The Invitation - Oriah Mountain Dreamer

I went on a retreat called Guidance earlier in the year. On the retreat, one of the speakers used the poem entitled "The Invitation" by Oriah Mountain Dreamer. It is a beautiful Poem, and I hope to come in and edit this post with my reactions at some point, but until then, here is the poem:

The Invitation

It doesn’t interest me
what you do for a living.
I want to know
what you ache for
and if you dare to dream
of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me
how old you are.
I want to know
if you will risk
looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me
what planets are
squaring your moon...
I want to know
if you have touched
the center of your own sorrow
if you have been opened
by life’s betrayals
or have become shriveled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know
if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

I want to know
if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you
to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations
of being human.

It doesn’t interest me
if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear
the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.

I want to know
if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live
or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me
who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me
where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know
what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know
if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like
the company you keep
in the empty moments.

It is a good poem, and very deep. What ever readers I have - It's your turn to reflect - comment, I'd love to see what you think :)

between two Eucharists

It is weeks like this when I rely on prayers and rely on Christ.

I found a quote that resonated with me as I walked out down the Campus Ministry hallway at 3:00 when I was done studying for the night.

"I can endure anything
between two Eucharists."
- Dorthy Day

I don't know much about Dorthy Day; nothing more than she was a Catholic who was involved with the poor, who worked for social justice, was fairly modern, and founded the Catholic Worker newspaper. The quote resonated with me as I walked back to my dorm and gave the the strength to not fall into despair with my overwhelming week.

It is a beautiful thought: "I can endure anything." But it comes with the knowledge that I will be fed again and given the strength of our savior by consuming the Eucharist. I can do all things though Christ who strengthens me, says Paul. How true that is when our lives begin to revolve around the strength - spiritual, physical, and emotional- that we are given at each celebration of the Mass. How thankful are we? Do we hide how much we rely on our savior? even to him, are we scared to admit it. Weakness - an anti-value of our culture. We must be strong, self sufficient according to them. But how different are we supposed to be in the eyes of Christ. Reliant on our savior, childlike looking to Christ to guide and and support us each day.

It is truly a gift given to us. The Eucharist didn't have to happen. Christ could have come and then left, but instead he knew there would be centuries of persecution, wars that destroyed so much of mankind, famines, natural disasters, and on an individual's level, the loss of a child, the feeling of anxiety, unemployment, fear of future, and even midterm weeks. And because he knew that, he gave us himself to give us strength. The Cross is where we find salvation, and the Eucharist is where we find strength to always remember to live in that saving grace.

The times that are emotionally trying, that are physically taxing, the days when you look around and don't understand how you got where you are, or where you are supposed to be going, it is those times that the Eucharist calls us. "Come, child, rest in me for this hour, do not think, just open your heart and allow me to love you right here. All will be well, find strength in this gift, rest in me. I will soon be resting in you and carrying you though the day."

With Christ with in us, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, we can endure anything between two Eucharists.

what does it mean to be Catholic today

Catholic.
A word that means so many things, carries infinite connotation in today's world.
Catholic.
A Catholic is Christian. So Christ is my Lord. That in itself carries a truck load of baggage. With Christ as Lord I am called to action. To sacrifice. To be Christ for others. How?
Catholic.
There is mass, there is prayer, there is Eucharist. Not any of these things are set as idea for the capital "C" church especially. But each has a Catholic idea and implementation. A worship, unique in ritual and style. A prayer (more like a few hundred) recited word for word, around the world, in every language heard. A Eucharist, a person not a symbol, our God - divine made flesh - human in bread - matter.
All of this... Catholic
Catholic. Universal, community, God and Man, a kiss in the temporal and transcendent captured in the moment: "This is my body."
Church
Catholic.

May the Lord accept the sacrifice,

ps. sorry about the font size change, it's not letting me fix it

"Pray, brethren, that our sacrifice my be acceptable to God, the Almighty Father."
"May the Lord accept the sacrifice, at your hands, for the praise and glory of His name, for our good and the good of all His Church."

When it comes time for Communion, we are not only partaking in the sacrifice of Christ, but also of ourselves.


On the altar, Christ comes down. It is the eternal kiss between divinity and humanity. Christ's one sacrifice spans all of eternity. It is not a reenactment of the passion, but a participation in it. Through the sacrifice of the Mass we are PRESENT at the table of the last supper, the 40 lashes, and the final breaths of the Cross. Christ is outside of time, and so while He was on the cross, He gave up his life for each and every Mass, each and every person. We are tapping into the divine love of the ultimate sacrifice. A gift fully given that will never be fully understood.


But it is not only Christ who is present on the altar. We are also called to make an offering. The words italicized above commonly are understood to pertain to the bread and wine, the offering that the priest will consecrate allowing the congregation to take part in Christ's sacrifice. However, we can also take this time with in the Mass to lay something on the altar. We pray "Accept the sacrifice" of our day, our frustrations, our joys, our pains. We offer our lives to Christ, telling Him, "It is all for you. I may not be a missionary, a priest, a nun; I am only a student, parent, worker. I have no conversion story. I am not Paul. I simply live, loving you, each day." We lay down THAT life, knowing our faults, and asking the Lord to accept the effort we put forward as we strive to become more rooted in Christ and fall deeper into Love.

We consecrate ourselves. Asking that as the bread and wine are transformed, we may also be transformed. We undergo a 'transubstantiation' of sorts. The bread and wine- physical, natural, human- becomes the Body and Blood - divine, the soul of Christ. We consume this into ourselves. And we the congregation of Christ - physical, natural, human- open ourselves to the grace of the divine, the soul of Christ, and it's ability to change us.

It does not happen with out our will. The divine cannot transform us, unless we allow it. Our lives are our own, feeble, human, weak, until we allow Christ, the Great High Priest, to consecrate them and work through our hands, our hearts, our selves to love all of humanity. By allowing Him to consecrate our lives, by offering ourselves to Him, we are then more prepared and able to live out the call and mission Christ has given to us. To LIVE and LOVE all for Christ, in all that we do, all we say, and all we are.

Mile 8

It’s an interesting feeling. Freeing. Intense. Calm.

Getting back in shape is tiring. Running, and running, and running some more. Bad run after bad run with no stopping or relief. It’s a hard thing to run through. But persistence gives way to the sweet feeling of strength and grace.

That feeling of being on mile 8, with the sweat of miles past on your shirt and brow, you keep focus ahead on the path that shrinks around the bend. No longer are you counting down the steps the minutes to the end. You look ahead instead for a farther goal. You can trust your legs, your self to carry you not to the finish, but really anywhere. You look down and see your feet – one two, one, two, one, two –over and over the song of the sidewalk sung with your shoes, unique to you.

The created wind on your face, ever changing with your pace is a reminder of your power and a display of your grace. With the care of a nurse, as self trained you may be, you take a quick diagnosis of your body, muscles, lungs, joints, insides. When the results come back all clear a smile creeps across your face. Shoulders back, hips forward, strides long. The day is back, you are once again a runner. You look down at your legs, powerful and strong, knowing they can handle it.

You press on, at that moment nothing can stop you.

tools for the journey

Well, it's been a while... and for that I apologize. I'll try to keep on writing these things as the school year starts. I hope to have some more ideas flowing.. hope at least :)

Hope these thoughts have helped some people, I got some good reviews from the parish bulletin readers.. so that's a plus.

Here is one, it's a sports metaphor. I love sports, I love my faith.. Here is the result.

In order to perform well, we need to have the right equipment. A hockey player needs to have his skates, a baseball player his mitt. Without the right tools the athletes cannot do what they need to do. A lacrosse player without his stick cannot score; a football player without his helmet will get hurt. These tangible objects we use in sports are necessary to help us accomplish the goals of the game. But having them does not make us a player. We need to use them when we play, and use them with love and passion for the game in order to be great.

A golfer can have an abundance of clubs, but if they only stay in his bag in the garage then is he a golfer? Transfer this idea to our faith. A person can hang the rosary from their mirror, but if they do not lift it down to pray with it, then what is its purpose?

We can have all the equipment to be a warrior for our faith, a crucifix predominately placed in the house, a rosary in our car, a usual seat at Sunday mass that is filled. But if we do not utilize these tangible objects with passion and love in a way that can drive our relationship with Christ deeper, then why are they there. We have the tools to bring us closer and make us champions for Christ. The tangible objects of our faith are gifts to us, God understands that we are physical beings, and so he acts in a physical way. He comes to us in a way we can understand, and he wants us to grow deeper. We need to keep pushing ourselves to expand our faith. Try to pray that rosary, not just watch it dangle from the mirror. Read the Bible; don’t use it as space filler on your nightstand. Experience the mass, do not just attend. These are things that can bring us closer to God and form us into true players of our faith.

We have the equipment, we just need to use them.

we cannot do it on our own

We cannot do it on our own.


What would a football team be without an offensive line? There would be no one to block, no protection for the quarter back. No matter how well the receivers ran their routes, the ball would never make it to them. What if there was no defense? The other team would only score until there was no way you could win. All parts of the team are necessary for the team to succeed.


If there was a band, but there was no drummer, there would be no beat. If there was no lead instrument there would be no melody. With no backup players or voices the sound would be bare. The audience would not understand the message of the lyrics, unless there was someone to sing them. We need all parts in order to see and understand the whole.


So is the Kingdom of God. To realize the Kingdom here on Earth there must be participation on all accounts. As individuals we can only do so much, but as a family, as a community as a Church, acting together there is so much we can accomplish. We must act with Christ’s direction and as Hid body work towards the betterment of others and for the world. Even as individuals, we must act as one following the coach, listening to the director.


If the team is playing, but only for their own gain, the success, the win will never be accomplished. If a band is together and playing, but refuses to work together in harmony then the audience loses the focus and leaves confused. To succeed we must work together.


This is what Christ calls for from his Church. As a community as one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church, we are called to work together in order to bring about the Kingdom of God. Since we are each parts of the body, and so we have a responsibility to work as members of the body. As individuals we have our own talents, and we are called to give them up to the Lord. Our talents are not our own, but are spring boards to draw others into Christ’s body and to help them give of their talents also. That is what we must be in the Body of Christ. A sharer of our talents, because each one of us, though different, is vital to the body. We cannot bring about the Kingdom on our own, but by the grace of God we can come closer to its realization and we pray that one day we may be able to witness the fullness of the Body of Christ in heaven.