Julian's Update

This summer has flown by. I only have a few updates, but I think they are worth noting for upcoming conversations:

1. I spent late spring and most of summer dating a boy-man (although I didn't know he was a boy-man at the outset). And I just ended things with the boy-man. *Note to boy-men: if you do not intend to pursue a woman romantically, but only platonically, please do not kiss her every time you see her, bring her gifts from your travels, and engage in a daily conversation with her. She's going to think you like her as more than friends.

2. God's grace has been abundant in my life. Last week's Sunday homily was about seeking God in "the storm" (the reading was about Peter on the boat in the storm). The priest said simply, "If you look for God in the storm, you'll find Him. If you don't, you won't." It's been immensely helpful. I'm getting amazing things from Scripture every time I pray with it. Our Lord is so good and generous in giving us words when we don't have them.

3. I'm off to Spain with 26 students and 3 colleagues for World Youth Day! Please pray for our safety and for the openness of all of our hearts to Christ's call for us. I will keep you all in my prayers and sacrifices.

All for now. Keep on keepin' on.

-Jules

Dear John

I have been loving the readings at Mass this week, especially the first readings from 1 John.

This favorite token from yesterday:

"There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear."

I have heard this so many times, I can't tell you. But yesterday, I just prayed and prayed about what fears are driving me on a daily basis. It is so clear to me that these fears, even if they are little, demonstrate that I don't trust God perfectly, so I don't love God perfectly. So much to work on...

And today:

"If anyone says, 'I love God,' but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen."

I can think of a few people who make it very difficult for me to love them, but I also know that discipleship is not easy. I also know that if I love God, I must love them.

And lastly:

"And the victory that conquers the world is our faith." Just perfect.

Dear John,

I love you.

Julian

A Little Aspiration

Sometimes I'm in need of little aspirations to pray throughout the day. I also tape them to my podium at school to remind me of why I do what I do. This past Sunday, the last line of the Gospel might as well have been introduced by a loud clashing of cymbals or a bang of a gong:

"By your perseverance, you will save your lives." --Luke 21:19

I felt as if the Holy Spirit was saying directly to me, "Keep going in your work. Keep persevering in your waiting on your vocation. Give me the small details of the day, the mundane aspects of your routine, because they matter to me."

Monday's Mass was no less direct:

"When he [the blind man] came near, Jesus asked him, 'What do you want me to do for you?'" --Luke 18:35-43

Could Jesus really be asking this of me, too? I felt comfort in approaching my Lord with petitions deepest on my heart (something I struggle with). I suppose my prayer is similar to that of the man -- "Lord, let me see."

I hope you, too, find your prayers to ask and the answers to them in the Word this very day.

Being Martha

Today's Gospel reading speaks to the modern, lay, Catholic woman loudly and clearly: we can all be Marthas. I hear Jesus on a regular basis calling me, "Julian, Julian, you are anxious about many things." Yep, Lord, that's true. Right now I have three friends who are immensely suffering, three family members who are justifiably depressed, a family friend who is dying, papers to grade, lessons to plan, seminars to attend, people to visit, students to meet with and counsel, emails to respond to, etc. Because these things all have to do with serving Christ in those who are in need of me, I tend to want to believe that what Martha was doing was actually right - serving Jesus' immediate needs with hospitality and attentiveness.

But even though these things need to get done and are truly ways that I need to serve Christ (since He has entrusted them to me), He still responds to me as He did to Martha: "There is only need of one thing." That one thing is to recollect myself in the presence of Christ in silence, if only for a few minutes. I'm sure that Mary didn't just sit put the whole time Jesus was visiting. No Jewish woman would have been able to refrain from cooking and cleaning when a guest was over. But she did pause to be in His presence. The list of things to do only gains meaning if it's done with our gaze fixed on Christ.

We modern, working women need to be conscientious about doing the same thing. That way our list does not become things to do, but instead, things to do with joy for the One we love.

More Prayers, Please

Please keep the prayers going for my friend. Things are still critical.

This passage comforts me so much, and I hope it is of comfort to those who anyone who is grieving anyone or anything. Martha's reaction to Jesus is something that I do myself... accusing God of failing to prevent evil. I am always, always comforted by His response. John's Gospel has kept my faith alive in dark times. Thank you, Father, for your Word.

John 11:1-44

Sermon on Mary Magdalene

In our continued celebration of the Feast of St. Mary Magdalane (July 22nd), I want to share with you the full Sermon of Pope St. Gregory the Great, read ont eh feast of St. Mary Magdalene, in the Divine Office:

When Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and did not find the Lord’s body, she thought it had been taken away and so informed the disciples. After they came and saw the tomb, they too believed what Mary had told them. The text then says: The disciples went back home, and it adds: but Mary wept and remained standing outside the tomb.

We should reflect on Mary’s attitude and the great love she felt for Christ; for though the disciples had left the tomb, she remained. She was still seeking the one she had not found, and while she sought she wept; burning with the fire of love, she longed for him who she thought had been taken away. And so it happened that the woman who stayed behind to seek Christ was the only one to see him. For perseverance is essential to any good deed, as the voice of truth tells us: Whoever perseveres to the end will be saved.

At first she sought but did not find, but when she persevered it happened that she found what she was looking for. When our desires are not satisfied, they grow stronger, and becoming stronger they take hold of their object. Holy desires likewise grow with anticipation, and if they do not grow they are not really desires. Anyone who succeeds in attaining the truth has burned with such a great love. As David says: My soul has thirsted for the living God; when shall I come and appear before the face of God? And so also in the Song of Songs the Church says: I was wounded by love; and again: My soul is melted with love.

Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek? She is asked why she is sorrowing so that her desire might be strengthened; for when she mentions whom she is seeking, her love is kindled all the more ardently.

Jesus says to her: Mary. Jesus is not recognised when he calls her “woman”; so he calls her by name, as though he were saying: Recognise me as I recognise you; for I do not know you as I know others; I know you as yourself. And so Mary, once addressed by name, recognises who is speaking. She immediately calls him rabboni, that is to say, teacher, because the one whom she sought outwardly was the one who inwardly taught her to keep on searching.

(Image Source)

Luminosity!!

This is just a little post of hope for my Magdalene sisters who may be feeling like their spiritual lives are in darkness. I've been coming across SO MANY Scriptures about the Light of God. I'm posting a few of them in the hope that the Word of God will illuminate your life, and help His light to penetrate your souls -- for we serve a faithful God who will not abandon us to the darkness!

Isaiah 9: 2-4
"The people that walked in darkness, have seen a great light: to them that dwelt in the region of the shadow of death, light is risen. Thou hast multiplied the nation, and hast not increased the joy. They shall rejoice before thee, as they that rejoice in the harvest, as conquerors rejoice after taking a prey, when they divide the spoils. For the yoke of their burden, and the rod of their shoulder, and the sceptre of their oppressor thou hast overcome, as in the day of Median."

Isaiah 58:11 (Douay Rheims translation)
"And the Lord will give thee rest continually, and will fill thy soul with brightness, and deliver thy bones, and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a fountain of water whose waters shall not fail."

Hosea 6:1-3
"In their affliction they will rise early to me: Come, and let us return to the Lord: For he hath taken us, and he will heal us: he will strike, and he will cure us. He will revive us after two days: on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. We shall know, and we shall follow on, that we may know the Lord. His going forth is prepared as the morning light, and he will come to us as the early and the latter rain to the earth."

Lamentations 3:22-24
"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness. "The Lord is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in Him."

John 1: 4-5
"In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it."

John 8: 12
"Jesus spoke to them, saying: I am the light of the world: he that followeth me, walketh not in darkness, but shall have the light of life."

Photo taken from Catholic apologist Steve Ray's blog.

"Oh Lord, Let the Words of My Mouth"

Today, I was waiting to interview for a job, and I brought my Bible with me to keep my butterflies as calm as possible. I opened up to the book of Sirach randomly and I came across this passage that really got me thinking:

O that a guard were set over my mouth, and a seal of prudence upon my lips, that it may keep me from falling, so that my tongue may not destroy me! O Lord, Father and Ruler of my life, do not abandon me to their counsel, and let me not fall because of them! O that whips were set over my thoughts, and the discipline of wisdom over my mind! That they may not spare me in my errors, and that it may not pass by my sins; in order that my mistakes may not be multiplied and my sins may not abound; then I will not fall before my adversaries, and my enemy will not rejoice over me. O Lord, Father and God of my life, do not give me haughty eyes, and remove from me all evil desire. Let neither gluttony nor lust overcome me, and do not surrender me to a shameless soul. (Sirach 22:27-23:6)

Wow!! This got me thinking! How many times do we women especially allow ourselves to sin through the words of our mouths or the thoughts in our hearts? I know I struggle with this all the time, be it a judgmental thought as silly as "That girl should not be wearing that dress."

It seems ridiculous, right? But it really is those little things that make or break it. We just sin small in our hearts, our evil thoughts, or something nasty about someone we see. Then we convince ourselves that that's not really a sin at all. After all - she really shouldn't wear that dress! But that's not the way of Christ, is it? And where does it end? One sin begets another, and suddenly our mistakes and sins are multiplied!

So, I decided to read this beautiful prayer in the Scriptures over and over until it becomes my theme song!! God is so great, giving us His Word, His Wisdom and Light, and the power to reject sin! What cause for joy!