We have to refuel...

When we are on a road trip, we we often try to go as far as we can without stopping. We feel like we are making goot time and speeding toward our destination. But we have to stop at sometime to refuel. If we don't we will eventually run out of gas. We'll be left on the side of the road and we won't make it to our destination.

Lent is very much the same. We may be cruising through Lent. Maybe you have kept your Lenten sacrifice and are feeling pretty good about that. Maybe you're thinking about the fact that Lent is half over and You're glad because you can quit these Fridays of no meat. The truth is that whether we are excited about where we are at spiritually in Lent or whether we can't wait until it's over we need to stop and refuel...refuel spiritually through prayer. For those excited that they have kept their Lenten sacrifice, we need to take some time in prayer to thank God for giving us the strength that helped us keep our fast and to ask his grace to continue it through the remainder of Lent. For those feeling dragged down by Lent we need to pray that God will lift us up and help these last weeks of Lent be a time of growth in our faith. It's important to stop periodically to think about where we've been in our Lenten journey and to prepare ourselves to move forward in these last few weeks.

Thursday of the 3rd Week of Lent: Sometimes we think we can complete the journey ourselves. We think that by following our own path we will reach our destination. Pray: As we continue in this season of Lent, help me God to follow your way because it is only your way that will lead me to my destination.

Friday of the 3rd Week of Lent: We don't always recognize that it is God guiding us and that we need his grace to move forward in our faith. Pray: Thank you God for the faith you have given me. Help me to continue to grow in that faith through your grace.

Saturday of the 3rd Week of Lent: We might be tempted to compare our spiritual progress through Lent with others thinking that we are much further along than they are. Why should we be judging were others are spiritually. Shouldn't we focus on our own journey. Pray: Lord Jesus, help me to not judge others and to recognize that you are the true Judge. Keep my focus on my spirituality and where I am in my faith rather than where others are with their faith.

Until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 08:01 | link | comments |
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Approaching the middle of Lent

Can you believe that Lent is nearly half over. Yesterday was the 3rd Sunday of Lent. We have three more weeks before we reach Holy Week. About this time, our mindset should begin to change from reflecting on our sinfulness to thinking about how we can become the type of person God truly made us to be. This includes asking ourselve what steps we can take to avoid the sins we have committed in the past. It also means that we need to ask ourselves, "What is God calling me to do? What is He asking of me?" These are not simple questions and the answers are not going to be easy either. So, in these next couple of weeks we want to focus on these things.

Monday of the 3rd Week of Lent: We know that we cannot begin to heal until we have faced the truth about ouself. Pray: Eternal God, help me to face the truth about my sinfulness with honesty and trust in your help to make me anew.

Tuesday of the 3rd Week of Lent: There are many people hurting because of the way they have been treated by others. They have been scorned, persecuted or ridiculed. Pray: Give me the courage and faith to reach out to those who are put down or marginalized so that I can share your love and hope with them.

Wednesday of the 3rd Week of Lent: To be true disciples we are called not only to hear the Word of God but to live it and be an example of Christ to others. Pray: Help me to live the Gospel in what I say, how I act and what I do so that when others see me they see Christ too.

Until next time...God bless.

 

posted by: crossman at 08:01 | link | comments |
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Facing the reality of our life

We have been reflecting on our sinfulness for the last couple of weeks and if we have been honest in our reflections we have probably come to some hard truths about ourselves. We may have recognized our selfishness, anger, hate, jealousy, evil desires and other sins that lead us away from God rather than closer to him. We may have concluded that we are not the type of person we want to be. But that doesn't mean we should resign ourselves to that fact. We can change our actions and turn our lives back toward God. To use my road trip analogy, we are not on the right highway. We've taken a wrong turn or many wrong turns. That doesn't mean that we should drive around aimlessly. We thing about the turns we made that got us to where we are. When we get lost on a trip we try to find our way back to the right road. It is the same for us at this point in our Lenten journey. We want to think about those wrongs we have done and also begin to think about how we can get back to where we need to be. Let's examine those wrong turns in the next few days to help us prepare to find our way back to the right road.

Thursday of the 2nd Week of Lent: We are sometimes so selfish and focused on #1 that we forget that their are others around us who are suffering and who are in need. Pray: Lord, help me to recognize the suffering of others and to strive to assist them with their needs to the best of my ability.

Friday of the 2nd Week of Lent: When we do see others around us, we often become jealous at what they have and we don't or we envy their place in life and resent them for it. Pray: I need your help, God, to stop comparing what I don't have to others and instead to thank You for what I do have and the gifts you have given me.

Saturday of the 2nd Week of Lent: When someone upsets us we often hold a grudge against that person. No matter how much they apologize or even if they don't we refuse to let it go. Pray: Jesus, e don't deserve your forgiveness yet you give it to us. Help me to forgive others as you forgive us.

Until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 16:09 | link | comments |
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What should Lent be?

Sometimes we ask ourselves during Lent, "How should I feel during Lent? Should Lent be solemn and contemplative? Should it be a time of shamefulness for our sins? Am I supposed to feel embarrassed and despondant because of the sins I have committed and the way I have not loved God as I should?" The answer to these is actually no!

Lent should be a time of self-evaluation and of self-denial but it shouldn't be a time of negativity or gloom. Lent is meant to help us realize the gifts God has given us and the blessings we have in this life. We use Lent to recognize our sinfulness but not as and end in itself. Rather our recognizing our sinfulness give us the opportunity to truly appreciate the salvation God has given us through His Son. Lent should lead us to seeing the beauty of God's creation. It should be a time in which we come to understand that we are children of God. When we embrace that for ourselves and realizes others as those same children of God Lent becomes a time to be renewed and invigorated not drained and depressed.

Monday of the 2nd Week of Lent: Sometimes we can be our own worst enemy and can even be self-destructive. Pray: Lord, help remind me who I really and and that you have forgiven and forgotten even the worst of my sins so I can live as your child.

Tuesday of the 2nd Week of Lent: We have to balance our recognizing of evil with our knowing we also have salvation. Pray: God, help me to be honest with myself and my sins but also to embrace your salvation and freedom from those save sins.

Wednesday of the 2nd Week of Lent: Trusting in God leads us to walk toward the light and not to linger in the darkness and gloom of sin. Pray: Lord Jesus, you are the Way, the Truth and the Light. Help me to trust in your love and to follow you into the light of the Heavenly Kingdom.

Until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 08:01 | link | comments |
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The valleys and hills of Lent

As we enter into this second week since Ash Wednesday we may begin to encounter those highs and lows of the season. It's like that road trip in the car. Unless you are crossing western Kansas, there are hills and valleys that you drive through. The ups and downs of the road can make you sick or they can cause you to recognize the landscape around you.

Lent is much the same. We have those ups when we are praying daily, we are fasting twice a week or we are staying away from the chocolate we've given up. But then we may hit a down when we may eat too much on our days of fact or forget to take time to pray that day or simply feel like the Lenten season is weighing on you. This is when we can simply get sick of all these Lenten sacrifices and call it quits. Or this is when we have that opportunity to realize that these ups and downs are actually helping us to grow in our faith. They are a part of the landscape of Lent. Outside of Lent, eating a piece of chocolate after not having any for weeks wouldn't even phase us. We wouldn't even think about not praying that day outside the season. We wouldn't even question having a huge meal or having a couple of snacks during the day. The season of Lent has changed that, however. Because of Lent we are recognizing our need for prayer, our need of moderation and our need for sacrifice and how they can impact our lives. They make us stop and think. They cause us to look inwardly at ourselves instead of outwardly at the world.

We can see these ups and downs as a failure or as a blessing of growth and self-awareness. They can be obstacles between us and God or they can be the motivation that draws us closer to Him.

Thursday of the 1st Week of Lent: This can be a time to recognize our need to trust in God. Pray: Lord, give me the simplicity of heart to do as your have asked to the best of my ability.

Friday of the 1st Week of Lent: Our faith is truly a desire for us to be in relationship with God. Pray: May these Lenten sacrifices draw me more closer to God through His Son.

Saturday of the 1st Week of Lent: We can face many hardships and struggles through Lent. Pray: Heavenly Father, give me a heart to endure the struggles in my life by uniting me with the Cross of your Son.

BTW, a happy and blessed Valentine's day to all my readers. Until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 08:02 | link | comments |
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Lent is still a time of fun...

Lest you think Lent should be all glum and dismal...all sackcloth and ashes...all hairshirts and self flagellation (Froggy...do they sell hairshirts at Kohls?) I wanted to post some more of the pics from my cruise.

The pic to the left is our cruise ship, the Carnival Triumph. She is a 101,000 ton ship, which can cruise at 21 knots and holds 2,700 guests and crew. It was a truly wonderful ship. It had dozens of shops, restaurants, bars and a casino. The pic on the right is of me standing on the sands of Half Moon Cay. Sorry about the water spot in the middle of the pic. Our ship is in the background and you can again see the bright blue waters. The sand on this island was so awesome. It was as fine as baby powder and very cool to the touch despite the 80 degree temps and bright sun.

This pic to the left is our stateroom on the ship (see Mom...I made my bed!) and it was quite comfortable for the cruise. There were two single beds (I am standing on one to take the pic), plenty of storage space, a decent sized bathroom and even a built-in safe. It was really a nice place to stay for a week and actually nicer than a hotel. The stateroom steward came in during the morning to change out the towels and restock the bar (YEA!) and in the evening she would again change out the towels. Each evening we would come in and she would have made towel animals out of our clean towels like the bunny to the right (I think it's a bunny).

It was a great cruise and I will try to post some more pics in the next week or two. Until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 09:31 | link | comments |
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The road is not easy

I have found that Lent is truly a journey that is different each year. You will find that throughout this Lenten season I will compare Lent to a road trip. I came across this comparison years ago and I cannot even remember where I read it. It has always struck me as something I can both relate to and employ in my spirituality during this season.

Lent is not an easy journey, especially if we approach it properly. It is one of sacrifice, denial, humility and repentance. Those of you who have ridden in a car with children for a long trip have experienced sacrifice (my parents should relate to this well). We would like a peaceful and uneventful trip but that is not the case. We face distrations, chaos and even have to stop when something happens such someone spilling a drink or getting sick in the car. Our journey through Lent is no different. We would like a peaceful and smooth journey but that is not what we face. We face worldly distractions, the chaos of our society and those events that force us to stop and respond to the situation. But like the road trip, we must continue the journey. It is ok and necessary to respond to these things as long as it doesn't derail our Lenten journey. In fact, they can be a means of enhancing our journey knowing that we can overcome these struggles and continue to move forward. I offer these reflections and prayers for the coming days:

Monday of 1st Week in Lent: This season can be a challenge to our lives. Pray: Lord, strengthen me to respond lovingly to the needs of others and the challenges I face so that I am able to come ever closer to you.

Tuesday of 1st Week in Lent: We need guidance to move forward in Lent. Pray: Help me, Jesus, to seek out ways to strengthen me this Lenten season, especially in Scriptures and in daily prayer to you.

Wednesday of 1st Week in Lent: We can be tempted to abort our journey through Lent because of struggles that arise. Pray: God in Heaven, renew my inmost spirit to trust in oy and to give me the strength to resist temptation.

Until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 08:04 | link | comments |
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A time of repentance and preparation

Today is Ash Wednesday which marks the beginning of Lent. As in past years, I hope to focus many of my blogs on the meaning of this season. I want to also try to offer some insight that might be helpful for my readers to meditate on each week. Since I only blog a couple of times a week, I will attempt to blog each Monday and include meditations for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursdays I will blog for Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Meditations for Sunday, as they ought to all year, should come from the the Scriptures at Mass. Don't hold it against me if I happen to miss a day because I don't control my own schedule (or life for that matter) but I will endeavor to faithfully post these meditations.

Ash Wednesday offers a unique opportunity that doesn't exist in our other liturgical seasons. Ash Wednesday inaugurates the Lenten season in a special way. It marks the beginning of Lent both liturgically and literally. We are marked with ashes today and it begins our journey through Lent. When I begin a road trip, the last thing I do as I back out of the driveway is to reset my trip meter on the odometer. Ash Wednesday is that moment of resetting our odometer. We are beginning a journey to Easter and we want to pause periodically to reflect on the distance we have traveled and to look ahead to the distance we still have to traverse.

So, today we begin that road trip to Easter or more specifically to the Triduum that beings on Holy Thursday. As we begin this journey, I offer these reflections for the remainder of this week:

Ash Wednesday: Lent is 40 days and not 40 minutes because we need this much time to unite our divided hearts to Christ and the Cross. Pray today: Lord, help my heart to be renewed by your Spirit that in these 40 days I may better understand my sins and my salvation through your Cross.

Thursday after Ash Wednesday: Lent is a time to put aside selfish desires and embrace sacrifices that draw me closer to Christ. Pray today: Jesus, help me to die to selfishness and to choose the Way that leads to self sacrifice and ultimately eternal life through you.

Friday after Ash Wednesday: We are called in Lent to feel humility and not resentment for the sacrifices we make this season. Pray: Give me the grace to recognize this season of Lent as a time of humble sacrifice for the salvation of my soul.

Saturday after Ash Wednesday: During Lent we come face to face with our own sinfulness. We must face our sins truthfully and honestly. Pray: Lord, you called sinners to heal them not to condemn them. Give me the strength to face my sins with sincere sorrow and remorse.

Until next time...may your journey through Lent be one of prayers, blessings and spiritual growth that unite you with our Savior. God bless.

posted by: crossman at 08:02 | link | comments |
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The land of the sun...part 2

Continuing where I left off yesterday, we sailed to San Juan, Puerto Rico for our third stop. San Juan is a wonderful and charming city. Puerto Rico is 85% Catholic so I wanted to see some of the churches and also shop in some of the religious stores. The ship docked about 6:30 AM and we were the 6th person to disembark at 7:00 AM. The city was wonderfully quiet except the for the people traveling to work. We went right to the San Juan Cathedral. It is a beautiful place and is the second oldest Cathedral in the Western Hemisphere built in 1512. It hosts the crypt of Ponce de Leon. It has a glorious Blessed Sacrament chapel which you can see in the picture on the right. They also have a gorgeous Virgin Mary chapel as you can also see on the left.

After our visit to the Cathdral, we visited Santa Ana church nearby and wanted to visit San Jose church but they were remodeling so it was a mess inside. We did visit a number of religious stores and I purchased a beautiful crucifix for the Youth Room here at Prince of Peace. The dealer gave me a 50% discount upon learning that I was a priest and that it was for our High School Youth.

Our final stop was Nassau in the Bahamas. Nassau is a tourist trap along the wharf where there are dozens of markets and street vendors. We were solicited for a number of extra-curricular activities which are quite obvious so I won't mention them. Once you get a few blocks in, however, Nassau is a beautiful city and very colorful as well. Buildings are painted in bright greens and blues and pinks not in a tacky way but very cheerful. We went about a dozen blocks inland to an out of the way place I had inquired about a called Graycliff. Graycliff is a block long building containing a very nice restaurant and bed and breakfast. That wasn't what we were there for, however. We were there for the hand-rolled Cuban cigars. Before you gasp in disbelief I want you to know that Cubans are completely legal outside the U.S. and are legal for American citizens to smoke. It is only illegal to bring them into the United States. We each purchased a mid-level Cuban cigar which was rolled right there in front of us. We enjoyed them that evening on the ship as you can see in the picture to the left. The rest of our day in Nassau was spent simply wandering around this nice, clean city.

That pretty much concludes the highlights of my Caribbean cruise. We had alot more adventures but these were the most enjoyable of them. It was difficult to return from 80 degree daytime weather to 20 degree daytime weather but I have adjusted and accepted my return for paradise (although I though about asking Archbishop Naumann to consider missionary work in Nassau...many people to save there you know). Tomorrow begins the Season of Lent. Until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 11:07 | link | comments |
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I have returned...from the land of the sun

It's been a week since my return from the Caribbean. It took me most of last week but I did find my desk, return the phone calls I had waiting and sort through my pile of mail (mostly junk mail anyway). So, it is time to get back to work which includes blogging.

The Caribbean cruise was awesome!!! The first thing I enjoyed when getting off the plane was the 74 degree temperature in Ft. Lauderdale. The nearly 40 degree boost in temps can do wonders to perk you up right off the bat. But that was only the beginning. I visited 4 places so I thought that I'd describe two of them today and two tomorrow before we begin the season of Lent.

Our first stop was on a private island owned by the cruise line called Half Moon Cay. Since it was an artificial environment, there was basically two things to do: lay on the beach and feast on the all you can eat BBQ. Now, it wasn't Jack Stack BBQ but it was free so I took advantage of it. One of the first things you notice when you walk onto the beach is the water. The water is a bright blue color like you have never seen before. The picture to the right gives you a little idea of what it looks like but even the picture doesn't do it justice. I spent that first day laying on the beach in 81degree sunshine and simply read a book and munched on BBQ.

Our 2nd stop was St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. This was the only stop in which we had arranged a shore excursion. We had arranged to take a catamaran (a multi-level sail boat) to Shipwreak Cove to go snorkeling. This was such a cool adventure! I had never snorkeled before so that was a new experience. We had been warned that there were two things in the water to avoid: the yellow coral which if touched would burn like scalding coffee and the black ball-like things that has sharp spikes on its body but traveled only inches a minute. So my friend Dan and I are snorkeling and looking at these colorful fish when Dan points out a long, narrow fish about 4 feet below us. I immediately recognized that it was a barracuda as did Dan!!! We went swimming back to the boat quickly and told our guide that we think we saw a barracuda. His reply was, "You saw Fluffy!!! He's our only barracuda we have in this area. How lucky for you." Ya...lucky wasn't quite the word that came to mind when we saw this fish!!! We had fun snorkeling though. We spent most of the rest of the afternoon shopping in their dozens of tourist stores on the waterfront.

Tomorrow, I'll talk about our time in San Juan and Nassau. Both these places were charming cities and very enjoyable while not being overly touristy. Until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 10:31 | link | comments (1) |
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