New Year's Day 2014 Rituals.

There is something cleansing about putting off the old year and embracing a new year.  Errors, sins, mistakes, faux-pas, wrong turns, accidents, incidents, slip-ups, and other detritus from the last 365 days will die away like an old bonfire as we light the candles for the birth of a the new year, 2014.

New Year’s eve’s rituals are important. So, we get together with friends and family members and do a bit of reminiscing and fond remembering and realize that for better or for worse we are still here. We drink away yesterdays and toast the todays to come.

We’ll get used to writing checks using the New Year, 2014. Our computers will dutifully roll out 2014 without us worrying about setting the time and year.

The tax breaks we took care of had to be completed by December 31, 2013. But, New Year’s Day, 2014 will initiate a new opportunity to give less grudgingly.

American Catholics will bundle up and go to Church on New Year’s Day 2014, though not so much because it is the first day of the year but because it’s the Feast of Our Lady, Mother of the Church. The priests, though, will sneak in loads of fresh Gospel material into their homilies to give us a push into the New Year, 2014.

Pope Francis has called us to teach our children to pray.  God knows the United States needs blessings and direction for the future. I wonder what our children will be praying for In the new Year. 

Despite ourselves, some of us will make new resolutions to start the New Year, 2014. We will resolve to eat less and lose some weight; to exercise; and, make more significant contact with people who mean something to us.

We will resolve not to waste so much time watching videos, playing video games, and surfing the net, or simply pigging out in front of the TV.

This year we will begin to plan the following:

1.       The book that we have promised ourselves to write.

2.       The vacation of a life-time which we have put off for a life-time.

3.        Ways to reconcile with someone with whom we should have made-up with long ago –before it’s too late.

Yes, Santa Claus with his full white beard and his red suit gives way to Baby New Year 2014 who comes with rosy cheeks, a big smile and, a…well… diaper.

Happy New Year, 2014.

 

Pope Francis: What to Expect of Him in 2014.

Pope Francis will certainly continue to be a breath of fresh air in 2014, after a decade or two of stuffiness from the last two popes.

With all their wisdom and kindness duly noted, both John Paul II and Benedict XVI were formal and authoritative.  Nice smiles, though, from both of them.

"Defender of the Faith" would not be the first title that would come to mind when thinking about smiling Pope Francis.  "Pontifex" would be better. 

Pope Francis as Pontifex, is, indeed a bridge-builder.  He continues to make efforts to link the Catholic Church with other religions.  The Jewish Community, Moslems and various protestant churches from Anglican to Evangelical are among the religious groups that have been greeted warmly by Pope Francis in 2013. Pope Francis will continue this inclusive outreach in 2014.

Pope Francis is warm and informal but he clearly loves the Church and upholds its doctrines.  Anyone who reads his writings or listens to his talks can see that this pope is an authentic teacher who defends the Faith with firmness.  Pope Francis is Roman Catholic to his core.

When he celebrates the great sign of the Faith, the Eucharist, we see demonstrated his devotion to Christ and the Church.  When he speaks, Pope Francis upholds the truths of the faith as he sees them --and, lives them.  I expect that in 2014, Pope Francis will continue to challenge Catholics to live authentic Christian lives.

I am still thinking about the remarkable statement he made recently. Pope Francis asked how is it that an elderly man dying in the street is not newsworthy but a two point drop in the stock market is. Quite a question.

In 2014, Pope Francis will continue to make the Church aware of how urgent it is to care for what  the old testament calls the "anawim," the poor of  the Lord.  The poor are suffering throughout the world. Pope Francis sees in these poor, the suffering Jesus. He wants us to see Him, too.


 

Pope Francis Words, Obama's Voice.

Suddenly, President Obama is making nice with Catholics.

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that President Obama will include a significant reference from Pope Francis in his upcoming State of the Union speech.  President Obama will tag on a powerful statement of Pope Francis urging us all to embrace the world's poor. 

This is  the quote of Pope Francis' that he will use: "How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points?"

President Obama, in a shameless move to hitch a ride on Pope Francis' pope mobile, will repeat Pope Francis' statement while continuing to support abortion and to fight the American Catholic Church on the issue of birth control.

President Obama seems to say, "See, I love the poor, too, so support Obamacare, folks. Oh, and I love Pope Francis, as well"

President Obama will take Pope Francis' message from a homily, a Gospel message, and attempt to turn it into political gold for his 2014 political agenda.

If President Obama in his State of the Union speech challenges Wall Street businesses to donate a ten percent tithe to the cause of the poor next year, then using Pope Francis' words would have some practical meaning. I do not think President Obama will ask for that tithe. Pope Francis is urging the world to pony up for the poor.

I suppose President Obama realizes that mentioning Pope Francis could smooth over some of Obama's disregard for the cultural importance of the Catholic Church in America. The Catholic Church contributes a spirituality which is an important part of the American fabric. If you are president of the U.S., you cannot act as if 66 million Americans do not exist.

Of course it doesn't hurt that Pope Francis shines from the cover of Time Magazine as "Man of the Year." How can President Obama not give in to the temptation to hook his political agenda to that bright star?

 

Christmas, 2013. Zechariah rejoices in the light!

"And you my child shall be called prophet of the most high."  Zechariah at the dedication of his child in the Temple lifts his son up toward the heavens and names him "John," "Gift of God." Zechariah  is proclaiming what the Holy Spirit reveals to him about his son. (Luke 1:67-69)

Every day in the morning prayer of the Church, we speak out loud the words of Zechariah. It is a song of the "tender mercy" of God. John's father announces that soon "the dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death and to guide our feet in the way of peace."

And so, each morning of the year the Church wakes up to the great gift of God which is the prophet's call to repentance and grace.  But now, on Christmas eve those words ring louder and the trumpet of salvation sounds more urgently.

John's call to repentance holds out the hope that even now in the midst of corporate sin and popular greed, with all our deceits and hatreds festering within us, there is still time to walk out of darkness into God's own wonderful light. 

Scripture reminds us that John the Baptist was not the light himself but a messenger of He Who is the true light that is coming into the world.(Luke 1:8-9)  The Lord Jesus who proclaimed Himself the Light of the World will bring His dawn to hearts that are open to receive Him this Christmas,



 

Gaudete Sunday: John the Baptist Shakes Things Up.

The message of St. John the Baptist always shakes me up --which is what prophetic preaching is supposed to do. Here he is  ranting at the Pharisees and the Sadducees:  "You brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?  Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance." (Mt 3:7b-8)

Just across the street and in front of the Puerto Rican congressional building in San Juan (named after the Baptist) is a bronze sculpture of John extending a long bony arm toward the building where laws are made and policies are decided for the citizens of Puerto Rico. John appears to be coming out of a crouch as he raises his arm while with his right hand he extends an accusing finger at the legislators' sanctuary across the street. 

Billy Sunday, a tent evangelist in the early twentieth century, used to preach hell-fire and brimstone from a similar crouch as he railed against "demon-rum" and chopped the air with his open hand for emphasis.  He and another Billy  (Graham) were the greatest preachers of their time.  They preached repentance with the power of the Holy Spirit and the urgency of John the Baptist.

John, lays aside this intensity as he talks about the one whose sandal straps he is not worthy to loosen. He points to the Lamb of God and then shows the way for his disciples to find the Messiah.

John the Evangelist called John Baptist a "witness" to the Light. "He was not the light but he came to give testimony to the Light which was coming into the world." (John, Chapter 1)

Remembering John the Baptist's words, we realize that we
 still have time to repent as we light the third candle this Advent Sunday.  What a great opportunity to experience God's grace on the way to celebrating Christmas!

Second Sunday of Advent: Light the candles.

"It's better to light one candle than to curse the darkness."  That piece of advice is from "The Christophers," a program that aired regularly on national T.V when I was a teenager. The strength of that adage holds up well, I think.

Complaining about the lack of Christ in public Christmas, now accepted as the "Holiday Season" or as I saw today in our local public park, "Happy Holly Days," doesn't help restore the essential meaning of Christmas.  Ranting about the consumer economy doesn't help change it, either.  While we scurry around trying to get the best deals on gifts before our credit cards reach their limits,  most of us don't have time to map out ways to keep Christ in Christmas.

Wait! We don't have time to keep Christ in Christmas? Put on the brakes!  Stop the sleigh! There is time to reach deep into our hearts for the message of the  Babe of Bethlehem. Pause a moment to remember what Christmas should means to you.

Recently, our Holy Father, Pope Francis asked us to spread the joy of the Gospel to a needy world.
He didn't tell us to stand in the cold on street corners and announce in a loud voice the Gospel of Matthew. He didn't tell us to confront people by asking them if they are saved or not.  He told us to teach what we believe by living the Gospel at the level of daily life and to do it with joy.

Here we are already beginning week two of Advent by lighting two candles at each Sunday Mass.  Why not jump into the beginning of the second week of Advent by making a decision to do two things a day that will bring more of Christmas grace and light into our world?

Here are some suggestions:

Give a dollar or two to whomever asks you for it.  The Salvation Army person who rings a bell outside of the supermarket; the guy with the can who sits on a traffic island with a sign asking for help.  Each gets a dollar or two. You have to do it twice the same day: two lit candles.

(Instead of. No, I don't trust the Salvation Army. That guy with the can should get a job!) You add two dashes of grief and discontent to these people's days. Instead, you could light two candles.

You say hello to the weary salesperson behind the counter at Walgreens; You smile at the receptionist at a busy office;   Two more lit candles.
(Instead, you tell the sales person to hurry up and the receptionist to get a move on you've got other things to do. You add gloom and doom, two  full.bushel baskets

At church, you move down toward the center of the bench rather than make people crawl over you.
You thank the usher who showed you to your place: two lit candles.
(You sit immovable.  you wanna seat, come early like I did. Ushers should just do their jobs and not bother people. Two buckets full of disappointment and embarrassment  thanks to you.

Say "hello" to a kid at school who never gets a greeting from you or anyone else.  Thanks a teacher for a particularly good class.  Two candles.
The kids wants some attention?  Ridicule her hairstyle or uncool shoes.  Make fun of the teacher, it will make you feel better.  Two loads of gloom and darkness.

Go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation and then remember to say a prayer for the priest who absolved you. Two lit candles.

You get the idea.

I think we can light two candles each day of this week. "It's better to light one candle than to curse the darkness." Let's light two candles each day this week. 
 Meanwhile, Merry Christmas!






 

Rush Limbaugh and Pope Francis: A Story of the Whale and the Shepherd.

Evangelii Gaudium has sure opened the mouths of the rabble-rousers and radio mal-contents in the U.S.  Good ol' Rush Limbaugh made a whale of an argument earlier today as he jumped into deep waters.

Rush Limbaugh, the grand-dad of blow-hard radio, thinks that Pope Francis is either a gosh-darn communist or just deluded by leftists.  Poor Pope Francis is a pitiful man --allowing himself to be led by the slick operators of the Vatican. Or, maybe Pope Francis is a communist and in love with socialism. Can he be far from Marxism?  Rush came up for air after that rant.

I lose Rush somewhere because I can't equate loving the poor with being a communist.  Nor can I believe that capitalism in any form is an unassailable system of goodness. I think there is an immense amount of greed in our society and it ain't all nice.

So the Pope doesn't like trickle-down economics.  Lots of good Americans don't believe that kind of economy reaches the poor.  Many good people believe with Pope Francis that money gets clogged somewhere between the very rich and the well-off.

Pope Francis would like a more generous distribution of our resources.  He's repeating what Jesus taught so powerfully when He told us that a cup of water given in His name will not go unrewarded.

 If this sounds like communism to Rush, I marvel at the smallness of his mind. Or, is he like Captain Ahab, obsessed with himself  all the while making his way in the dark sea of ignorance.  Save us, Rush! Save us from dumb shepherds who do not understand how the world works.

 Does Limbaugh know any other song than that communist-leftist refrain which we have heard so often from him?  Let me shorten that sentence: Does Rush Limbaugh know anything, anything at all?
He might have learned something about Pope Francis and the Catholic Church if he would have read at least the introduction to Evangelii Gaudium. I doubt if he read the entire document and I would be surprised if he understood any of it

Rush, you have to be a Christian at heart to get it, to understand it. By the way, Rush, the document is not addressed to you. It's a long memo to the contemporary Catholic Church.

The papal document is from beginning to end about what the Catholic Church calls "the New Evangelization." It's not about economics, though Pope Francis insists that we take care of the poor better than we have in the past. The Church of Christ is the church which lifts up the poor.  Evangelii Gaudium is not a church teaching on economics.  It's a motivational sermon on evangelization.

Pope Francis loves the poor.  He loves the poor because he sees in them the face of Christ. I guess,  he's a bleeding-heart liberal, Rush. That makes me and those who follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ fellow travelers, right?

Here we go again.

 

Advent: Have you Heard? We are expecting!

Advent is here and we are expecting again.  Yep, I intend the double meaning.  If you think about the increasing excitement as a pregnancy reaches term, it makes a lot of sense to let the warmth and joy of Christmas develop more and more in our hearts as Christmas, the due date draws near..

The Church is adventing all the way to Christmas as it leads us through preparing for, awakening to, caring about and daring to let Christ be born in us.

In the recent apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium,  Pope Francis treats the new evangelization just like a new birth.

 Pope Francis points to three classes of people who need evangelization so that Christ might be born again and again in our world: 

First, Jesus must be born in the hearts of those who are Christians in name but not in their lives. They call themselves Catholic but their lives bear no fruit because they haven't accepted the demands of being a Christian.

Then, Jesus must be born in the absent Catholics, those who don't show up to worship or share life with us although they call themselves Catholics.

  Finally, the freshest and most exciting aspect of giving birth to Christ is to receive the new born in Christ from the far away regions of humanity. The missionary activity of the Catholic Church leads those who are hearing the Gospel for the first time to the Christ child in the manger.

The Church is advancing through a new Advent this year. The exhortation of Pope Francis points the way for the Catholic Church as it advances the message of the Gospel.

Thanksgiving Day: He Gives Food to All Living Things.

Our secularizing society is having a difficult time with those holidays that have religious roots. Christmas is now the Holiday Season and, if some get their way, Thanksgiving will be "Friendship Day." 

Wiping clean any memory of  providence from Thanksgiving would satisfy citizens who resist vestiges of holiness or godliness in our society. To them, I guess religious influence is like crabgrass in their lawn of life.

 Those of us who are religious are going to have an equally difficult time keeping the original spirit of a day like Thanksgiving, but we are going to try.

Thanksgiving is not only a day of being friendly, though it certainly is that. No one wants to be alone on a day when family and friends get together to feast with one another, to rest from work and embrace one another. However, our hearts are made thankful not only by the friends around us but by the seeds of hope which have grown up in us. That hope is a gift from a loving God. We honor and thank Him on Thanksgiving.

Without lifting our hearts and minds to Our Lord, Thanksgiving falls weakly to the ground and stays there breathing silently. Christians, on the other hand, rise from their knees and lift up their hearts in gratitude to Our Lord, even singing praise to Him.

In 1621, Plymouth Planation celebrated harvest time in the wake of a winter season which had taken its toll on the families of the small colony. They found in their harvest feast, a reason to hope for a better future so they bowed their heads to the Father who gives food to all living things.  They were grateful.

Those colonists were Christian before they celebrated the first Thanksgiving Day. Seeds of gratitude to a loving Father were already in their hearts.  On Thanksgiving Day those seeds had developed into
green fields stretching as far as they could see. 

 

Pope Francis meets Vladimir Putin at the Vatican: Round One or, Welcome to the Colosseum.

When Vladimir Putin met Pope Francis this week at the Vatican, it was not the lion meeting the lamb.  Pope Francis exhibits a simple life style and aligns himself with the poor, but he is far from a pushover. 

In September of this year Pope Francis sent an official letter to Putin who was hosting the G20 conference in St. Petersburg.  In strong terms Pope Francis insisted that Putin use the Russian Federation’s  position as an ally of Syria to help end the hostilities of the Syrian government against its own people.

Putin can only be using this meeting with Pope Francis to leverage his standing among world leaders. He was recently listed as the most influential man in the world. Pope Francis is number four--a power to be reckoned with.  These are two heavyweights sparring on the world’s stage.

Pope Francis wants an end to the suffering of the Syrian people and he wants protection guarantees for Christians throughout the Middle East.  He also wants help in securing more acceptance for the Catholic Church in the Russian Federation, a land which up until recently the Orthodox Church considered its own pasture: No Roman Catholic sheep stealing allowed!

Vladimir Putin presented an icon of Our Lady to Pope Francis, but first he reverenced the image with a kiss. That gesture will not be forgotten as the former head of the KGB bows to a greater power.  Was it a sincere sign of hope or a cleverly staged diversion to capture the attention of Pope Francis, if but for a moment?

Putin did not invite Pope Francis to Russia for a visit. I doubt whether this is a snub.  Rather, it seems to me Putin is laying the groundwork for a possible papal visit later on.  I'm not certain that Pope Francis would accept the invitation until Putin begins to act more humanely from his exalted position of influence.

Two Lions circle one another in the ring this week, one a vigorous warrior and the other, an experienced competitor. Let’s see who roars loudest.

 

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Show me a Path, Lord, even in Dubuque, Iowa.

It was a difficult day, overcast, rainy, windy and chilly. Good day to stay in, right? I suppose so but I'm here in Dubuque, Iowa for some R & R, which for me means reading a good book and rambling down a country path.

I drove for miles.  The blustery winds had calmed and the rain had stopped. There was no excuse.  I had to find a path before it would begin to rain again. Where's my path?

I found the local parks closed "for the season" including the botanical garden and Eagle View Park.  I kept driving around for more than an hour thinking: There has got to be a park with a path somewhere in Dubuque that is still open. (Why would you close a public path, anyway?)

For me, walking is a physical and spiritual necessity, not a pastime.  I'm going somewhere and I am praying, too, when I walk.  So, not to find a walking path is frustrating on both accounts.

My fundamental prayer these days is something like: "Show me the path that you want me to walk." As long as I can discern some direction to my life, I'm O.K.  I expect Our Lord to answer my prayer with signs along my life's path. He always has.

Spiritually I've lost my way many times. Then I pray: Where should I go?  What should I do? How shall I handle this issue?  Do you want me to say something specific to help this individual, or is silence better?  Let me know, Lord.

Most often I have to wait...wait for the signs. When I can see that I am fitting in somehow or being able to help in some way, that's all the direction I need.

Here are the signs which Our Lord shows me from time to time: Stop! Slow Down! Turn Here! Pull over! Go on Green Light!  Steep road ahead!  Caution! Have a nice day!

You get the idea.

I was one mile from my hotel and I had given up on walking today.  But, then I noticed that parallel to my four lane highway was a bike path that appeared to go on and on.  I pulled over into a strip-mall parking lot  and spent an hour walking up and down hills with traffic a hundred feet away.

One friendly bicyclist passed me going in the opposite direction.  He knew where he was going and he was getting there fast. He was the only other person on the path. It was overcast and cold but I was warm and peaceful as I walked, grateful for not missing the path that was right in front of me.

 Our Lord's signs are clear, though you have to keep looking. Don't give up!  Watch for the right path and when you find it, take it.

How to Survive Satanic Attack and Common Distractions in Quiet Prayer.

Quiet prayer or meditation is not always easy.  Distractions, temptations, day-dreams and all kinds of goofy ideas can intrude into the prayer life of even the most earnest Catholic.  I meet these good people when they pour out their hearts about their prayer lives in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

“I feel I am being attacked by the devil, Father. I see too much evil in people and I despair because of my fears.  I never feel that God is near to me.  Worse, I think that God is going to let me fall because my sins deserve eternal punishment. This is what I get, Father, for having tolerated evil in my life and even, at times, having embraced sin.

That’s not all.  I feel trapped by the effects of my sins.  I’m not able to get up from my sins and am constantly bothered by temptations.”

No one has confessed to me in those exact words but over the years I have heard this lament about interior prayer many times.  The sinner is tortured by a kind of anxiety and depression which makes it hard for him (It could be a her) to experience God’s love and His grace.

The penitent has come to the sacrament of Reconciliation out of desperation and like an intensive care patient in severe pain, the penitent wants relief, otherwise he wouldn’t be in the confessional.

I think of this encounter with a sick soul (as the philosopher William James would have called him) as an opportunity to give him an injection of spiritual medicine and an I.V. hydration for his soul.

I take control of the situation with strong medicine because it is my job to do that.  I remind the penitent that the Sacrament of Reconciliation is a powerful moment of grace, an opportunity for healing. I encourage the penitent to listen to the absolution and open his heart to the healing movement of the Holy Spirit. 

It’s not me  but Our Lord who cures in the wonderful sacrament of healing.  While I am praying the words of absolution, I am  also praying to get out of God’s way and let His healing waters bring cleansing and refreshment to this soul.

Again, a second type of made-up penitent:  This time, the penitent  says something like this: "I pray, Father, but can’t seem to get anywhere in my prayer life.  Strong temptations upset my efforts at prayer.  I fight them but they just won’t leave me.”

This penitent is like a guy standing on a ladder, painting the ceiling of a kitchen.  He  gets frightened by a tiny spider, loses his concentration and falls. He survives with a scratch on his leg, but is otherwise O.K.  He is still afraid of spiders so he’s going to inspect the ceiling carefully before he goes up the ladder again. He's determined not to lose focus and fall a second time.

Most distractions in prayer, whether temptations or not, cause us to lose focus in our prayers.  We are supposed to be praying, gently moving our hearts and minds to the Lord.

St. Albert the Great counsels us to just brush away these kinds of distractions as if they are house-flies dancing before our eyes.   We don’t have to get out the artillery when all we need is a fly-swatter. Don't fight with yourself to get back to the presence of God.  Acknowledge the nature of the distraction and gently bring your heart back to prayer."

Most people are relieved to learn that even the saints were often distracted in their prayer lives.  The saints remind us that Our Lord simply wants us to be faithful and take time to pray -- often.  If horrifying temptations attack, meet them with courage and the grace of the sacraments.
When common distractions come, gently move your heart and mind back to God.

The NRA, Remington and Designer Gunwear.

Remington, the gun manufacturer, announced today it is coming out with a concealed carry line of  clothes. The company will lend their name to "gun jackets" and a "Double Derringer" line of vests. (Reuters, Nov. 3, 2013)

Greed is good, right? Why not make more money off the gun fad? So what if gun manufacturers sell designer clothes to gun-toters to make them feel even more important?

Handguns kill people. That's what they are designed to do and they do it very well. They are also expensive and make immense amounts of money for gun manufacturers. Now, the manufacturers want even more.

I'm against pointing a loaded handgun at someone and pulling the trigger. I would ban concealed-carry weapons in an instant. I would ban assault rifles of all kinds for the same reason: These weapons are for hunting humans. I don't care about gun manufacturers and their profits.

This is not to say that I am against possession of firearms.  I think hunting with a rifle or shotgun is an acceptable way to harvest deer, turkey and other wildlife. At least, hunting game provides food for our tables and encourages sportsmanship as an outlet.

I believe, too, that  the Second Amendment supports defense of our freedoms by empowering militias and that the amendment was never intended to support individual hand-gun ownership.

Twice I have had handguns pulled on me.  One was by a drunk who showed me a blunt nose revolver which he kept in a handkerchief in his front pocket. The other guy wanted to impress me by the size of the hand gun which he pulled out of a holster which was under his vest.

I showed the door to the drunk. I simply walked away from guy number two. And, in neither instance was I brave. I am not a courageous person. I was just so disgusted that I wanted to distance myself from them as quickly as I could.

I have listened to conversations between handgun enthusiasts who laugh when describing how
important they feel as Americans when they carry their guns and intimidate others. Apparently, they think the rest of us are wimps compared to guys with guns. Those men inspired fear in me not because of their guns but because they were so casual about "carrying."

The National Rifle Association is run by gun manufacturers.  It wants every American to buy a gun and to carry a gun, as if all gun-toters are mature, responsible people. I know enough about good people to know that sometimes they are bad, real bad. Or, are we all supposed to think that all those who carry concealed weapons are good people who would never use an available gun to do anything bad -- the real Americans who own Remingtons?

I'm a Christian but not a pacifist. I can imagine taking arms against someone in self defense or in defense of my family. But, I want the NRA to stop acting as a surrogate for gun manufacturers. I will defend myself as I see fit.

Greed is one of the seven deadly sins.  The others are pride, anger, lust, envy,
gluttony and sloth. I think you'll find all seven wrapped up in the soul of a violent, hand-gun-toting America.








 

Alternative Halloween: "El Dia de los Muertos," "The Day of the Dead."

For a completely different observance of the season of death and dying, try the approach of Mexicans who each year observe, “ El Dia de los Muertos,” the “Day of the Dead” on  November 2, All Souls Day.

Although some Mexican communities have started to have a kind of Halloween on Oct. 31, Halloween has no cultural roots in Mexico. It is an artificial observance imported from the U.S. The familiar “Trick or treat” custom is foreign to the typical Mexican family who is not going to waste money on costumes.

 “The Day of the Dead," however, is indigenous in origin and Christian in practice. It’s no coincidence that “El Dia de Los Muertos” occurs on November 2, All Souls Day. It’s a sacred day for most Mexicans. Halloween…not so much.

I once joined an observance of “El Dia de Los Muertos” in a cemetery on the outskirts of Oaxaca, in the state of the same name.

By the time I arrived on All Saints Day evening, the city cemetery was already teeming with people who were gathering at their family plots. Children joined their parents and grandparents to observe the customs of the day. No one was dressed in a Halloween costume.

 I carefully made my way among the gravesites where family members had erected small altars. Children and youth brought flowers and entire families laid out plates of food for themselves and for the deceased.  At one gravesite, Uncle Jose was remembered by a favorite hat, a cigar and a home-made tamale all laid respectfully on his tomb next to a shotglass of tequila.

It’s dark during the observance of the Day of the Dead, Halloween in Mexico. The only light comes from the flickering candles at each grave which reveal the faces of those who have come to spend the night with their dead. While guitars play softly, each family respects the devotions of their neighbors.

As a non-Mexican I was not uncomfortable with the spirituality of the observance. The idea of recalling that those who have gone before us are still with us seemed right to me. The living had come to share one night by walking among the spirits of the dead in the place where they still lived.

Observing the customs of El Dia de los Muertos is a way of making a friend of death, since we all will have to experience it. It is a solemn observance of the reality of the spirit world. 

The entire family stays with the spirits all night, eating and drinking and singing.  If the candle flickering on Tio Pepe’s grave suddenly catches a wisp of air and moves or gets unaccountably brighter or even goes out, that is proof that Tio is there. 

The families remain all night with the spirits of their loved ones and do not leave until sunrise.

All Souls day used to be observed by Catholics as a day to bring flowers to the burial sites of loved ones. We prayed there and tended our grave sites out of respect for the memory of those family members who had died.

Our All Souls Day observance is like the Day of the Dead and very unlike Halloween. On All Souls Day, the Day of the Dead, we ought to visit a cemetery and remember that for Christian believers life is changed not ended at death. 

 

Lutheran Leaders Visit Pope Francis.

My Lutheran minister friend of thirty years sent me a notice of the recent meeting between Pope Francis and representatives of a coalition of Lutheran churches. (Oct 21, 2013)

It is remarkable that we have come so far in just the last fifty years.  There was a time here in the U.S. when Lutherans and Catholics wouldn't even acknowledge one another's presence. I, a Catholic, was taught Lutherans were heretics and Martin Luther, a renegade monk.

A Lutheran minister told me long ago that that his mother taught him to never trust a Catholic. These days, it looks like the pope and the Lutherans are trying to trust one another.

We've come far by dialoging. Lutheran leaders who have been in the forefront of ecumenical discussion think it's O.K., even good, to walk into the Vatican and meet the Roman Pope on his own turf. They hear him say that Lutherans and Catholics do not need to contend any more. That time is over.  It is a time of healing now.

In his opening words,  Pope Francis greeted his Lutheran guests as brothers and sisters in the Lord.
He encouraged both Lutheran and Catholic leaders to work on practical ways of achieving the unity that Christ, Our Lord, prayed for in John 17; 20-21.

I have been blessed to be friends with three wonderful Lutheran ministers in my life. Forty years ago, one of them gave me a print of the Last Supper (by P. C. Hodgell).

 He wrote on the back of the print the following prayer: "...toward the time when we will be able to take communion together."

Pope Francis thinks we are getting closer to that time.



 

Original Sin: It's more than a Forbidden Bite.

Original Sin is a concept we Catholics have inherited from St. Augustine.  In his book,“Confessions,” he explains why you and I are such a mess.

Adam and Eve, detail of  tomb  (Gerald Watt)

 Read the “Confessions of St. Augustine” and you will begin to understand why we have to suffer simply because two young people picked and shared forbidden fruit.  Why are we “attracted to evil” as one of the founders of my Congregation put the problem? Who would want to do bad? Who would choose to be evil?

Before you dismiss the idea that you might be attracted to evil, think of this: Doing evil can be fun (So I’m told).  Getting away with it can be more fun.

What does it feel like to steal an apple?  Well, you have to steal an apple to find out.

To toy with the possibility of sinning can be thrilling, heart-pounding, energizing.  To finally decide to do an evil thing is to experience a surging wave of pride.  Then, to actually do the evil act can be like the rush a diver feels as he jumps off of the high  diving board. ("I could break my neck, but ...what the heck!")

Sin is even better when a punishing angel chases you and is unable to catch and chastise you. The thrill of escape is captured by the poet who in the “Hound of Heaven” says “I fled Him down the nights and down the days… and under running laughter….” (Francis Thompson)

When you think about doing something evil that promises you some pleasure, your heart warms to the idea like a child who contemplates the forbidden coconut macaroons in the cookie jar in the kitchen. Such is the way of Original Sin.

We don’t choose to do evil because something is evil but because we are attracted to it as good. That’s how twisted our motivations become.  It’s only after the deed that we experience how sour sin can be.

As the Christian learns to ward off sin and depend on grace, he/she embraces more deeply the life of a follower of Jesus Christ. 

The sweet act of forgiveness which we experience in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, brings with it the sanctifying grace which begins to heal our troubled hearts. That grace is the same grace that was poured over us at our Baptism setting us free from the domination of Original Sin.

"...where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more...." (Romans 5:20)

 

Pope Francis Gives a Surprising Interview.

When Pope Francis was asked recently to answer the question, Who is Jorge Bergoglio?, he answered: "A sinner upon whom the Lord has turned his gaze."

Pope Francis gave this response in an interview in September, 2013. The interviewer was Antonio Spadaro, S.J. and Pope Francis remarks were published in "La Civitta Cattolica."

OMG! What modern pope has ever defined himself as, first of all, a sinner? What happens to our conception of the pope as the pre-eminent, holy, follower of Christ? A pope in our day is considered an icon of holiness.  All you have to do is think of John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

 Pope Francis wants to shatter the image we might have of him as reigning above us all in holiness. Pope Francis calls to mind the painting by Caravaggio of the "The calling of Matthew." The masterpiece hangs in the Church of St. Louis of France, in Rome. I saw it when I was in Rome two years ago.


In the painting, Matthew is in what appears to be a pub.  Along with him are several of his henchmen and they are counting the days take.

One young man fingers the day's haul and contemplates it. Jesus, barefoot, enters the pub with Peter.  Jesus points to Matthew and says "Come follow me" as he points at him. Matthew points to himself as if to say, "Are you sure you want me?"

Matthew, a despised Jew who worked for Rome against his own people, is called by Jesus to fulfill a destiny which Matthew had as a member of the covenant people.  Matthew was a ritually unclean Jew who gouged the poor and extorted from the rich. But, when called, he got up and followed Jesus as a member of the new covenant people.

Pope Francis feels he has been chosen through no merit of his own to be an apostle like Matthew.. Pope Francis does not set himself above us but situates himself with the rest of us sinners.

There is a quiet revolution going on in the Catholic Church.  In this fiftieth anniversary year of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, Our Lord has given us as chief shepherd, a sinner in need of the healing call of God's mercy, just like you and me.

Pope Francis is confident of that mercy and he knows that he is graced with the light of God.  He wants us all to see the light.
 

John XXIII, the Saint Who Opened the Windows.

Pope John XXIII will be canonized in a ceremony to be held at St. Peter's basilica in Rome during April, 2014.

Bronze statue of John XXIII, Italia (G,.Watt)

I am old enough to remember when Pope Pius XII died and Angelo Roncalli  was elected Pope.  He took the name John XXIII. Someone remarked to me on seeing him for the first time: "He looks like a butcher!"  Unlike the formal demeanor of Pius XII who seemed to have been carved out of a narrow block of granite, the new holy father was chubby, had an easy smile and was spontaneous.

When John XXIII announced that he was convening a Vatican Council, most of the bishops of the world were stunned. But, Angelo Roncalli was a seasoned Church diplomat.  He had been posted as the Vatican's nuncio to Bulgaria and then to a similar position in Paris as nuncio to France. He knew what he was doing.

John XXIII said that he wanted to open the windows and doors of the Church to the modern world. It was a leap forward by the Church that few thought possible.

I remember just a few years before John XXIII's election,  a "monitum" had been issued by the Vatican concerning vernacular liturgies."Monitum" means warning and we (I was a seminarian at the time) were warned not to even discuss employing vernacular in the Church's liturgy. Every Latin word in all the rituals was considered sacrosanct. But the Holy Father knew that language is the essence of evangelization. That is why the document on the liturgy was the first to come out of Vatican II and it stressed the use of the vernacular in all church rituals.

 I was present at the first Mass celebrated in English in the U.S.  Msgr. Martin Hellriegel was the main celebrant and the occasion was the opening of the National Liturgical Conference in St. Louis.  That day American Catholics caught a breath of fresh air which came through the open windows of the Church of John XXIII.

But it's not solely because John XXIII called the Second Vatican Council that the Church is celebrating his life at this time. Angelo Roncalli was a warm, pastoral presence. He genuinely lived the Gospel of Jesus Christ, heroically.

A few years ago, I was standing near the tomb of John XXIII.  Just in front of the tomb was a man and a boy of maybe 10 years old who I presumed was his son. They stood alone but I heard the man say to the boy as he gestured toward the tomb: "Il Buono Papa," the good pope.


 

Sing a New Song to the Lord."

It struck me again today: How many times does the psalmist ask us to "Sing a new song to the Lord?" (Ps 33:3) Does the lord get weary of hearing us singing the same psalms over and over again? Do our old songs weary Him?

Every once in a while I dust off one of the old anthems simply because the melody is so familiar and the words are filled with hope. "Holy God, We Praise Thy Name;" "Amazing Grace;" Even "Precious Lord, Take My hand" come to mind. I hear the fifty or so us morning Mass people belting out phrases like "I once was lost, but now am found; was blind but now I see."  When the community sings the old, familiar tunes, my head and heart clear so that I can pray.

However,  there are times when our old songs, like lullabies, can seduce us into a state that focuses on our own comfort.

The psalmist tells us to sing new songs.  I take that to mean we should sing new songs with fresh words and stirring melodies.  The parish community needs to wake up to an occasional new  morning song.  Our hymnals contain more material than we could ever use. Some of it, not too good; but other hymns are there like coins we've never spent. What are we hoarding them for? Let's sing them!

I snuck in "Precious Lord" (above) when you weren't looking. It's a powerful gospel hymn by Dr. Dorsey.  That song has its place when we need to sing of facing up to our own destinies. "Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling"(again by Dorsey) is also in our parish hymnal.  We never sing it. Is it too embarrassing to sing of an intimacy with Jesus that has Him calling  our souls to heaven?"

"Sing a new song" means, also, that our composers need to keep working at producing contemporary
music with lyrics that are memorable and singable.  We need newly created songs for communion meditation, for example.

However, when I come across the verse in Psalm 33  asking me to sing a new song to the Lord, I sometimes pray as I lift my head from my breviary, "Lord, you know I can sing. Teach me a new song. Instruct me in the melody and teach me the words."

 

Pope Francis: A Breath of Fresh Air for the Church.

Ever since Pope Francis gave an interview recently to a journalist for a Jesuit magazine, the secular newsprint has spewed out hundreds of comments, most of them rejoicing that the Catholic Church now has a leader who will bring the Church into line with the social movements of the day.  It's time the Church changed some of its teachings. 

The questions are predictable and so is their reasoning:

Holy Father...

--Why shouldn't women be priests?

--Abortion is a fact of contemporary life. The Church needs to recognize that at times abortion is a correct, morally good choice. Don't you agree, Holy Father?

-- Birth control can be achieved these days through preventive medications or the morning after pill. Catholics should regulate their conceptions just as they do with other important components of their lives. Surely you can see the need for the Church to get with the times?

-- Homosexuality is not a mental illness. Why not simply recognize homosexual practices as an alternate life style?
Holy Father, these days homosexuality is not an issue. Nobody cares. It's time the Church stopped condemning gays.

--All religions whether Christian or not are pretty much the same when it comes to core teachings, i.e., Love one another;
Teach others to love; Don't sin: Life will continue in some way after death, etc. Why can't the Catholic Church admit this and strive for unity of all religions?

Pope Francis has not ducked any of these important questions, nor has he suggested changes in Church teaching.  What he has insisted upon is a change in attitude for the entire Church, especially bishops and priests. Pope Francis wants his Church to go out and seek those who do not measure up to our high principles. He wants us to take people where they are at and love them, not judge them.

That is an entirely different matter than changing the moral stance of the Church in regard to these issues.

Pope Francis recently spoke to the clergy of Rome and told them to get out of their sacristies and go find the sheep who
live on the periphery of the Church. He reminds us to show them that the Church loves them where they are at in their spiritual and moral lives.

Several times recently, Pope Francis has reminded us that we priests may get dirty working on the fringes of society. It's O.K. for shepherds to smell a bit like the sheep, if we are to be authentic shepherds.






Stay tuned for further developments from this remarkable, smiling Pope.

Pope Francis, Syria and peace.

Remember when Pope Francis asked us to pray for peace in Syria? His request was in response to President Obama's intent to punish President Assad of Syria by a series of selective bombings. The proposed missile strikes would, it was thought, hamper Assad from ever again using chemical weapon again.
 
Two Sundays ago, Pope Francis asked that Catholics throughout the word pray for peace in Syria and thereby avoid an inevitable escalation of war in that country where over a hundred thousand people have died in the past few years.  Pope Francis selected this last Saturday as a day of intense prayer and fasting for peace in Syria..

What can I say?  It worked! I believe we have received an answer to our prayers for peace. The plan which the U.S. and Russia have worked out and that Syria has agreed to will turn over all chemical weapons for destruction. I guess it's up to the U.S. and Russia to figure out a way to neutralize the nerve gases which already have killed over a thousand Syrians.

For the moment, the threat of a new conflict which would have drawn in Russia on the side of Syria, has been avoided. A sense of relief has come over the world.

The rebels in Syria, though are not pleased because  the agreement will not bring an enduring peace to Syria. The civil war in Syria continues.

The work of peace is unending. It is the work of the Church to promote peace in our world, the peace that Jesus commended when he said: "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called children of God." (Mt 5,9)

However, for the moment a world crisis has been avoided by the grace of God. It's time now to offer Him thanks for hearing the prayers of a sinful world.

We Christians know, however, that a peace that lasts will come only when we work toward justice for the poor throughout the world. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice..." (Mt.5, 6)
 

John Chrysostom: Golden Throat Rides Again.

St. John Chrysostom lived in Antioch in the fourth century and later became patriarch of Constantinople. His last name tells us something of how influential he was during the years when Christian theologies began to mature.
His people named him "Golden Throat." "John Golden-Throat" sounds impressive, interesting.

John was eloquent.  He spoke from the heart, but he didn't merely emote. He spoke Christian truths, too. If you read his sermons you experience the depth of his teachings and it becomes clear that John wasn't only speaking abstractly about Our Lord.  He spoke from his own experience. That experience was of the presence of Jesus in his community of Christians.

The words of Jesus Himself come to mind:"Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in their midst." (MT 18, 20)

St. Paul refers to Christ's presence in the community as a secret. To those outside of  the Christian community, to unbelievers and to those who simply don't understand Catholics, they see us praying, hear us singing, and watch us share bread and wine together.  That's it, nothing more.

They don't know the secret we share.

Listen to Paul as he delivers his teaching about Christ's presence to the Colossians: [My task is] "to deliver His message in full; to announce the secret hidden for long ages and through many generations, but now disclosed to God's people....The secret is this: Christ in you, the hope of a glory to come." (Colossians 1,26-27)

Great preachers like John Chrysostom shake us up with the power of their Faith.  John Chrysostom's words still live and they are golden.

For we who believe, Jesus Christ lives among us and informs our entire lives. That's why when we hear preaching and teaching in our church, we believe it to be Jesus Himself speaking to us:
"Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke [to us] on the way and opened the scriptures for us? (Luke 24, 32)


 

Pope Francis and the Call for peace in Syria.

Last Sunday, Pope Francis asked us to pray this Saturday, Sept 7, for peace in Syria and the entire Mid-east. Most Catholics hadn't heard about this day of prayer because no Sunday announcement of it was possible.

At the Eucharist, Mathew's beatitudes sounded especially moving this morning: "Blessed are the peacemakers" and, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness".

There were more people in church today, too, than on any ordinary Saturday. I think they were as much affected by that reading as I was.

We are asking for a miracle. Is it possible that the world's leaders could set down at the table in a communion of hearts, if not of minds?  Can we ask insurgents and an oppressive government to come to some kind of an agreement for the sake of the poor, for the sake of peace?

The answer is, of course, to follow the commandment of love. I think the Koran issues the same command.But, we sinners are notoriously disobedient to God's commands.

This time maybe with half the worlds hearts beating for peace, the other half will hear the call to peace in their hearts, too.
 

Syria and Prayers for Peace

Our country is about to attack Syria in retaliation for the Assad government's use of a deadly gas to subdue its people.

Our Holy Father asks that on Sept 7, Catholics throughout the world pray and fast for peace in Syria.
Pope Francis continues to urge dialogue between the Assad regime and the rebels. 

The United Nations through its secretary urges that the U.S. refrain from striking Syria with selective missal launches. He insists nothing will be accomplished by acts of war against Syria.

John Kerry, our U.S. Secretary of State is determined to get Congress to pass a resolution proposed by the Obama administration to send missals into Syria to strike at crucial military installations in order to weaken Syria's ability to gas its own  people.

I thought Kerry was clear and at times eloquent this past Tuesday in his appeal to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as he answered in detail the concerns of that body.

I tend to agree with Kerry: Sometimes you have to act because not acting is complicity.  He urged the senators to get behind the Obama decision to weaken Assad's ability to use inhumane methods to control dissent. To do that we have to strike the Assad regime in a way that they understand.

I'm going to fast and pray this Saturday for peace in the Middle East. I can't see how we can teach the Assad government that violence is self-defeating by using violence as our teaching tool. I'm going to try to join the millions of Christians who still believe that grace can triumph over evil.

 

St. Augustine, St, Monica and Conversion.

St. Augustine's feast day is this week. For years I have found his "Confessions" inspiring. Here was a citizen of the late Roman empire who ranks right up there with the greatest minds of all time but his prayer life was that of a very humble man. He simply wanted to find God's will for him and fulfill it.

His story is simple. He was raised in a well-to-do family in Northern Africa. His mother tried to entice him to become a Christian but Augustine was more interested in secular pursuits.  He immersed himself in the philosophies of the day and became a professor of rhetoric.

He lived with a girl for years and had a son with her. By that time in his life he was living in Milan and teaching.  He listened to Ambrose, the local bishop and became a fan of his sermons. Meanwhile his mother Monica kept asking Augustine when he was going to be baptized.  He preferred to remain a catechumen.

The story of his conversion is the heart of the "Confessions."  He describes a moment when he suddenly realized that St. Paul was speaking to him directly when he said: "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the desires of the flesh." It was the most dramatic moment in his life.  He was soon baptized along with his best friend and his own son, Adeodatus.

Monica, his mother, is featured in Augustine's story and Augustine's description of the days leading up to her death is poignant and riveting. He knows he owes two births to her: his physical birth and his re-birth in Christ.

Sometime after his death, Augustine's writings were hand-carried out of North Africa by bishops who were fleeing an enormous barbarian invasion near the end of the fifth century. Those writings are revered by scholars today.

Here is an example of the way Augustine prays: 

"Your best servant is he who looks not so much to hear from You what he wants to hear, but rather to want what he hears from You."(Confessions, Chapter 26, #37)

Monica's feast day is the 27th of August and Augustine, the 28th.

This is Augustinian week in my soul.

 

Our 2013 Provincial Chapter turned into a revival, thank God.
Every three years the members of my Congregation who live and work in the U.S. meet for a few days. This year the sessions were held along the Chicago River at Gordon Tech High School.

At these chapter, most of the time is usually spent in reviewing financial reports and carping about ministerial snafus (Yes, I know what the acronym signifies.  I think it's a kind way to remember  past errors and hurts.)

This time we listened to one another in a new way.  We read reports but not of financial stuff or statistics re funerals, weddings and baptisms. Instead, we read of issues of the heart. In individual reports, our members told how much living and working in the Congregation has meant and continues to mean for them. In this age of secularity, they believe that Our Lord is with them in their personal lives and in their ministries

Though we are older, we seem to be getting better at sharing with one another.  With less members we continue to serve the needs of the Church in more parishes and ministries than ever. During the past six years we've taken on two parishes in the Rockford diocese and four parishes in the Joliet diocese.

The Holy Spirit has re-energized our men and it could not have come at a better moment in  the life of our province.
 

Tours Versus CulturalEexperiences.

I really dislike tours which are organized like buffets, a little bit of this, a little bit of that. That's the kind of situation I ran into in Germany last year with our guide, Marta.

"O. K., my friends. My name is Marta.  Let us go visit this charming city here on the Rhine. But stay together and be sure to watch my red umbrella and follow me."

"We have arrived at the town-square where there was a famous Frau Krause  who  used to come every morning and evening to feed the ducks which gathered at this fountain. She died in 1942 but people still remember her...."

Nothing too deep, heh?  Where is the talk on German culture, Bavarian Beer, the Lutheran Church and the state of religion in Germany? Where is the discussion on the place of the German Republic in the European Union?  How are people thinking about what's happening in the world these days?  By the way, what's going on in this town today?  Can we meet any locals and actually meet people different than us? Are these people walking around actually Germans?

Earlier this year, I took a trip to Puerto Rico and met the same kind of disjunction from local flavor. I visited a coffee plantation which was an historic site, preserved as an important part of the Puerto Rican culture. Well,  the bored guide talked only of rules we must observe as we go through the historic site: No eating, no drinking, stay on the marked path, do not leave a single piece of trash, no smoking, no touching of the furniture, etc., etc.

We were never shown a single coffee plant and were not offered a cup of local coffee. We did see
inert coffee processing machines, barracks and the house of the original owner of the plantation.

Puerto Rico preserves the buildings without helping tourists remember how coffee is produced or what it meant to Puerto Rico as the country developed.

Both the German and the Puerto Rican tours were boring without musicians and artists, poets and local folks adding to our understanding of  their cultures.

Concerning the spiritual life and religion of these cultures, there was nada, nichts.
Even in Germany, people were attending morning Mass in a beautiful local church but if I hadn't wandered away from the duck lady, I'd have never experienced it.

 

Pope Francis visits the slums (favelas) of Rio during World Youth Day..

The Wall Street journal has a  photo today (July 23, 2013) of Pope Francis, arms spread wide and smiling, in his pope-mobile waving to thousands of people, mostly young people, who lined the streets as the pope's motorcade made its way through Rio de Janiero on the pope's first day in Brazil.  The Holy Father is taking part in the entire week of festivities associated with World Youth Day, a Catholic celebration of great importance.

I've been reminding parishioners at Sunday Mass that they should be aware of this celebration and should pray for all those attending World Youth Day. The event is held every three years (but it's been only two years since Spain hosted the last World Youth Day.).  Youth from all over the world meet one another as pilgrims in the host city.  They sing, dance, pray, attend catechetical sessions and generally have a great time wearing themselves out for the Lord.

Pope Francis is, of course, the central figure galvanizing these youth. He is more spontaneous and outgoing than Benedict XVI but not as slick as John Paul II. He is genuine and enthusiastic for the Faith.

Pope Francis wants to make us all aware of the poor wherever he goes.  I'm sure that the Brazilian authorities are not particularly happy that Pope Francis has decided to add a visit to the favelas, Rio's slums, to his formal schedule. Brazilians are going to be embarrassed by videos of the pope walking through narrow, congested streets with their broken-down shacks displayed before the world.
The poor, you can be sure, will be out to greet Pope Francis and they will do so proudly.

I am looking forward to following the events in Rio and am anxiously awaiting the Holy Father's
homily at the Mass at the end of the week.


 

Jezebel, the computer.

It has been a long time since I've blogged anything and there is more than one reason for this.  I didn't have much to say and my computer's cursor was behaving so erratically that nothing  would come out right when I typed anyway.

The geeks said I needed more memory. Three weeks and seventy-eight dollars later my computer still wasn't fixed so that I could accurately type anything. But, this morning, after consulting another hour's worth of sites, I think I have found the fix.

I don't care what was wrong. I'm just grateful that Jezabel is working again. I think I'm going to cry in gratitude, though I'm not quite believing that this fix is going to endure. Computer! Thy name is fickle.

So, I admit my dependence on my computer. I intend to confess all the foul things I said to her. I embarrassed myself by yelling at her over these last weeks. Now, however, after being estranged from one another for too long, we are back together at least until the next falling out.

Vacations Wear off too Soon.

Vacations wear off too soon.  Mine is just a memory but a vivid one of mountains, wonderful people and a Cloud Forest. I can call up images but it isn't the same as being there.

So, you can already hear in those words that I'll be going back there next year, if I'm able and if God blesses me with the opportunity to go.

These spaces in my life where I am whisked away to another place and to another pace of living where everything is novel and every person is a revelation waiting to be experienced only wets my appetite for more.

I'll write more about this soon but I thought I'd better write something now
so that you'll know that I am alive and well.

Seeking the Face of God

Romano Guardini wrote so often about prayer that it almost seemed his obsession. However, his search for God led him to suggest paths for the less spiritually intense, too.

 When Guardini is in his world of prayer, he is far above the average
man or woman who seeks unión with God. But every once in a while he writes something that is easy to understand but profound and helpful to those who want to pray.

He says in one of his books that though the human person is a mystery, every person has an interior face, and not only an external face.  We seek that true image in ourselves and in those we love when we want to know someone.  Guardini says that when we pray, the unión of each of us with God is simply looking at and knowing Him whom we love.  He looks at us, too and we learn about His love.

 Someone once described her prayer life to me by saying:  ''He looks at me and I look at Him -- and we talk.''

Another searcher whom I know well describes a desire for prayer in this way:  ´´I can´t wait to get to heaven and sit down and have a cup of coffee with God.''

There is no one path to prayer.  Each person has to find his/her own way.  I think, though, that there are certain common elements to prayer: When we pray--

 There should be a ceasing of our tasks and we should make a space for quiet.

Then, too, the desire for prayer should come from an expectant heart. 

Always, we should seek God  through Our Lord Jesús Christ.  It is He who leads us to the Father.

Prayer is not always easy.  Don´t give up!

There are worse obsessions than seeking God relentlessly.



 

Rain Forest, Cloud Forest in Costa Rica.

I can´t imagine a heavier rain than we are experiencing right now at 5 pm on a mountain in Monteverde, Costa Rica. Hey! I´m supposed to be in the mist of a Cloud Forest, not a monsoon!

It´s raining as if all the springs of heaven suddenly overflowed at the same time, torrential, with no wind driving this rain. It is the sound of a waterfall, millions of drops hitting the ground, trees and houses, all the drops joining to make one great enduring roar. It´s a downpour.

The sky is light gray, not black at all.  I remember skies and rains like this when I lived in the Florida Panhandle.  The sky would open and it just poured.  ''The bottom fell out,'' the people would say afterwards.

There´s no lightning and just an occasional rumble from the sky. The bottom has been falling out for about forty-five minutes.

I´m sitting in Monteverde Inn at this public computer in a room with huge picture windows on three sides.  I´m the only tourist here and the family that runs the place is down the side of the mountain in their little cottage about a block away. Eventually, I´ll make a run for my room which is about a hundred yards dash to the West.

This immense amount of water is flowing down the mountain into streams which are now rivers, and rivers which are now overflowing and moving fast and out to the Pacific an hour away.

My serene vacation gives way to this storm and reminds me that soon I will leave the mountain quiet.
Storms are a part of life, too. I´m even starting to like this one.

On a Mountain in Costa Rica.

Perspective is important.  Little kids look up in more ways than one to big people.  For some youth, adults are simply people who move through their periferies with little or no relation to their interests. Artists are acutely aware of a particular perspective which draws attention to the point of a painting, for example.

Today,  I'm on a mountain in Costa Rica typing this.  My view is down, down toward the blue-gray bay of the Pacific lying far out from this mountain with its eternal mists and rich, green forests.

My viewpoint is changed, literally but more than that, I've snatched an opportunity to change my attitude, too. I'm not sure what´s happening but I think it is something good.  Life is simple here with no TV or radio, no traffic, no duties other than the need to pray, and essentially no distractions.

It´s been easy to pray on top of this mountain.  Nothing Sinai like happening, I'm just naturally more unencumbered here.

In four days, I will come down the mountain with my physical perspective changed and my soul challenged to see people and my life from a fresh viewpoint.

This is all about amazing grace, isn´t it?

 ´´How great is your name, O Lord, our God, throughout all the earth!

Vacation, Stress and Freedom.

A vacation can cause a lot of stress. You think about where you might want to go. You check out the
planes, trains and automobiles, hotels, motels and attractions related to your target dream site. Then financial realities must be taken into account.

For me it comes down to looking for a quiet place where I can read, pray and walk. Well, what did you expect for a guy at this stage of my life?

Beyond that, I think of what the root of the word vacation denotes: "Vacat" means you're free  --
free of regular duties, free of seeing regular people, free of regular daily routine.  The English word "vacate" gets to the essence of vacationing: You must leave, go away, get out.

By the way, my friends and family get a reprieve from me, too.  I believe that "absence does make the heart grow fonder." That, of course, works both ways.  I'll be happy to see you again.

When I come back from my vacation (I leave tomorrow.) I hope my empty mind will be filled with some new ideas. I hope my prayer life, too, will be refreshed. 

Where ever I go I expect a loving God will find me and I will find Him.

Writing Books, Writing in Books.

I write in my books. Yes, I write in pen without any guilt at all. But, don't tell anyone.  People can't believe that a reader would write in ink all over a new novel or non-fiction book. 

Yep, I'm scribbling statements,
shooting arcing arrows to the page margins of my book to target some idea, and generally defacing a perfectly good book.

I do it to my bible, too. You should see the first chapter of John with notes in red, underlining in black and even tiny drawings in whatever color pen I had in may hands at the time. Whole sentences are highlighted in yellow.  My bible looks like a friendly edit.

My books are my friends, so I talk to them.  Why shouldn't I, they are talking to me? I take the text seriously as a conversation between the author and me. When I converse, I often learn something, if I am listening. And, when I listen for a while, I want to respond.

At restaurants when I am alone at a table with my book, I catch people staring at the guy who is writing in a perfectly good book. What a waste!

Although I throw most books away after reading them, I  keep a few of the books by authors with whom I've had discussions.  Every so often,  I'll pick up an old friend whose pages are worn and whose binding is loosening and begin asking new questions of something I hear for the first time in the text.

As his editor said to Gibbon when he presented a mass of pages entitled "The Decline and Fall of the
Roman Empire":  "Always, scribble, scribble, scribble, heh, Mr. Gibbon?"

Yeah, I'm always scribbling, though I would not have been worthy to carry Mr. Gibbon's snuff box, much less emulate his writing.

If I have been reading a book and there are no handwritten exclamation points or question marks along the edges of the text in the margins, I'm not liking the book much. I'll probably not finish it.

I'm not going to loan a book to you either. Too much of myself is revealed in glosses all through my books. I would be embarrassed to offer one to you. Too much of my soul would be hanging out in the pages.

St. Augustine reminded us that God has written his existence into our universe. He is there, always,  scribbling away, amending and mending his creation. We should read His  book again and again. We should make comments and ask Him questions.  I know He will be pleased that someone cares enough to join in the eternal conversation.

The Woods are Dark and Deep.

I found a wooded area today, not quite a forest, more like a savanna. The breeze was balmy and it made me feel good to walk through the bushes and trees that were extending new greenery which I could still see through.

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The trees and shrubs of the arboretum have been awake for two weeks. During the next month the trees will extend their canopy to block the sun which right now flashes splashes of light on the ground where Spring flowers and grasses grow. Soon, the lush bushes will hide the scenes I can see now.

The delicate pink flowers, called Yellowroot,  grow in patches in oases of light.  These Spring plants have to move fast to force their buds to bloom and bear seeds before the oaks and hickorys soak up all the light.

Like the old country boy I once heard about, I sat on a bench looking at the scene. When asked what he was doing, old man said he was just sitting: "Sometimes, I sits and thinks, and sometimes, I just sits."  This time I was thinking.

I sat there and with nobody listening, I spoke Frost's poem out loud. Forget that his poem is written about a winter scene. I think Robert Frost would have done equally well had it been Spring.
The gist of the poem goes like this:

"Whose woods these are, I think I know.
His house is in the village, though.
He will not see me stopping by to
see his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer,
to stop without a farmhouse near,
the darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
to ask if there's been some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep of easy wind and
downy flake.

The woods are lovely dark and deep,
but I have promises to keep,
and miles to go before I sleep,
and miles to go before I sleep.

That wasn't odd enough, I suppose, so in the next moment, still sitting on the bench, I
recited out loud one of John Keats' last poems, a poem not
about Spring at all.  Here are some of the lines as I remember them:

"When I have fears that I may cease to be before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain,
before high pil-ed books in charactery hold like rich garners the full ripened grain,

And when I behold upon the night's starred face huge cloudy symbols of a high romance
 and think that I may never live to trace them with the magic hand of chance,

Then, on the shores of the wide world, I sit and think  'til love and fame to nothingness do sink."

I hope you don't mind that I've forgotten lines of both poems and even missed getting a word right here and there.  Today, these fragments of beauty and reflections on time's passing were God's gift to me, my first prayers of consolation in a long time.