Catholic Faith Space
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If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you can probably recall my last post in which I shared about the good weekend I had. (If you’re a new reader, welcome!) This weekend was even better. It was my turn to be on a retreat. And this retreat was the Women’s CEW (Christian Experience Weekend). To try to even begin to describe it seems impossible. In my attempts to sum it up, I will say that God is so good and so powerful. Of course we know that God is good and powerful. We hear this all the time. But this weekend, this wasn’t just something I knew in my mind. It was something I experienced on a very real and deep level.
On the weekend, someone made a statement that sums up the experience quite well: “The Holy Spirit is working overtime this weekend.” The theme of the retreat was “Hearts on Fire” and there could not have been a more perfect theme. The Holy Spirit showed up and set hearts on fire. There were countless moments throughout the retreat in which the Holy Spirit made His presence known. In fact, it wasn’t merely a few moments, but rather, the whole experience that was filled with His presence. For me, one part that stands out is being prayed over and given a blessing before giving my talk, being prayed for during the talk, and then once again being prayed for after the talk as well. It was an experience unlike anything else and there was no doubt in my mind that the Holy Spirit is real and was truly with us. Having people lay their hands over me and pray took away every feeling of unease and it was as if I was lifted up and put right into the hands of God. The whole weekend was so good and to try to convey the experience through words doesn’t seem to do it justice. One retreat candidate from my table shared that, on Friday, she was not excited to come and did not really want to be there. By Sunday, she didn’t want to leave. I think this describes the Holy Spirit well. Having an encounter like this is an experience you don’t want to leave. You want to live in this sort of space forever. It was filled with love, joy, peace, and goodness, all fruits of the Holy Spirit. As I soak in all the graces from the weekend, the one thought taking over my mind is that I wish every single person, Catholic or not, could have this experience and know the power and realness of the Holy Spirit. I think a lot of people, myself included, have often disregarded the Holy Spirit due to not being familiar with Him or being confused or unsure by Him. I believe that if every Catholic could experience and be hit with the power and working of the Holy Spirit, the world would change. It would be set on fire with hearts that are burning intensely with the love of God. I think it is safe to say that anyone who has had a profound experience with the Holy Spirit wants others to have the same thing. We all have friends, family members, co-workers, and other people in our lives who don’t have a fire burning in their hearts. Maybe the flame went out, maybe it is there but very dim, or maybe it was never there to begin with. We all want the people in our lives to have their hearts blazing. While we cannot make anyone experience the Holy Spirit, there are ways we can help. We can invite people to retreats and events. We can share books and other resources to help them learn more about how the Holy Spirit works. Most importantly, we can share our witness of how the Holy Spirit has worked in our lives and how we have encountered Him. Doing these things can help people recognize the small, ordinary moments that the Holy Spirit is present throughout their days because while the Holy Spirit can work in profound and powerful ways, He is also in the regular, everyday moments of our lives. And sometimes, it takes huge and profound encounters with Him to recognize this. As I continue to reflect on the CEW retreat I was on this weekend, some lyrics from the song “Shine Jesus Shine” come to mind. “As we gaze on your kingly brightness, so our faces display your likeness. Ever changing from glory to glory, mirrored here may our lives tell your story…. Blaze, Spirit, Blaze. Set our hearts on fire.” It is easy to see when people’s hearts are on fire and when they are filled with the Holy Spirit because their lives are a reflection of Him. My prayer is that everyone would encounter the Holy Spirit in this way and know of His power, recognizing the work that He is doing in their lives constantly. I pray that each and every one of us would be filled with the Holy Spirit and have our hearts set on fire even more than they already are, so much so that it would overflow into the lives of those around us, touching their lives and setting the world on fire.
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This past weekend was one of the best in awhile. I didn’t have any big plans and didn’t go anywhere far. But what I did do was something more valuable and better than anything else I can think of. With the retreat going on at my parish, I was able to spend a good amount of time sitting before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. To be able to drive just three minutes late at night or early in the morning to spend time in Eucharistic adoration not one, not two, but three days in a row was truly a gift that I didn’t know how much I needed. Spending time in the small, cozy and warm makeshift chapel, lit by a few lamps brought so much peace to me. I could have stayed there all weekend. We all need these these kinds of experiences to help remind us of God’s love for us and to be filled by that love.
This weekend, I read a book called Breath of God, Living a Life Led by the Holy Spirit by Father Dave Pivonka. One of the chapters discussed the concept of expanding our hearts. He explained how we need to continually ask God to fill our hearts because they may leak over time due to things like lack of attention and sin and they can slowly deflate. “God wants to give more of his spirit to us, to expand our souls, to bless us with more of his grace, his gifts, and more of his very life. ”As I sat in adoration this weekend, I asked the Holy Spirit to fill my heart up so that I could love more and have a deeper faith. And I am not lying when I say that I truly felt my heart being filled and expanded. Sitting before Jesus, I experienced love that is more powerful than anything in the world and an increased desire to deepen my relationship with Him. To the outside world, this all probably sounds crazy. But when you experience those moments of intense peace and love, there is no denying the reality of our faith and the true presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. It is these moments that expand our hearts and our capacity to love. When we allow ourselves to be filled with this love and this peace and all of the fruits of the Spirit, they will overflow into every aspect of our lives and permeate our whole being. So how do we fill and expand our hearts? The simplest way is to sit before God in prayer and ask Him. As Father Dave explains in the book, “God wants us to ask for more of His presence.” We need to continually pray and not be afraid to ask. If we ask God with a real desire and sincere hearts, He will provide. Whether it’s in big, overwhelming moments or the small, ordinary moments of our days, God will show us His love and fill us. My prayer is that you would be able to sit before Jesus and experience your heart being expanded by the love and peace that only He can bring. I recently came across a video clip of Princess Diana and St. Mother Teresa together. I was struck by the beauty in this video. While Princess Diana served others and did a lot of charity work, she was also seen as beautiful by the world’s standards because of her physical appearance. St. Mother Teresa, aged and wrinkled, small and hunched over, while not beautiful by the world’s standards, radiated beauty. There is something about her smile that drew people towards her during her life (and still draws people towards her when we think about who some of our favorite saints are). This is because of her holiness and her deep love for Jesus. The closer we grow to God, the more our lives reflect a certain beauty that can help draw others to the beauty of God and a relationship with Him.
When people looked into the eyes of St. Mother Teresa, they saw Jesus. She allowed Jesus into the deepest parts of her heart and invited Him to work in her life. She prayed deeply and chose to follow His will each day. She depended and trusted fully in God and knew she was in need of His mercy. She recognized the dignity of every single person she encountered and served with great love and compassion. Do we do these things? This should be the goal for all of us- that people would look at us and see Jesus, that people might be drawn to Him because of the way we live our lives. We are drawn to people who radiate Christ in their lives. When we see people striving for holiness, we want to experience what they have. Think about people in your life- family, friends, co-workers, or even strangers. When we see their joy, humility, and love, it draws us in because it is Jesus in them who is the cause of these fruits. We can see great beauty in the words St. Mother Teresa spoke and wrote and in her actions. This is because all she did was for God and she allowed her life to be a reflection of Him. God not only created beautiful things, but He is beauty Himself. Beauty reveals God, which in turn reveals truth, love, joy, and all that is good. May we all live our lives in a way that reflects God, so that others may come to know Him and find the beauty they are seeking. Before the opening ceremony of the 2022 Olympics, some political commentators were discussing everything going on in China including, but not limited to, the abuse, human rights violations, and torment kids experience at boarding schools. If anything, it was a reminder of how good we have it here in the United States. Sure, our county has its problems and there are areas that could use improvement, but we are truly blessed. This is especially true when it comes to our faith. Catholics in various other countries around the world are literally risking their lives to attend mass and practice their faith while we have all the freedom to do so, yet so many often choose not to.
What are the excuses? “It’s boring or too long. I don’t get anything out of it. My kid has a (insert sport) game/practice. I can’t understand the priest. We’re going on vacation. I can pray at home. I just don’t feel like going.” This non-exhaustive list covers just a few of the many excuses we often hear when it comes to mass attendance. And to be honest, it is quite embarrassing. People in certain parts of the world are putting God above everything else, risking their lives and here we have people whining and complaining that sitting in church for one hour a week is just too long. I think what it really comes down to is our understanding of the mass and how we prioritize everything in our lives. Something that came up in conversation at my Bible study last week is how it seems like when our parents and grandparents were growing up, mass was a priority. Churches were full and going to mass was an expected part of the weekend. While I wasn’t alive then, it just seems like faith had a much larger role in people’s lives. What changed? If people knew that they could encounter Jesus Christ Himself in the Eucharist, maybe more Catholics would attend mass. If people understood the need to worship God in praise and thanksgiving, maybe more Catholics would attend mass. If people recognized the graces and fruits that come from mass, maybe more Catholics would attend mass. People in certain countries realize and see the value of the mass so much that they do whatever they can to get there; whether that means traveling far distances or risking the possibility of violence and extreme persecution. We can give thanks to God that we do not have to put our lives in danger to attend mass at our parishes. This is a real blessing that we must not take for granted. While we cannot force anyone to see the value of the Mass or make anyone change their beliefs, we can be witnesses and share about why the Mass is important to us and how it impacts our daily lives. Let us pray that all Catholics would experience deeper faith and be filled with a greater desire to go to mass. |
AuthorStriving to share hope, joy, God's love, and all of the good stuff, one blog post at a time. Categories |
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