Articles published in My Daily Visitor
November 15th, 2006. Wednesday
Christianity and Business
St. Paul instructs the early Christians and us in proper behavior in the world outside our home – the world of business. Every day we see how power corrupts, how greed transforms our businesses and political leaders. This temptation affects us too. I am tempted to seek a little more profit for my work. To grab as much as I can. Cut expenses as much as possible. Who really wants to pay taxes?
Our Christian Faith must extend to the monetary world. Here lie great temptations in the constant battle of want. Money and power can offer innumerable material pleasures but here lies the greatest challenge for Christ-like achievement. Here lies one of the greatest goals – respect. Don’t we all remember those who treated us with dignity?
Dear Lord, help me to remember, that our faith affects all aspects of our lives.
November 16th. Thursday
Where? When? Here and Now?
Personally, I find the first lines of this Gospel confusing. Is Jesus again talking on a different plane beyond the physical? Is He talking about the time of his physical presence then or talking of all time? Is He telling the Pharisees and the apostles He is the Kingdom or that the Kingdom is beyond our human consciousness will always be and that it surrounds us, or both?
Our lives our based on the boundaries of time and physics (or the physical). I’ve tried; many have tried to contemplate what life would be like without these two constraints. Again it is beyond our understanding. Like a fish cannot understand life beyond the sea, we cannot “see” further but are offered a glimpse by the visions of his Mother.
Help me live, Lord, to accept what I will never understand.
November 17th. Friday
Separate and Whole
On her feast day, we are reminded how one like St. Elizabeth used her royal position to further the faith. She served the least and displayed love and compassion. I remember my parish men’s club, how the average worker used their individual skills and knowledge. One member had a truck route, another had access to equipment, and another was a number cruncher. We were all able to apply our talents. Piece by piece, teamwork. A small piece to complete the puzzle/job at hand. It’s right there in front of us. We all have something to offer. Like one Christmas, my brother had the skill and time to make a quilt. I had the funds. Together we gave a memorable gift. We are all members of a lasting community; each a piece of the whole.
Lord, help me to enable each of us for our “community”.
November 18th. Saturday
Stubbornness and Persistence
There is a difference. The judge was obstinate; the widow was persistent. If this corrupt judge could be forced, imagine our Father, for He is there waiting and wanting, always. Actively seeking that lost sheep, the inquiring ones, all of us to seek Him.
Prayer, on one level, is an admission of weakness. Obviously many things are outside our control. We are admitting we are not as strong as we may believe. Prayer shows faith in something greater. We are keeping our ego in control.
Remember there are many ways to pray. Many levels. Ask your priest. Find a method or methods that are comfortable. Pray to pray better. Pray when you walk, pray when you shop. Why not? Let’s open our minds. It’s a two-way communication.
Prayer is a road, a journey to be traveled. Lord, let me not veer off.
November 19th. Sunday
Past efforts; the Road ahead.
This Letter to the Hebrews reminds us that of all of man’s sacrifices, none were fully consecrated until the Son was sacrificed. The priest made the animal sacrifices of old. Now, the Son is both the Priest and the sacrificed one, for eternity. He has put in motion a new covenant. Pointed us to the right direction. A new road with new responsibilities and purpose.
This, for the Gospel continues, will not be a smooth path, either during the Son’s time on earth or afterwards. As I recall Veterans’ and Memorial Day we must never forget the sacrifices of others, for us, and for future generations. God has hope in us, for He would have never sent His Son. For hope in us and love for us, always.
Lord, I must remember what has been done for my sake.
November 20th. Monday
Being corrected
Did you ever buy one of those kits, where you put together a desk or cabinet? You believe that every detail was followed to the letter only to find out a draw didn’t fit. What about that recipe? Or on a more personal level, where you worked on something for your spouse or boss, and after all your labors only to be rebuked. I take these “corrections” very personally. I guess most of us do. Different, unhealthy emotions occur with me, like anxiety, insecurity and resentment.
In Revelations, John compliments with one hand and admonishes with the other. The Virgin’s appearances are also a reminder that we together in our faith have faulted. We all must learn, accept our imperfections. Belief and faith, we must have as we’re corrected, shown the proper road.
When being corrected, Lord let me see the positive side and understand the other-side.
November 21st. Tuesday. The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The Road Taken.
From the very beginning, Mary’s destiny was established. Based on several apocryphal writings, at the age of three, she was brought and offered at the temple by her parents, Anna and Joachim. While more popular in the Eastern Church, this feast displays her early sanctification to God. Our destinies are not so clear, but imagine the pressures at so early an age. Either way the road can be very difficult.
Many of us still do not understand our individual journeys. As accountant for over twenty years, I was literally forced out of this field by illness. Now I’m on a new venture: writing. I hope this is what the Lord intended. The journey has been difficult, but I have hope and faith for this path.
Please make my earthly life acceptable and the fulfillment of your desires, Lord.
End
Notes
Give to poor. 1) clean way
2) dirty get down and do the work
Notes: November 9th, show something special for my 49th Birthday.
-Luke 14,7-14 invited place of honor- you always can learn something from someone.
-the best way to appreciate something is to do without. Remember the last blackout? The same can be said for faith. It is not just a coincidence that some of the greatest believers were converts To grow with some=thing is a pleasure. To do without is a trial. Never to have a gain is a treasure> Faith is the eternal treasure.
-keep it simple
– sometimes a little change is good. Challenges the mind example Where your watch on the other hand. Use your left hand. Make a game out of it.
– Nouwen essays
Call Watson
11/9 Pure and Simple Anger
On this day of the dedication of the pope’s Cathedral in Rome (not St. Peter’s), we hear a Gospel Story of a cleansing of another house of worship. Here, our Lord, from actions that are an affront to his dignity and purpose displays the human emotion of anger. These are the people He will suffer and die for. Be humiliated for. And what do they show in return, unknowingly, but nevertheless disgraceful behavior in a solemn place.
Anger is part of the human experience. It may be comforting that our Lord took on human frailties, to be one of us. To save us. However we should not let our anger control us. We must remember our words and actions surely will come back. And we cannot take back what has passed.
Please Lord, help me to “bite” my tongue and understand others in times of anger.
Two thousand years After Jesus, I wonder if it would have been easier to follow and believe then than it is today. Back then you were so chronologically close to the Event you figured it may have been easy especially if there were still eyewitnesses. However, just imagine how unusual it must have seemed. A small cultural religious sect and a Miracle. Very difficult in those to try and believe. Then superstitions abound in every morally corrupt culture where the life of non-Roman was considered as something to use up and discard. How do you just ignore the trends and turn around to ideas and self-dignity that were to foreign? REREAD Letter
Time is a concept that does not exist in heaven. It may rule our lives here, but not in eternity/heaven.
The dessert experience. We go through it. It appears ever expansive, ever desolate. But we can and do come out stronger.
Glenn Slaby Blog