Author: Janice

God is love.  To notice when love is present and when it is not is to notice when God is present and when He is not. 

Our feelings are so important.  They are gifts from God.  They help us to learn more about ourselves as well as God. Unfortunately we live in a time where people seem to be slaves to their emotions.  That slavery causes them to be victims filled with anger, pride and at times even hate.  Sadly, hate can be a magnet that catches many even though we know God is not the author of hate.  That comes from His enemy.  Our emotions are great tools of discernment to help us learn more about ourselves and Jesus and by that our true authentic self.  

When we listen to our heart and how it feels when we experience some sort of love directed towards us or see it happening to someone else, we are drawn to it because we are drawn to God.  What a great practice it would be to try and duplicate the act of love in a way that we can. For instance, if it felt good that someone shared a pleasant thought with you and it lifted you up, share a pleasant thought with someone else so they, too, can be lifted up.  If we took notice, we would find a multitude of ways that love is shared and expressed that does not take a great deal of time or effort.  We don’t have to wait.  We can do it at any given moment and we can learn so much by being aware of the moments when we felt good at the hands of someone else’s actions.  When we share what we’ve learned from someone who gave us a bit of God’s love, it is like being one with the person and God. The person because you are taking what you’ve learned from them. God because it is He who is love. 

When we listen to our emotions that surface and see that they are negative— such as hurt, anger, anxiety, worry, fear or sadness, we should try and look for the cause.  Often times we will find the root is love.  We may be, for instance, angry, worried or fearful because someone we love is threatened.  Once we get in touch with the love and better understand the negative emotion, we can find God and work to react with Him and not without Him.  Sometimes we find wounds and better understand a love that was shaken and needs to be restored.  If we search, we can always find God and if we don’t have to react instantly, time to pray on negative emotions affords us much growth in our authenticity. 

So often when it’s a negative emotion we end up judging and complaining. If we instead tried to turn it into love, we could make a positive difference. We could turn it around for good by cooperating with God who is love.  If we did this we could become one with the person who hurt us. Like the one who made us feel loved, the one who has hurt us has changed us for the good if we make an effort to look for love and not complain and judge. They could potentially make us more loving. Instead of complaining and judging someone, for instance, who yelled at a cashier, we could put ourselves in the cashier’s place. We could empathize with their hurting heart.  We could decide that we would never act like that and, in fact, go out of our way to show kindness to other cashiers.  Now we have turned what could simply have ended with judgment and complaint and turned it into love.  St. John of the Cross, OCD said, “Where there is no love, put love and you will find love.”  You would be doing just that.  You would be putting love in the situation and because of that you would be placing God in the situation.  If we did this, it would be like uniting ourselves to the one who aggravated us by taking what they made us aware of, using it to cooperate more with God’s love and by that spiritually wrapping them in love instead of anger and judgment which is so often the reaction. It is a form of prayer for them and a form of forgiveness. We aren’t harboring any ill will towards them.  We aren’t taking what they have given us and making it worse.  Instead we are being thankful for the lesson they have given us so that we could grow more loving. Even if it happens directly to us, in time and with prayer and practice we can see that it’s not a point of being loved, but loving others. When we are detached from needing to be loved we can love even those who aggravate and hurt us because we can see it all as a gift to grow closer to God and in His love. That is the goal!

Can you imagine the type of person you would grow to be if you always made it a practice to look at your emotions and find the love even if it was hidden? Can you imagine the difference you would make in the lives of others because of the love that was growing in you?  You would continually grow in actually being the prayer of love with your very life.  We are all one so if you practiced this, others would have to feel the difference when you entered a room and when you left it.  They might not realize it. You might not realize it, but it would be happening. God is love so through you He would fill the hearts of those in the room.  God would be  felt when you enter and when you leave, the room may very well deflate. We have all experienced the energy of a room deflate when certain persons exit.  That is God’s love that has dissipated once they left.  Be the person that people come to know as the one who lifts up the room. Not because you need to be loved or that you are the life of the party focusing on yourself and how you can get people to notice you, but because you are the one that notices everyone else. You are the one that makes them feel special. You are the one that makes them feel loved.  You are the love because you are the branch connected to the vine who is love.  It’s not something you can do only occasionally. It is something you can do whenever you are with people and because of the many ways that technology connects us you can do it even when you are alone.  

This is the person I want to be, but my intentions are thwarted a million times a day. I awake and say I want to do something for someone else and the unexpected responsibilities of the day get in the way of the things I want to do. This week, as I have had more time, everything I wanted to do for others seemed to take much longer. So what was the problem? Did God not want me to do these things? No. I’m sure He does. They are good and purposeful. What He is trying to help me to learn is to not only be love, but be present. There were so many opportunities I had to be love in the moment, but I was looking at them as interruptions. If I can grow in being present in meditation and from that learn to be present in the moment, I can be that person who makes a difference by cooperating with God and being His love moment by moment.  I would do what I plan to do for others in God’s time and embrace what He sends me in the moment.  How I put love into the world would not matter as much as simply doing it, moment by moment in cooperation with God and the desires of His heart.

PRAYERFULLY REFLECT ON. THE FOLLOWING 

“Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.”  (1John 4:8)

“Where there is no love, put love and you will find love.” St. John of the Cross

Jesus prayed that we would all one. “I pray that they may all be one. Father! May they be in Us, just as You are in Me and I am in You.  (John 17:21).  Can you see the difference you may make in the presence of others simply by being aware of the love that is within you, the love that is God, the love that is possible because you are one with God just as they are? 

Have you experienced any negative emotions this week?  In prayer can you peel them back and find love at the root of them?

You can love because God is love and He is in you.  “Remain united to Me and I will remain united to you.  A branch cannot bear fruit by itself; it can only do so if it remains in the vine.  In the same way you cannot bear fruit unless you remain in Me.” (John 15:4). 

Have you experienced any positive emotions this week?  In prayer can you think of a way that you can make it a practice to do the same for others in a way that works for you?  

Can you understand that because we are one, when you pray and work to grow in love and then offer up your life as a prayer, you are a continual prayer of love that all united to you and God are affected by?  Because we are one, can you understand the importance of being a prayer of love and not one of anger or hate?  Pray on this and talk to Jesus about it. 

Imagine…

You get a call that you have received an all-expense paid-vacation to paradise!  All you have to do is say yes!  Would you say yes?  Would you go begrudgingly? Are you the type of person that would be a wreck while packing, but then not want to leave once you got there?  Would you be happy if a loved one was given this gift or would you beg them not to go?

The other day I heard a story that took place in the 40s. It was about a young 20-year-old who was on death row. To make a long story short, he didn’t know anything about God and had a visitation from the Blessed Mother one night while in his cell. That visitation caused him to want to embrace Jesus and the Catholic faith.  It ended up that not only did he convert, but many others in the prison did as well.  On the night before his execution, he was asked what his last wish was.  They would accommodate it as best they could. His wish was to have a party with all the inmates. He wanted to celebrate with them that he was going to Heaven. He was so excited! He had his party and immediately after was told he was given a two week stay. He cried like a baby. He asked what he had done wrong. He so badly wanted to go home. The thought of waiting two more weeks was extremely painful. A priest suggested that he unite his suffering of having to remain on Earth to the sufferings of Jesus on the cross and offer it as a prayer for a fellow inmate who was the next to be executed. That inmate refused to except Christ. The sorrowful inmate did just that and two weeks later, to his delight he was sent to see Jesus and the Blessed Mother via his execution. Three months later the inmate he was praying for was to be executed as expected. Right up to the end he refused to except Christ.  While on the chair and with seconds left, he belted out a bloodcurdling scream and then asked for a priest.  He wanted him to hear his confession. He wanted to say he was sorry and accept Jesus. When asked what changed his mind, he said that he saw the Blessed Mother and his friend who was recently executed. They told him this was his last chance to accept Jesus and if he didn’t, they showed him his place in hell. That’s when he screamed.

This story showed me two things. First there is great power in uniting our sufferings to Jesus and offering them as a prayer for others. The sufferings we are tied to are not electric chairs, but we do find ourselves daily bound to some sort of suffering. Great or small, we shouldn’t waste the opportunity of using them for the powerful prayer that they are. 

The second thing that it showed me was how far we have removed ourselves from our ultimate purpose in life… to know God, love Him and serve Him here so we can be with Him for all eternity. We say we know that we die and go to Heaven.  We know it is just our body that remains here… not us. We say we love God. We say all this and that we want to go to Heaven, but when the opportunity is given to us we don’t want to go. We certainly do not see it as an opportunity. We grieve when we lose someone understandably, but we don’t think much about how happy they are. We certainly don’t say let’s have a going away party. We wait until they are gone before we gather. We say one thing, but cling to another. We do everything we can to save our lives, but do not rejoice when we know it is our time to go home or the time for a loved one to depart. I’m not saying we don’t do all we can to get healthy when we are sick. We absolutely must. We must make sure our love ones do too, but showing sorrow and fear is not what you would expect when someone believes in paradise and then is offered it.

Can you imagine being excited about dying? Can you imagine living in a culture where we would want a going away party to celebrate our impending death? Can you imagine the relief that would be in the hearts of our family if they saw us happy to go? Can you imagine the world we would live in if more people offered their sufferings as a prayer for the salvation of others so we could all be in Heaven?  Can you imagine living in a world where we contemplated what Heaven would be like so we would want to go when it was time? Can you imagine living in this life knowing that Jesus conquered death and you were never going to die as a result? Can you imagine spending your time on Earth with one thing on your bucket list…to fill it with love because love is the only thing you can take with you and you would know that it is better to bring along a bucket full of love rather than a thimble full?  Can you imagine a world where we all tried to fill an ocean sized bucket with love? Can you imagine a world where you weren’t crippled up in fear of dying, but instead trusted that God would send for you when it was your time and your job was to just get out and pack that bucket so you were ready when He called?  Can you imagine living what Jesus taught about saving your life only coming by losing it through self giving? Maybe if that is how we lived, we wouldn’t be fearful of death and we would celebrate when someone’s bucket was full and they were journeying home.

So now let’s go back to the beginning.  If you were told you were going to go on an all expense paid vacation to paradise, would you jump at the chance? If you were told everyone at home would be fine and you were going to be treated like royalty, would you jump at the chance? If you were told at some point you would join your family members who would one day also win paradise, would you happily say goodbye?  Are you prepared to say yes if paradise isn’t the vacation, but Heaven?  Most of us aren’t, but if we contemplated Heaven on a regular basis, maybe when it was time, like the inmate, we too would want to celebrate what was to come instead of fearfully clinging to what pales by comparison. 

Prayerfully reflect on the following and talk to God about them.  Freely give a Him your heart.

“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the Gospel will save it.” Mark 8:35

Jesus conquered death.  Meditate on 1Corinthians 15:51-55

Jesus’s suffering and death saved us.  Meditate on suffering, whether small or large, being a prayer.

How would your life be different if the only thing you thought of was how you could fill your bucket with love?

How would your life be different if you offered your sufferings for the salvation of those you love?

Have you ever been nervous about going somewhere, but then had such a great time once there that you didn’t want to leave?  How might that compare with not wanting to leave Earth.

Prayerfully reflect on Heaven.

Prayerfully reflect on any of the questions cited in this reflection.

SLOW DOWN!!! 

At the end of the week I reflected on what my greatest challenges of the week had been and I discovered my answer connected with my reflection of last week when I asked,  “What difference does it make what I am doing if I am doing it in the presence of God?”   My greatest challenges came through several circumstances in regards to reading and crocheting. What could they both have in common? They both taught me to slow down so I could be in the presence of God and better be in His will.

When I began doing some spiritual reading, I began absorbing the material more and more. I saw what I read was being played out constantly in my life.  Because of that I had to continually force myself to slow down and reflect on it. The material in my life in relation to what I read seemed to constantly coincide and it was making a difference for me.  

The same thing happened with my book club book. After finishing the assigned chapters I wanted to go on, but I stopped myself. I slowed down instead of running ahead.  There was no need to hurry on ahead.  I slowed down and spent the time absorbing.  

Crochet was no different. I finished making a stuffed toy. It wasn’t easy. There were days when my hand was cramping up so badly. I just wanted to put it aside. Previously that is exactly what I would’ve done for weeks and even months. I promised my son I would make it for him so that forced me to keep it up even if I had to do it slowly.  My promise forced me to do it slowly. One stitch at a time.  I had to do a great deal of ripping and starting over again.  As much as I wanted to either put it aside or hurry up and get it done, I didn’t.  I went slow and the end result was a great stuffed toy.  It was the best I ever made and I learned methods that would help me in my craft.  I got better. Now I have a baby Yoda to give to my adult son.  A labor of love injected into my family that I am confident will be injected into the Body of Christ. I am confident that when we do things unselfishly they make a difference around the world in the mystical body of Christ.

While doing things slowly something else happened. I had a great inner peace. A greater feeling of love. A greater feeling of connectedness to God and others. I am understanding why Mr. Rogers felt that his slowness was a gift that  helped him to touch lives because the slowness put him in the presence of God. I am convinced that we are far better able to be the prayer and make a difference when we slow down because it truly does put us in the presence of God and when we are in His presence, we can better hear Him so as to do His will.

I think we are better able to learn when we slow down and let ourselves be absorbed into what we are learning.  What we learn most assuredly is God’s will and there is no telling how it will be used for God in the future.  The sacrifices of time and the quality results make a difference in the Body of Christ because we are doing it all in the presence of God.  Hurrying is often a default because it is routine, we want to do something else or we have placed a self-imposed deadline on the act, but I believe God and our true self is discovered when we slow down if at all possible.

I also learned that when I cut myself off from the opportunity to be connected with God and my neighbor in the entire Body of Christ through my hurriedness, I used my accusatory voice (the enemy) instead of the voice of the advocate (the Holy Spirit). I said things like, “It’s too hard. I can’t. I should do something I’m better at.  I am no good at this.”  With the accusatory mindset we deprive ourselves of slowing down, being in the presence of God, being the prayer and growing in the subject area. Instead of being the advocate and telling myself, “There is no need to hurry. Take your time. Nobody is waiting for you.  This is where God wants you to presently be.  This is your growth” and by that helping people in the Body of Christ, I deprived myself of the beautiful act of being connected. 

While we place greater value on some things and little on others, God looks at the heart.  This is true of all activities we embark on.  I do see, however, that true value can be gained in doing activities slowly whenever possible so we can be more mindful of being in the presence of God and by that make room for our heart to grow.  We should take a moment to discern if the quantity we want to achieve or the deadline we want to impose are only in our heads because making that connection with God and, therefore, the entire Body of Christ, is important. It is then that we become the prayer.  

In the presence of God it all matters and doing things slowly helps us to be more aware of God’s presence so that with Him all we do makes a difference. It helps us to be more like Him.  God definitely rested and while we know He answers all our prayers, sometimes it appears, in our estimation, that He is slow.  Perhaps there is great value in embracing that slow period for it is in there that we find God and grow in His image and likeness.  Perhaps slowness, when possible, is sacred.  Perhaps when we are able to slow down, we have brief Sunday morning moment that puts us in the garden with Mary Magdalene at the time of the resurrection and we hear Jesus say our name. (John 20:11-19)

PRAYERFULLY REFLECT ON THE FOLLOWING 

Meditate on Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

“Notice how the flowers grow. They do not toilet or spin. But I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of them.  If God so clothed the grass in the field that is here today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will He not much more provide for you, oh you of little faith?” Luke 12:27-28

“Do not wear yourself out to gain wealth, cease to be worried about it.”  Proverbs 23:4

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”  Matthew 11:28-30

“As they continue their journey He entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed Him. She had a sister named Mary who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to Him speak. Martha, burdened with much serving, came to Him and said, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.’ The Lord said to her in reply, ‘Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.” Luke 10:38-42

“But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like 1000 years and 1000 years like one day.” 2Peter 3:8

“Then God’s said: Let there be light, and there was light. God saw that the light was good. God then separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness He called “night.” Evening came and morning followed—the first day.” Genesis 1:3-5

“On the seventh day God completed the work He had been doing; He rested on the seventh day from all the work He had undertaken. God bless the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work He had done in creation.” Genesis 2:2-3  

“Ah! Rebellious children, who carry out a plan that is not Mine, who make an alliance I did not inspire, thus adding sin upon sin; they go down to Egypt without asking My counsel, to seek strength in Pharaohs protection and take refuge in Egypt’s shadow. Pharaohs protection shall become your shame, refuge in Egypt shadow your disgrace.” Isaiah 30:1-3

Let the day begin!

Unfortunately all too often we wake up in the morning and instead of looking forward to seizing the day, we begin to think of our troubles. We think about the heavy burdens the day will hold, the person we had conflict with recently, the worries of an upcoming possible conflict, health and the world.  We often complicate our thoughts even further by judging others and embracing negativity.  At times these thoughts can weigh us down.  We have the, “I have to do” mentality and not the “I get to do” perspective.  Science has proven that stress negatively effects our lives and yet it is the treadmill we hop on and we don’t seem to be able to get off.

Scripture gives us us many teachings on not living in stress. Some believe that not to be true because Jesus said we must pick up our cross daily. They reason that means life is meant to be hard.  While it is true that we must daily pick up our cross, we forget that the cross is love. It is a self-giving love. It is being other oriented. Some crosses are extremely hard, but most of the daily ones are not extreme. They are just our opportunity for us to grow in love. 

In the midst of our days when we judge, complain and think negatively, we forget that St Paul  said, “Be joyful always, pray at all times, be thankful in all circumstances. This is what God wants from you in your life in union with Christ Jesus.” (1Thes 5:16-18). It is much harder to feel stressed if we are grateful. 

Jesus said, “When you pray and ask for something, believe that you have received it, and you will be given whatever you ask for.”  (Mark 11:24)  He didn’t say to worry about the problem. He said to think of the future and not the past when He said to believe it has been answered. Wouldn’t it be much better for the health of our body, mind and soul if we lived in the joy of having received the things we were praying for rather than living in the fear of the present situation and basing a presumed outcome on past experiences?  How often do we pray for one thing and yet contradict our prayers by living in fear because of the past?    

Living in the present fear that one doesn’t have a job, for instance, doesn’t help the situation. It only makes you feel worse.  Living in hope by believing your prayer has already been answered is living the prayer of  hope and “hope does not disappoint” (Rom 5:5). Some may argue that one who acts like this is living in a dreamworld and not reality.  I would argue that Jesus said to live in that world. He say to pray as if we have received, be thankful, have joy, have hope and not to despair. He did not say to live a life with an attitude of whoa is me.  

It is hard to live like this. It means breaking years of bad habits of thinking negatively. We need to strive in trusting in God‘s word when He said, “I alone know the plans I have for you, plans to bring you prosperity and not disaster, plans to bring about the future you hope for.”  (Jeremiah 29:11) We must trust what God said when He went on to further say. “You will call to me. You will come and pray to me, and I will answer you. You will seek me, and you will find me because you will seek me with your heart.”  (Jeremiah 29:12-14).   

With a loving, thankful, believing, hope-filled heart, we can be filled with joy.  These virtues will help us to be less stressed and less stress means a happier and healthier person.  These virtues will also help us to handle the heavier crosses better when it is harder or even impossible to have anything other than great sorrow.  In the midst of the great sorrow, we have a heart that has been formed to be loving,  thankful, believing and hope filled.  That makes a difference in the midst of sorrow.  Perhaps it was that heart that caused Jesus to minister to others and forgive them on the cross. He kept His self-giving attitude of love, believing and hoping for the future He trusted His Father would bring about. He wanted the cross to be lifted from Him, but knew the plans for His future would be answered because He spent His life living that way and knowing the outcome was always filled with His Heavenly Father’s perfect plan of love.  In the midst of His sorrow, His strongly formed heart got Him through and enabled Him to stay focused on His Father’s word.  He knew the crucifixion was not the end of the story.  Resurrection was coming.  Now, in the ordinary times and difficult times, He asks us to do the same.  Can we?

PRAYERFULLY RELECT ON:

Each of the five scripture passages highlighted above.  Talk to Jesus about them.

Reflect on your day.  Did you live in the positive hope for your future or did you live in the negativity and fear of the past?  If you were negative and fearful, think of your discovery not as a defeat, but as a victory because you discovered it.

Try practicing meditation where you simply sit in the presence of God.  Close your eyes and strive to be in a silent atmosphere.  Rest in the quiet moment with God.  When thoughts come in, you will better recognize them if you are ignoring the senses of sight and sound.  All you will have left is your thoughts, which you should push aside so as to simply be with God.  If you strive to practice the presence of God during the day, this meditation practice will help you to become aware of the times you lose His presence during the day.  You will better be able to realize when thoughts enter that are contrary to God…judgment, despair, worry, negativity, etc.  These thoughts separate you from God.  This awareness can help you get back on track as you reject the stress of worry and negativity and stay in the presence of God with all His love and positivity.