I Drank the Kool-Aid

I drank the Kool-Aid, a phrase I have used regularly over the past four years, however never in this sense. For the past four years I worked in the Residence Life Office at a small liberal arts college, and instead of Freshmen, we had First years, instead of dorms we had Residence Halls. Working with this terms each day in the office I would regularly correct my friends who would give me shit about how ridiculous it was, and of course they were right so my only response was, I drank the Kool-Aid. 

However for this post the phrase I drank the Kool-Aid isn't an expression of clever, or meaningless response, to different terms for random Residence Life policies for a college. Rather the phrase here is a passionate declaration that yes I do believe. I buy into what the Church teaches, sure at times there are things I question, which is healthy, at other times there are things that I criticize, which is healthy, and at other times there are things that Catholics, Christians in general, and even the priests from the pulpit say that I down right and passionately disagree with, which is also ok. 

No matter what though, the simple reality is that drinking the Kool-Aid is not simple in this case. It is not some meaningless protocol that you follow for work, and can ignore (or at least try to forget) when not there or after you no longer work there. However a persons beliefs are always with them, they as it would seem should never be placed on a shelf hidden away. And beliefs like emotions can be complicated and without any explanation at times, which can be very difficult to understand, which is ok. However for anyone to attempt to make a claim that having faith, is an easy option, it is not. 

Now that I've said my piece, on it, and C.S. Lewis offered us his insight, for my fiends who simply can't go on without asking the question "but where in Scripture? (Perhaps another tangent for another post) And since this blog is if nothing else masquerading as a blog about reflections on the readings from each Sunday, then let us turn to the 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time, which I am happy to say was only 2 days ago (August 23) 

Again we are hearing from the Gospel of John (perhaps if I had a favorite gospel, my fav) 6: 60-69. 

"Many of Jesus' disciples who were listening said, This saying is hard; who can accept it?" This is a question those of us who have "drank the Kool-Aid are face with everyday, can we accept it? Some may answer yes, other may not. "As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. Jesus then said to the Twelve, Do you also want to leave? Simon Peter answered him, Master, to whom shall we go?"  

Now with a response like that an easy argument could be made that Simon Peter of all people just proved that the route of drinking the Kool-Aid is an easy one, however the next lines are always important. "You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God." Sticking around, staying with Jesus, is not the easy route, rather its the difficult route, and to a degree the only route, because of the belief. 

I would be remiss not to use the go to line about what it truly means to live a life of freedom, as much as I hate this phrase I feel obligated to end with this idea. 

To truly live a life in freedom is not to have the ability to do what ever we want, but rather to do that which we ought do. This too makes certain aspects of living a life post Kool-Aid consumption more difficult. 

For anyone who would like specific examples of everyday struggles of people who have "drank the Kool-Aid" just let me know. I left them out of the post to cut down on length. 

Peace and Blessings Always 

~M

FYI The Kool-Aid is black cherry flavored! 

Just Embrace Life!

In a previous post I talked about how the readings are selected, with the first reading an the gospel lining up, and the second reading simply following suit as to where it was before, not necessarily having any explicit connection to the others. This then causes a natural focus on the first reading and gospel, in my reflections. Further more if I am being upfront about things I am what I would describe as a New Testament guy, in other words I'm a big fan of the gospels, and as a result it of course is possible that I may show an unintended bias toward them in my reflections.

This reflection however still falling into the category of New Testament will focus on the ever complicated St. Paul. I might throw out there anyone that goes through a conversion is going to be complicated, its tough to understand conversion at times. After all how could Saul go from persecutor to Paul evangelist. Perhaps that will be a topic for another post, for now I will focus on the reading at hand.

From the 20th Sunday of Ordinary time we hear from St. Paul's letter to the Ephesians 5:15-20. Sitting in little St. Anthony's which is older and somewhat dark inside, especially with the sun behind the clouds as it was last weekend I paid extra attention to the readings, if for no other reason than it was hard to hear the reader, and perhaps because I wasn't overly distracted by finding God in all things around me. A good thing I was paying extra attention too seeing as the reading is only 6 verses. Had I been day dreaming I may have missed all the perfect quotes to use for a blog post found in this short reading.

First and foremost when hearing the lines "Brothers and sisters: Watch Carefully how you live, not as foolish persons but as wise, making the most of the opportunity" upon hearing this I immediately thought of my dear friend Aaron. Aaron is the inspiration for the title of this blog, after living with him for over a year certain Aaronisms rubbed off on him, just as I'm sure some Mikeism rubbed off on him, "I mean" anyone who lives with someone else for that long these things are bound to happen. Yet the most important Aaronism is his approach to life, which just as the title states is, just embracing it. I can't tell you how many times in the past year he has told me to "Just embrace life" it happened so often I started saying it to other people, and started saying it in a most sarcastic of manner at times, which he would then glare at me for, which I of course deserved.

But he is right, and I agree with him, as did St. Paul, we need to embrace life and take what it has to offer us, making the best out of it.

Now the next part of the reading, which is one of my favorites, and one that I had friends texting me promptly after they went to mass because they just thought it was too funny not to. Since I have been known to drink a bit of wine or more than a bit of wine (to better explain this I call upon Gladys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNRFGvGRUgE) and as a result wether it is my friends posting all kinds of wine related memes on my Facebook, or even receiving a wine glass big enough to hold an entire bottle, it would seem that I am forced to disagree with the following quote from St. Paul. "And do not get drunk on wine, in which lies debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit" now my friends might accurately point out to me, but Mike you drink wine often, even to the point of debauchery, and I would have to say but of course, and then again rely on Gladys to help me explain again.

The simple reality is that St. Paul is right (I can't believe I said it either) even though drinking too much wine with my friends can be a tremendous amount of fun (believe me it is, or come visit me, it's a fun time). But the reality is that life could be so much fuller if we didn't need the wine to lead to the fun, if we didn't rely on spirits of a different sort to create the fun memories. Even though the below picture is 100% correct, what if it wasn't?

Now don't get me wrong drinking is all good and well, I mean after all even the good lord saw fit to change water into wine, and again may I point you back to Gladys....

Lets think back to the times in our life when we were filled with the spirit, was there not joy there? Did great stories not follow? After all in the words of my dear friend Babs, "it's not what we do drunk that should make us worry, but what we do sober"

Yes after alcohol follows great stories, but if we are taking the advice of both St. Paul and Aaron, if we don't act foolishly, if we take each opportunity that comes our way, if we Simply, and yet most profoundly just embrace life, will we not be filled with the Spirit? Will we not find Joy? Will we not have great stories!?

Happy Monday everyone!

Peace and Blessings Always 

~M 

Note: each instance of Aaron should be read as A A Ron, for those who don't understand please click the link below!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd7FixvoKBw

To Truly be Nourished

Change can be a good thing, right? As someone who was born and raised in Grand Rapids, and went to College in town moving away for Grad school has been something rather difficult at times. From not knowing where the grocery store is, to the grocery store not having Vander Mill's totally roasted, to finally finding a store that does carry Vander Mill's only for them not to have it the move has been a struggle at times. Grand Rapids was always home, and for the past 4 years was home by choice. But even in the years of living in Grand Rapids while growing up and going to grade school and middle school at St. Alphonsus, it slowly became the parish I used to go to, no longer the parish I called home. Even the place I laid my weary head at night changed these past four years, from living in Regina hall to a summer in the on campus apartments to then being in Dominican hall, and then back home to my moms for one of the longest summers in my life, to another apartment on campus, to then a summer back in the first set of apartments on campus, finally to a house on campus before a second long summer back at home before moving to Dayton. Home has changed a lot, and as I'm reminded by friends and my self sometimes on a daily basis change can be a good thing. 

In one light Change can be the best thing. I did not mention the bit about St. Al's just for shits and giggles, but rather because its important. Having gone to church there, gone to school there, helped lead youth group there, taught religious ed there, and helped with VBS more times than I can count it slowly started to no longer nourish me. I still loved the stained glass, and the physical structure of the church, I loved seeing the people I've gown up with, and those who watched me grow up. But something was missing, something didn't fit any more. For a while I simply chalked this feeling up to moving "away" to college. For the better part of 3 years I was not going to mass on a regular basis, more accurately I wasn't going at all. One of the reasons for this was because the mass time offered on campus on Sundays conflicted with a youth group I volunteered with, so in my young naive state I said that was a fair trade off, volunteering counted in place of mass. The other reason for not going to mass was because when I did go to mass at St. Al's there was something missing, I wasn't leaving mass feeling nourished, in fact their were some Sundays I left feeling anything but nourished. 

It took me four years to see the error in my ways, if only my friend Alex had been around sooner to tel me "just go to mass man". Suddenly I started to realize that something was missing in my life by not going to mass. I wasn't being nourished, well feed of course, remember theres always enough food at my moms, even if I was just there for Friday night family, that would have been enough to keep me feed. However I was not being truly nourished. Something was missing, and I knew I needed to go out and find it. In order to do that I decided, maybe change could be good. I went to mass at the Cathedral, it was a Saturday night, and it was just about 4:00, mass was at 4:30 and I decided to go. 

After that week I went back, then I started inviting friends to go along with me. Some weeks it was just me and that was ok because normally I would see someone I knew, then after a while even the people I didn't know became familiar faces. Change was good, I was being nourished again. 

I would likely go as far to say that without this change, without going to mass at the Cathedral, I would likely not be writing this weekly blog.

Now I am 5 hours away from home, and I don't have the cathedral, or a cathedral at all to attend mass at (Dayton is part of the Arch diocese of Cincinnati). Since moving here on August 6th, a thursday I have embraced the change and gone to mass at St. Albert the Greats, Immaculate Conception for a "Rock Mass" St. Anthony of Padua, Church of the Ascension, and Holy Angels, all these places have had different things to offer. Different physical structures, some traditional, some ornate, some plain, some rather odd, some places had wonderful music, some left room for better music to be desired, some had deacons others just a priest. They all had a Catholic mass, and they all had different nourishments for different, people. 

In my reflection on the 17th Sunday of Ordinary time I challenged you to try mass at a different Church, or simply just sitting at a different place in the church. 

Here I am telling you, my account of needing to find my nourishment. In this the 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time reading's we find the Gospel account, again from John (6:41-51), again having to do with bread. "Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life... I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever". At this point I would like to take a moment to translate this into my own words. Whoever eats of this bread will be Nourished, truly nourished. And while the bread I ate of the flesh of man was the same at St. Al's as it was at the Cathedral, and both had the ability to nourish me, in my human nature, I only found True nourishment in one. 

My closing thought in this post is a question. Why do we go to mass, why do you go to mass, why do I go to mass? What is the purpose? Do we do it simply because it's Sunday and thats what we do? 

Please be honest with yourself in your reflection, if you'd like to discuss it further you know how to find me. 

Peace and Blessings Always!

~M

If You Feed Them They Will Come!

For the past 8 years or there about, I have had the pleasure of working with a multitude of different youth groups and youth ministers, and one of the many things that all of them had in common was food. In the last post I talked about food bring together my Friday night family, but food is something that has always brought people together, with out discrimination. So of course it applies to the youth as well, If you feed them, they will come! 

If you have a youth space with a fridge stocked with various pop and juices (for those weird teens who aren't addicted to pop) and a cupboard or table near by dedicated to their favorite snacks you better believe you will have some students who come just for those perks, which is ok, because they may come for that, but they stay for something more... 

When my sister was a student at MSU, there was a church near by that had a spaghetti dinner after mass Sunday nights for the students since the Cafes weren't open. Sure the only reason some of those students went to mass was for the free meal after, but I will wager dollars to donuts that they walked away with more than just a spaghetti dinner. 

Food is a powerful thing, it brings us together, in the happiest of times we celebrate with it, in the saddest of times, we mourn together with food. I always joke, I am an emotional eater (which is 100% true) I eat when I'm sad, and I eat when I'm happy, no matter what I'm feeling there is a food that can go along with it! We have our favorites, and our least favorites, and we have those meals that remind us of a childhood long ago. From rosemary chicken thats just Oh so special, to a family recipe past down through the generations. If you feed them they will come. Perhaps one of the most common phrases about food, and I would argue one of the truest. 

Youth ministers have seen the truth in this statement as well as church leaders, and of course God, and Jesus also saw the importance in this ideal of feeding people. 

Fun facts about the selection of readings for mass. As many of you have probably noticed over the years, there is a rhyme and reason to the readings each Sunday. As I mentioned in the last post, there is a three year cycle, Years A, B, and C (how clever I know, but sometimes simplest is best). In addition to the gospels being selected and used based on this three year cycle, the first and second reading are also selected in a "unique" fashion. The first reading, almost always from the Old testament has a connection to the gospel, the second reading often a letter from Paul, simply follows the pattern of what came before. It does not necessarily have a connection to the first reading or gospel, however I think a connection can often be found if intended or not. 

In the first reading we see the wandering and grumbling people of God recently saved from Egypt (Exodus 16: 2-4, 12-15) complaining about not having food. We also see God's response "I Have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them: In the evening twilight you shall eat flesh, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread, so that you may know that I, the LORD, am your God." If you feed them, they will come. 

Next up would be the second reading, however I am going to skip that to the gospel since that is where we see a continued connection to feeding, and specifically bread! John 6:24-35, depicts a mass of people following and more over searching for Jesus "When they found him across the sea they said to him, Rabbi, when did you get here? Jesus answered them and said, Amen, amen I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled." Jesus in typical teacher, and Jesus form answers a question here as he often without answering the question at hand but offering something of more importance. A quick cheat, from a readers guide to the bible, when ever Jesus says Amen, amen I say to you, he is really say hey pay attention this is important!

In this instance we not only see, feed them and they will come, but also feed them, and they will follow you. After all if you give a mouse a muffin... 

May we keep feeding each other, may we continue to be able to gather together and share in meals, may we continue to break bread together. 

Peace and Blessings Always 

~M 

More than enough, always more than enough!

Today is Friday, its August 21, and I'm still a great deal behind, trying to catch up on Sunday reflections from July. But its a Friday night and I'm in Ohio, away from what is my "Friday night family". Friday night means a myriad of different things to different people, but for me Friday night of the better part of the past 6 years has meant one thing in particular, and that is Friday night family. A tradition that was started my junior year of high school and continued all the way up until I moved to Ohio. Either at my moms house or at a local happy hour there were a group of us that gathered, none of us related but all united around this weekly meal, some weeks there were 3 or 4 of us, other weeks 9 or 10, no matter what there were always two things present, and that is the tile of this post, there was more than enough, always more than enough. More than enough food, as there always is in my mothers house, whether its a Friday night, a holiday or simply a Tuesday for lunch, there is more than enough food. Yet there was always also more than enough love. That is precisely what brings people together. We become gathered around a table, a round a meal.

The above story however was not the first thing that came to my mind when looking over the readings from the 17th Sunday of Ordinary Time (July 26), the first thing that came to mind was sitting at Kava house with my dear friend Kara. We were sitting there pretending to study, and read while really taking a Catholic survey a friend had posted on Facebook. The specific question that immediately came to mind was which of Christ's miracles did we find most amazing?! My friend Kara immediately told me hers was the walking through walls after his resurrection. When I did not share this thought with her, she proceeded to say "are you joking me, through walls as she passionately tapped on the window we were sitting by with her finger tips, leaving finger prints that I have no doubt are still there. Now while this response gave me pause and admittedly left me re thinking my answer, I naturally said the feeding of the multitudes (5,000 or 4,000) I've always been blown away by the fact that the bread (and fish) were multiplied, enough to make sure that all were feed! There was more than enough.

It is interesting that this specific account of the feeding came up, because it is from the Gospel of John (6:1-15), which may not seem odd, however we are in the year of Mark, so one may be left wondering, why did we hear from John. Simple answer, Mark's gospel is to short, and can't be used on every Sunday of the year, and since the church is on a three year cycle, Matthew Mark and Luke, John gets peppered in where it is appropriate, and opportune.

Now why do we care that it is John's gospel, at first glance, or first listen many of us probably don't, that is where homilies come in handy. It was Fr. G who clued us in as to why we care.

If you noticed above I placed fish in (parentheses) this is because while we have fish at the beginning of the account, they are not what is left. What is left is enough bread to fill twelve baskets. John not having a last supper account in his gospel, Fr. G points out that here we see a beginning of this breaking of bread, only in John's gospel account of the feeding of the multitudes do we hear the words "then Jesus took the loaves gave thanks and distributed them" John uniquely gives thanks, the other gospels do not highlight this fact. Am I willing to make the claim that this is John's passover account, perhaps yes, perhaps not. Yet I will argue that this is worth pausing over, taking time to reflect on it.

May there be more than enough, always more than enough! More than enough food, and always more than enough love, after all that is what Christ truly gives to us at the last supper.

Stay tuned for more posts, this is only the beginning of the idea of bread, more to come, and hopefully I will find enough to write and reflect on.

Peace and Blessings Always 

~M

AMDG

During the weekend of the 16th Sunday of Ordinary time (June 18&19) I had the wonderful opportunity of watching a family friend take his final vows of Chastity, Poverty, and Obedience into the Redemptorist order (Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer) and then I also was able to witness his ordination into the diaconate. It was truly a wonderful experience.

Perhaps however what I took most away from this experience was sitting somewhere else in church. Having grown up in the church where these masses were my family always had a habit of sitting in the east wing, "the family wing" however for both services Saturday and Sunday we sat in the nave. For the Saturday service in particular we sat on the far right side of the nave. Why is this so important, because this placement gives rise to why the title of this post is AMDG (a Jesuit, not Redemptorist abbreviated phrase). By sitting in this location I was given the perfect view not of the altar, but rather a depiction of Our Lady of Perpetual help (picture below thanks to friend Michelle S.)

Now my altar/Eucharist centered friends would deb likely to have a fit. Yet I think, and hope that I right, my Jesuit friends would find this "dissertation" to be as beautiful as I do. for 22 years, granted some of those years I was a small wee lad, I have been attending mass at this Church, I've even given tours of the church and pointed out this beautiful image of Mary, yet at when the church underwent some minor renovations, including painting and general upkeep the instilled around this image things of great beauty, which you can see for your self above. I was stricken, near dumb struck over this beauty. Then naturally as any theologian would, I began contemplating, which then lead me to a phrase, "find God in all things", this phrase, or Jesuit life motto then lead me to AMDG, the title for this post. A latin phrase, Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam, for the greater glory of God.

I don't think it was by mistake or simple happenstance that all this came together this particular weekend. This weekend had it not been a special mass for an ordination and final vows would have left us hearing a gospel reading from Mark (6:30-34) "Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while". Now remember I told you this was going to be a stretch, but isn't this exactly how we attempt to find God in our lives when we are too busy or too stressed, even simply too distracted?

We go on retreats to deserted places where we can rest and regroup, we find God out in the wilderness among nature. But of course this cannot be the only place we find God for we can also find him in everyone we meet, and in all of creation. Including beautiful buildings such as churches built upward pointing towards heaven. In the earliest days of great installations of icons and statues into churches this was not only the persons profession as a sculptor or the likes, but also it was their way of giving back to God... In some cases this was their only way of giving to God for they had little else to give.

So my challenge to you this week and for the next coming weeks, attend mass at a different church, try to find God there. If you are too reluctant to try this, then simply sit in a different area of the church you currently go to. Try to find God somewhere else in this space that you had not previously noticed! (Yes altar/Eucharist friends that even means taking a moment, or two to be wholly distracted away from the altar/Eucharist).

Peace and Blessings Always 

~ M

Finding God in all things! 

A Book With Emotions

In this post I would like to do something I have yet to do. And this is ignore the first reading (Amos 7:12-15), and the second reading (Ephesians 1:3-14), and even the gospel reading (Mark 6:7-13), instead this week I would like to focus on the short reading we often don't read, but rather that we so often so beautifully sing! This of course is the psalm. 

The specific psalm from the 15th Sunday of Ordinary Time (July 12, 2015) was psalm 85:9-10, 11-12, 13-14. Again for those against reading below is a link to a sung version. However I strongly encourage you to not only listen to the beautiful voices, but also give it a quick once over. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRh-thMkqk8

Psalm 85: 9-10, 11-12, 13-14

"I will listen for what God, the Lord, has to say; 

surely he will speak of peace

To his people and to his faithful. 

May they not turn to foolishness! 

Near indeed is his salvation for those who fear him; 

glory will dwell in our land. 

Love and truth will meet; 

justice and peace will kiss. 

Truth will spring from the earth; 

justice will look down from heaven. 

Yes, the Lord will grant his bounty; 

our land will yield its produce. 

Justice will march before him, 

and make a way for his footsteps."

Now before unpacking this psalm specifically I think it is important to address what the psalms are and why they are important. 

The book of psalms is the longest in the bible, now according to my quick math and the NAB version I have the book of psalms starting on page 674, and ending on page 791, that is 117 pages. To which my response is, "my God this book never ends, it's over a hundred pages, and God help us thats bible pages!"

Yet if you actually open your bible beyond the table of contents (something I encourage all my Catholic friends do more often) you begin to realize that while the psalms are a lengthy stretch of the bible, its not nearly as daunting as it originally sounds with 117 bible pages worth of reading. 

This is the result of how the psalms are written, and what purpose they have. The psalms as we so often do are songs, 150, to be specific. you will find them structured over 100 pages in the bible very similarly to how I have them set above. The psalms, these songs, are the bridge of emotions offered to us by the bible. These 100 pages, 150 songs, are the playground where reason and emotion meet, where they wrestle, and where they perhaps finally make sense. 

Now psalm 85 specifically, that beautiful hymn you listened to above and remember singing along to so many weeks ago. What does it mean? What is the significance of it? Is it more than just a beautiful song? 

The answer to the last one is easy, of course it is, more than that, however that should not take away from how beautiful it is! This psalm is labeled as a national lament, with the early parts of the psalm (not read/sung) reminding God of past forgiveness, and favors, as if he could forget. Next is the begging of forgiveness and favor, something that the people of God seem very accustomed to doing. This psalm placed in its historical context would be in the early postexilic period, after the Babylonian captivity presumed the 5th century BCE. However what I find to me most interesting and most worth paying attention to is the pairing of the virtues, not only do I find this captivating on its own, but most explicitly worth noting, as a result of knowing that this pairing of virtues to meant to represented Divine activity personified*. 

So yes there is something more to what is there, there is a meaning behind it, but at the very least, it is a beautiful song that can very easily, given the opportunity illicit an emotional response from us. 

Peace and Blessings Always

~M

*Insight/dates from USCCB. Thanks Bishops of the US! 

"A Shepherd Sent by God"

Thank you Fr. G, for a perfect quote, used as this posts title! 

This post will be covering the weekend of July 5th, the 14th Sunday Ordinary Time. The readings for this week come from Ezekiel (2:2-5), 2 Corinthians (12:7-10), and Mark (6:1-6). 

These readings, while having many many things in common, I think they are all uniquely connected because of this unifying idea that Fr. G offered in his homily (yes I do remember it from a month ago) about what it means to be a prophet, and ultimately a shepherd, but not just any shepherd, "a Shepherd send by God". In case you haven't picked up on it yet, I really like that line! 

This week for this post I am not going to quote the scripture readings, and this is why I have given you the passages above. Instead having read them, and heard them at mass, and having listened to Fr. G's homily (not ready to give it the kick ass title I give most of Fr. Bernard's but it was pretty good) I want to instead focus on the song used for the presentation of the gifts at that mass. 

And just in case there is anyone reading this who doesn't realize how crazy (in the best of ways) I am, here is a picture of the worship aide from that mass. Yes, yes I have been carrying it around for the past month knowing I wanted to reflect on this particular song. As a result of the poor quality of the picture I will type out the words to the song below. 

For those of you who find reading simply too exhausting and are thinking, "my God Mike its a miracle I make it through all the crap you have to say", here is a video link to the song :) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=636jakFdJFQ

First Verse: 

As a fire is meant for burning With a 

bright and warming flame, So the church is meant for 

mission, Giving glory to God's name. 

Not to preach our creeds, or customs, but to 

build a bridge of care, We join hands across the 

nations, Finding neighbors everywhere. 

Second Verse: 

We are learners; we are teachers; We are 

pilgrims on the way. We are seekers; we are 

givers; We are vessels made of clay. 

By our gentle, loving actions, We would 

show that Christ is light. In a humble listening

Spirit, We would live to God's delight. 

Third Verse: 

As a green bud in the spring time Is a 

sign of life renewed, So may we be signs of 

oneness 'Mid earth's peoples, many hued. 

As a rainbow lights the heavens When a 

storm is past and gone, May our lives reflect the 

radiance of God's new and glorious dawn. 

This song was one I had never heard before and was not familiar with, and perhaps as a result of that I decided not to sing along, but rather to simply listen to the beautiful choir. I believe it is as a result of list listening that i was able to hear what the song really had to offer. More over I heard this song echo the first reading about an old testament prophet, I heard the words of Paul to the Corintians, and I heard the gospel of Mark, all combined into one song. With Fr. G's homily having just come to an end I also heard his voice filling my head in a booming way as it does the great space of the cathedral. And in this song I heard what the church truly was meant to be and is, a Shepherd sent by God. 

I'm sad it was my first time hearing such a beautiful song in 22 years of church attendance, yet I am delighted that I have now heard it and can move forward sharing it with as many as possible, for as long as possible. 

I hope you all enjoy this as much as I did, and do. 

Peace and Blessings Always 

~M 

"Whoever had much did not have more, and whoever had little did not have less."

Whether it is the gift of young age, or simply dumb luck (my money is on the latter) I have fortunately not only been able to remember the readings from the 13th Sunday of Ordinary time which was oh so long ago (June 28th). Now not only was I able to keep in mind what the reading where, with a guilty conciencse for having not written this reflection I kept them at the fore front of my mind.

The quote I have given this post comes from the second reading, from the letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians. This closing sentence of the reading really stuck with me. I assume this is because of the "plight" of the college student, and the common phrases that come along with it. I don't have any money, I don't have any time, I have all this homework to do, all these papers to write, all this debt to pay back. These are common phrases for the average college student. I think these last words given to us by Paul can really speak to these at times, struggling students. You have no money, yet enough for food, enough for shelter, enough for books, and school, even if it means borrowing. Like wise these words from Paul can encourage and raise up the spirit of the burdened student, yes of course you have debt, you have reading, you have papers, and homework, but even though you have all this, there are those that have more, more struggles, more burdens. These words echoed in my mind, as I both leave college, and return, from undergrad, to grad school, I will be shocked if these familiar phrases leave my vocabulary, I just hope that the words of Paul remain with me (something I never though I would say).

Now onto the Gospel where I am particularly glad that I not only neglected this post, but also remembered that it was this story from Mark (5:21-43), the woman suffering from hemorrhage, the woman with such tremendous faith only a single thought lingered, "My God what profound faith this woman had." Having suffered for so long her faith was not only present, it was persistent. So much so that she was on the road and had the thought, "If but I touch his clothes I shall be healed". What profound and tremendous faith this woman had. I was recently driving across the state to the Thumb, where I attended a wedding of dear friends, I traveled with another dear friend none other than Fr. Stan. On our drive back to Grand Rapids talking about what ever it is two people talk about to pass the time of a 3 hour car ride, there were numerous instances where we both needed something googled. This repeat occurrence of us having been right in our original guesses as to what I googled left me joking, "My God what did we do before google, just make something up, say it with enough conviction and trust one another?" It would seem that is precisely what we did. During conversations where questionable facts arose those talking must have come to logical conclusions, and simply trusted one another. Instead now we can check everything, which is a truly beautiful thing. I assume my friends who are "seeking truth" would especially agree that it is a wonderful thing. Yet at the same time I am left wondering, are we better off being able to prove one or another wrong, or right, or would we be better off being able to simply trust one another?

This is the question I leave you, would you rather be right, and be able to prove it, or have the potential of being wrong yet have a profound faith that allows you to trust?

Feel free to leave any answers in the comments.

Peace and Blessings Always

~M