In the Gospel for today’s Mass, Jesus, in Matthew’s account,
teaches his disciples the Prayer of Prayers.
The Our Father is the singular prayer that not only identifies God as Our
Father… which is remarkable and extraordinary, but it identifies Us as his children.
My relationship with my own father was marked by many different
stages and seasons. As I am sure we can
all attest. He was hero, adversary,
idiot, sage wiseman and at times friend. He was a great storyteller and
jokester. Really, I don’t think there
has been a day since his death that I have not thought of him.
I think today’s Gospel, like yesterday’s reflection, reminds
us to go deep…deeper into that most important relationship we have with our
Heavenly Father. He is not distant to
us. He is intimately close, connected
and interested in our lives. His heart
is attached to ours. We are not simply
his creation. We are his Children. We are adopted sons and daughters through the
precious blood of His son on the cross for us
Let us go to the Father’s House today. Let us pray that prayer that connects us…Heart
to Heart.
So, I had my list. So, I made my way to ALDI to make a quick grab of the items for the week. Yes, but so did everyone else! I needed six items. There was a sea of people fishing for quarters to get carts and get going. I took a deep breath and knew that this was going to take a little longer than expected. [by the way, I always get a cart, because they have that one aisle with the neat stuff that you did not know you needed.]
As I made my way, I noticed a young father and son. The little boy was 3 ½ or maybe 4 years old. He was helping to push the cart and at other times, riding on the front of the cart. You could see that the dad, while about his business, was not only attentive to the boy, he was enjoying him. Truly, It was a privilege to witness. There was a sense of intimate delight of the father in the joy of the son. It was beautiful.
I happened to be behind them in the check-out. Again, the scene unfolded. The boy lifting cans and boxes helping his dad. His dad encouraging him, helping him in turn,
and getting it done together. I even got
to see them make there way to their car.
It really was a beautiful thing to see.
It made me think of our relationship with God our Heavenly
Father. He does not change … we do. At one time, we were like the little boy…trusting,
loving, attached to and focused on our parent…on the one guiding our way.
Somewhere along the way, we drift away from the cart. We might even be in the store, but we think
we can do it all by ourselves. How did
that happen? What caused that? Each of us can answer the question…our life
experiences can make us isolate ourselves, distance ourselves, lie to ourselves
about what is real and what is true.
The Good New is Our Father has not changed. He loves us. He still wants to guide our cart. He still wants to delight in our
journey. He still longs for us to be about
what He is about. Lent helps us remember
that. Our God is a Good Good Father!
Tempting? A tray of desserts right after a meal at a restaurant—eh not so much. A ribeye or even a sandwich went the belly is growling—you bet ya. And what is it about Friday’s in lent? I rarely crave a hamburger, but tell me I can’t have one and it’s the only thing I want!
The Gospel account from Matthew tells us of Jesus’ time in prayer and fasting and the devil’s attempt to upset the divine apple cart. Jesus’ reply to satan’s interrogatories indicates His (and our focus). 1. Word of God 2. Faith in God’s promise and presence 3. Worship of God above all things.
Today, carve out some time and re-Read today’s Gospel. Let it speak to your churching and growling soul that needs to be FEED with read food and real drink! Eat up!! Matthew 4:1-11
It only comes ‘almost’ every four years, so of course I’m going to reflect on Leap day in this Leap year! Oh and it’s 2020, so do you think I’m going to let that escape notice? So with our eyes focused with 20/20 vision let’s leap into it.
Faith. It is no static reality. It is both a gift and a disposition. As a gift it is something that has been given. (No dah). It has been given from God through others … transmitted … sent. But just because a gift was sent it remains unrealized until it is open. And once opened…it needs to be appreciated and accepted.
Christmas is a perfect example of this. Have you ever seen toddlers at Christmas? They don’t just rip into their own gifts, they unabashedly rip into all the gifts around them! But the appreciation is not yet developed is it? And who expects a thank you note from a toddler?!?! HAHAHA.
Faith is a gift and offer and an invitation. Freely given, it is an offer of relationship and an invitation to something more. The something more is the Giver. It is an invitation to a deep, real and everlasting relationship with the Giver!
Those who claim to have no faith or to have lost their faith or to have little faith are in good company. Even the apostles had little —wanted more. Who of us does not truly want to have faith … deep abiding everlasting faith?
Today let’s make the leap again, the leap of faith. Today let’s unwrap the gift again. Today let’s accept the offer again. And today let us leap into that invitation to a relationship with the Giver…AGAIN!
There is a story told of a London dinner party at which Sir
Richard Burton was the center of interest. The award-winning Film and
Shakespearian actor held the room spellbound. Another guest of the host, a retired
Vicar of a parish church, was a somewhat rumpled, reserved and out of place.
At a lull in the conversation, Vicar said sheepishly to Burton, “Would you do me the kindness of reciting the 23rd psalm?” Handing Burton his tattered prayer book, open to the passage, he continued, “It is my favorite and God has given you such a great gift of oratory?”
“I’d be honored” replied Burton and he took the
little book and recited the Psalm with evidence of his profession skill. When
the applause from the guests subsided, he handed the Psalter back to the Vicar
and said, “Now you? Will you please recite it for me?”
Somewhat embarrassed, the Vicar held the little book to his
chest, closed his eye, and began. “The
Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want…”
His eyes opened and there was a hush over the room. All eyes
were fixed on him.
Burton broke the silence by saying, “Ah, there is the difference! I can read the psalm. He knows the Shepherd!”
Today, on this first Friday of Lent, let’s go deeper into our
knowledge and Love of the Shepherd.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever. -Psalm 23
My Gramma Minnaugh was born on this day in 1902. She died on November 11, 1980. As they say, between the “dash” on her headstone was a life that still impacts her children, grandchildren and even today a little great-great granddaughter in Pittsburgh who shares her first name. Awesome!
As I look at, play with, delight in and try to nurture my own
grandchildren, it gives me pause to think of what Gramma did for me. She was warmth, comfort and acceptance. For me see was an image of who God is. Going to her house was always a welcome diversion
for the chaos that surrounded even a little boy’s world. She made me feel GOOD.
I could go on about it, but my point is not about what she gave, but about who she was. She was significant. SIGN-ificant. Believe it too…we are significant. First, we are significant to our Heavenly Father. He doesn’t just make us feel good…HE MADE US GOOD. He made us for himself. Second, we don’t live in a bubble. We are significant to all those around us (even to our enemies! Perhaps that is why our Brother Jesus enjoyed us to love them??) We have an impact on those around us.
We then, by God’s loving grace, have a choice to make. What SIGN are we displaying? The choice we have is what kind of impact will we make TODAY?
So as a gift to my Grandma (and Our Heavenly Father), join me today. Let us choose Love. Let us choose kindness. Let us choose hope. Let us model Faith. Let us be Christ for one another. Let the world see something so attractive that they want it too. Let us witness to something more than 8-4, 9-5, retirement accounts and self-indulgence (or even self-preservation!) Let us generously give of ourselves to other. Let’s show our worth…so others will know theirs.
I hope you never have
the unfortunate opportunity to see me singing in my car. I do it.
And I do it often.
Recently, I heard a
song released in 2018 and immediately, it launched me into carpool karaoke. The
song…Just
Give Me A Reason…sung by P!nk and Nate Ruess (see link below).
Almost as immediately,
my spiritual imagination focused on certain lyrics that made me think about the
meaning of Lent. There are phrases and
themes in this passionate song that I may return to, but the one upon which I
will focus, as we begin our Lenten journey, is the final line of the refrain…
We’re
not broken just bent
And
we can learn to love again
Things aren’t always
as they seem. For me and so many others I have encountered, it seems like
things are broken. That life is broken. End
of story…abuse, addiction, employment (un or under), fractured relationships,
health, hurts, losses, neglect, pains, regrets (and the list goes on). They can
make us feel broken and cut off. A
permanent state of separation, a real alone-ness. But things aren’t always as they seem…or
truly are. We are not broken, we are
temporarily bent.
So what is the reason
we make this Lenten journey…again and again and again?
Lent is a time to
remember. Lent is a time to stretch from
our temporary state of being bent by life’s challenges to the end of the story.
Love beckons us to the end of the God’s Love Story for us. God is desperately in Love with us. We need to remember that. We need to embrace that gift, that grace once
again.
Because we desperately
need to be reminded of the truth that WE CAN LEARN TO LOVE AGAIN..and we can
learn about the LOVE THAT KNOWS NO BOUNDS AND NO END.
1 John 4:9-11
In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another.
Let our journey begin…
Just give me a reason Lyrics by Alba Reche and Marta Sango
Right from the start, you were a thief You stole my heart And I your willing victim I let you see the parts of me And with every touch you fixed them
Now, you’ve been talking in your sleep Oh oh, things you never say to me Oh oh, tell me that you’ve had enough Of our love, our love
Just give me a reason Just a little bit’s enough Just a second, we’re not broken Just bent And we can learn to love again
It’s in the stars It’s been written in the scars on our hearts We’re not broken just bent And we can learn to love again
I’m sorry I don’t understand where All of this is coming from I thought that we were fine (Oh, we had everything) Your head is running wild again My dear, we still have everything And it’s all in your mind
You’ve been having real bad dreams Oh oh, there’s nothing more than empty sheets Between our love, our love
Just give me a reason Just a little bit’s enough Just a second, we’re not broken Just bent And we can learn to love again
Oh, tear ducts and rust I’ll fix it for us We’re collecting dust But our love’s enough You’re holding it in You’re pouring a drink No, nothing is as bad as it seems
Just give me a reason (a reason you give) Just a little bit’s enough (it’ll be enough) Just a second, we’re not broken Just bent And we can learn to love again
“Hey, give me 5 minutes”… “Take your time.”…”You can have all the time in the world” …”just let me know when you’re ready”… “I’m ready when you are.” Every use any of these phrases? Thinking about it, I think the longest I waited for someone was eight years—but that’s another story.
Advent is all about waiting — the four candles on the Advent wreath have a much deeper significance than marking the weeks until Christmas. The four candles stand in eternal testimony to waiting. The four candles symbolize the four thousand years of salvation history patriarchs judges kings prophets all expectant and marching toward the promised one, the Messiah.
So what are we waiting for? As we light one candle after another we expect and we march toward the messiah. And as We march together let us be like Him. He humbled himself—so must we empty ourselves of our singularity and embrace the community of grace. He forgave — then we must ask for that forgiveness and at the same time “forgive those who trespass against us”. And He was savior. And we must witness His saving presence to a hurting world.
We don’t march alone — the saints of old and of new guide us and illumine our way.
Remember back in the day when you would walk into your classroom and you would realize that it was set up for a film strip or movie? Oh the joy…the sweet relief of the modern technology of the 1970’s. It would take up the whole class period and would be a fantastic diversion from the routine.
Inevitably the picture would either be out of focus or need to be focused. And either the teacher or the “trusted” student would twist and turn the lens until it was just right … and if it wasn’t the voices of the class would begin to rumble.
It seems like things haven’t changed much. Our focus should be on the day to day journey from this world to the next…and as we wait, to do so “in joyful hope” for the return of Christ in Glory. But what do we end up doing? We hear the voices of the classroom. We focus on this passing world and all its allure and fading offerings. We look to our status, appearance, the next best thing to get or do. Sometimes it isn’t even that dramatic. Sometimes we float through this life with a selfish disinterest. As long as our needs are taken care of, we can pass by the stranger — if we even recognize them at all.
But it should be different for us who believe.
“So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.” Matt 24:44
We don’t know the hour…but we do know the reality…the promise that Christ will come again. Then here is the burning question of faith. What is keeping us from acting like it? What is keep us from sharing that joy? Sharing that hope? We live in a world so overexposed to the Google YouTube Twitter-verse that we fail at times to reflect something that is not only different, it is everlasting! Our relationship with God and His to us (pl) is eternal. Whether Christ comes tomorrow during the morning drive or waits another millennia or two matters not. What matters is this eternal divine relationship— and that We are people of that promise.
All week I’ve been thinking and praying about this past Sunday, the solemnity of Christ the king. The beauty of the preface to the Eucharistic prayer echoed throughout the week with a vision for what God desires His Kingdom to be, “ As king He claims dominion over all creation, that He may present to You, His almighty Father, an eternal and universal kingdom: a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love, and peace.”
As we then come full circle and begin the new liturgical year with the Advent season, perhaps we should pray over the vision of what God wants for us instead of what we this we need? That beautiful preface of Christ the king offers us four propositions to ponder; Jesus in His mission as Savior and Redeemer reveals to us the in reacting of an eternal and universal kingdom. One marked with truth and life; holiness and grace; and justice, love and peace.
This first week, let us look at what it means to be part of something eternal and universal. Reflect of the fact that the immortal invisible God invites us to share with Him what He intended from the beginning. His desire in creating us was for a relationship with Him that could never end. Not only that. The mystery of His relationship with us is that it is both particular and unique and at the same time inclusive and universal! The mystery of His love has no limitations or expectations. It is for everyone and in particular it is for you (and me).
Dear Lord, as we once again journey from the throne of your grace to the throne of your birth, help us to shed our expectations with its limits and conditions to embrace what you promises us…abundance and fullness. +Amen
