The Love of God - Love is the thing

I was asked how can I judge what other Christians have done.  For the most part I can't.  I don't know what is in their hearts but at times it is evident.  Love is the thing, love for God and love for others is how you can judge your own actions.  When we act out of fear, jealousy, or hatred we are not acting in way God desires.  Our God is not simply a God of rules.  We don't love God by following His commandments but we love God so we follow His commandments.  Those do not know God and don't follow his commandments do not sin as much as those who know Him and love Him.  In little things our sins are greater than theirs in greater matters in part at least because when we don't act out of love we drive the non-believers farther from faith.  We might be tempted to blame the non-believers actions on the devil but I would say we do more good for hell when we call ourselves Christian but act out of hatered and fear.  Indeed tore,ember this when I amateur work and things don't go my way.   I wear a crucifix and if I act unjustly or rashly in the eyes of my co-workers I am acting like all Christians do.  We are not and never will be perfect.  We can repair much of the hurt we do by owning our faults, apologizing, and working to make reparations.  If you are wondering how you should respond to a situation remember this, Love is the thing.  Act out of love for the other and you can't go wrong.  But until you love yourself as God loves you, then you can't truly love others.

Keep in mind, love is not a soft thing.  It isn't cute and cuddly.  Love is hard and often painful.  It isn't easy to Love.  It means putting ourselves out there.  It means not doing the easy simple or even popular thing.  True love means telling the truth and can make others uncomfortable.  It means embracing the lepers of our world, praying for terrorists, caring for addicts, and doing good to those who hurt and hate you.  It takes bravery.  Don't forget our model is Christ who died for those cursed him, betrayed him, and abandoned him.

Resolutions for the new year

Our Priest today told this story.  The was a little boy and he asked his father, "Father if there are three frogs on a branch and one decides to jump off, how many frogs are left"?  The Father said "Easy, two".  "No"said the boy.  "Hummm" said the father "I know, the one frog jumped off so the other two followed, and now there are none".  "No" said the boy, "remember I only said the frog decided to jump, not that he did jump".  His point was that resolutions are wishes unless we take concrete steps to do them.  He recommended that we make concrete resolutions not wishes.  We should resolve to come closer to God, but instead to resolve to pray at a certain time every day, or to read spiritual books.  I really like that idea.

To strengthen ourselves for this task if we remember to take the Holy Child in our arms everyday He will strengthen us.  Also think if we are carrying the Holy Child into the world the Communion of Saints will be with us.  They are drawn to Him and as long as you hold Him in your arms, they will be with you also, helping you.

Today I watched again the movie "The Thirteenth Day" what a beautiful movie and a beautiful message.  If you want a good resolution for the next year resolve to say the rosary every day and so become closer to Our Lady, and so to her Son.

Love God with your whole heart everyday and carry that Love out into the world.  Show the world who our God is by how you treat them.  Carry the Child Jesus out into the world, when you meet anyone hold Him out to them and let them see Him.  When we don't show them Jesus by how we act, what they see they take to be Him anyway.  When we carry selfishness, judgement, hatred, out into the world instead, that is how the world sees Jesus.

May the Lord bless you and keep you.  May this next year bring you closer to Our Lord and so bring so many more to God.

Don't be afraid, for your Savior is coming, reflection on the first week of Advent.

I love to walk at night and gaze at the stars.  At this time of year it's even more special because the Christmas lights are coming out and people are starting to set up Nativity displays.  When I walk past each Nativity I stop for a moment and I think about the manger sitting there empty and how Mary and Joseph are looking down at it long for it to be filled.

Today is the feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Today we think about our Mother and how she was conceived without sin so that she could be the ark of the new covenant. I thought how she is waiting for birth of her son. We are all in a sense pregnant with the expectation of the Coming.  He is coming.

He is coming into our hearts, building His home there, transforming us if we will let Him in.  And who are we letting in?  Do we let in the Baby Jesus?   That non-threatening little baby who we can hold and admire who doesn't ask anything of us?  Or are we welcoming the fully grown Savior who asks us for our very lives? I think we usually have to start with that little baby.  Who loves us and just asks to be loved.  But just as a child grows up and demands more of his family so does Christ ask more of us as we grow in our faith.  Just as it wouldn't be normal for a child not to grow, it isn't normal for our faith to not grow.  In fact if faith doesn't grow, it may well die.

But don't be afraid!  He is coming into the world.  He is our Savior and He saves us!  If He is our Savior, we can trust Him.  He loves us so much, he died for us.  He won't ask too much of us.  He wants what's good for us, for our eternal life.

So, I wait in the darkness,pregnant with anticipation, for the Light of the world to come.  I wait to hold the baby that will grow in my heart to an adult faith.  I wait to hear his voice, the cry in the night that will change my life and make me even more myself.

Are works dead? Why do we do what we do?

This question just popped into my head, why do we do good works?  Well first of all it is what we are commanded to do.  Matthew 7:12 contains the golden rule, do unto others as you would have them do unto you.  In John 13:34 Jesus gives us the new commandment to "Love one another as I have loved you".  There are more but in Tobit and the letters of James but these will do.

The Golden Rule is something we learn in Kindergarden.  It makes sense.  Do to other people what you would have them do to you.  It in someway instructs others on how to act.  But on the other hand, if I were homeless and a bit smelly, I would still want to be welcomed in any church, so that means I have to sit next to that homeless person and not complain.  I would also want nonjudgmental help, so that is what I have to give.

We also due good works because Jesus commanded us to, and that's a good place to start.  Jesus commanded us to love one another as He loved us.  He died for us, and He gives Himself to us in the Eucharist.  What does that mean for my life?  I doubt I will be asked to die for anyone.  It means loving people who are in their sin, who don't love me and who I may not like very much.  Jesus can see Himself in us no matter how much we sin, we have to cultivate that gift.  It means going beyond the golden rule and sacrificing our lives for others by giving time, money, and prayer to others.

Is that all?  Our lives are really God's, we have to be open to Him and listen for Him talking to us in all the different ways He can.  Most of us won't be asked to give our lives.  Most of us will only be asked to move out of ourselves and do what we may not want to do.  Witness to our faith in ourdaily lives through how we love others.  Sometimes loving others though means having to talk to them about our faith.  Sometimes I think it is easier for us as Catholics to give someone our coat then to share our love for Christ with our own families.  Can we truly love our families if we don't try to get them to heaven?

Faith without good works is dead.  We show our faith and love by our actions.  If you claim you love your spouse but you cheat on them or beat them, you don't love them, you show your love by your actions.  We show love to God by doing what He asks and by increasing faith in the world by attracting others to God.  We show love and therefore God to the world by how we act towards others.

The Love of God is a two way street

God loves us, truly loves us and wants what's best for us.  But how do we love God back?  When you love someone you do things you wouldn't normally do, don't you?  My guy spent the day today walking through all the "girly girl" shops I wanted.  He did once complain or say it made him "uncomfortable".  He just did it because he likes me.   How much more should we be willing to do for God?  Shouldn't we be willing to show our love for Him by working to bring others to our faith?  When I see God, I see Him as all His creation.  He is that teenager who refuses to go to Mass, he is that family member who ridicules you for your faith, he is the adict who doesnt think God can love him.  He is there and I have to love that child, that family member, that friend enough to show them the love I have for them in God.  I still have to listen to the Holy Spirit for Him to show me the right time and the right way, but I can't refuse to share my faith or Gods love. If I do, then I deny Him, and if I deny Him, can I really love Him?

Wake up! Before our faith and church dies!

Warning!  Don't read this blog if you don't want to be challenged to move out of your comfort zone when it comes to your faith.

I want to run down the aisle at my church screaming Wake Up!  Wake Up!  Where are the children, young people, and young adults, our parish is dying!  Wake Up!  Granted I live in a small town in Texas that believes this is how we have always done it and we don't want to do it differently.  We want to stay a sleep, to go through the motions.  God forbid someone ask them to stand up and say what they believe and why.

Talking to group of teenagers they said we shouldnt try to get kids to go to Mass.  As leaders of our youth group they didn't understand that the Mass was the center of our faith.  To them Mass is boring and irrelevant.  It doesn't relate to their lives.  Why do they feel this way?  Is it their fault?  No, we have failed them.  Do we show in our daily lives that the Mass is the center of our lives?  No.  Are we excited that heaven comes down and touches the earth during the Mass?  I hear that Catholics aren't like that, they don't get exited.  I say bullshit!  And I won't oppologize for offending any one.  We should run down the aisle screaming Amen! Alleluia!  God is here, right now!  This is why we come to Mass!

But we can't have that, people will feel uncomfortable.  They don't want change.  We have to have organ music, we can't have rock and roll at Mass.  We can't have exciting challenging preaching.  We want to stay asleep, to be comfortable.  And as we sleep our children and grandchildren will slip away.  If we are lucky they will still find Christ, but if not, we will miss them in the afterlife.  It is that serious.  If we don't move out of our comfort zone and engage our youth, we risk their immortal souls.  Who knows maybe we risk our own.  If we get to the pearly gates and Christ asks you when did you profess your faith before others, what will you say?  Sorry, my Lord, I wasn't comfortable with that?  Was He comfortable on the Cross?  Maybe try, sorry, my King, that wasn't considered polite?  Did he worry about offending the pharisees?  Wake Up!  Before its too late!  Don't be comfortable.  Be daring, go against the world and proclaim your faith.

Loving myself in God

My Lord, my God, my King, my Savior, help me Dear Lord to follow you today in simplicity.  I love you and wish only to serve You the rest of my life.  I am nothing in the worlds eyes.  I am of no consequence.  Yet You who created all love me and want me to be myself.  I am imperfection personified but You the Savior of the world love me.  I don't have to conform to the worlds ideal of beauty or success.  If the world can only love me if I am perfect but You love me inspite of not being perfect then I want to follow You.  You love everyone and want them to come to You.  I must learn to love them also because You are reflected in them and I must learn to love myself for the same reason.

Competitive Praying or are you really holy if no one else knows?

I admit, I'm guilty.  I sit in the front pew.  I do the things that make me look "holy", because that's what's important right?  That I should been seen to be holy by other peoples standards?  It. True, people should be able to see your faith by looking at your life.  That whole light under a bushel thing.  What I question is my urge to be seen to be holy by empty gestures.  Kneeling, genuflecting, prostrating yourself are ways to humble yourself to God, to show submission.  I think that's why we find them so difficult at times.  On the other hand, I know sometimes we do them just for show or because everyone else is.  That's okay as a starting point but if we never think about what we're doing or we become proud that we are doing them or worse become angry because others aren't doing them then we are missing the point.

We can't be afraid to show the world that we are people of faith.  On the other hand if we wear a giant cross on our chest and gossip and backstab we are showing Our level of faith and are actually proving to the world that our faith has no meaning.  I admit I am guilty of this.  Wouldn't it be great if the symbols of our faith would fall to the ground everytime we made a mockery of them by our behavior?  I would soon learn learn to hold my tongue. Luckily God will never abandon us no matter how badly we behave.  We have to depend our conscience if we ever actually consult it.

The big question I have is this, do I want to get to church early in the morning to be "first" or because I need solitude with God to start my day?  I hope it's because I need God.  I am going to try something.  Instead of getting up eating breakfast getting ready for work and then going to the church where I can be found to be there first, I am going to get up get dressed, go to church for my God time and then go home and get ready for work and go back to church later for Morning prayer.  That way I can be in the real presence of God and no one will see.  I am blogging about so anyone who reads this will know but you don't know me so I don't think that counts.  If I backslide and get there later and later then I know I just wanted to be seen but if I keep doing it without anyone knowing then maybe I am making progress in my spiritual life.

I am a Sinner!

I am a sinner!  And I am confident in what I say.  I rejoice not in my sin, but I rejoice because I know God and I know that I need Him and that He has mercy on me.  I don't have to justify my sins because I, myself, can not keep from sinning.  I can try to do better, but I will never be free from sin until I am united with my Master and Savior.  The best thing is that I know He loves me, unconditionally.  Love, like faith, can not be seen or measured but I have both in abundance.  He is there in front of me and so is His love.  He leads me and guides me.  In Himall is possible.  In Him is all joy and all love and all security.  He takes care of stupid sinners like me!  I wouldn't want to be wise and powerful, I wouldn't want to not need Him.  I don't need anything they tell me I need.  He knows what I need and He gives it to me.

I've got work to do

I've got work to do on myself. I need to make sure that the Pro-Life movement doesn't get a black eye because of me. I need to make sure that no one thinks of me when they think of Catholics as not the "Good Guys". Sometimes we think that we are on the right side so everything we do is okay, but really being on the right side means we have to be even better. We have to convince everyone else that we aren't doing this to spoil their fun or to punish anyone for sinning. We have to recognize and admit our own sinfulness and our own past mistakes. We need to correct those in the Prolife movement who are elitist, racist, judgemental, uncharitable, or just plain mean. Above all we have to do all we do with love, true love where we wish all others to be with us in heaven. We have to be strong and we have to live our faith in our everyday lives. I have a lot to do and I will start with prayer.