theROCK

Didymus

I love Doubting Thomas! He’s one of my favorite saints, because he’s just so relatable. We often use his title as a negative thing, perhaps calling someone a “Doubting Thomas.” Really, he is just like you and me. Thomas put his heart and soul into Jesus, followed Him for three years, and gave away everything to be His disciple. Then what happened? Jesus was killed and laid dead in the tomb. Thomas’s heart was shattered.

So many events happen in our lives that shatter our hearts and which cause us to put up walls to protect ourselves. Like if we burn our hand on a hot stove—we make sure to be more careful the next time. Thomas got burned once, so he was not going to blindly believe and get burned again.  However, when Jesus appeared to him and showed Thomas his hands, feet, and side, what was his response? Thomas fell to the ground and cried out “My Lord and my God!” He simply believed.

Jesus says, blessed are those who believe and have not seen. True, we have not seen him like the disciples did in the upper room. However, we have seen the risen Jesus in many ways. In particular, we receive Jesus in the Eucharist.  Every time Jesus is placed in our hands, we should be filled with joy and be reminded of just how much Jesus loves each one of us.

On the Side of Angels

When I attended my first March for Life in Washington D.C. recently, I was surprised at the number of youth attending the march, including some from St. Dominic, local high schools, and universities. They marched selflessly; with faith, hope, and love, trying to protect the God-given right to life of the unborn.

Sadly, it was just a few days later when media showed the ghoulish behavior of the New York governor and legislators celebrating a law that permits the killing of babies just days or even hours before they were to be born. In Virginia, a bill was narrowly defeated that would have allowed “delivered babies” to be made comfortable while the mother and doctor(s) decided whether to take the life of the newborn child.

To be clear, the Catholic Church teaches that abortion is a “grave immoral action” and that we are all entrusted by God to the noble mission of safeguarding life. The Catechism clearly explains “Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception.”

With the death-toll now surpassing 60 million surgical abortions, we can no longer sit on the sidelines and hope for this culture of death to go away. Do not be afraid. Pray and get active. Join a march or a life-chain, peacefully protest at an abortion center or participate in 40 days-for-life. Vote pro-life and tell your legislators to do the same. Teach your children about the sanctity of life from the womb to the tomb.

As Archbishop Listecki said at the Respect Life Mass, whenever we are serving on behalf of the voiceless and vulnerable, we will always be “on the side of the angels.”

Giving Glory to God

As Mass ended last Sunday and we began to sing the final hymn, I thought about what the deacon had just recited as the final words of the service. This one sentence, these nine simple words, are our instructions for the week ahead:

“Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.”

Those are powerful words and I wanted to really understand them as I walked out the door.

“Go in peace…” We are called to action: leave the church with peace in our hearts so that we can spread that peace wherever we go. That’s not always easy. Egos are very fragile these days, and arguments erupt for no reason at all. It’s happening in our streets, in our neighborhoods, even in our living rooms. If we remember these three words, and we believe these words, then we have a chance to shape the minds and hearts of those around us.

“…glorifying the Lord by your life.” Wow. This is quite a challenge. Not only are we asked to give glory and honor to God, we’re asked to do it through how we live our lives! That means asking a lot of questions:

• Is everything I’m saying giving glory to God?
• Is everything I’m doing giving glory to God?
• Is every decision I make giving glory to God?

This one sentence seems so simple and straight forward. But these simple words carry a great deal of responsibility.

“Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.”- Pope John Paul II