Who do you know?

In the Restaurant, or Service Industry, it is very common for the “regulars” of an establishment to pride themselves as regulars of that place. At Downcity very often people are in fact almost offended if I cant remember what they drink. Everybody wants to know somebody, or at least come across to others as if they do. When I worked at Lattitude in Cranston, one evening the owner who’s name was Dean, was sitting at the bar. I was working and in walked a man who I had never seen before, and he sat down in the seat next to Dean, they smiled politely at each other, and as the man’s visit continued, there were a few snags, and as he paid his tab he proudly proclaimed, “Dean is a good friend of mine you know, next time I see him I’ll be telling him about this meal.” Dean, who was still seated right next to the man said, “You know him too huh?” The man replied, “oh yes, I’ve known him for years”, and he proudly left the restaurant.

Today’s Gospel is similar. There are many who will try to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, through that narrow gate, saying that they know the Lord, but indeed He does not know them. Indeed it is not simply a matter of knowing, it’s a matter of that intimate relationship that we have cultivated during our days here on Earth. What do we have to do so that the Lord will know us at the narrow gate? Saint Paul tells us the answer in a very clear statement, he says, “for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines; he scourges every son he acknowledges”. So if we want him to acknowledge us, we have to be scourged. Why should any one of us be preserved?

Paul tells us that the Lord is going to “discipline” us along the way, like any good father. It is in this discipline, we will come to know him better, and will be further strengthened when the time comes to pass through that narrow gate. You see, the Kingdom of Heaven is not going to be simply handed to us. It’s true that Jesus Christ was made flesh and walked this Earth and died for our salvation, but that cannot be where it ends. Just as when a couple gets married, that is not the extent of it. They don’t just wed and that’s that, they engage one another. They interact, they talk, they cry together, they rejoice together, and they learn the difficult lessons of life together. The same is true of our friendships. We don’t simply proclaim, “You and I are friends”, and that’s the end of it. There is action involved. These are the things that make a relationship. As Saint Paul told us tonight, our Lord sends us challenges, we struggle, we struggle to control our vices, we struggle to not let our actions hurt others. We struggle to make ends meet, to make our relationships work, and the list goes on. These challenges, these sufferings, are only going to make us stronger, and if they are challenges that we share with Christ, when we get through them, it will strengthen our relationship with Him.

It’s possible. It’s possible with God’s gift of grace. He’s set us up for success. He saved us from our sins in His suffering, and now we return the love with our suffering, but he gave us the upper hand, in the gift of the Sacraments of the Church. In every single Sacrament we receive grace, and that grace strengthen us in our resolve to fight the good fight, they give us the home field advantage in this game of life. Going to Mass and receiving the Eucharist is about receiving grace. The Sacrament of Reconciliation isn’t about spilling our guts to a human being, it’s about receiving grace to not commit those sins again. The Anointing of the Sick isn’t to cure us of our illness, it’s to give us the grace to endure the suffering, and bring it to Christ on the cross. The Sacrament of Matrimony is not about the Church putting her stamp of approval on the couple, its about receiving the grace to endure the difficult times, and to remember that Marriage takes three, and the third is Christ. In a few short weeks, we will witness the Sacrament of Confirmation, when the Holy Spirit descends upon the recipients, and gives them the grace to strengthen them in living the Christian life.

So maybe this is a good direction for all of us to look, as we approach the final weeks of our ‘Year of New Beginnings“ which we have been celebrating since last November.. We should rejoice that Jesus has saved us all, but not get self-satisfied in our daily lives. We need to discipline ourselves, and use the things that happen to us to help us grow, rather than get us down. We need to remember that the tested people, the people with the most problems, the last people, may be the ones who get in the Narrow Gate first. Those are the people that will easily slip through the narrow door. Tonight let’s pray for ourselves and one another, that we will make good use of the grace we receive, so that we may one day pass through that gate, and hear the words of our Savior “Come blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of time.”

God Bless You

We Live In Difficult Times

Wow, well its certainly been a while since my last update hasn’t it? I promise to try to be more faithful. I hope I didn’t loose all my followers. It’s been a very busy . The reality of it is, its been life changing. Since my last post in March of 2010 a lot has happened. I have been Ordained an Old Catholic Priest. My roommate has moved out. (Nothing dramatic, it was just time for the next step), and I find myself on the cusp of getting a car, as being a Priest who relies on the RIPTA system doesn’t work so well. My days are spent trying to find a balance in the many aspects of my life, and adjusting to life as a Priest.

My inspiration to share my thoughts comes once again from Bishop Tobin’s weekly writing. Sometimes we agree, and sometimes we don’t, this most current post of his however I didn’t give much thought to beyond the beginning lines which I will quote;

“I saw a “Peanuts” cartoon recently that seemed especially timely. The kids are playing baseball and little Linus, in full catcher’s gear walks out to the pitcher’s mound and announces to Charlie Brown, “The bases are loaded again, and there’s still nobody out.” “So what do you think?” asks Charlie Brown.

After a pause for reflection, Linus declares simply, “We live in difficult times,” as he turns around and heads back to home plate.”

The Bishop goes on to speak about the world around us, and how it is seemingly falling apart, war, unemployment, etc etc. What struck a chord with me is how significant this is in our own lives. We don’t need to turn to the news to find stress or consternation. We don’t need to look to Afghanistan to find strife. We don’t need to look to the National Banking situation to find financial disorder. . . All we have to do is go on Facebook, or check our Emails, or take a good look at our own lives.

Between my own life, and my experiences thus far as a Priest, I have noticed that life is full of all these things without having to look very far at all. Relationships that we fight to keep alive, bills we struggle to pay, Rent that feels like its due every day instead of every month, checkbooks that don’t line up at all with the bills, sickness, death, and the list goes on.

It’s so easy to only see the tough stuff. Sometimes though we have to look at the bright side, it sounds cheesy but it’s so true. For the Christian we can look to the love of Christ, for the non believer, and even often for the Christian, we must look at the good things in our earthly lives. Last night I had the pleasure of after Mass spending time with friends who shared in common a club in Providence that is closing temporarily to re-locate. What began with exchanging quips, ended with sharing memories of the good times, the lessons learned from one another, and the hope of sharing in what is to come in one another’s lives.

Lately it seems like there is so much change going on in everyone’s life. I get a certain heaviness lately like everyone feels like Linus, “we live in difficult times”. We live in a time when change happens everyday. Some change is good, and change for which we have been working for a long time, and some change was not requested, but was cast upon us anyway. Then there’s that change that we asked for, and worked for, and regretted later.

The reality of it all is, those silver lining moments in life, those moments when we go to bed after an evening with friends, and we feel refreshed, and we feel renewed, those are the moments we have to LIVE from, because those are the moments that God sends to remind us of His goodness. Those are the moments when God reveals Himself to us, because if God is Love, then anytime we feel love, we feel God.

So let’s all think about this concept a bit. Which moments are more powerful? The moments of love, or the moments of stress. I think its safe to say that we live our lives for the most part worrying, stressing, trying to balance the books, dwelling on relationships that aren’t as we wish they were, the computer that won’t work, the cable that’s on the fritz, etc etc. Unfortunately, the “love moments” we often miss. When they DO make an impact it’s so strong that we find ourselves choking back a tear, or feeling profoundly moved. The reason is; we aren’t used to them. The negativity becomes the norm, and we find ourselves often like Linus. Perhaps instead when we hear that voice of Charlie Brown in our head, when we find ourselves wondering “what am I going to do”, put everything down, and look at the blessings in life.

As Debbie said on Queer as Folk, “Mourn the losses, because there are many, but celebrate the victories, because there are so few.” The reality of it is, change, good or bad, isn’t going to stop. We will never make the money we want to, or have the perfect relationship, or have the perfect housing situation, or in general be exactly where we want to be. However, what we will always have, is friends to share it with, memories to lean on, and the excitement and hope of the memories we’ve yet to build.