An A-Ha Moment

 My newest routine when I'm driving home from work is to listen to an episode of Fr. Mike Schmitz's Bible in a Year podcast either on Google Podcasts or the Hallow App. In Hallow, there is a series of Fr. Mike's homilies.  Today I was listening to the Holy Thursday homily and, as usual, it was eye-opening. He did a great job explaining -in context- exactly what (or who) we are receiving in the Eucharist. 

One of the things Fr. said was that with Adam and Eve chose to feed themselves the forbidden fruit. He said it was like God saying, "I will feed you what is good." However, they chose to "feed" themselves.

Often times I wondered if there was a "better" way for Jesus to bring about our salvation. Why was he so adamant about the teaching:  

“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day." (John 6:53-54)

And I often wondered why this? Why would he ensure each consecrated Eucharistic host was His real body, blood, soul, and divinity?

After listening today, I learned that He gave us the total gift of Himself - everything He had to give so that we might live. That alone is the main reason. 

But I also know from familiarizing myself with the Bible and studying it more in-depth that God has a reason and a purpose for everything. His plan is perfect. Even when we mess it up, He finds a way to use that to fit in His plan. So, of course, the Eucharist, the thing that everything in the Bible points to, is a purposeful part of His plan. 

Before Adam and Eve ate the apple, God warned them that eating that fruit will cause death. And it did. Once they ate of the fruit, they brought sin and death into the world. But, God did not leave us in that state. He started working with us and teaching us His ways immediately. He promised early on that He would bring us a savior. 

And so, wouldn't it make sense that since our death was brought about by eating something terrible for us, our restoration of life is brought about by feeding us the holiest of food?

 "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” (John 6: 51)

It all does come together. Even the practices of the required sacrifices pointed to the Eucharist. Now that He came here, he became the ultimate sacrifice. Realizing this was a big "a-ha" moment for me. This was the only option for our salvation. And only a God who truly loves us would sacrifice so much to save us. Let us remember every time we receive Him to thank Him and open our hearts even more to Him. 

Avoiding the Pitfalls

 When it comes to our thoughts about God, temptations have a way of creeping up in our minds and hearts - often without us realizing it. It is easy for the way of the world to influence our thoughts on God and how He might judge our actions. Themes of doubt, irrational fear, distrust, and laziness can quickly influence us and our faith --IF we let it. Such temptations come from the evil one who is an accuser, tempter, and most of all - a liar.

My Journey With Jesus has been through many of these situations - as all of us have. This morning out of nowhere a thought entered my head. "God will judge those who spread the Gospel to a higher standard (priests, religious, catechists, etc). If you mess up, you know what will happen."

My first thought was, "Yes, that's true. We hear it in Luke 12:48  'Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.'

However, my immediate thought after that was that, "It's OK. I trust God and His Mercy." Just as quickly as the thought came, it vanished.

It's interesting because the temptation to not trust God is the oldest trick in the book.

Gn 3:1-3
Now the snake was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the LORD God had made. 

He asked the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You shall not eat from any of the trees in the garden’?”

The woman answered the snake: “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; it is only about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, ‘You shall not eat it or even touch it, or else you will die.’”

And so, I carried on and will continue to carry on in my missions to share God's love and the Gospel. I will continue to teach. I will continue my Catholic Magazine. I will continue my Journey With Jesus.

A New Direction

 

The Random Thoughts About God blog, which started several years ago has been on hold for the last few years. Today we are heading in a new direction and updating our name. We are now posting under the name Journey With Jesus.

As I grow in my faith and learn more each day, I want to share that journey with my readers. In addition to this blog, I run a  Catholic children's magazine titled Parables. You can learn more about that here.

Thanks for joining me and stay tuned!