Stripping away our dignity

Great post from "The Heart of Things" about how our society and how we are objectifying ourselves. The part that really struck me:

"We're gorging ourselves on feelings and casting away our fertility. We've severed the life-line that is tied to the ship that is meant to take us home. The most God-like attribute we possess, that of generating a new human life, is stripped away from the sexual embrace."

This is true, yet our society is searching for something else in life.  Something I call the True Light. In addition we seem to be attempting to be god (small g on purpose) in other ways or trying to replace God altogether through drugs, porn, sex, etc.

Blessings

Tim

Prayer for Patience

I have a problem with patience. There is nothing wrong with patience, I just don't have enough of it. Through the Father, all things are possible. During my prayers, I ask for help with patience. One day, I was struck with the thought that I need to write a prayer for patience. Here is what I came up with. Be gentle.

My Father,
only through you are all things possible.

By your Grace, I am made whole.
You complete me.

Help me to recall
- the joyful noise that was their first cry.
- the unconditional love I felt when I first held them.
- the joy and pride in each small accomplishment.

Help me to remember that they are a precious gift from you. Left in my care for what seems like a lifetime but is gone in the blink of an eye.

That however impatient or angry that I may be with them, they will learn from my words and actions. Help me to remember that by teaching them these things, I am perpetuating that which must stop.

Help me to remember that I am called to protect, teach, and above all, love them as you love me.

Help me to unshackle myself from
- the stress and fatigue of the work day.
- the crush of the pressure from the World.
- the anxiety from the uncertainty of these tough economic times.

Father, I know that through you, all things are possible. Complete me with the grace of patience and perspective so that I may fulfill my sacred duty as husband and father.

Lord Jesus, pray for me.
Your Holiness JP II, pray for me.
St. Joseph, pray for me

Amen

Blessings

Tim

Feast of St. Joseph is the Real Father's Day

March 19th was the Feast Day of St. Joseph. This blog post from Catholic Dads prompted me to ask the family to change the Father's Day from the Hallmark dictated day to this wonderful feast day.  They agreed!!

I guess that this is also the tradition in Italy and Spain (link to a homily discussing St. Joseph and the feast day).

What better way to celebrate Father's Day then on the day of one of the greatest fathers!

Blessings

Tim

Updated: Foot Washing. No Job to Small for Our God.

This post is actually an update of a post from earlier today.  I was fortunate enough to attend the Holy Thursday Mass. Our assistant pastor gave a great homily that provided an additional insight.  I got another insight the repose of the blessed sacrament, I was reading William Barclay's commentary concerning the footwashing.  The additional info is in italics.

The Holy Land is a dusty place.  Imagine how dirty your feet would be if you walked around in sandals, all the time. When going into someone's home, a slave or a servant of the owner would wash your feet. If there wasn't a servant, the homeowner would wash your feet. In the case of Jesus and the disciples, if there wasn't a servant or homeowner about, the disciples probably took turns. It would be unprecedented if a rabbi washed the feet of his disciples and a major breach of etiquette if a guest were to wash the feet of others.

William Barclay, in his commentary on the Gospel of John, points to Luke 22:24 as another potential reason for performing the foot washing.  In this passage, a dispute arose amongst the disciples about who would be the greatest. Perhaps they no one was willing to do the washing before entering into the building for the Passover meal?  Jesus takes things into his own hands and does what none of them are willing to do.

Another interesting thing about the footwashing that our assistant pastor brought up concerns what Jesus and his disciples are celebrating?  The Passover.  What is the Passover all about?  Celebrating their physical delivery from slavery under the Egyptians.  What did Jesus do, he delivered us from the slavery of our sin, our sickness, our blindness.  The Lord who has set us free from slavery has become the slave to his disciples.

What an example the Lord has set for us.

So when he had washed their feet (and) put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them, "Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me 'teacher' and 'master,' and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do. Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it."

John 13:12-17

God humbled himself by coming as a human to share in our experience. He could have come as an earthly king. Instead he came as a servant to set an example for us all. What does that say about his Love for us? What an awesome God.

Blessings to you

Tim

Foot Washing. No Job to Small for Our God.

The Holy Land is a dusty place.  Imagine how dirty your feet would be if you walked around in sandals, all the time.

When going into someone's home, a slave or a servant of the owner would wash your feet. If there wasn't a servant, the homeowner would wash your feet. It would be unprecedented if a rabbi washed the feet of his disciples and a major breach of etiquette if a guest were to wash the feet of others.

What an example the Lord has set for us.

So when he had washed their feet (and) put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them, "Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me 'teacher' and 'master,' and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do. Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it."

John 13:12-17

God humbled himself by coming as a human to share in our experience. He could have come as an earthly king. Instead he came as a servant to set an example for us all. What does that say about his Love for us? What an awesome God.

Blessings to you

Tim

How I felt after my conversion. Forgiveness and Thankfulness

I was watching the "Passion of the Christ" recently.  This scene speaks to me.  This is how I felt after my conversion.

Not a slave bowing down to a master. But as someone reaching out in supreme thankfulness for the realization that Jesus has come to help us to realize that we are forgiven and the Father loves us so much that he sent his only Son.

Our Father and his only Son are awesome.

Blessings

Tim

My Greatest Fear

As I mentioned in a previous post, when I am away from the kids, I miss them deeply. I reflect on my relationship with them. One of my reflections this past week and a half?

My greatest fear:  Not being a part of my kids life. Not seeing them grow up.

Tim

To Love and Serve the Lord

1. We were made to love and serve the Lord.
2. We are given a vocation. Either to love and serve the Lord as a religious or love and serve the Lord as a husband and father.

As a husband and father, how am I to love and serve the Lord? To love my wife and children as the Father and his only Son have loved and continue to love me. Ultimately, to boil it down, my job, my vocation, how I am able to love and serve the Lord, my reason for existence is to ensure that my children are able to love and serve the Lord.

QED

Tim

Ton of Bricks - A Solution?

Jen and the kids were off to Michigan to see family this past week for Spring Break.  I was unable to go with them because we usually spend quite a bit of time during the summer and Christmas there and I could not afford using up my vacation.  Besides I had to go to Espoo, Finland on a business trip.

When I'm away from my daughters for a while, I begin to miss them deeply. There is a hole in my heart that causes me to reflect on my relationship with them. In a one of my first posts, "Ton of Bricks", I talked about how I could be pretty overbearing. I've prayed for help with this and I have been blessed with some assistance, but I know that something else has to change. This past week has allowed me to take a step back and think about it more.

Jen, God bless her, is much more even keeled than I am.  She is slow to anger and able to handle the kids pretty well in almost every situation.  Whereas I am more quick to anger and more things tend to rub me the wrong way. She knows when it is time to discipline and she is not afraid to pull out the "wait till daddy hears about this" card.

When I get stressed out, my personality is such that I become more controlling. I'm wired to try and control my environment with the assumption that if I do, my stress will be relieved.  Unfortunately, this leads to more stress for myself and everyone around me. Things start to downward spiral. I can see that my oldest is not doing well when handling whatever stress she may have, I think that she is getting it from me.

To that end, I'm going to try and "let go" in regards to handling the kids when they are misbehaving.  I will take my cue from Jen. I will try to be as patient as she is and help discipline when she needs my help. I need to be more even keeled in order to provide a better example for living with others for my children.

St. Joseph, pray for me and all fathers.

Tim

God is Good

I was in Finland last week.  Intercontinental travel, especially short trips can be tough because your body clock gets all out of whack.  Case in point, no matter what time I went to bed last week, I woke up at 4am Finnish time.  This made for some very long days!

While in Finland, I had the opportunity to discuss Christ with someone.  Over several hours we were able to share our thoughts and feelings about our faith. He was a fellow engineer with a young daugher who believes as I do. That the more you analyze and put creation under a microscope, the more you have to realize that there is a creator.

We also talked at great length about the relationship we have with the Father and how this mirrors our relationship with our children.  It is so good to meet people that share your beliefs.  It is even better when you are able to talk about those beliefs together.

God is Good.

Blessings

Tim

Hell as the absence of the Father and his only Son

The God of Fear in the Old Testament is the God of Punishment. If you are sinful and don't repent you are punished with hell. The people at the time needed this message. The Father was the God of tough love because we needed it.

I bounce back and forth between the Old and the New. Lately, I've been thinking more New Testament. God is Love, as embodied by Jesus. Jesus shows us the mind of God and I think we can take our cue from him. He does not force us to follow. Quite the contrary, he tells how tough it will be. It is our choice to conform ourselves to his will and, in so doing, loving one another.

In this plane of existence, we are surrounded by God, we choose how much of his grace penetrates into our life. Either a little or a lot.

To that end, I think of hell as the complete absence of God and his Grace. No beauty. No truth. No love. Nothing. Yet, it is our choice to make that happen.

Yet the catechism tells us that Hell is a very real place. So there must be a place where all the souls who choose to shut the Father out of their existence go. So what are we to make of the torment we are told we face? I would think that not being within the presence of the Father, Son, and their grace would be enough. What is the torment then?

Is the source of torment from souls that have shut the Father out tormenting the weaker ones due to the their frustration and helplessness that they feel from being shut out from the Father based upon their own decisions. Retribution because they have no one else to blame?

Just wondering. Based upon a comment exchange on this post.

Blessings

tim