Kevin Kling - On Being - American Public Radio Interview

Kevin Kling is a poet, playwright, and wise man. Born with a disabled left arm, he lost the use of his right one after a motorcycle accident nearly killed him. He shares his special angle on life and why we turn loss into story.   He said, "If you are able bodied, remember, it's a temporary condition."   Listen here:

Dancing in the rain

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass....  It's learning how to dance in the rain.

The 10 Commandments - Mass Journal

Fr. Luke asked on Sunday if we can recite the 10 commandments, and questioned how can we live them if we don't have them in the front of our minds.

 1. I, the LORD, am your God. You shall not have other gods besides me.
 2. You shall not carve idols for yourselves in the shape of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth; you shall not bow down before them or worship them.
 3. You shall not take the name of the LORD, your God, in vain.
 4. Remember to keep holy the sabbath day. Six days you may labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD, your God.
No work may be done then either by you, or your son or daughter, or your male or female slave, or your beast, or by the alien who lives with you.
 5. Honor your father and your mother.
 6. You shall not kill.
 7. You shall not commit adultery.
 8. You shall not steal.
 9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet your neighbor's house.You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male or female slave, nor his ox or ass, nor anything else that belongs to him.
                                                                         Ex 20:1-17

Lent is an invitation to share in the giving of ourselves

In order to be true leaders, we must be willing to serve the least among us.

Mass Journal - generosity

Monsignor Kenny reflected on his parents emphasis of generosity when he was growing up and now with their grandchildren. It was an appropriate theme for the start of the 2012 Catholic Charities drive.  It made me think of my mother, who is a beacon of generosity.  She always took a personal interest in supporting those those in need (and she still does). 

St. Luke's was blessed to have a guest speaker this morning  tell us about her personal experience of receiving heating aid through Catholic Charities when she had to miss work due to her son's illness and she couldn't make ends meet. 

God speaks quietly among the noise

Video 42 seconds
 

Excerpts from the 2008 PAPAL MESSAGE FOR LENT of Pope Benedict XVI on Almsgiving

"Each year, Lent offers us an opportunity to deepen the meaning and value of our Christian lives, and it stimulates us to rediscover the mercy of God so that we, in turn, become more merciful toward our brothers and sisters. In the Lenten period, the Church makes it her duty to propose some specific tasks that accompany the faithful concretely in this process of interior renewal: these are prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Almsgiving represents a specific way to assist those in need and, at the same time, an exercise in self-denial to free us from attachment to worldly goods.

 

Notre Dame Paris, May 2011

"Almsgiving helps us to overcome constant temptation, teaching us to respond to our neighbour's needs and to share with others whatever we possess through divine goodness.

"According to the teaching of the Gospel, we are not owners but rather administrators of the goods we possess: these, then, are not to be considered as our exclusive possession, but means through which the Lord calls each one of us to act as a steward of His providence for our neighbour".

"In the Gospel, Jesus explicitly admonishes the one who possesses and uses earthly riches only for self. ... In those countries whose population is majority Christian, the call to share is even more urgent, since their responsibility toward the many who suffer poverty and abandonment is even greater. To come to their aid is a duty of justice even prior to being an act of charity.

"The Gospel highlights a typical feature of Christian almsgiving: it must be hidden. ... This understanding, dear brothers and sisters, must accompany every gesture of help to our neighbour, avoiding that it becomes a means to make ourselves the centre of attention".

"In today's world of images, attentive vigilance is required, since this temptation is great. Almsgiving, according to the Gospel, is not mere philanthropy: rather it is a concrete expression of charity, a theological virtue that demands interior conversion to love of God and neighbour, in imitation of Jesus Christ".

"In inviting us to consider almsgiving with a more profound gaze that transcends the purely material dimension, Scripture teaches us that there is more joy in giving than in receiving. ... Every time when, for love of God, we share our goods with our neighbour in need, we discover that the fullness of life comes from love and all is returned to us as a blessing in the form of peace, inner satisfaction and joy".

"What is more: St. Peter includes among the spiritual fruits of almsgiving the forgiveness of sins. ... As the Lenten liturgy frequently repeats, God offers to us sinners the possibility of being forgiven. The fact of sharing what we possess with the poor disposes us to receive such a gift".

"Almsgiving teaches us the generosity of love. ... In this regard, all the more significant is the Gospel story of the widow who, out of poverty, cast into the Temple treasury 'all she had to live on'".

We find this moving passage inserted in the description of the days that immediately precede Jesus' passion and death, who, as St. Paul writes, made Himself poor to enrich us out of His poverty; He gave His entire Self for us. Lent, also through the practice of almsgiving, inspires us to follow His example. In His school, we can learn to make of our lives a total gift; imitating Him, we are able to make ourselves available, not so much in giving part of what we possess, but our very selves. Cannot the entire Gospel be summarised perhaps in the one commandment of love? The Lenten practice of almsgiving thus become a means to deepen our Christian vocation. In gratuitously offering himself, the Christian bears witness that it is love and not material richness that determines the laws of his existence, Love, then, gives almsgiving its true value; it inspires various forms of giving, according to the possibilities and conditions of each person".

Read the full message here