The Foundation of Jesus Christ

Back in 2006, I was blessed to be on a mission trip with a group of teens from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. We had the opportunity to go to New Orleans to work with the people who were suffering the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. We were there one year after the hurricane had hit, but you would never know this by the devastation and destruction that we saw. You would have thought that the hurricane had just hit a few weeks prior. Yes, it was as bad as it looked on TV, and it was even worse being there in person.

But the one thing that struck me the most during our week there was how much hope the people of New Orleans had. We met so many people who firmly believed that everything would be okay and that things would return to a normal state of existence. These people had so much faith after losing everything. I was in complete awe. As in today's reading from Matthew, these people had built there houses on rock. (Not literally, but spiritually.) Despite all of the destruction, hope arises from the collapse.

In today's reading from 2 Kings, Jeremiah was warning the people of Israel of their abandonment of the worship of God, but they never listened. They built their houses on sand, and everything fell apart.

Today, it's easy to see that the same thing is happening in our world. Our spiritual neglect is leading us down a bad road. We need to get back to our spiritual and moral values: caring for our brothers and sisters, taking care of the poor, homeless, jobless, and defenseless. We need to embrace the life offered to us in Jesus Christ and love one another.

It's as simple as that! For it is on the foundation of Jesus Christ where hope always rises!!!

It's June, and Everything is Green!

It's June, and everything is green. We're into the growing season, and so everywhere you look you see signs of green growth. And speaking of growth, with today being Father's Day, I can't help but to reflect on how my three sons have grown so quickly over the years.

A couple of weeks ago, my twin boys graduated from high school. And as I was sitting there watching them cross the stage receiving their diplomas, I began having flashbacks about all the things that they've done in school, activities, sports, our family vacations; and how these kids have completely changed my life for the better. It was all passing through my mind like a dream scene in a movie. Now as they prepare to enter college, I think about how they will continue to bloom and grow.

Today's Gospel from Mark, appropriately enough, is about growth and of God's love and care for his children. First, let's look at Jesus' parable of a seed being sown and producing growth. This was a common theme in his teachings. Everyone understands the phenomenon of things growing. Well, I say we all "understand" it, but maybe I should have said that everybody has "seen" the growth of a big, beautiful plant coming from the sowing of a small, insignificant seeds. I don't know if anyone fully understands how that miracle takes place. And that's one of the points Jesus is making with his parable about the mysterious, surprising power of the seed to grow.

God's kingdom can grow in the very same way, from a tiny seed. And it can spread quickly through all areas and relationships in our lives, if we let it.

A renowned scientist once said that one flap of a seagull's wings could change the course of the earth's climate forever. The Kingdom of God has a similar power.

The effect of the kingdom at work in our our lives will never be measured in dollars or popularity. We may never know the good we've done with simple acts of kindness and love. Remember, the seed of the kingdom is the mustard seed: the tiniest words and the little actions we take every day.  All these things sows seeds. With a simple flap of our spiritual wings, we may change the divine dimension of our world forever. We are called not to be the biggest or the most important, but to be the greatest servants of God and others.

God also reminds us that we are his children. Today, we celebrate how fathers are called in a special way to reflect God's unconditional love and forgiveness. Just like God, a father guides, comforts, protects, disciplines, corrects us when we sin buy always picks us up when we fall, and loves us beyond what we can imagine. And like the farmer in the Gospel, relentlessly scattering his seeds night and day, God our Father will never give up on us. He will always be there to watch us bloom. 

It is June, and everything is growing. Jesus invites us to allow the kingdom of God to blossom and live in our hearts - to scatter and plant the seeds of the kingdom, and then watch the blessings grow!

Happy Father's Day!

Prayer for Frustrated Catholics

This was printed in America Magazine, written by Fr. James Martin, S.J.

Dear God, sometimes I get so frustrated with your church.

I know that I’m not alone.  So many people who love your church feel frustrated with the Body of Christ on earth.  Priests and deacons, and brothers and sisters, can feel frustrated, too.  And I’ll bet that even bishops and popes feel frustrated.  We grow worried and concerned and bothered and angry and sometimes scandalized because your divine institution, our home, is filled with human beings who are sinful.  Just like me.

But I get frustrated most of all when I feel that there are things that need to be changed and I don’t have the power to change them.

So I need your help, God.

Help me to remember that Jesus promised that he would be with us until the end of time, and that your church is always guided by the Holy Spirit, even if it’s hard for me to see.  Sometimes change happens suddenly, and the Spirit astonishes us, but often in the church it happens slowly.  In your time, not mine.  Help me know that the seeds that I plant with love in the ground of your church will one day bloom.  So give me patience.

Help me to understand that there was never a time when there were not arguments or disputes within your church.  Arguments go all the way back to Peter and Paul debating one another.  And there was never a time when there wasn’t sin among the members of your church.  That kind of sin goes back to Peter denying Jesus during his Passion. Why would today’s church be any different than it was for people who knew Jesus on earth?  Give me wisdom.

Help me to trust in the Resurrection.  The Risen Christ reminds us that there is always the hope of something new.  Death is never the last word for us.  Neither is despair.  And help me remember that when the Risen Christ appeared to his disciples, he bore the wounds of his Crucifixion.  Like Christ, the church is always wounded, but always a carrier of grace. Give me hope.

Help me to believe that your Spirit can do anything: raise up saints when we need them most, soften hearts when they seem hardened, open minds when they seem closed, inspire confidence when all seems lost, help us do what had seemed impossible until it was done.  This is the same Spirit that converted Paul, inspired Augustine, called Francis of Assisi, emboldened Catherine of Siena, consoled Ignatius of Loyola, comforted Thérèse of Lisieux, enlivened John XXIII, accompanied Teresa of Calcutta, strengthened Dorothy Day and encouraged John Paul II.  It is the same Spirit that it with us today, and your Spirit has lost none of its power.  Give me faith.

Help me to remember all your saints.  Most of them had it a lot worse than I do.  They were frustrated with your church at times, struggled with it, and were occasionally persecuted by it.  Joan of Arc was burned at the stake by church authorities.  Ignatius of Loyola was thrown into jail by the Inquisition.  Mary MacKillop was excommunicated.  If they can trust in your church in the midst of those difficulties, so can I.  Give me courage.

Help me to be peaceful when people tell me that I don’t belong in the church, that I’m a heretic for trying to make things better, or that I’m not a good Catholic.  I know that I was baptized.  You called me by name to be in your church, God.  As long as I draw breath, help me remember how the holy waters of baptism welcomed me into your holy family of sinners and saints.  Let the voice that called me into your church be what I hear when other voices tell me that I’m not welcome in the church.  Give me peace.

Most of all, help me to place all of my hope in your Son.  My faith is in Jesus Christ.  Give me only his love and his grace.  That’s enough for me.

Help me God, and help your church.

Amen.

Japanese Couple Married by a Robot

 You have to check this out. This gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "automated wedding."

Japanese couple married by a robot

Crazy English Rules Poem

Someone shared this with me today, and I thought it was a fun way to start the month of June. This poem is about the crazy rules we find in the English language on a daily basis.  Enjoy!

We'll Begin with a Box
We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes,
But the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice,
Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.
If the plural of man is always called men,
Why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?
If I speak of my foot and show you my feet,
And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?
Then one may be that, and three would be those,
Yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
And the plural of cat is cats, not cose.
We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren.
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
But imagine the feminine: she, shis and shim!
Let's face it - English is a crazy language.
There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger;
Neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
English muffins weren't invented in England.
We take English for granted, but if we explore its paradoxes,
We find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square,
And a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.
And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing,
Grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?
Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend?
If you have a bunch of odds and ends and
get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?
If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught?
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
Sometimes I think all the folks who grew up speaking English
should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.
In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?
We ship by truck but send cargo by ship.
We have noses that run and feet that smell.
We park in a driveway and drive in a parkway.
And how can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same,
While a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?
You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language
In which your house can burn up as it burns down,
In which you fill in a form by filling it out, and
In which an alarm goes off by going on.
And in closing, if Father is Pop, how come Mother's not Mop?