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Overwhelmed by Blessings

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about all the gifts we have been given, and sometimes it is so overwhelming!  In case you’ve forgotten just how lucky you are,  let’s review quickly some of our shared blessings:

Jesus – who could imagine a better Redeemer?  Not only did He die for us, but He’s still with us even though He’s in Heaven.  We could hardly ask for anything else, but wait, there’s more

The Holy Spirit – always guiding us from within with wisdom, knowledge, counsel, understanding, strength, reverence and fear of the Lord.  We certainly can never say that God has left us alone in our struggles

The Church – passing along and defending the true meaning of Jesus’ teachings so that I’m not forced to decide with my error-prone judgment.  And connecting us with our brothers and sisters all around the world through the Mass (which probably deserves it’s own blurb)

The Sacraments – fountains of grace (need I say more?)

Angels – Jesus made it clear that angels and demons exist (so we don’t get to decide if they exist or not) and it’s comforting to know we all have guardian angels fighting for us

Mary – Jesus gave her to all of us on the Cross, and  we couldn’t ask for a better Mother or a better intercessor  (see the Wedding at Cana).  The ultimate disciple, she has so much to teach us about following Her Son

The Saints – nothing like real life models of what’s possible for those who fully give themselves to Him.  How much richer we all are for their writings and examples

Prayer – the Creator of Heaven of Earth is always available to us whenever we want to talk to Him (I usually have to wait 2 days just to see my doctor!)  Seriously though, it is such an amazing gift to have the opportunity to spend time with our Lord – to be heard by Him and to hear Him

The Bible – last, but certainly not least, the Good Book is a most precious gift!  Where would the world be without this record of Divine Revelation?

After contemplating all these gifts, just saying thank you to Him doesn’t seem to be remotely enough!

It’s Never Too Late

Apparently today someone found my blog by typing  “done too many things wrong in life to change” in a search engine.   Heaven only knows why my blog ranked highly enough on this term for this person to find me, but I was so overwhelmed by sadness when I read that!  So, if he/she ever returns, this is for him/her:

No one, no one, no one has done too many things wrong in life to change!  Jesus died for us so that all our sins would be forgiven if we only seek forgiveness and believe in Him.  Through Jesus and His many graces we are reborn.  We can fight the darkness and actually win!  We can turn our lives around and make a difference for others.  We can find everything we’ve ever wanted and needed in Him!

Jesus came so that we could find peace and love not only in this world, but more importantly, in the next.  It is my prayer that you will experience the faith, hope and love He offers.  It’s not too late….

Moral Laws and the Effects of Sin

In “Theology for Beginners” Frank Sheed says that there are laws in the universe that we violate at our own peril.  So just as violating physical laws can cause damage to the body, violating moral laws causes damage to the soul.  Take for instance the law of gravity.  You could hate the law of gravity, you could actively ignore the law of gravity, but if you jump from a building, the effects of the law of gravity kick in and you’re going to break some bones.  Similarly, you can ignore God’s moral laws, but not without it effecting your soul.

This is a bold statement today (and was when he made it 50 years ago too).  We live in a world that laughs at the idea of sin, and worse, generally encourages it.  And while most of us aren’t going to become psychopaths who see no difference between right and wrong (though there are those days…), there are dangers for us as well.

Since a soul is usually only obviously affected after major violations of  moral law  (i.e. murder), we can easily forget that all sin has effects.  That even the little things matter.   Taking (stealing)  that magazine from the doctor’s office, telling that white lie to your boss because you missed a deadline, doing a favor for someone with an attitude because you’re not in the mood.  Sheed is telling us that even these sins are important because they eat away at our souls.  That they not only separate us from God’s love, but that we are actually damaging our own souls (the spiritual equivalent of breaking bones)!

This is a scary thought, especially since the just man falls seven times a day (good thing we have Confession!).  But I think we all need to be reminded of it sometimes because it’s easy to forget that everything we do wrong matters.  An important (even if unwelcome) corollary to yesterday’s post that all the small, good things we do matter.

Doing Small Things with Great Love

It was Mother Teresa who said, “In this life we cannot do great things.  We can only do small things with great love.”  And yet seems to go completely against human nature.  We don’t want to do small things.  We want to do big things!  Huge things!

I don’t know if it’s our pride or our compassion (or some combination of the two) but little things don’t seem to cut it.  It’s almost as though the small things aren’t worth it, that they don’t make a “big enough” difference.  We all want to change the world, but how many of us believe we can?  We think in terms of the big picture, in terms of big things, and suddenly the desire for big change is overwhelmed the size of the effort and resources and (insert your favorite obstacle here) that would be required.  And sadly, most of the time, we are either paralyzed or demoralized into doing nothing.

Mother Teresa had it right (I know, hardly a shocker) – we must do small things.  We must overcome the thoughts that tell us no to bother, or that it won’t matter and fight the small battles.  Jesus did.  We (naturally) tend to think of Jesus as rising from the dead and performing miracles, but He did millions of small things that we can look to as hope and/or inspiration when we need it.

Remember that Jesus spent 30 years in the small town of Nazareth.  I can guarantee you two things.  One, that He did lots of small things there.  And two, that He did them all with great love.  Picking up supplies for His carpentry work, going to the market, hundreds of small acts to make life easier for Mary and Joseph – there are so many things He did not fit for the Redeemer of the world!  But He did them anyway, and He did them with great love.  May this thought inspire us to live our lives doing the small things, since after all, “to God there is nothing small.”

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Searching for God

The world has certainly come a long way technologically, but in many ways it hasn’t changed much.  The world is still searching for God.  Looking for meaning.  Trying to figure it all out.  I just started reading “God’s World and our Place in It” by Fulton Sheen and was struck by one of the subtitles in the first chapter: “The world still doesn’t know where to find God.”  What a sad truth!

We’re certainly very creative in the many places we look for Him – nature, relationships, work, family, and for some poor souls in sex, drugs and alcohol.  But even in those instances where we find Him in some of these places, He’s veiled – hidden behind or inside of something else.  Where’s the one place that isn’t true (or should I say in what person)?  In Jesus Christ.

It is only in Jesus that we can find God in all His love and goodness.  And yet how often we forget this and look elsewhere!   And I’m just as guilty in this as the next person.  In fact just today, I had to drag myself to Church (it’s like 3 degrees outside!).   And as always I’m so glad I went, because if there is one place we can all always find God, it is in the Eucharist!  There is just no equivalent to receiving Jesus’ body and blood.  No equivalent to this reminder that He loves us and wants to be with us so much, that He gives all of Himself in mere bread and wine.  What an undeserved gift!

It’s easy to just go to Church every week and take for granted the Eucharist.  To forget what an immense privilege it is.  To forget the strength and graces we receive from Him there.  Today I needed that reminder that there’s no better place to find Jesus (and hey, I figure the reminder can’t hurt you either).  May the body and blood of Christ bring us all to everlasting life!

Evaluating the Past Year

It’s always fun at the end of the year to stock of things – to see what the past year has brought, count our blessings and see how far we’ve come.  While there are always many things to consider, answering just one question can give us all a good idea of the progress (and hopefully not lack there of!) we’ve made: are we closer to being saints?

On the one hand I realize this question seems somewhat ridiculous.  Most of us have either been taught to mock the saints (for being old-fashioned or prudish) or to feel that such a love of God is unattainable for the every day person.  But whatever we think of our chances of becoming saints, there can be no denying that it what God wants for us.  In fact, all of what God wills for us is ultimately tied into this desire.  Everything He sends our way is designed for us to grow closer to Him, to serve Him better (and so serve others better), to love Him more – to become saints.  So as incredible as it may sound, what God wants for you and for me is sainthood.

Of course there are plenty of other questions we can ask as we evaluate the past year.  Am I letting Jesus into new areas of my life (since all of us are holding out in some areas, sometimes even unwittingly!)?  Am I doing God’s will more often now than last year?  We can examine different areas of our lives too.  Has our prayer life improved?  What about our sacramental life?  Are we actively reading the Bible and learning about our faith?  Are we doing more to serve others and mortify our own desires?

While looking back is helpful to see the course we’ve been on, being a Christian is about living in the moment.  It’s about trusting the future to our Father and focusing on the now.  After all, Jesus taught us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.”   So what can we do today to love God more?  What changes can we make today that will move us closer toward sainthood?   Here’s to another year on the journey towards God!

Including Jesus in Everything

So it’s that time of year again when everyone starts making resolutions and it seems to me there’s something missing from most of them: God.  Not to say that some resolutions aren’t about Him, but rather that almost none include Him.  Everything is I will do this or I will do that.

The most common New Year’s resolution is of course to lose weight, which is a fine goal (I too could stand to be in a little better shape).  But how many of us will include Jesus in that? Or seek His help to accomplish it?  It’s as though we put up a partition between Jesus and certain parts of our lives.  I myself am certainly guilty of this as well, and can’t quite explain why.  Surely if the God of everything cares enough about me to die for me, He wants to be included in every aspect of my life.  Not just at Mass or when I’m volunteering or saying the Rosary, but even when I’m going to the gym, or playing ice hockey or trying to keep my patience with family members.

And yet while it feels natural for me to include Him on the back end of things (i.e. to say thank you for another workout without injury), I tend to give Him the shaft on the front end.  It takes discipline to get to the gym every day, and it’s something I tend to think that I do myself.  But is that true?  Do I really do anything by myself?  Is He not the cause of every good thing done?  Are not all virtues gifts from God? Am I so foolish as to think that even small victories over laziness are my own working? (Apparently, yes, lol).

Even when I want to acknowledge God, why does it sometimes feel strange to include Him in everything?  Am I not supposed to do everything for His glory, whatever I happen to be doing?  “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).    Still, even knowing this, it seems awkward to me to ask God to help me get to the gym, or for the Holy Spirit to help my will conquer my desire as I’m staring down the dessert table.  But I suppose that shows just how long a journey of faith I still have ahead of me.

So here’s my prayer that whatever your New Year’s resolution is, be it trying to quit smoking or drinking, or to get out of debt or to spend more time with family  (other popular resolutions) that you’ll open the door a crack and let Jesus in!  He wants to help.  I say we let Him!  Happy New Year!

Living After the Coming of Jesus

It’s always around Christmas time, as we celebrate the birth of Jesus, that I’m reminded of how blessed we all are to be living in this time period, A.D.   As Jesus told his disciples, “Blessed are the eyes which see what you see!  For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it” (Luke 10:23-24).  We all have the good fortune of being able to know Jesus directly, to learn about Him and His life, His teachings, His love.

I think it must have difficult for many Jews B.C.  They knew of God mostly through His law.  They learned of Him through the Torah and all of their traditions, but there was always a separation between them and God.  Even in the Temple, God was only present in the Most Holy Place, and the average worshiper was not allowed to enter.  In fact, only the high priest could enter, and he could only do so once a year on the Day of Atonement.

To separate God in the Most Holy Place from the rest of the Temple there was a great veil, or curtain.  And while this was obviously necessary to physically cut off everyone from the Most Holy Place, it also seems perfectly metaphorical as well.  God was in some sense hidden from all worshipers.

Which brings me back to how grateful I am to be living now.  Not only is God no longer hidden from us, but the Messiah has revealed Himself and come to redeem us all!  We can now  know God’s one and only Son, with no separation, no curtain.  He has also sent the Holy Spirit to be with us and guide us.

What a difference this makes, especially in daily life!  To be able to:

• turn to Jesus, who we know experienced our human struggles, and lay our problems at His feet.
• find meaning in our suffering, if we offer it up to Jesus and carry our cross with His help.
• receive Him in the Eucharist, which strengthens us and slowly but surely transforms us.
• turn to the Holy Spirit and find guidance.
• ask Him to help us pray better, since we do not know how to pray as we ought (Rom 8:26).

We have so much to be thankful for!  God has given us more than we could ever need to turn to Him, to know Him and to love Him.  May we do this our whole lives long!

Love & the Birth of Jesus

Belated Merry Christmas!  I hope your celebration of the Lord’s birth was filled with peace, love and joy!

And if we remember the reason for the season, how could it not be?  It’s such an incredible moment in history that we commemorate on the 25th.  The birth of our Savior, the Word becoming flesh!  This is a shocking thing (though admittedly we can forget just how shocking as we become more and more familiar with it).  That God, Creator of heaven and earth, through Whom all things came to be, from Whom we have received grace after grace, became human to redeem us.  He deigned to come down from heaven, to lower Himself to share in our humanity, all out of pure love!

It’s certainly one thing to talk about this incredible love of Jesus, but quite another to experience it.  Even if it can’t be felt at all times, to know something of this unbounded love He has for us is what being a Christian is all about.  Instead of getting to know the love of God through the law, we are now able to know His love from Him directly.  And what a gift it is to know this love!  Because this love sets us on fire.  It makes us forget ourselves and serve Him (which in turn leads us to serve others as well).  It makes us want to sing His praises and spend time with Him all day long.  And it is this amazing love Jesus became human to share with us!  This is the work Jesus began with his birth.  What great reason we have for celebration!

May we all experience His love in new and greater ways this season!  And may we praise Him for His glory!