theROCK

Trust

In the past three weeks, I’ve had my credit card compromised, I’ve received three fraudulent emails (hackers trying to get me to click on a link to steal my identity), and one suspicious phone call with a man asking me for money.

My trust level is at an all-time low. And I know I’m not alone. We live in a world of looking over our shoulder and questioning “does this look and sound right?” Unfortunately, we have to be prepared for the worst as the scammers are out in full force these days.

But then I think about my faith. Has my trust worn thin in my faith? Do I truly “put things in God’s hands” and let him guide my life? Or do I worry and obsess over things? Do I let the little things in life bother me? 

True trust means letting go, even when we’re afraid. God has told us so many times, “I’ve got this. Trust me.” Yet we don’t always let go of our anxiety. Isn’t it time we let down our guard? Isn’t it time we let God lead the way.

You can check your email and watch your credit card. But when it comes to your faith, just remember one thing. God’s got this.

Commit to Communion

Do you remember the time when we were asked to refrain from eating from midnight until we received Communion the next day?

From early Christian days, “Do this in memory of me,” meant to recall and participate in Jesus’ action in which he poured himself out for us. When we come up to receive His precious body, we also commit to communion with Jesus, that we too will pour ourselves out for one another. That’s quite an oath we take each time we come forward.

Now that we are required to fast just one hour before communion, how are you preparing to make this promise of self-emptying? Too often, we are in such a rush that we don’t run our week, it runs us. When we live the work week in chaos and haste, we often cannot slow down on Saturday evening or Sunday morning and relish what we are to receive.

Preparing ourselves to receive the most precious body and blood of our Lord, is not just something on the “to do” list. St. Paul says, “As often as you eat this bread…you proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes.” The only way to truly proclaim His death is your willingness to participate in it.

Every time you process up for communion, you are exchanging your promise to live as Jesus instructed in exchange for the divine gift of eternal life.

Do not waste an opportunity. Pay attention.

It's Never Too Late

What causes radical changes in our heart from day to day or week to week?  I can have days where I heavily invest in my relationship with God, and the next, push God aside and fail to spend personal time with Him in prayer.

A Jesuit at Marquette once told me that if Satan cannot tempt you into sin, he will keep you busy. Busy with work, busy with school, busy with extra-curricular activities. We run around all day until we collapse of exhaustion at night, only to repeat the next day.

That is the gift of Lent, to slow down and focus on what truly matters: God. Prayer, fasting and almsgiving are meant to help us focus on our love for Christ over everything else that could control our lives. I, like many others, get caught up in the busyness and my good intentions fall to the wayside.

Yet, I am drawn to the second criminal on the cross. His life is done, he does not believe he can be or should be forgiven, yet he decides to put his trust in Jesus. Jesus responds by saying: "Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise." It’s never too late. There is nothing you can do to lose God’s love. If you desire God’s love and ask for it, you will receive it.