Maegan- On the Rich Young Man

Do you know the story of the rich young man? It's from the gospel reading over a week ago (on Monday August 18th), and I have been sitting with it ever since. If you can't recall off the top of your head, here is the text:

Gospel MT 19:16-22

A young man approached Jesus and said,
“Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?”
He answered him, “Why do you ask me about the good?
There is only One who is good.
If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
He asked him, “Which ones?”
And Jesus replied, “You shall not kill;
you shall not commit adultery;
you shall not steal;
you shall not bear false witness;
honor your father and your mother;
and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
The young man said to him,
“All of these I have observed. What do I still lack?”
Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go,
sell what you have and give to the poor,
and you will have treasure in heaven.
Then come, follow me.”
When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad,
for he had many possessions.

In the Pray-As-You-Go podcast of this Gospel reading, the translation they use says the rich young man went away GRIEVING, for he had many possessions. Now that word (again, I'm a word person), just about jumped out and smacked me! I haven't heard the passage translated that way before... but its appropriate isn't it? We grieve the loss of our own will.

Grief is something that is deeply rooted in the heart of a person, it's mourning a loss, it's more than just a fleeting emotion like sadness. Grief can stay with you for days, weeks, years. Grief can be oppressive.

This young man wants to enter into eternal life! He asks the Lord what he must do because he thinks he has already accomplished it. He wants the approval of the Lord as if to say: "Look how good and holy I am!" He views faith, and salvation, as a series of tasks towards an accomplishment. But the Lord looks at the heart. The rich young man, though he appears to be following all the commandments, still is not converted in his heart of hearts because he prizes his possessions above the will of the Lord. He doesn't want to let go and surrender all. He wants holiness on his own terms.

It reminds me of times in my life that I have grieved what the Lord has asked of me. My plans for college and grad school falling through, ending relationships that were not of His will, personal suffering in my life and the lives of friends and family members. Sometimes it is easier to look at the cost than the reward. In an effort to maintain "control" we hold on to the things that we think will bring us security: homes, jobs, money, time, relationships....

What attachments in your life are keeping you from the Lord?
What things (material or immaterial) do you hold onto for security instead of clinging entirely to the Lord with reckless abandon?

You see, the trap is to compare ourselves to those around us: I'm giving more, doing more, holier, etc. than my other friends/family members/ coworkers/etc. But the Lord doesn't ask the rich young man to be as good as everyone else. He calls each of us to something more: he calls us to perfection. And He is the only measure of perfection.


Lord, reveal to us our attachments, and heal us from our grief over those things. Help us to place our entire selves: our lives, our will, our dreams, our possessions, into your hands to do with as You will.

Let us pray...

Michael- Martyrdom, Perseverance, Faith

You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair on your head will be destroyed.  By your perseverance you will secure your lives."  (Luke 21: 17-19)

Today we celebrate one of my favorite saints, Maximilian Kolbe.  Saint Maximilian was a priest from Poland who during World War II offered himself to save another.  While imprisoned in Auschwitz, he asked to die in place of another prisoner who had a family.  Martyrdom was this act of love that Father Kolbe performed.



The Gospel of Luke speaks of persecution and death for the followers of Jesus.  However, Jesus affirms that his followers would not be harmed.  The promise of this protection speaks of the eternal reward of Heaven.  The reality of martyrdom for the early Christians was ever present in their minds, but the love for God and the mission of the Church was stronger than fear of persecution, even death.  Pope Francis recently said that the Apostles “even saw their persecution as a badge of honor that made them capable of following in the footsteps of Jesus and to be like Him, bearing witness to Him with their lives.”

 

Today, martyrdom is very much a reality for many Christians around the world.  Religious Persecution is occurring globally.   We see this happening more evidently in Iraq.  In May 2013, Archbishop Tomasi from Vatican Radio reported that an estimated 100,000 Christians are killed every year for their faith, which is roughly 250-300 Christian martyrs dying for the faith every day.  Some theologians have said martyrdom is not always obtained by bloodshed.   The term white martyrdom has been coined for those who have accepted and offered up to God other forms of tremendous suffering without undergoing a violent death.  St. Thérèse of Lisieux and St. John Paul II would be examples of such martyrs.

 

Martyrs do not negotiate the faith.  They persevere and stand firm.  When we are called to witness, what is our faith like?  Is it strong or is it watered down?  As I have previously said in past letters, discipleship is not easy.  It comes with crosses to bear, but Christ’s graces are ever present for us to accept.  Pope Francis suggests this daily prayer:

 

"Lord, thank you so much for my faith. Preserve my faith, increase it. May my faith be strong and courageous.”

Michael- Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.

The disciples approached Jesus and said,
“Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?”
He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said,
“Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children,
you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven.
Whoever becomes humble like this child
is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.
And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.  - Matthew 18:1-5

Humility is a difficult posture for many to embrace or follow.  Human pride tends be the major road block for an individual to act in humility.  In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus calls us to become humble like children.  What does this look like?  A child's humility is innocent and non-threatening.  The humble child is able to trust without reservation or fear.  Children allow their parents to lead them; and so like children, we are called to be humble to allow God to lead us.  It through humility we realize that God is everything to us and for us.  It is God who works through us.  We are but humble instruments ready to bring God glory through songs of service and praise.

During the CrossFit Training Prayer Challenge, let us pray for humility, so we can allow God to work stronger in our life.  Let us become like humble children who have a pure faith in our Heavenly Father!

Let us pray!

Michael- Lectio Divina

When launching this parish prayer challenge, I never thought how much of a challenge it would be for me.  The spiritual attacks have been frequent, as well as, the distractions from my committed prayer plan.  This just confirms the importance and the goodness of this task.

I decided to take on the challenge of reading more scripture.  What a gift we have in the Word of God!  Holy Scripture is truly the living Word of The Lord.  One of my favorite devotions or spiritual practices is Lectio Divina. I learned this devotion when I was discerning to be a monk.  This ancient practice of contemplating Scripture is a means for one to seek and discover a deeper union with God.  One learns to listen with the "ears of the heart" as St. Benedict of Nursia would describe it.  Here is link to a website that describes the practice: http://www.valyermo.com/ld-art.html


If you are still searching for ways to enter into the CrossFit Training, look into Lectio Divina.  

Maegan - "will" versus "shall"

This morning I turned on the podcast when I got to work. I was trying to focus, but was a bit distracted, so I just left it on in the background while I was sitting and doing some work things. At the very least, I thought, it is soothing to my soul to have it on in the background. And then the narrator began with the reading... and my heart pounded out of my chest! I LOVE this reading, because once upon a time, when I was leading a retreat for young adults, this was the verse that was chosen for prayer lab and God just about blew my heart open. So here is the whole first reading from today, so you'll read it, and hopefully it will fill your heart and soul like it does mine:

Reading 1JER 31:31-34

The days are coming, says the LORD,
when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
and the house of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers:
the day I took them by the hand
to lead them forth from the land of Egypt;
for they broke my covenant,
and I had to show myself their master, says the LORD.
But this is the covenant that I will make
with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD.
I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts;
I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
No longer will they have need to teach their friends and relatives
how to know the LORD.
All, from least to greatest, shall know me, says the LORD, 

for I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more. 

Man, oh man! It makes my heart pump like crazy! Did you catch it? Did it speak to you?

There are many many things in this verse that speak to me, and I sure there are tons of different ways the Holy Spirit can use this excerpt of the Word to speak to our hearts individually. Today, I just want to share with you the part that God spoke into my heart several years ago, that He continues to speak to me today...

Although I am a Youth Minister, my degree is actually in English Literature, and I am TOTALLY a word nerd. Words are so important to me, and so when I listen to someone speak, or read their work, I pay attention to their word choice. So God spoke to me through that one day and showed me something:

"I will be their God, and they shall be my people."

Bam! 

Haha, okay, okay, I realize this might be a nuance thing so let me point it out to you: 

God (through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and the Prophet Jeremiah) is stating the terms of this new covenant He has made with His people (because the Israelites broke the original covenant... shame, shame! Just kidding. :) and God uses the word "will" for His part of the covenant - meaning it IS going to happen, God is making a promise, like when He says "I WILL do it" - God WILL be ours.

And yet, He ends the statement by saying: "and they SHALL be my people." Shall- meaning He is giving permission, or even inviting the possibility, but also with a sense of firmness.

This stuck out to me because, from a literary perspective, it would be more appropriate for all of the verb tenses to match up since "will" is used in the sentence just above as well: "I WILL place my law within them..." In fact, I am noticing just now as I read it again,  that everything God is saying about himself uses the verb "WILL" and every reference to our part of the covenant is "SHALL" and in my nerdy word brain, that is super poignant!

God WILL. He will provide. He will write His law and love on our hearts. He will be our God. No matter what.

And He invites us into that communion: we SHALL be His, if we accept it - if we let Him be. 

It sounds to me like an open invitation, even despite how much we may mess it up, we SHALL always be His. I don't know about you, but that is something I need to sit with more frequently.

Let us pray.

Maegan - day 3. "Uprooted"

Today's podcast was a little more challenging for me than yesterday's. (If you've missed it, I'm sharing my prayer from my 30 Day Challenge commitment which you can read about here)

This is what stood out to me from the scripture reading (taken from today's alternate Gospel reading: Matthew 15:1-2, 10-14 )

"Listen and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles."

Take a moment and read that through a couple times and let it just sort of sink into your soul.
I just sort of let the words of the Gospel flow over me as I listened to the woman's voice on the podcast.
Then, she continued:

"Listen and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles." 

How does hearing these words make you feel?

Well... like crap if I'm telling the truth.
I mean, isn't the word "defile" pretty disgusting? I've been sitting with that thought all morning and into the early afternoon (writing this a little later in the day than I did yesterday), I think because I have been waiting for my prayer to resolve itself into some sort of more satisfying image or feeling. I'm a singer... I feel like I've been sitting in a dissonant chord all day.

So in my prayer time, I decided I wasn't comfortable thinking about "defiling myself with the things that come out of my mouth" (hah!) so I tried to ignore it and find another part in the reading that was more... shall we say... comfortable? Well the reading goes on:

“Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted."

Is it just me, or is that not a very comforting thought either? I mean, it probably is to someone else, and there is a sense of justice that is satisfying to me, but at the heart of it what I hear is this: I have a lot of work to do.

The [ugly] truth is: I do a lot of defiling myself. I defile myself in the way that I speak sarcastically to others, or gossip about them. I defile myself in my critical attitude of my coworkers, peers, and even myself. I defile myself through my cynicism, and negativity - through my lack of hope in some areas. I defile myself through comparison, and measuring what I have been given against the measure of others. I'm sure there are more ways, but you get the picture.

And today, God gave me the grace to just sit in that. And he gave me the grace to see what He is working on: uprooting all of those ways that I defile myself - all the bad habits, all the negative self-talk, all the ways that I am not being the best Maegan that I can be. He loves me enough to let me feel uncomfortable so that I can desire the better version of myself.

Lord, help me to have the grace to let you uproot the things in my life that are not your will for me. Don't let me get in the way of your making me a saint.

Let us pray.


PS- How are your prayer challenges going? What have you decided to do? What has God spoken to you?
Please share in the comments section of this blog - it's for all of us to share!

Maegan - Day One

So far so good! :) I remembered to listen to the Pray As You Go podcast on my way to work this morning. (Which is my own personal decision for prayer time, and not the requirement of the 30 day Cross Fit Challenge).

For any of you with smartphones, you can access the podcast by going to the website itself, or by downloading the app (also called Pray As You Go). I accessed the podcast today through my Laudate app - which is also a FANTASTIC resource for all of the prayers of the Church. Seriously, its like an amusement park full of so many wonderful Catholic things! (You can find the podcast under "Daily Readings & Saints" and then the 9th option on the screen is the pray-as-you-go.org podcast)

Today's scripture reflection was the story of the calming of the sea, Matthew 14:22-36 .

The podcast began with some music and the narrator posed the question: "Can you begin by placing all your hope and all your trust in the Lord?" 

Truth be told, I wanted to turn it off in that moment. I am going through some difficulties in my life right now and, as a result, I feel the gravity of placing all my hope and trust in the Lord - the depth of faith that it costs is so heavy! And yet, I know he is lovingly beckoning me, asking me to take His hand, and trust in Him.

I hadn't even gotten to the "real prayer" part yet and God was already stirring in my heart.

In listening to the scripture, something stood out to me that I have never noticed before: Peter practically challenges Jesus to make Him walk on water!

When the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified. “It is a ghost,” they said, and they cried out in fear.

 At once [Jesus] spoke to them, “Take courage, it is I;^* do not be afraid.” 

Peter said to him in reply, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 

 I mean, what was Peter thinking??? Scripture says that the disciples were "terrified" and that they "cried out in fear" Was Peter testing God's power? Was he simply seeking a sign of God's authority for his own consolation? Or was he just so desperate for it all to be over that he was begging Jesus to calm the seas?

Jesus didn't calm the storm initially, but he did tell Peter, "Come."

And Peter stepped out in faith, and then looked around him and the storm was still raging on. Had he expected Jesus to calm the storm first? I know I do. I cry out to God to be with me in the situation and make it stop, and then I doubt Him when it doesn't stop. The storm rages on.

But my hope today in this scripture is that Jesus doesn't torture Peter. He doesn't let him drown in order to teach Him a lesson about faith. Jesus sees that Peter is weak, and Jesus goes in after Him (so to speak). He calms the sea. Jesus is merciful. He wants our whole hearts. He wants us to have the faith to move mountains, and walk on water, but when we don't, He comes to us, and grabs our hand, and pulls us up to where we need to be. He doesn't let us drown if we ask Him to help- if we keep our eyes on Him.

Let us pray.