Catholic Faith – Be Inspired!

State Of Flow

June 2, 2023June 2, 2023 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 🙏💕

Understanding Vatican II

May 28, 2023May 28, 2023 by rejoiceandpraise, posted in Catholic Teaching, Catholicism, Christian Blogger, Christianity, Ralph Martin, Vatican II

I have been befuddled and sometimes mired in the negativity surrounding Vatican II. This has also lead to having a critical mind frame – and taking my focus off Jesus.

In this post I am sharing a great conversation on Vatican II which has help me see all that it encompasses. It helps in understanding and seeing through all the controversial din.

I am the first to admit I have been confused by the criticism of well meaning traditionalists and more contemporary commentators on Vatican II. Discernment on my part was necessary not to get dragged into all the controversy and cloud my own spiritual walk with Jesus. Keeping my eyes focused on Jesus and his love for all regardless of sin, illness, race and ethnicity has helped me.

Aside:

I have been going through my own spiritual “Dark Night” Of The Soul, and will share this when I am able to articulate this journey.

Thinking and praying for all my readers, and May God Bless all. 🙏💐💕

Note: Dark Night of the Soul by St. John of the Cross https://www.carmelitemonks.org/Vocation/DarkNight-StJohnoftheCross.pdf

Holy Saturday – Christ In the Tomb

April 8, 2023April 8, 2023 by rejoiceandpraise, posted in Catholic Faith, Catholicism, Christian Blogger, Christianity, God, Holy Saturday, Jesus

I imagine the cold and dampness of a tomb carved out of rock. Perhaps angels attend to his wounds, or they stand guard and surround his body while his soul travels into the deep depth of hell. As his soul ascends, his body is transfigured into divine light.

I can only imagine with my own limited understanding something that is beyond my human grasp. Today, I share with all this moving ancient homily. It is solemnly beautiful as it contemplates the mystery of the death of Jesus. It comes from an ancient Holy Saturday homily:

“If a man die, shall he live again?
All the days of my service I would wait,
till my release should come.”
—Job 14:14

Something strange is happening—
there is a great silence on earth today,
a great silence and stillness.

The whole earth keeps silence
because the King is asleep.

The earth trembled and is still because
God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has
raised up all who have slept ever since the
world began. God has died in the flesh
and hell trembles with fear.

He has gone to search for our first
parent, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring
to visit those who live in darkness and in the
shadow of death, he has gone to free from
sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he
who is both God and the son of Eve.

The Lord approached them bearing the cross,
the weapon that had won him the victory.

At the sight of him Adam,
the first man he had created, struck
his breast in terror and cried out to everyone:
‘My Lord be with you all.’ Christ answered him:
‘And with your spirit.’ He took him by the hand
and raised him up, saying: ‘Awake, O sleeper,
and rise from the dead, and Christ
will give you light.

I am your God, who for your
sake have become your son. Out of love
for you and for your descendants I now by my
own authority command all who are held in bondage
to come forth, all who are in darkness to be
enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise.
I order you, O sleeper, to awake.

I did not create you to be held
a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead,
for I am the life of the dead. Rise up, work of
my hands, you who were created in my image.

Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in
me and I am in you; together we form only
one person and we cannot be separated.

For your sake I, your God,
became your son; I, the Lord,
took the form of a slave; I, whose
home is above the heavens, descended
to the earth and beneath the earth.

For your sake, for the sake of man, I
became like a man without help, free among
the dead. For the sake of you, who left a garden, I was betrayed to the Jews in a garden, and I was crucified in a garden.

The Triumph of Christianity over Paganism

See on my face the spittle
I received in order to restore to
you the life I once breathed into you.

See there the marks of the blows I
received in order to refashion your
warped nature in my image.

On my back see the marks of the
scourging I endured to remove the
burden of sin that weighs upon your back.

See my hands, nailed firmly to a tree,
for you who once wickedly stretched
out your hand to a tree.

I slept on the cross and a sword
pierced my side for you who slept in
paradise and brought forth Eve from your
side. My side has healed the pain in yours.
My sleep will rouse you from your sleep
in hell. The sword that pierced me
has sheathed the sword that
was turned against you.

Rise, let us leave this place. The
enemy led you out of the earthly paradise.
I will not restore you to that paradise,
but I will enthrone you in heaven.

I forbade you the tree that was only
a symbol of life, but see, I who am life
itself am now one with you.

I appointed cherubim to guard
you as slaves are guarded, but now I
make them worship you as God. The
throne formed by cherubim awaits
you, its bearers swift and eager.

The bridal chamber is adorned,
the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling
places are prepared, the treasure houses
of all good things lie open.

There is a moving depth to ancient writings that is lost in our modern vernacular.

Here is the source: https://universalis.com/canada/20230408/readings.htm for Holy Saturday.

May God bless each of us with a deepening of faith and trust. Please pray for me as I pray for you. 🙏💕

Father Donald Calloway

April 2, 2023April 2, 2023 by rejoiceandpraise, posted in Catholicism, Christian Blogger, Christianity, Father Donald Calloway, Testimony

A moving personal testimony of a journey to God, and one so many of us can relate to.

Each of us have a personal and unique conversion story. It is a testament of the love of God and His divine mercy.

God Bless 🙏💕

Hope Awareness

March 29, 2023March 30, 2023 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; ²⁰and 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

⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— ⁹not the result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰For 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 💕🙏

Finding Awareness

March 27, 2023March 27, 2023 by rejoiceandpraise, posted in awareness, Catholic Faith, Catholic Journey, Catholicism, Christian Blogger, Christianity, grace, inspiration, Personal Reflection

Finding myself is a theme that shows up in my Daily Examen this Lenten. This is part of stripping away the many layers of me as I draw nearer to God. All the distractions that I have placed upon myself believing they will bring me closer to God, are being peeled off.

A part of my journey in life is seeking happiness, love and saintliness (holiness). These are graces I have prayed for the past few months – graced awareness.

What is graced awareness?

Happiness is not an achievement; love is not an achievement; holiness is not an achievement. They are each a grace—a grace called awareness, a grace called looking, observing, and understanding.
https://www.demellospirituality.com/a-grace-called-awareness/:

In our daily walk as a Christian/Catholic, it’s so easy to get blogged down by life. Taking the time to be mindful, watchful, alert and awake takes practice and time. In asking God for the grace of awareness, one can see everything in our daily lives reflected back. With the help of His divine grace one can see the authentic self without the distortions of layers upon layers of our world piled upon us.

“Set free from human judgment, we should count as true only what God sees in us, what he knows, and what he judges. God does not judge as man does. Man sees only the countenance, only the exterior. God penetrates to the depths of our hearts. God does not change as man does. His judgment is in no way inconstant. He is the only one upon whom we should rely. How happy we are then, and how peaceful! We are no longer dazzled by appearances, or stirred up by opinions; we are united to the truth and depend upon it alone. I am praised, blamed, treated with indifference, disdained, ignored, or forgotten; none of this can touch me. I will be no less than I am. Men and women want to play at being a creator. They want to give me existence in their opinion, but this existence that they want to give me is nothingness. It is an illusion, a shadow, an appearance, that is, at bottom, nothingness. What is this shadow, always following me, behind me, at my side? Is it me, or something that belongs to me? No. Yet does not this shadow seem to move with me? No matter: it is not me. So it is with the judgements of men: they would follow me everywhere, paint me, sketch me, make me move according to their whim, and, in the end, give me some sort of existence … but I am disabused of this error. I am content with a hidden life. How peaceful it is! Whether I truly live this Christian life of which St. Paul speaks, I do not know, nor can I know with certainty. But I hope that I do, and I trust in God’s goodness to help me.”
—Bishop Jacques-Benigne Bossuet, Meditation For Lent, p. 99-101

May God Bless each of us as we journey towards the cross with humbleness and love🙏💕

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day

March 17, 2023June 5, 2023 by rejoiceandpraise, posted in Catholic Faith, Catholicism, Christian Blogger, Christianity, Saint Patrick, ST. PATRICK'S BREASTPLATE Prayer

When I was in a spiritual battle (yes, I get them) Deacon Marco at St. Ignatius told me to pray to St. Patrick for his intercession. A prayer that helped me through my trials was St. Patrick’s Breastplate Prayer written in 433 AD.

Below is the long and short version of St. Patrick’s Breastplate (Christ Be With Me) Prayer:

About St. Patrick’s Breastplate

St. Patrick’s Breastplate is a prayer for protection and guidance. Christ is always with us providing us strength and wisdom. This is especially a good prayer for

Those who are in the military
People starting a new job in a new city
College students leaving home for the first time
Students in a new school
Those facing a spiritual crisis
Teens finding it difficult to live their faith due to peer pressure
Anyone undergoing adversity

This prayer is also known as The Deer’s Cry or The Lorica of Saint Patrick or Saint Patrick’s Hymn. There are several versions of this prayer. And different wordings are common. “I bind myself” or “I arise today” are both often seen as the beginning of each verse. The shortened version (shown first below) is probably better for children.

St. Patrick’s Breastplate (Short Version)

Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

Breastplate of St. Patrick (Long Version)

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
of the Creator of creation.

I arise today
Through the strength of Christ’s birth with His baptism,
Through the strength of His crucifixion with His burial,
Through the strength of His resurrection with His ascension,
Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.

I arise today
Through the strength of the love of cherubim,
In the obedience of angels,
In the service of archangels,
In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In the prayers of patriarchs,
In the predictions of prophets,
In the preaching of apostles,
In the faith of confessors,
In the innocence of holy virgins,
In the deeds of righteous men.

I arise today, through
The strength of heaven,
The light of the sun,
The radiance of the moon,
The splendor of fire,
The speed of lightning,
The swiftness of wind,
The depth of the sea,
The stability of the earth,
The firmness of rock.

I arise today, through
God’s strength to pilot me,
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look before me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s shield to protect me,
God’s host to save me
From snares of devils,
From temptation of vices,
From everyone who shall wish me ill,
afar and near.

I summon today
All these powers between me and those evils,
Against every cruel and merciless power
that may oppose my body and soul,
Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom,
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of witches and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man’s body and soul;
Christ to shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that there may come to me an abundance of reward.

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
of the Creator of creation.

Aside:

Teaching in an inner city daycare, every March early childhood activities centres around green shaped clover 🍀, little leprechaun with black top hat, along with a pot of gold at the end of a colourful rainbow. Children’s craft would adorn the classroom and hallways in anticipation for St. Patrick’s day.

Much of what most know about St. Patrick’s Day is just that – wearing green, going out for a pint of beer, and partying. We forget that Saint Patrick was an actual person and not a myth. He was a 5th-century Romano-British Christian missionary and Bishop in Ireland.

I share with all my readers this informative interview – The Chris Stefanick Show:

https://watch.formed.org/videos/learning-the-real-history-of-st-patrick-w-eddie-cotter-chris-stefanick-show

Happy St. Patrick’s day, and God Bless 🍀Let’s “live a life of gratitude to God.”

Please pray for me as I pray for you🙏💕

The Examen

March 16, 2023March 16, 2023 by rejoiceandpraise, posted in Catholic Faith, Catholic Journey, Catholicism, Christian Blogger, Christianity, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Spirituality, The Examen

While talking to my Spiritual Director, I realized in our discussion about my daily examen, it was too focused on the negative – on sin.

Pages and pages in my journal centred on the negative. As I reflect on this, I realize my focus on sin stems from my strict Protestant upbringing. Sin and hell bent fire sermons expounding again and again human shortcomings and redemption through Jesus. My spiritual journey will look also at the positive – the goodness of God, and his amazing grace for me.

I did a little search online for a deeper and more effective way to do my Daily Examen, and share it with my readers on this post.

As I am working daily with St. Ignatius Spiritual Direction, it is normal I will share the Examen:

From: https://www.jesuits.org/spirituality/the-ignatian-examen/

The Ignatian Examen

St. Ignatius invites us to find God in all things. That means we have to pay careful attention to how the Spirit is moving in each moment of our daily lives. We have to take a magnifying glass to the seemingly ordinary, seeking to encounter the Divine.

That’s why the Examen is such a powerful prayer. In it, we’re invited to encounter God, express gratitude for the gift and gifts of each day, and to commit to make up for any mistakes we may have made.

The Examen is a flexible prayer, too, responding to the signs of the times. Below, you’ll find several variations to meet your need in this moment.