Holy Week 2011 is here and my heart and soul are filled with a new Light and Hope that I've never quite had before. I believe it's partly because my beautiful daughter, Audrey is here with us. More and more each day, as I continue on in my journey through motherhood I come to realize how long complete my life has become now that my daughter is here with us... I waited so long for her, and now I feel as if I've always had her with me. She feel's as if she's always been a part of me and me her.
Though, still, I know that this new Light and Hope that I see and feel comes not just from having my daughter here with us, but from Jesus Christ, Who truly is the Light of the World, Who has come into the world to save it and redeem it with His unfathomable Love, to give it sight with His Glorious Being and to give it Life eternal with His boundless Grace.
I've learned so much from being a mother and my daughter is just little over 1 years old, and much of what I have learned already is a direct correlation to the relationship that God our Heavenly Father has with us his beloved children. Just as I feel as if my daughter has always been here with me, in my heart and in my life and that she is just as much a part of me as I am her, so too do people feel and even more so, that God has always been with them in their lives and hearts and souls and that He is just as much a part of them as they are He when they find Him at last, when they surrender their hearts, souls and lives to Him and when they acknowledge Him as their one, true God, Creator of the universe and Savior of the world.
I felt very much that way when I came "Home" to God over 14 years ago, though, for me, it wasn't as if I had ever left God, though, I had stepped away, momentarily from my Catholic Faith for a few short years, during a very painful, sorrowful time in my life... to see if I could find God beyond the four walls of the Church. In the hustle, bustle and craziness of New York City, a young woman in my early 20's I was, I truly can say that I found God there beyond those four walls of the Church in the faces of people I met, in Sacred Scripture which He led me to really discover and understand like I had never before... and most especially in my emptiness, and loneliness in my own heart. I had moved to New York City a couple of years prior, all by myself to follow a dream of becoming "A Star!" I was accepted into the one of the most prestigious acting schools in the world and thought that I would soon be discovered and make it big!
Well, I was most certainly, "discovered, to soon shine like a star, though, it was not at all how I had imagined!"
It was not some big Broadway producer who had discovered me, but, even better, it was the One True "Producer" and Creator of all, God Who had discovered me and found me... lonely, brokenhearted, hungry for His Love and thirsty for His Mercy!
It's quite a long story that I don't have time to tell of of today, but I will say that it was very real, profound and life-changing... for, God came into my life and saved my life in the most mysterious way!!! And since then I have never been the same. I had died, and yet, just like Jesus died up there on the cross for each of us over 2,000 years ago... my life did not end there... it was just the beginning! Through Jesus Christ, God gave me the Gift of His forgiveness for all of my sins, Grace and Mercy and Love and restored to new and even better Life in Him.
As I result, my heart was led back in the most beautiful way to my "Home," my Cathodic Faith, where God not only let me know I truly belonged, but, Gracious as He is... He let me know in a real special way that He had been preparing a very special place for me within it all the while!
I love my Catholic Faith very much... and I stand by it all the more, during these challenging times that we are going through, just like God stood by me throughout my challenging times.
I look forward to this Holy Week, the last part of my Lenten Journey for this year and strive to make it all that it can be and is meant to be! It's a true time to grow in Grace, holiness and God's redeeming Love and of course, to grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ Who has made Eternal Life possible by His eternal sacrifice on the cross.
I will be keeping all of you in my prayers, especially this Holy Week and ask you to please do the same for me as we continue to journey with Jesus to the cross, to the tomb and into the resurrection of New Life in Him!
I praise God and Jesus for this amazing experience of Love and Grace and endless Blessing! May He continues to bless you and your loved ones in ever way! ~Amen! ~
Though, still, I know that this new Light and Hope that I see and feel comes not just from having my daughter here with us, but from Jesus Christ, Who truly is the Light of the World, Who has come into the world to save it and redeem it with His unfathomable Love, to give it sight with His Glorious Being and to give it Life eternal with His boundless Grace.
I've learned so much from being a mother and my daughter is just little over 1 years old, and much of what I have learned already is a direct correlation to the relationship that God our Heavenly Father has with us his beloved children. Just as I feel as if my daughter has always been here with me, in my heart and in my life and that she is just as much a part of me as I am her, so too do people feel and even more so, that God has always been with them in their lives and hearts and souls and that He is just as much a part of them as they are He when they find Him at last, when they surrender their hearts, souls and lives to Him and when they acknowledge Him as their one, true God, Creator of the universe and Savior of the world.
I felt very much that way when I came "Home" to God over 14 years ago, though, for me, it wasn't as if I had ever left God, though, I had stepped away, momentarily from my Catholic Faith for a few short years, during a very painful, sorrowful time in my life... to see if I could find God beyond the four walls of the Church. In the hustle, bustle and craziness of New York City, a young woman in my early 20's I was, I truly can say that I found God there beyond those four walls of the Church in the faces of people I met, in Sacred Scripture which He led me to really discover and understand like I had never before... and most especially in my emptiness, and loneliness in my own heart. I had moved to New York City a couple of years prior, all by myself to follow a dream of becoming "A Star!" I was accepted into the one of the most prestigious acting schools in the world and thought that I would soon be discovered and make it big!
Well, I was most certainly, "discovered, to soon shine like a star, though, it was not at all how I had imagined!"
It was not some big Broadway producer who had discovered me, but, even better, it was the One True "Producer" and Creator of all, God Who had discovered me and found me... lonely, brokenhearted, hungry for His Love and thirsty for His Mercy!
It's quite a long story that I don't have time to tell of of today, but I will say that it was very real, profound and life-changing... for, God came into my life and saved my life in the most mysterious way!!! And since then I have never been the same. I had died, and yet, just like Jesus died up there on the cross for each of us over 2,000 years ago... my life did not end there... it was just the beginning! Through Jesus Christ, God gave me the Gift of His forgiveness for all of my sins, Grace and Mercy and Love and restored to new and even better Life in Him.
As I result, my heart was led back in the most beautiful way to my "Home," my Cathodic Faith, where God not only let me know I truly belonged, but, Gracious as He is... He let me know in a real special way that He had been preparing a very special place for me within it all the while!
I love my Catholic Faith very much... and I stand by it all the more, during these challenging times that we are going through, just like God stood by me throughout my challenging times.
I look forward to this Holy Week, the last part of my Lenten Journey for this year and strive to make it all that it can be and is meant to be! It's a true time to grow in Grace, holiness and God's redeeming Love and of course, to grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ Who has made Eternal Life possible by His eternal sacrifice on the cross.
I will be keeping all of you in my prayers, especially this Holy Week and ask you to please do the same for me as we continue to journey with Jesus to the cross, to the tomb and into the resurrection of New Life in Him!
I praise God and Jesus for this amazing experience of Love and Grace and endless Blessing! May He continues to bless you and your loved ones in ever way! ~Amen! ~
No comments:
Post a Comment