Michael Dubruiel Meditation (7)

    From Michael Dubruiel, 2003:

What are we willing to die for?

 

A movie that came out in 1981 told the story of a young sculptor who had the misfortune of being involved in a tragic accident. The wreck left him hospitalized, paralyzed from the neck down and incapable of ever being able to practice his art again. The man requested that he be allowed to die. His doctor ignored the man’s wish, and set out to do everything that could be done to keep the man alive.

 The movie, “Whose Life is it Anyway?” raised the question of who ultimately has authority over life. Sadly, like a bad multiple choice test where none of the choices given are correct, the answer focused on both the doctor and the patient both of whom are accused of playing the answer--God.

The wicked tenants in today’s gospel suffer a similar identity crisis. They act as though they are the owners of the vineyard rather than its tenants. Jesus tells the parable in response to the chief priests and elders question as to what gave him the authority to do the works that he did (especially in light of his temple cleansing incident the day before).

Jesus uses an image from Isaiah (today’s first reading) that would have been familiar to them, namely that of an owner who plants a vineyard.  The owner then goes on a journey after handing over the operation of the vineyard to tenants who are free to enjoy its fruits as long as they return a percentage of the produce to the owner. This is where the problem begins.     

            Since the owner is far away, the tenants don’t see any reason to bother with the payment. Instead they abuse all of the collection agents that the owner sends. Finally the owner sends his son thinking that the tenants will obviously fear him. But they reason rather foolishly that if they kill the son the vineyard will be theirs.

            Jesus then asks the question, “What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?”

            The audience the very people who are plotting the death of Jesus quickly give the answer. The evil tenants will be evicted and put to death for the murder of the son. Unfortunately they do not learn its lesson. Are we able to make the next logical step that the chief priests and elders were not? Are we able to examine ourselves and connect our behavior with that of the tenants?

            “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done,” Jesus tells his hearers. The stone may have appeared too heavy to lift by the builders who rejected it, but soon they realized that its size was needed to function as the chief building block to the foundation. So too the events of our life present us with many choices that left to our own estimation we may reject because they seem too burdensome, but in the end we may realize the absolute necessity of embracing them.

            What is our attitude about what God has given us?

Michael Dubruiel Meditation (6)

    From Michael Dubruiel, 2003:

What are we willing to die for?

 

The next day it was necessary that a group of us go into Istanbul for supplies. Riding through the streets of the city it suddenly dawned on me that I hadn’t thought twice about doing what I was ordered to do but when given the choice to go to mass I had passed. It suddenly dawned on me that I was willing to die for my country (by the mere fact of being in the Armed Forces) but that I wasn’t ready to die for my faith.

Jesus is faced with a trick question in today’s Gospel posed by those who hope to discredit him. He is asked if it is lawful to pay taxes. If he says yes he would be supporting the Roman occupation, if he says no he will be showing himself to be a terrorist. Jesus says neither, but rather asks to see a coin.

He examines it and asks his questioners whose image it contains. “Caesar” they reply.

“Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and give to God what belongs to God.”

“We are God's money,” Saint Augustine says. The image of God is imprinted upon our souls. We belong to God.

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.

Feast of St. Luke - October 18

      

From Luke, from The holy Bible, Revised Standard version:

Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things which
have been accomplished among us, just as they were delivered to us by those who
from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word, it seemed good
to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an
orderly account for you, most excellent The-oph'ilus, that you may know the
truth concerning the things of which you have been informed.

Luke 1:1-4

Michael Dubruiel

Books by Michael Dubruiel

October 15 - Teresa of Avila

       From the Office of Readings:

All blessings come to us through our Lord. He will teach us, for in beholding his life we find that he is the best example.

What more do we desire from such a good friend at our side? Unlike our friends in the world, he will never abandon us when we are troubled or distressed. Blessed is the one who truly loves him and always keeps him near. Let us consider the glorious Saint Paul: it seems that no other name fell from his lips than that of Jesus, because the name of Jesus was fixed and embedded in his heart.

Once I had come to understand this truth, I carefully considered the lives of some of the saints, the great contemplatives, and found that they took no other path: Francis, Anthony of Padua, Bernard, Catherine of Siena. A person must walk along this path in freedom, placing himself in God’s hands. If God should desire to raise us to the position of one who is an intimate and shares his secrets, we ought to accept this gladly.

Whenever we think of Christ we should recall the love that led him to bestow on us so many graces and favours, and also the great love God showed in giving us in Christ a pledge of his love; for love calls for love in return. Let us strive to keep this always before our eyes and to rouse ourselves to love him. For if at some time the Lord should grant us the grace of impressing his love on our hearts, all will become easy for us and we shall accomplish great things quickly and without effort.

-Michael Dubruiel 

Books by Michael Dubruiel

Michael Dubruiel Meditation (2)

 From Michael Dubruiel, 2003:

What are we willing to die for?

 

Today’s gospel which recounts the Parable of the Wicked Tenants presents us with quite a cast of characters. First there is the owner of the vineyard. He has done all the work, planted the vineyard, built a wall around it and basically handed over  a pretty good operation to those from whom  he expects a share of the profits.

The tenants who have been handed over this operation want more. They act as though it belongs to them. They are unwilling to share anything that comes from the vineyard and when the owner sends his messengers they basically bully them and send them away with nothing.

Finally the owner sends his son thinking that they certainly will respect him. They kill the son with the rationale that if the owner has no heir they will take over the vineyard. The result is they lose the vineyard and it is given to others.

If God is the owner, Jesus the owner’s son, and all of creation the vineyard that God has created that leaves us in the role as tenants. The question is what kind of tennants are we?

Do we act as though all of creation belongs to us and nothing is owed to God? How do we treat the messengers of God who are sent to remind us to give God his due?

Do we treat life as a gift from God or as something that we own and we choose when it begins and when it ends?

            The parable points to the temptation that we the tenants are faced with in thinking of God as being far away and unconcerned about how we treat his servants. But the end is rather violent and points to the fact that if we reject the very source of life we cannot survive very long.

            The Gospel confronts us with a basic choice, Are we living to die? Is all or our grasping and hording of things going to help us when we are dead? Or as Jesus invites us to take up our cross and follow him, Are we dying to live? In the end there is only one choice that makes sense and it is one that we make daily with every choice we make.

Michael Dubruiel Meditation (1)

 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 Isanbul 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 group of terrorist had attacked about ten of our guys awaiting a bus near Istanbul. One of them had 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 inteligence 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.

The next day it was necessary that a group of us go into Istanbul for supplies. Riding through the streets of the city it suddenly dawned on me that I hadn’t thought twice about doing what I was ordered to do but when given the choice to go to mass I had passed. It suddenly dawned on me that I  was willing to die for my country (by the mere fact of being in the Armed Forces) but that I wasn’t ready to die for my faith. The next Sunday I went into town with the others and went to Mass and obviously it didn’t cost me my life.

 

Michael Dubruiel: The Power of the Cross

       

The Cross of Christ Teaches Us. . . How to Pray 

Michael Dubruiel

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard for his godly fear. HEBREWS 5:7 

And in praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. MATTHEW 6:7–8 

 Praying as a Follower of Christ 

Throughout the centuries, Christians in the East and the West have signed themselves with the cross. When it is done with little thought or care, the sign loses much of its power. Contemplating both the action and what it symbolizes as you make the sign, on the other hand, is the perfect way to begin any conversation with God.

As you make the sign of the cross, you place your entire being in the shadow of the cross of Christ. By invoking the Trinity as you make this holy sign, you immediately call to mind that  facing the cross is something we dare not do alone, but only in God’s presence. Every moment, we must choose between the way of the cross of Christ and the way of perdition. Every minute, the battle for our salvation is being lost or won.

--an excerpt from  The Power of the Cross by Michael Dubruiel . 

Michael Dubruiel: Free Catholic Book

     

From How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist by Michael Dubruiel - free today

Chapter 1 - Serve, Part 1

“You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.”

M ATTHEW 4:10

In my home parish, St. John the Baptist in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the words Parate Viam Domini are inscribed over the front doors. The two years of Latin that I had in college and my knowledge of Scripture are enough for me to figure out that the message greeting me each Sunday are the words of St. John the Baptist in the desert, “Prepare the way of the Lord.” It is an excellent message to set the tone for the mystery that is about to be celebrated.

PREPARATION

I remember how differently I approached the Mass when as a young man I began to serve at the Eucharist as an altar boy. Before I could serve for the first time, I had to attend training sessions so that I knew what gestures and movements I was to make, and had to study the Latin responses so that I could answer the prayers of the priest at the appropriate time.Sometimes school was sacrificed so that I could serve a funeral mass,or a Saturday afternoon so that the priest could be attended to as he witnessed the marriage vows of a couple celebrating the Sacrament of Matrimony.

The thought and preparation that went into serving at the Eucharist required a sacrifice on my part but kept me focused on why I was there. Adults who serve as lectors, ushers, extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist,and choir members often mention feeling similar sentiments when they first take on these acts of service. Yet with time we are all apt to find ourselves going through the motions without much preparation and indeed without much thought about the fact that we are serving God in our respective roles at the Eucharist, and this inattentiveness is to our detriment. Making preparations is the work of a servant, and in the celebration of the Eucharist it is the work of every disciple of Christ.

About Michael Dubruiel

Michael Dubruiel: Free Catholic Book

    

From How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist by Michael Dubruiel - free today

       

    

Jesus told a parable about what happens when a storm comes that lashes out against our very lives (see Matthew 7:24–27). He said that the wise person builds his house (his life) on solid ground,on rock (the image that he used to speak about his church and Peter). The foolish person builds on sand and is destroyed by the storms of life.

The work of building the foundation on which our lives depend takes place every time we participate in the Eucharist. While I was putting the finishing touches on this book I traveled to Florida, right after Hurricane Frances had made a direct hit near Stuart, Florida. I had been scheduled to give a talk in nearby Palm Beach Gardens two days after the storm had hit.The talk was canceled because the church, St. Patrick’s, was without power, but I had the opportunity to meet with the pastor of the parish, Father Brian Flanagan, and some of the parish staff. In the midst of much devastation what remains vivid in my mind is how peaceful everyone there was. I know Father Brian to be a man whose deep faith is rooted in the Eucharist, and what I experienced in those days immediately following Hurricane Frances was a literal exposition of Jesus’s parable — the storm had come,but because the lives of the people I met were built on solid rock, they were not destroyed.

Isn’t this what we all want, a joy that the world cannot take away, no matter what might happen? Our Lord offers it to us at every Eucharist. It is my hope that this small book will help you to better experience this joy, and to discover the richness the Lord’s Eucharistic presence can add to your life.

About Michael Dubruiel

Free Catholic Book

        

From How to Get the Most Out of the Eucharist by Michael Dubruiel - free today

I was giving a talk at a Catholic parish in rural Ohio a few years ago about the topic of this book.When I had concluded my presentation someone asked,“Why do people care so little about their faith today?”

I told them of a man, a non-Catholic, I had known who cared little about his faith but attended Mass every week with his Catholic wife because he wanted to make her happy. He did this for years, to the point that several priests tried to convince him that he should convert to the Catholic faith since he had been attending the Eucharist for so many years. He refused.

Then he was diagnosed with bone cancer. His condition deteriorated rapidly. In a few months he went from being robust and strong to bedridden and totally dependent upon others.He called for a priest, who heard his first confession and then offered the Eucharist at his bedside, where he received his First Holy Communion. In the last months of his life, his Catholic faith was all that mattered to him.

This led a woman in the group to recall an incident when a tornado had wiped out her family’s farm and the family had sat huddled together in the storm cellar, praying the Rosary. At that moment their faith had mattered more than anything else in the world to them.

Someone else mentioned that in the weeks following the 9/11 terrorist attacks on this country he had noticed more people in the Church and more fervency in the way people seemed to pray.

Our faith is a matter of life and death and our faith is totally centered on Jesus Christ.The Scriptures reveal that Jesus did not leave us as orphans but founded a Church. He made the very human apostle Peter the first leader of this Church. He left a memorial of his saving death in the Eucharist and commanded his disciples to perform it.

Getting the most out of the Eucharist is an urgent task, then, because our very life depends upon Christ, and Jesus comes to us in the celebration of his passion, death, and resurrection at every Eucharist. Jesus said that he is the vine and that we are the branches. In the Eucharist we receive the very life that connects us to Christ the Vine.

About Michael Dubruiel

Michael Dubruiel on Novenas

      

The Church's Most Powerful Novenas is a book of novenas connected with particular shrines.  Michael Dubruiel wrote in the introduction to this book he compiled:

When Jesus ascended into heaven, he told his Apostles to stay where they were and to "wait for the gift" that the Father had promised: the Holy Spirit.  The Apostles did as the Lord commanded them. "They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers" (Acts 1:14). Nine days passed; then, they received the gift of the Holy spirit, as had been promised. May we stay together with the church, awaiting in faith with Our Blessed Mother, as we trust entirely in God, who loves us more than we can ever know. 

 

More about Michael Dubruiel

Books by Michael Dubruiel

St. Francis of Assisi - October 4

      

St. Francis of Assisi taught his followers to reverence Christ and

his cross wherever they might find themselves. The prayer attributed

to St. Francis that begins, “Lord, make me a channel of your

peace,” was in fact not composed by St. Francis; it was misapplied

to him in a prayer book. The true prayer of St. Francis was one

he taught his friars to pray whenever they would pass a Church

or the sign of the cross made by two branches in a tree. They were

to prostrate themselves toward the church or the cross and pray,

“We adore you Christ and we praise you present here and in all

the Churches throughout the world, because by your holy cross

you have redeemed the world.”

The cross reminds us of the true Christ, the one in the

Gospels who was constantly misjudged by the religious figures

of his day. If we are not careful, he will be misjudged by us as well.

We need to worship him alone.

From The Power of the Cross , by Michael Dubruiel available as a free download by clicking the cover below:

Michael Dubruiel: October is Rosary Month

      Michael Dubruiel conceived and put together the small hardbound book, Praying the Rosary.  Click on the cover for more information.

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Here's an excerpt:

The Gospels show that the gaze of Mary varied depending upon the circumstances of life. So it will be with us. Each time we pick up the holy beads to recite the Rosary, our gaze at the mystery of Christ will differ depending on where we find ourselves at that moment.

Thereafter Mary’s gaze, ever filled with adoration and wonder, would never leave him. At times it would be a questioning look, as in the episode of the finding in the Temple: “Son, why have you treated us so?” (Lk 2:48); it would always be a penetrating gaze, one capable of deeply understanding Jesus, even to the point of perceiving his hidden feelings and anticipating his decisions, as at Cana (cf. Jn 2:5). At other times it would be a look of sorrow, especially beneath the Cross, where her vision would still be that of mother giving birth, for Mary not only shared the passion and death of her Son, she also received the new son given to her in the beloved disciple (cf. Jn 19:26-27). On the morning of Easter hers would be a gaze radiant with the joy of the Resurrection, and finally, on the day of Pentecost, a gaze afire with the outpouring of the Spirit (cf. Acts 1:14) [Rosarium Virginis Mariae, no. 10].

As we pray the Rosary, then, we join with Mary in contemplating Christ. With her, we remember Christ, we proclaim Him, we learn from Him, and, most importantly, as we raise our voices in prayer and our hearts in contemplation of the holy mysteries, this “compendium of the Gospel” itself, we are conformed to Him.

Also, check out this post from 2003, in which Michael Dubruiel narrates the events of one of his "rosary walks."

Feast of the Guardian Angels - October 2

     

Yours and mine...

From the Catholic Encyclopedia:

That every individual soul has a guardian angel has never been defined by the Church, and is,

consequently, not an article of faith; but it

is the "mind of the Church", as St. Jerome expressed it:

"how great the dignity of the soul, since each one has

from his birth an angel

commissioned to guard it." (Comm. in Matt., xviii, lib. II).

Michael Dubruiel 

October 1- St. Therese

     

Therese imagined that in the spiritual life we are all like infants at the foot of the stairs being summoned by our Heavenly Father to climb the heights--which try as we might we cannot do. Finally the Heavenly Father will come down the stairs and pick us up and carry us up the stairs. Which of course is a beautiful child like summary of what the Trinity has done in the incarnation of Jesus.
Are you and I trying to climb the stairs? Is our Faith in Him? Abandon yourself to the God as a child abandons oneself to their parents.
St. Therese, pray for us!







Michael Dubruiel