Where to Focus?

I am in my woods focusing in on a sacred moment after a new snowfall when the “blinkies” start flashing in my viewfinder. This is a sign that the area flashing in the photo is over-exposed. There is a highlight button on the camera that warns me when this situation occurs. However, snow is bright and how do I get this shot so that its not over exposed or in layman’s term the image is “washed out.”

This sounds like our dilemma as we begin another Lenten Season. What do you plan to focus on in the next forty days? In the past, you tried your share of weight reduction promises-no chocolate or ice cream. Or, maybe you got serious and took Lent to a new level and tried to cut down on your drinking and smoking. You made your doctor happy, but you were miserable for the six weeks until you celebrated at Easter and started back where you began. With our blown highlights, let me suggest another way to enter this season of repentance.

Jesus takes for granted three practices central to Jewish devotion: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. He does not doubt that his disciples will continue to keep these practices. His only concern is that they pray and fast and give alms in the right spirit: not to impress people, but to deepen their relationship with God.

Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving need not be quaint, obsolete customs confined to the pages of a user manual in our Bible. They can reappear in a contemporary lifestyle, one that calls into question the status quo, that refuses easy answers, that exchanges contemporary craziness for deep-down, delicious sanity. This is a lifestyle that gets us right with God, with creation, with other people, and even with ourselves.

Ask people how they're doing, and so often the answer includes the word “busy.” People take their own busy-ness and other people for granted--almost. They want to be absolved of their busy-ness by something less drastic than cardiac arrest. So if you want to live a life in the spirit with creation, then pray. Leave some empty space for God. Give up rushing.

Ask yourself, do we have stuff or does our stuff have us? Are we stuffing our houses, our bodies, and our lives to the point of no return? Then down the road Jesus comes talking about fasting. If you want to live in the spirit with creation, then fast. Don't exist as simply a consumer. Unclutter your life.

So often we experience the world as full of strangers. We do not look for the connection between them and us. The humanity common to them and us goes unrecognized. Their problems have nothing to do with our problems, or so we say.

Ask yourself, do we know the person in the pew two rows in front of us? If you want to live a life worthy of creation, then give alms. Not just a few coins, but the love in your heart. Always look for the connection between you and that other person. Treat no one as a stranger.

Don't leave the message of Lent flashing like a “blinkie’ indicating that we are out of focus. Live your life “tact sharp” and in sharp focus: give up rushing; unclutter your life; treat no one as a stranger. Do these things, make them your lifestyle, and you'll find yourself walking to the rhythm of Jesus and the saints.

Immanuel prays for us as we reflect; “But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you.” (Psalm 130:4).

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that our Lenten journey may be tact sharp with words and deeds that bring us closer to you and one another.

Look of Love

It was a bitter, cold evening in northern Virginia many years ago. The old man's beard was glazed by winter's frost while he waited for a ride across the river. The wait seemed endless. His body became numb and stiff from the frigid north wind. He heard the faint, steady rhythm of approaching hooves galloping along the frozen path.

Anxiously, he watched as several horsemen rounded the bend. He let the first one pass by without making any effort to get his attention. Then another passed by, and another. Finally, the last rider neared the spot where the old man sat like a snow statue. As this one drew near, the old man caught the rider's eye and said, "Sir, would you mind giving an old man a ride to the other side? There doesn't appear to be a passageway by foot."

Reining in his horse, the rider replied, "Sure thing. Hop aboard." Seeing the old man was unable to lift his half-frozen body from the ground, the horseman dismounted and helped the old man onto the horse. The horseman took the old man not just across the river, but to his destination, which was just a few miles away. As they neared the tiny, but cozy cottage, the horseman's curiosity caused him to inquire, "Sir, I noticed that you let several other riders pass by without making an effort to secure a ride. Then I come up and you immediately asked me for a ride. I'm curious why, on such a bitter winter night, you would wait and ask the last rider. What if I had refused and left you there?"

The old man lowered himself slowly down from the horse, looked the rider straight in the eyes, and replied, "I've been around these here parts for some time and I reckon that I know people pretty good. I looked into the eyes of the other riders and immediately saw there was no concern for my situation. It would have been useless even to ask them for a ride. But when I looked into your eyes, kindness and compassion were evident. I knew, then and there, that your gentle spirit would welcome the opportunity to give me assistance in my time of need."

Those heartwarming words touched the horseman deeply. "I'm most grateful for what you have said," he told the old man. "May I never get too busy in my own affairs that I fail to respond to the needs of others with kindness and compassion."

Think of the last time your computer crashed or you had a water leak and the repair person of your dream came out in the middle of the night to plug the hole or repair the virus—now that’s compassion.

Like Jesus, may we never be too busy to notice our sisters and brothers in need and often them a ride when they are stranded by the burdens of life.

Immanuel prays for us as we reflect; “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their cry.” (Psalm 34: 14-16).

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who eyes are filled with compassion and never hesitate to stop in their busy lives to lift up the cries of the poor.

Moooood For Love

Two traveling angels stopped to spend the night in the home of a wealthy family. The family was rude and refused to let the angels stay in the mansion's guest room. Instead the angels were given a small space in the cold basement.

As they made their bed on the hard floor, the older angel saw a hole in the wall and repaired it. When the younger angel asked why, the older angel replied, "Things aren't always what they seem."

The next night the pair came to rest at the house of a very poor, but very hospitable farmer and his wife. After sharing what little food they had the couple let the angels sleep in their bed where they could have a good night's rest.

When the sun came up the next morning the angels found the farmer and his wife in tears. Their only cow, whose milk had been their sole income, lay dead in the field.

The younger angel was infuriated and asked the older angel: "How could you have let this happen? The first man had everything, yet you helped him", she accused. "The second family had little but was willing to share everything, and you let the cow die."

"Things aren't always what they seem," the older angel replied. "When we stayed in the basement of the mansion, I noticed there was gold stored in that hole in the wall. Since the owner was so obsessed with greed and unwilling to share his good fortune, I sealed the wall so he wouldn't find it."

"Then last night as we slept in the farmer's bed, the angel of death came for his wife. I gave him the cow instead. Things aren't always what they seem."

Things aren’t always what they seem. This little heifer in the photo might be “mooing because she’s in some kind of distress, afraid or just a bit lonely. Thank goodness she lives in a barn tended by a kind and generous farmer who takes good care of his heifers.

God takes good care of us despite the fact we don’t think he pays much attention to our concerns. We “moo” out of pain or desperation, but we need to believe that God hears all our cries for help. That’s the love we celebrate this Valentine’s Day. The love of God that knows what “mooves us” to stretch beyond our normal comfort zone and reach out to help a frighten heifer calf or maybe a frighten child or neighbor.

Immanuel prays for us as we reflect; “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:40).

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends whose hearts are “mooved” each day with the desire to listen to the cries of their brothers and sisters and respond with Your love and compassion.

Did You Come Expecting Anything?

Why did you come to this blog today? What kinds of emotions swirled through your mind as you connected to this site, scrolled through your bookmarks, slid into this file? Did you have any particular expectations for this reflection or did you come here looking for some special image that might brighten your day? Maybe you came here out of habit, perhaps a habit fueled by a genuine faith. Or maybe you had to drag yourself here. Maybe you felt inwardly crabby as you pulled yourself out of bed and logged on to find the weather and mistakenly clicked onto this blog. You didn't get near enough sleep last night, and the kids drive you clean up a wall as you try your best to get them dressed and out the door on time for school. Maybe you came here feeling sad, maybe joyful. Maybe you came bearing a lot of guilt on the inside, maybe you came here hanging on to lots of fear if its OK to come to pray here, or maybe without having given much thought one way or the other as to what shape your life has been in lately.

But did you come expecting anything? C.S. Lewis once penned some thoughts on worship, he was uncomfortable with the notion that every worship service needed to be a kind of variety show. Worship or praying, Lewis wrote, should be a bit like dancing. Once you have learned how to dance and have become good at it, you are able to immerse yourself in the dance and just do it almost without thinking about it. But if you must constantly look down at your feet, if you have to think about each movement before you actually make it, then you can't dance yet but are just learning how to dance.

I like to believe that coming to this blog is like a dance that you are so good at you can just do it freely and flowingly, but we dare never forget who our dance partner is! Anyway we chose to pray, whether in our church, or on our knees at night, with a rosary or bible in our hand or seated at our computer reflecting on this Sonshine, Jesus is here and it makes all the difference for the rest of our day.

We believe that we meet Jesus here every time we click to this blog. Whether at font and table, in prayer, music, and the Word, we believe we are getting caught up in the dance of life and hope and joy and what's more, we are dancing with no less than the Lord of Life.

Immanuel prays for us as we reflect; “Then young women will dance and be glad, young man and old as well. I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.” (Jeremiah 31:12-14).

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who love to dance and look to you as our partner who leads us to safety and joy. May we hop and skip like kids again and feel the happiness in our hearts that we are in the hands of wonderful God who has chosen us to be his beloved for all eternity.

I Love You

An adult education teacher once gave his class an assignment to go to someone they love before the following week's class and tell them that they loved them. They would then give their report at the next class. It had to be someone to whom they had never said those words before, or at least not for a very long time.

At the next class, one man stood up and recounted his story to the class. "I was quite angry with the teacher last week when you gave us this assignment. I felt that who were you to tell us to do something so personal? But as I was driving home, my conscience started talking to me. It was telling me that I knew exactly who I needed to say 'I love you' to. Five years ago, my father and I had a terrible argument that we have never resolved. We have avoided seeing each other unless it was absolutely necessary and even then we hardly spoke to each other. So last week by the time I had gotten home after class, I had convinced myself to tell my father that I loved him.

It's strange, but just making the decision seemed to lift a heavy load off my chest. When I told my wife, she jumped out of bed, gave me a big hug and for the first time in our married life saw me cry.

The next day I was up bright and early as if I had slept soundly all night. At 9am, I called my father to tell him I wanted to come over after work and talk to him. He reluctantly agreed. By 5:30, I was at the house. When my father answered the door, I didn't waste any time. I took one step inside and blurted out 'Dad, I just came over to tell you that I love you.'

Well, it was as if a transformation had come over him. Before my eyes, his face softened, the wrinkles seemed to disappear and he too began to cry. He reached out and hugged me, saying 'I love you too, son, but I've never been able to say it.' I didn't stay long, but I hadn't felt that great in a long time.

Two days after my visit, my dad, who had had heart problems but hadn't told us, had an attack and ended up unconscious in the hospital. I still don't know if he'll make it. So my message to all of you in this class is: don't wait to do the things you know need to be done. If I had waited, I may never have another chance to do what I did."

We all need to tell the people that we love how much we love them. We always presume that they know. But maybe they don't, and besides it wouldn't kill us to say so.

Immanuel prays for us as we reflect; “But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you.” (Psalm 130:3-5).

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends and let me personally say "I Love You" for all your years of wonderful support. May you find these words of affirmation a sign that God is well pleased with your life that reflects a divine love for all creatures great and small.

I Squealed on Myself

A good friend shared that she volunteers at her church cleaning the altar and she was feeling terrible about lots of things in her life. Then one of her fellow workers asked her to do something and she started to scream back at her friend. She admits that whatever her friend wanted set her over the top and she just lost it. She has no idea what she was complaining about, but she felt embarrassed and walked over to the confessional to “squeal on herself.” Obviously, it must have been 4 o’clock in the afternoon if father was open for business.

On her knees, she told the priest her sins, but she started sobbing in the confessional. The kind man listened through her tears, but she felt burned out from all the stress in the past few months and the healing came as quickly as the squealing. Father gave her penance of three Hail Mary’s and she left relieved but went up to her fellow volunteers to say that she was sorry.

You have to admit we go through so many stresses that there are moments we feel like screaming at the top of our lungs. It actually can be quite relieving, but screaming while cleaning a pew was quite a shock for her cleaning buddies.

Once again, it was moment to trust that God can help us surrender our tension and give us the hope that the brokenness we experience can be mended with a kind word. Her cleaning buddies told her to go home and get some rest and don’t worry about cleaning the linens. They would gladly pick up the load while she went home to take a nap. Better yet, she had the kind of friends who do not hold a grudge and gossip behind her back. She was having a bad day and they promised to pray for her that all her troubles would be resolved and she back helping again.

Lord, only knows that our shouts and screams are a cry for help when life gives us more than we can handle. The compassion comes from our friends who offer a hug and reassuring words to take a break and they promise to check on us to make sure that we are felling better.

Thank you Lord for such wonderful friends who don’t take us seriously but allow us to vent and holler and give us the grace and courage to persevere through the miserable days.

Immanuel prays for us as we reflect; “I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for help.” (Psalm 116:1).

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who squeal on themselves in humility for we know that we are not always at our best. Thank you for friends who accept us when we are a terror and take us into their arms with no questions asked. What a surprise and wonderful grace to be loved by a God who hears the cries of his people.

We Are Star Stuff

I'd like to begin this Epiphany Sonshine reflection by describing one of the most beautiful sights a person can see. For this photographer, it involves getting up very early in the morning - before dawn, when there are still stars visible in the sky. The sun has not yet risen, but you can see its light on the eastern horizon. Little by little the stars begin to disappear. Soon there is only one left and it is not a star. It is the planet Venus. Finally the light of the sun overcomes Venus, the Morning Star.

Something like this happened to the Magi when thy came come from the east because they had seen a "star." We don't know exactly what the star refers to. The Chicago Planetarium once had an exhibit titled "The Star of Bethlehem." They reconstructed the heavens around the time of Jesus' birth and speculated that the star may have referred to a comet, some configuration of planets or perhaps the Morning Star itself. Whatever it was, the star led to Jesus. But when the Magi found Jesus, things changed. Jesus was like the sun rising at dawn. The Wise Men no longer needed stars and planets. They now had the bright, life-giving sun.

The poet Lope de Vega wrote a beautiful poem about this. Its title is: “The arrival of the Magi Kings.” Lope de Vega describes how the star guided them in the dark night, but when they found Jesus, the stars faded. Here is a translation of Lope de Vega's poem into English:

You Kings, who come from the East,
are searching the night sky
looking at the their beautiful lights.

Do not follow them now
for where the sun is
the stars have no light.

The Child shines upon you.
And where the sun is
the stars have no light.

Lope de Vega is thinking about the practice of astrology. It was something that attracted him, but he realized that if he was going to follow Christ, he would have to give up astrology. A famous astronomer named Carl Sagan said, "We are star stuff." That is a poetic phrase and it is true as far as it goes. The matter that forms us was ultimately forged in the furnace of stars. But, unfortunately, Sagan meant it in an absolute sense: We are only star stuff. However, I like the phrase “We are star stuff.”

As Christians, we admit that we are material beings, but we believe that we are something more. When we encounter Christ, his light overwhelms even the stars.

Sometimes darkness enters our lives and we find ourselves lost and confused. In those moments, keep in mind that are “star stuff” filled with light of the divine. The best part of the wondrous Magi story comes at the end: they left us a promise. For at last they found what they were looking for. And so will we.

Immanuel watches over us as we reflect: “While the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?” (Job 38:7).

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who look to the morning star to guide us each day to be a true sign of God’s love here on earth.