Something I Had To Share

I currently spiritually sponsor a missionary, Ryan, who is currently ministering to the people in Ecuador. (You can read his blog here.)

Recently, Ryan sent an e-mail to his sponsors, and I thought it was so awesome, I'd share it here.

Enjoy!

------------------

¡Ven Espíritu Santo! Espiritu Santo shamuy! Come Holy Spirit!

 

How important it is for us to rely on and trust in the Holy Spirit. His timing is always the right timing. This past Friday, Matt and I went to community Selva Amazonica (Amazon Woodland). This is definitely the best part of our week, when we get to go to the smaller communities that are deeper in the jungle. When we arrived, we began going home to home to invite people to our assembly at 2:00pm, for sharing the Word, reflection and prayer. By 2:30, no one had come, though many suggested they would. So, Matt and I took that time to read and reflect on scripture to one another. He read John 10:1-6 and I read 2 Pet. 1:3-11.

 

I started thinking, maybe the people are not coming because we lack the qualities mentioned in 2 Peter, because 'if these [qualities] are yours and increase in abundance, they will keep you from being idle and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ'. In those moments, before we began to read scripture, we were idle, waiting for the people to come, and I was feeling unfruitful. Is it us, Lord? It is true, we were strangers to this community, and maybe it was OUR voice that invited His sheep, when it should have been His voice, 'because they recognize His voice' (see Jn. 10:4-5).

 

These qualities are who Christ is, in perfection. If we lack Him, then surely people will recognize that we are not genuine. Then, I came to realize that I am still holding onto certain past sins. Do I not trust in His saving power, His loving mercy? How can I love others and be Christ to others, if I don't truly believe that Christ loved me first? I became overwhelmed with a love from Him at that moment, as His Holy Spirit permitted me to experience His love in a new way: a healing love that I needed so much. Let us go forth without the burden of our sin upon us and take up the yoke of Christ, which is so light.

 

At that moment, some of the huahuakuna (toddlers, niños) began coming out of daycare. I remembered I had a bunch of candy. So, Matt and I, in a renewed spirit of allowing the Lord to work through us, went over and started talking to the little kids and giving them candy. Somehow, the word got out: The missionaries have candy!! Literally, the whole town flocked to us, kids and all. Then, the youth arrived from getting out of class. Next, some of the fathers began arriving back from working in the fields. At that moment, we realized, everyone had gathered. Together, we went, sang praises, read scripture and reflected on God's love in the sacraments and in our daily life. Praise you Holy Spirit! We could have been defeated, but He gave us a second chance to act in His love, not to force OUR agenda on them, but to trust in God's plan and timing, and to just love His flock! And in that instant, we had entered into His 'eternal Kingdom'.

 

 

 

Peace and blessings to each of you! Praise be the name of our Lord and God, Jesus Christ! He heals, he saves... we must allow Him to love us. "Do not be afraid." (Lk. 1:30)

 

Pray for us next week. Matt and I will be heading to a far away community, Mango Playa, to prepare them for the Sacrament of the Holy Mass. God bless!

 

Give them heaven,

Misionero Ryan

----------------

Enjoy the journey . . .

Ketchup and Faith

Homily for the Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
20 October 2013

          Some of you may remember the Heinz Ketchup commercial with former Friends’ star, Matt LeBlanc, from the late 1980s. In it, he places a newly-opened bottle of ketchup at the top of the building, runs down the stairs, and buys a hot dog just in time for the dollop of ketchup to fall, covering the hot dog. As he enjoys his snack, the tag line pops up with the voice-over, “The best things come to those who wait.”

        This commercial, of course, is trying to prove the point of the tag line: that, in fact, Heinz Ketchup is so good, you’ll want to wait for it. But we, as a society, are impatient; we CAN’T wait for it. So, what do we do? How do we get the ketchup out? Do we turn the bottle upside down and shake it? Do we stick our knives into the bottle? Or do we, as all native Pittsburghers know how to do, repeatedly hit the “57” on the bottle? I mean, as people who grew up around “the ‘Burgh”, we know that there’s no other ketchup than Heinz’s, and so we want that tomato-y goodness on our food as soon as possible.

        This, my brothers and sisters, is where the Heinz Company gets it right.

        In all three of our readings this weekend, the idea of faithful perseverance: Moses in the battle with Amalek, the continuation of Paul’s teaching to Timothy, and Jesus’ parable about the persistent widow. In our First Reading and Gospel, we see the necessity of our persistence in prayer. In our Second Reading, we are reminded that our persistence is needed as we continue to teach the Faith to others.

        As we have been reflecting on the last number of weeks, faith is a gift, given to us by God, so that we may come to know the depths of His fidelity to us as we strengthen our fidelity in Him. The persistence, the perseverance of our faith comes into play as we continue in the struggles of our lives to remain faithful to our relationship with the Lord. And that truly is a struggle at times. Yet that is where our persistence pays off.

        If we see our faith like the ketchup in the commercial, then we will have no trouble in waiting to see this gift come to fruition, to be able to taste the sweetness of the prize of our patience. However, we know that this is very little the case. Our society wants everything “now”, which is why we even have the squeeze bottle for our ketchup these days. We, as a society, fail to see faith as something that is slow and quiet process to develop all of our lives; it is not something that simply “comes to us” in an instant that we then retain for the rest of our lives. Faith is that gift that we must be persistent in asking for and working to develop.

        But that’s why Jesus tells us, through the parable, about why it’s necessary to pray always without becoming weary. We continue in our persistence in asking God for the gift of faith because that is the way in which we keep that line of communication open with the Lord, for that, in essence, is what prayer is.

        Yet we also need to continue to work on developing our faith, for that demonstrates to God and to the world the commitment we have towards our fidelity to God, as we recognize His fidelity to us. And sometimes we have the necessity to ask others for their help in being faithful to God. Why else would we gather week after week as a community for Mass? Simply put, God knew that we couldn’t do “life” or “faith” on our own, so He gave us a community to assist us. This is wonderfully exampled to us in our First Reading as Moses is assisted by Aaron and Hur. This image reminds us that through our strengths and weaknesses, we are to support one another in becoming more faithful to God through our persistence in prayer for one another, as well as the way we act towards one another in our thoughts, words and actions.

        However, in our societal short-sightedness and communal impatience, we grapple in allowing our faith to develop, to strengthen or to be assisted because we want what faith “is” and / or “has to give us” right now. We don’t allow the dollop of ketchup to slowly flow out of the bottle. Instead, we take the bottle and squeeze it out, or we hit the “57” harder and harder, getting more ketchup, more faith than what we need. And so what do we do with the excess? We waste it; we throw it away, because we “simply don’t need it”.

        Our gift of faith, my brothers and sisters, is something that we should never waste. But we should also never believe that we have enough faith to live this life apart from God or one another. Rather, our life needs to become a living prayer, a life that is always allowing itself to be united to God (and each other) through our thoughts, words, and actions. It is the realization that those dollops of faith that the Lord gives to us are given to us because of our persistence in prayer, and that we should never want for more, for we will waste it, nor should we believe that we have enough faith to live this life on our own. No, we need to “lift up [our] eyes to the mountains”, asking our God to help us persevere in our lives and in our faith. We must remember that God never works according to our time; He only works according to His will.

        So, are we going to be like Matt LeBlanc in the commercial and allow the dollop of faith to be given to us as God knows we need it, or are we to force our faith by squeezing the bottle too hard, or repeatedly hitting the “57” until something comes out? My friends, while we must learn to pray always and to be persistent in our prayer, we must also recognize that the gift of faith is something to be developed over time, with patience, and with the help of God and the community of the Church, the Body of Christ. While we may desire the ketchup, we must savor the anticipation of allowing the dollop to fall. But if we persevere in patience and persist in prayer, God will give us what we need, when we need it. Truly, "the best things come to those who wait."

        Once again, we learn well from our Doctor of the Church, Saint Teresa of Avila, as she teaches: “The most potent and acceptable prayer is the prayer that leaves the best effects. I don't mean it must immediately fill the soul with desire . . . The best effects [are] those that are followed up by actions – when the soul not only desires the honor of God, but really strives for it.”

---------------

Enjoy the journey . . .. 

Taizé Experience

On the evening of Tuesday, 15 October, the parish family of Saint Teresa of Avila celebrated the feast our patron saint with something never done before in our church – Taizé.

Between 200 – 250 people (by my estimation) gathered to sit in contemplation through music and silence, candlelight and shadows, and the reflection on a selection from the writings of this Doctor of the Church . . . to simply “be” with our God.

I was exhausted by the end of the night. Yet those who spoke to me following the service were not only impressed with the Taizé style of prayer, but found it to be something needed not only for their own spiritual benefit, but beneficial for the life of the parish. (And that was good to hear.)

Hopefully, by the people’s response and willingness to do this again, we’ll hold another Taizé in the parish soon. (But not too soon.)

Enjoy the journey . . .

 

 (Photos 1-5 taken by me; Photos 6-9 taken by John Franko)

Teresa's Example of Faith

Homily for the Parish Celebration of the Solemnity of Saint Teresa of Jesus
13 October 2013

        My brothers and sisters, this weekend our parish family celebrates with great joy and solemnity the feast of our patron, Saint Teresa of Avila.

        The life of Saint Teresa is filled with the ups and downs of life that we all experience. Yet in the midst of it all, she continues to be for each one of us a great example of faith. Teresa did not always have the greatest amount of faith, but, like Naaman in our First Reading and the leper who returned in the Gospel, she recognized and taught that it is through our faith that we give the best of ourselves to God in giving Him thanks.

        The life of Saint Teresa of Jesus marks out to us three points regarding faith that are wonderfully exampled in this week’s readings: Faith heals; faith perseveres; and faith glorifies.

        As we consider how faith heals, we know that it is not just a physical healing that comes about through faith, but, rather, a holistic healing that encompasses our body, mind, and soul. We see the faith of the lepers in our readings this weekend, and come to recognize how faith in God allows us to be healed of all that afflicts us. This is the reasoning of the necessity of the Sacraments, why the Church holds as her precepts that all Catholics attend Mass every Sunday and receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation at least once a year: there is a manifestation of the healing power of God when we engage our faith.

Teresa was inflicted with terrible headaches throughout her life, which is the reason she is the patron saint of those who suffer with chronic headaches. She came to know the healing that comes from holding on to faith in God. But it just wasn’t in times of her physical suffering that she came to know how faith heals, but through moments of fear, frustration, discernment and doubt, Teresa was able to rely on her faith to trust in the Lord to heal her and console her.

So must faith be for us. We need to be able to recognize those areas in our lives that need healing, whether it be physically, emotionally, psychologically or spiritually, and, through our faith in God, reach out to Him to heal us from all that afflicts us. (Again, this is why our spiritual life, especially through the frequent attendance at Mass and frequent reception of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, is so important.)

The healing aspect of faith is so important because it leads us to our next consideration, that faith perseveres.

This perseverance is brought to life through our Second Reading, as we hear Paul continuing to teach Timothy. The Apostle reminds the young bishop of the necessity of perseverance in the faith so that we may attain the ultimate glory of God, and share in that glory in the life to come. If we have not allowed ourselves to be healed by our faith in God, then we will not be able to persevere, because that faith will have nowhere to lead us to.

The life of our beloved patron, Teresa, is also a model in how faith perseveres. Throughout her life, Teresa struggled: with her faith, with her mission, with her health. Yet through all of these struggles, the saint of Avila was able to persevere, for she knew that through that perseverance, the will of God was being brought forth. With this faithful perseverance, Teresa was able to accomplish so much in her life: the writing of many books, the founding of many Carmelite monasteries, and the reform of the Carmelite order, just to name a few. Her struggles never left her, yet through her faith in God, she was able to do great things – most after the age of forty!

For us, in 2013, perseverance is a difficult virtue at times. Our modern society focuses on what we want and making sure that we can get it in the shortest time possible. Even suffering through headaches is something that we can get rid of relatively fast through the taking of an aspirin.

Now, I’m not saying that certain advances in medicine or technology are bad. Not at all! However, the “fast paced” and “gotta have it now” mentality of our culture does not always allow us to persevere in faith, believing that God is working his purpose out. Even in our prayer life, our spiritual life, if we ask God for something, and He supposedly doesn’t give it to us, we get angry and annoyed. If we ask for the gift of patience, do we get frustrated when we don’t seem to get it in certain situations, or do we persevere in the moment to allow God to work in and through us so that we may be strengthened by His presence?

The more we allow our faith in God to heal us, the better our faith will be to allow us to persevere. And that perseverance leads us to that final consideration – that, ultimately, faith glorifies.

This is a wonderful image that we see in both our First Reading and Gospel today. Naaman and the cured Samaritan leper rejoice in what God had done for them. In their new-found, cured state, these men gave glory to God for how their faith not only healed them, but also saved them. These men teach us that a faith that heals and helps us to persevere is, at the end of the day, a faith that glorifies God for all that He does in our lives.

And Saint Teresa of Avila knew this well.

Yes, she suffered. Yes, she had difficulties in her life. Yes, she wrestled with sin. But in the end, Teresa was able to use her faith in God to order her life so that it may give Him the glory. All of the work that she did to reform her order, to train younger sisters on what it is to be a bride of Christ, to lead others by her writings and teachings was to give God the glory and praise that is due Him.

In her book, The Way of Perfection, this Doctor of the Church teaches us: “And since He doesn’t force our will, He takes what we give Him; but He doesn’t give Himself completely until we give ourselves completely.”

And that’s what a faith that glorifies looks like: the complete abandonment of the self to God in the same way He abandoned Himself on the Cross for us. For that glorification of God allows us to enter into the Mystery of Faith so that we may be healed of what ails us, and through that healing, are able to persevere in this life as we journey to the next.

My friends, this gift and mystery of faith that we now celebrate is that which has inspired women and men throughout the ages. As we remember Saint Teresa of Jesus this weekend, we ask the Lord that we, through her intercession, be made more secure in our faith . . . for it is, as Teresa teaches us, a faith that heals, perseveres, and glorifies.

Saint Teresa of Avila, pray for us!

---------------------------------

Enjoy the journey . . .

It's All About Faith!

This is the homily I ended up giving this weekend.
 ------------------------------

Homily for the Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
6 October 2013

          I have to admit that this is the second homily I’ve prepared for this weekend. It’s not that I didn’t like the first homily, but something struck me as I kept reflecting on and praying over the passages of Scripture we just heard.

IT’S ALL ABOUT FAITH.

My brothers and sisters, we’re nearing the end of this great Year of Faith, which was called forth by our beloved Pope-Emeritus Benedict XVI. This Year of Faith was called so that we would be able to make sure that our faith in Jesus Christ would become the first thing in our lives, that we would deepen our understanding of our faith, and that we would, ultimately, deepen and renew our relationship with Jesus Christ.

But have we done that?

I know that I have failed in some of the goals that I had set for myself in this Year of Faith. Nevertheless, I plod ahead, if not trying to attain those goals, at least to set myself up for their future and ultimate fulfillment. Yet, along the way, I have noticed that certain unplanned moments in my life have encouraged my faith, or even have, dare I say, increased my faith.

“Lord, increase our faith!” is the cry we hear from the Apostles in our Gospel today. And Jesus, along with the prophet Habakkuk in our first reading, reminds us that with faith we can do anything, and that great gift of faith leads us to the fullness of life. This simple, yet intense request of the Apostles is the same simple, yet intense request that we should be making to the Lord every day.

But are we?

I would like to believe that for us gathered here today, yes, we are asking the Lord to increase our faith . . . but we are doing so in an indirect manner. If we’re doing it this way, then we’re doing it backwards, because we’re presuming that we have the gift of faith.

Not all of us do.

Faith is a gift from God. We have to ask for it, which is the easy part, because once we ask for it, we have to be ready to receive it. And that’s the difficult aspect of the gift of faith: Once we receive it, we have to do something with it. And since it doesn’t come already assembled, we have to really work on putting our gift of faith together.

And that’s where a lot of people stop.

“It’s too difficult.” “I don’t understand it.” “There just seems to be so much to it, it’s overwhelming.” These and other statements have been used so often as excuses towards knowing our faith, towards living our faith, towards loving our faith, that people – even people you and I know – simply give up.

My friends, anything good in our lives is worth working for, is worth striving for. If we want a good job, then we’re going to have to prepare for it. A doctor is no good if she doesn’t know human anatomy. A mechanic is no good if he doesn’t know how a car’s motor works. Respectively, a Christian is no good if he or she doesn’t know Jesus Christ and how His Church is to work in the world.

How, then, are we to ask the Lord to increase our faith? Here are three simple, yet important ways:

1.   We simply ask Him for the gift of faith. Our patron, Saint Teresa of Avila, reminds us: “You pay God a compliment by asking great things of Him.” The request to the Lord to increase our faith is a simple request, but it also a great request, for it fulfills a desire in our heart to come to know our God who pursues us;

2.   We put into action the advice that Paul gives to Timothy in our Second Reading today: To “stir into flame” the gifts that God has given to us. We should never be shy or timid about using those blessings God gives to us, especially the gift of our faith. Continuing to “stir into flame” those gifts of God will allow us to not only grow stronger in our faith, but will allow others to see how our faith in God strengthens us;

3.   We come to learn, love and live our faith. If we don’t know anything about our faith, or believe that we have learned all that there is to know about our faith, then we will never be able to love our faith fully. If we cannot fully love our faith, then it will be impossible for us to live our faith in this world. And if we cannot live out our faith through the expressions of our thoughts, words and actions, then we will never be able to see Christ in the other or be Christ for the other.

To learn, love and live our faith is the stirring into flame the gifts and blessings God has given to us. But God cannot give us those gifts unless we ask Him for them.

Brothers and sisters, in a few minutes we will come forward and receive the Eucharist – which, in itself, is an act of faith. As we receive the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, we place faith in our God that He will heal us, strengthen us, and enable us to deepen and renew our relationship with our Savior. This very action is a cry from our souls for the Lord to increase our faith.

Ultimately, it’s all about faith. But we need to have the humility to ask the Lord to increase our faith, the receptivity to accept the gift of faith, and the ability to use that gift for the further establishment of the Kingdom of God.

------------------------------------

Enjoy the journey . . .