GOD’S CURRENT

[1]St. Mother Teresa once compared our inner workings to that of “the inner workings of electrical things, where we often see small and big wires, new and old, cheap and expensive, all lined up. Until the current passes through them there will be no light. That wire is you and me. The current is God. We have the power to let the current pass through us, use us, produce the light of the world. Or we can refuse to be used and allow darkness to spread.”[2]

In our heart of hearts, we all hope that once we’re converted to God’s current, our lives will automatically be free from power surges and other temptations. But that’s never quite the case, as today’s readings show.

Often, just when we think we have our faith and life wired correctly, we throw the switch to add the current, and in short order something pops the breaker disrupting the currents flow. It may be a temptation we wrestle with, where we may choose to rewire around what we know is right and just or choose to leave the breaker off pretending we didn’t know the current stopped flowing within. It could be an old wound that reenters our consciousness or highly sensitive topic that causes an emotional surge, that short circuits our wiring.

We’re all human. I know I’ve been shocked many times, even knocked to the ground, by a sudden surge of voltage, applied by an unexpected source. Despite all best efforts, the unkind thoughts will come; the unjust actions will slip out, the sharp word will fall from my lips. Unnoticed at first; anger, resentment, and a hardened heart will appear, popping the breaker or short circuiting our efforts, thus darkening our vision of God’s goodness and righteousness.[3]

Every day, we must constantly perform preventative maintenance on our internal circuitry by remaining focused on God’s pure current. Each day we must choose to keep Beelzebul at bay, to fortify our interior wiring against the tide and storms of his demons. To let the Master Electrician, Jesus, check our wiring to ensure the current is flowing in the right direction, from our hearts to our head, and if need be to reconcile the system by resetting the popped breaker.

As Advent approaches, its readings will advise us to keep awake, for “no one knows when the day of judgement will come.” (Mt 24:36) Our daily preventative maintenance program needs to include regular prayer, self-reflection, and participation in the Sacrament of Reconciliation to continually check our internal connections that is the way we keep God’s current of holy love flowing through us to be a light of the world.

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[1] Scripture (NABRE), Joel 1:13-15; 2:1-2; Luke 11:15-26

[2] Do Something Beautiful for God, Mother Teresa © 2020

[3] Weekday HomilyHelps, Homily Suggestion by Mary Carol Kendzia

YES, LORD

[1]My introduction to Divine Mercy was through three women at one of the parishes I served. It is my practice to greet people as they come in for Mass.  One day a woman, Cindy, approached me calmly and gently asked if I was aware of Divine Mercy. At the time I was not. Cindy said she would like to bring the devotion to the parish and thought it would be a good fit for me.  I told her I would pray about it.  In other words, I’m kind of busy in my life and I wasn’t ready to add one more thing to my plate.

About a month or so later, another woman approached me, Trisha, asking if I was familiar with the Divine Mercy devotion.  I said, I’ve heard of it.  By the way did Cindy put you up to this? She said, Cindy who? Again, I was told this might be a good fit for me, and again I said, I’ll pray about it. By now I’m getting the feeling something was happening, but I didn’t know what.

Two weeks later, Maria, a much bolder woman approached me, handed me the pamphlets on Divine Mercy and told me she would like me to preside over the devotion on Mercy Sunday. I asked, do you happen to know Cindy and Trisha. She said no and just read the material and let me know if your willing to do it and walked away. As she walked away I looked up to heaven and just said, Yes, Lord.

If you recall Jonah’s previous adventure on the way to Nineveh, this second command by God to proclaim His word to the city Jonah is obedient. In his obedience Jonah got to witness the response when people respond. Conversion. The King repents and he commands that the people repent, so that God himself will repent of His anger and of the promise to destroy the city.

What does obedience look like?  The Gospel reading uses two women to illustrate the spectrum of obedience. Martha was obedient to the cultural norms of the time. When guests came to the home it was the woman’s role to serve the guests. When she complained about Mary’s perceived disobedience Jesus gives another illustration of obedience. The obedience to accept the invitation to sit with the Lord. Mary chose this obedience and Jesus was not going to take this away from her. Life is a blend of both, a secular/cultural obedience and an obedience to sit in silence and listen to the Lord.

On this the first memorial of St. Faustina Kowalska, we often see the struggle she had with this balance. Her cultural vision of a good nun, was about the things she did, but often struggled with because of her weakness, her knowledge of her wretchedness. Jesus’s demand for strict obedience to her superiors, her confessors, her directors, often seemed to create conflict or requests the were impossible for this little weak and wretched nun. It is through obedience she learned the way of trusting in God’s plan, despite her brokenness, despite her weakness.

The rhythm of life for us is, like Mary, to choose the better part (listen), sit in the silence with Jesus, don’t flood him with words of regular prayers. Sit and listen. When we do this successfully often our Martha tasks tend to go much smoother. Like Jonah and Faustina; trust in God’s call, live His mission to share the Good News in deed and word. Believe that in all we do, His presence is with us always. So that in all things, in obedience, all we need to say is “Yes, Lord.”

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[1] Scripture (NABRE), Jonah 3:1-10; Luke 10:38-43

STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN

[1]Forgive me Father for I have sinned. Words that I and so many others repeat so often on a regular basis, or maybe it has been a while. That’s not the only thing repeated in the confessional, at least for me. I often find myself confessing the same repeated sins, time and time again.

Two concepts often collide in our human existence, especially when it comes to sin, are shame and pride.  The devil uses both in the most subtle why. He uses shame to draw us away from God. In our embarrassment for the sin itself and/or repetitiveness of the sin, we avoid bringing them to God and seeking His mercy and forgiveness. He uses pride to say we don’t need to go to God’s representatives (the priests) to get forgiveness. We just need to be sorry, say a prayer, and move on smartly. We’re a good person overall.

I’ve learned many times, that there is no such thing as private sin. Yes, we sin individually but all sin impacts the community, the faith community, and the community at large. Therefore, all sin is communal in nature.

This is what the prophet Baruch, and so many of the Old Testament prophets, is telling the Israelite community, we “are flushed with shame,” (Bar 1:15) our pride has led us to sin. Putting ourselves before all else, “we have been disobedient to the Lord, our God, and only too ready to disregard his voice.” (Bar 1:19) We are committing the very same sins of our fathers! In the next chapter the prophet prays for deliverance, praying for repentance for the community.

What does repentance look like? The gospel tells us that “if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.” (Lk 10:13) For us the sacrament of reconciliation is the starting point. While we may be familiar with the feeling of reconciliation as we emerge from the confessional, what does repentance look like?  

Visible signs of sackcloth and ashes, in our time, may be intentional prayer time, even before the Blessed Sacrament in Adoration where we can sit in silence with our God to develop a more intimate relationship. It may be the attendance at some form of continuing adult formation to deepen our knowledge of our merciful God and how he uses his human representatives (the priests) to communicate His forgiveness. And there is always the Spiritual and Corporal works of mercy we can engage to bring God’s mercy and compassion to others.

Breaking the habits of repetitive sin is a process.  While the Sacrament of Reconciliation is the place to start. Reconciliation is a continuing process of replacing bad habits, the occasions of temptations with new positive habits and activities. Doing this is can be a challenge as our expectations might be, I confessed, why can’t I change now!

St. Theresa the Little Flower has taught us her “little way”. A little way that keeps God at our center. It is a small and yet a great thing to offer our small sacrifices joyfully to Jesus throughout each day[2] that helps us navigate the seeming large stairway to heaven, or at least to find the easier way by finding the “elevator” door.

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[1] Scripture (NABRE), Baruach 1:15-22; Luke 10:13-16

[2] Saints for Young Readers for every day. By Susan Helen Wallace, FSP © 1995