Gossip 101

Humanity is quite an interesting beast if you ask me. It is the only beast that has cognitive ability of reason. All other animals do not have what we are blessed to be endowed with by God. However, this blessing was darkened with the sin of Adam and while original sin was wiped away with Baptism, we are still prone to concupiscence and sin. Gossip is something that was not present in the Garden and is not present in Heaven, however, in the world and especially the United States, it is what "truth" is made out of, perceptions eternalized and harm done. I found when gossiping, it might be a joke about a friend, or what i saw at the mall or some tidbit i heard somewhere. Even these small amounts of gossip can ruin a person without us even knowing it. While we are all guilty of gossip, including me, it is something that we must work on and overcome. We will fall and fail. However, we must get back up, try to repair the damage and ask God for his love and mercy. Every person has a right to integrity. No one has a right to tear anothers integrity apart. When we tear integrity apart, we will never know the full extent of the damage. THUS STOP GOSSIPING AND GO TO THE SOURCE!

I found several ways of dealing with Gossip that are holy and healthy.
1. When I hear it, I tell the person to stop and explain themselves.
2. I will go to the source and ask, is this true?
3. Pray for those affected by Gossip, for I do not know the extent of the damage done.
4. Pray for those who constantly gossip, that they will realize what they are doing.
5. Pray for myself, that I would catch myself before I say something that will hurt my neighbor or my relationship with God.
May God grant us all the ability of self reflection and humility for the sake of our own salvation and the prevention of damage to others.

Tuesday September 11, 2007

Col 2:6-15; Ps 145:1b-2, 8-9, 10-11; Lk 6:12-19

In our readings today, they shed light on an important topic on this anniversary of 9/11/2001. IF you read the Gosepl text from Luke we get the list of the first disciples. Who would later become the apostles. So what is the relationship of the disciple to Christ and the apostles? When they were first called, they were only disciples, followers of Christ. A merry group that followed Jesus around and learned from Him. It is only after three years of following him around does apostle come into the picture. For an apostle is someone who leads others. Thus, you could consider Jesus as the High Priest, the teacher, the formator, the counselor, etc... for these selected disciples who he would intrust his church to. Then after His Resurrection, he gave them the task to lead the community.

In this day and age, before we can do anything, or change anything, or start to make a difference, we need to first be a disciple. We need to take the time to pray, build a relationship with Christ and the sacraments, become familiar with what he requires of us as disciples. It is only after a good length of time can we take the step forward and start to lead others. Take for example the deacon prep program for the Diocese of Phoenix, it is five years. The first two or so years is learning and being formed into a solid Christian. The second part is the practical hands on how to and practice of leading before you are ordained to the Order of Deacon. The same is true for a seminarian who wants to be a priest. For me, it is nine years. Nine crucial years to prepare and deepen my relationship with Christ. In the process of discipleship and leading others regardless of lay, ministerial or self, if you take shortcuts you hurt yourself, your relationship to Christ and those that you will serve.
9/11 is a perfect example of a few who do not understand completely their faith following the words of one human being. What if they were formed in their faith fully, what if......

Monday Sep. 10, 2007

Col 1:24–2:3;Ps 62:6-7, 9; Lk 6:6-11

In the Gospel of Luke, from today's mass it states,

Then Jesus said to them,

“I ask you, is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do

evil,to save life rather than to destroy it?

”Looking around at them all,

he then said to him,“Stretch out your hand.

”He did so and his hand was restored.

But they became enraged and

discussed together what they might do to Jesus.

Why did the scribes and pharisee's become enraged? Was it because they lost control of the situation? Was it because he possibly violated the Jewish law of no work on Sunday? Was it possible that they were upstaged by the Son of God? I think it was all of these things. Jesus had by this point become a huge threat to their posh and comfortable way of life. He was ruining their plans.

Do we get mad when someone else is blessed and stands out upstaging us? I think that we all need to grow more comfortable in being the pawn of Christ. What do I mean? I mean that each and everyone of us have different gifts and talents. These gifts and talents will be used by God at different times for different purposes. When someone else is in the highlight and doing the work of God we cannot let Pride, Jealousy and Envy come into our thinking and cause us to strike out like the scribes and pharisees. In reality we should thank God for the work He is doing through the other person and assist that person in their ministry so that the light can shine even brighter on the Kingdom of God! Let us be like the crippled man who was healed in the Gospel, quiet and appreciative for God's healing touch and let us go out as his hands to reach out to the world.

Diaconate Retreat

Have you ever actually thought about the faith? Have you studied the faith for a long time? Have you been raised in the faith since birth? Then you are probably taking the faith for granted. This was how my diaconate retreat started.
What a great thing to think about though because I do believe that I have taken the faith for granted and many others are in the same boat. My retreat master was Fr. Ted Ross, SJ who has led the diaconate retreat for my seminary since around 1985. He based the retreat loosely on his last year of formation in the Jesuits which is basically a spirtuality year after fourteen prior years of formation. Ignatius set it up that way to get the men of his order grounded again in Christ.
It was wonderful retreat and I reflected alot on the basic mysteries and treasures of our faith and how it is important to keep them up front and not get stuck in the head all the time. It was a great time of fellowship with my classmates and I look forward with even more excitement to my upcoming diaconate ordination on the 27th of October.
On other stuff, my room is coming together slowly and will be clean by the time my mother comes in october! :)
Until I write again,