Pastor's Spiritual Reflections

By Fr. Leo Schneider (12/7/2008)

Dear People of Holy Name,

John the Baptist announces the coming of the One who will baptize with water and the Holy Spirit. This Jesus is already here and each one of us has been baptized into the community of love of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The more we are reconciled in Jesus, the more we share in his divine life.

Reconciliation restores us to the fullness of union with God and repentance is the change in mind and heart that allows for the grace of reconciliation to happen. Repentance is not a self-hating experience; it is an experience of freedom, as we remove that which keeps the joy of God from filling our minds and hearts. Whenever we are true to our real selves we become God filled, for we are not only created in God’s image, God has breathed his life into us.

Repentance may be getting to bed earlier or doing more reading for our cognitive growth, or even exercising, that we might be more fit and full of energy for the Lord. Another level of conversion might happen in our prayer when we realize that as we pray for our needs, other people the world over have the same intense hopes. It is then that we begin to pray not only for ourselves, but for others. Our prayer becomes more grace filled and we realize conversion isn’t just about me-and-God; it is about all of us who are called to live in the Kingdom of his Presence.

Knowing what to let go of and what to change in our lives requires discernment. We need to listen to our hearts and honestly ask ourselves how God wants us to live. Here is where talking things over with a spiritual director or a trusted friend can help in listening to our hearts and in making some decisions. At other times the celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation can be helpful. It can be a time of discernment and grace.

I once remember a man who was troubled by the fact he wasn’t being the father he wanted to be to his children. As he made his confession I listened and it came to me to ask him what his relationship with his father was like. The moment I asked my question a light went on in his awareness.

So, rather than beating himself up over not being a good dad, he knew he needed to give to himself what he didn’t receive from his father, so he could in turn give that gift to his children.

Our time together was a powerful experience of Grace. Not that God is limited to the Sacrament, but the Sacrament did provide the context to discern and receive the grace that set this man free.

Knowing the Lord is with us, frees us to discern how we can change and grow because we know he is for us, not against us with judgment and punishment. That just isn’t who Jesus is; He is all mercy and love. Jesus-God is for us! He is among us to bring us to the fullness of his life and now this moment he is eager to help. So let us turn our minds and hearts to the Lord and ask him to fill us with the gift of his Holy Spirit, that he might lead, guide, shape, and mold us in his love.

It is this same grace that allows us to proclaim Emanuel – God-with-us – with a profound joy that comes from knowing his presence from our own touching and being touched by the Lord who is among us. May the Lord grant us this profound blessing and for this let us pray for ourselves and for all peoples.

In Christ’s peace, Fr. Leo