tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82032033795105316962024-03-28T07:44:50.553-05:00Thoughts from Scott"It is true there is an ebb and flow, but the sea remains the sea.’ You are the sea. Although I experience many ups and downs in my emotions and often feel great shifts and changes in my inner life, you remain the same."
Vincent Van GoghScott Wheelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02670868795141065753noreply@blogger.comBlogger1411125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203203379510531696.post-67448323035677673842024-03-28T07:44:00.001-05:002024-03-28T07:44:09.595-05:00Thoughts on death<p> </p><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_6678946122301244919text m_6678946122301244919text--heading" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; table-layout: fixed; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td align="center" class="m_6678946122301244919text_content-cell m_6678946122301244919content-padding-horizontal" style="color: #606d78; display: block; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 10px 20px; text-align: center;" valign="top"><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #315376;">Making Our Deaths Fruitful</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_6678946122301244919text" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; table-layout: fixed; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td align="left" class="m_6678946122301244919text_content-cell m_6678946122301244919content-padding-horizontal" style="color: #4b4b4b; display: block; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 10px 20px;" valign="top"><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">What I appreciate as I read Scripture is that Jesus saw death, and his own death in particular, as more than a way of getting from one place to another. He saw his death as potentially fruitful in itself, and of enormous benefit to his disciples. Death was not an ending for him but a passage to something much greater.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">When Jesus was anticipating his own death he kept repeating the same theme to his disciples: “My death is good for you, because my death will bear many fruits beyond my death. When I die I will not leave you alone, but I will send you my Spirit, the Paraclete, the Counselor. And my Spirit will reveal to you who I am, what I am teaching you. My Spirit will lead you into the truth and will allow you to have a relationship with me that was not possible before my death. My Spirit will help you to form community and grow in strength.” Jesus sees that the real fruits of his life will mature after his death. That is why he adds, “It is good for you that I go.”</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">If that is true, then the real question for me as I consider my own death is not: how much can I still accomplish before I die, or will I be a burden to others? No, the real question is: how can I live so that my death will be fruitful for others? In other words, how can my death be a gift for my loved ones so that they can reap the fruits of my life after I have died? This question can be answered only if I am first willing to admit Jesus’ vision of death, as a valid possibility for me.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">Henri Nouwen</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;"><br /></span></p></td></tr></tbody></table>Scott Wheelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02670868795141065753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203203379510531696.post-82961181876928867352024-03-22T07:32:00.001-05:002024-03-22T07:32:07.999-05:00Thoughts on Palm Sunday<p> <span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">Palm Sunday begins Holy Week, that most solemn week of our Church’s year when we contemplate the passion and death of our Lord that leads to His glorious Resurrection. The idea of being on pilgrimage this week occurs to me. In the Middle Ages pilgrimages were common. You probably remember having to read some of Geoffrey Chaucer’s </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: italic;">Canterbury Tales, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">still unfinished at his death in 1400. The word that Chaucer uses for pilgrims is </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: italic;">palmers. “</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">And palmers . . ./ from every shires ende/ Of Engelond, to Caunterbury” they go. The word </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: italic;">palmer</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;"> was used because those pilgrims who ventured (3,000 miles!) all the way from England to Jerusalem, the greatest of pilgrimages, brought back a palm frond as their prized souvenir. On Palm Sunday you receive your blessed palms. So, this Holy Week be a “palmer,” be a pilgrim. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">During Holy Week it is important to try to be with Jesus. In</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">your prayer imagine those last few days, beginning with His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the crowds waving palms. Try to see in your imagination our Lord enduring the terrible pain and suffering, both mental and physical. He endures such suffering to save us from our sins and to assure that we, like the Good Thief, can be happy with Him forever in Paradise. This suffering leading to salvation is the Father’s will, and Jesus always follows His Father’s will perfectly. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">So, this week try to make a pilgrimage journeying with Jesus as He enters Jerusalem, as He makes plans for the Passover supper, as He gives the Apostles the Eucharist and instructs them the last time. Then walk with Him to Gethsemane and see His suffering begin. Stay with Him that longnight of His arrest. Call to mind the many agonizing events of Good Friday, perhaps praying the Stations of the Cross and the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary. Then wait at the tomb and mourn quietly with the Church on Holy Saturday. But do not allow your pilgrimage of Holy Week to sadden or discourage you. After all, we know the rest of the story! May your Holy Week pilgrimage make ever more clear God’s tremendous love for us, and</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">what He was willing to do to save us. As St. John Henry Newman wrote of God’s love in his </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: italic;">Meditations on Christian Doctrine, “</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">He [God] preferred </span><span style="font-size: 18px;">to regain me rather than to create new worlds.” </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: italic;"> (March 7, 1848)</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;"> </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;"> </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">Don Saunders, S.J. </span></p><div><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></div>Scott Wheelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02670868795141065753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203203379510531696.post-4510805060993996372024-03-20T08:01:00.002-05:002024-03-20T08:01:25.248-05:00Thoughts on blessings<p> </p><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_-3563483865494971947text m_-3563483865494971947text--heading" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; table-layout: fixed; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td align="center" class="m_-3563483865494971947text_content-cell m_-3563483865494971947content-padding-horizontal" style="color: #606d78; display: block; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 10px 20px; text-align: center;" valign="top"><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #315376;">Live Under the Blessing</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_-3563483865494971947text" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; table-layout: fixed; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td align="left" class="m_-3563483865494971947text_content-cell m_-3563483865494971947content-padding-horizontal" style="color: #4b4b4b; display: block; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 10px 20px;" valign="top"><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">Jesus suffered and died for our sake. He suffered and died, not in despair, not as the rejected one, but as the Beloved Child of God. From the moment he heard the voice that said, “You are my Beloved, on you my favor rests,” he lived his life and suffered his pain under the Blessing of the Father. He knew that even when everyone would run away from him, his Father would never leave him alone.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black;"></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">For us, the greatest temptation is to lose touch with the Blessing. We are Beloved Sons and Daughters of God. When we live our suffering under the Blessing, even the greatest pain, yes, even death, will lead us deeper into the forgiving and lifegiving heart of God. But when we think we are not loved, when we reflect on ourselves as living under a curse, when we say or think: “I am not good,” our suffering will lead us to despair and our death cannot give life.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">Henri Nouwen</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;"><br /></span></p></td></tr></tbody></table>Scott Wheelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02670868795141065753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203203379510531696.post-24813268632728921572024-03-19T05:33:00.003-05:002024-03-19T05:33:57.482-05:00Thoughts on forgiveness<p> </p><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_-4192870598347597825text m_-4192870598347597825text--heading" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; table-layout: fixed; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td align="center" class="m_-4192870598347597825text_content-cell m_-4192870598347597825content-padding-horizontal" style="color: #606d78; display: block; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 10px 20px; text-align: center;" valign="top"><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">God Forgives You</p></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_-4192870598347597825text" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; table-layout: fixed; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td align="left" class="m_-4192870598347597825text_content-cell m_-4192870598347597825content-padding-horizontal" style="color: #4b4b4b; display: block; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 10px 20px;" valign="top"><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">This morning I meditated on God’s eagerness to forgive me, revealed in these words: “As far as the East is from the West, so far does God remove my sin” (Psalms 103:12). In the midst of all my distractions, I was touched by God’s desire to forgive me again and again. If I return to God with a repentant heart after I have sinned, God is always there to embrace me and let me start afresh. “The Lord is full of compassion and love, slow to anger and rich in mercy.”</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">It is hard for me to forgive someone who has really offended me, especially when it happens more than once. I begin to doubt the sincerity of the one who asks forgiveness for a second, third, or fourth time. But God does not keep count. God just waits for our return, without resentment or desire for revenge. God wants us home. “The love of the Lord is everlasting.”</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">Henri Nouwen</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;"><br /></span></p></td></tr></tbody></table>Scott Wheelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02670868795141065753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203203379510531696.post-18087955492029677232024-03-17T07:04:00.003-05:002024-03-17T07:04:49.372-05:00Thoughts on solitude<p> </p><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_8798187505275466872text m_8798187505275466872text--heading" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; table-layout: fixed; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td align="center" class="m_8798187505275466872text_content-cell m_8798187505275466872content-padding-horizontal" style="color: #606d78; display: block; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 10px 20px; text-align: center;" valign="top"><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #315376;">Open Yourself to the Great Encounter</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_8798187505275466872text" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; table-layout: fixed; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td align="left" class="m_8798187505275466872text_content-cell m_8798187505275466872content-padding-horizontal" style="color: #4b4b4b; display: block; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 10px 20px;" valign="top"><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">I am not saying there is an easy solution to our ambivalent relationship with God. Solitude is not a solution. It is a direction. The direction is pointed to by the prophet Elijah, who did not find Yahweh in the mighty wind, the earthquake, the fire, but in the still, small voice; this direction, too, is indicated by Jesus, who chose solitude as the place to be with his Father. Every time we enter into solitude we withdraw from our windy, earthquaking, fiery lives and open ourselves to the great encounter. The first thing we often discover in solitude is our own restlessness, our drivenness, and compulsiveness, our urge to act quickly, to make an impact, and to have influence; and often we find it very hard to withstand the temptation to return as quickly as possible to the world of “relevance.” But when we persevere with the help of a gentle discipline, we slowly come to hear the still, small voice and to feel the gentle breeze, and so come to know the Lord of our heart, soul, and mind, the Lord who makes us see who we really are.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">Henri Nouwen</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;"><br /></span></p></td></tr></tbody></table>Scott Wheelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02670868795141065753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203203379510531696.post-33989136443918188702024-03-15T07:04:00.006-05:002024-03-15T07:04:45.420-05:00Thoughts on Passion Week<p> <span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px; text-align: center;">Jn. 12: 20 – 33</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; text-align: center;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;">5</span><sup style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;"> Sunday of Lent (B)</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px; text-align: center;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px; text-align: center;"><br /></span></p><p align="center" style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">Unless the grain of wheat die</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">17 March 2024 </span></p><p align="center" style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;"> </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">Only two weeks of Lent remain: this week, traditionally called Passion Week, and next week, Holy Week. Since Lent is meant to prepare us for Easter, we should consider</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">finishing Lent well these last two weeks. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">Today’s Gospel can teach us how to finish Lent well. The Gospel reminds us of what might be</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">called the "essence of Lent" in two of the best-known teachings of</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">Jesus: </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">“. . . unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">produces much fruit.” (Jn. 12: 24)</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;">·</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;"> </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">“Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">this world will preserve it for</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">eternal life.” (Jn. 12: 25) </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">These two verses expound a paradox</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">at the very</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">center</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">of our Faith, a paradox that comprises the essence of Lent. Our English word </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: italic;">paradox </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">comes from the Greek </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: italic;">paradoxos</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">, meaning</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">“unbelievable.” It is a seemingly contradictory or even absurd statement that is somehow true. The well-known Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi also reminds us of common paradoxes of our Faith: in giving we receive; in pardoning we are pardoned; in dying we are born to eternal life. Our Lord’s paradox of the grain of wheat is the essence of Lent because it speaks of sacrifice and death. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;"></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">In the thinking of the World, sacrifice is unpopular. Much more frequently we are told not to “give up,” but to “fulfill, enrich, develop,” “get more, enjoy more.” And "enjoy </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: italic;">now</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">; don't wait." </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">Personal sacrifice always means dying to self. We act</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">against our natural human desires, which have been warped by Original Sin and driven by concupiscence. We know we must strive to act "</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: italic;">agere contra,</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">" to act against our lower, more natural</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">desires. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">So, sacrifice is a type of death: a death to our desires and selfishness; a death to our cupidity, sensuality, and sloth; a death to what, on the surface, might seem to be our worldly fulfillment. In this death of self-sacrifice, we live the paradox: the grain dies, but produces much fruit; our life of grasping greed, seeking pleasure, and realizing self-fulfillment, is sacrificed; our eternal life in heaven is preserved. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">We are entering the home stretch of Lent, and we will finish Lent well by striving to live the</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">paradox: </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;">·</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;"> dying to self through some sacrifice </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;">·</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;"> giving up something – perhaps some time we spend on pleasure, and use that time for prayer </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;">·</span><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;"> serving someone else’s need (almsgiving, acts of charity,</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">kindness, cheerfulness) </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;"></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">We live the paradox the more we imitate Christ and follow Him closely. During these last two weeks of Lent, Passion Week and Holy Week, we strive to follow the Lord in suffering. Then, we can truly celebrate Easter more joyfully, knowing that one day we will follow Him in glory. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;">-Fr. Don Saunders, SJ</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></p>Scott Wheelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02670868795141065753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203203379510531696.post-52822123845366377072024-03-11T07:35:00.003-05:002024-03-11T07:35:54.615-05:00Thoughts on patience<p> </p><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_955269106075684373text m_955269106075684373text--heading" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; table-layout: fixed; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td align="center" class="m_955269106075684373text_content-cell m_955269106075684373content-padding-horizontal" style="color: #606d78; display: block; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 10px 20px; text-align: center;" valign="top"><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #315376;">Patience</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_955269106075684373text" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; table-layout: fixed; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td align="left" class="m_955269106075684373text_content-cell m_955269106075684373content-padding-horizontal" style="color: #4b4b4b; display: block; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 10px 20px;" valign="top"><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">The mother of expectation is patience. The French author Simone Weil writes in her notebooks: “Waiting patiently in expectation is the foundation of the spiritual life.” Without patience our expectation degenerates into wishful thinking. Patience comes from the word </span><span style="color: #4d4d4d; font-style: italic;">patior</span><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">, which means “to suffer.” The first thing that Jesus promises is suffering: “I tell you . . . you will be weeping and wailing . . . and you will be sorrowful.” But he calls these birth pains. And so, what seems a hindrance becomes a way; what seems an obstacle becomes a door; what seems a misfit becomes a cornerstone. Jesus changes our history from a random series of sad incidents and accidents into a constant opportunity for a change of heart. To wait patiently, therefore, means to allow our weeping and wailing to become the purifying preparation by which we are made ready to receive the joy that is promised to us.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">Henri Nouwen</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;"><br /></span></p></td></tr></tbody></table>Scott Wheelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02670868795141065753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203203379510531696.post-38868451023494937132024-03-08T08:00:00.003-06:002024-03-08T08:00:28.840-06:00Thoughts on Laetare Sunday<p> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; text-align: center;">4th Sunday of Lent (B) John 3: 14 - 21 </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;">On the fourth Sunday of Lent, the usual austerity of the season is being interrupted:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;">This Sunday is called Laetare Sunday (Rejoice Sunday): rose vestments (a lightening of the penitential purple) may be worn; altar flowers are permitted; joyous music is appropriate.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;">Soon, there will be other interruptions of Lent:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;">· St. Patrick’s Day (next Sunday): a great feast and celebration for many</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;">· St. Joseph’s Day (March 19): a solemnity with Gloria and Creed; another great feast for many</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;">These days when the Church celebrates even in the midst of the penitential season of Lent might remind us of those frequent ups and downs of our lives; particularly the ups and downs, the victories and defeats of our Lenten devotion.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;">Today particularly, Laetare Sunday, is meant to be a time of joy amidst the “sorrows” of Lent (the austerity, penance, mortification). The name itself, </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px; font-style: italic;">laetare</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;"> means “rejoice.” But why should we rejoice?</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;">· We are already more than halfway through Lent, and there are already many signs of spring.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;">· We are only three weeks from Easter, the feast of our greatest joy and greatest hope.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;">· We rejoice because we are reminded to keep a proper perspective.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;">During Lent we spend time thinking about – praying about – our sinfulness, how we have turned from God.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;">We are very much focused on the “negative” as we strive to repent.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;">But Laetare Sunday and today’s Gospel remind us that not all is heavy, somber, and weighted down with sin and suffering in this Vale of Tears.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;">Today's Gospel is the very essence of the Good News of our salvation: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son . . .” Remembering the essence of the Gospel is gaining proper perspective, which is of the greatest importance. Our lives, something like the season of Lent, can sometimes seem dark, heavy, somber, weighted down with great pain and terrible suffering. There is no life so charmed that these experiences are unknown.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;">But, our lives, like Lent, also have those times of Laetare Sunday, and great feasts of St. Patrick’s Day and St. Joseph’s Day. Not all is suffering; not all is rejoicing. Proper perspective and the truth teach us there are times for both.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;">Remembering the truth of the Gospel, the truth of our Holy Catholic Faith, we keep the proper perspective:</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;">Even in suffering, Our Lord is with us and knows exactly what we do suffer. And even in suffering we believe there will be a glorious end – like the glorious end of the Passion that burst forth into the world on Easter.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;">Think of that most basic question, “Why should I believe?” We should believe “Because God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal life.” (Jn 3:16)</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;">So, even as Lent continues for three more weeks, on Laetare Sunday, and on St. Patrick’s Day and St. Joseph’s Day, remember that there is always reason to rejoice! There is always reason to give thanks to God. And having that attitude is what it means to keep the proper perspective of the True Faith.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;">Don Saunders, S.J. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></p>Scott Wheelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02670868795141065753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203203379510531696.post-56870047427997762862024-03-07T07:23:00.003-06:002024-03-07T07:23:35.435-06:00Thoughts on passion<p> </p><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_526894627028044424text m_526894627028044424text--heading" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; table-layout: fixed; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td align="center" class="m_526894627028044424text_content-cell m_526894627028044424content-padding-horizontal" style="color: #606d78; display: block; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 10px 20px; text-align: center;" valign="top"><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #315376;">From Action to Surrender</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_526894627028044424text" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; table-layout: fixed; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td align="left" class="m_526894627028044424text_content-cell m_526894627028044424content-padding-horizontal" style="color: #4b4b4b; display: block; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 10px 20px;" valign="top"><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">It is important for me to realize that Jesus fulfills his mission not by what he does, but by what is done to him. Just as with everyone else, most of my life is determined by what is done to me and thus is passion. And because most of my life is passion, things being done to me, only small parts of my life are determined by what I think, say, or do. I am inclined to protest against this and to want all to be action originated by me. But the truth is that my passion is a much greater part of my life than my action. Not to recognize this is self-deception and not to embrace my passion with love is self-rejection.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">It is good news to know that Jesus is handed over to passion, and through his passion accomplishes his divine task on earth. It is good news for a world passionately searching for wholeness.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">Jesus’ words to Peter remind me that Jesus’ transition from action to passion must also be ours if we want to follow his way. He says, “When you were young you put on your own belt and walked where you liked; but when you grow old you will stretch out your hands, and somebody else will put a belt round you and take you where you would rather not go” (John 21:18).</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">Henri Nouwen</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;"><br /></span></p></td></tr></tbody></table>Scott Wheelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02670868795141065753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203203379510531696.post-7943587163327793992024-03-05T06:58:00.004-06:002024-03-05T06:58:32.973-06:00Thoughts on pruning<p> </p><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_1042987106226571031text m_1042987106226571031text--heading" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; table-layout: fixed; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td align="center" class="m_1042987106226571031text_content-cell m_1042987106226571031content-padding-horizontal" style="color: #606d78; display: block; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 10px 20px; text-align: center;" valign="top"><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #315376;">Pruning</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_1042987106226571031text" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; table-layout: fixed; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td align="left" class="m_1042987106226571031text_content-cell m_1042987106226571031content-padding-horizontal" style="color: #4b4b4b; display: block; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 10px 20px;" valign="top"><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">Jesus said, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-dresser. Every branch in me that bears no fruit he cuts away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, to make it bear even more” (John 15:1–2).</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;"></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">These words open a new perspective on suffering for me. Pruning helps trees to bear more fruit. Even when I bear fruit, even when I do things for God’s kingdom, even when people express gratitude for coming to know Jesus through me, I need a lot more pruning. Many unnecessary branches and twigs prevent the vine from bearing all the fruit it can. They have to be clipped off. This is a painful process, all the more so because I do not know that they are unnecessary. They often seem beautiful, charming, and very alive. But they need to be cut away so that more fruit can grow.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">It helps me to think about painful rejections, moments of loneliness, feelings of inner darkness and despair, and lack of support and human affection as God’s pruning. I am aware that I might have settled too soon for the few fruits that I can recognize in my life. I might say, “Well, I am doing some good here and there, and I should be grateful for and content with the little good I do.” But that might be false modesty and even a form of spiritual laziness. God calls me to more. God wants to prune me. A pruned vine does not look beautiful, but during harvest time it produces much fruit. The great challenge is to continue to recognize God’s pruning hand in my life. Then I can avoid resentment and depression and become even more grateful that I am called upon to bear even more fruit than I thought I could. Suffering then becomes a way of purification and allows me to rejoice in its fruits with deep gratitude and without pride.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">Henri Nouwen</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;"><br /></span></p></td></tr></tbody></table>Scott Wheelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02670868795141065753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203203379510531696.post-48581382877051199552024-03-03T07:29:00.003-06:002024-03-03T07:29:32.430-06:00Thoughts on Easter<p> <span style="background-color: white; color: #1c4e6c; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; text-align: center;">The Spring of Living Water</span></p><p align="center" style="background-color: white; color: #4b4b4b; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #4b4b4b; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">In the midst of Lent I am made aware that Easter is coming again: the days are becoming longer, the snow is withdrawing, the sun is bringing new warmth, and a bird is singing. Yesterday, during the night prayers, a cat was crying! Indeed, spring announces itself. And today, O Lord, I heard you speak to the Samaritan woman. You said, “Anyone who drinks from the water that I shall give will never be thirsty again; the water that I shall give will turn into a spring inside him, welling up to eternal life.” What words! They are worth many hours, days, and weeks of reflection. I will carry them with me in my preparation for Easter. The water that you give turns into a spring. Therefore, I do not have to be stingy with your gift, O Lord. I can freely let the water come from my center and let anyone who desires drink from it. Perhaps I will even see this spring in myself when others come to it to quench their thirst.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #4b4b4b; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #4b4b4b; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Henri Nouwen</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #4b4b4b; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #4b4b4b; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></p>Scott Wheelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02670868795141065753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203203379510531696.post-47582097566639490992024-03-02T07:10:00.003-06:002024-03-02T07:10:52.305-06:00Thoughts on obedience<p> </p><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_-9186901700563023242text m_-9186901700563023242text--heading" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; table-layout: fixed; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td align="center" class="m_-9186901700563023242text_content-cell m_-9186901700563023242content-padding-horizontal" style="color: #606d78; display: block; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 10px 20px; text-align: center;" valign="top"><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #315376;">Listen to God</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_-9186901700563023242text" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; table-layout: fixed; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td align="left" class="m_-9186901700563023242text_content-cell m_-9186901700563023242content-padding-horizontal" style="color: #4b4b4b; display: block; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 10px 20px;" valign="top"><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">Everything we know about Jesus indicates that he was concerned with only one thing: to do the will of his Father. Nothing in the Gospels is as impressive as Jesus’ single-minded obedience to his Father. From his first recorded words in the Temple, “Did you not know that I must be busy with my Father’s affairs?” (Luke 2:49), to his last words on the cross, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46), Jesus’ only concern was to do the will of his Father. He says, “The Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees the Father doing” (John 5:19). . . .</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">Jesus is the obedient one. The center of his life is this obedient relationship with the Father. This may be hard for us to understand because the word obedience has so many negative connotations in our society. It makes us think of authority figures who impose their wills against our desires. It makes us remember unhappy childhood events or hard tasks performed under threats of punishment. But none of this applies to Jesus’ obedience. His obedience means a total, fearless listening to his loving Father. Between the Father and the Son there is only love.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">Henri Nouwen</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;"><br /></span></p></td></tr></tbody></table>Scott Wheelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02670868795141065753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203203379510531696.post-74244178830737609602024-03-01T07:08:00.003-06:002024-03-01T07:08:31.447-06:00Thoughts on the examination of conscience<p> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; text-align: center;">3rd Sunday of Lent </span></p><p align="center" style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;">Today’s Gospel, the Cleansing of the Temple, is a good Lenten reminder of what we all need to do. Jesus tells the Jews, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” St. John comments, “But He was speaking about the temple of His body.” Similarly, St. Paul has taught us that we are “temples of the Holy Spirit.” (1 Cor. 3: 16) We need to consider what cleansing we need to do in the weeks of Lent remaining. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;">Lent is meant to be a type of “spiritual spring cleaning,” and spring begins in slightly more than two weeks. To “cleanse our temples” we need to begin with a thorough examination of conscience and a good Confession, which is still part of our Easter Duty, if we find that we are conscious of serious sin. Often we confess the same sins; perhaps this is necessary. However, perhaps there are many sins of which we are unaware. How might we discover those sins? </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;">The Internet is both a blessing and a curse. But there are many very good Catholic examinations of conscience guides available on the Internet. Recently I Googled "Catholic examination of conscience" and received 4,640,000 results in 0.60 seconds! The first on the list was from the US Bishops’ Conference; the second from EWTN. Both good. I was very impressed by the third listed; it was excellent, orthodox, and thorough, from a website called </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px; text-decoration-line: underline;">www.beginning</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;"> <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://catholic.com&source=gmail&ust=1709384233315000&usg=AOvVaw3M1VfZuZseONltkEjqoAtk" href="http://catholic.com/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">catholic.com</a>. Quite a number of questions followed each of the Ten Commandments. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;">One of the traditional ways of examining our conscience to prepare for Confession is to consider the Commandments (as we hear in the First Reading of this Sunday, Exodus 20): </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;">1. I am the Lord your God; you shall not have strange gods before Me. (prayer; performance of religious duties; idols of pleasure and materialism?) </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;">2. You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain. (including promises and resolutions made to God, and blaming God for my failures) </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;">3. Remember to keep holy the Lord’s Day. (Other than Mass, how do I keep Sunday “holy”?) </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;">4. Honor your father and your mother. (This concerns parents’ duty to children as well as children’s duty to parents) </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;">5. You shall not kill. (which includes hatred, anger, jealousy, being an occasion of sin for others) </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;">6. and 9. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. (all sins of impurity) </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;">7. and 10. You shall not steal. You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods. (any envy, dishonesty, deception, fraud) </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;">8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. (lies, gossip, slander, detraction) </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;">Another way of examining our conscience is to consider the Seven Deadly (or Capital) Sins, the basic roots of all sin: Wrath (anger); Avarice (greed); Sloth (laziness); Pride; Lust; Envy; Gluttony (anything in excess that can cause harm) </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;">This Lent may Our Lord give us the graces necessary to continue, or to begin, the "spiritual spring cleaning" of our temple, our immortal soul. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Lucida Grande", Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;">May He give us the graces necessary to make a good Confession. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px;">Don Saunders, S.J. </span></p>Scott Wheelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02670868795141065753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203203379510531696.post-67635002982507762342024-02-24T06:50:00.002-06:002024-02-24T06:50:24.001-06:00Thoughts on children<p> </p><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_-5927351950483853128text m_-5927351950483853128text--heading" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; table-layout: fixed; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td align="center" class="m_-5927351950483853128text_content-cell m_-5927351950483853128content-padding-horizontal" style="color: #606d78; display: block; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 10px 20px; text-align: center;" valign="top"><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #315376;">Children are our Guests</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_-5927351950483853128text" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; table-layout: fixed; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td align="left" class="m_-5927351950483853128text_content-cell m_-5927351950483853128content-padding-horizontal" style="color: #4b4b4b; display: block; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 10px 20px;" valign="top"><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">It belongs to the center of the Christian message that children are not properties to own and rule over, but gifts to cherish and care for. Our children are our most important guests, who enter into our home, ask for careful attention, stay for a while, and then leave to follow their own way. Children are strangers whom we have to get to know.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">Henri Nouwen</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;"><br /></span></p></td></tr></tbody></table>Scott Wheelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02670868795141065753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203203379510531696.post-6684333055754131952024-02-23T07:42:00.003-06:002024-02-23T07:42:47.517-06:00Thoughts on Lent<p> <span style="color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">A very good way to look at Lent is to see it as a time of </span><span style="color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: italic;">promise</span><span style="color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">—the promise of the fulfillment of God’s love for us. In Lent we do acknowledge our human weakness, but we do that in the light of God’s complete love for us. And we journey through this time with Jesus, who has fully assumed our humanity with all its sufferings and trials.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"> Our Gospel this Sunday allows us to witness the mysterious transfiguration of Jesus: a revelation of his glory and divinity shining through his humanity. Though it might appear that Jesus is exempt from the path of suffering and the powerlessness of our human state, what he tells his companions on the way down the mountain is that this glory can only come through his journey through suffering and death—and the full story will not be complete until he is raised from the dead—and we learn who he truly is.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">In our second Reading from St. Paul’s </span><span style="font-size: 18px; font-style: italic;">Letter to the Romans </span><span style="font-size: 18px;">(perhaps the most beautiful and hope-filled promise in Scripture) Paul says that there is </span><span style="font-size: 18px; font-style: italic;">nothing </span><span style="font-size: 18px;">that can ever separate us from the love of God—</span><span style="font-size: 18px; font-style: italic;">nothing</span><span style="font-size: 18px;">!</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-style: italic;"> </span><span style="font-size: 18px;">No matter the circumstances of our lives, the powers of division and hatred that seem to threaten us now, he proclaims the overwhelming confidence that all trials we endure are encompassed within the faithful love of God and are part of the eventual realization of God’s divine purpose for us and all of creation. Yes, Lent is a time of </span><span style="font-size: 18px; font-style: italic;">promise</span><span style="font-size: 18px;"> and </span><span style="font-size: 18px; font-style: italic;">unconditional love.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 18px; font-style: italic;"></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 19px;">Fr. Len Kraus, S.J.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 19px;"><br /></span></p>Scott Wheelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02670868795141065753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203203379510531696.post-85187918928240093912024-02-18T07:33:00.003-06:002024-02-18T07:33:24.146-06:00Thoughts on Hospitality<p> </p><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_8677717655434094959text m_8677717655434094959text--heading" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; table-layout: fixed; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td align="center" class="m_8677717655434094959text_content-cell m_8677717655434094959content-padding-horizontal" style="color: #606d78; display: block; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 10px 20px; text-align: center;" valign="top"><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #315376;">Hospitality</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_8677717655434094959text" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; table-layout: fixed; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td align="left" class="m_8677717655434094959text_content-cell m_8677717655434094959content-padding-horizontal" style="color: #4b4b4b; display: block; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 10px 20px;" valign="top"><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">Hospitality means primarily the creation of a free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy. Hospitality is not to change people but to offer them space where change can take place. It is not to bring men and women over to our side, but to offer freedom not disturbed by dividing lines. . . . The paradox of hospitality is that it wants to create emptiness, not a fearful emptiness, but a friendly emptiness where strangers can enter and discover themselves as created free; free to sing their own songs, speak their own languages, dance their own dances; free also to leave and follow their own vocations. Hospitality is not a subtle invitation to adore the lifestyle of the host, but the gift of a chance for the guest to find his own.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">Henri Nouwen</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;"><br /></span></p></td></tr></tbody></table>Scott Wheelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02670868795141065753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203203379510531696.post-48168003890828341872024-02-16T06:01:00.003-06:002024-02-16T06:01:53.275-06:00Thoughts on fear<p> </p><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_9019810309378167325text m_9019810309378167325text--heading" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; table-layout: fixed; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td align="center" class="m_9019810309378167325text_content-cell m_9019810309378167325content-padding-horizontal" style="color: #606d78; display: block; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 10px 20px; text-align: center;" valign="top"><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #315376;">The True Voice of Love</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_9019810309378167325text" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; table-layout: fixed; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td align="left" class="m_9019810309378167325text_content-cell m_9019810309378167325content-padding-horizontal" style="color: #4b4b4b; display: block; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 10px 20px;" valign="top"><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">Fear is the great enemy of intimacy. Fear makes us run away from each other or cling to each other, but does not create true intimacy. When Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, the disciples were overcome by fear and they all “deserted him and ran away” (Matthew 26:56). . . . Fear makes us move away from each other to a “safe” distance, or move toward each other to a “safe” closeness, but fear does not create the space where true intimacy can exist. . . .</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: black;"></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">To those who are tortured by inner or outer fear, and who desperately look for the house of love where they can find the intimacy their hearts desire, Jesus says: “You have a home . . . I am your home . . . claim me as your home . . . you will find it to be the intimate place where I have found my home . . . it is right where you are . . . in your innermost being . . . in your heart.” The more attentive we are to such words the more we realize that we do not have to go far to find what we are searching for. The tragedy is that we are so possessed by fear that we do not trust our innermost self as an intimate place but anxiously wander around hoping to find it where we are not. We try to find that intimate place in knowledge, competence, notoriety, success, friends, sensations, pleasure, dreams, or artificially induced states of consciousness. Thus we become strangers to ourselves, people who have an address but are never home and hence cannot be addressed by the true voice of love.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">Henri Nouwen</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;"><br /></span></p></td></tr></tbody></table>Scott Wheelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02670868795141065753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203203379510531696.post-76564390988776661282024-02-14T05:53:00.008-06:002024-02-14T05:58:34.746-06:00Thoughts on Ash Wednesday<p> </p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" role="presentation" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: roboto, "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td style="margin: 0px; padding: 10px 30px 30px; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #bd9c67; font-size: 18px;">Matthew 6:1–6, 16–18</span></td></tr><tr><td align="left" style="margin: 0px; padding: 10px 30px 30px;"><p style="color: #333333; font-size: 20px; line-height: 30px; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: -webkit-left;">Friends, in today’s Gospel, the Lord prescribes prayer, fasting, and almsgiving as our Lenten disciplines.</span><br style="text-align: -webkit-left;" /><br style="text-align: -webkit-left;" /><span style="text-align: -webkit-left;">The Church traditionally says there are three things we ought to do during Lent, and I put stress on the word </span><em style="text-align: -webkit-left;">do</em><span style="text-align: -webkit-left;">. In recent years, we’ve emphasized the interior dimensions a little too much—that Lent is primarily about attitudes, about ideas and intentions. In the traditional practice of the Church, Lent is about doing things, things that involve the body as much as the mind, that involve the exterior of your life as much as the interior.</span><br style="text-align: -webkit-left;" /><br style="text-align: -webkit-left;" /><span style="text-align: -webkit-left;">The three great practices of Lent—prayer, fasting, and almsgiving—are three things you do. This is going to sound a little bit strange, but my recommendation for this Lent is, in a certain way, to forget about your spiritual life—by which I mean forget about looking inside at how you’re progressing spiritually. Follow the Church’s recommendations and do three things: pray, fast, and give alms. And as you do, pray to draw closer to the Lord as the center of your life—and the reason you do everything.</span></p><p style="color: #333333; font-size: 20px; line-height: 30px; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="color: #333333; font-size: 20px; line-height: 30px; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;">Bishop Robert Barron</p><p style="color: #333333; font-size: 20px; line-height: 30px; margin: 0px;"><br /></p></td></tr></tbody></table>Scott Wheelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02670868795141065753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203203379510531696.post-57222958408416650672024-02-13T08:31:00.003-06:002024-02-13T08:31:48.574-06:00Thoughts on unconditional love<p> </p><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_3215575942466849477text m_3215575942466849477text--heading" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; table-layout: fixed; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td align="center" class="m_3215575942466849477text_content-cell m_3215575942466849477content-padding-horizontal" style="color: #606d78; display: block; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 10px 20px; text-align: center;" valign="top"><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #315376;">Make God’s Unconditional Love Visible</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_3215575942466849477text" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; table-layout: fixed; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td align="left" class="m_3215575942466849477text_content-cell m_3215575942466849477content-padding-horizontal" style="color: #4b4b4b; display: block; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 10px 20px;" valign="top"><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">Whenever, contrary to the world’s vindictiveness, we love our enemy, we exhibit something of the perfect love of God, whose will is to bring all human beings together as children of one Father. Whenever we forgive instead of getting angry at one another, bless instead of cursing one another, tend one another’s wounds instead of rubbing salt into them, hearten instead of discouraging one another, give hope instead of driving one another to despair, hug instead of harassing one another, welcome instead of cold-shouldering one another, thank instead of criticizing one another, praise instead of maligning one another . . . in short, whenever we opt for and not against one another, we make God’s unconditional love visible; we are diminishing violence and giving birth to a new community.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">Henri Nouwen</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;"><br /></span></p></td></tr></tbody></table>Scott Wheelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02670868795141065753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203203379510531696.post-27245237078380928552024-02-10T07:16:00.003-06:002024-02-10T07:16:19.814-06:00More thoughts on solitude<p> </p><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_4582986133327209380text m_4582986133327209380text--heading" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; table-layout: fixed; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td align="center" class="m_4582986133327209380text_content-cell m_4582986133327209380content-padding-horizontal" style="color: #606d78; display: block; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 10px 20px; text-align: center;" valign="top"><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #315376;">Solitude Makes Real Fellowship Possible</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_4582986133327209380text" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; table-layout: fixed; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td align="left" class="m_4582986133327209380text_content-cell m_4582986133327209380content-padding-horizontal" style="color: #4b4b4b; display: block; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 10px 20px;" valign="top"><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">By slowly converting our loneliness into a deep solitude, we create that precious space where we can discover the voice telling us about our inner necessity—that is, our vocation. Unless our questions, problems, and concerns are tested and matured in solitude, it is not realistic to expect answers that are really our own.... This is a very difficult task, because in our world we are constantly pulled away from our innermost self and encouraged to look for answers instead of listening to the questions. A lonely person has no inner time or inner rest to wait and listen. He wants answers and wants them here and now. But in solitude we can pay attention to the inner self. This has nothing to do with egocentrism or unhealthy introspection because in the words of [Rainer Maria] Rilke, “what is going on in your innermost being is worthy of your whole love.” In solitude we can become present to ourselves.... There we also can become present to others by reaching out to them, not greedy for attention and affection but offering our own selves to help build a community of love. Solitude does not pull us away from our fellow human beings but instead makes real fellowship possible.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">Henri Nouwen</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;"><br /></span></p></td></tr></tbody></table>Scott Wheelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02670868795141065753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203203379510531696.post-33298219439320051302024-02-09T06:17:00.003-06:002024-02-09T06:17:33.073-06:00Thoughts on compassion<p> <span style="color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">When I was a child of perhaps eight or nine, I remember seeing an ad (I think it was on the back of a comic book) that began with this statement: </span><span style="color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: italic;">“The heartbreak of psoriasis!”</span><span style="color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"> I didn’t know what psoriasis was, but I knew that it must be a bad disease! Our Gospel this Sunday shows Jesus as he gives us the picture of God dealing with someone who had such a heartbreaking disease: leprosy. It wasn’t what we know of now as Hansen’s disease, it was any skin problem that was obvious to anyone who looked at the person. This person who was afflicted was forced to live outside of the community, with no contact with society. What Jesus does as he reaches out and touches the wound of this “leper” is to show the deep </span><span style="color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;">compassion of God</span><span style="color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">, especially toward those who are wounded and rejected. Perhaps more important than Jesus’ act of healing the afflicted man is the good news, seen in Jesus, that, whatever our wounds might be—hidden or evident—Jesus has the same compassion for us, the same desire to heal us. This healing can send up out to do what Jesus does: touch others with compassion and care, especially those who need it most.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">-Fr. Len Kraus, SJ</span></p>Scott Wheelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02670868795141065753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203203379510531696.post-47866623127404932252024-02-08T06:20:00.004-06:002024-02-08T06:20:48.373-06:00Thoughts on solitude<p> </p><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_6393437962668914828text m_6393437962668914828text--heading" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; table-layout: fixed; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td align="center" class="m_6393437962668914828text_content-cell m_6393437962668914828content-padding-horizontal" style="color: #606d78; display: block; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 10px 20px; text-align: center;" valign="top"><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #315376;">From Loneliness to Solitude</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_6393437962668914828text" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; table-layout: fixed; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td align="left" class="m_6393437962668914828text_content-cell m_6393437962668914828content-padding-horizontal" style="color: #4b4b4b; display: block; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 10px 20px;" valign="top"><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">To live a spiritual life we must first find the courage to enter into the desert of our loneliness and to change it by gentle and persistent efforts into a garden of solitude. This requires not only courage but also a strong faith. As hard as it is to believe that the dry desolate desert can yield endless varieties of flowers, it is equally hard to imagine that our loneliness is hiding unknown beauty. The movement from loneliness to solitude, however, is the beginning of any spiritual life because it is a movement from the restless senses to the restful spirit, from the outward-reaching cravings to the inward-reaching search, from the fearful clinging to the fearless play.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">Henri Nouwen</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;"><br /></span></p></td></tr></tbody></table>Scott Wheelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02670868795141065753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203203379510531696.post-46612409836359852532024-02-06T07:28:00.004-06:002024-02-06T07:28:59.777-06:00Thoughts on loneliness<p> </p><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_8576774730972142478text m_8576774730972142478text--heading" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; table-layout: fixed; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td align="center" class="m_8576774730972142478text_content-cell m_8576774730972142478content-padding-horizontal" style="color: #606d78; display: block; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 10px 20px; text-align: center;" valign="top"><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #315376;">Loneliness</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="m_8576774730972142478text" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; table-layout: fixed; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td align="left" class="m_8576774730972142478text_content-cell m_8576774730972142478content-padding-horizontal" style="color: #4b4b4b; display: block; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 10px 20px;" valign="top"><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">It is the most basic human loneliness that threatens us and is so hard to face. Too often we will do everything possible to avoid the confrontation with the experience of being alone, and sometimes we are able to create the most ingenious devices to prevent ourselves from being reminded of this condition. Our culture has become most sophisticated in the avoidance of pain, not only our physical pain but our emotional and mental pain as well. We not only bury our dead as if they were still alive, but we also bury our pains as if they were not really there. We have become so used to this state of anesthesia that we panic when there is nothing or nobody left to distract us. When we have no project to finish, no friend to visit, no book to read, no television to watch, or no record to play, and when we are left all alone by ourselves, we are brought so close to the revelation of our basic human aloneness and are so afraid of experiencing an all-pervasive sense of loneliness that we will do anything to get busy again and continue the game that makes us believe that everything is fine after all.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;">Henri Nouwen</span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #4d4d4d;"><br /></span></p></td></tr></tbody></table>Scott Wheelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02670868795141065753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203203379510531696.post-22012344846509236832024-02-02T07:38:00.002-06:002024-02-02T07:38:13.401-06:00Thoughts on Punxsutawney Phil<p> <span style="background-color: #fafafa; font-family: "Source Serif Pro", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16.5px; letter-spacing: -0.165px;">Punxsutawney Phil didn’t see his shadow Friday, predicting an early spring from Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania, the scene of the country’s largest and best known Groundhog Day celebration.</span></p><p style="background-color: #fafafa; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Source Serif Pro", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 16.5px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.165px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Just after sunrise, the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club announced Phil’s prediction. Had the groundhog seen his shadow, it would have presaged six more weeks of winter.</p><p style="background-color: #fafafa; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Source Serif Pro", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 16.5px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.165px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">This marks the first time Phil predicted an early spring since 2020.</p><p style="background-color: #fafafa; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Source Serif Pro", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 16.5px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.165px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The annual event has its origin in a German legend about a furry rodent. Records dating to the late 1800s show Phil has predicted longer winters more than 100 times.</p><p style="background-color: #fafafa; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Source Serif Pro", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 16.5px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.165px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">This marks the 138th year of the festivities in Punxsutawney, which date back to 1887. Ten years were lost because no records were kept, organizers said.</p><p style="background-color: #fafafa; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Source Serif Pro", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 16.5px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.165px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration compared Punxsutawney Phil’s forecast to the national weather over the last decade and found “on average, Phil has gotten it right 40% of the time.”</p><p style="background-color: #fafafa; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Source Serif Pro", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 16.5px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.165px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Morning Call</p><p style="background-color: #fafafa; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Source Serif Pro", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 16.5px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.165px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">www.mcall.com</p><p style="background-color: #fafafa; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Source Serif Pro", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 16.5px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.165px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: #fafafa; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Source Serif Pro", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 16.5px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; letter-spacing: -0.165px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.165px;">The Morning Call, founded in 1883, is the leading media company in the Lehigh Valley and the third largest newspaper in Pennsylvania.</span></p>Scott Wheelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02670868795141065753noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8203203379510531696.post-31293425246143393432024-02-02T07:25:00.003-06:002024-02-02T07:25:46.902-06:00Thoughts on suffering<p> <span style="color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">Our first reading this Sunday comes from the </span><span style="color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: italic;">Book of </span><span style="color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">Job. Job is overcome by his suffering and sees no hope in life. Job’s friends see that he has led a very good and upright life. Shouldn’t this have given him a claim on God so that all the suffering and loss would not have come to him? (In the end, Job is healed and restored, and he exclaims “I know my redeemer lives.”) The claim we have on God is really the claim of God’s healing and providence. In the Gospel we look at the kindness of Jesus and his desire to heal, and we put that up against the suffering and losses that we experience in our own lives. Suffering is a mystery. We rely on God’s help to save us from our misery. Jesus who lays down his life for us is the one who has shown us how to put our trust in God. With God’s grace, we continue to trust in the loving, healing power that the Lord offers us. It is through his times of quiet and prayer that Jesus receives the strength to reach out to those who are wounded and suffering. He’s found in the lonely place because he maintains a habit of quiet and prayer as the support for his compassion and his open-hearted love. The wounded and suffering called out to Jesus, and they call out to us as well. The call of the wounded is an invitation to embrace the redemptive power of love that comes to us through Christ and his Spirit. When we reach out to those who suffer, we can open our hearts and release the healing power that is within each one of us. (St. Teresa of Avila reminds us that we are the hands and feet and heart of Jesus.) In our prayers, and through our actions, we can do what Jesus does and make present today this truth: “I know that my redeemer lives.”</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #403f42; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">-Fr. Len Kraus, SJ</span></p>Scott Wheelerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02670868795141065753noreply@blogger.com0