February 2021 – Hearts Stirred Up For God

PICKING UP OUR DAILY CROSSES & EXPANDING OUR LOVE (Part 1 of 3)

“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” (Matthew 16:24)

The cross is terrifying. We fear it and I believe that is because we take it out of context. We look at it as if it stands alone and we fail to incorporate it into the entirety of what Jesus taught.

Jesus taught us that crosses come daily and that we need to pick them up. If we look at Jesus‘s life, we see He was not crucified, put to death and buried daily. He did have daily crosses, but they came in the same form that our crosses come in. They showed themselves in His acts of self-giving that were needed so as to daily accomplish His vocation and mission. They specifically came in the form of Him walking many miles to teach others His message. They were evident in the verbal abuse He encountered from those in authority and the disrespect He received from the people of His own town. He gave us a glimpse of it when, after all His teachings, the apostles didn’t understand Him. We glanced at it when we saw that His prayer life was interrupted by those who wanted what He could give. And, of course, we see that even as a baby He had to experience the cross in the pain of circumcision and in having to flee to a foreign land so as to escape death. Through many examples, Jesus gave us a picture of what the self-giving crosses of His vocation entailed daily so that we could all relate to the self-giving crosses we must embrace to complete our vocational mission. Compared to the crucifixion, these self-giving acts may seem small, but it is not the size of the sacrifice that matters. It is the love in which we embrace them that matters. Jesus lived what He taught so we can imagine that a glass of water given by Him was a small sacrifice done with great love. We can imagine that Jesus was aware of picking up the daily crosses with love and by them, His love for us grew. The same holds true for us. The more we pick up our crosses with a self-giving heart, the more our hearts will expand with love.

There are other forms of the cross that Jesus faced, but that are more subtle in the writings. They came in the form of transitions. The transition of fleeing from the homeland that His parents knew and the comforts their hearts would have known in raising their son there initially. The transition of leaving His boyhood to become a man at his bar mitzvah and what would be expected of Him in the transition of one day having to leave His mother’s home in order to set out on a path unfamiliar to Him. In these times, while all crosses are self-giving, we can see more evidently the death of one life in order for a new life to rise and have growth. We can see that Jesus lived the scripture He taught…“Unless a seed falls to the ground and dies, it will not grow fruit” (John 12:24). We can relate to those times of transition. We’ve had to say goodbye to the friends in our class because we have completed the year of school. Like the grain of wheat, to grow we all have to leave the familiar at some point and say goodbye in order to graduate, to marry, to move to a new town or state, to find a new job or to retire. The transitions are painful, but we must be like the grain of wheat if we are to move forward towards some type of greater growth.

In these daily crosses and transitional ones, we can grow closer to Jesus because we know that out of great love for us, He suffered the same way. We can meditate on a daily cross He endured that seem similar to ours so as to draw closer to Him. While meditating with an open heart, we may get new insights on how to deal with our situations and have a heart more drawn to God as we see the emotions He felt during similar times. We suddenly sense that we are not alone. We recognize a seed of love that is causing us to suffer. We are aware that if the love is a self-love it needs to be purged so that we can be closer to God. We are also aware if the reason for our suffering is a self-giving love and we know that love is God loving in us. We understand His heart more and know that He understands ours. Suddenly, the tedium of the daily crosses aren’t so annoying because in taking a prayerful pause, we find ourselves more deeply united to God and His love for us. Suddenly the heartaches of some of the more difficult crosses aren’t as devastating because we see an invitation to be one with God and His love.

Of course, some crosses come out of nowhere and are truly devastating. We will begin to reflect on those in Part 2 next week.

Prayerfully Reflect and Talk to Jesus About:

“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” (Matthew 16:24)

“Unless a seed falls to the ground and dies, it will not grow fruit” (John 12:24).

“Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you? And the King will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these little brothers of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:37- 40)

Pick 4-5 Gospel messages of Jesus. It doesn’t matter which you choose. Pray beforehand and allow the Holy Spirit to guide you in what you choose. What sacrifices can you see Jesus making in them? How might they relate to some daily crosses and self-giving you are experiencing? Talk to Jesus about them. Open your heart to how He felt at the time towards His love for God and neighbor. How does your heart feel now? Is your heart similar to His? Can you have compassion for what He felt? Does that give you a greater insight? Allow yourself to feel closer to Jesus based on what your heart is feeling. Be open to the expansion of love for God and neighbor through observing Jesus and His acts of self-giving.

OUR LENTEN JOURNEY CAN LEAD US TOWARDS GREATER LOVE

It hard to believe Lent is upon us. It seems we just finished Christmas. Never the less it’s here and it’s one of my favorite times of the year. I know some people think of it as a heavy, somber time and during Holy Week it can most definitely be, but I look at it as an abridged marriage journey. Fat Tuesday is like the wedding ceremony. Then the start of Lent is similar to a couple starting out on their honeymoon season. It’s a time when I can enter the desert alone with the Alone. Jesus and I together. I can pack lightly because He is all I need or want. Then just as the years go by in a marriage and the love increases and deepens leading to sacrifice, so does the Lenten marriage journey as we end in Holy Week with a greater love for God and neighbor. It is then that we find our journey has expanded our heart and by that we have a greater ability to sacrifice in union with Jesus. It is a time when our hearts have expanded with love because during our marriage journey we have died to self so our true identity, our love, our union with Jesus can rise with Him at Easter. In the celebration of our risen Lord we find that we have moved beyond an earthly marriage and have journeyed to a Heavenly marriage as we celebrate that Jesus has risen and has taken us to be His bride. In 40 days we can model what our entire life should be…a marriage with Jesus where we slowly empty ourselves of self so we can be in a greater union of love with the one who emptied Himself to be one with us.

Lent is a time when we are advised to focus more on prayer, fasting and almsgiving. I look at prayer and fasting being means to help me to love God more. I think of almsgiving as my way to love God in my neighbor. All three of these encompass the two most important commandments of loving God and neighbor. Almsgiving helps me to love God in my neighbor and how we love our neighbor is a good measuring stick of how our prayer life is going as it is a fruit of it. Without a strong prayer life that leads to a greater love of God, we cannot love our neighbor. On the same token, the more we love our neighbor, the more we will love God because He will not let our generous heart for our neighbor go without a reward. When we give, it is given back to us in an overflowing manner. Our love for neighbor is then rewarded with greater love for God. These two commandments are deeply intertwined and dependent on one another. Through prayer, fasting and almsgiving, Lent gives us the opportunity to step back and allow our focus on God and neighbor to become realigned so we can have fuel for the year to come.

Prayer is our time spent intimately alone with the one who loves us more than anyone. We can take the time to grow in this area in some way that builds on our relationship with God. Using scripture is a great start for our prayer time. When we pray on a passage we can reflect on how it helps our relationship with God grow in our interior life, our active life and in our love for neighbor…those we see and those we don’t. When we read scripture with our personal relationship with God in mind in these areas that totally encompass our lives, we can find that even a passage on war can help us in our interior life. What at first seems to be two total opposites…war and prayer…surprisingly fit together perfectly. Suddenly we see our enemies can be our distractions and that only God can tame and defeat them. Yes, every passage has the potential to help in our personal relationship with God in these areas that make up our lives if we ask the Holy Spirit to help us and prayerfully reflect on them.

We often think of Almsgiving as only being a financial gift. Money isn’t always feasible, but if that’s not possible, there are other ways we can give. Jesus tells us not to perform righteous deeds so that others may see them. We can give our neighbor our time or talents, for example, without them knowing we are doing it as a form of almsgiving for God. If you bake, you can take your time to use your gift of baking to buy ingredients or use those you already have on hand to bake someone a cake. You may feel uncomfortable giving money that a cake mix would cost, but that cake can be a huge gesture of love to give to someone who is hurting in some way. They don’t have to know it is your form of almsgiving, but this act will take your focus off of self and put it on loving God in them. It also can enhance your desert experience of being on your honeymoon. Alone with the Alone.

Fasting can also help us in our relationship because it is done with God and He alone sees. A traditional bread and water fast can free up your time spent on figuring out what you are going to cook and eat so you have more time for prayer. There are other things you can fast on, but it is best that the sacrifice helps you to focus on God and grow closer to Him. For instance, a sacrifice of time in some way can help in your relationship. If you gave up an hour of tv time, that hour could be used for more prayer time, spiritual reading or in loving God in your neighbor. That time could be used to clear the calendar to be with your bridegroom more and letting Him be your focus. My reason for doing my part to ensure that Lenten fasting is done in a way that helps me to focus on Jesus is twofold. One is as I mentioned above. Lent is our marriage journey that starts out with the desert honeymoon and continues on in time with the deep love of sacrifice. To be in greater union with God, Jesus, our bridegroom, started His honeymoon alone and with fasting and we would do well to do the same. Secondly and as part of this, I believe that throughout Jesus’s passion, the cross was always at His back because He wanted us to see that the cross should not be our focus. He didn’t let it be His focus. He cleared the view to let His Heavenly Father and us be His focus. So while I am making a sacrifice of fasting I try and not make it the focus, but make God, my neighbor and love be my focus. I do my part to be open to the Union and I trust that God will do His part. That brings us right back to Lent being a condensed version of our marriage journey. Fasting is different for everyone because it is led by the Holy Spirit. Just as He did with Jesus, He will help you to be God focused through it. If fasting on chocolate is what you desire, pray for a way to find that the sacrifice of giving it up ends in you being closer to God and having Him be your focus. Doing it as a mindful sacrifice united to Jesus for someone who is in need is different than giving it up, never thinking about God or others by it, but daily checking the scale. On the cross we were the focus of Jesus. We would do well to do the same so our union grows stronger day by day as we approach Holy Week and ultimately our departure for Heaven one day to the Heavenly banquet.

I suggest you pray on how you can make this Lenten journey a special time with God. My ways are just a sampling of what you may be drawn to do. Through prayer the Holy Spirit will show you what to do so that by Easter you won’t be the same person as you are now because your love for God and neighbor will have grown. Jesus’s love reached a climax by Good Friday so it can be our goal to be more in union with Him by then and love more because of that greater union.

Prayerfully Reflect on the following with God:

Jesus teaches about almsgiving. Matt 6 1- 4

Jesus teaches about prayer. Matt 6 5 – 14

Jesus teaches about fasting. Matt 6:15-18

Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit and fasted. Luke 4:1-2

You can’t out give God. Luke 6:38

WE CAN ALWAYS FIND WAYS OF BEING A PRAYER OF LOVE

Recently I read an article about the sport of lacrosse. It deeply touched my heart as I see it as a sport where the Native Americans are the prayer while playing. If you are a regular of my blog, you know how important I think being the prayer is.

When the Native Americans play lacrosse, they see it as a way of entertaining God. We may not think that all we do entertains God, but I’m sure that when we use our gifts and our talents given to us by Him, He is delighted. If you give a gift to someone and they use it, doesn’t that make you feel good? If you give a gift to a small child and they play with it all the time, it melts your heart. Everything we have and all we can do is because God has gifted us. When we lovingly and joyfully use those gifts, we must make His heart sing.

Another meaningful thing they do with the sport is offering it as a prayer for someone in their tribe who may be in need of prayer. Offering up your actions for someone is a beautiful prayer. Jesus was on the cross and could do nothing, but He offered it up for us. It was His greatest prayer. By that He taught us that if we are actively doing something and we offer it up with love, it is a powerful prayer. We can be mindful of this and complete our tasks with love and not anger or agitation so that our prayer offering is not tainted.

Lastly, when the game that was offered up is over, they gave the ball to the person they were praying for. It reminds me of a prayer shawl, but instead it’s a prayer ball. If you are offering up your actions for someone they are wrapped in love. There is so much love that can be given to a family when actions are offered for them. Dinner becomes a prayer, laundry becomes a prayer, grocery shopping becomes a prayer, etc. Actions are a prayer not just for family, but for anyone we offer them up for. Even if we are alone, there are so many creative ways we can offer our actions up as a prayer for others .

Imagine a world where people were mindful of this and took great care to make sure their actions were all love and never violent or filled with hate or judgment. Try and be mindful of being the prayer so you can bring delight to God and help those in need. When you do, you will find your heart will expand with love and love is always a powerful prayer.

Prayerfully Reflect On:

God’s delight in us...

“For the Lord takes pleasure in His people; He adorns the humble with salvation.” Psalm 149:4

“Behold my servant, whom I uphold, My chosen, in whom My soul delights; I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations.” Is 42:1

Intercessory Prayer…

Put yourself at the foot of the cross. Reflect on being the recipient of this powerful prayer of love.

EVERYTHING WE DO MATTERS

No job is too small. No gift is wasted. In faith we know we all make a difference.

The average person goes about their day doing little things. They don’t think they are making a difference. Perhaps the biggest proof of this is the parent that takes care of their child moment by moment and suddenly they are graduating from school. How were they able to do that? Through the constant care of their parents. Even with that knowledge we often think that what we do isn’t important. Maybe what we are doing lasts a season. Maybe it’s just one action taken on any given day. No matter what, there are times when we feel what we do is just a waste of time. Is it though?

There are many giants in scripture that exemplify to me that it all matters.

The first that comes to mind is Noah. Every day he got up and did what he had to do to build the ark. With the information given, we can guess that it took approximately 50-75 years to build. Doing all this in the middle of the desert to be safe in a flood undoubtedly seemed odd to most. Noah was a man of faith and he trusted God, but I have to imagine that there were days when he even questioned what he was doing. He was a man of faith, but he was human and probably being taunted regularly. That can happen to us all. We question due to the negative Nancy’s and their words that we replay. We don’t necessarily need the people in our community to cause our doubt. We have a committee in our head. After years of faithfully carrying out his responsibility to God and after daily allowing God to work through him, in with him, he saw the fruits of his labor. When we feel overwhelmed with the mundane, it would do us good to remember Noah and how what appeared to be useless and somewhat mundane, was monumentally important.

The next person that comes to mind is David. He was just a shepherd boy. Nothing special. He learned to use a sling shot while shepherding his sheep. Nothing out of the ordinary. It was a means of keeping them in line. Then came Goliath and while the King wanted David to put on his armor to fight Goliath, David found that he couldn’t move in it. He couldn’t imitate Saul. He had to be David and do it the seemingly lowly way he was used to. It worked. He took down the giant on his first attempt. How long had David prepared for this moment without even knowing it? How many skills have we learned that end up being of service to others. When you were 16 and learning how to drive a car, did you think of the countless ways God would use your skill to transport people who needed help? Did you think of the times you would have to get in the car so you could reach somebody who was in need? The time spent learning mattered. It always does.

Saint Joseph is another giant. We have to use imagination with Joseph because he was a silent man that took great action. One thing that has always struck me with St. Joseph is that being a carpenter, he must have made a cradle of some sort for Jesus. He had no intention of putting his Son in a feeding trough and yet that is exactly what happened. Then, after the birth of Jesus, he went to Egypt, not back to Nazareth. I imagine that Joseph carefully and lovingly made a great cradle for his Son that was never used as he had intended. We know, however, that nothing is ever wasted with God. So just as the ark seemed unnecessary and just as learning to use a slingshot seemed to be very narrow in scope as to what purpose it could be to the owner, Joseph’s cradle was needed. We don’t know if he kept it or sold it so he could provide in some way for his family. What we do know is that God knows how precious time is. We also know that God gives us skills and talents so He can work through us and with us . Given that, we know the cradle was made for a future purpose and like the arc, it would one day be needed because all we do matters even when we can’t see ahead. How often do we say something was a waste. Joseph shows us that nothing is ever wasted.

St. Paul simply wrote letters. He could not have imagined the importance they would have in the lives of Christians for 2,000 years and counting. Joseph could interpret dreams. A gift his brothers found annoying and unimportant. Being thrown in a well and in jail could not stop him from using his gift and by it he saved countless lives. Abraham plugged away day and night and became a father of one with countless descendants. Mary said yes to having a baby whom she then simply raised to grow in wisdom as she cooked countless meals for Him and taught Him right from wrong.

We could go on and on with individuals we find in scripture that made a difference. Differences that were made by doing the little things they were given day by day. It all mattered for them even if they couldn’t see. It all matters for us even 2000 years later because we are all united as one in Christ. No gift is given to us for no reason. No job is too small. Nothing is wasted. It all matters when we have faith. Faith is key. That dinner you cooked, that email you sent, that car ride you made, that garbage you threw out, that meeting you attended, the homework you helped with…it all mattered because in faith we know we are united as one in Christ and we are the prayer.

Prayerfully reflect on:

Any of the people cited above or any other people you choose from scripture.

Were they much different than you?

Did they make a difference doing anything that we would consider great by today’s standards?

Here are some additional people you might consider reflecting on if you would like to.

John the Baptist. A man who hung out in the desert and later baptized people and Jesus.

St. Elizabeth…John the Baptist’s mother.

Naomi and Ruth. A mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.

Rhoda, a servant who opened the door. (Acts 12:13)

Priscilla and Aquila, friends of St. Paul. (Rom 16:3-4)