Yes, No or Not Now?

A lot of people have questions about how God answers prayers. Sometimes we pray over and over and over for something for years and don’t seem to get an answer. We might begin to wonder if God is listening or if He even cares. If we aren’t careful it can even start sowing seeds of doubt in our hearts. Does God really answer prayers? We know deep down that He does, but there are times when we really want a specific answer and it just never seems to come. 

So why does that happen?

First of all, God loves you! He cares about you and he understands your worries and concerns. He will always answer your prayers, but the answer may not always be “Yes.” Jesus could answer your prayer in one of three ways–Yes, No or Not Now. We all hate hearing “No.” And with our current fast food culture that craves instant gratification we hate hearing the “Not Now” even more–we want what we want right now. We have to trust that God knows us better than we know ourselves and He knows what is best for us. Just like a loving and responsible parent can see that loading a child up on candy right before bed time is not a good idea, so God sees what the goal is for your life and knows what is best for you.

It could also be that God may have already answered your prayer, but you weren’t listening. I know that I don’t always get it when He is trying to tell me something. Last week He not only answered my prayer rather boldly, but then he doubled it! A lot of the times our prayers are one-way conversations. We talk and talk and talk but never listen. So, are you taking the time to listen to God? Now this doesn’t mean that God will audibly talk to you, but what it does mean is that we need to take time to be quiet and listen. God speaks to us with a whisper in our hearts most of the time. He can speak through the desires in our hearts, through other people, events in your life, a song on the radio or even a beautiful flower. Are you paying attention?

Here is a prayer that has helped me. It has really opened my heart, eyes, and ears to His messages for me. I pray it will also help you. Can you hear what God is saying to you?

“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road, ‘though I may know nothing about it. Therefore, I will trust you always, ‘though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.”
–Thomas Merton

Thy Will

I’ll admit, sometimes, I get scared. Sometimes, I worry…a lot! Sometimes I am not a trusting person. Sometimes I get overwhelmed with life and all its choices. I’m sure I’m not alone. There are times when I am genuinely terrified by life.

Thy will be done.

I try to pray this phrase whenever I’m getting overwhelmed and discouraged. It helps bring peace to my heart, although sometimes I have to pray it over and over and over and over again. There is a peace in knowing that God is in control and that He knows me and loves me. He sees the bigger picture and knows what will bring me the most joy. He understands my heart better than I do.

Fear is a funny thing. It can paralyze you and control your life if you let it. If we are afraid of being in front of others, it might keep us from competing. If we are afraid of messing up, we may find a way to get out of the mission that God has given us. I used to be terrified of public speaking, so much so that I would avoid any opportunity that might force me to speak in front of others. Thankfully Jesus has given me the strength I needed to get through that fear. If I hadn’t been open to the Holy Spirit working in my life, I would have never been able to be a youth minister, meet many of the amazing people that I have and have so many awesome experiences around the world.

We may have some fears about our faith. When we are at Church, we may be excited and love hearing about God and praying, but when we go to school or get home, that excitement turns to fear. Especially when people ask us or challenge us about our faith or going to Church. Listen to this verse from 2 Timothy: “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power and love and self-control.” You received the Holy Spirit at your Baptism. The Holy Spirit came into your life to help you live your life for Christ and be His disciple. The Holy Spirit gives you power, love and self-control for these times when you are afraid, doubt, question or struggle with living out your Catholic faith. Trust that God does not send us out on a mission without giving us the guidance of the Holy Spirit. 

Here are some questions for you to take to your prayer time to examine whether or not you are fully trusting in Him.

• Do you fully trust Jesus to be in control of your life (personal, spiritual, financial)?

• What scares you (or makes you uncomfortable) about allowing God to lead you, even when you don’t know where He’s going?

• What is one thing you’ve been hanging on to that you can surrender to God this week?

Set a goal each week of giving over some piece of your life. Start small, if you take on too much you will get discouraged and be tempted to quit.

Trust Him with your life! In the words of St. Faustina “Jesus I Trust in You!”

Optimism

Sometimes we Christians feel that we must always be happy, that somehow it might be sinful to be sad once in a while. While it is true we should have an interior joy at all times. The feeling of happiness is definitely not always going to be there.

Now, I admit I’m a bit of a pessimist. Some have described me as being a bit of an “Eeyore.” I think to be a true optimist you must first be a pessimist. You have to take care of the voice inside of you that says, “What is the worst that could happen?”

The worst case scenario for any of us is simply not wanting Jesus the most. There aren’t bad grades, lost jobs, hatred, messes, diseases, lies or disappointments that can possibly separate you from the love of God. Nothing can separate you from Him. When you plan ahead for the worst case scenario, you no longer need to worry. The plan for when everything seems broken in your life, is that Christ has already defeated the power of hell. He is victorious over it all.

Have you ever asked that rhetorical question if the glass is half empty or half full? Really, though, the glass is never half empty — or half full. The truth is the glass is always completely full. It may not be full of liquid, but there is always something inside of it. In your life you may not always be doing what you expected or wanted, but you are always doing something. The real question would be is the something that you are doing, moving you towards joy or slipping you away from it? It is impossible for the Christian to stand still in their faith life. We are either progressing towards Jesus or sliding backwards.

We put on the armor of cynicism because we are hurting, aching or afraid. We are a limited people by our fear. It can seem easier to reject the world, people, God or Love before they have a chance to hurt us again. It is the courageous who are able to prayerfully say yes. Is it a risk? Yes! You may be hurt again, in fact you probably will be, however with your yes you will be victorious.

So, today choose to do something beautiful, choose to be joy. Believe that everything good or bad is being transformed for his greater glory. Each step you make towards Him is a step towards beauty and joy.   

“Only those who believe in the beautiful — can collaborate in the miraculous.” – Ann Von Kamp

True Beauty

This past weekend 7 young women from our parish and I attended the True Beauty retreat in Port Orchard.  It was a wonderful retreat. Sr. Miriam Heidland, SOLT led us into a deeper understanding of what it means to embrace the true beauty of being a woman. One of the first talks was about Mary’s virtues. I suppose each young woman would have a different highlight for the retreat, but for me, this seemed to be the message God most wanted me to hear.

I know that I have heard of the 10 virtues of Mary before, however this time they really struck a chord. The speaker spoke about how Mary is the true example of true beauty. That Mary is beautiful because she loves.  We should as women, especially strive to follow Mary’s example. The 10 Virtues of Mary according to St. Louis de Montfort are: profound humility, lively faith, blind obedience, continual mental prayer, mortification in all things, surpassing purity, ardent charity, heroic patience, angelic sweetness and divine wisdom.

Out of these ten the one that I seemed to come back to repeatedly is “Mortification in all things.”  Mortification comes from a Latin word which means to die, which certainly doesn’t seem like something we should want to desire. However, in this virtue we are not speaking so much of a physical death but more of a death to selfish desires and a rising to a higher way of life. Mortification in all things means that we are not attached to worldly things, that we are not owned by our possessions. Many people feel that they must constantly have the best of everything or have the latest version of that thing. Our call is to keep our eyes on God at all times and see that he is the better choice.

Each of us have mortifications that God is asking us to embrace in our lives. For a student it might mean staying home and finishing homework when all of your friends are going to the movies. For a mother it might mean getting up in the middle of the night with a sick baby night after night. For others it might be not buying the newest and coolest gadget right away or loving the person in your life that most annoys you.  Mortification can free us from selfishness and sin.  People that I know that are disciplined and truly unselfish are truly free. They have a joyful freedom in knowing that they are possessed by God alone. God loves you and He wants you to be free. He doesn’t want you trapped and weighed down by earthly possessions and desires. As we progress in our spiritual life we will even be able to mortify ourselves in our own ideas and will.  It’s a challenge, certainly, but we can get there. 

So which one of the 10 virtues is God challenging you to right now? Take one of these principle virtues and start to work on it. All of the virtues are connected. If you grow in one virtue, all the other virtues will follow. Be open to the call of True beauty.

Veni Sancte Spiritus

Come Holy Spirit! Yesterday we celebrated our Confirmation Mass. What a glorious night for these 20 young men and women. I look forward to this celebration every year. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit can be a powerful and meaningful moment in anyone’s life and I love being a part of that process. It’s such a privilege to be part of their lives and witness them starting to come alive to God’s presence in their lives.

There is a lot of confusion about Confirmation. Many people feel that it is unnecessary and not really needed. Confirmation is actually a glorious Sacrament that more perfectly binds us to the Church and enables us to receive a full outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It’s a completion of our Baptism and it obligates us to be true witnesses of Christ through our word and actions. We can read about the first Confirmation in Acts 2:1-12. Take a moment to read through this passage. What a powerful day that must have been.

We shouldn’t receive the Sacrament of Confirmation just because we attended some classes, or because our parents expect us to, and certainly not because we want the presents. We should only receive the Sacrament of Confirmation if we decide for ourselves that we truly want to be a member of the Catholic Church for the rest of our lives. This needs to be our choice, not someone else’s.

These 20 young men and women have begun a life-long journey of conversion. Please join me in praying for each of them:

John Patrick “Thomas Aquinas” Abercrombie

Jennifer Anne “Genesius” Alinger

Matthew Patrick “Francis de Sales” Campbell

Sean Michael “Patrick” Campbell

Molly Elizabeth “Therese of Lisieux” Costello

Andrew Robert “Damien of Molokai” Cusack

Jordan Patrick “Michael” Daly

Joseph William “Barbara” Dapper

Marissa Rochelle “Rita of Cascia” Field

Sean William “Francis of Assisi” Johnson

Keith “Christopher” Tien Ky Luu

Vyvian “Elizabeth Ann Seton” Bich Vy Luu

Luke Kenneth “Luke” Marcoe

Damien Stephan “Peter” Maricich

Melissa Marie “Francis of Assisi” Maricich

Angela Renee “Rita of Cascia” Moran

Katherine Anne “Rose of Lima” Nelson

Sara Simone “Rose of Lima” Poppelaars

Bradly Jacob “Sebastian” Stevens

Jude Achombom “Jude Thaddeus” Tunyi