Devotion to Christ: The Fruit of the Marian Gaze

"Remembering our most holy, pure, blessed, and glorious Lady, the Theotokos and ever virgin Mary, with all the saints, let us commit ourselves and one another and our whole life to Christ our God." ~ The Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostomos

The Intimacy of Christmas

In Jesus, "we see God in our nature, coping with our world, meeting situations known to us. Outside Christianity there is nothing to compare with the intimacy of this knowledge." ~ Frank J. Sheed, Theology for Beginners

Wisdom, Mercy & Justice

A wise judge may let mercy temper justice but may not let mercy undo it. ~ Lewis B. Smedes, The Art of Forgiving

The prisoner was you...

To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you. ~ Lewis B. Smedes, Forgiveness

Detecting forgiveness...

You will know that forgiveness has begun when you recall those who hurt you and feel the power to wish them well. ~ Lewis B. Smedes, Forgive & Forget

It only takes one to forgive...

It takes one person to forgive, it takes two people to be reunited. ~ Lewis B. Smedes, The Art of Forgiving

Forgiveness is not understanding...

...Forgiving is not having to understand. Understanding may come later, in fragments, an insight here and a glimpse there, after forgiving. ~ Lewis B. Smedes, Forgive & Forget

Forgiveness isn't tolerance...

You can forgive someone almost anything. But you cannot tolerate everything... We don't have to tolerate what people do just because we forgive them for doing it. Forgiving heals us personally. To tolerate everything only hurts us all in the long run. ~ Lewis B. Smedes, Forgive & Forget

Forgive the wife-slammer

Forgive a wife-slammer if you can. But you don't have to live with him. Forgive a husband who is abusing your children if you can. But only after you kick him out of the house. And if you can't get him out, get help. It's available. In the meantime, don't let him near the kids, and don't let anyone tell you that if you forgive him it means you have to stay with him. [There's an important difference between forgiving a person and tolerating their bad behavior.] ~ Lewis B. Smedes, The Art of Forgiving

Giving up on vegeance

When you give up vengeance, make sure you are not giving up on justice. The line between the two is faint, unsteady, and fine...Vengeance is our own pleasure of seeing someone who hurt us getting it back and then some. Justice, on the other hand, is secure when someone pays a fair penalty for wronging another even if the injured person takes no pleasure in the transaction. Vengeance is personal satisfaction. Justice is moral accounting...Human forgiveness does not do away with human justice. ~ Lewis B. Smedes, The Art of Forgiving

The Problem with Revenge

The problem with revenge is that it never gets what it wants; it never evens the score. Fairness never comes. The chain reaction set off by every act of vengeance always takes its unhindered course. It ties both the injured and the injurer to an escalator of pain...Why do family feuds go on and on?...the reason is simple: no two people, no two families, ever weigh pain on the same scale. ~ Lewis B. Smedes, Forgive & Forget

Ghandi was right

Gandhi was right: if we all live by 'an eye for an eye' the whole world will be blind. The only way out is forgiveness. ~ Lewis B. Smedes, Forgive & Forget

Videotaped Vengeance

Vengeance is having a videotape planted in your soul that cannot be turned off. It plays the painful scene over and over again inside your mind... And each time it plays you feel the clap of pain again... Forgiving turns off the videotape of pained memory. Forgiving sets you free. ~ Lewis B. Smedes, Forgiveness

Healed, but not deleted...

Forgiving does not erase the bitter past. A healed memory is not a deleted memory. Instead, forgiving what we cannot forget creates a new way to remember. We change the memory of our past into a hope for our future. ~ Lewis B. Smedes, The Art of Forgiving

Failure's Real Name

The rule is: we cannot really forgive ourselves unless we look at the failure in our past and call it by its right name. ~ Lewis B. Smedes, Forgive & Forget

Forgiving Evil

When we forgive evil we do not excuse it, we do not tolerate it, we do not smother it. We look the evil full in the face, call it what it is, let its horror shock and stun and enrage us, and only then do we forgive it. ~ Lewis B. Smedes, Forgive & Forget

God's Remedy

God invented forgiving as a remedy for a past that not even he could change and not even he could forget. His way of forgiving is the model for our forgiving. ~ Lewis B. Smedes, , The Art of Forgiving

God's Invention

Forgiveness is God's invention for coming to terms with a world in which, despite their best intentions, people are unfair to each other and hurt each other deeply. He began by forgiving us. And he invites us all to forgive each other. ~ Lewis B. Smedes, Forgive & Forget

The Original Forgiver

God is the original, master forgiver. Each time we grope our reluctant way through the minor miracle of forgiving, we are imitating his style. I am not at all sure that any of us would have had imagination enough to see the possibilities in this way to heal the wrongs of this life had he not done it first. ~ Lewis B. Smedes, The Art of Forgiving

Celebrating Lewis B. Smedes

Every so often a single person impacts you in dramatic ways. Today, I will be celebrating one such person, Lewis B. Smedes. Enjoy the feast!

America's Promise: Freedom

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

When Emma Lazarus penned these words, she pointed to the real hunger that America itself longed to fill in the hearts of those who would call her home: Freedom.

Wealth, glory and power are not her legacy. Even when America was the land of nobodies, before she attained a global footing, she was storied for her singular aspiration: Freedom.

Millions pressed her borders, not because America promised them a life free of failure, hardship or suffering. They came in answer to her solitary promise: Freedom.

They came because America said,

“We hold these truths to be self evident:
that all men are created equal;
that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain inalienable rights;
that among these are
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”

If America forgets this, if her citizens trade this legacy for a pot of porridge, then the journey will have been in vain.

I have received few gifts in my life that are greater in their significance and value than the right to reside within the United States of America.

I offer this post in the hope that America will never forget
who she is, and what she has meant to the rest of the world.

Where God is...

Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of compassion
and God of all encouragement,
who encourages us in our every affliction,
so that we may be able to encourage
those who are in any affliction
with the encouragement
with which we ourselves
are encouraged by God.
~ 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Ever wonder where God is
when you suffer?
He is wherever you are.
His name is Encouragement.

Wisdom's Pricetag

Remember your Creator
while you are young.
~ Ecclesiastes 12:1

Too many have spent their lives
to acquire the wisdom
that the sage offers for free.

Whence cometh unhappiness?

When I became a man,
I put away childish things.
~ 1 Corinthians 13:11

Our refusal
to embrace
adulthood
is the source
of much
unhappiness.

Facebook and the significance of words

Let your words be
for the improvement of others...
and do good to your listeners.
~ Ephesians 4:29-30

Yes, words matter,
even in a Facebook generation!

What we do not know!

Where were you
when I laid
the earth's foundations.
~ Job 38:4

We would do well
to appreciate
the limits
of human knowledge.

The Adorer's Treachery

But now you must be holy
in everything you do,
just as God who chose you
is holy.
~ 1 Peter 1:15

Those who adore God
treat sin with treachery.

It's time to count again...

"The hour is coming
when everyone who kills you
will think he is
offering worship to God."
~ John 16:2

Have you counted the cost lately?

Jesus said, "Without me you can do nothing."
~ John 15:5

When we embrace this reality
the world will be reborn.

Manners, Morals & Law

The person who despises manners
will not delay long in throwing off
moral and legal restraints.

The exposure of desire

As the deer pants for the water brooks,
So my soul pants for You, O God.
~ Psalm 42:1

We may not much like it,
but our true selves
are laid bare
by the things
we desire.

The blindness of ingratitude

How shall I make a return to the LORD
for all the good He has done for me?
~ Psalm 116:12

Those blinded by ingratitude
never utter these words.

Why are we bored?

The fool confuses familiarity with knowledge,
and wonders at life's banality.
The wise knows the difference
and is caught up in wonder!

Two Sons, One Mother

Intellectual laziness and moral inattentiveness are twin sons of a single mother. Her name is "Indifference". Her motto, "Whatever".

Simultaneously bold and meek!

"You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears,
you always oppose the Holy Spirit;...
"Lord, do not hold this sin against them";
and when he said this, he fell asleep.
~ Acts 7:51 & 60

Is it not curious that we often hear sermons extolling the virtue of Stephen's boldness or that of his humility, but rarely of his bold meekness? The real mystery of this instance of capital punishment is that the one who incited the violence is one and the same as the one who implored the Divine forbearance.

O that we would imitate Saint Stephen and be both bold and meek in the same moment.

Is politics doomed to godlessness?

Today's Psalm puts the lie to the inevitability of the wedding of politics and godlessness:

Though princes meet and talk against me,
your servant meditates on your statutes.
~ Psalm 119:23

Politicians are subject to the temptations common to all men and women. Our elected officials may choose to confront these assaults on virtue with the same arsenal as we do. They are free also to neglect these tools.

That many politicians are ensnared by power is no more a testimony to the inevitability of godlessness than our moral failures are to the inevitability of sin. The lives of Blessed Theresa of Calcutta and Saint Thomas More make clear that holiness is possible for the powerless and the powerful alike.

There remains no excuse for the moral cowardice of those who name the name of Christ when they are in the quest for the vote, yet abandon the command of Christ when they take counsel regarding the health of the nation.

Yes, your decrees are my delight;
they are my counselors.
~ Psalm 119:24

Church precepts and healthy marriages...

Have you ever noticed the uncanny similarity between the five precepts of the Church and the rudiments of a healthy marriage?

Precept 1: You shall attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation and rest from servile labor.
Rudiment 1: Healthy marriages are built upon a foundation of consistent, well-spent time, punctuated by days of celebration.

Precept 2: You shall confess your sins at least once a year.
Rudiment 2: Healthy marriages are restored and sustained by frequent confession ("I'm sorry, please forgive me."). Wise couples do it daily, weekly and annually.

Precept 3: You shall receive the sacrament of the Eucharist at least during the Easter season.
Rudiment 3: Healthy marriages recognize that there's only one thing better than fessing-up, and that's making-up. Marital intimacy is the Eucharist of healthy marriages.

Precept 4: You shall observe the days of fasting and abstinence established by the Church.
Rudiment 4: Healthy marriages are marked by frequent sacrifices that show a husband's love for his wife and a wife's love for her husband.

Precept 5: You shall help to provide for the needs of the Church.
Rudiment 5: Healthy marriages are built upon the tireless efforts of husband's and wive's to secure a better life for one another.

One more thing: The precepts outline the very necessary minimum for growth in our love for God. In the same way, the health of a marriage is intimately connected to the frequency and care with which the rudiments are put into practice.

Immensity and madness

It is not the immensity of the universe, but of human pride that drives men to unbelief. It is palpable madness for any creature to decry against the gods.

Scandal, folly or power?

God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son (John 3). The ancients got it right! The notion that the Creator would die so that the creature might live is either a scandal, folly or saving power. So...what do you say it is?

The death of peer pressure

We must obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29). This conviction undergirds and animates Christian integrity. It is the death of peer pressure.

Troublesome grace

Grace is costly to the Savior and the saved alike. Free is not a synonym for easy. Many are the troubles of the just (Psalm 34).

The fearlessness of the godly

Why ought the godly not cower? "The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them" (Psalm 34).

Wonder and yawning

Nicodemus speaks with Jesus and is caught up in wonder, "How can this happen?" (John 3). We witness baptismal and Eucharistic miracles and yawn. You tell me, "Who is closer to the truth?"

The Gospel's persistent embrace

"There was no needy person among them" (Acts 4:34). Something tells me that there is more of me to be embraced by the Gospel than I let on.

Fists, laughter and courage

Heaven laughs when the powerful raise their fists in protest against it (Psalm 2). God's amusement is the font of Christian courage.

Threats of boldness...

O that we might be like the Apostles and pray for evangelistic boldness in the face of the threats of powerful men (Acts 4:23ff).

Getting to what and why.

Get the "what" of human existence wrong, and you will never understand it's "why". Ontology reveals teleology.

Love and obedience...

Those who think it strange that love is revealed in obedience understand neither obedience nor love. Jesus said, If you love me, you will...

Love and time...

It has been said that to love is to will the good of another. But, is it possible that to love is to will the good of another over time.

Longing for humility

May I always know the humility of the Apostles: "Why do you look so intently at us as if we had made him walk by our own power or piety?"

Coming and staying home

Nine years ago, Christ's One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church welcomed my family home. It was good to come home. Its good to remain.

The heart of a mystery.

The Resurrection is the Christian mystery's heart. Our understanding of God, ourselves and the world is meaningless apart from the empty tomb!

Two Sides

The One who loves us is the One who will judge us. The One who can crush is the One who has come to save.

Maundy Mystery

The mystery of Holy Thursday hinges upon the reality of the power and the legitimacy of the authority of the One who dons the servant's robe.

True/False?

Allah is the same God Jews and Christians worship.