Elvis has left the Building

I woke up first in my house on Easter Sunday this year.  This was good-  I would have time for coffee in my favorite chair and some time with God- just the two of us.

I have not been alone much in this quarantined month.  When I started reading about Italy and Israel on March 12th- I wanted to hunker down before anyone told me to.  I had a strong gut feeling right from the start.  So, March 13th was the last day I really was around people.

What a weird lent that led up to Easter.  I was thinking  about all of this as I sat with my Holy Trinity on Easter Morning.  I prayed my regular prayer:

 Lord, Invite the Trinity into my time today as I study Your Word. May You lead my understanding and teach me what you want me to know.  Mary, my Mother, pray for me.  Mary Magdelene, pray for me.  Saint Elizabeth Anne Seton, pray for me.  Saint Paul, pray for me.  And, dad- Kevin Barry who I miss so much- pray for me.

I carefully waited to choose the scripture.  I opened randomly to John 20.  I loved that it was about Mary Magdalene finding the empty tomb.    I read it, highlighted it, pondered upon it and decided to journal about it.  I had no idea that it was the gospel reading for Easter Sunday this year.  Don't you just love it when God winks at you?  I would see that wink later on that day.

Here is my journaling:
The Empty Tomb:                                    ELVIS HAS LEFT THE BUILDING

Sometimes it feels like GOD has left the building.  At times we feel alone.  We may have chosen that loneliness, or life may have put us there.  Holy Saturday is a great example of feeling like GOD has left the building - literally for the disciples.

Imagine being the first to wake up.  It's still dark (which symbolizes unbelief) and you go to check on Jesus' beaten, dead, body placed in a cave.  What caused Mary Magdalene to do this?  The Rock was too heavy for her to move and she knew this.  What was she thinking as she went to the tomb in the dark?

We all know despair and confusion.  We have felt let down and sad.  Her best friend had just been brutally murdered in front of her.  She likely held His mother's hand and felt her grief, too.  I see Mary Magdalene as a beloved friend of Jesus.  She is one of my "go-to" saints because I crave to be one of His beloved friends.

She finds an empty tomb and takes off running to the other disciples.  Two come back with her.  Peter and possibly John.  Why just two I wonder?

They are still "in the dark".   She begins to see with the eyes of faith when she sees Jesus in verse 13. Jesus calls her by name.  MARY!   JEANNE!    (insert your name and hear Him call you by name)!  He calls us by name to follow Him, to see Him, and to be resurrected.

RISE!!

We are all called to a purpose, a mission, a specific something that God has created for us.  Some are called to Create, some are called to Lead, some are called to Follow, Some are called to Serve.  All of us are called to Be.

Alicia Keys recently said "We need to remember "Why you do what you do".  Opinions and judgments coming from the outside- especially to the creatives can slowly take over".

I bet this was challenging for Mary Magdalene.  The looks she got when she was the first to see Jesus may have been difficult.

Alicia Keys continues with "Are you strong enough to say I respect what you think but here's what I love".  Mary loved that Jesus had Risen and didn't worry about the judgments she likely received.   She remained open to receiving the love and miracle of the Resurrection.  She shared this with her brothers and only 2 followed her.
Let's not even get started with the possible comments from Thomas!

Verse 19 says that Sunday night Jesus came and stood in their midst and said, "PEACE be with You".  Mary had an entire day before the others saw him.  She went from early Sunday to later Sunday night with this experience.  Mary Magdalene likely needed to protect herself from external forces like judgments, jealousy, and non-belief (other's darkness).  It likely hurt.  However, she knew she was not alone or abandoned.  She knew it was not an ending, but rather the beginning of rising with Jesus.  I hope she was with His mother, Mary.  I imagine Mary believed and possibly had a similar experience not documented.  I love the thought of these cherished women supporting each other.

So, Where are you on your journey of rising from darkness?  What is your why?  Why do you follow Christ and believe?    Just like Mary Magdalene we know that

God has not left the building .

We are not alone or abandoned.  

Not even now in this pandemic of confusion and chaos.  

God is alive, he is strong, and he is counting on us!

Saturday Scripture Shhhhh

Shhhhhhh

Saturday mornings are quiet in my house.  

I love the quiet after 5 days of constant sound and conversations in the classroom and in my home.  

It's a need I have as an introvert to fuel up in the quiet.

So I find myself writing a list of many things to do on this Saturday - when I get the spiritual nudge to go sit with the word.  You see- quiet is important.  

I can hear and feel God's nudge better in the quiet.

Romans 6 is where I am with my Bible readings...  click here for the scripture

So my sister in law Meghan gave me a method for reading scripture.  It works for me:  

Auntie M (Meghan)

Read the piece of scripture

1. What word or phrase speaks to you?
2. How is this directly relating to your life right now?
3. How is God calling you to respond to what you've read?
4. What is your Heart especially grateful for today?
5. Lay your prayer request at your Father's feet.

More on this -click here

The piece that jumps out to me is:  

Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?  We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead... we too might live in newness of life.

"I have been buried with him.  Baptism into death... " WOW.  That is deep.  

I have had moments where I have felt like I got nothing.  

Moments in life when I have been in the tomb.  Dead.  

I am not feeling that way today (thank God!) but, I know what that feels like.  I listened to an Abiding Together podcast on accompanying someone on a hard path click here to listen and it helps to discern how to be a compassionate presence and yet not carry their misery.  This is difficult for those of us with an extra dose of empathy. 

I have people that I love who are in the tomb.  I want to help them and yet, I don't want to spend too much time in the tomb- I like the sunshine, and perhaps I need the sunshine or the raindrops that are outside.  And yet, I believe that I must go there at times to help.  So I ask God for help.  Mary Magdalene went into the tomb and she is one of my favorites.  God, help me go into the tomb when you need me to.

The piece in this scripture that says that we have grown into union with Jesus speaks to me.  I am pondering "To die to our sinful nature which leads to death and be fused with Christ in the tomb".  This is an ongoing process.  I have slowly transformed over my mere 55 years here on this side of heaven and have left various sins in the tomb.  I have risen from the chains of some of my sins.  So, today I ponder about what needs to be left in the tomb at this time of my life?  Ew!  Who wants to choose to look at the ugly in their life?  Perhaps this is God calling me to respond so that I can keep growing in Christ.

There was a concept in my Philosophy class last spring that lingers.  As I walk with Jesus in my heart and ask the Holy Spirit to breathe in and out of me daily,  am I rising?  Am I allowing God's presence to take on more and more of me in my actions and way of being?  This is my personal resurrection as Jesus leads my way.

 I wrote a paper on "Aristotle, Plato, and Theology" and described God's desire to love us and to allow His creation (us) to become its best version is continually in motion.  The catch is that we have our own free will and a term limit of our life span.  Jesus shows us how to reach this actuation in a human time period.  Could it be that becoming the creation that we were created to become is simply by allowing the Holy Spirit into our very being and becoming more and more saturated with God?  

"Thy will be done" is a method Jesus gave His disciples that aligns themselves with God and living accordingly.  The link of connecting to the mystery of the Trinity is what makes becoming our best human potential possible.  And, we become enmeshed in the equation of 1+ 1+ 1 = 1 because we are fused with Christ.

6:5  5 For if we have grown into union with him through a death like his, we shall also be united with him in the resurrection. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him, so that our sinful body might be done away with, that we might no longer be in slavery to sin. 

Each day we begin the process again- to recognize that we also have died to sin and are living for God with the help of the Trinity.  Death has no power over us.  Sin has no power over us when we are connected to Christ.

10 As to his death, he died to sin once and for all; as to his life, he lives for God. 11 Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as [being] dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus.

I am especially grateful for the love of God our Father and that I have been given the awareness that each day, I have the very same Spirit helping me who helped Jesus as He lived and breathed.    Stop for a moment and really think about that.  (Quote from my dear friend Rosanne) after reading Henri Nowen)  This is incredible.

My prayer is that we can daily be reminded that we are not slaves to sin.  Let us know in our hearts that Death is nonsense as we live in Christ and Hope shines away all fear.

Thanks for joining me on a Saturday with Scripture.  

Pot Luck Spirituality

I have a go-to, inner circle friends who are those women I can get real with.  And, they call me out when needed.  We pray, cry, and mostly laugh together.  We are all alike in that we want to be good people, like to enjoy life along the way, and we have a desire to follow Christ- but beyond that, we are also quite different.
We meet at 8am on Saturday mornings usually- which I have never liked.  However, the alternative of not having these amazing women in my life prompts me out of bed, out of the house, and headed out by 7.40.  They seem to be early birds, and on Friday nights I like to stay up late with my family.  That would be my first difference.

I leave a house of sleep.  Even the dogs are snuggled up as I leave.  I love this snuggling world.  It is peaceful.  We give ourselves Saturday morning to relax after a week of tasks, teaching, studying, sports and practices, go go go, and work.  This peaceful space changes again by mid-morning- which in this house is 10:30-11am. All the hustle begins again and focuses on what is to be cleaned, bought, fixed, budgeted, or completed.

Sleeping Oscar

This past Saturday I really did not want to get up.  I was so tired!  Patrick had been traveling- he helps so much, and my work week was busy.  So, I was tired.
But, I headed out.  I am so glad I did because it was such a fruitful meeting with many pieces that are still nurturing me (and likely others).  This was the morning that we came up with a way to structure our meetings and named it "Pot Luck Spirituality":

• One person will be responsible for the Meat (the main focus of the meeting- like a podcast, book chapter, bible study...) 
• 2 people will bring the sides (small bits to bring to the meeting like video clips or quotes)
• 1 person brings dessert (music or music videos to begin with and end with through the meeting)

My girls and I with Bishop Barry and Father Barry- my brother.  The Barry bookends.

We will rotate every meeting so all have a piece of ownership.  

We began this particular meeting with Roseanne reading from 

Henri Nouwen's book  "A Spirituality of Living".  

That was our meat for this week.

We love it when Roe reads.  

She reads emphasizing some areas- or just stops and repeats something that we may have missed.  Imagine hearing this in a strong New York voice - 

"The spiritual life is a life that is guided by God's Spirit, the very same Spirit that guided the life of Jesus".   

She stops and says "Wait.  Did you hear that?  

The very same Spirit that guided the life of Jesus is guiding us?

Holy S*%T !

(Roe is a cussing saint)  

Think about that?  The first line of the book (this is still Roe talking) 

It is powerful!!!

The title of the chapter is Discipline and Discipleship, but Roseanne keeps saying discipline-ship (she is in pic below who is on the far left).  She reads this and we ignore it at first, but then she reads it again a few more times and we make light fun of her.  We are happy that someone with as much education as Roseanne messes up, too.  We continue to listen to her read while sitting on a porch with the sun streaming and dancing across the water.  It is so pretty. We have been blessed with the perfect spot for a prayer meeting which overlooks the Reservoir.

She keeps reading -now correctly, and she gets to this:  

The word discipleship and the word discipline is the same word.  

Somehow the Spirit came through her right from the start.  

So disciplineship is now our word, and our work. 

How do I follow Christ with a disciplined life?  Nouwen says that, 

"It requires real discipline to let God and not the world be the Lord of our mind".  

Roe keeps reading the chapter and we hear 3 things:

1. Jesus spent time in solitude
2. He spent time in the community
3. He went out and Preached and Healed people.

If we are to follow as disciples, we must copy Him.  We must have 

1. Time in solitude, 
2. Time in the community, and 
3. Time working for God.

The order is important.  We need to be quiet with God, just like Jesus was before he met with the community or did His work. 

We discuss how we all want to fill up our downtime- with community or work.  We may do this cluttering our minds with texting, media, technology, or constant business in our homes.  We just seem bored or feel lazy with nothing but silence with God.  The discipline to get silent is counter-cultural these days.  We decided our homework in the next week was to work on this.  The "How to have Disciplineship" would be front and center.

The last bit Nouwen wrote had us question How to do this? He says, 

"If we create space in which God can act and speak, something surprising will happen.  You and I are called to these disciplines if we want to be disciples".

Click here for a  Podcast on Stillness

Click here for Peaceful music to worship with

I wonder what the surprise will be as I learn to create a still, quiet space?

Going into the new school year

This is the Year...

So, school begins for me earlier this year than usual.  We start our teacher's work week this Monday.  I bet other teachers are thinking about the upcoming year, just like me.  So what is the main thing that I want this year as a teacher...

Well, I want to help form intentional disciples for Christ.  That is it.  

I want as many kids as possible to walk away from Middle School Religion with a desire to keep encountering Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and God the Father in everything. 

WHEW- what a goal.

Can this be done outside of the Religion room?

ABSOLUTELY- I think it has to.  

So I hope you all continue to share your faith in the classroom as I know you have.

Forming intentional disciples is a community project involving as many teachers, administration, parents, and students.

So how do we do this?

This blog is a brainstorm...  I have some ideas.  

But, I want to expand beyond my little brain and creativity.  

INTENTIONAL DISCIPLESHIP- is living your life intentionally for Christ.  Living as much as you can for Jesus, and accepting that He lived as much as He could for you.  Connecting all day - That is a personal relationship.  

I recently heard a song in a prayerful way- All of Me by John Legend   

What if that was your lovesong prayer of praise with Jesus?  

The words can go back and forth, like in dialogue - from or towards Jesus.  

Click the words to hear/pray with this song

He gives us all, we give Him all

All of Me Loves All of You

Love your curves and all your edges

all your perfect imperfections

Give your all to me I'll give my all to You

you're my end and my beginning

even when I lose, I m winning

cause I give you all of me

and you give me all of you

This sounds Protestant- they are great at evangelizing.

But it is also Catholic - it has always been a part of our church until recently.

 Click here and go to 19.50  stop around 28.30  this is the author of intentional disciples 

or watch Bishop Barron's explanation

Studies are showing that the largest age group to leave the church is from age 10-17 click for research info.

Working in a parochial school puts you in a role to help form our children, and this includes their understanding of God, whether you teach Religion or not.

Your role in evangelization is natural- they are coming to you. You don't need to start knocking on doors.

It begins with you, and your example demonstrates more than your words.  What are you currently doing to grow closer to Christ?

The beauty of the Trinity allows us to have many forms of God to connect to.

Father

Son

Spirit

So if you connect better with nature or the mystical you have the Spirit to go to;

If Jesus dying and rising is your go-to, you have a more human choice;

or perhaps God the Father, in the Grand or "intimate daddy "sense works for you.  

How beautiful that we have a community (communion) even in our deity?

For me, I have needed all of them differently in my life.

Questions to ponder:  

What is your relationship with God like, and how personal is it?  Is it visible to the kids who watch you daily that you are a disciple?  

What are some innovative and inspiring ways to help our teachers become intentional disciples?  

How can we become intentional as we follow Christ?  What can we do to deepen our relationship with God and our community?

How are you curious about God, or what do you do when someone comes to you with a curious question?

Can you answer in a small way?  Simply and directly?  What areas do you need to brush up on?

Please add a comment, thought, or question.

My sister found this...

I am the middle child of five kids.
The oldest is a priest, then we have a park ranger, I am one of two teachers, and I have no idea how to explain my sister that is 16 months younger.



She is just smart and does something with computers for AARP
and is a referee for soccer and puts crazy parents in there place in such a peaceful and teachable way.  She does this with such grace.

  She also is the one kid who always is there for our mom (well, mom built on to her house so what choice does she have?? lol)
She also added another apartment onto her house which makes her a landlord, too.  She is blessing a couple who are struggling to get through law school and they love her.  Of course, they love her.  Who doesn't?


So, this smart sister recently came to know her self "Some Jesus" through hardship.  Six years ago, Teri was not able to tell me where to find the gospels, but now... Holey Schmoley!!!  God has her in the palm of His hand and she is soaring.  She reminds me so much of my dad who came to know Jesus in his fifties, too.  He left us in the dust with his spirituality- but that is a long story for another time.

I invited her to help volunteer on a Diocesan Youth Conference a few years ago. There were about 1,000 teens and somehow she had a conversation with one of the speakers. Sr. Miriam who was just amazing.
So seriously, here is the scene;  I am listening to a praise band in a large auditorium in the far back with Teri.  I realize at some point she is not next to me.  Then I see her.  Teri, who had very little spirituality for most of her life is going to the deep end of the pool with a nun.  Loved it!

Years later Teri came across a podcast that this sister puts out.  She gets the credit for this resource and I am passing it on!
Podbean Abiding together   
If that doesn't work -   Try this out

Now - why should you look at Abiding Together?

Well, honestly- it is like hanging with your closest friends including your God- our best friend- you know, Jesus.
  Grab a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, or a beer, and sit back.

Oh wait- it is so much better if you invite a few friends over to hang with and discuss.  Communion- yes, community with a little hospitality and prayer-- oh Lordie, you are going to love this.







Last thought-
This summer a wonderful getaway came my way with my sweet Patrick, my sister Teri and her beautiful daughter Danielle.  My niece brought my youthful spirit back as you can see in the hippie chic pic,
my sister  brought on lots of meaningful conversation and sisterly love, and my Patrick keeps holding my kite string (grounding) and feeds me beautiful food (for my soul too). 

So I am ever grateful for beautiful summer surprises.

I would love to hear your thoughts, your one great moment this week, or something from the podcast that pops out to you.