Attitudes of being.
Matthew 5:1-12 tells of qualities of saintliness of women and men down through the ages.
The most recent saints - a family - includes the parents of Teresa of Lisoux. Pope Francis canonized the parents of this honorary doctor of the church who died at 24.
Yet, from her bed she sent an aroma of Jesus the Christ, and, is spending her Heaven on earth doing good!
Blessed the peacemaker in the family.
Blessed the pure and clean of heart, the single-minded who has as her or his focus the will of God.
Blessed the persecuted for Christ's sake.
How blessed are those who work for justice.
Such efforts begin with the courtliness and courtesy of Francis of Italy. One able to say:
"I'm sorry!"
"Thank you!"
"Please?"
"Excuse me."
"Numb," people are numb to that a librarian concluded yesterday when we talked about courtesy today.
Being numb.
Not a good think.
Like being addicted to toxins, or, substance or chemical addictions that make one numb enough to lose awareness of what one does, or, is doing. When under the "influence," for example, one is prone to behave in ways that he or she would not when NOT under the influence of alcohol or heroine, for example.
We celebrate saints today. Wonderful human beings who we look up to today as models of living the 'full life" and lives well spent on earth all the way to Heaven.
"When the saints go marching in.... I want to be among that number!
"When the saints go marching in....!
Friday, October 30, 2015
Saturday, October 10, 2015
IGNORING PROTESTERS IN DEARBORN, MICHIGAN
Engage not with those who protest today in Dearborn, Michigan.
Tensions could mount if one enters the fray at the City Hall, or, nearby, where protesters gather once more in their 'making the rounds' routine of stirring up trouble across this "home of the brave and land of the free!"
Life. liberty and the pursuit of happiness needs to be kept in the context in which it was meant in our cherished U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. The right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is taking on varying meanings by ill-intended interpreters of the Law. Shame on them. And, Supreme Court Justices ruling for the law of the land is threatening our savored Democracy that was once firm and foundational for all peoples in what was a very representative government.
The naysayers apparently are troubled by the rising births and influx of Muslim believers here in the United States of America.
City officials have managed to keep the City calm in the past, and, the Mayor, among others will likely succeed again today amid this week's Fox program that satirized some with Bill O'Reilly leading the pack. Can't help but wonder how Hamtramck, Michigan, a 2.2 square-mile town surrounded by Detroit and Highland Park, would fare. Hamtramck represents over forty nations, some claim.
Words are important. Actions more so. All lives matter. Diversity is in the DNA of my America, and, my Motown, and, its regions. For sure!
Ignore troublemakers who want to dominate the news today...or, the land, or Dearborn, forever, for that matter.
Stay home.
Tensions could mount if one enters the fray at the City Hall, or, nearby, where protesters gather once more in their 'making the rounds' routine of stirring up trouble across this "home of the brave and land of the free!"
Life. liberty and the pursuit of happiness needs to be kept in the context in which it was meant in our cherished U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. The right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is taking on varying meanings by ill-intended interpreters of the Law. Shame on them. And, Supreme Court Justices ruling for the law of the land is threatening our savored Democracy that was once firm and foundational for all peoples in what was a very representative government.
The naysayers apparently are troubled by the rising births and influx of Muslim believers here in the United States of America.
City officials have managed to keep the City calm in the past, and, the Mayor, among others will likely succeed again today amid this week's Fox program that satirized some with Bill O'Reilly leading the pack. Can't help but wonder how Hamtramck, Michigan, a 2.2 square-mile town surrounded by Detroit and Highland Park, would fare. Hamtramck represents over forty nations, some claim.
Words are important. Actions more so. All lives matter. Diversity is in the DNA of my America, and, my Motown, and, its regions. For sure!
Ignore troublemakers who want to dominate the news today...or, the land, or Dearborn, forever, for that matter.
Stay home.
SUNDAY'S SERMON: A HOMILY BASED ON HEBREWS 4:12-13, MARK 10:17-30
Unlike the reasoning Job (Job 23:1-17), in Mark's Gospel today, Jesus shows the way to respond to God.
A rich man offers his personal credentials for finding favor with the Maker. You know, self-made man, and more!
From his youth, he kept all the commandments, apparently, and, told the Master Jesus as much.
The young man lacked one thing, however: Fully following Jesus.
Jesus told him to sell everything he owned, and, to give to the poor, and, then, to follow the Master of loving kindness. Shocked as Job, or, perhaps any of us here today would have been, who aim to impress God on our own terms, with our own earthly credentials, and then some!
Jesus replies to his surprised disciples venturing into humor, which if the 12 disciples got, the Church has missed almost completely. Unwilling to see a love of money excluding a love for God, may be the issue here, no? Two loves? Divided hearts, perhaps. We're left to figure it out.
What God demands such a choice?
Hebrews, feeds us with a God whose Word is awesome and fearsome, "sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow...Before Him no creature is hidden...to this One we all must render an account."
Growing well into that image of God helps to appreciate the vision of the great High Priest of Hebrews in God's Word today.
Our God is One who is able to sympathize with our weakness.
The ancient Gospel hymn expresses the feeling:
"Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness, take it to the Lord in prayer."
Like here, now, or, at home, at work, at the lunch table at school, and here at the Table of the Word, and, at the Altar of Sacrament, Eucharist, a Greek word that means, "thanksgiving."
Monday, October 5, 2015
'Talk or Walk' Evangelizing with Good News
Three Ways to Bring the Gospel Where You Are
By Lawrence M. Ventline, D.Min.
To walk, or, to talk?
That is the question. At the corner of Chene and Lafayette Avenues in Detroit, Michigan, that is the initial concern I have as noticing becomes key to engaging passersby further.
Does the passerby I see in this busy downtown business and residential area, across from the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., Apartments, want to engage with me? If his or her body language negatively indicates more than my smile and greeting, I pass, after saying, "Good Day!" And, if she or he seems to be a willing conversant with me, I say, "Hi., how may I pray for you today?"
In furthering my conversation, here's proposing three ways to bring the "Good News" of Jesus the Christ on the street, in particular, but, generally, these ways work at the office, in the domestic church at home, and, in the neighborhood also.
(1) Greet and Meet
Hospitality is crucial for anyone who may perceive me as a stranger who is perceived as unfamiliar. "Stranger danger" in my Motown where I grew up near the Detroit City Airport, enfolds many residents. Fear is paramount in our culture today, even though Jesus suggests in the Bible that fear is useless, and, what is needed is trust. Since 9/11/2001, people seem on edge, let alone in some instances angry. Gentle assertion is in order, therefore, in every step of evangelizing.
(2) Content of My Approach in Street Ministry
After assessing that the passerby is welcoming, I am able to attract my fellow pilgrim near downtown Detroit, the auto capital of the world, and, home to more than fifty nations in the Detroit, Dearborn and Hamtamck, Michigan region. After all, immigrant fled their homelands of Poland and more in the 20s and 30's for the Dodge Plant in Hamtramck. They sought employment and a salary for their own maintenance, and, for their family back in the mother land. After all, my own parents emerged from farming towns of Bad Axe and Cheboygan, Michigan, northern areas where agriculture dominated both of my parents merged families of twelve siblings in each home. My dad came to Detroit and worked for the Budd Company while a teen, while my mother left Cheboygan to work at Pilgrim Laundry, or, to clean huge homes occupied by Jewish families in northwest Detroit, for example.
"How may I pray for you?" I ask. Inevitably, most name their own issue as the need for employment, or, for recovery from addiction, or, some illness. Armed with contact information for the iconic Focus:HOPE, a civil and human rights service, employment training, and a women's, children's and senior's feeding center, for example, I hand her or him a card or a sheet with the address and phone number to resources for passersby to benefit from in their need.
They gratefully acknowledge the information I hand each of them in my few hours of 'making the rounds of pastoral care. What a street evangelizer says will make or break the well-intentioned encounter. Content is crucial. At times, a lit bar-b-q grille with hot dogs or hamburgers become the way to a man or woman's soul as each passes on Chene, for example. The aroma fills passersby nostrils. They stop and ask, especially if they are hungry, or seeking God.
(3) Prayer is Vital Before and After Each Encounter
Well before I arrive by 10 am at least three days a week at what I like to dub as, Occupying the Corner with Good News, Psalms, Liturgy of the Hours, Mass, the rosary, or, centering prayer, comprises my conversations and prayer with God.
I cannot give what I do not have. Without sustenance in prayer, I am without the "fuel," let alone the fire for renewal, recovery, and Good News to share, for sure.
Furthermore, keeping the focus of this entire encounter demands a prayerful heart. Like Solomon of the Hebrew Scriptures, I pray for an "understanding heart."
Concluding Summary
Most days fill me with satisfaction as I arrive home after a few hours of intense evangelization on the corner near downtown Detroit, called, Elmwood Park Community. I would be less than honest if I failed to report that frustration may also fill my time spreading the Good News. After prayer, for example, one may say, "I don't need a job; I get what I need from Uncle Sam." Jobs give people meaning and purposeful living with satisfaction in helping grow the economy and the community, more importantly. Entitlements may work against my moments with each passerby.
I entrust each session, and, encounter with a passerby to the Creator. After all, it is God's world. I am an agent for the Maker. And, an important one, but, only that.
(A Catholic pastor, and, a board certified professional counselor in the Archdiocese of Detroit, MI., Father Lawrence M. Ventline, earned a doctor of ministry at Saint mary's Seminary and University in Baltimore, MD. His doctoral thesis is, "The Witness Value of the Visit of Pope John Paul II to Detroit in 1988: Its Meaning and Message." He directs the VENT-Line Center for Inter-Religious Dialog in Detroit, Hamtramck, and Harrison Township, MI., where he currently resides.)
L. Ventline
25559 Waterway
Harrison Twp., MI. 48045
(313) 530 2777
By Lawrence M. Ventline, D.Min.
To walk, or, to talk?
That is the question. At the corner of Chene and Lafayette Avenues in Detroit, Michigan, that is the initial concern I have as noticing becomes key to engaging passersby further.
Does the passerby I see in this busy downtown business and residential area, across from the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., Apartments, want to engage with me? If his or her body language negatively indicates more than my smile and greeting, I pass, after saying, "Good Day!" And, if she or he seems to be a willing conversant with me, I say, "Hi., how may I pray for you today?"
In furthering my conversation, here's proposing three ways to bring the "Good News" of Jesus the Christ on the street, in particular, but, generally, these ways work at the office, in the domestic church at home, and, in the neighborhood also.
(1) Greet and Meet
Hospitality is crucial for anyone who may perceive me as a stranger who is perceived as unfamiliar. "Stranger danger" in my Motown where I grew up near the Detroit City Airport, enfolds many residents. Fear is paramount in our culture today, even though Jesus suggests in the Bible that fear is useless, and, what is needed is trust. Since 9/11/2001, people seem on edge, let alone in some instances angry. Gentle assertion is in order, therefore, in every step of evangelizing.
(2) Content of My Approach in Street Ministry
After assessing that the passerby is welcoming, I am able to attract my fellow pilgrim near downtown Detroit, the auto capital of the world, and, home to more than fifty nations in the Detroit, Dearborn and Hamtamck, Michigan region. After all, immigrant fled their homelands of Poland and more in the 20s and 30's for the Dodge Plant in Hamtramck. They sought employment and a salary for their own maintenance, and, for their family back in the mother land. After all, my own parents emerged from farming towns of Bad Axe and Cheboygan, Michigan, northern areas where agriculture dominated both of my parents merged families of twelve siblings in each home. My dad came to Detroit and worked for the Budd Company while a teen, while my mother left Cheboygan to work at Pilgrim Laundry, or, to clean huge homes occupied by Jewish families in northwest Detroit, for example.
"How may I pray for you?" I ask. Inevitably, most name their own issue as the need for employment, or, for recovery from addiction, or, some illness. Armed with contact information for the iconic Focus:HOPE, a civil and human rights service, employment training, and a women's, children's and senior's feeding center, for example, I hand her or him a card or a sheet with the address and phone number to resources for passersby to benefit from in their need.
They gratefully acknowledge the information I hand each of them in my few hours of 'making the rounds of pastoral care. What a street evangelizer says will make or break the well-intentioned encounter. Content is crucial. At times, a lit bar-b-q grille with hot dogs or hamburgers become the way to a man or woman's soul as each passes on Chene, for example. The aroma fills passersby nostrils. They stop and ask, especially if they are hungry, or seeking God.
(3) Prayer is Vital Before and After Each Encounter
Well before I arrive by 10 am at least three days a week at what I like to dub as, Occupying the Corner with Good News, Psalms, Liturgy of the Hours, Mass, the rosary, or, centering prayer, comprises my conversations and prayer with God.
I cannot give what I do not have. Without sustenance in prayer, I am without the "fuel," let alone the fire for renewal, recovery, and Good News to share, for sure.
Furthermore, keeping the focus of this entire encounter demands a prayerful heart. Like Solomon of the Hebrew Scriptures, I pray for an "understanding heart."
Concluding Summary
Most days fill me with satisfaction as I arrive home after a few hours of intense evangelization on the corner near downtown Detroit, called, Elmwood Park Community. I would be less than honest if I failed to report that frustration may also fill my time spreading the Good News. After prayer, for example, one may say, "I don't need a job; I get what I need from Uncle Sam." Jobs give people meaning and purposeful living with satisfaction in helping grow the economy and the community, more importantly. Entitlements may work against my moments with each passerby.
I entrust each session, and, encounter with a passerby to the Creator. After all, it is God's world. I am an agent for the Maker. And, an important one, but, only that.
(A Catholic pastor, and, a board certified professional counselor in the Archdiocese of Detroit, MI., Father Lawrence M. Ventline, earned a doctor of ministry at Saint mary's Seminary and University in Baltimore, MD. His doctoral thesis is, "The Witness Value of the Visit of Pope John Paul II to Detroit in 1988: Its Meaning and Message." He directs the VENT-Line Center for Inter-Religious Dialog in Detroit, Hamtramck, and Harrison Township, MI., where he currently resides.)
L. Ventline
25559 Waterway
Harrison Twp., MI. 48045
(313) 530 2777
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