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Hello all!
Yesterday I wrote a little post on the Annunciation so check that out. :)
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I AM GOING BACK TO MASSSSSS!
Yes! Tomorrow! Palm Sunday! Holy Week! Easter!!!!!!!!
I am super super super excited in case you cannot tell.
Oh, and CONFESSSSSSSSSSSSIONNNNNNNN.
Gonna be great, cannot wait.
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Your weekly Patty:
LOOK at those teeth!!!!
I cannot WAIT to get to Texas, people. I just miss them all so much and I want to snuggle Patty until she giggles like mad. (Wouldn’t YOU, I mean LOOK AT HER.)
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Last Stations of the Cross tonight at 7:00 on my Facebook page! Come join!
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OK so I want to talk about something sort of quickly. This might merit a larger blog post but we’ll see. :) (Or this might go on long, either way.)
I was listening to a YouTube video the other day and the speaker—who is a sort of generic Christian (but has a statute of St. Therese in her office, so, I dunno!)—was talking about how if we have faith, we shouldn’t ever be worried about anything because God will take care of us. We shouldn’t have any fear.
OK so…I have thoughts.
First off, and this is really apropos as we get into Holy Week, Jesus was afraid. In the garden of Gethsemane he asked God to let this cup pass from Him. Those aren’t the words of someone who’s like yeah this is totally cool. On the cross, he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”
Jesus knew fear and he knew pain and he knew sadness. The shortest verse in the New Testament is “Jesus wept.” (John 11:35—some versions have “And Jesus wept.”)
Jesus wasn’t just wholly divine. He was also entirely human. He knew all the things we knew. The book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus knew everything we know, except sin:
14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:14-16)
Jesus KNEW all these things. Let’s not act like because He was God he didn’t cry, or feel tired, or need potty-trained by Mary and Joseph. :)
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The other part of this is that, yes, God wants us to trust in Him and not be afraid—Jesus tells us not to be afraid as well: “Do not let your hearts be troubled” (John 14:1), and later in the chapter:
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. (John 14: 27)
This isn’t something that just magically happens. We have to work at trust. I wrote a lot about this in my book. It’s one of the reasons I love the Divine Mercy chapelet, because I think it helps me grow in Trust. I know that God has me. But that doesn’t mean that I’m not afraid sometimes. And I think that’s perfectly Biblical, because Jesus was afraid! He was sad! He knows what it’s like to be human.
Flannery O’Connor once said:
“What people don't realize is how much religion costs. They think faith is a big electric blanket, when of course it is the cross.”
Faith is scary, and, like Flannery said, it costs. The entire life of a Christian is growing in our faith, hope, and trust. It’s not an immediate thing. We have to work on it and it might take a lifetime. But the thing is, you’re working on it. You’re growing (I hope!) in the spiritual life. You’re learning. It’s like looking at Patty and saying, “well, you’re a human! So let’s do some quadratic equations right now!”
She’s a baby. When she’s older, sure, we can ask her that. I don’t want her to be reading BabyLit Pride and Prejudice for ever. I want her to read the real thing! But I don’t expect her to do that right now.
Every person is in their own place and progresses at their own pace.
(And, um, look at the apostles? What did they do right after Jesus said all this to them? Ran away and denied him!)
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OK so that’s that. :) No quick takes next week because Good Friday!