+++++++++++++++++++++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

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Adoration Chapel

As usual, I was hurried - arriving minutes late for my hour in the Adoration Chapel. I bustled in (quietly) and decided on a pew. As I knelt down before entering the pew, I looked up at the Host in the monstrance - and felt loved. Quiet came over me, and I couldn’t help but smile.

This is not a rare occurrence, as I am often flying in at the last minute. But, Jesus is waiting to put a smile on my face and in my soul. I give Him all my joys, my worries, my dilemmas of the day. He counsels me and consoles me. Words, thoughts, ideas come to mind that - if I don’t write them down - escape me when I leave His Presence.

I may moan and groan that I’m too tired, that I didn’t have time for lunch, or that I have too much to do at home. Never, once I have arrived, have any of those concerns mattered. I am with Jesus and that is all that matters.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Passover

The Jewish people did not always think of time as linear. When they celebrated Passover, it was more than a remembrance of an event in the past. In celebrating Passover, the Jewish people were present at Passover. In instituting the Eucharist at Passover, Jesus made Passover an archetype. He offered His Body and Blood to the Father as a sacrifice, a sacrifice which happened within twenty-four hours at Calvary. When He said to “do this in remembrance of Me” the apostles knew that He meant it to be more than just a memorial. The early Christians celebrated “the breaking of the bread.” From early writings, what the early Christians did closely resembles the Mass Today. They and we believe that in the Mass, we are offering the one sacrifice of Jesus at Calvary. As the Jewish people were present at Passover, so at the Mass we are present at Calvary. WE can do this because God is timeless. In the Mass, we are uniting ourselves with Jesus on the Cross. Therefore, our sacrifice at Mass is not a new sacrifice or another offering of what Jesus had done once for all. Trying to comprehend this is trying to look at the Grand Canyon and comprehend the distances in the view. All of the people through the past 2000 years offering Jesus to the Father for our sins in the Mass are with Jesus at Calvary offering Himself to the Father for the sins of the world.