Today, historic health care legislation was passed, moving our nation further out of God's favor.
Here is the note my husband sent me this morning:
Today you MUST suffer for the Church and the world.
Today you MUST be kind.
Today you MUST be holy.
Today you MUST repent.
Today you MUST put others first.
Today you MUST look at souls and not bodies.
Today you MUST do penance.
Today you MUST be the least.
Today you MUST become the greatest, by being the servant of all.
Today you MUST not sin.
Today you MUST be charitable.
Today you MUST have endurance.
Today you MUST be chaste.
Today you MUST not blaspheme.
Today you MUST utter nothing profane.
Today you MUST pray without ceasing.
Today you MUST read the Scriptures.
Today you MUST pray for one another.
Today you MUST not despair!
Today you MUST objectify no one.
Today you MUST be converted.
Today you MUST do everything in Christ.
Something evil has gone out into the earth. The Church needs you
"Perhaps this is one of the secrets of life-- to know 'Glory' when we see it..." --Charlotte M. Mason
Monday, March 22, 2010
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Catholic Apologetics questions from my email, part One: Unity and Authority
NOTE: BEFORE I EVEN BEGIN TO RESPOND TO THE QUESTIONS I'VE BEEN ASKED BY MY PROTESTANT FRIENDS AND READERS REGARDING CATHOLIC DOCTRINE, I MUST LAY A FRAMEWORK FROM WHICH TO WORK. THIS BLOG IS AN ATTEMPT TO LAY SUCH A FOUNDATION OF MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING.
When I first came back to the Church I was so grateful to have the opportunity to return to the Sacraments and the "fullness" of the Truth that I waxed poetic about it at every opportunity and spent a great deal of time berating protestantism because it was just so silly to me to go around with only HALF the picture and feel so..... unfulfilled.... all the time. (I should specify.... I mean "for me." Who had left the Church in the first place to BE a protestant looking for fulfillment. I found it terribly ironic that I found that fulfillment in the place I walked away from, and that I had spent YEARS as a strong, bible- believing protestant searching for the right way to "do Church.")
Nowadays, I still get asked the same exact questions over and over again that I was asked when I crossed the Tiber: "What about the Pope?" "How can you pray to dead people if you believe the Bible?" "Why do you worship Mary if you say Jesus is Lord?" etc etc etc.
However, I've noticed that instead of being thrilled to have the opportunity to answer like I used to as an uber-enthusiastic, bible-believing apologist (:P) I now get more than a little frustrated (read indignant) in my heart when I get asked the same questions over and over and over. Particularly the ones about Mary, who I have grown to love so much I don't know how I ever got on without her. (I can see my protestant readers starting to twitch! But rest assured, I will explain using my Bible in an upcoming blog.)
This isn't because I fault those protestants who are asking as if they knew better (they don't! and I love them!) But it is because with my appreciation for Catholicism has grown a sense of "Truth" with a capital T-ness in which I find it absolutely appalling that Catholics should have to explain their position all the time in order to be "approved" as it were by fundamentalist Christians. Why? Because the Catholic Church is the parent of protestantism, it is the root from which they have sprung, and it is the source to which they owe the very life of the Spirit they covet and who gave them the very Word of God they think they can use to destroy it. It's just so silly. If anything, protestants should be explaining to Catholics just how on earth they can call themselves Christian when they deny mystical Body of Christ and the Authority which Christ Himself has given. BUT... Catholics don't do that. We call protestants "separated bretheren," and we acknowledge that they have a vivid, if unfocused, picture of the Gospel and the salvation of Christ our Common Lord.
Now, granted, most of my protestant friends feel that it is THEY who are "inclusive" and the ones who make the efforts towards unity when the Catholics instead are dis-unifying by their unflinching.... well....Catholicness. I've been there many times when a protestant friend or family member realized they weren't allowed access to our communion table and had an absolute fit.
And it's a tricky thing. Because in our heart of hearts, every Catholic has a technical right to be as mystified as I am that we must somehow "explain ourselves" in order to be coined "Christian--" the very thing which we have handed down for two thousand years from Jesus Christ Himself. But I also know that my protestant brothers and sisters are doing the same thing I am: journeying. And in that pilgrimmage, they are doing what they can with what they know. Been there.
You see, it is Catholics who say that you must BE a Catholic. Or rather, that if it is possible for you, you SHOULD be a Catholic. It isn't necessary for salvation, but it gives you that blessed assurance.
Protestants, however, are in two camps about the Catholic Church.
Camp One says that the Catholic Church is the Whore of Babylon of the end times- an abomination before the Lord and anethema. They base this idea on complete misunderstandings of Catholic doctrine (not being Catholic themselves NOR QUOTING ACTUAL CATHOLICISM but instead feeding each others' distaste for said Whore with experiential and outlandish claims they find on youtube and in the corner baptist church that-- to a Catholic-- are laughable enough that we may just let them go on thinking what they are thinking just to have a giggle, if you know what I mean.
Camp Two says "hey man, you believe in Jesus and that's good enough for me." They are very relaxed about Catholics, assured of individual Catholics' salvation and completely OK with saying that "Catholics are one denomination among many." Most of my friends fall into Camp Two (MOST) but therein lies the problem. Because as a Catholic, I recognize the historical fact that Catholicism is outside denominations. We ARE the Faith, and from "THE FAITH" sprang splintered groups which evolved to look more or less "like us" and which are, in fact, denominations. It's touchy, but it's true. So while we may all belong to the "Body of Christ" or the "Church" in the sense of all being believers who love and serve the Lord, we don't all belong to the ACTUAL unbroken apostolic line which He set in place to go forth from Him until the time of His return. We are NOT all serving the same spiritual / earthly authority. Therein lies the problem.
Because there is ROOM inside Catholicism for sooooooo many different "ways" of living out our Catholic faith, there is room for everyone who calls on the name of Jesus to get into the same boat and to submit to the same apostolic authority, who got where he is by the laying on of hands from a loooong line of other apostolic authorities which can literally be traced ALL THE WAY BACK to Jesus Christ Himself. This is why having a pope is awesome. You can be a Catholic and never say a prayer to Mary in your life if you don't want to. the Rosary is NOT a requirement for Catholicity. :P
But you must recognize apostolic authority, and that is the one thing I find fascinating.
I have been to many different churches with different opinions about apostolic authority. I believe, like all of you, in the five fold ministy gifts--- giftings from the Holy Spirit for particular offices (teacher, prophet, apostle, etc) Thus, like them, Catholics believe that "apostleship" is a gift of the Holy Spirit, an annointing for a particular person. Like them, we believe-- as Scripture clearly lays out-- that apostolic authority is passed on from one believer in authority to another by the laying on of hands. AND like them, we believe that God will confirm with other witnesses who He will call to the next apostleship.
I was a member for a long time of another church which believed the things i've just laid out about apostles, but it went further still. Because the Bible is clear that apostles must be APPOINTED--- and here's the kicker--- BY OTHER APOSTLES IN AUTHORITY, this particular church had to basically make up a teaching about apostleship and make a case for apostleship not being able to come through the unbroken line anymore because times have changed.
I don't know about you, but I think God is unchanging. And I'm pretty sure my Bible says so too. So while I think it's all fine and dandy to raise up strong leaders in these protestant Churches to guide and shepherd the people, I and the rest of the Catholic Church are sitting back wondering how on earth you can call these people apostles when apostleship is clearly a gift which is handed on and confirmed with ACTUAL spiritual authority-- not imaginary spiritual authority, not spiritual authority which is given by a believer but which is given by CHRIST, conferred by those whom HE has chosen to select the next apostles and shepherds.
So that's the first thing I think I will say in this tricky business of trying to defend / explain Catholic beliefs to inquiring minds. This whole thing is tricky, because in the end, you'll either believe and agree with what I will say in the next few blogs as I answer these questions, or you will totally reject what I am saying as Truth. And the implications of each are pretty staggering.
Let's keep in mind a few things as we go into it:
1. I (personally) love you very much. Chances are, if you are protestant reader you are someone I consider a sister in the faith, an inspiration and an encouragement. I am NOT by any means writing these blogs so that you will convert (although I think you should ;)) but rather so that you will set your mind at ease that I have thoroughly thought all of these things through and that I am STILL READING MY BIBLE AND HEARING (and I should specify, from JESUS) every day.
2. The Catholic Church, for 1500 years, WAS the sole "container" in which the Gospel message spread. Until the protestant reformation occurred, we had perfect unity. The protestant reformation was NOT, I don't believe, intended to be a bad thing-- the Church was in need of renewal. But there is a difference between Renewal AND reformation, and I strongly believe that Satan used something which we could have greatly benefited from to separate us so that he could attack us better (you know ,the old "divide and conquer" method.) Christ is CLEAR as crystal in scripture when he prays for us to have unity. We MUST find a way to work towards that unity somehow. I do NOT hold you personally responsible for the protestant reformation. I do, however, imply often in my blog that you haven't totally thought out some pretty basic aspects of theology, else you would be a Catholic (or at least an orthodox Christian.)I will say that being a Catholic MAKES SENSE, at the end of the day, when you know your Bible and you apply logic to it. That is the argument I will use again and again to defend it.
3. Scripture is explicit:
"let each one be convinced in his own mind."
I cannot change your mind nor can you change mine. Thus, I ask only that you read these blogs with an open mind and pray about them before you cast them away as garbage. Likewise, I pray that I will be NOT A STUMBLING BLOCK to you but a blessing.
See you next blog.<3
When I first came back to the Church I was so grateful to have the opportunity to return to the Sacraments and the "fullness" of the Truth that I waxed poetic about it at every opportunity and spent a great deal of time berating protestantism because it was just so silly to me to go around with only HALF the picture and feel so..... unfulfilled.... all the time. (I should specify.... I mean "for me." Who had left the Church in the first place to BE a protestant looking for fulfillment. I found it terribly ironic that I found that fulfillment in the place I walked away from, and that I had spent YEARS as a strong, bible- believing protestant searching for the right way to "do Church.")
Nowadays, I still get asked the same exact questions over and over again that I was asked when I crossed the Tiber: "What about the Pope?" "How can you pray to dead people if you believe the Bible?" "Why do you worship Mary if you say Jesus is Lord?" etc etc etc.
However, I've noticed that instead of being thrilled to have the opportunity to answer like I used to as an uber-enthusiastic, bible-believing apologist (:P) I now get more than a little frustrated (read indignant) in my heart when I get asked the same questions over and over and over. Particularly the ones about Mary, who I have grown to love so much I don't know how I ever got on without her. (I can see my protestant readers starting to twitch! But rest assured, I will explain using my Bible in an upcoming blog.)
This isn't because I fault those protestants who are asking as if they knew better (they don't! and I love them!) But it is because with my appreciation for Catholicism has grown a sense of "Truth" with a capital T-ness in which I find it absolutely appalling that Catholics should have to explain their position all the time in order to be "approved" as it were by fundamentalist Christians. Why? Because the Catholic Church is the parent of protestantism, it is the root from which they have sprung, and it is the source to which they owe the very life of the Spirit they covet and who gave them the very Word of God they think they can use to destroy it. It's just so silly. If anything, protestants should be explaining to Catholics just how on earth they can call themselves Christian when they deny mystical Body of Christ and the Authority which Christ Himself has given. BUT... Catholics don't do that. We call protestants "separated bretheren," and we acknowledge that they have a vivid, if unfocused, picture of the Gospel and the salvation of Christ our Common Lord.
Now, granted, most of my protestant friends feel that it is THEY who are "inclusive" and the ones who make the efforts towards unity when the Catholics instead are dis-unifying by their unflinching.... well....Catholicness. I've been there many times when a protestant friend or family member realized they weren't allowed access to our communion table and had an absolute fit.
And it's a tricky thing. Because in our heart of hearts, every Catholic has a technical right to be as mystified as I am that we must somehow "explain ourselves" in order to be coined "Christian--" the very thing which we have handed down for two thousand years from Jesus Christ Himself. But I also know that my protestant brothers and sisters are doing the same thing I am: journeying. And in that pilgrimmage, they are doing what they can with what they know. Been there.
You see, it is Catholics who say that you must BE a Catholic. Or rather, that if it is possible for you, you SHOULD be a Catholic. It isn't necessary for salvation, but it gives you that blessed assurance.
Protestants, however, are in two camps about the Catholic Church.
Camp One says that the Catholic Church is the Whore of Babylon of the end times- an abomination before the Lord and anethema. They base this idea on complete misunderstandings of Catholic doctrine (not being Catholic themselves NOR QUOTING ACTUAL CATHOLICISM but instead feeding each others' distaste for said Whore with experiential and outlandish claims they find on youtube and in the corner baptist church that-- to a Catholic-- are laughable enough that we may just let them go on thinking what they are thinking just to have a giggle, if you know what I mean.
Camp Two says "hey man, you believe in Jesus and that's good enough for me." They are very relaxed about Catholics, assured of individual Catholics' salvation and completely OK with saying that "Catholics are one denomination among many." Most of my friends fall into Camp Two (MOST) but therein lies the problem. Because as a Catholic, I recognize the historical fact that Catholicism is outside denominations. We ARE the Faith, and from "THE FAITH" sprang splintered groups which evolved to look more or less "like us" and which are, in fact, denominations. It's touchy, but it's true. So while we may all belong to the "Body of Christ" or the "Church" in the sense of all being believers who love and serve the Lord, we don't all belong to the ACTUAL unbroken apostolic line which He set in place to go forth from Him until the time of His return. We are NOT all serving the same spiritual / earthly authority. Therein lies the problem.
Because there is ROOM inside Catholicism for sooooooo many different "ways" of living out our Catholic faith, there is room for everyone who calls on the name of Jesus to get into the same boat and to submit to the same apostolic authority, who got where he is by the laying on of hands from a loooong line of other apostolic authorities which can literally be traced ALL THE WAY BACK to Jesus Christ Himself. This is why having a pope is awesome. You can be a Catholic and never say a prayer to Mary in your life if you don't want to. the Rosary is NOT a requirement for Catholicity. :P
But you must recognize apostolic authority, and that is the one thing I find fascinating.
I have been to many different churches with different opinions about apostolic authority. I believe, like all of you, in the five fold ministy gifts--- giftings from the Holy Spirit for particular offices (teacher, prophet, apostle, etc) Thus, like them, Catholics believe that "apostleship" is a gift of the Holy Spirit, an annointing for a particular person. Like them, we believe-- as Scripture clearly lays out-- that apostolic authority is passed on from one believer in authority to another by the laying on of hands. AND like them, we believe that God will confirm with other witnesses who He will call to the next apostleship.
I was a member for a long time of another church which believed the things i've just laid out about apostles, but it went further still. Because the Bible is clear that apostles must be APPOINTED--- and here's the kicker--- BY OTHER APOSTLES IN AUTHORITY, this particular church had to basically make up a teaching about apostleship and make a case for apostleship not being able to come through the unbroken line anymore because times have changed.
I don't know about you, but I think God is unchanging. And I'm pretty sure my Bible says so too. So while I think it's all fine and dandy to raise up strong leaders in these protestant Churches to guide and shepherd the people, I and the rest of the Catholic Church are sitting back wondering how on earth you can call these people apostles when apostleship is clearly a gift which is handed on and confirmed with ACTUAL spiritual authority-- not imaginary spiritual authority, not spiritual authority which is given by a believer but which is given by CHRIST, conferred by those whom HE has chosen to select the next apostles and shepherds.
So that's the first thing I think I will say in this tricky business of trying to defend / explain Catholic beliefs to inquiring minds. This whole thing is tricky, because in the end, you'll either believe and agree with what I will say in the next few blogs as I answer these questions, or you will totally reject what I am saying as Truth. And the implications of each are pretty staggering.
Let's keep in mind a few things as we go into it:
1. I (personally) love you very much. Chances are, if you are protestant reader you are someone I consider a sister in the faith, an inspiration and an encouragement. I am NOT by any means writing these blogs so that you will convert (although I think you should ;)) but rather so that you will set your mind at ease that I have thoroughly thought all of these things through and that I am STILL READING MY BIBLE AND HEARING (and I should specify, from JESUS) every day.
2. The Catholic Church, for 1500 years, WAS the sole "container" in which the Gospel message spread. Until the protestant reformation occurred, we had perfect unity. The protestant reformation was NOT, I don't believe, intended to be a bad thing-- the Church was in need of renewal. But there is a difference between Renewal AND reformation, and I strongly believe that Satan used something which we could have greatly benefited from to separate us so that he could attack us better (you know ,the old "divide and conquer" method.) Christ is CLEAR as crystal in scripture when he prays for us to have unity. We MUST find a way to work towards that unity somehow. I do NOT hold you personally responsible for the protestant reformation. I do, however, imply often in my blog that you haven't totally thought out some pretty basic aspects of theology, else you would be a Catholic (or at least an orthodox Christian.)I will say that being a Catholic MAKES SENSE, at the end of the day, when you know your Bible and you apply logic to it. That is the argument I will use again and again to defend it.
3. Scripture is explicit:
"let each one be convinced in his own mind."
I cannot change your mind nor can you change mine. Thus, I ask only that you read these blogs with an open mind and pray about them before you cast them away as garbage. Likewise, I pray that I will be NOT A STUMBLING BLOCK to you but a blessing.
See you next blog.<3
Friday, March 12, 2010
Satan's jealousy, fear, and hatred of the Blessed Virgin Mary
A brilliant discussion of the role of Mary and woman in the plan of Salvation by my husband:
To understand hatred, we must understand a few things about the object being hated. We need reasons for what seems irrational. The same for veneration, then. We need real reasons to understand the veneration of Mary. Is it enough that she was the mother of Christ for Satan to hate Mary, and for us to venerate her?
We must point out the obvious, by asking certain questions. What is "womankind?" What does the woman represent? What is the dignity of a woman? What are the differences between Eve and Mary? To what degree of exaltation did the Lord intend the woman to? To what extent did iniquity and Satan defile her? Certain things come to mind, but as stated before the first step is precisely to discern the obvious. So, let's look at each of these questions.
What is "womankind?" 1 Corinthians 11:7 says,"...he (man) is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man." A very interesting and succinct declaration by the Apostle. It is derived from the fact that the God made man in His image and likeness, and therefore man is the glory of God. Similarly, the woman was fashioned from the man, taken from his very side. Therefore, she is the glory of man, made in the image of God, for man is God's image. Man and woman they were made and together they are mankind, the image of God. Years later, St. Irenaeus of Lyon would come to say," The glory of God is man fully alive." and this hints to the great dignity of both the woman and the man, and to what they are predestined.
What does the woman represent? As we know, she fundamentally represents man. However, she does not merely represent "men" she represents the human race; more specifically she represents the Church, the Bride of Christ. St. John Chrysostom points out the obvious again for us and says," Just as Adam's bride was taken from his side, so too was Christ's bride, the Church, taken from His side." For not only is the man made in His image, and not only are we called to be Christs in the earth as the Church, but literally water and blood ran down from his side. Not only did the blood and water run down his side, but chronologically in the order of the sacraments, first water and then blood. We are baptized into the body of Christ first, and then we receive His blood in communion. In the same fashion, a woman is first wed, and then she receives her husbands body. Once again, in the same fashion, once received into the Church we may receive the sacrament; the priest being the mystical representation of Christ gives of His body and blood, and we give of ourselves by receiving... just like the female in the act of sex. Here in is the sanctity of sex and why sexual immorality is an abomination.This is a great mystery, and our solemn heritage. We know this.
What is the dignity of the woman, then? Her dignity is the righteousness of mankind and the love of her Bridegroom; to reign with Him as a queen, to share his Kingdom, and to cleave to Him and become one flesh. That is, not to become gods, as He is God, but to be even as He is... His very image. This, then, is the image dignity of the woman and mankind. God deigned to give us an image of our future glory, in Mary, the daughter of Aaron and Mother of Jesus Christ. She is the mystical representation of the Church, of co-creation with God that mankind shares in, of virginity and integrity. She is the mystical manifestation of mankind bereft of sin and iniquity, having been shrived and selected by her Bridegroom. She is the image of us in full glory in the Kingdom of Heaven. She is the image of mankind walking before the Lord and being perfect. Therefore, it is very sad that so many Christians have not only ignored this consolation we have in seeing our future glory in the Blessed Virgin, but many have gone so far as to call all such veneration "demonic" and "dangerous." She is the image of the work Christ will complete in us; she is us. For these reasons, she is the Queen of Heaven, the best of us, under Christ.
To what extent did iniquity and Satan defile the woman? That has yet to be revealed, for the end is not here, nor the judgment come. We can look and see though in Eve all the curses. Many people blame Eve for having eaten the fruit first, but truly, the woman Eve was the image of the man Adam. She only manifested what was already in the heart of Adam, which is why he did eat of the same forbidden fruit. Regardless, she (both man and woman) failed to wait upon the Lord, their Bridegroom. In their despair, they stole the fruit, and took what in truth God had intended to give them all along, the knowledge of good and evil. The fornication's of their heart brought death and darkness into the world. What greater pleasure to Satan than to seduce and impregnate the bride with every evil; to make her forget God and love him?
Is it any wonder then that this "sacred feminine" is at the heart of the New Age movement? This "new age" concept of the sacred feminine isn't the creation of a new age, but is rather a hackneyed and diabolical assertion that screams like a specter from antiquity. Many "queens of heaven" have been put forth by pagan religions. Ashtoreth, Queen of Heaven, a fertility goddess and patroness of the enemies of Israel . Semiramis, the demon possessed whore who founded Babylon and became Queen after marrying her own son; she also established her own cult religion. She named herself high priestess and Queen of Heaven, and became a shrine prostitute. It does not take intellect much to see that this is a perverse and wicked mockery of Christ and His Bride. A mother marrying giving birth to and marrying her son, becoming a Queen. When human's attempt what only God can do in righteousness, there is the height of shame and wickedness.
In pagan religions, we see a dark and wild horned god of the forest, such as Cernunnos, with a fertility goddess of light. What does it take to see that this is the dark one taking as his bride the one who is made in the image of light? Again we see this throughout history, a Mother goddess is the source of creation, a Venus. What does it take to see that this is a denial of God, and the elevation of mankind to supreme and sole divinity?
The litany of the counterfeit "queens of heaven" is long and sinister, among the greatest of deceptions. Even now, we are indoctrinated with a concept of "mother earth" to whom we are to have the greatest respect and reverence for. What a deception! To have anthropomorphized the very earth itself into the image of a great mother and queen, and to teach that in the end "she" is all we have... what a great evil.
This "sacred feminine" is a diabolical and sinister amalgam of the iniquity of mankind and the indefatigable creativity for evil that Satan has. It is a counterfeit designed to steal our glory, the glory of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the glory of God, and to lead astray as many as possible. It's foundation is built on the flimsy platform of dualism, the pretense that light needs dark, and that which is uncreated needs that which is created, and if there is a God there must be a goddess. This is the same place from which comes the idea that if there are male priests there must be female priests, and thus the desire to ordain women as priestesses; this idea is a negation of every divine truth.
It is important that every Christian understands Mary for what she is, she is more than the mother of God, she is us, she is the Church. Therefore, it is important to keep in our remembrance, when we despair, our common mother in the faith, who is Mary, the mother of Christ. It is important to know her, lest we be deceived, or sow in vain. She is God's great vision to His holy people of His every promise through our One common Savior, Jesus Christ. Heaven does have a Queen, and she has been coronated through unwavering obedience, with the blood of her Son, so that you may be certain of every blessing and inheritance you have in Christ. She desires that every single one of you be converted into the likeness of her Son and worship Him in truth.
Therefore, do not be afraid to honor her as your mother in the faith, for she has begotten you as both a sibling and a child through obedience to God in Christ. She always points to her Son, just as the Son always points to the Father. Blessed are those who are not offended by her.
(and I add that:)
And further, those who honor her are fulfilling biblical prophecy: "From this day all generations will call me "Blessed." the Almighty has done great things for me and Holy is His Name." (Luke 1:48)
Holy Mary, pray for us.
To understand hatred, we must understand a few things about the object being hated. We need reasons for what seems irrational. The same for veneration, then. We need real reasons to understand the veneration of Mary. Is it enough that she was the mother of Christ for Satan to hate Mary, and for us to venerate her?
We must point out the obvious, by asking certain questions. What is "womankind?" What does the woman represent? What is the dignity of a woman? What are the differences between Eve and Mary? To what degree of exaltation did the Lord intend the woman to? To what extent did iniquity and Satan defile her? Certain things come to mind, but as stated before the first step is precisely to discern the obvious. So, let's look at each of these questions.
What is "womankind?" 1 Corinthians 11:7 says,"...he (man) is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man." A very interesting and succinct declaration by the Apostle. It is derived from the fact that the God made man in His image and likeness, and therefore man is the glory of God. Similarly, the woman was fashioned from the man, taken from his very side. Therefore, she is the glory of man, made in the image of God, for man is God's image. Man and woman they were made and together they are mankind, the image of God. Years later, St. Irenaeus of Lyon would come to say," The glory of God is man fully alive." and this hints to the great dignity of both the woman and the man, and to what they are predestined.
What does the woman represent? As we know, she fundamentally represents man. However, she does not merely represent "men" she represents the human race; more specifically she represents the Church, the Bride of Christ. St. John Chrysostom points out the obvious again for us and says," Just as Adam's bride was taken from his side, so too was Christ's bride, the Church, taken from His side." For not only is the man made in His image, and not only are we called to be Christs in the earth as the Church, but literally water and blood ran down from his side. Not only did the blood and water run down his side, but chronologically in the order of the sacraments, first water and then blood. We are baptized into the body of Christ first, and then we receive His blood in communion. In the same fashion, a woman is first wed, and then she receives her husbands body. Once again, in the same fashion, once received into the Church we may receive the sacrament; the priest being the mystical representation of Christ gives of His body and blood, and we give of ourselves by receiving... just like the female in the act of sex. Here in is the sanctity of sex and why sexual immorality is an abomination.This is a great mystery, and our solemn heritage. We know this.
What is the dignity of the woman, then? Her dignity is the righteousness of mankind and the love of her Bridegroom; to reign with Him as a queen, to share his Kingdom, and to cleave to Him and become one flesh. That is, not to become gods, as He is God, but to be even as He is... His very image. This, then, is the image dignity of the woman and mankind. God deigned to give us an image of our future glory, in Mary, the daughter of Aaron and Mother of Jesus Christ. She is the mystical representation of the Church, of co-creation with God that mankind shares in, of virginity and integrity. She is the mystical manifestation of mankind bereft of sin and iniquity, having been shrived and selected by her Bridegroom. She is the image of us in full glory in the Kingdom of Heaven. She is the image of mankind walking before the Lord and being perfect. Therefore, it is very sad that so many Christians have not only ignored this consolation we have in seeing our future glory in the Blessed Virgin, but many have gone so far as to call all such veneration "demonic" and "dangerous." She is the image of the work Christ will complete in us; she is us. For these reasons, she is the Queen of Heaven, the best of us, under Christ.
To what extent did iniquity and Satan defile the woman? That has yet to be revealed, for the end is not here, nor the judgment come. We can look and see though in Eve all the curses. Many people blame Eve for having eaten the fruit first, but truly, the woman Eve was the image of the man Adam. She only manifested what was already in the heart of Adam, which is why he did eat of the same forbidden fruit. Regardless, she (both man and woman) failed to wait upon the Lord, their Bridegroom. In their despair, they stole the fruit, and took what in truth God had intended to give them all along, the knowledge of good and evil. The fornication's of their heart brought death and darkness into the world. What greater pleasure to Satan than to seduce and impregnate the bride with every evil; to make her forget God and love him?
Is it any wonder then that this "sacred feminine" is at the heart of the New Age movement? This "new age" concept of the sacred feminine isn't the creation of a new age, but is rather a hackneyed and diabolical assertion that screams like a specter from antiquity. Many "queens of heaven" have been put forth by pagan religions. Ashtoreth, Queen of Heaven, a fertility goddess and patroness of the enemies of Israel . Semiramis, the demon possessed whore who founded Babylon and became Queen after marrying her own son; she also established her own cult religion. She named herself high priestess and Queen of Heaven, and became a shrine prostitute. It does not take intellect much to see that this is a perverse and wicked mockery of Christ and His Bride. A mother marrying giving birth to and marrying her son, becoming a Queen. When human's attempt what only God can do in righteousness, there is the height of shame and wickedness.
In pagan religions, we see a dark and wild horned god of the forest, such as Cernunnos, with a fertility goddess of light. What does it take to see that this is the dark one taking as his bride the one who is made in the image of light? Again we see this throughout history, a Mother goddess is the source of creation, a Venus. What does it take to see that this is a denial of God, and the elevation of mankind to supreme and sole divinity?
The litany of the counterfeit "queens of heaven" is long and sinister, among the greatest of deceptions. Even now, we are indoctrinated with a concept of "mother earth" to whom we are to have the greatest respect and reverence for. What a deception! To have anthropomorphized the very earth itself into the image of a great mother and queen, and to teach that in the end "she" is all we have... what a great evil.
This "sacred feminine" is a diabolical and sinister amalgam of the iniquity of mankind and the indefatigable creativity for evil that Satan has. It is a counterfeit designed to steal our glory, the glory of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the glory of God, and to lead astray as many as possible. It's foundation is built on the flimsy platform of dualism, the pretense that light needs dark, and that which is uncreated needs that which is created, and if there is a God there must be a goddess. This is the same place from which comes the idea that if there are male priests there must be female priests, and thus the desire to ordain women as priestesses; this idea is a negation of every divine truth.
It is important that every Christian understands Mary for what she is, she is more than the mother of God, she is us, she is the Church. Therefore, it is important to keep in our remembrance, when we despair, our common mother in the faith, who is Mary, the mother of Christ. It is important to know her, lest we be deceived, or sow in vain. She is God's great vision to His holy people of His every promise through our One common Savior, Jesus Christ. Heaven does have a Queen, and she has been coronated through unwavering obedience, with the blood of her Son, so that you may be certain of every blessing and inheritance you have in Christ. She desires that every single one of you be converted into the likeness of her Son and worship Him in truth.
Therefore, do not be afraid to honor her as your mother in the faith, for she has begotten you as both a sibling and a child through obedience to God in Christ. She always points to her Son, just as the Son always points to the Father. Blessed are those who are not offended by her.
(and I add that:)
And further, those who honor her are fulfilling biblical prophecy: "From this day all generations will call me "Blessed." the Almighty has done great things for me and Holy is His Name." (Luke 1:48)
Holy Mary, pray for us.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
BLOG HIJACK
QUICK FIX:
For now, just hit the Stop Load button on your browser (or the "X") so that it doesn't redirect you. Or message me at barbie-at-marymission-dot-org for a copy of the latest post.
My blog is being hijacked by some creepy haXoR (note to you, creepo, I don't appreciate it! I'm a very busy momma with enough to do around here.) This is happening to a lot of blogs lately and it is VERY hard to figure out where the malicious code has been hidden, so... it might take me a while. Bear with me!Thanks, guys.
For now, just hit the Stop Load button on your browser (or the "X") so that it doesn't redirect you. Or message me at barbie-at-marymission-dot-org for a copy of the latest post.
My blog is being hijacked by some creepy haXoR (note to you, creepo, I don't appreciate it! I'm a very busy momma with enough to do around here.) This is happening to a lot of blogs lately and it is VERY hard to figure out where the malicious code has been hidden, so... it might take me a while. Bear with me!Thanks, guys.
Lenten Breakthrough
Today was the first day that I was able to attend mass in THREE weeks. These have been some of the most harrowing weeks I can remember having endured.... for those of you who know how much I love mass.
I actually came down with an awful stomach bug last night, and since my son is also sick I thought that we had better stay home and not infect people. But something in me reminded me of the great graces we receive when we are there and so I took some Vitamin C, set my jaw, and told Satan he was not going to have my Sunday. I woke up this morning feeling tired but not as sick, so off we went. And God had it all set up for me, as you will soon see. :P
I had recently felt like I needed a refresher course in deliverance ministry. First, because I had been encountering so much to ENDURE since moving into Peter's dad's house that I was-- let's be honest-- a bit depressed, and had frequently felt that I lost HOPE in God's goodness.
Ive felt a bit powerless to help others lately, and in this ministry, that is not a good place to be.
Now, how can someone like me, who has SEEN God move miraculously time after time, lose faith in His goodness? Well, it's called Sin, you see? Although my God has always been faithful, I have a short memory. And when I don't FEEL Him there, I imagine that either He is not there, or that He is there and is simply mean... uninterested in my personal welfare. I imagine that He expects too much of me or doesn't know what I can handle. These thoughts are sinful, to say the least, and I usually recognize them as such and bring them to confession. That's why today's reading was so good for me to hear:
Reading I
Ex 3:1-8a, 13-15
Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro,
the priest of Midian.
Leading the flock across the desert, he came to Horeb,
the mountain of God.
There an angel of the LORD appeared to Moses in fire
flaming out of a bush.
As he looked on, he was surprised to see that the bush,
though on fire, was not consumed.
So Moses decided,
“I must go over to look at this remarkable sight,
and see why the bush is not burned.”
When the LORD saw him coming over to look at it more closely,
God called out to him from the bush, AMoses! Moses!”
He answered, “Here I am.”
God said, “Come no nearer!
Remove the sandals from your feet,
for the place where you stand is holy ground.
I am the God of your fathers, “ he continued,
“the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.”
Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
But the LORD said,
“I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt
and have heard their cry of complaint against their slave drivers,
so I know well what they are suffering.
Therefore I have come down to rescue them
from the hands of the Egyptians
and lead them out of that land into a good and spacious land,
a land flowing with milk and honey.”
Moses said to God, “But when I go to the Israelites
and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’
if they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what am I to tell them?”
God replied, “I am who am.”
Then he added, “This is what you shall tell the Israelites:
I AM sent me to you.”
God spoke further to Moses, “Thus shall you say to the Israelites:
The LORD, the God of your fathers,
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob,
has sent me to you.
“This is my name forever;
thus am I to be remembered through all generations.”
Clearly God is good. Clearly He has given us His name. Clearly this is better than bondage. But that doesn't resolve the problem of still "feeling" this despair. And boy can I have a pity party in my head when I want to.
So I went through this period of total darkness, followed by a period of repentance because I realized that this was wrong- but in which I still didn't recognize His goodness in my heart of hearts. No progress.
Then along came lent, and I prayed about it and felt that I should be responding by removing the one thing that I kept doing that I kept bringing to the confessional: Complaining. I resolved to stop complaining and just offer up whatever was bothering me. And I did.
But even though I wasn't complaining, I certainly didn't feel that I was walking in any kind of "close" relationship with God. I felt rejected by Him, and certainly defeated, particularly when Peter and I had been praying so much about certain things for our family and our prayers seemed to just hit a brick wall.
What was going on?
Something inspired me to pick up a book on Spiritual Warfare-- a book I hadn't read before but one that I had been meaning to glance over for a while. And I did. And it was as if everything fell into place. And even though I had been certain the book would be another protestant attempt to mass market spritual warfare for the spiritually unprepared, I read the entire thing in like, two hours, and was pleasantly surprised.
So surprised, in fact, that a layer of my pride was stripped right out from under me as I recognized that for months now I'd been so caught up in my Carmelite and wifely DUTIES and in accepting that suffering was redemptive that I had TOTALLY missed the part of the Gospel where God sends His Holy Spirit to be with me. This was why I had been floundering so much: I was trying to take on all these battles without the Holy Spirit's ACTUAL guidance, since I had become so prideful that I felt that I knew what the Holy Spirit was going to do next in each situation I was encountering. I didn't seek Him for answers to how to proceed in my battles, I just told Him: "This is a battle, again. I know what to do. Why aren't you helping me?" When I was met with silence, I would convince myself that the battle was won anyways, because I was still in communication with Him. But kinda like how I get mad when my husband watches YouTube WHILE listening to my innermost thoughts, I was doing the same thing to God. I refused to stop and LISTEN to Him because I felt I knew Him so well that I already knew what He would tell me to do.
Duh.
This book, The Women's Guide to Spiritual Warfare, was a great crash course in remembering to let GOD LEAD. It was, in fact, the thing I'd been missing all this time and the reason I kept wanting to go back to my protestant friends for prayer when I felt defeated instead of allowing GOD to work through my Catholic friends (yep, I did that too :P)
Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with asking my protestant friends to pray, it's just that I wasn't trusting that my Catholic friends were "storming heaven" with power, if you know what I mean. Of course they were. And how dare I make fun of , say, pentacostals who say you aren't saved if you don't speak in tongues, if I wasn't trusting that the Holy Spirit could operate in ALL situations, not just the ones where the miraculous gifts were operating. In other words, I was just as bad as anyone who asked God for "signs and wonders." God is there, signs and wonders or not.
Jesus Himself said that the only sign we were promised was the sign of Jonah-- that He would raise from the dead after three days. Hellooooooo, Barbie. Wake up!
So, having read the book and being filled with a sense of remorse for just how stinking prideful I can be, I basically just fell on my face. And God was there and He gave me just what I needed: a firm discipline peppered with unconditional love. Wow.
After I finished reading the book, I prayed, and asked God what I could do to listen to Him more. One of the things He told me was to pray His Word again. Those other prayers, beautiful, eloquent, and perfect as they are that I've been relying on are wonderful. He hears them and He is pleased to answer them. But if I wanted to know His heart I needed to know His Word, and if I wanted to pray His will for people I needed to pray His Word, and since I am a person who has, like, five free minutes in a day... I needed to turn to His WORD and not just rely on other people's experiences of His Word. These are all things I knew, of course, but I guess I'm just as dumb as a box of rocks because I had completely forgotten that His Word is ALIVE. For all my Bible reading and Psalm praying, I hadn't submitted to praying IN the Holy Spirit, who tells us how to pray as we ought, in a very, very long while. I knew why. Because I hadn't recognized a battle I've been fighting since moving in here and had let Satan win for a time. I had been prideful and not prayed for myself....
But after that moment, I discerned that despair had crept into my spirit and it had to GO.
All of a sudden His Word came alive to me again. It spoke to me at every turn. And in it I not only found comfort and guidance but I began to find His presence again, because I KNEW He was good. The binding up of my evil tongue, which speaks from an evil, sinful heart, resulted in a release of power so great that I felt flooded by the Holy Spirit. And my spiritual eyes were opened and I recognized that there was a war over my family that I'd been letting Satan win.
Because you see, we live in a house were negative words, words of death, fear, anxiety, destruction, and despair are common. We live in a house with a big sign over my dining room table that says we serve the Lord, but our tongues (and I'm guilty of this as much as anyone, although this is something I've realized that, in our little family, at least, originated elsewhere in our heritage) our tongues were speaking from the overflow of our hearts. And our hearts were not sanctified by the Word. There was no LIFE in our tongues, which meant that there was very little LIFE in our lives.
It is possible, though you read your Bible every day, to remain unchanged. Not to progress spiritually. That's the beauty of the Sacraments-- they are sources of profound grace which come entirely from outside ourselves. When I received the eucharist today, I received into my person the entirety of God- His body, blood, soul and divinity. It ensured me that I was One with His Body. It covered me and filled me with His blood. It gave me a perfect love for Him and a union with Him. It helped me to become more like Him. All with just one action on my part: a willingness to receive.
I think that if I wasn't a Catholic, it is quite possible that this dark cloud which had settled over me (and by Dark Cloud, I mean this demonic and fleshly despair and not this "dark night of the soul or senses" which is a whole other animal, just to clarify) would have taken up residence for quite a while. The breakthrough came when I realized that there was a lot more going on in this house than just a hard new life. And that no amount of relics, house blessings, and regular bible reading and prayer were going to affect the Spiritual atmosphere if we weren't PUTTING TO DEATH these fleshly tendencies we have to sin. Which is where lent comes in--- it's the reminder we need each year that mortification of the senses, of the flesh, of the "icky" stuff inside us is sooo necessary to living a fruitful spiritual life. And that -- THAT--- was the key.
As soon as I stopped complaining, I can only compare it to unlocking a window to heaven, where light came pouring into our house. I literally FELT better in my body. And everything around me was illuminated-- I saw with spritual eyes again and not physical eyes. I found hope.
Of course, that made the devil mad. Everyone in my house got sick. I practically never slept. I was surrounded by turmoil and drama. But ultimately, I have been equipped, I have seen a glimpse of the reality surrounding us again, and I am determined that when God says "I give you my Name," that will be ENOUGH for me. I will not return to bondage. I will not go back to Egypt. My house will be set free and set on fire with the beautiful flame of His love.
I actually came down with an awful stomach bug last night, and since my son is also sick I thought that we had better stay home and not infect people. But something in me reminded me of the great graces we receive when we are there and so I took some Vitamin C, set my jaw, and told Satan he was not going to have my Sunday. I woke up this morning feeling tired but not as sick, so off we went. And God had it all set up for me, as you will soon see. :P
I had recently felt like I needed a refresher course in deliverance ministry. First, because I had been encountering so much to ENDURE since moving into Peter's dad's house that I was-- let's be honest-- a bit depressed, and had frequently felt that I lost HOPE in God's goodness.
Ive felt a bit powerless to help others lately, and in this ministry, that is not a good place to be.
Now, how can someone like me, who has SEEN God move miraculously time after time, lose faith in His goodness? Well, it's called Sin, you see? Although my God has always been faithful, I have a short memory. And when I don't FEEL Him there, I imagine that either He is not there, or that He is there and is simply mean... uninterested in my personal welfare. I imagine that He expects too much of me or doesn't know what I can handle. These thoughts are sinful, to say the least, and I usually recognize them as such and bring them to confession. That's why today's reading was so good for me to hear:
Reading I
Ex 3:1-8a, 13-15
Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro,
the priest of Midian.
Leading the flock across the desert, he came to Horeb,
the mountain of God.
There an angel of the LORD appeared to Moses in fire
flaming out of a bush.
As he looked on, he was surprised to see that the bush,
though on fire, was not consumed.
So Moses decided,
“I must go over to look at this remarkable sight,
and see why the bush is not burned.”
When the LORD saw him coming over to look at it more closely,
God called out to him from the bush, AMoses! Moses!”
He answered, “Here I am.”
God said, “Come no nearer!
Remove the sandals from your feet,
for the place where you stand is holy ground.
I am the God of your fathers, “ he continued,
“the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.”
Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
But the LORD said,
“I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt
and have heard their cry of complaint against their slave drivers,
so I know well what they are suffering.
Therefore I have come down to rescue them
from the hands of the Egyptians
and lead them out of that land into a good and spacious land,
a land flowing with milk and honey.”
Moses said to God, “But when I go to the Israelites
and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’
if they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what am I to tell them?”
God replied, “I am who am.”
Then he added, “This is what you shall tell the Israelites:
I AM sent me to you.”
God spoke further to Moses, “Thus shall you say to the Israelites:
The LORD, the God of your fathers,
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob,
has sent me to you.
“This is my name forever;
thus am I to be remembered through all generations.”
Clearly God is good. Clearly He has given us His name. Clearly this is better than bondage. But that doesn't resolve the problem of still "feeling" this despair. And boy can I have a pity party in my head when I want to.
So I went through this period of total darkness, followed by a period of repentance because I realized that this was wrong- but in which I still didn't recognize His goodness in my heart of hearts. No progress.
Then along came lent, and I prayed about it and felt that I should be responding by removing the one thing that I kept doing that I kept bringing to the confessional: Complaining. I resolved to stop complaining and just offer up whatever was bothering me. And I did.
But even though I wasn't complaining, I certainly didn't feel that I was walking in any kind of "close" relationship with God. I felt rejected by Him, and certainly defeated, particularly when Peter and I had been praying so much about certain things for our family and our prayers seemed to just hit a brick wall.
What was going on?
Something inspired me to pick up a book on Spiritual Warfare-- a book I hadn't read before but one that I had been meaning to glance over for a while. And I did. And it was as if everything fell into place. And even though I had been certain the book would be another protestant attempt to mass market spritual warfare for the spiritually unprepared, I read the entire thing in like, two hours, and was pleasantly surprised.
So surprised, in fact, that a layer of my pride was stripped right out from under me as I recognized that for months now I'd been so caught up in my Carmelite and wifely DUTIES and in accepting that suffering was redemptive that I had TOTALLY missed the part of the Gospel where God sends His Holy Spirit to be with me. This was why I had been floundering so much: I was trying to take on all these battles without the Holy Spirit's ACTUAL guidance, since I had become so prideful that I felt that I knew what the Holy Spirit was going to do next in each situation I was encountering. I didn't seek Him for answers to how to proceed in my battles, I just told Him: "This is a battle, again. I know what to do. Why aren't you helping me?" When I was met with silence, I would convince myself that the battle was won anyways, because I was still in communication with Him. But kinda like how I get mad when my husband watches YouTube WHILE listening to my innermost thoughts, I was doing the same thing to God. I refused to stop and LISTEN to Him because I felt I knew Him so well that I already knew what He would tell me to do.
Duh.
This book, The Women's Guide to Spiritual Warfare, was a great crash course in remembering to let GOD LEAD. It was, in fact, the thing I'd been missing all this time and the reason I kept wanting to go back to my protestant friends for prayer when I felt defeated instead of allowing GOD to work through my Catholic friends (yep, I did that too :P)
Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with asking my protestant friends to pray, it's just that I wasn't trusting that my Catholic friends were "storming heaven" with power, if you know what I mean. Of course they were. And how dare I make fun of , say, pentacostals who say you aren't saved if you don't speak in tongues, if I wasn't trusting that the Holy Spirit could operate in ALL situations, not just the ones where the miraculous gifts were operating. In other words, I was just as bad as anyone who asked God for "signs and wonders." God is there, signs and wonders or not.
Jesus Himself said that the only sign we were promised was the sign of Jonah-- that He would raise from the dead after three days. Hellooooooo, Barbie. Wake up!
So, having read the book and being filled with a sense of remorse for just how stinking prideful I can be, I basically just fell on my face. And God was there and He gave me just what I needed: a firm discipline peppered with unconditional love. Wow.
After I finished reading the book, I prayed, and asked God what I could do to listen to Him more. One of the things He told me was to pray His Word again. Those other prayers, beautiful, eloquent, and perfect as they are that I've been relying on are wonderful. He hears them and He is pleased to answer them. But if I wanted to know His heart I needed to know His Word, and if I wanted to pray His will for people I needed to pray His Word, and since I am a person who has, like, five free minutes in a day... I needed to turn to His WORD and not just rely on other people's experiences of His Word. These are all things I knew, of course, but I guess I'm just as dumb as a box of rocks because I had completely forgotten that His Word is ALIVE. For all my Bible reading and Psalm praying, I hadn't submitted to praying IN the Holy Spirit, who tells us how to pray as we ought, in a very, very long while. I knew why. Because I hadn't recognized a battle I've been fighting since moving in here and had let Satan win for a time. I had been prideful and not prayed for myself....
But after that moment, I discerned that despair had crept into my spirit and it had to GO.
All of a sudden His Word came alive to me again. It spoke to me at every turn. And in it I not only found comfort and guidance but I began to find His presence again, because I KNEW He was good. The binding up of my evil tongue, which speaks from an evil, sinful heart, resulted in a release of power so great that I felt flooded by the Holy Spirit. And my spiritual eyes were opened and I recognized that there was a war over my family that I'd been letting Satan win.
Because you see, we live in a house were negative words, words of death, fear, anxiety, destruction, and despair are common. We live in a house with a big sign over my dining room table that says we serve the Lord, but our tongues (and I'm guilty of this as much as anyone, although this is something I've realized that, in our little family, at least, originated elsewhere in our heritage) our tongues were speaking from the overflow of our hearts. And our hearts were not sanctified by the Word. There was no LIFE in our tongues, which meant that there was very little LIFE in our lives.
It is possible, though you read your Bible every day, to remain unchanged. Not to progress spiritually. That's the beauty of the Sacraments-- they are sources of profound grace which come entirely from outside ourselves. When I received the eucharist today, I received into my person the entirety of God- His body, blood, soul and divinity. It ensured me that I was One with His Body. It covered me and filled me with His blood. It gave me a perfect love for Him and a union with Him. It helped me to become more like Him. All with just one action on my part: a willingness to receive.
I think that if I wasn't a Catholic, it is quite possible that this dark cloud which had settled over me (and by Dark Cloud, I mean this demonic and fleshly despair and not this "dark night of the soul or senses" which is a whole other animal, just to clarify) would have taken up residence for quite a while. The breakthrough came when I realized that there was a lot more going on in this house than just a hard new life. And that no amount of relics, house blessings, and regular bible reading and prayer were going to affect the Spiritual atmosphere if we weren't PUTTING TO DEATH these fleshly tendencies we have to sin. Which is where lent comes in--- it's the reminder we need each year that mortification of the senses, of the flesh, of the "icky" stuff inside us is sooo necessary to living a fruitful spiritual life. And that -- THAT--- was the key.
As soon as I stopped complaining, I can only compare it to unlocking a window to heaven, where light came pouring into our house. I literally FELT better in my body. And everything around me was illuminated-- I saw with spritual eyes again and not physical eyes. I found hope.
Of course, that made the devil mad. Everyone in my house got sick. I practically never slept. I was surrounded by turmoil and drama. But ultimately, I have been equipped, I have seen a glimpse of the reality surrounding us again, and I am determined that when God says "I give you my Name," that will be ENOUGH for me. I will not return to bondage. I will not go back to Egypt. My house will be set free and set on fire with the beautiful flame of His love.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
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