Peculiar, Holy, and Perfect

Praying over the scriptures today, I began wondering about what was meant by saying that we a people that God has made “peculiarly” his own. A little research and some dusting off of my Hebrew and Greek led me to some interesting insights into God’s plan for our life. We are called to be not only peculiar, but holy, and perfect. That idea of being perfect is often troubling. Yet, if we look at the Greek word that underlies the English we can see how wonderful this call is and also why it makes sense that we have to love our enemies as the Gospel indicates.

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Flipping for Jesus

While watching the Olympics recently, I was very interested in the “freestyle skiing” competition. The athletes ski down a steep hill and then into a ramp that throws them high in the air while they do all kinds of flips and twists before landing. I wondered how one would ever get the courage to do this the first time. I suppose that they probably didn’t start with the complicated moves we see on TV at the Olympics. They probably started with just learning how to ski and maybe with one simple flip. As they progressed they gradually added more flips and twists as they were pushed by the competition.

I noticed that the spiritual life is a lot like this. God doesn’t ask us to put on skis for the first time and head down a mountain in an attempt to flip 8 times with 5 twists. Rather, we start small, maybe just learning how to ski. This is what Lent is for. We learn how to discipline our wills, not by doing large and extravagant penances, but starting small, by learning how to say “no” to things like candy. As we learn to resist these smaller temptations during Lent, we may find that we can do more than we thought. We may start to feel comfortable stretching ourselves, adding a few more flips to our spiritual repertoire.

Let us do our best to compete this Lent, to compete against ourselves and our weaknesses, to overcome the temptations of the devil, and emerge from the wilderness triumphant just as Jesus did in the Gospel today.

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Overcoming Spiritual Desolation with St. Ignatius

Many people speak of the great joy they find in their relationship with God. You can see how alive they are with the Spirit. This is a truly beautiful gift from God. However, have you ever felt like God seemed distant, your prayer dry, with no love for the things of God? Sadly, many of us can relate more with the second category than the first. Yet, St. Ignatius of Loyola has some really encouraging news for those who find themselves in this group. He assures us that we all will at times experience this state which he calls spiritual desolation, and it doesn’t mean that we’ve done anything wrong or that God really is absent. Today’s homily shares some of the wisdom from St. Ignatius for what to do in desolation, how to overcome it, and how to grow in our faith.

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