Let's play a game

I really enjoy listening to speakers who teach me, who give me words that not only touch my heart but move my mind to deeper understand.  My dad is one of these people.  Mark Hart is another.  And so is Bishop Robert Brom, the Roman Catholic Bishop of San Diego.

I had the blessing of spending the morning with Bishop Brom yesterday as he held his annual meeting with church ministers from all over the Diocese.

He talked about two very powerful topics.

One was how God has written LOVE into our very genetic make-up. Love finds fulfillment only when self donation exceeds self satisfaction.

The other was HOPE.  We experience hope when we give and receive the divine love that is written in our hearts (see above).  All hopes are good and meaningful (i.e. the Chargers win their season opening game versus the Panthers this Sunday).  But there is only one hope that fuels our desire to live: the resurrection of the body and live everlasting.

I am always in awe of how Bishop Brom makes these very high theological teachings accessible to me as a lay person.  He shared so many terms and concepts that I found myself not just soaking the information in, but also applying it to my own life.  Hence, a word association game broke out in my head.  Here's how the game went:

COMMUNION: the summit of our existence on earth (the Eucharist), the source of how we are to live our lives (discipleship and holiness).

COMMUNITY: necessary for all humans, but is incomplete without communion.

INTEGRITY: trust and confidence in who God made us to be, boldness in proclaiming that publicly and privately.

HUMILITY: a life of ministry cannot succeed without it.

SERVANTHOOD: there is no "I" in team and no "I" in servant either.

SACRAMENT: Jesus Christ hanging on the cross.

SUFFERING: Bishop Brom is a model of handling suffering with and through grace.

Thanks, Bishop Brom, for inspiring me to be a better son of Christ and his Church.