Blessed Thanksgiving
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A Blessed Thanksgiving

Today, Americans of every race, creed, religion and belief gather to give thanks. It is a day for family and friends, for feasting and for favor.

In 1863, when our country was literally torn apart by civil war, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a day of thanks. Even in the midst of great conflict and animus, Lincoln prayed that every American be able to give thanks.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

May we all enjoy a Thanksgiving of abundance, of reverence, of mercy and the tender care of those who are most in need.

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6 Things You Need To Know About Divine Mercy Sunday

In the year 2000, St. John Paul II established Divine Mercy Sunday, to be celebrated the Sunday following Easter. Even with nearly 2 decades of celebration, many of us still aren’t quite sure what this celebration is all about. Here is a quick primer:

  1. Divine Mercy Sunday is based on the revelations received by a Polish nun, Sr. Faustina Kowalska (now St. Faustina.) A devout nun, St. Faustina had very little formal education, but as Jesus revealed himself to her, He asked that she record His words. She dutifully kept journals. One revelation was:

    My daughter, tell the whole world about My inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day all the divine floodgates through which graces flow are opened. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet. My mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of angel, will be able to fathom it throughout all eternity. Everything that exists has come forth from the very depths of My most tender mercy. Every soul in its relation to Me will contemplate My love and mercy throughout eternity. The Feast of Mercy emerged from My very depths of tenderness. It is My desire that it be solemnly celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter. Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the Fount of My Mercy.

  2. At St. Faustina’s canonization, St. John Paul said that she was meant to remind the world of the merciful love of God. He also said was called by Christ to spread devotion to the image of Divine Mercy (which was revealed to her), and she was meant to begin “the apostolic movement of the Divine Mercy which undertakes the task of proclaiming and entreating God’s mercy for the world and strives for Christian perfection.”
  3. Jesus told St. Faustina: “My Heart overflows with great mercy for souls, and especially for poor sinners…[I]t is for them that the Blood and Water flowed from My Heart as from a fount overflowing with mercy. For them I dwell in the tabernacle as King of Mercy.”
  4. The popular prayer, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, is prayed on ordinary rosary beads. You can learn how here.
  5. The image of Jesus, known as Divine Mercy, was revealed to St. Faustina. He appeared with rays radiating from His Sacred Heart, and then told Sr. Faustina (who had no art training!) to paint this image, including the words, “Jesus, I trust in you.” He also promised that those who venerated the image would not perish.  “By means of this image I shall grant many graces to souls. It is to be a reminder of the demands of My mercy, because even the strongest faith is of no avail without works.”
  6. Here in the U.S., there is a Divine Mercy Shrine in Stockbridge, MA, which is cared for by the Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary. Originally a Polish congregation, they are best known for spreading the message of Divine Mercy.

It is fitting that as we continue to joyfully celebrate the Easter season, we take time to remember the merciful love that Jesus has for each of us. This year, (if you haven’t already) make the Divine Mercy image a part of your home. It is a wonderful reminder that there is no end to the mercy Christ has for each of us.

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Now Is The Acceptable Time

[Beginning today, Diocesan Publications offers daily Lenten reflections from a variety of guest bloggers. To receive these in your mailbox, please fill out the “Subscribe” box below the post. May you have a blessed Lent! – Editor]

 

“Even now, says the Lord, “return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning; Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the Lord, your God.” These words from the prophet Joel in today’s first reading stood out during my morning meditation, more specifically, the word, ‘heart.’

Clearly, the Lord wants us to surrender our “whole heart” to bring about radical conversion during our Lenten journey. Conversion happens individually, in community, and through the Sacraments. On Ash Wednesday “we assemble the elders and gather the children and infants.”  With hungry hearts we come together and acknowledge our sinfulness, “a clean heart create for me, O God and a steadfast spirit renew within me.”

Renewal, reconciliation and gratitude are essential elements in our relationship with Jesus and one another. As we sit with gratitude at the feet of the Master, His peace “will guard our hearts and minds” from the chaos of the world around us. At times, that chaos is even inside of us, yet our Father is always near calling to us, “harden not your heart.” During Lent, we are once again invited to go deeper into the silence of our hearts.

St. John of the Cross once said, “The Father spoke one Word, which was His Son, and this Word He always speaks in eternal silence and in silence it must be heard by the soul.” (Maxims on Love, in Collected Works) It takes great courage to enter into silence and ask the Holy Spirit to shine His light on the darkness in our heart; the darkness where temptation, brokenness and selfish desires reside.

“Do not be afraid, for I am with you,” says the Lord. So, we take one moment at a time, for this moment is all we really have. Our Lady will help undo the knots that bind us and lead us to deeper freedom through her Son Jesus.  

In today’s gospel, Christ shows us the way. “When you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.”  

He repays with mercy that allows us moments of rejoicing, even as painful renewal may be stretching us to our human limits. His strength brings forth beautiful graces. For me, this has happened while kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament preparing for the Sacrament of Confession. The Holy Spirit opened my eyes to see how my sinful behavior had caused friction in a family relationship. With great love, my Father revealed this to me, so healing could begin. When we take the time to humble ourselves and listen, God is there not with condemnation, but love to celebrate each step, understanding that change takes time and requires patience – with Him and with ourselves.

We are a new creation in Christ, not defined by our sin, but by His love. Will we step outside our comfort zone to share our testimony so that others, too, may turn their hearts to Jesus and be set free?

Today and throughout this Lenten season, each one of us is being called to “Trust in Jesus even more,” as the late Father George Kosicki, CSB, wrote on a 3×5 note card for me years ago, on a spiritual retreat. Our Father stands daily at the door of our hearts, inviting us to enter into a deeper relationship with Him through Jesus’ Divine Mercy.

Now more than ever, the world needs Christ’s love within us. The Church gives us this special season to bring us back into right relationship with Him so we can go out to serve one another. “For he says: ‘In an acceptable time I heard you, and on the day of salvation I helped you. Now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” Lent is the time for our hearts to be made clean so that we can freely meet Jesus and others with greater love and less judgement. May we unite together in the Heart of Jesus, with renewed spirit and be ready for radical transformation on the journey ahead.

 

Amy Oatley is a wife, mother, and Secular Franciscan (OFS), passionate about social justice, advocating for the dignity of every human life. She encounters Christ through Prison and Jail Ministry in the Diocese of Grand Rapids and as a Sidewalk Advocate for Life. A journalist for the past thirty years, she is currently a freelance writer for FAITH Magazine and works at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish. Her home parish is Our Lady of Consolation in Rockford, Michigan.

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Advent: Born That Man No More May Die

TODAY’S ADVENT REFLECTION FOR THE 4TH WEDNESDAY OF ADVENT, 2016

He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross.—1 Peter 2:24

I arrived at a car accident the other day before the police did. As I walked past the wreckage I fully expected to see someone dead, or nearly. The side of the car was split open, its parts spilled everywhere, the axle exposed and wheel far from the wreck, a pool of gasoline forming on the ground.

Thankfully (and maybe miraculously) the passengers looked like they’d be okay. The driver, a young man, was sitting beside the car bleeding heavily from the head, but he was stable. The girl who had been in the passenger’s seat was okay, too, aside from minor lacerations and obvious shock.

Witnesses said he had been going 80 in a 45, and had almost killed someone in the oncoming lane before he swerved into a wall.

As cops, ambulances, and firemen arrived at the scene, I wondered what caused such recklessness? That kind of driving is usually an expression of something wrong in the heart.

Was he driving like a maniac to impress a girl? Was he in a fight with her? I wondered if he was willing to risk his life that day because he’s angry, or places a cheap price tag on his own life. Maybe because he’s angry at his dad. Maybe he’s angry at his dad because his dad was distant, perhaps because his grandpa was abusive to his dad, perhaps because his great-grandpa was an alcoholic, and maybe that’s because . . .

And it struck me: the generational impact of sin, the web of pain we all weave through our self-centeredness, is staggering. Maybe in two hundred years some young man will end up swerving into oncoming traffic because I yell at my kids too much. No sin is committed in isolation. And anyone who flaunts the fact that they have “no regrets” is either ignorant of their connectedness with humanity or doesn’t care if they hurt others.

So how do we look straight on at the weight of sin, humanity’s sin and our own, and not crumble?

When Jesus was crucified we saw all that is worst about the human condition converging on one man. Political factions, shirking of responsibility, good ol’-fashioned bloodlust, manipulation in the name of religion.

“Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light.”

Look closer. Look into the center of the wreckage. In midst of the dust and the blood there are open arms. The tenderness of Bethlehem completed in the self-giving love of the cross. The antidote for sin: Mercy. And more, we see the example for how we’re to embrace the brokenness in others, and in ourselves.

Chris Stefanick - Guest AuthorChris Stefanick  is an internationally acclaimed author and speaker, who has devoted his life to inspiring people to live a bold, contagious faith. Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, OFM Cap calls Chris, “one of the most engaging young defenders of the Christian faith on the scene today.”  Chris is also the founder of Real Life Catholic, a Denver-based non-profit which operates as the headquarters for Chris’s various initiatives. Above all, Chris is proud to be the husband to his wife Natalie and father to their six children. To learn more about Chris’s work, please visit: www.RealLifeCatholic.com.

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One Step Away From Mercy

As a Church, we continue to celebrate the Year of Mercy. What a blessing this year has been to so many of us: a time to reconcile, a time to find peace within ourselves and with God. Pope Francis continues to use the theme of mercy to teach us about the ways of God, our Father.

This past Sunday, in the pope’s Angelus address, he spoke of the parable of the prodigal son.

Pope Francis said that what is most striking about the parable of the prodigal son is not the sad story of a young man who left his father and fell into sin, but his decision to “arise” and go to his father.

“The way back home is the way of hope and new life. God awaits to forgive us out on the road, waiting for us patiently, he sees us when we are still far away, he runs towards us, embraces us, forgives us. So is God! So is our Father! And his pardon erases the past and regenerates us in love,” the Pope said.

“When we sinners convert,” he continued, “we do not find God waiting for us with reproaches and hardness, because God saves, he gathers us home with joy and partying.”

Still, we all know how hard it is to make that decision to “arise” and ask forgiveness. We want to, but we are afraid. What if we are not met with open arms and joy? What if our Father is still angry with us? What if we are just too far gone to ever get back home?

The Christian band, Casting Crowns, answers this last question in their newest song, “One Step Away.” The song reminds us that no matter how far we have traveled, how big a mistake we may have made, we are still only one step away from our Father’s forgiveness.

It doesn’t matter how far you’ve gone
Mercy says you don’t have to keep running down the road you’re on
Love’s never met a lost cause

“Love’s never met a lost cause.” Every one of us has spent some time thinking we are a lost cause. Whether it is because of our own sin and arrogance, a loss in our life that we can’t seem to get over, or the pain and hurt we’ve felt when we are betrayed by someone we love, we’ve all said to ourselves, “This is a lost cause.”

But God has never met a lost cause. He has never looked at any of his children and thoughts, “There is not hope there.” No, God is nothing but hope, love, mercy … and he is always willing to forgive and gather us home.

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“Forgiveness Is A Rough Thing”

Forgiveness is a rough thing. God forgives perfectly; His children do not. We hold grudges, mouth the right words, withhold our trust, and seek revenge. Of course, when we are wronged, we expect immediate forgiveness, but it’s still a rough thing.

Zookie McGee knows. He was sent to prison for nine years for a crime he did not do. And he was sent there be a dirty cop, Drew Collins. Yet, Zookie found it in himself to forgive Drew and the two are now friends. But it was a rough road.

The Detroit News told the story of “forgiveness and redemption” this week. Collins was a cop in Benton Harbor who found himself (along with his partner Bernard Hall) lured by the power, the money and he says, the attention.

The end came in 2008, when Collins’ supervisors, acting on a tip from Hall, found a cache of marijuana, cocaine and heroin in a lockbox under Collins’ desk, according to court records.

Collins confessed everything and worked with federal prosecutors to separate his good arrests from the bad ones.

When the FBI gave him a list of 200 drug-related cases and asked him to highlight the bad ones, he said it would be easier to mark the good ones because they were fewer.

“It just eroded into an all-out free-for-all,” said Collins. “I did some really stupid things.”

In a plea deal, Collins was sentenced to 37 months in a federal prison after pleading guilty to the same charge McGee had been convicted of — possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.

But what of McGee? He still sat in prison, knowing he should be free. And he was released after serving four years of his sentence, nine days after Collins was incarcerated in the same prison.

Friends said that McGee, before his arrest, was a kind and soft-spoken man. But the false arrest and his imprisonment hardened him. His anger, by his own admission, was out of control and he swore revenge on Collins.

About two years after his release, he took  his young son to a festival in a Benton Harbor park. Collins was there as a volunteer.

McGee walked up to Collins and asked if he remembered him. Collins did and the two men shook hands.

McGee gripped Collins’ hand tightly and wouldn’t let go. All the anger he felt in prison came flooding back.

“His whole countenance changed,” said Collins. “I thought, this is about to get bad.”

McGee told Collins to tell his son why McGee had been missing from his life for four years.

Collins apologized profusely but McGee didn’t want to hear it. He grabbed his son and walked away.

Yet, McGee kept seeing Collins in town. Over and over again. Both men were involved in local churches by this time, and McGee had enrolled in a job training program sponsored by the churches. He was assigned a mentor.

It was Collins. The program director was unaware of the two men’s past.

Collins, who didn’t recognize McGee, explained he had been a police officer and that, if he had ever had any dealings with McGee and mistreated him, he was sorry.

McGee said they’ve already had this talk, referring to the meeting at the park.

When McGee said who he was, Collins began apologizing, but the smiling McGee cut him off.

“That’s already forgiven,” he said. “God has that.”

When joining the program, McGee had resolved to make changes in his life.

The two men now work together and travel, sharing their story of forgiveness and redemption. Clearly, they have figured their way through the rough thing that is forgiveness.

Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. (Luke 6:36-37)

(Photo of Collins and McGee courtesy of Katy Batdorff/The Detroit News.)

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Serving Christ By Serving Others: The Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy

It has been said that Christ has no hands and feet but ours in this world. Jesus Himself told us that whatever we do for the least in this world, we do for Him.

But what does that look like in concrete, every day ways? The Church teaches us that we are to serve others with mercy, both practically and spiritually. Formally, these are called the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says this:

2447. The works of mercy are charitable actions by which we come to the aid of our neighbor in his spiritual and bodily necessities. Instructing, advising, consoling, comforting are spiritual works of mercy, as are forgiving and bearing wrongs patiently. The corporal works of mercy consist especially in feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, and burying the dead. Among all these, giving alms to the poor is one of the chief witnesses to fraternal charity: it is also a work of justice pleasing to God.

While all of us may agree that these are very good things, how do we (in our day-to-day lives) shelter the homeless or bury the dead? No, the Church is not asking each of us to open homeless shelters or funeral homes. However, it is our Christian duty to attend funerals of those we know and to pray for the dead. We are supposed to work for justice for those who are homeless and hurting. Our castoff clothing can go to charities that give clothing directly to the poor.

On the spiritual side, when we hear someone say something incorrect about the Catholic faith, it is our duty to (charitably!) speak up and correct the error. We are to take time and listen to those who are hurting: a teen who has broken off a relationship, a neighbor that has lost a job, a friend who is struggling in his marriage. These are not simply “nice” things to do; they are our obligations as Christians.

If we bear the name of Christ, we must be His hands and feet. We must convey the Faith, speak with love, reach out in hope and act with mercy.

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‘What Is the Purpose of Life?’

Narayan Krishnan, the man featured in the video below, was chosen by CNN in 2010 for the CNN Heroes Award. Krishnan is a Brahmin, the highest of the castes in the Indian caste system. Although technically outlawed, the caste system in India is still widely practiced, and the men and women Krishnan serves belong to the lowest caste, considered to be the “Untouchables.” Krishnan gives his answer to the timeless human question, “What is the purpose of life?”

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A Merciful Heart In The Year Of Mercy

The second Sunday of Easter was declared “Divine Mercy Sunday” by St. John Paul II in 2000.  In this Year of Mercy, we are called in a special way to show mercy, to live out mercy, to have a merciful heart. How can Divine Mercy Sunday help us with that?

First, the history of Divine Mercy. A Polish nun, St. Faustina Kowalska, under the obedience of her spiritual director, kept a diary of her experiences: Jesus appearing to her. Jesus, at one time, showed her his Sacred Heart, pointed to it, and said “Paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the prayer, ‘Jesus, I trust in you.'”

The Church decrees that private revelations, such as St. Faustina’s experience, are not required belief. However, since the Church has also approved St. Faustina’s experiences as reliable and truthful, we are free to to use this particular devotion in our own spiritual lives. Also, given that the Church now celebrates Divine Mercy Sunday annually, we can be assured that this devotion is a sound one.

In 2001, St. John Paul II gave a homily on the first Divine Mercy Sunday. In it, he said:

The Heart of Christ! His “Sacred Heart” has given men everything:  redemption, salvation, sanctification. St Faustina Kowalska saw coming from this Heart that was overflowing with generous love, two rays of light which illuminated the world. “The two rays”, according to what Jesus himself told her, “represent the blood and the water” (Diary, p. 132). The blood recalls the sacrifice of Golgotha and the mystery of the Eucharist; the water, according to the rich symbolism of the Evangelist John, makes us think of Baptism and the Gift of the Holy Spirit (cf. Jn 3: 5; 4: 14).

Through the mystery of this wounded heart, the restorative tide of God’s merciful love continues to spread over the men and women of our time. Here alone can those who long for true and lasting happiness find its secret.

One writer sums up the message of Divine Mercy as “A, B, C:”

A — Ask for His Mercy. God wants us to approach Him in prayer constantly, repenting of our sins and asking Him to pour His mercy out upon us and upon the whole world.

B — Be merciful. God wants us to receive His mercy and let it flow through us to others. He wants us to extend love and forgiveness to others just as He does to us.

C — Completely trust in Jesus. God wants us to know that the graces of His mercy are dependent upon our trust. The more we trust in Jesus, the more we will receive.

We experience Christ’s “wounded heart” every day. It may be the wounds we carry in our own hearts. That wounded heart may be the heart of a child who is struggling, or the heart of a loved one who is ill. Each and every person we encounter has been wounded by sin and sometimes, shame. It must be part of who we are as Catholics to bring the “restorative tide” of mercy to the world. Our own hearts must mirror Christ’s: a merciful heart, full of love and assured that the answer to the longing of every human heart is found in Christ.

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Forgiveness: Restored In God’s Love And Mercy

Yesterday was Laetare Sunday. It marks the midpoint of Lent; the message of the liturgy is “rejoice!” (which is what laetare means.) We are so close to Easter. We are working hard to correct faults, to grow closer to God, to grow in faith, love, charity. We seek forgiveness for our sins; we yearn to know God’s love and mercy.

The Gospel for this past Sunday was one of the best known in all of Scripture: the parable of the Prodigal Son. Henri Nouwen, a Dutch priest, wrote a small book on this parable, The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming. Nouwen was absolutely captivated by Rembrandt’s painting of the prodigal son, where the painter captured the moment that the prodigal son flings himself at the feet of his father, seeking forgiveness.

Nouwen says this about “forgiveness,” a theme that is an integral part of the Prodigal Son story: “One of the greatest challenges of the spiritual life is to receive God’s forgiveness.”

How can this be? Aren’t we supposed to be able to go to God and be forgiven for anything? When we leave the confessional, aren’t we supposed to feel renewed? Don’t we leave all our sins behind?

It is supposed to work that way, but it doesn’t always. Sometimes the hurts and wounds we carry from our sins and the sins of others are so deep, so frightful, so damaging, we don’t feel forgiven, nor do we want to forgive someone else. Our mind tells us one thing (“Of course you’re forgiven! You just made a good confession”) and our heart tells us another (“I still hurt. This is so painful for me.”)

We see this in the parable. The eldest son, upon learning that his father is throwing a party for the younger son, gets angry. “I’ve been here all this time, doing the right thing. I’ve been working alongside my father. I’ve been good. Why is he getting a party?? I’ve never had a party.” The older son is jealous and mad and unforgiving. He’s hurt. He doesn’t see any room for forgiveness. He doesn’t understand how the father can forgive the hurts of the past so quickly, so effortlessly.

A bit later in his book, Nouwen states, “Receiving forgiveness requires a total willingness to let God be God and do all the healing, restoring, and renewing.” Are we totally willing to let God into our damaged relationships? Are we totally willing to allow God to restore us? Are we totally willing to set aside jealousy, hurt, pain, resentment, bitterness, grudges, annoyances in order to allow God to work in our lives?

Forgiveness is radical. It requires us to be “all in,” to get out of God’s way and allow His will to be done. We can be healed, restored, renewed. But we cannot do this ourselves. Only God can. Just like the Prodigal Son, we must be willing to throw ourselves at the feet of God, and tell him, “I cannot do this on my own. I hand everything over to you. Your will be done.” Only then will God’s love and mercy heal us.

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The Courage of Lent

It is common for children, in their desire to be pious and good, to begin Lent with a long list of “give ups:” “I’m gonna give up candy, and I’m gonna give up TV and I’m gonna give up arguing with my sister…” Adults chuckle, knowing that the child underestimates the stamina and courage that Lent requires.

In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus Finch, the lawyer-father who chooses to defend a black man in the Jim Crow South against the charge of rape, has to explain to his son what “courage” is, as the town divides over the black man’s trial:

I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.

In a sense, we are all losers – we are sinners in need of God’s grace and redemption. If we look to the lives of saints, men and women who are holy inspiration, we often see a bunch of “losers:”

  • Joan of Arc, burned at the stake as a heretic
  • Lawrence, burned in an iron grill by the Prefect of Rome
  • Margaret of Castello, deformed, rejected by her parents and forced to beg
  • Solanus Casey, ordained a priest, but told by his superiors that he could not preach or hear confessions due to his poor scholarship

We can go on. In fact, as Christians, the one whose name we claim, Christ Jesus, was a failure to most who knew him. He did not become king of the Jews, overthrowing the Romans. He was executed in the most horrific and shameful fashion. He went into the Passion knowing that this terrible cup would not pass from Him.

On that horrible Good Friday, the men of courage appeared to be the government officials, the soldiers with whips and chains, the religious leaders who failed to see God in their midst. We know, however, that courage hung on the Cross. “Real courage,” as Atticus Finch told his son, is doing what is right, what it good, even if you know you’ll “lose” in the eyes of the world.

As we continue on our Lenten journey, we must be courageous. We must continue to act with mercy and love, especially when we do not feel like it. We must pray even more fervently. We must see Lent through, courageously.

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Are You Motivated By Fear Or Mercy?

The first reading today is from the book of Jonah, a story familiar to most of us. It’s a good meditation on two great Lenten themes: fear and mercy.

Jonah is given an assignment from God: go to Nineveh and straighten those people out. The people of Nineveh are, frankly, a mess, and Jonah has to put the fear of God into them, so to speak. Once Jonah gets to Nineveh, his preaching (first a message of fear and then of mercy) gets a terrific response.

Diane Jorgensen, at Creighton University’s Online Ministries, talks about these themes of fear and mercy:

We are so like Jonah, desiring goodness and prosperity for ourselves and others, and yet also wanting “evil doers” to be punished. Why should terrorists, criminals, selfish people, druggies (name any group you despise) receive the same measure of mercy as I do?  It offends our sense of justice and fairness. Pope Francis said it well several years ago: ‘I think we too are the people who, on the one hand, want to listen to Jesus, but on the other hand, at times, like to find a stick to beat others with, to condemn others. And Jesus has this message for us: mercy. I think — and I say it with humility — that this is the Lord’s most powerful message: mercy. …God’s mercy…is an abyss beyond our comprehension.’

Today, pray about your relationship with God and others. Do you act and react out of fear or from a place of mercy? Do you fear God’s assessment of you, or are you open to His deep and loving mercy?