Tag Archives: Devotions

Letting the grace snow down

Posted on December 6, 2009 by unfinishedperson | 4 Comments

It’s Sunday morning and earlier this morning (much earlier) I listened to a homily on EWTN for a daily Mass for Saturday from Alabama. In the homily, the priest discussed snow falling there and how the moisture seeps into the ground similar to God’s grace seeping into our souls.

It got me to reflecting back on this past week on how I have and have not allowed God’s grace to work its way into my own life. The grace is always there, I believe, but sometimes I believe we don’t allow it to work its way down into our being or at least we try to hinder it from working on us. So for this week’s Sleeping with Bread, I thought I’d phrase the questions as follows:

Where last week did I allow God’s grace to work its way into my soul, and then out to others?
Where last week did I try to block God’s grace from finding its way into my core, and thus again out to others?

I’ll start with the second question first.

This past week I made a decision to quit the local men’s chorus of which I’m a member. In short, and to put it bluntly, the crankiness of the older men (at 40, I was the youngest member by far with the majority of the men between the ages of 60 and 85) has gotten to me. So when approached by one of the chorus members at a McDonald’s Friday morning about why I missed chorus practice I told him that it was the negative attitudes of many of the men in the chorus.

I opted not to be diplomatic and say, “Personal reasons,” but told him exactly what I thought. While true, I probably just should have been polite. Instead, I gave him the blunt response and when pressed, told him at least twice.

The only place in the conversation with him where I may have allowed God’s grace to enter was when I deflected any criticism of any one person, or name any of those members who I think have the negative attitudes. That was especially good since he was one of those I could have named! However, I am not like that, or at least try not to be. I can think of at least one other instance in the past few years, where I have deflected criticism of individuals, and just said, “They’re good people. It’s not their fault.” In a small town, with everyone related, it’s best just to keep it general sometimes.

The overall point is diplomacy and while in this situation Friday morning I did speak diplomatically in not naming any individuals on one hand, I should have kept silent on the exact reasons for the sake of peace, on the other hand.

Now to question 1.

The one place I can think of where I have allowed God’s grace to operate is at the hospice where I have been volunteering, mostly overnight shifts (in fact, that’s how I was able to watch the Mass on EWTN this morning as we don’t have cable or satellite). On two different nights last week after I came in, I had the opportunity to listen to the concerns of the sons of the guest at the hospice house. The one son spoke to me for about an hour and a half; the other, maybe half an hour. In both cases, I mostly listened, but contributed a little with what I hope were kind, encouraging words.

At the time of speaking to both sons, unlike Friday morning with the older chorus member, I kept silent on certain topics and was more diplomatic when they brought up legitimate concerns about the operation of the hospice. Also with both sons, without revealing any of the conversations, both needed to get some hurts — one, a lifelong one– off their chests, even if only for a moment in the case of the son with the lifelong hurt. I now think that perhaps I was able in some small way to act as a “kind of” Christ for them to make their burdens a little lighter, even if only for a moment. At least, I pray it was so.

At one point in the conversation with the first son, I believe I actually prayed silently for God to give me the right words to say, and I believe He did. Sometimes as I mentioned in the situation Friday morning with the men’s chorus members, it is not always so.

Lord, help me to see moments of grace that You impart to me and I, in turn, can impart to others.

Question for you: Are you allowing God’s grace, the blessings of the Universe or however you want to word it, to filter down and out to others? Maybe this week you could try. Maybe this week I can also.

This post also can be found on my spiritual blog, Journeying with the Saints. There, you will find an archive of posts relating to my spiritual journey, posts such as this one from December 2007.

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Posted in Flashback Friday, Soul

Tagged Devotions, grace, Sleeping with Bread, The Examen

Are you giving your best?

Posted on October 19, 2009 by unfinishedperson | 1 Comment

I urge you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship.

Romans 12:1

Malachi 1:14, 2:13-16 and an excerpt from The City of God by St. Augustine were the readings in the Liturgy of the Hours one day last week. Both talked about sacrifice. In the reading from Malachi, the writers discusses not giving as good a sacrifice as we could give. In the reading from St. Augustine, the bishop from Hippo discusses that we are to be a living sacrifice as Paul described in Romans. So for me, it follows: “Are we giving the best of ourselves — for Christians and those who believe in a Supreme Bing — to that Supreme Being? To word it another way — for those with no faith — are we giving our best in what we do, period?

So the way I am wording this week’s Sleeping with Bread (a weekly meme in which I participate, more information here) is in the following fashion:

Where did I give the best of myself this past week?

1. Starting to connect with others through LinkedIn to help me find a full-time job: This may seem a small thing, but through my blogs and now Facebook, I have developed a wide network of contacts. However, too often I haven’t “taken advantage” of that network like I should. Saturday I began the process of connecting with mostly other bloggers and college friends using LinkedIn in the hopes that “something might arise” from these contacts. I am just trying to be open to anything and “think outside the box.” I know that working with newspapers as I have for the last 13 years is not the answer, as newspapers are dying (and in my opinion, deservedly so), but what specifically, I am not sure.

2. Attending a retreat last Saturday (Oct. 10) at our church while my wife was away on vacation: While my wife was away for a friend’s 40th birthday party near Atlanta, I went to a day retreat at our church. The retreat leader was a pastor from a neighboring parish, and he spoke on being salt and light to the world and what that means. It is something I try to keep in mind, even as I write my blog posts and connect with others on their blogs. How can I bring salt and light into the lives of others? Sometimes it might only be a small word of encouragement or a way to get somebody to crack a smile in a day that is full of frowns.

Where did I give not as much as I could or maybe should have this past week?

1. Not attending Mass: This actually has been over the last couple of weeks. Last weekend (Oct. 10-11), my wife was away on a trip and I used that as an excuse not to go to Mass. I did attend yesterday, but didn’t make it to the Sacrament of Reconciliation so didn’t partake of the Eucharist. I plan on getting to “confession” later this week.

2. Exercise: As has been the case for the past several months, I have not been exercising like I should. As a result, I am stuck on a plateau weight-wise, about 4o to 50 pounds above where I need to be. Today the weather is supposed to be warmer than it has been here in the 60s Fahrenheit. So if anything, I should use this day to begin again, to get motivated. I picked up a book from the library about running from the library, but that hasn’t helped either, especially since I haven’t even opened it yet. The only thing that will help is to get out the door.

So what about you where this past week did you give the best of yourself or maybe not as much as you could have or should have given? And maybe the question could be asked of you as I would ask of KISS: “Is that really ‘your best’?” I think not.

This post also can be found at my spiritual blog, Journeying with the Saints. If you only are interested in spiritual-related posts, you can subscribe only to that blog, if you so choose.

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Posted in Flashback Friday, Soul

Tagged Devotions, Sleeping with Bread, St. Ignatius of Loyola, The Examen

Create in me a clean heart

Posted on September 27, 2009 by unfinishedperson | 2 Comments

I will sprinkle clean water upon you to cleanse you from all your impurities, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you natural hearts. I will put my spirit within you and make you live by my statutes, careful to observe my decrees.

Ezekiel 36:25-27

Each Monday, a small group of ladies participate in the meme Sleeping with Bread, started by Mary-Lue and based off the book and on the Friday before that, I post something I call Flashback Friday (today on Sunday) as part of that. The meme is based on the Examen as practiced by St. Ignatius of Loyola. This time around, since I haven’t been here since the beginning of the month, I’m going to look back at the entire month of September. I’m using the above Scripture for my questions.

Where this month have I had a stony heart in that I have not been receptive to either discerning or doing God’s will?

1. The computer: As a person with only a part-time job and more than a little bit of free time on my hands, I constantly stay up too late, frittering away time on applications such as Facebook or blip.fm, an application where you can be a deejay of your own musical tastes and connect with other like-minded individuals. I know this doesn’t help me in either sleep or more importantly in my quest for finding a full-time job. Also it is not that the applications are evil in themselves; it’s just the excessive amount of time that I spend on each and the lack of self-control to limit my activities on each that is distracting me from doing things I should be doing.

2. WeightWatchers: I signed up for WeightWatchers online last month. Since then, it seems like it’s been all downhill. I haven’t used the tools there for tracking food or exercise, the latter which I haven’t done unless one counts walking to town for errands, which I don’t. You may notice that I don’t mind giving a link to WeightWatchers, because it is a program that has worked for me in the past, whereas I didn’t leave any links to Facebook or blip.

Where this month have I had a natural heart in that I have been receptive to either discerning or doing God’s will?

1. Volunteering: I volunteer at a house beside our church called Samaritan House, where people come to die. This past month, although I only was there twice for a guest who had lung cancer, I feel like it helped alleviate the burdens on his wife, even if for a couple of nights. She had been staying with him the entire time he was dying, and needed a little sleep. I was glad to be able to afford her that, as I took night shifts from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. for two nights. He passed away last week, and a memorial service is planned for next month.

2. Reading spiritual books: Specifically, I want to point out a book called Befriending Our Desires by Philip Sheldrake, S.J. (Society of Jesuits), which I’m borrowing from my spiritual director.

Most people find it hard to believe the words “desire” and “spirituality.” Desire seems inescapably linked wi th the world or viewed in strictly physical terms.

Yet many of the great spiritual writers and teachers used desire as a central metaphor for the human search for God or emphasized the importance of befriending our desires to spiritual growth and to discernment.

In this thoughtful and innovative work, Philip Sheldrake explores the intimate association between spirituality and desire– both “ours and God’s.” He invites his readers to reflect on the nature of human desire in relation to prayer, discernment, and spiritual growth as he mines the rich Christian spiritual tradition that addresses “desire,” “yearning,” or “longing” in the human search for God– “indeed in God’s reaching out toward humanity.”

…In Befriending Our Desires, Sheldrake shows that desire is indeed a key to the spiritual journey; for only by attending to our deepest desires can we encounter our deepest selves– the image of God within us.

– from the back of the book

I will try to share more from this book, as I continue to read it throughout this next month. I am also continuing to read Chip Ingram’s book, Good To Great In God’s Eyes: Ten Practices Christians Have In Common, as mentioned in my Flashback Friday earlier this month.

3. Continuing to list during each week’s Mass a response to the following: “God show me the one way in this Mass I can become a better person this week.” This was something suggested in a talk by Matthew Kelly, a Catholic lay minister, called “The Seven Pillars of Catholic Spirituality.” I confess (to Almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters , that I did miss one weekend’s Mass, but I did write down a brief thought on each of the other three weekend Masses, including this past weekends.

I share them here and now in that they may (or may not) be useful to you as well. Sept. 6: Love is cash-, color-, and class-blind. Sept. 20: Giving in to God’s will is the key to a peaceful life/When we make someone else No. 1, we find Christ. Sept. 27: What are we doing to heal the divisions that we have caused, or others have caused in our lives?/When Jesus Christ is present, anything, anything, anything can be healed.

Although this song is from a different Scripture than the one above, I think it is one that fits with this post (plus it highlights one of my favorite Christian contemporary musicians):

This post also can be found at my spiritual blog, Journeying with the Saints. If you only are interested in spiritual-related posts, you can subscribe only to that blog, if you so choose.

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Posted in Flashback Friday, Soul

Tagged Devotions, St. Ignatius of Loyola, The Examen

Thinking on “whatever is true, whatever is honorable…”

Posted on August 29, 2009 by unfinishedperson | 10 Comments

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

Philippians 4:8

For what am I least grateful this week?

1. Wasting time: Specifically wasting time on a book, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and in general on books that don’t do anything for me. As of last night, I was three-quarters the way through the aforementioned book but after talking with my wife about it, I’ve decided not to finish it. Why? She reminded me of the verse above, and I guess you could say I felt convicted by the Holy Spirit not to read it. Specifically, the graphic nature of the novel and the promiscuity of the lead character led me to think this really wasn’t something I needed to read.

This said, I don’t believe everything I read has to be of a didactic nature or spiritual or even “Christian.” On the flip side, I don’t believe everything I read has to be meaningless and just a means of escape, although that’s all right from time to time. I have classics sitting on my shelves unread.

Life is too short to waste on the passing fads, so why not delve into the classics? I already am doing that to some degree with the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge and the Baker Street Challenge with Arthur Conan Doyle books. However, I need to read more of the classics.

I also do have a shelf of spiritual classics from St. Augustine to the Dalai Llama that I also would like to read. A year or two ago I had a plan to read those kind of books on Sundays. I think I will return to that practice.

2. The cycle of which I have discussed previously here and in which sometimes I feel stuck: It’s not only the revision of my blogs, over and over again, but also other aspects of my life from my diet to my exercise regimen, among them.

For what am I most grateful?

1. Breaking that cycle to some degree: This week I consolidated three twitter accounts into one and narrowed my blogs to primarily two here and at Unfinished Rambler. Breaking the cycle, like my life, is a work in progress and never will be finished in this earthly life. As a Christian, though, I have faith that it will be completed in the next.

2. Readers of my blogs: Last week I had the oddest of experiences. A young man with whom I am acquainted on Facebook came up to me while my wife and I were at dinner at a local restaurant. He told me he appreciated me a recent post on my becoming an oblate at Mt. Savior Monastery in Elmira, N.Y. He said that he would like to go on a retreat there sometime, that his mother and father had gone there years ago and talked about it and talked about it, and this post reminded him of that. This past week, another Facebook friend started following this blog and a supplement to this blog, An Unfinished Person II on Tumblr, and a fellow book blogger whose blog I read from time to time also contacted me on Facebook to discuss the same post about becoming an oblate.

The point is you never know whose life you may affect, for better or for worse. Don’t worry, I won’t say “for richer or for poorer” (sorry, I’m not giving away money here). This isn’t marriage after all. However, blogging is, or can be, anyway, a bond, I believe, between you and the reader, some of which others are struggling with efforts like Blog With Integrity. While I have not (yet) signed any pledges along these lines, I do believe in some of the ideas behind such efforts. This is why I try to be honest with you how I feel, as much as possible, with the exception of what leave for a priest in the confessional or a trained counselor at his or her office.

A quick aside: This is why I will be changing the themes of Unfinished Rambler in the near future to no themes (which I know is a theme in itself, but anyway…) to reflect myself more honestly and also be a counterpoint to the more ordered structured in themes here.

The bottom line is I have two sides to me: ordered and disordered. How do I balance the order and the chaos as it is within my daily life? Maybe that’s part of the problem. I don’t have the strength on my own and need the help of a Higher Power to find this balance, and balance, period, in my life.

This post also can be found at my spiritual blog, Journeying with the Saints. If you only are interested in spiritual-related posts, you can subscribe only to that blog, if you so choose.