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 ...

Growing Our Identity

Friends of Faith:

Who am I?

When Moses asked this question of God, he answered, “I am, who I am.” Ex 3:14

God’s identity is supreme, it is stripped of anything or anyone else—it is supremely one, He is supremely his own. And God’s desire for us is that we become like him, holy and without blemish, because he formed us in his image and likeness (Gn 1: 26)

Our identity, then, should not be defined by how we see ourselves or how someone else sees us, by what we own or don’t own, or by whom we know or don’t know, but rather only by how God sees us.

Yet in our human nature, all of us try to identify ourselves either by what we do, by what we have or by whom we know or are associated with (I am an accountant, he is the Chicago Cubs pitcher, they are the ones with the child who …., she’s the one that wears the fancy hat or drives the red sports car, they’re the ones with the mansion of a house or a great “man cave,” or they’re the ones who we always see with … at the football game).

And when I lose my ability to be an accountant, when the ball player loses his ability to throw a ball 99 miles an hour, when a child can’t or doesn’t have the desire to achieve all that we thought they should or could, when our car is wrecked or our house is blown over by a tornado, or when our friends move on – who are we then, who do we become without all this stuff, without all that we do, or without someone we thought we could depend on?

“And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow.  And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up.  Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil.  It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.  Whoever has ears ought to hear.” Mt 13: 2-9

This parable isn’t just about what we do, but rather it is about growing our identity in and through our faith, about opening our ears and hearts to listen to God’s word (the seed) to be sure that it falls on rich ground (us.)

God’s word is like pure refreshing water. We can treasure and accept it like a cleansing rain or try to control it and make our own—eroding the soil and his truth, rejecting it as somehow polluted because we believe man’s ways are better than God’s ways.

I am asked to examine where the richness of my faith lies: in rich soil, Him, or choked out by the rocks and weeds of power or greed. I am asked to look for, recognize, and pull out the weeds and rocks in my life by examining and prioritizing Him over the materialism which overtakes the growth of the identity he desires for me.

I desire roots which are firmly planted in the truths of His church, nurtured by prayer and formation, and which will allow me to overcome the peer pressures of an immoral society.

I hope to grow my identity upwards, so that the fruit I am gifted with will become pollen for others by evangelization and the spreading of His good news.   

Heavenly Father, You are the greatest farmer, with seed so rich it fills my every need.  Refresh me with the pure, true and living water of Your Spirit. Help me to weed out the impurities of my life and strip myself of earthly riches, of the rocks and thorns which overshadow the identity you desire. May I bear fruit not of human materialism, but of a love which cares for and serves others. Help me to become more like your “I am,” created anew: holy, pure, humble and grateful to live in this, your heavenly garden. Amen.

Is my soul growing richer in God’s identity each day? Will I bear heavenly fruit?

May we reach out to each other to grow in faith together,
Blessings,
Charlotte