Love, The Bond of Perfection

My heart was moved with conviction as I heard the second reading at Mass yesterday. The conviction: that something in me needed to change.

"Brothers and sisters: Put on, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do. And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection." Colossians 3: 12-14

Yesterday the Church celebrated the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. The readings lead us to reflect on the areas of our family life that need improving. I could not help but think about my own family and how I've been failing in truly loving them. I felt the Lord calling me to love them as He loves me… without measure.

In the family of Jesus, we find the perfect model for family life. The second scripture reading, part of which I quoted above, gives us the formula for loving them. Saint Paul lists the virtues that characterized the love of the Holy Family - love that is compassionate, kind, humble, gentle and patient. Our Lord gives us the opportunity to express these virtues everyday in our family relationships. Each is a manifestation of His love…

Love is the summary of all things. It is the beginning, end and goal of everything. May Our Lord fill our hearts with a passionate love for Him, profound knowledge of His virtues and a sincere appreciation for the family with which we have been blessed.

+ Raquel Jimenez
Hard as Nails Ministries
New York, NY

All talk?

Today we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. As a man, I am so inspired by Joseph's faithfulness and action. Have you ever heard someone referring to another person as "all talk?" There's this part of guys that is constantly battling to be the best. I can remember stories being told in my college football locker room by one guy, and another would say "Oh come on, you're all talk!"

In the scriptures, we see a model of manhood in Joseph that shows us he was "all action." We never hear words spoken by Joseph, we only hear words spoken to him. Following the words of the angel of the Lord to Joseph, he is always quick to act. He is a man of ACTION!!! Check out one example from the following quote in today's readings:

"... the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, 'Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.' Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt." Matthew 2:13-14

As the earthly father of Jesus, Joseph would have been the man who taught Jesus how to be a man. Sounds like some task huh? Imagine raising the Son of God and teaching him how to be a real man. If Joseph was good enough to teach Jesus how to be a man, then he's definitely someone I have lots to learn from. I guess I can start by becoming a man who "does" more and "talks" less.

I'll pose the challenge for all men reading this to spend this day as a man of action. Remember we have nothing to prove to anyone except our Lord Jesus Christ. When we start concerning ourselves with Christ alone, it is then that we will become powerful witnesses to the world. He proves his love for us, its time we start proving our love for him. It's time we stop the talk and PROVE IT like Joseph did. So what's the Lord asking you to DO?

-Tim Hanley
Hard as Nails Ministries
Newark, NJ

My Lord and my God!

"Lord, I believe... help my unbelief."

This is such a beautiful prayer which we can utter over and over throughout the day and all the days of our life. It's ok if there is a part in you that struggles to believe in Jesus or doesn't quite "get it all." In these times of uncertainty simply close your eyes and speak to the Lord as if He was your best friend just sitting down right next to you. Even in the most unsure moments in our lives there is at least a tiny part of us that believes and wants to believe. With that part of yourself, speak to the Lord from your heart and say, "Lord, I believe... help my unbelief."

-Tim Hanley
Hard as Nails Ministries
Newark, NJ

Long daze.

The days after Christmas can be so tiring, can't they? After a long day with family, eating, chasing little cousins around the living room table, etc... I found myself in a daze yesterday, very sluggish, and trying to motivate myself to do anything - even to pray. Yes, that's right! Praying doesn't always come easy does it? This can be a great invitation to offer a beautiful prayer of sacrifice to the Lord. By sacrifice, I mean sacrificing what I "feel" like doing (sitting on the couch and watch TV) in order to do what I know is best for me (spending some time in prayer with Jesus.)

Yesterday we celebrated the life of Stephen, the first martyr in the church's history. Luke tells us about Stephen in the Acts of the Apostles. "As they were stoning Stephen, he called out
'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.'" - Acts 7:59 Can you imagine the faith it must take to be a martyr - to die for your faith in Jesus? Well we can't begin to imagine giving up our whole lives for Jesus if we can't even give him that moment when we don't feel like spending time with Him in prayer. These moments come everyday where we have the decision to choose Christ or say "no." Choosing Christ in the little things is a way that we "die to ourselves" and allow Christ to live in us. "Dying to ourselves" simply means that we accept what the Lord desires for us, even when it is contrary to what we want at the moment. By doing this over and over again we become martyrs in the ordinary circumstances of life.

The words martyr comes from the Greek word "martus" - which means witness. In order to be a witness to Christ, the Lord asks us to offer the little things to Him. When we don't want to clean the dishes, we do it anyway. When we don't want to spend those ten minutes in prayer, we do it anyway. When we don't want to get our sister a glass of water because "she can get it herself," we do it anyway. If we can't offer Christ these little things each day, how could we ever offer Him our life? A true martyr (witness) is born from the small sacrifice of the daily grind. So the next time its just been a long day... persevere and remember to say "YES" to our Lord, no matter how long the day has been.

-Tim Hanley
Hard as Nails Ministries
Newark, NJ

The Best Christmas Presence.

So did anyone get any good presents yesterday? I got a new 2008 planner, a few shirts, even a new pair of throw back Jesus sandals. How about you? Anything good?

It's so easy to get caught up in the exchange of presents on Christmas and forget about HIS PRESENCE on Christmas. On this joy filled day, we should really celebrate the greatest of all presents, which is the LORD's PRESENCE in our lives. His entrance into our lives calls for much rejoicing.

One area I would like to suggest working on over these next days is called the "practice of the presence of God." God is always present, right? Always there for us, right? Yes! and yes! Well when we practice the presence of God in our lives, we try our best to remember throughout the day that God is right there by our side and in our hearts all the time. We can do this by simply talking to Him and saying hello at various times throughout the day. Little "thank you's" go a long way. Go ahead, try it. All day today, try as hard as you can to remember Jesus in all things that you are doing. Thank Him for as many things as you can. "Thanks for this toothpaste Jesus." "Thank you for hot water to take this shower." "Thanks for this shirt that I am putting on Jesus." "Thank you Lord for this car that I can drive to work." "Thanks for getting me to work safely Lord." etc...

Brother Lawrence, a Carmelite monk who lived in the 1600's said this, "In the practice of the presence of God we call Our Father to mind at every possible moment. At every opportunity, we focus our attention on Him and silently say, "Thank You, Father" throughout each day."

On Christmas day we said "thank you" for every gift that we received, let's try our hardest to say thank you to the Lord for all of the gifts we receive today, most especially the greatest present of them all - His PRESENCE in our lives!

-Tim Hanley
Hard as Nails Ministries
Newark, NJ

God is with us.

"Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel." - Matthew 1:23

The world seems so broken, is God really with us? My life is such a mess, is God really with me? I was thinking and praying on this for some time and it hit me hard that there is a big difference between (1) Jesus coming to simply dwell AMONG us, versus (2) Jesus coming to dwell as "God WITH us" - Emmanuel. Emmanuel means "God is with us." (Mt 11:23) Look at those words - AMONG and WITH.

When Jesus comes into the world as the little baby born in the manger, He is entering into our very lives... the God of the universe taking on human flesh. God... GOD! enters WITHIN the very flesh of a baby and becomes a human just like you and me (except for sin). This is much crazier than we typically think of it. This is much more than little baby Jesus dolls lying down in a manger scene. If the God of the Universe had the POWER and the CARE to become a little baby in order to save his people, what makes you think that He wouldn't want to enter more deeply into your life and circumstances right now... in the year 2007. He entered as deeply into the lives of humankind as He could when He became a man, and even that is not enough because the real truth is that He wants to enter into you! into me! He wants to be "God with us" everyday, in all our thoughts, actions, and in our very lives. This is the coming of Emmanuel as we await His next coming in GLORY.

I was chatting recently with numerous people who have expressed a sadness and depression as Christmas approaches and they are struggling to "get their act together" in their lives. Many people will go without family and feel alone this Christmas. Some because of addictions, some because they lost a loved one, others because something in their life is not the way they wish it would be. Christ comes to us this Christmas and says, "Hey, can I be God WITH you this Christmas?" And not only this Christmas, but all the days to come as well.

-Tim Hanley
Hard as Nails Ministries
Newark, NJ