Peace be with you!
We’ve been reflecting on some “burning questions”: Why aren’t we energized by our belief in the Good News? To what extent can the Good News transform the people and culture of today? What methods can we use to witness to the Good News of Jesus Christ?
Today’s session moves from the “world out there, big picture” perspective to the interior and personal dimension. Please join Fr. Freeh with parishioners Vicki Phillips and Pat Henry.
As the conversation becomes wider, it can be challenging to distill a session down to one theme. But this week, one jumped out at me right away: Greater awareness of being sent.
I’ve done quite a bit of business training, and one of the key mantras is “awareness is the first step to change.” You can’t fix a problem (or develop a strength) without first becoming aware of the need (or opportunity) to do so. When it comes to growth, ignorance is not bliss.
Spiritual growth is no different. We are called to be aware of Christ’s mandate to us, sending us as the Father sent Him. And as Fr. Freeh reminds us, this is the pathway to peace.
Last week, I noted how Christians used to be able to count on the secular culture to endorse Christian values even when individual Christians lacked them…until the go-along-get-along secular Christianity imploded under the weight of believers who looked to do the least required, rather than promote the best possible.
I might point out that the same can be true of Catholic parishes. People show up on Sunday, expecting to find a going concern…but not really concerned about how to keep it going. And not really expecting that the parish will have an impact on the world beyond the parish grounds.
The only possible solution to both problems begins with us–with me and you–because we have been sent by Jesus Christ Himself.
And yes. I kind of blinked when I wrote that, because I’m just not used to thinking about daily life that way. So I went back and read it again. Hmmmm. Having written it, I can’t really argue with it. John 20:21, and all that.
This awareness isn’t just for the world, for the parish. It is for every moment of our lives. Knowing we have been sent is what transforms the smallest of things–keeping your temper with a family member; fixing dinner; leaving a note in your child’s lunchbox; yielding a place in traffic to someone trying to merge; not flipping off the guy who cuts in line; really listening to what someone is saying; offering an encouraging smile to the stressed retail clerk dealing with the shopping hordes–into an act of love for God.
Loving God, knowing we live in His love, aware that we have been sent…we reject a minimalist approach (Ten Commandments and Mass on Sunday), to make our best contribution, according to our talents and station in life. We step up into the Beatitudes, the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. Prayer becomes less a duty, and more of opportunity to touch the Eternal and the Divine.
On this Fourth Sunday in Advent, we’ll remember the “Yes” that brought the eternal, unbounded Son of God into time and space as a vulnerable infant. The Blessed Mother accepted God’s love, and responded by carrying the Messiah into a world that longed for Him, even as they denied and rejected Him.
Now, it is our turn. If Jesus is going to enter our lives, enter our relationships, enter our world…who else can carry Him there, except me and you?
God Himself is waiting for our “Yes.”
Have a blessed Advent!
[P.S. I’m really hoping the next session will finish the story of Pius IX and the doctrine of Papal infallibility!]
Good News Spirituality 
We were pleased to receive Fr. Freeh’s Christmas letter regarding the 10 minute video reflections on Good News Spirituality and the blog. The service you all are providing is powerful and needed. Our Christian faith is strengthened when we witness people stepping out and acting on the purpose that Christ has placed on their life. We watched two videos tonight, the one on “Spirituality Misnomers” and the second on “A Greater Awareness”. Both of these speak to what Fr, Freeh wrote in his Christmas letter, that in order to bridge the gap between the gospel and culture we have to talk about life, not just religion. It is incumbent upon us to recognize that along with our Christianity comes an inherent responsibility. We have ample occasions every day, on a moment to moment basis, to live out our faith through personal actions no matter how small they may seem. As Christians we all need to reflect on our lives to uncover our own unique day-to-day opportunities that connect our personal actions to our faith. Ann expressed this theme well in her post when she cited that making a dinner as an act of love for God demonstrated that trans-formative power of Christianity. Every simple act that we perform can be for the greater glory of God. Saint Thérèse of Lisieux was able to fashion her sainthood by doing that very thing. She offered her most ordinary actions — even the picking up of a pin — as acts of love to God’s most Merciful Love. Even suffering can be given up as an expression of unity with Christ. Our faith becomes action when we join every aspect of our life to God, then we will bear fruit (He is the vine, we are the branches…). For us personally we are finding that in order to do this we need mindfulness and contemplation. Our recognition of sin in our life will never remove the powerful purpose that has been placed on it. We must never give up, the call upon us will never be rescinded. Brother Thomas Merton says it well, “When you are doing the sort of work you have taken on, essentially an apostolic work, you may have to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless and even achieve no results at all, if not perhaps results opposite to what you expect….As you get used to this idea, you start more and more to concentrate not on the results but on the value, rightness, the truth of the work itself.”
Again, thank you all for your efforts. We will share these with our family and friends. Keep writing/taping and we will keep watching/responding.
David and Margaret Soderquist
Dear David and Margaret–What an amazing comment. Wow. And thank you! The Merton quote was extremely timely for me. We’ll definitely benefit from your insightful perspective. I truly look forward to hearing more of your thoughts. Thanks again, and (since it’s still the season) Merry Christmas! + Ann