Recognizing God's Will: Fr. Ciszek's He Leadeth Me

            Fr. Ciszek mentions something that all of us dedicated to Jesus Christ seek - knowing and doing God’s will.  As stated, it seems like a simple task.  We look for the “good” choice and do it. Therein, however, lies the problem.  In seeking the “good” choice, our fallen human nature seeks our “good” choice.  How many times have we come across a situation and thought, rationalized, and justified our position and choice as the “right thing”?  Fr. Ciszek so clearly approaches this human mistake in the following passage from He Leadeth Me:

. . .but rather the will of God as God envisioned it and revealed it to us each day in the created situations with which he presented us. His will for us was the twenty-four hours of each day: the people, the places, the circumstances he set before us in that time. Those were the things God knew were important to him and to us at that moment, and those were the things upon which he wanted us to act, not out of any abstract principle or out of any subjective desire to "do the will of God." No, these things, the twenty-four hours of this day, were his will; we had to learn to recognize his will in the reality of the situation and to act accordingly. We had to learn to look at our daily lives, at everything that crossed our path each day, with the eyes of God; learning to see his estimate of things, places, and above all people, recognizing that he had a goal and a purpose in bringing us into contact with these things and these people, and striving always to do that will—his will—every hour of every day in the situations in which he had placed us. For to what other purpose had we been created? For what other reason had he so arranged it that we should be here, now, this hour, among these people? To what other end had he ordained our being here, if not to see his will in these situations and to strive to do always what he wanted, the way he wanted it, as he would have done it, for his sake, that he might have the fruit and the glory?  (Ciszek 41)

            Contextually, Fr. Ciszek is speaking about his experience in a Russian labor camp circa 1940.  He and a fellow priest went into this camp incognito, with the hope of serving those people in spiritual need.  However, the grim reality of communism pervaded, and no one wanted to even acknowledge God.  Fr. Ciszek wanted to leave and consistently looked for a way out. Fr. Ciszek was looking to satisfy his own version of God’s will.  But all he needed to do was look around.  God’s will was “the people, the places, the circumstances he set before us.”

     Reflecting on Fr. Ciszek's epiphany, I pray that God gives us the grace to recognize and lovingly act on His will in the everyday "people, places, and circumstances" that surround us.

Sacred Scripture: Jesus Christ, Conversion, and Dr. Scott Hahn's Online Bible Study

Scripture is the spiritual game-changer for me.  Reading Scripture puts me in the direct voice of God, whether it is a dialogue with Jesus in the New Testament or Yahweh in the Old Testament.  Throughout my early life, my faith was like the seed buried beneath the earth that seemed dead but was waiting for the nourishing waters of Sacred Scripture. For many years, if asked about my faith, the standard answer was, "I believe in Jesus Christ as my savior," but that, and what I remembered about the Ten Commandments from CCD, was the extent of my faith, not that I was compelled to follow the Commandments or even study them.  

    Years later, however, I had a powerful conversion.  A significant part of Christ's reaching out to me came in the form of Scripture.  Up until my conversion, the only Scripture I read was bits and pieces of the King James Bible the Gideon's gave me before entering Basic Training, and that interpretation left me baffled at times.  Through my discovery of Scripture, Christ led me to the New Testament where I was able to hear His voice calling me, as He does all of us, by name.  Reading the Gospels is like having an intimate conversation with Christ.  All of those years that I did not have Scripture in my life I found myself in a barren struggle to find happiness in things.  Yes, I had my loving wife and children, and they always brought joy into my life, but in the absence of embracing my faith through Scripture, I missed the pinnacle of reason for that joy, God.  I needed Scripture to reveal the truth of Jesus Christ’s salvific plan for me, and once God led me to Scripture, I was able to choose to develop and feed that submerged seed of faith.

   In reading Scripture, however, I found there were too many interpretive points of view in the Protestant camp of exegesis. Through prayer and discernment, God lovingly led me back to the Catholic Church, and by accepting that invitation, I discovered Dr. Scott Hahn’s online Scripture study program, From Genesis to Jesus.  Through this Catholic online Bible study, I was given the Catholic tradition and framework for understanding God’s inspired Word. 


* The St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology is a non-profit research and educational institute that promotes life-transforming Scripture study in the Catholic tradition. 

Love One Another: Help Feed and Educate Christ's Poor

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

-- John 13: 34-35 (RSV)

    

      Christ commissions us to ". . . love one another; even as I have loved you," yet I find myself buying something I really do not need or spending idle time using the many "things" that are so easily at my fingertips.  The device that I use to write this message, for instance, is something that I take for granted and consider part of my expected state in life.  But not all of God's children think or exist in this world of expectation and comfort.  Many children go days without eating and live in the reality of starvation and disease.  The liberating power of education and the safety of school are a scarce commodity among such children.  Recently, I viewed the April 21, 2013 episode of Sunday Night Prime on EWTN that featured the loving mission of Mary's Meals. Moved by the Holy Spirit, I decided to take a stand and make a difference even if it is only a few dollars. Out of every dollar raised for this noble charity, 93 cents go into the stomachs of starving children.  Not only do these kids get a healthy meal, but they are offered that meal in an educational setting. Mary’s Meals provides the life-giving filling of the stomach and the liberating filling of the mind.  Magnus's Mary's Meals story is moving, and I hope you can help make a difference in the lives of children in need.  Every dollar counts, but if you can afford it, $16.80 feeds one student for an entire school year.  If you can’t afford to donate a dollar, just pray for Mary’s Meals.

Please give directly to Mary's Meals if you can.

• Click here to Feed and Educate Christ's Poor Children

May God bless you.

Christ's Mercy and the Parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others: ¹⁰ “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank thee that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I get.’ ¹³ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ ¹⁴ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

-- Luke 18:9-14 (RSV)

          Reading Luke 18:9-14 is a humbling and emotionally-wrought experience.  The parable relates to all sinners and reflects Christ’s personal invitation to conversion.  We can absorb this lesson and witness the power of pride and ego at work.  When the Pharisee says a prayer of thanksgiving for not being "like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector,” he represents humanity's ego and self-righteousness.  How many times do we unknowingly look at others with disdain and condemnation?  Although I regularly pray that I see Christ in all people, there are moments when, through my own fault, I forget or stubbornly give in to my own concupiscence.  Frustration, pride, and temptation pervade during these moments, but we must call on God for His merciful grace.  That is exactly what this sinful tax collector does; he calls on God for mercy by saying, “‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’”  Let us never forget that we are all hopeless sinners in need of God’s infinite mercy through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Let us always humble ourselves before Christ and ask for forgiveness, and through charity, He generously gives us the necessary grace to amend our sinful ways.  Christ calls us from our figurative tax booths, just like Levi and Zaccheus.  I pray that we follow Him, too.

True Faith

^{Mark: 33-34}
But the woman fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your affliction.” (NASB)

Faith is believing without seeing.  Faith, moreover, is loving Christ with a devoted heart, even when we lack the physical evidence.  As Our Lord said to St. Thomas in John 20:29, “. . . Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”  After the our Lord’s glorious resurrection, the apostle Thomas doubted the Lord’s identity and desired to see His wounds to verify that Jesus was truly resurrected.  In John 20, St. Thomas’ actions contrast with Christ teaching about faith in the Gospels.  In almost every miracle that Our Lord performs, He states that it is our faith that saves us.  For example, one of my favorite episodes in St. Luke’s Gospel (Luke 7:36-50) tells about the sinful woman who was forgiven.  It is amid the Law-focused, hypocritical Pharisees that this sinful woman shows a beautifully contrasting humility and love for Our Lord by cleaning His  feet with ointment, her tears, and her hair. Christ lovingly tells her that “(the woman's) faith has saved (her); go in peace” (Luke 7:50).  Likewise, faith is defined  when blind Bartimaeus, in his beggarly position outside the walls of Jericho and among the crowd, calls out to Jesus as He passes.  Christ gives Bartimaeus sight and says,“Go; your faith has made you well” (Mark 10:46-52).  Finally, the absence of faith can define its importance.  When Jesus enters his hometown to preach the Good News, people shun him and don’t believe that this son of Joseph and Mary could be the Christ.  In Matthew 13:58, the evangelist states that “(Jesus) did not do many deeds of power there, because of their unbelief.”  Faith, therefore, is not only the belief in the unseen, but it also is an essential ingredient in the salvific power of Christ to touch our lives.  We need faith in order to grow closer to Our Lord and should pray for a deepening of our faith daily.  
    In defining faith, I come back to its significance in my relationship with God.  God offers me the opportunity to receive faith from Him.  Faith, therefore, is a gift, an offering from God to bring me into loving communion with Him. Faith is not something I posses outside of God, nor is it something that I can work hard for and earn.  Faith is a gift freely given to me, a gift that I am called to embrace, and something that I pray thanksgiving for each day.  There were certain moments in my life that I always maintained faith in God and held Christ in my heart, but my life did not reflect that gift of faith through acts of love.  For example, there were many years that I fell away from the Church.  Although I tried different brands of Protestantism, I struggled to find truth without result.  I ended up not attending Mass or any ecclesial community for a long time.  Although I convinced myself that I had faith in Jesus in my heart, without any active pursuit of faith-based love, I struggled to find meaning in everything and easily slipped deeper into a world of secularism.  Blinded by the world, flesh, and devil, my faith was dead, reduced to mere words without loving action.  Faith is a gift offered by God and requires acts of love in order to bloom, and it is what so wonderfully defines us as Catholics.  Once Jesus offered a conversion which I embraced, it reverted me back home to the Church. 
 Faith is the active gift that I embrace each day in my communion with Christ.  If and when my faith falters, I pray for God’s grace and ask like father of the boy with the unclean spirit did in Mark 9:24: “I believe; help my unbelief.”  My faith, lime me, is not perfect, but with prayer and heartfelt acts of love toward God and neighbor, God lovingly offers this gift of faith, and through the strength of my Savior Jesus Christ, I embrace it.

My Scrupulous Fault and Mark 2:27

I can focus on a goal and its steps with laser precision. My wife often tells me that when I take interest in a new task, I often get carried away and become stupidly single-minded in my focus. She’s right. I have the tendency to throw myself deeply into something for which I have passion, but in the throes of that passion, I sometimes lose my sense of reality and purpose. The following line from St. Mark’s Gospel clearly speaks to my situation:

And He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man,
not man for the Sabbath . . . “ Mark 2:27

          During my morning workout, I was watching an episode of EWTN’s Sunday Night Prime. The Franciscan Brothers presented a message similar to that which our Lord teaches in Mark 2:27. We need to understand the love and peace that Jesus teaches and not focus only on doctrine or law. Don’t get me wrong, law and doctrine are the North on our moral compasses. As Catholics, we experience the fullness of faith in Christ by following important early Church traditions. Some of these traditions, although they point to absolute truths, can be mistakenly seen as the ends in themselves, however. When this happens, we can lose sight of God’s merciful, forgiving love at the cost of the “step” we believe that is required to achieve that love. Unfortunately, I have fallen victim to this Pharisee-like vision that Jesus warns us about. But through Our Lord’s love and guidance, I keep coming back to His infinite peace and mercy. There is nothing we can do to earn salvation. Jesus loves us as we are and invites us to faith and love in return. Avoiding over-scrupulous approaches to the rules of our faith will lead us closer the truth of Jesus Christ's love, a peaceful, self-sacrificing love that was made for all.  Amen.

God is Light

1 John 1:5-7

5 Now this is the message that we have heard from him and proclaim to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.  6 If we say, “We have fellowship with him,” while we continue to walk in darkness, we lie and do not act in truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin.

The above verses from St. John’s epistle jumped out at me both when I read them and when my pastor later proclaimed them during mass. 

During my fallen-away years (there are twenty-six of them), I went around occasionally thinking and, if asked, professing that I had faith in Jesus Christ.  My actions, however, spoke differently.  I did not attend mass, was reluctant to raise my kids in the faith, and after trying to seek out protestant denominations that fit my perception of the truth, failed to consider seeking God at all. My thoughts and actions reflected that I could do life on my own.  If I were a good dad and husband, I thought, and I passively believed in Jesus, then that was good enough.   I tried hard as a father and husband, was mostly honest in my day-to-day dealings with people, and worked diligently at my occupation.  Why wasn’t that walking in the light of Christ’s fellowship?  Upon reflection, however, my "sometimes honesty" was really situationally advantageous dishonesty, my hard work as a teacher and father was falsely attributed to self achievement, and my being a good husband was more on terms of service to self than cherishing and serving my wife.  Certain material items became my focus, desire, and obsession, leading to an emptiness that could not be filled or satisfied. I was blinded by my own poor choices and refusals of God’s invitation to faith and love. I walked in darkness and refused to act in truth.

I am so thankful that Jesus Christ has given me the eyes to see that fellowship is more than empty words.  Fellowship with God begins as a proclamation of faith in Jesus.  That proclamation, moreover, is fulfilled by acts of love.  Fellowship is following Christ’s teaching, love, and self-sacrifice by radiating that truth to the world. It is bearing the cross of discipleship, giving myself for the love of others, and living the truth as revealed by Jesus. Fellowship is loving God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength.  Fellowship is loving my neighbor as I love myself for the love of Jesus. It is choosing to walk in Jesus’ light, and walking is taking my faith and putting it into loving action. 

I pray that we all act in accordance with God’s love and always walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ.  May God bless you. Let us remember to always walk in the light.