March Madness

I thought I would take a little break from Posts on Faith and Philosophy, but as a Catholic this is good, because we love all things human, everything true, everything good, and everything beautiful. What could be more beautiful than March. This post is an ode to the wonderful month of March, and a list of what makes it so great:

1.) March Madness- The NCAA tournament is amazing when you think about, what makes it great are two things the Pools, and the under-dogs. I have met people that never liked basketball, and before and after the tournament they still don't like basketball, but after filling out a Pool, they begin to live and die for every game. Plus, winning a neighborhood pool, or an office pool requires no basketball pedigree. I have to say, I know a lot about basketball, not only did I play the game, but I have been a junkie for my whole life, my dad is an absolute junkie, and I have lived and breathed basketball for my whole life. I have never even come close to winning a Pool, let me repeat, I have a PHD in basketball, but I have never won a Pool. Its always the house-wife or the little kid who wins, and this is why its great. Everyone can own it. Plus there's a lot of teams- (65), so chances are there's a connection to a team to root for, and the under-dogs, we see ourselves in these teams, we should always keep the belief that great things are always about to happen.

2.) The Start of Spring- I love the spring, I love everything about it, the extended hours, the smells, the colors. People are happier. Spring's another proof that happiness is contagious, and happiness makes life more agreeable for those around us. Spring is all about hope, its a big thing to realize in our spiritual lives, that we don't have to make peace with the darkness, that soon water will flow again, colors will return, Spring tells us that we are made for happiness! We don't have to say, well my life will never change, and find comfort in misery. Winter and darkness have much to teach us, but nature makes it very clear, we are not meant to stay there, we are meant for Spring.

3.) St. Patricks/St. Joseph's Day- If your Catholic, with a little luck one of these feast days will fall on a Friday, and the Bishop usually exempts Catholics from the Fast. This is actually a great lesson, when I first converted back to the Faith, I was totally against this, I reasoned, there's only 6-7 major fast days in the Church, we should keep them all. Until someone told me, "Tony, don't be more Catholic than the Pope," The Church likes to rejoice, and we should joyfully fast when appropriate and rejoice when appropriate.

So let's all resolve to enjoy the month of March, because the years and our life's best days are in front of us!

A lot to learn from the Prodigal Son

To the Left is Rembrandt's famous painting of the Prodigal son. Its power and beauty are unbelievable. Here are some thoughts that I borrowed from Pope Benedict and Michael O'Brien in a talk that he gave on this painting, that can be found at www.studiobrien.com.

The first thing to point out is the most obvious, the Prodigal Son's return to his Father, and return to the world of love. He has lost everything, even his health. The picture is the perfect portrait of what sin ultimately gets us. But behind the horrible garments, and the bruised flesh, you can tell that he has finally found peace. He has nothing left in this world except the loving arms of His Father, and finally he realizes that was all he ever needed. We can find this embrace every time we pray, when we allow our souls to be wrapped up in God.

The second important point is the Father, there is something more here than simple pity. Pity is easy to feel, just look at the prodigal sons torn cloths. Mercy is difficult, but that is what those hands give, pure mercy. There is something else that many spiritual writers have pointed out about this picture, its almost like the head of the prodigal son is the head of an infant child, all the way down to the mucus of an infant emerging from the womb. This is what the Mercy of God gives us. A brand new start! Its as if the Father sees all the way back to his birth, He sees the man He was created to be. He sees that He made him Good, made him to love. At every confession we are invited to experience this newness. To begin again, and walk in the original goodness that the Father created us for.

The third point is the Elder Brother, in all the books and all the homilies I have ever heard, I never heard the point that Michael O'Brien made in his talk on the prodigal son. The elder brother says to the Father, "This son of yours," and the Father in total gentleness corrects him immediately by saying, "This brother of yours," Upon receiving mercy from the Father, we have to remember what got us into trouble in the first place, Selfishness, living for ourselves. The only way to live is radically connected to our brother, to care and love our brother not as a mere social contract, but as a family.

Finally, Pope Benedict makes the point, the elder brother is invited into the banquet, to celebrate, to live Christian Joy. If we believe what we say, that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist, then Joy is the only response. We never learn what the elder brother decided to do, if he accepted the invitation into the party, that's because the invitation is addressed to us today, lets walk into the banquet to rejoice with our Father and our brothers.

You are Good

Yesterday was the first Sunday in Lent, and the Gospel deals with Jesus 40 days in the desert being tempted by the devil. A visiting priest to our parish gave an amazing homily, it dealt with the devils most sneaky temptation. He made the point that the "obvious" temptations towards "Lust, greed, drunkenness" are not the most dangerous, and in some instances can even lead a soul into a deeper relationship with God, because the soul sees clearly how much he/she needs a Savior. The most dangerous temptations of the devil, is not to convince us that Greed is bad, or that violence is bad, those are obvious to anyone who is open, the most dangerous temptation is to convince us that we are bad. Here's the big problem, if you think that you are flawed, it effects your identity, how you see the world, how you see yourself, and how you see God.

This is the beauty of confession, when you confess your sins to a priest, its so healthy, because you are saying, "I have done these things, but this is not me, this is not who I am," A person can walk away from the confession with great joy, because the truth of the matter is, God does not make mistakes, He made me Good, so its true. We have to remember this, because the more our identity is tied up in the notion that God made me good, the more likely I will continually make good choices!

Allowing others to belong to God

I read Amy Welborn's blog amywelborn.wordpress.com last week after I found out about the terrible loss of her husband 2 weeks ago, and the last 4-5 posts are truly incredible, its amazing the depth a person can muster in the worst situations, and I am so thankful for her strength in sharing these insights. In one of her post on gratitude, she talked about how its been a life long work of hers to allow others to belong to God, especially her children. As a father of 5 children, I really identified with this. My first son wasn't half way out of the womb, and I could already imagine him winning the Heisman trophy, the College Basketball player of the year, and the French Open all in the same year. I have a sense that men struggle with this more than women. Because its a very real temptation to want to live your own life again through your children. I take that back, women struggle with this as well. To want to undo all your own mistakes, and relive all your own glories in the life of your children. If you don't think this is true, just go to any grade school or high school sporting event, and sit in the parent section, and you will see many, many fathers trying to live through their children.

There's a big problem with this. Children don't belong to their parents. They belong to God, and the only human response is to let them belong to God, and find their own walk.

I had a powerful experience of this over the weekend, my oldest son had his First Reconciliation on Saturday. So when it was his time to go to confession, I walked him to the back of the Church, and I patted him on his back, and watched him walk by himself to the confessional door. As the door closed, it dawned on me, "he is on his own journey with God". I am so grateful that God has chosen me to accompany him on this journey, but it became very clear to me that its his journey, not mine. He is a gift to me, not a possession of mine, therefore any attempt to force my own way upon him will always backfire; because the human person loves freedom, as it should, because freedom is God's greatest gift to man.

Don't get me wrong, sharing the gifts of our life with our children is very different than forcing them on our children. My dad shared his love for basketball with me at an early age, and it became an important part of our relationship. John Paul II said it best, "Christians should propose the Gospel, never impose the Gospel," The answer lies in my son's first penance, which is great for a 7 year old, or a 99 year old. The priest asked him to read Psalm 23 in front of the Tabernacle, and when he was done, to say this short prayer, "From now on, Jesus, I want You to be the Sheppard of my soul"; What amazing advice!

The Incredible Gift of the Eucharist

"Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated, I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament ... There you will find romance, glory, honour, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves on earth". I have fallen in love recently with the works and letters of JR Tolkien, who wrote the Lord of the Rings. My son wanted me to read the books to him, and I found myself more captured by it then he was. That's why the above quote captured me so much, think about the first sentence, its written by the man who wrote the #1 book ever!, according to Amazon.com. "Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated" We all have fears, we all have disappointments, we all have stress. This is the amazing thing about the Eucharist, its God's medicine for us. But its more than medicine, its God's way of being close to us. Jesus made us a promise, "To be with us always," This is true in many ways, His presence in others, His presence in our own hearts, but its uniquely true in His presence in the Blessed Sacrament. At anytime, day or night, we can go to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and lay our hearts on the alter. He is big enough to take anything, all our stress about the economy, all our own weakness and failings, He has seen and heard it all before, and He will take it, and raise us up.

In the Lord of the Rings, the Hobbits carry with them the Lembas Bread, its clear that this is a reference to the Eucharist, the effects of the Lembas Bread on the Hobbits are to sustain them, and give them strength. Lembas means "journey Bread" to the hobbits, and that's what it means to us as well, we are all on a journey, and the Eucharist is the nourishment we all need to arrive safely at our destination!

Hope in this Recession

Everyday we are hearing more news about how dire the economy is, about record unemployment, economic scandals, buy-outs, and stimulus packages. After a while it becomes more than we can take. It really begins to break our spirit. We are tempted to look into the future with fear about what it all means. Some important truths to consider when this happens.

First, nothing of what is happening now in the economy, comes as a shock to God. He didn't cause the current crises, my belief is that much of our current ills are self inflicted, but He can bring good out of any suffering.

Secondly, the fear that the media creates is not good for them or for us, knowing about every bank bail-out, and every time the stock market drops is not going to put one piece of food on my families table.

We can only control our thoughts and actions, and the best way to do that, is to feed your mind with what is True, Good, and Beautiful. Here is some thoughts from scripture that do just that:

1.) Psalm 1 versus 3- The law of the Lord is their Joy, they are like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in due season, its leaves never wither, whatever they do prospers.

2.) Matt 6 :versus 31- "Don't worry and say, what are we going to eat, or what are we going to drink, or what are we going to wear, your Heavenly Father knows you need all of them, but first be concerned about His Kingdom and His Righteousness and all of these things shall be provided for you,"

3.) Isaiah 43- "When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not be drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up, the flames will not consume you. For I am the Lord your God.

4.) Malachi 3 versus 10- (This is Big) "Bring the whole Tithe into the Storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and try me in this, says the Lord of hosts, Shall I not open for you the floodgates of heaven, to pour down blessings upon you without measure."

5.) Luke 6: versus 38- "Give and it shall be given to you, Good measure, pressed down and shaken together and running over, will be poured into your laps, for the measure you use will be measured for you."

The reason I mentioned giving right now, is because the last thing we should do as a culture is become self-absorbed. The more other focused we are, the quicker our culture will begin to thrive in every way. Plus, the 4th quote above is the only time in the bible, where God asks us to test him, when we give! Its a fun challenge, because we have a God that keeps his promise!

The Freedom of Choice Act.

I was so proud of our Parish last weekend, all Parishes were asked by the American Bishops to speak out against the Freedom of Choice Act. Some were probably to freightened to take this challenge, but our Parish did, and from the looks of conversations after Church, they paid a price for it. But this is were trust comes in, when we stand up for what is true, God will come to our aid. The role of a Christian in society, among other things, is to stand up for the poor, the marginalized, the voiceless. Who is more voiceless than the unborn child. This week I am making calls and sending emails to congress and the senate, asking them to say no to the Freedom of Choice act. You can look up your state senator, and your state congressman at the below address, please consider a call and an email this week and speak for the unborn child;

www.congress.gov, and www.senate.gov.