Have You Ever Considered How Fragile Life Is?

Have you ever considered how fragil life is? 

When we are young our view of the world is the view of one who is immortal and by this I mean immortality in the sense that our flesh will never die, we can take chances, and we have a "it can't happen to me" attitude.  We age a bit and our attitude changes a bit and we see that "it CAN happen to me" and we begin to be a bit more careful. Finally as the time our sunset approaches we realize how short our time on earth has been and we finally understand the fragility and wonder of life.

You are a walking talking miracle a marvel of design with each cog in place and all controlled by a magnificant computer called "The Brain." 

Even before your life began you proved how strong you were. The sperm that fertilized the egg in your mother's womb had to beat all of the other competitors in this race to create life, and you won that race, proving your self to be the strongest of the strong.  You are also the beloved of God becasue it was His will that gave you strength to win the race. He had and has a vision of you and guess what you are the exact person that he envisioned.  There is no one just like you in the entire universe. You may have a twin brother or sister and be as identical as two peas in a pod so much so that nobody can tell you apart.  God knows the difference and he loves each separately.

But the title of this entry has to do with the fragility of life.  Holy Saturday 2011 dawned as just another day.  I was planning to get ready for the Easter Vigil Mass at our new Church, St. Mary of Vernon in Indian Creek Illinois and my wife was finishing her ablutions when suddenly I had a chest pain that would not go away. I thought it was indigestion but then it started crawling down my left arm and I recognized the enemy for what it was.  I called to my wife and she quicky dressed and we drove six blocks to the hospital.  If you ever want to get through the paperwork and waiting time of the Emergency Room, here is what you do.  Come in as a past middle aged man, overweight, underexercised, and complain of chest pains. You see when I did that the doors swung open and in minutes I was in a hospital gurney, hooked up to an EKG, an IV and the center of attention.  My heart had four places where the arteries were blocked.  I was whisked down to the cat lab and was soon the proud owner of a stent that opened the artery that was 90% blocked.  Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday came with me in the hospital. On Monday the doctor inserted three more stents to open three other arteries that were severly blocked.  Had I not listened to the message my body was giving and had I not gotten to the hospital quickly I could have died, killed by a clot no bigger than a pencil eraser.  As it is, I got there in that golden hour when they could actually fix the issue and do so before my heart was damaged.

But look at how life is so very fragile. The smallest thing could end it, even while you are reading this.  Do not be afraid, I am sure you will rise from bed tomorrow.  But think of these things:

Is there anything that you have always wanted to do but were afraid to do it because it might be risky?  Do it anyway.

Is there someone you want to visit, an old friend, a brother, a sister, a mother, do it soon for life is too short not to.

Is there someone you need to forgive? Forgive soon before you lose the chance to do so . Funny thing about resentments is that they hurt us much more than the person we are holding a grudge against.

Do you take time to laugh, at things around you, at yourself perhaps, do it soon becasue a joyful spirit does not have time to be anything other than joyful

Do you pray, do you have a spiritual life?  I hope that you do and I hope that you spend some time being with God.  You need not speak in "thees and thou's" to him, speak to him as a friend for He is that to be sure.

Life is very fragile. Embrace it, love it, honor it.

Where Have All The Sinners Gone?



Why did Jesus have to die?

I mean really, was his death really necessary?

We say he died for sinners,

And this of course I agree with,

but today there are no sinners.

We do not challange our own conduct.

The rules are meant for someone else but not for me.

When I break God's law, well for me there was an exception.

I break no rules, I commit no sins.

So for me, Jesus did not have to die.

Since we no longer have a conscience,

And Since we make our own laws,

Well, then Jesus did not have to die.

There is not one of us that has not sinned. As a Catholic I have access to the Sacrament of Reconcilliation.  In this beautiful sacrament I examine who I am, what I am, how I have missed the mark and sinned as well as coming to a realization that I am also beloved by God.  Through the ministry of the Church my sins are forgiven becasue of the power given to the Apostles by Jesus when he said; "Whose sins you forgive are forgiven, whose sins you hold bound they are held bound."

As a Catholic I am amazed that the lines for communion are long but the confessional room is abandoned.  Is it becasue we are no longer sinning?  No, it is becasue we are no longer recognizing sin in our life.  Young Warrior, each day you should examine your life after asking the Holy Spirit to give you light and allow yourself the time to grieve for your sins.  Then the first opportunity you should approach the Throne of Grace visible on earth through the priest who is acting in persona Christi to receive and know that you have received the forgiveness of God and His Church. 

Oh my God, I am heartily sorry for all my sins,

because of thy just punishments

But most of all because they offend Thee my God

who art all good and deserving of all my love.

I firmly resolve with the help of thy grace

to sin no more and to avoid the near ocassion of sin

My Jesus I Trust in Thee

In Honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The great Mother of God, Mary Most Holy is a loving mother for all of us. I don't understand why my Protestant brothers and sisters do not imitate Christ and honor her as their mother too. Protestants worry that reverence for Mary somehow takes away from the Glory of Jesus and God. This is far from the truth. Mary is not quoted often in the Bible but when she is the words are strong and point not at herself but at her Son, Jesus, The Messiah. We Catholics do NOT worship Mary, she is not entitled to be worshiped as she is creature, created by God in the fire of human passion. It is true that God gave to her a special gift in that she was born without the stain of original sin. This was made possible becasue God is not limited by time or space. From God's vantage point he could see the Sacrifice that Jesus would make on the Cross that saved us. Anticipating this event, He applied the sacrifice of Jesus to her. It has been described by other as follows; Say if you were walking down the road and suddenly you fell into a pit and a person passing by drew you out of the pit and saved your life. This is what happens to us when we are baptized, we are literally pulled out of the pit of sin and saved by God. With Mary it was different in that she was rescued BEFORE falling into the pit. This was a gift from God. The devil would have no hold on Mary who was the second Eve and she would be touched by the Holy Spirit in a cosmic union that would make Mary the Mother of God.

But why should we revere Mary? What makes her so special? Others have said that Jesus followed every bit of the Law and part of that law is the commandment of God which states "Honor thy Father and thy Mother..." Jesus took this very seriously indeed and honored her like a dutiful Son. There is no more important proof as there was at Calvary. Jesus knew that he was to die. Using his last breaths he put the care of His Mother into the hands of John the Apostle as she would have no one else to take care of her once Jesus was gone. His love for his Mother shows what we are to do with our mothers; we are to love and respect and yes even revere them so that we imitate Christ in what He did for His Mother. Now there is one other point to be made here. Mary is the Mother of God and we by virtue of our Baptisim are adopted into the household of God and she is at the very least our "stepmother." As such we are called to honor her as Christ did and does.

Worship Mary? No, she would reject that. But she has a special love for the Sons and Daughters of her son. We CAN without diminishing our just Worship of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, honor Mary in the same way her son did.

Amen

Profound Silence

I found this beautiful song on You Tube and I just have to share it. Jesus speaks to us in silence. When you have a chance, go to your special place. Sit and relax. Speak the name of Jesus, slowly several times, and then listen for Him. We are the beloved of God and as such we have access to Him every minute of every day - why do we not take more advantage of this honor?

Prayer is the right and duty of every Christian person.  We are told in the Bible to pray for one another.  Many are the problems that we have in this world that could be solved if we would just take time to pray to the Lord about them.  There is no power greater than the power of prayer.  Imagine, the God of the universe is waiting to hear from you right now.  He knows your problems, He knows your joys, He knows what you want.  He wants his children  to ask Him for what they want and if it will help you to become a saint in heaven He will give it to you. 

Prayer does not have to be fancy with many phrases, it just needs to come from your heart.  Speak to God as if he was a very close friend.  Share with him and open your darkest secrets to Him and He will heal your soul.  If you are physically sick come to the Divine Doctor.  He may not heal your physical illness but he will heal your broken heart.

The Lord Jesus knows you by name and he calls it softly even when your heart is far from Him.  Make the effort to turn to Him and He will welcome you back.  Prayer is the ticket to Home. 

The Silence of God

What do you do when you pray and pray and your prayer seemingly does not seem to be answered, you are greeted with what Michael Card calls "The Silence of God."

God ALWAYS answers your prayer. The answers can be one of three:

Yes: This is the answer we long to hear. God always answers yes when the answer is appropriate to help complete the big picture, our eternal destiny. No: We hate this answer. Why if God is a loving Father why would he say no? When you were growing up did your parents let you eat tootsie rolls, reeses peanut butter cups and candy canes for breakfast? No of course not becasue they were not good for you for breakfast. God handles us in a similar way. We may want this or that or the other and while it may be a sweet and even seemingly a good thing BUT from his spot in Eternity God knows that it is not a desirable thing that will not help you arrive at your ultimate destination. Finally the answer that is most hard of all to bear is "Wait." We can deal with "Yes" and "No" but the wait is the hardest one of all.

Wait means that we will eventually get what we want. "Lord, give me patience." is our prayer, but we add some additional wording to the end; "and give it to me now."

Be persistant and faithful in prayer. Our Father loves us very much and wants to give us what we NEED. Mother Angelica, the founder of EWTN summarizes our prayer experience as follows: "In our prayers to God we ask God;"Do you love me?" and His answer is always "Yes."