Words From Father John

Easter 2007

2007-04-09T12:17:00.000-07:00

Easter Sunday
April 8, 2007
Peter addressed the people in these words: “I take it you know what has been reported all over Judea about Jesus of Nazareth.”
Acts 10:34

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Pray to see! Jesus is risen from the dead and we want to see him. Death no longer has hold of us; Jesus does. Forgiveness and eternal life resounds through all the earth. In our joyful shout of triumph, we declare with St. Augustine, “We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song.” Alleluia means “Praise the Lord” and so we praise the Lord all the way to the praise of heaven. And we know that there is only one way to spell, have, see and know JOY. Our JOY as an Easter people is Jesus Over You. Jesus rules over our sin and death and it is in making him our Lord, Master, Savior, Ruler, King Redeemer, our Everything, etc. that we can see, have and know his risen and everlasting life. As we dedicate our lives to JOY, that is Jesus Over You, we look to see him bring in the joy of his risen life into all we think, say and do. We put Jesus first over ourselves and all things and he brings us the JOY of everlasting.

Pray to see! We want to see the risen Jesus and he wants to be seen. I love the words from one of my favorite songs, “Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. I want to see you.” Yes, through faith we want to see the Risen Jesus offering the JOY of salvation to all the world, all the time. But we have got to pray to see. The praying unlocks the seeing. The praying opens the eyes of our hearts so that we can see Jesus by faith everywhere we go. Some words from another favorite song of mine are, “Everywhere I go I see you.” What would it be like if our goal was to see Jesus with every look?

Pray to see! If you truly find Jesus and come to know his love, you want more and more and more. The world, your own flesh and the devil will try to stifle and extinguish that desire for more of Jesus but you can have more and more if you decide for it. That is the point where I was at as a collegian. I had come to know his awesome and life-changing love and I wanted more. I was in the Word each day, going to mass and living for him. I went to a weekly prayer meeting where we were seeking more. One night the leader of the prayer group challenged us to pray with people as they presented needs to us. He said we would get ample opportunities to pray with people in just one week and that we could come back to the prayer meeting the next week with our stories. Is it good enough to say “I am sorry” when someone shares a need with us? Is it good enough to say “Keep warm and well fed” when someone needs clothing, food or anything else? Are we fully responding to God’s call when someone shares some problem/suffering with us and we say, “I will pray for you”? What about acting like God is all powerful and ever-present and asking the person who presents you with a need to pray on the spot? What if we prayed with people on the spot and treated Jesus as a first resort instead of a last resort? JOY would fill and flood our broken and desperate world.
So, I semi-took the prayer group leader’s challenge to heart. I was sure there were going to be opportunities to pray with others but I just wanted to see how it was all going to play out. It was summer and I was doing what I did for about a decade of summers as I worked my way through high school, college and graduate schools. I had a house painting company and I was working a job alone on the day following the prayer meeting. My customers (the house owners) were going to be gone so I was wondering how I would get an opportunity to pray with others. Well, all I have to say is that God provides!

As I was spraying some trim with my airless sprayer and using a shield, an elderly man pulled his car up to the house. He got out of his car and began to talk to me as I was up about fifteen feet on my ladder. He asked me what I was doing and I told him about spraying the trim using my shield. But, from the get-go, the Holy Spirit was telling me to climb on down the ladder and talk to this man. And I kept saying to the Holy Spirit, “No, no, no.” Finally, after a few minutes, I surrendered to the Holy Spirit. And oh how much joy and life and love you get when you surrender to the Holy Spirit’s leading. You know what I am talking about! I came down off the ladder and began to have a face to face and eye to eye conversation with this man. He shared with me how his wife had Alzheimer’s and that she was living in the nursing home next door. It was really tough on him. She did not know his name any longer and the bills of keeping her there were more than he could pay. As he shared his suffering with me, the Holy Spirit kept saying, “Here is your opportunity. Pray with him. Ask him if you can.” And I, who sometimes chooses to be surrendered and sometimes chooses not to surrender, said, “No, no, no.” But finally I surrendered. I said to this man, “You know, I believe that God cares for you and your wife so dearly. And God wants us to turn to him in prayer. Knowing that God cares for us so much, may I just say a prayer with you right now?” He said, “Yes.” So, I said a prayer with him for him and his wife. And Jesus showed up. Yes, Jesus showed up and he brought the whole Kingdom of God with him. Talk about everlasting, almighty and eve-present power! The man’s eyes moistened in the presence of the power we had called upon. When I finished the prayer, he said to me, “Thank you for praying. Son, with that attitude, you will go a long way in life.” He turned and walked away never to be seen by me again in this life.

Pray to see Jesus. Treat Jesus as a first resort and not a last resort and pray to see him. Have that attitude in life and just see how far you will go. I prayed with that man and I saw Jesus. Pray by yourself and pray with others to see Jesus.
Do you want to see the Risen Jesus? Do you want the JOY of the everlasting? Make Jesus your first resort and pray for it. We want to see the Risen Jesus offering the JOY of salvation to all the world, all the time. But we have got to pray to see. The praying unlocks the seeing. The praying opens the eyes of our hearts so that we can see Jesus by faith everywhere we go.

It has been about twenty years since I prayed with that man whose wife was living in the nursing home with Alzheimer’s. Today, my dad lives with mom in that same nursing home and he has Alzheimer’s. I visit my mom and dad and we laugh, share, eat and pray. And as we pray together I see Jesus bringing the JOY of the everlasting to my dad and mom. Jesus becomes more and more visible as we pray and through the praying we come into the seeing. As we see him more clearly, we are raised up into his Risenness. We know the JOY of the everlasting all the way to the JOY of the everlasting.
Live the confronted life!
+Fr. John

Holy Saturday April 7, 2007

2007-04-07T06:38:00.000-07:00

Holy Saturday

April 7, 2007

“The women found the stone rolled back from the tomb; but when the entered the tomb, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.”

Luke 24:2

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Exciting News!!! Fr. John Amsberry's book is finished! Check out a little taste of it following todays message.

We all want to know what is on the other side. What will it all be like for us, say, one hundred years from now? How much different will it be? Will it be better? Sometimes, and I think wrongly, we compartmentalize and say the other side is for the other side and this side is for this side. But, the other side has come to this side to pour out the other side with this side. Jesus has come to share the mercy, life and love of heaven (the other side) with us as we journey on this side (earth to heaven). So, we believe that the heaven is with us, all the way to heaven. Yes, the women come to the tomb to find the body of the Lord Jesus not there. Our faith holds that Jesus has been raised from the dead to the other side. But in his rising, instead of being further separated, the two sides are eternally brought together in the deepest unity possible which is what we call God. Often I think we think that the other side is for the other side and we have to wait till we get to the other side to experience it when Christ wants us to know it now. Of course, as always, each step of the way we can choose to join this perfectly loving union or reject it.

In the early practice of the mass, as the bread and wine were being prepared to be changed in to the body and blood of Jesus through the consecration, the priest would pour some wine into the water. There was a very practical reason for doing this. The wine was thick and the water was poured in to loosen it up. Since then, a spiritual significance has been added to that practical practice. Now, when I (and every other priest) pour a little water into the wine at each mass in preparation for the consecration, I pray the words, “Through this mingling of the water and wine may we come to share the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity.” Talk about the other side coming to this side! Talk about Jesus inviting us to share in the eternal loving union of Father, Son and Holy Spirit right now and all the way to heaven! We are the little bit of water that is poured into the wine that will become the blood of Jesus. Humanity is poured into the blood of Jesus and Jesus devours our sins as we share in the eternal love exchange of the Trinity!

When will we let ourselves be devoured by divinity?

True story. As I made my way through airport security, there was a guard standing on the other side of the metal detector. As I cleared the metal detector, the guard looked at me kind of sternly and started to talk. I thought, “Oh no! Am I in trouble? Are they going to stop and search me?” I did not want to stop as I had a plane to catch. His words were this, “It is 3:08 and you are loved!” Yes, I believe. I responded to him, “And you are loved, too! Who are you?” It turned out to be a parishioner from my first parish that I served. How cool is that? So, I have been pondering this exchange. What waits for us on the other side?

Jesus waits for us on the other side. Jesus, whether we are walking through metal detectors at airports or walking down the isle for our wedding or walking through the suffering or death of a loved one or anytime as we walk through our days on earth, is waiting for us. And as we walk through our days, let us remember to walk to him just on the other side. Jesus, right on the other side of the metal detector in the airport, as in all other places on this side and in the now, says, “It is 3:08(or whatever time it is) and you are loved. You are loved by me and I am the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. You are loved by me, your Savior and Friend. You are loved by me, your Hope and Life. You are loved by me, the Healer of your soul. And I am on your side, right now and always. I am leading you to the other side. You are so often devoured by your emptiness, sin and unhappiness. Will you let me devour you in my divinity?”

Brothers and sisters, how about praying this mantra over and over again all the way to the other side? How about praying and being and doing and living this pray as Jesus is with us on this side to take us to the other side? Here it is, “Confession and Eucharist- all the way to heaven.”

Be devoured by divinity.

Confession and Eucharist- all the way to heaven.

Live the confronted life!

+Fr. John

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Reaching Out to Joy!

Exciting News!!! Fr. John Amsberry's book is finished! Check out a little taste of it below and if you would like to order one or 1,000 just follow the ordering instructions below. If you are in Portland, Oregon, we will have a book release/signing the first weekend of June, 2007 at St. Joseph the Worker so you can get a copy then. They will also be available through the parish office after the first weekend in June. For my friends in Flagstaff, Arizona, who have already signed up for my book, we will be sending books to St. Francis De Asis Church and they will also be available at your book store next door to Nativity Church. The books should be there by Mid-May. For my loved ones in San Diego, I will have them available for you at the end of July when I come down for Steubenville, San Diego. Otherwise, you can order though the mail. Thanks for all your help, love and prayers with this project! Loved, Blessed and 4given are we!

Time out! Why are you running around so crazy here on earth? Slow down. Stop. Be still and know that God is God. Reach out to God. You are forever blessed, loved, and forgiven! Do you know this in your heart? Heaven is with you- all the way to heaven. Reach out to Jesus! Put Jesus over you and you will have JOY! My prayer is that this book will help you to jump into the JOY that is everlasting.

You are familiar St. Paul’s writings, correct? Sometimes one line can become very long and convoluted and even turn almost a whole chapter of a book. He would not get an “A” for grammar. But, in some ways I say, “So what? Big deal. He does not have to be perfect.” Some say he wrote in the imperfect manner that he did because he was so full of grace that it was uncontainable and spilling out all over the place. Welling up with grace and words and light and life, St. Paul just filled the page as God rushed forth! And that is the way I would like you to look at this book. It is not perfect but neither am I. This book is about a perfectly loving God coming to save a sinner like me and you. It is about God rushing in with his grace and words and light and life to create this book, however imperfect it might be. So, I pray that God will be uncontainable in you and you will not worry so much about having perfect presentation and grammar in your life. You do not have to have your house in order for God to come in. Rather, invite God into your messy house and he will put it into order. Just, without ever stopping, keep letting God in and out. Let God and his JOY write straight with crooked lines. When people see you, may they see JOY!

If you wish to purchase Reaching Out to Joy, Jesus Over You please fill out the order form below and send to the address listed along with you payment.

Name: _______________________________________________

Address: _____________________________________________

Address: _____________________________________________

City:__________________________________

State: _______Zip:________________

Please send me _________ Books @ $20.00 each _______________

Shipping $ 4.00 for first book _______________

For each additional book add $1.00 _______________

Total _______________

Please mail order with payment to: Reaching Out to Joy
6012 SE Parkview Terr
Milwaukie, OR 97222

Make checks payable to: Fr. John Amsberry

Good Friday April 6, 2007

2007-04-06T08:59:00.000-07:00

Good Friday

April 6, 2007

“He was a man of suffering”

Isaiah 53:3

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Jesus’ vocation was to die. He came to give his body and blood to us that we might live. He humbled himself by leaving the uninterrupted glory of heaven to make himself venerable to us and we crucified him. But love for his own life did not deter him from death. Jesus vocation was to die for you and I and he fulfilled his vocation. That is why, paradoxically, we call this Friday “Good”, because of the gift of eternal life Jesus gives in his vocation of dying for us.

The cross is the central symbol of our faith. It keeps bringing us back to Jesus’ vocation of dying for us. We must remember to remember the cross as much as we can in our lives. It is the “Good” of Good Friday that we need to conquer all the evil in our lives and the world. The cross is forgiveness, salvation and life and we go and go and go to the cross. We know the cross is the truth of our lives. It defines us. We meditate on it and it explains our life. It is in denying our selfish way of living and living for God alone, and in going through the suffering and dying in the way that we are all called to in following Christ, that we come to eternal life. Our vocation is him and that means the cross.

How can we remember the cross daily? A custom born in the church assigns 3 pm as the time of the Lord’s death on Good Friday. So, we can remember the Lord’s death every day at 3 pm and especially on Friday’s (the day and time assigned to Jesus’ death) at 3 pm by making the sign of the cross. And, every Friday can be a special day of devotion to the cross as we remember Jesus’ vocation. Perhaps we fast on Fridays and hold a cross in our hands with that free time to go deeper into the mystery of who Jesus is for us. There is no doubt a lot of telephone poles you go by each day. Near the top of a lot of those poles you can see a cross made out of the wood. Let the telephone poles you see each day bring you to the cross and all the “Good”, which, by the way is all the “Good”, pouring out through the cross of Jesus Christ. When you drive by the church or graveyard or you hear the ambulance or police siren, make the sign of the cross. When you go into the church or when you pray your personal prayers or grace before meals, you make the sign of the cross. Make the sign of the cross for every need and praise and, in doing so; come back to Jesus who tells us what everything is all about.

If Jesus’ vocation on earth was to die and we call ourselves followers of Jesus, the prospect of following him does not sound fun at all. If we are truly going to follow him then that means we have to die? That sounds great, Fr. John! I am with you! Let us follow Jesus and die! You are kidding? You can’t be serious? I am. Jesus says to us, “Come follow me and die.” We have to die to our own ways and live for him. We have to prefer eternal life with him to our own physical life if that is what Jesus is calling us to. This, my friends, is the suffering and death we take on when we take on our vocation of following Jesus in his vocation.

Like with gold, we are tested in the crucible of suffering and humiliation. The gold smith burns any impurities away in the ravaging fire. And how does he know when he has pure gold? When he can see his reflection in it. God, Our Refiner’s Fire, burns away the impurity of anything that is not his in us so that we might become holy. Our Refiner knows his job is complete when he sees and loves in us what he sees and loves in Christ. When he sees his reflection in us after taking us through all our suffering and death, his vocation for us is fulfilled.

They say the greatest form of compliment is imitation. Jesus says, “Come die to your ways that you might fully live for me. That is your vocation. Fulfill your vocation. Imitate me. Let me see me when I see you.”

Each year it is the same on the calendar. Good Friday always comes before Easter Sunday. Suffering and death before eternal life. Let us give Jesus the greatest compliment with our lives by imitating him with all that we are.

Live the confronted life!

+Fr. John

Holy Week Thursday April 5, 2007

2007-04-05T08:06:00.000-07:00

Thursday of Holy Week

April 5, 2007

“Jesus rose from the meal and took off his cloak. He picked up a towel and tied it around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel he had around him.”

John 13:3-5

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What place in line are you? Jesus took the last place. The Lord and Master of all, whom all creation should worship, became smaller than us all and took the very last place in line. He traded all the glory of heaven for all the sin of earth so that we could walk on him to get to heaven. We read in John 15:12-15 how there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. Look how the one, who is Lord and Master of everything, becomes smaller than us all and takes the last place in the line of all humanity that was and will ever be. And in this pinnacle of humility, this smallest one, who is the Savior of all, calls us friend. On the evening of His Last Supper for you and me and all human beings that will ever be, he rises from the table, takes off his cloak, ties a towel around himself and washes and dries the disciples feet with the towel. The King and Lord and Master of all takes the form of a slave, becomes the smallest, and takes the last place in the line of all humanity in order to serve us all.

You call yourself Christian? You want to be just like Jesus? Take the last place in line. Be small. Lay down your life as a slave in service to all.

Ponder what the scriptures are really all about. “Though Jesus was in the form of God he did not deem equality with God something to be grasped at. Rather he emptied himself and took the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of men.” Phil. 2:6-7 “The first shall be last and the last shall be first.” “Defer to one another out of respect for Christ.” See how Christ defers to us all by becoming smallest, taking the last place in line and serving us as a slave so that we could walk over him to get to heaven. As we defer to each other out of respect for Christ, we become small and take last place. We humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord and how we do that is to humble ourselves before one another. “Let all parties think humbly of others as superior to themselves.” Phil. 2:3 The scriptures are about being small and taking the last place in line in serving all.

Practice forgetfulness unto self and remembrance of Christ. The world is always reminding us that it is about being first in line, being big, being served or serving oneself. Our self wants self, self, self. Jesus wants others. In the epic battle of our carnal nature seeking self and Jesus’ nature seeking others, we need to remember and be transformed. We need to remember to forget seeking ourselves, live for Jesus and ask for the Holy Spirit to give us the power to do so! Yes, through the power of the Holy Spirit we can move from living for self to being small by taking the last place in line in service to all.

At each mass, beginning with the Lord’s Last Supper which we celebrate this night, we remember and ask for the Holy Spirit’s transforming power. We remember how Jesus taught us forgetfulness unto self and remembrance of God. Jesus became small, took the last place in line, and forgot about his own life as he became a slave to die for us all. And we see how God’s transforming power raised Jesus from death to life. Like Jesus did, we remember to forget living for ourselves and live like Jesus. And in this remembering, we ask the Holy Spirit for the power to live small, take the last place in line and serve all.

Remember to forget yourself and remember Christ. Be small. Take the last place in line of all humanity. Serve all. Beg the Holy Spirit to make it happen.

Live the confronted life!

+Fr. John

Holy Week Wednesday April 4, 2007

2007-04-04T05:08:00.000-07:00

Wednesday of Holy Week

April 4, 2007

In the course of the meal Jesus said, “I give you my word, one of you is about to betray me.”

Mt. 26:21
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We were set to have our Parish Spaghetti Dinner the next day from 11:30 am to 6:00 pm. The night before a parishioner came up to me and warned, “You better make the 10:30 mass short because of the dinner tomorrow.” That was the wrong thing to say to Fr. John! When someone tells me something like that I usually respond, “It just got longer.” The last thing in the world I will do is make the mass shorter. We need all of the mass we can get. We cannot get enough of his word and sacrament. We want to go deeper and deeper into knowing his truth so that we can live his truth. We need to make the mass longer. One hour a week together surrendering to him and being transformed together by Christ is not near enough for all the hours of the rest of the week. I mean, what is more important, spaghetti or Jesus? If all we do is eat spaghetti and ignore Jesus, we carbo load and die. On the other hand, if all we do is consume Jesus and forget about eating we get skinny and live. We truncate Jesus. We turn on him and turn from him and turn to our spaghetti, whatever that “spaghetti” is. We betray him and, in betraying him, deny all the ways he wants to transform this world with and in and through us.

Ultimately, it all has to do with our priorities. We all have our busyness, schedules, meetings, obligations, sports, work and the list goes on. And it is right that we are involved with the world. But how are we to be involved? Who is determining what we are doing with our limited time here on earth? Are you run by society or by Jesus? Who cares what society says? Do you want to be run by something that says that it is good to kill the unborn, adultery and fornication are the norm, and let us take God and Jesus and prayer out of everything? We betray Jesus, our Life, by turning from him and we die. It is time to make knowing Jesus in the mass, prayer, and scriptures longer. Time to stop turning on him and from him and turn to him. Now is the time confront ourselves and ask, “What is my spaghetti?” In other words, what do I consider more important than Jesus Christ and his way of life? There is only one source of forgiveness and hope and life and we care about what society says? Care about what Jesus says! And then live it.

How are you to be involved in this world? How are you to spend your time on planet earth? Jesus must answer that question for you! If we are not going to Jesus and we are going to society or whatever our “spaghetti” is, then how are we not betraying Jesus? If we deny him full access to command our lives, then surely we are serving another master. And this other master will never be able to give life.

We need to stop cutting Jesus out of our lives. We need to let him cut into our lives, our minds, our thoughts, our plans, our joys, our sufferings, or days, our minutes, our seconds, our schedules, our TV’s/computers, our work, our play, our studies, our families, our relationships, our everything. We cut him out and turn on him and from him and deny his life for us because we think something else is more important. We run to our “spaghetti”, whatever we deem more important than Christ, and die. Study the generations since Jesus and know that the only “spaghetti” that works is Jesus. Now is the time to cut Jesus in and make him the Master and Lord and Ruler of you.

Remember, Judas left the Last Supper early. He cut out on Jesus at the first mass. Think of his end. Now is the time to make mass and Jesus and prayer and scripture longer.

Live the confronted life!

+Fr. John

Tuesday of Holy Week April 3, 2007

2007-04-03T07:12:00.000-07:00

Tuesday of Holy Week

April 3, 2007

“I will make you a light to the nations.”

Isaiah 49:6

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Exciting News!!! Fr. John Amsberry's book is finished! Check out a little taste of it below and if you would like to order one or 1,000 just follow the ordering instructions below.
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I am the youngest of eight boys. Chuck, Steve, Joe, Tom, Dan, Jim, Mike and John. That’s right- they save the best for the last! I often brag to my family and friends about the magnanimous humility God has given me (smiles). God bless mom and dad for raising us!

All of us boys would start licking our chops when we knew mom and dad were going to be gone from the house. It was the whole, “When the cat’s away the mice will play” thing. It was a time to have some reckless fun and destroy the house. Ok, maybe not destroy the house but it was time to cut loose as the rulers of the house were away.

One of the things we liked to do was have sock fights. Of course there were a ton of white, athletic socks for the eight of us. We would ball them up, each get our store of ammunition and commence the war. The deal was to hit each other as hard and fast as we could. To add to all the excitement, we would turn off all the lights in the house and have our battles in total darkness. How fun was that?!? I am sure you can guess some of the inherent problems with this situation. It was hard to see in the dark. There are many objects that are solid, large, sharp, and dangerous to run in. They are stationary and they would stay stationary as we would run into them. I would be lying if I told you there was no scrapes, bruises, and bleeding. I do not know if one of us ever broke any bones but it was dangerous business running and throwing and flinging socks in the dark.

It is dangerous business running in the dark. You can avoid a lot of unnecessary injury if you turn on the light. It helps you to see things as they are and maneuver through life. The light is ever available but you and I have to turn the light switch on. I know it takes some time sometimes to find the light switch but there it is on the wall somewhere. Remember, our lives are incomprehensible without Christ. The light of Christ helps us to see true reality and maneuver through a life that can be so filled with darkness. We have to keep seeking the light switch and turn it on.

When is light needed the most? In the greatest darkness. And the greatest darkness that ever was Jesus on the cross. Jesus, the hope of every human heart, dying on the cross. Jesus dead. The greatest darkness this world has ever known and will ever know. But we see what God does in it. Resurrection and light explode eternally. The light switch made eternally available to you and me. And, if God can bring his horizenless light into the greatest darkness ever, he can bring his horizenless light into yours!

The light switch is there for you.

Live the confronted life!

+Fr. John

______________________________________________________________

If you are in Portland, Oregon, we will have a book release/signing the first weekend of June, 2007 at St. Joseph the Worker so you can get a copy then. For my friends in Flagstaff, Arizona, who have already signed up for my book, we will be sending book directly to you and you should get them by Mid-May. For my loved ones in San Diego, I will have them available for youth end of July when I come down for Steubenville, San Diego. Otherwise, you can order though the mail.

Thanks for all your help, love and prayers with this project! Loved, Blessed and 4given are we!

Reaching Out to Joy

Time out! Why are you running around so crazy here on earth? Slow down. Stop. Be still and know that God is God. Reach out to God. You are forever blessed, loved, and forgiven! Do you know this in your heart? Heaven is with you- all the way to heaven. Reach out to Jesus! Put Jesus over you and you will have JOY! My prayer is that this book will help you to jump into the JOY that is everlasting.

You are familiar St. Paul’s writings, correct? Sometimes one line can become very long and convoluted and even turn almost a whole chapter of a book. He would not get an “A” for grammar. But, in some ways I say, “So what? Big deal. He does not have to be perfect.” Some say he wrote in the imperfect manner that he did because he was so full of grace that it was uncontainable and spilling out all over the place. Welling up with grace and words and light and life, St. Paul just filled the page as God rushed forth! And that is the way I would like you to look at this book. It is not perfect but neither am I. This book is about a perfectly loving God coming to save a sinner like me and you. It is about God rushing in with his grace and words and light and life to create this book, however imperfect it might be. So, I pray that God will be uncontainable in you and you will not worry so much about having perfect presentation and grammar in your life. You do not have to have your house in order for God to come in. Rather, invite God into your messy house and he will put it into order. Just, without ever stopping, keep letting God in and out. Let God and his JOY write straight with crooked lines. When people see you, may they see JOY!

If you wish to purchase Reaching Out to Joy, Jesus Over You please fill out the order form below and send to the address listed along with you payment.

Name: _______________________________________________

Address: _____________________________________________

Address: _____________________________________________

City:__________________________________

State: _______Zip:________________

Please send me _________ Books @ $20.00 each _______________

Shipping $ 4.00 for first book _______________

For each additional book add $1.00 _______________

Total _______________

Please mail order with payment to: Reaching Out to Joy
6012 SE Parkview Terr
Milwaukie, OR 97222

Make checks payable to: Fr. John Amsberry

Books will be mailed out by June 2007

Monday April 2, 2007 Holy Week

2007-04-02T08:35:00.000-07:00

Monday of Holy Week

April 2, 2007

“A bruised reed he shall not break.”

Isaiah 42:3

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More info on Fr. John's Book, Reaching Out to Joy. We anticipate having a book signing/selling time in Portland at St. Joseph the Worker the first weekend in June. After that, the book will be available at the church office. The book will be available in San Diego at the end of July, 2007. More details to follow. If you want to order via mail, please refer to Palm Sunday and make the checks payable to Fr. John Amsberry. Thank you!

I think this would be a good visual to show how we are a bruised people. What if one day in church I asked all the people gathered to admit how they have been broken and bruised and how they suffer from it? I would just start naming things that may have bruised us like divorce, depression, addictions, pride, lust, greed, sloth, selfishness, sin, unforgiveness, harmful decisions to our bodies and dignity, not praying or practicing our faith, worshipping false Gods, materialism, neglect of our family, the poor and elderly, alcoholism and drinking/drugs, etc. As I named a persons bruise, they would come up to get a tourniquet bruise and tie it (loosely) around their arm. This would symbolize that they are bruised and bleeding and they want it to stop. I bet you we would all have a tourniquet on our arms by the time we were done.

From bartenders to beauticians to teachers to parents to doctors/nurses to counselors to priests/ministers, we all know we are bruised. Now, take this reality of how bruised we are and put it smack dab in the middle of the world we live in. You are at a traffic light and you do not start to move within two seconds of it turning green and the horns behind you start honking. Or, maybe you are the one doing the honking. And this is just the beginning of road rage which has led, in some instances, to killing. Think about this one I just saw on the computer. A college guy was breaking up with his girlfriend right in the middle of campus. He chose to have it videotaped and there were hundred’s of onlookers in this ruthless bruising. The two degraded each other, called each other filthy names, and all human dignity and respect was thrown out the window. And now this ruthless and horrible bruising is on the Internet for the whole world to see. This, my friends, is often the world we bruised people find ourselves in.

Where is the gentleness? Where will we bruised people not get ripped apart more? Where is the hope, help and healing for us in our dog eat dog world?

We do not get through unscathed. Admit you are bruised. Come in front of the church, pick up your tourniquet and tie it around your arm. Admit it to Jesus and admit him into your bruised life. Find him coming to you in gentleness. He says, “Come to me all you who find life burdensome. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For I am meek and humble of heart. You souls will find rest.”

We need his gentleness in our bruised world. Until we know his gentleness we will keep on bruising and breaking and crushing each other. Bring his gentleness to this world which is so bruised and in dire need of healing.

Live the confronted life!

+Fr. John

Palm Sunday, April 1st, 2007

2007-04-01T06:26:00.000-07:00

Palm Sunday
April 1, 2007
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”
Luke 19:39

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Exciting News!!! Fr. John Amsberry's book is finished! Check out a little taste of it below and if you would like to order one or 1,000 just follow the ordering instructions following today's message.

If you would, make a fist. Look at it and survey its size. They say the size of your fist is the size of your heart. Take care of your fist, that is, your heart. And not just your physical heart but also the heart of who you are – your soul. We can so neglect the soul and that is where the battle for meaning, peace and joy is won or lost. I was preaching on this taking care of your fist/heart one time and after mass a collegian made a fist and said to her mom, “Mom, look at how small my heart is.” I do not know if she was intending that statement to be literal, figurative or metaphorical but I do think a lot of us see our hearts/souls as much smaller than they really are.

Your heart/soul is not small. In it, is the Kingdom of God. The God who created all that is, is in you ready to manifest his awesome, creative power. Things can never be small when the Lord and Creator of all is in our heart. Do we believe?

I was really proud when a junior in high school girl finally got up the courage to do a solo at mass in front of five hundred people. She did wonderfully and blessed us all by her beautiful voice. Talking to her mother later, she told me how her daughter said, “Mom, the only talent I have is to sing and I will never make any money doing it.” That statement caused me to start thinking about talent. I know we all have different talents and touch people in different ways. Some can sing and some cannot. But then I thought about how we all have the talent of Jesus. Jesus is within us. We are blessed! Blessed is he or she who comes in the name of the Lord. And he is Love. And we have the talent to spread his infinite and beautiful love to all we meet. So, brothers and sisters, do not ever tell me you do not have talent! You have it all! You could not be more talented. Do we believe?

After Jesus had risen from the dead, Peter was walking along one day and came upon a cripple. Peter addressed him, “I have neither have silver or gold but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus, rise and walk.” And the cripple began to walk. Peter believed in his talent and used it. And Jesus healed. The same Jesus that healed that cripple is in you and me. Do we believe?

Your heart/soul is not small. You are blessed because the Lord of all is in you. You have all the talent in the world. Be bold! Use it! Act like you believe!

Live the confronted life!

+Fr. John

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Reaching Out to Joy

Time out! Why are you running around so crazy here on earth? Slow down. Stop. Be still and know that God is God. Reach out to God. You are forever blessed, loved, and forgiven! Do you know this in your heart? Heaven is with you- all the way to heaven. Reach out to Jesus! Put Jesus over you and you will have JOY! My prayer is that this book will help you to jump into the JOY that is everlasting.

You are familiar St. Paul’s writings, correct? Sometimes one line can become very long and convoluted and even turn almost a whole chapter of a book. He would not get an “A” for grammar. But, in some ways I say, “So what? Big deal. He does not have to be perfect.” Some say he wrote in the imperfect manner that he did because he was so full of grace that it was uncontainable and spilling out all over the place. Welling up with grace and words and light and life, St. Paul just filled the page as God rushed forth! And that is the way I would like you to look at this book. It is not perfect but neither am I. This book is about a perfectly loving God coming to save a sinner like me and you. It is about God rushing in with his grace and words and light and life to create this book, however imperfect it might be. So, I pray that God will be uncontainable in you and you will not worry so much about having perfect presentation and grammar in your life. You do not have to have your house in order for God to come in. Rather, invite God into your messy house and he will put it into order. Just, without ever stopping, keep letting God in and out. Let God and his JOY write straight with crooked lines. When people see you, may they see JOY!

If you wish to purchase Reaching Out to Joy, Jesus Over You please fill out the order form below and mail to the address listed below along with your payment.

Name: _______________________________________________

Address: _____________________________________________

Address: _____________________________________________

City:__________________________________

State: _______Zip:________________

Please send me _________ Books @ $20.00 each _______________

Shipping $ 4.00 for first book _______________

For each additional book add $1.00 _______________

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Please mail order with payment to: Reaching Out to Joy

6012 SE Parkview Terr
Milwaukie, OR 97222

Books will be mailed out in June 2007

Saturday March 31, 2007

2007-03-31T06:59:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-30T11:23:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-29T09:18:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-28T07:39:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-27T07:18:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-26T05:39:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-25T09:58:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-24T08:21:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-23T09:20:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-22T05:59:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-21T06:17:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-20T07:32:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-19T06:07:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-18T07:29:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-17T07:15:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-16T05:34:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-15T10:39:00.000-07:00

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