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Continual Conversion

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“Whoever is in Christ is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold the new has come.”

This quotation from today’s second reading is one of my favorites, so special to me that I decided to tattoo it on my arm. It is one of my favorite tattoo’s because it is a permanent reminder that I am called to be a saint on a daily basis.

I had a problem with testimonies growing up because they all seemed to be similar. They would typically start with a life of sin, there would be one moment of conversion that would change everything, and from then faith came easy. I didn’t like them mainly because I could not relate to this experience.

Maybe it’s my personality, but I have always been someone who has related more with small and consistent progress as opposed to one large event. I remember a time I got super motivated to eat healthier and went to Whole Foods and spent about $70 on a head of lettuce and some multivitamins. I got super intense and tried too much at once and ended up getting physically sick. Apparently changing from taco bell to lettuce immediately was just as much a shock to my body as consistently eating taco bell.

I found quickly that taking on too much too quick was not attainable and it has been this way in my spiritual life as well. Now don’t get me wrong, we all need a big wake up moment at times. But one of the main reasons I was in seminary with the TOR Franciscans is because St. Francis was all about constant conversion.

I know that I have been made new through my baptism, but the power of baptism and the grace from God work on a daily basis. Every day I have the choice to activate that grace in my life and do small things with great love. Consistent small acts then build and become larger as time goes on.

“Whoever is in Christ is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold the new has come.”

When I re-read this quote I am thankful for my baptism, but I am also thankful that I am made new every day through the grace of God that works constantly and consistently.

Lent is the perfect time to make grace visible through our good works. By fasting, serving, and loving, the grace we received at baptism is activated in such a way that people can see God working. That starts to change our world. What God is asking me is, “How have you been made new today through my grace and how will that change others?” Perhaps he is asking you the same. From all of us here at Diocesan, God Bless!

 

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Tommy Shultz is a Solutions Evangelist for Diocesan. In that role, he is committed to coaching parishes and dioceses on authentic and effective Catholic communication. Tommy has a heart and a flair for inspiring people to live their faith every day. He has worked in various youth ministry, adult ministry, and diocesan roles. He has been a featured speaker at retreats and events across the country. His mission and drive have been especially inspired by St. John Paul II’s teachings. Tommy is blessed to be able to learn from the numerous parishes he visits and pass that experience on in his presentations. Contact him at tshultz@diocesan.com.

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Return To Me With All Your Heart

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Throughout these three weeks and three days of Lent, a certain Psalm Response has been running through my head. It has become the theme of my Lenten journey. “Return to Me with all your heart, the source of grace and mercy, come seek the tender faithfulness of God.” The minor key creates a somber melody that wafts in and out of my consciousness most days, grounding me, reminding me, centering me.

What does it truly mean for me, in my life to return to God? What does it mean to return to Him with my whole heart? How is He the source of grace? And of mercy? Are my eyes fully opened to His faithfulness? Do I realize how tender his faithfulness truly is?

In a similar vein, today’s First Reading invites us “Come, let us return to the Lord…Let us know, let us strive to know the Lord.” During the stretch of time between my missionary days and my present state as wife and mother, I feel like my spiritual life was so much deeper. I prayed often, attended a young adult group, went on periodic retreats and was actually able to focus during Mass. My relationship with God was at the forefront of my personal life and my work life. Perhaps I held on to Him so tightly because I was literally begging Him to send me a husband. Now that that dream and many more have been fulfilled, my mind is occupied with a multitude of other things and I often fail to reach out to my Creator and first Love.

I have a great need this Lent to return to God, to turn my heart to Him often during the day, to speak to Him as a friend. I see so much in myself that I want to change… so many sarcastic comments that shouldn’t escape my lips, so many unkind thoughts that should never enter my mind, so much frustration that shouldn’t fester. My patience level with my kids is at about 10% and the times my voice contains a high or negative tone are much too frequent. I want to be a good example, the light of Christ to others, yet I fail again and again.

One thing I have learned is that virtue is much more easily attained by simply zipping my lips. The more I am silent, the less I sin. I don’t always have to have an opinion or be funny. I don’t always have to defend myself and I’m not always right. I don’t have to talk to others about every little thing that bothers me about someone else. I don’t have to be so dramatic and constantly seek attention or praise.

Lord, grant me the humility of the tax collector in today’s Gospel who had the courage to beseech you: “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.” With your grace and mercy change is possible. Allow me to see Your tender faithfulness. Help me to return to you with all my heart.

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Tami grew up in Western Michigan, a middle child in a large Catholic family. Attending Catholic schools her whole life, she was an avid sportswoman, a (mostly) straight A student and a totally type A sister. She loves tackling home projects, keeping tabs on the family finances and finding unique ways to love. She spent early young adulthood as a missionary in Mexico, studying theology and philosophy, then worked and traveled extensively before finishing her Bachelor’s Degree in Western Kentucky. Her favorite things to do are finding fun ways to keep her four boys occupied, quiet conversation with the hubby, and grocery shopping with a latte in her hand. She works at Diocesan, is a guest blogger on CatholicMom.com and BlessedIsShe.net, runs her own blog at https://togetherandalways.wordpress.com and has been doing Spanish translations on the side for the past 18 years.

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The Other Great Commandment

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“Jesus replied, ‘The first is this: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these'” (Mark 12: 29-31).

This is, of course, assuming I love myself.

It’s clear why I should love my neighbor. It’s even more clear why I should love God. But why should I love myself? I know me better than anyone else. I know my faults and I am the first to condemn myself for them. I know where I fall short better than where I excel. I am familiar with my transgressions and surprised by my good deeds.

We are made in the image and likeness of God. This is not a platitude, it’s an unbelievably startling reality. If I love others, I will their ultimate good. If I am not willing my own good, then I am not loving others and I am certainly not loving God. This is not a selfish outlook or a nod to the popular notion that life is all about doing whatever makes you happy. It has very little to do with happiness and a lot to do with holiness.

Jesus wants us to come back to him with not only the best parts of us; he wants our entire selves. He wants our damaged parts as well as our perfected parts.

I have decided to forgo lunch for Lent this year to the absolute best of my ability. This is something I’ve been slowly preparing for so that I’m able to sustain without material sustenance. We don’t fast because we think food is intrinsically evil. We unite our fasting with our prayers in love for others and for God. We fast to remind ourselves in those moments of hunger that God has ordered our lives and it takes work to put things back into that order. We fast to remind ourselves how good food is, and how much better our lives are when God is the first place we go in each moment of difficulty.

Return to the Lord in the love of the person he made you. Return to the Lord in the love of others. Return to the Lord in the love of the Lord.

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Benjamin serves as the Music Minister at Our Lady Queen of Peace in Branchville, NJ. He teaches Children’s Theatre at the Paper Mill Playhouse and is a Catholic songwriter that has given talks on Confirmation, How to Keep the Faith in College, and The Courage to Choose Life. He can be reached at benjamintyates@gmail.com.

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Listen to my Voice

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Right off the bat, in the readings today we are told, “I command my people, Listen to my voice.” Henri Nouwen addressed listening as spiritual hospitality in his book, “Bread for the Journey”, as he wrote:

“To listen is very hard because it asks of us so much interior stability that we no longer need to prove ourselves by speeches, arguments, statements, or declarations. True listeners no longer have an inner need to make their presence known. They are free to receive, to welcome, to accept.”

Listening is much more than allowing another to talk while waiting for a chance to respond. Listening is paying full attention to others and welcoming them into our very beings. The beauty of listening is that those who are listened to start feeling accepted, start taking their words more seriously and discovering their own true selves. Listening is a form of spiritual hospitality by which you invite strangers to become friends, to get to know their inner selves more fully, and even to dare to be silent with you.

Listening can be scary. Spiritual direction or spiritual companioning invites the Holy into the listening. I actively call on the Holy Spirit to be present during these special conversations. Listening is a way of tending to the Holy in our lives, our world.

There have been many times in my life when listening in silence has been extremely difficult. It seemed a constant litany of my troubles, faults, guilts plagued me. I did try to listen to his voice in other ways. I heard his voice in friends, strangers, movies, art, books, music, and nature. I still hear him in these places, as well as in scripture, liturgy, prayer, and in my heart when I am able to be silent.

St. Teresa of Calcutta connects listening and silence with these words: In the silence of the heart God speaks. If you face God in prayer and silence, God will speak to you. Then you will know that you are nothing. It is only when you realize your nothingness, your emptiness, that

God can fill you with Himself. Souls of prayer are souls of great silence.

To make possible true inner silence, practice:

Silence of the eyes, by seeking always the beauty and goodness of God everywhere, and closing them to the faults of others and to all that is sinful and disturbing to the soul.

Silence of the ears, by listening always to the voice of God and to the cry of the poor and the needy, and closing them to all other voices that come from fallen human nature, such as gossip, tale-bearing, and uncharitable words.

Silence of the tongue, by praising God and speaking the life-giving Word of God that is the truth, that enlightens and inspires, brings peace, hope, and joy; and by refraining from self-defense and every word that causes darkness, turmoil, pain, and death.

Silence of the mind, by opening it to the truth and knowledge of God in prayer and contemplation, like Mary who pondered the marvels of the Lord in her heart, and by closing it to all untruths, distractions, destructive thoughts, rash judgments, false suspicions of others, vengeful thoughts, and desires.

Silence of the heart, by loving God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength; loving one another as God loves; and avoiding all selfishness, hatred, envy, jealousy, and greed.

I shall keep the silence of my heart with greater care, so that in the silence of my heart I hear His words of comfort, and from the fullness of my heart I comfort Jesus in the distressing disguise of the poor. For in the silence and purity of the heart God speaks.” Mother Teresa

The refrain echos with, “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” Where do you hear his voice? Are you listening?  

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Beth is part of the customer care team at Diocesan. She brings a unique depth of experience to the group due to her time spent in education, parish ministries, sales and the service industry over the last 25 yrs. She is a practicing spiritual director as well as a Secular Franciscan (OFS). Beth is quick to offer a laugh, a prayer or smile to all she comes in contact with. Reach her here bprice@diocesan.com.

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Faith Bubble

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I was brought up in a typical Catholic home. My grandparents were Catholic, all my cousins were Catholic, my mother has been a catechist for 12 years, my father is a Grand Knight in the Knights of Columbus, and my siblings and I were always very involved in our Faith Formation program. Even now, as I work at a Catholic company there are plenty of times that I took my knowledge and faith for granted.

When you’re surrounded by your faith, it’s hard to remember that there are people with no sense of true peace in their lives. You get comfortable and don’t think about the people that don’t know God or don’t like the God that society has portrayed.

It’s easy to tell yourself that someone else has told them about God and believe that they’ve already decided that it’s not for them. We don’t know their background and we don’t want to be rejected or made fun of, so we say it is someone else’s problem.

It wasn’t until I was talking to my boyfriend last year that I realized that he didn’t know what Easter was even about. He shyly asked me what Easter was all about and I laughed. He was so confused as to why Catholics chose to celebrate the death of Jesus. It wasn’t until I explained that we didn’t celebrate his death, but his resurrection, that he learned that Jesus rose from the dead.

This was after a year and a half of us dating.

I felt terrible! How could I call myself a Catholic, say that I proclaim the glory of God, and yet my boyfriend had no idea what my whole religion was founded on? How many times had I just assumed that he knew? How many times had I assumed that everyone around me knew?

As embarrassed as I am, I’m glad I had this experience. It reminded me that living in a bubble is too easy to dismiss. You can surround yourself by Catholics and tell yourself that everyone else’s faith isn’t your problem, but that’s false. It is our responsibility as the people of God to do just that: Evangelize.

Lent is the perfect time to ease into it. With ashes on our foreheads, fasting, and abstaining from meat, the conversation has already been started for us. It now becomes a matter of us choosing to say, “Oh, I’m Catholic,” or doing our research so we can tell people our reasons for fasting. Tell them why we get ashes. Tell them the story of Jesus Christ’s resurrection.

As silly as it may seem to you, they may not know. Don’t get too comfortable in your faith bubble, because that is not what we are asked to do. Paraphrasing Pope Francis, we were not made for comfort. We were made for greatness.

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Veronica Alvarado is a born and raised Texan currently living in Michigan. Since graduating from Texas A&M University, Veronica has published various articles in the Catholic Diocese of Austin’s official newspaper, the Catholic Spirit, and other local publications. She now works as the Content Specialist in Diocesan’s Web Department.

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My Chains Are Gone

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In the 2011 World Youth Day in Madrid Spain, Pope Benedict XVI said, “God never tires of forgiving. We all need forgiveness…It brings a hope-filled future” and, at another time, he said, “Holiness does not consist in never having erred or sinned. Holiness increases the capacity for conversion, for repentance, for willingness to start again and, especially for reconciliation and forgiveness”

Pope Benedict’s message of forgiveness comes directly from scripture. In today’s Gospel, Christ tells us that we should forgive others in the same way that our Heavenly Father forgives us. In fact, our eternal salvation is directly dependent on it. You would think that, because of the weight it carries, we would be quick to forgive. But I think, for the most part, we aren’t. As much as I try to forgive, more than 10 years later I still hold a grudge against the girl who was mean to me in middle school. But that’s not how God’s forgiveness works. He holds no grudges, He holds nothing against us. Instead, He forever invites us back into His heart with the sacrament of confession so that we might reunite ourselves to His Will. In His Goodness, He has compassion for us. In the same way that the master had mercy on his servant and forgave his debt, so too does God have mercy on us and forgive the debt we owe him because of our sins.

In the first reading we hear the words, “But with a contrite heart and humble spirit let us be received…So let our sacrifice be in your presence today as we follow you unreservedly.” Our contrition and our repentance should be absolute and wholehearted. God loved us so much that He gave His only Son to “pay a debt he didn’t owe because we owed a debt we couldn’t pay”. May we not lose hope in Christ, our Redeemer, because by His sacrifice are we able to have the hope-filled future of which Pope Benedict reminds us.

As we are now in the middle of the Lenten season, let us use the rest of this time to ask for forgiveness for our sins and open our hearts to continuous conversion.

St. Elizabeth Clitherow, pray for us!

St. Theodore, pray for us!

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Dakota currently lives in Denver, CO is studying for her Master’s in Spanish, and loves her job as an elementary school librarian. She is engaged to the love of her life, Ralph. In her spare time, she reads, goes to breweries, and watches baseball. Dakota’s favorite saints are St. John Paul II (how could it not be?) and St. José Luis Sánchez del Río. She is passionate about her faith and considers herself blessed at any opportunity to share that faith with others. Check out more of her writing at https://dakotaleonard16.blogspot.com.

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Emmanuel- God Is With Us

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No, I’m not confused. I know we are approaching Easter, not Christmas. But today is the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, the day we celebrate Gabriel’s visit to Mary telling her that God has chosen her to be the mother of his son.

Isaiah said to Ahaz: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’”

A long time ago I heard a homily on Christmas day that I considered one of the best Christmas homilies I’d ever heard. Of course, I can’t remember all of it, but I do remember Father saying that Christmas is the celebration of the 30 silent years of Christ’s life. The 30 silent years. The years in which we know nothing of Jesus’ life but for the nativity narratives and the brief recounting of when he was twelve, left his parents to preach in the temple, leaving them frantic. Other than that, we can only imagine that he lived a normal, uneventful life as a child, as a young man, growing up in Nazareth.

Thirty silent years – the years in which the Son of God left the trappings of his glory as God, and became one of us. The thirty years in which Jesus so immersed himself into our humanity that he could live up to the name Emmanuel – God is with us! In every way. In every happiness and sorrow; in every hurt or rejoicing. God is with us! He laughed with his friends; got into mischief; cried when hurting; helped his mother with chores; attended services and wept for friends who had died. No longer distant in the revelations of the Old Testament but here and now, with us present as the “Word made flesh.” Our God who will know and understand everything our hearts take to him because he has also experienced it. I find great comfort in this great gift. God comes to us as a man, so that we might become truly human.

The Most Reverend William McGrattan, archbishop of Peterborough, Ontario experienced something that he believes brings home to us what this gift means, the gift of God is with us. I share his words:

“When things got busy and hectic in the parish I had the habit of simply going over to the grade school to visit the kindergarten and grade one classes. This one day when I dropped into the grade one class, the teacher had gathered the children to talk about Christmas and the gifts that each of them hoped to receive. She told the children that on her lap, in a small chest, there was a gift from Jesus for each of them. They could come up one by one and look inside, but they could not tell the next classmate or speak about it until all of them had peered inside the chest to see the gift. So I watched this drama unfold, one by one the children came up to look inside and as they turned around with this look of excitement on their faces and their hands over their mouth. I saw this repeated until the teacher motioned for me to come forward and look into the chest. To my amazement, there was a mirror in the chest, and I gazed on a reflection of my face. As I turned around, there was giggling and excitement with the children. Then the teacher began to explain to them that the gift of Jesus for each of us at Christmas was that the Son of God became human like us that we might learn what it means to be human.”  (APA: | Blanchardstown Parish. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.blanchardstownparish.ie/reflection/14390

My gift to you today, as we journey Lent and approach Holy Week and Easter, is to pray you will realize in your hearts that these were real events happening to a real man, our God, who experienced it all to bring us to salvation and eternal glory. This was no small thing. And it started with the simple “yes” of a young maiden visited by an angel, to proclaim to us the Good News of Emmanuel.

God Bless.

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Jeanne Penoyar, an Accounts Manager here at Diocesan, is currently a Lector at St. Anthony of Padua parish in Grand Rapids, MI. While at St. Thomas the Apostle, Grand Rapids, Jeanne was a Lector, Cantor, Coordinator of Special Liturgies, Coordinator of lectors and, at one time, chair of the Liturgy Commission. In a past life, secretary/bookkeeper at the Basilica of St. Adalbert where she ran the RCIA program for the Steepletown parishes. And she loves to write! When relaxing, she likes reading and word puzzles. You can contact her at jpenoyar@diocesan.com.

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I Am Who Am

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I am who am! These simple yet profound words echoed through a cave thousands of years ago and have kept even the greatest theologians questioning.

Thomas Aquinas himself, one of the most influential doctors of the Church, wrote extensively on this subject and only began to scratch the surface of its meaning. What do these profound words spoken from God to Moses mean? Well, what we do know is that they mean that God is existence itself. He is the uncreated creator, that which makes things be, existence itself. Explaining God in relation to other created things does not do justice to Him, and yet this is the way we know to explain.

The Catholic Church calls this a mystery. Not a mystery in the sense that it is hidden or that we can’t know anything, for God has revealed certain things, but a mystery in the sense that it is not fully knowable to us until heaven.

What is fully knowable to us though is that every breath, every life, every gift, everything, even our very existence is due to God. He holds us into being. This should give us a little perspective during this Lenten season. I think we often approach Lent in a negative sense, in the sense that we should give something up or sacrifice something.

While it truly is a time for these things, it is also a time to realize that because we were made and are held into existence by a complete gift, that the only proper response to that gift is to give. We do not get to heaven in a box. Our beautiful faith teaches us that we gain salvation through the relationship with Christ and His sacrifice on the cross. And this salvific relationship is meant to be shared with the world. It is not enough to receive love and have it turn inward, love must turn outward and multiply.

This Lent, I encourage you to sit down for a few minutes and reflect on the words, I am who am. Reflect on what that means in your life and the gifts you have been given. Now, reflect on how you can turn and give. It might be as simple as telling a friend they are loved, or it might be as difficult as standing up for your faith when it is uncomfortable. Either way, don’t let this just be more words you read on a page. Let’s all think of one concrete way we can be a gift this week. Nothing is scarier to Satan than Christians uniting through relationship with Christ, and then sharing that relationship with the world. From all of us here at Diocesan, God Bless!

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Tommy Shultz is a Solutions Evangelist for Diocesan. In that role, he is committed to coaching parishes and dioceses on authentic and effective Catholic communication. Tommy has a heart and a flair for inspiring people to live their faith every day. He has worked in various youth ministry, adult ministry, and diocesan roles. He has been a featured speaker at retreats and events across the country. His mission and drive have been especially inspired by St. John Paul II’s teachings. Tommy is blessed to be able to learn from the numerous parishes he visits and pass that experience on in his presentations. Contact him at tshultz@diocesan.com.

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I Love You More Today Than I Did Yesterday

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The other day, my fiance and I had a Pre-Cana meeting with our beloved priest friend. If you didn’t know, the Church requires at least 6 months of preparation time for this sacrament. In that time you are encouraged to meet with the priest of your parish, take a pre-marriage inventory, and have a prepare and enrichment retreat. We are FOUR MONTHS away from the big day! During our fun light-hearted meeting, Father read off one of the statements, “I believe that I have learned my partner’s heart completely.” As I grew up, I always heard my mother make the comment, “I love your father more today than I did on our wedding day.” As a kid, I found it a little confusing. Now as a young adult, I see the beauty of that statement. Throughout my parents’ marriage; day after day, trial after trial, they had to choose one another. They have learned so much more about one another than they had known the day they made those vows. It’s a beautiful aspect of the sacrament.

Why am I sharing all this? Well, today’s readings point to this exact aspect of our intimate relationship with Jesus. After reflecting on these readings, I realized they all encompass one thing- the Heart of God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). The First Reading from Micah proclaims the beautiful question, “Who is there like YOU, the God who removes guilt, and pardons sin… Who does NOT persist in anger forever, but delights in mercy… You cast into the depths of the sea all our sins…” The Responsorial Psalm sings boldly the truth that “The Lord is kind and merciful” and the Gospel reading is one so well known, the Parable of the Lost Son. It is the story most of us know and if you don’t, I encourage you to go and read Luke 15:1-3, 11-32. This story puts into concrete action the First Reading and the Responsorial Psalm. Jesus shows us in a deeper way the heart of His Father and our relationship as His children. He shows us what a Father who removes guilt & pardons sins genuinely looks like. A Father who does not linger in anger and frustration, but one who rejoices in infinite mercy.

Maybe you’re thinking that this is nothing new for you, maybe it is something you have already been told or have already heard. I would like to take a moment to quote my mother again, “I love your father more today than I did on our wedding day.” How does this relate?  Well, my friends, the beautiful miraculous thing about the heart of God is that we will NEVER know it completely- not until Heaven. This should have you jumping up and down- for real! God in His infinite mercy and goodness allows us to go deeper. We are given His heart every day and in this relationship, like a marriage, we can always discover and learn more about our beloved’s heart. We don’t know it all on the day we start our lives together, and that’s okay! It’s actually so dang beautiful! It’s the same with God… we may think we know His love, but He’s got more in store. We may think we know His mercy- and maybe we do! But there are depths that we have not even discovered! When I think of how much I have encountered the heart of God, I picture myself still at the shore of the sea. Sure, I might be swimming and feeling like I’m in deep water. But in reality, I’m a few inches from my feet touching the sand. There are depths I still need to seek, parts of His heart that I have not uncovered. This relationship is a relationship of reciprocal love. Please do yourself a favor, look up at the Cross and admit that you have not learned all the aspects our loving God’s heart. This is an amazing gift! Let’s discover the depth of His love as we swim deeper. Let us not stay docked at the shore, but cast out into the deep. Let’s discover more of His heart throughout this Lent. There is no end to our beloved Bridegroom’s heart and love for us.

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Briana is a Catholic youth minister at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel parish in Cleveland, OH. She is also a district manager at Arbonne. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Theology and Catechetics from the Franciscan University of Steubenville, OH and is excited to use these skills to bring her students closer to Christ and His Church. “My soul has been refined and I can raise my head like a flower after a storm.” -St. Therese

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Decluttering and Finding Joy

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There is a new system of organizing and decluttering that has people all abuzz. I will openly admit that I am not an expert in this area. There are parts of our home that could use a good decluttering. One of the foundational principles of this currently popular system is to cherish those things that bring you joy. You are supposed to hold something in your hands and ask yourself, “Does this bring me joy?” If the answer is “yes,” you keep it. If the answer is “no,” you pass it on (i.e., donate, sell, dispose of…) I had heard some positive responses and thought, “Maybe I could use this. I would welcome more joy.”

Hold on a second, there is a fatal flaw in the very question being asked. I am supposed to hold an object, a thing, a part of creation and ask if it brings me joy.

Lent is about making room for the only true source of joy, God himself. Lent is about returning to God with our whole hearts, hearts decluttered and free from attachment to things, attitudes, behaviors which block God’s grace.

In today’s readings, both Joseph’s brothers and the Pharisees have disordered ideas about finding joy. Joseph, the favored son of Jacob, is considered a killjoy by his brothers. They don’t like his dreams, his favored status, and it’s all wrapped up in his multi-colored coat so when they have the chance, they seize him. Having already determined he doesn’t bring joy to them, they plot his murder. Eventually, they throw him in a cistern and sell him as a slave, relegating their brother to the status of an object to be bought, sold, and disposed of at will.

The Pharisees in today’s Gospels are in much the same boat, although the things which they count on to bring them joy are not physical in nature. As the chief priests and elders of the people, they are used to having position and status in the community. They have no doubt that Jesus is comparing them to the tenants in the parable of the vineyard. Jesus knows that like the tenants in the parable, they will resort to murder to maintain their position, power and status rejecting the One who is capable of bringing all true joy. Jesus tells them straight out that “the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.”

When we look for joy, a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), in all the wrong places, we end up cluttering our lives with created things; objects or social constructs like position and status, which can’t really bring joy anyway. When we accumulate this clutter, we end up valuing the created over the Creator.

As we approach the Third Week of Lent, it is in our human nature to have our resolve to our Lenten promises begin to waiver. Instead of being frustrated or abandoning them, let’s look at them anew. How does my Lenten commitment help me to declutter my heart and mind? How are my small acts of penance helping me pave the way for Jesus to change my heart? If they aren’t, now is the time to adjust. How am I disciplining myself through fasting and abstinence to let go of my wants and make room for real joy? How am I giving of myself so that others see through me to the One who wants to bring them joy too?

As you continue your Lenten journey, may the Holy Spirit continue to guide you in your spiritual decluttering so that your heart is ready to be filled with Easter joy.

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If you catch Sheryl sitting still, you are most likely to find her nose stuck in a book. It may be studying with her husband, Tom as he goes through Diaconate Formation, trying to stay one step ahead of her 5th and 6th-grade students at St Rose of Lima Catholic School or preparing for the teens she serves as Director of Youth Evangelization and Outreach in her parish collaborative. You can reach her through www.youthministrynacc.com.