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CONSUMATION…

Our lives are like a shooting star. The question–the spiritual question–is in what orbit this star will enter.

If we are consumed with the things of this earth: money, security, power, possessions, food, sex, pornography… then we are like that meteor which burns up in earth’s atmosphere. If we are consumed with God, then we are like a meteor aimed toward the sun.

And here is the difference.

The first meteor, consumed by the temptations of the world, eventually disintegrates into nothing. The second meteor, as it becomes consumed with Jesus the Son, does not disintegrate. Rather, it bursts into flame, dissolving into and becoming one with the Son.

The former dies, becoming cold, dark, and lifeless. The latter lives, becoming warmth, light, and fire. The former seems dazzling before the eyes of the world (for a moment)… until it becomes dust, disappearing into the darkness. The latter is hidden and unnoticed, until it reaches the consuming rays of the Son, caught up forever in His blazing light and love.

And so, there is really only one question in life that matters: What is consuming me?

What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? (Matt 16:26)

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TONIGHT, again, I sense an urgency to uproot whatever distractions and vices I still cling to. There are abundant graces there to do it… graces, I believe, for anyone who honestly asks.

There is no time to waste. We must begin now to prepare for what is to come “like a thief in the night”. And what is to come?

Let him who has eyes, see; who has ears, listen.

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THE Lord sees the desires of our heart. He sees our desire to be good.

And so, in spite of our failures, and even sin, He runs to embrace us… just as the Father ran to embrace the prodigal son, who was covered in the shame of his rebellion.

Hence, Gabriel announced to Mary, "Be not afraid!"; the glorious throng announced to the shepherds, "Be not afraid!"; the two angels encouraged the women at the tomb, "Be not afraid!"; and to his disciples after His resurrection, Jesus repeated, "Be not afraid."

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JOY.

The greatest of presents this morning is His Presence.

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DURING prayer this past week, I have been so distracted in my thoughts that I can barely pray a sentence without drifting away.

This evening, while meditating before the empty manger scene at the church, I cried out to the Lord for help and mercy. As quickly as a falling star, the words came to me:

"Blessed are the poor in spirit".

Tolerance and Responsibility

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RESPECT for diversity and peoples is what the Christian faith teaches, no, demands. However, this does not mean “tolerance” of sin.’

…[our] vocation is to deliver the whole world from evil and to transform it in God: by prayer, by penance, by charity, and, above all, by mercy. —Thomas Merton, No Man is an Island

It is charity to not only clothe the naked, comfort the sick, and visit the prisoner, but to help one’s brother not to become naked, sick, or imprisoned to begin with. Hence, the Church’s mission is also to define that which is evil, so good may be chosen.

Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.  —POPE JOHN PAUL II

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GRAPES will grow most, not in the cool damp, but in the heat of the day. So too will faith, when the sun of trials beats down upon it.

Leaping Upward

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WHEN I’ve been free for a time from trials and temptations, I admit I’ve thought this was a sign of growing in holiness… at last, walking in the strides of Christ!

…Until the Father gently lowered my feet to the ground of tribulation. And again I realized that, on my own, I merely take baby steps, stumbling and losing my balance.

God doesn’t set me down because He no longer loves me, nor to abandon me. Rather, so I recognize that the greatest strides in the spiritual life are made, not leaping forward, but upward, back into His arms.

Peace

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PEACE is a gift of the Holy Spirit,
contingent on neither the pleasure, nor suffering of the flesh. It is a fruit,
born in the depths of the spirit, just as a diamond is born

in
            the
          
                   depths

       of

the

 earth…

far below either sunshine or rain.

Tolerance?

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THE intolerance of “tolerance!”

 

It is curious how those who accuse Christians of
hatred and intolerance
are often the most venomous in
tone and intent. 

It is the most obvious—and easily over-looked
hypocrisy of our times.