3 Ways Grace Helps Marriage

Greetings! Birgit here, hoping you have reached out to my new blog at Catholic Life In Our Times. If you haven't gotten the memo yet, here's your chance to jump in. Just follow the digest links below and you'll have arrived.

In an attempt to walk with you on the journey of a godly life, I write to share some experiences you might find familiar, with the hope of shedding some light on faith-filled insight and possibly a solution or two.

Thank you for reading and God bless!

1. My Mother’s Illicit Marriage Strengthened My Faith

"As the first teachers of our children, parents face an important obligation. Not only their words, but their very actions dictate how children receive and live the gift of faith. Even mistakes, made and corrected, can be a shining beacon of hope for everlasting joy with God in Heaven."

The Catechism of the Catholic Church upholds the biblical directive that parents are the first (and most important) teachers of their children. What we often fail to realize is that what we do can have much more effect on our children than what we say or how we instruct. Who has not seen one of their less than desirable actions or words mimicked by a child and felt a sudden blush of guilt? Sometimes, though, a child learns an important lesson from the mistakes in a parent’s life, and how they rise to the occasion. That was the case for me; my mother's illicit marriage actually helped to strengthen my faith. (continue)

2. Marriage: God First, Spouse Second, Children Third

"We're told to look out for #1, but as Catholic Christians we know that position belongs to God. His order of priorities for in marriage may surprise you too."

Marriage is a hot button topic these days. The definition of marriage is challenged all around us, and the nuclear family is attacked by the secularized world. As the Humanae Vitae 2018 Symposium, held at the University of America, recently confirmed the nuclear family is in danger. Yet, it is vitally important to the common good of society. The prevalent use of contraception has had a disastrous effect on families and society as a whole. Instead of reducing the number of abortions, which was the stated intent, abortions have actually increased during the upswing of contraception. The cheapening of sex, and the decline of respect for the procreative aspect of the marriage bed, has much to do with this. Leaving God, and His command to 'go forth and multiply', has largely been abandoned as well, leaving us with up-side-down values. (continue)

3. Grace In Marriage:Reflections From a 17-Year-Old Bride

"What can a 17-year-old bride tell us about grace in marriage? You might be surprised to find that experience comes in all forms and from all ages."

Witnessing the constant attacks against the institution of marriage leaves us gasping for a moral resolution. Surely punishment similar to Sodom and Gomorrah is waiting in the wings for our fallen world. It isn't even necessary to list the many abhorrent sins against Holy Matrimony of our modern times. Unless you're hiding under a rock your are at least marginally aware. As Catholic Christians it's our duty to 'do something', but what?

What we need is a return to grace in marriage because God's grace is the only resolution. We all know that marriage isn't easy. As the two, who have become one, live past the ceremony and reception, they experience the reality of life. What holds the bond together for eternity is an influx of God's grace in marriage. (continue)

What sorts of stories can you tell about grace in marriage? Share your thoughts in the comment boxes of the links above.

Evangelium Vitae Novena: Day 8: - For a stronger witness from the laity

Welcome prolife prayer warriors!

As we recall the gift of the great encyclical from Pope John Paul II - Evangelium Vitae - let us call to mind the great need our world has for prayer.

The spilling of innocent blood through abortion and other atrocities against humanity can only be reparated by the pure and Precious Blood of Jesus Christ. With this Novena we contribute our own small effort by petitioning God for the healing of our culture of the following ills.

Contraception * Abortion * Euthanasia * Exploitation (embryonic stem cells, cloning, etc.) * Sex trafficking * Legislators * Clergy * Laity * Chastity

Welcome to Day 8 of our Evangelium Vitae Novena! Please join us in praying for today's intention: an end to the contraceptive mentality which has brought so much chaos into the world. And please remember to pray the daily prayer. God bless you all.

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Daily prayer: Pope Saint John Paul II's Prayer to our Lady.

O Mary
bright dawn of the new world,
Mother of the living,
to you do we entrust the cause
Look down, O Mother,
upon the vast numbers
of babies not allowed to be born,
of the poor whose lives are made difficult,
of men and women
who are victims of brutal violence,
of the elderly and the sick killed
by indifference or out of misguided mercy.
Grant that all who believe in your Son
may proclaim the Gospel of Life
with honesty and love
to the people of our time.
Obtain for them the grace
to accept that Gospel
as a gift ever new,
the joy of celebrating it with gratitude
throughout their lives
and the courage to bear witness to it
resolutely, in order to build,
together with all people of good will,
the civilisation of truth and love,
to the praise and glory of God,
the Creator and lover of life.

Day 8: March 23, 2016 - For a stronger witness from the laity

We need to begin with the renewal of a culture of life within Christian communities themselves. Too often it happens that believers, even those who take an active part in the life of the Church, end up by separating their Christian faith from its ethical requirements concerning life, and thus fall into moral subjectivism and certain objectionable ways of acting. With great openness and courage, we need to question how widespread is the culture of life today among individual Christians, families, groups and communities in our Dioceses. EV 95.

Heavenly Father, the communion which should exist through Your gift of the Eucharist has been broken by the widespread use of  contraception among Your flock and by their wholesale disregard for the teachings of Your Church. Please raise up courageous families and single people who are prepared to forgo worldly acclaim and to suffer for the sake of Your Holy Church. Please console them in their times of discouragement, and make them always aware of Your Presence, as they endeavor to spread the Good News to the ends of the earth.  AMEN

Please share this effort with your family and friends and continue to work toward the hopeful goal of a world that respects all life - from fertilization to natural death. 

Remember to us hashtag #EVN2016 when using Twitter.

You may also join the Evangelium Vitae Novena Facebook event  for daily reminders and the opportunity for interaction with like-minded prolife advocates.

If you'd like a bit of history behind the struggle for the respect of life, check out my column at Catholic Stand.

You can also find the daily meditation graphics for sharing on Facebook on the Designs by Birgit fan page. 

In His Name for Life, BirgitJ

Marriage: Its Strength Lies in Grace

I posted a funny little meme on my Facebook wall today. It said,

"I don't believe in Divorce...

once we're Married, you're mine to annoy Forever!"

Since marriage is being mercilessly maligned by secular society, this was a cute way of stating the obvious - marriage isn't perfect, but with grace, love, and humor it will survive.

Case in point: we were 17 and 18 when we married. Forty plus years later, we're still together - despite some rough spots. This is due partly to the inspirational example I observed from my mother during her struggles - including many years of anticipating an annulment. We also understand the order of priority in our marriage - God First, Spouse Second, Children Third.

Of course, copious amounts of grace played the most important role.

So it came as a total shock to see the comments elicited by the humorous and innocuous sentiment the meme in question inspired. Hurtful, ugly, shameful comment after comment was made - and liked by dozens of admirers.

On the other side of the coin is fellow blogger Annie. In honor of her own anniversary, she has compiled blog posts from our Catholic Bloggers Facebook group. Her aim is to show marriage for what it truly is. A sacramental union of a man and a woman - bound together by their common love and God's grace.

In times such as these - with the upheaval concerning same sex 'marriage', rampant cohabitation, high divorce rates, and general disdain for the nuclear family - it's refreshing to see a young bride's efforts to show the world how to do it right.

Dozens of our fellow bloggers have shared their links with Annie. She will need to share them in several installments throughout the next day or so. Reading through these memories might be just the uplifting message you (or someone you know) need at this time. Be sure to check out Catholic Wife, Catholic Life to be inspired.

As the Synod on the Family quickly approaches, may we gain strength from our mutual goal of living a grace-filled married life. God bless the family - the foundation of society.

As the family goes, so goes the world. May we strive to be a part of the solution!

NOTE (Sept. 11, 2015): Go check out our mention in Annie's anniversary blog post at Catholic Wife, Catholic Life. It's in the final installment, published today.

Keep Calm About the Laudate Si Encyclical

Even before the release (or the leaked release) of Pope Francis' eco-encyclical, people from all corners were speculating, voicing fears, and even condemning the pontiff's motivations. I surely won't lie and say I didn't share some of those misgivings - especially for those of us who look at the global cooling, global warming, climate change issue as an unadulterated hoax - perpetuated by ecological hypocrites.

I also have to admit guilt in allowing myself to be riled up by the misreporting concerning this pope. I guess I wasn't as cyber-connected when there were tales being wagged around about the other two popes during my adulthood - Benedict XVI and Saint John Paul II. There were a couple of times I got my dander up when they were misquoted, but I 'got' them. Pope Francis and his way of thinking are, admittedly, a bit foreign to me. 

The youth-loving attitude of Saint JPII was at the heart of the time in my life when our children attended World Youth Day in Colorado. As a German myself, Papa Benny spoke to my heart and to my soul. His logical, professorial way of leading/teaching his flock appealed to me on a personal level. He was my spiritual Opa.

Pope Francis is different. He's far from reserved - a German trait to which I ordinarily relate - and displays a tendency to dismiss ceremony, which speaks to my intellect as well as my pedantic side. So I'm often challenged to understand just what he is saying/doing.

I do want to reiterate that, while we owe allegiance and respect to the words Pope Francis has shared with his flock, we are under no obligation to take it as infallible. As in many other circumstances, we are to make a sincere effort to digest the words but are free to pattern our behavior in relation to them with our own, informed conscience.

In the mean time, as the world digests the words of our Holy Father, let's keep calm and rely on grace, guidance from the Holy Spirit, and an (continuing) informed conscience.

Sources about the Laudate Si Encyclical

Laudate Si (Blessed Are You), the much anticipated encyclical by Pope Francis was released this morning. It's said that the name takes inspiration from the Canticle of the Sun by Saint Francis. 

Rather than ramble on about my own take (I honestly have only read parts of it), I share with you 11 Things You Probably Won’t Hear about Pope Francis’ Encyclical, from The Stream.

1. Creation has a Creator, and is more than just “nature-plus-evolution”:

(75) A spirituality which forgets God as all-powerful and Creator is not acceptable [...]

(77) “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made” (Ps 33:6). [...]

2. Human ecology means recognizing and valuing the difference between masculinity and femininity:

(155) Human ecology also implies another profound reality: the relationship between human life and the moral law, which is inscribed in our nature and is necessary for the creation of a more dignified environment. [...]

3.  Jesus sanctifies human work:

(98) Jesus worked with his hands, in daily contact with the matter created by God, to which he gave form by his craftsmanship. [...]

4. Look up from your phones and encounter each other:

(47) When media and the digital world become omnipresent, their influence can stop people from learning how to live wisely, to think deeply and to love generously. [...]

5. Save the baby humans:

(120) Since everything is interrelated, concern for the protection of nature is also incompatible with the justification of abortion. [...]

(136) [I]t is troubling that, when some ecological movements defend the integrity of the environment, rightly demanding that certain limits be imposed on scientific research, they sometimes fail to apply those same principles to human life. [...]

(91) A sense of deep communion with the rest of nature cannot be real if our hearts lack tenderness, compassion and concern for our fellow human beings. [...]

6. Helping the poor requires more than just handouts:

(128) We were created with a vocation to work. The goal should not be that technological progress increasingly replace human work, for this would be detrimental to humanity. [...]

7. Overpopulation is not the problem:

(50) Instead of resolving the problems of the poor and thinking of how the world can be different, some can only propose a reduction in the birth rate. [...]

8. True ecology requires true anthropology and respect for human dignity:

(118) There can be no renewal of our relationship with nature without a renewal of humanity itself. [...]

(65) The Bible teaches that every man and woman is created out of love and made in God’s image and likeness (cf. Gen 1:26). [...]

9. Real change requires a change in culture, not just politics:

(123) We should not think that political efforts or the force of law will be sufficient to prevent actions which affect the environment because, when the culture itself is corrupt and objective truth and universally valid principles are no longer upheld, then laws can only be seen as arbitrary impositions or obstacles to be avoided.

(211) The existence of laws and regulations is insufficient in the long run to curb bad conduct, even when effective means of enforcement are present. [...]

10. The Church does not presume to settle scientific questions, and we need an honest and open debate:

(60) Finally, we need to acknowledge that different approaches and lines of thought have emerged regarding this situation and its possible solutions. [...]

(188) There are certain environmental issues where it is not easy to achieve a broad consensus. [...]

11. Stop with the cynicism, secularism and immorality:

(229) We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it. [...]

A link to the official text of the Laudate Si Encyclical can be found HERE

To watch a video about the intitial impression of Laudate Si, go to Papal Encyclical: A First Look

More insight can also be found at Good news about the new encyclical Laudato si’ – #PopeForPlanet and Pope Francis: Climate Change and Abortion Are ‘Interrelated’

Keep Calm and Rely on Sound Doctrine

The times, they are a-changin'.

It can arguably be said that we are in a moral crisis mode unequalled in history. Certainly, there have been depraved and godless societies before us - even to the extent of the sexual perversion and idolatry of riches (and power) rampant today. But what we haven't seen in times past is the "higher proportion of collaborators with the new reigning ideology" to be found "among the ranks of the clergy". This according to Bishop Anthanasius Schneider of Astana, Kazakhstan.

He and two collaborators have authored a new book, Preferential Option for the Family — 100 Questions and Answers Relating to the Synod. In it, the understandable confusion surrounding the upcoming Synod on the Family is addressed.

In our frenzied, cyber-fed world we are inundated with a constant barrage of debauchery. Men seeking to become women, unfettered abortion, unnatural attempts of 'marriage' by same sex attracted people, and more. Our children are being force-fed sexual propaganda as early as kindergarten - through school and scouting – even as parental rights teeter on the brink of extinction. Fueling this dire situation is a false sense of tolerance and an abhorrence of righteous judgment.

Popular memes tell us that we should act according to the simple path of giving in to feelings. Our hearts can become softened with a false sense of love when we fail to adhere to the hard and fast truths taught by Holy Mother Church, consistently and unchanged, for over two thousand years.

As Catholic Christians we are taught to be tolerant (and loving) of everyone – regardless of our differences. What is being foisted on us, however, is a demanded acceptance and even celebration of evil acts. That crosses the line of right judgment – the ability to judge an action as morally disordered according to Natural Law. Although only God can judge the condition of another’s soul, scripture tells us that we are to shine the light of Truth onto the darkness of sinful acts. Admonishing the sinner is, after all, a Corporal Work of Mercy.

Society as a whole, and an unfortunate majority of Catholics, are acquiescing to many of these disordered, theologically unsound worldviews. Even as Jesus begs us to pick up our cross (unpopular as it is) and follow Him, many walk away. It’s simply easier to take the well-worn path of societal acceptance under the premise of ‘live and let live’. The danger in this way of thinking, however, is that right and wrong can’t (and shouldn't) be based on feelings. Truth is Truth – as difficult as it may be to employ.

All of this would seem unbearably alarming, were we not to avail ourselves of our beautiful faith! Instead of panicking we can stay calm and rely on sound doctrine -  as we stand for Truth. In this way we will be armed with the Armor of God. There are bountiful opportunities to strengthen us on our journey toward Eternal Life and to help others along the way.

As Archbishop Salvatore J Cordileone of the Archdioces of San Francisco recently noted, the proper way to respond to attempts at same-sex 'marriage' (and other moral ills) must be done with “truth and compassion”.

To shore up our resolve and act with moral certainty we need the help of the Magisterium. We have Holy Scripture, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, writings of the Church Fathers, and Sacred Tradition to guide us in this unwavering path.

Of course we also have the strengthening power of the sacraments to see us through. Frequent confession and the nurturing Eucharist are the mainstay to remaining firm when facing adversity. 

I can do all these things in Him Who strengtheneth me. ~ Philippians 4:13

Abundant and fervent prayer, on the part of the faithful, is also essential. Both the laity and their shepherds are in desperate need for guidance, strength, and grace. All this, and more, is at our disposal if only we open ourselves up to the divine guidance through the Church founded by Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior.

"Catholics should say many and flaming prayers so that bishops may be protected against the temptation to adapt to the world and so that they may be strengthened in their apostolic courage to confess their Faith." Bishop Schneider

MORE INFORMATION

Copies of the ‘Preferential Option for the Family’ booklet can be obtained by emailing supplicafiliale@gmail.com

Bloom Where You Grow

There are a couple of flower boxes on our back porch railing. Anyone who has cats knows what that means - anything growing there has to be pretty persistent or it will be crushed under the furry bellies of our lounging feline friends. In fact, for the past couple of summers we haven't even bothered to plant anything in them.

That's where a delicate salmon-colored poppy comes into the story. Even though the parent plants are far below - on the ground - somehow a tiny seed made it to the soil in one of the flower boxes. Not only did it make it, it germinated, set down roots, and has been beautifully blooming for a few days now.

What can we learn from this persistent, lovely little plant?

We aren't always where we thought we'd be in our lives. Maybe we don't even want to be where we are at all. It's easy to focus on an idealistic image of  if only. In this imaginary, perfect world we would be saints, may be successful (in a worldly way), or admired by all. Every effort would reap the anticipated reward and failure would only come if we didn't try hard enough - or didn't have enough faith.

Yet scripture tells us that we will be tested. That our trials - and how we handle them - will shine a light for others to see. We can become the salt for them and the leaven for their spiritual bread.

Matthew 5:13-16
13"You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trodden under foot by men. 14"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. 15Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

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It isn't always ours to choose where life leads us but it is our choice when it comes to how we react. When life hands us an unexpected detour from our search for perfection, we should choose to react with grace. As a sweet little lady used to tell me,

"We need to bloom where we grow". 

Wherever God has planted us, that is our place to shine, To shine with His love and compassion and faithful service. Then we will be headed down the road of success - and toward sainthood!