With Open Hands

To be honest, I had strongly considered the above title when I was thinking up a name for this blog. Three reasons:

1. It is the title of the book by Henri Nouwen, an author who has made a significant impact on my spiritual life;

2. It is the title of a song by Marty Haugen, the lyrics which I have prayed in order to calm myself down from time to time; and

3. It is an awesome image just to sit an to meditate upon.

That being said, it's reason number two which draws me here tonight. Whether you like his music or not is not my concern. We all have pieces of music, works of art or compositions of literature which help us throughout our lives, especially in those difficult and frustrating times. Some people will appreciate one's taste, others will not. The point is, as we continue to reach out to the Lord in the moments of trial (be they big or small), we use those things which draw us out of ourselves into the ever-present Heart of God.

This week has been a difficult and stressful week for me - professionally and personally. (And continues to become more stressful by the minute.) This has become an opportunity in my life to reconnect with these lyrics and that imagery that allow me to be assured of the peace and presence of Christ in all situations. The idea of opening our hands and allowing our Lord to take whatever is in them is rather comforting and consoling. It is an image in which I have found much solace in. And it is also an image which beckons me further into trusting in the Lord with reckless abandon.

The lyrics of this song help me to be assured of the presence of Christ. The lyrics of this song soothe the worries, anxieties, fears, frustrations, and stress that come from living both a normal, human life and that of a life of a disciple of Christ.

I'd like to share those lyrics with you now.




With open hands we reach to You,
our hearts await to be made new,
Peace, like the empty skies above us, shining with light;
Prayers, like our incense, rise to greet You, Day in our night.

All we know now will pass away,
and Love alone will ever stay,
Now, we behold Your grace reflected, darkened and dim;
Then, we'll see face-to-face Your glory waiting within.

So now we seek to understand,
to grasp the Truth with empty hands,
Here, we surrender all, as children, quietly trust;
Now, be our All-in-All forever 'til we are dust.

With open hands we greet You here,
our hearts await Your drawing near,
Peace, like the empty skies above us, shining with light;
Prayers, like our incense, rise to greet You, Day in our night.



And going through some materials from a day of reflection I gave a number of years ago, I found this excerpt from the book by Henri Nouwen (page 16):


 When you want to pray, then, the first question is: How do I open my closed hands? Certainly not by violence. Nor by a forced decision. Perhaps you can find your way to prayer by carefully listening to the words the angel spoke to Zechariah, Mary, the shepherds, and the women at the tomb: "Don't be afraid." Don't be afraid of the One who wants to enter your most intimate space and invite you to let go of what you are clinging to so anxiously. Don't be afraid to show the clammy coin which will buy so little anyway. Don't be afraid to offer your hate, bitterness and disappointment to the One who is love and only love. Even if you know you have little to show, don't be afraid to let it be seen.



Of course, this brings me back to my favorite passage of Sacred Scripture - Philippians 4:4-9:

 Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near. Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me. Then the God of peace will be with you.



But we really can only do that when we unclench our fists and let God take what it is that we want to hold on to, what we want to control.  

It's not easy to do, but it's necessary.

Enjoy the journey . . .
 

Dead or Alive?

Homily for the Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
10 November 2013

          Are you alive or dead?

        More directly, are you alive in your faith and dead to the world, or are you alive to the world and dead to your faith?

        We have to choose one.

        Paul’s words to the Thessalonians which conclude today’s Second Reading do a wonderful job in focusing our meaning for being here today: May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the endurance of Christ.

        Where, then, are you alive?

        Where, then, are you dead?

        My brothers and sisters, the days are coming and are here when our loyalty to Christ and His Church will be questioned. Now, I’m not just talking about out-right persecution of the Church, although this is happening throughout the world, even within the borders of the United States. These are those happenings that draw eerie parallels to our First Reading from the Second Book of Maccabees: People ARE dying for their faith in Jesus Christ. And these people, like the seven brothers of the Old Testament, are alive in and for their faith.

        However, we also need to be alive in our faith in the small ways: The way we think about people; the way we talk TO people and the way we talk ABOUT people; the way we treat people; the way that we treat creation. All these ways truly show where our heart is.

        So, are we people alive in our faith, or are we dead to the spiritual reality that we have been baptized into?

        Practicing our faith in Jesus Christ means more than just coming to church on Sunday and saying some prayers throughout the week. Practicing our faith means being alive in our faith. Practicing our faith means encountering Christ 24 / 7 / 365. Practicing our faith means helping others to encounter Christ in their own lives.

        Being alive in our faith is also more than just living our faith. Being alive in our faith is allowing the totality of our lives to be fashioned after the life and example of Christ. Being alive in our faith is allowing our thoughts, words and actions to be a witness to how we have personally encountered Christ, and have allowed that relationship to be that which guides everything in our lives.

        But we shouldn’t lie to ourselves. There are many people in this world who seem to be alive in their faith, but truly are people who are alive to those things which THIS WORLD can provide them. They have allowed themselves to become dead to the life God has infused in them because pride and selfishness have crept in to their lives. The allure of the false good has, for these people, trumped the true and ultimate good that only God can provide for us.

        And, to be honest, sometimes we are those dead people. When we choose the allurements of this world over the riches God desires to give to us, then we allow that spiritual death to occur. When that happens, we need to be brought back to life.

        The other evening, I watched the movie Warm Bodies with a couple of friends. The story of this movie is of a zombie who is brought back to life through an encounter with a young woman. To me, this movie reminded me of the call we have in today’s Gospel of seeking to be alive. When “R”, the zombie, encounters Julie, the girl who makes him “come alive” again, and as their relationship progresses throughout the movie, we can come to understand how our live and our faith can come alive when we let ourselves encounter Christ – in Word and in Sacrament –, and we use that encounter to exhume that buried faith within us and permit that faith to be resurrected.

        After all, Jesus reminds us that our God is the God of the living, not the dead. And so, if we truly want to spend eternity with the Lord, if we wish to experience the glory of the Resurrection, then we must die to the world and truly be alive in our faith! We must be willing to make our encounter with Christ be something more than an occasional Sunday Mass or a random prayer throughout the week. Each one of us – including myself – must make the first and essential priority in our life in coming to know Who Jesus Christ REALLY is! For if we don’t know Who Jesus is in this life, how will we come to recognize Him when He comes to call us home?

        As we begin to conclude this great Year of Faith, we have to be mature enough to acknowledge where our relationship with the Lord is in our lives, how alive we are in living out our faith, and how well we are doing in passing that faith on to other people. If we are people more on the “dead” side of the spectrum, what can we do to enliven our faith? If we are people more on the “alive” side of the spectrum, what do we need to do to keep that flame of faith burning?

        Remember: How we live or fail to live out our faith shows to us – and to others! – where our hearts truly lie.

        Are you alive?

        Are you dead?

        Brothers and sisters: May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the endurance of Christ.

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Enjoy the journey . . .

Easy Like Sunday Mornin'

I took the wonderful opportunity to use the extra hour to sleep last night. Saturday had turned into a crazy day - but a good day, nonetheless.

After the Mass of Remembrance for the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls) yesterday morning, we had about a half-hour break until confessions started. Following that was to be a somewhat relaxing time and final preparation for our Festival of Praise that evening.

Of course, it was anything but.

We had two parishioners come to the main office to let us know that while they were doing some prep work in the social hall for an upcoming project, something slipped and caused a pipe to burst, leaking water onto the floor.

UGH.

I ran down to the social hall with one of the gentlemen to assess the damage, which, thankfully, was not a lot. But because of the flow of water coming out, the recommendation was to have the boiler checked out, just in case some air got into the system. So we had a guy to come out and check our boiler. (He did find the reason why an alarm kept sounding, which was good.) In the end, it looked like the pressure was normal, and everything seemed to check out fine.

Thank goodness this weekend was "Deacon Preachin' Weekend", and I didn't have to prepare a homily.

The rest of the day seemed rushed after that. I felt ill-prepared for the second batch of confessions and Mass. I REALLY felt that I was out of the loop for the set-up for the Festival of Praise. 

But, as with anything dealing with faith, allow the Lord to be in control, and He will be. He worked out the kinks in the system, and everyone seemed to enjoy the FOP.  It was extremely small in number, but that's okay. The very fact that we allowed for the opportunity for people to slow down a little was what was needed. 

Following the FOP, I joined some friends for some snacks and a drink, where we just enjoyed the time to sit back and relax. - That, too, was also needed.

So, like I said at the beginning, I took advantage of the extra hour to sleep. But I REALLY took advantage of the fact that I wasn't scheduled for anything until the 12:00 Noon Mass today. I slept in, took my time getting ready - including prayers and showering and such, watched the news, piddled around for a little, and then got ready for Mass and the celebration of the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick following. (Both were wonderful celebrations of the Sacraments.)

It was an easy Sunday morning.

Now, I'm looking forward to an easy Sunday afternoon. Usually I'm around for our youth ministry gathering in the evening. Since they had an event last night, however, the rest of my day is free. 

I have to laugh at the events of the last thirty-six hours or so. This is the typical life of the priest. An "ordered" life, seemingly interrupted by the flow of life. --- And that's a good thing. --- It's why I chose to answer the call to the priesthood. And while I'd rather not be dealing with boiler emergencies, it's a part of parish life that we all have to deal with. And while I'd rather have the easiness of the Sunday mornings like I had today, I would hate for it to become the routine, since the diocesan priest's life isn't really about routine (in a sense), but simply being available.





Enjoy the journey . . .

Are You Happy?

Homily for the Solemnity of All Saints
1 November 2013

          Are you blessed?

        No, really . . . Are you blessed?

        We just heard the great teaching of the Beatitudes, where Jesus reminds us who are the blessed.

        But I guess that I should rephrase the question: Are you happy?

        My brothers and sisters, as we celebrate this great and awesome Solemnity of All Saints, we remember that we aim for what those saints in Heaven have obtained: eternal blessedness; eternal happiness. And since we are members of the Communion of Saints, we have that same opportunity to achieve the blessedness, the happiness that they have.

        The Beatitudes are not just some “nice words” that Jesus randomly spoke on some random mountain two thousand years ago. The Beatitudes are a plan for our lives here on Earth so that, God willing, when our time comes, we will be able to rejoice in that eternal blessedness, that eternal happiness in the fullness of the Kingdom of Heaven.

        So, are you happy? And not just “happy”, but blessedly happy?

        If you and I were to take the teaching of the Beatitudes seriously, we would be.

        Dear friends, today’s feast celebrates the fact that there have been women and men throughout the ages who have found that they could pursue eternal happiness here on Earth, even in the light of knowing that they were sinners. These holy people, some who we know and many more that we don’t, exemplify for us that when we focus our lives on Christ, and model our lives after Him, we CAN be happy, despite the fact that we’re all sinners.

        As members of the Communion of Saints, we are the people who do long to see the Face of God. Those whom we celebrate today have had that longing fulfilled. We rejoice in their victory. Yet we also draw inspiration from their lives. We know that these saints were not perfect on Earth, that they struggled with temptations and sin, that they made decisions in their lives which distanced them from God. But, in the end, they were able to follow that plan God gave to them by living out the Beatitudes.

        Now, in this time and space, it is up to us to follow their example, and endeavor to live a life that provides us assured blessedness and true happiness. It’s now up to us to follow the plan Jesus taught to us in the Beatitudes.

        This is the only way to truly be blessed. This is the only way for us to attain true happiness.

        My brothers and sisters, as we consume the Eucharist this day, we should become more aware of how this Sacred Communion unites us not only to our God, but also to each member of the Communion of Saints, knowing that as members of the Church Militant, the Church Triumphant and the Church Suffering (which we will celebrate tomorrow with the Commemoration of All of the Faithful Departed), we have the opportunity and obligation to support each other on the path of the Beatitudes, pursuing that eternal blessedness and overwhelming happiness that only God can give.

        Are you blessed?

        Are you happy?

        If not, heed the advice of Saint Paul Miki to “ask Jesus to make you happy.” But, like the saints, recognize your faults and failings and pursue that happiness in the life of the Church and her Sacraments, so that, together, we may one day attain that fulfillment of blessedness that our friends in Heaven now enjoy.

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Enjoy the journey . . .

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!

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¡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

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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.”

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Enjoy the journey . . ..