Come, Holy Spirit

I was reading the Gospel of John the other day and I ran across a few verses that really emphasized how important the Holy Spirit is to evangelization:

And when [the Holy Spirit] comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned. - John 16:8-11 (NRSV)

This is so important.

We need the Holy Spirit. We need the Holy Spirit to show the world what is sin and reveal that God the Father gave us Jesus as a provision for our sins.

We need the Holy Spirit to show us the Righteous One - Jesus Christ - so that we might believe in him. (Think about St. Peter's confession.)

Finally, we need the Holy Spirit to reveal to everyone that Jesus came to save us and condemn the evil one - that Christianity, at its core, is about God's radical love and forgiveness.

Sometimes, I think these points get lost. Too often, Christians are depicted as these sin-obsessed people, self-righteously condemning the world and everyone in it. Which is definitely not who we are called to be.

That's not to say that we should ignore sin or dismiss it as inconsequential. One look at a crucifix reminds us how awful sin is. But it does mean our focus, the basis of our faith, should be that Jesus came to save us, not condemn us, and that grace is at the center of our faith, not sin.

And so we pray:

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.

Love is calling you

I was driving to work this morning, and the song "The lost get found" by Britt Nicole came on the radio. At first I thought "who is this?" because it sounded very mainstream, and checked to see if I was on the right radio station... Sure was... So I listened and ended up really appreciating the message, and felt like God was speaking to me through this song. Here are a few of the lyrics that stuck with me-

Why don't you rise up now?
Don't be afraid to stand out
That's how the lost get found....

There's a girl on the streets, she's cryin'
There's a man whose faith is dyin'
Love is calling you....

Why do we go with the flow
Or take an easier road?
Why are we playin' it safe?
Love came to show us the way
Love is a chance we should take....

There's a really big world at your fingertips
And you know you have the chance to change it

I especially like the line "love is calling you." Isn't this the ultimate reason for evangelization? Does it really have much to do with "I'm right" and "you're wrong" and so I'm going to correct your errors? Or should love (or His voice of love) be the reason and motive?

I have no desire to tell others about Jesus naturally, other than as St. Paul exclaims "for the love of Christ urges us on!"

Here is a short interview with Britt on her new song, and why she wrote it:

If you want to get the song, you can buy at iTunes or listen to it streaming from her myspace page.

What do you like about this song?

Ralph Martin and Personal Prayer

Yesterday I had lunch with a dear friend of mine, Ralph Martin. It is always special to have time with Ralph, we've know each other for 38 years! Ralph lives in Ann Arbor Michigan so we don't get to see much of each other, but recently he has been finishing up his Licentiate in Sacred Theology in Washington, D.C. So Ralph drove up to get a chance to see our ChristLife offices and for some time to catch up with each other.

Back in 1971 I attended a workshop on Union with God in

Prayer, that Ralph was presenting. That workshop inspired and instructed me how to begin the discipline of a daily personal prayer life that continues right up till this morning! Ralph has written two incredible books on prayer: Hungry for God- Practical Help in Personal Prayer and, The Fulfillment of All Desire.

I want to encourage anyone who would like to establish a daily personal prayer life, which is so crucial to living as a Christian, to get hold of Hungry for God. It will be life changing.

How do you get to heaven?

Lots of people, Christians and those of other religions or no religious belief at all, believe in heaven. Fewer people seem to believe in hell or at least don’t want to think about it. And now days many don’t seem to give much thought to how you get to one place or the other.

Christ talked about the existence of both frequently, and urged everyone to do what was necessary to go to heaven. As Christians our reason for believing in the existence of heaven and hell is because we believe in Him and He believed in them!

Back in the 1970’s I taught religion at a Jesuit boys high school. At some point during the courses I taught I would ask the question, “When you die what is the reason for getting to go to heaven?” I almost always got the same answers: Because I was good, I didn’t hurt anyone, I was sincere. Rarely was Jesus mentioned as the answer. Many of the students had received Catholic education throughout their schooling yet did not understand what Christ Jesus had to do with eternal life.

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except by me.” (John 14:6) He also said, “eternal life is this to know you the only true God, an Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3)

The Church teaches, “By his death and Resurrection, Jesus Christ has “opened heaven to us. The life of the blessed consists in the full and perfect possession of the fruits of the redemption accomplished by Christ. He makes partners in his heavenly glorification those who have believed in him and remain faithful to his will. Heaven is the blessed community of all who are perfectly incorporated into him.” Check it out in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), 1027

The essential answer for our getting to go to heaven is, Christ. Jesus has “opened heaven to us.” He is the way we can be eternally with God. By his death and resurrection Jesus accomplished what we in and of ourselves could not accomplish - our redemption. It is the love of God made manifest on the cross, bearing our sins, granting us forgiveness and through the Spirit entry into relationship with God. It is God’s initiative, not ours that allows us this access to eternal joy with the Trinity and all of the saints and angels! The Father wants us to be with Him eternally and through the Son has made the way for us be with them, happily ever after! It is our responsibility to respond to this grace of God with faith doing his will in our daily lives.

Let me make one comment on hell. Hell is the consequence of our free will. We can choose it for ourselves. God does not cast anyone into hell against his will. If we truly are creatures with free will then we have the capacity to say no to a loving Creator. That is essentially what hell is. Eternal separation from the One who loves us so much that he allows us to choose to be with Him, or not. Take a look in the CCC, 1033-1037.

The Church also teaches that even those who have not baptized and responded with faith in Christ may be saved (under the impulse of grace) who “sincerely seek God and strive to do his will can also be saved without Baptism (Baptism of desire).” CCC,1258-1261. It is a mystery and thank God He is the judge of all and not me or you! It is not our responsibility to judge who is or isn’t going to heaven when they die.

Our responsibility is to pray for salvation for everyone and to be witnesses of the eternal life that begins here and now in knowing the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. (See John 17:3 noted above). What is important for those of us who know Christ and are seeking to do his will, is to graciously be available to share the good news of what God has done in Jesus our Lord so that all might have fullness of life here and eternal happiness in heaven! After all, if we believe in a heaven and hell we certainly want to help others to be in heaven and to know the way to get there!

Set apart a day of praise and thanksgiving to God!

In 1863 during a time of severe human tragedy and division within the United States, President Lincoln called the nation to stop everything and set apart a day to remember with thanksgiving and praise the Father from whom all good gifts come. Really! That is exactly what he called for.

This proclamation is one worthy of reflection precisely in the times we are living in. In the midst of conflicts and shaking throughout the world and here in the U.S., we would do well to again set apart a "day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwells in the heavens."

Lincoln's Proclamation of a National Day of Praise and thanksgiving to God.

The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they can not fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict, while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well as the iron and coal as of our precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the imposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the divine purpose, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity, and union.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this 3d day of October, A.D. 1863, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.

Abraham Lincoln

Son of Hamas leader's conversion to Christ

"...we preach Christ crucified,.. to those of us called,...Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." Paul, Apostle to the Gentiles, 1 Cor. 1:23-25

In our day, where and when Christians are ready and willing to share the love of Christ with others, the the life changing power of the Gospel is still as effective as in the days of the early church!

The young man in this video, Mosab Hassan Yousef, is the son of a very well known Hamas leader on the west bank. Several years ago he was invited to hear a talk about Jesus. He had seen the torture inflicted by Hamas leaders on their followers, and while reading his Bible secretly read Jesus' call to love our enemies. The truth of God, which is weakness to the world, proved to be stronger than man's ways! This truth is seen in completeness in Christ crucified! Jospeh(his Christian name) Hassan Yousef has given his life to Christ! He knows that Jesus is the way to God the Father, and is praying for his family and friends to embrace the Lord Jesus as well.

Let's us pray and look for opportunities to share the life changing good news of our Savior with anyone whom he leads us to. All people have the right to know the love of God made manifest in our Lord Jesus, the Christ!

Let's pray for this young man to become a living witness to many people, and in a special way to his Muslim family and friends! May the Lord protect and strengthen him, in Jesus name we pray. Amen!

Are we evangelizing in our parishes?

Recently a man who had seen a TV episode of The Choices We Face, on which I talked about evangelization, contacted me. As a result he called me for support and clarification on some of what he was experiencing. He had formerly been an evangelical Christian, was now a Roman Catholic, and wanted to continue to evangelize people to Christ within the context of his parish. His parish was the diocesan Cathedral, so he wrote his Bishop asking how do ‘we’ evangelize
people to Christ in our parish? He understood the place of RCIA and had been through it himself, but was asking, what else do we do? He was simply trying to understand how the parish evangelized. After respectfully writing three times and receiving no response he decided he had apparently gotten his response.

I have often heard this type of concern voiced by Catholics regarding their parishes or (arch)dioceses.The questions raised go like this: What are the steps we are taking to make evangelization our priority mission? What is our evangelization plan and process for my parish? Does anyone know the evangelization game plan in our parish so that we are all know what is expected of us and how we can support it? If evangelization is really a priority to us as Catholics, why isn't it reflected in the budget? Do we know that it is the universal calling, privilege and responsibility of every baptized Christian? Do we as Catholics realize this incredible calling given to each of us isn’t intended to be some abstract, irrelevant educational exercise we hear and vaguely remember, but rather is the power of the Gospel that can change the lives of people we encounter who desperately need good news! Is anybody being taught how to personally evangelize in our seminaries or parishes?

There are many Catholics (clergy, religious and laity), who are life long Catholics, who are raising these questions about evangelization, in addition to brothers and sisters who were formerly from other Christian traditions. I for one being a committed ‘cradle Catholic,’ would like to publicly express my gratitude for those of us who have come from other Christian backgrounds and have a deep personal commitment to evangelization. Thank God for their zeal! Oh that all Catholics would be so concerned for those around us to know the love of Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior!

The fact is we have Catholics who want to evangelize and don’t find the necessary support or means to do it as parishes. The Church teaches that the laity are intended to be in the front lines of evangelization in our neighborhoods and in the market place. The laity are crucial in the new evangelization and they need the support of their priests to get out into the harvest fields and spread the good news! Evangelization is after all not an isolated act: it is ecclesial. (See Pope Paul VI’s, EN, 60).

This issue of parish evangelization is a very serious pastoral challenge for the Church here in the United States. Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith, Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, speaking recently at a conference held in Rome on "The Parish and the New Evangelization," stated: "The Church exists only if it evangelizes, and the same is true for the parish. If a parish does not evangelize, it is only a building." Read the full article

The Magesterium teaches that evangelization is “the reason the Church exists.”(EN, 14) The universal mission of the Church we are taught is to be lived out at every level, in all institutions and in the lives of every baptized Christian (Mission of the Redeemer, 3). The US Conference of Bishops stated in “Go Make Disciples,” A National Plan and Strategy for Catholic Evangelization, that the Bishops want “to make evangelization a natural and normal part of Catholic life and to give evangelizers the tools and support they need to carry out this ministry today.”

The bishops evangelization plan was written back in November 1992. It is worth asking ourselves as parishes how we are doing with evangelization becoming a natural and normal part of Catholic life in 2008? Since the place where the rubber meets the road for most people in terms of their Catholic life is the parish, what are we doing?

Three Steps parishes can take

I would like to offer three practical steps that we can take as parishes that can help us move forward in making evangelization the essential mission. I am not going to develop these points here, we do that in our Building Evangelizing Eucharistic Communities seminar. I am simply pointing out three practical areas worth parish staffs and councils discussing and considering in order to take some steps to move forward.

1. Provide ongoing opportunities for people to encounter Christ Jesus as Lord within the context of a welcoming relational community (of the parish). As a parish we need to have regular ways of inviting people to encounter the Lord Jesus, both for parishioners and those not connected with the parish.
Courses like Alpha, Life in the Spirit seminars and ChristLife’s Discovering Christ course are effective examples of courses that are offered over several weeks.
Retreats that evangelize people like Cursillo and Light of the World are also means of evangelizing people to Christ and fuller life in the parish.
Special events. Special events such as a music concert, a film, or our Christmas and Easter liturgies. These Masses have incredible potential for lovingly welcoming our annual Catholics to the parish through par the intro to the Mass and in proclaiming clearly at the homily the reason for the celebration of the Incarnation or Resurrection of Jesus and what it means for you! Also, having some type of event, course or retreat, to invite everybody to, which the presiding priest would personally invite all attending to come to. Having extra greeters who could pass out a welcoming leaflet and invitation to whatever it is we will offer to connect them to the love of God and our parish!

2. Develop an ongoing process of initiation in the parish that includes both actual evangelization of the participants (point one above) and practical life formation/catechesis. I am not talking about RCIA here (which is essential and needs to be taught well and in an ongoing manner). But here I am talking about formation (discipleship) for daily living as a Catholic follower of the Lord, e.g., How to have a personal prayer life; how the sacraments sustain and strengthen our daily life; reading Scripture as God’s word; Christian relationships; service and evangelizing, learning to deal with the world, the flesh and the devil, etc. Here at ChristLife we are piloting a new course entitled, Following Christ, which teaches on these basics of following Christ as Catholic disciple. We also have some video courses that help in this process.

3. Foster Community as part of the process. True interior conversion, the work of the Holy Spirit, is most effective when it occurs in the content of relationships. Without authentic Christian relationships within the context of the parish it is hard to expect anyone to make the shift from being ‘conformed to this world’ (See Romans 12:2) to a transformed Christian worldview and lifestyle. To live authentic Catholic lives we need each other! We can establish small Christian communities that spontaneously develop and flow out of the two previous points above if we make it a priority to pastorally care for their development.

We would be happy to personally talk with you or someone from your parish more about evangelization in your parish, if you would like. Contact us at: info@christlife.org May we all take active concrete steps to incarnate the calling of Christ our Lord and the Church to evangelize!

The hairbrush and the love of God

Beth Moore is a Christian Bible teacher and author, and is a married mother of two daughters. This is one of her experiences.

As I read it I knew the reality of this story and encourage you to open your heart to the deeply personal love of God in Jesus Christ. Also, pray and ask the Lord to make you available to the opportunities he provides to carry his love to others in our daily lives!

On April 20, 2005, at the Airport in Knoxville , waiting to board the plane, I had the Bible on my lap and was very intent upon what I was doing.

I'd had a marvelous morning with the Lord. I say this because I want to tell you it is a scary thing to have the Spirit of God really working in you. You could end up doing some things you never would have done otherwise. Life in the Spirit can be dangerous for a thousand reasons not the least of which is your ego.

I tried to keep from staring, but he was such a strange sight. Humped over in a wheelchair, he was skin and bones, dressed in clothes that obviously fit when he was at least twenty pounds heavier. His knees protruded from his trousers, and his shoulders looked like the coat hanger was still in his shirt. His hands looked like tangled masses of veins and bones.The strangest part of him was his hair and nails. Stringy, gray hair hung well over his shoulders and down part of his back. His fingernails were long, clean but strangely out of place on an old man.I looked down at my Bible as fast as I could, discomfort burning my face. As I tried to imagine what his story might have been, I found myself wondering if I'd just had a Howard Hughes sighting. Then, I remembered that he was dead. So this man in the airport...an impersonator maybe? Was a camera on us somewhere?

There I sat; trying to concentrate on the Word to keep from being concerned about a thin slice of humanity served on a wheelchair only a few seats from me. All the while, my heart was growing more and more overwhelmed with a feeling for him. Let's admit it. Curiosity is a heap more comfortable than true concern,and suddenly I was awash with aching emotion for this bizarre-looking old man.I had walked with God long enough to see the handwriting on the wall. I've learned that when I begin to feel what God feels, something so contrary to my natural feelings, something dramatic is bound to happen. And it may be embarrassing.

I immediately began to resist because I could feel God working on my spirit and I started arguing with God in my mind. "Oh, no, God, please,no." I looked up at the ceiling as if I could stare straight through it into heaven and said, "Don't make me witness to this man. Not right here and now. Please. I'll do anything. Put me on the same plane, but don't make me get up here and witness to this man in front of this gawking audience. Please, Lord!"There I sat in the blue vinyl chair begging His Highness, "Please don't make me witness to this man. Not now. I'll do it on the plane."

Then I heard it... "I don't want you to witness to him. I want you to brush his hair." The words were so clear, my heart leapt into my throat, and my thoughts spun like a top. Do I witness to the man or brush his hair? No-brainer. I looked straight back up at the ceiling and said, "God, as I live and breathe, I want you to know I am ready to witness to this man. I'm on this Lord. I'm your girl! You've never seen a woman witness to a man faster in your life. What difference does it make if his hair is a mess if he is not redeemed? I am going to witness to this man."Again as clearly as I've ever heard an audible word, God seemed to write this statement across the wall of my mind. "That is not what I said,Beth. I don't want you to witness to him. I want you to go brush his hair." I looked up at God and quipped, "I don't have a hairbrush. It's in my suitcase on the plane. How am I supposed to brush his hair without a hairbrush?" God was so insistent that I almost involuntarily began to walk toward him as these thoughts came to me from God's word: "I will thoroughly furnish you unto all good works." (2 Timothy 3:17)

I stumbled over to the wheelchair thinking I could use one myself. Even as I retell this story, my pulse quickens and I feel those same butterflies .I knelt down in front of the man and asked as demurely as possible, "Sir, may I have the pleasure of brushing your hair?"He looked back at me and said, "What did you say?""May I have the pleasure of brushing your hair?"To which he responded in volume ten, "Little lady, if you expect me to hear you, you're going to have to talk louder than that."At this point, I took a deep breath and blurted out, "SIR, MAY I HAVE THE PLEASURE OF BRUSHING YOUR HAIR?"At which point every eye in the place darted right at me. I was the only thing in the room looking more peculiar than old Mr. Long locks. Face crimson and forehead breaking out in a sweat, I watched him look up at me with absolute shock on his face, and say, "If you really want to." Are you kidding? Of course I didn't want to. But God didn't seem interested in my personal preference right about then. He pressed on my heart until I could utter the words, "Yes, sir, I would be pleased. But I have one little problem. I don't have a hairbrush." "I have one in my bag, "he responded.I went around to the back of that wheelchair, and I got on my hands and knees and unzipped the stranger's old carry-on, hardly believing what I was doing. I stood up and started brushing the old man's hair. It was perfectly clean, but it was tangled and matted.

I don't do many things well, but must admit I've had notable experience untangling knotted hair mothering two little girls. Like I'd done with either Amanda or Melissa in such a condition, I began brushing at the very bottom of the strands,remembering to take my time not to pull.A miraculous thing happened to me as I started brushing that old mans hair. Everybody else in the room disappeared. There was no one alive for those moments except that old man and me. I brushed and I brushed and I brushed until every tangle was out of that hair. I know this sounds so strange, but I've never felt that kind of love for another soul in my entire life. I believe with all my heart, I - for that few minutes -felt a portion of the very love of God. That He had overtaken my heart for a little while like someone renting a room and making Himself at home for a short while.The emotions were so strong and so pure that I knew they had to be God's. His hair was finally as soft and smooth as an infant's.I slipped the brush back in the bag and went around the chair to face him. I got back down on my knees, put my hands on his knees and said, "Sir, do you know my Jesus?"He said, "Yes, I do." Well, that figures, I thought.He explained, "I've known Him since I married my bride. She wouldn't marry me until I got to know the Savior." He said, "You see, the problem is, I haven't seen my bride in months. I've had open-heart surgery, and she's been too ill to come see me. I was sitting here thinking to myself, what a mess I must be for my bride."Only God knows how often He allows us to be part of a divine moment when we're completely unaware of the significance. This, on the other hand,was one of those rare encounters when I knew God had intervened in details only He could have known.

It was a God moment, and I'll never forget it. Our time came to board, and we were not on the same plane. I was deeply ashamed of how I'd acted earlier and would have been so proud to have accompanied him on that aircraft.I still had a few minutes, and as I gathered my things to board, the airline hostess returned from the corridor, tears streaming down her cheeks. She said, "That old man's sitting on the plane, sobbing. Why did you do that? What made you do that?"I said, "Do you know Jesus? He can be the bossiest thing!"And we got to share.

I learned something about God that day. He knows if you're exhausted,you're hungry, you're serving in the wrong place or it is time to move on but you feel too responsible to budge. He knows if you're hurting or feeling rejected. He knows if you're sick or drowning under a wave of temptation. Or He knows if you just need your hair brushed. He sees you as an individual. Tell Him your need!

I got on my own flight, sobs choking my throat, wondering how many opportunities just like that one had I missed along the way. .. .. all because I didn't want people to think I was strange. God didn't send me to that old man. He sent that old man to me.

"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. "We Have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father,full of grace and truth."John 1:14

Amazing! What are your thoughts and comments? Ever been in a random situation like this?

Lenten Retreat!

"The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest." - Mark 6:30-31

Sometimes in ministry it's easy to become caught up in all the work that needs to be done that we don't make enough time to rest and simply be in Christ's presence. We can't give what we don't have ourselves, and even the Apostles went into solitude with Jesus to rest and regain their strength for their mission.

I am so blessed that I am working for an Apostolate that places the greatest emphasis on each person's individual relationship with Christ. From that relationship and the power of the Holy Spirit, the "work" of the ministry flows. As a ministry, ChristLife's staff begin each work day with prayer and praise to God and every year we take two retreats - for Advent and Lent. We recently had our Lenten retreat and it was such an amazing time of refocusing on the Lord and His love, and quieting our souls so that we could listen to His direction in our lives and in our ministry! We were able to use the lovely Franciscan Friary grounds for the retreat, and enjoy the beauty of the Lord in His creation!

One of the things we meditated on during the retreat was a Lenten sermon by Fr. Cantalamessa entitled, "Crucified through weakness, Christ lives through the power of God." It was great being able to reflect on that sermon and allow it to resonate in our hearts, and then discuss it as brothers and sisters in Christ. The part of the sermon that really struck me was when Fr Cantalamessa said "God's weakness is therefore caused by his love for man. What a sorrow it is [for God] to impotently stand while a loved one destroys himself with his own hands." This made me see the love and compassion of God in a whole new light. It amazed me to imagine that God would allow himself to be weak out of love for us. It is by giving us free will that He must stand helplessly and watch us fall, and this fall so greatly wounded God's heart that He allowed himself to become weak "taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearence, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross" (Philippians 2:7-8). Thank you Lord for the becoming weak to show us the debth of your love for us!

Fr. Cantalamessa also comments on Jesus' cry to His Father when he says, "Father forgive them!" Fr. Cantalamessa that these are the most powerful words ever uttered! As we enter into this Holy Week I hope we can reflect on these mighty words of love from our savior that saved us from sin and death!

Childlike Faith

"For God so loved the World that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).

This verse is one that most people have heard repeatedly, and yet sometimes forget it's true meaning or take it for granted. When people lose someone or something they love the first reaction so often is to blame God rather then humbly ask Him for His help. It is easy to forget that He suffered a far greater pain then we could ever imagine and He will always understand and help us through our most difficult times.

The video below is a recording from a phone call made by a 12 year old boy to Houston radio station KSBJ FM 89.3. The radio station was so moved that they recorded it and put it on their website. The video really inspired me because it showed God's love through the eyes of a child, and we could all learn from his faith!

Why did shepherds get invited to His birth?

And in that region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, "Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!" When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us." Luke 2:8-15

Why Did Shepherds Get Invited?

Have you ever wondered why shepherds, - out in a field on night watch, minding their own business, - were the first to receive the good news that the Savior of all people, Christ the Lord had been born?

Why them? Why did God tell them, why did He invite them to see the Birth of all Births? The Miracle of all Miracles,- the Incarnation of God!

What do you think?

I have some personal thoughts, from meditating on this passage and study, that I wanted to share with you on why they were invited. But before sharing them, I can tell you a personal reaction, - wouldn’t it have been awesome to have been there with them that night!? Wouldn’t you have loved to have been there? Can you imagine it! Put yourself there! That is part of how we start to prayerfully enter into why they were invited.

So why shepherds?

God has an affinity for shepherds.

Think about it. Abraham, Issac and Jacob were shepherds. So was David (he may have shepherded in the same fields where these guys were when the angel appeared to them). God was referred to by his people, as the Shepherd of Israel. The Psalmist personally exclaimed, “the Lord is my shepherd.” St Peter referred to Jesus as the Chief Shepherd. Jesus referred to himself as the good shepherd who was willing to lay down his life for the sheep (that includes you and me). See John 10. He is the Shepherd King of all humanity, and by the way, he happens to have a special love and longing for straying, misbehaving, knuckleheaded, lost sheep (that includes you, me and our family and friends and non friends)! See Luke 15.

God has the heart of a shepherd. God was coming in person to gather the lost sheep of Israel, and all of humanity to himself. He told the news to fellow shepherds first! There is probably something there that he wants us to pay attention to.

They were the low life's who were not part of the ‘in crowd.’

On the other hand, some Jewish wisdom during the time of Jesus’ birth advised father’s against shepherding as an occupation for their sons. It was not considered a good livelihood. Additionally many Jews frowned upon shepherds. They were looked down upon, not trusted, even scorned. Apparently they were often peripheral to Jewish life and culture. Outcasts. Low life’s.

What was it that Mary exclaimed about God exalting the lowly?

They were certainly not who you would invite to a party. Certainly not to T-H-E BIRTHDAY PARTY!

Shepherds were the types of people you don’t invite to parties. They’re people who were not part of the ‘in crowd’ of synagogues or social groups, and get this,- they were the only ones God invited to the birth of Jesus the Savior and Lord! Gentiles, the wise men, would come later! If it were wise women they probably would have been there in advance and helped to clean up the stable, prepare meals and, help with the delivery!

St. Justin Martyr, a Palestinian, was personally familiar with Bethlehem. He lived a little over a 100 years after Christ and writes that the stable Jesus was born in was a cave in the hillside. That is where the Shepherds would have headed in response to the message of the angel. They were humble folks and I imagine they didn’t even notice the outrageous conditions that the Christ was born into. Most likely they had to bow down to enter the cave,- no problem for lowly shepherds. And they knew who this baby was!

God has come among us.

The Creator of everything became the creature,- fully God, fully man,- so we could see what God is like, up close and personal. And he humbled himself so that EVERYONE could identify with him, even the low life’s of the world. The outcasts, the broken hearted, sinners and totally broken people. God was and, is at eye level for anyone willing to bow down and “see this thing that the Lord has made known to us.”

If you encounter the stirring of grace to know who it is that is born in the manger, in this food trough for animals(the Bread of Life), then you will join the angels and shepherds in adoration.

God had become one of us, in order to rescue humanity and creation!

When the angel told the shepherds this momentous, historic, outrageous, fantastic news that God had personally come as Messiah to rescue humanity, the angel hosts could not contain themselves and burst into our world in adoration. Why?

Because of His great mercy! He had become one of us, in order to die for our sins, so that we might have peace with God! The angels worshipped, singing, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!" Our peace with God is the result of what He has done for us in Jesus Christ. Coming down from heaven, becoming a man to die for our sins, to be raised as the glorious Lord who would pour out His Spirit to empower us to live new lives as his children, at peace with him. It is His gift to you and me to receive, if we respond and acknowledge that Jesus as the Lord and Savior of my life and of all.

It was not hard for the Shepherds. They were the lowly who God exalted. They were use to stooping down to enter stables. They simply responded to the message the angel had told them. You can too! He loves us so much that he became one of us in order to forgive our sins and give us the gift of his peace and of new life.

A couple of closing questions.

Would I (you) invite these guys to the party? Do I share the heart of God the Father for the lost and brokenhearted? For those who are not part of my 'in crowd?'

On the other hand, if I (you) feel like I can identify with the shepherds, not a part of the in-crowd of church or society, do I know that Christmas is all about shepherd types! That you are personally invited to join this celebration and come to know the Savior who is Jesus Christ the Lord? You are invited! It is God's wonderful gift to you right now in this moment! You may feel like you are out in a field by yourself, but there is a party just about to get underway and you are invited!

If you have never known the love that God has for you personally below is a simple prayer you can pray, asking Jesus to be your Lord, to be the leader and Savior of your life. Even if you were baptized as a Catholic-Christian, you may have never known that you can enter into personal relationship with God through what Jesus has done for you and for all of us. You can pray for release of the power of the Spirit given to you in Baptism right now, at this point in your life.

Lord God,

Please forgive me for all the things I have done wrong. I turn to you and turn away from sin (here you can pause to think of anything particular you might want to ask forgiveness for).

Jesus, please be the center of my life. I welcome you personally as Lord and Savior of my life.

I ask you Holy Spirit to fill me and empower me to live as a son/daughter of God. I want to have your grace to truly live a new life.
Thank you, Lord! Amen!

If you do pray this prayer for the first time, entering into personal relationship with the Lord Jesus, please contact us so we can support you and help you connect with the Church!

Have a very blessed Christmas!

ChristLife
12280 Folly Quarter Road
Ellicott City, MD 21042, USA

The Vatican on Evangelization

The Vatican recently issued an important statement regarding the missionary mandate of the Catholic Church. Such a document helps clarify many areas of dispute over the last few decades with regard to the relationship between evangelization and ecumenism. I will begin to comment upon this by saying that anyone who has come into a personal knowledge of the absolutely boundless and infinite mercy of God as revealed by Jesus desires to share it--for the simple reason that Jesus is Savior. What does this mean? It means He is the one upon whom we can cast our fears and receive healing, rather than the judgement we all too often expect from God. Let us take a moment to survey the landscape of these issues to see where we can go wrong.

These days, the term "proselytization" gets a bad reputation. Although the dictionary definition seems benign, perhaps we can elaborate on the legitimate concerns with regard to this mistaken form of evangelization. In Matthew 24:15 Jesus criticizes the Pharisees for making converts. Why? The chief error the pharisees was really no different than that of every clique in society. They sought to create a microcosm of the "righteous" and the "chosen" in society to separate themselves from the outcast. The same as happens everywhere--in exclusive fraternities and sororities, business clubs, and the like. In every case we see people who are imprisoned by their fear of shame and so they seek to create a group set apart in order to place themselves above others in an illusory and futile effort to be saved from disgrace (imagine the "cool kids" at school). When this happens in religion, as it did with the pharisees, it is the worst because it causes us to fashion an image of God rooted in fear, rather than love. Thus any attempt to spread faith that builds upon people's fears and distorted images of God is counter- productive.

We face the other extreme when ecumenism slides into syncretism, in which the essential distinctions that preserve our understanding of God from anything less than infinitely boundless love, are ignored. As a result, we can forget important doctrines like the Incarnation, for example, which reminds us that God's heart is big enough to live with us under our circumstances. Only when our hearts are afraid of humility are we afraid of the Incarnate God.

This brings me to the final point that true evangelization lies in coming to recognize that God's love is far greater than our greatest fears, and going out to share that freedom with others. That is the good news, and all calls to repent from sin and error derive, not from the need to appease an angry God who is about to smite us, but rather from benevolent love that desires to set us free from our habits of enslavement to fear--aka sin. Thus true evangelization shares the good news of Jesus--the Son of God who died on a cross to save us--for the simple reason that it is the most beautiful and liberating message humanity has ever heard.

Sweetly Broken

This is a powerful video to meditate on the cross and Jesus' sacrifice. We have used this video many times during retreats and it is always moving. The music is from Jeremy Riddle.

This video was made by a wonderful young woman I met while I was in Slovakia. Hence the subtitles in Slovakian (which can be turned off by clicking the CC button at the bottom).

The Meaning of Life

Wow, what a grandiose title! The Meaning of Life. Well, this was the title of the first talk of ChristLife's Discovering Christ course, which we kicked off last night for about 60 young adults (18-32) at St. Agnes, in Catonsville, MD.

Having experienced it at his parish, Fr. Erik Arnold, a ChristLife board member, sums up the course in our upcoming newsletter:

This new course is designed to bring men and women into an encounter with Christ and the Church through teaching, fellowship and prayer together. Over the course of six weeks participants hear solid teaching that proclaims the heart of the Gospel message, inviting them to reflect and respond in a small group of friends that offers support and encouragement over the six weeks. Each evening begins with dinner together, followed by a teaching and then a chance to meet together in small groups. While the dynamic seems simple, something special begins to happen over the course of the six weeks as hearts begin to open, friendships develop and people begin to see and experience Jesus in a different way than they had before.

--

Back to the meaning of life. I was reading the Intentional Disciples blog today and in it the blogger speaks about how atheistic / agnostic the Northwest is - especially Seattle. She gives an excerpt from an unbeliever journalist writing in The Stranger-

Last week, 850 people packed Town Hall to hear a presentation by Christopher Hitchens, in town to promote his new book, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, which was number one on the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list. Hitchens's stance in favor of war in Iraq has made him a polarizing figure among your standard-issue Seattle lefty crowd, but Town Hall was bursting with people ready to embrace the message that religion is a "Bronze Age myth."

"This stuff," Hitchens said, referring to religion, "is not to be believed." And the crowd roared.

Hitchens's argument—posed to a fully complicit choir, admittedly—was made all the more compelling because no one answered the call to debate the author about the existence of a god or the validity of religion. Seattle could not produce one radical Fundamentalist, sober moderate, or disinterested scholar to stand for the holy side. That's telling (we're the only city that has failed to meet Hitchens's challenge to debate all comers), but it's not what made the event resonate.

That is sad. I guess part of me would love to go visit this guy's little atheist rallies - to offer a challenge - but I realized that "God" is not a subject to be disproved or proved. We cannot put the first cause, the Creator, the Good, the supernatural, to the test under our natural laboratory conditions - any more than we can prove or disprove the existence of "love" - unless we look at what surrounds it.

Love is one of the most powerful principles in all of humanity. If we don't live to love others and to receive love - we are less than human - as John Paul II reminded us. And as 1 John tells us - God is love!

And He is so beyond the "tests" we put him under. Last night I read the Gospel where the Pharisees come to Jesus and ask, "Teacher, is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?" And Jesus "aware of their malice" responds, "Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? ... And he said to them "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." When they heard it, the marveled; and they left him and went away (Matt 22).

Jesus' logic was so beyond them. It reminds of something CS Lewis said (and I paraphrase) - the questions we ask God are so limited in view of his super-rationality - that often our questions, or prayers are like asking God "is a square, orange or red?" What!? Exactly - it makes no sense. And the Pharisees of today - come to put the King of Kings to the test and they miss the whole point.

God is real to me in a myriad of ways- in the laugh of a little child, in the wonder of nature that surrounds me, in the dedicated witness of Christians who live for the sake of selfless love, in the beauty of the message and coming of Jesus, in the consecration of the body and blood of Christ, in the sacrament of God's love and reconciliation, in the hundreds of saints and biblical characters that lived their lives in extraordinary ways, and in my conscience.

"For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died." (1 Cor 5:14)

Father, Creator of the whole world, Jesus, Word of life, and Spirit, Giver of Life - convince us even further of this love - and help our lives to be a continual offering of love for this broken world. Amen

Witnesses to Jesus

On a recent podcast interview Chad and I conducted several months ago with Fr. Francis Martin, a holy and passionate priest and biblical scholar - he mentioned that in the Gospel of John the word "evangelization" never occurs. But "witness" does. He said, a witness is someone who has been with Jesus and has experienced his power and presence in their life.

One of my friends wrote this about her own experience of being witnessed to-

"Witnesses to Jesus are all around me, in every moment of gladness, every kindness bestowed upon me, every person with beauty in their heart, those that love me and continue to love me in my weakness. These are the witnesses that point to Christ. The most positive witnesses of my experience never come from those who are most learned or who make the best argument. They come, always, from those who live humbly with Jesus, who know Jesus so well that they can speak for Him when I am unable to hear for myself. It is out from behind their eyes that He peers, it is between their arms that He embraces, it is from their lips that He sings His love song to me." Click here for the full text of the reflection.

Wow. That is beautiful. Lord, make us true witnesses to you!

How have you been witnessed to?

What type of person best radiated the character, good news, and promises of Jesus to you?

How so?