Taste and See the Goodness of the Lord

 By Sharon Nelsen 

The month of June, this month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, has always been for me a time of developing more intimacy with Jesus. As I pray and listen in my morning prayer time, I experience the Lord leading me to a more meaningful relationship with Him. Years ago, when I first sang “Taste and See” (the song written by James E. Moore Jr.) the words settled into my heart. Recently, it appeared that God wanted me to apply His words more specifically. A “This-is-how-you experience-it teaching of Jesus” came to me: 

Taste and See the Goodness of the Lord.

Taste the FREEDOM of being released from bondage.

Taste the STRENGTH of trusting that I understand everything about you and all circumstances of your life.

Taste the HOPE from the promise that I make all things new and that I can and do bring good out of 2 Corevery situation you hand over to Me.

Taste the PEACE of experiencing my loving care, concern, and presence.

Taste My DESIRES burning in your heart.

Taste the JOY of being in relationship with Me, in My Word, in My People and in our quiet times together.



My desire is happiness for you, for all; happiness that flows from our relationship.  As you listen, as you taste, as you see My Goodness, you will not be able to stop the flow of happiness welling up within you, washing out all pain, cleansing and strengthening you each day. My love, Dear one, now and forever, Jesus



Another scripture touched my heart this month. As I reflected on “For however many are the promises of God, their Yes is in him (Jesus),” 2 Cor. 1.20 these words flowed out so effortlessly that I knew they were gift from the Holy Spirit and meant for all of us:




You are dear                  Open your ear

I am near                        You will hear

Can you hear                  For you are dear

My yes?                          To Me!

The Interval

I am re-posting this reflection (originally titled "Arise Lord") because today's Gospel is Matthew 15: 21-28 , and also because the first reading tells us of the Israelite's, whose fear of the Lord was not as great as their fear of the inhabitants of the land that God had promised them. Because they did not trust the Lord, because they choose to listen to the voices of men and not God, God created an interval of 40 years for them to wander in the desert.

As I noted in the reflection there is a danger in this interval, a danger that we do not order our desires to God's will.  Yet, today's Psalm says that during that interval, Moses stood in the breach between God and His stiff-necked people. Interceding on their behalf and praying that these Israelites learn to trust and take courage in the Lord, whose mighty power and great love delivered them from Egypt. 

We too are called to intercede for those who have not yet learned to trust in God's power. We also must thank God for those who have stood in the breach on our own behalf.  

I have just finished reading Brave New World, in which a couple of quotes, for some reason, brought to mind Jesus and the Canaanite woman.  Then I came across a poem by T.S. Eliot, and I found myself trying to ponder them all at once; I was groping for a connection between them.  Does anyone else have problems like this?   It is really unsettling, and, from my point of view, distracting.  Why couldn't I calm my mind down? Even my prayer time was cluttered with these thoughts, and it was difficult to persist.  I could not escape these distractions through prayer, they intensified.  Clearly, I was making too much of these things.  I was not able to let them go even for the Lord during prayer.  And He was silent.

Later, when I was busy picking up my house while listening to Mumford and Sons I found that my distractions were following me.  I picked up one of my husbands Popular Science magazines, and while Mumford and while  Awake My Soul was playing in the background, I read that someone, somewhere is working on a face recognition feature for our TVs.  Imagine!!  As soon as your TV recognizes your face it will suggest shows that it knows you like.  No more channel surfing to give you a clue that the TV may be a distraction from things of higher importance.  TV will instantly soothe over all unsettled feelings, and all of your more transcendent “distractions” will fade away.  My "distractions" seemed to be coalescing into something more, and it occurred to me that maybe they were not distractions.  Maybe they were a prayer rising in my heart.

"Awake my soul!  You were made to meet your maker" 

In Aldous Huxley’s book Brave New World  the Resident Controller of the Western World explains to young students why they are so lucky to be living in the modern world:

“Stability,” said the controller, “stability.  No civilization without social stability.  No social stability without individual stability.”

The tradeoff for this stability is love.  How it is accomplished is by eliminating families, and by the conditioning of all peoples, beginning at their test-tube conceptions, to be happy only in the certain castes they have been predestined to. Solitude, which can awaken a soul to a yearning for love, is eliminated thru constant socialization, through passionless promiscuity and, when the human soul overcomes even these distractions, there are side-effect free drugs to quell the stirrings of transcendent desire. They are etherized to deep feelings, good or bad, through the instant gratification of all their conditioned desires.

“Feeling lurks in that interval of time between desire and its consummation.”

“Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David!  My daughter is tormented by a demon.”  But he did not say a word in answer to her. " 

Right after I read this I re-read the T. S. Eliot poem: The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.  No wonder the powers-that-be in a Brave New World feel that they must eliminate the interval between desire and its consummation!   Only in the solitude of that interval can the beautiful yearning of the poet, and the lover, be discerned. In this time the desire grows, and the impulse to satisfy it becomes more desperate.  In the pain of that yearning one can realize that he has been living life etherized on a table, or that he has measured out his life in coffee spoons.  One can begin to discern what he truly desires.

Yet, it is a dangerous interval. The pain can provoke rage and despair, addiction and hatred -- instability.  It is worse for us in our post-Christian culture, which gives us so little strength for persevering in virtue, because it gives us so little to believe in.  As we progress in our (seemingly) orderly and safe society, we will need to provide a means to distract individuals from these intervals.  As Prufrock ends, you feel he has given up; to afraid of his own desires to push through the angst, the fear, and the impotency of a culture that loves very little.

“I have measured out my life in coffee spoons."

Ah, but if one perseveres in discernment this interval of solitude can also pierce one’s soul with the awareness that he belongs to Someone who is beyond the vanities of this world, and you have an irreplaceable identity in Him!  The depth or our pain has its fulfillment not in numbing distractions, but in a joy that at present you cannot contain.

Arise Lord, let not the voices of men prevail.

Here again is a dangerous moment, because sometimes when I cry out to God, He is slow to respond. And I have been conditioned to instant gratification! I sometimes feel that I am being ignored.  Like the Canaanite woman in Matthew’s Gospel, sometimes the Lord allows an interval between the professed desire and its consummation:

And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David!  My daughter is tormented by a demon.”  But he did not say a word in answer to her.  His disciples came and asked him, “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.”  He said in reply, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”  But the woman came and did him homage, saying, Lord, help me.”  He said in reply, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.”  She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.”  Then Jesus said to her in reply, “O woman, great is your faith!  Let it be done as you wish.”  Matthew 15:  22-28

But the woman, because of the great love she has for her daughter, perseveres.  She does not refuse to recognize the faults she brings with her, but lays them at His feet as well.  In the interval of time between the plea of the woman for her daughter and Jesus’ final words Jesus has drawn from her tremendous courage, trust and love.  She may have come only for healing of her daughter, but she surely left with a passionate desire for Him.  Her humble faith in Him brings the light of Christ to the dark recesses in her soul and she receives His love and healing in greater abundance, and so does her daughter.   When I hear Jesus say “O Woman”  I hear more than just a pat on the back  or a way-to-go affirmation.  I hear Jesus pouring out his great love for her, because she is now able to receive so much more of it! He has lifted her up in dignity and in her identity by allowing the interval of solitude to increase and refine her desire. What might have happened if she listened to the voices of the men around her?  What might have happened if she never experienced those moments of fear, anger, humiliation?

Arise, Lord, let men not prevail!

In case you may be wondering what Mumford and Sons song I was listening to:

Awake my soul.  For you were made to meet your maker. 

Push through the temptation to let the voices of men distract you from the solitude that reveals the depth of your need, and the intensity of your desire for God.

 

It seemed to sum it all up for me.
Peace and grace,
Heidi

This post can also be found on:

Arise Lord

Arise, Lord, let men not prevail! 

I have just finished reading Brave New World, in which a couple of quotes, for some reason, brought to mind Jesus and the Canaanite woman.  Then I came across a poem by T.S. Eliot, and I found myself trying to ponder them all at once; I was groping for a connection between them.  Does anyone else have problems like this?   It is really unsettling, and, from my point of view, distracting.  Why couldn't I calm my mind down? Even my prayer time was cluttered with these thoughts, and it was difficult to persist.  I could not escape these distractions through prayer, they intensified.  Clearly, I was making too much of these things.  I was not able to let them go even for the Lord during prayer.  And He was silent.

Later, when I was busy picking up my house while listening to Mumford and Sons I found that my distractions were following me.  I picked up one of my husbands Popular Science magazines, and while Mumford and while  Awake My Soul was playing in the background, I read that someone, somewhere is working on a face recognition feature for our TVs.  Imagine!!  As soon as your TV recognizes your face it will suggest shows that it knows you like.  No more channel surfing to give you a clue that the TV may be a distraction from things of higher importance.  TV will instantly soothe over all unsettled feelings, and all of your more transcendent “distractions” will fade away.  My "distractions" seemed to be coalescing into something more, and it occurred to me that maybe they were not distractions.  Maybe they were a prayer rising in my heart.

"Awake my soul!  You were made to meet your maker" 

In Aldous Huxley’s book Brave New World  the Resident Controller of the Western World explains to young students why they are so lucky to be living in the modern world:

“Stability,” said the controller, “stability.  No civilization without social stability.  No social stability without individual stability.”

The tradeoff for this stability is love.  How it is accomplished is by eliminating families, and by the conditioning of all peoples, beginning at their test-tube conceptions, to be happy only in the certain castes they have been predestined to. Solitude, which can awaken a soul to a yearning for love, is eliminated thru constant socialization, through passionless promiscuity and, when the human soul overcomes even these distractions, there are side-effect free drugs to quell the stirrings of transcendent desire. They are etherized to deep feelings, good or bad, through the instant gratification of all their conditioned desires.
 

“Feeling lurks in that interval of time between desire and its consummation.”

“Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David!  My daughter is tormented by a demon.”  But he did not say a word in answer to her. " 

Right after I read this I re-read the T. S. Eliot poem: The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.  No wonder the powers-that-be in a Brave New World feel that they must eliminate the interval between desire and its consummation!   Only in the solitude of that interval can the beautiful yearning of the poet, and the lover, be discerned. In this time the desire grows, and the impulse to satisfy it becomes more desperate.  In the pain of that yearning one can realize that he has been living life etherized on a table, or that he has measured out his life in coffee spoons.  One can begin to discern what he truly desires.
 
Yet, it is a dangerous interval. The pain can provoke rage and despair, addiction and hatred -- instability.  It is worse for us in our post-Christian culture, which gives us so little strength for persevering in virtue, because it gives us so little to believe in.  As we progress in our (seemingly) orderly and safe society, we will need to provide a means to distract individuals from these intervals.  As Prufrock ends, you feel he has given up; to afraid of his own desires to push through the angst, the fear, and the impotency of a culture that loves very little.

“I have measured out my life in coffee spoons."

Ah, but if one perseveres in discernment this interval of solitude can also pierce one’s soul with the awareness that he belongs to Someone who is beyond the vanities of this world, and you have an irreplaceable identity in Him!  The depth or our pain has its fulfillment not in numbing distractions, but in a joy that at present you cannot contain.

Arise Lord, let not the voices of men prevail.

Here again is a dangerous moment, because sometimes when I cry out to God, He is slow to respond. And I have been conditioned to instant gratification! I sometimes feel that I am being ignored.  Like the Canaanite woman in Matthew’s Gospel, sometimes the Lord allows an interval between the professed desire and its consummation:

And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David!  My daughter is tormented by a demon.”  But he did not say a word in answer to her.  His disciples came and asked him, “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.”  He said in reply, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”  But the woman came and did him homage, saying, Lord, help me.”  He said in reply, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.”  She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.”  Then Jesus said to her in reply, “O woman, great is your faith!  Let it be done as you wish.”  Matthew 15:  22-28

But the woman, because of the great love she has for her daughter, perseveres.  She does not refuse to recognize the faults she brings with her, but lays them at His feet as well.  In the interval of time between the plea of the woman for her daughter and Jesus’ final words Jesus has drawn from her tremendous courage, trust and love.  She may have come only for healing of her daughter, but she surely left with a passionate desire for Him.  Her humble faith in Him brings the light of Christ to the dark recesses in her soul and she receives His love and healing in greater abundance, and so does her daughter.   When I hear Jesus say “O Woman”  I hear more than just a pat on the back  or a way-to-go affirmation.  I hear Jesus pouring out his great love for her, because she is now able to receive so much more of it! He has lifted her up in dignity and in her identity by allowing the interval of solitude to increase and refine her desire. What might have happened if she listened to the voices of the men around her?  What might have happened if she never experienced those moments of fear, anger, humiliation?

Arise, Lord, let men not prevail!

In case you may be wondering what Mumford and Sons song I was listening to:

Awake my soul.  For you were made to meet your maker. 

Push through the temptation to let the voices of men distract you from the solitude that reveals the depth of your need, and the intensity of your desire for God.

 

It seemed to sum it all up for me.
Peace and grace,
Heidi

.

What Were You Arguing About?

What is the antidote to the blinding whirlwinds of selfish ambition and jealous envy? It is not simply to  reject our ambitions, passions or desires, we must daily submit these desires to the reality that the earthly fulfillment of them is not necessarily the goal.  As C.S.Lewis says in his essay The Weight of Glory  "We are far too easily pleased",  however, we are never deeply satisfied. This Sunday's readings are filled with the consequences of selfish ambition, which may temporarily please us, but in reality will blind us to our real needs.  Which explains Saint James in the second reading where he explains why we do not receive from the Lord what we ask for.  We do not know what we really need.  As I read over the Gospel for this Sunday I was thinking of another C.S. Lewis quote from the same essay. "It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us..."   But how do we strengthen and hone our ambition for this eternal joy, how do we catch sight of our hearts desire?

Mk 9:30-37

"Jesus and his disciples left from there and began a journey through Galilee, but he did not wish anyone to know about it.  He was teaching his disciples and telling them, 'The Son of Man is to be handed over to men and they will kill him, and three days after his death the Son of Man will rise.'  But they did not understand the saying and they were afraid to question him.

They came to Capernaum and, once inside the house, he began to ask them, 'What were you arguing about on the way?'  But they remained silent.  They had been discussing among themselves on the way who was the greatest.  Then he sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them, 'If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.'  Taking a child, he placed it in their midst, and putting his arms around it, he said to them 'whoever receives on child such as this in my name receives me;  and whoever receives me, receives not me but the one who sent me."

Jesus instructs his disciples, they perceive in His words deep mysteries, and profound destinies, but they are afraid to go deeper with Him.  Maybe they are afraid of what Jesus is predicting:  Suffering?  Death?  They do not seem to quite understand what He means by resurrection.  Even so, great ambitions and passions are stirred up.  And, as often happens in our human weakness, these passions are misunderstood, and  misdirected.  Their half-hearted understanding of the unlimited love of God leads them to apply the energy of these great stirrings in their soul to arguing about gaining earthly glory for themselves.  They have missed the higher calling of their Lord. They are following the ambitions in their hearts along a very horizontal trajectory, but Jesus is leading them to the heights of glory, and you cannot get attain that through egotism.  Then, later on in the day when they had come to a place of rest, Jesus asks them "What were you arguing about on the way?"

Right here is the opportunity to depart from the earthbound path.  Do you take a moment each day to allow the Lord to speak to you, convict you and redirect you?   Do you take at least a quiet minute or two for a daily Examen? In the Gospel there is a silence that follows the Lord's question.  This feels to me like an Examen prayer;  the twelve disciples, are not perfect, not always doing things with a deep understanding of themselves or of Christ (they sound a bit like me actually)...but, unlike the wicked men in the first reading, they have the humility stop and listen to Jesus, they have opened their hearts to Him enough to allow the Lord to show them where they are transgressing and where they are violating their training.  

And there is no need to be afraid to deeply examine your motives and your desires with His help, as the disciples originally were.  The Lord will not harshly condemn all of your misdirected passions and desires; He will show you what they are for.  He will purify your vision for things that are eternal, and this will reorder your desires.  He will help you to take your focus off of yourself so you can see the least and the weakest around you and you will bear upon yourself a bit of the weight of their salvation, to weaken your selfish motives - for you can never expect any earthly compensation for this service. And with a purer vision you will see that the initial desire for greatness and glory is an inborn desire to catch the eye of the Beloved and have him smile upon you.  It sounds like such a little thing, so easily overlooked for what appears to be  glitzier and grander achievements in the here and now, and yet it is everything.  But it takes time and a willingness to listen in prayer and attune yourself to the deep stirrings of His Spirit in your soul.

In the end the ambition and desire to be the greatest is not necessarily an evil if you submit your motives to Christ's direction. It is our fallen response to the longing to be approved of and enfolded into the arms of the Father.  The fulfillment of our deepest desire is to be that child wrapped in the arms of Jesus. 

Update

I don't know why, but I really think that this song is a great preparation for anyone who might feel just a little intimidated by allowing Jesus in to direct all the strength and potency of our passions to the fulfillment in the love that awaits you in the arms of Jesus.  Do not be afraid to allow Him to show you where your passions are directing you!  

Peace and Grace!  Heidi

The Fulfillment of Our Deepest Desire

Here are the readings from the Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time,  reading which alert us to perceiving and attending to the needs of those who God has placed before us. But,  the Gospel lets us know that first things are first.  " you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart , with all your soul, and with all your mind."

 All to often I feel that those who stress the social justice of the church use (misuse) Scripture to avoid dealing with some of the most miserable moral failings of our time.  In this case the first commandment (you shall love the Lord....) is ignored in favor of the second:  to love your neighbor as yourself.  Love of neighbor is quite important, but love of neighbor must be rooted in love of God,with all your heart, soul and mind.  You must be conformed to the Truth Himself first, or you will not be able to lead your neighbor to the living water that he or she so desperately needs.

  I have just recently witnessed a Facebook debate about "homosexual marriage" that has really driven home this in my heart. Those who claimed they are just being fair and merciful to those who have a same sex attraction made fervent appeals to the justice of Jesus, yet they can only barely scrape the surface of what His justice means, and often the larger, more transcendent realities goes by the wayside.  And the eternal God, who is the fountain of life, the living water, the source of all love, justice and peace takes second place to making sure that no one has to confront their own bondage, or that of their neighbors, so they can be truly free.

 John, Chapter 4 verses 4-7, 9-28:

He had to pass through Samaria.  So he came the the town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.  Jacob's well was there, Jesus, tired of his journey, sat down at that well, it was about noon.  A woman of Samaria came to draw water.  Jesus said to her, "give me a drink."

I have to stop right here, because I think that anyone who reads the Gospels with eyes to see and ears to hear ought to now discern what is happening in their own heart, because my heart always skips a beat when Jesus speaks, it skips a beat because my mind hears Him talking to me, the Beloved is talking to me!  Listen! Listen to him speaking to you!

The Samaritan woman said to him, "How can you , a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman for a drink? "  (For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.)  Jesus answered and said to her, " If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, 'give me a drink,' you would have asked him to give you living water."  The woman said to him, "Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep; where than can you get this living water?  Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself with his children and his flocks?"  Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again;  but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."  The woman said to him, "Sir give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water."  Jesus said to her, "Go call your husband and come back."  The woman answered and said to him, "I do not have a husband."  Jesus answered her, saying, " You are right in saying, 'I do not have a husband.'  For you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true."

I bring this passage up because in the Facebook debate this Scripture was brought up to make a point that though human love is good, the love of God, the living water, is of highest importance, and no sacrifice is too great for it.  But one of the opponents (the pro homosexual "marriage" side) could only see that Jesus did not specifically mention homosexuality in this debate, so she could not see that it had any bearing on the discussion at all.  And it is so sad, because there is Jesus, sitting at the well, calling each of us out of our sinfulness, away from the distractions that we think will assuage the deep yearning for the Beloved.  He is the fulfillment of all our desires, but when God is not put first in all things, all that can be seen here is that Jesus was kind to a woman that others ignored.  He was more than kind, He was passionately showing her that all that she desired in her whole life was fulfilled in Him.  He was betrothing Himself to her.

We cannot always stop our loved ones from pursuing sinful lifestyles, but we can point to the one who will not just forgive, but forgive and heal us, with tenderness and love.  We can point to Him because we have experienced His love and forgiveness. Jesus can be living water through you and your steadfast devotion to Him.  We must order our love to God, with all of our heart, mind and strength, as the Holy Spirit to help, or we will so easily settle for the stagnant water from the earthly cistern, and that is all we will be able to offer those we love when they some in search of a drink!

 Moreover, to not put God first, blinds us to immutable truths:   Jesus did not hesitate to bring light and truth to the woman's situation in life. and she in return left her jar at the well to bring this truth to others.  But, really, either you struggle to live and proclaim the truth, or you will give it up totally.  You will be satisfied with stagnant well water. And this is tragic, when there is Living Water that is available to them.  You must at least point the way to the Living Water, the way to the Bridegroom who fulfills all our desires.

Before I go, since I veered from this Sunday's Gospel a wee bit let me link you to Deacon Paul Rooney's web site, where one can always get sound teaching on the Scripture, click  Didja Know for wisdom on this Sunday's Scripture in relation to immigration!

Grace and Peace,
Heidi

Reflections on Romans 8

Sunday's readings are a banquet for all to be nourished from.  Isaiah 55's beautiful invitation from the Lord calls out to those who have ears to hear:

"come to me heedfully, listen so that you may have life"

The Lord himself will nourish and sustain us in all of our needs. In the Responsorial Psalm He will:

"satisfy the desire of every living being" 

"he is near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him in truth" 

What is that desire?   It is here that I go to Romans 8:35,37-39:

 "Brothers and sisters:

What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine,or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? No, in all these things we conquer overwhelminglythrough him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life,nor angels, nor principalities,nor present things, nor future things,nor powers, nor height, nor depth,nor any other creature will be able to separate usfrom the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

It is the love of Christ that is my heart's desire, and when I truly heard this, when I listened in truth, some of the great temptations in my soul began to break open. In truth,I must face that I am I am frequently diverted from seeking out the love of Christ, but I so deeply desire it! And even in my sinfulness my famished heart still cries out to God, though I fear to acknowledge this. And yet, all my actions reveal a soul grasping for the love of God, but I often allow my worldly fears, not God, to direct my passions, and they become degraded and weakened.  There have been certain times in my life when I have succumbed  to the world and it's version of fulfilled desires; whether it is security in money, possessions, popularity or pleasure.  I cannot describe how overwhelming it was when I realized that in all that I was doing, I was always searching for Him!  How far I allowed myself to be led outside of God's protective love! The powerful words of Paul, and the wisdom of the Gospels and all of Sacred Scriptures have embolden me to let go of what I think is my hearts desire, to refuse to feed my famished heart with junk food. I will continue to come to the Lord, in His Word and in the Eucharist, to feed my heart with God's love and truth!  I will cry out for His love, and all of the readings for Sunday assure me that I have nothing to fear, he will not reject me or overlook me.  He will not send me away to find what I need elsewhere, but with great mercy, love and power He will fill me with His riches!