Are you giving your best?

I urge you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship.

Romans 12:1

Malachi 1:14, 2:13-16 and an excerpt from The City of God by St. Augustine were the readings in the Liturgy of the Hours one day last week. Both talked about sacrifice. In the reading from Malachi, the writers discusses not giving as good a sacrifice as we could give. In the reading from St. Augustine, the bishop from Hippo discusses that we are to be a living sacrifice as Paul described in Romans. So for me, it follows: “Are we giving the best of ourselves — for Christians and those who believe in a Supreme Bing — to that Supreme Being? To word it another way — for those with no faith — are we giving our best in what we do, period?

So the way I am wording this week’s Sleeping with Bread (a weekly meme in which I participate, more information here) is in the following fashion:

Where did I give the best of myself this past week?

1. Starting to connect with others through LinkedIn to help me find a full-time job: This may seem a small thing, but through my blogs and now Facebook, I have developed a wide network of contacts. However, too often I haven’t “taken advantage” of that network like I should. Saturday I began the process of connecting with mostly other bloggers and college friends using LinkedIn in the hopes that “something might arise” from these contacts. I am just trying to be open to anything and “think outside the box.” I know that working with newspapers as I have for the last 13 years is not the answer, as newspapers are dying (and in my opinion, deservedly so), but what specifically, I am not sure.

2. Attending a retreat last Saturday at our church while my wife was away on vacation: While my wife was away for a friend’s 40th birthday party near Atlanta, I went to a day retreat at our church. The retreat leader was a pastor from a neighboring parish, and he spoke on being salt and light to the world and what that means. It is something I try to keep in mind, even as I write my blog posts and connect with others on their blogs. How can I bring salt and light into the lives of others? Sometimes it might only be a small word of encouragement or a way to get somebody to crack a smile in a day that is full of frowns.

Where did I give not as much as I could or maybe should have this past week?

1. Not attending Mass: This actually has been over the last couple of weeks. Last weekend (Oct. 10-11), my wife was away on a trip and I used that as an excuse not to go to Mass. I did attend yesterday, but didn’t make it to the Sacrament of Reconciliation so didn’t partake of the Eucharist. I plan on getting to “confession” later this week.

2. Exercise: As has been the case for the past several months, I have not been exercising like I should. As a result, I am stuck on a plateau weight-wise, about 4o to 50 pounds above where I need to be. Today the weather is supposed to be warmer than it has been here in the 60s Fahrenheit. So if anything, I should use this day to begin again, to get motivated. I picked up a book from the library about running from the library, but that hasn’t helped either, especially since I haven’t even opened it yet. The only thing that will help is to get out the door.

So what about you where this past week did you give the best of yourself or maybe not as much as you could have or should have given? And maybe the question could be asked of you, as I would ask of KISS, “Is that really ‘your best’?” I think not.

This post also can be found on my main blog, an unfinished person (in an unfinished universe). If you are interested in getting a more complete picture of this unfinished person, you can subscribe to that blog.

Angels watching over me

Each Monday, a small group of ladies participate in the meme Sleeping with Bread, started by Mary-Lue and based off the book and on the Friday before that, I post something I call Flashback Friday (today on Sunday) as part of that. The meme is based on the Examen as practiced by St. Ignatius of Loyola.

It is not that I have already taken hold of it or have already attained perfect maturity, but I continue my pursuit in hope that I may possess it, since I have been indeed taken possession of by Christ. Brothers I for my part do no consider myself to have taken possession. Just one thing: forgetting what lies behind, but straining forward to what lies ahead. I continue my pursuit toward the goal, the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:12-14

Have no anxiety at all, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing what you have learned and received and seen in me. Then the God of peace will be with you.

Phillippians 4:6-9

For what am I most grateful this week?

The Book of Philippians: Primarily for the passages above. It seems like these two passages keep returning to me again and again in the Liturgy of the Hours the last few months. I know that part of that, according to the liturgical calendar, is by design. However, other passages return again and again, but don’t strike me as much. I think the first passage strikes me because no matter what faith we do or do not practice, we are never finished. For those of us with faith, we have that strength on which to rely, the Rock as it were that is higher than I. As for “straining forward to what lies ahead,” I think that is a good practice, no matter your faith or lack of it. You can’t stay mired in the past and must press on.

The second passage strikes me because lately, I’ve been trying to pay attention to what I read, what I watch and what I listen. Does this mean I censor myself? To some degree. It doesn’t always mean that I censor what others might find vulgar, but I do censor those things that for me, I find vulgar and just not uplifting. I still read mysteries and crime thrillers, but balance it with “spiritual” writings or something uplifting. I’m not saying I read Helen Steiner Rice poetry (blech!) or watch all G-rated movies, but I do think to a small degree, the “garbage in, garbage out” philosophy I was taught in my childhood still holds true.

Angels: Yesterday was the Memorial of the Guardian Angels in the liturgical calendar. Am I saying I believe in angels? Yes, I am. Do I believe in the fluffy version some blogs and sites, to which I won’t link, espouse? No, I don’t. However, I recognize there is something greater than I am in this world (imagine that ;), and I don’t know about you, but I need all the help I can get.

For what am I least grateful this week?

Not keeping to my promise to myself to stay off the computer on Wednesdays: I’ve committed myself to taking a “computer-free” day on Wednesdays: to read, to write, to just rest. If nothing else, it is to give my eyes, my fingers a rest, but also hopefully moreso to give my mind, my soul a rest. Some days I believe you just have to unplug. I know not all of you have that option during the week, with work, but working part-time as I do, I do have that option and try to exercise it unless work, of course, beckons. This week, though, work didn’t and I allowed myself to be sucked in by telling myself, “I’ll just check my e-mail.” Hours later, I found myself on Facebook.

Allowing sinus headaches and weather to get best of me and not run for the X month in a row: The weather outside has been frightful, but thankfully, no snow yet. It’s just been rain, rain, rain, and that, coupled with continuing allergy headaches, has given me the excuse not to run or even exercise. I walk to get where I’m going most times, because my wife has the car during the day, but it’s not always very briskly, and it certainly isn’t running. I’m maintaining my weight, but it’s a good 30 pounds over where I was last year.

So for what are you most grateful/least grateful this week?

This post also can be found at my main blog, an unfinished person (in an unfinished universe). If you are interested in getting a more complete picture of this unfinished person, you can subscribe to that blog, if you so choose.

Create in me a clean heart

I will sprinkle clean water upon you to cleanse you from all your impurities, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you natural hearts. I will put my spirit within you and make you live by my statutes, careful to observe my decrees.

Ezekiel 36:25-27

Each Monday, a small group of ladies participate in the meme Sleeping with Bread, started by Mary-Lue and based off the book and on the Friday before that, I post something I call Flashback Friday (today on Sunday) as part of that. The meme is based on the Examen as practiced by St. Ignatius of Loyola. This time around, since I haven’t been here since the beginning of the month, I’m going to look back at the entire month of September. I’m using the above Scripture for my questions.

Where this month have I had a stony heart in that I have not been receptive to either discerning or doing God’s will?

1. The computer: As a person with only a part-time job and more than a little bit of free time on my hands, I constantly stay up too late, frittering away time on applications such as Facebook or blip.fm, an application where you can be a deejay of your own musical tastes and connect with other like-minded individuals. I know this doesn’t help me in either sleep or more importantly in my quest for finding a full-time job. Also it is not that the applications are evil in themselves; it’s just the excessive amount of time that I spend on each and the lack of self-control to limit my activities on each that is distracting me from doing things I should be doing.

2. WeightWatchers: I signed up for WeightWatchers online last month. Since then, it seems like it’s been all downhill. I haven’t used the tools there for tracking food or exercise, the latter which I haven’t done unless one counts walking to town for errands, which I don’t. You may notice that I don’t mind giving a link to WeightWatchers, because it is a program that has worked for me in the past, whereas I didn’t leave any links to Facebook or blip.

Where this month have I had a natural heart in that I have been receptive to either discerning or doing God’s will?

1. Volunteering: I volunteer at a house beside our church called Samaritan House, where people come to die. This past month, although I only was there twice for a guest who had lung cancer, I feel like it helped alleviate the burdens on his wife, even if for a couple of nights. She had been staying with him the entire time he was dying, and needed a little sleep. I was glad to be able to afford her that, as I took night shifts from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. for two nights. He passed away last week, and a memorial service is planned for next month.

2. Reading spiritual books: Specifically, I want to point out a book called Befriending Our Desires by Philip Sheldrake, S.J. (Society of Jesuits), which I’m borrowing from my spiritual director.

Most people find it hard to believe the words “desire” and “spirituality.” Desire seems inescapably linked wi th the world or viewed in strictly physical terms.

Yet many of the great spiritual writers and teachers used desire as a central metaphor for the human search for God or emphasized the importance of befriending our desires to spiritual growth and to discernment.

In this thoughtful and innovative work, Philip Sheldrake explores the intimate association between spirituality and desire– both “ours and God’s.” He invites his readers to reflect on the nature of human desire in relation to prayer, discernment, and spiritual growth as he mines the rich Christian spiritual tradition that addresses “desire,” “yearning,” or “longing” in the human search for God– “indeed in God’s reaching out toward humanity.”

…In Befriending Our Desires, Sheldrake shows that desire is indeed a key to the spiritual journey; for only by attending to our deepest desires can we encounter our deepest selves– the image of God within us.

– from the back of the book

I will try to share more from this book, as I continue to read it throughout this next month. I am also continuing to read Chip Ingram’s book, Good To Great In God’s Eyes: Ten Practices Christians Have In Common, as mentioned in my Flashback Friday earlier this month.

3. Continuing to list during each week’s Mass a response to the following: “God show me the one way in this Mass I can become a better person this week.” This was something suggested in a talk by Matthew Kelly, a Catholic lay minister, called “The Seven Pillars of Catholic Spirituality.” I confess (to Almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters ;), that I did miss one weekend’s Mass, but I did write down a brief thought on each of the other three weekend Masses, including this past weekends.

I share them here and now in that they may (or may not) be useful to you as well. Sept. 6: Love is cash-, color-, and class-blind. Sept. 20: Giving in to God’s will is the key to a peaceful life/When we make someone else No. 1, we find Christ. Sept. 27: What are we doing to heal the divisions that we have caused, or others have caused in our lives?/When Jesus Christ is present, anything, anything, anything can be healed.

Although this song is from a different Scripture than the one above, I think it is one that fits with this post (plus it highlights one of my favorite Christian contemporary musicians):

This post also can be found at my main blog, an unfinished person (in an unfinished universe). If you are interested in getting a more complete picture of this unfinished person, you can subscribe to that blog, if you so choose.