tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57233700776861497532024-03-13T10:50:19.152-07:00Invisible WomanAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01337040784023107866noreply@blogger.comBlogger48125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723370077686149753.post-59420136939378617792018-02-15T08:46:00.001-08:002018-02-15T08:46:52.837-08:00Our Homeschooling Adventure<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm dusting off the trusty old blog to attempt to give a brief but sincere answer to those who have asked me for homeschooling advice. A lot of you don't know about my rule: I don't give parenting advice. Why? Well, when people ask for parenting advice, they are usually really wanting to vent, express frustration, or seek confirmation of what they already plan to do. The hard observations are usually not welcome. So it's awkward when (mostly) mom friends ask me why I chose to homeschool and if I recommend that THEY homeschool. That might be beyond my scope, and it's definitely beyond my role in their lives. So: I'll give a couple of insights, and not much more than that. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. I've been kicked out of some homeschooling conversations because I'm not technically, it seems, a true homeschooler in some folks' minds. My kids technically attend an online charter school. I think complete homeschooling with your own curriculum or one you've purchased is valid, but I did not feel qualified to do that, not at this point. True, I am a teacher by trade, and I have a Masters degree, but that degree is in English, and outside of my facility for language and my theological studies, I don't really have enough of a background in any other discipline to teach anyone else. At least that is how I perceive myself for now, and that is the ideal, so if I had to do it all myself, could I? Yes, but to me, that wouldn't be the ideal. An online school is free [to me] (paid for by my taxes, the money that would and has been going to my public school district, the one I've never used), supplies computers, phones, and curriculum, and gives us access to several degreed and certified teachers with content knowledge across the spectrum. We still have the flexibility of homeschooling, but we have the structure of a brick and mortar school curriculum, and my kids aren't engaging with only me all day every day. Choosing an online school involves a LOT of research. Recently one of Ohio's online schools, eCot, had to close down midyear and THAT is a bummer for the students who were nearing graduation, and a huge headache for their parents. Look for an online school that pays its teachers well, offers flexibility of schedule, is transparent about curriculum, has been around for a few years, and has a proven record of playing nice with the government. That will matter. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. To find out about homeschooling, don't *just* ask homeschoolers. But DO at least ask *some* homeschoolers! Homeschoolers are a wonderful bunch; I can tell you that without reservation. And they are very diverse! More and more people are getting turned on to alternative education systems, whether it's because of a child being bullied, an unsafe school, concerns about indoctrination, or simply a desire to give their kids a "free-er" childhood. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. This one is important: when you ask for advice about homeschooling/unschooling/online schooling, or any alternative to traditional brick and mortal public or parochial school, please please PLEASE gently filter out people who do not share your essential goals and values. I'm nonplussed by mamas who fret about advice and criticism coming from folks who have an entirely dissimilar idea of what childhood should look like and entirely different goals for what kind of adults they want their kids to be! These are not the people to ask about educational choices: you can ask them about finances, food, clothing, vacation spots, skincare, or the price of tea in China, but WHY on earth would you ask someone for parenting advice whose basic core values and goals for their family are opposed to yours? Don't do that. Also, filter out the reasons that are eliminated by the most rudimentary research into homeschooling. These emotional and uninformed responses will be three. Ready? a. your kid will turn out to be a __________. b. #socialization!!! and c. how does this get them ready for the "real world?" (whatever that is). When you hear these, smile and nod like someone is giving you an intriguing potato salad recipe. Then move on to someone else. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. Two benefits I've seen already from homeschooling (and mind you, I haven't even been doing this for a full academic year yet!) are the closer and better observation of the material my kids are studying and a closer and better observation of MY KIDS. Truly. I thought I knew my kids pretty well; I'm a stay at home mom, and I don't have many interests and obligations that take me away from my kids, never have. So I thought I knew a bunch about them, and I did, but there is a whole other layer that I have only gotten to see and know by being around them while they are "doing school." </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5. Homeschooling is not about you. What I mean to say is that it's not a panacea for your problems or your kids' problems, for that matter, but especially not for yours. I waited a few years after my initial epiphany about homeschooling to actually implement it because I didn't want to do it for the wrong reasons, like missing them during the day, or being afraid my son's asthma would flare up while he was at school. Those could be factors, but I don't like to decide things from a place of emotion. That's never a good idea. Don't do that. I'll give you an example from my own life: I have had some anxiety issues since about 2005 when my mom was diagnosed with cancer. Now, some would think that my anxiety and worries about my kids would decrease by having them home under my watchful eye. But it doesn't work that way. It's not about me. The fact is that now I can listen to every cough and worry about it! So if I had started my homeschooling adventure laboring under the belief that this would be a partial solution to my anxiety, I would be disappointed and THAT would come through to my "students," my kids. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6. Sometimes you need to ask yourself not WHY should I do this, but WHY NOT? Really. And that's all there is to point number six. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7. Before I started my research into alternative educational plans for my kids, I had to orient myself with a mission statement of sorts. I suggest you do the same. What do you want your kids to learn? What are the priorities? After reading the book <u>How to Hold on to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More than Peers</u> by Dr. Gordon Neufeld and Dr. Gabor Mate, it all started crystallizing for me. But it took me three years after that to really know this was the right move, and it took *really* answering the question above. I want my kids to learn about the triune God and His Church. I want my kids to learn how to think. I want my kids to question axioms, popular culture and people. I want my kids to look at what works empirically and through the lens of the natural law, but also look at the supernatural. I want my kids to be qualified to recognize, resist, and refute logical fallacies in written form, in the media, from a journalist, or from a friend. I want my kids to be confident in their identity as a child of God. I want my kids to pursue Jesus, pursue their personal goals, be good stewards of their gifts and talents, be kind to others, and be close to each other. I want my kids to mature at a healthy pace. I want my kids to be willing and able to express themselves freely and WELL. I want my kids to be saints. </span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01337040784023107866noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723370077686149753.post-88741382098139883392017-01-10T07:45:00.002-08:002017-01-10T07:45:47.111-08:00Don't Get Mad; Get Even<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Have
you felt anger today? If it’s early in the day when you’re reading this, did
you actually wake up with anger? I know people who live their entire lives like
this, with anger and resentment as constant companions. They can’t really enjoy the company of this
awful emotion, but they get so accustomed to their “friend,” that they begin to
perpetuate that mad feeling by feeding into it.
Like all of our emotions, what we feed grows, and what we starve dies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Modern life is generous in handing out reasons to feel angry. The news is on the television, blaring tragedy and injustice, stupidity and emptiness. Your bills are piling up, and yet some folks you know seem to be swimming in the big bucks. You can't get your weight under control. You can't get your kids under control. You can't get your self under control. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">If nothing makes you angry today, you can conveniently dip into your past for old reasons to get angry. They're always ready to serve, aren't they? Your parents fell far below the ideal. Your ex-spouse or ex-girlfriend gutted you and left you on the side of the road for dead, emotionally and financially speaking. You were bullied throughout all twelve years of school, and no one did a thing to intervene. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">How
can we starve our anger? Well, if it’s righteous anger, the kind the saints
addressed, then we should turn it into action, fighting against the evils of
the world. There are many ways to do this that don’t involve sinning in
thought, word, or deed. We are, after all, the Church militant! Find other Christians who are angry about the same evils that you are. Find ministries that are solving problems, not just fomenting rage around them. Donate to organizations that provide ways to alleviate the social ills that make you angry. Educate and increase awareness of unjust situations. Find a Saint who got (righteously) angry and then proceeded to get things done! Anger is natural, and can even be a gift if it's anger at an insult to our Savior, Jesus Christ, and the Church. But you must DO something with it -- channel it. Or it simply becomes bubble gum for your mind and useless emotionalism for your spirit. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">If it’s a personal anger, a simmering feeling of rage bubbling just below the
surface, then we have to regain our equanimity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We have to get “even.” Even tempered, that is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
<w:UseFELayout/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="276">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“I’m not even tempered by
nature!”, </i>you
respond. Lucky for you, then, that we
have a God who can make all things new! He can change your very heart! But you
have to bring him your anger in prayer, leave it at the foot of the cross like
you would any pain, and let Him turn it into something new, something He can use
for the betterment of The Kingdom. When was the last time you sat in front of the Blessed Sacrament? Now there is a place to vent some sinful (or bordering on sinful) anger. Jesus will tell you just what to do with that emotion, and He will also melt your ice while He is at it. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Jesus did turn over the tables at the Temple. And He wept. He was like us in every way but sin. He understands your anger, and He knows (because He made you) that your anger is probably a veil covering your sadness, your worry, your fear, your weakness, your vulnerability, your frustration, your inadequacy. Jesus can and will help you make progress with ALL of these root causes of anger. Don't let your anger develop into a pattern of emotion - tantrum - guilt - distance from Jesus. When our emotions are spinning out of control, and threatening our obedience and our reason, the FIRST thing we need is super close proximity to Jesus, and that right soon. Amen?</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"> </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01337040784023107866noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723370077686149753.post-6653192649807136692016-09-09T10:25:00.000-07:002016-09-09T10:25:38.894-07:00Prayeraphobia<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A
frustration I hear a lot from my friends and blog readers is that people can’t seem to get
deeper into their prayer lives. When pressed for reasons, most commonly cited
is lack of time or energy and focus, but in reality, fear of intimacy with
Christ may actually be at the root of this problem. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Did
you know there are actually NINE stages of prayer? Yes, NINE! And liturgical
prayer, along with our other written or spoken prayers, private or public, is
only the first level! By the seventh level, the saints would sometimes fall
into ecstasies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Many of us feel that
this kind of prayer life is simply out of reach for us. We give up on the idea
before we even begin, seeing ourselves as somehow unworthy. Perhaps, too, we
fear surrendering and laying open that much of ourselves to God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But He knows every inch and thought and hair
of us anyway, does He not? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The
biggest hurdle for most people is getting past level four, which involves the
“prayer of simple gaze.” A full, silent, meditating and concentrated
attentiveness to God and the truths of the Faith requires vulnerability and
purification, and often no immediate consolation from the Holy Spirit! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
<w:UseFELayout/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="276">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The
good news, the “Gospel” of this process, is that Jesus is there, at the other
side of that dark night, to initiate the next level of prayer, infused
contemplation. This yields a sweetness
and delight that will be positively addictive to any Catholic soul! Think of it
as a foretaste of the Beatific Vision.
What could be more desirable on earth than this? And certainly, my
friends, nothing to fear. </span><span style="font-family: Chalkboard;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01337040784023107866noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723370077686149753.post-10331970212668855032016-05-18T08:52:00.001-07:002016-05-18T08:52:42.112-07:00Seven People to Pray for Today<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It's easy to fall into the habit of praying in too small a circle. We pray for our personal intentions, for our families and closest friends, our parish, but we sometimes forget to open the lens a bit and commit to intercessory prayer for those who may have no one praying for them at all. Here are a handful of suggestions to get you started!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1. <b><i>Your enemy</i></b>. Yes, I'm opening with a tough one! It's so essential to the faith to pray for those who have wronged us. It aids in the forgiveness and healing processes and it's commanded by God. If you have no enemy per se, then simply pray for someone who irritates or challenges you. Do not pray a self-serving prayer like "<i>Lord, please help this person not be so annoying!" </i>Instead, pray for the soul of that person, for health and joy to dwell in him or her, and for God to root out anything in YOU that may be provoking this "enemy" or preventing a better relationship between the two of you. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2. <b><i>Your priest</i></b>. And all priests! Friends, who on earth has a tougher job than our priests? In this fallen world, they are hated, second guessed, and often in straight up peril. Even a young, vital priest in a relatively good parish likely faces spiritual battles daily. Think of what he sees. Think of what he hears. His job takes him to hospital rooms, prisons, deathbeds, and into the confessional. Pray for the fortitude, peace, and salvation of all priests, especially your own.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">3. <b><i>The falling away and fallen away</i></b>. At any given time, I'm watching at least two or three people gradually drift away from The Church. It's tragic. I know you must see the same, and I know you likely have family members who have fallen away and seem very unlikely to return to Christ. We cannot simply sit there and wring our hands; we are called to pray fervently for these people whose eternal lives are on the line. It is no small thing to walk away from the graces offered by The Church! What has pulled or is pulling this person away? Pray for the grave sway of sin to release these people pronto!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">4. <b><i>Police, firefighters, military personnel, and corrections officers</i></b>. I don't think there is a population more taken for granted, more unappreciated, than those who dedicate their lives to protecting <i>our</i> lives. Materially underpaid, constantly under scrutiny, and certainly in physical danger every single day, our police officers, firefighters, soldiers, corrections officers, and any and all first responders have truly died to self in a manifest way. Pray for their life and limb. Pray for their souls, as they do risk their lives daily, and pray that they feel the gratitude of those they serve. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">5. <b><i>Your parents</i></b>. If there is one thing that has come as a surprise to me as I've gotten older it's how many people do NOT have good and peaceful relations with their parents. I'm sure you know an example or are perhaps living in this situation yourself. We all know that we are commanded by God to honor our parents, but the dynamic between parents and their adult children can be so very complicated, and often honoring by tolerating is the sad result. So, whether you are fortunate enough to be on good terms with your parents or if your interactions are strained, please, pray for your parents. If you still have them with you, pray for their health, their souls, and that your communications with them can be fruitful. If you have lost your parents to death, pray for their souls. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">6. <b><i>The souls in Purgatory</i></b>. Much could be and has been written on this topic. The bottom line is that it is our Christian duty to pray for the release of the souls in Purgatory, as we desire the Church on earth to pray for our souls after our death. When I think of all the souls who are completely neglected and unrepresented in Purgatory, I get the chills. What a sobering thought this is! And so easy to remedy! Pray for these souls today, for you may be among them tomorrow. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">7. <b><i>The addicted</i></b>. The bulk of the prayer requests I receive from people are for help, rescue, and comfort in a personal crisis, the catalyst of which is most often some sort of an addiction. Whether the addiction is to alcohol, pornography, or drugs, this monster completely and brutally takes over the lives of those it visits. Addiction devastates and divides families. Addiction turns the addict into a stranger to his or her loved ones, a liar, a victimizer, and a source of stress for everyone he or she encounters. Much anger is directed at the addict, and this anger fuels feelings of hopelessness and isolation. These feelings lead to an increased reliance on the object of addiction. Please pray for these folks and their families. Pray that the cycle can be broken for them, that they seek and find the solid help they need, and that they return to a healthy and abundant life without reliance on what has enslaved them. </span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01337040784023107866noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723370077686149753.post-56520987102894273362016-03-07T09:38:00.000-08:002016-03-07T09:38:44.952-08:00Who Wouldn't Want This?<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Has Lent got you feeling grumpy? Deprived? Hungry? Has politics got you acting like a real bear? Are you snapping at people? Is the long wait for the first buds of springtime transforming you into someone from whom people walk away? Your heart, soul, body, and mind all need something. But what? If only The Church had something, something you could access daily if you really wanted to, that yielded miraculous graces! If only . . . </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I give you today, friends, some straight up Catechism. Section 1391 and thereabouts, called "The Fruits of Holy Communion." Take a gander at this: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The principal fruit of receiving the Eucharist in Holy Communion is <b><i>an intimate union with Christ Jesus. </i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>Growth in Christian life needs the nourishment of Eucharistic Communion</i></b>, the bread for our pilgrimage until the moment of death.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As bodily nourishment restores lost strength, so the Eucharist strengthens our charity, which tends to be weakened in daily life, and <b><i>this living charity wipes away venial sins.</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By giving Himself to us <b><i>Christ enables us to break our disordered attachments</i></b> and root ourselves in Him. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The more we share the life of Christ and progress in His friendship, the more difficult it is to break away from Him by mortal sin. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Those who receive the Eucharist are united more closely to Christ. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Eucharist <b><i>commits us to the poor.</i></b> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is no surer pledge or clearer sign of this great hope in the new heavens and the new earth in which righteousness dwells than the Eucharist. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We break the one bread that provides the<b><i> medicine of immortality, the antidote for death, </i></b>and the food that makes us live forever in Jesus Christ. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Friends, if you have fallen away from The Church, if you have spotty Mass participation, if you do not believe in The Real Presence, if you are a Protestant, if you are an agnostic, if you are an atheist, if you are able to read these words, I beseech you to consider availing yourself of this Heavenly gift. There is no better time than RIGHT NOW. As Father Jean-Pierre de Caussade said, "The present moment is the ambassador of God." You are reading this for a reason. Maybe it's for you; maybe it's to pass on to a lukewarm friend or a family member who is no longer a member of the pre-denominational, Jesus-origninated, blessed and daily guided Catholic Church. Soon enough it will be Easter Sunday, and new life will be shattering the walls of death. Taste and see what this upcoming Passion week is all about. Begin to imagine how close you can be to Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, the Living God -- so close that He is literally right there in front of you and entering your body. It's a weighty thing, and it's a miracle, and it's here for you every single day, in every Catholic Church around the entire world. Amen? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01337040784023107866noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723370077686149753.post-5525995353961621972015-11-27T12:29:00.005-08:002015-11-27T12:29:53.598-08:00Beware the Devangelization <span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The accepted dictionary definition of "evangelize" is:</span><div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><div class="pseg" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #404040; line-height: 19.5px; overflow-x: auto; overflow-y: hidden;">
<div class="ds-list" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: 1cm; overflow-x: auto; overflow-y: hidden;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b style="box-sizing: inherit;">1. </b>To <span class="hvr" style="box-sizing: inherit;">preach</span> <span class="hvr" style="box-sizing: inherit;">the</span> <span class="hvr" style="box-sizing: inherit;">gospel</span> <span class="hvr" style="box-sizing: inherit;">to.</span></span></div>
<div class="ds-list" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: 1cm; overflow-x: auto; overflow-y: hidden;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b style="box-sizing: inherit;">2. </b>To <span class="hvr" style="box-sizing: inherit;">convert</span> to <span class="hvr" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Christianity.</span></span></div>
<div class="ds-list" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: 1cm; overflow-x: auto; overflow-y: hidden;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b style="box-sizing: inherit;">3. </b>To <span class="hvr" style="box-sizing: inherit;">promulgate</span> or <span class="hvr" style="box-sizing: inherit;">promote</span> (a <span class="hvr" style="box-sizing: inherit;">doctrine</span> or <span class="hvr" style="box-sizing: inherit;">idea,</span> <span class="hvr" style="box-sizing: inherit;">for</span> <span class="hvr" style="box-sizing: inherit;">example)</span> <span class="hvr" style="box-sizing: inherit;">enthusiastically.</span></span></div>
<div class="ds-list" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: 1cm; overflow-x: auto; overflow-y: hidden;">
<span class="hvr" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="pseg" style="box-sizing: inherit; overflow-x: auto; overflow-y: hidden;">
<span style="color: #404040; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 19.5px;">Now, we know that a large part of our job as Catholics is to evangelize, that is, to bring others to Christ. The ways and means are up for discussion, often passionate discussion over the course of our Church's history. If you have ever read this blog before, you know the big three evangelization techniques I have seen succeed: evangelize by example, evangelize by service, and evangelize by education. Unfortunately, something I have seen succeed in recent years is a reverse evangelization -- well-meaning but perhaps not well-catechized Christians, and here I address Catholics in particular, are attempting to evangelize the fallen away of their friends or even family, and instead of preaching the Gospel and converting to Christianity, they end up as the object of a secular evangelization practiced by the person whom THEY were trying to help in the first place! </span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="pseg" style="box-sizing: inherit; overflow-x: auto; overflow-y: hidden;">
<span style="color: #404040; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 19.5px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="pseg" style="box-sizing: inherit; overflow-x: auto; overflow-y: hidden;">
<span style="color: #404040; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 19.5px;">The person who is particularly vulnerable to this "devangelization" is typically the one who has an emotional attachment to the person whom (s)he is trying to convert. Parents are possibly most likely to fall into this category when attempting to reconcile their fallen away or lukewarm children back with The Church. They may find themselves ill prepared to counter the slick and aggressive anti-Catholic arguments their child now has at at the ready, and as a sad result, they find themselves compromising, first a little, then a little more, and before they realize a wholesale defeat has taken place, they are the object of definition number three above . . . their teenage or adult child has "enthusiastically promulgated or promoted" the doctrines of secularism, or worse. </span></span></div>
<div class="pseg" style="box-sizing: inherit; overflow-x: auto; overflow-y: hidden;">
<span style="color: #404040; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 19.5px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="pseg" style="box-sizing: inherit; overflow-x: auto; overflow-y: hidden;">
<span style="color: #404040; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 19.5px;">Often, in a noble but destined to fail go at retaining the title of Catholic, the parent will perform a series of incredibly complicated mental and verbal gymnastics to retrofit the newly discovered </span></span></div>
<div class="pseg" style="box-sizing: inherit; overflow-x: auto; overflow-y: hidden;">
<span style="color: #404040; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 19.5px;">SBNR (spiritual but not religious) or progressive ideas into the 2000 year old teachings of The Church. It is, of course, unsuccessful, but a lot of damage has been done. Instead of researching answers to the anti-Catholic challenges and talking to a family priest, the parent simply folds. It is the easier and quicker path to a superficial family peace, and that feeling of relief is frequently mistaken for the warm fuzzies of finding common ground between two polar opposites.</span></span></div>
<div class="pseg" style="box-sizing: inherit; overflow-x: auto; overflow-y: hidden;">
<span style="color: #404040; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 19.5px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="pseg" style="box-sizing: inherit; overflow-x: auto; overflow-y: hidden;">
<span style="color: #404040; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 19.5px;">The truth is this: evangelizing anyone requires that YOU know your stuff. But evangelizing someone whom you love and whose love you are afraid of losing requires that you beg God for some graces, you have the help of a priest, and you are armed with the weapons of the Holy Spirit. You have to steel yourself for the inevitable: that the beloved person you are evangelizing is going to present his or her "side" as being superior to Catholicism, or, worse and more insidious, as "different, new, loving" but totally compatible with Catholicism. </span></span></div>
<div class="pseg" style="box-sizing: inherit; overflow-x: auto; overflow-y: hidden;">
<span style="color: #404040; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 19.5px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="pseg" style="box-sizing: inherit; overflow-x: auto; overflow-y: hidden;">
<span style="color: #404040; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 19.5px;">Now we don't to look at this as a battle for the upper hand; this is not a contest for who can be the better fisher of men. But we are given a divine commission to instruct the ignorant, and that applies full force to family members, especially children whose spiritual formation was entrusted to us from the day of their birth.</span></span></div>
<div class="pseg" style="box-sizing: inherit; overflow-x: auto; overflow-y: hidden;">
<span style="color: #404040; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 19.5px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="pseg" style="box-sizing: inherit; overflow-x: auto; overflow-y: hidden;">
<span style="color: #404040; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 19.5px;">How NOT to fall for devangelization? It's analogous to dealing with an addict in the family. Realize that if you are discussing religion with a loved one who is rebelling against Catholicism, this person may have enthusiasm for her new beliefs that seems TO HER to outweigh yours. She will also try to use the argument that what is new is better -- that your ideas are antiquated, that this "new way" of following Christ is more loving, more merciful, more in tune with our souls and our changing world. Educate yourself with knowledge of the history of The Church and the words of the Church Fathers, the great saints, and our holy Popes,so that you are immune to these arguments. If the addict's mouth is moving, he is lying, and if the fallen away's mouth is moving, she is justifying, equivocating, and is quite likely very personally invested in covering up a secret sin. </span></span></div>
<div class="pseg" style="box-sizing: inherit; overflow-x: auto; overflow-y: hidden;">
<span style="color: #404040; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 19.5px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="pseg" style="box-sizing: inherit; overflow-x: auto; overflow-y: hidden;">
<span style="color: #404040; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 19.5px;">As painful as it is, you also need to recognize that your loved one may utilize some emotional blackmail. Suddenly their love may seem conditional on YOU accepting their new identity as something other than YOUR definition (read the Church's definition!) of a Catholic. You shouldn't engage in emotional manipulation, nor should you fall for it. The truths of The Church speak for themselves, today more than ever before. Those who stray from The Church rely heavily on pointing to the evils of the modern world as evidence that there either is "no God," or "many roads," when in fact, the evils of this age are a point for the side of the one True Church. The practical and concrete examples are replete that demonstrate this: in every way that humanity strays from the teachings of Christ as guarded by The Church, economically, familially, sexually, humanity has failed miserably. </span></span></div>
<div class="pseg" style="box-sizing: inherit; overflow-x: auto; overflow-y: hidden;">
<span style="color: #404040; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 19.5px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="pseg" style="box-sizing: inherit; overflow-x: auto; overflow-y: hidden;">
<span style="color: #404040; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 19.5px;">Work on your own faith life. That is the answer to nine out of ten, no -- make that ten out of ten conundrums faced by the Catholic evangelizer. Study Scripture and the Catechism and know with every fiber of your being that the truths outlined therein are immutable and unchanging, not to be contradicted nor negotiated down. If you find yourself backed into a corner and you can't discuss your way out, remember that there is only really one teaching that you must know, and that is the teaching about authority. Jesus Christ is all in all. He is the one and only true Savior of our world, and He is God Himself. And Jesus Christ gave teaching authority to Peter, our first Pope, and He continues to guide the Church today. If we do not believe this, if we do not KNOW this, then we shouldn't accept the Bible, or any of the teachings or examples of Christ! Either He is King or He isn't. Either He guides The Church or He doesn't. So if you are asked a question by an argumentative son or daughter that you don't feel prepared to answer in detail, you can say with confidence: "Because The Church teaches it." No further explanation is required, at least not in the heat of argument. Your confidence (particularly if you can keep your composure and not resort to yelling or emotionalism) will make an impression with your loved one, whether he admits it or not. </span></span></div>
<div class="pseg" style="box-sizing: inherit; overflow-x: auto; overflow-y: hidden;">
<span style="color: #404040; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 19.5px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="pseg" style="box-sizing: inherit; overflow-x: auto; overflow-y: hidden;">
<span style="color: #404040; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 19.5px;">Remember, never stop praying. Pray over your loved one, pray with your loved one, and if at all possible, try to get that loved one to Adoration. Sitting in the presence of Jesus makes it much more difficult to disobey Him! His love is irresistible! </span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01337040784023107866noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723370077686149753.post-36284719620633995452015-11-03T09:14:00.000-08:002015-11-03T09:14:24.178-08:00The Only Good Catholic <span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Driving my kids home from school on one of our faster moving country roads, I was stopped short by a dog wandering stupidly around the yellow lines. I couldn't get out of the car to help because my son has a life-threatening allergy, so my frustration mounted as I realized that until someone else came along, I was now responsible for this creature's safety simply because I happened upon him at this moment in time. I rolled down my window and attempted conversation, to no avail. "Go away, boy! Get off the road!" I honked my horn. I couldn't even inch my own vehicle up to try to demonstrate that this is what cars DO around here, because a good part of the time he was in my blind spot or right near my tires. "Dopey dog! I'm trying to save your life!" I felt tears threatening. Finally a truck came in the opposite direction. I beseeched the other driver to help and explained why my son's allergy precluded me from doing so. The driver looked indifferent, and almost annoyed by the burden I was attempting to foist on to him. My voice and probably my face became more pleading. I hoped my emotion would show through. "I have to get somewhere . . . " he started rolling ahead a bit. "Please! Just get the dog off the road; bring him up to the man walking a ways back . . . anything. I can't. He'll get hit!" The driver knew it was true. The road isn't very trafficked, nor policed, so it's a fast way to get where you need to go. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I don't know what happened after I drove away. My kids reassured Mom, as they are wont to do, that I had done everything possible under the circumstances. Still, I felt the familiar pangs of conscience. <i>"What I have done, and what I have failed to do." </i>Out loud, to them, I merely said, "It's the owner's fault. A dog belongs on a leash. A beautiful animal like that." I trailed off. I wasn't making sense anymore, even to myself. This wasn't Queens. This is rural Ohio, and farm people let their dogs and cats run amok. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">All my life I've encountered creatures run amok, it seems, and all hungry for something or someone. I collect stray animals and stray people. I listen to strangers in the store. I keep a vault of secrets. I lend an ear, I lend money, I lend my heart. I'm so often left with the question: "Did I do enough?" And the burning hot frustration that I had while evangelizing the dog on that country road is an all too familiar sensation as well. <i>"Why won't you listen to me? I'm trying to help you! I'm trying to save your life, dummy! Stop what you're doing and do what I tell you to do!" </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Is that reaction making helping others all about me? Is my heart so selfish? Maybe. I have to learn to trust God to do the heavy lifting. I have to learn to trust others in the same way I trusted the other driver that afternoon. <i> "He'll help the dog; he seemed like a nice man." </i>It's what I told my kids, but I only half believed the words as they came out of my mouth. They were half whistling in the dark. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The thing that's tempting as a Catholic is getting ahead of yourself. We want to get everyone to Heaven, and we know that The Church is the way, so we want to get them in there pronto, and by any means necessary. Time may be short. There is an urgency, especially in these secular times, in a country so materially wealthy and educated but in such loathsome and egregious spiritual poverty. We tend to raise our voices a little frantically, don't we? <i>"Hey, dopey! I'm trying to save your soul! Get out of the mess you're in and do what I'm doing!" </i>But the immediate hunger that the person we encounter may be one for food, or cash, or a punching bag. Do we take care of the physical needs, those lowest on Maslow's hierarchy, before we address what WE know to be the "only thing that is needed?" </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Society", for want of a less hackneyed term, may be answering that question for us. It's telling us to shut up and hand over the material aid, just be quiet about it. In 2015 America, the only good Catholic is a bad Catholic. They want our money, our hospitals, our foster homes, even our Pope. What they DON'T want is our doctrine. Hey, even a broad swath of self-identifying Catholics don't want the doctrine -- they want the baptism, the First Holy Communion, and the big wedding. Every other day is a secular day, and you better keep your sappy, judgmental, archaic religious ya ya out of it. Sound familiar? If you've been evangelizing anywhere in "real life" or online or even in your own neighborhood, it should. But listen, this secularized society is just people. They all need hope and they all need healing and they all need Heaven. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Knowing that truth puts us ahead of the game. The dog might think that a romp on the double yellow line looks good right now, or he may just be confused and thirsty. His immediate need was to get off the road, and I had to work with someone else, and have a little faith, and suffer a little, to help get him there. At the end of the day, I had to be satisfied with an unknown outcome. Sometimes in evangelization we have to settle for the unknown outcome. It's a lot like being a classroom teacher, or a parent. We in the business of the human services may not see results for literally decades, if ever. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What we can't afford is to let an opportunity for encounter go by without speaking the Truth, even if it seems to fall on willfully deaf ears. No one will cross my path without knowing what I am and WHY. Sure, I'll help you out, but you're going to remember that it was a Catholic who did the helping, not to give me credit or for me to look holy, or for me to FEEL holy, and not even for me to fulfill the Great Commission! You're going to remember I'm Catholic so someday when you are hungry for hope and healing and you're ready to get out of the road and come to safety, you will REMEMBER where the source of all real help is: the Church, WHO the source of all real help and hope is: JESUS, and why your hunger still isn't satiated, because you still haven't filled it with surrender, obedience, and the Eucharist. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>"There's a difference between being a nice person and being a doormat,"</i> someone once cautioned me. Now I repeat that maxim to my kids, as they collect strays and give away what is dear to them, and pray for others, and shake their heads at the badness they see in the world around them. I want them to tread carefully, to not get taken advantage of, but I have to teach them to help the hungry, no matter how obstinate or nasty or in denial the hungry are. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I'm a bad Catholic, because I'm too comfortable. Jesus told me to be perfect, and I'm not. Jesus told me to be a fisher of men, but my bait doesn't always work. Still, I'm driving down that untrafficked road, fast, so fast, yelling at the deaf, trying to set aside my pride to trust my fellow drivers, trying to keep my kids and my husband safe, and always asking, <i>"Did I do enough, Lord?" </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Why does the question haunt so? Because I know the only good Catholic is a saint. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01337040784023107866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723370077686149753.post-3985995313571481222015-11-01T06:00:00.000-08:002015-11-01T06:00:28.167-08:00Guest Post by Corey Grimley: A basis for Pope Francis’ “Healthy Decentralization” and embracing a “Synodal Church” is found in Cardinal Robert Sarah’s new book, GOD OR NOTHING.<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shapetype
id="_x0000_t75" coordsize="21600,21600" o:spt="75" o:preferrelative="t"
path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" filled="f" stroked="f">
<v:stroke joinstyle="miter"/>
<v:formulas>
<v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"/>
<v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"/>
<v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"/>
<v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"/>
<v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"/>
<v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"/>
<v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"/>
<v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2"/>
<v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"/>
<v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"/>
<v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"/>
<v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"/>
</v:formulas>
<v:path o:extrusionok="f" gradientshapeok="t" o:connecttype="rect"/>
<o:lock v:ext="edit" aspectratio="t"/>
</v:shapetype><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_1" o:spid="_x0000_i1025" type="#_x0000_t75"
alt="Description: http://www.ncregister.com/images/uploads/GodOrNothing.jpg"
style='width:187pt;height:281pt;visibility:visible;mso-wrap-style:square'>
<v:imagedata src="file://localhost/Users/nicolemotsch/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/msoclip/0clip_image001.jpg"
o:title="//www.ncregister.com/images/uploads/GodOrNothing.jpg"/>
</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Nicole, thank you for asking me to write a guest blog post
regarding our recent discussions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On
October 17, 2015, at the close of the recent Synod of Bishops, the Holy Father
told the Synod Fathers that "the spirit of episcopal collegiality
[remember this word] has not yet been fully realized. … As I have asserted, in
a synodal Church 'it is not opportune that the Pope replace the local
episcopates in the discernment of all the problems that present themselves in
their territories.' In this sense, I feel the necessity to proceed in a healthy
'decentralization.'"<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This statement
by Pope Francis received immediate criticism, which argued that the “progressive
Pope Francis” is now trying to undermine the unifying authority of Rome and the
Papacy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Some Catholic groups quickly pointed out that Cardinal
Francis Arinze, one of the very respected, conservative, African prelates,
expressed concern if such a “decentralization” would mean that a “national
bishops’ conference in one country [] would approve something, which, in
another conference, would be seen as sin. … National bishops’ conferences are
important and should have a clear role, but I don’t think it should include
these areas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It looks dangerously like
nationalizing right and wrong.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We are left with the question, “is the very idea of ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">healthy</i> decentralization’ something in
direct conflict with the authority of Rome?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It appears that an answer may be found in a new book that George Weigel
reported was very popular among the Synod Fathers:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Cardinal Robert Sarah’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">God or Nothing</i> is the talk of the town — Rome — at the moment,”
Weigel said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Robert Royal, the editor of
the Catholic Thing, told the National Catholic Register on October 7, 2015,
during the Synod, that “Virtually everyone I know has been very impressed with
[<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">God or Nothing</i>], so much so that
many are already thinking [Cardinal Sarah’s] a prominent papabile at the next
conclave,”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">See <a href="http://m.ncregister.com/daily-news/ignatius-press-and-its-high-profile-authors-still-inform-synod-debate/#.VjT5xrerS71">http://m.ncregister.com/daily-news/ignatius-press-and-its-high-profile-authors-still-inform-synod-debate/#.VjT5xrerS71</a>.
It is important to note that Pope Francis obviously thinks quite a lot about
the conservative Cardinal Sarah, as the Pope appointed him Prefect of the
Congregation of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (one of the
nine Roman Curia Prefects) in 2014.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So what does this very popular book among the Synod Fathers
(maybe Pope Francis too?), written by a very respected, conservative Cardinal,
have to say about “healthy decentralization” and a “Synodal Church”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Quite a bit actually.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In God or Nothing (“GN”), the interviewer, Nicolas Diat, on
page 109 asks Cardinal Sarah, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Some
commentators speak up often, calling for a new and authentic application of
collegiality </i>[there’s that word again]<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">
in the Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How do you see this
problem?</i>”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In response, Cardinal Sarah begins by explaining that “[i]n
the Church there has always been a willingness to consult with one another at
the hierarchical level to examine important questions with a view to arriving
at a common position of the bishops.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Sarah goes on to explain that “[n]ecessary collegial consultation
therefore does not abolish the autonomy and responsibility of the bishop in his
own diocese [read:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>healthy
decentralization].<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No one should feel
obliged or forced by the collegial decision of the episcopate … .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each bishop is responsible before God for the
way in which he fulfills his episcopal responsibilities toward the flock that
the Holy Spirit has entrusted to his protection.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>GN, p. 110.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“Synods, which are a highly successful form of implementing
collegiality, are great moments in the life of the Church [read:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>synodal church].<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the various forums must not demobilize
the bishops or give them the sense that their powers of evaluation are
diminished. … Pope Francis would like to increase collegiality, and I think
that he is right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><u>Roman centrality
has made important achievements possible, but it can also lead to a form of
sclerosis</u>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For if the bishop’s
responsibility is weakened, there is a problem of trust. [again, read:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>healthy decentralization]”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>GN, pp. 110-111.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Emphasis added.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After emphasizing the responsibility and autonomy of the
bishops in their own dioceses, Cardinal Sarah, in differentiating between
healthy versus unhealthy decentralization, goes on to explain that “Rome
absolutely must keep the management of the apostolate as a whole. … [W]e would
commit a grave sin against the unity of the Body of Christ and of the doctrine
of the Church by giving episcopal conferences any authority or decision-making
ability concerning doctrinal, disciplinary, or moral questions.” [See Cardinal
Arinze comments, above]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cardinal Sarah
then quoted Pope Pius XII’s statements of November 2, 1954 regarding maintaining
governmental uniformity among the bishops via “frequent communion with this
Apostolic See [Rome].<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>… “Pius XII
concluded: ‘This union and harmonious communication with the Holy See arises, <u>not
from a kind of desire to centralize and unify everything</u>, but by divine
right and by reason of an essential element of the constitution of the Church
of Christ. …”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>GN, p. 111.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Emphasis added.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is implied is that the “centralization
of everything” could “lead to a form of sclerosis,” as discussed above.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“[Pope Francis’] desire to foster synodal reflection is a
fortunate initiative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Indeed, the synod
should become a new Emmaus experience during which the heart of the Church is
burning with the fire of the Scriptures.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>GN, p. 112.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<!--[if !mso]>
<style>
v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
.shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
</style>
<![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves>false</w:TrackMoves>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="276">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0in;
mso-para-margin-right:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:8.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0in;
line-height:107%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family:"Book Antiqua";}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As I was reading pages 110 – 112 of GN it struck me that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">maybe</i> Pope Francis wasn’t left out when
copies of GN were distributed to the Synod Fathers…?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If GN was (is) as popular among the Fathers
as Weigel reported, when they heard the Pope’s statements of “healthy
decentralization”, they may have thought quickly to these passages from GN and
how both Pope Francis and Cardinal Sarah appear to share certain opinions
regarding what valid reform can look like in the life of the Church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thank you for asking me to provide this
observation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The observation was just
one of the myriad of little things that make me love how hard our Church
leaders work to make us a stronger Body of Christ.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01337040784023107866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723370077686149753.post-86110146432619399672015-10-02T10:44:00.002-07:002015-10-02T10:44:50.744-07:00Please Mind My Own Business<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Fraternal correction is defined as the admonishing of one's neighbor with the purpose of reforming him, or, if possible, preventing his sinful indulgence in the first place. The very idea of this makes America 2015 ™ cringe, because even to most Christians, those who are responsible for fraternally correcting each other, the concept of evaluating the behavior of another person is absolutely taboo if not wholly laughable. How did we get here? Tons of hypocritical fraternal correction? Maybe, but I doubt it. Because even if you are a moral zero, the truth is still the truth. It doesn't care whose mouth it comes from. I should still recognize it as the truth. The ten commandments recited by any mouth are the same words, and I need to heed them regardless of the identity of the messenger at the moment. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Warnings of the wages of sin in today's first world are seen as disrespectful, antiquated, invasive, rude, uncool, judgmental, self-righteous and self-congratulatory. They are almost never viewed, by the majority, as what they are intended to be: borne of love, or what they are commanded by God to be: a spiritual work of mercy. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm fairly certain that fraternal correction gets a bad rap because no one wants to stop sinning, not because of a long history of fraternal correction gone awry. The West praises and extols the open minded, open mouthed, enlightened, and progressive. Consent is the singular litmus test for the inherent good of a human act. The only sin is to call something a sin. In this climate, the ultimate deference you can tribute to someone is to respect their choice, regardless of how destructive the consequences, respect their lifestyle, no matter how counter to the Gospel it screams.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The thing is, we do have to honor the conscience of our brothers and sisters in Christ, and we do have an obligation to stop tinkering in the lives of the unchurched if they tell us to bugger off. But atheist Penn Jillette once observed that he had no patience for non-preaching Christians, because they were essentially watching him stand in the way of a speeding train, that is, if they really believed what they claimed to. So faced with these two poles, what does a well-intentioned Catholic do?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Maybe the answer is for each of us to make a statement about how we would receive fraternal correction, rather than writing and discussing how we would GIVE it. So here's mine: I don't want to trade in Jesus for earthly popularity. I don't want to trade in the Saints for street cred. I don't want the mind of the Church replaced with the mind of the prevailing social trends. I don't want to look to Eckhart Tolle or Oprah Winfrey or the Dalai Lama or Joel Osteen. I don't want to evolve -- I'm fine with the 2000 year old unchanged and unchanging teachings of the Church founded by Jesus Christ. I don't want to keep pace with the world. Have you SEEN the world? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So if you ever see my boat veering off the Tiber, or if I ever indicate to you whether by word or by action that I am any less committed to Christ, His one holy and apostolic Church, the Pope and the Bishops, Mary the Blessed Mother, the angels and Saints, and the deposit of faith protected by The Church, DON'T MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS. Mind MY business. Fraternally correct me. Take me out to the woodshed. Warn me of the oncoming train. Push me out of the way, even if you break my arm or my pride in the process. Even if you break our friendship in the process. I beseech you and I demand it of you as it is your duty as a fellow Christian to protect me. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Admonish me. Rebuke me. Come to me with the Bible in one hand and the Catechism in the other. Save me. I may not say these words in the moment, so I am saying them now. Correct me, my brother or sister, because the stakes are no less than my eternal soul.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you feel similarly to me, please share this statement with me and with others. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01337040784023107866noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723370077686149753.post-29174907378438083812015-09-10T10:31:00.000-07:002015-09-10T10:31:14.891-07:00Marriage Mirrors<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My daughter is eleven, and she is putting together a wedding scrapbook. This is something I never would have done at her age or any age. Tom and I dated for SEVEN YEARS before getting married, and I was frightened of marriage, or, to put a finer point on it, frightened of divorce. My parents were divorced, and several of my friends were going through the separations or divorces of THEIR parents. The friends I had who were marrying didn't seem terribly happy, and a few of them were downright miserable or divorcing after only a few years of being married. </span><div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now my husband and I are in our mid to late forties, and we have been married for fourteen years. The landscape around us has not improved. We still know a minority of happy, fair, functioning marriages, and we are hearing news every week, it seems, of a new divorce, or a narrative from a friend about an extremely imperiled marriage. We know a few long married folk who are basically putting their heads down and plowing through until death because they promised to, despite feeling completely regretful of their choice of spouse. </span><div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'm not exactly a marital advice-giver. It's dangerous territory. I also always feel like I'm cheating a bit because I think the quality of my marriage is largely due to my husband being a wonderful person. I can give advice, but I can't give you <b>him.</b> So there's that. What I <i>can</i> do is observe and describe what I see around me, and hopefully learn from it by holding my marriage up to these mirrors and making sure the images don't match. Maybe you can, too.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In at least two marriages I want to look at here, the wives seem to dislike their husbands intensely. I'm talking eye rolls and groans at every word the guy says, every joke he tells, every parenting move he makes, any plans he suggests. It's the total opposite of what you want your marriage to be--your spouse should be your best friend, a person who makes you laugh, whom you find interesting, whose company you enjoy. I think what happened in these two cases was that the people dated for a while, then looked around and said, "Well, what's next? I guess we get married." There appears to be almost no common ground for married couples like this. It's amazing that they even got together in the first place. It's almost as if they were thrown together by someone who didn't know either one of them. The wives don't "get" the husbands, what makes them tick, and the husbands seem intimidated by their wives. The husbands' strategy becomes conflict avoidance. One man we know medicates with alcohol, another simply lives a life inside his own head, another trips over himself to appease the domineering woman. This lack of respect paired with an apparent mismatch is a dreadful example for children, who look to their parents' marriage for an exemplar of what the entire Sacrament and institution should operate like. A boy who sees his father bullied may grow up to be a bully himself, or become emotionally unavailable in order to avoid a commitment. A girl whose mother egregiously disrespects Dad may grow up thinking men are useless buffoons, or she may look for a partner "tougher" than Dad is, and end up overshooting and getting hitched to a controlling man herself. </span></div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Another phenomenon we have seen in the marital relationships around us is the old fashioned midlife crisis. Today it's a 50/50 proposition--the woman is just as likely as her hubby to be struck by midlife lightning. Suddenly married life is dull and unfulfilling and the grass just HAS to be greener on the other side. Often there is an urgent need to remake oneself and start over, leaving the starter spouse behind. This is especially sad because it's probably so easily remedied. If you reach a point in your marriage where you're feeling unattractive, afraid to die, like you missed out, or just plain bored, remember this little adage: the grass is greener where <i>you</i> water it. Cultivate the relationship you have before you start fantasizing about a new one. Your spouse is your history, your other half, your very flesh. If you're feeling a deficit of ANYTHING, he or she wants to know about it. Together, you find a way to get past it, and the couples we know who have done this are better on the other end. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The last and maybe most essential element that unhappily marrieds miss is the spiritual one. We are creatures of a living God, and He provides us with a whole host of graces to help us stay contentedly wed until death do us part. But if you start living two separate spiritual lives, and there is no union there, a real rift can and will develop. For Catholic families, this translates to weekly Mass attendance, together, going to confession TOGETHER, prayer TOGETHER, and talking about the things of Heaven together! What is your marital conversation about? Make a quick pie chart. Is it about fifty percent kids, thirty percent money, and twenty percent food and television? Make some time to talk about the biggies: Who is God to us? What do we think Heaven will be like? How are we going to help each other get there? How do you pray? Will you pray for me? </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Looking back, I wish I were the kind of little girl who had a wedding binder like my daughter does. It shows me that she sees marriage as a beautiful and exciting thing. She's not just into the wedding day -- she wants to BE married, be a wife and hopefully a mom. She doesn't carry any of that toxic and paralyzing fear of commitment that I did. And when I talk to her about weddings and marriage and what it's like to be a married woman, it gives me a chance to appreciate anew what I have. I can tell her with certainty that I would marry her Daddy all over again, not because we are better than anyone else, or more virtuous, but because we truly have become one. To love is to will the good of the other, and if we are both living out that definition of love to the best of our ability, then we can never stray too far off of God's path for us. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">If you are in an unhappy marriage right now, turn to your spouse and really look at him or her. What did you fall in love with those years ago when you just KNEW this was "the one?" This is the same person. Ladies, talk to your groom. Men, talk to your bride. Remember our definition of love: willing the good of the other. Before you jump to all the ways your spouse isn't loving you, answer the question -- are you loving your spouse? Hold your marriage up to these three "mirrors" and if you see any speck of similarity, rub it out. Christ makes all things new, and He can give you a renewed marriage if you let Him into your home and into your hearts. </span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01337040784023107866noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723370077686149753.post-12582900202248923542015-06-05T08:42:00.000-07:002015-06-05T08:42:37.071-07:00Wounds <span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Having my phone fixed a few weeks ago, I had some spare time to walk around by myself in a shopping center I usually don't patronize. I used to really enjoy shopping -- it was a frequent pastime for me and my mom. Now, without her, the bloom is off the rose. Sometimes it's only a painful reminder that she isn't here to do these mundane things with me. I walked into a high end store that she used to enjoy poking around in; to me, it was rather distasteful. Overpriced cotton tee shirts sat in piles next to rustic looking wooden boxes and coffee mugs. Everything had a contrived shabbiness. I made a cursory examination of the racks of clothing and the tchotchkes, and then walked out, pushing the impossibly heavy door, tears burning my eyes. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After my mother's illness and death, the entire world around me changed. Suddenly everything was an assault on my senses, both the ugly and the sublime. Babies were more beautiful and miraculous, and more urgent reminders that I wanted more children. Cruelty between people was unbearable to watch, and almost drove me to accost people in public and tell them how to parent or how NOT to treat their own parents. The common thread was my new and almost completely empty identity. My grief counselor explained: <i>once you individuate from your mother, you 're going to do and say some things that surprise you. </i>She was right. Slowly we pried me out of the semi-comfortable shell of grief. She helped give me my wings, but cautioned me about flying too high and too far. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The temptation one faces after a great loss is to immediately fill in the hole with absolutely anything that is in arm's reach. Any old addictions might likely rear their heads. Material possessions might become more important, an easy and socially acceptable way to distract. In any event, everything disappoints, which is rightly so, because only God satisfies, and only union with Him can begin to salve a wound as open and infected as the one a grieving or damaged person has. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What we have to be tremendously cautious about is becoming obsessed with our own scars. This can manifest in perseverating on our sob stories, our addictions, our illnesses, our past sins. Even when the events are long ago gone, we crawl back into the dark chasm of memory, talking about shades and shadows and calling it catharsis, when it's really just self-referential licking of wounds. I realized in grief therapy that I was hanging on to my grief for a payoff: it was keeping my mother alive, even if it was in her most awful incarnation -- the withering cancer patient. The better way to remember her was as the nurturing and riotous woman she was for the first thirty-six years of my life, not the victim she became in the last year of hers. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I am often sorely tempted to fall into a new abyss now with my chronic illnesses -- how easy it is to sit and feel sorry for myself! To review the humiliating tests I've been subjected to, to read more and more accounts of fellow sufferers. A healthy amount of investigation and sharing is good; drowning in the culture of these diseasesis bad. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Do you do this with any of your wounds? Do you delve back into your past or dive down into the basement of your addictions and weaknesses? Do you turn these things around in your mind, looking at every angle, mourning the injuries caused or congratulating yourself smugly for surviving? Again, a healthy dialogue is a good; a constant inner monologue is bad. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The remedy to this interior wheel-spinning was and is found in a devotion to and contemplation on the wounds of Christ. When I first entered RCIA, it was a devotion I felt mildly uncomfortable with--concentrating on each wound, two in the hands, two in the feet, one in His side. . . I shrunk back from looking at them. Then I realized why. Because I inflicted them. We all did. With my sins of omission and commission, I struck the blows and drove in the nails. No small wonder that I wanted to avert my gaze. Now I feel compelled to share with anyone who will listen that this devotion, this contemplation and reflection of His wounds, can bring us closer to Jesus than we ever imagined, AND have the double benefit of cutting down our own selfish and punishing concentration on our OWN sorrows. There are many websites, books, pamphlets, and blogs that detail and educate about the wounds of our Savior. Resources are never in short supply for the Catholic who wants to dig into his or her faith! If you find any that are or have been particularly valuable to you, I would love for you to share them with me and other readers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">For me, looking at the wounds of Jesus means gazing upon His beautiful face first. Then, the crown of thorns. Then on to the five wounds themselves. Take some time to think about and pray on each one. Don't pull back if you feel uncomfortable or sad -- think about what He did for you, about the love He has for all of us, that He endured this for your soul and mine! To enable your soul to be cleansed, His flesh took the unspeakable blows that appeared to defeat Him. But there is no defeat in Christ. By His stripes, we are healed. No need to relive our past sins. No need to think in circles about the object of our addiction. No need to look upon ourselves as objects of pity or arrogantly stare at ourselves as survivors of trauma. We did none of it! Only God's grace brought us out of the pit! Don't turn around and stare back. Don't be Lot's wife. Instead, look only in to the bloody wounds of Jesus, your beloved. Yes, you will feel pain, guilt, shame, and regret. Don't stay there in those feelings too long -- turn it all into love for Jesus, gratitude to Him for the ultimate sacrifice, and a new resolve. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What is the essence of that resolve? To begin again, with sincerity and humility, with the risk of living at odds with "the world," to face each day with a determination to avoid the occasion of sin. To never take lightly or wink away a sin that He was whipped and beaten for, tortured and humiliated for. Look forward -- to what He has awaiting you in Heaven. Look up -- at the infinite love He offers you today and every day in the Eucharist. There is one and only one purpose to life: to become a saint. The saints knew how to tolerate their own wounds gracefully, how to turn solitude into praise instead of self-indulgent isolation, how to love Jesus well, and obey Him with focus and consistency. Can I go and do likewise? Am I able? No, not on my own, but with the graces obtained in the Sacraments, and with my willingness, I can stop staring into the void and start squinting out of these unaccustomed eyes to see a glimpse of what He has prepared for me.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01337040784023107866noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723370077686149753.post-75388445705930344842015-03-27T08:53:00.000-07:002015-03-27T08:53:33.626-07:00Beauty Will Draw Them In<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have heard it frequently said that we must evangelize through beauty, and I wholeheartedly agree. My definition of beauty is a broad one. Actually, beauty has been of great interest to me since I was a child. I have always been able to see beauty in everyone, some feature, some sign, some unnamed </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">energy even. Have you ever looked at the face of an elderly person and seen someone more beautiful than a painted runway model? Have you ever encountered a difficult person and somehow despite their seemingly purposeful mission to hurt you, you have seen a salvific beauty there? Beauty is truth, and truth beauty. We should meditate on these words often. Creating interest in the Catholic life is something we all want to do, and I'm grateful that God has provided us so many and various beautiful helps. If these earthly things are but a minuscule foretaste of Heaven, then we are in for unspeakable ecstasy if we are blessed someday to see the Beatific Vision. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sieakhLxIHQ/VRVxakmKecI/AAAAAAAAAE8/blHvE8j2A5I/s1600/154357_129353467215850_1174587001_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sieakhLxIHQ/VRVxakmKecI/AAAAAAAAAE8/blHvE8j2A5I/s1600/154357_129353467215850_1174587001_n.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is what most Catholics and even many seculars mean when they refer to the beauty of The Catholic Church. Soaring Cathedral ceilings, the unspeakable beauty of The Mass, the pageantry that our Lord fully present in the Eucharist deserves. Few people can resist the smells, sounds, and vibrations in the air that are experienced during the Mass. If you don't find this beautiful, you may not like Heaven very much, since the Bible and Tradition tells us that Heaven will be nonstop worship of God. The Mass, in a very real way, is Heaven on earth. And to think, you can have it every single day, no matter where you are in this world. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h8s3pNOkOFI/VRVw17TFFKI/AAAAAAAAAEc/ajkpk08fgfw/s1600/640x478xPope-in-Dalmatic-640x478.jpg.pagespeed.ic.Xtic-1TRK0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h8s3pNOkOFI/VRVw17TFFKI/AAAAAAAAAEc/ajkpk08fgfw/s1600/640x478xPope-in-Dalmatic-640x478.jpg.pagespeed.ic.Xtic-1TRK0.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can think of few things as beautiful as serving others. This is what we were conceived for -- to help, hold, feed, wash, instruct, and love the other. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oxF2BzmgJ34/VRVw9fbD13I/AAAAAAAAAEk/pKxZDnEmdu0/s1600/20556_1163123132328_1655344225_30408190_7011224_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oxF2BzmgJ34/VRVw9fbD13I/AAAAAAAAAEk/pKxZDnEmdu0/s1600/20556_1163123132328_1655344225_30408190_7011224_n.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our Blessed Mother is beauty personified. No one knows exactly what she looked like on earth or now, as Queen of Heaven. In my heart and my dreams she appears as a healer, a mother, a friend, sometimes very young and sometimes, her face etched with pain. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7q_dnxuqfEk/VRVxwqy9bsI/AAAAAAAAAFU/34Lbzb2uEhQ/s1600/36719_136702246344631_136331426381713_392446_4269515_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7q_dnxuqfEk/VRVxwqy9bsI/AAAAAAAAAFU/34Lbzb2uEhQ/s1600/36719_136702246344631_136331426381713_392446_4269515_n.jpg" height="320" width="248" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The sorrow of Mary has its own tragic beauty. Anyone who has mourned a loved one, or suffered deeply in any way, should cling to Mary. She is not a distant icon. She is as close to you as you allow her to be, beloved Mama of the boy Jesus, the woman who carried Jesus inside of her for nine months, felt his kicking inside of her, and finally watched him slowly die on a cross. She can take your pain, too, and share the burden of it with you. Hers is not a superficial beauty, but a supernatural one. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ru_QupOcYHw/VRVxUJKydbI/AAAAAAAAAE0/2duJ_eSW1fU/s1600/67446_168761686473785_100000198630276_604247_4282929_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ru_QupOcYHw/VRVxUJKydbI/AAAAAAAAAE0/2duJ_eSW1fU/s1600/67446_168761686473785_100000198630276_604247_4282929_n.jpg" height="216" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YlTPZPZ__xM/VRVx6fBrxsI/AAAAAAAAAFk/RTSmEVbcyTk/s1600/3814_10151390199502363_302699871_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YlTPZPZ__xM/VRVx6fBrxsI/AAAAAAAAAFk/RTSmEVbcyTk/s1600/3814_10151390199502363_302699871_n.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Life is beautiful. FIghting for life is our mission as the Body of Christ, because one of the tenets of our faith is that every life has dignity and beauty. The least among us is not always a beautiful child awaiting adoption. Sometimes the least among us is what the secular world calls a blob, or a parasite, or a "product of conception." To us, this life is beautiful, because God made it and endowed it with His presence from the second of fertilization. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-w-JAkkBy86I/VRVxfGSvZYI/AAAAAAAAAFE/LcRXbEqKoX4/s1600/10561745_10104772660696625_175243367006224043_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-w-JAkkBy86I/VRVxfGSvZYI/AAAAAAAAAFE/LcRXbEqKoX4/s1600/10561745_10104772660696625_175243367006224043_n.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Laughter is beautiful. God wants us to be joyful, silly and easily fascinated like little children. Many of us are just about beaten down with pressures and pains. If we can show the world joy in spite of that, then truly we are witnesses of Christ's redemptive love. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-F_iRZG8gyK8/VRV3pXvQA4I/AAAAAAAAAF8/4lYGGV9P13o/s1600/598552_10150948665377347_532310781_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-F_iRZG8gyK8/VRV3pXvQA4I/AAAAAAAAAF8/4lYGGV9P13o/s1600/598552_10150948665377347_532310781_n.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Peace is beautiful. Keeping silent instead of having the last word. Protecting someone else when it will reduce your own popularity to do so. Nurture peace in your own heart instead of discord, competitiveness, and jealousy. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BHI5rpPXyac/VRV40yf8RoI/AAAAAAAAAGI/gc31kitHlxU/s1600/Francis3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BHI5rpPXyac/VRV40yf8RoI/AAAAAAAAAGI/gc31kitHlxU/s1600/Francis3.jpg" height="320" width="252" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So many times, what the world calls ugly is really beautiful. Beauty, as we have heard ad infinitum, is in the eye of the beholder. This is true in the Catholic life. As the beholder, you have the opportunity, the responsibility, and the God-given gift to see beauty where others are limited to only seeing deformity, disability, weakness, and imperfection. The secular world has fooled itself in to believing that beauty is something that man can make! How silly and prideful we are! How arrogant! How fervently you should pray that your eye can see the beauty of the all knowing, all powerful God's hand in every creature rejected by this dark, cynical, materialistic world. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Evangelize through beauty? Yes! But don't put beauty in the one box that you are comfortable with at this point in your spiritual journey. Let Christ show you, through His words and through humble receiving of the Eucharist, how very near to you true beauty is, and how far above<i> </i>you you have convinced yourself it resides. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01337040784023107866noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723370077686149753.post-41698932461643064162015-03-10T08:58:00.001-07:002015-03-10T08:58:15.610-07:00The Prodigal You Love -- Review of the book by Theresa Aletheia Noble, FSP<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Before I moved to Ohio and began my conversion process, I knew more fallen away Catholics than active, adherent ones. Catholicism in New York City and the surrounding suburbs appeared to be strictly a childhood religion that people abandoned as soon as they left the restaurant after their Confirmation party. A good number of Catholics I knew still wanted very much to marry in the Catholic Church and have their own children receive the Sacraments therein, but weekly Mass was OUT of the question, too big of a demand on their time and their wallets. They resented the offering plate heartily, and disagreed with many of the Church's teachings, especially those that Protestant ecclesial communities have long since caved on like abortion, contraception, and extramarital sexual relations. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Noble's book, <i>The Prodigal You Love</i>, deftly weaves the author's own spiritual journey to the fullness of the faith with an instruction manual on how to invite your own friends and family members back to Catholicism without being too heavy handed, nor so passive that you seem not to care a whit for their souls. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One theme Noble covers that I see almost every day is the Catholic challenge to the fallacy that one's religious beliefs must needs fly out the window once a certain level of education is reached. The false choice here is: you can be an intellectual or you can be religious. Pick one. This is so obviously inane to anyone who knows the history of the Church, her contributions and the contributions of her members to science, to art, even down to the initial model of the university. But many laypeople and secularists buy into this, and the poorly catechized Catholic may begin to feel self-conscious when her religious faith is seen as the only stumbling block in a room full of serious and sophisticated, politically correct folks attempting to justify the latest aberration of the natural law. The fact of the matter is that if you know the WHY behind the Church teaching, you need never feel awkward amongst ANY group of people, regardless of how progressive and anti-Catholic they show themselves to be. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What do both "sides" need to find, according to Noble? Humility. She writes:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"Humility is a virtue that is not afraid to play in the dirt. The very word derives from the Latin word for dirt or soil, humus. . . humility speaks regularly to God, as one would with a friends, but also sees clearly that God is above human understanding. . . Everyone has dirty toes; the humble person is just aware of it." So Noble suggests that we approach our loved ones with humility if we ever hope to get a response in kind. If the friend or relative feels like you are simply saying "My way is right and yours is wrong," he or she is likely to have a less than gracious response. Author Theresa Noble states, "We need to become humble because our false selves do not know how to evangelize; they are too busy focusing on themselves!" </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of Noble's most intriguing formulas is, "Establish trust, attract, then challenge." Now how many of us have that completely backwards in our attempts to evangelize? I know I see it on an almost daily basis! Armchair apologists are starting with the "challenge" and it is NEVER received well by the person they are seeking to evangelize! How could it be? How will you draw someone into The Church if you seem as arrogant and intolerant as the world does? Then you are no different from the world, so what is attractive about you and your religion? Remember: Jesus is attractive. He is love. He is beauty. If you are being rejected, you are not showing enough of Jesus; you are showing yourself.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Noble tells us from experience that if a fallen away Catholic is very much into New Ageism, secularism, Eastern practices, or a charismatic Christian community, they may not have ears to hear you because they believe they are being "fulfilled" where they are. Until the novelty wears off, you must be patient. Noble says, "We have a responsibility to share with our loved ones the beauty of salvation within The Church, wherever they may be in their spiritual journey. We do this with words if possible, but sometimes we are called to communicate it in other ways, namely by the witness of our lives . . . our faith speaks when WE live it to the fullest, when we abandon ourselves to God's plan." </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I loved Noble's book because she touched on the theme of unconditional love, which is a constant thread in my writing and in my life. Having lost my mother and suffering from complicated grief syndrome, I wasn't quite sure why I wasn't getting any better. What I was missing was the unconditional love my mother offered me, and I didn't think anyone else did. Noble points out that the people we are trying to evangelize must see our sincerely unconditional love. "If our love for others is contingent rather than unconditional, it will most likely lead to a breakdown in our relationship with that person. The root of the difficulty often lies in a lack of respect for the free will of the person we love . . . . shown through manipulation, by ceasing contact as a kind of punishment, or showing constant displeasure with the person, believing our disapproval will change him or her. When we fall into manipulative tactics, we can be sure that this typically ineffective behavior grows out of a desire to control another person, which does not come from love. . . although it can certainly be said that God doggedly pursues our souls, he does so in complete respect for our free will."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The most poignant and important section of the book for me is the one on prayer (and in fact, Noble provides an addendum with some beautiful, key prayers at the end of the book). She establishes that prayer DOES make a difference, and is an essential part of evangelization, perhaps the cornerstone of it! Here Noble recalls C.S. Lewis' idea that God created us so that we would be able to make things happen through both physical and spiritual action, or prayer. "When we pray," Noble writes, "we are opening a door for grace. We can count on this reality, just like we can count on opening an unlocked door if we push it open."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In the past, I have reviewed and recommended several books for the seeker. But if you are looking for a book to aid you in evangelizing someone who is NOT seeking right now, but to whom you would love to give the gift of the fullness of the faith as manifested exclusively in the Catholic Church, then this book is a necessary tool for you. Noble's style is friendly and readable, but extremely well-researched. Parts of the book serve as an ideal examination of conscience, one in which we must participate before we go about the business of trying to get ourselves involved in someone <b><i>else's</i></b> spiritual life!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01337040784023107866noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723370077686149753.post-24376821761867304252015-01-20T08:46:00.000-08:002015-01-20T08:46:04.318-08:00Lemons and Moons, or "How to Love"<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When my grief counselor asked me to explain why I felt the loss of my mother so acutely, I couldn't come up with my own language for it. It was all so natural and obvious to me. She was my mother! But not everyone has a mother like my mother, I learned, so first we had to define and discuss the relationship, and then we could delve into the ramifications of its earthly end. My therapist asked me to describe the relationship dynamic in one sentence. Still, the words would not, could not, be my own. I gave her an old saying I remembered; maybe it was Chinese--I didn't recall. But it fit: "My mother gave me the moon; I had asked for a lemon." </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That really was it in a nutshell -- the overgiving, the extra mile, the details of my life and my feelings and my health that never slipped her mind. Any need I had became a need <i>SHE</i> wanted to see fulfilled, and then some. My mother knew how to talk to me -- never with yelling or impatience -- that makes me simply shut down like a computer in sleep mode -- but always from her heart, and WITH her heart, not with her own expectations of her own needs as an ulterior motive. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It occurs to one that this is a Christlike love, always based in truth, always exactly what we need exactly when we need it, and always more than we could ever imagine. So many of us are trudging through life just hoping to leave here with a lemon, and Jesus wants to give us the moon. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My mother's possessions were increasingly meaningless to her after she reached her late fifties. If I admired something of hers, a piece of jewelry or a blouse, she'd ask, "You want it?" I would protest, but she would often force it on me. There was no property line between "hers" and "mine" on her map. I don't think I could even begin to understand that until I met my husband, and I learned that I could give that kind of love, too, not just revel in receiving it. Parenthood should bring us there, should be the tutorial on selfless, BIG love. For most parents I think it is. For some, sadly, it's not, and selflessness remains a foreign concept and an untried practice. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The truth is, we Catholics are ALL called to love each other in this way. And learning THAT is where the sin of presumption crumbles and falls to the ground. Any thought you have that you are a straight shot to Heaven because of earthly displays of reverence, numbers of Rosaries prayed, adherence to moral laws, observance of holy days, just flies out the window when you ask yourself to answer with brutal and complete candor: Whom do I love? REALLY love? My husband and children? A few friends? Siblings? Even the tax collectors and Pharisees do that much! And HOW am I loving them? Conditionally? That is not love--that is loving the way they make me feel, loving what they can do for me and how they can enhance my life. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you offer unconditional love to all your brothers and sisters in Christ? To every person who bears the Imago Dei? Do you recognize the dignity and the lovableness of every single person around you, every beautiful sacred soul you encounter during your day? How on earth can we achieve this? Maybe we can't on earth, you answer. This side of Heaven, I'll never love my ex-wife, you say. I'll never love the men on death row. I'll never love a member of ISIS. I'll never love an active homosexual, parading around in blatant disobedience to God. I'll never love an anti-Catholic bigot. Maybe in Heaven I can do that, but not here, not without God perfecting my soul first! But we are called to be perfect, as our Father is perfect. Can't achieve that with strangers? Okay . . . </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do you even offer unconditional love to your spouse and children? Your parents? Your siblings and closest friends? How would <i>they</i> answer that question? Do they feel that your love is unconditional and over the top? Do they feel that your love is spilling over the brim of their cup, showing them the heart of Jesus that YOU embody as a Catholic? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On my first night of RCIA, I was so ready and eager that I was practically jumping out of my skin. I had my notebook and pen, my Bible, my Catechism. We assembled at the long conference table and prayed. Then, after we all introduced ourselves and gave a little background, Sister began the first "lesson." On a piece of paper, we were to answer the question: "Who is God?" I looked around the table, waiting for the rest of my group to have a reaction. Who is God? What kind of question is that? I'm here for the Catholic stuff! I know the basics already! I've read the entire Bible! Twice! Come on, let's get to the saints and the incense and the blood and guts of the theology! I'm ready!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But I wasn't ready. Sister Ann Marie and Father Tom showed me that in short order. To undergo "conversion," was not just a matter of signing my name and changing my title. It was about learning what love is. To correct the errors of Protestantism, we didn't look at a chart showing the differences, what was lopped off after the Reformation, and how many denominations exist today, no--we had to go right to the root. "Who do you say I am?" Who is God? You say you want to serve God? Who is this God you want to serve? Shouldn't you know? Do you know God as well as you know your spouse? The gal you're dating? Your best friend? Do you understand that "God is love" is not simply a maxim written on posters in Christian schools all over the country? This is the God, the only God, Being itself. In fact, I think the statement has more impact in reverse: "Love is God." All good things are God. All goods are from God and of God. Any good you see in anyone, even if that person has committed many evil acts, is of God. There is something of God in that person, and that person automatically gets love from God's followers. That's the rule. That's Catholicism. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So if my neighbor asks me for a lemon, he should get the moon. It all sounds beautiful, you say, until your neighbor is a hostile fellow who is quite possibly mad and perverted, and you wouldn't hand him a lemon with a ten foot pole over an eight foot fence, no less give him "the moon," whatever that means. Life, lived on the average Tuesday, with its many challenges and cheats, disappointments and drama, seems somehow like an unfair testing ground for this "love" stuff. It seems more like a battlefield than a lovefest. Well, that's appropriate, because we are all in a battle, every day of our lives, but it's not a battle against each other, it's a battle FOR each other. To save souls, not to win against them. To do better by our neighbor, not to do better THAN our neighbor. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The mistake we make is the mistake I made that first night of RCIA. We want to do what we see as the "big" stuff, the heavy lifting of Catholicism, defending dogma with our super bionic knowledge of Ludwig Ott, chairing five different committees at our parish, or, God forbid, but yes, we have all seen it, looking down on all the right people. The practice of religion is much more elementary, as God Himself has told us: caring for widows and orphans. And not just by slipping a check into an envelope. That's the lemon. The moon is when you go to your neighbor's mailbox and put an unsigned "thinking of you" card in it, and a few flowers from your garden. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Flowers for your enemy? Yes and no. The flowers are for God, and from God. Give more than you can bear to give -- and you will be refilled over and over again. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then ask God for the moon, and see what happens. Wow. Get back to me with what He does next, because, my friend, it will be nothing short of miraculous. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01337040784023107866noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723370077686149753.post-53696207086317323502014-11-12T09:57:00.000-08:002014-11-12T09:57:19.538-08:00Nothing Compares To You<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of the many things I appreciate about the Catholic education my children have received here in Ohio, one that is pretty high on the list is the schools' endeavors to educate parents who may have been poorly catechized or who may not even be Catholic themselves. Starting when our kids are in Kindergarten, we parents are assigned pages in the kids' religion workbooks to read and sign. In the upper grades, a two sided ditto comes home explaining the meaning and significance of different parts of The Mass and of other aspects of Catholicism. This past week's from my daughter's teacher was an explication of The Eucharist. I don't know how these items are received by other parents, but I am greatly encouraged by them. The gesture shows me that the school's administration is cognizant that some parents who sincerely want a solid Catholic education for their children may not necessarily have gotten one themselves--and that they are offering reminders for those who may be taking the miracles and wonders of our unique and beautiful faith for granted. </span><div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I read the material on The Eucharist, I thought about my daughter's First Holy Communion, the realizations she had, that she was actually going to have Jesus inside of her body, that she was responsible for making sure that her soul was in a state worthy to receive before she did so, and that this, the Eucharist, was not only the high point of The Mass, but truly the foundation for our faith, as it is Jesus Himself. As a convert, I shared her enthusiasm. After all, I had only been Catholic a few years myself. It is my hope that our children never take in stride that they are privileged to be offered the life-changing gift of The Real Presence that we have in our Church. </span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The full knowledge of what we are receiving, of WHOM we are receiving, comes to us at different times. Surely always at the elevation, the consecration, or in adoration, but at other times as well. Last Sunday, our pastor delivered a homily that was so passionately pro-life that there were more than a few tears shed in the congregation, including by the priest himself. His voice broke as he implored us not to be bullied by the world into believing that our understanding of the sanctity of every life was somehow "shoving our morality down their throats." Later at home, I pondered the Mass in its entirety. When I was a Protestant, it was all about the sermon. I came ready to learn, almost ready to take notes! But now as a Catholic, even as I sit dabbing my eyes after a moving homily, or rush back to my car to write something down after Mass that Father said, that is NOT the main attraction. I'm there for Jesus. My heart still pounds as I approach the altar to receive Him on my tongue! And then my prayers -- they fill my head -- for what will I use this medicine? How will Jesus act in me this day, this week? There is simply no substitute for Jesus Himself, hidden in that little host, but bigger and more important than anything that could happen to me ever or has happened to me ever in my life. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A lot of Catholics I know, myself included, enjoy Protestant devotions and writers now and then. It occurred to me that I have a pattern, though. They never hold my attention for very long. Something is missing. I don't speak here of theological error, for there is plenty written that is solid and in agreement with the tenets of Catholicism. What is missing is that dimension beyond -- beyond the Bible, beyond the physical, beyond a "good word" given to a preacher, no matter how wonderful of a man he is. I'm always left wanting because they don't include, nay, can't include, any mention of the power and enormity of The Real Presence. Even as I read an article or devotional that is just smashing in its style and right on target in its theme, by an author whose writing makes mine look like a high school entrance essay, I find myself wanting to edit it to include The Eucharist somehow. I'm not so interested in asking 'What would Jesus Do?' I want to talk about and hear about what Jesus IS doing right now, and that is <i>waiting</i>. Waiting in the Tabernacle for you and for me. And offering. Offering Himself to us, to participate in his singular and world-altering sacrifice again and again. Humbling. Humbling Himself, the King of the Universe, Being Itself, That and Whom Upon Which Everything else sits and hangs and depends, and He is THERE waiting for you, available DAILY not just to sit with and pray before and talk to and cry to, but there for you to consume. He will become a part of you, body and soul, heart and voice, in your bloodstream. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you are a Catholic who has forgotten or somehow lost your sense of the absolute and mind-blowing phenomenon of The Real Presence, remember it's never too late. Jesus is not limited by time or by your vagaries. He is there, and will continue to be there as long as there is a Catholic Church, and that, my friends, will be forever, because the gates of Hell will not prevail against our Church. Do you want to know Jesus better? Have a better relationship with Jesus? One that is more personal? Do you want to know what He would do? How He would act in your life if He could? Joining with Him, flesh to flesh, blood to blood, soul to soul, is the way He has given us to do just that. Don't wait another day. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01337040784023107866noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723370077686149753.post-22251937028894594882014-10-13T09:32:00.002-07:002014-10-13T09:32:36.418-07:00Breaking Body<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Who is The Church? Who is the Body of Christ? Who belongs? A temptation exists to spend so much time answering these questions correctly and identifying who is with us and who is against us that we miss out on membership ourselves. Some of us are so busy counting heads, checking purses, and securing a good seat that we are missing the work, the meal, and the party--the main elements of the gathering to which we are invited. Why is there so much scrutiny of neighbor? Why do we distance ourselves from each other so much? Why do we categorize and label? Are we trying to secure ourselves a place by eliminating others? That is not only unChristlike, but also counterproductive, because much of the joy of belonging to The Church is to be found in other people. In loving them and being loved BY them. That's their door prize and ours. </span><div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A good number of folks don't set out to isolate themselves or alienate other Christians. It just sort of happens while they're busy doing other things. Maybe they get stuck on one aspect of their faith life and concentrate on it SO much that before they can really recognize what has happened, it's too late. They have built an accidental ivory tower. No one can get them down because they have been up there focusing so much on how the people trying to get them down from their tower are The Enemy Inc. Here are just a sampling of the different ways that Catholics are currently holding each other at arm's length:</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. By form of worship</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. By number of years in The Church</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. By level of education</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. By socioeconomic level</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5. By sin proclivity</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6. By age</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7. By sex</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">8. By political leaning</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">9. By geographical location</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">10. By pet issue/ministry</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are many more, and I'm sure you, my friends, can help me add to this unfortunate list. I bet you also see one on this top ten that stings a bit. Maybe you have excluded someone, written someone off based on one or more of these. Maybe you yourself have been shut out or not heard or made to feel inferior or even "less Catholic" because of one or more of the above. My friends, do NOT allow yourself to be cast aside or made to feel any less a legitimate guest at the banquet because someone has chucked you based on one of these criteria. A Christian who is praying the Sinner's Prayer constantly will NOT do this to you, as he or she is too aware of his or her own failings and need for mercy. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">More importantly, do not fall into the deep and wide trap of putting miles between you and another Catholic because of the above factors. Do not burn bridges. That is not our way. You will end up poorer for the decision if you determine that a fellow Christian is not up to snuff because of the type of Mass he attends, whether she is a convert or a cradle Catholic, or because he is a HE and you are a SHE. Don't say to yourself, "He can never understand the struggles of a mother." This is simply not true. Every man is the son of a mother, and can offer you unique insight into your vocation. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have seen a number of well-read and "sophisticated" Catholics simply dismiss the comments of their plain speaking peers. I have seen avowed conservatives refuse to even engage a more liberal counterpart KINDLY. I have watched Catholics whose main ministry is fighting poverty completely discount anything said by a Catholic whose focus is fighting abortion. When did we forget that all the parts of the body have different jobs? That each operates independently but in harmony? That one needn't take away from the other?</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Know also that for each category above, both sides are equally culpable in creating division and putting up walls that prevent true fellowship and productive dialogue. For every Catholic Christian who is saying and writing demeaning and dehumanizing generalizations about the poor, calling them lazy and implying that they are ruining the country, there is another Catholic Christian right behind him in line giving the opposite diatribe, making tasteless and insensitive jokes about the wealthy, assuming that anyone who has reached a certain level of material success is selfish and greedy and has not "died to self."</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the root of these examples is one common element: pride. Yep, the crown jewel of the seven deadlies. How so? Well, it's not hard to figure out, friends. We all begin so well. We begin each day, each year, each conversation, so aware of Jesus watching over our shoulders. We know what we want: Heaven. To please Jesus. To help others. To serve and obey. To pray and to work. To raise saints, and to BE saints ourselves. To reflect our Savior in the RIGHT way. Ah, you see the goal shifting? Here's where the Foe gets his toe in the door. And we just open it WIDE and let him in for coffee and strudel. Somehow we get that desire to be GOOD CATHOLICS mixed up with being bouncers at the door of a Catholic night club. And when we are busted being exclusionary, snobby, elitist, condescending, alienating, we start to holler out some key phrases. "Fraternal correction!" is a favorite one. It rings so hollow, my friends, because anyone with an ear to what was going on could ascertain that there was nothing fraternal about what they heard. And then it's irretrievable, isn't it? The outside world, the unbeliever, the person who is on the fence, the seeker, the person considering coming Home to Rome has now watched firsthand as a "good" Catholic has been a total and complete beast. And been too prideful to admit it, as he goes down in flames, calling out, "But I was only trying to help her be a better person," or "But I was only sharing the Truth!"</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's a final self-diagnostic tool. Do you think you are the kind of person who would attract someone to Christ? If your response is, "My job is not to be attractive to the sinful world; it's to be holy," then you are ALREADY in defensive mode. You are ALREADY justifying a hard, cold, off-putting part of yourself that you know may be alienating the very folks we are supposed to be evangelizing. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We are fishers of men. The idea is to get them into the boat WITH us, not gut them with a knife, throw them overboard, and keep on sailing on to glory. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01337040784023107866noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723370077686149753.post-959591825506847582014-09-24T09:29:00.000-07:002014-09-24T09:29:30.951-07:00The Moot Old Days<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was talking with a friend the other day, both of us feeling somewhat melancholy, oppressed from the outside by the horrors of the world and from the inside by loss and chronic illness. We naturally sought out shelter and comfort in our pasts -- the conversation turned to younger years, days when we were absolutely carefree, pain-free, and all of our loved ones were lined up like ducks, healthy and accounted for. We worked, we played, we ate whatever we wanted without consequence to our health. We jumped out of bed and started the day without pain or panic. We worried about little, and that which we DID worry about now seems like so much nonsense. Was it youth that gave our lives that blush? Or merely circumstance? In the end, we concluded that we were still living pretty charmed lives, though I suspect that privately, interiorly, we both suffer from real despair at times. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The thing is: to be who I was back then, I had to be who I am right now. I know that's the opposite of how folks generally frame that notion, but it's still equally true. My life can only be this way, dictated by graces and choices, and I would not trade any of apparent curses of now for another spin of the wheel, lest it lose me any of the blessings of now. This is where trusting Jesus comes in awfully handy. My past is acted out, forgiven, and I am living in this moment with Jesus and with the people He has placed around me. I have to know, we ALL have to know, that the changes that seem like losses are net gains. They must be, or Jesus has lied, and that is an impossibility. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Take a snapshot of your life right now, in this moment. Look pretty bleak? Well, don't forget to see the whole landscape. Behind you are Jesus, Mary, and all the Saints. Beside you is your Guardian Angel. Your loneliness is a false perception. Do you miss a loved one? Pray for the soul of that person and work on perfecting your own soul, so that you may be reunited. Do you have health issues that prevent you from living the life you want to live? Pray to see the benefit you may bestow on others through these sufferings. Sometimes when we are besieged by pain, illness, stress, worry, anxiety, or despair, we become bitter and angry, fearful and isolated. It's so tempting to hide. Hiding is so close to disappearing. We pray for a do-over. And we miss a chance at holiness. Because that pain can be offered up to Jesus for the sins of many, offered up to free souls from Purgatory, and joined with the sufferings of Jesus and His Mother. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is no prayer like the prayer of a sufferer. It is so deep and real! One who is carefree may have a giving and good heart, but she cannot truly feel to the bone the pain of another. Only identification through empathy and experience can yield that kind of fervent and passionate prayer. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Raise your eyes and see your fellow human beings. Do they all appear to be healthier, wealthier, happier, younger, freer than you? You are mistaken. There is pain, intense and abiding pain, in the lives and minds and souls of so very many people. You can see it if you are looking with the eyes of Jesus. You can see it as they approach the Eucharist. You can see it as they wait at red lights. You can see it on line at the grocery store. Their minds are full to the brim with images and scenarios, misgivings and terrors, questions and confusions. What do they need? What on earth could help them? A good start is for someone else to simply raise her eyes and SEE. Then to say, I see you. I am you. I feel that, too. You don't have to pretend. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am always amazed at the easy tears of the elderly, of young moms, of strangers who are so incredibly and profoundly desperate for some brand of kindness that even the slightest gesture from me is perceived as miraculous and a concrete grace. What a power Jesus has trusted us with that we can do this for His children! How can we shirk the responsibility to provide that succor for others? In that action is also great and tangible comfort for us. Every single time. To savor the taste of the past for too long, for more than a moment or two, is a waste of now, of this day's duties. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The past holds lovely pictures. Then maybe, like changing the giant wheel of slides in one of those old projectors, life put in a new set of visuals. And they have not been pleasant or light since. I maintain you must look harder. Look around the picture -- look at who is there now, what love you can give, if this is indeed your time to give and not receive. </span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01337040784023107866noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723370077686149753.post-48319163920352925472014-07-24T15:59:00.000-07:002014-07-24T15:59:14.229-07:00Eyes Off The Road<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I came upon my old Bible the other day, the one I read through from cover to cover twice, a TEV Protestant Bible, now incomplete to me, but still generating a holiness from within even when I touch its cover. I looked at the many scotch tape fixes, the numerous margin notes, the multiple dog ears, and I remembered a corny saying -- "She whose Bible is falling apart probably won't." Well my Bible did fall apart many years ago, and as it turned out, several years after that I did too, so I don't know how much stock to put in that old chestnut, but it is true at its root and in its intention, to be sure. If we spend time with Jesus, we will not completely lose it. He will always provide enough grace so that we can do the work He has in mind for us. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Around that same day, I was feeling absurd. I laughed out loud at myself in the afternoon, thinking how my time was allocated -- what percentage of my day was spent cleaning up crumbs with the hand vac, how much of my day was dedicated to serving food and drinks, washing, folding, putting away laundry, or looking through unfolded piles of laundry for an outfit for one of my kids. I thought of how I'm not a very good cook. How much money I spend on my kids. How my skin is breaking out. It was one of those "pile on Nicole" days. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then came the kids' bedtime. This is the time when I'm supposed to put them in their rooms and start using my alone time wisely and productively to maintain and perfect my home, give myself a facial, ped-egg my heels, and of course do my spiritual reading and prayers. Instead, on this night, I felt like crawling under the covers and crying. I missed my mother badly, and I didn't feel well in several ways. I got my son down and then was working on my ten year old, who was not at all tired. She asked me if we could do a role play. This is something I have done with both my kids in order to prepare them for any situations that might arise where they would have to answer on the fly questions about important things like my son's allergies, our faith, what is appropriate and what is inappropriate, etc. Well, my daughter was in the mood to talk and she wanted to do a role play. Since she is starting a new school in late August, I assumed it would be about that. But instead, she asked me to act out with her a scene where she was in college and she met a friend who was not a Christian. She wanted to know what to say to that person to get her to Mass and then to RCIA to join the Catholic Church. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At this point I enter Shame-Ville. All day I had been picking on myself for stupid little things, and here I have a kid who many consider in the "tween" years, who is asking to use her time and mine to rehearse how to evangelize! What? What kind of running over cup has the Lord given me anyway? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I went through the role play with her, making alterations here and there, letting her play both sides, working on pronunciations and tone. I told her that evangelizing is a matter of three things: opportunity, love, and example. You have to see and seize the opportunity, and that can't be forced or contrived. You have to speak with a REAL, not fake love for the other person, *and* you have to be an unimpeachable example of an adherent Catholic or you have no credibility. She made me laugh when she threw in a bribe of coffee and donuts to her hypothetical friend.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think too many times, we look at ourselves as just slogging through our days, hearing bad news, praying, barely treading spiritual water, and letting our physical world fall apart at the seams in the process. But the truth is that if we keep Jesus at the forefront, even in our exhaustion, He will remain there and He will take the lead. The truth is I can't control anything. My life is about crumbs and pee accidents and bad haircuts and stained furniture. My life is about dry elbows and overpriced prescription medications for old woman ailments, desperate prayers for a world going to hell in a hand basket, and laundry. Always laundry. And dust. And to dust you shall return. I smile to myself wryly, a face that my mother would make when a gallows-humor would take her over uncharacteristically. I still miss her, and always will, but again, with Jesus' face before me, it's going to be alright. It simply can't turn out any other way. He promised that and I believe it. If it weren't so, He wouldn't say it. He was saying it to me all those years ago, as I searched through that Bible for my answers, and He repeats it now, at every Mass. He's telling me, "Nicole, you're mine." </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I remember when I told my daughter for the first time, and my son for the first time, (two separate occasions), that as much as I loved them and as much as they loved me, Jesus loved them more and loved me more. Both of them were saucer-eyed. But they have to know, so they can live a life that is properly ordered. Jesus first. Jesus in front of you, always. Like your true North. So don't keep your eyes on the road, or the scenery. Keep your eyes only on Jesus. Follow Him, and you will never be lost, even if you feel like you've dropped every single thing you were supposed to be carrying for the journey, He looks back and says, "Don't worry; I've got it." </span><br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01337040784023107866noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723370077686149753.post-9474208455523835712014-07-02T13:01:00.000-07:002014-07-02T13:01:32.676-07:00Loving The Unlovable<br /><div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On social media as in your dining room or your workplace,
you are guaranteed to encounter people who test your patience. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are, as Catholics, commanded to love all
people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is no exclusion in
Scripture or Tradition for jerks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
is no asterisk that features an addendum explaining that I am NOT required to
love the person whose main goal appears to be to ruin my day, or even my
life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a huge chunk of the
Gospel, and it is extremely difficult to adhere to at times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even if we can restrain ourselves from
telling people off or gossiping about them, we still have the conversion of our
HEARTS to tackle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not easy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cannot be done without much grace, which is
directly from the Holy Spirit, not any magic talent that YOU have.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like the meme says, “You are not the jerk
whisperer.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So how do we truly and
sincerely feel love, in our souls, for our enemies? Where do we even begin?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Begin at the beginning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The mirror.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Realize that you, too, are a jerk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Sometimes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You are not the holy
of holies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can be annoying to
others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Selfish. Manipulative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whiny.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Spoiled. Envious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Seven
Deadlies? Yes, you have probably dabbled in all of them. And possible an eighth
you invented in your basement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When you
come to grips with the fact that you have ruined someone’s day more than once
in your life, you suddenly find a teeny well of mercy for others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The more of your jerkosity you are willing to
own, the greater your real Christian love and willingness to forgive becomes in
regard to others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You start looking at
all sorts of people – liars, perverts, curmudgeons, grumps, contrarians,
parade-pissers, the whole gamut, and you see little bits of YOU in them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Frightening?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>YES.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But necessary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You cannot skip step number one, by the
way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That would make you a CHEATER. And
then you would have to dislike yourself more and love others more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a no-lose for me as the author of this
plan. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->For every annoying or hurtful action, there is
an equal or bigger pitiable cause.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One
of my favorite sayings is “Hurt people hurt people.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The gal whose promiscuity drives you to such
fits that you feel compelled to tell her exactly what she looks like and who
she is probably already feels like she is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That’s why she’s selling herself so short.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No little girl dreams of growing up to be a
stripper, a porn star, or even just some gal who dresses provocatively and gets
used by misguided men who are unable to commit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We all start out wanting to be the special princess to someone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What happened to take her train off the
rails? Well, you can get to know her and find out, or you can just judge her
and call her names.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But before you do
either, you have to cultivate a Christian love for her in your heart by picturing
her as that little girl with the big dreams.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Think about how far she has fallen, how much of her dignity she has
negotiated and rationalized away, and pretty soon you will be drawn to the act
of praying for her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s your
Christian love right there. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Picture Jesus next to him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I give this piece of advice out at least once
a day, no exaggeration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When you are
fuming, when you are ready to type out a tirade against Barack Obama or your
Uncle Kurt or the guy next door whose dog turned your perfect lawn yellow,
picture Jesus right next to him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus
is pleading THIS GUY’S case, not yours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Jesus is saying to reread number two and try it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus is looking at you and saying this is
his beloved also.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t hate Jesus’
beloved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is not worthy of the title
of Christian.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>None of this means that
you let your neighbor vandalize your property – love doesn’t mean becoming a
lawncare martyr.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But you know full well
the difference between charitable reaction to wrongdoing and what the world
would have you say and do to this guy or about this guy. Choose Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cause He’s standing right there, remember? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Ask the toughest question of all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do I dislike or even hate this person because
of some legitimate evil action she committed or is there something in her that
reminds me of something in me? Or does she remind me of my abusive mother?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or does she have something I want?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m asking you here to do a good old
fashioned gut check on your anger and annoyance and its origins.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There might be someone at work who just
drives you crazy with almost every word she says.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her stuff is always late, but she bats her
eyes and gets away with it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your boss is
always on YOUR case, but SHE gets a free pass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So your problem is your boss?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Your co-worker? No, your problem is envy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You don’t feel like you are getting your
due.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just like when you were growing up
and your sister got all of Mom’s attention, right?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oy! Paging Dr. Freud!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t let your own emotional baggage stop you
from fulfilling Jesus’ command to love each other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Count your own change, play your own game,
and stop worrying about everyone else’s PERCEIVED good fortune.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You don’t know this woman’s life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe your boss knows something you don’t
about the broken legs upon which this woman is walking the walk of life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or maybe not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Either way, try this exercise: be happy for your co-worker when
something good happens for her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Say a
little prayer for her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Congratulate her.
Bring her a couple of fresh organic apples if you have gotten a bunch
recently.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You will feel better and
before you know it, you will have no room for thoughts of resentment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Let go, let God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This one applies to the situations where you dislike or even feel hatred
toward someone because he or she has wronged or damaged someone you love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is perhaps the biggest and most thorny
challenge to Jesus’ very clear command that we are to love our enemies and pray
for those who hurt us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus, we pray,
what about this man who is hurting my loved one? Surely you want me to protect
my loved one? (Yes, Jesus does) Surely you want me to warn my loved one that
she is going to be abused again and again by this man? (Yes, Jesus does).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Surely it’s justifiable for me to hate this
man because it’s a protective and noble hate, a shiny like a medieval knight
hate, a righteous anger kind of thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As Grumpy Cat would say, NO.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Vengeance, if it is called for, justice, when it is meted out, is the
sole domain of the Lord.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can take
reasonable measures to protect your loved ones, of course. And you are called
upon by The Church to defend others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
you are never called to hate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>NEVER.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hate the sin that has
gotten a hold of this person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hate the
sin because sin is what wounded Jesus and tore open the flesh of Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But do not think for one hot second that you
are pleasing Jesus or fulfilling some sort of holy obligation by saying
horrible, hateful, threatening, belittling things about this person, no matter
how heinous his actions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Talk about the
actions and their consequences, not the person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He bears the Imago Dei.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t
ever forget that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Love your loved one
more than ever, even if there is a distance between you because of this other
person’s actions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God will take care of
all business.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You don’t trust Him to do
so? Then you have your own work to do, don’t you? I have seen too many times on
Social Media in particular an open, egregious, fiery, violent hatred toward
politicians, celebrities, or whole groups of people simply because of a sin
they share.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All you are accomplishing is
piling YOUR sin on top of their sin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You
are adding more wood to a burning bonfire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And this is not the kind of fire that will warm you; on the contrary, it
is more akin to the fires of Hell, separation from Jesus, who is LOVE.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Undoubtedly we are all a long way from obeying Jesus’ very
essential command to love our neighbor without condition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can help by refusing to egg on a friend’s
hatred of someone else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can pray
daily for a bigger, roomier heart, one that can accommodate all sorts of
people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can pray for your behavior
to represent Christ well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Hateful
Christians” should be oxymoronic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Instead of secular folk saying, “There goes another Christian hater,”
they <b>should</b> be saying, “We might not agree, but I have to give credit
where credit is due; this guy is unflappable.” If you are the only Catholic at
your workplace, or in your family, what image of Catholicism are you
presenting? Cafeteria Catholic? Judgey Judgerson? Political party follower
first, Catholic second? Or are you presenting yourself in such a way that you
are unimpeachable?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When you reach a
point that even the “jerks” you come up against have to admit that your
character cannot be impugned, then you have become a good Disciple.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You will hear “Well done, good and faithful
servant” some day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">None of this is easy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But we know it’s possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Because Jesus said so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Jesus
always, always has the last word. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>JA</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
<w:UseFELayout/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="276">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment--><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01337040784023107866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723370077686149753.post-54581864793839382202014-07-02T12:53:00.000-07:002014-07-02T12:53:46.892-07:00My Mongrel<div class="quote" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(215, 215, 215); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; overflow: hidden; padding: 10px 0px; width: 625px;">
</div>
<div class="quote" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(215, 215, 215); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; overflow: hidden; padding: 10px 0px; width: 625px;">
<div class="quoteDetails" style="float: left; margin-right: 12px; width: 518px;">
<div class="quoteText" style="font-size: 14px; padding: 0px 5px 10px 0px;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“And she shrank away again, back into her darkness, and for a long while remained blotted safely away from living.” </span></div>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">―D.H. Lawrence, <i>The Rainbow</i></span></div>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
The heavy door shuts with a "thwoop" and all that's left of your vision is the ken through a small rectangle fashioned from very thick, unbreakable glass. This is for your protection from the patients on the other side of the door. The thing is, just a moment ago you were on the other side of the door visiting a loved one, and you were utterly vulnerable. But once you've signed out, passed through that door, and heard that sound, and looked through that little rectangle at your loved one's face, now slightly distorted and growing ever smaller as she is escorted away, you are in another world. A safe world. The world of the sane. To say that a mental hospital is the world of the insane is inaccurate. Many mentally healthy people work there. They are the okay ones, there to help the not-okay ones. And then there are the big ones, there to protect you if a mentally unhealthy person, in his mental unhealth, attacks you. They protect the patients from themselves and from each other. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
It is not unlike a prison, but most people there have not committed any crime. They have simply been unable to keep up the daily work of living. Some simmering pot they were tending in their minds has boiled over, and reinforcements were called in to clean up the mess. Even their most intimate friends and family, spouses, children, siblings, confidantes, have said "We cannot handle you anymore, so we must give you over to strangers now. And they will help you, and then give you back to us."</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
To visit someone you love in a mental hospital shifts, possibly forever, the dynamic of the relationship. Like seeing someone naked, there is a vulnerability now on the table that was not heretofore a part of your shared life. It is very different from visiting someone in a regular hospital, which can be lovely, like after someone has given birth, or can be horrid, like when someone is having an operation to remove a cancerous tumor. But with cancer or a heart attack, everyone knows who the enemy is: the physical illness, which must be rooted out and fought and is an outsider. The mental illness sits next to you during your visit and tells you, "I'm not really going anywhere. After she leaves here, you can try to manage me, medicate me, talk me away, but the fact is, we are going to know each other for a long time." </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Mental illness is the unwelcome and unspoken visitor in so many lives, so many more than you would guess. Those of us with religious faith may feel like mental illness is demonic in nature and origin, and can be conquered by faith, by a miracle, by a divine healing. But mental illness doesn't sit still for even one second while you research that possibility. Mental illness is the most easily hidden thing and yet the most difficult from which to escape. The patient can go for years grooming and keeping mental illness in a crate, like a little dog. Then one day the dog gets out and goes wild, pisses all over the house, and bites your feet, and barks and barks. What do you do? Surely you can't desert your house, be driven out by this nasty little dog? That in itself sounds insane. So a decision must be made. Facts must be faced. The dog is disruptive -- the dog is violent, it keeps making noise and it won't shut up or be satisfied, ever. It can't be good anymore. It seems to be showing it that it WON'T be good anymore. It's time to get some help. Someone needs to remove the dog from your house. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
But the dog and you are together now, and as it turns out you have to go with the dog. There's the rub. Mental illness is that vicious little thing, but you can't evict him because he's attached to you. He's in your head, and your head is on your body, and you are all together, and so you ALL have to go and you are all labeled mentally ill. And once you are out of the house, the truth is that everyone remaining behind will be happier and better off that you are gone. And you will not go<i> nowhere</i>. You will go <i>somewhere</i>. To the hospital, the special hospital, where they only treat people with mental illness, and protect them, and protect other people from them. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
In a mental hospital, the violent and the nonviolent sit together to eat. They sleep with only a wall between them, and we hope that nothing goes wrong as the night wears on, and the nurse sits behind her desk, hoping for the continued silence of all the little dogs on her watch. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
I see now as a woman of a certain age that we really never ever can know what someone is going through unless we have been through it. We can sympathize, even empathize. We can cry and give time and money. We can even be right about what needs to be done to help. But there is no knowledge of mental illness or anything else, really, without experience.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
I know what it's like to talk to a loved one who was sane and then one day was not sane anymore. Well, that isn't really true, you say. There is always a problem brewing, there are signs. But I am telling you that, officially and literally, one moment you are sane and the next, after three signatures are dry on a form, you are insane. And you must go stay somewhere else, away from us, the sane ones, or, maybe more accurately stated, the ones who are still sane for now. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
When we were kids, we had a cat who gave birth to a litter of kittens. She went crazy after that, and quite literally drove us all out of the house one afternoon. You couldn't catch her or even get near her. Her eyes changed. She was not herself anymore. She wanted to hurt us. She was now an animal, not a pet. She wasn't a friend; she was the enemy. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Talking to a loved one who has been remanded for her own good to a mental institution is best described as surreal. You are suddenly very aware of your own mental health as you try to have conversations with your loved ones that two mentally healthy people would have. These conversations don't work. Just when you get out a point about how Lorna Doones are good tasting cookies but so full of fat, she starts crying. "I want to die." Well, that wasn't the answer I was looking for. I really was hoping you'd say something about the cookies. So, a new topic. I tell my loved one that she needs to shower. Blank stare. "What's the point?" Now there's a tough one to answer. What ever the hell IS the point of showering when you're stuck in this hell? Does it really matter at all to anyone anymore? Will it ever matter again? But I have to answer as if we are both sane. Yes, you need to be clean, and show them that you can shower and eat and smile and walk around and do crafts. Then they will let you out, so you can come home and tend to your little dog again, and get him back in the crate.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
People in mental hospitals may not want to pray, even if they used to laud prayer as a life changing activity in which to engage. People in mental hospitals may use profanity even if before they really didn't do so. Or if they used to use profanity jokingly before, they may now use profanity at YOU. So when you are visiting them, you are visiting strangers. It's like someone took over your loved one's body, and is residing there, and speaking out of your loved one's mouth, but has your loved one tied up in a warehouse somewhere. You can try to be hopeful and optimistic. That seems like a good way to be. Everyone wants to hear about good outcomes that may or may not happen, right? </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"I hate it here. Get me out of here. I don't belong here. Do you see how big that guy is? He's going to come after me in the middle of the night." This is the statement of an insane person, so you can't do what she asks, but if the worm were turned, you would say the same thing. So what to answer. You'll be fine. The old standby. Everything will be fine. Really. It will. God is in His Heaven and all is right with the world. But still there you sit, and your loved one is sitting with her little vicious dog and you aren't scared at all. You just feel like you want it all to be over, different, not this. You have some pretty insane thoughts of your own. But no one hears them, so they don't count. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"Well, you better go." That is the toughest. That pains. The time to part. I go back to the land of the sane, and I leave you here, to be crazy, among the crazy. Feet of lead move me toward the desk to sign out, then toward the door. In her nightgown she embraces me, and it feels so familiar, because the body is the same. But then she looks at me, and her eyes are those of a stranger. Worse than a stranger. The eyes don't cry. She's not even sad. Just resigned for the moment. "I'll see you soon. Be careful driving home." </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Don't look back. Don't look back. Don't look back. You tell yourself this as your heart pounds in your ears. To look through the rectangle is to see the world of the insane, so you beg Jesus, please make this something else, please let this not be true. But it is. And you do, you do look back and see her face. The loneliest, weakest, and most defeated face, certainly, that has ever existed. Don't wave. Just leave it. Leave it be. But you can't. You put your hand to the glass even though you aren't to touch the glass or the door or the world she's now a citizen of and you're not. Her hand waves feebly and then her back is to you as she is walked off by the orderly. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
And I freeze. Time freezes, that is. How much pain can a person feels before something inside just breaks permanently? How many waves of sorrow can knock me under the water, how much noise and begging, and how many tears and ghastly images, can fill my ears and eyes before it becomes acceptable and normal that I will never get my head above water again? That she will always be there, and I will always be here, on opposite sides of the door, even though the only difference between us is that my dog is still in its cage? </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><br /></i></div>
</span></div>
</div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01337040784023107866noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723370077686149753.post-55626953140704906962014-06-03T08:59:00.000-07:002014-06-03T08:59:18.660-07:00The Hands of Time<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As I sat down to type an entirely different post about my 45th birthday, I looked down and took notice of my aging hands. They tell their own story; that's for sure. There is the scar from the time I wouldn't listen to my mother and leave the stray cat, Tony, alone, and he scratched my right hand as I tried to sneak up on him to pet him. There's the chicken pox scar from the time I wouldn't listen to my mother when she said not to pick at my itchy pox or they would open up and leave permanent marks. </span><div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There's my right thumb, which has developed my Dad's arthritis, and if I hit it the wrong way, I see stars. There's the length of my fingers, "piano fingers," as my father called them, which my daughter inherited from me, or really, from her grandfather. I study my fingernails, uneven, dry, unpolished. I think the last manicure I had was the day before my wedding. I examine the little sunspots (age spots?) that my kids will tell you are beauty marks. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My hands have performed much service over the last decade since I had my kids and lost my mom. Cleaning, feeding, changing diapers, lifting, pulling, carrying, praying. Praying. How many times have I folded these hands in prayer, sometimes so tight that they were white knuckled? How many times have I pressed the fingers to my eyes, trying to hold in ill-timed tears that threatened to fall? </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On my left hand is my wedding set, the square diamond set in the beautiful platinum band, the same one the love of my life placed on my finger so many years ago, and the wedding ring, an elegant platinum circle, representing our infinite commitment. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The power of touch is well known. The value of it to someone who considers him or herself an "untouchable" is tremendous. I remember living in New York and walking through Manhattan, stopping to talk to the homeless who asked for money or cigarettes or sandwiches or whatever they could get. I can't tell you how many times I saw the eyes of one of these people fill up simply because I held their hands. It troubles me that today some folks would pet an unknown stray dog or cat but would be afraid or disgusted to touch a homeless person. This is patently backward.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My hands have catalogued all of this, and my heart, too. I've learned that yes, I feel more complete when I am serving others, even if not my giddiest. There was a lot more "fun" in playing skeeball as a kid with these hands than there is in wiping up the floor on my knees for the twelfth time today. But fun is not why I'm alive. What an empty life that would be, if I were only here to BE served, to take with these hands, to have them pampered and unscarred, to avoid getting them in the mix with all the other hands and stories out there.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I look at my daughter's hands, how perfect they are, and I wonder what is ahead for them. What marks will they collect? What tale will they tell? How long will I be given to hold her hand in mine? Will she always use her hands for good, for service of her younger brother and for all her fellow man? I watch her hands, graceful in ballet, capable in playing the large unwieldy trombone, purposeful and exacting as she draws or paints. I watch her tenderly place a chaplet around her hand and fingers before she falls asleep at night. God, please help me teach her that through prayer she will be able to draw the strength from you to fulfill her vocation.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The older I get, the more I fold these hands to pray for souls -- mine and others'. We are really here for such a short time -- our aging hands and bodies, eyes and hair . . . they are all signs of that. These bodies are not designed for permanence. The permanent things can't be seen in a mirror. The permanent things are the intentions and adventures, the stories and emotions behind the dents and scratches on the surface. This is what time does to the body. What it does to the soul is, if we use time the way it was designed to be used, make it ready and beautiful, so it is fit to be seen by its author, to be touched once again by the divine hands of the One who formed it. </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01337040784023107866noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723370077686149753.post-26632352183968681102014-04-29T11:36:00.000-07:002014-04-29T11:36:22.810-07:00Little Lents, Little Easters<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are few things as toxic as envy. Schadenfreude, envy's cousin, is close. To envy means to mistrust Jesus. It is to say, in effect, that God has erred in what He has given you, where He has placed you and what He has made you. When I am the object of someone's envy, I have to laugh to myself. <i>Oh, I think, if you only knew.</i> I think back to dark things, which I shouldn't do, but when someone envies me and lets me know it with a not so subtle jab, I can't yet mentally move quickly enough to avoid that old darkness. I think back to what I saw, those horrible things I saw, my mother suffering in a way no human being should have to, and I look at my life now, a spread sheet of pills and appointments for me and my son, a list of prayers as long as my arm for the friends and family also suffering so profoundly. And I think with a definite and singular conviction that envy is one of the foe's favorite devices. The good news is that The Church has many ways to counteract it, many weapons against it that Christ Himself left The Church. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As we came out of the discipline of Lent into the rousing of Easter, and then into the high of the Canonizations and Divine Mercy Sunday, well, it all led me to see how the pattern of Lent and Easter is a weekly (liturgically speaking, of course) and daily pattern. Each week we go to work, probably at a job we don't like very much at all, and we endure all manner of insult, probably along with the sharp pangs of futility and regret. Or we don't work. We look for work that we never find. We stretch the dollars and the credit cards and hope that somewhere on a certain day in the future the scales will balance. Or we can't work. Our bodies and minds are too sick and broken. And we wish we COULD go and grab a coffee in the morning and then pop into our co-worker's office and gripe about the boss. How light and real and productive that seems to one who is homebound or unemployed! And then the weekend: the working man's Easter! Free to go out to eat and drink and laugh, to toss the ball with his children, to meet with friends and compare stories about incompetent secretaries and the vagaries of the market. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is dreaded mundane reality to some, and a fantasy to others. Because we all have Lent every day, and Easter every day. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These little Lents without Jesus are about as fruitless and moribund as the Church's Lent without Jesus. Nothing makes sense or can be beautiful without Jesus and we know it. Even if we <i>don't</i> know it, we know it. Have you seen or participated in an Easter Sunday without Jesus? Easter Sunday without Jesus is just another party, another afternoon of social tension to be endured, another day to stuff ourselves with too much food and sit around the dining room table complaining about the lazy bums on the government teat. I see people at my parish at Easter Mass, or any Mass for that matter, and they look bored. How on earth can you be bored? I will ask someday; I will. Jesus is up there. Do you know that? Jesus is up there and you are bored by Jesus. How is that so? And then a friend says to me, "I envy your faith." No! Don't envy it! Go to Mass. See Jesus! You can have what I have, what is meant for you, what is your birthright. You can have Easter, but you choose Lent! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To envy is to deny that we <b><i>all</i></b> have little Lents and little Easters, and there does not exist in creation a device by which we can measure them against each other. You know what yours are. But you don't know your neighbor's. Even if you ask, he may not share with you what inner battle he fights, against what demons he struggles through every moment of the day, through every inch of his height and every neural pathway in his brain. You look at your neighbor and envy--you see an Easter you do not have. But you don't see the Lent. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"I have my own problems!" you say. Yes, you do. That is my point, friend. If you do, if you know how you suffer interiorly, or how you wait, wait, wait for the pill or the drink to take effect, or how you wait, wait, wait for the phone call to come from the one who went away, or how you wait, wait, wait for your father to say he's proud of you just once, or if you wait, wait, wait, for the pregnancy to stay this time . . . then you have your Lents. And you should know, better than <i>anyone</i>, that your neighbor has her Lents as well. Her losses, waits, sacrifices, pains, sufferings, lies, secrets, torments, regrets, darknesses. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And you both have your Easters. Even if they are little Easters: a hug, a kind word, a bonus at work, a piece of Scripture, a child handing you a drawing of yourself, a night of sound sleep, a smile of approval from your mother, an eMail from a friend you are sure has forgotten your name.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jesus is waiting. Waiting through His own Lent, waiting for you to come to Him with your pains and tears, your frustrations and worries, your anger and envy. Your sins--ugly and unspeakable sins. You wish you could get rid of them? Well, that works out because Jesus is waiting for them. Go to the confessional and drop them off there. Jesus is waiting as well for you to share your Easters with Him. When a small victory is celebrated, do we pray in thanks? Do we look above, make the sign of the cross, even say aloud boldly, "Thank you, my Jesus!" Or do we take the credit, quickly consume the victory as well-deserved spoils for all of our trials, and then spit it back out? And then it's back to Lent, where we can enjoy our complaining. And our envy. Do not let envy be a salve, friends. The devil LOVES this. There is only one salve for all wounds and that is Jesus Himself. And there are so many ways to receive Him, to celebrate Easter with Him even if we see ourselves rightly in almost constant pain. Because we belong to a Church that is rich with Jesus' gifts: the Eucharist supreme over all. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Every Sunday is an Easter Sunday at every Catholic church everywhere. And yet how many ignore it, choosing something else entirely, usually more of what is making them unhappy to begin with--I tell you, only man can be this foolish in his concupiscence. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another way to feel Easter, to truly<i> have</i> Easter (that is, after all, to know the risen Christ), is to give. To love is to serve, and unless you have tried, you can never know the joy (not cessation of all suffering, not even happiness as the world defines it, but JOY interiorly, a feeling of being joined soul to soul with another person and with Jesus) of serving without repayment. "Serving others won't make my back stop hurting or pay my bills or make my wife come back," you say. Yes, you are right. You answer me well, as one of the world would. As the devil would. But what is Jesus' answer? <i>Peter, if you love me, feed my sheep.</i> To love Jesus you must get to know Jesus and to know Him is to follow His command: that is to love the least among us. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But that doesn't always means those who <b>appear </b>the least. It can be those who appear the MOST--the most annoying, the most successful, the most obnoxious, the most beautiful, the most perverted, the most irreligious. Who, tell me, friend, WHO, needs us to bring them Jesus more than these? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Today, now, think of the person whose life you envy. And pray for that person. Pray for the sufferings that person surely has. Pray that you can join your little Lents to those of that person's somehow, and then join both of yours to Jesus'. This is the essence of what we are here to do. Not compete, not win, not have a good time, not be happy, not live the longest or the best. We are here to become saints by working at the projects Jesus assigned us not <i>despite</i> the crosses we carry, but <i>using </i>the crosses we carry--using them to identify with the invisible crosses of every person we encounter. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01337040784023107866noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723370077686149753.post-21108896816986399072014-03-19T08:34:00.002-07:002014-03-19T08:34:38.100-07:00If I Could Buy The World A Book: Top Five List and Review Of Devin Rose's Latest<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm <i>so</i> excited this week about Devin Rose's newest book <u>The Protestant's Dilemma</u>, excited in a way that I honestly didn't think I could muster again after my passion for his first book <u>If Protestantism is True</u>. Both, in my opinion, are must reads, but the format and fullness of <u>Dilemma</u> are really perfected and so I'd have to say, if pressed, that it would make my top five books to have the entire world's population read if I could. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Narrowing down to five is difficult for a normal person. For someone like this blogger, who has books falling out of every corner of her closet and night table, her car and her kitchen pantry (don't judge me), it's a real brain tester. To clarify, this is not a list of my five FAVORITE books, which would mix secular and religious and could NEVER EVER be narrowed down to five, but rather a list of the five books that if I could have every poo pooing progressive, every lonely soul, every lukewarm sleepwalker, every sourpussed pseudo-saint, every sullen teenager and every lonely senior citizen read, I would. Because these five books provide a foundation firm enough to build a spiritual life upon, a life that is a journey with Jesus and TO Jesus. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First and foremost (sorry, you knew it was going to happen) would be the Douay Rheims Bible. I know there are easier Bibles to understand, but the beauty of the language here forces me to put it at number one. To me, the DR is THE definitive Catholic Bible. If you or someone you know needs a more accessible Bible, then by all means, believe me when I say that getting any Catholic (complete!) Bible into their hands is more important than WHICH ONE. But if I had my druthers, (and I do because it's my list! Ha!), it's Douay Rheims. The Scriptures are to be engraved on our hearts, friends. Please never forget that -- we never stop needing that. We never outgrow the need for our Bibles! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Second is (and yes, I know I'm looking pretty predictable here) the Catechism of The Catholic Church. Yes, the 756 page one. If the person you're sending books to or if YOU cannot commit to a book this long, read it in small snippets, or if you must, substitute Youcat or a more accessible Catechism. But really, friends, for the full landscape of the teachings of The Church, with Scriptural and Encyclical cross references, there is nothing like the CCC. I have said many times in this space and on radio and TV interviews that the Catechism is what pushed me over the edge. Its beauty and TRUTH are undeniable, unfightable, and timeless. It's a masterpiece made by God's own hand as He guided those who compiled it for the edification of His Mystical Body.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A good part of the reason I favor the Douay Rheims in spite of some complaints I've fielded that it's hard to understand is that my third book takes care of that objection. It's <u>You Can Understand The Bible</u> by Peter Kreeft. No list would be a list without Kreeft on it. He's simply the premier apologist and speaker out there, and if I could sit at a table with him and Dr. J. Budzisewski, Father Robert Barron and Mark Shea, well, I'd probably just remain silent the whole time and absorb the wisdom, wit, and holiness of these men. Kreeft's Bible commentary is a book by book exegesis that is written by a lover. He loves his Bible. He KNOWS his Bible, and he wants you to be empowered by knowing it too. The title is key. It's an answer to a complaint or frustration, "But I can't understand the Bible." Oh, yes, you can. Trust me that Kreeft lays it out in a way that is one hundred percent faithful to the Magisterium, sensible, and radiating the message of love that <b>is</b> the Bible from every single line. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you know anyone who is an atheist, agnostic, lost, or just really, really badly catechized even to the point of not knowing basic Christian tenets, or if you know (or are!) someone who simply needs a spiritual kick in the pants, then I have to insist on the forever classic, <u>Mere Christianity</u> by C.S. Lewis. I don't care who or where you are . . . this book will change some part of your life when you read it. If I know someone who is an angry atheist or an intellect worshipper, or has any kind of chip on her shoulder, this is the first book I think of recommending. Even before the Bible, because that person will not READ the Bible, at least not with an open mind. But give them the Bible WITH the Lewis book, because when they get about a quarter of the way through, they will want to pick up that Bible and start peeking at the love note God left them. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last and replacing his older book is Devin Rose's <u>The Protestant's Dilemma</u>. What made me go so ga-ga over this book is the simplicity of his premise. Rose has the gentleness of a monk, but he also has the real man's audacity to say: Protestantism is an impossible equation. It doesn't make sense. It doesn't compute. If you want to argue with him or me, you have to read his book to do so. You can't come with canned arguments, because about twenty pages into the book, he has already crushed all of those, all with a gracious smile and a clear and comprehensible style, and you will be left looking for your back up arguments. Which he will crush in the rest of the book. Now be clear on this: Devin and I LOVE our separated brethren. However, if I am Catholic, which I am, to the back teeth, and I've found this amazing thing, I want you to have it too, otherwise I couldn't possibly say with any level of honesty that I love you. And I do love you. Did you know that? So to bring the recipient (in the case of my list, every person in the entire world!) into the FULLNESS of the faith, then yes, this book is the equivalent of Atticus Finch's closing argument in <u>To Kill A Mockingbird</u>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, that's my list, and my fantasy. If I could bundle these five books together and get them to every person in the entire world, that would be, as my son would say, "Awesome, awesome, awesome!" How you can help me is to give one or five of these to someone you know in whom you see a need. Or to yourself if you sense a hole in yourself that isn't being filled. Maybe you have read these, or skimmed them, or a few of them, but you've been remiss in keeping up with revisiting. Choose NOW to do that, please. Spiritiual reading is so key to our eternal lives! Feeding our hearts and intellects properly is something I see missing in the lives of so many friends and loved ones. Everything else comes first -- the looks, the food, the drink, the workout, the job, the movies, the shows, the songs, the games, the sports, the drama, the waiting, the wishing, the wallowing. Nowhere in that schedule is a block of time for reading the words that will make this life Heaven all the way to Heaven? Nowhere is there fifteen minutes in the day? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had a thought as I was reading Devin's book. I don't know him in real life, but I know he's a busy Dad with a busy wife and active kids. Still and all, he found the time and the focus to write what I'm going to call here a watershed book in Christian apologetics in its simplicity, directness, and charitable tone. Before we even crack open <u>Protestant's Dilemma</u>, we can learn THAT lesson from Devin Rose -- to take the time for things spiritual. Because not just in the end, friends, but in the beginning and middle too, things of the soul are really the only things that count. And the only things that stay. </span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01337040784023107866noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723370077686149753.post-77122046681132381352014-03-03T11:01:00.003-08:002014-03-03T11:01:52.430-08:00Last Minute Lent<div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you still haven't decided what is beneficial and appropriate for you to fast for Lent, you're not alone. For most of us, the really inspired ideas are pretty rare. It's easy to turn Lent into a diet, or a way to boast publicly of doing without something pleasurable. I don't know if we need to identify what the world tells us are common temptations and excesses so much as we need to identify our walls. What are the obstacles we've constructed that keep us at a safe distance from Jesus? Those are the things that, for Lent and forever after, need to go. </span></div>
<div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
<br /></div>
<div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the most part, they will be our pet sins -- the things we let slip under our sin radar because we like these sins and they're not as obvious or gory as the sins someone else commits. Complaining, for example, or listening to gossip, even if you don't share the gossip you've heard. If you have been watching a television show or listening to music that you know is really not appropriate, Lent is the perfect time to live without it. Give it up and see what Jesus puts in its place. Vanity is another huge area to explore for Lent -- for us ladies, it's almost certain that we can fast something related to our physical appearance, whether it be cosmetics, hair color, nail polish, checking the mirror, or making unnecessary purchases of clothing and/or cosmetics. </span></div>
<div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A lot of pet sins are held in the tongue: criticism, profanity, whining, passive-aggressiveness, degrading one's spouse or children, hollering or losing one's temper, laughing at inappropriate jokes, inserting my opinion where it's really not needed (like where it's simply redundant/chiming in). Try for the entire period of Lent to only say things that will build others up and bring them closer to Jesus. If you are shy or embarrassed about discussing your faith, Lent is an ideal time to go out on a limb and fast your reticence. Speak out openly and assertively about God's Law and the Natural Law, and how they save lives and souls. Speak about Jesus' suffering and how it touches you. Ask someone where he or she is in the spiritual journey and try to act as a human bridge to the next level. </span></div>
<div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also look for the those things we mock or point up in others. They are generally a variation or protection of our own thorns. By this I mean, that if I find myself becoming aggravated by a certain kind of person, or a certain behavior and I am fixating on it to the point where it's taking up a lot of my time and thought and even prayer, then it could just be that I'm projecting or protecting. Projecting my own dissatisfaction or insecurity, or protecting my own sin. If I see myself becoming annoyed with cafeteria Catholics, annoyed to the point of checking charity at the door, maybe it's not righteous indignation. Maybe it's that I know there is a teaching THAT I AM secretly ignoring or defying. And that creates an insecurity in me that only feels soothed when I am shouting so loudly at someone else that I can't hear my own telltale heart under the floorboards. </span></div>
<div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lent is a gift. It's a not-very-long period of time when we can really test our skills at mortification. At the beginning of Lent, I can look in the mirror and say, "Okay, kid, let's see what you can do." Some Lenten sacrifices are more stellar than others, and end up producing much greater fruit. Some fall on their faces very quickly, and if that occurs, I suggest quickly replacing with something else, so as to stay in the race and not lose momentum. </span></div>
<div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is a Gospel song I could listen to all day and night . . . in it, the words repeat, "Oh, Lord, please remove these thorns." It refers, of course, to thorns in the flesh, ranging from physical illness to addictions to demonically influenced behaviors. The song goes on to plaintively beg God to help pull out the thorns because they are hindering spiritual progress. THIS is our motivation for Lent, not to show we can do it, not to be able to have a really good mortification to share with others, but to move ahead in the marathon, move closer and closer to Jesus. We do that by shedding weight, dropping baggage. Food, vanity, smugness, judgment, licentiousness, a roaming eye, a bad habit, a good comeback that we keep inside instead of letting it go on our chosen target. If you do Lent right, you will feel deprivation, yes, but you will also feel Jesus fill in the blanks with something new and interesting. He will teach you about yourself and your place in the world. He will teach you that it's not worth it to have the extra donut, the extra pair of jeans, the last word, the peek at the dirty channel, or the Pharisaical high, because after you come down from these, you are squinting to see Jesus' face, instead of being close enough to look Him in the eye. </span></div>
<div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lent is an adventure, a microcosm of the bigger adventure that is Catholicism. They are both about obedience, smallness, and service. Neither is about taking, winning, or the flesh. </span></div>
<div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There used to be a saying; maybe there still is. "If it feels good, do it." This was or is the motto of a society that is constantly seeking adventure via the body and the first layers of the mind. Initial gratification and earthly victory are the gods of that quasi-religion. I say we modify that for Lent, my friends. "If it feels holy, do it." And flip it: "If it doesn't feel holy, don't do it." Strip yourself down and privately examine your conscience and your interior life. What are your thorns? Oh, now you see them. I see mine. And they're not a pretty sight.</span></div>
<div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Remove those thorns and run home to God. Adventure takes place in the soul -- not the groin or the wallet or the telephone or the water cooler. Not by gambling with the health of your brain and body, not with listening to lascivious details of someone else's life, and not by tearing down someone else's relationship with Christ or His Church in order to relive, medicate, or work out your own spiritual hang ups. </span></div>
<div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Use Lent to knock down the walls between you and Jesus so He can see you and you can see Him. Use Lent to rip out the thorns, and approach Jesus boldly to ask Him for what you really desire. </span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01337040784023107866noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723370077686149753.post-42475188053712223942014-02-05T07:05:00.000-08:002014-02-05T07:05:36.843-08:00I'm In The Olympics<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course I'm not, really. I'm probably one of the least athletic people I know. But I love the Olympics, in a love-hate kind of way. The hate part isn't really "hate," but I do end up feeling like there is a risk of an over-emphasis on one's body, and that the soul can be ignored when athletics are one's main pursuit. However I've loved the Olympics since I was a little girl. I have always loved watching people do things that I can't do -- it's fascinating to me. How wonderful it is that someone can possess that talent and have the drive to match it. That's a combination that wins, in life and in sport, and in spiritual combat. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Watching a preview from Sochi, I heard an Olympic competitor say "<i>Suffering is a skill</i>." The phrase embedded itself in my ear, then my mind. I'm a pretty forgetful gal, especially after forty, so the fact that I woke up still pondering those words told me that I had to interpret what they meant in my life, and in the life of every Catholic. Suffering means something to Catholics. It's not a puzzlement or a punishment like it is for certain ecclesial communities or other belief systems. And while my sufferings, when compared to those I observe far and wide, look pretty tiny, some of them have brought me quite literally to the ground. So I think about why I've come out the other side of these events and time periods closer to Jesus, and why now, at 44, the suffering of others hurts me more than my OWN suffering, and I realize there indeed is, as that young skier said, a skill to suffering, or at least a skill in dealing with suffering. It begins with recognizing what suffering is, how temporary its nature is, and how powerful it can be when we don't attempt to compete against our suffering alone. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We all know the basics of suffering if we are Catholics: join our sufferings with those of Christ, with the sorrows and sufferings of His Mother, and of course, offer our sufferings up for those in Purgatory, or for the pains and battles of others. These should be automatic and constant practices for us. The skill of suffering, what will make me an Olympic level Catholic, is this: to focus not on myself even at the exact apex of my suffering. That is the moment, the climax, when union with Jesus is most possible and most profitable. We can't waste that time on self-pity or panic. In my sufferings, I need to ask Him what to do, whom to think of, where to put my pain. Where does this pain go today, Lord? Picture Jesus' face and ask Him: what do we do now? How do I cross the finish line? How do I push past the wall of pain that I've hit? What is my next turn, my next jump, my next move? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An answer will come. And not just for that moment, but for your whole existence from that point in time onward. You will find that you are thinking of life in different ways. It's not a race or a contest that you want to win to lord over others, but it is a team sport. We are all working together, just so many of us don't know it. What a cold thing my suffering used to be. I would hold it inside like a hard diamond, like a little treasure. How could I think about anyone else when I was suffering so? But there is such liberation and such hidden reward in thinking not of oneself in suffering but of others -- and of Jesus. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Emptying myself out is not a one time, singular practice. After the suffering has passed and the seas are calm, some remnant, some gift, is there, something left by Jesus. I've earned a medal, and it's a sense of acceptance. It's a liberty from selfishness. It's waking up and thinking of ten different people before I think of myself. It's processing each and every moment of time in a new way. Not "What's in this for me?" But "Why am I here in this moment? FOR WHOM am I here in this moment and in this place?" I learn, exquisitely, to wait. To wait for my coaching, my orders, my strategy. How am I to be a blessing? A lesson? A pair of arms? An ear? A Catechism? Tell me, Lord. I am empty now; the suffering has emptied me . . . so refill me. The Olympic event, pushing myself to the limit has emptied me . . . so give me some of You, Lord, so I can get back in there, back in the pool, back on the track, back on the mountain. I live to fight again, fight for someone's rights, or someone's peace. Or even someone's life. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I invite you to take your sufferings to Jesus and be prostrate before him so He can increase your skill level. Let Him excise from you what is not needed, and replace it with the muscle and the endurance required to become an Olympic level Christian. You will be pushed to your limit, and then you will receive a laurel, a crown of peace. You will feel something that is overpowering and unique: a painful ecstasy of selflessness, a love of "the other" that is so deep and freeing that you will not at first recognize it. You may fear you will get lost in it. But hold tight to Jesus' hand -- this coach will never give you more than you can handle. Remember that He is perfect, and His love for you is perfect. His ownership of you and handling of you must then naturally also be perfect. Nothing He allows to happen to you while you are in active pursuit of His will can be less than perfect. But you must be in active pursuit. You must be suited up and ready to run. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"No one wins the Olympic gold from the couch," my Dad once joked. And no one reaches the level of intimacy with Jesus that he or she desires by simply running the hamster wheel of this world, pursuing earthly honors and kudos, physical pleasures, entitlements labeled as "rights," revenge, or any of the offerings of the devil. Decide today which team you will walk on to the field with, and decide if you want to go all the way, if you really love Jesus' immaculate heart enough to go for the gold. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01337040784023107866noreply@blogger.com6