theROCK

Love Your Neighbor

“We will find ourselves and come alive when we make a sincere gift of ourselves to our neighbor”

This statement is part of the mission of a local work camp called Love Begins Here, run for middle and high school students. I participated in this camp for the first time a few summers ago as a leader and it changed my life. So many times in Scripture, Christ teaches about laying down your life for another and in the Gospel this weekend we see that even more in depth as Christ speaks about the two greatest Commandments. The first speaks of loving God with all your heart, soul, and mind and second, to love your neighbor as yourself. The two Commandments are really connected together by one word, “gift.” We all have been gifted life, created in the image of God, He formed us in love to give love back to Him, especially through serving others. When we understand the true gift that we have received in simply being created, we can’t help but love the creator, God. And when we see that we ourselves are loved, created in the image of God and gifted life, we would think that it would be easy to look at our neighbors and see that same gift of life. Yet we often find it so hard to love our neighbors as Christ has asked of us. During Love Begins Here, I had the complete joy to work alongside students who made a sincere gift of themselves to love their neighbors in the multiple small tasks they did to help people they had never meet before. We all came alive with such joy in serving our neighbors because God created humanity to love Him and to serve others. As hard as it is to love every person, especially those who have hurt you or who drive you crazy, ask the Lord to help you see Him in each person and you will be amazed at how easy it becomes to love. As you go forth this week I offer you three questions that were given to me to reflect on in regards to living a more other-centered life.

1. Do I see other people in their struggles?
2. Am I moved with compassion?
3. Do I approach them to offer help?

Seeing, letting our hearts be moved, and approaching to help is a three step approach to how we can begin to give a sincere gift of ourselves to our neighbors and in turn love the Lord God even more.

Caution. Speed Bump Ahead

Speed bumps are installed to encourage people to slow down. Pay attention to the warning signs and you can navigate safely. Ignore them and you and your vehicle will get quite a jolt and may suffer damage.

Advent and Christmas are right around the corner. Working at UPS for almost 3 decades, Advent was a blur. The goal was to get home on the 24th in time to make it to family gatherings and Mass, and then collapse. Fast forward to working here. It is easy to focus on the planning and doing of the big days. Will we have enough seats, will the sound system work, where will people park, what about the weather. Being focused on the relatively insignificant, Advent runs the risk of again being a blur. I need to install a few speed bumps. How about you? What can we do?

During Advent, our staff will form small groups and discuss how the weekly readings speak to us. Our families are ready-made small groups. Take 20 minutes a week and discuss faith as a family. Consider attending Adoration on Tuesday, turning off the radio, pausing electronics for 10 minutes, going to a daily Mass, to confession, or stopping in the church for a time. These all provide time to talk with God. Cell phones and calendars can rule, and ruin, our lives.
I am setting a daily appointment and alarm, to stop for at least 5 minutes to be quiet and pray.

Will you allow Advent to be a blur? What will be the focus of your Christmas day? Praying we avoid the pitfalls and follow the warning sign God has ready for us: SLOW DOWN...speed bump ahead. A Blessed Advent.

Pray for the Dead

Praying for the dead has long been a tradition of the Church, but recent times suggest we may have fallen out of practice of this beautiful and necessary act of charity.

It is a strange thing to do, to pray for the dead. After all, what are we actually praying for the dead to obtain? The answer to this is based on the reality of Purgatory. Purgatory, another tradition not spoken of much today, is real. But what exactly is it?

To understand this we need to be aware that purgatory is not a necessarily a place but a process. Even here on earth, we are called to live a life of purgatory. The word purgatory means to purify, or in everyday language, to achieve the holiness necessary to enter into heaven. In other words, purgatory is a process which prepares us for heaven. 

When understood this way, purgatory is not just something for those who have died, but for all us living as well. All of us can be striving to prepare ourselves for heaven. However, as we know in our own life, we do not always take advantage of the time given to us here on earth. In fact, I can spend very little time preparing for heaven and rather spend a lot of time preparing for life on earth.

Purgatory is the opportunity given by God to prepare for heaven if we need it. That said, we might be tempted to ask why do we need to prepare for heaven at all?

If I were to die right now and go straight to heaven, I would immediately feel as if I do not belong because there are many things I am still attached to here on earth. Even if I am free from sin, there are still sins I have the desire to commit. I would feel as if I was unworthy as I stood among all the saints who completely entrusted their life to God. If we are honest, we know that even our loved ones who have died were not perfect. To account for this, God gives us the process of purgatory.

Purgatory prepares us for a place in heaven. When we pray for the dead, we are praying that this process may go quick. That they may purify and prepare themselves for heaven as fast as possible. We are encouraging and helping them.

When thought of in this way, purgatory does not seem all that bad or scary, in fact it is a great thing, for it allows us to experience the full joy of heaven.