Daily Mass Readings 08/28/2014 or The Journey of a Thousand Miles Ends With a Rejoicing Samurai?

"He will keep you firm to the end,
irreproachable on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God is faithful,
and by him you were called to fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." - 1 COR 1:8-9

08/28/2014 Memorial of St. Augustine

I spent this past weekend camping with my family in the beauty of northern New Hampshire. Well away from any city, as most of us usually do, I noticed the sheer number of stars in the sky. I wrote a bit about it and perhaps I'll share that once I manage to unpack my things from our camping trip. In the mean time, the synopsis of my thoughts as I tilted my head back to stare at the canopy of stars above me, was how amazing it is that a God who can create the vast universe and all these stars, sought fellowship with us. In fact, He continues to seek us each on an individual level even today.

We (I) have a tendency to focus on what we are doing wrong and this can often appear to others who are non-Christian or even non-theist altogether as a type of self-loathing as if we are constantly dwelling on how we are filled with evil and begging for forgiveness.(remember yesterday's post about the 'dead men's bones and all types of filth')

Now, there is a grain of truth to this in that, as Christians, we are called to try to grow ever closer to Christ's example for our lives and since we don't have the luxury of being fully human AND fully God, we will never achieve this perfectly as He did. But it is the process of constant improvement that benefits us and all of those around us. In karate-do we call the concept 'kaizen' and that too is a pursuit by which even though we will never arrive at perfection, we benefit from the journey toward that elusive goal itself.

This is not done because we think we are worthless slugs. It's actually quite the opposite. We try to achieve Jesus' example of perfection because we recognize that we are creations of God. We see that the creator of this unfathomable universe also created every one of us, loves every one of us and died for every one of us. That doesn't make me feel worthless, that proves to me that every one of us has a value that could never be measured and a dignity that cannot be dismissed. From the moment of our conception, to the time we return to Him, God is faithful to us and He does call us to fellowship with His son Jesus Christ so that we too may call ourselves children of the Most High. We need to be sure to step back occasionally and just simply let that blessing wash over us and feel the incredible JOY that it brings!

God bless,
P.D.O.