Confessing our sins is hard.

Satan doesn’t want us doing it, so he makes us feel uncomfortable. Not with our sins, but with the thought of admitting to them out loud. To a person. He persuades us to postpone our visit to the priest again and again, until finally we’re convinced we don’t need to go at all.

Thus the devil wins.  We lose God’s precious friendship, and if we've committed a mortal sin we put our souls in eternal danger. We ignore His call to come back, no matter how grave the sin we’ve committed. We miss out on His Divine Mercy, which is only available before we die. After that comes judgement.

It takes real courage to fight against the Evil One and step into that confessional. 

The Humility Aspect 
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Our disposition when speaking to God should always be one of total humility, in recognition of His Goodness and our fallen nature, and of Him as Our Creator.

People tell me that they can talk to God directly and don’t need the mediation of a flawed human being. This reasoning allows them to side-step the uncomfortableness of a physical meeting, thereby avoiding the humility that Confession entails.

Is it easier to confess aloud to a living human being or privately to God? It takes a great deal more humility to do so person-to-person than to have a conversation in one’s head. And how often does a person really confess their sins without a nudge from Holy Church to do so?

During Confession, I am talking to God. The priest is acting in persona Christi, like the Apostles, the first priests.  “If you forgive anyone's sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven. (John 20:23).” See also Matthew 16:19 and 18:18.

Many think that Confession gives Catholics a clean slate to sin again. But the opposite is true: the more often we go to Confession, the less likely we are to sin. Confessing to a priest takes great humility, and that humbling experience is a very strong deterrent against sinning in the first place.
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You can’t say that of those who don’t frequent the confessional.

You’re not that Special 
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Proud beings that we are, we worry about scandalizing the priests with our sins and are afraid they’ll look at us differently once we’ve confessed them. But our sins are not original: the priest has heard them all before. None of us is that special.

And, as an appointed minister of Christ, the priest’s job is not to keep a running tab on our misbehavior. He forgets it as soon as confession is over, just as Christ does (remember, the priest is in persona Christi).

Although each of us is important in God’s eyes, we need to remember that we are also part of God’s plan for salvation and fulfill our role by following His Will not ours.
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But God is not looking to crush our freedom and make us feel bad. What He wants is for us to live the fullest life possible. This means ridding ourselves of our sins, and Confession is the sacrament He gave us for doing it.

​The Amazing Takeaway 
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There is a deep peace that comes from admitting one’s imperfections to Someone higher than us, Who understands us better than we understand ourselves.

Christ said of the woman who anointed His feet: “Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven--as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little" (Luke 7:47).

The worse our sins are and the more we appreciate our unworthiness before God, the greater will be our love for Him because of His incredible forgiveness. Some of the greatest saints started out as the greatest sinners. God’s Mercy is unfathomable, but it is there for all of us, if we reach out to Him with repentance in Confession.

It is impossible to describe the sheer joy of receiving absolution in the confessional. I feel an overwhelming sense of Christ’s love when I come away from my encounter with Him. I am once more in friendship with Him and often cry from the sheer happiness of it. Many of my friends have the same reaction. As a forgiven person, I want to try my best not to sin anymore and ‘to avoid the near occasions of sin.’

The worst feeling in the world for me - as a Catholic who was away from the Church for over twenty years - is to lose my sense of being in friendship with Christ. If I sin grievously, I instantly lose that precious gift and need to repair it as fast as I can. Thankfully my local church takes confession before every weekday Mass, and I am able to quickly restore my relationship with God and receive the Eucharist.


As Father Phil Bloom writes in his great article on Confession:
“Some people have considered confession to be a kind of "psychiatry for the masses." Carl Jung … speculated that the confession of sins accomplishes much of what psychiatry does. …..(But) the sacrament of penance is not about feeling better, it is about receiving the Holy Spirit.”

And only the promptings of Holy Spirit give us the courage to go through with it.

Further Reading:
 
What Is the Sacrament of Confession?
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Confession of Sins

Meditating on the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary this Friday, I had a clearer notion of Christ’s personal situation during His Passion.

Everything Christ did during His life, and especially during those awful last hours, point to His great love for us. 

But our human notion of real love is sketchy at best. Only through examining love in action through Jesus can we grasp the real essence of love.

Stopping the Pain

God in His three Persons is almighty and all powerful. At any time throughout His torture, Christ could have said, “Enough!” and halted the process.

He could also have revealed Himself as the transfigured Christ – with all wounds healed.  Can you imagine how terrified and in awe of Him the Jews and Romans would have been had He done that?

Instead he endured being whipped repeatedly with steel tips, spat upon, hit, jeered at and mocked. He was clothed in a purple cloak which was then ripped off His back after the blood from His scourging had dried on the material.

Thorns were pressed into His head and He was forced to carry His own heavy cross, when he had no energy left. When had he last eaten or drunk? At the Passover meal with the Apostles. That was hours ago.  

The cross dug into his shoulder, inflicting even more pain, well before he was nailed to it and hoisted, naked, for all to sneer at while he took three hours to die of suffocation.

And at any point during this excruciating ordeal, He could have said, “Stop!”

But He didn’t.

Doesn’t that give us pause for thought? Do any of us love even one person enough to go through such agony for them, let alone the whole of flawed humanity?

It takes unbelievable humility to act as if you have no power over your persecutors.

That’s real love.

Makes one think, doesn’t it? 

He Descended into Hell for Us

I've often wondered what the phrase in the Creed ‘He descended into Hell’ means.

Hell is separation from God. No one can enter communion with God in Heaven if he or she is not pure. We must be purged in Purgatory of our remaining impurities before we can enter Heaven.

Christ took on all the sins of the world – past, present and future – when He let Himself be crucified. He became impure. For the first, last and only time, He was separated from God.

And not because of anything He had done wrong. Completely pure, He became impure out of love for us. He’d been one with the Father from the beginning of time, and now, because He wanted to save us, He agreed to be separated from His Father.

No wonder he cried out, “My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” The agony of being split from the Trinity must have been far worse than any physical pain. Even though He knew it was temporary and necessary to conquer death, it was going to be – well, Hell for Him.

And when we realize that He was fully aware that this horrible moment of separation was imminent, the Agony in the Garden takes on an added dimension, doesn’t it?

Yet Jesus did this out of love for us.

Another beautiful truth.        

Saved or Not?

He knew already in the Garden of Gethsemane just how many souls His sacrifice would save. He also knew the exact number of those who would spurn His sacrifice and descend into Hell.

Those latter souls will have refused to believe in God during their lifetime, only to discover His existence when they die. At the very moment when they believe in Him, they will be separated from Him.

Just when they desire Him above all things, it will be too late. They will never be with Him in Heaven. 

Imagine how the knowledge of these truths increased Christ’s agony! We can readily sympathize with His prayers to have the chalice removed from His lips. 

Yet He still went through His Passion out of love for us all. Even if only a few of us make it through that narrow door, Christ wanted to show us just how much He cared about every single human being, by dying a horrible death to give us all a chance to be saved.

Isn’t that another beautiful truth?  

So how are we going to show Him our appreciation of what He went through ‘for us men and for our salvation’?

Have you ever thought about how the way we drive on the roads is a great indicator of our humility level?

We want the annoyingly slow person in front of us to get out of our way. In our own estimation we're very important and have places to be NOW—and that vehicle needs to move over to make way for us!

But that slow driver has as much validity God’s eyes as we do. Who are we to say that our needs are more urgent than theirs? Perhaps that slowpoke had a bad accident two weeks ago and this is his or her first time back on the road? Maybe he’s very old and just being careful not to have or cause an accident? Maybe the driver is a nervous teen who’s just got her license?

If we knew any of these scenarios to be true, we would be more caring (I hope!).

Hey! Why Should I Be Humble?

In his terrific new book,  Love Awakened by Love: The Liberating Ascent of Saint John of the Cross*  Father Mark O’Keefe writes that “To walk in…..faith….. requires abiding attitudes of trust, docility, and humility. God is at work in us. …. (and) wants union with us more than we ourselves could possibly desire it.”

God wants to work in our lives, but He can’t if our free will won’t let Him in. There’s no room for God in us if we’re too full of ourselves. We need to empty ourselves of the ‘me’ to make 100% of our souls available for Him.

It’s a difficult task, and one which requires God’s help to achieve. We’re always going to fail in our own eyes (a sure sign of our pride). But if we trust and hope in God to keep us going, He will lift us up every time and make good our deficiencies.

As Father O’Keefe writes: “Hope calls us to place all things in God’s hands, pick oneself up, and get back on course to the future that God makes possible through the divine mercy and help. Christian hope, then, must always walk hand in hand with humility.”

Developing a Healthy pH Level

This all sounds very nice, but how do we achieve our proper pH (personal Humility) level?

My father used to quote from the Automobile Association manual in the United Kingdom, as he was racing another driver (and knew he shouldn’t be): “You must not drive in the spirit of competition.” 


The way we drive is an extremely good indicator of our humility level.

I’ve come up with a few useful ways of keeping my own competitiveness under control (after all, I am a competition rider – that attitude comes naturally to me!).


1. If a driver is cutting in front of me and/or other drivers, blatantly breaking the speed limit or driving in any other infuriatingly bad way, I tell myself: “I used to drive like that—before I knew better,” or, on my more sarcastic days, “before I grew up.”


2. If a person is doddering in front of me and my impulse is to tailgate them (as if this will somehow make them speed up) I remind myself that one day I shall be very old and doddery, too, and will want other drivers to be considerate of my frailty. What goes around comes around.

3. I have a big “Jesus” sign on the back of my vehicle. One way for me to 'evangelize by deed' is to let other drivers come in front of me. Or I move over to the outside lane, to let in a car waiting to come onto the two lane highway. Even if those drivers don’t see the sign on my ancient Expedition, drivers behind me will, and hopefully I shall have led by example.

4. As I’ve written before, saying my rosary while driving is a great way not to need to rush anywhere

Driving is an excellent opportunity for us to gauge our true humility level and perceive any cracks in our charity towards others on the many occasions to be courteous to other road users.

Every journey is an opportunity to increase our humility and make more space for God’s work in our lives.

Our previous parish priest exhorted us to look up, not at the ground. 

If we persist in staring down, that’s where we’re going to end up. Elevating our thoughts towards Heaven prevents us from becoming despondent and downhearted.

He's so right! When things go horribly wrong in my own life, I shuffle along feeling sorry for myself, with hunched shoulders and bowed head. Everything is doom and gloom.

What a different story when I lift up my head, straighten my shoulders and meet life head on! The physical act of standing upright brings with it a sense of determination and purpose.

Then we pray to God for help and He gives us the strength to deal with the difficulties life throws at us.

On One’s High Horse

It’s the same when you’re on a horse. No matter whether you’re riding dressage or jumping, you need to sit up straight and look ahead.

With dressage this means looking at the letter you're aiming for in a particular movement. For jumping, it means looking over the fence, not at it. You don’t want to land on the obstacle, you want to clear it. 

In both scenarios we mustn't look down, or that's where we’ll end up!

What Happens When We Fall?

When we first learn to ride, we think that not falling off makes us good riders and we're proud of ourselves.

But then comes the day when we take a tumble. The longer it has taken that day to come, the harder it is to shake off the experience and get back on the horse.

Some people never do. I often hear stories from friends about how the day they fell off a horse was the time they rode. They never got back in the saddle – they didn’t want to take the chance of falling off again.

How sad! They've missed out on so much fun.

I’ve fallen off more times than I can remember. Some of those incidents were physically painful, others just bruised my ego. Even though I never want to, I get back on the horse straight away, if I'm physically able.

If not, I would have to brand myself a coward for life. That would be way more painful.

I’m not naturally courageous. If you follow my horse blog posts, you’ll see plenty of occasions when I’m nervous and it takes a lot to get me going again. My horse, Cruz Bay and I have taken some dreadful tumbles, and it isn’t easy to get over them.

I have to work at avoiding the errors which led to those falls and not give up when I mess up. 

The Christian life requires the same attitude. 

Be Perfect as Your Heavenly Father Is Perfect

That is one tough challenge, isn’t it? Who can live up to that?

Riding has taught me that I will never be the perfect horsewoman, but I still strive to become that person. How much more vital is reaching for perfection in the Christian life!

Sadly for many, the seeming impossibility of attaining this goal is so discouraging that they don’t even try to reach it. Or maybe they work hard for a while, feel they’re making progress, then become despondent when they fall into sin again. 

Having sinned once more, they've proved they’re not perfect. So they may as well commit another, and another, until they are much further from the goal than when they started.

Christ talks about this when he mentions the man whose house is swept clean when the demons are removed. But when the man is not truly committed and doesn’t replace those demons with good living, many more come back into him than were there in the first place (Luke 11:24-46).

A Reason to Give Up?

Does that mean that it's hopeless trying to be good?

Of course not!  Christ died on the cross to make up for our deficiencies and grant us mercy when we fail: He walks with us in the good times and the bad.

If we fall into sin, we must sincerely repent and ask Him for forgiveness then pick ourselves up and walk again in the paths of righteousness.

We will fall into sin, time and time again. Way more often than the average rider falls off a horse!

Follow Your Passion

But if Christ is our passion, we get up, dust ourselves off with a healthy visit to the confessional, and resume our spiritual course. If we love Christ, we’ll be quick to apologize to the One Whose mercy is endless and Whose compassion inexhaustible.

Christ reaches out His hands to us every time we fail. 

We then mustn't sin further by refusing to trust in His mercy and forgiveness, or equate Christ’s limitless reservoir of forgiveness with the pitiful puddle that is our own version of it.  

Falling Must Lead to Getting Up

Being human, we expect to fall. Being a Christian means getting up from a fall - again and again and again.

That is where Catholics are fortunate: we have the Sacrament of Reconciliation and hear the words of the priest in persona Christi absolving us of our sins. We can receive a fresh start as often as we need it.

And for those of us who feel that we might as well take a tape recording of our sins and press ‘play’ for the priest at every confession, because the sins are always the same: would you rather have more to confess than you already have?

We must keep battling with our sins, and get up again and again and again for the rest of our lives.

Then we can truly call ourselves Christians.

This has been an amazing week! The Holy Spirit has worked through me (with the aid of others) to directly benefit two persons' lives.

Guided to an Oasis

We often go through long periods when it feels as if we’re not doing anything useful for the world. Our financial donations to various causes are important, but we don’t see the benefits of this activity close-up.

That feeling of dryness completely changed this week. I was led to a spiritual oasis, a wonderful gift from God for Lent.

Using me, the Holy Spirit led two people to bring two people closer to God and in line with His loving wishes for their lives.

I feel privileged and deeply grateful to God.  He’s been hearing “Thank you” much more often from me than just the regular petitions this week!

The Donkey’s Lot

My previous parish priest used to say that the life of a good Christian is often like that of a donkey walking round and round on the treadmill's path, so the millstones will grind the flour. The activity is not glamorous, but it produces unseen benefits for others.

When God sometimes lets us see how He's utilizing us to participate in His miracles, I think He’s giving us encouragement on that path and telling us not be discouraged when we don’t always see the good results of our work.

He’s helping me recognize that all our lives are of value if we let God work in us. He also reminds me that only through Him can good works happen, and thus prevents me from becoming proud and pleased with myself.

So I conclude by saying this was a great week!

When I recite the Rosary, my mind sometimes wanders off in totally unrelated directions. Sure enough, this Friday, while I was praying the first decade – the Agony in the Garden – my thoughts drifted to secular topics, which had nothing to do with Christ's  anguished beads of blood-sweat.

I looked for a new aspect of the event to get me back on track.

It occurred to me that Christ had just washed the feet of the man who - any moment now - would enter the garden and betray Him.

How did that feel?

How Did He Do It?!
Would we have washed Judas’ feet? Would we have performed such a humiliating task for the very person we already knew was going to hand us over to be scourged, hit, spat on, have thorns stuck into our head, and be forced to carry a heavy cross - so we could be attached to it with big nails driven through our hands and feet?

That’s what makes Jesus’ act of humility even more amazing. Not only was He performing a slave’s job for His followers. He already knew Judas was going to betray Him - “And you are clean, though not every one of you” (v. 10) - yet Jesus washed his feet, too! That demanded enormous love.

The article Jesus Washes His Disciples’ Feet reads: “For the love that is evident in the laying down of life at the crucifixion is also demonstrated in the laying down of life in humble service in the footwashing.”

Humble Re-enactment
On Maundy Thursday we witness the commemoration of that night as the priest washes the feet of twelve parishioners. And I always wonder why those particular twelve are chosen? What are the criteria for having your feet washed in church? (Thankfully I’ll never qualify - no one wants to see my sorry toes!)

One year our pastor called up twelve young men who’d expressed an interest in the priesthood. That was beautiful, and I appreciated the worthiness of those parishioners to be recognized in public.

But another priest recounted how he’d desperately not wanted to wash the feet of a particular church member, because the man was openly and loudly critical of him. For that very reason the priest’s spiritual director ordered him to include that man in the Maundy Thursday line-up.

It was very hard - humiliating and humbling – but the priest obeyed and bathed his enemy’s feet.

Now that's impressive!


Christ’s humility that night – washing all twelve disciples’ feet when He was aware that one of them would soon double-cross Him – is certainly something to recall when reciting the Agony in the Garden decade on the Rosary.

When life is going badly and there seems no way out, it's easy to fall into despair.

Yet Christ's Easter message is: "Don't despair!" 

Repeat After Me..

We proclaim that message every time we recite the Apostles' Creed: Jesus "rose from the dead and is seated at the right hand of the Father....I believe in the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting."
 
There's no despair here.

But perhaps constant repetition has dulled our attentiveness to the reality of what we're saying: that Jesus suffered horribly for our sakes so that we might rise up from death and  have eternal life.

We are made in God's image and destined to be with Him in heaven. Christ asks us not to let earthly setbacks throw us into misery and distract us from that goal.

God loves us. If he puts suffering our lives, it's to turn our thoughts away from the world and back to Him and His infinite mercy.

But  fighting off despair and trusting in God's mercy is tough.

Judas Versus Peter

Despair is Satan’s most powerful weapon against God. He rejoices whenever he succeeds in separating us from our hope in Christ (see 'Hope versus Hope' in my last post). He thus sabotages our salvation and adds our souls to the ranks of those destined for hell.

Judas of Iscariot committed the ultimate sin when he despaired of forgiveness for betraying Jesus, thus cutting himself off from future happiness with God.

Peter denied knowing Christ three times, after having just said that he loved Him and would do anything for Him. But in contrast to Judas, he wept bitterly and repented over his betrayal. 

This humble admission of guilt and belief in Christ’s forgiveness wiped his slate clean. Peter's faith and hope restored his good standing with God and ensured his redemption.

Judas allowed Satan to deceive him into despairing of Christ's love: Peter believed in Our Lord’s mercy and was granted it.

Who would you rather be?

But What Use Is God's Mercy When I'm Suffering? 

Blessed Sopocko, confessor and spiritual director of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska has this to say about despair in his book God is Mercy (Marian Press, 1965, p. 81):

“Despair is passion arising in us because of the impossibility of escaping evil. The name covers not only the feeling of despair itself, but also the inclination to it. ... It is opposed to hope and trust, so much so that while hope enlightens, despair kills. ... (my italics)

“The causes of despair can vary. Temporal or spiritual misfortunes, incurable illness, loss of respect and honor, financial ruin, threat of inevitable danger, etc. Under the influence of such disasters there follows a terrible depression which takes away all energy, paralyzes the nerves, renders clear thinking impossible, and even impedes breathing and the normal circulation of the blood, so that the brain is not supplied sufficiently with oxygen and ceases to function sufficiently. ...

“If we search for the very first, deepest cause of despair, we always find a lack of trust in the Mercy of God. ...”  (My italics)

(Taken from What Is Divine Mercy? By Dr. Robert Stackpole)

But why is it that when things are going badly, we find it the hardest to trust in God?

Because we want control over our lives. We want to know exactly what lies ahead, we demand concrete proof that our bad situation will end and quickly.

‘Show, don’t tell!’ is the usual advice to story writers and we feel the same way about God. Don't tell us that all will be well, through the Scriptures, don't tell us that we must trust in You: show us a reason to trust you by performing a miracle!

For some reason, God's amazing miracle of resurrection on Easter Sunday often isn't good enough for us. We're doubting Thomases who want to see it for ourselves, not have to believe writings from 2000 years ago.

Unfortunately faith means believing without seeing, and we must have blind faith if we’re to attain the goal for which we were made, namely to be with God in eternity.

Dispelling Despair Through Divine Mercy
 
Since despair comes from believing things will never get better and that we are alone in our misery, the antidote is complete trust in God’s love for us. (See 'Christ's Strategy' in my last post.)

Dr. Stackpole says, regarding the benefits of trusting in God:

"It opens the door to all the graces and blessings He wants to give us.” (My italics.)

We mustn’t hang ourselves with despair, like Judas. Instead we must trust in God’s mercy and be raised from misery to happiness.

....Which Leads Us to Divine Mercy Sunday

This weekend, Catholics will celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday (Feast of Mercy).

God’s mercy is not confined to this one day of the year – it is available every single day of every year! – but there are certain graces to be obtained on that day.

Here is entry 699 of St. Faustina Kowalska’s diary, in which Christ makes clear his desires for Divine Mercy Sunday. This entry is very long, but if you read it, you'll feel overwhelmed by Christ's love for you.

My daughter, tell the whole world about My inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day all the divine floodgates through which graces flow are opened. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet. My mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of angel, will be able to fathom it throughout all eternity. Everything that exists has come forth from the very depths of My most tender mercy. Every soul in its relation to Me will contemplate My love and mercy throughout eternity. The Feast of Mercy emerged from My very depths of tenderness. It is My desire that it be solemnly celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter. Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the Fount of My Mercy.

(Even if you've not been to Confession for 60 years or more, you may feel that it's worth going now, before next Sunday. :) I promise you, priests are kind in the confessional: they are there to help us make a good confession, not beat us up over our sins!)

Christ also revealed to St. Faustina the extraordinary graces available to those who devoutly receive Holy Communion on Divine Mercy Sunday:

I want to grant a complete pardon to the souls that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion on the Feast of My mercy (1109).  

Whoever approaches the Fount of Life on this day will be granted complete forgiveness of sins and punishment (300).  

The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion will obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment (699).

Click here for further information on how to prepare for Divine Mercy Sunday 

Are God’s Graces Confined to Catholics?

No!

I know that we Catholics are considered arrogant because we believe that Catholicism is ‘the one, true faith.’
 
We make no apologies for this belief.
 
Christ instituted the Catholic (i.e. universal) Church 2013 years ago. All other Christian faiths are man-made spin-offs. (I now cheerfully await an onslaught of angry comments!) The Sacraments of our faith make the Christian life easier for Catholics.  We certainly don't believe that non-Catholics are doomed to the eternal fire of hell.



The important thing is to trust in God’s mercy and humbly ask Him to forgive our sins. Christ longs for us all to come to Him – Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

We will stop feeling despair when we realize that Christ is always walking with us.


Postscript: Whenever I find myself teetering on the edge of despair, I quickly recite this prayer, over and over again:

‘Eternal God, in Whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion inexhaustible, look kindly upon us and increase your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence, submit ourselves to your Holy Will, which is Love and Mercy itself.’ Diary 950

I hope it helps you, too.

Being a good Christian is difficult, especially these days.

It’s unfashionable to follow the precepts of a man who lived over 2000 years ago and doesn’t embrace the spirit of our times, which tells us to ‘eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.'

Instead He exhorts us to "turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me.” New Living Translation (©2007) Matt. 16:24

Where’s the appeal in that?

And does such a lifestyle guarantee admittance to heaven? Supposing we ‘take up our cross’ only to end up in the nothingness of the Universe after we die, instead of living in eternal happiness with God? We'll have missed out on so much!

Would it not be smart to have a Plan B – a back-up creed, as it were ─ just in case we’re wrong to believe in Christ and His teachings?

Napoleon’s Life Strategy

In his famous book ‘Think and Grow Rich,’ Napoleon Hill outlines principles for attaining earthly success and writes about the many men who’ve applied them.

A certain Edwin C. Barnes wanted to work with (not for) Thomas Edison. Mr. Hill writes:  “Barnes' desire was not a hope! It was not a wish! It was a keen, pulsating DESIRE, which transcended everything else. It was DEFINITE.”

Mr. Barnes was so determined to achieve his aim, that he was willing to “burn all bridges behind me, and stake my ENTIRE FUTURE on my ability to get what I want."

Barnes ‘did not say, "I will keep my eyes open for another opportunity, in case I fail to get what I want in the Edison organization."……“He stood by his DESIRE until it became the dominating obsession of his life ─ and ─ finally, a fact.”

In short, Barnes’ goal became an obsession, and everything he did was in order to achieve this one end. He succeeded. ‘Out of that business association (with Edison) grew the slogan, "Made by Edison and installed by Barnes."’

Christ’s Strategy

God demands the same ‘obsession’ from us, and warns against trying to be of this world and of God. We can choose only one.

The first commandment is unambiguous about this.  “I am the Lord your God…. You shall have no other gods before Me.” (My italics)
Exodus 20:2-17   

Jesus elaborates further on the level of commitment God requires of us.

'You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.' Matthew: 22:37

We must guard against deep attachment to the things of this world for  only love of God makes us willingly obey His laws. And when we don’t obey His laws, it proves we don’t love or believe in Him.  

St. James admonishes those who can’t choose one or the other 'god,' and calls them ‘double-minded.’

“Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.” James 1:8.  The New Living Translation (©2007)

Clarke’s Commentary on the same webpage explains it this way:

“A man of this (double-minded) character is continually distracted; he will neither let earth nor heaven go, and yet he can have but one.”  

St. James also makes it clear that such “people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord” unless their “faith is in God alone.” James 1:6-7

We can’t pray to God only when we want something and expect Him to give it to us, when we worship the pursuit of worldly wealth instead of Him the rest of the time.

If You Aren't For Me...

It isn't possible to love God and Mammon: love of one excludes love of the other. Either we are for God or we are against Him: there is no middle ground.

Christ is very clear about this: "Anyone who isn't with me opposes me, and anyone who isn't working with me is actually working against me.” Matthew 12:30 New Living Translation (©2007)

He also outlines the consequences of not being wholeheartedly Christian:

“If anyone is ashamed of me and my message, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when He returns in His glory and in the glory of the Father and the holy angels.” Luke 9:26 New Living Translation (©2007)

We can’t be successful in any undertaking if our commitment is lukewarm. The desire of true Christians is to get to heaven: their lives are lived solely in the hope of being with God when they die.

Hope Versus Hope

Christian ‘hope’ is completely different from worldly hope.

Jack Weaver defines this in his ‘Notes From a Retired Preacher.’

‘The Hope of Heaven is not a maybe — but an absolute and definite guarantee by the Word of the Truth of the Gospel.
 
‘“In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.” Titus 1:2
 
‘Eternal life — guaranteed and promised by the God of the Universe. He cannot lie... Every true believer in Jesus Christ may look with confidence to the glorious appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ. (There is) No doubt!’
 
Christian hope is not wishful thinking: it is the absolute certainty of eternal life if we commit to Christ.
 
Do We Still Have Time?  

If we’ve been a doubting, ‘double-minded’ person, will Christ still accept our belated commitment to Him?

Absolutely!

 ‘“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.’ Joel 2:12-13 ESV

‘The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.’ Acts 17:30 ESV 

So now would be a good time. :)

Is There a Deadline?
 
Christ is the Merciful One during our lifetime. If we repent of our sins and ask for His forgiveness now, He will extend His infinite mercy to us.

This changes when we die.

Consider these words of Our Lord to Saint Faustina:

“Today I am sending you with My mercy to the people of the whole world. I do not want to punish aching mankind, but I desire to heal it, pressing it to My Merciful Heart. (1588)”

The moment we die, He becomes our Judge and His clemency is permanently over. 

“….after (the end times) will come the day of justice. While there is still time, let them have recourse to the fount of My mercy; let them profit from the Blood and Water which gushed forth for them. (848) (My italics)

“Before I come as a just Judge, I first open wide the doors of My mercy. He who refuses to pass through the doors of My mercy must pass through the doors of My justice... (1146)”

Now, Was That So Difficult?

Christ wants to save us, but we must humble ourselves and ask for His forgiveness. He cannot save us if we don't ask Him to. 

Catholics have to ask pardon for their sins out loud to a priest, which requires even more humility than a quiet acknowledgement of guilt to God alone.

But, however we do so, once we’ve admitted our faults and asked for forgiveness, a great burden lifts from us. Invited back into our hearts, Christ in His mercy walks with us again.

And as my former parish priest used to say, ‘Don’t look down or that’s where you’re going. Look up ─ at where you want to go!”

God must be the Alpha and Omega of our lives if we are to attain that for which He made us: eternal life with Him in heaven.

There is no Plan B for Christians. We don't need one.


Napoleon Hill quotes taken from:

Hill, Napoleon (2010-05-07). The Classic Napoleon Hill Masterpiece THINK AND GROW RICH [Illustrated & Annotated] (Kindle Locations 4470-4471). Northpointe Classics. Kindle Edition.(Available for 99c)

Or click here for free download.

St Faustina quotes taken from:

THE LIFE AND MISSION OF Saint Faustina APOSTLE OF THE DIVINE MERCY

My mother has had a stroke. Her left side has stopped working, and she is now in assisted living. However, she could regain complete use of her left arm and leg – if she would only put effort into her therapy.

I’m Doing My Bit – Why Doesn’t She Do Hers?

She is driving me mad. I made sure that she was no longer in real pain and found her a kind, strong (and handsome) male therapist who has the patience of a saint. And still she won’t try to get better.

It takes forever to visit her from my house in Maryland. I have to fly to Chicago, then take a three hour bus trip from O’Hare to reach her house, before climbing into her car and driving to the assisted living home.

All this for someone who isn’t trying to get better!

Resenting the Cross I’ve Been Given

For a long time I ranted at God for putting me in the position of having to take care of my mother’s finances, spend a week cleaning out her incredibly cluttered house, and trying - long-distance – to organize the redecorating and sale of her property. (Clearly she won’t live there again, and has agreed to my selling it.)

Mother is causing me incredible inconvenience. Doesn’t she care that I have a life of my own? Why won’t she put in the effort to literally get back on her feet?

Time to Reflect

The bus rides back and forth give me plenty of time to reflect, but also to read. The book on this latest trip was “Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway” by Susan Jeffers.

Was I reading that book because of Mother? No, actually. I’m trying to overcome certain fears I have when competing on my horse. But at the end of the book, Dr. Jeffers writes that life is about feeling joy, which is not derived from pursuing our own happiness.

“And what is joy? It is something that expresses the ebullience of the spiritual part of ourselves. Joy is characterized by lightness, humor, laughter and gaiety.”

She goes on to explain how we “become bigger (when) we move away from that ‘feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making me happy’ (George Bernard Shaw). We move into adult status, where we have much to give this world.”

How to Experience Joy

God creates so many opportunities for us to give to people, but we tend to carefully sidestep them, because they get in the way of our 'true goal' i.e. the pursuit of our individual happiness.

Our true goal should, however, be helping others. As Christians we’re supposed to serve.

We can’t all be Mother Theresa and do mighty deeds. And God doesn’t ask that of us. He simply wants us to be good and faithful servants, doing His work humbly, regardless of how insignificant it appears to us or others.

Once I grasped this, I realized how selfish I am to get mad because my mother is disrupting my life. She didn’t choose to have a stroke!

Instead I should be glad of the opportunity to take care of her needs, because God wants me to. He has given me a job, He has let me know that I matter to Him and to her.  My joy is in fulfilling God’s purpose for me.

Last Sunday I introduced myself to our new parish priest.

He was a couple of months into his tenure before I had the courage to do this. I'm not one of those people who can walk up after Mass and have an easy, off-the-cuff conversation with a person I don't know.

Quiet Resolution

All during Mass I searched my brain for a topic to broach, having decided that today was the day I would finally say 'hello.'

I always enjoy Father's sermons, so I decided he would be pleased if I gave him this feedback. After Mass I dutifully stood in line behind other parishioners. He laughed and joked with the people in front of me, and then it was my turn.

Imagine my embarrassment when he shook my hand  - as I gave my name and said that I enjoy his sermons - but stood open-mouthed and said nothing! His expression was hard to read, but he clearly didn't want to talk to me.

I felt crushed and walked back to my car wanting to cry like a little child. How could God reward my courage and attempt at saying something kind and encouraging with such apparent contempt?

To Be Upfront or Not to Be?

There were two possible ways for me to react, as I saw it.

Either I could feel resentment, tell all my friends what a terrible priest he is and attend a new church.

Or, instead of going behind his back, I could let him know how he had made me feel and thrash it out with him.

Clearly the better route was to be direct with Father instead of going behind his back.

So I emailed him on Monday (after a night spent stewing over things!) and tried to keep it short, factual and not resentful. I simply asked why I had received such a reception from him when I was trying to be welcoming and encouraging!

The Christian Response

Within the hour I received an apologetic reply. Father felt very bad about the whole episode, explaining that he'd had very little sleep over the last two days.

I was happy to hear from him, but didn't know how to respond. So that night I prayed for him instead.

The next morning I had another email from him. He was offering that morning's Mass up for me and my intentions. My altruism in praying for him had been answered by incredible kindness.

Now I had to respond!

Letting Someone Else Benefit

I thanked him very much, and asked him to pray for a friend of mine who lost most of her house in Hurricane Irene's flood. He responded immediately that he would.

The Takeaway

Our parish priest is human, but he is also Christian. He was willing to be humble and charitable in the face of criticism. That is very difficult for all of us.

I'm more than happy to stay in his parish, and to keep learning from his example.

P.S. And I'm not kidding, his sermons are awesome!