Magnify

Quiz - Part 1

This year for Christmas I received many Christmas cards from my friends and relatives and often there is a family picture along with a brief blurb about what is new in the life of their family.  Many of you may have done this yourselves this year.  I always like to write a Christmas letter to keep everyone informed with major events in my family.  I want to start this homily with a quiz for all of you.  Pick one word to describe our family in its most positive light - what would it be?  Choose quickly.  I will give you 10 seconds to figure out what comes to mind

[[PAUSE 5 SEC]]

Holiness does not mean a photoshopped life

We sometimes confuse the idea of holiness with perfection - as if to be holy means to be perfect.  There is an aspect of perfection in that to be holy means to be set aside for God, who is perfect.  However, I think the connotations of perfection often interfere with our understanding of holiness.  We do not mean perfection as in - I don’t mess up, or I live a photoshopped life (at least in public).  

Holiness is about inviting Christ into our lives

When we take the time to reflect on the experience of the Holy Family we see that this is not what holiness means.  Holiness means to be set aside for God, to be distinctly Catholic, or to put it another way - to live a life that magnifies God’s presence.  Holiness means allowing our families to be a place where God dwells.

Be fertile and multiply - God calls families to be love

If we go back to Genesis Chapter 1 we see that God created us in His image and likeness - and that his blessing for us is to be fertile and to multiply.  This means that God created us for family and he created our families to be places where we learn to love - unconditionally, selflessly - to prepare us for life with Him.  In that sense, our families are eternal - because the relationships we have will endure into eternal life.  We say this in the creed when we say we believe in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting.  

Even in divorce - which is a huge wound for families to endure, when there are children we are constantly being drawn back together - for the significant events of our children.

Who embarrassed whom

Are our families as perfect as we portrayed on the Christmas cards or letters this year?  

I want to ask all of those 18 and younger to close their eyes if their parents are here…

[[PAUSE]]

Now, parents, I want to ask you to raise your hands if any of your children embarrassed you during mass with unruly behavior.

[[PAUSE]]

Ok, put your hands down, and close your eyes.  (or I now know that my next homily needs to be on forthrightness…)

Now those who had their eyes closed (kids whose parents are here), to open their eyes.  I want to ask you how many of you have had their parents embarrass you at some social gathering - being dropped off at school, at a public event etc - to raise your hands.

[[ PAUSE ]]

Ok, thank you, you can put your hands down.  Parents, you can now open your eyes.

Families are imperfect (internally and externally)

I don’t know about your family, but my family can be seen as quite a mess (from one angle) and yet at the same time a very beautiful community (from another angle).  All families are this way.  God works through the imperfections of our families to help us to grow in holiness - to invite Him into the midst of the messy-times and messy places that we can know His mercy, 

forgiveness and healing presence in our lives.  Be that…

• The imperfection a divorce, or unresolved conflict, 

• A child out of wedlock or an incurable illness, 

• Trouble with the law or with addiction 

• A difficult job or a job that requires us to be away from home.

• Finding a place to live or needing a new job.

Whatever the imperfections are in your family, Be assured that God who works to bring good out of evil and life out of death is working in you and through you and with you to help your family to grow in holiness.

2nd Part of the Quiz - A Word for our imperfections

Now we have the second part of the quiz - Pick one word to describe the biggest challenge (sin) that your family struggles with - a barrier that prevents your family from being awesome.  Choose quickly.  I will give you 10 seconds to figure out what comes to mind

[[PAUSE 10 SEC]]

I am not going to ask you to shout this one out - but instead to keep it in your heart and to begin to pray on that word.  All families have struggles - God allows this so that we can grow in relationship with him.  

Consider St. Joseph and Mary

Whatever the word is that we found for our families we need to know that we are not alone.  Joseph and Mary had to deal with both internal and external challenges - 

• Moving for the safety of the family, 

• Moving for work and to be closer to their family, 

• Following God even when it means shame or ridicule  (Joseph), 

• The death of a spouse (St. Joseph dies)

• The death of a child, (Mary)

• trusting God to provide for your livelihood (in Mary’s case).  

Jesus, Mary and Joseph understand the situations of our life, and can empathize with us because in most cases they have experienced similar situations in their own lives.   In all of these situations God's presence was magnified.

What do I do about these challenges?

Think about ways to reconcile

• What do I need to ask for forgiveness about?  From whom?

• Ask for forgiveness (Rocking Chair moment)

• Be willing to sacrifice for one another - To care for one another.  (In Secret)

• Who is God asking me to sacrifice for?

• Speaking truth to someone - often a touchy subject - we don’t want to cause trouble, however the reality that we find ourselves in is troubling

What does the Father’s love look like?

Family is about helping one another experience the love of God the Father - but we need a grounding in what that love looks like.  Here are a couple of ways that Christ taught us about the Father’s love.

• Healing / Teaching / Being the truth
• Forgiving 7 x 70 times

• Obedience (Garden of Gethsemane)

• The Prodigal Son

How do we bring this into our families?

Imperfections call us to a life of prayer

The Holy Family responded to these challenges with prayer and a radical trust in the love of God the Father.  Parents, I want to invite you as couples to keep your imperfections close to your heart and to not cease bringing them to the Lord’s attention in your prayer.  It may seem that He is not listening - I have had those seasons in my life where it felt that way but what I came to learn is that He had a different plan then the way my prayers were structured, and so I learned (through my family) to trust in God’s providence and to realize that we are called to live off of the grace that He provides in our lives and to know that His grace is enough for us.

Prayer leads us to Holiness

As we begin to surrender those areas of selfishness in our lives to God we become transformed - and God’s presence becomes magnified.  St. Luke reminds us that this is what Mary did - “She held all these things in her heart” - not that she understood it in the moment, but she held these before God and continued to wrestle with them as her family grew.

Praying for one another in our families, reconciling with one another in our families are the ways that God calls us to keep in focus that our families are His gift to us where we can learn to love in the most messiest, difficult ways.  When we keep this in focus, the love of God comes to dwell within our families.

Golden Nugget: Holiness in a family doesn’t come from a perfect Christmas card but from choosing love in the hardest moments, especially when caring for those who can no longer care for themselves. Just as Joseph embraced the trials of the flight into Egypt, we are called to

embrace the difficult, grace-filled work of loving our family.

Colossians (2nd Reading) - How does Selfless love act? 

I want to close with some poignant words from St. Paul… 

Put on, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,

bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do. And over all these put on love,  that is, the bond of perfection.  And let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one body.  

Striving for Heaven

Stained Glass

One of the things that I love about the artwork here at St. Thomas More is the message contained in the stained glass windows.  There is an image that all of us are striving and straining to move closer and closer to the Eucharist, to Heaven, to God with all the saints and other members of our parish.  These windows capture the essence of why we gather each week to celebrate the Eucharist - so that we can grow in holiness and little by little by concentrated effort grow closer to God.

So How would you like it if I greeted you as a Tax Collector or Pharisee?

Hello Pharisees! or Good Morning Tax Collectors!  Ok, given a choice I think most of us would choose neither of these options - because we view Pharisees as men who were caught up in the appearance of holiness whereas Tax Collectors were viewed by the Jewish community as traitors, and so it is likely that both of these images don’t resonate with us.

But we are - relate to the Gospel - Tax Collectors were driven / determined / successful people in their day.

I think that when we hear the Gospel we take a moment and see how we can relate to the story.  To be a Tax Collector in Christ’s time took determination, cleverness and willfulness.  As a rule of thumb Tax Collectors were wealthy and successful members of society - but looked upon as “morally flexible”.  

Pharisees were proud to be Jewish and tried to embrace their faith fully

Likewise, if we take a moment and think about it - in Jewish culture the Pharisees were the ones who were striving for holiness - who were proud to be Jewish.  That is one way that we can identify with them.  

The Readings are about the struggle to grow in holiness

All of the readings today speak to us about what is necessary for us to grow closer to God, to grow in holiness.  They teach us what we must do in order to make progress in our lives and in our relationship with God.  From Sirach we hear how God hears the cry of the poor, the weak and the defenseless.  In St. Paul’s letter to Timothy we get a glimpse of how St. Paul has grown closer to the Lord as he lived out his life.  In the Gospel Jesus shares a parable for us on what is needed so that our prayer draws us closer to God.

Find ways to relate to the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

When Jesus shares this parable - it is easy for us to dismiss both the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.  I challenge us to recognize that we have traits in common with each of these - as a generalization, we are driven, successful people who are passionate about our faith.  In that way we are both the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.

So how do we allow this parable of Christ to guide us as we strive to grow in holiness this week? - Poverty and Humility

Sirach expresses the care that God has for those who are poor and lowly, so an understanding of poverty is essential to the spiritual life - to those of us that strive for holiness.  

Consider the difference between poverty and wealth

I would like us to focus on the difference between poverty and wealth not to draw moral judgements - but rather to understand how each of these conditions shapes our attitude towards one another and towards God.

Poverty is needing to wait for others to go, joyfully without grudges.  It is dependending on  the gifts of others, and to recognize that I depend on the gifts of others.  

Wealth provides the means to bypass waiting or depending on others.  I can just “do it”, and I don’t need one another.  I rely on my skills and motivation so that I am not forced to live in a place of poverty.

Jesus ends the parable with this truism - whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.  In order to understand this and apply it in our lives we need to first think about humility - what is it?

What does the word Humility mean? 

From Humus - means - from rotting, decaying death.

From this we begin to learn about humiliation - about death or failure that leads to new life - a life where Christ can become present in my life.

Think about weak / low / little / failed / dead

From Earth - means stable, foundational, natural.

From this aspect we see that humility is rooted in the truth, in knowing where the earth is and being firmly planted in the earth.  Think of the foundation of a house.

We must seek ways of being humble and weak (poor) to grow in Holiness

Where we are weak or where we are poor is where we are the most able to invite Christ into our lives.  It is here that we can most easily recognize our need for conversion, healing and salvation.  It is here that we can find common ground with other men and women - it is here where Christ connects us and the Body of Christ is knit together.

Pride is the opposite of Humility and a pernicious sin

Pride is the disordered desire for excellence. It becomes sinful when either it is based on a false premise or it draws attention to ourselves rather than to God.  

Pope St. Gregory the Great taught that there are four types of pride:

• PRIDE 1 - I brag about skills I do not have
• PRIDE 2 - I brag about skills without recognizing God’s hand in my success
• PRIDE 3 - I brag about skills that I have AND I give God the credit for my skills.
• PRIDE 4 - I brag about skills, I give God the credit by I focus the adulation on myself.

PRIDE 1:  I think I have skills but I do not

This is the Pharisee in the parable.  HE thinks he is holy because of what he does - he is doing this to shore up his own self-image.

Modern Take:  Think about my resume that I use when I look for a job - is it honest?  Is it accurate?  Do I brag about things that I have not actually done?  The poverty of this situation that we are unwilling to accept is that we hunger for the attention of others and we will lie in order to be noticed and to be loved.  I pretend to have gifts that I don’t have.

Antidote:  Humility occurs when you encounter the real-deal and recognize your poverty.

PRIDE 2:  I have skills and I built them myself

This would be like me bragging that I can do what I do just because of my own hard work and discipline.  It is like the servant who was entrusted with talents but forgets to acknowledge that God made the initial investments.  I fail to recognize the gifts that God has given me to enable me to invest in these talents.  

Modern Take:  Rugged Individualism - I got here by my own hard work and no one helped me.

Antidote:  I fail because I am overmatched or I attempt something beyond my skills.  In my failure I recognize the poverty that I have for the help of others.

PRIDE 3:  I over-exaggerate about my skills and I give credit to God.  

This is a variation on PRIDE-1 with the difference of I brag and give credit to God but my self-assessment of skill is inaccurate - and intended to show others how much God loves me, and how awesome I am.

E.g. Pharisee exalts himself above everyone else with exaggeration…  “look at me, God, I’m the best Jew in the whole world!... if only more people were like me...”

Modern Take:  (Bear Spray) There I was when the bear attacked me and I used my bear-spray and hit him square between the eyes (Thanks be to God) - when in reality the bear saw me, I saw him and we both backed away from one another…

Antidote:  My conscience (or my brother or friend) calls me to account - that is not what actually happened….  I suffer Humiliation and thus grow in humility

PRIDE 4 - I use my God-given excellence to draw attention to myself.

When you have an existing excellence, and you recognize that it’s a gift from God, but you use this excellence to disorderly display it for others to appreciate and affirm you and give you attention.

Modern Example:  I have been so blessed by God in my real-estate business that I am able to provide for my family, go golfing and take a nice vacation twice a year…

Antidote:  I choose to give thanks to God in my prayer and to remain silent about my role in His blessings.  If someone recognizes my skill I am happy to share it with them privately understanding that the Lord repays in His own way.

How Humility and Poverty counter the sin of pride.

The antidotes to pride are humility and poverty.

Humility recognizes the truth of one’s excellence while also recognizing one’s littleness before God and dependence on him.

I am the creature, God is the Creator.

In humility we recognize that we are dependent on God and can’t do anything without him.

“But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’”

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.”

The pride of the Pharisee makes him humbled, while the humility of the tax collector makes him exalted.

God humbles the exalted and exalts the humbled.

How do I become humble - by being willing to embrace / accept humiliation.

What do I want to do about it?

I want to draw your attention back to the Stained Glass Windows.  We are here to grow in holiness and to become close to God.  Pride can cripple our ability to progress in Holiness.  On your way home from Mass, take time to reflect (with your spouse, siblings or parents) one area where we can grow in humility with one another.  Remember that area and ask God for the grace to recognize when you are tempted to a flavor of pride and then respond to the occasion with a spirit of poverty and humility.  Recognizing that True humility flows from recognizing our poverty, that we are utterly dependent on God, for without him we can do nothing. God humbles the exalted and exalts the humbled.

Homeward Bound

Last night I attended my last mass for this pilgrimage in Europe, again at Notre Dame.  My sense was that the mass was largely attended by visitors and not regular attendees.  On this journey I have heard mass in French, Polish, Basque, and Catalan.  That is what has been available.  Regardless of the language it is the encounter with Christ in the Eucharist that matter the most.  Be the church gorgeous (like Notre Dame or La Sagrada Familia) or simple (like Mauleon-Licharre).  

I think this realization underscored a point made in this morning's office that our journey is ultimately not in this world but through it to eternal life, where there will be a new heaven and a new earth and the Lord will wipe every tear away.  So, while I travel by foot, train plane and  car back to my home, I travel with a hope in one day joining the communion of Saints praising God in the heavenly homeland.

P.S.  I wrote all of these posts from my phone on the road which has very limited capabilities.  Now back in the states I went back and cleaned up my spelling and fixed the images.  I hope you have enjoyed these reflections from the Camino.

La Sagrada Familia - The Holy Family

We arrived in Barcelona late Wednesday night.  The main reason to finish this Journey in Barcelona is to visit the Basilica of the Holy Family.  A church whose construction is completely financed by alms given for its construction,  as a communal form of penance and offering.  Construction was begun in March of 1882, and is planned to be complete by 2034, with major construction ending next year.  It's really neat to see a modern cathedral nearing completion after over 100 years of work.

I came here to pray for my family, and the families that I minister to, work with or otherwise interact with.  That they may all become holy families reflecting the love and creativity of God.  I had the chance to visit the church yesterday.  It is definitely a unique structure, looking more like a mountain than a cathedral.  The basilica covers an entire city block and has many towers that reach up to over 500 feet tall.  The main spire is dedicated to Christ, the light of the world, with other spires to the Blessed Mother, the 4 evangelists etc.  We arrived on a Thursday morning and the surrounding blocks were packed with people who had all come to see the church.  The architect who designed the church made the north facade tell the story of Christ's nativity and the south side His crucifixion.  The entire building is like a 3 dimensional icon of the scriptures in stone, with pieces here and there to lead one into meditation on scripture and the life of Christ.

Families are places where God's grace can be poured out into the world.  Like it or not we are stuck with our families, for all there good and bad traits.  I think that God allows this so that we learn to love and share one another.

As a father, it is part of my role to encourage the good and correct the bad.  I have to do this first in myself and then with my children.  To do this well I go back to my role as a father of baptized children and ask myself - am I keeping the commandments as Christ taught by loving God and neighbor?  Where do I fall short?  Where do I need God's grace alive in my family?

One of the most important ways of setting the example is recognizing when I have done wrong - and asking for forgiveness.  This requires humility and patience.  The other is to insist that my kids learn to forgive one another, as sibling relationships are precious.

Mary and St Joseph,

Let your Son's grace flow abundantly into each family that I interact with.  Use me as a servant for that grace that they might reflect the fullness of your love.  

Amen

There is only one road

"He used often to say there was only one Road; that it was like a great river: its springs were at every doorstep, and every path was its tributary. 'It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door,' he used to say. 'You step into the Road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to." J.R.R Tolkien

One of my all-time favorite stories is the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings.  I first read the books when I was 13 and going to high school in Yorkshire, England.  I would walk home from the school bus stop after dark, in the rain and then curling up to read in the evenings, imagining the world of Middle Earth.  The Road motif that Tolkien uses (as expressed by Bilbo in the above quote) is the blending of life with the presence and the will of God.  In this sense Tolkien echoes St Paul who says there is "one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God who is Father of all."  (Eph 4:5-6)

Having spending the past 9 days on "the Road", first at Lourdes and then walking the Camino to Saint Jean Pied de Port, I have come back to the metaphor that the journey that we take in life is like a Camino.  The Lord invites us to walk with Him, but He allows us to walk alone if we choose to.  One of the spiritual disciplines that we need is that of detachment, that I am detached from particular outcomes and open to where the Lord needs me to be or to whom the Lord needs me to be present to. This is part of the adventure of life.  We have some idea of where we are going, but we are not God, we do not control everything and so we need to be docile to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.  From day to day we did not know the specifics of the path that we would take, who we would meet or where we would lay our heads that night,.  We might lose our way, be given a shortcut, meet an atheist, a devout Christian or some fellow pilgrims.  We might climb hills in the heat, or cold or rain.  We might sleep in a bright, cheery place or a poorly maintained farmhouse.  At the end of the day, God would provide and His provision would be enough.  When morning comes on the morrow, we again shoulder the burden of our packs and walk further along the way.

The same is true in the everyday rhythms of life.  Raising children, working a career, serving in a ministry are all invitations from God to us to encounter His love, in the people we meet, the struggles we endure and the places we visit.  All of these help to form us for the next stage of the journey.  This is where the discipline of a life of prayer helps us to keep our eyes focused on God's plan for us, and makes it easier to accept the difficulties we find along the way - be they people, places or limitations within ourselves.

Lord, I ask for the grace that I may make you ever more my constant companion as I journey down the road, with you to all whom we encounter.  Shape me through the experiences of my life as we take this journey today together to be your servant and an instrument of your love to others.  Amen

Ending at the Beginning

One Monday we made it to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port.  We got our credencial's stamped and I was able to attend daily mass this evening.  A great way to end the beginning of this pilgrimage.   In the past 6 days we walked from Lourdes to  Louvie-Juzon. From there we made it to Oloron Sainte Marie and then on to Aren.  From Aren to Mauleon-Lichare and then to St Just Ibarre.  Finally, from. St Just Ibarre to here.  We walked about 90 miles in 6 days. 

Saint Jean Pied de Port is where many different French Camino's converge, and then move towards Compostela de Santiago.  This is a major pilgrimage destination for those walking the Way of St James, as it is in Compostela that the remains of St James are buried.  In this context, the way points to a path and a journey, for some pilgrims it is an achievement, a badge of accomplishment.  

What is the Way of St James?  In Acts 9:2 St Luke tells us that Saul (later St Paul)  had letters from the Sanhedrin to bring back any men or women of "The Way" in chains to Jerusalem.  "The Way" was an early name for the church, which is the community of men and women who shared their faith with that of the Apostles, in Jesus Christ as the Son of God who suffered, died and rose from the dead.  This aligns with St John's Gospel where Jesus says that He is "the way, the truth and the life", and the only way to the Father.

Later in the Acts of the Apostles (chapter 12) we learn that St James the Greater, was beheaded by Herod who was king of Jerusalem at the time.  Therefore,  "the way" of St James is the to have the same faith as him, a faith we express in the creed at Mass.  

Being a pilgrim on "The Way" means to take the teachings of Christ to heart.  To be in the world but not of the world.  To live our lives as an invitation to others to see the love and forgiveness that is our path to conversion.   To be aware of the depth of God's love for us, and in response to that love to live a life of conversion, learning day by day to love as Christ loves.

Knackered

When I was a kid growing up in England we used this expression to mean totally exhausted.  That is how I feel tonight.  Drained and ready for sleep.

We entered the Basque country yesterday and today had hot and muggy weather and a long climb.  I began the day with a communal breakfast with the other pilgrims in the albergue and then off to the parish of St Jean Baptist, for morning prayer and Mass.  Mass did not finish until after noon, so that is when I started the camino for the day.  Two hills to climb, in hot muggy weather.  By the time I reached the albergue in st just ibarre I was totally tapped out.

One of the effects of being wiped out is that it reveals your core - strengths and weaknesses.  It is a good way to examen how we have grown in our capacity to love when we are tapped out.  If you are pressed into service for one mile would you go two miles with joy?

Suffice it to say I still have my rough edges that the Lord is still refining.  It iz good fo be aware of them so I can work on them. 

Protect us Lord as we stay awake watch over us as we sleep.  That awake we may keep watching with Christ and asleep rest in His peace.

Amen

Rosaries

One of the ways that I pass the time as I journey from one place to another is in prayer, or contemplation.  Since Wednesday I have been walking on average about 8 to 10 hours a day, that is a lot of time for prayer

And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because he is a disciple — amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.  

Sometimes I marvel at the creation I am traveling through, at other times on how God is working in my heart.  At other times I am praying for the needs of the elevations communities that I am part of, my family, my co-workers, my parish, the deacons and clergy of Denver and my friends.

One of the best tools for being a pilgrim is the rosary - each one is a meditation on the life of Christ' s through the eyes of Mary.  It is my goto prayer when I am engaged in strenuous work (like climbing hills and mountains).

I also use the rosary to memorize scriptures For example when I was meditating on the Beatitudes the other day I would recite the verse for a particular Beatitude on each "Hail Mary" bead, and then once a decade pray a Glory  Be and a Hail Mary reflecting on how Mary experienced or lived that Beatitude.

Finally, the mysteries of the Rosary can be paired with the person I am praying for with a particular intention.  Sometimes they just fit, like when someone is suffering and I pray the sorrowful mysteries for them, or when someone is always cheerful and I pray the joyful mysteries for them.  

  

Beatitudes

The camino is marked by a series of painted signs.  Wither a seashell (the symbol of baptism, which is at the start of the way), or a white and red stripe, sometimes with an arrow as the path turns.  The signs prompted me to have some scripture to meditate on as I walked.  I chose Luke 6:20-26 because the Beatitudes are the way of Christ's heart, and one of my goals on the pilgrimage is to grow closer to Him.  The Beatitudes are Luke signposts on the way.

Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom. Of God is yours.

In what ways am I poor?  Not materially, but there are areas of my life that experience poverty.  What are those places where I am destitute and needing God's grace?  Where am I humble and willing to yield to others?  Where am I trapped by those sins that I choose over and over again.  Where are the places where I can only depend on the grace of God.  It is when I choose to depend on Him that I begin to experience the Kingdom of God and His grace in my life.  Lord help me to identify and open to you the areas of poverty in my life.

Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied.

What do I hunger for?  Where do I have a driving need in my life?  First and foremost this refers to those who are malnourished.  I am not, but I experience hunger in different ways.  One of the transitions I am going through is that of a single father whose children have (mostly) moved out.  After having spent 30 years of my life providing and caring for the community of my family, I now hunger for that type of community, both filled with chaos, hardship and joy.

Christ calls on us to provide for the hungry, and he will satisfy our other gnawing needs as well.  He did this for Mary as He died He entrusted her to St John and the church.  Then at Pentecost she was with the 12 as the church was born.  Her need for community was also satisfied.

Blessed are you when you are now weeping, for you will laugh.

When do I weep?  The church calls me to weep for my sins, to have a sorrowful heart when I have wounded others.  I weep when I lose a loved one to death.  I weep when I am aware of my wounds.  Mary wept at the foot of the cross and as she held Our Lord when he was taken down from the cross. 

Yet, behind this Beatitude is the fact that God enters into suffering and death out of obedience, and as a result of His sacrifice God brings death to life.  This is a cause for laughter as God has the last laugh over death.

Blessed are you when people hate you, insult and exclude you and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man.  Rejoice and leap for joy on that day.  Behold your reward will be great in heaven, their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way.

To bear insult, calumny, hatred and to be labeled as evil because of your willingness to be a Christian, or for your decision to follow Christ can be difficult.  These trials are difficult to endure, whether you experience them at work, from friends or family.  I understand these trials as the cross, which is an evil I that I would not wish on my worst enemy, but the Lord has asked me to embrace and endure.  Lord, grant me the grace to leap for joy on these occasions.

Impressions

In order to receive the Compestela, a document that recognizes that you have made a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compestela. To do this one carries a pilgrims passport called a Credencial.  Along the way you ask various places, pilgrim houses called alburgues, buisnesses and churches to put a stamp on your Credencial, and sometimes they also record your passing through in a registry of pilgrims.

As I walked from Oloron Sainte Marie to Arens, where we chose to bivouack for the night we encountered through the very hospitable town of Orin I paused to rest by the side door to the catholic church.  At least 3 people stopped their cars and invited us around the corner for coffee.  Not understanding it as an invitation to hospitality I politely declined, but after the third invitation we rounded the corner to a small shop where the woman insisted that we stop and rest and enjoy some orange juice and a bit of coffee cake.  She also stamped our credencial.

Later on the outskirts to Aren we passed a farmhouse with a sign inviting pilgrims to help themselves to water, which Brian did.  A very open and welcoming house.

My reflection is that we all make impressions on one another as we journey on the way.  May God let his grace flow between us through these impressions.

Matthew 10:42 - And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because he is a disciple—amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.”

Las Posadas

I was introduced to the tradition of Las Posadas at my first parish, St Anthony of Padua.  9 days prior to Christmas the Church would gather in the evenings to re-enact Mary and Joseph seeking a place to stay in Bethlehem.  Two of the youth would dress as Mary and Joseph and they would go from room to room or house to house.  At each Posada (inn) Mary and Joseph would sing to see if there was room. For them to stay.  The inn keeper would respond in song that the inn was full, then everyone would pray a decade of the rosary.  Mary and Joseph would then seek another place.

We stepped out from the Petit Couvent in Lourdes into  cool and damp autumn morning.  We found the Camino easy to navigate as the signage on the trail is very clear.  The trail begins along the river Pau for many miles through a dense forest

After several miles we came to the Shrine of Lestelle-Betherram, which has a beautiful church.  When I stopped in mass was just ending.  It was the only church we found that had anyone in it.  After receiving the final blessing we climbed the hill out of the river valley, which had the stations of the cross on them, so praying the stations we climbed to the "cross of the heights" which had a great view and picnic tables, so we had lunch.

We soon came to the Church in Asson, which was our destination for the day, but we felt that we could go further, so we pushed on.  

When we arrived at Bruges we started to look for a place to stay - and now las posadas come to mind.  The first place we came to required reservations, and was full.  They said that there was an auberge in the next town Mifaget right next to the Church.

In Mifaget, the church of St Michael's is right next to the road.  St Michael is the patron saint of pilgrims.  In the church there was a sign that the hostel for pilgrims was closed during Covid and has not re-opened.  

We started to call around to places to stay, and after 30 minutes or so found refuge in a Convent converted to a bed and breakfast in Louvie-Juzon, another 8 or 9 km away.  So shouldering our packs we pressed on arriving here at 7.30 pm.  

Unlike Mary and Joseph, The innkeeper and his wife welcomed us and made us feel at home.  They are very gracious hosts.  God always provides, in ways we do not expect.  He gives us the grace, perseverance and gifts to find a welcome home at the end of the journey.

Lourdes

I just spent the past two days immersing myself I to the activities at the Shrine to Our Lady at Lourdes.  There is much to see, do and experience here.  I stayed at the Petit Couvent, just west of the sanctuary.  Had a chance to go to confession.   Prayed at the grotto for those who asked me to pray for them. Time at mass (in polish), adoration and praying g the rosary with about 10,000 people in 15 different languages.

The Couvent

If I had to sum up the experience here it would be in 3 ideas.

• The Certainty of Witness
• The Need to pray for and care for the sick
• The universality of the Catholic Church 

The Certainty of Witness

St. Bernadette encountered the Blessed Mother in a series of visions at a young age.  She shared what she experiences and the. Desired to fade into the background.  As a result the Shrine at Lourdes flourished.  She moved I t to care of the sisters from Nevers and later became a nun caring for the sick.  She died at the age of 35 of tuberculosis.  72 known medical miracles have been credited to Lourdes and over 7000 cases are under consideration.   In all of this Bernadette said that she did not need to convince others but simply to share her experience.

The Grotto at Lourdes

The need to pray for and care for the sick.

I ran into many groups here on pilgrimage.  From a diocese, or parish etc.  From all over the world. Australia, Sri Lanka, Italy,  Kenya, Croatia, Philippines,  and many other places.  Each group had 10 or 20 or 50 people i. Wheel chairs, that they cared for and brought to the baths and the liturgical.  The first proclamation of the gospel was Christ healing the sick.  It is good to see t he desire to include the sick in the life of the church as a primary focus 

The Universality of the Catholic Church

Last night I went to the candlelight procession where we prayed the rosary with about 10,000 Catholics from all over the world.

The procession at Lourdes

Every 3 or 4 prayers and we switched to another language, yet all one faith.   We had mass here each day in English, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Philippino, Arabic, etc. There were people here from all walks of lode.  Rich and poor, black, brown, and white.   Everyone had a sincere faith and that is the point of community.  What a great site to witness

Peace

Paul 

Rain

It is somehow appropriate that when I arrived at Lourdes, the place with miraculous water that I arrive in a downpour.  Then, we walked to a convent, which was not the place where we were to stay.  (I failed to make the convent we had reservations at sufficiently clear).  We had to backtrack and then following google we made our way up an ill used path, to the back gate of the convent where we were to stay only to find that the gate was locked.  Still raining steadily , we backtracked again and finally by long and roundabout way came  to the front door of the Petit Convent.  After some confusion about the reservation we had a place to stay while we are at Lourdes.

By the time we got into the dry I was soaked to the skin.  It turns out the the raingear I brought has lost its effectiveness.  

Water cleanses, washes away, purifies, makes us clean, here at Lourdes the water from the grotto has been documented to miraculously heal abut 70 people, from re-fusing a broken femur, to healing tuberculosis, or giving sight to the blind and healing the dumb so they can speak.  So I don't mind being soaked if it brings me a deeper understanding of the grace of God which flows through my life 

 

Lourdes, in the rain...

Christ the same yesterday and today

During one virtual today (actually Friday), I began with morning prayer and mass at my parish - St Thomas More in Centennial, Colorado.  Evening prayer was prayed somewhere over Nebraska or South Dakota as I flew through the night.  My friend Brian Christensen and I landed in Keflavik, Iceland where I prayed morning prayer

Sunrise at Iceland

From there we caught the next flight to Paris, Where we arrived in the mid afternoon.  That is when the fun began.

I made my last post from the bus that took us from the airport to the Opera bus terminal in central Paris.  It was hard to stay alert after being on the go for 24+ hours.  When we departed the bus we decided to walk to the Auberge Adveniat as rush hour traffic was impossible and we watched people walk faster than our bus.  After some messing around with google apps we made it to the Auberge by foot.  We got checked in at 5:30 pm.  I really wanted to attend mass at Notre Dame and I knew the Saturday evening mass was at 6pm, so having checked in, I decided to try to attend mass at Notre Dame - which was 45 minutes away by foot.  Never to be one to be put off by seemingly impossible deadlines I ser off and in typical, Paul "go mode" cut a trail across Paris along the Seine to Notre Dame weaving in and around the people on the way.  Notre Dame is a huge tourist hotspot, that  just reopened after the fire in 2019.  Like St Marks in Venice there were a ton of people in line to tour the Cathedral.  When I told the security guard that i was there for mass and he ushered me right into where the congregation was gathered just as the priest started the liturgy. 

Mass at Notre Dame

One of the wonderful things about Catholicism is the universality of the church, so while I did not speak a lick of French, I knew the mass and the universality of the faith, sharing the sign of peace with those sharing in the Eucharist.  After Mass I took some quiet prayer time to thank God for a safe journey and all the helpful people I have met so far.  Praying the evening office in the heart of a grand cathedral.  It was awesome.  

At around 8pm exhaustion overtook me so I made my way back to the Auberge at a leisurely pace and, after a refreshing shower I fell into a deep sleep.  

Christ is the same, yesterday, today and tomorrow, for all peoples and all time,