Waiting

 

I have never enjoyed waiting. These days, all indications that something ordered online will be shipped fast are basically spurious. Items ordered  may linger in transit within a few miles of your location, and the item sits waiting to be "processed" when it could be turned over to the person who ordered the item.

Medical  items are no different. It still takes 10 days when it should be deliverable in two days at most, given that the addressee lives within the city limits.

Waiting for the "chastisement" is similar. The only way to deal with its approach is to be longing in the heart of your being with all you've got, for the Lord Our God. There is no comfort in any earthly thing.

To desire anything less is just a disappointment.

Nevertheless, He sees to it we receive small joys that can tid us over. Jesus, in the Garden of Gethsemane, had the angels to encourage Him.

What He lacked, the Father gave Him so He could say His "Yes", for our sake. It leaves us with the obligation to say yes to Him, if He asks.

And if we reflect, He has said "Yes" to us all our lives, even when it was most obvious we didn't deserve it.

So I let the pain wash over me, and crash over me like a might wave; for His sake, and for the sake of sinners, it is over and I persist.

The thought of other generous souls saying "Yes" to Jesus is a consolation.

Land

 Which was the greater miracles, the healing of the paralytic in Peter's house, or the reconciliation and forgiveness of Peter and Matthew? Without forgiveness, none of  us will see the world as it is or will be when our eyes open to see heaven and earth the way Jesus wishes we might. With forgiveness. comes enlightenment, power and great joy and love. What a pity to throw it all away for a mere emotion concerning land that will never be restored..

Aggravation

 

A lady on Facebook posted it, it is 
not my work. I display it here
because it deserves to be seen.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Microsoft is so desperate to enrich itself, it will dismantle itself, thinking that throwing all the changes at us will dazzle us with their expertise. I would be impressed if what they did fixed all the bugs and malfunctions. I really have had it with stuff that isn't working.

One of my favorite modes of fixing problems was to create a system image which I could restore at a future date. I had one that captured my system all in one functional piece without the bugs and malfunctions; I badly needed it a few days after creating it, but when I went to go to use it, it would not work. I was left with a hung computer and black screen. The only thing that allowed me back into the system was holding down the power button until it shut it self down. There is also a system called system restore that will restore windows and its drivers and so forth, but it won't restore your apps - they get erased and you get to reinstal them and then customize them according to your taste.

I have since fromatted the drive the backup was on because it was useless, left incapable of functioning by Microsoft's tinkering.

Another glitch was a sound driver which shut down the sound system until you adjusted the volume or the sound was used and I got a loud pop. Using the Control Panel in Device Manager, I right cliked on the drivers listed and chose to click on the driver i wanted which I knew would work properly without the loud pop every time a sound was emitted.

But most mysteriously of all, yesterday, the security icon in the sytem tray began displaying a yellow badge for some unknown reason. Clicking the icon to see what was needed got me a notice that someone had changed my access to the security app so I could not change anything. 

Well, the sound works properly, I have not made a new system image yet, so I don't knmow if that system will work or not, but at least the system can restart and a rescue thumb can be used to reset the computer if I want. About the only way the system will ever act normally again is if I reset the system down to the bare metal and start from scratch. I have backups of my programs and data, but it is very time consuming and a huge aggravation that I frankly, resent very much. In spite of the rule that I should always forgive people, that doesn't mean I have to like what they did, and I hope they find out the hard way, just how much aggravation they have caused by having to live through it themselves.

Forgiveness

The brazen serpent was a healing thing God sent
into the midst of the Israelites to be a means of
forgiving their idolatry.

I was watching "Jesus of Nazareth", and was struck by the fact that Jesus cast the demon out of the possessed man. He was glad to do it. Nobody else could have, nor was it the usual thing to happen in ordinary life.

Then I was struck by how unusual it was that anyone could address demons with such authority as to cast them headlong to the ground by the mere invocation of their name. No one did that sort of thing; it never happened.

We are in such times ourselves, and yet there is plenty of work for exorcists. Padre Pio is said to have cast out a demon from a woman. The man possessed by the demon was cut off from his fellow human beings by his misfortune the same as the woman whom Padre Pio freed.

Some such cases undoubtedly were cases of mental illness, but not all. There are many throughout history that we could say were possessed. Some led millions down into the pit of hell by their teachings and the political systems they invented. The years that have been wasted by such people, were marked by horrors and unspeakable acts.

Keep your mind and heart occupied; do not let them wander ungratefully and unnocupied or they will be full of insinuations of evil trying to separate you from Jesus.

If your thoughts are not fixed on Jesus they are not fixed on God, and are attracted by evil, and evil never has your best interests at heart.

If a man who loves alcohol gets his way, he will spend his time drinking instead of at least part time on jesus. If evil can arrange it, he will see to it that the man drinks his fill and then some, and falls ill or dies from his excess. The same is true of any other vice you can name.

If your mind wanders around unfocused, you need to focus it on something good. Do some good deed for a person, see that the hungry are fed, strike up a conversation with a loneley person. These things do not lead to sin, neither do they focus the heart and affections on Unruliness.

In all things we are capable of messing up the good deeds we try to do; it is a simple law of humanity that we are weak and ignorant and need the strength of God's love in our life to try to be like Him.

Surely if you try long enough, you will come across a moment you did good and you can be glad that you had something to show for your time on earth.

So if you are pastor, and have spent 12 years studying theology and philosophy and how to minister to your people, why should you hate forgiving their sins? If you at least were int he confessional absolving people of their sins, you have been doing something which pleases God and when you stand before Him as the Judge, you will be able to say :I forgave my people's sins".

Extraordinary

 This day is extraordinary and my life is made to be so as well.
Every year, the sun begins descending over the end of the building so I am in the shade, and the light is reflected off everything before me, mellow and clean and clear.

While people are busy building bombs, and tanks and battleships, I rest, enjoy the peace and thank God in my heart for the sensation of His grace flowing through me, so that the joy that comes from it is like the a waterfall, hurtling down at breakneck speed from the tallest heights of the mountain. 

The silence in the midst of all the tumult rests me, and I surrender to it, to the cross, to the nails and toil of soul that is life.

You may enjoy the silence and the peace that come with being alive and turning to God to fulfill His will.

He delights in filling you up, with cold cups of deep spring waters that have journied as clouds half way around the world to fall where you stand, making rainbows in His firmament.

From my vantage point on the cross, I may enjoy your delight as you sit near me listening.

Unbelieavable

Let us hold it together as if it is our life  because it is.

Assasination seldom solves the problem. Generally it degrades the situation, and people suffer more. Our people are already suffering enough; they don't need any more. 

Hurricane season is upon us, and already snowfall is predicted in the near future on the East Coast of the US.

There is much that needs to be preserved. The tradition of selecting our leaders and representivitves is a cherished one. Deneratiing that tradition and throwing out the Constitution and government is not desirable, and neither are the perpetrators of treason.

Need I remind people of the price we have always paid to preserve our government and ideals? The price was human life, human blood and grave sufering and death. We have not fought as we did to preserve what we deemed good and splandid.

Now is not the time to disencfranchise citizens or overthrow our government, its Constituion or its traditions. The people who seem to dream of such nightmares have nothing to offer the citizens of this country but hatred and violence.

Citizens do not hunt each other down; we do not need to, although the eagle which has always been a national symbol, has to struggle to find something to eat in the vastness of the nature in which is belongs.

The people who will not allow the people their say at the ballot box have nothing to offer. 

I hope I have given you some things to think about that are worth your attention and intelligence.

Prophecies

After watching a video concerning the prophecy of St. Padre Pio  of Pietrelcina of the Three Days of Darkness, I reiterate my caution concerning prophcies. Scripture itself cautions us to be careful in approaching prophecies since they can be imitated by the evil one and lack the light of God or any motion of the heart toward love.

It does not require much imagination to realize that events in our lives are approaching terrifying depths. Every day, anymore, it seems someone is dropping rocks onto cars passing overpasses, people are being shot and stabbed in buses and mass transit vehicles, and children obtain automatic weapons to take to class to use in the mass killing of their classmates.

To me, such events are a kind of darkness as real as any obscuration of the sun. It is already sufficient to realize that prayer brings spiritual strength and reassurance and even protection, as well as offering the promise of God to take care of those He loves.

As far back as 1917, the Blessed Mother warned humanity of the tide of darkness that was overtaking humanity and the planet itself. 

I wonder, as well, what apartment dwellers in the heart of cities are supposed to do who live where candles are forbidden as a fire hazard? While it is possible to gather non-perishable items for meals, there likely wont be electricity and therefore communications will be down.

Accompanying or preceding the three days, storms and earthquakes and strange and violent phenomena are prophecied. These things are already known to be imminent, and in recent years, weather patterns have abruptly shifted from more benign patterns to sudden unpredictable violence of unprecedented strength and power. Youtube is full of volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, earthquakes, floods and vast wildfires. Whether these are part of the prophecy I don't know. Some things mentioned point to very strange occurrences that have not been seen or experienced before. People are urged to approach God asking for forgiveness of sins. That will be difficult to obtain if priests are not available or are not disposed to make the sacraments available. Nevertheless, we can ask to be forgiven because He can hear us even if priests are not listening or are ignoring their ministry. Besides that, we can pray for the forgiveness of the sins of OTHERS. We can even unite our suffering to that of Jesus as St. Padre Pio did, accepting even 50 years of their pain and suffering for the good of the souls for which he prayed and which he enjoined to the cross of Christ.

A return to the sacraments is requested by Our Lord, and that necessarilly means someone must make the sacrments available.

In any event, we are urged to turn away from habitual sins and to seek communion with God personally. Keep in mind, that people have ignored the sacraments and spiritual readings and penitential acts, consecrations or dedication to God. This has directly caused changes in wide spread weather patterns and the threat of great earthquakes and volcanic eruptions in places known to be threatened by such events.

We can offer our sufferings for atonment of sins to satisfy the justice of God, by making mercy and love available where they would not be othersise.

By reading holy books and the Scriptures, we can be reminded of the mercy God has already shown, and promises to make available for those who turn to Him.

God promises to take care of the needs of His people, forgiveness of  sins, and mercy on judgement day.

As much as I may fear death as a human being, I fear more, falling short of the mercy of God and losing my soul forever. Our prayers can quell the tide of unpredictable random violence, making our cities safe again.

I relate these things again in order to urge people of the necessity to seek God while He may be found and while we still draw the breath of life. I urge people to offer their suffeings however small, for the reparation of sin, and to obtain the promises God has made regarding the three days of darkness. 

I repeat that God answers and pays attention to our prayers and is glad to grant what we need when we ask becauuse of His love. He blesses people who pray for the relief of others, with provision of what is needed to sustain life, including reasurrance of final salvation. There is no reason to live afraid of God to the point we despair of any good coming from approaching Him. He listens to our prayer and is aware of unspoken cries.

As far as Heaven is from us, Jesus knelt in prayer in agony of the anticipation of His crucifixion, keenly aware of the same distance. There were saintly people in history who comforted Him in  His passion the night He was betrayed and carted off to those who wished to kill Him. Jesus knows what that distance feels like, and it is like a three days of darkness. All of us experience darkness in our lives when hope seems to have abandoned us and solutions to our problems seems very distant. We are asked to keep the candle of hope burning in our hearts, to reassure the Lord of our love even if we are in the blindness of darkness. He can see us whether we see His light or not, and His love persists around us whether the light of day falls on us or not. 

Do not give up. Keep on trying and do not give up. Always apologize for your sins and ask for forgiveness so that you may have it, and succeed when it seems impossible.

If you read the lives of the saints or the Scriptures, you will find God making His promises to you as one of His children. In the lives of the saints, you can be inspired to benefit the children of God by providing grace and divine light through your faith in Him.

Do not believe that your prayers have no power; that is not a thought from God, ut from the evil one. I prayed for my brother and sister to have a place to lvie and to find what they needed when it really seenmed hopeless, but He heard my prayer. In my own case, He heard my own prayers for the same thing, and I am living in the answer to my prayers. It seemed impossible, and my sins to grave to have any chance that my prayers would be heard. The light of day reveals a brighter and more penetrating light than the sun. We all have access to the same God to whom I prayed and from whom I obtained what was needed on behalf of others. I may not have the wounds that Padre Pio did even as much as I desire them, but that does not mean that Padre Pio or some unknown saint in the world today does noot bear those wounds so  I may join my prayers to them for other people. We must try.

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Sometimes it happens, that something which moved us profoundly over times

 succumbs to the weariness of time, and it seems no longer to be as important as it did. It is the same as having forgotten to change the dreassing on a wound. Every wound needs a dressing to keep it free of infection or worse.

In the case of the Heart of the Lord, His wound is permanent. The remedy for our lack of enthusiasm is to turn again to Him and ask His Heart to enkindle our love again so that we might apply the dressing of our love to His Sacred Heart, even knowing it will never go away, nor will it ever suffer infection; we suffer infection and soreness and pain and weariness and weakness, and He is always dressing the wound of our love, so that it may be cleansed and made well again. The greatest joy lies in the love of that Heart wound in which we rest in our weary moments.