Michael Dubruiel Meditation (5)

    From Michael Dubruiel, 2003:

What are we willing to die for?

 In the late 1970’s while serving in the United States Army I was stationed in an outpost in Turkey for one year. The base was a small camp of a hundred servicemen. On Sundays I would go with several others on an hour trip into Istanbul where we would attend Mass at the Italian Consulate.  Everything though strange was pleasant those first five months that I was there.

Then one morning while waiting for an inspection, we were notified that the inspection had been called off. At first it was difficult to find out exactly why, after all we had been preparing for this inspection for almost a month. Then the news came, a terrorist group had attacked  a group of our guys waiting  for a bus near Istanbul.

Only one died, another who was a close friend of mine had been hit in the leg, the rest were okay. That Friday morning we were told that intelligence had learned that  several terrorist groups  in the area were making plans to attack other groups of American servicemen and that we shouldn’t travel off base until things had a chance to cool down.

The Chaplain on the base notified me on Saturday that the Sunday trip to the Italian Consulate was still on and would leave at the normal time on Sunday morning. I remember standing from a distance to see if anyone would actually venture out on the trip to go to Mass when things were so dangerous. I watched as the Colonel and another officer got into the military vehicle and then after waiting awhile (presumably for me) they left for Mass.

October 22 - Pope John Paul II by Michael Dubruiel

       You can get John Paul II's Biblical Way of the Cross by Michael Dubruiel and Amy Welborn here.  

In 1991, Pope John Paul II introduced a new Bible-based interpretation of the Stations of the Cross. This devotional guide invites readers to prayerfully walk in solidarity with Jesus on his agonizing way of the cross—from his last torturous moments in the Garden of Gethsemane to his death and burial.

Now with full-color station images from previously unpublished paintings by Michael O'Brien, this booklet creates an ideal resource for individual or group devotional use, particularly during the Lenten season.

Books by Michael Dubruiel

Michael Dubruiel Meditation (4)

   From Michael Dubruiel, 2003:

What are we willing to die for?

 

I remember attending a scripture class once taught by Father John Gillespie in Florida on the book of Revelation. The class, made up of mostly an older crowd included one man in particular who struck me as not long for this world. His complexion already very insipid,  grew even paler when Father John explained that according to the book of Revelation, Heaven would be an endless celebration of Mass.

I'm sure many of us might struggle with the concept of a celebration of Mass being an apt metaphor for Heaven. But when we really feel close to God can anything be more heavenly?

At the end of her pilgrimage Lash claims that she experienced incredible darkness and in the midst of that she wonders if the source might not be her intellectual pride.

It seems that this is often the source of our difficulties at being truly present at Mass. In writing this I found myself present at a Mass where there was a Rite from the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults, a speaker inviting everyone to participate in small faith groups and the blessing of Catechists. It is amazing how the crowding of all these did not effect me in the usual negative way because throughout I remained focus on what I was at Mass for—my incredible need of God’s love and mercy.

Now admittedly I know that I would have usually found a hundred things to criticize about this particular liturgy, like why didn’t they spread the wealth and do the OCIA rite at another Mass? But I can see what a horrible temptation that is since it is a rejection of the reality of the situation.

Lack of focus leads to us becoming a spectator when we have desperate need of being a participant. Our very life depends on this gift of God and only the participants receive that gift.

God is a good shepherd and as Saint Paul says, "There is nothing I cannot master with the help of the One who gives me strength." And that includes converting me from a spectator to a participant in His rich and abundant mercy.

Michael Dubruiel Meditation (3)

  From Michael Dubruiel, 2003:

What are we willing to die for?

 

Jennifer Lash, (mother of actors Ralph and Joseph Fiennes), decided to go on a pilgrimage as she was dying of cancer. Her experiences have been published in the United Sates posthumously in the book On Pilgrimage. Among other places she visits the French ecumenical community of Taizé on her way to Santiago de Compostela.

Approaching the Church of Reconciliation in Taizé for the Sunday Mass she encounters young people who welcome the crowd with signs that hang around the necks that read, "Silence" in a multitude of languages. On the walls outside the church more signs again in the variety of languages urging all who enter to be reconciled, "parents and children, husbands and wives, believers and those who cannot believe, Christians and their fellow Christians."

Then as Lash, an admitted lapsed Catholic, enters the Church, suddenly feels the need to escape. "I have never before felt so acutely unbelonging," she says. It is everything that she can do to keep from running out of the place of worship.

Reading Lash's account immediately made me think of today's Gospel and the Parable of the Wedding Feast. There is an invitation that is open to all (“the bad and the good alike”) to a wedding feast. But in the midst of the celebration there is one who doesn’t belong, a person not dressed for the occasion.

Why would someone come not dressed for a feast?

The answer is rather simple if we apply it to ourselves, it would be because we really didn't want to go to the feast but half-heartedly figured what the heck, I might as well check it out, in other words not as a participant but as a spectator.

Lash’s feeling of not belonging certainly arose from this, the people around her were all plugged into the Taizé movement and she wasn’t. But before we all sit back and high five each other thinking that we are in the crowd an examination is in order. When I am present at God’s banquet am I a spectator or a participant? Or in other words what is my focus on at Mass, my own unworthiness and God’s great gift or other things?

Saint Augustine likened the ill-clad wedding guest to those who reject God's abundant and free gift of mercy. We might all be tempted to say that we accept God's mercy and therefore accept the invitation to his Kingdom. But do we allow that mercy to change the way we appear, act and yes feel?

Free Advent Devotional

  

    

Free Today:  Be Vigilant: Daily Meditations for Advent

These brief daily meditations will help you focus on the spiritual side of Christmas. Author Michael Dubruiel died in February 2009. His wife, Amy Welborn, prepared these meditations for publication.

From a reader review:

This is my fourth year to go through this Advent devotional, and it has been truly a blessing to me and contributed to my Advent experience. The devotionals correlate with the USCCB daily readings, so it is best to read the readings and then read the devotional for the day. I myself am not Catholic, but I still get great insight out of these passages, and I can see that the author was a true follower of Christ and loved Christmas. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for an Advent devotional. The book was free when I purchased it three years ago, but 99c is still a great value for this!

A Sample: 

Thursday of the Third Week of Advent

O Wisdom, O holy Word of God, you govern all creation with your strong yet tender care. Come and show your people the way to salvation.

Today we have the tale of two sons. Both are commanded by the Father to go and work in the vineyard. The first says he won't, the other says he will. But guess what, the one who refuses relents and does what the Father asked him to do. Yet the one who originally said he would go, in fact doesn't. Jesus asks the chief priests and the elders of the people to tell him which of the two sons did the will of the Father...of course the answer is the one who vocally refused but relented and did it.

Jesus uses the story to illustrate why harlots and tax collectors who repented at the preaching of John the Baptist are headed to the pearly gates, while the "religious" likely are headed in the other direction.