Day three takes us to the Deadly Sin of Sloth and the Heavenly Virtue of Diligence. I picked them today because it was a bit of a push to do the blog today so as I started it was more of sloth but then came the virtue of diligence and the typing began.
When I think of sloth, I think of someone just laying around not doing anything just shifting the pillow around or turning from on side to the other on the sofa. Then again I looked up the definition and found some other aspects of sloth that I did not even think of at all. Sloth is defined as spiritual or emotional apathy, neglecting what God has spoken, and being physically and emotionally inactive. Sloth can also indicate a wasting due to lack of use, concerning a person, place, thing, skill, or intangible ideal that would require maintenance, refinement, or support to continue to exist. This has expanded my view of the sloth in my own life. I never saw it as if I was wasting my gifts or talents, if I was not actively supporting them. If God asks of me and I just nod and go about my day and not work on or do what I feel God was asking then that is sloth. It is removing the desire, want and action of living the life that has been placed before me. If we are not actively working at or on then we can be putting the sin of sloth in our lives. I bet many of us never knew wasting the talents and gifts from God would be sloth. We need to be not only active physically but also mentally and spiritually to avoid sloth.
Diligence is the exact opposite of Sloth. It is when we are earnest and persistent in the undertaking of a task and we are attentive to give proper attention and care. This not only applies to tasks and work but to people and God and what God asks of us. We need to working physically, mentally and spiritually each day. It will require us to be active in prayer, grow our knowledge and take the time to actively listen. We need to be participants in our lives and not just take a seat on the sidelines and watch others. Whatever we are called to do or be , we must go after it and not wait and see if it comes to us. If we are not active we will just lay around and waste away. Our dream, God’s dreams for us, will slowly die and we will not even realize it because we become complacent and sloth will make its home in us. It is harder to jump back to life when it takes hold and remains. Each day we need to fight of sloth with diligence. It can just be small things each day, as longs as it is something that is actively using our body, minds or spirit.
We need to be active in our lives and work each day to help build ourselves up. The higher and stronger we build ourselves we keep sloth at bay. Diligence is more then just hard work, it is a life choice.
Until tomorrow, God Bless, and seek and be diligent in your life today.
Day two of Deadly Sins and Heavenly Virtues bring us to Patience and Wrath. I must start off with that I can very safely say and say often that Patience is not a virtue I posses and unfortunately can identify with wrath a lot easier. It is something that I know I need to work harder on.
I found the definition of patience to be rather interesting. The definition is is the state of endurance under difficult circumstances, which can mean persevering in the face of delay or provocation without acting on annoyance/anger in a negative way; or exhibiting forbearance when under strain, especially when faced with longer-term difficulties. The word endurance stood out to me. It is not just to wait, patience, but to endure whatever is going on. From the smallest thing like waiting in a long line to waiting for answers from God. When we endure something it makes us stronger. In some way I viewed patience as a weak part of us. That we are tolerating something that we feel is not right. Instead of taking it, the need to speak up and express your unhappiness with the circumstances. Sometimes we should speak up but maybe there are just things going on that we just do not know or understand. Instead of acting quickly, we need to have the patience to wait and listen. I think this especially can be applied to us wanting answers from God. Maybe we are not ready for what we are asking. Maybe it is best we wait because what we are asking has not happened yet. As we have patience and wait we are gaining strength to handle what is going on and also what may be coming down the path. That word endurance has me looking at patience at a different angle. Not saying that I now have obtained that virtue of patience, but for the lack of a better way, I just have to be patient about getting patience.
Now wrath, I understand. We see many examples of the Wrath of God in the Old Testament, the plagues, the great flood, Sodom and Gmorrah.... but that covenant of wrath was shed when Jesus died for us all. Wrath of God is not the same as the wrath of man. Our wrath can be strong enough to create wars or personal wraths where we seek to destroy or hurt people either physically or emotionally because we feel we have been wronged. Wrath is a constant feeding of anger to the point where it far exceeds being upset to where you now want to act upon it. You feel justified by your actions and it can become irrational. We can be blinded by our wrath and we do not see things as the really are in the circumstance. I act quickly and do not let things sink in (hence lacking that virtue of patience) and when the dust settles there are other problems to deal with now. A lot of the time when the sin of wrath is in control, we do not stop until we feel that retribution has been given out. It does not have to be a physical act of wrath but a verbal wrath is just as damaging. Words can not be taken back and once said they are not forgotten. Wrath must be controlled and the only way it can be is with that virtue of patience. Patience can stop us from saying and doing the wrong thing. When we take the time to cool down and let the dust settle we can see more clearly and act with understanding.
Wrath may be a quick show of strength but true strength will come from patience. We can grow stronger as we are patience instead of losing strength when we act with wrath. That energy we have diminishes from us when we act with wrath.
Until tomorrow, God Bless, and may you find strength as the virtue of patience grows with in you.
The first of the Deadly Sins that I want to cover is Greed and with that the Heavenly Virtue of Charity. In todays society money seems to be what most people strive forthemselves. That act alone is not necessarily Greed. As well as someone who gives to charity does not make them charitable.
The definition of greed is “an excessive desire to acquire or possess more than what one needs or deserves, especially with respect to material wealth.” Of course it is more then just material wealth. If you feel that you deserve more of anything in life then someone else that is greed. You can want to be successful or have material things in your life and that does not mean you suffer with the sin of Greed. It is in the intent behind what you are seeking. If you will do anything to gain wealth, then greed is within that act. We also can not put the sin on those who we see as having wealth. We can not say they are greedy just because they have wealth. When people want more and more just because they want it and they want more then everyone else around them then the sin of greed is in their life. It is a fine line between greed and just normal desires.
The Virtue of Charity is something we are all called to do in our lives. When we give freely of ourselves and do not expect anything in return then we are acting with charity. The key part of this is giving freely of and from ourselves. It is that unselfish act that brings the virtue of charity into our lives and those around us who we give to. Again this does not just mean giving of money but can also be of our time, talents and gifts. If we give and we are only doing it to show off or be in the spotlight then that virtue is out of our reach. The virtue of charity only comes into us when our act is pure in nature.
The line between Greed and Charity can be a very thin line. If we are giving only to gain more and more then Greed wins out in the end and what you feel was a good act has turned into a sin. The sin of greed can take over your life if you allow it. Do charitable acts to keep greed at bay in your life. The intent behind it must be pure. Let the spirit lead you in your actions of charity. You will find that the “wealth” of doing good acts is far more rewarding then the “wealth” of the world. We can not always know what is going on in someones else heart, just like in the picture I chose above because we can not tell if he is giving the money away or taking the money for himself.
Until tomorrow, God Bless, and may you find the virtue of charity at your door.
Over the next 7 days I will be comparing the 7 Deadly Sins against the Heavenly Virtues. For tonight I want to just explain where we get both of these from.
The 7 Deadly Sins have had many different revisions to become the ones we know today. They started in the Book of Proverbs and then later list in the Epistle to the Galatians. In proverbs it reads:
“ There are six things the LORD hates, yes, seven* are an abomination to him; Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood. A heart that plots wicked schemes, feet that are quick to run to evil, The false witness who utters lies, and the one who sows discord among kindred.” ~ Proverbs 6: 16-19
In Galatians the list is longer then seven.
“Now the works of the flesh are obvious: immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy,* drinking bouts, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
~Galatians 5:19-21
The ones we know as of today can be linked to the works of the 4th century monk Evagrius Ponticus. He listed 8 of them. The list is gluttony, fornication, avarice, self-esteem, envy, wrath, boasting and dejection. Later in 590 AD Pope Gregory revised the list to form the list we know of today. The Seven Deadly Sins are Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy and Pride.
The Seven Heavenly Virtues derive from the poem by Aurelius Clemens Prudentius called Psychomachia. Psychomachia is just under a thousand line poem that describes the conflict between virtues and vices. The seven virtues are chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience, kindness and humility. This is derived from the seven catholic virtues that are a combination between two list of virtues. The first four are called the cardinal virtues and they are prudence, justice, restraint and fortitude. The other three are called the three theological virtues of faith, hope and love.
I will be using the 7 Heavenly Virtues vs the 7 Deadly Sins to contradict one another and to show the path that we need to take and how to be careful along the way. Each day I will take one from each and write about them. I fell this will also help us to understand and use Lent more to our advantage.
Until tomorrow, God Bless, and learn the virtues to avoid the deadly sins.
“But Joshua had commanded the people, “Do not shout or make any noise or outcry until I tell you, ‘Shout!’ Then you must shout.” ~Joshua 6:10
Each one of us have a comfort zone and rarely do we ever go outside of it. It is easier to stay in the “what you know” then the other. Sometimes the greatest growth is in the times when we have stepped out and tried something new or different then what we are used to doing. I ask each of you who read the blog to expand your prayer life, expand your mind, learn more and those things may involve you to step out of your comfort zone. I believe the quote “ Practice what you Preach”, and so I must do it as well.
A “Silent Retreat” has crossed my path and I have decided to sign up for it. Silence and me really do not know each other. I have been wanting to go on a retreat for months now and nothing has jumped out at me. Then the retreat sounded good, then I heard silent and I was thinking “ Ok not for me”, but then I thought, “Here is my own test of comfort”. I can not ask others if I am not willing to do it myself so I am going. It ends up being perfect for it is the weekend before Holy Week. That is a perfect way to enter the Holiest Week.
Our comfort zones do need to be challenged and when they are we expand that zone. We learn new things and maybe even new people. I never thought I would ever go on a retreat but then I ended up running some after my first one. Now a silent retreat is going to expand my zone. I must admit I am a bit nervous about it but it also intrigues me as well. I really never have silence in my life. There is always some background noise going on.
Think about your comfort zone and what you thought you would never do and have done and how that has changed your comfort zone. Maybe you do not share your faith, maybe you stand silent as people mock the church or the faith, maybe you hide your cross under your shirt so no one knows.... Each of them keep you in a comfort zone. Expand it, maybe make that part of your Lent experience. Speak up and wear your faith on your sleeve. Test the waters and speak about your faith. You may just find new people around you that also share your faith and help them expand their comfort zone.
The retreat for me is a month and half away and I will sure be blogging about it after the fact. When I emailed the person who is running the retreat and spoke about my reservations of it being silent he added this quote from the Handbook of prayers “YEARLY, Spend two or three days each year in silence, speaking with God only. A few days retreat are necessary for the soul in the same way that the body needs a vacation. It is a yearly opportunity for conversion.” I must admit that as I read that it clicked for me and that made me say this is the right one for me. Lent is that time for conversion and here a silent retreat can help with that for me.
Look for some opportunities these coming weeks to expand your comfort zone. You never know what can happen unless you try.
Until tomorrow, God Bless, and expand the zone in your life.
Born at Lystra, Lycaenia, Timothy was the son of a Greek father and Eunice, a converted Jewess. He joined St. Paul when Paul preached at Lystra replacing Barnabas, and became Paul's close friend and confidant. Paul allowed him to be circumcised to placate the Jews, since he was the son of a Jewess, and he then accompanied Paul on his second missionary journey. When Paul was forced to flee Berea because of the enmity of the Jews there, Timothy remained, but after a time was sent to Thessalonica to report on the condition of the Christians there and to encourage them under persecution, a report that led to Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians when he joined Timothy at Corinth. Timothy and Erastus were sent to Macedonia in 58, went to Corinth to remind the Corinthians of Paul's teaching, and then accompanied Paul into Macedonia and Achaia. Timothy was probably with Paul when the Apostle was imprisoned at Caesarea and then Rome, and was himself imprisoned but then freed. According to tradition, he went to Ephesus, became its first bishop, and was stoned to death there when he opposed the pagan festival of Katagogian in honor of Diana. Paul wrote two letters to Timothy, one written about 65 from Macedonia and the second from Rome while he was in prison awaiting execution. His feast day is January 26.
Today I am asking for us all to keep those who marched in Washington DC and their State Capital today in our prayers. Please pray that hearts were turned today to support the pro-life movement and that it continues to grow each year until the battle has been won. May all our prayers be heard by God and those who can help us in our cause.
Until tomorrow, God Bless, and may hearts be changed today.
“Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.” ~Romans 12:2
As a child I would love to sit outside every night and look up at the stars and just wonder what was out there in space. Then as I grew up I still liked looking up at the stars and would just think about life and what is going on all over the universe. Now as a Catholic Christian when I do this, I think of how God is out there, above us all watching us. Seeing all that we do and instead of fear of being watched, there is a comforting feeling that comes over me as I sit there just staring up.
There are times I like to remove myself from the world of “technology” and just be alone in my thoughts. I find that is when I am at my best for soul searching and I am able to hear my soul. As Calvin said above “ People would live a lot differently” if they looked at the stars each night. I agree with that. When we take that time to stop, relax and refocus we see what really is important. The noise of the day is shut off and we see that there is more then us in the world. I get wrapped up in the world around me and I need that time to recharge and focus. Just sitting in silence for me doesn’t always work. I need that time away or different surroundings to get to that relax and focus mode. If I am home I think about the clothes that need to be washed, the cup that needs to washed, looking at the time and thinking what show is on...etc. But when I take that time to just sit and stare up at the sky, I am more focused.
We all need to take that time to focus on what is above and outside of ourselves. When we do this, all those things can fall into place for us. We will be able to see what is REALLY important verses what the world says is. It is soul searching when we do this. Our soul will speak when we are still and listen. I feel that is the speaker system for God and the Heavens. God speaks to our heart (microphone) and we hear it from our soul (speaker system). We need to have that connection between our heart and soul because they must both be in line and connected if we are to hear anything. Our soul (speakers) are not always on 10 and God’s voice speaks loud and clearly, sometimes its on 2 and we need that quite time to hear Him. You may ask “ Why don’t we always keep it at 10 then?”. Well, we are not in control of that. God controls the sound clarity and volume because we need to turn down the noise of the world to hear Him. We have to be active listeners. Think if you have the TV on, Video on the Computer, and music on, you are not hearing them all the way you should. Each one is competing with each other in your head, you are not getting it all. You start to turn down or off the things you don’t want to listen to so you can hear what you want to. It is the same thing that we must do to be able to hear God. Turn down those things that block or are competing with the voice of God.
It is easier to do that when we remove ourselves from our normal surroundings and focus on above. Since I am a night person I can get behind Calvin’s idea of the stars. For those morning people it may be watching the sun rise. Find what your refocus connection is. It can also be adoration of Jesus. Go to an adoration chapel and take that time. You will be better for this, no matter where you refocus.
Until tomorrow, God Bless, and find your focus so you can hear your soul.
"The LORD answered: I myselfwill go along, to give you rest." ~ Exodus 33:14
Meredith Andrews song “ Not for a Moment” was one of the first songs I heard when I started to listen to christian music again and was also the first show I saw after coming back to church. The song spoke to me about even though I removed myself from God that He did not remove Himself from me. God was there the whole time waiting for me to turn back to Him. I never saw or felt HIm because my back was to God. Below I have included the video for the song and below that the song lyrics. I hope you enjoy them.
Until tomorrow, God Bless, and may you know that you are never alone.
Certainly sons are a gift from the LORD, the fruit of the womb, a reward. ~Psalms 127:3
With today being the 40th Anniversary of Roe v, Wade in place of a blog I am asking for people to take some time and pray for those children that did not get to be born and for those who had to make those decisions in their lives. We can not and should not judge those who made this choice but pray for them. I also ask for prayers on January 25th for all those who will be Marching for Life in Washington D.C.
Until tomorrow, God Bless, and God Bless those in the womb.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. ~ Romans 15:13
Our faith changes by what we believe. We have to believe to have faith. It does not mean that what we believe is proven to us beyond a shadow of doubt. That is when faith steps in. Faith and what we Believe go hand and hand. When we believe in something or someone means we accept it as true and we may believe it to such a point it becomes a firm conviction within us.
Our beliefs helps shape our faith. If we have strong beliefs in a certain area then that one thing becomes a strong part of our faith. For example, if you have a strong belief in Mary , then you will have a devotion to Her as part of your faith. You will pray for Her to intercede for you. Another example is if you believe strongly in the Eucharist , you may go to adoration. Adoration becomes an active part of your faith. As the faith deepens with these actions, the beliefs we have in them grow stronger as well.
As much as our beliefs can shape our faith for the good, it can also do that for the bad. If we believe it is ok to miss mass, then we will not go that often. We will not get that saving grace from mass or help increase our faith. We will start to detach from what our faith teaches us. Another example is that if you feel that premarital sex is ok and not a sin then that belief will start to pull you from the faith again.
When we do not believe that the sins in our lives are bad for us then our faith will suffer. As the faith suffers our beliefs will get less and less. It is a cycle that can either be for the better or worse for the faith. This may even change over time. Things we believe in can change due to those things that may be going on around us or even people around us. We need people who will help strengthen our beliefs and our faith around us. It will help us to gain ground with our faith.
By exploring the faith and learning more about it, we can counter act the spiral and have our beliefs become stronger and with that our faith will gain as well.
Until tomorrow, God Bless, and take time to explore and learn about your faith.
"All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness,so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work." ~2Timothy 3:16-17
A few weeks ago I blogged about the examination of conscience based off of the Ten Commandments. We know that the Ten Commandments was given to Moses to help bring back and keep in line the people around Moses. It was to set their lives right with God. These were not the “ Ten Suggestions” but are the “Commands” from God.
The Ten Commandments are in place so that we can base our actions and reactions in our lives to those that would be pleasing to God. They are not meant to restrict us but to keep us free from sin. Those same Ten Commandments are the rules that we use in our world today. The Commandments are our laws for society and not just for our souls. As a society the Ten Commandments have guided those who created the laws as to what is right and just.
Unlike the Constitution of the United States, they have not been amended. We have found the need to amend the Constitution because there are circumstances that we have now that the founding fathers could not even imagine. With the Ten Commandments, we do not need to add to them because they are the basic core of human nature. Each one addresses issues where man/women have strayed from God and focus more on selves and the world.
We need to not just take the 10 Commandments at face value but apply them to our lives in the world today. They deal with our personal relationship with God and our moral side of life. The morals that we are asked to follow are still the same but the temptations are on a grander scale then they were. It is more in our face today then even 100 years ago. That is why the Examination of Conscience that I posted before helps us see where things of today fall under the guide of the Ten Commandments.
Lent is a time where we should focus on the 10 Commandments and with that the Examination of Conscience so we can have our lives more in line with God. It is not to far off and we need to start now to lay the foundation of faith so we can have a soul changing Lent.
Until tomorrow, God Bless, and take the time to check your life against the 10 Commandments.
I have the strength for everything through him who empowers me. ~ Philippians 4:13
I heard this song today and it has a great message. When we are going through hard times and feel that we are not strong enough to continue on with the struggles, that is when we are strongest because we can turn to Jesus for help and guidance. It is through Jesus that we gain the strength to continue on. The song Strong Enough by Matthew West speaks so well about this. We do not need to be strong as long as we have Jesus by our side. Jesus takes it on and gives us the strength. Below is the video of the song.
Until tomorrow, God Bless, and hold onto Jesus for He will give you strength.
Edward the Confessor was the son of King Ethelred III and his Norman wife, Emma, daughter of Duke Richard I of Normandy. He was born at Islip, England, and sent to Normandy with his mother in the year 1013 when the Danes under Sweyn and his son Canute invaded England. Canute remained in England and the year after Ethelred's death in 1016, married Emma, who had returned to England, and became King of England. Edward remained in Normandy, was brought up a Norman, and in 1042, on the death of his half-brother, Hardicanute, son of Canute and Emma, and largely through the support of the powerful Earl Godwin, he was acclaimed king of England. In 1044, he married Godwin's daughter Edith. His reign was a peaceful one characterized by his good rule and remission of odious taxes, but also by the struggle, partly caused by his natural inclination to favor the Normans, between Godwin and his Saxon supporters and the Norman barons, including Robert of Jumieges, whom Edward had brought with him when he returned to England and whom he named Archbishop of Canterbury in 1051. In the same year, Edward banished Godwin, who took refuge in Flanders but returned the following year with a fleet ready to lead a rebellion. Armed revolt was avoided when the two men met and settled their differences; among them was the Archbishop of Canterbury, which was resolved when Edward replaced Robert with Stigand, and Robert returned to Normandy. Edward's difficulties continued after Godwin's death in 1053 with Godwin's two sons: Harold who had his eye on the throne since Edward was childless, and Tostig, Earl of Northumbria. Tostig was driven from Northumbria by a revolt in 1065 and banished to Europe by Edward, who named Harold his successor. After this Edward became more interested in religious affairs and built St. Peter's Abbey at Westminster, the site of the present Abbey, where he is buried. His piety gained him the surname "the Confessor". He died in London on January 5, and he was canonized in 1161 by Pope Alexander III. His feast day is October 13.
Until tomorrow, God Bless, and let the saints light the way.
Tonight I heard a person on a TV show speak about the passage from Jeremiah where he speaks of wanting to not speak about God because he is laughed at but God burns within his heart and he can not hold back. When he tries he grows weary and can not do it. I had to look up the whole passage and I have copied it below for you to read as well. Then I read the passage and realized there are times I can say that my heart is on fire for God and other times it is more like ambers just holding on.
I can identify to a point with Jeremiah when he speaks about how God “seduced me” and God was too strong for him to dismiss that seduction. Today we use the term of seduction more in a sexual context then as in Jeremiah’s case of seduction meaning to attract or win over. God won over Jeremiah’s heart even though he put up a fight. God did the same for me as I bet many of us. The world can also win over our hearts and that is when we focus more of the world then of God.
Jeremiah is mocked and laughed at because he speaks of God. In Jeremiah 20:10 we read “ All those who were my friends are on the watch for any miss step of mine”. Those who he considers friends and are close to him are waiting like a lion to pounce on any mistake or sin that he may commit. They are trying to condemn him so they may feel justified in their actions. It is like that saying “ Oh how the mighty have fallen”. People wait for situations or even create them so they can see that person who speaks of their faith or sins to fall and sin themselves. We all sin. When we seek to see a person sin and hold it over them and mock them, we do the work not of God but that of Satan. God builds up, while Satan seeks to destroy.
Jeremiah says that the Lord is with him and those who persecute him will not prevail. He will not give up and he will continue on with what he feels is right and just. How many of us do that? Do we continue on speaking of the faith or living the faith as we are mocked? Maybe we are not mocked because we do not speak up? For the most part I think I have expressed and took a stand for my Catholic Faith and for God. I may have held back at time to avoid conflict, I must admit. After holding back I have felt inside that I did not do what was best. We have to see that at times as we are being questioned or mock by someone, that there just may be someone else there that needs to see and hear the faith being defended. We may be that persons only Voice of Faith in their life. We missed that chance. I feel strongly that we are in a time where our Faith is being watched and to take a stand will help increase the faith in those who are seeking something in the world.
The title of the passage is “ Jeremiah’s interior crisis” and I will bet 99% of us can say we have experienced an internal crisis or struggle at some point in our faith journey. It may have only lasted a short time or even years. Know that we are here together united in Christ as the body of the church to help in prayer and in action together. Reach out to those around you who share the faith and can give strength. There are issues in the world today that question the teachings of Christ, Bible, and the Church. Sometimes you will be that one in a crowd that stands for each of those areas of faith.
I am glad that this passage came across to me tonight. Sometime we need to hear about those who have gone before us and what they went through. It makes us and the faith stronger.
Until tomorrow, God Bless, and allow Jeremiah’s crisis to bring strength to all our lives of faith.
JEREMIAH’S INTERIOR CRISIS (Jeremiah 20: 7-11)
You seduced me, LORD, and I let myself be seduced;
you were too strong for me, and you prevailed.
All day long I am an object of laughter;
everyone mocks me.
Whenever I speak, I must cry out,
violence and outrage I proclaim;
The word of the LORD has brought me
reproach and derision all day long.
I say I will not mention him,
I will no longer speak in his name.
But then it is as if fire is burning in my heart,
imprisoned in my bones;
I grow weary holding back,
I cannot!
Yes, I hear the whisperings of many:
“Terror on every side!
Denounce! let us denounce him!”
All those who were my friends
are on the watch for any misstep of mine.
“Perhaps he can be tricked; then we will prevail,
and take our revenge on him.”
But the LORD is with me, like a mighty champion:
my persecutors will stumble, they will not prevail.
Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect. ~Romans 12:2
I have mentioned how I want to include music into the blog and this song and artist is one that I have wanted to do for awhile now. The artist is Dave Pettigrew and his song is God’s TV. It is an amazing song and one of my favorite songs. Not just by him but of all time. I have put a video of Dave singing the song below and also the song lyrics. You can decide to either listen to the song first, then read the blog or read the blog then hear the song. I hope you all will find the blessings from his music ministry.
Reality shows are very popular and it seems like everyone has one now a days. I must admit I am a reality show junkie. I am not proud of that but there is something that just draws people in and it is not always the good things of the peoples lives but their problems and issues that draws people in. People thrive when they see their lives in a downward spiral and are battling it out. It is a sad state of affairs when ratings are bigger when their lives are at a low point then when they are doing well.
Imagine that your life is now a reality show. How would you come across to the people that tune in to watch your show? Would you be a decent person, who seeks the right things or will it show that your not kind and someone who seeks to destroy people then build them up? Well, here is the thing, the reality is that your life is a reality show. It is shown on God’s TV and He can tune in directly whenever He wants, 24/7 365 days a year. What is He seeing? What is the script that you have written each day to live? How is your life being shown?
The questions that I asked are ones we do need to ask ourselves over and over again. Is our life filled with all the good things that He wants for us and our life is like Joseph’s Coat and we are filmed in color of all of the joy and love that God shines through us, or, is it in black and white where we just go through the emotions and do not allow God’s light shine through us. When we do not let that light shine, we are living that black and white life. We are living that bland colorless life. Who is helping us write the script of our life show? Is it the world that we let write it or God, Jesus and Holy Spirit? When we let the world at large dictate our lives and write it for us, we lose in the end. When we allow God, Jesus, Holy Spirit and those Christ centered family and friends help us write it, it will be a life that is worth God to smile on and tune in. Not saying that when we sin, He turns it off but the reception between us gets fuzzy on our end.
Think how you feel when you sit down, have your favorite snack and drink and are ready to watch your favorite show and as it comes on its a repeat? I know that “Ohhh man!!!!” comes out of my mouth. Now, think how God is watching us make the same mistakes or sins over and over again? I wonder does He say . “Here we go again” and “I hope this is the last time this is being shown”. It is easy to forget how many times we repeat the same sin over and over again. We can push it aside because we do not see it as over and over, a repeat, but just a falling. We will fall and sin will happen but think if you saw yourself doing it again and again. What would you say to yourself? We all have to learn from our falls so that we can help prevent them in the future. The difference with God seeing it and those around us, is that God can see in our hearts and sees if we are really trying and sorry.
When we decide to open our hearts, mind and soul to God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, we are starting new and it is a new season in our lives. A season of change is happening. We may have had to change some of the other people in our lives. Some may have less of an impact in our lives and others have a bigger role in our lives. Our lives become more of an impact in the world, then the world having a greater impact on ours. We have new scripts that we are writing with a new purpose in our lives. It will be a life that is worth watching again. God will be pleased to see this life unfold before His eyes again.
Unlike reality shows, God can see all that we do. The good and bad. There is no one editing our lives to show just one side of us. The 168 hours a week we live, is not edited to and hour segment. Think if that is how it was for a minute? What if someone did that for God? Someone else decides what to show of our lives. Now what if we got to edit our lives to show God? Of course we would put our best moments out there. God doesn’t edit our lives but we can edit Him in our lives. We can choose what areas of our lives we let Him in. When we allow God, Jesus and Holy Spirit into our lives and help script our lives then we are not editing Them out of it. We are including Them and when we do that then our lives become more of a reflection of our true selves that God intended us to be and not the worlds.
God has always been our Biggest Fan and wants our lives to be a hit. There is nothing more we could ask for. We decide if our lives are worthy or not. We write the script and decide who does or does not help us with it. The song “God’s TV” is a reminder to me on how my life is out there and it is being watched. Not only from those around me but God and heaven as well. I need that reminder. There is not a week and sometimes a day that goes by that I am not listening to this song to remind me of it. Dave Pettigrew is an amazing musician and his music will inspire you to praise God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. He is using the talents God has given to him. His web address is www.davepettigrew.net. You will not be disappointed.
Until tomorrow, God Bless, and live your life as you want it to show on God’s TV.
GOD’S TV (Di Minno/Pettigrew)
If my life’s a show on God’s TV
I wonder if it’s shot in color
Sometimes I feel so black and white
All the episodes on my weekly show
Used to capture all the ratings
When the writers got it right
When He’s watching, I’ll be waiting
Wondering if He’ll ever watch again
CAMERAS READY, LOOK ALIVE
HIDE YOUR SCRIPTS WE’RE COUNTING DOWN IN FIVE, FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE
THE PROGRAM’S JUST BEGUN
BUT WE INTERUPT THIS SCHEDULED SHOW
TO BRING YOU SOMETHING THAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
YOU’VE BEEN WITH US SINCE WE BEGAN
YOU’VE ALWAYS BEEN OUR BIGGEST FAN
THANKS FOR TUNING IN TONIGHT
And if my life’s a show on God’s TV
He must be tired of the re-runs
The same thing every night
All the comedy & the tragedy
Stopped being entertaining
He fell asleep on the satellite
I can’t blame Him, it gets boring
Watching the same thing over and over again
CAMERAS READY, LOOK ALIVE
HIDE YOUR SCRIPTS WE’RE COUNTING DOWN IN FIVE, FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE
THE PROGRAM’S JUST BEGUN
BUT WE INTERUPT THIS SCHEDULED SHOW
TO BRING YOU SOMETHING THAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
YOU’VE BEEN WITH US SINCE WE BEGAN
YOU’VE ALWAYS BEEN OUR BIGGEST FAN
THANKS FOR TUNING IN TONIGHT
SOLO
If my life’s a show on God’s TV
I bet he’ll love the brand new season
It debuts this Thursday night
The old writers are gone, the characters strong
Something finally well worth watching
A new twist on a copyright
Although the Latin term oratio dominica is of early date, the phrase "Lord's Prayer" does not seem to have been generally familiar in England before the Reformation. During the Middle Ages the "Our Father" was always said in Latin, even by the uneducated. Hence it was then most commonly known as the Pater noster. The name "Lord's prayer" attaches to it not because Jesus Christ used the prayer Himself (for to ask forgiveness of sin would have implied the acknowledgment of guilt) but because He taught it to His disciples.
Many points of interest are suggested by the history and employment of the Our Father. With regard to the English text now in use among Catholics, we may note that this is derived not from the Rheims Testament but from a version imposed upon England in the reign of Henry VIII, and employed in the 1549 and 1552 editions of the "Book of Common Prayer". From this our present Catholic text differs only in two very slight particulars: "Which art" has been modernized into "who art", and "in earth" into "on earth".
The version itself, which accords pretty closely with the translation in Tyndale's New Testament, no doubt owed its general acceptance to an ordinance of 1541 according to which "his Grace perceiving now the great diversity of the translations (of the Pater noster etc.) hath willed them all to be taken up, and instead of them hath caused an uniform translation of the said Pater noster, Ave, Creed, etc. to be set forth, willing all his loving subjects to learn and use the same and straitly commanding all parsons, vicars and curates to read and teach the same to their parishioners". As a result the version in question became universally familiar to the nation, and though the Rheims Testament, in 1581, and King James's translators, in 1611, provided somewhat different renderings of Matthew 6:9-13, the older form was retained for their prayers both by Protestants and Catholics alike.
As for the prayer itself the version in St. Luke 11:2-4, given by Christ in answer to the request of His disciples, differs in some minor details from the form which St. Matthew (6:9-15) introduces in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, but there is clearly no reason why these two occasions should be regarded as identical. It would be almost inevitable that if Christ had taught this prayer to His disciples He should have repeated it more than once. It seems probable, from the form in which the Our Father appears in the "Didache", that the version in St. Matthew was that which the Church adopted from the beginning for liturgical purposes. Again, no great importance can be attached to the resemblances which have been traced between the petitions of the Lord's prayer and those found in prayers of Jewish origin which were current about the time of Christ. There is certainly no reason for treating the Christian formula as a plagiarism, for in the first place the resemblances are but partial and, secondly we have no satisfactory evidence that the Jewish prayers were really anterior in date.
Upon the interpretation of the Lord's Prayer, much has been written, despite the fact that it is so plainly simple, natural, and spontaneous, and as such preeminently adapted for popular use. In the quasi-official "Catechismus ad parochos", drawn up in 1564 in accordance with the decrees of the Council of Trent, an elaborate commentary upon the Lord's Prayer is provided which forms the basis of the analysis of the Our Father found in all Catholic catechisms. Many points worthy of notice are there emphasized, as, for example, the fact that the words "On earth as it is in Heaven" should be understood to qualify not only the petition "Thy will be done", but also the two preceding, "hallowed be Thy name" and "Thy Kingdom come". The meaning of this last petition is also very fully dealt with. The most conspicuous difficulty in the original text of the Our Father concerns the interpretation of the words artos epiousios which in accordance with the Vulgate in St. Luke we translate "our daily bread", St. Jerome, by a strange inconsistency, changed the pre-existing word quotidianum into supersubstantialem in St. Matthew but left quotidianum in St. Luke. The opinion of modern scholars upon the point is sufficiently indicated by the fact that the Revised Version still prints "daily" in the text, but suggests in the margin "our bread for the coming day", while the American Committee wished to add "our needful bread". Lastly may be noted the generally received opinion that the rendering of the last clause should be "deliver us from the evil one", a change which justifies the use of "but" in stead of "and" and practically converts the two last clauses into one and the same petition. The doxology "for Thine is the Kingdom", etc., which appears in the Greek textus receptus and has been adopted in the later editions of the "Book of Common Prayer", is undoubtedly an interpolation.
In the liturgy of the Church the Our Father holds a very conspicuous place. Some commentators have erroneously supposed, from a passage in the writings of St. Gregory the Great (Ep., ix, 12), that he believed that the bread and wine of the Eucharist were consecrated in Apostolic times by the recitation of the Our Father alone. But while this is probably not the true meaning of the passage, St. Jerome asserted (Adv. Pelag., iii, 15) that "our Lord Himself taught His disciples that daily in the Sacrifice of His Body they should make bold to say 'Our Father' etc." St. Gregory gave the Pater its present place in the Roman Mass immediately after the Canon and before the fraction, and it was of old the custom that all the congregation should make answer in the words "Sed libera nos a malo". In the Greek liturgies a reader recites the Our Father aloud while the priest and the people repeat it silently. Again in the ritual of baptism the recitation of the Our Father has from the earliest times been a conspicuous feature, and in the Divine Office it recurs repeatedly besides being recited both at the beginning and the end.
In many monastic rules, it was enjoined that the lay brothers, who knew no Latin, instead of the Divine office should say the Lord's Prayer a certain number of times (often amounting to more than a hundred) per diem. To count these repetitions they made use of pebbles or beads strung upon a cord, and this apparatus was commonly known as a "pater-noster", a name which it retained even when such a string of beads was used to count, not Our Fathers, but Hail Marys in reciting Our Lady's Psalter, or in other words in saying the rosary.
Until tomorrow, God Bless, and look to Our Father in prayer.
To Change and to change for the better are two different things. ~ German Proverb
Yes, I did say countdown to Lent. The start of Lent is less then a month away. On February 13, Lent begins with Ash Wednesday. So, with it being a month away still, why am I bringing it up now? It is simple. We need to prepare for Lent. Lent is my favorite season of the Church. It is when I am able to focus more on Christ then any other time of year. Lent changes me and sets my path straight again. That inner compass of my soul resets itself and the true direction is sought.
Lent is the time of the year when we pick up our cross and follow Christ on His walk to Calvary. This is a time for us to seek Him through prayer, fasting, and sacrifices. Each of those three we are called to do during this time.
Prayer during Lent should increase. Take more time out of the day to pray and speak to Jesus. Learn some new ways to pray. Try both informal and formal prayer. Remember that when you are having a conversation with Christ, that is prayer. Try some formal prayer, if you do not do already like the rosary, the office, and novenas. Expand your prayer life and if you are consistent with this during Lent, it will be easier for it to become part of your everyday life after. Another suggestion for prayer is to read about the saints and pray what lessons you may learn from them. Look into their prayer lives and see if something speaks to you for you to explore. There is nothing but good that can come from an expanded prayer life.
Fasting is more then just fasting from food in the modern world. Yes, fasting from food is a great thing to do but there are other kinds of fasting we can do that will help us during Lent. We can fast from our phones, tv, computers, games, etc... This is a hard one I know. Take some time and turn off the phone or tv and make that time for prayer. Instead of playing some game, read a passage from the bible. Try not checking facebook as often. Fast from those things that fill your time. I am not saying to fast from them completely or that it is wrong that we use them. I will find it hard to fast from all of these myself. It can be just a ten minute time away from technology that you just focus on Christ. Then if you can expand that time away from those things. Fasting can be from anything in your life that you feel that you can not live without.
Sacrifice is a favored topic of mine for Lent. I do not mean any disrespect by my next statement at all. This is my own opinion that I apply to my own life. I do not understand sacrificing candy, soda, caffeine, etc for forty days and on day forty-one to go back to what you sacrificed. Lent is a time to change our souls not just our waist line. Now, I think that if that is something that you feel binds you to the sin of gluttony then that is very different. If it is in addition to adding or doing other things then again that is different. Now, if it is just giving up gum or candy and that is the extant of the sacrifice, then I must say maybe rethink what Lent is to you. Sacrifice is to give up one thing for another that is considered to be of greater value. In this case that great value is Salvation. So, really does giving up sweets equal the magnitude of salvation? How about giving up time to come closer to Christ? Sacrifice to make a change in your life and for your soul. You will gain more from lent by making true sacrifices for Christ.
Lent is a time for change. Christ changed our fate in life when He died on the cross for us and gave us salvation. This is that time during the year where we can focus our heart, soul and mind on Christ so that we may come to a deeper and closer relationship with Christ. There is much to be gained in forty days. I hope this gives you some thought on what you want to do for Lent and the time to focus on those things before Lent begins.
Until Tomorrow, God Bless, and may this Lent bring us all closer to Christ.
