Monday, December 25, 2023

Rest

 

We are spent too soon for lack of rest.


Christmas Day December 25th, 2023 Seattle, Washington

If you can see that someone urgently wants to talk to you, don't push them aside and walk away. Find out what is on their mind. In that mind might be the answer to a problem you have been worrying about. Who knows, it could save you a lot money, or make you very rich, and a whole lot of people might be bettered by the moment you shared with someone on your very busy day.

While some people are genuinely busy, most are not so busy they can't notice someone else itching with something on their mind. 

Distractions in prayer might be an opportunity for God to point out to you someone He wants closer to Him dearly. How is He supposed to do that if neither the other person, nor yourself are open to communication. Obviously, if you push someone aside you are laying a cross of pain on their shoulders when you had it in your power to open the heavens themselves to the joy of sharing with someone.

I use the metaphor of a garden often because it is so apropos. People go to gardens to relax, enjoy the flow of the fresh air and the warmth of the sun shining down; they like be with the ducks and eagles and just relax in the peace flowing through. Surely a soul who has been crucified is worthy of the rest?

On the night when He was betrayed, Jesus went to the garden of Gethsemane, and olive orchard where He could plead with His Father for some way out of what He was confronting in His mind the next day. So He knows a thing or two about what you and everyone is going through. How can one find courage if he also cannot find hope of a respite. I assure you if you come to the garden to rest within yourself and fix your gaze upon His Face, He will fill you with peace no matter what the pain. I have had ample opportunities to experience that in my life when I so often felt pinned down, nailed to the cross and overwhelmed with despair and no light to indicate another way.

I drank my cup and allowed my Lord to do what He had  in mind. There is strength in such things such as dying men desire desperately.

So perhaps we have reached a point today when we can appreciate just how much He wishes to reveal Himself to world so dedicated to killing everyone off. It is the Lord's wish that people reconsider where they stand.

Rest

 

We are spent too soon for lack of rest.


Christmas Day December 25th, 2023 Seattle, Washington

If you can see that someone urgently wants to talk to you, don't push them aside and walk away. Find out what is on their mind. In that mind might be the answer to a problem you have been worrying about. Who knows, it could save you a lot money, or make you very rich, and a whole lot of people might be bettered by the moment you shared with someone on your very busy day.

While some people are genuinely busy, most are not so busy they can't notice someone else itching with something on their mind. 

Distractions in prayer might be an opportunity for God to point out to you someone He wants closer to Him dearly. How is He supposed to do that if neither the other person, nor yourself are open to communication. Obviously, if you push someone aside you are laying a cross of pain on their shoulders when you had it in your power to open the heavens themselves to the joy of sharing with someone.

I use the metaphor of a garden often because it is so apropos. People go to gardens to relax, enjoy the flow of the fresh air and the warmth of the sun shining down; they like be with the ducks and eagles and just relax in the peace flowing through. Surely a soul who has been crucified is worthy of the rest?

On the night when He was betrayed, Jesus went to the garden of Gethsemane, and olive orchard where He could plead with His Father for some way out of what He was confronting in His mind the next day. So He knows a thing or two about what you and everyone is going through. How can one find courage if he also cannot find hope of a respite. I assure you if you come to the garden to rest within yourself and fix your gaze upon His Face, He will fill you with peace no matter what the pain. I have had ample opportunities to experience that in my life when I so often felt pinned down, nailed to the cross and overwhelmed with despair and no light to indicate another way.

I drank my cup and allowed my Lord to do what He had  in mind. There is strength in such things such as dying men desire desperately.

So perhaps we have reached a point today when we can appreciate just how much He wishes to reveal Himself to world so dedicated to killing everyone off. It is the Lord's wish that people reconsider where they stand.

Sunday, December 24, 2023

Interesting

 I have noticed something interesting. If misfortune strikes and it is everywhere, it has to be the hand of God trying to get our attention and spare  us something worse. Injuries and losses happen all the time to people, but it is not every day that the whole planet is either turning lush meadows into deserts, or lush deserts are being turned into meadows. Simply put, there is no substitute for obedience, and any disobedience is corrected so that we can learn right habits. Of course, we are free to do as we please, but if crops wither in the sun and cattle die for lack water, you are going to get very hungry.

Our civilization cannot survive too unpredictable climate. Economies cannot survive the disruption of desertification or the ravages of the stupidity of wars. It is, plainly, a time of repentance. We cannot prosper without the help of the Lord, and He is not going to help war mongers kill millions to satisfy some idiot's lust for blood, or to aid his greedy schemes trying to bring all power and wealth in one man's hand.

It is a time to pray for healing of climate, end of wars and the reconstruction of nations. While you are rebuilding, make a time to listen to the Lord stock-still in silence dedicated to Him alone. It is so beneficial to do so, that it is ludicrous that anyone should think they can stay safe and sound in their home without the nearness of the Lord. He is closer than what we know.


Peace be with you, and may all illness be healed and all souls blessed.

Interesting

 I have noticed something interesting. If misfortune strikes and it is everywhere, it has to be the hand of God trying to get our attention and spare  us something worse. Injuries and losses happen all the time to people, but it is not every day that the whole planet is either turning lush meadows into deserts, or lush deserts are being turned into meadows. Simply put, there is no substitute for obedience, and any disobedience is corrected so that we can learn right habits. Of course, we are free to do as we please, but if crops wither in the sun and cattle die for lack water, you are going to get very hungry.

Our civilization cannot survive too unpredictable climate. Economies cannot survive the disruption of desertification or the ravages of the stupidity of wars. It is, plainly, a time of repentance. We cannot prosper without the help of the Lord, and He is not going to help war mongers kill millions to satisfy some idiot's lust for blood, or to aid his greedy schemes trying to bring all power and wealth in one man's hand.

It is a time to pray for healing of climate, end of wars and the reconstruction of nations. While you are rebuilding, make a time to listen to the Lord stock-still in silence dedicated to Him alone. It is so beneficial to do so, that it is ludicrous that anyone should think they can stay safe and sound in their home without the nearness of the Lord. He is closer than what we know.


Peace be with you, and may all illness be healed and all souls blessed.

Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Tears

There is so much suffering, so much sadness. When I see something that touches my heart, the tears well up in my eyes. Moments of exaltation wait in ambush everywhere. It is the way those suffering can catch a glimpse of God, like sunrise peeking over the horizon or a mountaintop to paint the sky.

Solitude is a magnificent thing all by itself, and it gets a bum rap from people intimidated by such austerity. Still, even in such solemnity, each such tearful moment is also a moment of gratitude to a God who invited me to the cross, then made me forget the pain by raising up my heart so it might fill with the tears to give the Lord, for the fruition of all solemn austerity is the offering of self to God.

It is like a little boy dancing to the drums and music with a beautiful lady, and receiving a hug for thanks.

In this time of winter approaching, perhaps bitterness will fill our hearts with sadness and the emptiness of solitude. Remember then, the heart filled with tears; in receiving your gift, He did not spill a single drop.




Tears

There is so much suffering, so much sadness. When I see something that touches my heart, the tears well up in my eyes. Moments of exaltation wait in ambush everywhere. It is the way those suffering can catch a glimpse of God, like sunrise peeking over the horizon or a mountaintop to paint the sky.

Solitude is a magnificent thing all by itself, and it gets a bum rap from people intimidated by such austerity. Still, even in such solemnity, each such tearful moment is also a moment of gratitude to a God who invited me to the cross, then made me forget the pain by raising up my heart so it might fill with the tears to give the Lord, for the fruition of all solemn austerity is the offering of self to God.

It is like a little boy dancing to the drums and music with a beautiful lady, and receiving a hug for thanks.

In this time of winter approaching, perhaps bitterness will fill our hearts with sadness and the emptiness of solitude. Remember then, the heart filled with tears; in receiving your gift, He did not spill a single drop.




Sunday, December 17, 2023

Gold

 

Gold requires fire, to be free
from the rock it is in. 
Can you stand the fire?


All the terrifying visions which visited St. Francis and St. Padre Pio, did not visit St. John of the cross, in spite of his name. Yet the total sacrifice they desired did visit St. John of the Cross, and was not less violent than the bloody sacrifice of the others.

He was able to endure and withstand the violence of God's love and come away stammering to enchant the souls of visionaries everywhere. 

Who else might have grown up in poverty and simplicity which they espoused as the companions of their soul? How many other living torches have been enkindled with the love of God?

Look about you and see the gentle spirits that have tasted the cross and entered heaven. Look about you, and encourage the ones who are lost in pitiful pain, looking for their true Companion, and the way into the Garden to be with God. 

They are not afraid that anyone might hear them because they would be unable to understand what they heard, but it might drive them deeper into the furnace of His love.  If that were to happen, they would only stagger smoldering in love, lost and looking for the way. You cannot see beforehand, where He wants your steps to tend, but you will arrive where He intended, and be nourished by the Garden's rest.

Desolation and Pain

Shine and do not be ecclipsed. No one wants to hear the deoslation of pain, the walls that cut a person off from life and hide him in a dark...