What Brings you Happiness?

by Mike Hey

Psalm 16:11
"You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore."

As you read this we will be about two weeks from Easter. How is your Lent going? Having a good one? Challenged? The point of Lent is not defeat, but victory—joyful victory. Lent is a season of austerity, but not morbidity. Lent is a sober time, but not a somber time. Nothing about divine friendship is somber. Lent is for sacrifice, but not for sadness. In fact, one of the best things to give up for Lent is melancholy.

The sixth chapter of St. Matthew captures the spirit of a happy Lent. The principal Lenten works are almsgiving, prayer, and fasting; and the principal Lenten attitude is one of private communion with God with outward cheer. But that cheer is not just a hypocritical show. Generous people are generally much happier. Wisdom knows the delight of doing well for its own sake is the most rewarding and uplifting of practices. It bestows joy because it is the basis of sanctity: a foretaste of Heaven on Earth, and Heaven is where God wants us to be happy with Him forever.

I don’t believe it was an accident that in her wisdom the Church selected the onset of spring for Lent. Lent—for all its severe associations—is rooted in the brightness of springtime. The word “Lent” is related to the word “lengthen,” referring to the lengthening of days as the world shakes off wintry darkness and turns to the dawn in the eastern, or Easter, sky. In spring we enjoy a lengthening of days increasing light (Daylight Saving!), and an unveiling, or even remaking, of the world. As a time of penance and self-examination, Lent should be viewed as an awakening from hibernation into the dawn of the world and the Word. We are called to be made anew into the comprehension and participation of the Resurrection—which is something to rejoice and be glad about.

Hello Darkness My Old Friend,

I made my second White House Silent retreat last week.  It's part of a Lenten tradition I hope to continue.  Throughout scripture we are prompted to remove distraction from our lives and sit in the quiet and pray.  During those few days, I began to think about and research the importance of silence.  

A guy by the name of Bernie Krause in 1968 attempted to capture one hour of sound in nature that didn’t include any man made noises in the recording.  It took him 15 hours of material to piece together that one hour.  In 2015, to get that same sixty minutes of natural sound, it took him over 2,000 hours.  

I also read that over half of the population of the United States is regularly exposed to noise levels labeled excessive by the EPA.

We have created a culture that is uncomfortable with silence.  Do you have the radio on all day at work, in the car, at home?  Do you have an app to create white noise to help you sleep?  When you go for a walk, do you desperately look for your earbuds?  Any silence or pause in conversation lasting more than a few seconds immediately feels awkward.  We look to our phones, computers or MP3 wired clothing to seek refuge from the cringe worthy feeling in our stomach resonating from silence.  

Do your best, even while reading this, to secure a place free of distractions and let the words below sink in:

• Then Moses said to all Isreal “Be silent Oh Isreal and listen!” Deuteronomy 29:9
• Search your hearts and be silent.  Psalms 4:4
• Let all the earth be silent before Him.   Habakkuk 2:20
• Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.  Luke 5:16
• Come to me, all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Matthew 11

If I am not still, how is Jesus going to give me rest?  Does my schedule, time, and life look like that of a person who wants to listen to Him?

Sometimes I feel as if God is distant.  I wonder if there is a connection between the amount of noise in my life and my inability to hear God?  When I compare the amount of time spent worrying and talking about my challenges to the amount of time spent in silence listening to what He might have to say,  it's not a very good ratio.  And then I wonder why I feel forsaken.

Maybe the healing, connection, and guidance we desperately need is not going to come from one more meeting, therapy session, homily or self help book….maybe it’s just from simply finding a quiet space and listening for the voice of God.

The Spotlight Effect

It is the middle of Lent.  I should be well into the process of spending more time on the development of my interior life - digging deeper into my attitudes, motivations and decision making.  This kind of self awareness - if grounded in prayer, fasting and alms giving -  is healthy and should lead me to a better understanding of who I really am , and how far I have to go to become the man God created me to be.

But there is another side of self-awareness that seems to me to be unhealthy, turning my thoughts and actions towards comparison and judgement, leading to a more selfish worldview.

Venial Sin

By Fred Vilbig 

Here we are in Lent. We are called in Lent to repentance. But repentance from what? I’m not such a bad guy. I’m OK, and for purposes of this post, I am going to assume that you are OK, too, although if I really thought about it … wait, I’m getting distracted.

In our society, we have really lost a sense of our sinfulness. Peter Kreeft, in his book Making Sense Out of Suffering, talks about how unlike ancient societies, we think of ourselves as basically good. He argues that we are basically rotten with a residue of goodness since we are made in the image and likeness of God.

But it is interesting to me that even in our highly secular society that is drowning in relativism, we still seem to recognize certain serious sins. Although the church does not actually have a list of mortal sins, people generally acknowledged that murder, rape, and these kinds of sins are “mortal” sins. On the spiritual side, we can probably throw in missing Mass on Sunday or demonic worship.

Christ Renews His Parish

Matthew 22:1-46

And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.’ But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, ...

Holy Infant Parish will host a men’s retreat, Christ Renews His Parish (CRHP), on March 25-26, 2017. If you have attended a previous CRHP you’ll remember what a wonderful, spiritually refreshing experience it was. If you have not yet attended CRHP this blog post is our direct appeal that you will prayerfully consider joining us.

My CRHP experience began in late 2015 with my PX90 brother Bob Phillips “encouraging” me to attend the January 2016 retreat. While reluctant to commit I knew in my heart that Jesus desired my attendance, and once Bob and Kevin Montgomery also agreed to attend I was in. I am private person; maybe even a little introverted, having always considered my faith to be private as well. Groups like PX90 and CRHP have helped me open up and grow spiritually.