Through the Desert

 

First Sunday of Lent

Gn 9:8-15, Ps 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9, 1 Pt 3:18-22, Mk 1:12-15

The Spirit Drove Christ into the Desert

St. Mark tells us that the Spirit drove Christ into the Desert to be tempted by the Devil?  Why would God do that to himself?

The Desert is a place of Death

We have in our parish this beautiful poster of the Desert - it is at either Sunrise or Sunset - it seems to be a place of quiet, solitude, and beauty. Looking at this poster - you might be thinking to yourself - “I get it.  Jesus is about to begin His public ministry, so he is going to catch some rays and relax before getting busy saving the world.”  Nothing could be further from reality.

The Source of Death is our decision to Sin

St. Mark also tells us that Christ was driven into the desert to be tempted by Satan.  That tells us a bit about the reality of the Desert - it is the place of death.  There is no water, no shelter, no protection, everything is exposed, dries out and dies.  

The Israelites went into the Desert to Die to Slavery

When the Israelites went into the Desert it was so that they could die to the life of slavery in Egypt and so begin to live life as the chosen people of God.

The Desert is a dangerous place

The Desert is where we are alone, unprotected from the wild-beasts who are all scrambling to find their next meal - which if we are unprotected could be us.  The desert is populated with poisonous things - Snakes, Scorpions and the like - not a place where we could lie down and rest…

Why then does the Church send us into the Desert of Lent?

As I said - the desert is the place of lifelessness.  It is the place of Death.  For each of us, the desert is the place in our hearts where we choose sin, we choose to kill our relationship with God - that is the desert that we are called to enter into so that we can have a holy Lent.

The Desert of Lent is where we die to the Slavery of Sin

The Church sends us out into the Desert of Lent each year so that we can die to the slavery of Sin in our lives.  She does not send us into the desert unprepared, but sends us into the desert armed with the season of grace (God’s Love), and the weapons against the enemy - Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving.

On Ash Wednesday this past week the parish was packed with people, wall to wall.  The parking-lot was packed - and everyone was excited to be here.  In my experience of Lent, I know that this is early days, everyone is still enthusiastic about this journey - we have yet to stumble, fall or fail at our lenten disciplines - but that too is coming.

What is Sin?  What is Temptation?

All of us are sinners, we all commit sin.  There is nothing more embarrassing than to be a committed Christian and to recognize in your life that you are addicted to sin.  Even though you make a firm resolution in confession to avoid temptation to sin and the sin itself I still find myself committing sin in my life.  

Sin is when I freely take an action that is of grave matter that is directly opposed to the will of God.  Scripture tells us that the wages of Sin is death.  It also tells us the topics that make up grave matter.  The first 3 relate to God

1.  God Alone

2.  God’s name is Holy

3.  Take time to worship God on the Sabbath.

The last 7 are how we relate to one another.

4.  Honor your Parents

5.  Do not kill

6.  Do not commit adultery

7.  Do not steal

8.  Do not lie

9.  Do not covet your neighbor's wife

10. Do not covet your neighbor's goods.

That recognition leads me to the realization that I cannot escape Sin under my own power - that I am weak and that I need help. 

Sin kills our friendship with God - Sin is the Desert

God gave us the commandments (in the desert) to help us to live a good and holy life.  Yet all of us, find ourselves from time to time where we choose to break one or more of these commandments.  In that moment we choose to make ourselves God, and say to the Lord - you don’t know what is good for me - and instead to break the commandment - which kills off our ability to recognize the love of God.

When we do that we find ourselves in the midst of a spiritual desert - a place devoid of life and without the presence of God.  We truly are exposed to the wild beasts and vulnerable to death.  What can we do?

Psalm 107 - The Desert will become a place of springs

In Psalm 107 the Lord says that he will turn the “desert into streams, thirsty ground into springs of water…”.  The desert that the psalm refers to is the place of death that we find ourselves in this Lent.  It is the desert into which Christ preceded us to do battle with temptation by the Devil.  

Christ goes into our Deserts to help us win over sin

Christ goes into the desert - into the place in my life, your life where we choose to sin, where we exclude God from our life and where we begin to die to rescue us from the wages of Sin and Death.  That is what this Lenten season is about.  The Church equips us with Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving to give us the tools of conversion - so that we can die to the slavery to Sin and rise into the newness of life.

Prayer expresses our need for help

Prayer helps us to verbalize our need for God’s help.  Prayer in which we can begin to understand the depths of God’s love for us - that we can drive out temptation to make ourselves God and instead remember that God loves us completely, deeply, profoundly, totally.

Fasting helps us subdue impulsiveness

Fasting - where we do battle with the impulsive nature of our will.  Satan often tries to get us not through our logical nature - “Hey wouldn’t it be a great idea if you forgo eternity in communion with God for an Icecream cone?  No rather it is through our impulsive nature - I want, I am compelled, I desire…  Fasting helps to strengthen ourselves against our more impulsive desires - because at its heart most habitual sin is just that - we have become so comfortable in our sin that it is a habit and we are not even thinking about it any more…

Almsgiving is an imitation of Christ

Almsgiving - reminds us that everything we have been given is a gift from God, and so therefore we should share the gifts that God has given us with those in need. Almsgiving is a powerful weapon in Lent because not only does it help us to recognize God’s gifts, but it teaches us to imitate God by imitating His generosity - in sharing the gifts that God has given us..

Christ waits to be invited into your desert

Christ wants us to know that the desert is not a place that is foreign to Him, that is devoid of Him - that he is too embarrassed to go to.  No, rather God is compelled by His love for us to enter into the Desert for our conversion.

To bring about a flood of grace

And what of these Springs of Water that God desires to release into the Desert?  The springs of Water are best symbolized by the water of Baptism - in which God’s grace gives life and light to the world - in which we are reborn from Sinners into children of God - vessels of God’s grace welling up in us and through us into the world.  

See that God saves you this Lent

When we allow Christ into our Desert he brings his grace to cure the barrenness of Sin, and to bring about a new life of grace in our midst.  With all of the saints who were great sinners, the desert becomes a place of springs because it is the place where they can clearly see God’s love for them conquering sin and death in their lives.

St. Peter says in the second reading today…

Beloved:  Christ suffered for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead you to God.  Put to death in the flesh, he was brought to life in the Spirit… 

In which a few persons… were saved through water.  This prefigured baptism, which saves you now.  It is not a removal of dirt from the body but an appeal to God for a clear conscience,

Repent (Change your mind) and believe in the Gospel

A clear conscience through which God’s love can permeate our lives and through our lives transform the world.  That is why the Gospel today ends in this way - Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: "This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel."  Christ has gone before us - it is up to us to follow Him…

Time to grow in Holiness

 

Ash Wednesday

1 Joel 2:12-18, Psalm 51:3-4, 5-6ab, 12-13, 14 and 17, 2 Cor 5:20—6:2, Mt 6:1-6, 16-18

Lent is a time of Preparation for Easter

Lent is for the Church a time of retreat - a time where we make a focused effort to grow closer to God, a time where we set aside the things of the world and turn our hearts to the things of God.  The reason why we do this is so that we are better able to understand, better able to comprehend God’s love for us when we celebrate His victory over sin and death this coming Easter.

La Cuaresma es para la Iglesia un tiempo de retiro: un tiempo en el que hacemos un esfuerzo concentrado para acercarnos a Dios, un tiempo en el que dejamos de lado las cosas del mundo y volvemos nuestro corazón a las cosas de Dios. La razón por la que hacemos esto es para que podamos comprender mejor el amor de Dios por nosotros cuando celebremos Su victoria sobre el pecado y la muerte en la próxima Pascua.

We begin by being attentive to the barriers to Christ

How do we prepare our hearts for this celebration?  We begin by recognizing all of the ways that we fall short of the mission that God created us for.  We begin by confronting our own failings, weaknesses and difficulties.  We begin by paying attention to where Christ has put the cross in our lives and then seeking to embrace that cross.

¿Cómo preparamos nuestro corazón para esta celebración? Comenzamos reconociendo todas las formas en que no cumplimos con la misión para la que Dios nos creó. Comenzamos confrontando nuestros propios fracasos, debilidades y dificultades. Comenzamos prestando atención a dónde Cristo puso la cruz en nuestras vidas y luego buscamos abrazar esa cruz.

Enter into the Desert to find the Cross

When he went into the Desert for 40 days to fast it was because he had set his eyes on Jerusalem, and the mission that the Father had for him there.  How do we identify the cross that Christ calls us to embrace as His disciples?

Cuando fue al Desierto por cuarenta días para ayunar fue porque había puesto sus ojos en Jerusalén, y en la misión que el Padre tenía para él allí. ¿Cómo identificamos la cruz que Cristo nos llama a abrazar como sus discípulos?

What is your Cross?

We begin by reflecting on the nature of the cross - it is the thing you would not wish on your worst enemy, and yet it is the thing that God places in your life to help you to grow in Holiness, to surrender to God and in embracing your cross to become more like Christ - to love without counting the cost, and to forgive without flinching at the hurt.

For some, our cross is the relationship with your children, our spouse, or our parents.  For others with a Sibling.  For some it is an illness, and for others a loneliness.  In all these cases the cross is something we are called to embrace this Lent with Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving.

Comenzamos reflexionando sobre la naturaleza de la cruz: es lo que no le desearías a tu peor enemigo y, sin embargo, es lo que Dios coloca en tu vida para ayudarte a crecer en santidad, a rendirte a Dios y en abrazar tu cruz para parecerte más a Cristo: amar sin contar el costo y perdonar sin retroceder ante el dolor.

Para algunos, nuestra cruz es la relación con sus hijos, nuestro cónyuge o nuestros padres. Para otros con un hermano. Para algunos es una enfermedad y para otros una soledad. En todos estos casos la cruz es algo que estamos llamados a abrazar esta Cuaresma con oración, ayuno y limosna.

What are the barriers to taking up the Cross?

What prevents me from embracing my Cross?  Sin, Selfishness, Distraction.  That is why this Lent begins with the appeal from Joel - “Return to me with your WHOLE heart.  Rend your hearts not your garments”  

How do we return back to God?  It is not through the surrender of chocolate - but to the surrender of Sin.  The Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting and almsgiving are meant to turn our hearts back to God, so that we can listen to His voice and become more Christ-like in our souls.

¿Qué me impide abrazar mi Cruz? Pecado, Egoísmo, Distracción. Por eso esta Cuaresma comienza con el llamado de Joel: “Vuelve a mí con TODO tu corazón. Rasgan vuestros corazones, no vuestras vestiduras”

¿Cómo volvemos a Dios? No es a través de la entrega del chocolate, sino de la entrega del pecado. Las disciplinas cuaresmales de oración, ayuno y limosna tienen como objetivo hacer que nuestros corazones vuelvan a Dios, para que podamos escuchar Su voz y llegar a ser más semejantes a Cristo en nuestras almas.

Lent is a time to do battle with sin

In Lent we journey into the desert, to be stripped down to the essentials of who we are so that we are able to recognize our weakness in Sin and selfishness.  That we can be converted into disciples of Christ.  That is why in the Gospel today Christ invites us to make our Prayer, our Fasting and our Almsgiving in secret - so we can be honest about where we need to grow with Christ.

En Cuaresma viajamos al desierto, para ser despojados de lo esencial de quiénes somos, para que seamos capaces de reconocer nuestra debilidad en el pecado y el egoísmo. Que podamos convertirnos en discípulos de Cristo. Es por eso que en el Evangelio de hoy Cristo nos invita a hacer nuestra oración, nuestro ayuno y nuestra limosna en secreto, para que podamos ser honestos acerca de dónde necesitamos crecer con Cristo.

2 ways to identify sin in your life

For this Lent I invite you to reflect on what distracts you the most from God.  There are two ways to reflect on this question.  The first way to think about it is what am I thinking about while I am in Mass?  Am I thinking about work - what I need to do next?  Am I thinking about my favorite Sports team who will play next?  Am I thinking about a movie or show that I am going to watch, or what is going on with my social media feed.  Why is that more attractive to you than the one who created you for love?

The second way is to think about the sin you confess the most in confession.  I want to invite you to adopt a special prayer for the grace to recognize the temptation that leads you to commit that sin this Lent.  Ask for the Holy Spirit to point out to you the ways that you are weak towards that sin and then ask God for the grace to resist that temptation.

Para esta Cuaresma te invito a reflexionar sobre lo que más te distrae de Dios. Hay dos maneras de reflexionar sobre esta cuestión. La primera manera de pensarlo es ¿en qué estoy pensando mientras estoy en Misa? ¿Estoy pensando en el trabajo? ¿Qué debo hacer a continuación? ¿Estoy pensando en mi equipo deportivo favorito que jugará a continuación? ¿Estoy pensando en una película o programa que voy a ver, o en lo que está pasando en mis redes sociales? ¿Por qué te resulta más atractivo que aquel que te creó por amor?

La segunda forma es pensar en el pecado que más confiesas en la confesión. Quiero invitarte a adoptar una oración especial pidiendo la gracia de reconocer la tentación que te lleva a cometer ese pecado en esta Cuaresma. Pídele al Espíritu Santo que te indique las formas en que eres débil ante ese pecado y luego pídele a Dios la gracia para resistir esa tentación.

Do you need to go to Confession?

For some of us it has been many years since we have been to confession - if that is you - then I want you to hear St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians - “Now is an acceptable time!”  Take a moment this week and make a good confession.  We have confession here at the parish every Saturday from 10 to 11:30 in the morning.  

Para algunos de nosotros han pasado muchos años desde que nos confesamos; si ese es usted, entonces quiero que escuche la carta de San Pablo a los Corintios: “¡Ahora es un tiempo aceptable!” Tómate un momento esta semana y haz una buena confesión. Nos confesamos aquí en la parroquia todos los sábados de 10 a 11:30 de la mañana.

Grow in your ability to accept God’s Love

The goal of Lent is for us to grow in our ability to be filled with God’s love - that means we need to acknowledge the thing that we do that our barriers to receiving His love and take some positive steps towards them. 

El objetivo de la Cuaresma es que crezcamos en nuestra capacidad de estar llenos del amor de Dios; eso significa que debemos reconocer lo que hacemos que son nuestras barreras para recibir Su amor y dar algunos pasos positivos hacia ellas.

Prayer / Oración

For Prayer - Take some time in the morning or in the evening to begin the day with prayer from the Scriptures.  I recommend Psalm 51, which we prayed today as a psalm to pray as you pray for conversion away from sin.  Also consider coming to the Stations of the Cross here on Fridays at 7 PM.  

Para la oración: tómate un tiempo en la mañana o en la tarde para comenzar el día con oración de las Escrituras. Recomiendo el Salmo cincuenta y una, que oramos hoy como un salmo para orar mientras oras por la conversión lejos del pecado. También considere venir al Vía Crucis aquí los viernes a las 7 p.m.

Fasting

For Fasting - Today and Good Friday are days of fasting.  Every Friday during lent are days of abstinence from meat.  St. John Chrysostom says “Let the mouth fast from foul words and unjust criticism for what good is it if we abstain from birds and fishes but bite and devour our brothers.”  Fasting teaches us that the needs of the body are temporary while the needs for the soul are greater.  It quiets down our body so that we can pray with a deeper sense of need.

Para el ayuno - Hoy y el Viernes Santo son días de ayuno. Todos los viernes durante la cuaresma son días de abstinencia de carne. San Juan Crisóstomo dice: “Dejad que la boca ayune de malas palabras y críticas injustas, porque ¿de qué sirve abstenernos de aves y peces, sino morder y devorar a nuestros hermanos?” El ayuno nos enseña que las necesidades del cuerpo son temporales mientras que las necesidades del alma son mayores. Calma nuestro cuerpo para que podamos orar con un sentimiento de necesidad más profundo.

Almsgiving

Finally, almsgiving.  Christ teaches us that we have a need to give to others - because Christ is both fully God and fully man.  He gives himself to us fully, so we too have a need to give of ourselves to others.

Share the gifts that God has entrusted to you with those in need.  Take a moment and think about the times and places that you give alms.  For the next 6 weeks seek to double the alms that you give - with a generous heart.  

Finalmente, limosna. Cristo nos enseña que tenemos la necesidad de dar a los demás, porque Cristo es plenamente Dios y plenamente hombre. Él se entrega plenamente a nosotros, por lo que también nosotros tenemos la necesidad de darnos a los demás.

Comparte los dones que Dios te ha confiado con los necesitados. Tómate un momento y piensa en los momentos y lugares en los que das limosna. Durante las próximas 6 semanas, busca duplicar las limosnas que das, con un corazón generoso.

San Pablo nos recuerda nuestra misión en esta cuaresma: convertirnos en Embajadores de Cristo. Convertirnos en Hombres y Mujeres que reflejen el amor de Dios en el mundo. No sólo aquí en la Iglesia, sino también en nuestros hogares, nuestros trabajos, nuestras escuelas y nuestra comunidad. No dejéis que se desperdicie esta temporada de gracia. ¡Ahora es el momento aceptable!

The mission of Lent - to become an Ambassador for Christ

St. Paul reminds us of our mission this lent - to become Ambassadors for Christ.  To become Men and Women who reflect the love of God into the world.  Not just here in the Church - but in our homes, our jobs, our schools and our community.  Do not let this season of grace go to waste.  Now is the acceptable time!

Lord Save Me!

19th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Cycle A

1 Kgs 19:9a, 11-13a; Psalm 85:9, 10, 11-12, 13-14; Rom 9:1-5; Gospel: Mt 14:22-33

Elijah on the run from the Queen
In the first reading today, the prophet Elijah is in the midst of a crisis. He is in trouble with Queen Jezebel because God asked him to oppose her pagan worship and she has sent her men to kill him. Elijah knows that he will most likely die. His response is to take time out to pray.

Prayer – the answer to every crisis!
When we find ourselves in moments of crisis one of the best things that we can do is to pray to God. It is important that when we pray that we pray from our hearts. This means that we honestly and openly share our hearts and our lives with God. Then we listen to what God has to say to us in reply.

Distractions in Prayer – Wind, Earthquake and Fire
When Elijah tries to pray he finds that his prayer is distracted by a wind that is crushing the rocks, an earthquake and a fire. When these things happen Elijah checks to see if God is present, and when he does not find God he returns to his prayer.

Wind, Earthquake and Fire = Distractions of the Crisis
Time in prayer is time that we set aside to listen to God. We listen to God so that we can hear him and encounter him in our hearts. One of the difficulties of prayer, and especially with prayer of those in crisis is that we are often filled with many distractions, when we sit down to pray our mind is attacked by our worries, fears and anxieties. These are like the Wind, the Earthquake and the Fire that Elijah encountered on the mountain. When we are distracted in prayer we gently set the distractions aside and return to listening for God to speak to our hearts with his small, still voice.

St. Therese of Lisieux is a good teacher of prayer
She was born in France in 1873, the youngest of four girls. Therese grew up with an intense love for Jesus, and for the Eucharist. At 15 she became a Camelite nun, entered the convent and spent the rest of her life trying to listen to the still, small voice of God in her heart.

Like Elijah, Therese had distractions in her prayer
Like Elijah the prophet, St. Therese encountered many distractions in her prayer, She had to deal with living in community with her sisters, dealing with envy, injustice, pettiness and all of the other distractions that are part life. Therese was able to take all of this with her into her times of prayer, to listen to God and to hear his voice speaking into her heart.

From her prayer, Therese understood the path to holiness
It was through her listening to God that Therese discovered her “Little Way” to holiness.

1. Therese learned that God’s way of loving her was through mercy and forgiveness. He was always showing her His mercy and His love.

2. Therese discovered the best way to approach God was to be like a little child.

Like a little kid on his Fathers lap
Whenever little kids get to sit in their Dad’s lap they start with a lot of talk about what is going on in their lives, but then at the end, they just want to snuggle and to be in the presence of their Dad. This is the deepest type of Prayer. When Therese would pray, she would pray as God’s little girl and curl up in her Daddy’s lap to share her heart with him.

Kids copy their parents
Kids also learn to copy their parents. As Therese lived in the convent she started to copy God by showing love and forgiveness to her sisters. Whenever someone insulted or persecuted her she responded with compassion and forgiveness. Therese chose to love them by responding to their pain rather than their insults. She chose to copy the love that God showed her.

The Little Way transforms the world
We too can do the same when we allow God into our hearts. When God is with us, he transforms our hurt into love and so we too can follow the little way of St. Therese and help to transform the world.

The symbolism of the Gospel
Today’s Gospel is rich in symbolism. We heard about the first symbol last Sunday in the feeding of the 5000. This is a symbol for the Mass.

The Boat = The Church, the Storm = the World
After the Mass, the disciples take their boat across the sea, and while at sea the boat gets caught up in a storm. The boat represents the Church, and the stormy seas represent the world, filled with sin and strife that so easily distracts us.

Jesus says to us – Do not be afraid!
Often times when the troubles of the world surround us, we are overwhelmed by fear. We doubt God’s love and think we are going to die. Jesus says to us “Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid!”

Jesus teaches us to be in the world but not of the world
Then we notice that Jesus is walking across the water – He is teaching us to be in the world, but not of the world. Jesus shows us how to face temptation and sin, but not to get trapped by them and to drown.

Peter gets out of the boat
Peter responds to Jesus’ call and gets out of the boat and is walking across the water. As soon as he realizes what he is doing, he gets distracted by the wind and the waves and starts to drown. When this happens he calls to Jesus for help, and Christ saves him.

How do we put these readings into practice?
- Listen to the small still voice
After Holy Communion today, it is our time to be like Elijah and Peter, to listen to God as he speaks to our hearts with the still, small voice.

Ask Jesus to call you out of the Boat
Then, ask the Lord, “if that is you then command me to get out of the boat”. God is sending us out of the boat onto the waves of the world this week. But we are being sent out to walk on water, to live lives that witness the love of God to our friends and family.

Remember to call on him this week when you get distracted!
Finally, when we are out there this week and we see the wind and the waves and we want to panic let us remember the prayer of St. Peter – “Lord Save Me!” And he will.

Ice Hockey Catholics

2nd Sunday of Lent – Cycle C

Gn 15:5-12, 17-18, Psalm 27:1, 7-8, 8-9, 13-14, Phil 3:17—4:1, Gospel: Lk 9:28b-36

Ice Hockey
This past year I have come to appreciate Ice Hockey. Part of the reason why is my brother and his neighbor built an ice rink in their front yards. It stretches from driveway to driveway and is truly a marvel to behold. Recently, I had the opportunity to play some hockey with my nieces and nephews in my hiking boots (I don’t have ice-skates – they would be too big and I would be too tall). I have come to admire the skill of the that the athletes have in the Vancouver Olympics. In fact, today the players are playing to see who will win the Gold or Silver medals in the Winter Olympics.

Gold Medal Hockey Player
What does it take to be a Gold Medal Hockey player? You need to be able to skate well, use a Hockey stick to move the puck, to work as a team and to practice, practice, practice. Being part of a Hockey team means that you need to live a life of practice, sacrifice and gratitude. Being on an Olympic Hockey team means that you need to live, practice and play with the team, you listen to the coach and try to follow his directions and encouragement.

The Church is the Hockey Team
The Church is a lot like a Hockey Team, we have adopted a similar way of life – Practice, Sacrifice, and Gratitude. I know you didn’t imagine yourselves as Holy Hockey Players, but that is indeed what we are, and Lent is our time for practice.

Listen Up!
During Lent we practice the core spiritual disciplines of Prayer, Fasting and Alms-giving. We do this so that we can become better Christians, and grow closer in our relationship with God. Today I want to reflect with you about the spiritual discipline of Prayer, think of ourselves as members of the St. Anthony’s Avalanche, and I’m the assistant coach – so listen up!

Time to get serious about the Game
One of the ways that the Church and the Hockey team is alike is that we both have there is a coach and a team. Jesus is the coach and we are all on the team. We come to Mass on Sunday to hear what the Coach has to say, to be encouraged and to pray with one another so that when we get into the game [[Out there]] we can play hard and score goals. Lent is a time where we are called to get a little more serious about our game.

Love the Game – Guard the Puck
The first thing you will notice about hockey players is that they love the game, they love skating on the ice, competing and playing well. In order to do that they need to know the game, study it and become good at it. In order to win at the game of Hockey you need to be able to move the puck down the ice and slip it speedily past the goal keeper at the right moment.

Share the Love of Christ
For Christians, the puck is sharing the love of Christ. We treasure it and guard it as we skate through life in relationship with our family and friends, and when the moment is right, we take a shot to sneak it past the devil and into their hearts. When God sees a person falling in love with Him he is very happy – we scored a goal.

Move the Puck down the Ice
But how do we move the puck down the ice? I want you to imagine that this hockey puck is your love for God, that he gave you in Baptism. He also gave you this hockey stick, to guard the puck from the opposing team, and to shoot goals with. In our lives, this puck and stick are represented by our life of prayer. If we don’t make it a point to pray in our lives, then how can we be ready to shoot when the goal is open? How will we see that the goal is open, and hear the coach yelling at us – “Shoot!”?

Time for Prayer
For most of us talking to God is easy, but making time to do it requries a little bit of discipline. I would encourage you to set aside a little extra time this Lent for prayer, either in the morning or the evening – whenever you are most awake and alert. Set your timer for 10 minutes and spend that time sharing your day with God and listening to what he has to say.

Sharing your life with Christ
Talking to God is the easy part, Listening is a little more challenging. If we have the habit of sharing our day with God in prayer, then we can spend some time each day quietly thinking over what has happened. Imagine yourself sitting down at the kitchen table with Him at the end of a busy day and sharing with Him what went on. Begin with a simple sign of the Cross, and a short prayer to call yourself into God’s presence. After that just talk over your day with Jesus and ask Him to point out where in your life He helped you – to avoid temptation, or he used you to show someone his love.

How to handle the tough days
Sometimes we struggle to see that God was working in our life at all on a particular day – often times those can be the worst of days. Maybe you are drawing a blank on this right now. We can find some encouragement in the first reading today. In the First Reading God makes his first covenant with Abram – who become Abraham – the Father of Faith.

Your life is a fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham
Abraham is the Father of Faith because he believed that God would do as he promised. But Abraham’s faith is not a blind faith, but rather a faith that is rooted in his daily relationship with Christ. It is also a reasoned faith. When God promises Abraham to have more descendants than the stars, Abraham’s response isn’t “Ok – if you say so” – but “How does that work out?” He has the response of reason. We too would do well to imitate Abraham’s relationship with God. How do we know that God fulfilled Abraham’s promise. Today there are about 2 billion Christians, and all of us trace our spiritual roots to Abraham. We are proof that God has fulfilled his blessing to Abraham. Take that as the first step towards sharing with God how he has used you to share his blessing with someone else this evening when you sit down to evaluate your faith. Our lives are not just the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham, but much more, we just need to open our eyes to see the many ways that he blesses us.

The Lord is my LIGHT and my SALVATION
The Psalm today says that “The Lord is my light and my Salvation – In Him I trust”. When we come to the end of our day today we will have the opportunity to sit down with Christ and ask the question – How did God illumine my life today? How did he open my eyes to see the world a little bit more through his eyes? Who did I meet that Christ called me to love? To care for? To Listen to. The other half of this expression also applies. The Lord is my salvation in whom I trust. When did I recognize my need for God to save me? To help me? Did I put my trust in Him or did I try to solve it all myself?

The Saints – Hockey Hero’s
Every hockey player has hero’s guys they look up to and aspire to be like. St. Paul reminds us of that when he says – “Be imitators of me as I imitate Christ”. If we want to be good players on the St. Anthony’s Avalanche we will need to set for ourselves good role models of players who know how to skate well, and listen to the coach.

Know what it will be like on the medal stand
Finally, we come to the Gospel, where Christ, knowing that there are difficult times ahead takes his closest friends, Peter, James and John to the top of the mountain to share with them the Glory that he had with the Father before he was born. Jesus is taking us to the medal stands, so we can see and know what a Gold Medal is like – he want’s to inspire us to keep on skating hard, so that we can be with him when the match is over.

Will we hear the Lord when he says – Take the shot!
The readings today encourage us to get on our game and play for the goal. This week Christ will show us an opportunity to score a goal – We don’t know when, or where, or who, but someone this week will need us to be a Christian, and to share with them the Love that God has shared with us. When that moment comes this week will your “spiritual ears” be open to hear Jesus encouraging us “Shoot for the goal!”?

Empty Chairs…

2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time – Cycle B

1 Sam 3:3b-10,19 Psalm 40:2, 4, 7-8, 8-9, 10, 1 Cor 6:13c-15a, 17-20, Jn 1:35-42

[[SET UP A CARD TABLE AND TWO CHAIRS IN FRONT OF THE ALTAR. SIT AT ONE OF THE CHAIRS AND FACE THE CONGREGATION]]

I know that you are wondering why I am sitting here at this card table for our homily. I wanted to use the idea of the kitchen table to help us reflect on some rather difficult issues that affect our Church and our families today.

The Kitchen Table
One of the places that our families regularly meet is around the kitchen table. Most days, after a long day at work, or school, or keeping up the house we gather here to share a meal, to give thanks to God and to talk about our day. Sometimes the kids dread the ritual questions such as – “What did you at school today?” It’s ok though, because most kids have equally ritual responses such as “Nothing”, or “Not Much”.

The place where families share life
At other times we share times of great joy, or love, or sadness. We might have a heated discussion, or laugh about a funny story, or just be happy hearing about a new friendship. Sometimes, we gather here in grief, to mourn the loss of loved ones, or some other family tragedy. It is around our kitchen tables that we share the joys and the struggles of life. Here at our table we share life with one another.

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with a good friend of mine who will always have an empty chair at her kitchen table, a chair that does not have a child to fill it.

Bernadette
When Bernadette was 33 (thirty three) years old she was diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer. The doctors said that she would be lucky to live. This news hit Bernadette like a ton of bricks because 3 (three) days earlier she had discovered that she was pregnant with her second child. One of her doctors said that she would probably die, and if she died then her baby would die as well. The doctor said “You’re going to have to fight this with all that you’ve got – without the baby on board”. Bernadette was confronted with the choice – die from cancer, or get an abortion and fight for all its worth – and you might live.

Empty Chairs…
Bernadette’s story is not an isolated story. The truth is that in our community one in three women have had an abortion. This means, that one in three women live with a kitchen table that has at least one empty chair at it – the chair for their missing children.

[[PAUSE]]

Women confronted with Abortion
Bernadette’s story is not uncommon in other ways. Most of the women who end up having abortions make those decisions in a time of crisis in their lives. Often women struggle with the issue of abortion not in clinical, academic debate, but in the nitty-gritty reality that we often find at our kitchen tables. Many times we face this decision in a state of psychological distress, and quite often we don’t end up making the best of choices. Many times we suffer the consequences of this crisis for years and years to come.

Men shirking responsibility
Men too share in this culpability to abortion – typically we panic and frantically look for a way to avoid our responsibility. There are probably men here today who have been responsible for paying for, or encouraging their wives or girlfriends into getting an abortion. We too have empty chairs at our kitchen tables. We too are in need of healing, forgiveness. The church teaches that those who have procured an abortion are in a state of mortal sin, and in need of receiving Christ’s forgiveness.

The quick-fix is a lie
Here is where our society fails us. Our culture teaches that happiness is a quick fix. We thrive on instant gratification, because it’s all about me. We like things to end up nice, neat and tidy, no muss, no fuss. It doesn’t often end this way at our family table, because it is here, when we are home, alone that we have to face the reality of the empty chair at our table. Mothers often suffer from guilt, anger, sadness, depression. These feelings come and go over time – but the wound remains, unhealed and bleeding deep inside of us.

[[PAUSE]]

Behold the Lamb of God!
John the Baptist begins today’s gospel with the expression – “Behold the Lamb of God!” With these words he points out to us the one person who we can meet that is able to bring forgiveness, healing and peace into our lives. With this expression – “The Lamb of God” St. John recalls to us that Christ is the paschal lamb, the sacrificial lamb who has taken on flesh like us, has joined us to offer himself in sacrifice, to assume the responsibility that we have shirked, to take away our sins, to wash us clean in the blood the cross.

Rabbi – where are you staying?
How can I ever approach Christ with sin on my soul? This is where we see the good news of the Gospel today. Andrew comes up to Jesus and asks an important question – “Rabbi – where are you staying?” Jesus answers him saying “Come and you will see”. Andrew stayed with Jesus for the rest of that day, and it convicted him in his heart that Jesus truly is the Lamb of God, that He is the one who was sent to take away the sins of the world. The beauty of responding to Christ’s invitation to follow him is that through our relationship with Him he purifies our lives, he washes away our sins allowing us to be transformed from a life of darkness in sin into the joy and peace of Christ.

[[PAUSE]]

Wounds bleed, only Christ heals
The wounds of abortion hurt us intensely. Personally, the wounds that we carry from abortion remain with us the rest of our lives. Often we hide them away behind grief, denial, shame where they fester and weep slowly in our souls for years. Today, the Gospel invites us to change that – to come to the “Lamb of God” and invite him into our wounds. Modern psychology gives us many wonderful tools for managing and understanding our pain and our suffering, but only Christ has the power to wash away our sins, to cleanse and heal our wounds with His loving grace. I invite all of those present who suffer from these wounds to look into Project Rachel – a ministry of the Church where those who suffer from the effects of abortion can find support, healing and peace in their lives.

[[PAUSE]]

Pray and write a letter
The Gospel calls all of us to action. For those who are not directly involved in abortion, we still suffer the consequences of a society without children. What can we do? Two things; Pray and write a letter.

Prayer and Fasting
This Thursday is the 36th (thirty-sixth) anniversary of the Supreme Court decision Roe vs Wade that legalized abortion on demand in our country. This is a day of penance for our Church. This means that we are all to pray in a special way, and go out of our way to perform works of charity and to deny ourselves through fasting and abstinence.

Oppose FOCA
The second is to take some action to protect the children of our country who are in the womb. This week, congress is considering the Freedom of Choice Act – a law that will permit abortion in all 9 (nine) months of a woman’s pregnancy. I want to encourage all of you to sit down and write your senators and representatives encouraging them to oppose this horrible piece of legislation.

Learn the providence of God
Bernadette was faced with a crisis. She and her husband turned to Christ and prayed. After much struggle and discernment she chose to forego an abortion, and to have surgery to remove the cancer. After the surgery she had to wait until her child had grown large enough to survive the chemo-therapy, which she began starting in her second trimester. Bernadette delivered a healthy 8 (eight) pound baby girl, and survived her cancer at the same time. She did this by choosing to trust that God’s plan was the best for her. This is not the easy choice for her to make – but it was the best choice – because through it she learned to trust in the providence of God.

[[GET UP AND MOVE BEHIND THE ALTAR]]

Come and you will see
Like Bernadette, we too are invited this week to learn to trust in the providence of God so that we can learn that He truly has the best plan for us. God’s plan isn’t always the easiest plan, but it is always the best plan. God is calling us as He called Samuel in the first reading. He is calling us to gather around his kitchen table in heaven. This week we are invited to begin to share our life with God anew.

Do we have the courage to invite Christ into our lives?
[[PAUSE]]
Do we have the faith to listen to Him?
[[PAUSE]]
“Come and you will see!”

Tepeyac

Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Rv 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab

(I was asked to bless one of the local supermarkets in our parish as they celebrated the Fieste de Nuestra Senora Guadalupe)

Today we celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, because on this day in 1531 Juan Diego listened to her and picked roses from the top of the hill of Tepeyac. Out of obedience to Our Lady he wrapped the roses in his tilma and carried them to the Bishop of Mexico. When he opened his tilma in the presence of the Bishop, the roses spilled out revealing the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe on his tilma.

There are two key elements to the image of Our Lady that I would like to reflect on today; the sovereignty of God and the need to live a life of prayer.

Our Lady appears in front of the Sun and standing on the Moon, which were symbols for prominent Aztec Gods. In this way she demonstrates that we are to worship only the true God in heaven and not false Gods, be they ancient Aztec Gods, or modern Gods such as money or things.

The second element of the image on the tilma is that Our Lady appears as a pregnant Aztec princess with her head bowed in prayer. The reason for this is because Mary is teaching us that the way to salvation is through coming to know her Son, Jesus. The Lady of Guadalupe teaches us that the way to know her Son is by listening to Him in prayer, and imitating him with our own love for the poor, the weak and the oppressed.

Why did Jesus send his Mother to appear to Blessed Juan Diego on the hill of Tepeyac all those years ago? I think the reason why is because of God’s love for us. He wants us to share the same faith that Juan Diego has, so Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared in order to bring us into the Church – to know and love and serve God.

Pray like a Pirate

17th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle C

Praying like a pirate.

Would you like to hear how pirates pray before meals?

[[PAUSE]]

Really?

Years ago I had the opportunity to learn – hears how it goes.

(To the tune of Gilligans Island)

Bless us Lord and these thy gifts which we are about to receive (Pound the Ambo 3 Times)
From thy bounty through Christ our Lord Amen amen amen. (Amen Amen Amen).

If you really want to wake up people, try praying that with your family the next time you go out to a restaurant for dinner

[[PAUSE]]

The reason that I bring up praying like a pirate is for three reasons – first, everyone prays to God. We have different ways, and different motivations, but everyone prays at some point in their life. Second, today’s scripture readings center on the subject of prayer, and third, the common pirate expression ARRRG (That’s A with 3 R’s and a G) is a nice mnemonic for the process of all authentic Christian Prayer.

You might be thinking to your self – how does that go me matey deacon? ARRRG

ARRRG Stands for Acknowledge, Relate, Receive and Respond to God.

Acknowledge.

In order for prayer to be authentic it needs to begin with an acknowledgment of all of the stuff that is stirred up within ourselves, and is going on. To pretend that Prayer is simply a serene, and peaceful experience is not to understand what true prayer is. God created us for intimacy with him, he desires to love our souls in their totality, he desires relationship with us. When you meet a friend, you always ask how’s it going? To which typically the response is an automatic – really good. This is not true acknowledgment. Abraham gives us a glimpse of answering God’s “How’s it Going” question in today’s reading. He is walking with his dear friend God on the way to Sodom and Gomorrah, and he is struggling with the balance of God’s Mercy and God’s Justice. Abraham has known God long enough at this point to be able to understand these two find qualities of his friend, but he is struggling to see how God puts them together. And so, this understanding bubbles up out of him as he goes down the road to Sodom with God

Acknowledge means that we allow ourselves the time to allow the stuff of our life to bubble up and out as we spend time with our friend.

Relate (Honestly and Consistently) (The first R of ARRRG).

Next, after seeing what is going on within us, we need talk about what is going on in our heart with God. This is not because God needs to know what is going on in our heart, but rather, that it is part of our own design that we enter into relationship by speaking about the things that are going on within us. Relate is at the heart of Relationship. If you are not relating then you are not in a relationship.

The key to this relation is that we are honest (don’t beat around the bush, reflect on the outside what is going on on the inside. This is sometimes hard to do – especially if we have false images of God in our mind. God wouldn’t want me to be angry, mad, sad, unforgiving, hurt, joyful or what-ever. If we are not relating honestly, then we are not relating. God knows that we have human emotions and foibles. He loves us regardless, and so he desires us to be honest with Him.

A good way to reflect on this from the Scriptures is to look at the psalms. There are psalms of Joy, of Praise, of Thanksgiving, of Lament, of Anger, of every human emotion. Honest relating to God about what is going on inside is crucial.

Honestly and Consistently

The consistent part is harder for us to manage. This requires of us the discipline to keep at our relationship with God each and every day – even when we don’t want to. St. Francis De Sales asked a friend of his – when you pray – do you fly like a chicken or an eagle? He went on to explain that most Christians who flew like chickens flew that way because they only related to God in time of need, where as those who soared like eagles had made the time in their life to consistently acknowledge and relate to God.

One practical way to do this is to turn off the radio in your car on the way too or from work, and spend some time just mulling over your day, and relating it to God. Begin your time with a short prayer to the Holy Spirit, and then acknowledge and Relate.

Receive

All of us here who are baptized enter into our relationship with God, with the Holy Trinity through Christ. It is because we sacramentally share in His death and resurrection that we have the indwelling of the Holy Trinity within us. Christ is the God-Man. He is fully God, Fully divine, and yet equally and at the same time fully human. So Christ is the gateway for men into the life of the Holy Trinity. Now we need to ask the question, how does Christ enter into the relationship of the Holy Trinity? Christ says Everything I have I have received from my Father. – So receiving is the natural way for us to be fed by God.

Also, note that if I acknowledge what is going on within me, and honestly and consistently relate that experience to God, I am naturally disposed to receive. 99% of the spiritual life is receiving from God.

Practically, how do I receive? With a grateful heart. A spirit of gratitude and thanksgiving for the wonderful gifts that God has given us. Secondly, through a sacramental life – we receive the Eucharist, Absolution in our sacramental life. Today we all have the opportunity, and the invitation from Christ to receive Him.

The Last R – Respond.

After we have received (internalized) the grace / gift / love / truth / beauty of God, He convicts us to act, to respond. This is the easiest part of prayer. If you get the first three steps down this flows easily

The Mass is a excellent expression of the ARRRG principle of prayer. We enter into the Mass acknowledging our Sins, we relate to God throughout the Eucharistic Prayer, and then we receive Jesus, in communion, and have a time to listen to him, converse with him and love him in a very intimate and physical way.

Today at this liturgy we have the opportunity to enter into intimate prayer with God. When the end of mass comes today, what will your response be?