Tag Archives: spirituality

Encouragement VII

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Dear Friend,

Love lived well. Let that sink in for a moment. Love lived well. Sure does sound like something Jesus would ask of us. Love lived well!! In fact, He did. 1 John 4:16 tells us, “We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” Let this sink in, God is love. Love lived well means we are living for God. We can call upon Him every moment of every day, rejoicing in His love, the love He has for us, and the love we have for Him. More than this, John tells us to love God means He is more than being with us, more than protecting us and sheltering us, more than healing us, He is living in us. Again, John tells us in 14:23:  “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.” In these terrible times of this dreaded pandemic, I find comfort in knowing as long as I keep my eye on the Lord and my mind focused on His Word, it’s going to be alright.

Just look at all the Lord has done for us over the years. His gifts and His blessing showered down upon us; we are all His children, His followers, His beloved. Look at all the goodness in the lives of the people around us, their blessings, their prosperity, their hope in the future. Is it any wonder that Luke tells us in 13:17, “and the whole crowd rejoiced at all the splendid deeds done by Him.”

No matter what uncertainty faces us today, know that the congregation, priest, deacon, and staff at St. Jude Catholic Church are praying for you, and at this moment with you. All the people living with the anxiety of loneliness and separation are constantly in our thoughts and prayers. Turn to the Lord in prayer, breathe in the power of His presence, and be thankful and grateful, for He is our Lord. Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!” Amen

Encouragement VI

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Dear Friend,

Sometimes it’s so hard not to be drawn into the troubles and drama of the world and all the daily events going on around you. Sometimes it seems things are turning against you making it harder than it should be. Sometimes it seems like our best efforts just aren’t good enough. But scripture reminds us; “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” Hold on to Him, our Lord Christ Jesus in these moments of uncertainty when trials and troubles seem so over whelming. Let the power of His love and goodness bring some peace of mind to you. You know the harder life gets the more we need Christ’s blessings, all of us feel the same way. All of us depend on His goodness. As hard as it may be, all of us, need to look to our Lord so we might find the strength to help ourselves and the people around us. Today I am writing this note to you, it’s really from the priests, deacon, staff, and congregation of St. Jude Catholic Church because we want you to know you have not been forgotten. We want you to find it in your heart to carry on, to be strong in these times of troubles and find some peace of mind in this moment. We are all struggling, wondering when this pandemic will end. Know this for sure and for certain, the Lord is good, His plan is perfect. We should open our hearts and minds to Him and allow His blessings and healing to give us strength. Take a moment and pray with us, the congregation of St. Jude Catholic Church, for a renewing of body and mind, for a vision of the future, full of hope and trust in our Lord. Blessings for all of us.

Encouragement IV

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Dear Friend,

This morning I would like to begin my prayers and my prayer with you, and for you, by calling to mind Ephesians 6:10. “Brothers and sisters: Draw your strength from the Lord and from His mighty power. Put on the armor of God so that you may  be able to stand firm……” What a beautiful message, the Word of the Lord, giving us strength in the face of uncertainty, mighty power in our faith, and armor for our protection in this terrible pandemic. Isn’t Jesus Christ our refuge in this storm, of course He is! Psalm 121:1-2, tells us where this help, this strength to stand firm in times of distress comes from. It reads, “I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.” So, turn your eyes to the Lord, raise you voice in thanksgiving and gratitude for all He has done. Let your words rise to Him like incense, soft and sweet like angels rising up to the Lord.

Remember, you are not alone. The congregation of St. Jude Catholic Church, the priest, deacon, and staff are praying for you. Like you we ask for protection, safety and health for ourselves, our families and friends, and the caregivers who attend to you night and day. Like you, we pray for communities, cities, and our nation. Like you we pray for an end to this virus and the beginning of good times again, full of hope for the future. So, let us pray together, Psalm 42:8, “The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime; And His song will be with me in the night, A prayer to the God of my life.” Amen. Blessings for all of us.

Grace of Faith

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I believe we all wrestle with some confusion and misunderstanding concerning the nature of God. We struggle with God’s nature and God as “being” itself. God as “being” itself can be seen as outside our space and time. God is the singularity, which can best be described as Love, which never changes; God is the uncreated creator; Jesus the uncreated created and the Holy Spirit the created uncreated. This paradox of God seen through the Trinity also points to the paradox of singularity as well. God’s love is His mercy and His grace; His providence is His compassion as well as His kindness, guidance, power and purpose. With God there is no separation, nothing in Him stands between Him.

So, what is so difficult about the nature of God, since we just described His singularity as well as from our point of view His attributes? I think in order to make a complex idea seem more understandable; we project our worldliness onto His holiness. Jesus teaches this in Matthew 16:23, as he tells Peter, “You are a stumbling block to Me, for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.” Perhaps there are many ways to interpret this passage, however, it seems to me, Jesus is saying, you are thinking as a man would think not as God thinks. We often hear Jesus saying He has come to fulfill the law, in many cases this means, He is bringing the Word forward as in Isaiah 55:9, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts higher than your thoughts.”

I am suggesting we a adopt a world view based on the foundation that the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament are one in the same. In the lowest common denominator, the Truth is simply what is. When we hold on to the idea of God as singularity, then His love is the Truth. This leads me to the conclusion that there can only be one worldly Truth as well, the same Truth whether seen through the lenses of theology, philosophy, science or psychology. So, why the apparent stark difference between the God of Old and New Testament; why the world view of truths in every discipline? It seems to me the real question lies in the answer. There is no difference between the God of Old and the God in the New Testament and there cannot be different truths in each discipline. So, how are the people in Old Testament times different from the people living today?

It is not my intention that this portion of the essay be comprehensive, thorough or exhausting. I would like it to stand as a reminder of the presence of the Holy Spirit, and the idea that we live in a cause and effect world; a world of observations and conclusions which we sometimes mistake as truths. I believe we were endowed with the Holy Spirit at the moment our God, the Father Almighty, breathed life into Adam. I also believe in olden times the Holy Spirit’s presence was unusual and infrequent. Certainly, the Holy Spirit spoke to the Prophets and mystics had visions, however, they like all of us are locked into their era and limited by their own frames of reference. I have often prayed that the Lord would teach me what I can understand, rather than ask for greatness beyond what my mind could comprehend. We also see in the Old Testament and in the New Testament as well, Job’s friends asking what he had done to deserve these trials, and the Apostles asking Jesus whether the man born blind had sinned, or whether his parents were to blame for his blindness. 

One more thought, the emphasis of the New Testament seems to be on separation. The vertical separation between God our Father and we His people. Perhaps more importantly, the separation we make ourselves, about ourselves. At times, we struggle to understand the difference between our “self” and our “being”.  Our “self” is the person we have come to be in this  world and our “being” is the person we were made to be in His image and likeness. Finally, we see the relationship as well as the linear interaction as we strive through our self-control and perseverance to reach a more righteous frame of reference. Applying this newfound foundation, we look at the world, as Peter teaches in 2 Peter 1: 5-8, “with brotherly kindness.” This reflects back to God our Father as we receive and accept His love, as well as our loving Him. It is this interchange which demonstrates the separation as well as bonds the unity. It also points to the contrast of how we treat our brother with our limited humanity, and how God treats us through His infinite love. Doesn’t it seem to you that the Golden Rule actually means, treat others as God would treat them, not as you would like to be treated or how you are capable of treating others.

Now, the conclusion I am drawing does not hinge so much on how, why and when God reveals himself to us as much as what we gleam from these glimpses. As long as we see the world in terms of cause and effect, the longer we remain locked in this worldly frame of reference. However, when we realize our worldliness does not lead to His holiness; His holiness leads us to our holiness, this changes our world view. Now we begin to see that God uses everything that happens for a greater good. This realization changes our disposition. We see the Grace of the Holy Spirit through our Baptism, the washing away of Original Sin, the teachings of Christ Jesus and two thousand years of discernment as seen through the Catholic Church. This brings us streaming into the twenty first century and a step away from the first century Christians.