If YOUR Jesus demands nothing from you...

... FLEE! He's not the real Jesus - he's a fake, a fraud, a counterfeit Christ whom the Devil and the sinful world seek to prop up in order to lead us astray.

It's a very commonplace trend these days to follow the voice of this popular Jesus who, curiously enough, never demands anything from anyone. He's very nice, pleasant, and completely tolerant of anything and everything I think, say, and do. He accepts not just me, but also whatever I decide is true, good, and beautiful. Little white lies? He knows I don't mean any harm. Rejecting whichever teachings of his Church that I just don't get or that I'm uncomfortable with? No biggie - he knows I believe all of the "important" stuff. Hell? Angels and demons? Sin? Judgment? The need to repent and change? The existence of absolute truth that isn't relative? Surely he's not so old fashioned that he'd really expect me to literally believe in those! He's far more understanding than that. Sure, he talked about those, but that was just for those other people (back then)... not me. After all, Jesus was bound by the unsophisticated, backwards, harshly judgmental culture of his time. He would never talk about those things today, I mean come on!

There's a little problem with all of this: NONE of it's true. We have to remember that "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). Christ does not change. HE said that he was the Son of the Father, sent into the world to proclaim the truth. Indeed he claimed that not only does absolute truth in fact exist, he claimed to BE Truth itself. In perfectly revealing God to mankind, in showing us the love that God Himself is, Jesus modeled for us with every moment of his earthly life that we simply cannot have it both ways. Love is someone, not just something. God is one - He does not have a split personality. Love, therefore, can never be "not love", and therefore we cannot just assign any label or personality trait or conviction (or lack thereof, for that matter) to Jesus.

Treasury Department employees and other U.S. Government workers who combat the counterfeiting of money spend a great deal of time studying every last detail of American currency. They don't waste their time studying counterfeit bills or coins - this would be far too time consuming. Instead they focus on getting to know precisely what the real thing looks like. That way, if even the slightest detail is off, they can immediately identify the fake.

My prayer is that we can all be a little bit more humble and spend our time getting to know the REAL Jesus - the Jesus who makes demands of us, the Jesus who most definitely comes to us and accepts us as we are, but who loves us far too much to let us stay there!

Distraction is when I SQUIRREL!

Distraction's all over the place today, isn't it? When's the last time you were able to consistently focus on anything (or any ONE, for that matter?)

The ironic thing is that we have absolutely flooded our lives and our society with an endless array of cutting edge tools that are supposed to save us time, to enhance productivity, to enable each one of us to live a more fulfilling and easygoing life.

But do these things do that? Why is it that the more time-saving stuff I acquire, the less time I actually seem to have? Why do the lauded stress and difficulty reducing toys only seem to make my life more stressful and more complicated? Why is it that the more apps I download to help me keep track of everything, the more forgetful I seem to be?

I think the short answer is that life isn't about productivity. Life isn't about having no stress. Live is about love. I'm here to love, plain and simple. I'm here to live in community with fellow sojourners on the journey to eternity, and God expects me to be truly present to the people I encounter along the way. He expects me to show some interest in them, who they are, where they're from, what their dreams, hopes, struggles and fears are.

I can't do any of that if I'm distracted all of the time. I am incapable - not just bad at, but truly incapable - of genuine love when I choose patterns of thought and behavior that result in routine ignorance of what's going on around me. Let's try and start small! How about one less show today? One less e-mail check at night? Maybe one less Facebook wall browsing session. We didn't get so disconnected through all of our connectivity overnight, and we won't truly reconnect so quickly either! But perhaps we can all move toward a more authentic human experience of full and love-filled life if we learn how to take one step at a time.

St. Thomas Aquinas, patron of those whose minds and memories and attention need a little work, pray for us!

 

Love & Vulnerability

 
 “To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”
                   
                                       ― C.S. Lewis (The Four Loves)

The Parable of the Uncooperative Cupboard

A couple moved into their new home and everything seemed perfect. They were excited to make the place truly their own, and within a matter of weeks, it felt like home. Their pictures hung on the walls, favorite books lined the shelves, and as the old saying goes, there was "a place for everything, and everything in its place."

But there was a little problem. One of the cupboard doors in the kitchen refused to stay shut and flush like all of the others. The husband tried all sorts of remedies to fix it but nothing he did seemed to work. Every time he would walk in the kitchen, all he could think about was the door that just wouldn't quite shut. It began to drive him crazy and he found himself thinking about the cupboard door even when he wasn't home!

But one day, in the midst of obsessing over the singular flaw in their new home, his wife put a calming hand on his shoulder and got his attention.

"Sweetie, look at all of the other ones," she said.

When he took a step back and looked around the kitchen in its entirety, he saw that it was filled with cupboards that were beautiful, just right, perfect in every way. He smiled, and thought to himself, "What a wonderful new home. Why waste my time worrying over one little cupboard door that won't shut perfectly? Better to keep in mind what a blessing the whole place is."

Fortitude

"Enduring courage; strength of character in bearing pain with patience or in meeting danger undauntedly."

Strength. Not only of body, but of will and spirit and mind. Guts, gusto, what have you. I feel as though fortitude appears in my own life in brief, momentary flashes and then it too often seems to vanish into thin air. How to hold on to it is still a mystery to me.

"Enduring courage." It's not uncommon to wonder how one's courage can endure in such a frightening and brutal world. How can one persistently stand up for good in a world filled with poverty, hatred, violence and despair? Wars never cease so long as man is filled with pride and greed. Each new conflict, each death, each dashed dream can seem like another nail in courage's coffin.

We can only hope to live the virtue of fortitude if it is nourished by faith. Faith complements and indeed fuels fortitude. Such a virtue of strength amidst pain and suffering must be held in the highest esteem. Standing firm for our Lord and his Gospel of life, rooted in the truth of his resurrection and his promise to prepare a place for us, we can live in fortitude. As Scripture says, "God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it" (1 Corinthians 10:13). We can be filled with fortitude - enduring courage and meeting danger undauntedly - for that fortitude is the very presence of God himself in our hearts, filling us with his own courage and strength!

O Heavenly Father, grant unto me your steadfast endurance - the patient fortitude you displayed at Gethsemane. Amen.

“Arm yourself with prayer rather than a sword; wear humility rather than fine clothes.”
                            — St. Dominic

"The Glorious Duty of Man"

My little children, reflect on these words: the Christian's treasure is not on earth but in heaven. Our thoughts, then, ought to be directed to where our treasure is. This is the glorious duty of man: to pray and to love. If you pray and love, that is where a man's happiness lies.

Prayer is nothing else but union with God. When one has a heart that is pure and united with God, he is given a kind of serenity and sweetness that makes him ecstatic, a light that surrounds him with marvelous brightness. In this intimate union, God and the soul are fused together like two bits of wax that no one can ever pull apart. This union of God with a tiny creature is a lovely thing. It is a happiness beyond understanding.

We had become unworthy to pray, but God in his goodness allowed us to speak with him. Our prayer is incense that gives him the greatest pleasure.

My little children, your hearts are small, but prayer stretches them and makes them capable of loving God. Through prayer we receive a foretaste of heaven and something of paradise comes down upon us. Prayer never leaves us without sweetness. It is honey that flows into the soul and makes all things sweet. When we pray properly, sorrows disappear like snow before the sun.

                                                                           - St. John Vianney (1786-1859)