Coming of the Spirit

Friends of Faith:

Appropriately for our family the next two weekends of celebrating the Ascension and Pentecost bring to fulfillment the Easter season and the gift Jesus left us here on earth – the Holy Spirit, His guidance and Our protector.

Jesus said to his disciples: "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows him. But you know him, because he remains with you, and will be in you. Jn 14: 15-21

While a greater majority may seek success, fame and fortune of this world, we forget or don’t yet know or understand, that it is not anything of THIS world that will give the greatest reward, but rather it is seeking to be Holy in God’s world that will give us the greatest reward, eternal life.

But the world does not willingly accept that it is not its own creator and boss. And reliance on God and resting in the Spirit are mostly foreign in our culture.

And yet, we are, more than ever, in this world, in need of the guidance of the Spirit and a renewed commitment to listen to and follow His commands.

Beloved: Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence, keeping your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who defame your good conduct in Christ may themselves be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that be the will of God, than for doing evil. 1 Pt 3: 15-18

And while speaking the truth and striving to bring others closer to Him may mean that our character may be insulted by those who say we are “do gooders,” or “know it alls.” Or we may suffer the consequences, rudeness and chastisement of slander and character defamation despite our good intentions. It is still better to suffer for doing what is right, if it is the will of God, than to give in to worldly causes and/or political correctness.

If we look at what divides us as humans today: being called a Christian, seeking to protect human life and the dignity of marital love between one man and one woman, even the sanctity of keeping Holy the Sabbath – these are exactly the truth of God which are under the most attack and create much of the mental anguish and physical suffering we as His baptized faithful feel in our world today.

There is so much noise, there are so many lies, that it is extremely difficult to sort one from another, regardless of our human strength or perseverance.

So it becomes all that much more important to rely on the Spirit to guide us, console us, and protect us in EVERY decision we make. And It is these very graces that our family looks forward to on Andy’s ordination this week and as we lead up to Stan’s ordination in July.

Come Holy Spirit, Come. Fill us with Your grace and Your power. Anoint us with Your love. And may we be gifted with Your hope, joy and peace. Amen.

Let the Spirit guide you and may you be blessed with an ever more abundant Spirit. Thank you all for your prayers for those being ordained this Easter season.

Blessings,

Charlotte

Monday Morning Reflection

One Nation, Under God with Liberty and Justice for All

Friends of Faith:

“Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and all my will—all that I have and possess. You, Lord, have given all that to me. I now give it back to you, O Lord. All of it is yours. Dispose of it according to your will. Give me love of yourself, along with your grace, for that is enough for me.” –St Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556)

I search for truth: for liberty and justice for all. And I find I need to say nothing, except to quote this week’s scripture and the prayers of the Saints scattered amongst prayer book after prayer book to remind me that if I put God FIRST, and never second then I too will have the freedom I am seeking.

“Brothers and sisters: For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.
For you were called for freedom, brothers and sisters. But do not use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh; rather, serve one another through love. For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement, namely, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. But if you go on biting and devouring one another,
beware that you are not consumed by one another. I say, then: live by the Spirit and you will certainly not gratify the desire of the flesh. For the flesh has desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you may not do what you want. But if you are guided by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” Gal 5: 1,13-18

Serve God, not the law: don’t abuse the freedoms and the free will that God has given us (God may have given me a choice, but if it isn’t God’s will, then it might not be a good choice).

Give him my memory—my memory? (put into my head, my memory, only what is truly God’s understanding, and forgive and forget any injustices I may have received so that I may love my “enemies” as unconditionally as God loves me.)

And a reminder that the world is made of things to serve our flesh (good things to consume, look at, buy, and use) but that the Spirit which guides us would only give us these things to sustain us and to use for the good of others. Food is to sustain, sex is to procreate and unify a marriage, and time, talent AND treasures are to give away: so that others may also be filled with Christ (physically, emotionally and spiritually.)

Only God’s law IS law: and man’s laws which override the commandments take away our freedoms instead of protecting them.

“O God our Creator, from your provident hand we have received our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. You have called us as your people and given us the right and the duty to worship you, the only true God, and your Son, Jesus Christ. Through the power and working of your Holy Spirit, you call us to live out our faith in the midst of the world, bringing the light and the saving truth of the Gospel to every corner of society. We ask you to bless us in our vigilance for the gift of religious liberty.

Give us the strength of mind and heart to readily defend our freedoms when they are threatened; give us courage in making our voices heard on behalf of the rights of your Church and the freedom of conscience of all people of faith.
Grant, we pray, O heavenly Father, a clear and united voice to all your sons and daughters gathered in your Church in this decisive hour in the history of our nation, so that, with every trial withstood and every danger overcome— for the sake of our children, our grandchildren, and all who come after us—this great land will always be “one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.” (Prayer of St. Thomas More, patron for religious freedom)

Happy Independence Day! May you seek and be blessed with the truth of God, the Spirit of Undivided Liberty and Justice, Joyful Freedom from worldly desires, and be justified thru the Grace of God.

In Faith,

Charlotte

In the Beginning

Women of Faith:

In the beginning… things always seem fresher, clearer, more easily definable, and it was easier to bear the burdens and sacrifices of our initial commitment.

So, it is good to look back at the beginning, because the beginning reminds us what our intent and purpose was before we were influenced by others, before we tired, and before our self-discipline was challenged.

In the beginning… our commitment is to lose weight so that we will be healthier; our commitment to God in baptism is to love, honor and serve him—as innocently and as trusting as a child; and our commitment to our spouse in our wedding vows is to overlook their faults and to love and serve them unconditionally and faithfully until death do us part.

In the beginning ….marriage was created as man and woman to be helpmates and partners of each other …. “The LORD God said: "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a suitable partner for him."….. The LORD God then built up into a woman the rib that he had taken from the man. When he brought her to the man, the man said: "This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called 'woman, ' for out of 'her man' this one has been taken." That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one flesh.” Genesis 2:18-24

In the beginning, children were esteemed precious, a gift from God, to be protected and received by all Christians. “The disciples approached Jesus and said, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said … And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.” Mt 18: 1-5 “For the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it." Mk 10: 13-16

Yet 3,000 innocent children will die today without a voice. Babies killed by abortion. Nearly ¼ of ALL pregnancies ended--over 50 million since abortion was legalized in 1973. (In comparison 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust.)

Will history say that the justices who legalized abortion under the Roe vs Wade decision were more murderous than Hitler? Will history say that we Christians allowed it to happen because we were afraid to be the voice of the unborn child. The argument has been “it’s the women’s right”! The answer is “It’s the unborn child’s right” to have the same right to be born as the mother did.

In the beginning our nation was created… “One nation, under God.”  “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Declaration of Independence

And our founding father’s made this fundamental promise the First Amendment to the Bill of Rights. “Congress shall make no law disrespecting an establishment of religion, or by prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”

Yet, today the leaders of our country are disrespecting our religious conscience and prohibiting our free exercise of religion—by forcing public laws upon us that go against God’s commandments. Instead of God being allowed to be “the way, the truth and the life”--our power and our conscience—we will be publicly penalized for obeying His commandments, His laws, instead of theirs.

The HHS (health and human service) mandate which is a part of “Obamacare” dictates that ALL business must provide insurance coverage for their employees that will include abortion and contraceptive coverage--regardless of the employers religious belief/s that abortion and contraception are against God’s commandments.

Every social justice, religious, and non-profit business which serves the poor and homeless—like Christian hospitals and schools and Christian social service agencies (Catholic Charities & Lutheran Family Service)--will face tax penalties so severe that they will be put out of business if they stand up for their Christian religious “conscience” and go against public law. A Christian conscience which understands that every child is a gift from God, created in His image, from the moment of the miracle of conception.

As Christians will be rebuked for not taking a stand and speaking up as Jesus rebuked his disciples, “I tell you, if they keep silent, the stones will cry out!” Lk 19: 40 What would it be like for stones to cry out? Imagine how the God of creation, the creator of marriage, and the God of new life, will deal with those who choose to ignore “right to life,” marriage and religious freedom issues which go against His commandments.

Heavenly Father, “You are the head of every principality and power.” Col 2:10 We pray for Your grace on all Christians who fight for You. Help us to remember that in the beginning You created marriage as one man, one woman; and in the beginning it was a blessing to have “a quiver full of children” (Ps 127:5) created by that union. Convert every politician and every citizen to the understanding that You are the real power and the truth and the giver of life. Give protection to the unborn; healing forgiveness and comfort to those who believed abortion was a choice; and bless all those who care for mothers and their babies. Amen.

This is a call to Christian action: To remember our beginnings under God.

Blessings,

Charlotte

Expecting a Miracle

Friends of Faith:

As we invoke our prayer and song of God Bless America and God Bless Me, what miracle are we expecting God to provide for us and for our country?

A miracle is an unexpected gift given by God. We have all received the first miracle—and that is life itself. He gave us life and our countries forefathers promised us the freedom of religion—the freedom to believe in Jesus and to walk in Jesus’ footsteps as he asks us to walk: to give life as he gave life; to love as he loves; and to forgive as he forgives.

Blessed Pope John Paul II said: “The challenge facing you, dear friends is to increase people’s awareness of the importance of religious freedom for society; to defend that freedom against those who would take religion out of the public domain and establish secularism as America’s official faith.” Baltimore, Oct 8, 1995

As Pope John Paul II said we must DO something to protect the miracle God has provided.

We must ACT to defend life. We must ACT to defend our freedom to choose God. And we must ACT out the faith we profess.

God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living. For he fashioned all things that they might have being; and the creatures of the world are wholesome, and there is not a destructive drug among them nor any domain of the netherworld on earth, for justice is undying. For God formed man to be imperishable; the image of his own nature he made him. But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world, and they who belong to his company experience it. Wis 1: 13-15, 2: 23-24

God gave us free will – and that freedom means we can choose what we will believe, what we will honor and how we will practice our faith. Will we CHOOSE LIFE—the very life that he created in his own image?

Will we choose to honor his design and plan for marriage: the union of one man and one woman – “God blessed them and God said to them: Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it.^*  Genesis 1:28.

God also did not make death. We chose death in the original sin of Adam and Eve. And then God gave us his only son, Jesus, to free us from that sin by His gift of the greatest of miracles: a gift of suffering; a gift of sacrifice, and a gift of redemption—eternal life.

"Your daughter has died; ... he said, "Do not be afraid; just have faith." ..... So he went in and said to them, "Why this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep." And they ridiculed him. Then he put them all out. He took along the child's father and mother and those who were with him and entered the room where the child was. He took the child by the hand and said to her, "Talitha koum," which means, "Little girl, I say to you, arise!" The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked around. At that they were utterly astounded. He gave strict orders that no one should know this. Mk 5: 35-43

Faith is not: “believing if we see”—faith is “believing what we cannot see.” Miracles were not given so that we would have faith; instead they were given to those OF faith.

Currently the USA professes the freedom of religion (many other places in this world are persecuted just for their beliefs). But will we always have that freedom? Many Americans believe we are a “protected nation” built on God—but does God see us that way?

As Americans we have more wealth and more food than any other country. Do we share it, or waste it? Am I doing my job to serve others and giving freely of my gifts, time and talents? Do I serve my spouse, my family, the poor or needy? Or do I complain that I didn’t get enough for myself? What miracle are we expecting God or someone else to do for us?

Do Americans value entertainment more than we value God? We choose to attend and watch movies, sporting events, and concerts by the millions (and worship musicians, athletes and movie stars)—while our church pews grow emptier and emptier.  If we don’t worship God and honor him with our presence; if we don’t put God first, then why would he put us first? Why are we expecting a miracle?

Do our laws reflect a new form of equality—an equality that lets us CHOOSE whether a life is worth living, surviving or even being born; laws which define marriage as something other than one man and one woman (only a man and a woman can multiply). Are we creating laws to protect an equality that God didn’t promise or design?  Are we expecting that God will miraculously change unjust laws?

We are in the final days of the US Catholic Bishops Fortnight for Freedom. These 14 days of prayer, worship and study were brought about partially because of the impending HHS (health and human services) mandate brought about because of the health care bill (that ALL employers will be forced to provide health insurance coverage which guarantees abortion and contraceptives). This forces all employers, from Catholic hospitals to small Christian business owners, to provide health services which violate their religious beliefs. www.usccb.org

“O God our Creator, through the power and working of your Holy Spirit, you call us to live out our faith in the midst of the world, bringing the light and the saving truth of the Gospel to every corner of society. We ask you to bless us in our vigilance for the gift of religious liberty. Give us the strength of mind and heart to readily defend our freedoms when they are threatened; give us courage in making our voices heard on behalf of the rights of your Church and the freedom of conscience of all people of faith.

Grant, we pray, O heavenly Father, a clear and united voice to all your sons and daughters gathered in your Church in this decisive hour in the history of our nation, so that, with every trial withstood and every danger overcome— for the sake of our children, our grandchildren, and all who come after us— this great land will always be "one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.” (Prayer for the Protection of Religious Liberty, www.fortngight4freedom.org )

May each of us Go Forth, spread Your good news and BEcome the miracle, instead of expecting to receive a miracle.

And may God continue to bless America with the freedom of religion,

Charlotte