Are You Happy?

 

“Are you happy?” How would you answer that honestly?

 

My suspicion is that, for most of us, this would be a painful question which, given our fantasy of what happiness should be, we would tend to answer in the negative: “no, I don’t think I’m happy. I would like to be, but there are too many frustrations in my life which block happiness.”

 

For a Christian, there is a better question. The essential question should not be, “Am I happy”? but rather, “is my life meaningful?” That is a different question, one which can help our perspective on things.

 

What God has promised us in Christ is not, as is unfortunately so often preached and believed, a life free from pain, sickness, loneliness, oppression, and death. The preacher who tells you that you will have less pain in life if you take Jesus seriously is not in touch with the gospel. What the incarnation promises is not that Christ will do away with our pain, but that God will be with us in that pain.

 

Faith in God does not, in this world, save one from pain, misunderstanding, loneliness, and death. Faith does not offer a life free of pain. What God does promise is to be with us in that pain. That is why our Savior’s name is Emmanuel, a name which means God-is-with-us.

.

The Incarnation does not provide us with a ladder by which to escape from the ambiguities of this life and scale the heights of heaven. Rather it enables us to burrow deep into the heart of the planet earth and find it shimmering with divinity.

 

For the Christian, then, the important question is not: “Am I happy?” but “Is my life meaningful?” By asking the latter question rather than the former one, I do not torture myself with some unattainable romantic ideal and, more importantly, I do not ask God to exempt me from the human condition. My life is meaningful precisely when I sense God’s presence in the midst of my suffering, sicknesses, loneliness, and pain.

 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that we realize our happiness no longer depends upon never getting sick, or never getting lonely, or never being misunderstood, or never making wrong choices, or being exempt from death. Life can be frustrating and still be very meaningful. We can be lonely, sick, sorrowful about wrong choices, over-worked and unappreciated, staring old age and death in the face and still experience deep meaning. Happiness will be a by-product of that.

 

Today’s photo was a “happy moment” for me when I met a couple from London Ontario taking pictures on the shoreline and they pointed out this sunset photo taken in Coos Bay, Oregon.

 

 

We Can't Be Led Astray

 

So we easily can let ourselves be led astray. It’s so easy to give way to anger or despair and forget to seek the way of Christ.

 

There are, no doubt, some Christians who will see the recent political events of our country as part of a countdown to the end of the world. Don’t be fooled. Jesus has already told us these things will always be happening. In our most dire moments God’s will for us is still life.

 

It is easy to give way to fear and anger, and easier still to give way to despair and apathy.  Yes, the temple was destroyed and very few stones were left on stones. But what happened afterwards was the flourishing of new kinds of faith which didn’t depend on geography or architecture. Christians and Jews discovered—the real dwelling place of God—is within us.

 

We can’t be led astray. We must believe that every ending is a beginning. If every church in America were to close tomorrow, Christ would still live within the hearts of the faithful. Polling statistics and punditry to the contrary, I don’t believe the American church is dying. It is being resurrected in a new form. I just hope I live long enough to see it.

 

As we look around at this crazy world let’s not look for signs of the end. Jesus didn’t come to snatch us out of our troubles. Jesus came to walk with us and be within us through all our conflicts, doubts, fears, elections and earthquakes. Jesus wants us to know that on the other side of terrifying change there is hope and possibility. So, let’s not be led astray. Let’s continue to practice kindness.

 

My wife is attending a shower event for her niece who is expecting her first child. Most interesting, the new mom already knows she will give birth to a healthy baby girl when the time comes. She and her husband have chosen the name “Callie.” Most unusual, but the origin of Callie is from the Greek and means “beautiful.’

 

It is interesting that despite the messes of our life, the way we are feeling after the election, the doubts and fears we are stressing about. This couple has chosen life and to give this new life a home in their hearts. Yes, there will be lots of trails and fears to raise a baby girl in a society that looks down on women and treats them with disrespect. This little baby girl is born of love and the love of her parents will teach her about God’s love for all genders. Even in the worse of times, the love of God will prevail. My blessing to Caitlin and Bobby the parents of Callie that their little one brings them much joy and happiness.

A Confirmation student recently said the most remarkable thing about waiting for the end times: “We should make the world such a great place that when Jesus comes back, he’ll be happy to be here.”

 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who are feeling doubts or fears in our country to remember “In God We Trust.” I couldn’t agree more, Let’s practice kindness.

 

Immigrant Story

 

 

I am at the hotel desk in Mississauga, and De the manager, shows me how to connect to the Wi Fi so that I can contact an Uber driver to take us to the horse show in Toronto. Sue, my wife, started attending 60 years ago with her sisters and the family tradition continues. However, what was once a country drive through farmland is a nightmare driving in an asphalt jungle.

 

So we connect with UberX to drive to Exhibition Place in the heart of downtown to the 102^nd Toronto Horse Show. Our driver has a Mediterranean accent. Mounir shared that he left his home in Egypt when he only 18 and immigrated to Canada.

 

On our journey, he shared that he has a wife who is a dental assistant and a son named Matthew. He noted that when he got the message, my name was Matthew. I shared that the name Matthew in Hebrew means “gift from God.”  Mounir proudly old me that his son’s name is Matthew and in Arabic Matthew means “beautiful sunshine.” Literally in Arabic it means “you are the light of my life.”

 

Our guardian angels were watching over us because Mounir lives in Mississauga and most of his fares come from travelers going to Hamilton, or London, Ontario or the Toronto airport but not downtown Toronto. Fares are much more frequent avoiding the congestion of downtown traffic. Mounir shared many homeless are living along the highway in Hamilton and he has often gives them sandwiches when driving after a fare.

 

This immigrant dad works hard till 3am in the morning to avoid the congestion in traffic. However, his skills also include remodeling and installing kitchens. He likes being busy for this is how he is able to make a living and support the family.

 

His parents live in Egypt and this year he took his son and wife back to Egypt to visit his family. His son asked why spend so much money to travel back home? This dad answer was profound. Mounir told Matthew what matters most in life is not how much money you have or accumulate but it’s your family.

 

Our Uber immigrant values most is his family, his faith and being generous to the people who are in need of help. Little did I realize that this Uber ride was going to be a God moment and lesson to learn that God created us all with a purpose. We are the “light of our life and beautiful sunshine” when we bring hope, compassion and love to our homeless, widows, immigrant sisters and brothers. Listening to Mounir, our Egyptian Uber driver, was the best homily I heard in a long time.

 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that we know that yes, the nuns were right again. God is watching us. However, not to scold or condemn but inspire us to be the best Christians we can be by honoring our parents, caring for our children and modeling respect for all races, creeds, gender identity, and immigrants in our world. No exceptions and no excuses. Sister says so…and she is right again!

 

 

Lose the Cape

 

I went back into my photo gallery and found a God moment when we invited the children in the parish to wear their Halloween costumes for Mass on Sunday. It reminded me of the following movie and the message of Jesus in the gospel to “lose the cape.”

 

In the movie, “The Incredibles” a family of superheroes try to save the world from destruction. In Bob Goff's book "Love Does," he writes about the superhero dad in the movie. He is an insurance claims adjustor, but he really wants to use his superhero powers. He begins drawing pictures of the superhero suits he wants to wear. Of course, all the suits he draws include capes.

 

The dad has a friend named Edna who makes superhero suits and she keeps telling him that he needs to lose the cape. She mentions how capes cause big problems for super heroes. They get caught on things like fences or jet engines. Edna is famous for saying, "No capes!" You get a lot more stuff done if you lose the cape.

 

Bob Goff thinks Jesus agrees and so do I!

 

You know what I think will draw the world to Christ? When Christians lose the cape. So many of us who follow Christ do it with a cape representing something - an issue we are against, our opinions or judgments - a cape symbolizing our denomination or political views or how we interpret Scripture. Soon we become known by our capes and not by Jesus. Our capes hide our light.

 

Another problem is that if we go around serving Jesus with capes, they eventually get snagged on something - our pride, other people's feelings, people's perceptions of Christians. Our capes get in the way.

 

Goff reminds us that Jesus never wore a cape. Jesus hardly ever talked to anyone about what he had done, the way he loved people. He just did it. And all that mattered to him was that God knew it. When we lose the cape, we don't get confused about what our purpose is, which is to love. We don't forget that it is God who is making things happen. All our energy is channeled into doing great things for God and loving the world like crazy.

 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends.. Let's lose the cape as Christians and just go out and share the light and love of Jesus. When we serve Jesus without a cape, people will want to know more about Jesus. If you prefer, "Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me!" Lose the cape and let your light shine!

 

Open Our Eyes

 

 If Jesus showed up in your life today and just got in your face and said, "What do you want me to do for you?" What would you ask him for?

 

I had returned from a trauma response and bought a new toilet seat. The instructions showed how to install but nothing about how to replace the old seat. I’m crawling under the porcelain and trying to turn the plastic knob to unbolt the metal screw when the knob breaks apart. You Tube has no online instructions on what to do next. I struggle with a socket racket, then a crescent wrench and no luck removing this bolt. What I want Jesus to do is find someone who laughs at my dilemma and says, “no problem father, piece of cake.”

 

So Bartimaeus is this blind man. He's on the side of the road. Everyone tell him to shut up, be quiet, leave Jesus alone. But he persists. Do you have that persistence? Sure, yeah, we come to God and we say, "Hey God, we need this," or cry out to God for this or that. But do we have the persistence to keep coming back and saying, "Help me; help me.” I am on my back trying to maneuver the crescent wrench around the broken plastic knob and crying in despair, “help me.”

 

Bartimaeus was not confused about what Jesus could do for him. He knew it. He trusted it. He believed it. Are we confused about what God can do for us? I think sometimes we are.

 

Jesus takes people in the scriptures from the fringes of society, places them right at the center of the gospel. And what is the lesson? I think one lesson is that how a community treats its most vulnerable members says everything about that community. And that is true if that community is a family. It's true if that community is a neighborhood or a school community or a church community or a business community. How a community treats its most vulnerable members tells us almost everything about that community.

 

Jesus constantly takes these people from the fringes and places them at the center of the gospel, isn't he also asking us to do that? Isn't he also asking us to take people from the fringes of society and place them, in some way, at the center of our lives? And it's all too easy to stay in our spiritual blindness and pretend they don't exist and carry on with our lives. Lord, open my eyes so that I may see.

 

Lord I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that You open our eyes to sees the needs in our family, in our community and respond with your love and compassion. Oh yes, I texted my Lutheran builder and his kind and generous reply, “don’t worry, we will take care of this.” I cried in gratitude, bloodied and bruised from crawling around the tank and thanked the Lord.

 

 

Call me Crazy

 

On my recent photo trip to Oregon, my goal was to compose a few stunning images of the beautiful landscape that people want to hang up in their home or give as gifts. In reality, there are over a million photos posted everyday on the internet. It is my illusion to imagine that people believe my photos have any artistic value. I humbly have come to accept that I am no Peter Lik, the famous Las Vegas landscape photographer.

 

The problem is all of us can become slightly delusional at times. When we’ve made up our minds to a position or an idea that comforts us, we’re going to hang on to it like a deer tick on a fat man’s thigh. We’ll argue to the death for something that’s completely insane to others but gives us the sense of security or righteousness we our insecurities crave.

 

Case in point: the belief held by Jesus’ disciples that their rabbi and leader will one day start a revolution which will overthrow the oppressive occupation of the Roman Empire, elevate the suffering peasants, and put Jesus on the governing throne of Israel where a son of David ought to be. James and John are convinced that Jesus will enter into glory, and they’ll both get cabinet positions in the new administration in recognition of their faithful service to the Messiah. They seem to have missed the point.

 

An earthly kingdom based on earthly power is not what Jesus is all about. If you worship victory, you are, in some sense, worshiping oppression. If you’re the winner, someone else has to be the loser. If you are dominant, someone else must be subservient. Jesus is pretty clear and he spells it out: “The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

 

You’d think James and John would’ve figured that out by this time. At this point in Mark’s gospel, Jesus has told these boys no less than four times what his intentions are and how this story is going to play out. Did they get the message? Nope. I don’t think they wanted to get it. The idea of a magnificent earthly kingdom and a fat, juicy reward for the sacrifices they’d made was just too tempting an idea to let go.

 

Jesus is calling us to deny ourselves and embrace a spirit of love through servanthood. And this servanthood will not carry a guarantee of any earthly reward. Indeed, obedience to Christ and love of our neighbor will be its own reward. 

 

We are called to find a need and fill it, to find a wound and heal it. We are called to follow as Jesus led the way. Think, for example, of the home caregiver who looks after an elderly dementia patient. They do what they do out of love and compassion, even though the object of that love may never recognize the sacrifice or give the slightest hint of gratitude. 

 

These are the things which make us great in the way of Christ: the willingness to see ourselves as vessels of God’s love, and a willingness to relinquish our insane, selfish desire to be dominant. Such a desire only leads us to frustration, anger, and ultimate disappointment.

 

It took James and John and the other disciples a while to figure out that “the last shall be first” didn’t mean an overthrow of government. It means those who acknowledge their weakness and dependence will know the peace which comes with gratitude to God. Those who are esteemed highly by the world will win no special reward but will take their place in heaven next to the poor, the despised, the infirm, and the lost.

 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that the invitation to serve means

we do what we do out of love and compassion, even though the object of that love may never recognize the sacrifice or give the slightest hint of gratitude.

 

 

 

Healing Waters

 

I am at Walgreen’s trying to download a photo that I took in Oregon to create a “Get Well” card for a Sonshine Friend who has started chemotherapy.

 

The struggle begins that the photo is on my computer and on not my IPhone. I call Apple Support and Cassy guides me through the steps to upload the image from the computer to my cell phone.

 

Step Two. I have to figure out how to download the photo from my IPhone to the Walgreen website to print a blank card. Ricky, the Walgreen customer service manager comes to my rescue. He connects my IPhone to the Walgreen print machine and it starts to download. But it doesn’t complete the download. He says the cord is defective. Thank God he has another cord and says “this should work.” He plugs in the new cord and presto, my image is being uploaded to make our “Get Well” card. Another God moment in my life when a stranger goes beyond the call of duty and helps in our time of need.

 

The card is for a special person whose cancer diagnose was grim. Treatment was available but the prognosis was only a ten percent chance of survival. So my friend did a goggle search and found a treatment center that welcomes patients who have a grim prognosis. She got on a plane with her mom and she is receiving special treatment to cure her cancer and asking for prayers from friends and family. This is what I wrote her…

 

“Pardon this type message, but Susan says she can’t read my printing.

Yes, Phoenix is very warm, (it was 106 degrees) but the photo on this card is an image that I took in Oregon one week ago. It is Multnomah Falls, the most famous waterfalls in Oregon. However, unlike the thousands of IPhone shots of this waterfalls taken by tourists, I found a composition that I believe reflects a unique perspective that conveys hope and healing.

 

My hope is when you look upon this image, it will bring to mind and heart a cool and refreshing moment in which you can spend time with God bathing in His healing arms. Let’s call this photo: “Healing Waters.”

 

Know that you are protected by your guardian angel and that she will bring you much comfort and peace of body, mind, heart and soul.

 

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who are struggling with a cancer

In their life and in need of hope and healing.

 

Now let me share my “Healing Waters” photo and ask a favor. If you wouid like a 8x12 metal print, fully mounted with wire and hooks ready to display on a wall in your home or office, call or email and I will have this print mailed directly to your home. This would make a great holiday or “get well’ gift to someone your love.

 

Call Fr. Matt at 585-520-8650 or email: drmattkawiak@gmail.com