We're going to Texas, boys and girls!

Yes indeed! We're going to Texas, boys and girls! We're gonna do some ropin' and ridin' and have a rootin' tootin' good time!

Ok, so I'm not really planning on doing any roping or riding, but Texas is tomorrow's destination. I know what many of you must be thinking, Texas? In July? Has the man lost his mind?

Here's what I was thinking when planning the trip. It's always good to take a break from work every now and then. It would be good to see my brother and his family. My iconography teacher is there. Austin has great food. And of course there is the heat, can't forget the added bonus of the heat!

Texas summer or not, I am happy to have some time to slow things down before starting my new job as pastor of St. Thomas.

Stay tuned for a round of posts on the creation of a new icon this coming week!

Let us not tire of preaching love

Let us not tire of preaching love; it is the force that will overcome the world. Let us not tire of preaching love. Though we see that waves of violence succeed in drowning the fire of Christian love. Love must win out; it is the only thing that can.

--Archbishop Oscar Romero

Book Review: Jesus Calling

Sarah Young's book Jesus Calling is an excellent resource for those wishing to live the lifestyle of a "Contemplative in Action". Sarah and her husband are Christian missionaries who are seeking to proclaim the Gospel to those they encounter around the world. Jesus Calling is a challenge, especially to those of us who are in very active ministries, to remember the importance of silent prayer. It is a call to place importance upon listening to the Lord, so that our relationship with Him is continually strengthened. It is often easy for those who are involved in ministry to overlook the necessity of quiet prayer with the Lord and Sarah Young's book is a welcome reminder of the need to give attention first to our relationship with God so that we can share it with others.

Often I am less than impressed with devotional books, but Jesus Calling is, in my opinion, a helpful resource for prayer. Sarah Young brings her own dialogue with God into the writing of this book of daily devotions in order to share her own encounters with God with her readers. Her reflections are often quite challenging and each day provides not only messages written as messages from God, but also references to related passages from Scripture. Here is an example from today's reflection:

Trust me in all your thoughts. I know that some thoughts are unconscious or semiconscious, and I do not hold you responsible for those. But you can direct consicious thoughts much more than you may realize. Practice thinking in certain ways--trusting Me, thanking Me--and those thoughts become more natural. Reject negative or sinful thoughts as soon as you become aware of them. Don't try to hide them from Me; confess them and leave them with Me. Go on your way lightheartedly. This method of controlling your thoughts will keep your mind in My Presence and your feet on the path of Peace.

Jesus Calling is an wonderful tool for someone looking for a book with short daily devotions that will draw one closer to God.

Credo Ut Intellegam

I believe so that I may understand.

This is the saying of St. Anselm of Canterbury that is explored in Pope John Paul II's encyclical, Fides et Ratio. John Paul reminds us that

...there is a profound and indissoluble unity between the knowledge of reason and the knowledge of faith. The world and all that happens within it, including history and the fate of peoples, are realities to be observed, analysed and assessed with all the resources of reason, but without faith ever being foreign to the process. Faith intervenes not to abolish reason's autonomy nor to reduce its scope for action, but solely to bring the human being to understand that in these events it is the God of Israel who acts. Thus the world and the events of history cannot be understood in depth without professing faith in the God who is at work in them. Faith sharpens the inner eye, opening the mind to discover in the flux of events the workings of Providence.

I am always dumbfounded by those, especially Christians, who continue to see a dichotomy between faith and reason. It seems clear to me that if we are to claim that God created the universe, how could it be that science would ever lead us away from the truth about his creation? The need by both Christians and atheists to separate faith and reason is a misguided effort. The world that I know is never separated so neatly into individual categories. More often than not things bleed into one another in a way that is beyond our control. As a Christian I continue to be amazed by what science is able to discover as it gives me more and more glimpses into the mind of God. Far from being scandalized by the new discoveries of science, I am humbled and filled with wonder and awe.

There are atheists who are jubilant as science continues to fill in the gaps left to the realm of religion and Christians who continue to be threatened and scandalized by the same discoveries. To both groups I can only reply that the god you are describing is much smaller and much weaker than the one that I have experienced. The one true God would never be threatened by the truth because He is the Truth. Any real discoveries about the universe are old news for Him as they have origin in Him. When we begin with belief and the understanding that our world is intelligible, there is nothing to fear in science's search for the truth. It is only when we rely upon superstition, rather than faith, that problems arise.

Let us continue to be Christians who are seeking the truth and let us have faith that God will never lie to us as we do so.

Freedom Now

The more one does what is good, the freer one becomes. There is no true freedom except in the service of what is good and just. The choice to disobey and do evil is an abuse of freedom and leads to the "slavery of sin." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1733)

Changing the Pace

Tonight I was given the opportunity to slow the pace of what so far has been a full week at the parish. Some friends and I made it up to Smokies Stadium for a game. The Smokies lost, but I felt at home due to their new affiliation with the Chicago Cubs. The highlight of the evening was watching the new Smokies manager, Ryne Sandberg, sign a baseball for a six year old before the game. The kid must know a Hall of Fame second basemen when he sees one. And you know, now that the Smokies are with the Cubs it just wouldn't seem right for them to win all too often.

Wade In The Water

All you who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat; Come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk! Why spend your money for what is not bread; your wages for what fails to satisfy? Heed me, and you shall eat well, you shall delight in rich fare. Come to me heedfully, listen, that you may have life. I will renew with you the everlasting covenant, the benefits assured to David. As I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander of nations, So shall you summon a nation you knew not, and nations that knew you not shall run to you, Because of the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, who has glorified you. Seek the Lord while he may be found, call him while he is near. Let the scoundrel forsake his way, and the wicked man his thoughts; Let him turn to the Lord for mercy; to our God, who is generous in forgiving. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts. For just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down And do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, Giving seed to him who sows and bread to him who eats, So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; It shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:1-11)

Today has been one too full for the energy required to reflect on Fides et Ratio, so I am turning to the Prophet Isaiah. This was the first reading at both my ordination to the diaconate and the priesthood. It has always been a reading that reminds me that God's grace is free. There is nothing I can do to earn it. I do not need to comprehend it, analyze it nor understand why God gives it away so generously. All I am called to do is give thanks. God's word is powerful enough to take care of everything else.