This past week, I came face to face with the reality that most people do not love God as He deserves. I realize that seems a harsh thing to say, but stay with me as I explain. And let me state upfront that I have, at times in my life, fallen into the category of “most people,” which is why I feel this is important to say. Let me give you the context for my saying this. My family recently received an invitation to a social event at 3pm on Good Friday. 3pm on Good Friday is the hour of Christ’s death, a death that He endured in order to…
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Do You Actually Know Jesus or Just About Him?
If you are a parent, you’ve probably come across the popular children’s book series, “Who Was…?” They are middle grade biographies of hundreds of historical figures including: Who was Abraham Lincoln? Who Was Julius Caesar? Who Was Mother Theresa? There is even one called, Who Was Jesus? We have not read that one in our house. However, the description on the series’ website says: “It [the book] presents young readers with a biography that covers what is known historically about Jesus and places in his life in the context of his world when Jerusalem was part of the Roman Empire.” In my senior year of college, I took a theology…
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2021 Is The Perfect Opportunity to Turn to Christ
Are you seeing the posts all over social media about what a year this has been? Luckily this post is not about the year 2020. It’s about looking ahead to 2021. This change in the calendar is a perfect opportunity to turn to Christ and center our life on Him! We have just spent the last month of the year preparing for the Incarnation, for the coming of Our Lord into humanity. The time of Advent is spent in anticipation and waiting, full of imagery of hopeful expectation of the Christ, Our Savior. God – immortal, all-powerful, all-knowing, Goodness and Love itself – was preparing to enter our humanity as…
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Is God’s Fire a Punishment or a Representation of Love?
“I have come to set the world on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing.” Luke 12:49 Did you know that the word fire is mentioned approximately 475 times in the Bible? Certainly, the two most known references are that of Moses and the burning bush and the tongues of fire at Pentecost. One of the most impressive stories of fire in the Old Testament is found in the book of Daniel. The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzer puts three Israelites into a fiery furnace as punishment for not worshiping idols. The three men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, are preserved from harm by the presence of an angel of God,…
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Be of One Heart and Mind United With Christ
One morning recently I awoke with the following verse in my head: “the community of believers was of one heart and one mind” (Acts 4:32). Why I am waking up with Bible verses in my head is beyond me! But, when I read the daily readings, I was presented with this verse from St. Paul to the Philippians 2:2: “complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart, thinking one thing.” I was sensing a theme – unity in heart and mind among the followers of Christ. As we are all well aware, our country is not exactly united in heart and mind…
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People of Faith and Privilege Pray For an End to Racism
Equity, diversity, bias, systemic racism, institutional oppression – Quite frankly, I don’t have the education, knowledge or experience to write intelligently about racism or any of these related concepts. Although they are all important concepts that, as Catholics, we have an obligation to learn about. However, I want to discuss one concept that does directly apply to my life and that of many of my readers – “white privilege.” This is a bit of a long post, so I hope you’ll stick with me. The term “white privilege” is actually a morally neutral idea. It is simply the concept that as white people we have certain social and economic advantages…
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Stop Holding On To The Way Things Were And Trust in God
It’s been 10 days since my last grocery delivery, and we don’t have much fresh produce left. I had bought 4 bags of Caesar salad mix (the kids’ favorite), two heads of lettuce, 10 mini cucumbers and 2 containers of cherry tomatoes. All gone within a couple days! It’s the strangest phenomenon. Apparently, everyone in this family now wants to eat salad. Three kids who are generally good eaters, but don’t usually clamor for salad, now eat two or three helpings at a meal. I was hoping to have salad for lunches for John and I at least for a few days longer. So, if I’m honest, I was feeling…
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My Love Story with the Eucharistic Jesus: Part 3
Holy Thursday – The Last Supper – The Institution of the Eucharist Today is the perfect day for the last post in this series. This post jumps ahead to February 2018. Obviously, many things occurred between the years of part 2 and this post, and I am quite aware that receiving Him in Holy Communion for many years yielded a great deal of grace in my life. But for this series, I wanted to share some specific moments of my story with respect to the Eucharist that had a major impact in my relationship with Jesus. So let’s jump to 2018… Last year I attended a retreat with the Sisters…
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My Love Story with the Eucharistic Jesus – Part 2
I have been delaying getting this post live. This is the part of the story wherein I hurt the One who loves me quite seriously. Because of that it took me a while to write, and even longer to get back to edit and publish. But better late than never. In my last post I mentioned that in high school one of my good friends was serving as a Eucharistic Minister. What I didn’t mention was that most of my closest friends were ALL chosen to be ministers. To serve in this ministry, students were selected from among the seniors by the chaplain’s office and other key staff. I was…
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My Love Story with the Eucharistic Jesus – Part 1
In senior year of high school, I got the unfortunate schedule assignment of 4th period lunch! Fourth period began at 10:40 – not the most desirable time to eat lunch. AND there were only about 20 seniors in the whole lunch period. What a miserable schedule to endure in senior year! Twenty-something years later, I realize that 4th period lunch was an immense gift. That is when my love story with the Eucharistic Jesus began. As a teen, I had only a hint of knowledge about faith and not much personal experience with Jesus, which I think is fairly common. However, I went to a special high school, run by…
