Transformed

Friends of Faith:

Converted, transformed, and transfigured—changed!

“Jesus took Peter, John, and James and went up the mountain to pray. While he was praying his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white.” Lk 9: 28-29

“Join with others in being imitators of me, brothers and sisters, and observe those who thus conduct themselves according to the model you have in us. For many, as I have often told you and now tell you even in tears, conduct themselves as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction. Their God is their stomach; their glory is in their “shame.”Their minds are occupied with earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body by the power that enables him also to bring all things into subjection to himself.
“Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord.” Phil 3:17-4:1

This is what Christ asks of us: To be imitators of him, to be transfigured, to become dazzling white. What a goal, what an image Christ gives us of the glory that awaits us.

And as this passage tells us, in his tears, St. Paul sees our destruction. He is able to see those who conduct themselves shamefully as enemies of Christ.

Sometimes I feel very much as if my heart will break just as Christ’s must be while he watches our world disintegrate in immorality and in the shameful actions around us.

Sometimes I shed tears for myself as I realize that I too have fallen in sin and have failed to live out an opportunity he has given to me to be his imitator.

And just as I feel those tears, I turn around and am given the opportunity to reach out to Him for His mercy and to be forgiven through the reception of freely given grace in the sacrament of reconciliation.

And in the past two weekends, I was also given the opportunity to witness the metamorphosis, the change, the conversion, from the unnoticed caterpillar to the beauty of the glorious butterfly in others as they were converted by their participation in powerful Christian Experience Weekends (CEW).

The stories of conversion, the transformation and the movement of the Spirit through these weekends is a gratifying, hope-filled witness to what real life Christian transfiguration is today.

The weekends, by the witnesses within them, make me stand up and notice that Christ does reveal himself when we have our eyes open, when we are ready to notice, when we are ready to take action, so that good will triumph over evil if we are willing to let him enter our lives.

CEW and reconciliation are both present day revelations and reminders of all that Christ promised us with his death on the cross.

Heavenly Father, You are the law, You are our citizenship. We are created in your image and in your likeness. Help me to live up to that image. Help me to open my heart to be receptive to Your Spirit. Help me to notice all of the greatness you have placed around me. Thank you for the revelations of those you have transformed who witness to me and who give me hope. Help me to not be discouraged by the evils of this world, but to always seek hope in Your name. Amen.

Our citizenship is truly in heaven. May we stand firm in the Lord, because His law is true law.

This week be transfigured by the image of Christ and become an imitator of Christ.

Blessings,

Charlotte

Brand Me

Friends of Faith:

Do you go out of your way to search for a certain brand name?

Have you ever thought about “Kleenex” for example? All tissues –regardless of their “brand” are associated with Kleenex. I can’t ever recall asking someone for a “Puffs.”

Brands become our identity, our label. Good or bad. We can even change that label if we want with a new ad campaign, by promoting ourselves differently to those around us. But there are also many “imitators” of those brands, imitators which can also become good or bad.

We are given our “brands” at our baptisms as Christians. We are marked with our identity. We are given a name, chosen by our parents, and accepted by God as His child. He has called each of us by name.  

Have you ever looked at the meaning of the name you were given? I find it interesting and surprising how often that name, chosen when we were infants, chosen before we had personality, even sometimes chosen when we were still within the womb, can have such truth in its meaning.

We celebrated Jesus Christ’s baptism this weekend. His baptism was the public revealing of his ministry here on earth. But his name, like ours, his eternal identity, was given to him by God before he was conceived.

“Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,^* because he will save his people from their sins.” Mt 1: 20-21

Jesus means God Saves, Emmanuel—God is with Us.  

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet. “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means “God is with us.” Mt 1: 22-23

And whether he is denied, or he is embraced, he is known. His brand “is with us” through our own baptisms, so that we to might be saved.

There is only one Jesus, true God, true Son, and true man.

His brand has stood the same test of time. 2013 years!

So what makes a brand as timeless and enduring as Jesus Christ? TRUTH! Truth that can’t be denied, truth that can’t be changed, and truth that doesn’t wear out its welcome, truth that is “identifiable.”

And the Church Jesus instituted has also stood this same test of time. It too is branded, named Catholic, universal and one. “We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.” Nicene Creed 325 A.D.

A brand, yes, but like Christ instituted by God: an institution to join us to Him, to unify us and to help us through a community and in communion with him, understand His truth.

Jesus Christ cannot be “disproved” or disgraced in the eyes of the true judge, God. Jesus Christ was put here on earth to help us to better identify God himself. Jesus was put here on earth to help us “see” God’s brand of love. The kind of love which chooses a path of sacrifice, of service, and of humility, even to give to those whom we have never met, or for whom we do not yet personally know.

Will our “brand” say that to others—I have given up everything for you? Will we be remembered for all eternity? Or will our brand be short lived and pass away without having left its mark? Do we need to change our identity with a new ad campaign?

God gave us life so that we would be “imitators” of Jesus, imitators of himself. But just like Puff’s is to Kleenex, when we are asked to serve God, we are asked to be “Jesus” to others.

This is what I promised at my baptism, and renewed at my confirmation: to live as Jesus did, with the same service, the same sacrifice, the same compassion and the same repenting and forgiving mercy as He lived for us.

Heavenly Father, You gave us your son, Jesus, to show us the way. You have branded me as Your child, to be Your imitator, to be You for all eternity. Help me to live my baptismal promises, by serving my spouse, my family, my neighbors, with my whole being, without thought as to what I must give up, but rather with the grace and strength, the courage and the wisdom, to live up to Your brand, to be a true “Christ”ian. Thank you for claiming me, for branding me, as Yours. Amen.

Let us be a brand that others desire. Become, and be, an asked for brand, a Jesus, this week.

Because it is in Jesus, through Jesus, and for Jesus, that we are blessed,

Charlotte