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Miracles of the Cross

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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?

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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.

 

Tags: truth

The Great Gift of the Eucharist

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Recently, I was exercising at the Wisconsin Athletic Club, the people there are friendly and I enjoy the opportunity to keep my body loose for school recess. The room I was exercising in was shared between myself and two other men. One of the men I had never seen before, the other had become an acquaintance. At one point I moved to another part of the building when, shortly after, the man I was an acquaintance with excitedly came up to me. He eagerly told me that he started a conversation with the third man in the room and it turns out he was a VP for none other than the famous website Facebook and had the wealth to prove it. As much as I was surprised to hear that such a man had somehow found his way into the WAC in Brookfield and had been in the same room as me, I was more surprised at my indifference to such a fact. I simply could not match or come close to the excitement my friend was displaying. I found this quite strange. After all, this man was, according to my friend, worth many millions if not billions, how could I not be at least somewhat excited to think I was a mere feet away from him. 

As the week went on I mulled this over and an answer slowly became clear. While this man represented the pinnacle of worldly wealth, it pales in comparison to what myself and every Catholic has. For in my poor and unworthy hands, I have held the very Body and Blood of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, my hands have held God himself. When I enter through the doors of the Church, I find myself in the same room as the God who was born in a manger, walked on water, forgives sins, created me and died for me. What could this man offer to me that I do not already have?

The longer I am a priest, the more I am in awe and gratitude for the great gift of the Eucharist. The world can offer me many things, but it cannot offer me God himself. Perhaps that is why it is so fitting that the word “Eucharist” means Thanksgiving.

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