I see trees of green, red roses too I see them bloom for me and you and I think to myself what a wonderful world.

Publisher: Lyrics © CARLIN AMERICA INC, MEMORY LANE MUSIC GROUP,WINDSWEPT HOLDINGS LLCSongwriter: GEORGE DOUGLAS, BOB THIELE GEORGE DAVID WEISS

“The “Catholic World” has a lot more to it than churches. It’s also a world of libraries and bedrooms, mountains and seaside, galleries and sports fields, concert halls and monastic cells–places where we get glimpses and hints of the extraordinary that lies just on the far side of the ordinary…” (Letters to a Young Catholic  by George Weigel beginning of chapter six).

So what do a Louie Armstrong song and a quote from a Catholic book have to do with each other? Well, if you continued reading chapter six of Letters to a Young Catholic you would be introduced to the term “sacramental imagination”.  What is this fascinating term and why should you care? Let’s break it up and see if we get some insight. First the word sacrament, now I know whenever I hear the word a memorized definition comes to mind, “a sacrament is an outward sign of an inward spiritual reality (grace)”, and imagination well that is the eyes through which children see the world, it is what turned a stick into a sword, a pile of dirt into a pie. This term sacramental imagination suggests how we are able to picture God in all His glory as we participate in the sacraments.

It suggests that the oil of baptism is not some greasy substance that has no meaning, but that that oil is the anointing of a king or queen into the kingdom of God. Sacramental imagination is what allows us to attend mass and realize that we are not participating as individuals but every time we open the doors and smell the incense and taste the body of Christ we are united with every person attending mass all over the world and all the angles and saints in heaven.

But this spiritual imagination does not stop in the way we participate in the sacraments, but is a perspective on the world. The ordinary things in life: the grass, the sunshine, and a family meal. Those things do not only become the stuff that makes our ordinary life, but those are the still small voices that God uses to talk to us. Spiritual imagination is looking at a world with awe and wonder not because we live in some delusional state where we ignore all the pain in the world, but where we are able to look at the world with even more love then before because we know it is something to be loved.

This is how a childlike sacramentally imaginative person approaches faith, knowing that you will not understand everything, asking questions, discovering things with a smile, imagining everything and stepping back and marveling at the beauty of it all even if we don’t have everything figured out.

It’s running to our Father when were scared or the second we’re tempted or concerned. It’s longing to be nowhere except wrapped in his strong capable arms. It’s looking at a sunrise and seeing the gates of heaven; it’s looking at the sacrament of the Eucharist and participating in the Lamb’s High Feast. It’s never losing our belief and wonder and hope. It’s telling God everything and knowing that we are never nothing. It’s loving until it hurts and laughing until we die. For it is only through the innocent view of a child that the glory of heaven is truly revealed.

 

Be Not Afraid!

So today I had the opportunity to hear the inspiring and enthusiastic words of Michael Gormley and he reiterated something that has been tugging at my heart for a while. This is that our generation seems to be asleep. Our generation seems to be too apathetic or polite to care. To fight. There is a very real spiritual battle going on every day that requires us to continue to fight, to stay awake in the presence of our Lord and to be not afraid!

It’s like our life is Frodo’s journey to Mt. Doom, he must continually rededicate himself to his journey, to say no to temptation and to avoid an eternity of a very real spiritual doom. How can we do this? How can we be a part of this new evangelization where we must reignite that flame established by the original evangelization (because nowadays almost everyone has heard of Christ and Catholics)? Well Mr. Gormley gave a great and attainable suggestion. Pick four people (this semester for all you students) and choose to love them. This means putting their needs first, giving with no expectation or desire of gain and thinking of them before ourselves.

So often I feel we chose to do nothing because what we can do we feel is insignificant. But this is what Satan wants us to believe. Serving these four people for the next three months may seem insignificant but it won’t be for them. Not if we truly love them by showing them the same love God has shown us. A love that spreads its arms and gives every last breath, a love that keeps pushing up that mountain of Doom to destroy Satan. How can we achieve this seemingly impossible task? It is by choosing to no longer be apathetic, to no longer be scared but to raise our heads, and no longer stand for this culture of death we have created, but to kneel down in the presence of God and serve.

  

We must be fearless and tireless in our love for others and the only way to do that is to allow ourselves to be loved by God so that we too may be able to show the love of God to the world.

This also requires us to know that we will fail many times, but we must reconcile with these failures and turn away from our sins to continue the journey. So what will your choice be? Will you fight or be destroyed? Will you love or will you continue to do nothing until sin consumes? Let’s do this guys! Let’s go out there and love the world so much that it is no longer silent but is filled with shouts of joy! Knowing that we will fail, but that through our failures and the ripping of our heart, that it is able to grow bigger and give more love! Be not afraid!

Beginings…

So here I am again! The beginning of my second semester of college. I’m scared and excited, happy and sad, thrilled and apathetic. How can this be? Well let me explain something to you. College means new beginnings, it means responsibility and growth, but it also means leaving my family. Over Christmas break I got to experience so much joy! Being a part of a family, having a purpose being loved, these are the things that we all desire as human beings. It was truly heaven on earth for those few months. Not that we didn’t fight and forget things and make messes and let each other down, because we most definitely did, but it was beautiful because we did it together!

During the holiday season I feel like we are constantly striving for this mythical perfect Christmas. It’s like a snow globe where everyone is happy and singing carols and eating cookies and everyone’s together in the perfect little house decorated amazingly. Your true love is standing under the mistletoe and the snow is lightly falling outside waiting for the perfect snowman to elevate from the cloud of snow that seems to kiss the earth.

And every ear I think I want this perfect idea of Christmas, I find myself looking to the nativity. We have this adorable little button one where the characters are so cute, all smiling and all adorned with the most precious little buttons, but then I remember what it was really like. Mary and Joseph were in a foreign place where the streets were crowded and people were probably rude and dirty, they were tired and hungry and since they forgot to make a reservation, they thought they would have nowhere to stay. Mary was probably worried to death and Joseph was trying to provide for his new family, and in the midst of that Mary is going into labor! What a nightmare. They end up staying in a dark, cold little cave with animals that probably smelled and then Mary gave birth which was probably stressful.

I mean that has got to be the furthest thing from what we imagine to be the idea Christmas, but that was the true Christmas. That was the Christmas that changed the world. That night there was peace on earth and goodwill toward man. That night was filled with joy, not because the lights on the tree were perfect, or it smelled like cookies or they were wearing fancy clothes, or in a nice place, actually they had the exact opposite of all of that, but they were together. They had made it together with love. That family love made everything better. The fact that Mary and Joseph had faith that God knew what He was doing even if we think it’s crazy. They had hope, and faith and love; a kind of procreative love that worked with God and was total, faithful, fruitful and free. This is what made the perfect Christmas thousands of years ago; a sacramental love that conquered all the craziness, worries and doubt that this world bombarded this devout couple with child so many years ago. That is why we must turn to God this Christmas season so when our Christmas seems like a disaster, God can make it a manifestation of His love.

And this is why I’m sad that Christmas is over (epiphany was last week btw), not because it was perfect, but because in the imperfection God did something amazing! He showed the world a family founded on real love that conquers all. And this is how I want to start my semester. Knowing that it will be crazy and dirty and smelly, but through God’s incarnating love, my craziness will be made perfect if I entrust it to Him!

image source:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Gerard_van_Honthorst_001.jpg