Why do we follow Jesus?

"Jesus has many lovers of His heavenly kingdom, but few cross-bearers. Many desire His consolation, but few His tribulation. Many will sit down with Him at table, but few will share His fast. All desire to rejoice with Him, but few will suffer for Him. Many will follow Him to the breaking of the bread, but few will drink the bitter cup of His Passion. Many revere His miracles, but few follow the shame of His cross. Many love Jesus when all goes well with them, and praise Him when He does them a favor; but if Jesus conceals Himself and leaves them for a little while, they fall to complaining or become depressed. They who love Jesus purely for Himself and not for their own sake bless Him in all trouble and anguish as well as in time of consolation. Even if He never sent them consolation, they would still praise Him and give thanks. Oh how powerful is the pure love of Jesus, when not mixed with self-interest or self-love!"

— Thomas à Kempis, Imitation of Christ, p. 88-89

Are you looking for peace?

"The Spirit of God is a spirit of peace, and he speaks and acts in peace and gentleness, never in tumult and agitation. What’s more, the motions of the Spirit are delicate touches that don’t make a great noise and can penetrate our spiritual consciousness only if we have within ourselves a sort of calm zone of silence and peace. If our inner world is noisy and agitated, the gentle voice of the Holy Spirit will find it very difficult to be heard. If we want to recognize and follow the Spirit’s motions, it is of the greatest importance to maintain a peaceful heart in all circumstances."

— Fr. Jacques Philippe, In the School of the Holy Spirit, p. 37

Restoration of a life….

I saw her in the day room of the Lodestar Day Resource Center. Her appearance was not that of someone who looked like they should be in the day room. Her clothes were clean, her hair hidden under a cute cap, her lips were adorned with lipstick. As I smiled at her, she returned a smile and a question, “Are you the chaplain?” “Yes.” “Can we talk?”

I invited Jan into my office. “Do you think God can show up in the middle of a mental health breakdown?” “Yes.” We talked about how her life, physically, emotionally, relationally, socially had collapsed around her leaving her homeless. Apparently, her family had stolen her wealth, leaving her homeless. “Through tears she said, “The greatest heartache I have is that my family turned my daughter against me and I have not seen her for three years.” She shared with me that she did not have any background in any religious faith. “I was not raised to believe in God. My mother was an atheist. When I had my breakdown, God visited me. I want to learn more about God.” 

I talked to Jan about a verse in the Bible that says God will give back the years the locusts ate (Joel 2:25). I shared with her how I had seen God do this for people. I prayed with her a prayer of faith that God would restore her life. I invited her to join our twice weekly Bible studies. She came twice a week for several weeks to eagerly learn more about God. 

One Monday morning Jan showed up and announced that she would be moving into an apartment with a patio in about 10 days. A week later she appeared for Bible Study and announced that not only did the apartment have a patio, it had a backyard so she could have a dog! I reminded her that God gives more than we ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20)! 

A few days after moving into her apartment, Jan called me excitedly to report that her daughter and her were now talking and seeing each other. 

We continued to touch base over the next days. I asked Jan what she needed for her apartment. “I need a dresser.” I contacted John Thurston, Chairman of the Chaplaincy Board who is a very active volunteer with the Kiwanis Thrift Store in Carefree, AZ. John located a beautiful dresser. But how to get it to Jan’s house? I contacted John Humphrey, a Chaplaincy Volunteer who had been leading Bible Studies that Jan had been attending, as I knew he had a pick-up truck. In a few days the dresser was delivered. While John was delivering Jan’s dresser he met her daughter. Her daughter asked John many questions about the Christian faith and said she wanted to be baptized. John invited Jan and her daughter to his church. While Jan has moved into her apartment, she returned this week for John’s Bible Study with the clients of the Human Service Campus. 

Ronald Friesen © 2018

Chaplain for the Homeless

Praying for those suffering from Mental Illness

This evening I was asked to pray the Invocation for the 23rd Candlelight Service for the Mentally Ill. Here was my prayer:

Eternal God, giver of life we gather here this evening to pray for our community, for each other and especially those who suffer with a diagnosis of mental illness.

Among us this evening are those who live with mental illness, we pray for your healing mercies to touch them, strengthen them, love them.

Some among us suffer from the diseases of addictions that hold them captive, we pray for their healing.

We commend to your mercy and defense all who are contemplating suicide today, right now. Bring someone or something to intervene.

For the families who have lost a loved one to mental illness, bring them comfort in trusting that your grace accepts their ill loved one, despite the final desperate act that brought them into your loving arms. 

Empower us to speak up for those who do not have a voice; save us from making peace with the injustices in the social systems that have failed them. 

Guide those who do research for the prevention and treatment of mental illnesses; uphold them with your compassion and diligence. 

For those who are in recovery and for treatments that enable them to return to full and rewarding lives, we give you thanks. 

For those who work daily to bring healing, comfort and justice for those who live with mental illness we give thanks and pray they may have the strength to carry on their work.

Heavenly Father, Giver of life and health, we trust that in your time and way, you will dispel all darkness with your light, all confusion with your order, all fear with your peace. Shalom. 

What is your faith worth?

This blog is from Fr. Richard Rohr's reflection on St. Oscar Romero

Persecuted for My Sake
Sunday, October 14, 2018

You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom. . . .  And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble. —Matthew 5:10,12, The Message

Today Óscar Romero (1917–1980) will be named a saint by the Catholic Church. As Archbishop of San Salvador for the last four years of his life, Romero was a strong, public voice for the many voiceless and anonymous poor of El Salvador and Latin America. When he preached in the cathedral on Sunday mornings, I’m told that the streets were empty and all the radios where on full volume, to hear truth and sanity in an insane and corrupt world.

Here is a man who suffered with and for those who suffered. His loving heart shines through clearly in his homilies:

The shepherd must be where the suffering is. [1]

My soul is sore when I learn how our people are tortured, when I learn how the rights of those created in the image of God are violated.  [2]

A Gospel that doesn’t take into account the rights of human beings, a Christianity that doesn’t make a positive contribution to the history of the world, is not the authentic doctrine of Christ, but rather simply an instrument of power. We . . . don’t want to be a plaything of the worldly powers, rather we want to be the Church that carries the authentic, courageous Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, even when it might become necessary to die like he did, on a cross. [3]

In his homily on March 23, 1980, the day before he was murdered, Romero addressed the Salvadoran military directly:

Brothers, we are part of the same people. You are killing your own brother and sister peasants and when you are faced with an order to kill given by a man, the law of God must prevail; the law that says: Thou shalt not kill. No soldier is obliged to obey an order against the law of God. No one has to obey an immoral law. And it is time that you recover your consciences. . . . In the name of God, then, and in the name of this suffering people whose laments rise up to heaven each day more tumultuously, I plead with you, I pray you, I order you, in the name of God: Stop the repression! [4]

The next day, following his sermon, a U.S.-supported government hit squad shot him through his heart as he stood at the altar.

Only a few weeks earlier, Romero had said:

I have often been threatened with death. I must tell you, as a Christian, I do not believe in death without resurrection. If I am killed, I shall arise in the Salvadoran people. I say so without boasting, with the greatest humility. . . . A bishop will die, but God’s church, which is the people, will never perish. [5]

Romero’s epitaph reads “Sentir con la Iglesia” (“To be of one mind and heart with the Church”); these words were his episcopal motto, his promise to share the suffering and strength of the people he served.

[1] Óscar Romero, Homily (October 30, 1977). See Through the Year with Óscar Romero: Daily Meditations, trans. Irene B. Hodgson (Franciscan Media: 2015, ©2005), 17.

[2] Homily (December 5, 1977). Ibid., 28.

[3] Homily (November 27, 1977). Ibid., 24.

[4] Homily (March 23, 1980). Ibid., 175.

[5] From a telephone interview with newspaper correspondent José Calderón Salazar. See James R. Brockman, Romero: A Life (Orbis Books: 2005), 247-248.

Adapted from Richard Rohr, “St. Óscar Romero,” The Mendicant, vol. 8, no. 4 (Center for Action and Contemplation: 2018). The print and digital issue of CAC’s newsletter will be published later this year.

Come be united with God...

Today is Worldwide Communion Sunday. 

Here is a something to think about if you go to a church today and participate.

"Whenever we receive Communion, we enter into communion with the Holy Trinity. Did anybody ever tell you that? With each reception of Holy Communion, we experience, already here on earth, the same divine activity that we will one day experience in all its fullness in heaven—the divine activity of love eternally taking place within the Trinity . . . God wants to live his triune life in us. We are called to be dwelling places for the Holy Trinity and to enter into a personal relationship with each of the persons in God."

— Vinney Flynn

God, give me more strength!

"Even though we know that God’s will and commandments apply to everyone, we do not always have the strength to fulfill them. Now, every time we respond faithfully to a motion of the Spirit, out of desire to be docile to what God expects of us, even if it’s something almost insignificant of itself, that faithfulness draws grace and strength down on us. That strength can then be applied to other areas and may make us capable of one day practicing the commandments that up until then we had not been capable of fulfilling entirely."

— Fr. Jacques Philippe