Exploring the depth of our prayers
We all have periods of difficulty and bad situations.
Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
Luke 14:27
I seem to be going through a bit of that right now, which makes me anxious. Surely God wouldn’t want me to suffer?
Continue reading “My cross”
I find our Christian faith to be amazing.
It seems that we often focus on the three persons of the trinity like they were three people stuffed into a single package. Well, I’m not sure about calling the Holy Spirit “people” – maybe he’s in between the cracks? That’s a weird image
But I’m coming to realize that the REAL message here is that we have a God of relationship. God himself already is a relationship of 3 persons, but then each of us also are invited to be part of that relationship as well.
Continue reading “Father, Son, Holy Spirit”
The kings of the earth shall bow before Him. All the nations shall sing His praises.
I’m not sure I see that happening. But I imagine that it’s because I don’t see things in God’s timeline or through His eyes.
All I can do is to get the ball rolling on my end. By praising Him every day of my life.
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I’ve realized that many of our prayers are asking God for something. Or Mary, or Jesus, or Joseph, or St. Michael the Archangel.
But here we have this unique celebration to … just say thank you. Not to ask for more. Or to have God fix things for us.
I need to switch that up!
Our sign of the cross seems like an imcomplete sentence: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
But WHAT exactly is in the name?
For me, the most powerful beginning to this sentence is: I strive to live my life in the name …
God is love.
And, as we read today, the two greatest commandments are to love God and to love others.
Sure, we would all like to be in a world where everyone’s all loving each other: supportive, generous, sharing. So if that’s what we all want, why is it that we haven’t created a world like that?
I strive to be a good father, I really do. But all the demons come out of the woodwork to point out my shortcomings and failings.
My goal, then, is to look to our ideal Heavenly Father, God Almighty, for inspiration and guidance.
God is all loving, but that doesn’t mean soft. We’ve mixed up the two concepts. Love, in fact, can sometimes feel harsh and rigid.
When we talk about the Trinity, we have a customary order. Father first. Son second. Holy Spirit third.
I’m wondering if there’s a deeper reason for this.
I’ve heard that it might have something to do with the Son proceeding from the Father, while the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. Maybe just me, but that doesn’t seem like a compelling reason. I might use that logic to reverse the order, as I did in the first sentence of this paragraph.
I’m comfortable calling God by name, and Jesus. But how often do I actually talk to the Holy Spirit?
I find myself talking about the Holy Spirit in the third person** more than directly.
But because the Holy Spirit IS the triune God as much as the Father and the Son, I need to speak more directly to Him. Or Her, as some might suggest – the English language struggles.