by The Face of Grace Project | Nov 29, 2020 | Presence
Advent is a mini-Lent, a Nativity Fast. It is intended to be a time of preparation for our Savior. Not surprisingly, as we enter into this season we enter into a time of temptation. Fudge everywhere! Materialism everywhere! It unfortunately can become the season of instant gratification. We can deny ourselves the temptation and temporarily reject it. Success! But (and this is especially true of addictions), if we don’t replace it with something what do we have? An interior void ready to be filled by temptations again (Mt 12:43-45). At their root, all temptations are a temptation of desire. We must ask to be filled with a new desire that is Holy. After all, this is the purpose God permits it to begin with. He is waiting to give you a Holy desire for Him. 😊
by The Face of Grace Project | Nov 25, 2020 | Presence
It was a cold November night as I sat in Mary’s garden outside of our church praying a rosary for a friend who had just died. A young man in his 20’s came by and decided to look at the statue in the garden. He was curious as to who the woman was standing on a serpent.
God has designed life full of these poetic moments. Just as one of his sons is brought to his eternal rest, another son follows the Holy Spirit’s trail of grace and finds the path.
Something is different, and it isn’t just the weirdness of living in a worldwide pandemic. This Advent let’s also come to know this woman standing on the serpent and her Son.
Something is different…
by The Face of Grace Project | Nov 22, 2020 | Presence
The Gospel of the rich young man (MT 19:16-22) is prayed when preparing for the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. A young wealthy man doing everything “right” as he was taught by his elders. Yet at some point in life, he came across Jesus. We all know what happen. Jesus told him the one thing he must give up, and the young man walked away sad.
The young man didn’t just walk away from Love itself. He walked away from salvation. The question begs, of course, how many times a day do I?
by The Face of Grace Project | Nov 18, 2020 | Presence
Holiness isn’t an event; it is a lifestyle of living a discerning life. In the examen and mental prayer, we pick apart the reasons for our response, behaviors, attitudes, coming to better know our own thoughts vs. God’s inspirations. To grow in knowledge of God, one also grows in understanding of self.
This growth, however, necessitates discerning God’s will in the small details of the day, rejecting the enemy who tempts and allures with his own suggestions. St. Ignatius of Loyola gives us a set of 14 rules to follow in the action of this, the recognizing of desolation and proper response to it. As with the work of all saints, these rules are born out of God’s Word in scriptures. Scripture references are provided for each of the 14 rules of the ‘1st week’ from the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola.
by The Face of Grace Project | Nov 11, 2020 | Presence
An insightful reading into our lived Christian reality is the book Called to Communion by Josef Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI). He provides small tidbits of details not commonly preached that add dimension to this beautiful communion in which we exist. Most impactful was the apostles as the qahal of Jesus, followers of a spiritual leader who were interconnected through Him. As we enter into a month reflecting upon the communion of saints, it gives us opportunity to grow in understanding how ‘church’ is a spiritual communion and our reality within which we live our daily lives.
by The Face of Grace Project | Nov 8, 2020 | Presence
November 21 is the feast of The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to the Temple. When Mary was 3, the age of being weaned, Joachim and Ann presented her to the temple in service of God. Today, with Jesus the new covenant of God, we baptized Catholics (as His body) are each a spiritual temple (1Cor 3:16-17). Filled with His Spirit, “wherever this water comes the sea shall be made fresh” (Ez 47:9). In modern times, we use the word purity to refer to sexual purity. However, God calls us to a purification through which we gain purity of heart, complete purity.
by The Face of Grace Project | Nov 4, 2020 | Presence
As we near the new liturgical year which begins with Advent, the mass readings focus on heaven, hell, sin and the final coming of the Lord. We also give our hearts and prayers to the Holy Souls in Purgatory to ease their suffering. In this period preceding God’s formation of the Holy Family, we feel a particular closeness to our deceased family members. It is a time to take a sobering look at our life both past and present.
The life confession is just that and brings profound change in life. But how do I make a life confession? What should I do?
by The Face of Grace Project | Oct 28, 2020 | Presence
There but for the Grace of God go I. This is an old saying from my childhood that our American culture lost long ago. Perhaps it is time to bring these sayings back, as they situate us within our spiritual reality. Do we go through our day recognizing the Sacred among us?
If we each made a renewed effort to go through the day recognizing God who is already present to us, how might the world change?
I choose with my free will to go through my day looking at God looking at me, permitting Him to show me the Sacred around me. I much prefer His perspective. 😊
by The Face of Grace Project | Oct 18, 2020 | Presence
Our time here on earth is our probation for entrance to Heaven, and that path to Heaven is hoed only by sincere mercy. It makes sense, then, that forgiveness is a process not an act. Yet how to take that first step can be confusing and even fearful. Each situation, each act, creates knots in our heart and our life. The process of forgiveness is one of untying those knots.
by The Face of Grace Project | Oct 14, 2020 | Presence
Autumn is the perfect season for change: a transition from warmth to cold, from sunny days to clouds. A solitary leaf dances effortlessly when it falls from the tree. And our attention is placed upon the color and grace of the changing leaves, the eye-catching beauty. But once shed of all its finery, why do we ignore the tree? When stripped down to their trunks and limbs, we can see the tree’s true shape. Each is a unique shape too, a personality of sorts. There is a type of beauty in the barrenness found nowhere else in creation.
I pray that, as the leaves turn from green to gold and the trees fall barren, that I too will change my colors, let go of whatever inhibits me from following God, and be barren.
