Category: Faith

Grasping For Air

by rejoiceandpraise, posted in Art Therapy, awareness, Bible, Catholic Faith, Catholic Journey, Catholicism, Christianity, creativity, Depression, Faith, God, Jesus, My journey with Jesus, Personal Reflection, Poetry, Poetry/Lyric, Praise, sketching, Spirituality

smog covers the sky

like a blanket of despair

Grasping for air

to see beyond the stratosphere

I offer a silent prayer to all the firefighters battling the flames

For those forced to move out of its fiery path

There are things and situations that are literally out of our control, when all we can do is take the time to breathe. To see beyond the smoggy din that surround our lives and grasp for air.

Breathing Space (June 6, 2023)

Looking out into the ominous sky, I look beyond it and look deeply at its implications for my own well being. I can let it drag my mood down, or look beyond it to see hope. Within my magnified space, I offer up a silent prayer to God for all the firefighters working vigorously to put out the flames. I pray for all those who have been displaced by the gravity of the forest fires (Quebec). I let God do his job.

breathing space

just to breathe. i am alive

grasping for air

my magnified space

allowing myself to go with the flow

Don’t forget Jesus too often withdraw from his disciples to pray: 16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. Luke 5:16

Philippians 4:6 reminds us to take the time and offer up our angst and worries to God:

6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

God Bless 💖🙏

State Of Flow

by rejoiceandpraise, posted in Art Therapy, Catholic Faith, Catholic Journey, Christian Blogger, Christianity, creative expression, Faith, Forgiveness, illness, inspiration, joy, Reflection, sketching, Spirituality, Testimony, watercolours

There is anxiety and stress. There is also depression. Coming from a Christian and Chinese cultural milieu, I use to feel guilt that I would have these conditions.

As part of my own psychological and spiritual journey, I now acknowledge that it’s ok to go through anxiety, stress, fear and even depression. Going through life changes and growth is never easy. It can disable me, or it can create so much fear and panic that I don’t want to leave the confines of my home.

I have been working with a St. Ignatius Spiritual Director for the past few years as part of my own spiritual journey to love, know and do God’s will. Part of this is shedding away all the layers of “things” piled upon me in my 60 plus years of life.

The awareness of how much psychological and emotional baggage I carry on my shoulders is daunting. Spiritual awareness is letting go of all the “stuff” that keeps me from God.

Hand in hand in my spiritual journey the past few months is seeing my art therapist. Through visualization, I can explore those areas in my psyche which chains me. Art therapy and my spiritual direction helps in healing me to be the person I was meant to be in God’s image.

I am going through a personal transformation and letting go of emotional and psychological chains to becoming my authentic self. Free from the sins of the “father” and all those “ism” that has unconsciously molded and shaped the neurotic, anxious and stressed out me. It is and has been a healing journey.

Christian work ethic was my moral compass. Topped with the drive, angst and expectations of my immigrant parents – where my Chinese cultural repertoire often conflicted with my Christian one. I was a CBC – Canadian born Chinese.

The pace of life since university and then career set the pace for the next 30 years. It shaped my friendships and social environment. Fast forward into my 60s is the realization that I existed in a pressure cooker. The past many months have seen me breaking free to find my authentic self in the mundanity of my life. The career that once gave me much joy, is now but a shallow prison. Friendships were based on a thin thread of association and easily sever (for the first time C.S. Lewis’ The Four Loves made sense). I let the “stuff” of the world come between me and God.

Aside:

Luke 24 is pivotal in my state of flow. Mediating on Mary Magdalene’s grief over the death of her beloved friend and the disciples focus on the current news until they recognize Jesus when he broke bread, all help me understand that peace and joy comes only from fixing our focus on Jesus.

With my eyes on Jesus, I can move towards healing my mind, body and soul. All those angst and inner pain starts to slowly flow out of me. Yes, it is taking proactive action on my part to get better. Now, I can move towards the next phase of my life because my gaze is on Jesus. Only then can I let go of my baggage. I can now grieve and walk towards the light – because I am safe in Jesus’ embrace.

Resource: The Catholic Guide To Depression, by Aaron Kheriaty

The Four Loves, by C. S. Lewis https://ia800104.us.archive.org/27/items/fourloves01lewi/fourloves01lewi.pdf

Thank you for letting me share my journey with you. Jesus loves each of us at whatever point in life we are at. I pray that each of you walk with him into the light. All the things we once deemed important, hurtful, or heavy falls to the wayside.

God Bless 🙏💕

Drawing Nearer A Step At A Time

by rejoiceandpraise, posted in Catholic Faith, Catholic Journey, Christian Blogger, Christianity, Faith, inspiration, Jesus, Personal Reflection

I read this verse today , and it resonates with challenges in my Faith journey.

“Guard your steps when you go to the house of God; to draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools; for they do not know that they are doing evil. Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven, and you upon earth; therefore let your words be few.”–Ecclesiastes 5:1-2

God Bless each of you as you take one step at a time towards Jesus Christ and grow into a better “you” in your existence before God🙏💕

Hope Awareness

by rejoiceandpraise, posted in Bible, Catholic Faith, Catholic Journey, Christian Blogger, Christianity, Faith, God, grace, Jesus, Reflection

When I first became a Catholic, I delve right into my new faith with gusto and excitement. I remember my first Lent going a bit overboard with fasting, giving up coffee, no gaming, and no shopping without really understanding the “why” I was doing it. I was miserable! Yes, I followed through it with the mindset that it was what Catholics do during Lent.

As one matures in their spiritual journey with God, one goes through a surface and more importantly an inner transformation of a deeper understanding of faith. Who I am as a child of God and what does He want for me? Where one was once a child and did as we were told, walking with Jesus leads to a blossoming spirituality. Reflecting within and without ourselves as we head into Easter, there are heart felt insights into the child within who loves God, and who journeys in hope and love. For the realization that through the death of Jesus on the cross, one can cross the bridge to the Father. Jesus died for you and me so that we may have a place next to God.

My Lenten this year is not a list of sacrifices as in previous years, but an inward awareness of me as the child of God whose brokenness is healed through the death of Christ.

Two verses moves my heart today:

I have been crucified with Christ; 20 and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Galatians 2:19-20


New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— 9 not the result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.

Ephesians 2:8-10

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

This Lenten moves me to rejoice within and it’s in the heart and not my headspace. It is a sincere look within, and in doing this, I see the authentic me as Jesus sees me reflected back at me.

I raise my heart in prayer for each of us to be filled with joy and hope in Jesus.

God Bless 💕🙏

How Do I Live In A World Gone Astray

by rejoiceandpraise, posted in Bible, Catholic Faith, Catholic Journey, Catholicism, Christian Blogger, Christianity, Faith, Jesus, Personal Reflection, secularism

This is one of the realities of living as a Catholic or Christian. “How do I live as a someone walking with Jesus, in a world that glorifies sin?”

SIN is rampant in my world. I need only look around me to see it in my everyday – from subjective truth based on one’s own lived experience to a disregard for rational discourse and the natural law. It is in my work place, in the political climate I live in, in my social milieu, in the media and the mores.


for we walk by faith, not by sight.
2 Corinthians 5:7
New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

As I am also learning how to manoeuvre within and without my world, I share with all the following book and article on this topic.

I hope they will help us walk in the path of Jesus towards God in a world gone dark💕🙏

The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation.

https://www.amazon.com/Benedict-Option-Strategy-Christians-Post-Christian/dp/0735213291

The following article also explores this topic.

How Do You Live as a Catholic in a Godless World?

God Bless 💕🙏

Beyond The Text – Love, Know, Trust

by rejoiceandpraise, posted in Christian Blogger, Christianity, Faith, Father Chris Alar, God, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Love, prayer

Very often as a writer, I use common phrases I think I understand.

Wow, what am I saying?

I have been reflecting the past few weeks on the Pascal Mysteries as a part of my journey in my spiritual direction, and as part of my Lenten journey to “love Jesus, know him, and to know/do his will.”

Reflecting on my past blog posts, I have often used this phrase and the deep impact of it didn’t hit me until this Sunday. Graced awareness hit me like a ton of bricks, as I realized; “Do I even know what I was talking about?”

To love Jesus, means getting to know and be in a relationship with him. Getting to know Jesus is reading the sacred scriptures and examining how it applies to me. A relationship with Jesus is communication – am I praying and talking to Jesus. It is also in looking at the world around me through Jesus’ eyes. “Is it life giving?”

Graced awareness is what I have been praying for, and when it hits me, I am in awe how simple it is.

It is only in knowing who Jesus is that I can come to love him more. Like any friendship, it entails communication and spending time together. It is through this process I learn to trust Jesus. I am after all human, and it’s been wired into me from the onset to seek relationships – especially with God. It is only when I trust, and that I can slowly move to closer to him and let go of my fears and submit to his will.

After examining and breaking down what it means “to love, know and do the will of God” and looking beyond the text – I can understand what it really means to me.

Praise be to Holy Spirit for his guidance 💕🙏

A Prayer to Know, Love, and Trust God

Lord Jesus, thank you for coming to earth to save us and show us the Father’s overwhelming love. Thank you for making it possible for us to KNOW the very nature and character of the Great I AM. You revealed that both the law and gospel are features of God and what He wants for us. The Law shows us His will and teaches us that when we follow it we will be blessed with direction and protection. The Gospel shows us His forgiving love that covers our failures with mercy and grace.

Jesus, You perfectly represent both the Law and the grace of the Gospel. Please forgive me for failing to trust You completely and by Your mercy and grace, help me to KNOW You are God, the Messiah. Help me to LOVE You with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. And help me to TRUST and OBEY Your will that I might live each day for Your glory and enjoy the blessings of a soul completely surrendered to You.

Amen.

God will always find a way to communicate with us, and this homily by Father Chris Alar was an eye opener for me:

God Bless 💕🙏

Remember You Are Dust, And Dust You Will Return

by rejoiceandpraise, posted in Catholic Faith, Catholic Journey, Catholicism, Christian Blogger, Christianity, Faith, Jesus, Lent, Personal Reflection

It is Ash Wednesday, and here we have the opportunity to return to God’s family. He waits for us to walk the 40 days with His son Jesus.

A Prayer for Ash Wednesday

“Remember you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”

Gracious God, today begins a period of inner reflection and examination. The days stretch before me and invite me inward to that silent, holy space that holds your Spirit. This special time beckons me to see my life through Christ’s eyes and the truth and reality of your love incarnate. Give me the grace to enter the space of these days with anticipation of our meeting. And, when I open my soul to your presence, let your loving kindness flow over me and seep into the pockets of my heart. I ask this for the sake of your love. Amen.

How will I practice my journey this Lent? The list of my own sins is long – from gluttony to sinful thoughts, to not loving the unlovable with a deeper heart, and to all those faults I have completed in ignorance. Oh there is my shopping habit! I can only ask for God’s forgiveness and His every giving mercy in acts of penitence.

The list to choose of what to give up with the long term goal to be a better “me” is embarrassingly long. Perhaps, I will cut down to two cups of coffee instead of my daily 5. Or, I can say something positive and thoughtful in the midst of all the rumblings and complaining that’s usually around me – including my own loose tongue – unfiltered.

The point of Lent is to be a better me in my existence and in the process walk more closely in with Jesus. The goal is to be more like him, as he modelled for us while on earth.

Thank you, most merciful God for loving us in completeness in the gift of Your son, Jesus. May the Holy Spirit grace me with a deeper walk with Jesus in his Passion, and in the journey to draw nearer to him, know him more intimately and follow his will more closely.

God Bless all of you during your Lenten journey 🙏💕