Comments

I really enjoyed posting replies to comments posted privately concerning July 26 and 28 because I was actually turned off by the Catholic Church in high school too. My parish was so uncharismatic, and my friends' Presbyterian and Lutheran groups were just much more excited about their faith. So I started researching why some of the different churches believed different things and found that I agreed with more of the Catholic teachings than the others. Fortunately, in college, I found a group of Catholics excited about their faith too, so my original problem was really based on Catholics and not Catholicism. I still have problems with some Catholics because they call themselves Catholics, but but don't believe some of what Catholic Church believes. I think people should decide what they believe is true and then join a church that believes that and not join a church to be told what to believe.

Sowing

It was during my time at Youngstown State University studying administration that was a turning point in my faith journey. We were discussing how you can judge a person's priorities by how they spend their time as well as how they spend their money. I was conscious of giving what I felt was the right amount of money to the Church and various charities back then, but I had never thought about how I spent my time or how that may have spoken to my priorities. I was spending all my time with work related things, whether it be actual work or school work related to actual work. It was at that point that I decided to spend more time serving God, who I had always said was the most important thing in my life, but perhaps wasn't acting like it.

Nevertheless, I felt it was only responsible to complete my master's program before making this change. I came across the Secular Franciscans during my search and realized that was what I was looking for and didn't know it. During that time, I also realized how I could have been serving God while at work and at school. So even though I was doing the right thing by going to school, I was doing it for the wrong motives. I believe it was Mother Teresa who said it isn't what you do, but with how much love you do it. That relates to today's quote from Paul to the Galatians (6:7b-8): A man will reap only what he sows. If he sows in the field of the flesh, he will reap a harvest of corruption; but if his seed-ground is the spirit, he will reap everlasting life.

"Needs"

Paul tells the Phillipians (3:17-4:9) to "present your needs to God in every form of prayer and in petitions full of gratitude." However, I feel wants are sometimes confused with needs, so how does one really know what to pray for? Since it is the Holy Spirit that helps us pray, if our "needs" would fall under the category of one or more of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, it would be safe to say we are praying for our needs because we always need the gifts of the Holy Spirit and they will always be given to us: wisdom, understanding, knowledge, courage, counsel, piety, and fear.

Strength of faith

Faith is a gift, just like persistence is a gift, some people have more than others and in different degrees, so just because someone has a hard time doing something or not doing something, it's not our place to judge them as if the had the same gifts in the same amount as ourselves. Paul writes to the Romans and says,

"We who are strong in faith should be patient with the scruples of those whose faith is weak; we must not be selfish. Each should please his neighbor so as to do him good by building up his spirit."

Like I tell my girls, it's their job to be their sister's sister and let mom and dad correct them. So we should let God judge and build up our brothers and sisters in whatever ways they need.

Desire

"It is God, who in his good will toward you, begets in you any measure of desire"
-Phillipians 2:12-30

To those that have a strong work ethic, it is easy to blame others for certain failures due to laziness, as if work ethic is something a person has complete control over. I have heard of studies that suggest that what we consider work ethic is somewhat genetic. This quote would suggest that too. It may help us be more sympathetic towards those that don't seem to be able to work as hard as us. On the other hand, the gospel also teaches us to seek and we will find, so even those without persistence can make the decision to seek persistence from God in faith and it will be granted. Even some that don't believe in God, believe in the power of positive thinking: believing that you can do it and doing it. God is very generous in that way.

Tobit

As much as I appreciate the metaphors that fill the pages of scripture and the purpose they serve, I am more fond of the literal texts, even if those texts are only accepted by Catholics as divinely inspired. I believe the King James Bible that Protestants are familiar with was written entirely in Hebrew initially, where some other texts were found to be written in Greek. After prayer and deliberation on both sides, certain Hebrew texts were accepted by Catholics and Protestants to constitute the Bible as Protestants know it. None of the Greek texts were accepted by the Protestants. Those that were accepted by Catholics were included along side the same Hebrew texts as equally divinely inspired. This is the Bible that Catholics are familiar with. Tobit is one of those books and one of my favorites because it addresses issues common to every life. Tobit 4:15a, 16a, 18a, 19: "Do to no one what you yourself dislike. Give to the hungry some of your bread, and to the naked some of your clothing. Seek counsel from every wise man. At all times bless the Lord God, and ask him to make all your paths straight and to grant success to all your endeavors and plans."

Refining Silver

It seems like scripture often uses comparisons that were more relevant to the people of long ago than to most people today. One such example is refining silver. "The words of the Lord are words without alloy, silver from the furnace, seven times refined." - Psalm 12. Not knowing much about refining silver, it made an impression on me the one time I heard a silversmith explain the process, especially since I was trying to understand how it related to the Biblical references. He explained that silver has to be put into a furnace to melt away all the impurities.

Someone asked, "How do you know when it's done?"

He answered, "When you can see yourself clearly in it."

Sometimes God's words feel like we are being put into the furnace, but if we fully accept them over and over again, we will be a clear reflection of Him to the world.