Repeat but Relevant

This post is a repeat.  It was from a couple years back, and it is about the story of Jesus feeding 5000.  It is one of my favorite stories of scripture and last weekends gospel reading.  In the trouble times we are told our nation is going through, maybe it is time for a reminder that even the smallest fragments are relevant. 




Recently at church, one of the readings was the story of Jesus feeding 5,000.  For my friends who do not know this story, I will give a brief overview of this story.  At this particular time, in the Bible, Jesus is being followed by huge crowds.  As evening approaches, the disciples encourage Jesus to send the huge crowd away, for they have no food to feed them.  There is a boy, among the crowd, that has some loaves of bread and a few fish.  Jesus takes the food from the boys, blesses it, and multiplies it to feed 5,000 men and their family, with 12 large, wicker baskets leftover.(Please understand that the Bible does this story much better justice than I just did.  I encourage you to read the gospel of John 6:1-15)

This is by far my favorite Bible story, EVER!!  For some reason, I could listen to any priest, preach about this story and I never get tired of it.  Every time I hear this story, I get a different point of view.  Many wonder about the miracle of taking five loaves of bread and two fish, and allowing them to feed so many.  Some often look at it from the boy’s point of view, giving of his food for the sake of others.  Others may even question the disciples and their faith in the power of God.

But not too long ago, I heard a sermon about this story from a very unique point of view, the leftover fragments.  Now I am sure you are questioning my sanity, but I must say, it was a great point of view.  I will try to do it justice in my words.

In today’s fast paced world, we are so busy moving from place to place, or trying to accomplish this thing or that thing, that I am not sure we often look at the details.  As I write this, I can tell you I am guilty on countless occasions of trying to get things done quickly, to get on to the next task at hand, as to accomplish the overwhelming list of things to do.  I often get side tracked by my smart phone and answering an email, which often leads to me missing some little fragment of information, either from my children, my wife, staff member, boss, my God, this list is truly endless.

In all the details of feeding 5,000 men and their families, Jesus never missed a detail.  He even made his disciples pick up the scraps and leftovers.  I am pretty sure Jesus was not living by one of my favorite mottos, if you rent or use a space, make sure it is cleaner than it was when you got it.  I can also bet Jesus was not worried about litter or being green, as we would in today's society, when he insisted on the disciples picking up every fragment.  I believe this was Jesus trying to convey to us that even the smallest morsel, or fragment, is important. 

Even though we live in this fast paced, GIGANTIC world, and we might often feel too small for Jesus to even notice.  It is nice to know that He cares for us, no matter how small or big we perceive ourselves.  We do not have to be a Nobel Prize winning author, or have been awarded the humanitarian of the year, for Jesus to care for us and recognize us.  We do not have to be the greatest evangelist to get the love of Jesus.  All we have to do is accept Him into our lives, follow Him, and He will give us the guidance we need, regardless of the fact that we might be a large slice of bread or even a crumb, He loves and cares for us all.

Church Signs

I love Church Signs, you know, the ones that are by the street and either give information or maybe a funny quip or two.  I REALLY like the ones that have funny quotes.  You know ones that say things like, "If your life stinks, we have a pew for you." or "Stop...Drop...Roll, does not work in Hell."  The list could go on and on.

Today, though, I saw a Church sign asking, "Holy Spirit, revive this land."  I will be the first one to agree that we need to revive this land. With political correctness run amok, offensive flags, gender issues, our land is amongst the most confused I have ever seen. One of my favorite quotes is, "If we do not teach our children to love God, the world will teach them not to" and I think if we depend on the trends that are overtaking our world, we are well on our way to making that statement true.

I guess my biggest issue with the comment asking the Holy Spirit to revive this land is, I believe they have it wrong.  What the sign should say is, "Invite the Holy Spirit into your life, and help change this land."  I appreciate the thought behind the original quote, but, it is my understanding that the Holy Spirit is already here.  The Holy Spirit is right next to you, me, and everyone, but in order for It to work, and "revive this land," we first have to accept that the Holy Spirit is here, by accepting Jesus Christ as our savior.  The Holy Spirit cannot work for us if we do not believe It exist. 

The Holy Spirit works for me, because I believe.  I really think there are many times I have looked up at the right time, and avoided a car accident, or some potential tragedy, because the Holy Spirit is with me, watching me and giving me that feeling of safety and security.  The Holy Spirit helped me when I was in between jobs, and feared for providing for my family.

The Holy Spirit also convicts me when I do something wrong.  You ever get that feeling, the instant you say something or do something that would upset God or a parent or a boss.  When I get that feeling, I immediately say, "Ohhhhhh, wish I would not have done that, or said that."  That is the conviction of the Holy Spirit, and as Thomas Carlyle said, "Conviction is worthless unless it is converted into conduct."  Conviction is important, even though it feels crummy, because the Holy Spirit is using this opportunity to convert us or get us back on the correct path. 

So, while I appreciate the idea behind the sign, I think we are putting to much on the Holy Spirit to do the things that we would be doing, already, if everyone believed. 

Perception Vs. Reality

Is it just me, or are we slowing becoming a world in a huge identity crisis?  In the last two months, Bruce Jenner has decided to become Caitlyn Jenner, and received the Arthur Ashe award for courage(there is an entire different conversation about that).  Then there is Rachel Dolezal, a white woman, who has portrayed an African American woman, and become the head of the NAACP of Spokane.

Both of these people have decided they do not want to live the life they were born with and want to portray someone else, one of a different gender, the other of a different race.  I will admit, this is something that I just do not understand.  Maybe I am an old curmudgeon, but there are a few things in life that we are not given choices on.  I could not choose my parents, although if I could, I would definitely choose the ones God gave me.  I could not choose my race and gender, both of which are genetically a predisposition of my parents.

I love my job, as a Catholic School Principal, but don't get me wrong, if I could make millions of dollars as a professional golfer, I would do it in the blink of an eye.  My favorite hobby is definitely playing golf.  While I am a decent golfer(8 handicap), I really do not think I will ever have the skills to play golf on the PGA Tour. It is a skill set that I do not have, nor do I have the time or the ability to make it a profession.  So instead, I get to do what I believe God wants me to do and that is education.  While I could definitely identify with a pro golfer, it is not what I was put on this Earth to do.

I recently saw a video from Fr. Mike Schmidt, from Accension Presents.  This video does a beautiful job describing some of the identity crisis that are so played up in the media.  Below is the link, and I highly recommend you watch it.  The video last about 8 minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-9_rxXFu9I#action=share

Fr. Mike does a great job explaining how his nephew identified as a puppy, while playing, but how his parents got the young boy back on track when it came time to eat.  He also does a great job explaining the gender stereotypes we put on human beings from birth.  If you are a girl, you are supposed to like pink, wear dresses, be stay at home moms, and if you are a boy, you are supposed to like blue, play sports, and be the main breadwinners of the household.  These are just a few of the stereotypes and we all know this list is endless.  He then goes on to explain how his sister, a doctor, is the main breadwinner in the household, and her husband is a stay at home dad.  Both assuming a role of the other gender, because of the stereotypes society associates with gender.

I think the most important thing Fr. Mike states is perception vs. reality. As an educator, and dealing with children, I fight the perception vs. reality all the time.  Children go home and tell their parents that they got a detention for no reason at all.  When in reality, the student's behavior warranted a detention.  Children do not often see reality, for perception is a better picture for them. 

I truly wonder if Bruce Jenner or Rachel Dolezal were so truly unhappy with their reality, and that by following their perception of the other gender or race, they will become truly happy?  I have the best wife, and the best children a man could ask for.  I have a great job, that I truly believe God has given me the talents to do.  While I would love to play golf all day long, and win tournaments worth millions of dollars, that is not my reality.  So instead of living the life of greatness, as I perceive a pro golfer to live, I live the life of greatness based on the reality of my life, using the talents that God has given me, and it is better than greatness.  I hope to never change my reality, based on something I perceive to be better.  Fr. Mike said it best, "A man cannot truly know what a woman feels, and vice versa."  While my perception is that pro golfers are experiencing a great life, playing golf, winning lots of money, I cannot truly know their personal feelings, so how can a man truly identify with a woman, and on and on and on...

I pray for those that are fighting perceptions the world has put on them.  I hope others that are struggling with perception issues get the help they need, or have someone that can help them get through their struggles. 

Today's prayer:  Heavenly Father, I pray for those that struggle with the perceptions of the modern world, and ask you to give them the understanding of their reality, and give them the wisdom of the choice you have made for them.  I pray that You help them understand the path You have laid for them and guide those who struggle with Your plan.  Amen.   

From Hawk to Panther

Well the time has come.  The last seven years as principal of St. Charles Borromeo Catholic School has come to an end. It has been the best seven years of my career.  It was also very humbling to look back and see the mistakes, accomplishments, trials, tribulations, joys, sorrows, etc.  The last several months(I announced that I was not returning in February) have been very long and very difficult for emotional reasons.

I cannot believe it has been seven years.  Looking back, they flew by so fast, it is almost like a flash of lightening going across a dark, cloudy sky.  I have seen some real joys, hiring teachers, graduating 8th graders, working with the best staff of my career so far, watching three friends of mine become ordained priest.  The joys are endless, and so fruitful, it wasn't until some people reminded me of them, that I even remembered. 

I have been the luckiest person in the world for another reason.  I had the joy, for the last six years, of taking my children to work.  Because my children attended St. Charles, everyday was take your children to work day, for me.  The downside to this is it was hard to separate being a father and a principal sometimes.  The difficulty of separating the two, led to the decision to leave St. Charles.  I decided that they were becoming to intermingled and it was hard to separate the two roles.  I was reminded that Father and Husband was the first vocation given to me by God, and it was time to renew that, and take away the role of principal.  That being said, with great sadness, I decided to not renew for another year.


Side note:  My children were upset at first, and a little confused.  In the past, I would not let them have sleepovers at our house, for I was the principal of their friends, which was a huge conflict of interest, for me.  The kids were sad, at first, and there might have been some tears when I told them I would not be retuning as principal. Once I told them they could now have sleepovers with their friends, the amount of time it took to tears to dry up, and the sleepover list to be created couldn't be timed at the Indy 500.  Let's just say, they got over it quickly.

I am back.  With any position, there comes some sadness.  I have helped families struggle through some tragedies.  We lost a dear friend and staff member.  This was, without a doubt, the hardest thing I had to do in my career.  Console a staff member, whose just lost her husband(another staff member), while trying to hold it together myself.  It was difficult, but with God's grace, we have all made it through.

Now it is time to move on.  While it took some time between February and May, not to mention the sleepless nights, not wanting to eat, all the signs that come with stress, I am delighted and excited to announce that I am officially the principal of St. Pius X in Indianapolis.  No longer am I a St. Charles Hawk, I am now a St. Pius Panther.  I am as excited to get things going at St. Pius X, as I was seven years ago for St. Charles Borromeo.  It is a renewed feeling and I feel refreshed and ready to move forward.

I ask your prayers for me, the St. Pius X community, and the St. Charles Borromeo community.  With God's close eye on us, we will all hopefully make it through these transitions with more joys than pains.

I know you have heard me say this before, but I will really try to blog more.  Don't forget to sign up for email alerts whenever I do post.  It will prevent you from checking back and seeing no change, and the frustration that comes with it.

Your prayers are greatly appreciated.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!!!! 

With every new year, comes the inevitable looking back to the past, or making resolutions for the future.  At this time I am going to do a little bit of both.

As a school administrator, I get two weeks off at Christmas time, just like the students.  I am going to reflect on the last two weeks, and only the last two weeks, for my memory of the whole year is not that great(or maybe just not interesting).

My wife has finally figured out that I can get some serious housework done on my extended school breaks.  For example, over the Thanksgiving Break, I repainted my daughters bedroom(2 coats) and our bedroom(2 coats), as well.  Anything to keep me from just laying around the house doing nothing, is usually perfect for me.

That being said, I had no idea what I was in for over Christmas Break.  My wife and I decided to get new living room furniture.  The main reason for this decision was the fact that our current furniture was worn out and uncomfortable, not to mention the dogs and the number they have done on our couches.  So we went out on a Saturday, before Mass, and purchased our beautiful new couches and set up delivery for the Tuesday after. 

My wife and I had incredibly different levels of excitement for getting new furniture.  My excitement came in the form of new furniture.  I would no longer have to build up the worn down armrest with pillows.  I would no longer sink down, every time I sat on the worn out, ten year old couch, etc.  My wife's level of excitement came only after she decided that we should sand, stain, and seal our wood floors.  By the way, my wife thought of this project, the day before the furniture was to be delivered.

So, it was off to Lowes to pick up the necessary materials for this endeavor that took about two days longer then I thought.  I must say, I am not good at house work of such magnitude.  This is something that I would normally hire out, for the simple reason, I have no idea what I am doing.  My wife, on the other hand, is more than happy to take on any home improvement task, so off we went.

This is, without a doubt, the hardest, most involved home ownership task I have ever done.  But as you can see, in the pictures below, we(and I use we very lightly, for my wife did most of the work) accomplished this week long task, quite well, if I do say so myself.  And, our new furniture's first couple of days were in the garage covered with plastic, but now it is on floors that look as new as the furniture itself.


This is the floor before any work is done

After phase one, sanding

The early stages of staining and sealing

Finished Product

So over the last week of Christmas Break, you can tell my wife and I were pretty busy.

Now to the resolutions:  my hope is to read more, at least one chapter of a book, per day.  When I say read, I mean read for enjoyment, not for work related things.  So if you have any books recommendations, I will gladly take them.

I also, hope to start grad school, this February, for my Education Specialist(EdS) license.  I would have already been in classes, but the university I plan on attending has had some enrollment issues.

Finally, I hope to blog more often.  It has been a very, very, very long time, but I hope to make more time to share the things that happen in my life, my family life, and my work life.  There are a lot of good things that happen, and I hope to share them with you all, on hopes to balance out the negative things we hear about so often in the news.

Wishing you all the Happiest of New Years.

How Come I Can't Pray When I Need You Most?

Last week I had a principal meeting at St. Mary of the Woods.  St. Mary of the Woods is a convent run by the Sisters of Providence.  The most famous sister from this order was always known to me as Blessed Theodora Guerrin, now called St. Theodora.  She was canonized a saint in 2006, and I can imagine this place has been a buzz ever since.

We came to Saint Mary's, Wednesday evening, and started with a tour of the facilities, including the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception, which has the remains of St. Theodora, including her relics.  After that we had a nice dinner, we came back to St. Marys for an evening with Sister Norma.  Sister Norma is always a treat to listen to.  She has a great disposition, a quiet voice, and always shares her personal spiritual journey.

As always, after hearing Sister Norma, I have noticed a challenge, that I struggle with everyday.  Why can't I pray when I need You most?  All I can say to that is, "Let me count the ways."  I am sure there is a specific order for what I am about to write, however, I am going to write the reasons in order of my struggles.  So, I guess I am essentially saying, these are in no particular order.

1.  Satan is as present in our world as God is.
Wow!!! I almost feel that I am going to hell just for typing that.  Imagine this, Satan is the darkness and God is the Light.  When sitting in church one day, it was dark.  When turning on the lights, it was overwhelming to see the church gradually light up from front to back.  Amazing, that day, Fr. Tom talked about how the light can overcome the darkness, but the darkness cannot overcome the light.  See the comparison?  Once the lights were on, darkness could not come back.

When we are in the need of prayer the most, when we truly recognize that we are in need, we are usually in the dark place, Satan's world.  Satan does not sit back and wait for you to acknowledge his presence.  He is actively trying to tempt us, and push us farther away from God.

2.  It is something I can handle and I don't want to bother/need God.
This is probably the excuse I use the most.  With all the daily struggles of being a school leader, with all the training that got me to this point, I often think I am qualified to get the task, at hand, done, I mean that is what I have been trained to do.

Many of the struggles I manage to handle, but some put me over the edge, get me frustrated, or are the reason I lose sleep at night.  Regardless, I am naive to think that I have done the easy task and the hard task without God.  I might think I did it all by myself, and pat myself on the back, but let's be realistic, I know it is God, I just need to recognize and give credit to Him.

3.  Because of my previous actions, I am not worthy.
If I were to have a favorite, this would be it.  Often times, I get myself so far into a jam, there is no where to go except the route of God.  However, I get so embarrassed that I got myself in the jam, that I am even more embarrassed to ask God to help me it of it.  I  know, I know, God will always be loving and kind.  He will always light the way, I just need to flip the switch.  I get it, but the whole point of this is to explain why I do not pray when I need Him most.

One thing that Sister Norma shared about her personal journey of faith, that I hope will allow me to avoid the three things I mentioned, or the many things I did not, is use your struggle for the God's grace.  Take those things that are angering me, or leading me away from prayer, or Him, and give them to God.  Her words were, "God take this.......... that is angering me and frustrating me and help me use it for your will and glory."

Wait a minute!!!!  The thing that I am struggling with, that is taking me away from God, that is being run by the darkness, you want me to offer it to God for His glory????  Absolutely!!!  Remember the light and darkness from the beginning of this post.  There is nothing that can overcome the light, unless we let it.  Inviting God to be part of the struggle will remove the darkness.

Will it still be a struggle for me to recognize I need prayer?  Probably...
Will I fail at giving my struggle to God, or inviting Him to help me with whatever issue I am having?  Absolutely!!!  All I can hope for is that with some knowledge and some strategies I have a better chance of gaining a closer relationship with God.  The closer I am, the better my chance of praying when I need to.

Merry Christmas from a Duck Dynasty Supporter

All,

Before I share with you my rant about Duck Dynasty, I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  I am thankful for all of you flattering me, by reading this blog.  I am up to almost 5000 views.  I am truly humbled.  Thank you all and have a great Christmas season.

Alec Mayer

I am sure many of you have heard about the A&E network suspending Phil Robertson, of Duck Dynasty, for what is essentially his religious convictions.  There are some things I have boycotted, a restaurant, a television show, but never have I boycotted an entire television network.  Below is the email I just sent them expressing my disappointment in their decision and what I expect in order to watch their network again, no matter what show is on.

Dear A&E Executives,

 

I have been a longtime fan of the A&E network.  I enjoy the many shows that you produce and air.  Some of my favorites are Storage Wars, Shipping Wars, and Duck Dynasty.  I have never written a letter like this, but I feel that it is time, for I am tired of my Christian beliefs being trampled on.  I am tired of people, who know nothing about my faith, screaming the loudest as if they know what my faith is about.  It is time that you hear from the silent majority instead of catering to the loud minority.

 

I will be somewhat shocked if you are still reading this letter.  It is with great disappointment that you have suspended Phil Robertson, indefinitely, from your television station, for standing up for his religious convictions.  While I do not know Mr. Robertson, personally, I do believe he is a Christian man in his words, and hopefully his actions.  While we are all sinners, and nobody is perfect, I believe Mr. Robertson is a man of God.

 

Suspending Mr. Robertson for his Religious beliefs goes against the First Amendment of the Constitution.  While I would hope you already know that, in my line of work, I always find it is best to be clear in all situations.  Our country, founded on Freedom of Religion, is suffering greatly because of actions, such as yours.  Every time a person’s religious convictions are trampled on, by another group, it pulls us father and farther from the Constitution.

 

I want you to know that I am not joining any boycott, or aligning with any particular group.  I am sending this letter as a concerned citizen.  I am concerned that your catering to a small, but loud, group of people, based on their beliefs, all while trampling on a silent but large group of people because of theirs.  I am not asking you to cater to my large group, for as a Christian man that is not how I choose to do business.  I choose to vote with my choices, as I am sure many others will do as well. 

 

I choose television shows based on my beliefs.  I choose not to watch shows, nor do I allow my children to watch shows that destroy the meaning of family.  I am not a hunter, or “redneck” as they often refer to themselves, on Duck Dynasty.  I would have never watched this show if not for my friends description of the Christian values of the show.  I did latch onto it and now it is one of my favorite shows.  Because of your decision to suspend Mr. Robertson, I will not longer watch your entire network.  This fan will no longer watch about 4 programs because of the way your network has trampled my Christian beliefs.

 

Do not get me wrong.  If you have a show that supports the LGBT or GLAAD lifestyle, I would not write you to, I would just choose not to watch that program.  I find it disappointing that you did not stand up for the right of Christian values and tell the complainers, if they do not like it, choose to watch something else.  It is my experience that when you cater to one group and turn from the rest, the catered group will stay long enough to get their way, and then move to the next task at hand, leaving you high and dry with nobody.  It kind of reminds me of the way that Satan works.

 

I wish you all the best of luck and would hope that you come to your senses and allow me to be part of your programming in the future.  I assure you it will not happen until there is an apology for your reaction to Mr. Robertson and the entire Duck Dynasty company, and an apology to the entire Christian community. 

 

I wish you all a Very Merry CHRISTmas and Happy New Year.

 

Alec Mayer, disappointed and no longer fan