Month: October 2019

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A few years back, in one of his homilies, my pastor made a point concerning vice and virtue. Although I don’t recall the exact words he used, the gist of the message was this: vice, by its nature, does not need the grace of God to grow. Vice does very well all by itself, with no assistance. Most of us have no problem giving in to our vices (sins, bad habits, whatever you want to call them). On the other hand, we find it hard to live a virtuous life. Virtue needs God’s grace to grow, because, by our nature, we find it difficult. It has been so since the days of Eden when humanity chose not to trust in God, but rather to take our lives into our own hands with the encouragement of the one who leads us astray, to this very day. And here we are! 

Our life’s journey challenges us. We are challenged to examine what it means to live a virtuous life by examining the virtues themselves. 

Today’s Gospel gives us the parable of the fruitless fig tree, ready to be cut down and burned because it had been fruitless for years, using up valuable resources. The gardener pleaded with the owner of the garden to wait one more year, to allow him to fertilize the tree further, with the hope that it will soon bear fruit and be useful. Is it our time to be nourished and nurtured by the Grace of God through the efforts of our gardener, Jesus? Is it our time to stretch our roots to receive the nourishment of God’s grace, and to spread our branches upward toward the Son? Feel the warmth! 

A life so nourished will begin to find that a virtuous life, although never easy, is a fruitful and satisfying life. Through the grace of God and our attention to the virtues of Faith, Hope, Charity, Justice, Fortitude, Prudence, and Temperance, it will prove worthy of the gardener’s efforts. He is tireless! 

Take a look at each virtue and how to take ownership to better our lives and the lives of those we touch. We will be challenged to look more deeply into our hearts: what weakens and hinders our growth – what can make us strong. 

Take time with this parable of the fig tree. Find your place in the garden and be planted. If you recognize that you are not always bearing fruit, then be ready to be nourished and fertilized. It may not always be a pleasant process, but it will be great in the end!

YOUR GUIDEPOSTS: 

Faith: The virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us, and that Holy Church proposes we believe, because God is truth itself. By Faith, we completely commit our entire selves to God. 

Hope:  Hope goes hand in hand with Faith. By this virtue, we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our own strength but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit. 

Fortitude: The moral virtue that ensures firmness in difficulties and consistency in the pursuit of the good. It strengthens the resolve to resist temptations and to overcome the obstacles in the moral life. 

Prudence: The virtue that disposes practical reason to discern our true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it. The prudent person looks where he is going. 

Charity: The virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God. 

Temperance: This virtue moderates the attraction of pleasures and provides balance in the use of created goods. It ensures the will’s mastery over instincts and keeps desires within the limits of what is honorable. 

Justice: The moral virtue that consists in the constant and firm will to give due to God and neighbor. Justice toward God is called “the virtue of religion.” Justice toward humanity disposes one to respect the rights of each and to establish in human relationships the harmony that promotes equity with regard to persons and to the common good. 

Perhaps some time we can explore each of these in depth. For now, ponder them and know that, like that gardener thousands of years ago, our Master Gardener, Jesus, will not give up on us. As with the fig tree, there is always hope.

God Bless.

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Jeanne Penoyar, an Accounts Manager at Diocesan, is a Lector at St. Anthony of Padua parish in Grand Rapids, MI. Jeanne has worked in parish ministry as an RCIA director, in Liturgy, and as a Cantor. Working word puzzles and reading fill her spare time. Jeanne can be reached at jpenoyar@diocesan.com.

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Bonus Post!

Jesus has some pretty strong words for us in today’s readings. This whole week, it seems Luke is full of the types of readings that we would rather skim over and get on to something more palatable like, “Bring the little children unto me.” Who doesn’t love the vision of Jesus surrounded by a group of cute kiddos?

But today’s reading doesn’t have cute kids or even words that easily morph into a Facebook ready platitude complete with sunbeamed image. Jesus is pretty direct and pretty harsh.

“You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky; why do you not know how to interpret the present time?”

St. Augustine said that nature, creation is God’s first book. It is through the study of what He created and how He created it that we can come to better know the Creator, our Creator. God speaks to us in and through nature. In the fall, as a result of Adam and Eve’s attempt to become like God without going through God, this “natural” pathway of communication became jumbled and garbled. We touch vestiges of it when we are moved by a sunset or a baby’s smile. At other times, we look at the clouds and simply try to predict the weather.

I have a mental picture of my guardian angel doing a facepalm. “Seriously, Sheryl, you look at the mystery and grandeur of creation and all you can see is if you can fit in a trip to the beach?”

When we look at creation strictly for how we can use it, we are missing the point of the story written into nature. In nature, we can read of the love of our God. We see the handiwork of our Father, who delighted in creating us and supplying all our needs. Our Father, who we turn away from again and again through our own choice with our weakened will and darkened intellect. It is the same story we read in the other book of God’s revelation, the history of Salvation in the Bible. Man thinks he has a better way, and God calls him back.

Which brings us to the rest of this passage. If we read the signs of the times in God’s creation around us, we need to not just read those signs but act on them. Where there is disharmony or unrest, we need to bring peace and unity. We need to reach out to others for reconciliation. The only sin for which we cannot be forgiven is unforgiveness to others. This is a hard pill to swallow! We say it every time we pray the Lord’s Prayer, forgive us as we forgive others. Do we really mean this? Do we really do this? What if God grants me exactly what I ask for and forgives me exactly to the extent that I have forgiven others? This is not to diminish any hurt or pain that you may have suffered at another’s hands. It is more a recognition that most of the time, what are the grudges, hurts, and pains we hold onto? It isn’t the big stuff! To bend an old saying, unforgiveness is like drinking poison and expecting it to hurt the other person. Inevitably, if we harbor unforgiveness, we are the ones who die internally and eventually eternally.

That is what Jesus is telling us in such strong language today. We need to read the signs of our own times and then act on them. If necessary, we need to avail ourselves of God’s ever ready mercy in the confessional and let go of our unforgiveness so that we too may be forgiven.

We will all stand before THE Judge one day. Will he hand us over until the last penny is paid, or will he say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant”?

May God bless you today and happy reading!

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Sheryl delights in being the number 1 cheerleader and supporter for her husband, Tom who is a candidate for the Permanent Diaconate in the Diocese of Kalamazoo. They are so grateful for the opportunity to grow together in this process whether it is studying for classes, deepening their prayer life or discovering new ways to serve together. Sheryl’s day job is serving her community as the principal for St. Therese Catholic School in Wayland, Michigan. Since every time she thinks she gets life all figured out, she realizes just how far she has to go, St. Rita of Cascia is her go-to Saint for intercession and help. Home includes Brea, a Bernese Mountain dog and Carlyn, a very, very goofy Golden Retriever.

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The body is bad, and the spirit is good is the battle cry of a common heresy that I think is still making the rounds today; it is the heresy of Gnosticism. This is essentially the belief that all matter is evil, and only the spirit is good. The first reading today by Paul is often used to affirm this heresy, and, if you read Paul, you will see many verses that seem to confirm this harmful way of thinking.

Paul was not a Gnostic, even with language as strong as we find today. Paul’s point here is not that our bodies are evil, but rather our body disconnected from the spirit of God, and living only for the flesh is an evil thing. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, “It is a human body precisely because it is animated by a spiritual soul, and it is the whole human person that is intended to become, in the body of Christ, a temple of the Spirit.”

We are a body and soul together. We cannot think of the body just as a shell in which we dwell until the end of time. The Catholic Church professes, and we do the same every week during the Mass, that we believe in the resurrection of the body. That at the end of time, we will not just become a spiritual being, but that we will get a resurrected body that participates intimately in the divine life of God.

There is something beautiful and profound here. That our bodies are important because they are us. We are not different from our body. When we look at the body, we see a person. And because we are all made in the image and likeness of God, when we look at a body, we see God himself.

Think about this mind-blowing reality for a second. Nature can lead us to the thought that there must be a creator because of its beauty. But most of the created world was not made in God’s image and likeness; human beings were. So as easy as it is to look at a sunset and reflect on the more profound mysteries of God, it should be even easier to look at our neighbor or ourselves and see a glimpse of the divine.

As you go throughout your day today, thank God for your body and especially thank him that he became flesh. That all of theology, as we know it, is profoundly practical because the word of God became living and active on this earth; God indeed became a man. This eternal and invisible being decided to show his love to the world through the body, confirming that the body is good. That is a cause for a grand celebration. From all of us here at Diocesan, God BLess!

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Tommy Shultz is a Solutions Evangelist for Diocesan. In that role, he is committed to coaching parishes and dioceses on authentic and effective Catholic communication. Tommy has a heart and a flair for inspiring people to live their faith every day. He has worked in various youth ministry, adult ministry, and diocesan roles. He has been a featured speaker at retreats and events across the country. His mission and drive have been especially inspired by St. John Paul II’s teachings. Tommy is blessed to be able to learn from the numerous parishes he visits and pass that experience on in his presentations. Contact him at tshultz@diocesan.com.