theROCK

A Season of Transformation

The most holy season of Lent is one of my favorite liturgical seasons. We begin on Ash Wednesday, signed with a reminder of our mortality and repentance. We enter into the desert with Jesus for 40 days, praying, fasting and giving alms so that we can rise on Easter Sunday one step father away from sin and closer to Jesus. Lent challenges us with the question “what are you going to work on or eliminate from your life that will help you to know Jesus more personally come Easter?”

When I was little, my mom would have my brothers and I make caterpillars during Lent out of pompoms. We could decorate them any way we wanted and when we were done they would each get placed in a brown paper bag, their cocoon, only to be seen again on Easter Sunday. Miraculously, on Easter Sunday when we awoke, our caterpillars had turned into beautiful butterflies hanging over the dining room table, complete with felt wings perfectly shaped! Although this was a simply craft, it holds a beautiful significance for Lent and Easter. We begin Lent by entering into the cocoon with Jesus where he transforms us so that on Easter Sunday we rise changed. I encourage you to spend some time reflecting on this question: “What in me needs to be transformed so that I can rise on Easter Sunday closer to Jesus?

A good examination of conscience for this precise question is to ask, who do you let influence your life….who is leading you, teaching you what is morally right and wrong….why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own? We tend to be so judgmental about everyone else and what they are doing wrong. But Jesus is challenging us to stop and look at our own shortcomings and to focus on living just a little differently and a little more like Jesus to change our world. You have the power to change the world one small step at a time. Lastly, Jesus says that a tree will be known by its fruit. Lent is a time to reflect on what are the good fruits and bad fruits in my life. Where do I need to be pruned in order to bear more fruit?

Don’t let Lent pass you by without truly examining your life, so that by the grace of God you will slowly be transformed into the person God created you to be. For, we were not created to remain caterpillars, but to be transformed into beautiful butterflies bringing the message of Christ to all!

Witnessing Christ with Resolve

Raise your hand if you made New Year Resolutions for 2025.

Now raise your hand if you’ve already “slipped” in adhering to those resolutions.

Now, raise your hand if you will join me in a resolution that goes far beyond those of losing weight, keeping your house tidy, or breaking a bad habit.

Celebrating Christmas this season, I’ve been struck by how very different celebrations today are from those of my youth. As a child, many of the movies and Christmas specials on TV were overtly religious. John Denver & the Muppets included a beautiful Nativity retelling in their special, and Linus of the Peanuts recites Luke 2:8-20. Many songs played on the radio were the same Christmas hymns we would sing at Mass. Sharing oplatek was the norm for many Christmas dinners, and no one dared start eating until after a proper prayer before the meal.

We are not living in a Christendom anymore. We are multi-cultural and secular in most aspects of our lives.  Millions celebrate Holidays without ever setting toe in a church, temple, or synagogue. The culture focuses on Santa, spending, and STUFF.

Still, Jesus IS the Reason for the Season. (Jesus, and the Triune God is the reason for everything if we’re being honest.)

So let’s all resolve to act like He is. 

It doesn’t even take much effort to be a Witness for Christ. Say a prayer before meals, even at restaurants.  Reject watching shows or listening to music that are perverse, dark, pornographic, and obscene…even if they are the most popular movies/songs. Shut down social media gossip and garbage that deteriorates human connection. Talk about your faith in some way with others on a regular basis.

Share your faith with those you know and invite someone to Mass or to an parish event.

Embrace these resolutions, among others you devise, and commit to doing them with resolve.

This is how we change ourselves in ways that matter so much more than pants size.

This is how we heal our world and live our faith.

Raise your hand if you’re IN.

A very Happy New Year!

God Desired You

God Desired You

In speaking with a group of students about the two Great Commandments, love God and love your neighbor as yourself, one wise student stated, how can we love our neighbor as ourselves when we don’t love ourselves to begin with, it would be easier to treat a neighbor better then we treat ourselves. The reality of how much we struggle to love ourselves and in turn love others really struck me, for this is very true, especially in our world today. The question I have been pondering since that conversation is, why is it so hard for us to love, cherish, and be confident in who God created us to be? The greatest response I have found to that question is from one of my favorite saints. 

On October 22 the Church celebrated the feast day of St. Pope John Paul II, who loved young people and desired so deeply that people would understand that they are created, loved, and valued by God. Each and every person is created simply because God desired them. He desired you! Take a moment and let that sink into your heart. You are here because God desired it. He wanted you! St. Pope John Paul II’s formal teaching on humanity is called the Theology of the Body. In this teaching St. Pope John Paul II begins by calling us to reflect on the beginning of Creation, when God created man and women and saw that they were very good. God created humanity to be a gift to each other, to give and receive, to live in harmony, to love each other and to bring new life into the world. In the very beginning of creation the two greatest commandments were lived out, man and woman loved God above all and they beheld and loved themselves and each other the way God intended. As we all know the story, sin entered the world and humanity became broken. We are no longer living in the original state that God created, we are living in the consequences of original sin. However, we also live in the glory, joy, and hope of Christ’s Passion, Death and Resurrection—as  people saved. We are called to live with the goal of heaven inscribed in our hearts, we are called to help other people to journey toward heaven, so that one day we can rejoice together with God forever. 

So why is it so hard for us to love, cherish, and be confident in who God has created us to be? Because sin entered the world and we have been wounded. Yet, St. Pope John Paul II’s teaching gives us hope because he reminds us that in the beginning it was not so and Christ has conquered sin and death, and so sin and death are not the final end. God is calling you to love Him and love your neighbor, but first take a moment to simply relish with joy that God desired you, for only when we live in this confidence of God’s love for ourselves will we be able to look at another person and see God in them and be able to love them as ourselves.