Saint Therese of the Child Jesus - February 20, 2011 - Eric

What's Happening:
Sunday was my first Mass in Spanish since high school. Then Spanish was a very mysterious language, and I would not have recognized any words. Now it is just maddening, I knew what the readings were, and I knew what the homily was about, but my brain won't work fast enough to translate it in real time. I don't speak or understand it word for word, but I get the gist of what is being said.

It makes me think of the Bible. I don't always understand what it is being said, it is written in the language of love. This is the language of God; love. I don't speak it very well, and many times I don't understand when it is spoken to me, but I get the gist of what is being said. The Bible, the story of God's love for us, is not written in our native tongue, but His. It tells the story of love, commitment, and forgiveness that we, as flawed humans, don't speak on our own, but we can learn the same way we learned English, Spanish, or any other language, by listening, by reading, and most importantly through imitation. We can learn to speak the language of love by imitating the actions of Christ and caring for those people right around us in the way that Jesus cared for us.

Lord, teach me how to speak with your love. Amen

Me, Jenna, Joe, Terry, Frank, and Marilou. A big Mass Chaos welcome to Jenna!

Location and Architecture:
Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus is tucked away in a corner of Omaha that I have never been to before, and that is a not an easy statement to make, although I will be making it again next week. Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus is on the middle floor of a three story building. The statuary and decorations are colorful, and the old altar against the back wall has amazing detail. Although there is no stained glass windows, the worship area is surround by natural light, bringing everything to life.

If you'd like to see the rest of my photos of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, you can see them here.

Gospel:
"So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect." Matthew 5:48

Ugh! This was really the sound I made when I started to think about something to write about this. 'Be perfect'. How can I be perfect when A) I'm not. B) I don't wanna be. C) I'm still not? Jesus must have known that this is beyond my ability to accomplish on my own, right?

Of course Jesus understood this. The main problem is B) I don't wanna be. As long as I keep working on B), God certainly can and will work on A) and C). Effort is a large part of the grade, so get cracking and try. If you know something is wrong, talk about it, or do anything different to get yourself out of your bad habits. You can be who you and God want you to be, desire and prayer will get you there.

Prayers:
Please pray for:
The people and countries of the Middle East that are in turmoil, that they can experience freedom, social justice, and peace.
Amy and Shannon for protection on their missions.
Kevin as he prepares for his final year of seminary and the priesthood.
Marcus as he has been accepted into seminary and will be discerning the priesthood.
My friend M., who is pregnant, please pray for her and her baby.

Next:
February 27th @ 12:00 (noon) Saint Francis of Assisi, 4521 South 32nd Street, Omaha.

Saint Adalbert's - February 13, 2011 - Eric

What's Happening:
I had to laugh as I walked up to the front of Saint Adalbert and saw the sign on the door. I immediately thought "skateboarding is not a crime", something that I thought of frequently as a younger man. Not that I am coordinated enough to actually skateboard myself, but I hung out with plenty of kids who could and did. We'd get chased off from wherever we were standing around, all the police in my little town knew us by name. I knew that my little group of friends didn't mean any trouble, even if we did manage to find it on occasion, but it was usually when we 'thumbed our nose' at the authorities chasing us off for not following the laws and rules.

Still, society benefits when the great majority of it's members follow the same set of rules. We as Catholics also benefit, greatly, from all being on the same page. We trust each other, and we trust the roles each of us has in the body of Christ. I take a good deal of comfort knowing that some of the smartest, holiest people are here to guide me, not just those that we count amongst the living, but also those who have gone before us to heaven, who left the example of their lives and writings to help us along.

I'm not a conflict person, but age has taught me that conflict is not necessarily a bad thing. As Christians and Catholics existing in the world, we know that our faith is not always appreciated in society at large, and we may find ourselves in conflict with others and authorities, not of our own choosing. When these situations occur, we should meet the issue head on with patience and love, but not backing down from what we believe. Wisdom is choosing when to engage in conflict, and when to take your skateboard and go somewhere else.

Me, Beth, Marilou, Brianne, Teri, Joe, and Tom.
In the next picture taken (almost) everyone was doing the thinker.

Location and Architecture:
Althought the outside of Saint Adalbert is unremarkable, The inside of the church is very attractive. It is extremely well lit, with beautiful, colorful stained glass, we have seen some amazing stained glass two of the last three weeks. I know I mentioned this about Saint Mary's, but I loved the fact that the glass is at eye level, and the detail can be easily seen. I have a friend who very much likes 'harmony' and 'balance' in most design, I think she would have enjoyed Saint Adalbert's, no one feature of the church dominated any other, and it was very peaceful.

If you'd like to see the rest of my photos of Saint Adalbert, you can see them here.

Gospel:
Let your 'Yes' mean 'Yes,' and your 'No' mean 'No.' Anything more is from the evil one. Matthew 5:37

This Gospel reading (Mt 5:17-37) provides lots of opportunity to squirm in your seat, and I do every time I read it or hear it. I am hopeful that God will provide mercy on me, because I know if I wasn't guilty, I wouldn't squirm. It certainly is not a bad thing for us as human beings to squirm, we need to be reminded of our frailties, or if not we, I sure do.

This particular verse that I've put above is one that I've very much taken to heart and made a part of my life. The note on this verse says:

Let your `Yes' mean `Yes,' and your `No' mean `No': literally, "let your speech be 'Yes, yes,' 'No, no.' " Some have understood this as a milder form of oath, permitted by Jesus. In view of Matthew 5:34, "Do not swear at all," that is unlikely. From the evil one: i.e., from the devil. Oath-taking presupposes a sinful weakness of the human race, namely, the tendency to lie. Jesus demands of his disciples a truthfulness that makes oaths unnecessary. copied from usccb.org website

I really have tried to make my yes be a yes, and my no be a no, to be honest in all my words. This doesn't just make my life easier by not having to remember my stories I told to who. Hopefully it takes the burden off of the people I deal with because they don't have to worry about what I am saying either. Look, I know I am not perfect with this, let alone anything, but I know this is something that just by trying to do, it has changed my life for the better.

Listening to what Jesus has to say has changed my life, it will change yours too.

Prayers:
Please pray for:
The people of Egypt, and other countries in turmoil, that they can experience freedom, social justice, and peace.
Amy and Shannon for protection on their missions.
Kevin as he prepares for his final year of seminary and the priesthood.
Marcus as he has been accepted into seminary and will be discerning the priesthood.
My friend M., who is pregnant, please pray for her and her baby.

Next:
February 20th @ 11:00 Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, 1423 Ogden Street, Omaha.

Peace, Eric

Saint Matthew the Evangelist, Bellevue - February 6, 2011 - Eric

What's Happening:
Mass Chaos is now 3/4 of the way finished, and I've found myself caught up in "what's next" scenarios. I've received questions from friends, and I've caught myself thinking about it myself. I guess it's in human nature to consider the future, and the past for that matter. When I took my first psychology class, I remember being taught that a child only is concerned only with the present, an adult is concerned with the future, and the elderly are concerned with the past. I think it's fairly accurate about the smallest children, but adults are more complicated than that.

Thinking too much about the future is not super productive, there are so many factors that are completely outside of our control. Certainly, as adults, we have to plan for what we're going to do, and prepare for many contingencies. Not just for ourselves, but for others, such as family or coworkers. However, our thinking about the future should not take us out of the present. Likewise, the past is outside of our control too, even more so than the future. Considering the past and what could be different is probably as ineffective of a behavior as we engage in. While it's important to learn the lessons that our experiences teach us, but dwelling on the past is as ineffective behavior as we engage in.

I think that I've learned to try keep myself in the present, but not like a small child would. A small child is in the present, but it's all about me and mine (yes, I know adults like this). I try to keep it in the present, but without a focus on myself, the focus is on God, the of His wonder of creation and how to serve other people, not in a global manner, but instead what is right in front of me. I get to enjoy the moment and worries disappear ... and hopefully I hear the voice of God in the stillness of the here and now.

Teri, Ben, Marilou, me, Beth, Frank, Brianne, Frank, Jen, Lindsay, Patrick, Joe, and Vesper. Now imagine people packed this close together in Culver's when we went for lunch.

Location and Architecture:
Saint Matthew the Evangelist, 3605 Looking Glass Drive, Bellevue. I learn something new every week, Saint Matthew's meets in the gym at the school, so the pictures were taken don't have any stained glass, or permanent fixtures. Does the building make it a church, or do the parishioners? Saint Matthew's calls itself a Catholic community, not a Catholic church, and the Diocesan website says Parish. Obviously as Catholics we are concerned about authority and legality, but at some point, the building is not as important as the love as the parish community. Even without a permanent building, Christian love was tangible in the gathering of His people. On a personal side note, the church history tab on the parish website says the parish became official on May 6, 1996, which is the day after I came back to church.

You can see all of my pictures of our visit to Saint Matthew the Evangelist in Belleuve here.

Gospel:
"Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father." Matthew 5:16

I have a difficult time with this because I understand my own position as a sinner. I know that there are people who are wonderfully supportive of me who might argue with me about this, but I know my desires, I know my thoughts, and I know my history. Although I understand that I have good facets to my personality, I have plenty of space for improvement. Additionally, I don't always do the best job of tooting my own horn.

So how do I, as a sinner, let my light shine before others? Considering that the word here that Jesus uses is "must", it's not optional. So somehow I have to overcome my sinfulness and let my light shine. There is one easy way to do that, it's just to simply talk about what God has done for you.

I'm now approaching my 15th year since I walked back into church. My friends, I was so clueless that I went back to church because I thought my ex-wife needed to go, not because there was anything wrong with me. I lived everyday in fear, self centeredness, and drama. God has brought me so far, out of my fear, out of my self destructive behavior, and replaced the drama with serenity.

In retrospect, I can see how badly I lived my life then, and how much better it is now. There is only one reason I've come this far, and that is having a God who is personally interested in me and my life. If it were my will alone, I'm not certain I would have changed at first. With God guiding me, not only have I changed, but now, I look forward to what He wants me to be. God is really good.

Lord help me to be your light in the world.

Prayers:
Please pray for:
The people of Egypt, and other countries in turmoil, that they can experience freedom, social justice, and peace.
Tom who is deployed to Afghanistan, and his wife and two daughters.
Amy and Shannon for protection on their missions.
Kevin as he prepares for his final year of seminary and the priesthood.
Marcus as he has been accepted into seminary and will be discerning the priesthood.
My friend M., who is pregnant, please pray for her and her baby.
Me to be free of this back pain.

Next:
February 13th @ 9:30 Saint Adalbert, 2110 South 32nd Avenue, Omaha.

Peace, Eric

Saint Mary's Omaha - January 30, 2011 - Eric

What's Happening:
I had a pretty amazing weekend, and I'm quite worn out. I feel so blessed to know so many amazing people and have the opportunity to do so many things. About 12 or 13 years back I went through a phase where I wouldn't leave my house. I sat in the house, doing nothing, and liked to complain to anyone who would listen, and God, how dull my life was and how I didn't have any friends.

I particularly liked to be bitter about being romantically lonely, and yet I didn't dare leave my own house nor meet anyone new. Don't get me wrong, I prayed about it plenty, but the longer it went, the more entrenched I became. I basically ended up telling God that I would believe that He had someone for me when He put someone at my door, and I refused to do anything else about it.

I went to the July 4 fireworks show at Roseblatt, and as it was back in the day, I had a pager. However I lost it somewhere on the ground in between the stadium and parking lot. I spent a couple stressful days paging myself, and wondering if I would ever see the thing again. Three or four days later, at 12:30am, I got a call from a young woman who found it. She said she would deliver it, and that her and her friend would bring it right over. Now it can be easily debated whether this was a good idea or not, but it is what happened. They returned the pager, and I thanked them very much.

It was several hours later (yeah, I worked nights at the time) that I realized what had happened. After telling God what to do, and how to do it ... He did. I could practically hear God and all the saints and angels giggling at the joy of the conversion of my bitterness to joy. As I meditated on this, I realized that I didn't have to make it so difficult for God to bring joy in to my life (meaning I'm the difficult one, not God), I could take joy in what was right in front of me.

My friends, difficult times will come to all of us. This being said, opportunities for joy will come to us all too. In fact, more joyful and amazing things will come in to your life than bad ones. You have to be brave enough to go where led, do the best with you have in front of you, have a great attitude, and above all trust God.

Beth, me, Marilou, Frank, Lindsay, Brianne, Kat, Joe, and Frank. It was nice to be back with my friends at Mass after a week off.

Location and Architecture:
Saint Mary's, 3529 Q Street, Omaha. Okay, I admit it, I've driven by Saint Mary's in Omaha, oh about a thousand times, and never gave it much thought. The cross on the front of the church that incorporates a stained glass window is cool, but I actually thought the church itself was closed. Happily I was wrong, the inside of this church is gorgeous. It's got those nooks I love so much, plus paintings, statuary, and the stained glass may be the most interesting I've seen yet, and assuredly the most accessible, since it's at eye level.

You can see all of my pictures of our visit to Saint Mary's in Omaha here.

Gospel:
"Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy." Matthew 5:7

A few years back, I contemplated on each of the beatitudes for a while. I admit that some seemed difficult as to how to incorporate some of them into my daily life. This one, however seems to me to be incredibly easy to understand.

"I desire mercy, not sacrifice". The sacrifice here is meant to be an altar sacrifice, but I think of it in another way. What or who are you willing to sacrifice to get what you want? It's really easy when things are going well to turn a blind eye to those in need, I mean things are going well for me, right? Or how about when we point the finger at the other guy in order to preserve what we have? We are all too ready to sacrifice another to keep what we have, but Jesus calls us to sacrifice what we have, even our lives, for the good of another.

It's easy to close down our hearts and concentrate on the faults and circumstances of others and not see that they too are just as loved by God as we are. Being merciful is to acknowledge that everyone needs help, mercy is giving the other guy all the breaks you would like to have yourself. Mercy is praying that God brings every one of us to heaven, as we wish to be brought there ourselves.

Prayers:
Please pray for:
The people of Egypt, and other countries in turmoil, that they can experience freedom, social justice, and peace.
Tom who is deployed to Afghanistan, and his wife and two daughters.
Amy and Shannon for protection on their missions.
Kevin as he prepares for his final year of seminary and the priesthood.
Marcus as he has been accepted into seminary and will be discerning the priesthood.
My friend M., who is pregnant, please pray for her and her baby.

Next:
February 6th @ 11:30 St. Matthew the Evangelist, Bellevue, 3605 Looking Glass Drive, Bellevue.

Peace, Eric

St. Mary - Brianne

"Ponder anew, what the Almighty can do."

Have you ever heard a line in a poem or read a passage in the Bible and found yourself stuck on one line, reading it over and over and over again? For me, I tend to find that liturgical music speaks to me in the same way. I hear a song, and for some reason, find its lyrics running through my head.

This Sunday, at St. Mary, we sang a song I had never heard before. The song, while unremarkable (I cannot even remember the name of the song, or the tune) sang "Ponder anew, what the Almighty can do." That line spoke to me - I even took the time during mass to jot that line into my smart phone.

Then, in typical space-out Brianne fashion, I spent most of the rest of mass thinking, "have I ever really taken time to ponder what my God has done in the first place?" and "How do I ponder anew?" and "WOW... he's done a LOT!"

If I were to take the time to list each of my blessings, one by one, that alone would be enough for me to be in awe of what the Almighty has done. But then to read Genesis - and think about the story of creation - it is pondering the Lord in an even bigger fashion. I could go on and on about all that He has done... and maybe I need to. Do you? Have you taken the time to think about what He has done in your life? Or for others around you? This week, I invite you to "ponder anew, what the Almighty can do." It is sure to make you feel peace and awe.