Be Welcoming to Others

We can be welcoming to others by giving them the welcome of a listening heart.
"Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. For Christ’s life of service was to show that God is faithful to God’s promises, and to enable all to praise God for God’s mercy. May God, the source of hope, fill you with joy and peace by means of your faith, so that your hope may continue to grow by the power of the Holy Spirit." (Romans 15:7-13)
Each of us is called to invite others to turn toward God. Each of us can invite others to think more deeply about the meaning of their lives. Each of us can invite another to share our search for a deeper knowledge of the love of God. Each of us can invite another to pray. Each family can invite others to experience a hospitality in their home that clearly flows from Christian love. Each of us can invite another to share a community experience or come to our parish Eucharistic celebration.
Who would you love to invite?

Peace and Love,

Sue


"Be still and know that I am God"(Psalm 46:10)

The Holy Spirit is promised to all of us.

"And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, 'which,' He said, 'you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.' Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, 'Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?' And He said to them, 'It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father hs put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.'" (Acts: 1:4-8)
• being assembled together with them. Jesus often communed with His friends and disciples over a meal: at the feeding of the five thousand, with tax collectors and sinners, at the Pharisee's house, at the Last Supper, and after the Resurrection
• wait for the Promise of the Father. The Holy Spirit was the gift of the Father and the gift of Jesus the Son
• not many days from now. A few days would pass before Pentecost
• at this time restore the kingdom to Israel. From what Jesus said in Matt. 19:28, the disciples thought that He might overthrow the Romans and restore the physical kingdom to Israel
• Holy Spirit has come upon you. Jesus means that the Holy Spirit will show His control of their lives with visible manifestations: the blowing of a violent wind, the appearance of tongues of fire, and speaking in foreign languages
• witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.The book of Acts follows this strategy. The Jerusalem witness in chapter 2 gives in miniature form God's worldwide ministry: the "Jews...from every nation" (2:5) who heard and believed carried the message far and wide. In the rest of Acts the gospel spreads to Jerusalem (3:1-8:1), to Judea and Samaria, up to Antioch of Syria (8:1-12:25), and to the ends of the earth (13:1-28:31)
The Trinity is a description of the unique relationship of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. If Jesus had stayed on earth, his physical presence would have limited the spread of the gospel, for physically he could be in only one place at a time. After his ascension, he would be spiritually present everywhere through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was sent so God would be with and within his followers after Jesus returned to heaven. His Spirit would comfort them, guide them to know his truth, remind them of Jesus' words, give them the right words to say, and fill them with power.
Jesus wants to fill all of us with his Spirit just as he did for the Apostles on Pentecost. Just ask Jesus to be with you as you begin your day. Some amazing things could happen.

Peace and Love,
Sue


"Be still and know that I am God"(Psalm 46:10)

Who will believe what has not been shared?

"I hear of your love and of the faith which you have in the Lord Jesus and in all the saints, and I pray that the sharing of your faith may promote the knowledge of all the good that is ours in Christ. For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love because the hearts of God’s people have been refreshed by you." (Philemon 1:4-7)
Each of us is called to share the Good News we have heard and believed. Each of us can tell others of the ways that we have experienced God in our lives. Each of us needs to listen with respect to each other’s story of faith. Each of us can speak of these faith stories to each other as family and as a large Christian community. Each of us must share our faith, our hope, and our love with those who have not heard about or do not experience these gifts of God.
Each of us is called to share our faith. We can no longer leave this work to the ordained, vowed, religious, and church professionals. The mission of the laity in the workplace, the home, in social settings, and in the political arena is to proclaim and share the Good News. Take some time to reflect on the four elements of the evangelization cycle by looking at your own life experience in relation to the scriptures. Discover your own response to the call to evangelize.
Share your story of God's love with others.

Peace and Love,
Sue
"Be still and know that I am God"(Psalm 46:10)

On the Journey

Luke 24:13-33 (New International Version)
On the Road to Emmaus
13Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles[a] from Jerusalem. 14They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16but they were kept from recognizing him.
17He asked them, "What are you discussing together as you walk along?"
They stood still, their faces downcast. 18One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, "Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?"
19"What things?" he asked.
"About Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. "He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 20The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. 22In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning 23but didn't find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. 24Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see."
25He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26Did not the Christ[b] have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" 27And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
28As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. 29But they urged him strongly, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over." So he went in to stay with them.
30When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"
33They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together

For the Journey
We turn to Luke's Gospel for his unique resurrection story. Two of Jesus' followers, who failed to see Him in the breaking up of their personal hopes and failed to see Him in the breaking up of His companions, will now recognize Him "in the breaking of the bread."
As a "companion," literally, "with-bread," is how Jesus comes alongside these two dispirited disciples. Their heads are down and they see the earth without any hope for the new life they had sought in the teachings of Jesus. As a companion He joins their darkness and gently leads them through their reflections on what has recently happened in Jerusalem. Their eyes are dimmer than their spirits and they find it hard to believe what they saw happen and what they have heard about His Resurrection. They didn't see it happen, so for them, it didn't really occur.
We watch and listen to their sharing in the rising of Jesus as their hearts burn within them while they listen to this mysterious companion. He is a "collector," a "finder" and He has risen to raise both those who seek for Him and those who take the road back to Emmaus.
We find comfort and great joy in watching Jesus compassionately go out after those who have their hearts and hopes broken. It is so human to doubt and want to turn towards where ever our Emmaus hiding place may be. They freely turned to their own tombs burying their frustrated plans and fractured friendships. Our self-chosen tombs can be such comfortable resting places. These men are going back, and in meeting Jesus they will want, not to go back, but to return.
We have been praying often about our own tombs and hiding places. Their walls of fear, the locked doors of self-negativity and regret, have been abandoned and yet we know their comforts and the easily-found roads back to their ever-opened portals. It is very dark in our tombs and Jesus constantly invites us into the sunshine. The word "consolation" literally means, "with the sunshine" and conversely, "desolation" means "down out of the sunshine".
The men we watch this day experience the warmth of the sun in their being invited out of their darkness. We pray this day with the joys of having been found, having been called out into the sunshine. We also pray with the joy in the awareness that He will always be collecting His followers in the breaking up of their hearts and hopes. He has risen so that we might have confidence in His grace more than our fragile selves.

Dear Jesus,
We read the story of the men on the road to Emmaus. We shake our heads and wonder, how could they see you, someone they love and trust so much, and then not even recognize you? We would certainly recognize you….wouldn’t we?
We feel like we’ve been through so much together. How could we not see you? Well, except maybe when we are worried about how successful we are or how we look to others. Or wondering why we have to speak up about injustices to the poor when we are so busy already. We know we fail to be our best self so often, and we know how often you are there in that failure to forgive and support.

Love and Peace,
Sue


"Be still and know that I am God"(Psalm 46:10)

Have you talked to God today?

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you” (John 17:20-21).
Jesus prayed in praise to God, the Father - “At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, ‘I praise you, Father, lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure’” (Luke 10:21).
Jesus prayed prayers of thanksgiving - “While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, ‘Take it; this is my body’” (Mark 14:22).
Jesus prayed in a posture and with an attitude of reverent submission - “Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will’” (Matthew 26:39).
Jesus prayed in times of anguish – “And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground” (Luke 22:44).
“About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’- which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’” (Matthew 27:46).
"Teach us to pray," was the request of the disciples to Jesus. They confessed that they were not able to pray on their own. God wants to communicate with us and wants us to communicate with Him. Just as communication is important for us to develop our human relationships, our relationship with God requires communication as well. Prayer is our way to communicate with God. However, prayer does not always have to be in the form of canned prayers or even in words alone. There are many other forms of prayer.
Things to Do to Communicate with God:
• Sing to God
• Listen to worship music and sing along
• Go for a walk with God
• Journal in a notebook to God
• Study the Scriptures with Him
• Listen to Bible reading on tape
• Take a nap with Him
• At night study the stars with Him
• Write out your prayer as a love letter to God
• Listen to a good sermon
• Read a book on prayer or God's person
• Go for a bike ride in His creation
• Eat a great meal thanking Him for every good thing
• Have a quiet conversation with a friend about Him
• Go fishing with God at your side
• Evaluate your life and ministry with God looking on
• Have a coffee break with God
• Memorize a Scriptural Promise He gives you
• Plan your future goals with his advice
• Meditate on the Names of God
• Watch a bird, stare at the waves, study a bug
• Meditate on the Cross
• Meditate on God’s Creation
• Read the Prayers of the Bible
• Play an Instrument to the Lord
• Do a New Testament Word Study
We know that God is always present with us. Prayer is communication with God as we turn our hearts, minds, spirits, and thoughts toward Him. Prayer is a form of worship. We bow before our awesome God with a humble and contrite heart. We bring God our adoration in prayer and praise to Him. We also seek and find, ask and receive, knock and have opened to us (Matt. 7:7-8).
Have you talked to God today?

Peace and love,
Sue



"Be still and know that I am God"(Psalm 46:10)

Cleanliness is next to Godliness!

Clean and Unclean
The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were "unclean," that is, unwashed. (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.)
So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, "Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with 'unclean' hands?"

He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:
" 'These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
their teachings are but rules taught by men.' You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men."

And he said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.'But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban' (that is, a gift devoted to God), then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that."

Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. 5Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean.'

After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean'? For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.")

He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' or from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.' "(Mark 7:1-23)

Jesus was telling his disciples that to be clean means to have a heart that is loving. I think sometime we, too, get caught up in our own religious rituals without giving any thought as to why we are doing them. Do we meet God in these rituals? Or, is it just something we have been told to do. Do we perform these rituals with joy? Or, are we doing them for worldly acclaim?
Basically, I think that Jesus was telling us that if our heart is not in the religious rituals they don't mean much. If we don't care for one another and love one another, all the rituals in the world will not make us clean. It is something to think about, especially during this season of Lent. We need to reflect on our lives. What are we doing? Are we performing mindless rituals, or are we really in touch with the will of God. Are we developing our relationship with God or are we just going through the motions? Talk to God today. Ask God what he wants you to do.
Then listen for the answer. There will be one.

Peace and love,

Sue


"Be still and know that I am God"(Psalm 46:10)

How do we love?

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another (John 13:34-35).

Remember when you were a kid and your mom or dad would say, "Now be nice to your brother or sister." And you might not say it but you were at least thinking, "Why? He/she isn't being nice to me. It isn't fair that I have to be kind to them when they're being mean to me."
As a believer in Christ, at times your Heavenly Father says the same thing to you, "Be nice to your brother. . ." Our human tendency is to shout, "No! I don't want to! Even though he's a Christian, he isn't treating me nicely. It isn't fair that I have to be kind to him when he is being mean to me." Still your Heavenly Father says, "Be kind to one another." In fact, He goes o far as to say, "Love one another as I have loved you." And when you ask, "Why,?" He replies, "So others will see that you follow Me."
The mark of a Christian is that the love of Christ in the lives of believers is what sets them apart from the world. He concludes that the world has a right to judge the authenticity of Christ's claims to be the Messiah, the Savior, the Son of God, by what they see in the lives of His followers. Was He the One who could change lives? Are the lives of His followers different than those of the world? Do they truly love one another in difficult times?
Loving one another includes being willing to respectfully confront one another when necessary, to work to find solutions to disagreements, and to forgive those who hurt you. That means giving up your desire to be angry and to get back at the offender. The secret lies is in abiding in Christ.
Beloved Father, make me ever mindful that the world is watching my life. Guide my thoughts and guard my lips when feelings of hurt and fear overtake me. Let me show love to my brothers and sisters so that others will say, "Truly Christ can change a life. Surely He is the Son of God."

Peace and love,

Sue

"Be still and know that I am God"(Psalm 46:10)

Lead us away from temptation

Lord God, prepare our hearts
as we journey through the season of Lent.
Help us to turn away from sin and
turn our hearts toward your love.
In the name of Jesus Christ we pray.
Amen.

"Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan
and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days,
to be tempted by the devil.
He ate nothing during those days,
and when they were over he was hungry.
The devil said to him,
If you are the Son of God,
command this stone to become bread. 
Jesus answered him,
It is written, One does not live on bread alone. 
Then he took him up and showed him
all the kingdoms of the world in a single instant.
The devil said to him,
I shall give to you all this power and glory;
for it has been handed over to me,
and I may give it to whomever I wish.
All this will be yours, if you worship me. 
Jesus said to him in reply,
It is written:
You shall worship the Lord, your God,
and him alone shall you serve. 
Then he led him to Jerusalem,
made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him,
If you are the Son of God,
throw yourself down from here, for it is written:
He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,
and:
With their hands they will support you,
lest you dash your foot against a stone. 
Jesus said to him in reply,
It also says,
You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test. 
When the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from him for a time (Lk 4:1-13).

In the gospel today Jesus is led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness for forty days. While he is there, Jesus is tempted by the devil. Luke describes the temptations as the three most alluring temptations of his day: love of pleasure, love of riches, and love of power. Jesus resists the devil, which gives witness to how followers of Christ are to deal with temptation.
Today’s gospel reading also has Jewish roots. The Israelites wandered forty years in the desert after God delivered them from Egypt. They were tested with hunger, the lure of false Gods, and the temptation to test God. Jesus experienced the very same temptations and unlike many of the Israelites before him, he responded to each of them out of faithfulness to God. Jesus relies completely on God when confronted with temptation and in doing so he reverses the human infidelity of past history.

So what tempts us? Probably the same things as in the ancient world, love of pleasure, love of riches, and love of power. How do we overcome these temptations? The answer is "Trust in God". Ask for Gods help when faced with the temptations you experience each day. In the long run, giving in to these temptations will not bring happiness. Sometimes, in the giving in to our temptations, we are faced with bigger problems than if we had resisted them. If we place ourselves in God's hands, we have to have faith that God knows what we need and will take care of those needs.
Enjoy Lent as a time to develop your relationship with God.
Make Lent a time to choose God. You won't be disappointed.

Peace and Love,

Sue

"Be still and know that I am God"(Psalm 46:10)

How can we evangelize?

Each of us is called to invite others to turn toward God. Each of us can invite others to think more deeply about the meaning of their lives. Each of us can invite another to share our search for a deeper knowledge of the love of God. Each of us can invite another to pray. Each family can invite others to experience a hospitality in their home that clearly flows from Christian love. Each of us can invite another to share a community experience or come to our parish Eucharistic celebration. Reflect on John 1:35-50.
Accepting The Word:
We cannot give what we have not first received.
"How can they call to God for help if they have not believed? And how can they believe if they have not heard the message? And how can they hear if the message is not proclaimed? And how can the message be proclaimed if the messengers are not sent out? Faith, then, comes from hearing the message, and the message comes through preaching Christ." (Romans 10:14-17)
Each of us is called to a personal relationship with a God who loves us. Each of us needs to listen to God’s Word as it is written in the Scriptures. Each of us, by the power of the Holy Spirit, must make a decision to surrender to God’s love and to commit ourselves to follow Christ. Each of us needs the support of a faith community to experience God’s love and empower us to go out to others. Reflect on Mark 4:1-9, 13-20.
Living It Out:
Our lives speak more clearly than our words.
"Do not deceive yourselves by just listening to God’s Word; instead, put it into practice…For whoever looks closely into the perfect law that sets people free, who keeps on paying attention to it and does not simply listen and then forget it, but puts it into practice, that person will be blessed by God is what is done." (James 1:22-25)
Each of us is called to share the love we have received with others. Each of us can show care for each person we meet at work, on the street, and in times of leisure. Each of us who is a member of a family can express our love for each other within the family. As a family, we can show love toward others. Each faith community must let people know that they are disciples of Christ by the love they have for one another. Each of us is called to help others as effectively as we can, especially the poor and the marginalized. Reflect on Matthew 5:13-16.
"Those who have received the Good News and who have been gathered by it into a community of salvation can and must communicate it and spread it…" (No. 13) (Evangelization in the Modern World, Pope Paul VI)
"It is unthinkable that a person should accept the word and give himself to the kingdom without becoming a person who bears witness to it and proclaims it in his turn." (No. 24) (Evangelization in the Modern World, Pope Paul VI)

Peace and love,
Sue

"Be still and know that I am God"(Psalm 46:10)

Have you injured anyone with words today?

We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.

When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, 8but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.(James 3:2-12)


This passage in the letter of James calls our attention to our speach. When we speak we need to be conscious of whether we build up the body of Christ or do we tear down the body of Christ. Do we help others to live, or do we kill them with our words? Sometimes being negative or gossiping are just bad habits we let ourselves get into. We sometimes speak without even thinking. It seems to be a matter of being unaware. Are we aware of our words? Do we think about them before we say them? Do we stop to reflect before saying something that can cause others hurt and shame? Do we destroy another's character because we can? All things to think about.
As children we may have said "sticks and stones can break my bones, but names can never hurt me". On the contrary, the bones will eventually heal, but the names can cause pain that will last a lifetime. Words can end relationships and drive people apart and keep them that way.
I think it would be better to stop and think about what to say before it is said. It is better to just get into the habit of speaking positively about people. This becomes a choice for love rather than hate. Even if you feel that the person does not deserve it, give them the benefit of the doubt and be kind.
I try to choose my words carefully when I write this blog every day. Perhaps I don't always succeed, but I try.
Choose to build up, stay away from tearing down. Choose your words carefully.

Peace and love,

Sue



"Be still and know that I am God"(Psalm 46:10)

Religion vs Spirituality

It is common to find individuals who have a negative attitude toward formal religion, but do have a positive attitude to what they refer to as spirituality. The difference they express is that they see formal religion as an overpowering presence; whereas spirituality is the experience of God as an overpowering presence. In other words, formal religion, instead of being a way to connect with God and others, becomes a barrier to that connectivity. Spirituality is an opening toward the experience of interconnectedness, which forms the world. God is the overpowering presence within us that is reaching toward us through our connectedness.
Many of those who acknowledge their spirituality, while at the same time reject formal religion, are expressing a preference for this empowering sense of the divine presence. They believe that spiritually overcomes the distance that is often established by formal religion, between oneself and God. They believe that spirituality alone encourages an understanding that God is closer to home than we tend to find with traditional religion. God is not out there, but present at the very center of self. We can experience God, not by leaving the human condition behind, but by entering fully into the richness of all that humanity can be. But is individual spirituality enough to be able to experience that richness.
The interdependency, which forms the world, especially our human need for one another opens an aspect of our everyday lives, which we very much take for granted. Religion should work to foster this connectedness and interdependency. We do not realize how interconnected we are, nor how much we rely on each other for care and assistance. Unless you are an auto mechanic, you cannot make your car run when it breaks down. Unless you are a plumber, you cannot fix a faucet when it breaks. Unless you are a pilot, you cannot fly yourself from one place to another. The spiritual dimension of human experience should not only awaken the awareness of the reality of our connectedness, but also demonstrate it by how we interract and care for one another. In the light of that care, the lines, which separate and divide us from one another, from the world, and from God, fade to the point of disappearance. By associating this connectedness and care with the presence of God, we move beyond the dualism which otherwise sets apart God and the world, and sets apart God from humans. Spirituality is our openness to God and the world.
Formal religion should be the expression of our Christian spirituality and openness to God and to our community. Formal religion creates a common language of love both to God and to each other. Our Christian Spirituality is based upon community. We are connected to each other and to God. Religion is just the expression of that love in community. We should not look at religion as the object of love nor the object of our connectedness, but the voice of love and connectedness.
I guess what I am saying, is we should not be afraid of formal religion.
We, as Christians, need formal religion to have a common voice and understanding to be able to share our spirituality with others. Christian spirituality needs to be celebrated within the community. If religion becomes more than the common voice of love for God and others, the purpose of religion has been missed. Jesus loved community and always surrounded himself with people. Jesus continues to share himself in community with us and wants us to be able share of ourselves with each other. Formal religion, when viewed as a voice of love and not an institution or prison, becomes our language of love.
We can pray alone in our rooms, and some of that is good. When we pray together in community, we become the "one body of Christ".

Peace and love,

Sue

"Be still and know that I am God"(Psalm 46:10)

What is Ash Wednesday?

Those who work with liturgy in parishes know that some of the largest crowds in the year will show up to receive ashes on Ash Wednesday. Though this is not a holy day of obligation in our tradition, many people would not think of letting Ash Wednesday go by without a trip to church to be marked with an ashen cross on their foreheads. Even people who seldom come to Church for the rest of the year may make a concerted effort to come for ashes.

How did this practice become such an important part of the lives of so many believers? Who came up with the idea for this rather odd ritual? How do we explain the popularity of smudging our foreheads with ashes and then walking around all day with dirty faces? Those who do not share our customs often make a point of telling us that we have something on our foreheads, assuming we would want to wash it off, but many Catholics wear that smudge faithfully all day.

The origin of the custom of using ashes in religious ritual is lost in the mists of pre-history, but we find references to the practice in our own religious tradition in the Old Testament. The prophet Jeremiah, for example, calls for repentance this way: "O daughter of my people, gird on sackcloth, roll in the ashes" (Jer 6:26).

The prophet Isaiah, on the other hand, critiques the use of sackcloth and ashes as inadequate to please God, but in the process he indicates that this practice was well-known in Israel: "Is this the manner of fasting I wish, of keeping a day of penance: that a man bow his head like a reed, and lie in sackcloth and ashes? Do you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?" (Is 58:5).

The prophet Daniel pleaded for God to rescue Israel with sackcloth and ashes as a sign of Israel's repentance: "I turned to the Lord God, pleading in earnest prayer, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes" (Dn 9:3).

Perhaps the best known example of repentance in the Old Testament also involves sackcloth and ashes. When the prophet Jonah finally obeyed God's command and preached in the great city of Nineveh, his preaching was amazingly effective. Word of his message was carried to the king of Nineveh. "When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in the ashes" (Jon 3:6).

In the book of Judith, we find acts of repentance that specify that the ashes were put on people's heads: "And all the Israelite men, women and children who lived in Jerusalem prostrated themselves in front of the temple building, with ashes strewn on their heads, displaying their sackcloth covering before the Lord" (Jdt 4:11; see also 4:15 and 9:1).

Just prior to the New Testament period, the rebels fighting for Jewish independence, the Maccabees, prepared for battle using ashes: "That day they fasted and wore sackcloth; they sprinkled ashes on their heads and tore their clothes" (1 Mc 3:47; see also 4:39).

In the New Testament, Jesus refers to the use of sackcloth and ashes as signs of repentance: "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes" (Mt 11:21, Lk 10:13).

Since Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, it naturally is also beginning to recover a baptismal focus. One hint of this is the second formula that is offered for the imposition of ashes: "Turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel." Though it doesn't explicitly mention Baptism, it recalls our baptismal promises to reject sin and profess our faith. It is a clear call to conversion, to that movement away from sin and toward Christ that we have to embrace over and over again through our lives.

Peace and Love,

Sue




"Be still and know that I am God"(Psalm 46:10)

God is not the source of temptation

"No one experiencing temptation should say 'I am being tempted by God'; for God is not subject to temptation to evil, and he himself tempts no one. Rather, each person is tempted when lured and enticed by his desire" (James 1:13-15).

I was so glad that this was in the readings for today. It has always troubled me that God would tempt us into sin. Would any parent do that to their beloved child? Would anyone try to lure their beloved into a trap?
In the reading for today, James says that God tempts no one. But, rather, it is us who are tempted by our own desires. This makes alot more sense than God trying to trap us. That would not be the act of a loving God. It might be the act of Satan to tempt us, but without any outside influences, we are tempted by many things. God is there as our protector, but will not step in unless we ask for his assistance.
Again and again we see that the message is that we cannot rely upon ourselves to always do the right thing. We need God to be helping us. We need to rely on God. That may be very ego-deflating to some people. Lots of us tend to want to think that we can handle anything on our own. We need no one's help until we find out that we are not really in control. We should not feel alone in this, because no one else is in control either, except God.
I am happy that James told me in the reading today that God is not going to tempt me to go after what will be bad for me, just to see if I do. I don't need any help in going after the wrong thing, I do that pretty well on my own. God is there to help me to do what is right and to go after the things that will be good for me. That gives me great consulation, even in times of trouble. God will always be there to help me along to the right road, the right side, to the right desire. I can trust that God will not put blocks and temptations in my way to help me follow the wrong path. My only trouble is that I need to remember to ask for help when I need it and that help will be there for me.
God is there for you as well.

Peace and Love,

Sue


"Be still and know that I am God"(Psalm 46:10)

Prayer to live in God's Presence

Dear God,
You have promised to remain forever with those
who do what is just and right.
Help me to live in Your presence.
The loving plan of Your Wisdom was made known when
Jesus, your Son, became man like us.
I want to obey Jesus commandment of love
and bring Your peace and joy to others.
Keep before me the wisdom and love
You have made known in Your Son, Jesus.
Help me to be like Him in word and deed.

Let us all continue to live in the presence of God, and renew this prayer each day of our lives. May God help us to continue to bring his Kingdom to all we encounter throughout our day.

Peace and Love,

Sue



"Be still and know that I am God"(Psalm 46:10)

Information about Lent

Lent is the time to prepare your heart and mind for Easter.
Simply put, historically, but not biblically, Lent is 40 days of fasting and prayer to think about all that Jesus gave up for us on the cross – his human life. Historically, in some churches, people chose to “give up” something that is personally important to them for the period of Lent (make a personal sacrifice). A reminder again of what Jesus gave for us. Some people gave up eating meat for Lent, while others would give up sweets. People may choose to give up a favorite regular activity or something else as a personal sacrifice. This tradition remains in some churches.
Lent is a time to think about our sins. To repent. A time to think on how we can become better Christian people.
In common practice, many people think of the entire time from Ash Wednesday to Easter as Lent, as the exclusion of Sundays is not widely publicized. (see below)

When does Lent begin?
Lent begins on Ash Wednesday.

What is Ash Wednesday about?
In Bible times, people who repented of their sins sometimes wore sackcloth (rough, scratchy cloth) and dabbed themselves with ashes or sat in ashes (Isaiah 58:5 and Deuteronomy, 9:3 Jonah 3:6). Jesus himself talked about this form of showing being sorry for sins in both Matthew 11:21and Luke 10:13.
Catholic church history records a rite sometime between the year 500 and 600, the Spanish Mozarabic rite, where they made a sign on the forehead of a very, very ill person with ashes as a sign of acceptance into the order of Penitence. About another 500 years later, sometime in the 11th century, a man named Abbot Aelfric logged that it was customary for all believers to take part in a ceremony on the Wednesday before Lent that included ashes. In early use, ashes were dabbed on the foreheads of women in the sign of the cross, but men just had them sprinkled on them. Later in that century, Pope Urban II put ashes in use regularly on that day. Later this day came to be called Ash Wednesday. Over hundreds of years, the meaning and purpose of the ashes on Ash Wednesday changed. At one time, it was tied to baptism. In some churches this idea has been renewed. In some Catholic and Protestant churches today, some church members who were already baptized but want to renew their baptismal promises at Easter, began the process on Ash Wednesday, to think about moving away from sin towards a Christ-like life. Some other Protestant churches today consider Ash Wednesday as the beginning of Lent, the beginning of a time of Christian reflection and devotion, but do not use ashes.

Where do the ashes come from?
In some churches that distribute Palm fronds on Palm Sunday, sometimes the leftover palms are saved to be burned the following year to be used as the ashes used for Ash Wednesday services.

How long is Lent?
They say 40 days, but that answer needs some explanation:
In 2009
Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Lent ends at Easter or Resurrection Sunday April 4, 2010

February has 28 days in 2009 , with 11 days from the 17th to the 28th.
There are 31 days in March before Easter.
There are 3 days in April before Easter.
11 + 31 + 3 = 45 days by calendar count!
Hmmm! That doesn’t sound like 40 days to me!
The answer is: You don’t count Sundays!

What is Holy Week?
Lent in many churches includes the Holy Days of Maunday Thursday (the last supper), Good Friday (the crucifixion) and Holy Saturday, the days immediately preceding Easter. This is commonly known as Holy Week.

Is Lent in the Bible?
No.

Why is Lent 40 days long?
(Remember Lent is 40 days, not counting Sundays)
Historically, it is based on the time Jesus spent in the wilderness fasting and praying and being tempted by the devil! See: Matthew 4:2 and Mark 1:13 and Luke 4:2.

I hope that this information is helpful.

Peace and Love,
Sue


"Be still and know that I am God"(Psalm 46:10)

Is awareness important?

We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 9For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
(Romans 7:14-20)

Paul is telling us in this passage, that doing good can be very difficult. Sometimes the more we try to do what is good, the easier it is to do what is bad. So, some may ask, what is the point? I think that the point that Paul is trying to make is that in trying to "go it alone" without God's help, we will fail. As long as we are aware of this, all is not lost. God is always there to give us strength when we are at our weakest. But there has to be that awareness. We have to be aware that we are truely helpless without God. In our pride we think that we are in control of our lives. But our sense of awareness tells us that we are not.
I think that God is asking all of us to develop a sense of awareness so that we first of all, know when we have failed to do what is good, and second, to know that we must rely on God's assistance to help us in our weakness. Perfection is not what God wants from us. God wants us to have an awareness that we are always in need of his assistance.
I think that we can always rest in the knowledge that God will be there for us in our time of need.

Peace and love,

Sue



"Be still and know that I am God"(Psalm 46:10)

How do we approach the season of Lent?

When I was a kid, Lent was a very disciplined season in the church calendar. By this I mean that we had an obligation to give up something that we really enjoyed and to stick with that throughout the 40 days. If we backslided, it was an unforgivable sin. If we backslided, that mean that we really didn't love God. It almost seemed that failing to follow through on what you had given up was very close to the sin of murder. Everybody watched you to make sure that you did give up whatever you said you were going to give up for the entire time. Talk about Big Brother watching you, he did during Lent. I never understood what the big deal was about Lent.
Thank goodness the thinking about Lent has changed. First of all there is an explanation of what Lent is all about. I teach third religious education and my approach to Lent is alot kinder and gentler. I think that it important to emphasize that we are anticipating receipt of a great gift. The fact that Jesus died for us is the reason for the season. It is more important to do something rather than giving up something, especially when we will probably give up something that is for our own benefit. the emphasis is on service to others, just as Jesus was always about service to us. He healed and forgave us, even those who put him to death. In gratitude for that great gift of his live, is it not fitting for us to give back. The giving should not be a "have to", but instead, a "want to". We should give with joy, not with sorrow.
Some may not like my idea of Lent, feeling that there can be no joy in the death of Jesus. However, I don't think that is the way Jesus wants it. Also, the all or nothing approach is not necessary. If we plan to do something, and do not succeed, we can always try again for our failure is not forever. That is the beauty of Lent. It must be a time to remember love, compassion, and forgiveness. It is a time to reflect on the blessings we have been given by God and to remember to give something back by being of service to others. There are no harsh judgements, for Jesus made no judgements.

"For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. (John 3:16-17)

So what will you do for Lent?

Peace and love,
Sue


"Be still and know that I am God"(Psalm 46:10)

More on the Good News

Loving Spirit of Wisdom,
guide our thoughts and our memories.

In the light of your love,
may we see what is important for us to remember,
what is important for us to hold to our hearts,
and what we need simply to let go of in peace.

For we trust you to be our guide
even when the path seems unclear to us.
Through Jesus Christ,
Amen.

After living in Nazareth for thirty years (Luke 3:23), Jesus began to deliver His message, which was called the Good News (Matthew 4:23). What was the Good News? In the time of Jesus, the people were burdened with laws that regulated the smallest layers of daily life. Besides the oppressive laws of their Roman conquerors, there was the body of Jewish law. There were not just Ten Commandments; there were 613 commandments and 365 prohibitions. When they could not measure up to the laws, the religious leaders cut them off from the society of decent people.
Jesus told people He had come to fulfill that prophecy, to bring them the Good News for which they had waited for so long (Luke 4:20-21). Part of the Good News brought to us by Jesus was that being fully human in the true sense of the word was true holiness. All the commandments and prohibitions did not make one holy. Being what God created us to be, just ourselves, good human beings was what made one holy (Mark 4:35-41). There is a profound revelation in that, and an important part of the Good News, that you could be ordinary, doing the ordinary, everyday things that people do, and underneath that simple, ordinary persona, possess extraordinary holiness.
How Jesus lived His own life as a human shows how we are to live ours (John 16:25-28). In His own life, Jesus lived simply. He was deeply in love with everything and everyone living, from God down to the simplest creature. He was gentle and compassionate, especially to those who were ostracized by society (Mark 2:17). He never gave an appearance of self-righteousness, but had a genuine humility and meekness and an understanding of others.
It is revealing that Jesus chose a wedding party for the launch of His public ministry (John 2:1-11). The news of what he did probably spread like wildfire, alerting everyone in the surrounding area to His kindness and His remarkable gift to the bride and groom. Kindness seems to be the message that Jesus wanted to precede Him, to disarm people so that they would not fear Him. Everything about Jesus spoke of simplicity, being born in a stable, living an unknown existence, showing nothing out of the ordinary except when some need called forth His extraordinary power to heal or to comfort.

Today as we go through our day, we should think about how we proclaim the "Good News". How do we heal? How do we comfort?

Peace and love,

Sue

"Be still and know that I am God"(Psalm 46:10)

Remember the Sabbath

We can see what Jesus meant by looking at the phrase:

"The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27.

His point was that the Sabbath was made to serve people, instead of people being created to serve the Sabbath. The Sabbath was a servant, not a master. He was addressing the relative importance of the Sabbath, and how the Sabbath should be a day for both rest from the week's labor and service to others.

Sabbath can be a far-reaching revolutionary tool for cultivating those precious human qualities that grow only in time.


Remember the Sabbath means:
1. Remember that everything that you have received is a blessing from God.
2. Remember to delight in your life and in the fruits of your labor.
3. Remember to stop and offer thanks to God for all the good things in your life.
The Sabbath is not only for ourselves; rested and refreshed; we more generously serve all those who need our care. The human spirit is naturally generous; the instant we are filled, our first impulse is to be useful, to be kind, and to give something away.
The practice of Sabbath, is designed specifically to restore us, a gift of time in which we allow the cares and concerns of the marketplace to fall away. We set aside time to delight in being alive, to savor the gifts of all creation, and to give thanks to God for the blessings we may have missed in our necessary preoccupation with our work.
Honesty, courage, kindness, civility, wisdom, compassion – these can only be nourished in the soil of time and attention, and need experience and practice to come to harvest. These are not commodities that can be bought, sold, or invested. They cannot be manufactured, advertised, or marketed. Our core human values, the deepest and best of who we are, require the nourishment of time and care, if we are to grow and flourish.
What are some of the precepts that guide your life?
To follow Jesus?
To be kind?
To be grateful?
To be honest?
To serve your neighbor?
To help the earth?
To love children?
Make a list of principles that shape your days. Include those you currently follow and those you would like to follow. On Sabbath, take time to speak them aloud. Notice how you feel when you hear them. What resistance or relief arises? Notice how the memory of these spoken precepts resonates in your body throughout the day.
Love, too, requires rest: unstructured moments of intimate companionship, seeing, touching, and being with. Our presence and attention are the tangible manifestations of true love.

Sabbath is an incubator for wisdom. When we allow the rush and pressure of our days to fall away, even for a short period of time, we are more able to discern the essential truth of what lies before us.

Without stillness, without being present, we will get it all wrong.

Three biggest temptations:
To be useful
To be important
To be powerful

At our best, we become Sabbath for one another. We are the emptiness, the day of rest. We become space, that our loved ones, the lost and sorrowful, may find rest in us.
So, remember the Sabbath as not necessarily a day, but a place to grow in God's service to ourselves and others.

Peace and love,

Sue



"Be still and know that I am God"(Psalm 46:10)

God loves our enemies.

I was in a bible study class last night and the subject of God's people. We sometimes forget this, but all people are God's people. It is just that some choose to recognize that and some do not. Consequently, we are all connected. We are even connected to those who we do not really like. Sometimes it is difficult to remember that. We want God to be on our side. We want God to help us prevail over our enemies.
Think about it, God does not choose to have enemies. People choose to have enemies. We look at people and immediately put them into some type of box and label them. Those we have great affiliation with, we sometimes call friends. Those who we have great difficulties with, we sometimes call enemies. We may not like those people who do not look like us, or act like us, or think like us. God does not look at his people that way. God has even allowed his people to disagree with him by allowing for "free will". Do we allow others to have free will?
I know that there is true evil in the world and some people have been totally taken over by it. I am not refering to those people. I am talking about those who by nature, nurture, or level of education are different from us.

"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.(Luke 6:32-40)

That is quite a tall order, but no one ever said that being Christian was going to be easy.

Peace and Love,

Sue



"Be still and know that I am God"(Psalm 46:10)

Writing a Prayer Journal

Writing a Prayer Journal
“You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you,
whose thoughts are fixed on you!” (Isaiah 26:3)
A prayer journal is a little different than a regular diary-type journal, although it is very easy to intertwine the two (I do). The idea behind the prayer journal is to focus on your conversations with God. You set aside some time every day to write about what is happening in your life. What makes it special is that it is written to the Lord, like one long prayer.
The prayer journal is not meant to be formal. It can contain your thoughts, feelings, hopes, and dreams. You can write it in the same way you would write a letter to a friend or along the same lines as a conversation, you would have with someone you can trust and confide in. God is interested in every aspect of our life, big and small, silly or solemn.
A prayer journal is a way to learn more about Him, and to track where you have grown and been blessed as you read the pages. You can tell God about your day: what worries you, even what you have to remember to do. You can praise Him, ask Him questions about what to do or things you do not understand. You can place in writing your prayer requests for people you know in need, which can also help you to remember to pray for them again in the coming days.
Some people like to read devotions every day and write down what they learned or how it affected them. A prayer journal is also a great place for this. Others like to take their prayer journal to church or Bible study and jot down the points they want to remember. What you do and don’t want to include is up to you. The main idea is to be open and honest, and to set aside that time as a part of your time with God. Daily, write down the prayers you offer up to Him, including praises, desires, and hurts. You are writing letters to God and keeping up with them. In fact, you can even write your entries in letterform. The point is to keep up with what you are saying to Him. Although it is very important to write down any prayer requests, the idea is to encompass that, but also to go beyond that.
When you write down your requests, you can later see how God is working in your life to answer those prayers, either divinely or naturally. Scripture states that when we ask for something in prayer, believing, then it will come to pass (Matthew 21:22). Writing down your praises helps to strengthen your expectancy in having your prayers answered. It focuses your attention on the positive things that God has already done in your life, and helps you understand how truly capable He is at answering your prayer.
Monitoring the hurts, the joys, and the concerns you have during the day also helps strengthen your walk with God. He often uses these things to get our attention or to switch our minds in a new direction. Writing these down, along with what caused them, allows us to go back later and see what God is doing in relation to them.
Keeping a prayer journal is one way to help you strengthen your relationship with God. It can help you to remain focused and aware of His presence with you. It may help you to lay down your burdens and to feel wrapped in the warmth of Gods loving arms.
So, try writing a prayer journal. What do you want to tell God? What do you want to ask of God? How would you like God to respond? Write it all down. What would you really like to say? God is waiting and listening for whatever you have to say? Remember, God loves you and cares what you have to say.

Peace and Love,

Sue




"Be still and know that I am God"(Psalm 46:10)

What St. Paul Really Said About Women

Throughout most of church history, the apostle Paul has held the reputation of being what one might call the “Great Christian Male Chauvinist” toward women

Although women had fared well with Jesus, appearing as central figures in many of the greatest parables and episodes of the Gospels, their degradation apparently began with St Paul.

Paul’s writings about women have been cited throughout the centuries as authority for the notion that women are second-class citizens in the kingdom of God and the Church.

Paul was not a believer in the inferiority of women. He did not advocate a secondary role for women in the church. He did not teach the notion of a divine hierarchy with husbands ruling over their wives. Instead, the apostle Paul consistently championed the principle of sexual equality within the church and the home. He carefully selected his words in writing about women and marriage, challenging the social roles for women in his age and the philosophy and theology that defined these roles.

Those who first quoted Paul and interpreted his writings were themselves bearers of centuries of Greek philosophy. They understood Paul from the viewpoint of their own culture and customs.
From the classic period, especially in the teachings of Aristotle, came the conviction that women are inferior to men. Church leaders who themselves were a product of Greek culture and education interpreted Paul’s writings from the perspective of Aristotelian philosophy.

Women exercised the gift of prophecy in the age of Paul. Besides Paul himself, seven men and four women are identified as prophets in the Book of Acts. Paul referred to the act of women praying and prophesying during public worship, and he did so in a casual manner, as if the practice were well established.

Modern translations of the Bible cannot give us a complete and faithful rendering of what Paul wrote, simply because the meanings of words and phrases in any language can never be fully embodied in a translation into another language.

In Paul’s letters, he acknowledged the value of women leaders within the churches. Some years after leaving Philippi, he wrote to the congregation there, entreating two women leaders, Euodia and Syntyche, to end a dispute between them the fact that he named these women indicates their importance within the church.

In the long history of Christian teachings regarding the relationship of women and men, the model that gained favor in the Church was not the one voiced by Paul, but by a pagan philosopher five centuries older, defended in the sanctuaries and cathedrals of the Christian faith by quoting the words of Paul, as translated, out of context, without reference to the ideal close to Paul’s heart that he so earnestly sought for the church, that there be sexual equality among Christians, “neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus”.

Peace and love,

Sue



"Be still and know that I am God"(Psalm 46:10)

God loves us even though we sin!

I was reading a book on forgiveness. The book emphasized that we must be given the grace to be sorry for our sins. Even though I do agree with that, I find that some people are far too easily sorry for every little imperfection. Yes, we need to feel sorry for our sins, but we also need to feel confident that God loves us even though we sin. God's love is unconditional. It is important in life to feel accepted and many people go through life feeling very unacceptable. They do not feel confident that they are loved even by God. This is why I think that God's love message, that was brought to us by Jesus, needs to be emphasized. We are love by God, first. What does that mean? I will say it again. God loves us first. That does not say that God will accept us if we love him. God loves us first. For some of us, that is a very significant statement, especially if we feel that we must do something in order to be loved. God loves us first. What a tremendous gift.
I think that we must also realize that we must be filled with love, before we can give love to others. God does not expect us to give love without having already experienced love. That is why we must trust in God's love. God loves us first. God loves us as we are. We can find acceptance in the eyes of God.
God's love should be something that sustains us and gives us strength. We cannot fill others with love if we do not feel loved ourselves. Take hope in God's love to transform us into what we want to become. We can only succeed in our lives with God's help. Keep in mind that God's help is God's love. When we can open ourselves and accept God's love, we will find the strength to love and to help others.
God loves us first. God loves us as we are. Don't forget that.

Peace and love,

Sue


"Be still and know that I am God"(Psalm 46:10)

Why are we involved in ministry?

In the book “The Enduring Heart”, the author discusses the contemplative attitude of Jesus. Jesus acted in all situations with compassion and love. In order to be a true Christian and follower of Jesus, we need to follow his example and treat each person with compassion and love. This is why we are in ministry and what we must keep focused on in the course of carrying out our various ministries.
Jesus may have had a mission statement, but he never wrote it down, he lived it. I don’t believe he made a schedule, psychologically analyzed his chosen Apostles, nor conceptualized the importance of a hierarchical structure in his new Church. He stressed how all of us were equal in God’s eyes. He told us that love is the most important commandment, both of God and of neighbor. He told us that everyone is our neighbor. He told us all to go out and spread the good news.
Spreading the good news of Jesus is why we are in ministry. Whether we are lecturing, visiting the sick, planning a fundraiser, planning a liturgy or facilitating a bible study, the main focus is and should be spreading the “Good News of Jesus”. I believe that the main point of the good news is “love”. If we act with love, all other problems will take care of themselves. I don’t know why we have to make it so complicated. Jesus did not come to present us with a philosophical dogma. He came to tell us how we can live simply. We must love. Ministry is about fostering love.
I feel that the most important aspects of my ministry must focus on love and teaching love in everything that I do.
If I had to develop a mission statement for Christians, it would be the following:
1. To love and serve the Lord.
2. To love my neighbor.
3. To act with compassion.
4. To be patient and forgiving.
5. To follow the example of Christ in all things.

Hopefully this is a mission statement that Jesus would approve.

Peace and love,

Sue









"Be still and know that I am God"(Psalm 46:10)

Who is Jesus?

Jesus Christ is one the most fascinating figures in history. Despite his humble origins, short life, and very short public career, Jesus is the central focus of the world's largest religion and has meant many things to many people since his death over 2,000 years ago. But, who is Jesus Christ from a Catholic theological perspective?
When I was a child going to Catholic School, the Nuns taught us that Jesus Christ is true God and true man. At that time, I just accepted the phrase as another one of those things that adults say to children that makes absolutely no sense what so ever. When I asked what exactly that meant, I was told “it is a mystery”. Well, that certainly clarified things for me. As an adult, I still don’t think I understand exactly what that means although now I know why I don’t understand. I think that the concept of the two natures of Jesus Christ is a hard concept to grasp.
So, I guess an easier question is, “What should I as a Christian believe about Jesus?” I will attempt to summarize what I feel are the four major beliefs regarding Jesus.
First, Christians believe Jesus to have been a historical human being who was born of a virgin named Mary, in the town of Bethlehem, between 7 and 4 BC. The humanity of Jesus is perhaps one of the least controversial areas of Christology, but this was not always so. In the early years after Christ, some thought that Jesus' body, suffering, and death were merely appearances. He was not fully human, but only appeared to be.
Second, Christians believe Jesus is the Messiah, the "anointed one" predicted in the Jewish Scriptures. The word "Christ" comes from the Greek word for "Messiah". He is the Redeemer of the world, the Savior of all mankind and the Reconciler between God and humanity by dying for our sins. It is interesting to note that although Jesus appears to see Himself as the Messiah in the Gospels, He does not go out of his way to identify Himself as such, and those who do identify Him as the Messiah are commanded not to tell anyone about it.
Third, Christians believe that Jesus is the "Son of God." Jesus does not refer to himself as the Son of God in the Gospels, but the term is used in the writings of Paul and in the epistle to the Hebrews. The Gospel of John refers to Jesus simply as "the Son," which may have a similar meaning. Paul uses the term for both Christ and Christians. Christians become sons of God by adoption, but Jesus is the rightful Son of God by nature.
Finally, Christians believe that Jesus Christ is God. This concept seems to be stated explicitly in the New Testament especially in the writings of the Gospel of John. In addition, some important titles and functions applied to Jesus in the New Testament indicate early belief in His divinity. The statement "Jesus Christ is Lord” is found throughout the New Testament and was one of the earliest Christian confessions of faith. “Lord" had come to be almost synonymous with God in Jewish thinking by the time of Jesus. New Testament writers apply functions to Jesus that are associated only with God. Jesus is the savior of humanity; it is appropriate to call on the name of Jesus in prayer and to worship him; Jesus reveals God directly “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (Jn 14:9).
What does this mean to me in my ministry? I think it is important to remember that Jesus is all of the above. There is not a choice of one over the other. It is also important to understand that Jesus became human out of love for us. He gave up His life for us as the ultimate sacrifice and the ultimate expression of love. He is our God and Savior, but He is also our brother and our friend.
I was reading a book yesterday called "Spiritual Direction-Beyond the Beginnings" by Janet K. Ruffing, R.S.M. In her book she states that "God longs for us as much as we long for God". "In the beginning of the spiritual life, we feel as if all the desiring is on our side. . . God's longing evokes and fuels our own. That God's own self initiates these longings."
If God loves us first, then the above statements make perfect sense. Our relationship with God is a mutual relationship of love. Jesus ministry to us was one of bringing us back into relationship with the God who loves us first. Think about that as you go through your day. How magnificant a gift we received from Jesus. His death on the cross was an indication of the length that God goes to let us know how much he wants to be in relationship with us. God's will for us and desire for us is not just that of an authority figure wanting subjugation from his servants. God's will for us is that of one who loves wanting the best for the object of his affection, us. This would also indicate that the desire of God is that we love him back. This for me was a startling realization.

So, who is Jesus? Jesus is the God who wants us to be in relationship with him. Jesus is the God who loves us first.

Peace and love,

Sue

"Be still and know that I am God"(Psalm 46:10)

A Ministry of Reconciliation

“Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who trespass against us”. We profess these words every time we say “The Lord’s Prayer”. But when we say it, do we realize what we are saying? Do we realize that we are professing to practice forgiveness and reconciliation? As ambassadors of Christ, we have the responsibility to love one another. But, how do we show this love? Do we only love those who behave as we think they should? Do we stop loving when we are hurt or disappointed?
It is my belief that no act shows greater love than that of forgiveness. This life-giving power of forgiveness stems from its nature as a whole new way of life. Not to forgive is to allow our wounds to blind us; to forgive means to see again. We see ourselves as we really are, no longer the helpless victim, but rather one who also has hurt others; one who is loved infinitely, and who, in Christ, has the inner capacity to love generously. To forgive is to see those who have hurt us as they really are, not as evil adversaries, but as brothers and sisters who struggle with and suffer from their own weakness and hurts and wounds. Our very will to forgive in this way opens us both, forgiver and forgiven, to a future that is loving and new. Not to forgive causes us to stay buried and bitter in a past that will only serve to cripple and destroy us. Love, as Christ teaches us, compels us to forgive and to be welcoming to those who have injured us.
We cannot truly forgive unless we also seek reconciliation. We, as the church community, should always be willing to take up the task of reconciliation among ourselves and labor to open up our hearts to one another in the spirit of love and forgiveness. . Without forgiveness there is no reconciliation, and without reconciliation, there can be no real church community and the Kingdom of God, of which Christ spoke, does not exist.
To live our lives as a sacrament of reconciliation is, of course, beyond our own powers. We learn this hard lesson every time we look for reconciliation and meet instead what seems to be hopeless heartache. The truth is that we ourselves injure others, just as others injure us. We eventually learn by our own experience that to forgive is to also to try to forget a hurt or injury. Anyone who has tried to forgive and to become reconciled knows that our efforts are useless unless they are upheld by the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ. We cannot on our own change or open up human heart, not even our own. But, there is one who can, and who has reconciled to God not only us, but all of humanity, past, present and future, "making peace through the blood of his cross" (Col 1:20). It is in Christ that we can, along with our own labors, make of our life a ministry of reconciliation by constant prayer for ourselves and for those with whom we need and long to be reconciled.
As a lay minister in the Catholic Church, it is my responsibility to be an Ambassador of Christ. By my actions, I must strive to be an example to the community of Christ’s teachings and His way of living. I must become a minister of reconciliation. To do this, I must make love, forgiveness and reconciliation the cornerstones of my life. With the help of Jesus Christ, this task may become easier for me.

Peace and Love,

Sue




"Be still and know that I am God"(Psalm 46:10)

A song for all ministers

LORD, WHEN YOU CAME TO THE SEASHORE / PESCADOR DES HOMBRES
by Cesareo Gabarain

1. Lord, when you came to the seashore you weren't seeking the wise or the wealthy, but only asking that I might follow.

REFRAIN (English): O Lord, in my eyes you were gazing, Kindly smiling, my name you were saying; All I treasured, I have left on the sand there; Close to you, I will find other seas.

REFRAIN (Spanish): Señor me has mirado a los ojos, sonriendo has dicho mi nombre, en la rena he dejado mi barca, junto a ti buscaré otro mar.

2. Lord, you knew what my boat carried: neither money nor weapons for fighting, but nets for fishing my daily labor. (REFRAIN)

3. Lord, have you need of my labor, hands for service, a heart made for loving, my arms for lifting the poor and broken? (REFRAIN)

4. Lord, send me where you would have me, to a village, or heart of the city; I will remember that you are with me. (REFRAIN)

Kitty Cleveland sings this song and she brings tears to my eyes.
I hope that you enjoy it.

Peace and love,

Sue



"Be still and know that I am God"(Psalm 46:10)

A new month begins

It is hard to believe that the month of January 2010 has ended. It seems that it was just yesterday that we were anticipating the joy of Christmas and the coming of Jesus. Our life passes so quickly and before you know it, life can pass you by without your even realizing that you have missed out on what is important.
We spend alot of time planning for the future. We accumulate things and try to save money so that we will be comfortable in our later years. However, before we realize it, those years are upon us and we have not fostered the one area in our life that is really important and that will satisfy our every need. We have not fostered our relationship with God. Perhaps we have not even thought about the fact that a relationship with God is important.
All the other things we accumulate are temporary. They can be taken away at a moment's notice. Just look at how the economy went south in 2008-2009. Some people lost all savings, homes, cars, and other items of accumulation. Our security is not in what we can save and accumulate on earth, but in our relationship with the God who loves us. We can never lose that. God is always there and will not abandon us in times of trouble. When all else fails, God will still be there with us.
Even if the economy had not failed, we can save all our lives for our retirementand die before we have a chance to enjoy the fruits of our labor. If we put our efforts and trust in God, we will always enjoy the fruits of that labor. True, it is good to plan for the future, but not to be held captive to that future. We should not become slaves to what we possess.
Our hearts and minds should be atuned to our love of God and others and in that we will find true happiness and security. Things are temporary, God is permanent. I sometimes look at the wealthy of our society to see if they are really happy with all they possess. They must protect and guard all of their wealth so others will not take it away. Even with all they have, they still do not seem happy. Some drink, take drugs, or indulge in unhealthy or unsavory activities.
Those who have found the love of God, however, seem to be happy and at peace, even though in earthly wealth, they may have very little or nothing. Their lives are spent helping and loving others.
So, as this year speeds by, thing about what makes you happy. Do all you possess of worldly goods satisfy your needs. Are you looking forward to finally having enough earthly wealth and realizing that there is never enough. Do you treasure the earthly relationships in your life, as well as your relationship with God? Do you work to preserve those relationships.
February 1st seem for me to be a great time to ask myself those questions. I ask myself what I want to accomplish this month. I ask myself what is important to me as I start the new month. What do I want to pursue this month. It is the accumulation of wealth, or the accumulation of love?
The reading for this past Sunday was from Paul's first letter to the Corinthians. In this letter he talks about love. The importance of love, the attributes of love, the greatness of love.
Therefore, as the new month begins, take a look at what Paul says about love. Then think about what is important to you. What do you want? What makes you happy? What is satisfying about your life? Each new day, new month, new year, gives us new beginnings. How do you want to begin this new month? Is God in the plan for your new beginning? How about your relationships with others? Something to think about.

Peace and love to you always,

Sue





"Be still and know that I am God"(Psalm 46:10)