THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT

1/20/16

THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT

“There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit.” (1Cor. 12:4)

            St. Paul goes on to explain in this letter that every one has the Spirit within and that Spirit manifests itself in different ways in each person.  He lists some of them such as wisdom or mighty deeds or prophecy. Most people think those gifts are way beyond them, but Wisdom is not necessarily having all the answers.  Mighty deeds are not necessarily public heroics.  Prophecy is not necessarily the ability to predict the future.  The gifts of the Spirit are often quiet and almost unnoticed but fully capable of achieving the purpose, which God intends.

            God has given everyone the potential to do wonderful things but most people either don’t know it or don’t believe it. So many people demure and say they don’t have any gifts and that’s that.  That is a learned reaction and one that needs to be corrected.  Try to see yourself through God’s eyes as a creation with gifts and potential to bring others to Him. If this chapter had a subtitle, it would be “God don’t make junk”.  (Not grammatically correct maybe but true nonetheless. )

            Mighty deeds are done daily by people who face their everyday problems with grace and fortitude and trust in God.  Wisdom is shown everyday by those who budget their money, recycle, help others and make prayer a part of their lives. Prophets are people who speak up against injustice, demand fairness and preach trust in God.

            Among other gifts of the Spirit that people don’t even know they have are honesty, patience, open-mindedness, understanding, joy of living, and gratitude for the gift of life.  This the 21^st century and we should have grown up enough to trust that God has given us all we need to share the faith, to guide others to Him and be open about our faith.  It’s not about religion; it’s about faith in the Creator.  It’s about acknowledging that God is intimately involved in our lives, wants only that we use the gifts bestowed on us to make the place we occupy a place where He may be found.

             

Blessings,

Carol Lemelin OPA

THE FITBIT

1-14-16

THE FITBIT

            For my birthday this year I received a Fitbit.  In case you don’t know, it’s a gremlin type thing that attaches to your clothes and watches every move you make and records it.  You could go online and join other people who are being watched this way and then they will all know your secrets like how many steps you took today or how many times you climbed stairs.  There is also an application that lets you compare notes on weight loss (or gain), which, I would never, ever use.  However, it is a handy little device in some ways and I know it’s meant to motivate me to stay active.   

            Wouldn’t it be nice to have such a device to track my spiritual life?  I could program it so that when I arise in the morning it would read, “Say your prayers!”  It would keep track of how often I thought of God during the day and if the number went too low it would beep at me.  It could count how often I spoke kindly to people, or smiled at them.  It could also beep at me when I showed the other side of my character.

            I admit the Fitbit does help to remind me to keep moving and motivates me to do better so I think a Spiritual Fitbit would be a great thing.  Since I doubt there is going to be such a thing anytime soon, it’s still up to me.  I’m retired now so I don’t have the excuse that I’m too busy to monitor my daily spiritual life but when I was working I did find ways to keep myself spiritually fit so to speak.  I had the 18^th Psalm on a printed card on my dashboard and I sang my favorite motivational hymn:  Lead Me, Guide Me, on the long commute to Novi.  However, the rest of the day is a blur and at night a quick thank you was all I managed. I daresay most of us are like that but lucky for us we have a kind of Spiritual Fitbit on the Internet!  The USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) will send the daily readings directly to your inbox.  Recently I read from Samuel; “Speak Lord, your servant is listening” and on another day,  “Do whatever your hands find to do, for God is with you.”  Words like that will buoy you up during the workday.  In the car, Sirius Radio broadcasts the morning Mass from St. Patrick’s Cathedral and on the website en.radiovaticana.va  you will find the words of Pope Francis from his daily Mass.  Those are just some of the resources out there.  We could even program reminders on our cell phones. With all the technology we have at our disposal creating our own spiritual Fitbit might actually be possible.

            Even so, we know ourselves, we know there will be times when we will fail or get lax, but luckily our God is a perfect lover.  He will wait for us, he will never tire of our failures, he loves us no matter what, he forgives without exception and he is always waiting for us to come home.  

Blessings,

Carol Lemelin, OPA

TRUE FAITH

January 6, 2016

TRUE FAITH

            My grandchildren have all reached maturity (well, more or less depending on the circumstances J).  Anyway, for all intents and purposes they are grown up.  As I look at them and think of their futures, my own past rears its head.  I don’t want them to suffer, to grieve, to be afraid, to be in pain, to be humiliated or rejected, ever!  But I know that is not possible.  I do want them to be loved, to be happy, to grow in learning and in faith.  I want them to know that they can trust God.  I am fully aware that all those experiences are what go into making a total human being.  You can’t be compassionate unless you love.  It is easier to bear the difficulties of life if you have a core of belief that you can depend on.  I heard someone once say they wished they could open the head of their child and pour in all the things they will need to live happily and successfully. But human beings don’t come pre-fabricated.  It takes one experience at a time.

            That is also how true faith happens.  In Mark 6:50-52 the disciples are being tossed around in a boat when Jesus comes to them walking on the water. He says, “Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid.”  Now you would think that they would be overcome with the power of Jesus and trust him implicitly from then on but that is not what happened.  They were more afraid than ever according to Mark “They had not understood the (miracle of) the loaves. On the contrary, their hearts were hardened.”  Say what?  The apostle’s hearts were hardened?  Neither Matthew nor John tells the story this way but I tend to think this version is more realistic.  These were early days in their relationship with Jesus and these events frightened them. It took time to know Him in order to trust Him.  They did get to know him, to trust him and eventually they accepted martyrdom for His sake.      

            The kind of faith that I wish for my grandchildren is the kind where they gradually begin to truly see Jesus as both human and divine.  To trust in His every word for all of their lives and no matter what happens to them, the core of that faith will never waver or let them down.   

            I pray fervently for them, that their faith will grow and sustain them all their lives as it has mine.

Blessings,

Carol Lemelin, OPA

GOD IS LIGHT

GOD IS LIGHT AND THE LIGHT SHINES IN THE DARKNESS

God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say, “We have fellowship with him,” while we continue to walk in darkness, we lie and do not act in truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light then we have fellowship with one another and the Blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:5-2:2.

            Every once in awhile I read a scripture passage that takes my breath away; I am awed by the truth of it and at the same time feel a kinship with the author that is hard to describe.  We have all had those so-called ‘aha’ moments in life when we know without doubt that something is right.  In my life, one was the moment when my boy friend and I looked at each other and said almost in unison, “We should get married.”  I don’t think our feet touched the ground for several days.  It felt right from the moment the words were spoken.  It was right for the next 45 years.

So it was this week when I read the passage from John.

                        God is light. God illuminates all.  God drives away the shadows and puts an end to fear and despair.  As if that were not enough, God came to us in the flesh to give us proof of this and to show us the way to live in that light.  What more do we need?  As a child I lived in fear of God.  It was a crime and punishment relationship and it wasn’t until Vatican II when our Pastor, Fr. Livius Paoli, taught us that the goal of  Vatican II was to lead us to see God in a new way. I felt the way a parolee must feel, liberated and facing the future with hope.  John continues…..

                        If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and    cleanse us from every wrongdoing.  

And again…

                        …If anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the           righteous one. He is expiation for our sins, and not for our sins only but for     those of the whole world.

           

                        These words were written by someone whose life was completely changed by the ‘aha’ moment when he believed.  He knew in his heart that what he had come to understand was the absolute truth and he shared it with his fellow believers but I doubt he ever imagined people like us so far in the future would read them and find the truth in them.

                        So many people still fear God, imagining themselves groveling at his throne trying to justify their lives to him and begging forgiveness when the life of Christ and scripture passages like this one contradict that image.  How much time is wasted in fear and worry and guilt?  We say we love God, that we believe, and yet we ignore his words, “I will remember their sins no more.”  (IS 43:25)

                                    There is much talk about evangelizing those who don’t know Christ and how we should be bold and speak out.  But how can we if we actually don’t believe the most basic truth about God?   Where is the joy that comes from knowing that God loves us without reservation? Why should we agonize over our failings?  God doesn’t.  John wrote these words thousands of years ago and they still strengthen the heart and help us renew our commitment to Christ every day and they will continue to do so until Christ comes again.  We must walk in the light as He is in the light.

            With love and hope that the New Year is all you wish it to be.

            Carol Lemelin  OPA

                       

FAMILIES

December 23, 2015

FAMILIES

            So far as anyone knows the public celebration of the Birth of Christ began around 354 AD.  As it has developed over time, especially in this country, it is coupled with the gathering of families.  People come together from around block or around the world just to be together to celebrate and exchange gifts. It’s not all sweetness and light all the time but family is family and is the bedrock of society.  The question is, just what is a family?  Naturally the first definition is people who are related by blood, but the better definition is people who are united in love with the purpose of sharing life and caring for one another.  Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth, Zechariah, John and Jesus were a family.  Elizabeth caring for Mary and Mary in turn caring for Elizabeth; John paving the way for Jesus and paying for it with his life. Those acts were not done because they shared the same bloodline but because they loved one another.

            In nature we are awed when we see a dog nursing a kitten or a monkey caring for a piglet.  Certainly Facebook has no end of examples.  In agriculture an apple tree can be grafted so that some branches produce Macintosh Apples and another branch on the same tree can produce Jonathans. This generation has embraced the concept of diverse people making a family, changing forever the idea that you must be tied by blood to be one.

            I knew a man whose drinking had separated him from his biological family. He lived in a down and out apartment and scraped together a meager living and drank.   Then he died.  To their credit, his family arranged the funeral. At the wake several men came in who were unmistakably his cronies.  While everyone else gave them a wide berth, the man’s sister spoke to them and they poured out their grief telling her that he was their dear friend, their brother.  He made their lives happier because he was kind and loving and would do anything for them. They were a family.

            First and foremost Christmas is about love.  It’s love that motivates us to shop and cook and plan visits.  It is love that brought Christ to us.  The love of God is made manifest in Christmas and Jesus is the first Christmas gift.  Love is the glue that holds everything together.  Instead of looking for reasons to complain about the commercialism and the lack of religious fervor in Christmas, look for the love.

“For God so loved the world, He sent His only begotten Son.”  (Jn 3:16)

With love and wishes for a Blessed New Year,

Carol Lemelin OPA