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Reflections of a Lay Catholic

Reflections of a Lay Catholic

Monthly Archives: April 2016

A Love That’s True

24 Sunday Apr 2016

Posted by Jerry Robinson in Love

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Faith, God-moments, Gospel of John, Grace, Hope, John 13:34, Love, St. Martin de Porres Lake Charles

John 13 34

Today’s post is something new for Reflections of a Lay Catholic! I’m entering into uncharted territory, laying myself bare before you. I am posting an original poem I wrote yesterday. Well, actually, it’s more like song lyrics but I can’t tell you the tune, of course. I was on an airplane between Chicago and Houston and I kind of had a tune running through my head. Then, the first line of the chorus popped into my mind and I thought, “Hey, let’s see where this goes.” So, without further ado, let’s see where this goes:

A Love That’s True

I don’t deserve the blessings in my life,

But through His love God graced me with my wife.

Our love was meant to never be apart,

He gave us kids to love with all our hearts.

 

A love that’s true, a love that’s real,

The kind of love you live for every day,

A love that’s new, a love you feel,

The kind of love you hope for when you pray.

 

I got good friends I like to be around.

They lift me up whenever I am down.

In hope and faith we meet each week to share,

And through their love I know how much they care.

 

A love that’s true, a love that’s real,

The kind of love you live for every day,

A love that’s new, a love you feel,

The kind of love you hope for when you pray.

 

I don’t watch the news or HBO., instead

I got a book I like to read each night ‘fore bed,

‘Bout a man Who died for me that I might live,

All He asked me is to love and to forgive

 

With a love that’s true, a love that’s real,

The kind of love I live for every day,

A love that’s new, a love I feel,

The kind of love I hope for when I pray.

 

Oh, His love is true, His love is real,

His love is what we live for every day,

His love is new, His love we feel,

His love is what He gives us when we pray.

This morning at St. Martin de Porres Catholic Church in Lake Charles, Louisiana, I heard Monsignor Jace Eskind read the Gospel, John 13:34:

 “I give you a new commandment, says the Lord: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.”

Yesterday when I wrote my song lyrics, I didn’t know this would be the subject of today’s Gospel. I love little “God moments” like this!

“Lord Jesus, thank You for being our example of the Father’s love. I pray that You help us to always reach out to others, to love them for who they are and where they are at that moment of their lives, and to be fully present in our love for them. Amen.”

 

(A Love That’s True was first published on the blog Reflections of a Lay Catholic. Reproducing, reposting and/or sharing of A Love That’s True is not permitted without express written consent of its author, Jerry Robinson.)

©2016 Reflections of a Lay Catholic. Reposting and sharing of material in its full and original content is not permitted without express written consent of the author(s) and Reflections of a Lay Catholic.

 

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God, I Can’t Hear You

21 Thursday Apr 2016

Posted by Jerry Robinson in Bible Reflections

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Christ the Shepherd, Christian Community, Eucharistic Adoration, God-moments, Gospel of John, I am the Gate, Mark 9:7, Matthew 26:40, Prayer

christ-the-shepherd

Christ the Shepherd

The Gospel reading for Monday, the 18th was John 10:1-10. When I read it Monday morning it struck an uncomfortable chord. I zeroed in on verses 3, 4, 7 and 9:

1“Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber. 2But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice.”….7So Jesus said again, “Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep….9I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture.”

It seemed I had been too long without hearing His voice call my name. I wasn’t even sure in which direction to look for the “Gate”.

Since Monday afternoon, I’ve spent about eleven hours on the road behind the wheel. It was welcome time to contemplate His message and why I was feeling lost.

I asked myself why I haven’t felt close to Jesus these past few weeks. Why has He been absent when I especially needed Him? Why have I not heard His voice? My engineer’s analytical mind started trouble-shooting. First, I know I’ve been running hard the last month, burning the candle at both ends you might say. I don’t think its coincidence that my spiritual dry spell corresponds with my busy-ness.

I recalled my baptism and being told, “Ephphatha, be open and hear the Word of God!” I know that God commanded, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him.” (Mark 9:7) He wouldn’t have issued that command if He didn’t give us the ability to hear Jesus. So, why am I not hearing him?

I reasoned that, not only does God want us to listen to His beloved Son, He wants us to have a relationship with Him. Good relationships require good communication. Then it hit me, “Effective communication has to be two-way: I not only have to listen but I have to speak to Him!” I realized therein lay the problem: I hadn’t been speaking to Him through my prayers. I remembered how, when I did pray, it seemed difficult, as if the words wouldn’t come. I couldn’t seem to focus and offer up my desires and gratitude into intelligible thoughts and words. And, I knew why. I had put my daily grind ahead of Christ. With my inconsistent and ineffective prayers, He had been supplanted by my negativity, stress and worry over worldly things. By putting Him second, I wasn’t going to be passing through the Gate even if I could find it.

Irony is always a bitter pill to swallow but doing so usually cures what ails me. Had I simply trusted in Him to help me, I either wouldn’t have felt the way I’ve been feeling, or at least I’d have been able to bear my cross a little easier.

Accepting that I needed to rejuvenate my daily piety, I still thought about how it is often difficult for me to hear His voice even when my prayer life is hitting on all cylinders. Sometimes I think I hear God, but I’m not sure if it is His voice, my own, that of other people, or even the devil.

Putting myself in a quiet place sometimes helps, especially at Eucharistic Adoration. I realized this was more of the problem: because of my traveling, I missed my last two hours of Adoration. But, even then, I recalled my last two trips to the Adoration chapel and how, when I finally cleared my head of the voices, I simply fell asleep. (I know, “He said to Peter, ‘So you could not keep watch with me for one hour?’” [Matthew 26:40]). Ouch!

I also know that I don’t just hear God in the silence of Adoration. He talks to me through Sacred Scripture. Maybe if I’d be more consistent with my daily reading I could hear Him.

I recalled, too, that He often talks to me through other holy people, especially those from within our parish community. And, then, another probable cause for my situation came to me: although I haven’t missed Sunday mass in years, I have only been to mass at my parish church once in the last five weeks. The other four Sundays have found me out of town where I’ve attended mass at other churches.

In addition to missing my parish family, my travels have caused me to miss meeting with my friends for our regular faith sharing, something which I look forward to. Meeting with them to talk about how God is working in our lives, what we are doing to stay close to Him, what we are doing to learn more about and grow our faith, and what we’re doing to bring Christ to others, has become an important part of my life. I know He talks to me through these men and women during our get-togethers. And I miss it.

I thought, “I don’t just miss meeting with them, I miss them.” The image of the flock of sheep popped into my mind. I know from herding sheep on a farm in England when I was a kid that they feel safe in numbers. But, they can be really stupid, too. When one wanders away and loses sight of the rest of the flock it is truly lost. I think that has been me. I wandered off over the hill out of sight and out of ear shot.

In that analogy I saw the truth in the parable: a flock of sheep is like our Christian Community. Not only do we need one-on-one communication with God, we need each other, we need to stick together, and we need to hear His voice together.

Then, somewhere between Paducah, Kentucky and Nashville, Tennessee on I-24, I had an epiphany. With all these hours of driving in silence without distractions, had I created the environment I finally needed to hear Him call my name? I wondered if I was actually smart enough to have reasoned all this myself or if all my thoughts were not God talking to me instead? The more I think about it, I can’t take the credit.

“Dear God, thank You for these hours we have spent together, for the gift of reason and for the gift of perseverance to find my way back to You.  Lord, help me to never lose sight of the Gate and help me to always lead others through the Gate as well.  I pray that no matter how far I wander and how unworthy I may feel, I may always recognize Your voice and never again say, ‘God, I can’t hear You.’  Amen.”

(God, I Can’t Hear You was first published on the blog Reflections of a Lay Catholic)

©2016 Reflections of a Lay Catholic. Reposting and sharing of material in its full and original content is permitted, provided that full and clear credit is given to the author(s) and Reflections of a Lay Catholic.

As Iron Sharpens Iron

20 Wednesday Apr 2016

Posted by Jerry Robinson in Christian Community

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Christian Community, Faith, Friendship, Iron Sharpens Iron, Love, Proverbs 27:17

As-Iron-Sharpens-Iron-924x3501

It’s just another day but I have the privilege of adding one number to the age I was yesterday. As Jimmy Buffet would say, I’ve made “one more trip around the sun.”

Birthdays have taken on a new meaning for me over the last few years. My birthday now serves to remind me of not just how old I am, but how long I’ve accepted Christ Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Four years and five days ago marks the event during which I came to know Him. My life hasn’t been the same since.

I was especially reminded of His love and the love of my fellow Christians today when I read the dozens of birthday well-wishes I received through Facebook and emails (I’m away from home on business so if I received any cards at home via regular mail, I don’t know of them yet). Disregarding the whole concept of “Facebook friends”, I was struck by the realization that four years and six days ago I could count my true close friends on both hands plus a few extra fingers. Since then, that number has grown exponentially to hundreds of men and women whom I love and who I know love me – men and women who, because of our love for the Father, I now call Brothers and Sisters. They helped drive that realization home by their sincere desires for God’s blessings to be bestowed upon me today. Wow, I know I am truly blessed!

Dear friends, through your examples, you have enriched my life. I am reminded of Proverbs 27:17, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” I am still on the dull side, but by allowing me to learn from you, you are helping to hone me into the person Christ wants me to be. Your faith and your actions have allowed me to see Jesus in you and brought me closer to Him. I can only hope you can say the same about me.

God Bless you all.

 

(As Iron Sharpens Iron was first published on the blog Reflections of a Lay Catholic)

©2016 Reflections of a Lay Catholic. Reposting and sharing of material in its full and original content is permitted, provided that full and clear credit is given to the author(s) and Reflections of a Lay Catholic.

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