theROCK

Contagious Charitable Service

The morning of ordination to the diaconate I woke to my heart full of peaceful anticipation. As I buttoned the top button on my cleric shirt, my son Zak walked quietly into my room.  Zak asked with enthusiasm if he could put my collar on for me. Of course I agreed and he slipped in the collar, carefully centering it left and right.  Immediately after he was finished, he wrapped his arms around me tightly and gave me one of his best hugs and told me he loved me. After a moment, he stepped back a few steps to take a better look. Zak then burst out laughing in joyful excitement and when he was finished returned to hugging me.

I can remember back four years ago attending the ordination of the class of 2018 as an aspirant and feeling terrified of the thought of being one of the men ordained a deacon; proclaiming the Gospel, preaching, and baptizing. Yikes! As I attended the ordination of the class of 2020, but as a candidate this time, things were transforming inside me. Throughout formation, I had discovered how service done in charity resulted in God pouring affirmations of joy and peace into my heart.

Anyone who prays the Liturgy of the Hours is very familiar with Psalm 100 for Lauds on the Fridays of the first and third weeks of Psalter (Psalm 100:2); Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before him with joyful song. The morning of ordination I discovered that charitable service is also contagious and that God used ordination to pour his joy and peace into my family too. May God make service contagious in our families, our parishes, our communities, and in our world so that people of all nations may sing to the Lord a joyful hymn. May God bless your Sunday!

Miracles of the Cross

Many of you know one of my favorite saints is Padre Pio. Just recently I finished a book about this fascinating man. He is a modern saint who died in 1968 and many miracles were attributed to him during his life. People would travel from across the globe to seek and beg for his intercession while hundreds of letters arrived each day with the same hope.  

One particular day, after meeting with yet another person asking for his intercession, he turned to the friar standing next to him and said, “Son, you’ve seen everybody asking Padre Pio to help them with this and that. I wish somebody would say, ‘Padre Pio, pray that the Lord might help me to bear the cross.’”  

Each one of us carry crosses we would rather not, and we often wish that these crosses would just go away. I know I do. I have prayed or wished many times for my crosses to be taken away and I am sure you have too. How many times have we wished that a particular coworker would simply leave the company? How many times have we prayed that an illness would just go away? How many times have we begged God to take away a particular weakness we have?  

These are not bad things to pray or wish for, even Jesus prayed that God might take his cross away if it be His Will (Luke 22:42). However, Jesus also prayed that if this cross should not be taken, he would have the grace to carry it well, and carry well he did.  

Padre Pio reminds you and I that sometimes there are crosses we are invited to carry and never get rid of. We can get so caught up in the miracles, the times when the cross is taken away, that perhaps we miss the subtle, more impressive miracles. The miracle of someone who has gone through the worst and whose heart is still able to love, the miracle of seeing a Simon come forth to help carry our cross, the miracle to love those who push our buttons and even hurt us. Maybe these are the miracles to pray for, to pray to God for the miracle to bear our cross well. We may be surprised at just how many miracles we see. 

What is Truth?

Two weeks ago I had an encounter with a couple which had me reflecting upon Pontius Pilate’s question to Jesus, “What is Truth?” I was at a restaurant with some friends when a woman and her husband approached me. They had noticed my collar and felt moved to come over and ask me some questions. These “questions” turned into an hour and a half long conversation. In this conversation they shared their story. They had a Christian background, but now did not identify as any religion. As the woman told me, there were just too many inconsistences and discrepancies in the Bible to be able to know what was true and what was false.

This led them on a crusade for truth that, as the woman admitted, made them so thoroughly confused they had no idea where to turn. Is Jesus really who he says he is? Was he really foretold in the Old Testament or did mankind read too much into the Scripture? How could the Bible be the Word of God if humans had written it? These were some of the questions that plagued her and yet the core of her angst was the very question Pilate asked Jesus 2000 years ago: What is Truth?

I am not going to necessarily answer that question today (sorry), but briefly look at the symptoms of Truth, because what struck me with this couple was what a life looks like without Truth. In my opinion, this couple was not looking for Truth, but rather proof, and oddly enough, this search for proof led them further from Truth.

Truth will always challenge us, but it will never confuse us or make us doubt more. This couple was very lost, they did not even know what they believed and did not believe anymore. Truth does not do this. Truth brings peace, comfort, stability, and a firm foundation. What is my “proof” that Jesus is who he says he is? Well, when I live the life Christ wants me to live, I am more at peace, more at comfort, more stable, and when I do not, my life quickly becomes tossed about in the storm. I may not always be able to explain away every inconsistency or discrepancy, I may not be able to answer every question, but I don’t need to. When living in the Truth there is little reason for proof, it is like asking a wife to prove her love to her husband.

What is Truth? I may not always be able to tell you the answer, but I can show you.