Transfiguration vs Transubstantian

Yesterday we listened to the Gospel about the transfiguration.  Peter, James and John wanted to stay there.  Jesus said that we couldn't that they had to go back, that there was more and better things coming.  The Gospel states that Jesus' appearance changed, that he became dazzlingly white.  However, his essence did not change, he was still the same Jesus.

This made me think.  How often do we transfigure ourselves?  We put on a baseball cap and a jersey and suddenly we are a baseball fan.  We put on a suit and carry a bible and we are a christian. We do many, many things to change our appearance, to become different things. None of these things change our true essence just as in the transfiguration of Jesus.

During this Lenten season, I would suggest that we look for something a little more. Let's ask Jesus to be transformed.  Ask him to change our essence to be more like Christ.  How do we do this?  Here are a couple of suggestions. Attend mass and experience Jesus in the transubstantiation of the bread. His body given up for us.  Pray for the release of the Holy Spirit in our heart to transform and conform us more into the likeness of Christ. I will leave you with this prayer by Charles de Foucald.

Father,
I abandon myself into you hands; do with me what you will.
Whatever you may do, I thank you:
I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only you will be done in me, and in all your creatures.
I wish no more than this, O Lord.

Into you hand I commend my soul;
I offer it to you
with all the love of my heart,
for I love you Lord,
and so need to give  myself,
to surrender myself into your hands,
without reserve,
and with boundless confidence,
for you are my Father.

Amen.

An Acceptable Time

2 Cor 6:1-2 - Working together, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain, for he says: "In an acceptable time I heard you and on the day of salvation I helped you".

Thoughts: September 8th, 2012 was a day acceptable to the Lord. I had been walking in the desert, knowing about God but only from a bit of a distance. For many years I had been preparing myself to be a dwelling place for God, for the Holy Spirit. But we all must wait for an acceptable time to the Lord. He knows what an acceptable time is, he knows when we are ready to more fully receive him. 

On that day, we were gathered for a charismatic prayer meeting. In Matthew 18:20 it says "Where two or more are gathered, there I am among them."  God was truly present that day. Sometimes it feels that we will never get closer to God, that he will always be out of our reach. Then when you least expect it, he comes to you in an exciting and real way. 

At this meeting, the Spirit of God came to me bringing healing and forgiveness unlike I have ever experienced. I knew right then that my life would never be the same.  I have started on journey unlike any other, a close and intimate walk with the Lord. Something I had waited years for had finally come. Not because of a mean God but because there was more for me to learn. I needed to make more room in my heart for him.

This Lent, make room in your hearts for the Holy Spirit, the gift promised to us after Christ's resurrection. 

Creation

from Colossians 1:16 - All were created through him. All were created for him.

Thoughts:  What strikes me here is the word "all".  We tend to band together as Christians and we sit in our little prayer groups and sing praise songs and think we are really getting it done.  But are we?  This has been tugging at my heart for a while. I have been on twitter for a little while now and as I look through my list of followers and following, they are mostly people like me. Jesus preached and reached out to the sick, the poor and the sinners. Maybe I am missing something here.

If I stop and look around me and take the time to observe all that God created and realize that they too were created for him, we will see that everyone one was created to glorify God.  We are all called to glorify God by our lives.  Some have more success than others but by the blood of Jesus he shows that he care for all that were created for him.

I challenge everyone, including myself, to look at everyone we meet today through the eyes of Jesus Christ that we may see, in them, God's creation.  Let us also be workers for Christ helping our brother realize the awesomeness of God's creation in each one of them.

An Oath to Abraham

Luke 1:73-75 - This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to set us free from the hands of our enemies, free to worship him without fear; holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life.

Thoughts:  In our society there are many oaths that are taken by people at different times. When a politician takes office they swear an oath to serve the people, Boy scouts take a similar oath. Someone testifying in court takes an oath to tell the truth. In each case we are making a promise to our peers and authorities to undertake a duty to the best of our ability.

In the Gospel reading above God is making an oath to Abraham and the Jewish people. He is promising to set them free from their enemies where they will be free to worship him without fear. In their time punishment and death were a very real possibility if they worshiped and followed God. We know from history that God did indeed free them.

This promise of freedom through God is just as relevant for us today as it has ever been. As we go through this Lenten season I have been reflecting on just who are our enemies?  Most of us do not have to fear physical death but we have very real enemies. I look at all of the addictions that are rampant in our society today. Drugs, alcohol, pornography, money, and consumerism just to name a few. I have had issues with most of these but just as God came to set Abraham's people free, he comes to set me free also. 

I have been set free! And now, I worship him without fear and by the mercy of God I hope to stay holy and righteous in his sight all the days of my life. May we have the courage to let go of those enemies already conquered for us this Lent.

Amen!

Life in the Spirit - Day 1

What a great it was in the Lord. God is so good. We started a Life in the Spirit seminar at our church last night. We have been actively praying for this seminar to come to fruition for about 4 months. Last night came and the Upper Room at our church was packed. 

We started with songs of praise to our Lord and Savior. Then we read the passage about how the apostles were told to stay int he Upper Room and wait. They were told to wait with prayer and learning. And so it happened again some 2,000 years later. We were instructed by a wonderful Spirit filled man. 

He said we must choose life or death. A great and glorious life with Christ and death with the things of this world. We talked about the necessity of creating a place in ourselves for the Spirit to indwell. Our challenge was to remove the things from our lives that clutter up our hearts and make them unable to receive God's grace. 

I thought the first night was going to be pretty basic, nice to know you and Jesus loves you kind of night. But it was so much more. A challenge was laid down in love to submit our lives to Christ and to allow the Holy Spirit to become a part of us, to enable us to live the lives that God taught us and Jesus showed us. 

After the talk we had small group sessions and you could see the hunger in the participants to have more. As they came to realize how much more God has to offer them through the Holy Spirit they lit up with expectation. I pray for the next 6 weeks of training as we await with joy the coming of the Holy Spirit.

I realize that, while I am there to help, I am also there to receive more fully the gifts of the Spirit which Jesus promised us.

Fast, Faster, Fasting

In our world today, we often just keep going faster and faster continually filling up any spare minute of our day until we feel just completely overwhelmed.  This is certainly true for me. I bet it strikes a chord with many of you also. I even try to tell myself, "I will only take on things that are good and worthwhile". Remember, we can always have too much of a good thing. 

I keep getting asked to be involved in more and more things at church and I sometimes have a heard time saying no because it is a good thing. But, even doing things for God can be overdone. My Spiritual Director keep reminding me that I can and should say no sometimes. That I should be a bit guarded with my time. 

So, I am reminded during this season of Lent is for fasting, not going faster and faster. So, what am I going to do about it. Well, I will not be posting as often between now and Easter. We finished our parish mission earlier this week. I have been at church now for 8 days in a row. 

Anyway, during the mission, we had adoration. We were prompted to ask god to speak to us and I prayed that God would give me a word and take me where He wants during Lent. The word I got was generous. In addition to my normal Lenten sacrifices God wants me to be generous. I didn't get anymore details than this so this will be a tough and interesting Lent. I do know partly what it means.

I must be generous with my time, talent and treasure. It means I can't roll my eyes when someone asks more of me. I can't say, "Really?" which is so popular today. I must lose the sarcasm that I have been trained to use since my youth. I truly need to put others before myself. Somehow I have a feeling that no matter how generous I am this Lent, Jesus will be even more generous in return. I will let you know how it comes out.

To paraphrase my favorite Vulcan, Spock, "Live long and generously".

Fat Tuesday

John 2:1-10 - On the third day there was a wedding in Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding.  When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine."  Jesus said to her, "Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come."  His mother said to the servers, "Do whatever he tells you."  Now there were six stone jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings, each holding twenty to thirty gallons.  Jesus told them, "Fill the jars with water."  So they filled them to the brim.  Then told them, "Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter."  So they took it.  And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine, without knowing where it came from (although the servers who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom and said to him, "Everyone serves good wine first,  and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now."

Thoughts:  This seems an appropriate passage for "Fat Tuesday". I think as we head into Lent we should stop for a moment to reflect on God's abundant goodness. Mary did not exactly ask Jesus to make wine for the wedding.  She just told him, we have a problem.  He was correct in saying basically, why should this concern me?  It is always that way, though.  God does not have to concern himself with our problems. Yet, he does. All we need to do is follow the example of Mary and present our petitions to the Lord and then let him love us. 

Sometimes we are so quick to want to go to Jesus with a solution request. We should not handcuff God my limiting his grace and mercy. Mary, could have said, "Jesus make them a couple bottles of wine."  This would have completely sold short God's awesomeness.  Jesus wants to bless us abundantly.  He made about 150 gallons of wine. He wants to give to us abundantly.  At the wedding feast, Jesus asked some people to step out in faith.  The waiters were asked to fill jars with water, a lot of water.  Then draw some out for the headwaiter.  They simply followed the instructions of Jesus and he blessed them abundantly in both quantity and quality.

In my life, I have attempted to give generously, submitting to God's will for my family. But God, will not be outdone in His kindness and he always gives us more than we could ever have hoped for.  My wife is contemplating leaving her job for a while to stay home with the kids.  This will cut our income by about 30%.  It is a little scary but I know that God will not leave us forsaken in this. We keep thinking we are going to make this big sacrifice for God and he turns around and give us so much more in return.

So, as we head into Lent let us be mindful of the overflowing gifts God bestows on us and enter Lent with a grateful heart.  Maybe this Lent will be one where we still give up our sweets but where we also imitate Jesus in his generosity. 

Grow Where You're Planted

Mark 6:4 - Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house."

Thoughts: First, let me start with a disclaimer, I do not think I am Jesus and I am not declaring myself a prophet. But I do believe that we are all called to be disciples and to evangelize. As I mention in my bio, I am currently applying to the diaconate. One of the stipulations of becoming a deacon is that I will serve where the Bishop assigns me. This is generally not your home parish.

You see, I am a convert to Catholicism. I joined the church at Easter in 1989. I have only known one parish my whole christian life. So, the thought of leaving my church family made me pause to think. Then I read the words in the Gospel of Mark and it made me truly contemplate what it means to be a disciple. I pray that I will develop into the disciple that God wants me to be. Hopefully, that will be as a deacon of the church. I also realize that He must plant me where I will bear much fruit even if that means leaving the only parish I have ever known.

Will there be some sadness if I have to leave my parish family? Of course. But on the flip side I will have the opportunity to meet people and minister to their needs where ever I am planted. God is amazing and can bring miracles wherever He wants to. 

Thank you Jesus for the opportunity to make disciples of all nations!

Watch Where You're Going!

Hebrews 12:1-2 - Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith. For the sake of the joy that lay before him he endured the cross, despising its shame, and has taken his seat at the right of the throne of God.

Thoughts: "Watch where you're going!", I screamed to my daughter. I just love teaching my children to drive. I am currently on daughter number four. Funny how reading the bible makes you think of times in your own life. I believe that is a gift from God. I remember being very frustrated with my oldest as we started the driving portion of learning to drive. It was time to put our book knowledge into practice.

We would start moving down the road and we would zig-zag back and forth trying to stay on the road. I would keep telling her to watch her lane position and she would concentrate harder and it would just get worse. After a couple of frustrating road lessons, I thought what am I doing wrong. What am I not telling her. Then it hit me. She was looking at the road immediately in front of the car trying to keep the car between the lines. She had no vision of where she was going.

Realizing where I was missing the boat, I told her to look out in front of herself and to find herself a focal point near the horizon. What a change! Once she had the proper focus she was able to keep straight her way. As we read in Hebrews this morning, it is the same way with our faith life. If we keep the focus on Jesus, we will be able to keep on the straight path toward a deeper and life giving faith. 

Just like with driving, we must keep ourselves free of distractions if we want to make it safely to our goal. As we make the changes in our lives to rid ourselves of sin and all that is not of God we will be able to clearly see our way to Jesus.

May we, today, keep our eyes on the road that leads to Jesus and find our peace with him.

Whose Team Are You On?

Philippians 2:2-4 - Make my joy complete by your unanimity, possessing the one love, united in spirit and ideals. Never act out of rivalry or conceit; rather, let all parties think humbly of others' interests rather than his own.

Thoughts: Well, this is not another Superbowl story. The verses from Philippians was part of the readings of Morning Prayer (Liturgy of the Hours) this morning. God's timing is always so good. I pretty much got slapped in the face on this issue Thursday night.

I was asked to chaperon a high school retreat on Thursday night. All I had to do was be there. Easy enough. All of the speakers were lined up everything was in motion. You know when you strive to serve others especially in the church you will struggle, you will be attacked by the evil one. You would think, if I am trying to serve the church, all of the pettiness and jealousy wouldn't be a problem. I mean we are all of the same team for the same purpose, right?

Well, not so easy, we are still human after all. What, hopefully, makes us different is how we react to these emotions. OK, now for the self confession part.

I was listening to a very Holy man giving a talk about the Eucharist before adoration. As I listened to him, I was thinking about how I could give a way better talk. I was a harsh critic. This is an ongoing issue I have been having as I travel on my journey of faith and discipleship.

After a couple minutes of my critiquing, I thought, this is not right and I should not be thinking this way. We are all of the same team. I immediately started praying for the speaker and thanking God for his ministry.

You know we are taught today to be harsh critics. Even on Sesame Street we are taught to figure out which of these things is not like the others. We are taught that being critical is desirable and good. I am starting to think maybe not. We really need to put away rivalry and conceit and truly work for the same team.