Inbox Inspiration: Holy Week: April 17, 2019

Holy Week

Dear Friends, 
This is the week that we call Holy and we do this for several reasons.
First, we remember during this week the foundational events of our faith:
the death and resurrection of Christ.
We remember these holy events in the way that Jesus directed at the Last Supper.
Our celebration of the Eucharist, on Holy Thursday and every Sunday and every day, is our way to sacramentally remember the death and resurrection.
We also name this week Holy because we are really remembering the person at the heart of the events.
Our focus is on Jesus, the Christ, who gives of himself completely for us.
We celebrate Him whose resurrection is the hope of Easter.
Finally, we name this week Holy because it calls us to holiness.
The death and resurrection call us to become like the One who dies and rises.
These events call us to be centered on Christ, to be giving of ourselves and our lives, and in that way to become fully alive in Him – to become holy persons.
May each of us experience the powerful potential of this Holy Week.

“We have not so much as a thread that was woven into his garments…We were meant to have more than the relics of Christ. We were meant to have, and are meant to have, Christ Himself. If His garments had been preserved, they would have been relics to draw pilgrims from all over the world, only to kneel in front of them, perhaps to kiss the reliquary that contained them. Christ meant something much more than that for us. Just as when He was stripped of His garments he put on the nakedness of our shame, we were meant by Him to put Him on like a garment, to put on the shape, the purity, of His body; the shape of his labors, of His human nature; His sleeping and eating and journeying, His austerities and His delights in the good and beautiful things of creation.”

From The Way of the Cross by Carol Houselander (1901-1954. English Catholic laywoman, artist, author.)

“The mystery of faith: We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection, until you come again.”
Father Michael Schleupner

Inbox Inspiration: Lent: March 27 - April 10, 2019

March 27, 2019

Lent - Sacrifice

Dear Friends,
As I look back on my childhood, I recall that my parents gave up a lot for my brother and me.
They gave up buying new cars and going out to dinner often and many other things.
And they did this out of love for my brother and me.
They wanted, above all, to give us the best education possible.
They sacrificed for us.
Usually, during Lent we are encouraged to give up something.
That something might be chocolate, desserts, beer, pizza, soft drinks, or whatever.
We are to do this giving up, this sacrifice, out of love for God.
We may do this as a way of repenting for sin.
Or we may do it as a self-discipline, a way to grow in our strength to avoid evil and do good.
But beyond these motives, we sacrifice during Lent because we recognize the One who is above and beyond us.
We sacrifice out of love for the Divine Other, for God.
So, as with the personal sacrifices made by my parents and probably also yours, our Lenten sacrifice is very other-centered.
It is a statement that there is something, Someone beyond us for whom we live.
 “When you make a sacrifice, you don’t just give something up, you acknowledge a realm greater than yourself. ‘Sacrifice’ means ‘to make sacred.’ You go beyond self. You make room for a greater mystery.”
From Dark Nights of the Soul by Thomas Moore (1940 –. American, author, psychotherapist and Doctor of Religious Studies).
[For more reflections on Lenten themes, see the next two Inbox Inspirations, April 3 and 10.]
May we be transformed more and more fully into the likeness of God, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Father Michael Schleupner

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April 3, 2019

Lent - Prayer

Dear Friends,
Back in the seventh century, Saint John Damascene defined prayer as
“…the lifting up of our minds and hearts to God.”
Many of us, including me, learned this in our faith formation classes.
There is much richness in this definition.
The idea is that prayer is the centering of our inner self on God.
It is being aware of the longing in our hearts for God –
for being close to God, for having God be present with us right now.
It is the focusing of our awareness –
in one sense, beyond ourselves, on the One from whom we have come,
but in another sense, on ourselves, on the One who is at the core of our being.
Above and beyond anything else, our prayer is simply being with God.
Whatever words we say or whatever passages we read,
prayer is being with God.
God is already there – here – with us – within us.
The Season of Lent calls us to make sure that we pray.
What this really means is that we are to lift up our minds and hearts, open our inner selves simply to being with God.
“…prayer contains an impulse towards simplicity. Prayer can be a ‘being with’…Beyond praise, petition, or begging for pardon, the impulse in prayer is towards presence, being with, being with the person…In the gospels people do indeed ask Jesus for things... But there is a deeper movement, expressed by the attitude of sinners whose concern is to ‘sit with’ him (Mark 2:15).”
From The Impact of God by Father Iain Matthew (1940 –. British, Carmelite priest, Doctoral Degree from Oxford, author, chaplain, retreat director).
[For more reflections on Lenten themes, see the Inbox Inspirations for last week, March 27, and for next week April 10.]
May we be transformed more and more fully into the likeness of God, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Father Michael Schleupner

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April 10, 2019

Lent - Charity

Dear Friends, 
Our traditional Lenten practices are fasting, prayer, and charity.
We hear Jesus speaking of these in chapter six of the Gospel of Matthew.
I see fasting or personal sacrifice and prayer as leading to charity.
So, when we sacrifice or give up something – snacks between meals, beef, candy – when we do this, we choose some physical self-denial.
One of the effects of this choice of going without something is to put us in touch with those who go without life’s necessities without any choice in the matter.
It puts us, at least spiritually, in touch with those who are hungry or homeless or without health care and without hope.
Again, when we pray, we lift up our minds and hearts to God who is love itself.
One of the effects of this is to put us in touch with the compassion of Jesus.
It puts us in touch with those in need who were always primary in Jesus’ ministry.
So, our sacrifice and prayer during Lent lead us to charity.
They lead us to look and see those who are in need.
They move us to treat them as our brothers and sisters, as God’s daughters and sons.

“Charity is the live wire along which the power of God, indwelling our finite spirits, can and does act on other souls and other things, rescuing, healing, giving support and light. Such secret intercessory prayer ought to penetrate and accompany all our active work. It is the supreme expression of the spiritual life on earth. It moves from God to others through us, because we have ceased to be self-centered units, but are woven into the great fabric of praying souls, the mystical body through which the work of Christ on earth goes on being done.”

From Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals by Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941. British, Anglo-Catholic, author on religion and Christian mysticism, retreat director.)

[For more reflections on Lenten themes, see also the Inbox Inspirations for the last two weeks, March 27 and April 3.]

May we be transformed more and more fully into the likeness of God, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Father Michael Schleupner

Inbox Inspiration: God and Me: February 27 - March 20, 2019

February 27, 2019

God and Me - 1

Dear Friends,  

Deep down, all of us are seeking God.
All human beings have a desire to seek and find God.
There is a radical or existential incompleteness in each of us.
We desire something, Someone beyond ourselves.
Philosophers and theologians say that we seek the transcendent.
We have this hunger built right into us – we are “hard-wired” in this way.
Saint Paul says that God created us “so that [we] might seek God… and find God, though indeed he is not far from any one of us.” (Acts 17:27)
Saint Augustine says it beautifully in his memorable prayer:
“Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.” (Confessions)
Of course, for a long time Augustine looked for God in the wrong places.
We can do the same thing and next week I will focus on that.
“Though we seldom recognize it, our senses seek the beauty, the sweetness, the good feelings of God. Our mind seeks the truth and wisdom of God. Our will seeks to live out the goodness, the righteousness of God. Our memory and imagination seek the justice and peace of God. In other words, we yearn for the attributes of God with every part of ourselves. Human beings are two-legged, walking, talking desires for God.” 
From The Dark Night of the Soul by Gerald G. May, M.D. (1940-2005. Medical doctor, psychiatrist, author, staff member of Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation.)

For more reflections on God and Me, see the Inbox Inspirations for the next three weeks, March 6, 13 and 20.
Gracious God, move us to seek you and to be restless until we rest in you. Amen.
Father Michael Schleupner

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March 6, 2019

God and Me - 2

Dear Friends,
Last week I said that deep down, we all seek God.
All human beings have a desire to seek and find God.
The problem is that sometimes we mistakenly look for God in the wrong places.
Sometimes we get tripped up into thinking that being able to buy and own what we want, or having more money or more recognition by others, or having physical comfort and pleasure will bring us happiness.
Sooner or later, maybe in mid-life, maybe later, we sense that we have been seeking things, maybe perfectly good in themselves, but things that are limited.
We sense that they still leave us unsatisfied, unfulfilled, maybe even unhappy.
Maybe we have been seeking goods instead of the Creator of all good things.
When we become aware of this, we get in touch with who we really are as persons.
We get in touch with our deep, undeniable desire for God.
And then we start seeking God, consciously and intentionally.
Next week I will pick up on this desiring and searching for God.
“Because we can’t encounter God directly through our senses and concepts, we are naturally drawn to the things we can feel and see and grasp. We gravitate to the things of God, to things that we sense are good, true, beautiful, and loving. We expect these good things to satisfy us. We do not realize that we love them not for themselves, but because they whisper to us of their Creator, the One we really long for.”
From The Dark Night of the Soul by Gerald G. May, M.D. (1940-2005. Medical doctor, psychiatrist, author, staff member of Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation.)

For more reflections on God and Me, see the Inbox Inspirations from last week, February 27, and for the next two weeks, March 13 and 20.
Gracious God, move us to seek you and to be restless until we rest in you. Amen.
Father Michael Schleupner

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March 13, 2019

God and Me - 3

Dear Friends,
We can seek God and maybe even feel God’s closeness to us in various places:
the ocean, the mountains, a piece of music, a painting,
the gospels, the crucifix or tabernacle in a church…
These are some of the places where we can seek God.
One place that we may easily forget is within ourselves.
God is within us.
Some of our great spiritual writers have said that union with God or closeness with God is not something that can be achieved.
It already exists.
We just need to awaken to God’s presence within us.
Our hunger for something or Someone more,
our desire for the Light that will help us to see,
our desire for the Love that both grounds and moves us,
and our desire for the Life that is a fullness for us even now –
these are signs of God within us.
In fact, these desires are God, acting within us.
Let’s make room to be silent and still enough to seek and find God right there.
“…God is closer to us than we are to ourselves. We are born in union with God and we ‘live and move and have our being’ in God throughout our lives (Acts 17:28). In keeping with the root meaning of ‘nature’ (‘natura,’ birth), this union with the Divine is our human nature. It is so essential to our being that John [Saint John of the Cross] says we could not exist without it.”   

From The Dark Night of the Soul by Gerald G. May, M.D. (1940-2005. Medical doctor, psychiatrist, author, staff member of Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation.)

For more reflections on God and Me, see the Inbox Inspirations from the last two weeks, February 27 and March 6, and for next week, March 20.
Gracious God, move us to seek you and to be restless until we rest in you. Amen.
Father Michael Schleupner

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March 20, 2019

God and Me - 4

Dear Friends, 
As I have said in recent weeks, we all seek God.
One of the places where we can find God is right within ourselves.
We are born in union with God.
God is at the core of our being.
I accent the word our.
God is within each person, every human being.
Sometimes it is hard to see God in others –
especially if they have a grating or abrasive personality,
or if they are very self-focused and even narcissistic,
or if their moral standards are contrary to what we believe is right,
or if they are criminals or terrorists,
or if they are simply very different from us.
Yes, at times it can be difficult to seek, much less experience God in others.
But, it is still true: God is within all of us – within all persons and within all that is.
In fact, some of our great Catholic spiritual teachers
state that the more we grow and mature in the spiritual life,
the more we realize that we are part of and not apart from –
part of all of humanity and all of creation, and not apart from anything.
So, the more we grow spiritually, the more we are able to discern
God within, maybe hidden at times, but still there, within all that is.
“To understand this union of which we speak, know that God is present in substance in each soul, even that of the greatest sinner in the world. And this kind of union with God always exists, in all creatures.” 

From The Ascent of Mount Carmel by Saint John of the Cross. (1542-1591. Spanish mystic, Carmelite friar and priest, theologian, poet, and Doctor of the Church.)

For more reflections on God and Me, see the Inbox Inspirations from the last three weeks, February 27, March 6 and 13.
Gracious God, move us to seek you and to be restless until we rest in you. Amen.
Father Michael Schleupner

Inbox Inspiration: Winter: February 13 - February 20, 2019

February 20, 2019

Winter - 2

Dear Friends, 
Sometimes it feels as if winter will never end.
On some days we may feel that the cold and darkness of winter are all that there is.
Obviously, our experience with the seasons of nature tell us that this is not so.
We know that spring will eventually come.
We may not sense this in winter, but nature is actually being restored.
Because of winter, we have a spring of life and beauty and color.
The same can be true of the personal winters in our lives.
We may feel that they will never end.
We may think that this is all there really is and will be.
But, my faith tells me that we just need to stay with it and look harder.
There is, even in our spiritual winters, the promise of spring, of new life.
There is something even in our winters that is preparing us for this.
I do not always find this easy to believe or accept.
But, my faith tells me that it is so
and even my experience with some personal winters affirm this.
 “Winter is not an end but a transition. The abundant and unstoppable life of spring is due to break forth; a new beginning is coming…Winter is a time to diligently and faithfully store up his word in my spirit, drink deeply of his goodness and mercy, and keep the fires of hope alive in my heart. It is a time to stop and reflect on how my life is different because I am God's child, to consider what is most important in my life with him…”
From Winter, A Season To Be Still & Wait by Sally Clarkson (Wife, mother, author, speaker, founder of Whole Heart Ministries).

[For more reflection on Winter, see the Inbox Inspirations for last week, February 13, 2019.] 
May God inspire us to fix our hearts on that which lasts forever. Amen.
Father Michael Schleupner

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February 13, 2019

Winter - 1

Dear Friends,
These winter months have led me to reflect on what this season can mean for us.
It is cold outside (at least for us in the north).
That’s why we stay inside.
This staying inside physically beckons us to go inside spiritually.
It calls us to look within, to be in touch:
with who we really are, with what we are really doing,
with where we are really going, with what we really think,
with what we are really feeling, with whom we really love,
with what we really believe, and with God who is inside, within us.
So, winter leads us to go inside, to go within a bit.
In truth, maybe it reminds us that this going inside is to be part of life
in every season of the year.
Our doing this will help us to live from within, to live authentically,
to live in a way that is true to ourselves as persons
and true to God who has given us this winter season.
“Winter is a season for reflection, a time we are waiting amidst snow and storms for the coming of spring. But still we must wait for a long season ahead. For all the darkness I may associate with winter, I have discovered that the winter seasons of my life can also be times of peace and even quiet rest...A winter season can force me to slow down, reflect on life, wait on God, and trust him. It can seem that everything is dead in winter, that nothing is happening, but that is never true. Under the surface of the winter snows there is always the continuation of life — roots are growing deeper, sap is being stored, energy is being conserved. Winter is not an end but a transition.” 
From Winter, A Season To Be Still & Wait by Sally Clarkson (Wife, mother, author, speaker, founder of Whole Heart Ministries).

[For more reflection on Winter, see the Inbox Inspirations for next week, February 20, 2019.]
May God inspire us to fix our hearts on that which lasts forever. Amen.
Father Michael Schleupner

Inbox Inspiration: Grace before Meals: February 6, 2019

Grace before Meals

Dear Friends, 
A prayer before meals – we call it Grace – has real value for us.
Our Grace before meals is first a way of thanking God.
We thank God for our food and recognize that it is a gift – a grace – from God.
Besides this thankfulness, we also ask God’s blessing.
We ask God to bless this food and, through it, bless us:
may God and this meal transform us more and more into his likeness.
All of this is the meaning of our traditional Catholic Grace before Meals:
“Bless us O Lord and these thy gifts which we are about to receive from thy bounty. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. “
Sometimes it is helpful to have variety in our Grace before Meals.
For example, we might just pray in our own heartfelt words.
Or we might try a Grace composed by another.
Below is an example of an alternative Grace.

“We give you praise, Lord God, king of the universe:
you have sent your beloved Son, Jesus Christ,
to fill us with grace and truth.
Bless our meal,
those who have prepared it, 
and those with whom we share it.
May the love which gathers us here
become our gift to all in need,
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.” 

From Give Us This Day by Fr. Michael Kwatera. (1950—. Benedictine priest. Director of Liturgy for Saint John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota.)

May God nourish our faith and hope and energize us for living in the love of Christ. Amen.
Father Michael Schleupner

Inbox Inspiration: Respecting Human Life: January 23 - January 30, 2019

January 23, 2019

Respecting Human Life - 1

Dear Friends,
Last Friday, the annual March for Life took place in Washington.
I know that people from our local parishes travel to the nation’s capital for this.
Many more of us participate in prayer gatherings for human life.
We do this because we believe that life comes from God.
The life of each person is, therefore, sacred.
Our reverencing this life then becomes a multifaceted expression:
assuring health care for children and for everyone,
providing shelter for the homeless, food for the starving,
advocating for peacemaking among nations, treating our elderly with dignity,
assisting women who are pregnant in bringing their babies to full term,
and, definitely, respecting the life of an unborn baby.
This is core to our Christian spirituality and moral code.
It is also central to the respect for the rights of all in our American system.

“…we wish to proceed in a way that rests on the following insights: First, the foundation of the Catholic moral tradition is the dignity of the human person. The second key insight of Catholic moral life is that we are social beings and that solidarity matters. The social acceptance of abortion is a profound moral failure on both counts. It undermines the claim that every life is infused with God-given dignity, and it often pretends such decisions can be relegated to individual choice without having negative consequences on society as a whole.”

From America – The Jesuit Review of Faith and Culture by Editors.

[More on Respecting Human Life in next week’s Inbox Inspirations, January 30, 2019.]

May Jesus who is our way, our truth, and our life guide us in all things. Amen.
Father Michael Schleupner

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January 30, 2019

Respecting Human Life - 2

Dear Friends, 
We have a right and responsibility to promote respect for human life.
We have this right and responsibility as individuals and as a Church.
This is grounded on our faith in God and our desire to express that faith.
It is also grounded on our American rights of free speech and religious freedom.
Nevertheless, how we as persons of faith and as a Church promote respect for human life is also very important.
Our energies first need to be directed to inspiring the hearts of all about the beauty and sacredness of human life.
Based on that, we engage in respectful moral persuasion – not force in any form.
This is the unique contribution that we can make in the name of God.
Our primary method must not be political.
If it is, then we have become more of a political action group.
Our special gift must be touching the hearts of people and not berating them.
It must be to promote the sacredness of human life in a way that respects the life and personhood and sincerity even of those who disagree with us.
In the long run, this will be the way to bring God to this arena of life.
And this will be the most authentic way to be disciples of Christ.

“…beyond the actual content of ‘what’ we say in making a case against abortion, it is critical to pay attention to ‘how’ our defense of the unborn takes place. As St. Paul reminds us, we must ‘speak the truth with love’ (Ephesians 4:14). Success will not come through force of will; it will only come by changing hearts. Therefore we must always keep watch over our own hearts and ensure they are filled with the love and hope needed for this holy work.”

From America – The Jesuit Review of Faith and Culture by Editors.

[More on Respecting Human Life in last week’s Inbox Inspirations, January 23, 2019.]

May Jesus who is our way, our truth, and our life guide us in all things. Amen.
Father Michael Schleupner

Inbox Inspiration: Living the New Year: January 9 - January 16, 2019

January 9, 2019

Living the New Year - 1

Dear Friends,
Right now is the time.
Today is the time we have.
Today is the time to live and pour ourselves into the project of life.
There is little point to regretting the past.
Our if onlys are often a waste of energy.
If only I had done this or if only that had happened – on and on it can go.
These if onlys may benefit us only if they instruct us on how to live today more fully.
There is also little point to worrying about the future.
Our what ifs are also often a waste of energy.
What if I lose my job or what if the MRI comes back bad – on and on it can go.
These what ifs may benefit us only if they motivate us in the here and now.
So, let’s invest ourselves in today, right now –
this is where to put the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual energies and gifts that God has given us.
Resolve each morning to live the day with this approach.
That will be a good daily and a good New Year’s resolution.

“Now is the accepted time, not tomorrow, not some more convenient season.  It is today that our best work can be done and not some future day or future year.  It is today that we fit ourselves for the greater usefulness of tomorrow.  Today is the seed time, now are the hours of work, and tomorrow comes the harvest and the playtime.”

From Three African-American Classicsby W. E. B. Du Bois (1868-1963. American sociologist, civil rights activist, and author).

[More on Living the New Year in next week’s Inbox Inspirations, January 16, 2019.]

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January 16, 2019

Living the New Year - 2

Dear Friends, 
I recommend that each morning we offer our day to God.
When I was a child, I was taught a Morning Offering prayer.
We had to memorize it and then we were to pray it at the start of every day.
I prayed that prayer from my childhood for decades, including for many years as a priest.
Then, I saw some other prayer models for a Morning Offering.
I decided to adopt one that seemed better suited to where I am spiritually today.
I have memorized this and now pray it every morning.
So, I encourage you to do the same.
I am giving an example of such a prayer below.
Praying a Morning Offering that you have learned or one in your own words helps to begin and center the entire day on God.
That, in turn, will help us in Living the New Year very well.

“God, my friend, I offer you this day.
Let all my prayer, work, joy, suffering today
join with the lives offered to you
by the whole People of God
and especially with our great Eucharist, Jesus, 
your Son and our Brother.
Let your Spirit be with me today, especially in …
And I ask your loving concern today, especially for my friend…
Remind me, through the day, that I am not alone. 
Amen.”

From Daily Prayers for Busy People by William J. O’Malley, S.J. (1931—. American Jesuit priest, professor of theology and English, actor, author).

[More on Living the New Year in last week’s Inbox Inspirations, January 9, 2019.]

May the light of Christ deepen our faith, strengthen our hope, and inspire our love throughout this new year.
Father Michael Schleupner