Catholic Light Rebecca Dougherty

Today, we read CCC, 2838 - 2865 and discuss the last three petitions of the "Our Father" - forgive us our trespasses, lead us not into temptation, and deliver us from evil. It's the qualifier on forgiveness - forgive us AS WE FORGIVE OTHERS - that can (and should!) stop us in our tracks this week. Lord, please give us the grace to forgive others as we hope that you forgive us, and then please help us to be open to your forgiveness. Also... this ends our study and discussion of "The Catechism of the Catholic Church"! We did it! Way to go, and thank you for joining me for this journey. God bless you and your families and friends (and enemies)!

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Today, we read CCC, 2803 - 2837, and we discuss the first four petitions of the "Our Father." Jesus Christ accomplished his saving work - through his suffering, death, and resurrection - once and for all. It's done. Nothing needs to be added to it, and nothing can be taken away from it. So, what's our role here...? We can allow that saving work to... save us... and we can help others to... allow it to save them, too. Each time that we pray the "Our Father," we ask God to bring that sanctification and salvation - to make us into the men and women whom He created us to be and to bring us to Heaven - to every person everywhere.

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Today, we read CCC, 2759 - 2802 and begin to discuss the "Our Father" line by line. It's easy to take so many dimensions of our Catholic Faith for granted because we often hear these teachings again and again, pray these prayers again and again... So, let's stop and (re)consider for a moment the following: God did not HAVE to create us. God did not HAVE to send His Son/come to suffer and die for us. God does not HAVE to reveal Himself to us and continue to be in relationship with us and teach us to refer to Him as "Our Father"... but He DOES, and what a GIFT that is!

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Today, we read CCC, 2725 - 2758, and - buckle up - we discuss "the battle of prayer." Simultaneously inspiring and terrifying, the Catechism details some of the reasons why we don't pray (or don't pray well) and how - by the grace of God - we can attain a better prayer life.

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Today, we read CCC, 2683 - 2724 and continue our discussion of prayer. First, we talk about praying through the intercession of the saints in Heaven whose prayers for us are "their most exalted service to God's plan", and then we chat about being intentional in setting aside time for and being faithful to daily prayer - "pray at specific times, consciously willing it". As human beings, we are body AND soul, and, so, our lives depend on the daily sustenance of that which feeds our spirits - prayer.

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Happy Advent! Today, we read CCC, 2623 - 2682 and discuss, first, how the present moment is where Heaven meets Earth, and, second, how we can establish a "death insurance policy" by praying the "Hail Mary" each day, asking the Blessed Mother to be with us NOW and at "the hour of our death." The readings of Advent remind us that each and every one of us will die and stand before the Lord, and it is only NOW, in the present moment, that we can respond to His grace and allow it to transform us. We can't do anything about the past, and the future might never come, so it is NOW that we decide FOR or AGAINST Jesus Christ, that cute little baby Who is about to be born in the manger at Christmas and Who comes to suffer and die to save us and to merit Eternal Life for each of us. THIS is the ultimate Christmas gift offered to every human who ever lived.

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