Monthly Archives: October 2020

TRUST – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Anxiety and Worry, Discernment, Divine Mercy, Holiness, Holy Spirit, How to be Catholic, Life in the Spirit, Prayer, Relationships, Scripture, Spirituality, Trust

A few years ago I was made aware of the truths of Divine Mercy when I read Sr. Faustina Kowalska’s diary.   I have to tell you that it was life changing for me.   In it I learned so much about God’s Mercy, but I also learned so much about trusting in Jesus.   As a matter of fact, the very popular image of Jesus as the Divine Mercy has a saying under it, “Jesus, I Trust in You”.  This has become my mantra in life.  I say it every day, many times.  Learning to really trust in Jesus brings about a peace that no one else can give to you.   Trust is such an important part of our faith.  I would like to share with you some thoughts that I have on Trust and putting our Trust in our loving God.

Trust is nothing new to us.   We experience it every day, and in so many different ways.  My guess is that right now you are probably sitting down.  I would also guess that you just sat down in that chair with full confidence that it would support you.   I doubt that you looked at the legs to see if they were cracked and I doubt that you checked the screws holding it together to see if they were loose.   You just sat down in that chair fully putting your trust in it.  That is the type of trust that God wants us to have.   He wants us to embrace the different situations in our lives knowing that He is in charge and that He knows how to handle things.  Why should we have this trust in him?   It is simple, because His love for us is so great and He has revealed to us, through the scriptures and through the lives of the Saints that we need to trust in Him.   When we place our trust in Him, good things happen.   When we don’t put our trust in Him, we start to worry and worry brings about too many difficulties.  One of those difficulties is that you don’t allow God to be actively working in your lives.

In Proverbs 3: 5-6 we read, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”  Trusting in God allows Him to straighten our path.   It allows Him to work in our lives.  This doesn’t mean that God wants us just to sit around and do nothing while he leads us around on a leash.   What He does want is for us to place our trust in Him in every situation that comes to us and to ask Him to lead us and guide us and give us direction.   Part of this trust is to know that He does this in so many various ways and it is up to us to work along with Him on this journey.

In Jeremiah 17: 7-8 we read,   “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.  They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.  It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.  It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”   When we trust in the Lord and have confidence in Him we are given the strength needed to handle anything.    We know that a tree needs water to survive and when there is a hot and dry spell it will wither unless it receives water.   We who trust in God are like a tree planted near a stream or river.  Our roots go out to receive the water.  Whenever I hear this reading and others like it, I think of the water as being God’s Holy Spirit.   As St. Paul tells us, He lavishes the Spirit upon us.

So often the dark times of our lives can be likened to the nighttime.   Every night, when the darkness comes, we go to bed, close our eyes and trust that somehow our body will wake up in the morning, and it does.   This is a real form of trust, especially in the darkness.  Psalm 143: 8 reflects this saying, “Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you.   Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life.”  Part of being able to trust is to know that God’s love for us is so great that He gives us every gift.  The more we show gratitude for His gifts, the more we can grow in His love and in trust.   I have come to realize that EVERYTHING is a gift.   Every breath that I take is a gift from God.   Every morning that I awake, tells me that God has given me another day.  Whatever comes that day is part of His gift to me and I can trust that He and I, working together, can get through anything.

When we know that we are in God’s presence, and personally I feel that presence in all things, then we can have true trust.   Psalm 91: 1-2 tells us “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”   The more we see His presence with us and the more we learn to trust, the happier we become.

There are so many scripture passages that tell us about our loving God who we can put our trust in.  I will share a few of these here with you for you to meditate on and to find your own way towards growing in trust of God.

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Matthew 6:26

So we say with confidence, The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.  What can mere mortals do to me?”  Hebrews 13:6

And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 4:19

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”  Hebrews 13:5

The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.  Psalm 28:7

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres 1 Corinthians 13:6-7

A word of advice from me:   When you are hit by a storm, no matter what it is, don’t go to God and tell Him how big your storm is; rather, go to your storm and tell it how big your God is.   That is trust in God.  Please remember my favorite mantra, Jesus, I Trust in You.  The more you learn to trust in our loving God, the more happiness and peace you will have.

THE GIFT OF RELIGIOUS LIFE: FOR ALL PEOPLE – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Charity, Church, Community, Diaconate, Holiness, Holy Orders, Marriage, Religious Life, Saints, Service, Spirituality, Vocation

From its very beginnings, the Catholic Church has always followed the command of Jesus to go out in to all of the world and preach the Good News.   That is the Church’s primary mission, evangelization.   In order to do that the Church also has to maintain a community of believers who are continually learning more about the faith and their relationship to God and are continually receiving the gifts that God gives them to grow and complete their purpose.   The Church, by its very nature, is communal.   It is a body of people who work together to learn more about the faith, grow in the faith and then spread the faith.  Jesus himself relied upon a group of believers, the 12 apostles, and  the many followers and “the women” to start His Church and to spread the Good News.  The need for community is strong and the benefits of community bring about strength.

The Church has had many different forms of community over the ages.   For many years religious orders grew in large numbers and helped to accomplish the Church mission.   Recently, especially in the Americas and in Europe, the number of people entering religious orders has decreased, but at the same time there has been an increase in lay people becoming involved with the traditional religious orders to work with them.  I really believe that this has been a fresh wind of the Holy Spirit at work.  I know of so many good Catholics who are part of “secular” or “third order” movements working with the traditional Franciscan, Dominican, Carmelite (etc) orders where they experience the gift of this community and continue the work of this community without giving up marriage or jobs or family.  They continue the order’s mission right in the midst of today’s culture.   They become like monks or sisters right within the workplace of everyday living.  They also bring with them the fruits of these orders.

I have been fortunate to be one of the people to do this.   I have been a member of the Franciscan Deacons of Rockville Centre and I would like to share with you some of the experience I have had there with this community.  To do this, I would like to share a little history of our group.

The Society of Franciscan Deacons of Rockville Centre started over a dozen years ago by three deacons of my diocese who had originally started in formation to become brothers in Franciscan orders.   After some discernment during their formation, they felt the call to marriage and to work within the normal workplace.   After many years of marriage and secular work, they then felt the call of the Holy Spirit to become Catholic Permanent Deacons.  God’s Spirit later put upon their hearts the original call to Franciscan spirituality and they began meeting to discern how to answer that call within the life that God had called them to.   After meeting for some time, they felt called by the Lord to make a decision to follow Franciscan Spirituality and meet together as a group.   One of the members is a Canon lawyer and Judge in our Diocesan tribunal.   He was able to use his canon law skills to develop a way to form a legal society of deacons who follow Franciscan spirituality.   He then approached our diocesan Bishop who thought the idea was a good one and the Society of Franciscan Deacons of Rockville Centre was formed.  It started with the three original founders and has grown to over a dozen members.   I am so blessed to be one of them.

We meet together as a group once per month where we pray together the liturgy of the hours, talk about our journey with the Lord, plan charitable actions for the group and do a study together as a group.   Sometimes we study a book, and sometimes we study a movies series such as Fr. Dave Pavonka’s Wild Goose series.   We also go together on retreat every summer for 5 to 6 days.  In the midst of all of this we try to grow in our Franciscan spirituality to strengthen our work as parish deacons and evangelizer’s of God’s Word.

All of us have to take the vows of the Third Order Regular Franciscans and have gone through the normal stages of community life, Aspirant (someone thinking of joining), Postulant (praying with the group and learning about the group), Novitiate (continued training and beginning of temporary vows, Solemn Profession (taking perpetual vow to be a full member).  The vows for the Franciscan Deacons are centered on poverty, chastity and obedience.   Since Permanent Deacons are usually married men who own homes and have jobs, these three vows are further explained.   Poverty for us is embracing a simple lifestyle, especially regarding possessions.  Chastity for us is being true to our marriage commitment.  And obedience to us is continued obedience to our Bishop and to our faith.  Part of our foundational training and additional training is learning more about St. Francis and Franciscan Spirituality.  We have read and studied together several books on both Francis and Claire.  The gifts that these two people brought to the Church are both simple and profound.  Studying these two great people and their relationship to God has most certainly helped my spiritual life and desire to serve God’s people.

All of the religious orders emphasize prayer and community and we certainly do that in our meetings.   We often have dinner together in a restaurant before our meetings and that helps the sense of community grow among us.   Most orders also emphasize work of some sort.   Now in our Society, we are all diocesan deacons who are assigned work within our own parishes (and the diocese) and this is seen as our main form of work.  However, we also keep a tie with the Franciscan Society of the Atonement in Graymoor, NY.    Several of the men in our group actually attended their formation there when they were thinking about becoming friars and brothers.   We have a very close bond with the Friars of the Atonement and part of our “work” is with them.  We often go up to Graymoor for weekends to help with the retreats and special days that we run.   Several members of our community have advanced that by becoming Tertiary’s of the Atonement order.   They still meet with us in our group but have expanded their connection with the Society of the Atonement.

I am so glad that the Lord drew me in to the Society of Franciscan Deacons of Rockville Centre.  I have always loved St. Francis, even when I was a Methodist.   I was actually ordained a deacon on October 4th, the Feast day of St. Francis.   Our society has helped me form closer relations with my brother deacons and has helped me grow in my own spirituality and in my service to the Church.  Yes, I am saddened by the lack of vocations that many of our orders are experiencing, but I am also thrilled with what the Lord is doing with “third order/secular” groups today in the Church.  If you are feeling a need for more community especially as lived out by a particular Saint, I would suggest you seek out a “third order or secular” group near you.   I know that my involvement in our group has greatly helped me in my walk with the Lord and has helped me to grow in my service to Him and His people.

PUSHING GOD AWAY – by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Anxiety and Worry, Church, Community, Evangelism, Godly Patriotism, Holiness, Life in the Spirit, Morality, Relationships, Sin, Spirituality, Uncategorized

I would suppose that every generation, as it gets older, laments the changes that occur in the world that they have been used to.  I am now in my early 70’s and I am beginning to experience that sadness when I see the changes from what we had, to what we now have.  Sure, there has been tremendous growth in technology, and the ability to do things easier and more efficiently.  I love most of those changes, but what makes me sad is how our society today has pushed God away.  When I was growing up in the 50’s and 60’s God was very present in society.  People talked about Him, popular songs mentioned Him, television made positive remarks about Him and prayer was a part of everyday life, especially in school.   Going to church was the norm for most families and life was respected and people cared for each other.  God and religion were seen as a normal part of everyday life.

Slowly, but determinedly, God has been pushed away in our society.  Not only has God been pushed away, He, and his believers have been made fun of and even vilified.  Our money still says IN GOD WE TRUST, but my guess is, even that won’t last much longer.  Prayer is no longer allowed in school and it is even difficult to get permission for a God based group to use school space, even for students.   People do not attend Church the way they used to.   Many churches and religious schools have had to close due to non-attendance.   There is a tremendous shortage of vocations in all of the churches.  Sex scandals have plagued the churches and things seem hopeless.  Along with that, family life has suffered greatly.  The number of divorces continues to grow and so many children have lost their way to drugs and alcohol.  Our entertainment venues (TV and movies) are filled with violence and sex and drugs, and it is very difficult to find anything that is wholesome.  Our youth are experimenting not only with drugs and alcohol and sex, but also with finding a new way to identify themselves sexually.  Getting married seems to be a thing of the past while young adults just choose to live together openly.  I could go on and on, but even I am getting depressed, I don’t want you to.

So what do we do?  Do we throw up our hands in to the air and say, “that is the way things are, we just have to accept it”?  .  .  .  .  .  .   No, we don’t!  If anything, this is a time for us to stand up tall as Christians and tell the world about the love and mercy of God.    This is a time for us to live in hope and not despair.  I know that it is not easy, but when we look at the history of the Jews and Christians  throughout history we see that often things like what we are going through have happened, yet God raised up a remnant of people and anointed them with power to be able to turn others back to God.   When everyone else seemed to be turning away from God, He has continually used a small group, or remnant, to bring the faith out again.  My friends, we are that remnant.  He will anoint us with His power to bring people back to Him.

I really believe that this gradual turning away from God and all that is associated with it is the work of Satan, the great deceiver.  He wants people to turn away from God and he works very hard to accomplish that.   He entices people to think that the things of this world are far better than the things of God’s Kingdom.   He uses our own human weaknesses for destruction.  I think that the priest sex scandal is a great example of this.  But as much as Satan wants us to fall and turn away from God, God himself wants even more for His people to come back to Him.  He has given each one of us the Holy Spirit inside of us to help us accomplish this.  St. John tell us that, “greater is he that is in YOU, than he that is in the world.”

It is up to us, along with the Holy Spirit within us, to listen to God and to go to the people and places that He tells us to lead others back to Him.  We need to tell others of the great Mercy and Love that God has for us.   We need to lead by example showing people that good and God centered living brings true happiness.  We cannot be afraid to share with others what God has done in our lives and what He continues to do.  We need to be proud of being good Catholic Christians and we must announce the Good News to all that we see, especially those who have gone away from it.  I have no doubt that our God is a strong and powerful God who can accomplish great things through us. We just need to say YES to Him and allow Him to use us.    We can change the world.  We can help to bring God back in to our society.  With God there is still HOPE.  When we end every mass, the deacon or priest gives us a mission.  He tells us to GO FORTH… “Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord” and “Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life”.   These are serious times; let us take our mission seriously.  Let us be a people of action.