Run 26.2 Miles, Are You Crazy?

My sisters and I would never consider ourselves runners.  However, my middle sister, Tina and I have ran 6 marathons together in the past 10 years.  She's currently trying to convince me to do another one next year!  We will see.  The crazy thing about running is that it doesn't matter how many long runs or marathons you have done.  If you even take a month or two off, it's really hard to run even a shorter distance like 4 to 5 miles!  Why is that?  When you stop your discipline, you lose your perseverance and endurance and in a way you need to start your training all over again. 

The crazy thing is that this doesn't just apply to exercising and running.  Have you ever been on a diet?  You carry strong discipline for a month, two month, or even a year, but when the diet stops... every dessert looks great! 

How about studying?  I was the master at cramming before exams, but the instant the exam was taken and I stopped studying, the information went right out the door.  Only to having to return to cramming before the final exam!

The one thing that connects all these things together is a lack of discipline and falling into complacency.  And just like exercising, dieting, and studying, our faith has the same results. In all reality, we don't think about the need to be disciplined in our faith, especially when we have so many other things going on in our life.  But our faith, like everything else, slowly declines when we don't practice it; when we don't live it out!  Our relationship with Jesus Christ is either growing or fading, it never remains at a certain level. 

The readings from this weekend touched exactly on this point. (26th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C).  Amos, the prophet, warns to the Israelites about living in complacency, living a life of comfort.  He challenges them to be present to the poor and rejected.  He challenges them to live their life for others, instead of living a life of comfort and themselves. 

St. Paul in our second reading, exhorts the people to "compete" in their faith.  Think about how an Olympian trains: everything they do is for the sake of their upcoming competition.  There entire schedule is based on their goal, to achieve a gold medal; from their sleep, to their exercise, to the food they put in their body.  St. Paul is exhorting the early Church to live just like that!  Compete in the faith.  Center your entire schedule on living your faith and building up your relationship with the Lord.  Oh how our lives would change if we actually did this.

In the Gospel, Christ reveals a parable to the Pharisees about the rich man and Lazarus; a story about heaven and hell.  The rich man ends up in hell, while Lazarus ends in the bosom of Abraham in heaven.  The rich man doesn't end up in hell because of his wealth.  The rich man ends up in hell, because he fell into complacency.  He fell into a life of comfort.  He didn't extend his gifts to those around him.  He lived his life for himself.  This was his downfall.  For the Christian life, revealed by Christ, is not one lived for oneself, but to be a gift given to others!

Pope Benedict expressed similar lines that tie all three readings together.  He said to the youth shortly after being elected Pope, "The world offers you comfort, but you were not made for comfort.  You were made for greatness!"  I believe it is fitting for us to hear these words once again after these weekend readings.  Let us not settle for the comforts of this life, but strive the greatness we have been made.  Let us be a gift for others!

Do You Need Help With That? No, I Can Do It Myself!

I always joked that if you wanted to make a guy 10 times stronger all you need are 2 things.  Have a woman in the room and ask him if he needs any help moving a heavy object!  Their automatic reaction is to say, "No, I got this"! 

In a certain way we all have that reaction in us.  It is a sign of our free will.  It is a sign of our independence, to be  self-sufficient.  Isn't that the goal of most people; to get to a point to be able to provide for themselves and for their families?

We understand freedom and independence, but God gives us these gifts for one thing: to Love.  This involves, however, surrendering ourselves to the Other!  Christ reveals that in his very life!  Jesus, who is God and who is truly free (He can do what ever He wants) reveals to us how to live.  Jesus Christ didn't choose to live a life for Himself, but solely for His Father in Heaven and for US!  His entire life was a gift to other! And in by laying down His life for us, He reveals God's design for us!

The problem in our culture is that we get the whole freedom and independence part, but struggle with surrender and living a life for others!  I love the following quote:

Almighty God can complete anyone He pleases. But God desires that we depend on each other, and what anyone does not have in himself, he finds in the other. Thus, humility is preserved, love increased, and unity realized. ~ St. Aelred

If we are called to be united with God through the Body of Christ, then that can only happen if we surrender our free will back to God by serving Him and our neighbor.  Free will and independence is only beautiful when it is lived in love, lived in surrender.  Let's ask the Lord for the grace to surrender our lives to Him and those we meet this day!

Do You Really Love Me? Prove It!

When I was in college at the University of Illinois, I had a college sweet heart named Katie.  A few months into our relationship, we began to saying, "I love you," to each other.  It became a frequent expression we said one another.  But there was one moment in our relationship that caught me off guard, Katie challenged the meaning behind the words!  As I was about to leave for class, I told Katie that I loved her.  She made the following statement, "Do you really?" 

What Katie desired was to see, touch, taste, smell some tangible reality to those words!  Maybe she wanted some flowers, chocolates, or some clear action that would put her as a priority in my life over my school work and friends.  In either case, she wanted something tangible!

This moment I experienced with Katie in college wasn't a one time experience.  The question that Katie asked, I have found myself asking God the same thing!  We hear, over and over again, that God loves us!  God loves you!  But are there not times when we ask that question to God, "Do you really?"  I want some tangible expression of that love! Have you ever said any of the following?

 - If you really loved me God, heal my loved one!
 - If you really loved me, remove this sin/addiction!
 - If you really loved me, remove my loneliness!
 - If you really loved me, remove this cross!
 - If you really loved me, help be get this job!
 - If you really loved me, (Fill in the blank)!

What is so beautiful about our faith is that Jesus Christ, through the Mass, offers something we can initially hear, then finally get to see, taste, touch, and smell; His Body and Blood!  There is nothing more intimate and tangible than giving your entire life to another!  Christ in the Mass offers us His own Body and Blood!  Maybe that is why the Church asks us to go to Mass every week, so that we can receive the tangible expressions of Love that we so long for!

The challenge that lies in believing in a God who is willing to give His very life to us, comes from answering the following question, "What do you think God is going to ask in return?"  It's a scary thought because I kneel before the Lord in prayer and say, "God, you know that I love you!"  And I hear God's response similar to Katie's, "Do you really?"  Love is to be reciprocated.  The Lord is asking us to reciprocate His love and give Him everything!