December 7,  2022

Reflection

BEING EVANGELIZED BY THE POOR

For the last 30, 40, 50 years, I've been hearing the phrase, "Being evangelized by the poor."

For the last 15 to 20 years I've tried at times - not professionally - to understand what that phrase means - but I still don't.

The poor beggar ... the drug addict ... those who seem lost to me - I don't know how to learn from them or to figure out what they are saying?

At times I hear people saying we ought to bring Larry the Loser in to give us a talk "Put Homeless Harry in the pulpit."  I sense they don't understand what being taught by the poor means - so they joke about the whole idea.

I know that Jesus fed the poor and healed the rejected - and spent time with the non accepted.

I know that Jesus praised the lady who who donated her 2 coins to the poor - and Jesus said she gave more than all the rest.

I know we're not supposed to get caught up in the rat race for success - or money - or to be in first place, but ....

And at times I get to the conclusion that I am poor - stupid - and I need too admit I am poor.

When I see someone in the nursing  home dribbling, or moaning, and tied down - I don't ask  their economic status - just that they know the love of God and others for them.

I have to be open to them and aware of them and love them.

I am poor and don't know what to do - other than to love - while at the same time I can know what I am going through, but I have not heard the story - what others are going through.

 December 8, 2022

Reflection

REDEMPTION

You would think being a Redemptorist since 1960 - growing up in a Redemptorist parish - going to Redemptorist seminaries - hearing Redemptorist sermons on Redemption, I would know what Redemption means.

But here is is July 24, 2008 - still pondering  - Thursday after the feast of the Most Holy Redeemer - that I chose redemption as the final reflection in this book.

What is the heart of the matter when it comes to understanding redemption?

First answer: I am not God.

That means I have an end coming.

Will that mean that's the end of me?

If I want to get beyond death, that means I need a Redeemer.

I  need a Messiah, a Savior, God who can wake me up on the other side of death.  I need someone to take me across the sea of death. I need someone who will call to me with breakfast on the beach - in the morning of  Resurrection.

Up till my death I thought at times I could go it alone - without God, without religion, without others, but just like I needed parents to get started, I need someone greater than myself to start again after I end.

At 68 I faced the death question

At 58 I didn't face it as much.

At 48 I was more into the here and now.

At 38, it was all work.

At 20 Jesus did come to me - in prayer - late into many , many nights - in Esopus, New York, slowly and gradually. I was realizing Jesus was the one I could connect with - for life.

At some point in my early 20's, I heard St. Alphonsus' words, "The meaning of life, the whole ball of wax, is the practice of the love of Jesus Christ."

That was it.After that I needed to remember: "I know my Redmerlives."

The Redemptorists, besides St. Alphonsus, F.X. Durwell and Paul Hitz, helped me to get to know Jesus Christ.

Bottom line: I am not alone. I will not be alone forever.  Jesus will always be here, now and always with and waiting for me.

 December 7,  2022

Thought for Today

"A man lives not  only his personal life, as an individual, but also, consciously or unconsciously,  the life of his epoch and his contemporaries."

Thomas Mann [1875-1955]

The Magic Mountain [1924]

Chapter 2

 December 6, 2022

Thought for Today

"Autobiographies ought to begin with Chapter Two."

Ellery Sedgwick [1872-1960]

The Happy Profession [1946] Chapter 1

 December 6, 2022

Reflection

MY WILL BE DONE

Is the most basic prayer these 4 words: "My will be done?"

The little baby does what it does: eats, poops, cries, smiles, wants, wants, wants.

It keeps reaching out.

I try to get the baby to smile. 

She just stares at me.

I do my little tricks.

There is no reaction - no reaching.  She looks elsewhere.  Then she yawns or yanks.

Then she looks elsewhere.

I get nowhere.

The teenager gets yelled at - warned - disciplined - pressured.

Still she won't budge.

We say behind her back, "Wow is she stubborn."  Or, "She has a will of her own."

The  young couple struggle - each wanting what they want - each give trade-offs - so as to get what they want.

 

Marriage is a covenant - the blending of wills - and wants- and needs.

Then somewhere along the line, we discover, we are not able to control the universe - life - others - drivers - our own children

Death - sickness - the teacher - the boss - traffic - a noisy neighbor - a pushy mother-in-law - a crafty fellow worker - a manipulator - whoever - wherever it happens - forces us to our knees - to the tightening of our fists - and jaw  and we have to mutter, "I'm not God, I guess I'm not in control."

Maybe we add, "Maybe you aren't either.

Like those rodeo horses, life is breaking me.

At some point I run into the reality of God and I say, "God you have a will of your own, don't you?"

At some  point, we finally realize I guess this is what it means to say, "Thy will be done."

[July 23, 2008]

 December 5, 2022

Thought for Today

"She was one of the people who say: 'I don't know anything about music really, but I know what I like,'"

Sir Max Beerbohm [1872-1956]

Zuleika Dobson [1911] Chapter 9

 December 5, 2022