Pain

 

God's gift to me is pain, not given as a punishment, but as a way to get to seeing as He does. What does He do with so much suffering? Souls, even our own, are saved by Him from the tragedy of never seing Him and not spending eternity appreciating Him. If you have endured, you have participated in salvation. That is a mighty deed 🙂 +

Light

Rue the darkness or embrace the light.

In these times, it is inappropriate to say that things have gotten really bad and are likely heading to even deeper depraved depths. But the fact is, God is not punishing us for anything new, He has let us have our own way for long enough that the corruption was bound  to show up sooner or later, and that later is now.

In these times, there are demons loose in the world, darkness in human souls and suffering of unprecedented scale wherever you look because of our impropriety and stupid selfishness. Yet He is still sovereign ruling over all. He has told us He will save us and protect us, but our notions of safety and protection do not equate to the Divine safety and protection. People can still die, be injured, suffer strokes or battle cancer, but it is not running rampant everywhere. These possibilities have always existed because we are part of nature suffering with us from weakness and flaws that have a way of allowing us to live while suffering as we do. Jesus takes up the suffering and allows it to crucify Him, so it does not need to be any worse.

So what would be the worst thing that could happen to us? To be blind to Christ and unable to feel His love and His presence and His light in one long nightmare without end, resolution or change to any state in which all things are finally at rest in Him.

We ought to pray for that equilibrium, and offer our sufferings, since He is eager to take them to Himself if that is the only way to rescue us. so do not weep or tremble afraid, or toss and turn in your bed at night that nothing is improving. You haven't lived long enough yet to possibly have the insight you need to see beyond. Once you do, you will not care, and you will permit any misery if only to be in His loving embrace one more minute :)

Hidden

How can aything so luminous be hidden
from sight? If we shine like the sun,
even in ecclipse, we shall be seen by God.

Some people are called by God, and are supposed to do His Will. That call is a summons to service, not a position of privilege. If that position IS used as a means to assert authority over others, it needs close scrutiny. Since we are all under the same scrutiny, there is no license to lord it over anyone else. Those who do try to oppress others will be punished, and they may have a long life in which to atone for any oppression.

If a person is called to priesthood or a monastic setting, there will be expectations in the heart of God for them. Good shepherds will have a following, and their prayers and appreciation will be felt far and wide.

Likewise, any oppression will be felt in the divine Heart, and the lives of those affected by the oppression.

So, let us pray that we draw very close to His divine Heart, and love each other as He expects.

Light

 God put us in a habit for a REASON - to be SEEN. People look for Christianity in other people, and scoff and reject them when they don't measure up. Others themselves don't measure up, and make excuses to try to prevent a person being seen.

God's light is a blinding light, at lest in thebeginning when He reveals Himself in love and consolation. But we can never get enough. But in the clearing of the picture, so much is there to be seen, and so few are inclined to put themselves selves out to look and see.

Christians are hidden in their own light which is but a reflection. He is not loathe to reveal Himself in glory, but we are weak and not grown enough to endure any further revelation. Time will reveal Him to us. He is always happy to admire us; if we grow enough to see His admiration, the whole picture changes.

Becoming one who sees light can have astonishing consequences.

In the Center

 

There is very little of comfort in having your own way. All too often, someone else was hurt in the process, but greedy men don't notice. The victims, of course, notice, and struggle against the pain the the rest of their lives.If He gives you what you want, give thanks that He found such good in it that it merited to be granted you. 

Blessed is the day when you meet companion souls who are like God, and delight in discovering how much they are like God. 

Ask His forgiveness of your sins and faults, and do penance to make amends. Give thanks that you resemble Him, however faintly. Give thanks for the trials that brought you close, and praising Him, give thanks and seek His Will.

If you are given peace in which to consider His bounty, you are blessed. If He affirms you, give thanks, and if He burdens you in suffering, have the grace to embrace it and give thanks for the trial by which He cleanses you and perfects you for the day you meet Him.

If things do not go as planned, something better was given instead. Have the gratitude to thank Him.

Let us resolve to amend our selfhish ways and find the center in which He dwells forever.

Come to the Mountain

Come to the mountain, from far far away. Sit very still in the shade of day, and pray by the stars of night.

Our elevation here where i live 485 feet, so on certain days, we poke up into colder air and we get covered in a beautiful carpet of white snow, blowing in the strong wind, and building the depths of the snow into primally white, undisturbed.

There are many things to do during the day. By night, there is the stillness in which I am rooted, and the stars connect me with my Creator and my wishes that you should love Him, which is to be saved.

To be crucified served only the passing whims of brutality, not justice in the sense of doing something right, as opposed to something wrong. Yet I can still harbor pain in my body in specific places that turn my eyes to His Face again to remind me of why we are here, to serve our brothers and sisters. In the loving of them is justice which settles all scores and forgives all transgression in intercession, even if my brother and sister are not aware.

Indeed, the hiddenness of my crucifixion is the stillness in which I accept that I am crucified as I desired, and reconciled to my brothers and sisters in God as I hang dying. They may not even know they need to be rconciled with anyone, let along with God, but to make up for the lack of awareness, it is written down in the Heart of God to be remembered on some nameless day when judgement calls us to account and we rest or tremble in fear. But if that is all on which God was intent, I should be gravely disappointed, but as it it, I already feel His warmth as the water of my perspiration flows down from me, cold departing from me in a sleeping fog.

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It is possible to withdraw from a terrible shock that one never comes out of . I still encounter it, not daring to hope for consolation. The pain lingers, and the memory of the delight fades. Now I wait to grow enough to emcompass Jesus, and not just His consolations. I was so disappointed, I rejected Him. Those days were filled with consolations, delights, happiness, but I haven't grown up enough just yet. I wait in His shadow, in the garden I am awaiting Him in Himself, for something more

Stillness

 The new year is upon us, and and all hell seems to have broken out in the world; be very still. Do not be curious, do not be afraid, but be very still in the presence of God, in the peace and the silence free of possessions and appearances.

Nothing of self is import, but God is. Let Him illuminate you from within, and stay near that light.

Our enemies are bound in many ways because of selfisness which forces your gaze away from God. Return if you have been distracted.

On the cross, the most grievous suffering is displaced in the sound of His voice.

Listen to it as if there is no other sound and no senses exist. Regarless of the depths of pain, remain still, silent and desiring only His Will.

These are old things, known by the most ancient whose words have been passed down to us waiting for us to read them. Listen and rest in the stillness, silent and loving as if only God and you exist. Drown everything in the cacophy of voices, and remain steadfastly still. This world, however real it seems, is going away and we are going where He wills us to be. Pray for peace and the grace to be still regardless of the gravity of what you persceive. It is not permanent. Only God is permanent. We are meant to change, God remains the same.