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Failure vs Success: Lessons from the Cross

By Amanda Woodiel

Do you know about St Bridget of Sweden?  If you don’t and you are a mom, you want to get to know her.  Here is an excerpt of her biography from catholic.com:

“In fact, nothing [St Bridget of Sweden] set out to do was ever realised.  She never had a pope return to Rome permanently, she never managed to make peace between France and England, she never saw any nun in the habit that Christ had shown her, and she never returned to Sweden but died, [a] worn out old lady far from home in July 1373” (read the full biography here).

Don’t you love her already?  I do.  How much of motherhood feels like failing at everything–only to die a worn out old lady!  The dishes are piled up (again), the house is a mess (again), I yelled at the kids (again), I didn’t pay a bill on time (again), I forgot even to ask my husband about his day (again)…the list goes on.  I’m not the only one, I know, who occasionally feels this way: the phrase “mom fail” has become commonplace in our culture.  You know, how you sum up the story to your friends about the time when you earnestly praised your oldest for his generosity of spirit, sunny attitude, and helpful nature–only to end by calling him the full name of the wrong child.  Mom fail.

Today I was sitting in the church mulling over the “both and”-ness of Catholic theology.  (This is a topic for another post, but you will get the drift in a minute.)

I am nothing (who am I that the Lord knows my name) and yet I am Everything (to the one who loves me so completely that He died for me).

I am nobody (one of billions) and yet I am Somebody (an adopted daughter of the God who created all things).

I am insufficient (brimming with faults and inadequacies) and yet I am Enough (willingness to cooperate with His grace being the only requirement).

So much of what I have tried has looked like failure: various groups I have started, certain friendships, even the little blog off in the corner of the internet.  Motherhood can feel like a failure at times; motherhood, which for me has had a way of exposing the depths of my temperamental deficiencies.  I feel often–not always, because there are those occasional Supermom days–like a failure.  Most days I am so quick to become angry, so preoccupied with my own thoughts as to brush aside an eager child’s slo-mo replay of a football move, so lazy as to ignore distasteful household chores, and yet so busy as to forget to read a book to my little kids.

There I sat in the church talking with God about this topic, and when I raised my eyes, I saw Him on the cross–a cross which, it struck me suddenly, sure looks a lot like failure.  What about the cross looks successful?  Without the eyes of faith, nothing.  There were those three days before the resurrection when the cross, far from looking like part of a divine plan for success, looked like the very depiction of defeat.

Motherhood can feel like living in those three days between the crucifixion and the resurrection.  In other words, I have the hope of the resurrection.  I have the hope that these things I do daily–cleaning, feeding, loving, hugging, teaching, listening, holding, tending, training–will end in victory.  But for now I live in the moment when they often look like failure; it’s precisely this interim wherein resides Hope.

I hope in the Lord, not in myself.  If I were to hope in myself, my family would be on the Titanic.  Instead, I hope in His mercy and in His grace, and I entrust everything–even what presently looks like failure–to the One who can and does redeem all things and who transforms what looks like failure into an eternal victory.

So I love St Bridget of Sweden because she reminds me that the world’s vision of success–implementing something productive, known, used, or profitable–is not God’s definition of success.  Someone who failed by every worldly metric is, in fact, a saint.  So what is success in God’s economy?  We learn from Our Lord that obedience to God’s will is the very definition of success–even if the results look to all the world like failure.  We have a saint to remind us of that, and should we forget her, we need only look at the cross.

(This post first appeared at www.inaplaceofgrace.com.  Photo by Tunde (2017) via Pixabay, CCO Public Domain.  Text by Amanda Woodiel (2017).  All rights reserved.)

Read all posts by Amanda Woodiel Filed Under: Catholic Spirituality, Culture, Family Life, Featured, Homeschooling, Spiritual Warfare Tagged With: cross, crucifixion, failure, faith, hope, Motherhood, parenting, Resurrection, St. Bridget of Sweden, success

Letting Go of Our Nets: A Journey with Peter

By Maureen Smith

The Call

The_Calling_of_Saints_Peter_and_Andrew_-_Caravaggio_(1571-1610)Yesterday morning I took the walk of shame down the side aisle of the Chapel, 5 minutes late and we were already at the Gospel. Frustrated and feeling confirmation that I was definitely a failure at absolutely everything if I couldn’t even make it to Mass on time, I then listened to the Gospel and underneath my gritted teeth felt a sense of relief and the first sign of a smile since yesterday. Having experienced a personal failure a week ago (joining the ranks of the unemployed), I felt comforted by the life and example of Peter.

In the Call of Peter in Mark’s Gospel, which we read yesterday, Jesus clarifies Peter’s vocation and asks him to leave behind what he thought defined him for a life of intimacy and trust in the Lord rather than in the success of the work of his hands.

Similarly, in Luke’s account of the Call of Peter, Jesus uses a moment of failure (on the part of Peter to provide fish after working all night) to reveal His identity as the Son of God while also challenging Peter to discover his own identity, not as a fisherman but as Jesus calls him in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, a “fisher of men.” John’s Gospel recounts a somewhat different, but not inconsistent, first encounter. Here Jesus also reveals to Peter (then Simon) his identity by renaming him Cephas (Peter).

Let It Go!

The_Denial_of_Saint_Peter-Caravaggio_(1610)

As we see in our scriptural pilgrimage, it takes Peter a while to really let go of what he thinks constitutes his identity, as well as his ideas of the Messiah and how His glory should be manifested. We see this when he fails to walk on water, when he rebukes Jesus for predicting his crucifixion, and when he denies Jesus three times.

He may have left behind his fisherman’s nets but there are still many figurative nets holding him back from receiving the truth of his identity as well as what it means to be an Apostle, probably because he is unable to believe the totality of Jesus’s identity which He holds unfolds (albeit sometimes cryptically) to Peter and the others.

Nets

So often we, too, link our accomplishments and the outcomes of our efforts to our identity so that, if and when they fail to measure up to our standards or those of others, we judge ourselves to be inadequate and are quickly overtaken by tidal waves of unworthiness. We assess ourselves by how productive work was, the number on the scale, the number of miles we ran, positive feedback, approval of others, or any other combination of worldly measures of success. It is not wrong that we have aspirations, but it is not true that these standards have any bearing on our identity and worthiness of God’s love and mercy. What are the “nets” we cling to for a sense of acceptance and worthiness that, although they may be part of our calling, are not essential to our identity? Do we need to put them down as Jesus instructs Peter in the Gospels of Mark and Matthew? Or do we need to trust in Jesus’s intercession and instruction as we see in Luke?

Do we struggle to put down these nets because we have a hard time believing in Jesus as truly God, as truly more powerful than our little mistakes or failures to “make something of ourselves?” Yes we can know the truth intellectually, but do we really believe in Jesus, in His power and authority over sin and death, and in the truth that our identity comes from Him rather than our accomplishments or lackthereof?

When Our Nothingness Encounters God’s Mercy

St._Peter_Preaching_at_PentecostWhen we experience failure before the Lord we can become afraid and the shame we feel can be a barrier to further intimacy with him. But these encounters with our weaknesses are often the point of entry for the Lord, just as they were teaching moments and opportunities for Peter.

I think often of how ashamed Peter must have felt in Luke’s account of the Call of Peter. He would have felt a similar sense of failure throughout his journey with  Jesus, however, Jesus uses these opportunities to fill the emptiness in Peter’s heart with His light and truth, which Peter will more fully embrace at Pentecost.

Saint Therese’s thoughts on this passage, recorded in Divine Intimacy by Father Gabriel of Saint Mary Magdalene, give us a refreshing outlook on what Jesus can do with our failures. She writes, “Had the Apostle caught some small fish, perhaps our divine Master would not have, worked a miracle; but he had caught nothing, and so through the power and goodness of God his nets were soon filled with great fishes. Such is Our Lord’s way. He gives as God, with divine generosity, but He insists on humility of heart.”

512px-Rubens_B116In her italics, Therese shows us the keys (no pun intended) to how Peter learned to follow the Lord. We will often find ourselves in the “nothing” stage. This is where the Lord’s grace is most efficacious. However, she warns that He “insists on humility of heart.” This means that we must, like Peter, let go of our fear of failure and put our whole trust in the Jesus and let him be Who He says He is, God!

Now imagine how Jesus looked at Peter in his moments of failure, for example, after a full night of reeling in net after net of nothing. Or when Jesus, after His Resurrection asks Peter if he loves Him. His gaze must have been quite the opposite of Peter’s inward gaze of self-judgment, which actually distorts his perception of how Jesus sees him.

As was the case with Peter, Jesus looks upon our failures with mercy, not with shame, impatience, disgust, etc. He may not immediately reveal His glory in our failures, that usually takes time. We may not reel in a miraculous abundance of tangible goods. Most of our failures will probably require at least a bit of waiting and trusting that eventually Jesus will use this emptiness or failure for His glory and His plan for our welfare…not woe.

Spoiler Alert! (We Will Live Happily Ever After)

Peter, whose blunders are so frequent in the Gospels, shows us that we too can achieve greatness. His ministry most likely did not feel or look successful. It looked much like that of Christ whose life and ministry was looked upon as a failure up until the Resurrection. So also our lives may appear to be lacking in value, but if we remain under the gaze of Jesus and strive to live in the truth of our identity as Children of God, we will achieve the greatest success, sainthood.

Someday, in Heaven, we will hopefully be able chat with Peter, praise God, and laugh about our failures which were transformed into our greatest moments of sanctity. We might feel like we are currently getting a poor return for our efforts, but trust in the example of Peter, it’s worth the struggle!

Genderkingen_2011-05-09_(4)

Read all posts by Maureen Smith Filed Under: Bible Stories, Campus Ministry, Culture, Evangelization, General, Prayer, Scripture, Vocations Tagged With: bible, Call of Peter, encounter, encounter with Jesus, faith, Fisher of Men, Fisherman, Gaze of Mercy, Gospel, Heaven, hope, Identity, keys, Love, mercy, ministry, mission, nets, prayer, Saint Peter, saints, scripture, Vocation

Our Lady of Good Success

By Lisa Mladinich

Our Lady of Good Success

I am most grateful to Lisa who asked if I would write reviews on some of the Lighthouse Catholic CDs. They provide a wonderful opportunity to evangelize ourselves as well as our family and friends.

Take for instance, a recent CD entitled Our Lady of Good Success by Matthew Arnold. This approved apparition was not widely known until the last century. Our Lady appeared to a holy sister, Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres (1563-1635) at various times during her life.

Matthew tells of his visit to Quito, Ecuador where the apparitions took place. In a very engaging way, he draws you into the celebration of this dire, yet hopeful message that mirrors the events of our time. In fact, in the apparition, Our Lady warns of terrible events that would occur in the last half of the 20th century.

Given three hundred years before Fatima, these prophecies seem to tie directly to Our Lady’s messages in Portugal. But these warnings are particularly detailed. The listener is struck by the amazing accuracy of predictions that we have seen unfold over the last 50-60 years.

Imagine Our Lady speaking to someone in that time about:

  1. A total corruption of customs – Matthew points to attendance at the Holy Mass. He mentions a statistic that in 1958, three out of every four Catholics attended Mass. Now, he says, it is more like one in four.
  2. A loss of innocence – He relays that Our Lady said that innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women. Look at the decline in women’s religious orders and of course the assault on our children with television and the internet.
  3. An attack on the sacraments – For example, Our Lady said that there will be attacks on the Sacrament of Marriage and laws will be passed making it easy to sin.

Mathew conveys more of these dire prophecies from Our Lady to Mother Mariana. However, I said that this is a message of hope. It is in a very real sense.

You see, with the moral chaos that exists in our world, Our Lady said to Mother Mariana that when almost all would seem lost and paralyzed, there would be a restoration of the Church. Signs of that restoration have begun. Matthew shares some of these near the end of the talk.

In 1906, they opened the sarcophagus of Mother Mariana and found her body and that of some of the other founding Mothers to be incorrupt. She is currently declared Servant of God and on the path to Sainthood.

I recommend this inspiring message for our times. You can order this CD/MP3 at Lighthouse Catholic Media. Then, spread the word about Our Lady of Good Success!

OLGS740x400

 

God Bless

Read all posts by Lisa Mladinich Filed Under: Evangelization Tagged With: evangelization, hope, Lighthouse CDs, Our Lady of Good Success, prophecies

In Each of Us, Christ: “Christ in you, the hope of Glory (Col. 1:27)”

By Pat Gohn

The truth about you, my dear Christian friend, is that by virtue of your baptism a remarkable thing occurred. The Lord of Life, the King of Heaven, the Almighty God has taken up residence where you might least expect. In you.

St. Paul identifies it over and over again in his letters, but he states it most distinctly when he writes that the mystery God has hidden for the ages has now been made manifest to his saints…“which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col 1:27.)

Indeed Christ came to earth for our redemption, but at the same time, Christ came to restore to us the hope of glory. That is, one day we will live with him, in the glory of the Trinity forever.

Remarkably, that reality started for you on earth the day you were baptized. You became “a new creation” in Christ (2 Cor 5:17).

Baptism is both your identity and your destiny.  It tells you who you are, where you came from, and where you are going.  It defines where “home” is and where you belong.  It sets the course for the rest of your life – and eternity – if you embrace it.

But you don’t have to take my word for it.  I make that claim standing on 2000 years of Christian Tradition found in the Catholic Church, and spelled out in no uncertain terms in the Scriptures and in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC).

A few words about that identity are found in CCC 1265 and 1266:

Baptism not only purifies from all sins, but also makes the neophyte “a new creature,” an adopted son of God, who has become a “partaker of the divine nature,” [2 Cor 5:17; 2 Pet 1:4; cf. Gal 4:5-7],
a member of Christ and co-heir with him,[Cf. 1 Cor 6:15; 12:27; Rom 8:17],
and a temple of the Holy Spirit [Cf. 1 Cor 6:19].

The Most Holy Trinity gives the baptized sanctifying grace, the grace of justification:

– enabling them to believe in God, to hope in him, and to love him through the theological virtues;

– giving them the power to live and act under the prompting of the Holy Spirit through the gifts of the Holy Spirit;

– allowing them to grow in goodness through the moral virtues. 
Thus the whole organism of the Christian’s supernatural life has its roots in Baptism.

Try to take this in: our sonship and daughtership in God is our truest identity – it means that we participate in the divine life of the Trinity, thanks to grace.

Many of us were baptized as infants. Naturally, in that case, we probably have no recollection of our baptism. Therefore some of the power of this truth may elude our consciousness.  Not only that, in growing up, many of us missed out on strong faith formation. So for the sake of those who may not have fully embraced their own baptism, let’s pause and talk about what our baptism looks like from this perspective of Christ being “in” us.

It all began with God’s love for us (See Jn 3:16). Maybe you’ve heard that before, and while its still very true, perhaps it just sounds like a nice platitude you may have heard as a child. If so, listen up: it’s time to understand the depth of our baptism, and all it implies, as an adult.

God’s attachment to us in baptism is intentional, deep, and permanent, indeed, like a lover who brands his or her beloved’s name on their arm as a tattoo. So, too, our God has branded us. God placed his loving yet indelible mark on our souls, like a soul tattoo.

(You could also say that the scars on the Risen Lord’s hands, feet, and side, are the permanent, inerasable marks of his love for us. But I digress.)

CCC 1272 and 1274 continue:

Incorporated into Christ by Baptism, the person baptized is configured to Christ. Baptism seals the Christian with the indelible spiritual mark (character) of his belonging to Christ. No sin can erase this mark, even if sin prevents Baptism from bearing the fruits of salvation…

The Holy Spirit has marked us with the seal of the Lord (“Dominicus character”) “for the day of redemption.” [Eph 4:30; cf. 1:13-14; 2 Cor 1:21-22].  Baptism indeed is the seal of eternal life. The faithful Christian who has “kept the seal” until the end, remaining faithful to the demands of his Baptism, will be able to depart this life “marked with the sign of faith,”[see Roman Missal, Eucharistic Prayer I] with his baptismal faith, in expectation of the blessed vision of God – the consummation of faith – and in the hope of resurrection.

If you read those biblical references in the text above, you’d find St. Paul explaining that this seal of the Holy Spirit is the sign of our salvation… “the seal of eternal life.”

Baptism is the sacrament of faith. It is not something to be received passively since it brings changes with it. Its grace conforms us to Christ. That means there is an added dimension – a supernatural one! – to the soul and body and personality and DNA that makes us unique persons.

We have the potential to take the shape of Christ, or to imitate him more perfectly than if we did not have such a grace. Why? Because Christ’s very life is in us. The glory of God has taken up residence in us.  Not only that, we strengthen and grow that living supernatural “Christ-in-us” whenever we receive the Eucharist: the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. When we receive Jesus in the Eucharist, he recognizes and greets the Christ in us!

Are you getting the big picture? We. Were. Made. For. This.

We were made to be in this intimate, loving, and profound relationship with a God who sees Himself in us.

It’s somewhat like the joy a parent feels when they see a son or daughter who resembles them in eye color or has their freckles, or shares their love of music, or their taste for cheesecake. While the parent see themselves in their child, the child remains their own unique person.  It’s a love thing.

So, we in turn, must live for this love.  The Christ-in-us is an invitation to glory, both now, and in the future. This is our hope and our destiny. But we must choose to live the glory of our baptism, our true identity.

It is possible to waste our life by ignoring who we really are in Christ.

We must become, in full adult measure and stature, our truest selves. Our baptism invites us to become a saint, in the sense that a saint is someone who truly resembles Christ while maintaining his or her unique personhood and distinctive qualities.

The living out of our baptism, or some could call it “the task” of conversion, becomes not just a one-time “coming to” Christ, but a life-long on-going transformation of “becoming” Christ.  Baptism gave us the grace of a head start. It sets us on the path of sanctity – which is another way of saying – this is a journey of a lifetime. That is why we have the Church, and the life of grace that we find there in the sacraments and in the Christian community.

CCC 1992:

[Baptism] conforms us to the righteousness of God, who makes us inwardly just by the power of his mercy. Its purpose is the glory of God and of Christ, and the gift of eternal life.

So now we have come full circle. For via baptism, Jesus sees, and now I can see, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col. 1:27.)

May we have the eyes to see in each of us: Christ.

 

Read all posts by Pat Gohn Filed Under: Catechetics, Evangelization, Scripture Tagged With: baptism, bible, Catechism of the Catholic Church, Christ, Eucharist, hope, Pat Gohn, trinity

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