IN YOUR FOOTSTEPS

The peace of Heaven, so beautiful, Lord! 

I thank you for letting me feel it!

I reach for you, Lord as I fall to the ground.

My hand you do hold as they all spit.

 

The pain in my heart, it won’t go away.

Why can’t I make it my Lord?

The pain in my heart, a pain oh so deep;

Just as deep as the high that I soared.

 

But can I make it?  I don’t know?

Sadness overwhelms me!

Coupled with pains that I know not where they’re from.

I get down on my knees and plea.

 

Please help me, Lord, as I know

that I don’t do the things that I need.

Try as I must the body aches and pains

Keep me moving at slow speed.

 

I feel like I’m slowly spinning, Lord,

Going down into the deep abyss.

I grab for your hand and your mercy, Lord!

In hopes that I don’t miss.

 

You told me that whatever we go through here.

Heaven is worth all of the pain.

So try to trudge through, I do, Lord.

With hopes that it’s Heaven I gain.

 

I think that you tried to show me, Lord,

That die to myself I must.

But the pains they keep going ever deeper, Lord.

It is in You that I hope and I trust.

 

Please help me to keep moving my Lord and my God,

For the evil one he has me pinned down.

But I ask for our Lord’s will to be done.

As I look and on YOUR head see a crown.

 

Of thorns- yes it was- how crazy is THAT!

This world is not our home.

Bad is good and good is bad.

This is the valley of tears in which we roam.

 

So come to us with your peace, Lord.

Your people down here as we cry!

Come to us with Heaven’s peace, Lord.

As we give it our pitiful try!

 

I hold my friends’ hands and cry for their pain.

Oh how I know how they feel.

We walk together in grief oh Lord

And it is very real.

 

But the path we do know for we’ve seen it before.

A path that is narrow and hidden.

The path it is there, but look we must.

The world tries to tell us it’s forbidden.

 

For pain we shouldn’t feel it.

It has no worth at all...this is what they say.

It is all about what we want.

The things we can get on this day.

 

We must have fun and to be what we are.

Be true to ourselves all the way.

Even if on others we climb.

And on their backs we stay.

 

Lives are not important.

Better yet we prosper.

We must achieve greatness.

We don’t even know we follow the imposter.

 

Oh yes- because serve we must-

but most don’t know this.

The path to perdition they follow.

As they sing and dance in their bliss.

 

Unaware of the one they do follow.

Pure evil as most people can’t fathom.

He lulls and seduces us daily.

To a dark and dank sulfurous chasm.

 

Hell, I do tell you- It’s REAL.

And daily people skip there with glee.

As they follow their hearts and do things their way.

And laugh at those down on their knees.

 

So when I look at it this way, Lord,

My heart jumps for JOY as I see.

The path that I follow is yours, Lord.

The cross you did carry for me.

 

So I rise from my knees once again, Lord.

And bend down to pick up my cross.

I follow your path full of brambles.

From the lack of followers it’s covered with moss.

 

But I know who I follow.

You’re the shepherd and you show the way.

I know who I follow.

Someday the tears you’ll wipe away.

 

And together in Heaven we will dance.

And sing with such joy, you will see.

And happiness people can’t comprehend.

Because they refuse to get down on their knees.

 


It’s a JOY that surpasses all other;

Happiness and overwhelming delight.

Every cell in our body will be jumping;

To live with THE eternal light.


 

For eyes have not seen and ears have not heard,

Our Father has created with splendor.

All the good of this world times one million I tell you!

EVEN MORE with HIS heart that is MOST LOVING and TENDER.

 

So for now I will carry my cross, Lord.

And follow this path full of pain.

And I look above to what waits, Lord.

EVERYTHING is what I gain!

LIKE THE GOOD THIEF

Like the good thief, I hang on the cross by the Lord.

I have done bad, He has not.

I deserve to be there, He does not.

I beg mercy.

Others ridicule my Lord and make fun of him, spitting and calling names.  I should warn them, like the good thief did.  Maybe they will change their ways, maybe they won’t, but that is not for me to worry about.  

The world has gone crazy.  Good has become bad and bad has become good!  If you stare at it too long, you can start drowning because the waves are just too big and too scary.  I must keep my eyes on my Lord.  I must hang next to him and ask Him to remember me. I must spend more time admitting my own sins and looking at myself through the eyes of God.  I shudder to think of how He who is all-good and all-loving must see me!  I ask that He sees me only through the blood of the lamb, for it is in my Christ that I take refuge!  He is my only hope. 

The days are dark, but we are the light of the world.  Do not stare at the world or the darkness can take you over.  Stare at Christ and be the light of the world!

“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter”.  Isaiah 5: 20

“If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.”  1 John 1: 10

Peter said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” ²⁹ And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. ³⁰ But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” ³¹ Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and *said to him, “ You of little faith, why did you doubt?”   Matthew 14: 28

Jesus, I trust in you!!!

YOUR PATH OR HIS?

We are like little children stamping our feet in the corner and screaming because we are not getting our way!  We think we know best, so we ignore what our parent says.  We don’t want to learn because we know it all.

Would we let our little one play on the highway?   What about a game of bank and robbers on a train track?   Of course not!  Why?  Because we want the best for our children, and we want them to live!  They don’t see this, though.  All they see is that they want to do something, and we are the mean ones that are getting in the way of their fun and enjoyment.  They don’t understand that playing on a highway or train track can cause death.

Yet we have become overgrown children who want our own way.  We are selfish.   It’s normal for people to mature and have their own thoughts and ideas, but when we do this outside of God’s boundaries, it can lead us to death.   But most people don’t care!!!  Same as the child in the corner, they aren’t thinking about the consequences.  They just want THEIR WAY!  Their way is best!  They are trying to do it their way, and some don’t care about anything else but winning.  Most aren’t even attempting to know what God’s boundaries are, let alone trying to live within them.   To know God, you must seek God.

Our God is a loving God.  His boundaries are not there to keep us from having fun.  Oh no, quite the contrary.  His boundaries are designed to protect us and keep us safe on the narrow path.  The enemy of truth has cooked up many schemes to attract us off that safe path, and most times he attracts us off through our very own selfishness and we don’t even see that it is a trap because the world tells us that we should get what we want and live like we want. 

God wants more than that, though.  He wants our eternal happiness and joy.   Eternal death is much worse than the death we think about.  Our death from earth is truly just our birth into eternal life.  I can’t imagine the horror that one would experience when he realizes that he selfishly spent his whole life playing on a highway- and now he will be experience true death- for eternity.  What could we possibly want that would be worth that?

So, how do we know?  How do we know if we are walking on that safe path or if are walking on the path to perdition?   We seek truth.  Many people think that truth is relative and that we can have our own truth.  That is a trick by the evil one.  And sadly today, many are being seduced by this lie because they see so many others walking down this path with them.  Are we seeking our way or God’s way?  We can scream loud and shout and stamp our feet, but in the end we will get to see through the eyes of truth and we will find that the path we create does not end in a very nice place whereas God’s path leads us to beauty and joy that makes the best we have here seem like a mere facade.  So seek to find the safe path, and the only way to find it is to fight against your own selfish self-interests and seek God!

The Heart of a Mother (Repost in honor of Mother's Day!)

Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “… (and you yourself a sword will pierce) so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” Luke 3: 34-35

The heart of a mother! To have children is to have little pieces of your heart walking outside of your body! When they hurt, you hurt, and it can be one of the greatest pains imaginable, a piercing of the heart! How hard it can be to trust in God during these times when you see such pain in your child, and you feel such a piercing in your heart! There’s something else going on with this bond, though! Something beyond what can be seen, something Godly! Surely God created this special heart in women for a reason! When a mother looks into her child’s eyes, and feels the pain in their hearts, there is a heavenly bond there, a comfort amidst the pain. It is the reason that a young child cries for his mommy when he is in pain or scared. The love of the mother is so strong, that it reaches out beyond her body and envelopes her child. The child feels that love, and even if the child continues to suffer, it suffers while feeling loved, which is entirely different than suffering alone!

I can’t imagine the pain in Mary’s heart as she gazed at her little boy on the cross. Yes, to us He is Jesus! King of Kings and Lord of Lords! To Mary, it was her boy, in pain and suffering- while being ridiculed. Sure, God had a greater purpose in Christ’s suffering. To Mary, it was a piercing of her heart, and when we suffer with our children, we get a glimpse of what our Heavenly Mother felt as she watched Jesus hanging on that cross. It is excruciating! It can make your whole body sick, and send you to a place of agony that you did not know possible without having some physical ailment! But, here He was, the Creator of our universe, receiving comfort by the mere presence of His mother while she was feeling the pain of His suffering. And we must trust God in the same way that Mary trusted God because this suffering is for a reason, and we pray that God brings us through it, and we ask our Heavenly Mother to pray with us, because she too, shares in our sufferings and makes sure that the thoughts of our hearts may be revealed.

Cleaning the Hidden Spots

Like the Febreeze commercial where people sit in a disasterously filthy room, but can't detect the surrounding filth because of the Febreeze hiding the hideous smells, our world also sits in a pit with an invisible veil which keeps us from seeing the filth and refuse that surrounds us. God is kind and gentle, and when we seek the light, He shines it on one thing at a time so we can work on it in peace without the shock that comes from taking off the mask and seeing the whole wreched mess. One of the reasons it can be so shocking is because the filth that can become visible is not necessarily the filth of things surrounding us, but the filth within our own souls. When God's light illuminates these spots and imperfections within us, we must get out the tools he has provided for us to scrub them clean- namely- the sacraments, prayer, charity, reading scriptures- while at the same time we physically work to overcome bad habits and those sins that continue to dirty our souls daily. The spirit and the flesh are opposed, so we must fight against the sinful yearnings of our own flesh so that our spirit can be strengthened.

Today starts Holy Week. We are now in the last moments of our desert experience yet many of us stayed on the out-skirts of the desert because we like to avoid the associated pain. So now it's time! Let us run to the desert and not be afraid because Christ is there. Let us ask Him to shed His light on some filth within us that needs repair. Let us not worry so much about others and their imperfections. When it is time for us to die- and we all will- WE will stand coverless before God, and all will be showing. He sees it now, but we fool ourselves into believing that He does not see or that it really does not matter. He sees ALL my friends. We need to be on that narrow path using Christ's light to guide and cleanse our hearts. If we don't seek to cleanse ourselves of this filth, when we die we will be repelled by the light of Christ and will find ourselves in a dirty room where God does not abide and this is where we will belong. Instead let us pick of the Cross of Salvation and get behind our Christ and follow His path of suffering so we can also share in His resurrection.

The Law Sets Us Free

Happy those who do not follow
the counsel of the wicked,
Nor go the way of sinners,
nor sit in the company with scoffers.
Rather, the law of the Lord is their
joy;
God's law they study day and night.
They are like a tree
planted near streams of water,
that yields its fruit in season;
Its leaves never wither;
whatever they do prospers.

But not the wicked!
They are like chaff driven by the
wind.
Therefore the wicked will not survive
judgement,
nore will sinners in the assembly of the
just.
The Lord watches over the way of the
just,
but the way of the wicked leads to
ruin.

Psalm 1: 1-6

If I could have a penny for all the times I have heard people say that certain teachings of the Church are the "laws of men" as if this gives them a free ticket not to follow. The truth is that Jesus gave us the Church to help guide us in truth.

"...you should know how to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of truth."
1 Timothy 3: 15

So many times we want answers. We walk on the invisible bridge of faith, and the path only becomes clear after we take our steps out in faith. It's a simple path- yet it can be terribly difficult at times because it seems so confusing- which way to go...which choice to make...which path should we be walking on? The beauty of our lives is that God does allow us to make so many decisions, but those decisions have to be within the bounds of the truth which the law directs! If we make those choices, then we become like that tree planted near the stream of water, and we flourish even when we make decisions which the world does not understand. So today, as you walk in truth, have trust that the Lord is holding your hand.

Starve the Beast

Today is Mardi Gras, which literally means Fat Tuesday. Unfortunately for our modern society, this can conjure up visions of sinful behaviors and wild, gluttonous partying without thought of what comes next. The truth is that Mardi Gras is the day before Ash Wednesday, so in the times when people did a strict fast during Lent, they would empty the house of all those foods they would be fasting from for the next forty days: dairy, eggs, syrup, sugar, oil and meat. It is really just common sense for you certainly don't want things sitting around ruining- and tempting you- while you are cleaning your spiritual house- so you clean out your pantries beforehand. Traditionally as well, most people did this as a process over time- not as a big blowout glutonous party, but nevertheless by Ash Wednesday- those foods were gone.

So here we sit- on Mardi Gras- and tomorrow begins the season of Lent. So what will we do? Have you thought about it? And what's the fasting and penance for anyway? I will say that it is worth spending some time thinking about today- and getting your family to think about. What will you give up? And why bother?

Well, you don't have to get very far in the Bible to learn how important it is to God for you to give from your heart! The story of Cain and Abel is a perfect example! What was the difference between their gifts to God? Abel gave his best and most prized possession, and Cain did not. This made a difference. Why would this make a difference when God needs nothing? It makes a difference not because of what God needs, but because of what we need. We need to give our full hearts to God. We need to not have the attachments of the world.

Sadly, too, many of these attachments are not an end in themselves. God is light. Picture a street-light in the dark of the night. Each step you take away from the light brings you into deeper darkness. When you continue down this dark path, eventually you no longer see the light at all and your everyday life decisions are those of one who is in darkness and away from God's will! So- how does fasting help?

Well, when you fast, you are turning yourself around. You should take the time to look into your life and see something that has become a great attachment in your life. Do you watch too much television? Do you drink too much alcohol? Do you use curse words? Do you yell too much? Do you sleep too much? Do you hold on to your possessions too much? Do you look at pornography? Do you spend too much time on the computer? Do you eat too much? Do you spend too much time on Facebook? Do you spend too much money on yourself? What is your beast? What has you in it's clutches? This is a time of grace! Use it accordingly! If you need help- seek help! Pick your greatest attachment and give it to God! Turn around, face the light, and move in the direction of God! Starve your beast, and it will flee! And the beauty of it is that you are the winner!

See, this is how God works! Isn't it great! You just THINK you are giving something up! Yes- you are- but in return, God gives you SO much more back! People tend to think of God's ways as being restrictive, but it is the exact opposite! The things that the world sells imprison and enslave us, and it never ends. Just look at the addictions in the world and it does not take long to see the costs: ill health, diseases, doctor bills, etc. They drag us further and further down the path to darkness. When we spend this time to look into our hearts and see the truth in our lives and give the first fruits of our passions to our Lord, and He blesses us exponentially.

Why is this? Well, Galatians 5: 16-18 tells us:

"I say, then: live by the Spirit and you will certainly not gratify the desire of the flesh. For the flesh has desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; these are opposed to each other so that you may not do what you want."

So fasting is a kind of Spiritual workout! When you deny the flesh of those things that are not good for it, you work out and strengthen the spirit. Just sit for awhile and imagine if EVERYONE did this!

Another beauty of fasting is that it not only benefits us! We forget how intertwined we are! Just imagine how many people were affected by the sin of Adam and Eve, and then just think how it could appear that their sin was a small one. After all, they did not kill anyone! It did not hurt anyone. It did not even "seem" to hurt them. What did they do wrong? They disobeyed God. And that simple act of disobedience goes on and on and on.

Dwell for a moment on the sins of today. I shutter at the thought. We tend to think that our sins are only "our sins". It does not work that way, though! Our sins affect others- ALWAYS- even if they are in the private of our own home! That's just the way it is! We also tend to dismiss our sins as............not being sins! Why? Because we are surrounded by darkness. The world tells us that we are not sinning, and we believe the world. Why? Because it "APPEARS" to be easier to believe the world! Sadly, however, this is a lie. You can just watch the television know this. Right now the slippery slope of bad behaviors is greatly tilted, and the climb back to the light seems sooooo difficult! The thing is that, just as the people of Nineveh proclaimed a fast and kept their WHOLE city from being destroyed, we can do the same!

So, today is Fat Tuesday! Use it wisely! My family will be having purple, green, and gold pancakes tonight which are all originally intended to represent Christ bringing justice (purple), faith (green=growth of faith), and power (gold=Jesus is the King of Kings and ultimately holds all power). We will talk about those in the Bible who fasted for 40 days: Moses, the people of Nineveh, and JESUS! And we will each spend some time in prayer to make our commitment to God regarding our fast. I have had the children thinking about this for awhile for although they are not bound to the laws of fasting yet, it is an exercise of their faith that will help them to grow, and yes- they will choose something to fast from for the next 40 days! Why? Because it will help their spirits to grow strong and enable them to be stronger and more able to overcome the temptations that the world is throwing at them and so they might be a part of what turns this world around to where it needs to be- facing our Loving God- and climbing that path toward the light! So tomorrow- don't forget to begin starving your beast and join us on our climb to the light of Christ!