Gotta Serve Somebody: Bob Dylan


There's no such thing as being non-religious. Some homes showcase a crucifix, others, posters of a superstar.  Some find their faith and morality articulated in Scripture, others, People Magazine. Some worship from a pew, others, a bar stool.

We will worship, the only questions are "Who?" or "What?"

The default religion of our culture is "Pop." Pop "gods" hold up the standard to which many aspire. Wealth. Fame. Power. Stuff. They have it all, at least all we're told we should have.

And so everyone wants to be a superstar. We want to be known. We are wired to think our value is determined by others. Thus, the proliferation of YouTube and Facebook. Even for the masses who will never make it to the big stage, commercial advertising caters to this appetite, to this insecurity. You're the star if you buy these clothes. Go to that place. Do that thing.

So all this raises the question: What does your "god"... your religion... do for you? What happens when the pop-culture religion is proven empty, if not destructive? 

Neil Young said, "It's better to burn out than to fade away." And within pop-religion, so it is. Marilyn Monroe, Whitney Houston, John Belushi, Jimmy Hendrix.... just a few, now dead "gods" pronouncing the dead nature of their religion.

The truth is, what we perceive as most desirable, most of them pronounce as most reprehensible, even while basking in the light.  Proof? This religion has the highest depression, divorce and general destruction rates of any profession.  Mick Jagger (Rolling Stones) was living all those dreams and had the honesty to proclaim, "Look at me! Does it matter? I've been shattered!"

Keep it real pop-culture religion. Are we really having fun yet? 

So it should be clear that our souls were made to worship. And even more clear now that they were made to worship Someone. Flowing from our identity, every conscious act is a participation in a kind of religion. When we experience the emptiness from worshiping any other thing, there ought to be an awakening, a moment of honesty. Does it fit?

The highest pronouncement here is perhaps in the lives of those pop-culture icons who have turned to that higher place. Their faith invites us to consider that the greatest "thing" worth pursuing in this world is not the star of narcissistic emptiness, the bright stage of adulation, but in the transcendence resulting from relationship with Someone who fashioned us in His Image, for Himself... whose Star illuminated not worldly wealth and glory, but a stable and a manger.

Bob Dylan 

"Towards the end of the show someone out in the crowd...knew I wasn't feeling too well," recalled Dylan in a 1979 interview. "I think they could see that. And they threw a silver cross on the stage. Now usually I don't pick things up in front of the stage. Once in a while I do. Sometimes I don't. But I looked down at that cross. I said, 'I gotta pick that up.' So I picked up the cross and I put it in my pocket...And I brought it backstage and I brought it with me to the next town, which was out in Arizona...I was feeling even worse than I'd felt when I was in San Diego. I said, 'Well, I need something tonight.' I didn't know what it was. I was used to all kinds of things. I said, 'I need something tonight that I didn't have before.' And I looked in my pocket and I had this cross."

Dylan believed he had experienced a vision of Christ in his Tucson hotel room. "Jesus did appear to me as King of Kings, and Lord of Lords," he'd later say. "There was a presence in the room that couldn't have been anybody but Jesus...Jesus put his hand on me. It was a physical thing. I felt it. I felt it all over me. I felt my whole body tremble. The glory of the Lord knocked me down and picked me up."

If you get the chance, listen to his "Gotta Serve Somebody." Says it all.

FULLER STORY
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Pentecost: Big Question for Couples: To Whom Do You Belong? (Fr. Nick Rouch)



JOIN US! A 30 minute journey for couples...
What questions guide your marriage? In the following half hour talk Fr. Nick Rouch takes up Christ's first words after Resurrection, inviting couples to consider to Whom they belong. 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) Fr. Nick begins with an analogy of a young boy whose understanding of the Pledge of Allegiance increased dramatically with age and the experience of war. How have your marriage vows become more real?
3) Sacrifice literally means, "To make sacred." How might that understanding better inform your understanding of marriage and family life?
4) Jesus joined the two disciples on the Road to Emmaus. How often do we depart from spiritual opportunities discouraged, thinking we missed it? How does Jesus concretely invite us back into understanding Him to whom we belong? (Join us for Made2Worship :)
5) Do you talk about spiritual things as a couple? 6) What concrete commitments can you make - individually, as a couple and as a family - to more fully live out your belonging to Christ?


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.

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.

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"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.
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