Jesus Christ

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Are you ready?

If Jesus’ second coming back to earth was tomorrow, would you be ready?

We don’t quite know what the second coming of Jesus will be like, nor what happens afterwards. What we anticipate is that at His coming, the dead will rise and all will be judged and then His kingdom will reign forever. For those of us who are still alive, if we still have faults that need to be purged, will there be some sort of purgatory for us? What will we do in eternity? Will we have jobs? Will we need to support ourselves? Jesus mentioned He will prepare a place for us, so if all our needs are taken care of, will we be forever contemplating God in all of His divinity? How can we prepare ourselves for something we don’t know — or perhaps more accurately — can’t understand with our finite and earth-bound mind? 

Each November the Church reminds us that the end is near. It’s a lot nearer than it was when Jesus first came. However, with two millennia passed, it’s hard to imagine the end of the world. Tumultuous activities, both natural and man-made, are supposed to herald the end, but that’s also been a constant since the beginning of civilization. Men have been predicting the end for the same amount of time, claiming secret knowledge has been revealed to indicate when it will come. Jesus dispelled that notion, indicating that only the Father alone has that knowledge (Matt 24:36).

It is an interesting juxtaposition, with the end of the liturgical year talking about the end of things, and the beginning of the liturgical year preparing for the coming of Christ. While we think more of a preparation for Christmas, the Church is gently reminding us that we need to prepare for both, the celebration of the historical time when Jesus was born as a man, as well as taking a look at what we could do better in preparing if He was to come back to earth for the final judgment. We know we’re to live our life trying to do God’s will and cultivating a relationship with Him. But to think about what will happen afterwards can be a bit scary and uncomfortable. It’s much easier, fun, and comfortable to think about preparations for Christmas: what presents to buy, how to decorate, what food to make, and with whom we will celebrate. 

It’s very easy for us to get lost in the daily aspects of living life on earth. The role models we are to emulate, the saints, are celebrated at the beginning of November. This isn’t mere coincidence; this is the Church giving us the opportunity to focus on the goal of our lives as well as to dive deeper into the lives of those we know are spiritually closest to God. If we haven’t done so during this month, Advent is also a good time to seek out some saints that we don’t know very well and learn about their lives. These last two months of the year can be a supercharging spiritual renewal, if we pursue it. It’s like the Church is saying: A) here’s the goal and examples of saints to follow, B) the end is near, but don’t be afraid because, C) the end is really a new beginning in the life of Christ when He comes. If the world does not end, we should still be preparing ourselves for it as well as the coming of Jesus in our daily lives (in the people we encounter as well as in receiving the Holy Eucharist), as well as preparing to celebrate His birth as it occurred in history. That’s a lot to think about for a mere human brain!

While it’s not just during the last two months of the year we’re to focus on the end that will bring a new beginning, setting aside the time to focus and take stock of our spiritual welfare is a worthy endeavor. The Church gives us the reminder and the resources, it’s up to us to acknowledge and pursue it or take our chances that we still have time to prepare the day after tomorrow. 

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Prayer of roses

At the beginning of October, the Church celebrated the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. It’s a prayer tool that has been around for about 800 years! Much has been said and written about it, as it seems like a topic that is inexhaustible. But is there a place for the rosary in our modern world?

In the 13th century, Our Lady appeared to St. Dominic with the option of praying the Marian Psalter. It combined the Angelic salutation with the life and works of Jesus, teaching the basics of the faith and combating the heresies at the time. It was a spiritual weapon that converted, or reconverted, many to the faith. In some ways, it mirrors the 150 Psalms, only instead of having to memorize all the different Psalms, it’s just a few prayers and the mysteries for meditation. A big part of the rosary is meditation, thinking about the specific mystery during the course of reciting an Our Father, ten Hail Marys, and a Glory Be. If all three sets of the original mysteries are prayed, then you would be reciting the Hail Mary 150 times. While memorization was important in the 13th century since that is how many things were taught to new generations, in today’s era of asking Google or Siri whatever is on your mind, memorization is not a skill that is actively pursued.

With the invention of the printing press in the 15th century, the ability to read and pray the Psalms from a book became possible to a greater number of people. However, praying all 150 of them does take quite a lot of time, since some of them are very long! The most I’ve done during Adoration is to pray the seven penitential Psalms: 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143. Praying from Scripture is always encouraged, and these seven are good to become familiar with, however, I think I’ve probably had deeper spiritual experiences when praying the Sorrowful mysteries than the penitential Psalms.

The majority of each mystery is meditated upon with the backdrop chant of the relatively short prayer of the Hail Mary. We repeat the words of the Angel Gabriel and the acknowledgement of Elizabeth, while seeking the intercession of Mary now and at the moment of our death. To some it may sound like we’re praising Mary, but in reality, we are praising God for His most perfect work of creation. In each mystery, God in one of the Trinitarian persons, is facilitating the event. Even those events that seem to be about Mary, like the Annunciation or the Assumption, are prompted by God with Mary as its recipient. It is truly a God-centric prayer and meditating on the mysteries can bring us closer to Him.

In our age of social media, it’s much easier to scroll endlessly through Facebook, Instagram, or any of the other platforms looking for something to catch our eye or entertain us. How can the rosary be a method of prayer embraced in today’s world? Perhaps because of its simplicity and non-technological requirements, it is the best method for people to get to know God. Whenever I read articles on reducing anxiety or managing stress, one of the suggestions is always learning and taking time to meditate. Usually the suggestions are to learn some Eastern form of meditation, and I wonder how many Catholics forego praying the rosary and embrace these other types of meditation thinking they are somehow better? Yet when one takes time to meditate on God, and especially the earthly life of His Son Jesus, the power of the prayer can calm our troubled hearts and minds as well as orient ourselves to God’s will.

The rosary is a timeless method of prayer designed to bring a person closer to God, provide mental exercise that can reduce stress and anxiety, and can be completed in about 20 minutes for one set of mysteries. It is the perfect prayer for those on the go as well as those who need to practice how to quiet their mind in order to better hear and see the impact of God in their lives. It is as if we are presenting a rose to Mary each time we pray the Hail Mary, who then presents them on our behalf to God as a beautiful and fragrant bouquet.

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Desert of truth

I’ve been watching more YouTube than regular television lately and discovered that many of the songs from my youth can be found there. In Billy Joel’s River of Dreams, one phrase caught my attention: “Desert of truth.”

In the song Joel claims not to be a spiritual man, but to describe truth as a desert is amazingly perceptive as well as Biblical. Although, I must admit when I heard the phrase it seemed an horrid way to describe what truth is. I think of truth being rich and deep, whereas a desert is sparse and dull. Yet in a desert, there really is nowhere to hide. It is in a desert where we are removed from all distractions. When one is in the desert, it is living life at its most basic. 

Deserts play a prominent role in the Bible. It is in a desert that the Israelites first learn who God is. They learn to trust that he will provide food and water, in abundance, to meet all their needs. They spend a generation there to remove the influence of Egyptian life and to loosen the grip of a life familiar to them, as harsh as it was. 

John the Baptist chose to live out in a desert area, subsiding on the meagerest of food items. Yet he was a most excellent herald for the Messiah. By living away from cities and towns, those who came out to see and hear John had to make a special journey. This was not about stopping for a few minutes to listen to an itinerant preacher, but a journey to see the main attraction. He encouraged a literal turning away from the lure of secular life and turning toward God. He asked the people who came to see him to not just listen, but to take action, to make a commitment by being baptized. Baptism today calls us all to do the same, but instead of it being a singular action that one takes upon himself, baptism in the Catholic Church makes you a member of a family through Jesus Christ and an adopted child of God. 

Jesus, Truth itself, prepared for His ministry by spending 40 days in the desert. We’re familiar with the temptation that followed after that time, yet those days of preparation were not just for us to know that Jesus, too, was tempted. He spent His first 30 years living amongst men. Even though Jesus was fully divine, He was also fully human and needed the time in the desert to strengthen His connection with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Jesus also recognized that we need times of being in the desert to rest and recharge. In a similar way in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus invites His apostles to “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” (Mk 6:31) And this was in a time before all the modern conveniences and distractions that we have! How much more so should we be seeking out a desert place? 

Truth does have much in common with a desert. Both are stark, simple, yet beautiful. To describe truth as a desert means to not look for a truth that’s comfortable or that we can agree with, but to recognize that it can be sharp, stinging our fragile egos and wounding our pride. But only Truth can set us free and heal us from ourselves. 

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Songs for the journey

My car radio is tuned to one of two Christian music stations: a local one in Virginia named The Journey, or the national one named KLove. It seems that no matter where I am in my spiritual journey, there is one song that really ends up matching how I’m feeling. 

A few months ago the song Build a Boat by Colton Dixon always seemed to come on whenever I was driving around. Since I work from home, there can be days where my car just stays stationary. I think that the more popular the song, the higher the probability that it will be played when I am driving. What captivated me about this song is the confidence in God that it encourages. Although in retrospect, it’s more of a preparation song. The basis of the song is building a boat in a desert with the expectation that the flood is coming and that God will see me through it. 

I will build a boat in the sand where they say it never rains
I will stand up in faith, I’ll do anything it takes
With Your wind in my sails, Your love never fails or fades
I’ll build a boat in the desert place

Chorus from Build a Boat

The chorus is quite catchy and when I sing along with it, I feel like I can do anything! It’s a wonderfully uplifting song. Yet there were times when I was singing along that I thought to myself, “what happens when the rains and the flood do come? Will I be able to handle it like this song says?”

Recently life has been rather bumpy, especially from a work perspective. The song I’m hearing as I drive around now is perfectly what I need. I’ve actually started singing it in the shower! It’s a collaborative song by two artists, Benjamin William Hastings and Blessing Offor, and is named That’s The Thing About Praise.

Sometimes the only way through it is a hallelujah
Sometimes the only thing to do is just to give it to You
And though my troubles shake me
I know they will never move You
That’s why I say hallelujah

Chorus from That’s the Thing About Praise

I think of this song as the “Hallelujah” song, but I know there is an older song with that title. The verses do talk about the general difficulties in life and that sometimes the waters are not parted or the mountain is not moved. It’s these times of struggle when we need to resist the urge to feel pity for our situation and thank God for where we are and what we have. Is it hard to do? Yes. However, when we turn our focus inward on ourselves, we are no longer leaning on God to help us through, we’re looking at what we can do and look to solve our difficulties from a human perspective. Yet when we turn to God and give Him praise for even the smallest of blessings (our next breath or heartbeat), the source of our strength shifts from ourselves to God. 

These particular two songs help us to remember who needs to be our focus: God. Christian radio is filled with songs like these that can speak to whatever you’re feeling in life, bringing God into all aspects of daily life. Your Hallelujah praise song may be playing now. 

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Who is Jesus?

Who is Jesus to you? That question is one we will all be held accountable to answer. However, our answer is not just an intellectual one, but one that also needs to be reflected in who we are and how we live our lives. 

In last Sunday’s Gospel reading from Matthew (16:13-20), Jesus asks the disciples who they thought He was. Only Peter’s response is recorded, but it must have been rather startling for the other Apostles. “Simon Peter said in reply, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’” (Matt 16:16) In these ten short words, Peter summarizes the most important aspects of Jesus: His anointing and His Sonship. Only three types of men were anointed in ancient times: priests, prophets, and kings. Jesus is all of these. He is THE Anointed, the one everyone is waiting for (and whom they expect earthly deliverance from Roman occupation). The second part of Peter’s statement is the one that truly no human could have ever known without Divine revelation.

Jesus had been traveling with these men for the better part of three years. After this exchange, Jesus prepared the Apostles for His Passion, Death, and Resurrection. The only way these men could be able to get through this time is by understanding who Jesus is. Most of them will run away. And Peter, who so confidently provides the correct answer, ends up denying that he knows anything about Jesus. This question Jesus asks is to gauge the depth of their faith. 

Jesus acknowledges Peter’s answer as Divinely inspired. However, the only way Peter could have received this is by his close association with Jesus. He had spent years traveling with Jesus, hearing His word, and learning from it. In the beginning of the tenth chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, Peter is part of the group that is sent out by Jesus to preach and to heal. It’s almost a bit like an apprenticeship, where after observing Jesus, the Apostles are sent to neighboring towns to carry out what they saw Jesus do and what they heard Him say. It’s a bit of practice while the teacher is still around and before they spend the rest of their lives doing exactly this. 

How do we answer the question of who Jesus is? Do we demonstrate by word and deed who Jesus is? Do we order our lives around having a relationship with Him by daily prayers? Do we dive deeply by reading and meditating scripture? Do we pattern our actions after Jesus by being the loving servant to others?

In today’s landscape, many look at Jesus as a nice guy and boil down His teachings to be more of an intellectual theory than a call for action. The culture in Jesus’ day was very different from our own and Jesus’ actions were very radical, like talking to women, or correcting the Pharisees. The spread of Christianity changed society. While it didn’t happen overnight, the influence the Church had over the centuries reflects the person of Jesus. 

Each member within the Church needs to acknowledge Jesus the same way Peter did: by professing Jesus as Priest, Prophet, and King as well as His Divinity  in both word and deed. We pray for guidance to do God’s will in order for the Church to better reflect Jesus. 

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Scraps from the table

“Send her away…” is the request made by the disciples in this past Sunday’s Gospel reading. (Mt. 15:23) Yet Jesus did not come to scatter, but to gather all people together.

The Canaanite woman, a person who was not welcome in Jewish company, had boldly cried out to Jesus. Given the attitude the Jews had for many of the surrounding nationalities, in some ways, the disciples’ request sounds reasonable. When I heard that sentence during the proclamation of the Gospel, it reminded me of the feeding of the five thousand. This account is in a previous chapter of  Matthew’s Gospel (14:15), when the disciples ask Jesus to dismiss the crowds so the people can purchase food. In both instances, Jesus does the opposite of what is requested. 

To the modern ear, the exchange between the Canaanite woman and Jesus is very uncomfortable. We hear Jesus comparing this woman and her daughter to the same as being a dog! Can that be right?! Jesus wouldn’t be that cruel, would He? Our natural instinct is to assume it must be a translation error. But the woman is never named, we don’t really know anything about her except her nationality, her daughter’s condition, and the love she has for her daughter has made her very brave. She asks for nothing for herself; she does not ask to be forgiven nor does she admit to any fault. Instead she praises Jesus by addressing Him as the “Son of David” and as “Lord.”

Unlike with the feeding of the crowd where Jesus gives directions to the disciples to orderly control the volume of people by having them sit down, Jesus responds to the disciples request regarding the Canaanite woman by indicating to whom His ministry was focused on: the Jewish people. I can almost imagine the men looking at each other with puzzled expressions. Of course Jesus came for the Jews of Israelite descent, He was the long awaited Messiah and the whole Jewish nation was looking for Him to come. Yet His humble origin proved to be a stumbling block for many, but this woman, most likely having heard the miraculous actions Jesus performed, knew exactly who Jesus was. She also knew that He alone could help her daughter. 

Despite what seems like harsh words, Jesus never sends the woman away. He never tells her she is not welcome, that she shouldn’t address Him, nor does He ignore her completely. He does respond to her as she humbles herself before Him, seeking His pity and mercy. Her daughter was probably her whole world, yet she knows it would cost Jesus nothing to heal her. She uses the analogy that Jesus initiates and compares the healing of her daughter to a scrap of food fallen to the floor for the dogs to eat; it’s insignificant. And here we are over 2,000 years later marveling over this exchange and trying to figure out the spiritual meaning. 

This foreigner sought to be fed a tiny morsel from the table of life. How many times have we eaten from that table? How many times have we received the Precious Body and Blood of Christ? How many blessings have we’ve been given in our life? Do we see these as scraps from the table, thankful to be fed on meager sustenance? Or do we presume that we have a seat at the table right next to Jesus and get frustrated when He doesn’t do as we command? 

God will never send us away. He also won’t do everything we ask of Him because He loves us and will only do what will help us to have a meaningful relationship with Him in order to go to heaven when this life is over. Yet when we humble ourselves before Him, seeking His mercy and demonstrating our faith in Him, God will provide what we need, and sometimes it just might be a miracle.  

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Crazy faith

Does faith make a person do “crazy” things? Depending on your perspective, one may answer YES to that question!

For those who think living a life of Christian faith means following a bunch of rules, doing the same as everyone else in their church, and not having any fun or excitement, I would suggest they read through the Gospels again. This past Sunday’s Gospel from Matthew (14:22-33) is one of my favorites: Peter walking on water. So, let’s unpack how incredible and almost unbelievable this narrative is.

Matthew sets the stage for the encounter, indicating it is very late into the night (the fourth watch), and the disciples are facing rather stormy conditions with the wind thwarting their efforts. The men are tired from battling the storm, compounded with the fact they had not been able to sleep. They cry out to a   figure they see as a ghost. (What other explanation could there be?) But it was Jesus! And He immediately reassures them it is actually Him in the flesh and they are not hallucinating. However, there was the fact that He’s walking on water! That is crazy! Peter boldly meets crazy with crazy, challenging Jesus to allow him, Peter, to walk on the water to meet Him. Then Jesus antes up the crazy by agreeing to Peter’s proposal with the simple word of, “Come.” 

The only times I’ve ever walked on water it has been in a frozen state: once on the Arctic ocean and once on a glacier. However, if, when I’m traveling by cruise ship, I see Jesus walking on the water toward me and if He then invites me to walk on the water towards Him, I’m not sure I could; most especially if the waves were bad. While I have no doubt that Jesus can walk on water, my brain cannot process Peter stepping out of a perfectly good boat and starting to walk on the water as well. I keep tripping over questions that begin with “how” and “why.” Even though I struggle to comprehend that Peter could actually get out of the boat and walk on the water, I have great respect for him in doing so. This may seem like “crazy” faith, but it’s the faith we are called to have and to share. In the face of insurmountable obstacles, God can make a way. 

When I hear this story, I can understand Jesus’ chastisement  of Peter when he starts to doubt and begins sinking. Peter had believed enough to get out of the boat, to take the action, but his faith wasn’t quite deep enough to see him through. For me, my problem would be getting out of the boat. But, I think if I was able to get out of the boat I would run to Jesus and give Him a hug of both joy and gratitude: joy for being able to do such a crazy thing and being thankful that I was able to make it all the way to Him. 

Even for believers, sometimes these types of narratives take on a more mythological aura. We hear it in the context of a time 2,000 years ago and try to make literal correlations, like my cruise ship analogy. However, if I look at my life, I have been called to “walk on water” that had nothing to do with water, but with writing. Nine years ago, I felt a calling to write a faith blog. I had every excuse as to why I shouldn’t: there’s plenty of other people doing it, I don’t have the knowledge to do that, it’s a lot of extra work, etc. Yet each excuse was knocked down, many times as I was praying in front of the Holy Sacrament. It took almost a year for me to get going, but in February 2015 I posted my first weekly faith blog. Go ahead, call me crazy. Sometimes I think I must be! There are times when I have no idea what I’m going to write. Other times I know exactly what I want to write but what comes out is not what I thought it would be. God always makes a way… His way.

Living a Christian life of faith may not always be an adrenaline rush, but it certainly has its moments that leave one in wonder and amazement. Perhaps even in reflection, seeming a bit crazy?

“For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.”

1 Corinthians: 25
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Respecting the house

The shoes were on the porch just next to the door and I smiled when I saw them. They belong to my nephew’s wife, from China, and reminded me of my Indian friend’s house, who had a large rack just inside the door to place your shoes. It’s an amazing sign of respect.

I’ve often had friends and acquaintances over who have asked about my “shoes in the house” policy. As much as I try to keep Vera from tracking litter all over the house, I find it easier to wear a pair of slip-on shoes to reduce the injury one’s foot feels when it steps on a piece of litter. They may be small, but seem like they have a million edges to them trying to find the most tender part of your foot. I leave it to my guests to decide, but greatly appreciate their inquiry. 

The removal of shoes upon entering a home, signals that a person respects the home and the people living inside it. This action communicates their proactiveness in reducing the dirt from the outside world from being tracked all over the floors inside the house. It’s more than just the house that benefits from this action. It reduces the necessity for the household to clean the floors saving the people living there time and energy. These visitors say with their actions, “I’m going to limit the impact this visit has on your workload.” What a positive way to start a visit!

But cleanliness is not the only reason to remove shoes. God commanded Moses to remove his sandals as he approached the burning bush to investigate it, citing it was holy ground. (Exodus 3:5) In society today, we are not asked to remove our shoes before we enter a church. However, we should act at all times in a respectful way while we are in the church, whether that is for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mas, or for cleaning, decorating, and maintaining the building. It is, after all, God’s house and He is dwelling there 365 days a year in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. 

Respecting God’s house can take many forms. It can be bowing to the altar upon entering, genuflecting to the tabernacle when one passes in front of it, or speaking with hushed tones when others are present and seeking silent prayer with God. Respect does not mean having a dour expression for the entire duration you’re in the building. On the contrary, we are the closest to God we can be on this side of heaven, so even a little smile is something we can be sure to put on when entering the church. These small actions are a way for us to show our love and respect, not only for God, but for all the children He has called into His family who are there. They also serve as a reminder to us when we perform these, that God is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and He reigns supreme. We cast our egos to the side and practice the virtue of humility. 

Perhaps the most respect we need to give is to the Holy Sacrament in both forms.  As we approach the sanctuary, literally the most holy area of the church building, are we preparing our hearts and souls for Jesus to enter? Or are we scanning the crowds for familiar faces and shifting between feet wondering why the line is taking so long? Do we humbly receive the Eucharist or snatch it out of the hands of the minister? 

Just like seeing that pair of shoes on the porch reminded me of the respect my nephew’s wife has for the family, we should take a moment to think about how we show our love and respect to God when we are in His house. We may be performing actions of respect out of habit, but how would they change if they were practiced with intention? 

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Called to discipleship

When you hear the word “disciple” what is the first thing that comes to your mind? For me it was the men and women who followed Jesus while He was on this earth. They listened and learned from Him and perhaps even traveled with Him. In reality, all Christians are disciples of Jesus, no matter the time period.

I attended an RCIA conference recently and the presenters mentioned several times about living out our discipleship. Since my definition was stuck in the past when Jesus lived in Israel, the comments seemed to claim more attention than some of the other material. I think of myself as a Catholic Christian, but I don’t think I would describe myself as a disciple of Jesus, simply because I’ve never met Him in His human form. I firmly believe that Jesus is truly present in the Precious Body and Precious Blood after the consecration, and that His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity are fully in each. Since I rest my faith in this mystery, considering myself a disciple who walks with Jesus should be easy. I seek Him out every time I go to Mass, whether it’s just a regular Sunday, or I’m on vacation and can find a Church that has a weekday Mass. Yet describing myself as a disciple still has an odd ring to it.

The Gospels are full of Jesus’ words and teachings. I hear them on Sundays, and the daily morning and evening prayers I pray using the Magnificat companion. It contains various readings from both Old and New Testaments, and may include Gospel passages. I am listening and learning from Jesus, so here again the description of disciple should fit me. I could try and argue that the original disciples could ask clarifying questions to Jesus and get a response, but isn’t that what contemplative prayer is all about? We’re not just supposed to babbel a bunch of words using the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be, and then go through our day as if our relationship with Jesus is limited to specific prayer times. I’ve prayed for answers and received them in a number of unique ways; is that any different from the original disciples who asked a question and received a parable in reply? 

I think the scary thing about considering myself as a disciple is that I can’t just believe in Jesus and then go do my own thing. Like the original disciples, my life must change from being focused on myself and how I fit into the culture of this age, to one of being a reflecting light of Christ, and bringing it to the dark areas where God leads me. It can be speaking up when someone uses Jesus’ name as a curse word, presenting a topic to those studying to enter into the Catholic Church, or it could be opening myself to write a blog post with a message He wants to convey. I know God has full control over my life, and yet, even just admitting to myself that I am Jesus’ disciple still seems to have repercussions that are unknown and therefore are a bit frightening. 

I do trust God with everything I am and have and He has always generously provided me with what I’ve needed. I trust in His mercy and His love for me. How can I say that I am anything else but Jesus’ disciple? Who will say it with me? I am a disciple of Jesus and I accept His calling, whatever He may ask of me. 

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Directing Thanks

We all know the responses we say at Mass. However, have you ever thought of them, not as responses but as prayers?

For the past few weeks I’ve been contemplating the response given to the first and second readings at Mass. Thanks be to God. My initial thoughts were that it was rather flat in that it didn’t evoke any type of feeling from me. It was merely an obligatory response. Even when I put it in conjunction with the phrase that prompts it, The Word of the Lord, it still felt like a hollow response. I love language and am fascinated by the choice of words used within the Mass. My favorite is the concluding Doxology of the Eucharistic prayers and I could probably ponder that for hours due to the richness of the words and what they convey. So to participate in the Mass weekly saying the same response in the Liturgy of the Word with no feeling was making me uncomfortable and I wanted to find out why.

The Scripture readings are God’s word to the world, in every time and in every situation. These words were inspired by God and directed through human efforts yet they still convey the faith and morals God wanted to express. I do enjoy both reading and hearing the Scriptures proclaimed. I tried to think of a more powerful meaning to the phrase before the response. The Word of the Lord really does define what is read, and in trying to find something with more vigor, the only thing I could equate to it is, “God is speaking this to you.” That’s a bit overwhelming to think about, and I don’t think I would want to hear that twice every Sunday at Mass. However, that does shape my perspective of a response. What would you say to that? 

God’s Word to us is a gift. He speaks to us in both the Old and the New Testaments. When we listen to them and study them, we get to know God better. When I receive something I see as a blessing from God, anything from an easy merge onto a busy highway to a rediscovered five-dollar bill at the bottom of my purse, or even seeing me through a challenging day, I do my best to thank God for it. I use the language I would use to any other person who does something nice, “Thank you, God!” But what if I changed my language? What if, instead of the words currently used in our culture, I switch to saying “Thanks be to God”? 

I shouldn’t be surprised, but after a few weeks of using “Thanks be to God” in my prayers to God, that phrase has become vibrantly alive! I’ve realized in saying and praying it, that it is a reminder that all Thanks should Be directed To God. It underscores that everything I have is a gift from God and that I rely solely on Him. While I may continue to say “Thank you” to people in the course of everyday life, every time I do, I’m also thanking God for putting that person in that place and time to help me or share God’s gifts with me. For example, saying “thank you” to someone who holds open a door for you is also a “thank you” to God for putting that person there to see and acknowledge you and to share the gift of God’s love, even if they don’t even realize that’s what they are doing. Everyone is made in God’s image and likeness and little things that we may chalk up to “being nice” or “having manners” is a reflection of God’s love for us. 

As Catholics, we may be dismissed from Mass, but we are called to live Mass in our everyday lives. Diving deeper into just this one response has opened a treasure chest of meaning, one that prompts more reflection. Let us give thanks to God for the richness of faith and pray to always be ready to explore the faith rather than allowing it to go stale and be merely words that are spoken.