rosary

Replaying Our Faith Through the Eucharist

I’m in the process of digitizing old home movies originally recorded on videotape. What I find so interesting is the amount of footage my parents recorded for each event. I have tapes with two hours of footage of a school talent show where I or one of my siblings was on stage for only five minutes. I guess my mom really wanted to capture the feeling of the event and not just have five minutes of footage in a vacuum with little or no context.

I think we can all understand my mom wanting to capture every detail of an event. After all, people upload 300 hours of video to YouTube every minute! Thousands of posts are made to Facebook every second. And everyone is an instant shutterbug with their phones. I bet much of this is to not only record the actual physical events in our lives but also try to capture the associated feelings. And yet many times, these recordings fail to truly capture the true emotion of an event and upon replay they just come out flat.

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But what about our faith? Is it possible to capture our Catholic Faith in a manner that does not lose any of its fidelity when replayed? In his homily on the Feast of Corpus Cristi, Pope Francis talked about how the Body and Blood of Christ is a remembrance of our faith. The Catholic News Agency reported:

“This is why the Eucharistic commemoration does us so much good: it is not an abstract, cold and superficial memory, but a living remembrance that comforts us with God’s love.”

Francis explained that when we receive the Eucharist, our hearts have the opportunity to become overwhelmed with the certainty of Christ’s love for us, the Eucharist giving us a memory that is grateful, free, and patient.

We can see the Eucharist as Jesus’ way of capturing the essence of the Catholic Faith to be replayed every time we celebrate it at Mass. The Eucharist does what no camera and video recording can do, no matter how high the memory and resolution — it captures the entirety of God’s love for us. When Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me,” he wasn’t just telling that to his apostles in the room. Jesus was saying that all Christians, present and future, must remember that the Eucharist embodies all of his teachings and love.

3rd quarter of 16th century (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

But much like a forgotten videotape in a cardboard moving box in a warehouse, what good is the Eucharist if we don’t receive it? You never give yourself the opportunity to replay and feel the essence of Jesus’ teachings or God’s love for you. Don’t get me wrong, you can learn these things at a cerebral level by reading the Bible and listening to homilies. But that’s not the type of memory you recall when you receive the Eucharist. The memories replayed through the Eucharist are often only understood by your soul in a way you can’t easily describe because God’s love is beyond the human capacity to describe it. But just because you can’t describe it doesn’t mean you don’t receive its benefits.

To fully receive the memories of faith in the Eucharist your soul must be in a worthy state. That means receiving it with no mortal sins, having prepared by fasting, and appreciating the solemnity of the Eucharistic feast. Otherwise, you are like a broken video player unable to replay the captured memories. Or at best, it comes out so distorted and degraded that your soul can’t understand it.

When you pray the Fifth Luminous Mystery of the Rosary, remember how powerful a gift the Eucharist is. It is not something to be received lightly but it is something we should be receiving regularly. We need to slow down and remember that our faith is built on the Eucharist. If we don’t slow down, what good is the Eucharist having on our soul? As Pope Francis reminded us:

Our lives are such a whirl of people and events that we no longer retain memories. But this leaves us at risk of only living on the surface of things and never going deeper, he said, “without the broader vision that reminds us who we are and where we are going.”

“This is why the Eucharistic commemoration does us so much good: it is not an abstract, cold and superficial memory, but a living remembrance that comforts us with God’s love.”

Why Rosary Meditation is the Best Meditation

If you are a software developer like me then you probably hear this phrase at least once a week — This is how Google does it. Google, the search engine giant, not only receive accolades for their products but also their development methodology and company culture. They are the gold standard in just about every category of computing. It seems like any study or new theory on workplace happiness or productivity must mention how it stacks up against Google’s workforce.

I was not surprised when I came across this Wired article on how Googlers avoid burnout and secretly boost creativity. Did they discover the perfect work to rest ratio? Did they find the perfect length of time projects should run? Do all Googlers receive a therapy dog upon being hired? It’s actually much simpler. Google teaches its employees how to meditate.

Like this but probably on mats made of $100 bills.

For once, I can take pleasure knowing that I’ve been teaching you, my readers, something that has Google’s seal of approval. I’ve previously discussed how rosary meditation has physical and mental benefits. The science behind the creativity boost is that meditation allows you to switch off conscious thought which is very linear and boost subconscious thinking which taps more areas of the brain to piece together ideas and solutions.

But for once, Google cannot claim founder status on a great idea. The Jews and the Catholic Church have preached the benefits of meditation and prayer from its earliest days. And relatively more recently, Mary gave us the ultimate form of meditation through rosary prayer.

Prayerful meditation may not be trendy, but it’s effective.

Like many mysteries of the Catholic faith, the rosary is a paradox. It is both restful and regenerative while at the same time focused and exhausting. It’s both relaxing and a workout because it engages the conscious, subconscious, and what I’ll call “other conscious” aspects of our being.

The rosary engages our conscious parts of our brain in that we meditate on specific parts of Jesus’ teachings in the mysteries. We recite, presumably with some focus and concentration, prayers. We are recalling all the trials, sorrows, joys, and thanksgivings in our lives and putting them before Mary for her guidance and intercession. Our brain is actively recalling memories and trying to make connections between our circumstances and what each rosary mystery is trying to teach us.

But in that conscious praying, there is also a lot of subconscious meditation occurring as well. People talk about getting lost in the rosary where they get into a zone or flow making them much more receptive to how God is trying to direct them. It’s not that you are praying on auto-pilot. It’s more that the amount of attention you put on thinking about the mysteries, intentions, and prayers gives way to a more subconscious experience where you can better feel God’s presence.

The subconscious meditation of rosary prayer is a lot like riding a bike. Initially, you are aware of the mechanics of keeping your balance, not falling, and moving forward. But once you get the hang of it, the mechanics of bike riding become automatic. It’s not that the mechanics disappear. They have just become so engrained in your muscle memory that they no longer require conscious focus. The same can be said for rosary meditation. The conscious effort of prayer can give way to the subconscious experience of being with God.

Finally, there is the other conscious experience of rosary meditation. And this is what separates rosary meditation from the mindfulness meditation taught by the Googles of the world and is unique to this Catholic prayer. In no other form of meditation do you have the opportunity to actually ask Mary and the saints for help and guidance and get a response through their intercessions. The rosary is more than just a mental exercise of balancing conscious and subconscious areas of the brain because there is someone actually listening and responding to you. Your rosary meditation doesn’t end at your brain’s gray matter but provides an actual opportunity for God to help shape and guide you. Sorry Google, but the Catholic Church definitely has one-upped you there.

Honor Mary for What She Does, Not Just Who She Is

We just finished Mary’s month of May. I hope it was a spiritually fruitful month for you. I want to talk about the Catholic devotion to Mary and how that connects to rosary prayer. This would have been a better article to publish at the start of May rather than in June so I apologize for the untimeliness.

Mary, Queen of Heaven (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Catholic Exchange did a great job of distinguishing the devotion we give to God (latria), what we give to the saints (dulia), and what we give to Mary (hyperdulia).

Latria basically means adoration. Traditionally, it refers to the worship and homage that we give to God and God alone.

Now, Catholics believe that we should not only honor those who excel in the things of this world, but that we should also honor those who excel in the things of the spiritual world (for example, in their devotion to God, their obedience to his will, and their charity to others). That’s why we honor the saints — men and women who, during their earthly life, excelled in their pursuit of holiness. Honoring the saints does not detract from God any more than honoring athletes does. In fact, when we honor saints, we are honoring God, too, for it is by his gifts, and for his glory, that saints are able to excel in holiness in the first place.

And in recognition of Mary’s pre-eminent holiness, the special recognition we give to Mary is called hyperdulia: the greatest amount of honor we can give to any created person.

When we pray the Fifth Glorious Mystery of the Rosary, Mary Crowned Queen of Heaven, we acknowledge her deserving hyperdulia devotion. She was not only exalted in her earthly life by being chosen as the Mother of God, but further exalted in Heaven by being crowned queen. And this is only fitting given that her son is King of Heaven.

We shouldn’t get lost on the honor bestowed on Mary by both God and humanity. We may think that God singling someone out, like he did Mary, would be like winning an award. Some of us may picture it like receiving a certificate you can frame and hang on the wall to show off to your friends that you have God’s seal of approval. But honoring Mary because God honors her misses an important fact. We don’t honor Mary solely because something passively happened to her but we also honor her active response to God’s plan.

English: Diploma — If only we could have something so concrete to know if we’re in God’s Grace. Oh wait, there is! It’s called CONFESSION.

God singling out Mary for that very special role came at a price. But because of her faith, it was a price Mary was more than willing to pay. It’s not like Mary could lead a normal life after the Annunciation. She led a life of perfect obedience to God’s plan even if that meant not understanding her son’s ways and eventually watching him die on the cross.

Mary lived a life of perpetual virtue which couldn’t have been easy. While she was immaculately conceived and free from original sin, she was not divine like Jesus. So living a life of perfect obedience and virtue had to have been challenging for Mary who possessed but overcame all the weaknesses inherent in being human.

When we pray the Fifth Glorious Mystery, we should ask our Queen Mother for the strength to imitate her and live in obedience to God’s will. When we give her hyperdulia devotion we should stand in awe of what she was able to do with her life and what we can do with her help and an active effort from us. Praise Mary, not just because of her status in Heaven, but also because of the effort she put forth in her earthly life as a model of what God asks of all us.

The Importance of Prioritizing Rosary Prayer

In my previous article, I talked about how we need to make every rosary prayer count by staying focused and engaged instead of just racing through it so that it can be checked off a spiritual to-do list. That naturally leads many people to ask this question, “Should I pray the rosary even when I’m not in the mood?” After all, when you’re sick, do you exercise heavily or get some rest? Is it better to skip rosary prayer if you believe you are just going to say the words on auto-pilot?

About a year ago I gave a lecture titled “Would you pray for a million dollars?” I put forth this theoretical situation. Suppose Pope Francis offered anyone who prayed the rosary every day for a month a million dollars. But you receive nothing if you miss just one day. How high would you prioritize rosary prayer amongst your other daily responsibilities? What would be so important that would cause you to skip a day and lose the big payout?

Do I get paid by the bead or by the chaplet?

For most of us, nothing short of the apocalypse would stand in our way of praying the rosary daily for a million dollars (bad example as I’m sure rosary prayer would increase during the Apocalypse). But the kicker is that Mary’s 15 promises to those who pray the rosary are infinitely more valuable than any cash payout. And yet, we so quickly tend to find reasons to avoid praying the rosary and miss out on its benefits.

Back to the original question of this article — should you pray the rosary when you don’t feel like it? Is no rosary better than an unfocused rosary? I think this is actually asking the wrong question. In most cases, it’s not that you don’t feel up to praying the rosary. After all, I bet you would find the time and energy for a cash reward. It’s that we tend to de-prioritize the rosary because we don’t appreciate its value. If we did internalize the importance and benefits of rosary prayer then nothing short of death would keep us from praying it (another bad example since you will be more likely to pray the rosary at the hour of your death).

I don’t want to sound sanctimonious because I certainly have days when I talk myself out of praying the rosary for very weak reasons. We all probably have our moments of weakness that allow Satan to convince us to put away our rosaries and do something else.

No, watching a movie starring Jim Caviezel is not the same as praying the rosary.

Before canceling your rosary prayer for the day, ask yourself whether you prioritized it correctly. Did you put it off all day to a time when you historically don’t focus well? Did you replace rosary prayer with TV or some other leisurely activity? In short, did you set yourself up for failing to pray by not giving it the proper priority in your day? Remember that rosary prayer has incredible benefits that far outweigh any material gain. Don’t casually convince yourself out of praying it regularly for weak reasons and miss out on all God offers you.

Making Every Rosary Prayer Count

I’m a fan of the Catholic Answers Forums. For those who have never visited it, CAF is a huge forum of questions, updates, and news regarding Catholicism. If you read it long enough, you will start to see patterns emerge in the type of posts submitted. You will see posts of the type “Is this a mortal sin…?”, “Please pray for…”, “Why does God allow…?”, etc. I frequently see this one — “Does rosary prayer count if I…?” It ends with “was watching TV?”, “thinking of something else?”, “was listening to it on the radio?”, etc.

I find this way of approaching rosary prayer interesting since I believe it misses the point of why we pray. What does it mean for a prayer to “count?” For me, that conjures up images of our Mother Mary sporting a visor, whistle, and holding a clipboard like a junior high school gym teacher. And she’s marking down how many “valid” prayers you’ve said as if you were taking a pushup test. “Bad form Brent!” “You missed a word!” “Hands not folded in approved fashion.” And in the end, “Not bad; in that chaplet you said 33 decent Hail Marys; you pass!”

“Don’t think I can’t see those knees bending Jimmy.”

I believe many people approach their faith in this binary fashion; that the things you do are scored and count towards getting into Heaven or against it. You’re in Heaven if you rack up a high enough score by the time you die. And who knows, maybe certain aspects of our faith are a little like that like attending Mass on Sunday — if you miss it for no valid reason then you’ve broken a Commandment. Definitely points off.

But I don’t think the rosary breaks down into a nice little checkbox on whether it counts or not. It’s not a pass/fail activity. You have to approach the rosary more like a conversation. Are you talking and listening to God through prayer? Are you concentrating and meditating on each mystery and really trying to communicate with God or are you just going through the motions with your heart and mind are somewhere else? Furthermore, what do your thoughts and actions say about the quality of your prayers? Does prayer actually motivate you to lead a life of conversion towards Jesus’ teachings or does it not really affect you in any meaningful way? Are you just tuning out God?

“That’s whatever you’re talking about for ya…”

Maybe we can think of rosary prayer like exercise. No, I’m not going back to the junior high gym class type of exercise that is highly quantitative and you either pass or fail. I’m talking about general exercise. You can go to the gym and idly walk on the treadmill for 30 minutes. And that is better than nothing. But did you actually push yourself and stress your heart and muscles to make them stronger? Do you follow up workouts with healthy meals or do you down that slice of cheesecake?

Rosary prayer is similar to the exercise experience except instead of stressing physical muscles, you’re stressing spiritual ones. Is the rosary helping you develop a closer relationship with God? Is it motivating you to desire God’s grace and His Kingdom of Heaven? Are you trying to follow up rosary prayer with virtuous behavior while avoiding sin?

Overall, the rosary only “counts” as much as you make it count. It’s not evaluated by some external, quantifiable criteria. I know many of us take comfort in absolutes and it can be frustrating and even a little scary in the absence of it. But the rosary requires faith to accept that there won’t necessarily be a straight and immediate answer to your prayers. But don’t worry, it’s a prayer worth learning and becoming comfortable with even if it doesn’t produce the absolute answers you’re looking for. Because the answers it does provide go far beyond what is observable and quantifiable. Our faith and God’s grace cannot be limited to rules, regulations, and items on a checklist.

Want the rosary to count? That’s entirely up to you. Look at your relationship with God and your faith in His plan. Has praying the rosary given you more faith and a closer relationship with God? If not, maybe it’s time to look at how you can get more out of the rosary by investing more time and concentration to it.

It’s May! Time to Get Out Those Rosaries

For Mary’s month of May, Pope Francis has recommended the “simple and effective” prayer of the rosary.

At his weekly General Audience this morning, May 3, 2017, Francis gave pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square this advice: “At the beginning of May, let us invoke the heavenly intercession of Mary, Mother of Jesus.”

During his greetings to Polish pilgrims, the Pope invited the crowd to applaud the Virgin Mary “Queen of Poland” on the day of the national holiday.

While to young people, Francis urged, “learn to pray with the simple and effective prayer of the rosary,” to sick people, he encouraged, “may the Blessed Virgin be your support in the trial of suffering.”

May is Mary’s month and I can think of no better way to honor our Heavenly Mother than with earnest rosary prayer. The word rosary comes from the Latin word rosa meaning rose. So while you are busy buying physical flowers for Mother’s Day don’t forget to send Mary spiritual flowers through rosary prayer.

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As an aside, I can picture some of you saying, “Wait, you’re saying May is the perfect time to pray the rosary. Didn’t you just say that we should celebrate Easter by praying the rosary? And before that, didn’t you say we should observe Lent by praying the rosary? And before that didn’t you say we should celebrate a new year with rosary prayer? And before that, didn’t you say to celebrate Christmas, Advent, October, etc. with rosary prayer?”

Naturally, my answer to all of those questions is yes! The rosary is the perfect prayer for all occasions. There is never a bad time to pray the rosary or start learning how to pray the rosary. Need help? Please browse RosaryMeds for videos, links, and other resources to help you pray the rosary.

How to Recover After a Disappointing Lent

We’re now in the middle of the Easter Octave and Lent 2017 is in the history books. Maybe you didn’t have the most spiritual Lent this year. Maybe you didn’t give something up or cheated a bit. Maybe you didn’t receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation, didn’t fast, or didn’t commit yourself to prayer. Some of you may not have acted any differently during Lent than any other time of the year.

In the wake of a disappointing Lenten season, it’s easy to throw your hands into the air and say, “well, better luck next year. That’s when I’ll really take Lent seriously.” With that attitude, you basically turn Lent into some sort of spiritual open enrollment period where, if you miss it, you have to wait an entire year before you can make changes to your spiritual behavior. Granted, I haven’t read the entire Bible (yet) but I don’t think God specified a time window on when you can convert and invest in a deeper relationship with Him.

I also hope there isn’t a three month wait list to receive God’s grace.

What can you do now that Lent is over? Easter is a celebration that lasts for 50 days. What better way to celebrate than committing yourself to increased prayer, fasting, and receiving the sacraments. Like Jesus’ parable of the wedding feast, we want to come dressed to this glorious Easter celebration “dressed” appropriately. That means with a soul cleansed of sin and a humble spirit of conversion. Sure, we may not have used all 40 days of Lent to adequately prepare, but getting prepared now and arriving a little late to the party is better than missing the party completely. Better late than never, right?

On the flip side, maybe you had a great Lent which is turning into a great Easter. And while we may ease up a bit on the fasting and sacrifice, we shouldn’t do a complete 180 and undo those gains by sinning, not praying, and ignoring our faith. Hopefully, what you did during Lent will have a lasting impression. For example, I gave up snacking for Lent. But just because Lent is over, it doesn’t mean I’m going to become a glutton (although I may have gone overboard on the donuts last Sunday). While I may not be as steadfast as I was during Lent, I think I will continue to abstain from snacking at least two days a week.

Remember, it will all still be there tomorrow. Stay strong and resist temptation.

After Jesus’ death, many people thought they could back to their “old” lives and basically wrote off Jesus as someone who had some interesting ideas but died tragically. Saint Peter momentarily went back to fishing. Jesus’ disciples started leaving Jerusalem to pick up where they left off. We too may have that feeling that now that Easter Sunday has passed, it’s time we return to our “normal” lives. But Jesus’ resurrection actually created a new normal and permanently altered human kind‘s relationship with God. Similarly, each Lent and Easter, we should be creating a new normal for ourselves as well; always pushing ourselves to form a deeper relationship with God. Let’s not make the same mistake Jesus’ disciples made treating Jesus as a passing fad. Instead, prolong the spirit of the Resurrection and make your relationship with Him something you work on every day for the rest of your life.

What the Rosary Teaches Us About Spiritual Persistence

As a father of two boys, I can sympathize with those who face the never ending battle of trying to keep a clean house. No sooner have I vacuumed the floor that one of my boys starts jumping on the sofa and knocks down a leftover bowl of cereal. Or I just finish cleaning a room and they dump a bin of legos on the floor and start building. On Catholic Exchange, Sam Guzman relates the experience of keeping a clean house to keeping a clean soul in his article:

At any rate, I’ve noticed that, just as a clean house quickly descends into disorder and must be constantly cleaned, so also our souls need constant care and upkeep. We must always be beginning to put them in order again.

There are days when our children have made such a mess of things that cleaning up seems a hopeless task. My wife and I look at each other and don’t know whether to laugh or cry. Yet, we begin again.

In this life, holiness is found in beginning again and again. It is constant examination and conversion and regeneration of heart. Holiness if found in repentance. And repentance is not merely feeling sorry that you sinned. It is rather a re-turning to God—a thousand times a day if necessary.

My kids’ room 5 minutes after cleaning it

I call this never ending practice of conversion spiritual persistence. Spiritual persistence is continuing to pray and have faith in God’s plan even when it seems fruitless. When I pray the rosary and ask God for help building my spiritual persistence I meditate on Jesus carrying the cross in The Fourth Sorrowful Mystery. Jesus was literally beaten down carrying the cross with no hope for relief. Each time he fell down and got back up, he only had more cruelty and torture to look forward to. And yet, Jesus got back up and began walking again towards his crucifixion.

I think we all have moments when we ask ourselves, “what’s the point?” Why should I suffer for doing the right thing instead of taking ethical or moral shortcuts? Why should I fast? Why should I go to Sunday Mass? Why should I go to Confession? What good will these do since I’ll just go about sinning again in the future anyway?

Sometimes we can see our faith more as a cross than a blessing. We too often focus on what we give up or the effort required and not the benefits. Part of the challenge is that the sacrifice we feel immediately while the joy and grace are often delayed or is so subtle we don’t feel it. As an analogy to keeping a clean house, we so often tend to dread the steps needed to make a house clean that it often overshadows the joy of having a clean house.

This is where meditating on the fourth sorrowful mystery of the rosary becomes important. It puts all these perceived inconveniences into perspective. Jesus endured far worse doing his father’s will. If Jesus saw the importance of his Passion, we should ask God to help us see the importance of trying to live a spiritually healthy lifestyle. We may not always like housework, but we understand the importance of maintaining a clean house. And we may not always enjoy the obligations our faith puts on us, but we pray the rosary to understand why it is so important that we follow God’s plan.

As we near the end of Lent, many of us probably feel beaten down and tired. We may be tired of fasting, abstaining from meat, the increased prayer, etc. But instead of focusing on pain, let’s ask God to help us see the joy that comes from these Lenten practices. The joy that comes from letting go of some of our worldly pleasures and replacing them with God’s grace. The joy in understanding that we will one day find true happiness in Heaven due to our spiritual persistence in this lifetime.

And Jesus Wept…

We are coming down the home stretch of this Lenten season. Like a movie, the conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees is hitting its climax as Jesus’ miracles get larger and more public but so does the ire of the Jewish authorities. It, of course, culminates with Jesus’ crucifixion and then resurrection. Similar to how the readings are hitting their crescendo, so too should our observance of Lent. It’s time to pick up the praying, fasting, receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and just putting our faith front and center in our lives.

This upcoming Sunday’s Gospel is the account of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. I want to focus on one specific verse. It’s a short, three-word sentence — “And Jesus wept (John 11:35).” It is easy to overlook the significance of this sentence when you know what Jesus is about to do. In fact, this sentence does not seem to make a lot of sense. If Jesus was going to raise Lazarus from the dead, why did he weep? Naturally, the other people wept because they did not know Jesus was going to raise Lazarus. But why would Jesus, someone who healed and raised others from dead, weep when he knew that Lazarus’ state was only temporary?

English: Picture of the And Jesus Wept statue ... — English: Picture of the And Jesus Wept statue that stands next to the Oklahoma City National Memorial. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Jesus’ weeping ties him to our shared humanity with him. It is so easy to see Jesus’ divinity in the accounts of him healing others, performing miracles, and resurrecting from the dead. On top of that, we have the Catholic Church and it’s billion+ members in all its grandeur. But after 2000 years we tend to forget that Jesus was also human. He shared all the same emotions as us except the tendency to sin. Even when he knew that he was going to raise Lazarus, his weeping told people that he sympathized with them and understood their grief. He did not distance himself but instead drew us closer to God by making himself more relatable.

When we pray the rosary, we should remember Jesus’ humanity in addition to his divinity. Remember that despite all the miracles he performed, Jesus was one of us. He showed grief at the death of a loved one. He showed fear in the Garden of Gesthemene before being arrested and crucified. He showed anger when he threw the merchants out of the temple or the countless times he chastised Peter. Even going back to the story of Lazarus, the Gospel says that Jesus was “perturbed” by everyone’s lack of faith. Yes, it seems like Jesus wasn’t immune from frustration.

Jesus asks a lot of us. He asks us to live for the Kingdom of Heaven and convert by turning away from our sinful or earthly ways. Like a defiant teenager rebelling against his parents, we may tell Jesus, “Easy for you to say! You’re perfect! You just don’t understand what it’s like to be me!” But Jesus replies, “I understand perfectly. Remember, I know what it is like to be human. I shared the same feelings and emotions. And I ask these things of you because I know what it is like to be you. I’m not some distant God who does not know the human condition for I experienced it personally.”

You think you have it tough, try healing a man on the Sabbath!

Fasting, praying, reading the Bible, and confessing sins are all difficult during Lent. And in general, living a spiritual life can be difficult. But the Church calls us to this life not because it expects us to fail. The Church does not call us to a holy life that is completely beyond our ability to grasp. The Church follows Jesus’ teachings born out of his experience being human and knowing what we are capable of.

Saint Joseph — Our Model for Perseverance

Poor Saint Joseph. Even on his feast day, which we celebrated earlier this week, the news was all about Mary and Jesus. The Gospel reading was either the story of Joseph almost divorcing Mary or the Finding of Jesus in the Temple which is the Fifth Joyful Mystery of the rosary. He’s not exactly cast in the best light in either story. It would be like your friends coming to celebrate your birthday by telling everyone that story about the time when you almost left your wife over some marital problems or that time when you left your child in a large city coming back from a vacation.

Flash forward to the Nativity which we celebrate when we pray the Third Joyful Mystery of the rosary. Again, Joseph is a side character in those events. While he makes up 1/3 of the Holy Family, in most accounts he’s a background character.

But God teaches us a valuable lesson in the person of Saint Joseph. There is the lesson of remaining faithful even when life does not turn out exactly how you envision. I’m sure Saint Joseph did not anticipate telling people a story that stretched credibility about how his wife-to-be become pregnant. Nor did he probably want his son born in a stable so far away from his home. And he probably wasn’t too happy learning that they needed to flee to Egypt to escape King Herod‘s wrath. I’m sure, like many of us, Saint Joseph probably wanted a “normal” life but it just never seemed to be in the cards for him.

And yet, Saint Joseph did whatever he was asked to do or what needed to be done given the circumstances. He did not question, complain, or rebel. He is the example of following God’s Will no matter where it may take you because of the intrinsic happiness that comes from serving God. At many times, Saint Joseph could have acted in a way that would have made his life easier and happier. He could have divorced Mary and found himself a more normal life as a carpenter. But that would have been a shallow, temporary happiness because nothing outside of God’s grace can be anything but that.

We too often find ourselves in a situation that is far different than what we expect or want. Maybe we have a hard time finding a job or hate the job we have. Maybe we dream about and desire a lot of nice things that we cannot afford. Maybe our family life is challenging or feels unfilling. Maybe we have illnesses or limitations that prevent us from leading a “normal” life. But all of us, no matter who we are or what are circumstances may be, have one ability we can exercise if we choose — to follow God’s plan for us. It may not lead to the easiest life or the one you have always envisioned, but it’s the one most aligned with God’s Will. And ultimately, that’s the best life to lead.

If there was ever a patron saint of “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade,” it would be Saint Joseph. When you find yourself in difficult times or if your life just hasn’t worked out the way you thought it would, pray to Saint Joseph for strength and guidance. Think of him as your spiritual drinking buddy who can sympathize with your problems and can give you advice even if it’s just, “be strong, stay the course.”

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