Harsh words about our family and this sharing of mine come to me time to time. I know that people don't understand our way of looking at this world through eyes of Faith and the Wisdom of The Catholic Church. But when I hear things like we "are all crazy," it makes me briefly pause and wonder if many really do think this and we are the butt of talk... Does this make me stop and wonder if what I share here is Truth? No! It just gives me that taste of persecution that our Lord promised us - yet at the same time assured us that He would stand by us, and give us all we need to face down darkness! 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5
Today on the feast of St Ignatius of Antioch... we see a man, who faced lions in the amphitheater... he wrote letters about his facing martyrdom for Christ - "Let me be food for the wild beasts for they are my way to God. I am God's wheat and shall be ground by their teeth so that I may become Christ's pure bread. Pray to Christ for me that the animals will be the means of making me a sacrificial victim for God."
When I am misunderstood and judged by the terms of this crazy messed up world... it hurts, yes, but it also fills me with all the more need and desire to share The Truth loud and without reservation!
I just read a most powerful letter written in response to a anonymous woman, who wrote a letter to her child she was about to abort... Matt Walsh shares the Truth with her and any others listening with ears dulled by the lies of the world - http://www.theblaze.com/contributions/dear-woman-whos-getting-an-abortion-tomorrow/ His burning desire is for this woman, who speaks of love for this baby but just isn't ready to be a mom... that she please consider the value of LIFE and let someone adopt and give this boy or girl a LIFE surrounded by LOVE through adoption!
"Listen, think past tomorrow. Think about a few months from now. A few years from now. Think about the future. If you abort your baby, it will be a future in a world utterly deprived of her presence. She will be gone. She will not exist. There will be a great, painful void. Where there should have been her laughter, there will be silence. She will be missing from everywhere, never to walk the Earth. You could search every corner and crevice of the universe, and she will not be there. In her place will be an absence, an emptiness, only a dream of what could have been." Matt Walsh
My photo program puts them all together and so you can watch the dance!
I have personally experienced this Truth - working with a young scared girl at Birthright almost 30 years ago. I thought she left to have an abortion and showed up just before her little girl was born - Amanda Hope! I have received Christmas updates over the years with a numerous "thanks for helping me to give her LIFE!" Then I got a most precious graduation notice that caused me to weep with a special update of how she was pursuing nursing and working with children. A LIGHT has come into the world that was in danger of being extinguished. With the horror of abortion accepted and promoted - so many of these LIGHTS are gone and never to be seen here in this dark and sinful world!
I am finding much hope and encouragement today in the wonderful first reading from Ephesians 1
"In Christ we were also chosen, destined in accord with the scripture of the One who accomplishes all things according to the intention of his will, so that we might exist for the praise of his glory, we who first hoped in Christ. In him you also, who have heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation, and have believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit..."
Jesus speaking to the Pharisees in the Gospel today promises that "There is nothing that is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the darkness will be heard in the light..." Luke 12:1-7
This is encouraging me to continue to speak boldly and without hesitation The Truth of Jesus and His Bride, The Church! So I will continue to share, and know that being ground up by the teeth of the lions is allowing me to become more and more Christ's pure bread! May the Truth be heard and recognized in the LIGHT of day! The lies of Satan need to be exposed for what they are...
Jesus, it is hard to be looked down upon and ridiculed for sharing The Truth. Give me the strength to persevere and the courage to always share You, Jesus Christ in your Word and Sacraments with those around me - most especially with those in my domestic Church/family. Asking those Saints that have gone before us and faced the worst possible persecutions and death... may they walk with us and allow us to carry forth your LIGHT into the midst of the darkness. May we follow after you - taking up our Most Cherished Cross and going down the narrow path after your example to me. Jesus, we trust in YOU. Amen and Hallelujah
"Even the hairs of your head have been counted. Do not be afraid." Jesus to us today in the Gospel - Luke 12
"Why, moreover, did I surrender myself to death, to fire, to the sword, to wild beasts? Well, to be near the sword is to be near God; to be in the claws of wild beasts is to be in the hands of God. Only let it be done in the name of Jesus Christ! To suffer with him I endure all things, if he, who became perfect man, gives me the strength." St Ignatius of Antioch
Bare feet in the October grass.. then those heart-warming smiles!
Casting Crowns - East to the West
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