"Three Things I Pray"

A major theme in this past Sunday's liturgy was the ability to see. In the Gospel, we heard the story of Jesus curing the blind man, and the Pharisees, who, in contrast, had physical vision, but lacked the spiritual clarity to see the pure goodness of Jesus's act of love. Further, we heard of Jesus as being our "light".

Light is so important; without it, we would have a very difficult time getting through our day. Light illuminates our environment so that we know where we are going, and allows us to perform a variety of important tasks. In that vein, Jesus as our spiritual light helps us to see where we are going, by revealing to us the unique gifts we possess and the path down which we are meant to use them, as well as his own life as the most shining, perfect example of how to behave and love. In addition, the light of God helps us to see when we have strayed from our path by making decisions that are not in keeping with the word and love of God. When this happens, we can then follow the light by making amends with God and anyone we have hurt, and correcting our behaviour to be more like Christ.

This last point emphasizes the fact that to "see" is not entirely enough; we must also take an active role in applying that which we see and learn.

In relation to this idea, my choir sang "Day by Day" from the musical Godspell as our second recessional hymn. Here are the main lyrics:

Day by day, day by day
O, dear Lord, three things I pray
To see thee more clearly
Love thee more dearly
Follow thee more nearly 
Day by day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWQEUzOACm4

This uplifting, melodious song gives us great advice for three wonderful things for which we can pray.

1. To See Thee More Clearly

We can pray to God for help with more profoundly understanding His word, both when we hear it during Mass, and when we encounter it during personal liturgical reading. We can ask Him to help us not only see or hear the words but to better comprehend and remember the meanings and teachings within them. We can also pray, as we have discussed in recent blogs, for greater clarity when it comes to discerning one's path in life and figuring out how to live in a way that will best glorify the Lord and serve those around us. Furthermore, we can ask for greater ability to recognize our sins and need for reconciliation with God.

A year or so ago, I heard a metaphor on a Matthew Kelly CD that really stuck with me. He asks us to suppose that our car's windshield is dirty. When we are driving away from the light, we don't necessarily realize the dirt is there; everything looks more or less fine. However, when we change direction, and the light hits our windshield, we suddenly realize it is marred and in need of a good cleaning. Likewise, when our heart and mind are not attuned to the Lord, but distracted by a multitude of other things, it is easy to overlook our sins and think that "everything is fine". With humble prayer, however, we can become more clearly attuned to God's love and word, and we will be better able to tell when our souls are in need of a little (or a significant) purification.

2. Love Thee More Dearly

Is simply knowing what God wants us to do good enough? It is a great start, but that's all it is - a start. It is the total acceptance and embracing of God's word and His will for us that helps us start to move more significantly along our spiritual journey.

Jesus explained that the most important commandment is to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, all our souls, and all our minds. That is, the loving, serving, and glorification of the Lord should be our top priority. When we completely love God and fully accept His will for us, we are in turn better equipped to love and serve others with a pure, Christlike love.

3. Follow Thee More Nearly

Okay, so we have determined what God wants of us, and we have lovingly embraced it. Now comes the hard work; following that path and sticking to it! There can be many roadblocks along the way, such opposition, physical struggles, doubts, fears, and so on. Indeed, following God's plan can involve a lot of self-sacrifice of our time, resources, and desires. When times get tough, what are we to do? Again, we can always pray to the Lord and ask him to help us stay strong and carry on. I often pray to God for help with cultivating what I call the "3 Ps": Patience, Positivity, and Perseverance, and I find that God is always there to help me along. Moreover, as mentioned above, when we do stray from our path (it happens to us all!) we can pray to God for both forgiveness and also the wisdom and fortitude needed to replace our sinful behaviours with more loving ones.


Finally, the title of the song, "Day by Day", reminds us that seeking to cultivate greater clarity, love, and perseverance is not a one-time thing; it is an ongoing process. We receive opportunities to learn and grow every single day, in every experience and encounter, because God is always right there with us. There is no ceiling over our ability to grow in our relationship with the Lord. It is a perpetual, active journey, and how great it is to know that we are never on this journey alone.

May God bless you today and always,
Karen

"Follow Me"

A significant theme of last Sunday's readings is that God has a calling for each and every one of us - a unique, beautiful, grace-filled calling in which we can do wonderful things.

Amid this fast-paced, busy world, can we hear that call?

And are we willing to answer it?

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In the Second Reading, we heard that God has "saved us and called us with a holy calling, not in virtue of our works but in virtue of his own purpose and the grace which He gave us in Christ Jesus ages ago" (Timothy 1:9). Then, in the Gospel, the Lord said of Jesus, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him", shortly after which, Jesus said to "Rise and have no fear" (Matthew 17: 5, 7).

Taken together, these messages are very powerful and inspiring. We can see that God has a wonderful plan for each of us, and has mercifully and generously provided us with the graces needed to fulfill it. Even more, He gave us His only son as an ideal example of how to live one's life as a means for serving others, glorifying the Lord, and manifesting God's plan, even when it means enduring hardship and making great sacrifice. To be sure, to accept God's call, which may or may not be exactly how we had envisioned our life when we were formulating hopes and dreams for the future, and to pursue the fulfillment of that call, can be challenging at times. Yet, as Jesus reminds us, we should "rise and have no fear", because He is ever at our side, loving us, guiding us, and helping us along our way.

In keeping with this theme, my choir sang Paul McCartney's "Follow Me" during Communion this past Sunday. Here are the lyrics, as well as a link to the video.

You lift up my spirits, you shine on my soul
Whenever I'm empty, you make me feel whole
I can rely on you to guide me through any situation
You hold up a sign that reads: "Follow me"

You give me direction, you show me the way
You give every reason to face every day
I can depend on you to send me to any destination
You hold up a sign that reads: "Follow me, follow me"

Down the track of loneliness, down the path of love
Through the woods of heartache to the end
On the shores of sorrow, where the waves of hope crash in
The perfect place for me to find a friend

You lead me to places that I've never been
Uncovering secrets that I've never seen
I can rely on you to guide me through any situation
You hold up a sign that reads: "Follow me, follow me
Follow me, follow me
Follow me, follow me
Follow me, follow me"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzHkYUPf59s

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The title, and thus the main theme of this song, in my choir's interpretation, is that God is lovingly asking us to follow Him - that is, to accept the plan and calling He has for us, surrender our hearts to Him, and go about life seeking to serve others and glorify Him in the distinct way He has shaped for us, using our unique God-given gifts and talents.

Also of note is that He is not ordering us, He is asking us. He gave us all free will, and thus, we are given a choice.

Will we choose to open our minds and hearts so that we can hear the call God is making to us?

Will we then choose to answer that call? That is, will we submit ourselves to the Lord and seek first and foremost to do His will?

Will we seek to help others? Will we seek to live and love in a Christlike way in all that we do?

From the final verse one can infer that when we do choose to listen to God and to follow Him along the path He has crafted for us, we will experience opportunities and joys we never thought imaginable! From good comes more good, when that good is rooted in the love of God and His word.

-----

What is your calling? How are you fulfilling it? I would love for you to share your thoughts.

Let us all pray to be able to clearly discern God's unique, loving calling for us, and to more greatly possess the patience, positivity, and perseverance needed to carry out His plan.

Love and blessings to you all,

Karen

"Trust and Obey"

Hello, wonderful people!

After a long absence, I am finally back with my latest blog post. My apologies for taking so long to return to the bloggersphere. Life has been beautifully busy with many things on the go, most joyfully, my marriage to the most amazing person in the whole world! I have never known and experienced happiness as profoundly as I have since being united by God to him about 9 months ago!

With life's changes and new experiences, I found that my habit of writing this blog fell by the wayside. There always seemed to be one thing or another I needed to do first before this, and then, as tends to happen to us all, I would forget. The longer it had been since I wrote my last entry, the less it was on my mind. But, lately, I have felt God gently nudging me towards getting back into the habit of writing to you, and most significantly so today. So, here I am!

Having been so greatly blessed, I truly feel it is not only my duty but also my sheer joy to share the word of God's love with others. With that, let's take a look together at the beautiful nuggets of God's amazing love in today's Mass.

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Today's readings, and particularly the Gospel, lovingly implored us not to be bogged down by earthly worries and concerns. Specifically, we heard that we should not focus our energy on comparatively trivial things like our clothing or our food. More broadly, we were warned against getting ensnared by the mires of doubt, worry, and anxiety.

From a young age, I have been a worrier. I recall rather clearly spending sleepless nights in grade school, worrying about one thing or another. Today, as an adult, I still find myself to be a bit of a habitual worrier.

There always seems to be so much to worry about. What if this goes wrong... What if I can't do this... What if things don't go my way... What if... What if?

Worry can be exhausting, emotionally and even physically. We lack sleep, we lack concentration, and we lack focus on the better, bigger picture, beyond our worry of the moment. Worst of all, we lose sight of the fact that, as our Mass readings told us today, we are called to have unwavering faith in the Lord.

The Lord loves us so immensely, so unconditionally, that we cannot truly describe or even conceive of it. He loves us so amazingly, and as such, He will never lead us astray. He will always be there at our sides, protecting us, strengthening us, and guiding us along our way.

We just need to trust Him, place our hand in His, and stride confidently onward, knowing that whatever happens, our hearts are in God's keeping. He knows what is best for us, beyond what we can comprehend, and so we need only believe and trust.

In keeping with this theme, my choir sang "Trust and Obey" by Big Daddy Weave. Here are some of the lyrics, and a Youtube link for your viewing and listening pleasure.

1. When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,
   What a glory He sheds on our way!
   While we do His good will, He abides with us still,
   And with all who will trust and obey.
   • Refrain:
     Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
     To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
2. But we never can prove the delights of His love
   Until all on the altar we lay;
   For the favor He shows, for the joy He bestows,
   Are for them who will trust and obey.
3. Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet,
   Or we’ll walk by His side in the way;
   What He says we will do, where He sends we will go;
   Never fear, only trust and obey.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWZup0cfI-Y

Trust and obey. Easier said than done? Perhaps. When things are going great for us, and problems are happily few and far between, it isn't difficult to recognize God's blessings and gifts to us, provided we 'stop and smell the roses' and take the time to reflect. Rather, it is when our road is full of obstacles, stumblings, and frustrations that it can be difficult to identify and appreciate God's workings in our lives. However, this doesn't mean that they aren't there! God is always there, doing marvelous things for us, even when things seem the most bleak - perhaps especially when they do!

We have probably all experiences losses, setbacks, and failures, and, at the time, didn't understand why these things happened. However, I truly believe that each experience, be it seemingly good or bad on the surface, is a positive stepping stone down the journey of our lives, a journey which God has personally and lovingly crafted for each and every one of us. I can now look back at past hurts and difficulties that I so disdained at the time and realize that they were actually priceless gifts that helped move me along my journey in a more positive direction, towards my husband, my job, and my personal and spiritual growth. I can thus feel grateful for the experiences which previously caused me pain. How awesome is that?

Let us try to bear this idea in mind when we feel bogged down by our earthly worries. Despite all the what ifs, when we truly surrender ourselves to God's love and His will for us, we can comfort ourselves with the knowledge that no matter what happens, no matter whether things do or do not turn out the way we think they 'should', God's providence will ultimately play itself out in the best possible way. We may not see it immediately, but we just need to be patient, and trust in the Lord's goodness and benevolence with a humble and hopeful heart.

If we are not to worry about earthly things, what should we worry about - that is, on what should we focus our emotional and physical energy? Today's readings gave us that knowledge, too - we should focus ourselves on doing the good works that God has intended us to do. We should focus our energy on prayerfully discerning God's will for us, and patiently, positively, and perseverently carrying it out. Yes, there will be challenges along the way. That is inevitable. But, anything worth doing is worth doing right, and worth doing all the way - and what is more worth doing than fulfilling God's plan for us?

Moreover, as both the readings and the song "Trust and Obey" tell us, surrendering ourselves completely to God is the key to experiencing the greatest possible joy. It is not that life will always be supremely easy. Instead, it is knowing that even when we face difficulties, we can never be truly down and out because God knows and will lovingly provide what is best for us. In this way, we can persevere, and can find something positive in any situation, which will even better equip us to continue to do God's will and spread His love and mercy to others.

To truly love and serve God is to know true joy!

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Fully embracing and living out an attitude of spiritual surrender and a triumph over worry is not an easy task, and cannot necessarily be done overnight. We need the support of those around us to help us put aside our personal, worldly worries and to instead offer everything up to God. My husband has been incredibly helpful in inspiring me to adopt this way of thinking and feeling, and I am so very grateful. Furthermore, let us always turn to God through fervent, humble, passionate prayer, asking Him to help us cast aside our worries and focus on carrying out His will instead. We can ask Him for the physical, emotional, and spiritual strength, loving patience, and humble compassion needed to do so, and we can in turn ask him for renewal when we stumble along the way.

The Lord is reaching out His hand to us.

Will we fully trust in Him, and reach back?

I pray that we will!


May God bless you, today and always!

- Karen

"Glory and Praise to Our God"

Hello, everyone!

It has been a long while since my last post, but there is a very happy reason behind my absence. In just a few short days, I will be getting married! The last couple of months have been happily busy with my shower, moving into a new home, and preparing for my upcoming wedding. I apologize for not posting in so long, and I wanted to be sure to get in a quick post before my wedding.

Today, my choir sang "Glory and Praise to Our God" as our processional hymn, and this song really spoke to me because it effectively captures the spirit of effervescent joy and gratitude that is burning inside my heart!

Here are some of the lyrics:

Glory and praise to our God

Who alone gives light to our days

Many are the blessings He bears

To those who trust in His ways

We, the daughters and sons of Him

Who built the valleys and plains

Praise the wonders our God has done

In every heart that sings!

Many are the blessings of God indeed! And great the joy within the song in my heart!

Around Christmastime of 2010, I prayed to God very fervently, asking Him to help me find the man I was meant to be with, the man for whom I had been created, and to help me recognize him as such. At this time, I was lonely, emotionally stagnant, and lacking much direction in my life.

Within two weeks of making these heartfelt pleas, my prayers were indeed answered. I met the man who would go on to become my fiance, and my life would never be the same! All my experiences, both the highs and lows of my life, suddenly made sense, as I realized that every step I had taken in my life had led me in the direction of my beautiful soulmate. Not only that, but God had been (and continues to be) guiding me, with His incredible wisdom and love, every step of the way.

Being with my fiance has helped me to understand and embody the true meanings of joy, gratitude, love, and faith. My outlook on life has become more positive; my work ethic has gotten stronger; my efforts for self-improvement have deepened; and most importantly, my faith has strengthened and deepened in ways I never knew possible.

To be partaking in the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony with this man, my favourite person in the world, and to be joined, heart and soul for eternity, is the most beautiful, joyous, profound gift I could ever be given on this Earth, and I thank God every single day!

My life is certainly an example of the notion in the song that when we trust in God, and surrender our lives to Him, heart and soul, we will experience the most glorious blessings imaginable!

I would love for you to share some of your experiences! What are some of the amazing blessings that God has bestowed upon you lately? What is making you happy? And how can we share this happiness with others?

May God bless you, today and always!

Karen

"A Pure Heart Create For Me, O God"

Today's Gospel reading was a very moving and thought-provoking one. In it, a woman caught in the act of adultery is about to be stoned; when told of this, however, Jesus says that he who is without sin can be the one to cast the first stone. 

In other words, as we are all sinners, we do not have the right to judge others. None of us is perfect, and while our lives, beliefs, and actions vary greatly, the fact of the matter is, we are all children of God, flawed, but loved. We are called to remember this, and to apply it in our actions and attitudes towards others, not just during Lent, but always.

Something I have struggled with in the past is having negative thoughts and feelings about those who purposely and perpetually reject God and Jesus and seek to denigrate Christians. I have felt angry and offended by such attitudes and behaviours. However, as Jesus reminds us in the Gospel, we should not feel anger and contempt for others, no matter their actions. Instead, we should feel compassion.

The ability to replace contempt with compassion is something for which I have prayed to God on more than one occasion. God has helped me with this by helping me realize that those who have unfortunately distanced themselves from God's love are missing out on a truly wonderful experience. We as devout Catholics can attest to the astoundingly amazing feeling of God's love and grace. During difficult times, we can take comfort in this love and in our faith that God will provide for us. During happy times, we can cultivate gratitude and therefore joy unto the Lord, thus multiplying our happiness exponentially. Yes, being enveloped in the glory of God's love is a marvellous thing that is difficult to put into words, and I feel compassion for those who sadly cannot or choose not to be a part of this love.

We have discussed in previous posts about the positive things we can do to help others, even those we don't know, such as works of charity, prayer, and humble sacrifice. To take it a step further, let us strive to cultivate a genuine, humble, peaceful sense of compassion and caring for everyone, even if their attitudes and actions are not in line with our own. We can, as our seasonal Lenten Psalm tells us, ask God to grant us a pure heart.

Here are some excerpts from Psalm 51.

Refrain:

Have mercy on us Lord, for we have sinned

Verse 1:

Have mercy on me God, in your kindness

In your compassion, blot out my offense

O wash me more and more from my guilt

And cleanse me from my sin

Verse 3:

A pure heart create for me, O God

Put a steadfast spirit within me

Do not cast me away from your presence

Nor deprive me of your holy spirit

We see in this Psalm that asking for God's forgiveness and help in avoiding sin is just the first step in a true reconciliation. In addition to rejecting the negative, we are also called to embrace the positive; that is, we are called to become more pure of heart and to follow Jesus's example of love, charity, and mercy. We know from the Gospel that His love, charity, and mercy were not reserved for a select few, for those who were always above reproach; rather, Jesus loved and made time to see and help everyone. Let us try to follow in those amazing footsteps!  

It is not to say that we should ignore or accept certain behaviours that we know to be wrong. Rather, we are called, as my priest reminded us today, to "hate the sin, but love the sinner". I think these are wonderful words to live by. Emptying one's heart of negative attitudes and feelings and replacing them with love, compassion, mercy, gratitude, and generosity makes one's heart so light and more ready to give, forgive, and grow more fully in Christ's love.

Let us end with two more excerpts from two other songs that my choir sang today. The first is from "We Are the Body of Christ", a hymn written by the friend of a previous pastor, and the second is from "Get Together" by the Youngbloods.

We are the hands of Christ

We are the hands of Christ

We will lift up our hands

We will tear down the walls

We are the hands of Christ

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Come on, people now

Smile on your brother

Everybody get together

Try to love one another right now

Finally, let us all take a moment to pray in thanksgiving for our new pope, Pope Francis, and to ask God to bless him and help him to lead our Church in the most Christlike manner possible.

May God bless you, today and always!

- Karen

"We Are Christ For One Another"

In Sunday's Homily, our priest spoke about a major goal of ours as Catholics: for everyone to go to Heaven. 

Jesus Christ made the ultimate sacrifice of love when He laid down His life for us on the cross, in order that we might achieve salvation. However, there are many who willfully reject this loving gift, or otherwise take it for granted. Further, even the most devout Catholic is not without sin; none of us are perfect. We unfortunately all make mistakes and do things we shouldn't from time to time. As such, we must continually work to make sure that Jesus's beautiful gift has not been in vain. We must, as yesterday's Recessional hymn says, be "Christ for one another". Let us examine some of the songs lyrics.

We are called, we are chosen

We are Christ for one another

We are promised to tomorrow

While we are for Him today

We are sign, we are wonder

We are sower, we are seed

We are harvest, we are hunger

We are question, we are creed

Then where can we stand justified?

In what can we believe?

In no one else but Christ who suffered

Nothing more than Christ who rose

Who was justice for the poor

Who was rage against the night

Who was hope for peaceful people

Who was light

This song emphasizes that Jesus lived a life of loving and helping others, as particularly exemplified by His death and Resurrection. We are in turn called, the song explains, to live now in a Christlike way. We are called to light the way for others, bring about justice, and fight against the darkness of evil. We are called to help others, even if it means sacrifice or even suffering on our part.

As we have discussed in a previous post, sometimes showing love for someone involves some degree of sacrifice. We may have to give up our free time, money, or other resources to help someone in need. Perhaps there was something else we had planned on doing with our time, or something we had hoped to buy with that extra spending money; however, we are called to put the needs of others ahead of our own, so sometimes we have to do without. However, when we truly love someone and genuinely want to help, it doesn't really feel like doing without, does it?

It is not too difficult to find ways to help those around us. But how can we "be Christ" for those whom we have never met? How can we help people in other parts of the world, and even those who have gone before us?

I am currently reading a wonderful book about Mary's apparitions in Fatima, Portugal in 1917. It is entitled "Fatima For Today: The Urgent Marian Message of Hope", by Fr. Andrew Apostoli. One of the predominant themes in the book, as derived from Mary's words during those apparitions, is that we are called to make self-sacrifices, in order to make reparations for sins that have offended the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and at the same time, to work towards the conversion and salvation of souls. 

The book explains that when we make any loving sacrifice, be it big or small, we can offer it up to God in prayer. When we make acts of love, especially if they are difficult in some way for us, we can ask God to accept them as a sign of love for Him and for humanity.

The same can be done in times when we must endure physical or emotional suffering. We can lovingly offer up our pain to God, and ask Him to help us get through it with the grace of the Holy Spirit.

With fervent prayer and reverent reflection, we can begin to see our times of difficulty as opportunities to help others and show love for God, which in turn can potentially make them seem less unpleasant. This is not an easy task, to be sure, and not a change of perspective that can happen immediately. However, God is there to help! We can pray to God for greater strength, clarity, insight, patience, and perseverance, and have faith that that which we ask for genuinely, lovingly, and unselfishly, He will grant us.

Let us consider, then, the many ways in which we can be "Christ for one another" in the coming days, months, and years. I would love to hear your thoughts on the subject - feel free to leave a comment! It would be great to get a discussion going.

May God bless you today and always!

Karen

"Lift Up Your Hearts to the Lord"

A predominant theme in this past week's readings is that of willingly and gladly surrendering oneself to God. In the First Reading (Isaiah 6.1-2, 3-8) we were given a wonderful example of this. When Isaiah hears God ask, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?", he replies "Here am I; send me!"

Further, in the Gospel (Luke 5.1-11), we heard of the Apostles' efforts in their fishing boats. After a long time without success, Jesus helped them catch an abundance of fish. More importantly, however, Jesus told them, "from now on, you will be catching people", and to "not be afraid" about this challenge.

Between these two readings were the Psalm, which encouraged us to sing the praises of the Lord, and the Second Reading, in which we heard of the importance of spreading the Good News of God's love and Jesus's sacrifice on the cross for us. We can see, then, that spreading the Word of God is very much a part of our call as Catholics, and that we are to do so with great joy and positivity.

In keeping with these themes, my choir sang "Lift Up Your Hearts" as our processional hymn. It is an upbeat song that is a great way to start off the Mass. Here are some of the words:

Lift up your hearts to the Lord

Praise God's gracious mercy

Sing out your joy to the Lord

Whose love is enduring

Shout with joy to the Lord, all the Earth

Praise the glory of His name

Say to God, "How wondrous your works!

How glorious your name!"

We are indeed called to propagate the faith and spread the Good News of God's love for us. In order to do so to the best of our ability, there are a few things we can do first within ourselves. Recall that in a previous post, we discussed that before we "renew the face of the earth", we should first try to "renew the depths of our hearts", thus better equipping ourselves to truly and completely do God's will.

One major thing, as has been discussed in several blog posts already, is to cultivate greater gratitude, which in turn cultivates greater joy and peace. As the above song says, let us contemplate God's many wondrous works! Let us spend time reflecting on and rejoicing in the many wonderful works God has done in our lives, and the many beautiful gifts - spiritual, physical, and social - that He has given to us. When we can fully recognize and appreciate our many blessings, our hearts become lighter, stronger, and more prepared to passionately spread this joy and gratitude with others.

Also, one very important and significant way to "lift up our hearts" and "sing out our joy" is to strive to participate more actively and meaningfully in the Mass. 

It is a psychological principle that when we have done something many, many times and are thus completely familiar with how to do it, the process becomes automatic. When something is automatic, it can also be rather mindless - that is, we can do it without thinking about it. For example, when you have been driving for a while, you no longer need to think about which pedal is the gas and which is the brake; your foot just "knows" where to go. Similarly, we all likely sang our national anthem day in and day out when we were in school. Being so routinized, we could sing the words without having to think much about them. 

The same thing can happen in Mass. Other than in special seasons, such as Lent, the songs and especially the spoken responses are, for the most part, very much the same week after week, year after year. We become very familiar with the words that are to be said, and as a result, it can be easy for their recitation to be done with mindless automaticity. This is a problem I used to have. I would say the responses and prayers but at the same time, be thinking about what I was going to make for lunch, or homework I had to complete, and so on. Spiritual reading, prayer, and mindful practice have helped me to not do this anymore. Of course, I am not perfect, and I do slip up once in a while, but I work very hard to stay focused on what I am singing or saying to the best of my ability.

Let us all commit ourselves to being more mindful of what we are really saying when we recite the Holy Holy, Memorial Acclamation, and so on. Really, truly try to reflect on the words and their surface and latent meanings. The same thing goes when we are singing along with the hymns.

When we more fully comprehend and embrace what we are saying or singing at Mass, we can truly "shout with joy" and express that conviction by speaking and singing in a loud, clear, passionate voice. Our hearts and spirits can be invigorated, and we will get so much more out of the Mass. Then, we are better prepared to go out into the world and share what we have learned and experienced with others.

On a different note, we were all likely quite shocked and perhaps upset at the news of the Pope's resignation. Let us "lift up our hearts" in fervent prayer to the Lord for the Pope and for the positive future of our Church! 

May God bless you, today and always!

Karen