“Do you wish to become holy?”

This is the question every Christian is asked at his or her Baptism, responding “I do” to the profession of faith.  Because the answer can only be given personally in the here and now (not in the past, or in the future, but today), I’d like to ask this question even more specifically and personally:

Do you wish to make this year 2012 holy?

If the answer is yes, then we immediately find ourselves – now, in this moment - in the company of the saints, God’s holy ones! They are people just like us – sinners by birth, struggling day by day to love God by seeing him in the face of each person as they go through each day of their life. Each of them have unique struggles and unique challenges – no two saints are alike!! The call to holiness is always uniquely personal and mysterious. But for each person the key is always a commitment to prayer, in which we open our hearts to the quiet presence of the Holy Spirit and ask him to speak to us his word of mercy and peace – so that we in turn can bestow that gift on others.

So this year 2012 is a unique and unrepeatable moment of grace for you – and the Holy Spirit is just waiting for you to ask him to assist you with his anointing and fire so that you can set your world on fire.

Here is a great prayer written by my friend Saint Faustina Kowalska:

O My God,
When I look into the future, I am frightened,
But why plunge into the future?
Only the present moment is precious to me,
As the future may never enter my soul at all.

It is no longer in my power to change, correct or add to the past;
For neither sages nor prophets could do that.
And so what the past has embraced I must entrust to God.

O present moment, you belong to me, whole and entire.
I desire to use you as best I can.
And although I am weak and small,
You grant me the grace of Your omnipotence.

And so, trusting in Your mercy,
I walk through life like a little child,
Offering You each day this heart
Burning with love for Your greater Glory.

— From her Diary: Divine Mercy in My Soul, Notebook 1 (1)

Come Holy Spirit, make 2012 holy by showing me the unique and personal path you would have me follow.

Mary, Star of the Third Millennium, pray for us!

20+C+M+B+12

Happy Epiphany!! At the beginning of the New Year, it is a tradition to bless homes with holy water and blessed chalk, writing the year along with the initials of the Three Magi (Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar) separated by the Cross, above the door of the home. It is a way of asking Christ to bless each person in the home as well as to bless each person who visits during the coming year. Each time somebody goes in or out of the house, he or she comes through the doorway and passes under the Cross, receiving Christ’s blessing! “The Lord will guard your going and coming, now and forever” (Psalm 121).

The Feast of the Epiphany seemed to me like a fitting day to begin blogging for “Live Greater!”  Today is the day on which the Light of Christ was revealed to all the nations of the world, represented in the persons of the Three Magi who came to Bethlehem to adore the Newborn King. It is day on which the Church is reminded of her mission to evangelize all the peoples of the world, even to the ends of the earth. The gift of God’s abundant love and mercy which we have celebrated at Christmas is not meant to be packed away when we take down our Christmas tree! The Feast of the Epiphany calls us to proclaim and share the Good News, everywhere we go with everyone we meet.

It was on the Feast of the Epiphany in 2001 that Blessed John Paul II issued his great Apostolic Letter about the new millennium, known in Latin as “Duc in altum” or “Put out into the deep!” These are the words of Christ to Saint Peter (Luke 5:6), inviting Peter to go further than he had ever gone before in trust so that Jesus could bless him more abundantly. The late great Holy Father applied these words to the Church as she entered the twenty-first century and the Third Millennium of Christianity.  The Church (that’s us!!) is called by Christ to “put out into the deep” by choosing to follow Christ totally and with trust.  The Pope especially addressed his invitation to young people, assuring them that Jesus Christ is the secret of true freedom and profound joy, the supreme friend and the teacher of all genuine friendship. “For this reason, I do not hesitate to ask them [young people] to make a radical choice of faith and life and present them with a stupendous task: to become “morning watchmen” (Isaiah 21:11-12) at the dawn of the new millennium.

I hope to reflect more on what it means to be “morning watchmen” in the days and weeks ahead. For now, let’s ask the Holy Spirit to be poured forth abundantly upon each one of us (upon the entire Church!), so that we can each be, uniquely and personally, courageous witnesses to the Light who has shone into our darkness today, Jesus Christ, the King of all Creation. Mother Mary, Star of the Third Millennium, pray for us!

Father Peter Mitchell

Matthew 14:22-33

This gospel reading has totally changed my life.  I spent six years of my life in high school and college straying from the Church and Jesus Christ.  I had rejected his free gift of grace for me and chose to do what I wanted to do.  Had I died at that time in my life and I would have gone to Hell.  The sad thing is that I didn’t even care about it.  Reading these words at the end of my Junior year in college is just what I needed.

You see I think I am a lot like Peter.  I believe he would have been a man’s man.  I think he would have been quite prideful to.  Heck, if you read through the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles and he shows he was definitely not afraid to speak his mind, even if it meant putting his foot in his mouth.  He was courageous as well.  In MT 14 he just wanted to go out to Jesus on the sea.  He wanted to walk where Jesus was walking.  Jesus told him to come out to him and Peter followed.  The only problem was he lost faith and he began to sink.  At that point he yelled out, “Lord, save me.”  It then says that Jesus Immediately stretched out his had and saved Peter.  Jesus didn’t just wait around and think about it.  He did it right away. 

When I was a Junior in college I finally cried out Lord, save me.  I did it in the Sacrament of Confession.  You know what Jesus did?  That’s right he immediately reached out his hand and saved me.  He did this through the priest who heard my Confession.  I know try to go weekly and every time I cry out Lord, save me.  Every single time Jesus does.  He loves me and he loves you too.  Go to him this last week of Advent and cry out to him in Confession.  He won’t even hesitate to bring you out!  Confession gives us both Christ’s mercy and his grace.  Grace is like strenght to help us ward off the temptations of the devil.  Go, seek out Jesus.  Get out of the boat and go to him!!!!!

Tony