I recently began re-listening to a talk I recorded during one of my retreats. It was a talk on the power of prayer by Fr. Bill Casey. I’ll post one of his talks on the subject here. For whatever reason, after listening to the recording I got to thinking about Christian platitudes. My initial thinking about the power of prayer and whether I truly believed in the power of prayer got me thinking about other things I say as a Catholic Christian.

Christian platitudes are defined as overused, cliche phrases meant to offer comfort or quick answers, but they often dismiss deep pain. We use them on ourselves and others – at least I know I do. Some examples are: Let go and let God; offer it up; just trust; prayer changes things; everything happens for a reason……….and the list goes on. I got to thinking about the “often dismiss deep pain” part of platitudes and realized there’s more to just believing what we say when we say them and it’s a part I’ve been missing all along, the feeling part. While it’s okay to “let go and let God” can we also just hold on to our situations long enough to allow ourselves to FEEL what we need to feel – the pain, the anger, the regret, the guilt, the lament – and THEN give it to God? When we are tempted to have an answer for someone who’s grieving or hurting, can we be ok with just being present to them and just hugging them, instead of trying to come up with an answer or trying to make them feel better when we know nothing will at the moment?

Sometimes I get so caught up in the “warrior” mentality that I don’t allow myself to feel whatever emotion is about to well up and I’m less empathic with others. In that mindset, it’s so easy to deflect a responsibility to grow closer to God and neighbor. There’s a spirit of self-reliance instead of total dependence. This week let’s challenge ourselves to look deeper into the platitudes we often use. Are they helping us grow in deeper relationship with God and our neighbor? Sometimes what seems like a good thing can be holding us back from something better! Think total dependence and deeper union. Think humble servant instead of spiritual warrior. God bless you!

God is enough!! I should end this post right there! Today, I opened my Bible to Ezekiel 44:25-31. The verse continues with Ezekiel’s vision and a description of the “new law.” It’s an address to priests about ritual but it got me thinking of what takes place in confession: we’re made clean by the forgiveness of sins and then we leave the confessional to do penance. Penance, despite what many people think, is not meant as a punishment. Penance is meant to help heal the soul and repair the spiritual damage caused by sin. Verse 26 says “on the day he enters the inner court to serve in the sanctuary, he shall present a purification offering for himself.” If that doesn’t sound like penance……….. We leave the confessional and continue the healing and purification process through penance before we enter the “inner court” to receive what we KNOW to be the body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ in the Eucharist. How beautiful is that?!

What REALLY struck me today was verse 28 – “I will be their heritage: I am their heritage! You shall not give them any property in Israel for I am their property!” The more I pondered, the clearer it became that God is enough! When He is the center of our lives, that’s when we truly begin to live the “abundance” promised by Christ.

The dictionary definition of abundance is: having a very large, plentiful quantity of something, so there is more than enough to meet your needs. Today I’ll continue to meditate on what it means to live in abundance – beyond the usual thought of being blessed or having plenty. God is love, He is enough and He IS abundance! Let’s sit with that for a while! God bless you!