Sunday, July 28, 2013

A Father's gift

Let's play Jeopardy.

The answer is the Holy Spirit.

The question is contained in today's gospel reading (Lk 11:1-13). Jesus is teaching His disciples how to pray. We are given the Our Father and the well known, oft misinterpreted phrase, "Ask and it will be given."



We too often interpret this as free license to ask God for whatever we want, no matter how selfish or ludicrous, and get mad at God for not living up to His word about giving.

We rationalize, "But you said you would give whatever I ask. You said you give better gifts than me, and I give pretty cool gifts come Christmas and birthdays."

Now for the question in today's game of Jeopardy: What should we ask for so we can receive it in abundance, without fail? The Holy Spirit.

It's worth quoting the last verse for clarity, "How much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?" There is no mention of health, prosperity, a nice car, or anything material or self-serving. God is willing to give you whatever you ask for, as long it's in accordance with His will, and that is always more Holy Spirit in our lives to enable us to love and serve as Jesus did.

As a father, I don't give my children Doritos, chocolate or ice cream for breakfast when they ask. Not just because I ate them all last night, but because I know it's not good for them. I won't say no to something healthy. I'll give it in abundance.

Likewise, God, as the loving Father, gives us things that are good for us in abundance. It's a good healthy dose of the Holy Spirit that guides us to ask for all the right things.

Come Holy Spirit.

Monday, July 22, 2013

How many times do I have to tell you?

Kids don't listen.

It's a simple, universal truth.

I don't think they're being deliberately disobedient (most of the time). I think they're just involved in their own little world, and my droning voice doesn't register until I say things "like, a million times," and it reaches a decibal level equivelant to a CF-18 doing a low level flyby at the air show.


Once I do have their attention, out comes one of those phrases we all said we would never say when were parents. My go-to cliche is, "How many times do I have to tell you...?"

Just to shake things up I also use, "If I have to tell you one more time..."or "If I've told you once, I've told you a [large exaggerated number] times!" The odd time I silently mouth the words, acting like I'm yelling, but don't make a sound, just to mess them up. Odd that I'm the only one who thinks that is clever at the time—or ever.

Teaching kids what is right, teaching them to make good decisions and act upon them, takes a lot of patience and persistence. And as parents, that means repeating ourselves a lot.

I often wonder how frequently God says to us, "How many times do I have to tell you...?" Admit it, you know what you're supposed to do, but you don't do it all the time. There's the battle between spirit and flesh (cf Gal 5:17) raging within every single day, many times per day.

Kids don't listen. Universal truth. It applies to all of us as God's children.

God, being the patient and persistent Father that He is, doesn't really want an answer to the question. It's truly rhetorical because He is always ready and willing to forgive, to let us know it's OK if we don't listen perfectly all the time, to let us know His love is unconditional.

As disciples of Christ, we must be merciful as God has been merciful to us (cf Mat 5:7), forgive more than we want to (cf Mat 18:22), give that same unconditional and sacrificial love we have been given. Even if we have to say something a million times before it sinks in.

St. Joseph, patron of fathers and protector of families, pray for us.

Now, don't make me repeat myself.

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Maybe we could just stay home

It's the height of festival season in Saskatoon, Sask., and there are loads of activities to keep families busy, to soak up the sun, or to just whittle away a nice summer day.

The jazz festival wrapped-up, the air show is this weekend, there are concerts galore, my favourite food festival—Taste of Saskatchewan—starts in a couple weeks, Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan kicks-off their season this weekend, there are parks, spray parks and pools-a-plenty, and if the water level goes down, we can enjoy the river and all it has to offer again.


When my wife and I think about taking the kids out to enjoy all our beautiful city has to offer, I find myself thinking, "Or, maybe we could just stay home."

The scenario is a familiar one: we have to fight with at least two kids to go to the bathroom before we leave; even though I built lockers for each kid in the mudroom, there is sure to be a fight over real estate with a screechy, "I was there first;" a collection of stuffed animals that would make any toy store proud gets gathered; at least two kids need snacks this instant; the toddler still in diapers decides now is the perfect time to drop a bomb in said diaper; there is a lengthy debate over what shoes to wear (funny, it's just the girls who do that); and someone screams bloody murder that a stuffed animal got left behind a nano-second after the door gets locked. And this is summer, when we don't have to bundle up.

Just leaving the house can be exhausting. "What?!? There's more? Just let Daddy have a quick nap before we leave the garage."

But we want more for our kids. We want them to experience the world around them. We want them to know the joy and excitement of discovering something new. We want them to know how blessed we are to live in a great city in a great country.

Before we had kids we said we didn't want to be parents that used their kids as an excuse to not do things. We may have to do things differently, or do different things, but it's worth the effort, even if I don't see it all the time or right away.

I understand why some parents have simply abandoned the leaving-the-house-Sunday-morning ritual. I've said to my wife several times, "This is why parents chose to stay home instead of go to church."

But we want more for our kids. We want them to experience the love of the one who created them and the world around them. We want them to know the joy and excitement of discovering all their Catholic faith has to offer. We want them to know how blessed they are to have the freedom to worship and to have a community—both in Heaven and on Earth—that supports their journey every step of the way. We want them to love and be loved.

Just as we made a commitment to foster activity and discovery with our children, we made a commitment to pass on our faith. And the rewards of that will be infinitely greater than having fun during festival season.

Now, what shoes should I wear?