I remember in the early 1970's, my Mother would tend to her garden scooting from one plant to the next.
It would begin with using a rototiller and a hoe. We would make the straight lines and plant what ever vegetibles we were placing in the uprooted dirt.
We would make a full fledged garden with the plow. Once the seed was planted, we would fill the holes with dirt.
We would keep all the weeds out of it and keep it cleared so that the plants would take root and grow.
The Sun would come out giving the light and the rain would come down and water the plants.
It would always be a lot of work and my Mother was totally dedicated in maintaining it.
She would take great care to ensure her garden was well maintained.
If she needed work, she had my Brother and I to do the things she couldn't.
What a great gift our Mother was in giving us this great example.
She had her back broke in two places and she would literally scoot from one plant to the next.
In remembering all this, it reminds me of a spiritual truth that is easily missed.
People question the need of penance challenging me why they need to do penance at all.
It is to fill the holes left as a consequence of sin.
The sin is forgiven in the Confessional, sure enough, the Lord is merciful and true.
But what is left is the hole as a result of the damage due to the sin.
The Lord wants to plant his seed of grace to nurture healing in the wound.
Once the seed is planted, He fills the holes with grace.
Jesus gives us the means to keep all the weeds out of it and he keeps it cleared so the grace will take root and grow.
We must cooperate with his grace in order for it to grow.
The Son shining His grace upon your wounds allows the wounds to receive the nurtients necessary.
This is the purpose of the Sacraments, especially Confession.
St. John the Baptist said to "Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance."
This is the sign of the spiritual heaing that takes place with the healing of the wounds, the plugging of the holes.
This is very important, the Church is here to till the dirt, to clean out the weeds and allow the grace to take root and grow. This is the work of the Holy Spirit, to give us the gift of God's grace found in the Sacraments.
The struggles of life can deepen the wounds, sure enough. Sin can cause the wounds to bust and boil, become infected.
True healing comes when you keep the wounds clean. As they say, cleanliness is next to Godliness!
One of the most often question people ask is "What is the meaning of life"?
I will answer this question this way:
It was the Spring of 1977, I had a baseball scholarship preparing for my second season.
My Uncle, Phillip Fraizer bought me a $60.00 baseball glove which was a decent price in those days for a baseball glove.
Not only that, he drove me back to school which was about a 2 hour drive. This helped my Mother out a great deal as well as me.
The year before, I had played with an old glove I had through high school and it was beat up really bad.
Coach Smith and others had a lot of fun with me over that ball glove as I used shoe strings to help keep it together.
In this picture I was sliding in safe at home plate!
So when Uncle Phillip bought me my new glove, this was a great gift that I made the most of. I was an outfielder and that glove served me well for three years of NAIA college and semi-pro play.
Over the years, that old baseball glove has been placed as a memorial for the importance this gift meant to me and my college days.
Especially considering that following May, 1977, Uncle Phillip was brutally murdered by a group of teenagers who had been doing small time robberies for drugs.
The morning after the murder, I found out about it from reading a news flash in the dinning hall as I was eating breakfast.
I hurriedly went to the college library to find that the largest man-hunt in Southern Missouri was taking place as the criminals had kidnapped Uncle Phillip.
Today, if someone looked at this glove, how could they understand the value of this ball glove? The meaning is totally lost without knowing the importance this gift means to me.
This part of the story will become more important to me as this article unfolds. At this point it is important to note that Uncle Phillips gift to me was very important.
Consider today's reading at Mass: "I, John, had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. Then one of the elders said to me, “These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. “For this reason they stand before God’s throne and worship him day and night in his temple. The one who sits on the throne will shelter them. They will not hunger or thirst anymore, nor will the sun or any heat strike them. For the Lamb who is in the center of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of life-giving water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Notice what I highlighted from Revelation! "they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb", "For the Lamb who is in the center of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of life-giving water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." This is clearly a reference to Baptism. Consider 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 states, "Do not be deceived; neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor boy prostitutes nor sodomites nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God. That is what some of you used to be; but now you have had yourselves washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God."
Through Baptism we are delivered from sin, it is a free gift from God through the Ministry of the Church. Consider Hebrews 10:22, "let us approach with a sincere heart and in absolute trust, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. Let us hold unwaveringly to our confession that gives us hope,.."
Baptism cleanses us from sin, "Repent and be baptized, everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the GIFT of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is made to you and to your children and to all those far off, whomever the Lord our God will call." (Acts 2:38-39)
In Baptism we receive the "Gift" of the Holy Spirit! That means the gift of life! This is the true meaning of life, to have life more abundantly through Jesus Christ.
Just like people might not appreciate the importance of Uncle Phillip's gift to me, people many times do not understand the gift God is offering them.
This is why many commit suicide, why families are in such turmoil, why there is such rampant apostasy and heresy everywhere. This is why secularism is given a foothold in our society.
Consider the direct opposite effect of someone who rejects the Catholic Faith. 2 Peter 2:22 warns, "What is expressed in the true proverb has happened to them, 'The dog returns to its own vomit, and a bathed sow returns to wallowing in the mire".
How sad this is to see in our families such rebellion, but this is all prophetic. We are in a battle for sure and we must stand firm in the Faith and persevere to the end.
Going back to my Uncle Phillip, my Brother Randy, a one time United States no-nonsense Marine, went to do prison Ministry in Columbia Missouri when he was confronted with praying with the master mind who killed Uncle Phillip.
This was something he had not expected, but when faced to make a decision, he, on his part, forgave the individual and what a gift this represents.
It reminds us that all of us need this kind of forgiveness from the Lord and this is his gift to us.
I have been given much, I am well blessed, my Faith and his Grace is the greatest gift he has given me.
My wife Gigi is God's greatest gift and responsibility he has given me and the Children we continue to love and support.
Life has so much to offer with it's challenges and responsibilities, but it is a great opportunity to do his will in all things, to be his servant, his instrument..
The answer to the question, "What is the meaning of life" can really be answered in a scripture verse: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life." Please accept the grace of God as a permanent gift to you if only we would act upon our yes.
According to the Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, grace has several meanings and interpretations.
I love the first example: "1. an unmerited divine assistance given man for his regeneration or sanctification."
Of this grace, St. Paul writes, "Of this I became a minister by the gift of God's grace that was granted me in accord with the excercise of his power" (Ehpesians 3:7).
St. Paul is clearly indicating his role being called to preach to the Gentiles. This is a grace given him to fulfill the Lord's will in St. Paul's Ministry.
Grace is understood to be a "state of sanctification enjoyed through divine grace".
I like what St. Paul writes to the Corinthians, "I give thanks to my God always on your account for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus, that in him you were enriched in every way, with all discource and all knowledge, as the testimony to Christ was confirmed among you, so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 1:4).
This is important because we see the believer is "bestowed" grace which was "confirmed" through the Church. Through the Ministry of the Church, which was established by Jesus Christ.
Grace is a "virtue coming from God" that can be seen on just about every page of the bible.
St. Paul writes, "Yet I consider life of no importance to me, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received that I received from the Lord Jesus, to bear witness to the gospel of God's grace" (Acts 20:24).
The idea of grace has been used for many different things.
Have you ever heard someone speak of how graceful a professional skater might be as they perform on ice before a large crowd?
Or you might compliment someone on how graceful they might look at a particular function.
Christians routinely offer grace before meals for thanksgiving for their benefits, for the gift of plenty.
For family get togethers, we can see the grace of God extended to just about every facit of life.
What makes the Catholic Priesthood so important is that God uses the ordinary to offer the extraordinary.
St. Paul writes, "For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and after he had given thanks, broke it and said, 'This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also the cup, after supper saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.' For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes. (1 Corinthians 11:23-26).
This is a very important scripture indicating grace received through the participation of both the bread and the cup. Through this grace, the Lord is clear with their reception of the Eucharist, "I will raise him on the last day"!
Jesus commands his Ministers of Grace a very important instruction saying, "As the Father has sent me, so I send you." 'And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained" (John 20:21-23).
When you go to Confession, the Lord takes those sins you confess and throws them into the sea of forgetfulness and he remembers them no more. This is another grace from God that is administered by his Church.
St. Paul would refer to this grace as the "Ministry of Reconcilation" entrusting to the Church the message of reconcilation.
The grace a believer receives through the Confessional is the forgiveness of sins. St. James writes, "My brothers, if anyone among you should stray from the truth and someone bring him back, he should know that whoever brings back a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins" (James 5:19-20).
I was raised with baseball striving to play Professional ball, I have adopted some of my thoughts of baseball and applied them to faith. I like to see the Priest as like a third base coach, I have seen myself as like a first base coach. We strive to coach people to get them on base, to help them maneuver around the bases until they get to home plate. The challenge many times is to get them into the batters box!
Jesus gives his Ministers of Grace another important instruction: "All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age" (Matthew 28:18-20).
St. Peter said, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is made to you and to your children and to all those far off, whomever the Lord our God will call" (Acts 2:38-39).
This is important for the believer to understand, we definitely receive grace through baptism. St. Peter understands that Noah's Ark was a prefiguring of the Church, that the flood waters was a prefiguing of Baptism which saves us now. God imputes Sanctifying grace into the soul cleansing it from Original sin as well as all actual sin.
We see the Apostles going out as Ministers of Grace laying hands on those who received the Holy Spirit through their authority.
The Lord works through the Ministry of His Church. St. Luke writes, "Many signs and wonders were done among the people at the hands of the Apostles... Thus they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and mats so that when Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on one or another of them. A large number of people from the towns in the vicinity of Jerusalem also gathered, bringing the sick and those disturbed by unclean spirits, and they were all cured" (Acts 5:12-16).
St. James writes, "Is anyone among you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone in good spirits? He should sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? He should summon the presbyters of the church, and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven" (James 5:13-15).
It is clear that the Lord is working his grace through his Church.
Jesus instructs his Apostles, "I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) and marries another commits adultry. His disciples said to him, 'if that is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.' He answered, 'Not all can accept this word, but only those to whom that is granted. Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so; some, because they were made so by others; some, because they have renounced marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Whoever can accept this ought to accept it" (Matthew 19:9-12).
There are a couple of points to make from this text:
1. Notice what Jesus says, "Not all can accept this word, but ONLY those to whom it is granted". The priesthood is a special calling. What it takes to be a true Minister of Grace is to be a true child of God who can accept the grace of the Lord. It is true that a Priest is a human being like all of us who can sin and fall, but there is a difference from someone who sins and falls from one who is a counterfiet. Someone who is a wolf in sheeps clothing. An imposter who has infiltrated the Church with the intent of hurting the Church from within. We know that the enemy is at work who has planted weeds inside the kingdom to cause dissension and scandal. To scatter the flock. We need to pray for all our priests that they remain loyal to their calling and to be true leaders of the Church (1 Peter 5:1-5).
2. Notice Jesus said "unless the marriage is unlawful" a divorced man or woman commits adultry. How is a marriage annulled? Can a husband simply annull his marriage by simply willing it? Who decides? The Ministers of Grace decides this question, not the individual party. Jesus said, "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that evey fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church. If he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector. Amen, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matthew 18:15-18).
This is the basis for the tribunal system where cases are viewed and decided upon. It is Christ speaking through his Church.
St. Paul writes, "Consider this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each must do as already determined, without sadness or compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. Moreover, God is able to make every grace abundant for you, so that in all things, always having all you need, you may have abundance for every good work. As it is written: He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor; his righteousness endures forever".
God's grace cannot be contained in the walls of men, but he works though His Ministers of Grace, the offices of His Church. Deepertruth wants to encourage you to frequent the Sacraments to obtain the great graces God provides through his Church.
Dear follower of Deeper Truth Blog,
When I tell you that myself, and the other contributors to this website are deeply humbled by your support and interest, it is no idle boast.
To God be the glory. We are happy merely to be His unworthy servants. Please do not ever make the mistake of believing that we are any holier than you, in any less need of the Grace of Almighty God.
If we posses some bit of knowledge of the truths of Jesus that lead you forward on your journey, of course we are happy about this. Yet, this is not of any credit to us. If the Good Lord has chosen to entrust us with this Spiritual gem or that, it was for His glory and for the edification of His body, the Church.
With a profound sense humility,we offer you what has been given to us freely- that which we could never possibly repay. We offer you the counsel of personal experience that has led us to the sure and certain knowledge that any life that is not a God-centered life is one of futility.
It is not enough to know OF God. Even the demons know this much (James 2:19). Yet, it is not enough, either to say you know Jesus and follow Him, even as you revile His Church. Jesus built the Catholic Church upon the Rock of Peter and it remains His singular vessal of salvation.
Make no mistake, there is not one drop of Grace, dispensed for Salvation that is not dispensed through the Roman Catholic Church. This is not to say that it is impossible for a non-Catholic to be saved, it merely upholds the truth that even those who are saved that, through no fault of their own, cannot find their way all the way home to the Catholic Church, are saved through the Catholic Church.
Between leading a brother or sister back to Catholicism, or not doing so, it is obviously preferable to do so. If we can be even a tiny part of that faith journey, we give glory to God for allowing us to have done so.
In my life, I am what you would call a back-slider. A man placed on the right road that had to learn how to overcome his own addictive, self destructive, unreasoning will. I have had a very unique ability to make things far more difficult on myself than they needed to be and, as a result, brought needless suffering to many people- including those I love. I carry a deep sorrow and regret for these transgressions, not just for the consequences they brought, or even for the consequences they would eventually have brought should they not have ceased (hellfire).
My greatest regret is that these were sins against Love and against He who IS Love.
That I have moved from mere attrition to contrition does indicate progress on my journey but, even in this, I must guard against the sin of pride. If I am contrite it is not of me. It is God who convicts, God who leads to repentance, God who forgives and God who heals. (I have some ways to go in this last category). If I am contrite, it is only because I have cause to be. It is of no credit to me. To tell you the truth, if God were to hit me with the full force of my lifetime of sin, with the full weight of my debt to Him, how could I stand?
The suffering and death Our Lord endured for us- Could I drink of that cup? Could you? I shudder to think that my way to salvation would require such a walk. Could I survive even the scourging? No, not a chance.
We, as contributors to Deeper Truth, stand in awe of what Jesus did for us and fight the daily battle between presumption and scrupulosity, ever mindful of the enemy, ever reaching toward the King. We are profoundly grateful that you take time to examine what we produce and will always to to produce that which is worthy of your high expectations.
I remember in the early 1970's, my Mother would tend to her garden scooting from one plant to the next. 
The Sun would come out giving the light and the rain would come down and water the plants. 
She had her back broke in two places and she would literally scoot from one plant to the next. 
The Lord wants to plant his seed of grace to nurture healing in the wound. 
This is the purpose of the Sacraments, especially Confession. 
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