Cubans dance today

If you see us dancing in the street, don’t be too quick to judge us. Cubans have suffered so much. In the passing of Fidel, a spark of hope has sprung. No one of good will wishes death on anyone, but when a person like Fidel who took everything from you; your freedom to worship, your freedom of speech, your freedom of expression, well, you can’t help but to feel a sense of hope in the future for Cubans all over, at his passing. Fidel yielded so much power and used it, not ...for the common good, but for his own good, he imprisoned our family members for speaking out, he rationed our food, he indoctrinated us that God does not exist, that life is not sacred, that abortion is a practical and efficient way of birth control, that marriage is not sacred, that all children must learn how to shoot rifles and defend the regime, he deceived many with the lie that Cuba was suffering only because of the US embargo. This tyrant we find out around midnight, left us in way much more gently than the cruel way he allowed many of our own family members to go. Fidel forcibly took power in 1959 and used it to keep the Cuban people oppressed. Since the 1960’s, my family has mourned the loss of the Cuba that once was. We were one of the lucky ones to be able to escape. In the 1980’s my mother visited her parents and was devastated to see what was once a first world country had become in 2 decades, a third world country. When you hear people proudly say that the education and health care is free in Cuba, yet you know that your own Cuban family suffers because they are not deemed worthy of the free health care and they are told what they are going to study….it hurts. When your own family is willing to throw themselves into the ocean with the hope they will land in another country in order to make a new life, when you painfully remember how your own aunt was not given medication in the hospital (just a few years ago) because the government deemed that since she was going to die anyway, they would not “waste the medicine” on her, She died in much pain and suffering because her life was not worthy of the free health care, well, I ask your forgiveness for today. We dance because perhaps a new day has dawned. So, if you see us dancing in the streets, just be as merciful to us, as you are asking us to be of Fidel. We dance because we realize today that evil is not permanent, that goodness will prevail. We pray that one day that dance of joy will be in the streets of Havana!

The table of Plenty

This morning I woke up with a few important household goals in mind.  Instead I found myself enjoying a big cup of coffee and reading.  One part of my mind scolding me on how I must stay focused on the domestic matters at hand. The other part of my mind reminding me that this week is my “off” time, today is my time to just “play” around. Guess which side of my mind won?

So the book I turned to is one I have been reading off and on for some time now and sits on my nightstand.  It’s called “Forum Essays: Eucharist as Sacrament of Initiation”, by Nathan D. Mitchell.

This little Catholic collection of essays is full of great insights, building on the idea that our Christian conversion process leads us to the Lord’s Table, in other words, the liturgy of the Mass. Our conversion process is one that makes us aware of a call to the table, one that Jesus says is linked to the reign of God and with which we connect to it through his death and his resurrection. Even more than that, this book then challenges me to look at the mystery of God’s table with my own mystery. It challenges me to see that the Lord’s Body is not only on the table, but at the table as well.

Catholic theology understands all of God’s mystery as a great paradox.  He is everything AND nothing at all we can imagine.  God is pure mystery and yet he available to me as Father.

Great is the LORD, and highly to be praised, And His greatness is unsearchable.(Ps 145:3)

What has been is remote and exceedingly mysterious. Who can discover it? (Ecc 7:24)

As so, the mystery of our life is that our “death” is being enacted each time when we, of our own free will, surrender to God. Catholics often refer to this mystery as “taking up our cross”.

Paul said “we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. We were buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.” (Rom 6:3-4)

I am reminded that the NT insisted on our understanding that Jesus really did die and really did resurrect. In our baptism we are entering into this experience, which was both a historic and cosmic reality and therefore we too are made new through our faith in Jesus Christ.

The same historical cosmic reality that occurs at our baptism occurs when Christians come together at the Eucharistic meal.   It is easy to lose sight of the connection between our baptism, the cross and the table.

“As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes”, St. Paul reminds us and we hear these words at every Eucharistic meal.

Jesus laid eternal death at the table. We celebrate his sacrifice and death by remembering it through the ritual of broken bread and poured out wine, what Catholics call the Liturgy of the Eucharist.  Death that was restored and redeemed by a merciful Father for his son and for all of us; for you and for me. As long as we are willing to die, just as we died in our baptism and were reborn into spiritual life in Christ.

All of us are worthy to eat and drink at God’s table. The NT is full of stories of Jesus eating with sinners, outcasts, and marginal people. He wanted to welcome them back into the community. What he did was seen are rebellious and anti-establishment; he ate with social misfits at the table and he forgave their sins if they repented! His table was the place where healing and reconciliation occurred, as with the cross.

Baptism is our initiation into the mystery of the Body of Christ, and the mystery of the Eucharist is where we announce publically who we are and what we intend to do. Scandoulous!! We are called to rethink our own world view! We are called to do something about the injustices in our world.

The table, a powerful metaphor for social ranking and hierarchy, became a place where social norms were challenged by Jesus. Jesus comes to the table as a stranger who has traveled without food or money and needs hospitality. For Jesus, healing calls forth hospitality. He blurs the line between host and guest. Reading NT stories that tell us about Jesus at supper did away with food taboos, (Mk 7:18-20; cf. 7:15-17), table rites (Mk :1-15) and cooking customs (Lk 6:1-5) as a way to restrict others from sharing in our fellowship.  The meal around the table became a feast where everyone was accepted, all was shared among each other and all served one another. Jesus taught that we are to learn to receive hospitality as much as we are to give it. The table is where we all enter in life and death together.

Do we know “who we are”? So much news today is being reported about individuals who identify as this or that. Too bad many of us fail to identify ourselves as a “sinner”.  A sinner who is being called to a table where he can be healed and then can go out and heal others. Our identity is formed around this communal table, because the Eucharist is not only who we are but also our mission to be God’s presence in the world. We become open to all, to enter into the messiness (some may say mystagogy or mystery) of the world and forgive those who offend us. This is who we are to become. The Eucharistic meal is the climax of who are.

The Mystery leads us to Mission. Eucharist leads us to recreate the world, “rooted in baptismal regeneration and sustained by the community’s regular recourse to Eucharist.” (113)

As the proverb goes, “we are what we eat”. This is who we become each time we go with the right attitude, an open heart and mind, to the Eucharistic meal; we become Christ like.

I felt so my joy when we sang it the other day at Mass at St. Paul’s one of my favorite liturgical song, one I haven’t sang in a while, called “Table of Plenty”. 

Come to the feast of heaven and earth,

Come to the table of plenty.

God will provide for all that we need,

Here at the table of plenty.

                O come and sit at my table

                Where saints and sinners are friends

                I wait to welcome the lost and lonely

                To share the cup of my love.

Jesus, you are there at the table and you are on the table. You are both host and guest. You are the victim and the victor. You call me to do the same. The mystery is that this feast is an eternal one and you call me to this feast each day. It leads me to say, Lord, I am not worthy to receive you but only say the word and you will restore me.

I end my reflection with a powerful catechesis by St. Leo the Great which sums it all up (135)-

“We are to celebrate the Lord’s pascal sacrifice with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. The leaven of our former malice is thrown out, and a new creature is filled and inebriated with the Lord himself. For the effect of our sharing in the body and blood of Christ is to change us into what we receive. As we have died with him, and have been buried and raised to life with him, so we bear him within us, both in body and spirit.”

Being Present

Today our Church celebrates a feast day we call "The Visitation".  We recall the Scripture reading from the book of Luke, that time when Mary went hurriedly to visit her older pregnant cousin Elizabeth. (Lk 1:39-45). Mary having already surrendered her life to God, became the first evangelist, and went with great joy and faith to care for her cousin in the countryside. In my understanding of who our Blessed Mother Mary is, the Mother of God, it’s that she is always “there”.

Being an evangelist isn’t about preaching about God’s kingdom….it is about pointing the way towards the Kingdom. Mary spent her life pointing everyone towards Christ.  She did this best by simply “being there” because of her love and obedience to God.

In this scriptural encounter we are given a glimpse into the life two faith filled Jewish women blessing one another. Luke tells us that Elizabeth’s baby leapt for joy in the womb in his recognition of Mary’s voice. What a rich story of two cousins coming together in thanksgiving for how God is working in their lives.

Aside from the many theological understanding of what this moment signifies in the history of salvation, my heart leads me to reflection that brings two questions come to my mind:

1.       How often have I experienced Mary’s presence in my life?

Thankfully my parents had a deep devotion to our heavenly mother. Before we left Cuba the four of us (my parents, my brother and I) entrusted our lives to God, asking Mary to pray for us, upon learning that we were leaving our country for an unknown future. I still have the very old scapular that was imposed on me as a sign of our faith in God and the Holy family. When I look at it, I am so thankful for her presence on our journey. My parents knew that Mary, as a mother, would intercede for us and be with us in our bitter moments of saying good bye to family and home, in our struggles to find a new life. Who better than Mary who also had to flee her homeland would understand what it means to be in exile? I have always felt Mary’s presence in my life, as much as I have felt Jesus’ presence. Yes, I am joyful for her! She was there for us.

2.       When am I there for others? When have I have failed to be a good witness for Christ?

This scripture reminds me of the importance of being present to others. The other day my son mentioned to me how I’m not around much. This hurt me deeply. Perhaps I have to rethink how I am “present” to him.  As a teenage boy he may need me to be present to him in a different way than when he was an adolescent. This means I may have to adapt to how he has changed (and will continue to change).  Being present means observing my children’s changing needs and our family dynamics. Being present means to be responsive to what others need, and not impose on others what I think they need. This makes me evaluate how I am living a life that sets a good example for my son of what it means to be a follower of Christ? How am I Prioritizing my life to make sure that he feels the presence of God, of Jesus, of Mary? Can I do this in the same joy filled, courageous way as Mary? This is my challenge. I turn to Mary for guidance, let me surrender to God’s will in my life. Let me be a good witness to my son and to my other children by always being present to them in a way that says “I am joyful”, “I am thankful”, and “I am faithful”.

I am always thankful to my Church who celebrates events like this one, an ordinary day in the life of two extraordinary women who said yes to God.  How wonderful that God works so powerfully through women to recreate and bring joy into our world!

Let's not say goodbye...

After five years serving as Director of Faith Formation and Evangelization I have been offered and have accepted a similar yet more diverse and challenging position within our diocese.  I have learned so much at the parish of Incarnation Catholic Church in Tampa. 

When I started five years ago little did I realize the role that so many people would play in my work who I now consider friends, in fact, truly sisters and brothers in Christ.  If I started to name them I am sure I would leave someone out, so I won’t do that. However, please know that if you are reading this, it is probably because you were one of those important people.  In your own way, perhaps you did not even realize how, your smile, your email or texts, your presence at our catechist meetings, retreats, staff lunches, workshops, modules, religious classes, prepping food in the kitchen, stacking up chairs in the classrooms, coordinating ministry fairs under the pavilion,

Sunday School under the Pavilion

 in the sacristy cleaning up  after an event at church,  parking lot conversations on the way out of or to Mass, and so many other ways, you affected how I grew to love more deeply my work in parish life.

No better place could I have found to begin a new direction that God had planned for my life five short years ago.  And no better collaborator could I have picked other than Philomena Johnson (ok, I will name one person!).  She and I clicked from day one.  What I was weak at, she excelled.  What a team we became.  Together we spent many long nights and weekends planning for our year. Yes, we do work hard, even during our summer months! Together we overcame many challenges and many fears.  Together we laughed at ourselves and together we cried during those rare times we felt we had “hit a wall”. Together we prayed as we always moved forward and trusted that God would provide, and to our surprise he did, he always did!! (We had our moments of weak faith, but God taught us to totally trust in him, no one else but him.) Thank you Phil for being that person who could shine a light each morning in our work day. I love you so much.

I must mention my RCIA Core team and my Faith Formation team of catechists.  Some of you are now at other parishes, because like me now, God has called you to new territory to minister in, yet you will always be a part of my team. Faithfully we met, prayed, reflected, and worked.  I have learned to collaborate in our diversity. I have learned to be more humble and more patient with myself because of each of you.  In your own ways you demonstrated to me how generous and how grace filled our parish of Incarnation is; through your love for our community and your presence to me each and every time I needed you.

Youth Group

 

Lastly, there are those new friends who became like family after being initiated into our parish life.  I can never forget the relationships that I have personally benefited from because I was privileged enough to walk with each of you through your own journey of faith. My life is better because of each one of you. I remember each story, from the first phone call, our first interview, and the joy we celebrated once you were initiated into the body of Christ.  The journey of faith is not easy, but it is always joy filled because God is present. Each one of you made God so visible to me, and for that, I am truly humbled. How blessed I am that you welcomed me into your hearts and homes.

All Saints Procession

 

There is no easy way to say goodbye.  So let’s not.  Let’s celebrate God’s goodness, faithfulness and that through Him and because of Him, our friendship has come into being.  Thank you for being a part of my journey at Incarnation. Please pray for me as I prepare to continue to serve God’s people at St. Paul’s Church in Tampa.

In Peace, I remain your friend and sister in Christ.

Newly initiated into our community, now good friends!

The Grand Dame of Incarnation and my great amiga in Christ, Connie at our Parish Gala in 2014

My partner and sister in Christ, who made every day amazing, Philomena and I getting ready for our Via Crucis 2014

My friend Nelson being baptized at the Vigil Mass 2014

Fr. Jairo, myself and leaders from our Spanish community welcoming Vivi Iglesias, the new Diocesan liaison.

Letter to Mr. Obama

Dear Mr. President, Many have written recently about your trip to Cuba a few days ago. You were applauded and you were criticized. I am just one more person who has been affected by your visit to my country of birth. Mr. Barack Obama, you and I are the same age. I am 3 months older than you and was only 5 years old when I left Cuba. When my family was expelled from Cuba, you were almost four and living in Honolulu, the place of your birth. I am a naturalized citizen, you are citizen by birth. According to your bio, you left the US to Indonesia with your mom when you were a 6 years old boy. This may cause you some compassion for me and the many of Cuban children who arrived in this country as a young child. I remember my entry in the US very well and it was traumatic in some ways. I wonder Mr. Obama, were you told to leave all your belongings behind when you left for Indonesia, or did you bring your special toy? I had to leave behind my favorite doll. Do you remember kissing your family wondering if you would ever see them again? I had to say goodbye to my kind great grandfather Alberto and my favorite Tio Pepe, never able to see them again as they both died of old age while I was in exile. I was happily able to reunite with my grandparents years later as a young adult. Your bio says you separated from your mother at age 10, when she sent you back to Hawaii to live with your grandparents. It is recorded that this separation had a huge effect on you. Perhaps this pain has given you some empathy for the pain of many of us who separated from our parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, sisters and brothers. You know how separation stresses out families and saddens our souls. It is written that even though you did very well academically in school you ‘never felt as though you fit in’. Wow, that is how many of us Cubans in exiles felt too. Cuban American kids tended to do very well academically; however, it is hard to fit in when you are straddling two cultures and wondering which tribe does one belong in, isn’t it? It has been said that because of this you started to drink beer, smoke pot in high school and even tried cocaine as a way to “fit in”. Isn’t true that we all do things we later may regret as a way to make ourselves relevant to our peers? Mr. Obama, you are like many of my Cuban exile friends, during the late 70’s, trying to act cool and burying the pain that separation from our loved ones can bring. I am sure you also wanted to know more about your family who were in another continent. In the 1980’s as a young adult, you wanted to get to know your birth father and so just before you began law school here in the US, you were able to travel to Kenya, Africa to get to know your father’s family since he had since passed away from a car accident. You wanted to know your “identity”. I found out that this trip back to your father’s home town helped you understand his struggles. It gave you a sense of purpose to the work you were doing in the US. You had been working with social justice issues and found it connected directly to your own family’s struggles. You are quoted, “(the visit to Kenya) helped unify my outward self with my inward self in an important way.” During this time when you were trying to “find yourself”, I also was experiencing a similar sensation. However, I could not go get a passport and buy a ticket to Havana, as you did to Alego. Cuba did not want me back. I was expatriated when I left my country. All I had to connect with my family were their letters and occasional phone calls (calls and letters that were all censored by the Cuban authorities.) Then came those few months in 1980 when the Mariel boat lift was taking place and I remember the exhilaration of hope that we Cubans felt wondering and hoping that our loved ones would be one of the “lucky ones” who could find a way out of Cuba to a country where they could experience freedom, the US. Perhaps finally I would be able to connect with my identity like you were able to by visiting with your father’s people. Unfortunately, this did not work out for me, but it did for many of my Cuban friends. For many months after the Mariel boatlift I remember meeting those hardened faces of Cubans who had weathered the Cuban revolution telling us their stories. It was then that I started to discover a part of my identity I didn’t know about. I learned firsthand the stories that my grandparents had been forbidden to tell me when we had our phone calls a few times in the year or in the letters they wrote to me. I was horrified at knowing what people are capable of doing to one another in the name of “the Revolution”. I was also amazed at what people were capable of fighting for when they knew what was right and what is God given: freedom to be what God called them to be, freedom to say what was in their hearts, freedom to do the right thing for themselves and for others. These Mariel Cubans who I met and who sat in our living room telling us their stories of hope during their suffering were the survivors; I was one of the fortunate ones that had escaped the oppression. Together, we became a part of a bigger story, one that needed to be passed down to our children. It was a story that needed to be told to the world. (Remember this was pre internet times.) Upon 10,000 Cubans crashing the Peruvian embassy in Havana, and taking asylum, Castro decided he would use this opportunity to expel all those he wanted out. He let loose the criminals in jails and the mentally ill and dropped them off in the embassy. Among the criminals, desperate courageous Cubans, (now known as Marielitos) were willing to be labeled “scum”, “queers”, and “thugs” so that they could get out. Mr. Obama, you were busy in Columbia University in New York during this time of Mariel, and with your interest in social justice, I can imagine you were reading the newspapers daily on what had been going on as the south Florida tried to assimilate so many Cubans at one time. You may have read how this mass exodus required the help of the US Army and US Coast Guard. You may have learned of the difficulties of processing so many desperate immigrants at one time and the strain on the city of Miami. It is estimated that about 125,000 Cubans made it into our country during that time and many died on the trip here. Later came the early 90’s and Cuba entered what they call “the Special Period” upon the collapse of the Soviet Union. It was during this time that Cuban industries, transportations, agricultural systems became paralyzed, since oil imports from the USSR were almost all cut off. Humanitarian aid from the US became more open. In 1998 Pope John Paul II visited Cuba. This period of time was special for me too, for it brought me renewed hope. Perhaps now the Cubans would taste freedom. Mr. Obama, the Internet was fairly new and you were a young dad then, Malia had just been born and you had been reelected to the Illinois Senate. I had just started experiencing the World Wide Web and was frantically searching for news of Cuba on this new cyber highway. I found that Cubans are among the most strictly controlled people on the World Wide Web. I found that the Revolution was still alive and those who run the country for the sake of the Revolution would not permit my cousins to talk to me via internet. My cousins had no clue that the internet even existed. It would not be for another decade before they would know. In fact, it wasn’t until last year (2015) that Cuba opened up internet hot spots, and though still illegal to have internet in private homes, young Cubans are now finding ways to raise the money to afford their time on the internet. During the early 90’s you were in the Illinois Senate, fighting for your causes and raising a family. I am sure that your fight for social justice was influenced by your identity, by the man you wanted to become. You share a lot with us Cubans, Mr. Obama. Many of us Cubans also desire to have families and fight for those issues which we find important. And so, all of this Mr. Obama, is my long way of helping you see that we have a lot in common. Our fight for democracy in Cuba is based on how we identify with our struggles. Watching you sitting with Raul Castro at a baseball game the other day while I ate a late lunch, to my eyes, is seen a traitorous. You joking around and smiling next to the man who was responsible for the atrocities that many Cubans experienced, that many Cubans still experience today was very painful. Through your eyes as you sat there, that warm afternoon in the Cuban sunshine, I was praying you would see the millions of Cuban children who had been separated from their families, who felt the same hurt, you may have felt as a child. You may remember the pain of separating from your mother and never knowing your birth father. That was your fate, Mr. Obama. This is mine. My fate and the fate of many Cubans happens to be in your hands today. Don’t forget us Mr. Obama. Don’t forget our pain. Don’t forget our story. Our stories are all connected in some way. Sincerely, a U.S. Citizen who can’t forget her Cuban story.

This Sunday's Gospel reflection: Proclaiming the Kingdom of God

A reflection on Sunday's Gospel, Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21


For many years as a Catholic I would hear about the Kingdom of God announced at Mass, I read about it in our Bible, hear preachers and the good Salesian sisters tell me that God’s Kingdom is at hand.  I would wonder: what the heck are they talking about?

It wasn’t until some years ago as an adult that I began to see that God’s kingdom is a place in my heart, in all our hearts.  When I accepted God’s word to be truth, my heart and mind were awakened.  That opening in my heart, even though it may have only been like a small crack in fine porcelain, it was enough of a space to allow in this understanding: God’s kingdom is both here and it is to come.  This paradox compels me to ‘not rest on my laurels’ as they say.  It means that when I accepted Jesus as my savior I entered into a relationship with him that allows me to see him in everyone. It allows me to see myself in all of his creation. It allows me to see hope even when all things seem dire. It allowed me to make sense of suffering and be so thankful for God’s mercy upon me.

God’s kingdom is God’s pledge of what is to come. God’s kingdom is the presence of the Holy Spirit now, in the moment. And when I can hold both thoughts at the same time: the “now” and the “to be”, then I am aware of God’s kingdom. This is the good news. When we proclaim this good news, we are proclaiming healing, we are proclaiming freedom, we are proclaiming sight, and we are proclaiming a future time where we can all be full of God’s Spirit.

Knowing this affects how we see ourselves and how we see others. One cannot separate God’s Kingdom and his spirit. And as the Spirit anoints us at baptism, the Spirit continues to propel us onward. The last few weeks we heard in the gospels Jesus was baptized and witness saw the Holy Spirit descend upon him, then the Spirit drove him into the desert to be tested by Satan. And now today we read how the Holy Spirit directs him into his mission of proclaiming God’s Kingdom.

I think of my own faith journey, baptized as a child, then all my growing up years you may say were my years of being in the desert, being ‘tested’, and finally as an adult accepting my mission.  The Bible teaches me that this is the work of the Holy Spirit and when I willing take this mission; God blesses me and his Church.  What is my mission?  I believe it is to bring healing first to my life, then to my family, and finally to my community.

This week I had the privilege to have been made a member of the St. Vincent de Paul South Pinellas Board of Directors.  At the start of the meeting we opened God’s word to this Sunday’s gospel.  Although I had already read the gospel reading earlier in the week as I prepared for this weekend, hearing it again as often happens, I heard God pointing out something new to me. 

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free…”

I thought back to some minutes earlier when I had parked my car outside the SVDP building to go inside for our meeting. The area where the SVDP buildings are located is south St. Pete, just under the shadow of the big arena known as Tropicana Field. It’s an area affected by blight.  Parking is along an old neighborhood street, where small houses are lined up, some in obvious neglect and others where flowers are carefully planted and windows freshly painted. It is an area struggling to make itself relevant to the larger community.  As I walked along I wondered how are the residents tolerating the many homeless vagrants that linger on the corner as they peacefully assemble to get their morning breakfast that is served in the SVDP soup kitchen. Would I tolerate this? These homeless men and women I noticed are all different shapes, colors and sizes. Some carry bags, some don’t. There isn’t a lot of conversation.  As I go to the front door of my building I noticed the long line that was starting to form and I thought “there they are”.  Just as quickly my mind shifted and I thought again…”there I am.”

This shift in attitude I believe is the work of God’s spirit in me.  I was anointed to bring the good news to all in my baptism.  I was too young to know what was happening then but our mother Church teaches us that the anointing by the Holy Spirit happened even if I wasn’t aware of it. Jesus was baptized so that we would all see the importance of our baptism as an initiation into his Kingdom, as a seal on our soul, a permanent testament of our profession of faith in Him, our Lord and savior.  My parent’s faith brought me to my baptism as a child and it was at my Confirmation when I was older that I took the faith in Jesus Christ that was passed onto to me by my parents I accepted for myself.  However, this process of accepting faith is a lifelong process, not a one moment in time only experience. That process leads us into the desert. It is in those moments of looking for God, crying out to him; losing and finding him that I have learned to rely on him more.  You see, I have learned that accepting God’s word as truth and turning my life over to him leads me into a relationship with Him.  A relationship requires nourishment and honesty. A relationship requires letting go. A relationship requires allowing me to be changed, to be made poor!  The poor are all those who solely depend upon God.

So here’s the good news about God’s kingdom: we don’t enter into God’s kingdom because of what we do, or where we live, or how much money we have, or how beautiful we are, we are all invited into God’s kingdom!  And this kingdom is present to us today! We don’t have to wait! And….and….the best news of all is that we can find this kingdom when we look into the eyes of our brother and sister in need because they are usually the ones who have learned to depend only upon God’s grace. 

That morning as I heard this reading this revelation is what jolted me: that God’ kingdom is available if I am open to finding God in all things, in all people. God was present in that moment among those people. Those people are me. I am those people. We all belong. We are all loved infinitely by a merciful and loving God.

This week I had an opportunity to meet a family who came knocking on my office door.  They were a young husband, wife and young child.  They were smiling and so happy to have found us (the church). They had just arrived from Venezuela 3 months ago.  They know no one here in this country.  Not too long ago, the wife went out walking in despair because they had no food to eat in their small apartment. As she walked she came upon a small Christian church in our neighborhood and she went inside to pray. There the pastor found her and after hearing her story he gave her some bags full of food to take home. She had tears in her eyes as she said this to me and said “I knew God would not abandon us”.  Then she went on to tell that that although she was very appreciative, she didn’t feel at home at this small church because although our Lord was there, our Mother Mary wasn’t there. 

This Venezuelan family celebrated their Catholic faith in her country and as all good Catholics had learned to depend on Jesus’ mother and to learn from her example as the first disciple.  She wanted to find a Catholic church where Mary would be present.  This past Sunday they came to our Spanish Mass for the first time and she knew she had found her home. She was happy to see our statue of Mary and the stained glass images where the story of Jesus unfolds. In Jesus’ story Mary is so present. As Jesus is present in God’s Kingdom, so is Mary. 

The Kingdom of God was first proclaimed by Mary. Her “yes” to God filled her with God’s Spirit. She is FULL of his spirit.  Meeting with this lovely family, inviting her in, listening to her story and welcoming her into our church, setting them up to meet other families, was a blessing to me and to our community. She reminded me of the joy of being a member of God’s kingdom. There is room for everyone and we are not alone.

We are to go out and find those who are alone, abandoned, hungry, unjustly accused, hurt, imprisoned, insulted, cold, have no clothes to wear. Sometimes they find us. In those encounters you will find God’s kingdom.  There you are to proclaim God’s blessings! St. Vincent de Paul said “consider God’s generosity towards you rather than your own unworthiness in his sight; and live in his strength, rather than the thoughts of your own weakness.”

This friend,  is living in God’s spirit. This is living in God’s Mercy. This is living God’s will for us.

“Today, this scripture has been fulfilled while you heard it.”  I am listening Lord. Help me to proclaim your Kingdom to all who would listen. Help to live as though I believe this to be true.

 

When Prayer is not enough, pray more!

Last night, after the last college shooting in Oregon, many of us listened intently as our President reflected on the state of humanity in our country.  He said that we have become numb, he has become numb, to having to address the nation as we mourn yet another tragedy like this one.  He is correct.  Then he said “our thoughts and prayers are not enough”.   I know what he meant…..it is true that we must follow our prayers with action.  However, I wonder what would happen if he turned that phrase around? What if he said that our thoughts and prayers must increase?  Mr. Obama says he is Christian.  He should understand the power of authentic prayer.
Our Christian faith teaches us that prayer is a relationship.  It is a way of life that helps us to come to know Our Father in a deeper way. It is a listening, a personal and profound time that is spent with our Creator, who calls us to be in relationship with him.  St. Teresa of Avila said “Prayer is nothing else than an intimate friendship, a frequent heart to heart conversation with Him, Who we know loves us.” (Life, viii)
Mr. President, is this kind of prayer not enough?  At times it may seem like it is not enough, but it is not only enough, I propose it is everything! Prayer is the way to change our attitude towards our brothers and sisters.  It opens us to discovering our purpose in life.  This is what our nation needs most of all.
When my son was dying and needed surgery the day he was born, we called in all the experts.  But we first prayed for guidance.  While my son was in surgery we didn’t ask for more doctors, no, we asked our friends for more prayers. I didn't care if those doctors were of another faith denomination beside my own, but I did care that they were believers ad that through prayer we would all be connected.  I felt God's presence when the lead surgeon asked me to pray for him just minutes before he took my son into surgery.  Those seconds, minutes, days, years were spent in prayer. Yes, I also visited many specialists and took very good care of him but it all flowed from the font of my relationship with my heavenly Father, of my awareness that He was leading us to help heal my son. So in my prayer, I listened, I trusted.  I changed. Then I acted. Prayer taught me to love more than I thought possible. Prayer taught me to include everyone in my good thoughts. Prayer led me to love myself better. Prayer led me to the love of Christ.
A great American moral leader during a very horrible time in the middle of the 20th century once said, “A genuine revolution of values means in the final analysis that our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Every nation must now develop an overriding loyalty to mankind as a whole in order to preserve the best in their individual societies. This call for a worldwide fellowship that lifts neighborly concern beyond one’s tribe, race, class, and nation is in reality a call for an all-embracing, unconditional love for all men. This oft misunderstood and misinterpreted concept, so readily dismissed by the Nietzsches of the world as a weak and cowardly force, has now become an absolute necessity for the survival of mankind. And when I speak of love I’m not speaking of some sentimental and weak response. I am speaking of that force which all of the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality. This Hindu-Muslim-Christian-Jewish-Buddhist belief about ultimate reality is beautifully summed up in the first epistle of John: “Let us love one another, for God is love. And every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us and his love is perfected in us.” (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on “Why I Oppose the Vietnam War”)
How do we discover this Love? Sitting at the foot of the cross of Jesus. When we sit at the feet of Jesus and listen, when we stand and follow where Jesus leads, the power the Holy Spirit fills us with everything we need to overcome all things that seek to oppress and destroy us.
Mr. President I ask that you encourage us all to pray with you and with more fervor.  Exhort us to develop an intimate relationship with our Father in heaven.  From this kind of relationship, whether we be Christian, Jewish or Muslim, Hindu, etc., true prayer will lead us to Love. Prayer leads us to an answer on how to deal with these kinds of horrific occurrences and will open us up to an intimacy with our God of peace.