As the weather begins to change from the warmth of Summer to the crispness of Autumn, I began reminiscing about summers long past, back when our children were younger. Those were enjoyable times that were filled with carefree days and never-ending summer fun (at least for the kids). Read More
When you were growing up as a child, what was your go-to object when you needed comfort, safety, or security? Was it a snuggly blanket, a pillow, a doll, or a stuffed animal? For me, it was my stuffed Winnie the Pooh. He may be small in stature, but to me, he was a giant. His protective presence was always felt, and he never failed to make me feel safe. When powerful storms bombarded the night-time sky, he was always there for me to grab on tightly and hold close. I always felt comforted when Pooh was there.
There’s something very special that happens when we are being held, especially by a loved one – like a spouse, parent, or friend. There is this intense connection that permeates any negative emotions that we are experiencing – and almost instantaneously, these vanish from existence. There is an unspoken power in that embracing hug that tells us that everything is going to be alright. In that very moment, we feel loved, appreciated, and worthy, and we feel as if we can overcome anything that comes our way.
This is what we experience when our Lord holds onto us. When we are filled with fear because we cannot see the road ahead of us or where we are going, Jesus tells us that everything is going to be just fine and points us in the right direction. When we have doubts about our abilities or talents, Jesus tells us that we already have everything that we need for our mission. When we feel like we’re carrying all of the world’s burdens on our shoulders, Jesus is there to take the load from us. When we hit rock bottom and when life seems to keep handing us insurmountable hills to climb, Jesus is there to give us a hand and help us up.
Anytime we experience pain, struggles or setbacks in our lives, we need to remember that Jesus is right there with us, giving us the biggest bear-hug ever. Our loving Father is always there to wrap his arms around us, brush off any remnants of our worries, fears, concerns, or anxieties, and simply hold onto us – and he will never, ever let go!
May God’s loving embrace strengthen us during our times of weakness, and may his powerful words always be with us when he says: “Fear not, I am with you. I will strengthen you and help you.”
“Love God greatly; be always united to God; do everything for God; love everything for God.” ~St. Gerard Majella
While on retreat, my lodging accommodations found me in the St. Gerard hermitage. This was quite ironic as this is also my middle name. In my room was a little booklet with novenas to St. Gerard. Admittedly, I did not know much about him, other then he is known as the patron saint of pregnant mothers. (Apparently, my mother prayed to him when she was trying to get pregnant with me – which is where my name derived.) And reading about him was very timely as his feast day is October 16th.
I read this little novena book cover to cover and discovered many things about St. Gerard. He was so attracted by God that his whole life was immersed in the greatness of God, surrendering completely to him. He strived to make everything he did an act of love for God. And he had the gift of recognizing the presence of Christ in the faces of others. That is certainly a gift that we need to pray for in our own lives.
St. Gerard was all about living God’s divine will. He had a sign on his door that read: “Here the will of God is done.” If you were to summarize his life-long intention, it would be with this phrase: to always please God in whatever he did. This should be our goal as well.
Whatever tasks or duties that we undertake, these should all be done cheerfully. We need to change our mindset and truly believe that everything we do should give delight to God. According to Gerard, no matter what comes our way, even when the worst things happen, we need to accept it as God’s will (even if it doesn’t seem to be) and try to make it into something joyful.
We pray that we are able to know and love God, to do everything for God, and have the strength to carry out his will each and every day. Make us always aware that no matter what we do, it matters to God. May we want nothing for ourselves but strive to want what God wants for us. Amen.
I’d like you to imagine this scene. You are in grade school standing with a group of your friends on the school playground. Two people emerge as captains and begin picking their teams. You stand there, waiting for your name to be called and to be chosen. What are some of the emotions that are running through your mind? Is it excitement in anticipation of your name being called? Is it anxiety and the stress of waiting? Is it doubt that maybe you don’t feel like you’re worthy of being chosen? Or is it fear, thinking to yourself, “Please don’t let me be picked last.” Finally, you’re picked. What were you feeling? Was it relief that you landed on a team? Were you hesitant because you weren’t sure of what was to come? Or were you filled with exuberance, ready to jump in and get started? I remember one time in grade school, there was a boy named Billy who had absolutely no athletic skill at all, and neither captain wanted him on their team. Eventually he was the last kid standing. When he was finally chosen, he didn’t reluctantly mosey over to his team because he was last. He was filled with such joy and excitement that he began yelling at the top of his lungs, “Woo hoo! Yeah! Alright! Let’s do this!” The rest of us kind of looked at each other in complete shock because we had never seen anyone so excited to be chosen. Read More
When I was growing up, money was scarce at times, and we often had to do without. My dad worked two jobs to help make ends meet while my mom made every penny stretch as far as possible. That was probably the major reason why everything they gave me was always two or three sizes too large. I remember when I was 12 years old, I received a pair of roller skates – so large that I had to stuff an old sock in them to fill up the toe space. When I took them out of the box, I looked up and said, “Mom, I can’t skate with these.” She said, “Be grateful for what you have, Allen.” And then she said the phrase I had become so accustomed to hearing over the years, “Don’t worry; you’ll grow into them.” Read More
It is Sunday morning, and the night before has brought forth a frosty-white blanket on the ground; remnants left behind from an early morning freezing rain that tapped upon our windows at 4:11am. I awoke to something that sounded like a sharp object tapping relentlessly on the bedroom window. It was at that very moment when my day started. Read More
Last night while sifting through some old notes and quotes of mine, I found this paragraph in the chapter about self-conceit from the book “The Imitation of Christ” by Thomas a’ Kempis. I was deeply moved again as I was the first time I read these words: Read More
With Christmas fast-approaching, I wanted to share this true story that I discovered from many years ago as I was sifting through some of my older writings. My prayer is that each of you will experience the true meaning of Christmas, discovering the true peace and joy of the season.
When I was in Cub Scouts many years ago, one of our big outings was to Eagle Cave in Wisconsin. My friend John and I were paired up to go on one of the more difficult cave hikes. As we stood in front of an extremely tight space that we needed to crawl through, we looked at each other with a sense of doubt. But John ventured right in. John, who was – shall we say – on the husky side, crawled on the ground and squeezed his way within the tight passageway – where he got stuck. After shifting and maneuvering for several minutes, he eventually got unstuck and made it through. Then it was my turn, and a sudden feeling of panic came over me. Now, I’m not one who is afraid of small, cramped spaces or even what might be crawling on the ground in a dark, slimy cave; but after watching John struggle, I was terrified to go any farther. I was afraid of taking a risk. Luckily, John kept me calm by saying everything was going to be fine, and that there’s no way that I would get stuck. (I was as skinny as a rail at that time.) And if I did get stuck, he said that he would be right there to help me. Well, I easily bellied through and when I emerged out of that tiny crevice, I was rewarded by seeing a vast and beautiful cavern. If I had not taken that risk, I would have not experienced the beauty of the cave. Read More
The year 2020 has certainly been one of those years for the record books. This global pandemic has really changed so many things in our lives – things that we used to take for granted. Our definition of freedom ‘to do what we want, when we want and where we want’ may never be the same.
I read an article about how our life in lock-down is forcing all of us to live like monks. As we have become somewhat accustomed to shelter-in-place and home-quarantine, this has hopefully given us the opportunity to get over our fear of solitude and fully embrace our spiritual connection with God.
Have we embraced our inner monk during this solitude? If not, here are seven ways that we can live like a monk every single day (pandemic or not). Read More
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