Fifth Sunday of Lent_A - Divine Presence_032920

Deacon Tom Writes,

“ Divine Presence” 

Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year A

The story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead is a remarkable one, but he is not the first person that Jesus brought back to life. There are other accounts of people Jesus brought back from the dead; it’s just that Lazarus’ is the most dramatic, since by all accounts he was dead the longest. The gospels also give accounts of how Jesus brought the son of the Widow of Nain back to life as well as Jairus’ daughter. But there is more to life than life……

We all have experienced times in our lives when we weren’t fully alive. We have all been down that lonely road when we have suffered the loss of a loved one or have struggled with sickness ourselves or sat helplessly by and watched someone we love suffer a debilitating illness. We have all when been bruised and battered in the game of life one way or another. Perhaps we were traumatized by the lost a job or were found ourselves in a bad marriage or relationship. These are painful moments, moments when we can truly say and feel that we ourselves were caught in a death grip. Today’s gospel reminds us of the times when we have witnessed or experienced the therapeutic power that other peoples’ love has had in raising our morbid spirits to new life. The love and support of our spouses, friends and family can sustain us, give us hope and allow us to simply breathe when we are in desperate need. The love and physical presence of others when we are merely going through the motions and pretending we are alive can truly lifts us up…. resurrects us and enabled us to get through the darkest of days. Have you forged powerful relationship like this over the years? I hope that you have.

Being with others to help and console them through the difficult moments of their lives makes Christ’s Divine Presence a reality, as real his Eucharistic presence. “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” MT 18:20

Our Lord desires to be present to everyone at all times but especially during times of our brokenness. Jesus calls his followers to bring his divine presence into the lives of others, without limit, condition or judgment…to listen and be there for them if only in shared silence, if that is what is needed.  

Today’s gospel tells the wonderful story of Lazarus being reunited with his family through the miracle of his resurrection. We have the ability to help restore vitality, indeed life itself, to anyone we are willing to share the burden of life with by simply being with them, consoling them and being the very presence of God at a time when darkness seems to never end and the hope of tomorrow is yet to dawn.   

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

Image Credit - Lazarus of Bethany – en.wikipedia.org

Fourth Sunday of Lent_A - Sin -The Bad We Do; The Good We Fail To Do_032220

Deacon Tom Writes,

Sin –The Bad We Do; The Good We Fail To Do

Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year A

Today’s Gospel brings up the topic of sin from the perspective of its consequences. Jewish understanding was that if there was an illness, mental deficiency or the occurrence of some misfortune, it was attributable to sin on the part of the individual or the parent. That’s why the disciples wonder who is responsible for the man’s blindness: the man himself because of his own sins, or was it his parents’ fault, i.e. because of their sins. Jesus avoids laying blame. Rather, he says, “it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him” (Jn 9:2-3). Jesus puts an end to the notion that God employs disease to punish us for our sins. 

According to St. Thomas, “sin is nothing else than a morally bad act (St. Thomas, "De malo", 7:3), an act not in accord with reason informed by the Divine law. God has endowed us with reason and free-will, and a sense of responsibility; He has made us subject to His law, which is known to us by the dictates of conscience, and our acts must conform with these dictates, otherwise we sin.” [1]

Actual sin is committed by a free personal act of the will. It is divided into sins of commission and sins of omission. That’s right; you can actually sin by doing nothing, by failing to perform an action!! That raises the table stakes slightly, doesn’t it? Why is that? Well, sometimes we have a moral obligation to act. That’s the lesson of the Good Samaritan. You just can’t ignore someone in need. Sometimes you can’t chose not “to get involved.” 

Look at the words we recite during the Penitential Rite during Lent. We acknowledge to God and our brothers and sisters that we have wronged them by our thoughts, words, and deeds; in what I have done, and in what I have failed to do…. It’s right here. I’m not making this up…

I confess to almighty God

and to you, my brothers and sisters,
that I have sinned through my own fault,
in my thoughts and in my words,
in what I have done,
and in what I have failed to do;
and I ask Blessed Mary, ever Virgin,
all the angels and saints,
and you, my brothers and sisters,
to pray for me to the Lord our God.

These last few weeks of Lent are unlike any we have ever experienced. The Corona Virus is raising havoc around the world, causing unimaginable problems in the first world that in the past seemed to have only affected the third world . Who could ever imagine the Catholic Church giving dispensation for Sunday Mass? Overnight many have been cut off from their parishes which nourished their spiritual lives. Prayer and fasting, of course, are ageless Lenten practices which now seem so relevant in light of the current pandemic. But also, we can reach out via telephone calls, letters, use of social media to stay connected with one another while we curtail our social interaction. It is time to show that we are people of faith by trusting in God and not getting caught up in the fear that seems to be the order of the day. There is still a lot of Lent to go. In the days ahead may God give us the courage and ability to recognize our many faults and the grace to change our ways for the better. 

Keep the faith and Trust in God! 

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

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[1] http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14004b.htm

Third Sunday of Lent_A - Breathe Into Me_031520

Deacon Tom Writes,

Breathe Into Me  

Third Sunday of Lent, Year A

A young man told me his conversion story a while ago when I was a prison chaplain in Connecticut. He needed some quick cash to pay off his gambling debts. So, he stopped by a bank to make a withdrawal. Small problem – his withdrawal slip was a pistol. While fleeing the bank the police responded appropriately by firing at him, unaware that his pistol was a BB gun. He was hit six times. As he lay dying, he says he saw the devil come to him and begin to “rip his soul out of his body”. Just when he thought he had drawn his last breath, he felt new life being breathed into him by Jesus and he heard Him say, “Get away Satan, this is a child of God”. This young man had been recovering for seven months when I met him and, after his recovery, which was still some time off, he would face a long prison sentence. That didn’t bother him because his profound encounter with Jesus had given him a new vision for his life; it has changed his life forever. He knows that God has a purpose for him and he is looking to find out just what it is.

Most of us look with skepticism at such extreme conversion experiences because they are over the top. Yet, recall these words of Isaiah, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, say the LORD.” We fail at times to remember that God is mystery. We simply cannot grasp the great love God has for us that leads to his pursuing us all the time, through … “the labyrinth ways of my own mind; and in the midst of tears” as Francis Thompson wrote in his poem, The Hound of Heaven. God is like a bloodhound, always tracking us down, right there beside us when we stumble and fall.

Today’s gospel demonstrates this very point. Jesus goes out of his way to engage this Samaritan woman. The Samaritans and the Jews are religious enemies who hated and loathed each other because they differed on the proper way to worship God. (Some things never change!!) Jesus intentionally crosses the barriers of hostility to encounter this woman. He meets her in the midst of the crises of her life; in the middle of her life that has been filled with broken relationships, disappointment, alienation from her community; and he breathes new life into her, and through her he animates the entire village.

By necessity we need to be advocates for those who are trying to put their lives back together after they stumble and fall. It is through their stories and their witness that we come to know the mystery of God’s love for us and his readiness to breathe new life into us repeatedly. No matter what we do. No matter how far we run or from how high we fall. 

I believe we all have profound conversion stories of how God has come to us through our failures and brokenness. Perhaps, as we continue on our Lenten journey, we can reflect on how God is calling us to use these encounters first to respond to his love and then to help him breathe new life into others he sends into our lives.

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

Second Sunday of Lent_A - Renewal of the Mind_030820

Deacon Tom Writes,

“Renewal Of the Mind”

Second Sunday of Lent, Year A

In his letter to the Ephesians St Paul instructed them: “You should put away the old self of your former way of life, corrupted through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, created in God's way in righteousness and holiness of truth.” (Eph 4:22)

When Peter, James and John see Jesus in the fullness of his glory, they, quite naturally, want to hang on to the moment. In an effort to hold on to this moment they want to erect three tents perhaps so that Moses, Elijah, and Jesus can stay with them for a while. But that was not to be. The vision doesn’t last. Before you know it, it’s all over and the time comes to return to the ordinary, routine affairs of daily life.

Hold on to the vision, Christ tells them. Keep this all to yourself until the Son of Man has been raised from the Dead! What an impossible task! Yet there can be no doubt that these men were deeply affected by what they saw. Seeing Christ in the fullness of His glory affected their thinking, their behavior, and their attitudes. Does what we hear today do the same for us?

If we so desire, the words of our Gospel today can have a great impact on our life. We too can be renewed in the spirit of our minds and be given a new mindset, one that will transform every aspect of our lives, renew and enliven our inner beings, empower us to do the difficult interior work that will allow us to grow more spiritually mature. St. Paul describes this process, “So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come (2 Cor 5:17). It is being renewed from the inside out.

Peter, James and John were fortunate to have been given this glimpse of the divine Jesus. We are somewhat more challenged today since we will not experience this until our life’s end. But now that the story has been told, we have this vision implanted in our heads AND hearts. It is a vision that beckons us to begin the difficult, life-long work of crafting our new selves created in God’s way, a work that will come to completion only when we become one with him in what we refer to as, “the life to come.”

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom