See the Saving Power of God!

The response to the responsorial psalm, Psalm 98, states that "[a]ll the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God."  "All the ends of the earth": every continent and every country and State, city and village, in each continent has seen the saving power of God.  Knowledge of God has been spread throughout the world. And, in fact, the law of God has been written on every heart. Furthermore, "everyone who acts in righteousness is begotten by him" (1 John 2:-3:6).  St. John then says to us: "See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are!"

Each of us is a child of God! Each of us, if open to God's revelations and presence in our personal lives and in the world, "have seen the saving power of God." We have seen God's love being poured out, for instance,  by little children who cling to their parents, who rest their tiny heads on their shoulders, who give their art pictures to mommy and daddy, who kiss their baby brother/sister, who want to help mommy and daddy with chores or with baking Christmas cookies, and the parents who respond lovingly to their child's needs and comfort them when they are distressed.  We see God's saving power at work in the reconciliation of spouses, of grown children with their parents, of long-lost relatives being found, in criminals remorseful of the ways in which they have hurt others, in persons who risk their lives to save others from disaster, and on and on!  This evening on the CBS news we have seen God at work through a little boy who has found "forever homes" for 1400 dogs confined to kettles in animal shelters. We see God's love and saving power at work in strangers helping strangers in need, in children making sandwiches for homeless persons and, with parents, distributing those sandwiches. Human being partnering with God, allowing God's power to flow through them, is endless and happens throughout the world!

"Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done [and is doing] wondrous deeds" (Psalm 98) around the world,  in our back yards and in our families!

The Nearness of our God

In today's Gospel, John 6: 16-21, the disciples of Jesus decide to  get in a boat and row across the lake to Capernaum.  They go without Jesus. It is a dark stormy evening and the waters are turbulent. When get 3-4 miles out, they see Jesus walking on the water toward them.  Immediately He says to them: "It is I. Do not be afraid."

It is not unusual for the "waters" of our lives to become turbulent for many reasons: a sick child, a threatening illness in ourselves or any family members, economic problems, job-related issues, the trauma being played out in our politics and so on.  Everything, so it seems, looks "dark" for us. Hear Jesus say to you through a loved one, a concerned relative, a parish priest or the minister of the church you attend: "Do not be afraid".  Jesus is always present no matter what might be frightening us.  He takes us by the hand and will walk with us through the turbulence, calming our fears and assuring us that He will not abandon us, no matter what. Darkness is not dark to the Lord. He will, therefore, show us the way and guide us through the turmoil in a way that strengthens our faith and our hope and draws us closer together to our loved ones. When God seems far away, He is especially close to us, even if our eyes and ears remain closed.

These are my beliefs. What are yours?

Rejoice: The Lord is Near

We open today's liturgy with the antiphon: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near"(Phil 4: 4,5).

Each of us today awakened because the Lord called us to continue our existence here on earth. As we journey through this day, God will give us new opportunities to grow in grace and wisdom (growing in age is automatic); growing in grace and wisdom depends on our openness to God.  God, who entered the earth, coming down from heaven and being born as a helpless Infant, tender, loving, in need of care--the God who created the Universe and all that is in it, human, plant and animal--continues the act of Incarnation every day.  The Incarnate God exists within us, sustaining us in existence. The Incarnate God exists in all that has life. God's creative energies continue their creative gift of life in myriad of ways, including our own life as unique persons. God works with us and through us to become the persons God designed us to be. God patiently awaits our acceptance of our need to be saved; yes, our realization that we need redemption--God's mercy and love making us whole, making us increasingly more  pure and more authentic, more altruistic, more generous with time and talent in helping others; making us lavishly more loving, making us deeply more honest, even in the smallest of ways that we do not live up to our potential as human beings!

[R]ejoice  heartily in the Lord, in [your] God is the joy of [your] soul" (Isaiah 61: 1-2a, 10-11).

God's Way of Communicating

In today’s first reading, Jeremiah 18: 1-6, the Lord says to Jeremiah: “Rise up, be off to the potter’s house; there I will give you my message.  I went down to the potter’s house,” Jeremiah says.  How often do you and I listen to the Lord in the way that Jeremiah did! Or would we retort God, saying: “What? Go down to the potter’s house? What am I to do there? I’m no potter. I am not interested.” And then we go our own way! Not Jeremiah. God could not have been clearer. “Rise up, be off to the potter’s house.”  But wait a minute. Also think of the times when you did rise up and go to check on your child, your spouse, your friend;  and, luckily, you did because he/she was in danger, was ill, distressed and desperately needed help. Or your loved one was about to do something that would have been harmful to him/her.  I think of the woman who went down to the area where people were rioting against the police in Ferguson, MO, and found her son throwing rocks at police. She grabbed him and sent him home, screaming: “This is not what I taught you. “

Jeremiah finds the potter redoing the pottery he/she was trying to create because it had turned out badly. So the potter reshapes the clay until it turns out to be a masterpiece. That is what God does for us over and over and over again. That is what parents and teachers do every day as they work with their children/students to become their best selves, to become the woman/the man they know God wants of those entrusted to their care!  And we accomplish God’s work of art because, in the words of Psalm 67, God shows kindness and blesses us; God makes his face shine on us.

"My Heart is Overwhelmed; My Pity Stirred," Says God

The Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

In today’s first reading, Hosea 11: 1, 3-4, 8c-9, the Lord God says to us:

  “When Israel was a child I loved him, out of Egypt I called my son. Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, who took them in my arms; I drew them with human cords, with bands of love; I fostered them like one who raises an infant to his [her] cheeks; yet, though I stooped to feed my child, they did not know that I was their healer. My heart is overwhelmed, my pity is stirred. I will not give vent to my blazing anger, I will not destroy Ephraim again; for I am God and not a man, the Holy One present among you; I will not let the flames consume you.”

The Lord says to you and me:

“When you were a child, I loved you, out of that place that enslaves  you I call you, my son [my daughter]. …[I]t is I who teach  you to walk in Truth, in Love, in Justice, in Humility. It is I who take you in my arms.  It is I who draw you with human cords, with bands of love to my most Sacred Heart. I foster you like one who raises an infant to his/her cheeks. Though I stoop to feed you, you do not recognize me as your healer. My pity is stirred when I see you desert Me, reject my Ways, My Truth, my Love, when I see you reject my will and choose your own. Though My heart is overwhelmed, I will not give vent to my blazing anger. I will not destroy you or anyone  bent on violence, those committed to wars, those engaging  in injustices,those perpetuating corrupt practices, those committed to living deceptive lives, for I am God and not a human being, the Holy One present among you, dwelling within you. I will not let the flames of corruption, violence, injustice, deceit, lust, prejudice or any other form of sin to consume you. I am God; there is no other. I am your Savior; there is no other.”

Lord, hide me in your Sacred Heart lest I go astray and fall into the pit that Satan has set for me.

The Graciousness and Kindness of our God

In today’s first reading, Is 49: 8-15, the prophet says to us:

Along the ways,…[you] shall find pasture,
On every bare height shall…your pastures be…
For…[God] who pities[you] leads [you]
and guides [you] beside springs of water.
[God] will cut a road through all [your] mountains,
And make [your] highways level.
See, some shall come from  afar,
Others from the north and the west….
Sing out, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth,
Break forth into song, you mountains.
For the Lord comforts his people
And shows mercy to his afflicted.

 As I meditated upon this passage, the thought came to me that the “bare height” where our pasture shall be is heaven itself, that God, who pities us, leads us to this Promised Land, cutting through the mountains of our lives, leveling the highways.  “See, some [come into eternal life] from the mud slides in the State of Washington, others from the watery grave  where the Malaysian plane’s  tragedy occurred, others from the devastating 8.2 earthquake off the coast of Chile.  So, too, does God remember those who die by the violent hand of another, those who  suffer because of a terminal illness, an ugly divorce, a domestic dispute. God knows and cares about all who suffer the brutal ravages of a war, all who are the target of ethnic cleansing, who are bullied because they are different from those who abuse them.      “Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you,”  God tells us, no matter how much it seems otherwise. 

 “I do believe, Lord, help my unbelief” (Mk 9:24).

Seeing the Victory the Lord Wins for You Today

In today’s first reading, Exodus 14: 5-18, the Israelites are triumphantly leaving Egypt when the Egyptians regret letting them go and pursue them with their armies.  Seeing their pursuit, the Israelites are terrified and complain to Moses: Why didn’t you leave us alone? We’d rather be slaves to Pharaoh than perish in this desert!  Moses replies: “Fear not! Stand your ground, and you will see the victory the Lord will win for you today….The Lord Himself will fight for you; you have only to keep still.”

How often is that not the case for us, namely, that we need to remember that God takes our side when we are oppressed in any given situation, being taken advantage of, being abused, mistreated.  Rather than obsessing about something that, in no way, I have the power to change, I need to surrender to the Lord. In that surrendering, the Lord Himself will fight for me. I have only to keep still.  The temptation is to keep obsessing about the issue, proclaiming my anger and voicing my fears.  “Fear not! Stand your ground (when you are innocent and powerless to change what has happened or is happening), and you will see the victory the Lord will win for you today….The Lord himself will fight for you; and you have only to keep still.”  Do I turn a situation over to the Lord when, in truth, I have no control over it? When I am helpless—I’ve done everything in my power--to change something that needs to be changed or to address something that needs to be addressed, do I turn it over to the Lord and ask for His help, knowing that I “will see the victory the Lord will win for me,…[that] the Lord Himself will fight” for me?

Trusting the Lord in Times of Disaster

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells the apostles that He will be handed over to evil persons who will kill him.  In three days, He says, He will come back to life. They do not, at all, comprehend what  He is talking about. In fact they immediately begin arguing who is the greatest among them in what they thought was a kingdom here on earth  of which Jesus would become King.  Jesus then describes that to be a participant of His Kingdom, we are called to be servants of all, not persons who lord it over others, and that we are to assume the attitude of a little child. A child is completely dependent upon one’s parents to meet all of his or her needs. How utterly dependent upon God am I? To what extent do I assume being a servant of all?  Today’s first reading, Sirach 2: 1-11,  spells out in detail what it means to a servant of the Lord:

 

“My child, if you aspire to serve the Lord,

prepare yourself for an ordeal.

Be sincere of heart, be steadfast,

And do not be alarmed when disaster comes….

[I]n the uncertainties of your humble state, be patient,

since gold is tested in the fire

 and the chosen in the furnace of humiliation.

Trust [God] and [God] will uphold you,

follow a straight path and hope in [God].

You who fear  the Lord, wait for his mercy,….

hope for those good gifts of his,

everlasting joy and mercy….

Love [ God] and your hearts will be enlightened….

Compassionate and merciful is the Lord;

He forgives sins, he saves in time of trouble,

and he is a protector to all who seek him in truth.

How, in the Lord’s name, you might be asking, can you think of God as merciful in light of the tornadic activity tearing across the country.  Why, you ask, would God allow such destruction.   I am to ‘prepare myself for an ordeal”  and “not be alarmed when disaster comes!” Are you crazy, might be the question.

Discipleship is not a piece of cake.  Jesus tells us in the Gospels that in the world we will have troubles, as He did and no servant is greater than his/her master.  God does not cause evil to happen. God does not send tornadoes or earthquakes or tsunamis or any disaster, natural or otherwise.  Those things simply happen on this earth when conditions are in their favor.  God is there to comfort through responders, to show His mercy through neighbors, to reveal His compassion by an outpouring of help to victims, to restore order in the chaos through persons who offer to clean up, through those who give assistance in rebuilding. God weeps with those who weep.  God suffers with those who suffer.   Heros and heroines will come forward in the most devastating of circumstances—God is at work through them.   

Trusting in the Lord

 In today first reading, Is. 26: 1-6, we are encouraged with words: "Trust in the Lord forever! For the Lord is an eternal Rock."  I am at our province headquarters in Oshkosh, WI.  I came here on the 3rd of Dec. and will be here until the 14th. I came to set up a vocation committee that consists of lay people, SSM Associates and some Sisters.  I said to the Lord on the way here: "Lord, this is a trust walk, an act of faith. I have no idea who I will be interviewing or whether the persons I asked for suggestions have any information for me." The first night at Franciscans Courts, our headquarters in Oshkosh, I went to the library around 7:00 p.m. and around 7:30 a sister who does chaplaincy work at Mercy Hospital in Oshkosh dropped by and gave me a list of names of persons she thought would be good committee members. On returning to my room, the phone rang. It was one of our Associates. She had a list of names for me.  I was overwhelmed. I had been praying the prayer: "Lord, bless me this day and I will indeed be blessed!"

I have 12 person interested in working with us to promote religious life and priesthood, to put forth effort to make SSMs known. I will be interviewing all of these persons and writing recommendations to the Council.

Our communication specialist, who also has background in marketing, has offered to analyze my work and help me develop strategies for more effective use of social media and maintaining ongoing contact with inquirers.

"Trust in the Lord! For the Lord is an eternal Rock!"  How many times the Lord confirms this truth for me! What about you?