Christ’s Seven Last Words: Another Side

By Gabe Garnica

As we make that powerful turn into Holy Week and Beyond, we reflect on Our Lord’s Seven Last Words as Seven Balances we each must make on our own journey toward our crosses.

First Word

“Father, forgive them , for they know not what they do.” Luke 23: 34

We understandably take Our Lord’s first word as reflecting his Divine Mercy and compassion. Who among us could ever pray for, much less forgive, those who hate and hurt us? Yet this is yet another clear indication that Christ is the ultimate paradox to this temporary, superficial, secular world. He asks us to love so much that we can forgive so much and forgive so much that we reflect only love for the other regardless of how the other has treated us. However, there is another side, a balancing aspect, to this First Word.

Christ asks that his Father forgive his murderers due to their ignorance. They are teeming with hatred for him precisely because they are confused and misguided. In a word, they are lost. The balancing side to Christ’s compassion and Divine Mercy then, is our duty to seek, to search out truth, clarification, reality, and a better understanding of ourselves, others, and the situations we face. Ignorance may be bliss to some, but it is not so for the true follower of Christ. As such followers, we are called to relentless responsibility grounded in love and service. Cowards and fools find comfort in ignorance, but courageous followers of Christ have an unflinching passion for truth because they have a relentless thirst for Christ, who alone is truth.

Let us seek, then, to embrace Our Lord’s Divine Mercy with a wrap of personal responsibility and relentless pursuit of truth. Let us welcome the mission of destroying ignorance and bringing light to others so that they may seek Christ as well. Let us reject the excuse of ignorance for such tactics do not work with God. The ultimate responsibility of being a christian is that we look to Christ and not to excuses.

Second Word

“Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise.” Luke 23: 43

Again, we see Our Lord’s transcendent Divine Mercy which has no clock and only shows relentless love and compassion. Here, he forgives a sinner with two strikes, two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning using baseball terms. How often do we measure contrition, compassion, and forgiveness as if doing our taxes? Our Lord’s mercy once again points to the paradox of his love for us. He is truth and justice personified and embodied, yet he is also mercy and compassion epitomized as well. However, yet again, there is another, balancing side to this Second Word as well.

Our Lord practices what he so often preached regarding the importance and joy of finding the lost sheep. Yet, this second word challenges us to pursue Christ consistently and not be content for last minute reprieves. If we do our best to be Christ to others, we will be able to love and serve those others throughout our lives and not be mired in simply saving ourselves. Yes, Christ’s promises are as good as gold. However, this second word invites and challenges us to be humble and shun overconfidence that Our Lord will save us. Confession and Our Lord’s Divine Mercy are not some mere get-out-of-jail cards on Monopoly or a Free Spin on Wheel of Fortune. The challenge of this second word is to follow Christ because we love him and not merely because it is nearly twelve midnight and our carriage is about to become a pumpkin.

Third Word

“When Jesus therefore had seen his mother and the disciple standing whom he loved, he said to his mother: Woman, behold thy son. After that, he said to the disciple: Behold thy mother.” John 19: 26-27

Many see this Third Word as a call to take The Blessed Mother as our own, loving and following her example of humility, faith, and obedience. However, once again we need to see the balancing aspect of this Third Word as well.

Every Christian should see Christ as the ultimate GPS to the ultimate destination of salvation in heaven. Beyond this, however, we are challenged here to see Mary as the GPS to Christ himself. In order to do this, we need to embrace and embody her example of loving and serving God even when we do not fully understand what God wants us to do. Mary combines faith and trust in God’s Will in a beautiful and humble way that we all should follow.

It is clear and true that This Third Word invites us to love and honor Mary as our mother and see ourselves as her children. However, the second, balancing side of this Third Word is that, like Mary, we are called to bring Christ to a world which desperately needs him. Following Mary’s example is not a spectator sport lined with rosaries. Rather, it is an active, participant mission calling us to be ministers delivering Christ to everyone we meet.

Fourth Word

“And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying: Eli, Eli, lamma sabacthani? that is, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Matt 27:46

Jesus is both fully human and fully divine, and his divinity allowed him to know that his suffering would achieve its purpose. However, his humanity allowed him to feel the despair that we can all feel when things seem hopeless. Many take this Fourth Word as a representation of that difficult situation, and of the idea that following God’s Will can often not be an easy thing to do. We all can certainly relate to feeling abandoned, betrayed, or forgotten by those around us, especially by those we assume love and care for us. Beyond these ideas, however, we can find two other, balancing sides to this Fourth Word as well.

First, despair and hopelessness is a normal part of being human we can all and will feel from time to time. Following Christ means falling on the way to our mission as he physically did three times. The key, however, is that following Christ does not truly begin when we merely fall, despair, or feel hopeless on our journey toward salvation. Rather, following Christ most truly begins when we get up from those falls that come our way as Christ got up.

Second, when God is our goal, all despair and hopelessness will yield to hope, faith, and anticipation. We all experience fear, regret, sorrow, despair, hopelessness, and even a temptation to give up, to surrender and throw our hands up. However, if we keep Christ in our sights and hearts, all such feelings will fade before the majesty of Christ’s relentless and transcendent love for us. Despair is followed by hope and faith when Christ is involved.

Fifth Word

“Afterwards, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, said: I thirst.” John 19:28

A few years ago, I read for the first time how this Fifth Word represents not only Our Lord’s physical thirst but also his third for souls to save. I thought that this idea was such a beautiful and touching representation of t his Fifth Word. However, here too one can see a second, balancing aspect to this Fifth Word.

God has prepared a cup for each of us. Our mission and purpose in life is to drink fully and lovingly from that cup. The cup will contain happiness and joy as well as sorrow, pain, and disappointment. Many of us either refuse to drink the cup altogether or merely try to drink the cup partially, sipping from what seems like good things and avoiding the tough stuff. If we truly love God and seek to serve Him and follow His Divine Will for our lives, we need to fully and lovingly drink all the His cup for us means. It is not enough for us to be willing to drink of that cup as if it were some homework assignment or chore. In fact, it is not even enough for each of us to welcome that cup and all it brings. Rather, we must actively thirst to drink that cup, to serve and love Our Lord, and to please God Almighty despite our many faults.

Ultimately, our lives must reflect that thirst. We must see our journey as a continuous struggle to satisfy the thirst of loving God and following Our Lord and helping others do so as well. Christ expressed this thirst for souls when he had accomplished his mission. We are called to embody this thirst for serving and loving God and others in order to accomplish our mission.

Sixth Word

“Jesus therefore, when he had taken the vinegar, said: It is consummated.” John 19:30

We all understand this Sixth Word to show that Christ was nearing the end of his earthly mission to enable our salvation. However, perhaps we can also see the other, balancing side of this Sixth Word to mean that following Christ and fulfilling God’s purpose and mission for our lives is something we must fully accomplish to the best of our ability. We are each an investment of God’s wonderful gifts, blessings, and graces. The true question is whether or not we will each yield the interest and gain of that investment as God intended us to be. Regardless of how large our pool of resources is to fulfill our life mission and purpose, we are each called upon to fully actualize whatever potential for love and service God has given each of us.

In a way, fully following Christ means we are never finished by the standards of this world. This is so because our measure and standard is found in heaven and follows different quotas that this world’s merely superficial and temporal standards represent.

Seventh Word

“And Jesus crying with a loud voice, said: Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And saying this, he gave up the ghost.” Luke 23:46

Certainly, we will see this Seventh Word as Christ willingly and obediently giving up his spirit to his Father. It is a reminder that we begin service of God with obedience, faith, trust, and a willingness to wrap our will with the Holy Will of God. However, yet again and in a final balancing perspective, we may see this Seventh Word as confirmation of the idea that all we are, do, say, think, and achieve in this world is of no consequence if it is not done for the glory of God and serves God’s Will and purpose for our lives.

Regardless of how this world sees us, what ultimately matters is how God sees us. We can find no better satisfaction that satisfying our Heavenly Father with what we have done in this world. Let us see each season of Lent as a reminder that our lives are lent to us by God and we will each be called to give an account of what we have done with this gift of life we have been given. In the end, we must each return this gift back to the Creator Who alone gives life and Who alone should take it.

Conclusion

Each Lent we each struggle to stumble behind Our Lord’s example of loving service and obedience to God and loving service to others. With varying success, we each try to carry some sort of cross or consider that crosses we may carry in this effort to justify our designation as so-called followers of Christ.

Ultimately, however, it will be how sincerely, humbly, lovingly, and purely we carried out that struggle that will determine if that label of follower of Christ is justified. Let us see these powerful Seven Words as further guides in that effort.

2019 Gabriel Garnica

This Lent Crucify Your Despair to Christ’s Cross of Hope

By Gabe Garnica

Scripture teaches us the difference between despair and hope in the persons and reactions of Judas and Peter. Peter denied even knowing Our Lord three times, felt great sorrow over his actions, and sought Christ’s mercy in loving, selfless, surrender to the Hope synonymous with Divine Mercy ( Mk 14:66-72). Judas, however, wallowed in self-pity and despair, too obsessed with self to fathom that Christ would or could forgive his sin and perhaps so proud that he preferred guilt over redemption and death over humility and contrition for his sin ( Mt 27:4-5).

Join the Club

I have often heard comparisons between Peter and Judas in terms of how they each betrayed Jesus, but only recently did I really consider just how large this betrayal club really is. After all, did not all of the apostles, except for John, betray Jesus. Running for the hills and scurrying under the bed when your friend and loved one is in trouble is not exactly loyalty and dedication. Did not half or more of the people in Jerusalem betray Jesus as well? After all, they welcomed him with open arms less than a week earlier and gladly accepted his miracles curing their various ills only to either turn on him at the slightest suggestion or cower in corners as he was led to his most unjust death. Don’t we all, in fact, betray Our Lord every time we pompously pump our chests declaring total allegiance to him only to pathetically fall for the same tired sinful script which has brought us down in the past? Common sense, and human nature, would indicate and dictate that the club of Jesus betrayers reads more like the universal phone book than anything else. Sure, Judas messed up big time. However, he was clearly too self-obsessed to look at Our Lord in humble contrition and simply allow Christ’s Divine Mercy to defeat even the greatest of sin. Simply put, Judas preferred to die with self than to die to self and actualize everything Jesus had taught him over the previous three years.

The Comfort of Despair

You may wonder how despair can ever be comfortable. Do we not associate despair with extreme stress and crushing hopelessness? Yes, we do, yet I suggest to you that we often prefer such stress and hopelessness because it both fits our secular model of self and selfish model of resolution on our terms. We only feel hopelessness and despair when we wallow in our own situation as compared to the situation we envision for ourselves instead. Who feels greater hopelessness, the student who sees everyone else getting As in math while he fails or the one surrounded by failures just like himself? Satan wants us to focus on how we fall below the standards that Christ calls for us. He wants us to become immersed in just how we fall below everyone else and simply give up. Christ, however, wants us to focus on how merciful and loving he can be and how we can believe in that mercy and love and get up when there are hundreds of reasons not to.

However, despair is comfortable despite its pain. It fits our secular and self model of martyrdom in self. Look at my pain and sorrow, feel my stress and emptiness, and taste my hopeless situation. It is all about me and my pain and suffering. Despair is convenient. Once we despair, we have a ready and willing excuse for drowning in self-pity and doubt. Loving God and following Christ, however, is not about feeling this world’s comforts. If anything, this world makes such love and service very hard. Therein, however, lies the value of rejecting the comfort of despair. We see and feel the ready-made excuse of hopelessness that the devil gleefully offers to us and push away from it in favor of reaching out to a God this world ignores, mocks, patronizes, and disrespects regularly.

The Discomfort of Hope

Again, here we see an ironic reversal of the expected. How can hope be uncomfortable? Is not hope synonymous with comfort, convenience, satisfaction, and relief? Would we not rather have hope than be without it? The true answer is yes and no. If we buy into Christ’s message of trust, love, service, and mercy, then hope is everything. However, if we subconsciously or consciously buy into this world’s message of self, excuses, and taking the easy way out, hope is a heavy burden to bear. With hope comes accountability, responsibility, expectation, and even demands. How? Which team is expected to fight hardest to win a game, the one down by one point or the one down by twenty points? Nobody expects anything from a team down by too many points to have a chance and many, if not most, would not be too critical of that team mailing it in the rest of the game and giving up.

Compare this, however, with a team down by one single point giving up a game and one can see how the reaction would be so much harsher. Giving up when there is still hope is considered cowardice. Giving up when there is no hope is considered surrender. Refusing to give up even when there is little or not hope is considered noble and even heroic. Hope is indeed a cross to bear for anyone embracing it. The difference is that those whose hope lies in trusting Christ believe that their hope is both justified and practically assured of fulfillment. By contrast, those whose hope lies in trusting self are prone to the doubts and weakness of the human condition. In both cases, there are potentially crushing expectations. For those hopeful in Christ, however, that heavy cross is borne with the support and inspiration of Our Lord’s example. Those hopeful only in themselves, others, or this world will bear the heavy burden of expectations alone.

True Hope in Christ is Surrender to Love and Mercy

The Via may be Dolorosa, but the ultimate reward is so great that any pain on the way is more than justified. Lent and Calvary call on each of us to push away the easy excuses, the ready-made rationales, and the convenient surrenders to human nature and the values of this world. We each have the opportunity to pick up the cross of hope in Christ and turn it into the final resting place of our despair. We can nail that despair and hopelessness to the hope that Our Lord offers to each of us. Divine Mercy is the transcendent assurance that no sin or sinner is beyond the hope of Christ. The devil is the pathetic purveyor of the lie that reaching for Christ is an exercise in hopeless futility.

It is truly ironic that the devil, the prince of self, happily offers each of us the easy excuse that we have no hope in saving ourselves. Lifting ourselves in the hope of Christ’s Divine Mercy should be an easy fulfillment of our loving trust in Our Lord. This world, however, paints that hope as a burden too heavy for our defective and weak shoulders to bear. Once we surrender to this world’s distorted sense of hope, despair is the ready substitute. The second irony lies in the fact that despair only brings more despair as it pushes us further into the slippery slope of sin.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus asked those arresting him “Whom are you seeking?” ( Jn 18:7). That is a question which each of us must answer for ourselves. If we surrender to and embrace Christ’s example of love and mercy, we will find a true hope in Christ on which we may nail our despair forever. However, if we are merely seeking ourselves, we will be enslaved by that despair forever as well.

2019 Gabriel Garnica

My Way is Not Always The Answer

By Gabe Garnica

I Did It My Way…..

We all know the story of how Abraham and his wife Sarah tried to sidestep God’s promise that they would have a child despite their old age ( Gen 16:1-16). Rather than trusting and waiting on God to fulfill His promise, these two used her maid Hagar to result in that long-awaited child only to end up with family jealousy and turmoil that still rages today through their descendants.

This initial story of a fall reminds us of a very familiar human tactic with God. We ask Him for something and then set a subconscious, unstated deadline on that request. This time limit may not be express or concrete as in a certain date, but it will at least be an openness to finding some sort of shortcut to our desired goal. We ask God to find us a mate and then go on 45 online dating sites to sift through pathetic examples of potential mates which will either lead nowhere or, worse, somewhere worse than where we are now.

Others will ask God for a job and grab a job God clearly would not want them to have. Still other folks will pray for something and then grow impatient and even bitter when the desired result does not come. I have often been guilty of this, using my supposed petition more as a purchase order than a humble request from a Creator to Whom I owe everything I have and am already. Therein lies the core problem: we should spend most of our day thanking this wonderful, generous, and loving God who invites us to trust and love Him enough to ask for more. However, our weak and defective humanity leads us to go overboard and either ask for too much or, just as bad, please-mand, which is my new word meaning demand with a please on top.

Abraham and Sarah were so wrapped up in what they wanted, what they probably felt that they deserved, that they did not stop to consider what God wanted and deserved from them: simple faith and patience. All too often, we sing Frank Sinatra’s hit My Way, proud to have handled things our way on our time and on our terms. However, is that what God deserves from us?

Close Your Human Eyes and Practice Blind Faith

As defective people moving in a defective world, we need to close our eyes from time to time and ask ourselves who or what our daily GPS is or should be. All too often, we will find that expediency and practicality often push us to find our own way on our terms without even asking God to chime in. We will fool ourselves into pretending that we are doing a very busy God a solid by handling things ourselves. After all, how sick of you would your plumber be if you called him every single time your sink was slow?

The truth is, God wants us to be assertive and independent in many ways, for that is how we will grow as human beings. However, God’s definition of those traits does not include brushing Him off like some meddling uncle. Our Lord wants us to always have Him on speed dial when we need Him. It never hurts to ask for God’s help and give God time to respond, His way. That is not to say that we will foolishly wait four decades for something we need to decide soon. What it does say is that we should give God a reasonable time to respond. That response by the way, may be no response, which may still be a response on God’s terms. Begin with the conviction that God knows what is best for us and run with that. Abraham and Sarah did not do that above; they gave God the keys and then used a brick to open things their way.

The Gideon Pill

I refer to the Gideon Pill as God’s way of showing us who is boss. He will wait beyond our patience or beneath our means to accomplish miracles, just so we know who performed those miracles. The Israelites had to wander in the desert forty years before entering the Promised Land due to their disobedience and lack of faith. God waited until there was no doubt He was doing the work for them and until He had stamped out the last of the disobedient doubters (Num 14: 1-21).

One of my favorite Bible stories is that of Gideon; a military leader, judge, and prophet chosen by God to defeat the Midianites and avoid slavery for his people. God reduced Gideon’s army to 300 men against a vast enemy in order to leave no doubt who was responsible for the victory( Judg 7:2-8). We all need the Gideon Pill from time to time, being put in situations where seemingly God is the only way out just so we can grow in faith, appreciation, and obedience to such a wonderful God.

Abraham’s Recovery

An even more famous story than those noted above is Abraham’s great response of obedience to God’s request that Abraham sacrifice his only son Isaac ( Gen 22: 16-18). God knew how much Abraham waited for and loved his son, so He put Abraham to the test of sacrificing everything for God which, of course, Abraham passed with flying colors. Abraham had learned his lesson from the Hagar mistake. He knew that loving and trusting God is not something you dip your toe in. You are either all in or you should get out. Nothing of this world is worth losing God.

Conclusion

This world tells us to show off and prove we can handle everything ourselves. Certainly, one of the signs of maturity is the greater ability to be independent and self-reliant. However, regardless of our age, we all need God at all times and need to remember that. Like Abraham and Sarah, we sometimes think we know all the answer but, like Gideon, we all learn soon enough that God is pulling all the strings one way or the other.

This world tempts us to run everything in our lives our way, on our time, on our terms. What we need to avoid, however, is that we are not running away from God in the process.

2019 Gabriel Garnica

5 Ways to Wait with Purpose

By Jeannie Ewing

Advent is a perfect liturgical season to apply what we have learned and understand about the spirituality of waiting – its purpose and gift for us from God. Because taking a lofty spiritual concept can be difficult to break down in terms of practical application to everyday living, it’s important to understand particular steps that can assist us in using our seasons of waiting with intention.

This Advent, try to be sincere in your effort to wait with purpose. Turn to God with these five ways of entering into dialogue with him as only a guideline to understand more deeply what he is asking of you or telling you in your time of waiting.

A brief preface of these five steps is this: You may enter into the first few cyclically for months or even years before you reach the prepare phase. This is because preparation often requires a very refined and fine-tuned faith in which God will chisel and prune you in order to move you closer to a specific call or mission.

Listen

We can never expect to glean clarity in our uncertainty or holy tension if we don’t regularly enter into the sanctuary of our own hearts, nestled in silence. Solitude is absolutely imperative for us to hear God speak to our hearts.

Though it’s difficult to do in my current state as a wife and mother to three young daughters, I create a sacred space every day to enter into the heart of God through silence. This is how I begin my daily prayers and devotions. I gather my prayer journal, daily inspirational flip calendar, liturgical companion Magnificat, and seasonal devotions, if applicable. Then I breathe and gaze at an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus mounted above our holy water font in the living room.

Listening means we turn our ears toward another. We must eliminate every distraction possible if we are to effectively hear that “still, small voice” within.

Ponder

Sometimes God is silent when we seek him in solitude, but there are occasions when he will give you a bold message. Prepare yourself for all sorts of surprises led by the Holy Spirit! When you read Scripture, and a particular word or phrase or passage really jolts or sears your heart, pay attention. Write it down and mull it over for a few moments.

Ask some questions about it. For example, while I was writing Waiting with Purpose, the words “wait” or “be still” or “trust in the Lord” came to me frequently during the listening and pondering stages of prayer. I kept asking God what he wanted to teach me and wrote down the thoughts that inspired the book.

Pray

After you formulate some questions, bring them directly to the Lord in conversation. Pour your heart out to him – your fears and doubts, your anxiety or concerns, your excitement or restlessness. Give him everything that flows forth as you delve more deeply into your own heart in search of his.

You are conversing with the Divine, so there’s no need for format or formulae here. It’s just your heart language speaking to God’s heart.

This stage will likely lead you back to listening, pondering, asking more questions, and praying again. You will likely engage in this process for quite some time before advancing to the last two.

Prepare

Over time, you might discern that God is asking something specific of you. Everyone’s mission will look different, of course. But the point is that you receive a divine assignment, based on the pattern of listening to and speaking with God.

If and when this happens, you will need to find a good spiritual director if you haven’t already. This person needs to be objective in matters of guiding you more deeply into accepting your holy assignment and discovering what that means. Think of St. Teresa of Calcutta whom Jesus asked to found an order serving the “poorest of the poor.” Or St. Teresa of Avila who heard the Lord tell her to reform the Carmelite order.

God asks some people today to become overseas missionaries, write books, enter into a specific vocation, found a non-profit, lead a parish ministry, and so on. Regardless of the assignment, know that he has something specific in mind for you. Be attentive and vigilant like the wise virgins who kept their oil ready for the Bridegroom’s arrival.

Act

Again, you will need a spiritual director to guide you before you actually go forth to begin your mission or ministry. The point is to be ready for whatever God asks of you. It seems as if waiting lingers forever, but once God acts in your life, he moves quickly. This isn’t always the case, but you will find that timing is such an important piece to your waiting experience.

This post is an abridged version of Chapter 6 in my book, Waiting with Purpose: Persevering When God Says “Not Yet.”

This Just In: God Wants Us to Re-Gift!

By Gabe Garnica

The recent Gospel on the poor widow’s mite ( MK 12: 38-44) reminds us that loving God means giving Him everything we have at all times. The 3 poorest folks in Christ’s time were the handicapped, beggars, and widows. Given this reality, many would snicker at any poor widow foolish enough to give what little she had to corrupt men running a corrupt temple. However, we might do well to consider three valuable lessons from this Gospel and the widow’s example.

Keep Your Eyes on God and Nowhere Else

The widow must have been a pathetic sight in the eyes of a superficial and judging world. Clearly destitute and likely desperate looking, she must not have inspired much admiration to earthly eyes. Many in her state would have been too ashamed or too self-conscious to even approach the place of offering. However, this woman only had eyes for God and nobody else. Inspired by a true love of her Lord, she merely wanted to express that love in some tangible way. Needing every coin she could get her hands on, she nevertheless trusted that God would provide as she sacrificed.

One thinks of Cain murdering Abel (Gen 4:1-8) because Abel gave his best to God while Cain did not and resented God being more pleased with Abel’s total giving. Abel gave God his best because God is all that mattered to him. By contrast, Cain clearly loved himself more than he loved God because he kept his best for himself. Likewise, one is reminded of Abraham preparing to offer his only son Isaac simply because God asked him to do so (Gen 22:1-19). What greater love, obedience, faith, and trust can one have than to be willing to offer one’s only child to please God? My youngest daughter is mystified that God would ask anyone to do such a thing, but I have told her that it was all a test and Abraham passed with flying colors. Abraham’s willingness makes sense if one keeps one’s eyes on God. However, the more we let our gaze stray toward this world, the more absurd Abraham’s actions appear to us. Keep your eyes on God because He is all good, all just, and all loving–and let your faith and love do the rest!

God Will Multiply Our Humility and Subtract Our Arrogance

Let us note God’s majestic irony! Abraham offered his only son and God rewarded his obedience by multiplying his descendants. The boy offered Christ his only food of five loaves and two fish and Our Lord rewarded his unselfishness with food for everyone (Jn 6: 9-14). Now, that boy brought that food either for himself or to sell it to a hungry crowd. Either way, he scrapped his self-interest to serve God and set the stage for a miracle of multiplication.

If God blesses our humble offerings, we may expect Him to reject arrogance and self-interest. In the case of the poor widow’s offering, we note that Christ dismissed the ample offerings of the rich and scribes as so much empty self-affection. Again, no matter how much we give, if our intentions are merely to look good or appear holy, that giving is not genuine and sincere but self-interested and superficial. We should only seek to impress God and, even then, more with our motives and actions than with our mere words.

Over 140 years ago, a little, poor Philadelphia girl named Hattie May Wiatt discovered that her church needed a larger Sunday school building to accommodate the many children who were unable to fit into the smaller structure that existed then. She wanted to do something to help but, sadly, died very soon afterward. Her mother gave the pastor Hattie’s purse containing 57 cents (the equivalent of $15 dollars today) which little Hattie had saved to help. Moved by her unselfish and humble generosity, the pastor informed the congregation. Soon, newspapers spread the news of this little girl’s actions, inspiring many donors. As a result, not only a larger Sunday School, but also a hospital and an expansion of Temple University resulted. From this little, innocent girl’s unselfish love of God’s Word, a multiplication miracle occurred.

God Has Given Each of Us The Right Gifts to Offer

As a New Yorker, I have seen just about everything. One day, a man entered a subway I happened to be taking to work and began singing. He was easily the worst singer I have ever heard. Now he was clearly trying to sing well, but his voice was just terrible. The people began giving him money, so he would go away. Despite his hefty haul that afternoon, I would argue that this man was not offering the right gift to others. I am fairly certain that my singing would make that poor man sound like Frank Sinatra but, thankfully, God has given me a few gifts to offer back to Him and others. I can write, speak, and teach well enough to offer these to Our Lord, and I will continue to try my best to offer these humble offerings. I know that I have a long way to go and that I need to keep trying harder, but I am ready to keep up the effort as best I can.

We all have a responsibility to discern what gifts God has given us. We all then have a responsibility to figure out ways to offer these gifts for the love and service of God and others in that order. Any gifts we use merely for ourselves, much less to harm others or ignore God, are not fulfilling God’s purpose. The right gifts, then, are those gifts clearly given to us by God based on our talents and aptitudes. People who cannot stand the sight of blood are not called upon to be doctors, and folks who hate math are clearly not called to be engineers. However, all of us are called to serve God through the gifts He has given each of us.

Our duty as children of God can best be summarized by one of my favorite saints, St. Therese, “The Little Flower,” who once said that one’s goal must be to present oneself before God with empty hands because one has given away all of God’s blessings to others. This great, humble, yet profound saint also said that when one loves, one does not calculate. Let us each love God and others so much that we do nothing but offer our talents and gifts in service and love leaving all calculations and judgments to God Almighty.

2018 Gabriel Garnica

Seven Ways to Observe Advent with Children

By Amanda Woodiel

Photo by Stefan Schweihofer (2018) via Pixabay, CCO Creative Commons

Perhaps you too have had the experience of preparing for Christmas, only to realize that amongst the candy-making, the letter-writing, the present-purchasing, the tree-trimming, and more, you never got around to spiritual preparation, even though you really meant to this year.

If you would like to add a more reflective or penitential note to your family’s Advent observance, check out the seven ideas below to get you started. Choose one (or two), gather what you will need, and start a new family tradition!

Jesse tree

The idea:

Recall salvation history. Use ornaments decorated with symbols to represent the events and stories leading up to the birth of Jesus and hang them on a tree of some kind (the tree is so named after Jesse, father of King David–see Isaiah 11:1).

What you will need:

You can order a kit. Check out Etsy for some beautiful ones.
You can do it yourself…you need something to be the tree, something to make ornaments, and a Bible or knowledge of Bible stories. I use a book that has reproducible ornaments. Each year I photocopy one set of ornaments for each child. I cut out a large Christmas tree shape from wrapping paper and tape it on the wall. Each day (when all goes well), the kids color their ornaments while I read to them the passage from the Bible corresponding to the symbol they are coloring. They then cut out their ornaments and tape them on the tree.
The tree can also be a bare branch set into a mason jar full of stones or sand, and the ornaments can be hung on it with loops of ribbon.

Advent stockings: good works

The idea:

The family does a spiritual or corporal work of mercy (or other charitable act) each day of advent. For example, we might give away a piece of clothing; pray for an end to abortion; pray for our priests; call someone who might be lonely, etc.

You need:

Slips of paper listing the good works you will do (see the end of this post for ideas).
Something to put them in. I have mini stockings with numbers on them, which we hang up. Every evening I put a slip of paper in the next day’s stocking, choosing the activity based on what can fit into our family calendar. But you could easily do the same with numbered envelopes or, if you are really adventurous, just put them all in a mason jar and see what you pull out!

Making soft Baby Jesus’ Bed

The idea:

Family members make sacrifices and do good acts throughout Advent. For each one, they lay a piece of straw or hay in an empty manger, trying to get the bed as soft as possible before Baby Jesus will be born on Christmas morning.

You need:

Raffia, hay, straw, grass, or strips of yellow construction paper.
Some sort of manger.
Baby Jesus statue.
I bought one similar to this for our family.

Advent wreath

The idea:

Four candles represent the four Sundays of Advent. Three are purple to represent penance; the fourth is pink for Gaudete Sunday (the 3rd Sunday of Advent. Gaudete means “joy,” and the priest will wear rose-colored vestments). On the first Sunday of Advent, light the purple candle that is diagonal from the pink one. Say a prayer of longing for Our Savior. Every evening light this candle, accompanied by a prayer, and each successive Sunday light an additional candle.

You need:

An advent wreath/candle holder
Candles

Salvation history candle

The idea:

Similar to a Jesse tree but for the artistic. You will draw on a large candle (about 2 feet tall) the scenes from salvation history, starting with Adam and Eve at the top and Baby Jesus at the bottom. You will burn the candle throughout Advent.

You need:

A church-style large candle, 51% beeswax, about 2’ tall. Can be found at stjudeshop.com
Drawing implements

Planned read-alouds

The idea:

Read advent and nativity books during Advent: either one story per day in a book of collected Advent stories or separate books.

You need:

A book with a collection of 22-28 Advent stories (here is the one we have); or
22-28 picture books that are Advent-related, about saints whose feast day falls in Advent, or about salvation history. If you choose this option, you might want to wrap them in wrapping paper and number them, opening up one on each day.

Piece-by-piece nativity set

The idea:

Rather than give a little piece of candy in an Advent calendar, each day brings another object or person to add to the nativity scene, starting with the stable/cave and ending with Baby Jesus.

You need:

You can buy a set online that has the requisite number of pieces; or
You can make one yourself out of felt, bringing out one piece each day; or
Your children make their own paper nativity set, coloring a piece every day using free printables online.

____________________

Resources:

Here is a list of good works you might use for your family’s Advent stockings.

Do something nice for someone in secret today.
Look around your room. Is there anything you can give away to the poor?
Do an extra chore today.
Try hard to be cheerful in everything you do today.
Draw a picture of the nativity.
Read about a saint today.
Pray for your priest today. Could you offer up a sacrifice for the Church today?
Pray for an end to abortion today and give away something to moms in need.
Pray for the deceased today. Could you make a sacrifice for the souls in purgatory?
Pray for persecuted Christians today and learn about a country where they do not have freedom of religion.
Pray for people who do not know Jesus. Is there something you could do extra as an offering for them?
Pray for your family today. What can you do to help your family be more like the Holy Family?
Pray a Rosary today.
Pray the Chaplet of Divine mercy.
Do an examination of conscience tonight, and if possible, schedule Confession sometime soon.
Take a meal to someone in need.
Make a card to send to someone who lives far away.
Call or invite someone over who might be lonely.
Read the Nativity story from the Bible.
Make ornaments to send to the nursing home.
Do something for someone else that you normally don’t want to do (such as offer to play a game you know he likes).
Eat all of your food with a good attitude (even if you don’t like it) and be grateful you have it.
Sing a song to baby Jesus or make up a poem for Him.
Act out the nativity or part of the salvation story or do a puppet show.
Give money to the poor. You may do an extra chore and give away any money you earn.
Bake something and give away half.
Write or draw a thank-you card for someone.
Make a gift for your priest or staff at your parish church.
Give away food to the food pantry.
Give away a piece of warm clothing.
Work on memorizing a Bible verse.
Go to morning Mass.
Give up something you like to do or eat today and offer it up as a prayer for someone in need.
Wrap up something you have and give it to someone.

Passive Waiting and Suffering Well

By Jeannie Ewing

We established that no one likes to wait and that a small fraction of our waiting experiences is what we term active, or Advent waiting. What, then, comprises the majority of those periods of life when we linger in tension, when we are in between or feeling stuck or lost?

Passive waiting is when we move from a place of knowing specifically that God will complete some good work He has begun in us to becoming entirely unaware and uncertain of what He is doing or asking of us. We move from subject to object in passive waiting. For example, if you are late to work and get stuck in the midst of unexpected construction, you are experiencing passive waiting. If you just had a biopsy and have to spent an agonizing week not knowing if you have cancer or not, you are in passive waiting.

These times when waiting is painful, when we do not choose to suffer, is precisely what makes life worthwhile. It’s not because of the suffering itself; it is because of what Passion gives birth to, that is, Resurrection. We know that suffering is not the end and that our tragedies can bring about beautiful blessings. But how do we understand passive waiting so that we can learn to suffer well, or at least better?

The Gift of Helplessness and Dependency

Maybe you or someone you know has recently become injured or suffered an accident that left him/her incapacitated. Maybe you have fallen ill with a terrible malady and simply cannot keep up your active lifestyle anymore. Maybe you are disabled.

These are all examples of the helpless state, whether temporary or permanent. And when we can’t move around like we’re used to – going to work, doing household chores, taking care of our families – we feel guilty, as if we are a burden. But God shows us the hidden gift of helplessness, because He deliberately sent His Son as an infant totally dependent on His Mother’s love and nourishment:

The popular imagination discerns nothing in God: no dependence, no waiting, no exposure, nothing of passion or passibility…and therefore, when these conditions appear in the life of man, they must appear fundamentally ‘ungodlike;’ and therefore again they must appear alien to the proper status of man and unworthy of his unique dignity. (W.H. Vanstone quote from Waiting with Purpose, p. 87)

So when you find yourself in a helpless state, know that you are not alone and that God longs to reach you in your suffering.

Preparing for Mission

When we suffer, we gain wisdom and life experience that cannot be replicated by books or rhetoric. Our experiences, then, shape us fundamentally. They make us stronger, more compassionate, and resilient. Even more, they lead us to mission.

You probably didn’t ask for your sickness or your child’s disability or your spouse’s Alzheimer’s. You didn’t want to lose a friend to addiction or a parent to cancer. Yet all of these atrocities can lead us to accompany others who are suffering similar afflictions. We are more equipped to handle their pain when we have already been through our own journey of grief.

Entering Your Resurrection

I learned something extraordinary while researching my book, Waiting with Purpose: all of the Greek verbs used to describe Jesus’ life and ministry were in the active tense until He was handed over in the Garden of Gethsemane. He spoke to His apostles at the Last Supper, “My work is finished” but immediately before expiring, “It is finished.” These are powerful examples of how working isn’t the be-all-end-all to life’s meaning and value.

Your true work is to suffer with Jesus and learn to suffer well. This doesn’t mean perfectly – just well. That means you will have moments when offering up your pain in solidarity with Jesus’ or someone else’s pain is effortless and other times when it’s impossible. The point is to keep moving forward in your own passion, knowing with confidence that your own Calvary journey will lead you to new life in Resurrection, whether in this life or the next.

This post was adapted from Chapter 6 in my book, Waiting with Purpose: Persevering When God Says “Not Yet.”

Love For God = Love For Neighbor

By Sherine Green

Last Sunday’s Gospel Mark 12:28-34, is a challenge for us to examine what it means to love the other and also what it means to love our God.

In 2018, we have many opportunities to love with all our mind, heart and strength. The challenge is to prayerfully reflect, find and take advantage of the opportunities to love the poor, the victimized, the lonely, the sick, the orphaned, the immigrant and the marginalized.

How can we practically love God and not know our neighbor: their suffering, their pain, their fear? The gospel challenges us to do what’s right, help others even when it’s inconvenient or difficult for us, and to be a blessing in another’s life!

Teach Love for All People

To love another is to get to know them through the outstretched arms of Jesus.
To get to know another means it will take much energy, much strength, much of our heart to deepen and solidify that relationship.
To help another means vulnerability has to be offered to those we meet. It is in relationship building that we understand what it means to love: in the gifts and the challenges; through the hard stuff of life. In the circumstance of pain, we are called to love others in their own suffering; we are called to love in the moments of joy.

Bring Friends and Those We Meet From Different Backgrounds Together

What if your dinner table at Thanksgiving could include people from many faith groups or religious groups?
What if we could serve love and offer hope to another person in need of hope?

Volunteer: Serve the Poor

Each year we embark on a mission trip to a mission organization called Mustard Seed. In our encounter with the poor, we become wrapped up in their joys and pain.
Loving God and neighbor is a challenge to volunteer, to serve the poor and to receive the blessings of the poor as well.

Visit Places of Desperation

Visit prisons, detention centers, hospitals, impoverished urban cities, or rural areas.
Join mission trips to Third and Fourth World Countries

Theological Reflection

What does it mean to love God?

What does it mean to love our neighbor as ourselves?

How do we love our neighbors near and far: ones who are like us and ones who are not like us?

Ponder

Love for God and love for neighbor is our Catholic response to all who we will encounter today.

The Joy of Expectant Waiting

By Jeannie Ewing

There are so many beautiful words to describe active waiting: expectancy, joy, pregnancy, anticipation. It’s what we tend to experience during the Advent season. Active waiting (also called Advent or expectant waiting) evokes incredible hope in us, because we are on the cusp of watching how God’s plan unfolds for a specific promise.

A few points pertaining to this type of waiting will guide us as we move through our own journey. Think of the popular song, “I Wonder As I Wander” for this type of expectancy. A seed has been planted. Its in the germination stage right now, and what is required of you is to be vigilant and patience until the time of flourishing – which God determines – arrives.

We Wait In Community

Let’s look to a beautiful example of expectant waiting – the Visitation. What did the Blessed Mother do as soon as she heard the news of Elizabeth’s pregnancy and after she accepted the invitation to bear the Son of God? She went in haste to share this joy with her cousin! They were both pregnant with a promise, so they gathered together in friendship, in community, to allow the seed of human life to grow within them.

When we wait in joyful anticipation, we remember that ‘nothing is impossible for God.’ (Waiting with Purpose, p. 47)

Have Confidence in God’s Promise

One of my favorite saints-to-be is Blessed Solanus Casey. He is well known for his famous quip, “Thank God ahead of time.” What does this mean for us when we are waiting – often with a certain amount of restlessness or tension – for new birth, new life, or a new phase of life to begin? We focus on who God is and all He has already accomplished in our lives. It’s important to thank God for all that He has done, is doing, and will do for us. That’s what expectant faith is – it’s faith that is confident in God.

We know He will act, and we pray accordingly – with expectation of answered prayer.

Expect to Move from Community to Contemplation

God often prepares us for a particular mission in cycles and seasons. We know this from our waiting experiences that somehow give way to seasons of activity and then back to dormancy. If expectant faith relies upon our lives in relationship, then we know we are being formed by those to whom we are closest – family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, spouses, children.

The people who live with us see us at our best and worst. They might draw out specific flaws or weaknesses – tendencies toward impatience, for example. As we enter into prayer each day, God reflects this reality to us so that we might allow Him to further chisel away the imperfections that deter us from spiritually advancing.

Then, one day, or perhaps gradually, we will move from a stage of activity to the desert. Community tends to precede contemplation, in that God draws us – whether quite literally (as in the case of an anchoress or hermit) or interiorly – into a more reflective state of solitude. It is during our time in the desert when God guides us more directly, though we cannot see or feel much of anything.

We wait – always in joyful hope – whether in community or contemplation.

This post was adapted from Chapter 3 in my book, Waiting with Purpose: Persevering When God Says “Not Yet.”

Breakthrough Resources

By Lisa Mladinich

Coaching happens in the gap between where you are and where you want to be

Image courtesy of Pixabay

Dear Friends in Christ,

Attached are the resources I shared in my recent webinar for Catholic creatives, utilizing coaching techniques to break through in life and art. Please feel free to email me with questions or to request additional resources. I may eventually create a monthly newsletter for breakthrough resources if it seems helpful, but in the meantime, I will keep updating this page.

Text or Email the word COACHING for information on private breakthrough coaching and/or groups for Catholic creatives.

Text: 631-235-9340

Email: lisa@mladinich.com

Coaching is About Your BEST Life:

Breakthrough: a prayerfully facilitated exploration of your challenges, personal values, dreams, and goals brings accelerated progress toward living a powerful life
Empowerment: learning to live into your authentic values and vision creates clarity and momentum, as you acquire skills that last a lifetime
Satisfaction: learning and growing beyond your expectations, while knocking down barriers to success
Teaching: optional group sessions provide a like-minded association of Catholic creatives prayerfully connecting and providing support, as participants learn from each other’s insights, struggles, and successes

Private Coaching:

1 free, private introductory session to help you decide if coaching is for you
3 private, 45-minute sessions per month, by phone
Sessions begin with a brief prayer, which you may lead if you like
Each session is a gentle, guided exploration of whatever brings you to the coaching conversation
As the client, you are always in charge of the focus of every session
As your coach, I listen deeply and prayerfully to what God is speaking into your heart
I stay open to wherever that exploration takes us and ask powerful questions that help you step into new perspectives
Coaching provides clarity that allows us to co-design steps toward your goals, with your preferred level of accountability
Many additional resources are provided or recommended, as needed
It is my pleasure to provide ongoing support between sessions
$180 per month

Breakthrough Group Coaching:

1 free, private introductory session before your group begins
2 group sessions per month, online
1 private lesson per month, by phone
No more than five participants to a group
Every online session includes a short presentation on a topic of interest to the group
One-on-one coaching, LIVE, in the group–with each participant in control of the focus of their coaching
Takeaways, support, and observations from the group accelerate growth
$125 per month

CREATIVITY BOOSTERS (summarized from recent webinar)

Mind-mapping for non-linear brainstorming: https://www.mindmapping.com/mind-map.php
Writing with pen and paper to get ideas moving faster
Working out to release the subconscious
Napping to awaken to creative ideas
Dressing up to change your perspective
Reading to calm your brain and generate ideas

RIGHT-BRAIN ACTIVATORS

Asking open questions: who, what, why, how, when?
Doing something backward (writing, walking, using your non-dominant hand)
Naming wrong (spend a few minutes pointing at things and saying the wrong name for them)
Sensory stimulation (get outside and use your senses)

Breakthrough Resources

FREE self-assessment tools for gifts and clarifying purpose: (Perhaps start with the VIA strengths test—a well-regarded alternative to Clifton Strengths.) This site has other assessments as well. https://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/testcenter

values-exercise (superb worksheet for identifying core values, as a basis for visioning and purpose work)

Creating a Statement of VisionPurposeMission (worksheet with Scriptures)

18-Wheel-of-Life-Exercise

LIFE_CALLING_ASSESSMENT

Goal-setting Worksheet (.jpg)

Remember that you are irrevocably gifted and called:

For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.

(Romans 11:29)