Happy birthday, Mary, teach me to be lowly

By Heidi

 

I am re-posting a reflection I wrote a couple years ago, May the Mother of God bless us all today with her motherly love and guidance into the heart of her Son Jesus!

Today is the birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Mary, whose immaculate conception was celebrated 9 months ago, was born on this September day.  And as is the way of the Lord, this monumental day, this wondrous birth went quietly by in time, and still goes quietly by in our lives, we could easily miss it. In fact, we often do miss it.  Yet, this feast day invites us to ponder the woman whose life modeled most fully how to allow the word of the Lord to be conceived in us and born through us, in our own words and deeds.  Insignificance and lowliness are not barriers to these wonders, they are requirements.

Which is good, because  I do not have much to offer. I am a Catholic who fails a lot in living my faith.  I am a wife who fails a lot at being a wife.  I am a mother, who fails a lot with her children (I have two crying, fighting and whining in my presence right now - thankfully they are only mildly annoying me, so I am ignoring them...).  And, in a culture that is pragmatic, cliquey and materialistic, I am a stay-at-home mother of 8 who writes for an insignificant blog because I perceived a call to do it from Him, no money in it, no huge following, no "career" to validate me - nothing.  I am nothing.  And oh, how I have caused myself and others around me much pain in fighting that truth for most of my life.

Continue reading at Journey to Wisdom.

John the Baptist: bridging the Old and New Testaments

By Heidi

June 24 is the Solemnity of The Nativity of Saint John the Baptist.  Today we celebrate the birth of the man who, as Saint Augustine tells us, “represents the boundaries between the two testaments, the old and the new.”  All of the events surrounding the birth of the Baptist suggest that the obscurity of the Old Testament prophesies are to be revealed and illuminated by the one who John is to proclaim, who John had already been proclaiming as he leaped in the womb of his mother Elizabeth at Mary’s arrival.  Leaping like David dancing before the Ark of the Covenant.  Even from the womb John points us past the signs to the ultimate realities.  This is why we celebrate his birth with a Solemnity!

John points us out of the wilderness, out of confusion, to the fulfillment of the words of Isaiah, Hosea, Jeremiah and the prophets.  Words that often were mysterious, and attain their deepest meaning only in the light of Christ’s salvific mission.  And us too, he points us past the mundane to Jesus, in whose light even the most obscure life is elevated and glorified.

Of course evil hates clarity and light.  The enemy of your soul will always try to confuse your vocation, obscure your accomplishments and highlight your failings. Even John the Baptist experienced moments of confusion and doubt as he faced down evil in his martyrdom (Matthew 11:2).  From his place of imprisonment John lived out what he had been preaching to all who would listen:   He turned to the Lord; he asked Him for reassurance and in the Lord’s response he was satisfied.  Even in his doubt he fulfilled his mission which is so beautifully portrayed in so many paintings;  in sending his messengers to Jesus, John was pointing to Him and showing us all the way out of our own confusion and self-doubt.


Continue reading at Journey to Wisdom.

Stretch upward to the sun

By Heidi

The Ascension by West (Wikimedia Commons)

"The truth is that the Son of Man was revealed as Son of God in a more perfect and transcendent way once he had entered into his Father’s glory; he now began to be indescribably more present in his divinity to those from whom he was further removed in his humanity. A more mature faith enabled their minds to stretch upward to the Son in his equality with the Father; it no longer needed contact with Christ’s tangible body, in which as man he is inferior to the Father. For while his glorified body retained the same nature, the faith of those who believed in him was now summoned to heights where, as the Father’s equal, the only-begotten Son is reached not by physical handling but by spiritual discernment." From a sermon by Saint Leo the Great, pope

Time to begin the Pentecost Novena!  Spiritual discernment is something that I pray for always, and it is a good intention for this Novena.  This is the discernment to follow the direction of the Spirit, and not my own -- or the worlds.  The disordered desires that we all have very often convince us that our comfort and our personal honor are enough to guide us to make decisions that are right for us.  These decisions cannot draw out of us great love for others, but imprison us to lesser loves.

Let the words of Saint Leo inspire us all to stretch our minds upward, and order our desires on what will draw each one of us into the heights of the Father's love.

Peace and many graces to all of you!


Heidi originally posted this on her blog Journey to Wisdom.

Show us the path of life

By Heidi

(Wikimedia Commons).

That very day, the first day of the week, two of Jesus’ disciples were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus, and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred. And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.  (Luke 24:13-16).

The disciples on the road to Emmaus are discouraged and downcast, heading away from Jerusalem:  The site of the resurrection, the place where they are to go and await the Lord.  They have heard the rumors of resurrection, but they cannot believe after such a disastrous and seemingly definitive end to the life and mission of Jesus.  Their hope is crushed, their courage has failed them. Have you ever found yourself wandering away from the path set before you by the Lord in the wake of the sorrows, trails and sinfulness of this world?  Jesus, who will never abandon us, meets the disciples where they are and probes their hearts.  He gives them His mild rebuke: “Oh how foolish you are!  How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke!”  He then gently instructs and redirects them with the power of His Word.

 You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.  Psalm 16:11

If there is one thing that we spiritual sojourners constantly face it is the the disorientation of our own sinfulness.  Walking toward the Light can be discouraging, like driving into the sun, every spot on our windshield shows.  I often find myself tossed to and fro between despairing self-condemnation and blinding self-justification.  Both extremes will divert us from our journey into a deeper relationship with the Lord.  We fail to move with conviction, or sometimes without our complete awareness, we change our direction and move farther away from the Light at the slightest failure.  Like the two disciples, in times of discouragement and sorrow, sometimes we discover we are on a path heading away from our true destination. 


Continue reading at Heidi's blog Journey to Wisdom.

More than just a nice idea

By Heidi

The Conscience of Judas (Wikimedia Commons)

“So Judas took the morsel and left at once. And it was night.” John 13:30
 
John’s imagery is always so clear.   When we leave Him we enter into darkness, when we cling to Him we remain in the light. But what were Judas’ intentions?  Had he convinced himself that what he was doing was good? 

The movie Jesus of Nazareth portrays a Judas who wants to see Jesus’ ideas and philosophies advanced.  He knows he is going behind Jesus’ back, he knows there is treachery involved, but he has convinced himself this is the only way for Jesus’ message to get out.  It is a sympathetic portrayal, and one that should cause all of us to meditate on how we allow Jesus to shape us.  Do we cling to abstractions of Jesus and His message?  Do we reduce Him to an impersonal intellectual morsel?

Yes, the teachings of Christ are Truth, and we must always strive to live it and teach it.  But Jesus is more than just an idea, He is body, blood, soul and divinity.  His Word is not tidbits of wise sayings, it is living with power to transform you. We cannot evangelize the world if Jesus is just an abstract morsel of goodness, we must have a relationship with Him, then we remain in His light and let Him live in us and breath through us, to draw all mankind to Himself.

Close your eyes and lay your head on His chest and listen to His beating heart.  Remain in His light always!


 
Heidi writes at Journey to Wisdom.

Simon, do you love me?

By Heidi

Christ's Charge to Peter by Raphael (Wikimedia Commons)

 

 

Do you pray with the Scriptures?  When you read them, do you allow a word or a scene from the passage to speak to you in your heart and draw out from you a prayer?  It is essential for each of us enter into prayer in this way.  Yet, it is a direction that many "voices" - from the world, and from your own ego - will dissuade you from; because it will reveal your idols, your weaknesses.  

 

The Lord seeks to lead us out of those "Egypts" in each one of our souls.  To do so demands much; it demands a love that endures all things, hopes all things and to be completely truthful, I do not have that love yet.  That is important for me to understand, not for me to despair but so that I can live in His truth, endure in His light and be drawn up into a more perfect love by following His voice.

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?”  Simon Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”  Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He then said to Simon Peter a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”  Simon Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”  Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.”  Jesus said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”  Peter was distressed that Jesus had said to him a third time, ‘Do you love me?’ and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”  Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.  Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God.  And when he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.” 
John 21: 1-19

Continue reading at Heidi's blog Journey to Wisdom.

Into your hands I commend my spirit

By Heidi

The Denial of St. Peter by Caravaggio (Wikimedia Commons).

"Though all may have their faith in you shaken, mine will never be.” Matthew 26:33

It has been a tough Lent for me, a long dry spell in prayer has continued, though not completely without respite.  Along with that a family situation suddenly came upon us that will continue to demand much prayer, love and sacrifice into an uncertain future.  And here I am with nothing to offer, not a thing. 

One day, as my husband and I were waiting on some news with our loved one, I reflected on how empty I felt, how impoverished I was in this particular situation.  How impoverished I had always been.  I stand at a crucial moment, like Peter at his denial of the Lord, relying on my own store of love and fidelity and I find am empty! In that emptiness, fear, resentment and bitterness were threatening to invade. “Lord!”  I cried, “I have no love!” 

The Lord GOD is my help,
therefore I am not disgraced;
I have set my face like flint,
knowing that I shall not be put to shame. 
Isaiah 50:7

It was a Thursday, so, since I had nothing to do but wait, I prayed the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary.  Oh, because of my dryness in prayer I tried to distract myself with other things, but in the end I relented to the call to pray. 

I don’t think I ever finished it, because as I prayed the second Luminous mystery, The Wedding of Cana I began to realize that Our Blessed Mother was helping me to ask for His love to minister to this situation, and in fact to overflow into my past failures to endure in love and faithful patience.  In turn, I was being invited to wait on the Lord.  How can one trust such an intuition?  How can one cling to it with nothing to see as proof it will come to fruition?


Continue reading at Heidi's blog Journey to Wisdom.

She left Samuel there

By Heidi

 

In those days,

Hannah brought Samuel with her,

along with a three-year-old bull, and ephah of flour, and a skin of wine,

and presented him at the temple of the LORD in Shiloh.

After the boy's father had sacrificed the young bull, 

Hannah, his mother, approached Eli and said:

"Pardon, my lord!

As you live, my lord,

I am the woman who stood near you here, praying to the LORD.

I prayed for this child, and the LORD granted my request.

Now I, in turn, give him to the LORD;

as long as he lives, he shall be dedicated to the LORD."

She left Samuel there.

  Sm 1:24-28

"She left Samuel there"

That last line is a difficult one for me to read. Did he cry? Did she long to take him back? Why would such a sacrifice be needed? This child, Samuel, factors big in salvation history and he is close to the Lord in a mysterious way! He hears the Lord and he responds to His voice, maybe it is because his mother's generosity and trust in the Lord have removed obstacles of fear and doubt.  Me on the other hand, well, my fear of pain as well as my satisfaction with the world sometime prevent me from really listening to the Lord and from wholly offering myself to Him.  As I struggle with that last line, I am being asked to open my heart, to feel the longing and sorrow Hannah must have had in leaving her much loved son and trust in the mysterious majesty of God!  A sacrifice made with trusting love is re-payed with unfathomable generosity that flows from generation to generation.

Withhold nothing from God!

Read Hannah's canticle to God after she has left Samuel with Eli.  Though her sacrifice was costly, she knows God is at work.  Hannah's canticle foreshadows Mary's, who also holds nothing back from God. Neither woman lets the fear of pain or gnawing anxiety over impending loss harden their hearts or dampen their joy. They do not protect themselves from their sorrow by withholding their love. This makes the pain of their loss more intense I think, yet it also disposed them to receive the intense love of God all the more. Their whole lives are an offering to God and their hearts are always in trusting prayer. They understand that all that they have is God's and that nothing can be withheld from Him. They trust in The Lord who fulfills His promises to even the barren, or a lowly young women of Nazareth.

Continue reading at Heidi's blog  Journey to Wisdom.

Come and worship Christ, the newborn King!

By Heidi

The Wilton Dyptich (photo credit:
Wikimedia Commons).

This past November an Episcopalian priest was expressing his hesitation to celebrate the feast of Christ the King in an Omaha World Herald feature called “From the Pulpit”.  This priest felt that king was too much of a political term with too great a connection with oppression and exclusion.  To his mind this title obscured Christ more than it revealed Him.  He had alternative titles that he thought more relevant and worthy of a feast day; one being ( I kid you not) “Christ the Includer”.  Yes indeed, I can  feel the banality of that title suck the passion out of every deep yearning of my soul.  In one fell phrase this man reduced the great Christian narrative of the return of the King to restore His good creation to a platitude of inclusiveness. What small hopes we have, our hearts' desire is to be part of the crowd. 

Angels from the realms of glory,
Wing your flight o’er all the earth;
Ye who sang creation’s story
Now proclaim Messiah’s birth.

Don’t let your desires be reduced to platitudes, don’t let your hopes be tethered to worldly ideals.  Read the Infancy Narratives! Read of how God subverts the worldly narrative of Pax Romana under Caesar Augustus by sending the true King, who comes in quiet obscurity, without an army of men – but with a “multitude of heavenly hosts” .  Remember that throughout all history great worldly political leaders come and go, but the representative of the true King, the successor of Peter, is still here in the flesh.  And know that this King is not a distant impersonal King, he is the King who came to rescue me – ME -- Daydreamer and nobody that I am, and He is, in fact, what all my hopes and dreams are ultimately directed to!  And He came for you in the same way!  Ask Him to show you, trust that He will.

Continue reading at Journey to Wisdom.

Rejoice!

By Heidi

Joy!  That is the message this Sunday.  We light the pink candle, and we look to our joyous celebration of Christ’s birth as well as to His second coming, which we wait for amidst the groaning labor pains of all creation. Even in suffering our joy is at hand. 

This is why I love Enya’s version of O Come, O come Emmanuel.  It has that soft, mournful tone of a world that is subjected to futility, a world that longs for redemption.  And echoing in the background, as if from somewhere outside of time you hear: Rejoice! Gaudete!

And we need to know that our rejoicing is not a glib refusal to accept the harsh realities of our day, but an enduring hope that we can indeed reject the concerns of the flesh, which lead to death, and receive the Spirit of God, which is not enslaved by fear:  "For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, 'Abba, Father!'" Romans 8:15

 
Continue reading at Heidi's blog Journey to Wisdom.

Will you accept His invitation today?

By Heidi 
 

Invitation to  the Great Banquet by Luyken (Wikipedia).

  

The parable of the Great Banquet in the Gospel of Luke brings back memories of my Presbyterian Sunday School and Wednesday release time instruction.  How many Bible stories I remember because we sang them! 

He replied to him, “A man gave a great dinner to which he invited many. When the time for the dinner came,he dispatched his servant to say to those invited,‘Come, everything is now ready.’ But one by one, they all began to excuse themselves. The first said to him,‘I have purchased a field and must go to examine it; ask you, consider me excused. ’And another said, ‘I have purchased five yoke of oxen and am on my way to evaluate them;I ask you, consider me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have just married a woman,and therefore I cannot come.’

The servant went and reported this to his master. Then the master of the house in a rage commanded his servant,‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in here the poor and the crippled,the blind and the lame.’The servant reported, ‘Sir, your orders have been carried out and still there is room.’The master then ordered the servant,‘Go out to the highways and hedgerows and make people come in that my home may be filled. For, I tell you, none of those men who were invited will taste my dinner.’”

What puzzles me most about this parable is that is seems that the neighbors invited initially said yes!  But, in absence of a true and intimate friendship, they really meant yes, unless....

It is so important to take time everyday to pray and to develop the capacity to know and respond to His voice.  To order my actions, my hopes, my dreams and my ambitions to Christ.  And, oh boy, did I need this reminder, because life has been craaaaazzzzzy lately (on top of everything else:  potty training …need I say more?).  Being that I am not an overly organized person this has caused major disruptions, and there is a pressure to jettison any activity that is not necessary or “productive”.  My high hopes for the day are for dry pants (that would be for Max)  and dinner on the table before bedtime, how on earth can I think of more than that!!


Continue reading at Journey to Wisdom.

The call from Narnia

by Heidi

Map of the Narnian world by David Bedell, Wikimedia Commons.

CCC 30: “Let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.” Although man can forget God or reject Him, He never ceases to call every man to seek Him, so as to find life and happiness. But this search for God demands of man every effort of intellect, a sound will, “an upright heart,” as well as the witness of others who teach him to seek God.

"It started out as a feeling,..." 

Our family recently watched Prince Caspian on our weekly movie night, and I guess I was in one of those nostalgic moods, because as I was watching the ending, and as the theme music was swelling, I was transported back to my childhood days.  Days when I deeply longed to find the portal that would take me to Narnia, or some other wonderful world.  A place where I could not only see wonders, but be a part of them.  A place I was certain existed in my heart, though I had no way to access it.

and then turned into a quiet hope..."

Then came Junior High, and it was in that time that I learned that what I really should long for was to be popular and to not make a fool of myself.  (In Junior High you make a fool out of yourself by divulging that you have spent more than a few afternoons sitting in your grandmother's closets --she had the closets with the best prospects for adventure-- hoping beyond hope that a door would open up on a world where heroism and valor, beauty and great love were things that could be attained in actuality and not just in the imagination.)

Very quickly I moved on to more rational, down-to-earth, and attainable pursuits. I focused my longings, even my spiritual ones, on things that could be found "under the sun." These worldly things pretend to be just as wondrous and, all to often, seem to be all there is to satisfy deep longings.  They stifle the call of eternity. Then adulthood comes and duties and responsibilities shrink our hopes even more.

I have seen the business that God has given to mortals to be busied about.  God has made everything appropriate to its time, but has put the timeless into their hearts so they cannot find out, from beginning to end, the work which God has done. Ecclesiastes 3:10-11 

"which then turned into a quiet thought..."

How quickly timeless yearnings in our hearts are diverted!   I know that much of our daily life is made up of mundane and often dreary duties, (I am doing laundry and changing diapers as I am writing this so, believe me, I know!) but even in the midst of this concrete, material world every one has moments when you know there is something more.  What do you do when that little feeling of God's wonder and mystery tugs at your soul?  Respond to it!  Even for just a second acknowledge that you are being called to place you deepest hope in eternity, to hunger for it -- to believe in it!

"which then turned into a quiet Word..."

 

Continue reading at Journey to Wisdom.

Receiving the Kingdom like a child

By Heidi

King David in Prayer by de Grebber (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons).

LORD, my heart is not proud;
nor are my eyes haughty.
I do not busy myself with great matters,
with things too sublime for me.
Rather, I have stilled my soul,
Like a weaned child to its mother,
weaned is my soul.
Israel, hope in the LORD,
now and forever.

Sometimes I read this Psalm 131 and I feel great peace and trust.   Sometimes I think, Yeah, easy for King David to say, he has the Lord's blessing, he is King and loved by his people.  He accomplished great things, and pursued great marvels.  I am nothing like that, but I want, I want, I want.  And that is when I take my eyes off of the Lord and focus on myself.  But in His great patience He waits, and soon I return, realizing that in all he did, King David had a heart for God. Only in resting with Him and then receiving His grace will I truly be able to see that my wants all are fulfilled in Him.  Even in my daily tasks, like feeding a little two-year old boy lunch and putting him down for a nap, if it is done with a heart for the Lord, it is truly a task great and marvelous that is laid out just for me.

Childlike faith is the key.  Humbly accepting the tasks that God has laid before you, not without zeal or passion, but without grasping at honor and earthly glory (and running back to His mercy when you realize that those desires have crept into your motivation for serving God).   All reward is sought from the Father.

And God places examples of this childlike faith before our eyes all the time; because He is a Father, and He knows we need encouragement.  Last fall as I was waiting for my preschool daughter’s dance class to start I was entranced by a vision of childlike discipleship.


Continue reading at  Journey to Wisdom.

Let God probe the depths of your heart

 By Heidi

Woe unto You, Scribes and Pharisees by Tissot (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)

The readings for the last week of August have featured Psalm 139, a Psalm that I love.  It is especially valuable since the Gospel has been Matthew 23 where Jesus declares “woe to you scribes and Pharisees”, and the first reading has included Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians in which he explains his motives for his ministry.

The contrasts could not be more stark, Paul is firm in his proclaiming the Good News; he is seeking to please God and not men. So he endures the rejection of many and the frailty of the communities that he is ministering to with love and with honesty.  He allows the Lord to search his heart, to probe his motives so that he does not try to accomplish God’s work through deception, through flattery, or that he is not merely seeking praise and attention from other men.  His love and his motivation are from God, with whom he draws his strength from an ongoing and intimate relationship.

The Pharisees use the law to bolster themselves, to solidify their power, “neglecting the weightier things of the law:  Judgment, mercy and fidelity.”  Jesus' words cut like a knife through the exterior delusions of sanctity to reveal that they are filled with “evildoing and hypocrisy.”  They are not motivated by love of God, though they claim they are, and may even believe they are.


Finish reading at Journey to Wisdom.

Though in sight of men he suffered...

 By Heidi

Salome with the Head of the Baptist by Caravaggio (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons).

The title of this post is a quote from the third chapter of Wisdom, and it is fitting that Saint Bede the Venerable used it in his homily of St. John, you can read it in the Office of Readings for the Memorial of the Beheading (or Passion) of John the Baptist. As I was reading through Saint Bede’s homily today this paragraph just stopped me in my tracks.

“There is no doubt that blessed John suffered imprisonment and chains as a witness to our Redeemer, whose forerunner he was, and gave his life for Him.  His persecutor had demanded not that he should deny Christ, only that he should keep silent about the truth.  Nevertheless, he died for Christ.  Does Christ not say:  “I am the truth”?  Therefore, because John shed his blood for the truth, he surely died for Christ.” 

Things have not changed have they?!  Usually we are not asked to outright deny Christ, we are simply expected to be quiet about Him.  However, do not be surprised if our silent compliance leads to the demand to deny Our Lord explicitly.  Which makes today a good day to ask for the intercession of Saint John the Baptist, for the wisdom to know when to speak, and the courage to follow through.  The concluding prayer for this powerful Memorial is:

O God, who wills that Saint John the Baptist should go ahead of your Son both in his birth and in his death, grant that, as he died a Martyr for truth and justice, we, too, may fight hard for the confession of what you teach.  Through our Lord Jesus Christ your son, one God for ever and ever. Amen.

I pray that all of us grow in the courage to place our hope in the immortal Truth, who is Christ.

Heidi blogs at Journey to Wisdom.

Is the Lord your King?

by Heidi

Ancient of Days by William Blake (photo credit:Wikipedia).

What does it take to awaken awe and wonder of the Lord? What keeps you from running to all the petty little idols surrounding us that promise so much, but rob you of your eternal inheritance?

The Lord is king, let the earth rejoice, let all the coastlands be glad. Cloud and darkness are his raiment; his throne, justice and right. A fire prepares his path; it burns up his foes on every side. His lightnings light up the world, the earth trembles at the sight. The mountains melt like wax before the Lord of all the earth. The skies proclaim his justice; all peoples see his glory. Let those who serve idols be ashamed, those who boast of their worthless gods. All you spirits worship him. Psalm 97:1-7

According to my Divine Office app this psalm foretells worldwide salvation and that all nations will believe in Christ. One of the things that I love about praying the Divine Office is how it helps to stir up awe. Even when my personal prayer is dry, the Psalms that are prayed in the Office always lift up my heart with wonder, if even for just a moment.  I cannot ponder them enough.

As our contemporary culture continues to embrace materialistic philosophical views of the world, I love being reminded, “the earth rejoices and the coastlands are glad.” I love how the phrase: ‘cloud and darkness are his raiment ‘increases my wonder for the mystery that is Our Lord. It both establishes God’s absolute authority over all, and reveals how the shabby materialistic philosophies are blind to the great transcendent dignity of man.

To reduce our humanity to biological chance goes against everything that we are naturally oriented to.  The ancients pagans were much wiser than we are in our present technologically advanced age when they saw divinity in the sun, the moon and the stars.  They may have missed the mark in their worship, but our lot in life with everything around us reduced to only what can be quantified and measured is so much more demeaning to our true nature.  We are no less blood thirsty than those who sacrificed humans on altars to false gods --  we sacrifice our children in abortion for petty comforts.


Continue reading at Heidi's blog  Journey to Wisdom.

Hope for the remnant of God's people

by Heidi

The Tribute Money by Titian (photo in Public Domain)

  

The word “remnant“ has been coming to my mind a lot lately and I have been trying to write a reflection on it for days, but I could not pull it together (admittedly this is a frequent problem for me).  I keep brushing the word aside thinking that the word remnant seems a tad over-dramatic. Is our culture dying so quickly that those who are still faithful to the Church’s positions on the issues of marriage, contraception and abortion in our Catholic churches are already a mere remnant (even if the pews seem full)?  Surely that is overstating the case!

Yet in headline after headline, and in discussion after discussion, with Catholic individuals who ought to know better, I am finding that adhering to the Natural Law (the Ten Commandments), particularly in political views, is not even considered!  Many ( though not all) of my fellow parishioners use a soft sentimentality as the basis for many political positions, how you feel governs your stance.  Anything that causes discomfort ought to be re-defined. This is dangerous, because so many of these individuals are willingly handing over to Caesar the powers to bind or loose moral teachings – and if you try to make an argument against that, you are completely misunderstood, because so many lack an understanding of what liberty and freedom really mean!!!  Are we narrowing down to a remnant of faithful Catholics?

Then the Supreme Court’s ruling striking down DOMA and dismissing Prop 8 came down, not unexpected, but still quite ominous, and after reading Elizabeth Scalia’s excellent article titled “The ‘Party’ is victor; Time to save souls and churches”, I realized I was not being dramatic at all.  It was the Spirit that place that word in my heart.  Not to cause despair, but to show me that the seeds of renewal are even now being sown.

“So too at this present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace” (Romans 11:5).

The word remnant first popped into my head during the June 7th rehearsal dinner for my son Matthew and his then bride–to-be Grace. They were married on June 8th (Yes! It was the feast of the Immaculate Heart-- isn't that awesome!) after a real courtship that was based on discernment of God’s will for them.

These two have a profound respect, for each other and their deepening love, for parental authority and a commitment to Christ through their Catholic faith. In fact, it was their Catholic faith that came shining through all the wonderful parties and joy-filled celebrations. Especially in the beautiful Nuptial Mass, where the Gospel was chanted by a newly ordained transitional deacon and Panis Angelicus, Ave Verum Corpus and Gounod's Ave Maria were beautifully sung. The Mass and all of the celebrations that surrounded it were directly and indirectly proclaiming what marriage truly is: A covenant that is “ordered to the good of the couple, as well as the generation and education of children.” (CCC 1660) Marriage was not just about the two of them, it was a bridging of the past generations to the future ones. It was about the obligations of these two to build up a Culture of Life through their vows to each other and to God.

Both Grace’s mother and I heard from guests who felt renewed and filled with hope after the wedding. It was so joyfully Catholic! Three generations of the priesthood participated in celebrating it and at least one other young man was undertaking serious discernment for a religious vocation. And it was at the rehearsal dinner that I looked around the room and felt the hope and promise of renewal that God is always offering us! I thought here ,in this room, are some of the remnant, the faithful remnant in an increasingly post-Christian world. God always leaves a remnant. And what a joyful remnant it was! I wish I had words for my gratitude.

 Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.  Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created.  And You shall renew the face of the earth.

Continue reading Heidi's reflection at  Journey to Wisdom.

"Do you love me?" the Lord asks you

by Heidi

 

Jesus Returning the Keys to Peter  by Ingres (Photo: Wikimedia)

Do you pray with the Scriptures?  When you read them, do you allow a word or a scene from the passage to speak to you in your heart and draw out from you a prayer?  It is essential for each of us enter into prayer in this way.  Yet, it is a direction that many "voices" - from the world, and from your own ego - will dissuade you from; because it will reveal your idols, your weaknesses.  The Lord seeks to lead us out of those "Egypts" in each one of our souls.  To do so demands much; it demands a love that endures all things, hopes all things and to be completely truthful, I do not have that love yet.  That is important for me to understand, not for me to despair but so that I can live in His truth, endure in His light and be drawn up into a more perfect love by following His voice.  

Consider this passage from John 21: 1-19:


               When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of
               John, do you love me more than these?”  Simon Peter answered him, “Yes,
               Lord, you know that I love you.”  Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He
               then said to Simon Peter a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love
               me?”  Simon Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
               Jesus said to him,“Tend my sheep.”  Jesus said to him the third time, “Simon,
               son of John, do you love me?” Peter was distressed that Jesus had said to
               him a third time,‘Do  you love me?’ and he said to him, “Lord, you know
               everything; you know that I love you.”  Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.
               Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress
               yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch
              out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do
              not want to go.” He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify
              God. And when he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.”


I need to live in His truth, I need to know who I am and  who I am called to be in His truth.  I need it desperately, and our whole culture is dying for lack of this truth.  In this Gospel, through the questions of Jesus, Peter is taken back into the bitter, memory of his betrayal of the Lord, in order to receive the profound, unfathomable mercy of Jesus so that he can be drawn up into His perfect love. What courage this takes!  We, who are so easily offended, we, who so often confess our failings in a self-justifying context, are also taken through the drama of the Lord's threefold questioning of Peter.


Continue reading Heidi's reflection at  Journey to Wisdom. 

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.