Thought for the Day - October 11

Seek only that which is righteous. Live only for that which is righteous. Share only that which is righteous.

Modern life is filled with sin, with selfishness, with loneliness, with desperation which conceals the truth from observation. Darkness clings to many false statements, false thoughts. We are blind to many motivations. Discover the truth of what is in the hearts of yourself, of the ones whom you love.

Share only that which is righteous. Live only for that which is righteous. Seek only that which is righteous.

The love that the media promotes may not be the same love that God promotes. Remember that many of the commandments of God no longer are seen as to be obeyed. Remember that God is no longer seen as an authority, as the creator of life. Truth can not always be reduced to a scientific theorem or formula. Faith can never be reduced to a scientific theorem or formula.

Live only for that which is righteous. Seek only that which is righteous. Share only that which is righteous.

Much of goodness, holiness, kindness remains invisible, appears naturally, spontaneously. Faith is God begins with an acceptance of simple principles of something essentially good, essentially positive, essentially nurturing; an action that springs from selflessness, an action that contains charity, an action that contains humility. Selflessness and humility can create an action, an event of love, of faith. This combination when combined with charity, obedience, compassion, mercy, and forgiveness can create righteousness, love.

Live only to praise God. Live only to give thanks to God. Live only to serve God.

Seek only that which is righteous. Live only for that which is righteous. Share only that which is righteous.

Thought for the Day - October 10

We make promises, we say prayers each day. As Catholics we are encouraged to develop and share obedience to the faith. We seek eternal life, we seek salvation, we seek the Kingdom of heaven. To gain salvation requires effort, requires dedication, requires persistence.

We go to Mass, we receive the Eucharist. As Catholics we are encouraged to love and serve the Lord, to leave in peace. Time remains a precious gift. Love remains a precious gift. Serving God remains the most precious gift for a Christian. Treasure these gifts. Treat these gifts with reverence. Treat these gifts with respect, with care.

Allow yourself to love the entire world without wanting, without desiring to be loved back.

Allow yourself to do be flexible, to be malleable for the God.

Allow yourself to resist anxiety as you resist temptation and sin. Anxiety like temptation and sin creates indecision, causes worry that is often unnecessary and unnatural.

Allow yourself a moment with the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Visualize them, listen to their individual voices.

Allow yourself a moment of peace.

God gives blessings to each Christian. God offers mercy to each Christian. God offers forgiveness to each Christian. We are encouraged to accept all that God offers and return our love, our loyalty, our obedience.

We make promises, we say prayers. God provides answers, God provides blessings. We say prayers.

Thought for the Day - October 9

How wonderful it is to have the Lord be our shepherd, to have the Lord guiding and protecting each one of us. As a member of the flock, as a Christian each one of us has a responsibility to be concerned for each other in addition to being concerned about our own personal welfare. We are asked to be mindful of other Christians, to offer assistance, to offer love, to offer mercy, to offer compassion, to offer forgiveness. Our life as Christians is a communal existence of sharing, of active participation with God, of active interaction with each other. Our faith, our God asks us to be filled with selflessness, to be more concerned with helping others than material gain. Being Christian is both an interior and exterior expression of charity, humility, and obedience to God, to God’s teachings, to God’s desire. How wonderful it is to have the Lord be the shepherd for each one of who believes and serves him. How wonderful it is to be a member of the Lord’s flock. May we have reverence for the privilege, for the honor of being Christian. May we have courage and confidence to love and serve God.

Summer of Mercy 2.0 - Rosary Procession

The remarkable love of virtue and life and the zeal for following in the footsteps inspired parishioners from the Archdiocese of Washington to attend a special Mass on August 3 at the Cathedral of Saint Matthew the Apostle. This Mass was Summer of Mercy 2.0 event. It was an illustrious moment of prayer and reflection and diligence. 

Approximately one hundred people joined the procession and said prayers while walking on the narrow rush hour sidewalks. What a great moment of catechesis! One hundred people moving through the streets of Washington reverently praying and reflecting.

every lie is alien to the truth - December 31, 2010

Allow yourself to seek purity in yourself, in others. Allow yourself time for reflection on God, on the blessings and gifts you have received from God, on how to better serve God. Allow yourself time for remembrance of all those who have loved you, both those who are alive and those who are dead. Allow yourself time for reverence before God.

A life with proper reflection on God, with proper remembrance of all love received, with proper reverence for God will avoid making bold resolutions. Purity of heart and soul asks for consistency and propriety; it is a lifelong quest to be experienced gradually, with grace, hope, and love which leads to God.

All thoughts should lead to God.

Let prayer fill our imagination with glorious images of God's love, with glorious images of each one of us loving God, with glorious images of each one of us loving our neighbor.

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

May tenderheartedness and warmheartedness guide each Christian's heart, guide each Christian's daily decisions, guide each Christian closer to God.

sending my messenger

Refining them like gold or like silver that they may offer due sacrifice to the LORD. Malachi 3:3

There is something about the hurly-burly of Christmas, secular Christmas which suggests the need for the development of a peaceful routine of contemplation, compassion, prayer and monastic piety.

The entire season for many is about motion, searching for presents, attending parties.

The vogue of the season is to complain about this and that, to vow never to shop again or to start earlier. Secular Christmas dominates the popular culture, presents low calorie pleas for understanding, peace, love and high calorie demands to purchase, purchase, purchase.

Christmas is a time of hope. Christmas is a time of love. Christmas is a time of sacrifice. A true Christmas gift does not always come from the mall. It must come from the heart, from the soul. Self denial might be part of this gift, directed abstinence from some activity to promote spiritual growth.

Christmas does ask us to be different than we were yesterday; Christmas asks us to speak different, behave different, contemplate more. It is not the store purchases but the soul reflection which should be treasured and encouraged during this season.

Each Christmas present has the opportunity to be a sacrifice fly if it is purchased and given with compassion, hope, and love and if it is given to encourage and promote spiritual growth.

Each day during Advent and the Christmas season is an opportunity for all Christians to use the Cornell Note-taking system to evaluate their lives, both secular and spiritual, and find ways to move closer to God, find ways to serve God.

We all need a little sacrifice in our lives.

Doubt

Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “O man of little faith, why did you doubt?” Matthew 14:31

Our faith journey often resembles a quest. We search for patience, humility, charity, compassion, mercy both internally and externally. The search for goodness often resembles a dream of youth, when innocence, honor, kindness are valued seriously, objectively as part of the foundation for life’s vocation. We travel into foreign parts of our minds and souls when we allow ourselves to share kindness. We are able to glimpse God through our own acts of goodness and kindness.

As Christians we should expect that there will be moments of doubt in our lives. We will question are believes. We will question our actions, reactions, lack of action. We will question our prayers, when we pray, how we pray. This is natural. This should not hamper us. We must use our doubt as a tool which can help deepen our faith. Instead of allowing doubt to make you anxious or angst ridden, simply allow doubt to teach you about your faith. Doubt can restore Faith to our Faith with a combination of patience, prayer, reflection, and humility.

Always remember to be humble. Always look for goodness and kindness in yourself and others. The more you look for them the more you will find them.

Modern life used to use the metaphor rat race to describe the craziness, unpredictability, ruthlessness of our society as we, the people, worked to make a killing to afford big houses with two car garages with four cars, a golf cart, swimming pool, two ponies, six bicycles, a swing and two hammocks. Our material possessions became a short hand description, presentation of our lives and values. Our material lives provided a glimpse at our presumed live and values. Our private lives were hidden beneath the public expectations created by dressing this way, talking that way. Appearances became more important than reality. Knowledge is secondary to perception. The rat race does not want you to value anything. The rat race simply wants you to purchase this and that. The rat race wants you to meet the right people at the right places at the right time. The rat race wants you only to acknowledge those who can help you tomorrow not those who helped you yesterday. The rat race is built upon doubt, fear, denial. As Catholics we must always remember social justice. Both our prayers and our actions must reflect our understanding and love for all our neighbors, from anonymous, forgotten beggars bundled up with discarded, flattened cardboard boxes and sleeping bags to smiling, waving politicians in tuxedos and shiny leather shoes talking about global warming.

Doubt shall always be with us. Some days it will be stronger, others it will be weaker. Remember that doubt is natural, like sleep, hunger. The knowledge, that doubt exists within all humans should give you comfort. Do not fear doubt. Simply recall the image of Jesus on the water extending his hand to save Peter. Let that image raise your thoughts, your actions. We are all called to help our neighbors, to live lives that reflect, and follow the teachings of Jesus Christ.

The enormous populations of the world need our prayers, the beggars, celebrities, politicians they all need our prayers. Let there be no doubt about that.

An Old Fashioned Paragraph

As one of those who believe that the spiritual life of an individual is important for nourishing the soul and inspiring the mind to search for ways to be pure and content among its people, I regard popular culture as a dangerous concoction of thoughts and desires presented without wisdom, prudence, or love. The secular world allows pop culture to exist as a supreme inexorable law, of cause and effect, of sequence and ascension. Pop culture attacks our individual spiritual character with all types of transient passions of the flesh. This is a material age, everything is a commodity to be bought and sold, to be used and discarded. This is an age of exhaustion. The secular world encourages our society to be selfish, wasteful. Decadence and extravagance attack our eyes from magazine covers, television screens, computer screens. We are encouraged to forget or downplay spiritual things. The secular world works to create and nurture writers who exist only to spread doubt about the viability of religion, doubt about the reality of God. The mood of our society is addled. The quest for happiness is dangerous. Happiness isn't really tangible, it isn't lasting. A diamond necklace or a Mercedes might be purchased but happiness often only encourages us to want more. The idea of happiness that the secular world mass produces a murky angst. Modern life often appears like a heathen life of excess, of extreme selfishness, of rudeness. Although filled with material items and all types of experiences, modern life can be very empty, a distempered culture of insecurity, self hatred, ignorance, bigotry. Love is casually mentioned, casually discarded in the secular world. Love is neither unconditional nor universal in the secular world. Love is a motivating factor, an argument used to rationalize and justify material purchases and all types of social behavior. Love in the secular world produces neither joy nor hope. In the secular world love is lost within the gridlock of weariness and anxiety. How anxious is modern life! How we fear dirty bombs, serial killers, aging, terrorists, having last year's gadgets. However as Catholics our faith allows each one of us to define our lives as Children of God, our faith allows us to refine our lives based upon humility, charity, and service to God. True goodness and kindness are rare. As Christians our duty is to find a way to share God's exquisite love with ourselves and our neighbors. As Christians our lives should be both a reflection and an expression of God's love. There is a vitality within hope and faith which can help us follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. There is a newness in life when we believe in God and when we share our faith. The golden fleece within our spirit needs to nurtured by prayer, refection, good deeds. The more we love God and share our love of God, the more precious our lives become. We must reject the fashionable wolfish lust, hiding within song lyrics and imported silk shirts. Our love for God must never be placed beneath anything. It must always be the focal point of each day. We must strive to love and serve God each day. We must strive to love our neighbors as we love ourselves each day. Allow your spirit to lead you from the corruption of the secular world. Allow your spirit to show you that the world is still beautiful. Allow your spirit to present the saintly things in modern life. Allow your spirit to show you how to believe in God. Allow your spirit to create your literature of hope, love, mercy, and service

Mingling of Hope and Confidence

And so before the orange juice fills the glass or the coffee finds the cup, I wonder about serving God, with goodness, with holiness, with love. There are days when I am more willing and obedient.

Each day there are many unspoken arguments within our minds and souls. Each day as we go about our lives we experience moments of love, moments of despair. Each day our minds are bombarded with terrible conflicts from all around the world. We pray for our loved ones, we pray for ourselves. We hope to see each other again. God offers us a certainty, a beautiful mingling of hope and confidence when we are obedient to his will.

Being humble, obedient before God allows us to experience a gentle, soothing hope that leads us to being good, to being holy.

Before we learn to speak we must learn to listen not with our ears but with our entire being. Our Christian lives begin with hope. Before we act we must learn to observe not with our eyes but with our entire being. Our Christian lives offer mercy and compassion.

Each day we learn how to pray, from reciting simple prayers aloud to the beautiful unspoken prayers for friends, loved ones, and strangers which flash in our minds. Always allow time for prayer and reflection. Spiritual health is important. We must have a healthy, loving relationship with God. Allow time for prayer. Remember to praise God for all the wonderful and good things he has done for you.

Be prepared for the upheavals which may appear as you strive to be humble and obedient. Being faithful to God might cause conflict within your life. As Christians we must nurture and protect the courage and confidence to adapt ourselves to an existence of obedience, charity, mercy with a foundation of social justice taught by Christ Jesus. We must expand our definition of love, we must learn how to love universal and how to be love universal. Such love although beautiful and nourishing asks us to believe in Christ Jesus, to believe in God. Such love can create upheaval which can lead us to a closer relationship with God. Do not be afraid of upheaval. Do not be afraid of change. Trust in God, trust in your existence as God’s children.

Do not allow your mind to be swayed by personal happiness, convenience, or comfort. Remember life is not meant to be easy. Life is pain. Life is suffering. Let your conscience guide you toward goodness, holiness, righteousness. Live to satisfy God. Live to nurture and to share hope, love, and mercy.

Antidote

--Pray when you wake-up. Live your life based upon fairness, social justice and love. Make time to both read and reflect upon each book of the Bible. Let the teachings of Jesus Christ inspire you to revolt against all evil and injustice. Live your life with joyous expectation. Have hunger only for God’s love and mercy. Open your soul up to the idea of and responsibility for your own discernment to listen for and to answer God’s call. Seek the style and beauty of goodness and holiness. Allow yourself to be conscious of each impression of gentleness, softness, of hopefulness, of prayers, of reflection, caressing, encouraging—an emphasis, calm yet confident, contemplative and passionate, with serenity and loving humility. Sense the greatness of God’s love; allow all your labors to be an opportunity to praise and give thanks to God. Do not be obstinate and seek only definitions and answers; instead be mindful of your anxiety and nourish your questions; allow them to grow, to expand, to contract over time; let your questions change and mature with time, with prayer, with reflection. Seek silence. Seek forgiveness. Be compassion. Be Love. Pray, pray, pray and pray again.

--Pray the Rosary at least once a week. Find good faith inspiring books for reading and reflection. Create a life of humility, obedience, and charity. Concentrate only on improving the best qualities of your life; the love within your heart, the hope within your soul should be your guide. Be conscious of the presence of God within your life. Always show respect to God. Always show reverence for God. Keep good company. Pray, pray, pray. Remember the virtues.

Let the impression of your life be filled with the humility, obedience, charity of God’s loving humble servant.

Do not fear austerity; simplicity allows us to find and share our love for God. Let love be the emphasis of your life with him. Be conscious of every impression of charity, obedience, humility. Examine your philosophy, your ideas of self and community. Where do you position serving God?

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.