Where is God? Here's where to go for a face to face meeting with Him

There was a time in my life when I wanted to find God. I wanted to know about Him. And I wanted to actually know Him. Looking back at those days, I'd say, I knew I needed to look for God, I had an idea about where to find Him, but I didn't search hard to find Him. I had gone to the church when I needed God most but I didn't find Him there. What I came away with was a sad and lonely emptiness, an understanding that I was all alone. But there was one important place in the church that I dared not go.

I had tried to learn about who God was from the Bible, but some things seemed contradictory, and I came away from my reading with more questions than answers about who God is. And yet, there was some hope that came out of spending time reading words inspired by God. I prayed. But no voice split the sky and shook my world, no appearance of Jesus came to console me. I didn't get it, and I thought, "if God really exists and actually loves me, why was it that only one of us was trying to get a relationship going?

From the Scriptures, I read several assuring things about seeking God and finding Him. I was doing my part. So where was He? If you are in this place right now, I have very good news for you. You are not alone. As I said, I have gone through this search for God myself. So I can help you with this. Where is God? He is closer than you may think. How would you like to be in a place where you can be with our Lord face to face? Let me share one special place of grace with you.

Even if you think that nobody truly loves you, and even if it is true, God does love you. God's Word assures us that if we seek Him, we will find Him. If you haven't yet found Him, try harder, look deeper, and don't give up. He isn't playing a wicked game, He is demonstrating His love. He is allowing you your free will, and it is only you who can overcome that battle. Are you the one in charge and wanting a god who conforms to your will, or are you going to humble yourself and throw yourself upon God's mercy?

Do not blame God for your suffering. He permits every person to have a free will, including those who do evil to the innocent. We tend to think that since bad things have happened to us, God doesn't care. Actually, it is just the opposite. In God's wisdom, He takes what was meant for our destruction and uses it for our good. And it is truly amazing what He can do with us and in us, transforming us more day by day to be more Christlike, as we allow Him to heal us.

Or perhaps you are of the camp who feels unworthy of God and this causes you to keep your distance from God. God is loving, merciful, and forgiving. Reach out for Him believing that no matter what you have done, He will rush out to you with open arms to welcome you to Himself. Do not think of yourself and your sinfulness, but think of Him, believing that he will accept you. He would be very glad to pick you up and dust you off and embrace you in a joyous welcome. Run to Him, your Heavenly Father awaits you.

Going to Confession will help you gain a better perspective about how God operates in our lives. Our Christian faith is one of reconciliation. God is waiting for you. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is awesome and powerful. Graces come from this Catholic Sacrament that help us to avoid temptation, to overcome trials, to become more virtuous in our thoughts and actions. Have you experienced God's forgiveness lately? The priest in the confessional stands in the place of Jesus, our Lord, who works through him forgiving you of all your sins. Humble yourself and be obedient in talking to a priest about your sins. To be cleansed from sin is a beautiful and liberating thing. And who does this for us? Jesus, Himself. And you thought you couldn't find God.

9/11: In honor of our heroes

There is a hero in you. In a certain situation that you find yourself, you'll see it. On 9/11 ten years ago, many stood up and contributed to the difficult, heart-wrenching work of search and rescue, and risked their lives while doing so. Let us honor our heroes and be proud of our country. May God bless America. May our Lord have mercy on us and on the whole world. Amen.

Hail Mary, Full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the Fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Let us honor our Lord Jesus and our mother Mary. Jesus laid down His life for us and redeemed us while we were actually enemies of God. Mary said yes to God repeatedly, even to the Holy Sacrifice of her dearly beloved Son for our sakes. We do not usually think of our Lord and our Lady as heroes, but they are. Let us follow their example of genuine sacrificial love, denying ourselves, each of us picking up our own cross, and following Jesus.

Today is the feast of the most holy name of Mary. Info provided here: http://www.ucatholic.com/saints/holy-name-of-mary-2/

Ten Years Ago by Carolyn A. Coyne-Suarez

The date 9/11--It's been ten years,

Seems like yesterday, we shed bitter tears.

Our friends, relatives, those we didn't know,

It did not matter, if even our foe.

Pennsylvania, The Pentagon, New York,

We'll never forget, and still so much work.

When this charge happened, just what did we learn?

This whole grand country, took a giant turn.

We recall it all, down to the letter,

And we are all changed, hopefully better.

To desire world peace, really can't be wrong,

O Lord, it just seems, we've been praying so long!

Amen.

(copyright 2011)

Miracles that brought me living faith and genuine Catholic conversion

The first time you experience a miracle, it is amazing, or humbling, or enlightening, or all of these things. And for some, it may be nothing more than a memorable experience, or perhaps there are individuals who consider it to be just a coincidence that can be explained away. No matter how you look at it, though, this was not really the first miracle that you experienced, rather, it was the first one that caught your attention.

Your own birth was a miracle. The position of planet earth and all of the marvelous variations of life that abound here are miraculous things. Look around, and you will begin to see the glory of God. Then, too, every single day, there is at least one miracle that happens during Mass--the changing of the bread and wine into the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The miracle that caught my attention came unexpectedly, and was witnessed by my 3 children and our very close family friend, who is Jewish, not a Christian. Like the Fatima children, and Saint Bernadette, I do not want to say anything that is in err, or that would be offensive to our Lord or our Lady, and so I cannot say much about what we saw. I also investigated the matter as much as I possibly could. I observed different things that might explain the phenomena, this includes watching clouds, the way smoke from vehicles dissipates, the way insects travel together in flight, and watched many videos and read many reports about UFOs. The results of all of the investigating that I have done do not give me any reason to believe that what we saw was of this earth, and does not seem to have been a flying craft from another planet.

There is a similar description for what we saw in the Bible, in a couple of places. What we saw, what amazing and awe-inspiring thing that came to us out of the sky on July, 2009, does seem to us to be a holy angel of God, full of eyes that was sent to us, one reason being for the glory of God to be manifested in us. All of us have been affected to different degrees depending upon our openness to the supernatural grace of God; and even those of us who are not as accepting of the things of God, spiritual growth is slower, but it is definitely there. All 5 of us have had some dreams that I believe have come from this living creature that supernaturally connected with us. My children and I see the wonders of God all around us on a daily basis. 3 of us have had humbling and sobering visions.

One of my first visions was of the consecrated host that was alive with the form of a white living dove moving within it. I did not believe in transubstantiation at the time. Yet I could not easily tear myself away from looking upon this sight in rapture. I was worshiping God. I was being moved along the path of truth, and entering more into the mysteries of our Catholic faith. Communion would never be the same for me again. Not long after being taught that to consume the Body and Blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ, you have life in you, His life, I was also in Eucharistic Adoration with my children regularly.

I believe that it is probable that this living creature or angel of God that was sent to our family came at least in part because of the Marian window in Georgia. I sincerely wanted to know if it was genuine, and my prayer was from my heart. One main reason that I connect our supernatural encounter to this window is because of the many things that I have been learning about our Blessed Mother Mary since the visitation with the angel, and the angel coming to us right after my heartfelt prayer to God about this window. In fact, I saw in a dream or vision the Marian window, with this accompanying message: "If you have lost your way."

Personally, I do believe that the Marian window is miraculous. I look forward to the day, and I pray for an extensive and exhaustive, thorough Vatican investigation of its authenticity. The reason that I am sharing my story is because I want to help others come to a deeper faith in God, and to honor and share our holy mother Mary with people. It is not easy for me to share such an unusual and special story because I do not want to draw attention to myself. Yet since it did happen to me, I believe I should tell it and bring glory to God, and share it to build faith in others. (Here is another informative article that I wrote in the summer of 2009 following several interviews, about the Marian window and holy icons: http://www.examiner.com/roman-catholic-in-denver/the-virgin-mary-window-into-heaven )

An excerpt from my own Catholic conversion story

With so many things going wrong in my life and in America, basically I understood that most people live the way that they think is best, best for themselves, whether one wishes to call that moral relativism or modernism, or perhaps a type of atheism in which man does not really believe in God, but looks to himself or another man to be god. Christians of many sorts also did this, including me. And I didn't know how to be that new creation that is spoken of in the New Testament, but what I did know was that I kept trying to be good and I was good in the eyes of some and yet a hypocrite in the eyes of those who disagreed with me about God being real, and without any guide, I made up my mind at the end of June that it was time to stop trying to do things my way, no matter how good I seemed to myself to be, that hadn't been working out too well. I made a decision to do the things that God, in our Holy Scriptures, said were good, I would deny myself and take up my cross and follow Jesus.

I was in prayer, too, because Mr. Sapp in Jesup, Georgia, wanted me to write another article about the Marian window, and I was not convinced about the authenticity of this window. Here's what I wrote, by the way: http://www.examiner.com/roman-catholic-in-denver/the-virgin-mary-icon-image-window-is-for-everyone . I did not see Mary in the window, and my being able to investigate it was very limited, as I couldn't see or touch the thing. As a matter of fact, I did not believe that the Virgin Mary was anyone other than a woman who had been lucky to bring the Christ child into the world. If she was really so special, I wondered, why would she pick me out of all the people in the world, to write about her or this window, if it was a genuine miracle. I was the true skeptic. I was also a Catholic who had never had any formation in our faith, so I did not even know our doctrines. I was in much prayer over all of this, and I had to do research for my Catholic column to be sure that I did not write anything heretical. It was a heavy weight to add on this coverage of this window, to my responsibility of writing only Catholic truth, which I had to study to write, because I didn't know it.

I spoke to and I corresponded with several people, mostly those who had actually seen the Marian window. But I also spoke to and wrote to Justin Stroh, who had composed a beautiful song that spotlit the window. I was honest with him, and I told him that I did not know what to make of the window, authentic or hoax, and that what was worse, I didn't know what it was about Mary that some Catholics seemed to know, some mystery or secret, why she was so important to them; and he seemed to me to be one of these types, one who had some special love for the Blessed Virgin Mary. I asked him to share with me what it was that he knew that I didn't about Mary.

Justin Stroh told me that he did not have the ability to examine the window either, being in another state, but that he was writing the song in faith. I was amazed that he could do such a thing, just offering himself as an instrument of God to write a song and trust our Lord without knowing the actual origin of this window image. With regard to my query about what he found so special about Mary, what secret about her that he and some other Catholics knew that I didn't, he told me that she is the spouse of the Holy Spirit. I had never heard of such a thing. I am ever grateful for that conversation and for the faith and faithfulness of this Catholic servant of our Lord.

Much prayer and contemplation followed and accompanied my interviewing. I was not in awe of the window image, but I was in awe of God, and of genuine faith that made people live holy lives, and with living saints that I previously thought were dead, like Mary. For I had been invited and gone to a Byzantine Catholic Church, and while there, I poured out my heart in prayer to God for the state of my life and my country and the world. Then I returned to the Church again, to talk to the priest there about icons for another informative article that I would write about the Marian window.

I remember going to bed in awe of the icons and the living saints, and I asked a heartfelt prayerful thing of God. I asked Him to show me if these things were the truth, if the saints were still living after death, and to make Mary real to me if she was really there and really active, and to show me if that Marian window was real or not. And then the miracle happened. The first of many, many miracles...

Convert Stories Catholic ,How did the Lord Call you?

Convert Stories Catholic ,How did the Lord Call you?:

'via Blog this'

My Catholic conversion story begins:
God has poured out His grace upon me. God is the God of love and mercy and justice. God is alive and well and He has created every one of us as unique and special. God is patient and long-suffering on our behalves. Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. The Holy Spirit is always with our Blessed Mother Mary, and Mary truly is our Holy mother, the Theotokos and ever-virgin, and the Eucharist is truly the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Catholic faith is the true faith, and you must care for the poor and needy from your heart of love, no less than you would do for Jesus our Lord. I am convinced of all of this. The short version of my conversion story is this: I was lost but now I'm found, I was blind but now I see :) I will share a little more in time, but this Marian window is a big part of what miracle happened to me, and I am very serious... http://www.virginmarywindow.com/

This is a test post. There is a place for Catholic conversion stories on facebook at the link. I am sharing my own story there, too. Let's see if this connects to the right place. Let me encourage you to share your conversion stories. How did our Lord call you to our Catholic faith? 

I'll do a little editing so that things are clearer, from what I am sharing on facebook, as I publish my story here in my blog. And perhaps in a day or so, I will be sharing from my blog to the facebook group page, which will make it easier and better reading in both places, having paragraphs, and so forth :)

Let's build up one another in our faith and share what God has done for us and in us. To God be the glory :)!

The law of the land, the law of love, and the lawbreakers

Gwen had lived a hard life. She was raised by her aunt because of the drug addiction and child abuse that was in her family home. She had brothers and sisters, though she did not even know how many of them she had. Gwen was in touch with a couple of her younger brothers but she kept a healthy distance from them. They became angry quickly, and their hot tempers were matched only by their deceitful ways.

Because of all she had suffered as a child, Gwen was an empathetic woman. She identified with the pain that others experienced. She worked with abused children, teaching them about their human dignity and how to care for themselves. Gwen did not understand how she and her brothers had turned out so differently.

Gwen received a phone call from one of her brothers right after work one day. He had been incarcerated. He told her to get a few things for him and bring them to his new home. Gwen knew this would happen to him some day. The boy just wouldn't learn. He felt no guilt, no shame, no remorse. There he was joking about a serious situation, and what was personally upsetting to Gwen was the way he expected her to put herself in a dangerous position by breaking the law.

Gwen had been in juvenile once. She had served community service. She had learned her lesson. She had reformed her life. Gwen told her brother that he needed to do the same thing. She understood his coded message. She refused to pay him a visit to sneak her urine in for him. "I'm ashamed that you are related to me!" Gwen cried out. She shouted at him to get a life, and then she hung up on him.

The next day at Mass, Gwen heard a homily about the corporal works of mercy. She realized that it was a timely message, and that God wanted people to share the love of Christ with prisoners. Jesus said a profound thing, that visiting the imprisoned is the same as visiting Him. She wished somebody had visited her when she was a wayward teen in juvenile. She found it incredible, though, that anyone could treat unrepentant criminals the way you would treat Jesus. Gwen doubted they could reach her brother, but it was worth a shot.

Right after Mass, Gwen headed over to the table for the prison ministry and put her brother's name and address on the list. The gentleman who watched Gwen filling in the information explained to her that this was a contact sheet for parishioners to sign themselves up to go visit prisoners; so he needed her name, not the prisoner's name. Gwen set the pen down and took a step back. "Oh, never mind then, I wouldn't go see that low-life jailbird even if you paid me to. He can rot in there for all I care."

From the Litany of the Holy Ghost:
Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world, send us Thy Holy Ghost.
Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world, pour down into our souls the gifts of the Holy Ghost.
Lamb of God, Who take away the sins of the world, grant us the Spirit of wisdom and piety.
V/. Come, Holy Ghost! Fill the hearts of Thy faithful.
R/. And enkindle in them the fire of Thy Love.

CCC 1970: The entire Law of the Gospel is contained in the "new commandment" of Jesus, to love one another as he has loved us. "Whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them; this is the law and the prophets."

Oh ye of little faith

Father greeted the college students and motioned for them to take a seat in his office. He was intrigued by his visitors and made time to fit the interview into his busy schedule. It had been explained to him by his secretary that the women were not Catholic, and that having an interview with the pastor of a different Christian sect or denomination was part of their philosophy of religion course assignment.

Father was knowledgeable and gladly answered basic questions about the Catholic faith. He found the conversation with the students invigorating, as he had not been one to evangelize much. He appreciated the respectful interaction on the part of the Evangelical Protestant women. It was such an inspiring experience for Father to be with Christians who had so much zeal and love for Jesus. They scribbled notes as they proceeded along with the interview. Father hoped the students were learning that Catholics Christians are just like they are.

When he was asked questions about Mary, the students maintained a professional tone, that Father very much appreciated. He was pleased to share authentic Marian dogma with them and clear up some misunderstandings that Protestants have about the Catholic Church when it comes to the Mother of God. One of the students took down the dates with the information Father shared, while the other woman looked at him in a hard way that made him feel uncomfortable. He expected the Evangelical in this college student to step forward and begin typical anti-Catholic attacking of the Catholic faith. He believed he would handle things well in politely showing them the door, if such a confrontation should occur.

However, the young woman remained silent, listening intently as he answered the other student's questions about the Holy Eucharist. Father explained the doctrines of the Catholic Church in a concise and clear manner. Father suspected that this young woman already knew something of the teachings of the Church.

Upon concluding the interview, the students thanked the priest for his time, and Father escorted them to the door. The woman who had been obviously studying the man more than the material did not go along with her friend, but paused at the top of the stairs and turned to face Father. Her question caught him off-guard because it was of a personal nature.

"Father do you pray the Rosary?" Father stammered, "Uh, no, not really. Go in peace. Have a good day now." She placed her hand on Father's arm, preventing him from closing the door. She smirked, "Father, you don't really believe that Jesus is present in a piece of bread do you?" Father raised his eyebrows as a sympathetic nervous smile came to his face. His head lightly moved from side to side as he removed the woman's hand, and while closing the door, Father responded reassuringly, "No."

From the Litany of the Holy Ghost:
Holy Ghost, inspire us with horror of sin.
Holy Ghost, come and renew the face of the earth.
Holy Ghost, shed Thy light in our souls.
Holy Ghost, engrave Thy law in our hearts.
Holy Ghost, inflame us with the flame of Thy Love.
Holy Ghost, open to us the treasures of Thy graces.
Holy Ghost, teach us to pray well.
Holy Ghost, enlighten us with Thy heavenly inspirations.
Holy Ghost, lead us in the way of salvation.
Holy Ghost, grant us the only necessary knowledge.
Holy Ghost, inspire us in the practice of good.
Holy Ghost, grant us the merits of all virtues.
Holy Ghost, make us persevere in justice.
Holy Ghost, be Thou our everlasting reward.