Angels, Our Heavenly Messengers

Today is the feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael the Archangels in the universal church. This day brings a smile to my face as my name also reflects the angels.

I believe we are all at one time or another in each others lives angels. We send heavenly messages to each other. On the flip side, and I don't wish to dwell on this now, we can often times be messengers from the opposing team.

But it is the heavenly messengers that bring light, love and hope. Last night, my new friend Michelle brought a heavenly message to me. The truth of our hearts we can most assuredly deny and do our own will. But God is the author of our hearts and of love and HIS will will be done or it is to our detriment. We must simply open, surrender and agree.

As my friend and I were discussing, to love is not an easy call. For both man edify's woman and woman teaches man how to love. A man and a woman love on a superficial realm in the beginning. He loves with his eyes and the emotions that flow from his heart based on that and the woman's qualities. The woman loves what she hears and receives from the man. She loves his words and his gifts of love and service.

This is all wonderful and necessary but the call to love is deeper. It reaches into the heart of truly putting the other before yourself. This means that other important relationships and  other things that are important to you take second place. For it is really how a new creation is born. It is a hard call. We all have things we hold dear to our heart. And I dare say those same things is what is an obstacle in our relationship with God.

We are to love God first and then everyone else and everything else. It is not based on conditions or in certain circumstances, it is absolute. But we put our work, our  hobbies, our money, our children, our parents, our passions, our intellect, our pride or our self preservation first. Our treasures are all unique and not necessarily just one. 

I know the one story many people have a stumbling block with is the story of Abraham and Isaac. (Genesis 22:1-9; For an interesting analysis http://christianity.about.com/od/Old-Testament/a/JZ-Sacrifice-Of-Isaac.htm) God had promised Abraham many things thru Isaac and yet was now asking to slay him.

In Abraham's view he had faith that God would reconcile the act somehow because of God's earlier promises and so he was going to follow through having full faith that God would vindicate him. It was a test of faith. As we know an angel came and stopped Abraham from slaying Isaac.

Which brings us to tests. God tested Abraham. Whether we like it or not tests help ferret out loyalty and trust. It is not conditional or based on the circumstances.

How many of us would pass this test? I dare say not many even if God had earlier promised blessings predicated on Isaac living. We would rationalize that God does not work this way, that it must be satan giving this suggestion and we are mistaking it for God. 

The thing is God wants us to surrender and trust him. Of course He does not want what is bad for us but what is good. And sometimes what is good is disguised in what we think we don't want. None of us want to suffer, to give up what is dear to us, and yet loves call is that and it is for our greater good. 

Abraham's acts of faith gave him even greater faith and his honor multiplied. He is the Father of the faithful and by Jesus referred to him as "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." Obviously the sacrifice of his son was also a symbolic of God's love for us where by Jesus his only begotten was sacrificed for us. And yet again the glory and triumph  of Jesus resurrection and to whom every knee will bow was the reward.

We have to trust. I have to trust that God's will will be done and I must just surrender my heart to him and trust that the love he has put there will be for my greater good.

Which bring me back to my friend Michelle and the call to the vocation of marital love which obviously happens before the marital vows are spoken. For God brings two souls together for His purpose and those two can not have any other person or thing before that love or it can not be. It does not depend on the circumstances or conditions. Love is a gift from God and we either surrender to it or impose our own will when the trials get to hard or the tests are too great.

Love is not a legal contract or dependent on where the relationship is at. It is all encompassing and a purging. It purges us of our pride, our other interests, our work and other attachments. In our Catholic ceremony the priest is just a witness to the public profession of love before God. God brought them together and what God brought together no man should try to divide. That love was there before the vows and the vows simply make it formal and the bodies then reflect what the souls already know, the self surrender to one another and in that self surrender open to the gift of God love and sometimes children.

Marriage is a symbol or a sacrament that mirrors our relationship with God. The new creation puts God first. It is not two individuals putting God first but a new creation of one with two members putting God first and by natural extension each other.

Do we naturally love this way? Yes and no. Yes I think God call's us in every stage of our life to love but our fears which breed our pride often times cloud the right thing to do in love.

And this brings me back to angels. We can invoke their help in prayer and supplication. We can pray to the others guardian angel for help in helping them guide their way.

And we must trust that those angels have very special heavenly messages for us and it is up to us to listen and surrender and follow because we trust God and His plan. Thank you God, Our Heavenly Father, for Angels, Our Heavenly Messengers.

A Sure Path to Joy

Seeking a path to joy is the reason I started the certification process for Theology of the Body last month. It was something a good friend of mine had suggested I explore on numerous occasions. All I knew about it was it had something to do with sex and chastity.

Now midway through the classes, I realize that it is much deeper and broader than I ever imagined. It has made me concur with George Weigel's description that it is a “theological time bomb set to go off".

Although this blog will only scratch the surface, it is my hope I can do justice to this complex topic, and that you will inspired to dig deeper into this joy afterward. There is both a wikepdia article and a book that is a quicker and easier read on this subject.

So humbly, here I begin:-). The Christian faith and it's timeless principles have around for over 2,000 years, and every generation has had it's challenges with it. I feel this is because our fallen/disordered nature hasn't changed either but only our knowledge of the physical universe and the given theories and circumstances we inherit. We remain and will always be, in this reality, largely ignorant of infinity.

Theology of the body is the perfect angle in the beautiful prism of truth that speaks to us now. According to theology of the body, our body and our complimentary sex is a divine representation of God. In other words, we are created in the image of God. By sex I mean our maleness and femaleness which is stamped on our bodies, minds and spirits.

This dignity of the body came to fruition when the Word became flesh. In other words when God became man through Jesus Christ. By this act, He made us aware of the dignity of the body. He took on flesh to redeem, and restore it through the resurrection. We are not meant to transcend the flesh but restore it and embrace the entirety of our embodied spirits.

In our bodies lies the stamp of self gift one for the other, woman for man and man for woman. Because this is how we are designed, to completely give ourselves to the other and become one, it is in this nuptial union that we come closest to experiencing divine love here on earth.

Through the nuptial union, the sexual embrace, comes the possibility of new life. In fact without this union we would not exist. In this nuptial union then lies the meaning of our whole existence and the meaning of life. From this comes the deepest foundation of our human ethics and culture.

In simple language, as sex goes, so goes marriage and the family. As marriage and the family go, so goes the world.

Yes there are anomalies just as we are designed to see and some of us are born blind. And, as a culture we have tried to change the rules of sex and new life. I believe there are three main reasons we do this and brings me to the core of our human struggle.

Freud, Marx and Nietzsche all had their theories on what motivates human beings. Freud thought it was all about the lust of the flesh (sex), Marx thought it was the lust of the eyes (money, economics), and Nietzsche thought it was the pride of life (power or our will to dominate). One could argue they are all tied together.

In juxtaposition, the virtues that free us from these motivations are the same virtues the religious take in the Catholic faith. Chastity (for sex), poverty (for money) and obedience(the desire to dominate/pride/power ). These are so contrary to what our disordered state wants and, not surprisingly our culture, that it seems both horrible and impossible to embrace.

It's horrible perhaps because it seems like we are dieing and in a sense we are. Our baser side dies. On the other hand, we are freed from this struggle between our baser side and our divine impulses. In our disordered state we struggle with these baser desires. This certainly doesn't lead to peace or joy.

On the one hand if you indulge your baser desires thinking they will lead to happiness, you will want more. That is because happiness is a temporary state that will always lead to wanting more. Instead of finding more happiness however you ultimately find emptiness. If you unleash your baser desires you at best become a slave to them and at worst you self destruct and harm those around you.

Along with becoming free from these struggles, the virtues free us to truly love others (not lust after or use them), pursue and create what we love(instead of pursuing money), and to love God (instead of trying to be Him). All this Love enables us to be truly joyful, and we no longer feel compelled to chase happiness, the counterfeit of joy.

Is it impossible? No. It's obvious that it's not easily attainable, but the first step is you have to want it. A famous St. Augustine saying before his conversion was God grant me the virtue of chastity but not just yet! Because this virtue begins with what your heart and mind entertain you have to start wanting it there. If you choose it inside first,your body will follow suit.

Chastity is when your sexual passions are in subordination to your will. In other words you choose when to engage in that self expression in thought and in action. You rule it and it doesn't rule you. Then you are truly free to love another. You can then choose to express it in an exclusive way in the nuptial union. It even extends into the nuptial union. In other words, chastity doesn't end when you get married, its a way of life. Your focus is on the other and what they want--Love never self seeks.

Love is love before, after and beyond. Love is the fruit of chastity and ALL the virtues. May we have the grace to educate and be educated on Love and embrace the sure path to joy.

El milagro de amor

There are 3 competing events of late and likely more to follow which means the blogs may be once a week now as we head into the new year. The first muse happened last week and involves romance which is perhaps an appropriate last muse of the year.

A lifelong query of mine has been why, when and how does romantic love happen? Two friends this year reacquainted themselves with an old high school friend or beau fell in love and in short order married. Another friend married at 58 for the first time ever this year as well. However love graces souls, it seems apparent that it cannot be planned, forced or willed into action.

As Americans we live in the future so much. Planning our careers, when the right time to marry is and with what kind of mate, when is the right time to have children and how many? What married life looks like and how much work it will be. We plan to buy a home, go on vacation and what to do on that vacation. We plan for retirement and some even for our death. Sure wrenches come along the way but we by and large feel some sense of control over our destinies or at least it seems this way. This illusion is very strong until one day a marriage ends when it wasn't based on love, a health concern forces us to reevaluate our lives and change careers, or the unexpected choices our child makes leave us heartbroken.

Perhaps the one thing that has eluded me which I have tried to systematically plan for forever it seems is romantic love. In the past I set a time frame around it. When that didn't pan out, I read countless of dating books. I have even gone through phases of treating dating as a part time job by going all out on all venues of dating and lining up dates for weeks on end. I went thru many years where I unwittingly had a boyfriend October thru Valentine's. Once I recognized this pattern I stopped. Needless to say the biological clock led to crazy overtures from saying novenas to vehemently trying to and successfully catching bouquets at both weddings I attended this year. This year I also dated with purpose and tried to will something into being. In the end however, choosing anything over love seemed wrong. Sure I have found plenty of guys who grew infatuated with me and thought they wanted to marry me, and I have fallen in infatuation a couple of times with guys who were not really available to me. In the end, however, that mutual romantic love just never happened.

My self analytical inquiries have been exhaustive. I am too picky. I am not ready. I set impossible standards. I have to high a moral code. I don't give guys a chance. But by far the worst has been, I can't love and commit. Others obsession with my singleness seems to have taken a life of its own as well as I am mellowing. My family's pressure is one thing and to be expected. But when friends, roommates and even neighbors comment on when will I marry and settle down, I realize my own past obsession has new people that are taking on this role:-)

After all the queries in my head and heart and for all those around me who care and mean well, I have only one answer. It is not in God's will yet and perhaps may never be. A few years ago I went to a church talk and I saw a short video on how to be happy. The one thing that stuck and still sticks is to only marry for love. With that answer, I can honestly say I have never said no to love, it just hasn't graced me yet. And my answer now is that it is in God's mighty hands. It has been all along:-) I now also say that if I am graced by love, I will know when the real thing comes and that gives me peace.

And even though I am inspired by the most unlikely stories of love I have heard yet this year, I must honestly admit I have doubt that that story will one day be mine. So amidst all of this, this beautiful Christmas season, I feel blessed to know one deep and romantic love that will never leave me. Remembering Christ's birth is the miracle of love and may it grace us in all the forms He wills. And may we always remember that Love is indeed a miracle.