A Parent Who Prays by Katie Warner

How do we reveal our true self to others? Do I allow others to see me as God created me? Do I act and interact in the purity of heart God gives me?

“I miss rain delays…I miss getting jammed in cold weather..i miss batting gloves…I miss long replay reviews that don’t get overturned even though he was safe.. I miss umpires..I miss long flights at 3 am after a tough loss… I miss the shift..I do.. I miss it all…” (a tweet from Matt Carpenter)

In case you don’t know who Matt Carpenter is; he is a baseball player who for 9 years has played for the St. Louis Cardinals. I am tired writing about the “shelter-in-place” the “quarantine” the sadness and heartache of “live-stream Mass” and not being able to see or be around those I am called to serve. I could talk all about this again but like Matt Carpenter, I miss baseball, I miss Mass and miss you.
You may have also noticed how the “miss it all” isn’t the glamorous side of baseball. The things he describes are those areas that are often the most onerous and frustrating to a ball player. But in many ways he is describing to us life and the fullness of life and how the annoying things of life give flavor, enrichment and understanding to the joys, graces and gratitude of life we all desire and wish to live in day by day.
Baseball, for me, is one of those blessings where life slows down. With all the talk about speeding up the game, some of it I do understand, my heart is always in the conservative romantic place of let’s keep the pace and grace of the game where it is. The meandering movements, the moments of excitement, the delays and the celebrations all fill the time and allow the emotions of the second to flow into the joy of the hours in recognizing the conversation occurring on the field and in the in-between moments of play.
And this is how, even during these strange and difficult times, life continues but is often missed too because so many of the personal interactions which fill life are missing. It is missing sitting next to another and holding the conversations full of both meaning and memory, sometimes profound and other times mundane. It is missing the slow movements of live interspersed with the brief moments of excitement drawing us deeper into conversations of knowing and blessing. It is watching others frustrate you, annoy you and anger you and then in the next moment cause you to jump with such great joy and excitement it seems impossible to contain the energy.

So, if as a priest I were to write this tweet…I miss people showing up late for Mass…and the people leaving early…I miss last minute questions as the opening hymn begins…I miss the multiple announcements at the end of Mass…I miss sitting in the confessional and no one comes…I miss the squirming kids, the bored teens and the distracted parents…I miss the glitches in the sound system…I miss the sleepy altar servers…I miss 7:00 a.m. Mass…I miss it all.
Just as I love baseball, I love life and with Matt Carpenter I miss those little things that can be distractions and annoyances because the in-between is so filled with God’s presence in serving others and sharing his love in the great and small blessings of life.
I look forward to seeing you all (hopefully soon) including my sleepy altar servers, the distracted parents and yes, even those who are a little late to Mass.
God bless
Fr. Mark

The Challenges of Friendship 2 Corinthians 9:11 To Conform or to not conform; that is the question? What am I willing to sacrifice? Growing towards the other who is not…

What is there to be loved and desired if friendship is not? St. Francis de Sales

How do we mirror the love of God in our friendships? Living and unconditional love in growing in our holiness.

How are do we dive deeper into understanding our relationship with Jesus Christ and God’s call to follow him…read a poem….learn how to describe love….move beyond a surface understanding to see beneath the waves of life.

There is an important illusion that must be exposed: we would like to present ourselves before the Lord only when we are presentable, well-groomed and content with ourselves! But there is a lot of presumptuousness in that attitude! In effect, we would like to bypass the need for mercy. But what is the nature of this pseudo-sanctity to which we sometimes aspire unconsciously and which would result in our thinking hat we no longer have need of God? True sanctity is, on the contrary, to increasingly recognize how much we absolutely depend upon His mercy? (p 66 “Searching for and Maintaining Peace” by Fr. Jacques Philippe)

Our Christian faith is an act of humility towards something greater and beyond our fully understanding the how’s and the why’s of life. The quote above tells us a lot about our human nature. If we think about it how often do we quickly tidy up the house if someone knocks at the door or as one friend once put it, “What does it say about me if I clean up my house before my housecleaning service arrives?” Being “presentable, well-groomed and content with ourselves” isn’t that hard exteriorly…it just takes time, the correct products and a little self-care and there are entire industries built around fulfilling these natural desires in our lives. Each of us know the underlying reality of this desire as we hear so many people talk about how on the outside everything looks fine but on the inside they are a complete mess.
Fr. Jacques Philippe reminds us this tendency always leads us into an area of isolation and ego where we put on a false bravado denying the need for help even as we know we are sinking deeper and deeper into despair. Which then will open us to two divergent paths: one of self destructive behavior and the other a deeper search for meaning in which we discover the truth of our need for God and others.
One of the catch phrases to come from this time of “self-isolation/shelter-in-place” has been “social distancing” but as was pointed out to me what we are in reality doing is “physical distancing” because we are staying apart but we are not alone. A smile can travel across the room, a wave of the hand can be seen from a great distance, the words good morning, thank you and have a good day can echo in our hearts for hours after they have been spoken and shared. Each of these actions are part of our human experience and must be part of our experience in our intimate and loving relationship with God. In the same way these social activities can be celebrated from a distance the blessings, the grace and the love of God we receive, express and live daily are not restricted to time, distance or space.
And yet, we do miss something when we “physical distance” and must reach out across the gaps without the normal human interactions that come with a handshake, a hug or a kiss on the cheek. Our faith is founded and lived on these very intimate human experiences where the Incarnation of God in Jesus the Son touches us in a real and physical way just as our faith dives deep within our soul.
Just as we long for the human touch, we also long for the sacramental touch. The dipping of our fingers into and being washed with the water of Baptism, the receiving of the Bread of Life in Communion with others, the words spoken and shared in Reconciliation, Anointing and Marriage, simple but profound and holy act of sharing a sign of peace.
We must depend upon His mercy, the mercy that reaches into the moments of despondent loneliness, the mercy seeking to heal the doubt and fear, the mercy lighting the darkness of frustration. It is the living of these few simple words: Jesus, I trust in You.
God Bless
Fr. Mark

What is a spiritual friend? Who are your spiritual friends? Do they incite goodness? Are we more prayerful? Do they help us confront our sin? Do they encourage us to be better?

How am I called to share the Good News? Where can I be a evangelist to others? We look at “Evangelization” following Katie Warner’s book “A Parent Who Prays”

“When all seems confused and inconsistent, then you must turn to Me with an even greater confidence, for I remain all wisdom, all love, all mercy, and nothing escapes My providence. Have no fear, for I remain constant even when you are inconstant. I am strong when you are but weakness. I am holiness itself when everything in you seeks compromise with sin. I am wholeness and peace when you are broken and disordered.” (P199 – 200, from “In Sinu Jesu”)
The above quote comes from a book of meditations by “A Benedictine Monk” that has been making it way through the Catholic Community the last several years. The book is this monk’s deep conversation with God in front of the Blessed Sacrament in prayer and adoration. I have been using this book daily in my Holy Hour in front of Jesus as a way to enter into prayer and focus my heart in a deeper appreciation of God’s love for his Catholic Church and my need to pray for my brother priests and the people of God.
Every once in a while there is a meditation in the book that brings me to a hard stop and forces me to spend a couple of days or even weeks listening to God’s word through the whispers of love. The above quote is one of those passages. During this time of “shelter-in-place” and seeking to find ways to be the sacramental Church we are called to be, “when all seems confused and inconsistent” we must and need turn to God to seek His presence in our daily lives, even in the suffering and hunger we experience for His Eucharistic presence in our lives.
So, where does that leave us? First and foremost, this is a strange and terrible time. I often sit back and think about what examples I could use to help me explain and make sense of the thoughts God is placing in my heart…but I don’t have a great amount of experience with this type of situation. Perhaps this I do have a small one to share. When I was serving in the Marine Corps, the squadron I was attached to, was deployed for a year aboard the USS Forrestal. One of the Marines I served under was married with several young children. A memory I have of him was his sitting at his desk daily and writing a letter to his wife and children. We have to remember, this was before email, before FaceTime, before cell phones, it was when to call from a foreign country back to the United States cost a small fortune for just a few minutes. But each day he would write something to his wife and children which would then on an irregular basis be picked up and eventually arrive at his home. I wrote occasionally to different family members but never with frequency and diligence exhibited by this Marine.

I think in some way, his year away from his wife and children, his family, caused a hunger with him for the love that is shared the sacramental life we are all called to live. His desire was to be united with his wife and children yet he knew this longing could not be fulfilled even through the letter writing and the brief call home when we made our ports of call and yet he still reached out even this only gave a shadow of the joy he knew and had lived. In the same way the prayers, the spiritual communion, the self-isolating we are called to take upon our hearts in this forced deployment away from Mass and the other Sacraments creates a longing that cannot be fulfilled but must be seen as a sign of hope for the day of reunion and celebration of the communal celebration of the Eucharist. “Know that I am with you, and that my plan for you is constant, not changing. Trust in Me as it unfolds, even in the midst of uncertainty and setbacks, for I am faithful to all My promises and I have set my heart upon you and upon this work, which is all Mine.” (p. 200)
Please pray for Bishop Cantú and for all your parish priests and lay leaders in the Diocese of San Jose that we may seek to find ways to end this deployment and return safely home to our parish churches to celebrate the feast of heaven and earth.
God bless
Fr. Mark

ps. Thank you Hector, Jenny for the gift of “In Sinu Jesu”

Consecration of the Family to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary
May 1st.
Most holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary, united in perfect love, as you look upon us with mercy and caring, we consecrate our hearts, our lives, our family to you. We know the beautiful example of your home in Nazareth was meant to be a model for each of our families. We hope to have, with your help, the unity and strong, enduring love you gave to one another. May our home be filled with joy. May sincere affection, patience, tolerance and mutual respect be freely given to all.
May our prayers be filled with the needs of others, not just ourselves and may we always be close to your sacraments. Bless those who are present, as well as those who are absent, both the living and the dead; may peace be among us and when we are tested, grant us the Christian acceptance of God’s will. Keep our family close to your Hearts; may your special protection be with us always. Most Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, hear our prayer.

Do my goals lead me to holiness? Are my goals aligned with God’s plan for my life?