The Mystery of Our Faith

The mystical aspect of being Christian pleases me, creates all types of ideas and answers. The mystery patiently asks us to both reaffirm and rediscover it in our busy modern daily lives. We must remember the birth, death, sacrifice, suffering, and life of Christ. We must remember and believe the entire package. With time we can refine and improve our understanding. But, we must work to keep the mystery fresh and alive in our hearts and minds. This will help us treat each other with more compassion and respect. We must always nurture and renew our good-fellowship as we live our lives. Our faith and belief in God provides us with a wondrous solidarity. We must remember the honor of being his humble servants. Each day of our lives can be filled with discernment, attempts to be better Christians; filled new thoughts about our vocations. One of the advantages of our situation is that we can, as it were, pray for both questions and answers. The one certainty of our lives is our belief in God’s love for each one us. We must always remember this and remember to share our love for him. We should remember to always give thanks and praise to God. As Christians we must do everything the temptation to want immediate results. We must have patience. Prayer does have an usefulness which must be remembered and treasured. A moment or two of silence may allow a profound thought or solution to enter your heart or mind. As Christians we are part of a community; we must not forget this community in our prayers or our actions. Each moment of our lives should inspire us to be more devoted humble servants of the Lord. We are all here to support and to love one another. We must share our goodness and holiness with each other. Within each of us there is both God’s bounty and God’s splendor waiting to be shared. Within each of there is part of God’s mystery to be rediscovered and renewed.

So Long The Silence Remains

I watched too much television once. At least I learned about forensics and asking questions. Television is all about asking questions and sharing suspicions. Television is just heat lightning on the horizon. It flashes occasionally, but there’s no thunder, no rain. My friends say that television is not good for our minds and causes typographical errors. Someone suggested that we should read books.

I read a book once. At least I tried. I don’t know if it counts if the book is never discussed or used in conversation. But I tried to read a book and contemplate life and other things. Most of the time my friends and I just talk about each other and people in the news and familiar people we see around town. And my friends say that I have good manners but bad mannerisms. And my friends say that my mannerisms are so stylized and playful, that sometimes it is hard for them to know when I am bored with other people from around town. The only topic this summer is sex. Only two reminders forgiveness and mercy. And everyone has an opinion on the church’s opinion on abortion and someone wrote something about homelessness and poverty and the death penalty. But in this town there is always day chasing night, wrong teasing right.

There is always talk of vacation plans with lemonade, there is always talk of vocation plans in prayers at church. I wonder if is anyone listening. Is anyone carefully putting the words from the sermons into nice genuine suitcases in the lobby of a patient mind, ready to be unpacked later, unpacked and studied later? Will the words be neat or squished? And the words will be words with meaning, some of my friends try to explain to me when they speak of love, faith and God. And the words will be more than words for those who have a desire or longing for a true vocation.

Some folks are lucky to be freckled with hope and love and understanding all over their faces and all through their hearts! And vocation is really a nice word, really nice. So nice to me and some of my friends. Something in the word makes me smile. I sometimes hear “welcome” and “thank you” and “you are loved” when I hear the word vocation.

Sometimes just mumbling the word under my breath, makes me smile. There is some type of power in vocation. Thinking about the word makes me smile. I like thinking about words that make me smile. I always like to remember them or to talk about them with or without my friends around.

And one Sunday when my friends were out of town I went to church all by myself. And I arrived early before the organist even touched the keyboard. Then I glanced at the other faces in the other pews and thought about vocation all by myself. Thought about my responsibilities, my being humble, my job. I just stared and stared until I had to close my eyes and think of the sacraments and the virtues and prayers and folks freckled with God’s hope and love.

Then, as the choir began to sing, my heart felt something beyond the melody, beyond the words. My heart hummed “Yes.”

And then I grabbed vocation and looked at it with a silence infused by Saint Paul’s writings!

That was my first truly adult thought. It was the most romantic, selfless moment of my life.

Until I remembered “So long the silence remains, So long the prayers begin”

Luncheon in Honor of St Mary Magdalen

This afternoon I had lunch with friends. It was in honor of St Mary Magdalene. There were five us crowded together in a medium, sized bar restaurant near the White House.

Our conversation bounced around from prayer, to All Saints Day, to Confirmation names. The majority of our conversation was about Butler's Saint for the Day. The title sounded familiar. Hearing the lives of the Saints reduced to simple anecdotes was both entertaining and enlightening.

Our conversation was casual filled with good cheer and hopefulness. We shared a relaxed piety, a moment of sharing and inspiration.

I was reminded that this is the Year of the Priest. I thought about vocations, praying for vocations.

After the food was placed in front of us, we listened attentively as a prayer was read.

It was a very beautiful afternoon.