Christ the King

This past Sunday we celebrated the feast of Christ the King in the Catholic church. This is a reflection I wrote for our school newsletter about this feast day:

I myself will look after and tend my sheep.
I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered when it was cloudy and dark.
I myself will pasture my sheep;
I myself will give them rest, says the Lord GOD.
The lost I will seek out,
the strayed I will bring back,
the injured I will bind up,
the sick I will heal.
- Ezekiel 34

Kings have traditionally had several main responsibilities. Among them a few stand out:
protect his people
treat everyone fairly
allow no injustice
promote peace between rulers
promote honor, justice & piety

However, when most people think of a king, they think of wealth, power and prestige. Imagine for a second that you could be king (or queen!) for a day.

(Pause here and think . . . )

Now, time for a pop quiz—did you focus on:
A) promoting world peace and social justice for all,
B) being able to order people around
C) being able to spend money like there was no tomorrow
D) being one of the most well known people on the planet (or at least in your immediate area)

Chances are that most of us immediately jumped to E) all of the above except for letter A. However, in the readings for Christ the King Sunday (Nov. 20) we are reminded that Jesus is a King unlike any other. In fact, all of the imagery used in the readings for that day centers on seeing Jesus as the Good Shepherd. Instead of being the kind of king that lets people know how special and wonderful and powerful he is, Jesus spends his time being the “A” king of king, one that puts his people first and does everything in his power to protect, to love and to serve.

As the Christ, the Anointed One of God, Jesus of course wields ultimate cosmic power—he was there from the creation of the world, he is the one true foundation for all of reality, and he is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords . . . but he did not, as St. Paul tells us, see godly power as something to be grasped and used/abused. Rather, he emptied himself, taking on the form of a servant, and lived out most of his live in faithful obscurity.

His kingdom belongs not necessarily to the rich, the wealthy or the popular, but to those that live out their lives as true kings and queens: those who treat others fairly and justly, those who serve others, those who promote peace, those who protect the innocent, and those who promote faithfulness/piety. Jesus reminds us that in our day to day lives we are to live in imitation of him, and that in imitating him we become more fully his body here on earth.

The Gospel passage for the day reminds us, too, that on the last day, when the universe prepares for judgment, our actions will be of paramount importance. Our actions toward our fellow servants—men and women of Christian faith, good will, or no faith at all—will be what ranks us among the kings most trusted servants or among his most lax followers. The Good Shepherd will finally, for one last time, call his faithful sheep home to himself.

As we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King this year, let us remember that our King, instead of being a tyrannical ruler or a maniacal dictator, is a fiercely loving protector who will search us out when we have wandered away, who will feed us and protect us, and who will heal our weary souls. May we—as God’s holy nation and royal priesthood—also do the same to those we love and who love us in return.

Blessings & Peace,
Hugo

A Cornucopia of Thanksgiving

November, and especially Thanksgiving Day, are times when we traditionally pause and give God thanks for all the good things in our lives.

1. I’d like to offer a challenge to give thanks for other things in your lives this year:
   Give thanks for people who cut you off while you’re driving, especially if you’re driving in the construction zone of the expressway.
2. Give thanks for people who make you uncomfortable by asking for something, whether that thing is your time, your talents, or your treasure.
3. Give thanks for times when you are embarrassed, or imperfect, or when you make mistakes.
4. Give thanks for times when you are in an argument with a loved one, are sure you’re in the right, and then come to realize that you were actually in the wrong.
5. Give thanks for times when you would like to buy or do something, but are unable to.
6. Give thanks for those times when you do not feel like praying or going to Church, but you do so anyway.
7. Give thanks when physical illness forces you to stay home, stay in bed, or go to the doctor.

Why give thanks for these situations? Because they help us practice patience, generosity, humility, love, forgiveness, kindness, temperance, perseverance, and prayer. They help us practice some of the cardinal virtues (prudence, justice, temperance, fortitude) and some of the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit.

So many times we forget that everything in our lives can teach us, mold us, and lead us further into the mystery of Jesus’ life, passion, death and resurrection. This thanksgiving, let us stretch our definition of “giving thanks” to include every part of our lives.

Blessings & Peace,
Hugo

Patience is a Virtue

So it seems I've committed the cardinal sin of blogging - no updates with nary a word as to why (is "nary" a real word?)

I've been busy, and that's true, but I think my innate introversion expresses itself in disconnection sometimes - I need space, both physical and metaphysical, and even a blogging community drains my energy.

So I'm dropping this brief note down and hoping it gets read, and I will update before leaving for my Thanksgiving vacation on Wednesday morning. It may not be the most theologically cutting edge post I've ever written, but it'll be something (even if I have to cannibalize it from my school newsletter articles!). :-)

I might even update later on today! :-)

Blessings & Peace,
Hugo

Credit Stuff

So I've been out having my mini-dark night of the soul and now it sorta feels like the night is giving way to the pre-dawn light. In the meantime, many thanks for your patience and continued perseverance as I gather my thoughts for a real post. Also in the meantime, some good websites that may help your credit and/or sanity:

Get a free annual credit report from all three credit reporting agencies here: www.annualcreditreport.com.

Choose to opt out (forever if you'd like!) from prescreened junk mail here: www.optoutprescreen.com.

And if you haven't already done so, register your phone numbers on the FTC's Do Not Call list here: www.donotcall.gov.

Enjoy! :-)

Blessings & Peace,
Hugo

Dark Night of the Soul

So I received a gentle prompt from kc, on my previous post, so here comes a more personal post then I may have posted before:

I received a request from a parish in my area to do a confirmation retreat for them.

[Theological note - feel free to skip: Confirmation is one of the sacraments Catholics celebrate - it is the continuation & fulfillment of Baptism and it "confirms" a person's choice to live a Catholic-Christian life. Along with baptism and Eucharist it serves as one of the sacraments of initiation into the Catholic faith. In other words, you're not quite fully Catholic [and that's not quite fully accurate but it'll serve for the purposes of this post] until you've celebrated these three sacraments. In my diocese Confirmation is celebrated usually in a person's sophomore year in high school.]

I've done several confirmation retreats over the course of the last several years. I tend to focus on similar areas: the connection between baptism and confirmation; the responsibility to know about your faith (orthodoxy); the responsibility to practice your faith (orthopraxis); the importance of a regular prayer life, regular time with Scripture, and regular service to others; community building (via games, icebreakers, challenge-course like activities, etc.); and times of prayer, introspection and reflection, either in small groups, alone, or as a large group. I've done confirmation retreats that lasted four hours and some that have lasted a weekend.

Here is an edited reproduction of what I wrote back:

(-- Begin email reproduction --)
Even more than that, though, I'm not sure if I feel up to doing youth retreats anymore . . . I'm not sure why, but the last several ones I've done I haven't felt as if I'm up to the task. Let me explain - I think technically I'm up to it - I have the knowledge, I have the skills, I've got some good tricks up my sleeve . . . but I don't know if I have the passion to do them that I once did. Even more then that, though, I don't know if I have the zeal to do them anymore . . . I sometimes feel that my practice of Catholicism has lost it's soul, like I'm only going through the motions . . . like I *know* what to do, but that's where it ends- I only do it because I know how to, but not because I really want to.

The other part of it is that I want more time @ home . . . the more I feel adrift in my faith at times, the more I want to stay @ home, spend time with my family, read, work in the yard, etc. I feel like I need to be more grounded in my life (my home life, my domestic parish) and in my Christianity (both in my own knowledge and in my practice of my prayer life/spirituality) so that I can be more grounded in my faith, if that makes sense.

Please keep me in your prayers as I traverse this mini-dark night of my soul.
(-- End email reproduction --)

Blessings & Peace,
Hugo