Statement from Bishop Emeritus Robert Muench and my reflections on the scandals in the Church in America today.
Showing posts with label Priesthood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Priesthood. Show all posts
Sunday, August 19, 2018
Responding to the Scandals - Homily for August 19
Statement from Bishop Emeritus Robert Muench and my reflections on the scandals in the Church in America today.
Thursday, June 28, 2018
Papal Intention for July 2018
That priests, who experience fatigue and loneliness in their pastoral work, may find help and comfort in their intimacy with the Lord and in their friendship with their brother priests.
While we're at it....
V. Let us pray for Francis, our Pope.
R. May the Lord preserve him, give him life,
and make him blessed upon the earth,
and deliver him not up to the will of his enemies.
Our Father... Hail Mary...
O God, Shepherd and Ruler of all Thy faithful people, look mercifully upon Thy servant Francis, whom Thou hast chosen as shepherd to preside over Thy Church. Grant him, we beseech Thee, that by his word and example, he may edify those over whom he hath charge, so that together with the flock committed to him, may he attain everlasting life. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Monday, November 6, 2017
The Priest - Homily for November 5
Readings for Sunday, November 5 / 31st Sunday of Ordinary Time: Malachi 1:14-2:2, 8-10 | Psalm 131 | 1 Thessalonians 2:7-9, 13 | Matthew 23:1-12
The priest exercises an office of great dignity, but if he forgets the dignity is not his own he is the greatest of fools. Let us pray for our priests to recognize the dignity of their vocation and exercise humility in carrying it out. Let us pray, too, for more young men to respond to this great call to give one's life for the good of the Church.
Monday, July 3, 2017
Gifts for your Priest - Homily for July 2
Readings for Sunday, July 2 / 13th Sunday of Ordinary Time: 2 Kings 4:8-11, 14-16 | Psalm 89 | Romans 6:3-4, 8-11 | Matthew 10:37-42
Generosity shown to a prophet, righteous man, or disciple is repaid by the Lord. Today a great person Wednesday, June 22, 2016
Saving the World, One Monk at a Time
In the past I have posted information on young women seeking to enter religious life but who needed some financial assistance in order to do so. Today I'm doing the same about a young man I met last year while on retreat, Stephen Joseph Hill. He impressed me in the few days I was able to share meals with him, as well as a lively game of Risk, offering to serving Low Mass for me while there and assuring me of his continued prayers for my priesthood. He recently announced that he has been accepted to Clear Creek Abbey in Oklahoma, a Benedictine monastic community. In order to do so he needs to be free of his college loans and so he has opened a 'gofundme' page to attain this end. Please keep him in your prayers and, if you are able, consider making a donation. Thank you in advance.
Sunday, June 12, 2016
Why Confess My Sins to a Priest?
Readings for Sunday, June 12 / 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time:
2 Samuel 12:7-10, 13
Psalm 32
Galatians 2:16, 19-21
Luke 7:36-8:3
This week I was listening to a podcast on health and the podcaster was discussing scientific studies that showed that subjecting oneself to extreme heat and cold had notable health benefits. He noted how much of western culture likes to keep our temperature at a consistent level at home, in the car, at work, in stores and restaurants and more. It would seem that would be healthy but research indicated that having stresses on the body - heat and cold, specifically - made the body more versatile and adaptable, and thus healthier. He then posited such things as cold baths and going to the sauna (in Louisiana we call that simply going outside in the summer). But it intrigued me that the discomfort actually brought about health.
In the letter to the Galatians, St. Paul addressed something that was causing some discomfort in the early Church. Some of the Jewish converts to Christianity continued to hold that one must follow the Jewish works of the law in addition to the mandates of Christ, causing much confusion to the Gentile (non-Jewish) converts who thought it unnecessary to practice the Jewish laws since Christ came to give a 'new law' in the Spirit. St. Paul acknowledges the conflict and affirms that it was not necessary to follow the Jewish works of the law, such as the ritual washings and such, because such things do not bring about justification or salvation. Those who remained attached to the works of the law were placing their trust in the actions they were doing and St. Paul unambiguously points out that if those actions were enough, then Christ died in vain. If it were possible to get to heaven simply by the works of the Jewish law, it is foolishness to have Christ come among us to die because there was an easier way. But that was not the case. Justification is not through works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, and the conflict helped to clarify that fundamental teaching of the Church.
A question that I've often heard posed is another that arises from an experience of discomfort: Why do I have to confess my sins to a priest? It's a question that is raised frequently and with much firmness in the conviction that 'I can go straight to Jesus without needing a priest.' The scriptures help us to make a bit of sense on the question. First, it's to recall that Jesus' first act after the Resurrection was to appear to the Twelve and to breath the Holy Spirit upon them, telling them "Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven, who sins you retain are retained." The fact that it was the first thing He did is significant. Acts of the Apostles shows us that the disciples took the Lord at His word and went forth to preach the Gospel, forgive sins, and to health. One point not often given much reflection is that our sins affect not only 'me and Jesus' but also 'me and everyone else'. The impact of personal sin cannot be underestimated in our dealing with others, especially given the fact that the majority of our sins are in direct connection with another person or group of people. At Holy Mass, the priest acts on behalf of God for the people, nourishing them with the Eucharist, and also on behalf of the people to God, to whom we offer the sacrifice of Jesus and our sacrifice of praise. He acts in both ways, as well, during confession, imparting forgiveness on behalf of both God and the community. We can call to mind also the epistle of St. James (5:16) which calls for the confession of sins to one another. These can be helpful in giving strength to the argument, but only one argument was really enough to personally convince me when I was younger: Jesus set it up that way.
When it comes to confessing our sins to a priest, many conveniently forget just how physical was the ministry of Jesus and the worship of our Jewish ancestors before Him. It was eminently physical because we aren't angels. We're not purely spiritual beings. We are human, which means we are composed of both spirit and body. Both are important and the Lord's connection to us honors that point. In the first reading from 2nd Samuel we hear how it was a prophet of God who proclaimed the mercy of God. Prophets weren't just good preachers, they were men chosen by God and anointed with holy oil as a sign of consecration to be the voice of God. When they spoke they began "Thus says the Lord..." because they spoke on behalf of God to the people because the Lord knew the needed to hear it. The priests of the Jewish faith were anointed with holy oil as well and integral to the spiritual life of the people. The ritual washings and purifications were done by the priests to make people 'clean' who had become 'ritual unclean' in some way. Jesus affirms this practice when the 10 lepers come to Him to be healed and He commands them to go show themselves to the priest. He acknowledges the physical need we have to connect to God in the many accounts of His ministry. Today we hear Him speak to the woman at His feet to tell her that her sins were forgiven and to go in peace. He didn't have to say it for it to become reality; as God He could have simply willed it to be and it would be. But for her sake and for the sake of those others at table, it was spoken aloud. Other times in His ministry He was even more clear, saying to the Father in John 11:42 'I know that you always hear me, but I say this for the benefit of those standing here with me, that they might believe.' The One who knit us together in our mother's womb and knows us better than we know ourselves over and again drives home the point that our faith is not simply spiritual or invisible, but is necessarily physical and tangible. That's part of the beauty of the sacrament - we can hear and receive the touch of mercy that we need.
As I was reflecting on the letter to the Galatians in light of this question, though, it helped me to clarify why I feel a bit of sting when the need for a priest to receive forgiveness is rejected. And it comes down to this: if justification and salvation were possible by the works of the law, then Jesus died in vain. And if the forgiveness of sins can happen anytime with no need for a priest, what am I doing here? Why have I given up 12 years of life already and consecrated the rest of my life for the service of God, giving up wife, children, my own home, certain freedoms, and ability to shape my own future if you can just as easily receive mercy without my presence? The whole mission of the consecrated priest has one single goal: to remove the one thing that separates us from heaven, that thing being sin. The mission of Jesus was to reconcile the world to the Father by the destruction of sin. The priest follows the same path. Is it uncomfortable to confess one's sins to a priest? Absolutely! There have been many times where I intentionally went out of my way to go to a different priest simply so that I wouldn't have to confess to the priest the same things I confessed to him the week before - and I was a priest then! Being a priest doesn't make it easier to humble myself and admit my sins, unfortunately. I, too, need that verbal assurance that brings about the tangible lifting of the weight on my heart that sin brings, to be told "I absolve you from your sins" and to be able to say it to others in the same manner as Jesus - I absolve you, I forgive you, your faith has saved you, go in pace. So, while it might be comfortable to think that we can simply go 'straight to Jesus', it is when we become a bit uncomfortable we become healthier - and that doesn't apply only to the body.
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
Holy Thursday
“Do you realize what I have done for you?”
Have you ever noticed that often the most important things
of life are the things that take the most time to really sink in?
How many years I lived as a
baptized Christian, unaware of the meaning of that baptism. How many times did
I receive Holy Communion unaware of the gift God had given of Himself? How many
times had I gone to Confession and been offered forgiveness but not actually
realized it? Many times indeed.
After my ordination to the
priesthood, I distinctly remember sitting in the Adoration Chapel at Our Lady
of Mercy just staring at my hands. I would look at my hands and look at the
Eucharist, over and over again wondering ‘God, what did you do to me?’ I had
been preparing for years for ordination and understood intellectually the
meaning of every ritual action and the abilities and responsibilities of the
priest, but actually living it was different. Staring at my hands, I wondered
at how I was able to bless people and objects in the name of God Himself. How
my hands would be used to brings about forgiveness of sins, the Eucharistic
Presence, the Anointing of Sick, and much more. To this day I still find myself
from time to time staring at my hands wondering what God did to me on that day.
The Gospel we just heard told of
the Twelve sitting around the table of the Passover Meal with the Lord Jesus
and having Him come around to each of them to wash their feet. Doing so, He
tells them, “What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will understand
later.” As He performed this humble act of service to His chosen leaders of the
future Church, the disciples surely could not have expected what came next.
They couldn’t have expected the Lord to ordain them His priests. They couldn’t’
have expected Him to give them His Body and Blood, commissioning them to do
them same in the future. They couldn’t have expected the brutality their humble
shepherd would soon receive from their religious and secular leaders. They
didn’t understand, but later they would. It took time to grasp what the Lord
really did in their midst and it is true of us today.
So we come here each and every
year to this most Holy of Weeks and listen to the account once more, permitting
us not just to hear it but to enter into it. Tonight we sit around the table
with Jesus and receive the Eucharist as at that Blessed Night and watch the
Twelve have their feet washed once more by one acting in the Person of Christ
the Head. Tomorrow we will honor the Holy Cross and the death of Jesus for us.
Saturday we will wit in sacred silence anticipating the Resurrection and at the
Vigil will proclaim it with every light, bell, and voice in the house. We don’t
come expecting a new story. We come expecting to hear the same story, trusting
that our God wants to draw us deeper into it, helping us to understand better
the gifts we are to receive.
“Do you realize what I have done
for you?’
Monday, February 2, 2015
...pray for us.
Readings for Sunday, February 1/ 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time:
Deuteronomy 18:15-20
Psalm 95:1-2, 6-9
1 Corinthians 7:32-35
Mark 1:21-28
I’ve always been hesitant to
preach about the priesthood from the pulpit because I don’t want it to appear
that I’m getting up here to blow my own horn and let everyone know how awesome
priests are (implicitly highlighting myself in that). But a couple of weeks back when I was on the March for Life
one of my brother priests began his homily talking about priests and it gave me
a bit of encouragement. Additionally, I recall the fact that priests are not
special in themselves but only because they are in fact priests. In the same
manner that a chalice is precious because of what it holds in Mass and a church
is sacred because of the worship that takes place within it, in the same
manner, a priest is sacred not because of himself but because of what God has worked
in his soul.
Deuteronomy 18:15-20
Psalm 95:1-2, 6-9
1 Corinthians 7:32-35
Mark 1:21-28
What is a Priest?
(by Catherine Doherty)
A priest is a lover of God.
A priest is a lover of men.
A priest is a holy man.
A priest understands all things.
A priest forgives all things.
A priest encompasses all things.
The heart of a priest is pierced, like Christ's, with the lance of love.
The heart of a priest is open, like Christ's, for the whole world to walk through.
The heart of a priest is a vessel of compassion.
The heart of a priest is a chalice of love.
The heart of a priest is the trysting place of human and divine love.
A priest is a man whose goal is to be another Christ; a priest is a man who lives to serve.
A priest is a man who has crucified himself so that he too may be lifted up and draw all things to Christ.
A priest is a man in love with God.
A priest is the gift of God to man and of man to God.
A priest is the symbol of the Word made flesh.
A priest is the naked sword of God's justice.
A priest is the hand of God's mercy.
A priest is the reflection of God's love.
Nothing can be greater in this world than a priest, nothing but God himself.
*********
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| At Madonna House's Retreat House for Priests |
In recent weeks I’ve experienced
a number of things that have made me reflect much more on this question of
‘What is a priest?’ It began with the celebration of Christmas and my first
experience of being the pastor of a parish in one of the most important feasts
of the year. The ability to be part of so many lives and families was
incredible and I can’t thank you all enough for the joy of this first of
hopefully many Christmases here. Following that was Msgr. Berggreen’s 50th
Anniversary Mass over in New Roads. The Church was full of people representing
50 years of his priestly ministry, barely an empty spot to stand. The following
weekend we regrettably celebrated Fr. Clarence Waguespack’s funeral Mass in
Pierre Part and there too encountered a church full of people present to give
thanks to God for Fr. Waguespacks’ 51 years of priestly ministry. And this
Saturday we celebrated the funeral Mass of our own Vicar General, Fr. Than Vu,
who, though only 56 years of age, had a profound impact upon many souls. Once
again, it was a church full of people with not an extra spot to stand. These
events drove home to me the meaning and truth of the words of Catherine
Doherty: “The heart of a priest is open, like Christ’s, for the whole world to
walk through.”
In our baptism, each of us was
anointing with Sacred Chrism Oil and were united to the mission of Jesus as
priest, prophet, and king. Each of us is called to serve in a priestly manner
by our prayers and sacrifice of self for the good of others. We serve as
prophets by speaking the Word of God and teaching other about the faith. And we
serve in a kingly manner by guiding others in the path of holiness,
particularly those entrusted to our care as children, grandchildren,
godchildren, nieces, nephews, etc. Every Christian must carry out these three
aspects in some way, but the ordained priest is called to do so in a unique
way, a way that is more intimately connected with the mission of Christ by
virtue of the priest’s own consecration. He fulfills these obligations not
simply as a member of the flock but as a shepherd.
The first reading shows us the
prophetic office of the priest. The ancient prophets were understood to be
direct mouthpieces of the Lord, which we see indicated by their frequent use of
the phrase ‘Thus says the Lord’ and the explicit reference today of “whoever doesn’t listen to my words which he speaks…” [emphasis mine]. The priest, too, is called to be a
mouthpiece of the Lord in his preaching, teaching, and guidance of the community,
preaching not his own gospel but the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the reason
that priests’ preaching has power and authority and that it should be followed:
precisely because it is not his personal teaching but the teaching of Jesus.
And whoa to me if I do not preach the Gospel, as St. Paul says in his letter,
because if you caught that last line of the reading, you know that if a priest
preaches his own word instead of the Word of God… he dies. Maybe not physically
but certainly spiritually. If I ever start preaching something other than the
teaching of Jesus and the Church, you should call the bishop ASAP and let him
know he has a dead priest on his hands and you need a new shepherd!
The Gospel speaks to us clearly
of the authority that Jesus had (and still has!); how He cast out demons and
they listened, unlike anything they had ever seen before. Jesus’ power was
something to behold and that same power was given to His Apostles, His priests.
Often times when we hear about power we think about it in a heavy-handed sort
of way, but the authority that Christ gives His priests is one of service. The
power and authority of Christ was given to the Apostles to work ‘in persona
Christi capitis’ (in the person of Christ the head) in order to bring healing to
people. In the celebration of the sacraments, a priest always wears a stole -
an ancient sign of the authority – to show that he is acting in the person of Christ and that it
is truly Christ Who works. In reconciliation it is Christ who absolves us. In
baptism, it is Christ who cleanses us. In the anointing of the sick, it is
Christ who anoints us. And when the priest prays the Eucharistic Prayer at
Mass, it is Christ who says “This is My Body.” If you think about it, the
priest doesn’t really get anything out of his actions of authority other than
the ability to serve others and bring them into an encounter with the God of
Creation.
 |
| Litany of Supplication for my ordination |
The priestly piece comes in our
second reading from the letter to the Corinthians. There it speaks of the
unmarried man and woman being anxious only about the things of the Lord. A
married man or woman is necessarily divided between their obligations to family
and to the Lord. That’s not a bad thing at all; in fact, it’s the will of God!
What parent would spend their day in prayer and neglect the needs of their
family for food, medical care, or means for education? But this is the reason
for the celibate vocation of the priest, as well as the religious brother or
sister. I’ve often had people
express a desire for priests to be able to marry and for many good reasons and
not with any ill intentions, but the religious and priest is called to be free
of marriage in order to give everything to Christ. When the bishop calls and
assigned me here, I didn’t have to worry about my wife’s job or kids’
schooling. I was able simply to pack up and come. When the bishops sends a man
for further studies in Rome for a couple of years, he need not be concerned
with providing for a family left behind. And in the midst of regular life as a
priest, I need not be concerned with providing for a single family as a married
man would. Instead, I am called simply to give everything that I have to Jesus
Christ and to open my heart to whoever happens to be in front of me in the
moment and permit them to walk through my heart and there to find their Lord.
My mission and the mission of every priest is simply to be the living presence
of the loving Lord Jesus in their own community. Admittedly we fail often in
that, but the mission is still entrusted to us the same.
This last word is what brings me
to the point of this homily: a plea for prayer. Please pray for me and my
brother priests. We need your prayers and without them we will surely be lost.
All through my time in seminary I struggled to respond to the call to priestly
ministry. It seemed every few weeks my spiritual director had to re-convince me
that I was indeed still called. I had a whole host of concerns, but the biggest
was the fear of loving others. I was watching one of those home renovation shows
on HGTV the other day and the new homeowner walked into a home with carpet
right in the front entryway and she remarked “Why would they have carpet here?
It’s just going to get dirty when we come in!” And those words about simple
carpet could well have applied to my heart. There was a fear that if I let the
whole world walk into my heart with no reservation and no limits that it would
surely get a bit messy. Every one of us who has ever taken the risk of loving
someone else knows that sometimes that risk bites us when the one we love hurts
us. I was scared and, honestly, still am at times, to open myself up to that
sort of risk. And yet the Lord kept calling me to walk forward and open wide my
heart. That is possible only with
the help of prayers and I say the same for my brothers in the ministry. We are
men of the Church. We are men for the Church. But we cannot be men without the
Church. So I ask you to join me in a brief litany of saints to pray for priests
throughout the world.
Good St. Joseph, pray for them.
St. Jean Vianney, pray for them.
St. Alphonsus Liguouri, pray for
them.
St. Francis de Sales, pray for
them.
St. Ann, pray for them.
St. Vincent de Paul, pray for
them.
Mary, mother of priests, pray for
them.
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
HWP: Prayer for Priests
As my brother priests and I take a bit of time away from our parishes for continued formation and education, it highlights that fact that we are still flawed men in need of prayers and the grace of God. Please keep us in your prayers and be assured of our prayers for you as well.
Lord Jesus, we your people pray to You for our priests. You have given them to us for OUR needs. We pray for them in THEIR needs.
We know that You have made them priests in the likeness of your own priesthood. You have consecrated them, set them aside, annointed them, filled them with the Holy Spirit, appointed them to teach, to preach, to minister, to console, to forgive, and to feed us with Your Body and Blood.
Yet we know, too, that they are one with us and share our human weaknesses. We know too that they are tempted to sin and discouragement as are we, needing to be ministered to, as do we, to be consoled and forgiven, as do we. Indeed, we thank You for choosing them from among us, so that they understand us as we understand them, suffer with us and rejoice with us, worry with us and trust with us, share our beings, our lives, our faith.
We ask that You give them this day the gift You gave Your chosen ones on the way to Emmaus: Your presence in their hearts, Your holiness in their souls, Your joy in their spirits. And let them see You face to face in the breaking of the Eucharistic bread.We pray to You, O Lord, through Mary the mother of all priests, for Your priests and for ours. Amen.
Composed by John Cardinal O'Connor
Monday, July 28, 2014
Smelly Fish and Fine Pearls
Readings for Sunday, July 27/ 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time:1 Kings 3:5,7-12
Psalm 119
Romans 8:28-30
Matthew 13:44-52
Last weekend the Lord gave us
three parables about the identifying features of the Kingdom of Heaven: the
evil mixed with the good, the exponential growth from seed to bush, and the
transformative power of even the smallest bit. Today we continue with that
section of the Gospel and hear the Lord Jesus tell us that it is not enough
simply to know where the Kingdom of Heaven is. We must choose it for ourselves and
be willing to give up everything in order to attain it.
The parables of the treasure in
the field and the pearl of great price illustrate well the challenge of Jesus. The
individuals found something that was of greater worth than all of their other
possessions and went to sell all that they had in order to attain the great
treasure and pearl. There was nothing that could stop them from doing so
because they were filled with such joy and the same should be said of the
Kingdom of Heaven that is to come and the Kingdom of Heaven among us and within
us even now. There is no greater treasure in the world. Do we live it?
The men who found the treasure
and the pearl, if they had found them and then gone off rejoicing that they had
found the special treasure but failed to actually go back and get it for
themselves would be absolute fools. And us – we, too, would be absolute fools
to discover the Kingdom of Heaven and fail to take the steps to attain it
because it is greater even than the pearl of great price and the precious
treasure. It is so great that there is nothing in this world that can compare
to it. That’s why it’s worth setting everything else aside to attain it. But
sometimes that ‘everything’ can be difficult to part with.
It’s been said that the cost of
discipleship is nothing less than everything, all that we have and are. When I
was discerning the priesthood there were many places where I encountered that
‘nothing less than everything’ in concrete ways and the one that was most
difficult for me was, of course, the concrete cost of not having a wife and
children. The desire for a spouse and children is written in every human heart,
but some are invited to live that desire out in a spiritual manner rather than
physical and I struggled with that discernment and the ultimate step of
willingness to pay that cost. My consolation in those times was to turn to the
words of Jesus in Matthew 19, where He says ‘whoever leaves behind father,
mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, and lands for my sake and the sake
of the gospel will have it paid back a hundred-fold in this lifetime and more
in the next.’ Well, I’m here today to tell you that I kinda think Jesus was
lying to the disciples when He said a hundred-fold because as a pastor, I am
quickly realizing I have way more than a hundred wives because every lady in
the parish has a honey-do list for me, I have more kids than I could have
dreamed of having and each has specific needs, and I have more brothers,
sisters, fathers, mothers, and so-on than I know what to do with! I say Jesus
was lying to them because the abundance of repayment that comes when we give up
something for His sake is far beyond a hundred-fold. If He had been more
accurate I think it would have scared the disciples at the immensity of the
gift they would shortly receive. And that’s not even the best part!
A couple of weeks ago we heard
St. Paul’s letter to the Romans tell us that ‘the sufferings of this present
time are as nothing compared to the glory that is to be revealed in us.’ The
worst things in this life will seem as absolutely nothing compared to the glory
we will experience. But that applies also to the joys – the joys of this life,
as good as they are, aren’t even a small bit of what is to come. It’s like
comparing apples and Ferraris! That’s the kingdom that awaits us!
Often when we realize this
blessed gift that is freely offered to us, there is a sense that in order to
accept it and to live it we have to become this entirely new person; I have to
stop being me and start being a holy person. This is not at all what Christ
calls us to. He actually just calls us to be ourselves, but enlivened with His
Holy Spirit. I’ve always had a great love for music. I love to listen to it,
sing it, I used to play and write it. When I was in my teens I wanted to be a
rock star, so when confirmation time came around I figured who better to help
that dream come true than the patron saint of musicians – Pope St. Gregory the
Great. So, I picked Gregory and knew I’d be set for the big stage. Fast-forward
a few years and I’m in the seminary learning a new style of singing, writing
different music, and preparing to perform on an entirely different ‘stage’ for
the Lord. My love for music wasn’t erased but it was given a new focus by the
Lord and my passion for it has changed to glorify Him in the liturgy instead of
at bars and arenas. We could look to St. Paul who zealously lived the Jewish
faith and persecuted the Church, but after his conversion he fought for the
Church and endured the persecution he once inflicted on the Christians. St.
Ignatius of Loyola took a cannonball to the knee in battle and while in the
hospital read the life of Christ and learned of the saints and was converted,
becoming soon a powerful soldier in the army of Christ. This is what Jesus
means in that strange conclusion at the end of the reading today.
Jesus asks if the disciples if
they understand and they say ‘Yes!’ (because a good disciple always does, right?)
and He continues, saying, “every scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom
of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both
the new and the old.” The 'old' is me, my gifts, my desires, my weakness, and all that God has made in 'me'. The 'new' is the Holy Spirit-led mission that Christ wants to live out through those 'old' aspects. The point is that Jesus wants us to be ourselves, not
anyone else. Whether we’re working at the farm, teaching in the classroom,
caring for kids or grandkids, volunteering in the community, or anything else
under the sun – do those things as a Catholic. We must not simple be Catholic.
We must live Catholic. That’s the little piece about the fish in the net. The Church
is the Kingdom and she is full of all sorts of different ‘fish’. But simply
being in the net, simply being Catholic, is not enough to get into Heaven. We
must be good fish worth keeping. Like a crawfish boil – you don’t eat the dead
ones! The same with the Lord; He only takes to Himself the good fish to
celebrate the heavenly banquet and the rest are cast into fire because they have no life.
As we come to receive the Lord
Jesus today, let us ask these graces: to set aside anything that separates us
from Him and to be open to the grace to live the life He has called us to live.
Don’t worry about being someone extraordinary. Just be yourself in Christ –
that is enough for you and it is enough for Him who made you.
Sunday, July 6, 2014
Pastors and Flocks and Jesus, Oh My!
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| SHEEP!!! |
Zechariah 9:9-10
Psalm 145:1-2, 8-11, 13-14
Romans 8:9, 11-13
Matthew 11:25-30
Transitions in parish life are
always bittersweet. It was hard for me to leave behind the parish family that I
had come to know and love after being there for two years and I know that it
was tough for y’all to see Fr. Lee leave after ten years here and becoming such
an important part of your lives and community. For me, though, and hopefully
for you as well, there is still a great sense of joy in transition because it
gives us the chance to reflect back upon the many ways that God has acted in
our lives before, the blessings we’ve received, the relationships that have
changed us and give thanks to the Lord for those things. And it is a chance to
start anew, to witness the work of God in a new context, and to build new
relationships. That said, I’m very happy to be here to see what God has in
store for us.
Apparently that joy is evening
showing on my face a little these days. Friday I went home to celebrate the 4th
with my family and my oldest sister came up and said to me, “Brent, you
look…happy!” Now that might not seem like a big deal, but it was and reason is
this: I’m not a very visually expressive person. Often I am having a great time
and you simply can’t tell from my facial expression. And I can remember several
Christmases when I got absolutely incredible gifts and my response was a
subdued “cool,” much to my parents’ frustration. So when my sister told me I
looked happy, it really struck me and was good to hear that the joy in my heart
was actually showing in my face. The joy is showing more now not because my
other assignments weren’t enjoyable (quite the opposite!) but that it I’m
entering into the state of life that I was created for and for which I have
longed – to become a father in a community.
A quick snapshot of my vocation
story: I was baptized Catholic, raised in the Methodist faith, and confirmed on
my 11th birthday in the Methodist Church. Then my mom decided to
become Catholic and my stepdad returned to the Church and I came along with
them and, joy of joys, I got to start my religious education all over again in
a new church when I had just finished it. You can probably guess how excited I
was about this becoming Catholic thing! But I became Catholic nonetheless, or
at least attended the Church. I say that because while I was externally
Catholic, I was internally an atheist. I thought all of the stuff I was
hearing, seeing, and doing was just a bunch of nonsense, but I had to continue
on to keep mom happy. Eventually I got involved in the high school youth group
and began to believe in God and experience great conversion. Right before my
senior year of high school I began to feel a calling to ‘something more’ in the
Church. It took me a year to realize it might be priesthood and two more years
to work up the courage to actually pursue that path. By that time I was already
in my second year at LSU. I transferred to the seminary in Covington and
complete my undergrad work in two years and graduated. Then I took a year off
to think about become a monk, because what better place for a simple little
introvert that in a quiet monastery where I could read and pray and serve in a
hidden capacity, right? Well, I went and had a great time, but things changed
when I returned home.
One day I went to my parish and
asked the pastor if he could hear my confession and he was gracious enough to
do so. We talked for a little bit about my discernment and he sent me off on my
way. Later on in prayer I realized that what my pastor had done for me was what
I had desired in my heart along: to be able to be in the midst of a community
in order to know people and journey with them as they walk toward the Lord. His
example gave me clarity and I returned to the seminary that summer and four
years later was ordained a priest.
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| Doing Communion Visits during mission in Nicaragua |
The simple point in the midst of
this all is that I want to get to know you and have you know me so that
together we can walk toward the Lord Jesus who bids us come. Because that’s the
reason we’re here. The whole Gospel and the whole Bible in general can be
summed up in the three simple words Jesus speaks to us today, “Come to me.” Our
whole life is about coming to Jesus over and over and over again. It’s about
trying our best to recognize and to live the truth that Jesus really is the
center of everything. Often we’ll think of our lives like a pie – a chunk of
our time for work, a chunk for family, a chunk for this and that activity – but
our relationship with Jesus isn’t supposed to be a piece of the larger pie,
it’s the crust that hold all the rest together. This is my ultimate goal for
each and every one of us, myself included: to come to a place in our lives
where we have a deep, unshakable conviction in our hearts that without a daily,
personal, intimate relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we are
dead. Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life and today he bids us
come to Him and find peace. All of us. Nobody is an exception because all of us
are weary, all of us have burdens we’re carrying through this life, and all of
us want peace. Come. Place yourself in His hands and He places Himself in yours
at Holy Communion. Come to Jesus.
In a time of transition there are
always little tweaks and changes and you can see a few of them already with the
vestments, altar cross, and chanting. There are particular reasons for each of
those things, which I will explain in subsequent homilies, and the main reason
is always to give another opportunity, another way, to encounter Jesus Christ
and to walk away changed because that’s what it’s all about. So as we begin to
walk together toward the Lord Jesus, let us call upon the protection of our
heavenly patrons to watch over us and keep us safe: St. Ann, pray for us. St.
Vincent de Paul, pray for us. Amen.
Sunday, June 1, 2014
Made for Heaven
.jpg) |
| Fr. Joshua Johnson |
Acts 1:1-11
Psalm 47:2-3, 6-9
Ephesians 1:17-23
Matthew 28:16-20
I don’t know about you, but this
weekend has been an incredible one from my experience. Yesterday morning I had
the joy of concelebrating at the Rite of Ordination of Priests at Sacred Heart
Church in Baton Rouge. Deacon Joshua Johnson walked in at 10am and Father
Joshua Johnson walked out just around noon changed, a priest of Jesus Christ.
The experience, as every ordination I’ve been to, was one of incredible joy and
hope. The diocesan choir and gospel choir present were both beautiful and
lifted our hearts to the Lord in ways that rarely happen, the bishop preached
an inspiring and challenging homily, and each of us priests was filled with
thoughts and sentiments of our own days of ordination. The joy was palpable and
not a single person that walked out the church did so without a smile on their
face and a sense of awe at what had just taken place. In the midst of it all I
simply tried to soak up the moment because days like that are few and far
between.
Our vocation as Christian, Pope
Francis continually reminds us, is to be a people of joy, hope, and life that
reach out into the world that shine with the radiant Light of Christ. But you
know as well as I that we don’t have to look very far to find things going on
that try to steal that joy, hope, and life from us and replace them with
sorrow, frustration, and despair. The torrential downpour that left many in our
community – including some of you present today – with water in your homes, the
expected or unexpected death of loved ones, illness that changes your daily
life drastically, or just a whole slew of little things that seem to keep going
wrong. These and others are ways that the evil one wants to quench the fire of
hope in our hearts. But how do we fight back? How do we keep hope when things
seem so difficult for us? Heaven. Remember that you and I were not made for
this life. We were made for Heaven.
The feast of the Ascension, which
we celebrate today, has two main points to it. First, it is about the Lord
Jesus reclaiming the glory that is rightly His. The second point is that He
doesn’t go to reclaim that glory alone, but to draw us into the glory of the
Trinity with Him. The feast of the Ascension is celebrated because the Lord
first humbled Himself and descended to be with us, draws us to Himself like a
great magnet, and hoist us back up into Heaven with Him. In short, the Ascension reminds us of
that reality that Heaven awaits us and that it is our ultimate goal. The
Collect for the Mass today spoke it such a wonderful theological and visual manner:
where the Head has gone in glory, we the body are called to follow. Christ
wants us to be with Him in Heaven because there alone we can find our
fulfillment. There alone will we know true joy. In Heaven, the joy of our
hearts will be so great that the greatest thing we experience in this life will
seem as very little and the worst day here will seem as though it never even
existed. Heaven is a place of such great glory that we can’t even comprehend it
or conceive of an idea that comes close. And that is what we were made for.
The problem that I have
personally is that while I know all of this in my head, it is often difficult
for me to put it into action in my daily life. So as I was preparing for this
homily I focused on three ways that I myself could try to re-orient my focus to
Heaven. They are to simplify, reconcile, and pray.
Simplify. I’ve mentioned before
that I love books. I don’t have that many valuable possessions or possessions
at all for that matter, but I do have a good number of books. It’s funny
because I always buy books. I don’t read them necessarily, but I buy them to
have them in case I get to read them. I keep amassing this pile of books and
the reality is that while all of those books are good and holy – mostly about
Christ, the Church, the Mass, and other theological things – they are things
that keep me focused on earth rather than Heaven. They enable me to do exactly
what they are trying to prevent me from doing! And that’s not all. I fill up my
time with all sorts of various activities and other things that complicate my
life rather than letting things remain simple, permitting me to lift my mind to
Heaven. To simplify is to remind myself that I don’t belong here. My treasure
should be elsewhere.
Reconcile. In Heaven, every
person will be perfectly united with God. They will have passed through
purgatory and had cast aside all that separates them from the Blessed Trinity.
And if every person is perfectly united to God, then that means every person is
necessarily perfectly united to one another. And you and I both know that is
not how this life works, unfortunately. I see in my own life that there are
people with whom I am not completely reconciled. There is still room for
forgiveness, increased unity, and a willingness to set aside past hurts,
pre-conceived notions, biases, and all that other junk that divides me from
others in order to build up here on earth what is going to be the reality of
all eternity. To reconcile with others is to build up the body of Christ here
and to prepare for the joy of true unity in the life come.
Pray. My vocation is primarily to
pray and secondarily to serve the people of God. That sounds rather
self-centered, but if I fail to spend the necessary time in prayer then my
ministry among you will not be filled with the Holy Spirit but will be filled
with the spirit of Fr. Brent Maher and whatever I feel like doing, and that is
not what God wants. I recognize in myself that there are times that I pray well
and am grateful for it, but there are also times where I fail to pray as well
as I could. It’s easy to pop in the rosary while riding the roads and simply
say the words but not give my mind to the mysteries and mark of my “pray the
rosary” on the spiritual checklist. It’s easy to say the words of the psalms
and readings for my obligatory priestly prayers each day and check that off
too. But that is not what I am called to do. I am called to enter into real
prayer that changes the way that I live my life. When I really pray, when I
give myself time to enter into the presence of the God of Heaven, I interact
with others differently, I interact with the Lord differently, my experience of
life is approached differently. Everything changes because I was with the Lord
and lifted up into Heaven.
It’s not about doing grand
things. It’s about being willing to do regular things, but for the Lord. I was
struck by a quote from St. Jean Vianney that I read the other day. It says
this: “If we would only do as much for God as we do for the world we should all
be saints.” How easy it is to get caught up in the things of this life! But
when we do so we set ourselves up for sorrow, frustration, and despair because
we were not made for this. We were made for Heaven. Let us pray for the grace
of the Holy Spirit to be with us to help lift our eyes to the place that awaits
us and be filled with the joy that comes from God, knowing that what awaits us
is even greater.
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
HWP: Prayer for a Priest
While most of the prayers that I most on here are typically for those of you who read this post, today I'm going to be a bit selfish and ask you to pray for me. Today is my anniversary of priestly ordination. Three years already! I will soon be the pastor of a parish and with that comes a whole new set of responsibilities, challenges, and opportunities, so I ask your prayers so that I can have as much of God's grace poured out on me as possible in preparation. You might keep this prayer and offer it from time to time for your own parish priest and other priests close to you. None of us would be upset about such a wonderful gift. Thank you in advance and know of my prayers for each of you as well. So...let us pray...
O Jesus, our great High Priest, Hear my humble prayers on behalf of your priest, Father Brent. Give him a deep faith, a bright and firm hope and a burning love which will ever increase in the course of his priestly life. In his loneliness, comfort him In his sorrows, strengthen him In his frustrations, point out to him that it is through suffering that the soul is purified, and show him that he is needed by the Church, he is needed by souls, he is needed for the work of redemption.O loving Mother Mary, Mother of Priests, take to your heart your son who is close to you because of his priestly ordination, and because of the power which he has received to carry on the work of Christ in a world which needs him so much. Be his comfort, be his joy, be his strength, and especially help him to live and to defend the ideals of consecrated celibacy.
Amen.
Sunday, May 18, 2014
Bridges
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| Royal Gorge Bridge in Colorado |
Acts 6:1-7
Psalm 33:1-2, 4-5, 18-19
1 Peter 2:4-9
John 14:1-12
I’ve always loved bridges. They
fascinate me because of their function but also, often, because of their
beauty. The highest bridge in the U.S. over Royal Gorge in Colorado, the
longest rope bridge east of the Mississippi, and double-decker bridge leading into
Cincinnati, and the numerous bridges sprinkled all across South Louisiana each
in their own way give me pause to contemplate something incredible as travel
over them – the ability to unite things that seem utterly separate.
That concept, though I never put
it in such words, is what drew me to consider the vocation of the priesthood.
In fact, in the early Church, the priest was often referred to by the Latin
term ‘pontifex,’ which means ‘bridge-builder,’ because every priest is supposed
to build bridges to unite humanity with the Divine. It’s the whole nature of
the priesthood really and they do it by offering sacrifices. The role of the priest in the ancient Israelite
community was to offer sacrifices and prayers to God on behalf of the people to
keep them safe in His care. The ordained priest today does a similar action by
offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and prescribed prayers each day to
permit people to draw into communion with the Lord. The priest is a
bridge-builder and the sacrifices that the priest offers are the means to building
those bridges and strengthening them.
But the thing is this: it’s not
just me and other ordained priests who are called to be bridge-builders. All of
us are called to be bridge-builders and the Lord is inviting us to stop today
to contemplate how good of a job we are doing.
Now here is where we get a bit
theological, but stick with me! In First Peter we just heard of a people that
is “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own.” We
are that people! This phrasing was originally intended for the Jewish people
but with the coming of Jesus is universalized and applied to every person who
receives the gift of Baptism. Our baptismal ritual reminds us that every person
baptized in Christ Jesus is anointed priest, prophet, and king. Christ Jesus is
the One High Priest but because we are members of the Body of Christ by
baptism, we participate also in His priesthood. Ordained priests do so in a
different way, but we all participate in the priesthood of Jesus. But what does
that priesthood look like?
We hear the answer in the Preface before the
Eucharistic Prayer today: Jesus Christ comes among us as
the priest, the altar, and the lamb of sacrifice. This is significant because
before Jesus, the priest and the sacrificial offering were distinct from one another - the priest offered a lamb, bull, wheat, etc. - but Jesus changes everything and makes the priest himself the offering, he is the one sacrificed. And the same with us. St. Paul put it this
way in the Letter to the Romans: “I urge you, therefore, brothers, by the
mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing
to God.” (12:1) To put it simply, the sacrifice that all of the baptized
members of the Church are called to offer God in a priestly manner is their
whole self: we give ourselves to God in offering, we give Him everything that
we have, everything that we are, everything that we desire, everything that we
fear, our whole life with nothing held back. That is what God desires of us. Our
whole life is supposed to be a priestly act, an act of sacrifice that works to
build up bridges between those around us and the God that loves us all.
We're hopefully all working as bridge-builders to some degree now, but for every one of us, myself included, there is still room to grow and become even better at drawing people to God. And there are three concrete things we can do to make that happen.
First – to use the words of Pope
St. Pius X, “Don’t pray AT Holy Mass. Pray THE Holy Mass.” The best way that we
can be better instruments of bringing people to Jesus is to get closer to Jesus
our self and the place where that happens is here at Mass. If we enter into
this celebration more deeply, things change. If we listen to the prayers and
pray them for ourselves, if we spend time with the readings and question where God is speaking to us, if we offer our
needs and the needs of others at the appropriate times in the Mass, we will be
changed and that will change others. If we want to build bridges to bring people to God, there's not better way than to celebrate the most miraculous bridge in Eucharistic Holy Communion.
Second – sacrifice for others.
There are a variety of ways to do this. We can offer a sacrifice of prayers for
people and spend time praying for them. We can fast or abstain from food,
drink, entertainment, or some luxury for conversion of others. We can offer up
a sacrifice of our desire and do something with or for them so that they can
see love in action. God alone changes hearts, but He often waits for us to ask Him to do so. So let us ask and offer some gift to help the bridge come together.
Third – be willing to be used.
Sometimes one of the best ways to be a bridge between God and humanity is to simply
invite people to get closer to God. This can be an invite to join you at
Mass, return to confession, gathering for prayer as friends, or scripture sharing with a group. It can be by
talking about your faith to encourage them in theirs. It can be a whole host of
things. But often we can shrink back in fear of what others might think, say,
feel, or do if we bring God into the picture. Be not afraid of what might happen but remember that God often speaks to us through others and that sometimes He wants to speak through us as well.
I always loved bridges. But as
much as I love marveling at them, it is much more beautiful to be one
ourselves. Countless others of our family and friends and helped us draw near
to God by building bridges to connect us to Him. May God grant us today the grace
to continue building bridges for others so we can truly be a chosen race, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a people all his own.
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
HWP: Prayer for Priests
Today is the celebration of the Chrism Mass here in the Diocese of Baton Rouge, when we priests will all gather together alongside Bishop Muench and recommit ourselves to serving the people God has blessed us with as parishioners and spiritual children. It was a beautiful thing to see as a seminarian and even more powerful to say those words now as a priest. It's humbling because I realize that my own faithfulness is only because of God's grace poured out through by prayers of so many people. So, as I promise today to recommit myself to deeper, more humble service to you and the Church, I beg your prayers for me that I might be able to truly put those words into action. Thank you. So, it is with this gratitude of heart that I offer this:
Prayer for Priests
Lord Jesus, we your people pray to You for our priests. You have given them to us for OUR needs. We pray for them in THEIR needs.
We know that You have made them priests in the likeness of your own priesthood. You have consecrated them, set them aside, annointed them, filled them with the Holy Spirit, appointed them to teach, to preach, to minister, to console, to forgive, and to feed us with Your Body and Blood.
Yet we know, too, that they are one with us and share our human weaknesses. We know too that they are tempted to sin and discouragement as are we, needing to be ministered to, as do we, to be consoled and forgiven, as do we. Indeed, we thank You for choosing them from among us, so that they understand us as we understand them, suffer with us and rejoice with us, worry with us and trust with us, share our beings, our lives, our faith.
We ask that You give them this day the gift You gave Your chosen ones on the way to Emmaus: Your presence in their hearts, Your holiness in their souls, Your joy in their spirits. And let them see You face to face in the breaking of the Eucharistic bread.
We pray to You, O Lord, through Mary the mother of all priests, for Your priests and for ours. Amen.
composed by John Cardinal O'Connor
Friday, April 4, 2014
A Mysterious Me
I received this little reflection by Fr. Solanus Maria Benfatti, CFR in an email several years back, before I was even a priest myself. It gave me much to reflect upon then and it strikes me even more now that I can relate to it firsthand. This vocation is a beautiful one and I thank God for it each day that I too have been called to have a 'front row seat' to the powerful hand of God at work in the hearts of His beloved children.
For sure, Pope Benedict's recent comment to the priests of Poland registers with me: "The greatness of Christ's priesthood can make us tremble." To feel very small, hugely humbled by the thing is a common experience for me. Very common. And yet, I frequently forget that I am a priest of only four months. Sometimes it almost seems that I've been doing this forever.At times I listen to myself in the confessional and I wonder whom this person is that is speaking, and just how he knows the things he thinks and says. I want to ask him from where he has come, because it seems as if from nowhere, like Melchisedech. I'm glad this man from nowhere has come along, because he sure is good for me. They say the priesthood is for others, but it's hard for one's faith not to be changed by the faith of others. Front row seats are hard to beat. The first time someone thirty years your senior lavishes gratitude on you for lifting a burden they've carried for years the same number; The first telephone call of thanksgiving you get from someone who had been an anonymous penitent in a far away place, now changed forever; The first time someone grabs you on the subway and says, "I realized I would never make it in time for confessions at such-and-such church and so I prayed to find a priest"; right then you know that you were made for this, and that your own salvation somehow depends on it. Fulton Sheen once called a book Those Mysterious Priests. I understand the title now. Because it is indeed a mystery, a very strange thing, the priesthood. That I am a priest is an additional mystery, though. It's at once foreign and familiar. It's everything I thought it would be and nothing I could have ever known. It's something to shrink from, but what I could never do without. And it's me. A mysterious me.
Monday, January 13, 2014
Proud Father
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| Baptism of the Lord by Joachim Patenier |
Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7
Psalm 29:1-4, 9-10
Acts 10:34-38
Matthew 3:13-17
Three and a half years ago at my
diaconate ordination, I made a promise to God and the Church that I would live
a life of celibate chastity, forsaking the good of married life and children.
That promise, though, didn’t mean that I wasn’t called to be a father. In the
heart of every man there is a calling to be a father and in the heart of every
women there is a calling to be a mother. So while I may not be a father to a
few biological children, I am a spiritual father to far more than a few. The
title ‘Father’ isn’t just a nicety or to make me feel better about myself. It’s
a daily reminder of who I am called to be to every person who speaks that
title: a Father. I didn’t understand this reality of my spiritual paternity
until after several months of my priestly ministry. It was in the midst of a
youth group meeting that I spoke about going home and being the only one in the
family without children and, before I could even finish my sentence, one of the
youth responded, “Father, you have us!” Since that time I’ve thought much more
concretely of my paternity, and necessarily so, of ‘my kids.’
One of my kids graduated from
college a few weeks back and was blessed to get a job at Catholic Charities in
Baton Rouge. I celebrated Mass for the CatholicLife TV station this past
Thursday and her office is right around the corner from where I was so I
stopped in for a bit and she showed me around her office, introduced me to some
of her co-workers, and talked with me about some of the jobs she’ll be working
on. It was such a joy to see how well she was doing and caused me to reflect on
how she had grown as a young woman and as a daughter of God in the two short
years that I’ve known her. Later that evening I sent her a little text message
saying that I enjoyed visiting her at her office that day and that I was happy
to see how well she was doing and would continue to do. A few minutes later she
responded with a few words that have been resonating in my mind ever since
then. She said, “Every now and then a daughter needs to hear her father is
proud.”
This weekend we celebrate the
feast of the Baptism of the Lord, that great mystery wherein the One who is
perfect receives the baptismal washing for repentance. It wasn’t because He
needed but because we needed it. The whole event shows us that reality. When
John immersed the Lord in the water, rather than the water cleansing Christ,
Christ cleansed the water to make it fitting for the sacrament of baptism.
Rather that the ritual be effective on Christ, Christ made the ritual washing
effective for us. The Heavens were opened not so that Jesus could know God but
that we could come to know Him. He received the Spirit so that in time we could
receive the Spirit. Christ heard those blessed words, “This is my beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased,” not so much for Himself but for us. And not just to
that we could know that Christ is pleasing to the Father but that we are too.
All of us are sinners and we all
fall short. We know our major faults and failures, our imperfections and those
little sins that have bothered us for years. A few years back I was on retreat
and I was talking with my director and going down a list of those faults and
failures in my own life. I went down the litany saying, “I should do this….I
should do that… I should not do this… I should not do that…” and in the middle
of my litany the director looked at me and said, “Brent, stop shoulding all
over yourself! It’s getting messy in here!” I was stunned when she said it, but
what she reminded me of in that moment is that sometimes we take on
expectations either from ourselves or others, usually with a good intention,
and we allow so many of those faults and failures to weigh us down. We let the
weight of not being perfect take away from the many good things that we have
done and are doing in which the Father is well pleased. In a life where we are
called to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect, we can easily forget
the fact that we are still loved even though we may fall short. Let us rejoice
in the love that God has for us today and pause to reflect upon the many ways
that He is pleased with us and be encouraged to press forward in light of that
rather than in fear of failure. Because sometimes, we just need to know that
our Father is proud.
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