The scandal of Christ's wounds

By Pat Knight

Doubting Thomas by Caravaggio (Wikimedia Commons)

Last weekend during his sermon at the canonization of John XXIII and John Paul II, Pope Francis talked about Christ in His resurrected form. “The wounds of Jesus are a scandal, a stumbling block for faith, yet they are also the test of faith.”

These words have echoed in my head since Divine Mercy  +Sunday, as they strike so true. Christ’s wounds do cause doubt in me; how could God Himself have been injured? How could He have allowed Himself to die? Does He have limitations? Having doubt is unfortunately inevitable for a Catholic.

Even the apostles who walked, saw, and knew Jesus felt doubt. St. Thomas refused to believe in the resurrection unless he saw it for himself, Peter denied Christ three times. Losing faith doesn’t have to be an extreme. We don’t have to wake up every morning and question the existence of God to have doubt.

We have doubt whenever we worry, whenever we forget to rely completely on His will. Peter doubted when he lost trust in Jesus and fell into the water, instead of continuing to walk. It’s hard a lot of the time not to worry, but we can’t. God loves us so much that He died for us.


Pat Knight is a contributing blogger to Love is Calling.

Glory in the Lord alone

 By Michael Incorvia

Chapelle Royale, Versailles
(Wikimedia Commons)

Jeremiah gives a beautiful description of how to live and practice our faith: Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practice steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight, says the LORD.” (Jeremiah 9:23-24)

Many say these two verses of Jeremiah define the basis of our faith and religion — steadfast love of God and neighbor, the proper exercise of justice, and righteousness.  For the LORD blesses those “who observe justice, who do righteousness at all times” (Psalms 106:3), for the LORD “loves righteousness and justice” (Psalms 33:5) and “hate[s] wickedness” (Psalms 45:7).


Continue reading at Michael's blog To Love and Truth.

How do the righteous live?

 By Michael Incorvia

The Prophet Habakkuk (photo: Wikimedia Commons).

The Old and New Testaments teach that the righteous person lives by faith, freely committing their entire self to God, seeking only to know and do God’s will.

God’s reply to the plea of the Old Testament Prophet Habakkuk is, “the righteous shall live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4b).   And, in the New Testament the author of Hebrews teaches that God states, “my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him” (Hebrews 10:38).

It is through a total surrendering of self to God, desiring only to know and do His will that a righteous life is lived.   Righteousness is not achieved in a singular act of surrendering to the Lord.  Rather, righteous is achieved through series of daily actions of surrendering self to God, to know and do God’s will.  The righteous entrust their state in life, each event in the life, their entire being to the Lord.  Eternal salvation is achieved through a life lived in faith.


Michael blogs at To Love and Truth.

The four benefits of faith

By Michael Incorvia

Painting by Fra Angelico (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons).

St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that faith confers four benefits, faith: unites the soul with God; introduces the soul to eternal life; guides the present life; and helps overcome temptation.

The soul is wedded to God through faith, for “I will espouse you in faithfulness” (Hosea 2:20).  A soul lacking faith is not acceptable to the Lord, “for whatever does not proceed from faith is sin” (Romans 14:23), “[a]nd without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Hebrews 10:6).

Knowledge of God is obtained through faith and eternal life is achieved through knowing God, for “this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3).


Read the rest at Michael's blog To Love and Truth.

Spiritual gifts that are much needed today

By Mary N.


 

Happy Christmas by Viggo (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons).

It's no great secret to those of you who read my blog posts that I believe we live in "spiritually" critical times. I also believe that each and every one of us, though some may be as yet unaware of them, have special gifts from the Lord that can be a great help today in leading people back to the Lord and these gifts include charisms. Over the years, I have heard it said that these "charismatic gifts of the Holy Spirit" are no longer necessary - that they were only for the early Church in order to better spread the Good News of Jesus Christ and add to the community of believers...but this is absolutely untrue. Not only is it untrue but this false statement is detrimental to Christianity in this day and age.

The Holy Spirit is working harder than ever to bring people to Christ. Some of the reasons that we don't see the more obvious manifestations of these gifts of the Holy Spirit today and why some believe they haven't received any of these gifts may be due to:

- a lack of faith
- blockages in the spirit (this may be because we may need to forgive others...or even ourselves)
- unconfessed sin
- sinful patterns of living
- a lack of understanding the immense power of God
- a reliance on human understanding
- a lack of charity
- a refusal (can be an "unconscious" refusal) of the gifts due to false humility or because of inner    wounds that need healing


Continue reading at Mary's blog The Beautiful Gate.

The spirit of faith

 by Barbara A. Schoeneberger

The Repentant Peter by El Greco (Photo: Wikimedia Commons).

Discovering God in everything – what a daunting task! Most of us consider it impossible, which says a lot more about where we are on the path to sainthood than about God’s accessibility to His creatures.

In meditation #163 of Divine Intimacy, Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalene, O.C.D. teaches us about faith:

Faith is not limited to knowing God in Himself as the Trinity; it makes us see Him also in all creatures, in all circumstances of our life, since He is always present everywhere by His providential action.  [He is revealing Himself through the supremely difficult people in our lives, on those days when multiple things go wrong and it seems as if a dark cloud is over our heads, in the chronic illnesses, pain, and psychological disturbances most people eventually suffer if they live long enough. He is present when we suffer injustice and persecution from our governments and are victims of corporate and individual sins.]

God knows creatures as they exist in relation to Himself; and faith, showing creatures to us as dependent upon God, makes us, in this way, see and judge them somewhat as God Himself sees and judges them.

Faith teaches us that nothing, absolutely nothing, happens in the world which is not subject to divine control. It is true that God cannot will evil; and therefore He does not will sin or its consequences, such as injustice, litigation, war; but He does  permit them, simply to safeguard the liberty of His creatures. [God cannot will evil because, being all-perfect, He cannot go against His nature. His perfect love accepts only love freely given to Him and so, if someone chooses not to love Him, He will not stand in the way of that person's unloving heart.]

However, He sometimes intervenes in situations, even in those caused by sin, so as to make everything enter into His divine plan, which is ordained for His own glory and the salvation and sanctification of souls. My spirit of faith must be so real that it will convince me that no circumstance, either in my private life or in my relations with others, escapes God’s jurisdiction, which is so wise that it can draw good even out of evil. Consequently, I can see nothing apart from God; I can find Him in any person, in any situation.

Continue reading about faith at  Suffering with Joy.

Wandering desire: a reflection on John 14

by Heidi

 

 

Ascension of Jesus by Garofalo (Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

"Jesus said to his disciples: 'Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me.

"I have told you this while I am with you. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.  Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.  Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. You heard me tell you, ‘I am going away, and I will come back to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe"  (John 14:23-29).

*****

When I was a little girl my family moved to Minnesota and we joined the local Presbyterian church. It was in this church that the love of Jesus was cultivated in my heart. And though the church of my childhood lacked most of the sacraments [their baptism is recognized by the Catholic Church, ed.], they did direct us toward a relationship with Christ. I especially remember Miss Peggy reading us stories about Jesus, helping us to memorize the books of the Bible and to understand the parables through delightful songs. It was made clear to me that I could be bold like Zacchaeus or Bartimaeus and call out to Jesus. I could expect Jesus to come to me in prayer, to heal me and to save me. I prayed to Him frequently and I did hear His voice.

 As I journeyed on in life, I wandered off the narrow path, I crowded out the voice of the Lord with what seemed like more fulfilling and realistic pursuits. I remember a particular moment I had wandered so far away from Him that I stood on the brink of renouncing a belief in the historicity of the life, death and resurrection of Christ as I had learned from the Bible. I was ready to dismiss it as all spiritual concepts and nothing more. In those moments I found I had only the strength to proclaim an abstract spirituality and vague ethical guidelines. Yet that love that had once been nurtured but was now lying dormant in my soul stirred up painfully in the moment of my temptation. It was a nostalgic-like yearning for something that I could not quite put my finger on. At the same time I felt contempt for this feeling, I tried to dismiss it as foolish and unintellectual, but the feeling was persistent.

Read the rest of Heidi's story at her group blog, Journey to Wisdom.