I've noticed that at mass, the community of parishioners are reverent, prayerful and uplifted spiritually. That we all bow our heads to pray, recite the Lord's Prayer and many other prayers, listen to the gospel as well as the old and new testament readings, and sing together. We shake hands during the sign of peace and answer petitions for prayer for others.
But the minute so many of us step out of that building and walk beyond the invisible wall of worship, we turn it off. Completely. Talking about God, praying with our friends and often even our families becomes an extremely uncomfortable thing for many. My question is WHY? I don't understand how one minute we acknowledge and praise the presence of God in our every day lives, vow to live in union with our neighbors and love one another and the next minute, we are very uneasy with any conversation whatsoever that involves these concepts. This to me is hypocrisy at it's worst.
I'm not innocent. Although I feel very comfortable discussing God and spirituality with many of my close friends and family, there are even more that I find myself shying away from the subject with. These are even people who may sit next to me in mass. I tell myself that we are all on similar journeys in faith, but at different points. If you "bombard" (what a horrible word to describe discussing Jesus's teachings) someone with discussions of God when they are uncomfortable with it, you become, in their minds, fanatical. I don't want to be known as a fanatic. People shut out fanatical people and then nothing they say penetrates hearts and minds. It certainly does not transform them. Maybe because many "fanatics"(for lack of a better word) come across as judgemental or like a zealot.
But there is an art to discussing Jesus and exemplifying his teachings with the world around you. Truly, there is. And it does not always have to be in the spoken word. It is in the lived word. Have you ever met anyone who is kind? And I mean REALLY, genuinely kind? Someone who sees good in everyone, offers help to anyone and is just an all around cheerful human being? This is someone who, when you are being catty or wrapped up in selfishness, can steer a conversation away from that direction and make you walk away a better person? They can never mention the name "God" or "Jesus", but you know they are living His word by their very actions and words.
I know that person and she is my mother. How fortunate am I that I was raised by such a person? For me to act any differently (and I shamefully admit I do at times) is a dishonor to her. And so I do try (and fail, and try and fail and so on....) to be more like her.
That person is also my husband. How fortunate am I to be raising children with him? God bless him and what he got himself into marrying me! He is quietly and deeply spiritual, extremely forgiving and generous to a fault. And so I try (and often fail...) to be more like him.
That outwardly holy person, however, and one that is unapologetic in his beliefs about our faith, is my dad. And the example that my dad set growing up was quite different than my mom's. My dad is a zealot. I mean that in the nicest way. He drug our friends in the house, with his kids kicking and screaming, to say the nightly rosary. He has no qualms about speaking truth with certainty to anyone. His love for Christ and His teachings is glaringly evident. He not only speaks openly about our faith, but he lives it. He, too, is generous beyond words. He would give his last dime to someone with less. I have witnessed him doing so many times. He is not quite as diplomatic as my mother... he gets a little hot under the collar with his convictions. But it's good. No, in fact, it's wonderful. He and my mom are the perfect balance.
And so I look at where I am and where I am headed. I have the softer side of my mom and also the more verbal side of my dad. Where I see them coming together and working wonders is during our prayers while running. On Saturday we ran a 20 mile long run. There were 7 of us that ran the first 10 miles together and 5 that finished out the 20. Only Jen and Erin had ever prayed the rosary on a run with me before. Mark and Helen had not. So again I wondered if it's appropriate to "push" this on them. Maybe they didn't want to say the rosary or really even pray at all. This was their long run too so why should I make them? Oh the ways you know who can enter your brain and steer you away from focusing on Jesus! So I asked Helen if they would mind. She said "I have been praying while running too!" And so with Jen as my right hand man (thanks, Jen :), we said the rosary and offered it up for so many of our suffering friends and family members. This was at around mile 14. Without fail, the effort was easier while we prayed. We even had a bit of a hill to plow up. The effort seemed minimal. When we finished up, Erin said "That was good." And we finished out the remaining miles. The only thing I missed was a sighting of the Blessed Mother, who Sarah and I have seen each time we've said the rosary. But she may well have been somewhere... I just forgot to look :)
It is time for us to acknowledge what we spend every Sunday acknowledging... that God is in fact, present every moment of our lives. He does not vanish when we walk out of the church building or when we cross the lawn to our cars. He stays. Why do we put Him in a box or wrap an invisible wall around Him? It's not good to do that. Exercising our faith is like exercising our bodies. We can do it once a week and that's nice, but by the time the next week rolls around, if we haven't been doing anything else in regard to it, the benefits are gone. Consistent prayer, reverent prayer, awareness of God's presence always is how we change. Just like exercise. Consistency yields dramatic results.
Happy rainy Monday!
But there is an art to discussing Jesus and exemplifying his teachings with the world around you. Truly, there is. And it does not always have to be in the spoken word. It is in the lived word. Have you ever met anyone who is kind? And I mean REALLY, genuinely kind? Someone who sees good in everyone, offers help to anyone and is just an all around cheerful human being? This is someone who, when you are being catty or wrapped up in selfishness, can steer a conversation away from that direction and make you walk away a better person? They can never mention the name "God" or "Jesus", but you know they are living His word by their very actions and words.
I know that person and she is my mother. How fortunate am I that I was raised by such a person? For me to act any differently (and I shamefully admit I do at times) is a dishonor to her. And so I do try (and fail, and try and fail and so on....) to be more like her.
That person is also my husband. How fortunate am I to be raising children with him? God bless him and what he got himself into marrying me! He is quietly and deeply spiritual, extremely forgiving and generous to a fault. And so I try (and often fail...) to be more like him.
That outwardly holy person, however, and one that is unapologetic in his beliefs about our faith, is my dad. And the example that my dad set growing up was quite different than my mom's. My dad is a zealot. I mean that in the nicest way. He drug our friends in the house, with his kids kicking and screaming, to say the nightly rosary. He has no qualms about speaking truth with certainty to anyone. His love for Christ and His teachings is glaringly evident. He not only speaks openly about our faith, but he lives it. He, too, is generous beyond words. He would give his last dime to someone with less. I have witnessed him doing so many times. He is not quite as diplomatic as my mother... he gets a little hot under the collar with his convictions. But it's good. No, in fact, it's wonderful. He and my mom are the perfect balance.
And so I look at where I am and where I am headed. I have the softer side of my mom and also the more verbal side of my dad. Where I see them coming together and working wonders is during our prayers while running. On Saturday we ran a 20 mile long run. There were 7 of us that ran the first 10 miles together and 5 that finished out the 20. Only Jen and Erin had ever prayed the rosary on a run with me before. Mark and Helen had not. So again I wondered if it's appropriate to "push" this on them. Maybe they didn't want to say the rosary or really even pray at all. This was their long run too so why should I make them? Oh the ways you know who can enter your brain and steer you away from focusing on Jesus! So I asked Helen if they would mind. She said "I have been praying while running too!" And so with Jen as my right hand man (thanks, Jen :), we said the rosary and offered it up for so many of our suffering friends and family members. This was at around mile 14. Without fail, the effort was easier while we prayed. We even had a bit of a hill to plow up. The effort seemed minimal. When we finished up, Erin said "That was good." And we finished out the remaining miles. The only thing I missed was a sighting of the Blessed Mother, who Sarah and I have seen each time we've said the rosary. But she may well have been somewhere... I just forgot to look :)
It is time for us to acknowledge what we spend every Sunday acknowledging... that God is in fact, present every moment of our lives. He does not vanish when we walk out of the church building or when we cross the lawn to our cars. He stays. Why do we put Him in a box or wrap an invisible wall around Him? It's not good to do that. Exercising our faith is like exercising our bodies. We can do it once a week and that's nice, but by the time the next week rolls around, if we haven't been doing anything else in regard to it, the benefits are gone. Consistent prayer, reverent prayer, awareness of God's presence always is how we change. Just like exercise. Consistency yields dramatic results.
Happy rainy Monday!
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