Ignatian Contemplation

There are two main ways to study or enter into Scripture. One is Lectio Divina, and the other is Ignatian Contemplation.

This is the way that I am not as familiar with, although this project should change that. Therefore, I found a wonderful website to explain it. It explains it way better than I ever could.

Ignatian Contemplation

Basically, you're placing yourself into the Bible story. You imagine what it's like to actually be there. How cool is that?


What do you think? Have you tried Ignatian Contemplation?

You are so loved.
~Emily

10 Minutes

I want to issue a challenge. One that I am sure to fail at more times than I will ever care to admit. But that is why it is called a challenge.

First I have a few questions...


How much time do you actually spend on Facebook everyday?

How much time did you spend on Pinterest today?

Not to forget, Buzzfeed, Twitter, Instagram and my personal favorite: Netflix.

Think about it for a moment. Think about all the time we spend wasting time.


I know we have busy lives. I have one. We have days where we go, go, go and we feel that we never have a minute to spare.

The days when that line at Starbucks is just way too long because we have so much to do! (First world problems much?)

We all have busy lives.


Yet somehow we usually make time for social media. I know you do it. At least I do. :)

With all the busy-ness and noise, we let God take the back seat. Yes, we do. You know we do.


So I am issuing a challenge.

Spend 10 minutes reading the Bible each day. Just ten minutes. Try to make it a daily habit.

That's it. It's simple.

We all have ten minutes. Let's spend those ten minutes in the Bible.


I said simple. I didn't say easy. Making any kind of good habit is usually hard, but it's totally worth it.
Here's a little bit of advice to help you get started. In most cases, it helps when setting goals to have a specific time to do something. For me, that is going to be the morning. I always have coffee in the morning, so now I am going to try to wake up a little bit earlier to have coffee with Jesus, in His Book.

And for the days when I wake up late, I can always spend ten minutes reading the Bible before I fall asleep.


I hope you choose to take this challenge. I promise the Lord will blow you away with what He has to say to you when you open His Book and listen. It's well worth the time. What better way to spend ten minutes?

Be not Afraid.
~Emily

Does It Matter?

A few weeks ago, in anticipation of the upcoming school year, I was doing research about the best ways to study and learn.

What I found overwhelmingly (using a search engine and Netflix) is that we remember what matters to us personally.

And it made so much sense.


There are things I remember so well, defining moments in my life that I will never forget. I remember exact words that were once said that changed my life.

I remember them because they matter to me, personally.


So a few months into this project, I wanted to go back to the purpose.

Why the Bible Freaks?


The answer is very simple. Because we want the Bible to matter to us personally. The Bible is not just words to read and then forget about. It is not just words on a page.

But if  we're not paying attention, we can let it be. We can read the Bible and totally let it pass us by. We can read the Bible everyday and never really "get" it.

The Bible has a message for you and me and it needs to matter to each one of us personally.


My greatest fear with this project is that you will just read our reflections and posts, without letting it affect you and without engaging the Bible in a real way.

My greatest prayer for this project is just the opposite: that it will help you to see how the Bible applies to you personally.

This project calls me to search, to pray, to deepen my faith, and to dive into Scripture. It invites me to take a look and see what God is doing in my life and to see what messages He has for me. That's what I want it to do for you.


I find myself in the Bible more often than I would like to admit. I find myself in the Prodigal Son, and I find myself in the Woman at the Well. I see myself in them and I see my mess, but more importantly I see God's love. I see a love so great it gave everything for me...and then He wrote it down.

I don't want the Bible to be just words on a page, not for me or for you. I want it to become alive in your life. I want your life and mine to be a reflection of the living Word.

Because these words were not just meant to be written or read; they were meant to be lived!


So live it. Start right now. Take some time to think about if the Bible does matter to you personally. If so, why? If not, why not? And do you want it to? Because it can.

The Bible is God speaking to us. The God of the universe is talking to us! He's been waiting for all eternity for you to take the time to listen, and if you're anything like me, you spend more time on Facebook than reading the Bible.

Take the time now. Pick up your Bible and find yourself in the greatest love story ever told. Listen to the God of the universe tell you just how much He cares, and let it matter.

Let it matter to you. Personally.



Be not Afraid.
~Emily

Sparrow

When I was younger, we had a bird feeder in our backyard. I remember looking out the window, hoping beyond hope that maybe today there would be a bluebird or a red-winged blackbird. Unfortunately, it was usually just grackles and mourning doves.

I did develop a fondness for the white-throated sparrow though. It might not be a bluebird, but it has one of the most beautiful songs, and I loved when the tiny thing would show up for a quick bite to eat at our seeded buffet. It was more than welcome to displace the boohooing pigeons and the grouchy grackles. 

The bird feeder is gone now, and I don't see sparrows much anymore, but they left a lasting impression upon me. Apparently God's has a soft spot for them too, because he mentions them a good bit in the Bible. I just came across this passage.


Are not five sparrows sold for two small coins? Yet not one of them has escaped the notice of God. Even the hairs of your head have all been counted. Do not be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows. Luke 12:6-7


I love this so much. It's one of those passages that settles my heart and fills me with contentment and peace. There's so much good in two short little verses.

First things first, let's talk about the birds. Sparrows are teeny tiny, and apparently they weren't very valuable. 5 for 2, that's quite the deal. Even still, Jesus says that God hasn't forgotten a single one; He sees them all, and he cares for them. Regardless of how small or insignificant they seem to us, God must think they're pretty cool to pay so much attention to them.

So then what about the things in your life that seem small or insignificant? What about the test you need to pass or the ankle you twisted? God cares about those too. Don't hesitate to bring the little things to God in prayer. Don't hold onto them because you think God doesn't want to be bothered.


Seriously, God "bothered" to count the hairs on your head! Think about that. On average, we have 100,000 strands of hair. God counted each and every one, He knows the exact number.

But that's not the most incredible thing. Jesus says that even the hairs on your head have been counted. EVEN! Think about what that means. If God took the time to go through the imaginably tedious task of numbering the thousands of hairs on your head, if he made the effort to know about that, what other things do you think he knows? Obviously God knows everything, but the point that Jesus is making is that He wants to know. He cares about you, about all of you. He knows and cares about every broken bone, every missing tooth, and every. last. detested. pimple. He knows about every broken heart, every single tear, and every shattered dream. Every fear, every joy, He knows and cares about your deepest struggles and your greatest desires. Nothing is too small to escape God's notice or too big to resist His love.


So as Jesus says, do not be afraid! God is on your side. You are worth more than many sparrows.


Peace be with you.
~ Caitlin

Be a Kid, Be Not Afraid

"My only criticism of you is that you need to learn to be a kid, to soak in the moment. To live in the moment."

My employer told me that. Think about that for a moment: my employer!

It's true. Not being able to be a kid is a weakness of mine. It is partly personality. I am always trying to get things done. I have goals, dreams and I am insanely driven.
 

So like any responsible person who was told they needed to be more of a kid, I started to think about kids, especially in how that relates to being a child of God.


First of all, kids think in a totally different manner than how I think, but they fascinate me. One of the things about them that fascinates me is how they live. They have no worries, no fears.

Most of all though, they are not afraid to fail.

Kids are not afraid to fail. Think about that for a moment.

What would you do if you were not afraid to fail?

A lot of things.


Kids are willing to try anything because they are not afraid to fail. Kids have an ability to live fearlessly because they are not afraid to fail.


Me, on the other hand, I live in the adult world where failure seems like the worst possible outcome ever. This makes me afraid, especially afraid to fail.

This fear leaves me stunted. Stuck.


Like the Taylor Swift song Fearless reminds me, kids are fearless. But why?


They are fearless because they know they are loved and they know that their worth is not dependent on what they do.

Pope St. John Paul II is widely known for saying "Be not afraid." There's  a good reason for that.  "Be not afraid." is one of the most often repeated verses in the Bible. (Be not Afraid)

Over and over again. "Be not afraid." Genesis 15:1

John Paul II also said, “We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures. We are the sum of the Father’s love for us and our real capacity to become the image of his Son…”  I think there is a connection here.

Kids can be fearless because they don't find their worth in what they do. But neither should we. We can truly live out the phrase "Be not afraid." when we know that we are more than our failures.


So what does it mean to be a kid? What does it mean to be a child of God? It means not being afraid to fail.

It means not being afraid to go outside of your comfort zone. It means putting yourself out there. It means listening to the Lord and spending time with him, because kids don't have schedules. Then it means going out and not being afraid to tell others.

The Lord asks us to do a lot of things, if we listen to him. Things that are scary. But the Lord is calling you to be like a child, asking you to trust Him as a child trusts and to "Be not afraid."


You are so loved.
-Emily

 

{This is part two of about being like a child. Part 1 Be like a child}

Sinners All

Hey, guess what? You...are a sinner.

Don't be offended, I'm not singling you out. I'm just restating what the Bible has been telling us for centuries.

"...all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God." Romans 3:23

We're all...sinners.


While that's not something we should ever be comfortable with, it is something we need to be aware of and something we need to come to terms with.

That might sound like apathy. Under NO circumstances should it be taken that way. Sin is a terrible thing. It separates us from God and goes against everything He has ordained for us. It is never okay. "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23), and that is not something for you to EVER take lightly. I am certainly not saying that you should.

What I am saying, is that we need to accept that we're not perfect. It's important for us to admit that we mess up. In order for us to be reconciled with God and allow Him to work in us, we have to acknowledge that there's work to do.


Failure to accept and acknowledge that you are not perfect will inevitably result in one of two problems.


Problem #1- I can do no wrong.

One possible consequence of refusing to accept your sinful nature is denial of it. In this scenario, one becomes exceedingly prideful. While she knows deep down that she's flawed, she can't bring herself to come to terms with it, and so she carries on as though she is incapable of error.

This is obviously detrimental. Pride is the root of all evil, the parent of every other vice. It robs us of the ability to grow spiritually because we are unable to see where we need to grow, and so it prevents God from using us to the fullest extent.



Problem #2- I can do no right.

This is the opposite extreme. In this case, far from denying his sin, one becomes obsessed with it, focusing exclusively on what he's done wrong. He is so distraught over his sin that he doesn't trust he can be forgiven. He can't accept the fact that he (like everyone else) is a sinner, and eventually is so preoccupied with his faults that he is tempted to despair.

The problem in this situation is that it displays a pride all its own. In dwelling so much on what he's done, the sinner takes his focus away from the most important thing in all of history: what He's done. He turns his attention so far inwards and so dramatically onto his shortcomings that He won't look at the God who took it all away, and who promises to take it away all over again each time we ask Him.


The Solution

Basically, at this point, I've given a pretty depressing generalization of how messed up we all are. But never fear! There's hope!

Let's take a look at Romans 3:23, the verse in the beginning of this post, in context.


"But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, though testified to by the law and the prophets, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction; all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God. They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as an expiation, through faith, by his blood, to prove his righteousness because of the forgiveness of sins previously committed, through the forbearance of God—to prove his righteousness in the present time, that he might be righteous and justify the one who has faith in Jesus.

     What occasion is there then for boasting? It is ruled out. On what principle, that of works? No, rather on the principle of faith. For we consider that a person is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Does God belong to Jews alone? Does he not belong to Gentiles, too? Yes, also to Gentiles, for God is one and will justify the circumcised on the basis of faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Are we then annulling the law by this faith? Of course not! On the contrary, we are supporting the law." Romans 3:21-31


That's a lot. Why don't we have St. John the Apostle sum it up for us?


"If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing." 1 John 1:9 


How amazing is that?! We're all sinners, but we can all be set free!

We can't earn this freedom. This is why the "I can do no wrong" approach is so messed up. Nothing we do, nothing we can accomplish can save us from ourselves. Only God can do that. We need Him to rescue us.

And He will! He will because He has, once and for all on the cross. He will because He's going to, as soon as we ask Him to take away our sin and our guilt. As soon as we acknowledge (or confess) that we've wronged Him, the minute we tell Him we're sorry, that's the moment He reaches out into the chaos we've created and calms the sea.

That's why "I can do no right" doesn't work either. We have to trust that He is Who He says He is and He will do what He says He'll do. Trusting Him means letting go of the guilt and the shame and placing it all in His nail-scarred hands. It means throwing all our fears and our temptations into His arms, and going forward in joy with the honest intention to "go and sin no more". (John 8:11)


So that's the answer. Pray for the grace to be able to say, "Lord, I'm a sinner. I have wronged your most precious and sacred heart. I am so sorry. Please take it all away. Make me a new creation and replace my shame with the peace of your Love. Give me the strength never to turn away from you again. Thank you for your mercy, Lord. Help me to love you. Amen."


I will be the first to admit that I struggle with accepting my sinful nature. I frequently fall into both of the problems described above, most often the second. In fact, that's what inspired this post; my own inability to deal with my imperfections. That's why I will be the first to pray that prayer. I hope you will too.


Yes, you're a sinner. No, you're not alone. Run to Jesus; He will set you free.


Peace be with you.
~ Caitlin




 

Martha or Mary?

I am Catholic, and in the Catholic Church we have this thing where we have feast days where we celebrate certain saints. One day last week it happened to be the feast day of Martha and Mary. I think we all know the story, but click here for a quick review.

People were posting on Facebook all about, "Are you a Martha or a Mary?" Because we live in the digital age, and the only way I even know if it is a feast day is if Facebook tells me. 'Nough said. Actually I rely on Facebook for all news, but that's not totally relevant here....


I read the passage and I gave it a brief second of thought before realizing the Martha or Mary question is barely a question. The truth is that I am so Martha my name should probably be changed to Martha.

Martha is about doing things. About doing things for God and I am the very same way.

I am about doing things in general. Sitting at God's feet listening to him is soo not my thing. In fact that just might be the total opposite of my personality.


Still I think many more of us in this day and age have become Martha's. I read an article last week in which the author said that the problem with the modern age is that we base our worth totally on what we accomplish.

 He went so far as to say that until we can reach the end of a day without accomplishing anything important and still know our own worth; we will never be happy or satisfied (loosely paraphrased because I lost the link).

So I would beg to argue that we have become an entire nation of Martha's. Our worth is so dependent on what we do that we cannot just be. We cannot just sit at the feet of Jesus because we feel that we are not enough, because we base our entire worth on what we do.

I know this is true for me. I spent a day resting after a long week and weekend. I was working on recovering from a cold and still feeling sick. I read books and rested. I tried to just be. But for me that is nearly impossible because I have bought into the lie that unless I accomplish something I am worthless.


You might not be a full blown Martha, but I think this culture of accomplishment has affected all of us. The question then is not so much are we a Martha or a Mary but do we feel like we are enough?

Do we feel that we can just sit with God, without doing anything and be enough?

Because you are, because we are enough and we need to learn to accept that and Be Still. 

 

 

 

You are so loved!

~Emily