USEFUL WISDOM FOR 2024 #48

 MAKING FAMILIES GREAT AGAIN - A NEW POST-ELECTION FAMILY CHRISTMAS TRADITION

DREAM BIG! HAVE FAITH! STAY FOCUSED!

 

Your ways, O Lord, make known to me; teach me your paths.

Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my savior.

Psalm 25

What is it about certain people that makes them successful in achieving what they set out to do and reach their greatest potential? Is it luck? Do they have better connections with people of power and influence? Does God have favorites? I don’t think so! I believe they have two things: singleness of purpose in where they want to go and the disciplined personal habits that will take them there.

The problem is, many people are not clear about what they want, have no passion for any specific goal and lack the discipline that it would take to get there. As a result, they settle for lives of mediocrity and superficiality. Because it takes courage to dream big, many settle for too little.  Because they are fundamentally ambivalent in their approach to life, instead of being a force of nature, they become feverish, selfish, little clods of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making them happy, to paraphrase George Bernard Shaw.

Clarity about what one wants out of life must be combined with focused attention and disciplined habits. The habits that diminish us require no effort and are usually the result of acting without real thought, while the habits that will help us reach our goals require effort and laser-like focus. In other words, we must truly want what we want.   

St. Charles Lwanga, one the Ugandan martyrs, a convert to the faith, with laser-like focus on his new-found faith and with unbelievable personal discipline and determination, was able to endure a painful death, inspire his companions to do the same and march through the gates of heaven to claim his prize!

I am certainly not martyr material, but I do know, from personal experience in my own small way, that once one is truly committed to clear goals and disciplined habits, God has an uncanny way to make sure he or she has his help and grace to reach great heights.  

I have always been inspired by the teaching of Jesus in this regard when he told us that if we ask, seek and knock, what we look for will be given to us. The real secret in this regard is not to be ambivalent in asking nor lacking in confidence that God will give it to us in due time, if it is truly right and good for us to have. In fact, that help usually comes from some of the most unlikely sources, from even unknown people and quite often at a time that truly surprises. 

Looking back over my life, I am amazed at the help that seemed to come from nowhere to help me in ministry. When I really wanted to learn to preach as a seminarian, the United Church of Christ gave me an opportunity in Crater Lake National Park. When really I wanted to learn parish revitalization, the Presbyterian Church USA gave me a full scholarship for a Doctor of Ministry degree. When we restored the Cathedral of the Assumption, sixty-seven percent of the funds came from non-Catholics. When I needed funds to build spaces for the new retired priest program at Saint Meinrad, one column in The Record, the Archdiocese of Louisville's weekly,  attracted over a half million dollars. The biggest dream of all, of course, is to reach the end of my life as a priest – not a former priest, not just a priest in name only – but a happy, faithful and effective priest in whatever way God calls me! I will get there if I let God “teach me, lead me and guide me,” as the psalm says today! …. or as the Rule of Saint Benedict says, “Listen carefully, my child, to the master's instruction, and attend to them with the ear of your heart…”

Brothers and sisters! Dream big! Have faith! Stay focused! Watch what happens!

THE SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION

 

I hid your money because I was afraid.

Luke 19:1-27

I've been “hearing confessions” for almost 55 years. I don't count my summer as a bar tender in Crater Lake National Park in Oregon. If you want to test your sanity, try listening to a couple hundred grade school confessions in one afternoon. It’s like the drip, drip, drip of a water torture. If you want to test your threshold for shock, try listening to confessions some afternoon in about any center-city Cathedral. The stories on the trash TV are puny by comparison. And if you want to be stoned with marshmallows, try the saintly confessions of retired nuns at your local Motherhouse!

Seriously though, as an obvious sinner myself, I have great empathy for those who have failed. There is something wondrous about the privilege of announcing God's unconditional love and forgiveness to a truly repentant sinner. Over the years, I have had people write me, many years after the fact, about an especially moving experience of reconciliation they have experienced in this sacrament. But there is one common type of confession among some traditional Catholics that sends me up the wall! It goes something like this. “Bless, me, Father. I really haven't done anything wrong. I didn't kill. I didn't steal. I didn't commit adultery. I didn't miss Mass or take God's name in vain!” In that situation, I have probably sinned on some occasions by wanting to rip the curtain back and strangle them on the spot! How often have I wanted to scream, “Well, goodie for you! You are now at zero! When are you going to start living the Christian life?”

I realize where this comes from. Many Christians have tended to equate sin only with doing bad things. The Christian life, in fact, is not just about avoiding evil, it is also about actively doing good things. That is why the church's Confiteor is such a powerful old prayer. It reminds us that we can sin by what we fail to do, as well as what we do!

I hid your money because I was afraid.

The “sin” in this parable is what the third servant “failed to do.” To cover his inaction, he uses the lame excuse of “being afraid.” He even blames his fear on his master, calling him “a hard man.” But behind this fear and blame is the root of all sin: pure old laziness The fact of the matter is: we are all abundantly blessed with talents and gifts to be used, to be “invested” as the parable puts it. Spiritual and personal growth is hard work and there is a part of us that is lazy, that wants to take the easy way out, that backs off from the demands of life. There is a part of us that does not want to exert ourselves, that clings to the old and familiar, fearful of change and effort, desiring comfort at any cost and absence of pain at any price. It is the call of sin. It must be stood up to!

It seems to me that all sin, both what we do and what we fail to do, has laziness at it root. To avoid all the work we need to do, we often look for an easy way out! We seek to feel good about ourselves, not by building ourselves up, but by tearing others down through gossip and character assassination. We cheat and steal from others as a way to get what we want rather than doing our own work. We lie to appear good rather than actually being good. We rationalize and rename our sins, rather than owning them and eliminating them. We mask our problems and pains with alcohol and drug abuse, rather than confront them. Rather than doing the hard work of developing real intimacy, we fall for the short cuts: promiscuous sex and pornography. We “fail to do” because we are afraid; we give into our fears because we are lazy.

We are here, first of all, to celebrate God's unconditional love and willingness to forgive our sins. We are here, secondly, to express sorrow for the negative impact our sins have had on others. We are here, thirdly, to pledge our “firm purpose of amendment.” The process of healing our sinful habits begins with our willingness to name them. When we name them, we have the possibility of standing up to them. Standing up to them, with God's grace, we can eliminate them.

 

A PEACE-FILLED HEART

 

                                                                                                                   

Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:6-9

I would describe myself, in my early years, as an “anxious” person. To be “anxious” is to be “uneasy and apprehensive about something uncertain” or to be “worried.”  It’s all about that awful thing that might happen next.  This was especially true when I left Meade County, at age 14, and entered St. Thomas Seminary High School in Louisville. I experienced being “a lost ball in tall weeds” as I entered culture shock! Those of you who have lived with spouse abuse or lived with a raging alcoholic or drug addicted person also know what I mean. Living in anxiety is a lot like living with a ticking time-bomb strapped to your leg – only day and night every day. It is living in dread, living on “pins and needles,” “waiting for the other shoe to drop,” waiting to “hit bottom” after falling. It is no way to live and only those who have been there understand what I am talking about.  

As a small child, anxiety was a simple passing experience – the terror of hiding under covers, wide-awake, after my older sister, Brenda, had told convincing ghost stories or during the height of a crashing, booming rainstorm.

As a fifteen-year-old from “the country” in a high school seminary in “the city,” my anxiety was about the fear of failure, the fear of not being good enough, the fear of rejection, the fear of being laughed at for being a “hillbilly,” the fear of being bullied because I was “skinny” and the fear of not having enough money to live on during the school year.

As a young priest, anxiety was about being threatened by the Klan, being scorned in public by some Protestant ministers for being a Catholic and for being a liberal Catholic by fundamentalist Catholics, being stalked by a knife wielding schizophrenic for welcoming fallen-away marginal Catholics back to church, watching years of work and dreams crack and almost fall to the ground in front of me, sleeping with one eye open for years after having my home burglarized three times, being ashamed of being a priest and of maybe being falsely accused during wave after wave of bad news during the sexual abuse scandal and waiting for the results of a biopsy that might have been cancer. 

As an older priest, anxiety had to do with three major disappointments when one great assignment ended and my plans for what I expected to do next burned and crash on the launch pad. It was only then that I found out that the Plan B that God had in store actually turned out better than the Plan A that I wanted to happen. It was then that I realized that all my anxiety had been one big waste of time.  

At 80, this may be the most anxiety free time of my life. Today, I know “peace,” the opposite of “anxiety.”  I have a safe place to live. I have enough saved to live comfortably and a little saved for the future. I have a few successes behind me and I have a variety of wonderful small jobs to wake up to every day. I feel accepted by myself and loved by most of those who know me. 

Most of all, I discovered the cure for “anxiety.” I am more at peace now. than I have ever been, because I have discovered the “good news” that Jesus came to bring. I have come to understand and know that I am loved by God, without condition, and in the end that everything is going to turn out OK, even if I may still have to face the challenges of old age, bad health and, God forbid, a painful death.  Yes, I have to admit that heading into 81, I have that feeling I used to get when I was walking across thin ice wondering when it would crack and I would suddenly find myself in a real crisis. However, because of the peace that God gives those who believe in his “good news,” I am confident that he will help me handle the rest of the way whatever comes my way because his way is always the better way!     

"Peace!" These words of Jesus were not only addressed to the terrified disciples, huddled together and cringing in fear, in that upper room after his crucifixion, as well as Paul to the anxious Philippians, these words are addressed to all of us Catholics today; whether you are a student worried about grades, finances or the fall-out of a bad choice made in the heat of passion; whether you are living in abusive relationship or an unsafe environment or with constant discrimination for being different; whether you are unemployed and in debt up to your ears or barely handling a chronic health problem; whether you are a single parent trying to make it on your own; whether you are religiously scrupulous and live in constant fear of a punishing God and can’t let go of it. Jesus addresses his words to you today. ‘Peace be with you! Calm down! It’s going to be OK! When all is said and done, things are going to turn out just fine. I am with you! Trust me with Plan B!’

Anxiety is worry about what might happen. Peace is the awareness that everything will be OK no matter what happens.  Trust in God is the only way to peace. Peace is God’s gift to us and it is based on the “good news” that we are loved and that great things await us – because God said so!

Let me end with one of my favorite prayers by Saint Francis de Sales. 

Do not look forward in fear to the changes in life;

rather, look to them with full hope that as they arise,

God, whose very own you are,

will lead you safely through all things;

and when you cannot stand it,

God will carry you in His arms.

Do not fear what may happen tomorrow;

the same understanding Father who cares for

you today will take care of you then and every day.

He will either shield you from suffering

or will give you unfailing strength to bear it.

Be at peace, and put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

USEFUL WISDOM FOR 2024 #47

 

I'LL BET YOU DIDN'T KNOW......

 ....... that a  Native American Chief and Medicine Man is in the process of being canonized by the Vatican?

As a person interested in such things as Native American spirituality, I am reading the book pictured below. This extraordinary man was somehow able to bridge the spiritual traditions of the Oglala Lakota and the religion of Roman Catholics, without losing respect for either.  

What attracted me to this man as well, is the fact that several years ago, I led the priests and their bishop of the Diocese of Sioux City, Iowa, in their annual convocation. Our meeting was close to the South Dakota border and close to Mount Marty College in Yankton in the Diocese of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. 

As a student and later a staff member of St. Meinrad Seminary, I was familiar with the first Abbot of St. Meinrad, Martin Marty, who had come from their founding abbey in Switzerland. In 1876 the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions sent him to Dakota Territory. In 1879 he was appointed Vicar Apostolic for Dakota Territory. In 1889 he was named Bishop of Sioux Falls, the first diocese of the state of South Dakota at the time.

On Tuesday, June 25, 2019, at St. Agnes Catholic Church, Manderson, SD, Bishop Robert Gruss of Rapid City SD, presided at a Mass celebrating the completion of the diocesan phase of the Cause for Canonization of Servant of God Nicholas Black Elk. At the conclusion of Mass, the final documents were signed, sealed and bound with a red cord, readied to be taken to the Congregation for Causes of Saints in Rome, Italy. Fr. Louis Escalante, the Roman Postulator for the Cause, will deliver the final documents.

Below, Bishop Robert Gruss prays at the grave of Servant of God, Chief Nicholas Black Elk,  with some of his Native American parishioners.

 

The Official Canonization Prayer 

MY MIXED AND CONFLICTING EMOTIONS

I have many, many mixed and conflicting emotions about all this! The more I learn about how the Native American Tribes of this country were treated by European Christians in their expansion across this country, the more sinful and tragic it appears to me, especially when I learn more about how they were often forced to embrace a white Christian culture and religion, accept the seizing of their ancestral lands and give up their own languages, cultures and spiritualities. 

I have the same conflicting emotions about how black people from Africa, forced to come here as slaves, had to give up their own cultures and spiritualities. 

The best I can do is to try to learn the truth of their stories, share what I learn the best I can, give them the respect and honor they deserve and, in all honesty, call a sin a sin! I am a Christian, but I am not a Christian Nationalist - one who is determined to force my religion onto the people of other religions in this country. I believe that Christianity is a religion of invitation and lived example, not of  force and exploitation. I believe in the separation of church and state as the best way to honor the many religious traditions of this country.   

 

SOME TIMELY ADVICE

copied from locally produced

THE NOTEBOOK

THOUGHTS, IDEAS & UPDATES FROM POPLAR TERRACE AND FRIENDS

Issue 43, November 2024

Thoughts on Finding Hope in Despair By Brene’ Brown

Despair is a claustrophobic feeling. It’s the emotion that says, “Nothing will ever change.” It’s different than anger or sadness or grief. Despair is twinged with hopelessness. People who subscribe to power-over leadership often weaponize despair. They count on people giving up on themselves, their work, and each other. I get it. I’m looking at people I know with suspicion. I’m questioning the value of my work. I’m wondering if courage, kindness, and caring for each other simply don’t matter anymore. I’m desperate for someone to blame because blame is an effective way to discharge pain and it gives us a sense of counterfeit control. The research shows that people hope is a powerful antidote to despair. What’s interesting, however, is that hope is not an emotion (C.R. Snyder). Hope is a cognitive-behavioral process. It’s about having a goal, a pathway to achieve that goal, and a sense of agency or “I can do this.” Right now, the thing that is helping the most is micro-dosing hope. I have no access to big hope right now, however, I am asking myself how I can support the people around me. The people on my team, in my community. How can I make sure that, in the maelstrom of my emotions, I stay committed to courage, kindness, and caring for others regardless of the choices that made by others? Doing the smallest next right thing is hard […] but sometimes it’s all we’ve got.

How will you stay committed to kindness?

In times of challenge, we have the power to choose how we engage with our communities. In the last couple of weeks, we’ve been reflecting on ways we can infuse a sense of lovingkindness, hopefulness, and hope back into our beloved city. It is as Brene’ Brown suggests: We must find the smallest, next right thing to do. “When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist Being a responsible and compassionate neighbor begins with listening and learning about the needs of those around you and staying open to how you can help. It also includes listening to and learning about yourself. What will you do to take care of you? And once you can offer that kindness to yourself, consider what can be done to lift up someone else who is struggling. Small actions for self-care: Go on a mindful walk, make a quick phone call to an old friend, pick up a book, visit a park, take a nap, turn off the TV one night a week, doodle, meditate, try a new recipe, try a new restaurant, reconnect in some small way to spirituality, go to the library for an hour, speak gently to yourself when you look in the mirror. Small actions for neighborly love: Strike up a chat in at the checkout line, donate unused or gently used resources, make eye contact and smile warmly, help someone with a small task like carrying in the groceries, volunteer for a cause you care about once a month, mentor a younger person interested in your hobbies or career, never let a compliment go unsaid. To keep moving forward with optimism and generosity, join us in learning, nurturing, and thriving at one (or all!) of the many inclusive and uplifting events happening across town. Let’s continue to cultivate a community built on hope, kindness, and mutual support. We can do this—together.

DISCERNING WHAT IS OF VALUE

    

My prayer is that you may be able to discern what is of value.

Philippians 1:4-6, 8-11

This quote from our second reading today reminds me of something from the Book of Sirach in the Old Testament. “Before you are life and death, good and evil, whichever you choose shall be given you. No one does he command to act unjustly, to none does he give license to sin.” (Sirach 15:15-20) That is worth repeating! "Before you are life and death, good and evil, whichever you choose will be given to you!"

 

A lot is made these days of our "right to choose," but little is said about our responsibility to choose wisely, not to mention our responsibility to accept the consequences of our choices. Some people are like kids who go through life eating the filling out of the Oreos and then throwing the cookies away. They want freedom without the responsibility that goes with it! They want to choose, but they are not necessarily willing to accept the responsibility that goes with their choices.

 

You may have the right to eat French Fries and Chicken Nuggets three times a day, but you also have the responsibility to eat healthily.  If you only exercise your right to eat whatever you want, without accepting your responsibility to eat well, you will sooner or later have to accept the consequences of your choices. You have a right to skip class, but you also have a responsibility to go to class. If you only exercise your right to skip, you must be willing to accept the consequences of maybe flunking out of school.  If you only exercise your right to accept a credit card, without accepting your responsibility for paying for what you charge, you will sooner or later have to accept the painful consequences of your choices -ruining your credit for years to come!  Our culture is filling up with people who keep trying to beat this basic truth!    

 

Young friends here today, I have something to say to you. One of the benefits of being a young adult is finally being able to enjoy the freedom to make your own choices.  One of the upsides of the freedom to choose is the ability to build your own life the way you want it through a series of personal choices. One of the downsides of the freedom to choose is the freedom to ruin your own life through a series of poorly-thought-out choices. The freedom to choose, combined with the ability to choose wisely, is the ideal. Yet there are many who cannot handle their freedom well and end up losing it. Choosing what feels good at the moment, without the personal discipline to choose what would actually be good over the long haul, is a recipe for disaster.  Hearing about people ruining their lives has actually become a favorite American entertainment. Many think it is funny to watch stupid people on trash TV tell the world how they have ruined their lives and the lives of those who have been associated with them.    

 

Every day, old and new TV programs like Judge Judy, 90 Day Fiance, Maury Povich, Jerry Springer and Steve Wilkos make big bucks featuring people who have ruined their lives and the lives of those around them because of the poor choices they have made. They have the "freedom to choose" but choose poorly. They have the "freedom to choose" but they don't have the ability to discern what is of value.  Illegitimate children, ruined marriages, sexually transmitted diseases, financial ruin, family disintegration, squandered opportunities for a good education and loss of reputation are only a few of the consequences of making choices without the ability to choose wisely.

 

To be able to "discern what is of value," we must develop self-mastery. By self-mastery, I mean we have to be able to name and then "stand up to" our addictions, our cowardice and our laziness in order to create the life we want to have! We must be able to "handle" ourselves and our cravings - for a higher purpose and for our long-term good. We must be able to continually clarify what we really want out of life, constantly focus our energies to reach for what we want and consistently deal in truth rather than self-deception.

 

People with self-mastery approach their lives like an artist approaching the task of producing a work of art. People with self-mastery know how to discern what is of value and use what they have discerned to live on purpose!  The spiritual disciplines of both East and West speak often of the practice self-mastery.  I published a new book last year on this very subject. It is an autobiography mapping the courageous choices I have deliberately made since age six and how those choices made me what I am today – for good or for bad! It is called BETWEEN COURAGE AND COWARDICE: Choosing to Do Hard Things for Your Own Good.

 

One of the sad things about our culture, in which freedom of choice is so highly honored, is the growing tendency to deflect responsibility for our choices after we make them.  If our culture is to survive, the freedom to choose must be combined with personal responsibility. To demand the freedom to make our own choices and then throw the blame on others when those choices backfire is the height of cowardice and irresponsibility - and yet it is so popular in our culture. Freedom without responsibility is wreaking havoc all around us.

 

When enough of us have the ability to discern what is of value and when enough of us have the self-mastery to choose what is of value, marriages will improve, families will improve, neighborhood will improve, the economy will improve, churches will improve, nations will improve and the world will improve. These problems can only be fixed one person at a time. In reality, no one can save us from us, but us!            

 

Discipline is about choosing “delayed gratification” or “good things coming to those who wait” or “the ability to resist the temptation of an immediate reward in favor of a larger prize in the future.” Numerous studies have shown that the ability to delay gratification is one of the biggest indicators of success through life – be it your ability to manage your resources, choose the right spouse, maintain your weight, becoming skilled at a sport or launching a career. Those who can resist temptation in pursuit of long-term goals are blessed with an enormous advantage over the rest of the herd. In other words, too much comfort is a bad thing – long term. Yes, lack of self-mastery has a direct impact on the quality of multiple areas of people’s lives. Those who cannot establish mastery over their appetites and impulses will no doubt see many aspects of their lives quickly unravel. The ability to subordinate a lower impulse to a higher value is the essence of a satisfying life. Leonardo da Vinci was right when he said, “One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself.”

 

The ability to discern what is of value and self-mastery in the face of severe temptation is at the heart of Jesus’ desert experience. To do his Father’s will, not his own, Jesus had to be able to see the difference between what “looked good” and what was “actually good.” Once he was able to discern what the will of his Father was, he had to have the self-mastery to follow it, no matter how tempted he was to do otherwise!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

USEFUL WISDOM FOR 2024 #46

 

 

THE MASSACRE OF SAINT NICHOLAS

                                                                   

by

Fr. Ronald Knott

a repeat from previous years

Tomorrow is the Feast of St. Nicholas. Ever since St. Nicholas changed his name to Santa Claus, he has been going downhill fast. How did he sink so far?

Nicholas started off as a rich young man from Turkey who ended up becoming a kindly bishop. Dressed in a red cope, miter and crosier, he was known for his love of children and his determination to use his inheritance doing anonymous works of charity.

Probably “too Catholic,” 17^th century Dutch Protestants helped turn him into a married ex-priest living at the North Pole. Instead of being a holy bishop presiding over a diocese, he ended up presiding over a gang of workaholic elves. Obviously, he married without being “laicized.” Why else would he have been banished to such a God-forsaken place as the North Pole?

It must have been a traumatic career-change. He ended up with a serious eating disorder and a possible drinking problem that turned him into a rotund bag of cholesterol with a bad case of  “rosacea.”

Just when you thought he could not sink any lower, a few years ago he stared in a new “adult” movie with an R rating called “Bad Santa.”  For those who think foul-mouthed drunks and vulgar rudeness are funny, this movie promised to be a huge hit. The reviews use words like, “demented, twisted, gloriously rude, rancid, vulgar and unreasonably funny.” 

So far, no one has raised any serious questions about his obsession with children, his enslaving of small animals to carry loads heavier than any UPS jet or his penchant for “breaking and entering” homes all over the world. Of course, there is always next year.

St. Nicholas, the compassionate bishop, is not the only one to lose at this time of year. Even Jesus is being nudged out on "Christmas cards" by elves, reindeer, snow men and kittens in stockings.

Instead of Jesus’ birth being central, Christmas has become a frenzy of buying: buying things people don’t need, for people they don’t like, with money they don’t have. Just recently a mob of shoppers, rushing like a herd of charging elephants for a sale, trampled the first woman in line, knocking her unconscious. No wonder so many are left disappointed, in debt and the suicide rate is said to spike right after Christmas! 

Before you dismiss me as a grinch, let me assure you that I love Christmas. My point is that it takes a lot of imagination and determination these days to “keep Christ in Christmas.”  Since I am single and my life is so different than that of many people, I am reluctant to give practical suggestions, but here is one. Keep it simple. Do less, not more. Take a little of the time you saved and go on a one-hour retreat. Take a long walk by yourself or spend a few minutes in an empty church or take a soak in a hot tub and try to remember what Christmas is really all about - even if it is only a short break from the mad rush of the season.   

 

        

SUFFERING ELECTION DISAPPOINTMENT? SANTA CLAUS IS NEXT!

THE WAY TO GO IS MARKED OUT FOR US

Our Psalm today, Psalm 25, is a long petition asking God for guidance on what he requires of us to lead a good life and a life pleasing to Him. This line, in my estimation, is the very heart of Psalm 25! 

Make known to me your ways, Lord; teach me your paths.

Psalm 25:4

Unlike the "Ten Commandments" in the Old Testament, which stress the things that one who loves God should not do, the path one should not walk, "The Beatitudes" of Jesus from the New Testament are a list of things that a person who loves God does do, the path he should walk. It is important to remember here that Jesus is not saying “do these things and God will love you,” but rather “if you love God, these are the things you will do - this is the path you will take! ” We do not do these things to earn God’s love, rather if we love God, we will do these things - this is the path we will walk! So, what then does a serious lover of God look like? What are the paths God has taught him or her to walk? What values does he or she need to learn from God so as to live a life pleasing to Him? How many of them describe us as "growing in holiness?"

Make known to me your ways, Lord; teach me your paths,

Psalm 25:4

(1) He or she is first of all “poor in spirit.”  What Jesus is talking about here is not merely economic poverty. Even the dirt poor can be greedy in their hearts. What it means, really, is the deep-down knowledge that when it comes right down to it, we own nothing and everything can be taken away from us in an instant. Do you really understand that hard truth? Every material possession, every blessing we have ever had, is a gift from God that was given to us, not to hoard, but to share. The more we have been given, the greater the responsibility we have to share.” “Poverty of spirit” is a basic knowledge that we are all poor, when it comes right down to it. No matter how rich we are, we are a heartbeat away from total poverty. We can’t take anything with us, when this is all over as Jesus famously said in the Parable of  the Rich Fool. "The rich man said to himself "You have so many good things stored up for many years: rest, eat , drink, be merry! But God said to him, "You fool! This very night your life could be taken from you. Then who will get all that you have saved up for yourself?’ As they say, “There are no pockets in shrouds!” I am reminded of a story about two old ladies at a funeral home looking at their friend, who had just died, in her casket. One said to the other, "How much do you think she had to leave?" The other answered solemnly, "All of it!"

Make known to me your ways, Lord; teach me your paths.

Psalm 25:4

(2) A serious lover of God is able to mourn. One who loves God seriously knows that we are interconnected human beings and therefore never loses his or her ability to feel the suffering of others. A cold-hearted, self-centered, disinterested person is not a friend of God. A friend of God shares the compassion of Christ who was moved deeply by the horrible suffering of simple human beings and is never far from “the gift of tears,” as the saints called it.

Make known to me your ways, Lord; teach me your paths.

Psalm 25:4

(3) A serious lover of God is meek. A “meek” person is not a person who lets people walk over him or her. A “meek” person lives with the knowledge that he is never “a god,” but nonetheless always a “child of God.” In other words, he neither inflates his own worth on one hand, nor does he allow others to deflate his value on the other hand.  Being meek means to know who we are in God’s eyes- nothing more, but nothing less!

Make known to me your ways, Lord; teach me your paths.

Psalm 25:4

(4) A serious lover of God hungers and thirsts for righteousness. A serious lover of God does not dabble in religion, placing religion somewhere outside the realm of his daily living and daily choices.  Rather, he or she is a serious spiritual seeker, always trying to align his everyday life with Christian principles.  He or she strives always to close the gap between being a Christian in name and being a Christian in fact, while being totally free of religious fanaticism and doing spiritual violence to others in the name of orthodoxy.

Make known to me your ways, Lord; teach me your paths.

Psalm 25:4

(5) A serious lover of God is merciful. Being merciful means letting God be the judge of other people. It means giving people the benefit of the doubt, giving them a break, wishing them well on their path, knowing that with God, it isn’t over till it’s over, and with God there is always another chance. Yes, it also means living the maxim, “There but for the grace of God, go I!” Thomas Merton said, "The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all livings things, which are part of one another, and all involved in one another."

Make known to me your ways, Lord; teach me your paths.

Psalm 25:4

(6) A serious lover of God is clean of heart. A serious lover of God doesn’t just do good things, he or she does them for the right reason and with the purest of motives.  I tried to remind the seminarians at Saint Meinrad that it is a good thing to want to be a priest, but one must go into it for good reasons – to serve people, not for what priesthood can do for them. It is a good thing to give to the poor, but one can give to the poor, not because they love the poor, but because they will get their name in the paper or will have a building named after them. A serious lover of God always does good things, but he also does them for the right reason.

Make known to me your ways, Lord; teach me your paths.

Psalm 25:4

(7) A serious lover of God is a peacemaker. War is getting more and more irrelevant. We need to become as good at peacemaking as we have been at building sophisticated weapons. There will always be misunderstanding between people. One who truly loves God has the ability and the credibility to prevent disagreements from becoming a reason for violence. We need not think globally only. Families, marriages, neighborhoods, siblings and churches desperately need these peacemakers. When enough of us really love God, we will have enough peacemakers to move us closer to universal peace.  If you love God, you love his people! If you love his people, you will do what you can to bring them together.

Make known to me your ways, Lord; teach me your paths.

Psalm 25:4

(8) A serious lover of God will be persecuted, insulted and lied about. The brighter the light the fiercer the attack! Evil does not like goodness. Evil cannot tolerate the presence of goodness and so it attacks. One who seriously loves God is more than willing to accept persecution, insults and lies, knowing that personal integrity is more important than comfort, approval or winning at any cost.

So, the bottom line is this – you will know that you are on the path to holiness if these "beatitudes" describe you!