My Christmas Story 2017

How does one get through the secular, consumer driven Christmas season and manage to feel and see God’s presence? This Christmas season was very different for me and thanks to a lot of snow and ice, we were homebound for several days prior to Christmas and Christmas day. Our plans to visit family on the weekend before Christmas got canceled due to the forecast of snow and ice over the weekend and into Christmas day. I am so thankful that we decided to not challenge the forecast and travel anyway, as so many do on major holidays. Over the weekend two young adults lost their lives on the highways of NH due to weather related driving conditions. What a tragedy and loss for those families. Their lives cut short because of their desire to do what they wanted to do, when they wanted to do it, regardless of travel warnings. Ok, I don’t know what their personal stories are, but I can surely relate to doing the same thing, driving in bad weather, to meet personal goals. We need to learn to stop and pray in these situations. Tap into knowledge of self and what drives our decision making. Is it driven by emotions or understanding/logic? People are mostly driven by their emotions, which is often the cause for much of the unhappiness experienced in their lives. It’s taken me a lifetime and a lot of time listening to biblical scholars and doing course work in the area of psychology to understand the role of emotions as a driving force in our lives.  

I am happy to say that my husband and I exercised some logical thinking and made good decisions this Christmas. The result was an abundance of peace and joy in those days alone at home. I believe that God rewards us when we slow down, and make right decisions that show acceptance of His will, not ours.

For three days we shoveled snow and enjoyed quiet time in our home. I cooked typical meals, nothing special except trying out a new pie recipe that was a flop. Christmas eve we had hot dogs for dinner (Paul’s idea). It all seemed right and I loved the time spent watching two versions of Scrooge and mass at the Washington DC cathedral. Christmas morning, we put on the channel that has a fireplace with puppies and kittens playing among gifts with Christmas music playing.

Most important was my time spent meditating on the first Christmas and what Joseph and Mary endured in their journey to Bethlehem. The trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem took about four days on foot, and Mary was forced to give birth to Jesus in a cold, dark, smelly cave where animals lived. I am sure they didn’t have any gourmet meals that night. Why should we feast on Christmas Eve? Perhaps it should be a time to fast and remember what the holy family endured.

Time is a precious gift that often gets wasted, trying to keep up with the world. The best thing I did for myself this past weekend, was to surrender to the situation of being snowed in, with a proper attitude, and accept it as a gift from God.

Mary accepted God’s will for her role in God’s plan with her fiat.

"By pronouncing her "fiat" at the Annunciation and giving her consent to the Incarnation, Mary was already collaborating with the whole work her Son was to accomplish. She is mother wherever he is Savior and head of the Mystical Body" (Catechism of the Catholic Church # 973).

I am the handmaiden of the Lord; let it be to me according to your Word" (Luke 1:38).

This is one of the profound messages of Christmas. It is hard to imagine what Mary agreed to back in those days and how she accepted Jesus in her womb, knowing the consequences of being an unmarried young woman in that day when it was legal to be killed for the situation she was in.  Mary is my role model for doing God’s will. Of course, Jesus too is our role model and is our King, Brother, Lord, Savior, Healer…. Jesus is one with God and Lord over Mary. Hard concepts to digest, but well worth the effort.

God Bless

Paula

http://www.scripturalrosary.org/annunciation.html

Luke 1:26-38

The Angel Gabriel was sent from God....to a virgin betrothed to a man, named Joseph, of the house of David.  The virgin's name was Mary.
The angel said to her:  "Rejoice O highly favored daughter! The Lord is with you.  Blessed are you among women."
She was deeply troubled by his words, and wondered what his greeting meant.
The angel said to her: "Do not fear, Mary.  You have found favor with God."
 "You shall conceive and bear a son and give him the name of Jesus."
 "Great will be his dignity and he will be called Son of the Most High.  And His reign will be without end."
 Mary said to the angel,” How can this be since I do not know man?"
The angel answered Her:  "The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will
overshadow you."  
"The holy offspring to be born will be called Son of God."
Mary said:  "I am the servant of the Lord.  Let it be done to me as you say."  With that the angel left her.

Give back to Caesar

This week the gospel focused on one of those difficult to understand passages in the New Testament, the book of Matthew. It’s a passage that year after year, I read it, hear it discussed at mass, and in the end, I really truly don’t get it. I will say that this week, I think I got it.

It’s the passage where the Pharisees backed Jesus into an either/or position. Instead, Jesus gives them this response. (see expanded gospel text below). 

Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

Literally, this looks like and either/or statement, but when you look at if from the perspective of God, it is not. Consider the perspective of either/and.

It’s true in this world we must pay taxes that are part of our culture as our government mandates, otherwise we risk going to jail. This is the text that, so many people quote regarding the separation of church and state. Taken literally this statement misses the truth of who God really is. God is so much bigger than our limited lens of either/ or, church/ state. God, is everything. It all belongs to Him. The church is the body of Christ, and as a Christian you cannot separate your Christian beliefs and God’s teachings as “not applicable” because they conflict with the secular world. The secular world and governments continue to act in ways that are directly in conflict with the ways of God. Christians need to stand up and defend the Way. Otherwise, we risk losing societal/government rights to life, the Way of God. People all over the world have had these “church” rights denied and have lost their homes and lives because of their beliefs and union with the Church (the body of Christ).

This conflict is one of many in the Bible and reminds me that you cannot always take the Bible literally or you will be misled. The Bible needs to be read and studied with the guidance of biblical scholars, theologians, priests and with an open heart to personal revelation.

This post was inspired by the Holy Spirit and:

Bishop Robert Barron, (2017, Oct. 22). Caesar and God. [Podcast]. Retrieved from Word on Fire.org.

Full gospel passage

Matthew 22:15-21 (NIV)

Paying the Imperial Tax to Caesar

15 Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words.16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. 17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?”

18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”

21 “Caesar’s,” they replied.

Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

From BibleGateway: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+22%3A15-21   

God Bless

Paula

My favorite prayer

I have never been good at spontaneous prayers. If someone asks me to say a prayer, my initial reaction is usually panic, and speakers “cramp”. It always amazes me how some people can just come up with fabulous thoughtful prayers on the spot. I mostly pray in private conversation with God. However, I am always looking for prayers that speak to my heart and desire to understand myself better and to communicate with God at a higher level. I have loads of Catholic themed books, yet I still struggle with finding those “just right” prayers that speak to my heart.

My friend, Mary Lou gave me a little prayer book, the Saint Anthony Prayer Book, from the Saint Lawrence Seminary in Mount Calvary, WI.

I would like to share my favorite prayer from this booklet that is short and sweet and speaks simply to the issues that need attention in my life every day and every minute of the day. 

Prayer to the Holy Spirit

Come, Holy Spirit, fill my heart with your holy gifts. Let my weakness be penetrated with your strength this very day, that I may fulfill all the duties of my state conscientiously and that I may do what is right and just.

Let my charity be such as to offend no one and hurt no one’s feelings: so generous as to pardon sincerely any wrong done to me.

Assist me, O Holy Spirit, in all my trials of life: enlighten me in my ignorance; advise me in my doubts; strengthen me in my weakness; help me in all my needs; protect me in temptations and console me in afflictions.

Graciously hear me, O Holy Spirit, and pour your light into my heart, my soul and my mind. Help me to live a holy life and to grow in goodness and grace. Amen.

God Bless,

Paula

The Catechism of the Catholic Church

Catechism - a summary of the principles of Christian religion in the form of questions and answers, used for the instruction of Christians.

For many years I have had a beautiful hard bound copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church sitting on my bookshelf, waiting for me. Intuitively I knew this was a really important book, but, similar to being introduced to the holy bible, I didn’t know where to start reading. I dipped into this book a few times during bible studies, which made me think of the book as a sort of Catholic encyclopedia or dictionary.
The other day I decided to just start from page one and see how it goes. To date I have read only 10 pages because the reading is so amazing, very similar to the bible of course, because it’s all about God and us. I reread the sections over and over to try to fully digest what I am reading. It is not that the language of the text is so advanced, but the meaning of the words is so profound in comparison to anything else one reads in their daily life.

What I am finding in this catechism is the fundamental teachings of the holy trinity, explained and illustrated in plain English. These teachings are cited with passages from the bible and church scholars (Vatican Councils, saints, doctors of the church, Popes, Apostolic letters etc.)

The Catechism begins with such a basic and beautiful truth about humanity.

27 The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for: (pg. 14)

…. But this search for God demands of man every effort of intellect, a sound will, "an upright heart", as well as the witness of others who teach him to seek God. (pg.15)

These truths about God point us in the direction of understanding that we are one with God, through this “God DNA” that we are brought into existence with and if we don’t acknowledge that truth and live that truth in our daily lives, we won’t find God and we won’t find our true selves.

36 "Our holy mother, the Church, holds and teaches that God, the first principle and last end of all things, can be known with certainty from the created world by the natural light of human reason."11 Without this capacity, man would not be able to welcome God's revelation. Man has this capacity because he is created "in the image of God". 12

Never forget that you were created in the image of God and you have the capacity, through human reason and divine revelation to welcome and receive God in your life. Open your heart and open your mind to the truth and don’t be distracted by the world which is full of lies about the one true God.

P.S. The Knights of Columbus have the full text of the Catechism of the Catholic Church on a website with a search option: http://www.kofc.org/en/catechism/index.html

God Bless

Paula

Pentecost

Feast of the Holy Spirit

“On this feast of Pentecost, we celebrate the fact that this breath, this wind, this hurricane of mercy has been loosed upon the world.”
 Fr. Robert Baron

The Holy Spirit has been a mystery to me as the triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is in a general sense, a difficult concept to wrap your head around. The bible includes the three persons in one God, Father, Son and the Holy Spirit throughout the bible, yet the Son (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit have their specific entry points, Jesus in the New Testament and the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. But… all three have been present eternally. I think it is easier to understand God the father (paternal relationship), and Jesus, our brother and king, vs. The Holy Spirit, which is often symbolized as a dove.

Obviously, I am no bible scholar, just a child of God wanting a relationship with the holy trinity/triune god.

The Grace to You webpage says, “Yet, though the fullness of the Trinity is far beyond human comprehension, it is unquestionably how God has revealed Himself in Scripture—as one God, eternally existing in three Persons.” This website has a nice graphic representing the triune God

Once again, I need to trust in God and have faith about the things I don’t understand. What I do understand is the wonderful gifts the Holy Spirit has for us that will bring us closer to God.

My favorite prayer for the gifts of the Holy Spirit, is from the “St. Faustina Prayer Book for the Conversion of Sinners”, by Susan Tassone.

Come, Holy Spirit, grant me the gift of wisdom and acceptance so that I may always remember that God’s thoughts and God’s ways are not often my own.

Come Holy Spirit, grant me the gift of an understanding heart and mind so that I may always grasp the Infinite Love of God which surpasses everyone and everything.

Come, Holy Spirit, grant me the gift of counsel and courage so that I may always take up my cross, and say “Yes” to Jesus in whatever he asks of me.

Come Holy Spirit, grant me the fortitude and faith so that I may always take courage in Jesus’ power and his presence and never be afraid.

Come Holy Spirit, grant me the gift of knowledge so that I may always know the Truth who is Jesus and his Church’s teachings which have set me free.

Come Holy Spirit, grant me the gift of fear of disappointing the Lord so that I may always honor God in whom I live, and move, and have my being. Amen

Pope Francis says, "The Spirit is given to us by the Father and leads us back to the Father."

Magnificat, June 2017

God Bless,

Paula

The Hope of Easter

On Easter day, this year at the small St. Mary’s Parish, the church was packed to capacity with some standing in the back. There were so many families and lots of children and babies. The atmosphere was full of activity and energy. If only these people would want to come to mass every week. What a blessing that would be for themselves and for the church, the body of Christ.

I used to be one of those twice a year Catholics. Going to mass on Christmas and Easter was a pleasant experience that I looked forward to and enjoyed. The question is, why don’t Catholics attend mass weekly? There are a lot of reasons for this, but the bottom line is people are too full of and preoccupied with the world and living lives that are self-centered and not God centered. I lived that life and I was never truly happy or knew what real joy was. I spend the first 28 years of my life as a clueless and sinful Catholic, lacking in any depth of understanding of scripture or the catechism of the Catholic Church. I did have a guarded reverence and awe of God, from my youth, when I attended weekly mass. However, after going away to college, I quit going to church. I remember thinking that going to church was for families, and I was a single person, who like most other single people, preferred living a life of sin rather than the virtuous life the church calls us to.

At twenty-eight years of age, and after breaking away from a toxic relationship, I found myself pregnant. I also found that I was not alone, because God was right there for me, picking up the pieces and helping me put my life back together. I have spent the rest of my life getting to know and love Jesus. True love and joy is only found in a relationship with Jesus.

I would like to share an excerpt from “The Hope of Easter” written by Pope Francis, found in my Magnificant.

"We, like Peter and the women, cannot discover life by being sad, bereft of hope. Let us not stay imprisoned within ourselves, but let us break open our sealed tombs to the Lord- each of us knows what they are- so that he may enter and grant us life. Let us give him the stones of our rancor and the boulders of our past, those heavy burdens of our weaknesses and falls. Christ wants to come and take us by the hand to bring us out of our anguish. This is the first stone to be moved aside this night: the lack of hope which imprisons us within ourselves. May the Lord free us from this trap, from being Christians without hope, who live as if the Lord were not risen, as if our problems were the center of our lives….Let us not allow darkness and fear to distract us and control us; we must cry out to them: The Lord is not here, but has risen! (Luke 24;6). He is our greatest joy: he is always at our side and will never let us down…. Today (Easter) is the celebration of our hope; the celebration of this truth; nothing and no one will ever be able to separate us from his love. (cf. Romans 8:39)"

Alleluia

Week 5 of Lent

Each liturgical season of the past few years, I begin with the desire to make it the best ever. I began Lent with that same intention. I failed my giving up coffee after a few days. Silly of me to give up a medicinal item. I must have forgotten how a cup coffee can sometimes ward off a migraine or at least take the edge off a migraine headache. Instead, I have been trying to give up small treats like eating out when I have work meetings or appointments in the city and avoiding unnecessary food items when I am grocery shopping. This is all small change in the big picture of life and poverty that so many people live in and hardly worth mentioning.

What I have enjoyed most this Lent is the mass readings. I am a big fan of Word on Fire and listen to Bishop Barron’s weekly homilies from the website https://www.wordonfire.org/  I discovered that you can listen to homilies that go back to 2001, and narrow your search by the “season” or one of five other categories of searches.  I have been listening to current and past homilies on each week’s readings across all the cycles. To do this you go to the main website. Click on resources on the top menu > Homilies> Season > Lent. It has been an amazing experience to drench in the Word this way. It’s a type of Lectio Divina, with Father Barron painting the picture of each biblical story. Father Barron has a gift for preaching that brings scripture to life and he has a way of putting it in the context of life today. Everything that happened in bible has relevance to life today.

In the past, I have struggled with Lent and Christ’s Passion because it is so brutal and unfair that Jesus had to die for us. I understand St. Peter’s wish for Jesus not to die.

Matthew 16: 21-23

21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”

23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

Jesus had been trying to prepare the apostles for what was going to happen, but poor Peter could not understand why it had to be this way. This is where Jesus’s divinity is not altered by his humanity. Jesus always did the Father's will in everything. We, on the other hand, are constantly swayed off the narrow path by our human concerns. In this season of Lent we are asked to get back to the basics and identify, what are the stumbling blocks in our lives. What takes our focus off of God’s will for us?
Next week is Holy Week and we will again walk with Jesus through the scriptures and revisit his Passion and Death and Resurrection. This is the week that changed history. Don’t miss it.   

Paula

Happy Spring

Thank you Lord for this fabulous first day of spring in NH. It is sunny, no wind, 49 degrees, the lilacs are budding and the birds are chirping. I love being able to take a midday break and walk while all is quite in the neighborhood. We still have quite a bit of snow on the ground, but it does feel like spring. I was able to just be in the moment during my walk and let go of some difficult things that were on my mind all morning. 
I am back at my desk again, feeling relaxed and thankful for that quiet time with God and his creation that surrounds me.

Choose Life, Sirach 14:14-17

We are now in the second day of the season of Lent and I am thinking, what can I do/sacrifice for God this season. I am committed to giving up coffee and I am already counting the days till my next cup. Yes, that is a sacrifice, but so typical.  I’ve been getting email updates from Beth Gaby who is organizing the 40 Days for Life Concord, and thinking about committing some time to join their prayer vigils.

Next, I was reading morning prayers from the Magnificant, and found this scripture from Sirach reach out to me (below).

Somehow people think that abortion, euthanasia, and any other way that a person takes the life of another person is ok. This mindset shows how far away from God’s Word people have drifted or been influenced by a culture that accepts atrocities as everyday events. People are so desensitized to the evil in the world. The Ten Commandments are not suggestions from God, they are our marching orders. Anyone who thinks they can pick and choose which commandments they feel like embracing, is seriously deceived. We do live in a society where the media feeds those lies to the masses. If the masses don’t know the Word of God and embrace God’s truths, they are blinded from what is good and right and holy. God gives us free will to choose life or death. Which will you choose?

Word of God

Sirach 14:14-17

God in the beginning created human beings

and made them subject to their own free choice.

If you choose, you can keep the commandments;

loyalty is doing the will of God.

Set before you are fire and water;

to whatever you choose, stretch out your hand.

Before everyone are life and death,

whichever they choose will be given them.

Choose Life!

God Bless

Paula

"A person is a person, no matter how small"

A quote from Theodor Seuss Geisel's  (Dr. Suess) book, Horton Hears a Who! (1954)

• 
  "Don't give up! I believe in you all.
  A person's a person, no matter how small!
  And you very small persons will not have to die
  If you make yourselves heard! So come on, now, and TRY!"
  
  I heard this quote this morning, watching mass on EWTN and wanted to share this with anyone who has not heard it. The National Catholic Register wrote an article on this and has a picture of an ultrasound to illustrate the connection to every person's right to life.

"And yet sixty years later, the story perfectly captures the ethos of the modern-day pro-life movement with stunning, childlike simplicity. “I’ve got to protect them,” Horton realizes. “I’m bigger than they.” He pleas, “Please don’t harm all my little folks, who have as much right to live as us bigger folks do!”

(National Catholic Register, July 31, 2015)

Those of us in the "bigger folk" position who are more able and have a voice, need to protect the little ones who do not yet have a voice. 

Jesus' words about his little ones.
Matthew 18:10
“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.

Matthew 18:14
In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.

Horton declares a truth about people; regardless of their size, age, or capacity. All people--especially children--deserve respect.

Please, look after and protect the little ones in your lives: the unborn, the disabled, the elderly, the marginalized, and the persecuted. 
God Bless,
Paula

Snow

Yesterday we were blessed with that beautiful frozen precipitation from above. While not everyone considers a snowy day a blessing, a lot of us do. The snow covered the gray and bare landscape we have been experiencing in yet another snowless winter in NH. I love the quietness of a snow storm, minus the snowplows that shake the house as they go by. I like shoveling the driveway. It’s good exercise and fills my dry sinuses with the moist and clear air that comes with the snow. I canceled a couple of appointments and decided to stay home and enjoy the “snow day”. It was a treat that I hope we have more of this winter season.

What does the bible say about snow?

Job 37:5-7New International Version (NIV)

5 God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways;
    he does great things beyond our understanding.
6 He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’
    and to the rain shower, ‘Be a mighty downpour.’
7 So that everyone he has made may know his work,
    he stops all people from their labor.

Notice how snow is a gift from God and one of its purposes is to stop people from their labor.

Isaiah 55:9-11New International Version (NIV)

9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 As the rain and the snow
    come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
    without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
    so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
    It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
    and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

We need the snow to irrigate our land for the summer growing season and fall harvest. Be thankful for the snow. Just as God’s word feeds our souls, so we can do His will. 

Paula