The Eucharist as the real presence of Jesus Christ body and blood, and not just a representative thereof, is an issue debated since the beginning of the Church. For Catholics this debate is not one from which we should run. Without a proper understanding of the Eucharist, after all, one cannot properly understand the liturgy. Continue reading on Prayer to Pen Catholic Blog
Tag: God
Recipe for Holiness: 3 parts Fortitude
“If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.”James 1:5 Where I lack the greatest wisdom without a doubt is in discerning the Will of God. There are several factors that block my clearly hearing God speak in my life – primarily my own voice and will are often drowning out God’s voice. A very anxious person by nature – I erroneously believe the more of my life I control; the better my life will be. I seem to have this crazy notion that I know better than the creator of the universe what is needed for me to be happy.
God is not in the happiness business – he is in the holiness business. Paradoxical however the more I order my life to holiness – the truly happier I will be. Not the fading worldly happy but a much deeper, “it can’t be taken away from you” joy! His ways are always ‘different and higher’ (Isaiah 55) from any ideas I may hold onto. I see tomorrow, and the next day – he sees into infinity (and… oh come on we have to go there… BEYOND!). My greatest desire is always to avoid pain and suffering – though God did not spare his only begotten Son this fate; why would mine be any different. Jesus willingness to accept the Father’s will, to drink from the cup that was not passed him by – opened the gates of Heaven. Jesus instructions are clear. If you want to follow him – if you want to journey toward those open gates – pick up your cross DAILY and follow him.
A few years ago I was leading a Confirmation retreat – at the end of the day – one young man stood up and began to YELL at me!! Yell… swear… berate — completely misunderstanding and twisting my words, he stirred the entire class into a frenzy. In my arrogance, I fought back.
FIND OUT how this all turned out … read more on Reconciled To You ….
All Rights Reserved, Allison Gingras 2016
Recipe For Holiness – Ingredient #1: Grace
The Grace Trifecta
Standing before a room of 30 or so women facilitating my first faith sharing back in 2006, I fumbled around for the proper words as I tried to answer one participant’s seemingly simple question on the grace of God. What is grace? While I had this innate understanding, I could not formulate the right words to express what I believed it to be. I realized, I had no definition.
Fast forward a few years, I am sitting in a small chapel in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament (aka Jesus in the Eucharist). In my reading I once again face the question, what is grace? This time I open the Catechism of the Catholic Church; and prayed for guidance from the Holy Spirit. That day the Allison abridged version of how I define the grace of God, was born … Read More at Reconciled To You
All Rights Reserved, Allison Gingras 2016
Scripture Verses for Lent
We are winding up the first week Lent, and as I’ve said many times before, one of the best things we can do is read God’s word. One of the best ways to do this is to pray the scriptures that are given to us at Mass. The Liturgy is wrought with meaningful verses to encourage us to deepen our understanding of the Lord’s sacrifice, to open and convert out hearts and renew our commitment to the Lord…Continue Reading…
Happy New Year!
I want to wish all of you a very blessed and Happy New Year (and Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God)! I pray that God blesses your 2016 with many graces and that you draw ever nearer to Him.
God bless!
A True Friend Loves Without Fail
A true friend loves without fail; that is the foundation of true friendship. True friendship requires mutual love between parties. How does a friendship result? First, you identify common interests. Next you perceive desirable character traits in each other. You are drawn to each other, and want to mutually pursue getting to know each other better. Through the interchange of dialogue, you come to know more about each other, and the friendship blossoms. You build trust with each other. Before you know it, you have mutual love for each other, and call each other friend.
The same can be true for our relationship with God. Read more…
Do You Accept God in Your Life?
Do you accept God in your life?
It’s a very simple question. My guess is the answer is “yes” or you would probably not be wasting your time reading this post. I want for you to give your answer more thought. Go deeper. Would the answer still be yes, after answering the following questions?
- Do you accept all of Christ’s teachings, as delivered by Him? Or, do you pick and choose what you think is relevant to accept as appropriate for the 21st century?
- Do you believe and accept that Christ’s moral teachings are unchanging; meaning… Read more…
Good to Great: Actions Give Praise to God
Going from good to great sounds daunting, doesn’t it? It need not be so. To be magnanimous or noble-minded, to be great, simply means that we need to recognize the talents that God has given us and use them to the best of our abilities for the benefit of others. That added extra phrase, ‘for the benefit of others,’ marks the clear distinction of intention between self-sacrificing love for one’s neighbor and self-serving love. Where do you start?
Take an honest assessment of your talents. Perhaps you are a good listener. If so, be magnanimous with your time and give a listening ear to those in need. Perhaps you are a good communicator/teacher. If so, share your knowledge with others. God gave each of us talents, differing talents, which is a good thing. Read more…
If I Am the Heart of the Family, Why Was I Not Missed?
I have always heard that the mother is the heart of the family, especially a stay at home mother with a crew of kids, who also helps with a hobby farm. So Why was I not missed when I spent hours locked in the chicken coop?
You must first understand that even if this was a subconscious belief, I behaved as if I was the most important member of the family. It took a drastic experience to shake me out of my arrogance.
God has a sense of humour and will use any and all experiences to teach us.
continue reading
The Cure for Immodesty!
The cure for anything starts with understanding how it came to be in the first place. Immodesty stems from a lack of self love, resulting in a lack of self-worth. When a person lacks self-love and self-worth he/she tends to hunt for affirmation, looking to fit in, and at times, bowing to peer pressure in trying to fit in to a preconceived mold defined by others. All this person wants is to be loved and to be told that he/she is worthy. This person craves attention, any kind of attention, even negative attention. That’s why immodest people tend to act… Read more…