Favorite Verses: Day 3

First of all, it amuses me greatly when people use Ephesians 5: 24 to make some sort of radical feminist case. Here for your reading pleasure:

24 As the church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in everything to their husbands.

You can easily see how verse 24 standing on its own seems extremely troubling, especially with our modern sensibilities. And self-proclaimed pro interpreters of the Bible whose own interpretive authority eclipses everyone else's never seem to read on towards my next favorite passage:

25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 Even so husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no man ever hates his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This is a great mystery, and I mean in reference to Christ and the church; 33 however, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Full passage here.

We have such crappy examples in our culture of what love is and how to love. I grow weary of the unsatisfying examples of love that I encounter out there because it's not what I yearn for, and it's not how I want to love others.

Then I look to Christ. I see how He loved the Church, His Bride.

Through everything He taught...through His sorrowful Passion and death...We, as Christians, have the model of authentic, real, genuine love. Self-sacrificial love. A love that is absolutely free, total, faithful, and fruitful.

As I desire to be a husband and father one day, I know that I genuinely desire my future wife's ultimate good, no matter my cost. I want to love her just as Christ loves His Church.

No amount of shades of grey will ever satisfy my pursuit of Love.

So I look to the Cross, the crucifix...to Christ. There, I can ponder the mystery of Love, to know Love, to receive Love...and because of all this...I desire to share that Love.

Lord Jesus Christ, you gave your life for us, your Church, as an act of your infinite love. A love that is truly free, total, faithful, and fruitful. A love that bears great fruit. I pray for the grace to look to You and to love like You. Teach me how to love others, and by Your holy will, my future wife too. 

We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You, because by Your holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.

- JD

Christ on the cross from The Passion // DSD O'Connor's blog

Total Consecration 2014: Day 32

Reading:
Mark 15: 25-39

from Pope St. John Paul II:
Salvifici Doloris, 23

Reflection:
The Cross is a difficult thing to contemplate because it tells of suffering unfathomable. But what makes being Catholic awesome is the knowledge that this suffering on the Cross was redeemed. Death overcome. Sin triumphed over. Etc.

I've been dealing with all sorts of suffering lately. Actually, even within the past hour of typing this. But what's been difficult for me to do is uniting that suffering to the Cross where it be redeemed. Where it can have meaning. Where I can not be alone in my suffering.

Whenever I unite my suffering to Christ, suddenly my burdens are not so hard to bear. I can persevere. I can gain a renewed sense of hope. It's so easy for me to lose sight of that, but in my times of suffering, I must remember the Cross.

I guess that's why, in my latest crucifix craze for the Benedictine cross, I have it in key places where I'll notice it. At home. On my neck. At work.

Response:
I need to do a better job of asking Mary, as my mother, to help me in my sufferings. I know she'll console me through her Son.

Totus tuus,
- JD

Benedictine cross // Why Am I Catholic blog

From Graphite to Diamonds

I need to do a better job of reblogging cool blog posts or talking about other cool blog posts. I mean, I read a lot of them! And sometimes it's just nice to sip on some Mystic Monk coffee and catch up on reading. :-)

A good acquaintance from my parish apparently has been in the hospital lately because he had a lung collapse and is potentially on the verge of having both lungs collapse. He has cystic fibrosis so it's been particularly challenging for him having to deal with chronic lung issues. Please pray for him!

In his latest blog post he says, "Having spent 21 days in the hospital and only having left my room about 10 times in that span, I have had a LOT of time to think. If these thoughts seem a little 'off the wall' it’s because my main company for the past three weeks has been the four walls of my room."

He then offers a brief yet profound reflection on Christ's love for us in a way similar to how graphite becomes a diamond.

This particular blog post resonated well with me because lately I've been dealing with a lot of interior turmoil, conflict, selfishness, etc., and all of that has caused me to be rather ungrateful and to lose sight of God's love and mercy for me. While my problems don't (currently) involve physical ailments, my interior  sickness has definitely been something that has been difficult for me to handle. (Don't worry, I'm okay.)

And reading Daniel's blog post helped me refocus and remember that God can transform seemingly dull and ugly things into something brilliant and precious because God knows what I'm going through for He, Himself endured unfathomable suffering for my sake. Daniel's sake. Your sake.

Put in another way, He can redeem suffering because of His Passion, death, and Resurrection. My suffering, especially when united to His cross, has meaning.

In Daniel's words:

I could complain about basically being strapped to a wall for three weeks, and about my increased chances of having another lung collapse. Well, Christ was nailed to his Cross for three hours and he most likely died by a slow and grueling suffocation. So yeah, he knows a little bit about what I am going through.

Read the rest here.

And you can follow Daniel at Thoughts of a Fibro on Wordpress.

“We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures. We are the sum of the Father’s love for us and our real capacity to become the image of his Son.” - Pope Saint John Paul II
- JD

Graphite and diamond // American Physical Society

The Cross and Black Coffee

Dude, I keep forgetting about ClipArt! #stockimages

I read an interesting blog post about Catholicism, suffering, and coffee from one of my favorite Catholic bloggers a long while ago. Essentially, to drink coffee black is to enjoy that which is not meant to be enjoyable. By way of analogy (and remember, analogies have limits), he parallels drinking coffee black and our worldview of suffering whereas the Church has a different view on suffering.

You can read the original blog post here:
Coffee When It Is Black by Marc Barnes, Bad Catholic

In life, sometimes we find ourselves in situations where we know we'll suffer and thus bear a cross,. And let me tell ya, I've had my share of crosses to bear throughout my life thus far.

But I suppose I'm at a point in my faith where I can handle some of the crosses I bear like I am able to handle drinking black coffee. I used to be like most other people and add cream and sugar to my coffee. I'm pretty sure the workers at McDonald's know my mantra of "one cream and one sugar" as I stop by some mornings on my way to work. Ever since reading Marc's take on drinking black coffee and suffering, I've switched to drinking coffee black.

Now I'm learning to enjoy taking up my crosses. Beforehand, I think I tried sweetening my bad situations with optimism or adding creamer by distracting myself from its bitter tastes. But I never fully embraced my suffering by willingly taking up my crosses. I think I've always taken them kicking and screaming or tried to making it easier on myself through my own devices. Or really, just not keeping in mind of the One who helps carry my crosses. I'm pretty sure He's a pro.

I got to thinking about all this more given some current circumstances in my life. I don't want to give details, but I'll just say that I know myself well enough now to foresee that I will undergo despair and suffering given my current circumstances or the circumstances that I will find myself in.

I have had my crosses in the past, I have crosses now, and I will have crosses in the future.

My take away from all this is that black coffee, as I drink it nearly every morning, is a physical reminder that I should be prepared to suffer. Life doesn't always feel good. Suffering becomes an acquired taste. I cannot handle my crosses on my own so I look towards the One who showed us what it looks like to embrace suffering. One of the lines towards the end of the movie, The Passion of the Christ, is when one of the other thieves sentenced to crucifixion with Jesus asks Him, "why do you embrace your cross?" to which Jesus doesn't really reply but looks upon the thief with eyes of mercy despite His unfathomable suffering from incredible stress, being scourged, having a crown of thorns hammered into His head, and now carrying and embracing the wood that will be the instrument of execution.

It boggles the mind.

Yet! My suffering is not in vain because I know that, mysteriously, God allows suffering to bring about a greater good, and in the most definitive and exemplary event how He does this through His Passion and Death. Yet, He rises, and Death's sting has no power nor victory. We suffer on this earth in joyful hope that He will come again! O, how rich and deep!

But, in the meantime, as much as I don't want to, I need to embrace my crosses in aspiring imitation of His embrace of His cross that one Good Friday. Because it is worth it...in the end.

No cream, no sugar. Challenge accepted.
- JD

This blog post was originally written over a year ago. And maybe I don't keep good track of my draft blog posts. And thus I've edited this post since then.