Honesty, Humility, Discipline

I nearly missed mass on Sunday. It was a rough day. I had gone camping the night before and didn't get any sleep. I had to work the Royals game, had an NCYC meeting, and then was going to an off duty job that was going to last over night. I really needed some sleep.
A thought I had made me get off my butt and go. Actually two thoughts--one was that it would be a mortal sin to miss mass and I'd got to hell (and you thought it was some pre-Vatican II teaching--nope, still true). The second and more important thought was something the priest told me in confession last time I missed mass.
It was the same situation--crazy weekend and I was just exhausted so I missed mass. But I went to confession lest I die in a tragic farming accident and spend eternity in fiery torment. I was actually surprised. I had gone to confession a couple weeks prior for something I was really embarrassed about. I had gotten off easy then and thought this would go just as easy. I have to admit though, I kind of got my butt chewed a little.
The priest, actually Monsignor Blacet from Our Lady of Good Counsel, gave me some great spiritual advice. He told me that when we miss mass it is like telling God, "Don't worry, Lord, I don't need your help today." He went on to explain how that is very conceited of us to think we don't need God's help especially when we need it the most. The graces that we receive from the Eucharist help us to live our lives the way we should. The Eucharist we receive at mass gives us strength and nourishment. I realized that the term "obligation" didn't mean just to God but to ourselves and how silly are we to pass up such an amazing gift.
There are three things that we need to remember in regard to the spiritual life (these are loosely taken from St. Faustina
#1--complete honesty and sincerity--The soul must be completely honest and sincere with itself. To hold back does it no favor because God already knows all anyway. She says that an "insincere, secretive soul risks great dangers in the spiritual life.
#2-humility--Pride does us no good. We must be humble to see our failings and realize that we cannot make the strides we want to make in the spiritual life by ourselves. We MUST turn to God and allow Him to work in us.
#3-discipline--We have to discipline our selves to set aside time for God every day. We need to make sure we pray, that we attend mass, and go to confession regularly. If we don't do this we will just be floating around aimlessly.
I have to say that I am spiritually lacking in all three of these categories. So please--remember me in your prayers as I remember you. That is, assuming I have the disciple to make time for prayer.

What is wrong with our Catholic Universites??

It seems to me that some of the major Catholic Universities in the United States are Catholic in name only.

Last month, Notre Dame caused controversy when it not only invited President Obama to give the keynote address at this years commencement ceremony but also announced that they were going to give him an honorary degree in law. President Obama is the most pro-abortion president in the history of the United States. I do not think there is any argument against this. Shortly after becoming president, he overturned the Mexico City policy which will send taxpayer money to support or perform abortions in other countries. He is in the process of overturning conscious protections that would force doctors to perform abortions even when they believe they are wrong, he has signed an executive order to fund embryonic stem cell research with taxpayer money. Time after time, his political appointees are pro-abortion---Kathleen Sebelius for example.

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that life begins at conception and that all life is sacred. It teaches that abortion is an intrinsic evil that can never be condoned. Several years ago, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops published a document that in a nutshell stated that when voting Catholics need to look at a broad variety of categories, especially if a candidate is pro-choice or not.

So, for a Catholic University, especially a major one like Notre Dame to invite President Obama to their graduation and to give him an honoree degree is very scandalous. A Catholic University should not honor anyone with a pro-abortion record like President Obama that directly conflict with Catholic Teaching.

There is a petition at www.notredamescandal.com urging the University of Notre Dame and it's president Fr. John Jenkins to rescind it's invitation to it's commencement ceremony. Currently, there have been over 300,000 signatures, including bishops from around the country.

The second scandal occurred last week at Georgetown University. President Obama came to the university to give a speech on the economy. Over the podium were the initials "I.H.S." in gold lettering. To put is simply, I.H.S. is a monogram for the name of Jesus Christ. The initials were covered up during President Obama's speech. Georgetown officials stated it was covered up at the request of the White House. The White House denied those claims. While some anger should be expressed towards the White House for making the request, more outrage should be expressed at Georgetown for allowing it. Under no circumstances, should the name of Jesus Christ be covered up.

Catholic Universities in this country need to get back to their Catholic roots and fundamentals. Everything it does, from education, to research, needs to be done with Jesus in mind.

Proclaiming Jesus

Today's first Bible reading comes from the fifth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. In the reading, the apostles are in front of the Sanhedrin who wanted to put them all to death. One of the Sanhedrin stood up and urged caution to the rest of the Sanhedrin so instead being killed, the apostles were merely flogged and ordered to stop preaching about Jesus.

The apostles were dismissed and it says that the apostles left, "rejoicing that they had been found worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name." Then they went back out and continued preaching about Jesus.
These men were flogged and told to stop preaching but their love for God was so great they continued to do what got them flogged. They didn't just keep preaching---they rejoiced for being worthy enough to suffer for Jesus.

Yet, we are afraid to proclaim Jesus in our society aren't we? We are afraid of people thinking we are odd. Afraid of being questioned. Afraid of being considered hateful if we profess God's word. Heck, the Obama administration [Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano] has come out and said that people who are pro-life are potential domestic terrorists (along with armed forces veterans).

It's not easy being a Christian in today's world but we must raise up to the challenge and to live our life as Jesus teaches us. We should model ourselves after the apostles and not be afraid to proclaim Jesus' word even after being persecuted. Sometimes, though, the best evangelization is just living a virtuous life. We must be like a stained glass window and allow Christ's light to shine through us so that people are attracted to Him.

Doubt

Sunday, the second Sunday of Easter, was Divine Mercy Sunday and there are several things I could talk about—heck, I might get three blogs out of this one day. Heck, I can get two out of the gospel reading!!

The gospel reading is from the Gospel according to John and describes a period after the resurrection. The remaining disciples are hiding in the upper room when Jesus comes and visits them. Thomas though—isn’t there. I just thought of something---Where WAS Thomas??. It doesn’t say. What does he have to do?? It must have been for something pretty important, right? Had he been hiding with relatives?? Had he even heard about the resurrection at all?? About the empty tomb?? Someone find out for me and get back to me would you?

Anyway, he comes to the upper room and the disciples are excited. They’d seen the risen Lord!! And Thomas, understandably, didn’t believe them. Thomas says-- and I as someone who has made a sarcastic comment can appreciate the comment, “No, no, no, no---you aren’t going get me on this one. Unless I see it for myself, I ain’t going to believe it. (they were from Galilee—he probably said “ain’t”)” Ohh, but better yet, Mr. Smartypants keeps going on. “Unless I poke my finger in his nail marks and my hand into his side---I WILL NOT believe it.” You wonder how long the conversation went on?? Overnight?? A day or two??

The gospel tells us a week later, they were locked in the room when Jesus appeared. (another query---where was Jesus for the last week?) Jesus appears to the eleven---Thomas is here this time and Jesus, no stranger to the sarcastic comment himself tells Thomas—“go ahead!! Put your finger here in my hands and put your hands in my side.” He goes on, “do not be unbelieving but believe.”

Thomas is smart enough to know he was wrong—and it goes on—he realizes what Jesus’ resurrection means as he says, “My Lord and My God!” Think about it, not even any of the other disciples have recognized that Jesus as God. A pretty big revelation, huh?

Jesus kind of rebukes Thomas by saying, “You see and you believe?? Blessed are those who have not seen and believed.”

I find it interesting because we kind of think Thomas was a fool don’t we? “heh heh heh—Thomas didn’t believe and had to eat crow!!” We tell people not to be a “Doubting Thomas.” But who are we to mock Thomas?? Aren’t we all “Doubting Thomaseseses (how DO you spell that?) Don’t we all have doubts?? After all if we had the faith that we think we do would we act like we do?? Would we do half the stuff we do?? Who are we to say that we don’t have doubts about our faith occasionally?? Heck—even Blessed Mother Theresa talks in her memoirs about having doubts in her faith.

But here is the important part---what’s important is what we do with those doubts. I heard a neat comparison the other day on the radio so let me see if I can get it right. A pearl is formed when an irritant, a piece of sand for example, gets into an oyster. The pearl forms around the irritant in order to protect the oyster (until of course someone cuts open the oyster to get to the pearl—but that ruins the comparison so don’t think about that) If you think of our spiritual life as an oyster and our doubts as that irritant just think about the pearl that can be formed by that doubt—by that irritant. It’s not easy, you ARE dealing with an irritant, but through prayer and maybe some self denial, our faith can become more wonderful—more beautiful.

St. Maggie

This past Saturday my little sister was married. I was honored to be able to give her away—it was humbling and really big honor. At the reception, they had the bridesmaid and best man give their toast and they left the microphone open long enough for me to jump in. I had secretly been hoping for the opportunity and had thought of something to say but I wasn’t so presumptuous to actually prepare a written statement. Because of this, I really didn’t say what I wanted to say the way I wanted to say it.
My little sister married a really great guy named Ryan and one of my cousins made the point that if he could he would invest in this marriage because he would make a fortune. I can really see the fingerprints of God all over their marriage.
I was 13 years old. I’d never met my father. My mom was single and she came to me one morning and asked, “Jamie, would you rather have a baby sister or a letter jacket.” She had hidden her pregnancy with her ex-boyfriend from everyone, gone to a nearby town and given birth to Maggie. My mom was going to give Maggie up for adoption but was now having second thoughts. She wanted to somehow, make me realize the financial significance of having a newborn in the house.
As a thirteen year old, who’s mother worked nights, my life did change. Maggie thinks that I had someone given up my high school years to watch her on Friday and Saturday nights. Don’t tell her this but I didn’t have that many friends and didn’t get invited out that often anyway. She was no hindrance on my high school years (but, like I said, I like to hold it over her head so don’t tell her)
A year after high school, I went off to college, met the most beautiful woman in the world and started my own family.
Maggie grew up, graduated high school herself and went off to Warrensburg to college to get a degree in theatre. About a month later, she’d had enough and moved back in with my mom. Later, and forgive me if I get stuff out of order---she moved to Maryville and started working on a nursing degree, and then went to Northwest Missouri State University, eventually quit and moved back in with my mom. She may have moved back with my mom a couple of other times in between there or not. She calls this time her “dark years.” I think she may have partaken in a frosty beverage during this time.
Then, she up and moved to Atchison, Kansas. She didn’t have a job or anything---she just moved. I think like six months later, she started college at Benedictine College. While there, she met Ryan who is one of those great guys. You know the type one of the guys who is just so nice that you’d like to bop him in the nose but he’s so great that you HAVE to like him.
They courted---old fashioned phrase but I think that’s actually what you’d call it. He got permission from my mom to ask Maggie to marry him!! He also got permission from me and her best friend. And the rest, as they say is history.
What type of girl does Mr. Awesome ask to marry him? Well, Maggie is pretty cool too. We jokingly call her St. Maggie. She’s gone to school and is getting her degree in Theology and Youth Ministry. Throughout her wedding preparation, she has been very cautious of being a “Bridezilla.” She is very cautious about people’s feelings and tries to make people happy. Like everyone, she has her dark side---I think I have a scar of a bite mark on my left forearm as evidence of her dark side. But she genuinely tries to be a good person and to be pleasing to God. I’d like to think that I’ve had a positive impact on her life and been a good role model as a person, as a husband, and a father. She is one of my favorite people in the world—good and bad. She makes me laugh. I enjoy talking with her and my favorite time of the year are family reunions where we get to sit around the camp fire for some theology on tap (that’s talking religion and drinking).
Now she’s married and you can see God’s fingerprints all over this marriage. For a girl to almost be put up for adoption, be raised by a single mom in a small town in Northwest Missouri, to go off to college in Warrensburg, then back to Tarkio, to Maryville, back to Tarkio, back to Maryville, back to Tarkio, then off to Atchison and finally to Benedictine to meet up with a good Catholic boy from Kansas City.
I think we can all learn something from this marriage. We need to trust in God. Trust that He is the divine gardener tending to us in the garden. Not be upset when that beautiful flower next to us is pulled away---it may actually be a dandelion, a weed that will strangle us. Not be upset when we are piled on by a---well by a bunch of crap. It may very well be the life giving nutrients we need. We need to be careful to always keep ourselves pointed to the sun and when someone turns our base around so we are pointed towards the darkness we need to turn back towards the Son.
Always trust in God but never be so comfortable that we think we are right where God wants us. God has a big sense of humor and as soon as we think we know what He wants He is there to prove us wrong.
Congratulations, Maggie and Ryan. I love you both.

The Wait in Holy Saturday

Today is Holy Saturday and it’s kind of an odd day. Yesterday was Good Friday---they day that Jesus was crucified. Tomorrow is Easter—the day of our Lord’s resurrection. On Holy Saturday we-----we wait. Jesus is in the tomb and it’s a day of mourning. I think the reason this seems so foreign to me is because in my family when someone dies we come together and to put it simple---we celebrate. We celebrate that persons’ life and his passing. Obviously, we mourn too. But because of Jesus’ very own time in the tomb we have faith that our loved one is in Heaven.

Holy Saturday is an odd day because we know what comes next. We know that after the horror of Good Friday we will celebrate Jesus’ resurrection on the next day. In many ways, Holy Saturday is like our life here on Earth. We know and understand that we may have a life of sadness and suffering but we know what tomorrow brings. We have hope and faith that after our pilgrimage on Earth we will be in the presence of God in Heaven.

I think today’s reading from Paul’s letter to the Roman’s really put’s it nicely. He says that through our baptism we are changed and just as Jesus died and resurrected we too will have new life. He continues and says that by our own dying to ourselves in baptism we will be united with Christ. Because sin no longer has power over a dead body sin will no longer have power over us. So we have to think of ourselves being dead to sin and living for God.

Wouldn’t it be nice if it only took one Holy Saturday for us to die like this and to be changed? Wouldn’t it be nice if in one day---we could be free from sin?? It’s not quite that easy. Conquering sin is a long challenge. For some of us it will be a life long challenge but it’s a challenge we cannot give up on. Fortunately for us, God gives us grace in the sacraments to continue this spiritual warfare. Through reconciliation and the Eucharist, we can gain the grace to go one, day by day, dying and rising—every day.

Holy Saturday is different. We don’t know if we should mourn Jesus’ death or celebrate his impending resurrection. Our life hear on Earth is similar---we sit in eager anticipation (although we all want to put it off as long as we can) of our own resurrection in God’s presence.

Holy Thursday: Washing of the Feet

Today is Holy Thursday which is the first day of the Tridium (those three days between Lent and Easter)

On Holy Thursday we celebrate the Lord's Supper---the night before Jesus' passion and death when He instituted the Eucharist. The Gospel reading for Holy Thursday is from the Gospel of John and it recounts Jesus washing the feet of His disciples.

A little refresher: So Jesus finishes up with supper. He gets up and takes off his outer garments and ties a towel around his waist. Now, his disciples, who have seen some WILD stuff the last few years are probably wondering, "what's He going to do now?" Imagine--they seen Jesus walk on water, raise people from the dead, heal the blind and made the lame walk. They have to be intrigued by what's going on. Jesus starts to wash the disciples feet. Again--remember--back in these days they aren't wearing some nice Nike's---they are wearing sandals and walking through the dirt--walking down roads that the live stock also travel on. I don't know if you realize this--but live stock tend to leave things behind so they've probably stepped in some "stuff." Their feet have to be FILTHY!! And here is Jesus, the man that they now know is the Messiah--the anointed one--crouched down washing their feet.

Finally He gets to Peter and--well, you have to love Peter--you know Peter's going to stick his foot in his mouth (no pun intended) Peter says, "What are you doing!?!? Do you think you're going to wash my feet?!?" (I'm paraphrasing here) and Jesus says, "Don't worry about what I'm doing cause you ain't going to understand. You'll get it later." (again--paraphrasing. You aren't going to find those exact words in red letters in any Bible (see footnote))

So Peter goes on, "Oh nooooooo, you are NOT washing MY feet" to which Jesus replies, "Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me." And Peter says, "In that CASE--don't just wash my feet but my hands and face too." You see--Peter didn't have it all put together quite yet but he knew what Jesus had to offer.

Jesus finishes up and goes and sits down and says, "Think about this--you call me master and teacher and, well I am. If the teacher and master has washed your feet you should wash each others. This is the model I set for you."

I'm not Bible scholar by any means but I think what Jesus is trying to be a model for us. My first clue? "This is the model I set for you." Yeah, yeah--It's subtle but it's there.

What does it really mean? It means we are all supposed to be servants to each other. You see--before the fall, the first sin of Adam and Eve--that's the way it was supposed to be. We were all supposed to take care of each other without any concerns to ourselves. Jesus is saying that it's STILL supposed to be that way. We are STILL supposed to take care of each other without any concerns to ourselves. But due to sin, we are inclined to look out for #1 first of all--we take care of ourselves. Oh yeah--we might take care of our loved ones but even then we tend to move them to the side if they get in our way.

Why washing feet though?? Like I said--it was probably a pretty messy task. Now days at the Holy Thursday mass we recreate this by the priest washing some parishioners feet but you know darn well they were clean before they got there. Probably gave themselves a pedicure. But the disciples?? Can you imagine that bowl of water?? It probably had to be changed out a few times--pouring out muddy water for clean. This is a messy, disgusting task. And Jesus gets down, probably on his hands and feet to do this. The model Jesus is setting shows that when we take care of others we should not be happy with something subtle--although the little things do add up. But we are expected to do the big things--that we are not over anyone. We should be prepared to get down on our hands and knees and to get our hands dirty in order to take care of others.

Footnote: for our Catholic readers who may not have picked up a Bible in awhile--in many Bibles the words of Jesus are written in red letters. It's really a protestant thing)

Can Men and Women be Friends??

I was told by a friend of mine who had attended the Women of Grace conference a couple of weeks ago that it seemed to be a reoccurring theme from ministers there that men and women could not be friends. This seems to be a reoccurring theme in my own life due to the fact that many of my dearest, closest friends throughout my life have been women.

Obviously, I would disagree with the ministers viewpoints considering that point. I do understand what they are trying to say. Male/Female friendships bring up all sorts of different dilemmas, issues and concerns, especially if one or both of the parties is married. Sin causes these issues. Sin causes us to focus on each others sexuality and the opinions of these ministers that men and women cannot be friends is a simplistic way of helping people avoid the occasion of sin.

That is not the way it is supposed to be though. That is not the way God intended things to be. It only though the entrance of sin into this world that causes this. God would prefer us to look at the opposite sex as brother or sisters---as people to love and not as objects to be used for sexual gratification. This is not to say that sex is bad----oh, no, no, no, no---the churches teaching on sex goes far beyond that and may amaze or astound you. I'll have to write on that later. The easiest way to explain what I'm trying to say is talk about what Pope John Paul II meant when he spoke about "Original Nakedness." Before the Fall, when Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden they were naked. Naked and not ashamed. Why? Because they saw themselves as people to be loved and knew the other saw them as someone to be loved and not as an object to be used for their own gratification. What happened after they ate the apple though? They became embarrassed of their nakedness. They were afraid of the other seeing them in a lustful manner.

God wants us to love each other and to see each other as people to be loved. That is why is is entirely possible for men/women to be friends. We are supposed to love each other and not see each other as sexual objects.

Saying this is entirely easier than doing though and maintaining male/female friendships can be very difficult and very rewarding. I would say that I'm an expert in this matter---for probably 25 plus years my best friends have been female. Each friendship is different and with it's own dilemmas. I've been friends with women when I was single and I've been friends with women as a married man---both to married and single women.

Some of the difficulties are external and some are internal. The external difficulties are other people putting pressure on the friendship, causing rumors or jokes. The internal ones are being concerned about the external pressure ("Oh, what are people going to say?") or dealing with that sexual issue--controlling your thoughts.

My own experience has shown that the external difficulties seem to be the more difficult to deal with. I know what the friendship actually is all about so I don't care what other people think. I can control my own thoughts and make sure I don't go down that path of thinking of my friend in a sexual way. I've lost my best friend in the past due to them not being able to get over what other people thought. On the other hand, the easiest friendships I've had are those where it doesn't even come into the picture. My friendship with Heather Neds, for example, is very easy and simple--it just happens. We can meet up for lunch and share problems and concerns. Although, now that I think about it---we normally do have a reason for meeting. It may be to talk about church or kids. But no matter--we are still able to maintain a good solid friendship and be supports for each other with no one commenting.

I believe the ministers are wrong. Men and women can be friends. It's not always easy but often the best things having don't come easy. Our spiritual journeys, living life as God wants us to do not come easy but the reward is great.

Catholics: The First Christians!

You know, one thing kind of always ticks me off and that is when someone says that Catholics are not Christian. I’m not quite sure when it ticks me off more---when it comes from a Catholic or a non-Catholic. When people say that Catholics are not Christian I believe that they are either a) ignorant or b) anti-Catholic and mean.
Obviously, when Catholics blurt this out, they are in the “a” category and are just ignorant about their faith. Nothing surprising there---many, many, MANY Catholics are ignorant about their faith. The “b” category is the one that really gets me though. Being ignorant is tolerable—people can learn.
To educate those who do not know. Christianity can basically be broken down into three groups a) Catholic b) Orthodox c) Protestant. Let’s give a short history lesson to explain.
At the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, He picked 12 apostles. He sent these apostles out to teach, heal and baptize. He gave them authority. He placed the apostle Simon—later to be called Peter—in charge. There are a number of biblical references that I can point to in order to show the primacy of Peter but that is for a different day. The apostles were to be Jesus physical representation on Earth. Jesus did not intend for this physical representation to end when the first apostles died. This is demonstrated in the book of Acts when the remaining eleven apostles picked Matthias to replace Judas among the twelve. The 12 apostles were the first bishops. Peter, being in charge over the twelve, was the first pope.
For the first millennium, there was only ONE Christian Church. In the year 1054, there was a split in the church----Rome in the west (which is where Peter had settled and the head of the church was) and in the Constanople in the east. The reasons weren’t simple but I’m going to simplify them. First, there were a couple theological reasons—once that could be pretty easily rectified, the second being that the Eastern Church did not believe in the papacy—or that the Bishop of Rome had say over everything. I believe the main reason was probably political---there were many divisions between the east and the west. This eastern church is what we call the Orthodox church today. There are several different orthodox churches—Greek an Russian for instance.
Fast forward to the 17th Century. There are still only really two major divisions of the Christian religion---Catholic and Orthodox. In the seventeen century—Martin Luther came along. To say the church needed reform is an understatement. There were several things that needed fixing. But Martin Luther split from the Church on two basis---sola scriptura (scripture alone) and sola fida (faith alone). These two believes were against the Church authority---that only scripture held authority and salvation on faith alone as opposed to faith and works. Soon there were many other splits---and today we have upwards of 30,000 different Protestant denominations.
This demonstrates that the first Christians—the Christians that were martyred and persecuted. The Christians that spread the word of Christ throughout the world in the first centuries were-----Catholic. This demonstrates that Catholics and Christians were the one and only show in town until 1054 and that Catholics are still Christian today.
The second argument comes from anti-Catholics. From what I’ve seen, their main argument against Catholics being Christian falls back on sola fida. The whole sola fida argument is stupid to me, in reality it is based on different definitions of different words such as justification and sanctification The Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran Church actually came to an agreement about sola fida several years back. But some people do not like the Roman Catholic Church for some reason and spend their whole life attacking her and one way they can attack her is by saying that Catholics are not Christian.
I guess I should throw in a third group—a combination of the two. I believe that those who say that Catholics are not Christian because of theological differences and are anti-Catholic are ignorant too.

Police Vocation

I've been making posts on things that I am thankful to God for. These are things that after I've received communion, I go back to my seat and thank God for. I've covered my family, my wife, my children and my friends. Those postings can be found on my myspace blog at www.myspace.com/jamiemc4525.
The next thing that am thankful is my job. I first remember wanting to be in law enforcement when I attended Boys' State while in high school. I wanted to become a Missouri State Trooper. That did not work out for me and after a short and great stint with the Excelsior Springs, Missouri Police Department, I was hired by the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department. I spent seven years as an officer in patrol serving as a field training officer for four of those years. I was then promoted to sergeant and transferred to Central Patrol Division where I've been for the last four years.
I am not going to say that I was super cop by any means. I would say I was average. And I don't live and breath police work. I have a good balance between work and family. But a cop is what I am. I really cannot imagine doing anything else. It, along with being a husband and a father, is my vocation. I believe this is one of the things that God put me on Earth to be and I feel blessed that He has allowed me to fill this role, to serve people and to be people's protector.
Not to be all high and mighty---there are certainly other great things about being a cop---heck, I get to drive real fast and carry a gun!! (that's what you want to hear isn't it) Now I am a supervisor which puts me in another servant role---one that is more difficult because I have to serve the department and look after it's well being as well as the officers who work for me and protect them and make sure they are being treated right. Again, there are great things about being a supervisor--my favorite being the person in charge on a big scene where it's high pressure and everyone is looking at you to find out what to do.
My requests certainly have changed since I became a supervisor. I now ask God to protect my people as well as ALL police officers, to guide my people so that they catch the criminals and to be in the right place when they are needed.