THE STORY: So Fr. Rich Toohey, having this knack for WAY-in-advance preparation, texts me- an hour before the Presence for Christmas event: "Can you play 'Let it Be'?"
My immediate thoughts, in no particular order: (1) Our super-talented music leader, Daniel Cabanillas, was going to be absent; (2) There's a reason why I am hanging on to my day job; (3) I've never sung that song before in my life; (4) It's a worship event... the Beatles? (5) It has IT (=Image Trinity) in there... pretty cool!
So, my respectful reply, addressing all those questions: "Are you bringing the hashish?"
Our conversation continued over the phone. There was a sense of something bigger than both of us going on. I recall a good friend, Fr. Mike Najim, once stating, "YHWH means 'One who tears up our plans.'" Little did we know that RCIA candidates would be joining us that evening- many of whom were new to Catholic experience, and inquiring how this faith integrates with the real world. Little did we know that many were coming with heavy hearts and in need of hearing God say, "I've got this. I'm in control. Let it be."
It all came together in this powerful message by Fr. Rich, connecting Beatles' "Let it Be" to Mary's "Be it done unto me according to Thy Word." I gave Louis Nicolia, our violinist extraordinairre, a simple chord sheet just before we began. Along with Mary I was pressed to surrender my music-leading insecurity and say "yes" - make it a prayer from the heart (regardless of the effect on eardrums), with Mary's conviction that what God calls us to, He will provide for.
Let IT Be!
PLEASE PLAN TO JOIN US for the ENCORE- our final stop for what has been an amazing "four week journey into the heart of Christmas." Awesome music begins with Jared Cooney at 6:25 p.m. Faith story by Pastor Rick Crocker of the Erie City Mission. Daniel back in the saddle leading worship. Fr. Rich bringing it all home. NEXT WEDNESDAY, December 21, 6:30 p.m. St. George Catholic Church.
Presence for Christmas is an outreach of Image Trinity... a four-week journey into the heart of Christmas. Please join us on this great adventure of discovering and living out our identity and mission: in our capacity to love, we Image of the Trinity (Get IT?).
Image Trinity is a family-driven, nonprofit organization with a big vision and mission for our families, communities and the world. Please partner with us with by your prayers and (tax deductible/ board accountable) financial support.
Presence for Christmas (P4C) is a "four week journey into the heart of Christmas." Ignited in 2010, P4C is Advent journey marked by weekly gatherings comprised of uplifting story, song and prayer. Each week individuals and families bring their "prayer candle" and placed it at the Burning Bush, which will collectively illuminate Jesus Christ in Exposition. Our Living IT Gathering Guide will help keep families talking and praying throughout the season of Advent.
Oh...the magic and wonder of Christmas! Remember looking through the Sears and JCPenny catalogues as kids? Wondering, hoping and praying for that special thing? Can you remember all the lights and colors, all the special decorations inside and out? The aromatic smells of something baking... most likely Bing Crosby or Nat King Cole singing in the background? How about Rudolph and Frosty on television, along with special gatherings and events....
Sure, for many of us there was the Advent Wreath, and Christmas Mass. But let's face it, for most of us these were momentary things to endure to get back to the main event.
Life experience is a great teacher. And it's worth asking: What is the meaning of Christmas? Is it all about the presents? If so, where are those presents today? What enduring, meaningful impact did they have on our lives? How are we different because of them?
Let's keep it real. Particularly for many of us Catholics, "faith" is often a tedious obligation, hoops you jump through-- that give us a sense of doing what we should. Is there more? Christmas has so much more to do with personalpresence than with materialpresents. While presents are an important part of Christmas, at the heart of it all is the fact that we have been fashioned for God. We need God. We need so much more than cliche, or empty obligations... we need to know God. Christmas is a grace-filled season where God offers us His Presence. He is the Present. And He makes us Presents to each other!
Presence for Christmas is a journey into the Heart of Christmas... an invitation for you and your family to slow down, set aside the distractions and tune into God with expectant faith that He will be Present. God wants to be so much more than an obligation. He wants to do so much more than dwell among us. He wants to dwell within us.
Come join us for all four evenings. You'll be deeply touched by each of the stories. Come with your needs, concerns, hopes and prayers. Come join in a community seeking God together... enlivened by "something more." God bless!
Image Trinity is a movement of families. Our identity and mission is simply this: You Image the Trinity! (Get IT?) We invite you to partner with us. Read more about our mission. Help us make our "Living IT!" television program possible.
To advance this movement, we depend entirely upon your generosity of prayers, involvement, and financial support (to the left). Thank you.
If you are interested in an Image Trinity event in your parish or community, please contact us: Stephanie@ImageTrinity.com
Parable of the 10 Virgins: Are You Ready?
Take the moment and reconnect.
Clip 1: Msgr. William Biebel
Clip 2: Damon Finazzo
Clip 3: Draw Me Close (worship)
If you live in the Erie, Pennsylvania area- experience God FOR REAL the first Wednesday of the month at Made2Worship. It's worth scheduling.
Made2Worship is an outreach of Image Trinity... a movement of families and individuals on the adventure of more fully discovering and living their identity: Image the Trinity (Get IT?).
Life is crazy-busy!
Take the moment and reconnect. In the two clips below Fr. Nick Rouch shares a funny story about a dude wanting to tattoo him (video 1), and Angie Amburn shares challenges as a wife and mother of four (video 2). From our Made2Worship in October.
If you live in the Erie, Pennsylvania area- experience God FOR REAL the first Wednesday of the month at Made2Worship. It's worth scheduling.
Made2Worship is an outreach of Image Trinity... a movement of families and individuals on the adventure of more fully discovering and living their identity: Image the Trinity (Get IT?).
[As we're approaching Halloween (which literally means, "holy eve"], there is a certain "haunting" proper to our souls. Yet, as C.S. Lewis so marvelously articulated in "Screwtape Letters," Satan (="adversary") would want us to trivialize a great source of power, and so we have popular Halloween culture- devoid of anything "hallowed" (holy). We are presented with the opportunity to buy into the commercial, artificial and silly, or be tuned into a deep and meaningful truth of our nature, anticipated in this Holy Eve. The right "haunting" is beautifully expressed by St. Columban (from today's Office of Readings)]
How blessed, how fortunate, are those servants whom the Lord will find watchful when he comes. Blessed is the time of waiting when we stay awake for the Lord, the Creator of the universe, who fills all things and transcends all things.
How I wish he would awaken me, his humble servant, from the sleep of slothfulness, even though I am of little worth. How I wish he would enkindle me with that fire of divine love. The flames of his love burn beyond the stars; the longing for his overwhelming delights and the divine fire ever burn within me!
How I wish I might deserve to have my lantern always burning at night in the temple of my Lord, to give light to all who enter the house of my God. Give me, I pray you, Lord, in the name of Jesus Christ, your Son and my God, that love that does not fail so that my lantern, burning within me and giving light to others, may be always lighted and never extinguished.
Jesus, our most loving Savior, be pleased to light our lanterns, so that they might burn for ever in your temple, receiving eternal light from you, the eternal light, to lighten our darkness and to ward off from us the darkness of the world.
Give your light to my lantern, I beg you, my Jesus, so that by its light I may see that holy of holies which receives you as the eternal priest entering among the columns of your great temple. May I ever see you only, look on you, long for you; may I gaze with love on you alone, and have my lantern shining and burning always in your presence.
Loving Savior, be pleased to show yourself to us who knock, so that in knowing you we may love only you, love you alone, desire you alone, contemplate only you day and night, and always think of you. Inspire in us the depth of love that is fitting for you to receive as God. So may your love pervade our whole being, possess us completely, and fill all our senses, that we may know no other love but love for you who are everlasting. May our love be so great that the many waters of sky, land and sea cannot extinguish it in us: many waters could not extinguish love.
May this saying be fulfilled in us also, at least in part by your gift, Jesus Christ, our Lord, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
"Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw how strong the wind was he became frightened; and, beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught Peter, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” After they got into the boat, the wind died down. Those who were in the boat did him homage, saying, 'Truly, you are the Son of God.'" Matt 14:29-36
August M2W was very moving. Annette Ahrens shared a very personal, moving story of God's grace working through loss of children (unfortunately, a camera issue kept us from capturing it). With humor and conviction, in the above video Fr. Rich Toohey connects the story of Jesus' commanding Peter to walk on the water to our own need to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.
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Pope Benedict is inviting us to be awakened from the slumber of "ceremonial" spirituality and culture. He is constantly reminding us that faith, our very lives, are about an intimate relationship with our Savior... to know Jesus Christ personally, truly, that He is alive and present. Pope Benedict knows that if we were to really encounter Jesus, we would live for Him completely, not on the order of obligation, but out of a genuine, relational love.
We invite all to continue journeying with us beyond the event. We schedule things that are important to us in life. Do this... and we promise it will positively change your life: download the fun and engaging LivingIT Family Gathering Guide. Take the 30/3 Family Challenge. Even if you can't schedule three times a week, commit to just once! We know after that one time you'll want to do it more!
Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. Our next Made2Worship event is July 6. Sign-up now for special updates. Spread the word. Above all, let's keep one another in our prayers... open our hearts to God's amazing love.
Below are highlights from the Made2Worship on 7.6.2011.
"Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."
(Phil. 4:6-7)
Most people will remember this week for the end to a very publicized trial involving a young mother who was acquitted of murdering her young child. Based upon the dominance of media coverage, this has been unquestionably the public event of the year to date. While at my parents' home just prior to a weekend of Fourth of July family festivity, I was given the skinny; my parents had been following the case every night.
What intrigued me more than Casey's demeanor and the sordid facts of the case was the sheer dominance of this event on all news and talk shows. This was the American "big event" phenomena. The media sets the stage of what's important. You're missing out if you're not on board.
When we're tuned in to any media we delegate command of our souls. How many of us stop to ask: Where is this taking me? Does it "fit"? Am I better off? Is it good?
Many of us remember life before cable (etc.) when you had to precisely adjust "bunny ears" or be left with static. Interesting enough, "static" literally means stationary, unchanging, un-moving. It's not so much what we see on the screen as what's taking place in the soul. Are the various channels and media moving us forward? Do they make us more tuned into what's really important? Are we better human beings?
Seems to me that the prevalence of static has not changed, it's only taken on a multiplicity of other eye-popping, scintillating, mind-numbing, passifying forms. It's no longer a question of what you're plugged into, but that you're plugged in. And now we can keep this (non) life support attached to us. A constant dose. Have to check my gadget and see who's contacted me. Have to check my information.
It's the sheer electricity of the thing. In fact, isn't it precisely the lack of peace that keeps us looking for the next fix, only to be left all the emptier and searching for the next? So long as we're plugged-in, wired, we're good. For the majority of us, seriously, what really do we have to lose by not being plugged in? More importantly is what we're losing by being plugged in: the undivided attention owed the people who most matter in our lives.
For many of us, this lack of peace (static) has become such a part of our inner furniture that we don't know anything different. And it all conspires to keep us from seeking something different. The proof? When we're faced with a moment of genuine peace, do we drink it in? Or do we dive into the next preoccupation, the next thing to be done?
The truth is, from the moment we awake to the moment we fall asleep, most of us are on a constant ride.
Peal back all the layers and we're all pretty much the same. We were fashioned incomplete so we would seek; we were fashioned to be tabernacles for the indwelling Spirit of the Living God (1 Cor. 6:19). And while there are numerous "apples" that appeal for our affections, with Augustine we need to discover that "our hearts are restless until they find rest in [God]."
I thank God for anxiety. It's a built-in indicator that things aren't right. Anxiety is a summons to prayer... God's invitation to resume His dominion in our souls. We're so blessed to have this connection to the God of the universe... which alerts us when He's missing, and points us toward the peace beyond all understanding when we allow Him to return.
I believe we're on the verge of a major revival. The sheer "God-presence" in the human soul is so enduring, so intact, so vital and beckoning that after trying every other channel and finding it wanting, sooner or later people look inside and recognize they were fashioned for more. They will take the chance to really believe again, beyond the hypocrisy and mediocrity that has so dotted "faith." They will consider that just maybe there is a relational God who loves us personally, who wants to make Himself known, who wants us to know the peace in Him that is beyond all understanding.
That's what Made2Worship is all about. A response to the heart of God calling us to know Him. We were made to worship. That's what's going on in the video above. Real people. Real lives. Real challenges. All of us on the great adventure of more fully discovering Jesus Christ in our lives. Come to the next one... tune in and and experience the difference.
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Pope Benedict is inviting us to be awakened from the slumber of "ceremonial" spirituality and culture. He is constantly reminding us that faith, our very lives, are about an intimate relationship with our Savior... to know Jesus Christ personally, truly, that He is alive and present. Pope Benedict knows that if we were to really encounter Jesus, we would live for Him completely, not on the order of obligation, but out of a genuine, relational love.
We invite all to continue journeying with us beyond the event. We schedule things that are important to us in life. Do this... and we promise it will positively change your life: download the fun and engaging LivingIT Family Gathering Guide. Take the 30/3 Family Challenge. Even if you can't schedule three times a week, commit to just once! We know after that one time you'll want to do it more!
Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. Our next Made2Worship event is July 6. Sign-up now for special updates. Spread the word. Above all, let's keep one another in our prayers... open our hearts to God's amazing love.
Below are highlights from the powerful Made2Worship on 6.1.2011, followed by the full, amazing story shared by Terry Burbules. Mouse over to select.
"The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed." Romans 13:11
You know that great feeling after spending a couple hours with dear friends you don't see often, sharing a bottle of wine, getting caught up? Where each moment is precious... worth "a thousand years"... you don't want it to end? That's a small taste of what I "feel" today after our M2W last evening. My senses and vision are alive, revived... and I'm reminded that as these Triune "Friends" are always with us, indeed, the font of my very nature and life, this is the way my soul should always be.
Pope Benedict is tuned into what's at stake if Catholics can't be awakened from the slumber of "ceremonial" spirituality and culture. He is constantly reminding us that faith, our very lives, are about an intimate relationship with our Savior... to know Jesus Christ personally, truly, that He is alive and present. Pope Benedict knows that if we were to really encounter Jesus, we would live for Him completely, not on the order of obligation, but out of a genuine, relational love.
We invite all to continue journeying with us beyond the event. We schedule things that are important to us in life. Do this... and we promise it will positively change your life: download the fun and engaging LivingIT Family Gathering Guide. Take the 30/3 Family Challenge. Even if you can't schedule three times a week, commit to just once! We know after that one time you'll want to do it more!
Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. Our next Made2Worship event is July 6. Sign-up now for special updates. Spread the word. Above all, let's keep one another in our prayers... open our hearts to God's amazing love.
Mouse over the video player for Greg and Stephanie's introduction, Aaron Pfoutz's story or Fr. Steve's Schreiber's preaching on the Emmaus story.
"Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light." Ephesians 5:14
Last night nearly 400 people came from all over the region... united by one desire: to know Jesus Christ more deeply. Many were deeply moved. Through it all the Holy Spirit was powerfully present through Aaron Pfoutz's powerful story, Fr. Steve Schreiber's great call to recognize Jesus... and mostly, people bringing their candles and adoring Jesus Christ in worship.
The stories of M2W continue to pour in. A woman shared that for the first time in 20 years of marriage she prayed with her husband. Many young people spoke of their enthusiasm in bringing their friends next time. A faith-filled elderly person said this was the most powerful prayer event of his life. Many described it as a banquet of God's grace.
It's not enough to know about God. He is real. He wants our hearts. He wants to reveal Himself to us. The quote to the left by Pope Benedict says it all. When we encounter Jesus Christ, our lives are forever changed.
We invite all to continue journeying with us beyond the event. We schedule things that are important to us in life. Do this... and we promise it will positively change your life: download the fun and engaging LivingIT Family Gathering Guide. Take the 30/3 Family Challenge. Even if you can't schedule three times a week, commit to just once! We know after that one time you'll want to do it more!
Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. Our next Made2Worship event is June 1. Sign-up now for special updates. Spread the word. Above all, let's keep one another in our prayers... open our hearts to God's amazing love.
The Faith in Business Project is an outreach of Made2Worship. We seek to showcase short stories of faith-filled business leaders while seeking financial support for our mission.
If you are a business leader and would like to support Made2Worship and showcase your short story of faith, please contact us: (814) 864-5755 or ALIVE@Made2Worship.org. Made2Worship is an outreach of ImageTrinity.com.
