Empty Dark

 

Youtube is full of speculation and fantastic conjecture that catches the eye, but provides the mind with little else. What is often missed is, that in the effort to get attention to boost readership, the truth gets kicked into a dust bin.

In the frist place, the crucifixion of  Jesus was nothing comforting. It was spectacular only because, in our beknighted age, crucifixion is such a brutal and barbaric assault on the senses. It was designed to be that way by the Romans. 

From the position of the crucified, everything about the execution was designed to be a spectacular assault on the sensibilities and the emotions, to egregiously state the  power of Rome afflicting those excited to rebellion.

In the  mind's eye, the contemplative cannot fail to notice the drama of the crucifixion of Jesus, and be moved by it appearing in what can be seen. For most pious and humble, it is not difficult to enter into a deep affectation. If it coincides with what Jesus wants and taking His victim by surprise, then the contemplative is launched full force into the crucifixion, nailed to nothing, but afflicted by wounds that point to the presence of nails, and the body bleeds in response. 

This might not have been what was anticipated to begin with; but if a person is afflicted with the wounds, he may be powerless to avoid the consequences of even slightly considering the reality of Christ's pain. The wounds go with the pain, the victim is fixed in the moments of Christ's torture, and his mission of atonement will coincide with the mission of Jesus for mankind. To be caught up in Jesus' plan for men, one is completely engulfed in the act of redemption by the Will of God.

It is not necessary to avoid the emotions which enrich what otherwise is a sterile experience of feelings. Life can be indifferent enough, and the atonement enacted in the victim's flesh is calculated to appease the anger of the Father in reaction to the emptiness of human hearts.

The sign of the supernatural is the lack of selfishness, and depths of selflessness with which the victim identifies with God and his human subjectes. Human beings are prone to being deceived by the enemy so that the emotions must be in control of God's presence, which they will be if the heart is in its rightful place deep in Jesus' love.

The love by which all this takes place, is regrettably, easilly twisted and used as a weapon against the victim. Jesus does not abandon a victim, however.

The need for caring and love cannot be overesmphasized, so the victim is swept up in emotions, which so happen to coincide with the loving depths of atonement.

No one wants to be mislead in the matter, or deceived by mere emotions, to be led off into selfish sin.

This is why poverty, chastity and obedience are invoked by those who would be Christ's victims. If one is diligent in the matter, one scarcely needs to be concerned, though one may be overcome by any thought of failing to coincide with the love of God's Will.

A person wishing to keep Jesus company will find Jesus happiness to see a soul concerned to be occupied with His Will. The constant care of Jesus for a person striving to be a monk is not long deprived of emotion, and the soul takes full advantage to enter into a deeper experience of love.

The cruelty of the Romans highlighted the dreadful emptiness and despair of the romans. In our age today, that darkness hangs heavilly over the human race, the very children of God. God has not failed to tell us we are filled with darkness and emptiness. He tells us so we might correct that situation. The man who would be a solitary monk, or hermit cannot help but be keenly and palpably aware of the state of modern Man, but also how aptly Jesus addressed the issue by spreading arms to His executionrs and yeilded to the full experience of the pain of the torture being inflicted.

We have examples abounding in experience of the emptiness and darkness about us, but if Jesus means to us all He should mean, we do not hesitate long to express our love for Him to comfort Him, however He may choose to use us. The openness of the soul who loves Jesus is touching, and the love between the two is  most obvious, moving hearts grasping at light to find divine love in every moment. 

So the age is surrounded by hidden light waiting for souls to ignite in it, finding burning love that purifies and enables union with God.

THe Grotto

 

The grotto of Massabile in Lourdes.

I would rather apologize to my Lord in humility, than pretend I am holy or outstanding in any way.

It is easy to be alone and ignored as a lost object. People who insult others can count on the Good Lord to rectify things in His justice, so that even the offender who ridicules and deprecates others can lay claim to no distinction except that the Good Lord chooses to dignify them with any virtue.

We must recognize our brother's virtues no matter how repugnant they may be. If we do not, then we can lay claim to no rights from God, nor gifts or any prodigies at all. It is better to enter heaven without distinction than to think we merit something that is no merit at all.

Some of the immiigrant people who live here insist on calling me "father", and even if I am at a distance in the main room, if they see me, they will rise and bow their head towards me. I make a point of greeting people whether I know them or not. I do not speak their language, but a smile is word enough, and after a while, people will recognize you and return your smile, and on a day when pain is particularly insistent, recognition, even by a stranger, is like a warm pat placed on the head in comforting.

If my mind is not beseieged by temptations, it is besieged by the intrusion of the most insistent pain, and I get only enough sleep to survive.

It is not pleasant to be the toy of a proud mind, to be reidiculed in their facile way, and relegated to the common scrap pile. If it had not been for the people who accompanied Him to Golgotha, the Lord's pprescious body would have been taken down roughly and and thrown into the pile of other crucified corpses  to rot and disintegrate. The Romans counted on that kind of evil to keep people compliant and obedient, even in the midst of hunger and abuse.

The people of God should recognize that Jesus endured all that He did in order to move us to love Him so that He might impose any emulation of His crucifixion and passion He would like, to appease the Father's justice.

I used to be astounded by science and the universe it describes, until I caught a glimpse of the passion of Our Lord, and it was all put into perspective for me. First comes love, then comprehension of magnificence and splendor of the Lord that science reveals, and I get to see that nothing I can know in this world will satisfy me after He has revealed His heart, even to the likes of me who is not worthy to know it.

I was touched when I learned about Padre Pio''s stigmatization.In the choir lift after Mass, he was kneeling in prayer before a crucifix when he was suddenly caught up in his own crucifixion alone and unaided, so that he had to crawl on his hands and knees to get back to his cell, where he was discovered on the flood in a pool of his own blood.

Despite losing as much blood each day as he did, Padre Pio was able to carry out his daily duties without accommodation. I hope one day to thank him for his generosity in giving himself over to the crucifixion which descended upon him.

I am able to do what I need to do, and it pleases me if I can offer some suffering to Jesus who endures so much at our hands, as if He were unworthy and contemptible. Rather, it is I who am contemptible, and I find myself often to have failed to yeild to accept some trifle, until He gently reminds me, and the stabbing pains stir again the memory of His love. If I am a star, I am an undistinguished one whose light is poor and who is unstedfast enough to sin or displease the Lord. At least to be humiliated by the recognition of one's weakness disposes one to try better, to love God and other people as He loved us.

Love sees what pleases God if one enters into knowledge of His love, which one may liken to a revelation. To accept incapacitating moments of pain for the sake of someone else's need does more than anything else to reveal God's love to us, if only we might have the generosity and humility to embrace Him; to embrace Jesus is to embrace the cross, and it is a noble place to be to accept His embrace of us in return, even when it occaisions a great deal of suffering unknown and in silent solitude.

Padre Pio was a human being with nerve endings, and an instinct of self preservation the same as all the rest of his companions in life. Still, he allowed the Lord to impose His crucifixion on him so that he might help save souls and ease the sufferings of so many who endured the second world war.

Now, we find ourselves surrounded everywhere with the greatest terrors and people cringe to contemplate the suffering about to enhulf them. And while nuclear annhilation is not pleasant, there is always some new innovation rearing its ugly head to kill millions or even more if possible. This modern age is so eager for invention that it has made the earth continually tremble in destruction and the terror those who are helpless to avoid the catastrophes we hail with such pride. That  pride will be utterly crushed. Live humbly in peace and pray in silence wherever you are. The  person who does will not go to hell, but will escape hell on the last day.

Shadows

 

A single maple leave betrays its presence by
despositing the tannin in the leaf. In Hiroshima,
I believe is where there is a shadow burnted into stone
where a man sat and was vaproised by an atomic
destonation.

It is siad that things unusual are about to happen, things that have not happened before. People will know what no one has spoken to them, and in the moment, the presence of god will stir in the world, in every corner of the soul, and people will be moved. 

This will take place to prepare hearts for His nearness so that anyone who has not known God will know Him and understand what has not been revealed. 

Tremendous things will happen on earth, and all who have scoffed will suddenly feel as if someone had slapped him in the back, expelling the very breath in his lungs, and his heart will be in terror knowing he has stood before God and acknowleged.

Then time will be interrupted, and many will leave this world summoned before God. In the moment, everything will be interrupted and stop, and men will cease their thinking, interrupted to hear God calling to them, implying an acknowledgement. 

Those accustomed to prayer and in particular, contemplation, will acquiesce to a quiet summons and an imperative response, and everything that was going to happen will have been interrupted while recognition is taking place, and the way things used to be will never be again, and that which has been waiting will take place, and the lovers of God in the world will no longer persist in this world but will arrive at the feet of the Son of God in obedience, and the humble will acknowlege Him and lead a prayer-song of praise for the Almighty.

I am the object of ridicule, but He made me to attract humility so I may resemble it. People are called to the silence and the solitude from which God calls and speaks, and if they listen, they become different.

I am the object of ignorance not knowing anything the world values, but full of what God placed within me, unknown. I would have been overwhelmed if He had revealed these things to me, but then the dream which must be seen would be avoided and the Will of the Lord have been negated. That must no be, and i approach Him to be forgiven sins and to be brought to union as He desires, so that His desire may be fulfilled.

The world is ignorant and indifferent, and they think the pain of the cross can be avoided by such deliberate ignorance. It isn't true. Those who have approached and have been united in the pain of the Lord know things that can heal souls and deliver sinners from indifference, and by their sacrificial bond in wounds, and bleeding pain, snatch them from eternal forsakenness to enjoy the love they have lived all their lives denying. But such suffering is without relief, so there are many souls who approach so that there may be relief for a few to rest in peace while someone else mounts by the power of the Lord onto the cross.

But those who think they can arrive at the truth without God, without the Church and without the holy ones of the Lord who approach them in the Name of the Lord, misunderstand what power is, but they will see it and in the terrible moments when upheaval overthrows human willing and desire will finally know who God is and what He intends, and they will be silent, without the ability to speak except to acknowledge God and welcome the sudden desire to be saved. Those who had desired and had prayed they might receive salvation will not have wasted all their sorrowful tears, but the earth will be flooded by their tears, and recognise God is love and love is almighty.

Every plan of men to destroy others will be contradicted, and in the midst of violence, divine peace will explode into the world to be seen, and they will see the truth and the Kingdom of God that He has fashioned for those who love. History will then be abrogated except for the righteousness committed by the just who love the Lord.

Events

 

Do not be afraid of spirtual events, prodigies and manifestations, for they accompany the Lord. He will prevent you from becoming proud and distancing you from His Heart, because He so longs for it to be closer to Him.

He will give you what you do not think you can bear, and the aridity of the silent solitude that surrounds God will engulf you, and in His presence He will make you able to endure anything.

All His soldiers must be ready to enter into that Presense. They must not fear the cross or being fastened to it, because He has engulfed you in His light and His love, so that all the pitiful beings that do not love Him might be obvious and you may see Him in the difference between their darkness and His light. He burns away all that is less than Him, and all that is less than you. Oh yes, do not be afraid or ashamed that your sins accuse you, for if it were not shown, His love would appear diminished, and how brightly His light shines in one who is unafraid.

Men long for what they do not understand, for visions and swooning ecstasies, the very visions of God, but it is not the one who faints in His love or hovers unbid in the insubstantial air who is holy or who is worthy. He makes you worthy in a moment He makes, and in that moment you are worthy by His love. It is no wonder that some truly do have visions and ecstaties, because He has made the capable of enduring His lot so that the very substance of being can hover in the air and the heart melt in the fire of His Heart's love.

Pining for sorrow, the sinner beholds his offenses, but God embraces and loves unbidden so that the being before hIm becomes one by His grace, engulfed in light and love and peace. Time diminishes even what is true and real, but nothing is lost in God who whole-heartedly embraces all who love Him, even the least.

Who is afraid of what vanishes in His forgiveness? But you must love in spite of the grief you have seen. The wight of the inspportable guilt is expunged and what was hidden beneath is illuminated by love and you are left in His glory and forgets the sins.

Yes, Jesus was given us so we may be fastened too and we might experience the freedom of the soul lifted up from its sins, to encounter the love of God which could be Man and be crucified and abandoned to death, for by so doing, we will live as we have thus far never known how to live, fully free and filled with the ineffable bliss of happiness that in His deepmost Heart exists to entice the weak and wary to love Him, daring to love as they have never loved. Such love is enkindled by the Lord to attract lovers to His Heart. You must struggle in life, but the struggles are so small compared to the deeds accomplished on the Cross.

We die and who remembers us or pines in sorrow in our passing? Jesus remembers us, who  have offended Him so that none should be forgotten, but having wept for our sins and denied ourselves, we may be ready to receive what we have been made ready to receive. He is not powerless to restore us to life, but He is able to cleanse us and to make us worthy to be near Him, even to embrace Him, not afraid of any pain of wounds of crucifixion, and those who  love Him are overwhelmed by the power of His love, being remembered and sought and embraced.

Triumphs

 I live in a small universe where small triumphs are occasions for joy. One gathers them together like a bee gathers nectar. Undoubtedly they would be of greater scope for others, but I am happy.

Having prayed and hoped that certain things might change, it is gratifying when all the pain has indeed yeilded a reward

The Lord, jesus, endured the harshness of the cross so we might feast with Him one day and everyone will be smiling who is seated at the table.

We are assured that the reward will be outstanding; indeed Scripture says "eye has not seen nor has ear heard what the Lord has in store for His beloved."

we must keep that promise uppermost in our minds and hearts because the enemy has no pity and will allow us nothing the Lord could demand, but He will be obeyed, even by evil.

When the day has dwidled into night and the darkness hovers in the mist, it can be hard and the cold can be merciless, and sleep will not settle long uponour face. But in the dawn, new light appears and the world is seen for what it is. 

For those in despair and pain, in loneliness and shame, our failures will certainly be shown us in vivid details by the fiend, but we will see the light of Him who triumphs.

The world may be inflamed and the suffering servants of the Lord will get up slowly to praise the Lord, and He will gather with us in joy and we will forget and live with Him in triumph.

Emulation

Father Anthony

 I feel a thousand  impullses tugging me along to go one way or another. I am inspired by the holiness of others, and incited to that same holinesss. But the Lord would have me remain still and silent, so that He may do the immense things He does to bring peace and quiet to a tumultuous world.

It is alright to be caught up in the tide of life, to feel motivated in a thousand directions, and it is alright to be tugged one way or another, just so long as your heart beats strong and solely for the Living God in whose life we share.

There are so many little ones whose light is snuffed early before it is really lit. Let us pray that He will give back to them their lives and heal them where they need. 

If you are aware of the suffering and sorrow so many endure, offer your participation in Jesus and His life as a result of the misery. All that is necessary is to remain silent and still before Him, and await His assumption of your moment up into His bliss and eternal love. Do that, and you will  be glad, and the gladness can be share by a mere movement of your heart to be beating near His.

By being still and quiet, St. Padre Pio was like a burning torch whose fire had power to give back life and to heal broken-heartedness. We may imitate Him in the silence and stillness, as He knows how to work miracles in the world.

You may see His love and be overwhelmed. Be glad in Him.

Bells

Let us make the bell toll with gladness and happiness.
 

The saint's lives are like great cathedral bells which sound loudly for all to hear to great distances. St. Padre Pio was born in 1887 and died in 1968, enduring the passion of Christ in physical wounds which hurt and bled for fifty years.

Many people have been affected by his life and in many places in the world, even though he never left the cloister to visit. There are many stories about how he was seen in places far distant from the monastery convent of the Capuchins where he lives. He is even said to have appeared in the air in the midst of an allied bomber formation headed to deal destruction with bombing attacks. His appearance spared people in cities nearby. So we do not know how one thing will set another into motion.

I am encouraged by the fact that good things can happen in one place and be felt in another, good things and holy things, the result of faith and love.

In part, I was spared death in Vietnam so I may serve God in my own humble way. it has been an opportunity to witness many things that stir faith in many people. It is sobering to realize that we are not alone, but interconnected by our faith and because of our love. His purpose is to increase our faith by proving that we are not doomed, by the positive outcome of many terrible events.

I havenot been blessed with the stigmata like Padre Pio, and I am glad to indicate the goodness of His servants, some who have been declared saints and some not yet. But because of the arthritis and several other things over the years, i have been afforded a participation in His suffering redemption. No one should feel defeated or demeaned by suffering when one would prefer to be healed and suffering ended. But we have the choice to acquiesce to suffering, or to obtain the healing possible in the Lord. Service to the Lord is by our willing act, unless He explicitly makes note that He would like to offer us the chance of suffering to please His Heart.

The grace of the life of Padre Pio was great enough to span distances and time itself. That grace was loud enough to be heard anywhere the Lord can reach and be heard, just like a great cathedral bell. Some pull the great ropes that move the bell to make it toll, and some simply respond with love toward God when they hear the bell. Both are in plain sight of the Lord who is aware of all that happens, and whatever great deeds we have done will be known to all holy people with the Lord.