Colleen Orchanian

I heard this at church the other day: Good Catholics don't offend others. It was stated as a fact – and maybe as a way to encourage others to dismiss the clear teachings of the Church. You could replace Catholic with Christian and it would have the same meaning. A good Christian doesn't offend others. I have been thinking about this and trying to find the truth in the statement because there is some truth to it.

I have been riding motorcycles for over 35 years and I'm very skilled. My husband and I live in the mountains and are used to riding curvy mountain roads. Sometimes we rode with people from Florida who were not used to the curves, so I would lead them through until they felt comfortable going at a faster pace. When they thought they were ready (even if they weren't), they would pass me and take off. That's okay – You do you. I'm here to help, but each rider is responsible for their own ride.

God often takes the same approach with us.

We all like to be encouraged. Maybe we need to be encouraged. Hebrews 10:25 tells us to encourage one another. Encouragement is the action of giving someone support, confidence, or hope.

So when do we need encouragement and how do we do it?

Blessed Failure. Those two words don’t seem to go together. Failure is bad. Blessed is good. Failure means everything went wrong. It was a disaster. A waste of time. A huge embarrassment. Sometimes we want to run away from the situation so we don’t have to face the people who witnessed our great fall. I have rarely felt blessed when I failed.

At the same time, I know that Romans 8:28 says that God uses all things for good for those who love Him. Therefore some good must come out of my failure if I allow God’s grace to work in my life.

When an actor is preparing for a role, they might ask themselves or the director, “What’s my motivation?” They want to know the backstory so they can play the part well.

Sometimes it’s good for us to ask that same question, especially when it comes to our conversations with others.

Some might say, Loving Myself? What’s the big deal about that? I mean, what’s not to love?

Others might think, Loving myself? That’s pretty egotistical. That’s not a good thing!”

Both of those thoughts are off center. Neither is healthy self-love.

Fire has great meaning in Scripture. Moses heard God’s call from the burning bush. Flames of fire descended on the apostles at the Feast of Pentecost when they received the Holy Spirit. Fire is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. Are you on Fire? What does that even mean? 

I was listening to a podcast with Fr. John Riccardo who was sharing his morning prayer routine. He said that he begins by covering his day in prayer, explaining that he looks at each item on his agenda and prays specifically into the situations and meetings on his schedule. What a great idea!

Have you ever heard of a pinky promise? Kids sometimes do that when they have a little bit of doubt about what the other person is saying. If I pinky promise, I really mean it.

We make promises at different times in our lives, and some of those promises mean more than others. Take for instance our wedding vows. A vow is defined as a solemn promise or an oath. When a bride and groom take their vows, they respond, “I do” to a series of questions.

As a Catholic, there is another time when I will say, “I do.” Every year at Easter Mass we renew our baptismal promises. 

My sister Theresa just changed her hairstyle. A few months ago she got a new car. A couple of years ago she moved into a new house. I, on the other hand, have not changed my hairstyle in 30 years. My car is 8 years old, and I’ve been at the same address for over 20 years. I don’t like change. Theresa seems much more comfortable with it.

That got me thinking about the nature of change – and how willing or unwilling we are to make a change.

I’m teaching 5-year-old Noah how to use the “greater than” sign in math. For some reason, this was a difficult concept for me as a child. I had trouble remembering which side of the symbol went with the biggest number. I understand it now and wonder why it was so difficult before. Obviously, the biggest side goes with the biggest number.

This challenge I faced in my (very much) younger days is similar to my difficulty recognizing the “greater than” concept in my faith life. We all might acknowledge that God is greater than anything or anyone.

Lech Walesa became the leader of Solidarity in Poland and led a successful pro-democratic effort that ended Communist rule in that country in 1989. He was a shipyard electrician, not a politician or a powerful man. But he showed the power of solidarity – coming together as a group. That group freed a nation.

Solidarity applies to our faith life as well. We have strength in numbers.

We all need to feel like we fit in somewhere - but where? Where should a Christian fit it? How do we find the group that accepts us and challenges us to live our faith more completely? 

We read Psalm 44 at Mass the other day and I was struck by the last line: Deliver us for the sake of your merciful love. Another translation says, Redeem us because of your love. I thought about the reason given for God to hear the prayer of the psalmist. It's because of God's merciful love, not because the psalmist deserves it. And that made me wonder how often we think God will hear our prayers because of our own actions – our own goodness.

I am anointed. You are anointed. God has anointed us in our baptism to serve Him and build up the Kingdom of God. How can we live out our anointing every day?