+++++++++++++++++++++God's timing is not our timing, but He is never late.+++++++++++++++
"If we're open to it, God can use even the smallest thing to change our lives." Donna Van Liere, The Christmas Shoes


Layers - in the knowledge of God and the path to holiness

Learning about God is like unwrapping a head of lettuce, pealing back one leaf at a time. Always there is another leaf below. We will eventually reach the center of the head of lettuce; but we will never unwrap everthing there is to know about God.

The path to holiness is like pealing an onion. God shows us what is sinful and convicts us that we have sinned. No matter how sweet the onion, there are always tears in the peeling. No matter how sweet the grace of repentence, there are always the pain of letting go of the sin. As the peeling of the onion reveals another layer, so God shows us what we lack in holiness, drawing us ever closer to "be(ing) perfect even just as your heavenly Father is perfect." Matthew 5:48



What I Believe

Why I am and always will be a Catholic. "So Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. Tthe living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever." John 6:53-58 The words and actions of man cannot sanctify. Only the priest, empowered by his ordination, can invoke the Holy Spirit to transform the bread and wine into Jesus so we can receive Him - Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity into our bodies and souls. This is the core of the Catholic Church; without this there is no purpose or meaning to the Catholic Church. There are other ways to holiness, to grow in grace; there is no better way than union with Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.

Visitation Catholic Church

Visitation Catholic Church

Friday, August 7, 2009

Growth

I see myself as an integrated person not as a fractured being of false selves and true self hidden deep within. What I am today is not what I’ll be tomorrow. As a person grows physically from conception, so I grow spiritually from the time of my baptism. A person can have setbacks in physical growth because of accident, illness or maltreatment. So, too, I have had setbacks in my spiritual growth due to sin, fear, ego and rejection of God. With each infusion of God’s grace I accept, I am changed from the person I was before. God is nurturing my soul with His love until that love dominates. “Perfect love cast out all fear.” 1 John 4:18 I am not casting off false personas as much as I am growing into the person God intended for me to be when He created me. The clay that I am is sometimes kneaded, sometimes formed, sometimes punched and, yes, sometimes pinched off. A child, as he grows, learns to do things physically that me once thought impossible. So, too, as I grow in God’s love, God is teaching me to be in way I thought no possible. “All things are possible for God.” Mark10:27
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