The Lent we choose, the Lent God gives us

 

Faithful Friends:

I don’t often borrow a reflection, but this one struck me as particularly challenging. The gospel is Jn 2:13-25.

Borrowed with permission from Mike Day, President NACFLM (National Association of Catholic Family Ministers)

“I’ve often quipped that there’s two Lents: there’s the Lent we choose and the Lent God gives us. There have been many years I’ve charged into the season with grand ideas for penances only to find the most difficult were the sufferings I did not anticipate life throwing my way.

“For the 3^rd Sunday in Lent, the Gospel tells of Christ purging the temple of moneychangers. By pointing out that He did so with a whip made of cords clarifies that this was not some reactionary moment of human weakness. He had time to discern and spent that time in preparation for a response. Christ was consumed by a “zeal for his house” and the sign given for doing this was the temple of His own body which would be destroyed but raised again.

“Through reception of the Eucharist, the “house” in which Christ resides is our very selves. St. Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians that we are a temple of the Holy Spirit and, like the literal temple, Christ is consumed by zeal for us. For however well-intentioned and insightful our Lenten penances may be, God knows us more intimately than we know ourselves and He desires to drive out from us all that diminishes our worth, dignity and beauty. It is not always a peaceful process and can, like this moment with the moneychangers, be unsettling, tense, and frustrating.

“This is not only true within ourselves but relationships as well. Whether with our spouse, children, extended families or even co-workers, there may be conflicts that threaten to drive us apart. But the virtue of patience can afford us the space and time needed to see the work of purification Christ is doing within us.

“As we cross the halfway point of our Lenten journey, with all the blessings and challenges that have come our way, let us take heart and behold, for Christ makes all things new."

Sincerely Yours in Christ,
Mike Day, President NACFLM"

Blessings on your Lenten Journey, Charlotte

Hidden Riches

Friends of Faith:

Yesterday’s Scripture spoke a message to me that is both difficult and yet an important reminder of why being at Mass, celebrating the Eucharist and being in Communion with our Christian family EVERY week is so important.

And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight. Lk 24: 13-25 (The Road to Emmaus, where Jesus was not recognized until the breaking of the bread)

How many times has something been taken away from us before we realized how we were loved or blessed by the richness or beauty of the person, place or thing taken away? How often is Christ in our presence and we don’t realize it is He who is giving us the blessings (the fulfillment) we receive?

God put Christ in our midst to bless us, to save us and to ransom us from sin, death, and the chains of this world. And He promises us that He will always be present and He will never be taken away. HE is the ultimate gift!

However, we who are of this world, regardless of our age, continue to seek pleasure, richness and fame in good food (things), good jobs (money) and trophies of winning (anything that pats us on the back).

Beloved: If you invoke as Father him who judges impartially according to each one's works, conduct yourselves with reverence during the time of your sojourning, realizing that you were ransomed from your futile conduct, handed on by your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of a spotless unblemished lamb. 1 Pt 1: 17-21

So I was reminded, once again that I won’t ever be completely satisfied by anything I receive that is of this world – love, richness or fame unless it is a true gift of God – and one I am truly willing and ready to give back to God, as he wills it for me, through prayer, fasting and almsgiving, even, and especially, when it means I have to suffer what it is I have lost by giving it back to him, whether it is health or personal satisfaction or gain.

So, before it is too late, I once again vowed to honor Christ by being truly present to Him in the Eucharist, in receiving His body and blood whenever possible; to seek to understand Christ through prayer and by constant study; and to be ready and willing to give away whatever worldly goods I have been given, even if it causes me to suffer, emotionally or physically.

I vowed to open my eyes to what I am deliberately hiding, or what may be hidden in the love and beauty God has placed in my life that I am too busy or unwilling to see.

I invite you to be present with me at the Eucharistic table. I invite you to study the Church teachings passed down through the ages. And I ask you to become more aware of Christ’s presence in the people that you love and those that are placed in your path each day – being ready and willing to lend a helping hand even if it causes you to have less of this world (time or money). And reminding you to hug those you love.

May you uncover what is hidden and be blessed by the riches of His gifts to you!

Blessings,

Charlotte

Monday Morning Reflection A reflection on Christian scripture from the past week for women of all ages, but especially busy married women ...

Hungry and Thirsty

Women of Faith:

Are you hungry? Are you thirsty? By what, whom or how are you being nourished? Is it lasting, or are you constantly looking for more?

I was fed this past week by family, by spending time in Colorado with our new grandson, Caleb Joseph (born 3-9-14 to Sara and Luke, on his big sister Karolina’s 4^th birthday, and joined by a very proud big brother, Colby.) Kristy, Tyler and Avery also joined us.

So we had two babies who very vocally made known to us like clockwork just how important it was to eat and drink, of our need to be fed.

And I was watered by this week’s readings and through our travel time, which allowed us silence and time to listen to God’s teachings in Scripture, on the radio and by visiting another church community.

Without food and water we could not survive—they are both necessities of life: physically, spiritually, even emotionally.

Symbolically the readings, especially this week were loaded with spiritual “living water”and the food provided by Jesus’ example—physically in His teachings (Scripture and Church) and spiritually by the nourishment He left us in the Body of Christ (grace and Sacraments.)

"In those days, in their thirst for water, the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “Why did you ever make us leave Egypt? Was it just to have us die here of thirst with our children and our livestock?” So Moses cried out to the LORD, “What shall I do with this people? A little more and they will stone me!” The LORD answered Moses, …“Strike the rock, and the water will flow from it for the people to drink.” Ex 17: 3-7

 

"A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” His disciples had gone into the town to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” —For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.—Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink, ‘ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep; where then can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself with his children and his flocks?” Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” Jn 4:5-42

 

In Exodus the people physically threatened Moses because they felt as if they were being left in the desert to die without food and water—which God provided through the power of miracles where he allowed water to flow from rock, and justenough manna each day for a daily serving. (Ex 16:4) (These verses prophetically tie to the need for water (Baptism) and to be fed daily by the transformation of bread into the Eucharist celebrated daily—the Jewish root of Mass.)

 

In the story of the unnamed Samaritan woman at the well she represents the lost, the lonely, the spiritually malnourished, the outcast, and the sinner—all of humanity. It is her “thirsting”for more and then her response in faith which gives her spiritual fulfillment.

 

Her encounter with Jesus ties us to our eternal salvation through the Sacraments of Baptism (by Christ’s grace poured out we are given new life), Eucharist (Jesus is the ”living” food and through our reception of the sacrificial meal we will never die), Reconciliation (although she was a Samaritan and a sinner forgiveness is offered to everyone), and Marriage (despite the guy she lived with and the five previous “husbands” Jesus is the perfected seventh—a representation as her one true and only eternal spouse. (In those days when a man met a single woman at the well she often became his spouse.))

(For more listen to: “I’m Not Being Fed” by Jeff Cavins available at ww.lighthousecatholicmedia.org)

When I thirst and hunger, when I feel spiritually lost or lonely, when I recognize my sin, I am fed and I am watered through simple prayer (a response in faith) or by going to the well’s of reception, the Sacraments: attending church (seeking the fulfillment of His community) and by physically and spiritually being fed by Him in the Eucharist, or by seeking His forgiveness thru the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

And I am fed by the grace received in my vocation, marriage, through serving and through being served by my spouse—by sacramentally fulfilling my call, in the Spirit of sacrifice (doing for another) and in the joy of being lifted up, encouraged and accepted, by another.

Lord, I thirst and I hunger for the washing of my soul and food that strengthens my Spirit. Help me to respond to my deepest needs in faith. Take away the junk food of “happy meals” and shallow societal thoughts and allow me to be nourished by the deep well you have left in the teachings of the Church Fathers and through Your offering of daily, healthy food , the Eucharist. Amen.

Fill your body AND your soul with more than junk—search for the living water and the Body of Christ,

Blessings,

Charlotte

www.morningreflection.blogspot.com

Amen! It's D-Day!

Friends of Faith:

Amen! It’s D Day! That’s what my family calls April 15, the end of tax season.  I think the “D” meant “it is done.”

But while I think they thought there joy was in the end (a done) to mom’s endless hours of work and my being “done” with tax returns, I think it was much more the joy of a beginning, that they had me back as a full time family member. I know there was a sense of gratefulness on Stan’s part that my stress level would be lower and I’m sure a sense of relief that he no longer had to be both dad and mom when there was a kid emergency, or something a little out of the ordinary needed done around the house. And I’m sure the kids were happy that mom was back cooking “real” meals and that the laundry seemed to end up in the drawers a little more often without their help.

So, how is D-Day like an Amen? Does D-Day mean an Amen that ends or an Amen that begins? Is it for heaven, or for earth, for what is done, or for what is being done?

“I, John, looked and heard the voices of many angels who surrounded the throne and the living creatures and the elders. They were countless in number, and they cried out in a loud voice: “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches, wisdom and strength, honor and glory and blessing.” Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, everything in the universe, cry out: “To the one who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor, glory and might, forever and ever.” The four living creatures answered, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshipped. Rev 5: 11-14

Amen means to solemnly affirm. When I say Amen I say, “I believe.”  And if I say “I believe” than I believe saying Amen isn’t about saying “It is done,” but rather it says “I’ll do it!”

I am not worthy, unless, and until, I truly believe. And being worthy means I must do everything for God.

My beliefs, my Amen’s, give me what God promised me when he was slain—heavenly “power and riches, wisdom and strength, honor and glory—every blessing.” All of these blessings are gifts I receive because of his death on the cross, but I must BEGIN by believing. And I affirm my belief by doing as I profess to believe.

I say Amen at the end of every prayer, every Our Father, every prayer of thanksgiving, every prayer of request.

Do I really believe that what I have received is a gift? How am I using the gifts he has given me?

Do I really believe that God can grant me every request, or do I try to take control and make my own destiny? Do I let God work in my life, or do I forget to ask him for his help, or ignore his answers and listen to societies “everyone is doing it?”

I say Amen each time I take the Eucharist—do I really believe? Do I go out and do something with that belief? Do I live each day as if I believe Christ is really present within me?

“I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do. Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master, nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it.” Jn 13: 15-17

Heavenly Father, You are my Amen. Make every day D-day, my day to DO your will. Thank you for the gift of faith. Help me to follow your influence and to have the wisdom to discern what is Your will. Help me to have the courage and strength to stand against what society wants me to say an unholy amen to. “To the one who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor, glory and might, forever and ever.” Amen!!!!

Every day is D-Day, discernment day, God’s “to do” day. Every day is a day to do something with what we say we believe. Am I? Are you?

Amen! Believe! Do! It’s D-Day!
Blessings,
Charlotte

Unfinished Business

Friends of Faith:

Don’t you wish you could say that the laundry, the dishes, the cleaning, the cooking and/or dieting, the reading, the taking care of and praying for kids, the “to do” list was completely done—finished.

But some jobs are just never finished. There always seems to be another shirt dirtied, another meal to be fed, another closet to be cleaned, another “to do” added on the list and regardless of their ages a child (or parent) who needs prayers.

These are just a few of the unfinished jobs we encounter on a daily basis. But what are some of things we don’t recognize in our lives which are unfinished and might require our attention?

And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him. Lk 24: 13-15

The disciples of Jesus recounted what had taken place along the way, and how they had come to recognize him in the breaking of bread.  While they were still speaking about this, he stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” But they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. Then he said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? Lk 24: 35-38

Christ died, Christ rose, and Christ keeps coming back. His passion that we should be saved and that we should recognize him will never be finished.

He was spit upon, unrecognized, unrealized, and doubted. And yet he continues to work to heal us, to justify us, to forgive us, because we are “unfinished sinners.”

“And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him.” Lk 24: 3-31

“Jesus came over and took the bread and gave it to them, and in like manner the fish. This was now the third time Jesus was revealed to his disciples after being raised from the dead.” Jn 21: 13-14

He was recognized in the breaking of the bread. He has given us everlasting, unending food, His body and blood. He FINISHES for us the cooking, if we will accept and eat.

But later, as the Eleven were at table, he appeared to them and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart because they had not believed those who saw him after he had been raised.
He said to them, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.” Mk 16: 14-15

He gave us THE never ending mission: to go out into the world and proclaim Him to EVERY creature. He has FINISHED the “to do” list. Are we doing the mission he commanded of us? Are we serving each other, or do we expect Him (and/or others) to do it for us?

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” Jn 20: 21-23

And he gave us His divine, and never ending, mercy of forgiveness and reconciliation. The same apostles he commissioned on Holy Thursday as the first Christian priests, he commissioned to forgive our sins. He FINISHES the ultimate cleaning, the cleaning of our souls. All we have to do is ask. It is our ultimate “unfinished.”

Are we humble enough to ask (and accept) his forgiveness thru the Sacrament of Reconciliation, thru the priests who he gave the authority to forgive sins? Do we ASK or do we think we can forgive ourselves? He has offered for us the ultimate “finish.”

Our unfinished business is to EAT the food he provides; to SERVE His mission of spreading His word and serving others in His image; and to CLEAN our souls by His mercy. He gives us food. He modeled our mission. He gives us His mercy. Only thru Him is it finished. “It is finished.” Jn 19:30

Risen and all Glorious Lord, May I be humbled by Your presence in all You have created so I could rise with you. Help me to place Your mission above what I think is my “unfinished” business. Forgive me for the times I do not ask for Your forgiveness and try to do it on my own. May I be blessed with the Peace you so readily offered as you gave Your life for me. Amen.

Three times Christ’s presence was denied (we sin). Three times he offers us “Peace” (mercy and healing). Each time he was recognized by the bread he broke. Do we receive the Sacraments of the Eucharist and Reconciliation as often as possible so that we can be finished thru Him?

My business to come to full understanding and full repentance will never be finished because I am a human sinner. But with God all things are possible.

Put Christ at the top of your “to do” list. Make Him your mission. Let Him help you finish!
Blessings,
Charlotte

Made for More

Friends of Faith:
I know I have everything I need.  And yet humanly I still sometimes think I need more –more things to possess, more places to see, and more time to do it—whatever “it” is. Therefore I struggle internally with my personal desires, forgetting to be thankful, and to enjoy, not only all that I have, but all that God has promised.

And if you are reading this, you too have everything you need—food, shelter and if you desire and ask, God’s love. For if you have internet and email you also have a roof over your head and food on your table. And we all have God, who is Love, if we have faith in His presence and belief in His forgiveness.

But knowing that doesn’t mean we won’t still “want” more.

Yet we don’t need more, as much as we are MADE FOR MORE.

“The world would be better off if people tried to become better. And people would become better if they stopped trying to be better off.” Peter Maurin (Together with Dorothy Day, Maurin helped found the Catholic Worker Movement who’s mission it is to provide food, clothing, shelter and sometimes work, in 185 cities around the world with very little administration, because of their faith.)

Jesus told his apostles (and us) to pack light: “He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick--  no food, no sack, no money in their belts. They were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic.” Mk 6: 8

Can we leave all the earthly behind and trust that He will provide for all of our needs, both earthly AND heavenly?

Our lives here on earth must be “made for more.” And in order to be more, God must be our “more!”

So by praying His famous prayer, we have been promised everything here on earth: “Give us this day our daily bread.” Mt 6: 11

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, “who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens” Eph 1: 3 May we never want “more” here on earth, help us to be satisfied. Thank you for every “more” that I have, especially Your wisdom and awe in my life. Help me only to want more of you here on earth, for my own spiritual fulfillment and the fulfillment of others, so that I may reach my promised destiny of heaven. Amen.

I recently made reference to the evils of “socialism.” I believe social justice is a balance between being able to speak AND LIVE our faith and physically survive in this world.” And I believe without freedom of religion we will not be able to physically survive here on earth—because I think it is more important to survive in heaven than it is to survive on earth. (See CCC 2425, 2426)

I would urge you, therefore, to read the following as it can be said no better scripturally than through the Catechism of the Catholic Church: (my “emphasis” would be the “short version”).  (Paragraph #’s are in Bold, the annotations are the Scripture references below. This will also link to the Catholic/Christian definition of “socialism,” referred to above, CCC 2425, 2426) www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/catechism/catechism-of-the-catholic-church . (Section 7, Chapter 3, Article 3, Sub-section IV)

2830 “Our bread”: The Father who gives us life cannot but give us the nourishment life requires—all appropriate goods and blessings, both material and spiritual. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus insists on the filial trust that cooperates with our Father’s providence.¹¹⁵ He is not inviting us to idleness,¹¹⁶ but wants to relieve us from nagging worry and preoccupation. Such is the filial surrender of the children of God: (2633, 227)

To those who seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, he has promised to give all else besides. Since everything indeed belongs to God, he who possesses God wants for nothing, if he himself is not found wanting before God.¹¹⁷

2831 But the presence of those who hunger because they lack bread opens up another profound meaning of this petition. The drama of hunger in the world calls Christians who pray sincerely to exercise responsibility toward their brethren, both in their personal behavior and in their solidarity with the human family. This petition of the Lord’s Prayer cannot be isolated from the parables of the poor man Lazarus and of the Last Judgment.¹¹⁸ (1038)

2832 As leaven in the dough, the newness of the kingdom should make the earth “rise” by the Spirit of Christ.¹¹⁹ This must be shown by the establishment of justice in personal and social, economic and international relations, without ever forgetting that there are no just structures without people who want to be just. (1928)

2833 “Our” bread is the “one” loaf for the “many.” In the Beatitudes “poverty” is the virtue of sharing: it calls us to communicate and share both material and spiritual goods, not by coercion but out of love, so that the abundance of some may remedy the needs of others.¹²⁰ (2790, 2546)

2834 “Pray and work.”¹²¹ “Pray as if everything depended on God and work as if everything depended on you.”¹²² Even when we have done our work, the food we receive is still a gift from our Father; it is good to ask him for it and to thank him, as Christian families do when saying grace at meals. (2428)

2835 This petition, with the responsibility it involves, also applies to another hunger from which men are perishing: “Man does not live by bread alone, but... by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God,”¹²³ that is, by the Word he speaks and the Spirit he breathes forth. Christians must make every effort “to proclaim the good news to the poor.” There is a famine on earth, “not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD.”¹²⁴ For this reason the specifically Christian sense of this fourth petition concerns the Bread of Life: The Word of God accepted in faith, the Body of Christ received in the Eucharist.¹²⁵ (2443, 1384)

2836 “This day” is also an expression of trust taught us by the Lord,¹²⁶ which we would never have presumed to invent. Since it refers above all to his Word and to the Body of his Son, this “today” is not only that of our mortal time, but also the “today” of God. (1165)

If you receive the bread each day, each day is today for you. If Christ is yours today, he rises for you every day. How can this be? “You are my Son, today I have begotten you.” Therefore, “today” is when Christ rises.¹²⁷

2837 “Daily” (epiousios) occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. Taken in a temporal sense, this word is a pedagogical repetition of “this day,”¹²⁸ to confirm us in trust “without reservation.” Taken in the qualitative sense, it signifies what is necessary for life, and more broadly every good thing sufficient for subsistence.¹²⁹ Taken literally (epi-ousios: “super-essential”), it refers directly to the Bread of Life, the Body of Christ, the “medicine of immortality,” without which we have no life within us.¹³⁰ Finally in this connection, its heavenly meaning is evident: “this day” is the Day of the Lord, the day of the feast of the kingdom, anticipated in the Eucharist that is already the foretaste of the kingdom to come. For this reason it is fitting for the Eucharistic liturgy to be celebrated each day. (2659, 2633, 1405, 1166, 1389)

The Eucharist is our daily bread. The power belonging to this divine food makes it a bond of union. Its effect is then understood as unity, so that, gathered into his Body and made members of him, we may become what we receive.... This also is our daily bread: the readings you hear each day in church and the hymns you hear and sing. All these are necessities for our pilgrimage.¹³¹

The Father in heaven urges us, as children of heaven, to ask for the bread of heaven. [Christ] himself is the bread who, sown in the Virgin, raised up in the flesh, kneaded in the Passion, baked in the oven of the tomb, reserved in churches, brought to altars, furnishes the faithful each day with food from heaven.¹³² 

¹¹⁵ Mt 6:25-34;¹¹⁶ 2 Thess 3:6-13; ¹¹⁷ St. Cyprian, De Dom. orat. 21: PL 4, 534A;¹¹⁸ Lk 16:19-31; Mt 25:31-46;¹¹⁹ AA 5; ¹²⁰ 2 Cor 8:1-15; ¹²¹St. Benedict, Regula, 20, 48; ¹²² Attributed to St. Ignatius Loyola, cf. Joseph de Guibert, SJ, The Jesuits: Their Spiritual Doctrine and Practice, (Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1964), 148, n. 55; ¹²³ Deut 8:3; Mt 4:4; ¹²⁴ Am 8:11; ¹²⁵ Jn 6:26-58; ¹²⁶ Mt 6:34; Ex 16:19; ¹²⁷ St. Ambrose, De Sacr. 5, 4, 26: PL 16, 453A; Ps 2:7; ¹²⁸ Ex 16:19-21; ¹²⁹ 1 Tim 6:8; ¹³⁰ St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Eph. 20, 2: PG 5, 661; Jn 6:53-56; ¹³¹ St. Augustine, Sermo 57, 7: PL 38, 389’; ¹³² St. Peter Chrysologus, Sermo 67: PL 52, 392; Jn 6:51.  www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/catechism/catechism-of-the-catholic-church

May you be blessed with God’s “more” this week,

In Christ,

Charlotte

Dull

Friends in Faith:
Are you feeling dull, bored, wanting more, something different, something new, a change?

Isn’t that how we sometimes feel with our closest friends, or even our spouses? Like we’ve heard the same story over and over again, or eaten the same meal at the same restaurant multiple times, or even gotten up to the same “tune” each morning?

Are we continually seeking someone or something new; somebody more exciting; someone with more time, more money or more things to entertain us?

How often do we fail to “see” the gifts we are given and the prayers that are being answered simply because we have “gotten used” to their presence?

Is this how we feel about Mass, Church, and the Eucharist? Are we so “used” to the blessings and the offering that we no longer see the sacrifice, the hope, and the love given?

Are we continually seeking more and more and more?

We have been graced with the gift of the Eucharist, repeated daily or at least weekly in our lives. But has that repetition “dulled” our senses for the one true gift that is the answer to all of our prayers, hopes, dreams and even sufferings; the gift that feeds us spiritually and physically; the gift that can completely fill us emotionally over and over and over again.


“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” John 6:54-56 Wow, what can be “dull” about this promise?

In the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes ‘Jesus said to them,
“There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves.”’ Mt 14:13-21

Have we forgotten that Jesus feeds us regularly so that we never need to “go away;”so that we will never “want” for anything as long as He is our strength and we allow Him to give us our “daily bread?”

Have we forgotten that Jesus also asks us to “give them some food ourselves?”

One of the things that I have learned is that giving is more fun than receiving. Giving is never dull, I never get bored in giving and every gift given presents a change, a new reaction, a new reward—possibly more for me, the giver, than even the receiver.

Is that how Jesus feels when He gives us the Spirit, the Eucharist, the grace to move forward in hope?

Heavenly Father: We are blessed by Your gifts, especially the gift of Your Son. Help me to use my gifts wisely and to be filled by the gifts that You have given me. May the gifts I share fulfill the needs of those I meet so that we will each be filled with the Spirit. Amen.

Be renewed and refreshed by the Spirit that is ever present. And then give so that others might also receive.
Blessings,
Charlotte