St. Joseph

Today is St. Joseph's feast day- in the Catholic tradition a feast day is a day to commemorate the great men and women we look to as role models of faith and devotion to God.
St. Joseph has been a favorite saint of mine since I was a teen and had a teen-aged girl revelation about the part he played in Jesus' life.  I realized that God gave St. Joseph the responsibility of providing for Mary and Jesus.   St. Joseph had to make sure Mary and Jesus had a place to live, food on the table, and the means to have all their earthly requirements met.  God entrusted His most precious Son to St. Joseph and St. Joseph in effect said, "Don't worry, I'll take good care of Him and his mother."
Sure St. Joseph had his doubts, but after a good night's rest (and a helpful dream) he was willing to take on the awesome responsibility God had given him.  I'm not sure I would be as accommodating. When I was in my teens what struck me most was St. Joseph's humility.  He did his job. We trust he did it quietly and without fanfare (not much is written about St. Joseph in the Bible, and he didn't keep a diary) and without thought of recompense ("Wow, God really owes me big time!  I'm going to have an extra large cloud when I get to Heaven!").  He just humbly and faithfully did what was asked of him.  In this day and age of everyone seemingly wanting their fifteen minutes of fame and recognition I bow to the quiet humility of dear St. Joseph.

Family Matters

My blogging history has been sketchy for the past few weeks because of numerous family issues.  That and the fact that I have over scheduled myself and so I don't have time to write in advance.  I have heard about a "servant's heart" before, but could it be that I might be developing one?  Jesus himself said that he had come to serve, not to be served- a radical idea at the time.  How could the Messiah be a servant to all?  How can we be a servant to all?  I know society pushes "taking time for yourself" and "making yourself a priority," but do these catch phrases have us focus inward too much?  Jesus told us to "love your neighbor as yourself"- taking our inward focus and directing it outward to others.  Lent is a perfect time to try to get outside yourself and use your energy to help others.  We're all brothers and sisters in Christ- time to attend to family matters!

Promises, Promises

It's the first week of Lent, and as usual I haven't locked down what I'm going to do for the next six weeks (give or take six days...).  The recommendation is to pray, fast and give alms.  I told myself I was going to add an evening meditation for my prayer, fast on Mondays and give to the homeless people I pass on the streets of my city.  Five days of Lent have passed, and my performance is spotty at best.  Should I chuck it all and give up??
Of course not! The beauty of Lent is that it's the time to work on what's keeping you (me, and everyone else) from being in full communion with God.  Sure I'll mess up from time to time, stop and start and stop and start again, but if I keep working at it I'll feel great by the time Easter is here.  Struggle is part and parcel of improvement.  So I'll keep at it- I hope you do too!
Here are some links to try out this Lent:
Daily Mass Readings:  http://www.usccb.org/bible Click on the calendar date to get the reading for the day
Meditation on the Daily Mass Readings:  http://www.m.wau.org/meditations
The Divine Office:  http://www.divineoffice.org

Here are some books to try:
A Page a Day for Lent  Paulist Press
The Little Black Book for  Lent   http://www.littlebooks.org  (available as an ebook too!)

More Than Meets The Eye

This past weekend I had some people approach me with the question, "Why can't I partake in Holy Communion?"  Some of these visitors to our church were baptized Catholics, but had not received the rest of the Sacraments, and some were non-Catholic Christians who participate in their communion service at their home church.
My answer to all of them was, "Because you really have to know what you are saying 'Yes' to when you receive Holy Communion in the Roman Catholic Church. You have to complete a series of classes and be aware of what the Eucharist really means."
A few years ago an associate pastor at our church was approached after a Mass by a visitor who proudly declared, "Ha ha! I just had Communion at your Church and I'm not even Catholic!  So there!"
The priest told the visitor that what they had in fact done was to say to God, "I'm in agreement with the teachings of the Catholic Church by partaking of the Sacrament of Communion."
The visitor was upset.  "I'm NOT in agreement with the teachings of the Catholic Church!  I don't believe what you believe at all!  How dare you say that!"
The priest explained that regardless of whether or not the visitor agreed with the Catholic Church, their actions said to God and to the community that they were in agreement.
This gives us all food for thought.  I know many Catholics who privately believe that the Eucharist and Precious Blood are 'just a representation,' of Christ's Body and Blood and I admit myself that it is difficult for me to wrap my mind around that mystery too.  The important thing is that we have to be mindful of what the Eucharist and Precious Blood are, and of what we are saying to God every time we receive Communion.

Money Where My Mouth Is

This Sunday is the kick-off of our ADA (Annual Diocesan Appeal) drive.  I was going to spare you the details and just write about the Sunday readings, but I thought this might be a good time to look at the practical side of running a church and a diocese (jurisdiction of churches headed by a bishop).
Let's face it, the Church doesn't run on spirit alone- it does take money to keep it staffed and the lights on.  Priests need to eat, the staff needs to make a living, churches and rectories need maintenance and repair.  Religion (and life) ain't cheap!!
My pastor said that he realizes that our contributions do require some sacrifice from us, especially in these economic times.  Hey- my husband is making $40,000 less than he was last year, believe me, contributing to the Church isn't as easy as it used to be.  We do try to actually tithe: give 10% of our income, but there are times that is just too difficult.  We feel it's important to donate to the Church to show ourselves where our priorities lie.  We live as simply as we can, within our means, and we try to focus on spiritual growth, family, friends, and helping others.  The comfort our religion gives us is more important than other things we could be spending our money on, (although we have our little luxuries- don't get me wrong- we're not hermits!!) and so we make it a point to make regular donations to the Church and a couple of charities.  Have we scaled our donations back?  You bet!  Have we at times had to skip a donation or two because times were too tight?  Absolutely!  When times get better we will ramp our donations up accordingly, but for us the important thing is that we contribute to the upkeep and care of what is important to us.  Food for thought!

Follow Me?

Following seems such an easy thing to do these days.  We can follow complete strangers on Twitter with little to no risk- just click the Follow button and we get to read their thoughts and feelings.  We don't have to interact with them if we don't want to, and even if they ask us to do something- we can ignore their requests.
Following Jesus isn't so easy!  Sunday's Gospel (Mark 1:14-20) again deals with the disciples deciding to follow Jesus.  This time Jesus says, "Come after me..."   and the disciples go- no questions asked it seems.  Almost as easy as following someone on Twitter isn't it?  Except that the disciples had to leave everything they had- homes, families, friends, and follow a man who was controversial, radical, and challenged everything they knew.  Would we have gone so easily?
Do we take time to really think about what and who we're following today?  We may follow political parties, our friends, TV shows with ease, but when it comes to committing to following Jesus we balk.  What does truly following Jesus mean?
Read the lives of saints- the way is not easy, but it is spiritually rewarding.  God asks us to do what we can- and I think something we can all do is to really look at who and what we're following.  Are we better people for it?  I'm making my list right now- I have some thinking to do.

Good Year

It's a new year and a new liturgical season, so it's a great time to ponder the big questions: where am I going and what am I doing here?  This past Sunday's gospel (John 1:35- 42) touched on these questions when John, Andrew and Peter began to follow Jesus.  In other Gospels Jesus calls the disciples, "Come, follow me," but in John's Gospel these three disciples just started to follow Jesus as though they were compelled to be with Him.  Their hearts and souls recognized Jesus as God and Savior.
"I'm going with Jesus and I'm doing God's work." WGooouldn't it be wonderful to be able to give these answers simply and boldly?  Since most of us are not privileged to be able to directly converse with God, the best we can do is read the Bible, pray for guidance, and consult trusted advisors.  If we diligently do these things and listen for God's "still, small voice" in our hearts and souls, then it will be a good year indeed.