Category Archives: reality

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Happy Thanksgiving – Removing hate from my heart

This morning our family went to Mass at a little Catholic Church in Pigeon Forge, TN.  My parents and I have been attending Mass there all week on our vacation, but this morning the entire family was finally together and we all went. Holy Cross is a parish of about 400 families, tucked up on a side street off the main parkway in Pigeon Forge.

One of the greatest things about Mass today, aside from receiving the body of Christ while being surrounded by those I love most in this world, was the opening statement by the Deacon.  He reminded us all that this is Thanksgiving Day, in the greatest country in the world and that we cannot forget what makes us great.  It was wonderful to hear him speak this morning and I have no doubt that he is not only a faith-filled man, but a true patriot.

I love Thanksgiving Day Mass in this country!

I realize I mention removing hate in my post title and we’ll get to that now.

During the Mass today, I was overcome with emotion.  That happens often enough during the consecration and after communion but today it happened shortly after the start of Mass.  My heart was filled with an immense feeling of love, forgiveness, and healing.  I realized that to be filled with God’s love, I had to empty myself of any feeling that didn’t lead to or include love.  I had to forgive my enemies (real and imagined), I needed to pray for them with true love in my heart and I need to pray for my own soul to remain free of hate and enmity.

It isn’t easy in this day and age to be filled with love all the time.  Many times hate creeps in;  hate at people’s behavior, at their words, at their belief system, sometimes at the people themselves.

But we are called to love.  Jesus loved those who hated Him, scorned Him, persecuted Him, murdered Him.  He loves saints and sinners alike.  He entreats us to love one another and while I like to believe I do, I have realized that I often fall short of His commandment.

I cannot promise that hate won’t creep back into my head and heart.  I can’t promise that I will look at everyone with the love God asks me to.  I can, however, remember to pray, both for those I find difficult to love and for myself.  Prayers to find the light of God within each person.  It is there.  We are all made by Him and in His image and within us all is a spark of goodness; the love our creator placed in creating us.

On this Thanksgiving Day, I pray for each of you, those who know me personally and those who only know this blog.  I pray for the light of God’s love to fill your hearts.  I pray that His grace fills your life and the lives of those around you.  I pray that we stay faithful to God’s will in our lives and that we continue to live to glorify Him.

In Christ’s Love,

Mrs. Summitt

 

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Podcasts Aren’t Easy

I spent the better part of Saturday morning attempting to record my first podcast.

Well, not exactly my first.  I had done a series several years ago of the Rosary when there weren’t any available to download.  That was a long time ago though and I knew exactly what to say.

I find myself at an interesting crossroads with the podcasting.  I feel that I should be speaking about matters related to faith but I am so frustrated by the recent election that everything I speak about ends up being related to politics and law.  Perhaps that is intentional.  We cannot be authentically Catholic and not have our beliefs wrap into our day to day existence and the politics surrounding this nation.

I am going to try and speak mainly about our faith but expect the relation to politics to show up.  We can no longer be a ‘live and let live’ society and expect to keep our religious freedoms intact.  Morality and faith are not compatible with current society.  It is very Old Testament.  The golden calf is being trotted around and the people are bowing to it while we look away sickened by the willingness of the masses to engage in sinful behavior that darkens their souls and leads them away from God.

As usual, I digress from my topic but I’ll leave you with the thought that my first podcast is coming soon.  Hopefully with limited politics 🙂

Yours in Christ,

Mrs. Summitt

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God’s Calling, Has Anyone Seen My Phone?

Hello Dear Reader!

You may be stumbling here to see if I have words of wisdom in the aftermath of a highly disappointing November 6th.  I do not.

I’m not much on wisdom today having felt like pulling an Atlas Shrugs moment and vacating from all responsibilities that would require my hard earned dollars to be given to the government rather than to where I choose to give it.  Luckily, God called this morning (figuratively) and for the first time in a long time, I had my ringer turned on my soul-phone and I answered.

What did God have to say?  Well it wasn’t to agree with my perspective this morning on going to Galt’s Gulch.  No, it was more of a marching orders call.  As a soldier in God’s Spiritual Army, He provided me with the next step on my journey.  I am still in a bit of shock but I have faith.  If you’re wondering what exactly this next step is, keep reading.

This website is just the beginning.  It is a way to get me thinking and writing on paper (or pc), to get used to putting out my thoughts, feelings, life lessons for the world to see, to become comfortable with it.   Keep reading…the good stuff is in the next part 🙂

Hears how my soul-phone conversation with God went this morning after I realized what I’m supposed to be doing with my life in service to Him:

Me  – Whoa!  Are you kidding me?  I’ve barely blogged since that realization that this was part of your path for me.

God’s response – It isn’t as though I haven’t tried to get you to blog.  (a voice that sounds like mine chimes in “I’m too tired.” “I’m too busy.”  “I don’t feel good.” “I have work to do.” “I have school work to do.” “Mom’s in town.”)

Me – It can’t be time though, right?  You’re just giving me a heads up and then in a few months when life is a little more quiet after the holidays…….that’s when I should start, right?

God’s response – Nice try, but no.  I know you don’t feel ready.  Why is that?

Me – Well, because I’m not.  I have bills to pay, work to get done, a husband and child to take care of, charities to raise money for, family to love, Christmas cards to write, a house to clean….. When am I going to do THIS?  HOW am I going to do THIS?  I don’t KNOW HOW to do any of THIS!  HOW can I do THIS and still pay the bills?

God’s response – Do you trust in ME?  Believe in ME?  Love ME?

Me – Of course I do!

God’s response – Then…….

Me – Humph!  Fine.  I will start but I need help.

God’s response – Help is always there when you’re doing My will.  If you do what I ask, the help will arrive just when you need it most.

Me – *sigh* Ok.

So, here I am… announcing… that mrssummitt.com is going to be growing to include a podcast and eventually video-casts and other downloadable mp3’s with favorite prayers and devotions.

More to come…first I need to go buy a microphone and figure out what I’m supposed to say and to whom.  Of course, first part of that first is I need some sleep.  As with most folks who think as I do, last night was a very long night and today was just as long.  The light is there though……within each of us.  Just pray and God will help that light shine as a beacon to others.  We can make a difference, we will make a difference.

I’ll leave you with this, A Prayer for Daily Neglects:

Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Sacred Heart of Jesus, with all its love, all its sufferings and all its merits.

 First – To expiate all the sins I have committed this day and during all my life.(Glory be to the Father…)

 Second – To purify the good I have done badly this day and during all my life.(Glory Be to the Father…)

 Third – To minister for the good I ought to have done, and that I have neglected this day and during all my life.(Glory Be to the Father…)

Amen.

(If you are not familiar with the Glory Be…

Glory Be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.  As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.)

In Christ’s Love,

Mrs. Summitt

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I’m No Saint

I’m no saint.

While this pronouncement, dear readers, certainly won’t shock my husband and family (or even me), the discovery of how much I would like to be one, will shock us all.

In my pre-saintly ways I would have blamed others for this.

Fr Larry Richards comes to mind.

Note:

If you really want to feel like a bad Catholic, read Fr Larry’s book, Surrender.  

If you want to BE a good Catholic, read AND implement Fr Larry’s call to action in his book, Surrender.

However, I am currently evolving. A work-in-progress as my banner says above. Instead of blaming someone else, I would like to call out my soul. It has been longing, yearning, fighting for decades to be allowed its own way; the way our souls were designed.  It finally has found its own voice and it is urgently coaxing me to make sainthood my number one priority.

Before you condem me as a narcissist or heretic or other unkind word, I ask that you continue to read…

I’m not saying I want there to be a St. Mrs. Summitt’s Feast Day where priests talk about my saintliness and extol the faithful to mimic my pious ways.  I honestly hope no one notices once I’ve attained living saintliness.  After all, it only really matters if God deems me worthy of the title, not man.

If I were you, I’d be thinking at this point, “Why do I actually care about some married lady who is going to make her husband’s life miserable by becoming ‘saintly’?”  This married lady doesn’t want you to care about her journey to sainthood.  She wants you to care about yours while sharing why she now cares about her own.  (I’ll let Mr. Summitt speak to the misery of living with someone who wants to be a saint but admits to being a bit off from that goal)

All of these years I felt that it was improbable for me to live a life that was truly for God first.  I mean, I said I did.  I prayed that I would.  But who really wants to do that?  Have you looked around?  There’s some pretty sweet stuff out there for those who put themselves first:  cars, houses, boats, jewelry, travel, daily mani/pedis and root touch-ups.  Sure, that’s all “of this world” and I’m supposed to focus on “the next” but Lord, Powerball is $350 MILLION…can’t I pray to win it?  If it be your will?  I promise to do great things for You and Your Church with the money…and then I’ll focus on saintliness.

Now, I didn’t pray those exact words, but something like it a time or twenty over the years…

I still play the lottery.  I try not to pray too hard about winning.  I do consider all the great works I could do if I won.  I acknowledge that it is unlikely God’s will includes a Powerball win for me.

Now that you see I am really a sinner and am self-aware enough to acknowledge the fact, you can breathe a sigh of relief that you don’t need to try and have me committed as a psychological patient for thinking I am St. Mrs. Summitt.

The journey forward is obstructed by my own lack of full community with God’s will in my life.  I do try.  I pray, I plead, I confess.  All with the goal of finding out what God wants of me while hoping it is something I am already doing.  Well, not any more, but that is pretty much how I wanted to view the whole “will of God” deal.  I always knew deep down that my pathetic attempts to make my will into God’s will would fail.

So now I am on a mission to uncover the mystery of God’s will for me.  As I mentioned on my redesigned homepage, this blog is a part of what I believe to be the first step on the path of living God’s will.  Buying Fr. Larry Richard’s book was another step (well, the reading of it more so).  Opening my heart to truly hear God’s voice and to wait until He chooses to speak…that is the current step on this journey and I have the patience of a 3 year old.  Gimme!  Mine!  Now!  No!  (Yes, I also pray for patience and the ability to quiet my mind.)

Even now, in the still of the night, I wait.  I don’t even know quite what I’m waiting for but I know that when it arrives, there will be no doubt that it is from God and that He will continue to give me the grace, if I choose to cloak myself in it, to rise to the occasion, make His will my own and step ahead on  the path.  The one that leads to heaven, to God’s embrace, to sainthood.

I implore you now to listen to your own soul.  Listen to the cries to allow it to be what it was always meant to be from the first moments of creation…your key to heaven, to God’s embrace, to sainthood.  I urge you to consider stepping on the path to sainthood with me, not for what it brings you in this world, but for what it promises in the next.

I willingly (if not somewhat begrudgingly) give my life to Him, make His will my own and pray for the fortitude to finish the journey the way God intended.

God Bless!

Mrs. Summitt

 

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The Lost Sermon: The Greatest Commandments

Matthew 22:36-40

“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”  He said to him,“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the greatest and the first commandment.

The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

How many of us have read responses to articles, blogs and videos that made our hair stand on end?  Vile, frightening words from people whose hearts are filled with an anger that comes from a place of darkness, not light.

We are called to be the light to the world.  As the saying goes “to show we are Christians by our love”…  Naturally, believing that we are to be loving, even in the face of hate and ridicule, I have to wonder why so many people who claim to be believers feel it is acceptable to engage in such despicable rhetoric.

A Recent Example:

The CFO who chose a drive-thru window and an unsuspecting young lady named Rachel to make a poorly worded diatribe against a company for upholding traditional values and then posts it to YouTube.

The CFO lost his job for his behavior and unfortunately was also the recipient of many threats via phone and email.  His home address was posted online and he, his wife and children had to leave their home for a safer location.  The behavior by those claiming to hold traditional values and morals towards this man is reprehensible.  We DO NOT treat people this way – PERIOD!

I don’t agree with what Smith did.  He likely heard some snippet that was not completely accurate about Cathy’s remarks about his support for “the biblical definition of the family unit” and decided to take part in some activism that ended up going south.  He and others who feel that people who hold traditional values should be mocked and ridiculed, need our prayers, not our hatred.

The challenge, I believe, is that those who strengthen us in our faith – our priests, pastors, bishops, ministers, etc… are not preaching from the pulpit on how to handle our response to these attacks against our faith and our morality.  We are left to defend ourselves and some choose to respond in kind or even with more vile rhetoric than the originator.

We need our church leaders to be our shepherds.  Guide us.  Teach us how to respond with love and kindness.  This does not mean to call for meekness or to not respond at all if we fill called to respond.  Instead, share with your flock how to respond in Christ’s love.  Remind us to pray and to put the Lord first in our hearts before responding.  Encourage us to be respectful and factual in our responses.  Preach that to love as Christ loves means that we cannot sow hate with our words or we risk becoming just like those we seek to change.

“And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
They will know we are Christians by our love

Love is patient, love is kind
Never boasts, not full of pride
Always hopes, always trusts
The evidence of Christ in us”

Is is time for us to be the light in this world!

Mrs. Summitt