The Deserts of Our Lives

The Gospel reading for this coming Sunday is Luke’s account of the devil tempting Jesus after he had spent forty days in the desert.  Having spent forty days and nights without physical sustenance, one might expect Jesus to be particularly susceptible to the devil’s temptations.  Fortunately, Jesus is wise to the devil’s designs.  He knows that the devil tries to twist even the words of sacred scripture to his benefit.  The devil wasn’t counting on that!

We too can be in a figurative desert during our lives, particularly if we are feeling as though we are not being heard in some aspect of our day-to-day experience.  We can feel as if it doesn’t really matter if we “give in” to something or someone because it isn’t a big deal or it won’t matter in the long run.  We can sometimes feel as if there is little point in trying our best or exerting some amount of self-control in tempting situations.

When Jesus was confronted by the devil and presented with scripture passages that seemed to encourage him into temptation, he quoted other scripture passages to support a position of following God’s will.  When you find yourself in a difficult situation, try to think of ways in which God can support you through the difficulty.

At my house, my mom makes a “crown of thorns” every Lent out of braided bread and toothpicks, and when we make a sacrifice, give something up, or offer something up for someone else’s suffering, we take out a toothpick.  The aim is to remove all the thorns by Easter.

This Lent, look for opportunities to “de-thorn” Jesus’ crown of thorns.

Making Lent a Season of Positivity

The season of Lent is almost here.  Ash Wednesday is next week!  For most, Lent brings to mind giving something up, fish on Fridays, increased darkness, and a more somber mood in church.  It is true that Lent is a particularly penitential season as we prepare to celebrate the passion of Jesus and his resurrection on Easter Sunday.  But, that is not its sole purpose.

In the early years of the Church, Lent was a time of preparation for those who would be entering the Church at Easter.  The forty days of Lent were meant to recall other forty-day or forty-year periods from the bible – the forty days and nights of rain causing the Flood in Genesis, the Israelites’ forty years of wandering in the desert after captivity in Egypt, Jesus spending forty days in the desert prior to beginning his public ministry.

Viewed from this lens, the forty-day period of Lent can take on a sense of purification and change.  We are readying ourselves to celebrate more fully at Easter.  We are encouraged to participate in the sacrament of reconciliation during Lent for this purpose.  We are encouraged to make a positive change in our lives, whether that means giving up a bad habit or adding a new, good one.

Though we enter into this season with a sense of (figurative) sackcloth and (literal) ashes, try to think of ways in which you can make this Lent a season of positivity rather than simply dwelling on the negative aspects that sometimes seem to take center stage during this time.

Rare Readings

This coming Sunday is the Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time.  It is rare for us to have a Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, let alone a Sixth, and we hardly ever have an Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time.  Why is this?

Blame it on the moon.

I’m serious.  The date of Easter is determined based on when the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox is.  That’s a lot of firsts!

Since we usually don’t get this far before Lent starts, the readings for the past Sunday and the next two Sundays aren’t as familiar to us.  Pay close attention to these next few weeks.  Try to discern what God is trying to communicate to you through these rare readings.

Enhance your Experience at Mass

Have you ever noticed that sometimes the readings at Sunday Mass seem to be particularly relevant to what you are going through in your life at the time?  I have been noticing a link between the message of the readings and what our RCIA candidates and catechumens are learning about in our Tuesday night sessions.  We examined the sacrament of Baptism in depth shortly after the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.  Shortly before we took a deeper look at the Mass in RCIA, we had readings which detailed the beginnings of Jewish worship practices.  This week we looked at the sacrament of Reconciliation, which is very appropriate with Lent, the penitential season of the Church, right around the corner.

Of course, sometimes it is more difficult to find a link between your current circumstances and the readings at Mass.  To reflect on how God is speaking to you in the readings each week, you could consider practicing what the Church calls Lectio Divina.  Lectio Divina has four steps: Read (lectio), Meditate (meditatio), Pray (oratio), and Contemplate (contemplatio).

Read:  Choose a scripture passage.  It can be a passage from the Liturgy of the Hours or a reading from the daily or upcoming Sunday Mass.  Read it slowly.  Perhaps, read it several times.

Meditate:  Ask yourself what God is trying to convey to you through this scripture passage.  Were there parts that challenged you?  Parts that comforted you?  If you practice Lectio Divina in a group, after a period of silent meditation, you may share some of your thoughts with the group in what is called a “shared echo”.

Pray:  Speak to the Lord in whatever way the scripture passage inspires you to.  You may offer praise and thanksgiving to God, or you may ask for pardon or for a specific petition.  Or, you may just have an informal conversation with God about what is happening in your life at the moment.

Contemplate:  Think about the major themes in the scripture passage you read.  How do they apply to your life at the moment?  Do you need to make a change in your life to better follow God’s path?  If so, how?

If this kind of prayer sounds appealing to you, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and Catholic.Bible publish a weekly Lectio Divina resource for the Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday.  You can subscribe to receive it by e-mail.  Simply complete the form at the bottom on this page.

Snow Day

Many Wasatch Front school districts as well as diocesan schools called a “snow day” yesterday.  Snow days are rare in Utah.  The last time I remember a snow day being declared, I was in elementary school at Cosgriff!  My mom was driving the carpool that morning, and we arrived (after a very harrowing drive) to find teachers outside the building with signs reading, “No power, no heat, no school!”  Going further back, in 1993 we had a snow day that dumped enough snow to be over my 13-year-old brother’s head.  We stayed home and made a home video for my grandmother’s 80^th birthday that day.

Snow days can bring out the best in people or they can bring out the worst.  Some take childlike delight in the activities that a large snowfall affords.  One of the boys in my neighborhood took the opportunity to test out his go-kart (even though he doesn’t have snow tires).  Others gripe about how much there is to clean up.  Shoveling can be very difficult work, and snow blowing can be almost as difficult if there is a ton of snow.  Of course, snow days can cause headaches for parents who still have to go to work, leaving them scrambling to find childcare for their kids who won’t be at school that day.

With the big gap between snow days, we may have lost our wonder at the power of God and nature to produce such a marvelous thing as a foot or more of snow overnight (in some locations).  It is an awesome thing, in the truest sense of the word.  Just take a look at the piles of plowed snow the next time you visit the parish!

How did you spend yesterday’s snow day?  What was your attitude about it?

One Step at a Time

It’s really hard not to make comparisons between oneself and other people.  It is all too easy to look at others in one’s peer group and see all the ways in which other people seem to be doing so much better or be further along in their career paths and to dwell on one’s own perceived shortcomings.

God made each of us unique for a reason.  God has a plan for each of us, and it is impossible for us to know what that plan is.  That doesn’t mean that each individual’s choices don’t have an impact, or that it might not be discouraging for it to seem like one is behind or constantly trying to catch up to one’s peers.

Progress is made one step at a time.  For some, the steps are larger than for others.  For some, the steps are surefooted and certain.  For others, they are more hesitant.  One moves forward at one’s own pace, trying to make sure not to slip and fall backwards.

It is important to have trust in the process.  It is important to recognize when God provides challenges as an opportunity for growth.  God never gives us more than we can handle.  Trust that He knows what He is doing.

Pursuit of a Good Life

There is a Capuchin priest-psychologist, commonly known as Bro. Marthy.  His real name is Martin Pable.  He said:

“The ceaseless pursuit of a good life, the drive to achieve material symbols of success, and the easy availability of recreational drugs and sex all combine to steer people away from reflecting on religious-existential issues.”

These words remind me of my own struggle as a priest coming from a third world country.  I lived a very simple life in the Philippines.  In the first three years of my religious life, I lived in an old abandoned house.  Our young congregation tried to make it a little conducive and transform it into a simple Formation House.  My first four years as a priest were no different.  I served as a missionary priest in a small province in the Philippines.  I lived in a very old house and my bedroom was much smaller than my bathroom here in the United States.  I didn’t even have my own bed.  I slept on a mat during those four years.  It was not misery; it was a life of pure simplicity and happiness while doing missionary work.

Now that I’m here in the United States, I feel that it is so easy to be carried away by the comforts and benefits of being a priest.  By my personal standard, the rectory is like a Five-Star hotel and the food is always great.  I also have my own office to work in and a car assigned to me to do ministry.  I never had these privileges before and it’s all overwhelming!  I feel that I am living in a dream.  I feel that I am a very rich person every single day.  I am always tempted to say that all of these are symbols of my hard work and success.  Very tempted!  These things and opportunities are very satisfying.  I am tempted to say that God is rewarding me for my hard work in the parish.  I am lured to be self-centered and it is easy to be materialistic.

I arrived in the United States on May 22, 2014.  On the day of my arrival, I vowed to myself that I would strive to live a simple life in a first world country.  I made a firm decision to never let go of my prayer life no matter what happens.  I promised to be vigilant and practice virtues.  After over 4 years in the US, I have been faithful to those promises.  I am equally humbled and at the same time grateful, because I know it is only by God’s grace that I was able to keep my promises.  I am also completely aware that if I let my guard down I can fall into the trap, into the “mundane ceaseless pursuit of a good life” that Pable is referring to.

There is nothing wrong with our pursuit for a good and comfortable life, but we have to remind ourselves every moment that this pursuit should not lead us away from what is the most essential in our life.  Let us remember that the most genuine pursuit to a good, meaningful and happy life; is a life filled with God and a life filled with healthy relationship with others.