The Unchangeable God in the Changeable World

Some months back a few of us were loading up a giant U-haul trailer preparing to make the move to San Antonio to begin yet another journey. A new journey of faith, formation, studies and fraternity that is. I guess in the midst of all of the moving, the transitioning, re-settling and adapting, it was easy to forget of the graces that can come from one thing: change.

Since July, I've been experiencing a crazy, weird and amazing excursion of change, both externally and internally. You come to a new place, move to a new city, begin adapting to the weather, the traffic, the streets, new people, new school, a new schedule of prayer and ministry, etc. Internally, there's emotional change, intellectual change (I hope) and even spiritual changes of learning new ways that God presents himself. Nonetheless, I've enjoyed the change and I think it's brought me to understand another very beautiful attribute of God: That in all of what has been happening, God is the one thing that does not change.

If there's one thing that I've been reminded of in these last few months its that God is the one and only constant. Through all the change that happens in life, in the day, in circumstance and situation, there is one thing that is certain and it can be said in three simple words: God is constant. That means God has no end, he is steady, true and forever. He remains the same in all the change. He is the steady in all the chaos, the sturdy hope in all of our full-of-doubt shakiness. He is the unchanging faithful, the one dependent friend that will always be there for us.

There are times when I might be going through every type of emotion, feelings of loss, feelings of despair even feelings of joy and amazing energy. To be able to sit with that and contemplate on God being a God who sees that, or witnesses that within me is amazing. A good reflection question might be what am I doing at the end of every day that allows God to enter into all of that change? I'm often fascinated at how God can be the one who enters into our world of change, my life of change. In all of that, whatever life brings me there is one incredible thing and that is God is there, as the one who never ever changes. He loves always, he guides always, he listens always, forever. To me that's amazing to think about.

In scripture, we learn of God's faithfulness and his continuous, steady presence within the lives of the Israelites. God remains faithful to his promise, to his people and he gives us a sign of his everlasting love by making a covenant with his people. In the book of Isaiah, the voice that we hear during every Advent season reminds us that God is everlasting.

"The grass withers, the flower wilts when the breath of the Lord blows upon it." Yes, the people is grass! The grass withers, the flower wilts, but the word of our God stands forever."  -Isaiah 40: 7-8

With all the changes that occur in our lives, everything can seem to happen so fast. We are moving, life is changing, people are changing, we ourselves undergo change! However, God is not and he reminds us of that. "For I, the LORD, do not change." (Malachi 3:6) He reminds us to turn to him, to seek Him who has been our foundation for all these years. We know this to be true from the Gospels. During the strength of the storm, Jesus presented himself as one who calmed the sea when fierce waves and strong winds threatened the lives of the disciples. He made himself known during the tumult and shaking sea!

"...He got up, rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was great calm." -Matthew 8:26

It was Christ himself who was Transfigured before the disciples, reminding them that the Glory of God, the Glorified Christ, will be in their midst even when frightening changes take place! Let's not forget the Eucharistic feast, when ordinary bread and wine become the very Body and Blood of Christ through transubstantiation. God makes himself known in these special changes. So too within our lives and the things that we experience, the changes that we are afraid of, the changes that we have trouble accepting. If we give God our time and give him the opportunity, He will present himself to us. With every change comes a chance to see God active in our lives. Not only is He inviting us to hold fast to Him every moment, but most especially when we experience change. By turning to God in prayer, and giving him of ourselves in silent meditation we are clinging to God, we are holding to his truths and we are allowing him to be our surety and our stability.

+Br Vince Mary

Saint Clare of Assisi: A Woman of Light.

These past few days I have been really fascinated by the life of St. Clare of Assisi. There are so many moments in her life that tell us how courageous she was, often trusting in God through providence, faith in his plan and portraying His light through her life of virtue. She was a model of virtue indeed, showing the people of her time true humility, obedience, firmness, gentleness, and compassion.

[a Light born for Light]

                Born a noble woman in a family of knights and wealthy relatives, her family was one of the largest in Assisi and they lived in the upper part of the city. At the time, only the wealthiest lived at the high ends of the city, while the poor lived in the lower city slums and the middle class lived somewhere in between. Born in 1194, she was given the name Clare from a vision that her mother had during pregnancy. As she was praying before the crucified Jesus for a healthy deliver, she heard a voice:

                “Do not be afraid woman, for you will give birth in safety to a light which will give light more clearly than light itself.”

Amazed at these words, her mother asked that her daughter be named Clare, which means, light or clarity. At a young age, Clare was taught the basics of faith by her mother, whose name is Ortulana, which means, gardener. A fitting name for a mother who cultivated a beautiful garden that would soon give many fruits for the whole Church in the years to follow.

[Splendor of an Early Saint]

In her early years, Clare was known to have a sincere heart molded by the Spirit interiorly, always giving to the poor and the needy out of the goodness of her soul. She prayed frequently, keeping prayer on her lips always. She began fasting and acts of penance as a means of mortifying the flesh and the “mirrors” of the world. She wore hair-shirts, slept on hard beds, and ate close to nothing during meal times with her family. Many times, she would gather leftovers to give to the poor and pray especially for those living in the slumps at the bottom of her city. When her family asked her to be married, she refused. When Lord Ranieri di Bernando of Assisi proposed to take her hand in marriage, she refused and vowed from then on to entrust her vocation and virginity to God himself.

             

   In her late teenage years, around seventeen, she heard of St. Francis and his zeal for Christ and He also heard of her, mostly because of her care for the sick and giving of alms that she did throughout her life. The two soon-to-be saints would meet with each other secretly for the next year, confiding in each other, encouraging each other, supporting each other, and building that community of faith that was first founded by Jesus in the first Apostles with Mary. Clare would share with Francis her desire to serve Christ by living out the gospel, seeking advice on how to do so. 

[the King's Marriage Proposal]

  In a planned event advised by St. Francis, Clare attended the Palm Sunday mass along with all the woman in the city being “beautifully adorned with flowers, in brilliance and with all their finery.” The custom then was to dress for the King’s entrance into the city, they would have done the same with their noble knights during the years of war. As the people began processing through the Church to receive their palms, Clare stood still shy and nervous. When all of a sudden, the Bishop of Assisi makes his way down to her after seeing her face and places in her hands a palm branch. Clare immediately, consoled by the Bishop’s gesture affirmed in her heart by way of peace the desire to serve God with all her mind and heart. This event indicates a few things: The bishop’s permission to flee her home and follow Christ, it affirms that Clare is participating in a spousal relationship with Jesus and recognizing her Honor as a true Bride. The marriage has been set!

 [a Happy Marriage]

That night Clare sneaks out of the back door of her family’s home, breaking through a door of wooden beams and an iron rod. She ran two or three miles through the city gates, down the hill of Assisi, and past the lower city slums to the small church, Saint Mary of the Portiuncula. There the brothers along with St. Francis would greet her and after putting aside everything she left in the city of Assisi she is sheared of her golden hair, and left with a tonsured head, a penitential act that is symbolic of entering into the religious life.

“A happy marriage and a happy profession, a chaste embrace, a joyful love, a sweet union, a restless desire, a fervent love! Great is the piety, wonderful is God’s honor through which the devoted soul is wedded to God, the fragile flesh to the Word, the lowly to the Most High, and the trifling to the dear!

  

[a Model of Love]

Soon after her family found out where she was and rushed down to the church of the Portiuncula with the intention of bringing her back home. Clare immediately grabbed the altar cloths and as her family began pulling her away, she revealed her tonsured head and her family left. She stayed in her place without the slightest thought of being separated from the love and service of God that she had already committed to.  Clare loved Jesus Christ so much that it bore fruit and caused many more woman to follow in her steps. She loved the Eucharist with great fervor and her love for Christ began to show in her prayers and love. Then encouraged by St. Francis, Clare would write the new and holy observance of the Poor Ladies, also known today as the Poor Clares.

"O how great is the vibrancy of this light and how intense is the brilliance of its illumination! While this light remained certainly in a hidden enclosure, it emitted sparkling rays outside...Yes, Clare hit, yet her life was come to light. Clare was silent, yet her fame was proclaimed. She was hidden in a cell, but was known in cities."

On August 9, 1253, two days before her death, she would receive the approved Form of Life issued and signed by Pope Innocent IV

Today, St. Clare is a model of faith, of light in the darkness of night. She’s a model of trust when there is no surety and courage when there is fear! St. Clare, pray for us! 

Marked with TAU (t-uh-owl)

As the beginning of our Postulancy year begins to pave its path in our discernments, my brothers and I are marked with the symbol of St. Francis. To start the year we are welcomed into the Franciscan Capuchin brotherhood as formees, thus the marking of the Tau.

The Tau cross is the last letter of the Greek Alphabet and began to emerge during the formation and conversion of St. Francis of Assisi. In fact, he used it as a symbol for his brotherhood by putting it in paintings and on walls where he stayed, he even traced it over his body before any of his actions. The Tau cross was a coat of arms for him and he used it as his symbol. In introducing his brotherhood and order to Pope Innocent III at the time, the reigning Holy Father proclaimed that while the marking of the Tau was a gesture and only for those who have committed to crucifying the flesh of their own bodies of sin and destruction and conforming their lives to the life of Christ by imitating his life and love.

The Mark of the Tau is a transformation from dying to the sin that once held us and rising to the new life of Christ. In a very real way, my brothers and I are learning to conform our lives not only to this brotherhood, but also to the life of Christ. The forming is within the very marking of the Tau, and also the conforming to new life both Spiritual; in prayer and meditation, and also the physical; adapting to the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. The honor and privilege for me is being able to wear the signature of Saint Francis that very closely depicts Christ Crucified. The joy is that it allowed me to feel all the hurt that I had placed on Christ through the weight of my sin and I wanted to fulfill the mission of the Tau: To mortify the flesh of my own sin and be transformed not only by the message of the Cross but to the message of the Cross that is, to the life of Christ Crucified.

Mary: The One That Leads

Mary in her holiness and faithfulness places on us a tender, loving aid that comes to us only through the Father, and through this she leads us to Christ her son. The only thing that might be so hard for us male-breeds to understand is that Mary by her role, is someone we are suppose to turn to, and not only turn to but FOLLOW. That's right I said it, we should follow a woman. 

Follow her obedience and faithfulness to seek out a life that she did in holiness, yes. But as a man we should be willing to follow her, because it is by her loving care that she leads us to God and prepares us along the way before we are presented. It can be hard to give into an idea that says we should let the woman lead the way, with all respect. For so long our role as a man on the earth has been to lead the woman, be the man of the house, or work your ass off to provide food for your family and eat meat with meat drink. Following a woman can't possibly be the answer, because that means doing what she says. We're suppose to be tough, chop wood and grow beards right? Sure, but it can be easy to lose sight of the whole purpose of Mary in a bigger perspective. She was a Mother to Jesus, carried him for nine months knowing she could be killed if she had been caught bearing child outside of wedlock. Still, she gave birth to our Savior, raised him and accompanied him even at the time of his death. The message is that Mary as a Mother can raise us the same way she raised Jesus, she can protect us and care for us. All we are called to do, is follow her path of holiness and come to know her in a relationship of prayer and devotion. 

The thing is that God placed Mary as the Mother of Mercy and Queen of Peace. Her role in the Church is to lead us to Christ her son, as intercessor to pray for us, and prepare our hearts for the Mercy of Christ available to all.  The Joy is that in her completeness, she perfects us and cleanses us before we are presented to her son, our King. It doesn't matter what we have done or what we still do, Mary still offers us the love of God through herself and by it we return to Christ. Saint Jose Maria Escriva once said, "To Jesus we always go, and to Jesus we will always return, through Mary."

So, calling ALL MEN, to embrace the love that Christ gives us through Mary, to follow her deeply in prayer and devotion, pray to her, ask for her intercession; that she be present in both our lives, mine and yours. She is a Mother placed before us to love us tenderly, to care for us, protect, prepare and lead us to Christ in the same way she brought Christ to us; by her prayer. 

Advent: Come & Wait

The word Advent derives from the Latin word adventus, meaning coming. Who is coming, the Christ is coming, our Savior is coming. Jesus, born unto the world from the Blessed Virgin comes to save the world and ransom the captive Israel. However, with this coming of Christ in the Christmas season, there is also a waiting, a preparation, and a renewal. Advent is the season of waiting, with faithful hope for the coming of our Lord, but not only a waiting, a coming to too. Advent in many ways can remind us of the holiness and virtue there is in waiting and being patient. Patience, is a virtue that can lead to holiness, because when we are patient, we are still and we are quiet, and when we are quiet we are thinking, or meditating or praying. See more on patience. This advent season, there is an invitation not only to come to Jesus just as he has come to us. But an invitation to wait for his coming with prayerful, faithful hearts each day of the season. Its two different words with the same meaning, on one side we can come to Jesus, prepare ourselves for the journey, (just as the wise man did) praying, fasting, meditating and even emptying ourselves.When we come to Jesus, we are placing ourselves in His presence and therefore, allowing His presence, Love, Grace and Will to be placed within us. On the other side, we can wait for Jesus, prepare ourselves for his coming (Just as Mary did), be patient and faithful in the hope of his coming just as in his Resurrection and welcome him into our hearts. Both are means of welcoming Jesus into our hearts and into our lives. So in the season of Advent, we are invited, not only to wait for Jesus and prepare for his return, but run to him upon his arrival. 

The Good, the Bad, and the Divine

There's always a constant battle in life between the good and the bad. A battle between the divine, and the evil. In our lives, it's up to us to make that distinction and we have to do it quick, like Clint East would (No pun intended). The battle, is of three things, the good, the bad and the divine. While the good is from the divine, theologically, there is also a good that we might be distracted of. This is the world's view of good, or what might be good. Life is full of good things, and as sensible beings, we desire everything that is good, or what makes us feel good, or be good. We hear from philosophers that the good, is that which is desirable, meaning we desire it, we want it constantly. This is why we sin, because in our eyes it's good and pleasing to us. Sin has to have something 'good' about it or else we wouldn't do it, right. There is good, because it's pleasing, but it might not always be healthy. What we don't see, is that most times, our desire for the divine goodness is shortened and we turn to those things that aren't good for us. It's like we cheat ourselves from experiening that divine goodness.  All of life, from beginning to it's end, leads and points us to the divine goodness. We are slowly, ordered, prepared and led to this great goodness that God wants us to experience. Where we fall short is when we turn to something false, something that only pleases us for a moment and then it's gone. The cool message is to seek the divine goodness and look past those temporal things that take us further and further away from the divine hand. We become distracted and now what was bad becomes 'good' and that's it, we don't wanna move any further because we're set. Now, there is no longer a move to experience a greater goodness, that divine goodness because, we are content with that 'good' the world gives us. So...

 Don't cheat yourself.

Don't be content with the bare-minimum.



We should strive to seek God's goodness everyday, start by recognizing that there IS a greater goodness, one that is eternal. Like I said, it's a constant struggle, even for me. The battle is now, and it's either life or death. The great thing is that this takes time, patience. I always want to be spot on, or be virtuous all of a sudden, like if it happens overnight. It doesn't. Conversion is a process and takes prayer and silence even when it is hard. I read somewhere, that the hardest yet most effective prayer, is the prayer that comes when you don't want to pray. It's almost like we have to force ourselves to sit still, we have to literally sit and train our minds and our hearts to be faithful and fruitful. and It doesn't happen overnight. Take steps and join me in being faithful in small matters first before the great matters. Often times we have to habituate, train and mold those small basic virtues before we can strive for those heroic virtues.

Called to be Saints

A Saint in the church is someone who is holy, and venerated by the communion of people that make up the Church. Saint, literally means 'to be Holy', these holy people, these holy saints are worthy of our prayers and worthy of our intercessions. They are not perfect people, they are just like us but faithful and obedient to the will of God. Many people speculate about the saints in the church, often asking why we pray to the Saints, why should we pray to them when I can just pray straight to God. The answer is that we need help. The church venerates the saints as intercessors. I like to use the example of a mail-carrier. The Saints for us, are those who hear our intentions and pray for us since they are declared Holy and with Christ in heaven. If I am suffering, lost, broken or in chaos, then I would want all the help I can get. That means from my family here on earth, my friends and even the Saints who are models of faith. All of these people can pray for us in our suffering and God can offer us His mercy and grace. The fact is that we are all called to sainthood, by our baptism as infants, we share in the goodness of God's love and therefore have an initial invitation to holiness. In our call to holiness not only do we need to know God and love God, but we also should know 5 key principles that can help us obtain true holiness. These I explained during the Junior Rally workshop I gave this past weekend:

The First is HUMILITY:
We should be humble in life and know that we are creatures of God and we need his mercy more then our pride. We should be humble when we do things, we should not let our pride get to us. Humility is about abandoning our pride and understanding our weaknesses. I just graduated with my Bachelors in Theology so it would be weird for me to go into a career of teaching mathematics. One, because I'm not good at it, and two, because that is not my field. Humility is about not thinking of ourselves less, but thinking less of ourselves, as G.K Chesterton once put it. When we are humble, we know and understand that it is not all about ourselves, but about God who sustains and holds everything about us in place.

The second is FAITHFULNESS:
Faithfulness is about trust. Sure, it's good to trust in ourselves having confidence in what we can do. But faithfulness in this case is about trusting in God it is about having confidence in the character of God. Sometimes it is rejecting that notion of 'I am the center of attention' and the problem with the common notionof faithfulness is that the focus many times is on me. Faith is realizing that God is good, deserving of our trust and knowing that God sees what we can't. Faithfulness is recognizing that God is the better driver and he is able to control our lives toward the greater good better then we can because that is what he wants after all! We see in the Old Testament when God commissioned Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, Moses in his fear, was not faithful or trusting in God's divine promise. He gave God five excuses and said he couldn't do, I am not fit for this job, he said, pick somebody else. After placing his trust in God, Moses succeeded and led God's people out of Egypt just before he would die. Prior to his death, God would commission Joshua as the successor to Moses. I will touch on him more later. So, we can see that faithfulness requires a trust in God and faith in his divine will.

The third is PRAYER:
Prayer is the most fundamental aspect in the lives of the Saints. What prayer is, is the communication and the bond they had between the Father and themselves. Without prayer there can be no relationship. Think about a common relationship, dating or marriage, in that relationship that has to be a fundamental level of communication, without communication then the relationship either won't exist or if it does already, goes haywire all because of a lack of communication. It is the same with a relationship with God, if we don't have that prayer and communication with God then how can God reveal himself to us, and how can we learn to know and love God. God made us to be holy, He made us so that we can be happy with him. This means that He wants us to pray to him, because He wants that relationship and He wants to reward us because of it. If we look in the New Testament with Jesus and his Father, Jesus was made known the will of the Father because of his Prayer to him. Yes, the Church teaches that Jesus and God are one in the same, however, Jesus still had that human nature and by his prayers to the Father He set an example that we should pray to God so that our will can be made in union with the will of the Father; this is exactly what Jesus did when he said "Let your will be done, not mine" So prayer to the Father, is a fundamental part in our call to holiness.

The fourth is COURAGE:
Going back to the commissioning of Joshua after Moses' death, God told Joshua to be strong and courageous more then any other person in the bible. He instilled in Joshua and reminded him to be strong and be courageous, because I will be with you wherever you go. So I think there is a message even for us, that we should be courageous, we should be bold. This means strong and courageous in our faith, in our prayer lives, we should stand up for what is right and against what is wrong. Who cares if we are young, who cares if we are weak, we should be strong and courageous in everything we do. One message from Saint John Paul II that I see alot is "Do not be afraid" There is a message that we should be strong and remember that God will accompany us always. Many times we might feel like were sent with no direction on where to go, but God is not a clockmaker where he creates us and lets us run on our own. Rather, he creates us, sends us out and accompanies us even after he sends us. So we should be strong and remember Joshua 1:9, "be strong and courageous".

The final is OBEDIENCE:
Obedience being our offering and our giving in to the reality that God is King and Ruler of our lives, yet still allows us to do our own thing. Obedience is us just listening and paying attention. How can we listen to what is going on if we are loud in our lives. Loud with sin and loud with our actions. We are called to obey God, be obedient to him and mindful of who He is. So many times listening is about shutting up and just staying still, even for me I have a hard time just being quiet that I miss what is going on. Psalm 46:10 tells us "be still and know that I am God." When we obey God that is us professing in our hearts that we are trusting and surrendering to the very goodness of God's will. The perfect example of obedience is the Blessed Mother, in her youth she obeyed God, placed her trust in him and surrendered her body as the vessel that would bring Jesus into the world. She is a model for us all and we should pray through her for the same obedience, humility, faith and courage as she. One thing I touched on during my presentation is that obedience starts now, in our homes and with our families. If we cannot be obedient to our families on earth then how can we be obedient to God who is in Heaven. So it starts now.

By our baptism, we are all called to sainthood, we are all called to holiness and to achieve true holiness we should be mindful of God in humility, trusting in him with faith, we should call upon him in prayer, stand up with him in Courage and surrender to him with obedience.

Restoring the City of Man; Jerusalem

In our brokenness, there is always room for healing. In God's eyes we can be forgiven of any fault and fall that we've endured. In our sin, there is restoration by God to a spirit a faithfulness and obedience to him. Just as the restoration of Jerusalem is described in Psalm 147, we too, are restored and brought to new life in him. We might feel so unworthy for the love that Christ offers to us because of who we are and maybe where we've been. We might feel so unclean that there is no room to be washed and cleansed but the joy is that in our sin and suffering, there is healing. Healing of a better heart, a better soul, even a better mind! Because in our unworthiness God restores us and still holds us up even after we sin. In this restoration of Jerusalem, or man, God sustains, He provides, he rebuilds, gathers, strengthens, blesses, proclaims and delights in this City. He does all of this for us. God, in our sin, restores us, he sustains us still, and provides for us the necessary grace to return to his yard.

For me in my unworthiness, it can be hard sometimes to be fully devout because I know that I am unworthy of His love. With that, it doesn't mean that I can't be as faithful and obedient as I can be. It is my unworthiness that should allow me to be faithful, obedient and fully devout to God who restores even in all of this. God made us, he built us, why wouldn't he be able to rebuild us in our sin, and restore our relationship with him?