Parish Mission Our Lady of Mt. Carmel February 21, 2012

1. Parish MissionOur Lady of Mt. CarmelFebruary 21, 2012 “This Love Will Decide Everything”

2. Welcome • Prayer • Announcements • Power Points will be placed on www.vocations.com • My blog http://frburke23.wordpress.com • Q&A at the end of the presentation

3. Review • It is important to develop deep and intimate relationships with God and others in order to make it through the difficult times. • This is done through: • Prayer – spending time talking from the heart and listening with the heart (ARRR) • Study – getting to know the other better • Closest thing to understanding God’s love for us is to have a human being know all about us and love us anyway.

4. Spiritual Tripod • Piety - heart • Study - mind • Action – will • Our will follows what our mind and heart are attached to… • Love takes up where knowledge leaves off.--Saint Thomas Aquinas

5. Salvation • How did Jesus define salvation? • Divided the sheep and the goats • What was the criteria? • Matthew 25:40 - “I assure you, as often as you did it for one of my least brothers, you did it for me.” • Faith is primary • But faith must be brought forward in good works. • James 2:14 – “What good is it to profess faith without practicing it? Such faith has no power to save one, has it?” • James 2:26 – “Faith without works is dead as a body is without breath.”

6. John Paul II • "Real love is demanding. I would fail in my mission if I did not tell you so. Love demands a personal commitment to the will of God."

7. Life of Grace • This is all pointing us to living a life of grace • This is God’s plan for us • To live in the state of grace, so that God’s grace can pour forth from us. • Others will no longer see us but Christ. • Difference between living in a state of sin and the state of grace. • When the relationship is strong, love and sacrifice come naturally • Extreme Makeover – Soul Edition • Use this Lent to allow the Holy Spirit to transform you from the inside out…

8. Growing Old Together • What happens when couples have been together a long time? • They start to look alike. • They finish one another’s sentences and thoughts. • They dress alike, talk alike. • They can be in a room together and say nothing and be united as one.

9. Growing Old Together • What happens when we have been together with Jesus for a long time? • We start to look alike – people see Jesus in us • We finish one another’s sentences and thoughts – Scripture comes to mind to help others in difficult times • We can be in a room together and say nothing and be united as one - Contemplation

10. Fr. Pedro Arupe, 1976 “Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination will affect everything.

11. Fr. Pedro Arupe, 1976 It will decide what will get you out of bed in the mornings, what you will do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything.”

12. What gets you out of bed in the morning? • Baseball used to be my God, roller coaster ride • Video clip • Then money became my focus and I dreaded getting out of bed when I was an actuary. • How has my relationship with Jesus changed my motivation? • Now as a priest, I can’t wait to wake up and start the day • What are God’s surprises today? • Who will I encounter? • Who needs the love of Jesus today? • Examen of Consciousness • What gets you out of bed in the morning?

13. What do you do with your evenings/weekends? • Television • Baseball • The things that we love tell us what we are. --Saint Thomas Aquinas • Now – ministry – sharing Jesus Christ with young adults, fellow Cursillistas, spreading the Word • and friends – I love investing in these relationships • Our goal is heaven – what are we doing to invest in that future? • Where do you spend your time? • How do you spend your evenings and weekends?

14. What do you read? • Magazines • Newspapers • Books • Scripture • Matthew 15:11 – “What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean,' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean.'“ • Garbage in, garbage out • Spiritual nourishment in, fruits of the Holy Spirit emerge

15. Who do you know? • Parents – show me your friends, it will show me who you are • Who do you hang out with? • Do your friends encourage your relationship with Jesus Christ? • Is it about rubbing elbows with CEO’s, the rich and the famous?

16. Who do you know? (cont) • Matthew 20:25-26 – “You know how those who exercise authority among the Gentiles lord it over them; their great ones make their importance felt. It cannot be like that with you. Anyone among you who aspires to greatness must serve the rest.” • Humility – greatest virtue that works against the sin of pride • Steps to humility • “A soul enkindled with love is a gentle, meek, humble, and patient soul.”--St John of the Cross, OCD

17. Who do you know? (cont) • Who were the friends of Jesus? • The poor, marginalized, sinners, outcasts • Mark 2:16-17 – “Why does He eat with such as these?” Jesus said to them, “People who are healthy do not need a doctor; sick people do. I have come to call sinners, not the self-righteous.” • We need to be friends with the friends of Jesus • "What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like."--St. Augustine of Hippo

18. Who do you know? (cont) • If Jesus Christ is our best friend, He will be sending us forth just like the disciples and apostles • Disciple = follower • Apostle = one who is sent • "There is no place for selfishness—and no place for fear! Do not be afraid, then, when love makes demands. Do not be afraid when love requires sacrifice"--Pope John Paul II

19. What breaks your heart? • In the past, I allowed things like not making it to the big leagues to break my heart • Now I see how shallow that was. • As a friend of Jesus, what breaks my heart now?

20. What breaks your heart? (cont) • What breaks Jesus’ heart? • Sin • My personal sin – awareness of how well I cared for my friends and neglected my relationship with Christ. • I would be devastated if I hurt one of my friends. • What about with Jesus? • Does my sin break my heart? • O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended You and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell, but most of all because they offend you, my God, who are all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of your grace, to confess my sins, to do penance and to amend my life.

21. What breaks your heart? (cont) • Sins against life • Since I am a friend of Jesus, the Creator of everything, my heart breaks for every sin against life • From natural conception to natural death • We all make mistakes – go to the Lord for mercy

22. What breaks your heart? (cont) • Seven capital sins • Greed • Virtue – charity • Anger • Virtue – patience • Lust • Virtue - chastity • Pride • Virtue - humility • Envy • Virtue – kindness, thankfulness • Gluttony • Virtue – temperance • Sloth • Virtue – diligence

23. What breaks your heart? (cont) • Who is ready to be a martyr? (witness) • Who is ready to be a saint? • Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI are moving us back toward mysticism – a deep union with Christ because they realize that the Church is going to be persecuted. • We need people who are willing to take a stand for One that they love…

24. What amazes you with joy and gratitude? • Once again, my life was dominated by baseball. If I did well on the baseball field, I was happy and thankful. • Now what brings joy to my heart is bringing people to my best friend – Jesus Christ.

25. What amazes you with joy and gratitude? (cont) • The Great Commission – • Matthew 28:19-20 – “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations. Baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Teach them to carry out everything I have commanded you. And know that I am with you always, until the end of the world!” • Are you ready to be sent forth? • This is not just for priests and religious. This is the call for everyone!

26. John Buchan, author - 1984 • “In such a (nightmare) world everyone would have leisure. But everyone would be restless, for there would be no spiritual disciplines in life…. It would be a feverish, bustling world, self-satisfied and yet malcontent, and under the mask of a riotous life there would be death at the heart. In the perpetual hurry of life there would be no chance of quiet for the soul…. In such a bagman’s paradise, where life would be rationalized and padded with every materialcomfort, there would be little satisfaction for the immortal part of man.”

27. St. Francis de Sales • "You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working, and just so, you learn to love by loving. All those who think to learn in any other way deceive themselves."

28. What are we going to do? • Take time out of this feverish lifestyle this Lent. • Just like spring training, make a spiritual plan with discipline • What am I going to do to improve my relationship with Jesus Christ? • Giving up things is great, but is that enough to grow in deep, unceasing union with Jesus?

29. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything!