Kitchen Catechism: Words of Wisdom
Everyone believes in things they can’t see!
With Easter comes the reality that, as followers of Jesus, we must believe in many things we do not see. Spectacular, phenomenal things: a man rising from the dead, wandering the earth for forty days teaching his disciples all they must believe and then gloriously ascending into heaven on a cloud and much, much more.
As intelligent, rational human beings, based solidly in the here and now, many would dub us fools to believe anything that can’t be experienced by our five senses. But if we really think about believing in things that we can’t see, even the most ardent skeptic would have to conclude that they believe in things that aren’t validated by the five senses. The most obvious example is the air we breathe. It can’t be seen, touched, heard, tasted or smelled and yet everyone believes it’s there and that all life would vanish without it. So maybe the skeptics are the fools and the believers are the really smart ones. Thinking of the first disciples of Christ, they must have been filled with enthusiasm when He returned and walked among them, when he ascended into heaven promising them He would return and then overwhelmed with enthusiasm ten days later when the Holy Spirit descended upon them. (I use the word enthusiasm since the dictionary defines the original word as “god possessed” or “supernatural inspiration”.) Alive with the fire of the Holy Spirit they went out and told everyone who would listen the wonderful story of the Lord. The gospel, the good news. Thousands listened, converted and were baptized and the flame never died, they went to all the corners of the known world repeating and repeating the most wonderful events they had witnessed.
So here I sit 2000 years later at my little computer, in my little room and I feel very insignificant and I feel hardly up to the challenge. It seems like I have every possible obstacle against being a real evangelizer. First, I am a woman, even more challenging an older woman of moderate means; I must take care of my loving husband of over fifty years who is now in poor health and I am frequently stressed out, like most people of this age, with all the frenetic complications that arise just trying to get by in this crazy world. But, little, insignificant me, just like the first disciples, am on fire with love of Jesus and I want to shout it to the whole world and share with everyone the promise of ever lasting life lived in glory with the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, the Blessed Mother, the Angels and all the Communion of Saints.
And guess what, through extraordinary happenings, what I have to think is a miracle in my life “the Internet” , I can shout to the whole world my love of Jesus, and invite everyone to join with me and the millions of other believers to spread His words further and further.
I call this happening in my life a miracle because up until a little over six years ago, I never wrote anything but infrequent letters and those were noted only for their very ordinariness. Activity in the Council of Catholic Women required I write some reports and then I was asked to write about certain events. Some of the women would tell me they liked my writing and even encourage me saying I had a special gift for putting ideas down on paper.
Computers came into my life in a very unexpected way about fifteen years ago. Then came the explosion of the Internet and I immediately envisioned the good it could do for the Lord’s work. That inspiration had to come directly from God because, believe me, I am not that smart.
The real difference, bringing this all about, was prayer. Many, many women sharing the vision and praying that we could have an Internet presence that would evangelize.
Our wildest dreams have been exceeded. Women from all over the world have sent comments. Brazil, Indonesia, Australia, West Indies, Germany, Russia, Belgium, India, all parts of the United States and Canada and even Mongolia.
The young Mongolian woman has become a dear e-mail friend. She seems to be touched by God in such a special way and desires to learn everything she can about Jesus and His Church. A home schooling mother in the Southwest, United States needs our support as she becomes discouraged in the very demanding job she has taken on. A young woman from India has requested intercessory prayers for people in her area who have many troubles, sometimes they are difficulties brought about by family members who are opposed to Catholicism.
Prayer is the answer to so many problems and through prayer and this Web Site we can become real evangelizers all over the world. We can make a real difference. We can bring about real changes.
So please join us in a concentrated effort, just by saying a prayer every day, to help women who want to learn about Jesus and His Church as well as all the women who are hurting. Even if all you can do is just send a little thought to God, that this Web Site will fulfill all that God desires and that we women will become connected to one another in a very special love and mission, I feel confident it will happen. God never lets us down. He is always there for us.