Thirsting for God

Oh God, you are my God, for you I long; for you my soul is thirsting.  My body pines for you like a dry, weary land without water.  So I gaze on you in the sanctuary to see your strength and your glory.
-Psalm 63: 2-9

These  verses from the Divine Office Morning Prayer (Psalter Week I) are very powerful and speak to my inner soul.  A soul at times filled with worry, doubt, and insecurity.  A tender soul who desires to be a good Christian: A giver not a taker, a lover not a hater.  I struggle with that sense of purpose and meaning in my life.  My soul thirsts for something much richer and deeper than the temporal things life.  I go to my job every day.  I maintain my home.  I go to Mass and Confession regularly.  I pray and say my rosary.  However, my soul seems to thirst for something much deeper and more profound.  I feel like my body is in a desert amidst a secular culture so wrapped up in material possessions, sexual pervasiveness, wealth, and power.  All of these material possessions are like alcohol for my soul.  They are intoxicating and tempting.  However, drinking such alcohol keeps me in a state of de-hydration.  The pure water of the soul, that water straight from the Lord's cistern, rehydrates and refreshes.

I look at the things I possess in my life.  I think of how many things I really don't need that are stock piled in my attic and closets.  What can I give up to charity?  What can I sell and put the proceeds into a savings account?  What subscriptions can I give up to cut down on costs?  How can I simplify my life?  I feel like so many of the "things" I own and don't use are a waste in the desert.  They are not life producing or fruitful.  They are just around gathering dust. 

This summer as I reflect on ways to re-hydrate my soul and focus on the strength and glory of God, I want to explore ways to live more frugally adopting a poverty of spirit that is quite counter-cultural to society today.  This will be a challenge especially with so many temptations to buy, buy, buy.  But, all I really need are the basics.  I discovered years ago I cannot hang out with the wealthy or pretend I'm "bigger" than I actually am.  It just makes me over-spend and then look like a "fake."  Yes, some people are blessed with wealth.  I happen to not be one of those types.  This is where I need to turn to God and thank him for the blessings He's given me.  Take what I have and cherish them.  Don't live excessively but simply. 

I do not want my soul to continue to thirst for the Lord.  I desire my soul to bathe from the waterfall of the Holy Spirit. 

-J.

An Antidote to Addiction

I recently read a profound article in the Catholic Herald UK titled Pope Benedict knows that this is the age of addiction   At the end of the article, the author states that the Gospel is an "antidote to addiction."  I totally agree!  What a powerful burden addiction has on society today. 

I think about all of the families torn apart by addiction to painkillers, hard core drugs, alcohol,sex and even food.  (Sugar has similar effects to cocaine.  Scary!)  How many mothers have abandoned their children because of meth amphetamine addiction?  How many wives have been abused by their drunk husbands?  How many kids have flunked out of school because they are partyin' hard, getting high off of marijuana, crystal meth, ecstasy, and other pills?  How many people have been thrown into jail for dealing heroin? How many women have prostituted themselves for drugs? How many people have died from a drug overdose?  Thousands and thousands of people! Addicts are growing by leaps and bounds.  Frightening!

In such a negative, depressive and lonely society, people often turn to drugs as an escape.  They may even want to fit into the crowd.  Drugs are stronger and more powerful than ever before.  Drugs are cheaper and easily available.  Technological advances, such as the Internet, makes access to the poison of choice convenient.  Television shows like Intervention and Dog the Bounty Hunter often highlight the deleterious effects of drugs on the lives of addicts and their families, but people do not always get cleaned up. It doesn't help that drug advertisements on television have added to an increase in prescription pill usage. (I don't have stats on this.  Just a hunch..)

Even in biblical times people faced addictions but nothing like what we see today.  I'm sure Jesus when he was alive cured many people from addictions.  He can do the same thing today:  It just takes faith, love, and hope.  It takes a willingness to fight the demons of addiction and to be made whole again.  The antidote to addiction is handing over oneself completely to Our Lord!  Through prayer and a commitment to recovery, addiction can be overcome.  Love and support from family is the key.  I suspect many people who do have an addiction of some kind feel alone and vulnerable.  They lack the self-worth to get cleaned up.  As a Christian community, especially as Catholics, we have a social and moral obligation to help those who are struggling with addictions.  I hate the idea of allowing these suffering people to hurt themselves and their families.  Each one of them are children of God and created in God's image. 

Addictions are a miserable reality of our society.  Each one of us knows of at least one person struggling with an addiction.  It's up to us to reach out and try to help in anyway possible.  We should turn to Jesus Christ and his Blessed Mother in fervent prayer.

Drug addiction is the Devil's delusion of grandeur! It's time to fight with Divine assistance!

-J.

The Holy Trinity - One God in Three Persons

Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.  And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.    -Matthew 28:19-20

Today is the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity.  What exactly does Holy Trinity mean?  This is one of the mysteries of the Christian faith that's not easy to define.  The bible only mentions the words "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."  There's no true explanation.  Christians believe the Holy Trinity is represented by one god in three persons.  (Not three separate Gods!) Interesting I've heard three different real-life examples of what the holy trinity is all about.  Each one of these helped me understand the concept of the Trinity much more clearly.  I'd like to share them on my blog.  I will list them as educational subjects.....

Psychology & Home Economics 

A woman gets married then she has a child.  Her child has a baby.  This woman now goes by three titles (or personhoods): She's  a wife, a mother, and a grandmother.  (She's the same woman and has not turned schizo changing into three different personalities!)  The same concept can be related to a man.  Once he gets married and has children, he will become a husband, a father, and a grandfather. 

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Astronomy & Physics

The sun shines high in the sky and its rays shoot down to the earth warming the atmosphere.  The sun is representative of the Father sending rays of light towards the earth with an abundance of love.  The rays themselves can be viewed as the Son (Jesus Christ)
who lived and walked on the earth, dying for our redemption.  The heat generated from the sun and its rays is the Holy Spirit.  The sun, the rays, and the warmth all come from a single planetary source.



   Mathematics & Geometry 

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The equilaterial triangle has three congruent angles of equal 60 degree angles.  Each angle is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  If all three angles were not connected, the one geometric figure wouldn't be a triangle as we know of it.  One God in three persons when viewed as a triangle with three connecting angles makes sense.


I'm sure there are a ton of other creative ways to better understand the Trinity.  It's one of those mysteries of faith that's always challenging yet so important to Christianity!

-J.