BITS AND PIECES: Random thoughts from Lectio Divina meditations.

Sometimes, I forget what my Lectio Divina thoughts presented to me, only to be dumbfounded that they seem to “pop up” later in the most unauspicious times and places. I might be in the bathroom and I get an impulse or virtual image. This is not important, but it is interesting to how my mind works (or doesn’t).

Here are some examples of what I mean by bits and pieces of ideas.

• When Adam and Eve were shown the tree of the knowledge of good or evil in Genesis 2-3, were there any fruits left on the ground that had recently fallen?
• It wasn’t the apple in the tree of the Garden of Eden that got us into trouble, it was the pair on the ground.
• One of the greatest hoots in history is Christ establishing his One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church and then entrusting it to a person who had denied him three times, maybe four.
• The Pope is infallible in matters of faith or morals when speaking “ex-cathedra,” not because of anything that the Pope did, but because the Holy Spirit overshadows him in this specific instance (two times), The precedent is in Luke when the Holy Spirit overshadowed her. The Holy Spirit overshadows me at Baptism, Confirmation, Matrimony, Holy Orders, Penance, Eucharist, and Anointing of the Sick. See a pattern here?
• Like those old men who accused the woman of adultery in https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/8:8-11, I am much more tolerant of others the older I get.
• When was the last time you cried tears of sincere mercy for the sins of your past life? Last night for me.
• There is only one requirement to become a Lay Cistercian, http://www.trappist.net, and that is we are sinners in need of redemption and mercy, daily.
• Baptism is a moment of Faith, but it is not because we have chosen God but that God has chosen us. This opens up dual citizenship to all Baptized (citizen of the world and citizen of the kingdom of heaven and adopted by the Father).
• Mary is not called a Saint. She is called Blessed from the very beginning.
  • Lk 1:39-56
  • Mary set out
  • and traveled to the hill country in haste
  • to a town of Judah,
  • where she entered the house of Zechariah
  • and greeted Elizabeth.
  • When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting,
  • the infant leaped in her womb,
  • and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,
  • cried out in a loud voice and said,
  • “Most blessed are you among women,
  • and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
  • And how does this happen to me,
  • that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
  • For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
  • the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
  • Blessed are you who believed
  • that what was spoken to you by the Lord
  • would be fulfilled.”
  • And Mary said:
  • “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
  • my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
  • for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
  • From this day all generations will call me blessed:
  • the Almighty has done great things for me,
  • and holy is his Name.
  • He has mercy on those who fear him
  • in every generation.
  • He has shown the strength of his arm,
  • he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
  • He has cast down the mighty from their thrones
  • and has lifted up the lowly.
  • He has filled the hungry with good things,
  • and the rich he has sent away empty.
  • He has come to the help of his servant Israel
  • for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
  • the promise he made to our fathers,
  • to Abraham and his children forever.”
  • Mary remained with her for about three months
  • and then returned to her home.
• Who did the dishes and cooked and washed clothes and kept the children, while Jesus was proclaiming his Father’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven?
• Can someone go to Confession and not receive absolution from the priest, even though he gives it? If you think you can get away with murder for three Hail Marys, rather than totally dying to your false self, you have totally missed the purpose of the Sacrament and set yourself up to think that evil is good.
• Catholics have at least three ways to seek forgiveness for their sins. GOOD- Ask God to be merciful to you, a sinner, and seek the grace of the Holy Spirit. BETTER: Ask God in the presence of the Church (Beginning of the Eucharist) to have mercy, then receive Holy Communion. BEST: Confess your sins to the priest in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and receive not only absolution but the grace to keep your firm purpose of amendment.
• Grace is the energy of God. I access that power in my Lay Cistercian practices and charisms but I must not keep it to myself but share it, just as Christ did. That is called good works and is the product of my offering my will to the Father on earth as it is in heaven.
• Humans don’t give Faith. We can gather together in, with, and through Christ to ascend to the Father with all honor and glory through the power of the Holy Spirit.
• If you think that Catholicism is all about keeping rules you have not learned how to dig deeper into your Faith. That is where the treasure is.
• The purpose of life is not marriage, but the purpose of marriage is Life.
• Celibacy is not a job to be performed but a charism to be used to die to self in a way that is not marriage or being unmarried. It is so difficult that one must seek conversion daily lest the Evil One tempt priests to just see celibacy as an inconvenience, rather than a sign that contradicts the world.
• Don’t get cocky, if you are a Catholic. You may think being Catholic gets you automatically to heaven because you have the fire policy, but if you don’t make the daily payment on it, the fire insurance company will dump you. And then what?
• You are what you read. You are what you eat. You are what you place as the one, immutable center of your life. Without help, no one can survive the onslaughts of the Devil. This help comes in the form of the Word and Scriptures which are stories to tell us how to become more human and less animal. This help comes from the Eucharist and eating the real food and drink, as Jesus says. This help comes from placing Jesus at our center and then working each day to keep Him centered. Original Sin is the default of the world which tarnishes our good works, if we don’t keep them polished daily.
• It is only when I go inside myself to walk up those stairs to the upper room of my inner self (see the photo above) and sit down in silence and solitude, not having an agenda of my own but saying, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” and then WAITING for the answer, that I can die to my false self and put on the wedding garment of Christ’s banquet.
• Awareness is key to sustaining Faith. Early in life, I was distracted and actually made a poor choice for my center for sixty years. During that time, I wandered in the desert thinking that God was made in my image and likeness. When I woke up (I am a Woke advocate), I was aware that, like Adam and Eve, I had lived most of my life without ever working to dig deeper. Being a Lay Cistercian helped me to stop, rest, and think again, now using my waiting skills to let God have a word edge-wise. Behaviorally, my way of acting is now measured against the Gospel as interpreted by the Magisterium of the Church, the Rule of St. Benedict, and the special adaptation of the Cistercian Way (silence, solitude, prayer, work, community) that Lay Cistercians use to “pray as they can,” as Brother Michael Lautieri, O.C.S.O. taught us.
• St. Benedict says we must “…treasure Chastity” (RB 4:64). Chastity is not the same as Celibacy, but all Catholics must “treasure Chastity,” and that goes for everyone who wishes to call themselves Catholic.
• Have you ever asked someone who is an atheist, agnostic, gay, divorced, a prisoner or a Protestant to bless you? If they can bless you, what does that mean? We are encouraged to love those who don’t love or agree with us, even if we can’t agree with what they do. I have friends in all the categories above and don’t think of them as inferior but as friends.
• Don’t judge anyone in the Church as to their motivation and let God judge those outside of the Church.
• Five skills moms and dads need to teach their children (up to and including 79 years of age):
  • Learn that the riches of Catholicism are gold hidden beneath the surface of your humanity and how to dig to find them.
  • Learn to access that upper room of your inner self in contemplative prayer and be still and wait for the Lord. (It takes skill and much practice.)
  • Learn to love a Jesus sitting next to you and assimilate that love into your heart daily.
  • Learn that people around you need mercy and that you should not confuse the person with what they do that is evil.
  • Learn to be of service to those in need because of the love Christ has for you.
• Those in heaven don’t need our prayers, we need their prayers. Both those in heaven and those on earth can pray for those in Purgatory that “…they be loosed from their sins.”
• Do you believe those in heaven really exist?