The Lost Series - Bible Study ReCap

Hello - happy Saturday!

I am so excited to be joining Heart of Mary Women's Fellowship's FIRST link up party! #HOMWFhearttoheart Here is the link to the Link up party - grab your cup of coffee :)

If you are visiting from the HOMWF site - HELLO! If you aren't, you should go check them out.

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For the past two weeks I've been studying Luke 15: 1-32 with HOMWF. It's called the Lost series: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son (story of the prodigal son).

Though there was so much that I learned, two ideas stood out to me.

Right off the bat, in vs. 2 it says "This man [Jesus] welcomes sinners and eats with them." Just last Sunday we learned from Ezekiel 33 & Matthew 18:15-20 that we too are called to be watchmen of the house, to love everyone, and that we will be the ones held responsible for the sins of others if we didn't attempt to share the Truth with them. It is through meeting sinners where they were at that Jesus was able to love them and convert them. We are called to this same method. With Pope Francis especially, there has been an energized push for a "new evangelization". Namely, it's to meet people where they are at, to love them where they are at, and welcome them home. We aren't supposed to sit on our high horse, soap box, in our wood polished pew pointing fingers and naming names. We're called to go out into the streets, or the store, or the park, or the food bank, or anywhere that they are. We know who they are: it's not everyone that we meet. Rather, it's the people God puts in out path, family or friends or strangers, and through following the prompting of the Spirit, we will be able to evangelize.

The second part that really stood out was the reference verse Luke 19:10. In fact, it stood out to me so much, that I drew it out (what I do as part of my prayer meditation).

Praise be to You, God! For coming after me when I am lost. When I am lost because of doubt, because of sin, because of stubbornness, because of pride. Thank you for searching me out and seeing so much value in me to come after me. 

It is still so impressive to me that God would be willing to seek ME out. Yea, I call my self catholic. Yea, some people would say that I've been found, or saved, or more correctly - being saved. My Shephard comes to seek me out & to save me. I am human. I am a sinner. Even though I say I follow the Catholic faith, I get lost. All. The. Time. Thank goodness, I have a God that runs after me.

But you better believe that He's running after you too! He wants to meet you where you're at. Wherever you are in life, He wants to meet you where you are, hold you, love on you, bring you home, keep you safe. We just have to want to be found.

xo,

Mass Journal - Love Your Neighbor As Yourself

Hand drawn by me - available as a digital download on Etsy

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Every week we get the opportunity to hear God's Words to us at Mass. And every week we also get the opportunity to take in, absorb, meditate upon, learn, heal, and grow through these words. Here at The Kristina Project, I'll be transposing my handwritten notes from my Mass Journal. Sometimes there may not be complete sentences or full thoughts. I am literally rewriting what stood out to me in the readings/homily so that I can mediate on them later. 

To learn more about Mass Journaling, click here.

To purchase Mass Journals that I create, visit my Etsy shop. 

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9-7-14 Sunday Mass

Ez 33:7-9; Rom 13:8-10; Matt 18:15-20

LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF

It's concern of soul, not vanity. The Only reason we exist is to worship God - not to work, play sports, not be be active in the world.

If we harden our hearts there is a wall between us and God. We need to open our hearts and read the Word & share the Word.

Ezekiel was a prophet & a priest. "Appointed watchman of the House" -> typology for priests, bishops, popes - the hierarchy of the Church.

Others may or may not want to hear the truth. But that's ok because we, the sharers of the truth, must share anyways. If we do not share the truth with others then their sins are held against us. 

We do not get to escape the responsibility of evangelization; it's not just for the "hierarchy". This is part of our baptismal call. When we are baptized, we are baptized Priest, Prophet, & King. 

But we must share the truth in love. "Owe nothing to anyone except love." We cannot be pompous when we share the truth. 

Anyone breathing on this planet is loved by God - because He created them - therefore they must be loved by us. 

We correct the wicked & admonish the sinner not because we are above them - WE ARE NOT, WE ARE ALL SINNERS, but because we love them. and have concern for their soul. 

When I finally fully appreciate the love God has for me, then I can go out and love. Mother Teresa was so motivated by the love of God that she was able to see God in every person she met. 

We often harden our hearts because we are challenged to change. Being a Christian is not like joining a country club, it is difficult and painful, causing conflict & division. 

We cannot just say love, love, love. Love is blood, sweat, and tears.  It is a decision. 

We are called to be the watchmen to help those who have fallen away. We want them to live in life. We want them to come home & go home. 

Jesus was constantly in the presence of sinners so that He could love them & convert them. 

The Proper Functioning of Each Part

Guys. Big News.

I'm the designer and a writing contributor for an online Catholic women's ministry.

SHUT THE FRONT DOOR.

It's for real. And I can hardly believe it; or that God would ask this of me; or that He would give me the skills to pull this off. Ok, the last part is believable, because - IT'S GOD. He can give me whatever gifts He wants. Someone recently said to me that I am very lucky that God has already revealed what my gifts are and how He is calling me to build up His kingdom.

Have you ever read the first part of Nehemiah, chapter 3? It's called the "List of Workers". It lists a name of a person, the section of the wall of Jerusalem they were in charge of, and the task that they completed. It's quite a dry read, if you take it at face value. In the midst of these numerous names and numerous gates, the people and their task seem to get lost in the bigger picture. They are all building up this wall. They are all a son of someone, and a son of someone. They all have weird names to our modern minds and that doesn't help them stand out either. They seem to fade into the back, unimportant to the real story.

"The Spring Gate was repaired by Shallum, son of Colhozeh, leader of the district of Mizpah; he rebuilt it, roofed it over, and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars. He also repaired the wall of the Aqueduct Pool near the king's garden as far as the steps that lead down from the City of David." - Neh 3:15

Want to know something about Shallum? He was listed in this "List of Workers" almost at the end. We have to read through 15 previous verses of people building something, just to get to poor Shallum. By the time we get to him, our eyes are probably skimming and our minds are elsewhere. We really aren't absorbing God's Word and what He wants to bless us with. But poor Shallum was not poor at all! I don't know about his financial state, I have no clue. But Shallum was asked to repair a gate & the pool next to it. However this wasn't just any pool. This pool is later called the Pool of Siloam. In John 9 we read that this is where Jesus asked a blind man to go, to wash clay off of his eyes.

"...and said to him, "Go wash in the Pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). So he went and washed, and came back able to see." - John 9:7

Shallum didn't know that the work he was doing would provide a platform for Jesus to perform a miracle. Shallum didn't know that the efforts he made would not only be important in his current day, but in future days to come. Shallum didn't know that his little yes would allow God make BIG blessings later.

I have always loved creating sites. Facebook pages have been created for every place of business I've worked at.  I, absurdly, have 5 blogs. (4 aren't active - I just liked creating them.) I enjoy starting people up on social media. I'm an Instagram junkie and a Twitter stalker. I also love writing. I actually became giddy in college when term papers were assigned; and the more pages the better. One of my favorite classes was about writing and we spent the entire quarter dissecting the book "On Writing Well" by William Zinsser. (Yes, there was an entire chapter dedicated to the "dash". And yes - I understand I might have a problem). But how amazing that God has blessed me, and at such a young age (under 30, but very close), to provide an outlet to serve Him, utilizing all the gifts He has given to me and to recognize this. I never thought site creation and writing are kingdom-building gifts! Who knew? God knew!!

I got to create this site guys:

And I get to write for it. [[Insert giddy giggles here.]]

It's a Catholic women's ministry, founded in 2009. It has now expanded to an online forum and will provide bible studies starting August 2nd, 2014!!

Please join me and the other women, as we dive into God's Word together as sisters.

Jump into God's Word - hear His whispers of loving, merciful, grace-filled, healing, bless-filled words that He has for you. And His Mother will carry you to Him. She's really good at that - especially when we don't know how to walk. Just ask her.

"...from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, with the proper functioning of each part, brings about the body's growth and builds itself up in love." - Eph 4:16

xo,

My Testimony

Jesus answered them and said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled. - John 6:26

It was 2003. I sat in the pew of what is now my hometown parish (church) in awe of what I just heard. I was a bullet out of a gun & my life was altered from that day forward. This is my testimony.

Let's backtrack a handful of years.

My mom became very ill when I was in the 5th grade (circa 1995). She had, and still suffers from, progressive scoliosis. I grew up on a Christian home - went to Christian elementary school, attended Easter & Christmas services annually. The religion was always in the background but never an active, called upon resource for any joy or agony life could bring. I was taught to be kind to others, love God, be a good person.

When seventh grade came, my mom was still terribly sick. She was bedridden & I was angry. How could a "God" be cruel to let my mother suffer? How could a "God" allow her and my family to see and feel such pain? I decided to disown God. What God? There is no God.

By the time high school started I found myself lonely. It's the kind of lonely that maybe suicidal people feel - because honestly, those thoughts did cross my mind. I (thank goodness) decided that wasn't the answer, but that there HAD to be an answer out there. I could no longer support myself emotionally. I needed something bigger than myself to lean on.

All of high school and in the beginning of college I read. My research project: Does a God exist, who/what is that God?

• Is there one god? Or many gods?

I looked at Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, Atheism, Agnosticism, Judaism, Muslim, Wiccan, Scientology. I went to a Buddhist temple. I went to the Scientology center. I visited a Mosque. I went to Jewish Temple. I discovered, there is only one god.

• Ok, one god. Is god male or female or neither or both. I continued the search. 

It got to the point in my research, that I could no longer avoid (and I use avoid because that's what I did in the fullest) that Jesus is a requirement in the bigger picture.  Jesus is my savior. But this led to another important question: With so many denominations of Christianity, which one is the best right? I attended a Baptist church, a Lutheran church, an Anglican church, a non-denominational church and then about 3 other non-denominational churches. All of them had their take on what Jesus said. All of them had a different way to baptize.

As far as I knew it, Jesus only gave us one set of instructions - how come there are so many variations??

Back to 2003. Catholicism wasn't even on my radar. I had heard from so many of my Protestant friends that they are idolators & blasphemes. I adopted the negative ideology they had for the Catholic church without ever looking into it like I had so many other religions. My boyfriend at the time asked that I attend his cousin's confirmation. I went. I was a good girlfriend you know. My first impression was that it was "alright". And then he asked me to go to Sunday Mass the following week. I went, but still with my arms crossed figuratively.

This particular Sunday, the readings were on John 6:22-69, the Bread of Life Discourse. Ok, another parable. Jesus taught with parables. What struck me was the priest. He was quite animated & excited. By the end of it, I could see why. He walked across the sanctuary (stage, if you will) back and forth, all through the sermon. Hands held up, very "on fire" so to speak. He pointed out that Jesus repeated "Amen, amen" four times. There are many important facts to this. To say Amen means "I agree" or "So Be It". To say it twice means there is indisputable emphasis in the statement. Then the priest pointed out that Jesus said "Amen, amen" anytime someone questioned or disputed His statement "I am the Bread of Life, whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood with have eternal life." Jesus said "Amen, amen" when they called him a cannibal & blasphemer.  He said "Amen, amen" when they asked Him if He was serious, because He just couldn't be serious. Jesus said "Amen, amen" when they questioned His divinity. Every other parable in the bible, you'll notice that when the listening ear didn't understand the point to be had, Jesus would explain it in a different way. But not this time. This was no parable. He persisted with the same statement. Eventually, they walked out on Him.

Jesus stuck to His statement and they (but the 12) all walked out on Him. Those were the people that saw Him heal the lame, blind, give life to the dead, perform miracle after miracle. But this statement was to hard to swallow (see what I did there :)).  They saw him perform miracles but that wasn't enough to make them stay. That wasn't enough to make them believe - not after a statement like this. They walked away and went back to their previous beliefs.

At the moment I heard these words, my life was forever changed. I was to be Catholic. I didn't know how - heck I didn't even know all of what they stood for. But I couldn't walk away from Jesus. I believed His amens.

For the following year, I attended RCIA (Rite of Catholic Initiation for Adults - see your local church, every parish has this ministry) My leader, Danny, equated me to a two year old. I always asked "Why?" to every tenant of the faith. But, why? I would continue. And the Church ALWAYS had an answer - and not a "Just because" or "That's the way it's always been" answer either. There was always an answer for everything, and everything always led back to Jesus and/or the covenants God made with us.

Easter of 2014, I will have been Catholic for 10 years. I have never looked back. Yes, there are times of doubt and deserts. But my faith is a relationship with the Lord. And relationships have dry spells sometimes, but there is an undying, unconditional (on His part - hey I'm human), LOVE that will never deteriorate.

It was the best decision I ever made for myself.

xo,

 P.S. click the link on the right called "Catholics Come Home" if you are a fallen away Catholic, are Catholic and looking for resources or aren't Catholic and just have questions about the faith.

P.S.S. My mom is still sick - please pray for her and my family. God is with her & He is glorified through this. At the very least, through my mother's illness, I found the Lord - that in and of itself is a blessing.