Pastor's Spiritual Reflections

By Fr. Leo Schneider (8/31/2008)

Dear People of Holy Name,

We all have a diet, the foods we normally eat and enjoy on a regular basis. Diets are a habitual part of our lives that keep us healthy and alive. What is challenging is when we try to change our diet or go on a “diet.” How often do we think about eating a more healthy diet by eating organic food that is balanced in all the food groups? Harder still is the effort to eat less, so that we can lose those extra pounds that have a way of creeping onto our waistline as the years go by.

Why is it so hard? Eating less brings with it the challenge of self-denial, something we don’t want to do. Our culture doesn’t help either. With a mentality of feeling good now, we put off “till later” that diet we need today. Most of us have been struggling with our diets for years and seem to make little progress.

What might help? Our intentionality about what we eat needs to embrace our whole lives, not just our diets. If we desire to live healthy lives of mind, body and spirit, we need to have a deep desire to do so. Then we will choose the disciplines we need and it will feel less like self-denial and more like a choosing of a new way of living, thinking and acting in the world.

The same is true in our spiritual lives. We need to have a diet of prayer, reflection and action to make our faith real. We need to desire to know the Lord so much, that praying and making changes in our lives is a source of joy and life, as we find ourselves living more deeply in the Lord.

Self-denial is an important part of our lives. Making sacrifices today, that help us reach goals tomorrow is a good thing. Living in the Lord will change the way we think and live. We will be changed and we will be glad. That doesn’t mean the path to a healthier life in Christ is easy. Transforming the way we live can be very painful and we need to find support and strength for the journey. For me that is what being part of a faith community is all about.

As we step in a new direction in our lives, our emotions and anxieties can get the best of us. It is then we need to reach out to the Lord, and to the people in our lives who are healthy and headed in the same direction we desire to go. A support of regular private and communal prayer and building good relationships with the people in our lives will help us reach our goals.

St. Peter in today’s Gospel is rebuked by Jesus because he doesn’t want Jesus to be the suffering messiah. He would prefer that Jesus achieve his victory on a worldly plain by delivering them from Roman domination. Peter is told to deny himself and follow the Lord. The good news is that he does, even if he fails miserably along the way denying Christ three times. In the end Peter makes it, not because he is perfect, but because he perseveres.

To make the journey of faith is a matter of perseverance. We may have the best of intentions, but persevering and asking God for a deep desire to live in him makes the journey lifegiving, profound and joyful, even if we fail miserably from time to time. So let us ask the Lord to bless us with a profound desire to grow in Him and for the grace to persevere in our daily lives to live as Jesus would live. May the Lord bless each of us that we may know his presence in our lives.

In Christ’s peace, Fr. Leo