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Tag: Good Friday

Good Friday

His body lifeless,
Tabernacle door ajar.
Where is now my God?

Author MegPosted on March 29, 2013March 29, 2013Categories BeautyTags Good Friday, Lent, prayer5 Comments on Good Friday

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mhunterkilmer

Catholic speaker and writer. Lover of Scripture, hater of generative AI. Probably up too late, probably craving dim sum and pastries.

Want to learn more about World Youth Day in Seoul?

Want to learn more about World Youth Day in Seoul? Join us next week for a free webinar!

The question of what immigration policy ought to b

The question of what immigration policy ought to be and how it should be enforced is a complicated one. The question of what our attitude toward immigrants ought to be is not.

We're called to treat all people as though they were Jesus himself, but especially the vulnerable—including, very specifically, migrants and refugees. As you prepare to go to the polls next week, consider the attitude of various candidates toward immigrants. Are they supportive of (or even gleeful about) incommensurate violence toward the undocumented? Do they use dehumanizing language or tell outright lies about immigrants? Do they support humane conditions for those who have been detained? Do they advocate for just treatment of those at risk of losing temporary protected status? It's just one of *many* issues that ought to guide the votes of Christians, but given yesterday's first reading (slide 1), it's at the forefront of my mind.

More than just voting, this is a question of the dispositions of our hearts. Can you love your undocumented neighbor? Even if you believe that those who enter the country illegally must not be allowed to remain, can you work for policies that enforce such laws humanely?Can you honor the gift that your neighbor is, regardless of his or her immigration status?

In his last sermon, Jesus said, "Depart into the eternal fire, for I was a stranger and you gave me no welcome." How these words affect our politics, our rhetoric, and our personal lives will surely vary—but if they *don't*, it will be the worse for us.

(Just to get out ahead of the comments: I am unequivocally opposed to abortion and have shared about it many times. Glory to God, there is nobody who is unaware of the Church's views on the dignity of the unborn. On this matter, though, there is confusion even among Catholics, hence the need to speak.)

I'm so proud of my long-time friend @drlopezonimmi

I'm so proud of my long-time friend @drlopezonimmigration for the incredible work he's doing to support migrants and those who love them. I was particularly struck when hearing him speak on the way that unjust laws and policies target marginalized people—particularly those approaches to immigration enforcement that penalize those who support undocumented people, not just making it hard to be an immigrant but making it costly to love immigrants. I highly recommend checking out Dr. Lopez's books telling the stories of communities suffering after immigration raids.

Whatever your thoughts on what our immigration laws ought to be, we simply can't look away from immigration enforcement's human costs (to both citizens and non-citizens)—particularly if we claim to follow a God who demanded that we serve the marginalized.

Here's to college friends still fighting the good fight all these years later. You're killing it, Billy!

I was once in a religious formation situation wher

I was once in a religious formation situation where my formator called me in to tell me that I was dramatic and attention-seeking. She cited the way I tell stories, the fact that I carried my Bible with me, and my occasional "childish" pigtails.

Mercifully, the Lord had been doing a lot of work in my heart, telling me for years that he hadn't messed up when he'd made me. So while I tried to be docile (their word), and while I knew I needed to grow, I simply didn't believe that my whole personality was wrong. Not a fit for this organization, sure. But I wasn't going to make myself shrink so they would want me.

My hair was braided a while back, and I thought, "Shame I'm too old for braids, I look cute." Suddenly I realized she might have been wrong—just as I always knew she was wrong about my personality and wrong about my love of Scripture (still baffling to me).

Because here's the thing: my storytelling? And my attachment to my Bible? Those two things that she specifically criticized are the two things that have borne the most fruit in my life—that have been a blessing to tens of thousands of people. Those weren't personality flaws, those were the ways God was asking me to serve his Church.

I don't need to get into what was going on with her—I genuinely don't have hard feelings. But the other day, I realized her critique wasn't just wrong, it was absurd. God made me to read his word and tell stories about him (and the people who love him). If he hadn't already spoken his love to me so deeply, I might very well have dimmed my light to fit the mold well-meaning Christians were trying to force me into. And (in all humility) the world would have been the poorer for it.

Here's the thing:

You might have a similar thing. Something about you that doesn't seem to fit in the Church, that's been criticized or even attacked. And sure, turn from sin, learn to be kind, grow in holiness. But also?

You are not a mistake. You are not an accident. You are a gift. And the world needs you, exactly as you are. We need your mental illness and your sense of humor and your disability and your past and your accent and your neurodivergence. The *Church* needs you.

Braids and all.

What a gift to worship with hundreds of people on

What a gift to worship with hundreds of people on the property of the Miami Correctional Facility, where 800 people are currently being held in ICE custody. On the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, I was so grateful to see our Church (and particularly my parochial vicar) taking a stand with those who are detained, singing and praying within sight of their windows and begging the Lord for mercy and peace and justice.

May God bless our brothers and sisters in detention, those under threat of detention or deportation, those who have been deported, especially to third countries, and all who love them. May God soften our hearts to desire the good of all people. May he give us the courage to demand humane treatment for every human being, without exception.

Honestly, it was worth all the work even if I'm th

Honestly, it was worth all the work even if I'm the only one who ever uses it. My life is so much easier with this resource!

Ooooh, let me tell y'all, I LOVE this parable!

Ooooh, let me tell y'all, I LOVE this parable!

Did you know this series has discussion questions

Did you know this series has discussion questions to make it easier to read with a group? Check it out!

My annual request that you go to confession as my

My annual request that you go to confession as my birthday present stands, but if you're getting extra celebratory, here are a few other things that would be a real gift to me as I work to launch volume 2 of Eyes Fixed on Jesus ♥️♥️

This week's selection features a FASCINATING Old T

This week's selection features a FASCINATING Old Testament connection on slide 2, a wildly helpful conversation rate on slide 3, and a profoundly encouraging note about how difficult forgiveness is on slide 6. Stretch your attention span instead of scrolling by, and sit with these thoughts for a minute or two before Mass tomorrow (or tonight).

(And in case you haven't heard yet, I wrote another book that I PROMISE will help you love Scripture more. Available now!)

I don't know that he would have read it, but he wo

I don't know that he would have read it, but he would have loved it 😂😂

Your girl is ethically opposed to generative AI, b

Your girl is ethically opposed to generative AI, but that doesn't mean I can't have an overly busy flyer with way too much information on it! (Which I made my very own self, so please disregard the "AI content" flag they added)

Get your copy of Eyes Fixed on Jesus Volume 2 from your favorite online book retailer or ask a local bookstore to order one for you ♥️

This week's Gospel hit different the first time I

This week's Gospel hit different the first time I realized that Matthew's the only one who wrote "treat him as you would a tax collector." I'd been using that line to give up on people, but Matthew knew that it meant, "love them so deeply that they turn back to the Lord."

Who have you written off as a lost cause? How can you love that person (or group) well this week?

Peter's being very Peter this week, and the Gospel

Peter's being very Peter this week, and the Gospel's got a lot to say to us about it—and about us.

(Also, this Dolly song is new to me and I'm LOVING it!)

The only thing more fabulous than this jumpsuit is

The only thing more fabulous than this jumpsuit is this book!

(Look, I've made a conscious decision not to learn how to optimize the algorithm because I think I could pretty easily lose my soul to an obsession there. But I do know that people interact with posts of me in this jumpsuit 😂😂 So I'm going to use that to try and tell you about this amazing book that'll break the gospels open for you in a whole new way. Grab your copy now!)

When your newest book arrives on the day Dolly die

When your newest book arrives on the day Dolly dies, you dress for Dolly the next day—featuring a sequined jacket (with a snatched waist) and a stack of books in honor of the literacy queen of Tennessee.

Blessed Stanley Rother felt helpless when his pari

Blessed Stanley Rother felt helpless when his parishioner and friend was being kidnapped. He stood there and watched as armed men (sent by the government) grabbed him and dragged him away. Fr. Stan had advocated for his people and stood between them and their oppressors, but sometimes, there was nothing he could do.

This image in the cathedral in Oklahoma City shows Fr. Stan standing strong, defending his people when masked men showed up with orders to abuse, intimidate, harass, and disappear them. He's a powerful intercessor for those of us who have to do the same, to stand between our people and those who have been empowered to terrorize them.

But (as I learned in the new documentary, American Martyr), he's also an intercessor for those who feel helpless, for those who may have seen neighbors taken away and been unable to stop it.

In that moment, Fr. Stan couldn't do anything. But he didn't let that helplessness define him. He didn't let guilt immobilize him. He kept seeking ways to lay down his life for his people, until finally, his life was taken.

Even then, he fought back, the bloody knuckles of his corpse evidence that he never stopped fighting for his people.

The situation we're living in isn't the same. Still, as we watch videos of migrants being abused and read articles about injustice and accompany people living in fear, I think many of us identify with that helplessness that Fr. Stan felt. If you're feeling helpless or weary or complacent or overwhelmed in the face of injustices perpetrated against the marginalized, that's natural. But we don't get to check out—not permanently, anyway. Fr. Stan is a reminder that sometimes we can't do anything—and that that's no excuse for doing nothing.

So if you've run out of steam in the fight for justice, consider this an invitation (and know that I'm looking in the mirror when I say this): start again. Find one thing, one way you can heed Jesus' call to serve the least of these, and do it.

And treat yourself afterward by going to see American Martyr in theaters this week. Tuesday and Wednesday in English, Thursday in Spanish. Fr. Stan, pray for us!

I've been giving you bits and bobs from Eyes Fixed

I've been giving you bits and bobs from Eyes Fixed on Jesus volume 2, but how about the whole section in this Sunday's Gospel?

This Sunday's Gospel is the foundation of a guidin

This Sunday's Gospel is the foundation of a guiding principal of mine:

I will not bind what Rome has loosed.

Like many of us, I tend to think my way is the best way. It's a quick step from there to thinking others are bad because they're not doing it my way.

But I'm a Catholic. Which means I don't actually get to make the rules. I can discern a personal call to a form of prayer or asceticism or advocacy, but I don't get to bind everyone else to it. Because we have a Church for that.

And maybe there are things the Church forbids (or requires) that I think she ought to allow (or make optional). But while I have the right to talk to my priest or my bishop or even the pope, it's not in my purview to offer dispensations. We have a Church for that.

If I'm honest, the latter is less my inclination. I'm much more interested in making everybody pray the way I do or abstain the way I do or dress or tithe or serve the way I do. I want to demand that all Catholics make public statements decrying racism, abstain from meat every Friday, and dress differently for Mass than they do for the beach. But the Church, in her wisdom, hasn't actually required those things. So when I find I'm judging people (which I shouldn't do anyway) for imaginary standards that only I know about, I repeat this to myself:

I will not bind what Rome has loosed.

One fantastic thing about our Church is that she doesn't have secret standards that only one priest on Facebook knows about or that were promulgated solely through some geocities website. So if you're out there trying to impose a standard on people, you can ask yourself a really simple question:

Where is it written?

Is it in the Code? The Catechism? Some authoritative document?

If not, it might be a GREAT idea, but it's not a rule. No old Vatican dress code or Saint's guide for fasting can be imposed on others—you may not bind what Rome has loosed.

The internet is a tough place to remember this, so I offer you this little graphic as a reminder for those times when you're gnashing your teeth or rolling your eyes at people being Catholic in a different way from you.

We don't get to bind what Rome has loosed. We have a Church for that.

Kat is SO EXCITED that Eyes Fixed on Jesus volume

Kat is SO EXCITED that Eyes Fixed on Jesus volume 2 is available for pre-order now (and already out on Kindle if that's how you like to read).

Seriously, she can't contain herself. Something about it being an easy-to-read, thoroughly researched, impassioned, beautiful book with an appalling number of Scripture references in the margins to pull you deeper into the Word than ever before.

Her words, not mine 🤷‍♀️

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