Tending to the Poor in the U.S.

I sure wish this was being said at the pulpit and not from a pundit.

New Life, Hope, and My Pal Jesus (Originally posted 04/11/2004)

SUNDAY, APRIL 11, 2004

The last time I received Holy Communion was 10 years ago on Easter Sunday.


That morning was daylight savings time; the clocks were springing ahead.


I had failed to change the time and arrived one hour late to that special Easter morning Mass.


I ran up to our pastor and cried as I asked him to please let me receive Communion. I knew it would be the last time for a long time to come.


Why?


Because I am a disenfranchised Catholic.


Because of very conscious choices I made directly after that day I am now excommunicated.


I was divorced from a first marriage, was living with my (now) husband and we married in a Methodist Church.


That is called not playing by the rules.


The reasons for doing such are many and private.


Every Easter is a reminder of that painful dismissal that I received from my Church family. And every Easter hope springs anew for healing within the Catholic Church.


So, Easter this morning was a quiet service in our home, just the three of us.


My son has been tending to some potted bulbs that I am hoping will grow. I talked with him about how the bulbs are hidden right now, but that life is growing under that soil and will spring forth new and beautiful.


We read the Easter story from his children's Bible and said some special prayers. I explained to my son how Jesus was able to open the gates of Heaven so that all of us could spend eternity with God.


Today I remember those who have passed on before me, who are enjoying paradise, who will be there to greet me when I come home.


Grandma M., Monsignor R., Father H., My Dad, Tom, Chris, Steve, Walter, Bob, Johnny, Albert, Gene, Peter, and so many more.


And, of course, my pal Jesus.


I was excommunicated by a religious institution, but Jesus still walks with me.


When I lost my respect for so many clergy, Jesus walked with me.


When I cried because people judged me harshly, Jesus walked with me.


When I had to sit on the periphery of the Feast only an observer to the Holy Communion but not welcome to come to the altar, Jesus sat there with me.


Jesus had no patience with the leaders of His Church bogged down by rules and devoid of Spirit.


I am the woman at the well.


I am the woman who the stones were meant to be cast upon…


and Jesus never abandoned me.


Thank you, God, for Jesus.


Thank you for the love.


Thank you for the Holy Spirit.


Thank you for the courage to live a life that simply wants to walk alongside Jesus.


AMEN, ALLELUIA.

The Rapture: May 21, 2011

A bunch of people were expecting the Rapture today. They predicted massive earthquakes starting in New Zealand and spreading throughout the world followed by chaos and seven years of tribulations until the end of the World. Some predicted the World will end on October 21, 2011.

I was thinking of the Rapture believers this morning. Imagining their fear, their anticipation, their hope, and now the shock and disappointment that there is no Rapture today.

Where do you go from there?

You believe the world as you know it is going to stop. You hope in the deepest roots of your soul that you have been a good follower of Jesus, and you worked hard to be worthy to ascend to Heaven...

and...

nothing happens.

What to do?

Come down off of the mountain? Go back to work? Open up a checking account? Get on with your life?

Maybe these are the questions that besieged Jesus' first followers; His apostles and all those who worked with Him. The disciples believed that Jesus was coming back in their life time. He did in Spirit, but not from the sky arriving in glorious proclamation for the day of judgement.

So, Jesus did not come back then. His apostles desperately taught everyone to be prepared.

Were they mistaken?

No, I think not.

Jesus wanted us to live each day as if it were our last.

Thank about that.

If you knew you were going to die tonight would you be wasting your time right now? Would you withhold your forgiveness to those who have hurt you? Would you delay in making right the wrongs you have done? Would you skip over telling someone "I love you"? Would you avoid a hug? Miss the sweet song of a bird? Worry about your car, your house? Your possessions?

No.

You would be acutely aware of every moment, every breath, every sight, scent, taste, sound and every one who loves you and whom you love.

That is what Jesus asked us to do.

My son recently asked me about the end of the world. He was worried about that.

I looked at him and told him the truth. Every day somewhere, someplace the world has ended for someone. This conversation took place during the catastrophic earthquakes and tsunami in Japan (March 2011). I told my son that for all of the victims of that disaster, the world as they have known it has ended.

Nothing will be the same for them again. The survivors will use that ending to choose to mourn for the rest of their lives or to grieve as they must, but then begin again. They can choose to live in fear or they can choose to be strong and embrace the lessons of compassion that are borne out of such profound suffering.

Then I told him that the world as our little family knows it will end. Some day God will call one of us home first. And we will grieve and heal and step forward,.. continuing to learn that we all must strive to live each day in awareness, in gratitude... in humility, because we never will truly know which day will be the last.