New Year's Resolution: Let Them Go

    How often we hold onto things in our lives.  Have you ever witnessed this kind of incident (or been a part of it)?  A child is holding onto something they shouldn’t, and an adult is trying to get the child to give it up.  The child rarely gives it up without a fight, probably with some tears, but finally the adult’s coaxing and/or strong fingers pries open the tiny fist and removes the object from the child’s grasp.
    How applicable is that to our spiritual lives?
    I’m not just talking about the material things in our life, for this post I’m focusing on people in our lives.  A lot of confusion and hurt can result from us clinging desperately onto different people in our lives.  I’ve been noticing this in certain relationships I call the “security blanket relationships”.  Security blanket relationships are relationships (friendship or romantic) we hold onto in our lives out of fear that can keep us from loving others and most especially Christ with our full heart.  Many times these relationships are ones that are not even grounded in reality, the ones that lead us into the torturous Land of What-Ifs.  Be it past relationships or relationships that you long for, when we hold onto these relationships such that we are pulled from Christ, that is the time when we must let them go.
    It is not the desire to be loved or even the people themselves that are bad.  The problem is when we allow these relationships, whether actual or desired, to fill our fists and make it more difficult to embrace Christ.  By letting go of one of these relationships, I mean that we give them up to Christ and allow Him to fill us instead and heal our hearts.  Sometimes we hold onto these relationships and we’re not really sure why.  I think it’s because we tend to view it subconsciously as a sort of identity, something to hold onto to keep us safe and still. 
    Do you remember when you were first learning to swim?  The moments of panic when you found yourself suddenly without any support and the violent blind thrashing of limbs as you tried desperately to cling to something- anything- to keep yourself from drowning (even if the swim instructor was right beside you or if you had a life vest)?  This perfectly human reaction is what keeps us tied to these phantom relationships, this fear of the unknown, of how we will identify ourselves, of how we will occupy our thoughts.
Let them go.   
    Unclench the fist and relinquish it to Christ.  If it is a past relationship, learn from it but don’t let it keep you from loving others.  If it is a potential relationship that is consuming you or causing you grief, let the Holy Spirit take a look at it.  Release it into His care and let Him lead you in your future actions.  Root your identity in Christ, without clinging to other relationships.  They don’t define you.  Please do not be afraid to let go!  There’s a quote by Patrick Overton that says, “When you come to the edge of all the light that you have, and must take a step into the darkness of the unknown, believe that one of two things will happen.  Either there will be something solid for you to stand on- or you will be taught how to fly.”
    Angela Thomas says in A Beautiful Offering, “"When a woman has a kingdom heart, she has an active understanding of what matters most to the heart of God. She lives in the balance of passion and contentment. She learns to love well, give without regard to self, and forgive without hesitation. The woman with a kingdom heart may have a duffel bag full of possessions or enough treasures to fill a mansion, but she has learned to hold them with an open hand. Hold everything with open hands. I don't think we are ever allowed to grab hold of anything or anyone as though they matter more than the kingdom of heaven. When you hold relationships with open hands, then people come in and out of your life as gifts of grace to be cherished and enjoyed, not objects to be owned and manipulated. And then when you hold your dreams with open hands, you get to watch God resurrect what seemed dead and multiply what seemed small."  
    Our hearts were not made to linger in the Land of What-Ifs.  So work with Christ to heal and gently loosen your heart’s hold on these chaining thoughts.  It’s not always easy and it usually won’t happen quickly, but Love is patient and Love is kind.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.  Love never fails.
So just let go.

Your Sister in Christ,
Jenny

p.s. Happy New Year!!

Emmanuel

I was praying about Christmas and began wondering what the Holy Family would be doing right now, in these last few days before Christmas.  I know what normally happens this time of year – shopping for last minutes Christmas gifts, baking the cookies, preparing the meals and throwing parties, watching those same good-ole Christmas movies that have become a yearly tradition, listening to Christmas music while wrapping gifts.

But what would Mary and Joseph have been doing in these last few days before Christmas – that first Christmas?

This day 2000 years ago, Mary and Joseph were already a few days into the journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem.   Mary was extremely pregnant.  Can you imagine making a five day journey on the back of a donkey when you are ready-to-pop-pregnant?!  She most likely would have ridden side-saddle and probably without a saddle.  I am sure her back ached from being pregnant on top of having to balance herself for hours on end on the back of the donkey.  Did her legs fall asleep from poor circulation? Was her bum sore from riding on that donkey’s back for days?  And Joseph, what was he wondering about the pending birth?  Was he anxious in trying to provide Mary with as much comfort as he could but knowing there was little he could offer on the journey? 

A stop along their way would be Jerusalem.  When they passed through would they have heard people singing and chanting, “When, O Lord, will you send the Savior you have promised?”  Would they have passed by the faithful watchers praying to God for the Savior to come?  Would Jesus have leapt in Mary’s womb on hearing the cry of His people?  Would Mary have placed a hand on her belly and whispered, “Indeed your Savior has come”.  

When they arrived in Bethlehem, was Joseph feeling discouraged as he tried to find suitable lodging for his wife and child, only to be rejected?  What was his reaction when that last inn keeper pointed to the stable?   A stinky, smelly, dirty stable littered with animal refuse and old straw?  Poor Joseph.  Bethlehem was his cross.  But Mary was not flustered.  She puts him at ease and reassures him with her gentle smile seeming to say, “Soon the Messiah will be born – God made Man – Emmanuel, God is with us.” 

As Christmas fast approaches, may we not get ruffled with the hustle and bustle of the holidays, but like Mary, ponder in silence and joy the awesomeness of this beautiful mystery.  Let us realize deep in our hearts that Emmanuel, God with us, indeed has come. 

                                                                                                           -Sr. Elizabeth, TOR

Making the most of the last week of Advent

It's almost the Fourth week of Advent, I can hardly believe it!
I often feel like I miss out on really entering in to the season of Advent because I get so overwhelmed with projects and exams during the first few weeks, and by the time I get home for break it's practically Christmas.
If you feel the same way I challenge you to make the most of this last week of Advent. It's not too late to prepare your heart for Christ's coming.

Check out this video, it's a great reminder of what Advent is all about.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

The Life of a Student: Much More than Papers, Projects, and Finals

As we approach the final classes of the semester and final exams, I wanted to share some insightful and, hopefully, motivating, quotes about being a student. I know for me as the semester drags on (or flies by, depending on how you look at it) I often loose sight of my purpose as a student. Especially being a senior this year, it’s easy to see school and everything that it entails as just the last step before “real life” begins. Recently this way of looking at things has really been negatively affecting my attitude toward classes, assignments, and finals. The last couple days though, I’ve been getting the feeling that the Lord is trying to challenge me to turn my bad attitude around and to realize that what He has placed before me right now, the life of a student, is His will for me at the moment. Fr. Brad said in a homily the other day, “Success is doing the will of God.” If I make the effort, I can choose to see each academic hurdle as an opportunity for doing God’s will, as an opportunity for success.

Know that you will all be in my thoughts and prayers these last, challenging days of the semester!

Peace,

Megan

"Dear students, Hold school in high esteem! Return to it joyfully; consider it a great gift, a fundamental right which, of course, also involves duties." -Blessed Pope John Paul II

"An hour of study, for a modern apostle, is an hour of prayer."
St. Josemaria Escriva, The Way, 335

"You have a war-horse called study. You resolve a thousand times to make good use of your time, yet you are distracted by the slightest thing. Sometimes you get annoyed at yourself, because of your lack of willpower, even though you begin again every day.
Have you tried offering up your study for specific apostolic intentions?"
St. Josemaria Escriva, Furrow, 523

"Do you desire to study to your advantage? Let devotion accompany all your studies, and study less to make yourself learned than to become a saint. Consult God more than your books, and ask him, with humility, to make you understand what you read. Study fatigues and drains the mind and heart. Go from time to time to refresh them at the feet of Jesus Christ under his cross. Some moments of repose in his sacred wounds give fresh vigor and new lights. Interrupt your application by short, but fervent and ejaculatory prayers: never begin or end your study but by prayer. Science is a gift of the Father of lights; do not therefore consider it as barely the work of your own mind or industry."
-Saint Vincent Ferrer

"You must study ... but that is not enough.
What do those who kill themselves working to feed their self-esteem achieve? Or those who have nothing else in mind but assuring peace of mind for a few years ahead?
One has to study – to gain the world and conquer it for God. Then we can raise the level of our efforts: we can try to turn the work we do into an encounter with the Lord and the foundation to support those who will follow our way in the future.
In this way, study will become prayer."
St. Josemaria Escriva, Furrow, 526

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” Colossians 3:23-24