For the Birds

This past week I had the privilege of visiting with friends that I no long get to see on a regular basis. As always, being in their presence, whether in Athens, GA or in New Orleans, LA, brought me great peace, inspiration, and energy to live my life seeking the Spirit always.  Thank you, friends, for being marvelous blessings in my life.

Now, you may be wondering what the phrase "for the birds" has to do with my above thoughts.  Well, as you may know, the phrase "for the birds" often designates that something is insignificant, unimportant, or trivial.  I'm going to spin this phrase to mean the quite the opposite as I reflect on an experience of mine this week. Earlier this week, I went to the Audobon Zoo with a friend. Rarely do I go to the zoo, but anytime a friend who has not been there before wants to go, I welcome the opportunity. As we wandered through the different animal exhibits, we came upon the aviary. As you might expect inside this sealed off space, we found many different breeds of birds occupying the trees, branches, bushes, ponds, etc.  However, what you may not realize is that these different breeds of birds came from all different parts of the world.  The birds covered a wide spectrum of sizes and colors, too. They were magnificent to be around.  Their diversity struck me as interesting because many of these birds were out of their natural environments and living among other birds that were indigenous to completely different environments from their own. Yet, all of the birds seemed to have adapted quite well to each other and their shared home.  Upon seeing this, I reflected upon how often we, as humans, have difficulty getting along with other humans from very different environments, cultures, customs, etc. Are we not supposed to be more intelligent and rational than simple birds? Sometimes, I wonder about this.  Also, these birds not only were living in peace with one another, but they were not upset by our human presence at all. They crossed beneath our feet, flew over our heads, and sang their pleasant songs in ways that almost seemed to welcome us into their space.  How welcoming are we to others who are from "different parts of the world" than us?  Each time we see violence, poverty, injustice, hate, etc. perhaps we should think of the birds living in peace with one another sharing their space and resources so that they all may coexist beautifully. Is this not the purpose of God's creation?

So, next time you hear the phrase "that's for the birds" think about how it may be more appropriate to say "that's for the humans" instead. The Spirit was very much present with the birds in the aviary and as as a result of my being there, the Spirit was very much present with me, too.

May we be ever-faithful, ever-mindful, and ever-joyful.

The Spirit of the Blue Dot

I just saw this shared on Facebook, and I figured I had to pass this along. Enjoy the reflection on the power of the Spirit that pervades and continues to pervade this tiny yet marvelous piece of God's creation.

The tiny blue dot.

May we be ever-faithful, ever-mindful, and ever-joyful.

(W)Holy Spirit Come!

Hello everyone,

As many of you know, this past week marked the yearly occasions of Halloween and All Saints' Day. This week began with a reflection from a visiting priest that I heard last week. He shared a story with us about a girl whom he had met in his days as a missionary.  This girl, who had been sold into a life of prostitution for 14 years in Haiti, said upon her rescue that "we should not tell God how big our problems are, but rather, we should tell our problems how big God is." Now, situations like this girl's are hard for many of us to comprehend, but we can see in her saintliness a path of faith that is accessible to all of us.

As Halloween approached, I made sure to share with my students that the history of Halloween simply includes preparing ourselves to celebrate All Saints' Day. Halloween is simply an older English word for Hallow's eve (the evening before honoring all holy people). With this understanding, I turn my thoughts toward our school-wide mass on All Saints' Day. First of all, at my school, rarely do we refer to our masses as such. Rather, those Eucharistic gatherings are called "school-wide liturgies". I mention this because when we understand that the meaning of the word "liturgy" refers to the "work of the people," the celebration of our school community makes a lot more sense.  When trying to gather a total of 1300 people or so for mass, much work must come together to bring the Eucharist alive for all involved. A symphonic band, a men's chorus, acolytes, student ministers, lectors, and symbolic decorations are much of what must fall into place in order for the Eucharistic celebration to hopefully leave those in attendance feeling inspired to continue the work of the Spirit. At this particular liturgy, our celebrant, an ordained Brother of the Sacred Heart, challenged the congregation (mostly adolescent boys) to think of being holy as simply our attempt at being "whole". This simple message of always striving to be as "whole" or complete a person as can be is one that I believe the young men could relate to as they try to figure out who they are and what they are called to do. For the rest of us, this is a good reminder that being holy does not mean always doing everything right, but rather, just trying to be authentic versions of ourselves in all that we do.

How do we take a step toward being more (w)holy? One thing we can do is remember the words of the Haitian girl: don't tell God how big your problems are; tell your problems how big God is. By aiming to keep our lives in this kind of perspective, truly, we are closer to being holy authentic complete people.

May we be ever-faithful, ever-mindful, and ever-joyful.

A Youthful Spirit

So, it has been about a month since my last post. Much has been going on with work and what not, but in recent days I have experienced a couple of happenings that I would like to share with you. These events are quite different in nature, but what I think they all do is show the limitless boundaries in which the Spirit operates.

First, I'd like to start with something that I experience on a daily basis. As many of you know, I coach cross country at the high school level. I work primarily with 12-14 year old boys. These guys compete in 2-mile races and their abilities range from 11 minutes to 26 minutes. What strikes me as amazing every day is the support and encouragement that most of these guys give each other. One young man in particular approached me to suggest that another team member be moved up into a better training group because their current group was too slow for him. This kind of selflessness at such a young age is truly inspiring for me. Watching these guys work hard (while still maintaining their silliness and immaturity of course), gets me excited for the type of young men and athletes they will become down the road. I know that with each practice, our guys are experiencing the Spirit in their lives through the camaraderie of their teammates as well as the care of those of us who coach them. I am eager to see how the rest of our season plays out.

The second item is a more isolated event that I had the honor of experiencing this weekend. I was invited to take part in one of the four overnight retreats that our senior class attends every year. This retreat focuses on understanding true Christian manhood. Seeing seniors in high school come together for a couple of days and open themselves up to the surrender and compassion needed to live a truly humble life in the Spirit is awesome. This retreat gave me the opportunity to view the upperclassmen in light of my daily experiences with the lowerclassmen. This allowed me to view the maturity and attitude of the 7th, 8th, and 9th graders that I coach to that of these seniors. I must say that these seniors, while still having much room for growth, already seem to have a faithful grasp of life. As one speaker mentioned, this age group is living in a unique stage of life where they have the energy of boys with the wisdom of men.  This speaker encouraged the young man to seize the rest of their senior year as well as the next several years of life and become powerful men through their faith, humility, and love. I pray that these young men will continue to face the challenges of their lives with a spirit of fortitude that can only come from God. While the retreat contained many wonderful discussions and activities, I will not mention those in the interest of maintaining the surprise and wonder of the young men yet to make their retreat. Just know that the Spirit of courage and confidence that we try to share with the seniors was very alive this weekend and will continue to be thanks to the efforts of the campus ministry team and faculty who put on these wonderful retreats.

I pray that we all can find the innocence and energy of our youth and combine it with the wisdom and knowledge of adulthood to become the best human beings we can be in this life. The Spirit is alive and well.  If we continue to run the race and take time to retreat, we are certain to experience the Spirit daily!

May we be ever-faithful, ever-mindful, and ever-joyful.

A Humble Spirit

Hello, friends,
I can't believe that it has been almost a month since my last post.  I guess I need to make a more concerted effort amid my new schedule to reflect and write a bit more.  This being said, I do have thoughts that come to mind during the day, but I simply haven't taken the time to put them down in writing.

Anyway, a thought that has remained in the forefront of my mind is one from a few weeks ago. I heard a priest give a homily on one of the most important qualities that we can possess: humility. The timing of his lesson was interesting given that football season was starting and certain collegiate football players were gaining media attention for being anything but humble. I realized then that we have way too many egos in our world today.  The priest shared a quote with us this quote from a best selling author:

There are two kinds of people in the world. One kind of person when entering a room will say, "Well, here I am!" The other kind of person when entering the room will not say anything but rather other folks will say, "Oh, look, there he is!" 

This quote resonated with me because I know at times I have been the first kind of person drawing undue attention to myself rather than just allowing myself to be present.  I thought of this quote in terms of our presence before amid the Spirit of God. I feel like God always notices us when we "enter the room" and is saying "Oh, look, there he is!" God has every right to be the first kind of being who brings attention to God's self, but rather, always shows us loving attention.

So, as we go forward this week and beyond, let us all recognize the presence of others rather than making our presence known.

May we be ever-faithful, ever-mindful, and ever-joyful.

God bless Earth

Hello friends,
Thank you for your patience in between my posts.  I have enjoyed beginning my new teaching job, but I am still trying to find a good time each week when I can sit and write.

My post this week may be one of the more random connections to the Spirit that I feel I have ever documented.  So, this past Friday evening, I competed in a two-mile road race with some of my training buddies.  Prior to the race, as expected, a rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner was played.  The race director played the famous Whitney Houston version of our national anthem.  Personally, I am not a fan of this version, and as a result, my mind wandered for most of the recording.  My mind did, however, wander toward the idea of patriotism.  Patriotism in the United States confuses me.  I often see and hear images, symbols, slogans, etc. that attempt to link patriotism to Christianity.  When we say/sing "God Bless America," what exactly do we mean?  Are we asking God to bless this country more than other countries? Are we claiming that we have the market on God's blessings while others receive God's hand-me-downs?  Are we invoking God to be on our side rather than on the side of others?  These are inflections and connotations that I can not help but feel sometimes.  I would like to think that when we say "God bless America" we are asking God for the grace to help others around the world by using the plethora of resources at our disposal to promote the common world good rather than for just our own benefit.  I think what is important here is to remember that the Spirit of God moves where it will and that includes any and all places of the world (not just the U.S.).  So, how did all of this come from listening to one of my least favorite national anthem recordings?  I can not say.  All I know is that I now have more food for thought.

In addition to this thought provoking recording, I found myself watching the movie, The Soloist (2009), on Saturday evening.  This is a remarkable movie about mental health, homelessness, and the power of music.  In this film, a Julliard level cellist, is living on the street after going through mental anguish as a young man.  This based-on-a-true-story movie, pointed out even more to me the confusion I find in being patriotic in this country.  We have so many resources in this country that could end national hunger, decrease poverty, and promote better standards of living for most people.  However, we seem to have such a problem making these resources available to others.  Meanwhile, we say "God bless America" while often turning a blind eye to these circumstances.  Why is that?  I wish I knew the answer.  So, I guess my challenge for all of us who live here in the United States and profess faith in God, is to remember our blessings daily and truly strive to give of ourselves to our countrymen and women (and ultimately the world citizens at large).  In doing so, I pray that our efforts may one day to say God bless the United Countries of Earth.

May we be ever-faithful, ever-mindful, and ever-joyful.

An Extra "Ordinary" Piece

As I start my new obligations as a high school religion teacher, I worry that I will not have as much time to devote to my blog.  I certainly will not give up on this entirely.  However, please be patient with me in my posting.  I'll try to post something each week even if it just a simple sharing of something I found inspiring.  Please enjoy this article that I found from one of my favorite websites recently.  The article builds off of my thoughts from last week.

Relevant Magazine Article

May we be ever-faithful, ever-mindful, and ever-joyful.

Ordinary is Extraordinary

Since my last post, I have found myself thinking about my spiritual sisu a bit more.  I continue to ask myself, "How can I find my spiritual greatness?"  I find it almost humorous how timely God tends to answer questions like these.  I guess the gospel last Sunday (Luke 11: 1-13) should have given me the confidence that I would receive an answer.  The gospel did talk about asking, seeking, and knocking in order to learn from the Spirit.  So, what answer did the Spirit give my inquiry into finding spiritual greatness?  Well, the answer actually revolves around simply being ordinary.

Now, you might be asking, "Drew, how can you expect to become great from being ordinary?"  First, let's look at the word extraordinary.  If we break the word into two parts: extra and ordinary, then the simple answer is that we just need to be more ordinary in our daily goings-on.  Huh? More ordinary?  Stay with me I'm not trying to confuse anyone.  I'm simply trying to explain that greatness does not necessarily come from doing superhuman things.  Rather, it comes from our ability to do necessary everyday things well.  Here are a few examples of everyday things: being polite, saying hello to people who cross your path, picking up litter and throwing it away or recycling it, smiling, being patient while driving, listening when others speak to you, etc.  None of the above are overly difficult.  They are quite ordinary practices, and yet, how often do we neglect to do these things?  I know I neglect them on a daily basis.  One good example of a man doing ordinary things well, who has been in the news lately, is Pope Francis.  In my opinion, he should be called the "ordinary pope."  For those who have not been following him, you should do a little research into his activities lately.  He seems to epitomize being ordinary.  He has done his very best (up to this point) to shed the image of royalty and authority often associated with church hierarchy for a much more down to earth image.  He did not invent this image, though.  He is simply trying to bring the image of Jesus back to the forefront.  If we pay close enough attention to Jesus in the scriptures, we find that he was the best at being ordinary.  He seemed to do all of the little ordinary things that would benefit others in large extraordinary ways.  So, by doing the ordinary things extremely well, Jesus was extraordinary.  This is how we find our spiritual greatness.

Over the past week, I have found one avenue where I can practice being more ordinary than usual.  That avenue is in my friendship to others.  I have two friends that have gone through stress and sadness within this same week.  One friend, in the midst of taking the bar exam, had to face the reality that he had to put down his dog that had been suffering from prostate cancer.  The other friend, while on an annual vacation with his buddies of around fifteen years, lost one of those friends in a drowning accident.  Since, I have come to find out that the first friend actually knew the man who drowned, too.  Goodness.  What was I to do?  Naturally, I wanted to grieve with and for my friends, but would that be enough?  I wanted to do something extraordinary for them.  However, the more I thought about the extraordinary, the more I wasted time not doing anything.  In the end, my simple yet ordinary offering of prayers, support, and availability was exactly what these guys needed.  So, as we go forward in our lives, let us make a commitment to simply being the best kind of ordinary we can be and in doing so, we will become extraordinary.

May we be ever-faithful, ever-mindful, and ever-joyful.

A Spirit of Sisu

Last year around this time, I posted about my experience as a camp counselor at the Gulf States Distance Running Camp in St. Benedict, LA.  Well, I would like to once again share some of my thoughts from this tiring yet motivating week.

I had the opportunity last week to give a talk to the camp about "Why I Choose to Run."  After much thought and reflection, I chose to revolve my talk around a word from the Finnish language that I have come to embrace: sisu.  From what I have come to know about sisu, it is a word that attempts to describe the spirit within humans being that encompasses guts, determination, "never give up" attitudes, and the like.  However, sisu represents these things and so much more.  It is more of a state of drive and perseverance that can only come from within a person.

In my talk I tried to challenge the athletes that in order to achieve greatness in their lives, they would need to find a sisu in their lives that is authentic to themselves.  Upon deeper reflection, I realized that sisu is probably that which the Spirit of God tries to instill in us as we face persecution, doubt, criticism, hatred, sadness, death, etc., in our lives.  The grit, determination, and toughness of sisu when viewed through a lens of the Spirit should always take the form of unceasing forgiveness, persistent kindness, and unwavering non-violence.  

I hope we can all find the sisu within us needed to make ourselves and others great human beings.

May we be ever-faithful, ever-mindful, and ever-joyful.

A Lesson on Diversity

Diversity: a state of variety among persons, places, and things.

When I was in high school, some students and faculty started a club called the Welcoming Diversity Club.  The purpose of this club was to reach out to all members of the student body in an effort to bridge any cultural gaps between groups of students.   This club focused on creating an organization full of people from different races, backgrounds, cultures, etc.  Groups like the Welcoming Diversity Club are great opportunities for us to remember that we live in a world full of people that cover the spectrum in terms of skin color, eye color, hair color, height, weight, language, eating habits, drinking habits, recreational practices, religions, socioeconomic status, and on goes the list.  

My point for mentioning this is that while I live in a country that seems to pride itself on its diversity, and while I profess a faith and claim a church that is supposed to accept all people regardless of life circumstances and cultural backgrounds, I can't help but look around myself and notice a whole lot of the same thing.  This "same thing" in my case is primarily an all-white, middle class society.  While this is not bad in an of itself by any means, I sometimes find myself wondering where I might find a larger Spirit of diversity.  Before reading further, take a minute to think about a normal week for you.  Is there a majority of people who look, act, and dress a certain way?  Is there a clear minority of people who look, act, and dress a certain way?  How does this make you feel?  Ok, now you can keep reading.

Well, last week, I found one such place that may be the best source of social diversity I have ever seen: the Department of Motor Vehicles.  I made this trip to the DMV in order to get new license plates for my car.  In the four hours that I had to wait to accomplish my task for the day, I had quite a bit of time to take in my surroundings.  What I saw (other than an inefficient way of doing business) were a couple hundred people ranging in all of the diversity criteria mentioned in the first paragraph.  Some folks kept to themselves (as I did) while others made conversation with each other to pass the time.  These interactions were encouraging to see, I must say.  However, as I continued to gaze upon this extremely diverse crowd, my intrigue turned more toward dismay.  I realized how unfortunate it is that it takes a place like the DMV and the necessity for people to have ID's, Driver's Licenses, and vehicle registrations to gather people together from all walks of life.  Shouldn't my church be a place where I see this diversity?  How about my neighborhood or local grocery store?  I mean, sure there are exceptions to this situation, but on the whole, in my daily goings-on, I see way more people that look like me than not.  Why is this?  Why in the year 2013 is much of our society still divided according to class and culture rather than united in spite of those things?  If God created all of us with equal love, then why is there seemingly so much lack of inclusion among different social/cultural groups?

I wish I had the answers to these questions.  However, I do not.  All I have is all that any of us can have and that is a heart of love and compassion for our fellow humans.  I am very thankful that Pope Francis seems to be encouraging all people regardless of their belief systems to care for God's creation and one another.  If we can honestly try to extend ourselves outside of our comfort zones and diversify our lives to include others not like ourselves, then we will make some headway.  I'd like to think that this headway will look a lot better than the scene at the DMV.  Haha.  I guess this just goes to show that even the local DMV, while both dismal and frustrating, is not above the ability of the Spirit to work in our lives and teach us something about the joy that comes from the love that God has for all people.

Throughout the next week, I'd like to challenge you to be extra cognizant of the people around whom you find yourself in every situation.  Do you notice a trend?  Reflect on this for a while and see what the Spirit has to tell you about things.  

May we be ever-faithful, ever-mindful, and ever-joyful.

Who Am I?

Just when I was having some difficulty finding the time and the topic to devote to my blog, the weekend came along with a question that turned out to be a good one for reflection.  Over the past few days, I have experienced the following: a new teacher orientation, the wedding of a long-time friend, an evening movie, and today's gospel.  All of these experiences reflect the question "Who am I?"

At my new teacher orientation, I learned a little bit about the teaching mission of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart.  This mission revolves around educating students "beyond methodology" which challenges teachers to always strive to educate students both in and out of the classroom spiritually, academically, socially, etc.  This orientation made me realize that to be a good teacher I must confidently know who I am before I can expect to challenge young men to answer "Who am I?" for themselves.

At the wedding on Friday, I watched my very good friend marry her husband.  The celebration of their marriage reminded me that in order for people to unite with each other in this way, they must know who they are as individuals first.  Once they did this, then their "Who am I?" becomes a more inspiring and encouraging "Who are we?"  I know they will continue to define their identity as a couple for many years to come.

Last night, as I relaxed at home, I put on Les Miserables, which you may remember is a wonderful story of redemption and forgiveness.  One of the songs in the musical is called "Who am I".  In this song, the main character, Jean Valjean, must embrace his true identity as a forgiven sinner before he can honestly move forward with his life to be who God created him to be: a beloved son.

While this "Who am I?" question was on my mind this morning, the gospel from this Sunday's mass from Luke 9:18-24 really brought light to this question for me.  In the gospel, Jesus asks the disciples who people say that he is and then asks Peter who Peter says Jesus is.  This taught me that sometimes the way people see me might not be the way that I see me and vice versa.  However, if I am honest with myself about my earnestness to reflect the beliefs I have in God, I believe others will see that in me (even though I will continue to struggle with that as we all do).

Next time God asks us who we think God is, how are we going to respond?  Will we talk the talk about God by using great adjectives like the disciples or will we walk the walk by claiming our relationship with God as Peter did?  I know that if we commit ourselves to getting to know God, then as a result we will know "who we are" that much more.

May we be ever-faithful, ever-mindful, and ever-joyful.

Spirit of Brotherhood

Hello everyone,
This past week or so since my last post has certainly been exciting and tiring at the same time.  As you may recall, my last post, "The Spiritual Toolbox," addressed how our experiences equip us with the tools we need to do good for ourselves and others as we move forward through life.  Well, in the last week as I began settling back into my hometown of New Orleans, I've already had to use some of my tools to begin my new work as a teacher and coach at Brother Martin High School.  However, I'm sure I'll have more to talk about on this topic in the coming weeks.  What I would like to talk a little bit about is the homecoming experience I had this past weekend.

On Saturday of this past week, I had my 10-year high school reunion.  I graduated from Brother Martin High School with two hundred eighty-eight other guys in 2003.  While I did not plan on this reunion being a piece of my coming home celebration, it certainly was a pleasant and timely addition.  When I arrived at the reunion, I quickly felt myself transported back in time ten years as I saw the men with whom I graduated and heard their voices recounting stories from our days as Crusaders walking the halls of Brother Martin.  Though many of us had not seen each other in years (not counting our connections on popular social media sites), we seemed to settle right back in to the camaraderie that we had developed in the past (albeit a slightly more mature bunch).  I think what allowed me to enjoy our celebration this much more was the fact that though we have grown up according to the "real world's" standards and may still have differences in views and opinions, we still held a connection that only we could understand as classmates.  Amid all of the changes we may have gone through as individuals over that last ten years, we, as a collective unit, still seemed to have the "fire in our eyes" as one teacher told us during our senior year.  I know that this feeling of unity and pride stems from the larger mission that our school represents.

Our high school is run by the Brothers of the Sacred Heart (a religious community of men in the tradition of the Catholic Church).  The charism or identity of the brothers is one that is committed to the education and formation of young people.  As a result of their mission and ministry towards us, we, the members of the class of 2003 can say we are better men for having had the privilege of their influence in our lives.  I know that as we go forward we will continue to succeed and fail in all our endeavors, but we will always have a brotherly connection with each other that I pray will always provide us with a sense of faith, hope, and love for the journey ahead.  I am extremely proud to be a graduate of Brother Martin High School, and I am excited to be able to help carry on the mission of the brothers this year as I begin my time as a member of the faculty.

As we say at Brother Martin:
Ametur Cor Jesu: Love be the heart of Jesus

May we be ever-faithful, ever-mindful, and ever-joyful.

The Spiritual Toolbox

Hello friends,

My post this week is a bittersweet one.  I am sitting here in my office on what is my last day as the Director of Religious Education at the Catholic Center at the University of Georgia.  As some of you know, I have decided to end this chapter of my life here in Athens, Georgia, and start a new chapter back in my hometown of New Orleans, Louisiana.  While I am very excited for the journey ahead, I can not help but pause and reflect over my time in Athens and look at the path and events that have led me to this point.  

The image of a toolbox is one that helps my reflection on these last few years.  As a young man, I have faced the reality of having to find my niche in adulthood while still maintaining the childhood joy and energy that allows me to view the world for the good.  As I have come to open my eyes and my heart to others over the last few years, I realize that this is both challenging and tiring but very necessary.  This is where the toolbox comes in to play.  If the purpose of a toolbox is to store instruments used to build, destroy, mend, or break, then I challenge myself to stock of what tools are in my toolbox.  Do I have more tools conducive to building and mending things than destroying or breaking?  I believe I do now.  Looking back over my years in Athens, I have acquired many new tools for my box that I firmly believe will help me in my work in the near and distant future.  When I realized that my spiritual toolbox had become quite full in Athens, I decided that the timing was right for me to move on to my next life project.

Please remember, though, that the tools we acquire in life do not always come from positive experiences.  Often we must struggle with life in order to gain a perspective or energy toward life that will then transform us into better spiritual carpenters if you will.  However, whether the positive or negative, each life experience provides us with a valuable tool that equips us to do good work wherever our next life project lies.

As I conclude my final post from Athens, I'd like to thank all of those who have shared their spiritual tools with me over the years:  my colleagues in the Clarke County School District, thank you; my training mates in the Athens running community, thank you; and of course, my family at the Catholic Center at UGA, thank you!!  For those of you reading this, please I hope you will take some time to look into your life's toolbox.  Get rid of those instruments of division (I've heard that the wedge is the devil's favorite tool), and increase the your instruments of unity.  By doing this we will all build up the city of God in which we are proud to live each day.

Rather than my usual closing sentiment, I'll leave you with the words of St. Julian of Norwich which were some of the first words that I learned form my very dear friend, Fr. Tom Vigliotta, ofm, five years ago:

All shall be well and all shall be well. In every manner of things, all shall be well.

If we use our tools for good, these words will echo true for years to come.

peace

A Meeting of Good

Over the last few years in Athens, GA, I have gotten to know people from many different cultures, faiths, backgrounds, etc.  This exposure to diversity has been a blessing for me in my personal development and appreciation of the world in which we live.  I have come to recognize the common ground that we all share simply as a result of our human bond.  While I understand that not everyone believes in Jesus or even God for that matter, I strongly believe that we can all still believe in one another because of our shared humanity.

Pope Francis spoke just the other day about this sentiment of shared humanity. Here is an excerpt from his homily:

The Lord created us in His image and likeness, and we are the image of the Lord, and He does good and all of us have this commandment at heart: do good and do not do evil. All of us. “But, Father, this is not Catholic! He cannot do good.” Yes, he can. He must. Not can: must! Because he has this commandment within him. . . .

The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! “Father, the atheists?” Even the atheists. Everyone! And this Blood makes us children of God of the first class! We are created children in the likeness of God and the Blood of Christ has redeemed us all! And we all have a duty to do good. . . . “But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!” But do good: we will meet one another there.

Now, these words have the potential to cause debate and controversy over different teachings on salvation.  However, I challenge you to simply read them through a lens of commonality with our fellow brothers and sisters in humanity.  If we can try to do this, then I think we are more likely to walk in peace with one another whether we are Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Atheist, etc.  

Here is another resource on the words of Pope Francis that I came across yesterday. It attempts to answer a common question that arises from inclusive statements like the one Francis made this week.  

If Atheists Can Go to Heaven, Why Bother with Faith? 

A Jesuit priest on my Manresa retreat recently, shared with us a lesson on identity.  In essence, he was teaching us that when we focus on knowing and understanding that our primary identity is that we are beloved sons and daughters of God, friends of Christ, and temples of the Holy Spirit, we will be able to work through all that life presents us.  I might go a step further and say that when we embrace our primary identity, we will be able to meet any and everyone at doing good for each other.

May we be ever-faithful, ever-mindful, and ever-joyful. 

Blessed are those who Hunger...

I write my post this week with mixed feelings.  As the title this week suggests, I'd like to share a few thoughts about hunger.  Three things, in particular, happened to me this week that have influenced my reflection.

Last Sunday (Mother's Day), as I sat in the congregation at mass, I had the honor of sitting around several children.  These children, roughly 0-3 years old, struggling to fit the church norm of quiet cooperation, were happily engaged in their own tasks.  Of course, the parents were making their attempts to "shh" the children, but this did not work entirely.  Something about the gestures and sounds that these children were making put a smile on my face rather than a look of frustration that I might normally expect from myself.  I realized that these "children of God" were actually showing me the innocent joy that Jesus teaches us is a beautiful thing that we should allow ourselves to maintain throughout our lives.  Children hunger for simple joys and watching these children on Sunday affirmed for me that their parents are doing a good job satisfying this hunger through tender love and care.

Providing "tender love and care" for one's children through hugs, kisses, affirming language, and other positive reinforcement is so very important.  I'm so very thankful to have had all of these (and still have these) showered on my by my parents.  My development into adulthood, I believe, is a direct reflection of my parents' commitment to this affection.  However, my parents coupled this affection for me with access to good food and healthcare.  If my parents had not satisfied my physical hunger, I would have been more likely to have greater health concerns and more likely to struggle in school.  Most people would agree that children can not grow up healthy, smart, and motivated as a result of affection only.  Children (and adults, too, of course) need physical nourishment to sustain the mind and body on a daily basis.  Too often physical hunger goes unnoticed in our country (and world).  While I have understood on a cursory level that hunger is a problem in our society, I had no idea just how far-reaching it is in our own country.  This week, I saw a new documentary called A Place at the Table.  This documentary provides a close look at the issue of child hunger in the United States.  I encourage all of you to find this film and watch it.  Check out this website for more information: http://www.magpictures.com/aplaceatthetable/.  The greatest lesson I learned from the film is that one out of four children in the U.S. are hungry! This is outrageous given that there is more than enough food here to fix this problem.  I've come to believe that satisfying physical hunger first can lead to opening the door toward spiritual nourishment.  They are deeply connected to our being.

Sometimes, though, we have no idea just how connected or disconnected the physical and the spiritual hunger is for people.  This week, a terrible tragedy happened in our faith community.  One of the fourteen- year-old boys in our Religious Education program took his own life.  This freshman in high school came from wonderful parents who succeeded most often in satisfying he and his older brother's physical and spiritual hunger.  When things like this happen (which they seemingly happens more frequently these days), we can't even begin to imagine the depth of hunger that these young people go through.  Naturally, we start to ask "what if" questions that might have prevented such a tragedy.  However, all this does is deepen our own hunger for answers and reconciliation.  How do we then satisfy this hunger?  I would suggest we try to do so through faith, hope, and love.

As you can see, hunger is an extremely relevant reality for us today.  I pray that we all find ways to not only satisfy our own hungers, but also to help as many people as we can satisfy their own.

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." -Matthew 5:6

As I read the above passage, I believe that righteousness refers to any human's attempt to find the perfect joy and peace that comes from God.

May we be ever-faithful, ever-mindful, and ever-joyful.

Men of Manresa

Well, here we are, one year removed from my very first blog post.  What a pleasure it has been for me to share my thoughts and reflections with you over this last year.  I look forward to your continued support as I continue seeking the Spirit in my life.

One avenue that I have used to seek the Spirit for the past two years is a three day silent retreat at the Manresa House of Retreats in Convent, LA.  This retreat is a men's retreat centered around the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola.  The Jesuit priests who reside here host nearly six thousand men on weekend retreats each year.  The vast beautiful landscape, antebellum buildings, quiet environment, and challenging spiritual direction, allows the participants to look deeply into themselves to find God present to them in ways that are truly transformational.

I am honored to say that my dad has been a regular retreatant for twenty-two consecutive years.  While this was only my second year, I feel I now have a little insight into why my dad loves Manresa so much.  Part of this love comes from the room in which he stays each year: room 321.  Room 321 has a special story that I would like to share with you.

In May of 2000, a man decided to write down his thoughts and reflections about his retreat in a notebook.  Rather than taking the notebook with him upon the conclusion of his retreat, this man decided to leave the notebook along with his reflections on the desk in room 321.  Life moved on as spring turned to summer, summer to fall, fall to winter, and winter turned back to spring.  After a year of new successes, failures, joys, and concerns, this man returned to Manresa seeking spiritual renewal.  As he entered his "little room with a big view" as he called it, he saw that same notebook resting on his desk just as he had left it a year before.  Only this time, instead of his being the only journal entry in the notebook, it was full of the thoughts, reflections, stories, prayers, etc. of the many "men of 321" who graced that room with their presence over the past year.  As he began to read the notebook entries, he experienced great humility from such wonderful displays of spiritual poverty that these "roommates" of his courageously shared with each other.  Overwhelmed with joy and elation that could only come from God, the man realized that just as a notebook is bound by spiral rings, he was now bound by the Spirit to his brothers of room 321.  

While this story may be short and simple, its impact on the lives of the men who are a part of it has continued into the present day.  Over the last thirteen years, this journal, titled In My Room (inspired by the Beach Boys' song of the same name), continues to be a place of community and refuge for the Men of 321 as they continue to share their toils and triumphs with each other.  I am proud of my dad for beginning this wonderful Manresa testament.  And, as a recent occupant of 321, I am blessed to be able to count myself in this special fraternity of faith.

 The little room (321)

The big view

The Haro Men at Manresa

May we be ever-faithful, ever-mindful, and ever-joyful.

A Recycled Harmonic Spirit

A simple post for your reflection.  Please enjoy this video that a friend forwarded me.  I challenge you to view the video through eyes of compassion, justice, and awe.

Landfill Harmonic

May we be ever-faithful, ever-mindful, and ever-joyful.

A Just Spirit

Hello everyone,
I'd like to use my post this week to share some thoughts and feelings about a special program and special group of people that I have gotten to know very well over the last thirty weeks.  The program is called JustFaith, and the people are my (now) friends who decided to give this program a try like I did.

What is JustFaith? Well, without taking up too much of your time, JustFaith is a nationally recognized thirty-week faith-based program started by a man named Jack Jezreel. The program centers itself around major social justice issues that our nation/world faces today (i.e. poverty, racism, immigration, world hunger, environmentalism, rights of workers, and other human rights issues).  Through weekly meetings where the groups has fruitful discussions, watches videos, listents to guest speakers, the group begins to recognize the face of God in the midst of these often politicized issues that tend to polarize the population.  The program aims to de-polarize people through exposure to these serious issues.

Who are the people from my JustFaith family?  Well, first of all, we are all seekers of God in our own lives. Beyond that, our group of fourteen people consisted of men and women covering a span of ages and life experiences.  More specifically, our group consisted of college students, young professionals, mothers, grandmothers, fathers, grandfathers, and a priest.  These very broad descriptions serve only to give you a cursory glance into the diversity of our group.  Keep in mind that we all entered the group with different upbringings, different motives for joining the group, and different political views.  Yet, by the end of the group, we were all unified by our commitment to each other and to the program.

One of the major underlying themes of the entire JustFaith was all about becoming aware of the world beyond our individualism so that we might better contribute to the common good of our local, state, federal, and global neighbors.  Looking out of ourselves and into the eyes and hearts of our fellow human beings can be very hard. However, as our group discovered, once we allowed ourselves to be open to the compassion, the knowledge, and the stories of others, we had no choice but to consider how we might transform our lives for the greater good of our society.  What a frustrating yet encouraging charge!  The charge is frustrating because we now know who and what really needs help and the task seems daunting, but it is encouraging because we know that we are vital and valuable people that can promote positive change in our world.  I can truly say that as a a now graduate of the JustFaith program, I sense the Spirit in my life so much more than I could have thought possible thirty weeks ago.

Rather than conclude with my usual prayer, I leave you with one of our prayers from the program that has resonated with me deeply:

"We are disciples on a journey.  We are the Body of Christ broken for this world.  Let this prayer echo in our hearts throughout the week as we walk, while we work, when we rest, and as we pray for one another."

peace

Marathon of Hope

Hello everyone,
I'll be honest, I'm hesitant to say too much about the saddening events at the Boston Marathon, but as a person of faith, I feel that I must try.  My thoughts are filled with contradictory sentiments.  I'm sad, pissed, confused, bewildered, dumbfounded, thankful, hopeful, somber, etc. Thankfully, all those whom I know personally that were in Boston for the marathon are okay.  For this, I am grateful. I find myself seemingly more torn up over these events than I felt after other tragic events in recent history.  I realize that this must be a result of my own interest in running and the running community at-large. I feel a deeper connection to the people surrounding this event because of our mutual bonds of fitness, goal-reaching, and physical/mental endurance.    This last bond of physical and mental endurance shared among runners is arguably the most important reason why I believe that our nation will recover (yet again) from such an unfortunate circumstance.

In this blog, my goal is to always share stories and events that help us sense the Spirit of God in our lives.  When terrible things happen, naturally, we have our doubts about where God is in the midst of it all and why God would allow things like this to happen.  Sadly, I do not have concrete answers to queries like these, but what I do have is a lens of hope through which we can try to view these events.  This lens comes from my own wrestling with events such as the Boston marathon tragedy.  I share this lens with you through some simple statements of faith:
- I believe that God is good.
- I believe that all good things come from God.
- I believe that our free will is a remarkable blessing that God gives all humans.
- I believe that this free will allows us to make both good and bad decisions that always affect ourselves and others.
- I believe that God is most happy when we are at peace with God and one another.

What do you believe? How are you promoting peace to yourself and others in your life?

I conclude my post with two wonderfully relevant quotes from the calm, kind, soft-spoken, television host from the youth of many of us, Mr. Rogers:


"When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.' To this day, especially in times of 'disaster,' I remember my mother's words, and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers--so many caring people in this world."


"There is no normal life that is free of pain. It's the very wrestling with our problems that can be the impetus for our growth."

Let us all grow together, and as my sister reminded me yesterday, we must continue to run the race in our world against evil.  So true.

May we be ever-faithful, ever-mindful, and ever-joyful.

Along Came Pollen

With the dawning of spring comes many wonderful things: warmer weather, beautiful flowers, sunshine, outdoor track and field, baseball, swimming pool fun, and a host of many other pleasant things.  Yet, something else tends to permeate the air this time of year and turn everything an interesting tint of greenish yellow.  Yep, you got it: pollen.  I think the southern United States seems to accumulate more of this colorful dust than other areas. Pollen seems to create more and more frustration for people every year.  As a runner, I know pollen frustrates me as I must go through a transition period of getting acclimated to breathing in this yellow air.  Ugh.  What does this have to do with a blog about sensing the Spirit?  Keep reading.

As we do each year, we will eventually get through this period of allergenic transition, but what are we to do in the meantime?  Look for meaning in it! As I was reflecting this morning, I got to thinking about how the rhythm of the seasons is often reflection of the rhythm of life. If this is the case, then even the most aggravating pollen could shed some meaning on life for me.  Now, from what I know about pollen, it's primary reason for existence is to help begin the life-giving process of plant fertilization.  However, I have a hard time appreciating this life-giving quality when I'm blinded by yellow dust, driving in a yellow car that is supposed to be silver, and sneezing so much that I lose my voice (slight exaggeration, but you get it).  In trying to set this frustration aside, I thought about the natural purpose of pollen and began contemplating my natural purpose.  As a result, I asked myself two questions. Do I live my life in a manner that is life-giving to others? Or, do I live my life in a manner that blinds others, covers up their true colors, or gives them "allergic" reactions to my presence making them want to avoid me?  Either way, I've realized that I have a gift to give others.  This gift can either be one of healing or one of sickening.

Questions for reflection:
1.  What kind of pollen are you in the lives of others?
2.  Are you able to recognize that even some of the smallest particles in nature can teach you some of the biggest lessons in life?  If not, how can you begin let this happen?

May we be ever-faithful, ever-mindful, and ever-joyful.

Easter Flip

Hello everyone,
In these first few days after Easter, I have had the opportunity to reflect on the weekend and what exactly Easter means to me.  This weekend at mass Fr. Tom reminded us that although bunnies, chocolate, pastel colors, and other sugar-loaded items are nice, cute, and pleasant, this is not the point.  In order to recall the point, we must be willing to flip this springtime "hoppy-ness" on its head and realize that at it's core Easter should encourage within us a counter-cultural spirit.  After all, I don't think that rising from the dead was Jesus' way of conforming to the culture of his day.  A more recent example might be Pope Francis.  Anyone who has been following the events of his early days as pope has seen him reflecting this counter-cultural spirit for us.  He has, in a sense, flipped the visible image of the papacy on it's head.  Through his actions, he seems to be reconnecting us to the core mission of Easter and Jesus' ministry: to show us what is means to serve others rather than being served by others (Matthew 20: 26-28).  In light of all of this and my own experiences, I've come to believe that this is the point of Easter.  In order to fully experience the resurrection of Jesus in our lives, we must be willing to resurrect ourselves out of cultural conformity for the bigger cause of loving service to our friends, relatives, and enemies.  If we can do this, we can better understand the love God showed us and continues to show us through the Paschal Mystery (life, death, and resurrection of Jesus).

Now, it' your turn...

What does Easter mean to you?

I would love for you to share your Easter thoughts with me and other readers in the comments section below.  Thanks.

May we be ever-faithful, ever-mindful, and ever-joyful!

A Holy Week Reflection

Hello friends,
In an effort to keep this week leading up to Easter simple yet reflective, I leave you with four words and a quote for you to reflect upon.  Ask yourself, "To what depth do I believe in each of these, and how readily do I live them out?"  God bless you all.

Emmanuel (meaning God-with-us)

Love

Forgiveness

Compassion

"Into your hands I commend my spirit."

May we be ever-faithful, ever-mindful, and ever-joyful.

Reflection on March Madness

Well, here we are once again engulfed in "March Madness."  Whether or not you are a sports fan, it can be hard to move through the month of March without hearing someone somewhere mention the March Madness NCAA Basketball Tournaments.  All of the attention is certainly exhilarating if we choose to invest ourselves inside the madness.  With this in mind, let me pose several questions for reflection:

1. How invested are you in March Madness? (If you are not invested much at all, skip to question 4.)
2. What might people say about your investment in this sports madness?
3. What do you think of people who seem to be more invested in it than you?
4. What are other aspects of your life that seem to carry their own madness?
5. How do you tend to handle this madness?
6. Are your modes of handling this madness genuinely productive for your physical, emotional, and spiritual welfare?
7. If your answer to #6 is "Yes," than the challenge for you is to share those modes with someone else going through his or her own madness.
8. If your answer to #7 is "No," than the challenge for you is ask someone you admire for help in handling your madness.

We should not have to undergo our madness alone. The world sends us a lot of madness sometimes and not just in the month of March, so remember, we are all in this together.  There is no madness too great for the Spirit to subdue if we allow the Spirit to transform us.

May we be ever-faithful, ever-mindful, and ever-joyful.

A Spirit of Service and Protection

For those of you have been following my blog, you know that I am a Catholic Christian who often writes about things in light of the Catholic tradition.  However,  I hope that my tone is always one of love and openness to any and all people.  We, as humans, all long for joy and meaning in our lives, and I try to focus my posts on this in some way for the benefit of all of us.  I believe we are all brothers and sisters regardless of our affiliations.  This being said, I've been very intrigued so far by the comments of the new elected Pope Francis.  I recommend this article based on his homily (or sermon) from his inauguration mass today.  I know we all can appreciate his call "to serve and protect."

http://catholicmoraltheology.com/to-serve-and-protect/

Also, given how I feel about our universality as a human community, I thought this quote from Pope Francis fits quite well.  As he was leaving a group of people, he was apt to leave them with a blessing, so this is what he said:

I told you I was cordially imparting my blessing. Since many of you are not members of the Catholic Church, and others are not believers, I cordially give this blessing silently, to each of you, respecting the conscience of each, but in the knowledge that each of you is a child of God. May God bless you!

I hope you all have a blessed day, and remember to follow me on Twitter @DrewHaro, on Facebook, or through Feedfinder.

May we be ever-faithful, ever-mindful, and ever-joyful.

A New Papal Spirit

Hey Yall,
As you may know by now, the Catholic Church has a new pope.  The college of cardinals has elected Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio from Argentina as the new Bishop of Rome.  Cardinal Bergoglio has chosen the name Francis in honor of St. Francis Assisi.  This time is a great opportunity for us to renew ourselves in our commitment to faith just as the new pope will likely renew his own faith as he takes the next step in his and our own faith lives.

What I like best about this papal election is that it seems to bring the church a much needed balance.  Being a bishop and cardinal, Bergoglio represents the hierarchical element of the church. As a Jesuit priest, he represents the many religious communities in constant pursuit of God through lives of poverty, chastity, and obedience. And through his humble living and strong care for the poor, he has a very direct relationship with those of us who sit in the pews each week looking for guidance amid the harsh realities our world shows us sometimes.  I look forward to seeing where his leadership brings the church, but let's also remember that we are just as important and necessary contributors to the development of the church as our new pope is.  We may have a new Vicar of Christ (representative of Christ) in Rome, but we are also called to be our vicars of Christ to our own communities.

We are the Body of Christ so let us also be the church!  In light of today, let us cherish the understanding that the Spirit moves where it will but is always guiding us toward the love of God through joy and peace.

May we be ever-faithful, ever-mindful, and ever-joyful.

Hope from the Rough

Over the last couple of days, I have been reminded of a very important fact of life:  It can be messy!  We might even go as far as to say that sometimes life just sucks.  I know we all have faced rough patches in our lives that leave us wondering, "Why me?"  Well, while I wish I could say that this post would provide the right answer to this question, I can not.  However, what I can say is that in the midst of all of our "mess" we can always find a glimmer of something that points us toward hope.  A story:

The other day, I ventured out to play a round of golf.  The day was beautiful!  While I would not claim to be a good golfer by any means, I enjoy being out on the course and experiencing the rhythm of the game.  Well after finishing the round, I took some time to look back over my score card.  Upon doing this, I recalled the all too numerous "rough patches" I faced throughout the 18-hole round (multiple bunker shots, errant drives, slices, dribblers, hunting for lost balls in thick woods and grass, etc).  One hole in particular, though, was about as bad as it gets in golf -- I shot a 9 on a par 4.  I did not think I would ever find the hole the way I was hitting the ball.  Feeling terribly dejected at this point, I moved on to the next hole trying to shake off what was in the past with the hope that things might turn around.  Well, in this case, they did.  I wound up having the best hole of the day with a birdie on one of the toughest holes of the course!  My confidence was back. This glimmer of hope reminded me why I keep coming back to this sport.  Over the rest of the round I settle back into a state of normalcy, but at least now I had regained my hope that better things would come in the future if I just kept playing.

Now, I know this golf story is simply a metaphor for life.  However, I believe metaphors and anecdotes like this one can be just what we need when looking for strength amid the seriousness of real life.  As a Christian, I can use the glimmer of hope from Jesus' example of sacrificial love on the cross to help me along.  Wherever you find your glimmer of hope there, too, you will find the Spirit.

"All shall be well and all shall be well.  In every manner of things, all shall be well." - St. Julian of Norwich

May we be ever-faithful, ever-mindful, and ever-joyful.

A Glass of the Spirit

Hello everyone,
Let me take a moment to thank all of you for reading and supporting my blog over that past ten months.  I have come to really enjoy using this forum as a way to reflect on my life in the midst of others' lives.  This process of reflecting, writing, and sharing has truly encouraged me on my own spiritual journey, and I hope that perhaps I've been able to encourage you even a little bit.  After all, while we are individuals, we are nothing without each other.

Now, as you can see, I have made some aesthetic changes to my blog that I hope you like.  Over the next couple of months, I may begin to widen my scope of "stories that help us sense the Spirit."  I may explore the use of separate pages, which would act kind of like newspaper sections, to better organize my writings into categories such as spiritual and physical exercise (since I enjoy running so much!) and perhaps a "classified" page for other miscellaneous resources.  As always, I am open to your suggestions!  This being said, I want to encourage you to use the social media toolbar on the right side of the page to follow me through FeedFinder (which allows you to receive direct communication when I update the blog), Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.  Also, I'd love to make this blog more interactive, so I encourage you to comment directly on the posts so that others can share in our conversations about things.  Don't forget to share this information with others.  Thanks!

I'll leave you with this for today:
My mom, who has a great heart for service, sent me this quote below, and I challenge all of us to reflect on the how this quote can motivate us daily.

"A pessimist, they say, sees a glass of water as being half empty; an optimist sees the same glass as half full.  However, a giving person sees a glass of water and starts looking for someone who might be thirsty." - G. Thomas Gale

For your enjoyment, check out how this man shares the joy of how he sees that same glass (or glasses) of water.

Street Performer

May we be ever-faithful, ever-mindful, and ever-joyful.

Be Awesome!

This morning as I was reflecting on the day's scripture readings (Leviticus 19: 1-2, 11-18 and Matthew 25: 31-46), several phrases emerged for me from my thoughts and readings: be somebody, be holy, be authentic, and be awesome.  The more I thought about these phrases the more I realized that these have been some recurring themes for me over the past month or so.  I'd like to share some of the most recent experiences with you.

The first experience goes back to a "Pep Talk" video from Kid President around the time of the Super Bowl (if you still have not met him, go find him on YouTube him right now!).  I shared this video in a previous post called "Super Spirit."  In this pep talk as well as in his other videos, Kid President reminds all of us that if we truly want the world to be a better place then we must first commit ourselves to "being awesome."  This simple message could not be more true.  Kid President's simple, charming, and light-hearted wisdom speaks volumes to an idealism that we seem to forget as we get older.  I believe that if we really try to "be awesome," then we will inspire others to find their own awesomeness.  Oh, and he would say that we can't forget to dance, too!

The second experience is actually a combination of two things: a book and a conversation.  The book is Dating God by Fr. Dan Horan, ofm.  In this book, Fr. Dan references Thomas Merton and other spiritual thinkers and the idea of becoming our "true selves."  The idea is that since God created us, God knows who we are at our best.  When we stray from being as God created us, we have trouble knowing God who similarly may have trouble knowing us.  So, when we are our most true selves, we are closest to God.  The conversation part of this experience was with a friend with whom I reconnected recently.  This friend, fairly recently out of a long relationship, recognized that part of the process of moving forward must be based on rediscovering true identity.  The fact that this friend recognized this need to be true to self makes me confident that all shall be well here.

The third and final experience comes as recently as yesterday.  At the Catholic Center at UGA we had our annual Black History Month Celebration.  This wonderful celebration consisted of fifteen or so performers.  The performers were folks from several different backgrounds.  There were African Americans, Caucasian Americans, and Brazilian Americans.  These folks provided wonderful glimpses of the history of Africa and African Americans through instrumental music, vocal music, poetry readings, folktale sharing, and personal revelations.  Our closing speaker, Dr. Deryl Bailey from the University of Georgia provided a wonderful conclusion to our program.  He shared with us great yet simple lessons on life that he learned from his grandmother some time ago.  These lessons listed here have continued to shape his mission in life: 1.  Do things right or don't do them at all.  2.  Treat other people's children the way you would treat your own children.  3.  Leave the world better than you found it.  This last lesson speaks volumes in our current day and age.  Not only do we live in a world that continues to waste material goods and resources, but we also seem to waste our own potential.  We should all be striving to "be authentic" as Dr. Bailey also told us.  For if we are authentic to ourselves and to others, then we should find that we have influenced someone's life in a positive way that makes them better than they were before we met that person.  Leave a legacy worth following.

To conclude, I go back to today's scripture readings and, in particular, to a devotional by Fr. Thomas J. Connery.  The readings challenge us to "be holy" and to do for the least of our brothers and sisters.  In light of these readings, Fr. Connery reminds us that our drive in life should be to "be holy."  This does not mean to be overly pious or religious or anything like that.  Rather, I think, this means that we should aim to try to be like God.  How do we do this?  That's simple: love one another as we would love ourselves.  The beautiful part about this is that it is not specific to Christianity.  It is something that all people of all faiths from all parts of the world can subscribe to.  In doing this, I'm confident that we will become somebody, we will become holy, we will become authentic, and we will become awesome!

Thank you to all who have inspired me to be true to myself.

May we be ever-faithful, ever-mindful, and ever-joyful.

A Lenten Carnival

As many of you know, today is Ash Wednesday in the life of the Church.  What you may also know is that in many places across the globe yesterday was Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday.  Being from New Orleans, LA, I know Mardi Gras very well.  Mardi Gras in New Orleans is not just a one day event.  It is a season of festivities commonly referred to as Carnival Season.  While the history of Mardi Gras consists of both religious and secular ties to politics, satire, and protest, at its best I believe the season results in a vibrant environment of joy and celebration.  This celebration gives us the best that life has to offer: friends, family, food, art, music, dance, and other forms of self-expression.  What a testament to the human spirit!

I find it fitting that Carnival Season ends the day before the season of Lent begins. What better way is there to begin a period of retreat, reflection, reconciliation, renewal, etc. than after a heightened experience of excitement?  We are more likely to notice the significance of this shift from a time of grand celebration to a time of humble reflection when the two are seemingly quite different.  Mind you, though, Lent is still a time of joy.  This joy, however, should be one that focuses on our person growth in the midst of others working toward the same thing.  Lent is a time of solitary solidarity, if you will.  By this, I simply mean that if we can spend much of these next forty days uniting with others, then I believe we will find that individual growth we seek.  Of course, I recommend doing these communal things in addition to quite reflection, scripture devotion, and other individual means of spiritual formation.  The Catholic Church teaches that during Lent we should make more conscious efforts to give alms, to pray, and to fast.  See today's gospel reading (Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18) for Jesus' take on these things.  Regardless of your faith tradition, I challenge us to find time to give alms or aid to those in need, pray for one another, and fast from our selfishness.  If we can pursue these things with peace and reconciliation in our hearts then we just might find better versions of ourselves blossoming in time for the Easter Season.

This morning, as I reflected on what I would include in today's post, one of my favorite Lenten songs came to mind.  I invite you to listen to the song and reflect on the lyrics as you begin your season of solitary solidarity.  God bless.

40 Days by Matt Mahr
Lyrics

Family Solidarity at Mardi Gras!

May we be ever-faithful, ever-mindful, and ever-joyful.

Super Spirit

In light or dark (insert shameless blackout joke) of the Super Bowl this weekend, I've chosen to focus this post on where I've recognized the Spirit acting through our mainstream media this past week.  Starting with the Super Bowl, I'd first like to encourage you to go back and read my "Tailgating with the Spirit" series regarding football season.  One of the biggest questions that I have after a big event like the Super Bowl is whether or not we really care about football or if we ultimately care more about the opportunity come together and celebrate with one another?  I tend to believe the latter.  We are a communal people, so the Super Bowl is simply another excuse to unify diverse groups of people.  Events like this happen often enough to continue to remind us of our need to be in community with one another to share in each other's joy and excitement.  After all, the same thing happens at each Super Bowl: one team wins and one team loses. However, though we may never remember the outcomes of these games (unless your team happens to be playing, of course), I bet that we remember the people and the conversations that were present at the time making that game watching experience much more special.

Now, as I digest much of the commentary and analysis of the big game this weekend, I keep hearing a lot about the leaders and motivators in these games.  The biggest name that everyone is talking about is Ray Lewis from the Baltimore Ravens.  Through ESPN, Facebook, and Twitter, I seem to notice that for every person who was pulling for Ray Lewis there was at least one person pulling against him (vehemently, I might add) because of his criminal history from twelve years ago.  Here is my take.  As a Christian, I firmly believe in God's love, forgiveness, and mercy.  I also believe that God freely gives these things to every single human being.  God's love and forgiveness applies just as much to murderers and people who cheat on their taxes as it does for little kids telling fibs to get themselves out of trouble with their parents.  Whether or not a man like Ray Lewis committed an evil act some years ago,  his actions since have shown us that people are able to have deep conversions of heart.  The faith in God that he seemingly has developed over his career in the NFL has only helped motivate and encourage the other men with whom he has shared the football field.  When I hear him speak now, I hear a man who seems very focused on giving credit to God and his teammates before ever commending himself.  I do not think we can ignore this.  So, before we turn up our noses in disgust (dare I say, in judgement) of another person, let us remember that the Spirit moves where it will and is capable of leading and motivating even the least likely of people to do great things for the Kingdom of God.

This past week, the cyber world graced us with a spectacular example of such motivation and encouragement that comes from the Spirit.  This example is the pep talk by the inspiring boy known to us as Kid President.  If you have not seen this video or even if you have already, please watch it keeping in mind the simple message Kid President shares with us: We are all on the same team, so let us make the world awesome!  Enjoy.

Kid President's Pep Talk

May we be ever-faithful, ever-mindful, and ever-joyful.

Faithful Commitment to Love

Over the weekend I had the great honor of attending one of my high school friend's wedding.  The wedding was in Ft. Worth, TX, at St. Patrick's Cathedral.  The theme of commitment to love that I witnessed over the weekend is what I will reflect on here today.  This weekend provided me with an encouraged sense of community and togetherness.  Upon arriving at the church, I realized that I did not know many people in attendance.  I wondered how awkward I might feel at the reception standing around in the midst of strangers.  However, these awkward feelings soon changed to feelings of camaraderie as the bartenders poured the drinks, the chefs served the food, and the band performed the music.  As the reception continued to blossom into the joyous occasion that even Jesus would have been proud to attend (remember, we did just hear Jesus turn water into wine at a wedding in Cana in the gospel last week),  I once again recognized that when people come together through shared purposes of love and joy, friendships and communities form almost instantly.

One of the best symbols of loving communities forming quickly came during the "married couples" dance.  This dance brought all of the married couples in attendance onto the dance floor.  The wedding announcer then asked for couples to step off of the dance floor if they have been married less then a certain amount of time.  By the end of the song, those of us not on the dance floor had the honor of seeing the power of love and commitment shine right before our eyes.  At this particular reception, the announcer left the final three couples on the dance floor because they were all upwards of 50 years of marriage.  What a beautiful display of the sacred bond of love!  Sadly, we live in a society that seems to tell people that if your marriage isn't as fun as your wedding at all times, then you better get out of it.  How ridiculous!  This is where we need to look at these couples in their lasting relationships in light of our faith and realize that the love God calls us to is one of joy and pain.  As a single guy, I tread lightly on this topic and gladly acknowledge my lack of experience in the marriage category.  However, I am blessed to have had great examples in my family of lasting loving marriages.  I'm proud to say that my parents will be married 33 years in August (I love you Mom and Dad)!  Also, I believe that our faith in God and in one another also teaches us the comforts and the demands that come from trying to emanate the love of God.

Part of trying to live a life that reflects the love of God means committing oneself to that cause just like the commitment of married couples.  For me, part of this commitment comes in the form of weekly mass attendance.  Now, my Catholic readers out there know that if a wedding is on a Saturday it only counts toward our Sunday mass if it is after 4:00 p.m.  Well, the wedding this weekend was at 2:00 p.m. (meaning that I would still need to go on Sunday to fully honor my faith commitment).  Since I did not catch a morning mass before flying back to Georgia, I knew the odds that I would make mass in time for the evening were against me.  By the time I got back to Athens, I was able to make it into mass during the Offertory.  Though, I felt bad for being that late, I was glad to be there with my faith community anyway.  As I proceeded to participate in the rest of mass, I couldn't help but feel a void in me since I missed the Liturgy of the Word (scripture readings).  After mass, I reflected more on this void.  Our faith teaches us that in the mass we receive Christ in three ways: through the Word of God (John 1:1), through Holy Communion (Luke 22:19), and through the gathering of each other as The Body of Christ (1 Corinth. 12: 12-30).  While we believe that receiving any one of these provides us with the full nourishment of Christ, we recognize that the fullness we experience when all three come together as one is something even more transcendent.  Our steady commitment to love will continue to help this transcendence.

We can continue to become more transcendent beings if we can challenge ourselves to find the voids in our lives and fill them with things that bring us to the love of God.  Ideally, we would find these things in the scriptures, in the Eucharist, and in gathering with each other.  If I can find a sense of these things from being at my friend's wedding this weekend, then I know we can all sense these things in whatever situations we find ourselves each day.

Congratulations, Robbie and Laura!

May we be ever-faithful, ever-mindful, and ever-joyful.

A Graceful Spirit

Today, I compose this post sore in body but fresh in spirit.  As some of you may know from my Twitter and Facebook activity this past weekend, I competed in the Louisiana Marathon.  Leading up to and following the 26.2 mile race around Baton Rouge, LA, I had the privilege of staying with my older sister and experiencing the wonderful work, social, and exercise communities that she lives and breathes every day.  What a blessing!  Being around such kind and generous people truly gave me an inspired sense of welcome and joy.  By the end of the weekend, I felt as if I had known all of those folks my entire life.  Thank you, Varsity Sports and friends, for allowing me to be a part of your family this weekend!  If I haven't mentioned it enough in my previous posts, being part of a nourishing community is everything.

In light of community, I always think of the passage in the scriptures where Jesus says that "where two or more are gathered in my name, I am there in the midst" (Matthew 18:20).  I believe this to be true in all communities where people gather to share love and joy with one another.  In the race this weekend, I dedicated my efforts to an athlete of mine, Grace Byrne, who is in the hospital with a severe head injury (you can read more about this in the links that follow).  As a result of this, I quickly learned just how good this world of social media and electronic communication can be for all of us.  After posting this story (which Luke Johnson of TheAdvocate.com and Spencer Hutchinson of nola.com did a great job sharing) on Facebook and Twitter, I received so much positive feedback from people all over the nation and in other parts of the world, too.  Grace has family that reach nationally from coast to coast and globally in places like Trinidad and Australia.  I know that those local communities are now united across such vast distances and will continue to pray for Grace and others in need of support. So, if a small gesture like dedicating a race for someone is a means to "gather more people together" then we must believe we are capable creating a global community that shares love and joy with one another.  [I wrote a post back in August called "Eucharistic Reunion" that talks a little bit more on the family networks that we are encouraged to extend out to everyone, so feel free to review that one, too.]

Let us continue to move forward each day knowing that in our gatherings (whether via physical meetings, email groups, Facebook, Twitter, or any other unifying medium) the Spirit of God is ever-present.  As a result of this, I pray that we continually form communities that bring love and joy to everyone.

The Advocate in Baton Rouge   
Times Picayune in New Orleans

May we be ever-faithful, ever-mindful, and ever-joyful.

Do we do what's Wright?

Yesterday we concluded our Christmas season with the Baptism of Jesus.  This seems very fitting when we think about it because when a baby is born there seems to be very natural stages of preparation, gift-giving, parental commendation, and other celebrations just as we see during Christmas-time in terms of Advent, Magi, Holy Family, Mary, etc.  This excitement seems to subside a bit once a baby is baptized, though.  Such is the case in the Church after we celebrate the Baptism of Jesus.  Anyway, as we moved out of Christmas back into Ordinary Time, we were taught a very important lesson in the Gospel on Sunday when the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus and says that Jesus is God's beloved Son with whom God is well-pleased (Luke 3: 21-22).  Seeing how much Jesus came to relate to us by immersing himself into the Jordan river of our lives, we can be confident that those words apply equally to all of us, too.  We are all God's beloved children with whom God is well-pleased.  Now that we understand this, I'd like to take this fundamental "lesson in love" a bit further.

Every election cycle, we seem to hear lots of jargon about how many of the problems we face today is a result of God being taken out of schools and replaced with secularism, atheism, rationalism, and many other "-isms."  Well, I want you to think for a second about some of the most influential teachers you have ever had at the elementary and high school levels.  Did you choose these teachers solely because of the academic lessons they imparted on you or because of their emphasis on how much they talked about God, the Bible, prayer, or any other "religious" things?  Or, do you love those teachers because they seemed to care about your development not just as a student but as a person by teaching you life lessons that would ultimately lead to your becoming a better individual, friend, son, daughter, husband, wife, cousin, etc.?  I'd venture to say it was the latter.  I went to a Catholic school, and I'm extremely grateful for being in an environment that taught me teachings of Jesus, the Bible, and the Church.  However, some of the most lasting impacts on me resulted from teachers instilling in me the values of God (faith, hope, and love) not through "churchy" language, but through their actions and examples.  I simply connected the dots.  You see, we get into trouble when we spend too much time criticizing the public sector for removing God from schools. The truth is that as humans, we are not in control of God.  God is ever-present in every situation at all times, and all good things come from God.  If you are struggling to believe this, just think of those wonderful teachers and mentors out there who, by their compassion and integrity toward their students, are in essence, telling them that they are indeed "beloved children of God with whom God is well-pleased."

Below is a wonderful twelve minute documentary from last week's New York Times about a Catholic physics teacher in a public school who, amid his own faith doubts, still brings the "lesson of love" of to his students.  Enjoy.

Wright's Law

I'd argue that God is more present in that classroom than in many private faith-based schools around.

May we be ever-faithful, ever-mindful, and ever-joyful.

Family of Feasts

Over the last couple of weeks, many of us have experienced much excitement through Christmas and New Years parties, gatherings, and other celebrations.  Well, similarly, the Church has also experienced much excitement.  This excitement came through the Feast of the Holy Family (Dec. 30), the Solemnity of Mary (Jan. 1), and the Epiphany of the Lord (Jan. 6).  My post this week will attempt to look back over the last twelve days or so and make a connection to these different celebrations.

Love. Peace. Invitation.  In my opinion, these three words summarize the three feasts mentioned above.  The feast of the Holy Family is a wonderful celebration of love, the Solemnity of Mary is a celebration of what being at total peace with God looks like, and the Epiphany of the Lord is an invitation to the Three Wise Men to continue being the seekers of greater truth that they already were.  If we look at these feasts with a bird's eye view, hopefully we can find ourselves in the midst of them as lovers, peacemakers, and seekers.

As a way to go deeper into love, peace, and invitation, I'd like to look deeper at the family unit.  Jesus, Mary, and Joseph are our model family in the Church.  They represent the model family not necessarily because they consist of mom, dad, and child, but more so because of the love, honor, respect, sacrifice, and support embodied in their relationships.  How many of us have friends, teachers, coaches, or other mentors that we are so close with that we consider them family?  Or, how many of us have parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, or cousins that we are not as close with and have a hard time viewing them as family?  Regardless of who is in our family, what matters most are the qualities found in good relationships as I mentioned above.  Keep in mind, no family is perfect.  A statement comes to mind that my mom says from time to time: "Families are the ties the bind and gag us."  This statement is quite true.  Family joins us tightly to one another in wonderful ways, but family is just as likely to make us sick, too.

Since we can get caught up talking about what the perfect family unit should look like (Lord knows this issue is politicized enough), here is a short list of simple TV shows and movies you might know and can relate to that focus on family relations in very different ways that came to mind:  The Brady Bunch, 3 Men and a Baby, The Cosby Show, Full House, Family Matters, Home Improvement, Modern Family, Raising Hope, The New Normal, and Parental Guidance.  While this list could certainly go on for pages and pages, the shows and movies listed here all do a good job showing just how diverse and flawed the family unit can be while still aiming to support the important values of love, honor, respect, sacrifice, and support.  Take a minute to think back on some of your favorite books, shows, and movies.  Do you find yourself thinking about the central characters and their relationships/conflicts with their families/enemies? If so, what kind of support systems surrounded these characters?  I'd guess some characters had blood relatives around them while others had close friends, but either way, some support was probably there.  You see, without relationships and support, we'll find it quite difficult to find true sources of joy in our lives.  We know that with the joy of family also comes sorrow, but if we try to remove the sorrow from our lives by removing these relationships, then we may ultimately wind up removing the joy, too.  Remember, though the ties of family may gag us, they also bind us together for the good of one another.  We must learn to live within this painfully comforting embrace we call family.

To conclude, I'd like to refer to one more source of love, peace, and invitation that I experienced in the last twelve days or so.  I had the privilege of seeing Les Miserables with my mom and dad recently.  If you have not seen this movie, whether you are a fan of musicals or not, you need to go see it in light of the recent feasts I've mentioned here today.  The story of the lead character, Jean Valjean, epitomizes what it means for all of us accept the invitation to seek truth and mercy, to both give and receive love, and to be at total peace with God in our lives.  I pray that God will continue to bless you and your families whatever they may look like and that we will always embrace God's invitation to be love and peace to the world.

May we be ever-faithful, ever-joyful, and ever-mindful.