Feb 21, 2012 06:00AM

Mourning our Sinfulness

We cannot fully appreciate the mercy of God until we fully recognize the pain and destruction of our sins.  This is why Saint Ignatius of Loyola recommended beginning the Spiritual Exercises by reflecting on one's sinfulness.  This goes against our natural habit of excusing our sinfulness, rationalizing it away so that we don't feel bad about ourselves and our words and actions.  In his book, The Gift of Spiritual Intimacy, Fr. Monty Williams S.J., offers us some reflection questions to help us recognize the pain and destruction of our sinfulness--

Can you bring to mind the situations and moments when you have been destructive?  Self-destructive?
Why were you not destroyed?
How did your destructiveness affect you?  How did it affect others?  What were the consequences?
Can you allow God to enter into those areas?  How does it feel when you let that happen?

In the letter of James 4:1-10, we are reminded that each of us is an adulterer--we've all turned our attention from our first love, God, toward a false god, sin.  It's very humbling to understand that every single one of us falls short of the glory of God and that each one of us needs God's mercy!  The author of James encourages us to honestly get in touch with the destruction of our sinfulness--to weep and grieve-- so that we can fully experience God's mercy--

So submit yourselves to God.
Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you.
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.
Cleanse your hands, you sinners,
and purify your hearts, you of two minds.
Begin to lament, to mourn, to weep.
Let your laughter be turned into mourning
and your joy into dejection.
Humble yourselves before the Lord
and he will exalt you.

Feb 18, 2012 06:01AM

A Blessing or a Curse

"Your greatest strength is also your greatest weakness, and your greatest weakness is also your greatest strength." There is great truth in this saying. Saint Ignatius of Loyola took this idea a little further--

Ignatius believes that every person has just one root sin and all the other sins are an expression of that one sin. Similarly, we have just one grace and all the other graces are a deepening of that one grace. What is amazing is that the root sin and the root grace share the same energy. When we come to this realization we will be able to use the energy of our root sin to deepen and bring to life our root grace. An Ignatian Pathway by Paul Coutinho, S.J.

A great example of this truth can be found in the letter of James, where we are told that the human tongue has the potential to be a blessing or a curse. We read, "From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. This need not be so, my brothers. Does a spring gush forth from the same opening both pure and brackish water?" (James 3:10-11). James is challenging us to recognize the energy and power that our speech has and to choose to use it to build up others in faith, hope, and love. In this way, someone who is struggling to overcome the bad habit of foul and/or abusive language is invited to better understand the power and blessing that is inherent in the gift of speech and to choose to use it as a blessing. The same passion that leads to swearing can be lead to blessing!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Feb 17, 2012 06:19AM

Faith Without Works is Dead

Lent is upon us!  In just a few days, we will be entering into the penitential season of Lent--forty days and forty nights of prayer, fasting, abstinence, and penance!  It's a retreat season, a time for us to be with God in a special, intimate way.  It's a special time for our faith to be expressed in works!

In the letter of James, the author writes very succinctly, "Faith without works is dead" (James 2:26).  In other words, if we truly believe in Christ, then our belief will manifest itself in visible, tangible ways.  During Lent, we allow ourselves to be particularly conscious of this reality.  We look for specific ways to put our faith into action.  Some of the sacrifices we make during Lent are intercessory prayers offered for others--like giving up chocolate as a sacrificial prayer for the poor.  Some of our sacrifices, however, are expressions of our faith in action--like spending extra time working at the soup kitchen, or visiting nursing home patients, or making rosaries to send to our troops overseas.

Now is the time for us to prayerfully ask God what He desires our Lenten journey to look like, remembering that He will not ask us to do more than we can faithfully do.  

Feb 16, 2012 08:25AM

HHS Mandate

As all of you know, there has been a lot of information in the news about the HHS mandate from the government.  As I've spoken to many of you about it, we've agreed that the issue is extremely confusing.  The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has been trying to clarify the issue and offer us the truth about what the recent "compromise" entails.  For those of you wanting more information, you can click here to read the recently released cover letter and bulletin announcement.  At Immaculate Conception, we will publish these in our bulletin the weekend of February 25th and 26th.

Feb 16, 2012 06:15AM

The JOURNEY of Faith

One of the most important lessons we can learn in life is that the journey is just as important, and sometimes even more important, than the destination!  In other words, it's not just where we're going, but it's how we get there.

Chapter eight in the Gospel of Mark begins what is sometimes referred to as the "travel narrative" because it unfolds during the journey of Jesus and the Apostles to Caesarea Philippi.  Their physical journey represents the Apostles' spiritual journey in understanding Jesus' identity.  This travel narrative is a gentle reminder to all of us of the patience that is required in our spiritual growth; it's a journey, a life-long journey with many twists and turns, all of which are important.  The most dangerous pitfall on the journey is for us to forget that we're on a journey and set up camp where we're at, refusing to grow any more.

What are the signs in your spiritual life that remind you that you're on a journey and not camped out?