Why Do I Spell G'D Like That???

The Tetragrammaton is a four-letter Hebrew word used to represent the letters in the sacred name of our G'D. You are probably more accustomed to seeing it like this: YHWH. 

In the time of our Jewish ancestors, the name of G'D was so sacred that no man dared to speak it. This tradition has even been carried into the present era - no one today speaks this holy Name. 

As English speakers, the word we use to refer to our Creator is "G'D". Unfortunately, people today have lost their respect for our Master and now disrespect His name. We forget each day how holy and sacred the name of our Lord is, and we use it carelessly, without much thought. 

Recently, I have become interested in our Jewish brothers and sisters and their traditions. Though they are not experiencing the fullness of our faith through Jesus Christ, I have always felt very drawn to them and I admire the way they worship our G'D. Seeing how respectful and careful they are when using the name of G'D inspired me to do the same. 

Since I began writing the name of G'D in this way, I have had many people ask me why I do this. Just as I have tried to show you through this little reflection, the reason is simple: all I want is to keep my focus on honoring G'D, and my little way of remembering this is to write it differently. That's all it is - a reminder. But a beautiful one, I think.

May G'D go with you!

The Beauty of Going to Confession

You stand at the very front of the line, the army of butterflies in your stomach performing an overly zestful jitterbug. Your sweaty hands are perpetually wrapping around that paper that you used to help call your sins to mind - it's been creased more times than you can count, and barely legible now. In a burst of color, and just when you were looking away, the light flashes from red to green and the door pops open, a pious old lady with a rosary wrapped around her crinkled hands making a beeline for the nearest pew. You take a deep breath in, and out, and you head for the half-opened wooden door. There's no turning back now. 

Whether you'd like to admit it or not, we've all been in this situation before. Whether it was your first confession ever or the one you had just yesterday, every Catholic from the basically-already-a-saint old lady to the non-practicing teen has experienced these wild emotions. And it's only natural, of course. Sometimes we have to bring some particularly heavy things into the confessional, and explaining them to a man in persona Christi (in the person of Christ) can be rather daunting. 

When I was still a little tyke (well, six or seven, but referring to my past self as a "tyke" is just so much fun), I was told by smiling parents that coming out of confession is like "walking on air", and that when you're in there it's like you're "talking directly to Jesus". I'm sure you've heard all these things before, and I'm also pretty sure that nine times out of ten, talking to the priest in the confessional is just plain embarrassing. Sometimes, it's all I can do to not slink down from up on my knees to sitting on my calves, painfully uncomfortable after telling the priest about how I didn't keep up with my Lenten fast or lied to my mother (if you're reading this, Mama, I'm sorry! I love you! I promise to brush my teeth the next time you tell me to!). It's in these moments that I completely feel all those sins, and then it's hard to recover from them. 

What I mean is...

When you had a particularly difficult experience confessing something, or you felt REALLY bad about it, then it's harder to find peace inside yourself POST-confession. This has definitely happened to me before, and it's like the sin is still hanging on there, because you're not willing to let the guilt go. You embrace it, and living in that guilt can, I THINK, sort of become rather sinful in itself. So finding peace after confession? That's definitely the way to go. Seeing as I've been confession-ing for eight or so years now, I have several suggestions. 

1. Find a good confessor. This can be semi-challenging at times, but if you can find a priest that you know really well, it can be awesome. I've always moved around, so finding a priest I know is often difficult. My high school, however, is blessed with the most incredible chaplain in the WORLD, however, so I've been pretty fortunate over the past two years. If you haven't yet found a priest whom you know you can trust, then I encourage you to pray for one! When the time comes, G'D will put people in your path that will be able to help you. 
2. Go behind the screen. For my first confession, I went face-to-face. As a child, I had this completely false belief that people who went face-to-face were braver because they were willing to explain to a mortal's face what they had done. For years, I just continued walking into the confessional and sitting in the chair across from the priest and letting all my sins explode from my mouth in a shaking voice. I personally think this false belief of mine contributed to my uncomfortable feelings surrounding the sacrament of confession for many years. Why have I found more peace behind the screen? One reason, and one reason alone - I'm no longer looking at a person. When I was looking at Father John David, or Father Dell, or Father Bashista or whoever it was, I didn't have my mind in the right place. I was confessing more to a man, and less to G'D. When I go behind the screen, I'm no longer looking at a face, and I can imagine Jesus beside me, listening to me and bringing me absolution and peace. 
3. Remember to prepare beforehand. I always try to examine my conscience before going to confession, per the recommendation. I find that when I do not, I'm stumbling over my words, and this causes me even more stress, and when I'm stressed I forget to remember that I'm really confessing to Jesus and...you see what I mean? It's just a giant hill to tumble down, so reading through a booklet, the Ten Commandments, the Works of Mercy, even the Beatitudes definitely helps my experience in the confessional. 
4. Pray for the priest beforehand. Before entering the confessional, perhaps while you're preparing your heart to receive the graces offered in this sacrament, offer up a quick prayer for the priest. Saint Faustyna Kowalska, the Apostle of Divine Mercy, was extremely dedicated to this practice. At one point in her life, she forgot, and left the confessional feeling less peaceful than usual. It was eventually revealed to her that she did not pray for the priest before entering the confessional and that was why she had not felt as free afterwards. You can find two wonderful prayers here.
5. 
   Be prepared to let go. It doesn't matter what we confessed within the walls of the confessional. As long as you spoke the words with true contrition and the priest absolved you, those chains have been broken and you are free. If, after confession, you feel as though you must confess whatever the sin was again, that is the voice of the Evil One. You must remember that the grace of G'D is with you, the Holy Spirit is inside you, and Mother Mary has her mantle wrapped around you. 

The sacrament of confession is one of the most beautiful things in our faith tradition. I am extremely grateful that I can go in and get a shower of grace to wipe all those messy sins off my soul. Going in it can feel like a struggle, but coming out I feel like a free bird. I urge you to thank G'D in your daily prayers for His wonderful gift of confession.

May G'D go with you!

Why Lent is My Favorite Liturgical Season

The liturgical year is split up into many various parts. There are the seasons of rejoicing, like Christmas and Easter, the season of Ordinary Time, which occurs twice during the year, and then there are the seasons of preparation (Lent/The Paschal Triduum and Advent) just before the big hurrahs of Christmas and Easter. 

For the purposes of this post, I asked my siblings and my wonderful friends what their favorite liturgical season is, and I got pretty much exactly what I expected (see the pie chart for more details!). Most loved Christmas, quite a few loved Easter, several loved the peaceful Advent nights leading up to "the most wonderful time of the year", and a handful enjoyed Lent. No one said Ordinary Time, but that's a discussion for another time.

I totally understand why Christmas and Easter are so beloved - there's no worries about fasting or abstinence, you've been waiting forever to get to the celebrations, and our secular society has wrapped the holy joy of these seasons in stories of Santa Claus and loads of candy. I have no problem with these seasons - I love them, especially when I can start enjoying the good stuff like chocolate whenever I want again after a long, sometimes grueling season of Lent. 

BUT

I cannot stress enough the fact that I am a very weird person (everyone who knows me would say that I am weird - I am proud of being weird, but that's beside the point). I actually enjoy the quiet peace of those preparational seasons, most especially Lent and the Paschal Triduum (nota bene - the Paschal Triduum is actually NOT a part of Lent! It all fits together though so usually I count it as one, but I thought it would be important to mention that it actually isn't all one season). I love being able to unite my sacrifices with Jesus' on the cross, and I love the beautiful quiet that comes around this time. While the world is spinning around us, be it a result of war or pandemic or any other conflict, we are called to enter a time of silence to prepare for the coming joy. We are called to walk with Jesus into the desert and resist the temptations of Satan. 

And then there's the Paschal Triduum! Those days just feel so mystical and beautiful and solemn and I absolutely love it. You go to church Thursday, you're back again on Friday, on Saturday everything is still in the house. Then at a certain point EWTN comes on with the Easter Vigil Mass and you watch the entire church flood with light...and then suddenly you're sitting in a pew on Easter Sunday, the Paschal Candle burning brightly, everybody smiling and looking their best. It's quick, but it is without a doubt the thing I wait for the most in the year - those quiet days of solemn reflection and peace, when you recall the sacrifices that were made for sinners. Some might feel guilty during this time, and I feel an appropriate amount of that too, but I also feel incredibly blessed and loved by the G'D that gave His very life for me. For me! For you! We certainly don't deserve it, do we? And yet He did anyway. And so we are called, each year, to spend these days in quiet reflection beside the cross with Christ. We are called to walk with Him from Gethsemane to Pilate, from the foot of Calvary to the very top, and we are called to die to ourselves and enter the tomb with Him. 

How beautiful that we are given the opportunity to reflect on the sacrifice of Christ in such a special way during the year. I ask you to take advantage of these forty days and find that place in your heart that really does enjoy this beautiful season. Embrace this time of
preparation, and remember in the silence that there are wonderful things to come - things beyond our wildest dreams. 

I am praying for you all! May G'D go with you!

Our Blessed Friends #8

“A MESSENGER OF HOPE”

Óscar Romero

Putting the newspaper down on his desk and placing his head in his hands, the tired priest let his mind run wild. He had dealt with harsh criticism, anger, and even threats before, and reading such degrading comments about him in the newspaper was something he was used to, but suddenly he felt something different. Usually, when he read such criticisms in the newspaper, he was able to bounce back quickly, not worrying about what the writers thought of him. He could not recall ever feeling so hopeless. Looking up at the crucifix on his wall, he prayed for courage and for hope. But who was this troubled priest, and why was he being criticized?

Óscar Romero was born on the fifteenth of August, 1917. He went to Rome to study to become a priest and was ordained in 1942, at the age of twenty-four. He was a very dynamic priest who cared deeply for the poor. After serving in San Miguel for over twenty years, he was appointed auxiliary bishop in 1970. He was not as accepted in his role as auxiliary bishop, and it was at that assignment that he had his first taste of criticism. 

After spending a brief amount of time serving the people of Santiago de Maria as their bishop, Óscar Romero was appointed Archbishop of San Salvador in 1977. 

Óscar Romero used his gifts as a speaker to tell his flock what was going on in the country. He highlighted the cruelty that was commonplace in their society and encouraged reform. He denounced the massacres and the torture and begged the leaders of the country to turn away from their violent, bloodthirsty ways. Speaking on behalf of the poor, Archbishop Romero condemned the evil actions of the government and reminding them “THERE IS A SOLUTION!...WE CAN REBUILD OUR COUNTRY!”

He remained comforting to his people. “AT A TIME OF SO MUCH CONFUSION AND...ANGUISH I ALWAYS WANT TO BE A MESSENGER OF HOPE AND JOY,” Archbishop Romero told them in one homily. And he was. His gentle smile caused all fear to diminish, and his constant repetition of the simple phrase “there is hope” restored people’s hope. 

Archbishop Romero displayed the characteristics of a true shepherd - he was brave, loyal, genuine, and he did not care about what those in power thought of him. Bombarded with thousands of lies in the press, the stalwart archbishop never lost his cool. Always keeping his focus on G’D, the archbishop continued to do his job despite all the negative forces that wanted to overthrow him. 

On 24 March 1980, at 6.26pm, the archbishop fell before the altar while celebrating Mass. He had been silenced, but as he had once said, he lived on in the hearts of the El Salvadoran people. 

Usually in a story, this is where you read, “and the government was so moved by the strength of Archbishop Romero that they reformed their ways, and the country is now free from all past errors”. Sadly, those words are not true in this case. El Salvador is still plagued by destruction. Gang violence is constant, and drugs run rampant. But as the archbishop once said, there is always hope. Archbishop Romero is praying for his people from heaven. We can use our own prayers to pray for the land named for our Savior that was so dear to the archbishop’s heart. And, like Archbishop Romero, let us pray that we too can find the courageous voice inside our hearts so we can speak for the truth.

A Special Intention for Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday is a Church holiday that occurs once a year, and it marks the beginning of Lent. Lent is the forty day period where we prepare for Easter through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. This means we spend extra time praying, give things up to remember Jesus' sacrifice for us, and give extra money to the poor. Lent is a season of contemplation and supplication (this means asking for forgiveness), and, call me crazy, but it's actually my favorite liturgical season. 

This year, Pope Francis has asked us to dedicate our fasts and pray in a special way for peace, most especially in Ukraine (see the map to the right). On the twenty-fourth of February, just six days ago, Russia invaded Ukraine and the citizens of Ukraine are under attack. It is very frightening for them, and we must pray hard so that no more lives are lost and so that we are not catapulted into a war with Russia. 

It is important to remember in all of this, however, that G'D is in control. Even when it seems as though everything is falling apart, He is watching out for us and protecting His people. And in exceptionally dark times, He sends messengers to relay His love to His people, such as Saint John Paul II during the Second World War. It is normal to be a little nervous, but I know that G'D has it all under control, and everything will turn out fine in the end. 

This beautiful Ash Wednesday, remember to keep the people of Ukraine in your prayers, as well as the people in the nations surrounding Ukraine, who are worried about being invaded as well. And if you find yourself worried, remember the words from the Book of Deuteronomy in the Old Testament:

"be Strong and steadfast; have no fear or dread of them,

for it is the Lord, your g'd, who marches with you;

he will never fail you or forsake you."

- Deuteronomy 31:6

May G'D go with you!