Today’s readings are rich with meaning; I was a little overwhelmed trying to figure out what I should talk about. In prayer I kept coming back to the last phrase of the Gospel, “I do not seek my own will, but the will of the one who sent me.”

This is a radical statement for a society that places great importance on individuality and independence. We live in an “it’s all about me” kind of world. To hear Jesus say “I do not seek my own will, but that of my father,” can seem very foreign and very uncomfortable. Weird and stupid.

I know in my own life, I had a very strong idea about what path I would walk down. I clung to this will very hard, for a very long time. I pursued my chosen path tenaciously, but I never got anywhere, and I never really felt fulfilled.

After a while, I got tired, I had tried so hard to make it without God, and it just wasn’t working.  So I stopped running away, and tired to accept God’s call to something I had been refusing to consider. Suddenly I felt fulfilled, like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. There are still things I always thought I would do, that I may not get to, but I’m okay with that. I’m working on it every day, and slowly, God’s will for my life, is becoming MY will for my life.  And I’m finding now, that I have experienced things that I would never have experiencedhad I followed my own path.

I think we are all called to do this: to accept, a little more each day, that God’s will for us is the greater will, and to ask him to conform our will to his. Jesus came to call sinners because his Father sent him to do it. He accomplished this mission because he surrendered his will to the will of his Father. Just think of the things God could accomplish through us if we let go of our own selfish wants and allow his will to come into our lives.

Reflection

If an Academy Award were given for today’s set of readings, the “best supporting character” award would go to…water. After all, the common theme shared with the first reading and Gospel is water—for its life-giving, life-sustaining and healing properties.

Nearly 3/4 of our planet is made up of water. Similarly, our bodies are made up of about 70 percent of water.

I would suspect that throughout history, many cultures would… 

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With spring break scheduled for the following week, Casa Tuesday celebrated an early St. Patrick’s day, March 9. Featuring a main dish of “Brother Brian’s Irish concotion” of cabbage, potatoes, squash, carrots and Italian sausage (as a substitute for corned beef), Hawaiian sweet bread (as a substitute for Irish Soda Bread) and Guinness chocolate cupcakes frosted with Bailey’s Irish buttercream and Shamrock sprinkles, the community made a valiant attempt to celebrate in style.

Guinness chocolate cupcakes frosted with Bailey's Irish buttercream and Shamrock sprinkles

Casa María celebrated Norman’s birthday with Texas-sized burgers with bacon and avocado, homemade fries and caramel-banana foster ice cream cake on Monday, March 8. To wash that all down, the birthday boy enjoyed a bottle of Primo beer—found only in Hawai‘i.

A prophet is one who has been identified as “an individual who is inspired to proclaim the will of God in a visionary and new way.”

Inspired by the readings for today, my thoughts focused on the role of prophets in our world. In the Gospel, Jesus remarks that prophets often have been identified as the crazy ones who are the misfits, rebels, troublemakers—particularly in their native place.

The world would have been better off if it had listened to these prophets, rather than rejected them. So, if a genuine prophet of God were to enter our chapel at this moment, would we be ready? Would we be open to the prophet’s message? Can we discern how the prophet may invite us to deeper understanding of God’s presence in our daily life?

And while it is important to be vigilant and wary of those ‘false prophets’ whose thoughts are not inspired by God, I think there is some wisdom in this train of thought:

• The Church is a prophetic voice in our world.
• Religious orders, such as the S.M. and FMI, are prophetic voices in the Church.
• A local community within the S.M. can be a prophetic voice in the order.
• An individual Marianist can be a prophetic voice in the community…who then also can be a prophetic voice to the order, the Church and the world.

By virtue of the gifts that each one of us have been blessed with, along with our desire to follow Christ in a unique lifestyle that is rooted in faith—seeing how God is present in all parts of our daily lives—I believe that everyone in this chapel is called to be a prophetic voice in our world.

What makes this vocation truly Marianist is that it is done together with one another—and that is what we value as the gift of community.

We each are blessed with different gifts, personalities, abilities and other talents that we have yet to develop. By combining those gifts, we are better able to discern how God calls us to be prophetic and respond to the needs of others.

If God had wanted all of us to be the same, why would God make each one of us uniquely different? And that gift also is the challenge—to combine our individual uniqueness into “a community of one heart and mind.”

So what does it take to listen and learn from the prophetic voices in our midst? Disposition of openness, willingness to dialog / staying at the table, fidelity to prayer, patience, and the humility to remember we always are in God’s midst when “two or three are gathered in God’s name” as promised in scripture; and this means not only in chapel, but also at the dinner table, in our community and office meetings, our upcoming consultations for different stages of formation, and even our fun nites!

As we prepare to receive the Eucharist this evening, let us pray in gratitude for the prophetic voices in our world that have moved us forward, and for the faithfulness to recognize those in our midst.

Anna, Brian and Matt enjoy Texas-shaped cookies at Casa Tuesday

Several students joined the Marianists of Casa María to celebrate the second Tuesday of Lent and observe Texas declaration of independence (recognized on this day in 1836) for Casa Tuesday on March 2.

Following an evening prayer that focused on praying for the needs of the people of Ecuador—as part of the international effort of 40 days to change the world—Casa Tuesday featured appetizers of crackers shaped into the state of Texas, supper and homemade dessert cookies also shaped into the state of Texas.

Also on this day, several members of the community exercised their right to vote by casting their ballots for the state gubernatorial primary election.

Crackers shaped as the state of Texas served as appetizers

Homemade sugar cookies shaped as the state of Texas are ready for dessert

The coordinating committee of Marianist LIFE South hosted a Marianist Family gathering at Casa María  on Saturday, Feb. 27. The committee met this weekend at St. Mary’s University to finalize plans for the summer retreat.

Guests included a diverse assortment of Marianist affiliation—laity, sisters, brothers and priests as well as students, alumni, faculty and staff from Marianist universities and high schools.

More photos on our Flickr set.

About 30 gathered in Flores Residence Hall lounge to celebrate Mass with the Marianists of Casa María on Feb. 25. Rev. Rudy Vela, vice president for Mission and Identity at St. Mary’s University, presided at the liturgy—which was the highest attended Thursday evening Mass of the semester.

Many students chose to conclude the student-organized “Prayer Walk” by attending the Mass as part of their observance of National College Day of Prayer.

As part of their efforts to connect with the student community on campus and support faith formation and spiritual growth, the brothers of Casa María made the commitment to celebrate their Thursday evening community Mass every week throughout this academic year at a residence hall on campus.

More photos on our Flickr set.

Students and staff of St. Mary’s gathered at Casa María to celebrate the first Tuesday of Lent with a Taizé-style evening prayer and supper which featured Capirotada, a Mexican-style bread pudding for Lent, on Feb. 23.

Each ingredient of capirotada has a symbolic reference to Christ’s suffering on the cross—cinnamon sticks for the wood of the cross, raisins for the nails, bread for the body and syrup as the blood of Christ.

I encountered someone this weekend who takes exception to the last lines of today’s Gospel. In his mind, a God that is all loving and all forgiving would not hold us to human standards. An all loving God would forgive and forget, even if we don’t. He says that God forgives our short-comings, no questions asked.

So I thought about that for awhile.

And while it is true, that by the grace and mercy of God, our sins are forgiven as soon as we ask; how can we expect to benefit from God’s unconditional love, forgiveness, and acceptance, if we ourselves remain hateful, conniving, and vengeful, and do not forgive those who hurt us?

Do the Gospel’s not also warn of the hypocrites who profess faith with their mouths, but do nothing of good works to demonstrate that faith to others?

It seems to me that God is not asking for perfection, he created us, and he knows the weakness of our human condition; but he also knows what we are capable of if we place ourselves in his hands. God knows that it is hard for us to forgive others, hard to trust them again, and hard to forget the pain we felt. He is simply asking that we trust Him enough to try.

Perhaps God is saying to us “give me the pain, the hurt, and the distrust, and I will show you how to love, heal, accept, and forgive. I will give that to you, so you can give it to others. I can only show you true love and forgiveness if you are willing to pass my love on to others.”

In the Gospel Today Jesus teaches us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Could this be a reminder that as people of God, we are called to love as God does? We ask God’s forgiveness, mercy, and love, and He grants it to us. Then we must take this “daily bread” and use it the way God does; to love, forgive, and accept unconditionally.

Those last lines may not be an admonishment so much as a reminder that God’s forgiveness is an opportunity. An opportunity to let God to show us how to spread his love, grace, and mercy to those around us.