Into The New

The New Year!
The journey to the New Creation!

Looking forward to the second coming of Our Lord and the new life in the Kingdom!

On that Wedding Day...

Praise Jesus, our Bridegroom!

Holy Mary, Mother of God

Luke 1:31~And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32~ He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David.

Long before the angel Gabriel ever appeared in Nazareth to a young virgin, there was a plan for God to come down, to be with His people in the flesh. 

From the very beginning, God knew that He would join His creatures, and that He would dwell among them in a human body. 

Now, He is God, so He could have just made Himself a body and come down as a human adult, but that wasn't the plan. 

Way back in the Scriptures the prophets spoke: 
Isaiah 7
14Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and she will call Him Immanuel. 

The plan had been in place even before the creation of man, but then when the mother of humanity, Eve, committed the first sin, the plan had to include not only God coming to dwell with us in a physical body, but God's body, blood and all, being offered as a sacrifice to save us. 

The type of Eve was to be a part of this plan of salvation, and so the new Eve would be the one who would be asked for the gift of her Body, and who would receive the Word and bring forth the Savior. This Savior would be the new Adam and He would put out what the old Adam had ushered in. 

Mary, the mother of God, was a real young woman, in a real little town, with a real father and mother, and real plans to be married to her betrothed, Joseph. 

She lived a real life, just like everyone else, except for one major difference, in order that the Son of God should be surrounded by a spotless womb, His mother was conceived without sin. He was carried in a perfect and pure Ark, through all nine months of her confinement. 

The woman that bore Him was without sin, so that He could come and defeat sin.

Mary, is the mother of the King, she is the mother of the One who came to declare war on the darkness. She is the woman clothed with the Sun. 

Of all the human bodies that have ever been, or ever will be, of all the feminine gifts, and of all the women that have been privileged to walk this earth and give life, Mary is the model, and the hope of our future. 

She was given life, she was mother of the Giver of life, and she is the mother of us all. 

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us who have recourse to thee....

Certain Things

Merry Christmas!

What an amazing thing to be celebrating the birth of our God, into the world that He created!

This is truly something to ponder. That God Himself would choose to become one of us, so that we could eventually have a chance to be like Him. What kind of God does that?!

Christmas Mass was so beautiful, and the Homily was a message straight from the Heart of Jesus.
It is still echoing in my own. That the Mercy of God, and His tremendous love has overcome all that the world can throw at us. He is with us and "It's gonna be okay."
I have heard this in my heart over and over and the affirmation of that message for me gives me so much hope!

This morning at Mass we heard in the first reading about the martyrdom of St Stephen.
This is also such an important thing to ponder. That the martyrs are truly a gift to the Church and the world.
Father talked about the power of the grace of forgiveness.
He also said that no Christian martyr has ever died for a cause, they die for a person.
To be willing to give up your life for Christ, and to be able to see the way that death can be a gift to the world, an outpouring not just of blood, but of Grace, as was St Stephen's, is huge. St Stephen died for Christ and the Kingdom, and the grace of his love and forgiveness fell on a young man named Saul, who would become Paul, who would go on to evangelize half of the known world at the time. Paul would himself be martyred, and the dance goes on.

Thank you, dear Lord, for this beautiful, wild world, for certainty in uncertain times.
We rest in you and we live in you, and God willing, we will die in you.

Praised be Jesus, now and forever!

Life or Death. You Choose.

A lot of people truly detest our president. A lot of people are thinking that he is a most unsavory character and a terrible choice as leader of the free world. Some people think that his election was illegitimate, some people think that he has committed heinous crimes.
I didn't think I wanted Donald Trump for president in 2016. I looked at the field of candidates and I hoped that anyone else would get in.
They didn't.
Trump became the candidate, and he was running against Hillary Clinton.

Trump claimed to be pro-life. Hillary is, was and probably always will be vehemently pro-abortion.
That simplified my choice, but I wasn't sure whether Trump was just playing to the Christian base or whether he really believed what he was saying. That was something that I had to wrestle with.

This election things are different.
Trump is still a blusterer. He is still obnoxious and he just can't keep his fingers off the Twitter keys, but as much as I find that distasteful, he has proven himself a champion of life.
He has stood behind the promises that he made and he has shown that he will do what he can to fight the culture of death.
Not one of the Democrats running has shown even the slightest inclination in that direction.

Yes, there are many issues that we need to think about.
Immigration, poverty, economic disparity, and such, but which one of those is more emergent than the need to end the culture of death?
The blood is flowing all day, every day. Children are being extracted, cut up, and disposed of.
How can anything be more important than that?

We are going to be up against some really tough conversations with family members, friends, and co-workers over the next nine or so months.
We want to be sure that all we say we say in charity, but we can't let this go.

There are going to be two choices.
One will be in favor of stemming the flow of blood, and turning the tide.
The other will be openly in favor of continuing the practice of child-murder and walking back the progress that has been made.

Life or Death. It's Biblical.

Seeking The Lost

"It is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost."

Dear Jesus, be persistent in your pursuit of those who stray. They think that there is good pasture in the wild, and they don't see the beast that prowls, wanting to devour them. You are the Good Shepherd and Our Father always desires that they are brought home. The lamb that has strayed finds themselves lost and unaware of how to find the way. They are often skittish, especially if they have been wounded. Only by building trust can we get close enough to help them. If they can just be brought to You, You will speak to their hearts and convince them to come back to the fold.

Guests of The Saint

I haven't posted in awhile, but that's not because there is nothing to post about!

I had the honor of making a pilgrimage to the St John Paul II National Shrine in Washington DC on Saturday, and it was just a beautiful day, all the way around!

Tim and I left at around 8 to be sure and get there before 10:00.

When we got there we were directed to the beautiful Luminous Mysteries Chapel for Mass.

The reliquery that holds the blood of the Holy Father

The Dominican priest that said Mass shared some very important thoughts on the life issues and the culture. Living in a culture of death has left many of us with a bit of spiritual PTSD, but there is such Hope in Christ! We need to always hope in the promises of our Lord. The culture is going the way of cultures past, and it really is a rescue mission to save as many souls as possible. Our dear Papa saint gave us so many tools for bringing about conversion.

After Mass we said the Rosary in the chapel and then went to Confession. It was a truly wonderful Confession! Very healing.

Then we heard again from Fr. Another very good reflection.

Lunch was on our own so we walked down to the Basilica and got sandwiches from the cafeteria.

After lunch we took a tour of the beautiful mosaic sacred art that has been created in the upper church, the chapel, and the hall. I actually bought the book about it because there is so much meaning there.


After the tour we were able to walk through the museum, which houses so much history! So many things that belonged to the Saint and his story along with it.

Like these:

Some shoes that are hard to fill!

 It was such a great day, and I am so grateful that the Shrine is close by! We can go there again soon!

How He Loves Us

We had an interesting conversation at Bible Study this morning.
We are studying James, and one of the questions was about ways that "friendship with the world" can be considered committing "adultery" against God.

There were many answers.
Any time our primary relationships take a lower priority than other things or people in our lives, we run the risk of infidelity.

Our hearts are fickle, and Jesus is gentle. He doesn't nag, or whine. He loves us and He is always there. It is so easy to find ourselves taking him for granted and putting Him last in our lives, even just out of laziness or busyness.
Even when we are committed to a relationship with God and we spend time in prayer and give Him something of ourselves, we don't often give Him ALL of ourselves.

He should be our first love.
He is the Bridegroom, and He is jealous for us.
The Grace that He wants to pour into our hearts, He wants to pour into hearts that are wide open to receive it. We can't even imagine how different our lives would be if we just gave Him all of ourselves.
But that is what true Love is.

We all had various examples of ways that we hold back, or put other things before Jesus.
We also had examples of people that have given all of themselves to Him.
St Theresa of Calcutta, St Padre Pio, St Theresa of Avila.
These were all people for whom Christ was the center. He was their everything.

I want to be a more faithful lover of my Lord. I want to think of Him first thing in the morning and last thing before I go to sleep. I want to always listen for His voice as I go through my day.
Rock Solid, that is His love for us. We are the Church, His Bride, let us be faithful.

I Make All things New Again~ Love, Jesus

"Not a hair on your head will be destroyed" ~Luke 21:19

Jesus promises that we will be persecuted, and that some of us will actually die for Him, yet not a hair on our heads will be destroyed. Even the tiniest member of the body is precious to Him and in the resurrection we will be restored to His image and likeness, right down to the hairs on our heads!

It's funny that he mentions hair, because in our culture hair is such a big deal.
People pay a fortune to have their hair cut, colored, permed, and yes, restored.

In our world today the body is treated as something to be fixed, to meet a certain standard, but it is nature that we are trying to beat into submission. The fallen nature of our lives here in this world, at this time, means that we have to constantly battle the things that nature throws at us.
Disease, disorders, aging, injury, and ultimately death, are all problems that afflict our bodies as we journey through this life. It's a battle, and unless Jesus comes back, our bodies are ultimately going to be sidelined by death. We will breathe our last breath on this earth. Some people will breathe their last because someone has decided that they need to die because of their Faith.

So what does Jesus mean when He says that not a hair on our head will be destroyed after He has just finished saying that some people will be killed?
Because our bodies are us. If we die with Him we will also rise with Him, scripture promises, and in the fullness of time we will be glorified in our bodies.

We are going to be renewed.
What is there on this earth to be concerned with if our eternity is to be a new creation in Christ?

How do we go about our days if this is a reality?
We do certainly need to be taking care of our bodies, because good health in the body makes it much easier to glorify God! We should try to eat right, get good sleep and some exercise, so that when He calls on us for whatever task, we are capable.
However, spiritual health is something that we often don't incorporate into our self-care, and it is so important! The soul is probably the most neglected part of average human being, and that's going some because a whole lot of people are neglecting their physical health.
The soul is what animates the body, and the soul filled with the Spirit can do signs and wonders, and bring other souls to Christ to share in eternal life with Him!

So, one thing is for sure, Jesus is coming and you are going to meet Him one way or another.
This Advent, maybe it is a good time to start that program of better self-care.
Add something heathy to your diet, and leave out something unhealthy, give up a bad habit, add in a little exercise. That's for the body.
Start your day with 5 minutes of prayer. Get to Confession once a month. Add a Mass to your week, if possible. Pray for a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit into your heart.  That's for the soul.

We are going to be renewed in the end, but there's no reason not to make ourselves as much like that new creation as we can, right now!

Identity Catastrophe

We live in almost impossible times.

It is almost impossible, in our time, to live as human beings have lived for most of human history.
Our food, daily movements, interactions, environments and even the most intimate of relationships are pressed on all sides by things that could never have been forseen, or prepared for, even fifty years ago.
Granted, there have some been some profoundly prophetic warnings, but for most people those warnings were either unbelieved or unheard because of their outlandish or unpalatable nature.

There was "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley. Arguably one of the most prescient novels of the twentieth century, and one of the most disturbing.
There was Humanae Vitae, an encyclical written by Pope Paul VI, at the advent of the sexual revolution. It was resented and rebelled against, and yet one by one the predictions that were made regarding the effects of unbridled sexual license have come true.
There was "1984" by George Orwell, a novel about the logical conclusion of a culture that depends on, and defers to, "big" everything; big government, big tech, big pharma, big macs, all the result of a population that has decided to roll over and accept the slavery that goes hand in hand with convenience.

All of these dire prophesies came decades before the scientific and cultural infrastructure was in place to allow them to come true.
Those who might have expessed concern or caution were quieted by the majority who said that such outlandish events would never actually be possible, and even if they did become possible, people would never be so callous, heathen and stupid as to accept them.

Now here we are living in the impossible.

We have fulfilled every dire expectation and then some.

Beyond Pope Paul VI wildest imaginings, we have gone beyond a sexual revolution to something of a sexual evolution. Sex is turning into something that is sold, twisted and used, but fewer and fewer people are engaging in the marital embrace within the union that God intended.
Fewer and fewer babies are being born, not just in Japan and Germany, but all over the world.
In Japan, the young are becoming the "sexless generation", and a lack of interest in sex across the globe is more than troubling. It's pathological.
Lack of interest in basic needs is one sign of depression. What does that say about our culture?

Another deeply disturbing problem is the across-the-board identity crisis that the west seems to be experiencing.
It used to be that people spent some period of their lives "finding" themselves, but then when it was time to grow up, they would get the job, get married, have the kids, and get back to church.

In our culture the most fundamental roots of identity are in question.

Are you male or female?
When parents are having problems deciding whether or not to "label" their children with one of two choices where gender is concerned, we have reached a new level of confusing.

Are you a member of the human race, made in the image and likeness of God, or are you one of an invasive species that has taken over and is doing irrepairable harm to the planet?
This is now a serious question. There are some very serious and powerful people that believe the latter and are working to solve the "problem".

Are you willing to reproduce?
Another basic need. The lack of sex plays a role, but in the "old days" when people had the job, and the house, they would usually have the kids. It was the natural order of things. Now they get the dog, call it a "fur-baby" and they are ok with that. Our society is OK with that. It's beyond "waiting for the right time", or "putting it off", it's not even on the agenda.

Is this loss of a basic understanding of who we are a passing phase? Is it something that we just need to awaken to and correct?
What are the signs that it will be corrected?
Who is seeing the insanity for what it is?
Where will the societal will to change come from?

I don't see it.
I see communities that may decide that it's not OK for them. Church communities, compound-ish places off the grid, perhaps some localized action in fly-over country, but I can't see where a cultural shift is going to come from. Where will the realization that this is not good for us, that we can't be healthy without knowing who we are , actually come from?

I'm waiting.....

Where Have I Been All My Life?

So here's a thought.
 If we are really to live the TOB, we have to exult in our bodies as well as our souls. For so long I have lived as if my body was something that I needed to bring into submission, needed to overcome and force into a form or a shape to make sure that I was doing health "right". I have been thinking that, as I have learned in TOB, the body should be as much a part of the experience as the spirit. I need to combine these parts of myself and be more integrated. Start enjoying more of what I have for so long worked at. The starvation diet in the TOB language is a form of restriction that keeps a person from experience. We are afraid of what our appetites will cause us to do, so we whip them into submission, get them under control and keep a tight rein. That is not how God intended for us to treat either our physical or our spiritual selves. We have to seek balance. To overindulge in any way is problematic, but to keep ourselves tightly "in check" and to never use the gifts that we have been given because we are afraid of losing control, that is also the wrong perspective. My body and my health are a gift and all the gifts that we are given should be given back in forms of worship. Every day should consist of intentional experiences, both in mind and body. I should not just think about what I am feeling in my heart, but also what I am feeling, tasting, how I am moving, what the sun feels like, how it is good to be able to enjoy a walk, what I am hearing. Going through the day as just a series of activities isn't worshipful. It gets things done, but it isn't the way to connection. Knowing that He is there, in every moment, requires all our senses. I am a body-person and so simply seeking God with my mind is only seeking Him with half of my being. My body is for experience, it is for using to reach Him. We have all the senses filled in all the sacraments. At Mass we are moving, singing, hearing, smelling, and certainly tasting.
In the sacrament of marriage we are certainly using our bodies as the sign of the sacrament, and in the other sacraments we have the sights, sounds, and feelings.
This helps us to grab hold, it provides a bodily memory. Every day should be like that! Every day should be a feast for the senses. I feel like I have been blind and locked away, even as I have been taking good care of my health and trying to be sure that I check all the boxes. It's the same as checking all the boxes in our faith. Ugh. I am a total box checker! This Lent I need to learn to do more for the sake of worship. What are the ways that I can create moments of worship? Certainly more intentional enjoyment of the moments of the day. Thinking about what I am doing, and glorifying God in the lovely parts of the day. The touches, tastes and sounds. BEING present to each moment. Not just seeking to hear His voice in my heart, but to see it, taste it and feel it, all day long. To push my body to be a little more responsive, to learn more about what it wants and needs. To find the things that I can do with it that glorify God even more. What? It's so weird that I am just now figuring this out. I have been such a stoic in all my physical experiences. Making myself do this, that, and the other for the sake of doing the right thing, but then not enjoying it when "the right thing" gets me to the place where I can. Walking everyday on the treadmill has gotten me fit, but being fit for it's own sake is stoicism. Being fit so that I can feel the sunshine, walk up a mountain, get out and feel all of nature. That should be the point. Eating should be almost a religious experience. Not just something I do and something that I discipline myself about. Enjoying what God has given is part of gratitude. Enjoying it physically, not saving it, but being present to it, being here. Showing up and then embracing each experience. THAT is where TOB should be taking me. Where have I been all my life?