Suffering Servant and Our Call to Service

I work as the manager of a small software development team. Lately, my team has been under a lot of pressure with a large workload, and I've been working quite a bit. This weekend has been especially stressful and busy.

Last night at mass, the first reading was from the book of Isaiah. It was one of the suffering servant songs that appears in the book of Isaiah. (Is 53:10-11) My pastor's homily talked a little about the suffering servant songs, and it got me curious. This morning I read all four of the suffering servant songs in Isaiah. (Is 42:1-4, Is 49:1-7, Is 50:4-11, Is 52:13-53:12) Reading these poems gave me a much better perspective on my current workload.

It is really easy to get down on oneself during times of exhaustion and great stress. If we look on these times with the eyes of the suffering servant, we realize that we are specifically called by God to be his instrument. (Is 49:1-2) We also realize that being God's servant entails a lot of work without reward, and possibly suffering (Is 49:4). The end of Is 49:4 gives us insight into our reward:

Yet my reward is with the Lord, my recompense is with my God.

These passages from Isaiah give me hope during this stressful time. The servant songs remind me that I was specifically created by God for a special purpose. Even though I may not see the fruits of my labor, my reward will be with God. I just have to trust Him.

Novenas

I was on a search for novenas and found the following ones. I didn't want to lose them, so I'm posting them here.

Novena to St. Nicholas I

Novena to St. Nicholas II

Novena to the Holy Family

Novena to Our Lady of Hope

Novena for the Conversion of Sinners

Interesting Background on Liturgy of the Hours

Here is an article about the origins of the Liturgy of the Hours that I thought was interesting.

The Power of the Liturgy of the Hours

I just read this blog post giving a brief history of the structure of the Liturgy of the Hours.

The article got me thinking about the power of the Liturgy of the Hours. The repetition of the prayer is its power. Someone praying the hours regularly immerses himself in the Psalms, encompassing prayers of petition, prayers of thanksgiving, and prayers of praise. These prayers open the pray-er to God's grace on a daily basis.

Over time, the repetitive act of opening oneself to God allows God to fill the person with the Holy Spirit. This prayer, this communion with God, becomes an anchor in the person's life. God becomes the focus of the person's life. By getting one's focus properly fixed on God, the trials that we face in everyday life become much easier to handle.

The repetition of the Liturgy of the Hours is brilliant. It is a powerful tool that enables limited human beings to be able to open themselves up to God and the workings of his spirit.

Inability to Communicate

I'm having a little trouble this morning. I've got an idea about how to do something at work, but I don't know how to communicate it. It's really frustrating for me because I would love to implement this idea, but I can't think of a way to express it to my boss so that he wants to implement it too.

I bet this happens with my kids all the time. How often are they unable to communicate a want or need to me in a way that I understand? Quite often. I think I see this when they are acting out. It's probably the only way for them to communicate something to me.

Holy Spirit, give me the wisdom to approach my children with understanding, so that their inability to communicate with me won't make me angry or frustrated.

Mix of Technology and Religion

I read a blog post today about a group of people that set up a computer lab for a learning center in Austin, TX. The East Austin Computer Learning Center was set up to help expose children to computers and technology. The part that struck me was that the learning center is housed in the Cristo Rey Catholic Church.

I've normally thought about centers like this as being the sole domain of government institutions. Setting up a center like this in a Catholic church is a wonderful idea. It would be a way to reach out to the community to interact with children, teach and counsel the unemployed, and could help provide the local Catholic grade school with resources for their technology courses.

As the church moves to embrace new technology for evangelization, having centers for teaching people how to use that technology could be beneficial.

Fear and Trust

Recently I learned that I'm going to be my youngest son's soccer coach, and that got me thinking. At first I worried about having time for practices, then I moved to worrying about being able to teach soccer. If you haven't been able to tell, I'm a worrier.

I've been thinking about and worrying about being a soccer coach for about two weeks now. Just this morning on my way into work, I realized part of why I worry about being a coach: fear. I'm afraid of doing it wrong. I'm afraid of what the parents might think. I'm afraid of ruining the next international soccer star because I don't know soccer as well as someone else might. I'm afraid.

Naturally I have to ask why I'm afraid. I've played soccer. There are many web sites with tips and drills for kids. I know a few people that coach. I have experience leading a group of kids. So why am I afraid?

The "Aha" moment this morning was a revelation to me that I don't trust God like I should. God doesn't give us a challenge without also giving us the grace to handle it. I should be comfortable and excited to be answering God's call. But I'm afraid. This fear can either be debilitating or a growth experience.

If I use this fear as an opportunity to work with Jesus, I'll be better for it. This is a golden opportunity for me to tell Jesus how I feel. Easy. The part that takes a little work is that I need to listen to Him. I think if I take the time to listen, my relationship with Jesus will grow, and I'll trust Him more with the next challenge.