Each Christian has the responsibility to be a guardian for the Lord, to be a steward for the Lord. Being involved, spreading the Good News, integrating the teachings of the Gospels into daily living are the hallmark of stewardship. Christianity provides God’s voice for both believers and non-believers, followers and non-followers. Christians share the truth about God’s grace and mercy; Christians warn others about the consequences of not believing, of being wicked. Christians are invited to speak out for God, to speak for goodness, holiness, kindness. Christians are invited to encourage others to believe in God, to walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. Each Christian is invited to share humility, to nurture obedience, to create charity. Each Catholic is asked to love his neighbor as he loves himself, and to love God with all his heart. God is to be preeminent in the lives of all Christians. The life of each Christian is to be away from sin, away from being bad. The world is filled with wickedness, all types of violence, all types of violence, all types of activities which can lead a man away from God. We are responsible for being sincere, for being truthful and loving when dealing with others, when leading others to God. We are all asked to invite others to turn away from a sinful and sorrowful life, to turn God and eternal life.
The life of each Christian is a prayer for the souls of all human beings, a prayer to save ourselves, our communities, our neighbors.
We are asked to be concerned about each other, about the environment, about fairness, about social justice.
The character of faith and being Christian is a riddle for many nonbelievers. Christ presents a solution for good living, a path to salvation. Christ presents each one of us the opportunity to be confident. God asks for uncontrolled, unconditional communication from each one of us. We are asked to discover the language of hope, the language of passion. Life is filled with choices, with difficulty. There is an endless search for definitions and descriptions and explanations and instructions. Life provides endless things to love and hate. As Christians we are encouraged to be Christ-like, to be selfless, to be moral, ethical.
Our Christian gaze begins with charity, includes concern for the community, for all those visible and invisible. Our Christian life can lead us to serve God, can lead us to stewardship.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
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.
Friday, September 2, 2011
Serving God
The themes of being a faithful Christian begin with kindness, goodness, holiness. There is always talk of mercy, charity, obedience, humility. Life presents opportunities for prayer, opportunities for sacrifice. The earth is our temporary home; hopefully we are all preparing for our salvation, preparing for our eternal life in the kingdom of God. Our hearts will overflow with love and joy. The spirit directs us to joy. We are born to serve the Lord.
Life presents sadness, loneliness and other imputations to each one of us at some time.
Our spoken language is filled with elision and elliptical clauses. In normal speech we are constantly omitting this, dropping that syllable.
Communication occurs with or without good grammar. Our lives present us an opportunity to serve and love God.
We are always in the presence of God. We are asked to always be a servant of the Lord.
The themes of my religious life begin with courage, obedience, patience. The Christian spirit is born for education. The Christian spirit asks each one of to listen, to listen for the call of the Lord.
We are asked to have joy and love overflow from our hearts. We are asked to seek greater patience and wisdom.
We are born serve the Lord.
There are days when I forget this, when I downplay the importance, the seriousness of being obedient, of doing God’s will. Our lives are a preparation for our own salvation. Our lives are also a time to encourage others to prepare for salvation, for eternal life. There are days when I am governed by anxiety, angst, anger. I must work hard to be good, to be filled with kindness and goodness and holiness.
I pray for my neighbors and for myself that I have the strength and confidence to always follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ with love in my heart, mind, and soul.
Life presents sadness, loneliness and other imputations to each one of us at some time.
Our spoken language is filled with elision and elliptical clauses. In normal speech we are constantly omitting this, dropping that syllable.
Communication occurs with or without good grammar. Our lives present us an opportunity to serve and love God.
We are always in the presence of God. We are asked to always be a servant of the Lord.
The themes of my religious life begin with courage, obedience, patience. The Christian spirit is born for education. The Christian spirit asks each one of to listen, to listen for the call of the Lord.
We are asked to have joy and love overflow from our hearts. We are asked to seek greater patience and wisdom.
We are born serve the Lord.
There are days when I forget this, when I downplay the importance, the seriousness of being obedient, of doing God’s will. Our lives are a preparation for our own salvation. Our lives are also a time to encourage others to prepare for salvation, for eternal life. There are days when I am governed by anxiety, angst, anger. I must work hard to be good, to be filled with kindness and goodness and holiness.
I pray for my neighbors and for myself that I have the strength and confidence to always follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ with love in my heart, mind, and soul.
Simple Musing
As I child I never really imagined what God looked like. God’s appearance was connected to Santa Claus. I saw them both as old white men, with long white beards. God was in better shape than Santa Claus but they were both spry and wise and possessed great memories. My idea of their appearance was influenced by art books, television shows, movies. Man has long wanted to look at the face of God.
The invisible God is a challenge for some to accept. We live in a very visual time. We live in a tactile time. How easy it would be for many to accept God if God would just appear and go to the local mall or park or football game.
All things are created by God. He is all powerful. Why doesn’t God appear nightly on the news? Every day I hear similar statements and questions. The existence of God is not a question of visible or invisible, belief or disbelief. The existence of God is not a set of factual information, quantitative data. The existence of God is beyond scientific analysis.
Heaven and earth. Life and death. Sin and reconciliation. Look at these not as items in opposition, but as items supporting each other, helping each other, preparing each other. Look not for conflict. Look instead for connection, look instead for the truth, for the reality of humanity is not static but cyclical. Our development as human beings, our development as Christians, our development as Catholics begins and ends with our acceptance and understanding of heaven and earth, life and death, sin and reconciliation.
Our Christian life is based upon the simple belief that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, is the visible face of God. It is important that we always allow God to remain the preeminent force, the preeminent focus in our lives.
The invisible God is a challenge for some to accept. We live in a very visual time. We live in a tactile time. How easy it would be for many to accept God if God would just appear and go to the local mall or park or football game.
All things are created by God. He is all powerful. Why doesn’t God appear nightly on the news? Every day I hear similar statements and questions. The existence of God is not a question of visible or invisible, belief or disbelief. The existence of God is not a set of factual information, quantitative data. The existence of God is beyond scientific analysis.
Heaven and earth. Life and death. Sin and reconciliation. Look at these not as items in opposition, but as items supporting each other, helping each other, preparing each other. Look not for conflict. Look instead for connection, look instead for the truth, for the reality of humanity is not static but cyclical. Our development as human beings, our development as Christians, our development as Catholics begins and ends with our acceptance and understanding of heaven and earth, life and death, sin and reconciliation.
Our Christian life is based upon the simple belief that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, is the visible face of God. It is important that we always allow God to remain the preeminent force, the preeminent focus in our lives.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Christians Share the Good News
Each day in each month in each year is a time for prayer, for remembrance, for hope. When Nazi Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, World War II began. Will any event today be remembered in seventy years?
Spreading the Good News is the responsibility of all believers of Jesus Christ. The Gospels are to be shared with all human beings.
Each day there are births, deaths, doctor appointments, weddings, dinner parties. Each day there are opportunities to serve the Lord by sharing and living the Gospel.
How great it is that equable and equitable sound alike and resemble each other to confuse people.
Christians are often described as being equable, as sharing the same views and opinions.
Life is filled with many suppositions. Christians are all human beings with a mixture of misadventure and happiness. With prayer and discipline it is possible to avoid the advance and seduction of sin and vice.
Curiosity, innocent and pure, can lead to serving God, to loving God. The best affliction that a Christian can have would be the love of God above all things. The best support that a Christian can have would begin with forgiveness.
Parish life is both inspiring and challenging. Trying to find the best way to serve the Lord is difficult. The need for good deeds, for compassion, for mercy increases each day. Prayer is always needed. Kindness in human interaction is needed. These things I learn each time I go to Mass. I am reminded of my vulnerabilities and I try to improve.
My spiritual life is filled with questions, allusions, metaphors. There are clear skies, smoking candles, crashing waves, soft harps. My spiritual life is filled with great motion as I try to be obedient to God, try to move closer to God. There are moments when I move two steps away from God, then five toward God and then four away and six toward.
It is natural and healthy to want an intimate relationship with God. The knowledge of each person’s life contains both happiness and unhappiness. Each day presents an opportunity for education, an opportunity to serve the Lord. It is natural and healthy to want to use Jesus Christ as a role model, to consider sacrificing your life in the name of God.
Life in a parish reinforces the responsibility of all parishioners to become involved, to do a little more than attend life once a week. The more you allow yourself to become involved the more you can learn about God, about serving God, about loving God, about loving your neighbor.
Parish life inspires me to want to spread the Good News.
Spreading the Good News is the responsibility of all believers of Jesus Christ. The Gospels are to be shared with all human beings.
Each day there are births, deaths, doctor appointments, weddings, dinner parties. Each day there are opportunities to serve the Lord by sharing and living the Gospel.
How great it is that equable and equitable sound alike and resemble each other to confuse people.
Christians are often described as being equable, as sharing the same views and opinions.
Life is filled with many suppositions. Christians are all human beings with a mixture of misadventure and happiness. With prayer and discipline it is possible to avoid the advance and seduction of sin and vice.
Curiosity, innocent and pure, can lead to serving God, to loving God. The best affliction that a Christian can have would be the love of God above all things. The best support that a Christian can have would begin with forgiveness.
Parish life is both inspiring and challenging. Trying to find the best way to serve the Lord is difficult. The need for good deeds, for compassion, for mercy increases each day. Prayer is always needed. Kindness in human interaction is needed. These things I learn each time I go to Mass. I am reminded of my vulnerabilities and I try to improve.
My spiritual life is filled with questions, allusions, metaphors. There are clear skies, smoking candles, crashing waves, soft harps. My spiritual life is filled with great motion as I try to be obedient to God, try to move closer to God. There are moments when I move two steps away from God, then five toward God and then four away and six toward.
It is natural and healthy to want an intimate relationship with God. The knowledge of each person’s life contains both happiness and unhappiness. Each day presents an opportunity for education, an opportunity to serve the Lord. It is natural and healthy to want to use Jesus Christ as a role model, to consider sacrificing your life in the name of God.
Life in a parish reinforces the responsibility of all parishioners to become involved, to do a little more than attend life once a week. The more you allow yourself to become involved the more you can learn about God, about serving God, about loving God, about loving your neighbor.
Parish life inspires me to want to spread the Good News.
Radical, Ridiculous, Risky
Be radical. Be risky. Be ridiculous. Remember to take time to listen to the word of God. Remember to take time to reflect upon the life and sacrifice of Jesus. Remember to search the Gospel for applications to your daily life.
Allow yourself to be open to new thoughts. Allow yourself to be open to old words. Allow yourself to listen and then contemplate the word of God. Learning occurs with a little time and contemplation. Allow yourself time to sit down and listen and accept the teachings of the Lord.
Wisdom arrives at different intervals. Friendship arrives at different intervals. God is always present in our lives. Sometimes too much reliance on logic and reason hides God and his love from our sight. The caprice of sin seeks to be habitual, continual escalating between events. That sin occurs in each of us does not make it either inevitable or natural. Sin shows a lack of discipline, a lack of respect, a lack of obedience. Our sins sets the price for our redemption, for our salvation.
I like nothing more than to be in a roomful of people talking all types of polite amusing nonsense. How wonderful soft laughter is! How wonderful gentle whispers are! How wonderful is the strength of comfy secrets and gossip shared between knowing glances and polite sips of wine!
How often is my life filled with repeated entreaties of the adventures of my life? I can only respond that I have experienced the strength of sin and the weakness of common sense. The great tragedy of life remains that our misfortunes and disasters are more interesting to others. I sometimes felt that my acquaintances liked the idea of me being in perpetual danger again and again. There is a predictability, a sameness with sin and sinning. Our society allows sin to be comfortable, acceptable. Sin no longer leads to societal rejection.
But sin remains dreadful, remains an obstacle to a loving relationship with God. Sin makes us obstinate. Being obstinate leads away from God, leads to darkness.
We are invited to be part of the crowd of believers pressing in on Jesus. We are are invited to be part of the crowd asking to be healed by Jesus. We are invited to be part of the crowd trying to touch Jesus. We are invited to be part of the crowd asking to be fed by Jesus. Each time we attend Mass we are part of the crowd, part of the community listening to the word of God.
Listening to the word is an invitation for active participation. Listening to the word of God is not for the passive. Listening to the word of God, is a call to a action, a battle cry, a glorious, heavenly reveille inviting us to renounce sin, to accept God; inviting us to walk toward the light, walk toward salvation.
Allow yourself to be open to new thoughts. Allow yourself to be open to old words. Allow yourself to listen and then contemplate the word of God. Learning occurs with a little time and contemplation. Allow yourself time to sit down and listen and accept the teachings of the Lord.
Wisdom arrives at different intervals. Friendship arrives at different intervals. God is always present in our lives. Sometimes too much reliance on logic and reason hides God and his love from our sight. The caprice of sin seeks to be habitual, continual escalating between events. That sin occurs in each of us does not make it either inevitable or natural. Sin shows a lack of discipline, a lack of respect, a lack of obedience. Our sins sets the price for our redemption, for our salvation.
I like nothing more than to be in a roomful of people talking all types of polite amusing nonsense. How wonderful soft laughter is! How wonderful gentle whispers are! How wonderful is the strength of comfy secrets and gossip shared between knowing glances and polite sips of wine!
How often is my life filled with repeated entreaties of the adventures of my life? I can only respond that I have experienced the strength of sin and the weakness of common sense. The great tragedy of life remains that our misfortunes and disasters are more interesting to others. I sometimes felt that my acquaintances liked the idea of me being in perpetual danger again and again. There is a predictability, a sameness with sin and sinning. Our society allows sin to be comfortable, acceptable. Sin no longer leads to societal rejection.
But sin remains dreadful, remains an obstacle to a loving relationship with God. Sin makes us obstinate. Being obstinate leads away from God, leads to darkness.
We are invited to be part of the crowd of believers pressing in on Jesus. We are are invited to be part of the crowd asking to be healed by Jesus. We are invited to be part of the crowd trying to touch Jesus. We are invited to be part of the crowd asking to be fed by Jesus. Each time we attend Mass we are part of the crowd, part of the community listening to the word of God.
Listening to the word is an invitation for active participation. Listening to the word of God is not for the passive. Listening to the word of God, is a call to a action, a battle cry, a glorious, heavenly reveille inviting us to renounce sin, to accept God; inviting us to walk toward the light, walk toward salvation.
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.
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.
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