Where Do You See Yourself in Five Years?

Posted on February 4, 2012 by

(c) 2012 Catholic Counselor Lady; A Place to Come Away, Sanctuary of the Divine Mercy, Chicago, IL

This is a very common question on job interviews.  I am always taken back by it.  I do admit, it is a valid question, but it often baffles me.  Maybe because I am now middle-aged and my perception of time and situations have changed.  A very quick answer might be that I will be closer to requesting senior discounts.  But I even hesitate in saying that.  I just know all too well that life can throw some dramatic curve balls.

The real crux of the matter is that I have already lived enough life to know that there is danger in saying that one will do this or that in the distant or even the immediate future.  Actually I cannot even judge tomorrow’s weather forecast let alone lay plans for next week. These days a lot of my time is spent trying to get through Chicago winter.  I find myself doing the old finger count of the months left until spring.  I am always glad when the forecast is sunny for a few days.  But all too often that can change within a matter of hours.

When I look back in my life, I would have never guessed that a shy country girl from Western New York would one day become a big city dweller.  I remember spending long childhood summers picking wild strawberries and rhubarb, and then helping my mother make pies and put up jars of jam.  These days I am hard pressed to find a wild anything, other than wild activity on the downtown streets of Chicago.  Honestly, I never imagined living in a major metropolitan area.  My sister once made plans to move here long before I even planted my roots in this city.  In fact, she will testify that we had tried to discourage her.  At that time we just thought that the big city would have been “too much.”  Now here I am and my sister is a Southern Bell (Italian style!).  Life takes some interesting turns.

I took French in high school and did very well.  That was because I lived up next to French Canada back then.  But I had never anticipated that one day I would live in an area that was predominantly Spanish-speaking.  I have been a planner and very organized at times.  My classmates and professors could testify to that one.  But I never saw that one coming.  

Life is a journey.  I do admit that a lot of it is spent either anticipating what will happen and cleaning up and recovering from what really happened.

I like today’s (February 4) Gospel where Jesus tells the crowd, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while”(Mark 6:31, NAB).  What a peaceful invitation!  This is especially refreshing in the midst of the journey!  I know that He is not talking about hanging out in the abandoned buildings on the West Side of Chicago.  Those streets have such a lonely and doomsday feel.  I know that He is talking about finding a certain quiet place whether within ourselves or outside.  For many of us this might mean finding a sanctuary.  My own parish is open (when not under construction) 24 hours for adoration.  But if one is unable to leave home, finding a quiet moment will suffice.  I like getting up early in the morning before the rest of the world has a chance to get demanding.

When we are able to find a few minutes to come away  life takes on more meaning and direction.  Times of prayer can be when we make resolutions to place our lives more in line with the Will of God.  Most likely we will not know where that will take us exactly.  But I do know that if we delight in the Lord, He will give us the desires of our heart.  Ironically in this process the desire of our heart becomes God Himself.

Interestingly when I tried to locate Mark Chapter 6 in my Bible for today’s Gospel, I starting reading in Matthew Chapter 6 by mistake.  Guess what?  Right before my eyes was the verse,  “Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself.  Sufficient for a day is its own evil.” (Matthew 6:34).

When I place my life in the will of God, no matter where I end up, it is sufficient.

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A Day of Light Rather than Shadows

Posted on February 2, 2012 by

February 2, is known not only as Ground Hog Day, but is also the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord.  This is when the Church observes the event where Mary and Joseph took the infant “Jesus up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord.”  This day is really about seeing Light rather than looking for the shadows.  According to Simeon, Christ is “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and a glory for your people Israel.”

The more I look at this reading, the more I am convinced it has elements of diversity.  Diversity today is one of those buzz words.  It refers to being multi-culturally and demographically sensitive.  As noted above we can see that Jesus came for the Israelites and the Gentiles. In the world of the Bible, anyone who was not an Israelite was a type of Gentile.

The young, the old, the widowed, the married, the male, and the female were at the Temple at the time of Jesus’ Presentation. First we have the baby Jesus being brought in by His parents Mary and Joseph. We also find Anna and Simeon, two elderly people, who basically hung out at the Temple day and night.  Anna was a prophetess and Simeon a prophet.  Both were waiting to see Jesus.  They had received special insight from the Holy Spirit that Jesus would be there one day.  From the way that the Gospel reads it appears that Simeon had been waiting for a long time:  “Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation.”

So much about demographics at the time of the Presentation of Jesus does put emphasis on the fact that He came for everyone. These days still a lot of older people seem to dominate the population distribution in the pews.  A very practical reason could be that they are retired and do not have to go to work or tend to young families.  Also as people get older and closer to death, they tend to think more about the afterlife.  But this does not explain the predominance of the elderly on Sundays, which really should be a multigenerational family time in the Church.  It also could be that going to Church has fallen out of fashion with our modern-day society.  But for some reason these days it seems that “fashion” has developed into the antithesis of “tradition.”

The act of Mary and Jesus in bringing their child into the Temple shows that it is also a family affair and is something that is done according to custom and tradition.   Many say that they don’t want to have children screaming during the services.  But kids will be kids.  I have heard it said that one can measure the viability of a particular parish by being able to hear numerous crying babies during the Mass.  I have also heard the old saying that a family that prays together stays together.  Even in studying the preventative factors of substance abuse, I learned that families that go to Church together and have eat meals together have a lower incidence of addictions.

So much can be said about bringing one’s child into the Temple and dedicating him or her to the Lord.  We truly do live in a time needing Light rather than the shadows.  Some things should never change.

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What Have You To Do with Me?

Posted on January 30, 2012 by

Catching sight of Jesus from a distance, he ran up and prostrated himself before Him, crying with a loud voice, “What have You to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?”(Mark 5:6-7).

This sounds like a man in a fit of desperation. We never know exactly what someone is going through as none of us wear identical pairs of shoes.  But in some ways, I can relate.   There are elements that resonant with the common human experience of suffering:  “Night and day among the tombs and on the hillsides he was always crying out and bruising himself with stones.”

Metaphorically I have had my days of crying out with some hefty emotional damage to myself.  A tendency for negative thought patterns, guilt, and self-deprecation is a type of bruising that can result in a huge hematoma on the self-concept.  Such attitudes can cause a person to be bound by the shackles and chains of isolation.

However, what particularly draws my attention is that the fellow in the Gospel caught “sight of Jesus from a distance.”

My own journey of faith has been one of desperation intertwined with catching glimpses of “Jesus from a distance.” Somewhere in the process, my desperation got caught up with a sense of awe at the wonder of God.  Brief glimpses of Jesus were so compelling that I could not forget.  It is like what the First Letter of Peter states (2:3):  “For you have tasted that the Lord is good.”

 It is the invitation and experience of God that keeps one coming back for more. While on earth we eat but we are never full.  We drink from the springs but still thirst.  I think that the state of heaven is being imbued with the fullness of God.  As St. Augustine once said, “Our hearts are restless until we rest in Thee.”

“Learn to savor how good the Lord is; happy are those who take refuge in Him.”(Psalms 35:9).

Some theoretical orientations in psychology try to teach persons to center on themselves.  But another approach is to put God in the center.  Putting God in the center does not deny our humanity or personhood.  It only enhances it.  As we grow closer to God we see how good He really is.  He has our best interest at hand.  In fact, He is closer to us than we are to ourselves (St. Augustine).  Remember He stepped down from His heavenly throne and became Incarnate, to be like us – so that we could be like Him.

Being God-centered rather than self-centered is what humility is all about.  It is not about being self-deprecating.  It is not about hating ourselves.  It is about being who we are meant to be as created images of God.

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The Dumb Ox

Posted on January 28, 2012 by

St. Thomas Aquinas

How can one be called a “Dumb Ox” and go on to become one of the greatest theologians of all Christianity and a Doctor of the Catholic Church?   His colleagues chided him as a student due to his humble demeanor and large physical size.  I wonder if his feelings were hurt and what sort of bullying was allowed at his institution of higher education back in the 1200s?  I have never heard any stories of St. Thomas of Aquinas sulking from what could be considered a deep emotional wound.  His humility indeed may have been an indication of his great sanctity.

St. Thomas Aquinas is one of my favorite saints.  First, because he was smart.  Second, that in addition to all of his scholasticism he was a mystic.  Third, that he was Italian and lived not far from a place of my ancestry.  And fourth– I’ll go ahead and say it –because he was fat.  It is a relief to hear that some physically large persons have been canonized.   That would make him a patron for persons who struggle with their weight.  Perhaps I don’t have to dwell on the battle of bulge as much as I do.

St. Thomas, whose feast day is January 28, is known to be the Angelic Doctor of the Church.  He was a Dominican priest and medieval theologian.   One of his most famous works, the Summa Theologica, is considered a pinnacle of scholasticism.  In it he tries to systematically draw conclusions from Aristotle premises that pertain to the metaphysics of personality, creation, and Providence.  In other words, he tries to explain the question, “What is God?”

His work is quite extensive and can either be fascinating to those intellectually inclined or pure frustration to those who are less mentally endowed.   For me, I have to read his stuff very slowly and digest each sentence over a lengthy period of time. Let’s just say, I have not gotten very far.  It is not a work for speed reading. 

Yet in all of his knowledge and great scholasticism, St. Thomas of Aquinas was not satisfied.  His work was not finished.  He grew frustrated in his attempt to explain “What is God” and threw his work aside after a vision.  I have heard that his masterpiece was actually retrieved from the trash but have not been able to verify this.  He described his own Summa, “Straw in the wind compared to the reality of divine glory.”  Four months later he died.

Even the smartest among us cannot explain God.  In a prayer St. Thomas states:  Grant me, O Lord my God, a mind to know you, a heart to seek you, wisdom to find you, conduct pleasing to you, faithful perseverance in waiting for you, and a hope of finally embracing you.

In summary St. Thomas realized that reason alone cannot explain all there is to the mystical quality of the soul knowing and loving God.  While we can try to explain God, there is more to the Sacred Mysteries of our Church and faith beyond human comprehension. 

One great example I often encounter is when persons try to intellectually explain transubstantiation in the Eucharist.  People try to put the Eucharist through the scientific method.  Although there are miracles that back-up that the bread and wine are really the Body and Blood of Jesus, mostly we operate by faith in embracing this Sacred Truth. This is why it is called a Sacred Mystery. Another common example I often encounter is people making an effort to explain God or “explain away Jesus” by trying to find His written record in historical books other than the Bible and the writings of the Saints. This is a futile effort when the back bone of the Church is built upon Tradition. The fact that the Church exists and is built upon blood of the martyrs is the testament that He actually existed. Not to mention that even our current date centers around the fact that Jesus was born. These are things that are actually resented by some non-believers. The opportunity of faith for some becomes the item of contention for others.  But this is a topic that could be addressed more in-depth in another post.

Believing is an act of the intellect assenting to the divine truth by command of the will moved by God through grace. – St. Thomas Aquinas

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The Dreaded Lake Effect

Posted on January 26, 2012 by

(c) 2012 Catholic Counselor Lady; After a Lake Effect Storm

Lately I have been thinking about the dreaded Lake Effect.  Those of us who live near the Great Lakes know what the Lake Effect means.  Once a storm passes through an area, it goes on over the lake and picks up more moisture.  The storm then swings back around and dumps twice as much snow in a half amount of time.  Normally a storm pattern comes from the West and goes to the East.  But Lake Effect will go in a reverse order.  The heaviest snows I have experienced have been due to Lake Effect.  The snow falls in huge clumps rather than flakes.  I always hold my breath when we get storms, to see if it ends up having a “Lake Effect.”  If Lake Effect is forecasted, it is best not to make any plans.  One can go from clear skies to complete white out in a matter of minutes.

I remember seeing cars drive off the highway and into the swamp across the street from my old neighborhood.  Driving through white out and thick snow, it is hard to distinguish the actual road from a field.  These cars could only be excavated several days later.

The Lake Effect principle is in a way like Tsunamis.  The trauma begins with an earthquake.  Everyone then waits to see if it will trigger a tidal wave.  The Tsunami is always more devastating than the original quake.  We have seen this happen recently in Japan.  Not only a few buildings were rattled but entire towns wiped out and bodies forever lost and swept out to sea.

So in other words, a storm is not over – until it is over.  We must be vigilant for what type of “Lake Effect” or fall out that might occur.

Lake Effects and Tsunamis are like the challenges that we encounter in life.  This is particularly true when we are trying to get on our feet after a fall.  We have to brace ourselves for setbacks.  It is only par for the course.  It is not being pessimistic.  It is being practical.  If one has ever struggled from an addiction, one knows that relapse is common.  From the perspective of drug rehabilitation, it is even part of the recovery process.  The popular Stages of Change Model by Prochaska and DiClemente even factors in relapse.  This is because so many people have a tendency to fall back into their old patterns and ways of doing things.  Rather than getting discouraged, one works to anticipate relapse and how to implement lasting change.  One can take the backsliding experience and use it to grow stronger.  It is a grace to grow from our mistakes.  And with God’s help we can do it.

The real danger with any “Lake Effect” is the eroding of a person’s confidence.  If a person doesn’t realize that relapse is normal, they might give up and descend into even worse patterns.

From a spiritual point, “Lake Effect” is relevant too.  In Matthew 12:43-45:

When an unclean spirit goes out of a person it roams through arid regions searching for rest but finds none.  Then it says, “I will return to my home from which I came.”  But upon returning, it finds it empty, swept clean, and put in order.  Then it goes and brings back with itself seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they move in and dwell there; and the last condition of that person is worse than the first.

In Friday’s Scripture reading we have the old Bible story of King David getting into trouble with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.  What does he do about his mistake?  Instead of coming clean, he deepens his sin by purposefully getting Uriah killed.

We can see that even King David, the guy who had a pure heart for God, fell into deep trouble.  It is common to fall.   What is more difficult is being able to pick oneself up after a fall and to learn to grow from it.  Psalm 51 is the hymn of repentance that is attributed to King David:

Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness; in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.  Thoroughly wash me from my guilt and of my sin cleanse me.

These are the beautiful words of a contrite heart.  In the Catholic Church we have a sacrament for repentance known as Confession or the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  It is reconciliation because it repairs one’s relationship to God.

For most of us, recovering from relapse is like doing laundry.  We have to get ourselves clean on a regular basis!

 

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In Anticipation of the Storm

Posted on January 21, 2012 by

The anticipation produces more anxiety than the actual event.   The storm was forecasted to hit in the early morning hours.  The next thing I know the exact time was moved forward to early afternoon hours.  I am hoping that it will be past rush hour traffic.  Well, even better than that, no storm at all.

I keep checking my cell phone for the latest updates.  I plan my whole day around the supposed storm.  I take an inventory of milk, bread, eggs, and bottled water. The last snow storm I ran out of cat food, so I learned to pay attention to that also.  I ended up getting a bag of organic cat food last-minute as I did not have time to rush across town to get the regular brand.  Even though the bag claims, “The taste that cats crave” my pet doesn’t agree.  Within a few minutes it becomes clear that my emergency plan is first and foremost rejected by the cat. 

I give my kids advance storm instructions. I tell my daughter to anticipate early pick-up from school if it gets bad.  I say, “Tell them your Mom does not know how to drive well in snow.”   I’ll take the blame.  I’ll admit it.  I hate driving in snow.  There is nothing that incites the maniac faster in me than icy highways.

Waiting for the snow to hit is like waiting for the end of the world.  It reminds me of the hubbub about the Mayan claims of the end of the world coming this year on December 21.  My thought about this is that if they were so knowledgeable about dates and events, why were they unable to preserve their own civilization?  It seems like they could have come up with a plan before their own demise.  Just saying.  Recently National Geographic theorizes that the implosion of their culture was due to climate change.  Climate change?  I’m all ears about climate change in Chicago now.

Most of you probably remember the warnings that were set for Y2K.  I’ll admit that I did put up a few gallons of water and stuck a Coleman stove in the basement.  But year 2000 came and went.  Year 2000 had its difficulties but life goes on.

This Sunday’s Old Testament reading is from the book of Jonah (Jonah 3:1-5, 10).  The Lord issued a message through Jonah that the great city of Nineveh would be destroyed due to their nasty and sinful ways.  What did these people do upon hearing this?  They did not scoff at the information.  They did not rationalize.  They did not store up food in their basement.  They believed God:

“…they proclaimed claimed a fast and all of them great and small put on sackcloth.  When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way, He repented of the evil that he had threatened to do to them;  He did not carry it out.”

I’m not the one to pass judgment on our city and civilization.  But I always feel that the best preparation for the end of the world is to get right with God.  Once again, I’m just saying.

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A Little Family History after 100 Years

Posted on January 19, 2012 by

(c) 2012 Catholic Counselor Lady; My Great Grandmother in a Wheelchair

All of the talk about sunken ships recently caught my attention. I discovered that April 2012 will be the 100 year anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.  Something peculiar about the date caught my attention when I realized that not only was the sinking on the day of my husband’s birthday but also the year of my great-grandmother Maria “Theresa” Fabiano’s arrival to the United States.  When I checked the date I discovered that the landing of my great grandmother’s ship on Ellis Island was in May 1912.  Her ship, the Duca D’Oasta, crossed the Atlantic from Naples, Italy.  I can’t help but wonder if her boat had touched the same ocean at the same time as the famous ill-fated vessel. Theresa was a 29-year-old single woman who immigrated to America in search of a future.  As a peasant, she most likely did not have the First Class comforts and travelled in steerage.  Her occupation was listed as a “house servant.”  From what I can determine she came alone.  Although there were several others listed on the manifest from her village.  What she experienced on that voyage is forever lost.  But we do know that her vessel did not sink and so I am here today, along with my numerous ancestors, cousins, and descendants.

Her difficult journey did not end at Ellis Island.  She married my great-grandfather, Francesco Salvatore, within a year.  She had a son who died as a small infant.  Family members say that her broken heart weakened her immune system because soon after she contracted polio and lived in a wheelchair for the rest of her life. On the US Census she is listed as “crippled.” From the wheelchair she gave birth to my grandfather, my great aunt, and great uncle.  At least two of my great grandmother’s brothers immigrated before and after her.  One lost his arm in a machine accident.  The other was a shoemaker.  They all settled in an infamous part of Niagara Falls, NY.   It was infamous because later the city had to change the street name in an effort to change the area’s reputation.

I thought it appropriate to share some of my Fabiano family history today as January 20 is the feast day of St. Fabian in the Roman Catholic Church!  I have no idea if there is any relation as St. Fabian died in the year 250 AD.  Also the name Fabian in Italy is about as common as the name Smith.  What is interesting about St. Fabian is that he was a layman who was made a Pope by an interesting sort of miracle.  He was a farmer on a visit to Rome during a papal election when a dove landed on his head.  Now when I have been to the beach I have had seagulls try to do their business on my head; but this was quite different back in 250 AD for St. Fabian.  The people around him were amazed as the dove reminded them of the Holy Spirit at the baptism of Jesus.  St. Fabian was immediately recognized as “worthy” and elected Pope.

His term was known for peace.  However his reign ended after Decius became Emperor.  St. Fabian was martyred during the persecution of Christians and is buried in the catacombs of St. Callixtus.  My family and I have had the opportunity to visit the catacombs in the past and I remember seeing the inscription of “Fabian” there.

We can look at these histories and say that they were all ill-fated.  But on another level they were filled with opportunities and even blessings.  The Titanic sunk, but no one has stopped talking about it and its known passengers are forever immortalized in stories.  My great grandmother was a poor peasant who was confined to a wheelchair, but gave me and my family life.  St. Fabian, although martyred, helped to organize the early Church in Rome.  These are all great examples of the wavy seas that life might bring to each one of us.

Stick around and I will eventually tell you how I am related to The Three Stooges!

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Doing Whatever You Wish

Posted on January 17, 2012 by

Love and do whatever you please – St. Augustine of Hippo

Perhaps one of my favorite quotes!  Although some might say it scandalous to do whatever we want.  What about rules?  What about regulations?  What about the Ten Commandments?  What about holy days of obligation?

The idea is that when we truly love God, our hearts will be in the right place.  Actions and speech will flow naturally from the abundance of a heart that is fixed on God.  A holy day of obligation becomes a holy day of opportunity because what was once a chore– becomes pure delight.

Yet, being able to love God is in itself a gift.  This grace is known as charity.  It is one of the three theological virtues, up there with faith and hope.  Love has been quoted as being the greatest gift in Sacred Scripture:  So faith, hope, and love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (I Corinthians 13:13).

How does one get that gift?  I find comfort in reading text from the dogmatic constitution on the Church of the Second Vatican Council.  This gift is available to everyone:  God Himself is not far from those others who seek the unknown God in darkness and shadows, for it is He who gives to all men life and inspiration and all things and who as Savior desires all men to be saved…Eternal salvation is open to those who , though no fault of their own, do not know Christ and His Church but seek God with a sincere heart…

Love is a theme that runs throughout all of Christianity.  In fact, some might say that the phrase “Love one another” has become quite trite.  My husband likes to tell of a story of when his mother would have family devotions in the early morning.  He states that as a kid, most of the time he was half asleep.  When finished, his mother always asked him what he had gained from the study.  He quickly learned that to respond “love one another” pretty much covered most anything that he might have missed while snoozing!

Loving and doing as one pleases is a theme that can be extracted from these next couple of days Scripture readings that deal with the activities done by Jesus on the Sabbath such as picking grain and healing the sick.

But what about it when one doesn’t love doing things that must get done?  Like for example, going to work, cleaning the house, changing diaper pants, lugging bags of groceries up the stairs, or changing the cat litter box?   Everything becomes redefined when looked through spiritual eyes.  Even the most mundane of chores can become meaningful when done for the sake of loving God.  The heart set on God is like a compass pointed in the direction of heaven.

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What to Do When I Grow Up

Posted on January 15, 2012 by

(c) 2012 Bernard Eden; Pope Benedict XVI in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican

Many of us spend a lot of time trying to figure out what to do with our lives. Youth is spent thinking, “When I grow up, I will…”  And it is a big awakening to discover oneself past middle age and still trying to discern what to do “when one grows up.” This is part of what the middle-aged crisis is all about.  Many of us might find ourselves just “doing” and not going in any particular direction.  We might be like the hamster I mentioned in a previous blog, just spinning one’s wheels and only getting older and more haggard.  A person might feel that they have become half the person emotionally and at the same time twice the person physically than what they used to be.

I have heard many persons say, “If I had only known about this when I was younger” or “If only someone had told me about this.”  And many come for guidance because they simply want to be told what they should do. Many are disappointed to learn that no particular person can dictate for them their own unique path, in fact it is unethical.  However it is a matter of helping one to develop the tools necessary for discernment.   A spiritual director and/or a counselor can give some helpful pointers and suggestions.  And some might be very prophetic.  But it is being able to take it even further than that. A person needs to know God’s will and to have the grace to follow in it.

Waiting to do something when we grow up is much like waiting to act to do something once we are perfect or have arrived. This is the trap of procrastination, waiting for the perfect moment that seems to never come while on this earth. Persons with obsessive compulsive personality disorders tend to never attempt anything for fear of failure.  Sometimes we can be a little out of sorts when making decisions. There can be very real biological reasons that might affect our ability to make a choice.  I remember a friend of mine years ago tell me that when she was pregnant she had difficulty making any type of decision.  At times she would sit in the middle of the kitchen floor and cry because she could not figure out what to make for supper. I know that sometimes it is much easier to have my kids and husband tell me what they would like to eat rather than try to guess.

But I think it is more than even “being told what to do.”  Persons want to have meaning in their lives.  They want to have the satisfaction that what they attempt has a purpose.  If making supper, we want others to like what we make.  And if embarking on a path, we want to feel we are going somewhere and not just spinning our wheels like back at the hamster cage.

In my own devotions I found a passage from Isaiah that says:

The Lord will give you the bread you need, And the water for which you thirst.  No longer will your Teacher hide Himself; But with your own eyes you shall see your Teacher,  While from behind a voice shall sound in your ears:  “This is the way; walk in it,”  When you would turn to the right or to the left. (Isaiah 30:20-21).

Many might think that I am contradicting myself when I say that it is not about being told what to do.  But really it is on a different level.  It is being able to exercise our free will in such a way that we want to please God.  This is a grace and it is a walk of humility. The older I get, the more I appreciate God’s will.  I only wish to know it and do it better.  The above passage from Isaiah spoke to my heart because God is presented as not only the Provider but reveals Himself to one’s eyes and ears as the Teacher and Guide. How beautiful!  We can see Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs here. It is more than having food and water.  It is also about having direction.

In this Sunday’s (January  15)  readings we have Samuel being called by God.  Then in the Gospel we have some of the disciples “finding” the Messiah.  It is interesting:

 Jesus turned and saw them following Him and said to them, “What are you looking for?”(NAB, John 1:38)

This is very profound. Jesus knew their hearts but He wanted them to understand their own hearts. He does not tell them what to do. But rather they seek in their own hearts “what they are looking for.” Within the same passage, Jesus names Simon “Cephas” who is St. Peter, the rock, who one day becomes the first Pope of the Church.  St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican today is built upon what is alleged to be the bones of St. Peter. ( I include a picture of Pope Benedict XVI that my husband took in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican.)

In summary, we could say that St. Peter figured out what he was to do.  He had a rocky road, even denied Christ a few times, but eventually was able to do it.

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Calling All Losers

Posted on January 12, 2012 by

My grandfather used to say that he was a day late and a dollar short when it came to jumping on to the bandwagon of success. Sometimes I feel like a decade or generation behind events myself.  Many of you probably have had some of the same observations.  It is easy to feel this way when living in a society where jobs are limited in fields that once were very lucrative only a couple of years ago.  In addition, it appears that everything costs more for less. (Unless, of course, you are trying to sell your home).  I always feel that the diminishing size of a chocolate bar is reflective of the state of the economy.  From “snack size” to “fun size” and then dwindled down to “bite size.”  I am waiting the “sniff size” to arrive on the market.

But then again, who needs chocolate?  Especially if one happens to live right around the corner from a factory where the smell of cocoa is free!  (Like I do!).  Loading up with chocolate, sugar, and coffee could be my only defense.  But fortunately it is not.

If you are right in the middle of challenges now, take comfort in knowing that this is not the end of the story.  Yep.  You are now in the thick of it and even storms might brew on the horizon. You might be lugging that Cross up a steep hill and seemingly all by yourself.  And the next thing to look forward to is some type of your own crucifixion.  But just because you can only see as far as your own Cross, doesn’t mean that the story ends there.  And just because things might appear to be on the losing side, doesn’t mean it is so.

Christianity is a faith whose Incarnated God is crucified and then resurrected.  It is a faith where its believers follow its Leader.  But even this is not the whole of the story as there are many mythologies that appear to claim the same.  However, Christianity carries it further and beyond to the fullness of the Revelation of the Truth.  Ironically is a journey of Divine Mercy. It is a journey of hope.  It is about beginnings, not endings.

And what is it about all of this losing and suffering?

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:

…”faith is often lived in darkness and can be put to the test.  The world we live in often seems very far from the one promised us by faith. Our experiences of evil and suffering, injustice and death, seem to contradict the Good News; they can shake our faith and become a temptation against it…It is then we must turn to the witnesses of faith: to Abraham, who “in hope… believed against hope”;to the Virgin Mary, who, in “her pilgrimage of faith”, walked into the “night of faith” in sharing the darkness of her son’s suffering and death; and to so many others..” (164-165).

Even if it appears like the losing side, our journey through faith is actually the beginning of eternal life (CCC, 163).  So we can have hope beyond any archetypal Cross to which we might find ourselves.  It takes us further than saving our own necks.  It takes us to encountering the Love of God.

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