Humbled

    Social media can be a curse and a blessing. We can waste time or we can make that time useful. I tend to follow a lot of religious communities and their posts are so beautiful I often share them. Today I shared a post from the Sisters of Notre Dame Chardon Ohio  that said “I have given God a million reasons not to love me. None of them changed His mind.” Simply stated, profoundly true.  It is a great reminder much like todays gospel, while it may be difficult to hear it shows us just how much God loves us. It reminds me to be humble and contrite, to never judge and to throw myself at the feet of the mercy of God.  “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”  No matter how off course I wander Lord, bring me home to you. For you are the way the truth and the life.

Commandments Vs. Relationship?

      

     A few months back my husband posed a question to me. Do you think it is more important to follow the commandments or to have a relationship with God? Easy one, I thought, relationship right? No we are called to follow the commandments, he stated matter of factly. This began a light hearted debate when we disagreed. What does it matter to follow the commandments logically if God is not in your heart? I added. He countered with if you don’t follow the commandments how can you be in relationship with God? My counter, if you are in relationship with God you wants to follow the commandments. We’re both right, but the beautiful thing about faith is God meets us where we are at, and where we are coming from. Whether we follow the commandments to get to Him, or our relationship drives us to be holy and follow his laws, just make sure they come from a genuine place of desire for God.

Merciful Father

    

      No good deed goes unpunished. That quote I repeat all too often at times in my life. The concern though is what we do with those feelings we have when an act we committed in good faith has been misinterpreted and thought wrong even sinful? Do we respond? Or do we react? The magic is in the moment of pondering, the one moment we take before we respond. That moment of prayerful quiet. Our antiphon is a clue in today's readings as well." If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts." God calls us to be open, be prayerful, be merciful and kind, be Him. If our end desire is to bring as many as we can to the kingdom, isn’t that what our response should be? Satan does not even have to lift a finger if we destroy each other. “Even now says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart, for I am gracious and merciful.”  Merciful indeed.

Family of Faith

     One of the greatest challenges that often come up with other catholic moms in conversation is that their adult children don’t practice their faith. It is a frustration and heartache many carry. As a spiritual director one of the first things we learn is that every one’s spiritual journey is uniquely their own. Quite honestly there were many times in my life that I was not a devout follower. No amount of preaching could reach me either. But I know the many prayers of loved ones still poured into my life and they did eventually fall on fertile ground.  Only through heartache, loss and disappointment did I realize my need for God and was able to see, in retrospect, his mercy and grace written throughout the pages of my life. Take heart, your prayers too will not fall on deaf ears forever. Pray to Mary for courage and to St Monica for perseverance. Eventually you own faith will be the best witness.

The Beauty of the Sacraments

   One of the things I love so much about our Catholic faith is the sacraments. They are all so beautiful in their rituals. Today’s reading from Corinthians tells us “Whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away.” Every time we receive a sacrament we become a new creation. This theme runs through each and every one, from beginning to end.  A child baptized is given a white garment, blessed with holy water and oil symbolizing a new creation.  At a funeral mass the coffin is draped in a white cloth by the family and sprinkled with holy water returning us to our creator as a new creation. All through our catholic life in each of the sacraments as we grow deeper in our faith, more mature in our spiritual life we are reminded that our creator continues to recreate us. We become participants in that creation by the fidelity of covenant we enter into with God.

It's Time to Forgive

     Today’s gospel from Matthew is one of my favorites. Strange I know, but it reminds me of God’s mercy and never ending forgiveness. And it reminds me that I am called to be a merciful forgiver too. Simple, not easy. One part of this reading was pointed out in a radio show I was listening to years ago, the line that the “wicked servant” was handed over to the “torturers”. He was literally tortured because of his un-forgiveness. And isn’t that what holding a grudge and not forgiving another does to us? It tortures us. It keeps us stuck in the past, not able to move past whatever hurt we felt. We get holier than though and believe the person does not deserve our forgiveness. I’m sorry, isn’t that Gods job to decide?  We are all loved sinners in God’s eyes.

Luke 6:38 “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”

Pray for Us

     At Holy Angels Catholic church in Bainbridge, Ohio we are blessed to have Mercy Chapel. There is something quite sacred about this space. Over the last few months I have taken to praying in front of our statue of Mary in our chapel. As a mother I find her my life, my sweetness and my hope.  I take my motherly concerns to the pew in front of her and pray for her wisdom, guidance and strength. I pour out my heart, my worries and my weaknesses. I ponder her Fiat, her strength to say yes to God. I wonder how a young woman could enter into this covenant of mystery. It could only be her faith. Her fidelity to God and his promises gave her the courage to bear his son.  I pray for a portion of that courage, I pray for a restless heart,  I pray for my children at her feet.

 

Lent is a time full of opportunities and possibilities. More than any other time of the year we are urged to reflect on our spiritual lives, to clean house, to repair and rebuild. The story of the fig tree is a wonderful representation of this time in our liturgical calendar. While the owner of the orchard is convicted to cut it down when it continues to bear no fruit the gardener has a more cultivating heart.  Leave it here for this year, he urges and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it: it may bear fruit in the future. We all could use a good gardener in our lives. Someone that pours into our lives, fertilizes us with wise counsel and a merciful heart.  Lent is this time of cultivating. We need to take this opportunity to seek out ways to enrich our soil so we too can bear fruit in the future.