Faith Blog: My God and My All, Let Thy Name Be Glorified!

St. Louis Catholic Church Saturday after Ash Wednesday Isaiah 58:9b-14 Luke 5:27-32 If you hold back your foot on the Sabbath from following your own pursuits on my holy day: if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord's holy day honorable; if you honor it by not following your ways, seeking your own interests, or speaking with malice-then you shall delight in the Lord and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will nourish you with the heritage of Jacob, your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. Remember to keep holy the Lord's Day-the Sabbath. Attend Mass on all Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation. This passage, law and precept is the teaching of God and how it is expressed in His Church. Did you know that there are almost 1,800 laws in the Catholic Church's Code of Canon Law? Fr. Rust majored and received his degree in Canon Law. They cover every facet of Catholic life-many of which never concern you and me in daily life but protect the Univer...

The Meaning of Spirituality Among Nonreligious Persons With Chronic Illness ■ Eileen Creel, DNS, RN ■ Ken Tillman, PhD, RN A phenomenological approach was used to uncover the meaning of spirituality for 11 nonreligious participants with a chronic illness. Spirituality for these participants was revealed through the themes of beliefs, spiritual awakening, and spiritual enhancement. This study supports each person as uniquely spiritual with spiritual needs that could be enhanced. KEY WORDS: chronic illness, nursing, spirituality Holist Nurs Pract 2008;22(6):303–309 CE 2.0 Contact Hours See text on pp. 310–311 Spirituality has been defined as a multidimensional, pervasive quality of the inner person that is uniquely interpreted by each individual.1 It is a phenomenon of interest to nurse researchers, nurses, and patients worldwide.2 Spirituality may be characterized by a person’s beliefs; search for meaning and purpose of life; sense of transcendence; and relationships with self, others, ...

Use of the Serenity Prayer Among Adults With Type 2 Diabetes A Pilot Study ■ Lisa M. Sacco, DNP, RN, APRN-BC ■ Mary T. Quinn Griffin, PhD, RN ■ Sister Rita McNulty, DNP, RN, CNP ■ Joyce J. Fitzpatrick, PhD, RN, FAAN The incidence of type 2 diabetes is rising rapidly with significant associated morbidity and mortality. Treatment efforts are focused on control of serum blood glucose levels. It was anticipated that the use of the Serenity Prayer would assist those who need to gain control over their physiological symptoms. A pilot study of the effect of daily recitation of the Serenity Prayer for 6 weeks on serum blood glucoses in patients with uncontrolled type 2 diabetes was implemented. Thirty-six participants were enrolled in the study; there was a very high attrition rate over the course of the study. Serum blood glucose levels over the duration of the study were analyzed. At 4 to 6 weeks, time 2, there were 2 participants who had lower serum blood glucose levels, 2 had increased ser...

Forgiving self is a side of the cion of forgiveness and it is not easy always. It may be easy to forgive others than forgiving self sometimes. However, forgiving self and accepting the frailty of self is an essential step to forgive others. Forgiving others is not something a human can achieve alone. Forgiveness of self and others both action comes from God not from human will power or human good will. If it was so Jesus could have said Father, I forgive them. Instead He asked the Father to forgive them. All along His earthly life he was preaching and teaching on forgiveness in various parables, prayer, and examples.He even instructed the disciples to pray for their enemies. Now at the cross, he demonstrated the prayer for forgiveness to the Father. From this I understand that the forgiveness comes from God not from man. But man has to exercise the virtue of prayer for forgiveness. Praying for forgiveness also heal both sides and mend the relations. The Lord who knows all the heart is ...

Forgivenesss begins from the forgiveness of oneself. In every forgiving situation the forgiving person is an essential part of the equation and has role in the problem as well. To clap it takes two hands so does any relationship begins from the person and extends to other or vica versa. Acknowledging oneself as a part of the problem takes great deal of humilty, which is a gift of Holy Spirit, which comes with discernment. Acknowledging and picturing self as a part of the problem will lead to the desire to play role in the soultions of mending actions. There is a big difference between discernment and acknowledging self comparing with self pity or self neglect or self blame. It is not a self blame but the discernment process of forgiveness. It is not self pity rather it is self realization. It is not self neglect rather self awareness. This is a gift which accomplishes 50% of the forgiveness, that comes from the Soul which is in tune with Holy Spirit. Self awareness is to self forgivene...

While acknowledging God's presence and willful act of confessions prepare the soul in the process of forgiving, the next stage involves the delebrate action on the soul to forgive the offense. In this stage the human will coupled with the divine will opens the eyes of forgiving person to the goodness of other person. In this stage, the person understands the goodness of the others including so called enemy. In addition, soul understands the love of God for that person is not lesser than the love of God for oneself. In this stage, the soul undergoes a compassionate stage giving excuses for the other person. In this light, the soul will consider itself unworthy of God's love and it will decide to love others for the sake of love of God. Realizing this situation, the soul will make willfull resoultion to forgive that person or situation for the love of God. During this stage attending Holy Mass, Recieving Holy Communion, and Eucharistic Adoration speed up the process of compassion...

In fallen nature of human, forgiveness is beyond the limits of human love. Forgiveness requires divine strength and guidance. Forgiveness is a process which begings with the knowledge the knowledge of God. During turmoils, during sufferings, during confusions, it is easy and human nature to be focused on the situation and become the repetitive victim to the problem. It is easy to set the eyes on the problem than focusing on god during trials. It is human nature to try to solve the problems in human will and ways. In this process, human soul vanishes all the juice remain with human will and remain empty and cluless in the absence of God's strength. So knowledge of God in the midst of problems begins the healing process. However, crucial the problem demands solution, how ever the narure of urgency of the demand, however crucial it may appear, however gruesome it may inflict, the soultion with out God's presence will lead to the betrayal of God and the willful abandanment of God...

There is no magic fix for the hurts that demand forgiveness and they are not instantly allevatable sufferings. Hurts and the sufferings can be many kind, many shapes, many dimensions, and multifaceted. Some are invited and some are uninvited. Some are internal and some are external. Some forgettable with no effort and some are not. Most of the times it involves the human relationships and majority of the times the hurts which affect us the most are afflicted by those who we love and care, which require greater forgiveness in day today basis. Where there is love there is hurt. For some reason love and hurt are inseperable. The more the love the greater the forgiveness required to defend and cherish the love and relationships. There are many afflictions that could hurt a person from self reasons, situational reasons, environmental reasons, and external reasons, which encompasses the internal and external reasons of one's suffering. Small or big,the affictions of betrayals,rejections,...

"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." Gospel of Luke 23:34 Jesus words on the cross are very popular and they have attracted many philosophers, writers,thinkers, leaders, and even common people. In the face of trials, in the vicinity of pains, in the hands of humiliation, in the midst of rejection, in encountering disappointment, in facing frustration, in the fist of merciless tortures, in the pits of agony Jesus the saviour spoke the above verse. This verse contains his prayer to heavenly father. It denotes a plea to the Father. In indicates an appeal on behalf of people who hurt Him. It speaks of volumes of advocacy on behalf of humanity to the Father. This verse also indicates the deep wounds inflicted upon Jesus in His heart, mind, soul, and body. The verse also denotes the anticipated vengenceful wrath of God towards humanity. It is a prayer of anticipatory bail for humanity. This prayer contains the Saviour's compassion towards humanity. When H...

Mother church is on her lenten journey. The purple color vestment and undecorative altar denote her period of fasting, penence, and prayers. Her journey reflects the passion of her bridegroom, our Lord, Jesus Christ. She renews her faithfulness in this holy season. She follows many external rituals, while she undergoes eternal internal transformation, in the journey towards heaven. She refreshes her children, cleanse them through sacremets, and unite them with Holy Spirit. She watches over the faithful along the journey towards resurrection. She was present with Jesus in Gethsamene in the form of Appostles as He was praying before His passion. She immerses herself in prayer, following the call of her master to be awake and pray.Joining her,this lenten season, I would like to reflect upon Jesus words on the cross.