Almighty God, you have enriched your Church with the singular learning and holiness of your servant Thomas Aquinas: Enlighten us more and more, we pray, by the disciplined thinking and teaching of Christian scholars, and deepen our devotion by the example of saintly lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
PONDERING WITH THE PADRE: This is a place where I, when inspired by the Holy Spirit, can sow seeds to help each and everyone of us grow as true Christians. I believe God is Lord of all of His creation. All we can do is seek His will for our lives. We cannot please God by our own good works. The fruits of our faith are fruits of repentance, of a new heart!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Speaking in tongues
Many people find speaking in tongues to not be real. Let's look at Scripture and science. In Scripture St. Paul says that when he prays in tongues his mind is useless. What does science say?
Whom do we serve?
I have updated my blog! Very few were reading the previous blog. As I prayed and struggled with my vocation, I realized too many clergy and other church leaders seem devoid of the Lordship of Christ in guiding ministry! The end of worship for the Christian is the praise and glory of our Father in heaven through Jesus Christ! Yet day to day activities seemed to be governed by what our heirarchy thinks to the movies that play in my head. Surely I am not alone! I love being a priest. I hate having to make people happy! I love the love of God. I am not God!
So here I choose not to be alone. Where I live I belong to a support group of clergy that consists of me, an Episcopal priest, a Baptist minister and a Reformed minister serving a Methodist Church. Funny, we go outside of our intuitions for support!
Anyway, my hope is that we who are in Church leadership can use this space to laugh, cry, moan, be real, be human and be God. After all, I cannot find anywhere where God wants us to be God. Oh wait a minute, was that not the temptation in the Garden, to be like God (Genesis 3:4)
I will be musing on how Scripture reveals what God wants of us. Until then I leave you with Paul's words to the Church in Galatia: I am not trying to please people. I want to please God. Do you think I am trying to please people? If I were doing that, I would not be a servant of Christ! (1:10 CEV)
So here I choose not to be alone. Where I live I belong to a support group of clergy that consists of me, an Episcopal priest, a Baptist minister and a Reformed minister serving a Methodist Church. Funny, we go outside of our intuitions for support!
Anyway, my hope is that we who are in Church leadership can use this space to laugh, cry, moan, be real, be human and be God. After all, I cannot find anywhere where God wants us to be God. Oh wait a minute, was that not the temptation in the Garden, to be like God (Genesis 3:4)
I will be musing on how Scripture reveals what God wants of us. Until then I leave you with Paul's words to the Church in Galatia: I am not trying to please people. I want to please God. Do you think I am trying to please people? If I were doing that, I would not be a servant of Christ! (1:10 CEV)
Monday, January 25, 2010
Pope Tells the Church to Give God a Blog
Pope Tells the Church to Give God a Blog
Think about it! How many people in the marketplace are in front of a computer. What if they turned from solitaire to solitude. With social media, opportunities abound to integrate one's life with the Lord of all! A+
Think about it! How many people in the marketplace are in front of a computer. What if they turned from solitaire to solitude. With social media, opportunities abound to integrate one's life with the Lord of all! A+
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
The Immediacy of Giving Thanks
Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. (I Thessalonians 5:16-18 NLT)
St. Paul did not equivocate when it came to being thankful. But how can we be thankful in all circumstances? How can we be joyful? Are not my feelings beyond my control? Think of the last time someone pulled out in front of you in traffic? How can I be thankful if I have just been laid off from work? I have a family to feed, bills to pay, etc. These are big picture items that consume much of our lives. But we get lost in the big picture because we do not know where we are to begin with.
Where we are at this very present moment is where we are. The past has happened and we must let go of any regrets. The future has yet to come and so there is no need to be anxious. Jesus said this to us in His Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 6:34) But the truth of His Word needs to be experienced. This journey begins with the immediate NOW! This is where God is and where we must be to be covered by His Word!
Find a quiet place so that you may "be still and know the Lord". (Psalm 46:10) Take a simple object into your hand or look upon something like a flower. It can be something mundane like a coffee cup. Focus on the coffee cup. Feel the texture. How does it feel? Look at the design. How would you describe the design? Be slow and deliberate. Now think of the journey that coffee cup made from the designers to the engineers to the marketplace all the way into your hands now! Do not gloss over any detail. Now speak to God in Heaven giving thanks for all these things that make up the mundane coffee cup. Identify the joy that you find in this coffee cup. Thank God again for what He has shown you to be thankful in this very moment. You will notice the past was of no consequence in this moment and there was so much presence in the coffee cup that tomorrow had no demand on you. Practice this exercise daily and several times a day wherever you are. By doing so you will catch up to God where He is, in the present moment. For it is this moment, the present, that is the only circumstance at hand! Everything else will become inconsequential!
St. Paul did not equivocate when it came to being thankful. But how can we be thankful in all circumstances? How can we be joyful? Are not my feelings beyond my control? Think of the last time someone pulled out in front of you in traffic? How can I be thankful if I have just been laid off from work? I have a family to feed, bills to pay, etc. These are big picture items that consume much of our lives. But we get lost in the big picture because we do not know where we are to begin with.
Where we are at this very present moment is where we are. The past has happened and we must let go of any regrets. The future has yet to come and so there is no need to be anxious. Jesus said this to us in His Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 6:34) But the truth of His Word needs to be experienced. This journey begins with the immediate NOW! This is where God is and where we must be to be covered by His Word!
Find a quiet place so that you may "be still and know the Lord". (Psalm 46:10) Take a simple object into your hand or look upon something like a flower. It can be something mundane like a coffee cup. Focus on the coffee cup. Feel the texture. How does it feel? Look at the design. How would you describe the design? Be slow and deliberate. Now think of the journey that coffee cup made from the designers to the engineers to the marketplace all the way into your hands now! Do not gloss over any detail. Now speak to God in Heaven giving thanks for all these things that make up the mundane coffee cup. Identify the joy that you find in this coffee cup. Thank God again for what He has shown you to be thankful in this very moment. You will notice the past was of no consequence in this moment and there was so much presence in the coffee cup that tomorrow had no demand on you. Practice this exercise daily and several times a day wherever you are. By doing so you will catch up to God where He is, in the present moment. For it is this moment, the present, that is the only circumstance at hand! Everything else will become inconsequential!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Monday, November 2, 2009
All Soul's Day
"Today is All Soul's Day. This is the day we remember those who have died. Our reading from Wisdom yesterday is repeated today and is worth a reflection:
But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God,
and no torment will ever touch them.
In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died,
and their departure was thought to be a disaster,
and their going from us to be their destruction;
but they are at peace.
For though in the sight of others they were punished,
their hope is full of immortality.
Having been disciplined a little, they will receive great good,
because God tested them and found them worthy of himself;
like gold in the furnace he tried them,
and like a sacrificial burnt offering he accepted them.
In the time of their visitation they will shine forth,
and will run like sparks through the stubble.
They will govern nations and rule over peoples,
and the Lord will reign over them forever.
Those who trust in him will understand truth,
and the faithful will abide with him in love,
because grace and mercy are upon his holy ones,
and he watches over his elect. (Wisdom 3:1-9)
The notion that we are gold in a furnace should describe our life here on earth. Everyone of us is imperfect. But so is gold until it is exposed to the refiner's fire. As we are tested and tried, we come closer to perfection. A woman once asked a silversmith how long he exposed the silver to the flame and he replied, 'Until I see my image.' Likewise, God, the divine refiner, wants to see His image in each one of us. And like gold, each one of us is precious. So our trials, and especially those trials by fire, draw us closer to the image God has for us."
But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God,
and no torment will ever touch them.
In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died,
and their departure was thought to be a disaster,
and their going from us to be their destruction;
but they are at peace.
For though in the sight of others they were punished,
their hope is full of immortality.
Having been disciplined a little, they will receive great good,
because God tested them and found them worthy of himself;
like gold in the furnace he tried them,
and like a sacrificial burnt offering he accepted them.
In the time of their visitation they will shine forth,
and will run like sparks through the stubble.
They will govern nations and rule over peoples,
and the Lord will reign over them forever.
Those who trust in him will understand truth,
and the faithful will abide with him in love,
because grace and mercy are upon his holy ones,
and he watches over his elect. (Wisdom 3:1-9)
The notion that we are gold in a furnace should describe our life here on earth. Everyone of us is imperfect. But so is gold until it is exposed to the refiner's fire. As we are tested and tried, we come closer to perfection. A woman once asked a silversmith how long he exposed the silver to the flame and he replied, 'Until I see my image.' Likewise, God, the divine refiner, wants to see His image in each one of us. And like gold, each one of us is precious. So our trials, and especially those trials by fire, draw us closer to the image God has for us."
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