Listen to “On the Margins”. This broadcast comes from Mater Dei Radio 88.3. We listen to these two miracles of healing. Jesus calls us all to be worthy of reaching out to him, to touch the hem of his garment. Jesus is offering that same healing for our own lives. Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 28, 2015.
Stream live On The Margins on KBVM 88.3FM on Saturdays at 3:45pm and Sundays at 8am.
“Inner Storms”
Drawing: Ronald Raab, CSC
Dear Believers in Jesus,
The gospel of Mark (4:35-41) invites us into the calm of Jesus’ presence. “Jesus woke up, rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Quiet! Be still!’ The wind ceased and there was great calm. Then he asked them, ‘Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?’ They were filled with great awe and said to one another, ‘who then is this whom even the wind and sea obey?”
In these past few years, our area here in Colorado Springs has experienced a variety of storms, from fire to flood, from wind and hail to cold and snow. The great storms in life however, do not come from the water in our basements or the leaks in our roofs. They come from the deep uncertainties we carry in the recesses of our hearts, the destruction we feel from the infidelity of other people. Often grief is a rapid storm that settles into our lives from the people and possessions we lose in this life. We are all vulnerable to passing storms.
Many people face a variety of storms that seem to put their lives off-kilter. The unsteadiness of losing a job and the questions of raising children get the best of many parents. The untimely diagnosis of cancer in a young mother’s breast forces the family to learn how to live differently. The college student whose reputation is destroyed from using drugs can set worry a sail for years to come. The high school senior who does not get into his first choice of colleges brings the dark cloud over his future and shakes up his sense of entitlement.
Some years ago, I experienced job loss and uncertainty about my own future. At that time, it was difficult to pray, to pay attention and to relax. I worried endlessly. I was terrified beyond measure. I would sit in front of the television during my very early prayer time and just stare instead of being silent in prayer. It was all I could do, to just be there in front of the television instead of in front of the face of Jesus. I was so full of fear.
I eventually found my way back into prayer and realized that the storm brought me into a deeper trust that the calm presence of Jesus had never left me. I am confident that storms do not poke a leak in our trust. These inner storms have the potential of making us stronger.
Feeling terrified in the storms of life is very natural. However, if we believe that Jesus is at the center of life, then nothing should rock our boats. The life of the Holy Spirit within our hearts helps us steady the course. I invite you this summer to reflect on how worry, fret and fear gets the best of you. I encourage you to experience the love and assurance that Jesus has for you, your families and loved ones.
I pray that our parish community can help get people back on steady ground. I pray that the storms of divorce, job loss, and illness give way to the grace to keep going if you are feeling overwhelmed. I hope as well, that you invite your friends to our parish, to feel and experience for themselves a community that survives the storms of drug addiction, loneliness and fear, of uncertainty about work and confusion about how to make ends meet. I hope that calm can prevail, that nothing in your life will keep you from experiencing the healing love and presence of Christ Jesus.
I invite you to steady your lives and search for the face of Jesus. Here are some questions to ponder before the storms get too severe:
When I do not get my own way, I usually fret over ________________________.
I struggle to pray when I am feeling _____________________________________.
Lately, the storms that seem most unsettling in my heart are ____________________.
I get so discouraged over ________________________________.
I want Jesus to _____________________________.
I am lost in my relationships and I hope to_____________________.
This summer I hope I can spend more time in the presence of Jesus so that ___________.
My family seems unsteady lately because______________________.
Jesus, be for me the steady ground of ______________________.
Jesus, wake up and find me so that ___________________________.
Blessings,
Fr. Ron
(From our parish bulletin for this weekend)
Listen to “On the Margins”. This broadcast comes from Mater Dei Radio 88.3. Our lives are filled with storms and uncertainty. The gospel invites us into the calm of Jesus’ presence. The great storms come from the deep places of our hearts. These storms we think may never pass. Jesus invites us into calm and to live a fearless life. Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 21, 2015.
Stream live On The Margins on KBVM 88.3FM on Saturdays at 3:45pm and Sundays at 8am.
Lisa Lundquist at our first Sacred Arts Showcase in June 2015
Congratulations, Lisa!
The Catholic Herald, the newspaper of the the Diocese of Colorado Springs has a great article in this week’s edition. I am so proud of Lisa’s work and her ability to use art for healing, compassion and creativity. Check it out!
Click here to read the article from the Catholic Herald from the Diocese of Colorado Springs
“The Fragile Wise”
Colored Pencil: Ronald Raab, CSC June 2015
From the second Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians:
“We are treated as deceivers and yet truthful; as unrecognized and yet acknowledged; as dying and behold we live; as chastised and yet not put to death; as sorrowful yet always rejoicing; as poor yet enriching many; as having nothing and yet possessing all things.”
Last year I sat with a spiritual direction that has been listening to me for almost twenty years. We touch base at least twice a year even though we do not live in the same city. I have always sought a spiritual director in every city, but he is the one priest who listens with a unique ear, a holy and longing perspective on what is behind the words I speak.
He told me with boldness that I am to seek wisdom. He invited me into a new phase of life in not only my priesthood but within my heart. Wisdom, as he reminded me is not for the weak or faint of heart, it is a real paradox such as we hear in today’s first reading at Mass.
Wisdom is all about letting go. Wisdom is overcoming fear. Wisdom is learning the truth of our lives and the real reverence of our voices, so that we can live the truth and use our voices for other people.
Wisdom is living the paradox that when we finally learn of the real things in life our bodies change, our physical strength become weakness and our physical beauty is replaced with the loveliness of the soul.
Wisdom is not a possession but a journey. Wisdom is not a plan but a discovery. Wisdom cannot be bought but costs our entire lives. Wisdom cannot be manufactured but only is given with grace. Wisdom is not artificial but comes with the natural process of aging. Wisdom is not always obvious, but a treasure sunken deep within pain, suffering, doubt and turmoil.
I pray that I may discover this holy wisdom before my personal weaknesses and sins grow even stronger, so strong that wisdom will decide to move on to someone else. I pray that we all may search for the holy exchange of our attitudes for the wisdom of God’s whisper within our hearts. I pray that we may use the strength of our bodies to house the holy force of the Spirit’s love. I pray that we all may recognize our accomplishments as a house of cards and live for our place prepared for us in the Kingdom of God.
Mark 4:26-34, “The smallest seed, the largest plant”
Painting: Ronald Raab, CSC June 2015
My dear friends in Christ,
Jesus said to his disciples in today’s gospel from Mark 4:26-34, “To what shall we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable can we use for it? It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth. But once it is sown, it springs up and become the largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.”
This gospel opens for us the possibility that the smallest, seemingly most insignificant things can become large in meaning, even the most significant of all. The tiny seed of faith may become the most important in our lives if we are attentive to the stirrings and imagination of God. God so often has an incredible sense of humor.
I loved gardening as a teen. I spent so many hours digging up the soil, planting flowers, seeding the lawn, trimming bushes and watering the grass from the sprinkling system that was filtered through the lake water on which we lived. I found much calm in the practice of cultivating, seeding, watering, transplanting and waiting for growth, color and blooms. I found in the act of gardening a patience that was transplanted in my focus at school and in my ideas of what I would become. The combination of living on a lake, learning to take care of the yard, smelling the freshwater lake environment and feeling the sunshine on my face led me to much reflection about how I wanted to live my life. The almost completive act of waiting for seeds to grow taught me more about God’s life within me than so many of the other activities in which I was involved.
There was an elderly couple that owned a greenhouse in the center of our small town near my parents’ grocery store. We bought all the flowers, seeds and shrubs from these kindly people. Somehow I could tell that that act of planting, seeding, watering and waiting had completely formed and transformed their lives. Their bodies were bent over from years of working on their knees from pulling weeds out of their flowers and lifting heavy palettes of geraniums or bags of fertilizer. After years of getting to know Mr. and Mrs. Yarborough, I grew to really enjoy my visits with them and their kindness to me. His bib overalls were always stained with black soil and sweat. His face was tanned from the sun and there was a tan line around his forehead from wearing a cap. Mrs. Yarborough was small in stature, her white hair lightly pulled back in a bun. Her flowered dress was covered with a blue denim apron and her smile covered her face so we would not notice how much she was in pain from her arthritis.
In my senior year in high school, the Yarborough’s approached my parents and asked them if I would consider buying their humble business. They knew that I understood at a young age what they had learned over the course of many years, that life takes time and patience. We learned that beauty and color were things to wait for from the earth and within our selves. My parents approached me about their request, but I did not accept only because I felt that there was a seed growing within my heart that was going to lead me into other places, well beyond the shoreline of our small lake. The small seed of kindness that I learned from the simple, elderly couple helped me have the patience to examine my own vocation and place among the wildflowers on earth.
I hope that we all understand our role in helping young seedlings grow and think about what is most important in life. Our children need us. We all need role models in no matter what careers or jobs that we think God has in store for us. I hope everyone will consider that what we do for others can become a mustard seed, leaving God to do the harvesting and the transplanting.
I am still grateful for the Yarborough’s example to me and their fidelity in their own vocations. I pray that my own vocation of cultivating the Word of God has bent my heart toward the Light. I pray that my own body and words may reflect a lifetime of wisdom from the smallest seeds of the earth.
Blessings,
Fr. Ron
(from our parish bulletin for Sunday June 14, 2015)
Listen to “On the Margins”. This broadcast comes from Mater Dei Radio 88.3. We hear about the possibilities of new life with the mustard seed. All things are possible, more than we can imagine in the KIngdom of God. The mustard seed is this holy image, the wonders of life, the hope beyond hope. Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 14, 2015.
Stream live On The Margins on KBVM 88.3FM on Saturdays at 3:45pm and Sundays at 8am.
“Jesus, wait for me”
Sketch: Raab, June 12, 2015
Sacred Heart
Finger Painting: Raab 2014
(Homily for today’s Solemnity at Sacred Heart Church)
This is a special day of prayer in our parish community. Our building and our people are named for an image of Jesus that reminds us of the enduring love that God has for of us, especially people who are hurting, lonely and fragile. We are named for the compassionate life and ministry of Jesus, the Sacred Heart.
Our prayer this morning, even more than yesterday or tomorrow, challenges us to live among those whom the Sacred Heart loves. We are chosen by the heart of God to bring compassion, peace and a rich understanding of mercy to those around us. Of course, we cannot give what we do not have, that is why we pray today for our own lives to be converted into love, because we are also fragile, lonely and misunderstood.
We are challenged to live within the Heart of Jesus to be for others what we hope Jesus will be for us. We must first examine our own lives to uncover within our sin the heart of love that we seek.
We are tempted to put other people down because of their talents or gifts because so often we believe we are not good enough, yet Jesus offers us the realization that our talents must be woven together to become a community of heartfelt compassion.
We are tempted to stifle other peoples’ voices because we do not agree with their perspectives or their accents or patterns of speech, yet Jesus is inviting us to listen to other people with new ears and a new awareness of people’s stories and backgrounds.
We are tempted to sit comfortably in our pews, in the places that we think belong to us, yet the Heart of Jesus is calling us to shift our bodies to move over, to provide a place of rest for people who are here for the first time, those who wait for optimism and encouragement from us and from God.
We are tempted this morning to believe that love is only for those who keep the rules of the Church, those people whom we already know, those who fill this room on a regular basis, yet the Sacred Heart is challenging us to pray for people across the globe who exist daily without shelter or clean water or family or those who restlessly search for meaning, for jobs and for a healthy future.
We are tempted to use our own voices to judge people, to speak with violence and blame, to shame those whom we do not even know, yet Jesus is inviting us to learn a new language of peace, a peace that begins with our interactions, a peace that begins today in our Eucharistic action of breaking bread and sharing a cup.
We are tempted to humiliate people because of how their lives have turned out, whether in divorce or ill health or addictions to food or drugs or rage, of how often or not they stand in line for confession, yet Jesus invites us to be the soothing balm that brings people together without judgment or violence.
We are tempted into worry for our children and grandchildren about their faith and lives, yet the Sacred Heart challenges us to not become hypocritical about our own lives and actions, making sure love is always our guide. We cannot become cynical or threatened for we must allow the work of the Sacred Heart to heal those in need of healing and to protect the lost, the abandoned and the forgotten even when they are own children.
We are tempted to point our fingers at people to set them into a direction that is not easily attainted. “Get a job…Get your act together… You are lazy and fat…you are a bum or a fag or a druggie, or a dike or a sinner or a crazy. You just suck resources from the government. Why should we help you?” Yet, Jesus reminds us of the blind man, the leper, the demonic, the tax collector and the prostitute. We are called today to put mercy, love and forgiveness into daily practice for real people in our families, neighborhoods and cities.
We are tempted in our church this morning to sit in silence because we want to protect our lives from God, to sit without challenge, to have our private morning devotion, yet Jesus calls us together to become the name that is on our building, the place where the Sacred Heart dwells, a people of hope for tomorrow, a people of love for the future.
Let us pray on behalf of all of our parishioners in the name of Jesus:
Sacred Heart of Jesus, guide our parish community beyond our fear. Open for us a new path in times of transitions with our staff and the worries we bear of the care of our buildings, our service among people in poverty and the future of our children. Guide us as we work with Catholic Charities, Westside Cares and other organizations to more easily put charity into practice. Protect our parishioners with mental illness and depression, those who live from paycheck to pay check, those who cannot find forgiveness from past hurts, those who live with despair, those who feel abandoned raising their children, people who grieve their losses and those whom we have lost in death. Comfort us in our sorrows and give us hope today in your loving and embracing mercy. We ask this through the Father and in the guidance of the Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen.
Saint Barnabas
Painting; Raab
From the Acts of the Apostles: 11:21b-26;13:1-3
“…In those days a great number who believed turned to the Lord. The news about them reached the ears of the Church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to go to Antioch. When we arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to remain faithful to the Lord in firmness of heart, for he was a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith….”
Gracious God, encourage us to remain faithful with firmness of heart as you once called Barnabas. Help us live in faith when times challenge us to the core of our lives. Help us spread the gospel by our examples, our lives and the integrity of our words. On this memorial of Barnabas, give us courage to forge ahead, to work for peace and to pray even in the midst of conflict and division. Bring us the peace of your Son, Jesus, now and forever. Amen
