Saints: our big brothers and sisters in Heaven

All Saints day is this Saturday!  I love the Saints. I've learned quite a bit through reading books that they had written while on Earth, and I've learned a lot while reading books that were written about them. Sometimes I almost have to avoid picking up a  "Saint book" while going about my daily business  because if I do pick one up, well, say goodbye to at least an hour because I won't be able to put it down! However, when I do have some time to read, my first choice will always be one of these books.

Maybe you have the same "issue" if you will, or perhaps you are wondering why I get so drawn in by them. The reason I love them so much is because I think of them as my older siblings in Heaven, and really they are! We all have been "Born of the Spirit."

I don't have many older siblings on Earth, so I need more people to look up to, to be my role models. Thankfully, God has blessed me with a few on Earth, but He's also blessed me by introducing me to many of the older Brothers and Sisters He's given me in heaven. A few of my "closest Brothers and Sisters" in Heaven are St. Francis of Assisi, St. Catherine of Bolonga, St. Alphonsus Ligouri and St. Faustina Kolwalska.

Some people have the sad misunderstanding that we worship the Saints. We don't worship them at all. I'm going to use a familiar scenario to explain this. Perhaps you had siblings here on earth. You might remember a time when you and your brothers or sisters all wanted something, and were deciding who was going to go ask mom or dad. Very often, the oldest  got sent, though perhaps a little unwilling, with the younger ones giving the excuse, "They'll say yes to you!" This scenario is a pretty good illustration of part of our relationship with the saints. We want to get to Heaven, and they want us to get there too! So obviously we would ask our older siblings to ask for graces and favors for us, and they are more than willing to do so!

There also seems to be a misconception that Saints were sort of "holy robots" who were born perfect and that their holiness came naturally, perhaps even automatically. This also is not true. Each of them has a personality just like we do, and all personalities come with strengths and weaknesses that present challenges throughout a person's life. All of them made mistakes, just like us. Some of them actually led pretty bad lives before their conversion! Even after their conversion they had struggles. But they humbly accepted these difficulties and trusted in God to hep them overcome them, and He did.

The Saints really are our big Brother and Sisters. Since All Saints day is in November, maybe sometime this month you could find a book about a Saint or two and get to know them! You'll find that they are more like you than you think. 

PLEASE pray!

You've probably heard about all the terrible things going on in Mosul lately, and in other parts of the world also.Those horrors that seem so unreal, so unlike our picture of humans today. We think that things like beheading people  are a thing of the past, but no, no they are very real in this age.  The brutality is unbelievable, but very very real. We think of Christian persecution as a thing of the past too, you know like Roman times… but no, it's not just the past, persecution is here.

Yes, I believe we are entering a new age of persecutions, and we've  got to stand up. It's true that we can't all travel to Mosul or Korea to fight, but as Christians, we have other ways. We have prayer. We have fasting. We have sacrifice. We have the Mass. We have so many opportunities to do powerful things, and we don't do them!

Even the little things we do, when offered to God in union with Jesus' sacrifice with love, have worth. Remember the St. Therese the little flower's "little way" of doing small things with great love. You could skip a snack, forego putting spices or condiments on your food, take a cold shower, not complain, accept annoyances with joy, give up electronics or a day or even a few hours, read the Bible, help out at a food pantry, work extra hard on something you'd rather not do (like your homework!), Be creative! You can give everything to God. You've got to beseech the Holy Spirit to set you on fire with zeal, and then YOU have to fan that flame!

We are entering a time of great trial. Christianity will NEVER die, because it's heart is Christ, the ever living God. It's also apparent through history that persecution often makes the Church grow. It's like pruning. If you prune a plant, it just gets bigger, more prolific and more beautiful. That doesn't mean it's good in itself, I'm just reminding everyone that God always brings good out of evil, and trying to show how futile their attempts to abolish Christianity are. We shouldn't be afraid, not matter what. . .  .

WAKE UP PEOPLE! Wake up and see what's happening here! Not all of us are in the core of the persecutions right now, but don't think you are safe from it where you are. I won't be surprised if it spreads, I know it will get here eventually. If we don't stand up now, who know how far this will go.

I urge you, I beg you, PLEASE pray for all the people who are being persecuted, and please pray that their persecutors have a change of heart. That's another beautiful thing about Christianity, we always pray for our persecutors, and well, look what happened to Saul. He became St. Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles.

I beg you to offer sacrifices, no matter how small, for the end of these persecutions. Pray for the courage and fervency that you need to do this, and pray for the courage that you may need in the future. 

I cannot stress how very important it is for us all to pray our hearts out right now. We need to offer all we can. We've got to stand up in prayer. Honestly, I feel the urge to beg you all to pray, to sacrifice, to offer whatever you can to God... I really am having a hard to finding words to express this importance, this NEED for prayer and sacrifice. If we don't do it, who will?

Let it shine

You know, when some people receive our Lord in Holy Communion, they don't act like they know that it is Him, or maybe they doubt, or maybe they just won't believe it. But then there are others, who show such reverence and love that if I didn't already believe in the True Presence, I would start asking myself some serious questions.

I am very disappointed to admit that there seem to be more of the first group than of then second group. I wish this were not so, and I want to make an effort to change that to the reverse.

If you believe that Jesus is really present in the Holy Eucharist, please, please show it. Not because you want to seem more Holy, but because you want to make others believe. We learn from example more than anything else. Someone can tell me how to do something, or tell me that something is true, but until I see them do it, or profoundly express it, I'm less likely to learn it. Actions always speak louder than words.

What's holding you back? Is it fear of what others will think? Is it pride? Please give me some hope here. Please do not let me believe that there are as few true believers as there are those who express that belief through their actions. I'm holding onto the hope that you're out there, truly believing, but for some reason unable to express it. That's why I'm asking these questions. I want to help you understand the importance of expressing it, and give you the courage to do so.

I know it's hard to express something you believe. It often attracts attention that we really don't want. You have to remember that it's all about your intent. You are not expressing this belief so that you want attention, you are expressing this because you want Jesus to get the attention He so much deserves. So that covers all of you who might be hiding under the blanket of the fear of attention. Remember that true humility consists of doing God' will and quietly accepting whatever comes from that.

Don't ever let the fear of what others will think affect what you do, especially when it comes to Religion. Other people's opinion of you does not matter. God's does, because "...for man seeth those things that appear, but the Lord beholdeth the heart."(1 Samuel 16:7)
And we can't forget Dr. Seuss, "Those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." although I don't think he was specifically referring to this, it's incredibly true. If you're being held back from expressing this truth, with more than just your words, because you don't want people to think you're crazy, or, well I don't know what you think that they would think; you really need to think about this more. What is it that you think they will think? You need to analyze that thought and resolve it. Get rid of it and truly be free, because the fear of what others think is going to imprison you in more than just this issue.

Always remember that Love=Sacrifice. You are going to have to buck up and do it! It takes courage, humility, love and faith to really express it. These are beautiful virtues that everyone should want! I have a hard time believing that one is capable of accepting all the graces that Jesus is trying to give them in Holy Communion if they are not willing to express that belief. That's not to say that they are not capable of accepting some of those graces, but can they get the fullness of those graces? If I am wrong in thinking that way, PLEASE correct me!

You aren't doing it for your own glory, but for God's. I want us, myself included, (because I struggle with this sometimes too) to look and to be so devoted, so amazed, so in awe, so thankful, so consumed by God's love when we receive Communion that anyone in the room who didn't believe would instantly start questioning themselves, just by the look on our faces. Let it shine!

And if you don't believe, why? You believe that God loves you, I hope? You believe that His love is limitless, I hope? Why can't you believe that in His love He would humble Himself again by taking on the appearances of bread and wine, in order to come to us and be with us and in us because He loves us so much? This is so fundamental to the Faith. No one can fully understand this mystery, so if you reject it just because you can't understand it, You're making a huge mistake.

So please guys, if you really truly believe, show it so that others can believe. And if you don't believe, please try. Whatever it is that is preventing you from believing, start questioning it. Get some good solid Catholic who does believe to talk to about it with you, and God bless you both. And God bless you if you already believe, too! ;)

Be careful little mouth

"Oh, be careful little mouth what you say! Oh, be careful little mouth what you say! For the Father up above is looking down in love, so be careful little mouth what you say!" 

Have you ever though about your tongue in relation to your soul? We know that when we speak the right thing at the right time, others can benefit greatly from it. But when we don't speak rightly it often results in some kind of trouble. 

James 3:8-10 "But the tongue no man can tame, an unquiet evil, full of deadly poison. By it we bless God and the Father: and by it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be."

Why is it that our speech causes so much trouble? When we think about it, we really take speech for granted. The ability to express what we are feeling, what we want, what we are doing, and who we are through our speech is unique. It is true that we also express these thing through our facial expressions and other body language, such as pointing or sighing, but it is our speech that gives the details. 

It's our first reaction to an offense. If Some one says something mean to us, we say something mean back to them. Likewise, it's often or first reaction to a compliment. Speech is so important to us, and we use  and misuse it so often that we forget it is a gift. 

Everytime I think of the mouth in regards to speech and sin, I think of Isaiah's words about his mouth. Isaiah 6:5 "And I said: Woe is me, because I have held my peace; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people that hath unclean lips, and I have seen with my eyes the King the Lord of hosts." 

And then I think of the seraphim's response to that plea for help. 

Isaiah 6:6-7 "And one of the seraphims flew to me, and in his hand was a live coal, which he had taken with the tongs off the altar. And he touched my mouth, and said: Behold this hath touched thy lips, and thy iniquities shall be taken away, and thy sin shall be cleansed."

Now think about this for a minute. We are a lot like Isaiah in this regard. We are people of unclean lips, living among other people of unclean lips. We abuse speech so often in so many different ways. And guess what else? You know, when you look at the Eucharist, you too are seeing "the King The Lord of Hosts," though under a veil. How clean should be the mouth that receives Him! 

Especially because you have not had a coal from Heaven touch your lips, you have had God Himself touch your lips. Every time you receive the Eucharist, He touches your lips again!

Wow. I don't know when that hit me, but I certainly hope it hits you. We really should have the cleanest and purest speech around, but we don't. We're all humans, we forget all these things as soon as we're tempted against them. And often, we speak so quickly that we don't even have time to remember them anyway. We all need to slow down! 

So be careful little mouth what you say. Because the Father up above is looking down in Love, the Son has touched your lips and been in your soul, and the Holy Spirit has been waiting to inspire you to speak the right words, or stay in holy silence, for quite a while now. Let Him speak through you! 

(Now, somebody, put that to music.) 

Garden of your heart

Have you ever noticed how many references Jesus makes about plants? I can think of quite a few right now. How about the Grain of Wheat in John 12:24-25? The Parable of the fig tree in Luke 13:6-9?  Even in last Sunday's Gospel Jesus tells us the parable of the weeds among the wheat; Matthew 13:3-9. Plants seems to be a recurring theme. It's pretty easy to see why. Plants are pretty much the basis of the food chain, so important in the ecosystem, and they are all around us. They bring us food, shelter, clothes, beauty and amazement. A lot of the people in Biblical times had to be farmers, which again, deal with plants. Not to mention the fact that plants are just plain good subjects for parables.

Anyway, the theme keeps coming back to my mind. Imagine your soul as a garden, you heart as a plot of ground. Going back to this week's Gospel, Matthew 13:39, we think about the soil. You decide what type of soil you are. Are you good soil, or are you rocky soil? As we can see from this Parable, and every day life, the kind of sol a garden has really matters. 

Now imagine the most beautiful flowers you can think of. These flowers are virtues. When they grow to their fullness, they produce fruit that nourishes others, which in turn produces seeds which can be planted in the garden of other people's hearts. God plants these beautiful seeds in your heart, sometimes through other people like you parents, teachers, pastor, siblings, friends Etc. Just as flowers can give rise to more flowers, so virtues can give rise to other virtues. So much so, that most virtues depend on one another. when you work on one virtues, you may find yourself lacking in others which are required to help the one.

Now think of the most ugly and vile weeds you can think of. You know those spiky ones? And don't even get me started on poison ivy! These weeds are vices. Bad habits and inclinations to evil. If they aren't weeded while their young, they will be really hard to get when they grow up. Like the virtues, they to can produce fruits, but these produce bad fruits which can feed other people's evils. And those fruits of evil can produce seeds, which can end up in other people's heart gardens. And again, just like the flowers, weeds produce more weeds, and they grow fast.

Now the rain and the sun are God's graces. He pours them out on your garden, and all the plants use them. The good plants use them to grow and flourish. The weeds take the grace and waste it, you can waste graces you know. You know when you feel the urge to do something good, you have the chance to do something nice, and you don't? Well that chance was a grace, and you just fed your weeds by choosing to do wrong, or not to do good anyway.

Every person you meet has the opportunity to plant some kind of seed in your heart, be it good or bad. Even you yourself can plant seeds in other people's gardens. Being around people who are full of virtues often helps us become virtuous because we follow their example. Likewise, hanging around with people who, well, aren't so virtuous can make us less virtuous, and more weedy. Also, we can help others root out their weeds and fix up their soil so that more of that grace can get to the virtues and help them grow.

So you see, you're hear really is like a garden, and you are a gardener. You do have control over what get's planted and what doesn't. You do have control over how good your soil is, and you also have the opportunity to help other people with their gardens. The only thing you don't have control over is the rain and sun, but rest assured that God will always give you what you need in that area. You have what you need, so go and make some beautiful gardens, people!

Maggie Monday

Hewoo! Dis is Maggie. Sorry I has not been saying berry mutch stuf laytly, master has been quyt bizy.

anyway, i is bord today. It is hot owtsyd, so master dosnt want to go for anober walk. We went for a walk dis morning, and dat was reely fun. i wuv walks. i jus wuv dem! and we cant go in da bakyard to play rite now iber, because my peeples is getting a deck bilded onto da back of da howse, and eben dow dey is not werking on it rite now, master dosnt want me to get a nayl in my paw. wat is a nayl?

so, i is just barking at peepls dat im shur is twying to invade our hows who is walking by. i lik to do dat. you shood always bark at peepls just incase day was thinking abowt taking ober your territorie. you never no abowt dees peepls. espesialy is dey has a dog wif dem, den you reely has to look owt! dat uhber dog is probably thinking abowt how he can tak ober your hows and eet all da food in your wefridgeradedor. espesialy if you has stek in dat wefridgeradedor. if you dos have stek in der, den he will reely be after your howse! but you can always solb dat problam by sharing dat stek wif a small dog, lik me, so dat der wil not be anymor stek in der for him to be trying to get.

i lik peenutbuter.

so, dat is all i has to say today.

-Maggie :0)

Yearning

Every now and then I end up in a situation where I inadvertently listen to secular music. I'm not saying all of it is inherently evil, some of the songs are alright, but I'm just not into that type of music. Also, you have to sift through all the weird songs, some of which are quite perverse, to even get to the good ones. Anyway, I've gone entirely off topic now. I didn't pop on just to bash secular music, hang on there for a second!

I'm the kind of person who doesn't just listen to the beat, instruments or voices of a song. I listen to the lyrics. When I get in these situations where I sort of can't get away from the music without making a scene, what do I do? I end up trying to make out the lyrics; which can be both a blessing and a curse. Perhaps I should just make a scene. Anyway. . . .

When I'm listening to most of these songs, I've sensed a pattern. In most of these songs, there is a longing. Either the person is longing for a true love, or some ineffective replacement such as lust, drugs or, well, we won't go there. You get the idea. Sometimes the person ends up trying desperately to do something to fill this hole in the human heart, and it ends up in disaster. In the songs where the person is singing about  the ineffective replacements, the real story line has already taken place. They've already experienced this  yearning, and this is their desperate attempt to fill the hole, though they may not realize it.

What is this yearning? Why do we all yearn for a true, pure love? I'm not just talking about the fairy-tale version of true love, I'm talking real true love. Why do we all have this hole in our hearts that aches so much? How can we fill it?

There is only one remedy for this longing. What we are really longing for is God's Love. Yes, He loves us more than we can fathom, even if we've never connected with Him. But this longing has been put in our hearts to turn us back to Him. In order to fill this hole, we have to love Him. And when we love Him, and submit ourselves to His plans, we just might find more love along the way!

Here's the "kicker", if you want to call it that. You'll never completely get rid of this yearning. The hole s never completely full until we get to Heaven. You see, the more a person loves God, the more they end up yearning for Him in the end. But it's a different feeling than the yearning above, because this person has the remedy, they just can't take the full dose of it yet. It's a hopeful yearning, it brings us more life; whereas the yearning above is often full of despair and doubt. What does this person do when they yearn again for God? They love Him even more! It lifts them up, it helps them see over the clouds of this darkened life, it brings them a joy that can't be explained. Even in the darkest parts of their life, they have Love, they have Hope, they have Faith.

So then, when this person starts filling the hole with love for God, what happens? God is Love. So when we started filling our hearts with a true love of God, we fill our hearts with Him. The result is that if we are truly filling our Hearts with God, our hearts will become more and more like His heart. We will notice ourselves becoming kinder, more compassionate, merciful, pure, honest, joyful, patient, etc., we will start seeing virtues and the fruits of the Holy Spirit start to grow in ourselves all over the place!

So in the end, if we really love God,  our hearts will be so filled with God that we will be united to Him in Heaven. But we must remember; Love = Sacrifice. Jesus told us that if we love Him, we will keep His Commandments. In order to keep these commands, we will face difficulties and have to make sacrifices. Really these Commands set us free from the slavery of sin, but our sinful condition makes it hard to really let go of the shackles that have bound us. It doesn't really make sense that we would want to be bound in them again, but when we sin, we actually bind ourselves u in them! Why? Well, we are humans, and due to original sin we will always struggle to not be attracted to some kind of evil.

So fill your heart with God! It's worth it.



P.S., Aren't you glad you didn't hit the X button when you got bored of my secular music rant?!

Use it wisely.

I've been reading "Confessions" by St. Augustine lately. It is one of the deepest theological books I have ever read. It poses some tough questions, but also helps clarify them. A word of warning though, it is a little hard to understand. You should read it in a nice quiet spot because it is so deep that if you get distracted for one second, you will get lost! One the whole, it's an amazing book. 

I just got to a part in the book where St. Augustine starts really thinking about time. What is time? What happens to time when it is past? How can there have been those who have foretold the future if it does not yet exist? How can we know things of the past if the past no longer exists? It poses some things that you really have to think about. As St. Augustine is musing on these ideas, you get to watch him work on unraveling these issues. It's really inspirational. 

So that got me thinking about time. You know, we waste so much time these days. Between Facebook and Twitter and e-mails and texting and gaming and suntanning and chatting and gossip and drama and movies and selfies and all those other things we do, even if only for a few minutes a day, think of how muh it adds up to. 

I'm not saying that going to the movies with your family is a complete waste of time. I'm not saying that staying connected with your friends is bad. (Although a few of the things I posted above, such as gossip.)  I'm only asking if perhaps we are doing these thing too much. 

Is your Facebook or Twitter feed really going to be that much different than it was ten minutes ago? Do you really need to keep texting smiley faces to your friends as you've been doing for the last twenty minutes? Why not unplug yourself for a few minutes and actually connect with your family or friends face to face? Why not reach out to someone in person who really needs you? Why not try something new?

I've noticed that I waste a lot of time. I am on my electronics waaaay more than I should be. I recently started playing this game that totally sucked me in. I really do waste a lot of time! Why?!

We make all these great inventions like washing machines and computers and dish washers, so that we have more time to do other things. And what do we do with that time we save? We waste it! What a shame. 

Time is such a precious gift that we only have so much of. We can't go back and get more. We can't jump backwards. We can only go forward, and once we get to the end and look back at all we've donewill we be disappointed? Will God be disappointed? He's given you this gift. Use it wisely. 

Speak up for the unborn, disabled and elderly

I recently entered a pro-life essay contest in my area, and took first place. Several people I know have requested to read it, so I thought I would just go ahead and post it. The "theme" was "Why is it important to speak up for the Unborn, Disabled and Elderly?"

Without further ado. . . .

“Why is it important to speak up for the unborn, disabled and elderly?”

One of the very first things that come to my mind when pondering this question is the very beginning. The very beginning of the human race.

“So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” Gen. 1:27

“then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Gen 2:7

Here we find that we have been created by God, for God, and in God’s image. Further more, each one of us possess a living soul. This, is the dignity of human life.  Is this not proof that God cares about us, and loves us each very much? Should we not do likewise, and love each person because God made them and loves them?

In today’s world, we are facing many issues against the dignity of human life. The elderly are disrespected and considered a burden, when they should be respected and treated as gifts. We can learn so much from them. Even if they are too weak or sick to tell us, they teach us with the story of their life. The unborn are objectified and are treated as if they were disposable, when they should be loved and treasured as most  precious gifts from God. The disabled are despised and rejected, even though each one of them is a living testimony of perseverance. Each of them goes through countless struggles each day with things that would be easy for others, but they keep going, often with a smile on their face.

The elderly, unborn and disabled are degraded, shamed and treated as animals or objects that should be disposed of, because our society feels that they have no contribution to the world. But they should be cherished deep in the hearts of all people. They may not be able to contribute to society in a physical way, but, they were created by God, in His image, and each one has a soul. Yes, they may frustrate us or cause us some difficulty at some point, but they have their own share of difficulties in life.

If we judge people as the world does, by what physical contribution they bring, then the unborn, disabled, and elderly will be judged as worthless. But if we look at the heart and soul, as God does, then each person is someone worth loving, someone worth protecting, someone worth more than any sacrifice we may have to make for them. By serving them we are really serving Christ, and we ourselves become more Christ like in return.

We must remember that we were once unborn. Someday, we will be elderly. We never know what may happen to us on the path of life. We may someday be disabled. If we do not speak up for these beautiful people, who will speak up for us when we are demeaned, rejected or taken advantage of?

The unborn, disabled and elderly need us to speak up for them. When the disabled and elderly attempt to speak up for themselves, their voices are quickly stifled by the opinion of the world, and the unborn cannot yet cry out for help. We need to stand by them. We need to see them through God’s eyes, as a human being, a soul worth sacrificing for.

Yes, I'm a female altar server. No, I don't want to become a priest.

I couldn't think of a better title for this post, despite that it sounds generic or cheesy. But anyway. . .

Every now and then someone has the idea that girls being Alter servers makes them want to become Priests, which is against the Church. Women can't be Priests. None of the 12 apostles were women, and that's OK, we have plenty of other ways to help, but that's a whole other blog post!

While it might be true that some girls get this idea, It hasn't happened for me. I do not remember ever having the thought of wishing that women were allowed to be Priests. Really, in the novice ordo Mass, the altar server has a relatively small role compared to the Latin Mass.

Serving at Mass is an incredible privilege that until recent times was reserved for boys only, because we want to encourage boys to be Priests and in the Latin Mass, the server(s) have a much bigger role. I can definitely see why this was reserved, because in the Latin Mass, the servers are like little Priests-In-Training, and could see where they would be encouraged to be Priests through serving the Latin Mass.. (My younger brother serves the Latin Mass at least once a month.)

I have never felt encouraged to somehow try to go against my Faith in this way through serving at Mass. Am I an exception? I doubt it. I understand that Women just simply aren't to be Priests, that's the way God set it up, and that's fine with me. I do enjoy serving the Mass very much, and I do think it helps me become closer to God. It gives me a sense of honor or responsibility. Not only do I want to help out with the Mass in the little ways that we help out as an Alter Server, I also want to serve as an example for other servers and the congregation. If they get distracted and look to us, and see us kneeling or being reverent, perhaps their attention will be drawn back to what is really important, the Holy Sacrifice that is taking place. Since I have this sense or responsibility, I carry it back to the pew with me next Sunday, when I'll be an example to my siblings and those around me.

I believe that over the years, Serving Mass has helped me be more attentive to what's really happening, Jesus coming back down to be with us and offering Himself for us again. And again. And again, every time a Mass is said in any church, anywhere in the World, He is there. And Eternal sacrifice that cannot be drained, because that Sacrifice is Jesus, whose love and merits are infinite.

One of my favorite "jobs" while serving is ringing the Consecration bells. I admit, I get really excited about it! It kinda reminds me of John the Baptist, crying in the wilderness, "Prepare the way of the Lord!"
 I hope my siblings (who often serve with me) don't get too upset when I snatch up the job first. LOcL I only have a few years left before I'll finally be able to start following my vocation, so you'll get the bells back eventually guys! Maybe. . .  ;)