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Gospel Reflection for Sunday, February 26, 2006

Scriptural reflection for Sunday February 26, 2006. Today's readings express the analogy of God as a bridegroom and Israel (and us) as His beloved spouse. Despite our infidelities, God continues to woo us and to invite us into a renewed relationship. This analogy was used throughout the Old Testament, particularly by Hosea and Isaiah. Luke, Matthew, and John all mention Jesus as the bridegroom. This is God, coming to fulfill His promise and fully manifest His eternal love for us. These readings are also about conversion. Although God loves us through our torn garments and our old wineskins, out of love for Him, we want to transform our lives. He is calling each one of us to be His beloved bride. We answer the call and through prayer, sacrifice, reconciliation, and almsgiving we allow the Holy Spirit to renew ourselves, to make us new so that we may fully experience the glory of God in our hearts.

People will be able to see the difference, not because of the letters of recommendations we carry, or the titles we have, or the books we read, but because the work of the Holy Spirit will be written in our hearts. Oh with what anticipation I await the coming of the Lord, oh with what passion I call on the Holy Spirit to help me be ready and spotless. Through love I hope to radiate peace, and joy, and forgiveness to all because my heart is filled to capacity with the new wine, the love for God. There will be no room for selfishness and no reason to shy away from standing up to the injustices of the world. My heart overflows with love as I hear my beloved bridegroom, the one who sacrificed His only Son for me, say through Hosea, "I will espouse you in right and in justice, in love and in mercy; I will espouse you in fidelity."

Holy Spirit, in the spirit of Lent, I am here, I am ready to be cleansed, I surrender my infidelities to God, please renew my wineskin, and pour in the new wine of Divine love, fill it to the brim...

Technorati Tags: Gospel Reflection, Scripture Reflection

Untapped Potential for Perseverance

Today we went to see the movie on the Lewis and Clark expedition. Amazing! You read books that say that most of us have an immense and untapped potential for brain or mental power. They say that we only use a small portion of our mental capability. As I watched the actions of Meriwether, William, and Sacagawea, I kept thinking about our untapped potential for perseverance in the face of danger, risks, and obstacles, wether they are physical or emotional. So many of us collapse over seemingly small problems or disputes with associates. We give up easily over physical challenges. We despair over life obstacles. Yet, we are capable of so much more! I saw these people face mosquitos, deceases, grizzly bears, native people (some friendly, others hostile), extreme cold, lack of food, living in very close quarters, crossing the rocky mountains on foot, loneliness, and they only lost one man early on. Their perseverance in the face of great challenges was amazing.

You can probably say the same of people climbing the Everest, sailing around the world, or going into Lebanon in the middle of war to save orphan children like Mother Teresa did. I'm not sure if this is a function of our "perseverance" muscle growing weaker over time, or if we don't have the faith or sense of purpose to drive us. When faced with difficulties, it is good to remember that we can handle this and so much more with God's help.

"A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles."

Christopher Reeve

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In St. Louis this Week

I'm in St. Louis, MO with my son this week exploring. It's really nice to have some father son time and talk about things in life, girlfriend issues, and the future. Tomorrow we are going to see some shrine for St. Joseph. Today we went up the arch. It was impressive. It is unbelievable that they were able to create such a beautiful structure 40 years ago. I hope everyone is well!

Technorati Tags: Happiness

My New Friend St. Joseph

I have never had much of a relationship with St. Joseph. I don't usually say prayers of intercession to him or think much of him. My main connection to him is that my deceased grandfather was named Jose after St. Joseph. I've been dealing with some tough decisions and issues and while in prayer three days ago I suddenly saw an image of St. Joseph in my mind. I began to pray for his intercession and felt that he was going to help me and intercede for guidance. I have continued to pray to him daily. Yesterday a new solution appeared out of nowhere and I'm really excited about it. I feel at peace and excited. As I was walking to the car after work I was thinking that I really don't know any prayers for St. Joseph and would like to learn some. When I opened the mail there was a letter from a Carmelite monastery with a card containing the picture of St. Joseph and a prayer to do a novena for St. Joseph from March 12-20, 2006. His feast day is March 19th. Isn't this wonderful? Do any of you have a close relationship with St. Joseph? Do you have any preferred prayers?

Technorati Tags: Catholic, Saints

Are you trying to lose weight and aren't making enough progress?

New research has identified that perhaps we have been using the scale erroneously. Click below for a graphical description of the proper way to measure weight...

Gospel Reflection for Sunday, February 19, 2006

Scripture reflection for Sunday, February 19. 2006. In this passage of Mark we see Jesus, moved by the faith of a paralytic's friends, forgiving his sins and curing the disease. We see a complete healing of soul and body. Healing has to do with returning to be whole: in harmony within his body, with God, and with the community. Jesus not only cured the physical condition, he healed the whole person. This was very important back then because according to Leviticus 21:16-24, a lame person, among other specifically mentioned, could not come up to offer bread to God, could not be part of the worshiping community. So the physical cure, also brought emotional and social healing.

3 Secrets to Happy and Engaged Employees

I have talked to many people lately who feel very unhappy at their work. They feel used and abused. Consumed and thrown. Disillusioned and empty. Angry and depressed. Why does it have to be so? Why do supervisors not create a better work environment for their people? In many cases, is because people in supervisory roles are too preoccupied with their own upward mobility and with pleasing superiors. Or they take people for granted. I don't understand why it needs to be like this. Here are my 3 secrets to happy and engaged employees...

Staying Happy During Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day sounds like a fun holiday, right? A time to honor and celebrate our love for one another. However, it can be a less than happy time for those that are not in a happy relationship or are wishing to have one. Here are some tips from an e-mail I received from the Reflective Happiness Center...

Explore..., Dream..., Discover...

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
~ Mark Twain, 19th century US author and humorist

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Working on Community Building

As I mentioned in a previous post, this was a very emotionally and physically draining week. At work I had to deal with some difficult issues and we also had an intense and productive global conference. I also had to prepare for and give a presentation there and it went well. I was also gearing up to facilitate a 3 hour session at church. Our parish is 25% Hispanic, yet we worship at different times, we don't share celebrations, and we don't interact on councils. To a degree, we are two peoples sharing one building, not one body of Christ.

The meeting was for all of the chairs of all committees and councils, all of the leaders that are Anglo, with the leaders of the Hispanic community. We discussed challenging topics such as immigration. This topic was a difficult one to facilitate as some people had strong anti-immigration and perhaps anti-Hispanic views. I was grateful that they spoke up as it is the reality that we live in and it gave us the opportunity go deeper. We also talked about differences in cultural worship, traditions, and devotions and how we can enrich each other's experiences. We finished with what the Church is doing at the national, diocesan, and parish level and we brainstormed on ways we can improve Hispanic ministry and unite both communities. People were very engaged during all of the conversations.

The meeting went very well. It exceeded my expectations. After it I crashed and slept for a few hours. I must have been harboring a cold, and as soon as I was done with all the activities it decided to come out. I now need to gather part of the attendees for a theological reflection and then package all of this into a report and presentation as it was a requirement for my program. I thank God for His assistance in all of this.

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