God's Promise

I once was lost, but now I'm found.
I once was blind, but now I see.
I once was dead, but now I live.
Now my life to you I give!

Last night I was reading and listening to some music, when a song came on with these lyrics. I found the song particularly fitting for several reasons. First, yesterday's Gospel reading dealt with precisely this topic. In yesterday's Gospel, we heard the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the prodigal son. In fact, the final line of the Gospel was:

But now we must celebrate and rejoice,
because your brother was dead and has come to life again;
he was lost and has been found.

I found these words particularly poignant, as well, because of what I was reading when the song came on. Without going into too much detail, the book I was reading is a book that is meant to bring hope to people in great darkness - the darkness of sin. We are all sinners, and we all need healing that only Jesus Christ can bring. The passage I was reading said this, "As we glimpse the true nature of our spiritual and moral bankruptcy, we can only wonder what kind of God this is who can not only stand to see and know it all, but who patiently and mercifully works in us and with us toward turning these dreadful liabilities into song." I couldn't keep myself from crying!

Listen to these words from the second reading at mass yesterday, from the first letter of St. Paul to Timothy:

Indeed, the grace of our Lord has been abundant,
along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance:
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

Isn't this amazing? Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners! I am a sinner, which means that Jesus came into the world to save me! So here I am reading about the boundless mercies of God - reading words that bring hope into my life, hope that I can be saved, hope that the sins of my past won't weigh me down forever because God can take those sins and change them into song. As I read these words, it was as if I was relieved of a great strain, and it truly felt as if my eyes had been opened anew, as if I had found the right path, and as if I had been filled with new life in the Spirit. And what should happen at that precise moment but a song that embodies everything I was feeling should begin to play. I couldn't keep myself from crying!

What a grace filled moment that was. My dear friends, our God is a merciful God and we are called to sacrifice our lives to serve Him. We must surrender ourselves completely and take up our very own cross. Let me make it clear, though, that this call to sacrifice our lives to God is not a call to lose our lives. Quite the contrary, when we are able to sacrifice ourselves to God, we FIND NEW LIFE AT EVERY TURN! Far from draining our lives of meaning, self-sacrifice is what gives our every action true importance.

To be frank, previously, my self-sacrifice was done for the wrong reasons; usually because I had fallen into the trap of mortal sin and I regretted it. "God forgive me," I would pray, "and take this sin from me. I give myself to you. May I discern and follow your will from now on." My mistake, of course, is that I offered this sacrifice after I had already committed the sin. For the past three weeks, though, under the advice of a priest in Confession, I have been practicing a new form of self-surrender. Rather than simply hope that God will interfere with all temptations that I may face, I have started PRAYING MY TEMPTATIONS. Whenever I find temptation creeping up on me, I immediately offer this prayer, "Jesus, I surrender myself to you at this moment." This prayer, of course, hasn't kept me from all sin - none of us can be perfect - but it has been extremely effective. When I turn myself over to God in this way, I find remarkable graces flowing within me.

We are all sinners, but remember, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." Jesus came into this world to save each one of us, and He continues to offer Himself on the cross for each of us! Don't be afraid to cry out to Jesus when you are confronted with temptation. He will hear your cry and He will be there alongside you.

Posted by Lance at 9:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I believe that Catholics focus too much on sin and the detrimental effects that sin has on our lives. This is not to say that human beings should not avoid sin - of course we should - rather, it is to say that we should not put ourselves into a situation where we allow sin and guilt to control our lives. Catholics seem to believe that God expects His people to be perfect. This is not the case! God does call each of us to strive for sainthood in our lives, but He never expects that we will be perfect. God knows all and He knows that for a human being to be perfect and without sin is impossible (except in the case of Christ and Mary, both of whom were conceived without Original Sin).

As Catholics, we should focus more on salvation than on sin! Remember that God is our Father, the ultimate parent of all who live on this earth. Does any parent you know expect their child to be perfect? Does any parent you know turn their back on their child when the child makes a mistake? Earthly parents realize that children will make mistakes - and that's OK! It is through our mistakes that we learn to be better people and to lead better lives. When a child makes a mistake, the parent doesn't turn away from the child and leave it to solve its own problems; rather, the parent comes to the aid of the child, corrects it, sets it on a right path and then lets it explore on its own again.

So, too, does God treat us, his eternal and precious children. When we sin, God doesn't turn his back on us. God doesn't call any of us to sin, but he realizes that we will. He expects that we will. He knows that we will. Just as any parent knows that their child will make mistakes, God knows that we will sin in this world. And this is where God's infinite grace comes into play - when we sin, God doesn't disappear from our lives. Instead, God rushes to us with open arms, picks us up and says, "My precious, precious child! Look how far you have come! Look what you have learned! Take this lesson out into the world and be a better person. I will save you from this sin! Take that forgiveness out into the world and be Christ for others."

God demands nothing more of us than we are able to give. Some of us may be called to save an entire nation of people through service in Africa, whereas other may be called to make a single person on this earth smile. Only God knows for sure what His plan is for His people. It is up to us as human beings to discern God's will in our lives and act accordingly. None of us should be worried if we feel that we are being called to make only one person happy, just as we should not be worried if we discern a call to serve a poor African nation. If we listen to God's will and follow through with it, God will be well pleased with us. God will be just as pleased with the person who makes one person happy as He will be with the person who saves an African nation if that is what we are called to. God's love is endless, and He fills each of us with a love so great that our bodies would never be able to maintain it if God wasn't still with us holding it together.

It is because of this that God has given us a gift greater than any gift we could ever repay. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that we may believe in Him and have eternal life! God has given humanity the gift of salvation through the suffering and death of his Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ! Christ gave His very life to save us from our sins! Christ did not come to save the righteous - He came to save the sinner. Christ's gift of His very life for our salvation is a gift beyond any gift that we could ever give back to the Lord. And yet, God does call us to give something back - we are called to a life of worship of the Lord through service to those around us. If we truly listen to the call of God in our lives and we follow through with that call, we will please God and he will shower us with his Grace.

But what about those who do not believe? What about those who do not accept Christ as their Savior? Are these people damned forever? Most certainly not! God is right beside even the worst sinner among us, calling them to a life of holiness. God is a loving parent. Just as no parent would want to see their child despair, God does not want to see His children end up in Hell. God calls out to each of us, raining down His graces upons every man, woman and child. All we must do is open our hearts to the graces of the Lord. Once we receive one blessing, another will follow, and another until it would seem that there are no blessings left. But the moment we think that God's grace has expired, it starts again, this time even more fully and at a level we will never understand. This is because God's love is Infinite. If we simply open our hearts to His love, we embrace the gift of His Son for our salvation. And if we accept Christ, we accepts the Spirit, and if we accept the Spirit, we accept God, and if we accept God, we accept Love. And it is Love that binds all things together in this world. If we live a life full of Love, we will truly find it impossilble to sin, for Love can know no Sin.

Importantly, we must always remember that we are human and that we WILL sin. There is nothing we can do about the fact that sin is simply an area in our lives where we must struggle. But rather than focus on our sin and the pain it causes us in our lives, we must focus on the SALVATION THAT CHRIST HAS ALREADY WON FOR US! Rather than feel guilty about sin, we should embrace our sin, knowing that CHRIST HAS SAVED US FROM IT ALREADY! When we Sin, God picks us up, sets us on our feet and says, "Child, I have given you my very own Son, that you may have eternal life in Me!" We must embrace this Love of Christ. For if we could love with even a part of God's Love, we would find that there is more than enough Love to feed all the world several times over.

May God bless you all and keep you always safe! And may the protection of Christ's death and resurrection keep us always beautiful in the Eyes of the Father.

Posted by Lance at 9:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Modern America is perhaps one of the worst cultures when it comes to sexuality. Not only has the culture become more accepting of overt sexuality over the past several years, it now seems that a promiscuous sexuality is being promoted, encouraged and celebrated as something to strive for. Parents dress their young girls in clothes that are clearly intended to provoke a sexual reaction, and they don't even think twice about it. America is exploiting its children to advance the immoral concept of sexuality as something to be shared with the world. This sickens me to no end.

Men and women are, by nature, sexual beings. That is the way God created us; however, it was never the intention of God that human beings should flaunt their sexuality and turn it into a commodity. Human sexuality is sacred, and deserves to be treated as such. Several weeks ago, while working out at the gym, I happened to catch a few minutes of VH1's Top 40 Music Videos of 2006. Of the 8 or so that I saw, all but one of them was extremely sexual in nature. They ranged from a man who was being unfaithful by having three girlfriends, hiding each from the others, to a woman using an ice cream cone as a proxy for the male phallus, to a woman basically performing oral sex on an unwilling (or all too willing?) guard. These are the best music videos of 2006? It wasn't until I saw these that I realized how strongly I actually felt about the Culture of Sex that we are promoting in the modern western world. Our modern understanding of sex is that it is something that we should be free to share with whomever we please, whenever we please and for whatever reason we please. Sex has simply become something to do - it has lost its sacred significance, and this is shameful.

God gave humanity sex for two primary purposes: procreative and unitive. The modern conception of sex has removed BOTH of these elements, and turned sex into something purely about pleasure. I feel strongly that each of these two elements needs some discussion.

First, sex is meant to be a procreative act. That is, it is an act through which new life is to be brought into the world. Recall that God gave us the greatest gift of all - the life of His own Son, Jesus Christ. It is through this gift of Christ's life for our salvation that we are saved. And Christ calls us all to share in this life by bringing new life into the world. There is but one natural mechanism by which life can be brought into this world and therefore share in the Life of Christ - sex. Many people claim that the Catholic Church is irresponsible for not teaching the use of condoms, birth control or other contraceptives. Individuals who argue this are misguided. The use of any artificial contraceptive device is intended to remove this procreative aspect of sex, that is, to prevent the woman from becoming pregnant. To remove this is to turn away from Christ and to tell God that you are unwilling to accept one of His most awesome blessings in this world - a child.

Second, sex is meant to be a unitive act. Sex is the single most intimate act that a man and woman can share. Intimacy of a greater scale can certainly be achieved spiritually and emotionally, but physically, sex is as intimate as it gets. This is the reason that sex is to be reserved for marriage - it is a holy bond shared by a husband and wife. When spouses come together in the most sacred act of sexual intercourse, they are celebrating their BONDED AND SINGULAR existence. No longer are they one man and one woman; rather, they are ONE BEING IN CHRIST. In marriage, they received the Holy Spirit and the two became one flesh. Sex is therefore a celebration of this One-ness. It is the ultimate gift of onesself to another person. It is for this reason that Christ calls all people to reserve sex for marriage. Sex as a unitive act is our most holy and awesome physical expression of love, committment and devotion. Sadly, modern society has destroyed this idea and turned sex into the next logical step of a relationship. No longer is sex the ultimate sacrifice for another person, no longer do we teach our children that sex is something so sacred and so holy that it must be reserved for our one and only spouse; rather, we encourage promiscuity through the media and by example. Mothers and fathers teach their children that sex outside of marriage is acceptable by providing them with birth control pills or condoms.

Our modern view of sexuality is appalling. America has convinced itself that sex is something that belongs to individuals. But it doesn't belong to us. It belongs to God. Only with God and His Spirit does sex take on its true form, joining both the procreative and unitive aspects. When a husband and wife truly come together for this most intimate act, free of obstacles, the Holy Spirit descends upon them and turns their bed into an altar of the Lord. When celebrated for its true value, sex becomes the ultimate sacrifice that a husband and wife can make to the Will of the Lord. Sex, by its very nature, is meant to be an offering to God. Husbands and wives are called to cry out to the Lord, "HERE WE ARE, READY TO DO YOUR WILL. Bless us with a holy marriage, and if it be your will, send us children, that they may know the joys of sharing in Christ's everlasting life."

This is one of the most beautiful things I can imagine - one of God's most awesome blessings! Christ calls all to a life of holiness. And married life is as much of a vocation as the religious life. Everyone called to marriage must realize that they are not called to marriage for their own sake, but for the sake of all humanity. Married couples are called to SERVE GOD with their marriage. In marriage, God truly joins two people and makes them one. Yes, they still exist as two separate phyisical forms, but their souls are forever joined as one. As such, every decision made by the husband is a decision made by the wife, and vice versa. Every sin committed by the husband is a sin committed by the wife, and vice versa. But the best part is that the married couple has the Spirit of the Lord and, if they discern and follow the Will of God, their marriage, their unity, will fill the world with Love, and Christ will be visible to all the world through them! Is this not truly amazing? And to bring children into the world only adds to the blessings God has already bestowed on a husband and a wife.

Most Americans, and sadly even most Catholics, have lost this understanding of just how sacred and special both marriage and sex are. Both are intimate gifts from God, and both create an everlasting bond between two people that can never be broken. Love is from God, sex is from God. These are not ours to give away; rather, they are gifts given to us by God to be shared infinitely with our spouse. I pray that this beautiful truth be made clear in the hearts of all men and women again soon!

May the Peace and Blessings of our Lord, Jesus Christ be with you always! Amen.

Posted by Lance at 12:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This past Sunday, we celebrated the Feast of Corpus Christi - the Most Sacred Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. This is a celebration of that most precious thing which Christ gave up for us - His very own life, that our lives (and our souls) may be saved!

I was reminded several times over this past weekend that the Eucharist is not just something we receive on Sundays at church; rather, Eucharist is something that we do as a church, as a unified people of God - as THE Mystical Body of Christ. So often I feel that people have forgotten the true meaning of the Eucharist. How much of a habit the Eucharost has become! "The body of Christ. Amen. The blood of Christ. Amen." We receive each week, or even each day, but for many, Eucharist ends there. we have lost touch with what we so blindly and readily attest to each time we receive that communion wafer, and partake of that shared cup.

"THE BODY OF CHRIST"
"THE BLOOD OF CHRIST"

This is not simple bread and wine, these are not simple words - these are just about the most amazing words you will ever hear in your entire life! And how loved we are by God to have the opportunity to hear these words so regularly! But the regularity has, for many, turned the eucharistic celebration into just another thing we go to.

Eucharist is more than the wafer and wine that we receive. The entire Mass is Eucharist - it is Christ truly present in our lives. Many Catholics today focus so much on Christ's real presence in the bread and wine that they forget Christ is also present in the Word, in our neighbors and in all of creation. Notice that I said Christ is in our neighbors. Christ is in you!

Christ is in you! Christ is your Savior, your Redeemer, and He is in you! Are there any more beautiful words than these? The joy of these words is immense, but it often either forgotten - or worse, doubted! To lack faith in this matter is truly to turn your face from the loving light of God. But there is more than one difficulty in accepting this Awesome Truth.

First, to accept that Christ is within us is to accept that we are truly made in the image and likeness of God. This is not to say we look like God; rather, that we have been blessed with God's Spirit. Second, if we accept that Christ is within us, we must accept that Christ is also in others. Even in those we dislike. Yes, Christ's love extends to all men & women throughout the world, even to those who do not believe. Is this a challenge to accept? Of course! It can create feelings of resentment - why lead a good life when God will love you no matter what? The answer presents the third challenge of accepting that Christ is you - because you ARE Christ! I don't mean this in a blasphemous way, of course. I do not mean to say that you are God. What I man to say is that, if you accept Christ within you, you can't help but share that Christ with others, you truly become GOD'S LOVE for others! Are you amazed? Are you humbled? Are you afraid? YOU SHOULD BE!

Why? Why had God chosen ME to be His Love for others? Why has God chosen YOU to be this same Love? Because Christ died for you. He died for me. This death - this saving death - has created an eternal link between each and every one of us and the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There is no greater love than this, and that Love lives in you. Once you accept this and believe it, then every action you take, every word that you say, is done or said by Christ.

Accept Christ in your life and go forth and be Christ to the world!

I pray for you all! May you never feel darkness again.

Posted by Lance at 7:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've been away from this for too long, I know. There is just so much grace in this world that I often want to sit back and enjoy it, soak it all in! Of course, this is selfish, I know, so I am once again turning my attentions to this blog, that it might have some small impact on your lives this day. I have so many wonderful things to write, to share with all of you! I pray that the Spirit will send me the words to communicate these things to you over the coming weeks.

Last week I attended the first presentation in a month-long series about living as a Catholic in the world. How important a job it is that we have as the Children of God! Some people misunderstand the Christian life, viewing it as impossible - God expects perfection they say. But this is not the case. God knows that we aren't a perfect people, God knows that we will sin. Yes, we are called to turn from sin and to live a holy life in service of God and his will, but this is not an expectation of perfection, it is merely an invitation to strive for it.

Remember this: as Catholics, we are part of the BODY OF CHRIST! Lumen Gentium, one of the Dogmatic Constitutions of the Catholic Church, says this about our role as laity in the world, "These faithful are by baptism made on body with Christ and are constitutes among the People of God; they are in their own way made sharers in the priestly, prophetical, and kingly function of Christ; and they carry out for their own part the mission of the whole Christian people in the Church and in the world." This means that, regardless of whether or not we feel worthy to be members of Christ's body, we are! As members of Christ's body, then, we are called to live a life in service of others.

Those of you who attended Holy Thursday Mass will remember the celebration of the Washing of the Feet. The washing of the disciple's feet by Christ is told in John 13:1-20. In this passage, Christ, even though he is God, humbles himself by washing the feet of his Apostles. This act is more than a gesture of kindness, it is a challenge - a commandment - that we do the same for others:

   You call me 'teacher' and 'master,' and rightly so, for indeed I am.
   If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you
     ought to wash one another's feet.
   I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you,
     you should also do.

Remember, the Apostles weren't perfect, and yet, here they are, served by our Lord and Savior, and called to take the message of God's love to all the world. Christ came not to be served, but to serve! And he calls us to do the same. We are called, each and every one of us, to be an Ambassador of Christ's love to the world. "But I'm a sinner," you might say, "I am not worthy of the love of Christ, and I can't possibly be Christ for others!" Wrong! You are the perfect person to be Christ for others. Sin is a perfectly normal aspect of the human condition. If we were completely without sin, there would have been no need for the salvation that Christ has made possible through His death. Christ has saved us from the POWER of sin - but this is not to say that he has eliminated sin from the world.

Forget not that the Apostles, themselves, were sinners. Peter drew his sword against the high priest's servant and cut off his ear, and he later denied Christ three times. But these sins did not in any way diminish the love Christ had for Peter, nor the responsibility that Peter had to bring Christ's love to the world. To say that our sinfulness makes it impossible for us to be the love of Christ for the world is to let sin rule our lives! Do not let your sin control you, because to allow this is to turn away from the salvation that Christ suffered to secure for you. The love Christ has for YOU is boundless - it is a love that took Him even to His death, the painful death of a criminal.

Many of us may be scared or hesitant to accept the love the Christ offers us. We can't help but think that we can't possibly be worthy. Surely God doesn't mean to love ME. Surely His love is better offered to someone else. But He does love you, and this love brings with it so many wonderful gifts. But it also brings responsibility. It brings the responsibility, as I have outlined above, to be Christ to others. But this responsibility is not a burden, my brothers and sisters! It is the most magnificent privilege you could ever possibly imagine. It is a privilege that exceeds any other you could ever imagine for yourself. You are called to bring God to others. To bring Christ to others. To bring the Spirit of the Lord to others. This is the greatest gift in the world, and it is yours to bring to others. Oh the joy! God lavishes His love upon you and calls to you, "Child! Even one drop of this love is sufficient to sustain the world. Take, then, this infinite supply, and give as much as you can to every person you encounter." God gives us more love than we could ever possibly need. And he gives to us freely. Even in our sin God loves us. He forgives us our sins. He calls us always back into His loving arms and gives us another infiniate supply of his healing love.

God's love is in your heart and in your life. Turn not away from that love. Accept the love that he gives to you, and live in that love. If you choose to live in the love of God you will never want for anything else in this life, for everything that you need will be provided for you. Accept God's love, be God's love, live in God's love!

I love you all!

Posted by Lance at 3:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"Eloi, Eloi, lema sabacthani!"

Oh, how these words of our dying Lord on the cross pierce our hearts!

If you recall from my first post in this blog, I promised not to dwell on suffering and despair. I intend to keep that promise. Even though these words of suffering were uttered under the most desparate circumstances, they are truly words of prayer, hope and ultimately salvation. Recall that Jesus went to his death so that we might be saved. As he hung there naked on his cross, he was filled with pain, yes, but in many ways it was a pain which he endured joyfully and lovingly. God, in Jesus, gave up his own life out of love for you and me.

Dwell on this for a moment. Christ died for you. Christ died for me. It isn't enough to say that Christ died for the sake of humanity. While that is true, it is equally true that he died for each of us individually! He would do the same thing again today for you and you alone. What a magnificent love that is! And it is a love that God lavishes upon us all. This love that God has for each of us is only barely touched upon here:

  "The LORD remembered us in our misery, God's love endures forever;
   Freed us from our foes, God's love endures forever;
   And gives food to all flesh, God's love endures forever.
   Praise the God of heaven, God's love endures forever."
        Psalm 136:23-26

Yes, God's love endures forever, even through the death of His own Son, Christ, Our Lord! It is Christ himself that feeds us with His own body and blood.

I just finished reading the book Silence by the Japanese author, Shusaku Endo. The silence referred to in the title is the silence of God that I am sure each of feels like we are experiencing at times. It is this same silence of God that Christ experienced on His holy cross. This book is set in 17th Century Japan, during a period of intense persecution of Christianity. Two Portugese priests sneak into Japan as missionaries and are eventually captured by the government. While in the custody of the Japanese, the priests undergo unbelievable torment and suffering. Fr. Rodrigues, the central character of the story, finds himself experiencing this silence of God and it makes his soul, like Christ's in Gethsemane, "sorrowful even unto death."

This feeling of God's silence is one of the worst sensations we can ever have in this life. We know this feeling by a different name - despair. But remember, we know the end of the story!! The next time you find yourself despairing for anything, remember that God's love is INFINITE. It knows no end, and even if you feel that God is silent, know that He is truly there. I am sure that the disciples of Christ felt the silence of God following his death on the cross. Can you imagine that? To have been in the presence of God, and then to suddenly have Him taken from you? For three days the disciples were without the God they had always known. But does this mean that God was truly absent in their lives? By no means! While God may have been silent to them, He was surely with them. When we despair, let us remember that God is with us, and that, like the disciples, we will always have the message and the truth of the RISEN CHRIST!

Do not weep! Do not despair! Christ has wept for us. Christ has despaired for us. Christ has suffered for us. Christ has conquered sin and death, and He freely offers to all who believe in Him the salvation that only He was able to earn.

All Glory and Honor be to God, the Almighty Father, and to His Son, our Lord and Savior, and to the Holy Spirit.

Posted by Lance at 10:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Happy Palm Sunday!

Today we celebrate two things: first, the triumphant entry of Christ into Jerusalem, and second, the Passion of our Lord. In the case of the former, I think it is often overshadowed by the Passion. It would seem in reading Mark 11:1-10 that Jesus is finally being recognized openly as the Messiah as he enters the city! Here is an excerpt:

"Many people spread their cloaks on the road,
and others spread leafy branches
that they had cut from the fields.
Those preceding him as well as those following kept crying out:
'Hosanna!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is to come!
Hosanna in the highest!'”
  (Mark 11:8-10)

Despite this initial praise, though, the people turn quickly against him. After his return to Jerusalem, Jesus is not satisfied with the practices of the Jews at the time. In fact, it is at this time that Jesus goes to the Temple and overturns "the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were seling doves" (Mark 11:15). It was an event like this, along with many others, that caught the attenion of the chief priests and scribes. They were not accustomed to having their authority challenged, and so they started to look for a way that they might be able to put a stop to this Jesus fellow.

In a twist of good fortune for the chief priests, then, Judas Iscariot decided that he had something to gain by betraying Jesus to them. It was the deceit and treachory of Judas and the chief priests that led to the Passion.

As we move into Holy Week, I feel that I will spend some more time elaborating on the Passion and how it is by far the most outward sign of God's love for us. Ultimately, it is the heart of God' Promise of salvation to us. But for right now, I want to focus on what we are called to do during Holy Week. Of course, we are called to remember the life that Christ gave up for us to free us from the burden of our sins. Of course, we are called to mourn the death of our Lord and rejoice in his promised and real Resurrection. But we are called to more than this. We are called to action.

As one of my friend's so insightfully pointed out to me this evening, the Passion reminds us of the humanity of Jesus. Through the Way of the Cross, we see how Christ suffered and was weak. Despite being God, he accepted the weakness of the human form, and was subjected to one of the most cruel punishments ever devised. This weakness of Christ, this humility, should be to us a reminder of the fact that overcoming sin is a struggle. We are imperfect people. We struggle daily with our sins, but that's OK. We aren't called to be perfect. We are called to love God, honor Christ, and do our best to avoid sin. But it is inevitable that we will fall into the trap of sin. When that happens, though, we can call upon the Risen Lord, and he will pick us up. He will help us to bear our cross! Our Lord, our King, will be Simon to us and help us when we are unable to carry on under our own power.

This is more than simply a promise of aid in our times of need, though. It is also a challenge. While we each have a cross of our own to bear, we must realize that there is a good chance that somebody we know has a heavier one. It is up to us, therefore, to make sure that we are not adding to the burden of others. In fact, far from adding to others' burdens, we are called to be Simon to others, to help them carry their crosses, even while we are carrying our own.

It is my prayer for you that your actions and example may be a light to others during this Holy Week. May you be blessed with abundant graces, and may all those who encounter you leave with a lighter burden than they had before. May you be a Simon to others.

As we celebrate this Holy Week, let us always be mindful of the sacrifice that Jesus made for us that we may never die, but that we may have eternal life with Him! Glory to God and to his Son, Jesus Christ!

Posted by Lance at 10:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Welcome to the newest member of the LancesWorld.com family, God's Promise. For the past several months I have felt called to start writing more about my life of faith, the state of the world, and the graces that God offers us, but it wasn't until my roommate, Mike Huxley, started writing his new blog - Wake Up, Dead Man - that I finally decided to answer that call.

As I was trying to decide what the Faith Journal would be like, I toyed with several ideas. Should I make it a personal story about my the road of my faith? Perhaps I should make it an exploration of sin in the world? Should I have made it a faith-based exploration of current events? Perhaps a tool angling for the conversion of others? Ultimately, none of these really appealed to me. Far too many faith-based blogs focus on sin and the way evil has invaded our world. I didn't want to fall into that trap. Likewise, I realized that a guided tour of my walk of faith wouldn't be particularly interesting. I finally settled on the idea of "God's Promise," which I hope will be a beacon of light in the lives of all who read it. In the final analysis, I am sure that God's Promise will turn out to be a combination of all of the elements I mention above, but I will frame it all with the Good News that God has made a promise to us of salvation! Even in the darkest of days, the light that shines forth from God can never be overcome.

This is God's Promise: that He will catch us when we fall, console us when we weep, calm us when we are angry, forgive us when we sin, and love us beyond the end of the world! God's Promise is one of grace and life, and it is offered freely to all people on earth. We are called simply to accept his miraculous gift of grace, and to honor Him for the ultimate sacrifice He made - His own Son, Jesus Christ.

With that, I welcome you to this blog. May you find God's Promise - both this blog, and the real promises God fulfills in our lives every day - truly inspiring and a light in the darkness!

Posted by Lance at 8:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)