Not writing about Friday today.   Bet the title had your mind going in a different direction! :)   No, I am thinking of T=he  G=ift  I=s  F=orever.    Friday is the day that the well-know TGIF brings to mind.  As I finish up the work from a busy week, I am so tempted to say TGIF!  But I would really like to end with a positive and upbeat tone, so . . . I'm going to try to focus more on Friday as being the day the Lord died for me and remember that T=he  G=ift  I=s  F=orever!   It is such a simple way of bringing to my mind the great faithfulness of Christ to me.   Forever is a long time.  Forever never ends.   Forever cannot be measured.   Forever cannot be thrown away.   Forever sticks to the ribs of my soul and leads me to the prayer of gratitude for such a great gift.  


Commitment to someone "Forever" seems to be very difficult for people today.   It is good for me to remember how committed God is to me, no matter what. 

If God withheld love from me for even one day, how would my life change?    What if I needed to be with God in prayer tonight and God just wasn't available?  What if I had no way to reach God or to talk with God?  What if God became tired of me and wanted our relationship to be a thing of the past?   I would probably shout to the sky "You're not God!   My God is faithful.  My God loves me.  My God wouldn't do that to me!"

T=he  G=ift  I=s  F=orever!


Thank you, God.   I pray for the grace to be faithful too.

If you are walking in the rain today and wondering why things are going the way they are for you, remember that everything that we live, learn or face in life can bring us closer to God.  Sometimes I forget that.

Today I had a stinging experience.   "Someone" hurt me again.   Of course, it bothered me.  It even angered me.   I drove to work praying and asking God to help me diffuse the strong feelings I was wrestling with.  

It did not take God long to answer me.  I met a friend who "out of the blue" paid me a compliment that was the exact opposite of the hurt I had received.   I knew that her comment was really not "out of the blue."   I knew that God was working through her words to bring me back to reality.   The reality is that in life, we all have our downpours.  We all feel deluged sometimes, and we take turns rubbing each other the wrong way, without even knowing it.   That's life on this imperfect planet.    I may feel this way today.    You may feel this way tomorrow.   And God still loves us and lifts us up if we let God in to our lives. 

I lost perspective this morning and risked having it "ruin my day."   God is very good to me, always offering me a chance to come out of the tomb of my own selfish preoccupations.  God's grace is always there and always amazing.  

 I admit that my thoughts lately have been absorbed with the work I do in vocation ministry for our diocese.  I work with wonderful people who are constantly trying to find new and improved ways to promote the vocation message:  "Everyone has a vocation.  What's yours?"



It is difficult to keep calling people to consider the deep-down reality that there is a purpose to the existence of each of us.  We were not haphazardly made.   God has chosen us to go out and do something to proclaim the gospel message that Jesus is alive and with us!   Knowing this, which one of us would be truly afraid?

I participated in a great discussion about young adults and their capacity to know that they are being called by God.  It is a different world than when I first began thinking about it.   I started a new hashtag on Twitter last night, just to see who it would attract among the young adult population.  I called it #yesiam.    I wanted it to be a hashtag for those who understood that its meaning was "Yes, I am ready to discover and do what God has created me to do."   It was a bit disconcerting to see the responses to this hashtag, totally misundertstood by so many who didn't "get" the movement I was trying to initiate and the people I was trying to gather. 

So I share my frustration and ignorance with the social media on this blog.  Perhaps one or two readers will have ideas to share with me?

I pray today for Pope Francis.  He is a gift to the world, not only to our Church.   He speaks from his heart and he has the ability to take the gospel and help us understand what it means to live it and not merely talk about it.   He calls us to be "messy," to "get our hands dirty" while following Christ.  He tells us to challenge our pastors, to help us live what Christ has invited us to live, as disciples.  He has touched upon the heart of the faith of Catholics throughout the world in every statement he has made.   He is truly our pastor.

But, Pope Francis has not changed the teachings of the Church.  He can't and for this he is being criticized and attacked in the secular press, as if the Church receives it's mission from them.    They don't get it.  And while they don't get it, they ridicule and print untruths.  How fickle!  How childish!  How ignorant!

One example:   they complain about the Church's "mishandling" of the sexual abuse crisis, although no other organization in the world has done as much as the Church to get on top of this horrible sin.   Still, when the Pope creates a commission to do more in this regard the headlines read "It's About Time that the Catholic Church . . ."   Ah, are you kidding me?   Or think about the dialogue that was taking place in various media outlets, concerning the holiness of John Paul II and John XXIII and whether or not they should have be canonized as Saints by the Catholic Church?  Really?    

Hey, a sense of humor, a sense of perspective and a sense of history helps.   How can we expect to be treated better than Jesus was?   "There you go again .________" could be a  humorous comeback.   Logical, thinking Catholics know the graces that we are receiving during this historic time are genuine gifts.  They are not swayed by the changing wind or "rise and fall" of news columns which often build up to tear down, rarely to build up again. 

Not to worry.  Those who delight in tearing down our Pope or our Church by misrepresenting the truth, don't influence the millions of people who think, gather accurate information and research sources completely.  Go figure.

N.B.  This blog excerpt is not a generalization of all journalists who write with honor and integrity, but an opinion expressed in reaction to the few, but influential journalists who insult and undermine the Catholic Church teaching, whenever they have the opportunity.      



 

Liz Lemon Swindle's painting "Mother" is one of my favorites.  I love to contemplate it as Mother's Day approaches within the Easter Season.  I picture Jesus visiting his mother, Mary, after his Resurrection and the conversation they must have had. 

Mary endured so much during the last painful days of Jesus' life, as any mother would.  She gave us an example of trust and faith in the darkest of times.  Anyone who has come face-to-face with the death of a loved one, knows a similar pain and can go to her in prayer for comfort and understanding.  Anyone who has seen a loved one maligned unjustly by the media, by friends, in the competitive workplace or even by "people of faith", know the anguish such treatment can cause.  

Yet, he is alive.   He came back to her and to his followers alive.   I picture him thanking her and assuring her that all was well.  I can see in her face a certain smile of gratitude to God for all the good things he had done for her.  I would not be surprised if she sang another Magnificat in her heart.


I pray for those I know who are suffering greatly right now.  Mary, comfort them.  Jesus, risen to be with us until and after the end of time, strengthen them to go through this part of everyone's earthly journey.   And thank you, Lord, for joy of the Resurrection which you bring to all of us who know your embrace so beautifully depicted in this work.  Thank you too, Liz Lemon Swindle!

Happy Mother's Day to each of our mothers, those celebrating in heaven and those with us here.   ALLELUIA!  HE IS RISEN!