lIGHT

 When I observe the world and its inhabitants acting as strangely as they do, I wonder if the three days of darkness is more like 3 years, and all the demons of hell are rruning around screaming, people are being killed and civilization is being overcome by the tidal

wave of hell wahing over us. I can't think of anything worse than what I see, and wonder what three days worse than today are possible?

St. Padre Pio had 50 years of the Stigmata to live with 24/7/365. When he did finally actually die for good, he was completley spent. there was nothing else he could give or submit to.

THe only thing I can think of that would be worse would be that He was hanging from nails in His hand and feet for three hours, followed by having alnce shoved up under His rib cage to pierce His Heart. Some Scriptures say it happened while He was yet alive, and others say it happened afterward to satisfy the Romans to be assured HE was really dead.

Christians live a life with Christ, and the best of them swere close enough to being on the cross with Him that if they had not been as totally spent as Padre Pio, would certainly have seen thier passing as the ultimate test.

In a cuclear war, a city assaulted by a nuclear explosion would vaporise anyone close enough, and those at a further distance would suffer incomprhensibly.

In my lifetime of, so far, 79 years, I have seen enough to be stunned into silence. The tsunami on Boxing Day comes to mind, followed by the tsunami in Japan that ultimately also yeilded the horror of the nuclear explosion in the Fukushima explosion.

One cannot survive for long without a sourde of hope, and no one whould be willing to endure anything without it. Neither should anyone wish a lack of hope's light on anyone else, regardless of what they have committed. Otherwise, the avsolute resolution of Christ in telling us to forgive one another would be insensible. But He insists that we forgive one another, and those who have endured the incalculable should not have to endure anything more.

That being said, how shall there be light without His light? It must be here already streaming in deluges powerful enough to illuminate the whole universe let alone our own errant little planet.

We have seen the wiles and the wickedness of the enemy, and he is surpassingly clever and intelligent. But Jesus Christ surpasses him, and he shall be forgotten, while men who were saved will enjoy Him in eternity. That is a very great and powerful hope.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV9Rc7yOSj0&t=4045s

Peace

 Peace is one thing, opening up to it and sitting still in it for a time determines whther peace is beneficial or not. Too often people are so busy and full of plans that they miss the peace altogether, and if it is not embraced in the moment, just as quickly, it flits away, like a bird ypu will only see once in a life. If peace descends on you, know that the Lord has come, and surrender to His silence and peace embracing Him in them, so you may grow to embrace Him.

Glory

 I weep. Something so splendid and so subblime is being fouled by evil, destroyed and trampled into the mud. It cost the lives of millions to defend through long years of killing and destruction. Now it's very leader is being overturned in his iniquities and must answer for what he has done,

I weep too for the kindness that asserts itself through the midst of brutality and contempt when some are mourning what was taken from them.

I weep for the pain and anguish of so many souls, afflicted and reduced to dust. I see the Lord acting to show us what He means, and what He demands we do, and still so many will not respond.

Mercy, yes but obedience proves who we are, The longer we remain as we are, we do not progress. Infinite, yes, but He cares about what we think of ourselves, and we have not thought the thoughts that filled His Heart, 

If it were ncessary, He would be crucified once for every life on earth. That kind of life needs to be answered with simillitude to Himself and we must desire it, or it is like a flashlight without batteries. All that passion cannot be ignored. 

And when I might have looked for a little relief, and drop of water, an analgesic for my pain, I was asked to fast a little longer, and to wait for a drop of rain or a little tear.

Then He shows me once again the splendor and magnificence of all He's done, and I feel very small. He shows me remedies for other people's pain, and the largeness of His Heart reminds me of His love and everything is swallowed in dark night and silence, while the only comfort stands before me shining love.

At the apex of summer, splendid blossoms shine their last glory.

Conflagrations

To each moment is given enough silence and enough solitude to seek and find God.

To each person and each soul is given faith and grace which they may take and keep or squander away as he pleases.

But we must answer for what we did with our silences and solitudes, with our faith or our profligacy, our sin.

Watch your step. Do not mistake liberty for freedom, for while liberty sets a bird on its wings, its freedom ends in stillness when our time for all things is at an end.

For every moment there is the possibility of bliss, and the prudent soul seeks it sparingly, not gathering the honeysuckle of our journey debauch us too much, for our God is a jealous God, and it pleases HIm to give and to take away.

Seek Him in splendors and glories and remember what you were given, just so you may have the delight of loving Him in each moment and catching fire in the flames of the love in His Heart. For while bliss is given to the saintly who deserve it, there are many who remain barren and think it is their own fault, when in fact, the Lord loves them infinitely; they were not unworthy ... He saw them splendid as the day they were born and the first prayer issued from theiir lips is not forotten.

I have known desolation and the fierce fires of wilderness sun when the wounds of the Lord were busy imposing themselves on me. You have not known me, only God has, and only He knows my value, sin or grace. As He passes by us, men ignite us into flames of love by their mere presence, such is the furnace of their love of God as they moved in our midst stirring embers of His love lest the fire goes out.

Great love is born of great love. Love ardently.