The Deacon Barney Rodriguez |
ARCHIVE For the Virtues of Faith, Hope and Love
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The Character of a Man A few years back I attended a meeting with Men from several different churches in the Temple Belton area. This was a group of dedicated men working as Ambassadors in our community to bring men closer to Christ. We were planning our next topic we would speak about and decided it should be based on the character of a Man. Normally there was a person who lead this and was the main speaker so to speak, but this time, I was asked to give a few words about the character of a man. Since I didn’t know ahead of time that I would be called to speak, I was totally unprepared. As I slowly got up, I looked down while I prayed “Oh lord help me out here,” and then there it was. A card my wife had given me that morning for Fathers Day. My wife Janie wanted to give me the card before I left to this early morning meeting. As she gave it to me, I hurriedly read it before I left for the meeting. I loved the card because of what it said but I had left that morning in such a hurry to make it to the meeting that I didn’t give much thought to what I would later discover it would mean to me and others. I kissed my wife and told her thanks for such a great card and stuck it in my briefcase. At the meeting, as I was getting up to speak I looked down at my open brief case and I saw the card with the eight tiny mini mirrors and as I reached for the card the Holy Spirit of God gave me the words to say. I began to tell everyone about this great card my wife gave me that morning and how I totally agreed with all it said about me. Under each of the tiny mirrors were statements such as the most handsome, most wonderful and etc… I think you get the picture. Well everyone laughed with me about what I had just said. Then I told the men that sometimes we are like the card. Sometimes we are like the many images we see in the eight mini mirrors in my card. Sometimes according to who we are hanging around with, we tend to behave in a manner that will fit into that particular group. We act one way with one group and another way with another group. Jesus wasn’t one way with His mother Mary, another way with His Apostles and then another way with the people He loved. He has and will always be the same. We need to be as one image, and that is in the image of Christ our Savior, not like the many images in the mirrors we saw in the card. As I held the card up to the light, I would sway it to the left and then to the right, give it a turn up then down and I could never see one complete image of myself because the mirrors were too small for an entire image to fit in one mirror. I told the men that what we needed to do when we get up every morning is to take one good look in the big mirror at home which would show an entire image of themselves. Look and the image of yourself, and ask yourself, “who am I, who do people think I am, and who am I really to the Lord.” Ask God if you are who he intended for you to be. Are you working toward becoming that godly husband, faithful father and true friend to the people you know. Are you using the gift that God gives each of us to use? I finally got around to talking about Character? The character of a man I think, determines how spiritual a man really is. It encompasses all that we have just talked about. My definition of character is, “whom you are when no one else is around.” Who are you when you are alone and no one you know is around? Are you the same person to all the people you know, or are you different according to the group you are with? Are you like the story of the many mirrors? If you can look in the mirror every morning and feel good about whom you are in Christ Jesus, than others will see that also. I came away from the meeting anxious to get home so I could tell my wife about the card and to thank her again for such a great card and how it helped me realize and learn something about character that day. I think the Holy Spirit was working through her to get a message across to me that day as well. Isn’t the Holy Spirit awesome?
As we come out of the Lenten season we began to get ready for the Ordinary time of our year. But I say we should remain somewhat in the season of Lent throughout the year. If we are truly listening and changing to become a better disciple we must realize it can’t be done without constantly going back and remembering the sacrifice Jesus made for us. In other words, let’s not put Lent on the shelf until it comes around again, and then pull it down once a year to live it out again. I say we carry it around with us somehow as a reminder daily of how our salvation was won for us. Now I also don’t think we should focus on it so much that we forget to focus on all the other beautiful stories and messages that our Lord gave. But we should keep it close enough to get to it at least once a week as a reminder, especially when we are tempted or when we need a faith lift or when we realize we may be behaving in a way which is not according to the will of God. Maybe we should wear a button on our chest that says, “Lent, Your day of Salvation.” Peace and Grace, For the Virtues of Faith, Hope and LoveWhen we pray as a community, do we really understand what we are praying for? I’ve heard not only at our parish but at other parishes and at home prayer meetings people who often lead off their prayer with, “For the virtues of faith, hope and love.” I think these are excellent virtue’s to pray to obtain in our lives. But as I pray, I seem to get caught up in words I am saying during the prayers and forget to review in my mind throughout the prayer what each one of the virtues we are praying about is and what they mean. So if I’m praying the Lord’s Prayer I’m paying close attention to those words, and the same goes for the Hail Mary and Glory be etc… Maybe something is missing that we are not saying when we announce that we are praying for these virtues in us. I always thought that when we prayed we were praying for others and any petitions we might bring up such as asking God to grace us with these virtues of faith, hope and love ought maybe to be done at the end as petitions with just a few minutes to take them in with silent prayer. Now to begin with, exactly what is a Virtue? The dictionary describes Virtue as “a specific moral quality regarded as good or meritorious.” Meaning that we are praying to become excellent or to obtain strength, courage and an effective power of force in a specific quality we know to be good for us to acquire. The specific qualities we ask to obtain during a Rosary usually are “Faith, Hope and Love.” Those are all qualities we must have to be able to understand God’s promises to us to hold dearly to until his return. Without these we would not be able to allow God to direct us to strive for Holiness. Without these we would go through life thinking there is nothing left for us after this life and therefore maybe make choices that are not good for us. Let’s take a look at each of these three virtues. The first Virtue we ask of God for is “Faith.” When we ask for faith we are asking God to grant us unquestionable belief in Him as our Father. A belief that does not require he proof to us who He is. We ask that he give us a sense of complete trust and confidence that he is who he says He is. That we would have a sense of loyalty to Him. In the Marine Corp we called this quality. Always faithful. “Semper Fi.” The second Virtue we ask for is “Hope.” Now Hope is a desire or want that is accompanied by an expectation. It is for something we want very much in our lives. Hope is also something we continue having even though it may seem baseless. The third Virtue is Love. Ah Love. I think this one is the greatest one of all. Because God is love. When we ask for the Virtue of Love, we are asking God to grant us a deep and tender feeling of affection, attachment or devotion to Him. That He will help us to have a strong desire for Him and for all human beings. All these Virtues require trust. They can’t be gained without trusting that they are real qualities one needs to obtain in order to grow closer to God. Lastly, I don’t criticize that we attach these petitions to our prayers, I just want us to be aware that if we are asking for these to maybe take time to reflect on them and not run through them so fast it was merely an attachment to our prayer that didn’t get much thought. So don’t pray so fast. Take time to take in the words we are lifting up to God. God bless you,
Marriage 101Have you ever seen families that just seem to have the best of times together? It seems like they are the perfect family. Husbands and wives who lead their families with love first, make it seem easy. Of course that doesn’t mean those marriages are perfect and without problems.
But have you ever noticed how deeply in love they are with one another? All these families raise great children through the grace of God. If you are married, isn’t this your ultimate goal? When problems arise in a Godly family, they seek God first for the decisions that need to be made. Then they make the decisions that affect their family in a positive way because they seek God to clear the way. Marriage requires mutual submission. It requires an attitude that doesn’t always come naturally especially to most men. This is why St. Paul tells husbands that they are to provide their wives with leadership and not a heavy-handed domineering, “I’m the boss!” kind of leadership. As husbands we are to provide the kind of leadership Christ exercises over the church. That kind of leadership is called, “Servant leadership.” Godly leadership begins with a servant’s heart. That servant attitude starts with the daily issues of helping each other around the home, whether it’s housework, yard work or taking care of the children. Ephesians calls on both husband and wife to submit to one another in Chapter 6. Another thing that makes these marriages seem to beautiful is because these couples have taken a look at how they want their marriage to be and have chosen friends wisely. They have taken a look at are the friends that they already have. Below are examples of the kind of friends we should look for. So you read through the list, think about the friends you have.
Read through 1 Peter 3:7-8. It’s an excellent recipe for a good marriage. God bless you,
Which Jesus Do We Serve?Each year all Deacons of the Austin Diocese spend a day with the Bishop. The Bishop always takes time to bring us a new way of looking at some of the things we are doing or praying about. He also makes this day special for us as well as a fun day. He always manages to teach us something new about our faith and or he has others plan special talks or pass along important information that pertains to our Ministry as Deacons. This year we discussed the Apostle’s Creed. After he broke the prayer down sentence by sentence, I began to realize that there are those times when we make up our own set of rules and make up our own kind of Jesus, as if we really had that kind of power, and we serve that Jesus not the true Jesus who is God and who works in us by the power of the Holy Spirit. “Will the real Jesus stand up,” the Bishop titled his talk. At times we make up a Jesus that agrees with all that we do and believe in. We make up our own rules about life and how we should live or what we should tell others on how to live their lives. Well I’m sure the real Jesus has news for us. If we have ever wanted to hear Jesus laugh, let’s tell him our plan. Since when did we get arrogant enough to change the way we are called to live. God made a set of rules called the “Ten Commandments,” not the 10 Suggestions. And Jesus gave us the Beatitudes to show us what our reward would be if we followed a certain way to live. It is so important for us to study our Catholic faith and all that it is every chance we get. It is very important for us to read the scriptures and reflect on how those readings fit into our very lives day in and day out. The Parables of Jesus are some of the most exciting readings of the Bible. They show us how close Jesus is to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the way the stories are told. We can see mercy, forgiveness, compassion and especially love in all the Parables. The Parables also guide us to a true way of living the way Jesus did and wants us to live. I challenge each of you to read the Parables and pick one a week to reflect on. Ask yourself questions such as:
When you get to a parable that hits you at home, you’ll know it. That’s when you take even more time to reflect, pray, and decide on what lesson this is trying to teach you. I think there is a parable that fits each of us in the way we live our every day lives. Get excited about the parables and tell someone about your favorite one. Get a group started to discuss them. Share one or two each time you meet. God bless,
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