Author: Lana Kaczmarek

“The Lord is good to all and compassionate toward all His works.”  What is good and how would you define good to a child or to a person who has been suffering from an illness for such a long time or to a person who is grieving the loss of a spouse, a family member or a friend?  How would you show to another individual that you are good and the fruits that come from your works are good, holy, and pleasing to the Father?  Are you good and would someone else say so?  Will another individual be willing and able to describe you and your works as good and give witness to the good that is inside of you?  Are your words good?  Do you have good thoughts?  Is what you eat truly good for you, for your health, for your family?  Good is simply an extension of God as we say, God is good all the time and all the time God is good.  God is the essence of goodness.  God is the source of all that is good and all that is good comes and flows from God.  All that God does is very good and very good for us.  However, consider how Jesus replied to the would-be disciple who called Him Good Teacher.  Jesus answered, “Why do you call me good?”  Then Jesus went on to say, “No one is good but God alone.”   What does that mean to you and how does that make you feel when Jesus acknowledges that God alone is good?  Are you happy and relieved because you think that excuses you from being good and gives you the excuse to be bad or does it cause you to want to pray and ask God for the grace to be good, holy and true as God is good, holy and true?  If only God is good, does that make us bad?  Unheard of!  All that God creates is good.  Even scripture testifies, “God looked at everything he had made, and found it very good.”  Even in the Eucharistic Prayer during Mass we hear, “through Christ our Lord, through whom you bestow on the word all that is good.”  God is good and so are you.  We might say God created us very good however, sometimes the things we say or do or watch are not good for us or our family.  We are not bad.  We were created good, to be good all the time.  Unfortunately, at times, our choices, words, and behavior are not so good. 

“Do you understand all these things?” They answered, “Yes.” The word honest, is an interesting word for us to consider, take to prayer then use as a measure in our own life to determine if our relationship with God is true and truly honest. In that same measure, can we say the same about being honest in our relationships and interactions with one another and even in the manner, we see and judge ourselves? Are we honest in the purest sense of the word? Meaning, to be honest is to be true without any falsehood, deception, lie or malicious or bad intention. To be honest is to think, respond and act in a way that is true and trustworthy and provides the whole truth and nothing but the truth without any sort of deceit. Are you truly honest in your conversations, messages, postings, and interactions with others? Are you honest without being dishonest in your dialogue with God without omitting or hiding something from God? Ever wonder why we try to lie or be dishonest with God when He already knows? Do you say you pray and really don’t want to? Do you say you are going to pray but have no intention in doing so? Do you pray but really don’t pray? Be honest. Are you honest with yourself in your own conversations with yourself either in the interior silence of your mind or said aloud when you talk to yourself? Can you imagine we lie to ourselves and even lie about lying to ourselves. We make ourselves believe that our words, behavior, and actions are okay when we know they are not. We try to justify dishonesty and make excuses for it. We say “yes” we understand something when we really don’t. We say “I know” or make gestures that we know the answer when we really don’t. We say we didn’t say that or we insinuate we didn’t say anything at all when we know we really did. There is such a freedom in being honest and living life honestly. We don’t have to backtrack or add to a lie or invent new ones. The truth truly sets you free. Always being honest and genuine in all your interactions and relationships means not having to worry about recalling or remembering something you said or did not say to one person and perhaps differently to another. Acting honestly does not cause you to be concerned about what you did or did not do because the truth is, we remember or honestly, we forgot.

“The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought.” One of our greatest weaknesses is that we do not or cannot admit or say to ourselves or even aloud to another or even in a whisper that we are weak. We tend to inflate ourselves and at times even embellish our conversations to mask or hide our weaknesses, which is simply a key indicator that we are weak and prone to sin. Our pride indicates our weakness. The times we judge others harshly reflects our weakness. Our hurtful response to others reveals our own personal weakness. We are weak and need God to strengthen us. We are poor and dependent and need God to enrich us and provide for us. Sin weakens us. It hurts us and it hurts others. Scripture tells us when one of us hurts or suffers, the entire Body of Christ is impacted and feels the body weakened by sin. It is an on-going battle we wage against God, against one another and unknowingly wage against ourselves. How can we sin knowing how much it hurts us, our loved ones, and all creation? Sin reveals a wound in us caused and weakened by original sin, further caused and weakened by generational sin and continues to weaken us through personal sin. Only God’s love and affectionate care can heal, strengthen, and make like new again the places in us and in our lives wounded and weakened by sin but we do not pray, as we ought. Why don’t we want to pray as we should? Why can’t we pray knowing our lives depend on it? Why can’t we realize that prayer is the answer, the remedy, the key, the one who will strengthen us? Prayer is such a gift from God. Why would God want to communicate with us poor weak, sinful creatures knowing how selfish, self-centered, unreliable, untrusting we tend to be? That is a great mystery. That is the gift and power of a profound love that has graciously and freely created us, redeemed us, constantly forgiving us and wants to pray and be with us always and forever. So why not pray as you ought to? We know that we are prone to weakness however weakness can be a strength in and through prayer. Saint Paul confidently reminds us to be and remain meek and humble, not sinful, boastful, or prideful. He graciously says, “If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.”

“I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us.” Suffering is a great mystery to us. We even ask why Jesus had to suffer. There are great graces that can form us during moments of suffering and can even give birth to virtues and beatitudes that help us to respond to the call to be good, to be holy, to be kind. Virtues can grow, develop, and deepen in us amid chaos and great suffering. We can learn to become more patient and more patiently endure hardships that can cause love and mercy to grow and even make forgiveness possible. Yet, for most of us, suffering reminds us of pain we would rather not endure, infliction we would rather not embrace, and discomfort we would rather not face. If possible, we would rather avoid suffering and would rather pursue happiness and peace. Suffering did not exist prior to creation for only God was there and there was only a profound existence of love. The kind of love that could foresee a fall from grace, rejection of its Creator, the emergence of hurt caused by sin and the sin of disobedience causing suffering. Yet knowing all this, God still chose to create embracing a love that is greater than sin and grace more powerful than its effects. Love will come to permanently heal all these things through a love that would and could only suffer greatly for the good of all and in particular, for the gracious good of the other. God’s suffering love would love in creation and love through salvation so that in love, suffering will go away, illness will be no more, and God’s profound love conquer sin which caused suffering and death in the first place. Comparisons in general are not good. We compare ourselves to one another and even compare ourselves to ourselves. We do so from a love that is imperfect, selfish, and wounded by sin. We make comparisons knowing that our vision is skewed and blurry, our judgement weakened and impaired and our intention self-serving and one-sided. It is difficult to be a good judge and to make good comparisons when tainted by sin. All the same, nothing and no one can compare to God. God is the perfect lover and the just judge. His glory reveals a profound love in us that freely suffers so that in the end, we may suffer no more. No more hurt, no more comparisons, nor more sin, just love forever. 

“The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness.” Some time ago, a commercial invited us to consider and ponder the question, “What’s in your wallet?” The response differed and depended on your working status or the means available to you at that moment. Your response could be a couple of dollars, some credit/debit cards or just a lot of stuff or not much this week until payday. Whatever the answer, it caused us to stop and think. It prompted us to consider what was truly inside our wallet. What if the question were to redirect you and ask you to go deeper than your wallet and to ponder, “What’s on your mind? or “What’s in your heart?” How might you pause and stop to reflect, or respond similarly or differently? Often what is in our heart or what is on our mind can project itself outward onto another person. It could also project onto a given situation and even onto our relationship with God. We tend to respond from knowledge gained from others or from personal experiences or even from personal judgements and preferences. We tend to project outward into a scene or inward to another’s mind and heart what’s on our own heart and mind. Projection can be a defense mechanism because of a person either being too inquisitive about our private life or getting a little too close to past hurts and pains. We redirect and move the inquisitor to consider a different question or get them to look or move in another direction. We use projection to deflect the focus off us and move the attention onto another, simply by asking a different question to consider, ponder or reflect. Projecting is a way to distract another person from looking to closely to what we have in our heart or from seeing to clearly what is truly on our mind. Projecting can be good if we are projecting joy, love, mercy, kindness. These are helpful and beneficial to all. What is not helpful or beneficial in anyway is impatience, anger, hurtful words, or negative attitudes. These reveal what is truly in our heart or truly on our mind. At times, we project negative thoughts and emotions onto God who is innocent and wants to assist. God is not the cause of our anger or caused our hurt or pain but the One that can help heal us and move us past it. Consider what’s in your heart or on your mind but project only the goodness of God.

“Announce the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.” At times, darkness can feel like life and life can feel like darkness. We cannot see darkness, but we experience it. The effects of low light or no light at all. Darkness can feel heavy, cold, isolated, and lonely. It can also feel creepy, fearful, and unsafe inside. The darkness we speak of is not like the beauty of a dark night, where the noise of light, the busy lights, does not interrupt the beauty of a night sky filled with endless stars, distant galaxies, and thousands of constellations. That is God’s gracious gift and the beauty of creation. The darkness we speak of is the kind of darkness we hope to avoid. The type of darkness where beauty seems hidden and unrecognizable. The kind of darkness where the pathways we take for granted seem closed off and inaccessible. The darkness that causes the walkways we often walk daily to be hidden, not easily seen. They seem somehow lost and unavailable to us. In the darkness, we simply cannot see. It causes us not to be able to see, filling us with fear of what may come or what may be. We lose our sense of direction. We lose our cool and calm. The darkness enters in. It creeps in slowly, quietly, unnoticed. It tries to hide, cover and blind the light. We feel lost, vulnerable, insecure, unsure, and afraid. There is also the fear of an interior darkness. Same effects and experiences of the darkness around us. The same feelings are caused inside of us. This kind of darkness can be extremely dark like a dark depression or as deep as a deep, dark secret. Sin is darkness. Sin causes darkness and darkness causes sin. Darkness blinds the truth, covers beauty, hides goodness. Fear not! Jesus is the Light of the World that burns ever so brightly within us. He is the light that darkness runs from, hides from, and fears. The Light of Christ can never be extinguished. Darkness can never overcome His light. Jesus conquered death, darkness, and the enemy of light. Saint John the Evangelist says, when Jesus comes in His glorious splendor and radiant light that, “Night will be no more, nor will they need light from lamp or sun, for the Lord God shall give them light, and they shall reign forever and ever.” Go therefore without fear to “Announce the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.”   

“God proves His love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” Why does God have to prove His love to you, to any of us, or to any of our family members or friends? God is living and true. God is the very source and essence of love, an unquenchable fountain, unfathomable depth, overflowing glory. God is the origination of love, its originator. God is love’s continuation, the very existence of love extending love itself into all eternity. God is love, true love that pervades beauty and all that is beautiful, good, holy, and true. An unconditional love that lovingly overwhelms all, even those who may not feel so lovely or beautiful anymore. Scripture graciously informs us and honestly invites us to consider God’s love. To contemplate it, take to heart and prayer who God is and how He has already proven His goodness to all generations inviting us to not question but to trust in the boundless and limitless love, which remains inexhaustible and eternal. The Word of God says of love and of Himself, “Love is patient, love is kind… It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” Love draws its goodness and its pureness directly from God. Love derives from God, flows through Him, from Him and is itself like a stream of gentle water refreshing and renewing everything and everyone in its path. God is like light, gently, and quietly moving like the dawn bursting into daybreak into our hearts overflowing over everything. Love is true, good, beautiful and you. God’s love never fails. Then why must God prove His fidelity and covenant and faithfulness to you? Why must we continue to test God and ask Him to continue to prove His love for us and for all humanity? We might on occasion be requested or even challenged to prove our love, our response, a word of value or commitment to validate our love, our response to determine whether our oath is valid or true. Why? If our words were truly honest and sincerely from our heart, if our actions were consistent and truly willed the good of the other, if our yes was yes and our no was truly no, then chances would be great that we are considered creditable, believable, trustworthy, true. There would be no need to undergo a scrutiny, a challenge or test or need to defend, inflate, embellish, or stretch the truth. Love does not have to prove itself. God already has.

“Do not forget the LORD, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.” Where is your Egypt? You know – that place where God needs to rescue you from others and save you from yourself. That state of mind or frequented situation that causes you to resist God’s grace and solely depend on yourself and even permit others to take control of your faith and of your pursuit for all that is God, good, holy, and true. Your Egypt can be that habitual sin or that form of addiction that you do not want to be in but are not ready to leave or let go. For some, Egypt can be that unhealthy relationship that you understand and know is not good for you but perhaps considered the only means, possibility, or chance for some happiness. From their own personal Egypt, the People of God cried out in their need, their plight, and their great desperation and oppression. They needed to be rescued and freed not only from those who oppressed them and reduced them to slavery but also from their own self-oppression brought about by their own sinfulness and slavery to idols and false worship. They wanted God but they also wanted the freedom to sin. Although we have free will to choose or decide, sin is not from God. There is no freedom in sin. Even the Lord says he takes no pleasure in death but rather in life, in giving life and sharing life eternal. Sin enslaves us and places us in a prison like state. Rather than becoming free to love and free to be loved, our truest form of happiness, sin separates, takes apart, and renders us orphans and citizens of an oppressive state. God needs to rescue us from darkness, from evil, from the harmful effects of sin. God calls us children, beloved children, heirs to the Kingdom of God. We are not oppressed by God but rather free to share in His grace and in the glorious freedom of the Children and People of God. Love binds, mends, heals and graciously unites. Sin oppresses, abandons, isolates and separates. Love helps us to remember all the good that God has done personally to rescue us from the effects of our personal Egypt and sin. The oppressive enemy wants us to forget who God is and to remain in our Egypt and continue to recall our personal hurts, failures, and disappointments. Never forget the Lord your God, who graciously saved you from Egypt.

“If I find favor with you, O Lord, do come along in our company.” Embarking on a journey leads us to consider many points of interest and to consider many fascinating questions like where are we going, how long will it take, is the journey long, and are we there yet? A journey can be like an adventure, something we have been longing for, something we are looking forward to, something we are hoping to undertake. A journey can provide new prospects to visit, new opportunities to consider, new experiences to look forward to, new avenues to take, new insights to see. Conversely, a journey can also be an unwelcomed adventure. One that may require too much planning, involve too much uncertainty, and take too much time to prepare. As busy as we are, who has time for a journey or even want to take the risk that it might be an unpleasant trip? However, when we consider that life is an unexpected but amazing journey, and that the journey is leading us to a place that is familiar to our soul, and to a person who created us for Himself then the journey becomes something worthy, worthwhile undertaking and something we look forward to even when there are so many unknowns. We can consider heaven the ultimate destination or God to be the final stop or even the final resting place. But heaven is so much more. It is not an end but a new beginning. It is a journey within itself. For some, the journey itself is the most important aspect to consider. It is not about the arrival, but rather the experience of getting there. For others, it is not about the details, or points of interest or the experiences along the way, but rather about arriving safely naturally, after an on-time departure and expected arrival as well. For me, I wonder if it is not more about the One who says I am with you always until the end of the age, come follow me. The One who encourages us to consider that He is the Way that we must go, the Truth we must follow, and the Life we must undertake for all eternity. I am not certain if it’s truly about taking the road less traveled or avoiding pitfalls and obstacles along the way. It seems like the journey and destination are both one and the same. Jesus walks with us accompanying us along the way, drawing us closer to the Father our heavenly homeland and final resting place.

“It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established.” We say knowledge is power and so indeed in certain circumstances when we have knowledge that others do not possess, it is powerful. It seems to give us an upper hand like in career advancement possibilities as well as opportunities to grow and develop specialized skillsets. Knowledge is helpful in life’s negotiations and can even assist us in those unfortunate moments when we find ourselves having to defend our beliefs or defend the reason or rational for the decisions and choices we made. Learning or ascertaining certain details or obtaining more information than others can and does in fact provide a certain advantage over others and can be most helpful in navigating through life’s storms, developing daily strategies, and focusing on particular paths of discernment and even providing wisdom for better decision-making. So, what do we really know and is that information truly helpful to you? Will your knowledge and what you know help you to get to heaven? Will your decisions be based on information gathered from online posts, another’s point of view, personal judgements, or limited perspectives or will you seek the Lord for wisdom, knowledge, counsel, and assistance? Is your knowledge base and information sources reliable, trustworthy, true? As reliable, more trustworthy, or true as the Lord who is ever faithful in fidelity to His covenant and unable to misinform you, tell an untruth or provide any falsehood? Knowledge is power when used in a manner that is helpful for us to live in accordance with God’s will, intent, and desire. Knowledge of God and personally knowing Him, His way, His truth, His life better helps us to love God and love one another for love is who we are. Did you know that? Knowledge is the gift of the Holy Spirit. It provides us with the grace to know God in a very personal, intimate way and even to know God in and through prayer in a way that is even more intimate and most profound. Knowledge from God and of God helps us to trust that He really knows us. He knows everything about us. Since God knows everyone and knows everything about you, doesn’t that mean that God is more powerful and truly has the upper hand? If that is the case, which it is, we can trust God knows what is best for me, for you, for all our families. God does not want us to worry but to trust – He knows.