Good morning!

What a crazy weekend! The boys both had games and team pictures on Saturday plus Izzy had gymnastics, so I felt like I had to somehow magically duplicate myself in order to be in 3 places at once--oh yeah..and did I mention that Radford also had to work on Saturday???

I hate to admit it, but I was pretty relieved when the afternoon games were canceled because of the wind! Five kids at a baseball field from 8:30am-4:30pm really is not a great way to spend the day--for any of us!!

Some interesting announcements!

WAY COOL--the USCCB has a daily readings audio podcast that you can subscribe to at:
http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings-audio.cfm
Check it out!

TALENT SHOW!
Our youth group will be working to put together a youth and young adult TALENT SHOW May 25th! This will be an awesome way to finish off our academic year and transition into something more casual for the summer. More details and info to come!

Okay...now for the scriptures...I'm picking up with Ephesians chapter 1 since I have been so horribe about getting to this every day--I'm sorry!! I will do better!

Pray:

Father God, you are holy above all else. I offer up this time to you and ask that you have your way as I read through Your Word. Open my eyes that I might see your face; open my ears that I might hear your voice; my heart that I might receive you fully. Help me, Lord, to be holy as You are holy. Forgive me, Lord for the times when I have failed to live up to your standard of holiness. Teach me, also, to forgive as you do, that I may be a vessel of your grace. Strengthen me, O God, that I might resist and flee from temptation in my persuit of holiness. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

READ: Ephesians 1:11-14

[11] In him we were also chosen, destined in accord with the purpose of the One who accomplishes all things according to the intention of his will, [12] so that we might exist for the praise of his glory, we who first hoped in Christ. [13] In him you also, who have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and have believed in him, were sealed with the promised holy Spirit, [14] which is the first installment of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s possession, to the praise of his glory.

So right off the bat, my first impression of this scripture is...the sacrament of Confirmation. Isn't it THEN that we experience this? It is then that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit, then that we receive the Holy Spirit-the first installment of our inheritance.

I love the way this starts off, though.... "In him we were also chosen, destined in accord with the purpose of the One who accomplishes all things according to the intention of His will"... summarize when the sheer number of words makes it hard to understand...here's my summary: "We were chosen by God, destined to be His by the God of all who can do anything".

So often in life, I personally feel like I am NOT "chosen" or "wanted"...but this verse reminds me that I AM CHOSEN BY GOD. CHOSEN is a very powerful word--it goes way beyond just "randomly picked"...I think sometimes that what we think when we hear that we were "chosen" by God. Remember that God is NOT RANDOM and He can do anything. SO, when it says that you are CHOSEN, it means that God foresaw all that you would become--all your beauty and all your sins as well...yet He said "I need " for this task. NOBODY else could fill the role that God has intended for you. YOU ALONE were chosen for that role and God created it for you according to the passions, gifts, and unique experiences that He knew you would have. It is not like on the playground in elementary school when you are "chosen" 3rd or 4th or if you were me--LAST...the left over the "ok...I guess I can use you..." GOD DOES NOT CHOOSE US LIKE THIS...NO. God CREATED YOU for this purpose and NEEDS YOU ALONE to accomplish it. No one else can fill those shoes--and no matter how "great" someone else is in OUR eyes...when God looks on YOU, He sees something PERFECT and BEAUTIFUL...the absolute PERFECT CHOICE for the calling He has in store for you. He has been waiting anxiously to "choose" you, to "draft" you for this great calling. Pretty amazing, huh??

Of course, it goes on with another one of those "SO THAT" statements ("For the purpose of") letting us know WHY it is that He has chosen us--that we may exist for the praise of His glory. That people might see US and Praise HIS NAME...that they might be drawn to HIM through US and that they might escape from the king of this world--the devil...that is always why God calls us to bring glory to His name--it is a rescue mission of sorts...we go out and we praise His name and draw those who are utterly lost back into His arms, that they might know and experience the God that we serve.

Let's continue on here... there is a small process that happens in the next verse...it says: "you also, who have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and have believed in him, were sealed with the promised holy Spirit,"

A process is always obvious if you can break it down into steps like "first, second, third"...Let's do that here... FIRST...you HEARD, SECOND...you BELIEVED, THIRD...you were SEALED.
As an English teacher, it's easy for me to see these things, because I look at the verbs--there are three distinct verbs here, which tells me that there is more than just one thing going on here. Remember that when we see a process in the Bible, we can follow the same steps that we see in the process in order to receive the same results that happened in that process.

SO, FIRST...you have heard--that's what happens when you are small and are being raised in the Faith...you are hearing about it from your parents, your Catechists, priest, etc. It is a faith that you know about and have some degree of understanding for, but it is not really YOUR faith yet--meaning you have not chosen it for yourself...it was chosen for you.

SECOND...you have believed--that's when you believe it for yourself...you choose it for yourself. You finally say "my parents have been telling me all this stuff and now I know it is true". This is part of confirmation--it is that choice that we all make and when we make that choice, the third thing happens.

THIRD...you have been sealed with the Holy Spirit--this happens automatically after you have heard and then believed. It is officiated in the Sacrament of Confirmation--an outward sign of an inward grace. So at Confirmation, you are SEALED with the Holy Spirit--remembering, of course, that the sacraments are an OUTWARD SIGN of an INWARD grace. (So if you didn't mean it...you weren't sealed..get it??) "SEALED" means like "case closed"... done.... it is finished... sealed. That means, that now you are no longer in that "searching" part of your faith...you're no longer standing in the door trying to decide if you are going to come inside or not. Confirmation is when you decide "This is MY Faith. I understand it, I believe it, I accept it. It is no longer my parent's faith. It is MINE. I am ready, now, to enter the spiritual war that is happening. I'm enlisting in God's army." When you come in and close that door behind you....when you sign those enlistment papers, if you will...you are SEALED with the Holy Spirit. You get your uniform and your first assignment.

The next part is also exciting. Not only are we SEALED with the Holy Spirit, we also RECEIVE the Holy Spirit--the first installment of our inheritance. With the Holy Spirit comes conviction and discernment and power in spiritual battle. We are not simply left to venture out on our own here...we are given the Holy Spirit to help us, to encourage us, to strengthen us, to empower us!

We are not alone in this war we wage--we have the Holy Spirit. We also have God the Father, God the Son...and of course eachother--the communion of Saints.

As we wage this war remember this also--when Christ rose from the dead...HE CONQUERED THE GRAVE...which means that this is a fixed battle....we have ALREADY WON. Keep pressing on, dear soldier. The war is long and hard...but we have already won.

In Christ,
Candice