I admit it: I like snail mail.
Plenty of people have been musing on its pros and cons in light of the recent news that the U.S. Postal Service will be closing a couple thousand of its post offices. I am a fan.
I love cute stationery (preferably with daisies), thank-you notes and sending Christmas cards.
There’s something about mailing something that brings a smile to my face because I know receiving it will bring a smile to someone else’s. The surprise of a card (or gift or even a magazine) in the mail is one of life’s simple blessings. That birthday greeting means more when it’s via mail, in my opinion.
Staying in touch with people can be a challenge nowadays. (Most Register employees work remotely.)
Family and friends of mine are scattered across the country, pursuing careers and raising families, here and there and everywhere. It’s rare that we can see one another in person — but what a blessing it is when that happens. Our reunions are always fun.
Sure, we can use technology to stay connected. There’s e-mail, social networking, cell phones, etc. All of that makes communication convenient.
But nothing is better than in-person meetings: Seeing the joy on newlyweds’ faces, witnessing the love on the face of a new mother or hearing the highlights of someone’s new job can’t be conveyed sufficiently online. That’s how we all felt when we visited EWTN recently. We met our new colleagues and gathered for fellowship and a wonderful retreat. It was a blessing-filled week.
Even matchmaking, which has gone to cyberspace, can only start online. At some point, it must transition to phone calls and person-to-person dates.
Our faith is the same.
We need Mass to connect physically with Our Lord in the Eucharist and gather in community.
And adoration is truly a date with Jesus. I love adoration. The quiet of the chapel, when I gaze at and have a heart-to-heart with Christ, is a precious prayer oasis for me.
He’s there in tabernacles all over the world waiting for us. He’s waiting to hear all our prayers. Better yet, he’s available 24/7. Why wait?
Good things to consider during the season of Lent.
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“And adoration is truly a date with Jesus.”
A “date” with Jesus?
No wonder people don’t take Catholicism seriously anymore.
I also enjoy snail mail (I remember when it was just called mail). Unfortunately, the only person I had to write letters to was my grandfather, and he passed away last year. But I still have all the letters he sent me in a drawer, it’s nice to have them to reread every now and then. I suppose that could also be done with digital mail, but it wouldn’t be the same.
What I liked about letter writing is the unique handwriting of the sender and which gives a personal touch which digital mail lacks.
Jesse, we Catholics pray for the souls of non-believers such as you. The Holy Trinty does physically exist in the Eucharist on display in Catholic Churches. It is unfortunate that you will not avail yourself of God’s presence in the Holy Eucharist. I love my time with the triune God in my Parish’s Perpetual Adoration Chapel!
I really enjoyed this post. Beautifully written, and so true. Thank you!
Bobby,
Who said I didn’t belive in the Eucharist or that I didn’t avail myself of it.
My point, which you obviously didn’t get, was that describing it as a “date” with Jesus takes away from its seriousness.
And that is why Catholics, and others, do not take Catholicism seriously any longer.
I agree with the snail mail. There’s nothing like something written in a person’s own hand. I have some things my Mother wrote and now that she’s gone I cherish them. Seeing her handwriting brings back memories of time spent together. I love good stationary and a fine writing instrument. I know that I can think better while writing with pen and paper.
Jesse: There are a few million people that take Catholicism very seriously. (1.166 billion at last count including 117,024 seminarians)
The media, who take out of context and generally lie about it, spread their gospel of hate among those who accept anything they say, think they think are destroying the Catholic faith.
If the Romans and Pharisees couldn’t destroy the very small group of Apostles and diciples living in a tiny part of the world nor the Communists that spread their atheism to half the world. Do you think it will be destroyed now? Jesus said He would be with us always until the end of the world.
Jesse,
Why does calling something a date make it less serious? Is it because you think of dating in the modern sense where you just end up meeting and talking to try and figure out whether or not you’re attracted to a person over french fries and a movie?
Dating is a serious thing, whether you admit it or not, especially with Jesus. Throughout the Bible God is trying to woo his people, His church is called a wayward bride and Jesus even refers to Himself as the Bridegroom…
How is spending time with our Bridegroom not a date?
In older cultures men had to go through rigorous stages of dating and wooing their bride before she would even think of consenting to marry him, granted a lot of that had to do with pride on the woman’s part admittedly. There was still an element of searching, as if for a treasured thing in the process of what has descended to modern dating. There were rules to be followed and, lacking personal experience in this realm, referring to the movie “The Quiet Man” I must say that it was an all together different experience from what we now call dating. I, having not grown up in such times, have longed for a man willing to take the time to woo me and as such find my time spent in adoration very much as one would a date… It is a way to spend time together and for me to grow closer and learn more about the Lord, it is a relationship grown through such meetings and as a Catholic woman just graduated from college it is something that I readily relate to and understand maybe more so than a man could…
Sorry for the length I just have always loved believing my time spent in adoration is just that a date with my God… God bless you!
I agree Snail mail is great.
A Hug you hold in your hands, good for when you and the one you hug are in different places.
Maybe next yeat I will write and post a snail mail a day for my Lenten discipline.
re: Jesse
Women (like myself) sometimes romanticize things. I say being in Adoration is like holding hands with my sweetheart, but it’s actually much much more. It’s very intimate for a lot of women who need to reveal themselves, who they truly are, and no one but the Lord will do. So forgive us, or better yet let us be who we are, the Lord sure does, he loves his daughters deeply. He wants true intimacy with us, which has nothing to do with sex, which you would understand if you were a woman. It’s not just women though. I see men, grown mature, men with wives and famies and the weight of the world on their shoulders, come to adoration and prostrate themselves before the Blessed Sacrement. My eyes well up will joy and love for them. No where else can they just release themselves but there, and the Lord embaces them with his love. It’s all so beautiful. So let yourself go, be intimate, be in love with the Lord, it what He wants.
Adoration is good. I like the silence in the adoration chapel. One gets to talk to Jesus by thought in silence. One rest the tohoughts to nothoughts to listen to Jesus answer if he answers.
I must respond to Jesse’s comment re: a “date with Jesus”....why do you see that as irreverent or less serious???Isnt it true that in a “date” type situation the object is to get to know another person better??? That is what Adoration time is about for me.He already knows me; but I am drawn much closer to Him.It seems to me…these days too many Catholics know about Jesus and yet never know Jesus. I teach CCd and there are so many parents who are exactly in this state. How can they(who are the primary teachers of the Faith to their children) share an exciting love of Jesus if they do not know Him??? I wish more Catholics could aquire a longing for this “date with Jesus”.
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