Category Archives: Anxiety and Worry

Lord of the Dead by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Anxiety and Worry, Church, Evangelism, Prayer, Scripture

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Death is something that we don’t usually think about or talk about.  We do know that people die, but somehow most of us feel that we won’t.  Intellectually, we know that we will, but we still we do not embrace death as something that we are heading to.  Yet we are.  You could say that we are all born to die.  None of us know when, or how, it will happen, but unless the Lord comes again while we are still alive, we will experience death.  Our faith, based on the death and resurrection of Jesus, tells us that death is not the end.  Surely the body stops, but who we are as a person continues.  The Church celebrates the Resurrection in all that we do.  In November, the first two days really call this to mind.

In his letter to the Romans, St. Paul said, “To this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living”.   Matthew, Mark and Luke all say that “He is not the God of the dead, but of the living”.  In looking at these two statements, at first they seem at odds with each other, but in essence they are saying the same thing.  Death no longer exists.  God is Lord of us in our death and our life.  When our bodies fail, we know that our soul continues on.  As Catholics we believe that we go to Heaven, Purgatory (preparation time for Heaven), or to Hell (quite permanent).  We also believe that someday, at the coming of the fullness of the Kingdom, our souls and our bodies will come together in the Resurrected body.  Until that day, the “dead” in Heaven and Purgatory still exist in communion with the living Church.  We are all the Living Church.

While we Christians are alive here on earth, we are known as the Church Militant.  We are soldiers of Christ who still struggle with sin and evil.  We have been redeemed by Jesus, and filled with the Spirit and can raise ourselves to great Spiritual heights, but we still fight darkness within ourselves and throughout the world.   We continue to work for the transformation of the world by preaching and living out the Gospel.  We do hope to receive God’s grace and go straight to heaven at the moment of our death.  We look forward to being a Saint.  Sometimes we make it, sometimes we don’t.

Often when we die we are not quite prepared for heaven.  We are definitely on the way, but we need a time of purification.  We call this time Purgatory.  The souls in Purgatory are known as the Church Penitent (or Suffering or Expectant).  It is a time when we know that we will see God in Heaven, but we must first come to grips with what keeps us from fully coming face to face with God.  Do not think of Purgatory as a mini or temporary hell.  It is more like a waiting room or antechamber for heaven where we get ready in order to enter.

For those who go straight to Heaven and for those who go there after their purgatory process, the souls in Heaven are known as the Church Triumphant.  We will be face to face with God and with His angels and Saints.  The Church here is Triumphant, but still awaits the coming of the fullness of the Kingdom at the end of time when all will be one in praise of God.  All things will be made new.

This all brings us to the two days we celebrate this week, All Saints Day and All Souls Day.  All Saints Day commemorates ALL of the Saints in Heaven.  Even though it includes everyone in Heaven, the main focus is on the Saints who have been named by the Church.  All Saints’ Day was formally started by Pope Boniface IV, who consecrated the Pantheon (originally used by the Romans to honor their gods) at Rome to the Virgin Mary and all the Martyrs on May 13 in 609 AD. Boniface IV also established All Souls’ Day, which follows All Saints.  All Saints Day is a Holy Day of Obligation. 

The day after All Saints Day, we celebrate All Souls Day which commemorates all those souls who have died, but have not gone to Heaven yet.  These souls are in Purgatory.  They are being prepared for heaven.  They enjoy the knowledge that Heaven is theirs, but they need some time to remove the stains of venial sins.  They are a very important part of the Church.  In our Catholic wake service we start by saying that “all of the ties of friendship and affection which knit us together as one throughout our lives do not unravel with death”.  Our loved ones, whether in Heaven or in Purgatory still have connections with us.  We can turn to them to help us in prayer.  We are not sure of their status, but whether they are in Heaven, or in Purgatory, they are still connected to us and can pray for us.

Truly our God is a God of the Living.  The scriptures are filled with story after story and parable after parable and teaching after teaching that points this out.  Because of the death and resurrection of Jesus, Death no longer has a hold on us.  We were all born to die.  It is a natural part of God’s plan for our salvation.  We should not fear death, for in death we find LIFE.  Those who have gone on before us, whether they are in Heaven or in Purgatory, are still a part of us as the Church.  They still care for us and love us and pray for us.  These first two days of November are a time for us to see that our God is God of the living and the dead.  We, as a Church, are all alive in Him.  Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies” (John 11:25).

 

 

An Election Editorial by Catholic Girl Blogging

Anxiety and Worry, Church, Ethics, Godly Patriotism, Morality, Peace and Justice, Sin

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It’s funny what a strange dream can lead to.

Last night I had a dream that I was standing in a pitch black room.  The only light came from two glowing red lines, one in front of me and the other behind me.  Faint white smoke plumed from the red line in front of me, indicating its heat.  Out of the darkness, someone approached me from behind and began to chuckle in my ear.
I woke up trembling to my alarm.

The minute I logged on to Facebook, I was hit with posts about Trump and Hilary; the Clinton campaign emails about Catholics being backwards, Trump’s disgusting words about women and so on.
Not a day goes by without the election being on my mind.  November 8th once felt like a far-off event, but now it’s drawing nearer, getting closer each day like a hungry spider slowly crawling to its cocooned prey.
While I waited in the drive thru on my lunch break, I found myself pondering the dream.  As I replayed it in my head, a strange thought crept in: “You have no choice, my dear.  You must choose.”

I silently murmured to myself, “And what if I don’t choose?”
At that moment, I had a mental image of the red lines turning into ropes and a trapdoor that had been under my feet the whole time opening.
I snapped out of it when I heard, “Welcome to Jack-n-the-Box!  May I take your order?” With a shaky voice, I ordered my food.

Just like the frightening dream, our country is locked airtight in the devil’s bind; we currently have two disordered candidates with their personal character being questionable at best and repulsive at worst.  The way I see it, this political bind was years in the making and our nation fell headfirst into this trap long ago.

I’m probably going to sound like a Republican old man living in a red state when I say this, but truth is still truth no matter who is telling it.  Out of my way, Donald, this Independent female blogger from bluest of blue California is about to tell it like it is.
We have kicked God out of America; out of our schools, out of our media, even out of our homes.  We have rejected the values our Lord holds dear.  Our nation allows unborn babies to be slaughtered for any reason, continues to redefine marriage and mocks morality.  You know something is wrong with a country where a rapist can serve only six months in the county jail for violating an unconscious woman.

Mother Teresa once said, “Find your own Calcutta.”  No need for me to look far, Mama T, because I’m living in it.  We may not have people literally dying on the side of the road, but we are a nation of homeless people, splintered families and abandoned veterans.  America may be rich in resources, but we are poor in principles.  We are a prosperous but hopeless land, thinking we can make it on our own and without the God who bestowed upon us our freedoms in the first place.

Of course the devil would take advantage of this.  He has done so little by little, convincing us to remove God from the public square in small doses.  What started as snowball removals, such as attempting to take God off the dollar bill and then successfully removing Him out of our schools, has avalanched to where we have became a nation under God in name only.  People are more divided than ever before.  We no longer see each other as children of God, but rather as enemies if we disagree with one another.
How else do you think two people whose personal values are not rooted in Christ have been able to run for the highest office in the land?

So here we are, trapped in a ditch of our own making, being forced to choose between two candidates nobody wants to elect.  We have come to a crossroads regarding what we want our nation to be and we have no idea where to go from here.  Can our divided culture be healed?  Can the damage that has been done be reversed?  Can this damning bind be undone?

In all honesty, I don’t know.  I really wish I could tell you that all will be well, but everything depends on individual Americans, and based on the way things are now, I don’t think a revolution of compassion is on the horizon any time soon.

What I do know is that society will change once we change our hearts.  We as a nation must open our hearts in order to change them.  Jesus is a savior, but He is also a gentleman and will never force Himself on any person or any country.  If we are not willing to turn to Him, then He will let us hit rock bottom if that is what it takes to open our eyes.

I say this a lot on the Catholic Girl Bloggin’ FB page and I’ll say it here: The best thing you can do is just strive to be a better person in your every day life.  Instead of getting into a shouting match with a friend over a political issue, stop and try to remember how much you value their friendship and then try to find common ground with them.  Hold open doors, call a family member and tell them you love them, smile at a passing stranger, help someone carry their things, find volunteer work or a charity event to participate in.  The list of ways you can exercise kindness is endless.

I know, this seems like a cop out, but it actually isn’t when you really think about it. Kindness means going outward instead of turning inward, which is something many Americans have done.  Once you look beyond yourself and see the struggles of others, you begin to wonder what you can do to serve them.  It was selfishness and pride that got our country in this mess, so maybe humility and mercy can be the stepping stones towards a new tomorrow.  You won’t fix this country in a day, but you can change the outlook of one person’s day and maybe, just maybe, that person will go on to help another and a gradual chain reaction will begin.

Any time you are a positive force in your family, at your job, within your neighborhood or wherever you are, you are doing the will of God.  It is written in John 13:35, “This is how all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

In the dark torrential sea of political discord, you have the opportunity to be the calm island where weary travelers seek refuge.  America is in a big mess, but you have the power to have an impact in your own humble way.

“Sanctify yourself and you will sanctify society.”
–Saint Francis of Assisi

“Modern prophets say that our economics have failed us.  No!  It is not our economics which have failed; it is man who has failed-man who has forgotten God.  Hence no manner of economic or political readjustment can possibly save our civilization; we can be saved only by a renovation of the inner man, only by a purging of our hearts and souls; for only by seeking first the Kingdom of God and His Justice will all these other things be added unto us.”
–Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Our Lady Undoer of Knots, pray for us.

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Bio:
Catholic Girl Bloggin’ is a twentysomething California gal who started the blog in June of 2015. She writes movie reviews, saints biographies and frequently shares quotes from her heroes, Padre Pio and Mother Teresa. You can check out Catholic Girl Bloggin’ at http://catholicgirlbloggin.net/

A POWERFUL SPIRITUAL WEAPON FOR US ALL by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Anxiety and Worry, Blessed Virgin Mary, Church, Godly Patriotism, Miracles, Peace and Justice
Our Lady of the Rosary (Victory)
Our Lady of the Rosary (Victory)

               The course of world history was dramatically changed in 1571.  On October 7th, about 30,000 Muslim men and 300 Muslim ships gathered off the coast of Corinth, Greece, ready to make their attack on Europe.  A Christian army of about the same size with about 100 fewer ships went to stop them.  Europe was threatened and the Muslims had already taken over the Byzantine Empire by 1453.  An increasingly divided Christian world was being governed by Islamic law.  Even some parts of Europe, right up in to the Danube River Valley, were under Islamic rule.  In 1570 Cyprus had been overtaken.  Now the Muslim armies were attacking Greece and Italy with the intention of capturing Rome and the Church.  The future of western Christian civilization was hanging on this battle.

               Pope St. Pius V knew that something had to be done, and that the future of the Church depended upon it.  He also knew that even though the Christian and Muslim armies were about equal in size, the Muslims were fierce and determined fighters and they had 100 more ships.  He knew that God’s intervention was needed to assure a victory.  He was also aware that the Rosary was a very powerful method of prayer and he asked everyone to pray the Rosary asking for a Christian victory.   Pope Pius V asked all of the religious convents and priories throughout Europe to pray.  He also had all of the armies and fleet crew members praying the Rosary.   On the day of the battle of Lepanto, October 7, 1571, the Pope left a meeting with his cardinals to go to the window and pray the Rosary.  He had no way of actually knowing that this was the day of the battle.  He returned to the meeting and told the Cardinals that the Catholic fleet had been victorious.   Mary had assured him of that, long before any conventional news methods could reach him.

               The victory had been quite miraculous.  Even though they were outnumbered, the Christian fleet lost only 17 ships and about 7,500 men, while the Muslim fleet was totally destroyed or captured and the Muslims lost almost all of their 30,000 men.  The Christians also set free over 2,000 slaves that the Muslims had on their ships.  There was no doubt that a miracle had occurred.  Europe was saved.  St. Pius V immediately attributed the Victory to the prayers said in the Rosary.  He instituted the feast of Our Lady Of the Rosary, which we still celebrate today.

               It is interesting to note that not only the prayers of Mary through the Rosary were present, but a little bit of the New World was there too.  In 1531 when Mary appeared to Juan Diego in Central Mexico, she gave him a special image of herself that is still in existence today.  The local Archbishop of Mexico had an exact copy of this image made and sent it to King Philip II of Spain.  When the king was sending his fleet to fight at Lepanto, he gave Andrea Doria, one of the three principal admirals of the fleet, the copy of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  The admiral placed it in his ship and led the fleet in to battle.  They also flew the blue flag of Our Lady of Guadalupe on their masthead.

               The Rosary has been, and still is, a powerful spiritual weapon for all of us.  When reciting the scriptural prayers of the Rosary and when meditating on the various mysteries of the Life of Jesus we draw ourselves in to the very message of the Gospel.  It lifts us to new spiritual heights.  All of us have various “battles” that we fight in our own lives.  The Rosary can help us be victorious over them.  I also think that it is important to mention that the Rosary lifts us in to the arms of Jesus, who is the Prince of Peace.  Although this article pays special attention to the military battle of Lepanto, we must remember that the primary goal of Jesus is to bring peace.  Let us continue to pray the Rosary asking God to lift us up and grant us the Peace that only He can give.

REMEMBERING 9/11/2001 by Deacon John Clymore and additions by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Anxiety and Worry, Church, Godly Patriotism, Prayer

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This morning I ran in to a friend of mine who was one of the survivors of the attack on the World Trade Center Towers.  He was working in the building when the first plane hit.  We talked about the day, and I could still see the pain in his eyes, even after 15 years.  I also thought about other friends of mine who lost their son, Alfred (employee of Cantor Fitzgerald), in the attack and another friend who lost her father (fireman).  Her wedding is coming up in October.  We had a special remembrance at our Church today which ended with a bag piper playing AMAZING GRACE and a NYC Fireman walking through carrying a folded flag (like those given at a funeral).  I looked out from the altar and saw many parishioners crying.  We were all affected by this horrific act of terrorism, and must never forget it.  I still remember how we ALL pulled together in prayer and action right after September 11th.  We have lost so much of that.  A friend of mine, Deacon John Clymore, wrote the following article about his experiences that day.  He has given me permission to share it with you.  Here is his article:

THE FIRST DAY What a beautiful day it was; a sky lit up in blue with the most beautiful clouds. I Was just starting my work day on Halsey Street in downtown Newark, NJ. I was working for The Commission for The Blind & Visually Impaired for the State. My work was with the executive director for this branch of service who was blind since the age of seven, having lost both eyes to infection. I would read for her and put it on cassette; I would also bring her to different locations in the state and the surrounding states. On this, what was to be a day of destruction, I was in my office when shortly after 0800 a jet hit one of the towers, and someone yelled that the tower was struck. We gathered in the lobby of the 5th floor where there was a television.  At first we thought it was a terrible accident and so we prayed.  Then the second tower took a hit and we realized we were attacked and there was absolutely nothing we could do but pray. Never had I ever felt so defenseless and different emotions took their turn on me; fear, anger, sadness just some of those running through me.  At about 0900 a decision was made to close the building and to send employees home. Here was the start of a very long day.  Many of the dozens of employees were blind, many had working dogs and they needed to be brought home. I had a state vehicle that held two passengers and their dogs. They lived in northern Jersey and on a normal day, it would take less than an hour to take them home, but not this day.  It took about three hours to deliver them to their homes. Now the journey home, I lived in south jersey in a little borough named Union Beach. The NJ turnpike and the parkway south would actually be quicker going home with very little traffic heading south, but across the lanes going north were police, fire, and military vehicles heading to NY City to aid in the ongoing rescue after the collapse of the twin towers. Upon arriving home I walked to the beach where directly across the bay lay NY City. Now, where the towers stood, were dust & ashes with the sky full of black smoke. The beach was covered with hundreds of people, the time about three o’clock in the afternoon. People were walking back and forth praying the rosary.  People were sobbing openly not knowing how to help or what to do.

THE SECOND DAY Holy Family Catholic Church was overflowing for morning Mass, people praying, people still sobbing some not knowing whether family were alive or dead, for many in Monmouth county worked in the towers. We were watching nervously the rescue taking place on the TV hoping and praying that people would be found alive in the rubble. The terrible deed would cost many lives. First responders lost hundreds, and many firemen and police were killed

THE THIRD DAY The church is overflowing again and people were in prayer and sobbing still. There was so much respect and a different attitude toward each other, no matter what color race or culture we were, we were one, we were Americans.  Back to the present day,  the leadership of AMERICA causes division amongst races, culture, and religion; shame on the political powers for doing this. It is from both major parties; they are a disgrace from the White House down to the street.

THE FOURTH DAY

The Church is still overflowing with people still as one in prayer and pain with no place to turn but GOD. Back to today,  society takes the Jews and Christians and throws them to the wolves, especially the Catholics.  What has Greed and political powers cost the people of AMERICA? Wake up AMERICA and get back to who we are.
THE FIFTH, SIXTH, AND SEVENTH DAY

The Holy Church is still overflowing. There is not a sound from the sky except that of nature. For there is a no fly zone throughout America and this silence is different. There is a story circulating, a line dozens deep standing outside of St Patrick Cathedral, for it is filled with people waiting to enter. Outside there is a reporter asking questions and she stops in front of a gentle man and asks “are you Catholic” and he answers “no, I am a Jew.”  She said, “Why are you standing in a line to enter a Catholic Church?”  He responded, “To pray”.   The reporter said, “Shouldn’t you be at a Synagogue” and his response is amazing.   He said, “No the Catholic doors are open to all and this is a time when we all need to pray together!!!”            Peace Deacon John Clymore

 

My friends, how true this last statement is.  I believe that Deacon John Clymore did a wonderful job of not only sharing what he saw happening, but also pointed out the extreme difference 15 years has made.  After the horrific attack, our country pulled together, under God, and saw each other as fellow Americans.  Today God plays a small role in the lives of most Americans, and we seem so divided.   We cannot forget this terrible act of terrorism against our country, and we should not forget how we must turn to God and towards each other as Americans.  Let us work towards better unity within our country and let us remember that our National Motto is, IN GOD WE TRUST.

Hope, Abortion, Peace, and Saint Mother Teresa

Anxiety and Worry, Church, Morality, Peace and Justice, Penance and Reconciliation, Saints

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Isaiah 49: 1b – The LORD called Me from the womb; From the body of My mother He named Me.

One of the things that I learned long ago, is that God calls us to love people, not to judge them.  He is the one who judges, not us.  As I write this piece on abortion, please know that I would never pretend to know what leads a particular mother to the point of making a decision to abort her child and that I would never want to judge her for that decision.  I leave that solely to God.  I do know that all life is precious to me and that I would want to do anything I can to help someone make the choice to allow their baby to come to full life.  Perhaps some people can take this lightly, but I cannot.  Life is a precious gift and I think that built in to every woman is that desire to nurture life.  To go against that instinct to nurture, by deciding to have an abortion, must be a most terrifying decision.  I could only imagine that the mother has to be in a very difficult situation to make that decision.    I would think that she has lost all hope in what the immediate future has for her.  As Christians, we need to help women put in to that predicament.

One time, a woman that I knew, come up to me and asked me why I was always smiling and always so happy.  I told her that it was because I believed in a God who loved me, gave me hope and forgave me.  She said that she found it hard to believe in a God like that.  She had lived a very difficult life and it was only recently that she had been able to come out of those difficulties.  A few days after our initial encounter, she asked to speak to me in private.  We talked for a while and she told me that she didn’t think that God could forgive her.  I asked her why she thought that.  She told me that she had an abortion when she was quite young and that it had plagued her with guilt ever since.   She told me that she couldn’t forgive herself, so how could God forgive her?  I felt really bad for this woman, and the pain that she had held on to for over twenty years.  She had been away from the Church for quite some time, but was just now coming back.  I asked her to speak to a priest about forgiveness and receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  I also hooked her up with a local organization that gave counseling to women who have had abortions.  Fortunately, she took me up on my advice and responded well and the change in her gives new meaning to the phrase, “born again”.

For those of us who see abortion as something quite wrong, I believe that we can help to prevent it by working exactly where we are, with the people that are around us.  This could be family, friends, co-workers, etc.  If we reflect a sense of HOPE, and people can see the joy that God gives us, they will come to us.  I also think that we need to ask God to put us in the right place to try to help someone make the right decision, that is, to give life to their child.  God can use us to help those around us.  The personal touch is so much better than anything else.

There is no doubt in my mind that abortion victimizes the mother, as well as the baby.  I have seen too many people suffer from the choice they made to have an abortion.  Besides hurting the individual mothers, I believe that abortion greatly hurts society in general.  We have lost about 56 million lives to abortion since the Supreme Court decision (compare this to 1,354,664 total deaths in ALL the wars we have fought since we became a nation).  I can’t help but to wonder if we killed off the person who would have found a cure to cancer, or other terrible diseases.  What if we lost another Beethoven, or Tolkien or…….   We really do not know.  Besides that, I think that Mother Teresa was correct in stating that abortion is a disrupter of the peace, especially of this nation.  She said, “America needs no words from me to see how your decision in Roe v. Wade has deformed a great nation. The so-called right to abortion has pitted mothers against their children and women against men. It has sown violence and discord at the heart of the most intimate human relationships. It has aggravated the derogation of the father’s role in an increasingly fatherless society. It has portrayed the greatest of gifts — a child — as a competitor, an intrusion, and an inconvenience. It has nominally accorded mothers unfettered dominion over the independent lives of their physically dependent sons and daughters” .  She continues, “And, in granting this unconscionable power, it has exposed many women to unjust and selfish demands from their husbands or other sexual partners. Human rights are not a privilege conferred by government. They are every human being’s entitlement by virtue of his humanity. The right to life does not depend, and must not be declared to be contingent, on the pleasure of anyone else, not even a parent or a sovereign.” (Mother Theresa — “Notable and Quotable,” Wall Street Journal, 2/25/94, p. A14).

For me, the problems we have with the huge number of abortions are because so many people lack hope and cannot find peace.  We must do all in our power to bring hope to people.  We need to help people rise out of the curse of poverty and find hope no matter what their station in life is.  We need to stand up for the unborn child who is totally helpless in defending themselves.  We need to stand up for the right of all peoples to have life.  We hear the call that “black lives matter”.  What I find so upsetting is that according to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, black women are more than 5 times as likely as white women to have an abortion.  On average, 1,876 black babies are aborted every day in the United States.  This is nearly four times the rate of white children.  Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, the largest provider of abortions in the country, referred to blacks and other minorities as “…human weeds,’ ‘reckless breeders,’ ‘spawning… human beings who never should have been born.”  Margaret Sanger, Pivot of Civilization.  She also said, “We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population,”  Woman’s Body, Woman’s Right: A Social History of Birth Control in America, by Linda Gordon.  Planned Parenthood seems to be doing that now through abortion and birth control measures.  Our society seems to be ignoring this terrible race discrimination.  As Christians, we recognize that all people are equal in the eyes of God.  We are all His children.  Planned Parenthood is quickly eliminating God’s children, both black and white, but with a very unequal rate against blacks.  This has to stop.

I would like to share another quote from Mother Teresa.  She gave this at the 1994 National Prayer Breakfast, in front of then President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary.  She said, “But I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child, murder by the mother herself.  And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? As always, we must persuade her with love and we remind ourselves that love means to be willing to give until it hurts.  Jesus gave even His life to love us.  So, the mother who is thinking of abortion, should be helped to love, that is, to give until it hurts her plans, or her free time, to respect the life of her child. The father of that child, whoever he is, must also give until it hurts.  By abortion, the mother does not learn to love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems.  And, by abortion, the father is told that he does not have to take any responsibility at all for the child he has brought into the world. That father is likely to put other women into the same trouble. So abortion just leads to more abortion.  Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. This is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.”

So what are we to do?  First of all, pray for all those women who are considering an abortion.   Second, be open to “ministering” to those around you who may be considering abortion.   Third, pray that the Lord will lead you to what you can do.  I would highly suggest checking out the work of two people that I admire because they treat with dignity the women looking for abortion, as well as the abortion workers.  The first is Abby Johnson.  I would consider her book “Unplanned” as required reading.  Abby has a website: http://abbyjohnson.org.   The other is Sean Carney who runs 40 Days for Life.  His website can be found at: 40daysforlife.com.  God bless you and may the Life God gives us always be protected and respected.

 

St. Martha Is Not So Very Well Understood by Deacon Marty McIndoe

Anxiety and Worry, Church, Family, Saints

Israel 807Church built at the home of Martha, Mary and Lazarus

In all actuality, I believe that Martha has been given somewhat of a “bum rap” over the ages.  Yes, in the Gospel account of Martha and Mary, Jesus does seem to chastise her some for being anxious about serving, but if you really look at what happened, and the other Gospel accounts of Martha, you see a picture of a very faith filled servant who really loved Jesus.  You can also see how much Jesus really loved her.  Martha and Mary and Lazarus, all siblings, were all loved by Jesus and it is apparent that he spent a great deal of time in their home.  John 11:5 says, “Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister Mary, and Lazarus.”  They were special to Him.  It is also interesting when the three names are listed in scripture, Martha always comes first.

Beginning in Luke 10:39, we hear how Jesus goes to the home of Martha and Mary and Lazarus and how Martha immediately begins preparations to serve him.  She was definitely being a good hostess.  In Middle Eastern culture, this is a VERY important thing.  Meanwhile, Mary just sat at the feet of Jesus and listened to him.  Now Martha became quite anxious about all that had to be done, and how Mary was not helping, and she asked Jesus to tell Mary to help in being a good hostess.  Jesus then tells Martha that she is too anxious and worried and that Mary was doing the better thing.  If you look at the wording, Jesus is saying this in a loving, albeit difficult, way.  He said this out of love for Martha.   He didn’t want her to be so caught up in worry that she forgot about Him.  We can really learn a lesson from this.  Worry and anxiety usually do little to help us in our walk with Jesus.  They usually cause us physical and emotional damages.  We need to learn how to serve Jesus, but without anxiety.

The next time we hear about Martha in the Gospels, it is apparent that she learned the lesson that Jesus was teaching.  Martha is grieving the death of her brother, Lazarus, and even though she is sitting in the house with family and guests, when she hears that Jesus is nearby, she leaves the home to meet Jesus.  Mary stays home with the guests.  When Martha meets Jesus, she shows great faith and courage.  She tells Jesus that she fully understands the great power that He has and knows that even now, He can show that power.  It is an interesting conversation that Jesus and Martha have.  Check it out in John 11: 18 plus.  In the conversation, Martha shows her strong faith and Jesus leads her along to show even stronger faith.  The faith that Martha shows leads Jesus to declare that He is The Resurrection and the Life.  He then does one of His most powerful miracles and raises Lazarus from the dead.  We too need to have the faith that Martha shows.  We too need to let Jesus help us grow in our faith so we can see the powerful miracles He does around us.

The next time we hear about Martha, Jesus has come to visit her, and Mary, and the newly risen Lazarus.  The Gospel concentrates on how Mary anoints Jesus with costly perfume, while it simply says, “Martha served”.   This implies a great peace about her service.  There is no more anxiety, but simply service.   That is our call today, to simply serve Jesus and not be anxious or worried.  Martha, very much filled with faith, is now a true servant of God.  We should ask her intercession to help us in doing that.

The name Martha is not very common today, and I think that part of the reason is that Martha has, as I said earlier, been given a “bum rap”.  I was fortunate enough to have the Lord lead me to a Martha, my wife of 47 plus years.  She is somewhat like the Martha of the Gospel in that she loves to take care of the home, cleaning often.  I never had to worry about dropping in with a friend, the house was always tidy and clean.  And, like St. Martha, my wife worries and has some anxiety.  But also, like St. Martha, she is a person of great faith and I know that I would not be where I am today, spiritually, and physically, without her.  Service and faith are a great combination.   May St. Martha always teach us that.