Many Dwelling Places

  • Thread starter Thread starter InLight247
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
“Catholics Come Home” is a nation wide program to welcome non-practicing Catholics back to the Church. TV commercials will be kicked off on December 17th in our Diocese. According to survey, some dioceses had this TV commercial on prime time have increased 10% of attendance. Bringing our brothers and sisters back to the church is an important step of spreading the good news of the Lord.

My parish has prepared Catholics Come Home welcome packets along with weekly bulletin announcement of encouraging message. All the Mass coordinators, ushers, church staff, Council members and Evangelization team will wear “Catholics Come Home” badge during Mass as the point of contact. In our attentive waiting, we pray this program will be a great success.

Is your diocese doing the same thing at this time? If not, the program will soon come to your diocese in the future. This is an ongoing nation wide program. The TV commercials were done professionally.

Catholics Come Home | You're Not Alone

Discover the history, beauty, spirituality and accomplishments of the Catholic Church, founded by Jesus Christ more than 2,000 years ago.
www.catholicscomehome.org www.catholicscomehome.org
Please help spread the word. Please also keep this in your prayers.
 
Before my kids and their friends came home for Thanksgiving, I had the house ready. Carpets have been washed. White kitchen tiles were almost spotless. Red roses gave fragrance in glass vase in front of Jesus’ Divine Mercy picture. Everything was in good order.

Everyone helped to prepare the feast. We had good time together. But soon food crumbs fell on the kitchen floor, cat hair and the long hair of the girls appeared on the white tile, dirt, water spot…… During the holidays, I vacuumed, and vacuumed, mopped and mopped again. In order to keep the place near perfect, I have to constantly pay attention and clean up. I realized right then - this was just like my daily striving for holiness.

Sometimes I might think I was out of Lent and remained in Easter. I thought I was doing pretty well. Walking into the confessional, I was originally to give a devotional confession. Then the light of the Holy Spirit would shine through. He never stopped amazing me. I would bring up something I didn’t think of.

I know I am never perfect. There are always things to work on, rooms to improve. I am always a work in process. The good thing is my Lord is never disappointed at me as long as I am striving.
 
We usually refer those active in services as Martha and those spend time in prayer as Mary. However, Martha and Mary could both be found in those who stay long in prayer. Sitting under Jesus’ feet may not necessarily be Mary. It may all depend on how one prays. Petition prayers with many solicitations could be more Martha oriented, while the prayer of faith and simplicity could be more Mary oriented.

When Jesus entered the village after Lazarus was dead, Martha rushed to meet the Lord, but Mary stayed at home until Jesus called her. Does this mean Martha was eager to change things and Mary held the attitude of obedience? I don’t know. I know even Jesus had the intention to resurrect Lazarus to start with, he didn’t ask “Where have you laid him?” until Mary fell at his feet and wept. The resurrection of Lazarus happened when Mary was at Jesus’ feet with her tender love.

There are many things to pray about, especially in this troubled world. I have often to remind myself the balance between intercessory prayers vs. simply being with Jesus in affection and love.
 
Exterior quietness is very important. When many noises are around, it is hard to concentrate on prayer. Whenever I take a car trip with someone and the radio or the CD is on, even my will wants to pray, my concentration is disturbed. The interior focus is distracted by exterior environment.

The distraction of Radio and TV are not as bad as parties. I seldom go to party, but I do enjoy weddings. Recently I have attended three consecutive weddings. The banquets all have loud music and people danced through dinner. These were indeed happy occasions. I could be easily carried away by the jolly atmosphere – the congratulating speeches, the fine food, the wine, the cheers, the chat among friends, the dance, the deeply in love wedding couple………. During the entire event my recollections of God were seldom and brief.

While writing my spiritual journal after getting back to the hotel, I sensed a feeling of relief mixed with subtle misery. The whole long evening would be more satisfying if my thoughts have dwelled on God more. Such realization once again made me cherish quietness , both exterior and interior.
 
According to Father Gerder, only fifteen hundreds out of the ten thousand registered Catholics attend Sunday Mass in the entire city I am visiting. But many people, both young and old go to the land temple to worship “land god” all the time. Among these local worshippers, many are educated.

Deeply rooted in the faith they were brought up, they feel reassured by lighting up incense and making their wishes in front of the idol. I fully understand the mentality. All human hearts yearn for the protection of a superior power except these people don’t know the true God. They only know what they were taught from young age. Father said they were very used to their faith and felt content. To them, the Gospel of Jesus is foreign and they have no interest in changing their faith. This makes the work of evangelization very difficult.

Such fact makes me wonder about the path of their salvation. Father said our faith in Jesus - the way, the truth, and the life, is a high speed train to eternal life, and other faiths, the slow route. Surely Jesus loves these people very much. He died for them, too. God solely decides who get into heaven though these people are lost sheep in our view.

When the influence of tradition, family, culture and environment is so strong, what can we do to reach them?
 
Morning prayer: The Canticle of Zechariah – The Messiah and his forerunner
Click to expand...
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
for he has come to his people and brought about their redemption.
He has raised up the sign of salvation
in the house of his servant David,
as he promised through the mouth of the holy ones,
his prophets through the ages:
to rescue us from our enemies
and all who hate us,
to take pity on our fathers,
to remember his holy covenant
and the oath he swore to Abraham our father,
that he would give himself to us,
that we could serve him without fear
– freed from the hands of our enemies –
in uprightness and holiness before him,
for all of our days.
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High:
for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare his path,
to let his people know their salvation,
so that their sins may be forgiven.
Through the bottomless mercy of our God,
one born on high will visit us
to give light to those who walk in darkness,
who live in the shadow of death;
to lead our feet in the path of peace.
Click to expand...
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.
*
When the Lord was born the choir of angels sang: ‘Victory to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’*
Click to expand...
At the birth of John the Baptist, his father Zechariah prayed this canticle, a canticle included in everyday’s LOTH Morning Prayer.

At the presentation of Jesus in the temple, Simon said “Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvations”.

These remind me of a Chinese saying: “Hear the Tao in the morning, can die in the evening without regret”.

Jesus our Savior – the truth, the way, and the life is our greatest blessing. We are not only blessed with the birth of our Lord two thousand years ago, we continue to unite with the blessing every time we receive the Eucharist.

Do we really appreciate the unutterable joy of this Sacrament? Do we attend Mass just like going through the motion? Or can we say, with this union, we have no regret?
 
Forty Days Stations of the Cross

***We adore you, Oh, Christ, we praise you.
Because by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world!
In the Lent of 2010 I gave up coffee for forty days. To a person who drinks coffee regularly every morning, lacking the bitter flavor of coffee indeed makes it a bitter mortification. I asked the Lord what he would want me to do for this Lent. “Please do not ask me to give up but let me take up.” I said. His answer was instant: “Do the Stations of the Cross every day.”

Is this really from God? I recalled the Lent of 2006. The Lord told me to do daily Eucharistic Adoration. That’s how I formed the habit of Adoration and it has not been stopped ever since. So I pleaded to God this time,”If I heard from you correctly, please let me find the prayers for Stations of the Cross right this moment.” I have a prayer book contains the Stations of the Cross prayer that I have misplaced somewhere. Just then, I thought about a book in my closet. I quickly picked up the book and flipped it through. And my eyes fell on an unnoticed page of Stations of the Cross. Thus, my 2011 Lenten mortification was settled.

I have been doing daily Stations of the Cross since this past Ash Wednesday. Sometimes I use the prayers in the prayer book, sometimes I don’t. It worked especially well for me when I gave a heart felt prayer relating to my own life on each Station, .

When I look back some of my own “crucifixion” experiences, I realize those sufferings are actually “loving gifts” from the Lord. Those painful incidents have helped me better understand the Lord’s Passion. They gave me opportunities to unite my sufferings with His. In Christ’s mercy he has allowed me to taste his pain in a very shallow way, to share his Passion with my relatively tiny sufferings.

Isn’t that a happy thing to be able to suffer for the love of the Lord? Seeing things from this perspective, I actually can feel certain joy in my spirit. God’s grace is always sufficient.
 
Due to my volunteer Chair position in our parish, my team and I recently sponsored a major spiritual activity in the beginning of this Lent. This event was a great success. Many came to express their appreciation afterwards. However, during the final preparation, I have endured a terrible humiliation and hurt. Most of my team members did not even know about this. I only shared this with one of my committee member and asked it to be kept to herself.

I know too well that the closer one is to God and the more one is willing to become an instrument, the worse the attack will be. But I have never imagined an incident as such.

When I engaged in the Stations of the Cross after this suffering, I could best relate with the first, the second and the fifth Station as well as the three times Jesus fell.

The first Station, Jesus is condemned to death.
The 3-D picture on the wall shows Jesus is tied up and Pilate is washing his hands, telling the world Jesus’ death has nothing to do with him.

Didn’t I see similar pictures in real life? Jesus keeps silent toward the insult and injustice, and complains not. How hard it is for a man to follow God’s teaching and to imitate Christ out of his own nature! Without sanctifying grace, it is almost impossible. But God has never asked us to carry a too heavy cross. When God sees I am ready, he then sends a fitting lesson. Though I could not endure my cross with complete silence, as long as I am willing to try, I could respond to humiliation with humility. As long as I have God’s grace, I could continue to pray for who hurt me. In my prayer, I am able to forgive in my heart. (to be continued)
 
continued …

The second station, Jesus bears his Cross.

The picture shows Jesus opens his arms to the Cross as if saying to his Chalice, “Give it to me.” Jesus does not only bear his cross but takes the initiative to cooperate with his heavenly Father and embraces his cross.

We often view cross as the symbol of pain, suffering and shame. We don’t welcome the cross, not to talk about embracing it. However, when we believe God knows everything and trust in his mercy, when we view the cross as a loving gift from God, when we are convinced that all things work out well for those who love God, we will try embracing the cross instead of carrying it passively.

Out of the love of God, the cross becomes a threshold of self-transcendence, through humility and obedience, the cross represents a sign of victory. Pain and suffering can bring purification, but sublimation won’t come unless we cooperate with God’s grace.
 
Continued ….
**
The fifth Station, Jesus is helped by Simon.
**
When I not only offer up my suffering but also unite my pain with the Passion of Christ, my suffering has a deeper meaning and value.

There is a difference between offering and uniting. Offering is to hand over, to give, uniting, in addition to handing over and lifting up, union. It is like the mix of coffee and water, there is no more coffee powder and water, but coffee, there is no more yours and mine but ours. They are in each other. Like Simon carries the Cross for Christ, he obtains a tiny part of the Passion.

I once asked God how I can unite my suffering with his. I was told the only thing needed is my will. When I carry my own suffering with the willingness of uniting, and walk the Stations of the Cross, my question, all of a sudden, seems to have an answer.
 
continued …

Meditating on the three times Jesus falls on his way to Calvary always wounds my heart. It is my sin that hurts him; it is my weakness that increases his burden. What a sublime goal it is to reach the state of absolute peace with no more war to fight. The Lord reminds me to equip myself for the continued battle and be patient. Any fault or imperfection in the spiritual life, regardless how trivial it may be, must be dealt with and not let go. However, do not fall into the devil’s trap when stumbled. Do not help the evil one further knock myself down. When I fall, I must rely on God’s grace and mercy to quickly stand up and forge forward.

Walking the Stations of the Cross is not just walking along with the pictures on the wall. It is to indulge oneself in the scene and to experience the Passion of Christ ── to be judged, insulted, scourged, to carry the Cross with Jesus to Calvary, to be deserted, nailed, and finally give up his soul. Walking the Stations of the Cross is to enter the Passion with deep prayers, to contemplate the way of salvation, to experience God’s unutterable love, that moving “I thirst” on the Cross.

Walking the Stations is a process of internalization. When we unite our own sufferings with the sufferings of Christ, there is a profound meaning of purification. It helps me to get closer with the Lord. All my wounds are transformed into a gift of love. The Cross shines in the devotion.

I pray the Lord continues to help me with the Stations of the Cross. May this Lenten journey purify my soul and my spirit.
 
A young boy made a beautiful toy boat and put it into the river to play.
Code: 
   The current pushed the boat away.  The boy ran along the river bank trying to catch his boat, but the boat was gone.

A man picked up the boat at the downstream and sold it to the toy store in town.  The little boy walked by and saw his boat in the window.  He went in to reason with the owner, telling him his story.  The store owner would not believe him.  The boy was told the only way to get his boat back was to purchase it.  

The boy loved the boat so much that he worked extra hard to save money and finally purchased the boat back.  He lovingly looked at the boat and said, “I created you and I purchased you, you belong to me twice.”

Lord, you love us so much.  You created us and you bought us back with the high price of your son’s blood, we belong to you twice!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top