Saturday, June 16, 2012

Mark 4:14

Mark 4: 14
The sower sows the word.

This verse is in reference to the parable of the sower.  Jesus is explaining the meaning of this parable to the apostles.  

The sower sows the word.

The Word of The Lord.

How does this relate to us?

The sower sows the word.

We receive the word.  The word is presented to us.  Maybe in mass on Sunday, maybe through a verse of a song, maybe from our bible, maybe from a friend or even from a billboard on the highway.  We are presented with the word but it is what happens after this that is important.  What do we do with the word?  Does it just bounce off us, does it simply sit inside us or does it overwhelm us and spread out to all we come in contact with?

And some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit.  It came us and grew and yielded thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.
Mark 4:8

Dear Lord, Help me to be like the rich soil and produce much fruit from your word.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

For us- Mark 2:27

Then he said to them, 
"The sabbath was made for man, 
not man for the sabbath."

This line has always made me think.  It seems to hold some secret and powerful meaning that you can find if you really spend time studying it.  Well today as I started to break it apart and study it I found a general but so fundamental lesson that can be learned from this line before you really even get into thinking about what Jesus meant when he said this line.  

The sabbath was made for man

The Lord made the sabbath day, the rest day, for us.  It was not that he wanted us to spend a day resting or that he wanted to punish or control us by telling us what we could or could not do on a specific day.  It was not that he wanted to restrict us or create a day for his own glory but it was that he knew we needed that day.  He knew that we needed a day set aside from work and the demands of our lives.  He knew that we need a day that we could devote to him and to our friends and family.  He knew that without the sabbath day we would not thrive or even survive.  He made the sabbath for us.

For Us

This is what the Lord does.  We are his children and everything he does is for us.  Even when it may seem like he is punishing us or trying to place restrictions on us we have to remember that he is doing it for us.  We may not be able to understand or comprehend how or why but we always know he is acting for us.  The Lord acts for our best interests even when we do not know what they are.  Once we understand this we know that we should not get upset at the Lord when he seems to be bringing us down a dark path, we know that we should not get upset at the Lord when we see people we love suffering.  Although we may know this it is a very hard thing to really feel.  This line helps us remember that what is does is always for us.

There is still so much more to study and reflect upon in this line.  Hopefully that will happen soon.

How can we remember that the Lord's actions are always for us?


Dear Lord, Help me to always remember that all you do and say is for us.


Linking up with On Your Heart Tuesday.

Happy Tuesday!



Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Praying for His will

God works in amazing ways.

I just wanted to write a quick post sharing something that I have learned recently.  I don't have any quote for today but what I learned came in part from several bible quotes and quotes from an influential Catholic writer.

It seems as if three separate events worked together to teach me something amazing.

First, I have been studying and reflecting on the words of the Our Father.  The last line that I wrote about was Thy Will Be Done.  It was with this that I started thinking about how Jesus taught us to pray for his Father's will to be done, not our will.  Since the Our Father is teaching us how to pray, I feel that this line is directing us to pray for the Lords will to be done instead of always praying for what we want and what we think will make us happy.  This seems great as an idea but a lot harder in practice.

Secondly at an opening prayer at a bible study a friend of mine said the Thomas Merton prayer.  It is a truly beautiful prayer (which I will write more about later).  It helps us to realize that we may not know what God wants us to do but with his help we can follow his perfect plan for us.  After bible study she gave each of us a little prayer card with this prayer on it.  When I got home it was left in my car.  Occasionally when I am sitting in the car I will pray this prayer.  I have found that it helps me to turn myself over to the Lord, to give Him my worries and my anxieties.  

The last (or next) big push came from nessessity.  I have been applying to new jobs in another part of the state.  When ever I am driving to an interview I am constantly worried about the job.  Is this the job that I want?  Will I be happy working there?  Is this the type of area that I would like to work it?  Is this to far away from my family?  Will my husband be able to find a job in this area?  And this is all before I even get into the interview.  There are so many questions that I really don't know the answers to.  Sometimes by the time I get to the interview I'm not even sure if I want the job anymore.  Well, before I go into the interview I say a quick prayer.  I find myself not praying that I get the job but that if this is the Lord's plan for me that I get the job.  I put it all in God's hands.  I pray that his will be carried out.  Either that I should get the job or not get the job.  Then I will truly know I am making the right choices.

These three events/ reflections are helping me to learn how to truly pray as the Lord's prayer teaches us: Thy Will be Done.


Dear Lord, Thank you for teaching me how to pray better.  I pray for your will to be carried out.


Joining in with Soli Deo Gloria
Hope all of you are having a great spring!
 




Saturday, June 2, 2012

1 John 4:16


I love to study, learn about and discuss my Catholic faith.  The teachings, the history and current events related to my faith, but I am still always amazed at how much I don't know.  Very often I will be having a conversation/ debate with someone and I really don't know the answer or explanation.  I really can't explain why the Church teaches something that it does or I can't give references to support a particular teaching or I can't explain why the bible says certain things.  The 'opposition' makes some very good points.  Sometimes their view makes perfect sense.  I believe that the Church teaches truth but I often can't really give reasons why? 

This upsets me.

I start to doubt myself. 

Why do I believe this?

How can I believe in this kind of God?

But then I come to a simple truth that gives me true faith again.  "God is Love"  It is that simple.  "God is Love"  When you keep that at the core of your life, your relationships and your faith everything else just seems to make sense.  "God is Love"  We know Jesus'  teachings are truth because He is Love and we know that His teachings are good because He is Love.  He is not simply loving or full of love but He is Love.  I just can't see anything more perfect than this.  This gives me all the reassurance and explanation that I need.  

God is Love.  (1 John 4:16)

What comforts do you get out of this simple but so very true statement?

Dear Lord, Help me to never doubt your truths.