Father, I just want to be with you. I’m tired of words. I want the clutter of thoughts in my mind to stop for awhile so that I can just pray, just exist with you. No asking for anything. No talking about things. No conversation. Just being. I love you Father. I just want to […]
In Three Philosophies of Life, Peter Kreeft writes about three books in the Old Testament that essentially outline three ways to live and view life: Ecclesiates, life as vanity; Job, life as suffering; and Song of Songs, life as love. These are analogous to hell, purgatory, and heaven. In regards to Job, he writes about […]
If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it. If He had a wallet, your photo would be in it. He sends you flowers every spring. He sends you a sunrise every morning. Whenever you want to talk, He listens. He can live anywhere in the universe, but He chose your heart. Face it friend, He is crazy about you!
God didn’t promise days without pain, laughter without sorrow, sun without rain,
but He did promise strength for the day, comfort for the tears, and light for the way.
That which I am, I offer to you, O Lord, for you are it entirely. — from The Book of Privy Counseling
Are you holy? This question was asked by the guest speaker at a conference I attended this past weekend. No one raised their hand. The speaker went on to say that she has asked this same question for many years. No one has ever raised their hand, except for one person. The speaker asked this […]
What a coincident! In light of some of my recent journal entries, I happened to open up a daily prayer book for 2003 this morning and found a very timely reading. The ironic thing is that I have not opened this particular book since June. I have been reading the Church’s daily readings through the […]
The other day while I was mulling over how to write about my journey to the edge of the desert, I realized that another metaphor for the desert, a metaphor less frightening to me, was the word kairos. The ancient Greeks had two words for time, chronos and kairos. Chronos refers to chronological or sequential […]
I think of this verse from Micah 6:8 in some of my darker or confused moments: You have been told, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you: Only to do the right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God. The “walk humbly” part […]
The spirit enters a wilderness and travels blindly in directions that seem to lead away from vision, away from God, away from all fulfillment and joy. It may become almost impossible to believe that this road goes anywhere at all except to a desolation full of dry bones—the ruin of all our hopes and good intentions.
In an earlier entry, I mentioned something about having doubts. Doubts are funny things. You are never sure about them. (Sorry, pun intended.) But seriously, it is the fact that you are unsure that makes things challenging. I don’t know about you, but my mind craves certainty. I have reached a point in my life […]
As a recent convert, I find great comfort in today’s reading of Matthew 20:1-16, The Workers in the Vineyard: Jesus told his disciples this parable: “The Kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them […]
Over the last month or so, little things have been popping up here and there that have reminded me of my old self—the self-reliant, skeptical agnostic. I used to believe in a Creator-God, the Initiator of the Universe. I was not sure if He interfered with things on this planet, and if He did, science […]
Before I found my faith, I had a real problem with the concept of original sin. The first time I attended RCIA classes with my wife, I used it as one of my excuses for dropping out of the classes. I remember someone describing original sin as a stain on humanity, that is all humans […]
Anytime I find something coming in threes within the church, I always assume that it represents the Trinity. My favorite example is: Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of power and might. Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna […]
This one is from an email floating around the Internet: Sometimes we wonder, what did I do to deserve this, or why did God have to do this to me? Here is a wonderful explanation! A daughter is telling her Mother how everything is going wrong, she’s failing algebra, her boyfriend broke up with her […]
I am currently reading the book Reaching Out by Henri J. M. Nouwen. In this book, Nouwen describes three type of movements or spectrums. Nouwen views our spiritual “ascent” as evolving in three movements. The first movement, loneliness to solitude, focuses on the spiritual life as it relates to the experience of our own selves. […]
I was reading at Disputations a discussion about Jesus’ words on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34) The traditional explanation is that He said this in reference to, or in fulfillment to scripture, namely Psalm 22. I posted a comment on his weblog: Has anybody ever thought that maybe […]
Sunday’s readings (Ephesians 2:4-10 and John 3:14-21) reminded me of the old debate between faith vs. works. One side of the argument says that faith alone is enough to save you and get into heaven (see Ephesians 2:8). The other side says that you need faith plus good works to get you into heaven (see […]
At Wednesday night’s RCIA class, Father used a set of concentric rings to describe how an individual develops friendship (see diagram below). People in the outer ring are considered acquaintances, and there are many of them. You just chit-chat with acquaintances. You talk about everyday kind of things, like the weather or how green the […]
At last night’s RCIA class, we talked about the sacrament of marriage. It reminded me of something I heard many months ago that has resulted in a shift in my attitude toward marriage. Someone was listing the seven sacraments, and they described marriage as one of the sacraments of service. Service?! That was not in […]
Yesterday’s entry reminds me of a concept called “Third in Line”. God first, others second, and me third.
In Father Ken’s homily on Sunday, he described his past experiences with Lent as a time for “spiritual spring cleaning.” (Lent does mean spring.) He had always felt that Lent was a time for introspection—a deep and long look at one’s self. With mediation and prayer, a conversion or renewal toward Christ and God will […]
Pauline came back from a retreat and described this wonderful metaphor: “You know when you’re watching a T.V. set that has really bad reception? The screen is really blurry and fuzzy. You can’t see the picture really well. That’s how my relationship was with God. I could hardly see the picture. I knew He was […]
Someone asked a question about Limbo and Purgatory. Father’s response was surprising, a bit reassuring, and also down right scary. When you die, be an infant or an old person, God will ask you one question—did you love me to the best of your ability? He knows who you are. He knows how you are. […]