Praise of Joy

Thank you, Lord.
You are ever-loving, ever-gracious,
and I am forever Your child and servant.
You grace me with joy,
with hope, with love,
and Your mercy never ends.
Praise be to You, my God,
Praise be to Your goodness,
and praise be to Your kingdom forever!
The blessings I receive are from you,
the tests I endure are your teachings,
and the storms I overcome, Your power alone.
May You bless the world with peace
and may the people of the world
experience You for themselves
and surrender to the love and mercy Your Word promises.
Thank you for the times that I failed
when You protected me from a worse fate I was unaware.
Thank you for the moments of humility
to remember whose strength helped me through trials.
Thank you for Your forgiveness.
The peace that fills my life and heart
comes from You.
The peace that I pray for
can only come from You.
No one and nothing can touch Your power.
You are King. You are Lord. You are God.
Your Son, the Christ Jesus, saved us,
and we sing His praises.
Your Holy Spirit fills us
and we proclaim Your greatness.
Guide us into peace.
Transform us and every person we meet into a true
child of God.
You are my joy.
I sing for Your joy, and I write for Your joy.
May I share Your joy with everyone I meet.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
Amen.

Understanding How Forgiveness Works According to God's Method

It's difficult for me to separate the lesson or positivity of a person from who they are as a person. For example, a former friend once told me he absorbs the negativity around him and holds it in, unlike others who transfer negativity to others once they receive it. From a worldly standpoint, which is how I viewed him, this didn't make sense for me. Why would someone willingly take on negative emotions just to be filled with it?

In relation to Christ, God asks us to give up our burdens to Him and He will carry them. This made sense. God is all-powerful and separate from the human bondage that I am. Certainly a heavy weight for me is nothing for the Creator. What I hadn't been able to put together is how to relate what my friend described into my faith.

In Eucharistic Adoration, Charles M. Murphy explains, "The meaning of redemption and how it works is that we are willing like Christ to absorb the evil that is done to us and thus not add to the quantity of evil in the world."

That, right there, is the spiritual connection my heart and mind have been searching for without me realizing it.

My friend and I did not part ways on positive terms, but he taught me valuable lessons about how to treat others and how to carry ourselves in hardships. My struggle is being able to still take away from these lessons without the pain his memory brings with them, but God has, once again, nudged me directly with this passage. Christ said forgive seventy-times-seven times toward our brothers and sisters, but that redemption and repentance do not always involve us.

Forgiveness is about absorbing the pain that we suffered and even absorbing the pain others suffered without spreading it. Forgiveness is about helping others through their pain knowing that God will help us both to heal. Forgiveness is the healing that Christ provided on the cross.

Just as God takes our burdens from us, so should we take the burdens from those around us. We live in a society where serving others is seen as inferior. This perspective is wrong. We are taught to be obedient to our parents, pious to our elders, respectful to our bosses and instructors, and compassionate to members in our community. These are all forms of service. Society has warped the construct into one that is archaic even though one of the greatest faults of modern society is the fact that no one is willing to help one another, allowing injustice to lead.

Absorb the pain. Forgive the pain. Perhaps if we better understand how forgiveness works, it will lead to more fruitful end results. For me, forgiveness is a word I can define but not one I practice well, but explanations like Murphy's help me to break down the steps and relate them to my spiritual journey.

Heavenly Father, light this world with Your fire. Forgive us our sins, heal our hearts, and join us together as one family. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Forgiveness and Repentance

During my last two Adoration sessions, I picked up Eucharistic Adoration: Holy Hour Meditations on the Seven Last Words of Christ by Charles M. Murphy. Murphy offers interpretations of the final lessons Christ provides before he dies, and as with most studies of Christ's teachings, forgiveness and repentance took a large stage.

For me, forgiveness has less to do with God forgiving me and more to do with me forgiving others. I trust that God provides forgiveness, but I always have a hard time forgiving others when I think they might never know the pain they inflicted.

Murphy writes, "Unlike our usual way of thinking that repentance must precede forgiveness, Jesus' proclamation that sins are forgiven is what prompted sinners to approach him in the first place; knowing they were already forgiven allowed them to repent (31)." He uses Luke 15:1-31 for his Biblical proof, including references to the parables of the lost sheep, coin, and son.

Luke 15:3-7 is the story of the lost sheep, where a shepherd has 100 sheep but one escapes. The shepherd leaves the ninety-nine to retrieve the lost sheep and then celebrates with everyone when it is secured. This is the story I need to remind myself of when I struggle to forgive others whom I know I won't speak with again.

The lost son is too relatable for most to understand I think because it specifically deals with family and people. However, looking at the shepherd and the sheep, it is easier to understand why the shepherd is so keen to find the one when he still has ninety-nine with him. The sheep didn't mean to run away and put itself in danger or cause its owner distress; it wandered off without thinking. But isn't this what Jesus brought to our attention on the cross? Forgive them for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34)?

Yes, there are people who intentionally harm others, and we may never understand their true intentions. Whether it's someone who hurt you personally or news headlines that make our hearts ache with their insurmountable amount of cruelty and injustice, at the end of the day, each person is capable of injury to another. We may think that we would never be that mean, but then, isn't it true that there are people who seem better equipped to handle situations than us? No one is perfect, which also means that no one is capable of kindness at every moment throughout their lives.

We must forgive before repentance is ever considered. We don't know the state of each other's souls, and we never will. If I can view each person as a brother and sister, as a friend who wandered off without meaning to or without understanding the possible consequences, then I will be stronger in forgiving them because I know that injury is often caused by hurt feelings. If person A hurts person B, then that results in person B taking it out on person C without malicious intent or planning. Or, more often, person A doubts and hurts themselves so both persons B and C suffer from their interactions.

At the end of the day, repentance matters between an individual and Christ. Just because I didn't seek forgiveness from someone for my actions doesn't mean I didn't spent time in prayer seeking it from God. This works both ways. If we remember all the times we let something go and hoped that forgiveness was granted to us because we weren't sincere in our cruelty to someone else and hoped they would understand that, then it will be easier for us to forgive others for following this same train of thought.

We are not judges. We are friends. Forgiveness is required; repentance does not always involve us.

My Lord, thank you for Your incredible mercy and love. Guide this world back to You and heal the people suffering from cruelty, injustice, and doubt. We never know each other's journeys, and so we ask that You instill in our hearts a desire for love and forgiveness to eradicate the injustice of the world. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Lil Bean Book Recs: August 2018

One of my lifestyle changes for 2018 was to always have a book on my nightstand and to read 30 minutes minimum daily. This month I picked up the titles that grabbed my attention from the basket of books at the Adoration chapel.

Rediscover Jesus

Matthew Kelly is definitely one of my favorite authors concerning Christian faith. I picked up Rediscover Jesus: An Invitation and found golden nuggets throughout the piece, but it felt less developed than the other titles I've read by Kelly. This could be because of how much of his work I'm familiar with, but it didn't resonate with me in the same way. True, I was moved to write about some of the ideas he brought up, but it isn't a title I would pick up again like I would Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic or Perfectly Yourself.

That aside, this title touched on so many aspects of Christianity, from prayer to reading to sin, in a quick and easy-to-digest way. For those who haven't read this book, it may be a good starting place before diving into what I would consider Kelly's stronger works.

Eucharistic Adoration

Eucharistic Adoration: Holy Hour Meditations on the Last Seven Words of Christ by Charles M. Murphy follows the agony in the garden until His death on the cross. Murphy calls the reader to reflect on each of these sentences and what they mean for our day to day lives.

Adoration is something each person does differently. Some pray three rosaries, some participate in silent or contemplative prayer, others read, and there are even those really disciplined individuals who can sit in solitude and embrace the presence of God in the Eucharist. For me, I pray that day's mysteries (Sorrowful) and then read either the Bible or one of the Christian titles in the basket.

Because of books like these, I have other alternative ways to spend Adoration. Like in school when we performed research before we wrote our essays, it's wise to read works on Christianity so we are more prepared to form our own opinions, especially on Biblical passages that are more difficult to translate. However, it's imperative that we take a break from these interpretations to remember to form our own view of the Bible and its lessons like we do after performing research about topics.

I want to be able to pull Biblical passages from memory when encountering hardships in my life, not because someone else commented on it, but because I applied it to me and how I want to better myself in the future. Eucharistic Adoration is a great contemplative read and a quick title to read during Adoration sessions to set up the hour for your prayer.