You’re Just Like Your Dad

Have you ever heard anyone say, “You’re just like your dad”?  It is not an unfamiliar expression to most of us.  If your dad is the most creative, intelligent, loving, forgiving person there is, well, that is quite a compliment!

We become like our parents for genetic reasons, but also from observing and just being around them. How many of us as adults have found ourselves doing something like our mother or father without even thinking about it? 

We have another Father Whom we hopefully resemble . . . our Father in heaven.  Yes, the more we get to know Him, the more we can be like Him.  But, that is not all. God has given us the magnificent gift of His grace, His very own life.  This is readily available to us in the sacraments.  We receive it every time we receive Holy Communion or the sacrament of Reconciliation.  If grace is a share in God’s life, the more we receive grace, the more we will be like God!  It is how we become saints, how we become holy.

So, take advantage of this great gift and let other people see you and say, “You’re just like your Dad!”

A Buried Treasure?

What would you do if someone told you that of the two most valuable treasures in the world, of all time, one of them was buried in your backyard?  I think most people would begin excavation.  Yes, it would create a mess, but we are talking about a treasure of enormous worth!  Surely you will be able to re-landscape your backyard.

What if someone told you that one of the two most valuable treasures in the world was available, at no cost to you, at a nearby location?  No muddy backyard necessary!  You just need to be there late Saturday afternoon to pick it up.  In fact, if you can’t make it then, just call the office and the dispenser of the gift will allow you to make an appointment to pick it up.  If you want to pick it up anonymously, just show up at the scheduled time. 

If this is so valuable, you figure there will probably be a mob trying to get in, so you leave early.  As you drive, you wonder about parking and hope you will be able to find a spot.  As you pull into the parking lot, you wonder if you have the right place.  There are plenty of parking spaces.  In fact, only two other cars are there. 

You have the right spot.  Perhaps this sounds like a make-believe story to you, but it is a true story that is repeated in too many Catholic Churches every week.  This gift is freely available to us, though it is not a free gift.  Someone already paid for it for us because He wanted so much for it to be available for all.  The price was high.  No human could have afforded the price.  He paid for it when He died on the cross and the gift is Reconciliation. 

It seems to me that the Sacrament of Reconciliation is the most unappreciated gift in the world, close to the Eucharist (the Sacrament of sacraments), which is the other treasure.  (Yes, Baptism is important for without it we cannot receive the other sacraments, but I chose to include those sacraments that are always available to us, to receive multiple times.)

Why is this gift uncollected so often?  Some perhaps feel that it has been a long time and they are embarrassed to say that to the priest.  Imagine yourself as the priest and someone comes to you who has been away for a long time.  Wouldn’t that be a source of great joy for you?  Jesus says that “there is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine who have no need of repentance”.  Perhaps some forget what to do?  These days it is enough to say to the priest, “Father I have been away from Confession for a while and I forget some of the steps.”  The priest will be very happy to help you.  Perhaps some have had a bad experience with a priest in confession.  As a member of the Church, I ask your forgiveness and beg you not to allow any human response to keep you distant from God.  Sharing the experience with a priest can allow healing to begin.  God is waiting for you so that He can start the process.  Perhaps some think that their sins are not serious enough.  Well, scripture says that “If we say we have no sin, we make God a liar.”  Sin was serious enough to God that He sent His Son to die to repair the damage.  He died for all, not just for the other people’s sins.  Perhaps some are busy on Saturdays, well, when we look at our schedules through the eyes of eternity, we might want to rearrange a few “Things to do.”  The sacrament of Reconciliation is an encounter with Jesus, Who loves you more than you can imagine.

Reconciliation is an incredibly happy sacrament.  Remember the joy in heaven Jesus spoke of?  What are some ways you celebrate this sacrament? We once had a tradition of going out for ice cream afterwards.  Sometimes there is a danger of conveying our own fears or somber attitude about the sacrament to our children.  Soon, the second graders will receive this sacrament for the first time.  Will it be accompanied by a celebration?  First Holy Communion usually is, but isn’t a like celebration appropriate for this sacrament?  We convey more to children by what we do than by what we say. 

Children will learn, above all, how important the sacrament is by how frequently they see the grownups in their lives making a point to receive the sacrament.

If it has been awhile, treat yourself with this wonderful gift, this great treasure!

What are some ways that you celebrate this sacrament with your children?

A Christmas Reflection: The Reception of Jesus

           Christmas is a time when we celebrate God becoming man, and not just man but the most helpless of all men, an infant.  We romanticize His coming with beautiful nativity scenes and inspiring Christmas hymns.  It all seems very lovely as we look and listen in our warm homes, on our comfortable furniture, and with our delicious abundance of food.  But what kind of reception did God receive when He entered into our world, well, really His world, but the one He made and gave to our use and care?

            First let’s look at where and with whom God chose to dwell.  He had the whole world and could have chosen anyone at anytime, anywhere.  He chose the perfect time, the “fullness of time,” the time when all the preparations by the prophets had been complete.  He chose the place where His people lived, the people with Whom He had established a relationship.  That was where He wanted to be.  It was not the most powerful place.  In fact, it was ruled by a foreign power. And among these people, He chose to live with a couple who were poor, but whose hearts were pure and filled with the love of their God. They had plans, but they were open to change those plans if God wanted something different.  This love, and humility and obedience to God, made it possible for God to make His love visible to the world and to draw all people to Himself. 

            How did people respond to God’s seeking entrance into the world?  Well, first there is Mary.  The first thing she does when she learns of His coming, and that she was to be His mother, was to go out to the hill country and see if her cousin needed help.  She was a servant.  Interesting that one of Jesus’ last acts with his disciples is the role of a servant, when he washed the feet of His apostles.  Mary did not gloat, she was not proud, she did not pamper herself.  She continued to be the “handmaid of the Lord” and by doing this she brought the presence of the Lord to those she visited.

            Next there is John the Baptist.  He was so on fire because of the Lord’s coming that his life’s mission was to make sure everyone else was ready, to prepare them so that the Lord would be well received. 

            What about Joseph?  While he was concerned with the practicalities of life, ensuring that Our Lord had everything He would need, he surely must have been a man of prayer.  His must have been a prayer with an open mind and heart because he responded so readily to the Lord’s message, through His angel, to take Mary to be his wife and to be the father of the Son of God.

            More immediate to the Lord’s birth, there is the innkeeper.  At first he had no room.  Our Lord wanted to enter in, but he had no room.  The greatest event in the history of the world to that time was about to take place and the innkeeper missed his chance.  He could have been host to the Creator of the world but he was too filled up with other things and people.  He is sometimes portrayed as the one who offered the stable to the Holy Family.  Why would he do that?  Was he feeling guilty and did it ease his conscience?  Was he truly concerned but did not know what else to do, or did he lack the energy to make the room?  He will forever be remembered as the man who had no room for Christ.

            Then there were shepherds. It seems appropriate that the Good Shepherd would want to make His presence known to shepherds.  They were His kind of people and must have had a very special place in His Heart.  They certainly were not rich and powerful.  They did not have the greatest of jobs.  The hours and working conditions could be difficult and sheep are not known for their smarts.  Perhaps Our Lord knew that they would understand His coming better than anyone – His desire to seek those who were lost, to carry the injured in His arms, to give His life for those in His care – which is all of us.  The shepherds did not just go to see Jesus.  They went in haste to see and having seen, they shared the good news with all they met.  They knew that something this wonderful was not meant to be kept to themselves.  They were a good choice to be the first to witness this great act of love, this wonderful miracle, this great Christmas gift!

            What did they see but a baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger?  A manger was hard and could not have been very clean.  Animals lived in the stable, so there likely would have been an odor which was not of the most pleasant kind.  This was the resting place for the King of kings. 

            Jesus still comes today.  He still dwells among us and in us and is present physically to us in the holy Eucharist.  What kind of place does He enter now?  While we might imagine ourselves preparing the best room, with the cleanest and softest linens for Our Lord to stay, the place He chooses to come is inside us.  Is our place clean because we have rid it of all sin?  Is it made soft and warm by our acts of love and charity?  Do we approach Him with the deepest reverence and the most profound humility?  After all, this time, He has chosen to live with us. 

            And what about when He comes again in human form,  but with a name like my brother or sister, my mother or father, my classmate or co-worker, a stranger on the street, the poor, the sad, the lonely?

           O Lord, may I always be ready to welcome You.  May I be like Mary and go immediately to serve those in need.  May I be like John the Baptist and help everyone to be ready to receive You.  May I be like Joseph and pray with an open mind and an open heart.  May I be like the shepherds and come and adore and then depart, telling everyone of Your love.

The Gift of Free Will

This week I had two opportunities to speak about the gift of free will.  One was planned, as the second graders continue their preparation for First Reconciliation, and the second was not planned as I taught Religion to the fourth graders in Mrs. Allen’s absence.

Free will is a gift.  It has consequences and the positive consequences are wonderful; they are encountered in every joy we experience.  The negative consequences, well, they had me pondering one day why God doesn’t just make us do what He wants.  The world would be so much better if everyone did what God wants ~ no violence, no wars, no fighting, no killing, etc. 

While that statement is true, what God wants most of all would be missing.  God wants our love.  I may be able to make a child say, “I love you,” by withholding recess for the rest of the year if he or she doesn’t say it, but that would not be real love.  For love to be real, there must be a choice.  God gave us the ability to love and be loved with the gift of free will.  It is so important that He will not take it away, even when we make bad choices.   Too often, God gets blamed for the bad choices people make, but I am so grateful to Him for this gift which allows us to experience the best thing about life ~ love.

May this advent be one in which we grow in our ability to make loving choices.

A Real Thanksgiving

The first graders were learning Greek, yes, they were even translating.   In our study of the Mass, we learned that the word “eucharist” comes from the Greek word eucharistia, which means “thanksgiving.” 

God has given us many gifts for which  we ought to give thanks.  Most of what He has given us, we won’t even realize this side of heaven.  What is the best way to give thanks to God?  In one of the prefaces for the Eucharistic Prayer at Mass, we pray “You have no need of our thanks, yet our desire to thank You is itself Your gift.”  God has given us the means to offer Him perfect thanks - that is the celebration of the Eucharist.  He asks us to gather as a family once a week to offer thanks, not because He needs it, but He knows that it is for our own good; we are better for it. 

It is in our thanksgiving celebration of the Eucharist that God gives us His greatest gift.  We offer bread and wine, He receives them, makes them better by changing them into Himself, and gives them back to us. 

We also offer Him ourselves, as represented by the  “bread which earth has given and human hands have made” and the “fruit of the wine and work of human hands”.  May God receive the offering of ourselves, make us better, that is, change us to be more like Him, and then give us back to the world to be the presence of His love.

So, every time you celebrate the Mass, Happy Thanksgiving!

The Last Supper / The First Mass

The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.”  In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “ This cup is the new covenant in my blood.  Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”  (1 Cor. 11: 23-25)

The Acts of the Apostles tells us about the early church community: And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and prayers.  (Acts 2:42)

In the year 150, Justin the Martyr provided a description of the communal celebration:

On the day which is called Sun-day, all, whether they live in the town or the country, gather in the same place.

Then the memoirs of the Apostles or the Writings of the Prophets are read (for as long as time allows).

When the reader had finished, the president speaks, exhorting us to love by these noble teachings.

Then we rise all together and pray.

Then…when the prayer is finished, bread, wine, and water are brought.  The president then prays and gives thanks…And all the people reply with the acclamation: Amen!

Then the Eucharistic gifts are distributed and shared out to everyone, and the deacons are sent to take them to those who are absent.

Sound familiar? The Mass, though it has developed over the centuries to its present form, was instituted by Christ and has maintained the essential elements from the earliest days of the Church.

Prayer: a feeling or an act of love?

Does it sometimes seem that you find themes in conversations you have where perhaps a message is repeated on several different occasions over a short period of time?  If we listen, hopefully we can hear the Holy Spirit speaking to us.

One such recent theme for me concerned prayer.  Some people find it hard to pray because they don’t “feel” anything or they don’t go to Mass because they “don’t get anything out of it.”  There are certain prayers that the children are or will be required to memorize. There are those who believe prayer is best left between the person and God and for this reason do not use customary prayers or even join the rest of the community at church on Sunday.

Prayer is all about relationship, the most important relationship we have, our relationship with God.  The joy of a relationship is the love between and among persons.  As parents, you are experts in recognizing that love is not about feelings.  When I am teaching students that love is not a feeling, I often use parents as an example.  When children get sick in the middle of the night, correct me if I am wrong, but most parents don’t feel like getting out of bed and gathering everything they need to care for their sick child, or changing the sheets if needed.  Parents don’t think twice about it though because of their love for their child.  They wouldn’t think of doing anything less.  In this example we can clearly see what love is, an act of the will.

It is true; God sometimes sends us wonderful feelings to accompany our prayer.  These are consolations.  When these consolations are gone, that doesn’t mean that God is.  In fact, these moments provide us with an opportunity to find out whether we love the consolations of God, or the God of consolations.  Enjoy the moments of consolations and let them carry you through the moments when they are missing. When we pray, when we make the decision to go to Mass, let it be for God, an act of our will, rather than for our own good feeling.  That’s what we’re called to do it anyway, isn’t it?