Lent - The Season of fish sticks and beans

It seems just moments ago we were wishing each other the greetings appropriate to the holidays and now it seems that the season of Lent is knocking at the door.  Wednesday next is the day we call Ash Wednesday and marks the forty day period that the Church provides us to prepare for the Solemn Easter Tridium, the celebrations of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter vigil. For some of us this period of time is remarkable only due to the fact that we Catholics abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and on  Friday's of Lent. The Church also mandates fasting on Ash Wednesday and on Good Friday.

Lent literally means "spring."  What does the word "spring" bring to mind?  To me it brings to mind the ground thawing out after a chilly winter and new growth breaking the soil and plants opening up their leaves to catch the warm rays of the sun.  It is a mystical season that restores life where once there had been no sign of it. So it is with our lives and the season of Lent. 

When I was a boy I hated the season of Lent. In our household it was the season of fish sticks. There is nothing nastier on God's green earth than fish sticks. It was also the season of giving up something, usually candy if you were a kid, and that was a painful thing to do. Remember too that back then no one told the kids that Sunday's are not counted in the forty days of lent and you could gouge yourself with all the candy you wanted on Sundays!  No, Sister Emerita and her fellow sisters kept that as a Canonical Secret so we kids would not get out of the habit of giving up candy. In our household my father was an agnostic so Lent was not really part of his year but he put up with the fish sticks and vegetarian beans that was the staple of Lenten Friday dinners. We kids tried to remain faithful to our promise to give up candy but it was hard.  Why even in the school I went to the lunch time candy table was set up so you could get your sugar fix that would last you until three o'clock. Sales were off a bit but some kids still bought candy and we were told not to judge them because it was just possible that they were doing something else for Lent.  This was hardly likely because we knew who was buying the stuff and Eddie McIntyre and Albert Winkler were hardly the holy type that would eat candy and then go home and beat themselves with rosebush canes! 

Lent also brought with it a shortened school day on Friday.  This was not greeted with glee by most of us.  School would let out at about two or so in the afternoon and we would adjourn next door to the church where we would undergo the Stations of the Cross. This entailed forty minutes of  standing, genuflecting, kneeling, listening as the fourteen stations of the cross were prayed.  For a young boy this was a tedious rite and personally I longed for the joys of math class to break this prayer marathon. Actually I understood the Stations of the Cross much better than I understood the New Math that the good sisters were teaching so that is how desperate I was. 

 Not everyone hated the Stations of the Cross.  Jackie Gleason (no not the TV and film star) who had perfect posture and never went around with his hands in his pockets as the nuns always reminded us, usually served as one of the altar boys that accompanied Father around the Church as walked with Jesus to Calvary.  I always thought that Jackie wanted to actually be crucified on those Friday's, as we got closer and closer to the Crucifixion you could almost see the stigmata appearing on the boy. The ritual finished usually about a quarter to three so the good sisters gave us the opportunity to kneel for fifteen minutes before we were marched out of church one row at a time, keeping silent until we felt the sun and cold Chicago air on our faces. Then all hell would break loose as the weekend had officially started! 

On Saturday, we went to confession.  There were four priests and all of them spent four hours or so hearing confessions. We did not do this as a class, but we saw all of our classmates waiting in line.  I wonder how bored the priests must have gotten with several hundred children confessing that they had disobeyed their parents or swore or something of that nature.  They probably rejoiced when they got an adult parishioner that confessed that he had committed adultery, murdered a bishop, and burnt down two schools!  

Then on Sunday morning we would all gather at the 9:00 AM children's mass and sit with our class for Sunday Mass.  When the time was right the ushers would pass the basket and our children's envelopes filled with part of our hard earned allowance, nickles or dimes, would go into the basket. On Monday morning the totals were posted for each class with the names (but not the amounts) of those kids who contributed.  If a name from your class was missing, it was assumed that they had skipped Mass and were in big trouble and should be very careful until they could confess their sloth next Saturday at confession. 

So we are once again coming into the Lenten season. My boss, who knows I am a Catholic asked me what I was giving up.  I told her that I was giving up nothing this year. I explained that I would be trying to do something special for Lent, something positive, something that will help others during this season in the Jubilee Year of Mercy.  

What I am going to do personally for my own spiritual growth will be to forsake some TV time to do some Bible or other spiritual reading and to do this daily.  I will resolve to eat less so as to share the hunger the needy feel every day of their life. I will resolve also to do something about that hunger by making donations to organizations that fight hunger. I resolve to be kinder, to swallow my pride and to turn my other cheek when I am insulted or ridiculed.  I will also resolve to be a better ambassador for Christ and His Holy Catholic Church.  I will engage in dialogue with those who write hateful things about the Church but I will not criticize them, I will just criticize their words. 

I want for myself this Lent to be something special, a time of growth for my soul.  I invite you whether you be Catholic or Protestant to do the same.  It really just requires that you keep your eyes open, your pride in check, and to be open to the Spirit working in your life.   

God Bless you and may the Crucified One light your way this day. 

 

Feeding Frenzy

The past week all over America there was a feeding frenzy of sorts. You know what I mean of course, we all got caught up in it, the Powerball Lottery. Now I never play the lottery, except this time I did, yes this straight laced Catholic Christian boy plunked down four hard earned US of A greenback dollars for the privilege of dreaming and dreaming big!  For a couple of days I was thinking how I would outfit my new Gulf Stream jet and who I would invite for the initial ride. I thought what my parish would do with the ten percent of the winnings that they would get right off of the top.  I envisioned a five story PADS shelter. I would have funded research into finding cures for cancer.  I would have funded a food bank that would wipe out hunger in my state.  There would have been scholarships galore for those whose grades like mine were average or slightly above. I was planning to do so much good.  That is what my four dollars bought me as I joined the feeding frenzy that captured the minds of my fellow citizens.  I have to tell you that it was kind of fun and all in all was worth the four George Washington's I plunked down to the man of mid-eastern extraction behind the counter at the Peacock Mobil Station who pushed a button that caused a machine to spit out two lines of random numbers.  

Well, I am back in the real world again.  The next lottery drawing will come and go without capturing my attention. My dollar bills will stay comfortably inside my wallet until they are called upon to purchase some pedestrian need. But I take solace in the fact that although I cannot fund my large dreams, I can fund smaller ones. I can look out for opportunities to be kind, to be generous, to let the light of Christ shine through me. If I do this without expecting any reward or payback, my example may be what brings a sinner home like the prodigal son, home to God the Father who loves him without end. My example, my love expressed can be the difference between heaven and hell for someone I do not know. 

So yes, I proved my humanity and jumped into the middle of the feeding frenzy.  It was fun and it allowed me the opportunity to think once the announcement of where the winning tickets were sold and my town was not mentioned, that I was luckier than the winners because I have Christ in my life.

Peace to you today and may the light of Christ flood your soul. Act on your good intentions today. Spread a random act of kindness wherever you go.  God bless you and yours. 

The Convert-a-Catholic Challenge is still waiting it's first daring Protestant to take up the cause. Convince this cradle Catholic that the Catholic Church has got it all wrong and that your denomination has got it all right.  Chick to start the debate rolling.  Click here/

Catholic Resources for your use: 

Catechism of the Catholic Church   (Click Here)  don't live in ignorance. If you are going to criticize or even condemn her, use her own words against her.  This free resource tells what we believe in an easy to read format.

Catholics Come Home  (Click Here)  If you are a Catholic and have been away from the Church for awhile, well, we have missed you and consider this an invitation to come home. 

Headquarters - The Vatican - (Click Here)  Nose around at the Vatican. Get to know Pope Francis a little bit better. Find out the inside story right from the horse's mouth. 

Destiny

Okay, Lorne Green was great on Bonanza but I have to say that as a singer he probably not make it on "The Voice."  But aside from entertainment value I chose this song to introduce the topic of destiny.  Please note that I do not agree with the principles put forth in this song.  For me the principle it espouses sounds too much like John Calvin to me.  But aside from that I do have to agree that we have a destiny but it is not set in stone as Lorne would have us believe. 

In the distant past God decided he would like Michael The Lesser to be born.  He loved the very idea of Michael and when the time was right He moved His hand and I was conceived.  After a stay in the womb, in my case only seven months, I was born kicking and crying into the world. I was a tiny thing and the fourth attempt my mother had at having a child, the other three ended in two miscarriages and one still birth. I survived two months in an incubator at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago and was brought home on Christmas Eve in nine-teen hundred and fifty two.  

I have seen sixty-two summers in my life and I am not sure if I will see another because we are never sure we are going to even take another breath, it is not guaranteed.  As I have gone through life I have come to forks in the road and have made conscious decisions as to which road to take. Sometimes my choice was good, in my eyes anyway, other times things didn't turn out so good.  But no matter which road I took, no matter the results of my decisions, I was propelled towards my ultimate destiny. 

As a human being I have an ultimate destiny but unlike Mr. Calvin says it is not written in stone.  This is because I have been given free will to choose my destiny.  I can live a life worthy of the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross and my ultimate destiny will be heaven.  I can live a life of unrepentant dissolution, caring only for myself and my ultimate destiny will be hell. The point I am trying to make here is that our destiny, unlike the destiny portrayed in the song, is in our hands. We make the choices in life in accordance with the free will that God gave us.  He does not want puppets to be with Him in heaven, He wants people who have decided that they want His friendship.  

So, what do you think of destiny?  Is it something that is written in granite and can never be changed?  Or is it something that we can design as a sculptor changes a square piece of marble and through work and dedication changes it into a beautiful statue? 

CONVERT A CATHOLIC challenge is still open. I am inviting my Protestant brothers and sisters to prove to me that I should abandon the Catholic Church and join their denomination.  33,000 different versions of the truth against the Catholic Church...what are you waiting for?  The challenge has been made.  Click on the link below to send me an email.

Michael, my denomination has got it all together - you just gotta join it and here is why 

 (Click Here)

Trusting In Jesus - His Mercy

My Jesus I Trust In You

We put our faith into many things over the course of our usual day. We trust that the others on the road will in fact obey the red light so we can enjoy using the green light.  We bury our noses and out attention into our smart phones and trust that when the elevator door opens that the elevator will certainly be there.  We trust that the doctor has a diploma and that he or she has prescribed the correct medicine.  We trust that the electrician has wired the house up properly and that we will not get electrocuted the first time we turn on the dishwasher. So you see that we place our faith into many things routinely every hour if every day.

Through Sister Faustina, a Polish nun who spoke to Jesus we are told to trust in the mercy of Jesus. We are being given an extraordinary time to accept the mercy of Jesus as the final sunset draws nearer every second.  Jesus loves you so much and He wants you to be happy with Him in heaven. He died for our sins, His Sacred Heart was pierced because of them. Mercy flows from His Sacred Heart and we need to accept it.  Each of us has to look at how we are living our lives and we have to give up those things that offend God. We have to turn to God now while there is still time to do so.  If we do not repent and accept the mercy of Jesus then we will have to accept His justice when he comes again. 

I myself am a poor sinner.  I do not mean that my sins can compare with some of the most offensive behaviors in the world today.  For example, I have not murdered anyone, I have not counseled any person to seek an abortion, I don't even read the horoscopes, since I believe in Christ and not in some goofy Greek and Roman gods. I have sinned in the past, I have repented in the past, and I have been forgiven in the past because I professed both my sorrow and my firm resolution to mend my ways. I've confessed my sins to my pastor who gave me absolution acting in persona Christi in accordance with Jesus' instructions in John 20:23, "Whose sins you forgive they are forgiven, whose sins you retain, they are retained." 

So, if this is the case, why am I crowing about trusting in Jesus? I believe that all sin, no matter what sin we are speaking about, has its origin in a basic lack of trust in the providence of God.  We set up false god's because we don't trust in Him to give us all of the good things that we need. The best example we find in the Bible is that of Adam and Eve, they had everything they needed.  Yet they did not trust God enough to stay away from what was not allowed. In our world today we touch enough forbidden fruit to make a snazzy fruit salad!  We kill children in the womb in the interest of making our own life easier.  Our families are but a shadow what they were in previous generations.  We do not take care of our children,  we put them in day-care and put their early nurturing into the hands of strangers because we are afraid that the sacrifice of caring for them will cost us too much financially and our lives will be less comfortable than they could be.  We do not honor our father and mother anymore but we send them to nursing homes where strangers care for them on a daily basis and we console ourselves that this was for their own good while it makes our life easier.  In previous generations parents would be cared for and loved in person by their sons and daughters.  We steal, we cheat, we look to take advantage of our neighbors, we envy and allow greed to control our lives.  I think you get the idea here. Each sin we commit or cause to come into being by omitting a good demonstrates a lack of trust in Jesus. 

We have to Trust in Jesus.  We have to repent and flee to Him for He wants us with Him. There is good news here.  THE MERCY OF JESUS IS GREATER BY AN INFINITE FACTOR COMPARED TO OUR SINS!  There is no need for a soul to choose hell over heaven.  Whatever we have done or failed to do we can throw ourselves on the mercy of Jesus and we will be forgiven. Think of some of the most terrible people on history.  Do you realize that in their last moment they may have converted in their heart and begged for forgiveness and thus became eligible to an eternity in heaven?  St. Stalin?  St. bin Laden?  don't laugh, while it is improbable you have to admit that it is possible. 

Every sin on our soul is important, those small white lies, stealing that box of paperclips, walking past the beggar, going to the game rather than to worship all these sins are important and if you don't think that they are, then simply look at a crucifix: 

Do you see the Man on the cross? He died for YOU in reparation for the sins you committed.  He died for perpetrators of the Holocaust, for the people ensnared in ISIS, for the child that disobeys his parents, for the young girl who had an abortion, for the man who stole the paperclips from his employer.  The arms of Jesus were stretched out on the cross for every human that ever lived and for every human that will live after our turn on earth is done.  The Sacred Heart of Jesus in an inexhaustible well of mercy that was and is being poured out on His children.  The nails were not needed because Jesus would have held himself on the Cross because of His great love for us, his children. 

The time to rely on the Divine Mercy is NOW.  If we refuse the Divine Mercy, committing the one sin that cannot be forgiven, the refusal of God's mercy, than be ready for eternal darkness, sorrow and suffering. But, if we accept the Divine Mercy, make a firm commitment to repent, now our sins will be forgiven and we will be shown to our place in Heaven next to others who will love God and be with Him forever. 

Challenge:  Remember my Protestant friends, I am waiting for you to tell me where the Catholic Church is wrong and why I should convert to your denomination.  So far, no one has been brave enough to take on the challenge.  I will take on all comers.  Bring your evidence that the Church is wrong and that Protestantism is the way to go.   I am waiting, ready and willing.