When I consider whom God is I
think of love. In 1 John 4:16b NIV we find, "God is love and whoever lives
in love lives in God and God in him." Yet it is difficult to define love
for love means different things to different people. To me the meaning of God
as love is very simple; I know and experience God as a Loving Father. I have
known the love of a human father and my heart tells me God is Love.
Because God is, Love, God is the
perfection of goodness, peace, gentleness, faithfulness, justice, honesty,
kindness, mercy, and forgiveness yet, God is more; He is the perfection of each
of these qualities and the perfection of everything that is good. There is no
limit to the good, which defines God. Because I have experienced the goodness
of God in my own life and seen His goodness in the lives of others I know my God
is Good.
God is Triune in some faith
traditions as The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit, Three Persons yet One
God. History tells us Saint Patrick used a shamrock to explain the belief of
God as a Triune God, the Blessed Trinity.
I remember as a child attempting
to separate a three-leaf clover without tearing the stem. I was convinced I
could tear away the three parts of the clover and the stem would remain in
tact. I did not succeed; the stem continued to tear each time I tried to
separate the three parts. In the end, I gave up and although I could not
understand how there, could be Three Persons yet only One God, I accepted as
truth the mystery, my God is Triune, my God is, Father, Son and Spirit.
God is My Father and in those
times when I feel vulnerable, weak and need to experience God as loving me, I withdraw
to a quiet place, a place to wait, in contemplation for the moment of God's hug. God lifts me up when I am
down He fills me with His presence and assures me He will be with me in good
times and in not so good times. Turning to God in prayers of thanksgiving, worship,
praise, adoration, and blessing, I tell Him of my love. My God is worthy of my
love and my God is Compassionate in His love.
I go to my Father who is
Compassion in times of grief, sadness and sorrow; those times when others seek from
me intercessory prayer for healing in heart, mind, body and soul. God is a Father
who wants me to come to Him when life is difficult, when Satan attacks
faithfulness, tempting me to become angry and turn away from God.
God wants me to talk with Him
about things, which sadden me such as war, natural disasters, violent, evil men
and women who seek to destroy His people, especially little children. We talk
when I am saddened to the point of tears seeing in the faces of men, women and
children the helplessness they must feel. It saddens me because of my own
inability to lighten their load. I plead with my God to send others to them who
can provide their needs I cannot provide. God answers my prayer, my God is
Listening.
I seek God as Spirit for help in
times of discernment when I need to make a decision related to my life or the
life of my brother with Special Needs. I seek the grace of final perseverance,
and the grace I need to become, the woman of faith and holiness my baptism
calls me to become. I ask the Spirit for the wisdom found only through seeking
greater knowledge of the Scriptures. I seek from God the Spirit grace to
recognize sin in my life and grace to be sorry, repent and make amends for my
sin. I ask the Spirit for grace I need to sustain me in those times of weakness
and temptation. I pray for grace to grow in love for Spirit, the Father and the
Son, my God is Grace, Gifts and Blessings.
Jesus is the Son and He is my
brother, I have the knowledge of the love of a brother since I grew up with six
brothers, each different and yet all the same in love and loving. Knowing the
love of each brother, I have come to recognize Jesus as my Brother.
There have been times in my past
when I had reason to apologize and ask forgiveness of one of my human brothers;
I also at times have reason to apologize and ask forgiveness from God my
Brother.
As I gaze upon a crucifix or a
picture of the Suffering Jesus, I recognize in the face of God the suffering
people throughout the world. His lacerated heart, his pierced hands and feet,
His tear-stained and blood streaked face and back remind me of those who suffer
today.
I know He died because of my sins
and sins of people like me who stumble and fall as He did. We stumble and fall
out of greed and lack of love; He stumbled under the weight of our sins. I know
God is Love for only love could bear the weight of my sin and the sin of all
God's people. Jesus is God; God is Love and I seek to love my God who is my
Brother. He died for me!
Forgiveness is God's gift and forgiveness when offered to others is your gift
to yourself, a sign of your love. It is then you will know God is Forgiveness
and God is Love. Love abounds, claim your share for Love is yours! I believe God is and therefore I
seek to know, love and serve God all the days of my life. May your God be a God
of love and may your God bring you peace of mind and comfort in body. May you
know God is Wisdom, Counselor, Dispenser of Grace, Mercy, Justice and
Compassion; May you know God is Forgiveness to all who repent and share His
forgiveness; dispensing justice tempered with love to those who offend you.
God promised us He would hold us in the palm
of hands and promised to love us until the end of time. Is there anything else we
can ask of God? It seems to me God's promise, ought to be sufficient if we
truly believe God. If we take God at His word and do not doubt, if we do not
loose faith, if we hold tightly to God's promises and love God above all others,
what more can God do? Embedded in God's promise is the promise to provide all
our needs and some of our wants. We find this difficult to cope with at times
and walk away from God because we confuse our wants and our needs.
Jesus said to ask the Father anything in My
name and He will give it to you. Was Jesus testing me? Was Jesus suggesting
there would be times when I would forget the Father's promises, times I would be
weak without trusting? Was Jesus telling me there would be times of confusion,
times of sickness and death, times I would struggle desperately not to question
asking why?
Someone once said, good things happen to good
people, but I have learned there are times, when bad things also happen to good people. It is sometimes difficult to see the Father's will in the death of
young man struck down by the fatal blow of a heart, which refuses to beat. It is difficult not question why his brother suddenly feels chest pain and a large
mass is found on his sternum a short time after a brother's burial. It is
difficult not to question why a ninety-year old mother buries her youngest son
and within days learns another son is facing critical surgery. It is difficult
to say to the Father, Your will be done with uncompromising trust, believing
God knows best.
It is also difficult not to question the
reason why a handicapped brother who has always been a devout and faithful
follower continues to live a life of pain and inner struggle. A person who
cares deeply for family and friends; a man whose lifetime has been one of
emotional and psychological pain, now suffers from non-specific physical pain,
erratic blood tests, forgetfulness and the inability to any longer control his
moods and muscle control. Watching people suffer is a difficult task, but for Christians
a task for sanctification, and purification of our souls. Opening our hearts to the needs of another and
facing, the reality of our call to serve God through service to others, causes
service to become drudgery if we tune God out in periods of distress.
Life is full of joys and pain, love and hate,
all sorts of positives and negatives surround us most days. However, God's
promise, I will be with you is a promise without compromise. It is a promise God
made after the fall of man. God knew in order for us to one day return to Him,
we would need ongoing assistance. We experience the fulfillment of God's words
as His grace flows to us every moment of every day. Cooperating with God's
grace strengthens our faith, provides the courage to hope and turns our actions
into acts of love.
God's strong hands hold us tightly; so when
we squirm, we will not fall from God's hands, and squirm we do! Each time God
sends us a challenge we begin to squirm like a baby in a mother's arms. We ask
what now, why now, are You sure Lord; is this Your will; You are not asking me
do this? God I cannot take anymore! Sometimes we squirm over big things, but
mostly we find ourselves squirming over small things.
We complain, bemoan and forget to take our
concerns to prayer until we try many other forms of ventilation. Telling
everyone who will listen how difficult our life is we become sometimes similar
to a broken record drowning out the concerns of others, unconscious or
unconcerned about them. Often when we do turn to prayer, our prayer is full of
doubt, and our minds rush to judgments, our decisions and our fears run
rampant. If only we could learn to wait quietly and confidently, wait on the
Lord to act; wait on the Lord to tell us what His plan is.
We hear about someone who is seriously or
critically ill and suddenly we are visualizing a funeral or we become angry
with God and refuse to talk with Him, listen to Him or allow anyone around to
speak of Him. We behave as though God is punishing us by causing someone we
love to suffer. We let go of faith, hope and love and allow depression,
discontent and worry to take over our life rather than turn to God through
prayers of faith, hope and love. We loose our sense of trust, we abandon hope
and turn from love then we ask why God, why are you abandoning me?
How many times God must feel like throwing
His hands into the air and letting us fall wherever we land, as we sometimes do
to our self and others but not God our Father, He just holds us close, and
patiently waits for our tantrum to end; then gives us His undivided attention.
Patiently, He leads us down the path to acceptance and provides the grace to recognize
God's way is the best way. Whether our challenges are great or small when we
leave them in God hands, when we seek His gift of understanding, and guidance,
when we pray consistently in His will then there is good, and if we seek good, we
will find good. When we find good we find God for the God of love is a God of
goodness! In all things great and small, allow the God of love, to love you
with the compassionate love only God can and will give to all who believe.
"I do not pray for these
alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they
all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be
one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You
gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one. I in them,
and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may
know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they
also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory
which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. O
righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these
have known that You sent me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will
declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in
them." John 17: 20-26
In the spirit of Your Son's prayer, I come before You, God my Father.
I have spent a lifetime striving to lead souls to You. I can therefore pray Father saying, I have declared to them Your name and will declare Your Name all my life. The
love with which You love me, I seek to continually pass on to them and I pray they will remember and
love You, because I have taught them, You are their Friend.
In 1956, I began
teaching first graders about God our loving Father, while preparing them
for their First Communion and First Confession. Since then, I have been a teacher
of Christian Doctrine in parochial school systems in seven States. I have
taught hundreds of children from first grade through high school the doctrines
and practices of the Catholic Christian Belief System as well as Reading, Writing,
Arithmetic, Science, etc.
I have also had
the privilege and the responsibility as teacher for adults in Christian
Parenting and the Rite of Christian Initiation in the Catholic belief system, and
continue teaching as a volunteer Catechist for adults in my local Parish. God's children
of various ages and spiritual growth levels have been students in classes,
workshops, retreats and days of reflection. This to me has been an awesome
responsibility and only from my knees could I stand in the presence of those
God placed in the classrooms in which I have taught. I cannot even imagine
entering a classroom without having prayed for the grace to teach others about
God and things of God. Each year for me was a journey in faith, a time to
spread the Good News through teaching.
I read a book
entitled, "The Father Is Very Fond of Me" by Edward Ferrell many
years ago and although I knew God loved me, it was after reading this book, I
really came to believe and teach with a new flame burning in my heart. I was
convinced of the Father's love and wanted to shout this message from the
rooftops. I realized and believed the Father loved me before the foundation of
the world and I wanted others to realize and believe the Father also loved each
of them before the foundation of the world. I wanted each person to know the
fondness of the Father's love for him or her. I believed then
and still believe many people do not know or do not believe in God's love for
them. I was convinced then and remain convinced my call to teach was and is a
call about love, God's kind of love.
I also realized
although I am a Catholic, I was not yet a Christian. I began to think of the
two words, Christ and I in the spelling of this word. I began
to teach Christ and I, as a way of life
in all of my classes and adult groups. The more I worked at becoming a
"good" Christian the more I learned to love God and to appreciate the
value of my Catholicism and the deposit of faith that is my inheritance. My
relationship with Jesus is the beginning of my faith and I am convinced
regardless of a particular denomination or belief system without being,
connected solidly with Jesus no belief system will lead me to the HeavenlyKingdom. I believe the only way to the
Father is through the Son.
In all my teaching, I strive
to lead others to recognize, and accept God's great love for them.So often, the reason for refusal to accept
God's love stems from the fear God will not forgive sin. Some people actually
believe their sins are unforgivable and often these people have never come to
know Jesus as the Suffering Servant who died for all sin of all people. For some reason some people never learned to
include themselves, in the words all
people when forgiveness is in question.
A strong relationship with Jesus
builds trust in the power of forgiveness and the will of the Father to forgive
those who believe Jesus died as a sign of the Father's willingness to forgive
all who repent and are willing to make amends for their sin. As
I continued year after year teaching the Sacramental life of the Church
discussing, Baptism, Eucharist, Reconciliation, Confirmation and other
sacraments, I learned to appreciate the true meaning of these gifts. Teaching
these sacraments led me to value them as precious gifts from a loving God. The
grace and blessings, which come from participation in the sacramental life of
my belief system, have led to my personal spiritual growth. Striving to teach students the importance of accepting and using God's grace as a means to our eternal
salvation, I became convinced, without God's grace I could not and would
not grow spiritually. As I continued to study and teach the value of grace, the
more conscious I became of those times when I turned from grace and fell into
sin. I learned to appreciate and value this gift of the Holy Spirit so much; I
wrote a book entitled, "GRACE ABOUNDS; Grace Accepted, Grace
Rejected," which was published this year.
As I taught, I
learned and my love for God became more grounded in faith, hope, love and
prayer. My faith increased as I continued to learn and appreciate God's Word
and the sacramental life of the church. As my faith grew so also did my hope and
as I experienced the fulfillment of God's promises in my own life and the lives
of those I taught my fulfilled hope led me to love. While striving to teach others God was teaching me.
In gratitude for
the fulfillment of His promises, my love for God deepened and I turned to God
in prayer more often and for longer periods, of time. My prayer increased over
time and I found myself frequently thinking about prayer in the midst of doing
other things. In time, I learned prayer and the rest of my life could not be
separate entities. I learned in time my life should be my prayer and my prayer
should surround my life. I began to refer to this as circular prayer, prayer, which surrounds all I do.
My word prayers and meditations eventually ceased to
satisfy my desire to pray, to spend time in the presence of God. I was stuck in
the prayer of talking with God and listening to God, however my
ability to hear God became hindered by distractions. In time, I learned the
next step in prayer, the prayer of Contemplation. Contemplation is
a time, in which one enters fully into the presence of God through a systematic process of praying the
Scriptures called Lectio Divina, which is similar to Centering Prayer. Lectio
Divina is a form of prayer in which, God teaches us to listen to Him as we seek
His presence through interior silence. I say the words, "Be still I am
your God" to help me to empty my heart and mind as I seek the presence of
God in quietude. When distractions enter my silence, I repeat the words
"Be still" to combat them. In quiet solitude, God reveals Himself and
I know with all my heart, He is God, a God of love and compassion.
The fruit of
contemplation is faith, hope and love. The faith to believe without compromise,
the truths revealed to us through Sacred Scripture. A hope to hold on to the
promises of Jesus and the words of the Father found in Scripture and a love
that is global, a love that sees the needs of all people, as reason for prayer. Finding the God of
love in periods of contemplation leads one to love freely. Love for others
becomes inclusive of all God's people. Prayer begins to include all who may be
in need of prayer. The love, which comes from contemplation, leaves no room for
a cafeteria form of love. The need for prayer is the cause for prayer; age,
color, sex, religion, poor, homeless, rich, middle class, friend, or enemy all become simply people in need when ones
love for God begins to create an inner awareness which recognizes all people as
God's people.
All prayer
begins in faith, perseveres in hope and deepens our love, which turns us back
to God in increased prayer. I refer to this prayer as circular prayer, prayer,
which includes and surrounds all who are in need of prayer throughout the
world. My first published book entitled, "Praying A Circle Around The
World from Faith to Hope to Love to Prayer" is a book about my ongoing,
personal prayer journey and my form of prayer, Circular Prayer, prayer, which
surrounds all we do.
I pray, Heavenly Father, in the spirit of the prayer
of Jesus I can say, I pray for all,
these Father You have given to me, that they may continue to believe all I
taught them about You, the Father of love. I pray Father that what they teach
by word and deed draws others to love You as I love You. Father, I pray also that
all those You sent to me continue to walk a journey in faith and all may unite
in the HeavenlyKingdom one day. May the love with which
You love me lead me on my journey back to You. I glorify Your name and name of
Your Son, Jesus. I pray in union with the Holy Spirit that You will reign in
glory for all eternity. Amen
