Deacon Dan Wright

Paul's Conversion and Our Conversion

Although I considered the readings for the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul today as a place to begin my reflection, what stood out to me more, at least in the general theme of conversion was a reading from First Peter, which was part of yesterday’s evening prayer:

Praised be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, he who in his great mercy gave us new birth; a birth unto hope which draws its life from the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead; a birth to an imperishable inheritance, incapable of fading of defilement…

Certainly when we look at the life of St. Paul, who said that his sins were greater than those belonging to any other because of his persecution of the Church, we can see both the mercy of God and the new birth in Christ active in his life. Indeed, God frees us all from sin and gives us a new beginning in a world made new by the power of Christ.  Paul shows us what we can attain with faith. The essential message of Saints Peter and Paul does not vary. God makes all things new; he does it in us by the power of his great love to give us a new beginning, a new birth. In Christ God makes all things new and we stand blessed to participate in praising God along with countless saints and angels.

As I read the passage quoted above I felt compelled to insert myself into it as I continued:

…which is kept in heaven for me who is guarded with God’s power through faith; to be revealed in the last days.

While the message of the conversion of St. Paul certainly teaches us about the great apostle, it also teaches us about ourselves. It is about Paul and us. Therefore, when I first read St. John Chrysostom’s excerpt from the Office of Readings for today’s feast, I felt a strong sense of affirmation.  He says:

Paul, more than anyone else, has shown us what man really is, and in what our nobility consists, and of what virtue this particular animal is capable…

...Of what we are capable through God's mercy by our daily participation in the new creation; by our participation from moment to moment in God's design for humanity. What might be wrought by faith human tongues have just begun to express.

Friday Reflection: Growing in Grace

Friday comes as a welcome moment as I prepare for the weekend. I accept the day as a moment to reflect on the need for growth in the grace that God gives us. Surely all who desire God’s grace and salvation have it readily available for the asking. Nevertheless, all of us may grow in grace and growing in grace is certainly a beautiful thing. It is something to be greatly coveted in the good sense of the word.

Asking God to allow us to grow in grace doesn't mean that we deny the existence of the grace we have already. Nor does it somehow mean that we can be “more saved” than someone else or "more saved" than we are already. However, it does mean that we see the need to better reflect the image of Jesus in our daily lives. It means that we want to be more like Christ. We want to know him better and show him better in our world. Growing in grace is becoming more Christ-like.

I take Friday as an exciting anticipation of the weekend. Not so that I will have time away from my job (After all, growing in grace means that I meet Christ daily at my job. My job too is God's gift to me). Rather, I anticipate the weekend because it offers me yet another opportunity to be reconciled and to worship God and receive the Blessed Sacrament—the real presence of Jesus—again. I look forward to the weekend because everything that happens recharges me and gets me ready to go into the world next week and give a special gift to all whom I encounter.

This Friday I offer special thanks for the answered prayers in my life—really for as far back as I can remember, but also recently. I thank God for the special people in my life and for the healing and hope that they have brought and taught me to receive. I thank God for this special day to prepare to meet Jesus yet again. More than anything, I am thankful for the opportunity to grow and become whatever God wills. May we all be blessed with the freshness of God’s love and Holy Spirit as we enter the weekend and the new week ahead.

Remembering St. Agnes: Considering a Child's Sacrifice

Today is the birthday of a virgin; let us imitate her purity. It is the birthday of a martyr; let us offer ourselves in sacrifice. It is the birthday of Saint Agnes, who is said to have suffered martyrdom at the age of twelve….Dragged against her will to the altars, she stretches out her hands to the Lord in the midst of flames, making the triumphant sign of Christ the victor on the altar of sacrilege….Too young to be punished, yet old enough for a martyr’s crown; unfitted for the contest, yet effortless in victory, she shows herself a master of valor despite the handicap of youth. As a bride she would not be hastening to join her husband with the same joy she shows as a virgin on her way to punishment, crowned not with flowers but with holiness of life, adorned not with braided hair but with Christ himself.—St. Ambrose, On Virgins

It may be that sometimes we don’t sufficiently consider the lives of the saints and martyrs on their feast days or memorials. For those who are able to attend Mass daily there may be a better understanding where there is a priest for whom such things bear great importance. I must admit that sometimes, due to the busyness of the day or something else, I have failed to give the kind of attention to the lives of the saints that would truly inform my worship. However, sometimes there is a saint who seems to call out and catch my attention.

Years ago I had a long visit with a wise elderly priest after coming to terms with an especially trying personal challenge. The priest told me that there had always been a saint praying for me, whom I may not have realized or known about—he said it was a special saint whose prayers were just for me. I believe this now more than ever.

I can’t really say that Agnes, this young girl who lived in the third or fourth century, has been my special saint. However, I do know that she stands out to me today. Perhaps it is her youth and the fact that I have a little boy who is only a year younger than Agnes was when she offered her life in the truest imitation of Christ. Perhaps it is my consideration of my own daughter, who is just couple years older than St. Agnes was, who speaks to me. Regardless, I want to stop for a moment and consider St. Agnes, whom St. Ambrose tells us “succeeds in convincing others of her testimony about God.”

Today I call out her name. I say "St. Agnes, little friend, not unlike some of my students whom I fondly remember from years past, not unlike my own children, pray for me. Help me to have your courage and commitment to Christ. Help me to become like you, who depended on God and placed yourself entirely in the hands of Christ our savior. Let me be like you…to hide myself in Christ Jesus…to place myself entirely in his great sacrifice… but also to face the here and now with courage. Not being called to suffer the martyr’s death necessarily, but being called to give my all, my everything, for him who loved me greatest and saved me from eternal death."

To Be Who God Has Made Us to Be

All things are in the hands of the Lord, as the reading from Samuel in the Morning Prayer today reminds us.  I reflect on this briefly today after having a busy night—family responsibility, as well as work taken home, is part of being a deacon.   Today required a little more of me.

The diaconate is really a very different kind of ordained ministry in that in most cases it involves a job during the day and family to care for and to participate with in life.   Often life, my family and work, calls me to participate in ways that I don’t always anticipate but that I meet with readiness.

I’m quite thankful for my family.  They offer me exactly what I need in order to do what I do at the parish and at school.  They offer the balance I need and thus I am able to keep things in the proper perspective.  Our life is in the hands of the Lord: God has made us to be who we are.   God gives us what we have so that we might consecrate it and sanctify it as his instruments.  

God asks us to take responsibility in what he has given us.  He asks us to take ownership and identify with the life we have.  Life is not given to us to run away from or to hide from its difficulties and challenges.  God asks us to face it head on with faith.  God urges us to meet difficult situations—and perhaps difficult people—with strength, with love, with unfailing faith.

…the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and he has set the world upon them.  He will guard the footsteps of his faithful ones… (from 1 Sam. 2)

Let us go forth this day to be who he has made us be, and let us do it with faith.

The Power of Love

Today’s second reading from the Office of Readings is taken from a letter to the Corinthians by Saint Clement I, Pope.  In it he teaches the lesson of love.  If love is to be the guiding rule of our lives; if love is to be the conduct or stance with which we meet all challenges; if it is to be that with which we meet hate, we should learn of it, imitate it, and desire to possess it above all things.  Here’s what Clement I said about love:

Let the [person] truly possessed by the love of Christ keep his commandments.  Who can express the binding power of divine love?  Who can find the words for the splendor of its beauty?  Beyond all description are the heights to which love lifts us.  Love unites us to God; it cancels innumerable sins….Out of love the Lord took us to himself; because he loved us and it was God’s will, our Lord Jesus Christ gave his life’s blood for us—he gave his body for our body, his soul for our soul.

Indeed finding the words to do justice for love is not an easy task.  One cannot encapsulate love in mere words.  The scripture teaches us that God is love, and many are the times I have made reference to this, because we human beings know love.  Love is tangible and within our ability to experience and express.  Yet we tend only know it on the surface regardless of how deep our hearts plunge into its mysteries. Love is before us, deep and abiding eternally, giving meaning to life.  Love awaits our discovery; love beckons to the depths of human ability.  Amazingly, God made us to hold love in our hearts--we may hold it in a way that knows no limits.

Perhaps some may worry about their being undeserving of the love that has the power to remove all sins.  However, it is love that makes us able to receive the forgiveness that makes our lives new, and that enters to heal every situation of life that seems to challenge us most.  It is God’s grace that makes us able to be vessels capable of receiving the love that saves the soul.

Failures in love are bound to happen on our part to one degree or another.  If we’re honest with ourselves we realize this.  We ask God to forgive us as we forgive others, so we go to the place in our hearts where we have failed--sometimes we can go to the people involved and at other times not--but the important thing is to ask God to heal us precisely in the places where there has been failure.  Love is such that it doesn’t give up.  Clement said that it “has no limits to its endurance.”  Where we fail in loving others we may return and seek God all the more.  Really we must be resilient in loving others since it is love that will ultimately save us.

Allow love to triumph over today’s struggles.  Allow it to permeate the day and set the tone for the work week.  Let love conquer everything that stands in its way.  The miracle is that it’s all happening in you.  You are allowing yourself to be a place where love can make you perfect.  In doing so you are changing the world.  

The Lesson of Meeting Hate With Love: Reflecting on Martin Luther King Jr.

Recently a coworker asked me what I thought the significance is of celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  Too often those of us who get the day off from work—teachers, government employees, students and others—may tend not to think all that much about why we have the day away from our work, but instead we may treat it as just another day off. 

I believe it’s a mistake for us not to reflect upon and consider the significance of this holiday.  In fact, we really ought to find some way to celebrate it actively.  We ought to find some action by which we can incorporate the meaning of the holiday into our lives.  I want to offer a suggestion: we can allow Martin Luther King Jr. Day to be the occasion for a renewed commitment to making peace in our world.  In the name of Martin Luther King Jr., that is, in the name of all the good that he stood for, we can commit to a daily act of peacemaking in order for the world to be a better place for everyone, a place of true freedom and mutual respect; a place of true justice and hope.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is about the dream that he had, and a dream for us to share.  His was a dream of peace; a dream of cooperation and equality.  Dr. King’s dream included all Americans—no, more than that.  His dream is a dream for every man, woman, and child of planet earth.  It is a dream that I find to be in keeping with everything that I’ve been taught about the true significance of living the life in Christ.  It is a dream where I see in the faces of all people my brothers and sisters, my family, and my friends.  Dr. King’s dream is a vision of a world free from oppression and hostility; free from hatred, inequality, injustice, and ignorance.  How could we not make it our own?  How could we not live it today?

The lesson that I take from Dr. King, and that I commit to live, is the lesson of meeting hate with love.  In a conversation with a friend recently I mentioned that Dr. King taught that we must meet hate with love.  I went on to say that to do so is certainly not the “natural” thing to do.  Much to the contrary, it’s natural to meet hate with repulsion, and often with aggression.  My friend told me that meeting hate with love is supernatural, and indeed to do so requires that we tap into God’s reservoir of grace.  Something I want to emphasize here is that it’s far from impossible to meet hate with love.  In fact, meeting hate with love should be the habitual Christian stance.  It’s the real way that each of us will change the world one person at a time.

Take a few moments today to consider the significance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  Incorporate it into your prayer life if you will.  Ask God to make you a vessel of peace.  Consider today the significance of this great Christian leader who asked us to share his dream.  Consider the value of peacemaking and nonviolence as a way of bringing about a transformed world.  Moreover, reflect on the real responsibility that each of us must take to do something to make peace a reality.

Let us go forward together and always meet hate with love.  Love has the power to transform, and all who encounter true love will remain forever changed by it.

Friday Reflection: The Combination of Penance and Love

In my years of being a Catholic, something I have come to know and appreciate is the is the traditional understanding of Friday's being a day of penance and prayer.  Certainly in the rhythm of the week it does us good to take a day and consider everything that has transpired in the previous several days.  Of course this consideration takes the form of action on our part--it is action that makes it penance.  We pray; we do alms; perhaps we fast or abstain from eating meat.  

I'd like to suggest a Friday penance to go along with whatever it is that you do already: Consider love in the context of making Friday special.  After all, the greatest love ever given was offered on a Friday long ago.  Not only are we to consider giving love, but I think it's important to see love from other directions. For example, it might be a fitting Friday penance to consider love as the action that we deserve.

Recently in the context of the sacrament of Penance a priest suggested that I consider the words of God the Father to Jesus at his Baptism by John: "This is my beloved..." The priest went on to tell me that I should take those words of God to his Son as though they were being said to me.  Yes, I have come and presented myself for the cleansing power of God and he says to me, "I am well pleased."

In my Friday penance I want to know love, to act on it, and to allow love to effect a change of some kind in me.  It may be that we may not believe that we need any kind of change, but something I've observed in the deep experience of life is that all encounter involves change.  I cannot apprehend any being without it touching me in a way that involves change on the level of my soul; that is, in the deepest recesses of my heart there is an encounter and an exchange.

To grasp love, to apprehend it and comprehend it, to open one's heart and life to love is to invite love to do as it wills.  The mother of our Lord said, "Be it done to me according to your will."  By her words she yielded, she surrendered, and she allowed love to act in such a way that we deem it to be the miracle of all miracles.

I pray that love happens to you this day... and I hope you pray that it happens to me too.  Love has the power to change the world.  The miracle is that will happen through us and to us.  Our penance will be that it changes us forever.

The Difference

In what seems like a complete lifetime ago now, I recall as a young Christian singing along to a song whose lyrics proclaimed, "What a difference you've made in my life." I think it was made popular by Amy Grant, and Ronnie Milsap, way back in 1977! There was no way that I could have really known what exactly that meant back then.  I reflect on this because recently I have found myself thinking the very same words.  In sort of an eerie fashion, my now seems to be strongly connected to my then.

Indeed I am truly thankful for all that God has been in my life, and all that he has brought me through in order to experience his presence in this time.  I look back and I see blessing after blessing, and I see the mighty hand of God reaching into my life to save me.  

I think that it's important for us to reflect like this because we don't know in any way what the future will hold.  I look at the past 25 or 30 years and I see a wonderful affirmation of God's love and grace that has the power to conquer all.  It's a truly amazing feeling to be aware that God does not change.  God's love remains a constant.

The difference is about living a blessed life and perhaps realizing what life might have been like without God's presence.  So in our now, regardless of what trials might possibly lie ahead, we are able to speak with faith.  We are able to have confidence and courage, and we need only look at those things that give us the strength to affirm all the more.

For many people there is a strong line of personal demarcation between a life lived in sin and a life lived in grace.  They know well what they have been saved from.  Perhaps they tried to fill a personal void and made a wreck of things.  In my 20s I became distant from my Christian faith and tried to fill my human longing with everything except for the one thing that has the power to satisfy.  When we come to God totally, in a complete movement of conversion, the line of difference becomes clear to us.

As Catholics we have the means to come to God is many ways.  Through our prayer and reflections, through study, or through the Mass.  Time after time the means of grace I have found most effective--not just to cleanse my life from sin, but to strengthen me to live in a positive and effective manner--is the sacrament of Penance.  I say this to anyone who has been away from the faith, either by leaving the Church or just being spiritually distant or cold, the remedy is nearby and the grace is available to make a difference, and indeed what a difference it is.

Faith in the Workplace

Recently I received a request to be on an upcoming panel for an adult faith formation program in my parish called Catholic Q&A.  The topic is going to be "Faith in the Workplace." This is actually something that I've given more than a small amount of time to thinking about.  I'll be participating this Friday evening as one of a panel of speakers.  

The topics that we will discuss were emailed to me and are below in bold italics with my comments directly following in blue:

Can't compartmentalize faith and work. Understand living our faith in the work place as part of the way lay people live out our baptismal call to discipleship. Indeed faith and work should not be compartmentalized.  We are called to take our faith with us at all times, and certainly this includes work.  Something that I've heard said time and again, in regard to my role as a deacon, is that deacons are to be "ministers in the marketplace."  In a real way all of us, not just deacons, should be thinking about how we bring our ministry to the marketplace--and of course this goes far beyond the fact that often the best place to run into Deacon Dan is at the local supermarket.  Like everyone else, I can best show my faith by working with you and being willing to be open about my convictions.

On an everyday basis - how do you bring faith into your work? You have to meet each situations individually, but remember Christ has no hands on earth but yours.  Each day thank God for your job, even if it has been a source of dread in your life.  God has given you work to provide for your needs and the needs of your family.  As I have said in other posts, be willing to consecrate the day through your efforts.  Be the ambassador of the Church, but at the same time accept your failures and limitation.  Ask God to help you--you'll be surprised at what you get.

How do you answer people’s questions about faith?  Ask the Holy Spirit for help, but overall be prepared.  Learn your faith and know the bible.  Dedicate time to study.  When you don't know an answer say, "I'm not sure.  I'll find out and get back with you."

How do you deal with the workplace challenges: Christian’s response to gossip, frustrations with difficult people, conflict in the workplace, etc.  Deal with everything prayerfully.  Accept that difficulties are common.  You're not alone.  Resist the temptation to gossip.  Make a personal commitment to avoid saying anything negative.  Meet everything with love and respond to gossip with positive remarks.  Forgive others and forgive yourself, and let your forgiveness be real forgiveness that reaches deeply and heals the soul.

How to respond when asked to do something unethical or immoral? Be frank and honest.  "I have moral conviction against doing this."  Also understand that you have duty to inform your conscience regarding ethics in the workplace.  When it comes to morality and ethics there's no room for compromise.  

How do you react when you hear something unethical or immoral?  Avoid the appearance of being self righteous, but don’t be afraid to stand up for what you believe in.  Oftentimes when we witness something unethical or immoral we have a moral duty to report it to the proper authority.  Weigh situations with sound judgment based on your deepest convictions.  Don’t be easily swayed by others who may have ulterior motives or unseen allegiances.

How do you evangelize in the workplace (in action, by living the faith, etc.) Often the best way to evangelize is by what we do more than what we say.  There may be an occasion where witnessing your faith requires you to tell others about it, but the best way to show your faith is simply to live it to the best of your ability.  True evangelization involves being formed in Christ.  We evangelize best when we are thoroughly evangelized ourselves.

How do you handle office politics?  Realize that authority is given by God.  Avoid the negativity associated with office politics.  Know your job and concentrate on doing it in an excellent fashion.  Sometimes I’ve found it helpful to say to myself, “That’s not my business.”  Know your business and focus on doing it best.

How do you balance work with the rest of life? I avoid being a workaholic.  I realize that my family has important needs and I have a life outside of work.  While it may necessary to do work at home, I have found it best to leave work at the workplace.  If needed, I will go in early, or stay late.

Keeping priorities in order Remember to keep the main thing the main thing.  Often the best thing we can do is seriously examine priorities and ask ourselves honestly what is most important

Making time for work, family and personal growth It’s essential to put everything in its proper place.  Making time can be the biggest challenge.  Those who are successful at it have a good idea of the “big picture.”  Goal setting for work, family, and personal needs is a good idea.

 

How do you practice humility in the workplace when nothing in the workplace promotes this virtue?  Keep a copy of St. Francis’ Peace Prayer nearby.  Remember to live it.  Reach out to others.  The opposite of humility is self-absorbtion.

Questions to ask in your workplace: will your workplace allow group gatherings (i.e. Bible study at lunch, etc) It’s especially important to connect with others who hold your faith.

 

Words from the Night

 I cry aloud to God,
   aloud to God, that he may hear me. 
In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;
   in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying;
   my soul refuses to be comforted.    Psalm 77: 1-2

The morning prayer of the Church begins today by calling to mind one who cried aloud to God throughout the night without ceasing.  It serves to remind us that we have a place to turn in the day of distress.  Although appearances and all evidence of the senses may seem to scream out that we are alone, our faith urges us to turn to God.

In all honesty it would be rare for most of us to spend an entire night in prayer crying out.  Usually at the end of my day sleep comes with little effort.  Truly no sane person would want such troubled sleep that he or she felt forced to cry to God for comfort in the soul.  However, we should consider that there are in fact many people whose lives bear such difficulty that sleep does not come easy and perhaps they spend the night calling out for help.

Several years ago I went on a retreat given by an elderly priest who had a knack for storytelling.  One of stories I remember best was his telling about how as a teenage boy, living on a farm in Texas during the bad years of the Great Depression, he was awakened one night by the sound of his father whom he discovered on his knees in the living room praying for his family.

Situations so severe that they have the power to cause a person to spend the night awake are real.  I think such people numerous and all around us. When I consider the places in the world where trouble abounds it tends to be somewhat mind boggling.  Considering the war, violence, disease, hunger, and poverty that exists—often in our own cities—there seems to be plenty to warrant crying aloud to God.

Years ago, before my conversion, I recall that a congregation I attended held an all-night prayer vigil from time to time.  I first remember attending one such gathering when I was just a young boy.  It left me with a strong impression, though the kinds of things that were preached about that evening (there was preaching in addition to prayer) had more to do with saving souls than meeting the corporal needs of humanity.

Occasionally I have known of Catholic parishes that will have a night of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.  Whenever we get an opportunity to spend a significant portion of the evening in prayer, we may find that it carries a blessing.  It’s our opportunity to spend a little time awake with the Lord.  

What should be on our minds and hearts any time we pray or any time that we have occasion to reflect deeply?   In addition to our personal needs and the needs of those closest to us, we should consider the needs of those who suffer most in this world.  Especially we ought to pray for those who yearn for peace.  Peace will bring healing to a multitude of pains, and reaching out to make it happen may just heal us in the process.

However, regardless of what our concern might be, whether we have a concern for the world that all of us share, whether it is our families, our ability to provide for those who depend on us, or any other need-- personal or otherwise, we may bring our concerns to God.  If only we possess a minuscule portion of faith, or even less I think, and in sincerity voice our concern to God, we will see results.  I cry aloud to God that he may hear me, indeed I cry aloud to God.