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.

Another moment of Grace!

You would think after three prior Confirmations of my daughters, the fact that my son is getting Confirmed today would be routine for me. It is not. Each one of my children has traveled their own spiritual journey and as their Mom I am aware of how important my own faith experience has been and will continue to be on them. Today is a reminder to me that everything a parent professes and lives out has an influence on their children.

This process of preparing my child for this day has taken a special priority in our family the last few months and it has made this day very special to me. I have gotten to know my son a bit better and it has given us an excuse to pray together more often than normal.
Often I hear people say "I will let my child choose for themselves what they want to believe" by not advocating any particular form of spirituality or religion. I agree with that sentiment. The child must be allowed to choose for themselves. However, I am not so naive as to think that I don't have any influence on what they end up choosing. What I believe affects what I say and how I live. My spirituality or religiosity or lack of has an impact on how my child sees their world and their unique place in it.
My own walk in my Catholic faith has had its complexities and its nuances.  There was a time when I walked away from the foundation my parents had laid out for me. They were wise enough to give me the freedom to wander, although they never stopped praying or loving me. In the course of many years I found that the promises of the world, the goals I had set out and achieved, and the dreams that had "come true" never measured up. I always felt a longing for more.
Our Christian faith has a word that describes what happened to me over the course of those years. That word is "Grace" with a capital "G". I encountered Grace and my life started anew. This occurred at a time when my children were still very young.
As I look back I realize how radically different I had approached life before.  Upon discovering God's love and mercy, I realized that anyting good and true causes me to want the best for others, including my children. I was compelled to share this discovery with my family. This new vision of Grace led me back to my Catholic roots. Returning to my "home" I uncovered what it meant to be a follower and lover of Grace (Chirst). The treasures of my Catholic faith awaited me and I was elated and also ashamed that I had not understood what I had left behind. This was a maturning point in my spiritual life.
What it means to be Catholic is that we are to love life and to know that we were created for abundant joy! The Church points to that vision of who God is and what he wants for us and helped me to tap into the reality that God is alive within me and He is in our midst. The Church's mission is to tell and show everyone who God is!
How I was lead astray is the reality of most most people (even my own children) because we as human beings are so easily distracted. As well, the Church as the body of Christ, although divine is also human. At times the Church cause us great hurt. However, that does not mean that Grace is not present in God's people.  I found that out when I walked back in through the church doors at Incarnation in 1996 with a whole new understanding of who God is and who I am because of him. He is Grace in spite of everything!
Today my son will stand up on his own and affirm that he desires to be a part of our Catholic faith community. I pray that he will experience the beauty and truth to be found in God's people and his Church despite the wounded souls he may come across at times. I realize that his path is his own. He will choose daily which way he wants to go, as I do so as well.
My child has a purpose in this life, each one of us does. As his mother I can help him as he matures in his faith, to always be open to an encounter with Grace. I rest assured in the fact that Grace is within him already. In the meantime, I will continue to pray for each one of my children and live my life aware of who Grace is and what He has done for me. He is Abba, He is God. A God who became man, died cruelly on a cross for our sins. He resurrected for us. We are a people that continues to remember him in our Eucharist and we partake of this mystery each time we come together at Mass. It all matters. He lives within each one of us. This is Grace, with a capital G. I can confirm that and I am thankful my son will too.

Who is this boy? A birthday reflection for my Son.

This morning I ventured into my almost 13 year old boy’s room and realized that if I squinted my eyes, tilted my head, held my tongue, and looked really carefully, beyond the chaos I would see who my son truly is.

His bed unmade and blanket lying on the floor, tells me how anxious he was to go out into the world this morning, ready to confront the struggles of the day; obviously no time for bed making! This boy is an advernturer!

Five empty of Gatorade lay on the floor, like grenades, half hiding, waiting to be stepped on. They challenged me to walk over them, snickering at me as I pass.  What a strange kid he is I think to myself, so in  need of constant hydration and yet not enough sense to toss these silent mom-bombs into his trash basket only 3 feet away from his bed.   Surely, this must be a secret military experiment; he is waiting to see who explodes first, the room full of empty bottles or his mom who will blow her top seeing all this on the floor?  Such a silly military scientist in training.

Colorful plastic clothes hangers wrestle on the bottom of his closet.  As I stare at this structural feat, I was amazed at how high this sculpture rises from the floor and obviously I think, in this room sleeps an engineer or an artist!  Perhaps this is how Monsieur Eiffel got started before he designed the famous Parisian tower or his Statue of Liberty. Why, it is like a modern work that rivals the likes of Klee or Picasso.  This boy is so creative!

The dresser top is in competition with the bedroom floor; strewn with not empty drink bottles, but empty cologne bottles.  He goes through these fragrant sprays as quickly as he sucks down his hydration.  A Clearasil tube is evidence of his transition into puberty. His collection of used toiletries makes me realize there may be moments when he realizes that being a slob may not be so “cool”. Like his father, my boy likes to look good and smell good too! This gives me some hope!

Around his bed, almost outlining his silhouette from the night before, are rejected study papers, quizzes, stacks of lessons.  Here sat an intelligent boy, doing his homework last night, catching up on old work. What boy has time to pick up his own papers when he has so much more scholastic work to do? I realize I must not disturb his algebraic formulas, as he will return to them this weekend I am sure!!!! He is obviously a studious boy!

Who knew that 13 years ago I would be walking into a boy’s room that makes my 50+ year old hairs stand on end; that I would have given birth to a son who just doesn’t understand why bed sheets need to be changed often? A boy who can’t conceive why his dog should not be daily rummaging for snacks in his trash can or sleeping on his  stack of clean laundry?  Who would have convinced me that my son would be perfectly fine wearing stinky khakis to every occasion on earth, or that opened bedroom doors are better left closed and closed closet doors are best left open (because the hanger sculpture make it impossible to close) and that washing up means getting water all over the place except where it is meant to clean or that clean clothes means that they were actually laundered not just that they never made it to  the hamper?

No one could have convinced me how much I could love my 13 year old son so much despite his messy room and his magnetism for dirt and his obsession for Gatorade and dirty shorts!  I love this boy so much and I can’t imagine how I could have ever lived without walking by his artistic/scientist/homework lab  every morning, a place we like to call his bedroom.

Happy 13^th birthday Zachary Andrew!!!  I am as much in love with you today as I was when I first held you in my arms.

 

A Christmas point of view

There’s an old story that goes something like this: Many years ago there lived a young disciple and his elder. 

The disciple asked the elder, “Holy One, I have a great spiritual question I need to ask you. Is there life after death?” 

The Holy One thought and said, “That is a great question, but it is not the greatest of spiritual questions. The greatest spiritual question would be, “is there life before death”?

In my studies, the more I learn about Jesus the more I realize that he was devoted to teaching us to live life to the fullest.  He desired to show us how to live fully before our death.

I also know from my readings that Jesus knew and studied the Psalms.  One thing about the Psalms is that when we pray them we will realize that they call us to a way of life that is not heavily  steeped in legalism and rigidity.  Psalms teaches me that God loves all his people and he always listens to his people. As I read Psalms I get to know a personal God who wants good and gives good to everyone. No one is left out of his love for creation. There is no need to fear. This is a wonderful Advent message.

This mornings Psalms touched me deeply, a portion read at Mass said,

Good and upright is the LORD; thus he shows sinners the way.
He guides the humble to justice, he teaches the humble his way.

This time of year is a joyful time.  We gather with family, we read the story of Jesus’ birth, we exchange gifts with loved ones, we give to the needy, we visit family,  and we sit down to a special meal surrounded by those whom we care for.  Our blessings for one another include messages of hope, peace, love, and faith.  All things that remind us of our blessings and that we are called to share them with everyone.

This particular Christmas I have caught myself repeating these two words in my daily reflections: humility and trust. I realize how important it is for me to trust completely in  God, especially whenever I am  experiencing  personal challenges. I contemplate the Nativity in the Manger and I see how much trust Joseph and Mary had and I am challenged to ask for that kind of trust in my personal prayer time with God.  I ask myself, how can I be so trusting that I allow God’s will be done to me?  It is then I realize, I must pray more and immerse myself more in his word.

I am aware that praying doesn’t change the world, but it does change me.  I ask for a life that is full, that is renewed each day, one that overflows so that others see God through my  decisions and actions. Often I fail. Often I point fingers and blame others for my failures.  Slowly I am learning that God is more than I can ever imagine. I am so limited by my human imagination: I see how I put God in “a box”, how I often ask him to choose sides.  What matters is not focusing on who is on God’s side and who is not. The better thing is to reflect; am I on God’s side? This is a matter of humility.

So this Christmas I resolve to be joyful and to love those around me, even when I struggle to do so.  
I will trust that the infant king that came into our world so many years ago did so for a divine purpose.  I pray God shows me the way and that I be open to listening and seeing him in everyone and in every circumstance, no matter how difficult.  I will pray that like Mary and Joseph,  I too am on the side of his divine purpose.

 

Prayer leads to compassion

Our catechism teaches us that God loved us first.  Although we often lose our focus on Jesus, he never tires of calling us and asks us to encounter him in prayer. Prayer is our natural response to God’s love. In the unfolding history of our salvation we can see how this drama of God calling us has played out. If we pay close attention, we can also see it playing out in our very own lives: we turn away from God, or as we explained yesterday to our catechumens, we “miss the mark”, yet God never stops loving us. 

Last night someone very special  who just returned from a weekend Catholic retreat called me.  She was able to take time away from her busy week to spend intimate time in prayer. She exclaimed to me how she was able to possess once again that sense of hope she had not felt in a long time. She also said something that moved me: she said she realized it was not God who had abandoned her; it was that she had lost her way and she knew she had to return to Him.  This conversion experience made her realize that she needed to pray more and to do things differently. She returned with a new attitude of compassion. 

How easy that is to happen to all of us; we get too caught up in what we are doing and how little time we spend in praying and in reflecting on who we are “becoming” each day.  I too get distracted by “doing all the right things”, and easily lose my mark.  Prayer is the narrow road- the way back to God.

In yesterdays Gospel we heard Jesus speak of a parable about having faith and having persistence in prayer. (Lk 18: 1-8) Often we look upon this story to remind us to be persistent in our prayer life and there is truth to that. But if we look at this parable closely, maybe Jesus is telling us to put ourselves in the position of the one being able to help the woman pleading to God for justice.  Often times we are the ones who can be the  voice, the hands and feet of Jesus to the weak and vulnerable in our world. 

Jesus concludes his story by asking, “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Our prayer is that we transform our prayerful attitude into a disposition of bold faith, hope, and love. 
Let us always take time to be prayerful and learn to live with an attitude of compassion.

Incarnation Parish-celebrating 50 years as a privileged place.

“The parish is a privileged place where the faithful concretely experience Church.” John Paul II (The Church in America, Post-Synodal  Apostolic Exhortation, 1999)

A “privileged place

I came to Incarnation to worship 23 years ago having been gone away from parish life for a while. Although at that time I was not yet a convicted follower of Christ, it was here where I felt God‘s call to know him more.  God was good and merciful to me and revealed himself in the Eucharist and in his Word and in the sacrament of Reconciliation. This personal encounter of being welcomed and loved led me to see with new eyes. I became aware that my Incarnation parish was a special place that God had prepared for me and my family. It became a place where he could strengthen, nurture and sustain me so that I could take it back to my home and work place. The peace I felt here when I received of Jesus at Communion or when I would go to Confession allowed me to have that peace within me more deeply. Yes, our parish is a privileged place!

Over the years I baptized two additional children at Incarnation, all four children received their First Communion here and three have celebrated Confirmation.  Our oldest daughter was married here by our Pastor, we have celebrated many funeral Masses and Remembrance Masses for dear departed family members and friends. At Incarnation I have wept together with my community, fed the needy and clothed the poor, prayed for one another, welcomed new members, said good bye to others, studied God’s Word , shared faith, and come to know each other’s stories. I learned what a diverse community we are. Yes, we are privileged community!

The people I have met throughout the years in my parish have marked my spiritual journey in profound ways.  I think of Yolanta, an adult Polish American woman who I became great friends with before she died from cancer when my son was only 1 year old.  Although we had only about six years together, our friendship was solid and strong.  When I met her, she used to sit in front of us at Church. She had suffered car accident years earlier and was left disabled. She needed a cane to walk.  It was obvious that she was a bunch of energy and determination. Her spirit was fierce and Catholic, in the purest and best sense of the word! One day after Mass she turned around, shook my hand and said, “my name is Yolanta, with a ‘t’”.  She and her family became very special to us.  I learned their story.  I was inspired by their faith and how it had sustained her parents through World War II, the Holocaust, forced to work as farm laborers when they immigrated to this country and prospered so that their children (Yolanta was one of two) could live peacefully and worship God in their Catholic faith. We ate with them in their home, prayed with them, learned to love Polish food, and share in their Polish traditions.

 If I ever missed Mass, Yolanta would leave a phone message that went something like: “Where the bloody h_ll were you? Call me!”  Yolanta loved standing by the front doors of our church each Sunday and personally welcome each person that walked in.  This was not an official duty, this was just Yolanta being herself.  This was truly someone who was Catholic. The last memory I have of her is at my son’s birthday party, when she and her family shared this special day with me and my family.  She was there for a short bit, very sick fighting Cancer, but she did not want to miss this special day in our son’s life. She was not going to “bloody miss his birthday!”  She passed on not too many weeks later.  Yolanta was sharing with me what she had received from God: love in huge, generous amounts. She is a very powerful reminder for me of how our parish is a privileged place.

The Church is a privileged place because it is where we celebrate the miracle of all miracles and gift of all gifts: the Paschal mystery. Jesus suffered, died and resurrected for us, sinners. In our parish, Body and Blood of Christ has been shared and celebrated every single day for 50 years.  What a blessing!

Indeed, Incarnation is a privileged place as the Holy Father reminded us. We celebrate Mass together and we become Christ-like to one another. We are united to his Body, each of us having a part to play, through our baptism. (1 Cor. 12:27) Together we are Jesus’ caring hands, we are his loving glance, and we are his soothing words. We celebrate 50 years as a Eucharistic community, as a parish, as our spiritual home.  

A “concretely experience Church.”

We are not perfect because we are human, but there is a divine dimension to our community. As a parish we can be sacrament. The definition of sacrament according to our catechism is a special symbol (efficacious symbol) that points to another reality and brings about the very reality that it points to. Jesus, for example, points to God’s love. He IS truly what he represents. Our parish points to God’s true presence among His people. Our parish points to that reality!

Today is a great opportunity to think about how we as active members of our parish have an incredible responsibility to be sacrament to one another! Being parish means to take seriously the social dimension of our encounter with the Risen Lord. “He who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.” (1 Jn 4:20)  In our parish I have experienced members sacrifice for others; share their time, their talents and their treasures with the community.  I have seen men and women dedicated to their work in our parish, doing most of their serving away from the lime light. I have experienced it personally, as the times my parish prayed for my sick son during  his surgery, visited my loved one at their death bed, sent me cards, held me up in very difficult moments and celebrated with me when God blessed us.  Many of these parishioners did not know me personally, and yet, I felt united with them in a special way in those moments. Through them I felt God’s hand in my life.

Incarnation Parish has been blessed by God. We have seen our community change, we have grown, and at times the changes were not easy. Today we gather and we give thanks for those who came before us to make Incarnation the parish it is today.  Now, we must be mindful that we too must carry on the work of Christ, to be concrete examples of God’s love for everyone who comes through our doors and take it to others who may never enter our doors, always remembering how privileged this place continues to be.

Let us continue to work as a parish in solidarity with our Pastor Michael Suszynski, our Bishop Robert Lynch and with our Pope Francis I. Together lets all be reminded of St. Luke’s words “From those who have received much, much will be required.”

Has RCIA started yet?

Throughout the week I get calls to my office inquiring if RCIA has started in our parish.  The truth is that RCIA never stops in our parish, thankfully. Anyone interested in learning about what it means to follow Jesus and share in the sacraments of the Catholic Church are welcome to join our gathering called “Inquiry” throughout the year and not wait until “RCIA begins”.  These types of calls and others remind me how important RCIA is to our parish and how much education our  community needs on the RCIA process.

When I sit down with a family who inquires about the requirements to become Catholic, I like to begin explaining that it requires a process of conversion and a commitment to apprentice what it means to be active in our Catholic community. The Church looks at this process with an end goal that does not stop at the Easter Vigil, which is when potentially they can receive their sacraments. Instead our focus is that phase which “empowers us for the mission” of the Church; a phase we refer to as “Mystagogy”. 

Mystagogy is that time in our lives after having been fully initiated into the life of the Church, where we attempt to live the mysteries of Jesus’ suffering, dying and rising in our own lives.  We are called to be in a continual conversion experience as Catholics, and this is what the Mystagological experience is about. All initiated Catholics are to be living their own unique mystagogy phase: being in constant state of prayer, examination of conscience, of sharing their gifts with the Catholic community and most importantly in participating in the Catholic Mass each Sunday.

If we are aware that this is where we are headed with the individual or family,  it seems logical that as RCIA catechists our mission to preparing the person has much to do with “demonstrating” how to live out our faith and not just “instructing” about our Catholic faith. 

Hence, the RCIA is not a “program”, which suggests a beginning and an end point, filled with learning and memorizing all kinds of  important Catholic doctrine spread out in the middle.  Instead it is a process, which involves a more holistic and gradual approach to catechesis. The goal and measure as we move along our faith journey with our RCIA group is  to be discerning what God's will is for us  and sharing with the individual how to discern for “changed hearts and changed lives”.  A person is not deemed "ready" based solely upon age or grade or how many lessons they have attained or how much knowledge they have accumulated….the person is ready to become a fully intitiated Catholic when they have experienced a change of attitude and a change of heart towards how they intend to live in God’s Grace.
 

The powerful aspect of the RCIA is that when the process is celebrated along the way with  grace filled rites at the Sunday Mass, planned out thoughtfully, and entered into with open hearts, it reminds the entire community of its important role as witness and our Catholic call to be evangelizing at all times not just in word, but by action too. The individuals who are in the RCIA process remind us each time we are all present at Mass celebrating a rite that we are all to be active in our apostolic mission, to daily examine our own hunger for God’s word and for the Eucharist.  The RCIA process provides the parish an ideal opportunity for transformation of the entire community.

In its essence, RCIA is a ongoing conversion experience that is to be seen as a segment of the larger journey of faith. It says that our spiritual journey will never end in our lifetime, we are called to continual spiritual examination and repentance and healing.  It also makes us all aware that we are all part of the journey, as Church we are a pilgrim people and we must journey together!  The journey begins long before the person seeking baptism reaches our parish and it continues long after the person takes root into the Christian Catholic community at baptism.

Thanks be to God that RCIA is always starting in our parish! Come and see!

 

Jesus is the Bread of Life!

Conversations with families where I work are opportunities for me to find out how the Church can help their family in their journey of faith and of deepening their relationship with our Lord.  One of the questions I usually ask is if they participate in the Mass? More times than I like to admit the answer is “Honestly, we don’t come to Mass regularly” or “I used to go to Mass with my family when I was young, but I don’t really go anymore”.

In these moments my heart is pained as I am reminded of that time in my life when I too was indifferent to my faith. It was a time that I thought my faith in God was enough. Thankfully, the Church continued to love me and welcome me each time (though sporadically) I arrived at Mass. Those years of being indifferent to my faith caused me to have a deep thirst for something I couldn’t put my finger on.  God never stopped reaching out to me. I realized eventually that my indifference was affected by the fact that I had stopped listening to God’s word. My focus had turned to “me” and not on God.  Once I was back at Mass, slowly and gently, God allowed me to flourish as I focused on a friendship with his Son, Jesus Christ. It became a meaningful relationship that I immediately realized I couldn’t live without. This was pure Grace, nothing I deserved or that I could have done on my own. God is so good and merciful.

The most important revelation for me about why Mass was so important was coming to understand that the Eucharist is not a what, but a who.  The Eucharist is Jesus himself. God offered himself as the sacrificial lamb and at Mass we give thanks for his mercy on us.  I was able to accept the mystery of true Love through God’s grace. The Word became flesh so that God could leave us with himself as Eucharist in order to sustain us until the end of time.

Pope Frances celebrates the Mass

 

Jesus gathered and formed a Church. He personally asked people to follow him.  His early group of followers  (men and women) became “fishers of men”. Jesus showed them how to enter into a true conversion of heart experience.  Faith is not based on obedience to God’s law alone; faith is about having and nurturing a personal relationship with our loving God. This is what God desires.

The Church formed in such a way that she feeds us with Word and with Eucharist. Jesus IS the Bread of Life (Gospel of John). What the Church did in those beginning years is essentially very similar to what we still do today in our Mass. We hear God’s Word and we share in Holy Eucharist. At Mass we enter into the mystery of God’s plan of salvation in a uniquely intimate way. This is why Mass not just an ordinary praise and worship experience or just an ordinary communal gathering.

I learned to see the logic of the Eucharist is dependent on a literal understanding of what Jesus is telling us. He is true food.  In his life Jesus did many things, he fed people physically, he healed them of physical ailments, many were witnesses to his miraculous healings and he constantly reminded everyone that the Kingdom of God was at hand. Some of these things were hard for some people to hear, but the most difficulty they had was when Jesus stated that he was also feeding them spiritually because he is the Bread of Life, that he himself was the source of eternal life.

             “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.”(Jn 47-48) 

“I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever, and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (Jn 6: 51)

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you!” (Jn 6: 53)

St. John recorded what Jesus said. In his writings we see that what Jesus said created huge problems for those hearing him in his time; still today this is where many of us struggle.  Jesus asks people to trust him when he says he is the Bread of life-the source of eternal life. Yes, this is a difficult thing for many of us to believe. As I continue to work with Catholic families, I believe that God is humbly reminding me of who I was many years ago. I pray that I can share with each family that God withholds nothing from us. God is pure gift. God has already has chosen us, we just need to say “I want to believe in you Lord, for you alone have the words of eternal life!”

I pray that we as Catholics may faithfully come to Mass each Sunday to deepen our friendship with Him WHO is the Eucharist.