This is my Friend

From an old manuscript.

Let me tell you how I made His acquaintance.
I had heard much of Him, but took no heed.
He sent daily gifts and presents, but I never thanked Him.
He often seemed to want my friendship, but I remained cold.
I was homeless, and wretched, and starving and in peril every hour; and He offered me shelter and comfort and food and safety; but I was ungrateful still.
At last He crossed my path and with tears in His eyes He besought me saying, Come and abide with me.

Let me tell you how he treats me now.
He supplies all my wants.
He gives me more than I dare ask.
He anticipates my every need.
He begs me to ask for more.
He never reminds me of my past ingratitude.
He never rebukes me for my past follies.

Let me tell you further what I think of Him.
He is as good as He is great.
His love is as ardent as it is true.
He is as lavish of His promises as He is faithful in keeping them.
He is as jealous of my love as He is deserving of it.
I am in all things His debtor, but He bids me call Him Friend.

I thought I would share that. What a great testimony of conversion! It is anonymous and serves as the introduction of a book written by Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson called Friendship with Christ written in 1912. Good Stuff!

Be with him in order to go for him!

Hi!

A few random thoughts that I hope I can tie together at the end.

Recently I have become more aware of the amount of noise we live with. TV, radio, i-Pods, bass speakers in cars booming out rap beats, constant communications via text messaging, instant messaging, e-mail, blogging, voice mail, phone calls, and on it goes seemingly, endlessly. Maybe you are aware of this and have thought about how it impacts your life. I have been thinking about it a bit more recently in regards to my relationship to the Lord. And how it affects my ability to listen to him.

Next thought! I remember being in Poland shortly after the collapse of Communism. I was talking with a friend who is a Polish Catholic. I shared with him some thoughts on something we needed to take action on regarding a common mission project. He told me he would think about it. - Reflection.

He wanted to take time to process what had been discussed. It wasn't based on the fact that he was an introvert, it was simply that in his way of thinking, reflection was an important part of the decision making process we were involved with. Actually it was clearly more a part of his whole way of living. There are times when you must make snap decisions but many times that is not the case. Anyhow, the point was that he was accustomed to taking more time in his life to think and ponder certain things than I think I was. For example, in the last few days in my prayer times I have heard the Lord speaking to me about his will through a couple of Scripture verses. I am attempting to pause and reflect throughout the day on those passages and allow the Holy Spirit to impart grace to embrace what He wants for me.

For those of us who are involved with the new evangelization, with sharing the joy of the whole world, - the person of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and the invitation to relationship with him, - the issue of noise and reflection are crucial to consider.

In Psalm 46: 10 we read, "Be still and know that I am God."(RSV) The Jerusalem Bible says,"Pause awhile and know that I am God."

To be effective in our daily lives as everyday apostles the most crucial dimension of our lives is union with God. It's daily personal prayer. It is the hidden time with God alone. It has to do with making time to "be with him in order to go for him"(See Mark 3:14). This is something that we can all continually grow in. At times we may need to be renewed in this first calling on our lives, and stop and think about how to grow in personal prayer with the Lord. Going off alone in quite for an appointed time each day, to praise and thank him, to listen and reflect to his word in Scripture and the lives of the saints, to pause a while in our busy noisy lives is life giving for us.

And in order to give the gift of Life himself to others, we need to receive from him each day. It certainly comes to us in the Eucharist, but it should also come from daily personal prayer. Time where we go off to be with God.

Think about your life and if personal prayer is a priority. Making some simple decisions about what time is best for me and where can I have this special appointment with God can be a good way of getting going.

I have been devoted to personal prayer for over 36 years now. There have been all kinds of bumps in the road of life, and times and seasons that vary how and when it happens BUT, it has happened on a regular basis and - It has been life changing! During this month, I have heard the Lord inviting me to spend extra times with him. How about you? He wants to be with you! Incredible isn't it?

Be with him in order to go for him!

Podcasting

Recently I had an excellent interview with Catholic writer and blogger, Oswald Sobrino. He is dynamic layman pursuing his masters in biblical studies at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit. He really has a passion for a movement in the Catholic Church called the charismatic renewal, which has been a great influence in my own life and the lives of millions of Catholics around the world.

In the interview I had the chance to discuss with him the upcoming World Youth Day and his thoughts on Pope Benedict's recent message to Youth on a New Pentecost (super good read!). The interview is in the context of ChristLife's 28th podcast (what is podcasting?) and you can listen to the interview right now if you like.

Prayer for Missions

O Christ, help us
to be bearers of
your life-giving
Word everyday.
Send your Holy
Spirit and fill us
with a burning
zeal to carry your
good news across
the nations. Make
us instruments
in bringing your
peace to restless
hearts around the
world. Amen

Reading & Sharing the Word of God

I like reading the Bible.... at least, most of the time. Sometimes certain sections are more difficult than others...

As someone who grew up with a lot of Bible reading in the family - I was used to reading the Bible and "listening" to God speaking in the "here and now" through it. It was normal to expect God's Spirit to speak during Scripture reading! Then, I realized when I got older that not only do most Catholics not read the Bible, but, even more, the idea of God speaking to them through Scripture would be very foreign! I despaired for a little, then I kept hearing about this thing called lectio divina (literally divine reading).

Well its something that's been in the Church since the early centuries of Christianity - and its something the Pope really recommends - and its all about reading the Bible and hearing from the Lord. Its wonderful stuff! And, so, the other day I came across this video on youtube. It is Archbishop Collins of Toronto at a youth rally giving a great, Spirit-filled explanation of lectio divina and and actually practicing it on video. Check it out!



If you want to see the rest, check out Part Two here.

Finally, while Catholics have the stigma of not knowing the Bible. The Church itself has been really encouraging Catholics to read it, at least since Vatican II:

The sacred synod forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful, especially those who live the religious life, to learn ‘the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ’ (Phil. 3:8) by frequent reading of divine Scripture.
Vatican II, Dei Verbum

And finally, what does all this have to do with evangelization? Well, everything. By knowing the Word of God, the Word of Christ - we know Him. And ... if we know him... we can share him with others. As B16 (the Pope) said last year:

"There is an urgent need for the emergence of a new generation of apostles anchored firmly in the word of Christ, capable of responding to the challenges of our times and prepared to spread the Gospel far and wide."

What is evangelization?

I was invited to be on national Catholic radio yesterday, not because any of my merits - but because my director, Dave, couldn't do it - so I stepped in. The theme was the "call to evangelize." The focus seemed to be apologetics though - and specifically apologetics aimed at helping Catholics defend the Faith against Protestants. Which, I think, is something necessary, when put in proper perspective.

But, first, let's get something clear. Evangelization does not = apologetics. Nope. Apologetics, from its very root, means defending one's position - and has everything to do with convincing people through argument and logic - of one's position.

All that I find is good, when its put in its proper place, as a subsection of the broader brush of evangelization. And, at the very root and foundation of it all, Catholic evangelization is proclaiming the person and saving work of Jesus Christ - NOT "converting" people to our way of thinking or "converting" people to practice liturgy or doing whatever in our way - but it is bringing them to conversion to Jesus Christ. Pope John Paul II wrote that "conversion is accepting by personal decision the saving sovereignty of Jesus Christ and becoming his disciple" (Mission of the Redeemer, #46)

It's lifting up the fact that Jesus is Lord of all things, and all situations. He is the only one that saves; the one who forgives; the God who heals; the way, the truth, and the life! And that he came "that we may have life and have it to the full." (John 10:10) Catholic evangelization, Christian evangelization should in it's core be a proclamation of contagious joy - not a teeth-pulling exercise of me changing your mind about some element of doctrine. Apologetics has a place, put it should be put in proper perspective. Check out Peter Kreeft's articles or Archbishop Chaput's article on our Web site for more on apologetics.

Finally, for a great example of evangelization and witnessing to one's faith, let's read what Pope Benedict told a journalist in his first public interview after becoming Pope (he was summarizing his deepest wish for young people and the whole world):

“I want them to understand that it is beautiful to be a Christian! The generally prevailing idea is that Christians have to observe an immense number of commandments, prohibitions, precepts, and other such restrictions, so that Christianity is a heavy and oppressive way of living, and it would therefore be more liberating to live without all these burdens. But I would like to make it clear that to be sustained by this great Love and God’s sublime revelation is not a burden, but rather a set of wings – that it is truly beautiful to be a Christian. It is an experience that gives us room to breathe and move, but most of all, it places us within a community since, as Christians, we are never alone: first of all, there is God, who is always with us; secondly, we are always forming a great community among ourselves: a community of people together on a journey, a community with a project for the future. All of this means that we are empowered to live a life worth living. This is the joy of being a Christian; that it is beautiful and right to believe!”

Good stuff. Help us Lord be joyful in our faith, that others may see, you are the one who saves!

Shalom

Well, my sister Julie and I returned today from a family vacation in Bethany Beach, DE with family and friends. It was really a great time of fellowship, fun, and relaxation... oh, and some good sleep :) I also had the chance to read a good amount of the Pope's new book Jesus of Nazareth on the beach - though its pretty deep, but very good in that it leads you through a lot of Scripture.

Anyway one day at the beach, I had read a whole bunch of stuff about Jesus as the new Torah and all about the Jewish background of Jesus and such - and I walked into the lobby of the hotel we were staying in and there was a Jewish guy with a beard and all - I assume an orthodox Jew.

As I approached I felt a lot of love for him and I greeted him - and he responded "Shalom!" To which I responded "Yeah, I like that... Shalom!" Then he followed me a few steps as I was getting on an elevator and he asked "Are you Jewish?" I paused a second and responded without really knowing what I was saying "Yeah, sort of..." and then I just said "Jesus." And at that we parted ways... though I did end up seeing him later praying and we greeted one another again.

Ha! It was great encounter. I don't know what I was thinking when I said "I'm sort of [Jewish]!" It must have been the Pope's book... and/or the Holy Spirit! (side note: In one of the most inspired phrases of the 20th century, Pope Pius XI, in the course of condemning anti-Semitism, said that Christians are "spiritual Semites" - a little more eloquent than my "sort of Jewish" response). Anyway, I pray that the brief encounter would lead this man to fulfill his Judaism by recognizing the Messiah, Jesus. Two great articles ChristLife has on our Web site deals with both a personal testimony of a Jewish convert to Christianity (whom I know) and the theological differences & similarities between Judaism & Christianity by Peter Kreeft.