relationship with God

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Gift of acceptance

As we head into week three of Advent, the week of joyful anticipation, let’s turn our focus on Mary and her gift of acceptance.

The second week of Advent held two great feasts for Mary: the Immaculate Conception and Our Lady of Guadalupe. Mary does hold a dear place in the hearts and spirituality of Catholics. We see her guiding presence within the Gospels and even in the Acts of the Apostles. Many times meditations on the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel came to Mary asking her to be the mother of God, focus on the visit itself and what it must have been like for her. But what if we took another look at a different angle, specifically, her acceptance.

How many times have we had experiences that were drastically different from what we expected? At times like this my family will comment, “that’s not what I signed up for!” At the time of Jesus, the Jews were expecting a much different Messiah than Jesus. They expected Him to rid the land of the Romans and restore the earthly kingdom. If that’s what Mary was expecting, she was definitely mistaken. Perhaps throughout His life, Jesus prepared her for His eventual Passion and Death, but she could not have known what was going to happen when she said yes. Did she know He would be an itinerant preacher? As she is mentioned in the Gospel at the places where Jesus was teaching, perhaps she accompanied Him on His travels. If she was expecting a more militant savior, the travel probably didn’t surprise her, but perhaps the teachings did. 

If we put ourselves in Mary’s place at the time of the Annunciation, what we can expect is her assessing the risk she was taking by saying yes. As a woman who was only betrothed, she faced scandal by her family, her community, and even her future husband, Joseph. She could have been ostracized or worse, by law stoned to death. And she still said yes. While Mary was still quite young, thought to be a teenager, she was still of an age to marry and have children in those times. But even in her short life at the time, she trusted in God, no matter what consequences came from it.  

God asks us to trust Him like Mary did. While He probably won’t send an angel messenger to obtain our agreement, He still wants us to be open to His Will, even during trials and challenges. As the Church acknowledges Mary’s conception free from original sin, we see that God prepared Mary in a very special way for the special role she has in salvation history. God prepares us in a similar way, for each blessing and challenge is built upon our response to the previous opportunities in our lives. Each time we are free to accept God’s will or to choose our own way, and with each decision, we must also accept the consequences that come as a result of our choices. 

Mary’s gift of acceptance to God has become a role model for us all to follow, regardless of the risks or the consequences. When we accept God’s will, there will be many blessings but also many trials, however, He will always be there for us and help us through it. It may not be what we expect for our lives, but if we are truly doing His will, then our expectations are changed from secular, worldly matters, to the goal of reaching heaven and spending eternity with God and with Mary.

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Giving to the Giver

What do you get the person who has everything? We’ve all struggled with family and friends who are a challenge when it comes to gift-giving. But what about the One who truly has everything, since He created it all: God? 

Matthew’s Gospel contains the visit of the magi, or wise men (Matt 2:1-12). What did these learned men give the newborn king? Gifts of great value which included gold, frankincense, and myrrh. These also correlate to Jesus symbolically to indicate His Kingship, His Divinity, and His Sacrifice. These men took the time and effort to visit the newborn and they were not about to bring Him cheap and worthless trinkets. It’s not like they were in the area and figured they would pop round to the nearest market to pick up a few baubles and drop in for a quick congratulatory visit. They undertook this journey, which itself was probably costly to each of them, because of the significance they understood from their study of the stars. While they are not named, they do not seem to be known by the Jews, even though they are familiar with the Jewish prophecy to be able to correctly understand and interpret the sign of the star. They did bring gifts for the baby, but the biggest gift of all was their time and attention, willingly given.

God has given us everything we have. Perhaps the greatest gift of all is our free will. This means that we always have a choice: to serve God or to serve ourselves. God wants us to freely choose Him. If we want to have a relationship with Him, then all our words and actions need to mirror Him. And God is magnificently generous with us. Even in our trials and challenges, we can find little blessings amongst the thorns. Sometimes the very painful events of our lives end up being transformed into the greatest blessings, even if we can’t see it when we are making our way through. 

Advent gives us a special opportunity to ponder the gifts of God and to think about how we respond to them. Do we wholeheartedly accept them, or do we treat them like an ugly Christmas sweater an old family member gave us and we force ourselves to smile and say a hollow thank you? What about the gift of the sacraments within the Mass and of reconciliation? Have they become items on our holiday checklist that we accommodate within our schedule out of a sense of obligation instead of approaching them humbly to make them the greatest joys of the season? While we can receive these sacraments outside of the Advent and Christmas timeframe, the preparatory nature of the liturgical time urges us to fully embrace the ability to have our sins forgiven, as we forgive those who have wronged us, as well as to receive Jesus, not just in a symbolic gesture, but really and truly in the Real Presence. Do we ask God to help us be as generous to others as He is with us? Or do we play it safe when creating our gift lists? 

Christmas is a lovely time of tradition, but we need to be cautious not to get mired in a sense of obligation, not just towards the celebrations with family and friends, but more importantly to specifically avoid celebrating Jesus’ birth as a duty. The best gift we can give the Giver is to freely choose to celebrate His birth by opening our hearts to Him and being receptive to all the graces, blessings, and challenges He bestows upon us. Why are we preparing ourselves during Advent? Because we believe in Jesus, we have been touched by Him, and we want to continue walking towards an eternity with Him.

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The gift of haste

In just a few days, a new liturgical year will start, which is always the beginning of Advent. Notice that the year does not begin when Jesus is born, but rather with a time of preparation, a time of action. 

God gives us many gifts and blessings. He also provides us, through scripture, role models for us to emulate. Our circumstances will not be the same as those accounts in the Bible, but when we read of how people accept God’s Word, His Will, and His Blessings, we can better appreciate and accept the gifts He bestows on us. There are numerous places among the various books of the Bible where God or His messengers speak. Let’s look at three examples from the New Testament of how individuals responded to God’s message.

“During those days Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah,” is how Luke describes Mary’s trip to her cousin, Elizabeth. (Lk 1:39) During the angel Gabriel’s visit to Mary at the annunciation, she learns her cousin is also pregnant. While Mary needs to do nothing but give her assent to become the mother of God, she can, however, do something for Elizabeth. In a time when travel took much longer than it does now, it most likely took four to five days for her to reach Elizabeth’s home. While Mary would eventually need to prepare for the birth of her own child, Elizabeth was far closer to giving birth. Mary sensed that Elizabeth would be in need of another pair of hands and quickly made her way there. While Gabriel mentions Elizabeth’s pregnancy, he does not give any direction to Mary in regards to visiting Elizabeth. Mary didn’t need to be told what to do, she just went. How many times when we receive a message do we take action? Do we wait and try and figure out what we should do, or do we let God’s will lead us in the action we should take?

“So they [the shepherds] went in haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger.” (Lk 2:16) Here is that lovely word again in Luke, this time it’s about the shepherds who are reacting to the angel’s announcement to them in their fields. The angels do give the shepherds a hint as to what they are to do with the wonderful news they received, they are to seek the infant Jesus swaddled and in a manger. Although the shepherds are still in shock from the angels’ visit, after a brief discussion and consensus, they do quickly make their way and find the circumstances just as they were told. We are the shepherds of today, each time we attend Mass and receive the Word of God. Do we reflect upon what God may be speaking to us through the Word we hear? Do we make haste to put into action what we hear? 

“John [the] Baptist appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. People of the whole Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins.” (Mk 1:4-5) Instead of angelic messengers, God sent John, the son of Elizabeth & Zechariah, to prepare the people to receive His Son. Through John’s preaching, the people realized their sins and wanted to change. Their baptism was a symbol, to the world, that they knew how they sinned and they were going to change to avoid it in the future. In the action they took to both be baptized as well as to make the necessary changes in their lives to avoid sin, they were opening their hearts, minds, and souls to God. They found out it was possible to be redeemed and were actively preparing to be so. Advent gives us the opportunity to prepare for Jesus in a similar, but much more profound way. We are able to receive the sacrament of reconciliation, making our souls as if we just rose from the waters of baptism with all the graces God wishes to bless us. While John’s preaching and baptism was directed by God, it didn’t have the same power of absolution that the sacrament has. Advent is the time to open our hearts, be honest in acknowledging our sin, and truly want to not only be forgiven, but also to amend our ways to avoid the sins again. We should make haste in Advent to the sacrament to prepare our souls to receive the Word when He comes to us.  

God’s message is meant to touch our hearts so deeply that we take action. When we receive God’s Word, we are meant to respond, to do God’s will, not just to listen and think it’s someone else’s responsibility. Let us focus this Advent to make haste in seeking God’s Word and Will for us and respond in action with the same swiftness. 

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Feeling fine

I know I’m dating myself, but in my youth there was a song from the band R.E.M called It’s the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine). As the liturgical year comes to a close, we are reminded about the end of times, and to make preparations for them instead of fearing them.

Honestly, the only thing I remember about the song is that refrain. It’s quite catchy and occasionally it will pop into my head and I’ll sing it over again a few times. But that line alone is powerful enough to reflect on, as it is in keeping with how we should approach the end of the world. In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 24 contains Jesus’ teaching on the end of days. “You will hear of wars and reports of wars; see that you are not alarmed, for these things must happen, but it will not yet be the end. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be famines and earthquakes from place to place.” (Matt 24:6-7) From Jesus’ own words, it’s not just man-made calamities that will occur, but also those of the natural world. These tribulations will affect people at a survival level, and for those not directly affected, we are called to assist in whatever way we can. Those who are directly affected can say it is the end of their world as they know it. They will need to rebuild their lives, either in the same location, or travel elsewhere and seek to rebuild what they once had. It is not wrong to own property, furnishings, and clothes, we just need to have a detachment from them so that we are not crushed if we are affected by cataclysmic changes. When we are affected by disasters, we trust in God to lead us through and bless us as He sees fit to do so. That may be by generously giving us more than we need, or it may be giving us just enough to live without any luxuries, which may be less than what we’ve been accustomed to living.

Even without a declared war, violence can be experienced at any time or place. We cannot predict what another will do. We also cannot live in fear that something will happen, so we take proper precautions to be aware of our surroundings and be prepared for anything. Recalling back to my childhood, it seems the old saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me,” is no longer common sense. Saying the wrong word or addressing a person incorrectly may be the tipping point for some to use violence as a way to respond to the perceived injury. The current social climate is one of being wary about others, who may not see an act of kindness the same as you or I would.

Thinking about these items from my youth remind me that the world has changed much since the 1980s; some good changes, and some very troubling changes. As digital and technological advances make artificial intelligence (AI) commonplace, it is also leading our society into places we are not yet prepared to go. We do not know how this will affect us even five years into the future, let alone the future of children being born at this time. AI is neither good nor bad in and of itself, but rather the results of how AI is used will determine how much of a detriment there is on the human race. The more we become reliant on it and allow it to think for us, the further away from the truth we will find ourselves. AI will lead us to the end of the world as we know it and into a different world. It may be in our lifetime or it may be in the next generation, but things will definitely be different. No matter what the advancements are, the world will never be the same as it is in this moment, and we can never come back to this moment either.

Change can be scary. It can be overwhelming, especially when there is a lot of change all at once. It can make our heads dizzy trying to keep up with the new “normal.” God, however, does not change. He is eternal. His teachings are true no matter how advanced or rustic we are. He will always be there for us and seek to have a relationship with us, no matter what craziness the world showers upon us. As we conclude the year dedicated to the virtue of hope, we are reminded once again, that when we hope in God and trust in His Divine Providence, He will see us through our trials and tribulations. He doesn’t promise a world without suffering, but rather that the suffering will have purpose and meaning far deeper than we will ever be able to understand this side of heaven. Even when things seem so bleak and crushing us, through our tears we can say that we feel fine because we have faith in God. Our emotions do not dictate our belief, but are rather a barometer of how the world is affecting us. We can feel both scared at the changes in the world as well as courage to practice our faith. We can be angry at the unnecessary violence in our neighborhoods, towns, and cities, but we can also feel the peace of God and the need to share it with those we meet. 

When we are centered on Jesus Christ as our model, we can face the end of the world as we know it and feel not just fine, but joyful at the coming of the kingdom of God. He is our supreme good and all we need, both now and forever in eternity.   

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Four lasting things

In a homily on All Soul’s day, the priest mentioned the four last things: death, judgement, heaven and hell. However, my head got stuck on the word “last.” Why are these things last and why do we need to be mindful of them?

Death connotes the end. If death is truly the end, then what about the other three items? For non-believers, there is nothing that comes after. The only thing that is last for them is death. However, for a believer, death is a transition. As humans we are a combination of body and soul. When we die, it is our body that ceases to be animated, yet our soul still lives on. As Catholics, we believe that our bodies will be resurrected and reunited with our souls and that the separation of the two in death is only temporary. Jesus, the Second Person in the Trinity, took on human flesh in order to die, or more specifically to give His life for all who would believe in Him.

Each of us will die at some point, no matter what methods we may take to prolong our lives, our bodies will eventually fail. Catholics have hope for the life to come, that is what comes after death. So is death really a last thing? Perhaps if we view death as the gateway to what’s to come, then death is not the last thing, but something that is lasting throughout eternity. Or maybe death is too much of a human word to use. Life and death are polar opposites and are really describing the physical state of an organism. Since we also have souls that transcend the physical world, death does not really apply to that portion of a human being. Even for believers, death and the thought of dying can be scary, yet we should not fear it because it is not the end, but rather a change. Perhaps what we fear is not death, but rather some of the other last things.

It would be easy to say the thing to fear is the judgement, but even that should not be a surprise to us. God has given us many resources: the Church, the sacraments, the Bible, and the saints just to name a few, that provide us guidelines and examples to follow and observe. If we choose to go against God’s will it is an active choice we make. Is it easy to explain away why we are not culpable? Maybe to ourselves, but God will not be looking for explanations, He will be looking at the fruit of what our choices brought about. As we are all sinners, a verdict will be that we have not followed God’s will. However, Jesus will stand beside us as our Advocate, pleading that His Passion and Death paid the price that we would need to pay. So why is the judgement one of the last things? Here again it is not something that is brought to an end, but rather the judgment that is rendered is one that is ever lasting.

The judgement will identify how we will spend the rest of eternity, either in heaven with God or in hell away from God. Our lives on earth, the choices we make, will lead us to either place. Like death and judgement, these are not the end, or a “last” thing but rather lasting things that will never end. If we spend our lives going against God’s will, why would we want to be with God in heaven, especially if we don’t take the time to get to know Him? Yet if we spend our time getting to know God, trying to do His will, and seeing Him in all of creation — especially in our fellow man — then our hope in Jesus and His Mercy will render a verdict for heaven, even if we need to make a slight detour in purgatory to dispel any remaining imperfections.

There may be four lasting things, but we will only experience three of them. In the month of November as the Church’s liturgical year comes to a close, she reminds us of these everlasting states. Her mission is to give us the tools so that our lasting state of being after a deathly transition and judgement is heaven, but she also reminds us that we have the free will to choose the alternative by the way we live our lives on earth. Our choices have lasting consequences. Choose wisely.

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God AND science

The current relationship between God and science appears to many to be an either/or: either there is a God and one can’t accept science, or there is only science and belief in a God is no longer needed. Yet a commercial for bedsheets has made me ponder if there is a possibility that the two can be reconciled. 

Science is the study of the natural world. In the beginning, many or perhaps even most scientists were Christians. They believed in an intelligent Creator that put purpose and logic into all of creation. Through observation and study, one could not only get a better understanding of the world in which we live, but also to God Himself, since He leaves a trace within all of creation. However, our modern times have seen not just a disregard for God, but almost a war-like mission to explain everything through science in order to disprove His existence. In Europe there is a huge machine, the Large Hadron Collider, built underground to try to re-create what would have been in existence just after the supposed Big Bang, the current theory of how the universe was created. One of the things this experiment is trying to find and understand is what scientists have called, “the God particle,” which would be used to explain away any need for God as the creator of the universe. 

Other fields of science, however, are diving deep into the properties of fabric. I remember when cotton bedsheets were touted as the supreme, then it became bamboo for a natural and sustainable option. Most recently I saw an ad for linen bedsheets. While they do share some properties with bamboo in that they help regulate temperature, the one benefit that drew my attention was the frequency of linen sheets. Frequency? Are we supposed to listen to our bedsheets? Apparently linen has a vibrational frequency and this energy is what gives the property of calming stress. Synthetic fabrics (aka man-made ones) have little to no beneficial vibrational frequency. Linen has also been attributed to having antiseptic and antibacterial properties, which may have been why it was so widely used in wound care for hundreds or thousands of years. In His creation, God has truly provided for our well being. It’s only now that we can come to appreciate it.

Modernity and science have both sought to make the world a better place, and in many ways each has. However, sometimes it has been at the cost of what nature provides. If scientists continue to try to disprove God’s existence and to recreate what God’s creation can provide, we may be creating more problems for ourselves in future rather than solving a non-existent issue today. God is not in competition with His creation. He has created all things so that we reflect His glory and give Him praise just by being who He has created us to be. 

The fall of humanity began with one man’s pride grasping for the ability to be godlike. And the secular world continues to repeat the same sin, just in different circumstances. Perhaps one day humanity will realize that all the data the scientists gather does not require a rejection of God, but rather praise for all the numerous and wondrous ways He has created the universe to support us and help us to grow closer to Him by discovering all the little details He thought of in its creation.

Something more than feelings

How are you feeling today? Happy, sad, angry, frustrated, holy, scared, lonely, peaceful, or mischievous? Perhaps it’s a mixture of several of those. Our culture today puts a lot of emphasis on feelings, but is there another perspective we should consider?

How many times have you heard someone say they “just want to be happy” either about themselves or someone they are close to? One can look at the term happy and say it’s impossible for anyone to just be happy. Life will always throw challenges our way. But what if you considered happiness and being happy as a state of being, rather than just an emotional response in the moment? Lasting happiness would then be possible. 

Perhaps happiness is an attitude that you cultivate. Instead of constantly chasing things that may make you happy, or give you happy feelings, maybe it’s having an appreciation for the world around you and finding delight in the details. If we appreciate the warmth of the sun and refreshment of rain, then no matter what the weather, you can be happy. If life throws the challenge of burned brownies your way, then maybe you appreciate that dessert is not a necessity after every meal, and that will make the next dessert more special when you do have it. 

If you are in a state of happiness, can you have other feelings? Of course! Your emotions are going to change from one minute to the next. Emotions are a response to the environment around you, but that doesn’t mean you can’t pursue a state of being happy. You can cry and be happy at the same time. You can be angry and still be in a state of happiness. It’s what you do with your emotions that identify if you are pursuing happiness or some other state of being. Some may look at the world and only see the problems and they live in a troublesome state of being — anger, frustration, anxiety, etc. When you hyperfocus on the evils of the world, it makes it hard to see the light of Christ and the salvation that He brings to the world, even now. 

Being happy doesn’t mean that you don’t recognize the issues in your community, from local and national to global troubles. Happiness looks for a small way to ease the burdens of another, not to solve all the problems all at once. Just as you find joy in small ways, so too can issues be addressed a little at a time. Look at the work of Saint Teresa of Calcutta, she looked to make a difference as she helped one person at a time. Before social media was invented, the world knew who she was, even though she did not seek publicity in the care she was providing to the poorest of the poor. She saw the reflection of Jesus in each person she cared for, and in turn, cared for each person as if they were Jesus. 

You don’t need to feel happy to be happy. Actually, you are not called to be happy, you are called to be holy. When you pursue a life state of holiness, then joy, peace, and happiness flow through the grace of God into all aspects of life. God gifted you with feelings and emotions so that you can appreciate the blessings He provides and recognize when you fall short of His will and follow your own instead. While you can use your emotional responses as cautionary signals, you should not wallow in them, lest they become like quicksand and make you sink into one feeling that lasts a lifetime. Your feelings are just one part of the masterpiece that God has created you to be; reflect the Master’s work in all the abilities with which He has blessed you.   

Weapon of change

October is the month dedicated to the rosary. A whole month? Yes! The rosary has been touted as the most powerful prayer, especially when prayed daily. How can this prayer, that features the Blessed Virgin Mary, be so effective in our spiritual battles?

Living in a physical world, we often forget that there is also a spiritual realm active and all around us. Thankfully we each have a guardian angel to accompany us through life and assist us in our spiritual battles. The battles are not for the angel to take care of however, but rather they are ours to confront. This fight is ours alone, though we can seek our angel’s assistance. Sometimes, this means taking action to perform a corporal or spiritual work of mercy; other times, it means avoiding sinful actions.

A quick Google search on “who said the rosary is a weapon” provided quite a number of responses. The most prominent was from St. Padre Pio. “Love the Madonna and pray the rosary, for her Rosary is the weapon against the evils of the world today. All graces given by God pass through the Blessed Mother,” is attributed to him. However, others who have proclaimed the power of the rosary include: Blessed Pope Pius IX, St. Josemaria Escriva, Pope Pius XI, and Pope Leo XIII.

In any war, soldiers are trained and practice handling their weapons until they are practically an extension of themselves. In our war against temptations, we train by praying the rosary, pondering deeply the mysteries within it, so that we can be strengthened for the fight. While the rosary seems to focus on the Blessed Mother because the majority of the prayers are the Hail Mary, the mysteries are about the life of Jesus. They focus on both the happy moments as well as the sad ones, allowing us to accompany Jesus throughout His whole human life. With each Hail Mary, we ponder the words of scripture. From Gabriel’s salutation at the Annunciation to Elizabeth’s greeting, when John the Baptist leapt in her womb, we are reminded that God has a plan for each of us. And by praying Mary’s prayer, we ask her to help us say yes to God like she did. 

The rosary is a vehicle for God’s graces to flow into the world. It most likely will not happen very fast, but the change is real. It starts with us, who are praying the rosary. Our attitudes, our decisions, and the way we conduct ourselves reflect the light of Christ. The effects ripple outward towards others, softly encouraging them to change their ways as well, learning to start saying no to sin and temptations. While we will continue to fall, the rosary will help lift us up to seek God’s mercy and guidance, returning us to the path that leads us to heaven. And when we’re disappointed that the intention we’ve prayed for does not come to fruition, we will be reminded that the rosary is not for our will to be done, but for God’s will to succeed, as He knows what is truly best for every one of us. 

Ultimately the spiritual warfare we are battling is for souls to get to heaven. The more we pray the rosary for our world, the more lives we can save from eternal damnation, including ourselves. That’s a powerful weapon, indeed!  

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Beautiful bad day

Everyone suffers from a bad day occasionally, though the definition of such a day can vary greatly from person to person. While it may seem contradictory,  positive words can describe a bad day allowing us to find beauty in them much like we do a good day.

I often think days we would describe as being bad simply illustrate that we are not in control. Recently I had a day that I would at least describe as a challenging, if not completely a bad day. I had in mind how certain events would go and they didn’t happen that way at all. Some circumstances I was confident wouldn’t be an issue ended up surprising me by being problematic. When confronted with events unfolding other than what was expected, it really throws off your whole outlook and you begin to question everything. When you add onto that the normal difficulties any day can serve up — dropping items, cleaning up spills, and so on — you can feel the weight of uncertainty and trouble practically anchoring you in place. Yes, I did call out to God and the saints for help and I know they were there with me all day even though my prayers weren’t answered in the way I wanted them to be. I know God answers all prayers, and it’s difficult when the answer is either “No,” or “Not right now.”

I firmly believe in God’s plan for me, even if I can’t always discern it. While I strive to be open and do His will, challenging days leave me bewildered. I reflect on the lives of saints, a number of whom had a sickly constitution and were rejected by multiple religious orders until they found an order that would accept their situation. They are usually described as being gentle and demonstrating great patience. Yet anyone who’s ever been ill knows how difficult it is to be nice to people when you’re not feeling well. They go on to do so many great and wonderful things, it’s no wonder that they are named a saint! But part of me wonders if they ever had a bad day, despite their condition. Yet, when you distill the whole of a person’s life down to just a few paragraphs, you’re going to highlight the best in a person. The bad days the saints experienced did not define their life, even if those days did shape and adjust the trajectory of their lives. 

As I was going through my bad day, I started to wonder if I was allowing God to be God? What can I learn by letting things unfold, even if it seems to be more work for me? Is this an opportunity to practice humility? I have a list of chores that need to get done and I expect to do them a certain way, but when a bad day interrupts my plans, how gracious am I to allow it? If this bad day was a test, then I failed miserably. I don’t like using bad language, but a bad day seems to rewire my brain so that at every challenge some ugly word is spoken aloud. I feel totally frustrated and like I have absolutely no patience left. Yet I know, despite not feeling one sentiment of peace, God is with me through it all. 

Looking back at what happened and how I reacted, I do feel guilty for not handling it better and definitely felt unworthy to pray to God. But that is exactly what Satan wants us to believe. He possesses the remarkable ability to discern our difficult days, and he intensifies them with his own distinctive, unconventional perspective. Perhaps this is really the true test of a bad day, not so much how we handled the events themselves, but the perspective afterwards. Do we continue to turn to God? Do we allow the remorse of our actions and responses lead us to Jesus for mercy, forgiveness, and peace? Or do we cling to how bad of a day the events were and how miserable they make us feel? 

Bad days are an inevitable part of the human experience. They also provide valuable opportunities for self-reflection and strengthening one’s faith and reliance on God.

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Catholic test drive

While meandering through the rabbit hole of YouTube, the algorithm served up two suggestions for me that were intriguing. Can faith, and the expression of it through a particular religion, be tried on or tested out?

Our world is very secular and every denomination claims to have open doors to those who are interested. The Catholic Church has a whole process around the entrance for converts: Order of Christian Initiation for Adults (OCIA). However, in the two videos I watched, these individuals weren’t necessarily interested in converting. They were more interested in having a better understanding of Catholicism and what it means to be a Catholic. The first person I watched took a very studious approach to his experience, while the second person’s perspective was one of a challenge. It was the second one, in particular, that made me think that the approach to religion was being equated to testing-driving a car. I know God calls people in many ways, and perhaps even if neither person converts, could these 30-day challenge videos encourage others to “try” Catholicism? 

Protestant Goes to Mass for 30 Days Straight

YouTuber Nash Georgiev posted his video a few days prior to when I watched it. I was impressed that he read several books in preparation for attending Mass. His goal was to understand Catholicism better, and, potentially, to be able to argue against the teachings based on his experience. In his thirst for knowledge of the faith, he seemed to be getting tired of the trite and repetitive brush-offs Protestants use to dismiss anything Catholic. Through his Bulgarian heritage, he was familiar with Orthodox Churches, and took time to appreciate and explain the symbolic details of the architecture in the Catholic Church he attended. Even with all the preparation Nash did — including reading parts of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, he was still confused as to what was happening at Mass. While he noticed that the congregation participated and responded to the priest, he wasn’t quite sure how to follow it. He also mentioned, of course, the amount of movement required during a Mass; the standing, the sitting, and the kneeling. If he was taking this “adventure” on by himself, it made sense that he was confused. While every Mass is open to anyone to attend, having a basic understanding of the actual actions, or someone who can explain in real time, is needed in order to see the fruits of attending. 

There were three main impacts that Nash indicated in his video. First, he was surprised to hear that Catholics pray for unity for all Christians. He had never heard another denomination do that. I think he expressed it well when he said he felt as if “Mother Church [was] waiting for her rebellious children to come home.” He also expressed how the Bible came to life within the act of worship, since so many prayers are based on, or directly from, Scriptures. What seems to have touched his heart is the reverence he saw Catholics giving to the Eucharist. As he was summarizing his experience, he expressed hesitation in participating in the symbolic communion service at his Protestant Church because of the depth of belief Catholics have in The Real Presence.

I thought Nash did a wonderful and respectful review of his 30 days attending Mass. Not even all Catholics attend daily! Perhaps with his newly open and receptive heart, his faith journey may lead him home to becoming Catholic.  

I Lived Like A Catholic For 30 Days

YouTuber Jacob Giron started his video by giving the count of how many Christian denominations there are. He posted his video about a month ago, and while he claims to be Christian, he didn’t seem to have any particular way to practice his faith. He mentioned his Catholic friends being disciplined in their prayers and Mass attendance and was using this 30-day challenge to see if Catholicism was right for him. There were three things he felt makes someone a Catholic: Mass, prayer, and confession. He was very eager to try all three, including confession!

Jacob began by talking with a priest, which I thought was an appropriate way to start. However, I think he was a bit disappointed that he didn’t receive a checklist of what to do and in what order. The first few days were focused on prayer. He pulled out his Bible and looked up the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew’s Gospel, and while he explained that he knew it, he also admitted that he never used “recited prayers.” Rather than going to Mass every day, Jacob’s attendance was limited to Sundays. It was rather humorous to hear him try to explain the kneelers. While I admit I did cringe when I saw him chewing gum when he entered the Church, he was cognizant to feel he was underdressed for Mass. He did talk with one of the parishioners who helped give him a bit more understanding of the Mass. Jacob seemed impressed with the unity of the Catholic Mass, in that all the Catholic Churches use the same Scripture readings around the world for any given Sunday. 

I wasn’t surprised at Jacob’s reflection on confession. Since he isn’t a Catholic, he really wasn’t prepared for the sacrament. His expectation was to just talk with the priest and seemed to be surprised at the ritual of it. While priests often do give pastoral counsel during confession, it’s usually when a person is prepared to confess specific sins, because they have reflected on what they have, or have not done. Without this approach, as well as proper remorse for one’s sins, one can’t fully receive the graces from the sacrament. In his summary, Jacob indicated he was not ready to make a commitment to becoming Catholic and still had many more questions. 

While the approaches and the intentions seemed to be different for each man, I’m not convinced a 30-day challenge is a good idea for faith and religion. Faith is a journey and it’s also a relationship; both with God as well as each person we meet. Our chosen religion is how we express and practice what we believe. I don’t think you can try-on a denomination to see if it fits you. The Catholic faith and its practice is for you to be molded into the likeness of Jesus, imitating Him and having a relationship with Him. Faith changes us into the best version of ourselves. To look for faith and a religious expression to be anything else, is wanting to play at being God.