Being a teacher, my time during Christmas is a little more enjoyable than most people. I get about two weeks off to enjoy with family and friends, to go shopping, to clean my house a million times, to decorate beyond reason, to wrap presents beyond belief and to bake an unreasonable amount of cookies. But I find the most trying part and difficult part of Christmas is the pressure of making memories with those that we are spending our time with.
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As we start to think about the weeks leading up to Christmas and the weeks after Christmas, we think about all of the parties and obligations we have. The true question is, are we exhausting ourselves with trying to make it to every party and every Christmas Bazaar, to say that we were there and that we put our time in? Are we counting these obligations as family time? Are we really savoring each moment with our loved ones or are we just checking it off on our to-do list of Christmas.
Read More"These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full." - John 15:11
It seems every year, the excitement to buy gifts starts earlier and earlier. Retailers entice us with sales, promotions, limited supply items, etc. AND! Simultaneously creating mass hysteria.
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Who has problems? We all have problems. Some more than others but none the less, we are all human and flawed and broken. Christ came to redeem that brokenness.
“Christ came that we might have life and have it more abundantly.”
- John 1O:1O.Read More
We all know the story of Mary and Martha. If you don’t, that's ok, just read Luke 10:38-42. Martha was busy and distracted with serving. Serving is a good thing. We talk about service a lot and there are many forms of service but the way Martha was going about it, caused this good thing to become a distraction from Christ himself who was right in front of her. She was not present to the presence of God.
Read MoreThese days seem to be pretty stressful. If we're the ones that are not stressed we can easily think of someone who is. We all have different situations that stress us out and can weigh us down. Maybe not enough money to get the essentials let alone gifts, not being able to see family members, maybe we're angry at certain people, stress from work, kids, friends, husband, accidents, a death of a loved one. All of these things can lead us to anger, shame, fear, indifference, wanting to give up.
Read MoreEven before Jesus was born, He faced rejection.
His mother and foster father had to make do with bringing Him into the world in a manger because there was no room at the inn. Just shortly after His birth, His parents had to flee to Egypt because of Herod who wanted to destroy Him!
Read More“Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb!”
These were the words Mary’s cousin Elizabeth exclaimed as Mary showed up at her house. What a beautiful gift that was. For Elizabeth to be filled by the Holy Spirit as Mary carried Jesus inside of her, closer to Elizabeth. And for Mary, to have her cousin, someone she loved and trusted, to understand and believe her and what she was going through.
Read MoreSo the craziness is upon us. The time of year where we have approximately one month to decorate for Christmas, to buy all our gifts, to go to Christmas parties, to throw Christmas parties, and to bake cookies and sweets beyond reason. It is a month long time completely filled to the brim with preparation.
Read MoreI want to start today’s post with a DARE. Because I’m a changemaker, a leap-of-faith taker, and I fully believe God created me to shake things up a bit (in a good way) :)
I DARE you....
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When I think of what must have been a very draining + disheartening journey to prepare for the birth of Jesus — I honestly can’t imagine how Mary mustered up the strength to set all her worries aside and look at the bright side.
Read MoreIs it possible for miracles to exist on a smaller scale, throughout day-to-day life? Without gaining the attention of the world? Without an official blessing from the Church?
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The Final blessing. This is an exhortation to go and take the faith that we have just received with us into our daily lives. The priest gives us his blessing and every time we are blessed by a priest, this is like Christ himself blessing us. We are to go and spread the faith we just received to all whom we encounter and live it.
Read MoreThis has to be my favorite parts of mass! I mean, of course right, we are about to receive our Lord and savior and be apart of heaven touching earth! How are we supposed to receive him? Should I run up excitedly to receive Jesus in the Eucharist. Well no, besides the fact the people might think I’m a little crazy, I want to be in a state where I know who it is I am receiving and what that means.
Read More"Agnus Dei" or "Lamb of God", originates from John the Baptist. John proclaimed Jesus as the “Lamb of God who takes way the sins of the world” -John 1: 29.
Read MoreAt every mass we hear these words of peace and in our modern American culture, take it as an opportunity to shake the hands of those around us, kiss our family members, give the two-fingered sign for peace, wave, hug the cute guy in the pew near us, etc. Though we appear to be an overly affectionate bunch, many times this opportunity of blessing is over looked and steamrolled by how many people we can come in contact with.
Read MoreMany of us know The Lord’s Prayer, but just like The Creed, we should recite it with faith and full knowledge of what we are saying. Today, let’s meditate on the main themes in The Lord’s Prayer.
The Lord’s Prayer is shown both in the gospel of Matthew and Luke. Matthew has 7 main petitions while Luke has 5.
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