The Former Lord of My Life: DJ RA



I remember a turning point "awareness" in my life. I was in high school. It was after a week of experiencing inner crud. It occurred to me I'd been listening to Pink Floyd's "The Final Cut" all week.

Note. As a family we prayed. We spoke of God. We went to church. But under the hood- where it really counts- I had enough memorized tunes in my head to run a rock station for weeks... to drown out anything else.  My inner playlist lacked anything that really spoke with my soul... that resonated with my God-designed, spiritual nobility... a capacity to transcend self... fashioned for His indwelling.

Our local rock station was branded, "The Rocking Apple." How appropriate. Back to the Garden. Shiny. Forbidden. Seemingly benign.  Promises so much. "Buying a stairway to heaven." Delivers so little. "But look at me... does it matter? I've been shattered... shattered."

I became aware. "You are what you eat." Applicable to my soul. What we surround ourselves with forms us. It defines us. It becomes the measure of our value. It paves our road.

At the core of this good kid - with a healthy life of accomplishment in athletics, academics, music, drama... with a spiritual sensibility... I was in inner fog, if not turmoil. Thanks to Pink Floyd- I was catapulted from the dark side of the moon. An unseen Grace catapulted me out of that fog-- a vantage from which I saw that I had substantially turned over the inner mic to the unseen DJ Rocking Apple (DJ RA). "He" wanted me 24/7... such a lust for my soul.

It's good to be wanted. That was the point of unity with the gang. It's good to feel part of something. It's validating- if not a very impoverished counterfeit to the kind of real intimacy and unity we're designed to experience.

From this vantage I saw that DJ RA's very essence sharply mocked the value of my God-like identity and capacity. It introduced a reverence for insanity... his only mode of survival... that we would seek to keep doing the same things expecting a different result. And so we see a sea of humanity doing the same things... again and again... with new and deeper emptiness... yet returning with unfulfilled expectations.

At risk of sounding cliche, it really was a kind of vision from heaven that pronounced this core truth: "You are what you eat." It was an awakening to the awareness that we were designed for GREAT "Food."

So think about it.  Think of the "vibe" we surround ourselves with in music, movies, TV, entertainment, gadgets, conversations that course through our lives... through our souls. What's it doing? Have we accepted a half-life as a norm? Have we forgotten who we are?

You were created in the image and likeness of God, for His indwelling Spirit. That is WHO YOU ARE! You were destined for GREAT things!

How to recover? How to awaken?

Perhaps like me you need detox. That's not easy. DJ RA is insanely jealous and will fight like hell to keep you. I knew I needed to do it. I had been living in a compromise state when - in my second year in college, I finally said goodbye to my "buddies." It took awhile until I felt released from captivity. Until I could hear the Voice again. It's made all the difference.

"Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." (Eph. 5:14) For inner planets spinning out of orbit, rediscover your Center of Gravity. He is the ultimate Rock star (Matt. 7:24f). He fashioned you for Himself. Made2Worship. Tomorrow Night. Spread the WORD.

Ann Marie. A Legacy of Faith.


My older sister, Ann Marie, lived only a week. The tragedy translated into a life of blessing. My parents always made us six boys and a girl aware of our personal saint in heaven. 

In the midst of some rather tumultuous high school years, my brother Luke - who like the rest of us had come quite a distance navigating other paths, made a spontaneous visit to a chapel. There he was overwhelmed by the presence of our sister. He wrote down lyrics to what became a song composed and sung with my other brother, Nate in their late teens..

Fourteen years ago today- after numerous grandsons, my parents were blessed with their first grand daughter, our first child (the same date as my brother Nate, who wrote the music to Ann Marie). Overwhelmed with an unspeakable awe and wonder in our little girl- we named her Anne Marie. Having jaundice, the doc said getting her in the sun would help restore her to health.

We brought her back to our meager home (our furniture was principally plastic lawn chairs!).  The first thing I did was take her to a window with the sun shining through (the picture)... and as the Doctor ordered, placed her in the Son, knowing He would- throughout her life, be her source of strength and health.

Anne Marie, I love you so much I am still moved to tears by the beautiful gift you are to us. You are such an amazing, young woman with such an amazing heart. Keeping shining. Keep shining. Know as much we love you- our love is but a shadow in the love of the Son.

With all my fatherly, heartfelt love - Happy birthday!
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We need to more deeply encounter Jesus Christ. Let's journey together. Join us for Made2Worship.
"Christian faith is not only a matter of believing that certain things are true, but above all a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It is an encounter with the Son of God that gives new energy to the whole of our existence."  Pope Benedict XVI

Holy Week: The Final Word for Couples (Fr. Nick Rouch)



JOIN US! A 30 minute journey for couples...
While dying on the cross Jesus gave us seven, final words. In the following half hour talk Fr. Nick Rouch takes up two of these words and invites couples to consider the relational heart of their marital relationship in the final Word, Jesus Christ.   Please feel free to download the talk for playback on your media player (burn to CD). If you are not able and would like a free CD, please contact us including your mailing address. (If you are able, please partner with us in making this possible by your donation of any amount. Thank you.)
Discussion Questions for Couples: 1) What struck you most in Fr. Nick's talk? What challenged you? What inspired you? 
2) In what ways is your "jar" cracked? Your spouse's? 3) How are you doing at making trips to the "well"? As an individual? As a couple? 4) What are some ways your spouse has been Christ-like - sacrificing for you? 
5) In what ways are you sacrificing for him/her? How does it bring you joy? 6) If sacrificing does not bring you joy, why do you think that is? 7) What does it mean to unite your suffering with Christ? How well are you doing with that? What stands in the way? What are some tangible ways to foster improvement?
8) In what ways can you (as an individual / couple) better make "paradise" present in your marriage? In your home? 


Please share with other couples. Join in the journey! This talk is brought to you by Image Trinity, a dynamic Catholic family movement committed to engaging families in the great adventure of discovering and living our identity as an Image of the Trinity.

Doing the Catholic Thing. But is Something Missing?




We Catholics tend to shy away from spiritual vulnerability, a kind of real intimacy and relationship. We suspect emotionalism- a kind of fluctuating faith anchored in ever-changing emotions. That's for "those evangelicals" whom we perceive to go from church to church, high to high, we think.

For many of us, faith is being a good solider. Following the rules. Duty. It's about something we accomplish by sheer act of the will. Sure, there may be a heart piece, but it's strictly private, interior, and in the grand scheme of things, inconsequential. Hear the congregation utter in unconvincing monotone, "Rejoice in the Lord always, again, I say rejoice."

And many of us are spiritually beleaguered. Our faith witness is often a flat-line, if not grumpy. Hardly the portrait of one who has been a beneficiary to Christ's promise: "Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (Jn. 4:14)

Perhaps our ritual sufficiency is resulting in a relational deficiency?
Perhaps in this day we are being invited to open wide the door to the realm of interpersonal human experience with our God.  Indeed, this is what we were designed for: we are temples of the living God! (1 Cor. 6:19-20) Jesus promised us that external law and observance would no longer be the basis of our connection to Him: “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people." (Jer. 31:33)

To my Catholic brothers and sisters, let us listen, understand, and be challenged by the words of a great evangelical: "Christian faith is not only a matter of believing that certain things are true, but above all a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It is an encounter with the Son of God that gives new energy to the whole of our existence." Pope Benedict. XVI

Thank you Pope Benedict for your persistent challenges - for your awareness of our real need, the hope of personal and cultural transformation.

May the mighty power of God in the Holy Spirit fall upon us all and awaken us to His great love in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
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Inspirational Video of the Week:
A powerful expression of the real, TRANSFORMING power of God alive in real people in a real world.


We need to more deeply encounter Jesus Christ. Let's journey together. Made2Worship begins again in May.

Image Trinity is committed to inviting families to join in the great adventure of discovering our identity and mission: we Image the Trinity (Get IT?). We exist because of the Holy Spirit working through your prayers, involvement and financial support. Donations of any amount accepted (left column). 

"The Plan": A Moving Story for Lent.




[PREFACE. This past Sunday, a young woman ascended to the pulpit to share something before Mass began. Though it seemed like just another pre-Mass announcement, it was not in "the plan." The priest had no idea, nor did her parents. At the young age 13, the same age Mary was given a "plan" that defied every expectation, this young woman was moved to write this announcement, and to share it with the rest of us.]   

Good morning, everyone!  I’m a part of this year’s Living Stations of the Cross, which is being put on by the St. George Youth Group. This is my second year participating and I can’t even begin to tell you how much it has touched my life.

For me, my family pretty much prays the Stations of the Cross every Lent, and occasionally attends them Wednesdays, here at St. George’s. If you have ever prayed the Stations of the Cross, you know that it is a journey we take with Jesus to Golgotha, where he will be crucified. We meditate on different “stations” of this journey, such as when Jesus is condemned to death, the times He fell, or the people He met. But sometimes the words seem so empty.

For me, sometimes the horrors Jesus experienced seem too horrific to be real. I can’t even begin to fathom how big a sacrifice His was. The Living Stations of the Cross sparked a new meaning to the Stations of the Cross for me. It made me realize that the Stations are so much more than just words we are saying, but words we are praying. Meditating on Jesus’ life and death actually brought me closer to Him. The Living Stations of the Cross helped me to further my relationship with Jesus Christ because seeing that He gave me everything made me want to give Him my all.

Of course, The Living Stations of the Cross are the Stations of the Cross, but The Living Stations bring the Stations of the Cross to life. People who Jesus met on his way to Golgotha will tell you what it was like for them. People like Veronica, who stepped out and wiped Jesus’ battered and bloody face. People like Mary Magdalene, whom Jesus drove seven demons from. What was it like for these people as they watched someone who was so close to their hearts die? What was it like for Jesus Himself? What about Ponchus Pilot, who sentenced him to death, or the very guards who dragged Jesus to Golgotha?

Last year, I was blessed to portray one of the women from Jerusalem, and this year, I was chosen to portray Mary, our blessed mother. This experience has been so extremely humbling for me. I think most of the time we don’t even realize how deep Our Mother’s sufferings were. As I’m up here, talking about how “my son” died, my heart feels so close to Mary’s. I can’t even begin to imagine the pain she must have gone through watching her son die. Even as I watch my friends portray Veronica or a woman of Jerusalem, I find myself amazed at their faith in God, and I just want to reach out and comfort them.

Whether you are portraying Mary or praying the Stations along with us it is so incredibly powerful God’s gift of love for us, His children. He gave His only beloved son, as John 3:16 says, “so that we might not perish, but have eternal life.” Jesus came down to give all he had for us, and he continues to do so, no matter what we do. How unbelievably amazing is that?

The Living Stations of the Cross barely scratches the surface of what happened the first Good Friday. The “blood” you’ll see on Jesus’ back is just paint. The cross you’ll see Jesus and Simon carrying isn’t huge or very heavy. But imagine Jesus as you pray and meditate the Stations along with us. The Living Stations of the Cross helps us realize that Jesus gave his all for us, and we should be giving him the same. Are you giving Him your all?

The Living Stations of the Cross will be on Wednesday, April 4th and Good Friday, April 6th at 7:00 p.m. here in the church. Confessions will follow the Wednesday Living Stations.

Under the Hood: Are You a Christian or a Deist? (Pope Benedict)



Below is a must read for any Christian leader, particularly Catholics who have inherited a culture so oriented toward our fulfillment of mere moral precepts. Pope Benedict is exhorting us to reflect upon our core beliefs, our anchor, and to fully engage in the relationship that is at the very heart of ritual.
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"The temptation to turn Christianity into a kind of moralism and to concentrate everything on man's moral action has always been great. For man sees himself above all. God remains invisible, untouchable and, therefore, man takes his support mainly from his own action. But if God does not act, if God is not a true agent in history who also enters into my personal life, then what does redemption mean? Of what value is our relationship with Christ, and thus, with the Trinitarian God?

"I think the temptation to reduce Christianity to the level of a type of moralism is very great even in our own day.  For we are all living in an atmosphere of deism. Our notion of natural laws does not facilitate us in believing in any action of God in our world. It seems that there is no room for God himself to act in human history and in my life. And so we have the idea of God who can no longer enter into this cosmos, made and closed against him. What is left? Our action. And we are the ones who must transform the world. We are the ones who must generate redemption. We are the ones who must create the better world, a new world. And if that is how one thinks, then Christianity is dead.

"We are lacking the force of eternal love to respond to the challenges of our lives and of politics.  Love has the capacity to transform the world.  It spurs our love and, in this communion of two wills, one can go on.  Christian holiness and rectitude do not consist in any superhuman greatness or in some superior talent.  Christian faith is properly the religion of ordinary people.  It comes about in a state of obedience that places us at God’s disposition wherever He calls.  It is the same obedience that does not trust to one’s own power or one’s own greatness but is founded on the greatness of the God of Jesus Christ."

Pope Benedict XVI
30 Days in the Church and in the World. Year XVI, Number 10, 1998. 


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We need to more deeply encounter Jesus Christ. Let's journey together. Made2Worship begins again in May.
"Christian faith is not only a matter of believing that certain things are true, but above all a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It is an encounter with the Son of God that gives new energy to the whole of our existence." Pope Benedict XVI

Image Trinity is committed to inviting families to join in the great adventure of discovering our identity and mission: we Image the Trinity (Get IT?). We exist because of the Holy Spirit working through your prayers, involvement and financial support. Donations of any amount accepted (left column). 

How Drane-ing! Drane, Erie Times News and Church Teaching



Greetings in Christ All.

Reading Drane's article (and corresponding cartoon) today in Erie's Times News ("Catholic Church should change its policies on birth control") made us want to cancel the paper... again. Of course, it demands a reply, but why bother? What good does it do? Where is the Church's official reply?

But then I'm haunted by the awareness that if we don't say something, we're tacitly approving falsehood - and the destruction it causes. We allow pop-culture to assume Catholics are just blind, conflicted sheep.  Our simple reply signals to them that perhaps there are 10,000 others who agree.   Steph saw that look in my eyes and humorously moved to block me from my laptop - as it's Sunday.

It's unlikely they'll publish my below letter, and if they do-- likely it will be misrepresented. Nonetheless, I encourage you if you are so moved to please consider sending your own letter / message to Times News expressing your disagreement with the article - that you do agree with Church teaching. If everyone who received this simply sent that expression - it could have an impact. letters@timesnews.com 

So Lent begins! :) Let's keep praying.
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The Times wouldn't ask a disgruntled, former employee to be their spokesperson. One can only wonder why they continue to go to an ex-priest who so evidently opposes the Church on matters so definitively Catholic (Drane, "Catholic Church should change its policies on birth control").

Let's situate this in a liberal framework. In America no one is forced to believe anything. In search of integrity: if you don't agree with the Catholic Church, haven't endeavored to discover the solid basis for our beliefs, plain and simple, you're really not Catholic. No need to get grumpy about it, there numerous, other options.

On Drane's premise, that the Church's teaching ought to be a function of popularity, or ease, or convenience, or taste - one has the Cross to contend with. Fundamentally and essentially, faith is a matter of truth.

Drane wrongly presents the Church teaching as a matter of historical happenstance. It could have gone this way, it could have gone that way. Anyone who has taken the time to read and understand the Church's teachings would recognize otherwise. There is rock-solid biblical, historical, theological and logical basis for the Church as a "pillar and foundation of truth" (1 Tim. 3:15), as a continuation of Christ's teaching (Matt. 16:18ff).

As Catholic parents of six beautiful children (plus one in heaven), we are not blind sheep. Our faith is not a matter of some culturally-construed, external obligation that makes us feel good. We aren't devoted to it simply because we inherited it. Our Catholic faith is something we have studied extensively, that we have engaged, and have come to not only fully embrace, but proclaim joyfully as Christ's revelation for the good of our lives - in this world and the next.

Of course, all professed truth must stand in the light of validation: I have yet to meet anyone who has ever broken a "law" that has not, in fact, broken them. With contraception one need look no further than a commercial  and the long list of warnings at the end. In the biblical-moral sphere, before 1933 all Christian denominations opposed contraception on biblical-theological grounds. So one must ask, did God change his mind? Note that contraception was propelled into acceptance by Margaret Sanger/ Planned Parenthood - whose principal, eugenic purpose was pronounced in their masthead: "More from the fit, less from the unfit."

Prior to 1933 Christians universally understood that sexual expression was a sacred gift between husband and wife, the use of which should correspond to the intent of the Giver. We are moved by the great nobility and truth of a Church that continues to hold up, against all detractors - the great nobility of sexual expression as a call to participate in God Himself who is Love, a Communion of Persons.  God is love and God is life; contraception literally means "against life."

Contraception removes God from the equation, enabling a using of persons. Apart from the Giver everything withers. Decline of marriage, loss of respect for women, loss of respect for life in all stages... all predicted as a result of a "contraceptive mentality".

With due note for the great tragedy of scandal throughout the Church's history, which is incumbent upon any institution so entrusted to imperfect humanity, we thank God for His gift of the Church, and for all those who have faithfully proclaimed and lived the saving truths which, if not popular or easy, are for our greatest good.

GO HERE for a great summary on the basis of the Church's teaching on contraception.

Greg and Stephanie Schlueter

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