Crosses

The last couple of weeks have been pretty crazy. Classes, a totaled car, and a break in. This weekend we celebrated the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. I went to mass with my daughter at Our Lady of Grace. The priest gave a marvelous homily about cross and if we really believed in the cross then it should be a game changer. It should make everything we do be seen through different eyes.

At the end of mass, he invited all to come up who had brought crosses to have them blessed. I looked at my daughter and thought, well we didn't bring any crosses to be blessed. Then it hit me. We had not brought any physical crosses to be blessed but we most certainly had brought crosses. I mean we definitely had them. It's not like we could have left these crosses outside the door of the church. We carry them wherever we go. So, she and I prayed that we might offer our crosses right there at the feet of Jesus.

Any Way The Wind Blows

I have been quiet for a while on purpose. But I felt very inspired today to share my experience from a few nights ago.

I went running a few nights ago. It was hot and i did not feel much like running. However, while I was trudging along, I felt a slight breeze that swept over me giving me strength to keep going. I immediately thought about how the Holy Spirit is like that. I ran along just enjoying my thoughts on the holy Spirit and started thinking about the wind, how sometimes it is soft and sometimes hurricane force and all places in-between. The holy Spirit is like that too. Paul certainly felt the Spirit like a hurricane being knocked off of his horse. Sometimes, He is like that still soft whisper that Elijah heard. I have experienced both and have come to appreciate both. It is pretty easy when God speaks to you like a hurricane and it left no doubt for Paul. I think more often though, God speaks to us in a whisper. I pray that we can all spend the time in quiet to hear God in the still soft whisper.

Is That All You Got...Give Me Something Hard

Why do we think that effort must be equal to reward? That is certainly what we are taught in today's society. We think God will require great sacrifice or devotion from us in return for miracles. Why do we keep putting limitations on God? He have a knack of limiting God according to our weaknesses.

Sometimes, all God wants from us is something simple. A simple act of obedience. A willingness to submit to the authority of God. Many examples exist in both the Old and New Testaments. Take the following passage from 2 Kings 5:

Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.” 11 But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, “I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy![f] 12 Are not Abana[g] and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?” He turned and went away in a rage. 13 But his servants approached and said to him, “Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” 14 So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.

 How often are we like Naaman? How often have I refused a gift from God? Whatever he is asking of you may be as simple as turning off a light. 

I am reminded of a story about a little girl about 7 years old. She had a pretty toy pearl necklace. it was her most prized possession in the world. One day her Dad came in, at bedtime, and asked her to give him the necklace. She refused and he walked away. This continued for a couple more nights. Finally, on the fourth night when he came in, he could see that she had tears in her eyes. As he approached her bed, she held out her hand. In her hand was the toy necklace. He accepted it from her and then handed her a little box. She opened the box and inside was a real pearl necklace.

Our heavenly Father is waiting to give us great things too. Things greater than we can imagine but we have to be willing to let go of what is holding us back.

On a Mission

I will be leaving in a few days for a mission trip to South Texas, deep south Texas. We will be working there with the poor. Helping in whatever way we can. I have a number of thoughts running through my head as the time for departure draws near. A common theme coming from Pope Francis is the need to reach out to the poorest and neediest of our society. I wonder, on this mission, trip who is reaching out to who. Are we seeking the neediest or are we the neediest?

How will this all come together? I am not in charge of this trip. So, I have to surrender some control and trust that all will be taken care of. I know we will be near San Juan, TX. That is about it. There is supposedly a hotel that we will be staying at and we will be fed. I am driving down there but don't know where we are going exactly. This makes me a bit nervous but not worried exactly. This has been done before and it will all fall into place, it always does.

I have heard a little about the people and conditions down there. Will I be up to the challenge? Will I be able to put my own selfish desires aside for a while, for these people? 

I don't really know what I will be doing or much of anything about this trip but I find myself excited for the opportunity. The times in my life when I have felt most satisfied and fulfilled have been when I was able to put myself aside for the service of others. I can't think of a better way to spend spring break. 

I have no doubt that this will be one of those times where no matter how much we help the people down there, we will undoubtedly feel that we have received even so much more in return. For to give of oneself will help to reach that place in us that can only be filled with the love of God. As St. Francis says, "It is in giving that we receive".