Are you a "Consumer Catholic" ?

“Consumer Catholic” –an interesting phrase. Perhaps we follow the Church’s teaching to the letter of the law but that is all we do. We have a good prayer life. We rarely, if ever, commit a serious sin. However, as disciples of Christ, we are not to be consumers only. Sure, there are times we need to be fed spiritually, but there are many more times others need to be fed spiritually as well and it’s our responsibility as Catholics, as disciples, to participate.  Showing up on Sunday, taking in what’s being proclaimed, and leaving with no further action on our part is not what being a follower of Christ means.

In today’s Passion reading, we hear of the people of Jerusalem waving palms and chanting “Hosanna” to their King. These are the same people we read later that jeered at Jesus and chanted,“Crucify him!” Fickle. We can’t have it both ways. We’re either “for Jesus” or “against Jesus”. If we are for Jesus, then we’ll take this week’s message to heart—don’t be a “Consumer Catholic”. Find a way, even the smallest way at first, to become involved in something pertaining to our faith...and what a week to start! Holy Week reminds us of the sacrifice Jesus made for us. It might be a good time for us to start returning the favor.

Here is our Holy Week Schedule - which I hope you can be a part of:

HOLY THURSDAY (April 2, 2015)

7:00 p.m. - Mass celebrated by Bishop Matthew Ustrzycki followed by Procession of the Blessed Sacrament to the Repository with Adoration until 11:00 p.m.

GOOD FRIDAY (April 3, 2015 )

11:00 a.m. - Solemn Liturgy adapted for children

3:00 p.m. - Solemn Liturgy of Good Friday

7:00pm - Stations of the Cross

HOLY SATURDAY (April 4, 2015)

1:00 p.m. - Blessing of Easter Food (Church)

7:00 p.m. - Solemn Easter Vigil

EASTER SUNDAY (April 5, 2015)

8:00 a.m., 9:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m.

The Final Days

Did you ever find yourself looking back at your week and saying, “Oh, yeah, I was going to do that,” or “It just skipped my mind.” Another week passes and we say the same thing again. It’s that way with our spiritual life as well. To coin an old expression, to fail to plan is to plan to fail.

In this week’s Gospel, we hear Jesus discussing His impending death with Philip and Andrew, and he admits that He is troubled. Yet that was why He came to this point in His ministry—to die so that we might live. Death, as unfortunate as it is, is often a wakeup call for us. We realize our mortality and we decide something needs to change. Interestingly, some people start organizing their closets, get their wills up to date, heal broken relationships, etc. 

This week our message is to create a plan for life. What do we want to do differently? What have we looked back upon with regret? How is our relationship with God? We never know the length of time for the “rest of our life.” It may be 1 more minute, a day, a month or years. The wise person will choose to plan the rest of their life sooner rather than later—rather than too late. Let us spend this 5th week of Lent beginning to plan our journey ahead, not looking back with regret, but looking forward to the rest of eternity with God.

Love Where You Are.

The theme for this 4th Sunday of Lent focuses us on loving where we are. Perhaps that’s a little ambiguous, so let’s look at it in a different way. It’s easy to love someone from a distance. There are no strings attached. If we walk away perhaps no one will even notice. 

Christ, however, gave us the example of loving where we are. In His public life He crossed paths with saints and sinners, lepers, the blind and the lame. He went to them where they were. He loved them where they were. 

 We often “think” about getting involved and then find reasons not to: “I don’t have enough time.” “My schedule conflicts with their meeting times.” “My weekends are my own,” “Why would I ever want to go on a mission trip and sleep in a hammock,” and on and on. Loving our neighbor doesn’t require us to jump in with both feet. It isn’t an all of nothing request. We can love right where we are—with as little or as much time as we have. 

That is the message for this week. Jesus found time to love everyone he came in contact with and as his disciples, we’re called to do the same. “Distance is to love like wind is to fire... it extinguishes the small and kindles the great!” Let us pray that we may love “greatly”.

Spectator or Fan?

If you’ve ever watched a sporting event, you may have  noticed a dramatic difference between the participants and the spectators. The participants are passionate about their sport. It’s their life. It’s what they wake up thinking about and what they go to bed pondering as well. They practice their sport again and again.

Spectators on the other hand, save for a few “fanatics”, can sit and watch. If their team loses, so be it. If they win, great. They have, to coin an old expression, “no skin in the game.” When the next game comes around, they’ll just show up to watch. 

That’s what this week’s theme is all about.Today’s Gospel recounts Jesus driving the money changers out of the temple. He was passionate about a cause. He wanted the temple to remain His Father’s house and not a marketplace. This week’s theme calls us to step over that line from spectator to participant. In our spiritual journey, it’s impossible for us to sit and watch others participate and still say we are Disciples of Christ. Being a disciple requires us to be a participant. So, start now! Find something, some cause, some aspect of our Catholic faith that you are passionate about and step across that line from observing to participating.

Decide Along the Way

We all have bad habits. It’s tough to admit our own but quite easy to point out other’s. This week our theme is to transform our worst bad habit. It takes a long time for a repeated action to become a habit and an even longer time to break that habit. This week is the beginning of that process—a process that will eventually make us more like Christ.

The Transfiguration gives us a glimpse into our life’s journey from the past with Moses and Elijah to the present with Peter, James, and John to the future with the transfigured Jesus. The Transfiguration story is an opportunity not only to see Christ in a new light but to see ourselves as well. The 3 disciples wanted to stay there and keep it all for themselves. Jesus told them, basically, to get off the mountain and get to work—DECIDE to transform their lives.

Yes, many of us have a difficult time seeing the future, seeing Christ and us in a new light with all the day-to-day evil in the world. When storms come into our life we need to look past the storm. Jesus’ message still applies. It’s time to get off the mountain and get to work—DECIDE to transform not only ourselves but also the world around us. It will start with one person at a time