SHOW AND TELL

"He is risen! ...He is risen indeed!"

At the start of the day, I like to ask myself: "What do I really want out of this day? How can I make this day a masterpiece for God? Who is God calling me to be today?"

Other times I just flat out ask, "Father, what is (or could be) your hope for me today? Jesus, what would you do in my place today? Spirit, what are you doing in me right now?"

Today I started looking through my to-do list and nothing inspired me, nothing spoke to me about the Resurrection. I mean, it just looked like a lot of the same stuff I always do, you know? Or it looked like the stuff I did last year, and that I've done every year at Easter since coming to Rome, ok? Anyway, I started to ask myself: "What do I really want out of this day? Why am I here? Why did I get up this morning?" You know what, ask and you shall receive. Ask a better question, and you get a better answer...

"Show and tell the resurrection..." That's the answer I got. I like it. What answer did you get, huh? (You can use mine if you want, I won't tell anyone.) Whatever it was, let's do it today, for His Glory...

God bless,
Live from your heart,

Scott

PS. Thanks for all the compliments on the blog, and please feel free to share it with whoever you want, post it on facebook or twitter, or however you like to share the little treasures you find online...

HE'S DEAD...

"You will not let your servant know decay..."

BUT you will let him know...
Rigidity...
Silence...
Darkness...
Cold...
Solitude...
Nothingness...
Abyss...
Forgotten...
Forever...
The End...

...Or is it the beginning?

God bless,
Live from your heart,

Scott

LOVE LIKE CRAZY

"They will turn their gaze to the one they've pierced..."

It's Good Friday... today ...the God-man dies... dies because... because he loved ...us like crazy... he dies because... he gives his life... to men... who forget... who get... caught up... who have no... time for... one who... only knows... how to love... love like crazy...

God bless,
Live from your heart,

Scott

I HAVE GIVEN YOU AN EXAMPLE...

"I have given you an example..."

I heard once that "Every life is either a warning or an example." I believe it. And if we look around we see some major warnings, don't we? You better believe it. And as I got to thinking about this today, I asked myself, "What's the dirtiest sin out there? What's the worst thing a person can do?" And at first my brain went, "Sex!" but then I said, "Is that right?" And my brain went back to Dante's Inferno, ok, I'm weird, I know. And I remembered Dante put sexual sins at the apex of hell, that is in the best place, closest to heaven. If I remember right the top 3 were sex, power, money. It was like God was saying: "Hey, at least you like my stuff!"

No, the worst sin, the most life-draining level of hell, dark, stifling, cold, a waterless wasteland, actually a lonely ice lake, the place most abandoned by God is saved for the betrayers, those who have totally shut love out of their lives. That's not a place any of us wants to be. Be warned.

Now, what I want to know is, "Who have been your examples?" I gotta tell you, a huge example for me has been my Aunt Marie. That lady loves like no other. It's incredible, right? And the more I watch her, the more I'm around her, the more I learn about true love. She's got it down. She is a tremendous lover, no question about it, ok?

Then there's my grandma Kallal. Now, I never met her, but I've heard enough to understand that she had become a Giver with a capital G. Desserts, hams, anything to help out the parish and those in need. And she did it all while taking care of 7 kids. Incredible lady.

How did they do it? How did Jesus do it? Well, since repetition is the mother of skill, let's go through the 3 steps again for "loving till the end":

1) Know God...
2) Toss off any obstacles (aka sins!)
3) Take massive action (start a footwashing coop)

Today you can choose to be an example ...or a warning... The choice is yours... and the destiny that comes with it... choose wisely...

God bless,
Live from your heart,

Scott

WHERE TO PREPARE...

"Where do you want us to prepare, Lord, for you to eat the Passover?"

Where are you preparing? Is your house decorated? Are the Easter eggs all colored? Have you been setting up the parish? And your heart, how's your heart doing? You know, you started out Lent with some concrete resolutions: Pray, Fast, Give alms. How's that going? You've connected more with God, right? You're more free from sin, aren't you? And I'll bet you've become more generous with your money, time, and talent too, huh? What? Not yet?

Hey, there's still time. This is the time for intense preparation. Forget about the past. Let's just get clear and get focused, ok? Yeah, it's easy:

1) Connect with God: Well, let's just give it a time and a place ok? When would be good? First thing in the morning? Late at night? Middle of the day? Right after work or school? While you're driving somewhere? Hey, just pick when and where works for you, and keep it simple, ok? What if all you did was thank God for all the great stuff in your life, the fact that you are alive, all the people who love you? Wouldn't that be a major step up? I bet it could be. What if you took a little walk in nature, or a mini-pilgrimage on foot to your parish (if that's not like 10 miles away, ok?). Connect with God. That's a start.

2) Get free of sin: Yeah, ok, so what is it? What is it that you do on a regular basis to drive people crazy? Yeah, I know, it stinks to think about doesn't it? Time to get it out of here. Get free. Look just answer a few questions: What is this behavior costing me: physically, financially, emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, in my relationships? What is it costing my loved ones? What will it cost me and them 5 years from now? 10 years from now if I don't change now? On the other hand, what would I gain if I changed right now? What about my loved ones? How would that make me feel? Hmm, ok, let's get free.

3) Generosity: Who's got it worse than me? Who could I go out and help right now, today? What could I do for them? How would that make me feel? (Pretty awesome, I'll bet!) Ok, well, go out there and do it... today.

That's how we prepare for Easter: Connect with God, get free of sin, be generous. Are you prepared yet? Get ready. He's here...

God bless,
Live from your heart,

Scott

YOU can't FOLLOW ME... YET...

"Where I am going, you cannot follow yet..."

Wow, so like is Jesus clairvoyant or what, you know? I mean, here he is telling the future, right? Pretty impressive. Not really. He's not telling the future and he's not reading people's minds. He just knows the truth that's all, and we all know this. Anyone of us could have figured this out on our own if we are really honest. That's the problem. There's no brutal honesty. And why not?

You know why, but I'll tell you anyway. Because we're scared. We are freaked out of our minds. About what? About not being loved. About not being enough. About being abandoned, right? Now don't tell me, I know, you're already perfect, so I'm not talking to you, am I? Of course not. For sure I'm talking about myself, and perhaps I'm also talking about someone else you know really well...

Here's the deal that we all have to deal with: meet Jesus and drink in his infinite love OR live in fear forever. That's it. Because if you remember the 6 human needs we talked about the other day, you know we all need love and significance. We need'em, and we'll even lie to ourselves to get them, won't we? Of course! It's all about survival. We can't live without love and significance, so let me let us all in on a little clue: significance and love come when we stop, look, and realize: He did that for me! And you know what that is, don't you? It's the cross. It's the Eucharist. It's Jesus total self-gift even to death. That's pretty cool. That's what the Paschal mystery is all about.

When that gets inside us, then it changes us, transforms us. Then, and only then, can we follow in his footsteps of infinite love. Then we can be tremendous lovers like him. First we eat and drink, then we become: You are what you eat, right? Yep, and if you eat and drink Jesus, like him you become Divine Love Incarnate. Pretty sweet, don't you think? Exactly, I couldn't agree more. All right, that's my rant for the day... Get excited, because he's coming... for real...

God bless,
Live from your heart,

Scott

LEAVE HER ALONE!

"Leave her alone!"

Has it ever happened to you that you were trying, really trying I mean to do something good for someone and they threw it back in your face? Or maybe someone else came along and made some snide comment? I just hate that. I mean, here you are trying to do everything right, and someone just totally slams you, and you're like, "Are you kidding me? I'm doing this for you. I'm doing this for someone I love, ok? Back off."

Hey, Jesus feels the same way. That's called righteous indignation. But now let me tell you two really great things. First, Jesus will reward you. That's right, isn't it? You better believe it. And the second is this, Who cares what other people think?! Mary didn't care. She just did it. And let me tell you something else: B16 doesn't care if the media is going to jump his case every time he tries to do something good. He's going to move ahead anyway. How does he do it? It's not just Jesus giving him some great mystical experience all the time. He's got something else going for him.

B16 knows how to love yourself. He knows how to give yourself credit when he does something good, and he's not going to back down. Not after Regensburg. Not after the Lefebvre bishop who denied the holocaust. Not for the comment about contraception doing nothing to stop AIDS in Africa. Not for this letter to the Irish Church. Why? Because he knows he's right, and because he gives himself the credit he deserves. You give yourself the credit you deserve, don't you? Hmm, could that be why you don't always do the right thing? Because I'll tell you something, you can do the right thing, and somebody comes and talks bad about you for it, AND Jesus can leave you feeling high and dry spiritually (for the moment). It happens. What are you going to do? Settle for moral mediocrity? Rebel against God? Give up? Go eat something? Complain? (Complaining was my favorite back in the day, but food was a close second!)

What a waste of time and energy. Why not ring your own bell? Why not reward yourself for doing the right thing because it was the right thing? If you did that, how much freer would you become? How much more often would you do the right thing without hesitation, totally in the flow? What could that do to your life? Think about it. Seriously...

So when you do something good today, ring your own bell. Don't wait for others to do it, ok? Don't expect some cool mystical experience either, right? This is called ascetics. Making it easier for you to do the good. This is preparing for that new life called THE RESURRECTION.

God bless,
Live from your heart,

Scott

PS. Today our founder Fr. Salvatore Scorza celebrates 58 years of Priesthood. What a model of servant leadership...