Sliney Central

Fr. Michael Sliney, LC

Michael Sliney

Lent

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3 Ways to Prepare for Lent

By Fr. Michael Sliney, LC

     Our High School soccer coach, “Senor”, wanted to make absolutely sure that we were ready for the regular season. For the first week of practice, we never saw a soccer ball…we ran, sprinted, stretched and ran some more. The second week was focused on fundamentals; dribbling, passing, penalty kicks and some attack strategies. Finally, in the 3rd week, he allowed us to scrimmage and have a little fun. “Senor” played professional soccer with Pele in Brazil, he knew the game extremely well, and he knew how to bring out the best in each one of us. Needless to say, our team was more than ready for the regular season and we had a solid year.

Lent is the Catholic Church’s version of Spring Training for the soul. Forty days to get our soul back into shape through intense prayer, purification and charity, hopefully under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the best spiritual coach in the world.

Prayer. Jesus himself lived the first Lent during his 40 days in the desert. He chose the desert to get away from the noise and distraction of the world, he chose the desert for the solitude and silence of the sand and the lack of humanity, he chose the desert so he could whole-heartedly focus on intimate prayer and conversation with his Heavenly Father. He wanted to fully unite himself to his Father, before beginning his “regular season”, his 3 years of intense apostolic ministry and total self-giving. Every serious Lenten resolution should have a component of increased prayer and devotion. Daily Mass, Eucharistic visit, rosary, more spiritual communions, Scriptural meditation…there are so many ways to connect with Jesus, find one or two that work for you! You can’t give what you don’t have…and your family and friends most need JESUS from you.

Purification. Lent should not simply be a weight loss clinic or a time to detox your body from an unhealthy lifestyle. Ask yourself, what am I overly attached to? What unhealthydependency am I developing that is preventing me from knowing and loving Christ more? What is getting in the way? Many people have told me that they absolutely need two or three glasses of wine to calm down before going to bed, others are not willing to give up their weekly tv show that may be enjoyable but promotes infidelity to marriage, others might need to “fast” the amount of time they dedicate to checking their Facebook or Instagram page, others may need to take the “salt” out of their daily communication and make an effort to be more kind in speech, others may try to harness their impatience or anger management, etc. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you with this one! My greatest fear in soccer was to pull a hamstring or twist an ankle…what is putting your soul most at risk?

Charity. We recently started a youth program in Connecticut with a focus on doing “Mercy in your back yard” once a month. These kids are actually enjoying it, even though it may mean getting up at 6 am to help out a soup kitchen in Port Chester, or spending their Saturday afternoon at a local nursing home. There is so much joy in giving! Every community has so many needy people and needy organizations that could use a hand. Get your hands dirty! Soup kitchens, hospitals, homeless shelters, orphanages, special needs facilities,….look around and try to give back. You will soon discover the face and beauty of Christ in these poor and marginalized souls, and be more than compensated for your outreach. Christ loves these souls in a special way, but he doesn’t have enough hands and feet that are willing to give up their time and energy to serve them.

     CS Lewis reminds us, “Now the whole offer which Christianity makes is this: that we can, if we let God have his way, come to share in the life of Christ….He came to this world and became a man in order to spread to other men the kind of life He has–by what I call a “good infection.” Every Christian is to become a little Christ. The whole purpose of Christianity is simply nothing else.” The Holy Spirit is the master sculptor deep within each of your souls and he is trying to bring out this image of Christ that, over time, has been covered by our selfishness, our passions and our imperfections. Ask him where you need to be chiseled! Try to collaborate with him during this Lenten period so that by dying to self, you can truly rise with Christ, into that new man and woman that he so desires and needs to see come out!

Mercy

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Thy Kingdom Come!

Dear Friends in Christ,

     “For surely the confidence of a notorious sinner honors God most of all, for he is so convinced of God’s infinite mercy that all his sins seem no more than an atom in its presence.”  (St. Claude

de la Colombiere)

    Wright Patterson Air Force Base.   Having served in the Army Air Corps in WWII, my dad was so excited to accompany me on this week-end trip with the Cub Scouts.  As our school bus passed the sign above, our Scout Master pointed to a fallen B-52 bomber off to the right and said, “Gentlemen, if any of you tries to check out that plane, there will be severe consequences.  Don’t even think about it.”  My friends and I smiled at each other, and within 6 hours we were climbing through the greasy cock-pit and checking out the controls and empty bomb shells…cool stuff!  Our Scout Master wondered why it had taken so long for us to collect “firewood” and within a few minutes he had us marching single file line, hands in the air, back to camp.  I marched past my dad, and although I sensed a little disappointment, I also sensed a lot of love and understanding.  My sin seemed “no more than an atom in his presence.”

Let him chisel!

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Thy Kingdom Come!

Dear Friends in Christ,

     “Do not, my child, approach Jesus Christ with the hope of bending his will to yours: what I desire is that you yield yourself to him and that he receive you, so that he, your Savior, may do with you and in you whatever he pleases.”  St. Cajetan

       The Holy Spirit is like a master sculptor.  At times he strikes hard and with aggression, other times, it is more refined and slower, but the goal is to bring out the image of Christ buried within.  The key is to be true to who you are.  If you are married, be faithful to your spouse, focus on your kids and don’t dream about other options.  If you have a career, be ethical, fair and hard working.   He will always push you to be, like Christ, selfless and magnanimous.  Don’t look for easy and immoral escape routes from your duties and obligations…let the master sculptor strike when and where he prefers: he knows what is best for us!!

To Jesus through Mary

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Thy Kingdom Come!

Dear Friends in Christ,

     “And they ran out of wine, since the wine provided for the feast had all been used, and the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.'”  (Jn 2: 2,3)

    Personally, I am not capable of saying “no” to my mom.   When she asks me for anything from the heart, and looks me in the eyes, I simply cannot say “no”.   I do not have a wife or kids, but I do have a mom, and she is the only one who has unique access to my heart.  Christ, too, is a priest.  The Blessed Mother will always be his mom and she will always have special access to  his heart.  To Jesus through Mary!

God bless,

Fr. Michael Sliney, LC

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God rewards our sacrifices

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Thy Kingdom Come!

Dear Friends in Christ,

     “Do not be afraid of Christ!  He takes nothing away, and he gives you everything.  When we give ourselves to him, we receive a hundredfold in return.  Yes, open, open wide the doors to Christ- and you will find true life.”  (Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI)

    Christ cannot be outdone in generosity.   During the World Youth Day in Germany, our group of 40 High School and college kids helped promote Confessions well into the night.  These kids kept the Confession lines full all night and as a result, they were exhausted the next day.   As we joined the nearly 1 million pilgrims leaving after the Mass, we soon realized that we would be waiting for a really long time.  The buses were all stuck in large back up and the police were struggling with crowd control.  I saw a narrow dirt road in the distance and signaled to our kids to go there and within seconds an empty bus came through the brush and opened the doors for our group, and the bus was actually going where we needed to go…a small miracle and a clear sign that God noticed our efforts from the night before.

God bless,

Fr. Michael Sliney, LC

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