Saturday, December 26, 2015

Reflection on the Holy Family


Deacon Tom writes,
“Reflection on the Holy Family”


The Feast that we celebrate today is a very special one for all who see family as the center not only of our physical lives but our spiritual ones as well. God’s unconditional love for us is revealed and reflected in the human family. The family is where we come to know and experience the deepest form of love – agape love, that sacrificing and selfless love - in an intimate way. The love of family surrounding us as we grow through infancy and childhood forms our behavior and determines how we will interact with those around us throughout our lives. In our effort to grow in our understanding of God, we begin to see that God’s self-revelation to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is something that we see in the structure of our own families. As unfathomable as the mystery of God’s own nature is, we are, nevertheless, able to experience that divine nature in a limited way in the love we share first in our families, then with others.

If we have contemplated the life of the Holy Family, we might have noticed that it stands in marked contrast to many of the experiences of families today. Families are under so much stress with all the demands being made on parents who are often both working just to provide for everyday needs. Then there is all the running around – school activities, running back and forth to day care, music lessons, doctor’s appointments, getting the oil changed, yoga classes, or getting to the gym. Oh, and don’t forget getting to CRE and Mass too! There seems to be no end to the demands of contemporary family life. And, sadly, there are so many families that are unable to maintain the pace or withstand those stress and for them addiction, violence and abuse can become the order of the day.

Our kids are under a lot of pressure too, perhaps more today than in the past, as they strive to do well in school, to be the student athlete, and to star in the big play. Our active schedules leave very little time for families to enjoy quality time together, a time to share each other’s company, and where mom and dad can teach their children about virtuous living and help shape their character so that they can know how to live a moral life. Then there are the challenges poised by families separated by many miles and the difficulties encountered by single parents.

Isn’t it interesting that the people of antiquity were receptive to this notion of “Sabbath Rest” and set aside a complete day on which to rest from their labors and to replenish their spirits? Let’s face it, unless we are very disciplined people, we seldom schedule time to rest our bodies, renew our spirits, and develop lasting and binding ties to family and friends. And then there is this relatively new problem that we face today, our kids are susceptible to outside influences earlier today than ever before because of our high-tech society. And, as we see so often, it’s not always a good influence.

As we celebrate this Christmas Season let us do all we can to imitate the Holy Family that nourished Jesus in holiness and grace.

Enjoy the day!
Deacon Tom


Image Credit: Cindy Osborne Drayton University

Thursday, December 17, 2015

"I Come To Do Your Will, O God"


Deacon Tom writes,
I come to do your will, O God


Isn’t it strange that the one thing that can keep us furthest from God’s love is the very gift God intended to draw us closest to him?  It’s this unique gift of “Free Will” that flows from God’s unimaginable love for us that enables us to say “No” to him. When we misuse this gift, we are free to reject him completely; we can ignore him when it is convenient to do so; we can even deny that he exists.  Then we are completely free to live our lives with reckless abandon trying to find substitutes for those very things God intended us to have from the beginning – our complete joy and happiness. But striking out on our own to find “the good life” usually has dire and “unintended” consequences.

Of course, God did not intend for us to use the gift of “Free Will” to reject him.  In giving us this gift God revealed something about himself. He revealed his unconditional love for us and for all his creation. No “normal” parent gives their children something that would harm them. The giving of gifts reflects the deep love parents have for their children. Genuine giving is an intimate sharing of parents’ desire for their children to experience joy and happiness here in this life, to reach their full potential as they mature into adulthood, and one day to enter into eternal life for which we were all created.

In the Second Reading today, St. Paul quotes Jesus’ words letting us know that he is aware of the gift he has received from God, and that he knows how to respond to that gift. He responds to the precious gift of free will by saying “Yes” to God. In the Gospel, Mary is visiting her cousin Elizabeth to share with her the good news of how God responded to her saying, “Yes” to him.  Both Jesus and Mary use the gift of their free will by submitting themselves to God and disposing themselves to do all that God asks them to do. Jesus and Mary know and teach us that this is the only way for us to fully experience all that God has promised us in this life….and, in the one to come.   

As we prepare to exchange gifts this Christmas, let us recall the gifts that we have received from God. And, let us respond joyfully to the many other gifts we have been blessed with over the years by echoing Jesus’ words, “I come to do your will, O God and then, sit quietly and await his response. He surely will.

God bless and keep you and your loved ones close to him, now and always.     

Enjoy the day!
Deacon Tom

Friday, December 11, 2015

What Should We Do?



Deacon Tom writes
 “What Should We Do?”


John the Baptist was like a magnet drawing people out into the desert. They came because they were looking for something, and perhaps, because John was so very different than anyone they had ever heard or seen, they may have thought that he had what they were looking for. So they came and listened. Some even went so far as to be baptized, a sign that they bought into what he was preaching - lock, stock and barrel!

The baptism that John was preaching called for a change of heart. They had to leave their old ways behind and start out fresh, as if it was a new beginning, or at the least, a new mindset. Those who desired to change their ways asked John an obvious question, “What should we do?” And so, to the Tax Collector, John says, “Stop collecting more than is prescribed”. In other word, do whatever is the right thing to do in all your business affairs. To the Soldiers who asked what they should do, he answered, “Do not extort…do not falsely accuse…. be satisfied with your wages”. That’s the equivalent of saying don’t abuse your power or misuse your authority. People from all walks of life came to John for his advice and it would basically be the same, “Stop the injustice; start doing what is right”.

John is preparing the people for the one who is to follow him soon, Jesus. John lays the foundation of justice that Jesus will build on. The call to justice requires that we look within and see how we have contributed to the injustices that surround us.

John calls us to conversion, a change of heart that comes from within. When we experience this conversion, we too begin to ask the question, “What should we do?”   While we still have some Advent time remaining, let’s pause and ask Jesus to help us answer this question from within so we may always “act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God”. (Micah 6:8)

Enjoy the Day!
Deacon Tom 

Friday, December 4, 2015

Love Changes Everything



Deacon Tom writes
Love Changes Everything


Paul tells his brothers and sisters in Philippi that he prays “…always with joy in my every prayer for you”.  He goes on to tell them, “And this is my prayer:  that your love may increase ever more and more” [so you may] “discern what is of value”.  Paul expresses that love is the most important virtue in his letter to the Corinthians in one of his most famous quotes, “So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love”
1 Cor 13:13. Love, as a song written by Andrew Lloyd Webber expresses so well, changes everything!

Advent is a time to embrace some of the changes we have put off for too long, a time to change course and head in a new direction on roads that have been leveled and filled in for us by the Holy One, highways and byways that lead us on the paths of forgiveness, and healing, and holiness. To turn our hearts and minds towards the Most High is to turn our backs to the malls and Main Street bazaars and barkers that normally inordinately usurp our time and treasures this time of year. If we truly love and discern what is of value, this will not be a difficult choice to make”. For where our treasures lie, there will our hearts be also.

Let us pray this Advent is different than all the past ones and that we enter into the grace which enable us to seek those gifts that last forever, that reflect the love that God has for us in giving us the gift of his only Son: a generous heart, a deeper sense of compassion and empathy for those who are hurting this year, physically, emotionally and spiritually, that God will use us when and where he sees fit to be instruments of his peace.

Yes, “Love changes everything” and, when it does, “Nothing in the World will ever be the same”.  Advent is that time of year when we dare to dream that the forces of love can cast out the darkness in our world and prepare our hearts for the King of Glory to enter within.

Enjoy the day!
Deacon Tom


Image: Giotto Nativity