The language of “Resisting Happiness” is becoming more ingrained in my mind. It became clearer earlier this week when my parish, St. Lucy, presented to our community a film entitled “Screenagers” as a way of understanding how to, as a family and community, use the blessings of technology in a responsible and life giving manner.
In this documentary two things were abundantly clear: (1) teens and parents know that there is a problem and (2) they resist the solutions they know will bring them happiness as individuals and families.
And what will bring them happiness? They often spoke about how they craved more connection. They knew they were satisfying it with the false connection of electronic touches, the lie of importance and the satisfaction of a “like” a “heart” or a kind typed word over the true connection of a touch, a smile and look into the eye of the other. They also understood that they were accepting the false life of lives edited and discussion about what they saw rather than the true relationship building blocks of the messiness of real life and the speaking of hopes, dreams and passions in a life lived out in joy.
This truly sounds like “Resisting Happiness” on a grand scale. What was remarkable about both the film and the panel discussion afterwards was the honesty in knowing that there were no silver bullets offered, no one size fits all solutions, no quick fixes or easy ways out. There was only one small piece of advice offered over and over and over again, said in different words by different people. What was the advice? You have to talk about it. Not text about it, tweet about, snapchat, Facebook, our Instagram something cute, profound, silly or controversial, it is to simply talk about it.
It is the most human of responses. It is the response that God has built into our hearts, the need for connection. But the temptation is to break the profound connection of love and replace it with something cheaper that seems easier and less stressful but ultimately never fulfilling.
This is the center of our relationship with God and others. We talk about it. I would invite you to pray with the Psalms for a couple of weeks to see how personal and open the writer(s) of the psalms were when they spoke to God. It was a messy and hard relationship. One filled with doubt and confidence, fear and trust, suffering and joy and the sacrificial blessing that comes with love. It is hearing and knowing the voice of God near to us and hearing His voice whispered in the voice of others.
Of course, I am laughing at myself a little bit at as I write this post being sent out electronically to be read and pondered within the world of unconnectedness. And that’s okay. We also know that God has many ways of getting to us to take time with His Word. But in the end we must, with intention and hope, stop and talk with the other in our life because all true relationships are built on knowing the other’s fullness and not an edited version.
As we continue to read Matthew Kelly’s “Resisting Happiness” we might ask the question…What would have been the outcome of his spiritual journey if his friend John had only tweeted, texted, Facebook’ed or emailed all they words of wisdom that he shared? Would the journey have lasted more than a few steps?
I have only one more Friday post before we begin the discipline of Lent. Please continue to search and seek out the human connection. Sit down tonight and have a glass of beer or wine and listen to the voice of your wife or husband in sharing your desires. Turn off the distractions that become our resistance to love. Take time with the family, not just watching life go by but participating in the work of the Holy Spirit.

God bless
Fr. Mark

This Sunday, February 12th, the Catholic Church celebrate “World Marriage Day.” It is a day to honor and thank all those members of our family and community who witness daily to the sacrificial love of Sacramental Marriage.
“Are you spiritually healthy? Are you alive spiritually? Are you thriving are you just surviving? When we are spiritually healthy we tend to be focused, invigorated, patient, and generous. when we aren’t healthy spiritually we ten to be irritable, restless, and discontented..” (p 43) Yes we have taken a step back and gone once more to Chapter 9 in “Resisting Happiness”. I had a parishioner recently talk with me about the book and he said, “this book is a year long read.” I responded, “It should be a book we re-practice every year.” Because if we simply read it and set it down without practicing the steps and challenges outlined throughout the book, then it will be a nice memory…but not a lasting gift.
I chose the quote above because too often in my ministry as a priest and working with married couples in Worldwide Marriage Encounter I hear this echoed in their marital life. “We seem to be just surviving. My husband/wife is always irritable, angry, unloving.” and many other phrases to this point.
This of course is not what marriage is or was meant to be. Much as in any other facet of life, we have good habits to to good things, so in marriage we must also develop good habits to do good things. If we habitually criticize our wife or husband, then slowly the flame of hope and desire will be lessened in the relationship. If, on the other hand, we speak words of blessings habitually to our beloved, then the flame of love increases and grows.
But recognizing that we are human, therefore sinners, therefore need help in growing, seeking and maintaining habits of love we need God in the marriage. It is as simple as that. But we always seek to complicate matters. Our spiritual life, which feeds the life of our vocation, married, single, priest and religious, helps us to un-complicate our love and relational journey.
Just a couple of really quick spiritual/relational ideas…
1. If we spend quality time with God each day this should draw us to quality time with our beloved each day.
2. If we spend time with God each day in intimate conversations (prayer) then this should lead us to spend time with our spouse in intimate conversation daily.
3. If we take time learning more about our faith then we should take time learning more about our husband/wife, often called listening.
4. If we find joy in knowing God then we should share this joy continually with the gift God shares with us in the act of sacramental love.

It can become those habits of blessing where we pray with God and spouse, no explanation needed. Where we speak with God and spouse, it’s not about a list of what we did but the sharing of hopes, dreams, the vision of life united in love. Where we take time together, sharing walks, date nights, weekends away, filling the well of love. And ultimately where we share the completeness of who we are in the sacramental joy of love.
I leave you with a few words from Archbishop Fulton Sheen, taking about the ideal of love. There are also a few opportunities to strengthen your marriage with the links and information listed below.
“Everyone believes in the eternity of love, and eternal love is found only in God. To just the extent that the sparks of earthly love are stolen from the great heart and hearth of God does earthly love remain abiding. They who posses this “fides” every now and then are cast into the ecstasy of love and are lifted to a higher dimension of ravishing affection, but knowing its Source and Origin, they whisper to themselves in sweet anticipation of heaven: “If the spark is so great, oh, “what must be the flame!”” (p 132 from “Three to Get Married” by Fulton Sheen)

God bless
Fr. Mark

Lenten Retreat: Practicing the Works of Mercy in Marriage – March 4th

Need the perfect gift for your spouse this Valentine’s Day? Give your beloved the gift of your time and love by attending a Worldwide Marriage Encounter Weekend. The next Marriage Encounter Weekend is March 17-19, 2017 in Mountain View.  For more information visit our website at: http://sanjosewwme.org or contact Ken Claranne at applications@sanjosewwme.org or 408-782-1413.

https://stca.org/blessed-and-beautiful

This week we will take a brief respite form “Resisting Happiness” to talk about the consecrated religious life.  Why am I doing this? The answer is simple, this Sunday our Catholic Church prays for those women and men who have vowed and consecrated themselves to live as signs of God’s love in this special vocation.
We begin with this teaching from the Catechism of the Catholic Church when it states: “Religious life derives from the mystery of the Church. It is a gift she has received from her Lord, a gift she offers as a stable way of life to the faithful called by God to profess the counsels. Thus, the Church can both show forth Christ and acknowledge herself to be the Savior’s bride. Religious life in its various forms is called to signify the very charity of God in the language of our time.” (CCC926)
There is a lot to say about consecrated/religious life and there are many of us who have benefited greatly from the gift of religious sisters and brothers in our lives.  They have formed us in faith and other gifts of life that are often to many to count.
I can begin with my experience of the Benedictine Sisters of St. Gertrude Monastery in Cottonwood Idaho with Sr. Monica and Sr. Leutfreda in 1st and 2nd grade.  It continued throughout my teen years as the presence of the Sisters within the community formed us in generosity of spirit following the Rule of St. Benedict and the example of faith filled lives.
When I entered the St. Patrick’s Seminary I had the great blessing of knowing the Oblate Sisters of Jesus the Priest.  They ministered at the seminary if a variety of ways.  They prepared our meals for us, which many people, including us seminarians, would often mistake as their primary work.  What was hidden behind the scenes was their prayer life, especially praying for us, who were studying for the priesthood.  Each sister had a list of specific seminarians she would pray for throughout the day and the sisters would have one sister constantly praying for us infant of the Blessed Sacrament. I am so blessed as their prayers gave me and many the courage to preserver during many crisis, especially the abuse scandal in the early 2000’s.
Now as a priest I am blessed to be chaplain for the Eucharistic Missionaries of the Most Holy Trinity. (MESST) They act as my moral support, my prayer partners, my companions in ministry, my Spanish instructors and many other blessings.  The sisters give life to me and so many other people they encounter.
The upshot is the need for our prayers for vocations to the consecrated religious life, both sisters and brothers, as a continuing sign of God’s love for each of us.  Please take time to encourage young women and men in their call to serve God, to ask the simple question…where are you calling me to serve?  And remind them and ourselves to not be afraid, to seek the face of God and give thanksgiving for the holy religious sisters and brothers who have sacrificed and given their lives in service of our brothers and sisters.
God Bless
Fr. Mark

(Two other quotes from the Catechism of the Catholic Church)
“From the very beginning of the Church there were men and women who set out to follow Christ with greater liberty, and to imitate him more closely, by practicing the evangelical counsels. They led lives dedicated to God, each in his own way. Many of them, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, became hermits or founded religious families. These the Church, by virtue of her authority, gladly accepted and approved. “(CCC 918)

“As with other forms of consecrated life,” the order of virgins establishes the woman living in the world (or the nun) in prayer, penance, service of her brethren, and apostolic activity, according to the state of life and spiritual gifts given to her. Consecrated virgins can form themselves into associations to observe their commitment more faithfully.” (CCC 924)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQMHexekBrs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z41KDofiWfg

Sabbath—Keeping

Stop
Why can’t I stop

All this frantic activity?
Why must I work too long hours
Too many days?
Why do I fail myself
My family
My God
By putting work and busyness
First
By believing all
Depends on me?
How do I begin to change?
What should I do?
What if I can’t say “no?”
I long for time
For quiet walks and talks
With those I love
For laughter and fun.
I long for rest

Of body, mind and spirit
To let God be God.
I long for God
To fill my life
With meaning and love.
I long to live on purpose. (p 86)
(from “Habits of the Soul” by Linda Perrone Rooney)

“Habits have a massive impact on our lives. For better or for worse, they can shape our destiny.
Resistance loves the negative patterns in your life, the bad habits. The path of lease resistance effortlessly creates negative routines, rituals, and rhythms. Do you know what the negative patterns are in your life?” (p 110)

I am sure the question Matthew Kelly asks in “Resisting Happiness” could be answered very clearly by the author of the above poem. She knows exactly what is going on in her life and seems to feel at times that she is helpless to resist the downward spiral of busyness, loneliness and and dryness in her life. What are we to do?

We are all sufferers of resistance. The poet cries out in longing for what she knows at the deepest depth of her heart will fill her with peace, joy and yes, happiness and yet there is the doubt and fear that are founded in years of bad habits of searching for the transitory pleasure and turning our back on the lasting eternal happiness. What are we to do?

If you, as I do, struggle with these habits, and I believe the we all do to one degree or another, we can take to heart the reality that God, present in our lives, will be there always to help us turn towards the light and true purpose of our lives. The purpose of holiness. We do know a few things: first that good habits take time to establish and the practice of good habits is a life long journey against resistance. My daily goal, after my heart attack, is to exercise at least 30 minutes each day of good cardio. My reality is almost every morning I wake up I try to think of all the excuses possible to not do it. My daily goal is to spend time in prayer throughout the entire day. My reality is that midday prayer continues to be de-prioritized even when I know it is the prayer that is most needed. And believe it or not, the list is much much longer but I don’t want to use too much space for it. But the point is that habits both good and bad are formed over a long period of time but the change a bad habit takes the desire to move from temporary pleasure to lasting joy.

What are we to do? I believe the last lines of the poem above can give us some instruction in change. It begins with a first step. The poet writes “I long for time” to begin to embrace happiness we are called to respond, “I begin to take time for…” It is this subtle shift in attitude and action. It is the realization that small steps taken with joy, hopefulness and blessing are much more successful in changing habits of unhappiness into the transformative life of virtue and joy than the grandiose plans that are, more often than not, a road map for failure. It is reaching out to the hand of Jesus one small blessing, one small prayer, one small act of generosity, service and mercy at a time where we embrace the joy of life. It is the blessing of knowing God is always at our side and “Strong habits will help you break through resistance. Good habits effortlessly defeat it.” (p 113)

God bless
Fr. Mark

From the great Archbishop Fulton Sheen, “humility is truth.  Humility is not the underestimation of our talents or gifts or powers nor is it their exaggeration…Humility is truth or recognition of gifts as gifts, faults as faults. Humility is dependence on God as pride is independence of  Him.” (p 44, from “The Seven Capital Sins”)
In case you missed it…humility is truth!  It is depending on God to see the newness and life that surrounds us.  The above quote came to mind as I read Chapter 19 of “Resisting Happiness” that talks about boredom and how we are called to seek life within life.
Matthew Kelly talks about how the chant of “I’m bored” becomes a selfish call to say “entertain me,”  “look at me,”  “I’m more important than everyone else.”  Or in the words of Archbishop Sheen…we want “independence of Him.”
How do we move from independence to dependence?  By being attentive to life.  All the steps outlined in the earlier chapters brings us to this point…what do we do?
I believe it can be summed up in three very simple words…”Get a life.”  But not in the sense of filling the days with busyness but rather begin to recognize how blessings surround us in abundance; recognizing our talents as gifts.
More often than not, when people tell us to get a life they want us to fill our days, to find something to do or to change something so that we will be happier in a worldly sense.  What I am thinking about is the idea of focussing on the areas that bring true happiness and then working towards the blessings surrounding us in life.
You may remember that a few year ago the Catholic Church made a minor change in the celebration of the Mass…we changed some words we pray.  It didn’t seem like a big deal on the outside but for many Catholics it was a huge deal as “liturgy wars” broke out and complaints rang out from the pews…but here was the blessing that I and many others received…we began once more to listen and pray the Mass.  Sometimes boredom is from taking for granted the blessings that surround us.  As I began to pray the new translation of the Mass I had to be more attentive to the prayers and what God was saying to me and to all of us as we celebrated the Sacrifice of the Mass.  The words that I had heard for the past 40 plus years of my life began to take on new blessings and filled my life anew.
The reality was and still is that the Mass didn’t change.  What we are doing and celebrating are exactly the same but we were invited to look again…to recognize the gifts as gifts and renew our acceptance of the blessings we receive.
Now think about this in each part of our lives.  When we choose to look with renewed eyes, ears and heart to our relationships, with God and others we find how full of life our life truly is.
Resisting happiness is discarding life in thinking we can replace the happiness of life with the happiness of new and busy.  It is vice that fills many peoples lives as the continually seek the newest, fastest and most exciting to distract them from the foundation of true happiness in God who shares us with the abundance of life.
Matthew Kelly’s “Action Step” at the end of the chapter puts forth this challenge, “If you are ever bored, look for a way to get outside yourself and serve others.” (p 100)
As we hear the words in the first quote of Archbishop Sheen echo in our hearts let us with humble love and mercy seek to serve and love our beloved in generosity and joy.
God Bless
Fr. Mark
ps…don’t forget that you can follow my reflections on “Resisting Happiness” at www.frmarkcarnzen.com

The power of reconciliation is immense and should never be discounted.  The power of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the grace received, the healing given saves lives and gives life to those who receive this blessing.
Next week, we, the people of the United States of America, will once more participate in the blessing of the peaceful transition of leadership within our Federal Government as a new president is sworn into office.  With this I would offer you a few words of blessing and peace during this time because we all recognized the contentious and sometimes vitriolic tenor of the campaign and the continued ill-will that has followed the election.  We can agree and disagree, be happy or forlorn, jubilant or disgusted but we are all going to be here to step forward seeking the presence of God in our daily actions and the lives and actions of those around us.
In his farewell address to the country, our current President, Mr. Obama, gave us (at least) one very important piece of advice, we must listen and share our stories with one another.  (my paraphrasing)  I whole heartedly support and endorse this idea.
In Matthew Kelly’s Resisting Happiness he dedicates an entire chapter (Chapter 20) to the necessity of listening to enter into a place of happiness/joy/peace.  It is the lesson learned over and over again and important because it is part of reconciliation, both sacramental and in relationship.  God listens to us.  He truly does and he invites us to listen to Him in prayer and in conversation with one another.
And it is true, it’s not easy.  This is the reality of reconciliation and community. It is part of family life as well as the greater community, whether be Church and faith or civic and government, listening and reconciliation is hard but always fruitful.
And example in my spiritual life is my enjoyment in the spiritual writings of Fr. Richard Rohr OFM.  I am challenged and find much fruit in both reading and listening to him about living the spiritual life.  I also find myself disagreeing, often vehemently with him on some issues of faith and Church.  I even have friends, when I bring up his name, who ask why I even take time in prayer and study, listing and reading his works about whom they believe (as I do at times) to be outside the bounds of where we should be…and yet I do read and listen.  It’s not because I agree always but because it challenges me to understand, clarify and open my ears to the voices of others in my life.
This is what happens in sacramental reconciliation, we listen to understand, clarify and open our ears to hear God’s voice.  It is the challenge I face over and over again as a priest.  It is especially challenging with young people (old as well) when they come with hearts ready to be filled and walk away having received the well worn answer, an answer that may be true, doctrinal and holy, but also an answer that is not speaking to the heart broken and in need of healing, a heart desiring to be heard and to be drawn closer and closer to the saving light of Jesus Christ.
This is also our call to a relationship of reconciliation…to seek and discover the heart of the other, the heart of the beloved…the heart of God living within each of us.  Fr. Rohr offers us this quote reminding us, we should give thanks for those who we disagree with because in them we discover who we are as beloved sons and daughters of the living and true God.
God bless
Fr. Mark

“I doubt whether a single cultural myth or national story is now possible.  That is frightening as we experience the fractured results while groups divide, encircle, and defend. … The rifts and chasms are irreparable.  Many are unable to offer one another basic respect, engage in civic dialogue, or honor what God is apparently patient with: the human struggle. … But I am still advised by Thomas Aquinas who said, “We must love them both: those whose opinions we share and those whose opinions we reject.  For both have labored in search for their truth and both have helped us in finding our own.”” (p 44) From What the Mystics Know by Fr. Richard Rohr OFM

Happy New Year!  It is officially here as the calendar has changed and the days begin to roll by.  I have already failed at my major resolution.  I blame it on the head cold I have had for the past week keeping me from doing many of my normal tasks. But that excuse works only so long and it is an excuse using the language from Resisting Happiness which begs the question…why am I resisting doing what I know is good for me?

It is a question that crops up again and again as you read (for me re-read again) the questions of resistance.  “God wants heaven for you even more than you want it for yourself.  When we resist happiness, we resist God and the-very-best-version-of-ourselves.  To resist God is to resist our very truest selves.” (p 17)  So let’s look at the two statements in the first and last sentences of the above quote.

Every parent, everyone who has played or worked on a team, every group exercise has been plagued with the problem that one or more members of the family, team or group has lost the ambition and desire to do the very best.  As a teacher I heard this complaint over and over again from students who in group projects would complain about having to do more work or receiving a lower grade because one member did not do their job.  I have coached teams that have had great potential but because of one or more members loosing focus or giving up have failed to reach their goals.  It is even harder to watch the dedicated player struggle harder and succeed even less the more the try to cover for their teammate.

Which flows into the second statement, the truest best-version of our self, occurs when we are who we are and not someone whom we are not.  As a team player we can only be who we are and play with the gifts and talents we have been given and have honed through time and practice.  When we seek to do more than this, to be other than who we are, we only fail more because we have moved beyond who we are and find ourselves unhappy and miserable around the team we should be celebrating and caring for.  The resistance to our truest best-version of our self occurs as we flail at a mythical and unreal goal of being gods to others.

Of course the other side of the coin is to seek to do less than who we are to be just a version of our selves not caring or seeking the very best in our relationship to God and to others.  Parents often voice this frustration in seeing the potential in their children lay dormant as time slips by…encouraging, prodding, nagging…etc.  In the hope they will light the small fire that will begin the blaze of good works.

This is what God wants for me and for you…that the small fire be lit within our soul that blazes up to do the good works of the Gospel.  Jesus said it and we should believe it, “I came to set fire to the world, and I wish it were already burning!” (Lk 12:49)  It is not the fire of destruction but the fire of passion and desire drawing us forth from our fear into the joy of living fully with one another.

I could list a thousand times when resisting happiness took my life away from union with God and the people whom I love and serve.  We know that prayer is the foundation for the relationship by which the world is set afire in love.  Are we willing to let Jesus light our heart on fire?  If we are then we are reading to stop resisting and begin embracing happiness.

God Bless

Fr. Mark

Have you ever wondered if God was trying to tell you something?  You don’t have to worry too much because God is always trying to tell us something; usually something good and always something that will challenge us to open our eyes, ears and hearts to the greater presence of God in our life.  That’s a little scary.  Why am I asking this question?  Well very simply because after Christmas as I was looking for a book I realized that God had shared with me a great coincidence as a gift and was definitely asking me a tough question.

First, let’s begin with this St. Lucy, my parish, shared Matthew Kelly’s book “Resisting Happiness” with our parishioners this Christmas.  Second, I was the looking for a book and while on the search finding and remembering two books, Fr. Jonathan Morris’s book “God Wants You Happy” and another by Eric G. Wilson “Against Happiness”.    All books I have read over the past 18 months or so and as you can see by the photo all books dealing the theme of happiness and each jacketed in a bright yellow cover.  And that got me thinking…was this just a coincidence or a God-incidence.

Each of the three books looks at the goal of happiness in a different way…but all with the ultimate goal of life is the union with something greater than ourselves and for Christian’s the union with God as the ultimate goal. And while the word “happiness” occurs and is the goal, each of the books reminds us that the happiness we seek isn’t the transitory but the permanent and eternal joy that is foundation of the often used quote from St. Augustine of Hippo, “Our hearts our restless, until they find rest in you.”  Wilson’s book, in fact, argues that it is through melancholy and sadness, when embraced in life, are the pathways that discover the deeper happiness and joy of life.  It is an understanding where temporary and frivolous “happinesses” destroy the deeper need for a connection of lasting love in our lives.

It is in choosing happiness that moves beyond the self and focuses on the greater good and enters into a relationship of love and blessing where we are able find peace within our relationships through the God’s generous gift of life.  Fr. Morris writes, “Every day holds out to us a choice between shallowness and living faith, between fear and living hope, between self-centeredness and living love.” (p 194) It is in this choice that we ultimately are called to live in the joyfulness of life.

The goal is to look for and embrace the greater not the lesser this is how and where we find contentment; not in the transitory and worldly but in the find of the eternal through our choosing to embrace the world in joy.  During this Christmas season we have great opportunities to do this.  We as Christians celebrate the birth of our Lord for the 12 days that follow Christmas where we enter into the timelessness of God’s glory in holding the child Jesus gently in our hands.  Matthew Kelly reminds us that this opportunity to embrace the joy of God’s blessings begins anew each day as we awake to God’s many blessings.  It is the spiritual battle that is fought for and against happiness each day when we choose other gods in place of the one God who is our source of holy happiness.

I would invite you to take time to begin reading Resisting Happiness this week.  It is not a novel that needs to be finished, rather it is a spiritual meditation that invites us to the daily practice of embracing the joy of God’s presence in life.  I would also invite you to hear my own thoughts on the book as I will (hopefully) post daily tidbits at, www.frmarkcarnzen.com beginning January 2, 2017.

God Bless

Fr. Mark

We all know the first lines of so many Christmas carols, poems and movies that it is often mindboggling when we sit back and wonder at how our brain has absorbed so many of the classic and not so classic Christmas phrases.  Whether it is “Dreaming of the White Christmas” or wondering if “you will shoot our eye out,” this time of year brings about wonder and joy to so many people.

As a priest in a parish the first lines of the great Clement Clarke More poem, The Night Before Christmas where, “Not a creature was stirring; not even a mouse,” is not my experience nor would I want it to be.   The joy and activity of the closing days, hours and moments before the first Mass, the joyous songs and the blessing of many people coming to share in the blessing of the birth of Jesus is always a time of hope and life.

It is also a time when we are called to a deeper understanding.  Why?  Because so many of us know the first lines or even the first verse of our Christian faith but have never taken the time to learn the second, third or fourth verses.  I was at the year-end Christmas gather with the teachers from our parish school and the music teacher, Mrs. Fernandez, invited us to sing carols together.  We were all amazed at her ability to remember those second and third verses as I quickly googled the song lyrics to even remember many of the first verse words.  Certainly she has a wonderful gift of music and I know many people who can and do remember all sorts of lyrics that I am forever unable to do in my life…but that is getting off the point.

In the carols of Christmas we hear many of the deeper mysteries of our Christmas faith.  These songs written in joy and love help us to delve deeper into who we are as members of the family of God.  They are songs that unite us across boundaries as we share our faith in God’s divine and infinite Love, Jesus the Christ. This takes time and effort.  Time that is so precious and the effort to open our hearts and minds to the wonder of love surrounding us.

Hear these prayerful words from the 4^th verse of “God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen”

Now to the Lord sing praises, All you within this place, And with true love and charity Each other now embrace, This holy tide of Christmas is filled with heav’nly grace. O tidings of comfort and joy, Comfort and joy; O tidings of comfort and joy.

The call to love is an invitation to seek God in others as we embrace our willingness to bear God to others in wonder and yes tidings of comfort and joy.   But we also recognize the cost of this true love and charity.  The sad and tragic reality is the violence and terror under which many of our brothers and sisters live and celebrate Christmas in the world.  We pray and work for the justice and peace given to us in our faith through God’s mercy.  It is also through these same carols that we seek the conversion of heart and mind that each and every person is offered in the blessing of grace through God our Father.  This truth of conversion is found in the last verse of “O Little Town of Bethlehem”

O holy Child of Bethlehem! Descend to us, we pray; Cast out our sin and enter in; Be born in us today.  We hear the Christmas angels, The great glad tidings tell; O come to us, abide with us, Our Lord Emmanuel.

May we all allow our Savior to “enter in and be born in us” this Christmas day. Have a Merry and Holy Christmas

God Bless, Fr. Mark

One of my favorite scenes in the movie The Avengers is when Tony Stark (Ironman) arrives on the control deck of the flying aircraft carrier and as he is talking points out a sailor who is playing a video game on his screen instead of doing his work.  This scene is powerful because as they leave the control deck you get a quick glimpse of the sailor going back to playing the game.

Why do I like this scene?  I think it gives us an insight into the troubles that can happen in our lives as we get distracted from what we should be doing.  If you think about it, the sailor, was on duty and had a very important job as part of the greater team and clearly at this moment of the movie, he knows as does everyone else, they are in a life or death struggle.  And yet, he was distracted and even when called to task quickly went back to the distraction of the moment and once more left the duty he was assigned to do neglected and undone.

While it gave a moment of levity during the movie, it also showed forth how we can let the distractions of life divert our hearts, minds and souls from our true purpose and goals in life.  Which gets us to Advent and preparation for Christmas.  It’s an easy transition to understand how the two moments, the scene for The Avengers and our Advent journey, can be seen as two sides of the same coin.  I focus, as Christians, must always be on the Incarnation of Jesus and how this changes and transforms our view and understanding of the world.  It is also easy to see how distractions of the “season” and of life can un-focus us from our true purpose and ultimate goal in life.

A conversation I have with couples preparing for marriage involves the goal and purpose of married life.  When we discuss the promise of the forever-ness of the vows of marriage I like to use this example in understanding the goal of marriage, which is heaven of course, but heaven with the beloved at our side. The forever of our vows allows us to see the goal as present and attainable.  If we look at marriage as just a non-permanent state then the problems and hurts of relationships can seem large like trying to climb Mount Everest, possible by some but usually only once, whereas the forever purpose and goal of married vows allows us to see the problems as hills, perhaps steep and difficult, but as we practice the climbs they become easier and are able to be traversed many times in life.

Our Advent journey becomes a vow of love where the purpose and goal aren’t to survive the four weeks coming out the other end exhausted and battered rather it is to see the Advent journey as the continuing mystery of life and love where we recognize how we can and do deepen and grow in our relationship with God and each other in faith, hope and love.  The star beckoning us nearer to the Nativity of Our Lord is constantly drawing us into the presence of Jesus each and every day of our life, and ultimately to the Cross of Salvation.

We are just a week away from the day of celebration and the pace of preparation, parties and tasks moves ever quicker in our lives.  Don’t forget to reach out in blessing towards those whom we love and meet throughout the days.  Speak words of joy and peace looking towards the true goal and purpose of our Christian vocation.  A vocation to seek and live holiness with our Lord Jesus today and all days.

God Bless, Fr. Mark.