Amazing Catechists

Teaching and learning the faith together

Proclaiming Christ Crucified

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“Hear now, all you who fear God, while I declare
what he has done for me.
When I appealed to him in words,
praise was on the tip of my tongue” (Psalm 66: 16-17).

While driving to an appointment to have my blood drawn this week, I caught about five minutes of Ave Maria Radio’s Dr. Ray Guarendi having a discussion with a priest about how the understanding of Salvation differs between Catholics and Protestants (the “saved by faith, not works” error).

Just as I was pulling up to the blood lab, Dr. Guarendi posed a question to the audience that went something like, “If Jesus asked you right now why you should go to Heaven, what would you say?”

Wanting to know the genuineness of my heart, I turned off the car with expectation, eager to hear aloud what my answer might be.

With joy, my answer flowed out of me like a river down a mountain with the power to create a gorge below. Using my smart phone I spoke, and later listened to the convictions of my soul:

“Because I love You.”

“You’re beautiful. Breathtaking. You breathed life into me.

You let me feel Your Presence after waiting so long for me to turn to You. When I realized I was nothing without You, You showed up. Just like that.

You sent your Spirit to teach me, and in between, You healed Me. You answered my prayers and didn’t leave me. You still answer my prayers every day. You speak to me through others and give me light to know it’s You. When I adore You, I receive Your Wisdom and Understanding, even if for a moment. You let me understand and accept when You say “no,” and you smile with me when You say “yes!”

I see You in the person You created to be my husband and am amazed how his inner and outer beauty came from within Your Sacred Heart as You created him.

You give me Your beauty to think about, to dream of, to live by, to gather and give to others, and now I see that beauty in other souls.

You changed my heart.

I’m able to learn from Your lessons in humility and can thank You instead of cowering; smoldering.

Lord, You know I want to see you and spend Eternity with You. I want to say, “I love you” Face to face, because You are the beauty I long for each morning and the peace I sleep with each night. The thought of not spending forever with you makes me shudder and crumble.

Mercy. You are so merciful and kind. If I were to fall at the last moment of my life, I know You’d give me one moment more to tell You I’m sorry and you’d forgive me with Your open Heart of Love.

I’m so grateful You allowed me to have a friendship with You while still on earth; while still young enough to enjoy living the miracle of it. Today I understand You to the extent that I can today and I have confidence that tomorrow it will increase by Your Grace and my perseverance.”

I left my car and went into the lab with the fire of the Holy Spirit and sat down in what I always call, “the blood seat.”

“Which arm do you want me to use?” the nurse asked.

I’ve had blood draws more times in the last ten years than I’ve had my entire life and they’ve never bothered me in the least. But this time, still thinking about our Lord, my thoughts turned to His Blood. I thought about the Roman soldiers scourging Him and the immense pain He endured. And here I was going to get one little needle prick and was feeling uneasy. “Lord,” I prayed…this time I offer up these three vials of blood for You and for what You endured for me.”  In went the needle and it BURNED and HURT like never before and seemed to go on forever. [Be careful what you pray for!]

When the needle was out and the nurse was labeling the vials, I looked up and noticed a small sign in front of me that read, LET YOUR PHLEBOTOMIST KNOW IF YOU HAVE AN ALLERGY TO LATEX.

The nurse asked if I was ok. Through my tears, I blurted, “The soldiers beat Jesus and tortured Him and then crucified Him, and never once did they give him a chance to let His phlebotomists know whether He was allergic to latex.”

She chuckled, but though amusing I chose not to partake, and dried my tears. Her face changed and she said, “I love Jesus too.”

I left the office wondering what her list might sound like out loud, but then realized that was between her and the same Christ who loves her just as large as He loves me.

***

“When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.”
(1 Corinthians 2:1-5)

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?

________________________

“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).

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!”

Our Life, Our Sweetness and Our Hope: Amazing Catechists Offers New Rosary Series for 2014

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When we recite the Holy Rosary, we are reflecting deeply on the lives of Jesus and Mary as written in the Gospels. Therefore, we must clear our minds of all things temporal to hear what God is saying to us as we meditate on His life, His death and His glory.

It’s not always easy to set aside twenty minutes to pray the Rosary, but when we do, God amazes us with His grace; He rewards us for offering our time and energy as sacrifice for Him. If we find it impossible to pray five Mysteries after a tiring day, we may discover that praying with others can be encouraging and uplifting; peaceful and comforting, like a mother singing softly to her child. We’re never alone. Jesus’ Mother is ours; He gave her to us as she stood at the foot of the Cross and watched Him suffer and die. Now, through her historical messages to the world, she has taught us how to know Her Son through the events of His life and honor Him by imitating His virtues found in each of the Mysteries she asks us to pray daily.

Reciting the Rosary not only teaches, it gives us a sweet taste of Heaven as we begin to fall in love with our Savior and grow in grace and holiness. The more wisdom and understanding we receive, the more joyful we become and the brighter our lights shine.

I invite you to add a new method of prayer to yours by giving your weariness to Our Lady and consider praying the Rosary along with me. In no time you’ll discover how much you are loved by God, who is Love and Truth itself. Here’s the link to the videos on my Facebook page, Catechist Daily.

We at Amazing Catechists hope you’ll join us as our 2014 Rosary Series unfolds, and we wish you and your families the constant friendship of our Lord and protection of His Mother as we enter into a New Year of deeper spiritual reflection. Blessings!