WHY DO WE CRUCIFY HIM AGAIN?
From E-mail Ministry
I say something rude
to someone who's lost,
And I've ruined my witness,
But they will pay the cost.
--So I nail in the nails.
Can anyone see the Lord through me,
Or do they simply see my sins?
Am I living the life Christ wants me to,
Am I living the life of man?
--So I plunge in the spear.
And when I fail to pray,
and my conversations with Him fade,
Does He patiently wait for my call,
Though it causes Him pain?
--And I place the thorns upon His brow.
I lead a life of double standards,
One day good, the next one bad.
Can He quietly stand by
When He sees all I could have had?
--And I ridicule my Lord once again.
For you see,
Each time we turn our backs,
and return to the world of sin,
It is then that you and I,
We crucify Him again.
-- Brandy Cambell (12th grade)
Life in the "Fast" Lane
By Elizabeth Ficocelli
There is a running joke in the Ficocelli family about how much food I can pack away in a single sitting. I hold the award for out-eating even my father-in-law, which is no small endeavor. So, with my indiscriminate love for foods of all kinds, it is understandable that one of the more difficult concepts for me to embrace when I entered the Catholic Church was fasting.
My first attempts to restrict my repeated trips to the refrigerator began, naturally, on Ash Wednesday and the Fridays of Lent. The meatless part of the sacrifice didn't bother me much since I can savor a seafood dinner as much as I can a strip steak or a bowl of pasta. But the notion of modest meals -- and no snacks in-between -- was downright painful. For a long time, I would rationalize my low-blood sugar as a reason that I was never meant to live in the "fast" lane. If I went too long without food, I would suffer from headaches, dizziness and nausea, not to mention extreme grumpiness. Surely God would understand my limitations -- after all, He created me this way. But as I began to learn more about fasting and its effectiveness as a means of prayer, I realized that if I were going to advance in my spirituality and grow closer to God, I had to put my soul before my stomach.
In the Bible, fasting was commonplace. The prophets fasted, and so did Jesus and His apostles and disciples. Fasting could change the course of events, like saving Nineveh after Jonah warned them that their future was in jeopardy. Certainly, this was a powerful form of prayer. I read that the early Christians traditionally fasted on Wednesdays and Fridays, and so my husband and I decided to incorporate a bread-and-water fast on Wednesdays, as Fridays were far more difficult for us to schedule.
Admittedly, this was not an easy endeavor for me. Bread has never been one of my all-time favorite culinary delights, and I would find myself so grouchy and hungry by nighttime that I had to eat dinner with the children. I would also dread the following Wednesday, sorrowfully counting the days that I had left until I would be denied food again. Eventually, I was able to make it to midnight without giving in, but I still felt irritated and sorry for myself. How, I wondered, was this improving my relationship with God?
Through prayer, God showed me that I could pray for the gift of fasting and, more importantly, that I needed to fast with love. My attitude, He taught me, was all wrong. Once I changed my mindset and fasted with love, the difference was amazing. My headaches began to subside and I no longer dreaded Wednesdays. More importantly, I began to experience the spiritual benefits of fasting. I find that fasting increases my desire for God. It makes me more humble and more willing to do His will -- even at times helping me to discover what that Will is in a given situation. Fasting equips me to be stronger with my trials, temptations, and bad habits. Most beneficial to my family, it seems to be helping me become more peaceful, more patient, and more even-tempered.
When I say "no" to my body and "yes" to my spirit, I become less self-centered and a more usable instrument for God. It seems I am able to listen to God better and live His word more. My husband and I offer up our weekly fasts for those who are truly hungry, for peace in the world, and for sinners (especially ourselves.) I really believe that these weekly fasts are helping in some small way to make the world a better place.
We've discovered that fasting is to the soul what jogging is to the body. The more we fast, the better spiritual shape we are in, and the easier it is to do. We've even been able to do two nine-day bread-and-water fasts, and discovered to our surprise that it wasn't that difficult at all. Of course, I know it is only through the grace of God that I am able to fast in the first place. I have learned that fasting is a gift, not that we are giving God, but that God gives us in order to draw us closer to Him. My hope is that this powerful form of prayer will keep me on the right path to one day earn a seat at the Heavenly Banquet. And that will be a feast well worth the wait.
Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my moments and my days; let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my hands, and let them move at the impulse of Thy love.
Take my feet, and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee.
Take my voice, and let me sing always, only, for my King.
Take my lips, and let them be filled with messages from Thee.
Take my silver and my gold; not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect, and use every power as Thou shalt choose.
Take my will, and make it Thine; it shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart, it is Thine own; it shall be Thy royal throne.
Take my love, my Lord, I pour at Thy feet its treasure store.
Take myself, and I will be ever, only, all for Thee.
The Last "I Love You"
Carol’s husband was killed in an accident last year. Jim, only fifty-two years old, was driving home from work, the other driver was a teenager with a very high blood alcohol level. Jim died instantly. The teenager was in the emergency room for less than two hours.
There were other ironic twists: It was Carol’s fiftieth birthday, and Jim had two plane tickets to Hawaii in his pocket. He was going to surprise her. Instead, he was killed by a drunk driver.
“How have you survived this?” I finally asked Carol, a year later.
Her eyes welled up with tears. I thought I had said the wrong thing, but she gently took my hand and said, “It’s all right; I want to tell you. The day I married Jim, I promised I would never let him leave the house in the morning without telling him I loved him. He made the same promise. It got to be a joke between us, and as babies came along, it got to be a hard promise to keep. I remember running down the driveway, saying ‘I love you’ through clenched teeth when I was mad, or driving to the office to put a note in his car. It was a funny challenge.
“We made a lot of memories trying to say “I love you” before noon every day of our married life.
“The morning Jim died, he left a birthday card in the kitchen and slipped out to the car. I heard the engine starting. Oh, no, you don’t, buster, I thought. I raced out and banged on the car window until he rolled it down.
“Here on my fiftieth birthday, Mr. James E. Garret, I Carol Garret, want to go on record as saying I love you!”
“That’s how I’ve survived. Knowing that the last words I said to Jim were ‘I love you!’
Written by Debbi Smoot
February 21
Trust and thankfulness will get you safely through this day. Trust protects you from worrying and obsessing. Thankfulness keeps you from criticizing and complaining: those “sister sins” that so easily entangle you.
Keeping your eyes on Me is the same thing as trusting Me. It is a free choice that you must make thousands of times daily. The more you choose to trust Me, the easier it becomes. Thought patterns of trust become etched into your brain. Relegate troubles to the periphery of your mind, so that I can be central in your thoughts. Thus you focus on Me, entrusting your concerns into My care.
So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
—Colossians 2:6–7
But my eyes are fixed on you, O Sovereign Lord; in you I take refuge—do not give me over to death.
—Psalm 141:8
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
—1 Peter 5:7 – Jesus Calling
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