"Anything" Bible Study- Week 3

Anything Bible Study Week 3

Monday- Today's verse is one that should be very familiar to Catholics- It is Luke 1:37-38 where Mary accepts her mission to be the mother of God.

From the book: "The very thought of doing anything demands everything. We have to face our fears. If we believe he is real, if we believe he has an eternal heart, we have to face the fact that a God like that may mess with our temporary comfort..." (Jennie Allen, Anything: The Prayer That Unlocked My God and My Soul, pg.53)

From the catechism: CCC#494 At the announcement that she would give birth to "The Son of the Most High" without knowing man, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Mary responded with the obedience of faith, certain that "with God nothing will be impossible": "Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word." Thus, giving her consent to God's word, Mary becomes the mother of Jesus. Espousing the divine will for salvation wholeheartedly, without a single sin to restrain her, she gave herself entirely to the person and to the work of her Son; she did so in order to serve the mystery of redemption with him and dependent on him, by God's grace..."

My observations: After reading today's verse, I looked online for the definition of a handmaid. Most of the dictionaries said that a handmaid is a female servant; a subservient person. Some of the synonyms for handmaid are house girl, housekeeper, and maidservant. When meditating on these words, I began thinking of the duties of a handmaid. She is to keep the house- cook, clean, and look after the house of the mistress. In the book of Genesis, the handmaid, Hagar, was used to produce a child for the barren Sarah.

Now, what did Mary offer to do for God when she proclaimed she is the "handmaid of the Lord"? I think she offered to perform all of the duties I mentioned above. Later in the Bible, we will learn that the Christian Church is the bride of God. Well, she cannot have children of her own so she used Mary to produce the child who would start it all. Mary looked after the Christian Church, serving it by raising Jesus from a boy so that he could save us all from sin. She later served the Church after the death and resurection of her son by proclaiming the Good News along with the disciples. Mary was most definitely a handmaid.

Now I wonder how I can become a handmaid? Well, I suppose I should follow Mary's example and serve the Christian Church as a slave to the will of God. Whatever he asks of me- anything- I should be ready, able, and willing to do it!

Tuesday- Today's verse is 2Corinthians 4:1-18. St.Paul is telling us to look to the invisible and not the visible.

From the book: "Then she said a line I will never forget: 'You have to thank God for the seemingly good and the seemingly bad because, really, you don't know the difference.' The hardest things in her life have brought her the deepest relationships. The hardest things have become the things that define the most beautiful things abut her. The hardest things in her life have given her more of God." (Jennie Allen, Anything: The Prayer That Unlocked My God and My Soul, pg.59)

From the catechism: CCC#227[Faith in one God] means trusting God in every circumstance, even in adversity. A prayer of St Teresa of Jesus wonderfully expresses this trust:

Let nothing trouble you/ Let nothing frighten you

Everything passes/ God never changes

Patience/ Obtains all

Whoever has God/ Wants for nothing

God alone is enough

My observations: Momentary afflictions are only making us stronger Christians. The more we trust in God, the stronger we become. When I read this passage, I was depressed because I have so much stress in my life right now. My dad has cancer and is having some complications due to the treatments he is recieving, I am getting burnt out from going to school online for the past two years, and then I have my daily work of caring for my children and living off very little income. This was getting too hard for me. When I read this passage, it opened my eyes to see that I need to look ahead and take one step everyday- one foot in front of the other- and soon it will all be in the past. I ask you if you are reading this to also take your worries and give them to God and place one foot in front of the other until it all passes. 

Wednesday- 2Peter 3:9 says "The Lord does not delay his promise, as some regard "delay", but he is patient with you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance."

From the book: "He calls the shots on what happens to us in this short stint here. He calls them, whether we want to let him or not. Our faith must remain greater than our pain and fears." (Jennie Allen, Anything: The Prayer That Unlocked My God and My Soul, pg.61)

From the catechism: CCC#30"Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice." Although man can forget God or reject him, He never ceases to call every man to seek him, so as to find life and happiness. But this search for God demands every effort of intellect, a sound will, "an upright heart" as well as the witness of others who teach him to seek God..."

My observations: The Lord does not delay his promise, he gives us time to get right. He wants all souls to repent, he doesn't want anyone to go to hell. He is trying to give us time so that we can seek him and repent of our ways. We just have to be willing to do our part, even when we don't understand what He is planning for us.

Thursday- Today's verse is from the Gospel of Luke. Jesus tells us to love our enemies and to do unto others as we would have them do unto us...

From the book: "We know from Jesus' strong commands to love even our enemies that he is not advocating neglecting our relationships or those who depend on us. He is saying, 'Wake up! This pursuit of me may cost you everything you hold dear, everything you love here. It may cost even your life. And until this life gets small, really small, you won't truly follow me. Because loving this life too much will affect your love for me. It also will affect what you are willing to do for me.'"  (Jennie Allen, Anything: The Prayer That Unlocked My God and My Soul, pg.68-69)

From the catechism: CCC#2844- Christian prayer extends to the forgiveness of enemies, transfiguring the disciple by configuring him to his Master. Forgiveness is a high-point of Christian prayer; only hearts attuned to God's compassion can receive the gift of prayer. Forgiveness also bears witness that, in our world, love is stronger than sin. The martyrs of yesterday and today bear this witness to Jesus. Forgiveness is the fundamental condition of the reconciliation of the children of God with their Father and of men with one another.

My observations: Loving and forgiving one another, including our enemies is important. If it wasn't, Jesus would not have spent so much of his precious time on Earth preaching about it. I think Mother Teresa really sums it up in this quote:

It is not enough for us to say "I love God". I also have to love my neighbor. In the scriptures, St John says that you are a liar if you say you love God and you do not love your neighbor. How can you love God whom you do not see, if you do not love your neighbor whom you see, whom you touch, with whom you live? And he uses a very big word, "You are a liar." It is one of those words that is frightening to read, and yet it really is true.
 

Friday- In today's verse, also from the Gospel of Luke, Jesus tells us to give up our possessions (Luke 14:33). In today's consumer driven culture, this is a tough pill to swallow.

From the book: "In Luke 14 Jesus had a large crowd following him. I am sure he was thinking something like, You are following me now because it is easy, but you do not know that following me may cost you your lives." (Jennie Allen, Anything: The Prayer That Unlocked My God and My Soul, pg.68)

From the catechism: CCC#2544 Jesus enjoins his disciples to prefer him to everything and everyone, and bids them, "renounce all that [they have]" for his sake and that of the Gospel. Shortly before his passion, he gave them the example of the poor widow of Jerusalem who, out of her poverty, gave all that she had to live on. The precept of detachment from riches is obligatory for entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven.

My observations: In today's culture of more, more, more, this passage is really hard for us to follow. It seems that it is engrained in us to want more of everything. No matter how much we already have, it is never enough. During Lent, I often try to live out this passage by setting goals to decrease what I own or to decrease spending on unnecessary items. This is truly something that we should be working on daily, year round. We need to fight society's "yes yes yes" with a resounding "no no no".

Come back next week for Week 4 Reflections!

"Anything" Bible Study- Week 2

Anything Bible Study Week 2

Monday- Today's reading was Psalm 118. The SOAP verse was Psalm 118:6- "The Lord is with me; I am not afraid; What can mortals do against me?"

From the Book: "I loved God, but I loved un-invisible people more. I worshipped them." (Jennie Allen, Anything: The Prayer That Unlocked My God and My Soul, pg 35)

From the Catechism: CCC#154-  Believing is possible only by grace and the interior helps of the Holy Spirit. But it is no less true that believing is an authentically human act. Trusting in God and cleaving to the truths he has revealed are contrary neither to human freedom nor human reason. Even in human relations it is not contrary to our dignity to believe what other persons tell us about themselves and their intentions or to trust their promises to share a communion of life with one another. If this is so, still less is it contrary to our dignity to "yield by faith the full submission of... intellect and will to God who reveals," and to share in an interior communion with him.

My Observations: Today's verse makes me think of all of the trust we put into other humans and that we lack to put in God. If we read Psalm 118:6, we know that God "has our backs" and we should fear no human- is that what we do? No. We fear failure, we fear hurting our loved ones, we fear letting people down. We don't fear failing God, hurting Him, or letting Him down- but we should. Even the catechism says that we naturally want to place our trust in God as much as we put it in other people so why don't we?


Tuesday- Today's verse was Deuteronomy 6:1-9. The SOAP verse is Deuteronomy 6:5- You shall love your Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.

From the book: "It's only God who moves my heart. He chases me down and lures me back to him; while I am running to everyone else, he runs after me. God brings me back to the place where it fares well with me; reminding me he is my husband. There is no spinning, no fear, only perfect acceptance and peace." (Jennie Allen, Anything: The Prayer That Unlocked My God and My Soul, pg 38)

From the catechism: CCC#2093-Faith in God's love encompasses the call and the obligation to respond with sincere love to divine charity. The first commandment enjoins us to love God above everything and all creatures for him and because of him.

My Observations: Today's verse instructs us on how to love God. With all our heart, soul, and strength. To me, this means that when we don't feel like loving God, we should do it anyway. When we are too tired to love God, we should do it anyway. When we feel too far away from God, we should love Him anyway. Sometimes it will be easy and sometimes it'll be a conscious effort, but it is something that we are told we must do.


Wednesday- Today's verse is Hosea 1:2-11. This is when God tells Hosea to take a prostitute for his wife and God says that He feels sorry for the house of Judea so he will save them but not through man...

From the Book: "Money and a god latte protect us from a lot of things. It is to easy in this country for blessings to become rights, for stuff and money to become what calls the shots in our lives. And before we know it, God's gifts have replaced God himself." (Jennie Allen, Anything: The Prayer That Unlocked My God and My Soul, pg 44)

From the Catechism: CCC#602- Consequently, St Peter can formulate the apostolic faith in the divine plan of salvation in this way: "You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers... with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was destined before the foundation of the world but was made manifest at the end of the times for your sake." Man's sins, following on original sin, are punishable by death. By sending his own son in the form of a slave, in the form of fallen humanity, on account of sin, God "made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God"

My Observations: God tried to save Israel in the Old Testament but they refused to be saved. Finally, He took it into His own hands and saved us through Jesus Christ. Israel chose false gods above the true God just as we do in America, putting wealth and notoriety above God.

Thursday- Today's verse is from the book of Hosea. Hosea 2:14-17 talks about how God wants to change the things that the harlot desires into things that repulse her.

From the book: "The ironic thing about believing in God and supernatural things is that the invisible stuff is actually the most trustworthy, the most stable. So the concrete things we can see and touch, they become the wind, they  become the things we try to catch, and over and over, they pass through our fingers and souls, keeping us empty. But when I take my empty self to God, he feels familiar and stable and more like concrete than wind." (Jennie Allen, Anything: The Prayer That Unlocked My God and My Soul, pg 46)

From the catechism: CCC#1428- Christ's call to conversion continues to resound in the lives of Christians. The second conversion is an uninterrupted task for the who Church who, "clasping sinners to her bosom, is at once holy and always in need of purification, and follows constantly the path of penance and renewal." This endeavor of conversion is not just a human work. It is the movement of a "contrite heart", drawn and moved by grace to respond to the merciful love of God who loved us first.

My observations: I chose these quotes to share with this verse because I believe that once we move to our second conversion, God makes many of those things that were once so desirable to us into "rank growth" that we no longer want to strive towards. We, along with God's merciful love, move towards those invisible things that are trustworthy and stable.

Friday- Today's verse, Proverbs 21:1, is a beautiful analogy of how we should make our will- "like a stream... in the hand of the Lord".

From the book: "Somehow I thought most of my life following God was not supposed to be too costly. Following God is flat costly. It always has been. It doesn't make sense to us, but since this life, these few years, are not the climax from God's perspective, he's okay throwing a little wrench into the short plans we have to be normal here." (Jennie Allen, Anything: The Prayer That Unlocked My God and My Soul, pg 47)

From the catechism: CCC#2826- By prayer we can discern "what is the will of God" and obtain the endurance to do it. Jesus teaches us that the one enters the kingdom of heaven not by speaking words, but by doing "the will of my Father in heaven."

My observations: In order to make our will like a stream, moving and flowing along with the will of God, we must realize that following God is, indeed, costly and that we must pray, pray, pray. Prayer along with willingness should lead us to more peaceful lives (not necessarily easier, though) knowing that we are following the will of God, who knows where we are headed.

Check back Monday for Week 3 Observations!

"Anything" Bible Study- Week 1

Anything Bible Study Week 1

Monday- Today was the first day of the Anything Bible Study at Good Morning Girls. The first verse to read and SOAP is John 8:1-11. It is the story of the woman at the well. 

From the book: "And to protect her from eternal judgement, he whispered the same thing that he whispers to us: Repent, because you are not good; you are not okay. Come back to me. You need me. He says, Go and sin no more, which is impossible apart from the righteousness Christ offers to those who come to him in faith. He is what makes us right" (Jennie Allen, Anything: The Prayer That Unlocked My God and My Soul, pg 18)

From the catechism: CCC#1451: Among the penitent acts, contrition occupies first place. Contrition is "sorrow of the soul and detestation for the sin committed, together with the resolution not to sin again."

My observations: In today's verse, God is calling the woman at the well to repentance. He says that we are all sinners and we must turn from our sin and live a life worthy of a child of God. As the author states, we are nothing without Him and we should always remember that. The catechism states that contrition is the most important part of penitent acts, meaning that in order to truly repent from our sins, we must be sorry and wish not to sin again.

Tuesday- Today's verses were John 1:5-10. It is about John the Baptist leading the way to the Lord.

From the book: "Sin becomes distasteful because it fights with who we are. God becomes our chief desire. These are marks that we are believers. Unless there is some craving for God and some distaste for sin in us, we should question if we are believers." (Jennie Allen, Anything: The Prayer That Unlocked My God and My Soul, pg 27)

From the catechism: CCC#718: John is "Elijah [who] must come". The fire of the Spirit dwellls in him and makes him the forerunner of the coming of the Lord. In John, the precursor, the Holy Spirit completes the work of "[making] ready a people prepared for the Lord". (CCC#717-720 is all about John the Baptist)

My observations: In John 1:8, the SOAP passage for today, the Bible describes John the Baptist as "not the light but came to testify to the light". Many people mistakenly believed that John was the Messiah but he was just a prophet who pointed directly to Jesus as Messiah. From the moment he leapt in his mother's womb until the day he died, John pointed towards Jesus and proclaimed the importance of repentance and turning towards the Lord.

Wednesday- Today's verses were Mark 2:13-17. It is about Jesus eating with the sinners. He says that he did not come for the righteous but for the sinners.

From the book: "Jesus' first command after nearly every encounter with a needy person was for them to repent. He promised these broken people hope and healing. He promised to make a way for them. Often, after these encounters, he would turn to religious people who seemed to have it all together and confront their sin of pride and pretending. Yet with every opportunity, for the most part, they never repented. They thought they were fine without Jesus. They did not need him."

From the catechism: CCC#1484- "Individual, integral confession and absolution remain the only ordinary way for the faithful to reconcile themselves with God and the Church, unless a physical or moral impossibility excuses from this kind of confession." There are profound reasons for this. Christ is at work in each of the Sacraments. He personally addresses every sinner: "My son, your sins are forgiven." He is the physician tending to each one of the sick who need him to cure them. He raises them up and reintegrates them into fraternal communion. Personal confession is thus the form most expressive of reconciliation with God and with the Church.

My observations: Today's message is one of my favorite verses in the Bible and is also the weekly memory verse this week. The most ironic part of all is that we are all sinners and Jesus came for all of us because no one under the son can truly call himself righteous although there are many that do. Jesus came to heal us and those of us that are under the most weight from our sin are the ones that he is constantly calling, wanting to give us that healing touch that we need. You see, sin is like leperacy. No matter how much we don't want it to, it affects (infects) everyone around us. We need healing and we need it often so that we don't get so sick that we make others as sick as we are. We need to be well in order to lead others to the healing hand of Jesus.

Thursday - Today's verse was from the book f Galatians. Paul is such a profound preacher- I sometimes wish I lived back then so I could hear him preach! I read Galatians 5:1-6. Today's SOAP entry was Galations 5:1.

From the book:  "Stepping out wholly dependent on God to come through, stepping away from what is secure and comfortable exposes the holes in our faith. And then if God comes through, it expands our faith." (Jennie Allen, Anything: The Prayer That Unlocked My God and My Soul, pg 10)

From the catechism:  CCC#1741- Liberation and Salvation. By his glorious Cross Christ won salvation for all men. He redeemed them from the sin that held them in bondage. "For freedom Christ has set us free." In him we have communion with the "truth that makes us free." The Holy Spirit has been given to us and, as the Apostle teaches, "Where the spirit of the Lord it, there is freedom." Already we glory in the "liberty of the children of God."

My observations: This passage is about freedom, freedom from the bondage of ritual and superstition. I think that in modern times, Paul would tell us Christians that we need freedom from the bondage of consumerism and relativism. Instead of worrying about what others are doing, we should concern ourselves with what God wants from us.

Friday - Today's verse had me a little worried. I was afraid that we were going to get into the faith vs. works debate when I first read the entire reading (Romans 3:21-31) but relaxed when I saw that the SOAP verse was Romans 3:23- All have sinned and are deprived of the Glory of God.

From the book: "His presence is the only place where invisible weight is lifted. The only place where hidden, broken spaces are mended. The only place where we are defined apart from our successes and our failures."


From the catechism: CCC#402- All men are implicated in Adam's sin, as St. Paul affirms: "By one man's disobedience many [that is all men] were made sinners": "sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned..." The Apostle contrasts the universality of sin and death with the universality of salvation in Christ. "Then as one man's trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one man's act of righteousness leads to acquittal and life for all men.

My observations: We are all sinners. We are all tax collectors, prostitutes, and murderers. Not one of us is better than anyone else and not one of us deserves the love of God but we have it- through the sacrifice of Jesus. Praise be to God!

Check back next week for Week 2 Observations!

Read all of my "Anything" Bible Study notes here