In His Time

Have y'all ever heard of Psalty the Singing Song book?  I was basically raised on music from this Kids Christian program with catchy songs, and entertaining plots about a hymnal who basically was a youth minister.  Yes, you heard me correctly.  The youth minister was an actual HYMNAL.  He was awesome.  

One of the songs that was sung by this group from Kid's Praise (Link here)   was called "In His Time." and it reminds me that scripture teaches us that HE MAKES ALL THINGS BEAUTIFUL in HIS TIME!

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This means that he makes marriages that have been broken - Beautiful.  He makes friendships that have gone awry - Beautiful.  Heck I believe he can even make Bank Accounts that have disappeared - Beautiful once again - If we turn everything over to him!!!  That's the trick. We can't hold onto ourselves and expect him to make it Beautiful.  We have to give it all to him! 

Recognizing Jesus

And he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are!  - Luke 24:25

If I could go back in time to any part of the New Testament, I would have wanted to travel to this moment, where I could listen to Cleophas and his friend as they met a stranger on the way to Emmaus and said to him “What the heck is wrong with you?  Haven’t you heard all the news about what happened in Jerusalem?” (my interpretation) 

I would like to think my female intuition would have kicked in at some point and I would have nudged one of them to say, “Yoo-hoo, I think this guy looks familiar!”   

But the reality is, I may not be that great at always recognizing Jesus either. I certainly have much more to learn that the Lord wants to teach me. However, I am often too busy, too distracted, too proud, too lazy, or just quite honestly too dumb to figure it out.  I also need my eyes and my heart opened to be able to see all that the Lord is doing in my life.

I love to ponder on the moment and put myself in the scene when after this long journey, Jesus broke bread in front of us, and then *poof* disappears right before our eyes and we all realize what complete idiots we were.  I imagine how we must have recounted every word we told him on the journey, and then realized who we were telling.  I can imagine our hearts on fire when we remembered every word this stranger shared with us, and then we realized it was JESUS that was telling us this information.  We must have been in awe, in shock, in total disbelief, for all that they experienced. I can imagine our joy, our amazement and I can imagine we all RACED back to Jerusalem to share the news.  Imagining I am there and reflecting on this moment is Joyous, Humorous and Enlightening.  What Joy!  Jesus is RISEN!

Holy Week from the INSIDE!

Hi Everyone!

In case you didn't know. I work at a church, and it is a big church. Remember this blog post a few years ago?  Yeah, well I guess a contractual position wasn't enough, I ended up going FULL TIME.  (I know I am CRAY CRAY)

So Holy Week at our church is AMAZING.  It is like a stay-retreat.  (You know instead of a vacation -we call it a stay-cation.).  Holy Week is like a series of wonderful beautiful meaningful liturgies, and then you sleep in your own bed at night.  I love it.  I really really do.  And the cool thing about being Catholic is that pretty much all of us are doing the same thing at EVERY Catholic Church.  So consider this post my way of encouraging you all to participate in all of the things.

It all starts with Palm Sunday.  This is the day we actually hear the entire story of the Passion of Christ from Palm Sunday to Crucifixion.   The whole Mass starts with all of us waving palm branches shouting "Hosanna!", and then we hear about how those same people yelled, "Crucify Him" only a few days later.   Not that much different from me, when I am praising God for being awesome one minute, then the next I am complaining and whining about how some prayer hasn't been answered.  

Tuesday, in our diocese there is a Chrism Mass. (Some Diocese may do this on the morning of Holy Thursday.) This is for all the priests to gather in one location and the Bishop blesses the Holy Oils they will use for the year in their parish.  The priests receive the Chrism Oil, which is used for Baptism,  the oil of the sick which is used for in the sacrament of the Anointing of the sick, and the oil of the Catechumens which is used to anoint those who will be Confirmed that year. 

Holy Thursday we have our Traditional Holy Thursday celebration of the Lord's Supper.  Our priests all participate and each one washes the feet of our parishioners.  This is always such a humbling experience even to watch.  OUR PASTOR, WASHES THE FEET OF OUR PARISHIONERS.  Not symbolically.  He actually does it.  What a message.  What an impression.  What other religion do you know where their God bends down and washes the feet of his people?  What other denomination do you know where your Pastor washes the feet of his congregation.  It is powerful.  It gets me every time.

Good Friday is our Holiest of Holy Days.  My kids are always asking me, "Is Good Friday a Holy Day of Obligation?" Well, actually it is not.  But where else should we be when our Lord and Savior is dying on a cross for me?  At the mall?  At the Beach?  At work?  It just doesn't seem right.  I like to be as close to the cross as possible.  Not because I am some totally awesome perfect person.  Because of the exact opposite. I need to be there.

Good Friday looks different at a lot of Catholic Churches.  At our church we have stations of the cross at 12:00 PM.  Then we have the Liturgy of the Lords Passion at 3 PM.  This is the hour that Christ Died.  During this liturgy, we hear the Gospel of the Lords passion once again, and we venerate the cross.  Obviously it isn't the REAL cross, but it still has the same impact.  This is a powerful experience to come up to the front of the church and kiss a wooden cross.  It is humbling, scary, and downright uncomfortable.  This is exactly what I want to do for my Lord. I want to step into his suffering by getting out of my comfort zone and offering this getsure up to him as my holy sacrifice.    This is the almost the climax of all of lent.  We are climbing up the steep steep climb to Calvary and we are about to wait for the Lord.  

Lastly at our parish we end good Friday with a Tenebre service where we remember the Lords entombment.   Not everyone goes to all of three of these services, but participating in all of them can be a way to place yourself in the scene.  You can really feel all the despair and hope that must have been tasted by the apostles at the time of Jesus.

Holy Saturday is a day of waiting. This is the day in my family that we will decorate Easter Eggs, we will get ready for Easter Sunday, by figuring out our meal, and even begin cooking and preparing our favorite dishes.  We are still not celebrating just yet, it is not time.  But we are excited because we know the desert time is coming to an end.  WE WILL SOON BE CELEBRATING!!!

See next post for my description of the Easter Vigil Mass and Easter Sunday.

Blessed Carlo Acutis Pray for my Teenagers!

I wonder all the time what Blessed Carlo Acutis's Parents might have done to help him become such a young man of faith!?!?!   But then I also think, NOTHING they did absolutely nothing.  He became who he was because of GOD not because of his parents.  So then I beg GOD to do the same to my kids.  The only thing I think I want more than to be a Saint, would be for my kids to become Saints.  For those of you parents out there - you know what I mean.  

 Maybe you are looking for some practical ways to pray for your kids?  I mean we all pray for our kids, at least I am certain we mean too, but we may not always know the best way to pray for our kids.  

Here is a link to a pinterest page with practical prayers for kids!

Car Seat Theology

 

Car Seat Theology

 Ez 18:21-28

I recently had a conversation with a friend regarding Car Seats.  My friend takes the safety laws regarding car seats extremely seriously because she recognizes that not following these rules can result in a fatal accident.  During the conversation with her I had an epiphany.  It is the same with God.  He has given us certain commands, that we are free to choose to obey or ignore.  However if we ignore them not following these rules may result in a serious accident involving the state of our soul.  The first reading today from Ezekiel is telling us this very truth.

 “If he keeps all my statutes and does what is right and just, he shall surely live, he shall not die.”  This is not a threat that God is going to come and get us, if we don’t behave.  But rather an admission that God Loves us, and wants what is good for us. He gives us his statutes to keep us alive, just like car seats.  Sure, some of God’s law may seem restricting and uncomfortable at times - but wouldn’t we rather be safe than sorry?  Either way, God’s law is LOVE, and if we keep all his laws and do what is right and just, we shall surely LIVE. 

 

 How can I see God’s Commands for my life as life giving instead of restricting?

 

Heavenly Father, You are so GOOD.  Your Law and Statutes are Goodness and Love.  Help me to always strive to do what is right and just so that I may Live.

Confirmation Season is upon us! Need Saintly Gifts? Check out my Red Bubble Store

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Are we ready for the workout?

 

Lent starts this week on February 14th with Ash Wednesday and if you are an active Catholic your email inbox might look like mine; flooded with ways to make this year’s Lent the MOST AMAZING LENT EVER.   There is no shortage of publications, email subscription lists, and prayer meditations for you to subscribe to make your journey through lent a powerful one.   But will you?

As Catholics, our Lenten experience is supposed to be a bit of a workout.  It is 40 days of spiritual weightlifting.    Sacrifice, Prayer, and Charitable works. This is the trifecta for your Lenten Exercises.   However you decide to spend your Lent, just like with a workout regime, it’s best to come up with a plan BEFORE you begin.  Think about your Lenten Goals. Think about what ways God is calling you to grow.  Take time to discern and listen to the will of God, and then pray for God to reveal himself to you in a powerful way!  Decide now, which resources will be best for you.

Prayer Resources: There is something for everyone.   Are you into podcasts? Listening to prayer? Know the basics of how to use a smartphone?  Then the Catholic App HALLOW is amazing!  There is a free version with access to wonderful prayer resources and talks or a paid subscription that unlocks content to keep you listening and praying through the day.  This is one of my favorites to use with my family and has wonderful content for children as well. If you sit in front of a computer all day long, then perhaps filling your inbox with prayer spam isn’t a bad idea.  The Catholic Company sends a daily reflection that only takes a few minutes to read each morning. 

Ideas for Fasting: I recently heard a wonderful teaching on fasting that reminded me that fasting without a purpose or a goal is called dieting.  When we fast, we should be fasting for a reason. During Lent, our reason can be to unite our suffering to Christ to be more like him and to grow in our relationship with him.  Fast from something that will make you uncomfortable.  I once fasted from Coffee for Lent, this became a sacrifice for my entire family.

Suggestions for Charity:  We are very blessed here at Christ the King in all different ways.  Whether your almsgiving is time or money - give freely during Lent.  Every good gift we have comes from God, so when we give it away, we are glorifying our heavenly Father.  Be generous with what God gives us!  He is the great provider and will always surpass us in generosity.

Our Lenten Parish Mission this year is on Monday, February 26^th, Tuesday, February 27^th, and Wednesday, February 28^th from 7 PM to 8:30 PM.  This parish mission is going to be spectacular and everyone needs to be there.  Clear your calendars and invite the entire world to come hear the message.  The speakers are engaging, entertaining, and inspiring as they speak about the call to Missionary Discipleship, the complete gift of oneself, and the 7 pillars of Evangelization.  They will equip all of us to go out and make Disciples.  Which is exactly what Jesus calls all of us to do.  Please spread the word and start talking about this!  

No matter what you decide for Lent decide SOMETHING.  Your extra sacrifices might end come Easter, but hopefully, your charitable acts and prayer time will continue into life-long habits.