My dad would say that whenever I complained about how much I had to do. Today, I woke up discouraged. I have a list of things to do that is fifteen plus items long. It is full of hard to do tedious errands that will require thought, care and time.
Instead, I am writing.
This is the last week of Lent. It is time to take stock. Even if you haven't done anything or have blown Lent, forgotten your resolutions, now is the time to start the big push.
You can make this Lent the beginning of a deeper faith life if you do any of the following. This week. It's not a formula. It's a call. It's the means by which God acts. You look at the list. Something in it tugs. Follow that tug. Don't be afraid. It is the Holy Spirit, trying to bring you deeper and deeper in.
1) Go to the stations of the cross. Let your mind dwell on the why of it.
2) Go to confession. Masstimes.org is a great place to find one nearby. Or call, make an appointment.
3) Go to Holy Thursday mass. Yes. It's long. It's worth it.
4) Fast on Good Friday.
5) Pray the rosary.
6) Go to adoration, spend an hour. There is a church near you that holds 24-7 adoration. Find it.
7) Read the scripture readings for the week or listen to them via podcast. Laudate is a great app if you have a smart phone and want to listen in the car.
8) Perform one of the Corporal Acts of Mercy:
a) Feed the hungry
b) Give drink to the thirsty
c) Shelter the Homeless
d) Visit the sick
e) Visit the Prisoners
f) Bury the Dead.
Pope Francis is an exceptional example of someone trying with all he has to do the acts of mercy almost every day.
9) Perform one of the Spiritual Acts of Mercy:
a) Counseling the Doubtful
b) Instructing the Ignorant
c) Admonishing the Sinner
d) Comforting the Sorrowful
e) Forgiving Injuries
f) bearing wrongs patiently
g) Praying for the deceased.
10) Invite someone who does not go to mass, to come with you.
11) Offer a mass for someone.
12) Pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet..
13) Go to the Church at 3 o'clock on Friday.
14) Pray the Prayer of Abandonment every day this week.
15) Give alms.
I finished writing the list and realized, I'd created a possible to do list of more than 15 things, all of which take time, but which are in no way tedious. Oddly enough, adding that extra thing to the list, made it feel lighter.
So pick one. Then, tackle the rest of whatever you have to do. As you might surmise, blogging will very likely be light this week, owing to Holy Week, but now is the time to start the big push.
Showing posts with label healing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label healing. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 22, 2016
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Make The Church Beautiful
This time of year, people understand that beauty helps us to celebrate. They buy new dresses, they trim the house, they hang up festive lights and look for ways to dazzle the eyes. We understand when we get a dozen roses, beauty brings with it, a joy.
If we are created in God's image, then we share in His Divine beauty, for we know via creation, our God loves beauty. If every one of us is part of the Body of Christ, then we share something of His Divine luminous nature. If this is so, then to the extent possible, we must radiate that loveliness, that light to others. How? is the question.
It's easier to show than to tell, and telling doesn't work anyway. Everyone knows we're called to feed the hungry, be the peacemaker, clothe the naked, hunger for justice, comfort the mourning, visit the imprisoned, care for the lonely, be merciful, turn the other cheek, offer our cloak, we know these words. We know what they mean. But then, we have the real world, where we have laundry and jobs, chores and homework, bills and meals and dishes and beds, cars and errands, computers and messages and appointments all which must be dealt with in the course of our day. Where are we going to fit the beatitudes into that hot mess?
It is the how of living, that will bring about these opportunities.
When Jesus came to Capernaum, he drew a crowd. The people filled the house to hear his words. They probably hoped for a miracle of some kind as well in a wouldn't it be cool kind of way. Everyone wants to at some point, be in the right place at the right time to be a part of something important, something epic, something beyond the scope of everyday life. Jesus did these things, he healed the sick, fed the five thousand, calmed the storms, cured blindness, leprosy, Simon's mother-in-law, you name it. So they came.
But think about that town. Probably, people knew Jesus was coming. They walked by the paralyzed man all the time. Someone probably said something like, "Jesus should come heal him." or "Why doesn't Jesus come heal him?" and then went about their day, but they said it in earshot of the man's friends. They decided to act. They would bring their friend to Jesus. So the first step, is to recognize that in every challenge, is the answer, how can we? If we are working, then we must listen to the souls about us, who might need to be carried, we must hear in the cries of discontent, what the Holy Spirit needs us to do. By acting, we will be cooperating with grace. When we cooperate with grace, we lead others to grace, we make it easier for them to receive the gifts God has for them.
When we pray for others, others engaged in sin, others trapped by sin, even those we really really really don't like or disagree with on a visceral level, we are one of those four men carrying the paralyzed person to the house. They saw this man, they knew something needed to be done, and they acted. It was not easy, it was not simple, but they persist. They even break into the house roof. This is nutty and at the same time, awesome, they aren't going to let anything get in the way of placing the man before Jesus. Not reality, not crowds, not buildings, not distance, not logistics, nothing. They will bring this soul as far as they can carry. This is what we are all called to do, we are to be carrying people to lay before Christ. That's the job of a friend. That's the job of all of us. Making the Church beautiful means not forgetting a single soul, bringing each person that is part of the whole of this Body to the feet of Jesus.
The healing, will be what is needed, and not necessarily the one we expected or visible. So today, when you feel vexed by life or the errands or the bills or time, remember we are called to make this Domestic Church beautiful, then act, persist, and lay whatever you have at the feet of Jesus. One of the joys of Heaven, will be learning the stories which all end happily, of how a soul was moved from where they were, to where they are.
If we are created in God's image, then we share in His Divine beauty, for we know via creation, our God loves beauty. If every one of us is part of the Body of Christ, then we share something of His Divine luminous nature. If this is so, then to the extent possible, we must radiate that loveliness, that light to others. How? is the question.
It's easier to show than to tell, and telling doesn't work anyway. Everyone knows we're called to feed the hungry, be the peacemaker, clothe the naked, hunger for justice, comfort the mourning, visit the imprisoned, care for the lonely, be merciful, turn the other cheek, offer our cloak, we know these words. We know what they mean. But then, we have the real world, where we have laundry and jobs, chores and homework, bills and meals and dishes and beds, cars and errands, computers and messages and appointments all which must be dealt with in the course of our day. Where are we going to fit the beatitudes into that hot mess?
It is the how of living, that will bring about these opportunities.
When Jesus came to Capernaum, he drew a crowd. The people filled the house to hear his words. They probably hoped for a miracle of some kind as well in a wouldn't it be cool kind of way. Everyone wants to at some point, be in the right place at the right time to be a part of something important, something epic, something beyond the scope of everyday life. Jesus did these things, he healed the sick, fed the five thousand, calmed the storms, cured blindness, leprosy, Simon's mother-in-law, you name it. So they came.
But think about that town. Probably, people knew Jesus was coming. They walked by the paralyzed man all the time. Someone probably said something like, "Jesus should come heal him." or "Why doesn't Jesus come heal him?" and then went about their day, but they said it in earshot of the man's friends. They decided to act. They would bring their friend to Jesus. So the first step, is to recognize that in every challenge, is the answer, how can we? If we are working, then we must listen to the souls about us, who might need to be carried, we must hear in the cries of discontent, what the Holy Spirit needs us to do. By acting, we will be cooperating with grace. When we cooperate with grace, we lead others to grace, we make it easier for them to receive the gifts God has for them.
When we pray for others, others engaged in sin, others trapped by sin, even those we really really really don't like or disagree with on a visceral level, we are one of those four men carrying the paralyzed person to the house. They saw this man, they knew something needed to be done, and they acted. It was not easy, it was not simple, but they persist. They even break into the house roof. This is nutty and at the same time, awesome, they aren't going to let anything get in the way of placing the man before Jesus. Not reality, not crowds, not buildings, not distance, not logistics, nothing. They will bring this soul as far as they can carry. This is what we are all called to do, we are to be carrying people to lay before Christ. That's the job of a friend. That's the job of all of us. Making the Church beautiful means not forgetting a single soul, bringing each person that is part of the whole of this Body to the feet of Jesus.
The healing, will be what is needed, and not necessarily the one we expected or visible. So today, when you feel vexed by life or the errands or the bills or time, remember we are called to make this Domestic Church beautiful, then act, persist, and lay whatever you have at the feet of Jesus. One of the joys of Heaven, will be learning the stories which all end happily, of how a soul was moved from where they were, to where they are.
Sunday, December 16, 2012
What Can We Do?
The surest sign that we are made for something better than suffering and death is our absolute shock, aversion and puzzlement when faced with monstrous evil. We do not understand the deliberate destruction of the beautiful or the innocent. Further, when faced with that final reality, we come easily to see that everyone is beautiful and innocent; that we don't want anyone to die.
This past week's killing spree left everyone holding their own children a little tighter. We should recognize how precious and fragile the soft hand of a 6 or 7 year old is, and how much we should treasure when they want us to walk with them, read one more story, or fix just a little more breakfast.
But when evil manifests itself so gravely in our midst, (even when protocols and policies and laws were properly enacted to protect against such unthinkable acts), we wonder what should we do? What could we do? What must be done?
There will calls for gun control restrictions. There will be calls for better mental health care programs. Both are reasonable responses and if politicians can be reasonable, perhaps some societal good shall come from a great evil. However the real work cannot be done on a societal level, because what happened was not the end result of society, it was an act that is outside of society, it came from inside the heart of a single person.
If we need proof that society is full of people of grace, we need only look at the custodian who ran through the hall warning teachers, or the kid who led his class friends out, or the teacher who lied and died to protect her students or the principal, or any of the adults who sought to keep a touch of normal in an unnormal situation, to preserve a touch of childhood when the world had gone mad. There are far more people seeking to be light in the worst of situations, than those who seek to create the ultimate darkness.
There is a terrifying unspoken element to this story, that each of us contains within us, a heart capable of darkness. Not the same darkness, but there are all kinds of ways that we contribute to the isolation, loneliness, darkness, hunger and thirst of the world, by our words, by not talking, by our refusal to act, by our refusal to get involved. Getting involved in the world is a dangerous thing, it is messy. Furthermore, if we do act, we will not be the same.
But the everyday courage of going out your door and engaging other people, as you shop, as you park your car, order food, help with homework, greet a teacher, see a neighbor or sit in a pew, these are the little acts of love that can knit and mend 1000 cuts if they are repeated every day all our lives. We cannot stop sin in any hearts but our own, but we can encourage grace in others as we live by our lives. So read a story, decorate your home, make gifts, give generously, hug fiercely, feast with your family, pray through your anger, pray through your frustrations, pray through the tedium that eats at good will and good humor. It is the only way to be a light against the dark that seems often to gather and grow.
Everyday courage is love in action. Everyday courage involves meeting actual people and seeing them as beautiful, treating them as worthy of preserving, of serving, of walking with them, reading one more story, fixing one more breakfast. Everyday courage sees Gollum as Smeagol and hopes he can be saved. Everyday courage hopes even the killer of all these beautiful people, has found healing and forgiveness and peace, because everyday courage recognizes that "Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement." even when it seems easy to judge.
What can we do? Light the pink candle, celebrate Advent, and be the people of hope, who do the everyday things with everyday courage.
This past week's killing spree left everyone holding their own children a little tighter. We should recognize how precious and fragile the soft hand of a 6 or 7 year old is, and how much we should treasure when they want us to walk with them, read one more story, or fix just a little more breakfast.
But when evil manifests itself so gravely in our midst, (even when protocols and policies and laws were properly enacted to protect against such unthinkable acts), we wonder what should we do? What could we do? What must be done?
There will calls for gun control restrictions. There will be calls for better mental health care programs. Both are reasonable responses and if politicians can be reasonable, perhaps some societal good shall come from a great evil. However the real work cannot be done on a societal level, because what happened was not the end result of society, it was an act that is outside of society, it came from inside the heart of a single person.
If we need proof that society is full of people of grace, we need only look at the custodian who ran through the hall warning teachers, or the kid who led his class friends out, or the teacher who lied and died to protect her students or the principal, or any of the adults who sought to keep a touch of normal in an unnormal situation, to preserve a touch of childhood when the world had gone mad. There are far more people seeking to be light in the worst of situations, than those who seek to create the ultimate darkness.
There is a terrifying unspoken element to this story, that each of us contains within us, a heart capable of darkness. Not the same darkness, but there are all kinds of ways that we contribute to the isolation, loneliness, darkness, hunger and thirst of the world, by our words, by not talking, by our refusal to act, by our refusal to get involved. Getting involved in the world is a dangerous thing, it is messy. Furthermore, if we do act, we will not be the same.
But the everyday courage of going out your door and engaging other people, as you shop, as you park your car, order food, help with homework, greet a teacher, see a neighbor or sit in a pew, these are the little acts of love that can knit and mend 1000 cuts if they are repeated every day all our lives. We cannot stop sin in any hearts but our own, but we can encourage grace in others as we live by our lives. So read a story, decorate your home, make gifts, give generously, hug fiercely, feast with your family, pray through your anger, pray through your frustrations, pray through the tedium that eats at good will and good humor. It is the only way to be a light against the dark that seems often to gather and grow.
Everyday courage is love in action. Everyday courage involves meeting actual people and seeing them as beautiful, treating them as worthy of preserving, of serving, of walking with them, reading one more story, fixing one more breakfast. Everyday courage sees Gollum as Smeagol and hopes he can be saved. Everyday courage hopes even the killer of all these beautiful people, has found healing and forgiveness and peace, because everyday courage recognizes that "Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement." even when it seems easy to judge.
What can we do? Light the pink candle, celebrate Advent, and be the people of hope, who do the everyday things with everyday courage.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Prayer Request
Imagine every night surrendering your child at the foot of the cross. I have a good friend that does that and so I've told her she's a closet Catholic. For nine years, she has attached her daughter to respirators every evening as part of kissing good night.
Having Ondine's Curse, the autonomic functions like breathing and heart beating can and do stop when she falls asleep. The pacers and respirator keep her alive. The readings of the past few weeks about "Staying Awake!" take on a whole new meaning when one considers the level of vigilance required by my friend and her family and that of the 200 or so families alive at this point in the US that must deal with this difficult condition. They must be forever alert.
My friend handles this with a diamond type faith, scathing sense of humor and absolute force of will. She can't have an off night or a tired night or a I'd like to slum it night. There are days when I put them to bed late, when I don't read stories, I don't do the double check for teeth brushing, when I phone it in. There are nights when I fall asleep on the job. She jabs me at times, "I used to be impressed with you, but now that there are the Duggars, well, you're just not up to the job. Maybe if you had twins."
Many of you know the story of her coming to see Paul at the hospital. I was in a deep funk keeping vigil over him at Children's. We didn't know when the operation would be, but heart surgery was coming and I was scared. She'd brought me hot chocolate from Starbucks. Up to this point, she'd not seen my son. Looking at him attached to the wires and monitors, she said, "Wow! He's Down Syndrome Hot!" and I spewed hot cocoa. It was the first hard laugh since his birth and it lifted the worry in a way all the assurances of Children's doctors and nurses hadn't.
Now, her daughter is struggling and has needed oxygen since Thursday. Her mother cannot get her off the machines. Shelley is normally pretty relaxed about managing this condition. She handles the visits to the ICU the way the rest of us deal with colds, she just manages. For her to even say that she's worried means the rest of us should pray.
So I'm asking all of you to ask for a healing for Zoe for Christmas. They are a beautiful family though I've only given you a snap shot of the mother. Thank you.
Having Ondine's Curse, the autonomic functions like breathing and heart beating can and do stop when she falls asleep. The pacers and respirator keep her alive. The readings of the past few weeks about "Staying Awake!" take on a whole new meaning when one considers the level of vigilance required by my friend and her family and that of the 200 or so families alive at this point in the US that must deal with this difficult condition. They must be forever alert.
My friend handles this with a diamond type faith, scathing sense of humor and absolute force of will. She can't have an off night or a tired night or a I'd like to slum it night. There are days when I put them to bed late, when I don't read stories, I don't do the double check for teeth brushing, when I phone it in. There are nights when I fall asleep on the job. She jabs me at times, "I used to be impressed with you, but now that there are the Duggars, well, you're just not up to the job. Maybe if you had twins."
Many of you know the story of her coming to see Paul at the hospital. I was in a deep funk keeping vigil over him at Children's. We didn't know when the operation would be, but heart surgery was coming and I was scared. She'd brought me hot chocolate from Starbucks. Up to this point, she'd not seen my son. Looking at him attached to the wires and monitors, she said, "Wow! He's Down Syndrome Hot!" and I spewed hot cocoa. It was the first hard laugh since his birth and it lifted the worry in a way all the assurances of Children's doctors and nurses hadn't.
Now, her daughter is struggling and has needed oxygen since Thursday. Her mother cannot get her off the machines. Shelley is normally pretty relaxed about managing this condition. She handles the visits to the ICU the way the rest of us deal with colds, she just manages. For her to even say that she's worried means the rest of us should pray.
So I'm asking all of you to ask for a healing for Zoe for Christmas. They are a beautiful family though I've only given you a snap shot of the mother. Thank you.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Only an Hour
Right now, there is a nation wide campaign, 40 Days for Life! Yesterday, I spent an hour on the curb as part of our Parish's contribution to the prayers and witness against the culture of death that allows for abortion. We were asked to stand near a clinic in Germantown that engages in late term procedures.
The first thing I learned is I'm more of a coward than I knew. I believe that every child ought to be safe in the womb. Our very faith is based on as far as humans are concerned, the most unplanned pregnancy that all of History ever recorded. Even in the womb, He was recognizable by those who loved Him. But walking to stand at the corner with the signs was an act of activism I'd not done before and somehow, I felt fearful standing there.
Setting the alarm on my phone to mark the time, from 7-8, I took a look around. It was a Friday night, it would be getting dark. No one was coming to the clinic at this hour, not many people were even at work in the complex and I wasn't sure how much witness standing on a corner would do.
My brain felt crowded with warnings and doubt...This wasn't the wisest thing I'd ever done....My car might get a ticket....I wasn't illegally parked but somehow I wondered if it was okay....Standing there felt vulnerable. I wanted to go home but the phrase floated into my head "Could you not stay awake an hour?" and kept me rooted to the spot. Someone before me had put out a sign and a creche and flowers. Just then, a mother with twins walked by. She gave a half smile smile but her daughters reached out for the bouquet. "We are made for beauty," I thought, it attracts us. The flowers and signs that other people believed this, other people had witnessed to this, gave a little boost of courage. Why was I afraid?
I was grateful to have my 7 week old with me, she was both my sign to the outside world of what abortion denies, and my courage. I'd look in her eyes, half closed and sleepy from having a full belly as she yawned and even if she didn't smile, I did. I held her that hour, lapsing into the rosary, trying to show her off to the passing cars and grinning when a truck would give me a happy double beep. But I kept circling back to the question. "Why did I feel so anxious affirming what I believe?"
"I like to be liked." I answered myself. Standing out here declares me (as if having ten kids didn't), it is a side I've chosen affirmatively to hold not just in my heart but publically. In the quiet on the side of the road, I found a part of myself that maybe needed to be less listened to, but which had become ingrained in my behavior. Someone might not like me as much if I seemed too religious, too political, too serious about a value that was so controversial. I could see how I'd held myself back in other areas too, how hemmed in my heart was, how unwilling except in safe company I'd been to be a full witness. I could tell myself it was prudence, tact and manners, but part of it was that old scar of wanting friends.
Old scars reveal old wounds. I always wanted people to like me, craved it...I needed to like being liked less. No wonder I'd fought standing still in the silence, meeting myself wasn't very pleasant. This was why courage is a spiritual gift, because it takes more than one's self to do some things, to face some things, to accept some things, whether it is witnessing to gifts and grace in the face of indifference, evil or ignorance, acknowledging one's own poorer traits, or recognizing the why of one's own tendency to err. I was too attached to feeling comfortable and liked. My skin felt all the thinner for recognizing I was thin skinned. I didn't realize going to the corner was going into the desert. I'd been similarly not too vigilant in my Lenten observance of adoration. Yes I'd been busy, but part of that was being too busy to let myself be probed or pushed by God beyond my boundaries.
This is Lent. The season is made to make us recognize we should not be too comfortable in our own ways, or we will not allow for Christ to be more of our lives. We will want to stay fixed, safe, known and yet untethered. Ours is not a tame God and there are no tepid souls in Heaven. But here on Earth, we will avoid going into deeper waters until we are all fished out. Whenever we do go out deeper, we are surprised beyond measure by the richness of the experience. Our nets nearly burst with plenty. I tremble when I consider that this was only an hour.
The first thing I learned is I'm more of a coward than I knew. I believe that every child ought to be safe in the womb. Our very faith is based on as far as humans are concerned, the most unplanned pregnancy that all of History ever recorded. Even in the womb, He was recognizable by those who loved Him. But walking to stand at the corner with the signs was an act of activism I'd not done before and somehow, I felt fearful standing there.
Setting the alarm on my phone to mark the time, from 7-8, I took a look around. It was a Friday night, it would be getting dark. No one was coming to the clinic at this hour, not many people were even at work in the complex and I wasn't sure how much witness standing on a corner would do.
My brain felt crowded with warnings and doubt...This wasn't the wisest thing I'd ever done....My car might get a ticket....I wasn't illegally parked but somehow I wondered if it was okay....Standing there felt vulnerable. I wanted to go home but the phrase floated into my head "Could you not stay awake an hour?" and kept me rooted to the spot. Someone before me had put out a sign and a creche and flowers. Just then, a mother with twins walked by. She gave a half smile smile but her daughters reached out for the bouquet. "We are made for beauty," I thought, it attracts us. The flowers and signs that other people believed this, other people had witnessed to this, gave a little boost of courage. Why was I afraid?
I was grateful to have my 7 week old with me, she was both my sign to the outside world of what abortion denies, and my courage. I'd look in her eyes, half closed and sleepy from having a full belly as she yawned and even if she didn't smile, I did. I held her that hour, lapsing into the rosary, trying to show her off to the passing cars and grinning when a truck would give me a happy double beep. But I kept circling back to the question. "Why did I feel so anxious affirming what I believe?"
"I like to be liked." I answered myself. Standing out here declares me (as if having ten kids didn't), it is a side I've chosen affirmatively to hold not just in my heart but publically. In the quiet on the side of the road, I found a part of myself that maybe needed to be less listened to, but which had become ingrained in my behavior. Someone might not like me as much if I seemed too religious, too political, too serious about a value that was so controversial. I could see how I'd held myself back in other areas too, how hemmed in my heart was, how unwilling except in safe company I'd been to be a full witness. I could tell myself it was prudence, tact and manners, but part of it was that old scar of wanting friends.
Old scars reveal old wounds. I always wanted people to like me, craved it...I needed to like being liked less. No wonder I'd fought standing still in the silence, meeting myself wasn't very pleasant. This was why courage is a spiritual gift, because it takes more than one's self to do some things, to face some things, to accept some things, whether it is witnessing to gifts and grace in the face of indifference, evil or ignorance, acknowledging one's own poorer traits, or recognizing the why of one's own tendency to err. I was too attached to feeling comfortable and liked. My skin felt all the thinner for recognizing I was thin skinned. I didn't realize going to the corner was going into the desert. I'd been similarly not too vigilant in my Lenten observance of adoration. Yes I'd been busy, but part of that was being too busy to let myself be probed or pushed by God beyond my boundaries.
This is Lent. The season is made to make us recognize we should not be too comfortable in our own ways, or we will not allow for Christ to be more of our lives. We will want to stay fixed, safe, known and yet untethered. Ours is not a tame God and there are no tepid souls in Heaven. But here on Earth, we will avoid going into deeper waters until we are all fished out. Whenever we do go out deeper, we are surprised beyond measure by the richness of the experience. Our nets nearly burst with plenty. I tremble when I consider that this was only an hour.
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