Blah, blah, blah

Many Catholics get the heebie-jeebies when spiritual warfare is mentioned.  Do we really have to talk about the devil?  Yes, we do.


When people tell me that they don't believe in God, I usually respond by saying, "God believes in you."  Terribly annoying for the recipient, but I'm not lying.  The flip side of this coin is Satan.  Some very erudite people have told me that Satan is merely "a psychological construct created by the Church in order to keep the masses in control."  Then, all I heard was "blah, blah, blah."  For as much as God believes in every person on this planet, Satan believes in them, too.  And, worse, Satan wants them to believe the lie that he is merely a psychological construct.


There is a constant unseen battle occurring for our hearts and minds and souls.


In today's Gospel (John 14:27-31a) Christ tells the disciples that he will go to the Father and he won't speak much with them because the "ruler of the world" is coming.  However, this ruler has no power over Christ or the Father.


Christians will earnestly give God credit when someone turns their life around or they're able to forgive someone, but what about when something bad happens?  Clearly, God can act upon our hearts, but so can Satan.  Oftentimes crimes of passion are characterized as someone acting out of their "normal" state of mind.  While a person might be responding to evil suggestions during horrendous crimes like murder or rape, what about the smaller ways we give into evil everyday: lying, cheating, giving into anger?  I'm not advocating "the devil made me do it" defense, but I have to be aware of the powers acting on me.  Am I listening to God or am I being deceived by Satan?

I know who the ruler of the world is, but who is the ruler of my heart?  

Just call me Willie Nelson

"I told you and you do not believe." John 10:25


Sometimes I wonder if I had lived during Jesus' time, would I have recognized him as the Messiah?  Or, if he were to come back and proclaim he had returned, would I believe him or would I think he's another nutcase with a God complex?


How is it that some people knew Jesus was the Savior and others didn't?  When Jesus returns will it be impossible to now know him?  How will we know?  Is it a matter of grace, if you're open to God there's no way you can't know?  Is there something in meeting Jesus face to face?    


I would hate to hear the words, "I told you and you do not believe."




I'm hitting the road AGAIN starting tomorrow.  Another round of house-hunting, but this time I've got an interview too!  Please keep me in your prayers.

Want to start a revolution?

This is my suggestion for starting a revolution in the Church: Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (CSG).


CSG was accidentally started by Sofia Cavelletti in Rome in 1959.  She was a scripture scholar and a friend asked her to teach her child "something."  Long story cut very short: the child were enthralled and they spent a couple of hours just on the first chapter of Genesis.  Sofia knew there was something that children needed to hear - and something the children could teach the Church.  After years of working with children it was discovered that the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd was the one that children around the world gravitated towards.  


The Good Shepherd knows you by name, calls you by name, lays down his life for you.  The Good Shepherd is the embodiment of love - and even three year olds know that when they hear the story.  I loved when I presented the Good Shepherd lesson to three year olds.  Kids who were quite literally bouncing off the walls when they arrived, would sit quietly and listen to the story of the Good Shepherd.  


There is a lesson on baptism that builds on the lesson of the Good Shepherd where the children are called by name and given a candle.  They are told that Jesus wants to share his light with every person in the world.  The children were filled with delight and happiness and then they went home and taught their families.  


The revolution has already started, but it can continue to grow so that every child in the Church will know the love of the Good Shepherd.

Not a like to be found

The last couple days the Gospel readings have come from last part of John 6, otherwise known as the Bread of Life Discourse.  Jesus speaks the truth all the time, but this is where the rubber hits the road.  This short section separates the true believers from the hangers on.


Jesus repeatedly says that he is the Bread of Life, you must eat his Flesh and drink his Blood to attain eternal life.  Jesus never said that he is "like the Bread of Life."  No, he IS the Bread of Life.  This sounded like cannibalism to many of his disciples.  Jesus' words were so hard to accept that they turned back to their old lives and no longer followed Jesus (see verse 66).  


There's another reason why this teaching was hard for many to hear.  Jesus didn't simply say, "I am the Bread of Life."  He said, "I AM the Bread of Life."  The same I AM that speaks to Moses in the Book of Exodus - I AM THAT AM.  To many ears it sounded like Jesus was blaspheming!  But what it means is that Jesus isn't some cool dude, or simply a prophet, or even the messiah-king.  Jesus IS God.  This is Immanuel, God with us, telling us that we must eat his Flesh and drink his Blood.  In other words, welcome to the Mass.


Happy Easter!

One of those days

You know it's going to be a rough day when your 2 1/2 year old has four "time-outs" in the about 20 minutes and all before his regular wake up time.  


It looks like it might be one of those days...ugh!


I'm not a morning person and I become a cranky morning person when my little guy is poised to throw temper tantrums over every...little...thing.  I realize it's all part of Mommydom, but it can be hard to keep my cool when my child is flailing about, or my personal favorite, goes completely limp from head to toe as I pick him up.  While waiting for a time out to end, I was praying up a storm this morning.  


God, I don't want to start the day this way.  I don't want to start the day screaming at him.   I need some serious help.


This prayer was probably uttered many times this morning by millions of mommies around the world.  Sometimes prayers like this seem like whining compared to world problems, but then I remember that being a mom is the most important job in the world...and today it sure does seem like the hardest!


Cast all your worries upon him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7

Martyrdom is so 2nd Century

I have often wondered how far I would go for my faith.  If tomorrow it was illegal to have a Catholic blog, would I blog anyway?  If in a year it was illegal to be Catholic, would I offer my house for Mass?  If in a decade it was illegal to say the name of Jesus in public, would I stand up in the grocery store or the mall and shout out, "I believe in Jesus Christ, savior of the world."?  If at some point in my life it was a capital crime to be Catholic, would I die for my faith?  I would like to think that I have the courage to defend the Cross.


Today's first reading, from the Acts of the Apostles (7:51-8:1a), tells of the martyrdom of Stephen.  St. Stephen proclaimed the truth about Jesus and the Jewish establishment in Jerusalem didn't like it.  They did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah, the long awaited savior of Israel, and they thought Stephen was a blasphemer, so they stoned him.  


Imagine someone throwing a large stone at you with the intent to kill you.  OUCH!  After one stone I might keep on proclaiming the Good News, but after the third or fourth I think I might be tempted to say, "Okay, stop, I was only kidding!"  Stephen kept proclaiming the Risen Lord until his final breath.  


The people of God need to learn from St. Stephen's example.  Martyrs are not simply people from the early Church.  Martyrdom occurs everyday; Christians die everyday on this planet because they will not renounce the name of Jesus Christ.  A friend of my always reminds me to pray for persecuted Christians.  Her husband's family fled from the Armenian genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Turks in 1915.  Every night she prays for Christians fleeing and those who are persecuted.  


Right now there is a Christian somewhere being executed because she has faith like St. Stephan.  


Holy Martyrs, pray that I may have your courage.

What's wrong with miracles?

I remember going to see a Jesus movie when I was young.  There are two scenes I distinctly remember from the movie: the Crucifixion which really upset me and I climbed into my mom's lap crying and asked, "Why are they hurting Jesus?  Why are they killing him?"  The second scene I remember was the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes.  I was about 4 years old when I saw the movie and what stood out for me was that Jesus prayed and miracles happened.  It was that simple; because Jesus is God he can do anything.  I carried that with me for a long time...and then I went to college.


Today's Gospel reading is the opening of John 6 (verses 1-15).  If you've never read chapter 6 from John's Gospel, do it now.  The chapter begins with the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes.  In college, a professor was flabbergasted that I actually believed in miracles.  This prof continued to grill me about whether or not I was a biblical literalist.  I'm not, but I said, "When it comes to Jesus, if it's in there, I think it happened just as it's written."  Well, I might as well have stamped CRAZY on my forehead!  


The prof then said, "Jesus created a situation in which people learned to share.  There was no miracle.  What happened was that people who had food shared with the people who didn't have food."


I realized this person had an agenda and trying to defend myself would have been futile.  I smiled and said, "Interesting.  The miracle version is cooler." Then I walked away before the prof could lower my grade.  


What I really wanted to say was: "Really?  Why would the Gospel writers make sure to record this story multiple times?  What's so great about sharing?  Heck, I learned that in kindergarten!  Are you telling me that people didn't know how to share until Jesus showed them?  You've got to be kidding me!"  


This is what happens when Jesus is stripped of his divinity and made into a man.  When Jesus is ONLY a man,  then it's just a story about sharing.  When Jesus is ONLY a man, then there isn't God.  When Jesus is ONLY a man, then you are up a creek without a paddle when life gets hard.


No! No! NO!  Jesus preformed a miracle, in fact, he preformed many miracles.  These miracles still happen today through the work of the Holy Spirit and the intercession of the Saints.  Want to see a really cool miracle this weekend?  Go to Mass and see what happens on the altar - little round wafers become the actually Body and Blood of Christ.  


I know a crazy miracle that probably really irked my prof: the Resurrection.  
HAPPY 2nd WEEK OF EASTER!!!