Healing

I am filled with so many mixed emotions today.  In some ways I believe that this time can bring a great deal of closure and healing from the past.  At the same time, the future is unknown, it could be more of the same.


I turn this "turning" over to the Lord and to the intercession of our Blessed Mother.  May this be a time of new beginnings and joy for all affected.  May the hand of God guide and bless our future.


Amen.

True Freedom From The Burdens of Life

What is burdening you today?  What is weighing you down?  What has become so overwhelming you just can’t cope?  Maybe it’s not your burden.  Maybe you’re carrying the burden of someone else.  How is that robbing you of your joy?  How has it eatin’ away your peace?  Do you see the possibility of a change for the better in the near future?  Would you like to see a change for the better?

Jesus says in the scripture today, “Come to me all you who are weary and find life burdensome and I will refresh you.  Take my yoke upon your shoulders and learn from me for I am meek and humble of heart.”  Do you believe this?  Have you really tried to turn the burden in your life over to Jesus?  Are you willing to give up the control you have on these burdens and allow the Lord to carry them for you?

Perhaps you are willing but don’t know how!  So let me give you a bit of help.  Take a moment.  Find that quiet place in your house, free from all distractions.  If that’s impossible, come and sit before the Blessed Sacrament.  Close your eyes and imagine Jesus standing before you.  Whoever or whatever is the burden, place it before His feet.  Let Him know you want to be free of this and you need His help.  (The key here is to give up all control of this burden...once you give it to Jesus, you cannot take it back).  You see this is the way we become FREE!  But every time we start to take it back, God will freely give it back.  Is that what you want? 

True freedom means giving up control and learning to not be a victim of our own struggles.  Let’s pray for one another that we can rely more on Christ and less on ourselves.  In this way we can be free of our burdens and take on the yoke of Christ, which is easy and light!

Weeds Among The Wheat

Did you ever notice how easily it is to overlook the weeds among the wheat, or any vegetation for that matter?  The parable of the weeds among the wheat, I believe is precisely the point Jesus is trying to point out to us.  How often do we overlook the weeds?

Jesus speaks to His disciples about the “weeds among the wheat.”  Often times weeds can be overlooked.  Just take a good look in a garden.  There are so many things blooming, it can often be difficult to distinguish the weeds from the flowers.  In fact, some weeds even disguise themselves with little blossoms or  little flowers on them confusing most amateur gardeners.  Such weeds can be more destructive to the real beautiful flowers and vegetation in any garden.

Using this analogy, could we not say the same for some people?  How many disguise themselves each day as holy, humble, good people and yet they are out there gossiping, cheating, telling lies, not to mention any number of commandments they might be breaking.  What about those persons who may work for a company or the Church or government or some other organization who you think can be trusted because of the position they hold, only to find out they may in fact be some of the destructive weeds choking those who are really trying to do their best and make a difference.

First of all, we need to make sure we’re not “weeds.”  And if we are, we need to do some serious praying to begin some serious changing.  Secondly, we need to be more aware of others.  Do we surround ourselves with people who hold the same values we do or do we merely “go with the flow.”  Good wheat stands out and can produce abundantly to feed the many!

“Good soil is a heart reserved for God that produces abundant love.”

“Good soil is a heart reserved for God that produces abundant love.”   I’m not sure who first spoke these words, but I have come to know they are true.

In the Gospel regarding the parable of the sower and the seed, the Church invites us to take a soil sample of our hearts.  In the Gospel, Jesus presents to us four types of soil on which the seed scattered by God, God’s own Word, falls. And each of us needs to ask, in light of Jesus’ words and in His real presence here at Mass, what type of soil am I?

Two things are absolutely crucial in farming: good seed and good soil. In the Gospel the seed Jesus talks about is God’s Word, heard in Sacred Scripture and in prayer, and ultimately Jesus, the Word Made Flesh, capable of living in us through grace. Therefore we know there is no problem with the seed. The seed is perfect.

Our heart is the soil.  It must be open to accepting the Word of God (the seed) and be nurtured to produce good fruit (which is love).  Some times our heart, like any soil, needs some added things to keep it good and ready to receive the good seed.  Like the farmer who uses water, nutrients and the like, we have the Eucharist and the sacraments as well as daily prayer to keep our heart reserved for God.

Today, let us not only evaluate the condition of our heart but make it a more fitting dwelling place for God.   Let us use every possible means to provide the “good soil” for God’s Word to take root and flourish in action.   Then our love will be abundant and evident in our words and deeds!

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE 1930s, '40s, '50s, '60s and '70s!!

A good friend of mine sent this to me, and I just had to share.  I don't know who first said this, but kudos! - FM

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE
1930s, '40s, '50s, '60s and '70s!!
First, we survived being born to mothers who may have smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant. 

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.
Then, after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets, and, when we rode our bikes, we had baseball caps, not helmets, on our heads. 

As infants and children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes..
Riding in the back of a pick- up truck on a warm day was always a special treat. We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter, and bacon. We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar. And we weren't overweight. WHY? Because we were always outside playing...that's why!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day. --And, we were OKAY. We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride them down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes.. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned
to solve the problem..
We did not have Play Stations, Nintendos and X-boxes. There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVDs, no surround-sound or CDs, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet and no chat rooms.
WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits from those accidents.
We would get spankings with wooden spoons, switches, ping-pong paddles, or just a bare hand,
and no one would call child services to report abuse.
We ate worms, and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
We made up games with sticks and tennis balls, and -although we were told it would happen- we did not put out very many eyes. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just
walked in and talked to them.
Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! 

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law! 

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers, and inventors ever.
The past 50 to 85 years have seen an explosion of innovation and new ideas.. 

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all. If YOU are one of those born between 1925-1970, CONGRATULATIONS! You might want
to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids before the lawyers
and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good. While you are
at it, forward it to your kids, so they will know how brave and lucky their parents
were. Kind of makes
you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it ? 

Trinity

You know, every time I get to Trinity Sunday I start thinking of how I wish I had paid better attention in class when the subject of the Holy Trinity came up.  I always feel somehow limited in my ability to bring clarity to the reality of the Trinity.

Of course there is the basics:  One God, Three Persons.  That's fact!  But trying to explain all that to an unbeliever, or even to those who believe, is difficult.  Besides, any explanation just pales when trying to understand this mystery of our faith.  So let me make a stab at why I think this is important to our faith.

Trinity is all about RELATIONSHIP!  Can you imagine being so close, so intimate with someone that you find that your mannerism, habits, way of thinking and doing things all start to reflect theirs?  The reality of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I believe (just to clarify) is this type of relationship.  Moreover, if the Spirit is in the Son and the Son is in the Father and they are all one, I have come to realize that because the Holy Spirit dwells in the Church, we are part of that unity of relationship.

The real challenge then for each of us is to assume the mannerisms, habits, way of thinking and doing whatever we think and do in life so as to reflect the reality of God.  That's my take on the Trinity and I'm sticking to it!

Come Creator Spirit

Come Creator Spirit.

Renew me with your strength.

Purify me with your love.

Strengthen me with your hope.

Empower me with your justice.

Cover me with your protection.

Surround me with your compassion

Illumine me with your mercy.

Console me with your fire.

Motivate me with your power.

Humble me with your passion.

Satisfy me with your presence.

Complete me with your grace.

Hear and answer me in my need.

Amen.

-Fr. Michael Pavlakovich