Author: Melissa

Melissa is a wife, mama, and Catholic artist striving to be a vessel for the Holy Spirit. Whether onstage or with a pen and paper, she finds deep joy and fulfillment in sharing God's truth and beauty through singing, acting, and writing. She has performed on Broadway and in the National Tour of Les Misérables. Currently, she is pursuing a M.A. in Theology through Augustine Institute, and alongside her husband, Stephen, does music ministry, having previously led the music of Frassati Fellowship in NYC. Follow their music at www.treelilymusic.com and on IG @treelilymusic

Great and Holy Friday | A Reflection from the Byzantine Catholic Tradition

The Deposition (Descent) from the Cross
Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus taking Christ down from the cross after his crucifixion (John 19:38-42)

“Together with Nicodemus, Joseph took you down from the wood –
you who are wrapped in light as with a robe
and beholding you dead, naked and unburied,
he began to mourn you with deep sympathy saying:
Woe is me, sweetest Jesus!

Just a little while ago, the sun saw you hanging on the cross
and veiled itself in somber hues.
The earth rocked with fear and the curtain of the Temple was torn in two. Now that I see how you willingly underwent death for me,
How can I bury you, my God? How will I wrap you in a shroud?
How will I touch your spotless body with my hands?
What dirges shall I sing at your departure, O Compassionate One?

I extol your passion and I praise your burial together with your resurrection,
crying out: O Lord, glory to you.” (Apostichera from Good and Holy Friday Vespers – Byzantine Catholic Tradition)

Good and Holy Friday can be a difficult day as we remember in sorrow the crucifixion, death, and burial of our Savior Jesus Christ. These age-old Holy Friday prayers of the Byzantine tradition remind us of the hope we can always cling to. These ancient words of the church teach us that we can indeed ‘praise His burial together with His resurrection.’ As we sorrowfully remember His death, we wait in hope for the joy that is to come — the salvation Christ promised. Praise Him whose ultimate sacrifice has saved us. Glory to you, O Lord Jesus Christ!

May we end this Holy Friday reflection guided by Joseph of Arimathea and, most poignantly, the wisdom of Christ’s Mother, our Mother, as depicted so beautifully in this closing hymn:

“Come, let us bless the ever-memorable Joseph,
who went to Pilate by night to beg for the Life of all:
Give me this Stranger, who has no place to lay his head.
Give me this Stranger, who was handed over to death by his wicked disciple.
Give me this Stranger, whose Mother wept, seeing him hanging on the cross,
mourning and crying out in a motherly lament.
Woe is me, my child!
Woe is me, my Light, my Beloved whom I bore in my womb.
What was foretold by Simeon in the temple comes to pass today:
A sword has pierced my heart,
but change my tears into the joy of your resurrection.
We bow to your passion, O Christ!
We bow to your passion, O Christ!
We bow to your passion, O Christ and to your holy Resurrection!”

(Closing Hymn from Good and Holy Friday Vespers – Byzantine Catholic Tradition)

I encourage you to spend some time praying with the Descent of the Cross icon at the beginning of this reflection. Icons are windows into Heaven, a sacred way for us to pray and be in the presence of the Lord. May God be with you in a special way on this most sacred day of our Catholic faith. Wishing you a truly Holy Good Friday. Glory to Jesus Christ!

The Voice of Jesus

Recently, I have been sensing in myself, friends, and family what I’ve heard called “pandemic fatigue.” It’s been about a year now of tragic loss, lockdowns, and gripping fear. Sometimes we forget what ‘normal’ felt like. We are ready for this pandemic and its effects to be over.

Where do we turn with our pandemic fatigue? As Christians we know we can always turn to Jesus Christ. And hopefully we do. And hopefully we feel the strength, grace, and love He gives us. If it’s been difficult for you to feel His love for you, I encourage you to reflect on your days and ask Him to help you recognize Him.

Today’s readings tell us the Old Testament story of Joseph and his jealous brothers. His brothers, envious of their father’s esteem and love for Joseph, sell him into Egyptian slavery. Ultimately, his brothers devious plan can’t keep God’s plans for Joseph from coming to fruition and Joseph becomes a great prophet in Egypt. When his brothers meet him years later they don’t even recognize him until he reveals himself to them.

The Gospel tells us a parable with a similar theme — a vineyard owner leases his land to tenants who fail to produce the fruit of the vineyard and mistreat and kill those who the landlord sends for the fruit of the harvest. He sends his son expecting them to respect him and instead they kill him hoping to get his inheritance. However, their blindness will cost them their true inheritance and the Kingdom of God.

Both of these stories foreshadow Jesus Christ himself and remind us that there are those who reject Jesus and those who receive Him. The latter will bear great fruit for the Kingdom of God and inherit it. It is important to note that Jesus was telling this parable to the chief priests and elders of the people — a group who likely thought of themselves as pious and holy.

Therefore, I say to you,
the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you
and given to a people that will produce its fruit.
Matthew 21:43

This trying pandemic season rightfully has us weary and yearning for times and experiences we once took for granted. Let us learn from the bad examples in the readings today — it is all too easy for us to fail to recognize Christ in our day to day and moment to moment. We aren’t called to a feigned happiness, but we are called to a true gratitude and joy in the knowledge of the blessings He has given us, beginning with the possibility of eternity with Him. No weariness, no burden, no sadness is to deep that He has not lived in the depths of it. And somehow, if we invite Him into whatever we are experiencing, He promises joy in the midst of it. We must challenge ourselves to recognize Him. Let us not reject the cornerstone, let us seek and recognize Him.

Lord Jesus, help me to see you. Help me to recognize you daily. I bring all of the joys and sorrows of my day to you, and I ask you to be with me through it all. I want to see you. Help me to see your hand in my life. I give you thanks and praise for all that you are and all that you’ve done. Amen.

I encourage you to listen to this song and allow the lyrics to wash over you: I Heard the Voice of Jesus (link also below).

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“Come unto me and rest.
Lay down, O weary one,
lay down your head upon my breast.”
I came to Jesus as I was,
so weary, worn, and sad.
I found in him a resting place,
and he has made me glad.

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“Behold, I freely give
the living water, thirsty one;
stoop down and drink and live.”
I came to Jesus, and I drank
of that life-giving stream.
My thirst was quenched, my soul revived,
and now I live in him.

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“I am the dawning light.
Look unto me, your morn shall rise,
and all your day be bright.”
I looked to Jesus, and I found
in him my star, my sun,
and in that light of life I’ll walk
till trav’ling days are done.

Apostle of Life

The Gospel reading today tells of Jesus’ calling of his twelve apostles. He appoints these ordinary people to do extraordinary things in His name. As Christians He calls us to do the same. It may seem daunting to be called to do extraordinary things, though if we break it down we realize that the extraordinary often happens in the simple everyday moments and it is all centered in a heart that desires to know and be with God.

Mark’s Gospel emphasizes three aspects of what it means to be Jesus’ Apostle – the Gospel writer says He appoints them “that they might be with Him,” be “sent forth to preach,” and “have authority to drive out demons” (Mk 3:14-15).

Reading this passage this week, it jumped out at me that the first description of Christian apostleship is to simply be with Him. A relationship with Jesus Christ is the center of it all. A friendship with Him. Talking to Him about the things on our heart and asking Him to speak in turn to us. Listening to His voice. Receiving His love. This is what it means to be with Him. The second call on the apostles is being sent forth to preach. This may sound more daunting to some of us at first and we may think, well this was for the first apostles and certain Christians now… but not necessarily me, right? But the truth is this call is on us and all followers of Christ, even if it looks different for different people. To preach is to witness and teach, and you probably do this much more than you realize in everyday interactions. Mentioning to a co-worker that you went to Mass on Sunday, listening intently to a friend who needed someone, or waving and saying hello to a passing stranger even from behind your mask… all of these gestures done in Christ’s love can be a simple moment of preaching. God will likely call each of us deeper into witnessing and teaching as relationship with Him deepens. We may be asked outright about our faith, and even if we look back and see how we could have answered differently, our earnest attempts to share our experience of Christ’s love are valuable moments of preaching and witnessing. God wants to give us wisdom to witness lovingly, humbly, and confidently to our faith. The more we deepen our relationship with Him in prayer, Scripture, community and fellowship, the sacraments, the more confidence we will gain in witnessing to the love of God we have encountered. His love will embolden us.

The third aspect of Christian apostleship is the “authority to drive out demons” in Christ’s name. Okay, talk about daunting again! In the literal sense of Scripture, Christians are indeed called to drive out demons and bring the incredible gift of freedom and healing to those enslaved. When Christ and His apostles drive out demons they are freeing a soul from evil, bringing a soul from darkness to light. While there is a definite time and place for those who are called to specifically drive out demons, we are all called to act in the authority of Christ’s name and encourage people out of the darkness of evil and sin into the light of faith. The third call of apostleship is a call to faith in action. If we are faithful to the first two calls of apostleship (and when we aren’t faithful, we confess our unfaithfulness, receive God’s grace that is new with each day, and get ourselves turned back to Him!)… anyway, as we sink into the first two calls of being with Him and being a living witness of our faith, the third call to act in faith will flow from the first two. Great miraculous healing can happen in many ways. Hearts can be opened and lives can be changed by an encounter with God’s love in a moment. And we can be instruments of these miracles without even knowing. Serving in any form is an act of faith, and of course we have a special call to serve the poor and those in need. Being a living witness of Christ’s love, bringing His light to others opens hearts and changes lives. If we are rooted in prayer, He will show us what this looks like for each of our lives.

Today in our Catholic Church calendar is a Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children. Today, I want us to reflect on this call of apostleship and ask the Lord how we can be an apostle for Life. Being a witness to the dignity of human life from conception to natural death is an integral call of our time and it is a mission that can again seem daunting. But I want us to remember the call of apostleship that Mark gives us today and apply these same steps to our Mission for Life. First step – prayer, by which we can understand God’s heart for every unborn child, every pregnant mother, every expecting father. I am writing this with my second child in my womb, 23 weeks pregnant. His or her squirms and kicks remind me of the whole human life going on independently of my will right within my body – it’s a miracle! I can also understand the very real and urgent fear of a mother who doesn’t have the support she deserves. Motherhood is a sacrifice. A physical, emotional, financial, and personal sacrifice – but a pouring out of yourself that brings the deepest joy and fulfillment. We must strive to understand God’s heart on this because we will not get far in speaking to others about it otherwise. We can never speak on this without putting ourselves in the shoes of a pregnant mother who thinks she doesn’t have another choice. We must strive to understand and listen. And when we are called to the second step of apostleship in this, being sent forth to preach, we must speak the truth with the Lord’s compassion. Our third apostleship call is to drive out demons in Christ’s name. There are faithful priests doing incredible work to bring light to the darkness and demons of abortion. How are we called to bring light to this place of great darkness? This is what I hope we can each pray about today. How am I called to act in Christ’s name for the mission of protecting unborn life? We can pray, we can financially support organizations for women in crisis pregnancies, we can educate ourselves on the facts of pregnancy and the history of the legalization of abortion, and we can volunteer at local life centers, educating ourselves by getting to know women who are actually living the experience of a crisis pregnancy. (At the end of this post I included a list of ways that people can support life that I found inspiring and helpful this week.)

I have been tempted many times to feel hopeless in our current culture for unborn life. It can be tempting to think we can’t do anything to help. But those are lies that distract us from the fact that we are not powerless, God does change hearts, and there are many ways we can act in faith and in love for the women, men, and unborn children at risk of the devastating harm of abortion. This is not an easy call, but it does not need to be as daunting as we think. With God all things are possible (Mt 19:26).

God has called you, my dear sister or brother. He has called me. And he has appointed us to be His apostles now. At this exact moment in history and in the place he has us. How is He calling each of us to be an apostle of life?

Lord, show us the way.

Kindness and truth shall meet;
justice and peace shall kiss.
Truth shall spring out of the earth,
and justice shall look down from heaven.
Psalm 85:11-12

Icon of the Visitation

Some practical ways to support unborn life:

Season of Light

Merry Christmas!!! The Savior is born! Emmanuel – God with us!

My friends, what a precious gift for us to reflect on this Christmas Day – our God has become incarnate, taken on our humble humanity, to be with us now and for eternity. The Light of the World is come:

Your birth, O Christ our God has shed upon the world the light of knowledge; for through it, those who worshipped the stars have learned from a star to worship you, the Sun of Justice, and to know you, the Dawn from on High Glory to you, O Lord!

These words from the Christmas Liturgy of the Byzantine Catholic Church are steeped in the imagery of light. Today, we truly enter a season of light as we celebrate the Nativity of Jesus Christ. I can’t think of anything the United States and the whole world needs more at the end of an extremely trying and difficult year than the gift of Light. In words attributed to St. Francis, “All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.” Light illumines the darkness.

Light gives us hope, and the Light which is Christ provides us the most reliable hope of all – a hope we can place all of our trust and confidence in. He has promised us peace. He has promised us joy evermore. He has promised us mercy, forgiveness, comfort, and love that lasts forever.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1:5

This pandemic year has left many without hope. Just about everyone has been personally affected by hardship in the form of illness, job loss, fear of illness, anxiety about work, and the lack of being able to spend time freely with family, friends, and others face to face. There has been an air of fear, anxiety, and sadness. Today, we are reminded why the darkness has no power. There is One who has enabled our suffering to have redemptive meaning and even gives the grace of joy in the midst of suffering. One who remains with us in the depths of our grief and sadness and blesses us with comfort. The One has come who is the Light that the darkness cannot and will not overcome. Today, we see Jesus Christ as a newborn and celebrate His birth into the world He created. Through Advent we’ve been reflecting on our dear Mother Mary and St. Joseph whose faith carried them through trial on the road to His birth. We ask for their prayers for our own faith and we ask their Savior Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, for a deeper faith and love for Him.

Amongst the celebration, excitement, and joy of today, may we find a quiet moment to come before our King as a baby. To revel in His humility and His love for us. He loves you more than you can comprehend. Challenge yourself to feel the depth of His love for you. See how He gazes upon you. See how He has provided for you and walked alongside you this past year. Thank Him for the moments He has carried you when you realized you couldn’t do it alone. Revel in this love.

May we ask the Lord for the gift and grace of joy today. Joy to share with everyone we meet or smile at (even if they can only see our eyes and we are 10 feet away). The joy of the Lord is palpable and His Love is for all. May we share it in any way we can with a world in need. This year, in a special way, people need to hear the good news and we need to go tell it on the mountains! Our Savior, Jesus Christ, is born! May we carry the Light of this season with us through this octave of Christmas and continue to spread it in the weeks, months, and years to come. Let us praise the Lord with everything we are! For He is good, He loves us all, and He is the Light for the whole world! Hallelujah! In the year 390, St. Gregory of Nazianz began his sermon on the Nativity with the joyous words below – in 2020, may we join in his words just as joyfully:

“Christ is born, glorify him! Christ came from heaven, welcome Him! Christ is on earth, exult! Sing to the Lord all the earth, Joyfully praise Him all you nations, For He has become glorious!”
St. Gregory of Nazianz

God bless you, my brothers and sisters, and have a Merry Christmas!!

Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ – Icon

Friends for the Journey: A Reflection on the Saints

I remember always loving All Saints’ Day as a child. My knowledge of the feast must have begun around the age of six when my family returned to the Catholic faith and I was baptized. I didn’t know much about any particular saint, but I had an affinity for this beautiful feast.

As the years have gone on, my love for the feast has remained while my appreciation of it has deepened, as has my knowledge of certain Saints. Over time it became more and more apparent that my childhood love was less a result of myself seeking out these Saints, and more that certain Saints were actually seeking me out.

In my late teen and early adult years I seemed to have an unexplained draw to St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi. Of course, St. Francis is among the well-known Saints and appeals to many, but I just felt a kindred spirit to the Assisi duo. In my sophomore year, I chose St. Clare as my confirmation saint. The parish where I’d be confirmed, Santa Clara de Asis, was under her patronage and I thought it would be interesting to write my required saint report on her. In my young adult years, Francis and Clare continued making their guidance in my life known to me, sometimes less subtly than others. I read more about Clare, found beauty and comfort in their images and statues at a church of St. Francis when I first moved away from home, and eventually grew to find a kindred spirit in the community of the Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Renewal in NYC. It wasn’t until a few years into my deepening relationship with Francis and Clare that I finally learned that I was born on the day of St. Francis’ death, his Transitus, or transition into Heaven. The moment I realized this was a profound one. I had a sense that this draw I had felt for years toward these two Saints of Assisi was a connection orchestrated by God Himself placed in me when He formed me in the womb.

In more recent years, I have experienced the strong and loving guidance of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Growing up in Southern California I saw images of her often, especially with the strong devotion of many California families with a Mexican Catholic heritage. I didn’t feel a specific connection to her though until she made her maternal presence very clear to me in my time of discerning my vocation and marriage to my husband. In her strong motherly way, she was making her love for me known. It was then, as I looked back, that I realized she had been there all along. (A friend once told me he had a similar experience with Our Lady of Guadalupe in his discernment of religious life. So it seems she is a wonderful mother to call on during vocational discernment!)

As I have reflected and prayed on these relationships in my own life, I am once again awed by our God who knows each of us so well. Not only are all of the Saints, the great cloud of witnesses (Heb. 12:1), praying for us all, but I believe He has gifted each of us with specific Heavenly friends unique to each of our earthly journeys. I have already seen specific Saints seem to seek out my children while they are still in my womb. St. Therese often came to mine and my husband’s mind as we prayed for our firstborn in the womb, and this Saint was called upon by friends who prayed over her in the womb on separate occasions. Her middle name, Rose, is meant to reflect this and I hope and pray she continues to develop a lifelong friendship with St. Therese. Our second child is currently in my womb and my husband has already felt a connection to Padre Pio for this baby. The uniqueness of God’s love for each of us from conception is so evident to me!

Some of us may have a longstanding deep sense of these particular Saints in our own lives, and some of us may not feel like we know any of the Saints. I encourage you to open your heart and senses to the subtle and gentle ways a certain Saint may be seeking you out and revealing his or her love, prayers, and desired relationship with you! Praise God for how He has gifted us with these mentors, these beautiful witnesses of the faith, for our own journeys. As Paul says in today’s first reading, “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6). What a beautiful promise of the Lord!

As we approach the Feast of All Saints, let us open our hearts to the specific men and women God has connected each of us with, so that through their saintly prayers and guidance, He may continue to complete the good work He has begun in us. This is indeed something to celebrate! May God bless and keep you – Happy All Saints’ Day!! All you Holy men and women, pray for us!

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith.”
Hebrews 12:1-2

New Wine: Thoughts on Stewardship & Renewal

When I first moved to NYC 9 years ago, I often babysat and dog-sat for families to make money. There was always a sense of heightened attention and care for the kiddos and animals I watched, and a sense of knowing how precious they were to their parents (and/or owners). Can you remember a time when something valuable to someone else has been placed in your care? There is a sense of honor knowing someone has entrusted you to take care of and look after someone or something so valuable to him or herself.

The God of all creation has entrusted you, and every baptized and then confirmed son and daughter, with His most precious mysteries. A relationship with His Son, the good news of the Gospel, the sacraments of the Church, the richness of His Word in Scripture – these are just some of the many gifts God has given all of us to be stewards of. Paul says in today’s first reading that we are “stewards of the mysteries of God” (cf. 1 Corinthians 4:1). What an honor. Further, God invites each of us individually to be stewards of the gifts He has given us that are unique to our individual life. He has given each of us specific gifts, or charisms, for the building up of the Kingdom – gifts to serve and nourish the church and the world. For some it is a gift of administration, of teaching, of service, of music, just to name of few. For those of us who are married, God has gifted us a spouse to be a steward of – to reverence, to look after, to care for, to help get to Heaven. Our priests are stewards of their parishes, our consecrated religious brothers and sisters are stewards of the others in their communities and the people they serve. Though we may currently feel limited, unable to share our gifts in some of the ways we’d like to, we can always grow in our posture of wonder and awe in God’s presence. And from that posture we can ask Him to remind us, or show us anew, the gifts He has placed in our individual lives to be stewards of.

As a Byzantine Catholic family, my husband, daughter, and I have just begun the new liturgical year on September 1st! (In the Latin Rite, often called the Roman Rite, the new year begins on the first Sunday of Advent. This is just one of many differences in tradition that distinguishes these two rites of the Catholic Church, both beautiful and rich in their own right…or rite…) Growing up Latin Rite, I just learned about the September 1st new year last Sunday from our priest, Fr. Michael. (Also shout out to Fr. Michael, who inspired the vast majority of this reflection with his recent Sunday homily!) This reality and Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel have me reflecting on the gift of renewal. There is an innate sense of refreshment and of hope in a new year. A chance to begin again, an opportunity to refocus, a time to hope for the future. As Christians, we live in relationship with the One who renews us day to day, even moment to moment.

As we ask God to reveal how He is calling each of us to be a steward of His mysteries, let us open ourselves up to something new He wants to do in us. He is the God who makes all things new, and He promises to constantly renew us from the inside out. He is “making new wine…” (see today’s Gospel + song link below). If the circumstances of COVID have made you feel that one day blurs into the next, and months blur into each other, we can find our renewal and hope in our incredible God. He has entrusted Himself to us, and we have entrusted ourselves to Him. He is the greatest steward of all – He is our Good Shepherd. You are precious to Him, and He delights in you. May you grow ever more deeply in this reality and be consumed by His great Mystery.

Lord God, Almighty Father, I come into your presence in awe of you. I desire to know you more and stand in wonder of the depths of you I cannot grasp. Thank you for entrusting me to be a steward of your mysteries. Reveal the gifts you have given me and help me to be a faithful steward of them. Lord, renew me. Purify my heart so I may see you. I place my trust in you. I place my hope in you. I adore and love you, my dear Father.

Song for Reflection — NEW WINE by Hillsong

More info on the Liturgical Year according to Byzantine Tradition: https://www.archpitt.org/the-liturgical-year-according-to-the-byzantine-tradition/

A Walk in the Garden

A few years ago I was telling a friend some difficult things I was going through. After describing my situation and things I was experiencing, she said it sounded like God was digging in deep. He was pulling some weeds, tilling the soil, doing some dirty work… because he was planting something new. He was laying the foundation for a garden.

You know those moments when God finds a way to speak a perfect word to your heart? A word of peace, of joy, of comfort… Whether it comes through the words of a friend, seeing something that speaks to you, or a sense in a chapel or out on a hike, God finds perfect ways to communicate to us. (Which He probably does way more often than I actually pick up on!) Looking back on those words from that friend, I see clearly how God was speaking to me in that moment and how in that time God was laying groundwork for me to step into my vocation of marriage.

Today’s Gospel, Jesus’ parable of the sower, brought me back to the beautiful word my friend gave me years ago and the sense of consolation that came with it. My heart longs to be that of rich soil, not the path, rocky ground, or thorns which do not receive and cultivate the word of God and bear fruit. Jesus’ words have me asking myself, What does it mean to be rich soil? It seems that a heart poised to receive is key – to receive the words of our Father in prayer, through the Scripture, through a friend or experience. However God comes to us, we must be open to receive Him. In this way the rich soil of our hearts may actually take in, nourish, and give life to the word of God and grow a garden that can bear fruit.

This image of a garden moves me more deeply than I can describe. I have a feeling it is because the Garden is what we were created for. Our hearts were designed to inhabit God’s perfect Garden. There is a deep ache within each of us for that paradise, especially as it represents perfect communion with our Father. Perhaps we can each take a moment today to find the garden God has sown in each of our hearts, where we can meet Him naked and unashamed. We are a work in progress, surrendering again each day to the Gardener’s perfect hand. May we allow Him today to enrich the soil of our hearts and lead us into communion with Him. He wants to walk with us. And in these days of much anxiety, uncertainty, and fear, we must remember He is always walking with us and making our hearts into a garden.

To continue praying and reflecting on this imagery, I highly recommend listening to Matt Maher and Audrey Assad’s song Garden here.

You walk with me
You never leave
You’re making our world a garden
Garden · Matt Maher | Composer, Lyricist: Audrey Assad

“Follow Me”: Being Led Where We Do Not Want to Go

“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.
“So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us”
J.R.R. Tolkien – The Fellowship of The Ring

As I consider the sadness and struggles of this pandemic time, I can identify with Frodo’s sentiment. Three months ago, I truly couldn’t have fathomed a world where friends didn’t gather, people couldn’t go in to work, children didn’t attend school in person, and families stayed home… where shops, restaurants, and theaters were dark… where hugs had to become air hugs from 6 feet apart. The tragic reality of illness has shaken the social and emotional fabric at the core of humanity.

As much as I identify with Frodo, I find equal inspiration and encouragement in Gandalf’s response. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us (Tolkien). We have received everything from an all-powerful, loving, and merciful Creator. Everything we have and everything we are has been bestowed on us by God. Our very creation is a gift from Him that we have received. So also, we have received from Him our identity and our mission. Our identity in Him, our relationship with our Heavenly Father is the core from which all else flows. And He has created you and me for a purpose, for a mission. We don’t get to choose the time in which we live, but we can choose to receive our mission from God, the one who chose to create us in this specific earthly time and place. Frodo may not have initially loved receiving the mission he was given, but he chose to receive it. He chose to move forward each and every day of the adventure, saying yes to the mission he was given.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus’ words echo a similar sentiment:

“Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger,
you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted;
but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands,
and someone else will dress you
and lead you where you do not want to go.”

God has created each of us in this specific time for a specific purpose and mission. It seems He is giving us an opportunity to mature in our faith… Jesus associates maturity with greater surrender and selflessness, a disposition of being led rather than leading oneself. The Gospel tells us Jesus says this signifying His death and how it will glorify God. It is not a sin to be upset, hesitant, or genuinely wish God had not put us where we are. We also know we are limited in our humanity. We cannot see the bigger picture. And Jesus, the Son of God, received the greatest mission of all. His receptivity and acceptance of his mission restored all of creation to its Creator.

We all have a part to play in the story of salvation. Our piece of the puzzle is here and now. We can partake in the ongoing movement of humanity toward God. We may wish that a pandemic “need not have happened” in our time. But we know who our God is. We know He is good. We know He gave His only Son for our salvation, and we know that by Christ’s death, suffering has become redemptive.

So knowing these truths, we must ask God for the grace to be grateful that we are living in such a time as this. For we know He has created each of us and gifted us life in this time for a purpose and for an ultimate good. We must decide “what to do with the time that is given us.”

Christ’s words from the Gospel that I mentioned above were to signify “by what kind of death he would glorify God.” Christ willingly received His mission from the Father out of a heart of love. So too, we can ask the Holy Spirit to help us receive our mission and decide what to do with the time given us by God from a posture of love for our good Father. From where we stand, it may not look appealing, comfortable, safe or sane, but when the Father calls us out of the boat He is our security and He will not forsake us. The Gospel passage concludes: “And when he had said this, he said to him, ‘Follow me.'”

Let us decide what to do with the time we are given. Let us follow Him.

Hope, O My Soul

Hope is the “sure and steadfast anchor of the soul . . . that enters . . . where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf.” (CCC 1820)

Today is my mom’s birthday, which is fitting since I felt called to write on a virtue I have learned from and observed in her: Hope. My mom radiates a steadfast love for the Lord. She possesses an enduring faith. In my own lifetime, I’ve seen her place her trust in the Lord time and time again, a virtue that had been growing in her years before I was born. My mom has experienced trials and tragedy beginning in her childhood that would make many question God – yet her trust in and love for Him is what has defined her life. She has truly placed her hope in the Lord and she knows He is faithful to His promises. As Hebrews 10:23 says, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.”

Right now, the world at large is in need of hope. What does is mean to have hope? It is important for us to remember that hope is something we can grow to attain, that we can come to possess. As Catholics, we understand that Hope is a virtue. It is one of the three theological virtues – faith, hope, and charity – meaning it relates us directly to God and disposes us to live in relationship with the Holy Trinity (Catechism of the Catholic Church, para. 1812). Hope is rooted in God.

Through the eyes of faith, we see that Hope is the response to the desire for happiness that God has placed in the heart of humankind (CCC 1818). Our desire for happiness is good; our longing to have something to hope for has been placed within us by God Himself. And what is it we hope for? “In every circumstance, each one of us should hope, with the grace of God, to persevere ‘to the end’ and to obtain the joy of heaven” (CCC 1821, emphasis added).

Are you personally finding it difficult to have hope right now? If you are, you are not alone, and God wants to meet you there and grow this virtue in you. If you do have hope, praise the Lord, and let’s keep going! I know there is plenty of room for all of us to grow deeper in this beautiful virtue. And the world needs it.

The first step is re-establishing our faith in Jesus Christ and our trust in God’s promises. The Catechism gives us a simple, practical, yet profound way to both “express” our Hope and “nourish” it so it may grow: prayer. And specifically, praying the Our Father, “the summary of everything that hope leads us to desire” (CCC 1820).

So today, I ask you to join me in praying the Our Father, specifically asking the Lord to increase Hope in each of us. I encourage you to pray it slowly, pausing after each line, to allow the Truth to sink in and to profess it whole-heartedly to our Father in Heaven. This is an act of faith that will serve to remind us of the truth, the truth in which our hope is grounded. I also encourage you to call to mind Scriptures that you lean on in times of trial. Dwell on these truths to nourish your hope. I will list some Scriptures below that have been nourishing my soul lately:

Joshua 1:9 – “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

Philippians 4:6-7 — Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

John 16:33 — These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

We must stay grounded in God’s truth. He is faithful to His promises. This will be the source of our Hope.

My friends, it is a blessing to be united in prayer with you in the midst of this difficult time. I am praying for each one of you – that the Lord is especially close to you and that you are drawing near to Him. I encourage you to take a minute now to thoughtfully pray the Our Father. …and can I ask a favor? Can you lift up my mom on her birthday — the woman who first taught me what hope looks like? I know she will appreciate that gift! Lifting up you and your intentions, my friends. May God be with you.

Hope, O my soul, hope. You know neither the day nor the hour. Watch carefully, for everything passes quickly, even though your impatience makes doubtful what is certain, and turns a very short time into a long one. Dream that the more you struggle, the more you prove the love that you bear your God, and the more you will rejoice one day with your Beloved, in a happiness and rapture that can never end.
St. Theresa of Avila, Excl. 15:3

A New Heart and A New Spirit

“Cast away from you all the crimes you have committed, says the LORD, and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit” -Ezekiel 18:31

Here we are, a little more than a week into Lent. How are you feeling about your Lent thusfar? You may be feeling good in your Lenten commitments, having successfully passed on any chocolate or being off of social media. Maybe you have created time each day for intentional prayer. Or maybe you are feeling discouraged… maybe you haven’t kept up on Lenten commitments or you still haven’t quite decided what to “do” for Lent. Firstly, wherever you are right now, God sees and loves you. He is pleased with anything you have offered this Lent and He desires to draw your heart closer to His. Wherever you are, today’s Gospel verse Ezekiel 18:31 (see above), reminds us what lies at the heart of this season — a renewal of our hearts and spirits.

The Lord promises us a new heart and a new spirit when we seek His forgiveness. “Repent” is the first word of John the Baptist’s Gospel proclamation, and it’s always our first step in uniting to the Lord. No matter how many times we sin, whether it be a stumble or a big fall, the Lord receives us back when we repent and ask His forgiveness. In its original Greek, the word translated as repent is metanoia, which means to turn around and literally change direction. To repent is to turn ourselves around, away from our sin, to change direction and face Christ. He is already facing us, loving us even in the midst of our failings, but He asks us to turn away from those failings and the hurt they cause ourselves and others. He wants to transform us, to renew our hearts and spirits.

Lent is the liturgical time for us to dwell on this reality of the Gospel. I encourage you to read through today’s readings or listen closely to them if you are attending Mass. They guide us beautifully through a Lenten reflection far superior to anything I could write. Through these Sacred Scriptures, God speaks to us of His desire to forgive us and His desire for us to forgive others. Forgiveness brings freedom. God invites us into this freedom at every moment. Metanoia is the first step… repenting, changing direction from the darkness of our sin to the light of Christ. Through this action we take toward Him, God will give us a new heart and a new spirit. Our Lenten penances or practices are ways for us to live out our repentance. They are sacrifices and commitments that help foster in us a truly penitent spirit. And this contrite spirit is what God is seeking, for it leads us to Him, the One who is able to transform and renew our hearts and spirits by His all-consuming Love.

Lord, show each of us what we need to sacrifice or commit to this Lent to truly grow closer to you. You know each of us in our uniqueness and you know what we need. Guide us so that we may all emerge from the penitent spirit of Lent with a truly renewed heart and spirit this Easter. We all these things in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirt, Amen.