Finding God--or being found by God?

By Colleen Spiro

The Prayer of the Spinner by Gerard Dou (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)

I was hoping to talk about something else besides moving in this podcast. But my life is consumed with this right now and God always comes to us where we are.

As you may already know by now, we have been in the process of moving for the past several weeks. The first month was spent searching for a new home as well as packing all our stuff in-between working and church and ministry and such things as that. And putting down deposits and changing our address and well… you know the drill.

The last week has been spent unpacking. In other words, we are un-doing what we spent weeks doing. It would seem pretty funny if we were not so tired.

Never mind trying to figure out where everything should go and what looks right and what doesn’t and the storage problems. Oh my.

My writing life has certainly suffered through all of this but I couldn’t worry about it. I was too involved. Too focused on the task at hand.

Single-minded you might say.

Now I would like to tell you that my prayer life has not suffered at all. But it has. My usual silent time alone with the Lord has just not happened.

I have gone to Mass and I have prayed for Help quite a few times, but not that daily time spend in silence with the Lord. And oh, how I miss it. I cannot wait to get back to it.

But a funny thing happened on the way to me not having my usual prayer life. The Lord was always with me just the same. And not only did he stay with me, he let me know about it.


Read the rest or listen to the podcast here.

God's promise to me and to all

By Colleen Spiro

Ascension of the Lord by Lanchares (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons).

Connie Rossini wrote in an earlier post, "Everyone has an idiolect - a collection of personal speech habits that is different from anyone else's. Have you ever thought about your spiritual idiolect?  Since your soul is unique, you have a personal way of speaking to God that no one else completely shares."

I pondered this question for weeks. How do I speak to God? How do I communicate with him? How do I relate to God? What feeds my spiritual life?

My first thought was the word "Listen."

Listen is the first word of the Rule of St. Benedict. As a Benedictine oblate, I try to listen to God's voice. I listen to God's voice within my heart. I listen to God's voice in others' voices. I listen to God's voice in the events of my daily life.

What is more delightful than the voice of the Lord calling to us?
 St. Benedict

My second thought was the word "Look."

I look for God everywhere. I look expecting to find Him. I never ask the question  - where is God? I know He is present. And because I know He is present, it is just a matter of "how" He is present. How will I find God? Where will I find God?

When I was a child, one of my favorite movies was the Easter movie, "King of Kings." I loved that last line spoken by Jesus - "And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” (Mt 28:20)


Continue reading at Colleen's blog Thoughts on Grace.

Are you following the Holy Spirit or the world's spirit?

by Colleen Spiro

Banquet Still Life by Abraham van Beyeren (photo credit: Wikipedia Loves Art project).

In a recent homily, Pope Frances said, "… We cannot pick and mix, no? A bit of the Holy Spirit, a bit of the spirit of this world… No! It’s one thing or the other.”

Pope Francis said that we need to open our hearts up to the consolation of the Holy Spirit so that this consolation, "allows us to understand these commandments."

So we either follow the world's teachings. Or we follow Jesus' teachings.

One thing or the other.

One of the phrases used in recent years is "cafeteria" Catholics. This term is used to describe those Catholics who pick and choose what church teachings that they are going to follow. "Pick and mix," to use the pope's words.

We do not always understand the teachings. We do not always understand the why or how or what of them. Perhaps we have a strong opinion that goes against the teaching.
But our opinion is not what is needed here.

Prayer. Prayer is needed. Prayer to the Holy Spirit to help us understand the Church's teaching, to help us inform our conscience. To help us know - which spirit are we following? The Holy Spirit? Or the world's spirit?

"If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don't like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself." - St. Augustine


Colleen originally posted this at her blog  Thoughts on Grace.

Can we remember the love story?

by Colleen Spiro

The Works of Mercy by David Teniers (photo in Public Domain).

I love this recent quote from Pope Francis in an April homily -

"We, the women and men of the Church, we are in the middle of a love story: each of us is a link in this chain of love. And if we do not understand this, we have understood nothing of what the Church is.”

Do we understand what the Church is? Do we remember that we are in the "middle of a love story"?

Some comments and questions don’t sound like it:
"The Church needs to come into the 21st century."
"We should allow birth control."
"When are women going to be ordained?"

I actually read a comment from a woman who said that she was going to leave the Church if it did not start ordaining women. I think she missed the love story part.

The Church is not a democracy. Majority does not rule here. We don’t get to vote on changing the Ten Commandments, for heaven's sake.

Have we forgotten who is in charge here?

"Christ said, 'I am the Truth'; he did not say 'I am the custom.'" -St. Toribio (1538-1606)

And then there is the infighting that has really driven me crazy. Disagreements are one thing, but some people are very uncharitable. Even Pope Francis, in a speech to the cardinals before his election as pope, referred to the harsh comments and "hypercriticism" being found in blogs and comment boxes.


Continue reading at Colleen's blog  Thoughts on Grace

Receiving our Joy

by Colleen Spiro

The Virgin of the Host by Ingres (Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons).

 


Pope Francis was recently quoted as saying that "Sometimes these melancholic Christians' faces have more in common with pickled peppers than the joy of having a beautiful life"(homily, May 10, 2013).

I once heard a speaker say that too many people walk around church like they have been baptized in "pickle juice." Where is the joy, she asked?

Several years ago my husband and I were attending Mass at a church out of town. It was tourist season and the parish was holding an extra Mass in their parish hall. During communion, we were seated behind one of the priests distributing communion so I had a good look at everyone's face as they came up to receive the Body of Christ. Almost every single person had a sour look. Pickle juice.

It was my turn to ask, Where is the joy?

Perhaps many of us think that looking reverent means looking serious. Nothing wrong with that, but still, I think of what St. John Vianney said:

"Without the divine Eucharist there would be no happiness in this world; life would be unbearable. When we receive Holy Communion we receive our joy and happiness." 


Continue reading at Thoughts on Grace.

Wrapping our hearts around Jesus

by Colleen Spiro

Christ with the Eucharist by Juan de Juanes (Photo Credit: Wikipedia).

 
Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life " (John 6:68).

To whom shall we go?

If we turn away from Jesus, to whom shall we go? Who has the answers? Who has the words of everlasting life?

Sometimes we have a crisis of faith. Sometimes we do not know what to believe or who to listen to. But if we turn away from Jesus, to whom shall we go?

When the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church first hit several years ago, I wasn’t sure what to do or where to go or what to think. I am an incest survivor and this hit too close to home. I felt totally betrayed. My heart was breaking. Some people were leaving the Church. Should I?

To whom shall I go?

I knew I didn't want to leave the Church, but I was lost and confused and in a great deal of pain. Every month I went to see my spiritual director, a priest at a neighboring parish. Every month I ranted and I raved and I cried. Month after month, he listened. He listened and he supported and he acknowledged my pain.
 
I went to the Blessed Sacrament as often as I could. I sat and I prayed and I cried. I went to Mass as often as I could and I received Jesus.

At a time when people were leaving the Church and bashing the priesthood, I found Jesus in the Eucharist and I found Jesus in a priest. And slowly I began to heal.

To whom shall we go? Jesus. 

Jesus has the words of eternal life. Jesus is the One we can count on. Jesus is the One who loves us and will never betray us.

We do not always understand how the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is even possible. It is beyond our ability to reason out. We cannot wrap our minds around it. So instead, we wrap our hearts around it.  We wrap our hearts around the Eucharist. We wrap our hearts around Jesus. And we just believe. 

We don’t understand, but we believe.

Who else has the words of eternal life?

Dear Jesus, in my heart of hearts I know, you have the words of everlasting life. Help me to keep my faith. Help me to always trust in you. I love you, Jesus. Thank you for loving me. Amen.

 
This was originally posted at Colleen's blog  Thoughts on Grace. Colleen also writes at  Catholic Prayer Life.