Addicted

As I approached Holy Cross parish for mass this morning, I was humming one of my favorite songs. I was happy about a new encounter with my Lord today and beginning my day with him as usual. But as I got closer to the church, my heart sank for a moment. Did I miss something? I wondered. When was mass cancelled? I thought out loud. Suddenly I stopped singing and looked frantically for signs of people around the church. In particular, I looked for a little old blue Toyota car which belonged to an elderly couple that frequent the mass every morning. When I did not see it, I concluded that mass had been cancelled or postponed and I did not know it. The thought made me sad because I was looking forward to yet another great encounter with my friend Jesus in the Eucharist. I just have to have my daily dose, I said. Nevertheless, I decided I would go into the church anyway to pray, mass or no mass for an hour because it is my time with the Lord. However, as soon as I opened the front door, the huge church bell started to ring and I quickly yelled “YES!!!” and quietly went inside.

I have been a Christian all of my life and have always gone to church but have never been this in love with Jesus. Looking back, I see a huge difference in my faith journey. I my understanding of Jesus’ love for me has grown and deepened. As a child, perhaps I had associated Sunday masses with putting on nice Sunday outfits and eating rice which was the traditional meal cooked every Sunday when I was growing up. Perhaps growing up, I even emulated St. Paul whenever I would chide my friends for committing “mortal” sin against God by not coming to church the previous Sunday. As a child, I kept a good list of my “sins” and went to confession every Saturday so I would receive communion the following Sunday. I did what I assumed was right, did what I thought was love. But now I know that my obsession with showing God how much I love him was grounded in my fear of his judgment and impending punishment in Hell. I despised my shortcomings and assumed that I God saw me the same way I saw myself.  Whenever I was sick or something goes wrong in my life or family, I would see it as punishment from God for some sin I have committed.  

Thank God for opening my eyes to see that my relationship with him begins by discovering his love for me. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (I john 4:10) God wants us to always remember his unconditional love. God does not want us to seek his love but to receive his love and freely share it with others. Until we recognize and accept God’s undeserving love of us, we will continue to miss the point like I did as a child.

There is always a longing that comes from experiencing the goodness of the Lord. I am addicted to Jesus because his love compels me, continues to invite me to respond to him. I love it and it makes all the difference in the way I see myself. My constant awareness of God’s presence continues to lead my mind back to him over and over again. I know that when I set the Lord always be before me (psalm 16:8), then I am more confident of myself and is less likely to worry about making mistakes for God has promised to show me the way of life, and grant me the joy of his presence and the pleasures of living with Him forever. I will always remain addicted to Jesus for then my soul will rejoice in the LORD and delight in his salvation (Psalm 35:9)

God’s Majesty at Cumberland

At Cumberland Falls

The heavens, the earth and the river meet

It is beauty personified

Trees in all sizes and shades of green adorn the park

Leaves sway as if responding to some rhythmic music

Gentle winds make whistling sounds as birds chirp in the sky

And water like lightening flows downstream from the falls

The splash of water a warn relieve from the scorching sun

At Cumberland falls

I saw a glimpse of God

In the sights and sounds of the park

In the guests, their smiles and the serenity of the place

Aghast and lost in profound wonder, my gaze lingered  

I could not stop myself from singing

Praise indeed is the God for this 250 million years work of art

How could I stop from singing and adoring so great a God?

Yes, Cumberland is a piece of God’s majesty. 

Evolving Providence

This is  the fourteenth Liturgical Sunday in Ordinary time. My reflection on the Gospel kept reminding me of an interesting conference I attended recently. The reading from the Gospel of Mark 6: 1 - 6 explained the exchange between Jesus and his townspeople. Jesus came to his hometown ready to cure, heal and restore people back to God. The towns people listened as he preached, taught and explain the scriptures. They observed his zeal, enthusiasm and passion for proclaiming the coming of the reign of God. They even acknowledged that Jesus had extraordinary powers, and were astounded with the miracles they witnessed. But they were not convinced that there was more to Jesus than the village carpenter who lived down the street. They closed their minds to the truth which they witnessed and which their hearts affirmed and instead questioned how a mere carpenter could possess the type of power that Jesus had.

Unlike Jesus' townspeople, my eyes were significantly opened by the insights from Sr. Ilia Delio’s presented during the Conference of Women of Providence in Collaboration conference I attended with some of our CDP sisters in June 2015.

With Ilia Delio

CDP Sisters and Associates

Liturgical Dance

With other Liturgical Dancers

Delio gave an expansive understanding of evolution and elaborately explained why we need to reimage our traditional notions of God and creation. Delio  explained that evolution has come to be understood not as some narrow theory explaining biological phenomena, but a cosmic process that challenges the plausibility of a static and unchanging notion of God and God’s relationship to all of reality. She claims that evolution, the meta-narrative of our age, implies that all being is whole and is advancing in complexity and unity through time. This cosmic process she said, is and has always been at work, is accelerating, and has implications for religious systems and for theology

In the Conference, Delio began by detailing the medieval Ptolemaic worldview with its theological and cosmological implications and then explores Copernicus’ heliocentrism, which challenged existing notions of the hierarchy of being. With God no longer the source of unity, a disconnect emerged between God, the human and the cosmos. By the 18th century, said Delio  the divide between science, especially cosmology, and theology widened further, relegating theology to fixed speculation and allying science with dynamic change. Delio said that evolution, at first interpreted narrowly, came to be understood as the dynamic process that generated novelty, change, complexity and convergence, a process that impelled and attracted all toward the future.

But for her, the preoccupation of science with objectivity gave only a partial understanding of this process. What was needed according to Delio, is some way to capture its wholeness and explore its force of attraction, its energy.  Delio then borrows heavily from the mystical Teilhard, who suggested that the evolutionary process, with its orientation toward unity, complexity and consciousness, is driven by the fundamental energy of love. Delio proffers that love is the means by which global wholeness will emerge.

What are the implications for Christian life?
Delio described how the medieval understanding of the unity of being unraveled and the devastating consequences for intellectual life and human well-being. She explored the synthesis of evolution and its ramifications for many aspects of inquiry, and then using the insights of Teilhard she attempts to show through contemplative understanding the meta-narrative of evolution how the Christian might re-imagine how to live. Delio said that religion must grow and redefine itself. She is also convinced that the kind of religion that humanity lacks cannot be found in the religious traditions of the past which are linked to static categories. What is needed she said, is a new religion full of dynamics and conquests. One that can use all the free energy of the earth to build humankind into greater unity. Delio believes that today people are looking for a religion of mankind and of earth, because faith in God in this world are a source of great spiritual energy in human being. Quoting Teihard, Delio explained that Christianity is a religion of evolution, why is why Christ cannot be limited to any one religion.  So the “stasis of religion, is the stifling of religion” convergence of all religion is possible said Delio when we harness the energies of love for the forward movement of evolution. So as humans, Delio believes that we are a process and unfolding, we evolve to never stop evolving. We experience inner evolution by letting go in other to let flow, by leaning into suffering, by recognizing our deep relatedness to all of creation and by openness, kenosis. Since now is all we have, Delio advised that we should learn to live in the now, mind body, heart and create structures to fit the moment, structure that change as needs change. She also said that we should remain open to new ideas, new patterns and not to allow ourselves to be fixated because we are still been created. As dynamic becoming, we also need to recognize that we live in an unfinished universe where everything is connected. We have to accept the truth of our nature which is incompleteness. This enables us to live in the primacy of love as well as recover the capacity of wonder and awe. For Delio, we evolve to never stop evolving, to be alive is to ceaselessly beginning, every end is a new beginning and every arrival, a new departure. We can change the world only when we change the way we think. Unless we change the way we think we cannot change the way we act said Delio.  God is the power of the future who is within us and up ahead. So we must advance all together in a direction in which all together we join and find completion of the earth – that all may be one.

I learned a lot from all that I heard, and the passion with which Ilia Delio talked about her prophetic message for the world. I defiantly agree that we need to change a lot of how we have been oriented to think and act. I hope that as you read this, you will take this message to heart and act as God’s spirit moves you.

Link to Ilia Delio’s books http://www.amazon.com/Ilia-Delio/e/B001JS2T2E

YouTube Videos:  https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ilia+delio

Heart of Jesus, Heart of my Love

Christ, have mercy on us. 

Lord, have mercy on us. 
Christ, hear us. 
Christ, graciously hear us. 
God the Father of Heaven, 
Have mercy on us. 
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, 
Have mercy on us. 
God the Holy Ghost, 
Have mercy on us. 
Holy Trinity, one God, 
Have mercy on us. 

Sacred Heart of Jesus                                                                         I praise and thank you

Sacred Heart of Jesus fountain of love                                               I praise and thank you

Sacred Heart of Jesus mansion of compassion                                   I praise and thank you

Sacred Heart of Jesus my firm refuge                                                I praise and thank you

Sacred Heart of Jesus my faithful friend                                            I praise and thank you

Sacred Heart of Jesus my source of joy                                              I praise and thank you

Sacred Heart of Jesus my linkage with the Holy Spirit                      I praise and thank you

Sacred Heart of Jesus my way to the father                                       I praise and thank you

Sacred Heart of Jesus my way, truth and life                                     I praise and thank you

Sacred Heart of Jesus my only hope and happiness                           I praise and thank you

Sacred Heart of Jesus my eternal light                                               I praise and thank you

Sacred Heart of Jesus who has gifted my with his love                     I praise and thank you

Sacred Heart of Jesus who has invited me into his father’s house     I praise and thank you

Sacred Heart of Jesus who knows and understands me                     I praise and thank you

Sacred Heart of Jesus who always answers my prayers                     I praise and thank you

Sacred Heart of Jesus who never judges or condemns me                 I praise and thank you

Sacred Heart of Jesus who provides for me                                       I praise and thank you

Sacred Heart of Jesus who acknowledges me                                     I praise and thank you

Sacred Heart of Jesus ever faithful                                                     I praise and thank you

Sacred Heart of Jesus                                                                         I will live for you

Sacred Heart of Jesus                                                                         I will die in you

Sacred Heart of Jesus                                                                        I will reign with you in glory

Prayer

Lord Jesus, on this feast day of your Sacred Heart, we remember that your love for us led you to the cross. You gladly offered your life in exchange for our eternal death. Help us to reciprocate what you have done for by showing unconditional love and service to all of earth’s human family. Amen

Faith and Committment

Commitment is a very important ingredient of life. It is the truest sign that we believe in something and shows how serious we are about it. Commitment gives us focus, shows how responsible we are and how determined we are to make our visions possible. Everyone is committed to someone or something. It could be your health, career or family. The character of people can be assessed by their levels of commitment. Relationships that lack serious commitment do not last, and people get fired from their jobs when they are not committed.  The question is, how committed are you? We cannot answer this question honestly without taking a closer and deeper look at our values if we know them, and if we don’t maybe it’s time we try to identify them? 

The first key to commitment is goal setting. Unless we set goals that are meaningful, there will not be accompanying motivation to attain the goal(s). Take the case of a teenager whose dream is to become an engineer. The student must begin to develop the skills needed for a professional training in engineering and he or she must begin to make choices that will help foster that desire, such as choices about who to be friends with, how best to use theirs or things, or taking college level courses in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry. 

The second key to commitment is to willingly exert oneself for the greater good, even when it is uncomfortable. For example, the young prospective engineer may need to sacrifice engaging playing Facebook chat, computer games or spend hours watching hours of television. So, instead of attending parties or engaging in wild teenager pranks, the focused will look for a more creative and productive opportunities such as internships. 

  

The third key to commitment is re-commitment. A person of integrity should be concerned about the type of progress he or she is making. Similarly, when we constantly re-evaluate the levels of commitment, it helps to put things into a clearer perspective. This enables us to separate mere words from action and dreams from reality. On the other hand, if we are satisfied with the result we are getting, it enhances our self-esteem, and makes life worthwhile.  So as we journey through life, let us take the time to ask the tough questions:

1.      Have I been committed to whatever or whomever?

2.      Does my behaviors reflect the values or person I am supposed to be   committed to?

3.      Are my choices compatible with my dreams?

4.      What do I need to improve? Change?

These are the types of questions I have been asking myself at this time in my religious formation. What does it mean to live a life completely dedicated to God? Are my behaviors, choices and actions compatible with my dream of becoming a Sister of Divine Providence? As a Christian, I know that it is impossible to live a committed life without first acknowledging that “all good and perfect gift comes from God” (James 1: 17), including the gift to seek, love and serve him. The Catechism of the Catholic Church captured this truth clearly. Part 1, section 1 of the article on the Profession of Faith states that the desire for God is written in the human heart, because they are created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw them to himself. In other words, only in God can I find true happiness. The article also explained that God wants us to be in communion with him so that I can know and do his will.

God is always with me and has brought me to this moment of my life. This is great! I do not think that there is any commitment that is greater than God’s commitment to us and his commitment continues for all time. In John 14:3, Jesus told his disciples that he is going to prepare a place for them so that where he is, they will be as well.  It encourages me to know that God is watching out for me much more than my desire to return his love, because I know I can’t. The more I contemplate God through our Congregation, the more it is clear to me that our beloved founder John Martin Moye understood what total commitment to God means. Everything he did: his intentions, writings, and actions were initiated, executed and sustained by Providence because he abandoned all to Divine Grace. Until his last breath, he prayed for, preached, taught, wrote about the reign of God. Like Father Moye, I am just going to continue to let God dwell in my heart through faith so that I may be grounded in his love (Ephesian 3:17). Like Father Moye, I have accepted Jesus as my way, my truth and my life and as his sheep, I will continue to strive to listen to his voice and follow him. I will not be discouraged with my shortcomings because the Lord is with me and will always uphold me (Isiah 41:10). Commitment, then, is to realize that you have been chosen by God, that you are special to him and that he is waiting to open your eyes, to discover his unconditional love so that you can return it to him through your love and service for others.  

Faith and Service

For some people, Service is only a job,” a means to an end, something that is essential for survival.

For others, service is a system which supplies public needs such as utilities and transportation

For others still, service is life’s thrust, a way of helping those in need through volunteer activities.  

For people of faith, service is the sum of all Christ’s teachings.

I serve not to seek fame, power or recognition.

I serve not for pay, praise or to acquire wealth.  

I serve because I am being served by God who has kept me going in spite to my shortcomings.  

Through Jesus God enables me to taste his providence, so that I may be his channel of providence for those waiting to encounter him through me

I serve because it gives me joy for I know that God has chosen me to bear fruits that will last

Beyond Words

I cannot find the right words,

Make the correct moves,

Sing the right tones.

How can I describe my feelings of gratitude to God?

When my best dance steps seems like a dodder, my voice a screech.

But God does not need lavish meals for he is never hungry

Beautiful fancy houses he care not for since he sleeps not

He will not accept the invitation to attend parties and dances

So what gifts can I give in return for all he has done for me?

None! I hear in echo

God does not need food, parties or gifts

So I have decided to give him myself

I return to God all that I am, will be

So that he can sing, dance and live in me
And make me all that I an ever be