Have yourself a merry little Christmas, it may be your last

Have yourself a merry little Christmas, it may be your last,
Next year we may all be living in the past
Have yourself a merry little Christmas, pop that champagne cork,
Next year we will all be living in New York.

No good times like the olden days, happy golden days of yore,
Faithful friends who were dear to us, will be near to us no more.

But at least we all will be together, if the Fates allow,
From now on we'll have to muddle through somehow.
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now.

Right now you are probably thinking, "What?! That's not how it goes! Is this some kind of bad satire?"

But actually those are the original lyrics to one of our most popular Christmas songs of all times. "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" was originally sung by Judy Garland in the 1944 MGM musical "Meet Me in St. Louis."

However, when presented with these lyrics, Garland, her co-star Tom Drake and director Vincente Minnelli criticized the song as depressing - especially since Garland's character was supposed to sing this song to "cheer up" her 5-year old on-screen sister!

The songwriter, Hugh Martin, eventually agreed to make some changes and it started to appear more like the song we know now.

The song was revised again for Frank Sinatra in 1957 where Martin made several changes so that the song became more of a celebration of the present rather than the hope for a better future.

While the version written for Sinatra is more popular, both versions have been covered by artists and performed to the current day.

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Let your heart be light
Next year all our troubles will be out of sight
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Make the yule-tide gay
Next year all our troubles will be miles away
Once again as in olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Will be near to us once more
Someday soon, we all will be together
If the Fates allow
Until then, we'll have to muddle through somehow
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now.

For the most part, I like the revisions except for one.

In 2002, Newsong lead singer Michael O'Brien noted the line "through the years, we all will be together if the Lord allows," which was part of the original song, was purged and replaced with "if the fates allow" to remove religious reference when the song was released. He noted while a pastor in a California church in 1990, he had met Martin, who played piano at the church where O'Brien was serving for an evening, and the pastor was told, "That's the original way I wrote it, so I want you to sing it this way."

Maybe not all the changes were for the better but we'll muddle through it somehow.

40 days to change your life

Today is the 1st Sunday of Advent.

Advent.

From the Latin word adventus meaning "coming."

Latin adventus is the translation of the Greek word parousia, commonly used in reference to the Second Coming of Christ.

So what does that mean for us?

It means that advent has two meanings - a reminder of the period of anticipation of the original birth of Jesus Christ and a second meaning of the current anticipation of the Second Coming of Christ.

Advent is for us. It is for you.

A reminder of what has happened and a reminder of what is to happen.

And in this period of waiting for the "coming" - a question. Are you ready?

How are you living your life? When our Lord returns for final judgement, how will you be judged?

In this weeks reading - the warning is explicit. The Gospel in Matthew 24:37-44 tells us:

"Therefore, stay awake!
For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.
Be sure of this: if the master of the house
had known the hour of night when the thief was coming,
he would have stayed awake
and not let his house be broken into.
So too, you also must be prepared,
for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”

None of us know how much time we have just like we do not know the hour that our Lord will return. So we should use our time wisely.

The number 40 is important in the Bible as a period of waiting or examination. Jesus was led into the desert to be tempted for 40 days by the devil. Other examples abound.

Forty days after the birth, Jesus was presented to the Temple of Jerusalem for his legal purification, according to the established law.

The 40 days of fast of Jesus in the desert. (Mt 4,2)

Forty days separate the Ascension of Jesus of his Resurrection. (Act 1,3)

The Flood of Noah lasted 40 days. (Gn 7,4)

Elijah walked 40 days and 40 nights before to reach the Horeb mount. He fasted during 40 days before to begin his public ministry and he remained 40 days on the Carmel mount. (1 K 19,8)

The priest Eli had been judge of Israel for 40 years. (1 S 4,18)

Moses was 40 years old when he was called by God and that he killed an Egyptian, and escaped in the desert of Midian. He kept the herd of Jethro during 40 years. He resided finally 40 days and 40 nights to the summit of the mount Sinai before to receive the Tables of the Law. (Ex 24,18)

During 40 day Goliath defied David.

The children of Israel lived during 40 years in the constraint with the Philistines. (Jg 13, 1)

The Hebrews wandered 40 years in the desert. (Nb 32,13)

The reign of Joash lasted 40 years in Jerusalem. (2 Ch 24,1)

The people of Nineveh had to repent during 40 days. (Jon 3,4)

Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rebekah. (Gn 25,20)

The embalming of Jacob was prolonged during 40 days. (Gn 50,3)

The reign of David on Israel lasted 40 years, just as the reign of Solomon in Jerusalem. (1 K 2,11 and 11,42; 2 Ch 9,30)

Ezekiel supported the iniquity of the house of Juda during 40 days.

The 40 emissaries of Canaan.

The 40 years of repentance of Adam after his corrupt practice.

Forty is the number of chapters of the book of the Exodus of the Old Testament.

So what does that mean for me?

These next 40 days of waiting can be as life changing and as profound as you want it to be. Are you ready to change your life to what it should be? Are you ready for an encounter with God?

Because God wants to meet with you. He is only waiting for an invitation from you to become a larger part of your life.

God is coming. That's what Advent is all about.

And perhaps the divine irony is that when we finally realize that we have been waiting for God and go to seek him we will find that He has been waiting for us.

Happy Advent! Let the journey begin again!

Proof of faith

This week's readings are from Luke 23:35-43.

It is a dramatic scene. Jesus is suffering terribly and dying on the cross. Crucified with two criminals and being mocked from the crowd and from one of the criminals.

"If you are the Christ - save yourself; He saved others - let him save himself; if you are the King of the Jews - save yourself."

Rulers, soldiers, even from one of the men being crucified next to him - the calls and jeers must have rung in Jesus' ears.

Yet he didn't answer any of them. He only answered them with silence.

Suddenly, the other criminal being crucified rebuked his fellow criminal by saying, "Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal."

Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."

He replied to him, "Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

Jesus did not reply to all the others who challenged him to prove that he was the Christ but he replied to the one who was penitent and asked to be remembered.

That happens a lot in our world even today.

There are countless people who insist that there be proof of God before they will believe but are blind to the proof that is around them already.

God does not have to answer puffed-up, know-it-all's who insist on one evidence or another of their choosing before they believe.

And why should He? God created everything and now He has to prove something to one of his creations? Who is God here?

And they probably wouldn't believe it anyway.

But is there proof of faith?

Yes - there is.

You don't have to look far for proof. It is seen in the healing power of God's forgiveness and grace in the lives of those who accept him.

Alcoholics, drug addicts, murderers, every form of sinner who accepts Christ in their heart is transformed. Their lives are changed for the better. I've seen it.

The proof of faith is not with the rulers that challenge but with the penitent that seek forgiveness.

God will not answer haughty challenges but he will always listen to the contrite who seek Him.

Sinners like you and me that humbly seek God's forgiveness and get it. We who are weak and ask for God's help to change our lives and get the grace to change.

That's the proof of faith.

When we finally are able to kneel before God and admit to our sins and shortcomings and ask that God remember us and help us. Then He will hear us and help us. And if we remain faithful then someday we too will hear the words:

"Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

That will be ultimate proof and reward of faith.

A habit of love

SS-Hauptsturmführer (Captain) Karl Fritzsch was furious.

It appeared that one of his prisoners, his prisoners was missing and presumably had escaped. So he ordered that ten other prisoners must die by starvation in reprisal.

One of the ten condemned was Polish army sergeant Franciszek Gajowniczek.

"My poor wife! My poor children! What will they do?" cried out Franciszek Gajowniczek.

No one expected an answer. Auschwitz in 1941 was a dark place where mercy had no role and only cruelty and death appeared to dominate.

Suddenly in this darkest of places - a single light shone forth.

While his exact words are lost to us today, one version tells how Franciscan priest Maximilian Kolbe offered himself by saying, "I am a Catholic priest from Poland; I would like to take his place, because he has a wife and children."

The switch was agreed to and Kolbe was led off with the others to be locked in a cell in the basement of the Bunker (the camp prison in Block 11 or 13) until they all died of starvation.

The man who had initially disappeared was later found. He had not escaped but had drowned in the camp latrine but the condemned men remained in their cell to die.

In the starvation cell, Kolbe celebrated Mass each day for as long as he was able and gave Holy Communion to the prisoners covertly during the course of the day; the bread given to prisoners was unleavened and so could be used in the Eucharist, and sympathetic guards gave him materials, including wine, that he could use.

Kolbe led the other condemned men in song and prayer. After three weeks of dehydration and starvation, only Kolbe and three others remained alive. He encouraged others by telling them that they would soon be with Mary in Heaven. Each time the guards checked on him, he was standing or kneeling in the middle of the cell and looking calmly at those who entered.

Finally Kolbe was the last survivor. Tired of waiting for his death, Kolbe was ordered killed with an injection of carbolic acid. Some who were present at the injection say that he raised his left arm and calmly waited for the injection. His remains were cremated on August 15, the feast of the Assumption of Mary.

I am sure that Maximilian Kolbe never thought this was the way his life on earth would end. Even as he saw the evil of the Nazi's rise around him and accepted the risk to his life by saving over 2,000 Jews by hiding them in his friary in Niepokalanów - I don't think he ever thought of the moment when he stepped forward and offered his life for Gajowniczek.

How can anyone truly think of anything so horrible?

What I think is that he acted out of habit - out of an instinct of love. A habit of faith and holiness that he had cultivated throughout his life that culminated in this single moment. A reflexive, moral muscle memory that kicked in automatically as naturally for him as our hearts beat for us.

Our reading this week from Luke 21:5-19 reminds me of this story.

The Gospel or "Good News" seems anything but good news.

It is downright grim.

Jesus speaks in apocalyptic language that is the furthest from encouraging that you can imagine. Jesus tells us that wars and insurrections are coming, nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom, every manner of earthquake, famine and plague will come.

Perhaps worse of all, we will be betrayed by our parents, brothers, relatives and friends to be persecuted for our faith and some of us will be put to death.

And how are we to face all of this? What are we supposed to say when we stand before kings and governors accusing us because of our faith?

Characteristically, Christ tells us not to worry. In the same breath that he tells us that we will be persecuted and some of us put to death - he tells us that we should not worry. That He will give us "a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute." That "By your perseverance you will secure your lives."

What sense does that make?

Physically - none. But spiritually - it is the only answer that makes sense.

Jesus is not talking about our physical lives but our spiritual one - our soul. That by persevering in our faith that we will secure our eternal life even if our physical life ends - which it must eventually.

The chances are good that we will not be turned over for our faith. Instead it is likely that our trials will be lesser ones. Awkward social moments where our Catholic faith is challenged. "Why don't you support a woman's choice for abortion? Why are you against contraception? What do you have against homosexuals? What do you have against women?..."

And in those moments, our reflexive movement must be towards love. Like Maximilian Kolbe.

The world will expect you to cave in on your faith in order to get along. Or to come out swinging and to meet force with force - hate with hate. A scorched earth policy rather than give in.

But Christ says give him the floor to speak through you. And He says meet hate with love and embrace those that hate you. Explain our faith with love and understanding and patience and especially with love.

If we speak from love and act from love then our adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute because love conquers all - even death.

It won't be easy but we can do it. Kolbe proves we can. But it must be something we work on until it is a habit. A habit of love.

Postscript.

Gajowniczek was released from Auschwitz after spending five years, five months and nine days in the camp. Though his wife, Helena, survived the war, his sons were killed in a Soviet bombardment in 1945, before his release.

Pope Paul VI beatified Maximilian Kolbe in 1971; for the occasion, Gajowniczek was a guest of the Pope. In 1972, Time magazine reported that over 150,000 made a pilgrimage to Auschwitz to honor the anniversary of Maximilian's beatification. One of the first to speak was Gajowniczek, who declared "I want to express my thanks, for the gift of life." His wife, Helena, died in 1977. Gajowniczek was again a guest of the Pope when Maximilian Kolbe was canonized by John Paul II on October 10, 1982.

In 1994, Gajowniczek visited the St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic Church of Houston, where he told his translator Chaplain Thaddeus Horbowy that "so long as he ... has breath in his lungs, he would consider it his duty to tell people about the heroic act of love by Maximilian Kolbe." Gajowniczek died in the Polish city of Brzeg (formerly Brieg in German Silesia) on March 13, 1995, slightly more than fifty-three years after having his life spared by Kolbe. He was survived by his second wife Janina

Fathers and Sons

Oct 31, 1998, my life changed again.

12 years ago, my first born son, Boo, was born and my wife and I became first time parents.

It is funny how the mind works. I knew what our lives were like before we became parents but it is almost like seeing somebody else's life now. It is kind of fuzzy and the details are washed out - that or I am just too tired to remember it all clearly.

In other words, I am a parent.

To say that our lives changed is almost an understatement because everything changed.

Not just our daily activities but our spiritual as well.

After our son was born, I had a much deeper understanding of our Heavenly Father.

As I watched Boo struggle with the basics such as learning to crawl, walk or ride his bike. Seeing his frustration and anger with wanting to do it himself and his unwillingness to accept our help. His struggles with selfishness and wanting things his own way. I started truly appreciating what we must look like to our Heavenly Father.

How much we were ready to help Boo, if only he would ask and stop thrashing around to try to do it himself - his way. Then how much better it was when he finally did pause and accept our help. It wasn't his way but it was better.

So much like us in our own daily struggles and unwillingness to ask for help. Because our pride gets in the way of asking our Lord for help. Even though the Lord is willing, even eager, to help us.

But beyond that, and in the most unexpected way - I was totally unprepared for the complete unconditional love that I felt for Boo.

Here he was - brand new, helpless, unable to provide anything to us - and we loved him beyond anything else that we owned. We would have given up everything for him to keep him safe and he weighed less than a sack of sugar.

And over the years, this love has stayed. He's made me mad, even furious! But while I may have joked about selling him off for medical experiments, I would have given my life to keep him safe.

And as parents, we do sacrifice our lives for our children. We give up what we want to do in order to help them do what they want to do. Honeymooning in France have been replaced with vacations in Disneyland and visits to the zoo. Intimate dinners for two replaced by Cub Scout Pack Meetings. Our lives are no longer driven by what we want to do but instead we drive our children to what they want to do whether that is ballet, or soccer, or scouting.

And we do it willingly. Because we love our children and, despite our grumbling, the look of joy on their faces makes up for what we give up.

And as I think about the Creator of Heaven and Earth, sending his only son to suffer and die for us on the cross - I get it.

There was no other way.

No animal sacrifice was ever going to fully make it right. Our level of sin required the perfect sacrifice.

And so, our Heavenly Father came to earth to humble himself to become one of us. He came and willingly got on that cross and suffer so that we might be reconciled and have hope for eternal life.

There was no other way and so He did it.

It was only after I became a father and held that naked, warm, squirming baby in my hand did I truly get it. There was no need for a lot of thought. I just knew that I would be willing to do anything, even give my life if my child needed it.

And as the years have passed, I have seen Boo grow and change and our relationship has changed with it. Every once in a while, I will catch a glimpse of the man that Boo will be and I am proud that I will have been a small part of that because he is going to be a good man.

And it still blows my mind that as much as I love Boo, that God loves him more. While I may be his earthly father, Boo has a Heavenly Father that has a perfect love for him (and me) that I will never be able to achieve.

And this knowledge gives me great peace. Knowing that whatever happens, even when I stumble as a Dad, that God is still there and will not stumble. And God is always ready to help - if only I am willing to ask.

Because that is the biggest lesson that I have learned from my experience as a Dad. That we can change our lives - if we are willing to ask for God's help to change our lives.

And it all started with Boo - 12 years ago. Happy Birthday Boo! And thanks!

My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me

I just heard that a good friend of mine is deploying soon. That goes with the whole military-gig but it doesn't make it any easier.

Then it started me thinking about another friend who is deployed and another who is just finishing up and returning home. A friend at work got married right before her husband deployed to Iraq. Their first "newlywed" year was spent completely apart.

And of course my thoughts go to those who return seriously injured or who don't return at all. I saw a lot of that in DC. Young soldiers missing limbs at the Walter Reed cafeteria and fresh graves at Arlington.

Suffering is universal. Whether you are in the military or not. Whether you are rich or poor, male or female, young or old - we all have points in our lives where our suffering feels so great that we feel abandoned by God.

Our Lord knew all about that as he was suffering on the cross.

Many of us have heard his words, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

But many of us don't fully understand it.

We think it is about despair. Evidence of Jesus' humanity and his suffering that he uttered such despairing words.

And we get it wrong.

It is true that Jesus suffered and that his humanity was never greater than the day he willingly suffered and died for our sins.

But his words were not in despair. They were the opening lines of Psalm 22 that every Jew listening would have instantly understood. Like the opening lines, "Oh say can you see..." You don't need to hear the rest of the words of our national anthem but you know the rest - it is instantly invoked.

In the same way when Jesus said these words, he was invoking the entirety of Psalm 22.

Have you read it recently?

Read it now below. Don't scan. Read it carefully and let the words speak to your heart. These are not the words of a man who has given up hope but a man who knows he has won!

It is not a message of despair but one of confidence and victory. Jesus knew he was near death and did not have the strength left to say much but he had one more message he wanted to pass to the crowd.

In his suffering, Jesus knew he was fulfilling the words of Psalm 22 from generations before. In his dying and rising again, Jesus knew he was fulfilling the promise for generations to come.

He was talking to us. He was doing this for us. Praise be to God for he has done it!

1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
by night, and am not silent.

3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the praise of Israel.

4 In you our fathers put their trust;
they trusted and you delivered them.

5 They cried to you and were saved;
in you they trusted and were not disappointed.

6 But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by men and despised by the people.

7 All who see me mock me;
they hurl insults, shaking their heads:

8 "He trusts in the LORD;
let the LORD rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
since he delights in him."

9 Yet you brought me out of the womb;
you made me trust in you
even at my mother's breast.

10 From birth I was cast upon you;
from my mother's womb you have been my God.

11 Do not be far from me,
for trouble is near
and there is no one to help.

12 Many bulls surround me;
strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.

13 Roaring lions tearing their prey
open their mouths wide against me.

14 I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
it has melted away within me.

15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
you lay me in the dust of death.

16 Dogs have surrounded me;
a band of evil men has encircled me,
they have pierced my hands and my feet.

17 I can count all my bones;
people stare and gloat over me.

18 They divide my garments among them
and cast lots for my clothing.

19 But you, O LORD, be not far off;
O my Strength, come quickly to help me.

20 Deliver my life from the sword,
my precious life from the power of the dogs.

21 Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;
save me from the horns of the wild oxen.

22 I will declare your name to my brothers;
in the congregation I will praise you.

23 You who fear the LORD, praise him!
All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!
Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!

24 For he has not despised or disdained
the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him
but has listened to his cry for help.

25 From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
before those who fear you will I fulfill my vows.

26 The poor will eat and be satisfied;
they who seek the LORD will praise him—
may your hearts live forever!

27 All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to the LORD,
and all the families of the nations
will bow down before him,

28 for dominion belongs to the LORD
and he rules over the nations.

29 All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—
those who cannot keep themselves alive.

30 Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord.

31 They will proclaim his righteousness
to a people yet unborn—
for he has done it.

What we are obliged to do

Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu. That's a mouthful - I am not sure I can pronounce that name!

Do you know her? She was born in Skopje, Macedonia, on August 26, 1910. Her family was of Albanian descent. Nothing extraordinary is known about her young life. We do know that she was the youngest of 3 surviving children of 5. They were relatively well off and her father died when she was just 7.

While she was fascinated by stories of missionary life and their service, she never thought of being a nun.

But at the age of eighteen she left her parental home in Skopje and joined the Sisters of Loreto, an Irish community of nuns with missions in India. After a few months' training in Dublin she was sent to India, where on May 24, 1931, she took her initial vows as a nun.

From 1931 to 1948 she taught at St. Mary's High School in Calcutta. While she enjoyed teaching history and geography to the daughters of the wealthy she could not help but see the suffering and poverty she glimpsed outside the convent walls. In time she felt the call to do more for these poor and worked for two years to obtain permission from her superiors to leave the convent school and devote herself to working among the poorest of the poor in the slums of Calcutta. Finally in 1948, after 17 years of teaching in relative comfort, she left to help the poor.

Although she had no funds, she depended on Divine Providence, and started an open-air school for slum children. She would scratch the lessons in the dirt because they had nothing else. For years she worked in one of the poorest parts of the world. The streets were filled with people in desperate need of help - the starving, the sick, the dying and the dead. She moved along the poorest of the poor where there was an endless stream of need. Teaching the illiterate to read and proper hygiene. Providing comfort to those who had no reason to hope. Giving solace to the dying so that they could at last feel compassion before they left this world. Everyday she went out to find and serve Him "in the unwanted, the unloved, the uncared for."

Despite the fact that she quietly did her work, stories of what she was doing soon spread. She inspired people and she was joined by voluntary helpers, and financial support too. Slowly she was able to extend the scope of her work - to reach further and help more of the poor.

On October 7, 1950, she received permission from the Holy See to start her own order, "The Missionaries of Charity", whose primary task was to love and care for those persons nobody was prepared to look after. In 1965 the Society became an International Religious Family by a decree of Pope Paul VI.

The Society of Missionaries spread all over the world, including the former Soviet Union and Eastern European countries. They provide help to the poorest of the poor in a number of countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and they undertake relief work in the wake of natural catastrophes such as floods, epidemics, and famine, and for refugees. The order also has houses in North America, Europe and Australia, where they take care of the shut-ins, alcoholics, homeless, and AIDS sufferers.

The Sisters of Charity even operate in Washington DC; in Anacostia that is in sight of the Washington Monument but is a world apart from the power and influence of our nation's capital. Here the sisters run a soup kitchen, a day care, and provide comfort and hope to those who live on the bottom tier of our society. The addicts, the permanently unemployed, the released prisoners, the children of single parents who have no place to go after school, and those homeless that have no home at all.

Have you figured out who I am talking about yet?

Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu - the little Albanian girl from Macedonia became Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

And while Mother Teresa never sought fame or recognition. She got lots of it. Mother Teresa's work was recognized and acclaimed throughout the world and she received a number of awards and distinctions, including the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize (1971) and the Nehru Prize for her promotion of international peace and understanding (1972). She also received the Balzan Prize (1979) and the Templeton and Magsaysay awards, and the Nobel Peace prize in 1979. And in 1985, the US awarded her the Medal of Freedom.

Through all this recognition, Mother Teresa always used these occasions to talk about the plight of the poor and our obligation to help and of God's love.

Yet what is more heroic and only revealed after her death was her interior life was marked by an experience of a deep, painful and abiding feeling of being separated from God. She even felt rejected by Him, along with an ever-increasing longing for His love. She called her inner experience, “the darkness.” The “painful night” of her soul, which began around the time she started her work for the poor and continued to the end of her life. Yet instead of "the darkness" tearing away her faith, it led Mother Teresa to an ever more profound union with God. Through the darkness she mystically participated in the thirst of Jesus, in His painful and burning longing for love, and she shared in the interior desolation of the poor.

Finally, on September 5, 1997, after finishing her dinner and prayers, her weakened heart gave her back to the God who was the very center of her life.

She was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 19 October 2003, placing her one step from sainthood; after beatification she became known as the Blessed Mother Teresa of Kolkata.

When I read this week's readings - it reminds me of Blessed Mother Teresa.

The desperate calls for help from Habakkuk Chapter 1. The Psalm of not hardening our hearts when God calls. The bearing of hardship with the strength that comes from God in 2 Timothy Chapter 1. And finally the familiar story of the mustard seed from Luke 17.

But this reading also causes people to ask, "Is this true? Is this really what God wants?"

To our modern ear, it sounds like exaggeration. How can a tree move itself if we only had the faith of a mustard seed which is so small? How can anyone who has worked all day in the fields, and then be commanded by their master to serve them dinner before eating themselves be capable of saying, "We are unprofitable servants;we have done what we were obliged to do."?

Who does that? And how can I?

The answer is that this is true. This is what God really wants. And not only did Mother Teresa do exactly that but her order continues to do that everyday, all over the world. These sisters have nothing but their faith and they exhaust themselves with their work and yet are happy to do it. Their faith makes miracles every day. Forget about trees uprooting themselves! Lives are healed, souls are saved, all from faith.

And - yes you can too! When we finally embrace our humility and see ourselves as servants to our Lord and not Masters of our own fate, then we can truly begin to live. To live for Christ and to do His will before our own.

Does that mean we have to move to Calcutta? No. There is plenty to do all around us.

As Blessed Mother Teresa observed, "Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do... but how much love we put in that action...Love begins by taking care of the closest ones - the ones at home."

And then we discover the irony that the world cannot understand - that when we embrace what we are obliged to do, whether that is at home, at work or in our community - then we truly become free. Only when we completely surrender to God's will, will we fill ourselves completely up with the Holy Spirit and be full and happy. When we willingly surrender to God do we truly obtain victory.

That is what we are obliged to do.