theROCK

God is With Us

Every now and then we have to go through some of the bad stuff in order to get to the good stuff. The bad stuff, like Jesus’s suffering and death, only helps us to better appreciate the good stuff, like his resurrection. If Jesus didn’t lay down his life for us, we would never have the opportunity to join Him in Heaven. Did you know that the heart of Easter resides in the covenant that God made with Abraham? Indeed, the history of our salvation is the story of God’s covenant with his people as told in the Bible. It is a story that took thousands of years to make. It is a story that continues to be written. It is a story marked by “Yea! God” moments and “Where did God go?” moments. It was in one of the longer stretches of “Where did God go?” moments that led to God sending His only Son to
remind people, teach people, and reaffirm people that God is always there. Faith and trust in God helps you to live joyfully in spite of the difficulties. God is with us – Emmanuel. I am hoping that now is not one of those “Where did God go?” moments for you. It isn’t for me. I can see Him plain as day. I can see what God is doing in us, with us, and through us. He is very much present. He is alive and well this Easter.

May the risen Christ be your joy and peace. May the joy of the risen Christ be your strength in your work, your way to the Father, your light to guide you, your Bread of Life. Remember that the passion of Christ always ends in the joy of the resurrection. When you feel in your own heart the suffering Christ, remember that the resurrection has to come. The joy of Easter will dawn. (St. Terese of Calcutta, Thirsting for God by Angelo D. Scolozzi)

God's Timing

For a long time whenever I read John 11, the story of Lazarus whom Jesus raised from the dead, I identified with Martha and Mary in deep pain and crying out, questioning Jesus’ timing. However, in re-reading, I realized even if Jesus had left right when he got word that Lazarus was ill, Lazarus would still have been dead upon his arrival. Even when I realized this, I was still mad at Jesus for not leaving right away, because he was delaying his arrival, delaying his time to mourn together with Martha and Mary.

This feeling is likely a result the difficult days in-between my grandfather’s passing and his funeral. It was hard to mourn him without all the other people who were part of my memories of him being there while they traveling to be with us. Then I realized, that through this, Jesus shows us both his humanity and his divinity.

Jesus shows His humanity in the limitations of human travel, which prevented him from being at Lazarus’ side while he was dying, and in weeping at the death of his friend. He also shows his divinity, not only in raising Lazarus but also in the prudence to wait so as to perform a greater a miracle in sight of all those who gathered, that they might believe in Jesus.

In a similar way, we might be profoundly feeling the loss of the sacrament of the Eucharist right now, but Jesus is with us, and He will continue to perform miracles, even if they aren’t exactly when we desire them to be.

All Things Start at Home

All things start at home. All virtue. All habits. All learning.

In much of our literature at St. Dominic, we speak to parents as the primary educators of the children. While it reads as a bit of a "no brainer", the magnitude of this phrase is quite large. Here is what the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) says, the source of this phrase:

The role of parents in education is of such importance that it is almost impossible to provide an adequate substitute. The right and the duty of parents to educate their children are primordial and inalienable (#2221). Parents must regard their children as children of God and respect them as human persons. Showing themselves obedient to the will of the Father in heaven, they educate their children to fulfill God's law (#2222). Parents have the first responsibility for the education of their children. They bear witness
to this responsibility first by creating a home where tenderness, forgiveness, respect, fidelity, and disinterested service are the rule...Parents have a grave responsibility to give good example to their children. By knowing how to acknowledge their own failings to
their children, parents will be better able to guide and correct them (#2223). Education in the faith by the parents should begin in the child's earliest years. This already happens when family members help one another to grow in faith by the witness of a Christian life
in keeping with the Gospel (#2224).