I offered a day of reflection this week for the priests of the Diocese of Pensacola-  Tallahassee at the invitation of Bishop Bill Wack, CSC.

Prayers of the Faithful

First Sunday of Advent

Let us pray for vigilance in Advent, that we may bring optimism to our desperate poor and to people who remain drowsy with fear. Let us all remain awake and watchful. We pray to the Lord.

Let us see with new eyes in Advent, that our leaders within the Church may come to terms with our hurting children who have been abused by power and secrecy. We pray to the Lord.

Let us imagine a new world this Advent where we cease our violent words against one another, where we realize the consequences of hatred in our families and in our neighborhoods and within our politics and religion. We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for people who are ill during this Advent. That we may seek to help our sick in mind and body, that we may respect the dignity of those who cannot heal themselves. We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for people suffocating from the anxieties of daily life, that fear may be replaced with joy in our search for Jesus-made-flesh. Let us lay down our burdens of regret and restlessness in our new liturgical year. We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray to lift up our souls to the Lord in Advent. That we may carry the needs of those who grieve, that our dead may find eternal rest in friendship with the Lord. We pray to the Lord.

Last Easter, my radio show came to a conclusion. Now, I want to occasionally offer an audio reflection called, “Fragments from the Word”. This is a title that I used several years ago. This three-minute reflection invites us into the message of the Sunday gospel or some phrase or passage of the liturgy. Today’s reflection is from Luke’s gospel. Hope you enjoy.

Fragments from the Word: Click here for an audio reflection for the First Sunday of Advent.

FULL bulletin here

Dear Believers in the Messiah,

Advent stirs up our desire for God. Advent does not begin with sentimental notions of chocolate covered Christianity or gingerbread prayers. Notice that our Sunday gospels would not make the cut for glittered greeting cards or catchy holiday songs. These gospels are hardly romantic. Instead, Advent compels our wakefulness to a world that is hurting and in need of love, tenderness and redemption. Advent becomes a profound and deep hope that everything in our world will be brought back to what is good, caring and wise. Advent is meant to get us on our feet and keep us moving until every aspect of our human condition is made whole.

We begin the Christian story all over again in this First Sunday of Advent. We wait for the coming of the Messiah. We long for a worldview that cultivates hopefulness for people on earth. Amazingly, the gospel in this New Year of Grace does not start off with a quaint or sentimental notion of Christmas. In fact, it is just the opposite.

Advent takes us by the shoulders and shakes us out of complacency. These four weeks, just as an alarm clock, wake us to the Messiah’s coming. Luke 21:25-28, 34-36, which is read today, takes us to the extreme of letting go of everything to which we cling, including our addictions, our apathy and our hatred. Our hearts are challenged to stay awake beyond our own ego. We have become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life. The world is longing for something new, including our lives that have centered on dividing people, the accusations of our slander and the sleepiness of our moral complacency.

Our vigilance to stay awake in Advent takes many forms. We are to become vulnerable for God. So much of what we do in our world does not work, especially when it is based on power, authority and unkindness. When we look at so much of how the world works, it is truly based on fear.

The season of Advent is meant to humble us once again. This humility is not a human put-down, but is meant for us to finally realize that God is God and we are not. We stand gazing at the stars in the darkness of Advent. We bend down to raise up the ill and those tied down with failure and hopelessness. We extend our hearts to people who shelter themselves in tears and fear during the nighttime.

Advent cultivates our desire for the richness of God’s love and mercy. Without us coming to realize that we need God and God’s people, Christmas will only be a time of tinsel and self-reliance. Advent’s four-week preparation to the celebration of Christ’s birth is dramatic and grace-filled. However, we realize that we do not wait in our day for this child to be born. We wait instead for us to be amazed at God’s breakthrough in our heartache and in our broken Church to bring us the glory and love of Christ Jesus today.

Advent Peace,

Fr. Ron

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CLICK HERE TO listen to today’s interview about my book, The Unsheltered Heart: An Advent At-Home Retreat

The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

Sunday November 25, 2018

Let us pray to seek gospel love for people surviving prejudice, isolation and hatred in our world and within our Church. That we may live the message of Christ the King, that all things shall find their home in love.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for leaders and bishops within our Church, that they may continue with courage to end cover-ups and let go of false power concerning the crimes committed on our children.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for those who weep at their loss from the California fires, for those who hold their heads down in wonder about loved ones killed this week. For people still trying to claim their lives from hurricanes, storms and violence.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for the dignity of family life, for those united in hardship as well as harmony that families may thrive in faith and kindness reflective of Christ Jesus.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray that we may bare truth in our speech and actions and that we may work for justice on this earth as it reflects the beauty and bounty of heaven.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for people who have buried a loved one this week, that all life and death may be in union with Christ our King.

We pray to the Lord.

Dear Believers in the Christ,

Today is the last Sunday of our liturgical year. The title of today, “The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe” seems imposing if not completely overwhelming. For most people in our society to use the name king or anything similar seems a bit much. Yet, for the last Sunday of our year, this title of Christ Jesus is just the beginning. This King will lead us into a new land well beyond the grave.

I love the notion of Christ the King. I like it because it names the rhythm of our year, that in the end everything is going to be all right. Imagine, that Jesus is the King of not only our personal piety, but in the end, the one who will shepherd all people to his side.

He becomes the King of not only wayward folks but of all the issues in life that seem unredeemable. He is King over all people, including those drugged out by cocaine and heroin. He is shepherd and King to all people who on this side of the grave cannot help themselves or who cannot afford housing. He is the dominant one over those with throat cancer who will finally sing his praise. He is the one who welcomes everyone around the table in the Kingdom, especially those who have never felt welcomed at their family table. Jesus is the kind-one who will bring all who have been abused into new and vital healing relationships. He will bring home the ones who fret and worry, those who are too stubborn to believe on earth and those who cannot wait to get out of prison. Jesus the King is the servant for all people.

I am excited again to read in the Mass texts from Revelation, “Behold, he is coming amid the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him. All the people of the earth will lament him. Amen.” I am refreshed that those who come to our Food Pantry will be full of love and food with his help and our work. I know that those who live in nursing homes will be able to get out of bed and look at the clouds and leap for joy at his coming. I understand with my full heart that our lost relatives will get a call from him on the last day and invite us all into reconciliation.

I know this title of Jesus seems rather imposing and certainly seems “churchy.” Yet if we examine closely the liturgical year and how we praise God, how we worship and how the community is formed by the structure and grace of the year, our hearts should skip a beat and we should dance in Old Colorado City at the thought of him coming in the high-top clouds.

The amazing thing is that as soon as we celebrate The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe this week, we will start the story all over again at the beginning of Advent. Then we shall sing at the top of our lungs that the child we wait for at Christmas will eventually become King over everything that is broken in our human hearts. The One we worship is amazing, the great King.

Peace to you,

Fr. Ron

Thanksgiving Day 2018: Priests, Brothers and Novices of the Congregation of Holy, Sacred Heart Church.

Dear Followers of Jesus,

Today’s first reading from Daniel says, “But the wise shall shine brightly like the splendor of the firmament, and those who lead the many to justice shall be like the stars forever.” As we come closer now to the conclusion of our liturgical year, we hear more about the end times and how we are to act as we wait for our redemption. We also listen attentively to what awaits us beyond the earth, in our afterlife.

The phrase about the wise catches my attention. I have been thinking about what it means to be wise in these past few months. Maybe because I celebrated another birthday a couple of weeks ago, or maybe because God is trying to get my attention about how to live and how to form some new priorities in my soul now that I am a bit older. Whatever the reason, I think it is a good idea to reflect on wisdom no matter our age or vocation.

Wisdom is hard to come by. Being wise is neither a personal attribute nor easily defined by an individual. I know wisdom when I hear it. I can see wisdom like a bright splendor when I come across a person who beholds such a mystery. I can hear wisdom in scripture and poetry. I can see wisdom in a painting or on a mural as street art. I can feel it vibrate my soul when I hear from a weathered priest speaking about his experience and what is most real. I can capture it for a fleeting moment on the wings of a poem in our poetry class at the parish. Wisdom is something, however, I wish I could capture and take home and drink tea with it. I wish it was a person, vitally young, so I could live with it for a long time. Wisdom comes as vibrant color or from the dry mouth of dying person. Wisdom can be seen on Tuesdays at a café or on Sundays as an elderly man reads this text from Daniel.

I would love to dine with wisdom, but I wonder if wisdom pays the bills? I would like to have wisdom in my writing, but I swear that it seldom exists on my computer. In this world of Twitter and fast-pace communications, I wonder if wisdom has left the building. I also wonder if wisdom would be noticed if it sat in front of us, since for sure we would be texting our opinions and our self-righteousness to someone whom we think should change and see the value of our opinion.

What is wisdom for? I hold on to the belief that wisdom is of God. Wisdom forms our ability to sort through all the obstacles of life to find its beauty, its love and its miracles. I know somewhere underneath all of our childish ways a kernel of wisdom waits to whisper in our ear that God’s love is really for us and that love is more than we can ever imagine.

Peace on Earth,

Fr. Ron

Dear Followers of the Christ,

I know it is never easy to trust God. I say this from years of experience of prayer, but also the many years of being in the public eye as a priest. Trusting God with the little I have to offer the Church and the world is a lifelong project. This all begins with my own relationship with Christ Jesus and my willingness to extend my life beyond my own self-sufficiency.

Today’s gospel, Mark 12:38-44, shows us all that faith is real for those who have little. A poor widow opens her generous hand even though she has little to offer. For her, the amount she gives is huge. She gives from her poverty, not her wealth. This is key to the gospel and to our own formation of faith and service.

Sometimes we can be pretty stingy. We want to make sure that what we give is going to the proper place or what we give is really going to make a difference. This gospel uses money as an image, but really it doesn’t have anything to do with money. The gospel calls us to give our very lives for the benefit of others. We can’t hold back or think twice. On many occasions we are called into events and relationships that require us to offer everything.

These past few months have shown us our capability in responding to people in need from across the country. We did not hesitate to help those whose homes were devastated by fire, floods and storms. We continue to respond with such care and concern. The gospel calls us to give everything we own back to God. This requires of us a great deal of prayer and reflection. This also requires of us a new and profound sense of gratitude. I want to believe that the widow in today’s gospel is the mother of gratitude. From her prayer and reflection, she decided to offer those coins to the treasury. From exploring the depth of her heart, she realizes the beauty of gratitude and extending beyond the confines of her selfishness and old patterns of self-protection.

We listen to this gospel in the last weeks of the liturgical year. This has great significance to us as believers. We listen with a new intent to live our lives in a selfless love on this side of the grave in order to prepare our hearts for heaven. This woman stands as a model to give our lives, our past regrets, our futures, our mistakes and misgivings all back to God. I love her. I want what she has. I want to live a life of faith and of giving even when I know it is so difficult to live.

The widow gave from her poverty. We give back to God from the poverty of our sin, our heartaches and our despair. We give with open hearts and open hands that model her willingness to be changed. Imagine how others, as well as the Church, could be changed by our willingness to give and be grateful.

Blessings,

Fr. Ron