Thy Kingdom Come

Well, as expected, school and my other 2 jobs have consumed my life this Spring! I'm hoping I can spend more time writing this summer since I won't be taking in classes...although my readings for class always seem to be my source of inspiration...

Anyway, thought you guys might enjoy a little snippet from an essay I'm turning in today. I read a chapter in Pope Benedict XVI's Jesus of Nazareth on The Lord's Prayer for this essay, and the comments are specifically related to the petition "Thy Kingdom Come." I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the book!

Benedict XVI asks us to examine what the petition “Thy kingdom come” means within The Lord’s Prayer. He explains how this particular petition has a meaning within our daily lives here on earth. By including this petition in the prayer, Jesus “wants to show us how to pray and order our action in just this way.”[1] In other words, what we are asking for goes beyond just prayer; we are asking for something to affect the way we act every day. If God were not here amidst our actions, nothing could be good.[2] Because we, as humans, are created by God to be ordered to the good, if God’s kingdom were not here present with us we would not be able to sustain our being ordered in this way. By requesting for God’s kingdom to come, we realize that we constantly need revitalization and reminders in our lives as to what God is all about. In praying this petition, Benedict XVI tells us that we are saying to Jesus “Let us be yours, Lord! Pervade us, live in us; gather scattered humanity into your body, so that in you everything may be subordinated to God and you can then hand over the universe to the Father.”[3]

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[1] Benedict XVI 145.

[2] Benedict XVI 145.

[3] Benedict XVI 147.

Slooooooow Downnnnnn

I had a dream this morning, sometime around 5am-6:45am, that I was running really late to catch a flight. Like REALLY late. I had about an hour to get from somewhere else, to my house, get my bags, and get to DFW. If you know where I live, you know that all of that is physically impossible in an hour. So, I woke up this morning feeling so stressed and rushed. On any other morning I would have used that as an excuse to hit the snooze button and try to wake up without those feelings (which usually just resulted in my going back to the same dream!). Well, I'm trying for the 3^rd year in a row to give up my snooze button for Lent, so that was not an option.

 

I'm also trying to go to daily Mass for Lent. I decided today that I would go to 8am Mass then head into work. I set my alarm for 6:45 thinking that would give me plenty of time to get ready and get out the door. However, after I spent a few minutes to wake up, made coffee and lunch, I realized I was running late and started rushing around. I hopped in the car and headed to church.

 

On my way, in my stressed, rushed state, I realized I had left my phone at home. I thought "its ok, I can go the day without my security blanket." I was about half-way to church when 8:00 appeared on my clock. I thought, "I'll just go to 12:10 Mass at Holy Trinity (where I work), and now I can turn around and go home to get my phone." I suddenly felt a feeling of peace and calm come over me as I was no longer being rushed. I breathed a big sigh, took a sip of my coffee that was originally going to be waiting for me until after Mass and I made a u-turn to head home.

 

Two things happened after this decision. One, I got home and found no cell phone. I realized that it had been in my purse all along (of course I did not check that before turning around!!). Then, I was stuck in really thick traffic on 75 heading to work.

 

Normally, both of these things would have REALLY frustrated me and turned a bad morning worse. However, despite those 2 "inconveniences," I was so happy about my decision. It gave me a chance to enjoy my coffee while I was moving at 5 miles an hour. I was able to listen to a local Catholic Radio show that comes on 8-9am on Mondays by my buddy Dave Palmer that I did not was on the air (I hadn't really been getting up early enough to pay attention to the radio at that hour…). I learned all about the seminary system in Texas and a little bit about those seminarian guys in one of my classes at UD. And I enjoyed the pause in the day and was able to offer my time and the things I had planned today to God.

 

I wanted to write more about my daily pauses and the retreat from last weekend, but this entry is already too long, so I guess you'll just have to wait for the next installment…

Can I get that mat for you?

Last night, my pastor, Fr. Tony, preached on the gospel of Mark Chapter 2. He spoke about not only picking up your own mat, but picking up another's mat to help them also. He told a story about a guy coming into his office to talk about returning to the church after many many years. Then a few weeks later this man was at Mass and called aside Fr. Tony to say, "Look! I brought a couple of friends with me!" This man truly picked up his own mat that he had been sitting on for some many years, then immediately looked around to carry others' mats. What a lively, vibrant Church we would have if everyone worked hard to pick up each others' mats!

On another note, I went to a fantastic, although short, retreat on Saturday put on by a monastic named Macrina Wiederkehr. She wrote a book called Seven Sacred Pauses. I'm still digesting all of it, and probably will be for all of Lent, but I'm hoping to blog some about it soon. Stay tuned!

And so it begins...

Ok, so I wanted to try really REALLY hard not to post anything political for awhile. I OD'd on that last fall.

And I wanted to try really REALLY hard to absorb the excitement of this new president and give him the benefit of the doubt.

But, it is really REALLY hard for me to do that when he has already started taking steps against life. Seems like there are bigger issues going on inside our country that he should be worried about.

ABC News: Obama Overturns 'Mexico City Policy' Implemented by Reagan

I also find it strange that this guy held off to the day after the anniversary of Roe v. Wade because signing this on the actual day would be "too combative." Seriously? One day later is less combative? He was just afraid of all the wonderful people in town for the March for Life.

Please pray for our new administration. And pray hard. Obama needs it.

And for those of you in the Dallas area, all parishes should be participating in a postcard campaign against FOCA. Please make your voice heard for life!

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Life, Imagine the Potential Video

Vatican on Youtube?!

Did you know the Vatican has a YouTube channel? That's kinda cool! Let me know if you find anything particularly interesting on there!

http://www.youtube.com/vatican

Baptism of the Lord

(I was told in so many words that my posts are too long....but....I wrote this for the bulletin at church and thought I would go ahead and share it with you all! Enjoy! I'll post something shorter later on this week...) :)

This Sunday, we conclude our celebration of Christmas with the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. This feast brings a very interesting question to my mind: Why did Jesus need to be baptized if He was without sin?

The Church answers the question by giving us one of the four servant passages in Isaiah as our first reading today. In Isaiah, we learn about The Servant of the Lord who has been upheld by God, chosen by God, and given the spirit of God. We also learn of this Servant’s mission to bring justice to the world, open the eyes of the blind, release prisoners, and be a light to the nations. From the earliest apostles, the Church has made the connection between Jesus and the Servant and his mission as described in Isaiah. The final verse in the Gospel passage confirms this connection by linking back the first verse from the Isaiah reading, “You are my beloved Son; whit you I am well pleased.”

In other words, the purpose of Jesus’ baptism was not to cleanse his non-existent sins, but to give God an opportunity to show us His Son, His Servant and His Mission. What does this tell us about our own baptism? Our baptism was definitely important to cleanse our sins, but what are the other meanings? Are we not also chosen by God and given God’s Spirit? Do we not also have a mission to bring justice, heal the blind, release prisoners? Are we called to be a light to the nations? Most certainly! We are challenged daily to recognize God’s Spirit within us and give thanks for it. We called to immerse ourselves everyday in the mission of Jesus and be a light to the world.

Today, a few of our teens are participating in the Rite of Acceptance at the 11am Mass. This Rite is part of these teen’s path of Christian Initiation to come into full communion with the Church at the Easter Vigil. For some of these teens, this will include being baptized. We can all learn from their recognition of God’s Spirit within them and their acceptance of the mission, even during their challenging teen years. Please keep them in your prayers as they continue to learn about what it means to be a Catholic on a mission!

And may God bless all of you in your daily commitment to your Baptismal call to be a “light to the nations.”