Catholic Faith Space
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Yesterday I was flipping through radio stations in my car when I came across the popular song “Imagine” by John Lennon. Can we all just agree that it is easily one of the worst songs ever written? Last year, there was a video of a group of celebrities taking turns singing lines of the song that went viral. For some reason, it seems to be a type of anthem that groups of people unite around when life is hard. Aside from the dull, depressing melody that drags on and the whiny singing, the lyrics are quite unpleasant. “Imagine there’s no heaven, it’s easy if you try. No hell below us, above us only sky. Imagine all the people living for today.” I am not sure why anybody would want to imagine this, as if this would make life better or solve all the world’s problems. Hearing this song, I noticed the obvious theme that says life would be better without faith and without God. This could not be further from the truth. I started thinking about faith and how vital it is to my life. To put it simply, without God, what are we living for?
Do you ever stop and think about what life without faith would be like? In the eyes of the world, it’s just about growing up, getting through school, and then getting a job so you can work the rest of your life. Then you die. Oh and don’t forget to be a “good person.” The world says we don’t need God. Our society tells us that there isn’t much of a real purpose to life but to focus on power, pleasure, greed, and doing whatever “makes you happy” without consequences. What is the purpose in all of this? What is the end goal in this? I sometimes think about how I would respond to certain situations or get through difficult times without faith. I often think back to a conversation with my uncle at my grandma’s funeral. “How do people without faith deal with the loss of someone?” Without faith, there’s no hope, no peace, and no purpose in the suffering, trials, and challenges. Having faith means knowing that we do not walk alone. On the flip side, it seems like, without faith, it would be harder to appreciate the blessings in my life and recognize everything good in my life as a gift. Sure, without faith, we would still experience good times and the love of people around us, but who would we thank? To sum it up, in the words of St. John Paul II, “The most beautiful and stirring adventure that can happen to you is the personal meeting with Jesus, who is the only one who gives real meaning to our lives.” Each day of our lives, we have the opportunity to encounter Jesus and come to know and love Him more. It is through our meeting with Him that we can love and serve others. Of course, this does not mean that people who don’t have faith do not have a purpose. Every single life is a gift and has purpose and meaning, whether one knows God or not. Instead of imagining a world without faith, imagine a world where every person comes to realize that life has purpose and that we are here for a reason bigger than ourselves. And that reason is Jesus Christ. Some may want to imagine a world without heaven. I’ll take a world with faith where we can hope in the promises Christ offers. What about you?
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Lent is now upon us. As a season of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, there is a lot we often try to do in order to make the most of these 40 days. Ultimately, Lent is about going into the desert. Just as Jesus was led into the desert by the Spirit. He is calling us to the desert too.
During Lent, we are invited to a barren, desolate place. While we may think of the desert landscapes of the world, we don’t have to leave the current environments we are in to follow Jesus into the desert. We are invited to the spiritual desert of our lives. This is a place away from the business of our lives that allows us to become closer to Jesus. The desert we are led into during Lent allows us to experience greater silence, deeper prayer, and a stronger yearning for Christ. It is a place where we are asked to remove the distractions in our lives, detach ourselves from material items, worldly desires, sinful habits, and all that keeps us away from God. When we empty ourselves of everything that is not Jesus, we will find ourselves searching and hungry. In this hunger and emptiness, we will be reminded that it is only Jesus who can satisfy us. There are many ways we can allow Jesus to fill us. We can spend more time in prayer and silence, attend eucharistic adoration, add in daily mass, go to confession, deny ourselves of certain comforts through fasting, serve others, give to a charitable organization, just to name a few things. During our time in the desert, we need to refocus on what really matters: Jesus’ suffering and ultimate sacrifice for us. In the desert we don’t have to be weighed down by the expectations the world has for us. Instead of hearing what the world is telling us, we can better listen to what God wants for us. Spending time in the desert gives us the opportunity to learn how to surrender ourselves completely to God and His will for us. Wandering through the desert will bring us closer to Jesus and help us to experience his love more deeply. Just as Jesus was tempted, we too will be challenged, stretched, and asked to confront our own weaknesses on our journey through the desert. When tempted by Satan, Jesus placed his trust in God the Father. Jesus knew the Father would provide for Him. May we all follow in the footsteps of Jesus through the desert this Lent, trusting that He will always walk with us. The contents of a small backpack sprawled across the floor. A few items of clothing, a notebook, a thin blanket, and some other miscellaneous items lay before me. This is a typical scene at the organization I work at. Men coming in for the intake process are asked to empty any bags they have when coming in so that a bag check can be completed. As these men’s few belongings are dumped out and then picked back up, I am hit with the realization that these are their lives, all packed up in small bags. Many of them are struggling with drug/alcohol addictions, many of them have come out of prison with nowhere to go, and the list goes on. These are their lives as men experiencing homelessness. Each day, I have the opportunity to love them where they are at and encounter Christ among them.
As much as it hurts to say, my attitude towards people experiencing homelessness was not always one of compassion. It was easy for me to judge and think to myself that it was a person’s fault for ending up homeless and therefore, their own problem to deal with. They just needed to get a job or work harder. My mindset was along the lines of, “If they would not have done ‘this’ or would have done ‘that’, then they wouldn’t be in this situation.” My heart was cold and hardened toward this group of people. Over time, God began to work within this area of my heart. The turning point came during my junior year of college. I was on a spring break retreat/mission trip in New Mexico. We went to visit Catholic Charities in Albuquerque. Something that one of the staff members said stuck with me since that day; “A lot of the people we encounter may have made poor decisions. However, It’s not our job to question why they are in the situations they are in. It is our job to help them.” It’s such a simple statement but it is exactly what we are called to do as Christians. Since then, God has broken open my heart and filled it with love and mercy for those who are homeless. It has become easier for me to realize that homelessness is a lot more complex than it appears and there are many different stories. A lot of times, we might feel uncomfortable when we first take time to acknowledge some of the most vulnerable, poor, and weak, especially when they are in our own backyard. I think one of the reasons I had no compassion for this population was because it made me uncomfortable to acknowledge that it was a major problem right here in Green Bay and the surrounding areas. I didn’t want to believe it. However, we can pray for God to open our eyes and our hearts. We can pray for courage to step out of our comfort zones. We can pray to have eyes that see Christ in others. Maybe there are people that you are struggling to love. Whether it is the homeless, or another group, ask God to soften your heart. Pray to be filled with greater compassion and mercy. When we love others, we love Jesus. May we all learn to better love the least of these. Matthew 25:40 Watching the Super Bowl and the halftime show, I was thinking about how big of a stage it is. Imagine being the halftime performer. There are millions watching and listening to the artist during that chunk of time. While we don’t have quite as big of an audience, there are still people watching and listening to us. The people in our lives and those we encounter see what we do and hear what we say. What, or rather, who, are we presenting to the people around us?
As Christians, we are called to be like Christ. When people interact with us, they should know that we are Christians. This means that our lives should look different than those who do not share our faith. What kind of posts are we sharing and liking on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram? How are we interacting with others on social media, especially those whom we disagree with? What kind of music, movies, and TV shows are we consuming? What kind of language are we using and how are we speaking about others? How are we treating that stranger at the grocery store, the person driving in front of us, and every single person God places in our paths each day? The list goes on and on. What we do, what we say, and the way we live our lives matters. We are human which means that we will mess up. We are all sinners. We will all do things and say things that are not Christlike. When this happens, we need to get back up and keep going. Becoming like Jesus is a life-long process that we need to work at continually. We will never reach the height of perfection on this side of earth. But we cannot let this prevent us from presenting Him to those around us, even when we might fall. We are called to love radically, live abundantly, and give without counting the cost. We are called to show mercy, kindness, and grace. Do people know we are Christians? Do people see Jesus in us? Do our words, actions, and lifestyles reflect Him to the people in our lives? You never know when someone might be inspired by seeing how you live. You may never know the impact you have when you allow Jesus to be reflected in your life. May we all commit ourselves daily to becoming more like Christ. |
AuthorStriving to share hope, joy, God's love, and all of the good stuff, one blog post at a time. Categories |
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