Prince of Peace

Dear POP folks,

In my short letter in POP’s September 2010 e-newsletter, I mentioned that September is the “back-to” month.  Lots of us choose/are forced to get back in the groove.  Some of us recognize this as a time of grace, in which God calls us to draw closer to him.

POP acknowledges this movement of the Holy Spirit that turns hearts back to their Creator by offering a special September Penance Service.  No, it’s not Lent or Advent.  It’s an ordinary day, Wednesday, Sept. 22, but also for some of those who are saying:  “Yes!  I want to make a new beginning!  I want to go back to the grace of baptism and really, truly, absolutely make a clean start!”

Come to the church in the evening. Pray and surrender to God.  Maybe confess your sins to a priest.  Most importantly, open your heart to the wonderful God of New Beginnings.

I think this is a great time to remember that each of us is called to repentance, and nearly all of us are painfully aware of that fact.  St. John Chrysostom offers us five ways to get back on the road to God.   Ready?

1.     Be the first to admit your own sins.  You can’t give God what you don’t acknowledge that you have.  Denial gets you nowhere.

2.     Put out of your mind the harm done to you by other people.  Tough one.  This is a career move for some of us.  Choose to stop holding on to what has been done to you so those wounds and memories have a chance to run away or at least move down the block.

3.     Pray fervently, from the heart.  This isn’t always easy.  I find that if I include something or someone I feel strongly about at the beginning of my prayers, it stirs up feelings and moves me more easily into my heart and makes prayer more attractive.

4.     Give your money away to the Church and to those in need.  What this really does is pry open your hands, the same ones that have been tightly clenched, holding on to your sins and not letting go of what others have done to you.  Stop looking at your own stuff and look at the needs of others!

5.     Seek the gift of humility.  This can be an intention for prayer, certainly.  However, humility also grows out of choices to live a simpler life; to do without what you don’t really need and say, “No!” to you. This can be as simple as skipping Starbucks, or abstaining from meat on Friday or cutting back on all those cable channels.  Humility also is about going to God and actually admitting you can’t do it alone.

These are five paths that may or may not feel like they are headed for a deeper connection with God.  One way to find out is to pick one (OK, even the easiest one…go for it).  Make it a part of your daily prayer.  Test God.  Dare him to get closer to you.

God spoke an invitation to us wandering sinners in the book of Hosea.  Let me personalize a little piece of it here for you:

Thus says the LORD:
when you were a child I loved you,
out of exile I called you.
The more I called you,
the farther you went from me,
Yet it was I who taught you to walk,
who took you in my arms;
I drew you with human cords,
with bands of love;
I fostered you like one
who raises an infant to his cheeks;
Yet, though I stooped to feed my child,
you did not know that I was your healer.

My heart is overwhelmed,
my pity for you is stirred.

Why wait for Lent?  Your Heavenly Father is standing in front of you right now with open arms.

Father John

Dear POP folks,

If you have ever spent time watching a program involving African wildlife, you have seen footage of the wildebeests.  These animals look like a committee:  pieces of all sorts of creatures from buffalo to horses to goats, all put together to produce, perhaps, the most common of all the African mammals.  The incredible migrations of the wildebeest produce some phenomenal aerial photography and even inspire a dynamic scene in “The Lion King.”

Wildebeests are prey to all their meat-eating neighbors, especially those of the feline family.   A lion or cheetah foolhardily enough to race into the center of a thousands-strong wildebeest herd is not going to find lunch, but rather, death by stampede.

And, so we find the lions hanging out in the tall grass, napping, and sunning themselves.  The lions, however,  are not on break.  They are waiting. Waiting for a baby wildebeest or an aging or injured animal to wander away from the herd.  

We have all seen what ensues:   the often brief chase and the death of the wildebeest by suffocation or laceration.  It isn’t pretty.

As I referenced in my letter above, the disciples of St. Paul admonish the early Church:  “We should not stay away from our assembly, as is the custom of some, but encourage one another…”   We are to gather to “rouse one another to love and good works” (Hebrews 10:25, 24).

In what is perhaps Paul’s greatest teaching, he tells us that we are all one body, composed of many parts and that each part is important and necessary. One part cannot choose to be absent without the whole body suffering (See Romans 12:12-31). 

As you may know, I have personal experience of living with a hip that was not functioning.  What a miraculous gift it was to receive a new hip structure, so that my whole body could return to its proper function of walking, speaking, blessing, and serving God.

As Hebrews and Romans remind us that we belong with/to one another, as we see the picture of the organic unity of the members of the Body of Christ, we are offered a third part of the picture.  II Peter 5:8-9 warns us about straying from the assembly, from the body:  “Your opponent the devil is prowling looking for someone to devour.”

A wildebeest that moves away from the herd eventually encounters a hungry lion that is anxious to invite him to lunch.  A Christian who absents herself from the assembly as it gathers each week on the Lord’s Day is just as foolishly strolling out into the high grass.  She loses the strength and encouragement of the faith family, the protective power of the Eucharist, and the bloodstream of the Living Spirit flowing through God’s family.

The eye or the ankle or the ribcage that says, “I’m outta here!” to the rest of the body soon discovers that it is dying and that the body is sick, weakened, or even dying itself.  

The Sunday assembly is not for God; it is for you and me. The Church is not for itself, but to serve the Father in and for its members. We are connected to one another and to our “Head”, Christ Jesus.

I invite you now to remove the lens of time or work or tiredness or boredom that may filter your faith perceptions and decisions. Instead, stand in the place of the wildebeest.  Stand in the midst of your kind, safe from the prowling, roaring lion that is Satan himself.  As you come to be strengthened each weekend by God at work within the assembly, ask yourself:  Am I connected?  Am I experiencing the life of the Body?   If not, ask the Lord if your need is to give (in ministry) or to receive (in education, spiritual growth).

For more information on how to serve in our many ministries, as well as spiritual and personal growth opportunities at POP, please plan to visit our “Called to Serve” event, Aug. 28 & 29, and “Called to Grow” event, Sept. 11 & 12.  Or you may talk to one of our clergy or staff.  We are here to help you find the way to greater closeness with the Lord.

Our faith is not individualistic; it is communal, just like the body. Don’t be a finger or a liver alone and dying. Don’t be a wildebeest meandering mindlessly into the jaws of the lions. You belong to Christ. Let him bless, heal and strengthen you, and give you cause for rejoicing that you are a part of His Body forever.

Father John

Dear POP folks,

We are in the midst of summer vacation time. Still influenced by our roots in a northern European agrarian world, we keep our children in school during the cold winter months when the land lays fallow.  We keep them at home during the time of warmth and fertility.  During this “vacation,” they can assist their parents in watching over the flocks and herds (especially the springtime newborns), weeding and watering the crops and repairing or replacing fences, buildings, equipment.  (I sometimes muse on the English word “vacation” and the Spanish word for cow, “vaca”. I wonder if they’re connected.)

It’s incredible that we in semi-tropical 21^st century Texas persist in that winter-summer cycle of life.  In our world, our kids are into cell phones, iPods, and surfing the net. They see animals at the zoo or on cable TV. They peek out the window early on Thursday mornings to see the lawn service weeding, mowing, feeding, and doing agricultural things. Repairs are the purview of professionals whose names we obtain from the ‘net, or “Somebody’s List”, or maybe from one of the neighbors with whom we share texting time.

And so, for many of us, summer includes two or more weeks off from our regular lives. The Latin “vaco”, the real root of our word, means being free from work, free from a boss, or free from property.  We also could say free from responsibility.

A number of people spend these days traveling to visit extended family or receiving grandparents and assorted other branches of the family tree into their own homes. Often this is a delightful “re-connecting” that builds relationships, passes on family stories, and even shares recipes.   In many cases, these summer visits may become the “Vacation from Hell”.

I know this because I grew up in a family.

I know this because people tell me their sins.

I know this because every September we have a penance service where scores of ordinarily mild-mannered moms, dads, and teens share their fantasies of murder and mayhem after a week at Grandma’s.

So, once again I think it’s important to remember that God called us to love everybody, which means to desire their good and to pray for them. Never in his wildest dreams did God ever think to ask us to like everybody. Or even to like visiting everybody.

Jesus foresaw clashes of personality or failures in hospitality when he admonished his disciples to leaves the houses of their hosts “and shake the dust off your feet in testimony against them.” (Mark 6:11, Matthew 10:14, Luke 9:5). He’s not wishing ill will upon anyone. He’s simply saying, “I visiting Thou”, sometimes just doesn’t work.

If you are planning a visit to or from a loved one with whom you have a difficult relationship, consider giving yourself a break by making the visit shorter. You may have guilty feelings, but guilt is not the best judge of how to spend your time or your life.  A shorter visit may not only be less stressful for you and your family, but it may also be a welcome relief for the grandparents or relatives who are at the other end of the tension equation.

For as long as possible before the visit, spend even a short time in daily individual or family prayer for the visit.  Ask God for the gift of peace, even if it seems highly unlikely.  Ask him for the blessing of seeing at least one good quality in each of the personalities you will be encountering.  Envision the house where everyone will be staying as circled by angels and filled with light.  Ask the Blessed Mother to move into the kitchen, and St. Joseph to set up a workshop in the garage. They are a great team.  They raised Jesus, so they can certainly bless any family, no matter how dysfunctional.   Spend some time in Matthew’s Gospel, chapters 6 and 7. Recall before and during your stay how passionately God wants to be with you and bless you.

Whatever the less-than-desirable coming event may be, whether it’s traveling for work, visiting the family, calling on an obnoxious client, or dealing with nasty neighbors, remember that God wants to grace it, and bring good out of it for you (Romans 8:28).  And, above all, he wants to draw you closer to himself through that event (Romans 8:37-9).

Don’t waste the undesirable parts of summer.  Let God recycle them into times of grace and blessing.

Fr. John

Dear POP folks, 

I received a visit today from a dynamic lady who is working to protect the lives of the unborn.  She and her group have erected heart-touching billboards around the giant new Planned Parenthood abortitorium on I-45 South.

Many parents are actively pursuing the erection of a Catholic High School in our part of Harris County.  The land has already been purchased. They are ready to begin a capital campaign among the parishes in our area.

In a few weeks, Father Robert Cumberland, a Corpus Christi native who now works among the poor in Saltillo, Mexico, will be here to make the annual missionary appeal.

Our Diocesan Services Fund is supporting dozens of worthwhile ministries proclaiming the Gospel and helping those most in need.  We are still short of pledges.

A young lady from our parish is working this summer as a missionary in Latin America.  Others of our young people plan to visit Guatemala next month with our Outreach ministry.

Resurrection parish is paying its bills because of our generosity.

Those who receive contribution envelopes can testify to the number and variety of appeals that arrive in their mail monthly.

We will very soon have to decide if we can step up to the plate and continue our long-delayed parish campus construction.  The growing numbers and growing needs of our community continue.

And, of course, we have the day-to-day parish expenses, just like any home or school or family.  Every autumn, we ask our members to consider the size of their weekly/monthly offering.

All of this is overwhelming.  The Bible tells us that part of being a believer is sharing our resources.  The sheer number of appeals may sometimes make us question the Scriptural promise that God will not give us more than we can tolerate!

AND SO….I am saying all this to you now because many of these appeals have arrived and others are lined up like passenger jets over Houston International Airport.  As you and I look at this mass of need, we’ve have to be reminded that this is about God.  

I am called to turn to God in prayer to discern what he wants me to give and to whom.

Some of these appeals, worthy though they are, are not where God has called me to give my money.  If I try to respond to all of the requests that come my way (and this blog only mentions a few), then I will end up frustrated, broke, angry or all three.  No matter how worthy the cause, the Lord may not be calling me to donate a dime.   If it touches my heart, that’s a sure sign that I’m called to pray for that need or ministry.   But I still may not be called to contribute to it financially.

As pastor of Prince of Peace, I receive many requests from individuals, services, and organizations.  Some would break your heart.  Some are scams.  All of them want to get through me to you!  Nearly all of them I turn away, because you and I have so many, many demands on our generosity already.

And so, brothers and sisters, as the world seems to be full of wonderful causes that want my money and yours, let’s give ourselves permission to say “no” where God tells us to and to say “yes” where he calls us to give.

Even if you win the lottery, he will never ask you to say yes to everyone.  And even if you hit bottom, he will never tell you to say no to everyone.  In the end, he will not ask you how much you gave, but whether you were obedient to him, the God who loves you and gave you everything….   

Father John

Dear POP folks,

Summer has arrived with a passion.  We discover the familiar heat barging back into our lives and declaring itself in the light and darkness, on cloudy and clear days, and in the twilight and dawn.  Some of us bask in it; others count the days until October or December. 

Newcomers from the north don’t feel quite as comforted by the lack of winter snow and ice when they feel the sizzling price that summer exacts.  We watch and wait, and pray that there will be no hurricanes this season; or at least not here, or very big ones that might level my neighborhood.

Our new Yankee arrivals bring their experiences of front porches, sitting outside in the evening, sipping lemonade, watching the fireflies, and feeling a cooling breeze. They remember with growing fondness the touch of night breezes through open windows, perhaps helped along by oscillating electric fans; places where refrigerated air and hysterical electricity meters are reserved only for the hottest, most unforgiving days.  Those from up north recall lives in which winter was the time when you stayed inside to read a good book, play a game, and relish strong walls and reliable insulation.  They now find themselves in an upside-down world where the summers force us indoors, with closed windows and dreams of Halloween.  You won’t find many porches here and certainly few with folks sitting on them after dark.

The misery of Houston summers or Chicago winters has tested human ingenuity.  And generally we have won:  secure, controlled living environments that leave us a comfortable distance from those who freeze to death at Christmas or suffocate from the oppressive heat blanket of the Fourth of July.

The bonus of summer in southeast Texas is clearly the opportunity to pursue that list of indoor spiritual activities that have been put off for far too long.  The Bible is still there on the shelf where it was placed during the cleaning seizures that preceded the arrival of Christmas company.

Miraculously, the church building has not been relocated by God to a distant mountaintop.  It’s in the same place, still boasting working confessionals and priests ready to listen to everyone who has been meaning to get around to dragging those lists of sins out into the open, and being done with them.

What about that prayer-list:  “Things I Want From God”.   If 6-year-olds can do it for Santa, why can’t grown-ups do the same for the “One Who Created the North Pole”?  He really does love to look at our lists, and enjoys doing something about them, just like Santa way back when.  Then there’s the list of people for God to bless.  There are loved ones and not-so-loved ones, those who bring smiles and those who just plain irritate, all who are in need of prayers.

Don’t forget the cool rosary received at (fill in the special event) from (fill in the name of the grandparent, cousin or sponsor).  The deacon blessed it, and it came home with good intentions and a pamphlet entitled, “How to Pray the Rosary.”  Maybe it should have been a CD offering, “Catholic Prayers for Dummies.”  That sounds more contemporary.     Whatever.  That string of beads has been calling for a long time now, just itching to be used, tried, and treasured.

So, brothers and sisters, it’s summertime in Houston.  Lots of people are fleeing to Michigan or Alaska.  Most of us are still here, next door to our new neighbors from Ohio.

And God is indoors, too.  Enjoying the AC and waiting to hear from us…from you. There has never been a better time.

Father John

Dear POP folks,

I sometimes joke and sometimes weep about the reality of long-range planning, early preparation or just plain date-setting here at Prince of Peace.  Sometimes we receive hysterical calls from parishioners who want to schedule a 50th wedding anniversary celebration and it’s only three weeks away.  They want a clergyman, use of the church or the chapel, etc.  Hurry!  Only three weeks!  What I want to say (but never do) is: “Hello? It’s not like this crept up on anybody, is it?  I mean, you’ve known it’s coming for, oh…50 years!”   

On the other hand, one of our staff and spouse put their fiftieth on the parish calendar nearly five years ahead of the actual celebration. (Yes, you can do that here!)  Now those people have made planning ahead an art form.

So, I have a couple of things to say about 2011. Maybe three things.

The first is that it will be our 40th anniversary year as a parish.  The Pastoral Council will be talking about the “how’s” and “when’s” of the celebration.  We are blessed to have some of the founders and early families still with us.  They experienced Masses at Matzke School, the erection of the first buildings, and so many more growth events.  They worked hard and gave generously.  They are still at Mass, sometimes with their children or grandchildren.  And, now they are surrounded by the generations that have come after:  People who arrived in the 1980s and 1990s, in the new millennium, and just last week.  If you have any ideas about how we should be celebrating, please send an e-mail to pastoral@pophouston.org or call the front office receptionist at (281) 469-2686 and ask for extension 294.

This reminds me of the second topic that has been floating around for some time.  Our first church was dedicated in 1974 and replaced with a much larger building 20 years later.  As you may have noticed, our present structure is in need; not of replacing, but of expanding. This was part of the Master Plan the parish entered into a few years ago. The first phases were the Mary Chapel and the expansion of the St. Joseph Building.  The expansion of the church is a growing need.  Sadly, the increasingly regulated building codes will require upgrades in the present church that will require our moving out of the building for an estimated five months.  We have no place to go, so we will have to first complete the planned event center/gym at the northern end of the education building. Eventually, this will house a number of different rooms and activities, but initially, we would construct it to seat 1000 + people for weekend Masses.  We could worship there until the scaffolding-related part of church construction would be completed.

This means a capital campaign, followed by the construction of one building and the expansion of the church worship space.  This is going to happen. We have no choice.  The Cardinal is very clear that we do not have the resources to pursue the only other alternative, which is to erect a new parish in our area.  So, when is this going to happen?  We are continuing to pray, discern, and watch the economy.  Please make this a part of your prayers as well.  Some day we will have a place where everyone who comes to worship can have a parking place and seat.  With God’s help, you and I can, and will, make this a reality.

Whew.  Did I say there’s a third thing?  Certainly, and it’s huge.  An event that occurs so rarely in history that few generations ever experience it.  My generation experienced it in 1964.  Beginning in 2011, all of us will be a part of a great change in the way we worship; the words we use as we pray together.

As one, unified Catholic Church, we pray the same prayers and listen to the same readings each day.  These prayers are taken from the scriptures, ancient liturgies of the early Church, and writings of great mystics, poets, and leaders of prayer.  While you may not stop to be aware of it, the prayers the priest prays at Mass are saturated with the words of the Bible, and with the history of our ancestors and forebears worshiping God.  These prayers are set aside for our worship in an original, common text:  the Latin language.  Each language group in the world then works with the leadership of the Church to produce faithful translations of these prayers for use in local worship.  The depth of meaning and the subtlety of phrase and coloring are truly beautiful gifts of language and worship.  We don’t believe that the leader of worship should simply stand up on Sunday and come up with something.  Rather, he stands on the shoulders of the worshiping “People of God”, who have gone before us as he speaks our prayer and leads us in praising God.

The English re-translation of these prayers has been many years in the making.  We will begin to see the new versions next year.  We will have new hymnals and new Altar missals with which to pray and sing together.  It will be a call and an opportunity to become more intentional, and more aware of what we say and sing in our worship. Let me share two of the changes with you.

In the third Eucharistic Prayer that the priest prays around the consecration, you may recall hearing the phrase, “from east to west”.   The actual words in the Bible are “from the rising to the setting of the sun.”  This more faithful and poetic version will now become the one that we use.    

Another change, which will affect everyone, is the return to the ancient forms of greeting. The priest will continue to call out to the people, “The Lord be with you!” The people will then respond, “And with your spirit!” Those who worship in Spanish and other languages have been following the format uninterrupted back to its Latin roots.  Now the English-speaking world will do likewise.

Change is always challenging and sometime difficult. We will move, hopefully, slowly and prayerfully into these new changes.  We will avoid the haste and other errors of the last changes in the 1960’s.  And, we will focus this time, not on the novelty of the language itself, but on the call to beauty and prayerfulness that the changes call forth.

And so, brothers and sisters, 2011 will be an extraordinary year. Most of all, it will be in the hands of God, who draws us continually to himself.

Father John

Dear POPfolks,

I continue to hear many wonderful things about our Holy Week celebrations and decorations.   This was a bright topic at the Pastoral Council meeting a few days ago.   I am exceedingly grateful to the Worship Department and the volunteers and ministers who worked so hard.    Other celebrations, large and small, are coming up.   That’s the joy of our rich Catholic heritage!  If you’d like to be a part of it, contact Deacon Fred here at the offices.

I am also excited and delighted with the wonderful International Festival of last Saturday.   The food, displays, dancing and fellowship were marvelous!   A big thank-you to Ivette Estrada and her committee and to all of those who planned, cooked, decorated, and served.   Blessings on the many and varied dancers (including our own Father Alfonso) who enriched the afternoon and evening.   There is room for even more countries next year!   Watch for more info or e-mail Ivette at the parish office.

Pope John Paul II wrote in his beautiful Pastores Dabo Vobis (“I Give You Shepherds”) in great depth about the priesthood.  He reminded us all that the priesthood is not for Lone Rangers, but is always a fraternity, a community of ordained men in service to God and in support of one another.   In this spirit, the priests and bishops of Galveston-Houston gather in early May of even-numbered years for a week of study with nationally-known speakers, dialogue, fellowship and good food.   We have the opportunity to ask questions and discuss issues of concern with our bishop, Cardinal DiNardo, and with other leaders in the archdiocese.   It is a graced time for us which bears fruit in our ministry and in our unity in this local Church of Galveston-Houston.

This year, this event begins the afternoon of Monday, May 13 and continues until May 16.   Please keep us in your prayers.   The deacons and seminarians here at POP will continue to serve the life and ministry of the parish until our return.

As I write this, I am preparing for my first meeting with seminarian Victor Perez.   Victor will be ordained a transitional (temporary) deacon on May 15 as part of his continuing preparation for priestly service in our archdiocese.   We have received the great news that the new Deacon Victor will be assigned to ministry at Prince of Peace this summer and on alternating weekends during the coming school year.   His diaconal ordination on the 15^th will be at 10:00 a.m. at Sacred Heart Co-Cathedral and you are invited!  Please keep him in your prayers and be ready to give him a warm welcome when he officially starts work here in June.

So many events here at Prince of Peace these past few months have been true blessings and wonderful experiences for many, especially your pastor.   I am so blessed to be here with you!

Father John

Dear POPfolks,

Easter was a wonderful experience for thousands of us here at Prince of Peace, especially the 47 people who came into the Church at the Easter Vigil.   We praise God for them and for YOU, the Church, who invited them, supported them and gave them birth through the waters of baptism and the oil of the Holy Spirit.

We are about to have a truly unique weekend…a train of events that bless and draw us closer to our God in the community of the Church.

If you are a woman who would like to welcome the Lord more deeply into your life or have a burden (or two) to lay down, the Women’s ACTS retreat is for you.   In beautiful Circle Lake Retreat Center, north of Tomball, the weekend features prayer, Mass and the sacraments… all  nestled in a package of fun, great food, sharing and being taken care of by a loving and caring staff.  There may be a few openings left…  The retreat begins Thursday evening, 22^nd and concludes on Sunday afternoon.  Contact Paula Reed at preed@pophouston.org or 281-571-4130.

Saturday the 24^th is our parish International Festival from 4:00 p.m. until…     This will feature food and fun from many of the different countries and ethnic groups who make up our community here at Prince of Peace.    Contact Ivette Estrada at iestrada@pophouston.org for more details.

Sunday the 25^th we will see a powerful worship experience at 7:00 to 8:30pm.  The group ADORE will be here to lead our youth and our parish family in praise and worship…and they are terrific!  Check them out at http://www.adoreworship.com/site/home.html.    We will all participate in worshiping God through music and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.   I will be there with a special message.  It will be a truly blessed evening!

Monday the 26^th our community will gather here in our church with our bishop, Daniel Cardinal DiNardo, to celebrate the sacrament of Confirmation with many of our youth and a busload of adults.  It’s a great opportunity to share in the Holy Eucharist with our dynamic spiritual leader.   

Grace and closeness to God do not just happen in the privacy of your room or by coming to weekend Mass occasionally.  These are all wonderful opportunities to grow closer to the God who died and rose for US!

I look forward to seeing you at one or more of these truly blessed events,

Father John

Dear POP folks,

Most of the time, I love being a priest.  During this past year, I found that I was even more delighted that I did not become a meteorologist. 

Last summer, it felt like global warming was going to fry us all in our homes and cars.  And then in the winter, we have experienced what the beginning of the last major ice age must have felt like to the wooly mammoths.

(I must pause here to emphasize that my mention of global warming is a descriptive phrase intended to denote a hot summer.  It is not a political statement or a criticism of any political party. It was just one hard, hot, “fry-an-egg-on-the-sidewalk” summer.   No slur meant on any politician, scientist or commentator.  Honestly!)

Back to meteorology.   If we were to look for a phenomenon that motivates people to make individual choices, we’d be hard pressed to find anything bigger than the climate.

The weather can move individuals to choose particular fabrics (e.g. light weight, water proof, warm-and-snuggly, etc.), colors (e.g. white in the summer and dark red, green and purple in January, etc.), layers (e.g. sweaters, ponchos, fur/faux fur, etc.) and accessories (e.g. scarves, umbrellas, hoodies, hats, etc.).

The climate stimulates some Houstonians to move to Colorado or Michigan from Easter to Labor Day.  It draws Coloradans to Texas during the high snow season, and literally fills up the states of Florida and Arizona with refugees from Michigan, New Jersey, and Canada during the first quarter of the year.

(I am going to pause again to state that I am not making any political statements for or against the use of fur, or the politics, industry, trade unions, or governments of any of the above-named states, or immigrants, both internal and external, or the fashion industry, both foreign and domestic.  Speaking of the fashion industry, I am not advocating goods manufactured in China, child labor, bulimia, diet pills, publicly traded fashion stock offerings or the use of wire hangers. I promise.)

Believe it or not, my blog assignment this month is the topic of “personal decisions.”  Where I was attempting to navigate when I started writing, was the tremendous play our God-given gift of Free Will has given us. It’s almost exhausting to consider the myriad of choices you and I have about our clothing, our domicile, and our lives.  We also can choose (yes, choose) to be offended, upset, alarmed, anxious, panicked…or happy.

And (this is the really, really good part), we can choose to ask God for ANYTHING.  We can choose to say (pay attention here):  “God, I don’t feel you.  You don’t feel close.  But, I am holding on to you.  I know you are here, and I am here with you no matter what my feelings or anybody else tells me.   God…it’s me and you.”

And you know what?  That’s a prayer.  And it’s a prayer God loves because it means that He is not just a “buzz”, or a warm blanket on a cold night, or a cuddly puppy.  It means I still want to be with Him even when I’m not getting anything back in the feeling department.  Zero.  Nada.  Zip.  And I’m still willing to hold on.

And, while I’m holding on, I can also say:  “God, I can’t stay in this position forever.  I need some joy here.  Or comfort.  Or maybe… yeah, a trip back to a time when You were close.  I felt you and knew you were there.  I can decide to go there, and You will go there with me.”    

And all I have to do is decide.   Well, OK, when I decide it’s Your Grace giving me a gentle nudge.   But it’s still my choice, and it sets us both on the track to finding that closeness again.

So, the decision is mine.  I can pick up the newspaper and get really ticked off at whatever.  Or I can put down the newspaper, and invite God to come on down and help me to make the best choice of the day.  To hang out with the One Who Loves Me.

And I get to choose.  How cool is that?

Father John

Dear POP folks,

There is question we ask individually to each bride and groom who come to prepare for marriage in the Church. It is such an important question, we ask it of them again, together, as they stand before the altar at their wedding ceremony, witnessed by their families, friends,  and ministers of the Church.

Have you come here freely and without reservation to give yourselves to each other in marriage?

In other words, are you making this step in total freedom?  Of your own free will?  Without pressure from your fiancé or parents, the expectations of your friends, the perceived demands of an unborn child, or peer pressure? Are you 100%?

This is an important question, because a lot of what happens in preparing for a wedding or married life comes down to honestly—the choices of the bride. The groom is expected to go along, to express the correct opinion, and to agree. Now let’s not get pessimistic here or surrender to caricatures.    Some grooms are very active in making decisions about their weddings.  A few even climb into the driver’s seat and have their future brides helping them. But dresses and decorations, and menus and china settings, more often than not become the purview of the bride.  And her attendants.  Maybe even mom.

After months of this kind of activity, the groom is called, standing there in front of everyone, to reaffirm that the decision to marry is completely his, and is a totally free act. The bride affirms this for herself as well.

God is not just a “Person”, or the “Man Upstairs”, or the “Judge”, or even the “Redeemer”.  He is at the center of “The Great Choice”, which is so big that it cannot be made in a single instant, but requires repeated visits.

Just like marriage does not survive on the love or the choice of the wedding day, so my relationship with God does not live, blossom, or bear fruit unless I am making that choice over and over and over again.

When I rise in the morning, I have an opportunity to focus immediately on the bathroom, the coffee maker, the cell phone, the weather, or the e-mail. I also have the opportunity to invite God into my day, my heart, and my life.

There is a huge difference between, “Well, he’s God.  He’s everywhere. He knows I want him in my life,” and, “Lord, I ask you to come into my heart and my life at this moment.”

Boom!  Right there. 1.5 seconds.  I opened the door and said, “COME IN!”  I affirm my choice and make a new choice in a new day.  “God, come on in!”

Deacon Chuck can invite me to his home. He knows I’ll be on time, so he can leave the door unlocked and presume I will come on in. OR, he can greet me at the door, extend a welcome, and escort me into his home, his family, and his table.

I end up having supper either way. But the most important thing happening in this scenario is that I am being personally welcomed into the home and life of my friend.

I need to invite God “in” more than he needs to be “invited”.   I NEED to choose and to hear myself choosing to invite, to open my door/heart, and to specifically declare that he is welcome.

God never goes where he is unwelcome.

During this Lent, don’t miss the chance to invite him in every morning, and maybe at a few other times during the day as well.

God, I ask you to come into my heart.

It’s an invitation he can’t refuse.

Father John