Pray the week: Lord Jesus, grant me introspection. Help me to examine my instincts and motivations. Give me the grace to do all things as You command.
How can I even
consider these things?
But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one as well. If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand over your cloak as well. Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go for two miles.
Prime Bishop Anthony, writing in God’s Field, discusses the Pre-Lenten season. He says:
“If we examine the Gospel of these three Pre-Lenten Sundays we will see that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ is asking us to search beyond the normal rules of right and wrong. He asks us to go beyond even our actions to examine our motivations.â€
He goes on to say:
“During the Pre-Lenten season the Church calls us to consider these words of our Lord and through them to examine our lives and our motivation. And especially we are called to take a deeper and deeper look into all things that we do as Christians and as members of Christ’ s Church. We must measure ourselves, not only by a few commandments, but on the whole Gospel of love, which has been given to us by Jesus Christ.â€
Over these Sunday’s we are asked the impossible. We are challenged at the deepest possible level. Why do we do what we do?
Often times we live off instinct. It could be as simple as driving to work, to the store, or to church. We go on autopilot. The lights, the traffic, the streets, even the potholes are known to us. Sometimes we arrive and we don’t even remember how we got there.
This can happen in other areas of our life, even in prayer and charity. In prayer we recite the words. In charity we put the same amount in the envelope. Jesus is calling us to do something far more serious – to live beyond rote and instinct.
Author Jodi Picoult in her book Mercy says: “If God wanted us to act on instinct, we wouldn’t have the power of reason.â€
This Pre-Lent we are called to live consciously. It is not just consideration of the words we pray or how often we pray – but asking ourselves – Why do I pray? It is not just thoughts of how often or how much I give – But why do I give at all? Jesus is giving us a deep and serious challenge. Are we “perfect, just as our heavenly Father is perfect?â€
Every moment of our lives is to be carried out with consideration. If instinct tells us to do the usual and respond to evils in the usual way, stop and do the unusual: consider whether our reaction, our habits, reflect life in Christ. Every action, thought, and response, every routine, must be one with God’s way. We must consider, think and act to make God’s perfection apparent in every part of our lives.
The latest issue of God’s Field is now available online
Reflect on preparing for the Lenten period of preparation, get involved by volunteering for national commissions, check out news from the ecumenical community, and read about the life and work of our parishes and people.
Articles for the March issue are being accepted now through March 1, 2014. You may E-mail items and photos or send them to:
God’s Field
Polish National Catholic Church
1006 Pittston Avenue
Scranton, PA 18505
Pray the week: Lord Jesus, grant me growth to maturity in faith, hope, and love. Feed me with the solid food of Your truth.
How mature
am I?
Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glorification. None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
St. Paul is telling us that we are the mature followers of Jesus. We are ready to receive the wisdom of God. This is not wisdom as the world or today’s rulers perceive wisdom, but something the immature cannot perceive.
Later Paul recounts that he began addressing us: as babes in Christ. He fed us with milk, not solid food; for we were not ready for it.
We must reflect on our spiritual maturity. Do we still need milk, to be spoon fed, or are we ready for solid food?
We begin at baptism, and our parents and the Holy Church worked diligently to raise us up in the knowledge of God’s mysteries. They worked to bring us from milk to solid food, but can we take that solid food?
This secret and mystery of God is not hocus-pocus. Rather it is the teaching of Jesus who shared with us every secret and mystery of His Heavenly Father. He recounts many of these mysteries in today’s Gospel. Do not hate, don’t even consider it. Reconcile with your enemies. Do not curse or criticize anyone. Do not lust for anything or for any reason. Don’t even consider it. Respect the human dignity of every person. Do not bear grudges against your spouse, but put your spouse first. Value the dignity and sacredness of your relationship.
In all these things – which are mysteries to the worldly – keep the commandments. Do not keep them as merely a law or a requirement, but keep them in a mature way – with love at the center: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
This is the great mystery. It is the mystery of loving fully and completely as Christians. It is our ability to accept and digest this solid food of love, to be mature followers of Jesus.
When we were immature we had to learn this slowly. We learned in the context of family and we learned in Church. Now we must assess whether we have matured; whether we are eating the solid food of God’s love daily. If we are mature we live the mystery and secret of love at all times and in every circumstance. If we eat the solid food of love we will love even when the world says it is ok not to. Eating this solid food of love we will live forever.
Yes, it is only February, but we are planning for our next Holiday and Seasonal Craft Fair to be held on Saturday, October 4, 2014 from 10 AM-5 PM at the Rotterdam Senior Citizens Club, 2639 Hamburg St, Rotterdam NY 12303.
We welcome all crafters — Woodworkers; Jewelry, Glass or Metal Artists; Painters; Photographers; Sewers; Beaders; Quilters; Knitters and Crocheters; Needlepointers; Candle and scent decor; Floral Designers; Ceramics; Sign makers; Holiday decorations; Soap Makers; etc. — to add us to their Fall 2014 schedule and to reserve spaces early.
Spaces and services are available as follows:
Availability of spaces is first come/first serve. You may download a copy of our crafters registration form, complete it, and mail it in with payment or use our on-line registration form to reserve your space.
Great results in support of those in need in our community. God bless you for your spiritual and material generosity.
Please come and join us for Free Lunch on Sunday, February 16th, from 11:30am till 1:30pm. This event is always free and open to all. This month we’re featuring chicken soup, sandwiches, desserts, drinks, and kid friendly food. Free Lunch on Sunday is held at the Holy Name of Jesus parish hall located at 1040 Pearl St., Schenectady (CDTA Route 353 – Pearl Street stop) on the third Sunday of every month.
Pray the week: Lord Jesus, grant me the gift of discernment and ears that listen only to your voice.
On who can we
rely?
“I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling, and my message and my proclamation were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of Spirit and power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.â€
Paul’s first letter to the church of Corinth provides insight into the life of an early Christian community. Through it we see both the strengths and the weaknesses of Christians in the ancient world. These men and women had accepted the good news of Christ and were now trying to make their baptismal commitment real in their lives. Paul, who had founded the community and continued to look after it as a father, responds both to questions addressed to him and to the situations that existed in this community.
Paul tells the people that he is nothing special or extraordinary. He came as a man in weakness, fear, and trembling. He wants to impress on them two things that they can make applicable in their lives. First, that he had no special gifts other than those he received through the power of the Holy Spirit – that the Holy Spirit is the source of life and direction in the Christian community. Second, that Christians must rely on the power of the Holy Spirit in living out their baptismal commitment.
We are faced with all sorts of competing voices who wish to give us direction in our lives. We must use great care in discerning the voice of the Holy Spirit and commit to following that voice rather than all the others.
The voices of our personal desires (the heart can lead us into sin as easily as it leads us to God), the voices of government, and the voices of whatever is popular at the moment must not influence us. In fact, we must be careful to ignore those voices in favor of sole reliance on the Holy Spirit.
God is not distant and apart from us. God does speak to people through the work of Jesus and the voice of the Holy Spirit. He is fully involved in our lives. God is close to us and is constantly ready to guide and help us in all things. We must grow in our ability to discern His voice, to recognize it more and more.
To hear Him we must grow closer to Him, to know what He is really like. Discernment of His voice comes from knowing God as our Father and friend. The word “discern†itself means to exercise judgment. With discernment, we are always faced with a simple choice: is it God acting or not?
By living in the family of faith, worshiping, praying regularly, and reading scripture we will grow in discernment, hear God’s voice, learn to rely on Him, and better live our baptismal commitment.