Welcome to the Archive!

That's right, folks! After 4 years of using Blogger, I have decided to retire this particular service and I'll be continuing with future blog posts on my new site, thegraciousguest.org! Please feel free to peruse entries from the past few years as well as the links and resources, and make sure you stay tuned for future installments on my new site. God bless and take care, and remember:

                    Don't forget to wonder!

Based on What?

I've noticed a rather curious feature of human life that is pretty intriguing when you think about it. I'm talking about the seemingly inescapable desire, like an insatiable thirst, which marks our lives from beginning to end.

We go through life ceaselessly seeking all sorts of different experiences, relationships, and material treasures. We pursue achievements, titles, and honors in our academic and professional lives. We may spend years in search of the dream house, the perfect vacation spot, or the ultimate self-improvement method. We add to our lives everything and everyone we think will bring us happiness and satisfaction.

Despite the almost infinite spectrum of ways in which this human experience can play out, there seems to be a rather obvious common thread. I think it's so obvious that many of us miss it altogether. Amidst the frequently dizzying pace of this endless searching, every single one of us, without exception, comes to the same realization time and time again. It isn't enough. It's never enough. I always want more. But is this just a sign of greed? I don't think so. I think the truth is much deeper than that and far more mysterious.

It seems to me that in the final estimation what we all really desire is permanence. If we're truly honest about all this, it's not really true that we simply want more. We want all. We want genuine "fulfillment", to be full and even overflowing with life, joy, and love forever with no end. I challenge you to find one person who would seriously say, "Well, I think I've had all of the life, joy, love, and fulfillment I was looking for! I'm good!" 

The question I'd like to pose to you is this: Based on what? Just think about this for a minute. If there is one thing that should be abundantly clear and entirely indisputable for every person who has ever lived, it should be that nothing is permanent. Absolutely nothing! When's the last time you saw anything that was truly "permanent" or "everlasting" or "eternal"? Seasons always come and go. So do the people we love. So do the people we don't love so much. So do jobs, good bosses, bad bosses, good looks, not so good looks, health, incredible experiences, boring experiences, and mediocre experiences.

Everything passes away. Yet there is something that never passes away - our yearning for that which can never pass away. From our earliest memories until the moment when we draw our last breath, we endlessly seek firm footing in something utterly true and good and beautiful, something unchanging and unchangeable. We want permanent, eternal joy, bliss, fulfillment, and love. Why do you think that is?

Faith, Hope, & Love

"And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love."

1 Corinthians 13:13

Faith. Hope. Love. We hear about these all the time. This particular verse from Saint Paul frequently serves as the exclamation point concluding the passage preceding it at weddings. "Love is patient... love is kind... it does not boast." But why is love the greatest of these three?

FAITH is a gift from God. But it is also, mysteriously, something that requires some degree of effort on our part. It is a choice - a commitment to the will of someone other than myself. This is something we oftentimes don't entirely want to do because nearly every cultural influence around us insists that we ought to spend our lives seeking self-satisfaction.

That's where HOPE comes in. Living a life of faith is very hard work. It's downright terrifying sometimes. We need to trust that God has a plan, even if we can't see what that plan is. Hope is not optimism: "No biggie! It'll all work out somehow and everyone will be happy and nice to each other and we'll all go out for ice cream!" The fact is, most of the time, life doesn't work that way. Life sometimes sucker punches us in the stomach and we can't breathe or see any sense in the suffering we and our fellow human beings face. Hope is much, much deeper than that. It's a freely chosen, committed trust in the only One who really knows what's ultimately going on and where things are headed.

And that brings us to the greatest of the three "Theological Virtues" as they're known in the Christian tradition. LOVE. I've said it before and I'll keep on saying it until God calls me home, mostly because I myself need the constant reminder. Love is not a feeling. It is not an emotion. It isn't even a "power" or some vague experience of destiny. Love is the greatest of the three because love is the only one of the three that is a PERSON... Three Persons, to be exact.

"God is love" (1 John 4:8). God doesn't just have love for us. He isn't merely a loving Creator. He is love. He is by nature perfect self-gift, and because He is perfect He can truly, perfectly give His entire self away as gift. His self-sacrifice is literally infinite. It knows no bounds and it cannot be damaged or destroyed by anything. The only thing that can stop this love is our choice to refuse to let it transform our hearts and our minds. God's love for us is so perfect that He will never force us to choose Him - that's coercion, not true love. 

So, by His good grace I hope that I can pray this each day:

"Dearest LORD, please break down the barriers I've placed between Yourself and me. Lord - make Yourself at home in my heart, and may the love that is Your own presence spill over from my life into the lives of everyone I meet. Amen!"

I'm "Dad" now!

So I've been spending each day trying to roll up my sleeves and get to work on this whole "dad" thing! We've had the standard experiences all along the way: diapers, crying, diapers, feeding issues, diapers, consulting the 21st Century's Delphi oracle (i.e. Google) regarding our increasing list of baby questions, diapers...

It's easy enough to go about this whole new reality as though it were a job, a task to be achieved to some degree. But if there's one thing I'm learning by heart each day, it's that "Dad" is not a job title. I am "Dad" now. There now exists a tiny little human on this earth for whom "Dad" means just one thing - me. If that's not enough to blow your mind, I don't know what is!

Scripture is filled to the brim with fathers. Good ones, OK ones, mediocre ones, and even dreadfully evil ones. Look at some examples. First we might take a peek at the fatherhood of Jacob. Jacob loves his children dearly, but he plays favorites. God is up to the challenge, though, for He utilizes the situation of Joseph's maltreatment and abuse at the hands of his jealous brothers and his subsequent sojourn in Egypt to ultimately bring about the expansion of the Hebrew people. The old saying is quite true: "God writes straight with crooked lines."


Then we might look into a darker chapter, namely the fatherly relationship of King Saul to David. Saul starts off well enough, but in his prime he becomes a deeply vengeful, self-centered, wicked king whose heart is far from God. His bloodthirsty pursuit of David in order to eliminate any competition for his throne is nothing short of paranoid. And yet, God uses this deeply painful and tormenting experience to raise up David as the Great King of Israel.

Lastly, we look away from kings and great patriarchs to a simple and altogether unexpected place - a small, humble carpenter's shop in Nazareth and the quietest, meekest man in the history of the world (next to Jesus!) Saint Joseph is the penultimate father in the Bible. He never utters a single word on the pages of Sacred Scripture, and yet, he is the one whom the child Jesus called "Papa" each day. Joseph, though not biologically the father of Christ, was every bit the face of the Father in Heaven to the growing Messiah, the Son of God. If another child asked Jesus, "where is your dad?", it was to Saint Joseph that Jesus pointed. What an incredible responsibility! Joseph's fatherhood of Jesus is not a job, a task to be achieved. Joseph was "Dad" to the Son of God.

That's why I'm leaning on him so much these days. I look to Saint Joseph for my inspiration, for he's the greatest model of what it means to be "Dad." Saint Joseph, pray for us!

My Two Cents

Here goes. I'll keep this relatively brief. Let's begin with a quote I think everyone needs to consider right now: 

"If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free" (John 8:31-32).

If Jesus is right and the truth will make us free, then here are some things to consider. First of all it means that if we go the other direction and wander into deception we place ourselves in prison. Look around us. What do you see in the heavily orchestrated media coverage of this day and age? Rage. Anger. Fury. Fear. Panic. Pain. Violence. The list goes on. What is the source of all of this darkness? Everyone's up in arms and flocking to various banners in an effort to fix the problem. But here's the thing that not nearly enough people ever seem to understand.

The ultimate source of our woes is NOT even on this list: Trump, Hillary, sexism, racism, healthcare, war, immigration, contraception, abortion, the death penalty, education reform, poverty (etc. etc. etc.) Does that shock you? Well then... Would you like to know the secret? Would you like to know what the greatest and most central problem is?

The fundamental problem of human existence is SIN, and at its core, sin is always idolatry. Plain and simple, our problem is that every single one of us has made choice after choice in our individual lives to freely reject truth and embrace deception. We have cast eternal joy to the side in favor of fleeting, passing pleasures.

God is not some benevolent magical genie in the sky who grants wishes. "God" means the ultimate grounding of all being, or more precisely, the pure act of "To Be" itself. God is ultimate reality. That Reality is not something, but a Trinity of SomeONES - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is Love. He is not merely loving, but He is love itself. Love is self-gift, not just emotion or feeling, and love cannot exist apart from relationship. In other words, God's very essence is the perfect and total gift of self between the Three Persons of the Trinity. This is the ultimate truth that Jesus is getting at. This is the truth that shapes all of reality. When we reject that and seek ourselves, our own interests and desires over the needs of others and the demands of love, we lock ourselves in the prison we find ourselves in today.

If God exists, then the greatest requirement of Justice is to render Him His due - to place him on the throne of your heart. If anything else sits in that throne (yourself, sex, money, success, power, political activism, fame, self-assertion, being right, etc.) you cannot possibly be a fulfilled, complete, happy human person. You will never be able to comprehend your own purpose because you have lost the ability to understand what the purpose of human life is in the first place.

Are you upset with the world as it is right now? Good. I agree with you. That doesn't remotely mean we'll necessarily agree about every particular issue. But with all my heart I beg you, my brothers and sisters, stop taking the bait. Stop drinking the poison handed to you by the Devil. I am not your enemy. You are not my enemy. Our enemy is our own sinfulness. Peace, joy, unity, solidarity will never ultimately come from marches, demonstrations, hateful protest posters, self-righteous Facebook posts or vain Tweets. It will only come from virtue, wisdom, and genuine love. Start there. Start today. Call it my dare. I dare you to conquer yourself before you go out into the world trying to conquer everyone you don't agree with.

The Last Shall Be First

The more I get to know about Saint Thérèse, the more I am blown away by her incredible relationship with Christ. Her "Little Way" was something that most people she met during her short life did not find particularly impressive or noteworthy. But that's the secret! She lived the humility of Christ each and every day. She did every little thing with great love. She proved through her witness that it's not a life of fame and glory that makes the difference, but rather treating every moment, no matter how mundane, as an opportunity to glorify God. We are called to be His instruments - channels of His love and mercy. Let's thank God for giving us such a treasure! St. Thérèse, pray for us.

Nana, Aslan, & Gandalf...

My grandmother, whom we always knew as "Nana", passed away on July 31, 2016 at the age of 82. I could never begin to write a sufficient amount of words to describe Nana to anyone who will not have the blessing of knowing her in this life. Tonight I thought I'd just spend a few paragraphs unpacking her last words, which I think help to paint her portrait very adequately.

Not long before my grandmother drew her final breaths, she awoke and told my mom to go get my sister Annie. Once they returned to Nana's bedside, she looked at Annie and said, "I love you, Annie... You're tough!" And that was it. It's this "toughness" that Nana so respected and that she herself exhibited that I'd like to consider here.

Everyone who knew Joan Creavey knew that she was tough, from her first grade students to her friends to her family. Nana always had a strong personality and a deeply rooted confidence. She knew herself, she knew what the situation called for, and, most of the time, she knew how to accomplish whatever was needed (even if that meant a grandson needed to do a ton of yard work!) Over three decades' worth of first graders learned the importance of making one's best effort, always following through, and refusing to give up. Nana always demanded their very best and she was never one to settle for anything less.

The reason why this was the case is that she never lived her own life at a lower standard than the one she set for everyone else. It runs in her family, most especially her mother's Rosenberger side. Nana's life was characterized by a keen sense of duty and a firm belief that excellence is always possible and attainable. She always understood that we only get one shot at this life and it doesn't make any sense to live that life with an attitude of apathy or fear.

For Nana, tough never meant rigid, impervious, or unbreakable. Nor did she think that the tough person was the one who locked their pain or their emotions away in a hidden chest, never to be mentioned or confronted. "Tough" meant "durable." Nana believed that the tough person was the one who sticks it out, stands up for what's right, speaks his or her mind. The tough person doesn't accept defeat in a despairing mood but rather gets back up and tries harder. The tough person doesn't sit around waiting for an entitlement. The tough person doesn't brood over old injuries. The tough person learns from his or her mistakes and tries earnestly to avoid repeating them. The tough person loves God, family, friends, neighbors, countrymen, and everyone else more than self. The tough person is humble enough to put himself or herself last in everything, and to give generously to those in need without a moment's hesitation. This is what Nana believed it meant to be "tough." That's why her last words are so profoundly meaningful to us all.

In the end, I'd like to close with a little reflection that might seem odd at first glance, but I assure you there's something to it. Nana always reminded me a little of both C.S. Lewis' character Aslan, the lion from his Narnia series, and J.R.R. Tolkien's Gandalf, the wizard of Middle Earth. Both of these great figures are warm and filled with love, deeply loyal, kind, and even gentle at times. They are generous, inspiring, wise, and protective. Nana was all of these as well.

But there's something else they all share - something much more exciting and difficult to pin down. Aslan and Gandalf are not tame. Neither was Nana. She, like them, was never afraid to lay down the law when the moment called for it. She had the passion and the fortitude to call you out if you were being less than you ought to be. She cared so deeply about your God-given potential for greatness that she didn't have much patience if you attempted to just phone it in. She was like a co-pilot who wasn't afraid to shout out a warning to you when you were flying too low and in danger of crashing. She loved you far too much to let you do that.

In a world so riddled with fear, indecision, and the unwillingness to boldly lean into the howling wind of evil influences, I for one will look to a woman whom I am blessed to call Nana, a woman in whose daily presence I spent most of my young life. I will press on in this often dismal and seemingly hopeless, fallen world with the faith that Nana is with me, praying for me, giving me the courage to fight and challenging me to refuse to stay down whenever I fall. May we all strive thus to believe in excellence, to love with every fiber of our being, and to be, in her words, truly tough.

Holy Saturday 2016 (from an ancient homily)

I post this selection from today's "Office of Readings" each year because I can't think of a better reflection on Christ's descent to the dead. Enjoy!

Second reading
From an ancient homily on Holy Saturday
The Lord descends to the dead

Something strange is happening—there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear.

He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he who is both God and the son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him the victory. At the sight of him Adam, the first man he had created, struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone: “My Lord be with you all.” Christ answered him: “And with your spirit.” He took him by the hand and raised him up, saying: “Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”

I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. Out of love for you and for your descendants I now by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to come forth, all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we form only one person and we cannot be separated.

For your sake I, your God, became your son; I, the Lord, took the form of a slave; I, whose home is above the heavens, descended to the earth and beneath the earth. For your sake, for the sake of man, I became like a man without help, free among the dead. For the sake of you, who left a garden, I was betrayed to the Judeans in a garden, and I was crucified in a garden.

See on my face the spittle I received in order to restore to you the life I once breathed into you. See there the marks of the blows I received in order to refashion your warped nature in my image. On my back see the marks of the scourging I endured to remove the burden of sin that weighs upon your back. See my hands, nailed firmly to a tree, for you who once wickedly stretched out your hand to a tree.

I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side for you who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side has healed the pain in yours. My sleep will rouse you from your sleep in hell. The sword that pierced me has sheathed the sword that was turned against you.

Rise, let us leave this place. The enemy led you out of the earthly paradise. I will not restore you to that paradise, but I will enthrone you in heaven. I forbade you the tree that was only a symbol of life, but see, I who am life itself am now one with you. I appointed cherubim to guard you as slaves are guarded, but now I make them worship you as God. The throne formed by cherubim awaits you, its bearers swift and eager. The bridal chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open. The kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity.

RESPONSORY

Our shepherd, the source of the water of life, has died. The sun was darkened when he passed away. But now man’s captor is made captive.
– This is the day when our Savior broke through the gates of death.

He has destroyed the barricades of hell, overthrown the sovereignty of the devil.
– This is the day when our Savior broke through the gates of death.

CONCLUDING PRAYER
All-powerful and ever-living God,
your only Son went down among the dead
and rose again in glory.
In your goodness
raise up your faithful people,
buried with him in baptism,
to be one with him
in the eternal life of heaven,
where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
– Amen.

Lent '16 (Week 2) - Re-"Presenting" Christ

Lent '16 (Week 1) - Setting Goals

Lent '16 - Welcome

FOURTH MONDAY OF ADVENT

 “‘Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: ‘Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.’” Lk. 2:9-14

Reflection: The shepherds live on the fringe of Israelite society, but it doesn’t matter. The heavens explode with splendor as countless angels proclaim the glorious news - He is here! The time has finally come!

Prayer: God our Father, fill us with the awe of the shepherds standing in the blinding light of heaven coming to earth. May we come and adore him at all times. Amen.
 

FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT

"Behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.’” Matt. 2:1-2

Reflection: The Kings arrive as witnesses to the wonderful truth – the Savior comes into the world not merely for the Children of Israel, but for all men, women and children throughout the world. He is coming to restore all of humanity to God.

Prayer: God our Father, the Wise Men come from the distant corners of the Persian Empire to worship the newborn king. Help us to make the effort of traveling far from our own comfort to present ourselves to the Messiah. Amen.

THIRD SATURDAY OF ADVENT

"So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town. And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David.” Lk. 2:3-4

Reflection: How fitting indeed – the Son of God, the Son of Man who will one day reveal that he is the “Bread of Life,” the true manna come down from heaven, is destined to be born in Beth-lehem, the “House of Bread.”

Prayer: God our Father, the moment has nearly arrived! Fill our hearts until they overflow with joy over the coming of Your Son. Amen.

THIRD FRIDAY OF ADVENT

"All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,’ which means ‘God is with us.’ When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.” Matt. 1:22-24

 

Reflection: Joseph knows that the child is not his by the natural order. But when the angel tells him of God’s plan, Joseph brings Mary and her growing child into his house, which by the ancient law made them instantly members of his “house”, the line of David.

Prayer: God our Father, take away every one of our fears. Give us the confidence you gave St. Joseph by the message of the angel, and remove all of our doubt. Amen.

THIRD THURSDAY OF ADVENT

"Elizabeth, filled with the holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, 'Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.'” Lk. 1:41-45

Reflection: The moment Mary discovers she’s with child, she travels to Judea to be with her relative Elizabeth. The Blessed Mother is always thinking of others, filled with the love of the God who now dwells in her womb – the new Ark of the Covenant.

Prayer: God our Father, may we, like Mary, place others before ourselves always. Amen.

THIRD WEDNESDAY OF ADVENT

"Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Lk. 1:30-33

Reflection: Mary accepts the angel Gabriel’s annunciation with her “fiat,” her yes. She is the handmaiden of the Lord, the example of all that is good and holy. God makes His own mother, and He makes her perfect.

Prayer: God our Father, we thank you for Our Blessed Mother’s “yes” to Your invitation to be the mother of Your Son. May we joyfully receive You in the wombs of our hearts and minds as she received you in these as well as her body. Amen.

THIRD TUESDAY OF ADVENT

"But you, Bethlehem-Ephrathaha least among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel; Whose origin is from of old, from ancient times.” Mic. 5:1

Reflection: It is not in Jerusalem that the stage is set for the coming of the Messiah, but in the little towns of Bethlehem of Judea and Nazareth in Galilee. Joseph, a simple carpenter, and Mary, a girl of about 14 years will be the earthly parents of the promised King of Kings.

Prayer: God our Father, after generations of men and women who, at best, followed you imperfectly, you bring forth Joseph and Mary – our wonderful examples of love and devotion to You. Show us how to ask for their unending intercession in our journey of faith. Amen.

THIRD MONDAY OF ADVENT

"Even if you now remain silent, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another source; but you and your father’s house will perish. Who knows—perhaps it was for a time like this that you became queen?” Esther 4:14

Reflection: Like Ruth centuries before, Esther the Queen of Persia cannot perceive the magnitude of her decision. Humble and deeply in love with the Lord, how could she imagine that it is indeed her, a simple Jewish girl in Susa, that God in His Providence has appointed to save her people from yet another grave threat? God works through mystery. Would that we trust Him at His Word.

Prayer: God our Father, how quick we are to tell You that You must be mistaken about us. Like so many of our ancestors do we doubt Your ability to make us exactly who You intend us to be. Help us to see ourselves as You see us and to believe. Amen.

THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT (GAUDETE SUNDAY)

"As the visions during the night continued, I saw coming with the clouds of heaven, One like a son of man. When he reached the Ancient of Days and was presented before him, He received dominion, splendor, and kingship; all nations, peoples and tongues will serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, his kingship, one that shall not be destroyed.” Dan. 7:13-14

Reflection: God’s people find themselves once more displaced from the Promised Land during the captivity in Babylon. But once more He sets them free. Daniel, however, sees beyond the present blessing to the glory of the coming Messiah. It will not be long now.

Prayer: God our Father, we each face our own Babylonian Captivity. Every human person is held captive to whatever he or she cannot part with that is less than himself or herself. But above all, we are meant to cling to You at all moments. Help us to do so! Amen.