‘For me prayer is a surge of the heart, it is a simple look towards Heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.’”
Posted: Tuesday, July 12, 2016
Title Photo and Single Yellow Rose by Mary Catherine Kennedy | Image of St. Therese from St. Theresa Catholic Church Austin
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Like the Father
by Katie Freddino
Mount St. Mary's student/Athens Catholic Team
We are in the midst of the Year of Mercy, a special jubilee year announced by Pope Francis on March 13, 2015. The year began on December 8, 2015. On the logo for the Year of Mercy is a phrase: “Merciful Like the Father”.
We know that we are called to forgive others, but what does it mean to be merciful like the Father? How is the Father merciful? To answer this question, I turned to Scripture and found verses which show the nature of God’s mercy.
Matthew 9:13 – “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous by sinners.”
Psalm 103:8 – “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”
Ephesians 2:4-5 – “But God, who is rich and mercy, out of the great love with which he loves us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved”
1 Peter 5:10 – “And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you.”
Micah 7:18 – “Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of your possession? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in showing clemency.”
2 Timothy 1:9 – “…who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,”
Isaiah 30:18 – “Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.”
Matthew 6:14 – “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you”
Psalm 25: 6-7 – “Be mindful of your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love, for they have been from of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for your goodness’ sake, O Lord!”
Romans 6:14 – “For sin will have dominion over you, since you are not under law, but under grace.”
John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”
These verses show us that God wants to forgive us, that His mercy is limitless and has no boundaries. His mercy is given freely; it always has been and always will be.
This is the mercy we are called to show. May we ask God to give us the grace to show mercy, as He has shown us mercy.
Posted: Monday, May 23, 2016
Title Photo by Katie Freddino
00%
by Hallie Ruth
OU Catholics Social Media Chair, Rising Junior at Ohio University
After about the third time checking Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat, I knew it was time to check my grades. As I sat there hoping the Wi-Fi would go out, more anxiety came over me but I knew I had to finally face them. I opened my laptop, and in that moment, it seemed as though the webpage took an eternity to load. I sat there thinking how frustrating it is to put a percentage or a letter grade on your worth and to have that 93% or 67% tell you who you are. I then started thinking about my day and my week and suddenly I was thinking about the past year. I glanced up and saw my bible and thought, what percentage of God’s love do I deserve?
I really thought about it and then I realized that I deserve 0% of his love. I am a sinner. I lie. I gossip. I forget to pray. I get angry with people. I get jealous. I don’t always love people the way I should. I don’t feed the hungry or clothe the naked. I often ignore people in need and I hold grudges. I choose sin over Christ and I fail Him daily.
I failed Him after He died on the cross for me. My sins stuck nails in His feet and His hands and nailed Him to that cross. He conquered sin and death for me, but I still choose sin every day. So yes, I deserve a 0% on the “gradebook” of Christ’s love.
But is that what God gives me? If everyday life were my assignments, tests, and quizzes, sin would cause me to fail. But that is not how our heavenly Father works – I don’t get what I deserve, I am gifted with more than I can even fathom.
We cannot put a grade, or a label, or a definition on God’s love, because it is something our earthly minds cannot comprehend. We cannot fully understand His individual love for each of us, or how if He were to stop thinking about one of us for even for a second, we would cease to exist. Think about it: our life itself relies on God’s love for us. So, next time we sin and cannot imagine how God could love someone who rebels against Him, we need to remember that our existence resides in His immense love.
God doesn’t just love. He is love. His very essence and being is love. We were made to know and love God.
He would create the universe again just to hear you say, "I love You."
When Jesus walked to Calvary with open wounds all over His body, carrying a heavy cross, and wearing thorns on His head, He knew I was going to sin. He knew I would choose Satan over Him even though Satan offers me nothing and Christ offers me everything. He knew all of this, yet He died for me. He brutally suffered for me…and for you.
We choose this sin and emptiness even though there is a heavenly banquet of goodness and fruit waiting for us. We need to choose the fruit. We need to choose this unfathomable love that created the universe. We need to choose God because without Him we are nothing.
Posted: Monday, May 2, 2016