Amazing Catechists

Teaching and learning the faith together

About Elizabeth Tichvon

Elizabeth Tichvon is a Consecrated Marian Catechist, UCLA Certified Paralegal and Writer. Always faithful to the Magisterium, she spreads and defends the Catholic faith as a true witness of Christ, confessing the name of Jesus boldly; never ashamed of the Cross.

Elizabeth became aware of the need for the New Evangelization while in the three years of her formation as a Marian Catechist and wrote over 100 published meditations on Sacred Scripture for The Journey, www.daily-meditations.org. In 2006, she became a freelance writer for several Catholic websites, and following Jesus' example, now teaches through her own parables so that by sharing her stories through social media, might bring others closer to the heart of Christ. As a Consecrated Marian Catechist, her spiritual life is the foundation of her writing.

In 1986 Elizabeth completed UCLA's Graduate Paralegal Program With Honors and worked in the legal field for 34 years before retiring from Chrysler in 2008. She is now writing and catechizing daily and lives with her husband of 39 years.

Follow that Star!

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In this Octave of Christmas, St. John the Apostle lovingly reminds us why we celebrated the birth of Jesus only five days ago: “…because your sins have been forgiven.” (1 John 2:12)  What a reason to celebrate!

St. John shows us a strong contrast between man’s covetousness for worldly enticements, which is governed by the devil, and the way revealed by the Father through our Messiah, Jesus. God gave us a Savior because we’ve all failed terribly, and as sinners, need to repent. Once we understand the role of Jesus in our broken world, we can truly rejoice at Christmas!

But alas, the day after we celebrated Christ’s birth, our love for the world drew many of us away from the love of God and back to the after-Christmas sales and return lines, still searching for that perfect gift. Even now, opened presents lie abandoned under the tree, waiting to be stripped of their tags and stashed into closets or cupboards – the “must-haves” we couldn’t live without. So, where is the gift we didn’t find under the tree?

The Holy Spirit gave us 365 days’ worth of priceless lessons, yet many of us missed the target again and continue to search. The infant Jesus has come! It’s still not too late to reflect on the year and ask our newborn Savior to take us deeper into the journey and help us find the peace we seek, for “…the world and its enticement are passing away.” (1 John 2:17)

Again the true meaning of Christmas struggled to reach far too many hearts. Let’s stretch farther to find those searching hearts and share with them the joy and peace we’ve found in the birth of Jesus who came to save us, and all together follow that shining star into the New Year!

Elizabeth

Blessed 2020!

Today’s Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/123019.cfm

Book Review: “The Four Keys to Everlasting Love: How Your Catholic Marriage Can Bring You Joy for a Lifetime”

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Manuel and Karee Santos have written an honest, sensible and faithful guidebook that I’m confident will become a go-to comfort for Catholic couples seeking help in their marriage. An ideal gift of learning and support for the newly-engaged or married; a beautiful witness of how to help one another attain holiness within God’s gift of the marriage covenant. [Release Date: April 8, 2016]

Catechist Daily

Hope in Rising

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Today’s First Reading from St. Paul to the Thessalonians is a verse that is special to my soul.  When my Sister-in-Law’s beloved Mother died, she asked that I choose and give one of the Readings at the funeral Mass.  While I was honored that she wanted me to participate, I saw it as complete obedience to our Lord – to share the immense hope that can only be found in Him.

As a catechist and disciple of Christ, I am moved by the Holy Spirit to bring this good news to those He puts in front of me.  My heart ached for my dear Sister-in-Law and her family, but at the same time was burning to share the hope that’s in our own Resurrection. Yes! Our own Resurrection.  I knew that, although many there were Christians, they did not know.  So I chose this verse by St. Paul because it consoles us with hope.  Hope, because like Christ, we will rise.

“We firmly believe, and hence we hope that, just as Christ is truly risen from the dead and lives for ever, so after death the righteous will live for ever with the risen Christ and he will raise them up on the last day. Our resurrection, like his own, will be the work of the Most Holy Trinity.” (Catechism, Para. 989)

Today the Reading came up in the Liturgy again, and once more it ignited the flame in my heart to share it.

Did you know?

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“We do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters,

about those who have fallen asleep,

so that you may not grieve like the rest, who have no hope.

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose,

so too will God, through Jesus,

bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

Indeed, we tell you this, on the word of the Lord,

that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord,

will surely not precede those who have fallen asleep.

For the Lord himself, with a word of command,

with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God,

will come down from heaven,

and the dead in Christ will rise first.

Then we who are alive, who are left,

will be caught up together with them in the clouds

to meet the Lord in the air.

Thus we shall always be with the Lord.

Therefore, console one another with these words” (1 Thes 4:13-18).

Elizabeth Tichvon, Catechist Daily

She is Our Mother, in the Order of Grace

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August 15, 2015 – Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

(Gospel Reading at the Mass during the day)

“And how does this happen to me that the Mother of the Lord should come to me?”  (Luke 1:43)

“With Elizabeth we marvel, ‘And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?’ Because she gives us Jesus, her son, Mary is Mother of God and our mother; we can entrust all our cares and petitions to her: she prays for us as she prayed for herself: ‘Let it be done to me according to your word.’ By entrusting ourselves to her prayer, we abandon ourselves to the will of God together with her: ‘Thy will be done.’ (Catechism, Para. 2677)”

Can you recall a time when the Mother of our Lord came to you?

For me she came often and by way of my own Mom, who’s always had a remarkable devotion to Our Lady. In fact while growing up, I don’t think a day passed without her proclaiming, “Mother Mary, with your Son, bless us each and every one.” She knew that the demands of raising five children would take the divine help of our Lord, but what she didn’t know was the effect the prayer was having on me, and how her constant reliance upon Mary’s grace would become a stronghold for us both in years to come.

In writing this, I’d spent too much time searching the Catholic websites for the author of that prayer. Finally, I called my Mom to see if it had been written by one of the saints.

“It’s my own prayer,” she shared. “I’ve been saying it as long as I can remember.”

I was surprised and delighted to know that the author of the illustrious prayer was my Mom – a prayer that was answered repeatedly and assisted us in all our needs. Each time the little prayer would pass my Mom’s lips, Mary would show herself a Mother and lead us to her Son. As children, we relied on her deep faith as she abandoned herself to Mary, and we knew for certain our Lord was with us.

Now, the Mother of our Lord visits me regularly through my personal prayers and, without ever having ceased, through the daily, faith-filled petitions of my own devoted Mother.

Mother of Jesus, be a Mother to my Mother.  Amen.

Elizabeth Tichvon

http://elizabethtichvon.wordpress.com

Follow Every Perfect Moment

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How can we expect to fall in love with Jesus if we don’t read His Word?

Today Jesus teaches that if we cling to this world, we’ll lose everything at the moment of our death. But if we live our earthly lives serving Him, the Father will honor us. The best part of this Gospel is Jesus’ own words, “Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be” (John 12:24-26).

When I first began reading Holy Scripture, my heart would beat a little faster because it recognized the One it longed for – Jesus. But I was afraid to follow Him completely because of the unknown. Yet whenever I would open His Word, He would remind me: “Do not be afraid.”

As I write this years later, I am no longer afraid. I am serving Him, thus the Father honors me. And I follow Him at each moment, even when my cross is heavy, because I know He is with me, “…where I am, there also will my servant be” (John 12:26).

How beautiful it is to love Him. How beautiful it is to be His servant.

Today’s Gospel Reading:

“Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies,
it remains just a grain of wheat;
but if it dies, it produces much fruit.
Whoever loves his life loses it,
and whoever hates his life in this world
will preserve it for eternal life.
Whoever serves me must follow me,
and where I am, there also will my servant be.
The Father will honor whoever serves me’” (John 12:24-26).

“Why does this generation seek a sign?” (Mark 8:12).

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A reflection on today’s Sacred Scripture:

“Why does this generation seek a sign?” (Mark 8:12).

Why? we answer back.  Why should we believe in Your kindness when You allow the world to suffer?

Lent begins this week, and despite the mix of heartache and joy that will accompany the faithful, they’ll hold tightly to their belief without asking God why He allows suffering – especially His Son’s.  They’ll accept as true what they cannot see, cannot touch – cannot fully comprehend.

Faith is a supernatural gift from God to us, but in the next forty days, many will doubt because they won’t receive mighty wonders and signs, despite their fasting and prayers.  How God reveals Himself to us is uniquely ours and is a part of His gift.  Our gift back to Him is our complete trust in His ways, whether we receive a wondrous sign or not.  In return, He deepens our faith with understanding and we begin to receive all we ask for because we stop asking with misgivings but with the Wisdom He so faithfully gives us.

http://elizabethtichvon.wordpress.com

Book Review: “Joy to the World,” by Dr. Scott Hahn

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Joy to the World by Scott Hahn

“If the Lord is our joy, our joy cannot be taken away.  It cannot be lost…Joy had come to the world, and it had come to stay.” – Dr. Scott Hahn

As I turned the pages of Dr. Scott Hahn’s “Joy to the World”  the light of understanding that God gave each of us sparked, and soon I was experiencing the instilling gifts of the Holy Spirit.  Anyone who has prayed for such gifts knows how joyful it can be when they appear…Wisdom, Understanding, Knowledge – who knew this book of inspiring meditations would give such a comprehensive glimpse into the story of Christ’s birth.

Among Dr. Hahn’s scholarly reads, I was most taken with “Joy to the World,” because his usual preciseness is mingled with such childlike wonder as he takes us through this Holy season with Sacred Scripture in one hand and the Church’s life giving Tradition in the other.  Already in the first chapter I was heartened when he “sees” the radiance of the teenaged Virgin Mary on his young daughter’s face during his family’s pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

In the end, we come to understand why he believes this wonder is the key to the New Evangelization, “Christmas sets us apart. Christmas calls us to share in divine love and then to share that love with an unbelieving world…People find it irresistible and irrefutable.”

So this year as we light the first candle on our Advent wreaths, we can do it with a deeper understanding of the events surrounding the reason for this miraculous season of God’s saving love.  The Truth is here, but like the Magi, we must seek it.  The Truth is Christ, and like the star, “Joy to the World”  helps us find Him.

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Read more reviews at Dr. Hahn’s “Joy to the World” Blog Tour with Image Books, going on now through December 11!

Weary Souls Rejoice!

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Wherever we turn these days, Christmas music plays, and for some of us this year, the words to the traditional carols we’ve come to know by heart have suddenly taken on new meaning.  Old, familiar jingles about Christ’s birth now seem to resound with significance, bursting with the presence of His Gospel!

The popular hymn, O Holy Night, is full of such moving words; it speaks of the world lying long in sin, “’til He appeared and the soul felt its worth.”  Such were the great crowds of the lame, blind, deformed and mute in today’s Gospel.

Imagine them – the sick and weary, the hungry, approaching Jesus up on the mountain, filled with “a thrill of hope.”  Envision them “falling on their knees” as our compassionate Savior placed them at His feet and cured them!  Jesus took pity on that crowd of four thousand and fed them with only seven loaves and a few fish. Imagine the “weary souls rejoicing!”

Jesus holds no less compassion for our weariness and hunger as He continues to heal us with His Word and feed us through the Eucharist.  We give thanks for these gifts which we receive in faith, and rejoice along with the souls on that mountain, “Sweet hymns of joy! In grateful chorus raise we! Let all within us praise His holy Name!”

Look Alive!

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Look Alive!

“And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory” (Luke 21:27).

As November ends, so do the Gospel readings about the Second Coming, when, according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “…the glorious Christ will reveal the secret disposition of hearts and will render to each man according to his works, and according to his acceptance or refusal of grace.” (Para. 682)

Only Christ knows when that day will come, but in today’s Gospel, He forewarns of signs in the sun, moon and stars, roaring of the waves in the sea and people dying of fright! When these things begin to happen, He tells us to “stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand”  (Luke 21:28).

How will we have the strength of mind and body to stand erect amidst such frightful occurrences?

Jesus taught that if we’ve prepared ourselves to receive Him by keeping our hearts filled with the light of His love, by loving our neighbor and serving Him in faith through all our earthly struggles, we can be confident that on the Last Day, He will renew our strength and remove all fear.

But we must ask Him to create in us a new spirit and work hard to keep it alive, and we must start now.  What perfect timing with the start of Advent! How better to prepare ourselves for Jesus’ Second Coming than by recalling the wondrous days leading to His First Coming.

May your Advent be filled with love and peace!

Elizabeth

On Giving Thanks

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On Giving Thanks

A Thanksgiving reflection on today’s Gospel Reading:

“One of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice” (Luke 17:15).

Jesus always responds to prayers made in faith. The faith of the ten lepers brought them a miraculous cure, but the faith of one brought him back to the feet of Jesus, where he learned that his conviction had brought him something even greater:  salvation, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.” (Luke 17:19)

All things are possible with God, but only in faith can we accept the mystery of His power the way the lone leper did when he returned to thank Jesus. One would expect such a reaction from a leper whose lesions suddenly disappeared, but it didn’t happen that way for the other nine. And it doesn’t always happen that way for us, even though the miracles in our own lives go beyond physical healings every day.

God has pity on us every time we ask, not just when His answer is visible like the lepers. Trusting in this is the miracle of faith, and in its fullness we find salvation.

Elizabeth