Brother Lawrence who lived in the 1600's wrote a classic called The

Practice Of The Presence Of God. "There is not in the world a kind of life
more sweet and delightful than that of a continual conversation with God;
those only can comprehend it who practice and experience it....I believe
that all spiritual life consists of practicing God's presence, and that anyone
who practices it correctly will soon attain spiritual fulfillment." Then he
says: "Is it not quicker and easier to do our common business wholly for the
the love of God?" The fact is we are in the presence of God. But the fact
also is we are not always conscious of being in God's presence. How can
we connect the two? The desert fathers learned to do this by praying
regularly, no matter what they were doing, a short mantra, what some have
called an ejaculation. My favorite is simply praying, "Jesus, I love you." The
purpose of such a practice is to seek to be consciously attentive to God in
the present moment.

One of the contributing sins of Israel 's infidelity before God was their impatience. They could not wait on God's plan and timing. Instead, again and again they would take matters into their own hands. When Moses was on the mountain for forty days, receiving from God the Commandments, the people became impatient. The invisible God, who had revealed himself through awesome deeds, was too much for them. They wanted a God they could see and touch, so they made their golden calf to worship. This disappointed and angered God. How often we do the same. We become impatient with God's plan and timing for us and we do what pleases us. We want things now. Like the Israelites we disappoint and anger God. But, in spite of our infidelities, he remains faithful to us, never abandoning us. We have to learn from our past failures and wait upon the Lord. To paraphrase the prophet Jeremiah, "I have plans for you, not of woe but a future full of hope." Or Isaiah, who gives this message of God: "My ways are not your ways, my thoughts, not your thought."  Isaiah again reminds us: "Those who wait upon the Lord will not be disappointed."

"Discipline is the other side of discipleship. Discipleship without discipline is like waiting to run in the marathon without ever practicing. Discipline without discipleship is like always practicing for the marathon but never participating. It is important, however, to realize that discipline in the spiritual life is not the same as discipline in sports. Discipline in sports is the concentrated effort to master the body so that it can obey the mind better. Discipline in the spiritual life is the concentrated effort to create the space and time where God can become our master and where we can respond freely to God's guidance. Thus, discipline is the creation of boundaries that keep time and space open for God. Solitude requires discipline, worship requires discipline, caring for others requires discipline. They all ask us to set apart a time and a place where God's gracious presence can be acknowledged and responded to." (Henri Nowen) By virtue of Baptism we are disciples of Jesus Christ. The depth of our relationship as a disciple will depend on the extent Jesus is the true Lord of our lives. If he is, then we give him priority time in our lives. Without this commitment, we will become lukewarm disciples or what's-in-it-for-me disciples. Since out of love Jesus was all-in for us, he is looking for disciples who will be all-in for him out of love.  This is radical discipleship.

Information
Men's Mass for April
Saturday, April 1, 2017
7:30am
Bishop's House
107 Albany Dr., Houma, La
Fellowship afterwards
Come and bring a friend.

So the sisters of Lazarus sent word to Jesus, saying, "Master, the one you love is ill." When Jesus heard this he said, "This illness is not to end in death, but is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.
          Lazarus will in fact die. But his will not be his ultimate fate because Jesus will raise him to  
          new life, affording an opportunity for others to glorify God by means of the miracle.

" Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was ill, he remained for two days in the place where he was. Then after this he said to his disciples, "Let us go back to Judea."
          The delay of Jesus proves fatal for Lazarus at the moment. This period of waiting is not a     
          mistake or miscalculation, but part of Jesus’ plan to generate faith in the disciples. Raising the
          dead to new life will have a more profound effect on them than raising the sick to health.

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.
           Jews during NT times customarily wrapped the dead with a shroud, tied strip of cloth around
          their extremities and anointed their bodies with fragrant oils and spices..


Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, only about two miles away. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; but Mary sat at home. Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. (But) even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you." Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise." Martha said to him, "I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day."
           The resurrection of the dead on the last day was currently held by all in Judaism except the
           Sadducees.


Jesus told her, "I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" She said to him, "Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world." Martha professes her faith in Jesus. He became perturbed and deeply troubled, and said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Sir, come and see." And Jesus wept.
　
The humanity of Jesus is very clear in this event, even knowing what he was about to do.

So the Jews said, "See how he loved him." But some of them said, "Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man have done something so that this man would not have died?"

So Jesus, perturbed again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay across it.

Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the dead man's sister, said to him, "Lord, by now there will be a stench; he has been dead for four days." Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?"

　
Though Martha professed faith earlier, now when Jesus called her to exercise that faith, she faltered. The reality of death was too real.

So they took away the stone. And Jesus raised his eyes and said, "Father, I thank you for hearing me. I know that you always hear me; but because of the crowd here I have said this, that they may believe that you sent me." And when he had said this, he cried out in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man came out, tied hand and foot with burial bands, and his face was wrapped in a cloth. So Jesus said to them, "Untie him and let him go."
　
Jesus’ love for Lazarus was real and visible. Do we recognize that same love for us? How have I experienced in the past this unconditional love?

Now many of the Jews who had come to Mary and seen what he had done began to believe in him
When and where has my faith in Jesus as "the Resurrection of the Life" been tested in the past?
When I face the death of a loved one, does my faith in the above promises of Jesus sustain and comfort me?

What prevents us from enjoying the grace of the present moment? Could it be more our attitude than our circumstances? I am reminded of a story I heard years ago. There was a horrific thunderstorm during the night. The next morning one person looked out the window and saw the mud and debris all around and said, "How horrible." Another person looked out the same window at the blue sun-lit sky and said, "wow!" Same world, same circumstances but different attitudes! Neither attitude changed the circumstances, only how they chose to deal with them and how they would let the circumstances determine them. Is that true with our lives? If our attitude is negative, our experience will follow. If or attitude is joyful and hopeful, our day will be different. Embrace the grace of the present moment given to you by God and make lemonade with lemons given you by circumstances.

"Touch, yes, touch, speaks the wordless words of love. We receive so much touch when we are babies and so little when we are adults. Still, in friendship touch often gives more life than words. A friend's hand stroking our back, a friend's arms resting on our shoulder, a friend's fingers wiping our tears away, a friend's lips kissing our forehead --- these are true consolation. These moments of touch are truly sacred. They restore, they reconcile, they reassure, they forgive, they heal. Everyone who touched Jesus and everyone whom Jesus touched were healed. God's love and power went out from him (see Luke 6:19). When a friend touches us with free, non possessive love, it is God's incarnate love that touches us and God's power that heals us." (Henri Nouwen) Have you ever experienced this comforting, healing touch of a friend? Have you been a friend to another just through the silence of a touch of love? Sometime there are moments that words could not express the volumes which a touch conveys. Those moments are grace moments, in which God's love and presence are conveyed through a weak human instrument. Look for those moments in your life today. Celebrate in thanksgiving those moments.

"A friend is that other person with whom we can share our solitude, our silence, and our prayer. A friend is that other person with whom we can look at a tree and say, "Isn't that beautiful," or sit on the beach and silently watch the sun disappear under the horizon. With a friend we don't have to say or do something special. With a friend we can be still and know that God is there with both of us." (Henri Nouwen) Is Jesus that friend? We have many close friends, but is Jesus one friend among many or the prime friend? How much time do we spend with our friends? How much time do we spend with Jesus? Do we share intimate moments with him? When we come to the end of our life, which friend do we want there with us? Lent is a grace moment given to us to deepen our friendship with Jesus. It is a dress rehearsal for the end of our life.

As Jesus passed by he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him. We have to do the works of the one who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." The disciples reflect the general thinking about the connection between sickness/affliction and sin. Being born blind was considered by some to be a punishment for some sin, either personal or generational.
Jesus says that nature has taken its course and God will use this for his glory. When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva, and smeared the clay on his eyes, and said to him, "Go wash in the Pool of Siloam" —which means Sent—.So he went and washed, and came back able to see. Could this be an insight into the sacrament of Baptism and what it does? His neighbors and those who had seen him earlier as a beggar said, "Isn’t this the one who used to sit and beg?" Some said, "It is, " but others said, "No, he just looks like him." He said, "I am." So they said to him, "How were your eyes opened?" He replied, "The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went there and washed and was able to see." And they said to him, "Where is he?" He said, "I don’t know." He readily witnesses the truth of what Jesus did for him. Have we been ministered to by Jesus recently? Did we share the truth with others? They brought the one who was once blind to the Pharisees. Now Jesus had made clay and opened his eyes on a sabbath. The issue is not so much that Jesus healed this man but that it was the Sabbath on which he did this. The Pharisees claim this is forbidden by the Law and that Jesus was breaking the Law. So then the Pharisees also asked him how he was able to see. He said to them, "He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and now I can see." So some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, because he does not keep the sabbath." But others said, "How can a sinful man do such signs?" And there was a division among them. Blindness to the truth can prevent people from seeing the hand of God. The Pharisees were not looking for the truth, only to defend their position, no matter the cost. Have we ever found ourselves in a similar position? So they said to the blind man again, "What do you have to say about him, since he opened your eyes?" He said, "He is a prophet." As the man comes to a clearer understanding of who Jesus is, the Pharisees become more hardened against him. Now the Jews did not believe that he had been blind and gained his sight until they summoned the parents of the one who had gained his sight. They asked them, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How does he now see?" His parents answered and said, "We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. We do not know how he sees now, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him, he is of age; he can speak for himself." His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone acknowledged him as the Christ, he would be expelled from the synagogue. For this reason his parents said, "He is of age; question him." Out of fear the parents did not want to get involved. Have we at times acted out of fear rather than stand up for what we know is true? So a second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, "Give God the praise! We know that this man is a sinner." He replied, "If he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know is that I was blind and now I see." So they said to him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?" He answered them, "I told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?" They ridiculed him and said, "You are that man’s disciple; we are disciples of Moses! We know that God spoke to Moses, but we do not know where this one is from." The man answered and said to them, "This is what is so amazing, that you do not know where he is from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners,.
but if one is devout and does his will, he listens to him. It is unheard of that anyone ever opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he would not be able to do anything."
They answered and said to him, "You were born totally in sin, and are you trying to teach us?"
Then they threw him out. The Pharisees try to discredit Jesus by implying that he is a sinner. At another time they called him a devil. Rather than acknowledge Jesus is doing the work of God, they prefer to accuse him of being evil. To acknowledge him would then put them at a crisis. The man hit the nail on the head: they have refused to be his disciples that is why they are trying to destroy him
The man sees the truth about Jesus and about the Pharisees. When Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, he found him and said, (Do you believe in the Son of Man?" He answered and said, "Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?"
Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, the one speaking with you is he." He said, "I do believe, Lord," and he worshiped him.
The man comes to the final stage of his journey: faith and acceptance of Jesus as One who came from God; one who is the Messiah. This was what the Pharisees refused to accept. Then Jesus said, "I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see might see, and those who do see might become blind." Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and said to him, "Surely we are not also blind, are we?" Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you are saying, ‘We see,’ so your sin remains. Can you feel Jesus saying if the shoe fits, wear it.
Jesus contrasts the journey of the man from physical blindness to physical sight, from spiritual blindness to spiritual insight. On the other hand those who should have spiritual insight further rush into spiritual blindness.
Whereas they accuse the man of being born because of his sin, Jesus says the real sin is theirs because they refuse to believe in the truth of who he is and what he has been preaching.                   What do you take from this story and apply to your life?

Almost at the Lenten mid-point, it may be good for us to assess our progress. At this point, are we still focused on our Lenten resolutions? Have we experienced any headway in turning away from sin? Are we seeking to grow in greater intimacy with God? Even though we do not see any progress, continue to persevere.  Ask God to help you to be open to the grace he desires to give you at this stage of your Lenten journey. This is the grace that will make you a new person in Christ, which is a goal of our Easter pilgrimage.

In the OT, the command by God for the Chosen People to remember and teach what God had done throughout their history was constant. It was important to pass this on to the next

generation lest they forget and drift away from true relationship with God, which would be
detrimental to them, not to God. Again and again they failed to do this. God would send
prophets to remind them over the centuries. Their Sacred Scriptures and their sacred rituals of sacrifice helped. In the NT, Jesus continued this emphasis for us the new Chosen People. His teachings and actions have been written down and proclaimed weekly. We gather around the Lord's table to re-present his perfect sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Father. We too are told to remember and teach the next generation what God has done for us. Where this has been done over the centuries, faith in Jesus has been strong. Where this has not been done, the opposite is true. May we always remember, act on and teach the saving deeds of God, so that the chain of salvation history will remain unbroken. This should never be taken for granted, but embraced by each disciple of Jesus as a sacred duty of love.

During this Lenten season we become more conscious of God's great mercy through the death and resurrection of Jesus. He took upon himself our many sins and forgave them by becoming a sacrifice for us. He cast our sins into the depth of the sea, as the psalmist tells us. He forgives and forgets. We are called to do the same in regards the sins of others against us. We have received great forgiveness and mercy. In turn, we are to show the same mercy and forgiveness to others. And out of love in imitation of God, we too are to forget. In this way we will express our heartfelt gratitude to God for his mercy and be his sons and daughters in imitation. This may be hard and go against our fallen human nature, but will reflect our redeemed self, sharing in God's divine life.

Today, we celebrate the feast of St. Joseph. What do we learn from him? He is a man of silence, who hears the plan of God for him and acts on them in obedience. He was willing to forgo his desires and plans to embrace the desires and plans of God, no matter the cost to himself. In faith and in dependence upon God he lived as the husband of Mary and foster father of Jesus, protecting and providing for them, always in the shadows, never in the limelight. An unknown person in his own right becomes by God's design a person renowned throughout the ages for his fidelity to God. St. Joseph, pray for us to follow the plans of God in our own lives in silence and obedience, in faith and trust.

Information:
March Monthly Mass for Women
Saturday, March 18, 2017
8 am
Bishop Jacob's House
107 Albany Dr.
Houma, La.
Bring a friend.

We read that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. Give me the grace to always show you, Lord, the reverence, respect and awe that is your due. I know that you will be my final judge. But I do not fear you, but honor and love you for who you are. Your judgment is just. I fear you with the filial wonder and admiration of a son for his Father. May my awe of you and all you continue to do in my life grow into perfect love for you. I don't want my relationship with you to be based on fear of punishment, though my sins deserve punishment. I want my relationship with you to be based on the love that is due to you from me, your grateful son. It is your love that teaches me how to reverence you with the awe and wonder of a child and to rejoice in your presence, trusting in your providential care.

Conversion is a life time journey from the initial grace of salvation in Baptism to the final grace of dying in union with God. Though we have been given the grace of salvation, we still have the Law of sin within us. Conversion means to continue to turn away from the sweet poison of sin and plunge into the everlasting life of God's love. It is the reality of the paradoxes stated by Jesus. To live, one must die. To receive the grace of life, we must empty ourselves of the dregs of sin. To be exalted with God, we must embrace the humiliation of our daily crosses. To ascend to the heights of glory with God, we must descend to break the weight of bondage that tethers us. Only the spiritually stouthearted, who have found the meaning of their life in God, can persevere to the end.

"We are invited to follow in Jesus’ footsteps and face the spiritual battle with the Evil One with the strength of the Word of God. Not with our words: they are worthless. The Word of God: this has the strength to defeat Satan. For this reason, it is important to be familiar with the Bible: read it often, meditate on it, assimilate it. The Bible contains the Word of God, which is always timely and effective....Indeed, if we had God’s Word always in our heart, no temptation could separate us from God, and no obstacle could divert us from the path of good; we would know how to defeat the daily temptations of the evil that is within us and outside us; we would be more capable of living a life renewed according to the Spirit, welcoming and loving our brothers and sisters, especially the weakest and neediest, and also our enemies." (Pope Francis) We read many things. Is the Bible among them? We remember many facts. How much of the Word of God do we remember? Could this not be a fruitful practice this Lent? What would happen if we memorized one scripture verse per week beginning now and continuing to the end of the year? I would venture to say there would be a different look to our life.

"To look back is helpful, and indeed necessary, to purify our memory, but to be fixated on the past, lingering over the memory of wrongs done and endured, and judging in merely human terms, can paralyze us and prevent us from living in the present. The word of God encourages us to draw strength from memory and to recall the good things the Lord has given us. But it also asks us to leave the past behind in order to follow Jesus today and to live a new life in him. Let us allow him, who makes all things new (cf. Rev 21:5), to unveil before our eyes a new future, open to the hope that does not disappoint, a future in which divisions can be overcome and believers, renewed in love, will be fully and visibly in the will of God." (Pope Francis) How often our process is in reverse. We forget the signs of God's love but remember our past sins. We forget the joys of the past but remember the pains. Is it a wonder that our gaze is always in the past causing us to stumble in the present? At the same time the future is the unfolding of the present moment. We do not live in the past or the future, but in this present moment of God's grace.

"Lent is the time to start breathing again. It is the time to open our hearts to the breath of the One capable of turning our dust into humanity. It is not the time to rend our garments before the evil all around us, but instead to make room in our life for all the good we are able to do. It is a time to set aside everything that isolates us, encloses us and paralyzes us. Lent is a time of compassion." (Pope Francis) We have breathed the polluted air of sin too long. The fresh oxygen of God's divine life is offered us once more. Yes we have sinned. But Lent is not so much as a time to beat our breasts as it is of consciously confronting the very roots of our sins. It is a time to be pro-active, seeking to grow in virtue rather than live in vice. As God has shown us mercy through his unconditional forgiveness, so we are to reflect his mercy by unconditional forgiveness of all who hurt us in any way. The vice is refusing to forgive; the virtue is forgiving without waiting for the other to ask. Thus, we will breathe in the new air of God's life.

"Lent is a time for remembering. It is the time to reflect and ask ourselves what we would be if God had closed his doors to us. What would we be without his mercy that never tires of forgiving us and always gives us the chance to begin anew? Lent is the time to ask ourselves where we would be without the help of so many people who in a thousand quiet ways have stretched out their hands and in very concrete ways given us hope and enabled us to make a new beginning?" (Pope Francis) God gives us new beginnings each time we turn back to him. Our past sinful deeds are forgiven and forgotten by God. He desires to do something new in us, to restore us to our true identity as his sons and daughters. This will take place to the extent we cooperate with his grace, to the extent we put our past behind us, to the extent we live as his sons and daughters. Lent is a time of renewed joy in the midst of doing penance.

Information:
Because of conflict in my schedule, there will be no Mass
Saturday, March 4, 2017
at my house.
Bishop

Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 
· Why these three? Over the course of time they became Jesus’ inner circle. They will be invited            by Jesus to go aside with him in the Garden to pray. They were the first to be ch
         chosen as disciples. Why Andrew was not included, we don’t know.
And he was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light.
· Put yourself in the place of the three. What do you think you would have thought or felt at this             sight? What would be your initial response?
And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with him. 
· Moses represented the Law and Elijah the prophets. Jesus had said that he would fulfill the Law         and the Prophets.
· What do you think they were saying to Jesus? Probably, talking about his upcoming suffering             and death.
Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 
· How we would want the joy of the present moment to last forever! Peter wanted to stay there               and go down the mountain.
While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud cast a shadow over them, then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”
· The Shekina glory of God is sometimes depicted as a bright cloud. They probably had                          remembrances of the time God appeared to the people at Mt Sinai in the desert.
· When did God say this about Jesus? At his baptism.
· How well do we listen to the Lord? What were they to listen to? Jesus had predicted his passion,         death and resurrection and they did not want to hear of it. The Father confirms this message                 through the transfiguration and through his voice.
When the disciples heard this, they fell prostrate and were very much afraid.
· Would you react any differently, if you thought God had revealed something to you?
But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and do not be afraid.” 
· How often this is the message Jesus has to give the disciples during or after some experience.             Recall the time they saw Jesus walking on water and they thought it was a ghost. Recall his post         resurrection appearances.
And when the disciples raised their eyes, they saw no one else but Jesus alone.
As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, “Do not tell the vision to anyone until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
· The vision revealed the divinity of Jesus, which the apostles did not fully understand and would         not until the resurrection. If they would not, even after this experience, how would others?                   Would you have?
· What lesson do you take from this passage and apply to your life?

"Prayer is the bridge between our conscious and unconscious lives. Often there is a large abyss between our thoughts, words, and actions, and the many images that emerge in our daydreams and night dreams. To pray is to connect these two sides of our lives by going to the place where God dwells. Prayer is "soul work" because our souls are those sacred centers where all is one and where God is with us in the most intimate way. Thus, we must pray without ceasing so that we can become truly whole and holy." (Henri Nouwen) Interesting and profound insight into prayer! Prayer is the bridge that connects us to God. As we cross that bridge, we bring with us all that is on our hearts to the other side, where nothing really needs be said. He knows all of these. He wants us just to enjoy being with him and not be distracted by our concerns, which he can take care of. Even if we feel the need to tell the Lord, he waits for us to finish, so that the most important part of our time together is just to be with each other in love.

"Fortitude tells us to be strong and constant in the service of God, showing a cheerful face in trials, tribulations, weariness and sickness, as in prosperity and joy, and to be thankful to Jesus Christ for the one and the other." (St. John of God) Fortitude is a gift of the Holy Spirit, that is given to us, but must be exercised on a regular basis to be part of us. We allow trials and difficulties to overwhelm us, rather than see them as stepping stones to a life of holiness. Lent is another grace time God gives us each year to deal differently with these stumbling blocks. Under the weight of our sins, Jesus fell three times. He was mocked and cursed. It took all he humanly had to put one foot in front of the next. Throughout all this, he kept his eyes fixed on the Father, whom he knew in faith loved him and was with him. It was this fortitude that sustained St. Paul in all his struggles from within and from without. Can we have the same attitude which was in Christ Jesus?

"As Lent is the time for greater love, listen to Jesus' thirst...'Repent and believe' Jesus tells us. What are we to repent? Our indifference, our hardness of heart. What are we to believe? Jesus thirsts even now, in your heart and in the poor -- He knows your weakness. He wants only your love, wants only the chance to love you." (St. Teresa of Calcutta) Do you really believe in the core of your being that Jesus loves you as you are here and now, even with your past, even knowing your future? If you do, then you are ready to receive the other graces God has for you this Lent. But if you do not fully believe that Jesus loves you as stated, then before you can receive the more, he is calling you to begin to embrace and live in the reality of his unconditional love for you now. He thirsts to pour out his love upon you in greater measure. He awaits your thirst for him, shown through your love, imperfect as it may be. Repent to all blocks to his love. Believe more fully in his authentic love for you.

"My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think I am following your will
does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you
does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that, if I do this,
You will lead me by the right road,
though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore I will trust you always
though I may seem to be lost
and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me to face my perils alone." (Thomas Merton) Our life is truly like this at times. We don't know where we are or where we are heading. It is at those moments that I need to turn to Lord in self-surrender and trust. He knows where I am and where I am going. Placing myself in his hands is all that is necessary for me at the moment.

"We are afraid of emptiness.... We like to occupy-fill up-every empty time and space. We want to be occupied. And if we are not occupied we easily become preoccupied; that is, we fill the empty spaces before we have even reached them. We fill them with our worries, saying, 'But what if ...'
It is very hard to allow emptiness to exist in our lives. Emptiness requires a willingness not to be in control, a willingness to let something new and unexpected happen. It requires trust, surrender, and openness to guidance. God wants to dwell in our emptiness. But as long as we are afraid of God and God's actions in our lives, it is unlikely that we will offer our emptiness to God. Let's pray that we can let go of our fear of God and embrace God as the source of all love." (Henri Nouwen)  This so-called-emptiness may be the solitude God is calling us into so that we can hear the stillness of his voice in the midst of our busyness. Lent is a time to enter into this emptiness with God. It is not a time to fill our life with many distractions. Our need to have our life full of works could be a sign that we are trying to find our identity not within us but outside of us, in the things we do. If we believe that we share in God's divine life within us, that we are temples of the Holy Spirit, then we need to spend quality time alone with the Lord who is both outside but also within us.

Lent is our annual journey to the Pascal Mysteries of Jesus' death and resurrection.

But it also reminds us of our life journey from birth in nature and grace to rebirth into eternity, our journey to God. The journey of Lent is immersed in the greater journey to eternal life. Throughout our journey we are dependent upon the grace of God. Because of original sin, we struggle with returning to intimacy with God, our true identity. Because of the root of rebellion within us, the Law of sin identified by St Paul, we struggle with total obedience to God. The gift of free will is misused when we choose other than God, since we are choosing that which is contrary to our ultimate destiny, union with God. When Jesus calls us to take up our daily crosses in union with him, he is reminding us that obedience to the Father's will is the door to eternal union with God. We are called to die to that self-will which leads away from God, so that we can live in the will of the Other which is life to the fullest.

Homily: First Sunday of Lent A

Story: A man bought paint to refurbish the outside of his house. But he ignored the instructions on the can and thinned it liberally with water. After he finished painting the exterior, he stood back to admire the job, chuckling to see how beautiful it looked for so little money. But that night there was a great rainstorm. The next morning he went outside and stood before his streaky house. At that moment a voice from heaven thundered in his ear: "Repaint and thin no more."

How often we shortcut the instructions of God, to do it our way and end up with a worse condition? Are we choosing to listen to the voice o f God or of human expediency. To confuse the issue further the evil one knows our vulnerability and comes against us with half truths that satisfies the human appetite.

In the first reading, God called Adam to recognize the gift he had received, to recognize the relationship between him and God and to remain in that relationship through obedience. The evil one said that Adam and Eve could determine their own live, to have total power over life. He said that they could be like God, equal to him. There were three points to his temptation. One was the temptation of the appetites (apple); second, the temptation of self-determination, independently of God (to be like God); third, the temptation for power (you shall not die).

Paul in the second reading says that through one man’s disobedience all became sinners. What was the sin of Adam and Eve which they expressed through disobedience? It was the sin of not accepting oneself as limited and depended; the sin of wanting to be other than creatures dependent upon God, the Creator; the sin of turning away from God and to turn to self. What was the temptation? To believe in and trust the father of lies rather that the author of truth. It was true that they would know good and evil; it was a lie that they would be like God. The result of their sin was they saw themselves as nothing without God. As a result, they hid themselves because they were no longer in right relationship with God. To isolate themselves from God was not to become equal to God but to become less than they were meant to be.

In contrast, Paul states, referring to Jesus: "through one man’s obedience, all shall become just." The Son of God became man to show us how to live in our humanity in right relationship to God.. After his baptism, he experiences similar temptations to Adam and Eve. The first temptation was self-gratification rather than dependency upon the Father to care for his needs. Jesus’ response: "Not on bread alone, but on the Word of God."

The second temptation was to question God’s ways, to have God prove his love by a miracle. Jesus’ response was that his relationship with the Father was strong and need not be tested. In his humanity Jesus did not have to assert himself or test the Father’s love. He knew and trusted in that love.

The third temptation was that of power, ambition, greed, authority, dominance and control. To be set up as a god. Jesus’ response: There is only one God and you, Satan, are not. You have not power. Be gone. Jesus refused to give him power, or credence or the time of day. Jesus’ knew he was the beloved Son of the Father and he was loved as such. No questions asked.

How was Jesus able to do this? Though God, in his humanity he emptied himself of his divinity so as to embrace our full humanity in everything but sin. In his humanity he allowed the Holy Spirit to lead him as he kept his eyes, heart and will on the Father. He refused to assert his own power but totally remained dependent upon the Father, waiting and trusting on the Father. Jesus refused to isolate himself from the Father in his humanity. He totally entrusted himself to the Father in obedience.

As we commit ourselves to Jesus, as we repent of our desire to be independent, as we accept Jesus as the Lord of our life, we will also experience the freedom of our humanity. We will become more the son or daughter, beloved by the Father, that we are meant to be. Following the lead of Jesus, in the times of our own temptations, remember who we are, whose we are and keep our eyes on the Father, following the lead of the Sprit.

As we begin the Lenten season this Ash Wednesday, the Church gives us the two main thrusts for our journey. On receiving the ashes, we may have heard this formula: "Turn away from sin and believe in the Gospel." Yesterday's thought dealt with the first. I encouraged us to focus on one or two sins this Lent that we truly want to eliminate from our life. Uprooting these will enable us to do the second, namely embracing the call of the Gospel to be holy. Throughout this season, we will hear the scriptures, at least at each Mass we celebrate. This is the Word of God for us. Do we truly hear it? Do we digest it? Do we act upon what we hear? In other words, Lent is not a time to do extraordinary penances, as good as these may be. Rather, it is a grace moment to do the ordinary in love. "Turn away from sin and believe in the Gospel."