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?
Spiritual Friendship: God’s plan discussing the first steps in understanding the need for spiritual friendships in our lives.
Using Katie Warner’s book “A Parent Who Prays” we talk about the spiritual fruit of Kindness and how we find kindness in our spiritual friendships.
It is almost done! I can see the finish line! Hope and blessing is restored! I wish I was talking about the ending of the “shelter-in-place” order but I am not. I am talking about the work being almost finished in our beautiful church at St. Lucy. But in both cases we can draw analogies and hope that just as our church lighting project is coming to completion and the putting back in order the inside of our church is being done, we too one day very soon will begin to look forward and put in order once more our lives and return to the parish church to once more celebrate the Sacraments and join in the communal worship that we all feel a hunger for and desire to be part of in our praise of God. Before we do that though we need to continue to place our lives in hope and trust in God’s plan.
First, our church lighting project was to take between 7 and 8 weeks. It has taken almost 16 weeks. We all know construction comes with delays and changes that slow the work and this was true for our little project as well. These delays caused heartache, worry and sometimes great doubt, but listening to the voice of those who were on the journey with us, these fears were allayed by looking towards the greater, the beauty coming forth from the painfully slow progress. We too, as a people of faith, need to be attentive to the all the surrounding noise and discern the voice of God calling us to communion. To look forward to the beauty coming forth from this time of isolation does not remove the pain of not being able to receive Jesus in the Eucharist, or not having a normal schedule for the Sacrament of Reconciliation, or delaying Baptism or even a Marriage date. It certainly does not take away the pain of lost work, isolation and depression. And yet, there is hope. Each time I find my heart falling, the dark cloud beginning to surround me, fear overwhelming my hope and trust, I listen for the whisper. One whisper is to re-watch the video of our Holy Father, Pope Francis, in prayer from a few weeks ago. To hear the voice of Jesus flow through my veins as I see him in adoration, in reaching out and in the painful steps he takes in taking Jesus in his hands as he blesses me, blesses you and blesses the whole world. It is here and in other ways I see the tiny light of love and hope begin to defeat the darkness of temptation in despair.
Second, we must ask questions and act. We cannot simply sit back and wait. Our faith and hope is as a pilgrim people on the move, searching out and discovering hope. In the delays and problems, searching for solutions, not quick fixes or patching over the problem, but solutions to last into the future became a quest for blessings and peacefulness. Trust in the experts is important…but questioning in good faith and charity is also important. Our Bishops are under tremendous stress in seeking to be good shepherds. Pastors and priests are under tremendous stress in seeking how to serve their people in generosity and reaching out to those who are lost and abandoned. Parish leadership teams struggle to find solutions too difficult problems no one ever dreamed we would face. Saying all of this, this does not mean questions shouldn’t be asked or grassroots solutions cannot be brought forward. When we do this we are acting towards charity in the other trusting their good will towards our Holy Catholic Church.
Lastly, remember: God has got this! It may look like a disaster. The hoped for timeline may be destroyed. We may fall into utter desolation. Yet, we know: God has got this!
Please pray for our Holy Father Francis. Please pray for your Bishops, priests, religious and parish leadership teams. And be assured, they are praying for you. We are the Body of Christ…maybe sheltering-in-place…united in love.
See you in the Eucharist.
God Bless
Fr. Mark.
From “A Parent Who Prays” by Katie Warner
The gift of Knowledge and how to discover “God’s way” in our life by living our faith..
“How to Catholic Family” by Tommy and Karen Tighe
God Bless
Fr. Mark.
In Dr. Allen Hunt’s book “The 21 Undeniable Secrets of Marriage” he puts forth this claim: “The most important word in marriage is forgiveness. And along with forgiveness comes its spouse grace.” (p 199) While it is the many sides of love that draws us together, unites us, makes us fruitful, ultimately it is the gift of forgiveness which holds love together in any relationship but most especially the spousal relationship. I can imagine in most marital relationships in the very beginning the idea of being able to spend extended time with the wife or husband would have been something all couples would enjoy an feel blessed but as time wears on, being cooped up may take on a less alluring feeling.
For many married couples, families and even roommates this forced coming together may not be the long dreamed of second honeymoon as the nerves are frayed with children, conflict and worries that continue to pile up in a seemingly unending stream. And this is hard and there is no magic bullet to move from this time of suffering whether small or tragic…it is just a time where enduring seems like the only solution…but is this true?
Our Catholic faith tells us there is something more. In this Easter Season we experience this more in the realization of the gift and blessing of life offered from the cross for our salvation and hope. Pope Francis is speaking about the normal crises in life may have been prophetic in seeing into the “shelter-in-place” we are now experiencing when he writes, “Then there are those personal crises that affect the life of couples, often involving finances, problems in the workplace, emotional, social and spiritual difficulties. Unexpected situations present themselves, disrupting family life and requiring a process of forgiveness and reconciliation. In resolving sincerely to forgive the other, each has to ask quietly and humbly if he or she has not somehow created the conditions that led to the other’s mistakes.” (#236 Amoris Laetitia)
This great “unexpected situation” which are certainly “disrupting the family life” are the cause of much anxiety, fear and loss of hope. It is when we are able to choose to enter into mercy where these situations become filled with hope and holiness rather than sin and fear. Our Holy Father recognizes we all are part of the community and must take responsibility for both forgiveness and healing, in both the seeking and sharing in the mercy of our Heavenly Father’s generous forgiveness and compassion seen on the Good Friday Cross.
St. John Paul II saw this same reality in his experience of family and the desire for unity and oneness within the spousal relationship and family when he taught, “Family communion can only be preserved and perfected through a great spirit of sacrifice. It requires, in fact, a ready and generous openness of each and all to understanding, to forbearance, to pardon, to reconciliation…there arise the many and varied forms of division in family life. But, at the same time, every family is called by the God of peace to have the joyous and renewing experience of “reconciliation,” that is, communion reestablished, unity restored…towards the fullness of communion willed by God, responding in this way to the ardent desire of the Lord: “that they may be one.”” (#21 Familiaris Consortio)
In my ministry within the Worldwide Marriage Encounter movement (WWME) I see and experience the “communion reestablished, unity restored” in the intentional listening and sharing of feelings in the totality of familial and nuptial love. It is when we choose to open our hearts to the other we begin to hear the voice of God.
Forgiveness, reconciliation and mercy are hard works and yet when we place our lives in God’s hands they become possible. Once more, Pope Francis teaches us how when we choose the path of peace and reconciliation the road forward, while bumpy and filled with potholes, become are road of mercy where the unity of marriage and family strengthens us, “When crisis come, they are unafraid to get to the root of it, to renegotiate basic terms, to achieve a new equilibrium and to move forward together. With this kind of constant openness they are able to face any number of difficult situations.” (#238 Amoris Laetitia)
The most important word is the “they” of loving unity. The openness of hearing the voice of love in the family, in the relationship, in the blessing of family. The struggle will always be the temptation of isolation and separation in times of hurt and pain. I remember watching a mother gather her angry child into her arms. The little girls struggled to get away, cried and shouted to be let free and yet the mother held on in an act of love, reconciliation and mercy. This is our call, our necessary action: to hold onto each other in love. It is an act of God’s grace, “Why is forgiveness so important? Because your purpose is to help each other get to heaven. You are helping your mate grow in love, joy and peace. You want your spouse to abound in patience, kindness and generosity.” (p 200 Allen Hunt)
This is the gift of forgiveness.
God Bless
Fr. Mark.
Some thoughts from “A Parent Who Prays” by Katie Warner