I seek God in a loving place.

Seek the Truth in Jesus

One of the best things that I have learned since my conversion is to seek the truth in Jesus. This is hard to do. It requires using the conscience, allowing a little time to pass before speaking or acting, allowing time for prayer and reflection. By nature I am often an act first think later type of person. Being Christian involves so much thought, so much analyzation as I try to apply the Beatitudes to my daily routine, as I try to love my neighbor as I love myself, as I try and follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ.

The world presents great, unending sorrow, turbulent anxiety, tempestuous anguish to direct our gaze away from Jesus Christ. The secular world encourages a life based upon uneasiness and fear, self-centered and selfish. Everything is temporal. Everything is needed now.

As Catholics we are the adopted children of God. We share covenants with God. Each day of our lives hopefully presents a moment to give God praise and glory. It is not always easy to follow the law, but having God’s law and striving to be obedient to it, to follow it does give me comfort, does lead me toward salvation, does make me think more.

Each day provides an opportunity to become closer to God, to learn more about God, to learn how to nurture and strengthen my spiritual life.

Seek the truth in Jesus. Allow yourself time to see all of the beauty and goodness around you. Allow yourself time to relax and enjoy the presence of God in your life. This might take a little while. There are so many distractions and diversions in our lives. We sometimes need to have a moment of actual silence and solitude away from everything, everyone, every gadget, every bit of technological wizardry which connects us to distant computer servers. We need to tune our ears so that we can reap the benefits of spiritual silence, so we can hear and answer God whenever he calls.

Being Christian is often difficult. It is easy to forget kindness and peace. It is easy to toss wisecracks, ignore the suffering of others, stir of trouble with a smile and downcast eyes. Being Catholic presents an opportunity for renewal, for peace; the Eucharist gives our lives a special and unique majesty. Each Mass is both a memorial and sacrificial celebration. Each Mass reminds me that I am human, that I am a sinner and then encourages me to do better, to turn away from sin.

Turning away from sin is difficult unless you seek the truth in Jesus.

How to Explain

When I originally conceived this essay, I wanted to explain how I spent my Sunday. What I thought about, what I prayed about, what I thought about praying about, where I went. It was arranged in a completely accessible linear fashion. But, how would my story translate to non Catholics, to non Christians. Is there something universal in my activities?


My activities are amusing to me sometime. I am always making deals with myself. I am always filled with all types of crazy yet conventional thoughts created by great literature and big budget Hollywood films.


Sunday began with thoughts of the night before at the Dominican House of Study Spring Gala and Silent Auction. I briefly reconstructed the evening into interesting little bits and ordered it in a more literary way. My morning began with brief prayer and then I began writing.


I stopped writing and then planned my day. I planned to attend Mass at 11:30 AM and then return to the Cathedral around 2:30 to photograph the Spanish Stations of the Cross.


How completely cautious and conventional this is. Where is the passion, where is the energy? Is it possible to share my exuberance, my excitement without sounding too zealous, too fervent? Is it possible to create a document which makes going to Mass appear like a great way to spend an afternoon?



As a Cathedral of Saint Matthew the Apostle Altar Server my spirituality has deepened; my love and enjoyment of the Mass has grown exponentially; my sense of goodness, kindness, and holiness has increased. I look for signs of goodness, kindness, and holiness in my actions and the actions of others.



I was asked to carry the Cross in the procession during the 11:30 Mass. Although I frequently have fears of dropping the Cross because of my own personal lack of strength, carrying the Cross helps me focus on the Mass more completely.



How can such a beautiful ceremony be described in such a way to personalize the experience, bring it alive with hope and yet, encourage curiosity with appearing to encourage curiosity.


What is it that makes attending Mass unique for me? Why do I attend Mass? There is a wonderful feeling which I experience sometime while being an Altar Server. There is a moment when I am able to forget myself for a moment, forget my own silly pettiness and hope and pray for someone else’s happiness and security. Attending Mass is more than prayers, attending Mass is more than receiving Communion. Here is a chance to hear God’s voice, here is a chance to answer the call. Here is a chance to love your neighbor as you love yourself. Is there a way to say that simply, gently in a manner which could help someone want to walk into the Cathedral and ask about being Catholic, about being an adopted child of God.



After the 11:30 AM Mass I remembered that there was a special Mass in honor of Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador who was assassinated thirty-one years ago while saying Mass. I quickly left the Cathedral, returned home, picked up my camera.


I returned shortly after the 1:00 PM Spanish Mass had started. How great it was to see all of the faces in the Cathedral. How great it was to hear the choir singing, to hear the guitar playing, the congregation singing.


Remembering Archbishop Oscar Romero is important for all Christians who want to follow in the footsteps of Christ Jesus. His life was both cautious and bold, his words were erudite, brash, and inspiring. Archbishop Romero’s life presented the beauty of and the danger of Christ Jesus’s social justice teaching captured in the Beatitudes.


There is much to learn from his life. His approach was slow, filled with reflection and prayer. He provided a valuable lesson about involvement in dealing with the marginalized people and their oppressors. He started out with hope, with love. He studied the issue and prayed about the conditions of the poor, and those who were in opposition to the government. His decisions were not always the most popular decisions, the most popular statements but they were the correct ones for the situations, for his country. There is nothing worse than ignoring social injustice.



Archbishop Romero reminds us about the living water, about being shocking, about doing the right thing and not being afraid of making the greatest sacrifice.


How can all of this be shared with others in a conversational, non threatening way.

Urban 2011 March

There is something drab in the hurly-burly of Connecticut Avenue, something missing in the anxious faces on M Street, something lost in the marching feet on Rhode Island Avenue. Urban life often leaves us peevish and anxious and ready for brief childish temper tantrums because someone is driving or walking to slowly, or talking too loudly, or not paying attention while walking and almost collides with you.
Urban life often leaves us feeling insignificant and drab. How we long for a verdant pasture with soft grass and towering oak trees, for solitude, for silence. But when we have schedules to keep and meals to miss to complete this deadline, there is nowhere to go but back to our offices, back to our cubicles. Our souls are under attack each and every day, we are subjected to rudeness, hatred every day. Often we are able to overlook it, to protect ourselves from the corrosive, corrupting experience.

Urban living can overtime leave our souls dull and lifeless, our minds darkened and depressed, our hearts cold and locked. Our being, our spiritual being needs to be nurtured each and every day, our spiritual life needs to be sharpened with love and hope and mercy. We must learn how to love, how to follow in the footsteps of Christ Jesus, how to be obedient to God.

Each day we hear about man’s inhumanity. Each day we make typographical and grammatical errors. Hopefully, in our hearts we ask God for forgiveness when we sin. Each day we dream of a better tomorrow for ourselves and our loved ones.

Being Christian is the most beautiful gift; being Christian is the best prize; being Christian is alive with undiscovered prayers which slowly awaken within us each time we go to Mass or unexpectedly share goodness and kindness with others. Being Christian allows us to join the story of the life and resurrection of Christ.

The city is often described as a jungle or a forest. It is neither. The wilderness in the city is dangerous, meant to tempt us, lead us away from God, away from goodness, away from holiness, away from kindness. The pulse of the city is always a little elevated. City living demands that we ignore much of what we see, hear, and feel. Neither the street lamps nor the neon lights can hide the darkness which envelopes the city.

Attending Mass can be a moment of hope, a moment of love in our lives when we are able to relax and allow the Lord into our lives.

The pulse of his being moves around us each day; the pulse of his being encourages us to stop before making some questionable decisions; the pulse of his being asks us to be compassionate to our neighbors; the pulse of his being reminds us to love, to share mercy and kindness with each other.


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.

A Reflection on Luke 19

“For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.” Luke 19:10

Today’s Gospel reading is filled with great emotion. There is much sadness. There is a prophecy concerning the destruction of Jerusalem. The temple is important in this passage. Jesus throws the money changers out of the temple. Jesus teaches in the temple. Also, in the temple the chief priests and other leaders of the people plot how to kill Jesus. How busy that temple was. The temple was the center of life.

As Jesus approached Jerusalem he cried. Peace was hidden from Jerusalem. The city was busy, consumed with its daily activities. Life was not stopping. People were living their lives, behaving as their culture allowed them. The Jewish people were busy with their daily routines. Some of the Jews knew that Jesus was in Jerusalem. Some went to hear him speak. Some went to have him save them. Some stayed away from him. Some of the Jewish leaders in the temple, quietly, secretly plotted Jesus’ death. The conspirators are anonymous in this Gospel as they watch Jesus teaching in the temple.

In this Gospel, Jesus wept, Jesus drove the money changers from the temple, Jesus taught in the temple. Jesus wanted the temple to be a house of prayer, a place of worship and ministry. He did not want it to be a den of thieves, a place of commerce. The temple was God’s house.

Although there is despair and melancholy in this passage there also is hope. Jesus is not passive in this Gospel. He is very active, very aware of his world. It was important for him to teach in the temple. It was important for him to rid the temple of the den of thieves. It was important for the temple to be a house of God, a house of prayer. He did not have to go the temple. He did not have to confront the money changers. He did not have to teach in the temple. Each one of these actions his simple decision. He was simply doing what he had to do. People were listening to Jesus. People were learning from Jesus. He was simply being obedient, doing his duty, showing his fidelity and love to God.

Within the temple some men were plotting his death as he preached about salvation, loving your neighbor. This knowledge did not deter him from his mission. He had a job to do. He came to save mankind. He reached out to all who would listen. He offered love, hope, eternal life to all he believed and obeyed God’s commandments and laws.

The Spirit

How interesting this conversation between the Pharisee named Nicodemus and Jesus was! How simply did Jesus describe the sacrament of baptism. How beautifully did Jesus describe the call, the desire for conversion which we hear throughout our lives, leading us toward God! It is easy for us to forget this today! We always are searching for evidence. We always are seeking new solutions to old problems. We always are listening to all types of theories and assumptions about ourselves, our lives, our future. If we stop for a minute, and instead of talking to our friends about the things which concern and trouble us, we would pick of the Bible and read it, and concentrate on what we have read, then if our hearts and souls are pure and sincere, real answers, loving answers would appear before us. The Spirit is always around us but we must each individually nourish it, allow ourselves to listen to it, remember to greet the Spirit with reverence. For all that we do, we must offer it to God, for the Spirit leads us to God; allow the Spirit to teach you how to give thanks and praise to God; allow the Spirit to teach you how to be a loving, humble servant of God; allow the Spirit to teach you how to pray. The Spirit is there to help with your continuing education of humility, charity, obedience, forgiveness, mercy, and love. As Christians we must remember and acknowledge the importance of the Spirit in our lives.

“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless one is born from above, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

We are all trying to get to heaven. This journey provides our lives with meaning. All are actions, all our prayers, all our good deeds are done for us to one day gain admittance to heaven. We cannot go there in the flesh with our Botox injections, Prada shoes, or credit cards. We can only go there with the hope, love, faith that governs and guides us toward goodness, toward holiness. We can only go there when our spirit is sincere, pure, reverent. We can only go to heaven when God is pleased with our service during our lifetime. Each thought, each action is important. What we keep in our hearts hidden away is important. As Christians please all love to flourish and nourish your mind, heart, and soul. Avoid all worldly temptations, all worldly desires. Remember that temptations and desires are temporal. Think of God, think of ways to love your neighbor. When we think of God with love and reverence in our hearts and souls, the Spirit expands, provides answers, displays goodness and holiness which often goes unnoticed and unappreciated.

“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless one is born of water and Spirit he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.”


Each day we must thank God for the wonderful gift of our Baptism. Each day we must we must thank God for the wonderful gift of the Spirit.

Goodness

Once upon I knew how to make people feel comfortable, wanted. With a certain type of cinematic inspired charm, I could with diligence and patience disarm anyone.

Goodness does not begin with a smile. Goodness does not worry about comfort. Goodness asks for effort and perseverance. We may not immediately recognize goodness when it arrives for there will be much activity, much change, much resistance.

As Christians we must always be conscious where we are currently, where we are going. Our lives present us with many opportunities to bear witness to God’s love, God’s forgiveness. We must learn how to proclaim this. We must learn how to praise God without fear or shame.

Our lives gain meaning when we live them according to God’s commandments, when we offer each moment of our daily existence to the glory and for the praise of God. When we are able to keep our minds focused on God, being God’s humble loving servants, we are freed from many temptations.

Our lives gain purpose when we are able to show others compassion, empathy, and love without any desire or expectation for any reciprocation.

Being Christian is at times exhausting work. The triumph of Christian Life is both the enthusiasm of our love and devotion to God and the teachings of Christ and the strong mature emotions which direct us toward fairness, social justice as taught by Jesus, and a continual examination of conscience. Being Christian is accepting our limitations, accepting our sins, repenting for our sins, resisting temptation.

There are many metaphysical and philosophical conceits regarding being Christian, being Catholic.

Let our lives and our good deeds provide evidence of our reverence and fidelity to God. Do not worry about the assumptions or conjecture of others. Live each day only to serve and to love God. Live each day only to praise and give God thanks.

God is not abstract; God is not hypothetical. God is concrete. God is relevant.

Allow yourself time to study the Holy Scriptures. Allow yourself time to pray.

Christians are always active, always in motion, always serving God, always moving toward God. Christians will suffer, will sacrifice, will feel pain. We must always remember that God is always with us, we must always remember to offer the entirety of our lives good and bad, dark and light to God.

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.

Wisdom

The Church provides many opportunities for us to learn about ourselves and our religion. In fact being Christian is in reality being a professional student without the chance of parole or commencement ceremony. As Christians we are expected to learn about the virtues and then apply them to our lives. As Christians we are expected to learn about how to avoid sin, and then apply that to our lives. As Christians we are expected to always be seeking the Wisdom of God. We must read and reflect upon the Word.

As Christians we must nurture and encourage an enthusiasm for the Wisdom of God. Our lives should reflect our belief that everything in our lives is related to the Wisdom of the Creator.

In our own private ways we should try to help others discover the honest, loving, compassionate face of God. The more we learn and share, the deeper our own faith can become.

Erudition is needed as we journey toward God. We must learn and understand the true meaning of the Nativity, Jesus’ teachings, Jesus’ preaching, and the Crucifixion. Our faith asks us to be passionate believers of God, to champion social justice and peace, and to bear witness of the goodness of God.

Somewhere in Prayer

Everyone who believes in God possesses a private, unique and beautiful story. The Bible contains many examples of these stories.

Often it is from the simple repetitions in life and faith that resonance is gained.

The most inspiring thing about faith is the reality that at any moment in our lives we can receive God’s call. Anyone can receive it; the courageous will respond.

As with any choice, anxiety, angst, and even fear may tease or cloud judgement with questions or assumptions. The stronger a man’s sense of faith, the stronger is his resolve and ability to accept God’s request and live his life in God’s service.

The call can fill a man with hope, love, mercy, and compassion. Goodness may briefly opens a man’s eyes to the grandeur and beauty of God’s love. This introduction may lead to both virtuous thoughts and virtuous living. God offers a calming optimism as long as we can remain patient and allow ourselves to believe.

I like the stories which feature Peter. He is approachable because he is so naturally, human. Peter does not instantly become a paragon of virtue. Instead, he remains a human being who loved God but who made mistakes. It through his mistakes and his perseverance in his faith after his mistakes that many lessons can be learned.

Matthew 14 contains the archetypal encounter between Peter and Jesus which could easily be used to describe the divine call within each of us. That this is a dialogue must be accepted and understood. God begins the conversation.

“Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”

“Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” Man replies and complies to God’s request. Faith is stronger at the beginning.

“Lord, save me!” At some point if the request becomes to difficult or to heavy, man might stumble or become afraid of falling. Then, he either stops or retreats or gives up and then asks for God’s assistance.

“O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” God is always there to help. Man must allow himself to believe.

The actual story in Matthew with Peter on the boat is very beautiful in its simplicity. In those verses we see a man eager to follow God and then something happens. A stray thought or something interrupts Peter’s devotion for an instance and God saves him.

Pugilistic Hope

Young hearts want to believe.

Algebraic symbols are good for certain types of modern discourse, especially for the lower forms of monologues which can be heard in bars, restaurants, parks, grocery stores. It is apparent that many people were never encouraged to stumble into a library, look at books, listen to the music.

Walk down any street and you will hear the adopted jargon of the mass media and see the anxiety which is incessantly encouraged. Distrust rules, reason hides.

Thinking about modern life is easy. Writing about it is challenging yet pleasant.

Different things capture our attention, capture our imagination. We live for sensation and interaction. The sky at twilight is beautiful, words can not adequately describe the calm, the sense of serenity that passes through my mind as my eyes glance upward to the moon surrounded by clouds, slowly disappearing. Words can not express the majesty of the sun, a round orb reclining against a cushion of clouds in a bouquet of muted colors.

Looking at the cityscape as a gentle breeze touches my body, a sense of peace moves through my mind.

In the distance, almost on the horizon, dark smoke rises up, without a zoom camera lens the dark, black smoke appears to rise just in front of the dark green treetops. With a lens, the smoke is further away, actually behind the trees.

One of the best things about the Catholic Church is its pugilistic attitude. The Catholic Church continues to argue for social justice, for fairness, for peace, for life. The Catholic Church never takes a holiday, opens its doors everyday to those in need. The Catholic Church asks us to think before we act. Is that how Jesus would have behaved? Are our lives reflections of Jesus' life? How do we love unconditionally and universally?

The church offers hope and a voice for those unable or afraid to speak.

Young hearts need faith.