Silence

Silence, except my mind is never silent. This apartment complex houses over 300 other people like me, and the freeway a short distance away, is never silent, never still, never quiet.

If you like silence or at least quiet, situations in which something is always running just below the threshold of conscious hearing is an annoyance. Yet for someone wishing to follow the call of the Master to seek Him in silence has a problem is he is afraid to be alone, especially in silence.

It may drive you mad, not that silence is so hard to handle, but because you would think  a God who called a man might say something more often, so he does not feel ill at ease or, even worse, as if he has offended the one whose call he is trying to answer.

You might wonder why a God would do such a thing, but He does have a sense of humor; all intelligent sentient beings do. But don't think His sense of humor is the same as yours - it's not. And what might tickle the Lord of Heaven above might not be taken the same by His creatures, because He is nothing like them, and at the same time universally the same, so that one can draw at least one conclusion; all who are called heard the call in the stillness, in the silence, and in many cases, endless darkness, dying for a ray of light and hope and a little genuine peace in which everything is resolved. There is nothing worse than when such things are not resolved.

Must we go to the grave and suffer all the changes of leaving earthly life behind, only to feel like we got off the train at the wrong stop and do not know where we are?

He will be along shortly, and you can take it up with Him. Undoubtedly the first thing you'll notice is the smile on His Face ....

Silence

Silence, except my mind is never silent. This apartment complex houses over 300 other people like me, and the freeway a short distance away, is never silent, never still, never quiet.

If you like silence or at least quiet, situations in which something is always running just below the threshold of conscious hearing is an annoyance. Yet for someone wishing to follow the call of the Master to seek Him in silence has a problem is he is afraid to be alone, especially in silence.

It may drive you mad, not that silence is so hard to handle, but because you would think  a God who called a man might say something more often, so he does not feel ill at ease or, even worse, as if he has offended the one whose call he is trying to answer.

You might wonder why a God would do such a thing, but He does have a sense of humor; all intelligent sentient beings do. But don't think His sense of humor is the same as yours - it's not. And what might tickle the Lord of Heaven above might not be taken the same by His creatures, because He is nothing like them, and at the same time universally the same, so that one can draw at least one conclusion; all who are called heard the call in the stillness, in the silence, and in many cases, endless darkness, dying for a ray of light and hope and a little genuine peace in which everything is resolved. There is nothing worse than when such things are not resolved.

Must we go to the grave and suffer all the changes of leaving earthly life behind, only to feel like we got off the train at the wrong stop and do not know where we are?

He will be along shortly, and you can take it up with Him. Undoubtedly the first thing you'll notice is the smile on His Face ....

Everything

See everything in the light of God, for
ir matters more than any earthly thing.

Their weapons made them strong, but they did not make them wise. God gives wisdom, and often, it is gained by constant struggle, and not without gratitude. Humility makes men wise, and humility is born of a great deal of pain.

The modern obsession with comfort and pleasure and having fun has gotten people universally into trouble, and sometimes they were lost.

Blessed is the man who sees the pain he endured and it's connection with salvation. If you recognize your mistakes, sometimes the knowledge gained can make a happy time, for joy comes out of great pains and sufferings borne with a strength just barely sufficient for the need.

The longing to be lifted up is the grace of God embracing you, giving you a reason to live, and a reason to endure. He reveals Himself when seeing Him will do the most good, and not go to waste or be squandered on trivialities.

Unless we are reduced to such straits, we will not sail where He needs us to go, for the waves break over the reef and you can clearly see the danger of being pounded on the coral, hard as rock and sharp as shark's teeth.

The way you went in, is the way you must go out if you want to venture on.

The most terrible sting is sometimes the man you loved the most, or whom you thought was a true friend. But there are times people like to play games, and the play causes a great hurt. They may not have intended so much pain, but there it is. What we do with it shows the Lord who we really are. To continue to be the gentle, loving creature who so captured Jesus' Heart is to triumph, and He doesn't mind lifting up someone who has suffered greatly, so he knows the love of God toward them without a doubt.

It is important to be true to one another, for God gives us our friends, and true friends invariably need us. Some people are willing to throw away friendship because the game of power is so compelling they can't say no to themselves, and instead, they are more than ready to destroy, invade and kill, even though having what they want means it will be totally laid waste. Woe to a man who casts away divine friendship for power and profit. It paints a man in the lousiest colors there are.

God is above the pettiness of politics and power, or empires and marketplaces. The little  people of the world suffer because they do not have the knowledge that brings power. Instead God gives them knowledge of Himself, and they would not trade it for anything.

When God is all we have, we should be grateful for what we have because it is no mean thing. What God gives, no man can take away, but he can give it away himself, and sob without comfort as he sits in the dirt of the floor pondering what he lost.

Everything

See everything in the light of God, for
ir matters more than any earthly thing.

Their weapons made them strong, but they did not make them wise. God gives wisdom, and often, it is gained by constant struggle, and not without gratitude. Humility makes men wise, and humility is born of a great deal of pain.

The modern obsession with comfort and pleasure and having fun has gotten people universally into trouble, and sometimes they were lost.

Blessed is the man who sees the pain he endured and it's connection with salvation. If you recognize your mistakes, sometimes the knowledge gained can make a happy time, for joy comes out of great pains and sufferings borne with a strength just barely sufficient for the need.

The longing to be lifted up is the grace of God embracing you, giving you a reason to live, and a reason to endure. He reveals Himself when seeing Him will do the most good, and not go to waste or be squandered on trivialities.

Unless we are reduced to such straits, we will not sail where He needs us to go, for the waves break over the reef and you can clearly see the danger of being pounded on the coral, hard as rock and sharp as shark's teeth.

The way you went in, is the way you must go out if you want to venture on.

The most terrible sting is sometimes the man you loved the most, or whom you thought was a true friend. But there are times people like to play games, and the play causes a great hurt. They may not have intended so much pain, but there it is. What we do with it shows the Lord who we really are. To continue to be the gentle, loving creature who so captured Jesus' Heart is to triumph, and He doesn't mind lifting up someone who has suffered greatly, so he knows the love of God toward them without a doubt.

It is important to be true to one another, for God gives us our friends, and true friends invariably need us. Some people are willing to throw away friendship because the game of power is so compelling they can't say no to themselves, and instead, they are more than ready to destroy, invade and kill, even though having what they want means it will be totally laid waste. Woe to a man who casts away divine friendship for power and profit. It paints a man in the lousiest colors there are.

God is above the pettiness of politics and power, or empires and marketplaces. The little  people of the world suffer because they do not have the knowledge that brings power. Instead God gives them knowledge of Himself, and they would not trade it for anything.

When God is all we have, we should be grateful for what we have because it is no mean thing. What God gives, no man can take away, but he can give it away himself, and sob without comfort as he sits in the dirt of the floor pondering what he lost.

Continue

The pain of His love is unbearable, yet He lifts me up in it all the more so I may feel it, and it combines bliss with suffering so ineffably that it cannot be expressed or understood. 

Live then as in the flow of that flaming love, and rise with God before your brothers so they will see God whom you love, and let nothing disappoint you except that you disappointed Him. Yet permit Him to forgive you, so you may penetrate the mystery of His love and existence.

Renew your penitential initiatives, and let it penetrate your heart so that His grace may flow in and be one with your heart's beating for His sake.

Remember that He let me participate in His passion, and stay here with you for a little while longer so you might not lose hope or give way to despair or disappointment.

You owe Him solidarity in His Spirit, and you owe Him your life, consecrated, set aside for service, and owe Him appreciation for His loving intervention in your life.

The pain of your suffering is as the iron in the nails that permitted Him to complete His mission for the sake of our redemption. It was His Blood with which He paid, His life, His Spirit which flowed so it may continue flowing throughout all our days.

Remember, keep holy the Sabbath, renew your penitient spirit on Tuesday and Friday. Never cease praying the Rosary.

 

Continue

The pain of His love is unbearable, yet He lifts me up in it all the more so I may feel it, and it combines bliss with suffering so ineffably that it cannot be expressed or understood. 

Live then as in the flow of that flaming love, and rise with God before your brothers so they will see God whom you love, and let nothing disappoint you except that you disappointed Him. Yet permit Him to forgive you, so you may penetrate the mystery of His love and existence.

Renew your penitential initiatives, and let it penetrate your heart so that His grace may flow in and be one with your heart's beating for His sake.

Remember that He let me participate in His passion, and stay here with you for a little while longer so you might not lose hope or give way to despair or disappointment.

You owe Him solidarity in His Spirit, and you owe Him your life, consecrated, set aside for service, and owe Him appreciation for His loving intervention in your life.

The pain of your suffering is as the iron in the nails that permitted Him to complete His mission for the sake of our redemption. It was His Blood with which He paid, His life, His Spirit which flowed so it may continue flowing throughout all our days.

Remember, keep holy the Sabbath, renew your penitient spirit on Tuesday and Friday. Never cease praying the Rosary.

 

Seeing

 Day's Saints

Julian the Hermit
Peter of Alcantara, Franciscan

Gospel Lk 10:1-9
The Lord Jesus appointed seventy-two disciples
whom he sent ahead of him in pairs
to every town and place he intended to visit.
He said to them,
"The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
so ask the master of the harvest
to send out laborers for his harvest.
Go on your way;
behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves.
Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals;
and greet no one along the way.
Into whatever house you enter,
first say, 'Peace to this household.'
If a peaceful person lives there,
your peace will rest on him;
but if not, it will return to you.
Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you,
for the laborer deserves payment.
Do not move about from one house to another.
Whatever town you enter and they welcome you,
eat what is set before you,
cure the sick in it and say to them,
'The Kingdom of God is at hand for you.'"

+

When will you realize the truth
behind what you see?

Jesus is impartial in judgement; if you sinned, you are a sinner and He will know what you did; if you are fortunate enough to be forgiven and to come to know Him, your time in paradise will have begun in time, but with Jesus, will end in eternity.

Let penance come easy to you, and if some suffering befalls you, be glad, and rejoice that day, for you will have participated  in Him and in union with Him, the highest reward there is.

Look not upon the world and its deeds; look upon the face of the Lord, crowned in thorns, beaten and marred, and recognize your bodily participation in His passion and resurrection in the pains of your body, which for you and others, who come to know you, will regard as salvation.

Of those who visit destruction and catastrophe on others as a form of amusement, know that that is behavior that abides in hell, and that the children of God are innocent and fragile, and so He guards you jealously in His loving affection.

Realize the power He has in embracing the passion and the cross, so that doing what He promised, we might come to share in His resurrection, and the new world promised us ages ago. Realize there is no power greater or stronger than His. Seek your refuge and fidelity in His power, and do not seek refuge in things that are not stronger than Him. Our strength rises from His fidelity to the Father, and so does ours, since we seek to be established in Him, and not in the things of the world.

Realize, that sin caters to ourselves and neglects God in whose vitality we strive to share. Therefore, cast aside sin, and all its tenacious allurements, casting them into a hole to be buried, for you have been chosen for a share in His resurrection, and you must be seen rising and not falling by the weak of the world who need His strength so much.

Seek no strength in human beings, for they turn on you and like rabid animals, tear up what God has built. The world of Jesus, however, is not like a sand castle that the waves of the tide and wind of storms wash away.

It is work to remain with Jesus, but what else is worth the time of day? The fruits of such labor are enjoyed by the children of God forever, and they may sleep in peace that is never broken.

Out of His brokenness, the crucifixion that so many fear, and His subjection to those in the world's power. What is power when you gaze on the universe and can plainly see, we are powerless? So the innocent and fragile remain loving beings whom God loves infinitely, and this is the testimony that glorifies Him as the Son of God. What testimony can evil give except that it does not know and is powerless when all is revealed. One day everything will be revealed, and our allegiance will belong to God and out of it will come eternal life.

There is one God, and He stands plainly un-touched and defended by His holiness, He need fear nothing. Evil must fear everything, and even those that might prosper evil will suffer at the hands of the terror that gnaws at evil. Jesus stands in calm and peace, surrounded by true light which renders all things under His power. How many strutting mad dictators have fallen, and how many empires have swept in like an evil tide, able to only carry off a few. Jesus conquers, and carries away all He wishes to fill with happiness and love.

Come Lord Jesus, so that I may give my heart and soul to you. You are my strength, and I wish to be only in your power, and none other. Even if wounds and broken bones assail me and I am tripped and flung to the earth, I still am His, belong to Him, and serve Him alone who is my existence.

Salvation has sanctified the children of God to enable them to love Jesus and serve God even in the midst of death. God has redeemed us and no other. Therefore honor His Name and praise Him.