Hard questions, simple answer

 By Mallory Hoffman

Infant Christ as the Good Shepherd by Murillo.
(Wikimedia Commons)

 
"When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together,  and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him.  “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”  He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  This is the greatest and first commandment.  And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
(Matthew 22: 34-40)

Can you imagine how frustrated the Pharisees and the Sadducees must have been to hear Jesus answer their questions?  Each time they tried to make Him stumble by giving Him a question  they thought would trick Him, Jesus came back with an answer that made these learned men retreat from Him with their heads hung in shame.  They hoped to humiliate and silence Jesus, but each time, Jesus, silenced them. 


Continue reading at Mallory's blog His UnEnding Love.

Trust in God or fake it till you make it

By Mallory Hoffman

The Sacrifice of Abraham by Isaac
(Wikimedia Commons)

 


Life is out of our control.  We have no control over the weather.  We have no control over other drivers.  We have no control over what someone else will do to us.  We have no control over world leaders who threaten war.  We have no control over earthquakes.  We have no control over terrorists.  We have no control over illness.

Life happens, and it can be frightening.  Our anxieties rise.  We fall to our knees and pray and pray and pray hoping to  affect the outcome.  We bargain with God.  “If you do this for me, God, I’ll never miss Mass again.”  “If you give me the money I need, I’ll never use another credit card as long as I live.”  “If you make sure I keep my job, I will go back and find the car I hit and leave a note. I promise to pay for the damages.”  We do things we would not normally do as we are battered by the storm of fear. 

We say novenas that require us to publish the novena in the newspaper or leave copies of it in church for others to see. We lose sleep.  We miss meals.  We snap at our families and coworkers.  We eat too much.  We drink too much.  We self medicate.  We become so self involved that we fall into a box of fear that even prayer cannot release.  We forget that fear and anxiety are not gifts of the Holy Spirit.  Fear opposes peace in our souls.  Anxiety prevents trust in God. 

Real control begins by turning everything over to God, even if we are still afraid, even if we do not trust that God really does know what’s best for us and those we love. 


Continue reading at Mallory's blog His UnEnding Love.

Praying for acceptance

By Mallory Hoffman

The Incredulity of St. Thomas by Caravaggio
(Wikimedia Commons)

I recently read an article about a young couple whose  young son had been diagnosed with a life threatening, degenerative disease.  As his parents prayed for his healing, a priest advised them not to pray for healing.  He suggested that they pray for acceptance first.  He counseled the young couple that if healing was God’s Will for their son, then the healing would happen.  However, by praying for acceptance, they would find peace. 

Acceptance leads to peace.  Peace leads to surrender.  Surrender leads to Trust.  Trust leads to being immersed in God’s Holy Will which is Love.

Continue reading at Mallory's blog His UnEnding Love.

Mary's Memories: the Sorrowful Mysteries

By Mallory Hoffman

Madonna by Pinskaya
(Wikimedia Commons)

The Agony in the Garden

I felt my heart begin to break when I knew Jesus and His Apostles had left for the Garden.  The Apostles were uneasy.  They sensed that My Son was sorrowful.  He had warned them that He would be killed, but they did not believe.  I fell to my knees with the other women and we began to pray.  Jesus began to suffer in the Garden.  He felt the weight of sin on his shoulders and satan was there to tempt Him again.  Jesus was sorrowful beyond words.  I could feel His sorrow in my heart.  How he could bear the weight I do not know.  I’ve never known such sorrow.  He asked His Father to let this cup pass, but the Father withdrew.  Jesus accepted His cup for love of us.  His soul was at peace, but He knew what was to come.  When they came to arrest Him, My Jesus identified Himself to the soldiers of the temple.  They began to beat Him.  When Peter tried to stop this by cutting off the ear of the soldier, Jesus reminded Peter that this what was meant to be.  Jesus healed the soldier’s ear.  The other soldiers were stunned.   My Son was beaten and taken to both Herod and Pilate.  My Jesus, My Beautiful Son!  My heart weeps.  My heart weeps when I see You.  My precious Child.  I love You!

The Scourging at the Pillar.

How could I look?  Jesus did not look like Himself.  His beautiful face was swollen and bruised.  His eye was swollen shut.  When asked about the charges, Jesus would not answer.  Pilate tried to calm the crowds.  He knew that Jesus did not do anything wrong, but he was afraid.  He ordered Jesus to be scourged.  My Son!  My Son!  You are the Son of God, but they do not know You!  These are the people who were cheering You and calling You the Messiah.  Now they are calling for your death.  My Son!  I am here.  I hear the whips as they strike Your flesh.  I feel the whips as they rip into Your flesh.  I see the blood flow from Your skin.  Your flesh is hanging in shreds, and they continue to beat You.  The sear of the air on Your wounds brings tears to My eyes.  My Son, how do You bear this pain?  They want to kill You.  Pilate did not order that.  My God!  My God!  Protect Your Son!  I am weak.  How much more weak are You, My beautiful Child?  At last, the beatings have stopped and the soldiers are giving You back Your clothing that is soaked with your blood.  You can barely walk.  You lost so much blood!  If they only knew how much You loved them!   I see You looking at me.  I am here, My Son!  I am here.  Be strong!  I. am. here.

 Read the rest of the mysteries at His UnEnding Love.

In the midst of the Storm

By Mallory Hoffman

Walking on Water by Aivazovsky (Wikimedia Commons)

Life is never without challenges.  It’s easy to be good and choose God when life is calm, and there are no storms to navigate.  Life is much easier if we are not being pelted by rain and dodging the fearful lightning strikes as we walk.  Our fears and anxieties  rage against us, unleashed by the storm.  Where is the peace God promised us?  How can we survive this onslaught of rage and violence?  What can we do?

We can pray.  Prayer is the primary and most effective weapon we have been given to battle any evil, any storm.   When we humble ourselves and pray, we surrender our will to God’s Will.  God’s Will is love.  God’s Will is peace.  God’s Will is that we become saints.  He doesn’t cause the storms, but He allows them to happen so that through the gift of free will, we can choose Him and grow closer to Him through our sufferings.  We can choose His Will.  We can allow God to use the storm to purify our souls.  We only need to keep our eyes on Him.  Through prayer, we open ourselves up to God and His graces pour down on us.
 

Continue reading at Mallory's blog His UnEnding Love.

20 easy ways to become a saint

By Mallory Hoffman

Archangel Raphael with Bishop Dimonte
by Murillo (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)

 
Look straight ahead at God.  Make Him first in your life.

Pray.  Pray every minute, every hour, and every day.

Obey the commandments.

Receive the sacraments frequently.

Use the gift of the Sacrament of a Reconciliation regularly.

Love God.  Strive to do His Holy Will which is Love.

Attend Mass, especially on Sundays.

Praise God.  Rejoice in a His Holy a Will.

Reject sin.  When you sin, seek reconciliation in the confessional. 

Repent.  Strive to overcome your weaknesses.  Confess.

Be kind to others, but most importantly, be kind to yourself.

Read the rest at Mallory's blog  His UnEnding Love.

Where do you meet Jesus each day?

By Mallory Hoffman

Good Shepherd Icon of Bessarabia
(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Starbucks?  Mass?  The Park?  On a Walk?  At the Adoration Chapel?

We each need a place, a physical place, to meet Him.  As Catholics, we should meet Him and see Him in everything we do and in every word we say, thus we are evangelists, and we serve Him.  Yet, even Jesus went up to the mountain or to a quiet place to pray to the Father. 

I have a special place where I meet Jesus daily.  Yes, I go to Mass daily, except, like today, when I couldn't get out of my drive way because of yesterday's storm, but it's not there that I meet Jesus in "Our Place." I am an adorer at Church when Jesus gazes at His children from the Monstrance, but that's not where I meet Jesus.

The place I meet Jesus daily is in my living room, on the love seat, across from the couch that my dog occupies.  I meet Jesus in this spot everyday.  Even if I'm sick, I seem to find my way down to this love seat.  It's here that I open my heart to have a conversation with Jesus, our brother and Savior.


Continue reading at Mallory's blog His UnEnding Love.

Finding your prayer voice

By Mallory Hoffman

The Immaculate  of Taranto (Wikimedia Commons)

When we pray, we are in direct communication with our Living God. What an amazing gift to us, His Beloved Children!   *(CCC 2559-2561) Whether in words, thought, or song, God hears our prayer. He listens as we chant or rest in the silence of His Heart.  Each  of us, as a child of God, has a  prayer voice that is as unique as a finger print.

The patriarchs of the Old Testament prayed to God in the open air, in nature.  They passed on the stories  of their fathers’ experiences with God, and they danced and sang the praises of God around the campfires.  God heard their prayers as they tended their sheep and raised their children. Sometimes,  God would send heavenly messengers to  visit these men and women of old, and their lives would be changed forever.   When these women and men spoke to God in prayer, they spoke from the heart, which is where prayer is born.  *(CCC 2562-2564).

Today, we are bombarded with stimuli. We are a society of distractions, multiple activities and short thought processes.  Aren’t you, like me, often challenged in finding time to pray? When we find the time, how do we pray? I ask myself that question often. Do I attend Mass, the greatest prayer of all? Do I pray a Rosary?  (Always a good option in my eyes.)  Do I sit in silence with God?  Do I pull out an old prayer book and recite those prayers?  Am I close to a church where I can sit in adoration of our Risen Lord? How do we find and use our prayer voice? 

God blesses us with so many ways to communicate with Him.  As always, my recommendation is to begin your search for your prayer voice with a simple prayer.


Continue reading at Mallory's blog His UnEnding Love.

Mary's memories--meditaions on the Rosary

By Mallory Hoffman

The Annunciation by de Matteis (Wikimedia Commons).

Pope John Paul II wrote of "Mary's Memories" in the Rosary.   In his Apostolic letter "Rosarium Virginis Mariae"  Pope John Paul, soon to be canonized, wrote,

"Mary lived with her eyes fixed on Christ, treasuring his every word: “She kept all these things, pondering them in her heart” (Lk 2:19; cf. 2:51). The memories of Jesus, impressed upon her heart, were always with her, leading her to reflect on the various moments of her life at her Son's side. In a way those memories were to be the “rosary” which she recited uninterruptedly throughout her earthly life."

With the season of Advent upon us, our focus should turn to Mary, the Mother of God.  By imitating her virtue, we will be better prepared to greet her Son on Christmas Day.    Inspired by her memories of the Rosary, I wrote these Meditations on the Rosary.  The first ones we encounter in "Mary's memories," are the Joyful mysteries.  As I wrote, I tried to look at these mysteries through Mary's eyes.  Of course, these responses are fictional.  I am writing these, not Mary.  My hope is that by looking at these mysteries through Mary's eyes, we will come to know Jesus better.

Mary's Memories
Meditations on the Rosary
The Joyful Mysteries

The Annunciation

I was praying, thanking God for all of His goodness and mercies.  I heard my name whispered in the wind.  I opened my eyes and I saw a being of light in front of me.  He greeted me by saying, "Hail, full of grace."  I was surprised by such a greeting.  He was so beautiful.  I knew he was from God.  He told me his name was Gabriel.  He told me that I was blessed among women.  He said that I would bear a son, the Promised One, and that I would name Him Jesus.  I was very surprised.  I didn't understand how this could be since I had not known man.  He said that the power of the Holy Spirit would come upon me.  This is how I would conceive my Son, the Holy one of God.  I replied that it should be done according to God's Will.  When the angel left, I knew I was with child.
 

 Continue reading at Mallory's blog His UnEnding Love.

Learning to pray with the heart

By Mallory Hoffman

An Old Woman Praying by Maes
(Wikimedia Commons)

 


Ask God for the Gift of Prayer.  Ask God for the Gift of Prayer with the Heart.  Then become aware of what God is doing in your life.

Pray with your heart.  Begin with simple, vocal prayers, favorite prayers, perhaps prayers remembered from childhood.  As you vocalize these prayers, focus your total attention on God.

Put yourself in the presence of God knowing that He knows your thoughts before you think them.  He knows your heart, and He loves you.

Put yourself in the presence of God knowing God is madly in love with you.  Remember that He thirsts for souls.  He thirsts for your soul.

Put yourself in the presence of God and listen.   “Be still and know that I AM God.”  Be still.  Listen for that whisper that comes from the heart of God.  He loves you.  He loves you in silence.

Whisper in the silence.  Tell  God how much you love Him.


Continue reading at Mallory's blog HisUnEnding Love.

Called to prayer: 5 things you should know

By Mallory Hoffman

Praying Hermit, artist unknown (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Who is called to prayer?

Every human being is called to prayer.

Why are we called to prayer?

We are all called to prayer because prayer is communication with our loving God.

Why do I need to communicate with God?

We need to communicate with God so that we will learn to know God and love God as we journey through our life on earth.  We need to establish a relationship with our Loving God. 

God is Almighty.  God is God.  He is Everything.  Why does He need for me to communicate with Him?

God is Almighty.  He is the Great I AM.  God doesn't need for you to communicate with Him.  However, you need to communicate with God.  


Continue reading at Mallory's blog  His Unending Love.