google-site-verification: google5be73a6b1ac452bc.html

Finding Happiness in Lent

Why on earth should I give up chocolate for Lent?  Why don't we eat meat on Fridays?  Why would God want me to give something up in order to follow Christ?

Those are reasonable questions and, if all we have are the external rules and traditions of our religion without any of the spirituality behind them, then some of our Lenten practices can easily seem old-fashioned, silly, or pointless.  When we look a little deeper, though, we find that our Lenten practices have a rich and profound connection to our own happiness and fulfillment.

The great spiritual master, St. Ignatius of Loyola, begins his spirituality with what he calls the "First Principle and Foundation".  It is essentially this--we were made to serve, love, and be with our God, so in life we seek to embrace things that help us to do that and get rid of things which get in the way.  This requires us to cultivate a certain indifference to the things of the world, so that we don't really care whether was are rich or poor, healthy or sick, popular or unpopular, whether we live a long life or a short life.  The one and only thing we care about is living a life that leads us towards God and, as St. Paul says, we learn to be content with whatever situation we are placed in and find God wherever we are.

This is, to a large extent, the project we all undertake during Lent.  We give up little things not necessarily because they are bad, but so that we train ourselves not to care so much about the extraneous parts of our life and care more about the purpose for which we were created.  We give up so that we learn to stop seeking happiness in things that will never give us true happiness--things like wealth, health, or popularity--and turn our attention towards that which will bring us lasting joy.  We open our hands, letting go of the things we cling to, so that they may be open to receive true blessing from God.

Don't be afraid to let go this Lent, to set aside things that often distract us, and focus on what really matters--serving, loving, and being with God no matter what your situation in life.

Person to Person

Where did your faith come from?  If you are similar to most people, the likely answer to that question is "from another person".  It is this idea, that faith is handed on from person to person, that its transmission is a living and personal reality is at the heart of our Catholic Church.  Ours is a Church that is founded on the reality that Jesus' message is meant to be passed on, shared, from person to person, to be taught and to be learned.  Some Christians, in their effort to rightfully emphasize the importance of Sacred Scripture, overlook this basic element of the teaching of Christ.  Jesus did not write a book, he founded a Church that would share his Gospel message with all and, in fact, in the earliest days of the Church that message was often oral and not written.

Why is that an important message today?  Well, today we celebrate the feast of St. Polycarp, a bishop and martyr from the first and second centuries.  St. Polycarp was a disciple of St. John the Apostle who was a disciple of Jesus himself.  Polycarp went on to teach and mentor St. Irenaeus, one of the most read and most influential theologians of the early Church, who helped shape much of what we recognize as the Catholic Church today.  St. Polycarp reminds us that our faith is passed on from person to person, that it is a living reality, not a dead one.  He also highlights that, as Catholics, we can trace an unbroken line of student-teacher relationships all the way back to Jesus himself.  Part of that reality has to do with the line of bishops beginning with the Apostles and continuing with our bishops today, something we call Apostolic Succession.  So give thanks today for the parents, grandparents, priests, sisters, and teachers who shared their faith with you and pray that you have the inspiration to share your faith with others.

 

Fr. Alex's ordination as a deacon in St. Peter's, Rome--passing down the faith through ordination

The Essence of Christianity

"Trust God and God will help you;
trust in him, and he will direct your way;
keep his fear and grow old therein."

Our Old Testament reading today comes from the Book of Sirach and in it the author is encouraging the Jewish people during a very difficult time in the history of their nation, encouraging them to patiently trust in God.

In his book Buddenbrooks, the German author Thomas Mann, while not religious himself, seeks to discover the essence of Christian faith.  He does so by recounting the journey of a Lutheran family through three generations during the long nineteenth century.  The story begins as the family is building up its fortune and credibility, a time of growth, excitement, and hard work.  During this stage we see that Christian faith is filled with excitement, vitality, and the hard but rewarding work of discovering and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ--faith can bring purpose and inspiration to our lives.  The second stage comes as the family is established but seeks to reflect on its own place, its own motives, its own relationships.  During these years we see that Christianity calls us to reflect on our own existence and come to a deeper self-knowledge--faith helps us realize our true self.  The third part of the novel recounts the decline of the family, following them as death, misfortune, and struggle overtake their lives.  Here we recognize that our God accompanies us through the trials and tribulations of life--faith gives us strength in difficult moments.

Our Faith may play a different role at different times of our lives, but we can never doubt that our Lord accompanies us through it all.  God is with us as we grow, as we come to a deeper knowledge of ourselves, and in our moments of trial.

 

Caesarea Philippi

In the spring of 2013 I was privileged to go on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with two priest friends.  We decided to take a ride up Highway 90 in Israel to the site of the ancient city of Caesarea Philippi, the site of the powerful interaction between Jesus and Peter in today's gospel.  As we drove to the Golan Heights region, dangerously close to the border with Syria, already in the midst of a destructive civil war, troop transports and military vehicles surrounded us on the highway.  One of the priests on the trip began to get nervous, asking to turn around, while the other was blissfully unaware as he took in the sights of Jesus' home country.

When we arrived at the site we found, on the other side of a mountain from Syria, families all around us hiking and enjoying picnic lunches.  The ruins of Caesarea Philippi now sit within the beautiful Hermon Stream Nature Reserve.  It was a fitting setting to reflect on St. Peter, the future Pope and leader of the fledgling Church first announcing his faith in Jesus as Christ, the Son of God and on, as we hear in Matthew's gospel, Jesus proclaiming him the rock upon which he would build his Church.  It was and is a reminder to me that even amidst the darkest and most challenging moments and places, faith can flourish and bring us peace and light.

Hermon Stream Nature Reserve (Caesarea Philippi)

Hermon Stream Nature Reserve (Caesarea Philippi)

Love is in the Details

Happy Valentine's Day!  Today isn't only the feast of St. Valentine, though, it is also the feast of two of the greatest missionaries in Church history, the brothers Cyril and Methodius.

Cyril and Methodius dedicated their entire lives to spreading the Gospel to the people of eastern Europe.  They went so far as to create an alphabet and writing system in the Slavonic, the mother of all Slavic languages; to translate the Bible into Slavonic; and to inspire generations of not only Faith, but literature, art, and culture for an entire section of the continent, all in the face of great opposition.

Their story teaches us something about Love, because these two saints truly loved the people to whom they ministered.  It teaches us that love is about the details, about noticing the little things and taking action.  It teaches us that love, true love, can inspire a flourishing and a flowering in the human person, compelling people to do great and beautiful things.  Finally, it teaches us that true love is sacrificial--it calls us to give everything that we have and everything we are for another.

Have a Happy Valentine's Day filled with love for God and love for others!

 

When the snow lay 'round about

I've always loved the Christmas carol Good King Wenceslas and the snow this morning made me think about the story it tells.  St. Wenceslas ventures out into the snow and cold to bring firewood and rations to a poor man, a great symbol of Christ venturing into the dark and cold world to bring us salvation and hope.  He asks his young squire to follow him, but instructs him to step in his footsteps so that the cold of the snow doesn't chill him, showing us that when Christ asks us to follow him in service to those in need, he asks us to follow him closely and enjoy his protection and grace.  We might not be in the Christmas season anymore, but the cold and the snow can evoke powerful images of our faith like the story of Good King Wenceslas...

 

 

The New Colossus

This week's Gospel made me think of the beautiful poem written by Emma Lazarus, part of which is inscribed on the Statue of Liberty.  It's a great reflection on what it means to be a "city set upon a mountain":

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

-Emma Lazarus, The New Colossus