052423

Shaping the Franciscan Footprint

Five Important Spiritual Thoughts from the Liturgy of the Word

…and follow up for the Secular Franciscan

May 18 – May 24

  1 –- “For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me
and have come to believe that I came from God.” (Jn 16:27)

…You are loved with a divine love. What should that do for me?

2 –- “When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted.” (Mt 28:17)

…Is my faith as strong as it should be?

3 — He entered the synagogue, and for three months debated boldly
with persuasive arguments about the Kingdom of God.  (Acts 19:8)

…Paul had tremendous courage to do this.  Do I have the courage to be a good Franciscan?

4 — Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ. (Jn17:3)

…This is my spiritual task.  Am I following through?

5 — “Holy Father, keep them in your name.” (Jn 17:11)

…The Lord is praying for me.  Have I responded well in my life?

Special meditation

BEING HERE

 “It is good that we are here.”

(Matthew 17:4)

        A Christian should be able to say such a statement every moment of their lives, simply because they are Christian. First of all, God has given us life, and now God through Jesus has given us eternal life. Even right now before the bliss of eternal life, even in the worst of all scenarios, at least we have life and the Holy Spirit continues to work for us. The spirituality of Christianity is thoroughly positive even as negatives happen. We can say the words that were found on one of the walls of the Dachau concentration camp: “I believe in the sun even when it isn’t shining.”  It is with true conviction that we should be able to say, “Lord, it is good for us to be here.”

        But there are some things that block our acceptance of that statement.  One of those major blocks is what may be named the “IF ONLYS”:

        – if only I had been born into money, or in Southern California or Florida;

        – if only I had more time;

        – if only I had been a little smarter;

        – if only I had just a couple more breaks;

        – if only I could win the lottery;

        – if only I could have a better job;

        – if only things had not worked out the way they did;

        – if only I were younger;

        – if only I weren’t as old as I am;

        – if only my health could be a little better.

Many people keep saying “if only” and never see what they have right now, and therefore their approach to life becomes essentially negative.

        If we truly believe in God, we believe that it is good for us to be here—right here: this place, this time, this life, this situation, these circumstances. Yes, we can try to make it better, and indeed we should, but we have LIFE and we can live it to the fullest.

051723

Shaping the Franciscan Footprint

Five Important Spiritual Thoughts from the Liturgy of the Word

…and follow up for the Secular Franciscan

May 11 – May 17

  1 — “This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.” (Jn 15:12)

           The chaplain told this true story: it was the story of one of the patients he once had in long-term care in the VA hospital where he worked. The veteran went by the name of “Vet” because he always referred to himself as “the veteran of the war.” The war was Vietnam and he was angry about it. It had ruined him—he was physically wounded although not that badly—but his real problem was: he had come home, he thought, to a world that did not receive him well. He felt his country was unkind; he felt his family was part of the problem. He began to abuse them, verbally mainly, but sometimes physically. Eventually his wife and child left, refusing even to talk with him. He had tried to explain, but they never came back and he became even more bitter than he was.

           The chaplain explained that “Vet” began to change a little when he received a series of anonymous one-line notes on postcards in the mail. The line read “You are responsible for what you do” with the word you underlined. The post cards were mailed from different cities on Monday or Tuesday of each week and always the same—sometimes printed, sometimes written, sometimes typed. They kept coming for over a year and he finally began to understand some things in his life and began to change not completely, but a little. He finally found out that his wife was responsible for the postcards; they did get back together briefly before she died. But he finally began to understand that he could not blame a place or a war for his anger. He ultimately was responsible for who he was and what he did, but before he understood it, he had to have it placed bluntly in front of him.

                 “Vet” needed a blunt statement from his wife before he began to understand. Only then could he change his ways. You and I often need blunt statements that shake us out of our complacency to make us see what we are doing. For example, arguably the primary directive that Jesus gave us while he was here on earth was to love one another. It is a relatively blunt statement that should make us understand this idea of love of others:

           Love one another as I love you.

Think of that: “as I love you” is a divine love, therefore much deeper than a human love and that is the love we should have for one another.

           We have all heard that plea to love from Jesus and the Scripture hundreds of times, but, let’s face it, people are still not as loving as they should be. In fact, there continue to be situations where there is a lack of love. That is certainly true on a national / international level: Christian people who are not loving. But perhaps on our own level, we are not loving the way we should: in our work place, our family, our home, our lives, and these words should apply to us. But often they do nothing—we just listen to them, and say “I wish so and so would listen” or “I’m doing this already” or “My circumstances are different.” It seems that the Lord can do nothing to get us to understand that he is talking to us.

           One rather negative spiritual author says simply that Christian people in America have lost their spark; that we are just going through the motions without any hope that their spiritual lives will catch fire. We need a shock to our system so that we can catch fire.

           The question becomes then: what will it take to make us understand that we have to love others? We will not have anyone like “Vet’s” wife because probably no one will take the time to do it. And so basically, Christians have to rely on the power of Jesus’ words—and that should be enough for a Christian. We must really hear Jesus’ directive maybe for the first time: if you are a Christian, you must love everyone, no exceptions.

           There was a popular song a couple of years ago that was a normal love song, but the title was a good one. The title was “Let Love In.” Perhaps we should look at love of others and then allow ourselves to be shocked. Imagine that Jesus comes up to us right now, points his finger at us, and says: there is love lacking in your life—you are the man / woman. Now is the time to let love in.

2 — “When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me. (Jn 15:26)

…The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth.  Do I consider myself to be a person who always tells the truth?

3 –- “And when he comes he will convict the world.”  (Jn 16:8)

…Have I allowed the world to have too much of a hold in my life?

4 – “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.” (Jn 14:18)

…When I am lonely, I must understand that the Lord through the Spirit is with me.

5 — But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. (Jn 16:13)

…Again, Jesus has us think about the truth.  I might take the opportunity to ask forgiveness for the times when I have not been truthful.

www.frmikescully.com

www.thegospelandme.com