By Death We Grow

Friends of Faith:

Which came first, dying or growth?

In the world of plants, first the seed must die before the flower can grow and fully bloom.

How true is that of humanity? When do I as a person grow? When do I as a person grow closer to God?

“And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For Christ, while we were still helpless, died at the appointed time for the ungodly. Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” Rom 5: 5-8

I have seen untimely deaths and I have witnessed the growth that took place in the people closest to the one who died. I have seen children give up careers to take care of their parents and through the response of their faith they are blessed with strength and courage to respond with love while having their own needs fulfilled by the blessings of others.

I have witnessed those affected by illness and hardship. When there was hope and faith, God’s love poured out through them – growing not only those directly affected, but inspiring others to become more, and to grow in their own faith. I have seen friends and neighbors receive the blessings of tears and smiles of joy while helping one another recover from natural disasters or an untimely death. (It is better to give than to receive, or, we receive more in giving than we do in receiving.)

As spouses (or faithful friends) the love we have for each other grows when we give up something of ourselves FOR the other: when we sacrifice our time and our energy to help one another without anger, jealously, or envy. We grow when we build the other person up, when we rise to the responsibility of becoming parents, and when the needs of our spouse or family member becomes our own concern, like sacrificing a personal career goal for taking care of a family member.

In each of these instances some part of our selfish person dies. In each of these instances some part of our selfish personality dies – to become less of ourselves, to rely more on God, and to grow in faith.

Heavenly Father, in hope we ask for the courage and strength to die to ourselves and accept our sufferings and sacrifices as Your Son, Jesus did when He died on the cross for us. “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.” (Prayer of St. Francis) Amen.

Without Christ’s death our sins would not be pardoned; without Christ’s death there would not be new life. Without the death of a seed the plant cannot grow. Without the death of my selfish desires I will not grow to receive the love of another.

In the middle of this Lenten season, may I learn to find greater hope through the experience of a death of self, so that I may grow deeper in faith, gain a greater love for God and have peace in the knowledge that Christ’s death was given so that I might live.

In faith and hope, dying to grow,

Blessings,

Charlotte

A Grain of Wheat

Women of Faith:

“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me.” Jn 12: 24-26

As mom’s we quickly learn to put aside our wants and desires to meet the needs of our children. Maybe it’s self preservation, that we don’t want to listen to a baby cry, but I’d rather think it is because that is the heart that God created in women. I see this character trait even among women who for whatever reason are childless, an inner sense of responsibility and compassion for someone in need… especially the needs of infants and those who seem otherwise “helpless.”

I also think that this is why he blessed men with us as their helpmates – so that the stereotypical strength and courage of a man would be softened by the stereotypical caring and compassion of women – it takes both, together, to be able to imitate the full realm of God’s persona. For, together, we have been created in his likeness and image—and asked to continue the creation of His kingdom here on earth.

“Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.  For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?” Mt 16: 23-26

Again, Jesus speaks of growing by dying, of bearing our crosses and becoming like him, of losing our earthly life by putting our needs behind those of others, of putting our humanly life on the cross so that we are free to strive for heavenly rewards… to be self-giving rather than self-receiving.

For what good is it if we have earthly “things” but fail to attain eternal joy in heaven. What good is it if we have clothes, shoes and vacations if we have broken marriages and children starving for attention?

Male and female, created together, under one mission, complementary, so that joined together we have the strength and power needed to carry the cross, the caring and compassion needed to assist each other, bear the burdens of day to day life, and the mercy and acceptance it takes by both in forgiving each other when we don’t quite live up to the roles we have been given.

Dying to my own needs…. Putting others before me…. Finding the joy in bearing my cross as He did for us. My mission may be difficult, but it is also necessary, not only to obtain my own place in heaven, but to grow and show heaven to others. This is the one, true mission that God set before each of us, to be a grain of wheat which dies so that others may live—first in the domestic church through our family and then in the worldwide church through our community.

Heavenly Father, it is in Your image which I have been created, it is to Your image in which I hope to be changed by conversion. Through your Son, Jesus, You bore the cross for each of us. Help us now each to bear our crosses for you. May I see and accept each person you place near me as a child of God who needs my love, compassion, and forgiveness. Amen.

Take up your cross, die as does the grain of wheat and live for Him by sowing the seed of faith in others.

Blessings,
Charlotte

A Smile

Friends of Faith:

Smiling is a universal language. “Smile and the world smiles with you.” “A smile is the shortest distance between two people.” “Smiles multiply.” “You are someone’s reason to smile.” “A smile through tears is the most beautiful smile.” “A smile makes the world go round.” (I think this one should be, “a smile goes around the world.”) “Use your smile to change the world today but don’t let the world change your smile.” And, “Peace begins with a smile”—Mother Teresa.

 

As I was relating “fire stories” to one friend, she commented, “sounds like God has given you a few small miracles.” And I commented back—“yes, God has given us many BIG miracles.” Miracle after miracle, smile after smile—I wonder what God is thinking—not just about my own reactions, but about the reactions to the reactions of my actions, about how his miracles, his blessings are being carried forward. I hope each of my smiles is being carried on, multiplying as it travels, becoming love, peace and joy for someone who needs it more than this someone who is already so blessed.

 

"Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds, saying: “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well. The slaves of the householder came to him and said, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?’ He answered,‘An enemy has done this.’ His slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ He replied, ‘No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, “First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

“He proposed another parable to them. “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants. It becomes a large bush, and the ‘birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.’” He spoke to them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened.” ….His disciples approached him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” He said in reply, “He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels….”” Mt 13:24-43

 

This weekend’s reading of the parable of sowing weeds amongst the good seed, and of the parable of the mustard seed, made me draw parallels between the sowing, growing, greatness and strength of the Christian community to the likeness of the spreading of a smile, just as God spreads the seed, and of the smallness of the mustard seed, to the seeming smallness of a smile which grows great and strong.

 

There is also the parallel of the devil that sows and promotes weeds to the everyday spreading of rumors and untruths, wherever possible, into every event of our lives, with the hope to cause us as Christians to believe the weeds are real, and to fail or make us forget to look around for real beauty, true blessings, growing around us.

And how God’s hand, his seed, is always the greater, better part of every circumstance: how his seed, like the mustard seed, like a glimmer of a smile, always grows stronger, taking over the entire field if we nurture and spread it—leaving the weeds behind, to be gathered at the end and burned, while the beauty of the flowers of the field are gathered by angels.

But what if what God plants, we as Christians sit back and ignore, become complacent and accepting of the weeds, allowing rumors and untruths to grow? Won’t this then mean the devil is being allowed a ground to play on, and the beauty of the flowers growing in the field could be overshadowed?

 

Heavenly Father, Your seed is strong, Your smile is powerful. I know I am as small as a mustard seed. Help me to become strong in faith so that my seeds, my smiles, will grow and spread. Thank you for your continued blessings of the smiles you send to give me peace and encourage me, the seeds of Christian friends, who support me when I am weak. Help us together to uphold the beauty of Your field, the Church, a community of love. Amen.

 

So as to kill some of those weeds, the rumors: we are doing fine; the shop, both sales and service, are up and running thanks to wonderful neighbors and friends; our insurance company is treating us well; I am thankful for my new offices downtown and enjoying having neighbors to smile at. And Stan’s phones are working J.

 

Please continue to pray for a resolution by the Fire Marshall as to the cause of the fire so we can begin demolition and rebuilding. As they are doing their job, God is developing our patience.

Although His miracles, like our smiles, might be small at first – His miracles, just like our smiles, are always big as they grow and spread into others’ worlds. When we are weak, he is strong.

 

If you are struggling to smile because you have no one physically smiling at you just try Googling: “smiles!!!” (And see the poem below)




The smile on my face doesn’t mean life is perfect; it means I appreciate what I have and what God has blessed me with.

Keep smiling, God loves you. Do me (or someone) a favor and smile, for you are someone else’s reason to smile,

Blessings,

Charlotte

PS: I couldn’t resist posting this poem – insert a smile at every dare…..
Dare to Be
When a new day begins, dare to smile gratefully.
When there is darkness, dare to be the first to shine a light.
When there is injustice, dare to be the first to condemn it.
When something seems difficult, dare to do it anyway.
When life seems to beat you down, dare to fight back.
When there seems to be no hope, dare to find some.
When you’re feeling tired, dare to keep going.
When times are tough, dare to be tougher.
When love hurts you, dare to love again.
When someone is hurting, dare to help them heal.
When another is lost, dare to help them find the way.
When a friend falls, dare to be the first to extend a hand.
When you cross paths with another, dare to make them smile.
When you feel great, dare to help someone else feel great too.
When the day has ended, dare to feel as you’ve done your best.
Dare to be the best you can –
At all times, Dare to be!”
― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free

The Growing Cycle

Friends in Faith:
As I grow in faith, as we each grow in faith, I realize how closely Jesus’ life and our lives with Him follow the natural growth cycle.

Jesus’ life cycle follows an ageless growing cycle: the “preparation” for His birth, the “planting” of the Nativity, the “nurturing cultivation” of His life and teachings, and the “abundance of the harvest” in His dying and Resurrection.

With the Ascension this week the Apostles briefly felt “empty” as Jesus left them alone and went to be with His father in heaven.

“He answered them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons …But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, … When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight. While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going,… two men in white garments … said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return ….” Acts 1:7-11

This is the same emptiness we feel when we are hungry or have not eaten properly; when we choose a starvation diet or to be nourished by food which is either “sweet” or “rotten.”

Yet we know God never leaves us empty, alone or unfed, if we live for Him and through Him.

Do we believe Jesus when He said “eat my flesh” or are we the Jews who quarreled among themselves and then left Jesus (John 6:66)?

"I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. 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. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever." Jn 6:51-58

In receiving the Eucharist our growing cycle is always fulfilled. He promised the Apostles the guidance to “new life” in the abundant gift of the Spirit of Pentecost (next Sunday.) And in his flesh and blood given us in the Eucharist at the Last Supper when He said, “Do this in memory of me.” (In old Greek, memory means “make present today.”)

We may each be in a different place in different parts of the life cycle. However, just as the growth of a plant must be nurtured by God thru Mother Nature, so must our own lives be nurtured by receiving the Eucharist regularly and following God’s plan in Holy Scripture. For instance, in our marriages, Ephesians 5:21-33 www.usccb.org/nab/bible/ephesians/ephesians5.htm

If we are to live spiritually our life cycle must follow Jesus’ life so that we will wisely “process” the food that He has prepared, planted, cultivated and harvested. We will then be “sustained” by the harvest, and enriched with a new and more abundant life, the richness of heaven.

So where am I in the growing cycle?

Am I in preparation, seeking what is right?

Am I planted firmly in my faith, following the truth?

Am I being cultivated properly, growing in faith by adding spiritual food (regular church attendance, daily prayer, friends, books, music, etc.) which will lead to an abundant harvest?

Am I harvesting, spreading the good news, gathering and mentoring those who are seeking a role model in Christ and spreading new seed to continue the growth cycle?

And regardless of which part of the cycle, am I always feeding myself with His abundant Spirit and the Eucharist—leaving aside the “sweetness” that society tempts us with (materialism); or setting aside the “rotten” untruths of the culture (sexual impurities, gossip, etc)?

Heavenly Father, Praise be your nurturing fulfillment in Your Spirit. Help me to always seek the fulfillment of Your true food (the Eucharist) and to avoid the temptations of the sweet and rotten. Thank you for enriching me with great friends and role models. Thank you for the many blessings You give me and for the richness of faith You have implanted in me. Amen.

Prepare, plant, grow, harvest and be fed abundantly.
Blessings,
Charlotte