As unimportant as the strawberry is, it represents the way many of us are different people depending on where we go.  At Church we are faithful and attentive; but when we are at work, it is nothing for us to swear or be dishonest or be just like everyone else.
Christ, however, doesn’t say to us just obey the commandments while you are in Church on Sunday.  Here in the Church, you shall not kill or covet your neighbor’s goods, but at home…go for it.  Nor does he say, obey all the commands…except the ones that are uncomfortable or that you have problems with.

With the recent attacks on religious freedom, the administration is trying to tell us that we may only practice our faith in the place of worship.  But we cannot limit ourselves this way.  We cannot obey Christ only some of the time.  We have to obey him all the time and wherever we go.  If we obey Christ only when we choose, we are only choosing to obey ourselves.  This is why we must strive not to be “cafeteria Catholics” who pick and choose only the elements of our Catholicism that we like.

When we do encounter truths that are hard, we have two choices: (1) we can reject the truth that we don’t like (or pretend that we don’t understand it) or (2) we can strive to obey anyway, praying to God for understanding and help–asking those around us for wisdom.  Let us seek to do the latter.  We are Followers of Christ, in Church, at home, at work and at every moment of our lives.

John of God (Feast day March 8th) was a Portuguese man who lived in the early 1500s–around the time when the New World was being discovered by Europe. He left his home at the age of only eight years old to follow after a priest that he had heard. As he got older, he went off into the military to serve his country. After returning and sensing a special calling from God, he gave away all his religious books and burned all his secular ones. He was so committed to his calling that people started to perceive him as insane and he was sent to an insane asylum. After suffering cruelly in this place for some time–for methods of “treatment” were very primitive–he was later released; and he vowed that he would help other poor souls who were as destitute and treated as horribly as he had been in hospitals and asylums. Not knowing where the money would come from to help the poor and the sick, he still gave away what he had to whoever would come. “Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings/blessed the man who trusts in the Lord.” He lived it.
John of God was nothing if not impetuous: he flew into situations with barely any thought. Yet under this impetuosity lies a faith that we ought to admire and emulate. “What will happen at work? How can I afford this? Things seem too hard?”–these were not things to concern John of God. He knew as surely as the sky is blue that the Father cares for us and would take care of what needed to be cared for. And so he could walk into a burning building to save the hospital patients without worrying about his life (he came out of it unscathed). He could live from day to day, not knowing where his, or the hospital patients’ next meals would come from. Praised be our God and Father who watches over every hair of our heads!

in the 2012 Newman Raffle!

2nd Prize = $75 Cash

3rd Price = $25 gift card for Mazetlan

Ticket Prices: 1 for $3, 5 for $10, 12 for $20

Purchase tickets by contacting Kala at the Newman Center at 229-1011

Drawing at 6pm April 25th at the Agape Meal

Proceeds benefit H20 student club and Newman Center Ministries.

A friend of mine is a little like me in this regard, we both tend to get the stomach flu about once per year.  It hits him hard and quickly passes.  Christopher told me how on one such fateful day he was in the midst of the worst of it.  At that point he wasn’t sure whether to make a break for the bathroom or to remain very uncomfortably where he was–both options seems impossible.  At that very moment it occurred to him, how Christ must have felt this awful or maybe even worse.  Also, he wondered if the end of his own life would be something like this.  He had so rarely thought about death and avoided thinking about suffering.  He said, “I never realized how blessed I’ve been to be well 99% of the time.”

The Stations of the Cross are very fitting devotions for Lent and for all our lives.  What we try so hard not to think about–suffering–is unavoidable as we watch Jesus journey along the way.  As we look at the images of a mangled and beet-up Jesus, we know that we have contributed to the suffering of other people.  We recognize the destiny of all of us, stripped of our clothes and all our pretensions, at the moment when we go to the white hospital room to face our own death.

This Sunday, our Lord contrasts two incredible realities that we must always think about together: the Transfiguration glory, and the Cross.  It is the contrast for us of the joy and life we experience in union with God the Father, and the suffering that we are all called to endure.  One of the most helpful thoughts in scripture is where one of the prophets advises: in times of trial, think of past blessings; in times of consolation, think of the sufferings to come.  May we always hold together the mystery of the Resurrection, and of the Cross.

                                                                                                   -Isaiah 58

Several years ago, I was surprised when, in prayer, the Lord let me know that He would provide the fasting that He wanted each day.  For that Lent, I didn’t know what I would be giving up or doing from day to day–but He would let me know.  So, for example, I would be going about my business in the day and someone would ask me to help, clean the kitchen–something I was not particularly fond of.   Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me, I was reminded.  And so that was that.  I gave up my own desire to be as far from the bleach as is possible.

There is nothing magic about fasting.  Self-denial is not good in itself.  What makes it good is the way that we learn to place God’s will above our own will; we learn to place others before ourselves.  Maybe others have more need of our food than we do.  When we deny ourselves meat, there is more for others.

Strangely, in our culture today, there are very few who really need food around us.  Because of this, fasting is not as easily associated with generosity.  While there is little shortage of food, there is a severe shortage of time, and people who care enough to give us their full attention.  Therefore, when we fast from personal recreation that takes up our time, we can give this great gift to the ones who matter most: our Lord God, our family, the people in need of help around us.  This, rather, is the fasting that I wish!

One of the most heart wrenching things that priests see in the confessional is the proverbial “thorn in the flesh” deeply embedded in our penitents.  St. Paul describes how he had repeatedly appealed to God to remove a thorn of the flesh from his life.  His cryptic reference is often thought to refer to some sin that Saint Paul could not conquer—some evil that continued to be a part of his life, no matter how much he wanted to do the will of God.  Likewise, some penitents come to the confessional, week after week, to confess that they once again have fallen into a sin that they hate.  As a priest, I sometimes feel like the Apostles who came to Jesus saying, “Lord, why could we not drive out the demon?”

Jesus response to this stubborn evil is so instructive, “Some evil, can only be driven out through prayer and fasting.”  In other words, there are some sins and evils that can’t be dismissed easily, but require embracing a greater asceticism (discipline of our lives).

Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving–the practice of purposeful generosity to others–confront evil on two levels.  First, they confront the evils of the world on a natural level.  Evil can be met with very natural means because much of the evil in the world comes down to personal action, personal choice.  The evil addictions to gossip or pornography, as difficult as they may be to avoid, are just actions that have become habitual.  Aristotle once said that a bent sword is fixed by bending it back the other way.  Pornography overindulges in the pleasure of the eyes; fasting restricts indulgence thus bending the sword back the other way.  Gossip is talking about others; prayer is talking, instead, to God.  The sword must be pushed back the opposite way.

But prayer, fasting, and almsgiving also confront evil in a much more mysterious way on the supernatural level.  Though our union with Christ, our penitential acts are with Christ’s sufferings, and we share in His victory over sin and the power of evil.  St. John Vianney is known to have eaten only raw potatoes for his meals.  Perhaps this gave him the spiritual protection he needed when the devil would shake his bedroom.  St. Francis of Assisi gave away everything so that he could experience the poverty of Christ.  But he was not poor in grace: even the animals helped him construct the chapel there near the town.  St. Monica’s prayers were so heartfelt and constant, that she obtained the conversion of her son to Christ.  Augustine would later become a bishop and saint.  When all else fails us, let us turn to God by prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

Designed with the busy student in mind! Few things help one grow in their faith as much as a retreat. Personal direction by a spiritual director each day.

Call 229-1011 to sign up or just email Kala at nsunewman@nvc.net

Meet with small groups who will encourage and support you in learning and living your faith. Superstars not required.

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