theROCK

He's got This

Apologies to my mom in heaven and sister in Vernon who will roll their eyes as the word “got” is used thirteen times in this reflection.

Walking through the school hallway, you hear some interesting phrases. One that caught my attention was “I got this.” This phrase was more popular when our son was in grade school, complete with an inflection at the end. A few years ago, our campus access road was named “you got this.” On the softball field, a fly ball is met with “I got it.” We are proud; don’t need anyone to help us. We got this. Right?

Wrong!

While it may be true that you and I think we “got it,” the truth is we don’t “got this” and we don’t need to get it alone. The Good News is God’s got it and He provides everything we need to get it.

Fast forward to the Mass of Remembrance, a beautiful part of the grieving process. How else can you explain it? Families coming together to put their trust in God after losing a loved one. Having participated as a grieving family the past two years with the loss of my mom in 2023 and mother-in-law in 2024, it became quite clear. We don’t got it. God does.

All of us have or know people who have challenges or are suffering . . . medical issues, mental health, relationships, finances, and a host of other things. I am not saying doctors don’t play a part (lest the Pastor get upset with me), and we certainly have an important role in dealing with our own issues and those of someone we love or simply know. God puts the people we need right in front of us. Sometimes we are the person who is called to be the support and guidance needed for another.

What can we do? Pray. Pray WITH others...right then and right there. Be Christ to someone in that moment. Don’t worry, He will give you what you need in the moment.

Lean in. “Let go and Let God.” Give it to Him fully and without reservation. Listen to Him. While we “got a little,” He’s got it all. All we need to do is ask Him and trust Him. One day we hope to understand His reasons for all that occurs in our lives, the blessings and the challenges. For now, just know . . . He’s Got This.

There's Something Happening Here

Do you ever get that "feeling"? The "feeling" that something is going to happen, something big?

I've been having that "feeling" lately. There are times when I think it just might be my nerves getting the best of me but that isn't exactly it. While I don't doubt that nerves have something to do with it, there is something more. I’ve started taking to the idea that this is the Holy Spirit. While driving to work recently, I heard that song by Buffalo Springfield – “For What It’s Worth” – and it has the lyrics: “There's something happening here, what it is ain't exactly clear.” There truly is something happening here at St. Dominic that isn't exactly clear, but it is feeling really good. There is an energy, a life, a spirit. I can't quite put my finger on it but this "feeling" is causing me to well up with pride, with joy, with excitement.

Many Saints write about conversion and surrender, as it is a pathway to holiness. St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta would say, "We have to love until it hurts. It is not enough to say I love. We must put that love into a living action. And how do we do that? By giving until it hurts." This loving until it hurts is conversion. It is surrender because it is counter-cultural. St. Faustina brought us the depiction of surrender through the image of the Divine Mercy and the simple yet powerful prayer "Jesus, I trust in you!" Releasing oneself to the will of the Father is liberating yet terrifying. 

It is not enough to say yes to God when he has called us for himself. It's very important to put that “yes” into a living action. And how do we put that into a living action? By our total surrender to Him. We understand that He has chosen us for Himself - all that follows is that we allow Him to use us without consulting us. We are human beings and we like to know exactly what He wants, how He wants, and so on. But if we really want to be only all for Jesus, it is important that we give Him a free hand to do with us what He wants, as He wants. Only then can we really say we are only all for Jesus. - Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Thirsting for God, 2000.

There is something happening here, what it is ain't exactly clear, but guaranteed is it is guided by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit through the intercession of our Blessed Mother.

Surrendering to God

I have to admit, Luke 23 makes me tear up every time I read it. The reality of Christ’s love that I don’t deserve through His bloodshed on the cross for me pierces straight into the depth of my soul as I hear my own words (paraphrased), “Jesus I deserve to be punished and you don’t. Remember me when you come into your kingdom,” and He replies, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.”

I remember hearing a powerful witness talk about Luke 23 my sophomore year of college given by a senior in our ministry. I was in tears realizing I was a lot more like the first criminal than the second. I believed I already knew everything because I grew up Catholic so I didn’t really need Him. Why was He worth fully trusting anyways? I was content with just “a little Church” in my life and would never be one of those “crazy Jesus people,” instead of humbly realizing that I was justly punishable for my sins and I was deserving of God’s wrath. I couldn’t see through the fogginess my own pride had caused. He was God and I was not. I asked Jesus if He would forgive me for thinking I knew better than Him. For demanding He prove Himself to me as a pre-requisite for believing Him and following Him. I was raised a cradle Catholic, but missed the whole point - Jesus came to rescue me from myself. He wanted me to place my faith in HIM instead of my own ability to rescue me. I realized I didn’t have much of a relationship with Him, but desired all that it could be. These were the first steps in giving up control and surrendering to Him. Jesus started to break down my walls I had built up so high that I myself was blind to it.

As I reflect on this passage today at a coffee shop in Brookfield, WI, my prayer is the same that it’s been since then: “Jesus, continue to remind me I can do nothing on my own - nothing apart from You. Help me trust that what You have to offer me is better than what I think I need, and forgive me for the ways I shut You out. Increase my trust in You and replace my pride with humility. Remind me that I need You. Help me fix my eyes on You alone, placing my faith in You, not myself."

He continues to respond to me, “Sami, take my hand and let me rescue you. I will be with you - right now and forever when you see me face to face in Paradise.”