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The Way, The Truth, The Life

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“Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses.” -Pope Paul VI

“The Spirit of truth will testify to me, says the Lord, and you also will testify. Alleluia, Alleluia!”

Witnesses are called to testify to the truth. So, just how are we to testify? Most of us break out in a cold sweat at even the thought of being asked to give “a testimony”. I don’t know about you, but I don’t have some big dramatic story about a single event that caused me, a wayward sinner (although I am that!) to see the error of my ways and turn my life over to Jesus. While I think those stories are important to remind us of God’s power, like many others, sometimes God works so quietly that we simply don’t see our story as worthy testimony. So, it bears asking again, just how do we testify?

Today’s Psalms tell us to sing praise with timbrels and harp. Timbrels? A quick internet search describes timbrels as a form of tambourines. Now that’s music that makes you want to smile and move! We are supposed to testify with laughter and Joie de Vie! We testify by how we participate in praise. It doesn’t matter if we can’t sing a note, we testify by singing and adding our unique voice to the symphony of praise that echoes all the way to heaven. Wait, I can testify by something as simple as opening the hymnal and singing along? Really? Absolutely. When we sing together, we testify to our unity in Christ.  

In the first reading, Lydia testifies with her hospitality. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my home.”  

We may not be able to physically open our homes to every person we meet, but what acts of hospitality can we show? Through what seemingly tiny gestures can we testify to how much God loves each person we meet? Do they walk away from us feeling a little lighter? Do our actions let them know we care? That they have a God who infinitely cares? When we pay attention to the needs of others, we testify to the power of sacrificial love.

Yet, in the Gospel reading, Jesus doesn’t sugar coat things. He is sending the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, who will testify by activity in our community. Others may teach about truth, but only Jesus IS the Truth, the Way, and the Life. (John 14:6) We are called to testify to that Truth by cooperating with the Holy Spirit. Jesus loved those who were considered unloveable and he was condemned and crucified for that act of love. Jesus sends us the Holy Spirit so we can continue His work with those who are passed by, passed over and oppressed in society. By continuing Jesus’s work, by seeking to live as He lived, to love as He loved, we start to testify with every breath, every smile, every decision, every action.

Jesus tells us straight out, that when we live like him, we will be treated like him. Those “who have not known either the Father or me” will not understand either what we do or why we do it. But to paraphrase St. Mother Teresa’s prayer, we will “do it anyway.”

May the Holy Spirit, sent by our Lord Jesus Christ, continue to guide us and strengthen us as we testify, maybe not with dramatic stories, but with all the little moments of our daily lives.

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If you catch Sheryl sitting still, you are most likely to find her nose stuck in a book. It may be studying with her husband, Tom as he goes through Diaconate Formation, trying to stay one step ahead of her 5th and 6th-grade students at St Rose of Lima Catholic School or preparing for the teens she serves as Director of Youth Evangelization and Outreach in her parish collaborative. You can reach her through ignitedinchristnacc.com.

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Our Lady of Fatima

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Today, the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima, 3 people will make their initial Consecration to Jesus through Mary in our parish. We have spent the last 33 days “on retreat” as we have read, pondered and discussed Fr. Michael Gaitley’s book, “33 Days to Morning Glory.”

It has been one of the most profound times of preparation I have ever been through. My husband and I made our initial Consecration about 5 years ago. Looking back, I wish I had kept better track of the groups we have led through the same process since then. There have been at least a couple every year. However, this time through has been different. I have received the most amazing grace of being able to see more clearly than ever just how Mary has been working in my life and the immense changes that have happened as a result of entrusting myself to her and allowing her to lead me closer to Jesus.

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus gives us the parable of the sheep in the sheepfold. “…he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they recognize his voice. But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.”

Without me even consciously realizing it, ever since my consecration, Mary has been helping me recognize my shepherd’s voice. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, she has cleared my heart and my mind of so much of the flotsam and jetsam of life which blocks my really hearing Jesus’s softly whispered call. He calls with such tenderness and such mercy, he never rushes and he never forces, he waits for our “Yes” in each and every moment. The Catechism tells us that the call to conversion is on-going, “it is the movement of a ‘contrite heart’ drawn and moved by grace to respond to the merciful love of God who loved first.” (CCC 1428) Saying yes to Mary has made it easier to say yes to God in all the little things.

In the reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Peter is speaking of eating with the Gentiles and he says, “‘John baptized with water but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ If God gave them the same gift he gave to us when we came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to be able to hinder God?” Peter’s words are so powerful that those who are arguing with him stop immediately and begin praising God. Peter may have been talking about eating with those who were considered outsiders, but it seems to me, he could just as well have been speaking about consecration to Our Blessed Mother. We are baptized with the Holy Spirit, who has deigned to distribute his graces through the mother of his son, Mary. Through the disciple John, Jesus gave Mary as a spiritual mother to all of us. To be bold enough to use John’s words another way, if God gave the same gift, Mary, when we came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to be able to hinder God?

A quick word about numbers, 3 people making their initial consecration may not sound like much, but 3 people with hearts set on fire for Jesus through Mary can each set 3 more hearts on fire who then make their consecration and who each then set 3 more hearts on fire to make their consecration, who each set 3 more hearts on fire to make their consecration and before you know it Mary and the Holy Spirit have set the world ablaze with love of Jesus Christ. St. Maximilian Kolbe wanted to give not just glory to God but the greatest glory to God. He desired to do this by getting the whole world to give God the greatest glory through Mary. He called it the Militia Immaculata. The next Marian feast day is July 16, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. Care to join St. Maximilian Kolbe in giving the greatest glory to God? Let Mary help you recognize the Shepherd’s voice.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!

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If you catch Sheryl sitting still, you are most likely to find her nose stuck in a book. It may be studying with her husband, Tom as he goes through Diaconate Formation, trying to stay one step ahead of her 5th and 6th-grade students at St Rose of Lima Catholic School or preparing for the teens she serves as Director of Youth Evangelization and Outreach in her parish collaborative. You can reach her through ignitedinchristnacc.com.

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Fearful Yet Overjoyed

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Think back on a moment of life where everything changed. One of those crystal moments, where you know things will never be the same. Think of that moment when something you had been looking forward to became real; you were accepted at college, got your dream job, the moment your vocation became clear, the day of your marriage, the birth of your child.

These are such happy spots in our earthly lives! We are overcome with joy and delight. And, often, then reality sinks in. Can I cut it in college? What if I can’t? What if I am not as good at this job as I think I will be? Can I really spend the rest of my earthly life this way? Am I willing to give everything to get this person to heaven? What if I fail as a parent? How does this change tomorrow? Will anything in my life ever be the same?

The same can happen as we experience the joy of Easter. Christ is risen, Alleluia! Something so minor as death cannot overtake our Lord!

But the questions come, what does this mean to me? Is Easter simply the ending of my Lenten penance? Can I now go back to eating chocolate and putting cream in my coffee without giving it another thought? Can I pick up that weekly grande latte again rather than giving to someone in greater need? Do I just pick up where I left off on Mardi Gras like Lent (and Easter) never happened? What has to change in my life because Jesus has risen? How does this change tomorrow? Will anything in my life ever be the same?

The Church, in her infinite motherly wisdom, again provides. Easter is not a single day after which we put away the bunnies and baskets and go back to our daily routine. Easter is a season which begins with the rising of Jesus and ends with the descent of the Holy Spirit as the grand finale! Lent was 40 days. Easter gives us 50 days to soak it all in. We have time to meditate on the reality of Easter, not to be fearful but to let our senses, honed by abstinence and penance, truly consider what it means to serve a risen Lord. Our Lenten penance isn’t a thing of the past, it is now the prepared bedding where our Easter joy takes root. Our hearts and souls are ready to turn back to God for this time of grace and joy.

My prayer for you is that you are able to spend this Easter, all of Easter, not as a “getting back to normal” but as a time to find a new normal. To integrate in new ways, what it means to serve the One who overcame death through love. Like Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, may your joy at Easter so fill your heart that you run to share the news of Christ’s love with all you meet.

Easter blessings!

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If you catch Sheryl sitting still, you are most likely to find her nose stuck in a book. It may be studying with her husband, Tom as he goes through Diaconate Formation, trying to stay one step ahead of her 5th and 6th-grade students at St Rose of Lima Catholic School or preparing for the teens she serves as Director of Youth Evangelization and Outreach in her parish collaborative. You can reach her through www.youthministrynacc.com.

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The Final Leg

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“So the Jews said to him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM.’”

We are in the final stretch of Lent, almost to Holy Week. In just 3 days, we will begin the Mass with Hosannas and palms and then abruptly shift to the cries of “Crucify him” during the reading of the Gospel. We will begin the final steps with Jesus through his passion and crucifixion. We will travel those steps with him through the liturgy, through our prayers, through our own sacrifices, through our desire to love him and quench his thirst on the cross.

A week from today, we shall stay with him in the garden. The next day we will venerate the cross by which he died. Then we shall sit vigil with his mother and his disciples and maintain a holy silence until his Resurrection.

With all of this before us, Jesus reminds us today of who he is. “…before Abraham came to be, I AM.” It is the name spoken by God to Moses at the burning bush. “By revealing his name God at the same time reveals his faithfulness which is from everlasting to everlasting…God, who reveals his name as “I AM,” reveals himself as the God who is always there, present to his people in order to save them.” (CCC 207)

As we prepare ourselves for Holy Week, we are reminded, reminded of God’s covenant with Abraham. Reminded that God will “maintain my covenant with you and your descendants after you throughout the ages as an everlasting pact to be your God and the God of your descendants” (Genesis 17: ) Reminded that God is always there, present to his people.

“So the Jews said to him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM.’ So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid and went out of the temple area.”

As we enter the holiest week of the year, as we walk with Jesus to his passion and death, we can do so with our whole hearts, confident that God is the God who is everlastingly present. We remember they didn’t take Jesus’s life, he gave it as a gift. The impact we feel at the awareness of that gift is one of the graces of Holy Week. As you walk this week, as you participate in the liturgies and prayers, remember that Jesus, the one who is, willingly did it all for you. You are so loved. Can we do anything less than give him our whole hearts in return?

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If you catch Sheryl sitting still, you are most likely to find her nose stuck in a book. It may be studying with her husband, Tom as he goes through Diaconate Formation, trying to stay one step ahead of her 5th and 6th-grade students at St Rose of Lima Catholic School or preparing for the teens she serves as Director of Youth Evangelization and Outreach in her parish collaborative. You can reach her through www.youthministrynacc.com.

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Decluttering and Finding Joy

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There is a new system of organizing and decluttering that has people all abuzz. I will openly admit that I am not an expert in this area. There are parts of our home that could use a good decluttering. One of the foundational principles of this currently popular system is to cherish those things that bring you joy. You are supposed to hold something in your hands and ask yourself, “Does this bring me joy?” If the answer is “yes,” you keep it. If the answer is “no,” you pass it on (i.e., donate, sell, dispose of…) I had heard some positive responses and thought, “Maybe I could use this. I would welcome more joy.”

Hold on a second, there is a fatal flaw in the very question being asked. I am supposed to hold an object, a thing, a part of creation and ask if it brings me joy.

Lent is about making room for the only true source of joy, God himself. Lent is about returning to God with our whole hearts, hearts decluttered and free from attachment to things, attitudes, behaviors which block God’s grace.

In today’s readings, both Joseph’s brothers and the Pharisees have disordered ideas about finding joy. Joseph, the favored son of Jacob, is considered a killjoy by his brothers. They don’t like his dreams, his favored status, and it’s all wrapped up in his multi-colored coat so when they have the chance, they seize him. Having already determined he doesn’t bring joy to them, they plot his murder. Eventually, they throw him in a cistern and sell him as a slave, relegating their brother to the status of an object to be bought, sold, and disposed of at will.

The Pharisees in today’s Gospels are in much the same boat, although the things which they count on to bring them joy are not physical in nature. As the chief priests and elders of the people, they are used to having position and status in the community. They have no doubt that Jesus is comparing them to the tenants in the parable of the vineyard. Jesus knows that like the tenants in the parable, they will resort to murder to maintain their position, power and status rejecting the One who is capable of bringing all true joy. Jesus tells them straight out that “the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.”

When we look for joy, a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), in all the wrong places, we end up cluttering our lives with created things; objects or social constructs like position and status, which can’t really bring joy anyway. When we accumulate this clutter, we end up valuing the created over the Creator.

As we approach the Third Week of Lent, it is in our human nature to have our resolve to our Lenten promises begin to waiver. Instead of being frustrated or abandoning them, let’s look at them anew. How does my Lenten commitment help me to declutter my heart and mind? How are my small acts of penance helping me pave the way for Jesus to change my heart? If they aren’t, now is the time to adjust. How am I disciplining myself through fasting and abstinence to let go of my wants and make room for real joy? How am I giving of myself so that others see through me to the One who wants to bring them joy too?

As you continue your Lenten journey, may the Holy Spirit continue to guide you in your spiritual decluttering so that your heart is ready to be filled with Easter joy.

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If you catch Sheryl sitting still, you are most likely to find her nose stuck in a book. It may be studying with her husband, Tom as he goes through Diaconate Formation, trying to stay one step ahead of her 5th and 6th-grade students at St Rose of Lima Catholic School or preparing for the teens she serves as Director of Youth Evangelization and Outreach in her parish collaborative. You can reach her through www.youthministrynacc.com.

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One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic

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As a part of Tom (mi esposo)’s discernment and formation for the diaconate, we have taken several classes on the Creed. So, when this last class came to the marks of the Church, I thought, “I’ve got this. I’ve taught this in CCD. I have them memorized. Bring it on.”

Then in “The Creed” by Berard L. Mathaler I read:

“The marks of the Church are first of all gifts, but they need to be cultivated and nurtured. On the day of Pentecost, before it even moved outside of the gates of Jerusalem, the Church was ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC and APOSTOLIC, (emphasis is his), and much as a newborn is every inch a human being even before it begins to grow and develop its innate gifts. It is the Christian’s task to make the marks visible and recognizable.”

Wait? What?

In all of my years of professing the Creed, I always took this as a descriptor, not a responsibility. As God draws our own hearts’ back to himself this Lent, this puts an entirely new spin on my Lenten practices. Today’s readings spell out exactly how this is to look in practice in my life.

In order to make the marks of the Church visible to the world, to have them live in my whole heart and be manifested in my actions today, I need to not defraud or rob my neighbor, not only of their physical goods but of their inherent human dignity. I need to neither show partiality to the weak nor deference to the mighty; rather acknowledging each as a child of God, a brother or sister in Christ regardless of what they believe or do. I can’t spread slander among my kin nor stand idly by when my neighbor’s life is at stake. I might rush to help someone who is not physically safe, but do I stand by as others jeopardize their immortal lives? I can take no revenge nor bear a grudge against my fellow countrymen. That means all of my countrymen; the ones I agree with and the ones I don’t, the ones who were born here and the ones who came here in search of a better life. No revenge, I can’t talk them down, move against them or even bear a grudge towards them or even wish that I could.

In the Gospel, Jesus tells us that when we do all this, we do it for him and to him. He is present in each and every person we encounter, those we embrace and those from whom we turn away.

So whatever your Lenten practice this year, try to take it one step deeper, one step farther. If you are denying yourself some cherished thing, offer that sacrifice for the good of another. If you are seeking new practices, such as prayer or spiritual reading, reach out to someone else and invite them to join you. If you can’t give money as alms, give of yourself.

As we take this Lent to turn back to God with our whole heart, may our Lenten practices, guided by today’s readings help us to live up to our call to be a sign of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church in an aching and divided world.

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If you catch Sheryl sitting still, you are most likely to find her nose stuck in a book. It may be studying with her husband, Tom as he goes through Diaconate Formation, trying to stay one step ahead of her 5th and 6th-grade students at St Rose of Lima Catholic School or preparing for the teens she serves as Director of Youth Evangelization and Outreach in her parish collaborative. You can reach her through her through www.youthministrynacc.com.

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The Leaven of Language

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I love making artisan bread. It sounds fancy, tastes fantastic and yet is so simple to make. Every time, I wonder, “Why I don’t do this more often?” My basic recipe includes flour, warm water, honey, and yeast.

The yeast is a leaven. It literally permeates every molecule of the dough, consuming simple sugars and emitting carbon dioxide into the bubble gum-like gluten causing it to expand and rise, giving the bread texture and contributing to the flavor.

Leaven (or leavened) is mentioned 22 times in the Old Testament and 17 times in the New Testament. It is that property of something small entering into and changing the whole that is used as an analogy over and over, sometimes in a positive vein and sometimes in a negative connotation.

The easiest analogy to make is to compare leaven to sin. It is the small sins which we may discount which change our attitude and decrease our sensitivity to sin so that it becomes easier and easier to sin than to chose to act with virtue.

As the English language continues to evolve, we begin to use words in ways that no longer adhere to the original meaning. For instance, “adore” comes from the Latin, “ad” meaning to and “orare” meaning speak or pray, hence “adore” meaning to speak a prayer, or to worship. Adore is the veneration or worship due only to God. Yet, the synonyms for the word in common usage now include, “like, love, have a liking for, be fond of, be keen on, be partial to, have a taste for, have a weakness for, enjoy, delight in, revel in, take pleasure in, relish, savor, rate highly, regard highly.” A word which once directed us straight to God and our appropriate behavior to Him now is used to describe being “keen” on something. As we use words which once were reserved for God for created things, how does that language act as a leaven in our attitude towards God and our faith?

Today’s readings make a pretty convincing argument for a significant impact. In the Old Testament reading, the God who created us, knows us and loves us, looked at the whole of creation and saw how the leaven of evil had permeated the whole of humanity. The whole of humanity had been consumed with evil to the point where God “regretted he had made man on the earth, and his heart was grieved.” Through Noah, God stops short of wiping men out completely. Through that one man, He saves creation and expands upon his covenant from promising salvation to one couple to salvation to a family. Finally, Jesus comes to fulfill God’s covenant and provide salvation to all men, however, even while He is here to save us, Jesus still warns the disciples to watch against the “leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” The disciples are warned against sharing the destructive attitudes of the Pharisees and Herod toward Jesus.

How much of our attitude is influenced by our language? The word Pharisee means “separated out”. They set themselves apart to so that they could avoid contamination from those who weren’t “God’s chosen people”; most specifically the unclean Gentiles. Language is used to separate people in to “us” and “them” impacting human relationships. How does our relationship with God change when we speak of creatures in the same way we speak of our Creator? Ask God to send the Holy Spirit to enlighten your mind today to the words you use. Start with something familiar, like the Creed and spend some time really understanding the words that were chosen and the insight they provide us into who God is and who we are in His presence. Watch and see, how little changes in the leaven of our language open up our hearts and minds to the wonders God has waiting for us.

Now that is some powerful leaven for good.

If you catch Sheryl sitting still, you are most likely to find her nose stuck in a book. It may be studying with her husband, Tom as he goes through Diaconate Formation, trying to stay one step ahead of her 5th and 6th-grade students at St Rose of Lima Catholic School or preparing for the teens she serves as Director of Youth Evangelization and Outreach in her parish collaborative. You can reach her through her through www.youthministrynacc.com.

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What Have You to do with Me?

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There are 3 retellings of today’s Gospel;  Matthew 8:28-34, Luke 8:26-39 and today’s reading, Mark 5:1-20. Nothing in the Bible is repeated without a purpose.

Summarizing the three, Jesus leaves Galilee (land of Jews) and crosses the sea to go to the opposite side, Gerasenes (land of pagans or Gentiles). On the way there, even nature itself seems to be preventing Jesus from making this journey and to the relief of his companions, Jesus wakes up and calms the sea with just a simple command. Now he arrives in this foreign territory and his first encounter is with a naked man possessed by demons. The man prostrates himself at Jesus’s feet and the demons ask, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?”

Let’s get this straight. Jesus leaves the Jewish land, taking with him Jewish men who followed Jewish law and goes to a Gentile land, which for devout Jews was a defilement all by itself. Once there, they meet a naked man, which would be shameful for any Jew. This naked man is wandering around the tombs and graves, again this would be a defilement for a Jew AND there are pigs in the area which are considered unclean for the Jews. To top all of this off, on the way there, even the very sea rises up to try and prevent them from making this trip.

Jesus knowingly chooses to take the disciples, not just out of their comfort zone but into places they considered inappropriate for any of God’s chosen people to go. When even the sea attempts to rise up and stop them, Jesus calms the turbulence of the wind and the waves by saying, “Quiet, Be still,” and nature obeys. Jesus steps out into an unclean land, greets an unclean man, and listens to him. The evil spirits within the man, instantly recognize Jesus for who he is and address him as, “Son of the Most High God.” The demons ask that Jesus not send them away but only to the swine feeding on the hillside. Jesus agrees and the evil spirits leave the man, enter the pigs and the pigs go running for the sea and drown. The men responsible for the herds of pigs go running back to town, telling what they have seen.

Somewhat surprisingly, the people from the town don’t come running for restitution or to complain that their herds of pigs are gone. Instead, they just ask Jesus to leave. Today’s reading says, “they beg him to leave their district.”

It is interesting too, that in the Liturgical Calendar, this reading comes on the heels of Epiphany and the Celebration of the Conversion of St. Paul. The three wise men were the first of the Gentiles to worship Jesus and recognize him as King. St. Paul, who by his own words was the most zealous of Jews, following his conversation becomes the Apostle to the Gentiles. In Scripture, between those two events, we have Jesus venturing out to the territories of the Gentiles to cast out demons.

We might paraphrase the demons’ question and ask, “What does this have to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?”

When we say that we follow Jesus, it is sometimes easier to follow the platitudes and to stay within the confines of our comfort zones and be content with being a good person. Jesus shows us here that following him means following him out into the places where we aren’t comfortable, to be with people who our rules label shameful or unclean. The first reading from the letter to Hebrews lists our forefathers who lived lives outside the comfortable norm “in order to obtain a better resurrection.” We can expect that when we too live outside our societal norm, we too may endure mockery and torture. It may even seem that nature herself may rise up and try to stop us. But we follow the One who calms storms with a word. Even the evil we will meet along the way recognizes our God as the Most High and while they do not follow him, they know the Truth when they see it.

After the demons are cast out and Jesus is asked to leave, the man asks Jesus if he can come with him. Instead of taking him along, Jesus sends him back to his family to “announce all that the Lord in his pity has done for you.” As we stretch and through grace begin to live outside ourselves, as we go out to our human family to listen and share what the Lord has done for us, we too will be able to cry with the Psalmist, “ How great is the goodness, O Lord, which you have in store for those who fear you”.

What is waiting for you just outside your comfort zone?

If you catch Sheryl sitting still, you are most likely to find her nose stuck in a book. It may be studying with her husband, Tom as he goes through Diaconate Formation, trying to stay one step ahead of her 5th and 6th-grade students at St Rose of Lima Catholic School or preparing for the teens she serves as Director of Youth Evangelization and Outreach in her parish collaborative. You can reach her through her through www.youthministrynacc.com.

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Following the Rules

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I am the firstborn of my parents. My mom knew just what she wanted her daughter to be like. I started dance classes when I was three in the hopes that I would become graceful and elegant. I did all of the “right” things and I was raised very conscious of the importance of my being a role model to my siblings for what to do and what not to do. I am a born and raised rule follower.

So it is difficult when I encounter someone like the leper in today’s Gospel, who, after receiving God’s mercy, receives a direct command from Jesus and then does the complete opposite. Jesus shows pity and touches the man, heals him and gives him very clear instructions, “See that you tell no one anything, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed.” But what happens? “The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter.” What!?! Didn’t you hear what Jesus told you? How could you not follow this one simple rule?

To top it off, no more is said about the man’s apparent disobedience. Mark continues on to Chapter 2 and the healing of the paralytic. The commentaries I consulted had nothing to say about this portion of the story but it is the part of the story that my well-trained eldest child brain can’t let go.

And when I am really honest with myself, some of my problem is that I am jealous. Not of the obvious things like the direct miracle of his healing, but because the man was so excited he just couldn’t stop talking about Jesus. He may not have followed instructions, but he sure followed the leader. I want that.

I have been so fortunate to not have had any major health issues in my 57 years. I have had the usual bumps and bruises (Sorry, Mom, despite your best efforts, I am neither graceful nor elegant!), bugs and bothers, but nothing that has disrupted the long term trajectory of my life. Yet, there are countless small healings and blessings that have graced my path through life. Times when things could have gone bad and didn’t. Yet, I don’t focus on those things. I fuss when things don’t go the way I think they should, when my way is not The Way. Sometimes I get so busy following the rules, that I neglect to follow my leader. There are times when I need to let go of what I think should be and just revel in the fact that God’s got this. His healing and his blessings come in his time. He has his eye on me. “Even all the hairs on your head are counted. So do not be afraid…” (Matthew 10:30-31)

“He spread the report abroad so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly. He remained outside in deserted places, and people kept coming to him from everywhere.”

Dear Jesus, Lead me so that my life is such a reflection of you, your healing and joy that when I meet others, they too want to find come and find you.

If you catch Sheryl sitting still, you are most likely to find her nose stuck in a book. It may be studying with her husband, Tom as he goes through Diaconate Formation, trying to stay one step ahead of her 5th and 6th-grade students at St Rose of Lima Catholic School or preparing for the teens she serves as Director of Youth Evangelization and Outreach in her parish collaborative. You can reach her through her through www.youthministrynacc.com.

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Walking the Talk

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This is my note to myself at the beginning of 1 John. John is making a point. The community that John is writing to is under attack from false teachers. There were those who denied Jesus was the Christ and those who denied he was a true man. By denying Jesus is the Christ, they deny his humanity in order to ensure his divinity which is docetism, or they viewed Jesus as a mere stepping stone to a higher knowledge of God, which is Gnosticism. While we don’t know the specific heresy that John is speaking against, we do know that for John, true doctrine wasn’t just a point to be discussed or a lesson to be taught; for John, doctrine is to be visible in our conduct.

It’s all there is the beginning of the letter. “What was from the beginning”, Jesus was from the beginning. He is God without beginning or ending. He also is what the apostles have heard, seen with their eyes and touched with their hands. He is true flesh, true man. If we believe both those things, then everything else has to revolve around that belief.

I wasn’t raised in the Catholic Church and I remember going to Vacation Bible Schools or other events that would end in an altar call. I used to go up every time because as much as I wanted to be God’s child, I couldn’t see the evidence in my own life. I expected that when I accepted Jesus as my Savior that somehow, all my character flaws would melt away and I would be kinder, more patient, more loving. I took literally, “No one who remains in him sins.” My logic was I was definitely a sinner, therefore I must not have seen or known him. So despite my mother’s explanations that I didn’t need to go up every time, I did. I kept hoping that it would “take” and I would suddenly be the kind of person I so wanted to be.

What a relief to know now that conversion is not a once and done event. That every day I can experience conversion to living as the saint I am called to be by baptism. Every night, I can examine my conscience, ask forgiveness for where I have failed to live out the doctrine I profess and continue the process of conversion in the new day.

Jesus came to be flesh like us so that like him, we can be children of God. In all our sinfulness, in all our brokenness, in all our misery, God wants us for his own. To do that, he sent Jesus to show us the way. He sends the Holy Spirit even now to guide and comfort us along that way.

So as the Christmas season comes to a close this Sunday with the arrival of the Magi, let us still take time to celebrate, to cherish our status as adopted children of He who created us.

Let us remember too, that we are all called to be saints, children of God. That means that my grumpy neighbor, the person who cuts in front of me in the check out lane, the person at work who just gets under my skin, that one lady who always sings too loud and off-key at Mass, they too are God’s children, even if they don’t know it yet. Living out the doctrine of Jesus Christ, true God and true man in my conduct, means I need to treat them with the dignity they deserve as a child of God, whether I like it or not.

Like John, my conduct needs to speak my doctrine and my doctrine needs to inform my conduct. In other words, dear Lord, please help me to walk my talk.

Merry Christmas!

If you catch Sheryl sitting still, you are most likely to find her nose stuck in a book. It may be studying with her husband, Tom as he goes through Diaconate Formation, trying to stay one step ahead of her 5th and 6th-grade students at St Rose of Lima Catholic School or preparing for the teens she serves as Director of Youth Evangelization and Outreach in her parish collaborative. You can reach her through her through www.youthministrynacc.com.

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Miraculous Through the Ordinary

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When we receive our writing assignments, we “sign up” by putting our names by the dates for which we want to reflect and respond to the readings. I’d love to be able to say that I thoughtfully and prayerfully choose the readings I will write about, but the reality is that the spreadsheet for signing up usually arrives in the midst of a myriad of other tasks which are all demanding my attention and so I usually send up a quick prayer and try to choose two readings about 2 weeks apart, simply to make it easier to hit the deadlines.

But today, I have hit the reading lottery jackpot! This is one of my favorite, favorite stories in the Bible! I love Zechariah and Elizabeth because they remind me that God works amazing things through perfectly ordinary people. And I love the reminder that God is funny, I mean God is really funny.

Zechariah and Elizabeth are a devout Jewish couple, just going through life trying to do their best. Unfortunately for them, they are not blessed with children. For those of us who have lived through a multitude of people pressing you to have children, asking (what you thought were private and intimate) details of why you don’t have children, and explaining how their third cousin once removed finally got pregnant, we have some small insight into the deep disappointment with which Zechariah and Elizabeth lived. Childless women of Elizabeth’s time were not just interrogated, they were mocked and ridiculed. So it is at this late stage in the game, that we meet Zach and Liz, ‘righteous in God’s sight’ living outside of Jerusalem in the hill country. Not only are they childless, but they are also country folk! My people!

Zechariah is a priest and it is time for his division to head into Jerusalem to perform their regular duty in the Temple-liturgy, he is just doing his job. Zechariah draws “the lot” and is appointed to go into the inner sanctuary to offer incense while the others remain praying outside. Zechariah’s regular duty provides the setting for something extraordinary.

Gabriel shows up. There, standing to the right of the altar of incense is not just an angel, but one of the archangels. Zechariah gets scared.

Just as with Mary, Gabriel tells Zechariah not to be afraid, that his prayers have been heard and a child will be born. However, Zechariah takes a different approach than Mary. Zechariah argues with the angel. How can this be? I’m old and have you met my wife? (How many times do I argue when I should probably just be quiet!?!)

Can’t you just picture Gabriel sighing and taking a deep breath before answering? (I wonder if angels when appearing to us can roll their eyes?) “Listen, Zach, I stand before God and HE sent me to give you this good news, but since you have decided to just give me wordy arguments, you will now be without words until the child is born.” (I’ve taken the liberty of paraphrasing but, see, I told you God was funny!)

One thinks immediately of Abraham and Sarah, and how when Sarah laughed at the news she would have a child in her old age, God named the baby, Isaac which means laughter. Again, pretty funny, God.

From today’s first reading, we think of Manoah and his wife, who though childless, also conceived after a visit from an angel. Their child, Samson was consecrated to God, just as Zechariah and Elizabeth’s child would be. Having a child long after child-bearing years is not a stretch for God, nor is it even something new. In this way, the story of their child, John, takes its place in a long-standing sequence of events all for God’s purposes; the fulfillment of God’s promises.

The stories of these sons; Isaac, Samson, and John all prepare us for the coming of The Son. It also reminds us, that in the midst of the big things, and one could argue that the Incarnation was the biggest of the big, God responds to the smallest of hopes and desires as well. It is in the midst of ordinary people, doing their best to live out their faith on a day to day basis, that God resides and moves. Ahhh, that means there is hope for me yet.

See why I love this story?

Sheryl O’Connor is happiest in her role as wife to Tom. Together, they are discerning Tom’s call to the Diaconate and he is in his Aspirancy year with the Diocese of Kalamazoo. She is the Director of Youth Evangelization at her parish collaborative. 

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The Ocean of Mission

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In the Bible I use as my study Bible, the second half of today’s Gospel is labeled, The Privileges of Discipleship. Jesus tells his disciples that they are blessed because they get to see and hear what so many others desired greatly, but did not get to see and hear.

My initial reaction to this passage sort of brings out the chip on my shoulder. Kind of a response of, “Sure, rub it in, they got to see you in person and we don’t. I get it, they were privileged, special, blessed while the rest of us are just trying to get through on the words and stories they left us.” One would think that I would have learned by now, that there is always more than meets the eye and my first impressions are rarely correct.

In this passage from Luke, Jesus is guiding his disciples to a new perspective. Look at what comes before and after this passage. Just prior to this Jesus has sent out the 70 (or 72 depending on your preferred translation) who have gone out into the countryside to heal and cast out demons in His name. And lo and behold, it works! From timid followers who leave with nothing, they return rejoicing at the fruits of their labors. Just following this passage, a scholar attempts to trick Jesus by asking him about the law and eternal life. When Jesus turns the question back on him, the scholar responds with the Shema Yrasel, the centerpiece of Jewish prayer, “You shall love the Lord, your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus responds by affirming the scholar and then expands on the meaning with the story of the Good Samaritan (whose title would have been an oxymoron to the Jews of Jesus’s time).

In the sending of the 70 (or 72), Jesus has begun to share his mission to spread God’s kingdom with his disciples. In the Good Samaritan, he shows us that mission isn’t just to the ones who live next to us, think like us or believe like us. Jesus is helping his disciples get used to the water so to speak, to get their toes wet before they have to swim in the ocean depths of the mission that He will leave for us, his disciples, to continue.

God’s ways are not our ways. (Isaiah 55:8) It also isn’t about becoming the wisest, the most powerful, the most influential, the most productive. Jesus praises the Father because He has turned all this human thinking around and stood it on its head. Jesus is telling his disciples (both them and us) that life isn’t about what we expect it to be about. To live as a disciple, yes, we learn at the Master’s feet, but we need to always remember that all right knowledge, wisdom, understanding (Gifts of the Holy Spirit, anyone?) come from God and they only flower and produce fruit when rooted in love.

So the Church, in her wisdom, gives us this reading in these early days of Advent, to remind us. This season isn’t about bows and ribbons, parties and programs. It is about preparing our hearts for the shoot which will “sprout from the stump of Jesse.” Because we too are special, blessed and get the privilege of discipleship. Not as we think it should be, but as God desires it. The disciples saw and spoke with Jesus in the flesh. We take Jesus, body, blood, soul, and divinity into our very being. He changed them from the outside in, but He has reserved for us who follow the opportunity to be changed from the inside out.

And all that started with a babe in a manger. The prophet tells us that as a result of that babe, that shoot sprouted from Jesse, “the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the Lord as the water covers the sea.”

And that brings us back to the ocean of mission, where we serve God by serving our neighbor. Anyone what to go swimming this Advent?

Sheryl O’Connor is happiest in her role as wife to Tom. Together, they are discerning Tom’s call to the Diaconate and he is in his Aspirancy year with the Diocese of Kalamazoo. She splits her time between Holy Family Healthcare where she is the Director of Strong Families Programs and her parish collaborative where she is the Director of Youth Evangelization.