Saturday, February 23, 2013
Thursday, February 21, 2013
The Purpose of Lent
I am sharing another article by Fr. Walter Nolte that I love because it makes us really think about the purposr of Lent and beyond.
Feb 19, 2013
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What is your mountain of encounter with the Lord? Where do you commune best with your Creator? These are important questions for us to reflect upon during these forty days of prayer and fasting. Lent is a great time set apart for us by the Church to assist us in identifying the innumerable threads in the tapestry of our daily and affective lives.
The purpose of our prayer during Lent and indeed at any moment in our earthly existence is for us to grow in awareness of God’s presence all around us. Once we become aware of the subtle movements of His Spirit within the framework of our daily lives we will become more sensitive to those times when we miss the mark and fall short of living the life of a disciple of Christ.
Lent is not a time for us to be simply annoyed by the inconveniences brought on by our sacrificial offerings. Rather, it is a time for us to bury ourselves more deeply and securely within the Sacred Wounds of our Savior. It is a time for us to take our annoyances to the Cross and allow the light of God’s love to burn away our disordered affection for sin.
None of us know who we are until we know who we are in Christ. It is a time for us to grow in awareness of who we are by growing in awareness of who Christ is for us. He is that which we seek. He is the one for whom we have waited. Let's follow Him, my brothers and sisters.
God bless,
Father Nolte
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Beginning the Journey-Lent 2013
So here we are at Ash Wednesday, beginning the journey with Jesus to Jerusalem. As the scripture in Luke 9:3 says,"He said to them, "Take nothing for the journey, neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money, and let no one take a second tunic." Jesus desires us to be so empty so he can provide exactly what we need. Is this not exactly what Lent is all about? To empty self of all the things that would keep us from a deeper relationship with Jesus. To make us hungry for him and his love and truth. It takes our focus off of self and puts it in right order. Being empty also makes us what? Vulnerable! We no longer have our comforting things to hold onto if we give them up, right? Wrong, it allows us to find comfort in the right place and see just how much Jesus desires to provide for us and be the most important part of our lives. The more we empty ourselves of self the more Jesus can fill us with him.
In the scripture Luke 9:18-22, in this scripture Jesus was in prayer in solitude with his disciples. He asks them the question, "Who do the crowds say that I am?" They answered him saying, "John the baptist, Elijah, one of the ancient prophets." Then Jesus asks them," Who do you say that I am?" At this point the disciples had been with Jesus for awhile he was drawing them in to see where they were in their relationship with him, to see if they really knew him or just knew about him. There is a big difference.
It speaks to me of just how much we need to not just know about Jesus but really know him personally and intimately. The world does not but the disciples, especially Peter, knows who he is. Peter answers saying, "You are the Messiah." The root of the the word disciple is "to learn" and were not the disciples learning all about Jesus on their journey with him?
Lent is a time of being emptied out of ourselves, our sins, maybe bad habits, and anything that would hinder us from having a personal relationship with Jesus. It is a time of showing him we love him and are willing to give up things that we love and are important for him just as he did for us. It is a time to do for others out of love just as he did for us.
If Jesus were to ask us personally the question who do you say that I am, what would be our reply? Let us place ourselves in the scripture Luke 9:18-22 and be there with Jesus in the scene as one of the disciples. Let us answer Jesus' question of who do you say that I am. It will give us an idea of where we are in our relationship with him if we are honest and where we need to grow.
Spending time with Jesus on the way to Jerusalem will answer all the questions of who he is that maybe we do not know fully. Maybe it will take away some false ideas of who we believe he is, the ones the world has given us. After we spend time telling Jesus who we think he is then allow him to tell us who he says we are. I can imagine he will confirm us in our identity, our true identity and not of the one we may have of ourselves or the one that maybe others has portrayed for us.
Maybe some of the questions we would have would be:
1.) Jesus, when you look at me, what do you see?
2.) Jesus, what do you desire to do in me this Lent and why?
3.) Spend some time telling Jesus how you feel about Lent, your desires for Lent, the changes you wish to make.
4.) Give Jesus permission this Lent to take you on his journey to Jerusalem.
I can only imagine if we journey each day with him through his life, persecution, crucifixion, and resurrection, we will fall in love with the one who loves us the most. We will see, hear, and experience that profound love first hand. We will see that he has already experienced many of our life journeys. We will have a deeper, more personal, intimate relationship with him. Maybe we will have a new best friend or companion for our journey!
In the scripture Luke 9:18-22, in this scripture Jesus was in prayer in solitude with his disciples. He asks them the question, "Who do the crowds say that I am?" They answered him saying, "John the baptist, Elijah, one of the ancient prophets." Then Jesus asks them," Who do you say that I am?" At this point the disciples had been with Jesus for awhile he was drawing them in to see where they were in their relationship with him, to see if they really knew him or just knew about him. There is a big difference.
It speaks to me of just how much we need to not just know about Jesus but really know him personally and intimately. The world does not but the disciples, especially Peter, knows who he is. Peter answers saying, "You are the Messiah." The root of the the word disciple is "to learn" and were not the disciples learning all about Jesus on their journey with him?
Lent is a time of being emptied out of ourselves, our sins, maybe bad habits, and anything that would hinder us from having a personal relationship with Jesus. It is a time of showing him we love him and are willing to give up things that we love and are important for him just as he did for us. It is a time to do for others out of love just as he did for us.
If Jesus were to ask us personally the question who do you say that I am, what would be our reply? Let us place ourselves in the scripture Luke 9:18-22 and be there with Jesus in the scene as one of the disciples. Let us answer Jesus' question of who do you say that I am. It will give us an idea of where we are in our relationship with him if we are honest and where we need to grow.
Spending time with Jesus on the way to Jerusalem will answer all the questions of who he is that maybe we do not know fully. Maybe it will take away some false ideas of who we believe he is, the ones the world has given us. After we spend time telling Jesus who we think he is then allow him to tell us who he says we are. I can imagine he will confirm us in our identity, our true identity and not of the one we may have of ourselves or the one that maybe others has portrayed for us.
Maybe some of the questions we would have would be:
1.) Jesus, when you look at me, what do you see?
2.) Jesus, what do you desire to do in me this Lent and why?
3.) Spend some time telling Jesus how you feel about Lent, your desires for Lent, the changes you wish to make.
4.) Give Jesus permission this Lent to take you on his journey to Jerusalem.
I can only imagine if we journey each day with him through his life, persecution, crucifixion, and resurrection, we will fall in love with the one who loves us the most. We will see, hear, and experience that profound love first hand. We will see that he has already experienced many of our life journeys. We will have a deeper, more personal, intimate relationship with him. Maybe we will have a new best friend or companion for our journey!
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Before I formed you in the womb...
By:
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you...
What an awesome thing it is to be known by the Lord. Think about it. Your Creator knows you. He knows everything about you. He knows your likes and dislikes. He knows your successes and your failures. He knows your potential for holiness and your tendency to surrender to temptation. He knows everything about you, and He loves you, not despite these things, but because of them.
His love for you is not contingent upon you doing this thing or that thing. His love for you is based solely on His identity. He is love itself. His love for you is eternal because He is eternal. His love for you called you into being, and at the proper time His love for you will call you to be with him in eternity.
St. Paul rightly tells us the greatest of all virtues is love because God is love. Further, St. Paul exhorts us to imitate our God by imitating His virtuousness. This task is impossible for us to accomplish on our own. However, with God all things are possible. All we have to do is ask Him to help us grow where we need to grow, and He will help. He knows us, so He knows what we need even before we need it.
Ask your God what virtue He wants you to work on this week. Once you know the answer, ask Him to share his gift of that virtue with you. Below I have included part of Saint Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. As you read it replace the word love with your name. Listen to how your heart responds to the different virtues. What rings true? What rings not so true? Those areas lacking truth may be a good place for you to start your work on growing in a particular virtue.
God bless,
Father Nolte
Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated,it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, itdoes not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
I wanted to share this article from Father Walter Nolte with you because I think this is such an important scripture; it is one of my favorites. I personally believe it is foundational in our relationship and trust with God as Father.
Years ago on an eight day silent retreat I was given this scripture to reflect upon and then sit with it allowing the words to stir within my heart. As the emotions came I began to wonder about if God knew me before he place me in my mothers womb where was I at, how did he know me. The Father shared with me in the silence of my heart that I was in his heart before the foundation of the world. It led me to looking at the difference of being created and formed. .
Formed: a : the shape and structure of something as distinguished from its material b : a body (as of a person) especially in its external appearance or as distinguished from the face
Created: a:to bring into existence <God created the heaven and the earth, b: to produce through imaginative skill
I sat and prayed with this all day and what God the Father shared with me was the this. God is the Master artist and like any artist the idea of what will be on the canvas is created in the artists' heart/head. The artist sees what he wants it to look like, the colors, size, shape, the expression he wants it convey, all of the details,etc. Then he puts it on the canvas and it becomes a reality, it is being formed and the more he paints the more it is recognizable until the picture is fully developed/formed. Sound familiar? It reminds me of the development of a baby in the womb.
This painting then is the only one of its kind, it is a masterpiece. There may be others similar to it but not exact. We too are the only one of us, we cannot be reformed but rather, we are constantly being formed as we are still a work in progress in the hands of the Master. We will be completed when we return to eternity with the Master. I had to laugh at the thought God must be using oils to paint our lives with so as to be able to continue his work. (Oils do not dry as quickly as acrylic.)
The point in all of it is to realize the love and details God the Father, Creator of our lives, puts into each and everyone of us individually and continues to do so throughout our entire life! I was in awe at this and my heart was so filed with love from the Father and gratitude of my own creation and every human being as well as nature. As we look at other human beings and all of nature we are gazing upon the things of God's heart made into a reality, His creation formed and shared with us. I try to remember this when I struggle with others, to look at them in the light of this is God's creation formed and shared with me. Yes I fail and therefore frequent the Sacrament of Reconciliation so I can clean the creation that God has formed in me. Before I go to confession however, I, with the help of the Holy Spirit, look at the things I struggle with. I know God is using them to show me my own sin and I can only look at and deal with them in his love.
Father Walter writes this about the Sacrament of Reconciliation:
This Lent in
honor of the Year of Faith each parish in our Archdiocese is encouraged to
highlight the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Additional times will be offered for
you, the faithful, to be able to experience the healing love of your God
through the power of the words of absolution prayed over you by your priest.
Reconciliation is such an important and underused sacrament. It truly is an
integral component to our evolution as disciples of Christ. It is within the
walls of the confessional box that our hearts are wiped clean and our share in
the mission of Christ restored.
We, like
Isaiah, Paul, and Peter are called by God from the ordinariness of our lives so
that He can reveal to us and through us His extraordinary love for humanity. He
desires to purge us of our sins so that His net of mercy can be cast from our
own hearts for we then will be able to freely give as we have received.
Cast your
soul into the ocean of God’s mercy this Lent. Go as often as you need and
celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Be transformed by His love for you
and then transform the world.
So my brothers and sisters in Christ let us allow the Sacrament of Reconciliation to become the door to eternity and experience Jesus' love and great mercy in, with, and through our priest.
I pray you all have a blessed and fruitful Lent! I am going through a daily retreat of journeying to Jerusalem with Jesus each day of Lent and I hope to share more of that with you.
God bless,
Janice
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