Conversion

The story of St. Ignatius' conversion from soldier to saint fascinates us even today.  Wounded and incapacitated for several months, he asked what books were available to help while away the hours.  He read a life of Christ and the current best-seller on the lives of the saints.  Taking a deep, reflective look at his life in contrast to the life of Jesus and several saints, he came to the conclusion that he needed to make a major shift in his.  After an all-night vigil in the chapel of Our Lady of Montserrat, he placed his sword on the altar and never took it up again.  Instead, he eventually became the "general" of a new army, the Society of Jesus, a major force in the counter-reformation and still an effective force in the on-going work of evangelization.
We look upon Ignatius as perhaps "an exceptional case" that happened long ago, and never could be possible today.  Yet, last evening, I listened to tales that rival the story of Ignatius.  Three young men, ranging in age from 23-36, recovering alcoholics, told me how they, like Ignatius, had come to know Jesus, and have thrown their entire energies toward knowing him better, loving  and serving him.  One man, who knew nothing about faith or religion, began to pray in his hours of desperation and eventually picked up a New Testament and opened it to a passage in Revelation that seemed tailor made for him, referring to drunkenness. He began reading the Gospels, liked the man Jesus, his message, and even his temper in cleansing the temple.  He identified with him and fell in love with him.  He's on his way to becoming a Catholic, and, we hope, will be baptized next Easter.  He's "on fire" with his love of Jesus.  So, it still happens!  I saw how Jesus reached out in concrete ways to these three, cutting the chains of their alcoholism and filling their lives with himself.  May we take heart, and when we think we are up against a brick wall, remember, that Jesus is there, and he can and will help us leap over it.
Bro. Rene

God's Speaks in May Ways

Serving with a Smile

The Memorial of St. Martha, sister of Mary and Lazarus and close friend of Jesus, always seems to bring up the discussion about busyness and attentiveness, action and contemplation.  Martha sometimes comes off looking like a nagging witch, while the serene Mary receives Jesus' approval for having chosen "the better part." Yet, if both had been sitting at the feet of Jesus, no one would have eaten that day. There is a valid aspect of prayer that encourages us to bring what's troubling us immediately to Jesus, rather than let it stew within and build up steam to a blow-up. While Mary's listening is commended, it is not the only form of prayer.  Martha shows us how most active people pray...they just "get it out".  Boom. Done!
 In another scene, the arrival of Jesus four days after the death of Lazarus, Martha again speaks her mind directly to Jesus, saying that if he had been there earlier, Lazarus would not have died.  In almost the same breath, her very next sentence is, "But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask." (Jn 11: 22).  And after Jesus explains the larger picture, "I am the resurrection and the life.  Those who believe in me even though they die, will live again." (Jn 11: 25), Martha exclaims in a tremendous acclamation of faith: "I have always believed that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God." (Jn 11: 27). She is a woman of faith, a faith which colors her work and enables her to do it with a smile.  She is quite the model for most of us, who, like her, are "busy about many things." (Lk 10: 42).
Bro. Rene

Ask and You Shall Receive

We can easily imagine Jesus and the Twelve walking fom village to village in Gallilee knocking on doors as beggars when they needed something to eat.  Perhaps a refusal provoked Jesus to say that knocking on the door of his Father (and ours) would be different.  "Ask and you will receive, seek and your will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."(Lk 11: 9). No normal father would hand his son a snake then he asks for a fish, nor a  scorpion, when he asks for an egg; if that be the case, how much more would our heavenly Father hand his adopted sons and daughters (though baptism) whatever they ask?  Yet, we grow skeptical when what we ask for is not granted all the time.  It is at these moments when trust has to come into play.  God hears every prayer, but in his overall plan, what we ask for might not be the best for us.  God has something better in mind, and when we think back on our own histories of "begging", we will find that to be the case. We are privileged to call God our Father, and in the prayer that Jesus taught us after blessing his holy name, we say, "thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." God's will before ours.  We are not entiltled, though at times it seems God "spoils" us with surprises beyond our expectations, but we are certainly loved, and it is in that love that we find the real answer to our prayer.
Bro. Rene 

Barren and Wasted?

Sometimes on a gloomy, rainy Friday, when the fatigue of the week has drained us, we feel that our life has been barren, wasted and unproductive.  A good night's sleep, a Saturday morning with the sun shining on the glistening grass and flowers, and reflection on the people in our lives, the little miracles that have brought us to where we are as well as the little miracles we have brought to pass in the lives of others, and the empty feeling gives way to rejoicing and gratitude. As Jesus speaks of the wheat and tares growing in the same field, so too in our souls, the moments of gloom abide with the moments of elation, joy, and satisfaction. We learn to live with both, but as we weed our gardens, we do have the power to control and even rid ourselves of these negative feelings by spending time with Jesus, either in the Scriptures, our own personal informal conversations with him, or simply sitting quietly with him in the shadow of the cross, or looking directly at it.
In the presence of Jesus, how can we even think for a minute that he would regard what we do as "a waste", for "all works to the good."? Weekends help us catch up on shopping, chores, and relaxation.  We look forward to them.  Included is also the Sabbath...a time for catching up and renewing ourselves with Jesus.  Let him help us eliminate the barren feelings and fill up the empty spaces with himself.
Bro. Rene

Rejoicing in the Gift of Family

July 26th is a special day in the American Province of the Marist Brothers as the Church celebrates the memorial of Sts. Joachim and Anne, parents of Mary and grandparents of Jesus.  St. Anne was the patroness of the American Marists, even after the split of the province in 1958, when she remained the patroness of the Poughkeepsie Province until our new province of the United States of America came into being in 2003. The Feast of St. Anne was the day young postulants took the Marist habit and novices pronounced their first vows. 
We congratulate the many brothers who are celebrating their Marist anniversaries today.  We join our thoughts and prayers to the American youth who are in Brazil, having just had a huge dose of Marist Family Spirit and the Marist Youth Gathering prior to World Youth Day, which is in progress as you read this. The Church family, or at least part of it, is celebrating with the Pope and joining him in his mission to live the Gospel and pay special attention to the poor. Under his leadership a return to simplicity and humility, so much a part of Marist Ways, will make the presence of Jesus more visible and attract others to him.
Reflecting on the little that we know of Sts. Joachim and Anne, we think of the role parents and grandparents play in the raising of children.  The apocryphal Gospel of James tells us that they were a good, but childless couple, who like Hannah and Elizabeth and their spouses prayed for the miracle of a child.  Mary was the result of those prayers.  How they must have loved and treasured her, after the long wait for her arrival. And if they were alive for the birth of Jesus, how must they have relished him!  Family is such a great gift, we cannot let it be taken for granted.  Today is the day to renew family ties with a call, an e-mail, a text...however we communicate...and just say again.  I love and appreciate you."
Bro. Rene

Santiago de Compostela

Today's feast of St. James the Greater, son of Zebedee and brother of John, brings to mind the famous El Camino, the walk that thousands of pilgrims take from southern France, across the Pyrenees to the Cathderal of St. James in Compostela, Spain.   Many of the pilgrims continue further south to the coast to pick up a seashell, the badge of verification that indeed they accomplished this 750+ mile walk.  It is believed that St. James brought the faith to Spain before his death at the hands of Herod Agrippa in 42 AD, and his body is buried in the cathedral.  People of all walks of life and all levels of faith make the pilgirmage seeking peace of soul, resolution of problems, physical and spiritual healings, or simply to show their love of God and trust in him..
El Camino is a reminder that we are all on pilgrimage with ups and downs, moments when it seems impossible to go on, fatigue, exhileration, dryness of soul, doubt and consolation.  The words of Sirach again today are filled with the wisdom of experience and inspiration that provide sustenance for our own journeys:
My child, when you come to serve the Lord,
prepare yourself for trials.
Be sincere of heart and steadfast,
and do not be impetuous in time of adversity.
Cling to him, do not leave him,
that you may prosper in your least days.
Accept what happens to you;
in periods of humiliation be patieint.
For in fire gold is tested,
and the chosen, in the crucible of humiliation.
Trust in God, and he will help you;
make your ways straight and hope in him.  (Sir 2: 1-6)
Bro. Rene