ByzyDad

We Really Want to be Found

2012-01-22T16:34:00.001-08:00

“For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”- Matthew 7:8

My little daughter has got hide and seek all confused. Last night she declared that we were going to play hide and seek and quickly ran off to hide behind her dresser, peering out from around the corner. As I was walking around “looking for her” she jumped out from her hiding spot and shouted “I found you!” bursting into a huge belly laugh. I thought it was hilarious that she didn’t understand that the game ‘hide and seek’ is all about hiding, but after thinking about it a bit, I think she understands the game better than I do.

Think about it, what makes the game exciting is not hiding forever, imagine how boring it would be if you were never found. How often did we call out things like “you’re getting closer” and other hints when we played this game when we were young? Remember the suspense that you experienced when they were getting closer and you were awaiting the moment when they found you? We want to be found, that’s what makes the game fun, that’s what hide and seek is all about, it’s all about seeking and finding and being found.

Junior High students often ask me about what they should do when their parents ‘force them’ to go to Church. The answer I give them is to just go, sit there and be bored. Just keep sitting and waiting because eventually you will be found. You will realize Whose house you are in, and the Person you want to meet the most will finally have found you and you will fall in love. But you have to play hide and seek in order to be found. You have to seek in order to find and you have to be willing to be caught in order for Him to catch you.

If only we had the common sense of little children when playing this hide and seek game we call life!

Childlike Bravery

2012-01-04T18:33:00.001-08:00

My afternoon marking was interrupted by a crash from the children’s room, followed by a wailing cry emanating from my almost three year old son. I rushed into the room to discover that he had almost impaled himself on the frame of his toddler bed while he was trying to jump from his younger sister’s crib. When I asked why he had tried to jump, he told me through his sobs and sniffles that he was trying to be brave.

Catherine Doherty, the founder of the Madonna House Apostolate (check out the Pass it On! shortcut) a community of laymen, laywomen and priests, once prayed “Lord, give me the heart of a child, and the awesome courage to live it out as an adult.” I couldn’t help but think of this prayer while Tobias was crying over his tender side.

What is bravery like in your life? If it is anything like mine, you might find that you have what I like to call “calculated bravery.” Sometimes we sum up the odds and decide on a more “conditional bravery.” In the Gospel, Christ calls us to an almost reckless abandon, asking as to leave the dead of this world to bury their own dead, to sell everything we have and to follow Him. He is asking us to take that childlike leap of faith, the jump of a little child leaping into her father’s arms, and in order to enter the kingdom we must have this childlike faith.

This childlike single-mindedness should not however stop at faith, but should describe our hunger and pursuit for all the virtues. There is no one more stubborn than a raging toddler and there is no one more likely to satisfied than a believer with an unyielding hunger and thirst for righteousness. Our Lord has promised us this much.

A character who exemplifies this determination admirably is the Narnian mouse Reepicheep. When sailing to the end of the world and Aslan’s Country aboard the Dawn Treader, Reepicheep is given the option to turn back and abandon his quest. His bold reply was:

“Why should your majesty think it? My own plans are made. While I may, I sail East in Dawn Treader. When she fails me, I row East in my coracle. When that sinks, shall I paddle East with my four paws. Then, when I can swim no longer, if I have not yet reached Aslan's Country, there shall I sink with my nose to the sunrise... and Peepiceek will be head of Talking Mice in Narnia”

I pray we all develop the courage of children, or at least of this mouse, as undoubted, the Lord will work miracles from this mustard seed of faith.

TELOS: God’s Purpose in Your Life

2010-12-19T21:09:00.001-08:00

The Ultimate Office Tool

I tried it again, but to no avail.

I had been careful to line up the staple and close the protective cover. I had put the paper where I needed it to be and closed the two metal pieces as hard as I could. It didn’t work…again. I just couldn’t get my laptop to staple my papers together. I got pretty upset. Wasn’t a laptop supposed to be the worlds most effective office tool? Maybe I should try again, it must just be a matter of not trying hard enough.

I had heard crazy stories about laptops being able to communicate with others at the speed of light, print up reports and run multiple operations simultaneously. That would mean that laptops were designed for a purpose, with an actual reason for being. That would also mean that there would have to be a Manufacturer somewhere who put the whole thing together according to a plan.

No matter how hard I tried, it would just make me more and more upset with the time I wasted trying to do something the machine was not designed to do. I would probably damage the machine as I scratch it with the staples it will never be able to push through paper.

I suppose in the long run I would have to trust that the Manufacturer had the best interests of the laptop in mind when they created it, and that following their instructions would let me use the laptop to its full potential. I would have to trust that the ‘operator’s manual’ was there for a reason.

Designed for a Purpose

Just like the laptop was designed for a purpose, so have we been designed by our Manufacturer, God: “Before I was born the LORD called me; from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name” (Isaiah 49:1). The only way to be truly happy is to cooperate with the purpose that God intended us for. We can go on living our lives trying to follow our own ends and never live up to our potential the same way the poor laptop will never be a stapler no matter how hard he tries. When all is said and done however, the laptop will be fulfilled and happy connecting to the internet, being typed on and rocking out with various media.

Continued insistence on ignoring the calling of God in our lives can even be harmful to us. The same way that the staples scratched the case of the laptop, we can damage ourselves through insistently trying to pursue a purpose we were never designed for in the first place. Often people seek fulfillment and love by turning to drugs or sexual perversion.

Following our calling in life is called a vocation, and each and every baptised Christian has a vocation from God. Cooperating with God and His plan for your life will make you fulfilled. It is important to pray, and listen to discern your vocation. Also, we need to check our ‘Manufacturer’s Manual,’ the Holy Scriptures to make sure our lives are line up with God’s purpose in our lives, our Telos.

Christian PLC: A Reflection for Teachers

2010-11-11T21:50:00.001-08:00

As teachers, we are inundated with a variety of ‘buzz words,’ the technical jargon of our profession. We are encouraged to be ‘life-long learners’ and ‘reflective practioners.’ We never really consider it, but if we stop to think, we realize that we have already joined a ‘Professional Learning Community’ (PLC) when we put on Christ; we have been invited into a community which has been transmitting learning unto our salvation since our Baptisms.

Reflective practice is the driving force in this PLC.The first words of Christ’s ministry in the Gospel of Mark are “The time has come, the Kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe!” (Mark 1:15). We are to reflect on our own weaknesses and failings and change. We are to reflect on the Gospel and how we live it.

To aid us in this assessment, we have been given rubrics which have been developed by the Master Teacher Himself. The Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes are the criteria by which we are to mark our lives by. The only student (disciple) we can fairly grade is ourselves, and we must mark hard. In fact, we must realize that only through the fact that our lives are a ‘group project’ with the Lord Himself, that we are yoked to Him, that we ever pass at all.

While carrying out our ministry in this PLC, we are sure to follow the lesson plan. Unlike typical resources we are used to, this one has been written for us out of love, before the dawn of the written word, first on stone, then animal hide, papyrus and paper (and now even cyberspace!). This is the lesson plan of God’s saving plan, salvation history, as revealed to us in the Sacred Scriptures.

To ensure that we are continually focused on our ‘lifelong learning’ we must attend staff meetings. This is the support that we glean from meeting with fellow Christians to worship and study together. As Christ promised us when two or three are gathered together in His Name, He Himself is there with us.(Matthew 18:20).

Occasionally we learn how to deepen our practice through professional development. We hear from the experts in the field, the saints, and how they lived and loved and died for the faith.

At the end of the day, we are exhausted from the difficult tasks that we have performed in this professional learning community. We might head to the staff room to talk it over with some colleagues. Sometimes, a mentor teacher like St. Paul might be there, and he might fill us in on some of the difficult parts of his day “Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked (2 Cor 11:24-25). These are the ‘occupational hazards’ of following the Lord.

Ultimately, however, we will have a severe and healthy fear that we have taken on the profession of Christ Himself. We will always keep St. James’ warning clearly in our minds: “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that those who teach will be judged more strictly.” (James 3:1). We will have also a hopeful joy and comfort in knowing that the Prince of Peace Himself truly goes before us in all things.

A Reflection on the Gospel of Matthew

2010-04-23T11:51:00.000-07:00

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. (Matt16:24)

An example of a saint that truly lived this command from our Lord and Saviour was St. George Victory-bearer and Wonderworker. A Roman military commander by profession George was brave and valiant in battle. When Emperor Diocletian increased his persecution of Christians St. George distributed his wealth to the poor, and appeared before the emperor stating: "I am a servant of Christ, my God, and trusting in Him, I have come among you voluntarily, to bear witness concerning the Truth.” When the emperor, who himself loved and promoted George, tried to persuade him to not throw away his honors and youth and to worship the Roman gods St. George replied "Nothing in this inconstant life can weaken my resolve to serve God." And thus he chose a martyrs death to follow his Lord.

Throughout this battle, we must always keep in our minds that there can never be theosis without kenosis; that we cannot be filled with Christ until we have been completely emptied. When this happens we will truly be able to exclaim with the apostle: ‘I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. ’ It is not until the wheat and grapes have been picked and crushed that they can be turned into the bread and wine that become for us the very body and blood of our Lord and Savor Jesus Christ! This sacrifice was Christ’s, but we are called to make it our own as well. It is with this conviction that St. Ignatius boldly states, while being led off to be eaten by wild beasts in the arena: “I am the wheat of God, and let me be ground by the teeth of the wild beasts, that I may be found the pure bread of Christ. ”

We find ourselves in the same arena today. Although we are not being handed over for a physical death at the hands of evil emperors, our battle against evil and the witness of martyrdom with our lives are no less ‘real.’ We must say no to pagan gods in our society and personal lives as readily (even more so!) than our brothers and sisters who proceeded us in the True Faith. Are we prepared to face the consequences of following our Lord to the ‘place of the Skull?’ Do we have the perseverance to seek God in the deserts of relativisms we find today? Do we have same courage St. George had in refusing to follow the Imperial decree out of love for our fellow brothers and sisters?

It is with utter sincerity that I repeat what Alexander Solzhenitsyn said during his acceptance speech for Nobel Peace prize in 1970 because I believe it is even more true for us today: “… I think we can help the world in its red-hot hour: not by the nay-saying of having no armaments, not by abandoning oneself to the carefree life, but by going into battle!”

Let us then brothers and sisters in Christ "go forth in peace … to set the world ablaze ." Let us not hide our lights under baskets, but hold them high for others to see. And let us continue this battle, knowing that the price of victory will be our very lives, and that being well practiced in dying to self, we may make an acceptable sacrifice to the Author of Life.

Through the prayers of our Father among the saints St. George the Greatmartyr, Lord Jesus Christ our God have mercy on us and save us.

Christ is Risen!

Indeed He is Risen!

Cited:
http://ocafs.oca.org/FeastSaintsViewer.asp?SID=4&ID=1&FSID=101184

Gal 2:20
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0107.htm, St. Ignatius Epistle to the Romans
The Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom
Luke 12:49
Luke 8:16

St. John Chrysostom’s Paschal Homily

2010-04-03T21:21:00.001-07:00

If any man be devout and loveth God,
Let him enjoy this fair and radiant triumphal feast!
If any man be a wise servant,
Let him rejoicing enter into the joy of his Lord.

If any have laboured long in fasting,
Let him how receive his recompense.
If any have wrought from the first hour,
Let him today receive his just reward.
If any have come at the third hour,
Let him with thankfulness keep the feast.
If any have arrived at the sixth hour,
Let him have no misgivings;
Because he shall in nowise be deprived therefore.
If any have delayed until the ninth hour,
Let him draw near, fearing nothing.
And if any have tarried even until the eleventh hour,
Let him, also, be not alarmed at his tardiness.

For the Lord, who is jealous of his honour,
Will accept the last even as the first.
He giveth rest unto him who cometh at the eleventh hour,
Even as unto him who hath wrought from the first hour.
And He showeth mercy upon the last,
And careth for the first;
And to the one He giveth,
And upon the other He bestoweth gifts.
And He both accepteth the deeds,
And welcometh the intention,
And honoureth the acts and praises the offering.

Wherefore, enter ye all into the joy of your Lord;
Receive your reward,
Both the first, and likewise the second.
You rich and poor together, hold high festival!
You sober and you heedless, honour the day!
Rejoice today, both you who have fasted
And you who have disregarded the fast.
The table is full-laden; feast ye all sumptuously.
The calf is fatted; let no one go hungry away.
Enjoy ye all the feast of faith:
Receive ye all the riches of loving-kindness.

Let no one bewail his poverty,
For the universal Kingdom has been revealed.
Let no one weep for his iniquities,
For pardon has shown forth from the grave.
Let no one fear death,
For the Saviour's death has set us free.
He that was held prisoner of it has annihilated it.

By descending into Hell, He made Hell captive.
He embittered it when it tasted of His flesh.
And Isaiah, foretelling this, did cry:
Hell, said he, was embittered
When it encountered Thee in the lower regions.

It was embittered, for it was abolished.
It was embittered, for it was mocked.
It was embittered, for it was slain.
It was embittered, for it was overthrown.
It was embittered, for it was fettered in chains.
It took a body, and met God face to face.
It took earth, and encountered Heaven.
It took that which was seen, and fell upon the unseen.

O Death, where is thy sting?
O Hell, where is thy victory?

Christ is risen, and thou art overthrown!
Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen!
Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice!
Christ is risen, and life reigns!
Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in the grave.
For Christ, being risen from the dead,
Is become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

To Him be glory and dominion
Unto ages of ages.

Amen.

(Rendered in stanza format by M.C. Steenberg. Please feel free to print, copy, distribute and post this text without need for written permission.)

Literature for Training Saints

2010-03-30T20:51:00.001-07:00

The July/August 2009 feature in Touchstone Magazine, written by David Mills is entitled “Bad Books for Kids: A Guide to the World of Youth Literature & What You Can Do About It.” This article is a welcome voice in this culture of death, and serves as an effective wake up call to parents and teachers to start questioning what their children or students are reading.

David points out in this article that most books written for teenagers sell in huge numbers to girls. This seems to be the target audience for these bad books, and bad they are.

“You could find something to enjoy and some lesson of value in almost all of them, but also something that undermines moral clarity and promotes one or more of several popular sins.”

-David Mills

Subversive Themes

One of the most prominent messages these books deliver to their unsuspecting and vulnerable readers is one of distrust for authority. Families are a trial to be endured, they don’t understand the main character and thus the child’s friends become her family (the main character is almost always a girl.) Ultimately these books isolate our girls, teach them not to trust those who care about them and love them in order to feed them this spirit of rebellion and individuality.

Sexuality is not related in anyway to morality, sexual activity is mainly recreational, with it being treated as a currency, the girls ‘spending’ their bodies for gain. The loss of virginity is still treated in a somewhat special way, with this given to someone who the main character has some kind of affection for. This is the morally relativistic meter stick that young girls are encouraged to use to make their decisions regarding this important part of their lives. Often, the loss of virginity is seen as a ‘coming of age.’

This ‘mainstream morality’ as David puts it in his article, follows the ‘mainstream piety’ of our day. One of the most prominent thoughts is that moral judgements of any kind are not to be made, something professor Peter Kreeft from Boston college sums up as how, in our culture, there is ‘nothing to judge but judgementalism.’

What’s the Point?

“These books provide an alternative story to the one by which a girl (or boy) is supposed to live, and gives authoritative approval, a kind of imprimatur, to her desire to rebel and do what she pleases. In other words, they appeal to the child’s vanity and pride, and except for the rare saint, even the most moral of children is vain and prideful and thus vulnerable to being twisted.”

- David Mills

These books ultimately are not worth it, they cost too much. Some important lessons are taught, however, to get there the reader needs to tip-toe through a minefield and flirt with the culture of death.

Read Classics

Classic literature does not run this risk. Although the problems are just as real, just as serious, the books do not graphically discuss the dangerous experiences that modern day books do. These books also contain a transcendent component which gets the story to move past the whole ‘woe is me’ self obsession that is evident in these problem stories of our day. They reach above and beyond the main character and encourage the readers to reach beyond themselves as well. The best part about the classics is that they are better stories, they share a message that satisfies on a level that cannot be achieved in these modern dreary books.

What we need are books to train disciples. We need to share stories that mirror the Story. We need to tell stories that allow the Word to speak through them. We need to immerse our Children in the Gospel message. We need to tell a better story, and in fact, the only story.

Stewardship of the Moment

2010-03-16T21:07:00.001-07:00

These were the words that came to me while on a Poustinia (a retreat in the desert of silence) a number of years ago.

Now is the hour of salvation, not yesterday or the day before that, and certainly not one day when I will be…or when I’ve finally…now. What does now really mean?

The fact that we have a now confirms the fact that the Lord has not forgotten us, and that in fact we are in His mind and more importantly, in His Heart. Every now that we experience is a result of the Lord pouring out His love to us. C.S. Lewis has written about how important the present truly is. He reminds us that it is the only time that we can make a choice to follow the Lord; that it is the one point in our lives that the Lord and man can truly meet and touch.

Regretting the past or worrying about the future are both practices in futility. Jesus reminds us that a single day’s worries are enough to consider and reminds us that worrying cannot accomplish any result in the future. How difficult it is to make this a reality in one’s life. How often do we attempt the impossible and try to change the past or live in the future? To the Lord, every moment is the eternal now, to us humans, this present second is given, and we have to realize it for the gift it is. We must stop trying to be God. Someone has already tried that and it didn’t work out too well for him.

Ironically, this has become one to the Old Boy’s most effective weapons against us. This ‘Angel of Light’ whispers stories in our ears of how in the future we can love the Lord better, or inspires in us holy zeal to perform amazing works and incredible love. Wanting to serve the Lord we plan and think feverously about this future. The Evil One has whispered what amounts to ‘sweet nothings’ in our ears and has seduced us into trading the one gift that could have made all those dreams a reality, he took from us the present in which we had the choice to act in a holy way. In this fashion, the road to hell truly is paved with good intentions.

When teaching a child to read, one does not put a book (even a good book) down in front of him/her and tell them to read it from front to back. Each word becomes a struggle, each sentence a challenge within itself. The meaning of the book is acquired through that struggle, and would not be won without the interpretation of all those words in and of themselves. We must learn to live word to word and bite to bite lest we choke.

It is permitted to us to hope in the future, but not to live in the future. When hoping, trust is put in Him who is worthy of all trust, whereas living the future is ultimately a lie that wastes the present.

When the Master comes back we must not be the servant who, being afraid of the gift, buried his present in the past. Nor can we be the servant who let his present run through his fingers as he dreamed of the future. We must be the servant who accepts this wonderful gift second by second, realizing what a blessing these seconds truly are, and returning them to God, as they are His to begin with, and we are only stewards of His amazing gifts.

Why my 13 month old son is more Prolife than me

2010-03-11T17:50:00.000-08:00

At Teacher's Convention this year among the crazy marketplace in the Shaw Conference Centre that would put the Roman Agora to shame, I happened to chance upon a booth that I had missed the years previous. It was a Prolife booth. I was glad to see them there as I remember quite vividly the year before there being a Planned Parenthood booth. As part of their sales pitch to teachers, life-sized models of 3 month old fetal babies were being handed out for free.

The idea behind this would be for teachers to use these models to start a conversation with their students during health class about the way babies develop in the womb. This, I think, would be a pretty effective strategy if you look at the history of abortion law in North America.

It is interesting to note that many abortion doctors abandoned their ‘practice’ once the ultrasound was invented. Even Roe in the famous Roe vs. Wade court case reversed her opinion, repented and converted (Glory be to God!) The over all impression I got when receiving this little model person was one of awe and wonder, and I kept thinking to myself how 'cute' the little baby was.

My son on the other hand LOVES that baby. He beams with joy when he finds it, shows it off proudly, screams in delight and lastly tries to eat it. We had to hide it from him in the fear that he would bite large chunks out of it and I would not be able to use it in my classroom. The joy on his face when he found it once again was indescribable. In his simple and loving attitude he speaks volumes about what it truly means to be pro-life.

Recently, abortion advocates have begun labelling 'pro-lifers' as 'anti-abortionists,' this being in response to prolifers labelling abortion advocates as 'anti-life.' Through all this name calling and mudslinging however, I can't help but wonder if maybe they have a point. Have we become so reactionary against abortion that we have forgotten to be Pro-life?

Abortion is an atrocity, an act of evil which is best summed up by Blessed Mother Teresa:”But I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child, murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? As always, we must persuade her with love and we remind ourselves that love means willing to give until it hurts. Jesus gave even His life to love us. So, the mother who is thinking of abortion, should be helped to love, that is, to give until it hurts her plans, or her free time, to respect the life of her child. The father of that child, whoever he is, must also give until it hurts.

Although this battle is a battle to the bitter end, sometimes I do find that we must remember our method of fighting should not be fire with fire, but as Professor Peter Kreeft assures us in his talk about how to win the culture war (click here) we must remember to fight fire with water. Are we merely reactionary to what abortion advocates think and do? Are we constantly following behind them trying to say that they are wrong, or are we exemplifying that which is true? Do we in our actions, words and deeds foster a love of life in what we do, showing forth the respect and love for beings created in the image of God?

Abortion demands an answer, we must continue to say it is wrong and refuse to compromise on our position in this matter, but we must never stop there. Blessed Mother Teresa's answer was simple, direct, and loving: "Give him to me."

We have to move past simply reacting to evil and continue further in genuine love for unborn children, their parents and all of us sinners. My son has taught me to pray with Catherine Doherty when she prayed “Lord, give me the heart of a child, and the awesome courage to live it out as an adult.”

Lenten Prayer and Reflection

2010-03-10T20:59:00.001-08:00

This is the Lenten Prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian, followed by a sermon by our Father among the saints St. John Chrysostom on fasting.

Edmund and Asceticism

2010-03-06T13:26:00.001-08:00

Before we can learn to say no to the old boy, we need to be able to say no to ourselves.

This lesson is beautifully illustrated for us in CS Lewis’ classic story The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. We find here the Witch, parading as the queen of Narnia change her stance from intense anger at the discovery of Edmund in Narnia, to one of acceptance, and welcoming hospitality. Offering him a treat of Turkish Delight and a warm spot with her on her sledge, she begins to question him about his life and family. Little does he know that she has already bought him. She continues to work on him and uses his anger against his family to separate him from them further, promising to give him a throne and power over all of Narnia. One of my grade six students this year commented on how this temptation mirrored Christ’s temptation in the desert when He was offered all the earthly power by the devil. Truly, the temptation of Turkish Delight was one and the same as Christ’s first temptation in the desert, that of physical nourishment.

From this story we can see two important spiritual truths. Firstly, that the powers of evil use our weaknesses against us. The Witch recognized immediately what buttons to push to accomplish her task with Edmund, promising him glory while at the same time sharpening her knife in preparation for his execution. The evil one and his servants hold this power over us, which in reality is only a power we give to them. As she lied to him, so he, the prince of lies, lies to us.

She did not introduce herself as the Queen of Narnia, have him take a seat next to her and in the next sentence ask his to turn over his family so that they, along with him could be killed to perpetuate her unlawful rule of the land. Instead she appealed to the easiest target she could pull into her sights, his stomach. This, the most primal and fundamental of needs is very frequently the first battlefield for our eternal souls, it is where we make our first stand. In order to combat this temptation and and not lead us open to spiritual attack, we require discipline. This discipline is fasting. Fasting and mortification bring the body under control and close that door to spiritual attack. The drawbridge to the castle of our souls is pulled up and fortified from the inside.

Only once we have the ability to say no to our own wants, desires and impulses will we be ready to say no to the evil one when the stakes are even higher. Only when we are ready to firmly plant our feet on the side of the Holy Trinity, all the angels and saints will we be truly productive in the battle. In order to do this we must learn to say no to ourselves in order to say no to the enemy. We must learn to say no to the Turkish Delights in our lives.

Let us continue the fast with joy! Glory to God for all things!