Welcome to Amazing Love: An Uplifting Roman Catholic Blog!
About This Blog
I assume that most of you who are reading this already know me, but for those of you who may have just stumbled upon this blog, here's a bit about me.
My name is Karen, and I am from Windsor, Ontario, Canada. I am 25 years old and have been raised a Roman Catholic. Every day, my love of God and passion for my faith grows stronger and deeper, due largely in part to the amazing people I have in my life! I have been very blessed by God with a loving family, terrific friends, and the man of my dreams, whom I can't wait to marry next year.
I have many hobbies and passions, but two of my main ones are to teach and to write. Currently, I work as a public and private tutor for students aged 4 to 15. It is a job I immensely enjoy. Every child has a special light inside of them, and to be able to help my students discover and then develop their special gifts is an incredible and exciting honour.
I also believe that much teaching can be done through writing. For the past year or so, I have worked to find an outlet to use writing as a teaching tool in order to spread the word and love of Jesus Christ to others. Upon much prayer and reflection, I felt God calling me to reach out to others in this way, and thus, "Amazing Love: Uplifting Words from a Roman Catholic Perspective" has finally come to fruition.
My name is Karen, and I am from Windsor, Ontario, Canada. I am 25 years old and have been raised a Roman Catholic. Every day, my love of God and passion for my faith grows stronger and deeper, due largely in part to the amazing people I have in my life! I have been very blessed by God with a loving family, terrific friends, and the man of my dreams, whom I can't wait to marry next year.
I have many hobbies and passions, but two of my main ones are to teach and to write. Currently, I work as a public and private tutor for students aged 4 to 15. It is a job I immensely enjoy. Every child has a special light inside of them, and to be able to help my students discover and then develop their special gifts is an incredible and exciting honour.
I also believe that much teaching can be done through writing. For the past year or so, I have worked to find an outlet to use writing as a teaching tool in order to spread the word and love of Jesus Christ to others. Upon much prayer and reflection, I felt God calling me to reach out to others in this way, and thus, "Amazing Love: Uplifting Words from a Roman Catholic Perspective" has finally come to fruition.
Amazing Love
I belong to the Folk Rock Choir at Corpus Christi Parish. Although our "reverent rock and roll" is a great deal of fun, our main goal is to complement the weekly readings and awaken enthusiasm for the faith in our congregation. I find myself quite inspired by the beautiful lyrics of the fun, yet liturgically appropriate songs that we sing, and often find them helpful to further my understanding and appreciation of the readings I've heard during the Mass. As such, this blog will highlight passages from the readings and/or lines from the songs that I've found especially moving and inspiring each week. I will discuss not only the surface words themselves, but the message that lies deeper within them, as well as ways in which to put these words into practice. After all, as the Second Reading from last Sunday urged us, we must not only be Hearers of the Word; we must be Doers. It is thus my goal with this blog to not only encourage you to think deeply about the Word of God, but to also help inspire you to actively incorporate what you have learned into your everyday actions and interactions.
"You Are My King (Amazing Love") by the Newsboys is one of my favourite songs that we sing in the choir. We didn't do this song this past Sunday, but since it is in the name of this blog, I thought it was fitting to discuss it today. If you are unfamiliar with the song, you can listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJrcwzBlaXw
This song tells of the ultimate act of sacrifice and love: Jesus's death and Resurrection. God sent His only Son to Earth to ultimately provide the world with salvation. Jesus endured immense pain and torture, physically and emotionally, for us. He was savagely whipped, cruelly mocked, and painfully nailed to the cross, for us. He gave up His life, for us. What amazing love this is indeed!
The Lord has shown to us through Jesus the strongest, most unconditional, most perfect love possible, and we are called to love in the same way. The love God would like us to embrace and embody is threefold: love of God, love of others, and love of self. While seemingly separate, these three strands of love are undoubtedly intertwined. We are all children of God, and thus, when we show love for others and for ourselves, we in turn show love for God. Likewise, when we fail to show love for ourselves or others, we fail to show love for God. When we participate in malicious gossip, fail to help someone, or put our own needs ahead of others', we hurt them, and in doing so, we hurt God.
Of course, try as we might, no one is perfect. We are all human, and we all make mistakes. What we are called to do is always try to do better. Let us commit ourselves to learning from our mistakes so that we can grow spiritually, socially, and emotionally. Let us also commit ourselves to living in a constant spirit of love, through our thoughts, words, and actions.
To be sure, some acts of selfless love may involve some degree of sacrifice; to show love in a pure and complete way, we are sometimes called to expend our time, energy, resources, or a combination thereof. I certainly experience this from time to time. However, when I encounter some perceived sacrifice, I pray to God, asking Him to help me remember that no hardship I have to endure is anything compared to the ultimate sacrifice of the Resurrection, and to help me persevere with strength, humility, and grace. I humbly encourage you to try something similar!
Let's end with a simple question for discussion:
What can you do this week to show love for God, others, and/or yourself on a deeper and more meaningful level?
I would love to hear your ideas, and I welcome and appreciate any comments!
May God bless you this week and always,
Karen
"You Are My King (Amazing Love") by the Newsboys is one of my favourite songs that we sing in the choir. We didn't do this song this past Sunday, but since it is in the name of this blog, I thought it was fitting to discuss it today. If you are unfamiliar with the song, you can listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJrcwzBlaXw
This song tells of the ultimate act of sacrifice and love: Jesus's death and Resurrection. God sent His only Son to Earth to ultimately provide the world with salvation. Jesus endured immense pain and torture, physically and emotionally, for us. He was savagely whipped, cruelly mocked, and painfully nailed to the cross, for us. He gave up His life, for us. What amazing love this is indeed!
The Lord has shown to us through Jesus the strongest, most unconditional, most perfect love possible, and we are called to love in the same way. The love God would like us to embrace and embody is threefold: love of God, love of others, and love of self. While seemingly separate, these three strands of love are undoubtedly intertwined. We are all children of God, and thus, when we show love for others and for ourselves, we in turn show love for God. Likewise, when we fail to show love for ourselves or others, we fail to show love for God. When we participate in malicious gossip, fail to help someone, or put our own needs ahead of others', we hurt them, and in doing so, we hurt God.
Of course, try as we might, no one is perfect. We are all human, and we all make mistakes. What we are called to do is always try to do better. Let us commit ourselves to learning from our mistakes so that we can grow spiritually, socially, and emotionally. Let us also commit ourselves to living in a constant spirit of love, through our thoughts, words, and actions.
To be sure, some acts of selfless love may involve some degree of sacrifice; to show love in a pure and complete way, we are sometimes called to expend our time, energy, resources, or a combination thereof. I certainly experience this from time to time. However, when I encounter some perceived sacrifice, I pray to God, asking Him to help me remember that no hardship I have to endure is anything compared to the ultimate sacrifice of the Resurrection, and to help me persevere with strength, humility, and grace. I humbly encourage you to try something similar!
Let's end with a simple question for discussion:
What can you do this week to show love for God, others, and/or yourself on a deeper and more meaningful level?
I would love to hear your ideas, and I welcome and appreciate any comments!
May God bless you this week and always,
Karen
Karen, I am so proud of what you are doing, just as I am when you sing in the church choir. Several people have told me that you have the voice of an angel and you certainly have the loving heart of one too. Keep up the good work! Love, Mom
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