Palm Sunday

My mother used to say that the reason the church was filled to overflowing on Palm Sunday and Ash Wednesday was because people got something. The implication was that at every other time they didn’t.

You have probably heard often enough from family and friends who don’t attend church, ―I just don’t get anything out of it.‖ I’m not exactly sure just what it is they expect to get – surely not palms and ashes every time. We may even try to challenge them to examine what they bring rather than on what they get.

But maybe it is really about getting something – or Someone. How often do we come to Mass with aching hearts, anxious spirits, troubled souls? We long for comfort, strength and courage to go on. As Catholics we believe that each time we gather as a community, Christ is present in us, in the Word of God proclaimed, in the priest who gathers us as one and especially in the sacrament of Christ’s Body and Blood. Christ comes to us unconditionally, completely. We ―get‖ Christ and, as a community, become the Body of Christ – sent to be Christ’s hands and heart and life for others.

I once read that St. Therese of Lisieux spoke of the consecration at Mass and the reception of Holy Communion as the Kiss of Jesus, the kiss of Love. Not long after reading that I was at Mass sitting behind a young mother with her 2 year old. Just at the consecration, the priest is raising the Host and saying ―this is my Body‖, the child spontaneously kissed her mother. Shazam! I got it!

This Palm Sunday and throughout this Holy Week, let’s be open to the total self-giving God who loves us beyond measure.
“We belong to you, oh Lord of our longing, We belong to you. In our daily living, dying and rising, we belong to you.”

Peace to you,

The Child Within

A mother was preparing pancakes for her sons, Kevin, 5, and Ryan, 3. The boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake. Their mother saw the opportunity for a moral lesson. “If Jesus were sitting here,” she began, “he would say, ‘Let my brother have the first pancake. I can wait.’” Kevin promptly turned to his brother and said, “Ryan, you be Jesus.”

Then, on their way to church that morning, the mother said to the boys, “And why is it necessary to be quiet in church?” This time Ryan responded, “Because people are sleeping.”

No wonder Jesus sensed that the kingdom belongs to children. Unless we become that innocent, that imaginative, that honest, we will never know what it means to be alive in Christ. Children’s minds are so open to learning; their spirits are so ready to accept change; their hearts and souls are so confident that God loves them. And the even more astounding miracle is that some adults never lose that childlike faith.

They, too, continue to learn more and more about themselves and the world in which they live; they, too, continue to embrace change as a way of stretching themselves and growing the Church; they, too, continue to believe that God’s love will help them through even the most tragic of circumstances. And it is for them that the kingdom of heaven will dawn.

Autumn—a time of change in the cycle of nature—begins this week. Daylight gives way to darkness, which has its own warmth and beauty. As we let the child within us emerge, we play in the leaves, stuff scarecrows, paint pumpkins, and eat apples and in every activity give praise to our God with hearts hued in the colors of God’s grace.

Morning Devotion

Labor Day

An irate customer called the newspaper offices and loudly demanded to know where her Sunday newspaper was. “Ma’am,” said the employee, “today is Saturday. The Sunday paper is not delivered ‘til Sunday.” There was quite a pause on the other end of the phone, followed by a ray of confusion, when the elderly woman said, “So that’s why no one was in church today.”

Being Labor Day weekend, there will be no one in church today either. For some, of course, they don’t need “gone for  the holiday!” as an excuse. They never seem to find a seat to worship with us. But, we keep  working at it—gently inviting and freely witnessing to the joy that we experience from coming together each weekend. New school years can be like New Years—resolutions and all—so maybe September will attract a few new faces, especially if our children are learning the importance of the third commandment in their religion classes. It’s always rather touching to hear a child ask, in the sacrament of reconciliation, “Is it a sin to not go to church on Sunday when my parents don’t take me?”

Strength

Three men were hiking through a forest when they came upon a large, raging river. Needing to get to the other side, the first man prayed, “God, please give me the strength to cross the river.” Poof! God gave him big arms and strong legs and he was able to swim across in about an hour, nearly drowning twice. After witnessing that, the second man prayed, “God, please give me the strength and tools to cross the river.” Poof! God gave him a rowboat and strong arms and strong legs and he was able to row across the river in about a half hour after almost capsizing once. Seeing what happened to the first two men, the third man prayed, “God, pleased give me the strength, the tools, and the intelligence to cross the river.” Poof! He was turned into a woman. She checked the map, hiked a hundred yards up the river and walked across the bridge in five minutes.

We know in our hearts that God has indeed given us the strength, the tools, and the intelligence to truly make a difference in the lives of the poor through our missionary efforts—together. Through our prayer, generosity, creativity, and hard work, those who have not heard of Jesus are evangelized, those who are hungry have food to eat, and those who are oppressed are set free.