The LORD Takes Delight in Me? I'm Sorry, Did You Say Takes Delight, or Takes AMUSEMENT?

"For the LORD takes delight in his people."

These were the words of the Responsorial Psalm at Holy Mass on Monday. I was forced to say them over and over.

"The LORD takes delight in His people." (Haha, yeah right!)

"Sing to the ...."

"The LORD takes delight in His people." (Sure He does, even screw ups like me?)

"Let them praise His..."

"The LORD takes delight in His people." (Ugh. I wish we could stop saying that, I am nothing to take delight in! Maybe I'm not one of His?)

"Let the faithful...."

The LORD takes delight in His people." (Okay, sure. We'll go with that. At least I don't have to say it again.)

So often I find myself focusing on the ways I fail to live up to, to strive for, to even mildly attempt holiness. I focus on my flaws and failures and cannot even see why God would even acknowledge me, let alone love me.

Let me start by saying, it is good to be humble. It is good to be able to address our failures and acknowledge our flaws. Without doing that, we would never be able to improve ourselves. But, in our self-examination, we need to be realistic. We need to have some compassion for ourselves. We need to see ourselves as God sees us. God, as our Loving Father, can see us and does see our imperfections. Our failures still disappoint Him and hurt Him because, as our creator, He wants what is best for us. But if we can continue to love our children through their failures with our imperfect human love, how much more does our perfect Heavenly Father love us with His perfect love? No sooner do we turn away from Him, than He is waiting for us to turn our hearts back in His direction so that His perfect love can fill the distance that we created between us and our loving 'Abba' Father.

How many times as a parent have we heard our children lose heart and lose faith in themselves or put themselves down? It is heartbreaking because we see them through the eyes of our love. I can only imagine how God feels when we lose sight of the good in ourselves. The immensity of His love for us must make Him ache when we move past realistic humility and proceed to self abuse, whether physically or emotionally or spiritually.

We must try to remember that the God who willed the universe into existence also chose us and created us in His image for a purpose. He loves us with perfect love and wants to pick us up, dust us off and repair our broken spirits. Like any loving Father, He wants to kiss our wounds and make us better. Unlike an Earthly father however, He truly has the power to heal us if we only allow Him into our hearts.

My daughters will often surprise me with their understanding of the world around us or how we are to be witnesses to holiness within it. When that happens, I rejoice that they 'get it'. They are learning and internalizing the things that my wife and I are trying to teach them.

We may feel like we are trudging through the muck down here making mistake after mistake. We need to remember however, that through God's eyes, even though He sees our failures, He is rejoicing in our triumphs, no matter how small they are. Each loving gesture we make, every time we ease the suffering of another, He smiles. Every time we struggle and win a battle over sin, He cheers us on. Every penny we give to help the poor or every time we stand up for others created in His image who cannot speak up for themselves, His heart overflows with joy in the beauty of our spirits.

This has to be the 'rejoicing' that the Psalmist was talking about. God rejoices when he sees that we 'get it'; that we truly understand the lessons that He came to Earth and took on flesh to teach us. He truly must take delight in us when we learn to love more perfectly, because as we move closer to perfect love, we are moving closer to our Heavenly Father who IS that Perfect Love.

God Bless,
P.D.O.

Up Too Late (Not Surprising) or Sometimes the Thoughts Won't Sleep

God made you.

Let that sink in…

Even if you don't believe, suspend your disbelief.

And think for a moment,
the Creator of the universe,
the infinite being who formed the Earth (Gen. 1:10), placed the stars in the sky and set the cosmos in motion (Gen. 1:14-15) knitted you in your mother's womb.
You are wonderfully made in His image. (Psalm 139:13-14)

He has a plan for you to prosper (Jer, 29:11) and to live life abundantly! (John 10:10)
He does not want you to be a slave, but to be his friend. (John 15:15)

And when we had separated ourselves from Him, He came to us in the person of Jesus (John 8:28) to share in our suffering and give Himself as a sacrifice to reconcile us. (John 15:13)

Like any other loving relationship, we can't expect this to be easy. There is sacrifice. (Luke 9:23) and there is obedience. (John 15:10) Jesus Himself experienced sorrow. (Luke 19:41), (John 11:35)

But there is mercy too.(John 8:11) And there is grace! (John 6:55-56)
Because we are made in His image, we have an eternal soul! (Gen. 2:7)
Because He came, suffered, and died for us, we have been reconciled! (Isaiah 53:5)
Because of His resurrection, we have hope for eternal life! (Luke 24:1-53)

When life is difficult, when you feel weak or insignificant, remember, God created you!

When you feel like you've made mistakes or you're imperfect, remember, God is merciful and you can always turn your heart back to Him!

When things aren't going your way and life isn't living up to your expectations, remember, God has a plan for you!

When you feel small, alone or unlovable, remember, God humbled Himself to become a helpless infant, live in our world, suffer agonizing torture, and lay down His life for you because He wants you to be with Him for eternity.

It's not always easy to believe. It's a leap of faith that can make you look foolish at times. It can set you at odds with this world and it can seem like a burden. But remember the words of Saint Pope John Paul II, “Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and Hallelujah is our song!”

Holy Week is here. Enjoy!

God Bless,
P.D.O.

"The governor said to them in reply, “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” They answered, “Barabbas!” Mt. 27:21

It was a clear day. The sky was blue, a few clouds were floating by and it was warm as the sun began bathing the Praetorium. I had to squint my eyes until they adjusted to the brightness, for I had been in my cell below ground since I was arrested a few days earlier. It had been dark, cold and damp and the sunshine was a welcome change.

I was arrested, essentially, for being myself. I could be opinionated, and not quiet about it and I am the first to say that I have spent some time on the wrong side of the law. In my home town that hadn't led to a lot of trouble unless the Roman Guard had happened by, but here in Jerusalem things were different. It was basically a group of friends and I talking to another group over, shall we say, a difference of opinion. Things got a little loud and the guards came by to check out what they thought was a possible uprising. It wasn't really any kind of a riot over the Roman occupation, but when they came and tried to quiet us down, my temper and frustrations got the better of me and the situation got out of hand. I was arrested, charged as a revolutionary and a thief and sentenced to die. Yet here I was, brought out into the light, standing on the steps of the palace with a very unexpected chance at gaining my freedom.

The man on the other side of Pontious Pilate had been beaten badly and was barely standing. Pilate looked horrified at the sight of him and looked out to the crowd in the courtyard. He reminded them of the custom of releasing one prisoner on the occasion of the Passover and asked them who they would like it to be. By some miracle, even though Pilate suggested the man had done nothing to break the law, the crowd cried out for my release. I was freed and the other man died. He died, essentially, for my crimes, in my place, for me. My name is Barabbas.

None of us truly knows what became of Barabbas after he was set free that day. None of us really know what he had been arrested for. But there is one thing we know; when Barabbas walked through the crowd and back onto the streets of Jerusalem, he had caught a pretty lucky break. He was free and did not deserve to be. His life had been restored. With this new life, he had two choices (the familiar two roads diverging in a wood, as Frost wrote). Barabbas could return to a life of crime, murder, revolution, mayhem or whatever had landed him in the Roman poky that day. He could continue to be a hot head, essentially ungrateful for the second chance he had been given. I know that I tend to be a bit of a romantic, but truthfully, I don't like this scenario.

In my mind's eye, after a brief display of bravado and swagger as he passed through the crowd, Barabbas realizes how lucky he is and feels a pang of responsibility to the man who had taken his place. Perhaps as he is sorting this out and celebrating, he goes to find some food and clean himself up a bit. As he walks the streets, contemplating whether he should seek out his old friends or leave them behind in the city, he sees a crowd jeering at some prisoners walking toward Golgotha. And he recognizes one of them. He follows the crowd up the hill, watching as the men are spat upon and hit, cursed and abused. Barabbas watches as they lay the man on the wood of the cross, stripped of his garments and nail him through his wrists and feet. Standing at a distance, he cannot hear all of the words being said over the din of the mocking crowd, but he can see the piercing look on the man's face as he almost seems to pick Barabbas out of the crowd. And clear as day, as if hearing it through his soul more than his ears, the words;

 "Father, forgive them. For they know not what they do."

At that moment, it all becomes clear to him. This man was truly holy; truly, the Son of God. He had taken Barrabas' place on the cross, an innocent man, dying for a sinner. In this moment, Barabbas experiences a conversion and a love that he never knew existed. He becomes a Christian. Barabbas immediately leaves the city, leaving his friends behind and starting a new life. He testifies wherever he goes about his encounter with Jesus Christ, the human face of the Living God. He tells of how he was a sinner yet this other man died in his place, giving him life more abundant than he had ever dreamt of.

You must admit, it is tempting to believe this story and hope that Barabbas did experience God's love and perhaps is now with Jesus, continuing to praise and worship Him  in the Communion of Saints.

In the end, we may never know what happened to Barabbas after that Good Friday, but what's more important is to realize, as we come toward the Lord's Passion and the end of holy week, that in a very real way, we are ALL Barabbas. We are all sinners and we are all blessed that Jesus Christ, the Living God made flesh, died on a cross so that we could be set free to live life more abundantly than we ever could have dreamt of.

The challenge, however, is that if we are all Barabbas, then we are also faced with the two roads. Do we ignore how blessed we are and continue in blissful ignorance, or worse, outright ingratitude of Christ's suffering for us? Or do we leave our temptations behind and go out to the world to tell of the amazing things that the Lord has done for us and how He won our salvation?

Good Friday's coming fast. Which way do we go when we triumphantly swagger out of the Praetorium?

Happy Easter,
God Bless,

P.D.O.

Marriage and the Feast of Corpus Christi or I May be Late to the Party, but at Least I Didn't Miss the Good Wine!

A couple of weeks ago, the church celebrated the Feast of Corpus Christi, the celebration of the body and blood of Christ, present in the Eucharist. It is a feast where we venerate and give thanks to Jesus for offering himself to us in his saving sacrifice and then making himself present for us in bread and wine when we celebrate the Holy Mass.

As Catholics, we believe that once the words of consecration are spoken and the priest puts his hands over the gifts, calling on the Holy Spirit to come upon them “like the dew fall”, the bread and wine of the offering are no longer just bread and wine, but become the real presence of the body, blood, soul and divinity of our savior, Jesus Christ.

This belief, this transubstantiation, is considered a mystery in the Church. That doesn’t mean that we throw our hands up and say, “Oh, we’ll never understand it, it’s a mystery!” It means that we believe in the reality that the bread and wine are mystically transformed by the power of God so that He may be physically present. We believe that the power of the Holy Spirit actually alters the substance of the bread and wine in reality, even though in appearance, they have not changed.

The day before this Feast of Corpus Christi, my wife and I helped to facilitate a class for marriage preparation at a parish in a nearby town. We spent the day watching a series of talks from Christopher West on Saint John Paul II’s teaching, Theology of the Body. One  brief quote in the nearly three to four hours of talks really stood out for me. After reading the catechism’s definition of the word sacrament ( an outward sign, instituted by Christ, to give grace), Christopher West put it more simply and poetically by saying that a sacrament is “when Heaven kisses Earth”.

The two days really dove-tailed quite nicely with each other since the sacrament of the Eucharist and the sacrament of Marriage are so intertwined and so similar. In a sense, the celebrations are almost the same. After all, it’s the bible that tells us that Jesus is the bridegroom and the church is his bride, so it would only make sense that marriage would have the same characteristics as the sacrifice of the Mass. Let’s take a look,shall we?

When Jesus died for us, he did so willingly, handing himself over. God could have let us continue in sin with no path to forgiveness, but He came to us, as one of us, to die for our sins so that we could be forgiven. One of the first questions a couple is asked when they come to the altar for marriage is whether they came freely,and of their own will. As Jesus gave himself willingly to us, we are expected to make sacrifices in our marriages willingly as well. No one should be coerced or pressured into marrying. Only by taking those vows willingly, can they mean anything at all.

Jesus gave himself for us to the last, full measure.. He did not hold back anything. He gave of himself even unto death, all for us, and all while we were still sinners. So, like that, the husband and wife are asked to give of themselves totally, even, in a way, dying to ourselves for our spouse. From that moment on, a husband and wife are no longer supposed to put themselves first. I expect we all fail miserably at this from time to time. And what of Jesus giving himself up for us even knowing we were sinners and we would always be sinners? How many times do we expect our spouse to be perfect and feel like if they’re not it gives us an excuse to be selfish or snippy or even outright mean? This is not the model of love and mercy that Jesus, the bridegroom, taught us. He offers us love and mercy totally, regardless of whether we're having a bad day or lose our patience from time to time. To truly mirror Christ's relationship with the church, we need to cut our spouses some slack from time to time and not hold that moment of imperfection against them.

Jesus told the apostles that he would build His church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. He would be with her “until the end of the age”. Once Jesus ransomed himself for our salvation, there was no way he was going to just leave us to fend for ourselves. He promised, like any good husband, to be with us forever. Husbands and wives are asked to pledge that same faithfulness during their wedding vows. “In sickness and in health”, “for richer or for poorer”, and “all the days of my life” are our promises to each other that we will not leave our spouse alone, we won’t run if the going gets tough and that only in death will we allow anything to come break us apart.

When Jesus allowed himself to hang on the cross and die for his bride, the church, his sacrifice gave all the members of His church, the gift of a new eternal life in union with Him. All we need to do is accept this gift of new life and it is ours. His sacrifice, celebrated in the Eucharist, is life-giving in the deepest sense of the word. By dying, he killed death, and life sprung forth; life in such abundance that it’s eternal. The couple getting married is also expected to welcome God’s gift of new life. Marriage is the celebration of God’s love so strong that it brings forth new life. Married couples are expected to mirror this by being open to the new life that their union might bring.

The marriage ceremony and the liturgy of the Eucharist are both great examples of that 'Heaven kissing Earth' principle in that they are both supposed to give us a foretaste of Heaven. In the Mass, we are elevated to celebrate the marriage feast of the lamb as written in Revelations. It is the celebration of all the saints and angels where the lamb (Jesus) marries his bride, the church. Likewise, the union we feel with our spouse is a small taste of the beauty we will experience in Heaven when we are all one in spiritual union with God. Both celebrations are literally supposed to be Heaven on Earth. Now, I know what you're thinking. “Not every moment of my marriage is Heaven on Earth. As a matter of fact, I sometimes feel like I was sent to the other place!” Even the beauty of the Eucharistic liturgy can be made less than ethereal by outside distractions. These distractions may be present in the congregation or may be in the form of lingering thoughts and concerns from our daily lives rattling around in our minds. Well, the key to both is that they are sacraments and if you let Christ transform them, he will make them more 'heavenly' (remember, sacraments are instituted by Christ to give grace, but we have to let Him in so he can give it to us). After all, if the people at the wedding feast at Cana hadn't allowed Jesus to transform their water into wine, what would the celebration of their marriage have turned into?

Now when I started this post, I started by talking about transubstantiation and how the sacraments (when Heaven kisses Earth) have the power to transform things. Here again we see the Christ’s sacrifice for the church, mirrored in the sacrament shared between man and wife. For as the Holy Spirit transforms bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, the sacrament of marriage transforms a man and a woman into husband and wife, joined together in a bond that did not exist before they approached the altar that day. It makes their two lives into one life to be lived for each other and the children that may be entrusted to them by God.. Like any of the sacraments, if we really want our marriage to be what it is meant to be, we NEED to let Christ in to transform us. Because God knows as human beings in a fallen world, if we try to go it alone... well, we all know what the statistics are, right?

As I was preparing this, I thought I had found one difference between the Eucharist and Marriage, and that was the ministers of the sacraments. You see, only a priest can minister the consecration of the bread and wine to celebrate the Eucharist, but in a marriage, the bride and the groom minister the sacrament to each other. Essentially, the priest is there as a witness for the church. But even this is similar if you think about it. Obviously, the only one that can give a free, total, faithful and fruitful gift of yourself is you. So it makes sense that the bride and groom ‘minister’ the gift of themselves to each other in marriage. In the sacrifice of the Mass, it works the same way. Consider that during the celebration of the Eucharist, the priest works in ‘persona Christi’, in ‘the person of Christ’, it then makes sense, that only in persona Christi could he offer the sacrifice of the Mass. Where the body and blood, soul and divinity of Christ, our savior, come present among us, His bride, the church, and we are all one in communion with Him.

We all need to try to let the bridegroom in when he arrives and knocks at the door. His power is truly miraculous in its ability to transform the regular (bread and wine, man and woman) into the sacred (body, blood, soul and divinity, husband and wife). Let Him in and he will turn the water of your daily life into the sweetest wine you've ever tasted and give you something truly worthy of celebration.

God bless,

P.D.O.

The Devil is a Lazy Tempter or If it Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It!

The old saying goes, "you can't teach an old dog new tricks" and sometimes, that's just because the old tricks work so well. I thought of this as I read the readings for Mass on the first Sunday of Lent. I've written before about how the bible starts with a wedding (Adam and Eve), Jesus's ministry starts at a wedding (Cana) and the bible ends with a wedding (the marriage feast of the lamb). Although today's readings weren't about weddings, they referenced the devil's temptation of Eve and the devil's temptation of Jesus for in the desert before he began his public ministry, I noticed that in all the years between those events, the devil's playbook hadn't changed and that made me realize that he's still using the same tricks now.

And yes, I did just say that the devil is alive and well now. I know that it's not terribly popular to acknowledge that there is a continuing battle between good and evil; God and the devil, but I have no doubt that there is a battle being waged for souls. Do you think that sounds dramatic? A little over the top perhaps? Well, guess what, if I was someone looking to do something malicious to you would I want you to believe in me and be on your guard or would I want you to laugh at those who tried to warn you about me and deny that I existed? The evil one's greatest weapon is that people no longer believe in the struggle for their souls. Some people don't even believe they have souls. How easy is it to hand over something that you don't value, let alone believe exists? He is alive and doing well using the same lies and misdirection he's always used and it's working better than ever because a lot of people don't think he's out there and don't feel the need to protect themselves.

You see, the devil employs three basic strategies in the temptations of Eve and of Jesus. The first, is to misrepresent God's words, the second is to appeal to the human desire for power and the third is to tempt by way of our physical nature. Now I don't mean to say that these are the only tricks he has up his sleeve or the only ways that he gets us to turn away from God. My point is that these particular strategies are still doing us in to this day, and I point it out in the hopes that we can all recognize them more readily before falling into his traps.

1. He said what?

In 'The Merchant of Venice' Shakespeare wrote that "The devil can cite scripture for his purpose" and you know what, he does. Now I realize that God's word hadn't been committed to scripture at the time of creation, but the serpent tempting Eve does twist God's word and commands to plant a seed of doubt in her mind.

“Did God really tell you not to eat

from any of the trees in the garden?”

The woman answered the serpent: 

“We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; 

it is only about the fruit of the tree 

in the middle of the garden that God said, 

‘You shall not eat it or even touch it, lest you die.’ -Gen. 3:1-3

Eve corrects him by telling him that it's only the tree of knowledge that they can't eat of or they will die. But by overstating and twisting God's words, the devil plants the seed of doubt which he will build on in his next deception which I'll get to in a moment.

Thousands of years later, the devil is tempting Jesus. During the temptation, he brings Jesus to the parapet of the temple and dares him to throw himself down, quoting scripture to the God who wrote it:

“If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down.

For it is written:

He will command his angels concerning you

and with their hands they will support you,

lest you dash your foot against a stone.” -Mt. 4:6

Jesus points out to the devil the true nature of God, quoting the scripture that you shall not put God to the test. What is up in the air a bit (pardon the pun); Is Jesus telling the devil that he won't test God or is he warning the devil that at that moment, he (the devil) is testing God?

So that brings us to the modern age. Here we are two thousand years later and the devil is still pulling the same trick. How many times have you heard that Catholics are "only supposed to have sex to have babies"? Or that the teaching on contraception is just so that the church "has more butts in the pews". Every word that Pope Francis speaks gets twisted in support of some agenda or another, and so far he hasn't said anything that the church hasn't taught for centuries. And it's not just Catholic teaching, it's all Christianity. From the misuse of the command to "judge not, lest ye be judged" to groups like the Westboro Baptist Church that would twist God's words into hatred and offensive displays, evil is citing God for its purposes left and right in our world. The only way to fight it is to truly know what God's word says to us and take the time to listen to the 'still small voice' so that we can learn to recognize the song of our shepherd and not be led astray.

2. Show 'em what's behind door number one!

After the devil convinces Eve that the forbidden fruit will not kill them, he then tells her that not only won't it kill them, it will make them as wise and powerful as God, able to judge on their own what is good and evil.

"But the serpent said to the woman:

“You certainly will not die!

No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it

your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods 

who know what is good and what is evil.” -Gen. 3:4-5

The doubt that he planted in Eve's mind could very well have fueled some envy and a desire to be equal with her maker. Perhaps she innocently thought it would be okay. Why wouldn't I want to eat something that will make me as wise as my creator? Why wouldn't I want to eat something that gave me the power to decide what is good and evil? In many ways, it's obvious we are still suffering from this. Moral relativism is the calling card of our generation and if you don't jump in line with it and go along with the idea that everyone has their own 'truth' and their own idea of right and wrong, then you are labeled a fool, or worse.

He tries this technique again when he is tempting Jesus. He brings Jesus to a high mountain and shows him all the kingdoms of the world, saying, if you bow down and worship me, then all of this will be yours.

"Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain,

and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence, 

and he said to him, "All these I shall give to you, 

if you will prostrate yourself and worship me.” -Mt. 4:8-9

He offers Jesus, quite literally, the world, but Jesus doesn't go for it. I wonder sometimes if this might be a sign that the devil didn't know who he was dealing with. Anyway, this is actually the last ditch effort that the devil employs against Jesus before he is sent away in what I envision as a sad, slumped over, dejected, very much Eeyore-like trudge down the dirt road out of town.

In many ways, we are faced with the same decision today. I am not saying that faith and worldly riches are always mutually exclusive, but in a lot of ways, there are times when we know standing up for God's word could lead to discomfort (financial or otherwise). It is not always easy to integrate our faith into our daily lives without sacrifice, but guess what, it's not supposed to be:

"Then he said to all, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." -Lk. 9:23

 There are families who have made deliberate decisions to orient themselves towards God and give up the two brand new cars, big MacMansion style home and brand name clothes.  They're trying to follow Jesus' example, investing time into preparing their souls for His Kingdom instead of giving in the way that Adam and Eve did, losing paradise, and investing money into the empty promise of false fulfillment.

3. Passion / Pleasure

Once the devil has tempted Eve in the garden, the scripture puts it all together and says how the tree is good for food, desirable to the eye, and for gaining wisdom.

"The woman saw that the tree was good for food, 

pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom.

So she took some of its fruit and ate it;" -Gen. 3:6

Eve then takes and eats the fruit and gives some to her husband. Because the fruit looked good to eat it was easy for the devil to 'sell' them on the idea that it would make them powerful. Could it really have looked that much better than all the other fruit in all the other trees? In the end, they disobeyed God's command and gave up their trust in Him. Their human desires for pleasure and for power got the best of them and they committed the first, the original, sin.

"Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves. When they heard the sound of the LORD God walking about in the garden at the breezy time of the day, the man and his wife hid themselves from the LORD God among the trees of the garden." -Gen. 3:7-8

The first temptation that the devil tries with Jesus is when he tells him to turn the rocks into loaves of bread. He, again, is appealing to Jesus' human nature and his hunger after fasting for forty days. Surely Jesus could have created food out of nothing to satisfy his hunger and break his fast, but he resists. This is part of the reason for Lenten fasts. We are offering up some of our earthly pleasures to be closer to Christ and to feel a minuscule portion of the pain he endured for our sins. Again, Jesus is the model of resisting temptation even though he was subject to the same hungers and desires that we have. I'm pretty sure that if I hadn't eaten for forty days and I had the power to make it happen, there would be a lot of rocks turning into double cheeseburgers and ice cream sundaes, but I am, after all, only human.

I mention passions and desire last, because it seems to me that the appeal to bodily pleasures is the 'Achilles heel', if you pardon the expression, for all of us and often leads us to the other two temptations as a way to justify our wants. For example, the evil of abortion is made up of our arrogance in taking God's place to determine what is good and evil and thinking we have the power to decide when life begins. The reason for this (in the vast majority of cases) is that people want the physical pleasure of sexual relationships without the responsibility of the natural outcome of sexual relationships. We enshrine ourselves with the power to decide what's right and wrong and then suit it to our desires. Or maybe we're listening to a tiny whisper... "God doesn't care about that", "it's all a scam so that the church can have more money and power". It's a whisper that disregards God's words or misrepresents them, encouraging us to conform God to our image instead of trying to encourage us to conform ourselves to God's word and His desires for us. We need to remember His promise to us:

"My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand." 

-Jn. 10:27-28

...now who would want us to turn away from something as wondrous as that? Could it be? Hmmm.....

We all need to learn the shepherd's voice so that we will recognize when he speaks to us and will not be fooled by those who seek to lead us astray.

God bless,
P.D.O.

Why I am Reneging on my Decision to Delete my Facebook Account or If I had a Hammer.....

Recently, I'd been thinking that I waste a lot of time online and that most of the time I waste online, is on Facebook. So I was kind of thinking of 'tuning out' and trying to enrich my life with things like books, documentaries, French and early Russian poetry, Shakespeare and an assortment of other very impressive things that ironically, I eventually would have wanted to brag about on Facebook.

Now along with this, anyone who knows my 'social media' footprint knows that I don't shy away (often) from hot-button issues. I cannot help it if I am impassioned about certain things and I want other people to know that there are things in the world that have me concerned. I have been surprised sometimes at the responses my thoughts have precipitated and the life span of some of the debates. But in the end, I'm the one throwing it out there, so in a way, I guess I get what I deserve. Not everyone wants to hear thoughts on these things and not everyone is going to agree on them.

Now what I noticed recently, and who knows, maybe it's happened before and I was oblivious, was that the comments on my posts were starting to look like the comment section on a CNN article with people twisting others' words, taking things out of context and pulling one bit of semantics from their comments to get that 'gotcha!' moment. What troubled me though, was that instead of anonymous strangers taking swipes at each other, it was family, people who know each other and love each other. Well I felt like that was the last straw. Social media had proven itself negative and totally non productive to me. But you know what, I was wrong.

The truth is that social media is highly effective (duh). And I realize that although mine is a small voice, a drop of water in an ocean really, every voice is important. We need voices, especially considering that those voices singing the praises of our slide into moral relativism are so amplified by our popular culture. When I said I was leaving Facebook, I received a few messages from people giving me their contact information to keep in touch and I got some messages from people who said they would miss my voice, my drop of water trying to swim against the stream. Hmm, maybe there is something to this new fangled inter-web thingamajiggy.

Well if I recall correctly there was a pretty import historical figure who said something about a lamp and a bushel basket. There was another historical figure who said something about having enemies being a sign that you stand up for things. And I remember someone else saying that the only things that 'go with the flow' are things that are dead. While I wouldn't say I'm the Light of the World and I'm definitely not out to make any enemies, I have no intention of 'going with the flow' like a piece of driftwood.

I am not called to be silent. I did not return to a relationship with God to quietly, passively let His word die within me. We are all called to proclaim what we know to be the truth and I won't stop doing that.

We also need to realize that like any powerful tool, social media can be used responsibly and constructively or haphazardly. A hammer is a good thing when you use it to build shelter for someone, but it's a bad thing when you use it to bash someone over the head.

It's a fine line we need to walk. As Christians we need to spread the Gospel in words and deeds, with strength and courage. But we need to remember that the greatest 'weapons' in this battle are love and compassion. Jesus did not condemn the woman caught in adultery, but he didn't forget to tell her to "go, and sin no more."

You know, it sounds like I'm actually starting to learn something from the new Pope! Gratia Papa!

God bless,

P.D.O.

Daily Readings 03/05/2013: Well Thanks for the Manna God, but Could we have some butter and jam to go with it? Maybe a little caviar?

"I cannot carry all this people by myself,
for they are too heavy for me.
If this is the way you will deal with me,
then please do me the favor of killing me at once,
so that I need no longer face this distress.” Nm. 11: 14-15

"When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd,his heart was moved with pity for them,

and he cured their sick.
When it was evening, the disciples approached him and said,
“This is a deserted place and it is already late;
dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages
and buy food for themselves.” Mt. 14: 14-15

Moses, chosen by God to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, out of slavery, is doing so, and they are complaining about the food. The manna that is miraculously falling from the sky for them every night, is not up to their discriminating palates. Moses, in turn, goes to God and talks to Him about it, ending up with what we see here. Basically asking why would you do this to me? Please, just kill me now! In essence, he is doing what the rest of the Israelites are doing.... "Thanks a lot God for leading us out of our slavery in Egypt, but as long as you're going through the trouble, would it be too much to ask for maybe, a pizza day? An ice cream social perhaps?" Moses' focus is on himself and the hardship he has to endure.

In today's Gospel reading, we find Jesus, sent by God to save His people from slavery of a different kind, slavery from sin. He is trying to withdraw alone and take some time to himself to mourn the death of John the Baptist. Well, word gets out and the next thing we know, when Jesus gets off the boat, there's a huge crowd there. But Jesus has a much different reaction. His first reflex is to compassion. Jesus feels pity for them. He then proceeds to carry on with his mission. He cures their sick, he teaches them and then he feeds them, with miraculous bread. And all of these things, he does while knowing that he will be dying for all of their sins when the time comes. 

Jesus' first reaction is to look outside of himself and see what he can do to help the others, Moses focuses on himself and his own hardship. And as Christians, we know which example we are supposed to follow here. Jesus came to teach love and to save us by his suffering and passion. In this gospel reading, we see how Jesus put other's needs before his own and continued doing what he was sent to do. Moses goes to God and tries to 'bargain' with Him, complaining to God about how difficult his own life is.

It is hard to live up to Jesus' example and none of us will ever get there perfectly, but I know I have reacted like Moses and the Israelites far too many times by not seeing what God has given to me, and by complaining about how everything is not exactly the way I would like it. I'm getting better. Not good enough yet, but I'm getting better. And how about you?

God bless,

P.D.O.    

Daily Readings 08/04/2013: Poverty Cannot Buy Happiness

"But God said to him,‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you;
and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’
Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves
but are not rich in what matters to God.” Lk. 12: 20-21

In the beginning of today's Gospel reading, Jesus tells the crowd to "guard against all greed, for though one might be rich, one's life does not consist of possessions." 

It makes me think of the old joke:

If you think money can't buy happiness, then you don't know where to shop!

But the joke is just that, a joke. For as Jesus points out, money cannot buy true happiness, the everlasting joy of the Kingdom of God. There is no cover charge, no advanced ticket sales, no price at the door. This is not good news for those that focus only on earthly treasures and pleasures. However, that also means that there is no velvet rope to keep anyone out. This IS good news for everyone! And everyone includes those who are wealthy.

I think we all have this image of the wealthy as people who are obsessed with money and nothing else. But at the end of this passage (quoted above) Jesus says something interesting, he says "but". He does not say "that is how it will be for all of those who store up treasures for themselves", and stop there. He adds the 'but' "are not rich in what matters to God". He is telling us that although you cannot buy your way into the kingdom and that earthly wealth is not a prerequisite or even an advantage, neither is wealth a deal-breaker.

Jesus was put in a tomb after his crucifixion. The tomb was provided by Joseph of Arimathea. For Joseph to have a tomb carved in rock for himself that he could then offer to Jesus we have to consider two things. First, Joseph must have had a lot of faith and knew that Jesus would only need it for a few days. But second, Joseph of Arimathea was most likely a wealthy man as it must have been an expensive undertaking (pardon the pun) to have one's tomb carved in rock. As a matter of fact, Matthew's gospel describes Joseph as a rich man. And even though he was a rich man, even possibly a member of the Sanhedrin, Joseph's heart was oriented toward Christ.

When we think of God as seeing everyone with equal dignity, we need to remember that this is the ultimate level playing field. When it is time for us to be judged, God will search the depths of our heart, the richness He finds there, the investment we made in His love for us and the dividends of that love that we paid out to others. This is the wealth upon which God hands us the Kingdom, this is where we shop for true happiness, for everlasting joy. Good news, there is no velvet rope, there is no VIP seating (complete with parking pass) and it does not cost a penny.

God bless,

P.D.O.  

Daily Readings 08/03/2013: Herod, Herodias and her daughter, Honey Boo-Boo?

"But at a birthday celebration for Herod,the daughter of Herodias performed a dance before the guests
and delighted Herod so much
that he swore to give her whatever she might ask for.
Prompted by her mother, she said,
“Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” Mt. 14:6-8

Can you imagine a mother exploiting her daughter like this? I always kind of assumed that the daughter was a teenager dancing seductively and moving Herod by lascivious pleasure to make his promise. However, I recently read an article that suggests that Herodias' daughter could quite possibly have been an innocent young girl dancing to entertain the guests at a party the way that you might have a six year old perform the latest choreography from dance school or the newest kata they're learning at karate. Even if this were the case, Herodias betrays this innocence by prompting the girl to ask for an evil act to satisfy her own vengeance.

As I try to raise my daughters with an eye toward their future and developing an understanding of chastity and appreciation of the dignity of every person, I worry about the Herodiases in our world. They are not all out to exact any sort of revenge, but they definitely are trying to subvert our children's innocence for their own purposes.

For example, my wife used to work in a popular discount store and was amazed at how 'grown-up' the clothes that they sold for little girls were. Low-cut tops, belly shirts, skin tight skinny jeans, all for children. Just the other day I was shopping with my mother in Wal-Mart and putting aside all of the t-shirts with sayings dripping with attitude, they were selling 'low-rise' shorts for girls ages 3-6. Right there in good old, wholesome, all-American Wal-Mart! (tongue placed firmly in cheek, of course)

My question is, who profits from this? Who's interest does it serve to sell string bikinis for girls aged two or three (or younger)? Who profits from teaching these girls to be sassy, 'divas' with smart-aleck attitudes? Do they want all of our daughters to be like Honey Boo-Boo? 

In the end, I fear, they are just selling to those who buy. As much as I'd like to blame it on them all, it's not some vast Wal-Mart-DisneyChannel-Hollister-Abercrombie&Fitch-PlannedParenthood conspiracy. They are just selling to a generation of mothers who want their daughters to be sassy, exploited divas because they think that's the only way to get (as in Mark's version  of the story) half the kingdom.

I don't want my girls to settle for half of the kingdom. For as St. Paul tells us, there is a more excellent way, and that one leads to the inheritance of the whole Kingdom!

God bless,

P.D.O.

Writing History Before it Happens: Pope Paul VI, me, my wife and our journey toward NFP

Recently I was considering what my primary responsibility to my wife is as her husband. Is it helping out with the dishes? Folding the laundry? Taking out the trash?

The nearest thing I could come up with is that, although all of those things are helpful and contribute to running the household, in the end, the prime responsibility of any husband is to get his wife to Heaven, just like the prime responsibility of any father is to do the same for his children. As husbands, we can do this by supporting our wives in efforts to grow in holiness. We can help keep our wives oriented toward God. And we can do this by pouring ourselves out for them; making a total gift of ourselves in the model of Christ's sacrifice for his bride, the church, so that our family life is an image of the Holy Trinity.

As much as I would love to say that my wife and I were dedicated and fully understood chastity while we courted and in the early days of our marriage, I must admit we were not as saintly as we could have been. We were lucky that we didn't live together before the wedding day because we were under the impression that chastity equaled abstinence and not living together definitely helped us in our pursuit of that which we misunderstood.

We started to really understand what chastity meant after we went to a presentation at our parish about the Theology of the Body. I learned, much to my surprise, that even as a married man, I was expected to be chaste. Chastity is about having a 'pure vision' of others, including your spouse, and not about struggling with some mechanical battle of the wills with your libido. Chastity is about seeing the whole person and wanting to give your all in self-donation to them. This is in opposition to lust, which sees the other person, possibly including your spouse, as simply a body from which you take your satisfaction.

My wife and I were married in 2005 however, before we understood chastity. And like most newly married (or not married) couples our age, we were using artificial contraception.....the PILL!!! Once we had an understanding of chastity, and of God's plan for marriage, we were then entrusted with more responsibility to appreciate it and I started to feel a tiny thorn begin poking into my side. I knew the Catholic Church teaching on contraception, it was a big, fat, N-O!

But we all know why they teach that, right? They just want more Catholics, more butts in the pews means more money in the collection plate, right?

Well, that was easy to believe until I read 'Humanae Vitae', a 1968 encyclical from Pope Paul VI which basically reads like the history of the ills of artificial contraception and the damage it would do to society, except that it was written before it all happened. Pope Paul VI predicted an increase in marital infidelity, a loosening of morals, a decrease in men's reverence of women, reducing them to “mere instruments for the satisfaction of their own desires” and had warnings about the use of contraceptives by government authorities and giving them “the power to intervene in the most personal and intimate responsibility of husband and wife”.

Beyond these predictions, is the fact that the church's teaching is not leading to butts in the pews, it is doing the opposite. Yet the teaching authorities of the church, still stand by it. This is either an organization bent on colossal failure, or faithful enough to believe it is guided by the Holy Spirit.

So I was feeling a desire to follow God's plan for our marriage and ditch the 'pill', but I didn't talk to my wife about it because I knew that although she felt the same way, she was scared. Well, I thought, it's her body after all, who am I to say? This argument is just as lame as when they say men shouldn't have an opinion on abortion because they don't have uteri. In the end, I realized it was just a cop out because I was scared too. But it was a moot point, because by then, my wife was ready.

It happened when our Pastor at the time, Father Gary, said a homily about the rich young man from the gospel. He talked about how the rich young man went away from Jesus sad because he knew there was that one thing he could not let go of to follow Christ. “What is your 'one thing?” was the general message and my wife decided, for her, it was the pill.

The Catholic hospital in our area had a class to learn the Creighton method of Natural Family Planning (NFP) and so we signed up to learn. If you've never had an experience like this, I recommend it, sort of. Go out with your spouse, and tell family and friends that you are going to learn about NFP. You will hear a lot of baby stories! “Oh, natural family planning, that's how we had Geoffrey!” “Oh, the rhythm method, that's what we were using when our second daughter was born. That's why we named her Surprise!”

Well, the science behind NFP has definitely improved since the 'rhythm method' days. And as I learned in our class, when properly used, NFP is as effective as artificial birth control. I learned a lot more in that class too. I learned way more than I ever thought I would about a woman's cycle. Though I must admit, some of it was kind of, well, eeeeeewwww, I am amazed at what a woman's body does. I put it this way, a woman's fertility, her hormones, chemicals, fluids and their timing, are like a Beethoven symphony while a man's fertility process is like an AC/DC song. If you ever want to be truly amazed and certain that love, sex and conception are all gifts from God, tied together with a special purpose, learn about Natural Family Planning.

That was in the Fall of 2006 and since then we have used NFP, along with prayerful consideration, to space our children and conceive our children. A great benefit of NFP is that it tracks fertility instead of suppressing it. This means that it can be used both to avoid and to achieve pregnancy. As a matter of fact, one of the things that amazed me most about our NFP journey is when we were trying to conceive our second child and we were not successful. My wife called a doctor who was trained in the Creighton method and sent our tracking charts to him. They had an hour long conversation on the phone and by looking at our tracking and observations, he made some suggestions for my wife to change her diet. One month later, our second daughter was on the way. There were no chemicals involved, no harmful side-effects, no government entity fighting about co-pays. He recommended some changes to her diet and some natural supplements and that was it. (I need to express here, that it doesn't always work out that easily. I have known other couples for whom NFP has not been so effective. I feel I need to honor them here a bit too, because their journey has been difficult and it illustrates that nothing is 100%. They are in our prayers always.)

The physical benefits of NFP are one thing, but the emotional and spiritual benefits also surprised me. Natural Family Planning involves a husband intimately in his wife's fertility and requires a deep level of communication between spouses. If used to avoid pregnancy, the couple finds new ways to express their love for each other, making the 'little' things truly matter. The fact that we were now journeying together toward God's plan for marriage and growing together in holiness strengthened our bond with each other. But the greatest benefit was that we were drawing God closer into our life together, our marriage, our family. I heard it said once that artificial birth control is like sending God an 'un-invitation' to your wedding. If that is so, then using Natural Family Planning is like inviting God into your marriage, thanking Him for your sexuality and respecting the way He created it. It deepens a couple's love by leaving that space for God. And we all know that when we invite God in and let Him touch our lives, he gives us Bounty! Beyond! Belief!



God bless,

P.D.O.

Hooray! Tomorrow is Men of E5 day! Hooray! or A Valiant Attempt to Start a Rosary for Women Movement!

"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her" Ephesians 5:25

Hooray! Tomorrow is Men of E5 day! Hooray!

Many of you have read what I've written about the Men of E5 fast that I do on Wednesdays, but as a quick refresher:

On Wednesdays (with a few exceptions) I fast, eating nothing but bread and water. It's part of something I found online called E5 Men. It is based on the above passage, where St. Paul implores us men to love our wives as Christ loved the church, sacrificing for her even up to handing ourselves over. E5 Men make this small sacrifice on the first Wednesday of every month, specifically as a sacrifice for their wives. I do it every Wednesday because I have a wife and two daughters (which is three Wednesdays) and since there are usually four in each month, the last Wednesday, I offer up for all women.

A couple of weeks ago I was putting my daughters to bed. Since my oldest had some night terrors a while back, my wife or I or whoever is watching them if we are out, sits with them in their room until they go to sleep. For me, I find it is usually a good time to say the rosary. It is quiet in the room (sometimes) and the soft, quiet meditation of the rosary makes for a good atmosphere for me and my two girls. So, as I was saying, a couple of weeks ago I was putting them to bed, sitting in their room, and saying the rosary. Because it was a Tuesday, I was thinking ahead to the next day's fast and I realized that on Tuesdays, the mysteries that we pray and reflect on with the rosary, are the Sorrowful Mysteries. And as I sat there reflecting on the mysteries of Christ's passion, I found that it linked together very well with the 'vigil' ,if you will, of my sacrifice for women. As I spoke the mysteries softly, I found myself dedicating each decade to a different intention for women.

Now I know I am not the only one of my fellow husbands, fathers, etc. that have taken on the E5 fast, nor am I the only one who says the rosary. So I thought I would share those intentions here so that perhaps other men, maybe every Tuesday, might be moved to say a rosary for our amazing wives, mothers, daughters, friends, and all the women of our world who may be struggling.

The first sorrowful mystery, The agony in the garden:

During the first mystery, we reflect on Jesus' suffering in the garden at Gethsemane. He is praying fervently, such that he is actually bleeding from his pores. The weight of all our sins is pushing down on him and he asks the Heavenly Father if this cup can pass by him. After struggling with his mission, of course, Jesus gives himself over to God's plan for our salvation.

The intention I pray is for all women struggling with an unintended pregnancy and the choice of abortion. Although obviously, I ultimately hope that they choose life for their little ones, I pray for their strength in making that decision and that they may find peace somewhere in the whirlwind of conflicting emotions they must be feeling. I pray that no matter what their choice, that they seek out the peace and love of God and His mercy.

The second sorrowful mystery, The scourging at the pillar:

We reflect on Jesus being tortured at the pillar and beaten until he was nearly dead. Tied to a post while the Roman guards beat him brutally and mercilessly, Jesus suffers physical agony and the sharp sting of anger and hatred.

The intention I pray is for all women who are victims of domestic abuse. I pray that they are protected and that they have the opening they need to escape their abusers. I pray that they find freedom and the resources to help them be unchained from their 'pillar'.

The third sorrowful mystery, The crowning with thorns:

We reflect on Jesus awaiting his execution. He is there, imprisoned and brutally beaten, and the guards continue to abuse him. They mock him by dressing him in a 'royal' cloak and by forcing on his head, a crown of thorns. During this twisted coronation, as the thorns pierce into his flesh, the soldiers kneel before him, honoring him with mock adoration. Enjoying themselves at his expense.

The intention I pray is for all women who are exploited. Whether it is in strip clubs, pornography, prostitution or just letting themselves be used under the false pretense that it empowers them. I pray that they see their beauty not as an asset to be flaunted so that others can enjoy themselves at their expense, but as a beauty that is inherent in them as a child of God. I pray that they see their value is more than external and that they do not deserve to be 'honored' with what amounts to mock adoration and dollar bills.

The fourth sorrowful mystery, The carrying of the cross:

As we say this decade, we meditate on Jesus carrying his cross through the streets of the city. He is jeered at, spit upon, berated and struck as he shoulders this tree toward his ultimate mission. He stumbles along the way, but perseveres despite his suffering and what his destination is.

The intention I pray is for all mothers. Mothers are often times the 'soul' of the family. They are the first teachers and daily loving examples for our children; teaching them their value and the value of others.

I pray especially for single mothers who must shoulder the full responsibility of their family by themselves. These women are heroes who never asked to be heroes. I pray that they find their way and that God gives them the incredible amount of strength that it must take to be both the nurturer and the disciplinarian; homemaker and the breadwinner; mom, and dad. And I pray that even as they stumble along the way, perhaps somewhere along the journey, they too may cross paths with a Simon the Cyrenian to give them a hand when they need it most.

The fifth sorrowful mystery, The Crucifixion:

This final decade of the Sorrowful mysteries focuses on Jesus' death on the cross. Jesus, after suffering brutal torture and a painful journey, is laid out and nailed to a cross. It is then raised so that he can hang there until he succumbs to an agonizing death; a death he suffered because of our sins; a death he suffered because of our evil.

The intention I pray is for women who are victims of violence. I pray for the souls of women who were killed, either by men they knew or were abducted and killed by predators they had never seen coming. I pray for women who have been raped, suffering the death of pieces of themselves because of another's evil act. I pray for women dealing with the scars of abuse when they were children, again, enduring the pain of someone else's sin. And I pray for the victims of abortion; those precious children, boys and girls, who will never have the chance to become; giving their lives because of somebody else's actions. I pray for their souls and for the peace of the women who had to battle with that choice through the fear and confusion and the possibility of lost hopes and dreams. I pray that all of these victims find peace.

So that is the rosary I pray as a vigil for my E5 fast day. I do hope that more men will sign on as Men of E5. I hope that this rosary for our women may catch on. But most importantly, I hope that my fellow men; husbands and fathers, single, old and young, will see the value of our wives, mothers, daughters, all of the women in our lives, and remember how amazing they are. I hope that we will continue to cherish them and hand ourselves over for them; sacrificing as Christ did for his bride, the church.

"Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God;
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ."

God bless,
P.D.O.

Daily Reading 06/04/2013: 'Repay to God What is God's' or No Receipt, No Refund, No Exchange...

Daily Reading 06/04/2013


"They brought one to him and he said to them,
“Whose image and inscription is this?”
They replied to him, “Caesar’s.”
So Jesus said to them,
“Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar
and to God what belongs to God.”
They were utterly amazed at him." Mk. 12:16-17


So here we are with the holy roller power brokers again. (as I continue learning, I am frightened by how much Jesus' admonitions to them ring true of me too, by the way). And here they are again trying to trap Jesus, which is quickly becoming one of their favorite pastimes, and get him to trip up. They begin by sweet-talking him a bit, and then ask him if they should continue to pay the census tax. Perhaps feeling him out to see if he's a political activist or some kind of rebel. Either way, of course, Jesus is on to them and we end up with the passage above. "Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God."

By pointing out that the coins have Caesar's image on them, and thus should be repaid to him, Jesus points us toward the 'other side of the coin' (sorry, couldn't resist). What is it that is made in the image and likeness of God?

(insert Jeopardy! theme song here)

Okay, time's up. We are!

So we should be giving ourselves back to God. We are supposed to work toward being gifts back to our creator. But we don't do it, do we? We fret about having enough money, can we buy a house that's big enough? Can we get a car as nice as theirs? Can we go on vacation? Can we live the lifestyle we've ALWAYS DREAMED OF?

Can we....? Can we......? Can we........?

But the problem is, as we accumulate all of those things and live that fabulous life, we become slaves to it. In the end, all it leads to is more and more and more 'Can we?'s.

We are taking ourselves away from God and giving ourselves to things. Material things, worldly things, addictions, lust, greed, and it never fills the hole inside. Because there are always bigger and better things to desire. The profiteers and marketers of the world makes sure of that. Look in the mirror and you look at the face of God. Tell Him why you haven't given yourself back to Him in love. Go ahead and explain to Him why you're repaying what is His to Caesar. I hope He understands when I do it.

God bless,
P.D.O.

Daily Readings 06/03/2013: Jesus, the chief priests, scribes and elders mixing with atheists and the Westboro Baptist Church or Heaven could be a Very Interesting Place

Daily Reading 06/03/2013


"He had one other to send, a beloved son.
He sent him to them last of all, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’
But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir.
Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’
So they seized him and killed him,
and threw him out of the vineyard." Mk. 12:6-8


In the parable of the tenant farmers, Jesus is foreshadowing his own death and telling the chief priests, scribes and the elders what will happen to them. They were supposed to be tending to God's vineyard, keeping His flock, but they did not. They became concerned with their own gain, those honored places at table and the esteem and notoriety that came with their positions were more important to them then the call of God in their lives to lead others to Him. And their major fear of Jesus was their loss of power and esteem.

But Jesus tells them what will happen to these bad tenants. They are put out of the vineyard and the rewards go to others. This message must have been very disturbing to men who were used to the best of everything. To think that their ultimate reward would go to someone else. The gentiles? Maybe even the Samaritans? How could he say that those heathens would get rewarded by God? Does any of this sound familiar to any of us? We all have moments when we think, "Well, THAT doesn't seem very Christian?"

We probably (read as DEFINITELY) have had these thoughts while we were in church, about our fellow parishioners!

"Our Father who art in Heaven (would you look at what she is wearing?) Hallowed be thy name. (I mean, this is church, not a night club!) Thy Kingdom come (oh, COME ON now, look at that guy...) Thy will be done, (I mean seriously, sweat pants?) On Earth as it is in Heaven, (hellllooooo people, this is the house of God..) Give us this day (and that guy cut me off in the parking lot, sheesh) our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses (yeah, I know that guy really well. God he REALLY needs you to forgive his trespasses.) as we forgive those who trespass against us (That old lady is a major close-talker, talk about trespassing!) and lead us not into temptation (Did you hear that missy over there with the low-cut dress???) but deliver us from evil. (I am the only one in this building going to Heaven, I know it!) Amen."

Now I know the Westboro Baptist Church folks are going to be unhappy to hear this, but we do not choose who goes to Hell. That is a decision made way above our pay grade by a being who can search and read every heart. And yes, that means that some people you may consider 'worse' sinners than you, might be in Heaven. To paraphrase Mother Angelica, when you get to Heaven you will see a lot of people you are surprised to see there. Well that means, there will also be a lot of people surprised to see you!

There was quite a kerfuffle a couple of weeks ago because Pope Francis said that Jesus died for everybody, even atheists. The atheists seemed really excited.... I'm still not sure why.

But the Pope is right. Jesus died to offer salvation to everyone. Anybody who seeks Him and makes a sincere effort to pursue salvation, gets it, through Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. It doesn't matter if yesterday you were an atheist, it doesn't matter if you go around protesting and blaspheming by carrying signs talking about who God hates, when God doesn't hate anyone. His salvation is open, available and waiting for everyone. Our job is just to accept it, put down the things keeping us from Him, and follow.

Now after this whole thing, I am not about to tell you that I know where the chief priests, scribes, and elders went when they died, nor will I offer an opinion as to where the Reverend Phelps and his Westboro Baptist congregation will end up. Even if they persecuted (or are persecuting) Christ, we need to remember some of His final words on the cross. "Father, forgive them. They know not what they do."

Jesus was praying for his murderers to be forgiven, even as he was dying. What further proof would we need that his mercy is open to everyone who is willing to accept it?

God bless,

P.D.O.

Daily Readings 05/18/2013: Lovers of Violence and Dr. Kermit Gosnell

Daily Readings: 05/18/2013


"The LORD searches the just and the wicked;the lover of violence he hates." Ps. 11:5


Earlier this week, Kermit Gosnell, a true monster, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for killing a baby born alive in a botched abortion in his facility in Philadelphia. Nobody knows how many times this happened in his 'clinic' over the decades that he was in business. Now I am not going into how many times this probably happens each day that we never hear about it because it's in a facility that's cleaner than Dr. Gosnell's was. And I won't mention that every day babies are injected with drugs to stop their hearts while en-utero before they are dismembered and 'properly' disposed of as 'post-abortive tissue', a process which is, apparently, perfectly acceptable.

The plain truth is, abortion is killing, bottom line, at any stage, and killing should not be tolerated. Which brings me to my point. Kermit Gosnell could have been subject to the death penalty, but through some sort of plea deal, ended up with life in prison. I saw posts on the Facebook stating that, given the chance, he chose life for himself. But what scared me more were the people I know are Christian that were calling for his death, if not his torture and painful, agonizing death. I ask, how do we prove our commitment to life, by sentencing someone to death? During Moses' time the thought was 'eye for an eye' because there was really no effective way to separate dangerous people from society, and as Jesus said, there were things Moses allowed because of the hardness of their hearts. Jesus does not preach this. He taught us to pray for our enemies, not seek vengeance. It was the same feeling I got when I saw the celebrations in the street when Osama Bin Laden was killed. We looked like the people we were angry at just a few years before for celebrating in their streets when 3000 Americans were dead. Jesus does not teach vengeance. And we do not line in a society where we cannot effectively separate these monsters from society.

It's not easy to walk the line between justice and vengeance for these monsters, but as Christians. we are called to a very high standard. So let's pray for each other that we have the strength to pray that Kermit Gosnell, during his life of incarceration, while contemplating the horrific things he has done, can turn to the Lord and seek forgiveness. As the Psalmist writes, "those who love violence, he hates"

If Dr. Gosnell does not seek and acceptance His forgiveness, he will suffer a death far worse than we could ever have given him. And if we give in to anger and vengeance, then we too become those who love violence.

God Bless,

P.D.O.

Daily Readings 05/17/2013: Jesus Irritates Peter or I Only Annoy You Because I Love You Sooooooo Much!

Daily Readings: 05/17/2013

"He said to him the third time,
“Simon, son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time,
“Do you love me?” and he said to him,
“Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep." Jn. 21:17



This morning, after I ate breakfast, I slipped back into bed where my wife and two daughters were still sleeping. It was getting close to the time I was supposed to get ready for work, so my wife reminded me, "Don't fall back to sleep."
She reminded me twice.... it bugged me a little. Of course, I know I shouldn't fall back to sleep. But I got (ever so slightly) annoyed that she reminded me...... twice, that I should be careful not to fall back to sleep.

Well, we see Simon (soon to be called Peter) starting to get a bit irritated with Jesus as he is asked three times, if he loves him. I can imagine how he felt. "Okay, for the THIRD TIME, Yes Lord, I love you!"

But each time, Jesus passes on part of his plan for Peter. "Feed my lambs", "Tend my sheep", "Feed my sheep", Jesus is telling him that if he truly loves Jesus, he will be the shepherd to his people. He will feed the lambs by telling them the message of the gospel, he will tend his sheep by directing them in God's ways, he will feed his sheep by giving them the living bread from Heaven.


Each time Peter gives the same answer, "Yes, I love you.". Hmmm what other answer had Simon Peter recently answered the same way three times?

Ah yes, it was a chilly night in Jerusalem. The question was phrased three different ways, but his answer was the same each time. "I don't know him!", Simon had said, three different times, before the cock had crowed that morning of Good Friday.

Now I can really relate to Simon / Peter. You see, my wife is not the only one who has to remind me of things more than once. Sometimes it takes a bit for God to get through to me too. Yes, sometimes even He's got to throw the same message at me a few times before I really pick up on it. But eventually, most of the time, maybe, I think, I HOPE, I get it.

And maybe, just maybe, when He's smacking me upside the head with a spiritual two by four, it's not that I have a thick skull, but a hard heart. And he's just giving me the opportunity to make up for the many times I denied Him.


God Bless,

P.D.O.

Daily Readings 05/16/2013: There's a Call for You. Will you Stand for Something, or Fall for Anything?

Daily Readings: 05/16/2013


"The following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Take courage.For just as you have borne witness to my cause in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness in Rome.” Acts 23:11



So here we are with St. Paul. He is out persecuting Christians, has his conversion experience and gets dragged out in front of his old friends to be tried. Instead of saying, "Oh, haha, I was just kidding about that whole Road to Damascus thing. I'm still good ole Saul, your best buddy!" He stands up and tells him what he's learned, he shares with them the hope he has discovered. And a great debate ensues.

What we can learn from Paul's conversion is a couple of things. First, it is often those that are found after being lost, that can have the greatest impact on bringing others back to God. Paul could relate to the Pharisees, because he had been a Pharisee.

The second thing we can learn from St. Paul is that if we keep our mouths shut, we help nobody. Imagine the places Christ's message would not have reached had God not touched St. Paul and sent him out to preach and spread the gospel. If he'd just kept his conversion story to himself then sure, he would have had a great personal encounter, but as Jesus said, one does not light a lamp to put it under a bushel basket. We need to share our relationship with Him and our love for Him so that others can see the ways it can change the world. As St. Catherine of Siena said, ""Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire."

The third thing we can learn is that the truth is the truth, even when it is controversial. Paul's proclamation starts a battle between the two differing opinions. So much so that he is removed for his safety and brought somewhere else. But that night that the Lord comes to him he doesn't shy away from the message he is meant to deliver at all. He goes out into the world to spread the good news as he was called to do. We often shrink a bit when God's word is controversial or when people tell us it should 'get with the times'. God's word is timeless. It is not up to the sway of public opinion or current and changing social mores. And as His followers called to proclaim the truth, we should stand like St. Paul. Otherwise, who are we? Judas?


God Bless,
P.D.O.

Daily Readings 04/28/2013: Jesus' Fix-it Shop or What can you Bring to Him Today?

Daily Reading: 04/28/2013


The One who sat on the throne said,
“Behold, I make all things new.” Rev. 21:5a

In Revelation it talks of the One on the throne creating a New Heaven and a New Earth, a New Jerusalem, etc., but we have seen this One make things new already. From a few fish and a couple of loaves, He fed thousands, from water at a wedding feast, He made wine, for Lazarus' family, He made a time of grieving into a time of joy, bringing their loved on back from the dead. For a Samaritan woman he made a trip to the well a first step toward believing and everlasting life.

Time after time, Jesus takes the ordinary and makes it the miraculous and He lets us share in the miracle if we let him work through us. Whether it's feeding those crowds, showing compassion to an adulteress, rebuilding the life of an addict, or turning the love between a husband and wife into a new life, Jesus takes all that we bring to Him and can turn it into something miraculous. He turns the seemingly simple into something new and amazing!

Daily Reading 04/27/2013: Prove it to Me, or, Excuse me, But your God is Showing

Daily Readings 04/27/2013
“Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” 
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time
and you still do not know me, Philip?
Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.
How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?
The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own.
The Father who dwells in me is doing his works." Jn. 14:8-10

Philip asks for something that at some point, is asked of everyone who believes in God by someone else, who does not believe. He asks for 'proof' that God exists. I see it in news story comment sections all the time; there is no proof that God exists; what proof do YOU have for God's existence; etc. It's phrased many ways, but it's all the same question.

Often, this argument is rebutted with, "Well, can you prove that God does not exist?" Not a bad question, but that's not how logic works really, is it? I think a better question would be, why do you love? Why do we, as humans, feel love and compassion for others? It serves no practical purpose really. Sometimes it even goes against our instinct for self-preservation. People will sacrifice their own lives for others. But why?

Even those who don't believe in God are capable of loving others or being compassionate. I've heard them say, "I don't need to believe in God to be a good person.", and they're right. There are plenty of people who don't believe in God but do a lot to help others. I hate to be the bearer of bad news for them, but even though they are denying Him, they are showing and sharing God's love. You see, His love transcends mere humanity and is written on our hearts.

There are two dangers in denying His existence. First, for those of us who are Christian, denying God's existence also denies His son. If Christianity is correct, then not having faith and belief in God will lead to eternal separation from Him and true torment of the spirit; i.e. Hell. Second, if one does not believe in God, then they likely do not believe in the devil. This is exactly what the devil is looking for, because if you don't believe in evil, then evil gains a very strong foothold without you even knowing it. Again, leading to eternal separation from God and a tormented spirit.

We do not need some miraculous revelation or apparition to believe in God, we need only look around at what men and women of goodwill do to help others and show care for them. We need only to look back at our own lives and see those moments when we thought everything was going totally down the tubes and how they somehow turned themselves around when we didn't even see it coming. God loves us, and in that love, He reveals Himself to us regardless of whether the person spreading that love acknowledges its source or not.

God bless,

P.D.O. 

Daily Readings 04/13/2013: Today's Boating Forecast, Stormy with a chance of Messiahs Walking on the Sea

Daily Readings: 04/13/2013

"The sea was stirred up because a strong wind was blowing.
When they had rowed about three or four miles,
they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat,
and they began to be afraid.
But he said to them, “It is I. Do not be afraid.” Jn. 6:18-20

Imagine the apostles, at sea in a storm. They are probably a little bit anxious about getting across to the other shore alive. They are struggling through a difficult time and suddenly, they see Jesus, walking on the sea. This had to be a bit surprising. I mean, it's not like it was something you see every day. "Oh, it's just Jesus showing off again!" This was truly a miracle beyond belief, and they are frightened even more.

But Jesus tells them, "It is I. Do not be afraid.", and the next thing they know, they've arrived at their destination. They were carried through their worst fears.

Sometimes when our lives seem tumultuous and we are scared, an opportunity presents itself that may frighten us even more. But we can't rule out the possibility that the opportunity may be the door that God is opening for us. And if we can trust Him and take that leap, He will lead us through the storm and guide us to where we are supposed to be.

Don't be so stingy with those gifts of the Holy Spirit!

Daily Readings: 04/11/2013

"For the one whom God sent speaks the words of God.
He does not ration his gift of the Spirit." Jn. 3:34

The one whom God sent, is obviously, Jesus. I love this line that he does not ration his gift of the spirit. It means that a full measure of God's mercy is available to all of us. So is His love, and His guidance, all of it, to all of us! What a gift!

But to those who much is given, of course, much is expected. If we are followers of Jesus Christ and beneficiaries of all of his blessings and graces, then we are also responsible to share ourselves as fully as we can. We must try to love as selflessly as Jesus, forgive as often as Jesus, and try to teach what he taught.

We must try to be as generous as we can when sharing the gifts the Holy Spirit has given us. We must try to never hold back; enthusiastically taking in and developing these gifts and then sharing them as generously as we can, to benefit others and help lead them to Jesus too.

God bless,

P.D.O.