Battle Between Carnival and Lent by Jan Miense Molenaer
Yet I do a post.
Many people are angry and trying to come up with reasons for the latest mass killings. They want to claim this or that reason for why and how it happened. People who think they have the solutions and all the answers - until the next one.
I'm no longer surprised by this stuff - my only surprise is that it wasn't worse.
So let's do Lent.
Oh. I just want to mention that I'm also surprised by those priests - who hear confessions and have heard them for years - complain that they don't understand Pope Francis and what some Cardinals are saying about discernment, and so on. Sinners get it. The sacrament of penance is for sinners - people who sin and keep trying. I can't over simplify that enough. Nor can the Pope. I don't have a lot to say about it. One simply has to ponder it deeply.
We're all sinners.
Those who don't admit it and those who feel themselves justified and judge and condemn others, are assassins.
I've been thinking of what the Pope said last year on Ash Wednesday:
It is the time to reflect and ask ourselves what we would be if God had closed his doors to us. - Pope Francis 2017I can't stop thinking about it. How much worse would I be? What would I be if God had not allowed me to receive him in Communion when I was still so far away from him? What would I be if he didn't allow me to confess my sins, sometimes day after day, repeated sins - over and over and over? How much worse, how much more corrupt and hypocritical? Yet His mercy endures for ever.
So far I'm not doing so well with Lent.
"It is the time to reflect and ask ourselves what we would be if God had closed his doors to us. - Pope Francis 2017"
ReplyDeleteI can tell you right now, I would be dead. It is by God's grace and mercy that I live ... gracias a Dios y a la Madre de Dios.
"Be kind to me Lord, and I shall live." Psalm 119 (77)
You and .e both. I panicked on Pure Monday, not knowing what I could eat, only knowing what I couldn't eat. Today, on my way to work, I realized I can't have milk in my tea today so am undercaffeinated and whiny.
ReplyDeletePlease pray for my friends, who are adopting three little girls from India, won't have them until Oct but are already hanging around St Mark.
If God had closed His doors to us? I'd not only be dead, I'd be in Hell.
ReplyDeleteAt bible study someone asked, "who is Jesus to you?" My Saviour, my Redeemer. Thank you, Jesus.
Terry, don't torture yourself thinking of what you would have been without Jesus, or worry about the state of the Church and what is to become of us. We can only worry about what we can change, and make a difference.
ReplyDeleteThe fact of the matter is that you *are* a child of God and a servant of Jesus. I think you also have a Franciscan heart, which is a fine and joyful thing. Rejoice in the fact that you are a beloved child of the Master of the Universe, the God of all!
I, too, was very disturbed over the last few weeks especially. I had to retire from a job I loved, reluctantly and with very little time to prepare. I am 56 years old and at a loss to know how I am to serve God. I am prevented from volunteering at my parish, beyond the undeserved honor of being an EMHC, for reasons that are not important.
So I decided to float, so to speak. Every day, I ask God to put me to work for Him, and to make it very clear (because I am too ignorant to understand subtlety!) where He wants me to be, what He wants me to do, and who I am to trust. I give my will to Him, whatever He wants. I have not been in a hurry to hurtle myself into any situation. I am just waiting for God to push me into place in His own time. And I have gotten my sorry self to Mass every day, and pray at least one rosary daily for guidance and personal intentions, in addition to the Liturgy of the Hours.
Things are moving in ways I could never have expected, and not due to anything I have done. Nothing overwhelming or shocking. But I *know* God is in control, and He will never let me down. In fact, He looks to our needs far beyond anything we can imagine.
Blessed Lent, and God bless and protect all here - Susan, ofs
Susan, can you tell me what a Franciscan heart is?
DeleteI have only been a professed Franciscan for less than 3 years, and I am a very poor Franciscan. But I keep trying.
ReplyDeleteA Franciscan heart loves God, certain in the knowledge that God loves him/her even more with an endless tenderness, and is ready to trust God's will fully. *Nothing* is too good for Jesus, and He never asks the impossible. A Franciscan heart is joyful, because he/she knows God is always near and He will never abandon His children. God may ask great things of His Franciscan children, but Jesus is always beside us carrying the load with us. If there are disappointments and hurts, it is because Jesus lovingly yanks us out of a situation that will hurt us. A Franciscan heart does not expect the worst in others, knowing that they too are children of God. A Franciscan heart is steadfast in the defense of Jesus and the Faith, and when defending Jesus and His Church, does not strive to turn others away but to bring them gently to the Truth so that they may also know Jesus.
St. Teresa of Calcutta was not a Franciscan, but I think she most certainly had a Franciscan heart. She served the poor with a tender and joyful love, and as she said, she saw Jesus in every suffering face she encountered.
I do not express myself well, but in my crude way, that is what I meant.
God bless and protect you, and give you peace and all good - Susan, ofs
Thank you - that was very clear and so beautiful!
DeleteI just don't know what to say....then post a Gif....
ReplyDelete