Seized by Christ

They are experiencing Christianity as joy and hope, having thus become lovers of Christ.

Tag: Heaven

  • One Bead, Three Hope Bombs: Ignite the Second Hail Mary

    One Bead, Three Hope Bombs: Ignite the Second Hail Mary

    You’re at the start of the Rosary.

    First bead: “increase in us faith.”

    (If you missed it, we lit that fuse yesterday: blank map → step; Host → Him; hard thing → anyway.) One Bead, 3 Faith Bombs:

    Now the second bead rolls in:

    “Hail Mary… increase in us hope…”

    …and your mind blanks again.

    No more.

    Here are three 30-second mental detonators to drop before or during that single Hail Mary.

    Pick one. Pick all. Just make it explode.

    Detonator #1 – ANCHOR YOUR HEART IN HEAVEN

    Scene: Every cross you carry is a temp rental.

    Heaven is the forever address.

    Your move:

    Before the prayer starts, picture your heaviest pain nailed to the Cross—then vanishing at the empty tomb.

    “I bank on eternity, not the invoice.”

    Detonator #2 – GOD RECYCLES FAILURES INTO GLORY

    Fact: Your worst faceplant is raw material.

    Joseph: sold → pit → prison → palace.

    Your move:

    During the Hail Mary, hand God one specific failure.

    Whisper: “Turn this trash into throne.”

    (Pro tip: He’s the ultimate up-cycler.)

    Detonator #3 – RESURRECTION ALREADY CASHED THE CHECK

    Fact: Christ rose. Death lost. Hope won.

    Your move:

    Name one dead-end staring you down today.

    Lock eyes on the Risen One while the words roll.

    “I rest in the victory lap already run.”

    TL;DR (because scroll)

    Pain → temp.

    Failure → fuel.

    Dead-end → done.

    Screenshot this.

    Next time that second bead hits your fingers, light the fuse.

    Love bead dropping soon—stay locked in, stay Catholic.

  • If You Are Inspired

    Pope Benedict XVI says that Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, or a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction. 

    C.S. Lewis says that there are 5 physical descriptions of heaven: 1) Being with Christ, 2) Being like Christ, 3) Being illuminated, 4) Being entertained and 5) Having a position (as sons of God). These are earthly representations of the real, spiritual heaven.

    I believe that a Christian experiences the physical descriptions of heaven while he is still in Jesus’ Kingdom on Earth. And he bears something of that heaven with him so that the rest of us can have a glimpse of it.

    You cannot make the encounter or event happen, but you can prepare yourself, so to let God know that you are willing to receive His outpouring. And the Bible says that he who seeks shall find.

    The most effective thing you can do is get together with other Christians to discuss the teachings of the Church as presented in recent Church documents. This will help you to grow in understanding of the Bible, the Church, and the state of Christianity in the world. And in addition, you will have the support of brothers.

    At St Max, we currently have at least 3 different groups that do this:

    That Man Is You; Fridays, 5:30-7:00 AM in Kolbe Hall: Men discuss the role of men in their families.

    Your Holy Family Ministries; Tuesdays, 6:30 to 8:00 PM in Room 215: Men and women discuss the recent documents of the Church related to the family.

    Amore Laetitia, Thursdays, 6:00 – 7:00 AM in Kolbe Hall: A recent Apostolic Exhortation on marriage is discussed by men.

    Getting to know more about God and your faith takes priority over service. Let your service grow out of your knowledge and love of God.

    Remember: this does not replace your sacraments.

    Regards

    Tom Neugebauer

  • Valley of the Shadow of Life

     

    Those are the people who say to God: “Thy will be done.” No soul that seriously and constantly desires Joy will ever miss it. To those who seek, it is found. To those who knock, it is opened.

    Ah, the saved . . . what happens to them is best described as the opposite of a mirage. 

    What seemed, when they entered it, to be the vale of misery, turns out, when they look back, to have been a well. And where present experience saw only salt deserts, memory truthfully records that the pools were full of water.

    The good man’s past begins to change so that his forgiven sins and remembered sorrows take on the quality of Heaven

    And that is why the Blessed will say, “We have never lived anywhere except in Heaven”

    And perhaps ye had better not call this country Heaven. Not deep Heaven, ye understand. “Ye can call it the Valley of the Shadow of Life

    C.S.Lewis – The Great Divorce