Santa Cruz Beach, California

This warm summer day has me reflecting on my childhood in California.  Memories from nineteen years ago, at times feel fresh in my mind.  At the age of fourteen, I had an exciting life ahead of me.  I remember a long weekend in Santa Cruz with some friends...in fact, it was Memorial Day weekend.  I was so excited to be away from home and there with my friends.  We spent the entire time on the beach, surrounded by so many different people. The rides, the music, the smell of sea and sand.  What really made an impression was sunset in Santa Cruz. I remember seeing so many interesting people, circled in small groups around their beach side campfires.  Most of them were in their early-mid twenties...and I thought they looked so cool with their dark tans, their guitars and their surf boards. I just knew that I would be like them one day!!

Well...nineteen years later and I still don't know how to play a guitar or surf. I'm six hundred miles from the closest beach and I no longer have a tan.  Life has a funny way of catching up with us.  Responsibilities kick in and bigger goals and ambitions take precedent.

It's bittersweet to look back for a moment...long enough to acknowledge the beautiful innocence of our childhood dreams.  Long enough to remember that it wasn't that long ago...

Pruning Our Vines

Those of you who have ever owned a Crepe Myrtle know this: You can prune them by sawing them down to nothing and they almost always grow back twice in size.

There is a lot of controversy among the "experts" as to the proper method of pruning these tree's.  In my experience, I could pour gasoline and light a match and they will grow back.  With each passing season, with each pruning, they always seem to get bigger.

Crepe Myrtles really have me thinking about the Gospels...especially the Gospel of John 15:1-8.  You hear Jesus tell His disciples that he is the "True Vine" and His Father is the "True Vine Grower".  Jesus warns that "every branch that does not bear fruit will be taken away".  He also says that "every branch that bears fruit will be pruned".

Either way you look at it, both are painful.  Obviously, being "cut off" would be the more severe of the two.  Really...who wants to be cut off?  On the flip side, being pruned sounds painful, too. In fact, if you are bearing more fruit, you are more likely in need of pruning. Can't the good "fruit bearer's" be left to bear fruit in peace?  What's up with all the pruning and pain?  Is there no incentive for being a "fruit bearer"?

The truth of the matter is this: Jesus never promised that those who followed Him would live a "life full of perks".  In fact, the Gospels teach the complete opposite.  As I flip through the channels and come across the "New Evangelists" of today, their messages contrasts with Gospels so significantly that its dumbfounding.  These preachers and their invocations...they would have no problem convincing the masses that green is actually purple!

Sadly, they are completely missing the point. How many times have we heard, "The more you give, the more you will receive"?  While this is true, it is true in a totally different context than what many portray. I can't tell you how many 2 a.m. channel surfing testimonies I've heard: People giving their last $10 to a church -low and behold- God blessed them with better jobs, more money and a penthouse suite. Yes, the more you give the more you will receive...but "receiving" has nothing to do with the $800,000 ocean front condo you can now afford!  Or how about the $80,000 Jaguar sitting in your driveway. This is NOT a result of being a "better fruit bearer".  The monetary luxuries you have in your life are incongruent with Jesus and the Gospels. For over 2,000 years, those "closest" to Him were NOT walking around claiming they "got rich" because they "believed".  Quite the contrary!! Let's talk about how many saints rejected their family inheritance to live a monastic life.  With all due respect, I can't imagine the Joyce Meyers' or the Joel Olstein's of the world being Beatified when they die. While many find them to be entertaining, spiritual and deeply religious, my opinion is exactly an that...an opinion.  They don't hold a candle to Mother Teresa or St. Francis of Assisi.

Pruning hurts. The more we grow in Christ and the more we grow in His love, the more we will feel those painful sheers.  Every time we feel those sharp pangs, we must remind ourselves that the best things in life are sometimes the things that bring us the most pain (as I'm sure you mom's out there can affirm).  With each pruning, God blesses us with the opportunity to grow back twice in size (just like those Crepe Myrtles).  And if we are "fruit bearers", I am certain we will feel those shears more often than we might hope.  While I pray God's pruning of me never involves gasoline and a match, I have to believe it's much better than the alternative.

Bad Times...Hard Times...

"Bad times, hard times - this is what people keep saying; but let us live well, and times shall be good. We are the times. Such as we are, such are the times."--St. Augustine

Reflections on Dr. Sri's "A Biblical Walk Through The Mass" (Part 1)

Recently, Dr. Edward Sri took me on an awe-inspiring biblical journey through the Mass and the upcoming changes that will soon be taking place.  His theological insight into what is actually happening when we celebrate this holy sacrifice left me with a deeper understanding and awareness.  It is a bitter-sweet realization to finally hear with my heart, the prayers of the Mass. Many of us are guilty of reciting the prayers and not taking into considering what we are actually saying. To understand what these prayers mean, where they come from and why they are being said...well, that's an entirely different experience altogether.  Through Sri's new book, "A Biblical Walk Through The Mass", we are given a four dimensional view of the Mass, it's sacred traditions and the changes to come.  Beginning with the Sign Of The Cross and working his way through the Readings, the Gospel, the Homily, the Eucharistic Prayers, the Dismissal and everything in between, Sri's enlightenment will help us better prepare our hearts for the holy sacrifice of the Mass.

As a cradle Catholic, I am guilty of putting little thought or effort into the prayers I take part in every week.  There are so many aspects of the Mass that I have never questioned or examined.  When my husband and I first began dating and I invited him to Mass, I remember laughing when he jokingly mocked the chants of the priest.  He is not Catholic and did not understand it's purpose...and of course I did not have answers.  Having been exposed to the Mass my entire life, I never considered how odd our prayers and gestures might be to our non-Catholic friends.  Again, my husband was caught off guard when it was time to shake hands and offer "peace" to those around us. Combine that with the constant Signing of The Cross, the kneeling and the sharing in the "cup of blood".  Ironically, he was ready for a cup of something by the time we were dismissed!  On the flip side of this, I remember how awkward it was for me when I attended a non-Catholic church service with one of my friends. There were people convulsing and speaking in tongues, leaving me in a state of bewilderment. I too, did not understand nor was I given an explanation.  Needless to say, I never returned.  When our friends and loved ones ask us why we pray or worship in a certain way, we should be prepared to give them an answer.  As Catholics, we should know, understand and believe in the holiness of the Mass.

As Sri so eloquently states, "...Jesus' passion, death and resurrection is made present to us in the Eucharistic liturgy so that we can be more deeply incorporated into Jesus' life and Mission".  Being well versed in the biblical roots of the Mass won't directly solve all the worlds problems, but it is definitely the foundation we should be striving to build our house on.

"And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church" Matthew 16:18