Welcome to the newly released series: Unexpected Church Members! We will premier the season with: "The Intercessors!" Intercessors are unexpected, often unknown, and underappreciated members of the Holy Church. They are the ones who pray on behalf of others. Sherry Weddell, the founder of Called and Gifted, explains that intercessors are Christians who are in the front lines. These are the ones in the middle of all of the action (Weddell, Sherry Anne. The Called & Gifted Workshop, Understand Your Gifts; Discover Your Call. Catherine of Siena Institute, Audio CD). Some variations of intercessors include cloistered religious, Eucharistic adorers, Marian devotees, parish prayer teams, parents, priests, and Holy Mass participants. Cloistered religious are probably the most obvious example of intercessors as prayer is their central mission. They can be religious men or women--monks or nuns. Cool thing: St. Therese of Lisieux and St. Francis Xavier are the patron saints of missionaries. Now, St. Francis Xavier was a classic missionary, who went to Japan and did all sorts of dangerous stuff to proclaim the word of God. Makes sense that he is the patron of missionaries. Yet, St. Therese is the co-patron. St. Therese was a cloistered nun. She never left her convent. But she was interceding. So, missionaries and street evangelists and people who are visibly proclaiming the word of God are powered by the prayer of others. My personal opinion is that St. Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity could not have and cannot accomplish anything if it were not for their sisters, the cloistered nuns. As another example, let's look at the Poor Clares (big surprise with that choice...but I can't help it, I know them well!). Poor Clares are cloistered nuns who separate themselves from the world, by dwelling in an enclosed monastery (which is the very House of God), and, living in a spirit of humility, self-denial, and poverty, offer themselves as channels for God to work His mercy and wonders. St. Clare, the founder of the Poor Clare nuns, loved the Eucharist. In other words, she loved the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in the humble form of bread and wine. Now, St. Clare was with her fellow nuns in their convent, likely praying, as that is what they do best. Well, an army of Saracen soldiers were coming upon St. Clare's town in Assisi, Italy. They were invading and would destroy them all, including the nuns. What did St. Clare do? She looked at the Eucharistic Jesus and said something like, "Lord Jesus! Are You going to let Your handmaids be delivered into the hand of our enemies? Won't You protect us?" You usually hear Jesus speak back to you in a deep voice when you ask Him questions, right? Haha! Well, Jesus said to her, "I will always protect you." And guess what? The Saracens fled from the city in fear! Just think of it! A whole powerful army would have been needed to fight the Saracens and protect the city. Yet, one prayer to the Eucharist (St. Clare's intercession), and they were gone. Powerful, powerful stuff, the Lord God is made of. Remember that we ourselves can fight and train and fight and fight with our own efforts, but prayer is handing the efforts over to God, and He does anything but disappoint. Check out the St. Clare story! That brings us to our Eucharistic adorers. In the churches around the world, there is Exposition of the Holy Eucharist, and in some specific churches, there is Perpetual Adoration! Perpetual Adoration means that Jesus is in the church 24/7, exposing His Precious Body to us. With such a gift, we cannot just let Jesus stand on the altar and have nobody in the church with Him adoring Him. So, there are volunteers who each come for a different hour every week to pray before the Lord. Imagine you are in first century Palestine and you want to go see Jesus for yourself and ask Him face to face to help you and all of these other people. Eucharistic adorers do the same thing today. They go to Jesus and talk to Him face to face. Obviously, He doesn't look like Jesus, but blessed are those who believe even though they do not see Him (John 20:29). Those who have a devotion to Mary tend to be really powerful intercessors as Mary is the Queen of Intercessors. She knows how to go to Jesus at a wedding and tell Him that there is no more wine. Then she tells us to do whatever Jesus tells us, steps back and watches her Son turn water into wine. At the Wedding at Cana, in John's Gospel, Mary is interceding on behalf of the bridegroom, bride, and the family of Cana to give the wedding guests the expected hospitality of wine. So rosary pray-ers, those who are consecrated to Mary, Saturday devotees, and so forth, are imitators of Mary, praying for the world as she is constantly praying for the world. Parents are often intercessors for their children just as Mary intercedes for her children. Another cool saint story for you is about St. Monica and her son, St. Augustine of Hippo. Now, Augustine was a boy and then a man who you would never expect would have "saint" in front of his name. He was rowdy and got into all sorts of nasty stuff, totally rejecting God. St. Monica was on her knees. She was on her knees interceding for Augustine for forty years! At last, after forty years, St. Augustine converted to Christianity, became a Doctor of the Church, a world famous theologian and philosopher, and one of the Early Church Fathers! Without intercessor, St. Monica, there would not have been a St. Augustine. When someone gives you a surprise act of kindness that blows you away, it is very likely that an intercessor's prayers are behind that kind person. When you have this weird illness or ache in your side, or mental exhaustion, and you find rest/relief/help/medical care, an intercessor or army of intercessors is likely behind it. Say you just got a raise at your job. Grandma was sick but is feeling good again. Intercessors are likely behind it. There are often intercessory prayer groups supporting the well-being of a parish or prayer sessions particularly for healing or for vocations to the priestly and religious life. These intercessors are incredible and their faith and trust in God are what I aim for. A personal story of mine is that I've suffered from mental illness. My depression, anxiety and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder were really, really bad. I was despairing and I was trapped. I knew I could not get out of the chains that I was in. There came a point when I was so weak, that I did not even whisper a prayer, but inwardly my heart lurched toward God, my Savior--it was an inward hope that He would provide, as I could not provide for myself. He sure did provide. I seriously could name about twenty people off the top of my head who were praying for me. I had tons and tons of cloistered nuns praying for me, and family and friends were praying for me and would tell me they were praying for me constantly. Even Pope Francis was praying for me (he never told me this specifically, you know, but Papa prays for all of his children). I know there are people in the world who were praying that I will never even know until I get to heaven. Guys, I am doing amazing and my life just gets better and better. And I still get people telling me they pray for me every day! Thank you, intercessors! You are unknown, unexpected and hidden. But you are in the front lines, and God is changing the world through you. Now, wait just a minute before you leave this episode of Unexpected Church Members. I can't let you go too quickly, because, you, my dear friend, is called to be an intercessor. See, Mass is not just about fulfilling an obligation to God. It's not just about you getting something out of it. No, it is the highlight of intercessory prayer. This is why priests are special intercessors! When priests pray Holy Mass, they are offering themselves and you to the Lord in prayer. Every saint and angel is praying for the fulfillment of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. And every participant (you!) is praying for the whole People of God. We cry together in one voice, "Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of Hosts! Heaven and Earth is filled with Your Glory! Hosanna in the Highest! Blessed is he who comes in the Name of the Lord! Hosanna in the Highest!" Really lit stuff. And there is even a special place designated in the Mass specifically for intercession. Right between the Creed, when we professor our total faith, and the offering of the gifts, when we give our whole selves to the Holy Sacrament of the Altar (JESUS). This concludes our episode. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations. I'd suggest some intercessory prayer to help out with that big mission.
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I have to admit, my first draft of this post included some beating around the bush. I feel like I'm in Harry Potter world in which we all fear "He Who Must Not Be Named." We may not even acknowledge that he exists. Who? You know who. Voldemort. No. No. I'm kidding. It's not Voldemort for us. Let's try it again. That "evil one" we avoid mentioning. The "dark side" that we often forget or believe does not exist. Satan. Duh duh duh! I said his name! Think of Satan with this Harry Potter/Voldemort analogy (please forgive me devout Harry Potter book lovers, it has been a while since I read the series. And please forgive me, those who do not know Harry Potter world). Voldemort starts off as "He Who Must Not Be Named" or "You Know Who." He is a sort of "deadish" figure in the first book. He is very abstract, so much that he doesn't even have his own body. As the seven books unfold, Harry learns more and more about Voldemort. He learns other names for him such as "Tom Riddle." He learns that Voldemort is divided into many forms known as horcruxes. Eventually, He Who Must Not Be Named is referred to as Voldemort. And eventually, for Harry, Voldemort isn't even Voldemort. He is just Tom. He isn't some all-powerful evil force that is unstoppable. He is just little Tom Riddle. I'm going to switch things drastically now to real stuff--not imaginary stuff that holds realistic themes. Jesus! Think about it: God in the Old Testament comes to Moses as the burning bush. When Moses asks God what His Name is, God says, "I AM WHO I AM" (Ex 3:14). It is the Divine Name YHWH that the Israelites do not even utter, it is so sacred. God seems kind of abstract to me with just reading Genesis or Exodus. I'm no bible scholar, but when I add in the prophetic books, and the wisdom literature, and the historical accounts, and I start learning all sorts of names for God, from the common "Lord God," to "my King and my God" (Psalm 5:2) "the Holy One of Israel" (Isaiah 41:16), and "Almighty Lord" (2 Maccabees 3:30), I more fully know His identity. And by the New Testament, we have the big, obvious, Holy Name. Jesus. The one whom Isaiah calls, "Wonder Counselor" (9:6) and "Immanuel" (7:14). Jesus, Who repeatably says, "I Am..." (insert your preference of he, way, truth, life, good shepherd, gate, light, vine, resurrection, bread of life). We start learning all sorts of names and attributes for God from Him being called Our Father, to the Holy Spirit, Who accompanies us when Jesus ascends to His Father. The Names for God are never-ending. We have the one "Lord, Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 8:6) in Paul's letters and by Revelation...boy, Revelation...we have the typical Old Testament "Lord our God the Almighty," but we now have Him Who is called the "Lamb" (19:7) and "The Word of God" (19:13). One more, then I promise I'm done: "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end." (Revelation 21:6). The Bible is such a beautiful book! From Genesis to Revelation, we come to know God through Jesus Christ, revealed to us by the Holy Spirit. We come to know His identity! Identity, yes, that was the point of this blog post. When we identify something or someone and call it/he/her for what it is, we become free. Satan is no longer some mythical creature or some omnipresent force we can't escape, but he is a real powerless little fallen angel. God is not some foreign Being up in the sky but is Flesh and Blood, Spirit and Life. I'm going to give you a personal example in which identification has helped me become free. It is very common for me as it is common for most people, to have lots of thoughts, feelings, attitudes, and experiences. I go through my day, and all sorts of things happen around me and within my brain. To put it bluntly, on some days, I walk into church to visit Jesus, and thoughts come to my mind such as, "You are worthless. I don't want you here. Get out of my sight." Initially, such thoughts are absolutely terrifying! Jesus doesn't want me to visit Him? I am such a bad sinner that He doesn't want me to come near Him? I start feeling really down and depressed and conflicted. Obviously, I should not be here if God doesn't want me here and I am not good enough to stand in His presence. Yep, the thoughts are atrocious until, praised be to God, I identify them. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). The lie of worthlessness. The spirit of condemnation. I identify that my OCD is having a tantrum over imperfection, that I am being told by Satan a common lie that I am worthless, and that "jesus" aka Satan is saying I'm going to hell. Here's another example: I may be really mean and nasty to a person and I'm not quite sure why. I may be annoyed and irritable when around him/her and feel like I can't control it until I recognize that I have an attitude of judgment hanging around me. Condemnation and human judgment is not of God. God is salvation. Jesus came to save the world, not to condemn it (John 3:17). It is wrong for me to judge. I must call it for what it is--not of God, sin, and temptation from He Who Must Not Be Named--I mean Satan! Identification doesn't just help us become free from sin, temptation, and illness, it gives us grace, faith, hope, and love. For example, I may be driving in the car. I identify that I am hungry and tired, causing me to feel irritable and angry. Then, I come upon a beloved Michigan turn-around, which usually takes forever to get through (and by forever, I mean five minutes). But this one time that I'm driving, I don't even have to wait. The coast is clear. I turn onto the road and I'm home five minutes earlier. I identify that God just gave me a gift. And when given a gift, I am designed to identify it and praise and thank the giver for it. Anyway, I've identified that I'm hungry and tired, as is common for us humans, but that God has placed events, experiences, and encounters around me to be loved by Him and for me to love Him. So, I am learning to identify stuff. To pull out the weed by its roots and not just the tip of the plant that is obvious to see (that is very true for my garden job as well). Sometimes, I need to identify that I hold a resentment in my heart and need to forgive a minor or major thing someone did to me (or I need to forgive myself for my minor or major imperfections). When someone does an act of service for me, I need to identify it, appreciate it, and show them my gratitude (or maybe I need to acknowledge that yes, I am a good person and I do make good choices). This identification is a part of what's known as discernment of spirits or even examination of consciousness. It is paying attention to what is of God, what is of us, and what is of Satan. If you are interested in learning more, here are some book suggestions: Unbound: A Practical Guide to Deliverance by Neal Lozano
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AuthorJacqueline St. Clare: I spent six months in a cloistered convent, and now I'm a college student! Archives
April 2021
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Unexpected Church MembersAll words that are underlined can be found on the "Glossary" page
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