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Read more about the article Gethsemane

Gethsemane

We all know the events that took place in the garden of Gethsemane: Jesus prayed, the apostles slept, Judas betrayed Him, and He was arrested.  But we really don’t know what happened in the garden.  Our understanding must begin with reflecting on what sin does to our souls.  Sin darkens the intellect, separates us from the love, truth, and beauty that is God, and strangles the breath from our souls.  The sorrow is that the longer we remain in sin, the more we become accustomed to the darkness and the lack of breath.  We can even go so far as being impressed with our own “wisdom,” lying to ourselves that we have our own light.  The deeper we go into sin, the more our souls gasp for air and the more we search in all the wrong places for relief and for light.

It was into this darkness that Our Lord descended when He took on the sins of the whole world — and this suffering truly goes beyond human understanding.  Eternally perfect, descending from Heaven into a body free from all stain of sin, living in perfect love and communion with the Father with every breath of His life, to suddenly have all of our sins heaped upon Him caused so much physical agony that He sweat blood.  Pause for a moment with that thought.  He sweat blood.  No other human being has ever suffered this much.

But even this was not the worst.  He actually felt everything we feel after we sin: guilt, shame, unjust anger when our sins are pointed out to us, sorrow, abject misery, desolation, and the worst of all – the emptiness that is felt by those who are so immersed in the deepest pits of sin they can no longer feel anything.  These are the ones so engulfed in evil that at the moment of death they look at the face of God with such hatred that they leap willingly into the fires of hell.  Yes, Jesus felt all these things – the pain beyond bearing and the reason why the angel rushed to His side.

Jesus loves us so much that He willingly endured all of this. Jesus’s depth of compassion for us poor sinners has no bounds.  He understands everything we are suffering and desires to free us from the personal hells we create for ourselves when we sin.  He delights in forgiving us, especially those in most need of His Mercy.

When we humble ourselves to ask for forgiveness, Jesus looks beyond the filth and stench we have heaped upon our souls.  He looks with compassion and mercy on souls writhing in agony.  He sees the heavy chains that have weighed us down for so long that we have long since stopped trying to move.  He sets us free.  As He promised, He never rejects a contrite heart.  He rejoices in forgiving us, setting us free from our chains, seeing our souls breathing freely and reflecting God’s light as the moon reflects the light of the sun.

This is the Jesus we encounter in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  Like the prodigal son approaching the forgiving father, Jesus opens His arms wide to receive us.  Do you desire to hear the words, “. . .through the ministry of the Church, may God grant you pardon and peace and I absolve you of your sins in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit” ?  Jesus’s desire to give us His mercy is even greater than our desire to receive it.  Let’s not keep Him waiting.

Jesus, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

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Read more about the article Sunsets

Sunsets

Each of us has a love language, a way that our beloved communicates with us so that we feel loved.  For some it may be the words “I love you,” for others it may be little gifts or thoughtful gestures that say “I was thinking of you,” and for others it may be big, warm hugs.  For me, God communicates with me through nature, most especially through sunsets.  Every time I see a beautiful sunset, I know that He is saying “I love you” to me.

I spoke with my husband a few days ago about the ongoing shelter in place and the fact that I hadn’t seen a sunset in a long time because we have been inside so much.  The very next evening I glanced out the window and saw the most beautiful pink sky.  I raced outside and saw God’s “I love you” in all its breathtaking glory.  The air around me was pleasantly warm  — the heat that remains after a scorching day but has tempered to a balmy warmth.  It felt like God’s warmth was wrapping around me and hugging me.

So I composed this little prayer for Him as a thanksgiving for the sunset.

                            Son of God, I praise you, I bless you, I adore you

                            Until You come again

                            Near to You I will remain.  Keep me in the center of Your

                            Sacred Heart,

                            Embracing me with Your love.  Jesus, I

                            Trust in You.

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Read more about the article Jesus’s First Miracle

Jesus’s First Miracle

When Jesus attends the Wedding at Cana with His mother and the disciples it is His mother Mary who sees that there is no more wine.  She notices the little things.  Someone else’s anxiety, embarrassment and possible humiliation are Her concern.  Like Queen Esther interceding before the King for her people, Mary turns to Jesus with Her concern.

At this point in His ministry, Jesus has preached to the people and is becoming known as a learned Rabbi.  But this request from His mother takes things to a whole new level.  Solving this problem requires a miracle.  Miracles are not done by mere rabbis, but by the holiest of the prophets.  And the people are expecting that their long awaited Messiah will perform miracles.  So performing a miracle here means the ending of Jesus’s private life.  Performing a miracle here means stepping into the public ministry of the Messiah and ultimately beginning the journey to Calvary.  This miracle will ultimately lead to Jesus’s death on the cross.

Our Blessed Mother knows this.  Since the time Anna and Simeon met the Holy Family at the temple, She has known in graphic detail what Her Son will suffer.  She knows what She is asking.  She understands what She is giving up.  Instead of holding onto Him for a little while longer, She makes the sacrifice to help a family in need.

Jesus answers Her by calling Her “Woman.”  This was the title given to Eve as the mother of all the living.  It is now Mary’s title. In fact, John links this moment to the foot of the cross “Woman, behold your son,” and to Revelation “Woman clothed with the Sun.”  It is the use of this word that reveals God’s Plan.  From Adam came Eve and then followed the loss of Paradise.  But from the new Eve came the new Adam and the restoration of eternal Paradise.

In is in precisely this moment at Cana that we see the old world order toppled over.  The first Adam and the first Eve brought sin and death to the whole world by their selfish desire to be like God.  The new Eve and the new Adam in their complete selflessness and obedience to God’s will sacrifice themselves to bring about the redemption of the whole world.

She knows what She is asking.  She knows what it will cost Her and so does He.  Jesus calls Her “Woman.”  She is Woman not only by giving birth to the new Adam but also by becoming the spiritual mother of all of us.  Jesus gave Her to the whole world from His cross, but it is here in this moment when She gives Jesus to the whole world that She spiritually births us.  With our birth She gives Her final words in recorded scripture.  Our beloved mother tells us, “Do whatever He tells you.”

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Read more about the article Are You Saved?

Are You Saved?

This is the question I was asked as I opened my front door to a smiling man from a Protestant church.  I admired his courage in going door to door and his obvious love for God.  He expected a yes or no answer to his question, but he came to a Catholic home, and the answer is much more complex.

Just as there are differences in language between Americans and our friends across the pond (for example, we say “backyard” and they say “garden”), there are also differences in language between Catholics and Protestants that have evolved over the last 500 years.  Many of these differences come from differences in theology, so I will begin here.

Protestant (denominational and non-denominational) theology thinks of salvation as a singular point in time in which the Christian officially accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior. Protestants sometimes say “name it and claim it,” referring to the promises Jesus has made in scripture to those who follow Him.

If Protestant theology on this topic can be thought of as a point on a line, Catholic theology is a ray (an origin point on a line continuing in one direction forever).  For Catholics, salvation begins at Baptism. At Baptism one becomes a member of the Christian community, a member of the family of God.  Original sin and personal sin are wiped away.  We believe in one Baptism, so if a person is baptized “In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit” whether in the Catholic or Protestant faith, it is valid.

Baptism is the beginning of the journey for Catholics.  We learn and grow in our faith as we are nurtured by our families and our faith community.  We read scripture, pray, attend weekly Mass, receive the sacraments of the Church, and do our best to live the Gospels.  We take to heart Jesus’s own words, “Truly, truly I say to you, he who believes in Me will also do the works that I do,” (Jn 14:12) and “If you love Me, you will My commandments (Jn 14:15).”  It is for this reason that the Catholic Church and its members founded the university system[1], started credit unions, founded hospitals and schools, and is active in ministering to the poor through many organizations such as St. Anthony’s Dining Room and the St. Vincent de Paul Society.  We recognize that by serving others, we are serving Christ (Mt 25:40).  Yet, all of us are human; we make mistakes, sometimes even ignoring the gift of faith, and all of us find ourselves in need of forgiveness. 

Catholics therefore speak of “conversion.”  Conversion is the journey of trying to become more and more like Jesus as we put the Gospel into practice in our daily lives. The Beatitudes, from the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5-7), are who we strive to become.  For Catholics, we believe that all people have free will, so it is possible to reject the faith and choose to live a life of sin.  It is possible to choose not to put our faith into action by refusing to practice the Beatitudes and end up in hell.  It is also possible to do a U-turn, receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and return to the road that leads to Heaven.  For those who are on the journey toward Heaven, as we get closer and closer to Our Lord, the magnifying glass the Holy Spirit gives us to see the state of our souls becomes more defined.  We see the areas in our lives where we have not fully converted and seek the intercession of the Holy Spirit to convert these areas of our hearts.  Because God is limitless, we can always draw yet closer to the center of His love, which we often refer to as the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  Conversion is therefore a lifelong process.

So to answer the question “are you saved?,” we would say that we have been baptized into the faith, we continue to seek Our Lord through the Sacraments of His Church, we strive to live the Gospel message, and we hope to be welcomed home by Him in Heaven when our journey here ends.

[1] Woods, Thomas E. “The Catholic Church and the Creation of the University.” Catholic Education Resource Center, 2005, www.catholiceducation.org/en/education/catholic-contributions/the-catholic-church-and-the-creation-of-the-university.html.

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