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You love Christmas, but hate family tension? Yep, it’s great to see each other again, especially on a such joyful occasion, however these times also may be accompanied by family arguments, truculent teens, grouchy grandmas, upset uncles, or entangling in-laws. At such a time as Christmas I like to see these moments as just an invitation to remember what it’s really about - love. You can think of these tense moments like a shovel to dig deeper into the roots of Charity. Sometimes it’s just staggering how much love is required. Are you being forced to be patient, to forgive, to be gentle, show compassion? The only place patience comes from, the source and font of strength to look past a person’s weird woibles is Charity. You’re just being asked to love. You might not resolve an argument, get closure, or find reconciliation with certain family members and that’s ok as long as you can love them. We are only allowed a certain level of reconciliation with person as that relationship allows, but you MUST love them. You MUST forgive. If you don’t your heart will be poisoned, your attitude infected, and your vision clouded from what it’s all really about. Helpful hints: -Pray, ask God for a big old dose of his love to flood you -Vitamin D, distance, is sometimes the only way you might be able to get along with certain people# -Pray, ask Our Lady for help. She faced lots of family tension with a Messiah Son. She knows. -Do something constructive that allows you to bond without having to talk about unresolved/unresolvable issues like a game or movie or something humorous. -Pray -Say the things they really need to here, things that will actually and truly help them. -Pray -Recognize but don’t react to toxic behavior, wave the bull fighting flag to change the tone to one of concord from conceit, humility from huff, peace from perplexity. -Choose joy. Choose peace. Choose Charity


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Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Lost loved ones, broken hearts, disappointments, traumatic losses, pains that just plague the heart - these are the things which are a cause for making Christmas, a time normally of great joy, a time of tears and sorrow for those who have known great pain. “Be kind, for everyone is fighting a battle you know nothing about” is to be taken a lot more seriously in this time. Shiny lights at dusk, sugar cookies, beautiful decorations, flowers, songs of joy and celebration, movies and stories of peace on earth and good will toward men - these all become occasions of acute bitterness and piercing pangs of woe for those who know that this time is supposed to bring joy, hope, love, and peace, to taste only bitterness, feel only loneliness, experience more emptiness than normal. All year we busy ourselves with projects, goals for school, plans for work, and constant movement. Then Christmas comes and all is still. There is time to stop and listen. If you listen with your heart, you can see on the faces on many a kind of dread, a map of their loss. These are the people for whom is reserved God’s special graces and mercies. In some privileged years at Christmas I have found myself in prisons, orphanages, hospices, and homes where these hurting people are trying to rejoice, but their celebrations are marked with profound awareness that all is not merry and fine. Today I am celebrating Christmas in a rehabilitation hospital. Here in a particular way, the prophecy of Isaiah is proclaimed, “that the lame may walk.” In prisons they hear, “that captives may be set free,” in homeless shelters, “that the poor have the Gospel of God proclaimed to them.” Yet most of the people right next to you are not so obvious. They struggle and put on a good face, but in their hearts they aching to hear once again the good news, GOD IS WITH US, he has not forgotten your sorrow, he heals the broken hearted. So as you open presents, sing songs, make merry, remember that Mary and Joseph also endured at this time great rejection, cold, and didn’t really understand why the Savior was to be born in a cave. Each person has a cave, a hole in their hearts, longing to be filled with God’s love.


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Tuesday, December 25, 2018

The face of the Newborn Christ Infant Have you ever seen a newborn infant? - Their face so small, skin so soft, fingers so tiny, little eyes seeking, mouth so hungry, their fragile body so vulnerable and poor? This is God. He became poor to make us rich. He became weak that we might be strong. He chose to show us the real face of love. Love is poor. It does not put on heirs. It has no vanity nor decoration nor masks. It cannot manipulate nor hide. Love is needy, demanding, dependent. Love is delicate. It can be lost if not cared for, it can be dropped if not held just right, yet it is not afraid to be vulnerable or accessible. It is said that at the moment of Christ’s birth there was a blast of searing light. The Creator, God from God, Light from Light, the Most Holy One, was visiting us, born in the dark of midnight, yet he chose to be clothed in the frailty of our human visage, almighty power teetering in terrible tenderness. Have you ever held a newborn? Hold Jesus. Mary invites you. “Would you like to hold my baby?” Hold him! Care for him! Do not take his grace for granted, nor presume you that the life of divine grace will just hang around without your constant attention, reverence, and devotion. Feed the presence of God in your life. Remember to pray. Stop. Listen. Be careful not to lose it, to drop it, to forget to care for the life of God within you. Nourish it with meditating on the Word of Life of the Scriptures and feeding on the Bread of Life, the Most Holy Eucharist. Rejoice that God is born to you today and always. GOD IS WITH US, a Savior is born for us, just remember to take care not only today, but every day, that His life may grow and come to full stature within you.


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Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Tuesday, December 11, 2018

It Snowed Last Night.. 8:00 am: I made a snowman. 8:10 - A feminist passed by and asked me why I didn't make a snow woman. 8:15 - So, I made a snow woman. 8:17 - My feminist neighbor complained about the snow woman's chest saying it objectified snow women everywhere. 8:20 - The gay couple living nearby threw a hissy fit and moaned it could have been two snow men instead. 8:22 - The transgender man..women...person asked why I didn't just make one snow person with detachable parts. 8:25 - The vegans at the end of the lane complained about the carrot nose, as veggies are food and not to decorate snow figures with. 8:28 - I was being called a racist because the snow couple is white. 8:30 - I used food coloring to make one of the snow couple a different color and be more racially inclusive. 8:37 - Accused of using black face on the snowman...snowpersons. 8:39 - The middle eastern gent across the road demanded the snow woman be covered up . 8:40 - The police arrived saying someone had been offended. 8:42 - The feminist neighbor complained again that the broomstick of the snow woman needed to be removed because it depicted women in a domestic role. 8:43 - The council equality officer arrived and threatened me with eviction. 8:45 - TV news crew from ABC showed up. I was asked if I know the difference between snowmen and snow-women? I replied "Snowballs" and am now called a sexist. 9:00 - I was on the news as a suspected terrorist, racist, homophobe, and sensibility offender, bent on stirring up trouble during difficult weather. 9:10 - I was asked if I have any accomplices. My children were taken by social services. 9:29 - Far left protesters offended by everything marched down the street demanding for me to be arrested. 9:45 - The boss called and fired me because of the negative association with work that had been all over social media. 10:00 - I cry into my drink because all I wanted to do was build a snowman... Moral: There is no moral to this story. It is what this world has become because of a bunch of snowflakes....


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Friday, December 7, 2018

Today I heard confessions of women in county jail. There was one lady who was the spitting image of a person I know from the same city. This person was valedictorian of her high school class, has a masters degree from a prominent university, and is very morally upright, exceptional you might say. When I first saw her I was astonished. She had the same tone of voice, similar expressions, and almost exactly the same face. In disbelief i asked her name. Although it was an entirely different person, I couldn’t help thinking that this could easily be another version of the same person, who wasn’t given the same gifts of a supportive family, loving friendships, and an excellent education, or maybe she was given a similar kind of upbringing, but just made very bad choices. Nonetheless, there is no reason why that could not be any woman. We are all sinners, and we could have each easily ended up in a similar situation. As St Augustine said, “there but for the grace of God go I.” So thank God greatly for your life, your freedom, and the capacity to choose what is right. Repent, beg his forgiveness for your sins, seeking reconciliation and full accountability before him. For the more we take ownership of our actions, the freer we become even if we would be locked in a jail. Please pray with me now for all inmates, and pray for ministers to share the gospel of liberty with them. “I was in prison, and you visited me.” Mt 25:36


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Tuesday, December 4, 2018

There was a sixteen year old girl who was a passenger in the SUV that ran over a 70 year old woman trying to cross a high-speed freeway. She immediately ran over to the lady thinking she could do CPR because she is certified but saw that she would not be able to. Shortly after another stranger stopped, a mother of teens herself, and ran to her for help while the other 16 year old who was driving called 911. The teen said to the lady “do you pray? I want to pray for this woman. Will you pray with me” And the lady said “no I don’t pray but I will pray with with you” so Hannah began saying a Hail Mary, Memorare and Our Father. The lady held her hand though she only knew the words to the our father. It is amazing how each of these people acted in the face of this accident. The girl prayed, the boy called 911, the lady comforted the old woman like a mother and even called the parents of the teen to tell them what happened until the police arrived. Words can not express how proud am of this young woman. I’ve known her since she was 6, was there when she learned about her faith and how to pray, and have accompanied her family over the years. These are the defining moments of life, when amidst the trauma and accidents arise, heroism is born and the goodness of being fully human shines forth. Please pray for the repose of the soul of the woman and for the teens. They need strength to face surviving this horrible event, which will certainly effect them the rest of their lives but they can be peaceful and forever grateful about how they reacted in this moment.


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Sunday, December 2, 2018

Monday, November 26, 2018

Judas betrayed Jesus. Peter denied him. Since the beginning God was clear about not putting our trust in feeble men, even apostles or bishops, and thankfully proclaimed this part of the good news. The first Pope sinned horribly then repented. One of the twelve arrested him. Why in the world get side tracked for a moment by the behavior of bishops? I do not follow Jesus for them or for any man yet I accept the hierarchical structure instituted by Christ when he created the twelve as a means of governance. I see their successors in light of what Christ willed to reveal to us in the primordial sinfulness of the Church and the deeper mystery of Mercy working through it all. The good news is that in the face of our infidelity God is He who is Faithful and True. Don’t get sidetracked, disturbed, or discouraged. I’ve worked with amazing bishops and horrible bishops on three different continents and probably 30 different diocese. Sure I rejoice when I encounter a courageous or wise bishop as I mourn when I meet a coward or careerist. Yet frankly I really honestly don’t waste any time thinking about them and if I do whatever good or ill I encounter only propels me to Jesus Christ. What do I think about? The immense and towering work of proclaiming the Gospel in season and out of season to every living person in this world, remembering that part of that proclamation is that despite man’s weaknesses God still saves us. God loves this sinful Church and calls us to holiness in the midst of all sin and darkness. Remember that. Remember that the next time you are tempted to add to the noise, the doubt, the fear, the rage, the enormous gaping black hole that wants to suck everything into its oblivion of meaningless suffering and loss. Please please please try to remember that in the end it is all about charity and a huge part of growth in charity is enduring the lack of charity even within the Church. Let us pray for greater holiness in the Church, for a clearer proclamation of the saving truth of the Gospel and let us pray again and again and again for our bishops. Our Father...Hail Mary...Glory Be


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THE MALE EGO Having a male ego, or sense of self and one’s capacities, is not evil. Appropriate hubris, or a certain magnanimity, is necessary to accomplish difficult things. A captain of a ship or plane, an athlete winning a match, a doctor saving a life, all need a very sense of their own personhood to do what must be done. Having a “male ego” is not evil if one uses it to provide, protect, guard, and guide people toward the common good. Jesus had a male ego with which he had plow through the depths of all human sinfulness to accomplish our redemption. Egotism, or a self-centered fixation on one’s self and capacities IS evil. It is a corruption of what masculinity and personhood’s certain dignity is for. Because it is a kind vile insecurity, a cowardice in being self-absorbed, a vain self-concern, it is rightly thought of as one of biggest problems of this world. Many people have been wounded by male egotism, and therefore react to try emasculate or demand the stripping of confidence and leadership in men. This particularly true for children of fathers who didn’t use their authority to build them up and love them into well adjusted happy grown ups. True humility does not negate a person’s ego, or magnanimous concern to make difficult goods happen. It sees one’s identity and mission as a gift from God to be given generously in service of others. It actually multiplies the fruitfulness of a well tuned male ego in communion, service, justice, and goodness for many people. False humility is the annihilation of any kind authority, leadership, or headship of men because of a fear of misusing that authority. Unfortunately there are few real men around to mentor other men in Christian manhood. Effeminacy, cloaked in “deference” or “toleration” or “humility” is the cause of great evils being permitted by a lack of good men standing up against it. Let us pray for real men and real leaders to heed the call to stand in the gap of where this world is and where it needs to go: the care of the weakest and most vulnerable members of society, the protection of a just order in society, and the battle against the evils that rage against human dignity and fairness.


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Saturday, November 3, 2018

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

I voted early!


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Tuesday, October 23, 2018

Wednesday, October 17, 2018

DOING LITTLE THINGS WITH GREAT LOVE When she was little, St ThĂ©rèse’s parents took her in an elevator in Paris. She marveled at how, with such great ease, a person could rise such heights so quickly. In her journal she wrote: "I wanted to find an elevator which would raise me to Jesus, for I am too small to climb the rough stairway of perfection. I searched then in the Scriptures for some sign of this elevator, the object of my desires and I read these words coming from the mouth of Eternal Wisdom: 'Whoever is a little one let him come to me.' The elevator which must raise me to heaven is your arms, O Jesus, and for this I have no need to grow up, but rather I have to remain little and become this more and more.” Just as the smallest child is the one the Father picks up in his arms, St ThĂ©rèse strove to do the littlest things with the greatest love. She said, “Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love.” Even prayer for her was simple and childlike: “For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.” So is holiness: “Holiness consists simply in doing God's will, and being just what God wants us to be.” Let us pray, that like St ThĂ©rèse, we can be little trusting children of God: Our Father....Hail Mary...Glory Be Come with me on retreat: ourladyofcorpuschristi.org


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Friday, September 28, 2018

Thursday, September 20, 2018

Do you see this woman? When I entered your house, you did not give me water for my feet, but she has bathed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but she has not ceased kissing my feet since the time I entered. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she anointed my feet with ointment. So I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; hence, she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.” He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” The others at table said to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” But he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” Who are you? Which kind of person? Do you sit comfortably before God telling him all your accomplishments, ignoring your many faults, accusing others for their problems, pointing out all your virtues and good deeds, forgetting that his vision pierces through sinew and bone, the same Lord for whom every good grace and action HE ALONE can take glory, and therefore cement yourself in self-justifying hypocrisy, all the while blaming God and everyone else for yours and the world’s wickedness??? OR Are you the one who sees yourself beneath his unfathomable light and inscrutable decrees and recognize the vanity and egotism beneath all your best intentions, replying as the only real response in the face of his perfections, to weep and wash the dust from his toes with your tears, drying them with the hair of your natural gifts which he himself bestowed on you, and anoint him with the oil of humble contrite heart???? Pray now with me the prayer of clarity: “Have Mercy on me God in your kindness, in your compassion wipe out my offense, O wash me more and more from my guilt, and cleanse me from all my sin!” "The prayer of an humble soul at once penetrates the heavens and presents itself before the throne of God. However sinful such a soul may be, God can never despise a heart that repents of its sins, and humbles itself: A contrite and humbled heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise." -St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori Come on retreat to begin to see God and yourself clearly. ourladyofcorpuschristi.org


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