Thanksgiving, Giving Thanks

I was thinking about the Thanksgiving holiday this week and was wondering why we wait all year to be "Thankful?" We are not the pilgrims that nearly starved to death the previous year, giving thanks for a bountiful harvest that will ensure our survival through the winter.

Most people never experience that type of thankfulness, even on the one day set aside by our Nation.
After all, how many of us rely on our own planting to feed ourselves? When was the last time you met a real farmer?

For myself, my veggies come from the supermarket produce and freezer sections. (I don't use canned anymore except for tomatoes and baked beans, now and then.) I don't have to hunt for food, or raise a pig or calf to provide meat for the table. No, Publix is good for meat and produce. 

So, for what else should we be thankful? How about EVERYTHING? And how about being thankful, EVERYDAY? The Lord provides for us everyday, and we should thank him everyday, for everything we have. Did you wake up this morning? Be thankful. Did you have food for breakfast, lunch and dinner? Be thankful. Do you have a roof over your head? Be thankful. Do you have a job to go to on Monday? Be thankful. How about a car to get around in? Be thankful.

Psalms 107:1, 118:1,  “Give thanks to the LORD for he is good, his mercy endures forever!”

All through the Psalms you'll find words of thanksgiving to God. For that matter, a great deal is said, in the Old Testament, about thanking God for all we have. The New Testament as well. In Hebrews 13:15-16 says, 

Through him [then] let us continually offer God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have; God is pleased by sacrifices of that kind.

Prayer and thanksgiving should be as much a part of our day as breathing. The more we pray, the more we will be blessed with things of which to be thankful. Our Lord likes to be appreciated, and no matter how many times we screw up, he'll still forgive us if we ask, and bless us if we pray. 

St. Paul instructs us to pray unceasingly. 1 Thessalonians 5:15-18, " Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus."
And how do we do that, you ask? It can be as simple as a single sentence that we pray through out the day. It will keep God in the forefront of our thoughts and make for a better day in general. I found this simple prayer called the "Jesus Prayer". 

Simply say, " O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner." , whenever a negative thought crosses your mind, like when that annoying person at work says something negative to or about you. Just let it go, and pray the prayer. Repeat it until the desire to knock the daylights out of them goes away. You know what I'm saying, we've all been there at some point. It might take all day!

In the Gospels, repeatedly you see Jesus going off to pray. He was God's Son, so what did he have to pray for? Everything! He was human too, with all the same annoyances that we have to endure. I imagine him thanking God for allowing him to teach the people. He probably asked for strength to to endure the hardships of traveling, the roads were long and they traveled on foot. There wasn't always a house to stop and sleep in, the distance between towns could be two to three days walk or more. He prayed for the courage to enter Jerusalem on that Palm Sunday and that night in the garden.

What do you have to be thankful for today? Have you been blessed? Do you share your blessings with others less fortunate?

This past Thursday, I spent at church, attending Mass and then the Thanksgiving Day Dinner we offer to the community. I helped make some of the food, cooking all day on Tuesday and Wednesday. I'm not employed at the moment but I still feel the need to share my time and talents, so this was my offering to the Lord. Afterward, I came home and prepared another meal for my husband and myself.

Now I'm resting, knitting gifts for my family and relaxing for a couple days. The Lord provides, and I give thanks.

I do find it hard at times to remember Paul's instructions, I'm still working on it. Holiness is not easy, you have to work at it and practice, practice, practice. Do you have a prayer routine? Could you share it here with me and my readers? Perhaps you can help those of us, like me, that have trouble forming habits. Bad habits seem to come easy, but good habits always take longer. Have you noticed that?

Starting now, I will pray the "Jesus Prayer", " O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner." or a shorter form "Lord Jesus, Have Mercy on me." everyday along with my "Hail Mary's", "Our Father's". I try to always say a Rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet everyday. I say them when I walk the dog, sit to knit, or during my morning coffee.

Another way to pray, is with songs of praise. I always have a CD or a Christian radio station tuned in my car. I can be seen driving around singing to the top of my lungs, a hand raised in praise of God. I don't care who sees me, I keep right on singing at the traffic stop. One of my favorite songs is one by Kitty Cleveland, called "Now you come to me.", on her "God will Provide" album and the CD from Lighthouse.  It is about the moment when we leave this earth and Jesus comes to meet us. "What glory, what majesty, my Lord you are Mercy!" You can't help but smile when you sing it, and my hands just open up in praise. There is also a new Catholic Music CD, "Praying Twice" with some incredible songs on it.

Try to find time in your day to give thanks, everyday. You'll be the better for it, I promise.

Blessings,

The Catholic Lady

Zombies and the End of the world?

Zombies and the End of the world?
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This Sunday and next are the last two Sundays of the Catholic year. Typically the readings are about the "end of times." I was preparing for my class on Sunday when I googled "End of Times" and some sites popped up with comments highlighted, "There's Zombies in the Bible!"I cracked up laughing. Yes there is mention that the dead will rise, for example, today's old testament reading was from Daniel 12:1-3.

1“At that time there shall arise Michael, the great prince, guardian of your people; It shall be a time unsurpassed in distress since the nation began until that time. At that time your people shall escape, everyone who is found written in the book.

2 Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake; Some to everlasting life,

others to reproach and everlasting disgrace.

3 But those with insight shall shine brightly like the splendor of the firmament, And those who lead the many to justice shall be like the stars forever.”

The New Testament Gospel was Jesus telling about the end of times in Mark 13: 24-32. 

24 “But in those days after that tribulation the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, 25 and the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.

26 And then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in the clouds’ with great power and glory, 27 and then he will send out the angels and gather [his] elect from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of the sky.

28 “Learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves, you know that summer is near. 29 In the same way, when you see these things happening, know that he is near, at the gates.

30 Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. 31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

32 “But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

This is a link from the old to the new, Daniel sees a vision of the End of Times with the angel Gabriel helping interpret for him. The Angels come, the nations war, the dead rise, and the ones who's names are in "the book" are saved. 

 Jesus warns his disciples of the signs to watch for the great tribulation, the stars will fall, the Angels will come, the "Son of Man" will come in the clouds, and we should be prepared for it to happen at  anytime, “But of that day or hour, no one knows,".

Scary, huh?

These readings along with the ones in Luke, Matthew and Revelations among others have fascinated our imaginations for centuries. Every age has had people that try to predict the "End of the World".

In my lifetime alone, I can remember at least a dozen different dates for the "end."

 Now it's the Mayan Calender that ends abruptly on December 21, 2012. Good Lord, what are people thinking? Did anyone think that maybe the calendar ended because the Mayans were killed off? 

Television is full of Post Apocalyptic shows, everything from Aliens attacking, to Zombies. Movies have been made with huge meteors crashing into the earth, the ice caps melting and starting a new ice age, and of course the 2012 Mayan thing has inspired several films. 

And let's not forget those silly people that have watched "The Terminator" one time too many, and they are building bunkers underground and storing food and weapons. There's even a food manufacturing company that has jumped on that bandwagon and is making a mint selling pre-packaged food in five gallon buckets! People, people, people, is there no faith left in this world?

Recently, I was listening to Matthew Kelly's new talk on CD from Lighthouse. In it he mentions the largest industry in this country(or was it the world?) and that is Insurance. People worry about everything. We worry about sickness, dying, losing our property, being sued, and much more. We need not worry about the end of the world. If we are Christian and understand the teachings in the bible, we will not be here for the tribulations because we will be taken up to Heaven in the blink of an eye. 

In Father's Homily today, he told us we shouldn't worry about something we can't do anything about anyway. The end will come when it comes, so don't worry about it. I agree with Father.

I also know a little more today than I did a few years ago, and that Mark 13 and Matthew 24, Jesus is not talking solely about the end of the world, but the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. 

To the Jews of that day, they understood the words He spoke. They knew the Temple represented the world. When it was built, it was made to look like the world. The curtains were blue and purple, like the morning and evening sky. The huge pool for ritual washing, was representative of the oceans and waters of the earth. The veil of the Temple, hanging high from the ceiling, had the stars of the night painted on it. Thus, when the Temple was destroyed, the stars will be falling from the sky, as the veil comes down amid the flames.

A hint of this is when Jesus says, Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. About 40 years after Jesus was crucified, around the year 70, the Temple was destroyed by the Romans. In Matthew 24:1-2 Jesus points to the great stones on the Temple walls and says, "Amen, I say to you, there will not be left here a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.” When the Temple was destroyed and burned, Titus ordered the remaining structures torn down. The destroyers tried to find the gold that had been in the Temple, overlaid on the doors, lamps, tables, etc., and they searched and pulled down the stones trying to find the gold which was gone, it had evaporated in the fire. Maybe they got lucky and found some melted, but probably not since a fire the size of that one would have raged for days and the NYFD was not there to put it out. Josephus the Jewish Historian reports that 1,100,000 people were killed in the siege. The gardens were laid waste and trees were cut down, making it a wasteland.

This event was preceded by the "abomination" that was placed in the Temple by the Romans, to be worshiped as a god of Rome. The Romans loved their gods and Titus who was the Emperor's son had hoped to convert the Temple for their own use.

When this happened, the Christians high tailed it out of Jerusalem and took refuge on Mount Pella according to Eusebius' writings. (Remember the last post I said I was reading The History of the Church by Eusebius?)  Eusebius relates the stories of the great famine that had come while the Apostles were still teaching, Luke mentions it in Acts 11:27-30 as the prediction of Agabus and that a collection was taken and sent to help by way of Paul and Barnabus. 

The Book of Revelations again relates the destruction of the Temple and the second coming but mostly it is about the Heavenly Liturgy. You can learn more by reading and listening to talks by theologians that have spent years studying, one is Dr. Michael Barber, his talk on the Lighthouse Catholic Media CD, Unlocking the Book of Revelations, is a great place to start. 

The main thing to remember here, is not to worry about the end of the world. There won't be Zombies walking around chewing your arm off. We faithful Christians will be long gone before that happens! Seriously, NO ZOMBIES! 

Blessings, 

The Catholic Lady

Catholic Tradition

Catholic Tradition
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Recently we celebrated the Rite of Acceptance in our church. This is the second step in becoming Catholic. All you have to do to be a Christian is profess your belief in Jesus our savior and believe it in your heart. But to become a member of the Catholic Church, you must spend at least one year learning the faith, studying the word of God and coming to understand the call to discipleship and how to live the life that our Lord called us to live.

There is true genius in the Catholic Church. Unlike many protestant churches that do an "alter call" after a moving sermon, people will be moved and impulsive and want to get Baptized with little or no other Christian teaching, and then the Pastor accepts the people for Baptism. They Baptize and then often forget the persons who came, those who, after the "glow" has worn off, go back to their former way of life. I speak from experience and remember questioning, silently to myself, the validity of claims of "souls saved", especially when I'd never see the person(s) in church again.

In the Catholic Church, if you are unbaptized as an adult, you first enter "inquiry" as the first stage of what we call the "Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults", or RCIA for short. The period of inquiry can last however long the inquirer needs to understand the Catholic faith and decide if they want to become a full member of the Church. If they decide not to join, they go on about their lives as it was before.
If they decide to continue, then the Parish is given the opportunity to formally welcome the new unbaptized through the Rite of Acceptance. The catechist will present them to the church and the Priest will ask them two questions, "What do you ask of God?" and "What do you ask of the Church?". The answers must come from the person, unbiased and without prior instruction. Sometime they are simple, and once in a while, you will get a well thought out and touching answer, as one of the young adults from my class made on Sunday. I had tears in my eyes, and a grin from ear to ear from pride in my student.

It is a beautiful experience and one that the person will not forget and will experience the LOVE offered by the parishioners. I still remember when I became a Catholic. It was the BEST experience of my life after Childbirth and Marriage to the love of my life.
It transcended every religious experience I had ever had to that day. I studied the Bible and attended the classes each Sunday with my sponsor, who is my BFF, (best friend forever) to this day. We grew closer in our faith and to each other.

I must explain further that the person entering the church must choose, or have a assigned to them, a sponsor during their journey. This person is there to pray for the Catechumen, support them, answer questions and be a general example of what the Christian life is like.  This relationship helps the new Christian begin a new routine in their life, from learning the importance of daily prayer, to learning to forgive others and pray for them, to help the poor, and to share their faith with others. Of course, this is only a few lifestyle changes. The Catholic Church teaches there is more to being a Christian than "faith alone". We must choose to live like Christ and become more Holy in doing so.

            Jesus summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

 For whoever  wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever  loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it. What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? What could one give in exchange for his life?

 Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this faithless and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” Mark 8:34-38, also Luke 9:23-27 , Matthew 16:24-28

In Romans, Paul writes this:

        I urge you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship.

 Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect. Rom 12: 1-2

I encourage you to read all of Romans 12, as it is a long description of how to live in Christ. 

The Catholic Church has many Traditions, as did the ancient Jews. Jesus himself observed the Jewish traditions and said this in the Sermon on the Mount:

 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” Matt. 5:17

and Paul in his letter to the Corinthians:

        Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

 I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold fast to the traditions, just as I handed them on to you. (1 Cor.11:1-2)

Jesus came to form his new church, with Simon called Peter (Rock) as it's foundation. He taught his disciples how to live, to teach, and to celebrate. We believe that when Jesus said, "do this in memory of me." (Luke 22:19) , he meant for us to do just that, do what he did during the Celebration of the Feast.  You may also read the rest of 1 Corinthians 11 as Paul explains the Eucharist and it's importance in "come together to eat". This is the Eucharist, it was done according to Jesus' command to "do this in memory of me" , so why is it so hard for folks to understand? 

Read and contemplate on the scriptures. Find and study the Early Church Fathers writings. People who knew the Apostles or the disciples of the Apostles wrote these books!

I have found many of them from Amazon for Kindle at extremely reasonable prices. I am currently reading The History of the Church by Eusebius. Eusebius wrote the History using materials of his day, many which preservation could not save, and he fills in a lot of history of the times so when I read the Gospels, I can better understand where Jesus was coming from when he spoke to the people. Things we don't fully understand and sometimes, Theologians who haven't studied the Early Church Fathers, get wrong. 

Right now, I am at the part about the fall of Jerusalem a generation after Christ died. It's amazing to put the predictions of Christ with the actual events that took place and see them in a whole new light! I love it! You will too, I promise.

That's all for today,

God Bless and keep you,

The Catholic Lady ©

Love the Lord

Love the Lord
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Today's readings were about our first commandment pronounced by Moses again, before the people of Israel enter into the land God had promised them. It is tied together with the Gospel of Mark, chapter 12, where the scribe asks him which of the commandments is the greatest, and Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy:

Jesus replied, "The first is this:
Hear, O Israel!
The Lord our God is Lord alone!
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul,
with all your mind,
and with all your strength.
The second is this:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these."

 What does this mean for us? We are to love our God with all our heart, all our soul, our mind and our strength? Does this mean we must love God above all the other persons and things in our lives? How does one do that? Are we willing to love God more than our spouse? or our children? or our parents? or our possessions?

The answer must be, YES!

But how? Through faithful prayer, of course. We must be willing to love our Lord, praying constantly, despite all the distractions that our life and family put in front of us. Jesus had said that he would cause conflict within our lives,

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword. For I have come to set a man ‘against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s enemies will be those of his household.’ (Mt.10:34-36)

because he knew that we are human and we all cannot follow this very simple command. Do you have a conflict in your family? Is there someone that resents your faith or fights against it? WE ALL DO! It can't be helped, it will happen today just as it happened two thousand years ago. Some will believe and some will not. The question is, will you let this conflict keep you from loving your God with all you heart, your soul, your mind and strength?

The verse continues, and here again is the ringing of the first commandment,

“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."
We must love Him above all else, for in doing so, we are given the Grace to love others as ourselves. This is the completion of the commands. Think about that for a minute.

If we love our God above ALL things on earth, he will grant us the GRACE to love "our neighbor" as ourselves.

I put those words in quotes because they are special. These are not literal and reserved to just "neighbor", that person that you wave to on the way into the garage when you arrive home at night. No, "neighbor" means EVERYONE. Your brother, sister, mom, dad, children, cousins, aunts, uncles, the homeless guy in the ally downtown, the pan handler on the median in the street, the Mormons that come knock at your door, (or run for President), the Muslim going to pray in the middle of the day are all our "neighbors". This is our biggest challenge, and our greatest gift if we can truly reach it.

 The second reading is from Hebrews 7 and (we assume from Paul and his associates here) he is trying to explain the new worship that Jesus instituted in relation to the one they grew up with and was handed down since Moses. (Vs. 22-23) 

The levitical priests were many because they were prevented, by death, from remaining in office, but Jesus, because he remains forever, has a priesthood that does not pass away.

After the golden calf incident in Exodus, the tribe of Levi, one of the sons of Jacob, were given exclusive rights to the priesthood and management of the Temple of God. These priests were the ones that prepared the sacrificial table, filled the lamps with oil, assisted with the sacrifices, helped do all the laborious things required to maintain and move the temple, (until the permanent one was built by Solomon) and deal with the everyday business of the needs of the people.

The sons of Aaron, within the Levi Tribe, had exclusive right as the High Priests. The High Priest, once designated, would stay High Priest until their death. Then a new High Priest would be selected from the appropriate line of Aaron, by casting lots. The High Priest was the one allowed behind the veil, into the Holy of Holies, the inner chamber where the Chair of Moses sits with the Tabernacle of God.

This tradition continued, generation after generation until the Roman Empire came and desecrated the temple and replaced the High Priest with one of their choosing, usually a Sadducee(see John 11:49), for one year terms. He is saying here that there is no longer a need for the Levitical priesthood (or the present false priests) to offer sacrifices for their sins and the people, because Jesus, who is both High Priest AND Sacrificial Lamb, will continue for eternity as the High Priest and his dying on the cross, was the last and only sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins.

 So often I read these verses and can imagine that they were written directly to us, in this world. We are to put no gods before him, he is our one and ONLY God. When these words were written, people had many household gods they would worship, ones they picked up from other peoples and their previous captors.

We have our little household gods. Some people worship their DVR and big screen TV, others their IPhone or tablet. Still others worship their clothing, the $300.00 shoes, or the expensive rims for their car. Yes, we have our household idols. We put these before our Lord, I dare say, some may even pray for money to buy them.

Can you give up your false gods? Can you give up television for 30 days? Can you fill that time with reading books of and about the Bible and prayer? Can you spend that time with your children playing games and reading stories and praying the Rosary? Hmmmm...


Blessings,

The Catholic Lady ©