Stay the Course

Hello Zeteo community, 

I hope your week is going well, and you're taking in all the beautiful Autumn colours while they make their fleeting appearance.

Olivia sits at the Zeteo events and writes furious, thorough notes, for this. The writer that she is, she prepares. I, however, just got a phone call today while I was sitting in Boston Pizza. Could you write the Zeteo blog this week? I think you're supposed to. Next time, I will take notes.

Thank you for reading,
Brielle Waldner

Week 1: Stay the Course

We were blessed to have Michael Chiasson speak for the last Zeteo event, and I remember it being really powerful. I also remember him saying we forget 90% of every talk we listen to, but the tiny sliver that we remember, is all we need to hear.

The words he spoke, that I heard loud and clear, were S T A Y the COURSE.  This is such a universal message, we can all hear it and find room for it somewhere in our lives, but it was especially powerful for me that night.
Olivia and I have always found that the events we have most needed to be at, the Searches, the Live-In's, the Family Life Conferences, whatever it may be, we face resistance getting to. There is always a battle, a lack of desire to go, a snow storm, something getting in the way. Those are always the events, the moments, that turn out to be the most powerful in our lives.

My resistance that night came in the form of a car accident. I could have turned around with my car that had been crumpled up in the corner like a pop can, but I went anyway. Stay the course.


(Was that meant to be a segway or what?)


What is your course? What prayer is God asking you to pray boldly? And further, to boldly believe He will answer for you? Where is He asking you to walk boldy? Those are the questions that I was asking myself while Michael was talking. Those are the questions I challenge you to ask yourself, and God, now. Go on. Take a minute. I'll be here when you're done....

Back? Did you figure it out? Or are you still having doubts on what that course actually is? That's where I was at.

But I saw a quote on Pinterest the other day that said this: Never does the Bible say figure it out, but over and over it says trust in God. Which is comforting to me, and true.


As I sat there wondering what my bold course was to travel, Michael kept talking. "Who here has ever prayed a bold prayer, over and over, the same prayer?" I have. "Maybe you're sitting there desperately wanting to get married, and you keep asking God, and it's just not happening." I was.

God pulled those exact words out of my head. They were there. Exactly what I had been thinking. But I doubted that was a bold enough course. That was not living my faith boldly like someone who is called to cure an incurable disease in Africa while bringing thousands of souls to God in the process. However, I know that is not my calling. Sometimes staying the course is a waiting game. Sometimes it is watching other people get married, or cure diseases, or convert souls, or do missionary work in far corners of the world, while we are called to wait, to be patient.

So I am patient to staying the course, even though it looks like the path on right, and I want it to look like the path on the left.

Sometimes living a bold faith, I think, is boldly trusting that God is working, that He is moving, when we cannot see it. Trusting God is answering our prayers, guiding out lives, even when it does not look like what we thought it would look like. As Michael said, "we only see what is on our radar, but our radar screen is much too small. We have to trust in God's plan, because He has such a bigger view than we do."


My boldest prayer is for my husband, which is honestly hard to admit. It is the hardest prayer for me, but it is the one most heavy on my heart - God is calling me to stay the course. Stay the course. To trust that those prayers I have prayed so many times, are being answered, and not ignored. To trust that one day I will find the right person to dance with in our kitchen and I will laugh that it was ever a challenge to trust we would find our way to each other.

That is a bold thing for me to believe after so many years. That is the place in my life God is calling me to be bold. What is yours, big or small? What is it? We are all not called to walk the same path, or built to carry the same crosses. I pray this week that God would give you the strength to walk your own path boldly. That His love would flood and overwhelm you, and His grace would lead you to a peace you never thought you could reach.

Amen.

The Daily Examen

Hello Zeteo community!

The next Zeteo event is just a day away! We are gearing up for a night of praise and worship, followed by a teaching given by Michael Chiasson. And we hope to see many of you there. If you have not already marked it on your calendars, please do! You will not regret taking two hours to come spend time with us, and our Lord, at Zeteo.

God bless,
Olivia Fischer

Week Four - The Daily Examen

I want to start the blog today by saying that my prayer-life is far from perfect. There are many days I forget my daily prayer, and it is a constant recommittal for me to continue reading my Bible regularly and having a personal relationship. That being said, of course I am always striving to be better, to be more structured, and to refocus.

This past week, I had made the promise to try the daily examen of Saint Ignatius Loyola in my daily prayer life. I missed a few days, but found the days that I did follow this daily examen quite fruitful.

Father Carlos mentioned the daily examen in his talk on the armour of God. He kept reiterating the importance of daily prayer, and mentioned this specific kind of prayer. Saint Ignatius Loyola is quoted with saying: if you lose all other prayer life, chose to love the daily examen.

The daily examen consists of five steps, which gives you the opportunity to pray in the four different ways outlined in the Baltimore Catechism. These are: adoration - to express our love and loyalty to God, thanksgiving, to ask pardon for our sins, petition and intercession for our needs and the needs of others. I find it easiest to incorporate petition and thanksgiving in my daily prayer life, while I often neglect to adore and intercede for others. I found it helpful to have an outline to follow that allowed me to grow in these areas; sometimes it is useful to have a structure to follow in our prayer-life to make it more mature.

The first of the steps in the daily examen is explained by Loyola Press as stillness. Think of when you felt God's presence throughout your day, and how he shows His love for you. Allow the Holy Spirit to fill your heart, and draw you into an encounter with God. I found it interesting that this week I discovered the song Holy Spirit by Francesca Battistelli. I spent much of the week with a line from this song stuck permanently in my head, and so I went around singing it over and over. "Holy Spirit you are welcome here, come flood this place and fill the atmosphere." As I sang this everywhere I went, it stunned me with the realization that, while I often welcome the Holy Spirit and feel His presence during Adoration or prayer at retreats, I rarely welcome His presence during my daily life. Welcoming the presence of the Holy Spirit into my time of daily prayer helped my prayer to come alive.

I have a hard time just being in stillness with God, it is difficult to drown out the noise around and inside of us. When I have been able to rest in the presence of God in silence, I have experienced a profound kind of awareness. Not that His voice has ever come booming through the silence, but in the absence of outside voices, I have been able to hear His still small voice assuring me of his blessing, of his faithfulness, of his love. This is a very valuable type of prayer to practice, and with practice, we become more capable of finding and appreciating this stillness with God.

The second step in the daily examen is to express thanksgiving. Father Carlos mentioned it in a beautiful way: we need to realize our gifts, and then see our Giver through them. Allow yourself to just open up your heart to thankfulness, and you will be surprised by the memories of the day that will spring to your mind. I remember to thank God everyday for the blessing of my marriage, and my son, but am less likely to be thankful for the gift of music, a specific song, or even the cup of coffee I enjoyed that morning.

Next, it is important to reflect on your day, to single out how you responded to God's will. These will usually be small moments in which you were called to grow in love, and charity. For me, these moments often revolve around Jerome or Tharin, as they are the people I spend most of my days with. Was I patient with Jerome, did I lovingly change his diaper, was I kind to Tharin and give him the attention he deserves when he speaks to me? The way God calls us to grow in love are sometimes a little strange, such as through changing a diaper, but as Ken Yasinski says, always do the next thing with love, this is how you will discover the fullness of purpose in your life.

Once you have reflected on your day, ask God's forgiveness for the times you failed to follow His prompts to love. I am only briefly explaining these components of the daily examen, if you would like a more in-depth look at this prayer, I suggest checking out this article on Loyola Press, as they will be able to give a more authoritative teaching.

Lastly, it is beneficial to set resolutions for the next day, in which you can endeavour to more perfectly follow God's will. It is during this time that you can petition God to help you to grow in the different areas that He has brought to your attention. Father Carlos mentioned that it is useful to have a prayer journal in which to record insights and thoughts that you may have as you pray. I have kept a prayer journal for quite a few years now, and have found it valuable to be able to look back and remember the things I have gone through, and different epiphanies I have come to over the years. It is also a good opportunity to develop an honest relationship with God.

An important thing to remember as you review your life through the daily examen is that God is not judging or grading your prayer. Do not stress over remembering everything, or doing each step the "right way". Just pray.

I have a desire to develop a more mature prayer-life, that goes beyond the bare minimum that it is easy for me to revert to. Structured prayer, such as the daily examen, can help me to be more focussed and comprehensive in my prayer. Instead of feeling like I was "done" praying after a quick five minutes, the daily examen helped me to incorporate a deeper and more profound prayer-time into my day. I encourage you to find a structured prayer schedule that helps you to grow and strengthen your prayer-life - wether it be the daily examen, or another form of structured prayer. Take a note from Saint Ignatius Loyola, and develop a daily prayer routine that you truly love. I know that is my goal.

Thank you for reading!

My Grace is Sufficient For You

Hello everyone!

Zeteo is just a week away, please mark it on your calendars. I hope to see many of your smiling faces there!

Just a sidenote, I just finished the post for this week, and realized I still did not have room in this post to talk about the daily reflection of St. Ignatius Loyola. You know what that means, another post next week. And I know, what that means for me.

I have been feeling like it would be hypocritical for me to write about this reflection without first exercising it in my own life. So my mission for this week is to do just that: to use the daily examine in my daily prayer life, and write about it from experience.

God bless,

Olivia Fischer

Week 3: My Grace Is Sufficient For You 

Todays blog is going to be short and sweet. I have saved my favourite parts from Father Carlos' talk until last, just like I save my favourite parts of my meal until the last bite.

Father Carlos spoke of how Saint Catherine of Siena implored us to look at our sins only through the Blood of Christ. It is through the Blood of Christ that we are sanctified, as Paul says in Ephesians 1:7, "In him we have redemption by his blood, the forgiveness of transgressions, in accord with the riches of his grace."

As Father Carlos articulated, without the Blood of Christ - through which our sins are already forgiven, our sin is far too depressing. Looking at our sins through the Blood of Christ, like mercy-goggles, we see God's goodness. Instead of seeing our sins coloured by guilt - which I talked about in this blog as a debilitating sin for its capacity to keep us from grace, we see our sinful natures with hope. God can turn all things to good - our tendency toward sin can be an avenue for God to help us to grow.

In fact, my favourite Bible verse talks about sin and grace in a profound way. 

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. So now I am glad to boast about my weakness, so that the power of Christ can work through me." 2 Corinthians 1:9

We can boast in our weakness, not because of arrogance, but because God has promised to work in us. With humility, God's strength can transform our weakness. 

At the Family Life Conference, one of the speakers (possibly Scott Hahn) said something that really resounded with me. "Why are we walking around defeated, when He is already victorious?" In my last blog, I spoke about wearing the Armour of God because we are in a daily battle. What does it mean to still be in a battle, if Christ is already victorious? 

Catherine of Siena calls Jesus our bridge. This image is both vertical - the bridge carries us over the water that would pull us under, and horizontal - the bridge spans the distance between heaven and earth. The fact that Christ is already victorious means that this bridge is already constructed. However, the river remains, as does our need to complete the journey set before us. The battle rages on: it is our choice to don the Armour of God, to journey with Christ on the bridge, or to drown and not ascend the bridge.

He is already victorious. Why are we walking around defeated, drowning in the river and our weakness?

Now, if God is victorious, if we have the Armour of God, why do we still suffer? 

That is a whole other difficult topic I cannot hope to understand well enough to write about at this time. However, we know that we do not suffer alone. 

On the cross, Jesus says something that has always confused me until Father Carlos explained His words - "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Mark 15: 34, this way: Jesus became truly human - he experienced pain, emotion, fear, just as we do. He did not have to suffer, but he did. It is through his suffering we are given the perfect example of how we can suffer. As we journey the bridge with him, he is suffering along with us. His words on the cross were him saying those words with us when we feel desolate.

He has not forsaken us, this we know with assurance. His grace is sufficient for us when we may feel that we are drowning, that we are failing, that we are too guilty for his mercy. The Cross stretches between heaven and earth as a bridge, it is only through his mercy that this bridge exists, we can do nothing to deserve it.

It is arrow pointing us: we know where we come from, and where we are going. As we continue on this journey, this daily battleground, we know we must still endure suffering, though we do not suffer alone. With faith, and trust in our Lord, we know that we will not be overcome, for he is already victorious.