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! 

Beyond this Life

Today, on Good Shepherd Sunday, we have read about the Good Shepherd and how He is the gate to a new and abundant life--a life beyond this one.

During the Homily, our priest Fr Mike, talked to us about the intriguing topic of the afterlife. That was a smart idea, because no matter where you are in your faith, this topic is bound to grab attention. If some one's mind drifted off, I'm sure the topic brought them back.

Father pointed to three examples of miraculous events which point to the proof of Heaven. There were several examples, but the one that spoke to me the most was an example of a young girl, Akiane.  Her entire family was atheist and the little girl was an exceptional artist. She began having visions of Jesus and Heaven at the age of four.

When she was eight years old, she painted this amazing picture of Jesus. Father also mentioned this painting matches Jesus' burial shroud - The Shroud of Turin by 90%.

                                        

The story reminded me of an experience I had once. A wonderful Christian friend of mine wanted to show me a music video inspired by the film The Passion of the Christ. I always have a hard time with the Passion because it's painful to see Jesus in such a way. The one who gave up everything for us is being treated so poorly and violently. My friend convinced me to watch the video and I watched as much as I could stomach. That night I had an amazing dream. It was set in Jerusalem around the time of Jesus. The colors everywhere were so pure: pure white stones on which we sat, pure bright sunshine, perfect temperature. I remember having a discussion with Jesus without words.

 It was like He was reading my heart and responded to my anxieties.  It was a calm and reassuring "conversation" that I will never forget. Ever since that night, I've handled the Passion much better. I still might not be able to bring myself to watch graphic shows depicting it, but it no longer tears me to shreds when I think about it. It's because the "conversation" with Him showed me that the Passion was only part of the story. And that is true. We can't leave out the best part: the part where He defeats death and opens the gates of Heaven for us.

The wonderful thing about God, though, is that whether we experience Him through super miracles like Akiane's visions or not, He speaks to us all the time. Sometimes in big ways such as my experience above, on in smaller ways: maybe a song or reading at church touched your heart, maybe it is in something you've seen or read, or maybe it's an inspirational thought in your heart.No matter what, though, when we pay attention and speak with our God, wonderful things happen. And that is proof enough for me that there is more Beyond this Life.

Presenting the Mass

Since today is the feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, our parish priest celebrated Mass with a small addition. He gave us a Presentation of the Mass. What does that mean exactly? It is very simple, hopefully not controversial, and highly educational. He explained the "whats" and the "whys" of Mass. I know, I know. I can hear the statements now: "But I'm a cradle Catholic. I KNOW what the Mass is." However, even though I've gone to church every week for many, many years, am a Catholic author and teacher and Editor-in-Chief of an online Catholic magazine, I still learned something new this morning. I think everyone there did.

At the beginning, he told us instead of a long homily, he was going to explain why he is doing something or why our responses are important. It may have been a little unorthodox, but the gift he gave us was monumental and certainly served Christ. He gave us a better understanding of what is happening at Mass. When we get the meaning - the true meaning- of something, it means more to us. We're not just going to say a few prayers and mumble some responses. No!

We are clearing our souls of venial sins,

 praying in unison with the saints and angels,

 and participating in the miracle that joins heaven and earth.

People of all different levels in their faith journey were there. We will never know the lengths of this great service caused today. There could have been a person who usually misses Mass, but made it today. Imagine the good it did if anything Father said today touched this person's heart. That goes for everyone there. We all learned something new, all grew a little more and hopefully deepened our faith a bit more. Two thousand years ago Mary and Joseph gave gifts in celebration of Jesus' Presentation. Today, our priest did the same.

The Thread

Sometimes people hurt us. It may be people close to us or acquaintances. No matter who it comes from, if the attack is a personal one, it hurts just the same. As humans, we often run through a range of emotions when this happens: Anger, discontent, hurt and frustration. These are all normal, human reactions especially if the offender's actions are chronic.

However, as Christians we are called to a higher behavior. Jesus calls on us repeatedly to "forgive" each other.In Matthew18:21 He tells us we should forgive not 7 times, but seventy times seven. In the Lord's Prayer it even states, "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." These are meaningful words-we are asking God to forgive us the way we forgive others. So if we expect God to be merciful to us, we must be merciful to others.

But, not only are we called to forgive those who hurt us, but we are called to pray for them.Praying for those who hurt us seems like a daunting task. Pray for the person who called you those degrading names? Pray for that person who bullies you? Yes! Hurtful people probably need many prayers.

However, this really is as much for us as it is for them. Prayer pulls us closer to God and brings us in His presence. Often times, an offense may be so hurtful that we may be "hanging on by a thread" before giving into the temptations of anger, depression, anxiety, and loneliness. But, I have noticed the times I've been at that point that prayer is the one thing that keeps the "thread" intact. If we pray enough, our hearts will soften, and we let go of the desire for revenge. Instead of a racing mind on "what to say the next time I see them," our hearts and minds will be at peace. Sometimes it may take a few "Hail Marys", other times it could take much more.  But once we have prayed, we can rest peacefully knowing we did right by God and our offender. The peacefulness in our hearts is a much better feeling than the snapping of the "thread" we've been hanging on to.

Why is the Mass so Important

Even the most devout families hear it from the kids:

 "But Moooommmm, do we have to go? Again?"

"We just went last week."

"We go every week!"

And so went our discussion at breakfast this morning. I discussed how attending Mass is something God asks of us, how it is part of the ten commandments, and how it is the only time during the week in which we participate in the Miracle of the Eucharist. After all, we are responsible for our choices. God will not force us to go to church,. He will not force us to choose Him. However, when we make a choice, we also choose the consequences of that choice.

Some were not impressed, and once again it turned into  a "Well, we're going to Church, deal with it," situation.

We make our way to church, with some grumbling along the way. We pick our seats and kneel down in prayer before Mass starts. Part of my prayer was that my children see the benefit of the Mass and why it is so important. I finish my prayer and sit in the pew. I lean over and whisper to the kids, "I want you to be sure to pay attention to what Father says during the Homily." My hope was that in paying attention, the may see some spiritual benefit in going to church in  addition to Holy Communion. I hoped they would hear something that made them "get it".

The time for the Homily came and I was flabbergasted. Did God just answer my prayer? Already? The Homily was mostly about the importance of a funeral mass (tying into today's Gospel) but the priest also stressed why the Mass is important. He stressed Mass and general prayer (for example a prayer service) are not equal. Mass is The Great Prayer. THE prayer. Why? Because we are joining our living and spiritual brothers and sisters in witnessing the miracle of the Eucharist. Mass is the highest form of prayer.

Our priest gave several examples illustrating all his points.During this homily, I watched my children's hearts soften as they began to understand that the Mass is more than an obligation in which people talk and sing for an hour. As Mass continued, I was in awe. Once again (it happens often) being at Mass addressed an issue I have been struggling with. How wonderful that what I had just been teaching my children at breakfast, had been reiterated by a respected priest.

Thank you God for hearing my prayers once again. And thank you for the gift of a devout and holy priest!