Preparations

Amidst the craziness of the preparations for the coming Christmas season and all that will take place, many people, I am sure, have been reflecting on the most appropriate way to prepare our hearts and our minds for what is to come, and I am going to share some thoughts I have had.

More specifically than my thoughts, I guess, I will start with thoughts shared with me recently by my Bishop, the Bishop of Pittsburgh David Zubik. He was speaking of forgiveness, and he was talking about the story (or stories) in the Gospel of a sheep leaving the flock and the Shepherd going after the sheep to get them. He said that (I trust this to be accurate, although it doesn't really matter as it is simply a cool reflection) when a sheep runs away from the flock and from the shepherd, it will eventually realize that it was wrong, realize that it is no longer next to its shepherd, and it will freeze. The sheep, scared about the fact that the world no longer seems to make sense without the guiding voice of a shepherd, will simply stay in place and wait for the shepherd to come and pick it up and bring it back to the flock. We must be this sheep, he said; we must freeze and wait for the shepherd; we must realize that we have done wrong and stop moving away from our Shepherd. He seeks to bring us back, all we have to do is admit that we were wrong, and the first step in this many times is simply to stop.

Looking ahead to Christmas, this takes on a particular meaning. In the world, every single sheep had turned its back. Through the sin that plagued and still plagues the world, all of the sheep had, to some degree, turned and run from the loving God who created them and gave them life. Then, just as Christ told us and just as had been foretold in the prophets, the Shepherd came to bring us back.

The strange thing, though, was how He did it-the Shepherd didn't come looking like He would conquer, as the people expected. The Shepherd came humbly. The Shepherd came into the world born of a Woman, born as a tiny infant laid in a manger. What a holy night that truly was, and what a beautiful image it is for us to realize that our Shepherd has come to bring us back, and has come in the form of a little boy.

For me, this Christmas, and the Advent season we are in leading up to it, must be about freezing. I must realize the areas of my life where I have run away so rapidly from the voice of the Shepherd and let Him come to get me. You see, I already know how it ends. He does come. He lives. He teaches. And then, most radically, He dies a horrendous death to bring me back. And it does bring me back. And so this Christmas I must freeze, and I must look upon that little boy. He is coming into the world out of love for me. He is coming as my Shepherd knowing what He has to do bring me back-He picks me up, but in order to really be able to bring me back He has to pick up that cross and die so that He can conquer sin and death and I no longer have to be afraid of running away for I know that He is chasing me and coming after me at every turn.

So this Advent and Christmas season I must freeze. Through the business and the celebrations, all of which are good, I must and I will take time to ponder that little infant child born on that night for the salvation of the world, and I must stop to let Him be born into my very heart in a new and a unique way.

May that Child bless each one of us as we freeze to let Him into our lives this year.

A Thank You

This past week contained many many many things to be thankful for. Much was said about it all, I'm sure. The social media sphere was teeming with pictures of dinners eaten with family and friends amid joy, love, and doubtless arguments which came up over dinner.

For my family, there was even more to be thankful for. Not only did we have the pleasure of enjoying this great American feast together, but then we gathered back together days later to pray and celebrate at a family wedding.

For me, there was even more to be thankful for, as the week contained reunions with multiple people whom I haven't seen in far too long.

For everyone in my generation, these last couple days have brought something else to be thankful for, as it was officially announced that Girl Meets World would be happening (while much less serious, this story absolutely needed to be mentioned here).

All of this and so much more got me to thinking-what does it mean to be thankful? Why are we truly grateful? Much has been said on this by many people smarter than me, but I thought I'd write out a couple of thoughts anyway.

It seems in many ways in today's society that Thanksgiving is a one-day thing which is purely there to eat too much food in order to have the energy to spend a lot of money we don't have the next day. Don't get me wrong, I don't just want to bash on modern culture. Sales are good, there is no problem with Black Friday shopping as is. What is a problem, though, is a mentality that we don't need to give thanks every day.

And so, for me, it means this: every single day when I wake up I need to take time to realize that the God who breathed the stars into existence (Psalm 33:6) and holds all life in place (Colossians 1:17) has decided that for one more day I should wake up and enjoy His marvelous creation. This is one more day that I have been given to love, to serve, to follow. This is one more day where I have a chance to truly live, to truly be thankful because without the love of God I would: a. truly not exist but even if I did somehow exist b. my life would be pointless. Don't misunderstand that-there are a lot of good things in this world, and life itself is a wonderful gift, but this gift comes THE gift-giver. The One who gives life to all things in the universe is the same one who came down and died for me, and every day I have the chance to behold His creation, and not only that but I also have the most amazing privilege of coming into relationship with Him and even receiving His very flesh and blood in the Eucharist.

So yeah, there are some things I am thankful for. I simply pray for the grace to remember every day how truly grateful I need to be.

Moving Forward

The days since the election have been filled with one person reflecting on our nation and where we go from here after another, and since I claim to be no expert on politics and government I will not try to do that. Along with that, one person after another has spoken of the difficulties facing the Church in the future, specifically as regards religious freedom, the fight to defend human life, and the fight to defend the sanctity of marriage, so I will not speak on those as I am also no expert in any of those topics.

In fact, I am no expert on any topic; but that won't stop me from giving a quick little reflection on what is on my mind. Four years ago when our President Obama was elected a dear friend of mine Fr. Conrad Harkins, OFM spent about 1/2 hour in every single homily for the next 2 months (and this is not an exaggeration, if you know him you'll understand) reflecting on the state of the Church and the nation. His reflections were simple: "convert the hearts of the people, and they will smash their own idols." This was the idea with which Franciscan missionaries had managed to enter new worlds which were hostile to outsiders and not only manage to avoid martyrdom, but also manage to convert a vast majority of the people and allow the Good News of Jesus Christ to take hold. Why, he would ask, do we think that electing a public official or changing a policy will work in the long run? Yes, these things are important, but the only way to actually change the world in which we live is to change hearts. The only way we can affect anything is to love, and to do so by helping those we encounter to come to know the Truth of Jesus Christ.

The world we are in doesn't need politicians. It doesn't need political activists. Don't get me wrong, some people are called to work in those fields, and are very important to the political landscape. The political sphere, however, is not going to change in our nation if we are not actively working to change hearts, and the only way that we can actively work to change hearts is by becoming saints. Saint Francis set out to re-build the Church physically, and learned that he had to continue to give himself over in radical poverty to an all-loving God and help others to do the same, and in re-building the Church this way he would have great success.

Pope Benedict XVI has repeatedly called situation in our world a move towards a "dictatorship of relativism" wherein we see the hearts and minds of the people in our world controlled by a 'do whatever feels good' fallacy that leaves us broken and wanting. Simply attacking that lifestyle, however, will not bring change; it will bring a harsh reaction that pulls more people away from Christ than leads them to Him. Our response must be one of swift action: pray. Not just pray for our nation and pray for laws. In fact, those need to take a backseat. Pray that our hearts might be changed. That our hearts might be set ablaze. That our hearts might long for a radical communion with a God who spends each moment seeking us and desiring us to invite Him into the sort of intimate communion for which we were created. Pray that we would come to know God and to let His message permeate our lives, and then live as if He actually has changed us, and watch the world around us begin to change.

Carpe Diem

Recently I stumbled upon this passage in the Gospel of Mark: "And Jesus said to them, 'Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men (Mark 1:17, RSV)'" and I immediately thought to myself: "okay cool moving on now I've heard that a million times." But then something made me stop; the wording was different than I had always thought of it. I always read: "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men," but instead it seems Jesus had inserted that pesky little word 'become.'  When I thought about that word I came to realize that it's not a misplaced word or just a random little word that doesn't affect the story at all; in fact, it seems to me that it completely changes the story.

Now often times when we read this story we hear Jesus saying "I will make you fishers of men"  just like in our lives we hear the call to come back to Christ as "I will make you happy," "I will make all of your problems disappear," "I will make you get the job of your dreams," etc. We think it's all about what Jesus is immediately going to do in our lives; it's like a cause and effect thing: you come to follow Jesus, and everything goes well. If Christ asks you to do something, you will automatically do it well, without ever really having to do any work at it. We buy into this notion of the health and wealth Gospel telling us that once we accept Christ into our life everything automatically works out.

Now, don't get me wrong; some of this might be true. Jeremiah 29:11 says: "For I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for welfare and not for woe" and this might actually be literal welfare He is talking about-for many of us, things might turn around and get better in a temporal way when we start to live for Christ. There is, however, another viable option for us: John 16:33-"I have said this to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."

It is very possible, and in fact it seems much more likely when we read the Gospels (see: Luke 9:23, Matthew 10:38, etc.) that we are going to be called to suffer, to sacrifice, to die to ourselves in order worthily follow Christ. And while that seems said, it's why He said what He did above in John: "but be of good cheer (also translated: take courage! take heart! have no fear! etc.), I have overcome the world;" He conquered death and sin and trouble, so we have nothing to fear! This doesn't mean, however, that everything will work out-quite possibly it means something very different, and yet it means that we can have hope because we are not made for this world. I believe it was G.K. Chesterton (and perhaps in Orthodoxy) who wrote that our questioning of time ("why does time go so fast?" "where has the time gone?" "why can't we just have a little bit more time?") shows that we were not made for time, for you don't see a fish desiring to be out of water, since it was made for water. Our constant desire not to be bound by time shows that we were not meant for time, but rather we were made for eternity; therefore, even if do experience trouble in this world, it doesn't matter! The best is yet to come.

So, back to the beginning, what does this all have to do with that pesky word 'become' that caused me to pause on a passage in Mark that I have heard many times previously? It was the fact that I had seen things always with the false worldview of "when I choose to follow Christ, He will immediately make things better." When He says become, He is making a very important point to them-they will become fishers of men, they will do amazing things through His lead and example, but this is something that they will not simply be, but rather have to become. They will have to move forward, through His grace and through His inspiration, and they will have to be willing to change and to grow in order to become what He wants them to be.

Many times, I think this concept of growing over time scares us. We want to live our faith on the surface, and hope everything is just fine without ever really diving into it (watch this video because it's funny, but also because they talk about spiritual growth being painful and therefore avoiding it); we want Jesus to call us to do something great for Him and then just do it in us so that we never have to fail or feel any sort of growing pains. Christ, however, is very specific here, and the Disciples come with Him; He says He will make them to become Fishers of men; He is going to do the brunt work, but we still have to cooperate, and it's still going to take time.

So go ahead, drop your nets like the Disciples. Carpe Diem, seize today, live for Christ in a way you haven't before; it might hurt a little, and it won't be easy, but you will receive joy and peace that pass all human understanding (Philippians 4:7) as you begin to live for what you were made for-eternity.

And to conclude, just cause it's awesome:

And that is precisely what Christianity is about. The world is a great sculptor's shop. We are the statues and there is a rumor going around the shop that some of us are some day going to come to life. ---C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity 

Love...Or fake it.

The great C.S. Lewis once stated "Do not waste time bothering whether you 'love' your neighbour; act as if you did." [in Mere Christianity, Chapter 9]. Shortly after, he explains that if you do this, you find out the great secret of love: if you pretend to love someone, or act as if you actually love them, you'll eventually start to actually love them.


When I was reading this the other day, I was struck by how profound and yet simple this was. We spend so much time in our world trying to figure out what love really means; how we do it, what it really looks like, what it actually is, etc. Why? It doesn't matter. We are called to love. Period. End of story. Not to love when it feels good, not to love when it's easy, but simply to love.

Then, I went to mass today and heard the words of Christ in the Gospel of Luke Chapter 8, Verse 18, where He says: "for to him who has more will be given..." While this verse can surely speak about multiple things, it seems to speak quite directly to this fact that C.S. Lewis was trying to get at, which Mother Theresa explains by saying that she had found a great paradox, which is that "if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only love." At mass, then, my pastor explained this same thing from the Gospel: the more you love, the more love you have to give. [for to him who has more will be given]. It's not something that runs out; our vocation as Christians [or, probably more appropriately, as human beings] is to love, and so we can never love too much.

We can love in the wrong way [see: modern culture] by being self-centered with our "love", but we can not possibly love too much. Often in today's world it seems that love is a feeling which could be substituted for passion; love is something we feel, and we act in response to this feeling of love overtaking us. Love for our neighbour [that is: everyone], however, should have nothing to do with a feeling. As the 1st Century philosopher Seneca [who may or may not have looked like that guy below] said: "wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for kindness." As 2Thessalonians points out, we are never to "be weary in well-doing;" simply put, we should love those we encounter.

I have previously remarked on the importance of love here, but now I have been given a new challenge: to love someone, whether or not I love them. In fact, the challenge here is to love them specifically when I don't really feel any sort of love for them, or at least to stop caring whether I love them, and just start loving. Love is a decision, not a feeling.

The OC and love

As I was watching the OC the other day (laugh if you want to, that's fine. And yes I do mean this television show) I was reflecting upon the interactions that we have with one another and on the way that we live our faith. Yes, as crazy as it might sound to those of you who (possibly rightfully) hate that show, even in its often misconstrued idea of morality the OC has taught me a lot about what it means to be a person and what it means to be a Christian. This time, what I was reflecting on was the importance that one person can have in the lives of another. In this show, for those of you unfamiliar, one person comes into the lives of a whole bunch of others through what seems like random chance (clearly we know better) and completely changes each one of them. While this one person has his own issues and idiosyncrasies and sometimes causes problems, his presence in the lives of those he encounters is overall a positive presence. Seeing how Ryan Atwood (this guy) affects the lives of all of these people whom he came to know simply because he ended up in jail (I'm not kidding) made me think of the way that the Lord uses others to speak to me and me to speak to others. Scary, yes. Encouraging, yes. Challenging, definitely.

This got me thinking, though, how do I impact others? When I meet them, what do they think? Do I show them love? Then I was reading an article very randomly which talked about a scene from Terrence Malick's movie, called Tree of Life (I haven't seen the movie, don't know anything about it), where the director shows an encounter between two dinosaurs. This scene, as was explained by one of the people who worked on it, was meant to show a moment where the animals learn compassion and love for the first time; in the original screenplay, Malick wrote "Is not love, too, a work of the creation? What should we have been without it?" In the rest of the article (here it is, you can see the video clip there too), they discuss the reality of love and compassion being realized by dinosaurs, and come to the logical scientific conclusion that they wouldn't have shown compassion like humans, they don't do that. The point, though, seems clear; love itself is written into creation. Love ought to be the basis of human interactions; love, and not emotion or instinct, is what should drive how we treat those we encounter.

In the OC (yes, back to that), the people often get confused and forget to act in love; this is understandable, as they have all been raised to seek their own well-being (at least on a societal level). In my life, then, I must think about what acting in love means, and how I can do it successfully, since it is obvious as Malick pointed out that love is a work of the creation, and, even more specifically, of the Creator. Then, today, on the feast of the Martyrdom of John the Baptist, our Holy Father reflected on this topic, on how John the Baptist shows us what it means to live for Christ. The Pope tells us that celebrating this feast we must remember that "we cannot accept compromise about the love of Christ, His word, His truth." He emphasized the part about truth; in living the Christian life, our Holy Father points out, "the truth is the truth and there is no compromise." In order to live in and teach others about this truth, Pope Benedict says, John the Baptist had a deep life of prayer, knowing that "prayer isn't time wasted; it does not steal time away from work--even apostolic work." No matter how important our work, and nothing is important than the work of courageously witnessing to the love of God every day, prayer is more important. We must rely on prayer. The Pope reminds us in this audience (summary is here) that if we have a faithful commitment to prayer, God will be our strength to witness to Him courageously.

So what does this all mean? For me, it means I must commit to prayer, knowing that I want to stay faithful to Christ's truth in order to witness to Him in love for every person that I encounter. If I commit to prayer, He will be my strength. He will give me the courage to commit to truth, and therefore to witness to Him, for nothing is a better witness to Christ than to live in love for His truth, and therefore to love every person.

Mary our Mother, light up the darkness

So I am sitting here enjoying this feast day (it is the feast of the Assumption of Mary!) and was just reflecting on the power of the intercession of Mary and her ability to influence our culture, while also reading about tragedies like this one taking place in our world today (and praying for all of those suffering in that and all of the other tragedies around our world). And then I was thinking about the title of this blog (which happens to come from this song. And yes it is actually called it must really suck to be four year strong, which is the name of the band-they explain it here if you'd like to find out) and how fitting that phrase is to reflect on today, in 2012. While I don't necessarily (or usually) agree with that band on a lot of their worldviews, these lines particularly stuck out to me...why? Because it is our call...we are to evangelize (root word means, roughly, to bring the Gospel) our culture and the world around us. The world is dark, and our job as Christians (or just as human beings, if you prefer) is to be a light to those we encounter and to the culture as a whole.

Now, as to why it is so fitting to reflect on this today, the feast of Mary's Assumption into heaven. I won't attempt to spell out a theological explanation of the Assumption here, but if you want you can read what Pope Pius XII said in defining it here, or read Mark Hart of LifeTeen explain it in some more simple terms here, but for the sake of this reflection we will assume that Mary was in fact assumed into heaven (pun intended-if you're still confused, listen to Dr. Scott Hahn explain it here). So, since we now know that she was Assumed into heaven (just for kicks), now let's talk about why it so uplifting in a culture where it is hard to always see light.

When Mary was Assumed into heaven, she was receiving the rewards promised to each one of us by the free gift of Christ on the cross. Since she had been Immaculately Conceived (yes that's about Mary not Jesus, go back to Mark Hart if you're confused), Mary received these gifts differently. The hope for us, then, is that like her, we have the promise of eternal life with her Son in a very unique way. We have been given, by the grace of the cross, the ability to not suffer an eternal death, but rather receive the free gift of eternal life. So, when it looks dark in our culture, we ALWAYS have hope. John 1 says that the light has shined into the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it; Mary, for us, is that light. On the cross Christ gave her to us as our mother, and so the hope that came into the world through her is now offered to each one of us. Not bad, huh?

So, a few years later, I now realize why I called the blog what I did. I was traveling to Europe at the time and just thought it was fitting that one of my favorite bands had released a sweet song about going into the unknown and lighting up the darkness. What I found when I got there, came back, and kept living my life, is this: we all need to do our part to light up the darkness. If you are a light, if you are love, you will bring light. Watch this. What Will Smith quotes there is exactly what we are talking about-you can cure racism, you can cure hate, you can end terrorism, but it has to start with the individual person, not taking a second to stop. And that sounds really really tough. And that is why Mary is such an example. She said Yes. She blindly accepted the call of God for her. She walked with her Son all the way until the cross. She did not give up when it got tough. And then she was assumed body & soul into heaven, where she lives for all eternity with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And we, through her yes, and through the free gift of God the Father to give His Son, the free gift of the Son to die for us, and the free gift of the Holy Spirit to be with us each day, now have the ability to follow her into that eternal joy in the Kingdom of Heaven.

So today, we should celebrate life, celebrate joy, celebrate our Blessed Mother, and through her today and every day we should have hope. Hope that no matter how dark the world seems, the light shines into the darkness and darkness will never overcome it-we win. The end.

P.s. Bob Marley later became a Christian. I like to make sure people know that. He didn't just keep smoking weed his whole life. He was baptized on his death bed into the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, although he had even wanted to be baptized before that. If you're interested read BadCatholic talk about that and some other stuff right here.

Let love be sincere

Recently I flew across the country for the wedding of two dear friends from college. This is always a fascinating experience because it is a time when we reunite with old friends, make new ones, experience a friend's family and environment, and see a new part of the country. As I did this I was struck by the daily encounters and opportunities we have to practice what St. Paul advises here, to let our love be sincere [Romans 12:9]. In this case, it was opportunities with old friends and some new, but also opportunities with those I drove next to on the highway, the workers at men's warehouse who took my money (lots of it) to rent a tux, or even simply the random people we would encounter in the hotel elevator. Our world is so constantly in motion around us that we don't often notice these people, acknowledge them, or seek to love them. When we hear Scripture call us to love, we embrace the call as being towards our families, friends, and loved ones. How often, though, do we love those whom we only have one brief moment to encounter?

Our world is so broken and in need of love...do we bring that love? Tertullian, a man who lived a long time ago, remarked that the pagans were amazed at how the Christians loved one another. Today, this is still obvious; the question is whether we love those who we encounter outside of our church, those who may or may not believe what we do. In a world suffering from loneliness, brokenness, sadness, and despair we as Christians are to be a light. Christians should live in a way that joy and love flow forward from us, that even those we encounter briefly may know we are Christians by our love; not a superficial love reserved for certain people, but rather a deep love knowing that the perfect love of Christ has "cast out all fear." (1John 4:18) Often in the modern world the Church is seen as restrictive and no fun; do our lives reflect the joy and love of Christ in a way that counteracts this? Let us allow the love of God to penetrate our lives so deeply that we don't have to be downcast or run from the world, but that our presence in it would help all the people we encounter to know Jesus.

The poet W.H. Auden wrote "Love or perish." In a world so desperately in need of love, are we being that love, or are we letting ourselves perish? As Mitch Albom wrote in Tuesdays with Morrie, "Love wins. Love always wins." If we let love be the light in the darkness of our world, then the light truly will shine through the darkness (John 1:5). "A hero can be anyone. Even a man doing something as simple and reassuring as putting a coat around a little boy's shoulders to let him know that the world hadn't ended." (Batman, The Dark Knight Rises). Loving everyone is what will allow us to be a hero to a world in need of light.