John Janaro's Blog, page 233

Learning to Be Attentive

This reflection appeared for today in Magnificat's "Year of Mercy" Companion. It's always good to remember the tremendous mercy that surrounds us every day, the touch of God that reaches us again and again in the most ordinary ways and through the people closest to us:

John Paul Turns NINETEEN Years Old

Happy Birthday to my adult son.
During the years of this blog he has passed from middle school to college. In January of 2011 he was still 13 and his voice was as high as the girls. Even then, of course, he was his own inimitable self.
We have marked various birthdays, sports moments, and his high school career. Now he is a rising sophomore in college.
We're so proud of him. Dear Lord, keep him always in Your care.

Visitation

Mary said, "All generations will call me blessed,
for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name" (Luke 1:48-49).

For Corpus Christi: "What is this Love?"

What is this Love?

What is this Love,
this Love inexhaustible
broken into crumbs,
poured out in earthen vessels?

What is this Love?
Love Creator of the burning stars;
Love Creator of the angels—     those great, gigantic, magnificent, comprehending spirits.

Love Creator of the human being….     The glorious human being:
     master of the earth and its things,
     yet a tiny speck under the sky;
     image of God,
     dust and ashes.
     great and miserable,
     hungry humanity, hungry with a thousand hungers….

This is Love's impossible gift;
Love inexhaustible,
     broken into crumbs,
     poured out in earthen vessels.

Love beyond all measure
become a morsel of food and drink
     in our tiny mouths.

Given and given, poured out and broken,
Love to the end, scattered
     beyond the edges of all wandering,
     finding, filling
     the hidden empty starved spaces
     of the most distant secret silent cries.

The Value of Work

What is the value of our work? Are we merely part of a vast process for the production of things and the attainment of quantifiable "results"? Surely this is not adequate. There is more that must be said about the real worth of our efforts.
Every kind of human work requires the investment of ourselves, and therefore the "return" on that investment doesn't find its ultimate value in the realm of external things we can measure. That doesn't mean there aren't measurable results from our work, and that we shouldn't seek them; it just means that those results will never be greater than our value as human beings engaging our world and impressing upon it the distinctive mark of our own intelligent action.

We promote careers and education and using our talents and doing this and that--these things are important; they are factors of real life. But no one should feel dehumanized because of the particular work they do, however humble it may appear to be. Every worker is an acting person addressing his or her world in freedom.
There's really no such thing as "unskilled" labor pure and simple. Human action is the original "skill" that not only shapes the material world but also constitutes it as an "environment" of personal achievement.

Ultimately, however, work is a way of loving. It is shaped and aimed by particular constructive needs, and so of course it seeks results. But the dignity of human work is not measured by the results. It is something more than a material value.

The dignity of work consists in the self-giving of human persons. As a gift of the person, as love, work cannot be bought or sold for any price. The only adequate response to love is love.

Work is the way we build up our environment by giving and receiving love. Thus the world is personalized, it becomes a place where human persons dwell together, a place of community.

Only From You

Jesus, I feel within me 
a great desire to please Youbut, at the same time,I feel totally incapable of doing thiswithout Your special light and help,which I can expect only from You.Accomplish Your will in me – even in spite of me. Amen.
~Saint Claude de la Colombiere

Everything is Changed

In the difficulty and awkwardness and apparent impossibility of mundane life, there God is present.
And this is not some abstract mysticism.
This is something that is really true, in every moment, because God became a Crucified Man and penetrated the depths of every sin, every moment of misery, and even the dull tedium of every day.
Everything belongs to His merciful heart, everything is changed, and filled with the hidden possibilities of love, because everything can be offered.

Sky Blue, Cardinal Red

The rainy season appears to be at an end, and Spring is rapidly turning to Summer. The mornings are bright but still cool, with clear blue skies and birds everywhere.

This Cardinal seems to be marking his turf and eyeing Reepicheep. A nest must be in the making.

Suffering and Solidarity

We are all suffering in various ways. It's true.

Some endure greater trials than others at any given time, but we can't really judge the measure of each other's sufferings. Our responsibility is to stand together and help one another in whatever ways we can, to remember that we belong to one another as children of God and brothers and sisters in God's family.

All of us are called, ultimately, to give everything: to pour ourselves out in the complete surrender by which we will truly find ourselves forever through the total and definitive gift of ourselves. God knows the paths that each person needs to travel to make that gift. Everything remains in His hands.

One of the ways God embraces us is through our compassion for one another. Some people are in situations where there is no way to provide them with any immediate comfort, but we must share one another's sufferings and be present to one another nevertheless. To those of us who try to console others, it's important to remember that we never know how we might be helping someone even if he or she doesn't seem to gain some "practical" benefit, or appears unaware of our efforts. Much more important than how a suffering person reacts to what we say or do at a particular moment is how much love and solidarity are really contained in our gestures.

Let us try to think of ways, even very small ways, that we can "stay with one another" in the painful and dark places of our lives.

Power and the Freedom of Faith, Twelfth Century Style

The Great Conversion Story for May 2016 focuses on the drama of a king named Henry and his best friend Thomas. I have reproduced it below. To see this column every month (and many other terrific aids to prayer and the Christian life) please subscribe today to the wonderful MAGNIFICAT magazine. Available in print or digital forms.