One of the joys of being an ordained clergy is being able to share my love for Jesus Christ in active and vibrant parishes like this one. I was blessed to go through RCIA and become a member of the Catholic Church about 30 years ago and have been ordained for 16 years.
Since then I have been honored to see the blessings God has given his church in parishes here in Austin and around the world. Where people gather to worship and love, God always provides
It is obvious here at St Theresa’s that the Holy Spirit is working in many hearts. I have already met many very holy altar servers and very blessed acolytes and lectors here at St Theresa’s. God truly does provide. We can never take for granted our church, the Mass or what happens here.
God’s love for each of us as we come forward to join him by partaking of his body and blood is to me the most awesome thing I know of. After 20 years of offering others the body and blood of Christ I am still mesmerized by it. We come together and take God into our bodies…not some spiritual concept but flesh and blood ..no symbol….the real deal. We can never take it for granted. As a convert I remember going from the grape juice of remembrance in protestant church to the offering of the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ in the Catholic church….there is no comparison.
One day while I was giving communion I was looking out and to me it seemed the folks coming forward, old and young alike, wives with children in tow, teenagers sauntering down the aisle and young children being pulled along….one stream of humanity, everyone was somehow glowing with holiness. I could almost see light shining around them. I didn’t have a vision, it was more of a realization. It was very moving for me, as the Eucharist always is.
I then became aware of a voice within – speaking to me. I didn’t even understand it at first. The words I heard were…it is not when my people are at their best and holy that I love them the most, it is their humanity I love.
It is our humanity, our weakness, when we face suffering, when we face doubts, when we turn to him even when we might not even feel him beside us. That part of us that continues to say Yes, Lord I am yours, Yes Lord I am listening.
When in our suffering, when we are in the depths of the valley and we say, I am lost Father, I have no place to turn but you. I cannot do this alone. I give it to you now. Please take this burden from me. When there is nothing left, no one else. In that moment when in our hearts it is only us and God and eternity!
I believe this is when we are closer to God and he loves us the most. We have finally put all of out trust in him.
It is our humanity he loves – our turning once again to him in our weakness – and it only happens for most of us when we are suffering, when we are struggling, when we don’t have the answers and finally realize…again…we are not in charge at all and we need his help.
pause
We can find hope and faith and God in our suffering.
We know that God is not the one that causes suffering. No Jesus tells us today. Suffering is not from God and it is not in retribution for our sin.
But we will face suffering. We cannot follow Jesus Christ who died on a cross if we are not ready to suffer also. It isn’t because he wants it for us but it is part of our existence.
Many people see suffering, see tragedy see the most horrible things and ask why did that happen. Many people think it must be God’s will. Ever heard that. My brother died from a heart attack must be God’s will. A child is lost to his parents at a young age, God must have wanted him sooner. We lost our house in the flood to an act of God. I didn’t get the job, must be God has plans for me as I struggle to find food for my young family. Listen my friends. God never chooses suffering for us. How could that even be possible with a God who is Love!
And asking why God allows it is the wrong question. We don’t live in Eden anymore.
Accidents happen, people make mistakes, evil happens, our world is decaying as these bodies are decaying…. The question is not why do they happen but what are we going to do about it. We will find ourselves in deep spiritual valleys of doubt at times. We will not always have all the answers.
We will enter valleys that test the faith that we found on the mountaintops. But our God is not a distant God who doesn’t know our pain. He is immersed in our pain and suffering. That was why he came to teach us about love and to be nailed to the cross for us. He does understand our hurt, our pain, our suffering.
What we do next always depends on whether we see suffering and tragedies in the light of God’s love, or we see God as overshadowed by suffering?
If we see the light of God, the love of our Father as the guiding force in our life, then suffering will be something we can use to grow in holiness and understanding.
God loves each of us. He loved us before we were born and he will love us forever. If we find our faith and trust in God is not sustaining us perhaps this Lent we need to consider a different Lenten strategy.
Instead of giving up something, instead of thinking of what we can stop this Lent. Perhaps we should ask ourselves how our relationship with God is doing. And ask what do we need to start doing to strengthen that relationship.
A preacher once asked the question to his congregation, if Jesus Christ walked into church today would you know him? Would he look like what you think he would? Would you know him?
There was silence in the pews. The preacher was taking a long time to break the uncomfortable quiet that had permeated the sanctuary.
Even the deacons were quiet as they looked at their feet. Someone in the back finally spoke out. “I think the most important question is would Jesus know me.”
I think that is a good answer. And one we need to consider too.
Would Jesus Christ know us? Sure God knows all of us. He loves us.
But do we have a relationship with him? Have we spent time to talk to him? Share our thoughts, fears, desires, hopes, dreams. Have we treated him like someone we want to know us? Isn’t he the most important relationship we should have?
If we are not spending time with God in prayer, in just conversation, then chances are the God who called Moses and the God who sent his son to be with us is still waiting for us to hold up our end of the conversation. It doesn’t take advanced theology or even complete understanding of scripture. It only takes a gratitude and love for the God who loved us enough to come down to earth and be one of us, to suffer with us and die for us.
If we find we have lost sight of the God of Love, the God of sacrificial love. We may wonder if Jesus would know us if he showed up. We may find Lent to be just something we check off….gave up smoking, gave up chocolates, stopped surfing the net, promise to spend more time the with wife and less time fishing or golfing….but we wont be doing it out of sacrifice or for love of others or God.
There’s a story about a mom who took her children to a crowded restaurant one day. Her six-year-old son asked if he could say grace. He prayed: “God is great and God is good, Let us thank him for the food, and God I would thank you even more if Mom gets us ice cream for dessert. And liberty and justice for all! Amen!”
Along with the laughter from the other customers nearby, the woman at the very next table growled loudly: “That’s what’s wrong with this country. Kids today don’t even know how to pray. The very idea… asking God for ice cream! Why I never.”
Hearing this, the little six-year-old boy burst into tears and he asked his mother: “Did I do it wrong? I’m sorry. Is God mad at me?” The little boy’s mother pulled him over into her lap.
She hugged him tightly and assured him that he had done a terrific job with his prayer and God was certainly not mad at him. Just then an elderly gentleman walked over to the table.
He winked at the little boy and he said: “I know God really well. We visit every day and I happen to know that God loved your prayer. It may have been the best one He has heard all day.”
“Really?” the little boy asked.. “Cross my heart,” said the man. Then he leaned over and whispered into the little boy’s ear. Pointing at the woman at the next table who had made the remark that started the whole thing, he said: “Too bad she never asks God for ice cream. A little ice cream is good for the soul sometimes.”
Naturally, the mom ordered ice cream for her kids at the end of the meal. The little six-year-old boy stared at his for a moment and then he did something that no one in that restaurant that day will ever forget.
He picked up his sundae and without a word walked over and placed it in front of the woman at the next table. With a big smile he said to her: “Here, this is for you. Ice cream is good for the soul sometimes and my soul is good already!’
The people in the restaurant applauded and somewhere in heaven Jesus was smiling… because that little boy had already learned how to look at others with the eyes of Jesus Christ and his sacrificial love.
We are in the middle of Lent. It is time we ask if we really know the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ and if Jesus knows us at all.
Have we have developed a love for others and God that includes giving that love away? Giving our time and blessings?
You see as much as God loves us, as much as we may be blessed by God with nice homes, security, good food and a wonderful church in order to worship Him… If we haven’t given to others part of the blessings and the love we have received we are just checking off boxes. Our relationship with God may be in trouble.
God puts people in our path every day for us to love and to share the good news with by how we live our life. That is what it means to be a Christian. To give of our blessings, to see suffering in light of God’s love for us and to strive every day to grow closer to God.
In the end, we will face our creator with only the love we have in our hearts and the love we have given to others. Did we grow in our suffering? Did we give of our blessings?
We give because we have been given. We love because we have been loved. This Lent we need to trust God more that anything we decide to give out of love will be returned to us many times. For no one can out give God. The greatest giver and lover in the world.
Deacon Tony Pynes 
You must be logged in to post a comment.