Latest / Catholic Spirit Radio / Good News #217 061426: Flooded Basement, Faithful Heart: Finding God in the Storm

Transcript

Good News #217 061426: Flooded Basement, Faithful Heart: Finding God in the Storm · Catholic Spirit Radio

0:00
Welcome to Good News on Catholic Spirit Radio, a program for teens and almost
0:04
teens to better understand that the gospel of Jesus Christ is relevant in their
0:09
lives, and it's a place where your questions about faith and religion can be answered.
0:13
And now, here's your host, Deacon Al.
0:18
Good evening, and welcome to Good News on Catholic Spirit Radio.
0:21
I am Deacon Al Lundy, permanent deacon of the Peoria Diocese.
0:26
Happy to be with you every Saturday and Sunday from 8 to 8.30 here on Catholic
0:30
Spirit Radio, as we talk about the good news of Jesus Christ, the gospel of our Lord.
0:36
And we use the readings from the weekend's mass to give some reflection about
0:41
Christ's love for us and our love and reverence for Him,
0:45
as well as other things going on in the church and in the world and a little bit in my life.
0:52
And my life has been kind of testy today, John.
0:56
It's been a challenge. We had a huge storm here last night in the Bloomington
1:01
Normal area, and I'm sure a lot of our listening areas had storms because that
1:05
was a huge cell that moved through.
1:07
And another one due today. Now remember, we're recording this a few days ahead of the weekend.
1:14
Anyway, we got four and a half inches of water in one evening in our home,
1:20
and I now have a flooded basement.
1:22
So that was not fun. Had to deal with that till like 2.30 this morning,
1:28
and then after like less than five hours of sleep, had to get up and get ready
1:33
for a funeral of a friend of mine.
1:36
And so I had the flood and the funeral, and that made for kind of a tough day.
1:42
So I guess we look at this and say, where is God in all that?
1:47
That's the favorite question of my, when I go to my spiritual director,
1:52
we talk about what's going on in my life. And the first thing he asks is,
1:55
so where do you find God in all this?
1:58
So I guess if I were to look back at the weather and at the funeral,
2:03
for the weather, my garden looks amazing.
2:07
I mean, amazing. All this water, the plants are huge. The blossoms are gigantic.
2:15
My hostas are like the size of Buick's.
2:19
I've got some Asian lilies that just opened this morning that are just,
2:24
they're huge, and they're the most brilliant red I have ever seen in a plant.
2:29
Just a blinding, bright red. And that's all because of this weather.
2:34
And so it's not all bad. I'm sure the farmers, you know, four and a half inches
2:39
of rain, I'm sure the farmers are ecstatic over this.
2:44
So there's a lot of good things that come out of some very bad weather.
2:48
The lake is full. I have friends who are complaining about their wells running dry this spring.
2:55
Very, very low. I mean, a couple of them were pumping mud, you know,
3:00
and now the wells are full. The aquifers are doing great.
3:03
Yeah, all the water levels are up.
3:06
So that's wonderful. Happy to see that.
3:10
The water level was up in my window well, though. And I mean,
3:13
well past the windowsill.
3:16
And as I was explaining here, it's an egress well.
3:21
And so I had the brilliant idea for home security of putting a locking cover on it,
3:28
so that when we need to leave and we go up into the well from my shop,
3:33
we can pull some cotter pins, pop the lid off, climb out.
3:37
That works great. But when the well is full of water, that means you can't go
3:42
outside and take the lid off and drop a submersible pump in.
3:45
You have to go down, move all your tools around, and open the window and let
3:51
nearly a foot deep of water just plunge into the basement.
3:57
And my wife was not thrilled about that, but I said, you know,
4:00
I really have no other option.
4:03
And she said, well, we can just wait for it to stop raining.
4:05
It's not going to bring the water out of the well.
4:08
It's still going to be there. So at some point, we've got to deal with that water.
4:12
So anyway, but the gardens look great. The yard looks amazing. The grass is beautiful.
4:18
So anyway, that's, that's the good news. As far as my friend's funeral,
4:23
you know, it used to be when I was a kid,
4:26
you might go to a funeral once every four or five years, you know,
4:30
every now and then, you know, grandma, grandpa, maybe an uncle or something,
4:34
but you didn't go to a lot of funerals.
4:36
It had to be somebody close in the family.
4:40
But part of my role as a deacon, as clergy, is we deal with death of parishioners
4:49
and their family members all the time, multiple times a month.
4:55
And I knew that was part of the vocation, and there's something very difficult about that.
5:06
But people who are drawn to clergy are often very empathetic people.
5:13
We're doing this to help others because we care about other people and we love
5:16
other people and we want to share Christ's love with other people.
5:20
And so we see them at the best of times and the worst of times.
5:24
We see them at baptisms and weddings, but we also see them in the hospital and
5:28
in hospice and at funerals. And that's hard.
5:33
And you don't think about that as we go through formation. We don't really think
5:38
about how often we have to do that.
5:40
And it's a lot. And it's oftentimes, these are my parishioners. These are my friends.
5:47
And it's really hard to see them pass.
5:51
It's hard to lose someone. But then you fall back on our faith and our hope.
5:58
And they're not lost. They're not gone.
6:01
They're just in a different place. We're not seeing them right now,
6:05
but it doesn't mean we're not going to see them again ever.
6:07
You know, we just can't see them now, but we can still talk to them through
6:11
prayer. We can still hold their memories in our minds and our hearts.
6:16
But what I find most rewarding is so often this comes at a point in a person's
6:22
life where they're incredibly ill or severely injured,
6:28
you know, car accidents, cancer, things like that. And,
6:33
To see the relief of that pain, of that hardship,
6:38
you can't help but be amazed at what a gracious God we have that seems to know
6:45
when enough is enough, when the suffering is to the point where.
6:50
You don't need to go through this anymore, time to come home.
6:54
And that was one of the cases today with my friend. He was just incredibly ill
7:00
for the last four years, fought it very courageously. He had wounds.
7:06
Mark, he had, John, this friend had wounds on his legs from the cancer and the
7:13
treatments and the results of the cancer treatments where the shin was open to the bone.
7:20
And dressings had to be changed multiple times and the rest of the body,
7:25
And so people had to do that for him. And can you imagine the pain that he's going through?
7:32
And instead of complaining about the cancer, and he never in years,
7:39
in the years that I knew him while he was ill, he never talked about why me.
7:43
He never asked that question.
7:45
He didn't really care about why because it's not his plan. He's just going along
7:50
for the ride like all of us, right?
7:52
But people would come and have to treat these horrific wounds and he's apologizing
8:00
to them for inconveniencing them.
8:02
I mean, he's got these horrific, painful wounds and he's not even thinking about
8:08
himself. He's thinking about the inconvenience that he's causing others who
8:12
are trying to care for him.
8:14
Just a really, really nice man.
8:17
He will be greatly missed by a lot of a lot of friends and a lot of family members.
8:22
But today in the Mass, we had the chance to rejoice in the fact that we believe
8:29
he's with his God in heaven, that he doesn't have pain anymore,
8:33
and that he's whole, soon will be whole again when his physical body is raised.
8:42
But until then, he's out of pain. He's surrounded by loved ones.
8:49
He's surrounded by our prayers. He's surrounded by a loving God.
8:53
So there's that. And so I guess what we do is we learn to move very quickly from,
9:03
the sadness over the loss of someone into the joy of what has now been gained.
9:09
And even though we can't realize it with them yet.
9:13
We have the faith and the hope that we'll be able to realize this same reward with them eventually.
9:20
Nobody gets out of life alive.
9:23
We're not made to last for infinity in this particular state.
9:32
We are made for eternal life, but not this eternal life.
9:36
And so the Mass is a good way to remind ourselves of that, and remind others
9:40
of that, and give others hope that no matter what you're going through,
9:44
in your life, whether it's a flooded basement or a bad storm or cancer or whatever
9:51
kind of tragedy it is in your life, there are better things to come and better things,
9:58
awaiting us, and that's the promise of Christ.
10:01
And we'll be hearing more about that in today's reading. It's the 11th Sunday of Ordinary Time.
10:07
We're going to break for just a few minutes. When we come back,
10:10
we'll be hearing from the book of Exodus, from Paul's letter to the Romans,
10:15
and then from the Gospel of Matthew.
10:17
You're listening to Good News on Catholic Spirit Radio. Stay tuned.
10:21
Good News will be right back on Catholic Spirit Radio.
10:25
As you've heard, Catholic Spirit Radio is hosting their 15th anniversary pilgrimage to Wisconsin.
10:30
Seats filled up so quickly that we've added another bus. Now more seats are available.
10:35
This three-day trip includes exclusive tours of shrines and basilicas,
10:39
plus luxury bus transportation, meals, and hotel.
10:42
What a great gift idea. Departure is August 10th from Normal and Rockford.
10:47
Make your reservation at catholicspiritradio.com or Kathy at 309-828-6554.
10:54
Did you know May is Leave a Legacy Month?
10:57
It's the perfect time to finally create your will.
10:59
MyCatholicWill.com makes it simple and free. Just answer a few questions and
11:04
you'll have a complete will in about 20 minutes.
11:07
You can provide for your family and support the causes closest to your heart
11:10
by Catholic Spirit Radio. It's easier than you think.
11:13
Visit MyCatholicWill.com right slash Catholic Spirit Radio to get started today.
11:19
Again, that's MyCatholicWill.com right slash catholicspiritradio.
11:24
Congratulations to Heather Rankin, who has decided to pursue a degree in nursing.
11:29
The downside to that news is that she is leaving Catholic Spirit Radio.
11:33
So now Catholic Spirit Radio is seeking someone for the new full-time position
11:38
as Director of Events and Outreach, or as I like to say, Director of Excitement.
11:43
If you have plenty of enthusiasm and organizational skills waiting to be used
11:47
in a faith-filled environment, check out the details in the Job tab at catholicspiritradio.org.
11:53
Hello, this is Steve Gleason with your one-minute tool for Catholic evangelism.
11:56
Here's the question for your non-Catholic friend.
11:58
Are you lured by the half-century-old shift in Christianity that hails,
12:01
I am supposed to be blessed with all my needs met, including excellent health,
12:05
upward financial abundance, and sidestepping any adverse circumstance?
12:08
Well, here's your three best friendship tools for Catholic evangelism.
12:11
Number one, sand or rock, your prosperity church or your mega church is offering
12:14
you vanishing fantasies.
12:16
Tens of millions are reaching for the lures that tickle a natural human quest
12:19
for life with no heartaches.
12:20
That is not Christianity as described by Jesus and the apostles.
12:23
Secondly, there's 73 books, not just 73 individual verses of a dream life.
12:28
God's merciful action in our life brings us into seasons that are not pleasant.
12:32
We all struggle with expectations like, take up your cross and follow me.
12:35
We just can't skirt it. This is a very real part of Christianity. St.
12:38
Paul said in multiple places, what he suffered as loss, he counted as rubbish
12:42
in order that he might gain Christ. And thirdly, my take on the lives of the
12:45
saints, bluntly said, more went wrong than went right, except at the end.
12:49
And isn't that what counts? Find me online at Smarty Pants Catholic Evangelism.
12:55
Hello friends and thank you for joining us. I'm Father Wade Menezes with another
12:58
segment of The Crux of the Matter.
13:01
The Latin Rite Church, both during and after Vatican II, has continued to encourage
13:06
the use of Latin during Mass.
13:08
True as this may be, the Church's teaching on this topic has never really seemed
13:12
to flourish after 1963, the year that the document on the Sacred Liturgy was
13:17
promulgated by the Second Vatican Council.
13:20
While it is true that the Second Vatican Council encouraged the vernacular,
13:24
that is, the mother tongue of different countries, to be employed in the liturgy
13:28
so as to encourage a greater participation on the part of the faithful gathered
13:31
together for sacred worship,
13:33
it was never really intended that the Church's own universal mother tongue,
13:37
that is, Latin, should be done away with altogether.
13:40
In fact, Sacro Sanctum Concilium, Vatican II's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy,
13:46
states that the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin rites of the
13:50
Church, and that steps should be taken so that the faithful may also be able
13:54
to say or to sing together, in Latin, those parts of the ordinary of the Mass which pertain to them.
14:01
Examples of the ordinary parts of the Mass would include the Gloria,
14:04
that is, the glory to God in the highest, the Credo, that is, the Apostles' Creed,
14:09
the Sanctus, the Holy, Holy, Holy, the Pater Noster, the Our Father,
14:15
and the Agnus Dei, the Lamb of God.
14:17
Another important point regarding sacred music. The Constitution on the Sacred
14:22
Liturgy also states that the Church acknowledges Gregorian chant,
14:26
which uses Latin, as specially suited to the Roman liturgy,
14:30
and that as such it should be given pride of place in liturgical services.
14:35
This has been another edition of The Crux of the Matter. God bless you.
14:40
For more information about the teachings of the Catholic Church,
14:43
go to EWTN.com and click on Faith.
14:57
And welcome back to Good News. I'm Deacon Al Lundy. We're just talking about,
15:01
the graciousness of God and how He loves us so much that He takes care of us
15:07
even in the worst moments of our lives.
15:10
And all three of our readings today talk about God's great love for us.
15:15
Our first reading is from the book of Exodus.
15:18
And Moses writes, in those days, the Israelites came to the desert of Sinai
15:23
and pitched camp, and while Israel was encamped here in front of the mountain,
15:27
Moses went up the mountain to God.
15:29
Then the Lord called to him and said, Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob,
15:34
Tell the Israelites, You have seen for yourselves how I treated the Egyptians,
15:40
and how I bore you up on eagles' wings and brought you here to myself.
15:44
Therefore, if you hearken to my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my special possession.
15:51
Dearer to me than all other people.
15:54
Through all the earth, though all the earth is mine, you shall be a kingdom
15:59
of priests and a holy nation. The word of the Lord.
16:03
So from the very beginning, God turns to the Israelites who have been worshiping
16:10
God, worshiping some other gods from time to time as well, but turned back to the one true God,
16:18
and God has brought them to freedom out of the slavery of Egypt.
16:23
And now he offers us the freedom out of the slavery of sin. It's very much the same thing.
16:30
We gain our freedom the same way the Israelites did through a keeping of God's
16:35
covenant, through listening to his words and following them.
16:39
And that's what Jesus tells us in the New Testament as well is,
16:43
you know, if you love me, you will keep my commandments.
16:47
So it's not just about stating that you believe God is your Savior.
16:52
It's acting according to what God commands us to do.
16:56
In our reading from Paul to the Romans, Paul writes, Brothers and sisters,
17:02
Christ, while we were still helpless, yet died at the appointed time for the ungodly.
17:08
Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person.
17:13
Though perhaps for a good person, one might even find courage to die.
17:18
But God proves His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
17:24
How much more, then, since we are now justified by His blood,
17:28
will we be saved through Him from the wrath?
17:32
Indeed, if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death
17:37
of His Son, how much more, once reconciled, will we be saved by His life?
17:43
Not only that, but we also boast of God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
17:47
through whom we have now received reconciliation.
17:51
The Word of the Lord.
17:53
I've always been fascinated by this part of the Scripture. It's something we
17:58
don't often think about.
17:59
You'd like to think that you have the heroism, the internal bravery,
18:05
that you would die for a good cause, that you would give up your life for your
18:09
country, for your family, for a good friend.
18:13
You might even give up your life for a stranger in their defense,
18:19
people who haven't harmed you.
18:21
But what about the people who haven't been good to you?
18:24
What about the people who have cheated you or lied to you, right,
18:30
or done terrible things to you?
18:32
Would you really be willing to give up your life for them? But yet Christ did
18:36
that while we were sinners, while we were actively sinning against Christ,
18:41
not listening to His Word, not following His covenant.
18:44
Christ gave His life for our salvation.
18:48
And you think about what that takes, what tremendous love that would have to take.
18:55
And this is what Paul bears out in this letter. He says, sure,
18:59
some of you might be willing to give up your life for a friend.
19:02
You might give up your life for a good cause.
19:05
But would you give up your life for an enemy?
19:08
And yet Jesus did that. Because when he died through his death and resurrection,
19:14
he gave up his life on behalf of the entire world, and we weren't all great
19:19
people. We still aren't.
19:22
And yet, Christ still loves us that much. We are still his creation.
19:28
We are the new Israel. We are the new favored people of God, the Christians.
19:36
And yet not every Christian follows the commands of Christ and yet Christ still,
19:42
offers us salvation through his love.
19:45
I think that's tremendous. When you think about it, the tremendous amount of
19:51
love that pours out of God is truly endless. We're a very fickle people.
19:57
Our allegiance kind of comes and goes, depending on which way the wind of friendship is blowing.
20:04
But God doesn't experience that.
20:07
Being pure love, He loves us without any question.
20:12
The question comes from us. Do we love God back?
20:17
Are we willing to love God in the way that God loves us?
20:22
Excuse me. In our gospel reading from Matthew from the ninth chapter.
20:28
At the sight of the crowds, Jesus' heart was moved with pity for them,
20:33
because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.
20:39
Then he said to his disciples, The harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few.
20:44
So ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.
20:50
Then he summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits,
20:55
to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness.
20:59
The names of the twelve apostles are these. First, Simon, called Peter, and his brother Andrew.
21:06
James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. Philip and Bartholomew,
21:12
Thomas and Matthew the tax collector.
21:15
James, the son of Alphaeus and Thaddaeus, Simon from Cana, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him.
21:23
Jesus sent out these twelve after instructing them thus, Do not go into pagan
21:28
territory or enter a Samaritan town.
21:31
Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and as you go make this
21:36
proclamation, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
21:40
Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons.
21:47
Without cost you have received, without cost you are to give. The gospel of the Lord.
21:55
So Jesus is getting ready to hand his mission over to his disciples.
22:00
He knows that his time of crucifixion is coming, and that soon he will ascend
22:06
into heaven. Soon after that, he'll ascend into heaven.
22:09
But the purpose of the church is to carry on the mission of Christ.
22:14
And this is done through his disciples, through his apostles,
22:18
who we now call bishops and who train and form priests to carry on the mission
22:25
of Christ throughout the whole world.
22:28
And look at the things that they're called to do to help cleanse the people,
22:34
to heal them, to heal them of their illnesses, of their evils, of their sins.
22:40
So this is a ministry of love. This is an extension of Christ's love that he showed his disciples.
22:46
Now he tells his disciples to show that same love to others without personal benefit. it.
22:53
This is what being part of the ordained clergy is all about.
22:58
It's about setting aside all your other feelings about really everything in
23:04
the world and focus instead on the people of Christ, to focus on mankind,
23:13
to bring about the healing of Christ to others, the truth of Christ to others,
23:17
and to do it without personal benefit.
23:20
And that's really the beauty of the religious life.
23:25
It's a difficult thing to do, but it is so rewarding and it's so refreshing.
23:31
And it's amazing the joy you will find among those in the religious life,
23:36
the joy that they have found by turning their back on so much of the secular world,
23:44
and focusing instead on the sharing of love to others.
23:48
And we're all called to that through our baptism. We're all called to be priests,
23:52
prophets, and kings, just as Christ was.
23:56
We're all called to the same ministry of healing, whether that's a physical
24:00
healing or an emotional healing or social healing.
24:05
We're all called to be part of this healing ministry, to help others by being Christ to them.
24:13
And forgiving is hard. Forgetting is even harder.
24:18
Setting aside our anger is an incredibly superhuman thing to do,
24:24
really. It's very human to be bitter. It's very human to be sinful.
24:31
And yet, what we are all called through the love of Christ to do is to be more Christ-like.
24:37
And that's our challenge as Christians. And that's the challenge that Christ
24:42
offers us through His church.
24:44
And because it's difficult, He gives us the strength to do this.
24:48
And He does that through the sacraments, through the graces that we obtain, the bits,
24:55
of Christ's life and love that He shares with us through baptism and confirmation
25:01
and through marriage and through the healing of the anointing of the sick.
25:07
And through ordination, through confession.
25:11
These are all ways that we encounter Christ's strength through His grace,
25:16
through His love for us, so that we can go into the world and be more like Him.
25:22
And that's our challenge during this ordinary time, the months that we have
25:26
before we turn our attention to Advent and Christmas and the coming of our Lord into the world.
25:33
This is the time of growth. This is the green time in liturgical color.
25:38
This is the time that we grow, that we grow in our likeness to Christ,
25:43
who we were meant to be created as and who we separated ourselves from through our choice of sin.
25:51
So what choices will you make this week when you're confronted with hardships,
25:56
when you're confronted with the death of a loved one, or you have to face an
26:01
illness or a serious injury?
26:04
How will you show yourself to be more like Christ?
26:08
By calling to mind Christ's love for you and growing in your love for Christ
26:15
and your love for others.
26:17
That's our reflection for this weekend. May Almighty God bless you,
26:21
protect you from all evil, and bring you to everlasting life. Good night.
26:27
You've been listening to Good News on Catholic Spirit Radio,
26:30
a program for teens and almost teens to better understand that the gospel of
26:33
Jesus Christ is relevant in your life. Submit your questions to Deacon L.
26:38
At goodnews at catholicspiritradio.com. That's goodnews at catholicspiritradio.com.
26:44
Deacon will answer your questions about faith and religion.
26:47
Thank you for listening to Good News on Catholic Spirit Radio.