Blog

Read more about the article Ordinary Time

Ordinary Time

The feasts of the Liturgical Season of Christmas (Christmas, Mary Mother of God, Epiphany and the Baptism of the Lord) have passed and we are now in Ordinary Time.  For many, it’s time for the post-Christmas blues as we pass through the cold, dark, winter days waiting for spring.  But this week, the readings start off with an invitation and miracles. “The Kingdom of God is at hand.” “Follow Me.” Jesus casts out unclean spirits and heals the sick (Mark 1-2).

What is Jesus saying to us about ordinary time?  When He walked into Capernaum and cast out demons who ravaged their victims, it was an ordinary day.  People were caring for their families, even those with unclean spirits, as best they could and Jesus walked right into their messy lives and healed them.  People were busy at work; Peter and Andrew casting their nets and James and John mending theirs. An ordinary day, and Jesus walked up to them and invited them to follow Him.  He healed Peter’s mother-in-law of an ordinary fever, then healed many in the town.  The first four apostles dropped everything in their lives when He invited them to travel with Him as He preached to the towns of Galilee.

Ordinary time is an invitation to build up our faith by letting God into even the small moments in our lives.  Did your teething baby keep you up all night?  God was there.  Did your child take his first steps? God was there.  Did you have a nagging headache because work was stressful?  God was there. Did you wash 3 loads of laundry? God was there.  Did you do home repair or car maintenance? God was there.  Did you serve yet another delicious meal to your family – or burn the pot like I did?  God was there.  Did you enjoy a phone call from a dear friend? God was there.  Did you spend the evening paying bills? God was there.  Did you receive a hug — or experience the loneliness of no hug today? God was there.  Did you enjoy a sunny day, a beautiful sunset, a starry night — or experience yet another day of ongoing rain, snow, or cold?  God was there.  

He is with us in all these moments and calls us to be present with Him in the present moment.  It is in the “now” that we build relationships with others and with God.  He wants time with us for daily conversation and that also means being quiet long enough for Him to speak.  How different would your day have been if you had talked to Him about your weariness, disappointment, frustration, boredom, or sorrow – or thanked Him for all the moments of laughter and joy?  How different will tomorrow be when you realize He is right there helping you carry your crosses?  How different will tomorrow be when you notice all the blessings and little miracles around you?

Our circumstances may not change, but our ability to endure the sorrows and relish the joys certainly will.  Even more important than changing our attitude is changing our relationship with Him. This is how He transformed fishermen into saints, one ordinary day at a time. And He wants to transform our ordinary moments into moments of grace because acknowledging His presence transforms us.  So, what is Jesus saying to you on this ordinary day? 

Thanks to my friend Pam Delgado for letting me use her beautiful picture of Lake Tahoe in this reflection.

Continue ReadingOrdinary Time
Read more about the article Epiphany

Epiphany

Today is Epiphany.  Just as the wise men brought their gifts to Baby Jesus, we also can present our gifts to Him.  What gift can we give God? The gift He desires most – ourselves.  He wants us entirely and completely.   Yes, I know this may be intimidating, and we have all of our excuses lined up.

“But I’m a sinner.”  Yes, I said that too. St. Peter denied Jesus.  St. Paul was responsible for the persecution and murder of Christians.  St. Mary Magdalene had seven demons cast out from her (I can’t even begin to imagine her sins).  If Jesus forgave them and gave new life to them, there is hope for you and me.

“But I don’t want to change who I am.”  I tried that one too. Who do you think gave you all your talents?  Why would He bless you with all your unique gifts and then withhold them from you for choosing to follow Him? Jesus does not call us to become who we are not; He calls us to be the best selves we can be.  We all have our flaws and are trying to become better, but if we give ourselves to Jesus, how much more He can help us to become the better human beings we would like to be.

“But I don’t want to give away all my stuff.”  I don’t know about you, but my stuff wears out and I have no problem parting with the stuff that is old, broken, and doesn’t fit anymore. (Yes, I still have a few sentimental favorites like my son’s Baptismal outfit.) More importantly, it’s not about giving up what we want, but being happy with what we have.  And if stuff really made us happy, we would not have to constantly buy more of it.  If we really want the things that don’t wear out, we need to think about what treasures we are storing up in Heaven.  Are we generous?  Are we kind?  Are we forgiving?  Are we patient?  Are we loving?  Do we offer up our prayers, works, joys, and sufferings to God every day?  These are the things offered with love that build up our treasures in Heaven.

“But I don’t want to give up my goals.”  This one worried me too.  I had lots of plans for my life that included starting my own business and having material success.  I had my MBA and was making progress on my plan.  Then I gave birth and the doctor presented my son to me.  As I held him in my arms everything changed 180 degrees.  I suddenly realized that I couldn’t leave him.   This was the Holy Spirit at work.  I told my husband, “We need to talk.  I can’t go back to work.  I can’t leave our son.”  He smiled at me and said, “As I watched the doctor place him in your arms I realized that I didn’t want you to go back to work.  I want you to raise our son.  I prayed that the Holy Spirit would somehow change your mind.”  Wow!  No one had to drag me away from my plans.  Suddenly I wanted God’s plan more than anything I have ever wanted before.  This is a profound grace.  My life today looks nothing like I had imagined it would; it’s even better.  God’s plan has fulfilled me in ways I could never have imagined and brought me joy that I never knew existed.  He wants to do the same for you if you will let Him.

This Epiphany Jesus wants the gift of you. As you are. Unconditionally.  So let us approach our Baby God in the manger and bring Him the gift He desires most. 

Continue ReadingEpiphany
Read more about the article Nativity

Nativity

A Meditation on the Nativity from the perspective of St. Joseph:

We have traveled many miles to Bethlehem.  Mary and I are hungry, thirsty, and exhausted. So often she looks at me and smiles her gentle smile and I know that she is praying as I am praying. Yes, we are weary but at peace.  The journey will soon be over.  We will find an inn and rest.  Then we can report for the census tomorrow and return home to Nazareth.

Then Mary says very softly, “It is time.”  It is too soon.  We don’t have a place to stay. The sun has set and it is bitter cold.  I have given Mary my cloak and she is still shivering. I go from inn to inn and get more worried as time and again they say there is no room.  I search their faces for some shred of compassion – a baby is going to be born.  Mary and Jesus need shelter.  I can’t let them down.

Why is this happening? My dear Mary can’t give birth in the street.  I even plead with one man, but Mary says “It is okay. Don’t insist, Joseph.”  She is so calm.  I meet her gaze and see only love, compassion, and trust; I know that somehow it will be okay. I keep knocking on doors.  Finally, I am offered a place in the stables, a cave really.  The animals are there, but it is warm and dry.

I don’t understand why this is happening, but I trust that Our Father has His reasons.  I prepare a place for Mary.  I look for a place to prepare for Jesus and I remember the crib I made him – it’s back in Nazareth.  The hours I spent lovingly carving it, putting my whole self into that crib.  I wanted it to be perfect for Him. All that is in front of me is a manger – a feeding trough.  There is clean hay to put in it and use it as a bed.  I am thankful for the clean hay.

Mary settles in and I sit and pray.  Suddenly there is a brilliant flash of light and I hear baby Jesus crying.  He is here.  I wait until Mary has wrapped him in cloth and I go and kneel before Him.  Mary smiles and says, “Here Joseph, hold Him.”  Hold Him? Hold God?  I am about to say no, but He looks at me and smiles and then gives a little shiver from the cold.  I go to Him and hold Him close to my heart.  I will keep you warm, My Lord.

After a while I hear noises outside.  “Who’s there?”  “It is only us. We are shepherds.  The angels told us the King of kings is here.  We want to worship Him.”  I pull aside the curtain and they file in.  They tell me how thousands of angels filled the sky and sang so sweetly that they would never forget that music, that love, that joy they felt.  They came at once.  As they see Him they kneel down in homage.  I see their grubby faces transform into radiant joy.

I begin to contemplate all of this.  Shepherds.  The poorest and humblest of our people, yet the angels came to them.  And they, they believed.  No questions, no doubts.  God is born and lying in a manger, go worship Him. And they did. Such reverence, such love, such faith. 

And now I understand why God chose a stable; the innkeepers would have never let them in.  The dynasty of kings came from a shepherd such as these – David, a man after God’s own heart.  The humble and pure of heart draw God’s loving glance.  These shepherds are the faithful ones who have waited in joyful hope.  And He has come to them.  He has met them where they are. He chose this stable so that he could come to them, the faithful ones.  And the last shall be first. Praise God.

Pope Francis has declared the Year of St. Joseph from December 8, 2020 to December 8, 2021 and granted Plenary Indulgences. For more information, go to: Vatican News

Continue ReadingNativity
Read more about the article The Book of Job

The Book of Job

Then the LORD* answered Job out of the storm and said: Who is this who darkens counsel with words of ignorance? . . I will question you, and you tell me the answers! Where were you when I founded the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its size? Surely you know? Who stretched out the measuring line for it? Into what were its pedestals sunk, and who laid its cornerstone, while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God* shouted for joy? Have you ever in your lifetime commanded the morning and shown the dawn its place for taking hold of the ends of the earth, till the wicked are shaken from it?  Then Job answered the LORD and said: I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be hindered.  I have spoken but did not understand;  things too marvelous for me, which I did not know. (Job 38:1-7,12-13, 42:1, 3) (Bible.usccb.org)

This excerpt from the Book of Job is familiar to all of us.  Job has lost everything and everyone. His body is wracked with sudden disease and pain.  He is a good man.  Why is this evil visited upon him? He demands answers from God.  We have all been in Job’s shoes to some extent at some point in our lives.  We understand Job and can empathize with his sorrow, anger, and despondency.  Miraculously, God enters into a conversation with Job.  The conversation does not go as Job planned.  Instead of answering the question Job asks, God shows him the depth and breadth of creation – oceans, jungles, stars, galaxies.  Job is overwhelmed.  With humility he realizes with Whom he is speaking and how little he has appreciated everything God created simply so that man could exist.  He reconciles with God, not because God answers his question, but because God answered the question buried deep in the recesses of Job’s heart that he was afraid to ask:  Have you abandoned me? Do you still love me?  When God entered into a conversation with Job, He was telling him that he did indeed matter.  He had not been abandoned.  When God showed him the entire universe in a glimpse, Job finally realized that everything was created for his benefit; everything was created to support life on this little blue-green planet, because as tiny and insignificant as we seem in comparison to the universe, we matter. We are loved.

Even if God had answered Job’s original question, Job would not have understood the answer.  The Incarnation had not happened yet and Job could not have comprehended the answer. We can see Job as one of us, but he is also a type of prefiguring of Christ.  Job is a good and faithful man who loves God with all his heart.  Jesus is perfection and loves God perfectly and completely. As Job’s fortunes go from bad to worse, he does not curse God but instead continues to bless His Name.  Even after Jesus is arrested and tortured, He remains in His Father’s Will, moving toward His plan of redemption. When Job finally he cries out to God and submits himself to His will, everything is then resurrected for him.   Jesus cries out to the Father from the cross, then hands over His spirit; in three days He is resurrected.  It is only through Jesus that we can make sense of suffering.

So why do bad things happen to good people?  Bad things happen because sin and death entered the world when Adam and Eve, created in a state of grace, chose to sin — and the rest of us haven’t done any better.  There is no such thing as a private sin that doesn’t affect anyone else. The sin of a single person affects everyone.  Because sin creates disorder, there is a ripple effect everywhere, even in nature itself.  

But this isn’t cause for despair because God has fulfilled His promise.  The Incarnation – God becoming man has happened and that has changed everything.  When Jesus chose to take on human form and experience every single human frailty and hardship, He gave value and meaning to these experiences. As a baby in Bethlehem born in shivering cold, hiding in Egypt away from all family connections, losing his beloved St. Joseph, hungry for 40 days in the desert, chased out of town for his teaching, betrayed by one of his closest companions, abandoned by his friends, maligned by people for speaking the truth, tortured and put on a cross for a crime He did not commit, He experienced every possible suffering that can be experienced. 

He did not come to end the human suffering in the world.  He entered into it with us, immersing Himself into the entire human experience, using every moment of it to glorify God and thus giving value and meaning to all of it.  So, when we experience injustice and suffering, we can offer these up to Jesus as prayers.  As we ask Jesus to join our suffering to His suffering on the cross, He takes this offering and gives it redemptive value.  No longer is suffering meaningless pain, but a gift offered to the Father for the salvation of souls.  When we give this gift with love, it is then we become most like Jesus.  The angels rush to our side to comfort us, our Blessed Mother embraces us, and Jesus makes His home in our heart and gives us His peace.  It is the gifts of love, given with a generous heart, that store up our treasures in Heaven, treasures that will never pass away.  Suffering is therefore not an abandonment by God, but an invitation to imitate His Beloved Son.

Thank you to Bill Fuller for giving me permission to share this beautiful photograph of the desert sky which inspired this post.

Continue ReadingThe Book of Job

End of content

No more pages to load

Newer Posts
Older Posts