Archive for February, 2009

Start of Lent & Lenten Plans

theophilus February 24th, 2009

In the past few days, I have been thinking about my Lenten plans.  Usually, I coast into Lent and figure out what I’m going to do sometime around the 2nd Sunday.  But this year, I decided to actually plan ahead of time so I can make the most of the forty days.

If you don’t have a plan, you need one; especially this year.  With the world full of chaos and uncertainty, we need to get in tune with Christ.  Lent is the gift we have been given to do just this very thing.

The best website I’ve seen so far to help me form and stick to a Lenten plan is from Catholic Culture.  Their Lenten Workshop has a Personal Program component that leads you through fasting, prayers, almsgiving, good works, education, and self-denial.  It is the perfect primer for anyone that wants to do more than just give up sweets, eat fish on Fridays, and fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

Make this a meaningful Lent!  With all that is going on in the world, it shouldn’t take a genius to figure out that God is calling us back to him.  Let us pray that he opens our eyes to his deeds and our ears to the sound of his call (cf. this week’s alternative opening prayer). Let us invite the Holy Spirit into our prayers so he can lead us to what we should do.

This season is about our relationship with Christ.  Let these 40 days bear fruit worthy of his love for us.

The Paralytic Man is Us

theophilus February 22nd, 2009

Today’s gospel about the paralytic man being lowered through the roof has a very simple message – “Child, your sins are forgiven” says our Christ (Mark 2).  That is the message for us as we head into Lent.  Our sins are forgiven.

I used to not have much use for confession.  Now, it’s indispensable for my well-being.  It’s gotten so that now I really can’t stand the fact that it’s so hard to receive this sacrament in most suburban parishes, as they tend to reserve this reconciliation necessity to a tidy 30 minutes on Saturday afternoon before 4:30 or 5:00 Mass, when most family men are attending to their, ah, families.

In any case, for this Lent, find a confession period in your town that fits into your schedule.  Drive 30 minutes if you have too.  Don’t worry if the confession seems like a drive-by (and I’ve been to my share of these) and don’t worry if you think your sins are too great or too insignificant.  The goal is to get yourself right with God; to accept his grace and redemptive power; to turn your life so it corresponds with what God expects of you; to get yourself walking with Christ.

And if you are unsure as to what to say, pray to the Holy Spirit to speak for you as you share your faith and your faults with the priest in the confessional.  He is there in the presence of Christ; he is there for you.

Also, remember the words of Isaiah from this morning’s first reading (Isaiah 43) – “Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not; see, I am doing something new!”  Christ forgives us and in the process forgets our past.  He is doing something new in each of us.

Lent starts this Wednesday.  Are you ready?  Confession is a good place to start.

The Pope & the Speaker

theophilus February 20th, 2009

There are two churches on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. – St. Peter’s on the House side, St. Joseph’s on the Senate side.  In their tabernacles, the real presence of Christ surrounds the Capitol.  Some Catholic Congressmen choose to acknowledge his presence both before the tabernacle and with their votes.

Their votes are joined by like-minded members of other faiths who realize that our laws need to be predicated on a moral and natural law that just so happens to come from God.  It also just so happens that these laws are embodied in the teachings of Christ.

It is not an issue of the separation of church and state; our founding fathers drew this very connection between the basis of our laws and the moral and natural law promulgated by God.

Believing as I do in the primacy of natural and moral law, I often wonder how some politicians can take policy positions that are diametrically opposed to Church teachings, say on abortion, and still sit in church on Sunday.  Isn’t there any sense of guilt or that something just isn’t right?  Don’t they question that maybe the Church is onto something and that, yes, their eternal lives may be at stake?  If they actually go to confession, do they fail to do even one moment of examination of conscience?  How do they rationalize what they do and say on the national stage?

Do they truly look themselves in the mirror?  I’m especially thinking about those who started out their political career pro-life and “grew” in their understanding of the issue concerning “a woman’s reproductive rights.”

The Speaker of the House had an opportunity this week presented to very few of us – a member of the Catholic laity meeting privately with the Holy Father.  For most of us, it would have been a moment of profound humility and interior reflection.  But, it appears that she decided to take the opportunity to “educate” the Pope, instead of accepting personal, spiritual direction from the direct apostolic successor to St. Peter.

What she may have failed to realize is that the Holy Father was probably most concerned with her soul, and those Catholic politicians who take similar culture of death positions.  Very few really know, but I bet she presented herself at this meeting failing to realize that she, like us, is a member of his flock, for which he is accountable to God.  She probably tried to ignore her abortion positions the same way we try to ignore certain sins while in the confessional.

And we have all been like her in one way or another, for we are all sinners and in need of understanding and redemption.  We have all done things in our lives that we have ignored, rationalized or just lied to ourselves about.  I, for one, didn’t go to confession for years because I didn’t want to face the hard questions I was getting while at Mass about my life choices.  I was in the pews on Sunday but hiding from Christ all the same.

Politicians need our prayers, because it is so easy to get spiritually lost while in power.  The soul tends to get buried underneath an avalanche of rationalizations.

Nothing is hopeless with God.  Christ can reach even the most virulent of the culture of death crowd.  If he can reach the “Roe” of Roe v. Wade, he can get through to anyone.

I would venture a guess that the Holy Father included the Speaker in his private prayers this week.  We are called by Christ to do the same.

Noah & Our Culture of Death

theophilus February 19th, 2009

I love the story of Noah, especially the part about the rainbow.  It’s the perfect Old Testament story about redemption, mercy, salvation.  Noah shows us how to live as a real man of God; listening, following, obeying, trusting, not being afraid.

But I often miss key points of Noah’s story, specifically those that come after the flood waters have receded.  These points made by God to Noah (Genesis 9) shed some light on what God must really feel about our culture of death.

“For your own lifeblood, too, I will demand an accounting . . . from one man in regard to his fellow man I will demand an accounting for human life.”

“For in the image of God has man been made.”

“Be fertile, then, and multiply; abound on earth and subdue it.”

“See, I am now establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you.”

The sanctity of human life is paramount to God and he holds each of us individually accountable.  Why?  Because we have been made in his image.

Yet, we have a prevailing culture that cuts short life in the womb, with some wanting to cut it short at the other end as well.

God wants us to be fertile; yet we short-circuit our fertility, our very ability to allow God to act through us to create life.

God wants us to hold up our side of his covenant with us; yet too many of us want the trappings and pleasures of this world instead.

Unlike Noah, too many refuse to listen, follow, and obey God.  Too many refuse to trust God and not be afraid.  Too many turn our backs on the grace-filled, divine covenant that God seeks to renew with us each and every day, most notably through the Mass and confession.

In today’s gospel (Mark 8), St. Peter proclaims to Jesus, “You are the Christ.”  We cannot proclaim the same if we embrace (or even tolerate) our culture of death.  We must be strong men of God, like Noah, and take personal responsibility for our covenant with God; a covenant that finds a culture of life at its core.

Next time you see a rainbow, remember that God put it there as a sign personally to you; a sign of his love for you; a sign of his covenant with you; a sign that he expects you, yes you, to take personal accountability for promoting a culture of life.

Promoting life may go against the social whims of the time, but do you really think that Noah cared a whit of what the rest of society was saying about him as he went about building the ark?  He trusted God and did his job.  So should we.

Spiritual Blindness

theophilus February 18th, 2009

I saw a man last week who had the biggest glasses I had ever seen on anyone.  They were two inches in length and width.  I was able to grab a side view and saw a lense that was at least a quarter to a third of an inch.

I looked at him with a sense of wonder and curiousity.  I have vision problems of my own and know that I see the world in ways that others do not.  But, in seeing this gentleman, I was wondering how he saw the world.  With his glasses on, he could probably see clearly; with them off, he could probably only see extremely blurred shapes.

I thought of him when I read today’s gospel from Mark 8 which tells the story of Jesus healing one of several blind men touched by Christ throughout the gospels.  In this case, Jesus first partially heals him (”I see people looking like trees and walking,”) and then fully heals him (”his sight was restored and he could see everything distinctly.”)

The man I came across last week was like this man.  With his glasses on, he can see everything clearly; with them off, he sees people looking like trees and walking.

What about us?

Do you go through life with spiritually blurred vision or do you see clearly through the lens of Christ?

I personally find myself suffering from blurred vision a great deal of the time.  I lose sight of Christ and become blind to his expectations of me.

And I look around me and see so many who have succumb to the belief that wrong is right; evil is good; impurity of mind and body is acceptable; what others think is more important than what God thinks.

In other words, too many have allowed their vision to become blurred or have allowed themselves to become outright blind as to their divine relationship with God.

I don’t want to be blind anymore; it’s such a lousy way to go through life.  I want what is prayed in today’s Mass “Alleluia” taken from St. Paul and Ephesians 1, “May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ enlighten the eyes of our hearts, that we may know what is the hope that belongs to his call.”

God does not want us to go through life spiritually blind or with spiritually blurred vision.  He gives us the ability to spiritually see him, if we will only open our eyes to his presence among us.

And we cast off the shackles of blindness when we accept his call and live our lives in imitation of him.

Web Sites & A Locked Church

theophilus February 2nd, 2009

I have found two websites recently that are outstanding reminders.

One is the First Friday Society.  Historically, the First Friday of every month is devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  The most important way to show our devotion on this day is to attend Mass.  The First Friday Society will send you an email in the days before the first Friday of the month reminding you to go to Mass.  It will also remind you of Holy Days of Obligation.  If you don’t go to weekday Mass regularly, this reminder will help you become more devoted to Christ through the Eucharist.

The other website is the Apostleship of Prayer.  I knew that the Holy Father always has his monthly intentions (see my left sidebar), but I didn’t know that these intentions started through the efforts of the Apostleship of Prayer  ministry in 1844.  The Apostleship encourages us to say a Morning Offering upon waking to offer every part of our day to Christ.  I’ve been praying a Morning Offering for a year or so.  It’s just such a great way to start the day.

On a totally unrelated note, I have a frustration with locked churches.  I like to drop in for a visit to the Blessed Sacrament when very few people are there.  I like being in Christ’s presence, the solitary silence, and the spiritual sanctuary that only an empty church can offer.  I especially love traditional churches, which are often only found in urban areas.  So, there are too many times when I want to enter into this blessed wonderland only to be faced with the cold, hard sound of locked doors.

Today, I had some time between meetings in the city, so I went to the Cathedral in downtown Covington, Kentucky, which is in an urban area across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, Ohio.  For some reason, I was surprised that I found the doors were locked.

I then went to Mother of God Church in downtown Covington and likewise found their doors locked.  I then saw a passageway to the side door of the church and decided to give it a try.  The door was locked.  But, there was a door buzzer with a sign stating “press for admission.”  I looked up and saw the camera mounted above the door, pressed the button, “presented” myself to the camera, and the door buzzed.  I entered by the confessional on the side of the church.

It all became a great juxtaposition of events.  Today is the Feast of the Presentation.  Monday is the Joyful Mysteries for the Holy Rosary.  Mother of God is an old German church with a huge fresco of the Annunciation, Visitation and Nativity above the altar, and the Presentation and Finding Jesus in the Temple above the altars of St. Joseph and Mary respectively.  So, I was led by the Holy Spirit to pray a very powerful and blessed Rosary.

Towards the end of my prayer, a gentleman came up to me to let me know that they had to lock down the church.  He sheepishly apologized to me and warmly told me to come back.  I left knowing that this circumstance was just a sign of the times; a contradiction expressed by Simeon.

As I got back to my car in the side parking lot, I noticed an elderly lady who was having great difficulties trying to balance some things in her arms while she got out of her car.  We still have a great deal of ice around because of last week’s ice storm and she couldn’t get a good foothold on a patch of ice surrounding her car.  So, I went over, took her hand, then her arm, and navigated her through the ice.

The point isn’t my gesture.  It was the Christian, Christ-like and chivalrous thing to do.  The point is more profound.  What would have happened to her if I hadn’t been kicked out of church?

Interesting times we live in.  Interesting times.  Remember, God is in control.

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