Am I a Tomb or Temple?

Easter Reflections 2012

As I have been making candles this week I have been pondering the message of Christ's cross and resurrection. The beauty of our Sunday liturgy and the Holy Triduum helps us focus on His passion, death and conquest of sin and death. I was especially meditating upon our Lord's words shortly before He left the upper room and went to Gethsemane.

"Love one another as I have loved you"...by this shall all men know you are my followers, by the love you have one for another...this is my commandment, that you love one another, that your joy may be full." [John13-15].

But as I observe how the church, how Christians are known today it seems we are most known for..our politics, or our focus upon issues instead of Christ. While we can blame the media for much of this there are sad reasons why we are known, not for God's love and His joy in our lives but for being judgmental and at times hateful. This brings me to ask, Am I a tomb or a temple?

We are called to bear the Risen Christ in our body, in our life. Our words, our actions should be proclaiming the hope and joy of our risen Lord. Yet so often Jesus can become buried in the tombs of our doubts, distractions and fears. We become so focused on our moral priorities and politics, upon issues, that we lose the light of His love, that indeed leads us ALL from sin to forgiveness. We lose sight of...Christ. We become so hung-up on politics and problems that the promise of God's mercy becomes buried in judgment and fear.

For myself, Lord, please forgive the times I have buried you in doubts and fears, when I have focused on issues, in my life and others and not allowed you to reign as the King of Holy Love. Please, Jesus, help me, not be a tomb, but a temple of your mercy.

Two Arms

Our world is increasingly torn with strife and hatred. Politics, culture wars, even in the church, the right and the left are seemingly intent on the others demise. Perhaps it may help to remember we are designed with two arms...

Two Arms
March 2012

Two arms there were,
that were sure,
their arm alone,
was strong and pure.

Arm the right,
knew the way.
And strove and carried
right to make.

Arm the left too was strong
and with skill and power
fought alone,
good and truth to grow and own.

Arm the left and arm the right
hated the other
with all their might.
They hit and held the other arm,
and did all they could to rid and harm.

For they knew,
the arm opposed,
must be fought
or at least controlled.

To tolerate the other,
with respect to hold,
To listen or to learn,
Left them truly cold.

Then one day the two arms,
realized in dismay,
that they were lost
and they grew afraid.

Afraid and in their ignorance,
the other they did blame,
for bringing them to a place
of cold and darkening shame,
For failure...
each would not claim.

While the cold,
the dark greater grew.
the two arms longed
a light, some warmth,
their dying hopes to brew.

Then in the darkness
each arm did find
an unlit candle and
some dry pine.

With arm the right some matches dwelt.
While arm the left some kindling felt.
But alone the arms did long and fight
a fire warm to quell the night.

Finally in weary fear,
for the dark and cold
they could not bear,
Arm the right and arm the left,
together with their different gifts
a fire bold did they make.

And in the shelter of the fire warm
the arms embraced and soon learned,
they were joined, they were one.
And although opposed
they shared the one
heart and hope
and strength to claim.

So arm the right and arm the left
discovered together
how to reach
and how to rest.
And what the other really did do best.

They helped to let loose
the hate the other held.
And with the other did they find
together the good they could meld.



I am reminded of a place where arms of conflict wrought hate and fear yet were conquered by the arms of love.

1st Week of Advent: Know ~ Hope

A prayer for this 1st week of Advent:

Heavenly Father as we seek Christ the King, your Son, our Savior, we ask you,
to help us to be ready
for His coming.
Forgive us our failings.
Our world is deeply wounded and struggling
and this is seen
in many wounded and struggling souls.
Holy Love,
help us to cherish all life,
to nurture our life choices
by sharing your compassion.
Help us comfort the wounded and anxious.
May our words bring hope,
our deeds, healing.
May we live and share faith,
in your mercy,
and, together,
Know Hope,
as we discover the beauty of Your Truth, Jesus.
Holy King, Holy Love, come!
Amen.

Being Thankful

It is the day before Thanksgiving. Here in Northern California, as I look out the window of my candle shop I see the heavy grey clouds thickening from the west as a storm approaches. As the rain comes I realize how much for which I have to be thankful. The work of Dolorosa slowly grows. Family, loved ones are well, even as some are now gone and missed. Our Lord, in His love, brings the rain to both nourish and cleanse.
Yet as I observe the news I sense little thanksgiving in our world. The economic pressures are being daily confronted by most. The political atmosphere in the country is seemingly as acrimonious and divisive as it was prior to the Civil War. Instead of thanks we see the obsession to blame. Hate and the bitter intolerance for anyone not in agreement is pandemic. Humanity is battered by storms of destructive visions and words. How our human-caused storms differ from those God brings into creation. Yet, if we but stop and allow God to lift us out of our selves there is always ...hope. There is always cause for being thankful.
So...
This holiday season what would happen if instead of...
passionate divisive intolerance we share,
a shared compassion for life in all creation and each other.
Instead of blaming and casting stones of destruction,
we take responsibility and build bridges of hope.
Instead of wallowing in the stye of entitlement attitudes,
we resurrect our noble gifts of service for God and others.
Instead of obsessing with Occupying and Getting
we seek simply healing and nourishing and giving.
Instead of stressing to judge and condemn,
we seek to love as He loved.
Instead of choking on the bitter gruel of resentments,
We feast on ...being Thankful.

Respect for Whole Life & Capital Punishment - Double Standard?

I am , without apology, an advocate for Respect Life, for Whole Life. This includes fighting for the unborn child, my opposition to euthanasia, assisted suicide and the tragic disregard of life for the infirm, mentally afflicted or disabled. It includes the rights of mothers (and fathers) to know the destructive affects of abortion on their own health, physical, mental, spiritual. But it also includes the people of Dafur, Somalia, and other areas where life and our environment is destroyed through the greed and the cruelty of humanity.

In this entry, however, i want to briefly focus in the double standard of being right to life, except in Capital punishment. I find it very troubling to see politicians extol their "pro-life" stand regarding abortion yet at the same time be aggressive in their pursuit of capital punishment. A powerful example is Gov. Rick Perry of Texas. He is commendable in his efforts for the unborn, yet it would appear that once born, life is no longer sacred. He has one of the largest records of inmates executed in the execution-happy state of Texas. That he has overseen over 230 executions would be troubling enough. However there is at least one, if not more of those executed who, by all indications, was innocent. One case, now before the U.S. Supreme Court, is for a man that is, by prosecution efforts and words now on death row because he is black. This ignores those executed (in Texas and elsewhere) with strong indications of mental illness or mental disability.

There are news clips of pro-life politicians speaking of their efforts FOR capital punishment and then being loudly cheered by their "pro-life" crowds, many of which are Christians. Is not this a double standard? There are noble rosary programs being said "For the Unborn", yet are those praying also cheering for capital punishment?

As we pray for the unborn we need to pray for their moms and dads, we need to pray for the courage to love them and help them support their child, with words, deeds and money. As we pray for the unborn, as we say our rosaries, we need to remember our Blessed Mother's Son was on Death Row and was executed unjustly.

Jesus our Good Shepherd

Mass Readings for the Fourth Sunday of Easter: 1st Reading: Ac. 2: 14, 36-41: Psalm: 23; 2nd Reading: I Pet. 2:20-25; Gospel: Jn. 10:1-10 [The Web version of my homily.]

Who is in charge? Who is in charge of your life? Our western culture takes immense pride in the concept that it is all about us, that I (capital I of course) am entitled to the choices of life. That I am entitled and best qualified to chose the course of my life.
While God has blessed us each with our free will it is a myth of fools to pretend we are in charge. It has been said if you want to make God laugh tell Him your plans. Yes, while God does give us free will our Creator, the Shepherd of our souls also gives us the ability to know we are...Followers..we choose to follow. In today's Gospel Christ makes clear that we are sheep and that He is the Good Shepherd. He also makes clear the reality that there is evil, that Satan would seek to lead us astray, to rob, destroy that which is treasured and made by God. This brings us to ask, if we are honest, who is in charge? Who is guiding my life? As we look to Christ, as we look to the Good Shepherd we learn what it is to follow Him.

First we come to learn Jesus knows His sheep. He knows each human soul, created by Him. Christ, Lord, God, Savior, Shepherd knows.....you. Whether we are the purest of spotless white lambs or if perhaps we may be the odd sheep of the flock, the proverbial black sheep. He knows, He created, He loves us for who we are. He knows and calls us each by name. Well He knows the paths we may have wandered, the wounds or struggles we have encountered. Yet His love never ceases. He calls, searches..seeks to bring us each into the fullness of His love, the safety of His fold. As we heed Word, His voice, as we yield to the loving guidance of His staff He leads us home to Him.

As sheep of His flock, as His followers, the guidance of Christ's Spirit brings us ever closer into His Kingdom. Our Psalm today is a powerful prayer and confession of the faithful. While most often heard at a funeral we need to remember that if we think to wait until death before we start to follow Him, it may be too late, or at least we will have missed the fullness of life He created us to know. This Psalm of David, a man who knew what it was to follow God, is powerful in its honest confession. Christ will indeed lead us to the lush pastures, abundant waters of which we seek. But, because He is the good Shepherd He will also lead us through the valley of death, those dark nights of faith pressing close to He who leads us. Christ promises, that through His Holy Spirit He will lead us into His will, His path, His truth. This is not just some ethereal mystic hope. It is the promise to lead us with the wisdom of God, daily, taking up the Cross He shares to lead us, in our hearts, our families to do His will to love as He loved.

And it is as we yield to His voice calling our name, as we follow Him we come to learn the Shepherd provides for all we need as we follow His way. As we follow the Good Shepherd, as we follow the Risen Christ we soon learn He leads to the impossible. The God Shepherd leads us beyond our own limited resources and abilities to ....trust, to love...to know He will never forsake us. It is when we sit at the table, abundantly set for us, even at times in the presence of our enemies, we learn how faithful God is. We learn that, thanks be to God we don't always get that to which we are truly entitled. We find instead God's mercy, healing and love. We learn, Jesus is in charge. He is risen. He is Lord. He is my Savior and Shepherd.

Entering His Wounds

'
Contemporary rendition of Carraviggio's "Doubting Thomas" painted by: John Granville Gregory


The door is locked. Fear has them bound, hidden away in a room.

This Second Sunday of Easter, also recognized as Divine Mercy Sunday, we return to the followers of Christ. On Easter Sunday our joyful songs express our faith in our Risen Savior and Lord. Today we find the disciples where we too may be at times in our life, locked away in our fears.
Of what are you afraid? Yes we profess our faith in Christ, yet, sadly, we sometimes place more faith in our doubts and fears than in Him. We focus on failures, real or feared of others, or ourself. Fears and doubts of health, or economic well-being, relationships, careers, families, our Church, all may well bring us to be locked in darkened rooms of doubt and fear. Where is our faith? In our fears and doubts or in Him who conquered fear, doubt, sin and death?

It is easy to sing, to say we believe. We may well express our amen's and alleluia's yet when we leave the church and return to the rooms of our lives we may once again find our life locked in fear and doubt. Is there really any hope? How can we know true freedom from that which we fear, from the doubts that would cripple our souls and our lives. This Sunday of Divine Mercy, we find in God's word the true and practical way to that freedom as we heed Christ's Words and enter His Wounds we will enter into His Holy love by which all fear and doubts is conquered.

The voices of fear, the messages of doubts are loud and abundant. The cacophony of noise from this world composed by the dark prince of fear and despair is always available to fuel our fear and renew our doubts. Yet the Prince of Peace can enter the darkest of doubts, the rooms of fiercest fear and in His noble voice of holy love proclaim His Peace in our midst and in our hearts. We have the ability to seek to call upon Jesus to enter our hearts, our homes, our most difficult places and to guide us to His Peace. No dark voice of fear or doubt can overcome Him who proclaims His holy peace that conquered the powers and places of hell itself. From the cacophony of darkness we can enter hear the symphony of grace of which we all are called to join His holy angels in songs of hope, mercy and joy. As we seek, as we heed His Words of peace, mercy, healing and hope we will find Him guiding us closer to His Presence. We will experience Jesus the Truth that sets us free.

Out of the dark rooms of our fears and doubts the Risen Christ calls and leads us to..Himself. It is in His Presence we, along with the early disciples, can see His wounds, like Thomas himself we can touch and enter into the very wounds of Christ. While it is true we may not physically see Jesus as did the disciples in Scripture we can know His very real blessing He gave all who were not there, the blessing to see Him, and enter His wounds with eyes of faith. It is as His nail-scared hands touch our soul that we then can see Him, His wounds in others, in each other, in the needy, in the suffering of all creation as we await the return of our Savior and Lord. It is in our own brokenness we can enter His wounds as well. It is also in the simple places of prayer, during Mass, before the Blessed Sacrament, in the prayer closets of our life that God can call and bring us to enter into His presence, His wounds and find the hope, the freedom to believe and follow Him in the power of the Risen Christ.

From the locked room of fear we discover His voice proclaiming His peace, we draw close to Him, we see, we touch, we enter into His wounds, we enter into His Love by which all fear and doubt is conquered.



Cyber-version of my homily for the Second Sunday of Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday. Mass Readings: Reading I: Acts 2:42-47; Responsorial Psalm: Ps. 118:2-4,13-15,22-24; Reading II: I Pet. 1;3-9; Gospel: John 20:19-31