The Cost of Discipleship

Bishop Hermann of the Archdiocese of St. Louis had an article in the St. Louis Review about Pentecost. The gist of the article is that Pentecost is about the apostles being filled with the Holy Spirit, after they had been completely broken down so that they are no longer interested in their own personal goals. Pentecost is the culmination of Jesus purging the apostles of their selfishness.

This presentation of Pentecost troubles me. It directly challenges us to give ourselves completely over to Christ. This is tough! Our culture builds up images and concepts that are deceptively self-serving. Breaking through these misconceptions is difficult.

Bishop Herman challenged his readers to say the following prayer everyday:

Lord, I don't like myself as I am. I want to give my life over to You. I want You to be the Lord of my life. I want to surrender my life totally to You so that You can do with me as You will. Lord, as I had over my life into Your hands, I ask that You forgive me all of my sins and fill me with the fullness of the Holy Spirit!

I think I'm going to say the prayer daily. I'm scared about giving over complete control, but that's why I'm here!

How Do I Help?

Yesterday we learned that the P.E. teacher at my son's school passed away. He was fighting a brain tumor and lung cancer. I thought about this quite a bit yesterday.

A little more background may be in order. This teacher was my P.E. teacher when I was in grade school. His wife was my eighth grade algebra teacher and their daughter was in my grade all through grade school.

Hearing of his passing felt like a call to action for me. But there wasn't anything I could do. I'm not close to the family, so there wasn't anything I could do for them. The feeling of not being able to do something bugged me.

Slowly throughout the day yesterday I came to realize that I could do something, and that something is very powerful. I could pray.

Too many people overlook the power of prayer. If St. Monica's prayers for her wayward son could create a wonderful saint, our prayers can do marvelous things too. Even if we don't see the effects of our prayer, we need to realize that prayer is a powerful tool always at our disposal.

I'm praying for the Teter family.

Thinking About Mother's Day Got Me Worked Up

As I was writing the last post about Mother's Day, I was getting somewhat agitated. I think part of the problem with fathers not being real dads is that most men, and certainly society in general, don't give women the respect they deserve.

Women, especially mothers, are the source of love in this world. This has been made abundantly clear by the church's teaching on Mary and the prominence she has in the church. Most people, looking back on their childhoods, would say that mothers were always the loving, affectionate parents. It's not hard to see that mothers are the source of love.

Unfortunately, society is destroying motherhood and the love that flows from it. Throughout the media, women are depicted as objects, either for sexual conquest or simply for fleeting entertainment. Many mothers are forced to fill all parenting rolls in some families because the fathers have left or are too macho to be true dads.

As Catholic husbands, we must be guiding examples in these areas. Our children are learning from us, and their understanding of what a husband is will be determined in large part from the example we set. We must love and respect our wives; we must be involved with our children; we must be involved in our parishes; we must be dedicated to our work. These things, along with prayer, will help guide our children to be the people God calls them to be.

Now that I've gotten the rant out, here's the real message: Catholic husbands and dads are called by God to be living examples of the love God the Father has for all of us.

A Dad's Reflection on Mother's Day

Driving back from celebrating Mother's Day at my in-law's house today, I was thinking about how we approach Mother's Day.

Society puts a lot of emphasis on Mother's Day. Most of this emphasis is for the shameless sale of flowers, cards, and candy. For one day, everyone loves their mothers. One day a year, father's cook, clean, and help with the kids. By the end of the day, most mothers are doing their "jobs" again.

As a dad, I've tried to help out as much as possible. I do the dishes, take care of the yard, and try to fix things around the house. I've always been involved with my boys, including diaper changes, bath time, illnesses, etc. For the longest time I thought this was just something I did to be a dad.

I believe that God calls all fathers to this type of involvement. Fathers are called to be more than just half of the chromosomal pairing of children; they are called to be dads. Dads are close to their children. Dads lovingly correct their children. Dads talk to, read to, and play with their children. Dads support and bolster their wives. Catholic dads are called to be fathers just like God the Father was "abba" for Jesus the Son.

Jesus showed us the perfect example of fatherhood by giving us glimpses into his relationship with his Father. His relationship was close and affectionate. The Father was firm, but loving. This is the fatherly relationship we are called to have with our children.

Mother's Day should be about honoring our mothers and the mothers of our children. It should also be a day for reflection, ensuring that we are being the dads we are on Mother's Day, all year long.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!

Social Media and Evangelization

I just joined a community called TweetCatholic.  This site is aggregating Twitter users and publishing tweets as @TweetCatholic.  I found this community from a couple of tweets by the Archdiocese of St. Louis (@archstl).  The first one was about the USCCB making a statement about using Twitter as a way to evangelize.  The other one was about the USCCB starting a blog.

It's heartening to see the church hierarchy leveraging new technology to evangelize.  For quite a while now, I've followed numerous blogs as a way of keeping up with professional advances.  I started this blog partially because I felt like there weren't enough Catholic voices on the internet.  TweetCatholic and the USCCB blog are great ways to keep the faith alive and growing for a lot of professionals these days.  If nothing else, they provide better, more wholesome tidbits as opposed to a lot of the junk that is prevalent on the internet today.

The Call of the Twelve

One of the scripture passages that I've read associated with the third Luminous Mystery (proclamation of the kingdom) is Luke 9:1-6:

He summoned the Twelve and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal [the sick]. He said to them, "Take nothing for the journey, neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money, and let no one take a second tunic. Whatever house you enter, stay there and leave from there. And as for those who do not welcome you, when you leave that town, shake the dust from your feet in testimony against them." Then they set out and went from village to village proclaiming the good news and curing diseases everywhere.

I struggle with this mystery and this scripture passage. I don't know how to apply the call to proclaim God's kingdom, taking nothing with me. As a father with a career, I have to balance providing for my family and advancing my career. It's difficult to know how to heed God's call and not get caught up in material pursuits.

It's hard not to get caught up in the material world. We as workers need things to maintain houses, get back and forth to work, communicate with others, keep track of to-do lists, etc. It is very easy to think that we need more of these things, that we need bigger things, nicer things, other things. How do we distinguish between being a steward of God's resources and being greedy? As careers develop and pay grows, it gets even harder.

I think as a father, I am responsible for balancing all of this. It is my duty to give my family the necessary example of how to heed God's call and not get caught up in the material world. I hope I'm living up to God's expectations.

Fatherly Tip #1

This is actually something my wife does, but I thought it was pretty good. My wife keeps an extra pair of underwear and pants in the car for each kid. She's been doing this since they were potty-trained. Last night, it came in real handy. So, if you've got young not far from potty-training, it might be a great idea.

Prayer to St. Joseph the Worker

My cousin sent this prayer out today.

Prayer for Fidelity to Work

Glorious St. Joseph, model of all who are devoted to labor, obtain for me the grace to work conscientiously, putting the call of duty above my natural inclinations; to work with gratitude and joy, considering it an honor to employ and develop, by means of labor, the gifts received from God, disregarding difficulties and weariness; to work, above all, with purity of intention and with detachment from self, having always before my eyes death, and the account which I must render of time lost, of talents wasted, of good omitted, of vain complacency in success, so fatal to the work of God. All for Jesus, all for Mary, all after your example, patriarch Joseph. This will be my watchword in life and in death. Amen.