Praised be Jesus Christ! Friends recently gave me the book Make Your Bed, written by Admiral William McRaven. I enjoyed it immensely, and the lessons taught have some impressive spiritual parallels for those who seek to live heroically. One of my favorite stories was early on in the author’s training to become a Navy Seal. He and the new recruits were about to plunge into the Pacific Ocean for an extraordinarily challenging swim. The officer in charge was looking over the candidates and stopped in front of one who was diminutive in stature. Standing just 5’4”, the man looked out of place and the officer began publicly dressing him down, encouraging him to give up now so as to not embarrass himself. After a few minutes of this, the officer leaned in and whispered something to the recruit. Later that morning the author found out that the man’s size belied the desire of his heart – he ended up finishing near the front of the pack. Intrigued, the author asked the little man what the officer had whispered to him just before they dove into the water. The recruit smiled and responded, “Prove me wrong!” And wow, did that light a fire in him. Thank God for the nobility of heart that He put in each and every one of us. As this year winds down, we naturally look back and reminisce on the good times and the struggles. But it’s not long before we begin thinking about how we’d like to do it better in 2019. While not one for making New Year’s resolutions, I nevertheless think it’s a good time to challenge ourselves to grow in virtue and to examine some areas where that might be possible. For example, many of us don’t often think of our omissions as being sinful: Edmund Burke put it best when he wrote, “The only thing necessary for evil to prevail is for good people to do nothing.” Maybe there are things that we fail to do out of laziness or selfishness. The statistic of 75% of American Catholics not attending Mass on a regular basis is one illustration of this. Another area that is perennially a struggle for human beings is what some call the “pelvic issues.” That means living the virtue of chastity – the type of love Jesus has for us, which He gives to us as a new commandment: to love others as He has loved us. That means we refrain from impure images (pornography and risqué movies/TV shows), as well as impure humor and sexual innuendo. The pure of heart are promised to be able to see God. Our world makes this a real challenge, but God is offering the grace through confession and a true devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Maybe this is the year to work on resisting addictive behaviors. The usual list of chemicals falls into this category (and the Midwest is very susceptible to alcohol abuse), as well as gambling. Again, maybe it’s time to admit that we’re not living in harmony with God’s law – a common example these days would be folks enjoying the benefits of marriage without having made vows before God. This could be cohabitation or irregular marriages (e.g. Catholics that got married outside of the Church). These are areas that typically find a lot of resistance when they are brought up – the evil one gives us a litany of excuses for why we are right and the Church is wrong. But Scripture buttresses the fact that the Church can never err when it comes to teaching faith and morals. Yes, it’s VERY DIFFICULT to be truly holy. I’ve spent most of my adult life trying and sometimes wonder if I’ve made any progress. We’ve got a foe who loves to fill us up with doubts and excuses: the devil loves to tell us that we’re not cut out for greatness and that it’s a waste of time even to try. Thank God for His still, silent whisper, encouraging us to “prove him wrong!” Maybe in 2019 we will.
May God bless you with peace and good health in the New Year to come! Your friend in Christ, Father Martin
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Monday - Thursday: 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM Friday: 8:30 AM – 12:30 PM Stay Connected with Our ParishWelcome from Our PastorWelcome to Christ the King Catholic Church! Ever since 1938 this parish has been assisting souls in their quest for deeper union with God. Our mission statement is essentially found in the stained glass window above the main altar: “For Christ our King.” Insofar as God made us and we belong to Him, we have come to... Read More
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