People Look Like...

When I was growing up in the 50's and the 60's, I remember there being a strong sense of national responsibility and accountability for the great gifts that we shared as a nation.  There were programs like Peace Corps and VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) established to provide avenues of sharing our wealth, our talents and our time with others in the world who were not as fortunate as we.  We recognized how blessed we were as a nation.  Following upon that came the concomitant responsibility for those gifts.  We somehow knew, if only in our unconscious hearts that "from whom much has been given, much will be expected" (Luke 12:47).

All that began to change in the 1980's.  With the rise of the "Greed Is Good" culture, we started to view those who were less fortunate than we as a threat to our own material security.  Rather than recognizing their human dignity and right to participate in the goods of the earth, we adjusted our perspective so that they became responsible for their own material situation.  Since they had created their own circumstances, we were no longer obligated to alleviate their misery by sharing our abundance.  We were free to simply accumulate and enjoy without thought of responsibility to others.

This background history has been underlined and highlighted in these last months of electioneering as we have come up to the voting next week.  As I listen to the buzz words of the political ads, I am struck by the selfishness that seeps out between the cracks.  The worst name that can be given to a candidate is "liberal".  That used to identify someone who wants to share the wealth and abundance with those who have not.  Now it has come to signify someone who wants to take everything away from YOU and give it THEM (THEM being those who do not deserve anything except the miserable conditions they have put themselves in).

The underlying question that has been raised for me is, how do I (we) view people around me (us).  Do I see them as human beings with a dignity given by God?  Are they my equals with a right to the blessings of the earth with which I have been blessed?  Or do I see them as parasites on the human race trying to get something for nothing?  My attitude towards them and judgment of them will affect not only how I view these elections and how I vote.  More importantly, it will influence my day-to-day interactions with each person I meet.  Ultimately, my perception of reality and the people around me will create my eternal stance before God.  It is impossible to view individuals as anything other than human reflections of the Divine and still be included in God's family.

The only passage in the New Testament where Jesus speaks of the judgment that we will face at the end of our life is in Matthew 25:40.  "Whatever you do to the least of my brothers you do to me."  How we view and respond to those around us has not only political implications, but eternal consequences.

Lord, Teach Me How To Pray

My nephew's wife was recently diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer of the breast.  My sister's husband has been battling a progressive decline due to the onset of Parkinson's disease.  The brother of My Love is undergoing both radiation and chemotherapy for cancer in the lymph nodes near his esophagus.  The list goes on and on of family and friends who are suffering and struggling.

Family members close to them all are requesting prayers.  "Please pray for healing for _____."  "Pray that God will heal them of their disease."  "Pray that they get better so that they can be restored to their family."  "Pray that they can beat this so they can return to their work and support their loved ones."

All these pleas seem good, positive, natural in the circumstances.  Who can argue with them?

Yet, I struggle.  I hesitate.  I flounder in forming my prayer.  What is the best thing to pray for?  I know what I would like to happen for each of them, but is that necessarily the best thing for them.  Only God knows what they really need in their lives at this point.

There is a wonderful story from Early Christian oral tradition.  Whether true or not, it illustrates my point.  Following upon the raising of Lazarus from the  dead in John's Gospel, this tradition says that Lazarus spent the rest of his life (he did have to die eventually!) with a look of sadness on his face.  Never again did he smile for while his body was in the tomb for 3 days, he was enjoying the peace and joy of heaven.  Then he had to come back to this life.  This left him with a sad heart and a longing for eternity.

So how should I pray for those loved ones around me who are suffering and struggling?  I do not want to, nor do I have the right to pray them into a reality that is not going to bring them true peace and joy.  Only God can know what is in their best interest because only God has an eternal perspective.

Then it struck me.  I can wholeheartedly pray that they come to know, to experience, to feel the great love that God has for them.  For if they can come to realize the depth of God's love for them in every fiber of their beings, then they will be totally healed.  Even if they are not cured of their physical maladies, they will be healed in the fullest sense.

So that has become my prayer:  "Lord, touch them deeply with your love.  Let them taste it, feel it, know it on every level of their being, in every relationship of their lives. Let them know that You Are God."  With this prayer I am at peace because I know I have placed them in God's loving hands.  What could be better than that?

We Are All God's People

Tom was the son of Catholic parents and the product of twelve years of Catholic education. He grew up in the full knowledge and formation of his faith tradition and seemed comfortable with that.

However, some years after his marriage, Tom had a difference of opinion with the local pastor and withdrew from the Catholic faith community. Because he was still a faith-filled man, he raised his children in the knowledge and love of God, but without the support and participation of the local parish. As a caring and loving individual, Tom lived out his faith on a day-to-day basis, recognizing the beauty, sacredness and goodness of each person he met.

In his later years, Tom was diagnosed with a terminal illness. Although Tom himself was at peace with his relationship with God, it was his mother who contacted me with her concern that Tom "get himself straightened out" with the Catholic Church. She carried within herself the words of some long-since-dead priest whom she remembered as saying "Outside the Church there is no salvation." She worried about her son and was concerned for his eternal future.

We talked together for sometime as I focused on God's generous love and Tom's loving response during his many years as husband, father and neighbor. Fortunately God does not judge us as severely or harshly as we judge ourselves or one another. Nor is God confined to the limits that we place on His mercy and forgiveness.

Concerning Tom's membership (or lack thereof) in the Church, I pointed out to her the words of the great St Augustine (paraphrased here). In the fifth century, he said: "There are many whom God has that the Church does not; there are many whom the Church has that God does not." In other words, membership in the Church does not assure salvation, just as lack of membership does not preclude salvation. Fortunately for all of us, God sees a bigger picture than we humans are able to grasp.

Tom's future is obviously in God's hands. That is a good place for it to be since Tom knows God and is on a "first name basis" with Him. With this awareness, Tom's mother was also able to find peace in the situation.  We have no responsibility, obligation nor competence to judge one another.  Thanks be to God, that too is left in God's capable hands.

50th Class Reunion

Recently I attended the 50th Reunion of my high school graduating class. It was a wonderful celebration with nearly half of the living members present, though some were more present than others.

Prior to the actual reunion, we had all been given the opportunity to submit an updated status report on our life. These writings were compiled into a booklet, a copy of which we all received at the banquet and dance. What follows is the summary which I sent in to fill everyone in on the happenings in my life since we graduated 50 years ago.

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Choose Life

"I set before you Life and Death, the Blessing and the Curse. Choose Life then that you may live" (Deut 30:19). This scripture passage has been a guiding light for me over the last 50 years as I've tried to make the most life-giving choice at each opportunity.

Following graduation in 1960, I attended Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, where I graduated in 1964 with a BA in Philosopy and a Minor in Education. I then continued my education at Mount St Bernard Seminary, completing my studies in 1968 with an MA in Theology and an MS Education from Creighton University.

After ordination to the priesthood, I served for 28 years in various northwest Iowa (Sioux City diocese) schools and parishes. Alongside those ministries, I was gifted with the opportunity to travel to Germany, Africa, India and the Philippines in order to work with diocesan priests developing their spirituality and fostering a supportive community within their dioceses.

My time in the priesthood culminated in 1995-96 when I journeyed to Bolivia to learn Spanish and work as a missionary in the jungles of northern Bolivia. From that distance, I was also able to gain a new perspective on my life and identify a change of focus for my ministry.

The nuanced call to Choose Life came in the form of my soon-to-be wife, Janella, whom I had known and worked with for more than 10 years. We were wed in June, 1996, after returning to the USA. Settling in southern Texas, we ministered jointly through our professions as Nursing Home Administrator and Admissions Coordinator. It was a blessed time during which we were able to assist people through a difficult period in their lives, both as residents and as care-giving families.

In July, 2008, after losing our home in Texas to the flood waters of Hurricane Dolly, we decided that the Lord was calling us to Choose Life back at our origins. So we moved back to Iowa in order to be near our parents and assist them in their final years. What a blessing it has been to be close by, to be a support to them.

We live outside Cherokee, Iowa, where we rent a small acreage beside the Little Sioux River. I work as the Business Manager at the local Ford Dealership -- a perfect "retirement" job. Our lives are simple, peaceful, filled with the joy and love that comes from Choosing Life.

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With that serving as an introduction, I am picking up my blog again by popular request.  I will attempt to add reflections a couple of times each week in the vein of "Idle Ramblings of a Not-So-Idle Mind."  If you have questions or comments, please direct them to me through either my email (address given on my profile) or in the comment section below.