Blog # 345 God's Presence in #'s
1x9+2=11 1x8+1=9
12x9+3=111 12x8+2=98
123x9+4=1111 123x8+3=987
1234x9+5=11111 1234x8+4=9876
12345x9+6=111111 12345x8+5=98765
123456x9+7=1111111 123456x8+6=987654
1234567x9+8=11111111 1234567x8+7=9876543
12345678x9+9=111111111 12345678x8+8=98765432
123456789x9+10=1111111111 123456789x8+9=987654321
Write down the digits from one to nine, omitting
1+1=2 Always! eight. Select one of these digits. Multiply it by
Everywhere! nine and multiply the original row of digits by the
Dependable! answer. The final answer will be all digits of the
Trustworthy! number selected repeated eight times.
Example: Number 4 x 9 = 36
12345679
______ 36
44444444
9x9+7=88 1x1=1
98x9+6=888 11x11=121
987x9+5=8888 111x111=12321
9876x9+4=88888 1111x1111=1234321
98765x9+3=888888 111111x11111=123454321
987654x9+2=8888888 1111111x1111111=12345654321
9876543x9+1=88888888 11111111x11111111=123456787654321
98765432x9+0=888888888 111111111x111111111=12345678987654321
That configuration of numbers came to me from a friend who received it from another friend who is a Moslem. There were several comments on it from other Moslems. One of them, which is typical of the rest, was "Here is an interesting and lovely way to look at the beauty of mathematics, and of God, the sum of all wonders".
As a Catholic priest and theologian I have thought a great deal through the years about the presence of God. St.Thomas Aquinas, one of the Church's greatest theologians, asked the question whether we could even speak of God with any significance. His answer was "Yes", but only if we
realize that whatever we think or say of God must be understood analogously. It is something like
having a picture of George Washington and asking the question "Who is that?" in the picture. We
correctly say George Washington but realize we are speaking analogously. It is true and not true
at the same time. To say of the picture it is anyone other than George Washington would be an
error. To say God is wise, or God is good, with the meaning of what we say is God is better or
more wise and good than others rather than God is good analogously, understood as infinitely different than all others in a way that is beyond all measure and we are absolutely incompetent to understand fully.
In desiring to know the truth about God's presence we come upon the question of certitude
and degrees of certitude. Experience and mathematical certitude would be listed as our greatest natural certitude. Other degrees of certitude would fall under the terms of opinion. guess. hope, a claim to truth as fitting, and that coming from the degree of confidence we have in the testimony of another. The certitude we possess from the supernatural gift of faith in the testimony of God, is greater than all natural certitude and requires faith to make it real.
When I received the email I have printed out for you it occurred to me to think of God being present in numbers. I didn't remember ever thinking of it the way the thought began to
unravel for me . I started out with the identity we give to God as the sole Creator of all that exists. Numbers are real. They exist by the will of God and belong to God. They manifest and bear witness to God's infinite power wisdom goodness and love. It is mind boggling how much numbers
play a part in the daily lives of people in very nation on earth and in every language.
How much do bananas potatoes and onions cost today? When were you born? There
are three billion neurons in the normal human brain. Telephone numbers, street addresses, golf
scores, speed limits along the highway, light traveling at 186,000 miles a second, day and night.
all are measured in numbers. There is a temperature of 30,000,000 degrees in the interior of the sun, and scientists speak of stars in the billions, billions of light years away.
An impressive fact about numbers that I consider more than something merely accidental is that every number begins and has reference to number one. We can't get to number two or to any other number without going through number one. In counting our ten fingers or in counting fifty billion stars we start with number one. That fits in with our identity of a our sole Creator, with all else that exists depending upon God and beginning with God and existing due to the fact God is in them and they are in God as their source and the power keeping them in existence..
I have experienced spiritual writers inviting us to be aware of and responsive to God's presence in the colors shapes and sounds of creation in nature all around us, but I do not remember any of them referring explicitly to the wonderful opportunity we have of discovering God and responding to God whenever and wherever we deal with numbers, and inviting us to rejoice, be grateful, and glorify Him in His presence there. Further, it is interesting how everything we consider in colors shapes and sounds is measured by numbers, primary colors, red, yellow, blue,1-2-3, a box 24" by 32", eight notes in an octave.
In gathering the crumbs left over from the miraculous feeding of 5,000 people, Jesus let it be known He didn't want anything wasted. I am inviting you not to let the many numbers in your everyday life go by unused or wasted but that you would find in them a solid ground for your closeness to God and growth in your love for God.
Sunday, August 31, 2014
Thursday, August 28, 2014
Blog # 344 God' Love
Blog # 344 God's Love
In a family of two girls and two boys, there are many items in the house besides the children.
Toys, clothing, food, furniture, children, books, parents all go to identify the family. What a difference there is in being one of the toys or one of the children!
It is easy to see the advantage the boys and girl have over the shoes and shirts. It is easy to see how much more pleasure and enjoyment the father of the family receives from his children than from their toys. The father gets his money's worth from the toys just because they are toys. They have nothing to say about it. They make the children happy and they do the job for which they were made.
But the children are different. Sometimes they are good and sometimes they are not what they should be. Sometimes they bring joy, and sometimes they bring sorrow. Sometimes they echo back the love of their father. Sometimes when he speaks his love to them an echo does not come back. They are free to love, but by that very fact they are free not to love.
So it is with God and the world. He is a father too. We are His children. He loves us with an everlasting love. He shows that love to us from all angles, all day and all night. He waits for us to echo back that love. But we are free to ignore Him if we so desire, and go off to play with our toys, the world.
When God invites us to echo back His love and trade our weak faltering human love for a share in His strong everlasting divine love, we are free to say yes or no.
God's love made the mountains. God's love made the sea. God's love made each of us.
Our call is to discover God's love in ourselves and in all creation, rejoice in it, spread it among our neighbors, and echo it back to God where He keeps it forever with Him, our Father, in Heaven our eternal home.
In a family of two girls and two boys, there are many items in the house besides the children.
Toys, clothing, food, furniture, children, books, parents all go to identify the family. What a difference there is in being one of the toys or one of the children!
It is easy to see the advantage the boys and girl have over the shoes and shirts. It is easy to see how much more pleasure and enjoyment the father of the family receives from his children than from their toys. The father gets his money's worth from the toys just because they are toys. They have nothing to say about it. They make the children happy and they do the job for which they were made.
But the children are different. Sometimes they are good and sometimes they are not what they should be. Sometimes they bring joy, and sometimes they bring sorrow. Sometimes they echo back the love of their father. Sometimes when he speaks his love to them an echo does not come back. They are free to love, but by that very fact they are free not to love.
So it is with God and the world. He is a father too. We are His children. He loves us with an everlasting love. He shows that love to us from all angles, all day and all night. He waits for us to echo back that love. But we are free to ignore Him if we so desire, and go off to play with our toys, the world.
When God invites us to echo back His love and trade our weak faltering human love for a share in His strong everlasting divine love, we are free to say yes or no.
God's love made the mountains. God's love made the sea. God's love made each of us.
Our call is to discover God's love in ourselves and in all creation, rejoice in it, spread it among our neighbors, and echo it back to God where He keeps it forever with Him, our Father, in Heaven our eternal home.
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Blog # 343 Expanded awareness
Blog # 343 Expanded awareness
Years ago when I was Pastor of one of our Glenmary Mission out in Oklahoma. I used to publish an article each week in the local newspaper. Blog # 343 is a copy of one of those articles. Reading it over this morning I found it a source of blessing and thought you might find it that way too.
As I sit here at my typewriter in the church office, the new First Baptist Church is being constructed directly across the street. Two men are on the roof hammering nails. A third man is climbing up to join them. It is a beautiful sunny day.
It occurred to me to think of this same church building ten years from now. It is a typical Sunday morning service. The church is full. The music is beautiful. The message is clear and consoling. People are happy and thankful for the opportunity of expressing their faith, praise, and thanks to God.
Then my thoughts came back to today as the church is being constructed. Many nails are being hammered into the roof. Each nail is a real part of the church, though small in itself and not at all doing the work of other parts of the church or of other nails.
Ten years from now there may be hundreds of people a the service I envisioned a few minutes ago. Yet I would think none of hem will be thinking of the nails being used today in the church's construction. It is not that anyone would deny the existence of the nails or say they are not useful or important to the building. They are merely not remembered, not thought of, and as a result to some extent unreal.
A similar experience as this is possible in other areas of our lives as well. Unless we take time out to reflect, unless we train ourselves to be observant. and unless we are ready to see and appreciate all there is around us, there is danger we will see only a small portion of it, see and appreciate too little to be as happy and appreciative as God and the world around us deserve.
I look again across the street. So much more is going on than the construction of a
building. I think of the person who invented the hammer and appreciate the great gift this has been to all who work with wood and nails. The buttons on each shirt, the shoes on each foot, the hats, jackets, and jeans, the tailors, the shoemakers, are all real. All are part of me if I permit them to be so.
I think of several people who are possibly reading these reflections. I pray for you to the Lord, that you may rejoice in all God is doing in our lives, that you may strive to know and love the Lord more perfectly every day, that you may be happy in your faith and knowledge of Jesus, that the Holy Spirit will bless you with a deep appreciation of creation, the things and people around us whom God has given us as a reminder and expression of His Presence among us and of HIs infinite love for us all.
Thanks be to God for every nail in the roof of my house, for every pane of glass in its windows, for every inch of the path that leads to the street, and every person I will ever meet, and above all and in them all, thanks be to Thee, O Lord, for your love and my faith in You. Amen!
Years ago when I was Pastor of one of our Glenmary Mission out in Oklahoma. I used to publish an article each week in the local newspaper. Blog # 343 is a copy of one of those articles. Reading it over this morning I found it a source of blessing and thought you might find it that way too.
As I sit here at my typewriter in the church office, the new First Baptist Church is being constructed directly across the street. Two men are on the roof hammering nails. A third man is climbing up to join them. It is a beautiful sunny day.
It occurred to me to think of this same church building ten years from now. It is a typical Sunday morning service. The church is full. The music is beautiful. The message is clear and consoling. People are happy and thankful for the opportunity of expressing their faith, praise, and thanks to God.
Then my thoughts came back to today as the church is being constructed. Many nails are being hammered into the roof. Each nail is a real part of the church, though small in itself and not at all doing the work of other parts of the church or of other nails.
Ten years from now there may be hundreds of people a the service I envisioned a few minutes ago. Yet I would think none of hem will be thinking of the nails being used today in the church's construction. It is not that anyone would deny the existence of the nails or say they are not useful or important to the building. They are merely not remembered, not thought of, and as a result to some extent unreal.
A similar experience as this is possible in other areas of our lives as well. Unless we take time out to reflect, unless we train ourselves to be observant. and unless we are ready to see and appreciate all there is around us, there is danger we will see only a small portion of it, see and appreciate too little to be as happy and appreciative as God and the world around us deserve.
I look again across the street. So much more is going on than the construction of a
building. I think of the person who invented the hammer and appreciate the great gift this has been to all who work with wood and nails. The buttons on each shirt, the shoes on each foot, the hats, jackets, and jeans, the tailors, the shoemakers, are all real. All are part of me if I permit them to be so.
I think of several people who are possibly reading these reflections. I pray for you to the Lord, that you may rejoice in all God is doing in our lives, that you may strive to know and love the Lord more perfectly every day, that you may be happy in your faith and knowledge of Jesus, that the Holy Spirit will bless you with a deep appreciation of creation, the things and people around us whom God has given us as a reminder and expression of His Presence among us and of HIs infinite love for us all.
Thanks be to God for every nail in the roof of my house, for every pane of glass in its windows, for every inch of the path that leads to the street, and every person I will ever meet, and above all and in them all, thanks be to Thee, O Lord, for your love and my faith in You. Amen!
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Blog # 342 Life a Game of Bowling
Blog # 342 Life a Game of Bowling
I think I may have used this same text in a previous blog or a Christmas letter a couple of years ago but I am not sure. I came upon it this morning when I was culling out some notes in a file cabinet and found it a source of blessing. Even if you may remember it from before you may find it a source of blessing and inspiration again as I have done. I hope so.
One morning out of the blue it occurred to me as I was driving by a local bowling alley to view the Christian life and experience like a bowling game. Jesus used to do something like this using wheat fields fishing nets seeds being sown in a field and other experiences that were familiar to those to whom He was speaking. His parables are rich in being able to be applied for us today even in our modern world of high tech skills and immense new knowledge of what God has created for us in what we call 'our world'. A bowling game became my wheat field and fishing net. Now when I pass a bowling alley it tells me "You are here!" I hope it will be an ongoing invitation for you to grow in holiness and faithfully persevere until the end of your 'game'.
Here is the way the parable goes. The Kingdom of Heaven, the Christian life and experience, where God is present by faith, sought by hope, and discovered by love, wherever and whenever all or any of this may be, is like a bowling game.
First we have a bowling alley. It is an item intelligently designed and structured precisely for the game of bowling. There is an open space or gutter at both sides of the alley. Next we have ten pins set in a particular order to form a triangle at the far end of the alley. Then we have a large ball with holes drilled into it to fit your particular fingers to permit you to hold the ball and roll it comfortably and accurately. The object of the game is to knock down the pins. A perfect game is indicated by a perfect score of 300.
Often when Jesus finished giving one of His parables His disciples or someone in the crowd around Him asked Him to clarify the meaning of the parable for them. They knew He was not talking about wheat or talents or fish even though He was talking about wheat and talents and fish. There was more to what He was saying than the sounds of it. The words were intended to be enriched and applied to individual unique everyday experiences. So it is with the parable of the bowling game. And so...
The alley can be taken at one time as creation itself, the whole of it, or at other times, on a smaller scale, our individual personal unique lives. Both are intelligently designed and structured for a specific purpose. All of creation, from the largest star to you and me was intelligently designed and structured by our single Creator-God. Therefore the meaning and purpose of all that exists is to be found in God. And since GOD IS LOVE, ( 1 Jn. 4: 8, 16) the meaning of the whole of creation can be found in love. LOVE is the object of the GAME OF LIFE, just as knocking down the pins is the object of the game of bowling.
Created as we are, uniquely and personally in the image of God, we are capable of understanding and realizing this in a unique personal way. Jesus told us this when someone asked Him what is the first of the Commandments. It is to love God with your whole heart and mind and strength , totally.
What could stop or hinder us from loving God with our whole heart mind and strength? A similar question can be asked of bowling What can stop us from a perfect game? The ten pins. the very same realities that in response to our skill create our victory, in response to a lesser skill create our failure!
A champion bowler knows each of the pins by name from one to ten. And if, for example, there is a seven and a three pin left on the alley in a particular frame of the game he or she has learned by observation and talking to other champion bowlers who have faced the same situation, by practice, and even through error perhaps that if he or she perseveres in his or her desire, we can learn how the critical seven and ten pins can be knocked down together with a single roll of the ball. If all the pins are knocked down every time the ball is thrown , a perfect game of bowling can be achieved.
In this, bowling is different from other games we play such as football baseball and soccer. There is no such thing as a perfect game of football. . YOUR perfect game, yes, but not a perfect game of football. You can loose a game of football with a score of 46 and win a football game with a score of 7. There is no absolute standard for determining a perfect game of football. In bowling that is not the case. Knock down all the pins, the game is over and you have a perfect game of bowling. And only then.
The same question that came with bowling comes with the 'game' of life: What can stop or hinder from achieving a 'score' of perfect love in our 'game' of life? As with the ten pins in a bowling game, we can name the obstacles in our personal lives that prevent or diminish our ability to experience perfect love. Our sins, moral weaknesses, procrastination, excuses, temptation, and lack of awareness are among the 'pins' that can be identified as standing in the way of achieving a perfect score (Rom.8: 35, 39.
Recognizing perfect love as the perfect score in the 'game' of life, we ask the question: Is there a perfect love that can be achieved? Is it with love as it is with football and baseball where you can have your perfect game, the best you can do, but not the perfect game?
If the answer to that question were Yes, life would still be a wonderful gift and worth living. But the answer is No. Life is different from football and baseball where you do your best. Life is like bowling where you reach for an absolute value named perfect love. The fundamental question becomes: What is the meaning of perfect love? "...with your whole heart, and mind, and with all your strength."
We keep on living day by day with this wonderful dream and desire of our Creator within us and at the same time aware of falling short. Just think for a moment of the case of Jesus and Mary His mother. We believe both of them were totally without sin for their entire lives. Yet Scripture indicates for us that Jesus was tempted, and if that were the case we can imagine Mary was tempted too. and like Jesus without sin by choices on her part. Applying once more the parable of the bowling game, we see incidences in their lives as in ours that might tempt us to sin that had to be cast out by choices in order for us to love more perfectly. That they did. That we keep trying to do.
The perfect game of bowling is certified by the last pin to go down. In the 'game' of life the last pin to go down is death. And this is true for everyone. It was true for Mary and Jesus. Death it is that could tempt us to think God is unfair, cruel, uncaring, waiting in Heaven to judge us. Seen that way it is a difficult pin to knock down, a temptation to let it overshadow all the good things that have made up our lives, including the forgiveness of our sin rather than and opportunity of transforming it into our absolutely greatest act of love. The last pin to go down is the greatest threat to a perfect game. It is also the pin that declares the winner. Jesus named that pin the greatest love. "There is no greater love than to lay down one's life..." To love means to give and the more we love the more we give. The only way to love perfectly is to give it all. This is possible only in death. Until the very instant of death there is more to give, even if it is only that very instant.
We believe that in the Church, the Body of Christ, we are joined to Jesus through faith and Baptism as a branch on a vine, sharing the same life Jesus brought from Heaven and shares with us in a limited human way. ( cf Jn 15: 4,5; 17: 21,23,26), As branches are joined to a vine a vine is joined to the branches. In the bowling game of Christian life we are bowlers and Jesus is the ball! Understand that and you understand the deepest meaning and value of the event of that first Christmas! EMMANUEL-God Among Us!
May your love be deep and joyful and faithful to the end! Happy Christmas every day of your life!
I think I may have used this same text in a previous blog or a Christmas letter a couple of years ago but I am not sure. I came upon it this morning when I was culling out some notes in a file cabinet and found it a source of blessing. Even if you may remember it from before you may find it a source of blessing and inspiration again as I have done. I hope so.
One morning out of the blue it occurred to me as I was driving by a local bowling alley to view the Christian life and experience like a bowling game. Jesus used to do something like this using wheat fields fishing nets seeds being sown in a field and other experiences that were familiar to those to whom He was speaking. His parables are rich in being able to be applied for us today even in our modern world of high tech skills and immense new knowledge of what God has created for us in what we call 'our world'. A bowling game became my wheat field and fishing net. Now when I pass a bowling alley it tells me "You are here!" I hope it will be an ongoing invitation for you to grow in holiness and faithfully persevere until the end of your 'game'.
Here is the way the parable goes. The Kingdom of Heaven, the Christian life and experience, where God is present by faith, sought by hope, and discovered by love, wherever and whenever all or any of this may be, is like a bowling game.
First we have a bowling alley. It is an item intelligently designed and structured precisely for the game of bowling. There is an open space or gutter at both sides of the alley. Next we have ten pins set in a particular order to form a triangle at the far end of the alley. Then we have a large ball with holes drilled into it to fit your particular fingers to permit you to hold the ball and roll it comfortably and accurately. The object of the game is to knock down the pins. A perfect game is indicated by a perfect score of 300.
Often when Jesus finished giving one of His parables His disciples or someone in the crowd around Him asked Him to clarify the meaning of the parable for them. They knew He was not talking about wheat or talents or fish even though He was talking about wheat and talents and fish. There was more to what He was saying than the sounds of it. The words were intended to be enriched and applied to individual unique everyday experiences. So it is with the parable of the bowling game. And so...
The alley can be taken at one time as creation itself, the whole of it, or at other times, on a smaller scale, our individual personal unique lives. Both are intelligently designed and structured for a specific purpose. All of creation, from the largest star to you and me was intelligently designed and structured by our single Creator-God. Therefore the meaning and purpose of all that exists is to be found in God. And since GOD IS LOVE, ( 1 Jn. 4: 8, 16) the meaning of the whole of creation can be found in love. LOVE is the object of the GAME OF LIFE, just as knocking down the pins is the object of the game of bowling.
Created as we are, uniquely and personally in the image of God, we are capable of understanding and realizing this in a unique personal way. Jesus told us this when someone asked Him what is the first of the Commandments. It is to love God with your whole heart and mind and strength , totally.
What could stop or hinder us from loving God with our whole heart mind and strength? A similar question can be asked of bowling What can stop us from a perfect game? The ten pins. the very same realities that in response to our skill create our victory, in response to a lesser skill create our failure!
A champion bowler knows each of the pins by name from one to ten. And if, for example, there is a seven and a three pin left on the alley in a particular frame of the game he or she has learned by observation and talking to other champion bowlers who have faced the same situation, by practice, and even through error perhaps that if he or she perseveres in his or her desire, we can learn how the critical seven and ten pins can be knocked down together with a single roll of the ball. If all the pins are knocked down every time the ball is thrown , a perfect game of bowling can be achieved.
In this, bowling is different from other games we play such as football baseball and soccer. There is no such thing as a perfect game of football. . YOUR perfect game, yes, but not a perfect game of football. You can loose a game of football with a score of 46 and win a football game with a score of 7. There is no absolute standard for determining a perfect game of football. In bowling that is not the case. Knock down all the pins, the game is over and you have a perfect game of bowling. And only then.
The same question that came with bowling comes with the 'game' of life: What can stop or hinder from achieving a 'score' of perfect love in our 'game' of life? As with the ten pins in a bowling game, we can name the obstacles in our personal lives that prevent or diminish our ability to experience perfect love. Our sins, moral weaknesses, procrastination, excuses, temptation, and lack of awareness are among the 'pins' that can be identified as standing in the way of achieving a perfect score (Rom.8: 35, 39.
Recognizing perfect love as the perfect score in the 'game' of life, we ask the question: Is there a perfect love that can be achieved? Is it with love as it is with football and baseball where you can have your perfect game, the best you can do, but not the perfect game?
If the answer to that question were Yes, life would still be a wonderful gift and worth living. But the answer is No. Life is different from football and baseball where you do your best. Life is like bowling where you reach for an absolute value named perfect love. The fundamental question becomes: What is the meaning of perfect love? "...with your whole heart, and mind, and with all your strength."
We keep on living day by day with this wonderful dream and desire of our Creator within us and at the same time aware of falling short. Just think for a moment of the case of Jesus and Mary His mother. We believe both of them were totally without sin for their entire lives. Yet Scripture indicates for us that Jesus was tempted, and if that were the case we can imagine Mary was tempted too. and like Jesus without sin by choices on her part. Applying once more the parable of the bowling game, we see incidences in their lives as in ours that might tempt us to sin that had to be cast out by choices in order for us to love more perfectly. That they did. That we keep trying to do.
The perfect game of bowling is certified by the last pin to go down. In the 'game' of life the last pin to go down is death. And this is true for everyone. It was true for Mary and Jesus. Death it is that could tempt us to think God is unfair, cruel, uncaring, waiting in Heaven to judge us. Seen that way it is a difficult pin to knock down, a temptation to let it overshadow all the good things that have made up our lives, including the forgiveness of our sin rather than and opportunity of transforming it into our absolutely greatest act of love. The last pin to go down is the greatest threat to a perfect game. It is also the pin that declares the winner. Jesus named that pin the greatest love. "There is no greater love than to lay down one's life..." To love means to give and the more we love the more we give. The only way to love perfectly is to give it all. This is possible only in death. Until the very instant of death there is more to give, even if it is only that very instant.
We believe that in the Church, the Body of Christ, we are joined to Jesus through faith and Baptism as a branch on a vine, sharing the same life Jesus brought from Heaven and shares with us in a limited human way. ( cf Jn 15: 4,5; 17: 21,23,26), As branches are joined to a vine a vine is joined to the branches. In the bowling game of Christian life we are bowlers and Jesus is the ball! Understand that and you understand the deepest meaning and value of the event of that first Christmas! EMMANUEL-God Among Us!
May your love be deep and joyful and faithful to the end! Happy Christmas every day of your life!
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Blog #341 ...in God's Love
Blog # 341 ...in God's Love
Chapter 10: vv 1 - 20 of Luke 's Gospel gives the story of Jesus sending out disciples to the places He intended to visit and the excitement the disciples exhibit when they come back to Jesus reporting that even the demons were cast out through their message. Jesus responds by telling them (v. 18) He "watched Satan fall from the sky like lightning" Then in v. 20 He tells them "do not rejoice so much in the fact the devils are subject to you as that your names are inscribed in heaven."
Throughout the world Mother Teresa of Calcutta was acknowledged as a holy person. She accomplished a great deal in her love for the poor and afflicted. Yet if we study her life and the talks she gave on occasions of dedicating hospitals and places of refuge for the poor, it is evident that, in her own mind, her holiness did not consist so much in what she accomplished as in her personal relationship with God. It was in God's Name and with God's power within herself that she did what she did and said what she said. And it has been this way with holy people down though the ages.
In the Gospel passage from Luke that I have cited Jesus reinforces that testimony of Mother Teresa. Rejoice not so much that demons have fallen but "that your names are inscribed in heaven."
I find it significant Luke has Jesus use the present tense of the verb in the response of Jesus. It reads "are inscribed" rather than " will be inscribed". We generally think of heaven as coming in the future rather than as present in some way now as well as in the future. We go to Heaven, presumably in the future.
If what we do is an expression of who we are, and this seems to be what Jesus was telling the returning missionaries, then we do rejoice in what we do,yes, but even more so in who we are. Both elements of our identity are the will of God and cause for rejoicing, but one is temporary the other for now and forever
It is easy to understand the joy the disciples experienced in casting out the demons and the joy as well of those from whom the demons were cast out. I asked myself must this joy, so easily understood and appreciated, be the experience of disciples of Jesus back in the time of Jesus two thousand years ago , or should it be ours as well today. The answer came : Yes. it can, it should be ours. Then I set out to discover how, when, and why.
I began to realize more clearly the meaning and impact of the fact I believe in one God, the Creator of all, as we profess each Sunday at Mass. The God who forgave His Chosen People away back in the pages of the Old Testament is the same God who forgives our sins. The same Lord Jesus who sent His disciples out to prepare for His coming to various cities in Palestine is the same Lord Jesus who leads us today to wherever He wishes us to be, in our work places, in our kitchens, in our churches, among the poor, among the rich, living the message of salvation for the sake of those around us as well as for ourselves.
There is but one God. Everything and everyone is connected in God's love. "Love your neighbor as yourself". If we understand that and put it into practice in all that we think and speak and do, our names will be inscribed in heaven, now by faith, and when our life here on earth is complete by experience.
Chapter 10: vv 1 - 20 of Luke 's Gospel gives the story of Jesus sending out disciples to the places He intended to visit and the excitement the disciples exhibit when they come back to Jesus reporting that even the demons were cast out through their message. Jesus responds by telling them (v. 18) He "watched Satan fall from the sky like lightning" Then in v. 20 He tells them "do not rejoice so much in the fact the devils are subject to you as that your names are inscribed in heaven."
Throughout the world Mother Teresa of Calcutta was acknowledged as a holy person. She accomplished a great deal in her love for the poor and afflicted. Yet if we study her life and the talks she gave on occasions of dedicating hospitals and places of refuge for the poor, it is evident that, in her own mind, her holiness did not consist so much in what she accomplished as in her personal relationship with God. It was in God's Name and with God's power within herself that she did what she did and said what she said. And it has been this way with holy people down though the ages.
In the Gospel passage from Luke that I have cited Jesus reinforces that testimony of Mother Teresa. Rejoice not so much that demons have fallen but "that your names are inscribed in heaven."
I find it significant Luke has Jesus use the present tense of the verb in the response of Jesus. It reads "are inscribed" rather than " will be inscribed". We generally think of heaven as coming in the future rather than as present in some way now as well as in the future. We go to Heaven, presumably in the future.
If what we do is an expression of who we are, and this seems to be what Jesus was telling the returning missionaries, then we do rejoice in what we do,yes, but even more so in who we are. Both elements of our identity are the will of God and cause for rejoicing, but one is temporary the other for now and forever
It is easy to understand the joy the disciples experienced in casting out the demons and the joy as well of those from whom the demons were cast out. I asked myself must this joy, so easily understood and appreciated, be the experience of disciples of Jesus back in the time of Jesus two thousand years ago , or should it be ours as well today. The answer came : Yes. it can, it should be ours. Then I set out to discover how, when, and why.
I began to realize more clearly the meaning and impact of the fact I believe in one God, the Creator of all, as we profess each Sunday at Mass. The God who forgave His Chosen People away back in the pages of the Old Testament is the same God who forgives our sins. The same Lord Jesus who sent His disciples out to prepare for His coming to various cities in Palestine is the same Lord Jesus who leads us today to wherever He wishes us to be, in our work places, in our kitchens, in our churches, among the poor, among the rich, living the message of salvation for the sake of those around us as well as for ourselves.
There is but one God. Everything and everyone is connected in God's love. "Love your neighbor as yourself". If we understand that and put it into practice in all that we think and speak and do, our names will be inscribed in heaven, now by faith, and when our life here on earth is complete by experience.
Monday, August 18, 2014
Blog #338 Going to Church
Blog # 338 Going to Church
I know a church on Long Island where several thousands of people come to church each Sunday. I would like to have the opportunity of asking each of those people why they were coming. I wonder if anyone ever asks them. I wonder if they know.
Many people go to church by force of habit. It is a good habit, we know that, so we keep it. But like other habits, once we get the habit we don't need much of an additional reason or motive to keep the action going other than the habit itself. Chances are if the dominant reason we go to church on Sunday is a habit, our neighbor's reason for not going might be that he doesn't have the habit. His reason for not going sounds about as good as another person's reason for going. He doesn't bother us and we don't bother him. Life goes on, and we all die in our turn.
Some people go to church because they continue to appreciate the habit they received in growing up in a church-going family, or perhaps they feel they 'owe it to God'. After all, God gives us so much and asks so little in return and we do need the strength and support of God's love to help us live faithfully in the current secular irreligious culture of our present moment of history in the US.
I claim the ideal reason ,essential and adequate in itself, for going to church is to worship God. Other good reasons can combine with this primary one in different families at different times and seasons. Among these would be something of the reason a young man goes to visit his sweetheart, the reason a man joins with others to play a game of softball, the reason a man sits on a beech by the ocean to watch the sun go down, the reason a man plants a garden or goes to work, or finds this a special occasion every week joyfully and generously to renew the love he and his wife pledged to one another at Mass at the time of their wedding twenty years ago.
Going to church should have at least a share of the desire, joy, wisdom, and enthusiasm of the rest of our life combined. If that seems 'off the wall' for you, join your parish liturgy committee.
If your parish does not have one try to get one started. And if the agenda of the liturgy committee you have is just to pick out the hymns and assign sacristy work among volunteers try to upgrade it
through programs of adult religious education to help folks coming to Mass understand what it means to worship God as a Catholic Christian and identify their offering Mass each Sunday as a genuine blessing they would not want to miss.
Why do you go to church? Why not?
I know a church on Long Island where several thousands of people come to church each Sunday. I would like to have the opportunity of asking each of those people why they were coming. I wonder if anyone ever asks them. I wonder if they know.
Many people go to church by force of habit. It is a good habit, we know that, so we keep it. But like other habits, once we get the habit we don't need much of an additional reason or motive to keep the action going other than the habit itself. Chances are if the dominant reason we go to church on Sunday is a habit, our neighbor's reason for not going might be that he doesn't have the habit. His reason for not going sounds about as good as another person's reason for going. He doesn't bother us and we don't bother him. Life goes on, and we all die in our turn.
Some people go to church because they continue to appreciate the habit they received in growing up in a church-going family, or perhaps they feel they 'owe it to God'. After all, God gives us so much and asks so little in return and we do need the strength and support of God's love to help us live faithfully in the current secular irreligious culture of our present moment of history in the US.
I claim the ideal reason ,essential and adequate in itself, for going to church is to worship God. Other good reasons can combine with this primary one in different families at different times and seasons. Among these would be something of the reason a young man goes to visit his sweetheart, the reason a man joins with others to play a game of softball, the reason a man sits on a beech by the ocean to watch the sun go down, the reason a man plants a garden or goes to work, or finds this a special occasion every week joyfully and generously to renew the love he and his wife pledged to one another at Mass at the time of their wedding twenty years ago.
Going to church should have at least a share of the desire, joy, wisdom, and enthusiasm of the rest of our life combined. If that seems 'off the wall' for you, join your parish liturgy committee.
If your parish does not have one try to get one started. And if the agenda of the liturgy committee you have is just to pick out the hymns and assign sacristy work among volunteers try to upgrade it
through programs of adult religious education to help folks coming to Mass understand what it means to worship God as a Catholic Christian and identify their offering Mass each Sunday as a genuine blessing they would not want to miss.
Why do you go to church? Why not?
Saturday, August 16, 2014
Blog # 337 St. Anthony
Blog # 337 St. Anthony
About ten years ago, before my brother Ed died, I had the opportunity of driving down to Florida to visit Ed and two nieces living there.
One of my nieces had told me of her nephew's approaching Confirmation and that he had chosen the name Anthony as a Patron. She wanted to get him a life of St. Anthony and a small statue of the Saint for his room but had not been able to find them close to home.
On my way back, on Interstate 95, I passed about seven miles west of St. Augustine. I knew there was a large religious goods store there so I turned off the Interstate and headed for St. Augustine.
When I slowed down on the two-lane I noticed the car seemed to be tending to swerve to the right. Then when I got to town it was more noticeable. After buying the life of St. Anthony and the statue I found a Ford place very close. It was lunch hour so no one was on deck. There was a garage almost immediately next door and I saw one of the mechanics standing outside eating his lunch so I stopped there.
He diagnosed the trouble right away and sent me down the street a bit further to Old City Tire Company. Though the treads seemed to be OK, my right front tire was coming apart!
What a different story this might have been if I had had a blowout at 70 MPH as I was driving along side an eighteen wheeler on the Interstate! I imagined my niece telling her friends that St. Anthony saved my life, and I wouldn't deny that.
My Confirmation name is Anthony too.
About ten years ago, before my brother Ed died, I had the opportunity of driving down to Florida to visit Ed and two nieces living there.
One of my nieces had told me of her nephew's approaching Confirmation and that he had chosen the name Anthony as a Patron. She wanted to get him a life of St. Anthony and a small statue of the Saint for his room but had not been able to find them close to home.
On my way back, on Interstate 95, I passed about seven miles west of St. Augustine. I knew there was a large religious goods store there so I turned off the Interstate and headed for St. Augustine.
When I slowed down on the two-lane I noticed the car seemed to be tending to swerve to the right. Then when I got to town it was more noticeable. After buying the life of St. Anthony and the statue I found a Ford place very close. It was lunch hour so no one was on deck. There was a garage almost immediately next door and I saw one of the mechanics standing outside eating his lunch so I stopped there.
He diagnosed the trouble right away and sent me down the street a bit further to Old City Tire Company. Though the treads seemed to be OK, my right front tire was coming apart!
What a different story this might have been if I had had a blowout at 70 MPH as I was driving along side an eighteen wheeler on the Interstate! I imagined my niece telling her friends that St. Anthony saved my life, and I wouldn't deny that.
My Confirmation name is Anthony too.
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