It was a Sunday afternoon, and we were riding in the car on our way to a far away place where we were going to visit with some people we had not yet met.
Riding in the car for long distances is a good way to 'catch-up' with many things 'pending'; such as praying a full rosary together and uninterrupted, recalling the plans and options for a family vacation, listening to one another as we talk about things that were perhaps unimportant when not given the time to share at length, spending some quiet time, together. And most importantly, simply enjoying being in each other's presence as we sit side by side riding in the car is a good thing, too.
My favorite part in long rides is looking out the window and taking in all the images of life that pass us by. Sometimes we see a hawk or some large bird flying high, and we wonder how it would feel - to fly free. At other times we spot a dead animal on the road, and our hearts are saddened by the loss - we imagine how it might have happened - who hit who - did someone in a vehicle get injured, too?
On this particular drive, we saw three balloons floating by rising higher in the sky. Could not begin to imagine where they had been released from or if perhaps some small child had lost them after attempting to hold on to them tightly (since helium tends to want to flee, we cannot keep it as it wants to rise freely, too).
The first thought was of God's Triune Majesty. Anytime our eyes capture good things in threes, the Holy Trinity comes to mind. Especially since the colors of the balloons were white and red. One balloon was a reminder of the purity of the spotless Lamb, Jesus (it was white). The other two balloons were red - the Father and the Holy Spirit (in union with the Son). In the mind’s eye, the balloons remind us of a child. In the eyes of faith, the balloons (indirectly, and yet ever so clearly) remind us of God’s creative hand in everything surrounding us at every moment of every day in our lives.
In the course of the drive, my mind goes back-and-forth with the thought of meeting people I have not yet met, and for the first time ever – have to share some time with. Instead of becoming concerned or even ‘alarmed’ by the idea and thinking (with the mind’s eye) of what it is that we will do or say in the presence of some strangers, my eyes of faith fix themselves on the three balloons floating freely. I wish to be like them, trusting that God in his Triune Majesty, will provide me with the words to say in order to bring the message of His Son to the moment we encounter, and share the gift of presence with those who (like us) are in fact other ‘known’ members of our family of faith, just waiting to be ‘found’ and made one, in the Mystical body, the Church.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
The secret power and effects of Love
This is the Spirit of Infinite Love.
The moment we recognize ourselves as one with the Love of God
– which is infinite –
we become so filled with love that we see only the good in all.
And when we realize that we are all one with the infinite God
(in the Holy Spirit, through our Lord, Jesus Christ),
then we realize that
- in a sense -
we are all one with each other.
When we come into a recognition of this fact
(God, creator of all things visible and invisible -
creates us all in His image and likeness),
we can then do no harm to any one, to any thing.
We find that we are all members of the one great (mystical) body, and that no portion of the body can be harmed without all the other portions (members) suffering, too.
When we fully realize or grasp the great fact of the oneness of all life,
- that we are all partakers from this one Infinite Source,
and so that the same life
is the life in each individual,
then prejudices go and hatreds cease.
Love grows and reigns supreme.
Then, wherever we go, whenever we come in contact with the fellowman (our neighbor), we are able to recognize God’s spirit within. We thus look only for the good, and we find it. It always pays.
The moment we recognize ourselves as one with the Love of God
– which is infinite –
we become so filled with love that we see only the good in all.
And when we realize that we are all one with the infinite God
(in the Holy Spirit, through our Lord, Jesus Christ),
then we realize that
- in a sense -
we are all one with each other.
When we come into a recognition of this fact
(God, creator of all things visible and invisible -
creates us all in His image and likeness),
we can then do no harm to any one, to any thing.
We find that we are all members of the one great (mystical) body, and that no portion of the body can be harmed without all the other portions (members) suffering, too.
When we fully realize or grasp the great fact of the oneness of all life,
- that we are all partakers from this one Infinite Source,
and so that the same life
is the life in each individual,
then prejudices go and hatreds cease.
Love grows and reigns supreme.
Then, wherever we go, whenever we come in contact with the fellowman (our neighbor), we are able to recognize God’s spirit within. We thus look only for the good, and we find it. It always pays.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Raising our minds to the majesty of God
Prayer: “Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and enkindle in us the fire of your love.” In particular, help me to break open the Word of God as it relates to the Book of Life, so that I may recognize God speaking to me, and be able to have a clear understanding of what God wishes for me to write in this reflection, and also, in all that I do in my life; so that everything will always be directed for the Glory of God in all his triune majesty. Amen.”
Having read from the Bible the stories of Creation and the life of the first Jewish people, the firstborn of God, I come to recognize how God always wishes to remain close to His children as all good fathers tend to do. His children, on the other hand, and mostly due to the sinful precondition of man (a fallen race in Adam) are always turning away in disobedience and distrust. God still waits for us to return to Him. In an infinitely patient way, God continues to guide His children throughout every step of our history, in the persons of the chosen ones who freely submit to the will of the LORD.
In saying yes to God, we acknowledge our fallen condition, our misery and our nothingness without Him. But, in order to receive the blessings from the LORD for a life well-lived, we are to pray, pray, pray. As our prayer from the heart rises to the Father, and we wait, God’s glory shines wondrously in all the events that unfold – for the LORD’s ways are not the ways of man.
This happened to Hannah when she prayed to the LORD in sorrow because she was barren, and wanted a son so desperately. God remembers her and gives her a son, Samuel. She glorifies the LORD in a beautiful prayer that foreshadows the prayer of Mary in the Magnificat. In the same way, God remembers each and every one of His created as we pray for His mercy and help.
God continually reminds us of two things: that there is no other God (“I am the only LORD”) and that we should not fear (“be not afraid”). To those who believed (believe) in the goodness of the LORD, and walked (walk) in His ways, were (are) always gratefully offering holocausts and/or singing praises to God for His majesty, which was (is) clearly manifested by the countless miracles that were (are) seen. However, to those who did (do) not believe and turned (turn) away from God in order to follow the way of what was (is) seen with the eyes of the flesh; the consequences that followed (follow) were (are) doom and despair and finally death in the spirit. For our God is a jealous God.
Having read from the Bible the stories of Creation and the life of the first Jewish people, the firstborn of God, I come to recognize how God always wishes to remain close to His children as all good fathers tend to do. His children, on the other hand, and mostly due to the sinful precondition of man (a fallen race in Adam) are always turning away in disobedience and distrust. God still waits for us to return to Him. In an infinitely patient way, God continues to guide His children throughout every step of our history, in the persons of the chosen ones who freely submit to the will of the LORD.
In saying yes to God, we acknowledge our fallen condition, our misery and our nothingness without Him. But, in order to receive the blessings from the LORD for a life well-lived, we are to pray, pray, pray. As our prayer from the heart rises to the Father, and we wait, God’s glory shines wondrously in all the events that unfold – for the LORD’s ways are not the ways of man.
This happened to Hannah when she prayed to the LORD in sorrow because she was barren, and wanted a son so desperately. God remembers her and gives her a son, Samuel. She glorifies the LORD in a beautiful prayer that foreshadows the prayer of Mary in the Magnificat. In the same way, God remembers each and every one of His created as we pray for His mercy and help.
God continually reminds us of two things: that there is no other God (“I am the only LORD”) and that we should not fear (“be not afraid”). To those who believed (believe) in the goodness of the LORD, and walked (walk) in His ways, were (are) always gratefully offering holocausts and/or singing praises to God for His majesty, which was (is) clearly manifested by the countless miracles that were (are) seen. However, to those who did (do) not believe and turned (turn) away from God in order to follow the way of what was (is) seen with the eyes of the flesh; the consequences that followed (follow) were (are) doom and despair and finally death in the spirit. For our God is a jealous God.
Friday, April 24, 2009
As we look to the sky: A lesson in nature
In the awakening moment of the day’s light (even though the sun is barely peering through the horizon) I find myself looking up to the heavens with my heart filled with joy in the hope of a new day-dawning full of promise and splendor.
The song I sing is in my heart where my beloved hears the words ever so clearly, for he alone understands the inner ways of my soul. He alone can bring the peace that my heart and soul long for day-in-and-day-out. If only I ask for this grace, then peace reigns wherever I go. As if transported by the very wings of God’s morning light, God reigns seated on the very little throne of my heart.
As I get ready to go about my daily tasks, and begin my journeying for the day, the sunshine is revealed in the skies in such a way as to be slightly hidden within the clouds, yet allowing the rays to clearly point the way to the source of light in the center.
An early pilot marks the skies with a thin line of white cloud-like smoke from the engine of its jet-plane, and my eyes follow the course of this diminutive (almost not perceptible) point of contact with the sky (because it is so far up it is hard to see with my naked eye). As I continue to gaze upward (like a child absorbed in awe) by the morning activity in the skies, I notice how the pilot’s course leads him directly into the hidden sun, and vanishes from my sight. In the following moments, even the line of cloud-like smoke is gone, as if the source willed to consume the little bit of evidence of the existence of a trail, together with the little pilot and his plane.
I came to understand that God is the Source, the Light. That in this life He is hidden yet revealed. That, as we are drawn to Him by the Son, the point of union is intense and personal, and culminates our purpose for journeying - in preparation for [what] “eye has not seen, ear has not heard [what] God has ready for those who love him.”
Prayer: Lord, you value us, caring for us so much and thinking so much of us. You set us in order and know where to place us in the hierarchy of being. (Commentary on Psalm 143, 10 St. Augustine)
The song I sing is in my heart where my beloved hears the words ever so clearly, for he alone understands the inner ways of my soul. He alone can bring the peace that my heart and soul long for day-in-and-day-out. If only I ask for this grace, then peace reigns wherever I go. As if transported by the very wings of God’s morning light, God reigns seated on the very little throne of my heart.
As I get ready to go about my daily tasks, and begin my journeying for the day, the sunshine is revealed in the skies in such a way as to be slightly hidden within the clouds, yet allowing the rays to clearly point the way to the source of light in the center.
An early pilot marks the skies with a thin line of white cloud-like smoke from the engine of its jet-plane, and my eyes follow the course of this diminutive (almost not perceptible) point of contact with the sky (because it is so far up it is hard to see with my naked eye). As I continue to gaze upward (like a child absorbed in awe) by the morning activity in the skies, I notice how the pilot’s course leads him directly into the hidden sun, and vanishes from my sight. In the following moments, even the line of cloud-like smoke is gone, as if the source willed to consume the little bit of evidence of the existence of a trail, together with the little pilot and his plane.
I came to understand that God is the Source, the Light. That in this life He is hidden yet revealed. That, as we are drawn to Him by the Son, the point of union is intense and personal, and culminates our purpose for journeying - in preparation for [what] “eye has not seen, ear has not heard [what] God has ready for those who love him.”
Prayer: Lord, you value us, caring for us so much and thinking so much of us. You set us in order and know where to place us in the hierarchy of being. (Commentary on Psalm 143, 10 St. Augustine)
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
God takes and God gives
(meditating on John 16:7)
Two years ago today, a beloved soul departed from this world because it was their time (to depart/to die).
It was good for this soul because it was the will of God, and it was sad for us because we had to let go of this dear one (in a physical way have them leave our company in this life).
It was good for the soul for their life of exile had ended, and it was good for us because we would mature in our faith believing more completely in the communion of saints, and the sharing in the Life everlasting.
When Jesus parted from this physical world only to take his rightful place at the right hand of the Father, he said it was much better for us (and his disciples) because the Father would send us the Holy Spirit.
With the Holy Spirit dwelling within, we grow in our faith journey, and continue to fulfill our mission with greater zeal and conviction.
In this way, when God calls us to depart from this life, we pray that we shall be ready to join the company of the saints, having lived and died according to the Father’s divine plan.
Prayer: Sacred heart of Jesus, have mercy on me, and on the whole world. Amen.
Two years ago today, a beloved soul departed from this world because it was their time (to depart/to die).
It was good for this soul because it was the will of God, and it was sad for us because we had to let go of this dear one (in a physical way have them leave our company in this life).
It was good for the soul for their life of exile had ended, and it was good for us because we would mature in our faith believing more completely in the communion of saints, and the sharing in the Life everlasting.
When Jesus parted from this physical world only to take his rightful place at the right hand of the Father, he said it was much better for us (and his disciples) because the Father would send us the Holy Spirit.
With the Holy Spirit dwelling within, we grow in our faith journey, and continue to fulfill our mission with greater zeal and conviction.
In this way, when God calls us to depart from this life, we pray that we shall be ready to join the company of the saints, having lived and died according to the Father’s divine plan.
Prayer: Sacred heart of Jesus, have mercy on me, and on the whole world. Amen.
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