The Look of Holiness

In lieu of the upcoming New Year, I have more thoughts to share. After I put the kids in bed for their afternoon nap, I sat down with Mother Angelica to learn more. And it just so happens that her nuggets of info can be directly applied to the New Year. Oftentimes when we create New Year's resolutions, we look towards being a better person: losing weight, being kinder, not yelling so much, staying away from negative people.... Well, I thought I would share with you Mother's thoughts on what it looks like to be Holy:

THE LOOK OF HOLINESS

Holiness to most people is looking holy. They think a holy person is one who never loses his temper. Oh please! They think a holy person never feels impatient. Well, there is not an Italian born who is patient, and since there are more Italian saints than any other nationality, there must be something about being impatient that makes you holy.

-Mother Angelica

Doesn't that take the pressure off?? God knows what's in our hearts, and I think as long as we strive for that perfection by learning from our mistakes, then we will be OK. We must put our love for Him above all else and everything else will follow. I have felt it happen in my life, and while I don't feel that I have that COMPLETE trust and COMPLETE love for Him yet, I feel it increase each and every day that I see His works in my life.

He and only He has a plan for us. So we can make our resolutions for the New Year, but know that whatever we have planned may not work out and that's OK because it's not about what we want. God may have other plans for us....

Happy New Year

Good morning!!

Well, the New Year is almost here and I suppose we're all wondering what we're going to have as resolutions. It's so hard. There are so many things that we want to "change" aren't there? And we make the resolution, work on it for a few weeks, and then we're back to our normal routines and we never achieve our goal. Happens to me ALL THE TIME!!

So I would like to make a suggestion if I could. I went to Mother Angelica's book and continued to read a few tidbits. And do you know what it was about? Love. Love for God. Love for Jesus. Love for the people around us. How about THAT for a resolution? Is that something worth sticking to? Creating a deeper love for God? She quotes Scripture and explains that we all need to strive for that. And what better way to show that love than through our children?

THAT KID OF MINE

The greatest evils today are fear and lukewarmness. Jesus said, "I wish you were hot or cold, but you are lukewarm and I will vomit you from my mouth" (Rev. 3:15-16). We have a fantastic amount of lukewarmness in the world today, because we don't see Jesus in the Present Moment. Every moment you are meeting Jesus face to face.

Some woman told me the other day, "Are you telling me that mean kid of mine is Jesus?" Yes, hidden in that kid is Jesus. It is your duty to bring Him out with love, patience, and compassion.

Pretty cool huh? Our children are a pretty good place to start. If we can't see Jesus in our own children when they are being "mean," how are we going to see Jesus in our neighbor when he/she is being "mean?" Or in the next driver over when they cut us off? Or in the customer service representative who could care less about our problems? I think that creating a deeper sense of love for Jesus by loving our children, husbands, and neighbors as we would love Jesus would be a great way to start the New Year. How about you?

The Heart and the Mind

As I have embarked on my journey back to Catholicism, I have learned lots of "things." I have learned facts about Jesus and the Holy Family, some "things" about Saints, and some "things" about God. But another "thing" that I learned was that I don't have to know a lot of "things" to know how to love God and live like Jesus.

Brilliance Is Not Required

Every time Jesus taught the multitudes, the apostles would get Him alone afterward and say, "Master, would you explain the parable to us?" Every child in that audience knew exactly what He was talking about, except his apostles.

Now some of you look at Scripture and you don't understand it. Then someone comes along with an insight that makes you feel teeny-tiny. Well don't! You aren't alone. Holiness doesn't consist of knowing much, or doing much, but of loving much.

-Mother Angelica

This passage really hit me too. In the past I felt like I didn't know a lot about Jesus and therefore I didn't know how to pray, go to Church right, or talk to and about God right. It is comforting to hear Mother Angelica talk like this. We don't have to know everything, just love God with all our hearts and follow Him. Yes, there are certain things that we need to know, like how Jesus lived so that we can live like Him, but it is not essential to get a degree in theology to be able to live a faithful life. I think that's what Mother Angelica is saying.

God knows what is in our hearts. If He can see our goodness and our intentions, and the way we live, then we are showing our faith to Him. Now granted, I would LOVE to to know EVERYTHING there is about God and the life of Jesus. That's why I'm going to continue to read my little heart out. But I can't let that get before my love for Him. My love for Him, OUR love for Him drives our faith. Our minds only serve that love.

That's what that means to me. What does this mean to you? Do you feel overwhelmed with so much to learn? Do you feel like, or have you ever felt like, you can't pray because you don't know how? Have you ever felt like you need to "know" in order to love?

Believing and the Truth

I hope everyone had a Blessed Christmas. I know I did! Everyone was together and healthy and we were able to share our gifts with each other. My Christmas will be continuing tomorrow as I take a long trip to see my side of the family and spend time with them. So keep us in your prayers for a safe and happy trip. Thank you!

Now, for my latest reading!! I sat down for a few while the kids were in bed, and there were many, many bits of information I wanted to share with you. Then I came across one that really touched me and how I have come to believe so strongly in my Catholic faith. The more I read, and the more I think, and the more I BELIEVE with my whole heart, the more I appreciate the Church and the rules that have been set forth. I used to get caught up in the mindset of the rest of society that thinks Catholics are too strict and kept asking why it was so important to do the things we do. Well, God must have heard my questions, and He certainly answered them.

I was one of those Catholics that took some stuff and believed it, and left the rest because it must have been nonsense. After all, my friends didn't believe that and they got to sing and seemed to have a good time in Church. I can remember talking about that to a friend of mine when I was only in elementary school. So I guess I didn't have that STRONG belief in my faith from the beginning.

So I have been researching a lot, and reading a lot about God, our Lord, and our Mother. And in this latest book I have been reading by Mother Angelica, I came across a nugget titled "Tranquility and the Lord." Here is what she had to say:

Scripture says, "If your lips confess that Jesus is Lord and if you believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, then you will be saved" (Rom. 10:9). Some have cut it short and say, "Whoever believes in Jesus is saved." No. The devil believes in Jesus, but he is not saved. It's "Jesus is Lord" that makes you saved. He must be the Lord of your life.

Powerful isn't it?? Doesn't she make you THINK?! I love the part about the devil. It just blew my mind. I never thought about my belief that way before. Just because we believe doesn't mean we are saved. Many of us have rejected parts of the Bible because it requires work from us. We are sinful, erroneous human beings. But He sent us His only Son so that we may still be with Him when we die. He didn't send His Son to cover all of our sins so we could live free and without guilt though. Just because we believe and want to see Jesus as our way to the light, the way to our Father, doesn't mean we earn the right to be there just because we are alive. We must also live like He lived. We must take EVERY part of the Bible and LIVE it!! It's not easy, but it's important that we try hard. God knows the love that we have for Him in our hearts. He knows our intentions. If we love Him and EVERYTHING that He teaches us, and live according to Him, according to the Truth, then we have earned that eternal life in Heaven with our Father.

So, "He must be the Lord of your life." What does that mean to you?

Healing the Memory

In my past post I discussed living in The Present Moment. And that's how Mother Angelica refers to it, in capital letters. So that should tell you how important she believes it is. As I read the chapter, it all makes sense why she would think that. So in light of the Christmas season, and asking for forgiveness for our sins and repenting for them, I am going to give you a prayer this morning that Mother Angelica has at the end of the chapter:

PRAYER FOR HEALING THE MEMORY

Heavenly Father, we put our weak selves before Your silent presence. You alone know the things forgotten and hidden that lie on the shelves of our memory. We cannot heal ourselves. We find it hard to forgive, and impossible to forget. Yet as we are absorbed and surrounded by Your Presence, we stand in that light and watch as the spiritual sores of us lepers disappear. The rotted limbs are restored, and our memories, at one time so ugly, are renewed and rejuvenated. Thank you, Lord. Amen.

This will probably be the last post until the weekend. You know, Christmas is tomorrow and I will have family time on Friday, and then I'm visiting family for a few days. My wonderful hubby is letting me take my laptop with me so I will try to get something in for you on Saturday once I get there and get settled.

I hope each and every one of you have a Blessed and Merry Christmas!!

Absolute Freedom

The thing that confuses us so much is that we are constantly thinking about ourselves. What am I going to do for the world? What am I going to do for my neighbor? You’ve got the wrong question.

The question is: What is God going to do through you? That’s the question: How much are you going to let Him do? When you begin to ask the right questions you will get the right answers. You are nothing; and until you come to that realization, you will stumble and crawl through all of life. There is absolute freedom in the thought that you are nothing. only then are you free to be used by God for His ends, the ends for which you have been created.

-Mother Angelica

Oh my goodness!! I had never thought about it that way before. I’m NOTHING!! It’s true and it IS kind of freeing to think of myself that way. Boy does it take the pressure off!

We are very self-centered people and it’s very difficult to change that and look beyond ourselves to God and figure out how He wants to use us. Now I don’t know about you, but I have been asking myself the WRONG question. After I read this little passage, I kept reading (it’s so addicting), but I kept thinking about this one particular passage. What DOES He want to do through me?

Well, I was on the phone last night with, well, I will call her a friend of mine, and we were talking a lot about our faith and not being afraid to “come out of the closet.” It’s so hard. Religion is seen so differently these days. Anyway, we discussed doing a book club. And I have been contemplating it for a long time, and throwing the idea out. So I didn’t think much more about it, just that maybe I will do it some day…. THEN I opened up my email this morning and saw Melanie’s comment about being interested in a Book Club and I thought, “OK, is this what he wants to work through me? A Book Club?” Maybe, I don’t know. But it can’t hurt to do it and see what comes out of it, right? He speaks to us, but we just have to listen very carefully!!

Lord, keep my ears and heart open to Your Word, so that you can work your goodness through me.

Living in the Present Moment

I finished reading Chapter 3! And boy was this a good one! Mother Angelica discusses living in the Present Moment and how important it is to deal with the here and now. The whole chapter was dedicated to this particular aspect of our Christianity, so I will probably write about this over several days. For today, I want to share an excerpt with you from the beginning of the chapter:

You see people today doing unreasonable things, and they do them because they are living in their memories and imaginations- they exist on an animal level. The intellect never comes into play. Self-control is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, which requires us to decide what enters our memory and what remains there. I must look upon every resentment, every bitterness, every hurt and conquer it, or it will conquer me.

Isn’t that AWESOME?! How many time have you let your past control your here and now? MANY times for me! I know I have done it just in the past WEEK!! It’s so easy to get caught up in how someone else has hurt us and how badly it hurt. But it’s important to move on. Now I’m not saying to ignore what happened, because from personal experience, it can come up and bite you later on. So it’s important to deal with it in the here and now. My last post mentioned telling the truth. So, tell the truth, tell your feelings, and let that other person take it or leave it. Leave the rest to God. Just because we move on, does not mean everything is OK, it just means we have to move on.

I do have to say that saying my peace helped, regardless of what the other person said. I’m more restless and irritated when I have something on my mind.

But we cannot let the circumstances of the past RUN our lives. I’m no expert on conquering anything, but I feel like I’m getting the hang of it. Acting like a mature, intellectual human being is very peaceful. Communicating and expressing ourselves through words is what puts us above the other creatures of the earth. When we take to verbal slander and violent actions, it saddens our Lord, and it hurts the people we love and care about.

It takes a lot of self-control not to bring ourselves down to the level of those animal-like human beings walking the earth that may offend us and treat us badly. But it sure does feel good to be the better person. Because really, the only One that needs to know what happens is God. He knows the truth. He IS the truth and it is HIS judgment that we need to worry about.

Sometimes we focus so much on the negative, and how much other people may have hurt us, that we can’t see our own selves. We are not able to examine ourselves and our actions to become better Christians. We are not able to see the every day blessings that are right in front of our faces, each and every day.

Lord, help me to see you in every moment of my present life. Open my eyes to the blessings that I have right here in front of me, right here, and right now.

Stepping Out In Mystery

I finished my first chapter in Mother Angelica’s book!! It’s amazing what you can do when you turn off the computer…. There are so many things that I can talk about, but I picked my favorite (which was VERY hard to do).

Here is the passage:
STEPPING OUT IN MYSTERY

We don’t want to step out in faith and say, “God, the only hand I have is Yours, even though I don’t know where You’re going.” I think that’s the most thrilling experience: not to know what God is doing- but going out and doing it anyway.

It’s very difficult for a real Christian to mess this up. If you try something and you fail, you’re been humbled. You’re a little smarteer the next time; you learn to depend upon God and not yourself. You can learn much in failure. If you succeed: you are aware of God’s spirit, aware of His using you in extraordinary ways. So from a spiritual perspective, you can’t fail no matter what happens.

HOW AWESOME IS THAT!?!? I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve failed at something and felt like a failure. Here recently, I have failed at many things, like relating and communicating with other people. But I have learned that in all of that miscommunication and anger, I have learned a great deal about other people, life, and myself. I thank God for those horrible moments of anger, yelling, and arguments because I learned from it. And then when I take that and apply my new knowledge elsewhere and succeed, I know that was God’s intervention in my life and my heart just fills with such joy and love for Him.

He really does love us!! He helps us go from Negative Nellies to Positive Pollies!! (A little joke I have with a good friend of mine.) There IS a reason for bad things happening in our lives. Take them, pray on them, listen to what He has to say, and make yourself into a Positive Polly!! It’s AWESOME!!

Lord, open my heart and my mind today to Your good works so that I can become closer to You and Your love.

EXCITED!!

OK, I’m psyched. I’m in the MOMS Club Book Club and I’m reading Mother Angelica’s Little Book of Life Lessons and Everyday Spirituality. I can’t wait to start reading it. I’m going to post thoughts, feelings, questions as I go through reading it. Hopefully I will have something to post daily. Will keep you posted!!