Met in Our Weakness

The fifth week of Lent is upon us.  Already?  Yep.  Can you believe it?  I feel like it was just a few days ago that I was gearing up for 40 days of prayer & penance.  The beginning of Lent is always a great opportunity to take a good look at ourselves, examine the areas we need to change, and then go about making commitments to do so.  And here we are 5 weeks later.  Is anyone else finding themselves frustrated at the ways they’ve failed to remain faithful to the Lenten commitments made?  Wishing the last four weeks of Lent had resulted in perfect sanctity rather than a reminder of our weakness?  The perfectionist in me certainly is.  But as I took a few minutes to reflect on this, I realized that this is in fact what Lent is all about.  Recognizing that we cannot become holy on our own.  Admitting that we need a Savior.  And the good news is this: It is precisely in our weakness that Christ meets us!

How many times do we go to prayer attempting to have it all together?  Trying to present ourselves to God as worthy and pious?  This isn’t what He desires.  He desires our honesty, our vulnerability.  The reality is that we don’t deserve his love and we will never have it all together without his grace.  Certainly we are called to strive for virtue and proactively receive grace into our lives.  But we cannot achieve perfection on our own.  The woman at the well couldn’t quench her own thirst.  The man born blind couldn’t make himself see.  Lazarus couldn’t raise himself from the dead.  Neither can we make ourselves holy.  As we enter into this last week of Lent and approach the Triduum, let us come before Christ stripped of everything and allow Him to meet us in our weakness.

By Sarah Houde

Seeking Mercy

"In order to respond to the call of God and start on our journey, it is not necessary to be already perfect. We know that the prodigal son's awareness of his own sin allowed him to set out on his return journey and thus feel the joy of reconciliation with the Father. Weaknesses and human limitations do not present an obstacle, as long as they help make us more aware of the fact that we are in need of the redeeming grace of Christ."

Pope Benedict XVI

Message for the 43rd World Day of Prayers for Vocations
March 30, 2006

I am a sinner.  I am broken. I fail to love my wife, my children, my family, friends, co-workers and enemies the way they deserve.  I am aware of this reality.

Pope Benedict XVI’s words above remind us of the importance of recognizing, in humility, our fallen nature.  This recognition is a wonderful starting point each and every day to drawing deeper into a relationship with our merciful Father in Heaven. It is precisely when we are vulnerable – empty if you will – that we are in a state ready to receive Christ’s “redeeming grace.”

The beautiful story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15: 11-32) is meant to draw us into a more complete understanding of God as Love and His desire to shower mercy upon us.  I gained a greater appreciation of this story when I read a little about Jewish customs at the time of Jesus.  When the younger son asks for his “inheritance” he was in effect telling his father that he was dead to him.  Imagine the pain that the father must have felt in the deepest core of his being.  According to custom the father would give the son what was his share of the inheritance but there was a “condition.”  The son could not come back.  In fact, if he came back he could be treated as a vagabond or a thief coming to steal from the property and be killed.

The son would have known this reality, which makes his decision to go back to his father more compelling.  In a way he would have known that he was going back to his own death.  This understanding of the story greatly enhances the point that Jesus is trying to make about the love of God for his fallen away children.

Not only do we find the father looking out for his son (Jesus clearly wants us to know that the father was doing so every day after the son left), but also he runs to his lost son and lavishes upon him forgiveness, mercy and love. He runs to the son who had called him dead and exclaims, “This son of mine was dead, and has come to life again.”  The “irony” is not meant to be lost upon the listener or reader. Can you imagine the crowd who was listening to Jesus tells this story the first time and how stunning this turn of events would have been to them?  Yet the message is clear: God will always be looking to shower his lost children with His forgiveness, mercy and love.  God always runs after us. No matter how sinful or broken we are.

“Weaknesses and human limitations do not present an obstacle, as long as they help make us more aware of the fact that we are in need of the redeeming grace of Christ."  I am a sinner. I am broken.  I fail to love.  Yet I pray daily that the awareness of my shortcomings fuel my desire to be holy and my deepest longing to seek and receive the “redeeming grace of Christ.”

May this continuing season of Lent offer us more opportunities to grow in such consciousness and seek the healing love of Jesus Christ.

- Michael Lavigne

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland is promoting “The Light is On For You.”  Every parish/cluster in the state will have at least one church site open every night from April 11-15 from 6-7p.m. for confession and time of quiet reflection.

We Are a Work in Progress

We’re already in the second week of Lent. I’ve “kept” the “penances” I’ve taken but I’ve also been challenged in a number of other ways.  Did you ever notice that? Regardless of what’s going on, regardless what penance you take, it seems that during Lent there is always something else that will rise up and challenge your way of thinking, of responding.  

These incidents happen the year round, of course, but for some reason during Lent they seem to be more prominent.  I think I’m a patient person. It’s an acquired virtue. You know “practice makes perfect” and I’ve had plenty of practice.  But I ran into a situation recently that had me wanting to pull my hair out.  Internally I had a knee-jerk reaction (and I would never say out loud what I was thinking) but beyond the immediate thoughts, I knew that I needed to take a deep breath and wait this out.  I knew that in spite of what is happening, God would place His hand on it and resolve it in His way, in His time.  

You know how people/companies dangle a carrot to make someone pay attention or buy into whatever is being sold?  I think those little (and sometimes not so little) incidents, are the “carrots” that God is presenting to us.  I think it’s His way of telling us that we are still a work in progress. 

We still have several weeks of Lent.  It is my prayer, for myself and for all of you, that these unexpected situations become moments of growth and purification during this time of prayer and penance.

Judy Michaud

The Feast of the Annunciation

Today’s feast is my favorite feast day in the entire Church year!  Today we celebrate the moment that God entered history, the moment that the Word became Flesh and dwelt among us, the moment that our salvation begun.  What an awe-inspiring moment to contemplate!  And while this certainly is grand and reason to rejoice, I’ve always loved the Feast of the Annunciation particularly because of the very real, very tangible role a lowly young woman played in the salvation of the world.  Mary’s humble acceptance of what God was asking of her enabled salvation to be won for all mankind!  Her simple “yes” caused her womb to become the very first tabernacle where God’s dearly beloved Son took up residence and was nurtured and protected.  When I contemplate Mary and her role in the Incarnation, I am reminded of the irreplaceable role that God has called each and every one of us to in his plan of salvation.  I, a lowly young woman, have an irreplaceable role to play in God’s plan.  And I live this role by a simple, humble “yes” to him each day by waking up and being faithful to the duties he has called me to right here, right now.  I’m sure Mary had no clue when she said “yes” to the angel Gabriel what the result of her “yes” would be.  In a similar way, I’m sure that God uses each of us in many more ways than we can see as we humbly say “yes” to Him each day.

This year in particular I’ve been struck by the role of St. Joseph in all of this.  Not only did God have an irreplaceable role for Mary to play; he also had an irreplaceable role for St. Joseph.  St. Joseph’s humble “yes” to the role of Protector and Provider that God was asking of him enabled Mary to live the vocation God was asking of her.  St. Joseph took a huge leap of faith when he embraced God’s will for him to take Mary as his wife into his home when he knew he was not the father of her child – a cause for utter public humiliation!  And yet, his immediate and unquestioning obedience to God in all things is what ultimately protected this lowly virgin and her child.  His role was so different than that of Mary’s, yet equally important!  St. Joseph, pray for us that we might say “yes” to the Lord and live the irreplaceable role he has called us to!


Sarah Houde

An Encounter with the Lord

The season of Lent offers us an opportunity, as Pope Benedict XVI reminds us, to have "a particularly intense encounter with the Lord, calling us to retrace the steps of Christian initiation." Of course this begins with embracing the Lenten practices of prayer, sacrifice and alms-giving, which requires the desire to "die to ourselves." This act of wild abandonment leads to a greater awareness of who we are as sons and daughters of God and prepares us to be witnesses of Christ to the world.

Our world needs such witnesses.  Our world needs such hope.  Our world needs the example of all of us who seek to be holy "as the Father is holy."  Let this be our collective desire this Lent: that we might willingly empty ourselves in order to be vessels waiting to be filled and moved by God's grace.

Michael Lavigne

Lent: A Time to Remember Who You Are

Bishop Malone reminds us in the video above that we "exist because God loved you into being because God is love and what does Love require? A beloved!"  Lent certainly offers us an opportunity to daily "die to ourselves" through prayer, sacrifice, and alms-giving so that we can rest in this beautiful truth.

The evening prayer for today asks God to "bring us back to you and fill our minds with your wisdom."  Let us ask the Holy Spirit to fill us with this wisdom, built upon the fundamental truth of our existence: that we are being loved into existence each and every moment of our loves!

Stop for a moment each day this Lent to reflect and pray about this wonderful truth.  Allow this reality to conform you to God's will that you might allow Him to use you to share this message of hope to the many in our world who do not know or believe it. Amen.

Michael Lavigne

Joy is My Soul Armor!

I recently gave a brief retreat reflection on joy in the life of a Christian. I just wanted to take a moment to share some thoughts about joy with you all. Joy is the indelible mark of the Holy Spirit. Christians of strong faith and trust in the Lord do not despair in the face of trials and temptations, but are full of joy (James 1:2).

I also believe that joy is spiritual armor. The devil is a prideful spirit who takes himself very, very seriously. Christian happiness, the joy that comes from trust in the Lord, is absolutely incomprehensible to Satan. Pray therefore for the gift of cheerfulness, even amongst life's difficulties. Joy is the language of heaven. 

Laughter… real, authentic, makes your face hurt, lose your breath laughter…is never heard in hell.

Joe Mailhot