Is This a Good Time?

Sometimes, our friends say things that come across a little too harsh. A family member comments that our home smells like pet odor. We get annoyed and want to tell her to mind her own business or better yet tell her that she has no clue how to take care of her animals. Things quickly get out of control. When is it a good time to sit down with your soul mate, colleague or friend and have a candid conversation about things that really irk you?

Jesus was outraged when the moneychangers were milking the folks to pay the Temple tax. For him, it was the gouging, the exorbitant rates, the fleecing of the pilgrims that got to him. It was the holiest of places yet! The Temple had become a veritable mall of ATM’s, a circus of noise and transactions. Jesus was merely acting in the ways of the prophets of old. Prophetic anger is what Jesus was showing, outrage at what should be not, but was, God’s honor and God’s people should not be treated like that.

This incident tells us something about Jesus, and something about ourselves. I believe people are measured by what angers them. True, anger can be dangerous. But anger that leads to reform, transformation and making ourselves into the best version of who we can be be is a respectable and desirable emotion.

We are judged by what angers us and what does not. Anger can become the Lenten energy that motivates us and forms the basis of reflective questions for this season. Such as: We get angry if we get stalled behind a slow moving vehicle and miss the first episode of our favorite TV show. But are we angry over our unemployed neighbors, or our young people not getting subsidies to help with college? The massacre in Libya, the massive greed of corporate executives and our leaders in government.

Are we angry that our seniors will not get a cost-of-living increase this year? Over the graphic violence and lack of respect for women in the media, the corruption of sports, the growing chasm between the very rich and very poor?

Are we just merely disgusted, a feeling that stays within us, but really angry, that moves us into action? Are we angry over our own buying into the culture’s norm of success: high consumption, low reflection, fierce competition, and tepid cooperation? Are we angry over our selfishness and petty jealousies, our picayune lying and cheating, our lack of a generous spirit, our failure to develop a truly spiritual life?

I don’ t know if you ever looked at it this way before, but Lent might be the season to get angry enough to overturn old tables and set up new ones. Which new ones might we set up? Here’s a sample of my Monday's night's Lenten Penance Service Lenten reflection.

Love the things that are worth loving. Some things are not worth loving, like SUVs, trucks, celebrities, or our addiction to the “screen” meaning our computers, cell phones and plasmas, or flirting with a temptation that comes in all shapes and sizes, colors and prints. The things worth loving are family, faith, God, Jesus, friend, neglected kitties, dogs and horses.

Strive for integrity of character, meaning I will not do anything to compromise my integrity. I will not yell and scream at anyone, always have it my way or the highway, engage in self-destructive behavior like drinking, drugs, gambling and overusing my prescription medicines. I won’t cheat on exams or my income taxes. I won’t do anything to get ahead or gain the whole world at the expense of my soul.

Immanuel watches over us as we reflect: "Trust in him at all times; pour out your heart to him, for God is our refuge.” (Psalm 62:8).

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that you help surrender the anger that blinds us from your patient and understanding love. Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those you trespass against us and give us the insight to humbly turn ourselves over to you.

Mycorrhizae

Mycorrhizae are fungi. What is truly amazing is that these fungi help trees to grow healthy and strong. Think of mycorrhizae as tiny fibers that actually grow into the roots of trees. The tree roots and fungi become one. These fungi act as special assistants that creep into the soil particles and help the roots of the trees to absorb more water and nutrients.

On the other hand, fungi cannot make their own protein, but since the leaves of the trees are making sugars from photosynthesis, the sugars travel throughout the tree to its roots and the fungi get their protein. The fungus receives carbohydrates and vitamins from the tree and they reciprocate by breaking down the proteins in organic material that can be absorbed and utilized by the trees. The network of mycorrhizae in the soil vastly increases the potential surface area for absorption over and above the root’s own root hairs, so mycorrhizae are important in poor soils where mineral nutrients are hard to come by. So this Spring as you are planning to plant any trees into your garden, you can improve the health and growth of your plants by adding some mycorrhizae.

Our souls and personality are greatly enriched when we are connected to people that act like mycorrhizae who help us to grow in God’s love. Staying connected helps our spiritual roots to grow healthier and stronger. So who are the people in your life that help you spiritual roots grow in patience, generosity and forgiveness?

Staying connected to our older family members help us to appreciate our ancestral roots whose faith helped build our churches and schools in the past. Staying connected to family members who have endured great pain and struggles teach us to trust in God and persevere despite the crosses of life.

Our spiritual roots grow stronger if we stay connected with a faith community that worships and rallies together to reach out to families to bring hope and comfort to those who have lost their homes in foreclosure, lost a child to suicide or lost their faith because they no longer feel accepted by a faith community.

Staying connected to our spiritual mentors who teach us from our pulpits or monasteries a message of Jesus’ love that penetrates our stubborn hearts and helps our roots of faith renew themselves with the spirit of God’s love and forgiveness.

I am grateful to my social mentors who have enriched my life by sharing their gifts and talents with this apprentice priest. To my master floral designer, Michael; to my first photography teacher, Owen; to my fellow photo enthusiasts, Brandon, Glen and John, to my photo marketing team Ed, Bill, Lara, Lisa; to my horse trainers Judy in Vermont, Heather, Alto and to my bread baker, Chet.

The secret of a healthy spiritual garden is obvious, stay connected to people in our life who teach us how to pray humbly, walk joyfully and work diligently to bring God’s mercy and peace. Our roots will be energized and grow stronger this Lenten Season.Immanuel watches over us as we reflect: "They will be like a tree planted by the water that spends out roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:8).

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that you help us remember with gratitude the family, friends and neighbors who have helped our spiritual roots to grow healthy and strong. May we never take their gifts for granted. Bless them for their generosity, wisdom and support during our most difficult moments and many thanks for being present in our desperate hour.

Reflections

A few years ago researchers at Stanford investigated how college students multitasked. They assumed they did it much more effectively than older adults. The researchers expected to find highly tuned cognitive abilities that allowed effective multitasking. What they actually found was that the more people multitasked, the worse at it they were.

They were worse at identifying relevant information, more distractable, and more disorganized. They even became worse at what multitasking is supposed to help with: switching tasks seamlessly. Multitasking, they concluded, impairs one’s ability to think reflectively. Such reflection is about thinking long enough on a topic to weigh a number of ideas. That can’t be done in 30-second bytes while also updating a Facebook page, changing the playlist on an iPod, or watching the latest cute cat video on YouTube.

As we thaw from a brutal winter, I am designing my garden. It requires some thought on what native plants I want to blossom for floral designs in the future. As different varieties of plants blossom at different seasons of the year, we need to reflect on how we want to blossom this Lent.

I think we suffer, if not from multitasking itself, certainly from the spirit of multitasking. Like Martha in Luke 10:41-42a (“Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part.”), we become so distracted by the busyness of our lives that we do not make the time to think reflectively and prayerfully on our life and actions. It is not that we do not have the time. Of course we do. It is that we often lack the courage to live into such a prayerful and reflective relationship with God.

A traditional Lenten practice that we often neglect due to our multitasked, blackberried, and instant-messaged culture is reflection. As a gardener and floral designer who wants to use these blossoms to make beautiful bouquets, I need to reflect quietly on what I want to plant and grow. This morning take time to reflect on this Spring image of ice thawing in a creek and spent a quiet moment to reflecting on how God wants you to grow in the spirit of love this season.

We need to step back, gain perspective, listen to others, and spend time in solitude so we can think reflectively and prayerfully. Such reflective time is a necessary precursor to making our lives blossom. We must be able to think and see clearly before we can lead and act faithfully. In Mark 8:23-25, we read, “Jesus laid hands on the blind man and asked: ‘Can you see anything?’ And the man looked up and said, ‘I can see people, but they look like trees walking.’ Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he looked intently and his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.”

When we do not make the time for solitude so we can think reflectively and prayerfully, we often end up seeing “trees walking” and not the people, things, and circumstances of our lives that truly matter. Like with the blind man in the gospel, we need more time for Jesus to work on us, for the needed time to listen to the Holy Spirit in our daily prayers and in the prayers of our community.

Immanuel watches over us as we reflect: “For now we see only as a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12).

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that during this Season of Lent we make time to reflect and come to know your will so that all our daily tasks may truly reflect your wisdom and love.

Blossoming

What does it mean to blossom? For a plant, a tree, or a vegeatable, it’s the point at which a flower forms. What we sometimes forget in our love for flowers is that it is really just a stage of growth that leads to pollination, and thus bearing fruit.

Blossoming could be compared to that part of our youth when we found our soul mates and produce our fruits and thus our little seeds (children!). But more often it seems as if there should be many blossoming moments in our lives, when the conditions are right for us to burst from our tight buds and become our most beautiful best selves.

Too often, we find ourselves consumed by petty irritations, conflicts, frustrations, and angers. Each of these might be small in itself but, cumulatively, they take the sunshine and delight out of our lives, like mosquitoes spoiling a picnic. Instead of feeling grateful, gracious, and magnanimous, we feel paranoid, fearful, and irritable and we end up acting out of a cold, irritated, paranoid part of ourselves rather than out of our real selves.

Why do we do that? Because we are asleep (a long, brutal winter does this to people) to who and what we really are, and we are asleep in two ways.When St. Luke describes Jesus’ agony in the garden, he tells us that after Jesus had undergone a powerful drama, sweating blood so as to give his life over in love, he turned to his disciples (who were supposed to be watching and praying with him) and found them asleep. However he uses a curious expression to describe why they were asleep. They were asleep, he says, not because they were tired and it was late, but they were asleep “out of sheer sorrow”.

That says a couple of things: First, that the disciples are asleep out of depression. Depression is what is preventing them from seeing straight. But they are also asleep to what is deepest inside of them, namely, that they carry the image and likeness of God. Jesus was not asleep to that and, because of this awareness, was able precisely to be big of heart.

As a people of God we believe that what ultimately defines us and gives us our dignity is the image and likeness of God inside us. This is our deepest identity, our real self. Inside each of us there is a piece of divinity, a god or goddess, a person who carries an inviolable dignity, with a heart as big as God’s.

And so it is in a garden. Think about it: What are the conditions we humans need to blossom? Just like plants, we need good nutrition, clean water and tender are. We need sunshine and darkness (good rest). We need to be planted in the right place to optimize our happiness. And once we do blossom, we need the pollinators and the people to enjoy and appreciate our beauty.

In our spiritual garden we need to awake to our great dignity, the Imago Dei inside each of us, is meant to be a center from which we can draw vision, grace, and strength to act in a way that, ironically, precisely helps us to swallow our pride and blossom.

Immanuel watches over us as we reflect: “The desert and the parched land will be glad or Western New York version (The snow covered streets and frozen earth will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus,” (Isaiah 35:1).

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that during this Season of Lent we feel ourselves about to blossom, knowing that something is happening inside of us because we are in touch that we “come from God and going back to God.” It’s like spiritual pollination, bringing joy, understanding, forgiveness and love, beyond wound, irritation, and the knowledge that’s it’s good to be alive because the spirit of the divine dwells within me.

Learn from the Wild Flowers

It’s Sunday morning and grandma is playing with her 5-year-old granddaughter on the living room carpet. This little one’s mom is also present listening carefully to her mother’s advice on getting the best educational resources for her daughter. It appears I am in the room of a living miracle. Our “little one” had a missing chromosome that the doctors said would result in a child who would never speak or walk. The early years of her life required feeding tubes and a host of complicated medical procedures. Yet, this morning with the love of her parents and family and a determined grandmother who never quits this child has the ability to walk, speaks and even swims like a fish. Sometimes grandmothers are God’s gift to us when our burdens seem too heavy.

God wants to help you with your burdens. Now, no doubt you know that. I know that. But last week I found myself in a situation where I was not letting God carry my burden. I had "given it to Him" with mental ascent, but actually I had taken it back right after I had given it to Him.

Does this sound familiar with you? This morning I like you to remember the words Jesus said, "Come unto me all of you who are laboring and are heavy laden and I will give you rest." (Matt. Ll: 28)

I don’t know why it is, but when faced with some heavy situations I say, "God, well you have told me to bring my burdens to you, so here they are. (And I would list 5 or 6.) Then I get up from my chair and walk to the door.....free? NO. Why because I find myself "chained to them" I have "tied them" to my very being. So, in fact, I lied to Jesus when I told him I was leaving my burdens with him. How could Jesus take care of them when I, as if it were, "pulled" them away from his loving tender strong arms?

So, I have found myself much like the farmer who was going along the country road in his buckboard when he overtook a fellow who was walking - with great difficulty - with a very heavy bundle. He asked the man if he wanted a ride and if so, hop in. The traveler got into the buckboard, sat down very tired and put his heavy bundle in his lap. "I'm caring you," said the farmer, but "you are still carrying your burden."

Jesus our burden bearer has asked us to come to him with our cares, yet we fail to do so. We suffer - spiritually, physically. Let us throw it all on Him - be free of that which plagues us with fear and torment.

Immanuel watches over us as we reflect: " Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them. If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you…” (Matthew 6:28-30).

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that they be set free from the burdens that weigh them down. Let them give to you that which has been a concern so that they can straighten up in you...load free.

Heaven's Language of Love

Last Sunday, I witnessed the baptism of three miracle babies. Trevor, Emma and Ella were born pre-mature and struggled in the early hours of life to survive. But with lots of prayers and blessings and the gifts of a brilliant medical team they are all thriving as they received the waters of everlasting life at their baptism.

Their young mother described her delight in watching her new babies awake to more awareness. Her words: “They are all beautiful. Each baby is starting to vocalize a bit and smiles a lot when we talk to them.” This morning, while her five year-old son was having breakfast, he looked into Trevor’s eyes and said: ‘Are you talking to me?’ Little Trevor replied with something that sounded like ‘yeah!’ His brother was so excited - ‘Mommy, he talked!’ Mom didn’t have the heart to tell him that it was just a random utterance.”

Now this is a wonderful image, I believe, to describe what it will be like for each of us when we are born again into heaven. The maternal side of God will be looking us in the eyes, smiling, and trying to coax a smile and some words out of us, but we will be a bit too overwhelmed and underdeveloped to speak.

Heaven is going to be wonderful, no doubt. I believe we will wake up in heaven, like an infant again, too overwhelmed to speak, needing to be coaxed into a new language and a new consciousness by God’s smile.

We will have to try to learn the language of God’s stillness and divine quiet, in our own way. For me, walking in two feet of snow in quiet woods brings me into focus with this stillness. Perhaps it might be through your intimate relationships in your family, where words become superfluous; or perhaps a parent’s exhaustion changing the diapers of your triplets, or it will be in our loneliness and solitude, where silence breaks through both so painfully and peacefully; or maybe it will be through the very tediousness of our daily tasks, where burdens often reduce us to silence. There are many ways of learning divine silence and all of them are good.

Jesus told us that each of us needs to be born twice, once from below and once from above. We need also to be taught twice how to speak. Our mothers once gave us birth, from below, and they also coaxed, cajoled, and lured us into speech. Each of us has a “mother-tongue.”

Our second birth, our rebirth, our birth from above, will, I suspect, be somewhat similar. There will be time of having to leave the womb, the familiar, this life, and then a lonely journey down an unwanted birth canal into the greatest of all unknowns. Light, love, and community will greet us upon arrival. However it will be somewhat overwhelming, beyond language and imagination. We will be too stunned to speak, but God’s smile will awaken within us a smile and evoke from us something that sounds like a “yeah!”

Immanuel watches over us as we reflect: "What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him.” (1Cor 2:9).

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who are leaving the womb of this life. May their journey into the unknown be filled with loving family and friends at their side. Too stunned to speak, may God’s smile wipe away all our fears and from our lips a sound like a “yeah” that proclaims our faith and endless joy.

Healing Silence

My assignment was to take an image that portrays silence. Walking through a foot of snow as the flakes were gently drifting to the ground was a moment of grace and sheer exhaustion. I wonder if the path to silence entails a journey in which we are so exhausted by the demands of life that we simply “fall still.”

As I meander through the woods following the trail of the deer I come upon a creek winding through the forest. The snow has covered the banks of the water and I need to be watchful so that I do not put my foot into the freezing water.

It is absolutely still. The snow continues to accumulate on the ground and create a tapestry of beauty on the rocks and limbs below that have fallen into the creek. It is a moment to simply watch and listen to the silence. Even put the camera down for a moment and allow the surrounding beauty to heal the wounds of busyness.

Perhaps, this is what it means to commune with the Lord. To empty oneself from all our worries that make us tense throughout the day and allow our bodies and souls to drink in this healing silence.

There has been a lot on our minds that stretch us to our limits. The fear is that we will break under all this tension and our hearts and bodies will become weak and ill under this stress.

Now is a moment to find our balance, to humbly come before the Lord and surrender our despair and allow God’s grace found in this cold and desolate place to heal the wounds of all our despair.

O Blessed are you who are poor… O Blessed are you who mourn… for in these moments when we can easily become bitter and cynical- maybe even throw in the towel, Our Lord shows us another way.

In this silence, we find the Truth and Peace that we have been searching for in our life. Only in Jesus can we live the Beatitudes that are hard lessons but the path to peace. Jesus came to keep justice and mercy, truth and peace together. He came to save us.

And this morning in silence, in this snow-covered museum of cold and ice, we find a path where we find our balance, renewed energy and a spirit that can make our fragile and weak spirits strong again.

Immanuel watches over us as we reflect: "People listened to me expectantly. Waiting in silence for my counsel. (Job 29:21).

Lord, I pray for all my Sunshine Friends that in this silent moment we find the Jesus who comes to breathe a sign of relief and a moment to heal all our fears with his tender love and quiet peace.

It's Hard to Measure Up

Sometimes, it’s just hard to measure up.

I realize that it was simply impossible for a human being to be and remain good or pure. If, for instance, I wanted to be attentive in one direction, it could only be at the cost of neglecting another. If I gave my heart to one thing, it left another in the cold. No day and no hour go by without my being guilty of inadequacy. We never do enough, and what we do is never well enough done, except being inadequate, which we are good at because that is the way we are made.This is true of me and of everyone else. I am constantly catching myself feeling inadequate and falling short of my expectations. It sounds strange that we should be guilty where we can do nothing about it.

Henri Nouwen expressed similar feelings: There is a nagging sense that there are unfinished tasks, unfulfilled promises, and unrealized proposals. There is always something else that we should have remembered, done, or said. There are always people we did not speak to, write to, or visit. Thus, although we are very busy, we also have a lingering feeling of never really fulfilling our obligations. A gnawing sense of being unfulfilled underlies our filled lives.

Last week, I thanked a man who went out of his way to help me and he replied to pray for this “heathen.” In other words, he did not feel comfortable coming to church because he was acutely aware of his imperfections. What he didn’t realize was that people who come to church are acutely aware that we simply do not measure up to God’s expectations. Why is this?

At the end of the day, we cannot measure up and cannot not disappoint others and ourselves. The fault is not that we are not sincere or that we do not put out the effort. The fault is that we are human. We have limited resources, get tired, experience feelings we cannot control, have only 24 hours in our day, have too many demands on us, have wounds and weaknesses that shackle us, and thus know exactly what St. Paul meant when he said: Woe, to me, wretch that I am, the good I want to do, I cannot do; and the evil I want to avoid, I end up doing!

What I want you to realize is that despite our inability to measure up we need to be a people of hope with renewed energy in our lives. In case you did not realize it, to be human is to be inadequate. Only God is adequate and the rest of us can safely say to ourselves: Fear not you who are inadequate! For God who made us this way surely gives us the slack, the forgiveness, and the grace we need to work with this.

The key to be fully human is to accept our imperfections, our congenital inadequacy, which can bring us to a healthy humility and perhaps even to a healthy humor about it.

But it should bring us to something more: prayer, especially the Eucharist.

I try to celebrate Eucharist every day. I do this because I am a priest and part of the covenant a priest makes with the church at his ordination is to pray the priestly prayer of Jesus, the Eucharist and the Liturgy of the Hours, regularly for the world. But I do it too, more personally, for another reason: The older I get, the less confident, in some ways, I am becoming. I don't always know whether I'm following Christ properly or even know exactly what it means to follow Christ, and so I stake my faith on an invitation that Jesus left us on the night before he died: To break bread and drink wine in his memory and to trust that this, if all else is uncertain, is what we should be doing while we wait for him to return.

Immanuel watches over us as we reflect: "Do not be angry beyond measure, Lord; do not remember our sins forever. Oh, look on us, we pray, for we are all your people.” (Isaiah 64:9).

Lord, I pray for all my Sunshine Friends that they may realize that despite our imperfections our God reaches out to make us his children who shine like the stars.

Take a Breath

The other day, while driving on the expressway in the snow, I suddenly felt a strong pain in my abdomen like a knot. Since December 1^st, we have been dumped with record amounts of snow except for one brief melt. I must have had a lot of stress that day for here I was having a painful, panic attack while driving on another miserable snowy day.

So, I started to slowly breathe. Yes, we do not breathe when we are experiencing lots of tension. We literally hold our breath. We tend to tense up inside and hold our breath when facing a situation that we feel out of control.

So like a good strudent, I tell myself, yes I also talk to myself and say to: breathe, slowly, calmly. This exercise is called the Relaxation Response and it helps to relieve the pain and fear. I’m slowly breathing in through my nose, taking a moment to hold the breath and slowly exhale like blowing a kiss. As I exhale, I might add a word or phase that helps to keep me calm, “God, give me strength.”

This anxious moment did cause me to reflect upon the Word of God which says, "Be strong and of good courage; be not afraid neither be dismayed; for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." (Joshua1:6).

What does that have to do with having knots in your stomach when driving on slippery roads? If, according to the Word, a sparrow can not fall to the ground without God knowing it, then that means I have the attention of the Almighty. And driving on icy roads in which I feel that I about to lose control of the wheel is cause for me to have God’s attention.

So, if God is aware of me, then I should be of good courage. God is with you, my friend, right now - where you are. Driving to work on another snowy morning, taking your medicine for a cold, battling a life-threatening disease, or starting over again after a lost of a job or relationship.

No matter where you are, or who are you, God has assured you of His presence. It is true, no matter how high one goes in the sky, or how deep one goes in the ocean, one can't get away from God.

So be of good courage. Be not afraid of the difficulties that are in your life, or the trial through which you are going. Things might really be bad, but please acknowledge God with you. You have a friend in Him.

Immanuel watches over us as we reflect: "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. (Psalm 150:6).

Lord, I pray for all my Sunshine Friends that they be especially blessed and be given great reassurance. May they know of your concern over them. May they never be forgotton. Because if you know of the fallen sparrow, you certainly know about this special, dear one.

Just Let Loose

A Sonshine Friend shared this frightening story about his experience during our recent snowstorms. He was traveling on 104 when he lost control of his truck on black ice. The truck began to spin out of control, not once but three times around. He remembers seeing this ditch, then guard rails and then he feared the cars that were behind him had no way to stop before they would crash into his spinning vehicle. He admitted to me that he had never been so scared in his life. But the hand of God must have been on his shoulder because his truck stayed on the road, never went into any ditch and finally came to a stop in the middle of 104.

What he did not know at the time was that a New York State trooper witnessed the entire spin and slowed all the traffic behind the truck. The trooper was most kind in that he came to the rescue of our frightened driver and shared that he had thought for certain the truck was going to turn over and spin out into the ditch. This trooper slowed the traffic behind our driver so that no one would hit him from behind.

Without a doubt, he prayed in gratitude to God for protecting him and saving him from a serious injury or worse.He recalled that as he was spinning out of control the first time, he tried to steer the wheels but it was no use. He suddenly just “let go of the steering wheel.” When he finally let go of the steering wheel, the truck spun for two more times and ended safely in the middle of the road.

You might be going through your own “slippery experience.” We need to constantly remind ourselves that there is a God who is always underneath us with everlasting arms.

Immanuel watches over us as we reflect: "You have a mighty arm: Strong is your hand and high is your right hand.” (Psalm 89:13).

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that they may let loose of that which they are holding on. The difficulties, the problems, the tensions can be released. May they be encouraged to turn loose and fall into your everlasting arms. May they hold less and less onto their situation, and more and more onto you. In you is their hope.

New Year House Blessing

In doing some reading about the Feast of the Epiphany, I like to encourage a custom of unknown origin that is often mentioned in connection with this day of celebration: the blessing and chalking of the house. Many versions of the ceremony that I’ve come across include these elements.

The reciting of a blessing upon the house (or other dwelling) and those who inhabit it.

The blessing of a piece of chalk that is then used to write a formula above the entry of the house. The formula incorporates the current year with the initials of the wise men (whose names are not recorded in scripture but were given by tradition as Caspar [or Gaspar], Melchior, and Balthasar). This coming Epiphany, it would be written this way:

20 + C + M + B + 11

Some folks note that “C M B” can also stand for “Christus Mansionem Benedicat,” which means “May Christ bless this dwelling.”) This chalking is followed by the sprinkling of the door with holy water.

Like the Magi who brought their gifts to the dwelling place of Jesus, I invite you to imagine the coming year as a house—a space in time that is opening itself to all of us. How will we inhabit the coming year? How will we enter it with mindfulness and with intention? How will we move through the rooms of the coming months in a way that brings blessing to this world?

With these questions in mind, I offer this blessing for you.

The Year as a House: A Blessing

Think of the year as a house: door flung wide in welcome, threshold swept and waiting,
a graced spaciousness opening and offering itself to you.

Let it be blessed in every room. Let it be hallowed in every corner. Let every nook be a refuge and every object set to holy use.

Let it be here that safety will rest. Let it be here that health will make its home. Let it be here that peace will show its face. Let it be here that love will find its way.

Here let the weary come let the aching come let the lost come let the sorrowing come.

Here let them find their rest and let them find their soothing and let them find their place
and let them find their delight.

And may it be in this house of a year that the seasons will spin in beauty, and may it be
in these turning days that time will spiral with joy. And may it be that its rooms will fill
with ordinary grace and light spill from every window to welcome the stranger home.

Immanuel watches over us as we reflect: "How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty.” (Psalm 84:1).

Lord I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that their homes may be a welcoming place for family and strangers. Wherever you make your home, may it be blessed, and may you enter this Epiphany and the coming year in peace.

Imagine

The good news for this week is that the world is changed and saved when God the Son comes down here. “Immanuel, which means, ‘God with us.”

Yes, that’s it.

God with us.

God with us in all our flesh-and-blood complaints and messiness. “Christ among the pots and pans” as Teresa of Avila put it. Christ among the barn animals, our dogs and kitties, our horses and cows, and then those quirky magi astrologers and then all the rest of the Gospel’s curious cast of characters.

God with us.

God with the prostitutes and the lepers and the outcast in whose company Jesus would delight again and again. God at the dinner table with a chive stuck between his incisors. God lifting the cup of wine to his lips.

God with us.

God with the little children whose warm brows he touched and blessed. God smiling when a baby was shown to him by a proud new mother. God with us in all our ordinary times and days. God with us, as Jesus would say to bookend Matthew’s gospel, even unto the end of the ages.

Always. With us. Immanuel.

Immanuel is God-with-us in the cancer clinic and at the local nursing home where bodies slump pitifully in wheelchairs pushed up against the hallway walls. Immanuel is God-with-us when the pink slip comes and when the beloved child sneers, "I hate you!"

Immanuel is God-with-us when you pack the Christmas decorations away and, with an aching heart, you realize afresh that your one child never did call over the holidays. Not once.

Immanuel is God-with-us when your dear wife or mother stares at you with an Alzheimer's glaze and absently asks, "What was your name again, dear?"

Ever and always Jesus stares straight into you with his two good eyes and he does so not only when you can smile back but most certainly also when your own eyes are full of tears. In fact, Jesus is Immanuel, "God with you" even in those times when you are so angry with God that you refuse to meet his eyes. But even when you feel like you can't look at him, he never looks away from you. He can't. His name says it all.

Immanuel watches over us as we reflect: "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." (Isaiah 9:6).

Lord I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that on Christmas Day we may know that you have come, just as promised. My Christmas blessings to all of you for your prayers and support throughout the year. May Immanuel bring you peace and joy.

Stop Your Complaining

I’m walking into a cable company store to drop off my router and cancel my account. Inside the door, this company has a sign that tells you to press a button, take a ticket and wait.

Waiting for customer service is not one of my strengths. It ranks as “very annoying” and high on my list of complaints. At the counter are five stations in which only three have someone waiting on customers. I notice when one customer had finished, the agent started to mark some papers instead of calling the next number. More waiting. Being ignored also ranks high on my list of complaints. Now only two reps are waiting on customers. Suddenly from the back room, an agent appears at the counter and calls a number. Unfortunately, the other agent leaves her station and we’re back to two servers. Put this compliant on my list. Whenever customer service puts you on hold or worse the phone line gets disconnected—now that’s really annoying.

We are a nation of complainers. Being inconvenienced really stretches our endurance, our patience and respect for people. We need to give ourselves a little pep talk, and tell ourselves that there are far worse injustices being perpetuated around the world, and calmly calm ourselves down. We need to get back into our cars and cool off.

As a photographer, did you ever notice the difference in colors between Advent and Lent. The crimson-purple of advent is not the black-purple of lent. The former symbolizes yearning and longing, the latter repentance. The spirituality of advent is not about repentance, but about carrying tension without prematurely resolving it so that what’s born in us and in our world does not short-circuit the fullness that comes from respecting love’s rhythms.

The crimson-purple is about waiting and how well we hold up in situations not in our control. We look forward to the birth of the Savior, but there’s a tension and pain and lessons to be learned in the waiting period. To reach the sublime moment of Christmas peace, we need to surrender our petty annoyances that reflect our intolerance and criticism of people.

What helps change this selfish attitude is precisely the tension in our lives. In carrying properly our unfulfilled desires we sizzle and slowly let go of the dampness of selfishness. In carrying tension we come to kindling temperature and are made ready for love. Sizzling in tension, not resolving things prematurely. The sublime has to be waited for. Only when there is first enough heat will there be unity. To give birth to what’s divine requires the slow patience of gestation.

Think of how long God has waited for us to come away from our thoughtless, selfish complaints and embraced a spirit that oozes with empathy and forgiveness for customer service folks required to work on holidays and 3am in the morning.

Advent gives us another chance to learn to better handle those waiting moments in our life. When we realize that we have nothing to complain about, we focus our energy on being more compassionate people.

Jesus watches over us as we reflect: “Those who are wayward in spirit will gain understanding; those who complain will accept instruction.”(Isaiah 29:24).

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who have been routed to the far corners of the earth. May our time on hold make us a better people and respond when service comes back online, “thanks for you time, you’re the best.”

Do Something Religious

Some folks were afloat in a hot air balloon, touring the countryside hundreds of feet about the ground. They ooohhed and ahhhhed and were having a swell time. Cars appeared to be toys, humans looked like tiny figures, Introductions were done informally and one of the passengers happened to be a priest. Unfortunately the young lad in charge of the balloon didn’t instill confidence in the paying customers.

The balloon suddenly lost elevation. The problem could have been a faulty burner, or an unexpected gust of wind. The captain of this ship panics and he appears to no idea what to do, but all is well within a few seconds. Nonetheless everyone’s anxious and agitated. One of the passengers blurts out to the priest, “Do something religious!” “Should I take up an offering?” father says.

I love that silly punch line. Everyone in church laughed when I told this story. Do something religious. Do what? Pray? Cry aloud for God’s help? Bless or curse the fickle burner? Hey, why not pass the offering plate?

On Friday, as I was leaving my office, a lady in the handicapped parking spot opened her door and shouted, “Can you fix my car, it won’t start.” My immediate response in my head was that I’m no mechanic. Do something religious, humbly meant to ask what was the problem. She said her steering wheel wouldn’t turn when she tried to turn the ignition key. I got inside her car, inserted the key, and jiggled her steering wheel and the car turned on immediately. She was delighted and gave me thumbs up as she got inside her car and drove away. Do something religious might simply mean to jiggle your neighbor’s steering wheel.

Today, as we celebrate the feast of All Saints, I will offer Mass for the 500 names that were emailed to my attention. Do something religious means to pray for these special family members and friends. It meant getting up at 5 in the morning to cut and paste your email and more important to remember in thanksgiving the spirit and faith of these important people you wished to be remembered with God’s care and eternal love.

Do something religious, might be to give a special tour of your new floral shop to a lady physically challenged in her wheelchair. Or, the friend who comes to clean your furnace for the winter, or the neighbor who borrows their sander. It is the friend who flies back from a Denver hospital with her best friend diagnosed with cancer. It’s the person who drives you to your doctor’s appointment or the therapist who tells you not to lose hope in your new job search. It’s the farmer who finds the cap and puts it on his neighbor’s water well or the builder who goes beyond the call of duty and builds a masterpiece.

Do something religious. Say the rosary? Make a novena? Volunteer at the homeless shelter? Or, when the treat or treaters come to your door in the snow, you offer a treat to the parents with a warm cup of cocoa.

Jesus watches over us as we reflect: “He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.” Psalm 25: 9.

Lord, I promise to pray for all my Sonshine Friends who daily do something religious by offering their time and gifts to those in need to bring your joy, peace and love.

I Want to Go Home

I want to go home is the prayer of all prisoners who suffer the indignity of confinement. A Sonshine friend has persevered in the hope that his appeal would win back his freedom. However, to the shock of his parents and friends, his appeal was denied.

I wanted to let this young man know that his family and friends cannot even imagine his disappointment and frustration. However, he will never be forgotten and we would never give up the fight to bring him home. So, I decided to take the five-hour trip to the prison near Saranac Lake to offer our support and friendship. Once again, I called upon the hospitality of St. Bernard’s Parish and found Fr. Mark the new pastor to be a generous host. He informed me that a new chaplain has been appointed to the prison and that this young priest would be attending a gathering in the rectory when I arrive.

As I pulled into the rectory parking lot, I received a phone call from our inmate’s mom that he had literally just hung up on his mother. She managed to tell him that a visitor was coming from Rochester to see him and this sent him into a rage in which he told his mother that he never wanted to see anyone and hung up the phone. “I don’t know what to tell you,” this mom cried.

Yes, there are times no words can express our darkness and despair. A justice process that has failed to show him mercy outraged this young man. Despite the diligent efforts of his appeal attorney, he would be confined for many years with no hope of an early release. The reality of this decision was sinking in and he just wanted to be left alone. I’m not turning back I say to this mother and I told myself I will humbly go to visit him in the morning and let God take care of the rest.

That evening, I met our new young chaplain and shared the story of our young inmate. We exchanged contact numbers and told him that this young man is loved very much by his family and friends and would he please bring that message to his cell from us.

At 7am, I am signed-in at the prison’s visitor shelter waiting to be called in for the visit. A bus from New York City pulls in with a dozen women and children who had come to visit their fathers and dads. The visiting room was like a childcare center with babies crying and kids running around the room with their toys. Finally, my number was called and I marched through a series of locked gates. The guards were pleasant and greeted me kindly. I was escorted to a table in the back to wait for our young friend. A few minutes went by and I noticed the guard walking in my directions. His only words, “The inmate has refused to see any visitors.” As I was escorted out the door. I was not shocked or angry, just sad to not be able to tell him that I love him. I heard a guard whisper under his breath to his colleagues that I had come all the way from Rochester.

Someone shared with me over the weekend that I had actually given this young man a wonderful gift. They were aware that prisoners have no rights and must do as they are told everyday throughout their sentence. The only thing they have in their control is the ability to say “No” to a visit. It offered some dignity to the person who has suffered so much indignity. If this was God’s will for me to make this drive to show him that his parents and friends love him then “let it be done according to your will Lord.” I do not understand and neither do his parents why their son must endure such a painful sentence. We struggle to understated why God has allowed this man to suffer this indignity. His parents ask your prayers to give them wisdom on what their next steps should be to help release their son.

As I drove home, I allowed God to speak to my broken heart through nature. I took a series of photos that I hope would offer inspiration and solace to the heaviness I carried home. At this precise moment, I recall these words from the cross: “My God, My God why have you abandoned me.” Even Our Lord had his moments.

With faith that leads to courage, let us pray for one another when we are confronted by an experience that makes no sense. When we feel that our prayers have fallen on deaf ears. When I was taking photos on the way home, I felt that God was trying to help me to heal and ask that you take a deep look into this journey home that became a true healing experience for me. I love this verse that beautifully expresses what God wants us to do in moments of despair.

Jesus watches over us as we reflect: “For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back.” (Isaiah 54:7).

Lord, I promise to pray for all my Sunshine Friends who feel abandoned in their trials. May the compassionate hand of God take us by the shoulders and allow our tears to fall so that hope and courage may take hold and bring us back to you.

May the Dear Lord Bless You

It was mommy’s birthday and the kids found a birthday cake with her favorite crème icing. This mom had reason to be grateful. A routine medical checkup found cancer that is being treated and a follow-up procedure hopes to keep this miserable disease in remission. However, she was anxious about her mother who was taken to the hospital on her birthday. Later in the day, she learned that the kid’s grandma‘s cancer had returned with a vengeance.

Grandma told her daughter to take the grandkids to Disney World and enjoy a few days in the sun and not to worry. At my suggestion, mom skipped mouseland and we took her kids on a thrilling airboat ride into Alligator Cove in Florida. The kids got to see Florida no one ever sees anymore. There were gators, eagles, “I-bends” better known as egrets, and real cows grazing in the marshes.

As all moms do, she mustered the courage to let her kids celebrate her birthday despite her fears about their grandmom. We held hands around the table and prayed to Jesus to take care of grandma. You could see the tired and worried look on her face. Then her beautiful children sang Happy Birthday. Suddenly after the last refrain, I believe an angel entered the room and whispered this message into the heart of her son when he immediately popped up and said that there’s a second verse to Happy Birthday. A little stunned, we sat in silence and awe as this choir boy on earth sang these sweet words: “May the dear Lord bless you, May the dear Lord bless you mommy! May the dear Lord bless you.”

His words pierced an anxious and aching heart. His tender voice and healing message was like a soothing balm for a troubled soul. Needless to say, mommy reached over the table and gave her son a hug, then she squeezed her daughter and I could see her holding back a tear. I can only imagine that her birthday wish was an urgent plea to God to save her dear mom and keep their grandma safe.

There are moments when no words can express the sorrow and pain. We look for answers but we shed only tears. This “little one” was blessed with a sacred revelation. His song came from the heart of Jesus. A sign that God indeed hears our desperate prayers. I can still hear his sweet voice as he sang with all his heart to his mommy these words: “May the dear Lord bless you.”

Jesus watches over us as we reflect: “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And he who was seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new.” (Revelations 21: 4-5).

Lord, I promise to pray for all my Sonshine Friends who feel the shroud of death and despair. Help us to surrender our fear and allow the voice of Jesus to pierce our darkness with words of courage and hope that he indeed will make all things new. May the Dear Lord Bless You!

All Will Be Well

I have the privilege of working with college students at Brockport as their chaplain. They have a zest for life and an energy and color that I can only envy. But inside of all this zest and energy, I notice that they lack hope because they do not have the spirit vision. They do not have a big story, a big vision, that can give them perspective beyond the ups and downs of their everyday lives. When their health, relationships, and lives are going well, they feel happy and full of hope; but the reverse is also true. When things aren’t going well the bottom falls out of their world. They don’t have anything to give them a vision beyond the present moment.

In essence, what I am describing might be called “the peace that this world can give us.” In his farewell discourse, Jesus contrasts two kinds of peace: a peace that he leaves us and a peace that the world can give us. What is the difference?

The peace that the world can give to us is not a negative or a bad peace. It is real and it is good, but it is fragile and inadequate. It is fragile because it can easily be taken away from us. Peace, as we experience it ordinarily in our lives, is generally predicated on feeling healthy, loved, and secure. But all of these are fragile. They can change radically with one visit to the doctor, with an unexpected dizzy spell, with sudden chest pains, with the loss of a job, with the rupture of a relationship, with the suicide of a loved one, or with multiple kinds of betrayal that can blindside us. We try mightily to take measures to guarantee health, security, and the trustworthiness of our relationships, but we live with a lot of anxiety, knowing these are always fragile. We live inside an anxious peace.

What Jesus offers is a peace that is not fragile, that is already beyond fear and anxiety, that does not depend upon feeling healthy, secure, and loved in this world. What is this peace?

At the last supper and as he was dying, Jesus offered us his gift of peace. And what is this? It is the absolute assurance the we are connected to the source of life in such a way that nothing, absolutely nothing, can ever sever - not bad health, not betrayal by someone, indeed, not even our own sins. We are unconditionally loved and held by the source of life itself and nothing can change that. Nothing can change God’s unconditional love for us.

If that is true, and it is, then we have an assurance of life, wholeness, and happiness beyond the loss of youth, the loss of health, the loss of reputation, the betrayal of friends, the suicide of a loved one, and even beyond our own sin and betrayals. In the end, as Julian of Norwich says, all will be well, and all will be well, and every manner of being will be well.

Jesus watches over us as we reflect: “I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.” Psalm 4:8).

Lord, I promise to pray for all my Sonshine Friends whose peace is fragile and anxious. When feeling broken, listen in your heart to Our Lord's promise that says: "I leave you a peace that no one can take from you." Know that in your worse fears, I hold you unconditionally close to my heart.