Catholic Faith Space
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I recently signed up for a 5k run, the ‘Hope isn’t Canceled Run.’ I love the theme that the organizers came up with. In the times we’re in, we need this message now more than ever. Countless events over the past several months have been canceled. A lot of our normal, everyday life has been changed and flipped upside down. Who or what are we placing our hope in? I think it is important to reflect on this particular question.
It’s so easy to look around the world and, more specifically, within our country and start to feel hopeless. Our political ideologies are more polarized than we’ve ever seen. We’re living through a pandemic. The media is majorly slanted one way and works to instill fear and opposition. People are filled with hatred. There is a loss of respect for human life. The list goes on and on. It seems like our world has been set on fire (and I’m not talking about St. Catherine of Siena’s version of setting the world on fire) only to continue burning. Looking at this list, it is difficult to find much upon which to be hopeful about. It is a good thing that we are not called to put our hope in these types of events, situations, and things of this world. Things of this world will ultimately fail and disappoint us. As people of faith, we are called to have real hope; hope in Jesus Christ. If we have faith, we should also have hope. What is hope? It is not good thoughts, well wishes, positivity, or optimism. These things are not bad. However, hope is so much deeper. If we are true followers of Christ, then hope must be embedded in who we are. Hope is truly believing in Jesus Christ and all of His promises. People may look around and ask us how we can possibly have hope with everything that is going on. This is where we need to step up and offer the reasons for our hope. We can have hope because of the good that Christ brings to our lives. We can have hope because of His strength and love. Most of all, we have hope because of the promise of eternal life in heaven. There is a lot going on in our world right now. We can ask, “Will it ever change? When will it end? Why can’t everyone just get along?” Instead of asking these questions, let’s get out there and do something! Let’s truly live out our faith during these trying times, defending goodness and truth. Let’s share the beauty of life and spread the message of Christ because hope isn’t canceled.
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A few days ago I was scrolling through Facebook and I saw that a page I follow had posted the Fruit of the Spirit Song. (If you have not heard this song, I highly recommend it. I can guarantee that you will have it stuck in your head for days. On the plus side, you will never again forget the fruits of the Spirit!) This got me thinking about the Holy Spirit. Making the sign of the cross, we invoke the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. However, I think a lot of us tend to forget about the Holy Spirit. Who is He and how does He work? My understanding of the Holy Spirit is definitely lacking and I always find that I cannot explain or grasp who He is. Nonetheless, I know I have experienced the Holy Spirit in both powerful ways and in ways that are quieter and gentler on a regular basis.
One thing I have noticed is that the more open you are to the Holy Spirit in your life, the easier it will be to recognize when and how He is working in your life. There have been times where I’ve felt like I have been lit on fire. In these moments, I have felt excitement, courage, peace, inspiration, encouragement, and the list goes on. While I don’t want to reduce God to a feeling, there are definitely experiences where the feelings are so overwhelming that words fall short when trying to describe these experiences. These are moments when I can confidently say, “that was the Holy Spirit.” One experience with the Holy Spirit that stands out to me happened towards the beginning of this year. At the beginning of January, I was asked to give a talk at a retreat. After agreeing to it, it was decided I would present it 2 ½ weeks later at the team meeting to practice it and get feedback. Naturally, I sat down the afternoon before the meeting to write the whole 30ish minute talk. I managed to hammer it out within a few hours. That was the Holy Spirit at work. After the meeting was over, I had just about a month to polish it up and practice, practice, practice until the retreat. Of course, what did I not do? Practice. The day of the meeting, I had gone home, made a few edits, and put it to the side, all the way until the first night of the retreat. Oops. Little did I know, the Holy Spirit would be there to lead me and guide me, ultimately saving the day! The time for me to give my talk was approaching. There was a room of people who prayed over me. Just being prayed over is the Holy Spirit at work. (10/10 would recommend the experience.) I felt calm and ready but still fairly nervous. Once I left the room, they stayed and prayed for me throughout my whole talk. It could not have gone any better, especially considering that I hadn’t gone over it even once to practice since the meeting. During the talk, I was filled with overwhelming senses of peace and confidence. (Prayer WORKS! Stay tuned for a blog on the power of prayer!) After my talk, I left the room and felt like I was floating on clouds. It was unlike anything I had ever experienced. That was the Holy Spirit! I returned to the prayer chapel room, where the group once again prayed with me and for me. The Holy Spirit wants to work in your life. Whether it’s in large, profound ways that you can feel, or in small, ordinary ways, He wants to be part of it. Maybe you don’t think the Holy Spirit is working in your life. I’d challenge you to take a closer look. Open yourself up a bit. Ask the Holy Spirit to come into your life and pray to receive Him in a deeper way. The more open you are to the Holy Spirit, the easier it will be to recognize Him working in your life, as well as in the lives of those around you. The Holy Spirit can change hearts and lives, filling us with a greater desire to know and love God. Spend time today and everyday reflecting on the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life and ask Him to fill your heart. Last week I was watching a one-year old. We were walking out the door to go outside when he reached out his arms. He wanted me to lift him down from the step onto the ground. I’m sure we’ve all experienced this. When a small child needs help, he will simply look toward you and hold out his arms, waiting to be picked up. Toddlers know they cannot do certain things on their own and they know that we will provide the help that they need. This is how it is with God, or at least how it should be. When we find ourselves in certain situations, with struggles we are trying to work through and problems we are trying to solve, do we reach out to God?
For some reason, it seems as if a lot of us think we have to do everything on our own. When life gets busy and we feel overwhelmed by the world around us, we somehow think that we can handle everything ourselves. It is easy to find ourselves complaining about the problems we have and all the tasks we need to accomplish. Why do we think we can do it without the Lord? We load up our plates with all this stuff. This is when the stress, worries, doubts, and fears build up. We start to get buried underneath the weight of the world and call out, “don’t worry, I’m fine! It’s all good!” We like to make things harder than they need to be. It would be a whole lot easier if we reached out to God and cried out, “Lord, please help me!” If only we fully knew that Christ will provide the help that we need. He died on the cross with His arms stretched open wide. Every day, He waits for us to come to him, and reach up to be lifted. He can lift us up from whatever struggles we find ourselves in. We may walk along thinking everything is going well until we hit roadblocks. These different roadblocks along the way cause us to stumble and fall. We feel as if we are stuck, not able to get up again, and forced to crawl to continue on. Our other option is to reach out to Christ, asking Him to lift us up and walk with us. This does not guarantee that we won’t have struggles and that we will never fall. It does however, guarantee that we will always have someone there to pick us up and help us along our way. Invite God into your life everyday. Look toward Him with open arms, trusting that He will pick you up and carry you through whatever it is that you ask of Him. Yesterday I saw a post someone shared on social media that said, “all we need is love and coffee.” The post was captioned with a sort of discourse on how much better our world would be if everyone could sit in a big circle together while drinking coffee and sharing compliments. What a nice, fluffy and warm feeling, right? I get it. People are trying to share comforting, non-controversial messages in an attempt to spread positivity in a time when our world desperately needs it. While nothing is wrong with these messages, they reduce love to a nice little saying that doesn’t even scratch the surface. Our world is starving for love; love that is authentic, unconditional, deep, and life-changing. Our world is starving for the love of Jesus Christ.
It seems like everyone has a different idea of what love is. There are certain ways it should look and feel and certain places it should be found. People are told that if they want to be “accepting and loving” they need to react to every situation in a certain way and speak up about one issue over another, so as not to be deemed “careless” or “ignorant.” People seem to spend so much time arguing about what it is supposed to look like when we love others that they completely miss the love that is right in front of them. Love isn’t just a feeling or some fleeting emotion. It’s also not just getting whatever you want or something that makes you happy. Love is Jesus suffering and dying on the cross for you and me, and for every single person in the world. Love is Jesus wounded and beaten, crying out, “I thirst” as blood and water pours out from his side. There is absolutely nothing else He could have done to demonstrate the immeasurable depths of His love for us. While we can never fully comprehend the immense love He has for us, we can take time each day to make ourselves aware of His love and accept it into our hearts. Jesus thirsts for our hearts and souls and waits to pour out His love upon us. Take time to pray before a crucifix and reflect on the fact that if you were the only person in the world, he still would have died for you. I don’t know about you, but that is something that blows my mind. Jesus loves us so much that he suffered immensely for us. From his agony in the garden, to being whipped and beaten, carrying his cross, and then ultimately, being nailed to the cross and commending his spirit into the hands of the Father, this is the love that has the power to change lives, and ultimately, the world. We can sometimes get so caught up in everything going on around us that we fail to remember what is important. As St. John Paul II once said, “what really matters in life is that we are loved by Christ and that we love him in return. In comparison to the love of Jesus, everything else is secondary. And, without the love of Jesus, everything is useless.” I pray that everyone will come to know the deep, unending sacrificial love Jesus has for them. Take a step back from the chaos of our world and just rest in His love today! |
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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