Catholic Faith Space
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A few days ago, the Church celebrated the feast day of St. Philip Neri. I came across these words from him, “there is nothing the devil fears so much, or so much tries to hinder, as prayer.” I know I have experienced this reality in my own life. Prayer itself is simple, but it is not easy.
When it comes to prayer, we can often feel inadequate. We feel like we don’t know how to pray. We can feel unmotivated and would rather do a million other things than pray. We can be distracted, feeling like we got nothing out of our time in prayer. We think it has to look a certain way and that we aren’t doing it right. All of these thoughts and feelings we experience when it comes to prayer are not from God. If you are a parent, you have probably experienced receiving artwork from your kids when they were little (or you were probably that kid giving artwork to your parents). That artwork was messy, the colors weren’t all in the lines, and maybe it was hard to tell exactly what the artwork was supposed to be. Yet, you appreciated it, cherished it, and loved it, because it was from your child. It is like this with God. No matter what our prayers look like, how messy they are, or how uninterpretable they seem to us, God doesn’t care. We are his children and He loves that we are coming to Him. He wants to receive whatever it is we are giving to Him. The only way we can know God is if we spend time with Him in prayer. We will face obstacles in this, but we must push past them and keep making an effort. There are many ways to pray and many forms it can take, so what really matters is that it is part of our daily routine. We tend to make prayer more complicated than it actually is. If we have sat down with the intention to pray, we are off to a good start. God wants nothing more than for you to spend time with Him sharing your heart and listening. When you feel tempted to give up, ask God to help you to begin again.
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A few weekends ago, the Gospel at mass was John 15:1-8, a passage known as “the vine and the branches" and three days later, the daily gospel was this same passage. Last week, I was reading a book when I came across a part that reflected on some of the ideas from this scripture passage. Then, last Thursday I was at a banquet for Vida, a pregnancy resource center in Appleton, and Bishop Ricken gave a reflection on John 15. John 15:5 says, “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.” As this scripture passage kept popping up over the last few weeks, I realized that God was clearly reminding me that without Him, I can do nothing and will not bear any fruit. In everything we do, we must remain in Him.
In the book I was reading, This Present Paradise: A Spiritual Journey with St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, by Claire Dwyer, she talked about how we have all been given a mission and wrote, “we have to believe that the measure of our call is undoubtedly higher than we are and then get out of the way enough for Christ to glorify the Father through our transparent souls” (Dwyer, 207). If we try to do things on our own, we are not going to be able to do this. If we let pride take over our lives, we will doubt the mission God has given us and we will feel as if we cannot do what He calls us to each day because we will be relying on our own abilities. She continues on, “so yes, we must be humble and know that without Christ, we really cannot bear any lasting fruit- but with Him, there will absolutely be basketfuls left over” (Dwyer, 207). For me, this is a work in progress and I recognize I have a long way to go. Maybe that is the case for you too. In the mission He gives us, not only for our whole lives, but in each day, we must get out of the way so that when we do what He asks of us, God will be glorified and we will bear good fruit. To imagine basketfuls of fruit that would come from our reliance on Christ is a powerful image that can help us remain in Him. In Bishop Ricken’s reflection at the banquet, He reminded us that the work that we do will not produce any good fruit unless we remain in Christ and His love. He talked about how it is easy to let the lies from Satan convince us that we cannot do what Jesus asks of us, but we must not be discouraged. We must let Jesus’ voice be louder so that we can continue doing whatever work that He asks of us. It’s easy to think that we are not capable and that we do not have what it takes to do what Jesus asks of us. But if He asks us to do something, He never abandons us and leaves us to do it on our own. We cannot do what He asks if we rely on ourselves. But if we rely on Him, we can do whatever it is He is calling us to. If you are worried about saying “yes” to anything in your life, big or small, just remember that without Him, we can do nothing. But if we remain in Him, we will bear good fruit. May we always remain in Jesus and produce basketfuls of fruit This past weekend, the church I am a member of held a meeting after mass to discuss a change that is taking place July 1st. Throughout Holy Trinity’s history, there hasn’t been a clear designation of what the church is. While it was most often referred to as a mission church throughout the years, it has been operating more as a parish, with trustees and with a separate checking account. To ensure the church is in proper order, it is being designated as an oratory of the larger parish, All Saints, July 1st. At the meeting, I was shocked by the angry responses, the attacking questions, and the comments that people made as if they knew better than the Bishop. As the representative from the Diocese explained that those attending Holy Trinity would be members of All Saints when the change happens, it was disappointing to see how people acted. For some reason, there are people who are anti- All Saints, and some who even refuse to step foot into the church to attend mass there. This is not the way that Jesus calls us to. We are one universal church with the same mission.
Every week in the creed, we express that we believe in “one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.” Jesus established one Church, the Catholic Church. This means that every single Catholic church is the same and professes the same beliefs and teachings. We can walk into any Catholic church anywhere and know exactly what is going on and what to do. For some reason, some people seem to have too much pride in which church they belong to and where they go to mass. It is good to belong to a church and be an active member, contributing in different ways and with our time and money. But at the end of the day, what really matters is that we are attending mass weekly. It doesn’t matter where we are going to mass, as long as we are going. In the Green Bay diocese, we are blessed with so many Catholic churches. We live in an area with tons of options. We should never take that for granted and should be grateful that we don’t have to go far. I’m not sure what people are so defensive about when it comes to other parishes. Whether it is a concern about money, an issue with other people, or something else, if that’s what people are worried about, they are probably approaching church with the wrong mindset. Every Catholic church we walk into has Jesus, and that’s what really matters. There seems to be a lot of separation and division among people within neighboring churches. We must not be separated by different church buildings, but rather joined by our faith in Jesus Christ, the eucharist, and the one true Catholic Church. We are only, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. Let’s start acting like it. |
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