The Our Father- Give us this day our daily bread.

Join me as I take a closer look at The Our Father. 

Give us this day our daily bread.

I have been reflecting on this line for a few days now and there is always one word that comes out to me.

Daily.

Every day.

What are somethings that we do everyday?  Eat, sleep, take a shower, brush your teeth, get dressed.

These are things that we do everyday.  Some we do every day in order to survive (eat, sleep) and others we do every day to stay clean and take part in our lives.  The day just wouldn't seem right if we skipped one of these things.  Something would be missing.  We wouldn't skip a day if we could help it.  It would not suffice to only do these things once a week. 

Daily.  Every day.  365 days a year.

Just as we need to eat everyday in order to stay health we need to be feed by the Lord everyday in order to be spiritually healthy.

Often times when people hear you are Christian or Catholic they assume all that means is that you go to church on Sundays.  That is not daily, that is weekly.  We can not live on that and we definitely can't thrive.

Often times people will tell me "Yeah I'm Catholic I go to Saint Christopher's on Christmas.  That is not daily, that is yearly.  Jesus does not expect us to be able to live off that!

We need contact with the Lord daily in order to be a thriving Christian.  We need to have daily contact with the Lord to be able to survive.  We need to be feed by the Lord everyday.  This food does not always have to be the Eucharist, although I do recommend daily mass when you can.  This food could be reading his words in the bible or finding some time each day for real prayer.  The Lord provides us with the Eucharist to be our spiritual food here on Earth but even when we are not able to receive the Eucharist daily we still need to receive food from the Lord daily in order to remain spiritually healthy.

How do you receive food from the Lord daily. 

Dear Lord,  I ask you to feed those who are hungry with your living food. 

For more of my thoughts on the Our Father and on prayer look at these posts.

Prayer

Our

Father

Who Art in Heaven

Hallowed be thy Name 
Thy Kingdom Come

Thy Will be Done

 On Earth as it is in Heaven

The Our Father- On Earth as it is in Heaven

Join me as I take a closer look at The Our Father. 

On Earth as it is in Heaven.

Yesterday I was listening to the radio and I heard Help Pour Out The Rain by Buddy Jewell.  This is not the first time I heard this song but this time one line sent a shiver down my spine. 

"And I can't wait to see my family and meet Jesus face to face."

On Earth as it is in Heaven.

In Heaven I believe all things are perfect.  There is perfect beauty, perfect peace, and perfect light.  There is no sin,, only truth.  No suffering, only joy.  And we will be in perfect communion with the Lord.  We will meet Jesus face to face.  I can not think of anything better than this.  Just thinking about it sends a shiver down my spine.  Heaven is going to be amazing.

On Earth as it is in Heaven.

But in this line we pray to bring the rule of heaven to Earth.  We know that Earth is not heaven but maybe we can make it a little more like heaven.  We pray and work for peace.  We try to teach truth.  We try to bring people joy.  And we try to grow closer to the Lord.

meet Jesus face to face

Can we really do this on Earth??

Yes!!!

In Holy Communion.

In adoration.

In the tabernacle.

Jesus is really there!

I spent a little time in adoration today and was again reminded of the true presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.  He is really there.  There is an awe inspiring wonder that came from siting in the true presence of Jesus in that church today.

Sometimes it is so easy to forget that he is really there.  Ever time you drive by a church he is really there.  Do you drive past the house of a good friend without stopping by to say hi or at least giving them a quick thought?  But so often we do that to Jesus.  We drive right by him without even giving him a single thought.  But yet we look forward to seeing Jesus in heaven.

On Earth as it is in Heaven.

Kind of like a preview to heaven we are given chances to meet Jesus on Earth.

Dear Lord, Help us to make Earth a little more like Heaven.  Help remind us to meet Jesus face to face every chance we get.  Thank you for giving us that amazing gift when we are still sinners on Earth.

For more of my thoughts on the Our Father and on prayer look at these posts.

Prayer

Our

Father

Who Art in Heaven

Hallowed be thy Name 
Thy Kingdom Come 

Thy Will be Done

Linking up with On Your Heart Tuesday.

 

Enjoy your day!

The Mass- The tabernacle

A study of the mass- the tabernacle

When you sit in a church there are a lot of things to look at; the priest, other people, the alter, the crucifix, statues and a million other things that could grab your attention.  But there is one thing in the church building that is above all others: Jesus Christ.  We believe and know that the Eucharist is truly Jesus.  After the consecrated Eucharist is distributed at mass all the extras are placed in the tabernacle.  This means that whenever you go into a Catholic church, regardless of if mass is taking place, Jesus is there.  He is present during mass but he is also present when you go into a church for confession, a meeting, a Christmas concert or in the middle of the night when no one is inside the church.

When I take part in mass I find it helpful to focus my thoughts and attention on the tabernacle.  When I pray I can look at the tabernacle and know that I am really praying to Jesus.  When I listen to the Gospel readings I can look at the tabernacle and hear Jesus saying the words to me today.  After communion I can watch the Eucharist being placed back in the tabernacle.  When we genuflect we are not genuflecting to the priest or to the alter but to Jesus in the tabernacle.  I have found that when I have more love and respect for Jesus in the tabernacle, I can recognize Jesus more in the mass.