The Joys of Adoration

For the past several weeks I have come to realize how amazing adoration is and can be.

Growing up, my parents always encouraged my siblings and I to have a stable and consistent prayer life. They’d bring us to mass every Sunday, would lead us into praying the rosary before we went to bed, and would often bring us to a chapel whenever they could. Unfortunately I did not appreciate these efforts enough or as much as I should have. In fact, I often protested from doing any of these things. Looking back now, I am ashamed that I even felt this towards prayer because of how much I have fallen in love with prayer now and that is all thanks to my weekly #dateswithJesus in adoration.

Every week I now make it a point to go to adoration. It amazes me that its taken me so long to finally have a consistent time with God scheduled in this way but nonetheless, I am happy that I am finally doing it.

If I were describe how I feel before I step into a chapel I would say that I feel joyful. Joyful because I know that I get to spend the next few minutes or hours with the Lord in such an intimate way. In this time, the Lord and I are able to spend time together away from any distractions or from the chaos of the world. As someone who gets distracted easy and has a hard time sitting still, I love how calm ANY chapel is. Whether you go to a small chapel that can sit only a handful of people or in a space that is able to sit hundreds of individuals , the stillness is all the same. It definitely makes my time with God more peaceful.

I love how at home my heart feels whenever I sit in front of the Blessed Sacrament too. It’s as if when I stare at Him, He is staring back at me with eyes full of love and is welcoming me with His arms stretched wide, waiting to give me a hug. I also feel like I can be 100% me and be vulnerable with God as well. This in turn allows me to feel so safe. There are not many places where I am able to feel this way which is why I appreciate the chapel so much. Lastly, I know that I can be fully open with God. That I can have a simple conversation with Him, telling Him how my day was or the struggles I have been going through the past week. Whatever our conversation may be, I am affirmed that God wants nothing more than my presence in the room. He does not demand anything from me or expects me to say much. It’s surely an overwhelming but beautiful experience every time I step into a chapel.

With all this said and done, in some crazy but wonderful way, going to adoration weekly has allowed me to fall in love with God more. Maybe it’s because of the beauty of the chapels or the peace I feel when I’m there in the quiet space, or simply the intimate time I get to spend with God alone. Whatever it may be I can definitely say that adoration has slowly changed my mind on prayer and has calmed my heart so that it can be more in tune with His.

I pray that whomever is reading this, that you go to adoration. Go NOW! Go see for yourself the exact beauty I am talking about. I promise you that will not be disappointed. Please experience the wonders of it all for yourself. It will be a great gift you can give to yourself.

“If we but paused for a moment to consider attentively what takes place in this Sacrament, I am sure that the thought of Christ’s love for us would transform the coldness of our hearts into a fire of love and gratitude.” – St. Angela of Foligno

A Woman of God

During my sisters household, our topic for this month was centred on the question: “What does it mean to be a woman of God?”

As someone who is surrounded by wonderful Catholic women, I struggled to find an answer. Not because I do not have any but because I believe that you can’t summarize what a woman of God is in just one word or in one sentence. It seems impossible! And so, I began to reflect on this question deeper.

Here are some of the things I believe a woman of God is. Note: There are many more things I could write, but here are some of the first ones that come to mind.

She is strong, but she is not afraid to show her weaknesses because she is comfortable being vulnerable with God and with others.
She is obedient because she trusts in God her Saviour.
She is compassionate, as she is capable to empathize and connect with others.
She is joyful in the good times, as well as in her sufferings.
She is patient because she is always hopeful for the future.
And she is beautiful just the way she is, because God made her so.

As these answers came to mind I thought of someone who I think mirrors these things best. She has slowly but surely become one of my greatest friends! – MAMA MARY. 

Thank you, mama for inspiring me every day and for allowing me to witness such a great example of what it means to be a woman of God through the life you lived.

Perfect Holiness.

Positional. Progressive. Perfect holiness.

Last Sunday, I had an unexpected conversation with a priest that I have never met before. I went to visit a new church to complete my weekly prayers and as I walked inside, a Father greeted me with a warm smile and said “hello.” After some small talk for a few minutes, I eventually mustered up the courage to ask Father to receive the sacrament of reconciliation as I was not able to go the week before. I thought that it was at least worth me asking and I mean, what did I have to lose from asking him anyways?

To my luck, Father was available. I’d like to think that God planned this whole situation out. As I walked into the confessional I did something that I don’t normally do. I sat in front of Father, face to face. For some people this may be easy for them but for me I find the experience to be very intimidating. However after I confessed my sins, I found that being in front of the priest was actually quite liberating. It was as if I was sitting face to face with Jesus!

What really stuck out to me though was something Father said before He absolved me from my sins. The words he said really touched my heart and I know that God was using Fr. Sebastian to speak directly to me and the concerns of my heart at the time.

He said three things. (Note: I have paraphrased the next few points as I tried to remember as much of what he said but of course, I forgot a few.)

  1. When we are brought into this world we are born with original sin. However, we have the wonderful opportunity to receive the sacrament of Baptism to wash away these sins. This stage is what we call “Positional Holiness.” Since we are too young to make a conscious decision to say yes to Christ and to choose to grow deeper in our relationship with Him, we remain positionary in our journey towards holiness. Yes, the desire to be holy is still there but we may not know how to get to on that path just yet.
  2. Eventually we grow up. And as we grow up, we are faced with many distractions that keeps our gaze away from Jesus’ face. However, that does not mean that we stop trying in our faith journey and give up completely. This is what we call “Progressive Holiness.” This means that we must continously work towards becoming holier people of Christ. Our progress may not show right away and we may stumble some times but that is alright! The path towards holiness is a day to day process that we must work towards. Keep walking onwards and upwards to Jesus!
  3. The last stage is called “Perfect Holiness.” This is where God is. Even though we may not be perfect people, we must try our best to follow Christ’s example in our lives every day. It is possible to achieve but we will not know if we reached this goal until we enter Heaven.

To summarize these points up, Father concluded our conversation by saying these next few words. This is what really spoke to my heart.

“God may be present every where, yes, but there is one place He needs to ask permission to, before He can enter. Do you know where that place is? It is in your heart. God may be every where around us, freely and He does not need to ask to be there, but your heart is a different story. You must give Him your “yes” before He can enter inside. So be open; fully open so He can be present in your life and most especially, your heart.”

Thank you God for speaking through Fr. Sebastian today! I will cherish our conversation dearly.

Praise be to God!

For the Times When..

This week, I struggled to hear God’s voice and to feel His presence during my reflection time. I knew in my heart that the Lord was still there and so I wrote this prayer to get me through this frustrating time.

For the times when I find it difficult to trust, help me to surrender to You.
For the times when I feel weak, may I seek You for strength.
For the times when I feel lost, may You become my compass.
For the times I cannot forgive, may I be reminded of Your merciful love.
And for when I feel like giving up, turn my gaze towards You on the cross so I may be reminded that You fought for me and my heart until the very end.

Amen.

With a Grateful Heart

Today, I started my first day of my first “adult” job.

As a new graduate, hearing the words ” We want you to join our team. You’re hired!” was quite the exciting experience. I constantly heard stories throughout my undergraduate career that finding a full-time job right after graduation was next to impossible. So, when I had my interview and received a call for employment the day after, I could not help but feel so overjoyed. I’ve been praying for an opportunity like this to open up and with God’s grace, He helped me to achieve this goal.

However, my first day was not at all what I expected –
Students were not listening, the toddlers were constantly crying, and I was doing work that I did not originally sign up for. My first day of work was definitely not the way I had planned and after my shift, I really questioned if this place was the right workplace for me.

“I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.” – Psalm 9:1

Later that evening I felt restless. I was so happy when I got the job but after what I experienced, I felt really discouraged. Was this really where God wanted me to be? As I continued to reflect on the day, I remembered a dear friend’s wise words. They told me that whenever you feel sad or discouraged, count your blessings; there will always be one and more often then not, even more!
As I remembered those words, I tried my hardest to count the blessings in my life. To be honest doing this exercise was difficult at first because of how negative I was feeling but this quickly changed right after when I changed my mindset. I started to think about my family, my household, my friends, the state of my health, this job, and realized: Wow, there is so much to be grateful for.

Although my first day of work may not have been the smoothest of rides, I am still blessed because I have a job. I’m employed and that in itself is a blessing enough. God has granted me with this opportunity to grow in my career and so I must continue to strive to be the best that I can be at my work; even if that means having to do the dirty work, like changing diapers (pun intended).

And so, to whomever is reading this, whether you’re having a great day or a difficult one, have you stopped to count your blessings? Have you thanked God for all the good He’s placed in your life rather than complaining of what you don’t have? If not, try to take some time to do it right now. It might turn your day around.

—-

Let us pray for the grace to see the brighter side of things and remember to have an attitude of gratitude always. God has blessed us with so much and so we too, must do our part and give the glory back to Him. Amen.

Are You Ready?

Last night, I attended the MVA information night. Even though I did not except to be there, God had other plans for me.

Earlier that day I had a 1v1 with a dear ate of mine. I really look up to this sister, in fact, she is one of the reasons why I joined the MVA program in the first place. As our conversation went on, I was reminded of God’s goodness in both our lives. We shared stories of how God has challenged us these past several months, and of all the times He’s blessed us with new and exciting adventures in the mission field.

It was a fruitful 1v1 to say the least, so much so that we lost track of time. This ate had plans to go to the info night in the evening, so we had to make sure to end by a certain time. Since this ate and I also live in different provinces, our time together was not only very special but limited as well. As we were nearing the end of our conversation, I could not help but feel an urge to go to the info night with her despite not wanting to go before.

So I made a last minute decision to attend.

As we made our way to the venue, I kept making jokes of how I would just sit in the back doing my own thing. I thought there was no need for me to be there since I attended the one before and my pride led me to believe that I would learn nothing new. Therefore, I decided in my head that I would not participate at all during the talk or during the activities.

Of course God proved me wrong with all of this.

At first, when I walked into the venue I was welcomed by seeing some of my household members and friends. I was so overjoyed to see them that I could not help but squeal from excitement. Although I may not know what God’s plans are for them in the future, just knowing that they are a curious about the life of a FTPW put a HUGE smile on my face. – I mean, who knows? What if we become batch mates? Haha. –

To another surprise, I was asked to lead games, help with worship and was even asked to do a share 2 minutes before I had to go up!

At the end of the information night, Martin proposed a question to all the members inside the room. He asked everyone, “Are you ready to be sent?” As I heard those words I pondered on my conversation with the ate earlier that day and on all the times God has called me to be His disciple these past few months as an MVA. I then thought to myself, well you’ll never really be “ready” to go on mission but rather, you must at least be willing to go wherever and whenever God sends you out.

Doing all these things at the info night reminded me the importance of being mission-ready; that any point of time God can call you to serve Him. And when He does call, what will be our response to Him? What will mine be? Will we let our doubt and fear creep in, making us respond by saying no or will we take that leap of faith and trust that God has called us by name and say yes?

I really thought I was going to be in the back, minding my own business the entire night but God made me reflect on my “yes” to Him as an MVA instead. The past several months have been quite difficult but I surely don’t regret the decision I made to become an MVA.

Last night reaffirmed me that saying yes to the program was the best decision I made thus far.

Let us pray for all those actively discerning their future. May they be able to not only hear God’s voice but to follow God’s will for them in their lives as well. Let us also pray that they will not be afraid to answer the “call,” whatever and whenever that call may be! And we ask for the gift of knowledge and courage to do what is right, always.

It can surely be so terrifying to place your entire life in the Lord’s hands but let us be reminded that the life we live is not for our sake, but should first and foremost be for God and be offered to Him.

Amen.

Danielle

Kinsmanship

The last couple of days I spent time with both my upper and lower household. In fact for 48hrs the only people I saw were my household. On Thursday some of us went to Wonderland to celebrate the birthdays of two brothers. One of those brother’s was Vince, who was our Full Time Pastoral Worker (FTPW), and Thursday was his last full day with us here in GTA. If it’s one thing that really stood out amongst all the business and excitement of the day was friendship.

It was truly an honour to seriously be able to call each and everyone I was with a friend. We were hanging out because we wanted to be with each other. It wasn’t out of obligation or because of an event, we were just chilling. I say this not out of bitterness or to throw any shade, but it was something that stood out because I have been in households before where the friendship doesn’t go beyond the meetings and service events. My personal household journey and experience has not always been an easygoing one. I’ve experienced the m.i.a., gone inactive household heads. The only call or text you last-minute when there’s an event household heads. And the awkward small talk, obligated to say hi and bye at an event, household heads. I’ve also had the pleasure of having household heads who were accountable for me. The ones that randomly check up on you. The household heads who are genuine friends and you can be real with about every and anything. In terms of myself being a household head, I’m sure there have been times where I fail. Times where I’ve been a bit of all the aforementioned types, but hopefully I’ve also been able to be accountable to others and to be a friend.

It’s not only about household heads, but the entire household. To be friends with the people you serve with makes a huge difference. Much like when you have a job, it could be the most annoying job in the world but if you have a strong team of co-workers you genuine like and can get along with it makes all the difference!

So after the long day on Thursday, some of us saw Vince off at the airport early Friday morning. I was able to beat the rush hour traffic and make it to morning mass. Not going to lie, I was extremely tired. Wednesday night I had about 3hrs of sleep, and again on Thursday night only another 3hrs. The temptation to skip mass was real as I arrived to the church at 8am and had to wait half an hour. Interestingly enough, in my half-dazed state, what really woke me up was the responsorial psalm where the response was, “Your friends make known Your glorious kinsmanship, O Lord.”

At first I thought I misheard it because it seemed so out of place to me. In a sense it seemed too casual. So I paid closer attention and again the congregation echoed, “Your friends make known Your glorious kinsmanship, O Lord.”

I broke it down into two parts. First, I thought about the Apostles and their journey with Christ. I was up really late Wednesday night talking to a friend in a difference province, I didn’t even feel tired at the time because the conversation was life giving to me. One of the things we talked about was humanizing the saints and thinking about what they were like when they were on earth. For example when they went out on mission together, imagine if they couldn’t sleep because one of the apostles were snoring too loud. It would have been inevitable that they did things to get on each others nerves, but they probably had moments where they trolled each other for fun too. In their journey together they became friends, and not just with each other, but truly friends with Jesus in flesh.

After Jesus’s time on earth they didn’t just stop being friends or forget about Jesus. Rather they accepted the mission that was bestowed upon them and kept going. They had a personal stake in the mission, not just because of fear of the Lord or fear of the loss of heaven, but also because Jesus was their friend! Talk about your original ride or die homies. I found the wording in the responsorial psalm to be very deliberate. It didn’t say “Your followers”, “Your people”, or “Your servants”, but rather it said “Your friends”.

The second part was about the Lord’s glorious kinsmanship. One definition I found for kinsmanship is, “a bond shared between two or more individuals. Its more than friendship…. There is a closeness, a sense of fierce loyalty to someone not of blood relation.” This is the definition I had in my mind when I was at mass. And to be honest I found it profoundly flattering and just unfathomable that the Lord would want to be my friend. The Apostles’ job wasn’t to brag about their friendship with God, but rather invite you and to show God’s great love and how He wants to be in friendship with you! Everything about Christ is rooted in love and in relationships. “God Himself is an eternal exchange of love – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – and He has destined for us to share in that exchange.” – CCC 221

And so the Apostles were entrusted to share all that love and all that Jesus had taught them to others. That mission carries on today still through us. Once you’ve received the love of Christ and truly get to know Jesus, you become His friend! And like the responsorial psalm both reminds and instructs us, “Your friends make known your glorious kinsmanship, O Lord.” It is our duty, what we should be doing; let the glorious genuinely deep friendship and love the Lord has for each and everyone for us known to every single person on earth.

I was happy that I was able to experience even a small fraction of this through the Christ centered friendships in my households. I pray that we are able to bring Christ centered love to all our friendships that we have now and in the future.

In Christ,

Meagan Webb