Catholic Faith Space
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How often do we have experiences that we perceive as coincidences? The times where we think to ourselves, “wow, what are the chances?” or “did that really just happen?”. The situations and happenings that seem random and like mere coincidences can be seen as something more when we have faith. The greater the faith we have, the easier we can recognize these occurrences as God moments, moments where we can simply say, “thank you, God.” Sharing God moments with others can inspire them to think about the small moments in their days where they too can recognize God’s hand at work and see His goodness.
I experienced one of these moments awhile back. When you work a job with normal hours, it is a bit harder to make it to daily mass. Many parishes seem to have daily masses at 8:00 AM or another similar time. While some have masses scheduled over the noon hour, it can be hard to make unless the parish is really close to where you work so you can get there, attend, and get back to work before your lunch time is over. Working 7:30-5:00, I just assumed over the last several years that I wouldn’t be able to get to any daily masses unless they were in the evening. However, not too long ago I accidentally found that there is a parish exactly 1.1 miles from my work when I was driving down a side road, different from my normal route. It is a parish I had been to before, but with my lack of strong directional skills, I hadn’t realized that it was close to where I work. And upon looking up their website, I discovered that they have a daily mass at 6:45 AM. Wow, how perfect! What are the chances that there is a church that close that also happens to have mass at that time? It was surely a God moment. Another God moment took place at the beginning of the month. One Sunday, I was talking with someone about the National Eucharistic Congress event that is taking place in July. She asked me if I was going. I mentioned how it would be cool, but that I most likely wasn’t going, because it seemed easier to go with a group. The next evening, I was at a meeting at UWGB and someone from the diocese was also there. After the meeting, she came up to me and told me that I was on her list of people to ask if I’d like to attend the event in one of 15 spots as part of the young adult delegation for the diocese. Again, the chances of this situation seemed unreal. But I was able to recognize that it wasn’t just by chance, but rather, that it was God. We all experience different moments on a regular basis, big or small, that seem unlikely, which lead us to believe they just happen coincidentally. But, God is at work in our lives and guides us each day. He knows everything that will happen and works within the events of our days to reveal His goodness. When something seems too good to be true, we can look to God and thank Him. He wants to give us good things and provides many opportunities for us to grow closer to Him. This week, be on the lookout for the moments where you can see glimpses of God in your life. He is there and He is always good.
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I’ve always liked envisioning an image of the desert. It is a place that is warm, quiet, and probably pretty empty. A space so different compared to the full and fast-paced environment we live in. A place with no distractions and where we can hear more clearly. A place that is still. While we may at first think that nothing good can come from the desert, especially after hearing this weekend’s gospel, where Jesus is tempted there, we must think again. We are all called to follow Jesus into the desert, to find our own sort of desert. Because while Jesus was tempted by Satan, He also overcame the temptations. And that’s what He wants to teach us too, that we can overcome the temptations and lies of the devil, but only with His help.
This weekend, I was able to spend time in adoration, late at night and also at many other times throughout the weekend, while a men’s retreat was going on. It was sort of like a desert, or at least I imagined it to be. Quiet, calm, no distractions, away from the outside world, sitting with Jesus in prayer. Being in that chapel, it felt like I was on a retreat, and I forgot about anything going on outside in the world. As I sat in the chapel, truly the best place to be on these weekends, I was reminded that anything we face out in the world, He faces with us, and without Him, we can do nothing. I think sometimes we are scared to follow Jesus into the desert. What will we hear? How will He call us to walk more closely with Him? How will our lives be changed? But we don’t have to worry about any of these things. Because when we sit before Jesus in the blessed sacrament, He reminds us that He has walked the path we are walking and He walks it with us everyday so that we don’t have to face the world and all the lies, evil, and temptations of the devil alone. Satan wants to whisk us away and disrupt our peace, joy, and ultimately, our souls. But Jesus fights for us. He does this not in a forceful, demanding, or aggressive way, but in a gentle and inviting way. He is always working to draw us closer, even if we do not recognize it or if we wander away from Him. When you spend time in eucharistic adoration, you will experience peace, joy, and love that you can’t find in the world. Your heart will be changed and transformed. Find your desert- a place free of the stuff and distractions, a place you can experience the deep love He has for you. Any lies you believe, fears you have, or burdens you are carrying, Jesus will take away. As you walk with Him this Lent, may you allow your heart to be transformed and may you remember that He is with you, leading you always. Once a month, the 7th through 11th grade religious ed students start off the class period with eucharistic adoration, usually just for 15 minutes. Every third week of the month, my 8th grade class, without fail, has rattled off a list of complaints before we head over to the church and also afterwards, once we get back to the classroom. They complain that it’s boring, their knees hurt, they don’t like the smell of incense, they think it’s weird and have to try not to laugh, they don’t want to stare at the wall for so long doing nothing. They ask what they’re supposed to do and why no one says anything. These are some of the many words that I’ve heard from them. Even though it’s been explained to them that Jesus is present and it is a time to be with Him, they still don’t get it, which is likely why they never feel like going. But when it comes to our faith, it is not just students who can have this mindset. Just like these students, for many, it is a lack of understanding that keeps them from practicing their faith actively. And for others, it may be because they just don’t feel like doing anything. But our faith is not about what we feel.
While many times, our faith makes us feel a certain way or we feel certain emotions, it is not feelings that we should allow to guide us. It is a choice. Everyday, we have to get up and choose to live out our faith. We have to choose God, even when the world around us is choosing the opposite. We have to choose to speak certain words and serve others however we can. We have to choose to pray and find ways to grow in our relationship with God. Making these choices can be hard; they take effort and commitment. All we have to do is look at the cross. When we look at and think about Jesus dying on the cross for us, we see the ultimate picture of love. Love is not about feeling a certain way, it is a choice that is made. And if we ever feel like Jesus is far from us or we cannot feel his presence, we must remember to choose Him anyway. Because that is love. With Lent beginning tomorrow, there may be a lot we are thinking about regarding how we can grow. As we think about the small sacrifices we might make, the extra money or time we may give, and the deeper and extra prayer we will enter into, we might decide that we don’t feel like doing certain things because it’s too hard. When we are tempted to take the easy way out, may our love for Jesus outweigh our feelings. Let us choose to be intentional in what we do, even when we don’t feel like it. Choose Jesus this Lent, he has chosen you. |
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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