Let us choose life and every Sunday worship God with gratitude for all He does for us - and avoid scandalizing little ones which is what we do when we stay home.

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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YEAR OF THE COVID-19 WORLDWIDE PANDEMIC

As soon as churches open up again, I think it would be a matter of life or death for us all to make a point of making time to go to church together all of us, particularly families with children, little ones, teenagers, and young adults. Worshipping the Lord and taking the whole of the Lord's Day to rest is not a suggestion from God, but it is the 3rd commandment. These are serious truths, that if we go against them, we do ourselves mortal harm, to our spirits and to our whole lives, as well as to all those we influence by example through our decisions, words, actions, attitudes, choices and behaviours.

God doesn't need our worship, but if we don't give it to him, we are harming ourselves. We cannot take anything away from God, but we can choose to live and have more life or we can choose to die and waste away... the choice is ours every day of our lives. Thankfully, as Pope Francis keeps repeating, God never tires of forgiving us. To this we too can give witness by accepting what God offers.

One of the greatest obstacles the enemy of all mankind puts in our spirits is the impression that even thinking about going to church is a burden, a chore, stealing or wasting time to do more important things like rest. The danger of these thoughts and feelings is that the enemy is a liar, Jesus told us, and the father of lies. His favourite trick is to slip these dark thoughts into our minds in such a way that we have the impression that these are our own thoughts, feelings, opinions, and convictions.

The truth is that the more we turn to God and make a point of putting our trust in the Lord, and not in ourselves, then the more God can refill us again and again with his Holy Spirit and give us the vitality we otherwise lack. Our very breath comes to us from God, the Source of all life. 

Jesus wasn't kidding or speaking symbolically when He said that unless we eat his flesh and drink his blood we HAVE NO LIFE within us. In Reconciliation God restores our loving relationship with the Father and fills us anew with his life and vitality, and in Holy Communion, Jesus gives us a TRANSFUSION of the divine life He has with the Father in the Holy Spirit. These realities may be spiritual and often invisible to our senses, but they are more real than what we can see.

Take great care, dear Parents, not to scandalize your children by harming them with contradictions. On the one hand you are telling them how important it is to receive God's life and love in Confession and Holy Communion, but then, by not going on Sunday to church, your actions will tell them the opposite, that it's not important at all, and that anything and everything else is more important than God. Such actions on the part of too many parents cause their children to learn to distrust God and to no longer believe in Him and then to close their minds, hearts, and spirits to Him. The divine life bleeds out of their souls and they begin to die a long and lonely dying....

Jesus warned us not to scandalize the little innocent ones, because their angels are constantly standing in the Presence of God.... Let these words not frighten you, but rather strengthen your resolve to ask Almighty God to help you and your spouse make the resolution to go to Church to worship the Lord. Let it be a resolution to go together and manifest your gratitude for his countless blessings and the strength you need to get through the hard times. Thank Him as well for the ability to really enjoy the good times. Make Sunday worship part of your Sunday ritual and custom and remain faithful to it. 

You can expect the enemy to try to discourage you, because he seeks to destroy the children of God and keep they out of heaven for all eternity. However, the tougher the resistance within you and the countless obstacles the enemy throws onto your path, all the more go in the opposite direction of the temptation and go... go... go.... I am eternally grateful to my parents for going to Church with us all my growing up years into young adulthood until I left home and beyond. They never stopped....

Peace to you all, and Blessed Solemnity of Pentecost! 

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My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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Trapped by time? Get free by giving one day a week to God: the Sabbath / Lord's Day is a gift from God - as are sabbatical rests

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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I am so grateful to have discovered the wonder, beauty, and power of the Sabbath 14 years ago at our Fall Priests' Retreat given by Fr. William McNamara, o.c.d., and Sr. Sharon Doyle, both formerly of the Spiritual Life Institute of America. Their respect for the Jewish faith and religious/cultural tradition allowed us to discover the gift of the Sabbath, which God entrusted to Israel as custodians for the benefit of humanity. 

To put it simply, God - who is infinite and "outside of time" - created us to live, for now, within time. The original sin of Adam and Eve - whoever those first human beings were - was a break in the relationship of trust and intimacy they had enjoyed with God until the time of their rebellion. It was being in communion with God their Creator that kept them in a wonderful state of freedom to live among all the other creatures without losing the true sense of who they were. 

Once they broke trust with God, their safety net was broken, as it were, and all of creation - even good things - became potentially dangerous for them. Like many native peoples, they appreciated every creature and respected it, recognizing its link with the Creator. After their fall, however, they began to lose sight of the dignity of worth of each creature, and could fall into using it without respect for it and without remembering from whom it came. They became subject to inner attitudes and feelings such as insecurity, fear, acquisitiveness, greed, and anger. 

Even time became a threat and remains dangerous for human beings to this day. The more we try to control time, the more we end up trapped by it. In his mercy, God gave to his Chosen People in the desert, through Moses, the Ten Commandments (see the Books of Exodus and Deuteronomy in the Torah/Law part of the Bible, in the beginning). God said to the people then and He says to us now, "Listen. I have given you seven days. You may work six days, but you must not work on the seventh day (Sabbath). The Sabbath belongs to Me. Give it back to me, and my blessing will be upon you, and you will not fall under the power of time. 

Observe the Sabbath rest by taking time to worship Me with your family and your people, and then spend the rest of the day in My presence: discussing all that I have done for you, studying my Word to you, delighting in my love and mercy upon you, and celebrating with joy the life that I am giving to you in peace, quiet, mirth, and festivity with your family and friends. Do this, and you shall live. Fail to do it, and you will find yourself living a half life, living to work, a slave of time." 

In the same way that the week has its Sabbath rest on the seventh day, which Jews observe on Saturday (which comes from the word Sabbath), and Christians observe on Sunday, the day on which Jesus rose from the dead and the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles and disciples; so too the year has its Sabbath at Passover for Jews and Holy Week for Christians. Our years or lives also call for a Sabbath rest, which we can observe by going on retreat once a year for a week or weekend, and for a longer retreat every so often - after 5, or 7, or 10 years. 

We can listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit within us, or observe the signs in our body, mind, psyche, and soul, and become aware of our need to pause, be still, rest, and get back in touch with the roots and source of our lives; in order to clear the soil of our lives from the brambles and thorns that have grown up over the years and now hinder the growth of the good seen God plants within us. 

Even in the workplace and marketplace the concept of sabbatical not only exists but is valued and practiced. University professors consider the opportunity to go on sabbatical as an honor and a prize, and often use the time to go to a prestigious center of learning or field work and produce an article, book, or study for publication. People in the medical or other professions use the time to get themselves updated to current developments in their field, while also enjoying the time through rest and recreation. 

When they can, professionals bring their families with them on sabbatical, and the adventure becomes an opportunity for the whole family to be renewed and rest. I make this post from Chicago, where I am just beginning a sabbatical rest of just under four months. There are 22 other participants here from all over the world: from Nigeria (1 priest and 1 sister), Ghana (2 priests), U.S.A. (5 priests, 3 sisters, & 1 brother), Rwanda (1 priest), Ireland (1 priest missionary in the U.S.A.), Ontario (1 priest), Germany (1 priest), Tahiti (1 French missionary priest), Tanzania (1 priest), South Africa (1 priest from Uganda), France (1 Nigerian missionary sister), and Sri Lanka (1 sister), and myself. 

Since Friday, we have been giving each other - in a large group - a 30-minute sketch of our lives; so that we may come to know one another better and enter into an experience of community with one another. Of course, this means that rather than only have a few professors and other speakers address us - which will also happen - we also have this wealth of human experience of faith and struggle, from which we are already learning a great deal. 

I already feel myself filling with gratitude for the great gift and privilege of having entered into this sabbatical experience. It is a sacred time, a time for stillness and prayer, for sharing and reflection, for reading and study, a time to be renewed and refreshed, and to rediscover a balance of life. 

"Lord, I thank You for this time of grace from your merciful providence, and I ask your kind blessing on all those people who have in any way made it possible for me to be here, or who now support me in any way and especially through prayer. May this holy sabbatical become an instrument of your blessing and grace for them as much as for me and for my companions that You have assembled in this place. May You be known, blessed, and loved, now and always and forever and ever. Amen."

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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