Christian Dreams

I sometimes exist within a state of dreaming, then a state of praying. I want to be a Christian completist known for my devotion, known for my good deeds done for the Lord. Sometimes the life of a Christian is filled with laughter, with rejoicing. Happiness, patience, knowledge help us to see the wonderful marvels that God achieves each day, the wonderful marvels God has done.

The choice to be or not to a workhorse for God remains a personal decision. Each Christian sets his/her standards of how to love and serve the Lord. Suggestions are presented. We choose to believe, we choose to follow. God loves us constantly, continually. Depending upon our moods we model goodness, holiness, kindness each day. We pick-up this, return that trying to find something that works for us, trying to find something that fits our personal ideas of how to love and serve the Lord.

Each day and each time we go to church, the Mass presents the great things that God has done. The celebration of the Mass reminds each Catholic about the greatest thing God has done for us.

God’s love can provide an anchor for us. God’s love can allow us to enter into a sleek giving and receiving reverie of love, forgiveness, mercy, and compassion.

Being Catholic is often challenging. There is much to learn, much to consider. The work of a Christian never ends. Our lives start and end with prayer. Our faith helps us avoid temptation, sin. We are prepared for suffering, prepared for weeping.

We are asked to sacrifice ourselves to serve the Lord. We are allowed to choose to sacrifice or not to sacrifice. We are allowed to rejoice in the goodness and love of God or not rejoice in the goodness and love of God.

I believe that a connection between sacrifice and rejoice exists. I believe that this connection between the words can create a strong bond with God. I believe that this connection begins with praying.

Rejoicing and sacrificing are the stuff Christian dreams are made of.

Being Christian means Being A Detective

A divinity shapes our means and ends. Consider our prayers, consider our jokes, consider our anecdotes. Being good occurs in spite of our efforts.

Each day there are many reasons to feel disappointment, rejection. Each life contains a riddle, each life becomes a detective story. The activities provide clues and red herrings; we are both reader and actor. Our interest in our lives rises and lowers irregularly. We encounter false pretenses, falsehoods, false teeth. Life teaches us to be a special type of sleuth seeking goodness, holiness, kindness. We employ all types of prayers and reflections to get by, to survive. Many unsolved mysteries capture our attention; sometimes we seek solutions which baffle the police, crime reporters, reality television producers, and actors. DNA and forensic evidence are great for small talk. Fingerprints and footprints recall the carelessness and energy of childhood. Bloodstains and wine stains and food stains indicate accidents. In life questions can be satisfactorily answered, or left unanswered. In life every question should not be answered. A library contains books. A church encourages prayer, reflection. Umbrellas work in certain types of rain. Restaurants contain tables, chairs, plates, and flatware. The adventure of life waits for what we do with different facts within our brain. How commonplace life for each of us begins! How wonderful the great things we notice each day! How wonderful remembering to praise God, remembering to offer thanks to God feels! Each day we exist within a wondrous world of unsensational activities of tinted by a quiet extraordinary glimmer of hope, shimmer of faith.

The city provides many places for hope, many places for fear. Some days our feet carry us to get salad when our head and stomach want greasy french fries, greasy hamburgers. Meals often reveal something about men, reveal their happiness, their loneliness. Meals start quiet, start with reverent tones and become boisterous affairs. Splendid meals arrive on the wings of hope. Conversation leads to special helpings of faith, of hope, of love. Conversation begins with silence, alternates between monologue and dialogue. Words provide moving pictures of sacrifice, salvation, love, eternal life. Words provide a glimpse of the intimacy of God’s grace, grandeur, and power. Surprise awaits us. Stillness arrives allowing the splendor of being Christian to be seen, to be felt.

The Mass Offers Prayers

In many ways the world in which we live encourages us to be alienated from ourselves, from our neighbors, from our God. Being bad, doing evil things is expected, accepted. There is much hostility in the world, in our hearts, in our relationships with our neighbors. Remember that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross created an opportunity for reconciliation with our loving God. We are asked to proclaim our belief in God, to share the Good News, to follow the commandments. God wants to have a preeminent role in our lives. We are asked to seek goodness, holiness, kindness in our lives. The Eucharist offers us the Body of Christ, offers us both a memorial and the sacrifice. The prayers of the Mass encourage us to be holy, to seek a deeper faith, a deeper connection with God. The prayers of the Mass encourage us to persevere in our faith, in our serving God. The prayers of the Mass encourage us to seek perfection in our relationship with God, we seek to avoid blemish, we seek to be irreproachable before God. Each day we are invited to breathe life into our faith. Remember that the Mass offers hope. Listen to the lessons of the Gospel. Hear the words of the Lord. Pray and prepare for your journey to salvation, pray and prepare to help your neighbors journey to salvation. Remember to keep your gaze on heaven.

Martin Luther King, Jr Receives Memorial on Mall

Whenever I think of Martin Luther King, Jr., I immediately think about social justice. I think of fairness for all people. I think of hope. I think of doing the right thing in the face of all types of oppression. I think of making the ultimate sacrifice for the higher good.

As a Catholic I can use Martin Luther King as a model as I think about and work for change.

As an American there is something uniquely special about Martin Luther King, Jr. His fight for civil rights was very personal, lasted many years, was a plea for justice for all. His concern for humanity was universal. His concern for life was unconditional. Justice was not only for the privileged few, it was for all. His words were inspirational.

His life ended before his work was completed. The struggle for civil rights still continues today.

There is a new memorial dedicated to Martin Luther King, Jr. located on the Mall in Washington, DC.

of erring heart

We have become partners of Christ if only we hold the beginning of the reality firm until the end, for it is said: "Oh, that today you would hear his voice: 'Harden not your hearts as at the rebellion.'" Hebrews 3:14-15

Faithful. Glory. Honor. Faithful in all his house. Take care. Encourage yourselves daily.

These words leap into my imagination as I think of the building a relationship with God. Jesus Christ asks for our love, our mercy, and our honor. Good Christians are people filled with the faith and grace of God. These people are filled with charity and hope which they freely share. Their existence is one of serving the Lord, asking others to serve the Lord. Their existence reflects the hope of God for all human beings and for the followers of Christ. Their existence begins with simplicity of faith, with spirituality organic and growing, with solidarity for all human beings especially those who are forgotten, marginalized. Their relationship with God is the most important relationship in their lives. These Christians live quiet lives of great humility and sacrifice.

Each day is an opportunity to praise and exalt God by their deeds of compassion and mercy. Each day provides one more instance of their obedience to the teachings of God. With faith and courage each one of us can learn how to serve the Lord, each one of us can learn how to listen for the Lord’s voice. With prayer and patience we can learn the will of God when we allow ourselves to be loving, unselfish, quiet.

Modern life creates anxiety. Each day we are encouraged to be selfish, gluttonous, avaricious by the secular world. The flesh is seen as more important than the spiritual. Sometimes modern life seems dirty, dangerous. The media likes presenting images of all types of sin and vice. There is always the possibility of a passive indoctrination, animosity and loathing is encouraged, often heralded. Being good, following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ is often presented as weakness, being boring.

There is an intense need for cleansing now. Our society is unclean. Our faith can help us. Our love and obedience to God can save us. We must remember prayer. We must remember God’s greatest gift to each one of us.

We all need compassion, charity, humility, mercy, hope, civility, love.

We must be willing to help our neighbors with deeds and prayers. We must be willing to praise God with deeds and prayers.

The world is filled with demons, with evil. With God’s help we can survive and flourish. We must ask for help, we must obey his commands.

has given us discernment

So this joy of mine has been made complete. John 3:29

Being Christian is a journey to warmheartedness. It is a journey to love, a journey of faith, a journey of loyalty, a journey of confidence. The destination is a close relationship with God. Being Christian is a journey of sacrifice.

Patience is a necessity which all Christians need to possess. Anxiety can cause doubt, can impair a person’s judgement.

Simplicity is a Christian’s best friend. Learn how to love unconditionally; learn how to love all mankind universally. The love that Jesus wanted us to share with each other is more broad, more powerful than romantic love and infatuation. Keep love simple, keep love humble.

Learn who is your beloved in Jesus Christ. Allow yourself to be silent, to look for goodness, kindness, holiness in yourself and in others. Remember that a Christian life is a journey. Remember to avoid complaining, remember to remain alert. As Christians we should always be ready to accept God’s request for us to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, accept God‘s request that our lives be filled with charity, compassion, humility, and obedience, and accept Jesus Christ as the only begotten son of God who will lead us to eternal life.

Each Christian is asked to believe and embrace love universal, love unconditional. It is important that we learn how to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. It is important that we learn how to praise and petition God. It is important that each Christian learns how give thanks to God. Having a close relationship with God is the primary goal of Christianity. Love, universal and unconditional, is a vehicle for faith, hope, mercy to be shared. This form of love is difficult to master. It requires a selflessness, it is completely unselfish. This love is simple, youthful, fair; the basis for this love begins with the social justice teachings of Jesus Christ.

Universal and unconditional love prepares each Christian to remain in a state of welcoming to all people encountered, especially those in need. As Christians we must be prepared to welcome God into our lives.

Pureness in thought and deed will help us find righteousness, help us move closer to God. Christian morality starts with obeying the word of God. We must honor and praise God with our entire lives. Our hearts, minds, and souls must become incorruptible to sin.

If we observe anyone sinning or if we ourselves are on the verge of sinning always remember to pray. Prayer does help. Use prayer to walk on the right road, to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ.

Learn the power and beauty of self-appraisal. Always seek to improve all your activities done for or all the activities in the name of the Lord. Examine yourself fairly, learn from your vulnerability, learn from your fear. Be fair, be just. Remember that you are human. Accept that you might fail, accept that you might sin. Learn to forgive both yourself and others.

This is a great expedition of faith and hope. Allow it to be your life’s great purpose and pilgrimage.

Always remember Jesus and the Apostles preaching and baptizing in Judea. Let your life proclaim that Jesus Christ is the true son of God and he is the true 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.

Assemble and listen - December 17, 2010

There is but one thing necessary thing in life. That is to know and love God; to have God within your heart, mind, and soul; to have the benefits of God within your entire being.

It is essential that we learn how to approach and how to adore God, both during Mass and outside of Mass, inside of a church and outside of a church. Personal resources will have to be developed to seek and to experience divinity. We must learn how to detach ourselves from our possessions, from our thoughts, from all things which might be taken, all things which might be lost. It is important, absolutely essential to understand and believe what is eternal. Everything in life which is not eternal is temporary, simply borrowed. All those things which help us gain admittance to heaven are real, are beautiful when they are used appropriately for the glory and love of God. As Christians we are asked to learn, to adore, to understand, to accept, to experience, to share, to teach about God, about his love and mercy for each of us, about loving our neighbors as we love ourselves. This is a responsibility. This is our duty. This is God’s law, God’s plan. When we follow it, we experience happiness, we move closer to God, closer to heaven. When we truly, honestly, deeply love and serve God nothing can stop us, not even death. The purpose of our Christian life is to develop a peaceful mind, to discover and extoll the presence of God, to discern how to better serve God. Being in communion with God, listening to and following his instruction is the goal. There is no reason to have fear. Let the love for God give you strength. Let it teach you to sacrifice, teach you to pray, teach you to love, teach you to live with the beauty and peace of the principles of fairness and social justice as taught by Jesus Christ. All moral thought and ethics will begin with love and loyalty to God. Let his will act as your guide. All greatness exists for those who do his work patiently, lovingly, gently. Being Christian means allowing and wanting God to dwell within our beings, our complete beings and wanting this completely and consciously. The potential for goodness, kindness, and holiness waits to expand within each Christian, waits for moral fairness, moral decency, moral superiority to flourish. A superiority of spirit, a kind of purity which is obtained and maintained by prayer and discernment is necessary when doing God’s work.

All of this begins with love; all is nurtured by love.

My love shall never leave you - December 16, 2010

What did you go out to the desert to see--a reed swayed by the wind? Luke 7:24

On each day we discuss vacations and vocations. We discuss the Seine, discuss Original Sin. We talk about the Beatitudes and walking on water. Being Baptized in the River Jordan is appealing. There is talk of penance, sacrifice, sacraments. There are questions about Saint Paul’s writings. There are tender emotions leading us toward God, leading us upward. Happily the lightness of faith brightens the room with a magnificent glow.

Popular Culture bombards us with wicked, violent images of all types of sin and vice? I try to say little prayers during such situations. However, we must hope.

The wicked images tempt us, encourage us to make mistakes, encourage us to forget the consequences. We learn how to repair our mistakes, how to ask for forgiveness.

Mass offers strength and truth. We have charity, humility, and obedience to God.

Well, this journey will not have been the mere summer afternoon convertible ride, top down, easy, comforting. A journey will stir thoughts of all humanity, will direct our heart, mind, and soul toward heaven. True magnificence occurs when we are not selfish, when we are quiet, when we are discerning. It is natural to seek a deeper connection with Jesus Christ.

Messages

I took the small scroll from the angel's hand and swallowed it. In my mouth it was like sweet honey, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. Revelation 10:10

What a mysterious reading! What a beautiful reading! What a great mingling of good and bad! How wonderful it is to receive the good first, then deal with the bad. All Christians should be encouraged to learn this chapter and recite it every day. Depending on how you want to interpret this chapter, it describes our daily lives as Christians. We have God’s love; God’s love asks us to make sacrifices. Our choices help us on our journey to salvation and eternal life with God. As Christians our choices are not always easy.

When I first read this chapter, I imagined this as a pharmaceutical commercial on television extolling why this new drug should be taken before mentioning the countless side effects. How sweet the pills sound to us until we hear about the side effects!

I like the scene of the angel, the scroll, and John. I like the idea of the angel standing on sea and on land. I like the familiar voice instructing John. I like the angel’s message, the order of the words. John is first warned about his stomach’s reaction to the scroll. His stomach is going to turn sour. So, this message will upset his stomach. Then, the angel told him that the scroll would taste sweet in his mouth like honey. How pleasant that sounds! How good that sounds. What rich symbolism this chapter provides for us to reflect upon!

As Catholics we accept our Faith. Being Christian is difficult. Each day there is a choice of goodness, kindness, compassion, mercy, and love to be made. Being Christian is complicated. Our eyes must be open to looking at the world, through both our eyes and God’s eyes. Our reactions should be his reactions. His love should always be displayed in our every action. Our lives should present a view of happiness and peace built upon a foundation of obedience, hope, charity, and love.

As Catholics we must be listening for God’s personalized, individual messages to each of us. We do not know when or how the messages will be sent. We simply have to be prepared to receive and to obey God’s messages to us. We must be ready to be faithful and obedient. Remember that God had a message which was followed by a message from the angel. We must be prepared to hear God’s voice and to hear an angel’s voice.

Words Will Lead

We live in a time when the secular world encourages us to have dilettante spirituality, limited to only those hours when we are physically within a church. The secular world does not like religion, tolerates religion only in small dozes, blames all of the worlds problems on religion instead of the men who practice and abuse their faith. It is easier for the secular world to accept the notion of Christians, as merely mystical and spiritual dabblers on Sundays before the football games.

Our challenge as Catholics is to integrate our lives, to follow in the footsteps of Christ. Our lives should encourage others to follow us. As Catholics, each choice we make should reflect our faith, our belief in God. We must find ways to fill our lives with humility, charity, mercy.

Our baptism gives us a direct obligation to God. Our lives have a purpose which we must discover and share. Goodness, kindness, and love can lead us to God. Our faith needs to be nurtured. We must limit our exposure to the secular world, we must learn more about our faith, more about the Saints.

How easy it is for the words to be written and read! How hard it is for the words to be put into practice! Being Catholic is often difficult. Following in Jesus Christ’s footsteps is difficult. There are times when we are going to want to stop. There are times when we are going to be upset by some church doctrine. There will be times when we will be too tired, too frustrated to continue.

But let nothing get in your way. Let nothing interfere with your relationship with God. Remember to pray as much as you can. Learn about your faith, share your ideas about your faith. Share your ideas about hope, love, mercy, compassion. Enjoy your life as a Catholic, always remember the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Allow that one act of love be your guide as you live your life each day.

My Conversion

I sometimes think of my conversion and wonder how I would ever explain it to another human being. Would I stress love or would I talk of my soul. My conversion is incomplete. The journey continues. The itinerary changes each day, the destination remains the same. There is great charm in my conversion, endlessly reminding me of the need to be good, to be devout, to love others and myself. My baptism was remarkable. Over a period of a few weeks I learned the grace, delicacy, and confidence of faith, of believing in the Mystery of God. There are endless books on the philosophy and metaphysics of religion. I heard many conversations on those subjects and others. But, the most important idea which I learned and which I retained is that I am not insignificant in the eyes of God. I am loved by God. I have to respect God every second of my life. I have to be humble before God. I have to be obedient to God’s will. My conversion is more expansive than history or philosophy, in many ways is a movement orchestrated and influenced by God. There is always a desire to be like Christ. There is always a desire to love, to show mercy to all, to experience a grand universal love filled with an infinite awareness of the details of goodness and holiness. It is the experience of this love which teaches me how to be Christian, which keeps my mind aware of my strengths and weaknesses. Loving and serving God is an acquired taste, an acquired desire to be loyal, obedient, reverent, and loving. The psychology of a life with Jesus Christ begins in the sphere of love and continues to sphere of social justice; a life with Christ revolves around ideas of simplicity, sacrifice, and fairness. Oh, true hope, true faith are delicacies waiting to guide each one of us. A life with Christ is filled with many subtleties of emotion and awareness; I learned to close my eyes and to feel the presence of Christ Jesus in my life. My conversion is often in direct conflict with my personal affectations, my personal preoccupations. My conversion is a renewal of my social and educational interests, directed outward, searching for ways to serve God. My imagination finds new ways to serve him, new desires for goodness and holiness within my life. My conversion is the search for a pure and clean ingenuity and sagacity, created with a foundation of compassion, obedience, and love. Serving God faithfully with my entire heart, soul, and mind is my goal. There is something very exquisite in the Liturgy of the Eucharist. How fine the prayers are, how they tug at my heart, encourage me to desire to live a priestly life of love, obedience, and sacrifice. Each word teases my ears, plunders my imagination, leads me closer and closer to God. There is a gentleness, something very soothing, very renewing in the Liturgy of the Eucharist. And there is a bold rush, a zephyr pushing me toward goodness, holiness, serenity, pushing anxiety and thoughts of the secular world aside.

There is great beauty in my conversion. It is hopeful and peaceful. There is admiration, tenderness, gratitude.

My character now feels like that of a child filled with wonder and possibility.

Oh, I am dreamy at times. I am learning to pray.

Remembrance

A second chance to think of how to improve my life, to look for ways to create a regiment of goodness and holiness within my heart. Each time I attend Mass I have the joy of seeing the faithful pass in front of me. In their faces varied emotions are visible. In my heart prayers are offered for both familiar and unfamiliar faces. Prayers find my mind. Each time I attend Mass I find new reasons to pray, remember to pray for different people. There are valid reasons to guard my heart, mind, and soul from the secular world. Each day in private ways we are accompanied by charity, mercy, love. We should always be open to giving and receiving them. Our anxiety sometimes prevents the exchange. Sometimes we create a hundred excuses why we can’t be good, why we refuse to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. We often search for shortcuts, not wanting to walk a hundred yards. We are in such a hurry, that we forget to say hello, good-bye, or peace. Our secular world promotes uncertain feelings, uneasiness. The secular world cajoles and harasses and overwhelms the flesh, our fleeting momentary whims, ideas about happiness and comfort which can be achieved with a small fee. Our lives as Christians provide us with a second chance to meet Jesus, a second chance to be humble and obedient before God, a second chance to love as Christ Jesus taught us.

This is the gravest of hours; consumerism offers many wonderful things, but it often does not live up to its promises and often produces frightful results. Materialism will not die.

How beautiful the altar looks each day when the candles are lighted and there are bowed heads praying. Sometimes their are floral bouquets in front of the altar. Mass offers compassion and consolation to those faithful who are there together. Mass offers hope, love, mercy and remembrance.

Each time we attend Mass we are asked to remember and to respect one beautiful sacrifice above all sacrifices.

It is great that we have priests who live to rescue drowning souls. It is easy to overlook the reserve of heroism there is in being a priest. It is easy to overlook the fact that we all are called to live priestly lives.

In regard to our lives, I suggest that we all search for goodness and holiness within our lives and then share it. Sin will always be there to tempt each one of us but with practice and patience we can overcome and avoid sin.

As for our state of mind, my suggestion will perhaps remind you of the responsibility that active Christianity presents to each faithful follower. Our continuing conversion is our duty. Realize that it is shameful to avoid goodness and holiness. Prepare your entire being for sacrifice. Train your feet to lead you on a path of compassion, obedience, love. Learn how to keep your conscience clean and pure. Pray earnestly, pray often.

Insomnia 101

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Serendipity

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

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

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

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

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

Service to God

. . . Vanities, vanities, vanities, it is certain that we live in a time where it is natural to want everything, to covet things which should be avoided; desire is viewed as natural and everyone is encouraged to gaze upon an object longingly with lust in the heart, mind, and soul. Such is the mission of most advertisements on billboards, in magazines and newspapers, and commercials on television. It is yet only a question of distractions and definitions. Are you content with your life? Are you pleased with your spiritual life? Are you being the best person that you can be? Are you serving God? following the Ten Commandments? living the Beattitudes? following in the footsteps of Christ? Our lives must have a purpose and that purpose should always be humbly and obediently serving God and doing his work.

. . . In this crazy world each day can present all types of difficulties and crises, but with prayer and patience we can endure. Do not fear sacrifice. Do not fear suffering. God’s love and mercy will protect us.

It is easy to be rude, to be selfish in our society. Bad behavior and bad choices are both the trademark and hallmark of many movies and television programs. As Christians we must not accept this Modern confluence of ideologies and greed leading us away from morality, decency, social justice. We must be prudent. We must create reverent lives. We must find and cherish humility. Each day we must prepare for our journey to heaven. Each day we must remember and pray for all the goodness, holiness, and love that we have received throughout our lives. I can only repeat to you how important and necessary prayer, reflection, and patience are. I can only repeat to you to use each day of your life to prepare for your journey to the Kingdom of Heaven. Do not waste time worrying or speculating about vague eventualities, simply live your life filled with love, mercy, and forgiveness for everyone; remember to give God thanks and praise for each person, each moment of your life; remember and share both your sadness and happiness with God. I am resolved to consider myself a sinner, and I know how difficult examining my conscience can be at times, but after confession, joy returns to my mind and soul, and I am ready and willing to give thanks and praise to God and be humble before him. My strength, my talents are nothing without his grace and love. Each day I am learning how to love, honor, and serve God more!

In the midst of my life each day there is a moment when I think of humility, charity, and obedience, when I am quiet, simply observing, thinking of goodness, thinking of holiness. Life in obedient and humble service to God can create an august significance.

Lessons

The monotony of modern life annoys me sometimes, pleases me sometimes. Each day there are somethings to be rediscovered, an old anecdote retold, an old prayer to be taught. With patience and understanding there are many grave thoughts of sacrifice and obedience to be shared, discussed. I must always remember that I am a Christian. I must always be humble.

The ordinary good-fellowship of the Mass and of those moments when we are following the teachings of Christ and using our lives to serve God, we can experience a moment of a finer solidarity and goodness. One of the advantages of our situation is that we can, as it were, learn both goodness and holiness by observing and imitating it in others as we spend time doing God’s work. Charity, humility, and obedience require diligence and patience for our minds and our society encourage us to be independent individuals; when we reflect upon obedience, humility, and charity their usefulness can restore calm to our minds. I try to avoid getting caught in the madcap race of the immediate and instant gratification, instant resolution. Time is not the enemy; anxiety often is. Both goodness and wisdom require patience and silence. Our society allows and encourages us to be childish and selfish. As Christians we must remember that prayer can soothe our nerves, provide answers to the problems within our lives if we make time to pray and allow ourselves time to reflect, and to wait patiently for God’s guidance and assistance. Each of us are capable of making profound, inspirational statements about goodness, holiness, love, mercy, humility, obedience, charity, being Christian. Each of us has felt a moment of discomfort when we did not act appropriately with mercy, forgiveness and love; and yet, our hearts and souls still lead us toward God, still encourage us to be devoted disciples, believing in and living a life filled with love based upon the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Choices

Today reviewed some photographs taken inside the Cathedral. Handsome and inspiring with calm, peaceful, unobtrusive lighting.

In these troubled times making ethical and moral choices requires diligence and patience. We are still without complete protection from sin and sinful behavior, but we have the teachings of Jesus Christ as a template. We also have to remember the Ten Commandments and all of the parables, psalms, and lessons within the Bible which help to create our spiritual landscape, notwithstanding the creation of our social justice beliefs. Within our social justice beliefs reside the best of us, the ability to love, to show mercy, to forgive, and to be humble; the best impression of the human heart, mind, and soul begins here with thoughts which hopefully will transform into actions called moral. Great hope will be made upon our desire for fairness and goodness. We must always remember that our lives as Christians require fortitude, sacrifice, obedience, patience. We must remember fortitude.

How We View Our Footprints

I have a Mac computer with all types of imaging programs. I have become very good at manipulating images. Last week when it snowed I rushed outside and took some pictures as the snow was falling early Saturday morning. As a child I always loved snow and wished that it would be on the ground, ready to be turned into snowballs, snowmen, and snow forts from early November until late March.

As a Catholic each day there is a new opportunity to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. Each day we can pray. Each day we can make different sacrifices. Each day we can live lives that are filled with social justice. Each day we can allow ourselves to love everybody.

As a Catholic there are many rules and laws that we are asked to obey in our daily lives. Some are easier for us to follow than others. In the end when we follow these laws our lives are better.

For me being a Christian is like foot prints in falling snow. We are given opportunities to move ahead, to act like Christ. We are reminded to keep our focus on God. No two days are the identical, no two snowflakes are identical, no two people are identical.

Each moment that we are alive provides us with an opportunity to share and to inspire God's goodness and grace. Each moment that we are alive provides us with another example of God's mercy and love for us.