PRESENT WEEK'S GLIMPSE OF GOD

Glimpse of God for the week of October 25, 2026

History Comes Alive

These three words can encompass so much if we allow them to God, our creator, has had a plan for us since the day we were conceived. We as His children, have the free will to choose to follow in His plan or go another direction. But even when we go the opposite direction of His direction, He is always there to invite and bring us back.

As I reflect on the phrase History Comes Alive, I can’t help but think of how God is saying that to you and me. Our history can come alive and be a source of boundless joy, consolation, expectation, and peace if we allow it to. What is our history? It is our past and that includes all of our life experiences and circumstances, both positive and negative, good, and bad, the acts of betrayal and denial, the acts of kindness and mercy and the act of love and reconciliation. These all have created who we are in the right now, in this, the present moment. If we are honest with ourselves, we have to admit that our past has made us who we are and, in some very difficult cases, has allowed us to be victors and not victims, a person of hope and not despair and a living witness to God s presence in our life. But if we are not willing to allow our history to come alive, what are we missing? What is being forgotten, taken for granted, placed aside, diminished, or denied? Where are the opportunities for healing and becoming whole or experiencing a renewed joy, a sense of awe and wonder? With God’s grace, our history can come alive and be a source of blessing, a greater appreciation for the event, an emotional tug that reminds us of how we felt and how those feelings overwhelmed, abounded, and overflowed from us.

God has called us by name, we are His beloved children, loved unconditionally and His greatest creation.  He has watched as we emerged from the womb, and the many tomb experiences that our life has been presented with, but in all of them, God has been there as we have emerged and embraced new life. When our history comes alive, it is another opportunity for us to embrace new life with a deeper reverence and greater hope. How or what will bring us to experiencing our history coming alive? How is God calling us to allow our history to come alive and not remain dead? What needs to be resurrected so that new life and renewed life, can be experienced again? I have thought of seven life experiences that many people have experienced, yet some haven’t, but the message or reflection can be applied to similar experiences. The flame of new life can burn brightly as our history comes alive if we allow it to and not try to smother it. What or where have significant life experiences have been taken for granted, not appreciated yet life changing?

SUNDAY - Making your first Holy Communion…. the nervousness of receiving Jesus for the very first time and what would the host taste like….

History can come alive when you reflect back on when you prepared for and made your first Holy Communion. What does it take to bring life back to your heart, mind, and soul as you receive Holy Communion each week?  Can you think back to the joy, nervousness, and anticipation as you prepared for that big day? When you thought about receiving Jesus for the very first time? The same Jesus that suffered and died for you because He loves you so much? The same Jesus that is with you with every breath you take, in all of your life, both good and negative, and in those you love. Holy Communion is the real presence of Jesus, the very person of Jesus is giving you a spiritual hug when you need it most and when you think that you don’t need it at all. The graces that we receive in Holy Communion are so numerous, vast, and immeasurable, and as you reflect on your life experiences, especially the difficult times and wonder how you made it through, it was Jesus and His grace. When you think of how you were able to extend mercy and reconciliation, perform acts of kindness and love, help those less fortunate by being present to them, and seeking forgiveness for your own shortcomings, it was and is Jesus, the same Jesus you receive in Holy Communion. SO your history is alive, just possibly overshadowed by life stresses and personal stuff going in in your life. For today: When I receive Holy Communion, I will make my history come alive by…….

MONDAY - Graduating from High School and College ….. the feeling you had as you realized all the required work had been done and you achieved the status of being a graduate.

Your history can come alive as you reflect on the many hours of hard work that you endured and completed to graduate. The various classes that you were confident with because knew the material well, and those classes that you felt were your personal invitation to doomsday. The many hours of studying where you had to put aside time with friends, attending family events or other enjoyable activities because you chose to study and stay on top of things? What did it feel like to finally accomplish such a big task knowing that it was the beginning of gaining a greater sense of maturity, self-sufficiency, and independence?

For today- As I reflect on the many educational/learning milestones in my life, I will make my history come alive by,,,,,

TUESDAY - Your parents trusting you. Your curfew extending, your first date, getting your driver’s license, your first car, and your first credit card.

All of these events in a young adult’s life e moments of personal growth and maturity or not. As a parent chooses to trust their children in these areas, it does not come easily or without second thoughts, but rather it comes because the child has shown and grown with a greater sense of maturity, trust, self-respect and understanding, and the parent believes that their child can handle the responsibility at this time in their life. As you reflect back on when you received these or other responsibilities for the first time, even though you probably thought that you should have received them much earlier, can you remember, allow those thoughts of WOW, I can’t believe that I am going to be able to…., that I am being trusted enough to do…enter back in your mind so that your history can come alive and that this life changing events that create your history don’t remain just in the past but can become a calming reminder that you succeeded in gaining your parents trust, showed them that you would honor and respect them in and through your decision process, even if it took a few times, you would not give up on yourself or them trusting in you.

For today:  As I reflect on the trust gained by my parents, I will make my history come alive by…..

WEDNESDAY - getting married…… preparing for the wedding day and a great marriage.

John and I just celebrated our 28th wedding anniversary and through it all, I feel like every day is our honeymoon. Why, there are many reasons, but each day as I still cherish calling him my husband, I think of how, each day, I am still learning more about myself as a wife and about John. Does he know that? I don’t think so because it is how I learned from each life experience, both little and small, how we choose to work on them together. I know and so does he, that we will have each other’s back, that we will be there for each other in good times and bad, healthy or sick, and love will bring us through everything because love is of God, He has called us together and each day is a great day as we strive to live and grow in His love to become our best selves, the persons the He created us to be and have the potential to become.

So do I remember our engagement? oh Yes, we celebrate it every year in Annapolis at the Naval Academy, where he proposed. That part of my history comes alive on an annual basis. Being engaged is a great time to prepare for the wedding day, many details to be handled, people to remember, lists to be made, and in all of that it should be a time of great joy and gratitude, but for many it becomes a source oof stress where many couples can’t wait for the day to be over with. For me, that is sad. The time preparing for the wedding day is a great time but preparing for marriage is the more important thing. One day, although a great day, can be the beginning of a great life celebrated together. Once the wedding day is over, the couple doesn’t part ways but becomes one and begins their life together. They have thought about this day in light of the long-term meaning and have chosen each other to go through their future life with. For Today:  I will make my history come alive by……

THURSDAY - Entering the convent or seminary…... the joy and nervousness as you left home and followed the Lord’s call to serve Him not knowing exactly what that meant or would like.

For those who are members of the clergy or members of the religious or consecrated life, you are probably feeling the pangs of being one of the proud but few and less men and women are entering religious life. It is a great calling to serve God as an ordained or religious, but not an easy one. You are called to give up life and family in the secular world to immerse yourself in the convent or seminary culture so that you can serve in the secular world. At one point in our Church history, both seminaries and convents had large number of men and women entering. Today that is not the case, and those who are serving are serving as one where there is a need for more. Since there are fewer priests today in parishes, those who are active are being pulled in so many directions. Serving more than one parish at a time, being the only priest in a parish to say weekend masses, funeral masses, administer the sacraments, lead a parish, and lastly stay connected to their God, and others under the stress and weariness. And the Sisters.. those who were in schools, hospitals, parish ministry and other ministries, have gotten older and have retired with few in the order to replace them if the parish school they taught in or were principals of or parish ministers of, is still open or the hospital they were administrator of still has a religious leading it. This is not what the Church expected or had hoped for, but it is our reality and to those who have remained steadfast in their vocation it is their reality.

For today I will make my history come alive by,….

FRIDAY - The experience of a broken relationship 

I realize that there are some life experiences where one does not want history to come alive; divorce, betrayal, or the deception by a loved one or close personal friend. Yet in all of these instances, forgiveness can occur. It may not bring a couple back together, or estranged family members back into the fold, or those who have hurt you deeply, but forgiveness can lead to greater joy in living life and moving forward. How. When we choose to forgive another for the hurts that they have caused us, we gain a deeper peace and the burden of anger, revenge, bitterness, resentment, and despair and discouragement are no longer ours. With God all things are possible and when we seek to forgive another then the grace of God is working in our life. Does the other person need to be a part of the process? Not really, there are many instances where the other is deceased, but the effects of the pain that they caused are alive. It is in that pain where God gently invites us to extend mercy and be merciful as He is merciful and forgive even though the other cannot respond to it. When we can forgive another that is God. When we seek to want to be our best self, and realize that holding onto anger, bitterness, resentment, revenge. are holding us back, we then seek God’s grace to let go. Only with, though, and in Him can we be healed and made whole of our brokenness. Only then will be able to truly forgive another and ourselves if needed.

For today I will make my history come alive by recalling the many acts of  of mercy I have extended and received, reconciliation sought and where love emerged

Saturday - Death - Losing a family member or close and best friend.

Let history come alive through your heartfelt memories, your life experiences together, your feelings when you were together, the joy and laughter you shared as well as the sorrow you endured, the healing of their presence and the wholeness of your relationship, the silence that  was heard as you sought consolation and the laughter that resounded as you celebrated joyous occasions, the times that you were able to laugh at yourself with their help and the times that you were able to forgive yourself with their help, the times that  your worse self wanted to emerge and they only saw only your you best self standing tall, the times where they were seeing their worse self emerge and you only could see their best self coming out ahead, why because I believe that we are all sinners striving to become saints, and when we love another, even at our worse time, Christ comes before us and allows us to see their best self so that they too can see it. We are the mirror of Christ when we and our loved ones are at peace. For today, I will let my history come alive as I recall and allow the heartfelt memories to return and not hide from them.