Saturday March 31, 2007

Saturday of the Fifth Week of Lent

March 31, 2007



“My dwelling shall be with them.”

Ezekiel 37:27

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God is always knocking, talking, revealing, pouring out, and showing forth to us. We kick him out of our schools, our families, our friendships, our lives, and our work by not praying. We have chosen other Gods and we are too busy for the only true and Living God. Because we have chosen not to seek him first above all else, we miss so much of his infinite coming to us.



A little kid would walk home from school each day. Each day on her walk home she would stop outside the bakery window to peer in and look at the donuts. One day, an elderly woman saw the little girl doing this. She went up to her and asked the girl if she would like a donut. The little girl’s eyes got big and she smiled with a “Yes!” The woman took her inside and told her to get the donut she wanted. As they were sitting down together inside eating the donuts, the little girl looked up to the woman and asked, “Are you God?” The woman joyfully responded, “No, I am not God. But I am God’s daughter and so are you. And I do know that God loves you very much.”



The little girl saw God in God’s daughter. Do we? Do we see God in all of his daughters and sons? Do we see God each time our mom/dad or someone provides a meal for us? Do we know that God is behind all the loving acts that we see each day, from the small things to the big things? Are we quick to point out that God was behind that person who held the door open for that other person just as God was behind the brother who has cared day in and day out of his special needs sister for over thirty-five years?



We need to pray. Prayer moves us from finite seeing to infinite seeing. It allows us to see the invisible motivating, guiding, and inspiring the visible. Our God, who is the invisible constantly knocking, talking, revealing, pouring out, and showing forth infinite goodness to us, is behind it all.



God dwells with us. Practice the presence of God. At the end of each day or week, write down how you have seen his dwelling among you. Be disciplined and pray about, think about, reflect, talk and write about how the invisible God is becoming more visible to you. Practice the presence of God! In all things, big and small, name that the goodness and love come from God who dwells among us. As you do this you, the finite, will fly into the infinite.



Live the confronted life!

+Fr. John

Friday March 30, 2007

Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent

March 30, 2007



Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from my father. For which of these are you trying to stone me?”

John 10:32

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I bet you have been there. You are at a stop light, it turns green, and the person in front of you does not move. You become impatient and frustrated and you think and say a few things that are not totally loving because you have a million things to do and you have got to get going. I was there recently. There was only one car in front of me, the light turned green but the car in front of me did not move for what seemed like an eternity (It was probably only four seconds but that is pretty close to eternity in our impatient world!). As I became impatient and frustrated counting off the seconds for this car to move through the intersection, I thought, “What part of green do you not understand? What part of green do you not like? Green means GO! Press down on your accelerator and GO!” After all these impatient thoughts of the near eternity of four seconds, the car in front of me finally started to move. Blessed relief came to me and now I could get to all the millions of things I needed to accomplish that day.



Just a few seconds after passing through the intersection, God spoke to me. The good Holy Spirit said, “John, what part of Jesus do you not like? What part of Jesus do you not understand? GO! Go into him! Push the petal to the metal of your life and accelerate into Jesus. What is there not to like and love and worship about him? You go and accelerate into so many other people and things that are not Jesus and they all dead-end. Why don’t you go into Jesus? You know why his body is on the cross, why we have the crucifix instead of just the cross? Because he suffered and gave his body for your salvation. It is real. His love for you is real! God could not be any more real for you or come closer to you than Jesus body hanging on a cross and dying for you. Jesus love is not a joke so stop treating it like it is one. A joke is something that you take lightly and do not pay much attention to. I want you to take his body for you seriously and give it your utmost love and undying attention. Look upon him whom they have pierced. Fix your gaze on Jesus. Go! Go into him!”



As Jesus’ ministry amplified and his good works were revealed, some wanted to kill him by stoning him. They sought to deny his good works by ridding him from the face of the earth. And how do we deny him and his works today? We do not go to him. We go to TV, money, games, computers, parties, malls, etc. but how often do we go to him? How often do we go to prayer, the scriptures, and church? How much of our free will are we using to deny him or give him full access?



What part of Jesus do you not like? What part of Jesus do you not understand? His love for you is real. It is not a joke. Accelerate into him. Go into him. Green means go! His body hanging on the cross for you means go!



Live the confronted life!

+Fr. John

Thursday March 29, 2007

Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent

March 29, 2007



Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM.”

John 8:58
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Is anything is what it is? Is anyone are who they say they are? I found myself asking these questions after I found out that a priest I knew had left the priesthood after forty plus years to get married. It shocked me when I heard the news because if I thought anyone was a priest for life it would be this humble, holy, serving man. I am not casting any judgments on this good man, it just jolted me into realizing ever more deeply how people and things can change.



I am sure we have all had the experience of finding out that someone is different than we thought they were. They tell us one thing and their actions are quite different than who they said they are. I think, at least on some level, we are all hypocritical and we can say one thing and yet do another. I know, for example, that the Gospel I preach in church is not always the Gospel I live up to in the streets. One time traveling I prayed that I would have the opportunity to share the Gospel with someone. God was going to show me the person and I was going to let that person have it! I was going to share the Good News of Jesus’ saving love and watch the Holy Spirit set a soul on fire. My whole focus, as always, is that every person would be consumed in the fire of God’s love. My opportunity arrived! And you know what I did? I made about two or three harsh judgments on this person even before we entered into an initial conversation. So much for loving someone and wanting them to be consumed in the fire of God's love! This person actually started the conversation by asking me, “Are you an ordained minister (I was wearing my color)?” Sheepishly, I replied, “Yes.” She came back, “Well, I am a Christian and I love the Lord.” I started repenting in my heart right then. I set out to love and I condemned. I have been a priest for almost ten years now, I have prayed for at least an hour a day for over two decades, I go to confession monthly, I know I am stepped in Gods’ grace; and yet, I am still so quick to condemn and slow to love. I say I am one thing, a loving priest, and yet so many other times I do not live the Gospel of mercy I profess.



Sometimes, in light of what I just shared, I wonder if I will ever make it there. Will I ever be who I say I am? That is where faith comes in. That is where faith in the “I AM” comes in.



Jesus calls himself, “I AM.” That means that Jesus is who he says he is and that will never change. Jesus cannot be a hypocrite- that is impossible. Now, you and I can be hypocrites and that is reality. But we should not lose hope and say that is the just the way it is always going to be. Why? Because Jesus, in whom there is no hypocrisy, calls us to be one with him in heaven forever. And he who calls has the power to make it happen. We just need to go to Jesus, the one who is who he says he is, the I AM, the one who does not change: and let him make our lives a perfection representation of our words.

We just keeping going to Jesus who is good and loving and truthful and sinless all the time and he changes us into him. Jesus changes you and me, the "I was not” who came to be, into him. Our words and our lives match perfectly because of the work of “I AM.” That sounds like heaven to me.



Live the confronted life!

+Fr. John

Wednesday 28, 2007

Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent

March 28, 2007



“Blessed are you who look into the depths.”

Daniel 3:55
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In our so often superficial society we would all do well to pay attention to the “Abajo Rio.” The “Abajo Rio” is translated the “River Below.” It refers to what is really going on in the inside, in your heart of hearts. It is where the depth, profundity and mystery of life can come alive for us. To get there, it is a journey that takes risks and vulnerability but that is the only way we can get to the “Abajo Rio.”



Will we risk going to the “River Below?” Remember, no risk, no return. More risk, more return. That is the way it is with knowing the depth, profundity and mystery of our faith. If we are not willing to go into the river, we will never really know the river. Or, we can lightly wade in the river. Or, we could dive in and know it in its fullness. What will you risk in order to know the “Abajo River?”



I had an interesting experience as I was attempting to get men’s small faith sharing groups going in my church. I asked the men to break up into small groups to discuss ways we could get more real with each other on the level of our struggles and faith. A number of the men came back and said we go deeper with each other as men by doing some project together like painting or putting on a breakfast. While I know that can be true and is a more natural and relaxed way, something inside me protested this line of thinking. Why? Because I think it is not natural to dive in and get real. We tend to avoid, deny, delay, rationalize away and not go to the depths. If we do not plan to do it, then we will most likely not do it. It is all about living the confronted life and being honest with what is really going on in our hearts.



Blessed be Jesus who looks into the depths. He has suffered every suffering of all of us. He has been tempted in every way we have and has not sinned. He has gone there and shared with us the depth, profundity and mystery of who he is for us in our “Abajo Rio.”



It seems to me that the church would be most church if we would dive into the “Abajo Rio.” What is really going on with each of us? What if we shared all our struggles, temptations and failures of greed, lust, infidelity, fear, lying and such with each other and our God? How about our love-less marriages; the anger, unforgiveness and bitterness that imprisons us; the temptations to pornography, infidelity, lying, greed, drink? What if we risked everything on Christ who has risked everything on us? I think we would find everything we ever wanted as we found Christ in the “River Below.”



Live the confronted life!

+Fr. John

Tuesday March 27, 2007

Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent

March 27, 2007



“But the one who sent me is true.”

John 8:26

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In the end, it is all about whom we point to. We look for the answer to our mortality and want to be able to point to the one who will save us. We know we are weak and short-lived and totally unable to save ourselves. And until we come into the confidence of that which will save us, we do not have true peace while we hear the clock clicking and counting down our time on earth. Where is our security of the lasting?



There is a positive TV show that goes through the story how homes are built and given to people who would otherwise never have the financial means to have a home. It is moving when that family, who is in great need, first walks into their new home and is handed the keys. Their very felt need is matched by the incredible generosity of those who provided for them and you can see how touched they are. Part of this dynamic is moving from the insecurity of a family who has no place to live to the security of a home.



Let us ponder this security. No doubt, there is security in having a home. The generous love of those who provide the homes and security is real and should be lauded by us all. But I am always left wanting at the end of these stories because the security, while meeting a real need, is only very temporary. I want to know where the lasting security is in it all. The home, or any possession for that matter, is not going to save us so where is the answer to our need for lasting security?



Jesus tells us that the one who sent him (The Father) is true. What does it mean that the Father is true and what Jesus is giving us is the truth? What is true to truth is what is real or lasting. It is not like the temporary security of a physical home, which will not stand forever. What is true is unchanging and will last for all time. And the unchanging truth the Father sent Jesus to bring is forgiveness and eternal life. This, my brothers and sisters, is our everlasting security.



Our true home is not the home we live in. Our true home is with Jesus. I was flying back from the Midwest recently and I remember what I shared with all the people I spoke to there. I said that if my plane goes down I am just fine because my lasting security is being at home with Jesus that gives me true peace. Whether I am in the Midwest, 33,000 feet in the air, Japan or back at home, I always am at home in the truth of Jesus who is eternal life.



Why do we put our security in insecure things? In the end, our homes, money, possessions, and retirement accounts cannot provide the true peace of lasting security. Have you ever seen a u-haul following the hertz to the graveyard? No, we can’t take any of it with us.



We look for the lasting in that which does not last and we are in want of peace. Let us come home to Jesus, find peace and have everlasting security- now.

Live the confronted life!

+Fr. John

Monday March 26, 2007

Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent
March 26, 2007
Mary said, “Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.”
Luke 1:38
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As a priest I think the most important thing I can do for those whom I lead is to teach them how to pray. I have a quote, “Know prayer, know Jesus. No Prayer, no Jesus.” I just want everyone to come to know Jesus who is the deepest longing of every human heart. That is why I pray and pray and pray. I tell my people that I do not want to give them the sinful me but that I want to give them the perfect Jesus. I say you do not want my pride, selfishness, condemnation, conditional love, etc. No, you want the joy of knowing forgiveness and eternal life that can only be found in Jesus.

I cannot give what I do not have. If I want to give people Jesus and I do not pray, how will I give them Jesus? If I do not know and have Jesus through prayer, then I will be giving people something but it surely will not be Jesus. And what we give away has a lot to do with what we say “Yes” to.

What do you say “Yes” to each day? Is it planned or do you just go with the worldly/cultural flow? If I just study history or nursing or sports, then what I will have to give away is a lot of that. The TV, which in many ways seems to be our version of the Bible, is something we say “Yes” to a lot. What kind of giving are you going to give to others from the TV you watch? When I asked the Holy Spirit to be set free in my life twenty-two years ago, I felt like he asked me the question, “Will you pray to me each day?” I said, “Yes.” And it had made all the difference. It is only through the power of the Holy Spirit that I come to know Jesus which enables me to share him with others.

Let us be clear. We have control over what we say “Yes” to in life. Saints do not become saints by accident. Someone does not become a joyful and full of Christ by a fluke. No, they plan it. They decide for it. They know their goal and they plan all of their hours according to coming to fullness of life in Christ. Their first “Yes” is always to Christ in prayer, scriptures, church, sacraments, service, etc. It never takes a back seat. And they find what they seek as Jesus comes to full stature in them.

We look to Mary, Our Mother and The Mother of Our Lord, to learn what to say “Yes” to. In her total “Yes” to Jesus, she gave us all Jesus. Now, she passes us the baton and tells us to do the same. We always give our first “Yes” to Jesus and let him order all the other yeses we say “Yes” to in our lives. That is the way of Most Beautiful Mary and that is the way we want to go.

What do you say “Yes” to? What you say “Yes” to is what you will have to give away. “Know prayer, know Jesus. No Prayer, no Jesus.” What are you giving away all the day long?

Live the confronted life!

+Fr. John

Sunday March 25, 2007

The Fifth Sunday of Lent

March 25, 2007



“Jesus said to them (the scribes, Pharisees and people in the temple, ‘Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”

John 8:7
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Throwing stones. A woman caught in adultery back in the day of Jesus could legally be murdered by people throwing stones at her because of her offence. So many times I throw stones and I do not want to go with their go and flow with their flow but I go with their go and flow with their flow and become the person I do not want to be. I judge, I condemn, I point the finger, I assume the worst and have the person sentenced to prison before their trial, there is no hint of mercy coming from my thoughts and being- and I throw stones. When will I learn, Lord? When can I become like you and not throw stones? But I continue to act like a mercenary and go with the go and flow with the flow of condemning others. I so much want to know with God’s know, and go with his go, and flow with his flow but I choose the opposite and become an enemy of his way.



Time for a little general confession to you. I took a trip to the Midwest to do some speaking. In the morning before I boarded the plane, I prayed that the Lord would give me an opportunity to share his amazing, salvific, transforming, infinite love with people on the plane. It would be up to the Lord and I would just try to follow the Holy Spirit’s lead. Some people say this is praying for a Divine Appointment and you can call it that or whatever you want. I was sitting by the window and I will have to admit that the first thoughts I had of the woman sitting next to me were not the most Christ-like. In her late 50’s, elegantly dressed, talking on her cell phone, I boxed her in with my all too small heart as a prissy person. Then, the flight attendant came by and asked her to silence her cell and stop using it as the plane began to taxi. And, guess what? She kept talking and I became a little more perturbed at Miss Priss because now she was breaking the moral law of talking on her cell when she was instructed not to do so. Isn’t it amazing how quickly we can try and hang someone?



I was wearing my collar and after about ten minutes into the flight she turned to me and asked, “Are you an ordained minister?” I told her I was a Roman Catholic priest. She responded with how much she loved the Lord as a Baptist, had raised her two kids in the purity of God’s ways and that her two kids had both married wonderful Catholic Christians and had converted to Catholicism. As you might surmise by now, all the while she was sharing this with me I was repenting in my heart for throwing killing stones at her. And I repent to you right now because I do not want to go with their go and flow with their flow. I want to do a 180 and know with Jesus’ know and go with his go and flow with his flow. Please pray for me to that end as I will for you!



I have never literally thrown stones at some but I have figuratively and I see it as severe and death-dealing. Jesus did not thrown literal or figurative stones at the woman caught in adultery. He embraced her with open arms of unconditional love. What is your life more about?



Live the confronted life!

+Fr. John

Saturday March 24, 2007

Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent

March 24, 2007



“The guards answered, ‘Never before has anyone spoken like this man (Jesus)’.”

John 7:46
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Surrender. Wave the white towel. Give in.



So many times, for all intents and purposes, we seek to have our word act upon him instead of laying out the red carpet and letting his word come to us and do with us what he wills. While maybe well intentioned, we tell him of our tiny plots, schemes, ideas, plans, desires and dreams. It is like we are trying to make him give into us when exactly the opposite should be happening. We, the powerless ones, tell the All-Powerful One what to do. Should not the powerless ones totally depend on the All-Powerful One for our needs of infinite and invincible power? In the equation of us and God, who needs who?



I imagine Jesus chuckling (or crying) as he gets billions of people telling him each day how things should be. We dream and plot and plan and scheme and be and do so small because it is about our way for Jesus when it should be about his way for us. And so badly Jesus just wants us to listen and be still and silent. In our silence and awareness of him, we can come to know what the All Powerful One wants to do for all the powerless ones. Desperately seeking to show every believer that he wants to pour of the infinite power of his everlasting Kingdom through our hearts, Jesus dies for us to know, “As far as the heavens are above the earth, so far are my thoughts above your thoughts. My ways and plans are infinitely above your ways and plans. Forsake the powerlessness of your pithy thinking and ways, and come and be and think and plan and do with me.”



Jesus wants us to catch and live the vision he has. The vision is him pouring out the infinite and invincible power of The Kingdom of God through our hearts. A great way that we can often remember this vision that Jesus wants us to live is through the prayer he taught us to pray, “The Our Father.” In this prayer we pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” What does that mean? It means that we want to happen on earth what is happening in heaven. In heaven, all people have become perfect in love through the power of God. And when we pray for that on earth, we are surrendering to the power of God’s thoughts, plans and ways to make us so! In the power of the Kingdom Jesus came to bring, the lame walk, the blind see, the lepers are cured, sins are forgiven and the dead are raised to life. This is the power we are praying for to come through us. And we are not praying for it to happen tomorrow or forty years from now. And we are not praying for it happen over there or then. We are praying for it’s power to happen right here and right now in our hearts and through our bodies! That is what is at stake! That is the vision Jesus wants us to catch and live without restraint.



Surrender. Wave the white towel. Give in.



Live the confronted life!

Fr. John

Friday March 23, 2007

Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent

March 23, 2007



“Many are the troubles of the just man.”

Psalm 34:19
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Fr. John on the Radio- Fr. John will be giving a daily Lenten Reflection in Portland, Oregon on KBVM 88.3 FM at 9 AM and 1 PM each day during Lent until Easter. Tune in if you wish.


Life is difficult! It is a given we will have troubles. Relationships fail, addictions assail, and pressures, sufferings, losses and disappointments are some of the many trials we can face. How we respond to these troubles is the deal-maker or breaker. While it is a given we will have troubles, what is not a given is how we will respond.

If we want to talk about a person who had troubles, we should talk about Jesus. As a matter of fact, he took on all troubles for all time into his body on the cross. Can you imagine the impact of all that coming to him? As we consider his life, as soon as he started opening his mouth and doing God’s work in his public ministry, there were troubles. People did not trust him. They laughed at him and mocked him for saying who he was. Some got very angry and plotted to kill him. He had to watch where he went as people were out for his life. The anger grew and he was finally arrested, scourged, whipped, beaten, spit upon, laughed at, blasphemed, and ruthlessly crucified in utter agony. Talk about troubles!

If Jesus, who loved perfectly, had troubles, guess what is going to happen to us? But the key is how we respond to it all. Troubles can either make us bitter or better. The choice is up to us. I know two men about the same age who have the same life-taking, debilitating disease. The life of their spirit is a study in contrasts. One man has become bitter, closed-in and callous. Seeking God in all of it has not been part of his response. The other man seems to be going in the opposite direction. As he opens his heart to God in all his troubles, I see his yearning to reach out to more people with the love and joy that God has given him. He has become better, softer, with an increased desire and ability to share the grace poured out in his heart.

We look to Jesus and see how he responded to the troubles. With the weight and immensity of all that was coming to him, he cried out, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” And because Jesus gave the Father all the troubles, The Father turned the tables and transformed this giving into eternal life. All you and I have to do, then, is follow Jesus’ lead and let Jesus turn the tables of our troubles and transform us into eternal life.

A troubled person with no way out of their troubles will become a bitter person. A person who knows that the way of their troubles is found in Jesus will be a better person in the sense of knowing a love and joy and peace that never ends.

Troubles come and you become bitter or better from them. Which are you?



Live the confronted life!

+Fr. John

Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent

March 22, 2007



“They forgot the God who saved them.”

Psalm 106:21
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There is the quote, “There are no atheists in the fox-hole.” It is amazing how many of us can come running back to God when death is staring us in the face. Forgetting about God and going through life as if he did not really matter, when we are on our last breathes it is time to turn to God in love with all our hearts because, frankly, there is no one else to turn to. Or, in the same vain and on a lesser scale, we can be the type of person who only turns to God when things are going badly and we need help. When things are smooth and good we forget about God but when they get difficult we turn to God and cry out for help.



Consider how much we remember God in terms of our friendship with him. What type of friend are we to God if the only time we relate to him is when things are going bad and we go to him for help. What kind of friend is that? Not much of one. That would be more about being a user of God than a friend with God. Imagine if you had a friend that only paid attention to you when they needed help and wanted to get something from you. Would not you be tempted to say enough is enough and move on to find a true friend where there is mutual giving and receiving. Now, think about how good our God is. What if God decided to move on from us because the only time we went to him was in our trials and all we were there to do was use him and get something out of him? That kind of friendship is not about friendship and love but about being a user. But thank God, God is God and will never stop befriending us no matter how much we forget about him and use him. We might do that but God cannot do that. In John’s Gospel we read how Jesus calls us “friend”. And his friendship will never end (fri-end—a friend will never end).



How would you describe yourself? Are you more of a friend with God or a user of God? Do you give him prime time and attention each day or is it more your mode to turn to him only when the distress level has reached a certain point?



As Christians, we do not want to forget about God and use him but we want to remember him and love him. This “remembering” God is a planned thing. To remember (re- again; member- become apart of) - to become a part of him again, is a deliberate, ongoing action in our lives. When I was twenty years old eight people prayed over me to know the Holy Spirit in Christ the King Chapel at Franciscan University, I felt like the Holy Spirit asked me this question, “Will you pray each day?” In my heart of hearts and responded, “Yes.” In other words, “Would I be a friend to God and love him in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, for better or worse, all the days of my life?” I planned to be his friend and I carry out that plan each day. Even though it is ultimately all his love, we love and share with each other every day.



What is your deliberate plan to remember God and be his friend?



Live the confronted life!

+Fr. John

Wednesday March 21, 2007

Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent

March 21, 2007



“The Lord is near to all who call upon him.”

Psalm 145:17

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Imagine yourself as a cup of milk. It can be no-fat, low-fat, two percent, whole or whatever- just a plain-jane glass of milk. This is how you are born- as a glass of white milk. Then comes the day of your baptism. To represent what happens in your baptism, imagine at least one-half inch of chocolate syrup is poured into you, the white cup of milk. All the liquid chocolate falls to the bottom and settles. You, the cup of milk, look basically like the same white cup of milk as before. But now there is rich, sweet chocolate deposit in you. Let us call that chocolate the Holy Spirit.



Sadly and to our own spiritual detriment it seems that the chocolate lays dormant at the bottom of our cups. Here we have the rich and sweet chocolate of the Holy Spirit in us but we remain an unaffected white glass of milk. We could become a sweet and God-rich Christian but the Holy Spirit, for whatever reason, is inactive in our lives. If we do not know the Holy Spirit and see his action in our lives, then God will seem far away.



The Holy Spirit is key to the whole Christian life. The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, gives us the power to personally know God. The only way we can know who God is, what he is about and that he is near to us is through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was sent out at Pentecost and makes Jesus present in every time and every place. Remember, twenty four-hours a day, seven days a week, just like 7-11 convenience stores, Jesus is near to us through the power of the Holy Spirit.



Why does God feel so far off for so many? Why is the chocolate of the Holy Spirit useless at the bottom of the cup? What are we going to do with this sweet, rich deposit that is unstirred, unused and ineffective in our lives? What if we sought to stir it up? What if we dedicated our lives to knowing how truly sweet and rich it is? What if we came to know that the God who created, loves, saves, forgives, and blesses the whole universe lives inside you and me? The Good News is that we can know and God wants us to know and this will all happen through the power of the Holy Spirit.



Why do I say that the key to Christianity is knowing the Holy Spirit? Because the Holy Spirit gives us the power to know God and leads us into all truth. The Holy Spirit is the key that unlocks the infinite mystery of God. And either the chocolate is stirred up and we know we are sharing in that mystery or it lays dormant and we feel a million miles away from God.



Thus, let us use all in our power to come to know the Holy Spirit! Stir into flame the gift you have received in baptism. Pray about the Holy Spirit. Pray that the Holy Spirit may be awakened and stirred up in your life. Have other people pray over you that you might know the life and passion and power of the Holy Spirit. Go to a Life in the Spirit Seminar. Read and learn about the Holy Spirit. Go to someone who you see is filled with the Holy Spirit and ask them how to get there. The way to draw near to our God of life and passion is to know who the Holy Spirit is.



Live the confronted life!

+Fr. John

Tuesday March 20, 2007

Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent

March 20, 2007



“When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been ill a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be well?’”

John 5:6

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Fr. John on the Radio- Fr. John will be giving a daily Lenten Reflection in Portland, Oregon on KBVM 88.3 FM at 9 AM and 1 PM each day during Lent until Easter. Tune in if you wish.



Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Are you saved? Would not it be wonderful to point to a certain time and day when we surrendered to the Lord and say that where we became whole forever? But that is not how salvation works. Just as it takes time, experience and growth to become a mature man or woman, it takes time and growth to become holy like God is holy. It is God who makes us into saints as we allow him full authority to make us into the people he destined us to be from the beginning. Coming to the fullness of salvation is a journey, a process, an unveiling of the original blueprints that God had drawn up for us from time immemorial.



One way we can capture this journey/process of God totally unveiling the blueprint of us is by how we answer the question, “Have you been saved?” In response, we can talk about the past, present and future. Yes, we have been saved. It is an objective fact that Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man, died and rose for the forgiveness of our sins. Through Jesus death and resurrection, we have all been offered the gift of eternal life in Jesus. Secondly, we are being saved in the present. Day by day we seek to grow in the grace of God through prayer and saying “Yes” to Christ in all we think, say and do. We must remember, however, that we can lose salvation. If we begin to reject Jesus, forgiveness and the eternal life he came to bring, we move away from salvation. The scriptures talk about those who are moving towards Christ are moving towards life and those who are rejecting him are heading towards their own destruction. Finally, we speak of the future. One day we hope to go to heaven to enjoy the joy of our salvation forever.



One way we can vision wellness is living in the grace of salvation and having peace. I always say, if you have peace about where you will be for eternity, you have it all. And if you do not have that kind of peace, you have nothing. Today in our scripture Jesus asks a man who had been ill for thirty-eight years if he wanted to be well. Jesus goes on to heal him physically. His body is healed and we can assume that his soul takes on that same healing. But what about all the people we love and pray for that are never healed physically? I still believe that Jesus stands before each one of them and asks, “Do you want to be well? Do you want to live in peace that comes from knowing that you will live forever with me?”



Wellness is an inside-out job. All of our bodies are going to break down and fade away. Just think about what your body will be like one-hundred years from today. But that doesn’t mean we can’t be well on the inside. That doesn’t mean we can’t have extreme peace flowing from our being. Coming to this peace is a process as Jesus unveils our blueprints. I remember this one woman vividly who seemed to so completely exude peace that comes from God making you well on the inside. She was dying from very painful pancreatic cancer. I went to visit her right before I left with a group of kids to a service project in Mexico for ten days. In the midst of all her intense suffering she asked me how “my” kids were doing. She handed me a $200.00 check in support of the trip. I was brought to my knees in her holiness. Here she was in extreme suffering and about ready to die and she was asking me about “my” kids and giving us money for our service project. She is one of the sickest people I have known on their deathbed. But she was one of the wellest people I have known.



She died while we were in Mexico. Now, she is well and will be well for always.



Live the confronted life!

+Fr. John

Monday March 19, 2007

Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent

March 19, 2007



“The promises of the Lord I will sing forever.”

Psalm 89:2

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Make God big. Make Jesus big. Make the Holy Spirit big. What do I mean when I say make God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit big? Of course, we know that God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are omniscient (all-knowing), omnipotent (all-powerful) and omnipresent (everywhere) and so how could God get bigger? Well, the point is whether or not we personally know how big God is. God is big and could not be bigger but do we know that in our hearts? Either we are disconnected from God and he feels small and not too helpful or we can come into an intimate knowledge of how big and powerful he is through the working of the Holy Spirit. We make God big and grow in our close knowledge of him by always focusing on him and who he is for us. One of the great ways we can focus on God and make him big is to memorize his promises to us in scripture and have those constantly floating around in our brains so as to transform our lives. Without further adieu, let us look at and put to memory some examples:



“We know that God works all things for good for those who love him.” Romans 8:28



“For I know well the plans I have in mind for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare, not for woe! Plans to give you a future full of hope. When you call to me, when you go to pray to me, I will listen to you. When you look for me, you will find me. Yes, when you seek me with all your heart, you will find me with you, says the Lord, and I will change your lot.” Jeremiah 29:11-14



“Study the generations long past and understand: has anyone hoped in the Lord and been disappointed? Has anyone persevered in his fear and been forsaken? Has anyone called upon him and been rebuffed?” Sirach 2:10



“Take delight in the Lord and he will grant you your heart’s requests.” Psalm 37:4



The Lord said to me (Paul), “My grace is enough for you, for in weakness power reaches perfection.” 2 Cor. 12:9



“Blest are the poor in spirit: the reign of God is theirs.” Matthew 5:3



“God chose us in him before the world began, to be holy and blameless in his sight, to be full of love.” Ephesians 1:4



Jesus said, “I have come that you may have life and have it to the overflowing.” John 10:10



“The grace of God has appeared, offering salvation to all.” Titus 2:11



“Thanks be to God who unfailingly leads us on Christ’s triumphal train, and employs us to diffuse the fragrance of his knowledge everywhere! We are an aroma of Christ for God’s sake, both among those who are being saved and those on the way to destruction.” 2 Cor. 2:14



“Here I stand, knocking at the door. If anyone hears me calling and opens the door, I will enter his house and have supper with him, and he with me.” Revelation 3:20



Memorize these and other scriptures that speak to you. Have them ever in your thoughts, focus on making God big, and dance and sing the promises of the Lord forever!



Live the confronted life!

+Fr. John

Sunday March 18, 2007

Fourth Sunday of Lent

March 18, 2007



“While he (the Prodigal Son) was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.”

Luke 15:20
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“Have I done anything to hurt you?” “I am sorry.” “Please forgive me.” How regularly do we employ these or similar types of sentences of communication? How common is it to seek reconciliation with God and each other within all the words we say each and every day? We know we can say a lot of words in one day alone but how many of those words are actively seeking to repair relationships that have, for one reason or another, gone south.



Recently a man asked me why so few people go to confession any more. Is it because we are flawless and sinless? I think we all know the answer to that question. Maybe we do not treat sin as a big deal. Sin separates us from each other and the ability to enjoying a loving relationship with God and each other. And it is this loving relationship with God and each other that is the deepest desire of any human heart. Since sin destroys what each of us wants most, it is a big deal that we must deal with. It is the biggest deal if we want to know and live the deepest desire of our hearts.



How can we move from sin being no big deal in our lives to being the biggest deal we need to deal with? Remember, it is the biggest deal in the sense that it is the obstacle to what we want most- loving relationship. Overall, of course, the biggest deal is to live in right and holy relationships with God and others. So, how do we get there? We need to get rid of our own sin. If you want to know your sin and it’s destroying effects, pray diligently to God each day to reveal to you such. Make going to confession a monthly habit. Get a good examination of conscience from someone, examine yourself and confess your sins. Employ words of reconciliation regularly in your day-to-day communication: “Have I done anything to hurt you?” “I am sorry.” “Please forgive me.” Again, the purpose of detecting your sin is to rid yourself of it by confessing it and moving to the most loving relationships possible.



What is on the other side of confessing your sin? With God, as we know, there is no risk. He always forgives! You can count on it. With another human being, well, that can be a different story. Maybe there will be forgiveness and maybe there will not. But, that does not stop us from our duty to ask each other for forgiveness when we know we have sinned against someone. If they forgive, praise God for all the mercy that will flow. If they do not forgive, know and be at peace that you have done your best in reaching out to “right” the relationship and you cannot make the other person forgive. That is their choice to withhold mercy but you must stand with a clear conscience because you have done what you could do to seek reconciliation.



I love the quote, “Christians, inform your face.” In other words, we have been forgiven by Jesus on the cross for all our sins but we often walk around planet earth moping. We have salvation and eternal life and if we know that in our heart it should show in our beaming smiles and bright eyes. Why are so many Christians sad and frowning so much? I think it is because we do not know how big and wonderful and life-giving and joy-producing forgiveness is! What if we made how we sin against each other and God a big deal? What if we confessed and forgave and let the infinite font of God’s mercy flow in our lives? I think a lot more Christians would be informing their faces and all the world about the JOY of our salvation.



Live the confronted life!

+Fr. John

Saturday March 17, 2007

Saturday of the Third Week of Lent

March 17, 2007


“Let us strive to know the Lord.”

Hosea 6:3
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Fr. John on the Radio- Fr. John will be giving a daily Lenten Reflection in Portland, Oregon on KBVM 88.3 FM at 9 AM and 1 PM each day during Lent until Easter. Tune in if you wish.



I started one weekend homily by asking all those married five years or less how many hours they had put into the planning of their wedding. Usually, it was the woman who put in the most time and I got answers anywhere from fifty hours to over 200 hours. The point I was driving at is that we put a lot of time into preparing for the wedding day and the wedding day is just a day. Yes, it should be beautiful and celebratory, but why go through all the worry, stress and mess that can happen in trying to make the day so perfect and pronounced?



A few hours after Saturday Vigil Mass, I was talking to a recently married couple who do not go to my church and getting their feedback on my homily. I was moving to make the point that we put an awful lot of time into the externals of a wedding day and that it is just one day and that marriage is thousands of days in a lifetime that are to be filled with beauty. As I was talking about all the time we can put into the wedding, the wife said, “Of course we put all that time into it. It is the most important day in my life.” I disagreed immediately but I did not say anything about it- until my three homilies the next day.



Your wedding day is not the most important day of your life. The “Most Important Day” of your life is when you meet Jesus Christ! To really know Jesus Christ is to know we are forgiven. To know Jesus Christ is to know eternal life. A wedding day does not give us eternal life- Jesus Christ does. Your spouse is not your Savior- Jesus is.



How do we get to thinking that the wedding day is the “Most Important Day?” Who is the teacher teaching this false teaching? It is the culture. However, the culture often lies about what is true and good and lasting. But see what sway the culture has in convincing so many people that the wedding day is the “Most Important Day” and we better pour out our hearts into it. Believing this sway of the culture is silly and dangerous and can lead to a lot of destruction and divorce.



The “Most Important Day” is when you meet Jesus Christ. If you have not met Jesus Christ, you have not had the “Most Important Day” of your life and you want to get there. What if couples who are preparing for marriage put as much time and heart into getting to know Jesus as individuals and couples as they put into making the wedding day a gorgeous external experience? What if a wedding was all about striving to discover the love of God which makes all things beautiful and, without which, nothing remains beautiful?



The “Most Important Day” in your life is when you meet Jesus Christ. And the next most important day is when you meet him more fully in prayer, relationships, the sacraments, serving the poor, etc. And so on, forever. What if all married couples, what if all of us believed in the “Most Important Day?”



Live the confronted life!

+Fr. John

Friday March 16, 2007

Friday of the Third Week of Lent

March 16, 2007


“Thus says the Lord; Return, O Israel, to the Lord, your God; you have collapsed through your guilt.”

Hosea 14:2

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“God allows U-Turns.” That is what out church sign reads as people buzz by in their cars on 148th Avenue. And I thank God that he allows U-Turns. So many times I am going to the wrong place and I would never be able to get to the right place unless I was allowed to U-Turn to God. I U-Turn all the time. I am sure I U-Turn thousands of times in a single week. Think about how miserable we would be and how our lives would end if God did not allow U-Turns. But God allows for U-Turns and that is called salvation. We move from misery to joy when we U-Turn away from the wrong places and turn it back to God.



I have an awesome U-Turn story for you. I take Monday’s off (Good luck! Can’t remember having a full Monday off for a long time) One Tuesday morning at our daily 8 am mass, I noticed someone totally new sitting in the pews. She came up to me after mass and asked if she could go to confession and talk. I told her I could hear her confession and we could schedule a time to talk as I had other appointments waiting for me. In the course of reconciliation she told me that she was driving by our church sign and parking lot the day before (Monday) when she felt inspired to come to church and confession. She made a U-Turn and pulled into our church. We were having a Communion Service like we do on all Monday’s and she was told that she could come back tomorrow (Tuesday) and that I would hear her confession. At this point I was pretty much up to speed on how she got to my church in her desire to go to confession.



The story continues. She shared with me how she had become Catholic almost a year ago at the Easter Vigil and that she had not stepped inside the church since then. I did not find out why and a lot of what I was thinking about in our ten minutes together was that God allows U-Turns. There is not a more effective or real way to U-Turn back to God than in the sacrament of reconciliation. I was thinking about how this daughter of God was U-Turning it back to God and how you get God when you come to God. You cannot do better than that! She U-Turned her car and her life back to God and God was going to absolve her all her sins. At this point I looked her in the eyes and asked the question, “Do you know what is presently written on our church sign?” She said, “No. I just saw that you were a Catholic Church.” I pointed out, “Our church sign reads, ‘God allows U-Turns.’ Isn’t that amazing? You are making a U-Turn to God and you did not know that the sign you passed said, ‘God allows U-Turns.’ In your U-Turning you will know forgiveness of your sins and you can enter the life of the church. Know what the sign says is true.”



God allows U-Turns. U-Turn to him and give him his turn with you so that he can turn you around to share with the so many guilty and despairing people you walk with each day that “God allows U-Turns.”



Live the confronted life!

+Fr. John

Thursday March 15, 2007

Thursday of the Third Week of Lent

March 15, 2007

“Oh, that today you would hear his voice: ‘Harden not your hearts’”.

Psalm 95:8
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If you would, make a fist right now. Think about the size of your fist. They say that the size of our fist is about the size of our heart. Whenever you make a fist or see a fist, whether it is a mad fist or a fist that declares victory or whatever kind of fist it is, think of the heart. And remember always to take good care of your fist, that is, your heart.



Harden not you heart, the Lord God says. Don’t become bitter, hypercritical, cynical, judgmental, small-mined, vindictive, merciless… A hardened heart is a heart that does not have room for God, others and you. It is closed off to grace and mercy and redemption. With a spin on the whole heart and fist analogy, a hardened heart is your fist that is closed and clenched tightly so that nothing can get in. It is impenetrable. It cannot give, either; because it has it has not received what wants to be given to it.



Extending out analogy of the fist as a sign of a hardened heart, we know that the fist does not need to remain a fist. All the clenching and closing off of the bitterness, judgmentalness, small-mindedness, mercilessness does not need to continue on in a whole way of life. We can begin to relax and open up our clenched fists. All the suffering, ways we have been disrespected and maltreated, unfairness can be freed by us to go to Jesus. Remember, if you think life is unfair just look at the cross of Jesus Christ. Jesus did not clinch his fist. He opened his hands and heart and body wide and cried out in his crucifixion, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”



It is our choice. Clenched fist/hardened heart or open hands to freely give and receive. A hellish existence or the heavenly way. Hell is having a hardened heart where God, others, love, friendship and community are not allowed. It is the utter hopelessness of me. Heaven is all about having God, others, love friendship and community. It comes from having open hands; a heart that is willing to forgive and be forgiven without end.



How might your existence be hellish? Who is your heart hardened toward? Use all your heart, mind, body, soul and strength to move from clenched fists to open hands. The choice is to move from that hellish type of existence to the heavenly way. What is it going to be? Remember, if TODAY you hear his voice in these words you are NOW reading, harden not your heart.



Live the confronted life!

+Fr. John

Wednseday March 14, 2007

Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent

March 14, 2007

“Moses spoke to the people and said: ‘Now, Israel, hear the statues and decrees which I am teaching you to observe, that you may live.’”

Deuteronomy 4:1

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Do you love and obey the law of the Lord at all costs or is it more just sitting on a shelf somewhere collecting dust? For our Jewish brothers and sisters the first five books of the Bible, that is the Torah (which means teaching or instruction), was the law and word of God which you would give your life for. The Torah was the heart, mind and person of God and to live your faith was to live according to the teaching of the law.



Let us not fool ourselves. The law can be very demanding. It is one thing to open the door for an elderly lady but it is quite another thing to forgive an enemy. It is easy to talk about how much I love Jesus in Church but how about when I am surrounded by a group of people who are glorying in sin or bashing on Christ and the church? Have you ever gone in front of an abortion clinic to peacefully pray and try to talk women out of having the abortion? The evil you feel is palpable.



There is the statement, “Everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die.” Some deep meaning we can harvest from this statement is that we all want joy and comfort and peace and happiness of heaven but we are not willing to enter into the pain, suffering and death to get there. But Jesus teaches us that we got to go there before we go to heaven. Pick up your cross and follow me, my way, my law. First the cross and then the crown of heaven.



Is the Christianity I am living more about Jesus following me or me following Jesus? Because if the majority of my Christianity is more about Jesus following me than me following Jesus, then how much can I call myself a Christian. I should call it the religion of “Me”, because that is who I am following.



Ponder this quote: "If you believe what you like in the Gospel, and reject what you don't like, it is not the Gospel you believe, but yourself." Augustine of Hippo. Is the reason for a lot of our sadness despair and crying is that we are making Jesus follow us into death and not following Jesus into life? The religion of “Me” is a death warrant.



Jesus stands before us today and says, “Now, sisters and brothers, hear, listen to and obey the laws statues and decrees I give you to observe, that you might live.”



Live the confronted life!

+Fr. John

Tuesday March 13, 2007

Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent

March 13, 2007



“Peter approached Jesus and asked him, ‘Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.’”

Matthew 18:21

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A theology class was talking about loving God. The professor asked the students to reflect on their own love of God. How was their love of God shown forth in their lives? One day the professor brought in a thin blank sheet of white poster board and asked the students to draw the face of the person that they were angry with or did not like. Then, the professor put the board on the wall, gave the students darts and told them to throw the darts at the face they drew. When the last dart was thrown, the professor took down the board and turned it over for the whole class to see what was on the other side. To their own dismay, there was a picture of Jesus damaged by all the dart holes. An obvious point here is that how we do or do not love others is how we do or do not love Jesus.



Peter, trying to love his Lord and Master, gives Jesus a very generous offer when he asks Jesus how much we are to forgive each other. He suggests seven times which means completely. Certain numbers have significance in the bible and a way we can remember seven is that it means heaven which is fully or completely. So, Peter offers to forgive completely and Jesus responds seventy-seven times which is eleven times seven times. Once we have forgiven seven times (completely), we are to forgive eleven times more than that! In other words, we are to forgive infinitely like Jesus forgives infinitely.



Forgiveness is the business of the Christian. In all our families, friends, neighbors and relationships there is ample opportunity to exercise forgiveness. I always say that the married relationship is a lot about forgiving and being forgiven much. If we are a Christian but are not in the business of forgiveness, then how empty is our faith?



Do you have any darts of unforgiveness in your hands? When we throw those darts at others, we throw them at Jesus.



A final challenge. I have only known a few to do this in life. What would our world be like if each of us lived by the rule that if we ever had the slightest inkling/sense that we somehow sinned against another person that we would immediately go to that person and restore that relationship through asking forgiveness if need be?



Live the confronted life!

+Fr. John

Monday March 12, 2007

Monday of the Third Week of Lent

March 12, 2007

“A thirst is my soul for God, the living God.”

Psalm 42:3

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Fr. John on the Radio- Fr. John will be giving a daily Lenten Reflection on KBVM 88.3 FM at 9 AM and 1 PM each day during Lent until Easter. Tune in if you wish.



No other world religion professes what Catholics and Christians believe. Until Christianity, never was it known that God would become one of us. He would strip himself of the heavenly glory and become human like you and me in the incarnation. In this unprecedented happening, he who often seemed in such a distant place came near to us as possible. Further, he did not come near to us to punish us but that we might be saved in Jesus. He loves sinners and loves spending time with us, healing us with his saving presence. No God, past or present, has drawn so close and loved and forgiven us unconditionally. This, my bothers and sisters, is the Good News! Jesus becomes one of us that we might live forever.



One time I gave a homily on weddings. I started it our by asking couples who had been married five years or less how many hours they had spent putting into the “Wedding Day.” I got answers from fifty hours to over one-hundred hours. The point I was making was that the wedding is just one day while there are thousands of days that we should put our whole hearts and souls into. It is fine to plan and have a beautiful wedding day but much more important than the exterior beauty of the day is the relationship that the spouses will have with God and each other. I pondered if we put as much time into that as we did for the “Wedding Day” how things might be different. I was talking to a newlywed after my first mass of preaching this on Saturday night and her response was, “Of course I am going to put all this time into my “Wedding Day” because it is the most important day in my life.”



I disagree. The most important day in your life is when you meet Jesus. When you really meet Our Sovereign Lord and Savior is when you have the most important day in your life. Knowing Jesus, the Living God, is knowing eternal life. Again, culture is telling us lies. Through the culture many people buy the belief that the “Wedding Day" is the most important day in your life. The church and the bible, however, proclaim that the most important thing is knowing Christ.



Saul, a football player at a major university, was feeling really down. He broke his leg and was out for the season. He lived to play football and what he lived for was being taken away. He also had a troubled family life. He decided to give Jesus a try. One night in his dorm room he kneeled down by his bed and asked Jesus into his life. In powerful waves of love, Saul experienced Christ. That was the most important day of his life.



Have you had the most important day in you life? If not, you want to get there. If so, maybe you could share this with others who haven’t had the most important day of their life. Whether this is for you or other people please pray the following prayer. If you believe and keep asking, your life will be changed forever. You can pray to Jesus anytime and anywhere to invite him fully into your life.



“Lord Jesus, I have searched for love and hope in so many other places and the search has left me empty-handed. Now I turn to you and ask you to come into my heart and fill me with your love. Please forgive me for my sins and let me know your goodness forever. Thank you Lord Jesus that you are so near to me to save me. I love you and bless you and praise you this day and always. Amen.”



Live the confronted life!

+Fr. John

Sunday March 11, 2007

Third Sunday of Lent

March 11, 2007



“But I tell you, you will all come to the same end unless you reform.”

Luke 13:3

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Image, image, image. The culture bows down before image. But it is the wrong image. It is exclusive, conditional and very terminal. Unless you are rich, beautiful, famous, etc., you do not belong. It is all so much about image and if you do not have the image you are out of luck. This kind of bowing down is a lie; such a sham that is hollow and empty. And if we go with the culture flow, look where we go. Do you see all the despair? Most of us are not rich, beautiful, famous, etc. and so we cannot even be considered by culture to be esteemed and loved. Even if we have the money, fame and beauty, there is nothing esteeming us that will last.



At each mass the outer-most garment I wear is a chasuble. On one of my many beautiful chasubles is a hand coming in to shape a pot of clay. The hand is the hand of God and the clay represents you and me. God is the Potter and we are the clay. We are to let God work his perfect and exquisite craftsmanship on us. The core work of any believer is to let the Potter work on us. God is not to be formed into us; we are to be formed into God.



Think about the Potter (God) trying to form the clay (you and me) into that perfect pot. As I imagine the perfect pot I see a big wrecking ball coming toward it. That wrecking ball is sin. It is coming toward that perfect pot of clay to shatter it. Sin shatters the pot of clay made by God. This shattering of our image by sin is something we are constantly dealing with. It is in our shattered lives that God bids us, “Reform.” Be formed again in God, by God.



One of the quotes we have put on our church sign is, “God allows u-turns.” Yes, praise God we can u-turn to him now. Praise God we can u-turn to him in scripture, prayer and church every day. Praise God that we can turn to him anytime, anywhere because we know that Jesus is open 24/7 like 7-11. But how often do we turn to God?



In many ways we have been shattered by the wrecking ball of sin. We want the pieces of our lives to be put back together. The longing is to be whole. Culture cannot and will not ever begin to be able to do the job. We look to the exclusive, conditional and terminal to put us back together. Only the Potter can. Let the Potter bow down to the ground and pick up your pieces. Gently and exquisitely he forms you into the perfection of his love.



Reform. Be formed again by the Potter. U-turn to God.



Live the confronted life!

+Fr. John

Saturday March 10, 2007

Saturday of the Second Week of Lent

March 10, 2007


“Show us wonderful signs.”

Micah 7:15

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Each one of us needs these glasses. They allow for a special kind of seeing. You do not go to the store to buy these glasses. As a matter of fact, you cannot buy them. They can only be given to you. When wearing the glasses, you can see the heart of the universe. Through their lens, you see the invisible God becoming more and more visible.



I learned a lesson about these glasses when, right after graduating college, I traveled with my brother and a friend to Europe for seven weeks of backpacking. We were in Assisi, Italy and my brother was pretty sick, weak and tired with a severe soar throat. It was a Sunday and we had no idea where we could find medical help and a place to stay. We decided to go to mass and lo and behold one of the Franciscan priests from our university comes walking into church just before mass. We all saw it as an amazing work of God (you see, we had our glasses on) that God would send us to this mass out of the probably around thirty masses that would be offered at the various churches in Assisi that day. Fr. Dan greeted us with joy (“Joy is the infallible sign of God’s presence.” Leon Bloy- again, it can only be seen if we are wearing the glasses), and asked us how we were doing. We told him that my brother was pretty sick and without hesitation Fr. Dan asked us to join him in a praying over him.



Without hesitation, Fr. Dan turned to prayer. What if you and I did that all the time? What if we really believed in the power of prayer? So many of us want to see God’s signs of healing, peace and power and, yet, we do not pray. We keep going on about our pain, suffering and problems but we do not harken to God for the glasses to see him in it all. We want to see God but we hesitate, delay or do not go at all to God. What if, like Fr. Dan, we always turned to God in prayer without hesitation? What if our very first response was to look to God in prayer? We would be given the glasses and see the very power of God in our midst.



Let us pray: “Loving God, we pray for the glasses only you can give. We want to see the beauty you see and know the love that you are. Help us to know your saving and soothing power in our midst. When a worry or trial arises, without hesitation may we turn to you in prayer. You are Emmanuel, God-with-us, ever ready to show forth your power from the very center of our need. Without hesitation, before we turn to anything or anyone else, Lord, may we turn to you. Thank you for being ever-present. Amen.”



Live the confronted life!

+Fr. John

Friday, March 9th, 2007

Friday of the Second Week of Lent

March 9, 2007


“When his brothers saw that their father loved Joseph best of all his sons, they hated Joseph so much they would not even greet him.”

Genesis 37:4

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This is the well known story about Joseph and his brothers. All the brothers become jealous of Joseph because he is loved “best” by Israel, their father. In their jealousy they plan to kill Joseph but they finally end up selling him off to the Ishmaelites as a slave for twenty pieces of silver.



Jealousy is an ugly sin that can lead to other ugly sins. We see that in the story of the brothers of Joseph. They are highly jealous of their father’s love for Joseph and so they totally betray their own brother by selling him off to a people they do not even know. The motivation for this cut throat rejection is that the brothers do not feel as loved as Joseph.



There are countless opportunities in our lives where we can play the, “I am not as loved as her or him” game. We compare our lives to their lives and we come up with the answer that I must not be as loved as them. He is brighter or more successful in his career so God must be smiling down more on him than me. She is so beautiful and thin and that means that she is more loved than me. We have had all this bad fortune which must mean that the love we have always wanted must have been withheld from us.



Like the story with Joseph, it is destructive to become jealous of others and act on that jealousy in life-taking ways. We all know that there is always going to be someone who is smarter, better, more likable, better looking, more successful, etc. than we are. So, if we are comparing with others to determine if we are loved then we will always come up short and become jealous because there is always someone out there who is better. We do not want to go to jealousy and all of its destructive arrows to ourselves and others.



How can we move away from being a jealous person? We can look to our jealous God for the answer. God is jealous in that he wants our eyes, our attention, our focus. He wants us to stop looking at others to determine if we are loved or not. Our jealous God wants us to look at him and, in looking into him, to dive into the sea of his love. Then you will know that you are the “best” loved of all his sons and daughters. All will know that same knowing as they look to God and not others.



One time in prayer a few years ago when I was struggling with being jealous, God asked me this question, “John, when will you believe that my love for you is enough?”



And so, I ask you, “When will you believe that God’s love for you is enough?”



Live the confronted life!

+Fr. John

Thursday March 8th, 2007

Thursday of the Second Week of Lent

March 8, 2007

“Who can understand it (the human heart)?”

Jeremiah 17:8

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He was a monk who dedicated his life to prayer. There were a lot of people in the abbey and beyond who had big dreams for him. He was a brilliant man filled with the holiness of God. Oxford educated, many people thought he might well become the abbot someday and lead the whole community of monks as their spiritual father. I had the great fortune to have him as my spiritual director during two years of my seminary formation to become a priest.



He never became the abbot. Things never panned out. All the big dreams others had for him did not come to fruition. I remember at his funeral mass, how, the whole idea was brought up about judging him a failure as someone who did not nearly live up to his potential. The person challenging us not to judge his life, who happened to be the abbot, reminded us of the great mystery of the human person. We did not know all the physical, emotional and other things he struggled with. We did not know his human heart. While it would be easy in our human nature to say something along the lines that he wasted his talent, we should avoid going down that harsh path of thinking. Rather, we should uphold in compassionate prayer and embrace the infinite mystery of this human being who struggled so much in life.



We are so quick to judge! And our judgments can be so rash and severe without a tint of compassion. People have asked me whether I think people like Hitler or Manson are in hell. I tell them I do not know. Jesus is the one who decides and so I leave all that up to Jesus. But I do know that Jesus is mercy, within mercy, within mercy. I also know that I do not understand the human heart. My fellow human beings are incredible mysteries to be upheld in prayer and compassion. It is not my job to condemn others or figure out the sinner who is condemned after death.



You think you know the human heart? You don’t even know your own. Start asking questions to the person whose heart you think you know. Uphold that person in prayer and compassion as you listen to the answers. As we learn that the human heart is an infinite mystery filled with more sorrows and struggles and reasons than we could ever know, may our judgments be turned into compassion.



Live the confronted life!

+Fr. John