Are You On Target?

 

  I just got back from a nice vacation with my kids in the mountains.  We needed to drive through the night, and I had mapped out the town and church we would stop at in order to celebrate Sunday Mass.  As it turned out we were right on schedule.  We arrived in the church parking lot 15 minutes before 8:00 Mass at an old southern church, the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary.  “Perfect ,” I thought to myself, “We are right on target.”
 I thought about this after Mass as we got into the car to continue a few more hours to our resort. If only being right on target with your faith could be this easy. But being “on target “ with God has a lot more to do than just showing up for Mass on time.  God has something to say to each of us. The Gospels aren’t just nice stories.  They contain incredible insight to deepen our faith.  When listening to the gospel put yourself inside the story. Sometimes we may find we are the leper in need of healing, sometimes we are the Pharisee that is quick to judge, sometimes we are the tax collector consumed with money and possessions, sometimes we are the lost sheep searching for the right path, on our best days we are Simon of Cyrene helping Jesus carry the cross.
 If we are honest with ourselves, we know that our target must be God’s Kingdom and not just somewhere close by. We have to shoot for the bullseye. Our faith is more than a set of rules to follow, it is more than blessings and physical healings, and it is more than living a comfortable life.  It is an arrow of truth and love and sacrifice. It is an arrow we must treasure and carefully aim every day. Our arrow is capable of hitting the target not because of our own merit and skills, but because we put our trust in the Good Shepherd and learn to love His flock the way He did. 

-Susan

Too Much

  Most of us can relate to having too much stress in our lives. Often it can be the result of too much responsibility, too much debt, too much work or too many people demanding our time. What is the solution?  Win the Lottery?  A fun thought but difficult odds. I suspect having too much money can cause it’s own set of problems. Jesus himself said it would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to get to heaven. 

  The opposite of stress is peace.  I was thinking about this when a thought came to mind.  Have I ever heard anyone complain about having too much of God’s love and peace in their lives?  

  Perhaps the best way to elevate stress is to pray for peace.  Not only for peace in our families and throughout the world, but for inner peace. Peace is one of the twelve fruits of the Holy Spirit. It is certainly a gift God wants us to have.  This week try to find spend some quiet moments of prayer.  Ask God to allow His peace to touch your heart and mind.  Stay in that moment as long as you can, and recall it throughout your day.  Let us strive to allow peace and not stress to fill our day.  Let us look forward to being able to exclaim, "I asked to be filled with the peace of Christ and He filled me completely." 

-Susan

Just Send Me a Sign

 Have you ever had a moment when your fear, or pain, or confusion was so great that you asked God for a sign? Sometimes we may feel blessed and reassured when we receive what we perceive to be a sign. But what happens when you do not see a sign?  Are you not blessed?  

 Is it possible that the sign we need cannot be seen with our eyes?  What if the sign is just outside the border of our faith?  What if we needed to push the boundaries of our faith just a little further to see God’s sign. What if we needed to trust God’s Plan more than our own. Often it is these moments of despair or confusion or pain, we desperately desire to feel close to God. We need to know we are loved.  What if we stopped looking for outward signs and instead embraced our circumstances clinging to God. Is it possible that our faith would grow beyond the sign we seek? Perhaps we would understand that it was so easy to put our arms around God because He had been at our side the entire time.

-Susan