Lent 2018

The desire to retreat from the world has never been stronger. Let me own a high mountain or an oasis in the desert. I want peace, silence. I want violence to cease. 

I am currently reading "The Power of Silence" By Robert Cardinal Sarah through which I hope to learn how to find silence in the midst of the world's chaos, in my own space. 

Besides the book, I am conducting a weekly group on the Psalms as a part of the mental health ministry at St. Michael's. It is an opportunity to reflect on the daily Psalm, discuss it, and write a brief reflection. I believe the Psalmists were like we are today in terms of their joys, their sufferings, their pleas to God, their attempts to understand. Though the readings, discussions, and writing, the participants express their feelings and responses.

Prayer? Oh yes, I pray all the time, much of it quietly (when I'm at home, driving, shopping), but I want to spend more time in active prayer with the Rosary and the Magnificat. I pray for the state of our broken world, for its healing. My prayers are often expressions of gratefulness and thanks even in the midst of misery. I never feel that God has abandoned me. I may not receive immediate answers to my prayers, but the answers always come.

Blessings to all for a continued holy Lent.

Matthew 25:35-40

It's hard for me to understand how those who profess the Christian faith can ignore Biblical passages that they find inconvenient or don't fit their points of view. To me it's very clear, when deciding on what to do about DACA, for instance. Does it mean something else rather than what it clearly says in the passage below?

Matthew 25:35-40New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)

35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ 37 Then the righteous[a] will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ 40 And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’

We are supposed to help people regardless of who they are or where they came from. One person said that this passage was written a long time ago and times have changed. Hmmm...I've been a Lector at several parishes for more than 25 years. I am very familiar with this passage and I haven't noticed any exceptions to that passage in recent editions or translations, in homilies, or from the Vatican.

We need to try harder. I went into a Starbucks coffee shop one day. I waited for quite a while to get my drink. A sandwich lay on the counter. The store manager called out a name and referenced the sandwich. Just before I left, she gave up and tossed it in the trash. It was not lost on me that I had seen an obviously homeless man about two blocks from Starbucks. It would have been surprising if he had refused that sandwich if it was offered to him. I regretted not foraging through the trash to retrieve that sandwich to take to the man. I didn't. I wish I had. I will probably not let another similar opportunity pass by.

I would love opinions on this.