Tea & A Sunrise

As I woke up this morning to the sound of my alarm, I realized that I've been running too fast.  Waking up, opening the blinds, and feeling the sun come in as I sipped at my tea made me remember how much the small things really do matter.  I had not been running too fast in a literal sense (that would never happen for me since I am anything but physically active), but figuratively running through life too fast these past few months. Instead of actual living, it's all been such a quick blur. Of course I remember what has happened, but I think that I'm really going too fast. And in all this running, I think that I have not been focusing on making my faith the center of my life. Yes, I've kept all the teachings and doctrines close, but in the running, I haven't been making them the goal. I've made them the means by which to reach the goal. In doing this, I've made material things my goal, but in the long run, have made the big goal of being worthy of God's love a bit more fuzzy than it used to be.

I have not been able to blog for quite a while now due to life and all its craziness, and I am not even sure that after this one I'll be able to get back to it on a regular basis, but life decided to give me a chance this morning, especially after the sunrise gave itself to me to put me in a writing mood. I'm sure that you can understand how that feels, to finally have a mood to write after so long of not being able to. It's not that you really couldn't, but that time and life just got in the way. Always running and never pausing to stop and think about the racing through life that you always do. This may not be you, but for me, it's a very familiar concept.  

I ask for your prayers that I would find a way to bring God back as the center of my life, and not just something that comes when it comes and goes when it goes.  I pray for any of you who feel the same way and need the intercessions too.  The thing that really inspires me to keep fighting the urge to give up is that many of the saints have felt the same way at times in their lives, but made it through by fighting the temptation of not praying and praying even harder.  May God be with us all.

Easter 2014

Happy Easter to you all!  All corners of the Earth celebrate in great jubilation in honor of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ!  Through His death, he brought our sins to the grave and cleansed us.  Through His Resurrection, we have been given a chance of eternal life with Him forever.  We, as Christians, die with Christ by dying to this world.  We are not people of this world of earthly things and ideals.  We are a heavenly people from God's Kingdom.  Through His Resurrection, we rise as new men and women set on fire with Christ's love!  We live no longer for ourselves, with our own schemes and our own plans, but we live for His sake and His Will.  We are the hands, we are the feet, we are the lips, and we are the hearts by which Christ is made present in this world.  He no longer has a physical body and presence on this earth, but is made present through our actions and our spirits.  We are the Body of Christ, redeemed through the death of the sacrificial lamb who died to save us from our sins.  It's time to carry our own crosses and follow him on the Way of the Cross.  As we conclude the Easter Triduum, the holiest days in our liturgical year, we do not just drop our Lenten practices.  Through the Easter Season, we learn how to incorporate our fasting, our abstinence, and our sacrifice into daily routine.  Through the Easter Season, we learn how to humble ourselves to wash the feet of others through service like Christ did on the beginning of the Triduum at Holy Thursday.  Then, we carry our crosses of life, with all its hardships, annoyances, and trials to the golden gates, where we die as Christ did on Good Friday, and enter finally into the gates of the Kingdom.  As we enter, we celebrate with a love and joy that the earthly world cannot give to console the spirit.  This is Easter Sunday.  Actually, this is the celebration we give every Sunday when we congregate in the walls of our Church to receive the Body and Blood of Christ.  It just takes opening your heart and making the effort to see with eyes of faith to truly acknowledge and be thankful for these blessings in disguise.  Every year, every month, every week, every day, every hour, and every moment is a gift to us from God, the Master of the Universe.  Praise be to the King who died on a cross to save His people from their own actions.  Amen.

An Overview of Our Lenten Season 2014

"Repent, and return to the Gospel.  Remember man, you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

These are the words we heard last Wednesday, March 5, when we attended our Ash Wednesday services.  No matter whether you attended a full mass or service that day, the whole Catholic Church heard these words as the Sign of the Cross was marked on our foreheads with the ashes burned from the previous year's Palm Sunday palms.  This sign is not mystical or magical in any way and should not be thought of as a talisman or amulet against evil.  This Sign of the Cross marked with ashes is to serve as a reminder for all Catholics to "return to the source" and reevaluate our lives.  This "source" is the Most High God, and He is asking us through these ashes to step away from ourselves as hard as it may seem.  He asks for us to step away from the busy routine of daily life.  He asks us to stop for a moment, and to remember who we are, what we stand for, and what our goals and priorities are.  No matter how virtuous and perfect we may seem, there is always something we can improve on, even if just by a little.  Even if our Lenten sacrifice is not a sacrifice at all, but instead an extra action or effort we make each day in this forty-day duration.  Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are the three things we try to focus on.  Though this is the case, these three things should never make us forget what the true reason of these things are:  to grow closer to our Lord, Jesus Christ, who by His Sacred Paschal Mystery saved us from our sins.  May the Peace of Christ come down upon us all, that we can better learn to use our lives as testimonies to His Good News.