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Delivering Us From Evil

Friday, November 21st, 2008

The prayer of the Our Father is filled with petitions. In the very last petition, we ask our heavenly Father to deliver us from evil. What does this mean?

Yesterday I was at a local library making a phone call near the outside entrance, and while I was waiting, I watched a young man playing with a little girl on the front lawn of the library. A few falls, a few laughs as she chased him around the grass.

There was also a little boy roaming around the grass, but he was all by himself. Now, the library lawn is edged with a small wall, so when he got to the end of the lawn, he couldn’t wander out into the street. But as he walked along the wall, he got to the spot where the wall ends, and where the sidewalk entrance opens out into the public street – with rush-hour traffic.

I thought, “Oh, oh.” But before I got past that a man came dashing out of nowhere to catch him before he even made it off the lawn.

It was his father.

He guided the little one away from danger, back into the lawn, and back into the group.

When He was crucified, Jesus experienced everything a child of God experiences when they’ve wandered off from God and into danger.

That means experienced great mental and physical suffering. We know how great: lashed to the bone and crucified naked in front of everyone, including His own mother – all to make up for everyone else’s offenses.

But it also means He experienced great temptation. How great? One sin, in the middle of hell on earth, and the whole world is lost. He experienced what it’s like to get right up to that spot where the wall ends and the sidewalk rolls an inviting red carpet into rush-hour traffic: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Ps 22:1)

But it also means this:

He experienced the greatest experience imaginable.

He experienced The Resurrection. He experienced His Father’s salvation.

He was delivered.

“You are a hiding place for me, you preserve me from trouble; you encompass me with deliverance. I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.” (Ps 32:7-8)

You may have wandered so far out of God’s presence that you’ve fallen into great suffering and temptation. But remember, your heavenly Father still sees you. He will still preserve you from danger.

He will still deliver you from evil.

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Become A Witness to Hope

Monday, August 25th, 2008

Pope John Paul II’s autobiography is called Witness to Hope. What does that phrase mean, “witness to hope”?

Some friends of mine evangelize out in public. They have some big signs, even a speaker and a mike, and they set up in a spot in downtown Boston or Cambridge and hand out “tracts” and fliers. Most people think they are either zealous or nuts. Most are shocked to find out they are Catholic. But there are always people who they reach in a profound way.

I was out with them recently, talking with my friend Jim. Jim is almost 50 years old, and has been out on the street evangelizing like that for almost 20 years. In the middle of our conversation, a young man walked up to us, and asked a question about the big sign Jim was holding, about God. He was in his early 20’s, he looked messy, he had dark shades covering his eyes, and he was sarcastic and full of skepticism.

He questioned whether there was really a God. He questioned whether there really was death. “Woah, he is really lost,” I’m thinking. After we tried to answer his questions, he said, “I’m a vet. I’m also an alcoholic. In fact, I’m drunk right now.”

Just then, Jim said, “Before God got me, I was an alcoholic too, in the Navy. I used to drink so much that I couldn’t get up in the morning. I used to miss shifts, and I was always on the outs. Twice I was almost thrown out of the Navy. I know what it’s like.” And he went on like that for a few minutes, telling stories of his alcoholism in the Navy.

And then he said, “But don’t lose hope. Always have hope.”

The young man said to him, “You just gave me hope. I’m going to cry.”

He took a tract and a flier and walked away with tears in his eyes – and with hope.

Everything is redeemable with the Lord. When we give ourselves to Him, all of our “past” becomes useful, especially the sins and failures. In His hands, our sins and failures make us a witness.

“For you shall be his witness to all men, of those things which you have seen and heard.” (Acts 22:15)

A witness to hope.

Posted in Family & Friends, Joyful, Serving Others, Sorrowful | 2 Comments »

The Only One There

Monday, June 30th, 2008

Several years ago, I got a phone call from a great friend of mine.  We became best friends in college and have kept in touch pretty regularly, even though he lives with his wife in New Jersey and I am in Boston.  Well this night he was filling me in on what had happened to him in his new career.

He had started teaching math to eighth-graders in a difficult public school system.  The students were all from an inner-city background in which many families are unstable or broken, the neighborhoods are dangerous, and there is a lack of true role models.

On top of this, there is a state-mandated exam that students must take, and so there is top-down pressure – on both the educational powers that be and the students – to succeed on it.  The response of the school system is to develop very systematized and inflexible curricula.

Now, when you put these two truths together – abandoned youth with an impersonal system – you get a lot of disinterested and rebellious students.  So, my friend, being a long-time basketball coach, immediately recognized a problem:

“Jerome, they’re at the sixth-grade level.  We’re starting way ahead of where they are,” he had told me.  So, he threw out the systemized curriculum and began teaching them differently.  He met them where they were, and they worked on fundamentals.

He kept them entertained with some stories from his personal life.  But even more importantly, he told them about life, about the class being a team, and how important each person was.  And he didn’t put up with any nonsense – he confronted the discipline problems squarely from day one.

He gave them the truth.  He treated them like his own.

Suddenly, the word about him was getting around the school.  One of his students, who was most feared by all the school faculty, said to him, “Mr. Kelly, we like coming to your class.  We actually learn something here.  You’re the only teacher that cares about us.”  After the first day, he never had a problem with discipline in Mr. Kelly’s class.

The kids worked, they learned, they grew – together.

But someone was watching.

See, the other faculty also caught wind.  His supervisor didn’t like his “style”.  She was jealous.

You know what, she made up some vague lies about what he was doing with the class, colored some evaluations, and recommended he be fired.  She had him brought before the principal at the end of the year.  And with her false evidence, convinced the principal that he was not appropriate for the school.

He did little to defend himself.  And there was no revenge in him, no vicious words of exasperation.  He left with his head high.

When he got done telling me this story, I said to him, “Wow, Tim, do you know how blessed you are?  You just lived the life of Jesus Christ.  How privileged are you!”

It was quiet for a little bit on the other end.  Then he said, “Jerome, it’s really lonely.”

I told him, “Tim, He is with you.  He is the only One who is with you.  It’s you and Him, that’s all.”

Saints Peter and Paul both fed God’s people with the Word of God.  They loved them as their own.  And they both suffered and died with no friend with them – except Him.

And so, they were happy – just to be with Him.

If you are going to live the truth, if you are going to be authentic in life, if you are going to boldly do the right things in life, don’t expect that you’ll be surrounded with friends when the going gets tough.  There is only One Who will be with you.  Do you like to be with Him?

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before you.  If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.  Remember my word that I said to you: The servant is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you: if they have kept my word, they will keep yours also.” (Jn 15:18-20)

He is the only One who gives us the Truth.  He loves us as His own.  He is the only One Who is with us always.

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Denying Brother Donkey

Thursday, June 19th, 2008

St. Francis’ love for God drew him to relate very personally to all of God’s creation.  He even called his own body “Brother Donkey”.  He disciplined Brother Donkey consistently, and he was seemed to be denying it many things.  Now, why did he choose the name donkey for his body?  And why was he always denying it?

As a Franciscan postulant for 5 months, one of the great gifts I received was to attend and be a part of a Christmas play.  A group of families that are friends of the friars put on this play each year.  The kids love it, and it’s a great event for the adults too.

The play had a big cast of characters, life-like costumes, and a pretty good-sized audience.  But this play wasn’t on a stage in a gym.  It was outside in Vermont.  There was real snow, a real barn, real sheep, … and a real donkey.

Now in the play, the donkey had carried the Blessed Mother into the barn with the Christ Child for the manger scene.  After that, he was tied up to stay where he was, and all the angels and shepherds and wise men joined in the manger scene.

Now, this was the climax of the play.  You can picture it: big barn doors are slowly opened to the audience, all attention is on the Mother and Child, the choir is singing heavenly music, the kids are all excited.

Now, I don’t know what it was, whether he didn’t like the music, or he had stagefright, or he had just had it with that “tied up” thing.  Or maybe he wanted to be the center of attention.  Whatever it was, being in the play wasn’t enough for him, because at the very climax of the play, in the middle of the manger scene, the donkey decided all of a sudden that he was getting outta there.

Out he began to stride, right through the middle of the scene.  First a little angel grabbed him, then a little shepherd, and then another little shepherd.  Finally, with some strong and steady pulling, he was drawn back to his post and tied up to stay.  He must have got the message, because he stayed put right where he was placed until it was time for him to go to bed.

The donkey was denied his escape.

Is there a tendency inside of you that says, “I’m outta here” when your life isn’t going according to your desires?  Do you feel like you need a new family, a new career, new neighbors, new friends?  Do you feel a need to be the center of attention?  That is Brother Donkey trying to escape and ruin the whole scene.  Follow the angel and shepherds, follow St. Francis:

Deny him.

“If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.  For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; for he that shall lose his life for my sake, shall save it.  For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, and cast away himself?”  (Lk 9:23-25)

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Meet Him in His Wounds

Thursday, April 24th, 2008

As a Franciscan postulant, I got to spend time ministering to the people of our neighborhood in Lawrence, Mass.  Lawrence is the poorest town in the state.  Though historically it has beautiful character in its work ethic and family culture, it now has much of the breakdown in family and neighborhood that are too typical in this time in poor urban cities.  Couple that with the many recent church closings in the city, and many of the kids grow up wounded.

One of the neighborhood kids was a 5-year-old girl named Darlene.  She and her two sisters lived in an apartment with their mother.  Unfortunately, if you went into her home, you would find strangers coming and going, some drugs and drinking, and, well, an awful place to grow up.  She must have wounds from all of it.  But the friars were able to bring her and her sisters out to the neighborhood activities.

Well one day when the kids had a day off from school and the friars had an activity day for them, Darlene was able to come.  At the end of the day, there was a Mass in a nearby church.  I sat with Darlene at the Mass and quietly helped her to follow along in the missal.  Now, the seat she had chosen happened to be directly next to a life-sized statue of Jesus pointing to His Heart.  His gaze was fixed directly on us.

Well, during the first reading, she had to go to the bathroom.  “Can you wait?”  Dumb question.  So, off we went to hunt for a bathroom.  Up to the back of the church, then down the side aisle and into the sacristry room.  Then, on the way back, again, down one side aisle, then up the other.  The other kids were distracted and laughing.  I thought, “Lord, this isn’t going too well.”

At the end of the Mass, I suddenly felt a tap on my shoulder.  I turned, and Darlene was holding her palm up to me.  Without saying a word, she used her pointing finger from her other hand to tap the middle of her palm, referring to the wounds she could plainly see in the Lord’s hands in the statue.  I nodded my head to let her know that I saw.

Then I leaned over to her and said, “He’s looking right at us.”  She turned to look at the statue.  While she stared at His gaze, I asked quietly, “What is He saying to you?”  After a brief pause, she turned back to me and whispered:

” ‘I love you.’ “

If we really want to know the Lord, I mean if we really want to know Him as a true Friend, then He’ll meet us in wounds, His and ours.  Through His wounds and our wounds, He pours His healing Love into us: “By his wounds, you have been healed.” (1 Pet 2:24)

Through wounds, We become Friends.

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Victory

Saturday, April 19th, 2008

For Boston sports fans, this year has been an incredible year.  First, you’ve got the Red Sox winning the World Series.  Then, you’ve got the Patriots winning every game (OK, except the big one).  The Celtics have been the best team in basketball.  Now, Boston College won the NCAA hockey championship.  What more?  How much better could it get?  I think the mindset of Boston sports fans could be described by one word:

Victory.

When I began as a Minister of Holy Communion at a local Boston hospital, I started green.  I didn’t have any experience in a hospital environment, and so the diseases and sicknesses were a new thing to me.  Also new was the idea of walking into a stranger’s private room, a stranger who has who knows what going on .  It can be intimidating – for me and for the patient.  All in all, it took great faith and trust.

Well on one of my first times making visits, a nurse took me aside and told me that I should go into a particular patient’s room.  “She’s dying, and she asked for Communion.”

I was thinking, “What? wait, did you say dying, what do I, you know, wait a minute …”  But I went.

When I entered, I saw an elderly woman propped up in a hospital bed.  She was breathing heavily and with labor, with a fixed stare of discomfort and fear in her eyes.  Her son was seated next to her on a chair, holding her hand and crying.

For the first time in my life, I saw death.  Death was really and truly present.  I was scared.  And I felt the helplessness that I think everyone feels in the presence of death.

After a brief greeting and introduction to her son, I noticed that the woman could not communicate well.  I couldn’t think of anything to say, so I just walked around to the other side of her bed to quickly begin the Communion rite.

When it came time to open the little container that carries the Hosts, something began to happen.  I gently took out one of the Hosts and elevated it for all to see.  “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world …”  As I was saying these words, I suddenly understood.

Someone greater than death was now truly and really present.  It was Him.

Jesus Christ and death are enemies, but there was no fight.  There was no contest.  Why?  Because the battle is already won.  “Death is swallowed up in victory.” (1 Cor 15:54)

Immediately, all my fear left me.  All thoughts of helplessness and despair evaporated.  Now the tables were turned, and it was death that was left helpless.  “O death, where is your victory?  O death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor 15:55)  The dying woman received the Lord, and as I quietly left her with her son, her eyes never left me.

The Lord wants to give us the one thing that gives us power: Himself.  When we have the Lord Jesus with us, when we really know His power, our mindset in life can be described by one word:

Victory.

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The Face of Jesus

Friday, March 21st, 2008

I lived on a mountain as a postulant with a Franciscan community for a month.  One of the difficult tasks was to get stuff up the mountain.  It was a difficult path, and it took an off-road 4-wheeler to make it all the way.  So, some stuff had to be brought up the old-fashioned way.

One day I had the task of bringing several wheelbarrow loads of mulch from the bottom of the mountain to the friary.  It was August in Maryland, sunny and 90 degrees and humid.  And I should also mention that I had on jeans and a “work habit”, a heavy garment that the brothers wear over a shirt and work pants.  And it took 3 trips – did I mention that, too?  Every twenty feet or so I had to stop, half exhausted.  I must have looked pretty rough …

Now this mountain is pretty steep, but cars – and even homes – can reach part way up.  So as I pushed up the last load, I came to a stop in front of the last home, where some friends of the friars live.  Seeing me, the lady of the house, Diane, came out immediately, scooting down the path from her property to meet me with a smile – and a huge bottle of Gatorade.  We chatted briefly, and between her sweetness, her generosity, and the huge bottle of Gatorade, I felt renewed and invigorated.  She went back to her house so cheerfully.  What a change – she made my day.  I finished the job, but I sometimes wonder if I could have without her.

When Our Lord carried the cross up the hill of Calvary, tradition has it that a woman named Veronica met Him to wipe His face.  How revived and invigorated must the Lord have felt!  In return, she was left with the image of His Face on her veil.

And on her heart.

Remember the Lord’s words?:  “And whoever shall give to drink to one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, amen I say to you, he shall not lose his reward.” (Mt 10:42)

Do you want the joy of having the Face of Jesus imprinted on your heart?  Then when you see Him in His suffering, be generous to Him.

You will certainly not lose your reward.

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The Lord is the Best Listener

Thursday, March 20th, 2008

I often go to the local coffee shop in town here for coffee and a couple of muffins for breakfast.  The other morning I ran into a man named Bill I hadn’t seen in the shop for a while and we got to talking.  He is about 55 or so, and since his stroke last year, he has lost some control of one of his arms and of his face.

He began to tell me about different things that happened to him in the past, and I listened.  He was strong-headed as a kid, and was considered a troublemaker.  He told me about his many not-so-good relations with priests and nuns as a youngster, and I listened.  He admitted his own share in it, but also described some of the unfair treatment he received.  He always got the blame – we laughed.  He lived a sort of wild life in his day.  He was honest, and I listened.

He told me about his sister’s death, and I listened.  He missed her a lot.  He is a Vietnam vet and saw conflict and has suffered psychologically from it.  He complained that he is now on thirteen different medications, and suffers from a variety of side effects, and I listened.  He cannot work.

When he was done speaking, I couldn’t help but say, “Bill, it’s like you’re being crucified.”

He said from his heart with sincerity and remorse: “I deserve all I get.”

How blessed he is!  At Calvary, when Jesus was crucified, He had with Him His greatest friends and His greatest enemies.  His Mother Mary was there, and John His most beloved disciple, along with Mary Magdalene who loved Him with her whole being.  There was the Roman army who tortured and crucified Him and the religious leaders who put Him to death.  There were the people who a week earlier had honored Him as the Messiah and now rejected Him.

But there was only one person that He listened to and responded to, and it was none of the above.

It was the criminal being crucified next to Him, who said, “I deserve all I get.”  It was only him who heard the promise, “Amen I say to you, this day you will be with me in paradise.” (Lk 23:43)  It was the repentant thief – not Mary, or John, or Mary Magdalene – who got to see the opening day of Heaven.

The Lord is not seeking the holy people.  Nor is he seeking the self-righteous.  He joins people in their sufferings who admit, “I deserve all I get.”  He listens to them, and raises them up to the highest place.

The Lord is the best listener.  Do you have something to tell Him?

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Remember the Resurrection

Thursday, March 20th, 2008

“In the world you shall have distress.  But have confidence.  I have overcome the world.”  (Jn 16:33)  The Lord spoke these words to His apostles at the Last Supper, the night that He was betrayed and taken captive, and the day before He was crucified to death.

Now, hold that thought and bear with me as I fast-forward to the next night, after Jesus has been crucified and buried.  All the disciples that fled in fear are gathered in a room, in shock.  I can picture a conversation: “Didn’t He just tell us that He had overcome the world?  But now He’s dead and buried.  He was just rejected by the Roman government, our own religious authorities, all the people who He helped and even strangers who never knew Him.  He was hung naked in front of His mother at the main entrance to the city.  Overcome the world?  I don’t get it.  He’s dead.”

They never expected the Resurrection.

But you know what?  It’s not like the Lord didn’t tell them about it.  Oh yes, on many occasions He told them that He must suffer and die and then rise on the third day.

But the disciples couldn’t understand.  They couldn’t get past “suffer and die”.  They couldn’t fit that into their understanding of the reality of things, never mind “rising from the dead”.  So, when that dark moment came, “rising from the dead” was nowhere on the radar screen.  Their whole world was shattered.  They were terrified and ran away.  They left Jesus – and they missed out on the greatest moment in human history.

Now, we have an advantage because we know the story.  Does it seem like it’s dark in the Church right now?  We have a priest abuse scandal, church closings, a famine of inspiration.  How about in the rest of the world?  We have the rat race, the presidential race, war, terrorism.  How about locally?  We have little left for marriages and families and neighborhoods, a lot of locked doors and fear and mistrust.

It’s a great time to be with Jesus.  It’s a great time to recall His words:  “In the world you shall have distress.  But have confidence.  I have overcome the world.” (Jn 16:33)

Remember the Resurrection.

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Remember Who Is Here

Tuesday, March 18th, 2008

For a time I worked at the parking garage behind the Green Monster at Fenway Park in Boston.  One night I was working collecting fees from cars as they came into the garage, and this brand-new big Mercedes Benz came rolling to a stop next to me and the window dropped down.  Staring at me was one of the greatest Boston Celtic basketball players of all time.

Now, I must explain, that as a kid in the 80’s, I was a fanatical Celtics fan, and I watched this player in so many games on TV.  The Celtics players from the championship teams in the 80’s were heroes to me.  So, you can imagine how stunned I was.  I didn’t know what to say.  I was discombobulated.  I told him not to worry about the fee.  I pointed him to the prime parking space that we reserved for “special” customers.  I was just so amazed and excited to be in his presence.

I couldn’t wait to tell my family and friends about it.  One of my friends asked, “What did he say?”  I said, “Not much.  Just, ‘Thanks, man.’  Come to think of it,” I said, “he basically ignored me.  Not only that, he got in free, he got the best space – and now that I think of it, he didn’t tip me at all!  He didn’t offer to sign anything, not even a polite word or conversation!”  I was so starstruck at the time, I didn’t notice anything else.  He was there!  It was him!

You see, I was so in awe of his presence, I forgot about myself and what I got out of it.  His presence was enough.

When Mary followed Jesus into the cold, forbidding cave at Bethlehem, there was nothing in it for her but His Presence.  When she followed Him all the way to Calvary, there was nothing in it for her but His Presence.  And so, she was with God in His greatest hours, in the greatest moments in human history.

The very last words of Matthew’s Gospel are a promise: “And behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.” (Mt 28:20)  When we really remember just Who is here with us in the Blessed Sacrament, then His Presence is enough.  And we too will be with God in His greatest hours, in the greatest moments of our time.

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