Thoughts on hearing from God

 "Will God be slow to answer?" This rhetorical question of Jesus invites us to consider the differences rather than the similarities between an unjust judge who renders a just decision for a widow due to her persistent petition, and God's response to us when we exercise but a mustard seed of faith. The prayer that pleases God most is a surrendered, trusting prayer.

When one studies the historical annals of St. Monica, one notices how much she struggled with being a bit manipulative in her prayer and action, trying to get God to come to her way of thinking. Once she was corrected for her willful behavior, however, she accepted it nobly and gave up her clingy ways of trying to hold on to her son, twist the arms of saints in her favor, and insist on a time frame for her son's conversion which she desperately desired. Due to this surrender on her part (her own conversion, we could say) her son converted wholeheartedly and her deepest wish was actually granted. One could say she was never “Saint” Monica until she let go. Once she did, however, her prayer pierced the Heart of God. 

Do I pray in an anxious way myself? Do I hold on to my prayer and not surrender the results?  Let us ask the Holy Spirit to teach us, through the intercession of St. Monica, how to pray, rooted in the solid mustard seed of faith, trusting in God's gracious providence. 

Jesus indeed understands the question that often weighs on the hearts of those who come to him with great needs, and he also provides the deepest answer. He reminds us, his beloved disciples, "Will God be slow to answer? I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily." Our God loves to hear and answer the petitions of a converted heart, a heart praying from the mustard seed of solid faith.

Fr. Anthony Wieck, SJ

Thoughts on wounds

 

Live Your Wounds

You have been wounded in many ways. The more you open yourself to being healed, the more you will discover how deep your wounds are. . . . The great challenge is living your wounds through instead of thinking them through. It is better to cry than to worry, better to feel your wounds deeply than to understand them, better to let them enter into your silence than to talk about them. The choice you face constantly is whether you are taking your hurts to your head or to your heart. In your head you can analyze them, find their causes and consequences, and coin words to speak and write about them. But no final healing is likely to come from that source. You need to let your wounds go down to your heart. Then you can live through them and discover that they will not destroy you. Your heart is greater than your wounds. Henri Nouwen

Thoughts on healing

 "'Go show yourselves to the priests.' As they were going [the 10 lepers] were cleansed. And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God."

How interesting it is that Jesus doesn't always heal us in the moment, as he certainly can, but sometimes asks for an act of obedience first, and through that act heals us. "Go show yourselves to the priests." And how amazing that, like the lepers, we don't always recognize when we've been healed!

Today too he bids us to go to our priests for healing, not only for our confessional healing, but for solid moral guidance to be healed of the common leprosies of our time. To live within "the moral wisdom of the Catholic Church" is key to emotional healing in our lives. Look up a new book by that same title written by arguably the smartest Jesuit in this country.



Like the 10 lepers, we too are promised to experience God's healing by simply following Jesus' wishes expressed clearly through his beloved Church. 

Fr. Anthony Wieck, SJ

Thoughts on fear

 

The Freedom of the Children of God

We are fearful people. We are afraid of conflict, war, an uncertain future, illness, and, most of all, death. This fear takes away our freedom and gives our society the power to manipulate us with threats and promises. When we can reach beyond our fears to the One who loves us with a love that was there before we were born and will be there after we die, then oppression, persecution, and even death will be unable to take our freedom. Once we have come to the deep inner knowledge—a knowledge more of the heart than of the mind—that we are born out of love and will die into love, that every part of our being is deeply rooted in love, and that this love is our true Father and Mother, then all forms of evil, illness, and death lose their final power over us and become painful but hopeful reminders of our true divine childhood. The apostle Paul expressed this experience of the complete freedom of the children of God when he wrote, “I am certain of this: neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nothing already in existence and nothing still to come, nor any power, nor the heights nor the depths, nor any created thing whatever, will be able to come between us and the love of God, known to us in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:38–39). Henri Nouwen

Thoughts on faith

 "If you have faith the size of a mustard seed..." 

Growing up on the farm, we raised a derivative of mustard called canola (from which we get the cooking oil). It too begins as a tiny seed and becomes a very large sinewy bush of fluorescent yellow color, almost too bright to believe it is natural.

So it is with faith. It starts small, but if rooted deeply in the humility of the earth, sets roots there, and pushes up through the ground with force, eventually stretching out strong sinewy branches, offering a habitat to the birds of the air. Faith inspired by the Holy Spirit is even dauntless; absolutely anything is possible, including uprooting everything larger around it. Faith makes a way. You and I have the mustard seed of faith already; it need only be exercised through our doubts and fears, such that God will grow it. Like mustard, mature faith begins to offer flavoring to the bland food of our world, making our somewhat insipid experiences meaningful. And its blinding brightness points directly beyond the natural to the ever-more evident Supernatural.

Fr. Anthony Wieck, SJ

Thoughts on peace

 

Peace Is the Way to Perfection

Peace is simplicity of heart, serenity of mind, tranquility of soul, the bond of love. Peace means order, harmony in our whole being; it means continual contentment springing from the knowledge of a good conscience; it is the holy joy of a heart in which God reigns. Peace is the way to perfection, indeed in peace is perfection to be found. The devil, who is well aware of all this, makes every effort to have us lose our peace.

—from the book The Joyful Spirit of Padre Pio: Stories, Letters, and Prayers

More thoughts on death

 

Preparing for Death

Some people say they are afraid of death. Others say they are not. But most people are quite afraid of dying. The slow deterioration of mind and body, the pains of a growing cancer, the ravaging effects of AIDS, becoming a burden for your friends, losing control of your movements, being talked about or spoken to with half-truths, forgetting recent events and the names of visitors—all of that and much more is what we really fear. It’s not surprising that we sometimes say: “I hope it doesn’t last long. I hope I will die through a sudden heart attack and not after a long, painful illness." But, whatever we think or hope, the way we will die is unpredictable and our worries about it quite fruitless. Still we need to be prepared. Preparing ourselves for our deaths is the most important task of life, at least when we believe that death is not the total dissolution of our identity but the way to its fullest revelation. Death, as Jesus speaks about it, is that moment in which total defeat and total victory are one. The cross on which Jesus died is the sign of this oneness of defeat and victory. Jesus speaks about his death as being “lifted up.” Henri Nouwen