THERE IS NO RESCUE PARTY OUT LOOKING FOR YOU!

 The Very Place I Learned the Most Important Lesson of My Life

An Old Story Worth Repeating 

It was the spring of 1966. I was standing on that fire escape grid (outside the door in the bottom left corner) with a fellow classmate, Pat Murphy from Indianapolis. Maybe we were getting some fresh air between classes and sharing our feelings about some of the expectations of "seminary culture" in which we were living. The seminary staff was expecting me to "develop my  talents." I was no doubt, sharing something about my doubts about my having any talents.  

Back then, I was not a happy person. I was hoping that the world would change so I could be happy.  I was extremely bashful. I voided meeting new people or allowing myself from getting into unfamiliar situations. I was what George Bernard Shaw called "a feverish little clod of grievances and ailments, complaining that the world would not dedicate itself to making me happy." Yes, I was waiting for "a rescue party to come and save me!" As the leadership guru, Tom Peters, put it: "Unless you walk into the unknown, the odds of making a profound difference in your life are pretty low." 

In what had to be a great moment of grace, an impulse gift from God, I suddenly blurted out, "Pat, I am so sick and tired of being bashful, backward and scared of life that I am going to do something about it even if it kills me!" I realized then that it was up to me to "grab the bull by the horns." 

I was shocked by the words that came out of my own mouth. But from that moment on, I have been standing up to the coward in me. I have been deliberately “slaying dragons” and “confronting demons,” in my head and on my path, ever since. I would not be where I am today if that particular great “moment of grace” had not happened and if I had not responded enthusiastically. I decided that day not to indulge my resistance to personal and spiritual growth anymore. That day, on that fire escape, I made my first conscious decision to enter the world of personal growth and deliberate living. How appropriate and symbolic that the decision was made on a “fire escape.” 

That day, on that fire escape, I finally learned a fundamental principle of personal and spiritual growth – fear and pain cannot be used as excuses for backing-off from life. I have come to understand that pain serves a purpose. Pain captures our attention and lets us know that change is necessary. Pain signals that it is time to move on and learn new behaviors. Unfortunately, many of us sabotage the possibility of growth by denying, numbing or backing away from such pain. 

Some may call these turning points or pivotal moments, “luck” or “an opportunity coming from nowhere,” but as a believer, I would call them “moments of grace.” "Grace" is “unmerited divine assistance given to human beings for their regeneration.” Even so, those “moments of grace” have two parts. One part has nothing to do with us personally. It is a spontaneous gift from God that shows up when it shows up. we cannot create it, capture it or force it to happen. The second part has everything to do with us personally. It has to do with our cooperation, our ability to seize the moment and step up to the plate in doing our part to see where it takes us if we follow its invitation. 

We all have “moments of grace” when unmerited divine assistance is offered to us for our growth as human persons. In sharing my “moment of grace,” let it be known that it is not unique to me. My hope is that my sharing of it with others, it will trigger an awareness of their own “moments of grace” and how they have, or have not, cooperated with them in enriching their own lives. 

My fire escape moment was most significant for me for this reason. I was raised to believe that “life is something that happens to you and all you can do is make the most of it.” I was taught to be grateful for what I had even when it was not the best life God had to offer me. Thomas Merton was right on target when he said, “The biggest human temptation is to settle for too little.” I have always wondered how my life might have unfolded if I had responded differently to that moment of grace. I realize now that I was not entirely aware of the full implications of what I was choosing in that moment. I do know, however, that I am "still working my program," a program I started with baby-steps back in 1966 and gradually took more and more courageous steps over the years!  

SEEING THE CONNECTION - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Jesus took Peter, James and John his brother and led them up a high

mountain by themselves.

Matthew 17:1-9

After being invited the first week of Lent to “go to the desert” for new insights into ourselves, we are invited the second week of Lent to “go to the mountain” for a new perspective! 

When Jesus came out of the desert, the first thing he called for was a radical new outlook – metanoia! On the second Sunday of Lent, Jesus invites us to go to the mountaintop, a traditional place for achieving a new perspective on life. From a mountaintop you can see in all directions. Jesus invites us to go the mountaintop because conversion of life, the real purpose of Lent, is impossible without a change of perspective, without a new way of seeing. 

It is easy to “get stuck” in the way we think. As Brooks Atkinson put it, “The most fatal illusion is the settled point of view.”  Some of us go through life living out the old joke, “Don’t confuse me with the facts, my mind is made up!” Even scientists have trouble incorporating new information. The French Academy announced at one point that it would not accept any further reports of meteorites, since it was clearly impossible for rocks to fall out of the sky. Shortly thereafter a rain of meteorites came close to breaking the windows of the Academy. Lent is a time to take a long, loving look at reality!

Dr. Wayne Dyer teaches us that, “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” This is certainly true in resolving soul-eating anger and resentment toward other people. What many people fail to realize is that there is a “way out” when offending people refuse to apologize and own the hurt they have caused. What they fail to realize is that the hurt can be healed and the problem resolved with a new way of looking at the perpetrator. Lent is a time to change the way we look at others.

John Lubbock reminds us that “What we see depends mainly on what we look for!” Oscar Wilde put it humorously when he said, “The optimist sees the donut; the pessimist sees the hole.”   The more attention you shine on a particular subject, the more evidence of it will grow. Shine attention on obstacles or possibilities and they will multiply lavishly. Lent is a time to change the way we look at the world. 

Possibly the most important change we need to make this Lent in our perspective is the way we view ourselves.  No one has said it better than Marianne Williamson. “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate; our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone, and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.” Lent is a time to get a new perspective. Lent is a time to see the world through God’s eyes!    

Because of the “transfiguration” gospel, they are called “peak experiences” – those intense religious experiences that many of us have been lucky enough to have at least once in our lives. In fact, I believe that this is the main thing that keeps people in organized religion - at least one “peak experience.” On the other hand, it is also the main reason some people claim to be agnostic - the absence of even one “peak experience.”  

“Peak experiences” cannot be staged or created. They are simply moments of grace – spontaneous gifts from God. We can go to places where “peak experiences” have happened to other people, even places where we have personally experienced them before, but that does not mean we will have another one. They are simply unpredictable and unannounced gifts from God. 

“Peak experiences” can happen at some of the most surprising times and in some of the most unlikely places. Oddly enough, for example, during the sexual abuse storm that began in 2002 a significant number of journalists, who had been assigned to report on the crisis in various locales, ended up converting to Catholicism.  They had a “religious experience,” a “peak experience” even in the midst of that pain and sin!  Others have had these “peak experiences” during the death process of a loved one or even their own process of dying. I witnessed my mother going through one of these “peak experiences” as she was dying of cancer back in 1976.

“Peak experiences” happen most often during retreats and other religious events. For instance, many seminarians were so moved by meeting Pope John Paul II that they came back to the Church, after having been gone since childhood, and even decided that they may have a call to the priesthood. Many teenagers have their first “peak experience” during their senior retreat or an alternative spring break in places like Guatemala. Many married couples have had life changing “peak experiences” during Marriage Encounter weekends. Other Catholics have discovered a new burst of faith during a Cursillo weekend, a trip to Medjugore or Lourdes, even meeting someone with the stature of Mother Teresa.

How they happen, why they happen and when they happen cannot be predicted, staged or even understood. They all seem to be glimpses into another level of existence or little previews of coming wonderful events that God gives some people who need a reason to hang on! Those of us who have experienced them know how mind-blowing and life changing they can be! To those who cannot say they have ever had such an experience, I would say “it ain’t over till it’s over” and “your time may be right around the corner” at some unexpected and unpredictable time.

These “peak experiences” have several things in common. (1) You have to be open to them. The “transfiguration” that we read about today, happened during one of hundreds of little retreats that Jesus arranged for his disciples! Regular contact with God through prayer does not guarantee one of these experiences, but makes them more likely to happen. Your mind must to be open and you must remain in a receiving frame of mind.

There is always a temptation to want to freeze the experience, repeat the experience and make the experience permanent. This is what Peter was up to in the reading today. “Lord, it is so wonderful to be here. Why don’t we erect some tents and just stay up here forever?” Jesus tells Peter that the experience was only meant to be something to sustain the group during the painful days ahead. He tells Peter that they will have to go back down the mountain and back into real life for a while. Experiencing it “all the time” would have to wait until the resurrection after his death. One of the things that Cursillo, Marriage Encounter, Medjugore, senior retreat, Lourdes and other similar experiences have it common is the desire that many have to repeat those experiences or to “be in them” full time. They are never meant to be permanent. They are only glimpses into glory. God wants us to go back to our ordinary lives, with that precious moment in the back of our minds to sustain us.             

Lastly, “peak experiences” are meant to help is “see connections” to see the connection between where we come from, where we are now and where we are destined. This is what the conversation that Jesus had with the saints - Moses and Elijah. This conversation helped Jesus realize that he was the one they saw coming in the future so many years before. They helped Jesus understand where God was taking him in the days ahead – glory on the other side of suffering and death. Just so, our “peak experiences” remind us that there is something wonderful in the invisible world that awaits us on the other side of this life.

May you experience your own “peak experience!” May God give you a “glimpse of glory!”  May you get a “sneak preview” of the world to come! May that “peak experience” sustain you in the sometimes tediousness of worldly existence and help you keep your eye on the prize!

With all the problems going on in the Church today, others ask me and I ask myself over and over again “Why stay?” The reason I stay is that I have been blessed to have had several “peak experiences” and “glimpses of glory” in my life time. It is these intense experiences that sustain me during the ordinary moments, periods of spiritual dryness and intense discouragement. As I think about all the scandal that has beset the Church, I am not worried or overcome with discouragement. To paraphrase Dr. Martin Luther King, who built his famous speech around this gospel, “I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead, but it doesn’t matter with me now because I have been to the mountaintop. God has allowed me to go up to the mountain and I’ve looked over and I have seen the promised land. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!”

My friends, I am here to stay, I remain hopeful and I am committed to being faithful to the end, not because I am out of touch with the serious problems facing our Church, but because God has given me a couple of small glimpses of glory, like he did the disciples in today’s gospel. I hold on because of those “peak experiences.”    

CHURCH CHAT #17

 

AN IDEA ABOUT HOW TO ENGAGE OUR MISSING CHURCH MEMBERS

 

I get a fair amount of positive feedback from my homilies, and for that I am grateful, because I do spend a lot of time working on them. However, as I was talking to a Baptist friend the other day, he helped me realize something that I was not focusing on enough! He told me that his pastor does an excellent job on his homilies, but the people who most need to hear it are not there! His church, like ours, has seen a steep decline in church attendance especially since COVID.

When I left the Cathedral, I missed my pulpit so much that I volunteered to publish a column every week in The Record. I called it An Encouraging Word. After fifteen years of writing that column each week, I stopped and decided to start a blog also called An Encouraging Word.

Even though my preaching is deliberately based on a Isaiah 50:4 quote, "The Lord God has given me a well-trained tongue, that I might know how to answer the weary with a word that will awaken them," I realize that I may still be opening myself up to criticism and condemnation. However, I try my best to accept any criticism with humility and courage. My blog posts are deliberately called An Encouraging Word inspired by another passage from Isaiah 42:3. "A bruised reed he will not break and a smoldering wick he will not extinguish." In other words, I try to look for goodness to affirm, not sins to condemn. God knows there is more than enough of that from some clergy these days!

Following my Baptist friend's advice about "those who are not there" to hear my homilies, I offer blog postings every other day for the people listed below. On my blog, you will find homilies, reflections, humorous cartoons, prayers, updates on my mission projects, photos and various other useful materials.

TO ACCESS MY AN ENCOURAGING WORD BLOG GO TO:

fatherknott.com 

For those who don't go to church.

For those who have gotten out the habit of going to church.

For those who don't want to go to church.

For those who have never been to church.

For those who can't go to church. 

For those who go all the time to church.

"Let us consider how to spur one another to love and good works. Do not neglect to attend your assemblies, as some do, but rather encourage one another."

Hebrews 10:24-25

OUR EPIDEMIC OF "VICIOUS TONGUE DISEASE"

 

"Social Media" can, yes, be a great source of family news and photo sharing among family members and friends, but it also has a very dark side as well! 

Social Media does not "cause" people to develop vicious tongues, but it can encourage them to do so (as in "monkey see, monkey do") and can give them an easy outlet for doing so! People are able to access more and more information on one hand, while they have not yet developed the ability to discern what is of value or true on the other! 

I have never been tempted to "sign up" for Facebook, for that very reason. I hear from many people who do have accounts on Facebook, even relatives, about how much gossip, viciousness, rumor-mongering, grudge-sharing and cruelty is spread, sometimes anonymously, on social media sites. 

It is not the only outlet for vicious tongues. It is only one of the methods causing our "epidemic of vicious tongues" as it funnels the spread mean, angry, reputation-ruining, jealous and grudge-sharing words. Teenagers are most certainly not the only ones causing this viciousness to spread. This doesn't just happen on the latest TV episode of "Mean Girl Murders," this is now happening in the highest levels of our government! 

The hate-filled, no-boundaries "name calling" coming from Washington D.C, even from so many of our elected officials, is escalating by the day and becoming more and more fierce - even when you think it can't get any worse! TV news, news sites on the computer and newspapers are filled with anger and hate! It seems to me that our politicians are actually teaching us that it is OK, even commendable, to vomit hate for people who disagree with you or think differently from you or look different from you or believe differently from you! Revenge, even wrapped in religious excuses, has now been unleashed on our culture and is becoming normative so quickly that it makes my head spin! This needs to stop NOW!!!!! We should all stop it and we should all offer firm fraternal correction whenever we hear it! 

What can I do to help people choose another way? Fewer and fewer people are listening to "spiritual leaders" like myself, so I am less than hopeful that this blog post will change many minds, but I will keep trying regardless!  

This blog is called "An Encouraging Word." Before this, I had a weekly column in The Record for fifteen years by the same name. My "thing" in both efforts is not to look for sins to condemn, but goodness to affirm, so let me pass on a few suggestions I found on the internet. I incorporate some of them in this blog and try to follow them in my personal relationships. The bottom line in this posting is certainly not to suggest a "if you can't beat them, join them" philosophy, but rather I am happy to offer some alternatives to this super-destructive trend! To address the issue of "an epidemic of vicious tongues," consider these strategies:

1. Promote open dialogue to encourage understanding and reduce      hostility.
2. Foster empathy by sharing personal stories and experiences.
3. Encourage conflict resolution techniques in community discussions.
4. Limit exposure to negative influences, such as toxic media or gossip.
5. Advocate for kindness and respect in all forms of communication.
6. Lead by example; model positive speech and behavior in your interactions.

JESUS DISCERNS THE DIRECTION OF HIS MINISTRY

 

Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.

Matthew 4:1-11

We know very little about Jesus’ life up to this point. Let's do a quick review. We know that an angel appeared to a young girl of Nazareth, Mary, a little over 2,000 years ago announcing that God was making a move that he had been promising for centuries – to send a Savior. He chose the young virgin, Mary of Nazareth, to be the mother of the Son of God and she was to give him the name, Jesus.

We know that when the time came for his birth, Mary and her husband Joseph, were in the town of Bethlehem to register for a Roman census. We know that at the time of his birth, there was some kind of celestial event that attracted visitors from the East who believed that it signaled the birth of a new king. It could have been a literal star or a meteor or an unusual alignment of celestial bodies. (It is worth noting that ancient Chinese astronomy records indicate there was a star-like object hovering over the Middle East for several days about the time Jesus was born.)

We know these visitors from the East triggered panic in the mind of Herod, a petty local king installed by the Roman Emperor to govern the Jews. Paranoid about losing power, Herod ordered the deaths of every infant in Bethlehem in hopes of killing the new king that the foreign visitors were looking for!

We know that that Joseph and Mary were tipped off about Herod’s monstrous plans in a dream and escaped to Egypt where they lived until news of Herod’s death. (You all remember that Jesus spent some of his early years in Egypt as a refugee, don’t you?)  After Herod was dead and the coast was clear, Mary, Joseph and Jesus moved back to Israel to spend his growing up years in Nazareth.  

We know that Mary and Joseph took the child Jesus to Jerusalem every year to celebrate the Passover. On one of those trips, when Jesus was twelve years old, they got separated from one another and it was not realized until they were on their way home. Traveling in a caravan, one parent thought he was with the other. When it was obvious that he had been left behind, they went back to Jerusalem and searched frantically through the crowded city until they found him. They found him in the Temple, engaged in a discussion with the religious teachers there. After that, we know that he went home with his parents and lived there till he was about thirty years old.

We know that when he was about thirty years old, he left home having been drawn by the preaching of his cousin, John, known as the Baptizer. After hearing John preach, we know that Jesus submitted to John’s baptism. On coming up out of the water after his baptism, we know that Jesus heard a voice from heaven saying “This is my beloved Son whom I love.”

We know that this experience was life-changing for Jesus. Overwhelmed by what those words from heaven might mean, Jesus left there and went on a forty-day retreat to reflect on those words and discern what they might mean for his life. While on retreat, the devil presented several tempting options in contrast to what Jesus came to know as God’s plan for him. Having resisted the devil’s tempting options, Jesus comes out of his retreat, hears that John had been arrested and decides to launch his ministry. This is where we are on the time line in the gospel today. Sadly, the story ends with what Jesus rejected, rather than the conclusion he came to at the end of his discernment period in the desert.

Before we consider what Jesus came to understand as his mission from God, it might be a good idea to understand what he rejected – what the devil proposed to him that it might be when Jesus was discerning God’s will in the desert.  In a nutshell, the devil proposed all the solutions that he is still proposing in the world today. The devil, then and now, proposes external fixes. Jesus, then and now, proposes an internal fix. The devil says the path to happiness is through changing things, while Jesus says that the path to happiness is though people changing. Jesus was not called to change things. He was called to change people. He knew that when people change, things change!

Let me give you some examples. (1) The devil suggested to Jesus that he could get a lot of followers if he would just turn rocks into bread. Jesus said “no” because he knew that there is already enough resources to feed the poor. What is needed is not “magic bread,” but people changing their attitudes toward the poor. (2) The devil suggested to Jesus that he could get lots of followers if he would just suspend the laws of nature and jump from high buildings and land unharmed with the help of angels. Jesus said “no” because he knew if people would just open their eyes, they would see that life as it is already a miracle. We don’t need dramatic stunts and cheap miracles. All we need is for people to look at life differently. (3) The devil suggested that Jesus could get ahead if he would only worship the devil and his power, if he would just start calling evil good and good evil. Jesus said “no” because he knew that that was a trick too many people had already fallen for with disastrous results. He knew that people could see the truth if they would just open their eyes and look at reality squarely, instead of closing them in denial and telling themselves that it was the truth.

My friends, the third temptation that Jesus faced was to call evil, good. In our own day, we are severely tempted, in many clever and seductive ways, to do the same – to trick ourselves into calling obvious evil, good!  We are falling for lies in an alarming rate! We are becoming infamous around the world for falling for this third temptation, for falling for convincing lies!

Sadly, as I said before, the temptation story today ends with the direction Jesus rejected as he was discerning his ministry, not what he chose and the direction of his ministry! In short, he rejected exterior changes (changing things) and chose interior change (changing the way we think and the way we see things). In the Greek text, Jesus says, “Metanoiete!” Open your eyes and change the way you think! Open your eyes and change the way you look at things! If you do, you will see that the kingdom of God is at hand! It is not in some far- off heaven, but right here in front of us. It is indeed “at hand!”  

Change the way you think, change the way you look at things and you will see the answer! Your old way of thinking, your old way of looking at things is what is making you miserable and experience the absence of God!  I believe this with all my heart. I believe it as a teaching handed to us by Christ, certainly, but I also believe it from experience!

When I was a junior in college, I was bashful, backward and scared of life. I always thought that life was something that happened to you and all I could do was to accept whatever happened. I was miserable and I blamed everybody I could. It was only when I changed the way I was thinking and got out of the back seat of my life and got behind the wheel that my life took a dramatic turn for the better. The world did not have to change! I had to change! I had to learn, basically, that “There was no rescue party out looking for me.” Instead of looking out there for a rescue party, I had to start looking within myself for that rescue party!

Our job is not simply to change things around us - to just rearrange the furniture so to speak! Our job is much harder! Our job is to change our minds! That, my friends, is the real solution to many of our social problems – coming to a new way of thinking, a new way of seeing and acting, that results from a converted heart!  The bottom line today is this - if people would only change their thinking and their outlooks, live in truth rather than in lies, they could change our world!”