All posts tagged: christianity

The Battle For The Spirit of Man

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It is a simple fact that our lives are lived out in the interaction between three realities: God, (including Mary, the angels and saints, the Church Suffering or Purgatory, etc.) ourselves, ourselves (including all of our human relationships) and the evil one (including the many fallen spirits that work with him). Each of these three realities is characterized by a certain spirit. For our purposes, we will consider the word spirit to mean: a particular way of thinking, feeling, or behaving. God, of course, is characterized by the divine spirit; we are characterized by the human spirit, and often that means the fallen human spirit; and of course, the devils are characterized by a demonic spirit. When evaluating an experience or happening, a spiritual diagnosis would examine the kind of spirit or spirits that predominate and whether there’s any evidence of good fruit. We can experience fluctuations or changes in our spirit in response to various inputs.  Sometimes our spirit soars at signs of hope, discovery, or celebration.  Sometimes it is discouraged and doubtful. There …

Guardians of the Cosmos

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If you had an ally who was superior to you on a number of different levels, and you were in a longstanding battle that you were losing, would you not engage your allies? Would you not implore them to take up your cause against your enemy? There are numerous modern-day fantasies that draw on this theme, as evidenced by the superhero films that frequently appear in theaters. You see that common theme of creatures or beings who, at times, may even seem like misfits in the universe, coming to the aid of threatened humanity with powers that surpass ordinary human capacity. The characters may not be real, but the fight certainly is. And so is the need for help that comes from beyond the ordinary.  What is so fascinating is that we actually have such allies.  The scope of their power and responsibilities is far beyond what we normally think.  They, in fact, have intelligence and power far superior to our own, and in many ways rule realms that keep the universe moving so that it unfolds …

LETTING GO

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People are anxious about many things these days.  When a person does not stay in a primary dependence upon God, it becomes clear quickly that any other dependency outside of God will lead to insecurity and an apprehensiveness that can take on a life of its own.  Perhaps the most common dependency that people use to replace their dependence upon God is found in materialism.   There is a reflection of this in the fall in the garden. Up until the time of the fall, Adam and Eve were happily and unselfconsciously dependent upon God.  With the decision to eat the forbidden fruit, they essentially detached themselves from God and attached themselves to the created world, drawn in by its beauty and seductive promises.   That is the nature of materialism.  We pursue possessions, etc., because we see the good in them, but at the same time, we over-value them in relation to God to the point where they usurp His place in our lives.  They become for us little gods or idols that are incompatible with trust in God.  It is not …

Hearing the Voice of God

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Hearing the Voice of God People sometimes complain that God doesn’t speak to them, or if he does, they don’t recognize his voice.   We all know stories of people who suddenly hear God speak to them in the midst of extraordinary or dramatic events.   That doesn’t surprise us as much as the idea that God speaks to us all the time.  Yet Jesus calls Himself the Good Shepherd and says His sheep know His voice.  So, what are we to make of this? It’s an important question to ask because God has fashioned us in such a way that our inner life is truly dependent on hearing His voice.  And He gives us that capacity from the time we are very young, though most of us don’t recognize it.  Generally speaking, the most fundamental way God speaks to us is through our consciences, which is why it is so essential to develop a rightly formed, even sensitive conscience.  We are greatly helped in this by remembering that the law of God is written in our hearts. Both the Old …

Language and Communion

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God has given us so many gifts, it’s hard not to take many of them for granted.  Yet none of the gifts God gives are superfluous.  They all have a purpose.  It would be an exercise in the likeness of Our Lady, to ponder the Lord’s gifts and to try to align ourselves with their particular purposes.  In some instances, the accountability for the gift is exceptionally high.  Language is one such gift. Jesus tells us that we will be accountable for every word we use.  Right away, that tells us that there is something extraordinary about language and our use of it that must be respected.  With a bit of reflection, it becomes apparent that language in all its forms is meant to serve communion, our communion with God and with others.  Likewise, it serves our own inner healing and integrity so that true communion actually becomes possible for us. Jesus gives such a beautiful example of this in His Resurrection appearances.  The apostles have been separated from the Lord by fear, by violence, …

Pilgrims of Hope

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In a time that needs the witness of Christian hope more than ever, our Holy Father, Pope Francis, says the following about hope:   it is a gift of God and a task for every Christian.  He explains that it is more than just “a mere act of optimism.”  Rather, it is “waiting for something that has already been given to us” (salvation and full communion with the Lord.)  What might that look like in the world of today?  Many years ago, while presenting the pro-life position to a group of high schoolers, one boy asked what could be wrong with abortion if you were saving a baby from a terrible life of unhappiness.  Our seminarian responded by pointing out that if we were to follow that logic, we should take a gun out and shoot everyone who is currently unhappy.  The young man was not operating from a vision of life informed by hope but rather from the belief that happiness and unhappiness are unchangeable and, in fact, the only thing that really matters.  He did not have the wisdom to see …

Please Join Us for Our Next Spiritual Exercise: Christian Resistance to Evil

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Sr.AnneMarie Walsh is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Topic: Sr.AnneMarie Walsh’s Zoom MeetingTime: Oct 14, 2024 06:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meetinghttps://zoom.us/j/95305999268?pwd=UQmUdWuZbdGwDCCnCu2d5T188lvShb.1 Meeting ID: 953 0599 9268Passcode: 241317 One tap mobile+16469313860,,95305999268# US+19292056099,,95305999268# US (New York) Dial by your location CHRISTIAN RESISTANCE TO EVIL – Session 66 The ordinary Christian knows something the unbeliever does not.  When Christians, especially Catholics, look at the state of the world, they know the primary source of evil is not cultural, political, or sociological.  It’s spiritual.  “For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens. Therefore, put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground.”  Eph 6:12-13 As Catholics, we do not believe that anyone is born evil.  God creates us good.  We are, however, born wounded in the integrity of our nature because of the first sin.  The …

The Leaders We Deserve

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 It’s often been said that God gives us the leaders we deserve. If that’s true, we should then do everything in our power to become worthy of good leaders. Everyone who grows anything knows that the stock you start out with is very important. If the stock is not healthy, it will not produce good fruit. Simply saying this, in a political season, can bring about the pressing temptation to pivot to our leaders and complain about our options. But the point is that reform begins with ourselves. If we want good leaders, we have to become good ourselves. It’s as simple as that. As a people, we produce our own leaders. But if we are trying to produce leadership without any connection to or real reference to God, and if the criteria for a good leader have become completely secularized, we are going to run right up against the impossibility of bringing anything good out of it.  God the Father is the source of every good gift, and if we are honest, we soon …