Do Small Things Well

07-25-2021Weekly Reflection©LPi

St. Oscar Romero said, “We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is the beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.”

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God is Here. All is Good.

07-18-2021Weekly Reflection© LPi

There’s an ordinary pine grove located on a tree farm not too far from town where life’s stresses and demands seem to melt away. It is here that all that seemed so important out there no longer is and one can get lost in the rows of trees and majestic beauty. God is here and all is good. We need to connect with the Divine Source of all that is in order to understand what it is we are doing and why we are doing it. Otherwise, things stop making sense and bitterness can overcome one’s spirit. It’s okay to play once in a while and to discover that place of profound life and peace. People always have needs and there is constantly something to do. And while all of that is necessary and we are needed, there is also that inner solitude within that needs to be celebrated and released.

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A Message of Joy and Hope

07-11-2021Weekly Reflection© LPi

Maybe the work is best left to the professionals. That’s how many people view the preaching of the Gospel. That’s the stuff priests, religious, deacons, lay ministers, and other professional Church people do. It has little to do with me. Well, that’s not really true. The fact of the matter is that preaching the Gospel has everything to do with you, with all of us who are baptized members of the Body of Christ. Nobody gets off the hook from that job. The question is, however, how do we do it? Well, there’s a safe way, which many choose, to preach the Gospel — and the risky way. The safe way pretty much keeps the Gospel in church and around like-minded people. I say my prayers, go to Mass, contribute to the food pantry, tithe, and attend Bible Study. That pretty much covers the bases, right? Wrong.

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God's Life-Giving Presence

07-04-2021Weekly Reflection© LPi

It’s all so ordinary that we can easily miss it. The seagulls hunting and diving for mollusks at the beach offer a display of determination and precision as they gather their food for the day. It’s simply what these creatures do. Yet, there’s a magical artfulness and skill to their work that speaks volumes about the One who breathed life into their being. This is pretty much the way it is with God’s presence. God comes in common ways through common things and ordinary people. Sadly, we are so engulfed in our little worlds of order and ideas to notice the beauty and wonder of it all. Many have numbed themselves to the Divine spark at the essence of all life because that’s just the way it is. What’s so special about it? A sunset is a sunset and a seagull is a seagull. That’s precisely what they thought about Jesus too. After all, isn’t he just the carpenter’s son? What merit can his words possibly have?

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Have Faith

06-27-2021Weekly Reflection© LPi

The author of The Cloud of Unknowing prays, “That which I am and the way that I am, with all my gifts of nature and grace, you have given to me, O Lord, and you are all this. I offer it all to you, principally to praise you and to help my fellow Christians and myself.” Knowing that God sustains us in being is the key to faith. All that we need to do is to love God as God is and the rest will begin to fall into place. God made us in His image and desires that we have life. God also desires that we be healed of all of our wounds, especially those caused by sin, and know his loving touch. Being weighed down by negativity, imperfections, the cares of the world, and weakness is not something that God desires.

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The Balancing Act of Faith

06-20-2021Weekly Reflection© LPi

As we look at our lives and world events, do we ever find ourselves wondering if God is sleeping? After all, maybe God’s patient, unconditional love has run its course and He is finally fed up with humanity’s reluctance to accept the truth about who we are. God really can’t be that patient! All throughout human history, many have prayed to God for intervention or for particular needs. Because their prayers were not answered in the way they wanted or anticipated, they felt that God may have abandoned them. Were they right? It seems that we are continuing, at a rapid rate, down a path of destruction. Do you not care, God, that we may be perishing? When the boats of our lives are rocking and the seas tumultuous, we want to know that we have God’s attention. Even more so, we want God’s intervention.

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Flee to God

06-13-2021Weekly Reflection© LPi

A favorite motto of St. Teresa of Calcutta was, “do small things with great love.” This is how it works in the kingdom of God. God can do tremendous things with the smallest gesture, especially when it is done in love. We can clearly see that our world is suffering greatly. People are struggling to find peace, navigate through conflicts, earn a sustainable living, find security and enough food to eat, and work through political tensions and conflicts. In the light of the magnitude of the difficulties that exist around us and even within us, we can find ourselves floundering to discover practical, effective solutions. How can something so large be helped by someone as small and seemingly insignificant as me? While whole systems and structures may be out of the league of our personal influence, are we really that helpless in the midst of all of the turmoil, sadness, and suffering?

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God's Promise of Fidelity

06-06-2021Weekly Reflection© LPi

As our world faces so much turmoil and change, it is now more important than ever to remember who God is, who we are and where we are going. It is easy to get distracted and lose focus, especially when we are being pulled in so many directions. We can not only lose sight of God but one another. Maintaining our well developed and mature relationships with God and one another is essential to continuing to live, healthy, happy, and focused lives. In a message to young people, Pope Benedict XVI said, “the happiness you are seeking, the happiness you have a right to enjoy has a name and a face: it is Jesus of Nazareth, hidden in the Eucharist.” What is true for those who are younger is even truer for those who are older. Regardless of how the particulars of life change over time, human beings are still hard-wired to seek the fullness of life and happiness. How we embark on this journey and what we choose along the way will indicate whether we meet success.

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Let God Be Who God Is

05-30-2021Weekly Reflection© LPi

Let God be who God is. This is often one of the hardest things to do. Rather than allowing the mystery of being created in the image and likeness of God unfold and take root in our lives, we change the dynamic. We want to be the creators who want to make God into the image and likeness we need God to be. We have a hard-enough time letting the people in our lives be who they are. We struggle even more so with God. It is almost as if we want God to be our imaginary friend who is not only with us whenever we need but becomes the Being we need God to be. Who is it that we want God to be today? A protector, disciplinarian, champion for justice, healer, advocate for our cause, grantor of prayers, guardian of my life, or the avenger? Our prayers tell an interesting story. When you pray, what does God look like?

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Why do we celebrate Pentecost when we do?

05-23-2021Weekly Reflection

The book of Acts unpacks the events immediately following Jesus’ ascension into heaven. The Apostles and other disciples were told to pray in Jerusalem and await another outpouring of the Holy Spirit. As the weeks ticked on, the Jewish Festival of Weeks approached. This festival took place 50 days after Passover and celebrated the giving of the law on Mount Sinai. The Festival of Weeks (or “Pentecost” in Greek) was a great pilgrimage feast, with Jews from all over the ancient world convening on Jerusalem for the celebration.

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God Remains where Love Remains

05-16-2021Weekly Reflection© LPi

“God remains where love remains. When a believer realizes without doubt that God is love, it is a powerful moment. Being able to place our resurrection trust in this fundamental truth allows us to experience God’s presence in all of our experiences: the good and the bad, positive and negative, life enriching and destructive events we encounter. It is no wonder that St. Paul so accurately tells us that it is love that endures all things and lasts. How can God not endure or ever fade away? Because he is God, Jesus also guarded and protected his disciples as the endearing shepherd who always had their best interest at heart.

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God Loves Through Us

05-09-2021Weekly Reflection© LPi

“Remain in my love,” and, “I call you friends,” are powerful words that are found in John’s Gospel. Most of us probably have them committed to memory or have at least heard them proclaimed dozens of times. They are words that can easily become trite and quickly glossed over without fully pondering and digesting their profound beauty. When we take the time to immerse ourselves in them, they can radically change our lives and our relationships. They can open up new doors of adventure and hold countless possibilities for meaning. The essence of love and friendship are things that can easily be taken for granted. They have always been there and are a significant part of our lives. Many would say that they could not live without love and friendship, and they put a great deal of care into preserving, deepening and sustaining them. Love and friendship share a mutual relationship with each other that deserves more reflection.

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From Whom do we Learn?

05-02-2021Weekly Reflection© LPi

"Spiraling out of control," is a phrase that can easily describe the current display of human existence. In addition to the violence, unrest, uneasiness and turmoil that are common elements of our daily news, other essential pieces are misplaced or missing. Many lack an objective center around which to order and structure their lives or a clear set of definable goals or mores to act as guideposts and life directives. It appears that "feelings" have become a "new god" and traditional structures and ideals set aside. It is almost as if history only shows that we got this whole thing wrong and many are determined to finally set things right. The real truth, however, is that while wrongs and errors are certainly a part of our often-checkered past, it is hardly the case that all was wrong. It is not our task to rewrite the history of our lives, but to learn from mistakes that were made, and preserve the perennial wisdom at the root of our successes. Learning is an essential part of being human.

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