You know that wonderful feeling of peace which comes over us occasionally. We never want it to leave us. However life comes on and it moves on.  Distractions, commitments, problems, work, problems and schedules. Before we know where we are that wonderful feeling of peace is fading away, replaced by responses to others that don’t represent who we want to be. Why is that?

One reason is we have created an Episodial relationship with God. Like a TV series, we set our clocks to pick up God when we have the time. We allocate what I would call Spiritual Survival time in our schedule. It might be Mass, a walk in the park, the beach, putting rocks on your back in the spa. Some do little to keep this fragile balance in their lives. If work-life balance is the #1 requirement for US workers (which is most of us), then our spiritual well-being is critical.

This Episodial relationship is the core of our problem in the contemporary world. What if instead of a couple of hours of renewal each week, all of our life could be lived in co-operation with His will? Imagine that peace we feel at those special times being with us all the time.

Sign me up!

The Episodial world happens because we have segmented our lives into time slots when we have “things to do”. This causes us to focus on two areas. Have we done something in THE PAST and do we have something to do THE FUTURE. In both cases we miss the key to communicating with God for the other non-God Episodes in our lives, the time where we are actually present. THE PRESENT.

We can assume that God has no concept of time. God doesn’t need it. God is eternal. So, when we concentrate in intentional prayer at Mass or on retreat, wherever, we are also in the PRESENT. We try and clear our minds and focus on the prayer time and form enacted.

It is here we meet God. This is when the encounters occurs, when we feel peace, grace, the love of God. By noticing the present, we see God in action in our life. When we take the next step we can review the end of the day, reflecting on what happened and how we should respond to it.

Foggy Bottom

These first two weeks of the year have been full of discussions, plans and actions for our Youth Ministry at St. Eulalia’s. As you probably know by now, we have been blessed with the arrival of Claire Aalerud to the parish staff; heading up this important ministry and taking on the additional important task of multi-media outreach and evangelization.

During our discussions the subjects of goals and intentions came up, along with the theme “Think With Your Heart” which has been core to the youth mission. During these conversations I noted, “Our intention is to open roads to allow the Holy Spirit to lead us”, and Claire seemed to finish my sentence with “because the Catholic Church is the truth.”

It may not have been her purpose to make the truth as a destination of our faith, but it was a reaffirmation of something I take for granted. The truth which I should not take for granted. This is the truth has been established, paid for, deposited and distributed by the salvific mission of Jesus Christ and resides fully in the Church. We often forget what Claire reminds us of, we have the truth, the deposit of faith, the Way, all encased in the continuous presence of God in our lives. The truth is not weakened by the behavior of the sinners (us) which make up the humanity of the Catholic Church. The truth reminds of where the compass should be set on our own journeys.

The journey we take is a unique path which leads us towards a deeper, more fulfilled and revealed personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It is, and often seems, a journey without end.

We can be assured though, the truth will remain what it is, firm, loving, welcoming and filled with the grace of God to help us along the way. We may stumble along the path, but He will remain, now and forever to support us.

The truth is eternal. Let us recognize it and continue seeking its riches in 2018.

“I am the way and the truth and the life.” Jn 14:6

At Rest

As the evening comes, time to rest in a safe harbor,

Where we can refuel, refresh and recharge for another day at sea.

Be it stormy or calm, I will be ready.

January 1 has already passed. Sometimes we miss the significance of this year, as we are so often drowned out by the noise of the previous evenings celebration and desires for a “better” year to come. Pope Francis did not forget the fact that January 1st is the Roman Catholic Church’s World Peace Day. In preparation for this year’s event, Pope Francis commissioned a reprinting of the photograph below.

The image was taken by Joe O’Donnell, a US Marine photographer after US forces dropped atomic bombs on Japan at the end of World War II. The photograph shows a boy waiting in line as he carries his dead five-year-old brother to the crematorium. A poignant and truly sad image. O’Donnell spent the next four years documenting the aftermath of the bombings and their impact on the population.

In addition to the photograph, Pope Francis adding this own signature with the comment:

“The young boy’s sadness is expressed only in his gesture of biting his lips which are oozing blood.”

Pope Francis reminds us of the tremendous sadness and tragedy which has been wrought in our world in the past year, and the need for actions and prayer to change the outlook for the future. He calls us to remember we are called to support the needy and the huge number of displaced children and their families in the wars raging in the world.

This is not a popular message amongst many. Wars have consequences and victims. Let us all pray and act in 2018 to reduce this pain, in whatever way we can affect the outcome.

In his address, Pope Francis was talking to the 40,000 crowd assembled in person outside the Vatican, but his message was to the entire world.

I find I have nothing to add to his observations, just some resolve as I dry the tears from my eyes.

Photograph by Joe O’Donnell