Alms, Fasting and Prayer

        The 3 keys to Lenten observance have traditionally been: Almsgiving, Fasting, and Prayer. Let’s take a look at these actions and see why they have always been the hallmark of this time of preparation. Let’s see if our understanding of these is true. Or, have we allowed ourselves to be lulled into a false sense of what we think they are.

        In these days of tight money, almsgiving seems to be put on the back burner. I will get around to it, when I am able. I can’t meet my own bills. I can’t possibly do anything at this time. These are all very understandable, but must almsgiving only be money? Think of people’s needs and ask yourself a question, “Is everything that people need always monetary?” What do people need besides money? People, all people, need friendship, love, and understanding. Their needs may be a car ride, a baby sitter, food shopping, or your companionship. There are many ways to help people, but the key is… to look at them, to understand them, to be empathetic. To see a person’s need, one must first see the person. THIS is where Christianity comes in. THIS is what makes almsgiving, a loving action. It is much easier to whip out a dollar and give it to someone. You could almost do it without even seeing their face, but there is nothing in the action that says, “I really care about you”. Lent is a time of caring, of loving, of joy.

        Fasting is something that we can strive to do, but depending on our circumstances of health, age, and dietary needs we may not be able to pursue this with much vitality. We also may like our food and drink too much and are reluctant to do without it. What is fasting? Our immediate thoughts think of doing without, of deprivation, of limiting our intake of food and drink. Is this really what fasting is all about? Why do we fast? This question hits at the heart of the concept of fasting. In fasting, we are trying to join our lives with Jesus’. He suffered and died for us, we want to show Him in some way that we understand, we appreciate, we try to emulate. But can I fast without food? Doing without our convenience, our special time for us, or our comfort: these can all be examples of fasting, as well. BUT… doing without just for the sake of doing without is meaningless. Why do I allow myself to be inconvenienced? What am I doing now with my special time? What is happening that I allow myself to be put into an uncomfortable position? If the answer to these questions is: “I was helping someone else” then our fasting was truly Christian. Lent is a time of caring, of loving, of joy.

        This leaves us with… Prayer. There are so many ways to pray, so many ways to lift our hearts and minds to God, that it should be an easy task. But it isn’t…why? Prayer always seems like a chore, why is that? I don’t have the time. It seems so repetitive. Same words all the time, it just isn’t me. The excuses go on and on and on. Stop for a moment. Look into your soul. Think of a prayer right now, any prayer, any style, any manner and then look at what you feel, see the emotions that arise within you. What are those feelings? Boredom? Disinterest? Sigh? Tired? Again, already? Maybe we don’t really know how to pray. Maybe we really don’t know what prayer is. Maybe we really don’t know Who it is that we are talking with. Each time we go to church we kneel down and begin to pray. What do we say? The old standbys of Our Father, Hail Mary and the Glory be, the Act of Contrition? We seem to have said them so often that they are almost meaningless to us anymore. Prayer is a conversation with our God: Father, Son, and Spirit.

        To God, our Creator, thank you. Thank you for your love of me. Thank you for hanging in there with me. Thank you for all that you have given me. Thank you for all that you have not given me. You care for me as a loving parent. I hope I can become worthy of your love for me.

        To God, our Redeemer, thank you. I thank you for showing me with your life how I am to live mine. You showed me with your care of others how much you care for me. You are with me every step of the way, even when I forget that you are there. Thank you for your love for me.

        To God, the Spirit of Love, thank you. Thank you for all the times you guided me, even though I just thought it was a coincidence. Thank you for the flame of love you have given me in my heart. May I always be willing to give that flame to others.

Our (Lenten) Offerings?

         I took my own advice from yesterday’s blog and went to Mass this morning. It has been a long time since I have attended a weekday Mass. Anyway, after kneeling down in the pew, before Mass, I began …absent mindedly… to recite the Act of Contrition. This is a ritual that I always do before the Mass starts. During it, my mind runs over the sins, transgressions, acts of impatience, unkindness, and all the rest of the little shop of horrors of my past life. It is like I am saying to God, “Here I am, and in case you forgot…I am the one that did these things.” Well, this morning, as I was going through my little ritual, a thought popped into my head. Why am I saying I am sorry for all of these things? I am, but I already confessed them. Some, I even confessed multiple times. Christ said, “That once a sin is confessed and forgiven in the sacrament of Reconciliation… it is FORGOTTEN by Him”.
         This started me on a new line of thinking, before Mass, today. Do I think that Christ really didn’t forgive me when I confessed these sins? Do I trust Him or don’t I? If I was sorry, which I was, if I intended to not do them again, which I meant at that time (even though I might have slipped up afterwards) … then I was truly forgiven. It is over. This is not a time for moaning and groaning over milk that been spilled and wiped up? Why am I here today, right now? The Mass, the most perfect of prayers, is about to begin. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, his offering of himself up to his heavenly Father for our transgressions will be celebrated once again. What is my part in all of this?
         We listen to readings from the Old and New Testaments. We hear about God’s love and tenderness for His people. We hear of Jesus’ life and what it means to us and our relationship with God. We hear the Word of God stream out of the Bible. These are the very words, which we heard a long time ago, and told us that Catholicism, Christianity was something special to us. Something stirred inside our heart.
         And so, we hear God’s Word and try to identify some aspect of our own lives to which it has meaning. We then express our own beliefs to all present, when we recite The Creed. And then… The Offertory follows. Unfortunately, we tend to think of it as the “collection”. But it is just this, “The Offertory”, which concerns us most intimately. Without realizing its significance, we think of it as merely, “the Collection”. Believe it or not, it is actually symbolic of what the Offertory really is. We take something of our lives and place it in the hands of the celebrant, and together with the bread on the paten and the wine in the chalice is offered to God as our combined sacrifice. This is the moment of truth. This is the time we acknowledge that we need Christ’s action, but would like to offer something of our own as well, imperfect as it is.
         So here I am waiting for the beginning of Mass and what am I doing? Recounting past offenses? How much better would it be to think of things positive that I can do today, or this week and offer them as my symbol of my love for Jesus. It can be my thank you to Him. People are people. They are not obstacles, they are suffering, hurting, hoping individuals. “But what can we do?” we ask. We can cry with them. We can offer our hand in friendship to them. We can see their need and help them. And, when we run out of opportunities to assist, we can always pray for them. Who in the Church around us (including ourselves) does not need our prayers? Which leaders of our government do not need our prayers, in today’s topsy-turvy world? Name one country in the world, today, that does not need divine assistance with the handling of its problems. So, there is a lot that we can do. Before Mass, we can try to assess what qualities we have and can use for others. This is a much more positive way to prepare for the divine banquet we are about to attend, than thinking of past offenses. In offering our daily lives as prayer for others, we are saying “Yes” to everything Jesus preached, here on earth. We are putting our life on the paten with the knowlege that coupled with Christ’s life, it will be pleasing to our God

Lent 2012

       Tomorrow is the beginning of Lent, forty days before the Resurrection of Christ. The Church, which is the people of God, which is made up of you and me, we use this time to prepare ourselves for Easter. Very often that preparation consists of what can I give up? The concept is correct, but sometimes for all the wrong reasons. We, I know I do, often look at this, as a time to make ourselves miserable. Let’s see, I can give up chocolate… I love chocolate. I will deny myself a second helping… I need to lose weight, anyway. I will watch less TV… I can read instead.

       The concept of Lent is denial; that is true. But the emphasis is in order to get ready for the Resurrection of Jesus, we must die to ourselves. This is a time of preparation. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, a day when Christian Catholics have the ashes from last year’s Palm Sunday placed on our foreheads. With this action the words are said, “Remember man that you are dust and unto dust you will return.” It may seem morbid, but really it is a reminder that now is the time to think about the goodness of God, the joy of Christianity, the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God. Our life on earth is merely a time of preparation. It is not the end, not the purpose of our existence. We are not here to cram every possible good feeling into our life. God has placed us here, because He loves us. He wants us to be united with Him. But, He has given us the freedom of choice. He wants it to be something that we desire, too. Only with the fire of His love burning within us, can we really die to ourselves.

       So this dying to ourselves what does it mean? What can I do? We think of negatives. Give this up. Don’t do this. Stay away from that. Dying to ourselves does not have to be a negative. Let’s see people as persons who need us, but are afraid, or ashamed to ask. Help them, in whatever way we can. Let’s see the evil in this world, not as the horrible thing that it is, but as a reminder to us that our lives should be filled with prayers for everyone in the world. Let’s make the effort to pray more. What better way than to go to Mass on a daily basis during Lent. (If this is viewed as a negative…I don’t want to, I like to sleep, I don’t have the time… then we don’t understand the nature and beauty of Mass.)

       In short, dying to ourselves is really dying to the ways of the world, dying to the ways we may have become accustomed to living. For these forty days, let’s think of some aspect of our life that we can make more positive, more Christian and less of ourselves. I would ask everyone at this time to pray the Chaplet on a daily basis. Pray it for yourself and your family. Pray it for the Church. Pray it for the people in our nation. Pray it for the world. Every one of the above are struggling, hurting and in need of the prayers.The Chaplet is much shorter than the rosary. If you are unaware of what it is, may I suggest that you click on the words: “The Divine Mercy Chaplet and Novena” at the top of this page. Have a happy, love-filled Lent.

Death: How We Deal With It

         It seems that the last six months has been my families’ turn to be in the barrel. During this time multiple deaths have occurred in our family and to our acquaintances. Three uncles have passed away; one was in his nineties, and two of them, in their eighties. A close friend who I golfed with and became quite close to has joined our Maker. And most recently an in-law has been tragically snatched in the prime of his life, while serving his fellow man as an EMT. I know they say we wait for the other shoe to drop…but in this case it seems like an octopus is removing those shoes. How can I make jokes during such a tragic time? Let me explain.

         After each death, I fruitlessly tried to understand the why, the reason they had to die. In so doing, I could not help but look back and remember each person as they were. The more I thought about their lives, what they did, how they lived, how good it was to be around them the more inspired I became. Without faith, we can only see the absurdity of death. It is meaningless. It is tragic. We sense only the loss that we feel. It is human to mourn. It is natural to mourn. I would even say that, at times, the mourning process can actually be therapeutic.

         But the end of the mourning process does not mean we stop thinking about our loved ones. The memories that we have will, and should, remain with us, always. And in those memories our loved one stays with us always. Just as we knew the love that we had for each in life, so too, we know the other still exists in death, because of that same love. We can cherish the time we had together, the shared memories, the shared love. Why? How can this be? If we believe that a person named Jesus walked this earth…, if we believe that He came to show us how to live…, if we believe that He overcame death to show us that there is more to life than what exists here on earth, then that belief, that faith tells us these good people are truly with God, as we sit here and think about them. Yes, it is natural to mourn, but it is divine to be thankful for what we experienced with our loved one. I believe Lord, help my unbelief.

         So how can I speak in humor at a time like this? My faith tells me that these people, these relatives and friends, ALL good people, are now with God. Creation has come full circle. God has brought them back to Himself. They have fought the good fight. They have run the race. They have won the laurel wreath of victory. Each mother and father holds their loved ones close to them. And, God, our Father, has once again wrapped His arms around them. We will miss them, yes, but we can be glad for them. Do not mourn for them. They are with us still, because they are with God, who is with us always.

Valentine’s Day and God

         I wish I could give you a reason why I have not written for such a long time. The truth is I can’t. I can only say, “I am sorry”. Days turned into weeks, and weeks, into months. The longer I stayed away, the more difficult it was for me to return. The more embarrassed I became over my inertia. This embarrassment, itself, became an obstacle to overcome as well. I was, and still am, embarrassed.  I wish I could point to something like… a dark night of the soul. At least then, it would seem to be more understandable. At least to me it would. It would have a kind of nobility about it. But that is not the case. I cannot, even now, put my finger on it.
         Today is Valentine’s Day, a day when we open our hearts to those we care about. This seems like a perfect day to renew again a friendship that started almost two years ago. That is how long TheSteppingStones has existed. I will try to be more consistent, more faithful to this blog site and to you, the readership.
             Valentine’s Day is a day we think of chocolates, rings, gifts, undying love, and marriage proposals. One more affection we should think of today …God’s love for us. He has created this world and the order in it. All life has its existence because of God’s love. What is man that You are mindful of him, Oh Lord? We all know of the account of creation spoken of in the Old Testament. Do we think of this as a nice little story? A poetic way of looking at mankind’s existence?  If we have no faith, no belief in God then that is about the only way we can look at this narrative.
                 But our faith says otherwise. God does exist. His infinite goodness means He is pure love. We can say that because love is a good thing, and if He is infinite goodness, then He is infinite love, as well. This infinite-love-Being created the planets and all life. Why? What for? For His own amusement? Much like a child plays with ants until he grows tired of them? This does not sound like an all-loving Being to me. It sounds more like a being that is bored, and needs to be amused. This is not why God created mankind. A loving God must create out of love. In this instance…God is helpless. His own perfection, His love insists that He creates mankind. You and I exist because God loves us. He has loved us from all eternity. Knowing what we are capable of, knowing what and where we lack…He still loves us.
                 God creates mankind. His infinite love for us again dictates to Him. This time it compels Him to give mankind free will, even if it means mankind can choose against God. Without free will, mankind would simply be like a robot doing only what the Creator had instilled in him. So we, mankind, use our free will to pursue our God? No, not really. We pursue whatever we desire, whenever we desire, however we desire. God’s plan, from all eternity, saw this and knew that the bond between God and man could not, should not be broken. Jesus comes to man to show him how to live, how to love, how to treat his fellow man. These were not ants to be played with. These were lives to die for.
                So here we are, two thousand plus years after Jesus’ arrival. We are still tripping over our own feet. We are still addressing our own needs first. We know but seem to have forgotten that God loves us. We know that Jesus came for a purpose, but that purpose seems too hard to adopt. We close our eyes and pretend that all is well, but we know, deep inside, that something is wrong. Oh, the effort! What must we do? “Lord God, help my unbelief. Help my heart burn with your love. Let me feel the warmth of your love and give that love to all that I meet today.” Let this Valentine’s Day really be a day that we give love to all. In loving each other we are loving our Creator.