Category: Catholic (Page 1 of 2)

Are you worthy of Gods love and mercy?

bible that says you are loved

Yes, no, maybe? There are a lot of people that are running around worrying they are not worthy of Gods love and mercy. As a Secular Franciscan I know I don’t need to be worthy. Jesus makes me worthy. A very smart woman once told the world on national TV that Gods mercy is like an ocean and all your sins are just a drop in it. If you go to confession you will be forgiven. You are also don’t need to be worthy of Gods love. To me Gods love is like the sun. Sometimes it’s like a warm summer day with the sun out and I am just walking around singing walking on sunshine by Katrina and the waves. Sorry I know you hear it in your head now but that to me is when you really feel like God loves you. It’s tangible in multiple ways and sometimes I don’t feel Gods love and it’s like a cold winter night where I don’t see the sun or feel it’s warmth in me. I am in a cold and desolate area that I stay when I don’t feel the love. Sometimes it’s in between. But Gods love is there you just may not feel it or deem yourself worthy of it. The other way I think of Gods mercy is a waterfall with a damn on it. When it’s open you feel the love just flowing over you like your in the waterfall and others it’s like when the damn is closed and your lucky to get a trickle out.

Just know even when you don’t feel it, its’ there. It’s you that don’t think your worthy of it. But you don’t need to be Jesus made us worthy on the cross. Gods love and mercy is for all. No need to ask it’s just there.
So when your down just think I am loved more than I can ever think. God knows every hair on our head. He is always waiting for you . Knock and the door shall be opened. I think it’s time we all knocked on Gods door. Knock knock …

Changing the focus of the blog

Tau Cross

This blog has been running since 2019 and It has been about being a Catholic, Franciscan about gaming , movies and TV.
It is now changing to be more about my Catholic and Franciscan journey.
I now am starting another blog with my friend about movies, tv, gaming and streaming. I am hoping to get a better schedule for this and my other blog. This has to be the priority thought. I want to write at least once a week if not twice and the same at my other blog. I can do it if I make it a priority over things that don’t matter as much. I might be doing some Catholic / Franciscan book reviews and such. See you soon and hopefully twice a week.

Lent update

Photo by Francesco Alberti on Unsplash

Hello All.
Right before lent started I was thinking what I wanted to give up.
I usually do chocolate, pop, chips or something.
This year I am giving up time, or at least trying to.
I am trying to find more time for God.
Every morning I have a alarm five minutes after my wake up alarm to get me to pray. And another alarm at nine pm to remind me to read the bible or some other religious book and then pray.
Also I am trying to leave for work early and go to adoration if only just for 5-10 minutes before work. Luckily there is a great little Catholic church about 3 miles from work and it’s on the way also.
As I said in my previous post I am taking a prayer class at church and it’s fun and I am learning a lot. I am hoping to get closer to God this Lent. I will let you know how I am doing next week. Here hoping I am doing everything and not forgetting. God Bless.

Life is changing

Photo by Josh Applegate on Unsplash

Hello all.
Life is changing again but this time it’s good and exciting.
My term as Minister of the fraternity I am in is almost up.
Our election is in April. And I can’t wait for it.
It’s not like it’s a ton of work, but it’s work I am not good at.
Running the council is easy because of the people on it.
But the fraternity meetings are more difficult because I have to be the leader and be up front and speaking to people.
And as I have stated I am an introvert and really shy.
So being the person that leads the council and fraternity meetings are not in my wheelhouse. But I can say I have grown from it.
I once didn’t talk much during the meetings because of my shyness and such. Now I lead them and am thinking of ways to make all the meetings better. It has had me meet so many people I wouldn’t know and I call friends. Franciscans are some of the best people around.
Even though I am hesitant and don’t do well with crowds they are patient and help to bring me out of my shell. Even when I screw up and make mistakes they come at it from a place of love. And for that I can never thank them enough. I am a better person for it.

So in April after the election I will have one less meeting to go to a month. And I won’t have to worry about the meetings. I am now just be a member of the fraternity like normal. And I will focus on my SA class totally. It’s a good time to a Franciscan in my fraternity.
I can’t wait to see what all the new people do and the changes they make. Just know that God loves you and God is love.

Jesus Loves You

Photo by Neal E. Johnson on Unsplash

Hello Everyone.
It’s finally Friday! I’m so happy for the weekend to come. And where I am it looks like snow on Sunday. I have some plans this weekend but not much. Saturday I am hoping to see Birds of Prey. Then Sunday mass and also my parents and I are taking my nephew out for his birthday. But Saturday is when I do my bible study that I mentioned before. It studies the readings every Sunday.

But the real reason I am writing this is to tell you Jesus loves you.
No matter if you think you are not worthy. He can make you worthy of his love, just by asking. It’s like at mass right before we have communion. We say Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof; but only say the word, and my soul will be healed.
That makes us worthy of his love and sacrifice.

If you feel you are not worthy, You may be hard on yourself or you did something in the past that makes you think you aren’t. Just go to confession and have it forgiven. You will feel better and your slate will be clean. A smarter person than me said that Gods mercy is like an ocean, all of your sins are one drop of that ocean. It may have been Mother Angelica from EWTN. If you just don’t believe you are worthy don’t worry. I had the same problem up until about 5-6 years ago. My Franciscan fraternity and a priest and brothers at a retreat helped me a lot. Just know you are loved.

Word on Fire Institute

Hello All.
I want to tell you about something I just signed up for and think it will be a big help. Bishop Barron has been working on a lot of videos and books. You have probably seen some of his videos like Catholicism and Pivotal Players. His books seeds of the world and Letter to a suffering church are well known.

And a year or so he created Word on Fire Digital. That had all his videos both well known and videos for parish’s in one place and online. It was great and I really loved watching the videos.
Now Word on Fire Institute starts. It is a very interesting subscription.
It offers courses about the Catholic faith, right now there are about 10 of them with 2 more on the way. It also has a community area that is a bulletin board. It also gets you Word on Fire Digital which has many videos on it. But the odd thing and maybe one of the coolest is a magazine called Evangelization and Culture, you get in the mail or look at it online. The magazine is interesting. It is a real nice magazine the paper is good quality and what is in it is great. There is a lot of art and the articles are not just about the Catholic faith but also the culture of our world.

If you are a Word on Fire Digital subscriber, I would cancel and get this. It gives you more for not a lot more money. It is an expensive subscription at $27.00 dollars, but it is worth it when you count the price of the videos to buy. Give it a try for a month and you may like it. God Bless and remember God loves you for who you are.

New bible study

open bible
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Hello All.

A couple weeks ago I started a new bible study. It’s a Catholic bible study by a company called Catholic productions by Dr. Brant Pitre.
It’s a good bible study that covers the readings of Sunday mass.
He usually has two videos an audio file and handouts for you to download.

It has helped me better at mass. I used to read the readings before mass but I kept forgetting. This is nice. You get the videos and everything on Monday. And they email you on Monday to remind you with a link for the week. The first video usually covers the Gospel and the first reading with handouts and then another video on the second reading. The reason I like it is Dr. Pitre gives you the history of the time and why they thought like they did and how it effects us.

God really has a plan and he makes everyone else’s plan work.
Just remember God loves you. Even if you don’t believe you are worthy of that gift. He will meet you where you are.

Spiritual assistant class update

St.Francis
Photo by Grant Whitty on Unsplash

Hello All.

Well it has been 6 months since I have started my Spiritual assistant class, and I have learned a lot. Here is what I have learned about so far.

  1. The role of a spiritual assistant
  2. Franciscan theology / spirituality
  3. The Trinity and us
  4. SA’s and initial formation
  5. SA’s and ongoing formation
  6. Franciscan writers

That’s a lot in the first six months. I have learned so much and have grown closer to God and have started praying more.
This months chapter is on the influence of Vatican II.
I am reading all about it and the reading Lumen Gentium (DOGMATIC CONSTITUTION ON THE CHURCH) and Gaudium et Spes. (PASTORAL CONSTITUTION ON THE CHURCH IN THE MODERN WORLD) .

I have been asking much of the Holy Spirit to help me and still need the help and prayers. I am loving the class and when it’s done it’s my most fervent wish to be a great spiritual assistant to whatever fraternity I am sent to.

Catholic Books

books
Photo by Roman Kraft on Unsplash

Hello Everyone.
I have been thinking about creating a Catholic library.
I have several books already. But I really want to make it bigger and better. I have also been buying more catholic audio books on audible.
I have been listening to Surrounded by love by Murray Bodd OFM
And I like it, but then I am a Franciscan.

When I started my Spiritual Assistant class I had to buy many books. Enough to fill one page. Here are some of the books I have. Some are Catholic and some are more specifically Franciscan.

The Lesson of St.Francis
Manual for men
Eucharistic Adoration
The Hidden power of the Gospels
Ritual of the Secular Franciscan Order
Pocket guide for the rosary
Vatican two in plain English
St.Francis and the third order
Paths of renewal
Armchair mystic
Salt and Light
Prayer Everywhere
To Light a fire on the earth
Rediscover saints
The Power of Silence
Your life is worth Living
Called

I have read the pocket guide for the rosary and also the Power of Silence. Both books are good but very different. the pocket guide is just that and the power of Silence is telling us to be silent again and turn down the noise of everyday life and get back to silent prayer.
I have been reading more Catholic / Franciscan books for class.
And I have been listening to most on my commute to and from work.
So if you can try to set up a small library of books to help you on your journey to God. I have one small laptop desk with a book shelf on it
It’s small buy growing and that’s all that matters.

Christmas Eve

Photo by Walter Chávez on Unsplash

Well It’s Christmas eve. It’s almost time.
My mom has the coolest old school nativity.
I believe it’s like clay or terracotta or something like that.
I have a friend that died this year that had an even older one. She died this year. She was in my Franciscan fraternity. She was a great lady and full of love for everyone. We have a meeting once a month and in December it is our Christmas party. She brings the old Nativity and the best spaghetti i have had in a long time. It’s a bit different. It has bacon in it and between the bacon and the sauce it brings a great flavor to it.
This year since she died we didn’t have her, her spaghetti or her nativity. Someone else bought their nativity and it was good just not the same. Once reason we have a nativity is St. Francis is credited with creating it. And some people don’t put out Jesus until Christmas morning and some put him out right away. I have no preference.
We had a great party but something is lost every time we lose someone in the fraternity. Change isn’t bad it’s just not easy when we are truly used to things and people.
Know that God loves you, even though you may not think you are worthy of his love. You are God can make you worthy.
I hope you all have a great Christmas eve and Christmas season.
Merry Christmas!

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