Less is More

+JMJ+

Lent 2009: Day 2

This weekend is the Bread of Life Retreat in Chicago--which is exactly like the YOUTH 2000 Retreat. This is the 4th year I am involved, and more so then ever. I am responsible for about 50 small group leaders.

I can't express in words how excited I am for this weekend. There is nothing so powerful as allowing Jesus Christ, truly present in the Eucharist, to be the Retreat Master. From the close of Mass on Friday night until Sunday morning Mass, Jesus is exposed in the Monstrance upon the Burning Bush (seen in the image above--yes, that is an actual picture of Jesus ALIVE in the Eucharist) in the center of the high school gym turned retreat center!

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"This is the most important moment of my life, thank you for sharing this moment with me."

After the sacrament of Reconciliation last year during the retreat, Fr. Terry, who had heard my confession, said this to me. I can't forget those words...in that moment, he taught me that every moment is THE MOST IMPORTANT MOMENT.

It is so easy to get caught up in the cares of the day, to be uncharitable...but why?? We were meant to live for so much more then pettiness. If only we could be still, live each moment as if it truly were the only moment we'd been gifted with.

Less busyness, less complaining, less pettiness, less arguing...make more time, more energy, more love for Christ, and for His children.

Ashes to Ashes

+JMJ+

Lent 2009: Day 1

Route 49B, 9:45 p.m.

I climbed aboard the bus praying the Mercy Chaplet as I clenched my plastic rosary...I had totally forgotten about the ashes, Deacon Alex did a good job of smearing them boldly across my forehead.

Earlier I had a call that a family member was undergoing heart failure, and the prognosis is not hopeful. I finished first round of the Chaplet, and went for another...I felt at peace as I prayed.

I took out my prayer book and began to intercede for other intentions...when I realized an older gentleman was trying to get my attention. He was Indian, like many in our ethnic neighborhood, sometimes called Little India.

"What is that on your forehead?"

"Oh, they are ashes."

He looked perplexed...

"I am Catholic, and today we begin the season of Lent, a time of fasting and penance...the ashes remind us of our place."

"Oh..." he said, shaking his head in understanding.

I had sense that he kept observing me for the next few minutes. As he rose to get off the bus, I could see he was still glancing my way. I looked up to smile and he waved, I waved back.

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So simple, yet so real. Sometimes, the veil is lifted, and you are invited to realize that you truly are in the right place at the right time.

Someone once asked if it was burden to wear my "I'm pro-life, ask me why?" button all the time. I said, well, Jesus never stopped being Jesus...I can't stop being a witness either."

Not that witnessing is easy...or that I am always a perfect witness. But, still.

What graces await those who try their best? Only those who try their best will ever know...

Put on Christ

+JMJ+

Ave Maria!

What joy to begin the holy season of Lent. Let us remember that this is not a time set aside to achieve our own agenda, but rather to conform to God's will for us.

On Friday, I spoke to 60 middle school students in Chicago, and I gave them a challenge: to wake up every day during Lent when the alarm clock GOES OFF...not thirty minutes later when their parents yell at them to wake up...and to give the first 5 minutes of the day in prayer to God...to offer their day to God, to listen to Him...

I promised them that if they followed through, their lives would be changed. How could it be otherwise, when you invite God to be actively involved in your life?

So often, we want to check things off a list...to 'get things done.' We are so about doing...but we rarely learn to be. Papa John Paul said very clearly that in order to do, we must first learn to be...and the only place we can learn to truly be is in the presence of God.

What better resolution could we bring into these 40 Days then to offer ourselves wholly to God, to His desires for us, His will for us. Ask Him how to pray, how to fast. Offer up your intentions to the Immaculata, the Virgin Mary, for surely she who is closest to Christ knows how best to ask that our petitions be answered. When you offer up mortifications, surrender the merits to the Immaculata, for she knows where the graces are most desperately needed.

This Lent, may it be all about our desire to conform ourselves to Christ...to be broken down and built back up. May it be about God's will for us...let this be our desire. St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe said that God is pleased even with our desire to please Him. Even as we stumble along the way...if our desire is pure, God will smile...He is delighted by us, regardless of our 'success' as long as our intent is to do His holy will. What consolation!

I hope to post more regularly during these 40 Days, and in doing so may this be an offering to Jesus, our beloved Savior, at the hands of His Immaculate Mother...and may it only point to His love for us!

Darkness...is not Dark

If I say: "Let the darkness hid me and the light around me be night,"
Even the darkness is not dark for you, and the night is as clear as the day.

~ From Psalm 139

Perhaps we are on the cusp of something in Chicago. Today our great Cathedral suffered another blow, as fire tore through the roof. My heart went out to the Cathedral pastor, Fr. Mayall, as I watched him stand behind Cardinal George, who addressed reporters early this morning. The look of sadness and disappointment on the priest's face was obvious--after months of renovations at the Cathedral and massive debt...yet another blow. Thankfully, Cardinal George appeared optomistic.

And here we are again, amidst disorder and chaos, within and without. Yet, there is still cause for hope. I began getting text messages and voicemails at 6:30 a.m. about the Cathedral fire, but it wasn't until 7:45 a.m. that I got a text saying "It is o.k., Jesus got out safe."

What Faith! I was honored when I heard later this morning that Fr. Matt Compton had rescued Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament from the Cathedral this morning. Now, you may have never heard the name of this priest before, but today and forever, he is a hero in the order of St. Tarcisius and those other vailent saints who risked thier lives to protect the Sacred Body of Jesus Christ from destruction.

The readings from Liturgy of the Hours today were fitting (as they always are). What stuck out to me most...was "even the darkness is not dark for you." As my friends might ask, "Is that deeper than deep?" I beleive that it is.

We are living in times that sin is celebrated and self is central. And yet, there are still people like Fr. Matt in the world who remind us what is really central: Jesus Christ. A life without Jesus at the center is a life centered on darkness...but do you see the hope in that? "Even darkness is not dark for you." Christ is not afraid of the dark, not afraid to let His light shine--but He wants our help.

I think about this city, and how we are just beggining a renewal here in Chicago. What a sad day to see our Church burnt down, but...isn't this the kind of day St. Francis would embrace?

"Rebuild my Church, for you see it is in ruins."

I think the image of Holy Name Cathedral, struck but not destroyed, is truly an icon of the life of our Chruch today. We are under sever attack by the forces of the Enemy: Modernity, Apathy, the Culture of Death, Selfishness, Sexual Perversion...to name a few. But, even in that darkness Christ's Light Shines. Even in that darkness God raises up heroes. The question is: Am I, are you, willing to be one of those heroes? Are we willing to risk everything for Jesus Christ?

The Church needs to be fortified today, rebuilt...the Chruch needs Saints...in college we used to call ourselves Urban Saints. Oh, Chicago is waiting, waiting for her Urban Saints to hit the streets in the name of Jesus Christ...and let His light shine into that darkness...are you ready? Are you willing? He needs you now, more than ever. Answer the call...you'll never regret it!