Archive for the 'Renewal' Category

“Hearing God’s Voice”

theophilus November 18th, 2009

fr. mark's book

Fr. Mark Burger is the pastor of St. John the Evangelist parish in West Chester, Ohio.  He is also a renowned speaker and retreat leader.  He appears annually at the Cincinnati Men’s Conference and always leaves us pondering whether we are truly listening to the voice of God that is always in our heads, even if we have hit the cerebral mute button.

Fr. Mark decided to publish a book, “Hearing God’s Voice.”  We received advance notice of the book at this past Men’s Conference in March so I was looking forward to its release.  He decided to self-publish it, which means some unfortunate publishing house missed out on the chance to sell people something that is going to actually enrich their souls and lead them closer to our heavenly Father.

The book is laid out as a daily meditation.  Each day of the year carries a different sermon.  Some are of the slap-you-across-the-face variety, while others reveal themselves to you slowly and profoundly as you mull the message over during the course of a day.

The important part of Fr. Mark’s insights is that he always tells a story.  It’s not lecturing or postering-it’s just spinning a tale and then hitting home the point.  It’s also ecumenical in scope.  For me, it’s a great way to spend the five minutes before I walk out the door in the morning.  I find myself reflecting on the story during my ride into work.

A good example is today’s reflection for November 18th.  Fr. Mark tells the story of a friend who gave him a prayer to bring someone peace in troubled times.  After relaying the prayer, Fr. Mark concludes by sharing with us that -

“Jesus promised to give us a gift that no one else can, the gift of peace. His peace comes when no other sentiment, feeling or emotion will satisfy. Only His peace has the power to keep our eyes focused on heaven.”

We do live in unsatisfying times that are calling out for the best in all of us.  Fr. Mark’s book may be one tool that God is putting into your hands to help you answer this call.

You can order the book through this link – Hearing God’s Voice.  You just need to fork over $13.95 (and I’m assuming S&H and applicable taxes-you also have to register with lulu.com).

Advent is around the corner.  These meditations may be just what you need to start off the new liturgical year right.

Required Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book from a friend who worked on the book with Fr. Mark.  I provided free and rather poor guidance to Fr. Mark on how to set up a blog to publish his daily meditations.  I have not received and will not receive anything of value in connection with this book.  I just think it’s a cool worship tool worthy of your time and money.

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.

Are We Doing God’s Will? Yeah, right!

theophilus January 27th, 2009

Let’s look at the state of the national and global economy, culture, political systems, families, communities and workplaces.

Do we really believe that we are even close to doing God’s will?  Do we really accept our divine filiation as his children?

Yeah, there are many in this world who truly offer themselves over to God and allow themselves to be used in accordance with his will?  But can the rest of us, as a whole, say the same things?

Today’s readings have got me thinking.  Hebrews 10 discusses Jesus’ declaration that he had come to do his Father’s will.  The refrain for the Responsorial Psalm (Psalm 40) proclaims “Here I am Lord, I come to do your will.”  Today’s Gospel (Mark 3) gives us the reassurance from Jesus that “whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

There it is in neon lights.  We are here to do God’s will!

I don’t know why God’s will is so hard for us.  His will is what leads us to eternal life.  His will is what leads us to peace and joy.  His will is what leads us to the happiness of the saints and to doing great works here on earth.

Yet, we rebel, reject, ignore and often ridicule his will.  We replace it with our own will and do so under the painfully, mistaken assumption that we know better than he does what is best for us.

And the problem for us is that he gives us the freedom to turn away from him.  He never turns his back on us; but he allows us to turn our backs on him.  And he leaves us to deal with the resulting consequences.

That is until we turn back to him.  He always gives us an out from the disaster of our choices.  He always is ready to shine the light on the path back to his son.  No matter how far off that path we may find ourselves and no matter the severity of our sins, he always welcomes us back into his fold through his mercy, salvation, redemption and forgiveness.

The good news for us is that our kind have been doing this sort of thing in every age way back to Adam & Eve.  The better news is that societies and cultures always seem to find their way back in some form or another.  It may be painful, but we always seem to find the path once again.

But we have to take the first step by following God’s will and unifying our will with his.

He is inviting us back to his feast; will we accept the invitation?

Candy Collectors on Beggars Night

theophilus October 31st, 2008

Just got back from taking my candy collectors out on Beggars Night – or at least that is the new terminology used by our suburban newspaper.  Go figure.

Today is, of course, the last day of October – the Month of the Holy Rosary.  And I’m thrilled that I somehow prayed the Rosary every day this month.   It’s the longest stretch I’ve ever managed and I have found a peace and trust that was alluding me as October dawned. 

Throughout October, I have found myself becoming more devotional and committed to my conversation with God.  I’m not exactly praying morning, noon and night; but I have stepped up my prayer life in a way I never thought would be possible or necessary.

I have fasted at times, been more attentive at Mass and more focused at Eucharistic Adoration.  I’ve prayed the novenas flying around the blogosphere.  I’ve prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet.  I’ve been more contemplative in praying the Liturgy of the Hours. 

And I do believe that all of these attempts to talk to and hear from God are necessary.  This nation, this Shining City on a Hill, is at a point where we will either become a nation continually blessed by God or one separated from him.

Sometime ago, we started interpreting freedom of religion as being the exclusion of religion.  Some started talking about the separation of church and state and their talk began sounding more like they wanted a separation of God from public life altogether.

And once we started to separate God from our public life, he started disappearing from our private lives as well.  The result has been a culture so toxic and so broken that it has left debris everywhere from the Baby Boomers to each successive generation.  Our teenagers are now only starting to pay their price for our misplaced priorities.

So, what do we do?  We pray, and then pray, and then pray some more.  We recognize our individual guilt in the worsening of our culture; whether that guilt is direct or indirect, by commission or omission.

I’ve been praying the past few weeks for forgiveness.  I’m not a bad person.  I’ve done my best to not support a culture gone wrong.  But have I done enough?  Have I allowed myself to financially support, either directly or indirectly, those institutions which produce and facilitate this stuff?  Have I done enough to stand up for the very simple notion that right is right and wrong is wrong, especially when it comes to the sanctity of life and the marriage covenant?  Have I given into the desire to be entertained no matter the message being sent?  Have I misplaced my priorities?  Do I rely too much on the comforts of this world?

God is asking us to choose; right here, right now.  I really don’t think he is going to give us too many more chances. 

This point is reinforced each morning in the Liturgy of the Hours, which begins each day with Psalm 95.  The verses that always get me are the following:

“Today, listen to the voice of the Lord: do not grow stubborn, as your fathers did in the wilderness, when at Meriba and Massah they challenged me and provoked me, although they had seen all my works.  Forty years I endured that generation.  I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray and they do not know my ways.’  So I swore in my anger, ‘They shall not enter into my rest.’”

Too many of us have stopped listening to the “voice of the Lord.”  Too many have grown stubborn.  We challenge God and provoke him.  God has been patient, but he may soon decide that we are beyond help; that our hearts go astray and we do not know his ways.  He may soon decide to just let us wander around.

So, as I’ve gone through this month, I’ve been burdened by my fear that God will turn his back on us and leave us to sink in our own mire.  But as this month progressed, and the Rosary decades started adding up, I became aware that this month of prayer and fasting was giving me a profound sense of hope that we can turn it around.  We can create a culture that is healthy for our kids or a constructive force in our own lives.

Today’s Morning Prayer included Psalm 51 (the Miserere Mei), the one King David wrote after Nathan called him on the carpet for his affair with Bathsheba and his complicity in having, Uriah, her husband killed.  It’s a powerful plea for forgiveness.  When I prayed it this morning, I found myself substituting the second person for the first person (”we” instead of “I” and “us” instead of “me”).  I found myself praying for our nation, for our people. 

As this month of October comes to a close and we turn our attention to the month of November, the month of saints, all souls, and thanksgiving; it is a good time for us to think about whether we are preparing ourselves for life eternal and whether we are helping our fellow travelers to do the same.  The state of our culture is a vital measure in determining the adequacy of our preparations.

I’m betting we can get this thing turned around.  If we turn back to God; if we listen to his voice.

Resources for Dads

theophilus October 2nd, 2008

To me, the key to continuously renewing our lives is to, from time to time, break away from our blogging, our fantasy football teams, our kids’ video games, and our TV to learn something.  With this in mind, I decided to fool around last night online, without going onto my regular websites.  Along the way, I found (or rediscovered) some great resources for dads - some new, some not-so-new.

The Knights of Columbus have started a web site aimed at Dads.  Fathers for Good is a resource aimed at men, specifically Dads.  Check it out.

I also came across a series of free booklets on the Scepter Publishers website.  Many of these booklets are aimed at families and provide a great deal of insight for us Dads, with titles like “Bright and Cheerful Homes,” “Parents, Children & the Rules of Life,” and “Reinventing Dad.”

I’ve also become more interested in Catholic bible study, trying to understand the broad themes of the Bible and how they guide us to getting to where God wants us to be.  I found Dr. Scott Hahn’s site, St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology.  It provides a series of free online courses to help deepen our Catholic faith and truly understand what God is trying to tell us in the Bible.  Courses such as, “Covenant Love: Introducting the Biblical Worldview,” “The Lamb’s Supper: The Bible and the Mass,” and “Holy Queen: The Mother of God in the Word of God.”  All are brief, insightful and to the point.

And then it’s back to the Knights of Columbus.   They run the Catholic Information Service, which has a series of free booklets and free online courses to help explain the Faith.  The “Luke E. Hart Series Course” is based on the Catechism, and the “CIS Faith Formation Course” is geared towards explaining the Church’s faith, practices and devotions.  Both are worth checking out.  If nothing else, download some of the booklets.  The CIS also has a great page on The Year of St. Paul.  You do not have to be a Knight to access these resources.

And today is the Feast of our Guardian Angels.  We are never too old to believe in them, trust them and pray to them.  And we should most certainly teach our kids to reach out to them and talk to them, and to realize that they are a constant presence in their lives and a grace from God.

“Angel of God, my guardian dear.  To whom, God’s love commits me here.  Ever this day be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide.”

How’s Your Heart?

theophilus August 21st, 2008

How’s your heart?  Not your blood pressure, pulse rate, or VO2 Max rate; but the spiritual soundness of your heart.

I starting pondering this question after reading the first reading from today’s Mass (Ezekiel 36):

“I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you natural hearts.  I will put my spirit within you and make you live by my statutes, careful to observe my decrees.  You shall live in the land I gave your ancestors; you shall be my people and I will be your God.” 

Today’s Responsorial Psalm is from Psalm 51 and has King David praying:

“A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me.  . . . My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit; a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.”

It doesn’t get too much hopeful than these two passages.  No matter how cold, hard, self-centered or proud our hearts have grown, God is always there to accept us and give us a “new heart”; a “natural heart”, a ”clean heart.”  And as we accept this gift from him, we will be encouraged knowing that we are his people and he is our God; and that he will not spurn us.

We spend a great deal of time caring or worrying about our hearts, both physically and metaphorically (for those who have suffered from a broken heart).  We also need to care for our hearts spiritually.  And we do so by praying to God for hearts created by him and spirits renewed by him.  We do so by asking for mercy, redemption and salvation, and by living in obedience to him.

So, how is your heart? 

St. Ignatius of Loyola

theophilus July 31st, 2008

I think many of us wonder whether we’ve just blown it.  Whether God has just given up on us and declared us a lost cause.  Yes, he may grant us mercy and redemption, but he has nevertheless decided that we have screwed up his plan for us so badly that he has us just playing out the string.

And then we read about St. Ignatius.  He was a soldier and a man worthy of his secular world.  He knew not Christ nor the God that protected him in battle.  His sole faith was in his sword and his only love was for the pleasures offered him throughout his world.

And then he was severely wounded and Christ started to act.  By the end of his long and lengthy rehabilitation, St. Ignatius was transformed into a zealous soldier of the Lord.  His battle transformed to one for souls; his passion switched to one for eternal life.

It is the conversion stories of the saints that most strike me.  Most saints appear to be the type who were pious from the womb; those whose destiny was sainthood.  And then there are those like St. Paul, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Augustine, and St. Ignatius, who got to sainthood through a passage through the secular world and all of the temptations it has to offer.

They came late to piety, holiness and sanctification; but they got there nonetheless.  Christ took his good sweet time with these souls, but he got them in the end.

And that is what gives hope to all of us.  No matter where we find ourselves in our lives; no matter what choices we have made; no matter how desperate our situation may be, Christ is calling each of us – and I do mean each of us – to sainthood. 

Each and every one of our saints share common qualities – trust, faith, hope, love, service, joy, contrition, and an overwhelming and all-consuming belief that they were doing God’s will; that they were helping build Christ’s kingdom in this temporal world.  They believed that they were following Christ’s path for them without reservation, without deviation.  They knew they were sinners but they also knew that they could accomplish anything as long as it was rooted in the will of God.

St. Ignatius slowly but definitively grew to understand all that it took to become a saint; and he put everything he had into doing God’s will.  As a result, millions throughout the world have been taught, converted, exhorted to change in the name of Christ, by the Jesuits, his children.

I came across this passage from Francis Fernandez last night that I think puts a great summation on St. Ignatius’ legacy for each of us -

“The greatest event of our life is our receiving the calling from our Lord, just as it was for those he called on the shores of the lake.  Yet to follow Christ wholeheartedly is never easy.  The person who enjoys a more or less steady job, who thinks that the pattern of his life is ’set’, should recognize the danger lurking in this false tranquillity, which may even be considered one’s rightful due.  Christ asks us to break with routine, to cast aside the mediocre, to go beyond a life of compromise.  With the divine vocation Christ challenges us to undergo a profound change in our daily conduct.  God asks for everything, including whatever we may have been reserving for ourselves.  He gives us light to see our failing, which we may have up till now looked upon as beyond reforming, but which turn out to be the price for securing the pearl of great value.  It is Christ himself who seeks us out, saying, You did not choose me, but I chose you.  And when Christ calls, He gives at the same time the graces we will need to follow him, from the beginning of the way and throughout the rest of our life.”

From the above passage, the line I love the most is – “He gives us light to see our failing, which we may have up till now looked upon as beyond reforming, but which turn out to be the price for securing the pearl of great value.”

St. Ignatius at some point had to see the light of his “failing” and he may have thought himself “beyond reforming,” but in the end, he found it was all ”the price for securing the pearl of great value.”

Let us look for our pearl, and let us rely on Christ to help us find it, regardless of our failings and where we are at in our lives. 

The Holy Father at WYD2008 Sydney

theophilus July 22nd, 2008

The following are excerpts from the Holy Father’s homily at the closing Mass for WYD 2008.  These thoughts are meant for all of us – not just the youth present Down Under.

“God’s love can only unleash its power when it is allowed to change us from within. We have to let it break through the hard crust of our indifference, our spiritual weariness, our blind conformity to the spirit of this age. Only then can we let it ignite our imagination and shape our deepest desires. That is why prayer is so important: daily prayer, private prayer in the quiet of our hearts and before the Blessed Sacrament, and liturgical prayer in the heart of the Church.”

“What will you leave to the next generation? Are you building your lives on firm foundations, building something that will endure? Are you living your lives in a way that opens up space for the Spirit in the midst of a world that wants to forget God, or even rejects Him in the name of a falsely-conceived freedom? How are you using the gifts you have been given, the ‘power’ which the Holy Spirit is even now prepared to release within you?”

“Empowered by the Spirit, and drawing upon faith’s rich vision, a new generation of Christians is being called to help build a world in which God’s gift of life is welcomed, respected and cherished – not rejected, feared as a threat and destroyed. A new age in which love is not greedy or self-seeking, but pure, faithful and genuinely free, open to others, respectful of their dignity, seeking their good, radiating joy and beauty. A new age in which hope liberates us from the shallowness, apathy and self-absorption which deaden our souls and poison our relationships. . . . the Lord is asking you to be prophets of this new age, messengers of His love, drawing people to the Father and building a future of hope for all humanity.

“The world needs this renewal! In so many of our societies, side by side with material prosperity, a spiritual desert is spreading: an interior emptiness, an unnamed fear, a quiet sense of despair. How many of our contemporaries have built broken and empty cisterns in a desperate search for meaning, the ultimate meaning that only love can give?”

“The Church also needs this renewal!  She needs your faith, your idealism and your generosity, so that she can always be young in the Spirit!” (Source: Vatican Information Service)

We are all “prophets of this new age.”  We are “messengers of His love, drawing people to the Father and building a future of hope for all humanity.”  We are the spigot providing water for that “spiritual desert” which has spread to too much of our world.  And through us, the Spirit continues to work to fill in the emptiness, calm the fears, elate the despair, and provide the meaning hungered for by so many in today’s world. 

Prophets of This New Age!  I like that!

WYD Sydney 2008 – WOW!

theophilus July 21st, 2008

1,000 . . . 200,000 . . . 400,000!

That’s 1,000 priests hearing confession at World Youth Day!

That’s 200,000 youth joining the Holy Father in silent, holy (and around the clock) Adoration of the Eucharist!

That’s 400,000 young pilgrims participating in Mass with the Holy Father (the largest crowd in Austrailian history)!

It’s a great day to be Catholic!

Now, how about those parishes who give only an hour a week for reconciliation (and on Saturday afternoon at that)?  How about those who give one, two or three hours a week (or a month) for Adoration?  How about those of our fellow Catholics who can’t get out of bed on Sunday morning on a consistent basis?

The Holy Spirit was everywhere to be found in Sydney this past week.  May this fervor spread to the rest of the faithful. 

The children have shown us the way to Christ.  This is the moment to follow with a renewed spring in our step.

It’s time to get our butts to Confession, Adoration and Mass.  It’s time to put in the time and effort to show Christ we are with him.

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