Thursday, December 27, 2018

Reflection on the Holy Family_123018


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 and close friends 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, in today’s norm, 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 children and even our grandchildren are under a lot of pressure too, more so today than ever before, 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 stories about how life used to be. Now more than ever in our human development there is so little time 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 our high-tech society has radically changed the way we communicate and interact with one another. And, as we are beginning to see more clearly, has produced numerous challenges to family life.

As we journey through these few days of Christmas, we would do well to contemplate the love and life of the Holy Family in which the child Jesus was welcomed, loved, nourished, and where He flourished and came to know and experience the depth of the love of God. With God’s grace may we do the same.  

May God bless you with the happiest and most peaceful New Year.
Deacon Tom

Image Credit: Cindy Osborne Drayton University

Thursday, December 20, 2018

I Come To Do Your Will


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. Imagine that! Once we liberate ourselves from our Creator, 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 responds 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, Mary and John the Baptist 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, to look forward to the life that is 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 in silence.

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

Enjoy the day!
Deacon Tom              


Thursday, December 13, 2018

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 they 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 7, 2018

Love Changes Everything!




Deacon Tom
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 emphasizes 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, as we are so well aware, a time of preparation...a time to get ready for visits from friends and family; a time to cook and prepare the traditional family meals; a time to write Christmas Cards to distant friends with whom we share fond memories but have not seen in a while; a time, oh yes of course, for shopping for special gifts, wrapping them, and decorating the house and Christmas Tree. Whew! We often reap a whirlwind of fatigue trying to get “prepared” for Christmas. Sometimes, perhaps often, we miss the “Meaning of the Season”.

Advent is a time of preparation. But, while these other efforts are worthy and hopefully driven by our love of family and friends, it is a sad reality that we often fail to prepare ourselves for the most important of friends, family, and loved ones... Emmanuel, the Word Made Flesh. The most beautiful preparation we can make, one that is most worthy of the Christ Child we anticipate, is to overcome our hardness of heart,  our negative judgments of others, our insistence to hold on to grudges and resentments of the past, our unwillingness to forgive those who have hurt us. We are “broken” and we need to be healed from the inside out. The only gift the Christ Child desires is for us to have a change of heart so that we may welcome Him into our lives untarnished by the bitter resentments of the past, hearts that long to be filled with the Peace and Joy of the new born babe.  Love really does change everything. Love changes us from the inside out as Dickens demonstrates in his famous Ebenezer Scrooge.

May this Advent Season be different than all we have experienced in the past. May God’s grace increase our desire for those gifts that last forever: a generous heart, a deeper sense of compassion and empathy for those who are hurting this year, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. And, may our love increase so that the Holy One may use us when and where the Divine Presence is needed to bring healing and reconciliation to our troubled world.

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