Sliney Central

Fr. Michael Sliney, LC

Father Michael Blog

My 5 takeaways from this pandemic

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1. Let go, let God.   Losing control is not a bad thing.  We are used to managing our lives, our schedules and our routines.  This pandemic reminds us that we cannot control everything, and there is a peace and emotional calm that comes from accepting and adapting to what life throws our way.  A deeper resilence also forms when you “improvise, adapt and overcome.” You can’t control the wind, but you can control the sails!
2. Efficiency at all costs? We have all been forced slow down and reflect on what matters.  Our tightly packed schedules, with little time for family or prayer, created a frenetic pace that was not healthy and often did not allow the necessary space and silence for the Holy Spirit to work.  Time to ponder, time to read, time to exercise, time to hang out and talk, time to pray…all really good things for our soul.  
3. Spiritual health?? I have always been a little concerned with the over emphasis our culture has placed on physical health and appearance…all good things, but they fit into a much bigger picture.  If only Catholics were just as concerned about “catching” the virus of mortal sin, of being “contaminated” by unhealthy friendships, and of taking the “vaccination” of daily mass and regular confession to protect them from their natural tendencies of pride, vanity and laziness. 
4.  What really matters??  Fears of unemployment and financial insecurity are things you should be concerned about, but is it your “number one” concern?  You may have to sell your house and downsize, you may have to change your lifestyle and give up a few things, you may have to move your kids into a public school or homeschool…but I feel that if your marriages and your Faith remains solid, you will live an extremely fulfilled and happy life.  This is what matters!
5. Followers of Jesus? It’s in times like these that Jesus walks with us, as he did with the disciples of Emmaus, and He gently reminds us, “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things before entering into his glory?”  (Luke 24:26).  There is no Easter Sunday without Good Friday, and no joy in the heart of a human being who does accept and embrace the sufferings of life with love and for love of Christ.  These are the golden opportunities that Jesus gives us to grow and to offer up the gift of our suffering for good intentions.  The greatest blessings in life can often be the heaviest crosses!
God bless,Fr. Michael Sliney, LC

Time to adjust your sails!

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“Bad times, hard times, this is what people keep saying; but let us live well, and times shall be good. We are the times: Such as we are, such are the times.” St. Augustine
Adjust your sails. Allow your Faith and trust in God to kick in…turn on the selflessness and turn off the self-absorption. Lean into Christ and ask Him to man the helm!!

Growing in our love for Christ

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“It is to the Cross that the Christian is challenged to follow his Master: no path of redemption can make a detour around it.”  Hans Urs Von Balthasar
   How do you react when confronted with the cross?  “Thank you, Jesus for this opportunity to grow in my love for you”…or “Good Grief!”

Prayer corners are needed now!

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“With prayer, one can go on cheerfully and even happily. Without prayer, how grim the journey!” Dorothy Day
*With our Sacramental life being temporarily put on hold, I encourage all of you to make a prayer corner somewhere in your house. Read Scripture and good spiritual books, pray the rosary, speak to Jesus and Mary from the heart, follow Mass on line…and take advantage of your home being, in the words of St. John Paul II, a “Domestic Church”!

My thoughts on the virus

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TKC!My radio interview last night: A few thoughts from the heart concerning our current crisis. Please see the link below.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1p3K6XGGE9Ka9a8ozKwTUTyKaVD57cc-0/view
God bless,Fr. Michael Sliney, LC

We are God’s gift

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 “I would rather be what God chose to make me than the most glorious creature that I could think of; for to have been born in God’s thought, and then made by God, is the dearest, grandest and most precious thing in all thinking.” CS Lewis

Spiritual battle

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“Remember that it is not feeling of guilt that constitutes sin but the consent to sin. Only the free will is capable of good or evil. But when the will sighs under the trial of the tempter and does not will what is presented to it, there is not only no fault but there is virtue.” St. Padre Pio