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