Category: Noah’s Thoughts

What a gift Our Father has given to us in the beauty of creation. How even with our limited understanding of our world, can we recognize God through His work. God’s work reveals Him, reveals His character.

The simple and complex majesty in the mighty trees that stretch towards heaven, lifting their branches in constant worship and praise. Then you have their function; they literally make the necessary components we need to breath. Trees filter the air for us. We use them to make shelters, we use them to communicate with paper, they were made for us to use and care for lest we mock God’s gifts.

From the largest animal, to the smallest insect, there is unmitigated majesty in all of creation. All though we do have some strife with creation from original sin, we can still appreciate God’s work.

Look at honey bees’. The design of their combs, even the way they have a hierarchical structure in their communities. We even note as such the Queen bee.

There is a plethora, an endless supply of examples of the majesty of creation. My personal favorite are sun rises and sun sets. God has created an endless rotation of masterpieces daily, for us. A constant reminder that Our Father in heaven cares for us, and not just made the light and the dark and separated them, but gives us a beautiful transition, to ease us into the night. Then He gives us the light of the moon, the lesser light of the night time.

When I was driving into work this morning, I saw the most perfectly placed clouds, with the sunrise illuminating them from above, and a sliver of sky was exposed and the light from the sun jutting from the opening. Expressing to me in that moment, we can find the light of God anywhere. The hope inspired in that ring of light was inexplicable, and we can have these moments, and draw near to God through admiration of His work in creation.

Let me be clear, that admiring the work of God should never ever ever lead to worshipping the created, but should always point us towards the creator. So let us take a moment, and enjoy God’s handiwork, draw near to His grace, and share our gifts freely with each other.

I have been struggling with distractions lately. If I am being honest, it has been downright difficult to put my phone, or the television down, or off. I have become increasingly convicted of feeling like I am wasting time. Truthfully, I know I am.

Part of writing this today is to help sort my thoughts and hopefully help someone if they are having similar issues.

I make sure to set time aside to pray and for devotions, and even some contemplation. Specifically the last like five days, I have been extremely convicted of the time I don’t spend with or for Our Lord. I have been asking for help from my guardian angel, the Holy Spirit, and some brothers and sisters in Our Father’s glory for assistance.

I have been given grace to be hyper aware and even have a much easier time turning my focus to something constructive. It has been tempting at times to get down or be mean spirited to myself. I think that is part of the enemies trick of guilt and shame, that we really rake ourselves over the coals for simple or low hanging things. Not to say that we should not be aware of our shortcomings, but guilt and shame should not crowd out repentance.

We just have to humble ourselves and entrust all of those ways we are lacking to God’s love, mercy, and grace. We have to have faith that He truly can make up for our weaknesses. That we being justified by His grace, we act in love and do His will.

I kind of think of it similarly to the liturgy of the Eucharist. I rarely feel worthy to receive Christ, but because I feel so unworthy, I make sure that I adore Him in the blessed sacrament when He is raised and offered for us. So especially when we feel unworthy, we have to keep moving towards Christ, and we have to trust that His sacrifice is sufficient.

So if there is something you are struggling with: repent with all your heart, pray for a turning of your heart, pray for help to love God and accept His love for you. Remember, Christ’s sacrifice is sufficient, even if you can’t believe it right now.

I have heard some very interesting insights on uniting the sorrowful mysteries of our own lives to the sorrowful mysteries of Christ.

This morning while driving into work, I had a really eye opening moment. As I was starting the first decade of the rosary, and contemplating the agony in the garden; I guess I finally realized that Jesus opened up for us so many ways to draw near to him.

Especially how Jesus went off to pray, Father if there be any way to let this cup pass from me, but let your will not mine be done.”

We have a great opportunity to draw near, in all ways and at all times, to Our Lord Jesus Christ. Anytime we are led, or just following Christ and it is difficult or challenging, we can unite our difficulty to Christ’s.

I feel like I keep going back to this, but we get out, what we put into our relationship with God. Grace has to have a place to fill, and we should be making our containers larger (our souls). We are made for relationship with God, specifically to participate in God’s love.

Let’s pray for each other, and cry out to Christ to help us through our sorrow.

I have been thinking on this for a while now, and still have a lot I am unsure on. I don’t even know if I should write it down yet, but here I am.

Comfort is one of Satan’s biggest and most effective weapons. We are so often assaulted by comfort that we have no tolerance for discomfort. We get angry at the smallest inconvenience, at least I know I am very guilty of this. I try to start out being super patient, but I often find it difficult to maintain patience and not let interior disorder move me to chaos, and I always feel horrible afterwards. Even if I do not fly off the handle, that isn’t exactly the best method for measurement.

The comfort of this world numbs us to the necessity of walking with God in preparation for living with Him in eternity. I am begging the Holy Spirit to give me the strength and courage to do the things I know I should. Perfect example, I was driving home from work earlier this week, and saw an older man walking on the sidewalk with some grocery bags. He was stopped takin ga break, and I had a strong pull to pull over and at least offer him a ride. Because of my selfishness and comfort, I kept on driving and even felt super convicted with what you do to the least you do to me. I don’t want to live in such a state of comfort that I deny the simplest commands and instructions from God.

The section right above is precisely why I am writing this out. I know that the temptations of the temporal are so crafty and attractive. I also know that there is nothing more I want than to lead my family in such a way that we all spend eternity in God’s glory.

How do we work that out without going to far? Can you go to far? Why don’t we go to far?

I think we should follow what we are led to, but that we should actively have a solid faith life to better discern God’s will for our lives. I also think that we are called by varying degrees, how we follow Our Lord. What I mean specifically by that is some are called to monastic, clergy, cloistered, etc life and some of us are called to serve as ministers of our families. To have and lead families, to love families like God loves Christ, and Christ loves the Church.

For certain, reading scripture under the guidance of the Church, prayer, and worship lead us and guide us to discern God’s will for us.

I was praying the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary this morning, and after I finished I was thinking about a desire to give everything to God.

I used to think that giving myself to God was just giving what was His already, since God created me- through the shared act of creation through my parents. Right, like how could I give something to God that I have no claim or ownership over. It is only right and just that I give all that I am to God.

I was struck this morning that the life I have is a gift, and it was a gift given by Our Lord the moment I was created. Without expectation, but with hope for sharing of love. Love of and with God. It is right and just to give all of ourselves to God, but not because His gifts come with conditions; but specifically because they do not.

We are free to do what we want with the gifts we have been given. I want to be clear that while the gifts are without condition, that does not mean our free will is free of consequences of our actions.

All of that I guess to say that the free gift of our lives is a beautiful gift from our loving father, and our lives are much more meaningful when we share ourselves in the charity of Christ, and unite in the Body of Christ through the Holy Spirit.

This Christmas was our first family Christmas being confirmed in the Catholic Church.

We spent Christmas Eve Mass together, my wife and our children; and we also were blessed to attend Christmas Day Mass as well. It was so beautiful spending time together celebrating Our Lord.

We told our children that they would have to wait until after Christmas Day Mass before opening their presents. They were a little anxious about it first, but our oldest told us after Mass that it was better to wait. I felt so joyful as a father, that she was able to enjoy the time we gave to Jesus that morning.

Not only were we able to celebrate the birth of Our Savior, but we were able to receive him in the Blessed Sacrament.

While our assigned priest is out for recovery, we have been blessed to have so many shepherds assist us and volunteer to perform the sacrifice of the Mass at our parish. We have gotten to experience many beautiful Mass’s by the charitable priests.

We were even blessed to have a smooth transition away from commercial santa claus and a welcomed return of Saint Nicholas. To imbue the lives of our children with the rich faith we have been given is a joyous treasure.

Wishing all of my brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus a blessed advent and Christmas season.

I am going to be very open and share something pretty personal, but with the sole intention of glorifying Our Lord and as a testament to the good things He has done in me and for me. I recently was blessed to be able to share the gift of life with my parish priest. I was baptized in the Catholic Church, then my parents separated when I was very young. Over the years I drifted far from Our Father. I was blessedly watched over by the prayers of my brothers and sisters in Christ, my guardian angel, and all the saints and martyrs who prayed for me. I began my journey to rejoin the One True Church almost two years ago now, and when my wife and I were OCIA, we became aware through social media of a great need of our priest. He was in need of a kidney transplant, and had been on home dialysis for a few years. I prayed about it, and talked about it with my wife and our two children. We decided that I would begin match testing. There were two different ways I could have helped our priest. One was a voucher program, where I would donate a kidney and he would receive a voucher to use. The second was that I would be a match: tissue, blood type, and antibodies. As I was going through testing, I was feeling unsure if I was following my own will, or the will of Our Lord; so I prayed for further guidance. I prayed to God that if this be His will, I would know it through being a direct transplant match. Well, The Lord Our God does not answer halfway, or with uncertainty. I found out that I was a direct match, and my family decided that we would put my kidney up as an offering to God. I felt such a peace about the whole process, and it has been difficult explain how right I know this was. We told our priest right before thanksgiving, when we had a confirmed donation date. It was such a blessed gift to see the light of joy on his face as he realized it was us and what we were able to share with him. Then last Friday 12/05/2025 the Lord Our God blessed us and our families both with the tremendous gift of life, love, and mercy. Our parish community have been so supportive and the outpouring of love has been so incredible. I have the felt the grace from their prayers in my soul, and the touch of Christ on my body. Our collective recovery is going so well. I was blessed to go home the next day, and our priest is going home today – two days early! That’s exactly how good Our God is! He will lead us in His mercy to dwell in His goodness. Praise God for all things, and by the power of the Holy Spirit may we be made worthy of the promises of Our Savior Jesus Christ! All of this is to say If you have a way to offer up anything to Our Lord, anything at at all: our talent, our treasure, our time, our lives, our bodies, our work, or anything at all. We should do it, and we should praise God for the gifts that we can give to him out of love, and that by the mercy of Jesus Christ and his pascal sacrifice our own in kind sacrifices be pleasing and holy to God Our Father. Love each other as Christ first loved us, and let’s live our faith with the hope of the world to come!

I know this probably an understood concept, but I was struck with the novelty of the efficacy of reconciliation this morning. I have been seeing a lot of catholic priests, apologists, and theologians talking about participating in the sacraments lately, especially the sacrament of reconciliation. One priest in particular talking about how we should take part in the sacrament of reconciliation to grow in holiness, and begin our sanctification here on earth. That we should go not just for mortal sins; and I was flabbergasted this morning at how much God truly loves us. We can work with Our Lord and grow in holiness so much, while we are here. If you feel convicted about what might be considered a “small” or unimportant sin, go to reconciliation; if you detest even the smallest wrong you have committed, go to reconciliation. We can be elevated by the Holy Spirit with every step towards holiness, every rung of the ladder of humility that we climb, brings us closer to the presence of God and His beatific vision. He has opened this to us now, and even invites us to turn more and more towards Him.

Even now as I type this out, I am convicted of needing to go more frequently and take part of the sacrament of reconciliation. I have gone twice that did not involve a mortal sin, and honestly it is beautiful; but I let other things in life claim priority. That is the honest truth, and it is uncomfortable; but I would rather be more uncomfortable now than eternal damnation. I want to be convicted more and more to turn away from temporal distractions and seek Our Lord in all ways, and be thankful in all things. I love Our Lord, and I love all of my brothers and sisters in Christ; and am working to love my neighbors, that may not be part of His holy family.

I was praying a rosary this morning, and when I was meditating on the the last Joyful Mystery: Finding Jesus in the temple. I particularly love this mystery, and the hope it has always given me. This morning was no different, however I was struck with a new concept around finding Jesus. How Mary and Joseph “lost” Jesus in the temple, and they rushed to find him. When they found him, and Mary was telling Jesus that they were worried and looking for him. Jesus simply responded that He must be in His Father’s house. I was struck that yet again, at the application of scripture; Jesus tells us that if we think we have lost Him, we will find him in His Father’s house. That is multi faceted as well: Jesus is in the tabernacle of every Catholic Church, we as the temple of the Holy Spirit of God can share Jesus Christ’s love with our neighbors. We never “lose” Jesus, we just have to come to him where he is; in the Holy Church He founded. We have to seek Him!

I was sweeping the kitchen earlier this week, and thinking, and it was like the Holy Spirit dumped this little nugget on why intercessory prayers to Mary, specifically the Hail Mary, are so effective. Mary, whose soul reflects the will of God (mirror of justice); being so full of grace and so obedient the demons shame cannot stand to be near or around her for very long. Because satan’s pride rooted the former angels out of Heaven. Our Lady’s obedience to God and the grace conferred upon her for faithfully bringing Jesus Christ in her womb, they cannot bear her presence.

Let’s go through the Hail Mary

Hail Mary full of grace – being full of grace: absent of original sin

The lord is with the – literally God is with her

Blessed are thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus – Blessed by God among all women for her faithfulness and obedience, because of Jesus Christ(her son)

Holy Mary Mother of God – I can’t reduce this much more

pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death – take our petitions to your son. Please our case, just like at the wedding at Cana.

The Hail Mary is almost like a short story/summary, and it its efficacy of intercession are immense, because of the the demons shame.

The demons fear and obey Jesus Christ as God the son, the final judge, but they hate Mary because she is a constant reminder of what they would not do. Serve God.