Kimberly Hahn: "Overcoming Our Fears: Loving Enough to Share the Gospel"

let me say a word and defensive reason in dialogue with it because faith is that true faith unites us to that substance the reason in order to realize its full potential meets the horizons revealed by and truths contained in the faith and not just any sense but the Catholic I was driving up Sunset Boulevard with my then seven-year-old David I guess I didn't know what a melancholic he was and as we drove up the street there was a car dealership being torn down and I looked over and there's like a little mini architect in my heart and I just get thrilled with building materials I mean I I'm on a personal name basis at Lowe's and and we're in lumber and some of the places around here I love to construct things and I said to David isn't that exciting they're tearing down the old car dealership they're going to build something and he said it's very sad sad I said why is that sad he said my children will never know the town of my youth I said you're seven the town of your youth is still being built what seven-year-old contemplates what he will show his children I'm melancholic one but we could have the same attitude toward the church some of you lived through the 50s and the 60s and you know so many of the things that have been dismantled or lost and you say to your children or grandchildren you won't know the Church of my youth and what I want to say to you and what I say to my heart is the Church of your youth is still being built and it is being built by the living stones that we are we're to help build the church as was mentioned earlier this weekend part of the call of Vatican 2 was to say it's not up to us to come and point at the priest and say why aren't you building it's up to us to say Lord how do you want me to build what stops us what stops us from sharing about Jesus I think there five areas and what I'd like to do is briefly go into those five areas that that at least I've identified for myself and then I want to talk briefly about how we can understand our back to in a particular way in this in this call and I want to conclude with what I have been doing recently in my morning prayer because I've needed to refocus in the mornings on Who I am and what I'm doing for that day because of some some deeply personal challenges that I can't go into detail about what the challenges are but I think in a way that's helpful because then you can just make your own application so that's that's the big picture of what I hope to do the first thing that I think holds us back is a lack of love a real lack of love I call one aspect of it the little bo-peep syndrome you know Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep and doesn't know where to find them leave them alone and they'll come home dragging their tails behind them the idea that if we just leave Catholic people alone they'll find their way back into the Catholic Church but we have to understand that is not necessarily true a wordless witness is not what we've been called to it is possible for people to go so deep into sin and so hard in their hearts that they don't know the way back we need to be able to speak we have to love them enough to share on the other hand we can become theological pit bulls we can be triumphalist we want to prove that we're right and they're wrong we want to give it all to them but as Bishop Carlson mentioned to do it without love is not going to open the door to their heart if we have great arguments but we fail to communicate love we have failed as he said yesterday so lack of love lack of real love keeps us from sharing the second thing is fears about sharing fear of the unknown you know how will someone react you you're inspired this weekend you're gonna go home what would your husband say what your children say I know especially for fathers I want to appeal to you because moms tend to talk a little more easily about things of faith than dads sometimes but if your child had in front of him something wonderful to eat and something that had been poisoned would you really sit there and just say in your heart I hope he makes a good choice you'd throw yourself on top of what's poisoned you'd do anything you could do to get it away but do you do that when you know your son's thinking about moving in with his girlfriend and he's sitting there saying how much he loves her he is not loving that girl if by cohabiting he's taking her to hell we need to find the ways to share to point out what is poison and to point out what is truth we don't give them loaded guns because we want to protect them should we make following Christ optional not as long as it is within your power to affect things even in the Han House you will occasionally hear do we have to go to Mass and that's a daily Mass that's not a Sunday Mass we don't go every day I mean Sunday I've never had a grump about but sometimes the teenagers Oh mom I just had a snack you know and even in the Han family you will hear do we have to and I look at them and say no we and they chime in get to and it is invariably after we come back from Mass that God has done his thing even though I'm the person helping to a facilitator my husband's the one facilitating it we walk in and something about the scripture caught their heart something has been softened and they're grateful they're grateful we can also have a fear of failure not saying it perfectly not remembering what and wouldn't you like to have Patrick Madrid in your pocket you know you get into a conversation just a minute you know to pull them out but first John 4:8 says perfect love casts out fear and so if we ask the Lord to give us his heart of love for the people we're gonna meet today his love his perfect love in our hearts for that person can take that fear away jesus said in John 8:32 you'll know the truth and the truth will set you free don't you want people to be free sharing the truth with them as setting them free God made them to have that desire as Ralph Martin said the desires in their heart by sharing Jesus with them you're giving them an opportunity to say yes to God and and you're not responsible for the result okay but you're sharing now the third area are all the excuses I'm told to share you know I've been Catholic my whole life and and I'm not interested in taking a little evangelization course than going door to door or something you know or I'm too young no one would take me seriously or I'm not well I'm just not well so I can't spend a lot of time talking to people about Jesus or I'm not a priest you know or I think faith should be private I mean there's some people whose faith is so private I'm not sure they know it exists but the fact is in Christopher de leus Leiji a beautiful document calling on the lay faithful the holy father goes through each of these groups and takes away the excuses because if we are called by Jesus to share and if we have life and breath there is a way we can witness even in infirmity we can offer up that suffering we can use that time for prayer how many times have we visited someone in the hospital and we go to share with them and we leave feeling blessed or challenged by their simple words or prayers or the way they're bearing up their suffering we have to find our voice 2nd Timothy 1:7 and 8 says for God has not given us a spirit of timidity but rather a spirit of power and love and self-control has given that's past perfect so do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord North me a prisoner for his sake but bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God okay there's so much in those verses I wish I could take time to unpack it but look it up on your own take it to prayer what are you saying Lord 2nd Timothy 1:7 and 8 and the Sermon on the Mount Jesus made it clear to the disciples you are salt you are the light of the world take these truths into your heart take them to prayer Lord how can I be salt for you how can I be light for you light I love it as an image it doesn't shout it shines ok and salt the hard part of my prayer is I think about movie popcorn salt you know you go to the theater and you pay so much for a ticket and that popcorn gosh you can smell it outside before you even step in to buy your ticket and you think well ok I'm going to go ahead and get the popcorn but I am NOT going to buy a drink I'm just not and you buy the popcorn and you go in and halfway through the movie what are you thinking should about the drink why because they salt the popcorn and that's what I pray Lord make me movie popcorn salt to make others thirst for you to make them thirst for you now the fourth area the fourth area is our sin what blocks are witness what weakens our witness what clouds are witness and clouds our vision making us feel very inadequate to share about the Lord is our sin with a wonderful talk last night on the Holy Spirit and what did dr. Schreck's say we received the Holy Spirit at our baptism we have been sealed in the Holy Spirit in our confirmation and what kind of spirit is this it is a Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit desires a holy place within us he wants to make us holy Ralph Martin talked about the fact that the Vatican two documents make it clear we all are called to holiness it's not just the priests who serve every single one of us has been called to holiness and we've been given the Holy Spirit to bring that about and this is going to be lifelong if you think you can't share about Jesus till you are perfect you're wait until you die and we can't do that one of the things we need to do is ask the Lord to make us more aware of our sin I'm astounded at my own ability for self-deception how easily I can paint myself as righteous and holy and good and well-meaning and how quickly I can see everybody else's sins we need to ask the Lord to remove that self-deception to reveal to us what do we need to bring to confession what do we need to do I remember being in the kitchen and we had a priest visiting and and so we were running through the kids you know saying okay she has to go to confession you have chance to go to confession and I Cho was probably about eight years old and and so it's like okay and he ran out of the room and two minutes later he ran back in the kitchen and I said honey I think father's waiting for and he said oh I already went I said really he's only had one sin Wow wonder what that's like [Laughter] of course in those moments you have to resist all temptation to say what sin was that and can I complete your list for you you know I guess there was a mother who took her son to confession and he was in the middle of it and she knocked on the door and said don't forget to tell father this and about a minute later knock knock knock don't forget to tell father this and father poked out his head and he said in your next we blow it Scott blows it I blow it the news isn't that we sin the news is the great grace of Almighty God for forgiveness I remember one day I was in a rush I was trying to do too much I had three little children and I was trying to get my little boys getting through their studies and for some reason that day Gabriel was going non co-op on me and I would come in the room and give him but you haven't done it yet come on honey and then I would leave to go do some laundry not what I ever recommend I try very hard not to do that now and homeschooling but anyway finally at one point I watched him and I said you just come with me and I brought him out and I sat him on a chair and I said you just sit there and think about it and he looked at me and he goes I don't want to go to heaven and I said well for pete's sake what are you dragging heaven into this for and he goes because I don't want to live with you forever I hit the ground so fast on my knees I'm like oh I wouldn't either I'm so sorry please forgive me some sins distract us without our even noticing that their sins and I know that I'm gonna meddle a little bit here but I want to share it because it's one of the things I'm wrestling with at the moment so if I have to wrestle with it so do you and that is anxiety I had a mother tell me recently to do I think worry is one of the privileges of motherhood I think it's actually part of our call and she meant it but as I walked away I really started thinking about it and I thought you know what worries are like little traps that steal time from us and steal energy from us we've got the if onlys worries about the past we can't change the past and the time and energy we spend mulling over what if this had happened instead what if this had happened instead is a waste of time but what can we do with it we need to give it to the Lord who isn't bound by time and we ask him to heal those things that we can't change or what about the what-ifs you know you've got the if onlys and you've got the what-ifs future uncertainties where we feel so out of control we need to know that tomorrow belongs to God but it isn't ours yet because we're not there yet there will be grace for us when we get there but we aren't there yet so there isn't grace for that need yet one philosopher put it this way my life has been full of terrible misfortunes most of which never happened we had Michael Gabriel and Hannah and then we lost two babies and miscarriage back to back and when I was pregnant with Jeremiah I experienced a different level of anxiety than I had ever experienced it was that gripping fear that every moment I wasn't totally nauseous and begging God to take it away I would be panicked that I was going to miscarry again and every trip to the bathroom was checking for blood and every little cramp it was like what's going on and I never felt so gripped by something and it was a joy zapper you know and we had a priest who was visiting I said can I talk to you and I just talked to him and I said this just this is this doesn't seem right and I don't know what to do with it and he was so gentle and I don't know if you have a gentle priest in your life but if there is some anxiety that's really gripping you talked to him because he said kimberley concern is understandable you've had two miscarriages but he said this kind of gripping anxiety is sin and you need to go to confession can I lead us into confession and he led me in confession and then he laid his hands on me and he prayed over me and almost completely that gripping anxiety left and then when when I would begin to have it come back I'd say Lord I don't want to go there I'm going to trust this to you and I and I drew from Philippians four six and seven it says have no anxiety about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication in other words bring the concern to him don't think you can only pray for other people you can pray for you by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God we thank him in the middle of these overwhelming fears or anxieties we do because he's God he is in control he loves you he's with you and me in the middle of all of this and then verse seven and the peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus worry does not empty tomorrow of sorrow it empties today of strength God gives us grace in time of need we'd have to ask and so if we if we keep our eyes focused on Jesus fix our focus on him the concerns we have will be addressed sin clutters the path of holiness but you know God uses everything he even uses our sin I was gardening with my kids and we had a pile of leaves that had just been we just dumped leaves on top of leaves for seven years and when we went out to this new area we flipped over all of the leaves and I was like oh this is confession and my children were like okay I think mom's lost it yeah I think this is awesome I mean look this was refuse this was like junk not worth having but because it's sat here and we turn it over it's like thick rat rich black soil and I said that's our sin in confession we come with a Jack the grotesque awful stuff that has been in our hearts and our minds and God turns it into the mulch of our spiritual life it's not wasted if we humble ourselves and go to confession now Satan's got two strategies and we've got to be aware of them the first is keep us out of the confessional he either says you know what you did wasn't that bad not that serious you certainly go more often than most people or that's so bad you can't possibly go tell the priest that and we won't believe you think of you he'll be shocked and I had a priest tell me once you can't shock up not possible not possible then if we actually do go to confession Satan's got a different strategy either still feel guilty don't you hmm wouldn't have those lingering guilt feelings if you were really forgiven or you didn't really mean it see you've already done it again these are lies of the evil one now I remember going to confession to a father Joe once and I said I feel like I tell you the same things every week or as my husband told him a different time should I just Xerox the list and I said am I making any headway and he said Kimberly just the humility of saying the same things every time is taking a whack at pride and whatever takes a whack at pride is progress father Joe said to Scott Xerox the list what are you looking for nuisance would you rather substitute clearing the clutter of sin off the path of our journey of faith help strengthen us to share the gospel and there's a fifth area suffering suffering can be a very heavy weight they can be distractions that get our minds on ourselves instead of the Lord and sometimes sufferings can so cloud our vision that we don't see who God is and what he's doing because of real physical pain or psychological pain or the pain of others there's also a point at which suffering can do the opposite if we let it and that is it can it can cut through the fog it can actually clear our vision now 1993 I had been a Catholic for three years I was still learning about Mary but I had heard of her title Mary of Sorrows Our Lady of Sorrows and I just thought this is so negative why are Catholics always so negative you know it's got to be Christ on the cross maybe Our Lady of Sorrows I mean really she was mother of the Redeemer okay mother of the Savior of the world why why so negative you know and then the Lord gave me an illustration we had just found out that we were expecting another baby Jeremiah was born he was now 2 years old and we we were so thrilled we gathered at the children came to Christ the King chapel celebrated this wonderful wonderful news and we went away to speak in Minneapolis st. Paul and by the end of the weekend I was miscarrying and so Monday morning we told the children which is a very sad thing to share and then we came back to Christ the King Chapel and one of the early scriptures at mass was Psalm 116 17 I will offer to thee the sacrifice of Thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord and I said in my heart Lord I will praise you as an act of obedience but I will always have sorrow for these babies I have not been able to hold and raise and he spoke to my heart and he said and how could my mother who held my lifeless body that she gave me not be our lady of sorrows like okay I get it slow learners sometimes when do we promote when everything's sailing along or when we're having difficulty our sufferings are real they're real we need to bring them to Jesus we need to bring in the tenderness of our pain and our and our the weight of that suffering and entrusted to and in the middle of these difficulties and struggles with sin our struggle within an act of adequacy we can get into a mentality of just maintaining our faith and I think what we need to embrace is our mission of faith we need to go deeper a mission mentality in the midst of all of our flaws and weaknesses our sins and our sufferings and all the things that right now you may be saying this all sounds so good and I wish I could go back and share the gospel but I just can't because of whatever whatever comes to your mind filling in the blank God has called you God has called me to share and defend the faith even in the midst of all of these other difficulties and he's called us by virtue of our baptism we were baptized into Christ and that means we're baptized into his mission his threefold mission as priest prophet and King we've been baptized into his mission to priesthood because we are to offer ourselves as living sacrifices we are to give ourselves out of love we've been called into his prophetic mission to speak the truth speak the truth in our family but also in our parish and in our culture and third we've been called into his kingly office he's to be king you know of everything in our lives and then were to bring that to bear again in our culture through our baptism that's how we entered the door of faith according to Pope Benedict the sixteenth in his apostolic letter that he wrote letting us know we're heading toward a year of faith but it's only the beginning of our journey we have to confirm the graces that we've received we have to respond to those and we say that to our children by the grace of God we brought you to baptism now you've got to live as the child of God that you are Ephesians 2 8 9 and 10 is so beautiful and I have memorize ADA 9 and shared it when I shared the gospel but first 10 is very critical very important it says for by grace you've been saved through faith and this is not your own doing it's the gift of God not because of works lest any man should boast this is grace grace for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them even the good works we do our grace he prepared beforehand for us to walk in them God's grace makes our journey of faith possible now after Jesus was baptized where did he go he went out into the desert to do battle with the evil one and because he knew God's Word being God's Word he was able to turn all of the challenges of the evil one with Sacred Scripture Jesus was attacked and we can know that we will be attacked now one of the things that Scott and I've discussed a bit as we've had three children now get married have you ever noticed that the longest passage that st. Paul wrote on marriage in Ephesians 5 is immediately followed by the longest passage he has on spiritual warfare in chapter 6 you can imagine that if you desire a holy marriage and you desire a holy family that is a point of attack for the evil one we need to be praying for each other we need to be praying for our children who are married that God will fill them with His grace and empower him them with his spirit to do what He has called them to do I remember watching Gabriel and Sarah kneeling right before taking their vows and I just could envision this bullseye on their combined backs and it was like you know you pray a lot before children get married but I don't know I guess I was just thinking like okay well then that's done and I just had such an overwhelming sense of two things the first is how much we have to pray for our married children because now they are on the the firing lines the front lines in a way they have not been before but it wasn't like a feeling of terror it was just a feeling of reality this is as Scott says it's a we're on a battleground not a playground you know this is serious but at the same time they're yes to God was an attack of light into darkness there yes of openness to life is an attack a foray into darkness with light and by the grace of God and it is the grace of God our three children who are married have all married committed Catholics who get this who get this as much as you can get it before all the challenges come and and so Gabriel and Sarah have three children and Michael and Anna have they miscarried in January but so this is their fourth baby really they'll be their third delivery in October and Hannah and Ben who married just in May were blessed immediately and so they are expecting a child these are part of their witness to the world of the truth of the gospel and if you take time to read Ephesians 6:10 to 18 and I'm not going to take time right now but I want to recommend it to you you'll notice there are only two offensive weapons there are lots of defensive armor that we need to put on but there are two offensive weapons one is the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God so we've got to learn the scriptures better every day and the second is prayer when someone says all I can do is pray you want to say no no no that's huge that's important don't say all I can do pray we need to pray and we need to pray for those around us especially for our married children and we need a holy boldness I think of King David you know who has a boy was we gonna just out in the field had no idea what God was calling him to but he was to protect those sheep and you member with a slingshot that's all it took for him to take down a lion and a bear incredible but he was ready because he did small things as a young teen so that when God's name was dragged through the mud by the Philistines his eyes are on the Lord not on himself and he takes up the weapon that he knows and he slays the giant he slays the giant for the honor of God's name don't underestimate your children and the kinds of weapons that they can begin to get used to using in terms of prayer and scripture study because we don't know what lions and bears they're going to need to tackle in our culture down the road and in the midst of our spiritual warfare we always have to keep in mind that our spouse is not the one we're doing battle with and our children are not the one we're doing battle with and our co-workers are not the ones we're doing battle with the battle is the Lord's and the one we fight or principalities and powers I just wanted to give you one example of how someone understood the battle Robin are you here I tried to see if I saw you this morning from Youngstown ok I just want to mention and Robin's very new in the church she's the convert what when did you convert three years ago she and her husband were among many many many people who were involved with an abortion mill up in Youngstown trying to pray and all kinds of laws that come into place they weren't even allowed to be on the sidewalk they had to be across four lanes of traffic and some of the people here including bishop Anton Wyler of stupid Ville was actually arrested at that clinic and they kept saying Lord is the only abortion mill still open in our diocese close it close it close it and then they got the idea to raise the funds to buy the building and they and they raised the funds and they sent a notice to st. Paul Center and it ended up at our house and I said to Scott we have to do this we have to be a part of this you know it so we sent him a donation not knowing where they were in the process and on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe someone gave the final chunk and they bought the building and there's a Christian demolition company that is donating time when he can and he's going over and he's demolishing the building and they know for sure that at least twenty thousand babies perish there at least this is sacred ground this isn't ground that needs a new Walmart this is ground that needs a memorial a place for grieving a place for those who realize now that they have lost their child and pray for them because now they're raising funds for the memorial this is going to be a public witness to the people of Youngstown and now they can say the Diocese of Youngstown is closed for the business of abortion I don't know Jeff Fortenberry whose congressman from Nebraska was shared yesterday and we have no idea the battles that he faces as he's working through legislation we have all kinds of people on the front lines are you praying for them are you finding the ways to give or to put yourself out there ask the Lord where is the battle and where am I to be more active it might be in your school it might be in your parish he'll show you he is looking for you to say you're available now I want to close in these last 14 and a half minutes I have to talk about the start of the day and the reason I want to do this is and I think so quickly we say to people start your day with prayer you know you need to start your day with prayer and that's a wonderful concept but it's like how do I do it and I want to explain how how I've been led to do it and I think there's there's not a wrong way to do it but I needed I went to several priests and I just sort of got platitudes instead of getting something concrete and that's what I would like to give you something concrete as you do spiritual reading as you read the scriptures ask the Lord how can I pray what are I I for me there's a there's a situation a very very deep suffering and and it's like I need I need to know where to put my feet on you know in to the end of the cliff because I kept at moments I just feel like I'm falling and I have to tell myself to breathe and so these are these are my Pitons if you will they're 10 10 things that I am bringing before the Lord and saying to my heart at the start of the day father II Ryland says that each night's sleep is a little bit like a death and in the morning it's a little bit like coming out of a stupor and so we need to get our bearings and we want the four spots of the day not to be that horrible feeling in the pit of your stomach of Oh God that is all not resolved yet it's not resolved yet what do i do what do i do we need to come to him first lamentations 322 223 the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases his mercies never come to an end they are new every morning great is thy faithfulness and so in the midst of personal difficulties how do we grasp that the first thing for me is an act of consecration I don't know what I'll face I don't know the things that will come to my heart in mind but we I gather it up in a prayer of consecration and you you can look that up online there are all kinds of acts of consecration but you're you're gathering up your prayers your works your Joy's your sufferings everything you cannot possibly anticipate that day but you're gathering it all up and saying yes Jesus I yield myself to you I want your will again father ray Ryland is just a marvelous help to me and one of the things he says is the present is the moment that time touches eternity this is the moment of grace and so so we're saying Lord I want to be in that moment of grace and I give my whole day to you my second prayer is Jesus I trust in you Jesus I trust in you you know if you're facing a surgery you're facing a dilemma for your child where you just feel so utterly out of control you're walking through deep grief even if you can't formulate another prayer Jesus I trust in you that's especially helpful when you can't articulate a prayer the third I am weak but you Lord are strong you are strong you know when Paul struggled with an affliction any bed beg God to take it away God didn't answer that prayer that way but he answered the prayer and he says in first Corinthians 2nd Corinthians 12 9 and 10 my grace is sufficient for you for my strength is made perfect in weakness we just come before and we say the heart I can't do it I can't do this I don't know how to love my husband or I don't know how to love this child or I don't know how to handle this neighbor I don't know how to endure this particular parish priest or whatever the situation is I'm weak but you are strong and you your power is made perfect in weakness do it the fourth is you Lord are in control and this is so important I wish we had more time to talk about it because our heavenly father is the one who is the Lord of lords and the king of kings it is in his fatherhood that we find peace if he's just God of the universe like the way they describe Allah he could control anything but he doesn't love and so when we are in pain when we are in difficulty when we're in habits of sin we don't know how to break all this difficulties coming because God doesn't care if we only talk about God being loved and we don't talk about his sovereignty it's like God's wringing his hands oh if I could do something I would but God who is all-powerful and all-knowing and all-loving is in control and all that occurs in our lives is out of his heart of fatherly love for us we just see a tiny picture we don't see the big picture and so we don't understand but we don't have to understand to be able to trust and so we acknowledge he is in control one spiritual writer wrote this and it's really been very meaningful to me he said I am here by God's appointment in his keeping under his training for his time and when the time is concluded he will draw us out of that and I hate to break it to you but if you're not in a moment of suffering it's a lull because this is part of our life because this is part of our journey of faith I mean if you became a Christian and everything was easy and wonderful it would be so fraudulent that's not what we're supposed to go around and then say to people you knew all your problems will disappear if you become a Christian no but you'll know the one who knows the future you'll know the one who loved you before you were created and loved you into existence number five your grace is enough for what I need today Philippians 4:19 my God will supply all your needs according to his riches in Christ Jesus there is no need you have there is no need I have that His grace is insufficient for it now I added one last night after hearing Alan come Holy Spirit that's that's really tapping into st. Paul's prayer for us in Ephesians 1 where he talks about the power that's been placed within us is the power that raised Christ from the dead how powerful is that we are weak yes we are inadequate yes but he is adequate he is powerful sorry he is powerful and so if we look at the Catechism and the gifts of the Holy Spirit you know one of them is counsel do you need counsel for something ask the Holy Spirit do you need wisdom for something that's a gift of the Holy Spirit ask the Holy Spirit you need understanding ask the Holy Spirit remember you're coming to your loving Heavenly Father he doesn't want to withhold any good gift from you ask come Holy Spirit number seven help me become more aware of my sinfulness please forgive me and Father forgive those who have sinned against me they don't know what they're doing number eight I am your beloved daughter and I want to please you so let me do my duties with great love Allah think tourettes have list soon number nine thank you God for the grace to live this day to your glory here's my plan for the day I'm open to yours I can remember times as the mother of a young little brood I could feel like I was already on the fifth plan of the day by breakfast you know didn't plan that child to throw up didn't plan for that child you know have this dilemma any and yet you know what the day is always going according to plan it's just his plan not not necessarily Kimberly's I can't tell you how many times I quote Philippians 4:13 but it's probably daily I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me I can do laundry through Christ who strengthens me I can go to Lowe's and stand in a long line through Christ who strengthens me and I just put in whatever the detail is I want to live today in light of eternity I want to live today in light of eternity and finally harness heaven harness heaven they Jesus lives to make intercession for us if he lives to make intercession for us can you imagine that his mother lives to have intercession for us that the Saints who have a pure love for us live to make intercession for us do you enjoy praying for each other imagine with our sinfulness all sort of wrapped up and all all the different ways that we struggle with concupiscence we'd love to pray for each other can you imagine when our love is perfected are their older brothers and sisters who may be or have gone through a dilemma you're in that you could tap to be your heavy-hitters to be the people that you that you beg please pray for me and include that in the start of the day pray the st. Michael prayer of protection ask your guardian angel actually ask your guardian angel to work with the guardian angels of anybody giving you a dilemma you know if your child's baptized that child's got a guardian angel have them collaborate there's a wonderful novena that i'm in the middleof called mary under of knots and it's a little booklet i meant to bring it up and i didn't but it's available in the bookstore but i love this image you've got one in the image you have Mary holding the ribbon of your life and on one side you have an angel receiving from her hand a ribbon that isn't knotted and on the other you have an angel lifting her up all the knots all the knots of our sins and our difficulties and our weaknesses and our fears our failures our dilemmas and it's putting into our hands those knots and saying mommy untangle this for me and it's really a beautiful beautiful novena now that's all in the morning those are the 10 things that I am trying very hard to pray even before I drink my coffee because I need the set of the sail and not the gale to determine the way I'm gonna go I don't want to miss the opportunities and I do I don't want to miss the opportunities that I could share Jesus and all of these things the weaknesses the sins the sufferings all of that clutters the path for me to see the people that jesus wants me to talk to and at night there are three small things first I want to reflect on what God has done for me this day already today God has been at work through the music through the talks if your just being able to get up and walk and not be rained on I don't know there are just so many ways in which God has already lavished His grace on us and if we never stop to reflect on it we miss what that could stir in our hearts the second thing is we ask forgiveness for the things that we have done that have been failures we take a little time to reflect it's hard to remember when you go to confession once a month you know all the sins of the last month and we can make an act of contrition we can ask Jesus to forgive us we need still need to go to confession but every night we should have a little time of reflection and the third is we rest in him how many times do we lay down and then our minds begin to go over whatever that dilemma is and it robs us of sleep I just read this illustration I thought this was so powerful how did the people of Israel sleep when they got up to the Red Sea and they conceded the cloud of the Egyptian army coming close how did those mothers and fathers put their children to bed that night seriously and through the night God kept the distance the same he put his presence in between the two so the Egyptians weren't able to get any closer and then when the people rose in the morning he had Moses raised the staff and in front of the people he parted the waters God is at work when we sleep God is at work when we asleep and I have found such comfort in this I'm going to bed Lord but you are at work it reminds me of what I know and I'm not sure which Pope it might have been blessed John Paul but it was like holy you know him in prayers saying to the Lord the church is yours I'm going to bed you know what we can say the same thing Lord I'm going to lay down you give your beloved rest you're at work and you're still working even when I sleep Jesus meets us in our needs in our fears in our sins calling us to repentance in our sufferings as he walks with us and he will give us the grace we need today to honor him today to go forth today as you go back to your homes to live this faith richly to learn it more deeply to love it and to share it let's pray let's pray for each other especially as we now enter into the mass where will we be so fortified pray for the power that we have received in our baptism to ignite that fire and fervor within us so that we will be faithful in faith filled witnesses let's pray for each other in the name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit amen o God you are our awesome and great God and father we worship you we praise you you are bigger than any suffering or difficulty we face and your power is made perfect in our weakness we are weak O God but you are strong and this news is too good for us to share and keep to keep to ourselves we have to share it show us the way Jesus guide us today and we pray this in Jesus name Amen god bless you god bless you and keep us in your prayers we keep you in ours [Applause] [Music] you [Music] you

Channel: Franciscan University of Steubenville

Views: 35,242

Rating: 4.9042735 out of 5

Keywords: Franciscan University, Steubenville, Ohio, Catholic, college

Id: lFe9V_mqUmw

Length: 53min 58sec (3238 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 15 2013