Forty-One Years

On this, the occasion of my forty-first birthday, I thank God for the years that he has blessed me with. I thank him for the awesome gift of his only begotten Son. I thank him for the gift of his Church and the Scriptures that I love so much. I thank him for his Kingdom that is present around us at all times. I thank him for the gift of his divine and life-giving Love. I thank him for my wife, who is my companion and helpmate in this journey. The one who by the Holy Spirit’s power, found the key and unlocked my heart. I thank him for the gift of our five children, who continue to form me into the person I am today and hope to become tomorrow. I thank him for the gift of family and the many learning challenges that comes from it. I thank him for the gift of my mother, who has shown me by example, love, compassion, and hard work all my days. I thank him for the gift of brothers, who have always been present when needed most. I thank him for the gift of in-laws, who have welcomed me into their family with love and kindness. I thank him for the gift of friends, who he put into my path to guide me to where I am today. I thank him for the many priests and deacons, who by their guidance, prayers, and support, have been an active part of my vocation as a deacon serving the Church. 

These all tie together and connect to form a foundation of relationships. This truly is life at its most basic, us in relationship with God and one another. We know from the Bible that we cannot live in this world alone, we must have relationships to survive and grow as human beings, to become the people that God desires us to be. As we are told in Genesis, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” (2:18) Yes, this does refer to the creation of Eve, but from it flows the complete picture that man is not in this by himself. Just as the Trinity is a communion of Persons, man himself must be in communion with others to be a person. God made persons not individuals. 

Looking back, I can see the wisdom of God at work when he made us not to be alone. It is those around us that lead us from the low pits that we find ourselves in at times. It is also by those relationships that God leads us to the high points in our lives. From those mountain tops we can survey the valleys and learn from our falls and failures. Hopefully taking note, those does and don’ts of life. If I have found or discovered nothing else in these forty-one years, it is that from these moments in time, that we become the people whom we are in the present. Therefore, those guiding and climbing the journey with us are our true blessing from God in this world. No matter if its wife, priest, or friend. This is why it is so important for us to discern and pray if our current relationships are fruitful. Then if they are not, we must pull them up by the root and cast them out. It can become a difficult process at times, but one that must be done. I have had to do some pruning and weeding at times on my path in life and am a much better person for it. It is interesting looking back, that some of the weeds that I used to grow around, also helped me to “flower” as I grew up. That is the great mystery that God’s plan has for us. We never know through whom the potter might be working his clay. Remember how St. Matthew had to leave his tax-collectors hut when Jesus called him. (Matt 9:9)

Also, I see God’s humor present in my life. Anyone who knew me before meeting Joanne my wife, knew a much different person. One who did not like kids. Who would run away when they made to much noise around the house. Basically, my world was all about the individual, all I saw was self.  God knew full well, that man needed to be broken and molded into a new man, therefore with a big smile upon his face, he has given me five children of my own. Though his grace and the love of Joanne, my heart been transformed and made anew. Yes, there are difficult times that I still lose my patience and temper, but that selfish man, the one with the cold and hard heart is no longer present. Indeed, as the kids sing, “Our God is a Mighty God.”

As I move forward with hopefully another forty-one years, all I can do is to pray that God will keep me and bless me, and let his face shine upon me, and have mercy on me. (Numbers 6:24-26) Then again, this is the one thing that I can count on, God will never depart from me, he will always be there. I just have to able to say in the end, as does St. Paul, “For I am already being poured out as a drank-offering; the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:6-8)

"Papa, My Tummy Hurts"

Like most parents, my wife and I get the kids in bed first, then we have sometime before our bed time to catch our breath, read, and rest for a bit. But, what always seems to happen during this time? We hear those familiar footsteps. Then those familiar words, “Papa, my tummy hurts.” Or, “Mama, my back hurts.” What is it about bedtime that makes children’s ailments come to the surface so clearly? The entire day they have been fine, but all of the sudden, their world is collapsing all around them and the pain is unbearable.  

Elizabeth (8) our oldest is the worst for this. Almost every night, around 10-20 minutes after everyone has gone to bed, something is wrong with her. Fever, itchy, or bits, something is never right! One part of this is just delaying her bedtime and that she is a worrier at times. But, another side is that kids seem to think that we as parents can fix any problem or sickness at a moment’s notice. Not matter what it is, or how long the issue has been going on. No, I have said, “we do not have a magic wand to cure you with.” Then again, lotion, the wonder drug, fixes many of these, so called “hurts”. It becomes comical at times and by the third trip to the bedside, very frustrating. That is usually when I begin to just say or shout, “GO TO BED!”

Reflecting upon these nighttime events and actions, I think there is a connection here between this situation and how many people approach God. We come to Jesus and approach him as if he too has a “magic wand”. We think, yes Lord I know that you can fix any and every problem that “seems” to be confronting me. What is the problem with this? How does this tie into the Biblical picture of Faith?

Here is an illustration. John gets his latest credit card bill in the mail and it is far more than he is able to pay. He goes to Jesus and tells him, “I need help with this bill. Please make it go away. I do not care how, just make it go away. Yes, Jesus use that magic that you have and help me out.” Now, Jesus does indeed have the power to handle John’s issue. But, John’s problem is not the credit card bill, it’s his out of control spending. The short-sighted John cannot see this, but our Lord does see this and will handle this request of John is his own way and time. As so often our desires of Jesus and his desires of us are much different. 

This comes out when during the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches us, “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:7-12) Jesus will give us the “good things” when we ask. We just have to keep in mind what the “good things” are. For John, is it more money? I think not. The “good things” for him would be a change in lifestyle. A change from his desire for more and more stuff to make him happy, to a desire for full and rich life in communion with Jesus Christ. The answer to that prayer will look far different than a paid credit card bill and truly last much longer. This is what faith requires us to do, trust God and believe that the way he is answering our prayers is the best for us and our relationship with him and others. Its saying, “Lord, I am sure you know what you are doing, I may not know myself, but you have my full trust and cooperation.”

As we approach the Father in prayer, let us keep in mind our Lord’s words, “My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26:39) 

Who is our Shepherd?

So after a much to long absence, I hope to be back with regular blog posts. This is the down side to my life in the swimming pool business. From April to about the middle of July my daily life is pretty much just chaos. Early mornings and late nights. Thankfully things get a bit more normal after July 4th. More on all of this in a later post.

Here is my homily that I gave this weekend at the Roman Catholic Church here in Rocky Mount.  

2018 Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jer 23:1-6, Eph 2:13-18, Mk 6:30-34

The Bible is full of agricultural symbolism. We hear much about vines, vineyards, vinedresser, wheat, flocks, sheep, soils, trees, and many others like these. The main reason is that people saw these things every day and most people could easily understand the connection the scripture is making. Today Jesus himself uses one of these images and probable on of the most famous, that of a shepherd and his sheep. We are told in our Gospel, “As Jesus landed he saw a great throng, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.” (Mark 6:34) Now before we can truly understand what is going on here, we must take a closer look at this word “shepherd”.

It is very interesting that the ancient use of the word “shepherd” was for a king or a deity, yes, the small “g” god. One who would guide and tend his flock or his kingdom. He was the one who was supposed to protect his people from harm and put them in the right direction. Now we can quickly see how this use could be transferred to someone who keeps and protects sheep. The shepherd would have a flock and lead them around the countryside keeping them safe from all that could injure them. He would lead them to water to drink and grass to eat. How then does this fit into the scene that we have in today’s Gospel? Jesus looks upon the vast numbers of people who are following him and he has compassion on them because they have no shepherd to guide them along the path of life. Jesus knows full well what happens to people when they have no one fit to guide them, they find other guides who may very well lead them along the wrong path and into dark places. 

This is the very point that our first reading is making. Jeremiah written some 650 years before the time of Jesus, sees the problem of people following after a false shepherd, “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” “You have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them… I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. (Jer 23:1-3) The Lord is saying that his flock has been led into sin and division. He is telling them that by following these wicked and false shepherds they are indeed living contrary to the plan that he has for them, against the very purpose that they have been created for. The Lord then gives them the great promise that this will not last forever, “I will bring you to myself and by communion with me, you will again be fruitful and multiply.” This is the very purpose of creation, a fruitful people in relationship with the living God. 

It is from this promise and hope that our Lord’s compassion for his people flows. Jesus knows that people need a faithful guide to led them in life and when he sees people not leading a life with God as their center, he understands deep down the effects of that chosen life. The brokenness and hardships that flow from it. It is this kind of compassion that makes Jesus weep for Jerusalem and to ascend the Cross at Calvary. It is this same compassion that causes our Lord to grieve when we sin and chose a different shepherd other than him. That is the true problem with sin, not that we have broken a rule that the Church gives us, but that we have broken our relationship with our true shepherd. The one who guides us along the difficult paths that life in this world gives us. When we trust him, he is always leading us out of our present darkness, off of those rocky paths, to the beautiful grassland and flowing water where the Father and Spirit dwells. 

Now we come to the centerpiece of Christianity, to the key question that we face each day as baptized Christians. Who do we listen to and follow as a shepherd? Do we listen to worldly shepherds or to Jesus? The one who, as the Gospel says, “opens his mouth to teach us many things” (Mark 6:34)? What do many of these other false shepherds try to tell us, “get the most out of life by pursuing all the sex, money, and power you can get. Yes, keep running the race (like the mouse going around and around the wheel), get more and more stuff, then and only then will you be happy! Bigger house, fancier cars, more clothes, all the gadgets money can buy, do this and your life will be complete.” Is this true? Will this lifestyle lead us to a fruitful and full life or to a dead life filled with shattered relationships and broken dreams? If this where true then Hollywood would be the happiest place on earth, but as we all know from many tragic stories on the news, this in not so. What if our shepherd turns out to be a politician, a government leader, a political party, do they become for us a faithful guide? What if we put all our trust in them, are our lives any better? Is society any better because of it? No probably not. Anyone or anything that we follow and trust other than Jesus Christ will lead us to the desert and not to the grassland. They will lead us away from God and our relationship with him, to further and further corruption and decay. 

Young people have to be very careful about this also. Who are they listening to and following in life? Is it a bad friend who is going to make them more popular and therefore welcomed into the “in” crowed. Or are they guided and nurtured by their relationships with God and their parents. Are we as parents and grandparents taking the time to talk to them about prayer, reading the Bible, about spending time with Jesus, making him their true shepherd. Or are we to busy with our own lives and schedules. Parents put down the iPad, turn off the phone, the TV, and spend time in your child’s lives teaching them through word and example what it means to be a faithful disciple of Jesus, because if you do not someone else will. And that someone will take the time and lead them into the darkness of drugs, alcohol, and all kinds of immorality and wickedness. If you do not believe me just watch the news, talk to people who have gone through the situation. Think how different those lives might have been if someone different gave them direction. Took the time to tell them, not only by word but also by actions, about Jesus and his Gospel of salvation. Offered them a bit of love and hope, they too might now be on the fruitful plane of the true Shepherd, instead of alone in a dark cave. 

The same is true in marriage. Are we as couples following Jesus and his words to us or the worlds? Have we turned a blind eye to his command to be “fruitful and multiply” because the world tells us that 1 or 2 kids is enough? They will tell you quickly, “You can’t really live the lifestyle you want to if you have to many kids.” By doing that we reject God from the center of our lives together. Many people do not want to hear it, but Jesus does not stop at the bedroom door, yes even if its locked, he comes on in. But when we say, “nope stop right there Jesus, stop right there Church, I do not want to hear the message, I will make my own choices, thank you very much.” By doing this, we reject his mercy and grace, when we slam the door on Jesus, we become as sheep with no shepherd, blind with no guide. And is there any wonder why divorce and distortions of marriage are so rampant today. All leading to confusion and disarray. What’s marriage? Who can get married? What is love? Even now, what is a man or a woman? Chaos always returns when there is now shepherd there to guide the sheep. 

I could go on and on with many different examples, but I think everyone gets the point. Jesus and the Church that he founded are our true shepherd. It is only from the teachings of Jesus, and the abundant grace that flows from the Church, that we can live lives as God desires us to live. This is the whole point of the very famous Psalm 23, even though we always seem to hear it at funerals, it is very much about our present lives. It’s about our current relationship with God and other people. When we pray it, we are telling God, “yes Lord come into my life and guide me along the path you and you alone desire me to travel.” Listen to how the Psalm goes, “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want; he makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:1-4) We are praying for comfort and hope in the here and now, not after death. God is going to guide us to the pastures and rolling waters of a faithful and fruitful life. That is what the water represents, life flowing, the full grown and thriving trees growing around the water. Birds and animals living around them. In other words, abundant life. When we ask God, he will lead us out of death, out of fear and darkness, into his great and awesome light. He will lead us from sin and its terrible effects, into grace, peace, and mercy. 

The last verse of the Psalm ties together everything that we have talked about, “Your compassion and mercy shall pursue me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for the length of days.” (23:8) Because of the great compassion of our faithful God and Lord, Jesus Christ, we always have hope. No matter how far we drift from him and follow after other shepherds, he always welcomes us back with open arms. As the father welcomed back the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32), so God the Father does with each of us. And even more than that, Jesus is always pursuing us. When we go astray, he is prodding us with his staff at our hearts and souls to return to his fold. He desires us to be his full and faithful disciples. To grow and multiply in faith, hope, and love. Worshiping him and caring for our neighbors as well. 

So, we each have to ask the question, “What shepherd am I currently following in my life? Just who is my guide? Is it Jesus? Or is it some other false shepherd? Do I want to just listen to the voice of Jesus when its convenient and fits my lifestyle, or am I truly challenged by his voice enough to change my direction in life?” Pray brothers and sisters, ask for the grace to let Jesus and him alone be your Lord, Guide, and Shepherd.