Soul Scribe

When I was a little one, I met Mother Teresa. She attended some kind of presentation at a baseball field. She was in the state to possibly bring the Missionaries of Charity there (which she did, and the sisters are still there today).

I was determined to meet her. My Dad went with me to where she would go to her car.  I wanted to shake her hand – me and a 100 or so others.

I was almost there too – until an adult shoved me out of the way, and another and another and another. By the time my Dad found me, it was too late. She was already in the van to leave.  We made it to the edge of the bleachers as the car slowly exited the field.

As her car drove past, she looked at me and smiled.

So when I say that I met her, it wasn’t anything grand. It was a small acknowledgment. But in that moment, Mother Teresa saw me. And I saw her.

I always felt a special inspiration from her life. Her life is an example for all of us – of humility, service, simplicity, devotion, faith.

Some criticize her for not doing enough. She didn’t try to save the world. She merely took care of a basic need, one at a time.

God doesn’t ask us to do everything. God asks us to do something.

So when I say that Mother Teresa didn’t try to save the world, it means she showed us how to do just that.

By “doing small things with great love,” Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta did what God asked of her and more.

What will you do?

If you’re looking for God, stop. What?!? Why?!?

Because God is already there with you. Stop looking for God and find Him.

It’s not hide and seek. Or even rocket science. It’s about faith.

Let’s face it. As humans, we’re skeptical and curious – and all of these are great – but we’re really not all that strong on faith.

So many things in this world tell us that faith isn’t enough – that God isn’t real. This makes us question God and test Him. And God understands this – and puts up with it. He did after all give us the gift of life and free will. We’re not toys to God or chess pieces. He doesn’t orchestrate us. But he’s always there for us to turn to – when we make that choice.

God is a mystery. He can’t be fully explained. He can’t be proven or unproven. He just is. He’s I Am Who Am. He’s God With Us.

Yet, we still ask – just who is that “Am” anyway?

It’s God. The answer’s that simple. And He’s right next to you if you’re looking. Find Him and get to know Him.

He’s waiting for you.

If I keep a green bough in my heart, the singing bird will come.

Chinese Proverb

Time is a transient thing.  It slips by quickly unnoticed until days, weeks, months have melted away.

Time in a crisis is even more fleeting.

I find myself starting again in more ways than one.  But isn’t that what life and faith are all about?  A journey of stops and starts, speed bumps and long stretches?

And for us this is the end of all the stories.  All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on Earth has read…in which every chapter is better than the one before.

C. S. Lewis
The Last Battle,
Chronicles of Narnia

Broken things are precious. We eat broken bread because we share in the death of our Lord and his broken life. Broken flowers give perfume. Broken incense is used in adoration. A broken ship saved Paul and many other passengers on the way to Rome. Sometimes the only way the good Lord can get into some hearts is to break them.

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

“Hope” is the thing with feathers —

That perches in the soul —

And sings the tune without the words —

And never stops — at all —

Emily Dickinson

Every blade of grass has its angel that bends over it and whispers,
“Grow, grow.”

 The Talmud, a collection of ancient Rabbinic writings

on Jewish laws and traditions

I recently read “Unitatis Redintegratio” (fancy Latin name for “Decree on Ecumenism”).  It’s a document from the Roman Catholic Church’s Second Vatican Council (V2).  This was a revolutionary council for its time, and instituted a renewal for the Catholic Church.  This renewal is actually what Jesus wanted – for without such renewal, the Church on earth will not unify all humanity as Jesus himself called his Church to do.  Jesus even prayed for all of us to be unified through him.

Of course, there are many who want to go back to the “old way.”  I’m not one of those.  In fact, I’m a product of the modern Church.  I was born way after all the changes were in place and the V2 changes were the norm.  I’d never heard of V2 before maybe junior high (or perhaps high school Church history)?  And I never cared about it much.  It really had no effect on me until my recent class on V2 .  Once you see where the Church was and where it went as a result of the council (with groundwork laid by previous councils), it’s mind-boggling.  Like OMGee amazing.

Once, I did take my nephews to a Latin Rite Mass.  The reaction?  Not too favorable.  I’m a modern Church girl and I won’t be back.  For me, God wants to be present with us present for him.  He wants participation – a little bit of effort on our part to have a relationship with Him.

Now this renewal doesn’t mean giving into our every human whim.  Let’s face it.  We’re human and we’re weak.  We’re fickle.  One day we love Jesus and the next he’s a burden to earthly social life.

And in case you were wondering, this renewal business for the Church, doesn’t just extend to the Pope and the Magisterium (teaching arm of the Church).  It extends to the every day Catholic.  By living the Catholic life (properly and all that), each Catholic puts a shine on the Church’s renewal.  It deepens your faith, opens your heart to dialogue with others and shows the rest of the world the true face of the Church.

Now if that’s not an OMGee moment, nothing else is.