The Constant of Change

 My husband were talking, we tend to do this at 5:55 AM while sitting in our living room enjoying the first cup of coffee for the day. It seems to be the only time we get to talk about anything other than what we need at the grocery, what bill needs to be looked at or which of the family: kids, grandkids, our parents or friends need help, prayers, encouragement or extra loving on. 

It's also that time of day when we dream talk, though that usually gets reserved for Saturday mornings instead of work mornings. More time to dream!

But a conversation has been repeating lately with the two of us and that is about change. I told him this morning, I am beginning to feel like we need to accept change as not change, but well, life.  It seems to be the norm, not just the constant as the old adage used to go.  Change is the constant.  Now is seems to be change is life.  And if you don't change you are left behind in the dust of blowing newspapers, paper bills, and mail service.

We are beginning to understand why, when our families would go visit our grandparents and aunts and uncles that all they seemed to talk about was the boring stuff that makes up life. Why did they talk about it so much?  I mean they obviously were living it, but they also talked it to death. We now know why...because it was always going on and changing.  The world never stops updating, moving here or there, changing colors, changing stations.  It's liked we are wired to never be the same.

But you know in some ways I guess that is good.  Because our God is never the same. I mean He is always there, we can always count on Him, but he is always changing to keep us moving. We cannot stagnate nor can our faith stay in one piece of concrete. God is the anchor for humans who are rocked this way and that on the ocean of changing times and conditions!  Thank literally, God, for being our anchor.  Without Him my husband would have really depressing conversations! And we would not begin our day in a good mood, despite our worries and concerns.  Because we know God has our backs.  He always does. And the constant that is change will never defeat us if we always remember to put Him first and check with Him before we try to set sail!  Bring up the anchor and don't leave it behind. Our God, the ANCHOR, will save us!

Saint of Today! Marianne Cope

 A saint for today... St. Sister Marianne Cope, a Franciscan nun who answered the call to help the people of Molokai in Hawaii.  I have always loved Fr. Damien and his love for those suffering from leprosy, but I had  never heard of Mother Cope.  What a beautiful soul!  She stepped in following St. Damian's death and continued the good works he was doing.

  Read more here!

Holy versus holy

 When I was a young wife and mom, I remember an aging pastor at church who gave a homily on All Saints day about being a saint.  As we all tend to do, we sigh when hearing we should try to live our lives like the saints did because honestly I always thought that was way to hard to do.  How do you behave like a saint when you are sick, trying to mother sick kids, work a job, clean a house, pay bills with little money?

But he had an interesting take on the whole saint thing.  He told us there were saints, with a capital 'S', like the ones we all know and read about, but there are the rest of us, little saints, or saints with a small 's' who live our lives every day trying to do our best. 

It was mind blowing to me how that changed my attitude.  I don't have to be perfect, I just have to keep trying!

In the same way we tend to treat the word 'holy' in the same way I reacted all those years ago to the word saint.  We hear the word 'holy' and instantly we thing of those capital S saints, not ourselves.  In fact just recently, I overheard someone at church joking how they are in no way holy and could never be.  

It got me thinking, why do we have trouble with the word holy?  I guess because it gets used so much in reference to God, Jesus, Mary and the saints. It is used to describe church or the sacraments. But rarely do we use it as a description of each other. And that is a shame. For we are all called to be holy.  I don't mean like we are all overly pious, whispering, gentle and mild. I mean holy, as in God dwells within each one of us.  He is what makes each one of us holy!  We are all small 'h' holy!  

We are called to try to live our lives in a small holy way. We don't think we are better than anyone else because everyone is holy, everyone has God living inside them whether they remember to show it or not.  We are all called to develop that holiness inside. some days we rock it, other days we fail miserably, but our faith calls us to work on our holiness and the sacraments help us grow that holiness.

So next time someone talks to you about holy, being holy, or holiness, remember, we are called to small 'h' holy, no matter what because God dwells in each of us. We are temples of His Spirit and therefore holy.  We need to work to maintain  and encourage that holiness inside ourselves and others and therein become the community of the Church, and become part of the capital 'H' Holy!

Holy Chaos

 

Holy Chaos.  I was  cantoring for the Feast of the Holy Family Mass last Sunday when our associate pastor used this term in his homily.  Wow, what an apt description to describe the last year.  While trying to devote every problem and incident that happened to our family last year to daily prayer,  I admit sometimes it felt like I was praying against a major tsunami of panic and pain.

Holy was the last word I would have described our year. Yet as Fr. Hiett talked about the Holy Family and Mary's shocking announcement of being pregnant out of wedlock, Joseph discerning whether to accept her as a wife, then when he does, they have to jump on a donkey and head out of town to be counted in a census. (What was up with this last minute decision of Caesar Augustus? He couldn't have planned that better?)

But wait, now there is no where to stay for a few days while waiting to be counted and your wife is going into labor and delivers a son. But the chaos is not over. Not long after his birth, Joseph is told in a dream that another Roman is going to create more chaos in their lives by putting out a death threat on their son's life and they must move to Egypt!

You know, it's all a nice story that we have heard over and over again through the years. But I have to admit, have I really stopped and looked at what the Holy Family had to go through?  

We forget as we try to deal with all the problems our families have in life just what Mary and Joseph had to do to protect Jesus coming into the world.  They knew he was special and of course he was their son so they would be especially protective, but knowing He was also the Savior of the World had to create a little anxiety. If not for Mary who was born without sin and so didn't have the temptations to worry as much as some of us, but especially for Joseph, who as the man and father of the family was in charge of protecting his wife and child.

Yet the term  Fr. Hiett used, Holy Chaos, was aptly appropriate.  We can have good intentions about how we approach problems that arise in our families.  We pray, we discern and remain calm. But sometimes despite our best efforts, chaos still reigns.  It is a mortal life here on earth where Satan loves to get in and stir things up.  So while chaos can be swirling around us, we hang on like the Holy Family to God, prayers and each other to get us through the storm.

Holy Chaos.   Pause, pray and be joyful!