Tender Love

Imagine four persons in a room: The first is a powerful dictator who rules a country. His word commands armies and his shifting moods intimidate subordinates. He wields a brutal power. Next to him sits a gifted athlete at the peak of his physical prowess, a man whose quickness and strength have few equals. His skills are a graceful power for which he is much admired and envied. The third person is a rock star whose music and charisma can electrify an audience and fill a room with a soulful energy. Her face is on billboards and she is a household name. That's still another kind of power. Finally, we have a newborn, a baby, lying in its crib, seemingly without any power or strength whatsoever, unable to even ask for what it needs. Which of these is ultimately the most powerful?

The irony is that the baby ultimately wields the greatest power. The athlete could crush it, the dictator could kill it, and the rock star could out-glow it in sheer dynamism, but the baby has a different kind of power. It can touch hearts in a way that a dictator, an athlete, or a rock star cannot. Its innocent, wordless presence, without physical strength, can transform a room and a heart in a way that guns, muscle, and charisma cannot. We watch our language and actions around a baby, less so around athletes and rock stars. The powerlessness of a baby touches us at a deeper moral place.

This is the way we find and experience God's power here on earth, sometimes to our great frustration, and this is the way that Jesus was deemed powerful during his lifetime. The Gospels make this clear, from beginning to end. Jesus was born as a baby, powerless, and he died hanging helplessly on a cross with bystanders mocking his powerlessness. Yet both his birth and his death reveal the kind of power upon which we can ultimately build our lives.

This is not an easy concept to grasp since our idea of power is normally rooted in the notion that power lies in the ability to overwhelm, not underwhelm, others. And yet we understand this, at least somewhat, in our experience of babies, who can overpower us precisely by their powerlessness. Around a baby, every mother and father and grandparent has learned, we not only watch our language and try not to have bitter arguments; we also try to be better, more loving persons. Metaphorically, a baby has the power to do an exorcism. It can cast out the demons of self-absorption and selfishness in us. That's why Jesus could cast out certain demons that others could not.

Blessed are you who have suffered the violence of others in this world. Women who have been abused, workers robbed of their integrity in the workplace, children who have been abandoned. All who felt he power of rejection and misunderstanding to someone’s advantage. How should we respond to those moments?

That is what I am going to do, says Jesus. I am going to say “I love you,” to my Father. I will do it by undergoing insults and humiliating death because I love God above these things. And I love the world, everything that is in it. And I love you, with the fullness and warmth and generosity of God’s everlasting love.

God is walking with us this morning when we pray: “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.” (Proverbs 11:2).

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who are “bowed down” feeling shame or disgrace. Let us find the grace of humility to raise us up beyond our worst fears and live in God’s everlasting love.

The First Children's Homily

The first children’s homily that Jesus ever taught came at a moment when he finds his disciples arguing about one of those things that do not matter, not in the family of God, anyway. They have been fussing and fighting over which one is the greatest.

It is particularly ironic and disappointing that they are arguing about this right after Jesus has told them that as the messiah he will have to suffer and die for the world, and that as his followers they will need to “deny self and take up a cross” as well. He presents them with a model of complete helplessness and weakness and they respond by contending for positions of power and influence. In other words, they don't get it.

Jesus overheard their arguing and called them on it, asking them "what were you talking about?" And they were silent. They couldn't answer him.  

 
I imagine Jesus taking a deep breath, sighing and with a somewhat forced smile, saying, "Come here y’all, sit down, let's talk. Let me see if I can find a better way to explain this to you."

He proceeded to talk about how whoever wants to be first must be last and a servant of everyone. Then, he invented the children's sermon, complete with an actual child as the object in the object lesson. Jesus reached into the crowd and pulled a child, probably a toddler, into the room. Then he said,  “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me, but the one who sent me.”

One of the joys I miss in ministry is taking “Spinach” into the classroom or church on First Friday’s and presenting a “children’s homily.” Spinach is a puppet I received from a teacher to help me share stories about God’s love for his children. A green, odd-looking creature with big loving eyes, the kids “did get it” for they would cheer whenever I brought Spinach along to teach them about Jesus. These kids have grown up with children of their own, but I am amazed when they ask: “Where’s Spinach?”

It is interesting to note that the Greek words for child and servant have the same root and that Jesus used both of these images; child and servant, as symbols of who the messiah is and who we, the followers of Jesus, are called to be in the world. Children and servants, powerless and defenseless ones, that's us.

The essence of Spinach was a humble spirit, voiceless, yet full of love for Jesus. He welcomed all the children and made every child feel great because he taught that everybody can be great because everybody can serve.

God is walking with us this morning when we pray: “The Lord will rescue his servants, no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.” (Psalm 34:22).

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that they seek your call to be servants of one another, loving each other in the name of the one who first loved us.

Creaks and Rattles

I’m lifting a 60-pound garage bag of scrape metal when suddenly my lower back gives out. Ouch! Lord, I have no time to stop now and repair this “creak.” However, as I work to complete another run to the scrap metal dump I realize that I am now “bent out of shape.” I am leaning over like an 80 year-old walking gingerly to keep the pain at bay.

God why do we have to suffer pain? Why this accident? Why can’t we just walk around and do our business without fear that some toxin, some genetic disease is lurking around our DNA to slow us down?

God gave us the brains to use common sense, so quit complaining and seek some help. So I turn to a friend who recommends a chiropractor he sees once a year. Now this is not the first time that I have had this ding. Once during Holy Week, I am preparing for Holy Thursday services getting ready to lay prostate on the floor. However, before the service I was exercising on the rectory living room floor so that I could complete this service. Little did the parishioners know that father was “bent out of shape” and in alot of pain.

Now I find myself in a strange doctor office with a pain that won’t go away. I tried the novena medication prayer, but its not working. Dr. Mike greets me and invites a young doctor to observe his technique. This healer is a gem. Standing on a platform, my chin in place, the table moves face down like in the movie the “Pit and the Pendulum.” It's painful but we slowly make our way all the way down. A pinch here and a tuck their and our specialist diagnoses what the old time farmers use to call a “slip disc.”

How many times have we walked into the doctor’s office not so much worried about the procedure, but the pronouncement that some terrible disease that we can’t pronounce is lurking in our bones. How many patients do I see each week with their “creaks and rattles” that need adjustment. Which at the moment our chiropractor is performing his miracle dance. Tucking my arm in and straightening my leg in the opposaite direction, he bears down with his weight and waits for a “click.” Note, I said “click” not CRACK!

Sometimes, we need an adjustment when it comes to our attutde in life. There are many times, we are faced down on the table fearful of another medical problem. God is present in the hands of someone He has blessed to make the proper adjustments and help us get back top normal.

I like what Dr. Mike said to me after the treatment. "We will have you back to normal in a week." Better yet, when we next met for another adjustment we talked about the new doctors coming into his profession. The most important piece of advice this healer gave his student was treat your patients like family. Like they were your cousins coming in for help.

That’s how God wants us to think when we have fallen down with a ding or our lives are bent out of shape. We must never give up hope, despite the silence. God comes to us in ways we least expect and always hears our prayers for help to heal our pain. God gives us the courage to persevere when the diagnose makes our life miserable or worse never goes away.

God is walking with us this morning when we pray: “…the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.” (Luke 9:9).

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that despite all our "creaks and rattles" we are given the courage to persevere and grateful for the healers who adjust our health and give us hope.

Not A Good Fit

I was taking my vacuum cleaner brush to the repair shop to ask why it doesn’t pick up the kitty hairs from the oriental carpet. In order to clean the carpet, I am on my hands and knees with the vacuum chair attachment scrubbing the carpet have little success.

From the back room, Vince, the owner of Batavia vacuum shop for over 30 years, looks at the carpet brush and immediately noticed that it is not attached properly, There are these tiny nooks that need to be joined precisely to the attachment so that the carpet brush glides along the floor to pick up the dirt and hopefully kitty hairs. I had cleaned out the attachment to remove some string and hairs but failed to put this attachment back together properly. Vince said the brushes never need replacing but they got to touch the floor to do their job. I felt like a darn fool, for I never suspected that the brushes were not working because it was not a good fit.

Some of the parishioners are wondering if their new faith tradition is a good fit. The prayers and sacraments are similar to their past worship, the Jesus preached from the pulpit is the same Lord who invites all to the table and the message about being the Bread of Life encourages all of us to use our gifts to bring kindness and a little bit of heaven into our homes, farms and community. But is it a good fit?

Was Jesus a good fit for the people of his time? He was born a Jew, brought up as a Jew, lived his whole life as Jew, and died a Jew. To try to separate Jesus from his Jewishness is as nonsensical as separating a leopard from its spots. Jesus was no Christian. All of his followers and all who followed them were Jews as well; within a generation or two that changed. 

With much squabbling and hostility the Christian movement realized that to be a “good fit” people who weren’t Jews could become Christians. Imagine the furor this caused – churches split; sadly families were divided.  There are no reasons to think that the acrimony, bitterness, and sordid confrontations we know in current disputes, were any less disturbing for those involved then. That’s the background in the early church when families were faced if following Jesus was a good fit.

St. James tells us to "humbly welcome the word which has taken root in you". The Greek word prautes, translates as "humbly", really has no precise English equivalent. Basically, it is a one-word summary of the characteristics of a "teachable spirit". Such a spirit is docile and pliable, humble enough to learn; it is one that can face the truth, even when that truth is difficult to accept.

So here is the test if Christianity in its various facets is a good fit. James points out that caring for the poor and keeping ourselves open minded with open hearts is the best worship we can offer to God. To him real worship does not lie in elaborate vestments, magnificent music or a carefully choreographed service; it lay in the practical service of one another and in the way we accept one another as God loves us.

The prophet Micah's complaint was that all ritual sacrifices were useless, if a person did not do justice, love kindness and walk humbly before God (Mic.6:6-8).

God is walking with us this morning when we pray: “He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.” (Psalm 25:6)

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that a “teachable spirit” allows us to surrender our fears and trust that God leads us with open minds to accept all who walk into our churches with open hearts.

On the Brink

Once upon a time, there was this man who had a disability in his leg. He would walk for long distances to strengthen his legs. One day he was out in the countryside surrounded by rolling hills with rough, rocky, and uninhabited terrain. He was a couple miles from home and felt exhausted. He prayed that someone would come along who could offer him a ride back home.

Eventually, he saw a short distance away someone riding a donkey. As the rider drew closer, he noticed that it was the ranch owner making his daily on the property. The crippled man explained he just couldn’t get back home without some help. He asked to borrow the rancher’s donkey to carry him home.

The rancher was glad to help. “Oh, there’s no problem. I can loan you the donkey. However, before I let you go with the donkey, I have to tell you some things about him. This donkey is a bit unusual. He’s been trained to follow different cues than most donkeys. When you want him to go, you don’t say, 'Gitty up!' You say, 'Praise the Lord!’ He won’t move if you say, 'Gitty up!' And once you get him going, if you want to speed up, just repeat, 'Praise the Lord!' And then, when you want to stop, you don’t say, 'Whoa!’ You say, 'Amen!' “Now it’s real important that you use the words this donkey understands, 'Amen!’ to stop, and 'Praise the Lord!’ to go. If you’ll remember that, you won’t have any problem at all.”

Grateful for the rancher’s generosity, the crippled man mounted the donkey. Comfortable in the saddle, he said, “Praise the Lord,” and the donkey moved right out. Now that he was riding, he decided to go the longer route. So he said to the donkey, “Praise the Lord!” He moved faster and faster.

As he came around a curve, immediately he saw what looked like a river bank, but no bridge. It looked dangerous. He began to say, “Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!” but the donkey didn’t stop. He was getting closer and closer to the dangerous edge. He couldn’t think of the right word. Somehow just before going over the dangerous edge, he remembered the right command, “Amen!” and the donkey stopped right on the brink.

Overjoyed, the man raised his hands toward the sky and shouted, "Praise the Lord!"

Whether we recognize it or not, we are always “on the brink” or at the edge of making some form of personal choices. Rarely will your brink be as dramatic as that of the man on the donkey, but every decision, every choice, every commitment you make, be it ever so small or seemingly insignificant at the time can impact and effect you on your life’s journey.

It all began with the small loaf beside the lake where thousands of people were fed. Then we learned that the “Bread of Life” is more than ordinary bread. It is: hope, belief, faith, purpose, vision, curiosity, intimacy, love, peace, forgiveness from guilt. All the ingredients that put quality into living every day while, at the same time, giving us a taste of God’s promise for eternal life. 

God is walking with us this morning when we pray: “The Lord your God has blessed you in all the works of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness.” (Deuteronomy 2:7)

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that every decision we make his day reflects your kindness and generosity to love one another as you love us with every breath we take.

Clinging to God

In my quest to create a church calendar, I decided to include an image of the Blessed Mother. There are three versions of Mary found at Holy Family, an outdoor stone grotto, a stature at the side altar and a stunning stain glass window found in the convent chapel.

When you reflect on the life of Mary, she mirrors our journey of faith. When we first meet her, Mary is the object of an ugly rumor. Pregnant without a husband. That she was innocent and invaded by the Spirit was not believed. So if you have suffered false rumors, or had your reputation spoiled, or been misunderstood and maligned, an unwed mom, or divorce or Gay Catholic, you can identify with Mary.

Mary had her moments of anxiety and fears. What’s this Mother of God business? How can this be? She asked the angel incredulously. “What does God want? How can this happen? How can I do this?” Confused and scared and full of questions, Mary is us when we have cried out. How can I tackle this challenge? Like a newborn, another job, new relationships, caring for someone, even a new faith community. How do I this?

When Jesus is an adolescent, Mary loses her child, can’t find him in a crowded city. She becomes every parent, every teacher, every mentor in history who can’t communicate with a teenager, who loses them to the internet, or drugs or whose kids have runaway roaming the streets, exploited by the sex trade, abused and beaten. Many parents can identify with Mary here.

Mary buried her husband, and everyone who has lost a spouse, cried Mary’s tears, felt the gnawing void in their belly and returned to an empty bed can identify with her.

When her son was old enough he leaves home to begin his mission and he leaves a widow mother behind. She is a minority woman in an occupied country, a widow with no man around, She is subject to exploitation and discrimination. Every minority who feels the effects of prejudice and discrimination can identify with Mary.

Then her son is caught, brought to a mock trail, beaten and humiliated, and hung on a cross. She arrives in time to see him hanging there, straining to go to him, but she is forced by the soldiers to keep her distance. Every parent who has seen their child carted off to prison, addicted to alcohol, or sex, not having their grandchildren baptized, going thorough a divorce-every parent who experiences these little crucifixions but who must keep their distance, can identify with Mary and have to pray and suffer in silence.

And finally Mary cradles the broken dead body of her only son in her arms and sobs uncontrollably and there she is once more like every parent who has lost a child, any friend who has lost a friend anyone who has lost someone through overdose or suicide can identify with Mary.

Yet despite all this unfairness of life, she clung to God. In virginity, in motherhood, in widowhood, with lost child, with dead child, she clung to God. She becomes the woman for all of us who have suffered these little deaths and that is the secret of her enduring popularity. And her appeal.

The message of her Assumption, the celebration of taking her into heaven, is a sign of hope for us. It is meant to be a preview for all who cling to God despite adversity. Mary is what we shall be. So simply put, she is us at the end of our journey that we are traveling. That is why Mary is indeed  Blessed and a Woman for All times And All Seasons.

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who are experiencing many crucifixions at this moment. Give them the spirit of Our Blessed Mother to cling to God and persevere knowing that God will raise us up on the last day.

Too Tired To Run

Father Tim was having lunch with his friend and mentor, Brother Absalom Greer, a retired Baptist minister in his late eighties.

Father Tim is complaining about his spiritual dryness, his feelings of being far from God while at the same time running himself ragged being about the Lord’s business.

Brother Absalom nods and smiles and says, “I know what you mean, brother, I know what you mean. You’re too tired to run and too sacred to rest.”

Elijah, the prophet, was sitting under a broom tree, “too tired to run and too scared to rest,” too exhausted to think, and too disgusted with himself to want to go on living. How did Elijah get here? What brought Elijah to this moment of despair?

His words, “I am no better than my ancestors,” are a confession of sin and failure, of helplessness and despair. Elijah is running away from Jezebel who is hunting him down for putting to shame her pagan religion. He feels and sits alone exhausted, “too tired to run and too scared to rest,” and much too aware of his own failures and much too unsure of God’s grace and love. And so, Elijah falls asleep. He has made his confession, he is ready to die. As far as he knows, when he falls asleep he is falling into the eternal sleep of death.

But God has a different plan, a different ending in store for Elijah. Elijah is awakened to the gift of new life. Elijah is awakened by the touch of a holy hand and the sound of a divine voice inviting him to “arise and eat.” Get up and get on with your life. Get up God is not finished with you yet. Get up and get on with it. Get up and quit taking yourself so seriously. Arise and eat God has more future in store for you.

God’s response to Elijah’s confession of helplessness and hopelessness was not judgment and death. God’s response was forgiveness and life. The message is that the past is over and forgiven and the future is alive and in God’s hands.

When we come to our moments of sitting alone under the broom tree, “too tired to run and too scared to rest,” when we look back on our lives and see only our faults and failures, our disappointments and unfulfilled ambitions looming up and chasing us like Jezebel’s army, when we feel like we have done all we can and despite our best intentions, we find we are no better than our ancestors, we must remember how God responded to Elijah and how God will respond to us.

Say this “bread prayer” to give you strength when you feel you are falling apart:

Help me, O God, to live the recipe of good deeds. Give me the kneading strength of your Spirit to work your words into the doughy recesses of my life. Help me to let it rest awhile in my heart so that it can rise. Help me not to fear the oven of life, so that it can bake through and through. And grant that in the baking, the world would be able to roll down its window and savor the aroma of freshly baked bread, your bread of life.

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who feel too tired to run and too scared. The next time they receive Holy Communion, help them to realize this is your kiss to get up and get on with their life for the past is forgiven and their future is in your hands.

When the Miracles Stop

I had a challenging vacation to Lexington, Kentucky driving through thunderstorms and hail and a tornado warning. In the gospel story about the multiplication of loaves and fish, we learn about another challenging moment in the life of Jesus.

The gospel says: “A large crowd followed Jesus because they saw the miracles.”  Well, I ask, who wouldn’t follow? You’d be dense not to. My challenging question is, what happens when the miracles cease? Will I follow when my young adult child is found dead after committing suicide with drugs and all the prayers in the world aren’t pulling in the miracle that would save this child from this miserable addiction? When my spouse is killed while jogging in a freak in motorcycle accident and there is no miracle resurrection. When I am in shock from a diagnosed with a terminal illness and no miraculous cure appears? When bad things happen to good people and there are no miracles to right the equation when in a word, there are no miracles and no more God, at least none that I can detect, when faith is shaken if not evaporated altogether. Will we follow then? So my question: Will we follow Jesus when we no longer see miracles?

A woman who lost her child at birth, and almost her faith shared her fears and despair.

All her faith was stripped away as she focused on one thing: the injustice that her poor little girl didn’t have a chance to take even one breath…Even prayer seemed so futile, even unnecessary, like throwing a glass of water on a burning home. This mother had prayed during her entire pregnancy for the baby to be healthy—and she was. She was perfect but she wasn’t alive, cooing in her arms. How could this woman not feel betrayed?

In the weeks following her little girl’s death, well-meaning friends and relatives sent hundreds of cards and emails offering helpless words of condolence. Most of their words said the same thing: “We cannot understand God’s will.” Those words kept her up at night for months, she knew they were trying to help, but every time the issue of God’s will sprang up, she felt miserable. It got to the point where she couldn’t even numbly smile or nod anymore when the phase came up; she just clenched her teeth to keep from saying something she regret. She certainly was not going to tell a priest in confession that she was sorry for being angry with God. The truth was that she was furious with God.

Finally exhausted, this woman who had lost her child and almost her faith told her friends. Some may wonder why after this experience, she made the painful effort to believe, she could only respond that, despite her doubts and resentments, having seen the breathtaking perfection of her daughter’s peaceful face, it was impossible to think God was not there.” Somehow, beyond the miracle that never came, she sensed Someone.

So the miracle with baskets of leftover fish and bread poses the question: Will we follow Jesus when the miracles stop? When our daughter dies, when our son is killed?  Will we, like the woman who lost her child, see the absent miracle as an invitation to seek the miracle-worker himself? Will we consider the possibility that, when all is said and done, after the shock is over and the tears are dried, we ourselves become the miracle?

Immanuel prays for us as we reflect:” Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.” (Psalm 25:6).

Lord, I pray for all my Sunshine Friends who are challenged to love you for who you are rather than for the free bread you can give us. Help us to focus on the real miracle, that we are called to be the compassion and presence of God in times of sorrow and pain.

We're Not Religious

I was very proud of a good friend who took the responsibility to offer a eulogy at his mom’s funeral. He said that unlike his mom the rest of the family was “not very religious.” Here was the mom who came to church to light her candles and pray for her children and grandchildren. She was the one who did all the cooking at the annual family camping trips. She was the grandma who beamed with joy when she held her great grandson.

Despite the fact this family did not practice their faith, they felt it was their mother who held them together by her faith that God has to be important in our lives. In her kind and humble way, she believed in God, she prayed to God and she was with God and her children believed that in their hearts.

People easily get uncomfortable with religions. Some religions come off strong and say there is only their way to God. Some are rather bias with who and who can serve in ministry. Others have become mega-churches with hundreds of families flocking to their services because its like a Broadway production.

I prefer the following reason for coming to church as shared by a dear friend when she wrote this card to me with these words:

”Congratulations on being a “shepherd” for 35 years. I want to thank you for bringing me a message every Sunday. I feel for the first time in my adult life that I want to be a better person and I want to thank you for that. You make it real and simple. Our family has been blessed in many ways but now I have added you to our blessings.”

I have the unique privilege of helping a former closed parish resurrect themselves into a community that reaches out with the spirit of Christ’s love. My vocation has taken many turns from inner city parishes at OLPH to St. Boniface, to country communities in Caledonia and North Java, serving as chaplain for the Sisters of Mercy, patients and staff at Strong Memorial Hospital and the wonderful students and professors at Brockport College. I miss you all.

Simply put, religion may be about rules and norms, laws and regulations that bind us up in knots and make us afraid and fell rejected. The true spirit of love is found in the people who make Christ’s love visible in the everydayness of their lives.

If I have helped you to become a better person. I give God thanks for this unique vocation that continues this morning as I have been called out of town to help hundreds of people who are losing their jobs.

Immanuel prays for us as we reflect: “Turn to me and have mercy on me, show your strength in behalf of your servant, save me, because I serve you just as my mother did.” (Psalm 86:16

Lord, I pray for all my Sunshine Friends in the over 60 parishes communities that I have served to help your people become a better community. Each of you is close to my heart and I will continue to pray that God brings you comfort and peace. “Shepherd”

Did You Miss Easter?

I stopped by the car repair shop to check on Scott, a mechanic, whose best friend and partner for over 30 years died unexpectedly before Easter. Her daughter found her mom one morning in her easy chair cold and blue. Scott shared that they had an unusual relationship. They fought like cats and dogs but respected each other very much. He said that it was hard and that he had lost his faith in God. He had his doubts about his faith, his God and why did this have to happen.

My response was simply: “you are not alone.” When the love of my life died over thirty years ago to cancer I screamed at God for nine months. The pain of lost is real and not imagined. When our loves are gone, we feel empty and washed out. I was angry with God that He took my best friend away from me and how was I ever going to survive.

In these moments, it the faith of others around us, our ancestors who come to our rescue. So Scott goes on to share, “you might think this is crazy” and I respond, “Go ahead try me.” It seems that two weeks before his girlfriend died, she shared a dream with him. She dreamed that her grandmother had come into her apartment and told her “not to worry that grandma was alright and everything is fine.” She did not want to share this vision with to many people thinking that she was off her rocker. So Scott wonders was God trying to tell her something before she died.

How many of us have felt a real experience with our ancestors who came back to reassure us that they are at peace?

Later that day, my hair stylist who has cut my hair for over thirty years shared that it will be a year this May when her mother died. One day in the basement, she was thinking about her mom when she suddenly felt a powerful experience in which her mother literally came inside of her. She did not feel sick or afraid, but a feeling of peace that her mother was telling her that she was present in her life and would never let her daughter feel alone. Later that day, out of the blue her sister calls her on the cell phone to share that something weird happened and she was feeling strange and awkward. Early in the morning which turned out to be on the same day her sister was in the basement, she too felt her mother calling out to her and telling her that she was fine and not to worry.

What do you think about these revelations? Are we all delusional and need to see our shrinks? Or maybe it just might be God reaching into our hearts and inside our bodies to reassure us that Jesus is truly risen and so are all our loved ones.

As Kathy shared, maybe we do need to feel the pain of lost for a while, but what is that compared to an eternity in heaven with the ones we love. I call this an act of faith that can boost our morale and recharge our energy whenever grief takes a hold. Easter takes place every day in our life when we trust in the word of God.

Immanuel prays for us as we reflect: “Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” (John 20:27).

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends whose loved ones have come back to us in our dreams, into our bodies, to touch our doubts with hope and peace. Comfort us in our sorrow, and give us the courage to believe!

Lord, Why Do You Receive Them?

A wise father knows what it means to forgive --his young adult child had died in his sleep while camping with the family, but the autopsy revealed drug overdose. This father offered three somewhat earthy bits of practical advice that are worth sharing.

He said, "I'm not very good at spiritual discipline, but after being called by a friend to practice what I preach, I sat alone in my study and made believe I was a priest in the confessional. I said out loud, 'Drug dealer, in the name of God, I forgive you.' I felt kind of foolish at this creative hypocrisy, but it did get the juices of forgiveness going. Oh, a year later when my son’s friends drove past my house I had to go through the whole forgiveness process again. Forgiveness by fallible creatures is repetitious." That's real wisdom. For us weak creatures forgiveness indeed turns out to be a repetitious affair.

The second bit of wisdom he offers is this: "Don't forgive too fast." By that he doesn't mean to harbor lingering revenge. He means that we have to allow time for the hurt to surface, for the hatred to be visible and recognized and acknowledged to the point when perhaps we can say out loud, "I hate you." It is only when the hurt, the enemy, is out there and regurgitated that we can feel its full impact and come to terms with forgiveness. That's what our friend means by saying, "Don't forgive too fast." Otherwise our forgiveness is too shallow. It hasn't grabbed sufficiently hold of the evil.

And finally he gives this delightful advice: "It's good to remember that when you pray for your enemies it doesn't automatically make them your friends. They are still your enemy. They're still out to get you. They still hate your guts." And he adds for emphasis: "They are still your enemies and you'd better guard against them because they might wallop you when you're down on your knees." But that's their problem.

And yet, despite our Lord's example and his command to forgive, there are people who cannot bring themselves to offer forgiveness. And there are people who cannot bring themselves to accept it. Some people get so caught up in their own guilt that they cannot accept forgiveness, even from God. They feel there is no hope for themselves either in this world or the next. They spend their time hugging their guilt to themselves, thereby blocking out the forgiveness of the Christ who is on record for forgiving others.

What does Christ say to those who cannot bring themselves to forgiveness? Those of us who have caused so much hurt in this life. God says,” Come forth, you who are drunk. Come forth, you who abuse. Come forth, you who know no shame.” And we shall all come forth without being ashamed, and we will stand before him. And the wise will say, and the learned will say, “Lord, why do you receive them?' And he will say to them, 'I receive them, oh wise ones, I receive them, oh learned ones, because not one of them ever thought himself worthy of it.' And he will stretch out his arms to us, and we shall fall down before him, and we shall weep, and we shall understand all."

Immanuel prays for us as we reflect; “I love the Lord, for he heard my voice, he heard my cry for mercy.” (Psalm 116:1-3)

Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who desperately need your mercy. May we be willing to surrender our need for resentment and bring peace to those who have hurt us.