YEAR OF MERCY

11/17/15

HE YEAR OF MERCY

            Pope Francis has decreed this church year The Year of Mercy.  What does that mean exactly?  Are we going to say special prayers praising God for his mercy?

Are we going to use Mercy as the theme for Lent and Advent?  Are we going to increase our charitable contributions and be satisfied with that, or are we going to search our hearts to find the mercy that should be there? 

            Jesus said that we should try to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect.

We all know we are long way from succeeding in that.  But it isn’t the achieving that counts anyway it’s the trying. The first step is acknowledging the humanity of everyone even if they do not acknowledge it in us.  When Christ told the story of the Good Samaritan he was trying to break the insular mindset of his people.  They believed because they were ‘chosen’ they were superior.  Worse, it made everyone else inferior.  That attitude was not and is not limited to the Jewish people of millennia ago. It is alive and well today in all of us.  Everyone wants to think of themselves as superior.  But the followers of Christ know better and have an obligation to fight the tendency.  Christ was very clear to the disciples.  He told stories to the general public to get his points across but to the disciples he was more direct. 

            “ The knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom has been granted to you. Blessed are your eyes because they see and your ears because they hear. Amen, I say to you many prophets longed to see what you see but did not see it and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” (Matt 13:11,16-17)

            We are the descendants of those disciples and we see, we hear, and we know the mind of Christ.  We know that the love of God is equally distributed to all. We know we can’t call ourselves Christians and hold hatred in our hearts.  We cannot discriminate, abuse, denigrate or harm the innocent. We cannot lump the innocent with the guilty because they look alike.  We cannot stand by and let those things happen with no protest. We just can’t.

            We have to learn mercy.  We have to remind ourselves daily of Christ’s plea for those who were putting him to death;  “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”  We have to hold the Gospel in front of us like a shield against prejudice. 

            We are not starting the Year of Mercy in a merciful mood.  This is a test for us. Are we or are we not, true followers of Jesus Christ?

            Let us all make a pledge for this Year of Mercy that we will nurture mercy in our hearts and reflect it in our words and actions.

With love,

Carol Lemelin OPA

THANKSGIVING PRAYER

LEMELIN FAMILY

THANKSGIVING PRAYER

             

Most generous and gracious Father,

we come today in humble thanksgiving.        

We ask nothing from you because we

 know that without our asking you

 provide all that we need to live and be happy

 in this world.  On this special day

of Thanksgiving we express our gratitude

for all our blessings.  In particular

We thank you for our very lives,

for the love we have known,

for the strength to endure pain and grief,

for the freedoms we enjoy,

for the glories of nature,

for the warmth of our family,

for the good that is in people,

for the challenges of every day life,

for the capability of the human mind to improve life,

for our faith which guides us through all of our experiences,   

and most especially, Lord, we thank you for your

continuing love and presence in our lives. Amen

Carol Lemelin

1990

MATTHEW 5:44

11-20-15MATTHEW 5:44

            After the slaughter in Paris, no one wants to be reminded of this verse:

“You have heard that it was said, 'you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.…”

             When I was a youngster my mother told me that when I had an issue with anyone (in that case it was the principal of my high school) I should pray for that person every time the issue came to mind.  I prayed with clenched teeth for months. But I did it.  It turned out very well and so I have tried all my life to adhere to that advice. But it is never easy.

            After the news broke, in every church, in every country, prayers for the dead and the grieving in France went up.  Where I was no one mentioned praying for those who committed these horrible acts.  The reaction of the world is to meet violence with violence and that may be natural especially for those who have the wherewithal to take revenge but the rest of us are helpless in the face of such a tragedy.  But if we are bent on revenge and wiping out these people how are we different from them?  But there is one thing we can do.  We can pray for the people who are so deluded that they planned and implemented such evil.

            Bombs will not do it.  Security measures have proven faulty. To pray for these people will take all our strength but we can’t turn away from Jesus’ command.  Jesus said that following him will not be easy and now we are faced with the bitter truth of that statement.

            Jesus also said: “The Son of Man has come to save what is lost” (Lk 19:10) Is anyone more lost than these people?  How do we overcome our revulsion to be able to pray?  We must start with God.  Jeremiah 29:12 says: “When you call me, and come and pray to me, I will listen to you. When you look for me, you will find me.”     I had to believe that and start by asking God to give me the strength to pray for ISIS and then composed this prayer. 

Dear God, I call on you to please turn the hearts of the people who are so lost, so angry, so misguided that they have lost all human feeling and were able to plan and execute the horrors visited on Paris. Inspire them to feel pity for the victim’s families and to spare others the same fate.  Help us all to turn from thoughts of violent revenge and focus on finding ways to change their minds and hearts. I pledge to be more aware of the indifference to the struggles of others that could lead them to find that way of life attractive and to help where I can. I pray and promise this in the name of Jesus, Our Lord.  Amen.

            I invite you to at least try.  Imagine if the entire world prayed not just for the victims but also for their murderers.  Our trust in God is being tested.  Our commitment to Christ summoned.

With love,

Carol Lemelin OPA

THE BIG BANG

NOVMEBER 11, 2015

THE BIG BANG

            Stephen Hawking describes the beginning of the universe in his television special, “Into the Universe”. He tells of a moment when an enormous burst of energy suddenly erupted where before there was nothing.  This eruption sent out light and, what to all intents and purposes, were pieces of rock.  These ‘rocks’ expanded outward and grew and changed and created the universe.  While this program was airing, Hawking declared that there is no God.  He declared that the idea of a supreme being behind this burst of energy was irrational.

            In my earlier life when someone of that stature questioned my beliefs I would be very upset.  I would worry for days about whether I was wrong and they were right. After all, someone like Hawking is a lot smarter than me I would think.  But happily as my life has progressed I am grateful for challenges like that.  I realized that if I were to go through life believing something someone else told me was true without thinking it out for myself I would regret it.  I was raised to avoid anything that might make God mad at me but I decided to take the risk.  As a result, my faith in God and trust in his Love is deeper and stronger than I could have imagined.

            Now I believe that it is irrational to think that The Big Bang could happen without a motivating force.  I want to say to him: “Do the words ‘Let there be light’ ring a bell?” God is that energy that caused The Big Bang.  That energy was the force behind the Resurrection. Some who have studied the Shroud of Turin have suggested that the imprint on the cloth is evidence of that force restoring life to a corpse.

            One of the rocks sent out by the Big Bang is the one we live on.  From it we can see the other stars and planets moving through the skies.  But there is one exception to the rule of that movement.   The North Star does not move. It isn’t fanciful to suggest that God planned that.  One star that we can depend on staying where it is and letting us use it for navigation? Sailors have navigated by it and depended on that steadiness for millennia. It’s existence made it possible for man to progress, to explore this planet. 

            I see a parallel here.  God is the force behind the Big Bang and Jesus, like the North Star, is the beacon of light, which guides us. Like the star, Jesus is ever present, ever steady, faithful at all times.  We depend on this truth.  When we are in turmoil, in our heart of hearts we know that God is with us. 

            People who deny scientific discoveries and scientists who deny the spirit are both wrong.  God is and science is the tool he has given us to go deeper into his creation. 

With Love,

Carol Lemelin O.P.A.