As I spoke last week sharing my faith and knowledge with my middle school students, I referenced Pontius Pilot and his line "What is truth?" to Jesus during The Passion.
In the setting of a Catholic school, (and the personality of many of these little ones I have in my life) the student's view of truth is still very black and white and a beautiful witness to that "faith as a child." You see kids have a trust (for better or worse) that teaches us all too often jaded adults that there is something good and desirable about believing one another and placing our mind, body, and/or heart in another's.
And this is beauty.
Beauty is a trust in our Creator's goodness. It is first recognizing beauty which means relinquishing our cynical, jaded, negative views to allow the positive, bright, and good to wash over us. It secondly is a trust that the good will prevail over the bad, that life will overcome death, that love will overcome pain and sorrow, and that truth will overcome deception.
I'm glad I wrote this last weekend because today I am all too jaded and blinded by bitterness. The negativity is a powerful vine that creeps in and cracks open a good foundation...don't let it! Continue to see the beauty around and especially in you.
Thursday, September 05, 2013
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Crazy Beautiful Trust.
Life is Beautiful… crazy beautiful that is!
For anyone that knows me, I can get a little overwhelmed,
stressed, highly strung, etc. for no good reason and when one is so wound up
about x, y, and z they tend to miss the beautiful little things occurring in
their life (and sometimes even the big red flags that God is trying to show
them).
So I just wanted to take a conscience moment to be grateful
for a few of the beautiful and wonderful blessings in my life. Even though I
was aware and grateful in the moment for the following, part of me didn’t fully
embrace all the beauty because I felt there was something else to do when God
really just wanted to give me the energy, grace, and wisdom to truly do those
other things.
Thank you God and the people that let Him be a light in
them.
For a phone call from a friend in a different country.
For a letter from a friend who is starting her first year of
teaching as well.
For the many hugs I’ve received this week.
For a phone call from a friend who is Wise and Beautiful and
Inspiring.
“When you get older you
become wiser, not because you’re older, but because younger people come into
your life and teach you.”
May we all be Children of
God and Trust in His Goodness and Mercy. <3
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Happy Father's Day!
A Happy Father's Day for all those men who are biologically and physically fathers.
But an even more Blessed* Father's Day for all fathers of souls, who have laid down their lives every day for the concern of the salvation of their children's souls.
The two types of fathers are not mutually exclusive but rather than solely praise the physical fathers, I wish to point out the calling that all men are to be Fathers.
To all Men:
To my brothers in Christ (seminarians and dear male friends):
Even if you haven't committed yet to bearing the responsibility of fathering children's souls, you men have a great impact on their journey. Be men, be Fathers, lay down your life as Christ for the Church (Ephesians 5:25). Your lives illuminate to women how to live in God's blessedness. Thank you!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*In Matthew 5, Jesus uses Blessed to begin his Sermon on the Mount (aka the Beatitudes) because He preaches true happiness or true blessedness comes from being poor, meek, merciful, persecuted, etc., that is to lay down ones' life. At the end of the chapter, He encourages them to live the Beatitudes (the Blessedness) so that they "may be the children of your Father in heaven" and to "be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect." I encourage you to read Matthew 5 today and/or Ephesians 5 to nourish and inspire you as fathers.
But an even more Blessed* Father's Day for all fathers of souls, who have laid down their lives every day for the concern of the salvation of their children's souls.
The two types of fathers are not mutually exclusive but rather than solely praise the physical fathers, I wish to point out the calling that all men are to be Fathers.
To all Men:
- God called you in a tangible way to mirror His Love, His Fatherly Love, on earth.
- All men are called to be fathers.
- Some men (priests, religious brothers, and married men) have willfully responded to the call and taken the responsibility of bringing souls to God. THANK YOU!
To my brothers in Christ (seminarians and dear male friends):
Even if you haven't committed yet to bearing the responsibility of fathering children's souls, you men have a great impact on their journey. Be men, be Fathers, lay down your life as Christ for the Church (Ephesians 5:25). Your lives illuminate to women how to live in God's blessedness. Thank you!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*In Matthew 5, Jesus uses Blessed to begin his Sermon on the Mount (aka the Beatitudes) because He preaches true happiness or true blessedness comes from being poor, meek, merciful, persecuted, etc., that is to lay down ones' life. At the end of the chapter, He encourages them to live the Beatitudes (the Blessedness) so that they "may be the children of your Father in heaven" and to "be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect." I encourage you to read Matthew 5 today and/or Ephesians 5 to nourish and inspire you as fathers.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
A glimpse through God's glasses
If I took a picture
of all the beautiful things I see,
the album would be a duplicate
of the eyes of God.
of all the beautiful things I see,
the album would be a duplicate
of the eyes of God.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
The Author
I started to write this blog not to be known but to be a light in this dark world.
I never wanted this blog to be about me, the author, but rather show that The Author is there in any and every moment, even the dark ones.
I wanted to always be genuine but sometimes I have to write to convince myself.
With that said, I just want to say today, I know I am not alone, so you, the one who has just stumbled upon this, is not alone either. The Author only writes Love stories; keep reading.
This chapter may not be your fairy tale moment but is necessary in your story. Embrace it and keep going. You may feel you know where this story is going or that no matter how it ends this chapter has gone on far too long to redeem this book.
Keep reading.
There are days when we put down our story, we curl up and don't want to read anymore. Keep reading.
The Author is not done writing, so don't stop reading.
I never wanted this blog to be about me, the author, but rather show that The Author is there in any and every moment, even the dark ones.
I wanted to always be genuine but sometimes I have to write to convince myself.
With that said, I just want to say today, I know I am not alone, so you, the one who has just stumbled upon this, is not alone either. The Author only writes Love stories; keep reading.
This chapter may not be your fairy tale moment but is necessary in your story. Embrace it and keep going. You may feel you know where this story is going or that no matter how it ends this chapter has gone on far too long to redeem this book.
Keep reading.
There are days when we put down our story, we curl up and don't want to read anymore. Keep reading.
The Author is not done writing, so don't stop reading.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
baby
You always keep growing, changing.
Some can look on that cynically,
as you have nothing to hold on to,
or as, you have no roots that stay.
Can you ever know...
can you ever know
another?
Can you ever know your self
when you keep growing, changing?
But I think it's something quite
miraculous,
Something not just to
behold.
It's Life.
It's Living,
growing, changing.
Some can look on that cynically,
as you have nothing to hold on to,
or as, you have no roots that stay.
Can you ever know...
can you ever know
another?
Can you ever know your self
when you keep growing, changing?
But I think it's something quite
miraculous,
Something not just to
behold.
It's Life.
It's Living,
growing, changing.
Sunday, February 05, 2012
Picture This.
Grey.
Rocky, muddy, bare trees, dead leaves, climbing up and down and around a hill, foggy, misty, cold, damp and in the low 40s.
A small group of religious pilgrims are praying a scriptural rosary, walking through nature. They're praying the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary to be exact. They are followers of The Cross; they are following a crucifix on a large wooden cross.
A young boy, small and around the age of 7 or so, begs his daddy to carry the cross, and his father lets him.
The 4th Sorrowful Mystery: Jesus Carries His Cross.
So the boy struggles at each Hail Mary picking up the cross that's probably half his body weight to the next bead, the next scripture. As Jesus faltered with His Cross, so too this little boy struggles with the weight of this cross. Half-way through the decade, almost knocked over, the boy stumbles and his father reaches out to steady him and the cross. The scripture follows "and Simon the Cyrene helped Jesus carry his cross," and the father continues to hold the cross and hold the weight.
The father helps carry the cross with the boy the rest of the way and I understand Simon the Cyrene carrying the cross with Jesus; I understand how Jesus was able to even carry the cross: the Father is always holding the cross, bearing the weight, and steadying us on our journey.
What a beautiful picture it was indeed.
Rocky, muddy, bare trees, dead leaves, climbing up and down and around a hill, foggy, misty, cold, damp and in the low 40s.
A small group of religious pilgrims are praying a scriptural rosary, walking through nature. They're praying the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary to be exact. They are followers of The Cross; they are following a crucifix on a large wooden cross.
A young boy, small and around the age of 7 or so, begs his daddy to carry the cross, and his father lets him.
The 4th Sorrowful Mystery: Jesus Carries His Cross.
So the boy struggles at each Hail Mary picking up the cross that's probably half his body weight to the next bead, the next scripture. As Jesus faltered with His Cross, so too this little boy struggles with the weight of this cross. Half-way through the decade, almost knocked over, the boy stumbles and his father reaches out to steady him and the cross. The scripture follows "and Simon the Cyrene helped Jesus carry his cross," and the father continues to hold the cross and hold the weight.
The father helps carry the cross with the boy the rest of the way and I understand Simon the Cyrene carrying the cross with Jesus; I understand how Jesus was able to even carry the cross: the Father is always holding the cross, bearing the weight, and steadying us on our journey.
What a beautiful picture it was indeed.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)