Let the River Flow

There was a great song that we used to sing at the Lifeteen Mass called, "Let the River Flow."  During the chorus, we would sing over and over, "Let the River flow, let the River flow, Holy Spirit come, move in power..."  It was a beautiful reminder of the mission of the Church.  The prophet Ezekiel offers us another beautiful reminder of the mission of the Church.

In a vision that God gave to Ezekiel, the prophet saw water flowing out of the temple.  The fresh water grew in volume as it flowed out of the temple, becoming streams that fed nearby trees.  The trees and plants along the shore were revitalized and bore amazing fruit.  The water continued to flow, all the way to the ocean, and began to freshen the salt water of the sea.

This is the mission of the Church.  We are called to be living water, flowing from our communities of faith to the ends of the earth, bringing life where there is death, freedom where there is slavery, peace where there is war, justice where their is injustice, forgiveness where there is resentment, and love where their is hate.  

The Joy of Identity

I just finished posting my homily, "The Joy of Identity," from this morning.  You can access it by clicking here.  It is a look at how all joy and freedom is rooted in understanding who we are to God through Jesus Christ.

I hope all of you have  a blessed and peaceful Spring Break!

Balancing

Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else. -Luke 18:9

Wow! What a way to start a story! If that doesn't convict our hearts, nothing probably will! This verse is the beginning of the parable told in Luke 18:9-14 about the Pharisee and the tax-collector praying in the temple. There is a lot of great spiritual insight that we can get out of this parable, but I want to point out just two simple things. This parable reminds us of the importance of being aware of 1) our sinfulness and 2) God's love.

When we ruminate about our sinfulness and forget the unconditional love of God, we lose touch with who we truly are and we fall into despair. And, when we only remember God's love and choose to ignore out sinfulness, we quickly fall into presumption and subtle forms of mockery.

Spiritual growth requires a healthy awareness of both of these realities- our sinfulness and God's unconditional love.

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The Saint Joseph's Altar

The Solemnity of Saint Joseph is March 19th, but we are celebrating it a few days early at Immaculate Conception Church.  Our school children have prepared a special "St. Joseph's Altar" for our Mass today and invited all of the parishioners at this weekend's Masses to participate in covering the altar with food for the poor!

The first time I ever heard of a "St. Joseph's Altar" was during my four years in graduate seminary in New Orleans, LA.   Every March 19th, a special table at the seminary would be loaded full of various kinds of pastries and treats.  We abstained from meat that day, but we didn't mind since we were allowed to enjoy the pastries (even if we had given up sweets for Lent!).  At the time, I didn't know how Saint Joseph was connected to my getting to eat sweets during Lent, but I really didn't care!  Later, I learned that I needed to thank the people from Sicily.

There is a large settlement of Sicilian immigrants in New Orleans who brought the tradition of the "St. Joseph's Altar" to their new city.  According to the legend, the people of Sicily prayed for the intercession of St. Joseph during a severe famine in the Middle Ages and their prayers were answered.  They had promised that if their prayers were answered they would prepare St. Joseph a wonderful feast.  To this day, altars in honor of St. Joseph are constructed on March 19th and they are filled with treats (St. Joseph is the patron saint of pastry chefs) and food for the poor.

By the end of this weekend, we hope our "St. Josephs' Altar" is overflowing with food for the poor!  I want to thank Mr. Paul Vogler, our choir director, and all the faculty, staff, and students at the school for providing us with an opportunity to celebrate the life of St. Joseph and feed the poor.

Hardness of Heart

One of the most powerful images of sinfulness in Sacred Scripture is a hardened heart. Once a heart has turned to stone and is no longer gentle and receptive, then God's Word and Love cannot penetrate it.

God called Jeremiah to be a prophet who would bring His Word to the Israelites. However, we are told that they would not obey or listen. Instead, "they walked in the hardness of their evil hearts and turned their backs" on God. Nothing seemed to get through to them. God told Jeremiah, "When you speak all these words to them,
they will not listen to you either; when you call to them, they will not answer you"
(Jeremiah 7:23-28).

What are the things in our lives that have caused our hearts to harden? Sin? Addiction? Fear? Lies? Anger? Pride? Selfishness? Prejudice? When we are confronted with the hardness of our hearts, let's surrender to God's promise in the Book of Ezekiel 36:26 which has been fulfilled in Christ--

I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

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I Was Supposed to Remember to...

I was recently diagnosed with Vitamin D deficiency, which can cause fatigue and memory loss. It's a common problem, with a simple solution-- I have to remember to take a little green pill one a week. This irony was not lost on me--I have to remember to take a pill in order to help my memory loss problem...

Remembering is an important part of our lives. Every day we are given countless pieces of information that we're supposed to remember. Often, we forget the important stuff. However, we rarely forget the painful things. In reality, it's important for us to remember all the things that happen to us, the good and the bad. However, we remember them in slightly different ways.

The importance of remembering painful moments in life is that we take the time to prayerfully grow in our awareness of how God was present with us in love while we went thru that painful time and how God is using the painful situation to make us more like Jesus Christ. This will not take away the pain of the memory, but it will infuse the memory with important meaning, which leads to joy.

We should also remember good things. Saint Ignatius recommends that we take good memories--moments of great consolation--back to prayer over and over, simply savoring how God was loving us in those situations. This is similar to what Moses recommended to the Israelites when he told them--

Take care and be earnestly on your guard
not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen,
nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live,
but teach them to your children and to your children's children.
-Deuteronomy 4:9

What is one bad memory that you need to bring to God and find new meaning in? What is one good memory that you need to savor today?

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What is Mercy?

The Bible talks an awful lot about mercy.  What is mercy?  Mercy is a gentle, generous empathy toward the brokenness of others.  Such empathy begins with an awareness of our own sinfulness and an experience of God's generous forgiveness.  Our mercy then allows us to love others and it stirs up a desire in us to be a source of healing for them.

The greatest gift of mercy is that it helps us to focus more on the fact that the opportunity to forgive someone is a gift, rather than on the hurt they caused us.

Who needs our mercy today?