Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there especially my wife, mom, sister, and mother in law and of course the Blessed Mother.

Raising a child is no easy task and as the saying goes "it takes a village." However, I dont really want the village involved. Im not so sure I trust the village. The family went out today to the playground and it was my first real experience of being a father with my family among non-family families (if that makes sense).

I have to say, Im not too impressed with the village and dont really want to be part of it. Somehow it feels a lot like high school again. Im not sure why but it just didnt seem right.

I want to raise my son in the best way possible and if you know me, I dont like to settle for anything less than perfect.

But I suppose that's what life is about, being part of the small community building block of the family and then the larger community. I hope to raise my family in a way such that they have a positive effect on the community and bring Light to it.

Im fairly confident that will happen because of the way my mom raised me and they way my wife raises our son and the intercession of the Blessed Mother.

So I guess its not so scary after all...

The Palm of His Hand

A lot has happened this week, some big events and some small. It was my son's first birthday and it struck me just how fast time moves as we get older. 

When youre in grade school, high school, college, time seems to move rather slow. Once you get a job it seems to move faster since you get into more of a routine. Then comes marriage and time seems to move a little quicker. Everything around you is changing at the same rate. But then you have a child and wow does time fly. Every day is marked by something new and we can see the change happening.

But once again we celebrate Palm Sunday this week and standing for the Gospel brings me back to my childhood. I remember looking forward to Palm Sunday because of the palms but then getting so antsy during the Gospel and wishing it were over so I could sit down. Well now I have a child of my own and I can understand how hard it must have been on my parents to have a child like me during Palm Sunday ;) It really is only a few minutes longer but it can seem like an eternity to a child.

Ive heard the same reading for 31 years now and something new always jumps out at me. The words dont change but I do and God has something new prepared for me each time I hear them. Things around us are always changin but God never does, and thank God He doesnt.

Because my wife wants me to

So my lovely wife has been pestering me to post again, so I am. I really need to do a better job of keeping up on this and so here it is. The title will be apropos.
Ive only been married a few short years but I have learned alot from my wife and she has helped me become a more fuller version me. She has encouraged me to get healthy, to change jobs, to think more positively, among many other things.
The sacrament of marriage truly is an amazing thing. It is a sacrament because it is an encounter with God and it is the only sacrament where it is administered by those taking part in it. We become the sacrament. Our lives mimic the heavenly reality of Love and the continual support and forgiveness it offers. And also where it never fails....and gongs and all that other stuff from the passage read at every wedding ;)
No amount of money, or education, or make overs, or books or anything can make up for the spiritual and human growth that a marriage presents. And I do say presents because its up to us to seize the moments that challenge us and to go deeper in love for one another and most importantly for our love for God.
Adding children to the mix is a whole other ballgame......posts on that to come.

irony

I just spent the last hour and a half on the new blog post that was somehow not posted....really. The funny thing, which you'll never know, is how ironic that is...

The topic was experience and I was using this quote: 

“Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted."

lets just leave it at that, otherwise, Im going to smash this thing.

Well

Today's Gospel is about Jesus meeting the woman at the well. The priest highlighted the fact that the woman came to the well at noon, which was very odd considering everyone else went early in the morning. 

The Gospel made me stop and think about the aspect of timing as I never picked up on that before...but it also led to another insight...what was Jesus doing there at that time? I know He was tired from His recent journey, but I cant imagine it was by happenstance that He met this woman. 

I find that many of the trying or challenging times Ive gone through in my life Ive been looking for God's help, but was never able to find it. It was only after the fact that I was able to see His hand guiding me. He showed up, in His time, but at the time when I needed it. 

So many things in our life come down to timing: who we meet, where we live, what we do for a living and ultimately when we meet God (both in this life and in the next). Its up to us to put ourselves out there to have those experiences, God will always meet us where we are as long as we are trying. I put myself in that woman's shoes and think what it would have been like to meet Jesus that day...and then I realize I am in a different time and different place and I think to myself, well...

March Madness

I look forward to these few weeks every year because of March Madness. I always find myself rooting for the underdog as Im sure you do too. There is something special about the underdog, isnt there?

The term "underdog" comes from dog fighting. Bookies would keep track of the history of the dogs in each fight. The dogs that won would be on top at the end of a fight and the dogs that lost would be on the ground underneath the victor, hence the origin of the names.

I think we like to root for the underdogs because we can relate, we feel like were always struggling to survive, succeed, and were being held down by those on top. I do believe this is true and I do feel like an underdog....but am I really, are we really? Perhaps we're underdogs in the worldy sense but in reality, in what really matters, arent we the top dogs? We've got God in our lives and isnt that what its really all about? I know I frequently loose sight of that in the midst of the daily grind. 

Our war has been won but we still have to play in the tournament and fight to the end. And if we fight were going to go out on top too. The interesting part is that the world makes us feel like the underdog and it promises victory, but those promises and those victorys only lead us further from the real "top" and the real victrory. 

In March Madness an underdog usually makes it far but they never win the championship, never. There is always a top dog to take them out. We might feel like underdogs through out the tournament that is our life but in this game weve got the top dog on our side and he invites us to play on his team.

Now lets hear it for North Dakota State!!!

What's in a name

What's in a name? Well, many things. Our name is how most people identify us, know us and remember us. We use it to "sign" for goods, services and also to show our agreement or disagreement for something. I bet few of us know what John Hancock looked like or even what he liked but we all know what he stood for...because of his name. 

Our name can come from various places, literally, as it often indicates our ethnic origins. It could also be used to honor relatives or other individuals. Our name is our contract with society to say we will be an active member and society's response that it will look after us. Our name plants our stake in time and in history. What we do, who we will become and where we go will be forever tied to our name.

In Hebrew there were letters attached to holy words, יהוה,  which when translated to Latin spelled YHWH. Religiously observant Jews do not pronounce the word or letters, which translate to mean "to be" or "to exist" and were used to reference God. However, in Christian traditions the name Yahweh is synonymous with Jesus, a name to which every knee shall bend when spoken. (Philippians 2:10)

In no way am I equating the name of this blog with the name of Jesus but I thought it deserved a little explaining. Eye Heart Mammon when spoken sounds like I Heart Mammon, meaning I love Mammon or money. I dont necessarily mean I love money but I find constant tugs from the world as to put money first. And as I get older that tug becomes stronger and stronger. This blog is about the tugs of the world that pull me (and maybe some of you) away from our real goal of getting to Heaven.

The words also refer to three things that can lead us closer to God or further from Him. What we see,or our eyes, can lead us to envy, greed, and lust or we can use them to see God in others, in everyone, even when its hard. We can look around us and see the beauty that God created for us or take it for granted.

Our heart, or lack of, can lead us to be lazy, to not be strong men and women of God, to love only those who we choose. Or our heart can lead us to love everyone, be courageous and care first for others.

Mammon, in and of itself is not evil. Its what we do with it and what it does with us. God wants us to prosper but not at His expense. I find the older I get the more and more the world is engrossed in Mammon, and I must admit, I get caught up in it. There are so many good uses for money and it makes life more comfortable but how can we use it to the benefit of others better?

EYE, HEART and Mammon, we have choices, and sometimes they are hard but we need to find out what's  in the name for us. How will we be remembered? How will we be forgotten?