Exploring the depth of our prayers
Over 100 years ago, Our Lady appeared over the course of 5 month to some children at Fatima, Portugal.
That’s the story, but like many others I have mixed feelings about it. There’s different stories, and people read many different things into the events.
Maybe even that there was no miracle at all.
I am immortal.
Oh, sure, I’ll die from this life, but the important thing is that my immortal soul will live forever. In heaven with God, I hope, but forever either way.
That’s why my choices in this life are so incredibly important.
The decision I get to make in this life is deceptively simple: Continue reading “Ever shall be”
There’s no question that our Blessed Mother is holy.
Actually, I was a bit puzzled about this when I converted to Catholicism. I guess I’d assumed that the word “holy” was the same as “divine.” Godly. Not of this world, but of heaven.
What I’ve learned is that holiness is something that each of us – every person – is called to be. And can achieve.
This is Good Shepherd Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Easter. We don’t tend to think very deeply about the term Shepherd, treating it as just one of the many names we use for Christ.
But we are the sheep in this metaphor. And sheep aren’t, well, very honored. We view them as rather dumb.
Which is actually appropriate. When it comes to spiritual wisdom, we tend to rate rather poorly. Well, maybe it’s just me.
I’ve been doing an interesting little experiment lately.
I try changing the prayers from talking about us/we/our to instead talk about I/me/my. It’s just an experiment, to help me see how it feels.
There’s a fascinating result: It feels like I’m taking more ownership and accountability for my relationship with God, Jesus, and Mary.
We rely on God’s love and mercy every moment of every day. And boy, do we need it!
But mercy isn’t exclusive to God, as we find in a couple of our prayers.
We name Mary as mother of mercy, which can mean two things. First, she’s the mother of Jesus, and Jesus embodies mercy in action. And second, we honor Mary’s role in heaven as a pathway to receiving mercy from God and the Son.
Today is the Third Day.
We are here, in joyous hope and unbelievable gratitude for what our God has given us.
And it’s for me, personally, not just the big picture of Saving Humanity. Which is great, of course.
There are lots of ideas about why Jesus descended to Hell between His death and resurrection. I’m no theologian, so I read some of the discussions but I confess that I don’t really know what was going on there.
And I’m OK with that. My understanding will continue to develop. And maybe this is one of the things I won’t understand until I’m on the other side of death myself.
For me, though, I’m pondering the idea that … Jesus went to Hell, yes, but then He came back.
The more I learn about crucifixion, the more horrified I am.
It’s an unbelievably terrible way to treat someone. And a terrible way to die.
Of course, I want my own death to be peaceful. Quiet. Private.
Today we begin our Holy Triduum, the time when God and humanity intersect in the Glory of Jesus, our Christ.
I’m thinking about how we ask God to give us this day our daily bread. Why bread? I can go days without having bread, if I have other food to replace it with. And I can survive much longer without food than I can water.
Where have I heard about bread before? Hmm… maybe I’ll head off to Mass and think about it.
Continue reading “Our bread”