Up until a few years ago, each February, I spent teaching photography to young evangelical missionaries in Kona, Hawaii. I would go for a week each year and I was the only Catholic teacher out of about 50 faculty that came to that base each year. I would teach all day and then after dinner, I would come back to the classroom each evening to look at student portfolios and talk about faith and theology. Each visit, there were many people that were really on fire for Jesus that had no clue about the Catholic Church. Usually by mid week, the entire class plus friends would come to our informal gatherings where we'd discuss heaven, hell, purgatory, Mary, the Trinity, and of course, Jesus Christ. The Kona base was part of a worldwide missionary group called Youth with a Mission, or YWAM for short. "YWAMMERS" are all over the globe, and bring their Gen-X style of ministry to whatever country they are called to serve in. When the shots rang out in Arvada, Colorado the other day, YWAM was in the news. All four of the poeple shot and killed were staffers with YWAM. It hit home immediately that I probably ate meals with some of them in Hawaii, or at least that we know some of the same people.
As I watched the news unfold on CNN, I watched an emotionally charged YWAM spokesperson beg for prayer, not just for the families of those that were shot and their families, but also for the shooter. He called for his community of believers to forgive this man for outright murder, just hours after the event took place. It struck me that this man had a true faith in Jesus Christ. To be talking about forgiveness that soon after a deep wound was profound, and I remembered the homily that I heard on the Sunday following the Tuesday of 9/11 those many years ago. Fr. Finucane called for us to forgive the terrorists who had crashed the planes into the Pentagon and World Trade Center. He was and is a man of great faith. I remember hating what he had to say about Jesus and forgiveness, but I could not get it out of my head either. I was challenged by his words and the way in which he talked about the Lord. He was certain he was right and he told us it was normal to grieve but not to hate.
Sometimes it takes a tragedy to move us from being Christian tourists to actually plugging ourselves into God. It's as if we're on the sidelines all the time, and then something catastrophic happens and then we turn to our Father in heaven for help. We must open our lives each day all the more not just to the Love of God, but also to His authority. Seeking a God who will fit into our personal theology or our shopping-kart mentality of the Church's teaching is wrong. When we do that, we suffer the consequences when we need God's help. We need to look deeper into the beauty and depth of the Church's mind and heart. For some, this means attending mass more frequently, to others, reading books, and to still others, simply beginning to pray regularly. When we take the time and invest ourselves in God, we can then better appreciate his investment in us. As we wait in anticipation to open presents in a few weeks, let us also take stock in our faith in Jesus Christ, and then make moves to improve our relationship with Him. This is what the joy of Advent is about... Waiting with patience on the Lord. May his will be done in each of our lives. Dpat
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