Loving Christ Jesus

Reading this blog post by Mark Mallett and trying to stay upbeat even though we have a lingering stomach-flu over here. It gives more time for prayer; I wish I had more energy for cleaning.

This post is sure to warm the soul.

Authentic Compassion

This blog post over at La Salette Journey gives a thought-provoking meditation on compassion. As I prayerfully work out my vocation as a Catholic married woman, I hope that the "fear and trembling" caused by the action of the Holy Spirit clarifies my spiritual vision.

Open my eyes, Lord! Open my ears, Mother!

Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!
Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!

Let's work hard against contempt, let's adore Him, let's love...

"We can only learn to know ourselves and do what we can -- namely, surrender our will and fulfill God's will in us." --St. Teresa of Avila

I have a few quiet moments and am thinking about how fast the rest of the year will go by...and, I want to bring a grateful heart to each day, not worrying if I "get everything done". I am a "worry wart," as they used to call my grandpa (my dad's dad). It is important for me to stop and see the big picture, to stop and adore our Eucharistic Lord, even when I am not directly in front of the Blessed Sacrament. He, the Prince of Peace is, so very mysteriously, living inside of me and, as a beautiful song goes, "He is the air I breathe..."

We are all called to be living tabernacles. I love this thought and know that the Incarnation made this all possible. No wonder so many love Christmas. The miracle of Christmas is the gift of Mother Church. Christ came as a baby and would become even smaller in the Sacred Host (think of that!). As a convert, I am still learning and renewing, via His sacramental graces, my knowledge of the truths of the Faith. We know that Purgatory is the "Church Suffering" and that we, pilgrims on earth, are the "Church Militant" and that all persons are created to journey in faith, hope and love to our ultimate destiny of utter refuge, known to Catholics as the "Church Triumphant."

Heaven is the goal. It is the place to which we run. I was talking to some of the members of my Regnum Christ small prayer group (know as our "Encounters with Christ")about the idea that Heaven will be, for me, a place not of rest, as we tend to think of it. As a disabled person, I like to think of Heaven as a place where we are always free to move, free to act with verve and full-blown energy to love perfectly all the time. Come to think of it, that would be eternal rest because we would "rest" in the peace of a fully certain conscience, meaning that our hearts would be utterly pure. We would be unencumbered by our mental, emotional and physical disabilities. Living fully in the embrace of the Blessed Mother gazing in complete communion with the Blessed Trinity, we would be one act of pure love all of the time -- Heaven!!!

I know it is not a sin to be tired, but, as I am so tired so much of the time, I am blessed, if you will, to think, from time to time, of all the good works that I could initiate, if I were to have more energy. Alas, nothing is wasted! What I mean by that is that we can pray with all of our might for souls. We can offer everything up to Him who is Love. And, we must do what we can when we can to inspire and encourage ourselves and others.

We can offer each and every aspect of our daily lives for the salvation of souls, beginning first with our own. A related item I have been pondering is the fact that we must work and pray very hard not to be contemptuous of our own failings or those of others. Our Lord warns us of the only "unforgivable sin" being (all) that which opposes the Holy Spirit (do not quench the Spirit!). God never fails to forgive. We condemn ourselves. We know this. When we make our morning offering and ask for the special intercession of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the mercy of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we must do so humbly and in full recognition of our potential for contempt, of ourselves and of others.

I just looked up contempt and you may be given a bit of a jolt --it is from the Latin contemnere, meaning to despise. Wow! Contempt is "an attitude to something (or someone, I add) which one despises as worthless, insignificant or vile; total disregard." (Webster's)

I believe this is key to understanding the internal persecutions of Mother Church. When any human person is deemed worthless (which can happen internally or externally, or both), then the demons leap in to the situation. When an idea that is good, truthful and beautiful is distorted, then the same occurs. The godly practices of celibacy for the Kingdom, worship of the Blessed Sacrament, family prayer, parish renewal, true friendship, authentic love, filial obedience to Mother Church -- there are so many more -- when these are held in contempt, watch out!

But first, return every hour of every day to the Lord with your whole heart. Ask our Lady to be your mother, to guide you, pray with you and for you. Ask for prayers from the holy souls and pray for them (then you will have "friends in high places," as I tell the kids). Here is a good link on Purgatory.

The one, sure prophetic word of God is to love. Spending time in front of the Blessed Sacrament will increase your capacity to love, of this I am sure for I have experienced it in my own life. I know it to be true both from doctrine and from experience. Both are good and sound. Only magisterial doctrine is constant, but it must be experienced to be transmitted, so that we may evangelize the world.

Is it possible that the teaching can be more sound, more constant, than the teacher? I am speaking of apostles, not our Lord Himself, of course. He mysteriously acts through clay pots. I have more cracks than most! I do know that true and real devotion to our Blessed Mother includes an ardent desire to free the holy souls from Purgatory.

Holy Souls in Purgatory, pray for us! I pray that the holy souls know that we care, that they do have us to pray for them and that they will help us love ourselves as children of the Most High God the Father and that they will help us love others as our Savior has loved us! Amen

St. Teresa of Avila (my Confirmation saint), pray for all inhabitants of this good earth!

Christ's Kingdom is Mother Church

This is our great hope and our invocation, ‘Your Kingdom come!’—a Kingdom of peace, justice and serenity, which will re-establish the original harmony of creation. —POPE JOHN PAUL II, General Audience, November 6th, 2002, Zenit

This compelling quote is from a beautiful writing from Mark Mallet on the Kingdom.

If I get hit by a bus today, I want to say that Christ's Kingdom is Mother Church. I think that Mark Mallet is right in saying (what the Catechism says too) that Mother Church must follow our Lord and Savior through His Passion to His Resurrection. In the great mystery of time and eternity this happens on many levels (...it did happen, does happen and will happen with greater perfection...). The Church has a journey through time, just as each Christian has a journey through time. To some extent, through Christ's institution of the Holy Eucharist, the Kingdom reigns now in the hearts of those who receive the sacred Body and Blood in a state of grace. The enemies of the soul (world, flesh, demons) are constantly hammering us, and this God permits to prepare us for eternal life (...more and more, I realize that He permits our being "pummeled" because, like any coach worth his salt, the Prince of Peace, knows that freedom from sin and peace of heart, come in the midst of a great spiritual battle...).

It is so beautiful that we live a very full life in Christ and His Kingdom through the Church and her Sacraments. The Kingdom of God will never be an earthly kingdom; but, for me, reading prophecy gives me a sense of urgency to bring as many souls to the fullness of truth that is the one, holy Catholic and apostolic Church, as established by Christ Himself on the rock of His Holy Vicar, the Holy Father. I read prophet and saints to also help me put on the full armor of the Holy Spirit (knowing there are always, due to original sin, cracks in my armor) to wage war against my own rebellious spirit, the world and the devils. The Regnum Christi movement gives lay persons spiritual tools to do this. These tools are available to any practicing Catholic, indeed the life of prayer is "ever ancient, ever fresh," as St. Augustine says.

As I was praying about being called to join Regnum Christi, I had this sense that, in joining this ecclesial movement, our Lord Jesus would help me draw closer to the Blessed Mother. So far, this has happened. I hope I can describe this aspect of my journey of faith in a later post....but, another day, as I have to get back to homeschooling our fourth grader...TKC!

Spiritual training and the "development of the moral imagination"

I am over here reading author and artist Michael O' Brien's thoughts and experiences regarding the "Harry Potter" series. This is a long quote,written by O'Brien and is in the preface of his new book on the "HP" series, but so worth reading:

...The imagination is a phenomenally powerful faculty of the interior life of human beings. How it functions, and how it assimilates and recreates images and concepts into new forms, remains to some degree a mystery. It is like an empty stage, and whatever comes to habitually take place on that stage depends largely on what we choose through the will and the intellect to put there—or to allow to remain there. The imagination’s dramas can be generated by the literal events in the environment around us, by powerful emotional and sensory stimuli, and by painful and joyful experiences. It is also the arena where the subconscious mind dramatizes desires and conflicts (either in dreams or waking fantasies), where the lower appetites throw up images, sometimes exalted, sometimes sinful, sometimes a mixture of these. The imagination also tends to reflect the preoccupations and the spiritual condition of the society around us.

In addition, the imagination is a screen onto which the evil spirits can “project” images, temptations presented as stimulating entertainments, offering us pleasurable rewards if we give in to the temptation. The more we give in, the more this dimension of the imagination grows, the more it becomes a vehicle of enchantment of the will, then obsession, and if not wholly repented of, ending in some degree of bondage to evil. If we want to become whole and healthy, the imagination must be trained, just as the body, the rational intellect, and the will must be trained. Any one of these aspects of our personhood, if not brought under discipline and self-mastery with the help of grace, can lead to the domination of the part over the whole. The development of a moral imagination, therefore, demands as much self-restraint and proper direction as an athlete exercises over his body.

St. Jerome, pray for us!

"...the loftiness of God..."

This quote is taken from today's meditation in Magnificat. It is by St. Augustine:

We are striving for great things; let us lay hold of little things, and we shall be great. Do you wish to lay hold of the loftiness of God? First catch hold of God's lowliness.

Friends and storytelling...

January says new beginnings to me. It is not just on January 1st that we can make resolutions for the new year. One resolution I have brewing is to rekindle some relationships that have become somewhat cool, not for lack of affection, but, most probably, because of physical distance and the day-to-day bus-y-ness that keeps us often more oriented toward things than people. Just before Christmas, I re-heard the motto, "Fail to plan, plan to fail." This is true for making a business run above board and true for families too. Families need plans. Mom is often the planner, as it is her duty and her joy to extend her family outside of the "four walls" of hearth and home.

One of my college mates, Monica, was such a good storyteller. She was the 13th of 13 children and she had a wealth of "material" from which to draw. I think she loved my being from the South and we spent so many hours swapping stories. I suspect that I am not the only one of my friends from college, and high school too, that regrets a bit the fact that friendships become distant over time when people move away and "move on" to various responsibilities and engagements.

I have been blessed to meet so many new friends since we have moved to Cumming. Thinking of my new friends makes me think of my old ones too. In gratitude and thanksgiving to God for his beautiful Creation, I wonder what we'd do without the joy and compassion of friendship. Our little family is blessed too with the joy that comes with friendship among family ties -- sharing good times and bad with cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents who give of themselves.

I include this comment on storytelling in hopes of rekindling the simple art of connecting with our friends and family through the tales of our lives. I am reminded of my dear, sweet Monica and the famous "Duncan hyperbole," something we'd throw out amidst huge grins, as we relished pumping up those tales of family adventure with a little poetic license.

Several years ago, my dear friend Maeve called me a "born-again Catholic" and we laughed and smiled for a while. So, I have to stop a minute to think about the most important friendship that we have been given. The person of Christ, the Son of Man, is our Divine Friend and He, in my experience, wants our "time, talent and treasure" (This we hear often enough in our parishes, but it is no mere phrase.). When I feel myself leaning toward being a bit sour and frustrated at all the committments and duties that seem to swarm around me like loud bees, I, by God's grace, stop and realize that I am not spending time with the one Friend who will give me compassion in a constant and loving way.

As I age, I feel my weakness most acutely at times. I am speaking here of spiritual weakness, my "anti-virtue" (This is a little joke among my Regnum Christi, mother's prayer group!). I have always loved to go out -- out to dinner, out to parties, out to tour distant places or make a short field trip to an interesting site with lots of friends along. These days, I feel the Holy Spirit drawing me in to a life that is not my own. It is a life better than what I might come up with on my own. As the demands of my life become more serious, I hope I do not become glum. The only hope for my little soul is Mother Church. I have said this many times in this diary.

I ran away from God for a long time, and, as a sinner, I continue to do so; but, with the Church, I simply cannot run that far. She is so holy and good. She draws me into her loving arms, puts me on her lap and cradles my world-weary soul until I fall asleep, feeling the warm Blood in her chest. She gives me what I cannot make up on my own. This reality is both humbling and intensely beautiful.

A couple of days ago, during some quiet moments, I had a little daydream/recollection about my roller skating days in Bowling Green, Kentucky. I was thinking of how cautious, yet determined, I was as a young girl. The first time I went roller skating, I slowly crept over the rink and grabbed the walls and went many turns around sticking to those walls, while others flew past me. I loved to roller skate and went nearly every Tuesday for years with our local,4H Club. I fell many times and could never master skating backwards -- really did not like not being able to see what was in front of me. In my imagination, I also saw myself falling, sometimes just a small fall with one knee down, then up again, quickly. Other times, someone flew past me and grazed my shoulder, steady now, and up and going again. There were also a couple of wipe outs and much pain. It all ended with my seeing myself in that strong glide of the accomplished skater, faster, faster, around and around the big rink, weaving in and out of the other skaters, sometimes near the wall, other times so very close to the center.

Well, so ends a small glimpse into a story that is still unfolding for me.

America the Beautiful

Years ago, when I was very sick, I had the time and the inclination to read a good amount of Catholic prophecy. Many of the Church's canonized saints have, through various forms of private revelation, communicated directly with God as to His Will for themselves as "saints in the making," for the Church and the world. Recently, I am back reading and praying prophecy. I am marvelling at the stories I know-- like those blessed little children in Fatima, Portugal; and also I am discovering saints and events that I had never heard of before this summer. It is important to note that the principle meaning of prophecy is not to foretell the future, rather it is knowing God's Will.

As fallen humanity, we struggle mightily against the three enemies of the soul: the world, the flesh and the devil. Discerning God's will for our lives --much less for our country or our world-- demands heroic virtue. Some might posit that this virtue is unobtainable. Well, it is not something we get on our own, that is for sure. Only by God's grace may we obtain the grace and strength that we need to discern His Holy Will. Frustration, anxiety, bouts of ill temper -- these really should be part and parcel of the life of a saint. As a stay-at-home mom, it certainly is part of life in my family. We pray alot, we play alot, but we sure do struggle alot with our various human weaknesses and the external temptations that assail us from the world and the bad angels. I think I've gotten off the point. I wanted to post a link to the true story of Our Lady of America. Read it and pray. Read it and be amazed. Read it and live redeemed and help redeem this poor country of ours.