RANDOM THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS BY DEACON SAM

---Nothing we face in life is a surprise to God. His grace is sufficient for us. Our challenge is to keep our passion for life alive – we can finish projects with a song in our heart and a spring in our step. Think of it – there is no sin bigger than the mercy of God. Life matters and our prayers are powerful. Today, people search in different ways trying to make their life meaningful. In the Eucharist we consume the Bread of Life and become Bread for others – which is the love of Jesus Christ. When we live in trust that life is a gift we become truly ourselves. God is faithful to us. Prayer and love prepare us to say “Yes” to Jesus.

--Don’t discount the gifts God has given to each of us. If you are not content with your gifts and how God made you, you will likely rarely feel good or comfortable with yourself. You don’t need to have a great gift for God to use it in a great way. God will one day judge us on how well we used the gifts He gave us. Be the best you can be with what you have. As a rule for our daily life, our service to others is a gift of self. I pray: “God use me to show others how awesome and great you are.”

--Failure is an event – it is not who we are.

--Life is full of distractions – each day, ask yourself “am I leading the life God wants me to lead?” We are not a failure if we have sinned – seek God’s forgiveness and begin again to live a righteous life. When we turn our backs on God, He does not turn His back on us. Sometimes we say we have found God – but God wasn’t lost. He is the one who has found us! How great is this!

--Faith is a gift from God: 

      -We should pray for deeper faith for ourselves and others;        -We should pray that we will live our faith; 

      -We should introduce faith to others by our words and                actions.

--“I just know it is Him!” How do you recognize the voice of God? The more we pray the more we recognize His voice speaking to us in our heart. Prayer expands our heart so that Jesus can come and talk to us. Mother Teresa said: “Don’t just pray - learn to love to pray.” Part of praying is to be comfortable with silence so we can ponder God’s words in our hearts. Read and reflect on the words of the beautiful Psalm 23:

“The Lord is my shepherd: I have everything I need, know that your goodness and love will be with me all of my life; and your house will be my home as long as I live….I will not be afraid Lord for You are with me…” Prayed in its entirety, may this amazing psalm lead us to hear the voice of God. “I just know it is Him!”

--When we wonder what God is like, we are urged to turn to the Gospel and meditate on the person, the life and the teachings of Jesus. God created humankind in His image and has entrusted to us the responsibility to be good stewards of His creation. We all have to play our part in the enormous challenge facing us. Desire and longing are part of the human experience: a desire for the infinite, a desire for God. We are all made to be in relationship with God. Jesus is the Way to achieve our goals – His life and His teachings suggest how we are to act – how we are to love one another. Christ died for our sins and was raised on the third day – this is the core of our beliefs. We need to be imitators of God – to love as God loves us. The great truth of our faith, I believe, is LOVE – God is love itself and we are called to share the love. This, for me, is the defining quality of the life we are called to live.

--“What you hold may you always hold, what you do may you always do, and never abandon; But with swift pace, light step and unswerving feet, So that even your steps stir up no dust, Go forward, the Spirit of God has called you.” St. Clare May

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God bless all the St. James Parish family with His love and mercy and may our lives radiate that love and mercy to all that we meet.

--A question for today: Whom can I bless today with a compliment, support, a kind deed? Don’t miss opportunities to be good to people; make blessing others – your parent and grandparents, your spouse, your children, your neighbor, your co-worker, your pastor, the grocery clerk, etc. – a priority. Sow seeds of encouragement and kindness.

--When we give up control of our lives to God, we allow Him to enter our lives – we become open to the word of God. “God, you are the leader now.” Our conversion to God doesn’t end until we are in full union with God in heaven. By our Baptism we are called to forgive, to preach the good news, to heal, to respect life, to love life. We are called by Jesus to follow Him without turning back. At Mass end, we are called to “Go in peace, glorifying God by our life.” Our response is a resounding, “Thanks be to God” YES!

--We are all temples of the Holy Spirit and it is our job to take care of our “temple.” Adequate sleep and good nutrition, etc, can take care of our bodies; prayer, good works, reading the word of God and allowing ourselves to be touched by the word of God will nourish our souls. We feed our bodies three(3) meals each day

– our souls deserve more than a snack one time a week.

--The worse our sins are the more we deserve God’s mercy. Make some quiet time to sit and meditate before a crucifix and be astonished at God’s mercy to us. May our lives reflect God’s mercy and love to others.

--Spiritual rebirth allows us to see reality as Jesus does – to see the deeper reality of things, not just the surface – like looking at an X-ray of reality. We were created to help others – this is our mission in life. We can each be a positive force for good, a blessing to others who are hurting and disadvantaged. When we stand up for others who can’t stand up for themselves we are doing God’s work on earth. Get involved in something bigger than yourself and make a difference. God is always gracious to us –may we be the same to others.

--Read the “Acts of the Apostles” from start to finish. This book of the New Testament tells the story of the beginning and expansion of the Church. It has been called both “The Book of the Church” and “The Book of the Spirit.” The history of salvation begins with God who sends His Son to bring us salvation. The Eucharist has a unique place in the life of the Church. The Mass is made up of the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Imagine Jesus presiding at the Last Supper – there is one bread, one body. Jesus wants us to be one with Him. Christ comes to us in His self-giving death and His triumph over death. Eucharist is a life-giving gift. We lift up our hearts to God and give ourselves to Him in worship and praise.

--“Faith fills us with power we could never find on our own. It is a bridge between your heart and God.”

--Jason Blume --Life without Jesus is darkness. We are never alone – our Risen Lord always walks with us giving us courage and peace. When we are immersed in our problems we often fail to see the Lord in our lives – but our faith comforts us with the belief that God is with us giving us peace and strength. With God at our side we are witnesses to His love and light in the world. Offenses will no doubt happen to each of us but we need to be careful that these offenses and the people who inflict them in our lives don’t define our life. Forgiveness is powerful and God’s love is more than enough for us. Be good at forgiving and letting go. Don’t hold onto bitterness. Choose love and pray for those who have hurt us.

--Too often we try to determine our worth as a human being by what and how much we do, what others say and think about us, etc…. God, however, created us in His own image – we don’t have to try to convince anyone that we are good enough. Praise from people feeds our ego. Our value comes from being a child of God. Our mission is to build His kingdom on earth – not our egos.

--A final question: Am I fully committed to God who is calling me to Himself? I pray: “Dear God, I commit my life to following You – use me to help make the world a better place.”

May Almighty God bless the people of St. James Parish and all our dear ones with peace, joy, love and all the goodness of His creation.

Pentecost set the followers of Christ on fire!  Through Christ and the Spirit the early Christians trusted God’s love and imagined things never before conceived.  Preaching with profound passion and commitment ignited all the more to follow the Son of God to eternal love.  Consider how these early fevered Christians could not constrain their excitement for the truth revealed to them only through preaching.  Christ had taught them anamnesis  or remembrance i.e. participating with Christ in the Sacrament of Thanksgiving, the Eucharist.  They needed liturgy to reveal the depth and  truth of God’s love for all generations.  They needed to celebrate in community - a community uniting mankind with Christ and the Trinity.  These first Christians knew Jesus – they were in the room where it happened.  These people heard and witnessed the Word of God as he walked the earth or learned from those who did.  They joyfully celebrated the reconciliation of heaven and earth – man and God reunited.  As the liturgy developed everyone found a place in this unity of worship – ministries proliferated.  Fast forward to 1963 - Pope Paul VI issued Sacrosanctum Concilium, the first document emerging from Vatican Council II (VCII) and addressing Liturgy head-on.  Right up front Pope Paul VI called for full, conscious, active participation by the faithful in liturgy patterned after the Early Church.  Early Christian liturgy included proclamation (not just reading) of the Word of God, first from the Old Testament and then from the New Testament as they rejoiced in the fulfillment of the old Scripture by Christ.  With Christ now present in the Word, the liturgy moved to the altar to prepare the gifts and call upon the Holy Spirit to change the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ and then to distribute the Eucharist to the enthusiastic Assembly.  Yes, the priest acting in the person of Christ calls upon the Holy Spirit to change the bread and wine into the Blessed Sacrament but who was going to assist the ordinary ministers (ordained) in all this preparation and distribution?  These generous and grateful ministers bear the title today of Extraordinary Ministers (EMs). 
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM puts ministry beautifully, “On my own, I don’t know how to believe that I am a child or heir of God. It is being together in our wholeness, with the entire body of Christ, that makes it somehow easier to believe that we are beautiful. We each have our own little part of the beauty, our own gifts of the Spirit, as Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians 12. Paul says that the particular way “the Spirit is given to each person is for the common good” (1 Corinthians 12:7). Paul’s word for this is a “charism”—a gift that is given to each person not just for themselves, but to build up the community and even society. Since we don’t have the full responsibility of putting it all together as individuals, we can shed the false theology of perfectionism.  All we have to do is discover our own gift, even if it is just one thing, and use it for the good of all.”

As I sit in the pew and an EM approaches me with communion, I see the warmth and dedication of a person who cares about me as a part of the same Body.  A simple act but such a loving act.  What better feast day for Fr. Rey to commission these generous and grateful ministers in our parish than The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ on Sunday, June 6^th.  Each of us has our own unique set of gifts (charisms) to be offered to the Lord.  Now, let us all celebrate those called to minister in the Eucharist, the “source and summit of church life”. 

Deacon Joe
June 5, 2021
 

Fiat

The Blessed Virgin Mary’s last words in the Gospel were directed to the servers at the wedding in Cana. Mary had advised Jesus the wine had run out. Mary said to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.” When Mary, always perceptive of the social sensitivities of the hosts brought their situation to her son’s attention it may have startled Jesus who was focused on the recruitment of his apostles to follow him on his mission to restore the relationship between heaven and earth. Jesus initially responded to his mother, “My hour has not yet come”. Perhaps, after re-centering himself and further considering his mothers’ prodding in an expanded scope of his mission, he quickly turned to address the problem. While it is not recorded, it is expected that Jesus learned much about life through his parents’ Spirit-filled insights.

Thirty years earlier, Mary came to be the mother of Jesus when this startled virgin affirmed the angel Gabriel’s very unconventional annunciation with her fiat, “Let it be done to me according to your word.” This fiat implies trust, especially a trust that God in his mercy will work to bring us all to him in ways we do not understand. The Annunciation, celebrated on March 25th, 9 months before Christmas, exemplifies the humility and trust we are all called upon especially in this season of Lent as we prepare for the Solemnity of Easter. We need model saints like Mary who turned away from temptations of fear, self-pity, poor self-discipline and hopelessness; saints who trusted in God’s loving Providence. Mary’s life was formed by her Jewish spirituality. She had the righteousness of the Law in her heart. When the time came to listen to the Lord and do whatever he tells her, her humble Fiat brought Salvation into the world. We all play a role in bringing forth the Kingdom of God by listening and then taking action as Mary did. (It is no accident that the birth of Christ was announced through a woman and the Resurrection was first realized by women.)

Mary’s fiat represents the beginning of the New Covenant where Jesus would live with his people and establish his church and now she, the church, listens and prepares to be one with God.

Joseph was raised by family and community steeped in the Worship and Word of God to trust that God loved him.  When visited by the angel of the Lord, Joseph tacitly listened.  He acted in accord with his faith even as that faith would be sorely tested by recurring visits from this angel. 

The Incarnation starts with unconventional formation of a family.  Mary’s spoken Fiat (“let it be according to your will”) led to the pregnancy but created a bewildering problem for her betrothed, Joseph.  By all accounts, Joseph was a good and faithful Jew and therefore knowledgeable in the Scripture including the prophecies of a Messiah, the One Anointed by God, who would come to God’s Chosen people through the line of King David of which Joseph descended.  Joseph listens to the angel of God telling him that Mary’s pregnancy comes through the power of the Holy Spirit and that Joseph should take Mary into his house, which Joseph does and I would suspect, he does so not with understanding but joyful in serving the Lord. Joseph has the examples of all of Jewish history to show him the wisdom of his decision to do what God tells you no matter how mystifying. 

Two people living as one in a covenantal relationship (marriage) mirrored, then as now, the everlasting covenantal relationship between God and mankind – distinctly different roles but one in being.  When Joseph and Mary had to trek to Bethlehem (near Jerusalem) for the census, Joseph did the best he could to find a place where Mary, now in labor, could fulfill her part in bringing Salvation to the world. Joseph resourcefully found food, water and whatever else they needed on this journey.  Forty days after the birth of Jesus, Joseph followed Jewish tradition and brought Mary and Jesus to the Temple with an offering of two turtle doves as the parents presented their first born to the Lord.  Here the righteous and devout man, Simeon, proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah.  The elderly prophetess, Anna, likewise recognized Jesus as the Redeemer of Israel.  Imagine the tumult going on in Joseph’s head. From the start, Joseph trusted God and then gradually learned his part in the unfolding theodrama as he met the challenges of his obedience to God in the life of his family.  Sometime after another mind-expanding visit by the Magi, Joseph was visited yet again by the angel of the Lord when a fearful Herod responded violently to the news of a rival king being born not far from his palace. Promptly following this latest angelic visit, Joseph gathered up Mary and Jesus to set out for a foreign land, Egypt, just as his ancestor, Jacob, had done centuries earlier seeking security.  Consider that Joseph had not only to protect his family but also to see to their sustenance throughout this period.  Finally, Joseph listened again when the angel of God beckoned him to return to Nazareth after Herod had died. 

Jewish tradition and spiritual community prepared Joseph for this role. One annual trip to Jerusalem for Passover became especially notable when 12 yr old Jesus stayed back conversing with and impressing the teachers in Jerusalem without advising his parents.  Jesus’ response, “Did you not know I must be in my Father’s house?” settled on the hearts of Joseph and Mary who again trusted God more than needing to understand God’s ways. 

Observe this covenantal relationship where each person fulfills a complementary role trusting that the other also works out of love.  Note how anxiety fades while peace of mind settles in under such a relationship.  Then, remember the numerous biblical comparisons of marriage on earth with marriage of the Church and Jesus, all with distinct identities but one in being in eternity.

At different times, Joseph and Mary were each visited by an angel of the Lord for different but related purposes.  This husband and wife trusted each other to fulfill their respective parts in this mystery.  They didn’t understand or imagine God’s plan but they both trusted God and worked as one in obedience to the Lord doing whatever he told them. Joseph never spoke a word in the Gospels but he and Mary were two living as one in the covenant of marriage and very much in accord with Mary’s last spoken words in the Gospels.  Referring to Jesus, Mary said to the servers at the wedding at Cana, “Do whatever He tells you”. 

St. Joseph, pray for us.

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Solemnity of St. Joseph, March 19