Surprised, but not Really

In a time when we need to be working together, a direct insult comes flying in my face on the tv screen.  An insult to the Catholic faith that I hold so dear.  In the final moments of my Joyce Meyer episode on GEB network last night, she aired a clip from a woman who was giving praise for Meyer and her ministry work and more importantly how moved she felt at the womens conferences put on by Meyer's ministry.  She went on to say that unlike the Catholic church she was raised in, she got to go on to the alter with all her brokenness and be healed.  As a woman in the Catholic church she also felt she couldn't lead people in faith because she wasn't ordained or a priest.  She then proceeded to say that at the women's conference, it wasn't about 'religion' but LOVE and FEELINGS.  

Okay, my beef is not that she feels connected and feels healing from these conferences.  It may be a very great and moving experience.  To have that many women together, making changes, allowing the Holy Spirit to move in their hearts is amazing.  God bless these women!  My beef is that she is purely representing what I see as a generation of people who have a deep misunderstanding of the Catholic church.  A misunderstanding that is just running rampant in our society today and supported by our media and promoted in the evangelical world.  

This woman seems to be speaking specifically and only about the offering of the Mass.  Yes, only a priest can preside over mass and Holy Communion.  That's how Jesus designed it.  Now, if a lay Catholic feels called to hold a woman's conference and have alter calls and inspire women with her gift of communication and call to action…she is very much encouraged to do so.  Please do!  Women play such a vital role in the life of the church.  To complain that you cannot offer mass, is just silly.  There are so many ways that you can offer your gifts to the community and most of them are the same as the priest.  

If you seek understanding in the faith you will find out that the reason Catholics don't ordain women is because when Jesus laid the groundwork of the church, he picked men, his apostles, as his leaders when he certainly could've picked women.  There were plenty of women disciples who were part of the early church.  They didn't hold the role of priests but their role was equally important and vital to the passing on of the faith.  We believe that God does things on purpose.  We may not understand but we are not inn the position to change what God has put in place.

As far as altar calls, we Catholics do an altar call.  If that's what you want, it's called receiving communion.  Every week, daily if you wish, you are invited to the altar, in all your brokenness to receive the body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior in the Eucharist.  You can't get much more personal than that.  Every time you receive this you are giving a giant "Yes" to Jesus himself and are uniting your weaknesses to him in the holy sacrifice.  

If you're looking for a spiritual high with all the ladies and seeking that only, as proof that you're forgiven and loved by God then you are seeking the Lord in a way that resembles the early part of a relationship, with all the butterflies and warm fuzzies.  In reality, that fades.  We know that.  Love and faith is about commitment, less about feelings and more about a firm foundation in the body of Christ.  

The meaning of religion is so distorted these days.  It's as if denomination and religion are interchangeable.  She knocked 'religion' as if having a belief system is bad.  Christ gave us his word in the bible.  His word is filled with direction and a philosophy that guides us home to Him.  To believe in this is to have religion.  Everything that we "second" rate christians do, or you may call us Catholics; everything we do can be found in the bible and the early fathers of the church could easily walk into Sunday mass and understand what's going on.  Jesus himself would get it.  We don't believe that we have a better way of doing things and so we haven't changed it in 2000 years because if this is what the apostles were moved by the Spirit to do, well then that's what we should do.  Jesus did say, "do this in memory of me".  What he was telling us to do had everything to do with sharing the gospel and receiving his flesh and blood.  He didn't say, "do this if you feel like it" or "go ahead, change it up if you want, whatever makes you feel good".  

There is no "Joe Catholic", it is the church Christ founded and handed on to his Apostles whom have passed it down to their successors through the centuries.  It wasn't a bunch of misguided religious zealots.  For 1500 years this is what Christianity was.  Until Luther came along and redid the bible according to his inspired ways and changed a few words to support his cause and now we've got some 38,000 protestant faiths, not counting all the non-denominationals, that think they've got the way to Christ.  If the Spirit is moving all these churches how come the spirit is confusing them so much with all kinds of different beliefs.

I am disappointed to have seen this on my uplifting late night program.  I know evangelicals don't like the Catholic church and I accept that.  I firmly believe that I'm not the only Catholic mom watching this at night.  Christians should be having a dialogue on faith in a hope for unity but promoting this division is not helping at all.

Reason to Write

Oh how important writing is.  Writing is a kind of catharsis for me.  It is a way to release and purge, to purify the mind.  What comes out onto the page or screen is not always beautiful but it helps to sort ideas and place them appropriately.  We may also stumble onto things about ourselves that we never knew.  Sometimes I think, "where on earth did that idea come from?"  

Some may say, "I'm not a good writer".  That's why practice of writing is so important.  Creating a habit is difficult but once the work of establishing habit is complete, your creative ability has more freedom to flow.  How interesting is it that routine and structure allows freedom.  It's a conundrum of freedom in fixation.  

On the other hand, if you have a talent for words but don't know where to start. here's a morsel of guidance.  In recent years I heard something about 'growing where your planted'.  It's most beneficial to you and others if you can find a way to grow right where you are in life.  Some may think this is restrictive, but it is very rare for a person to be gifted in a way that they can simply write well about anything.  Write about what you know.  I also see the planted part as the gifts we've been given by our creator.  We did not choose these gifts nor can we change them.  We can be unaware or neglecting of them.  Our job is to discover the gifts we have and develop them.  Development comes from routine, discipline, drive, courage and learning.  

Very few writers are born ready to write best-selling novels.  The skill level comes from a discipline that creates boundaries that in turn provides focus.  Skimming the top of lots of ideas will lead to mediocrity.  Digging deep into what you're good at is where you will grow leaps and bounds.  If your good at something you don't remain good at it unless you work at it.  Improvement involves pushing your limits.  

Even writing for pleasure takes discipline to see the benefit.  Committing to a daily journal can be the hardest thing in the world.  Often we sit down, look at the page, and think that there is nothing worth recording.  Just start writing.  Once you get started the thoughts and emotions will break through that wall of self-critique.  No one has to agree with what you say or like your style of writing.  It is purely for release and mental stimulation.  Writing a letter to a person that you'll never send can be very healing.  Getting your ideas for a new business out on the paper can bring you a more clear outlook.  Free writing may bring you to an idea for a short story or article if you are looking for more in-depth writing tasks.  Finding an emotion that was difficult to deal with in the day and confronting it on paper may lead to a solution.  If you work out a conflict on paper before conquering it in real life you'll have greater success and if it involves another person, you may save face by having already organized your thoughts instead of just spewing out of emotional reaction.

Don't stop before you even get started.  Shut up and write!  In journaling you're creating a history book in a sense, about yourself, for your family members to read and share for years to come.  What a learning experience that could be for a child or spouse.  To sensor or not to sensor, that's a personal choice but highly discouraged.  In a journal you can reveal your true self and all the intricacies of your soul.  How beautiful!  Maybe it's not always picture perfect but who is?  

I've always loved writing.  It's been a great way to reminisce and record special events in my life.  It's been a way for me to vent and express things that maybe I would rather not share with anyone but can't hold in.  It's not about becoming a professional writer.  You don't have to want to write for a living to write for pleasure.  One thing that's really fun to start with is writing a letter to a friend and mailing it.  Remember how exciting it was to get a letter from a friend when we were little?  It's still exciting when we're older!  I can remember reading and re-reading the letters my friend would send to when I was a little girl.  I could be connected with her at any time through her words in the letters.  

Writing is important.  I highly recommend it in this age of snapshot news and video clips.  It takes thought and effort.  Writing allows deep, free expression of ideas and promotes growth in mind and spirit.