Thought for the Day - October 7

Keep your life simple. Seek to make your life pure.

Simplicity remains a very complicated ideal for many people. Simplicity requires focus, discipline. Simplicity asks for only the necessary, only the essential. Pray to create a life of simplicity in thought, speech, action. May your every action be directed toward God, directed toward salvation. May each thought, each action begin with charity, humility, and obedience to God. Simplicity asks us to decide who we love, to make God the center of our lives, to establish and promote God and the loving of God, and the serving of God, our using our individual free will to do God’s will as the most important and precious singular activity of our lives. The Christian life when the true focus is God becomes a life of true love, pure hope. The Christian life focuses on love, encourages love, nurtures love. The Christian life is one of giving, sharing. Simplicity asks us to simply love, to believe and accept that God loves us. Do not look for thanks, praise, or love to be shared automatically. Do not desire love in reciprocation for actions. Simplicity asks us to share love unconditionally, to share love universally. Simplicity involves letting go, trusting in goodness, holiness, kindness. Simplicity asks us, then reminds us to trust God, to love God, to have faith in God.

Simplicity leads us on a journey of focus on Jesus Christ and God, respect for the power and authority of God, reverence for the teachings of Jesus Christ, purity of intention creates a powerful connection between our souls and God when our prayers are true and honorable.

From Becoming A Devout Disciple

Thought for the Day - October 6

Those who believe in God are blessed.

Being Christian is to be visionary, is to focus on goodness, holiness, kindness. Being Christian is to look at the world lovingly. Being Christian is to be hopeful, creative, humble in our approach to life. Being Christian is simply cherishing simplicity, extolling simplicity. The genius of being Christian is the ability to love, is the ability to share compassion, is the ability to share mercy. The world needs those radical Christians who love God first, and then those who love their neighbors. The world needs those radical Christians who are amazing in their patience, devotion, and obedience to God, to God’s will. The world needs those radical Christians who seek goodness, holiness, kindness in all human beings. The world needs those radical Christians who are fortunate to share ideas on social justice, stewardship, faith with others. We are fortunate to be friends, to be acquainted with the Gospels, to be acquainted with the Beatitudes and Jesus Christ’s other the teachings of fairness and social justice. We are asked to always remember Jesus Christ. We are asked to always aspire to be like Jesus Christ. We are asked to use our short time on this life to inspire others to be like Jesus Christ. We share one spirit, one body each and every time we allow ourselves to join the Eucharist.

We have thoughts, we have memories, we have God’s love waiting to be shared.

Sin Happens Again

Sometimes language is misused. Sometimes people are simply misunderstood. Social media is a product of the secular world. Social media is a platform for sharing ideas, sharing information, buying and selling products.

The prurience of the secular world is neither for improvement of the community, nor for the improvement of the individual. This prurience seeks only that which titillates, that which scandalizes, that which sensationalizes. This secular world encourages prurient behavior, sinful behavior. Being decadent, being rude, being selfish, being careless are virtues within the permissive world of the individual within the neon colored glossy secular world of endless good times and no personal responsibility.

Morality is a dirty word. That there are consequences for bad decisions is easily forgotten. There are explanations, justifications. There is sorrow. There is regret. But they happy later, the next morning, the next day. Now the party must continue. The fun must be captured, preserved.

Each generation is attracted to sin and temptation and wants to make them attractive and accessible for others to follow without too much effort. Sin is never original. Sin is never new. Each sin has been done before. Technology may change the distribution, the sharing of the sin but the acts remain the same.

We live in a time when no conversation is off limits, we live in a time when sex and being sexy dominates the media.

Our faith asks us to be merciful, to be compassionate. We are not asked to judge our neighbors. We are asked to control ourselves and to use our lives, our choices to lead others to Jesus Christ, to encourage others to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ.

As Christians we are asked to be aware, to be vigilant for the return of the Lord. As Christians we are encouraged to keep our gaze on goodness, holiness, kindness.

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.

Aim of Each Christian

Let the aim of each Christian be easy to hear, easy to accept. Let each Christian accept the challenge to use his or her life to magnify the life and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Let each Christian have the virtue, the confidence, the courage to live and walk the path of fairness, love, obedience, mercy, and social justice that Jesus Christ did.

Let our goodness, holiness, kindness turn heads, touch hearts. Let our deeds be of loving service to others.

As Christians we can choose to live a life that encourages others to seek God, encourages others to filled their lives with humility, charity, compassion, obedience, mercy. Warm summer mornings, warm summer twilights are wonderful times to seek God, to remember the Beatitudes.

It is my aim to live my life quietly, to behave appropriately, to live according to and with reverence for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I hope that this is your goal too.

Appreciating God

The winding trail to a hilltop with an expansive view of nature’s beauty remains a great metaphor for life. My thoughts sometimes soar above the treetops. Life contains people who need our concern, our prayers. Some are hyperemotional. Some are apathetic. Some are depressed. Some are just out looking for a good time.

The path presents leaves and rocks and sticks as beautiful, as majestic as created by God. The view inspires us to think of God, to seek solitude, to seek escape from the chaos and confusion of modern life, to seek solace and comfort with the Lord. Climbing up the hillside is not easy, wanting to see God is not cheesy. The desire to see God often accompanies a desire to serve God.

God doesn’t get recognized that much, reverence for God appears to be limited to churches. The secular world does not consider goodness, holiness, kindness interesting, educational, or entertaining. Presenting an invisible God to a world filled with doubt, conspiracy theories about their neighbors is not that appealing to the media, to the popular culture promoters. No one knows where God hangs out.

Christians are encouraged to seek the Lord. We can use prayer, reflection, silence. The search may or may not be successful. Calling God is important. Obedience, patience, humility, mercy are important and necessary ingredients to create a true relationship with God. We are asked to offer praise, thanks, loyalty, and loving service.

Appreciation is a great word. Appreciating is easier said than done. Appreciating God requires a sense of selflessness, a sense of unconditional love, a sense of mercy, and a sense of compassion. Appreciating God involves simultaneous observations of the world and our reactions to it; how our hearts, minds, and souls react during certain situations is important; who receives our spontaneous prayers provides insight.

Goodness, kindness, holiness often arrive with a surreal surreal disorientation. The world is filled with scoundrels sharing their wicked schemes and thoughts. This is the current reality glamorized, exaggerated, captured, preserved and beamed from communication satellites into living room televisions. Goodness, kindness, holiness do occur, but they are a rarity, not the normal encounter. Rudeness, selfishness are the norm, are accepted. Talking about God, talking about being good, talking about sin has a weird effect on some people. Saying that they believe in God is easier than actually believing.

Popular culture encourages us to live in a world of make believe where we are not doctors but we pretend to be when it is convenient, while the camera is pointed toward, while we have an audience.

The experience of recognizing God begins with recognizing the truth within each one of us, recognizing the hope within each one of us, recognizing the love within us. The experience of recognizing God in our lives is initially intensely introspective but grows and grows into a desire to share God’s love, mercy, and grace with everyone. There is an intimacy with God that can last a minute, a hour, a day. This intimacy is rare. With prayers, praise, reflection, good deeds many Christians seek that deep awareness, deep intimacy with God all of their lives.

With Joy

What is in your heart at this very moment? What is in your soul?

Learn how to be enjoy being a Christian. Learn how to serve God with happiness in your heart, hopefulness in your gestures. Learn how to say joyful prayers.

Goodness, holiness, kindness provide preternatural insights into God, into love, into ourselves

Always remember and believe that the Lord is God. Remember and believe that God created us, that we are his people, his children, his flock.

Treat each day, each hour, each minute, each second with care. Cherish each second, each minute, each hour, each day. Always be ready for an impromptu meeting, a quick no pressure interview, a meet and greet with God.

Always go to church filled with thanksgiving in your heart, always kneel before the altar filled with praise in your heart. Always offer thanks to God.

Reverence and Obedience to God remain important, remain necessary. Neither are optional. A holy life requires prayer, requires conversation with God.

Nurture charity, humility, patience, wisdom, compassion, mercy, gentleness within your heart, mind, and soul. Allow your soul, your mind, your heart to walk and talk with God.

Always remember to bless God’s name.

Preparing

The Kingdom of heaven somehow creates different images in my mind depending upon my mood. Sometimes it is purely high tech, gleaming, shiny cinematic science fiction science fantasy place of extreme cleanliness and order. Other times it is lush and tropical. Other times it is a majestic place of great statues, great temples, and people wearing robes.

The abundance of images is a product of a fertile imagination.

Blessed the poor in spirit creates an equal number of images, equal number of opportunities to praise and serve the Lord.

As Christians we are asked to trust in goodness, holiness, kindness.

Preparing our spirit is important, preparing our spirit to love, honor, and serve God is important.

As Christians we seek to be like the blessed poor in spirit. We seek God’s mercy, God’s compassion, God’s love.

We seek salvation, we seek eternal life.

We prepare. We pray.

Thoughts on Hankypanky

The secular world suggests that hedonism is both natural and good. The secular world encourages everyone to expect professionalism from their neighbors while only sharing amateurishness. There are many conflicts in the world, conflicts real and imagined. Within each of our minds rest the possibility for conflict, for argument, for battle. We are consumed by all types of messages leading to being selfish, self-absorbed, self-indulgent, self-centered.

Modern speech is filled with elisions. In our crowded hectic lives there is much hanky-panky to amuse us and our friends. There is equally enough for us to pan away from with a quiet dignity. It is the search for goodness which animates thoughts of hope, faith, love; the search for kindness often leads to looking at the world with a steady gaze. Life is filled with knowing, seeing, hearing, connecting. Modern life is filled with collecting ideas and other items.

Being sophisticated means challenging everything, expecting and only accepting a worldly knowledge, a worldly attitude that everything is impure, imperfect; that everybody is royally mixed up; that sex and money rule supreme over everyone.

This is pure craziness, pure tomfoolery. This thought encourages sin, automatically discounts sin, reduces it to mere human experience like putting on the wrong shoes, forgetting to put deodorant. Sin is dangerous; sin leads us away from God. In many instances in popular culture the idea of sin is completely eliminated from thought and discussion. Everything is accepted, everything is permitted except thinking of the consequences of our actions.

We expect compassion from others but rarely share it. This is modern urban life.

There is much to learn from here; life is often sly, wry, and empathetic. As Christians each of us has an unique blend of goodness, kindness, and holiness. We possess an unique touch of grace, of desire to help others. There is not just one way to be Christian. There is not just one way to please God.

As Christians we are asked to be candid about our love for God. We are asked to share the Good News, to live the Good News. Our daily lives can lead others to God if they can recognize the humility, charity, obedience, and mercy of Jesus Christ.

Human beings are sentient creatures, learning creatures, trial and error creatures, sinning creatures now more rationalizing than accepting of their own individual failings before God is a sad contingent fact. It is important to note that sin puts up barriers between the individual and God just as secrets puts up barriers between people. Trust is always necessary in every relationship.

The felicities of the human temperament needs nourishment, needs encouragement to grow, to flourish with goodness, holiness, and kindness. There is a delicacy of purpose and gesture which can lead many to God. The technique requires patience and understanding.

We are asked to pray for ourselves and our neighbors. This is essential. We are asked to pray as often as possible. Learn how to praise God. Learn how to give God thanks. Learn how to ask for spiritual knowledge. Learn how to ask for acceptance of God’s will. Learn how to ask for spiritual wisdom. There are many things which are needed to be good human beings and great Christians.

But, simply, take time and learn how to pray.

God presents things beautiful, things bountiful, things glorious for us to experience. God wants our lives to bear the fruits of compassion, obedience, patience, charity, humility, and mercy. Our lives are to be both living memorials and sacrifices of Jesus Christ, leading ourselves and leading others from the darkness of hedonism and selfishness into the light of the Lord.

Simply, we have to learn how to forgive ourselves, and learn how to pray.

Simple Thoughts About A Complicated World

Never research temptation without God’s help: pray about all things: embrace fast that which is filled with goodness, holiness, kindness.

Do not forget that others need patience and mercy. Their lives from a distance may not be the same as yours. Close-up there is similarity in feelings of hopelessness, despair, torment, pain.

Do learn how to forgive your neighbor. Do learn how to forgive yourself. Base your decisions on reverence and obedience, avoid impertinence.

The art of consumerism is the creation of angst, anxiety, apathy: these weaken and distract the mind, heart, and soul: consumerism leads to polytheism the corporation of idolatry.

The Cathedral

The Cathedral of Saint Matthew the Apostle creates an aural and visual atmosphere which encourages and nurtures prayers, reflection, and compassion. The Cathedral remains a welcoming quiet space where all thoughts, all concerns, all emotions are not expected to be directly expressed to everyone. Here is a place of love and spiritual development. Here is a place of goodness, kindness, holiness. A bouquet of mercy, compassion, and hope the doors of the Cathedral are often open, help and assistance can be found. Prayer offers a patient intensity. Prayer can lead to more humility, charity, obedience. Prayer can lead to personal discernment about life, vocation. The Cathedral is a very handsome space which photographs well with Brides and Grooms but the space is equally handsome for soul searching about personal themes about religious identity and cross cultural identity and reference points.

The Cathedral of Saint Matthew the Apostle is often at the epicenter of Washington, DC life. Homilies often refer to current topics, world leaders. Prayers are said for all mankind. Although the Cathedral is Catholic, prayers for peace, prayers for all humans are said each and every day. Love is not simply spoken of in the abstract but it is a vital important part of the life of this parish which relies upon the prayers and humanpower of many volunteers to fulfill the mission of the church.

The Cathedral is a place for human beings, a place for sinners, a place for the damaged and the broken, for the abandoned and the forgotten. It is a place to celebrate birth, death, and everything in between. It is a wonderful monument of hope and love. The Cathedral remains stubbornly accepting, stubbornly compassionate, stubbornly merciful to all of those who need it, to all of those who walk through the doors.

Here is a sheltering place of beauty. A place where silence is encouraged. Here is a place to escape the hurly-burly of a fast-paced, frantic life where everybody is psychotic or neurotic , where everybody is talking.

Here is a place for honest, simple communication.

influenced

We live in era easily influenced by all types conspiracy theories, real and make-believe. We live in a time that challenges authority, reduces personal responsibility. Old trusted friends are easily forgotten and discarded. How easy it is for modern society to set traps and wait for the mistakes of our neighbors, our former leaders, former heroes. How similar modern life with all of our technology to life in ancient Judah. There was unrest. Some people wanted a change of leadership. Some people wanted the visible parts of the society to remain the same. How easy it is for some people to discard others, how easy it is to decide that someone is no longer needed, no longer worthy. How dangerous people are when they are governed by lust, greed, or any emotion that is not loving, not nurturing, not leading them to faithful service of God.

How patient these people are! How they want their victim to destroy himself, with his own words. Isn't it amazing that this plot is designed not to disrupt life, not to change the daily routine of the people of Judah and Jerusalem.

Goodness often is rewarded with evil. The ruling passions of many men are often cloaked in darkness. Fear, envy, greed lead men to do evil things which can be rationalized and justified with fire and brimstone singed rhetoric, concealing the true evil of the actions, concealing the true evil of the motives, concealing the true evil of the consequences.

Goodness, true goodness remains steady, does not tremble. Goodness provides confidence. What is the reward for goodness, for service to others, for asking for mercy for others?

Each day in the life of each Christian someone is plotting, someone contriving to find a way to obstruct or detour your journey to God.

From Becoming A Devout Disciple

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.

Hear Them

Learn all you can about love; learn the meaning of love; learn the signs of love; learn all you can about Jesus Christ, his life, his times, his ministry, his death, his resurrection. Allow the knowledge about Jesus Christ guide you toward holy living. Learn how to lift up your soul and others. Seek and understand goodness and kindness. Fill your mind with the Good News and words from good books. Allow yourself to remain ignorant of about much of the secular world when it goes against the laws and wishes of God, when it blocks access to God with deceit, deception, distraction, diversion. Learn to confess your sins frequently as needed. Always strive to be humble. Always read and reflect on the Word of God. Search for ways to serve and to obey God. Remember that life begins with love.

Are you a member of God's flock? Are you one of the herd? Is this your weekly rendezvous? How do you consociate with God? It is time to be lionhearted for God, to display a bold dauntlessness defending the faith, to share a compassionate valiance in the name and glory od God.

Allow charity, humility, obedience to help create the hypotenuse of your relationship with God; explore the hypostasis of love, universal and unconditional; and seek the essence of goodness, kindness, and holiness within your soul.

Getting the Right Steps

Now is the time to think of the International Date Line! Now is the time to wish that there was an International Prayer Line. Each Christian must always remember that God is always close by, that God is always waiting patiently whether we are in the Black Forest or in the Loire Valley or Palestine.

Now is the time to renew the quest for goodness.

Now is not the time to talk about morals; it is the time to create and to protect them. Each second of our lives should be filled with the charity, humility, obedience, and love which Jesus Christ preached about.

Now is not the time to talk about high ideals; it is the time to fill each moment of our lives with love and service for God. It is time action. It is time for prayer. It is time for righteousness. Whether we are in Death Valley, or listening to an anecdote about a vacation in the Great Sandy Desert, or looking at a photograph of the Painted Desert allow your eyes to discover the beauty, the mystery within each minute of your life. Allow yourself to accept God's love, to welcome God's call, to embrace humility, charity, obedience.

God is present in Aberdeen and Bethlehem. God receives prayers from Bangkok and Buenos Aires. Canterbury provides God with tales and reconciliation. God is present in London and Thunder Bay. God receives prayers from Saint Andrews and Sarajevo. Tokyo provides God with tales and reconciliation. God is present in Uranium City and Zurich. Where is God in your life?

A Moment Please - January 1, 2011

It is great to begin a new year wishing everybody warmheartedness. It is great to begin each year with an expanding feeling of tenderheartedness. Now, prepare for the journey thru the next twelve months. Accept that each day will not allow you to feel "fine and dandy" but resist the temptation to complain. Now is the time to accept life, to accept all that is presented with great humility. Embrace pain and adversity with love and charity. Avoid anger and rudeness. Allow yourself to welcome the mystery and beauty of each moment of your life. Avoid rushing, avoid anxiety. Time does not stop for a slice of apple pie but you can. Always remember to pray. Always remember to praise God each and every day. Always remember to give thanks to God, each and every day. Always remember to love God forever.

Do not be afraid to be moral. Allow yourself to use the lessons of the Bible to develop your moral code. Love, universal and unconditional, is the foundation of moral integrity. Avoid jealousy, selfishness. Look to those who exhibit qualities of charity, humility, obedience, mercy, goodness, holiness, kindness, and love. Learn from those. A good character leads to honor, honor leads to virtue, virtue leads to God. Always move toward God.

Live a life that is favorable to God; listen for God's request; allow yourself to make loving sacrifices for and to God.

Let each second of your life be in service of God, each second be lived with the wonder and mystery and newness of a first pilgrimage, a grand pilgrimage of love, obedience, and service.

ABUNDANT JOY AND GREAT REJOICING - December 25, 2010

training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age Titus 2:12

It was a time of warmheartedness, a time of tenderheartedness surrounded by hope. There were thick white candles with delicate orange flames reaching toward the ceiling, dancing toward heaven.

How easy it is to forget the journey, to allow the moment, this minute to dominate the mind, the imagination. Life does not stop. Each minute flows into the next. Minutes flow into hours; hours flow into days. The journey continues whether we are prepared or not, whether we are able to upgrade or not. There is always motion, always a need for patience.

And here is a moment of delicate welcome, the lingering embrace of remembrance and forgiveness which recalls yesterday's hope, yesterday's love.

This is a moment of familiar songs, familiar sayings. For this instance the thick white candles offer reassurance, offer hope, offer continuity and faith. Here in this instance each individual is fine and dandy, each individual cannot complain. Here is a moment when good is allowed to triumph!

This is a moment of red and white and green leaves. This is a moment of soft lighting. This is a time to remember to be moral, to remember the Church's moral code. How romantic and perfect this night appears with the white lights on the evergreen trees. What a great moment to reflect upon personal morals. Each Christian is asked to live a morally-sound life of goodness, kindness, holiness; of charity, humility, and service to God. Each day provides opportunities for moralistic evaluations and decisions. Each day provides opportunities for honor, good character. Remember that each candle has one purpose: to provide light. High ideals are great companions to have as we walk on the right road, following the footsteps of Jesus Christ.

Sharing love and hope freely, gently is always a boon. Each day we are given an opportunity to exalt the goodness, the mercy, the presence of God in our lives. We constantly make choices. We must remember to do what is productive for God, what is beneficial to God. As Christians, God must always be an active part of our individual decision making process.

The candles stand guard, patiently sacrifice their wax to provide light. Allow each Mass to be a pilgrimage, an expedition to holiness, to love universal and unconditional.

Be strong, fear not! - December 12

See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. James 5:7

I meant to write this entry earlier but it was such a busy day that I spent more time at the Cathedral than I had originally planned. I participated in one Mass, photographed another Mass, photographed another celebration, photographed a Christmas present wrapping party, participated in another Mass, had pizza and photographed more gift wrapping, then photographed the choir evening concert, and then photographed happy parishioners singing Christmas carols and drinking wassail. It was a delicious day, filled with prayer, filled with thoughts about the Lord.

It was a day of standing on the marble. It was a day of giving thanks.

The day was dedicated to God. There was something nurturing and playful; there was something healthy and alive, energizing my spirituality, evangelizing my spirituality. There was so much to observe, to experience, to remember.

There were children. There was a procession. There was a recreation.

A miracle was replayed and presented in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

There is something beautiful, something immense in being a part of this parish. Each day can be an expedition leading to goodness, kindness, holiness; leading to God.


Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another? Matthew 11:3

Send Them - December 1, 2010

"My heart is moved with pity for the crowd, for they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, for fear they may collapse on the way." Matthew 15:32

How we interact with each other is very important. Each person's interactions can have either a negative or positive impact upon other people. Whether one person acknowledges another, listens attentively, opens a door can affect the actions and statements of others. Human beings exist within a hazy blur of hyperbole, creating crazy hypothetical questions about life, using hypotenuse triangles to explain this and that while trying to find each other's hypostasis. It is the search for the essence of the individual which sometimes leads men to God. The key ingredient of this search is whether we can see and/or sense evidence of goodness, kindness, holiness in each other. The essential element which we are all looking for is a sign of love. For unconditional love is the meat and potatoes of charity, humility, obedience to God. The key component is the ability of the individual to act in a way that is tender and non-selfish, a way that expresses honest concern and shows honest compassion. When this occurs, there is a moment of bliss, a moment of peace, a moment of hope when everything else is forgotten. This is a moment which should be cherished. The lessons of goodness, kindness, holiness are difficult to hear, process, accept, and imitate because they are often in direct conflict with how the popular culture dominated society behavior patterns where nothing needs to be respected, where being irreverent is considered the norm. Popular culture does not respect the soul of the individual, the souls of all human being. The essence of the individual is courageous in goodness, kindness; faithful in compassion, obedience; caring in words, actions.

Christians are asked to be gutsy, to have moxie, to develop and display dauntlessness, to be lionhearted, to have valor, to be valiant in the name of Jesus Christ, in both their thoughts and their deeds. Christians, simply, are asked to love and fear God and to love their neighbors. When a person is able to love, unconditionally, without compromise then finding the inner peace and the inner strength to be courageous.

Learning to commiserate with other people is a beautiful skill to have. This skill requires a level of courage. Being truly, honestly empathetic can provide understanding, hope. Being empathetic is active, asks each person to participate, to use their senses to explore and share the experience in a way pleasing to God, in a way that leads toward God, in a way that reinforces the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Christians are part of a group. How each individual describes and interacts with the group is very important. Attending Sunday Mass is important, but there is an underlying desire for each Christian to do more than that, to incorporate the lessons of love and sacrifice of Jesus Christ into their daily lives. Christians are often described as a flock of followers, a herd of believers, the assembled, the gathered. Christians consociate. Each Sunday Christians rendezvous and experience the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

Each Christian has the responsibility of sharing his experience, the responsibility of asking others to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. The experience of being Christian can provide hope, love, courage. Being Christian is a beautiful consociation. Being Christian asks us to find the essence of goodness, kindness, and holiness within ourselves.