Snowball

Friends of Faith:

This thought is like a snowball which keeps getting bigger and deeper and more encompassing, with a realization that it is central to our Christian purpose.

Love = subordination = subject to the mission = service: All which hopefully makes us holier and brings us closer to God. And God is love. And this is the circle that is a growing snowball which cannot be denied. Reference the following 3 readings:

"Brothers and sisters: Put on, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do. And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection.
And let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one body.
And be thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as in all wisdom you teach and admonish one another, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs  with gratitude in your hearts to God.
And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. 
Wives, be subordinate to your husbands, as is proper in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and avoid any bitterness toward them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is pleasing to the Lord.
Fathers, do not provoke your children, so they may not become discouraged.” Col 3: 12-21

“Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of the church, he himself the savior of the body. As the church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word, that he might present to himself the church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. So [also] husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one hates his own flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “For this reason a man shall leave [his] father and [his] mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the church. In any case, each one of you should love his wife as himself, and the wife should respect her husband.” Eph 5: 21-33

“For if I do not have love, I have nothing….. Love is patient, love is kind… but the greatest of these is love.” 1 Cor 13: 1-13

I cannot deny a single word of these three readings about love, subordination, subjection, and submission (being under the mission of Christ, led by my husband, serving each other—be it family or friend or even enemy.)  

Each reading boldly leads to the definition of love – to service for one another and most importantly for service to God. They lead me to Jesus, the cross and the Church. They lead me to see Jesus’ example of teaching us how to be and how to do love – to be a selfless sacrifice for another. And they lead me by reminding me that no matter what I give up for the honor of serving Him, I should be willing to do it – nothing, NO Thing, NO event, should be greater than God.

It pains me when I hear or even say: I’ll take care of ‘person’s name’ later; or ‘husbands or child’s name’ will wait till later; or I didn’t make it to mass on Sunday because ‘event or happening’ was during that time.

So, no matter where I go with the thought – about doing something good or succumbing to the bad, the concept grows and shows me how big God really is and how central to my life God is and has become. I can’t escape Him no matter where I run, what I think or where my heart turns –not that I want to, but only to further make me realize how important He is to the creation of happiness, holiness, peacefulness and joy – all of which I crave with every fiber of my being.

I realize quite loudly that without God, there is nothing; without God, I am nothing; without God, I can do nothing; and WITH God, everything IS better, greater and has a larger purpose. And that is because I am not putting myself first. I am subjecting myself to God, to my husband and to others the way God intended and the way God created us.

The cardinal rule: Love one another as God has loved us – is bigger, is bolder, than anything on earth we can imagine. And while it is normal to take this “out” to the homeless, the impoverished, even our enemies we should not forget that this starts first and foremost in our homes with our spouses, our families and our Church family. Many times, loving, being subject to, and serving those closest to us, is more difficult than taking it out into the world.

O loving Father, May I always be reminded of your generous love in the gift of your son, Jesus. Thank you for the mercy you have bestowed on me when I fail to reflect your generous love to others. And give me the grace to be strong in you by reflecting your light to others in their darkness. Amen.

Snowball love. Be generous, be a servant, and be subject to God’s mighty power.

Blessings,

Charlotte

Do We Realize?

Friends of Faith:

When I say I am a Christian, when I say I am Catholic Christian, when I go to church each Sunday—do I realize what I have, what I am, why I go, what I receive, how I should act or feel because I am present?

What a question!

But as Father Mike said yesterday, “If I read the Prodigal Son over and over and over I could write a homily on each and every line of the story.”

Now the older son had been out in the field and, on his way back, as he neared the house …He called one of the servants and asked what this might mean. The servant said to him, ‘Your brother has returned …’ He became angry, and when he refused to enter the house, his father came out and pleaded with him. He said to his father in reply, ‘Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends. But when your son returns …, for him you slaughter the fattened calf.’ He said to him, ‘My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours. But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’” (Lk 15: 11-32)

One of the messages in this parable is that we are surrounded by richness IN His word, IN his church, IN our lives, IN our bodies as they are created, without embellishment. But just like the son who remained home we don’t begin to REALIZE all that we have been given.

If I realized what I had then I would not want more “stuff.” Instead I would only desire more understanding and more fulfillment thru more time with God himself.

No matter who we are, or where we are in our faith, because we are human, we don’t, can’t and won’t fully realize all that God has made available to us, in his love for us, in all of the gifts he has given us, and in the gifts we are meant to share with each other.

But the message is simple--He gives me what I need, when I need it, ALL the time—if I realize it!

I don’t even have to begin to understand all of it. But I do have to REALIZE it so that I don’t waste what I have been given or miss the beauty and the love that I have already received, both in the simple teachings and in the complexities of the mystery of the why, the how and the purpose of my creation.

Pope John Paul II taught (and teaches us) in Theology of the Body (TOB) www.tobinstitute.com much of what we as Christians should be taught and should want to learn about our creation. JPII has studied and given us this teaching to help us REALIZE our gifts. But as I study and learn these teachings I am continually saddened that so few REALIZE these teachings are even a part of our RICH library of Christian knowledge. It is almost as though we are afraid to learn more, afraid to REALIZE that we are made for more, afraid to REALIZE that our small world will grow bigger and that we will have to change if we learn what God has given us in the bodies he created—from love, by love, and for love.

JP II teaches in TOB that here on earth, if we are married God has given us a “taste and see” thru intimacy in marriage (it is the reason He created marriage). But many of us don’t  REALIZE, or even begin to try to understand or to learn the beauty of the relationship God has given us with the one we love the most here on earth. Or worse yet we reduce the institution of marriage to “just sex” or a relationship without the responsibilities God intended for its fullness (procreation.)

And for someone who is single, TOB teaches that this intimacy is received even more directly through and to God, by our chastity, by his direct love and caring for us.

WE have it all, if we realize what purpose God created us for.  He feeds us body and soul through His Word (into our mind and heart/soul) and His Word made flesh in Jesus (in true communion with Him –His real presence, the real presence we receive in the Eucharist.)

His message is simple. We have everything we need in His love and the mercy of His forgiveness. He has given us the ability to love because He loves us unconditionally.  Do we realize this?

And where would we be without forgiveness, and where are we when we don’t REALIZE that we are forgiven and that we can be forgiven—both by God and by those who love us for who we are (as the Father did his prodigal son AND the son who had everything but didn’t realize it.)

He has called us to use OUR ability to BE social justice –to give love and to share love—to give our riches to others. We are not to depend or expect that someone else will give it to us. We are CALLED to love our neighbor as ourselves. But do we REALIZE that this is OUR job and OUR duty—not something that we should give to the government or expect someone else to do for us. It is our responsibility to help each other and to care for each other. True love is sharing ourselves by serving one another without receiving or expecting to receive anything in return (just as Christ did for us.)

Heavenly Father, You are Love and You have created us FOR love. I am sorry that I ignore or complicate what you are trying to help make me realize. Help me to open my eyes, ears and most importantly my heart to the teachings of Your Church. Help me to realize, understand, and live the way I am called—and that is simply to love. Help me to realize that it is my responsibility to share the gifts you have given me with others and that I should not expect or demand that others do it for me. Amen.

Why are we choosing to ignore the messages he sends to us? What part of the gift do we not realize that we have been given by His gift of love and forgiveness?

May we love more, and may we realize that we are loved more,

Blessings,
Charlotte

Hope and Peace for the Heartbroken

Women of Faith:

Stan and I often feel the way our daughter, Sara Cross, did when she wrote a poem this week that expresses the heartbreak God feels when a marriage is broken. (And it is not about her own marriage).  I follow it with a prayer which will take away God’s and our heartbreak if we heed the prayer’s message.

Heartbroken by Sara Cross

“I only wish you could see the truth:
God is heartbroken watching you.

... The poking, the prodding,
The hurt, it aches.
To get out is human
Before any more breaks.

Have you forgotten
the Lord’s promise to you?
“It was not you who chose me,
but I who chose you
and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain,
so that whatever you ask the Father in my name
he may give you.”
(John 15: 15-16)

What God has created,
Man cannot destroy.
Not by chance or by choosing,
“Coincidence” is a ploy.

God united your flesh,
A family begun,
Will always be connected,
Will always be one.

To quit this stare down,
And turn to the Lord together,
To ask Him to give you
Something better,
Is divine (do it with persistence as in Luke 11).

The past is behind,
Details don’t matter.
The pain that resonates,
God’s love can shatter.

Choose to hurt,
Harbor anger in a hardened heart,
Follow the way of our culture,
Which calls for divorce.

Or choose another way,
The more difficult route.
To trust patiently in the Lord
To work things out.

To forgive those who’ve hurt us
And let go of our pride
To admit we can’t do it
Without God on our side.
Marriage takes love that is truly divine.

For the Gospel of Matthew (22: 35-40) says:
“The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments:
You shall love the Lord, your God,
with all your heart,
with all your soul,
and with all your mind.
This is the greatest and the first commandment.
The second is like it:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Bear the pain for a moment,
And remember the cross.
It is bigger than you
If this marriage is lost.

It’s the Lord versus Satan,
We’re pawns in the game.
Let the Savior lead you
To a victory in His name.

For if it is lost,
The only winner is Satan.
Everyone else is
Heartbroken.”

Lord, Make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.

O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love; For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life.  Amen. Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi

The road to Christ is not an easy road, but we must rejoice, "although now for a little while you may have to suffer through various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that is perishable even though tested by fire, may prove to be for praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 1:6-7).

Don’t be heartbroken. Surrender to God. Give yourself to do what He asks for the praise, glory and honor of Jesus Christ.

And be blessed by peace in Christ,
Charlotte

Grown in love

Women of Faith:
I am grown in the choices I make. I choose to be grown in love.

Love is not a feeling; happiness is a feeling.
Love is not an emotion; anger is an emotion.
Love is not a state; confusion is a state.
Love can include feeling and emotion and leave you in a state,
But love is, at heart a decision.
Love sees the imperfections, sins and failings and says, “I still choose to love you.” --Mark Hart, Blessed are the Bored in Spirit

We are grown in love thru God.

I choose to weed out the lies which our fed to me by the media and influence all of our lives—the lies that say we can do no wrong. We are all sinners with imperfections, so we must choose to make God a priority so that we can grow closer to him.

The lies that say “it’s all about me and what’s important to me, and how I feel about me, and if I am happy in me.”It’s about putting God in each of those statements for it will only be his judgment in the end.

The lie that says our wrong choices are unforgivable, so there is no hope for me. God always forgives, but it is our choice to forgive others and to ask for forgiveness so that we may be forgiven: “And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And the lies that say we have a “right to choose.” Yes, we have a choice… but if we choose death over life, if we choose to sleep in instead of going to church (keep holy the Sabbath), if we choose anger over unconditional forgiveness then our choice is not God—our choice is not love.

Everything we have is a gift from God: Our time, our bodies, our children, the air we breathe, and the food that sustains us. Do we give thanks by choosing to let His seed be firmly planted in the soil of good friends and a God enriched environment?

I choose to be firmly rooted in my faith by truly trusting in the words of scripture—his words which fertilize me. I choose to be regularly fed by daily prayer, weekly attendance at mass and receiving him in the Eucharist so that my soul will be filled by the body and blood he gave us on the cross.

I choose to be watered by His grace because I seek His grace.

I choose to be warmed by the SONshine when I choose to give everything back to God in prayer and thru forgiveness.

Love One Another. As I have Loved You, so You should also Love One another.
John 13:34

Heavenly Father: We praise and thank you for the Spirit that gives us grace (thru water), fertilizing us thru your holy word and blessing us in the gift of your Son. May our choice be to love others as you love each of us. May we seek to be chosen by you, and may our choice be to serve you by serving each other. May we all choose to be grown in love, through Christ our Lord, Amen.

Weed out the bad seeds, be firmly rooted in Christ thru your choices, be watered by the grace of forgiveness, fertilized by scripture and may the Son shine on you this week,

Happy Valentine's Day,
Charlotte

Love One Another

Women of Faith:

Listening to and reading God’s word is a little bit like watching a beloved movie, over and over again—no matter how many times you’ve seen or heard it, there is always something you missed the first time.

Yesterday’s readings were no different. “Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; you shall not kill; you shall not steal; you shall not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence love is the fulfillment of the law.” 2 Rom 13:8-10

For some reason as I listened I realized that none of this was about me, but rather it is all about the way I treat those around me. None of it is about how I must be “treated.” It really makes no difference whether “I feel” as if I have been slighted, because I am still suppose to give and to serve, regardless of how I am treated in return. It is about how I “want” to be treated, not how I “am” treated.

“But if you warn the wicked, trying to turn him from his way, and he refuses to turn from his way, he shall die for his guilt, but you shall save yourself.” 1 Ez 33:7-9

We are asked to have moral courage; the courage to tell others when they are “at risk” in not following God’s commandments. This isn’t always a pleasant task. There is only satisfaction when our warnings bring change. There are also those times when change does not come and a friend may be lost. But if I have prayed for the right words, if my reason for holding someone accountable, if my corrective words were said with love and encouragement then God’s heavenly reward will be and is much more important than how I feel now.

Is it no wonder then that when I feel the most joy, when I feel the most hope, when I feel the most love and satisfaction is when I have given of myself unconditionally, not when I have received something—because it truly is not about me, it is about how I am called to love.

Heavenly Father: Praise be Your way. Help me to be granted a clear understanding of how You want me to serve. Help me to seek Your rewards in heaven even when I am not feeling Your rewards here on earth. Thank You for giving me moments of joy in the rewards of satisfaction I feel when I see Your love being returned to others. Amen.

Love one another, not to receive something in return, but to fulfill God’s commandments. This is what we are called to do as Christians. Our reward will be heaven.

Blessings,
Charlotte
www.morningreflection.blogspot.com

Happy Valentine's Day

Women of Faith:
Happy Valentine’s Day!

It’s all about Love. Our love for each other, but more importantly about God’s love for us. Both loves are the same—in one Christ died for us; in the other, we must die for each other because that is what love is all about ; the giving, about being selfless and about serving our spouses, our families and our community.

At our couples of faith date night we shared the song, Lead Me by Sanctus Real in which a wife asks her husband to help lead her to Christ AND the husband asks for help to be led BY Christ. (Some of the words of the song follow—and if you haven’t heard the song, the link to the rest of the words.)

"…Lead me with strong hands, Stand up when I can't, Don't leave me hungry for love, …

So Father, give me the strength, To be everything I am called to be, Oh, Father, show me the way, To lead them, Won't you lead me?

To lead them with strong hands, To stand up when they can't, … chasing dreams that I could give up.

I'll show them I'm willing to fight, And give them the best of my life, So we can call this our home, Lead me, 'cause I can't do this alone.

Father, lead me, 'cause I can't do this alone.”
www.christian-lyrics.net/sanctus-real/lead-me-lyrics.html#ixzz1AfissT00

These words are for all—married and unmarried—not words just from a wife to a husband, but words from each of us to our heavenly Father—to be led, carried, and guided by His love.

Love means that we will “GIVE Them & Him THE BEST OF OUR LIVES.” And Love is in what we give up—for Christ and for each other.

God tells us to LOVE one another as He has loved us. When our lives are going well it seems like giving God our love would be easy; and sometimes when our lives hurt turning to God, believing in His love can be difficult.

Yet, when do our prayers seem to be the loudest? When we suffer; because that is when we cannot find our own answers, when there are no easy answers, when we most need His strength to carry us and to lead us. And because we trust and believe, we are guided and comforted; led and carried. God hears our prayers.

And when do we most often forget to pray? When our lives are going well—because in our human nature we think we are creating our own happiness. We forget to “give Him the BEST of our lives.”

God’s love is here for all of us; in the highs and in the lows. God created the love we have and share with each other. We should give HIM “the best of our lives,” because He has already given us the “Best of His Life,” in giving us His child, His son, Jesus.

We are helped thru our trials and sorrows by the love given to us by God, thru our friends and families. And we find the most joy in our lives when we give our gifts, our life, back to God; by our thoughts, by our words and by our actions, by letting our lives be led by Christ.

Heavenly Father: Praise be Your love in my life in good times and bad. Give me the courage to always follow your lead. Thank You for Your love, for Your comfort, for Your caring, and for Your carrying me in both the highs and the lows of each day. Help all of us, as Your children, to seek and to be led by Your love. Amen.

Happy Valentine’s Day. This is God’s Day. This is a day for His Love to be shared humanly and divinely.

Give Him Your Day! With Love and Blessings,
Charlotte