What Is Causing God Pain

“When the battle is raging ask God to search your heart for anything that is causing Him pain.”

I haven’t been posting for awhile; I’ve been busy with my class assignments. There is so much reading and writing still to be done so I won’t be posting regularly. But this morning as I was out walking and listening to my tapes from the She Speaks Conference, I listened to the tape “Preparing For The Battlefield Through Prayer” by Luann Prater. On the CD she made the above comment in reference to getting the splinters of sin out of our lives.

Her comment had nothing to do with the “Battle of the Bailout” that is brewing in congress, but when I heard her say those words I was reminded of something I had been tossing around in my head in regard to the Wall Street fiasco.

With this financial crisis looming I’m sure most of us are down on our knees asking for God’s help. This morning on one of the news shows I heard an analyst say how much this may affect people’s pensions. He said, “Retired or nearly retired people who haven’t done anything wrong, may be hard hit. In fact, he said, they have done every thing right by saving for retirement.

That’s people like me. I began to wonder what I would do if tomorrow I find that my pension is kaput and my savings gone? Could I find a job when Michigan’s economy is already in the dumpster? How many more people will be pounding the pavement looking for work if we bottom out?

As I thought of the possibility of pennilessness, God reminded me of the millions of people that have been living with that financial situation for a long time. People thru a series of hard luck have lost homes, and jobs. Peple who feed their families from what they find in the dumpster, who live in their car or cardboard box. What if instead of fighting for a job, people like me start fighting over the scraps of food others throw away? While I could probably live a long time on my stored up fat, the thought of it made me shiver.

When I heard Luann’s comment about asking God to show me what is hurting him, I couldn’t help but think about those people who aren’t worried about what happens on Wall Street because they have no credit to go bad, no house, no pension, and no savings to lose-no food. But us…we have much to lose, because we have so much!

I wondered how many of us "doing the right thing" Americans have hurt God by padding our savings to insure a cushy retirement instead of giving more to help the poor. Not just the millionaire/billionaires that Main Street keeps pointing fingers at, but each and everyone of us who has "stored treasures" things we are scared we may lose.

Does God’s heart hurt when so many of us keep running the tab up to keep buying newer and better for the sake of having something newer and better, instead of giving to someone who can’t afford anything? Does it break his heart when we don’t trust him enough to provide after we have shared all of what rightfully belongs to him?

I have always heard that God takes care of our needs not our greeds. Do God’s simple provisions seem meaningless to us because we already have way more than we need?

The lesson of what happened in the dessert when the Israelites stored up more manna then their daily allotment is a reminder to all of us about greed. It tends to stink after a while.

The financial analysts are warning that everyone is going to be hurt if this bailout fails and we need to act quickly. I so wish we would put that same urgency and passion into helping the poor. Maybe we wouldn't be in this mess!

Is Anything Too Hard For The Lord?

God blessed me so abundantly this weekend. He's always blessing my life but this was one of those time you don't want to end.

This weekend was the first session of my Lay Ministry program. It absolutely exceeded my expectations, and believe me, my expectations were high.

The people involved in the program have all experienced a call from God to some type of ministry. Some already know where God is directing and some of us only have an inkling. But all seem sure of the call.

The classes will lead us to a deeper understanding of Christs ministry as we study the scriptures. As we study, the Holy Spirit will show us how we are best equipped to answer our awesome call.

And speaking of the call..... I have to share a funny story.

Thursday evening was our Parish Council meeting. When the Director of Education gave her report she told everyone how badly catechists were needed. She mentioned it twice.

Next she commented on the success of Vacation Bible School and told everyone what a great job she thought I had done leading the Bible Blast Station. She seemed to draw the words out and I wondered if she was hinting for me to volunteer to teach one of the children's classes.

I kept my head down and avoided eye contact and rode out the silence. Thankfully, I had just listened to a teaching tape about women who volunteer because they can't stand to hear the silent pause when no one is stepping up to plate.

I was certain that God was directing me towards women's ministry and not towards children's liturgy, but nevertheless, all the way home from the meeting I felt this tugging at my spirit.

"Lord, I said, This is not where you have been leading me, I'm sure of it. After all , I've already put my time in teaching kids, I'm too old and they won't be able too relate. I want to lead their mom's not them!

Besides Lord, doesn't all the time I've been spending with my grandsons lately, count for anything? I think this must be Satan trying to keep me from the ministry you want for me."


God just let me keep talking - the poor guy probably couldn't get a word in edgewise. When it was time for bed I was still stressing over those guilt feelings for not volunteering.

Finally I said, "Okay I'll do it if you want, but, just so I know this is you and not Satan I need to hear Ginger ask me if I will specifically teach 4th grade. (I taught 4th grade 25 years ago)

I hated asking God for a sign but I really didn't want to volunteer to do this unless I knew it was God who was leading. I made my request specific, but to tell the truth I'm not sure if it was for discernment or because I hoped that it would be too specific for God to handle.

Duh..... did I really think that request would be too hard for God?


Friday morning I opened my email. You can imagine my shock when I found this waiting in my inbox:

Dear fellow parishioners,

Our parish of Sacred Heart is in need of catechists and adult
assistants for our Wednesday evening K-5 sessions. Specifically...we are
in need of two 2nd gr. catechists, one 3rd gr. catechist, and two 4th grade
catechists.

If you're thinking, "I'm not qualified, I've never been
a catechist before", don't worry! You will receive the help you need to
get started and the teacher/catechist lesson manual is extremely helpful as it
outlines the entire lesson for you, provides stimulating discussion questions,
gives you the evening's Scripture readings, real-life stories, prayers, and
suggests many other additional activities such as games and simple
crafts.

I ask that you think and pray about becoming a catechist or
assistant. Our children's faith formation and religious education is so
important - they need to learn about our Catholic heritage and faith so that
they can better understand the overwhelming love of our God and continue to
mature in their relationship with Him.

If you know of someone in
our parish who you think would be a great catechist, please share this
information with them, or contact me with their name.

I hope
to hear from you soon. Thank you for your prayerful
consideration.

Your friend in Christ,
Ginger

Okay, technically she didn't ask me, she emailed me. And, technically it was a group email, and not just to me personally, but did you catch how she used the word "specifically" in the first part of the email.

I gotta tell you that right now I'm feeling a little like Sarah must have after she laughed at the possibility of becomming pregnant in her old age and God answering "Is anything too hard for the LORD ?

I'll be meeting with Ginger sometime this week to see just what God has in mind.

A Missionary In Our Midst

Today was Missionary Sunday at our church. We had a visiting priest from the Divine Word Missionaries.

Divine Word is an international religious community of over 6,100 missionary priests and Brothers who serve in 70 countries.

The man was so young, he looked like he should be an altar boy and not a priest. I'm not used to priests young enough to be my son.

Father Michael was just ordained in the spring, but he did his seminary mission work in Mozambique, Africa. He is about to be sent to a new assignment in foreign missions and will be there for at least three years without coming home. His stories touched all of our hearts.

I have to admit, I had trouble understanding his English. Father Michael is Vietnamese but as a young boy he and his brothers escaped Vietnam and went to the Philippines. From there they made their way California where he received his calling for the priesthood.

Today's gospel reading was from Matthew 16, where Jesus tells his disciples that he is going to have to go to Jerusalem where he will suffer and be killed but that he will be raised on the third day.

Good old Peter tries to come to Christ's rescue and tells him No way Lord, "God forbid anything should happen to you."

I can just picture Peter waiting for that "attaboy" pat on the back from Jesus, but can you imagine how shocked Peter must have been when instead of a pat on the back Jesus scolds him and says "Get behind me Satan."

Next Jesus tells him " You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."

Father Michael told us about meeting with his family for the last time before heading back to his new foreign mission assignment. His brother couldn't understand why Michael would be willing to leave the United States and go live in a country that was much worse than the one they had escaped from. His brother urged him to reconsider. ? Hmmm who does that sound like?

But Father Michael has a heart for Jesus and he knows the things that must be done if he is going to carry out God's will for his life.

I was touched by his love for the people of Mozambique, Africa, and by all of the hardship stories he shared, but what really touched my heart was when he shared his sadness because he wouldn't be able to get back to Vietnam before he left on his mission.
He hasn't seen his parents since escaping, but the Vietnamese government doesn't take too kindly to Catholics and have denied his attempt.

I thought to myself "God why aren't you moving mountains to get this man home? After all he is doing your work!"

It just doesn't seem fair, and yet Jesus promises that whoever loses his life for his sake will find it.

Father Michael is a living example of today's Gospel. This man, young enough to be my son, is someone I want to pattern my life after. I want to love God so much, that I get to that place in my life where I will be willing to forgo my desires for Gods desires. I'm not talking about little desires, but desires we take for granted like safety, and family and comfort.

The great commission is more important to Father Michael than all the comforts we can imagine, because he has found the secret to pure joy. He willing loses his life daily only to find it through the joy he recieves from serving God.

Would you please join me in praying for the safety and health of Father Michael as he travels to his new mission field. Pray that God will do amazing and abundant things through him as he brings Christ to the people he has been called to serve. And pray that one day soon God will make a way for him to be able to see his mom and dad again.