Discover Your Spiritual DNA!

Posted on June 12, 2019 by Terry and John

Perhaps, you, or a family member, have discovered your ethnic heritage through DNA testing. Perhaps, you know someone who found lost siblings or cousins. The number of people who have tested their DNA now includes more than 12 million individuals. Therese enjoys these test results as a way to explore the physical inheritance that binds her family together, right down to the level of each tiny human cell. And perhaps, we can also take the reality of DNA a step further, by exploring the idea of spiritual DNA. Here are a few ways to do so:

Four Generations
of Shared DNA
  1. Find saints from your ethnic background, or your family countries of origin. For example, if you are Italian, find out about St. Frances Cabrini (1850-1917), St. John Bosco (1815-1888), or Blessed Elena Guerra (1835-1914) whose spiritual identity was enmeshed with a call to follow the Spirit. She even wrote letters to Pope Leo XIII, urging intense, world-wide devotion to the Holy Spirit.
  2. Explore a saint with dominant family traits or talents. Examples of strong-willed, persevering saints include: St. Joan of Arc (France, 1412-1431) or Blessed Solanus Casey (USA, 1870-1957). Or if you come from a long line of good listeners, consider St. John Vianney (France, 1786-1859), or St. Edith Stein (Germany, 1891-1942), who said, “The anguish in our neighbor’s soul must [compel] us… because God is love.”
  3. Pray as a child of God, made in our Creator’s image, from the color of your eyes to the hidden nerve cells in your spine. Picture God carefully laying out and blessing strands of your particular DNA, even before your mother knew you were alive. “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Psalm 139:14
  4. Thank God for your unique blend of 24,000 genes. You were conceived for a unique purpose. And yet you share some of the same genes with many others in our human family. Pray, “God, I offer you every one of my genes and chromosomes. I praise you that Jesus, my brother, sanctified all of human DNA. Let every microscopic part of me be quickened by your Holy Spirit, so that I might glorify you always. Amen.”

For an example of a more immediate family spiritual DNA story.https://www.johnandthereseboucher.com/77-2

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Are You Allergic to God?

Posted on May 15, 2019 by Terry and John

Here comes the pollen, the blossoms, buds, dust and the molds. It is the season. But are there spiritual allergies?

Maybe insights about allergies can help you find disconnects in your relationship with God. Take the test to find out. Place the number that most closely matches your experience FOR EACH QUESTION. There are no wrong answers. At the end of this exercise, add all of your numbers together. Try sharing this activity with others too.

Score key:

6 – 11 God is eager to give you something awesome. Jesus said, “If you knew the gift of God… you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” John 4:10

12 – 18 You are invited to go deeper, so that you might know joy. “God’s Spirit reveals profound and hidden treasures.” Read Psalm 139 to discover God’ intimate care and protection.

19 –25 God is good! “Give joyful thanks to the Father, who grants us a share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.” Read Colossians 1: 3–8

26 –30 Ready to embrace the mission of Jesus! “May the God of peace, sanctify you… For the one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.” 1 Thessalonians 5:24

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The Passion and Compassion of Jesus – Revisited

Posted on April 9, 2019 by Terry and John

Webster’s Dictionary defines passion as intense, overwhelming emotion. And compassion means being intensely conscious of another’s difficult emotional state, or to be in “distress together.” This understanding speaks of the life and death of Jesus. It can also be applied to God, our Father, who sent Jesus to redeem us from every agony and from the ultimate distress of death.
But how can you apply this understanding of the passion and compassion of Jesus to daily life? First, stand in the place of any blind, deaf, lame or leprous person in the Bible. Second, contemplate God’s passionate, intense and healing love for you in that place. Third, look to Jesus on the Cross. He took on the ultimate distress of dying on your behalf. Fourth, he conquered death, so surrender your fears, worries and emotions. Then thank him.
During Therese’s youth she often prayed with a crucifix on the inside cover of her prayer book. The prayer underneath was, “Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus while before Your face I humbly kneel.” His sacrificial, passionate love became very real for her and has continued to this day. When she is in a place that elicits a deep fear of height, for example, she pictures Jesus as he was tempted to throw himself off a cliff in the desert. Then she reaches for his hand.
For John, the struggle with one discouraging illness after another has led him deeper into the lives of the saints, especially St. Alphonse Liguori, who was in constant pain from arthritis. This saint wrote, “There is nothing more pleasing to God, than to see a soul who patiently and serenely bears whatever crosses it is sent; this is how love is made, by putting lover (Christ) and loved one (you or I) on the same level” as companions.

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