A Family Should ADORE Together

A FAMILY OF SAINTS
Eucharistic Adoration Leads to Sanctification

"Remain in Him now, little ones, so that, when He reveals Himself, we may be fully confident and not retreat in shame at His coming. If you consider the holiness that is His, you can be sure that everyone who acts in holiness has been begotten by Him" (1 Jn. 3:28-29).

During her short life on this earth St. Thérèse of Lisieux was a 'little one.' Born January 2, 1873, Thérèse was the youngest child of 9 in the Martin family, 4 having died in infancy. Louis and Zelie had instilled a strong Catholic faith in their children, both in teaching and example. They attended daily mass and frequent adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, as a family. In addition, Louis belonged to the Nocturnal Adoration Society. They prayed at home daily, together, and had a great devotion to Our Lady. Zelie's greatest desire in life was that all of her children become Saints. Zelie became very ill and was so weak that she could not even open the Church door. She would go to Church and wait on the steps for someone to open the door so she could attend Mass and adoration of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament. When Zelie died of cancer at age 45, little Thérèse was only 4 years old. Zelie left her children with their strong faith and love which carried them through their intense period of grief and mourning. Marie, Pauline, Leonie and Celine, Thérèse's older sisters, became her great consolation. Her Father, Louis Martin, tried to lovingly protect Thérèse and her sisters from the darkness of the world.

Painting by Celine Martin, sister of St. Therese

Little Thérèse grew very close to Our Lady, especially after her earthly mother went to heaven. Our Lady took this special little one by the hand and formed her into a beautiful spouse for her Son. When Thérèse was 14 years of age she went to Rome on a pilgrimage with her father and sister to see the Holy Father. She begged the Pope to allow her to enter Carmel, as a religious sister, even though the rules clearly stated that she had to be much older.

He told her not to worry, if it was God's will it would happen. Upon returning home, in thanksgiving to Jesus, her King, for the grace of the pilgrimage, she donated her gold bracelet to be part of a monstrance which would adorn Him from that time to the present. This monstrance is at Le Sacre Coeur in Montmartre, Paris, where they have Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration, which began during her life and still continues today--over a hundred years later!

When Thérèse entered Carmel, at age 15, she grew rapidly in the virtue of humility, the mother of all virtues. She quickly grew in wisdom and grace, so much so that she was appointed novice mistress a few years after she entered the convent. This little one with her little way grew in such holiness in such a short time that God soon called her home to heaven where she could adore Him perpetually for eternity, and do so much more to help save souls and bring them to Him. Thérèse died on September 30, 1897, at 24 years of age. She said "My mission--to make God loved--will begin after my death." Thérèse promised, "I will spend my heaven doing good on earth. I will let fall a shower of roses." To this day she still showers down countless roses on those who invoke her aid.

St. Thérèse, the Little Flower, is one of God's very special little ones indeed! She was an exceptionally gifted writer, poet, lyricist and artist. Yet, in spite of her many talents, it was her little way, which is so very powerful, that crowned her as a Doctor of the Church! Her little way is a way that anyone can follow, with God's grace. It is being small--humble, in being loving-- charitable, in being meek--docile, in being a little child of God. It is the way of salvation, the way of holiness, the way of Sanctity, the way of God!

St. Thérèse did not learn her little way by means of extensive travel, by attending great universities, or by reading scholarly books. She learned this little way at the feet of Jesus in the most Blessed Sacrament (Whom she spent several hours with each day): by praying, meditating and contemplating His real presence in the Sacred Host, and by pondering His words in scripture, the book of love, as she called it. He gave her all she needed, and more, so that she could love and serve others not only in her monastery but in the whole world. Those who have read her autobiography, The Story of A Soul, know how she prayed, sacrificed and aided in the salvation of numerous souls while she was on this earth. At one time during her life, she wanted to be a missionary and travel to China, and many other countries, to help save souls. She did exactly that, not by traveling, but by offering up all of the routine, daily little prayers, penances and sacrifices for the success of the work of the missionaries and the salvation of souls. She did such an outstanding job that she has the title of Co-Patroness of the missions, with St. Francis Xavier! She is also Co-Patroness of France along with her patroness St. Joan of Arc!

St. Thérèse of Lisieux is a Saint that we can all try to emulate. Her little way can be our little way; it is within our reach. We can offer up all of our daily annoyances, inconveniences, trials, disappointments, things that we don't like doing and so forth, for the love of God and others--for the salvation of souls.

St. Thérèse is also a tremendous witness to the great importance of Holy Families. Her faith was born of the strong Catholic faith and the daily living of it, which came from her parents. They are role models for Catholic parents today. As parents, both biological and spiritual, we need to keep God's design for us and our children foremost in our minds, hearts and lives. That design is no less than Sanctity for each one of us and our children, and all of His children!

St. Thérèse said of her parents "God gave me a father and a mother more worthy of heaven than of earth." Louis and Zelie did such an outstanding job as parents and were so holy that both of their causes for beatification are being considered. All five of their daughters became religious sisters. Strengthened by The Eucharist Louis and Zelie inspired and led Therese, and her sisters, along the path of Sanctity. Some of their other daughters are also being considered for beatification!

These times in which we live are surely not enveloped in any less darkness than the time of the Martin family. Let us invoke the intercession of St. Thérèse, and her family, for our own salvation and that of our families, indeed the salvation of the whole family of God. She is still doing a tremendous amount of good on earth. She will intercede for us and continue to shower down roses from heaven!

St. Thérèse is the patroness of missionaries, although she never left her convent. She died at the early age of 24, yet accomplished great things through the power of prayer before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. The Church made her the patroness of missionaries to emphasize this most important truth: one soul coming before the Blessed Sacrament can change the world! "There is only one thing to do here below, to love Jesus, to win souls for Him that He may be loved"
(St. Thérèse). (Copyright 1999, L. Bracy. All rights reserved).

Angel of my Eucharist
It is you who will delight my heart
Yes, it is your sweet melody
That will console my sorrow.
I thirst to give myself to souls
But too many hearts are indifferent
Seraphim, give them your flames
Bring them with your sweet songs.
I would like the soul of the Priest

To look like the heavenly Seraphim!
I would like him to be born anew
Before going up to the Altar!

In order to obtain this miracle
Some souls near the tabernacle,
Praying unceasingly,
Should offer themselves to me every day.
(Words of Jesus from a play by St. Thérèse)

Painting by St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face

“By our little acts of charity practiced in the shade we convert souls far away, we help missionaries, we win for them abundant alms; and by that means build actual dwellings spiritual and material for our Eucharistic Lord.” (St. Thérèse)

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St. Therese and Healing of Broken Hearts

Words of St. Therese

Therese's painting palette

If a piece of canvas painted upon by an artist could think and speak, it certainly would not complain at being constantly touched and retouched by the brush, and would not envy the lot of that instrument, for it would realize it was not to the brush but to the artist using it that it owed the beauty with which it was clothed. The brush would not be able to boast of the masterpiece produced with it, as it knows that artists are not at a loss; they play with difficulties, and are pleased to choose at times weak and defective instruments.

I am a little brush which Jesus has chosen in order to paint His own image in the souls entrusted to my care. An artist does not use only one brush, but needs at least two: the first is the more useful and with it he applies the general tins and covers the canvas entirely in a very short time; the other, the smaller one, he uses for details.

Our Prayer

Good Jesus, Artist of our Souls, we need Your healing touch. Disappointments, disillusionment and betrayals have discolored our soul. We are brokenhearted because we expect so much; we sense the the beautiful portrait of our life has been ruined. We have lost faith in ourselves as Your dwelling place and Your image – as the canvas where You are painting beauty.

We don’t let your inclusive and colorful love define us. We let hurts and anger harden our hearts, and transmit them to others. Our self-pity explodes in self-destructive ways or in violent attitudes, judgments, words and silence toward others. In the heavy emptiness of our hearts, we let power, privilege, prestige and plenty define us and justify our less-than-true selves.

Like St. Therese, help us transcend the heartbreaking disappointments of life and embrace the holy opportunities that are Your grace everywhere. Touch our brokenness, Lord Jesus. Your suffering and death opened You to God and the salvation of all. Transform the sufferings of our broken hearts into a deeper longing for You and a clearer vision of life in faith, with You as the Artist.

We ask You this, through the intercession of St. Therese, who teaches us confidence and trust in Your love.

Article by Fr. Bob here.

Draw to Pray

Drawing is an awesome way to pray.
I found it to be a great way to prepare myself for the Easter vigil tonight.
It was calming and profound. I suggest every Catholic artist to have a prayer sketchbook.
Heck, you don't even need to be a good artist to doodle.
Everybody prayer-doodle! Hey, our God is a creative God.
Try something new.

Christ is Risen.

Perpetual Novena

Okay, I once wrote something I called a Perpetual Novena. Though that name is not quite accurate since a novena lasts 9 days, or weeks... well nine of whatever anyway. (I've got a headache and I'm not gonna look it up just so I can be a know it all...ok, yes I will.) Nine DAYS.

Aaaaaaanyway, I wrote a prayer for a perpetual novena. At that time I had one of those watches that beeped every hour. Thus, when it beeped I'd pull out the following prayer and pray it.

Lord Jesus,
may Your Truth and will be made known in all aspects of our lives.
Remain near us and speak softly to our souls.
Give our guardian angels the power
to help us resist and unmask the lies of the Evil One.
Give us strength to strive after holiness
and to live in Your love during every moment of this day.
Amen

I lift __________up to you today.

Be Still

Behold.
I have come.
I delight in you.
If I would have had to suffer more
to bring you to Myself,
I would have done so.
-Jesus





via: Walter de la Mare, Joe Elwart, Julian of Norwich
Photo by Robert Hupka

Note To Self

Spend more time in the classroom of silence.

Pope's Prayer for the Unborn

Lord Jesus,

You who faithfully visit and fulfill with your Presence
the Church and the history of men;
You who in the miraculous Sacrament of your Body and Blood
render us participants in divine Life
and allow us a foretaste of the joy of eternal Life;
We adore and bless you.

Prostrated before You, source and lover of Life,
truly present and alive among us, we beg you.

Reawaken in us respect for every unborn life,
make us capable of seeing in the fruit of the maternal womb
the miraculous work of the Creator,
open our hearts to generously welcoming every child
that comes into life.

Bless all families,
sanctify the union of spouses,
render fruitful their love.

Accompany the choices of legislative assemblies
with the light of your Spirit,
so that peoples and nations may recognize and respect
the sacred nature of life, of every human life.

Guide the work of scientists and doctors,
so that all progress contributes to the integral well-being of the person,
and no one endures suppression or injustice.

Give creative charity to administrators and economists,
so they may realize and promote sufficient conditions
so that young families can serenely embrace
the birth of new children.

Console the married couples who suffer
because they are unable to have children
and in Your goodness provide for them.

Teach us all to care for orphaned or abandoned children,
so they may experience the warmth of your Charity,
the consolation of your divine Heart.

Together with Mary, Your Mother, the great believer,
in whose womb you took on our human nature,
we wait to receive from You, our Only True Good and Savior,
the strength to love and serve life,
in anticipation of living forever in You,
in communion with the Blessed Trinity.

Amen

- Pope Benedict XVI, Prayer Vigil for the Unborn, Nov. 27 2010

Down and Then Some

Heavenly Father,

I sit. The house is empty. TV silent. The floorboards are quiet. The fridge hums in the kitchen. Words on the page feel like so many threadbare socks to my mind. The cat sighs. Thank God for that. I wait for an email, a phone call, a letter, or the door to open. However the world in busy and I am tethered by too much gravity. I yearn. I don't live alone. I might as well.

I long to share. Let us break the bread, let us stretch our neural networks over a book! Or a poem. Or an article, or a broadcast, or a stray thought. Iron sharpens iron. A sword in a corner is a meaningless thing. Perhaps it has a past. Perhaps it has a future. However, the present is the only real thing, and the present is empty. Am I real at all?

I startled myself the other day. I giggled. It so suddenly broke the silence that I felt embarrassed. If there is no one else to hear the sound, could it have just been imagined? Perhaps more startling, I read a joke today. It was very funny, but I didn't laugh. I didn't smile. My eyes didn't even crinkle around the edges.

The sun has been falling like ash on the windowsill. Perhaps I should close the shade. My cereal tastes like dust on my spoon. I know making eggs won't help. My ideas feel like lint in my brain pan. I'd get as much fulfillment from contemplating the beige ceiling as I would from painting. Or drawing. Or whatever. There is nothing inside.

My sister went to pick out her engagement ring. She took my mother and my sister, and though I stood right there, I was not invited. I said nothing. I am a coward.

Sometimes it is all I can do.

I know summer is beautiful.
I know life is a magnificent thing.
Perhaps I am blind this season.

Sometimes writing helps.

Amen

Guest Post: Abandoned

I needed to hear the words Steve spoke here. He discusses the topic with beauty. -Anna

"Abandoned"

by Steve the Builder

I’m going to talk about something I rarely talk about because when I do sometimes it means something to a few people, not everyone, and frankly, hardly anyone at least in the Orthodox convert internet realm seems to talk about it, maybe partly because they’re all so happy to be here.

I suppose I could talk about this from an academic perspective and quote books to you and talk about other people’s experiences and stand with the listeners as outsiders looking in on other people’s lives, but I’ve decided to avoid the omniscient professorial point of view and just be personal. So, I guess I’ll just have to jump right in…

You probably wouldn’t have guessed it listening to my podcasts, but I have wrestled with an ever present emptiness and lack of a sense of the presence of God throughout my Christian life. Dealing with this was particularly difficult in certain churches when personal heartfelt spiritual experiences and overt happiness was deemed to be the mark of the “true” believer. In that environment, Christians were supposed to be chipper as a sign of the “joy joy joy joy down in your heart”, and if you weren’t happy welll, I got this feeling people were looking at me and thinking….(Darth Vader). So, I tried to conjure up spiritual feelings and do things to bring about a spiritual experiences. There was the pressure to fake tongues in the Jesus Movement to fit in, and in other churches, to talk certain ways and use certain phrases and language to express that I was “glad in the Lord”. But, I have to confess, to this day I have never had a spiritual experience, and I just found it impossible to make myself fake being anointed by the Holy Spirit to fit in.

But, I will say I’ve enjoyed spiritual activities, fellowship and worship at times. Over the years, I’ve participated in spiritual disciplines and have read and heard things that have brought me closer to what I understand God wishes me to be, but I’ve never had a clear spiritual experience or feeling that I can look back on and say, “That was clearly God speaking to my heart, or that was a transformative spiritual moment in my life.” As an Orthodox Christian I accept the dogma of a sacramental world view and, intellectually, I can account the sacraments as grace filled events, but in terms of having an emotional or heart felt spiritual event connected to them, it hasn’t happened yet. And I admit, sometimes I still feel like a defective Christian when I see other people who seem to enjoy emotional responses to prayer, the sacraments and the presence of God in their life. But, as dry as my spiritual existence has been for nearly 50 years of living consciously for God, I look back on it and count it a blessing, not a defect.

But before I go on, I need to define some terms. When I talk about this dryness or emptiness, I’m not talking about situational sadness in reaction to the problem of evil and pain. In my 56 years I’ve seen my share of extraordinary evil that made me doubt God’s love and power. I’ve lived in existential crisis, I’ve been clinically depressed, and I’ve experienced desperation sometimes as a consequence of my sins and sometimes from other people’s sins, and sometimes either from the hand of God or perhaps from Satan. Sometimes I don’t think it’s important to know which it is because it all hurts and basically either way I have to overcome myself to get over it no matter where it came from.

So the spiritual shadowland I’m talking about is not clinical or situational depression as a reaction to extraordinary events or even piled up ordinary life. Nor is it what the spiritual Fathers call despondency, the absolute rejection of hope due to unrepentance that leads to spiritual or sometimes physical suicide. It is not a heretical or philosophical rejection of the beauty of creation, the blessings of life and human or divine love. On the other hand, it is not psychological anger and narcissistic depression at the world’s incapacity to fill the void in one’s soul with happy and passionate experiences. And these are two important ones: It is not a “spiritual” excuse to avoid life and normal relationships and responsibility. Nor is it a sad face on the street corner badge of super-spirituality. These are extremely important distinctions because these symptoms are all rooted in either the biological consequences of the fall as in the case of clinical depression, or in the other cases, the psychological and emotional consequences of evil or sins done to us, and sometimes its just overt sin, pride, delusions and lies. As a caution, I’ll have to say here that the discernment of which it is is the job of a competent spiritual director or in some cases a good therapist, not this podcast…though I may unpack some of these issues in future episodes. Suffice to say for now, the true experience of the spiritual desert is rooted in a clear understanding that God is love, that all creation is good, and we are created to be united to Him.

At the beginning of Matins we hear what the Psalmist says, “My soul thirsts for Thee in a waterless land”. There is a state of spirituality that is life in a spiritual desert and there is a thirst for God that is never quenched in this life, or perhaps even in the next because as created beings we can never fully apprehend all that God is. The spiritual desert is a life characterized as the Beatitudes say, by a kind of spiritual poverty and an undercurrent of perpetual mourning even during the best of times. But it isn’t a sad face while everyone else is enjoying a good meal together, it isn’t a doom and gloom cloud over a birthday party or life’s normal joys. It is life in which there is an underlying melancholy, in a sense, a homesickness, that brings one back to the truth about the reality of what the fall has done to all things, that we are missing something, and perhaps it is ourselves that are missing. Ultimately it is about longing to return to our true home where our Beloved awaits to see our true face. It is life where the experience of spiritual joy and contentment is an occasional respite but is, for the most part, elusive.

Unfortunately, no one likes to talk much about this kind of thing. “Victory, Joy, Light, and being Spirit filled,” are the measures of the modern Christian’s depth of faith. I know most people know what I mean when I say they put on the “Church face” on Sunday morning because there is a cultural expectation within the walls of the sanctuary, but it’s a different story in the parking lot. When I was part of that culture, I sometimes wrestled with a kind of twisted guilt for faking the happy Christian life in public while having a hollow place within that no sermon, no prayer, no Scripture, and no spiritual exercise, and no fellowship has ever filled, not even in Orthodoxy. But that empty place has not and does not keep me from serving God, giving alms, or praying, or listening to sermons or reading books or fasting, because all these things are a light to my soul, even if my soul is incapable of perceiving it fully. Amid all my spiritual activity done out of a sincere love for God for all these years, there is still a constant and dull aching sorrow that I know only death will end, not so much as an escape from life but an apprehension of my true life. Imprinted on my heart are St. Pauls words: To live is Christ, but to die is gain.

Lest you get the wrong idea, I don’t sit around and pathologically ruminate about this 24-7. I’ve lived with it for decades and frankly, I consciously thought about it a lot more 25 years ago when I began to understand that perhaps it was not I that was defective, but perhaps it was my understanding of what the spiritual life is “supposed to look like” that was lacking something. One of the books that introduced me to what is called in the popular spiritual literature, the “dark night of the soul” was Martin Marty’s “The Cry of Absence, Reflections for the Winter of the Heart” in 1983. It was the first time I encountered the idea that God sometimes withdraws spiritual warmth from us and that, like in nature, the cold and dark winter is part of the natural cycle of spiritual growth.
Grasping that concept intellectually and working through it spiritually was a long, hard and dark time for sure, but now on the other side of that time, it’s seldom in the forefront of my thoughts. It is kind of like living with the dull aches and pains of doing construction for 26 years, its just part of the fabric of my existence now.

Looking back, I think it is ironic that even though I could quote scripture backward and forward at that time, I never grasped that this is a state of being others have experienced as lovers of God. Now, every Sunday morning I’m reminded of it in the Psalms of matins when I chant, “I have cried out to Thee O Lord, in the morning my prayer comes before Thee…, O Lord why doest Thou cast off my soul why doest Thou hide Thy face from me, I am afflicted and ready to die from from my youth up, I suffer thy terrors and I am overcome.” St. Paul says to the evildoers in Hebrews it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God but the Psalm reminds us of what God told Jeremiah: it is equally terrifying for the one who loves God to fall into the Potter’s hands. It is truly a terrifying thing to be skillfully broken and shaped by God’s omnipotent hands, to be left in the dark by the light, and to be abandoned by the omnipresent one. In all my Bible study, I always assumed I knew what the Potter would do to the clay and what shape He intended for my life, and even in all my fantasies about submitting to the wheel, I never imagined God would do that. The reality is, none of us can imagine what God is really doing, and I think, until someone personally goes through a spiritual winter, it isn’t something that makes any sense. Some of the Roman Catholic faithful were scandalized to find out that Mother Theresa confessed to have lived in spiritual darkness and the sense of being abandoned by God for most of her ministry even though many of the Catholic saints have written eloquently about this spiritual state. When I became Orthodox I found that this is not just a “western spirituality” thing as some believe. St. Silouan the Athonite and many other saints of the Church describe the state of godforsakenness, the sense of abandonment by God that they experienced. I believe it was St. Gregory of Nyssa summed up what all the saints who speak about this tell us: There comes a time when God removes the breast, we are weaned from spiritual experiences, and we must learn to love God Himself from a pure heart, not the experience of God from a darkened heart.

So, it is truth that there is a joy that can only be had from believing in God, but it’s also truth that there is a holy sorrow that comes only from believing in Him.

In the end all TRUE spiritual experience is about loving God and being loved by Him. The saints unanimously tell us that our experience of godforsakenness is ultimately an act of the love of God. But the problem is we often define for ourselves what we want love to look like and what it should feel like and it is more about feeling good than about true love. The Song of Solomon speaks of the bright hope and the dark despair of loving God. In chapters 3 and 5 The Song says

On my bed night after night I sought him whom my soul loves, I sought him but did not find him. I must arise now and go and search the city, in the streets and in the squares I must seek him whom my soul loves. I sought him but did not find him. I opened to my beloved but my beloved had turned away and gone. My heart went out to him as he spoke. I search for him but did not find him, I called to him but he did not answer me.

The Song about the experiences of the passion of human love is universally understood by Jewish and Christian saints to be a metaphor of our relationship to God, it is the story of the Divine Romance, about love that is stronger than death. It tells us that just as in human love, there is a dark side to divine love. But it tells us that the darkness is not an evil thing that is the end of love, but it is a true witness to the very presence of love. We all understand that there is a certain joy we have in the arms of our beloved, and this affirms within us the strength of our love. But we also know that there are times that the pit of desperation deep in the night at the absence of our beloved bears greater witness to the depths of the love we share than the joy we feel in one another’s presence. Whose heart has not gone out into the darkness, night after night, blessing the closeness and cursing the distance between us? If love were not present, absence would be painless. If the light of love were not shining in our heart, the empty marriage bed would not be a darkness too great to bear.

This is true of human love and it is true of divine love. Who is a lover of God who has not desperately longed for his presence? Who has a heart for God that has not gone out into the black night seeking his face, longing for his voice and hoping to find him also seeking us. Who has not at some time, night after night, curled up in bed, face buried in the pillows and sought Him out in sighs and curses and tears. Who has not opened to God and found that He was not there, that He had mysteriously turned away. Who has not called out to him and his silence was as deep as the stars. Who has not wondered when God will return, or if He hears or perhaps if He even cares that we are calling.

It is not enough to just know intellectually that we are loved by him. “God loves you” and Bible verses and promises of future joy ring hollow to the heart that is ravaged by despair at the absence of God. Have faith we are told…But faith is not enough. Faith may be the assurance of things hoped for and it may give us boldness and confidence before the throne of God, but it is love that is the holy joy in His presence, and it is love that is the all-consuming darkness we experience when He is not there. Faith may be the assurance and knowledge that He is still out there somewhere, but love is the pit in our stomach as we stare into the void where we once saw Him standing.

Only those who love God desperately can know the forsakenness of missing Him. To love God passionately is to suffer a holy longing for Him. When you face the nights with dread and seek His face through eyes clouded with tears you are not far from Him. He has not forsaken you, He has not abandoned you. And though your heart breaks with doubts and fears that you cannot name because of His absence, it is ultimately because of love that your heart is aflame with pain. The Song of Solomon and all the saints tell us this is the truest witness to love and the hardest to bear, but to have a great love is to suffer greatly for it. Even if it means going to a cross in hopes the beloved will some day return and see your face and weep for joy.

Visit his site here.

Thank you Steve.

God bless.

The Prayer of St. Francis de Sales

Be at Peace :

Do not look forward in fear to the changes of life;

rather look to them with full hope as they arise.

God, whose very own you are,

will deliver you from out of them.

He has kept you hitherto,

and He will lead you safely through all things;

and when you cannot stand it,

God will bury you in his arms.

Do not fear what may happen tomorrow;

the same everlasting Father who cares for you today

will take care of you then and everyday.

He will either shield you from suffering,

or will give you unfailing strength to bear it.

Be at peace , and put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginings.

Interior Kingdom

Lord,
you created me for a purpose. I’m a customized piece made to fit in a special gap in the construction of Your Divine Castle. Your Kingdom is being built up and Your Castle stands on the mountaintop broadcasting its radiance to all of time and creation. Those able to see and willing to cast aside their blindfolds are drawn into the center of Your Kingdom to Your Castle. They abandon themselves to Your love and wish to end the estrangement by throwing themselves into the arms of the Creator. The Divine Artist has created me, but out of love set me free to choose my own way by my own will. He let me go and called out loving suggestions as I stumbled about. Love for He who formed me drew me back. Out of love I have come back to Him. I present myself to Him so that He may set me to the purpose for which He so lovingly hand crafted me. With all my heart I embrace my God and weep in His arms.

My Lord God, take me and set me upon the path that You intended, from the beginning of the world, for me to travel. I feel You calling me to devote my entire life and being to You. I hand myself fully into Your beautiful hands. As your Mother as my sponsor and director, lead me in the ways that You desire. I am Your creature. Instruct me. Lead me. Guide me. Teach me. Let me do only what You instruct. There are no words to express my desire for You to direct me in everything.
My Lord, my Love, I am Yours.
Amen

Let ME walk you home.

(There was a poem I wrote a few years ago and recently I heard a song that eerily seemed to reply to that poem. I put the specific phrase that stood out in both poems in red. It is precious. Thank You Lord.)

Dear God,
Nothing is what it used to be.
Now nothing seems to mean anything.
When did all my dreams fly away?
Why does peace never stay?

As I stand here again all alone,
I pray for the strength to walk myself home.
Lives scatter, only dim mem’ries remain.
I go on, tears washed away by the rain.

These scars on my heart
Mark time gone by
And emptiness fills me
As I slowly die.

Lord,
Please take me away to a land on a star
Where a Hero can save me from my empty heart.
I’ll build a white castle where I’ll keep my soul,
In attempt to protect it from earthly control.

But I wake in the morning
To the light of new day
And I find that my troubles
Have not gone away.
So I pick myself up
And start out again
On this path of my life,
Until I reach the end

Until that day comes
I know pain won’t be odd
So I’ll keep in my heart
A white castle for God

[Dear Daughter,]
know that I am always with you never too far away
When you don’t know who you are anymore,
That’s when you’ll hear Me say…

Let Me walk you home
I will pick your favorite flower
Let Me walk you home
I will show you that you’re beautiful
Let Me walk you home
I will hold you close to Me
So you can hear my heart beat
Let Me walk you home

I’m on the road you walk on
Understanding all your pain
Let Me be the light that guides you
along every step of the way
I’m there when you stumble
Always reaching out, calling your name
If you would listen to the calm of your heart
That’s when you’ll hear me say…
“Let me walk you home”.

Let me caress you with the warmth of the sun
And the cool of the breeze.
I smile at you through the flowers and the faces you see.
I’ll sing through fountains and stream,
And know that all of this means,
I love you.

[Jesus]

Pondering...

Dying…

I have come to an acceptance of the fact that we are all dying. Some of us are just proceeding faster than others. Dying is not a bad or evil thing; it just makes us aware of life as it is lived each moment, for no moment is guaranteed to follow another. I’m dying. We are all dying. It’s figuring out the best way to live out the interim that is tricky.

Lord, let me live so as to make you proud of me.

Litany of Humility

I love this prayer. It helps me grow.

Litany of Humility

Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val (1865-1930),
Secretary of State for Pope Saint Pius X

O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed,
Deliver me, Jesus.

From the desire of being loved...
From the desire of being extolled ...
From the desire of being honored ...
From the desire of being praised ...
From the desire of being preferred to others...
From the desire of being consulted ...
From the desire of being approved ...
From the fear of being humiliated ...
From the fear of being despised...
From the fear of suffering rebukes ...
From the fear of being calumniated ...
From the fear of being forgotten ...
From the fear of being ridiculed ...
From the fear of being wronged ...
From the fear of being suspected ...

That others may be loved more than I,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be esteemed more than I ...
That, in the opinion of the world,
others may increase and I may decrease ...
That others may be chosen and I set aside ...
That others may be praised and I unnoticed ...
That others may be preferred to me in everything...
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should…

Sign of the Cross

A visual exploration of the Sign of the Cross.

The Awareness of the Heartbeat of Christ

An Exercise

When your first two fingers are pressed against any solid object, with attention, you can feel the pulse of blood in your fingertips. Try becoming aware of this pulse, this heartbeat, when you are holding the Eucharist. Think of His nearness. Imagine it is His heartbeat communicating itself to you from the host, His Body. Also, the Church teaches that through Baptism you are a member of the “body of Christ”. Thus, in a mystical way your pulse is a part of His pulse. Reflect after receiving communion, on how very close to you, how intimate this Savior of yours makes Himself. It’s called “Holy Communion” for a reason. Spend some time in communion with Him.

What's in a name?

Shadowsong:
The shadow sings the glories of the unseen sun.

or as Switchfoot said:
"The shadow proves the sunshine."

The Shadowsong Prayer:
May our Lord bless you in all His ways for all of your days and may each shadow you encounter in life have the effect of increasing your affection for the Light.