Solemnity of The Nativity Of Saint John the Baptist

Today is the Solemnity of The Nativity of Saint John the Baptist.  Today we celebrate the birth of the man who, as Saint Augustine tells us, “represents the boundaries between the two testaments, the old and the new.”  All of the events surrounding the birth of the Baptist suggest that the obscurity of the Old Testament prophesies are to be revealed and illuminated by the one who John is to proclaim, who John had already been proclaiming as he leaped in the womb of his mother Elizabeth at Mary’s arrival.  Leaping like David dancing before the Ark of the Covenant.  Even from the womb John points us past the signs to the ultimate realities.  This is why we celebrate his birth with a Solemnity!

John points us out of the wilderness, out of confusion, to the fulfillment of the words of Isaiah, Hosea, Jeremiah and the prophets.  Words that often were mysterious, and attain their deepest meaning only in the light of Christ’s salvific mission.  And us too, he points us past the mundane to Jesus, in whose light even the most obscure life is elevated and glorified.
 
Of course evil hates clarity and light.  The enemy of your soul will always try to confuse your vocation, obscure your accomplishments and highlight your failings. Even John the Baptist experienced moments of confusion and doubt as he faced down evil in his martyrdom (Matthew 11:2).  From his place of imprisonment John lived out what he had been preaching to all who would listen:   He turned to the Lord; he asked Him for reassurance and in the Lord’s response he was satisfied.  Even in his doubt he fulfilled his mission which is so beautifully portrayed in so many paintings;  in sending his messengers to Jesus, John was pointing to Him and showing us all the way out of our own confusion and self-doubt.
 
If your are tossed between self-condemnation and self-justification follow the pointing finger of the one who cries out in the wilderness.  Like John, go to the One who gives meaning to the obscure prophesies of the past, and the seeming vanities of this life.  Ask the Lord to show you how your life and your toil can be filled with His light and imbued with deep meaning and glory.

Though I thought I had toiled in vain,
and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength,
yet my reward is with the LORD,
my recompense is with my God.
For now the LORD has spoken
who formed me as his servant from the womb,
that Jacob may be brought back to him
and Israel gathered to him;
and I am made glorious in the sight of the LORD,
and my God is now my strength!
It is too little, he says, for you to be my servant,
to raise up the tribes of Jacob,
and restore the survivors of Israel;
I will make you a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.  Isaiah 49:4-6and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength,yet my reward is with the LORD,my recompense is with my God.For now the LORD has spokenwho formed me as his servant from the womb,that Jacob may be brought back to himand Israel gathered to him;and I am made glorious in the sight of the LORD,and my God is now my strength!It is too little, he says, for you to be my servant,to raise up the tribes of Jacob,and restore the survivors of Israel;I will make you a light to the nations,that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.  Isaiah 49:4-6

Saint John the Baptist,  pray for us!
Heidi

IN A LITTLE PIECE OF BREAD??

THE CREATOR of the UNIVERSE

– IN A LITTLE PIECE OF BREAD??

(a reflection on John 6:51-58 by Deacon Paul Rooney)

I think perhaps everyone at one time or another has watched a TV murder mystery series, or read the books on which they were based.  For all ages, there was a series that had an amateur heroine by the name of Nancy Drew.  For older folks, “Alfred Hitchcock” will ring a pleasant bell, or “Murder, She Wrote,” starring Angela Lansbury (who played the character role called Jessica Fletcher).  That last one was so popular that it had a good run for twelve years.  Even the reruns have been ongoing, for still another fifteen years.

We all love good murder mystery stories, don’t we?  Some mystery books are transformed into screenplays that are well written: they provide you with a couple of clues along the way, and you have to be alert to discover who the culprit is before they tell you the answer.  Others are written pretty badly, because they withhold those clues, those tiny details which you need to become involved and to solve the mystery.

Here’s the problem: we have been so accustomed to think that we can always solve a mystery the logical or scientific or detective way.  After all, that’s what we see them do all the time on those programs I mentioned, or current programs like NCIS, or CSI, or Law and Order, and so on.  So, when we encounter a REAL Mystery, a mystery of our FAITH, there comes a danger for some folks: if their scientific, rational mind can’t find a solution, then they refuse to believe the TRUTH.

The TRUTH lies within the definition of Mystery, as explained to us by our Catholic theologians.  They rightly tell us that the word “Mystery” in the spiritual sense means those revealed truths that go beyond the powers of natural reason.  And that is precisely within the usage intended by the writers of the New Testament, all of whom were inspired by the Holy Spirit.

For example: last Sunday we encountered the Mystery we call the Most Holy Trinity.  Three Persons in one Godhead.  How can this possibly come about?  I don’t know!  Nobody knows!  Science says it is a pipedream, foolishness, absurd.  But it has been revealed as truth by the Holy Spirit.

Last March we celebrated the Mystery of the Incarnation.  How can a virgin twenty centuries ago possibly conceive a child without the seed of a man?  I don’t know!  Nobody knows scientifically.  Science says it is a pipedream, foolishness, absurd.  But it has been revealed to us as truth by the Holy Spirit.

This Sunday we encounter another Mystery called the Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.   A few years ago when I was preaching, I held up a Large, unconsecrated host.  I said, "Do you see this?  When our Pastor, or any ordained Catholic priest says the words of consecration over this little piece of unleavened bread during the second half of our Mass, along with a cup of simple wine, the bread and the wine will become the real body and blood of Christ!"

How can this come about?  The scientists say it is just a pipedream, foolishness, absurd.  But it has been revealed to us as truth by Jesus himself, who instituted the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist the night before he died.  Pope Benedict XVI called the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist “the most precious treasure of the Church and of all mankind.”  And rightly so!

Those who did Not believe that Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah, became scoffers both before and after the Resurrection and Pentecost.  Guess what my namesake, St. Paul told the Corinthians?  “We proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.”  It takes Real Faith to believe Jesus, to take him at his word, when he said at the Last Supper (as we read in Matthew, Mark and Luke’s gospels): “Take and eat; this IS my body.”  And taking the cup of wine, he said, “This IS my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many.”

You know, I find something very interesting.

• Every Christian believes that God created the universe, with its trillions and trillions of stars and planets. Not a problem for God! He has unlimited power! 
• Every Christian believes that God created humans and animals and so on. Not a problem for God! He has unlimited power! 
• Every Christian believes that God can heal someone without human help. Not a problem for God! He has unlimited power! 
• Every Christian believes that God can raise someone like Lazarus from the dead. Not a problem for God! He has unlimited power! 
• Every Christian believes that Jesus gave divine power to his followers to cure the sick and cast out demons. Not a problem! God has unlimited power!

But Christians who are NOT Catholic or Orthodox DO have a problem when it comes to God’s unlimited powers!  They think God just is not powerful enough to grant a priest the power to transform this little piece of bread into the Body of Christ; so they “limit” God's power (or try to).  Their problem is that they are thinking scientifically, logically—after all, after the consecration it still LOOKS like bread and wine, it still TASTES like bread and wine; under the microscope it still has the PROPERTIES of bread and wine.  So they think it is just our pipedream; our foolishness; our absurdity. 

They fail to realize the Truth that Mystery remains Mystery, and calls for a Faith belief!  The Master told us himself: "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.”

St. John’s gospel places Jesus’ words in the context of the Multiplication of Loaves, meaning in the context of Miracle.  Well, the consecration of bread and wine into the REAL Body and Blood of Christ IS INDEED A REAL MIRACLE, and Jesus granted this power to our Pastors and to all the Ordained Priests!

I want to repeat something that we all need to grasp:  “Mystery” in the spiritual sense means those revealed truths—I repeat, revealed truths—that go beyond the powers of natural reason. 

All of us need to be careful not to take this Miraculous Sacrament for granted!  We are receiving the Real Jesus Himself when we receive Holy Communion in a Catholic Church.  So

approach the altar with the right Heart, the right Attitude.  This IS GOD, the Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus Christ!  He invites us to take Him within our body as food for our journey back to Him!  That is AWESOME, absolutely AWESOME!  It should fill our hearts with great JOY and GRATITUDE!

Deacon Paul Rooney

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Credits:

1-Fingerprint = http://baileybear.edublogs.org/pictures-relating-to-the-novel/;

2-Unconsecrated host = http://alexandrinadebalasar.pt/ficheiros/imagens/menu/historiadeumavida/hostia.png;

3-Magnifying glass = http://fuelfix.com/?attachment_id=426

Reflections for The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, Sunday, June 15

By:  Judy Morss

The Entrance Antiphon for this Sunday is:

"Blessed be God the Father, and the Only Begotten Son of God, and also the Holy Spirit, for he has shown us his merciful love,"

Reading I:  Exodus 34:4b-6, 8-9

Responsorial Psalm:  Daniel 3:52,53,53,55,56a

Reading II:  2 Corinthians 13:11-13

Gospel:  John 3:16-18

Pope Frances said this last year, on Trinity Sunday:

"Today is the Sunday of the Most Holy Trinity. The light of Eastertide and of Pentecost renews in us every year the joy and amazement of faith: let us recognize that God is not something vague ..... He is tangible; He is not abstract but has a name: 'God is love.'  His is not a sentimental, emotional kind of love but the love of the Father who is the origin of life, the love of the Son who dies on the Cross and is raised, the love of the Spirit who renews human beings and the world."

In Exodus, God the Father came down to Moses in a cloud; He passed by Moses and cried out: 

"The Lord, the Lord, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity."

In the Psalms, we acknowledge God as being blessed and respond:  

"Glory and praise forever."

2nd Corinthians tells us again of the three persons in one God with a beautiful blessing. 

"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you."

In John's Gospel, we are reminded again that: 

"God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life."

If you think about it, we are always encircled by the Holy Trinity.  We begin our prayers with the sign of the Cross, saying: "In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."  As I have been reflecting on the wondrous mystery of the Holy Trinity, I have been thinking about the relationship I have, or could have with each of the Persons of the Trinity.

God the Father is our Creator and He is our Father in every sense of the word. Because of Him, I have my being and have been given a purpose in life. When I think of how my earthly father cared for me, protected me, consoled me, counseled me, I come to a deeper understanding of how my Heavenly Father does all these things for me.  He is in love with me and I am in love with Him.

Jesus, God's Son became one with me and walks with me on this earth. He has a special understanding of my humanity, my strengths, my weaknesses. When I cry out to Him, he understands me and as I long to know Him even better, He comes closer to me and is my brother and my Savior.  When I stumble, He picks me up and carries me until I can walk again on His path.  When I receive the Eucharist, He not only inhabits my soul, but my body as well. He is in love with me and I am in love with Him.

The third person, the Holy Spirit, gathers us into the Trinity of  God's love. Jesus promised us that we would not be left as orphans. The gifts given to us by the Holy Spirit help us to heal our wounds and bring peace to our existence in this amoral world.  The freely given gift of wisdom is something I so cherish.  When I sit down to read the Bible, I ask for insight and to receive whatever should come to me as I read and ponder the Word of God.  When I am asked to speak or write to a group or blog like this, I always begin by "talking to the Holy Spirit." He never fails.  He is in love with me and I am in love with Him. "Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love."

When I meditate on the Trinity, I sometimes see myself in the center of a beautiful, warm circle of love. I am transformed from the mundane life I often lead into a life filled with hope, love for others (especially those in need) and a burning fire to draw closer and closer to the perfect union of Three Persons in our One God.

With love, blessings and a hope that you will also be drawn into this circle of God's everlasting love.

Judy

Reflection for Readings for Pentecost Sunday 2014

Reading 1:  Acts 2:1-11
Psalm Response:  Psalm 104
Reading II:  1st Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13
Gospel:  John 20:19-23

This will be a reflection of personal application of how the Scriptures for this Sunday moved in my life this week, not Scriptural exegesis.  Pentecost is one of my favorite Christian holy days, right up there with Christmas and Easter.  On Christmas we celebrate receiving God's gift of Jesus coming into the world, and on Pentecost we celebrate receiving the Holy Spirit coming into the church.

In Acts, the disciples were all together in one place, and from the sky came a noise like a strong wind, and it filled the house where they were, and came to rest on each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.

In the Psalms, God sends his breath to the earth's creatures and they are created.  When he takes away their breath, they return to the dust.

1st Corinthians says there are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone.  To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit.

According to the Gospel, Jesus came and stood in the midst of the disciples, while they were locked away, hiding in fear, and said to them, "Peace be with you."  He breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit."  

Yesterday I was blessed to be able to attend an ordination ceremony for two priests.  One part of the ceremony involved the numerous priests present who were already ordained processing up and one by one, laying their hands upon the priests being ordained.   Each imparted a blessing of the Holy Spirit upon the newly ordained.  Each individual was given a manifestation of the Spirit, and each shared in the one Spirit.  The archbishop specially annointed the hands of the newly ordained in the Holy Spirit with these words:

The Lord Jesus Christ, whom the Father anointed with the Holy Spirit and power, guard and preserve you that you may sanctify the Christian people and offer sacrifice to God.

I was especially touched to see the reverence with which some of the priests laid their hands on the new priests, clearly praying for them in holiness and blessing them.  I saw that each priest was an individual with different strengths and different gifts, like all of us.

I remember my own confirmation, when our priest laid his hands on my head and imparted the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit came as a strong driving wind in the account in Acts, and as the very breath of Jesus in the Gospel of John.  It is important to listen to the Holy Spirit in our own lives, and to be joyfully open to the moments when the Spirit does move.

God works in mysterious ways in our lives sometimes.  Christians speak of it often, the movements of the Spirit. The Spirit that gives us right judgement, wisdom, awe of the Lord, understanding.  I was speaking with a co-worker this week while at a funeral.  She asked me if any close relatives of mine had died.  I later returned her question, and she shared a story of a relative who had lived her in a nursing home.  She really was not close to that relative and had not visited them.  However, one day she felt she should go to visit, and did.  She had a wonderful visit.  Later that week the relative died.  She was so glad to have been able to spend some time with that person before they died, that she had gone when she did.  That prompting may have been the Holy Spirit in her, telling her to visit that day.

I remember a man who told me once that whenever he was in a difficult moment, he prayed to the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit came into the situation immediately.  That witness of his moved me, and I have found it to be true in my own life.  I can ask the Holy Spirit to come and bring me the peace of Christ, and the Lord is kind to always share his presence.  In another sense his presence is with us always, abiding with us forever as Jesus promised, and sometimes the asking is what helps us to recall who we are and to accept the reality of that Holy Presence.

Holy Spirit still and sweet
Good and right and You
You surprise me with your peace
When You come I have to stop and rest
Could rest forever in the moment
Of calm and enveloping You
The One so sweetly still and true

The Gift of the Holy Spirit is indeed the greatest gift, as it is the very presence of God our creator, who gave us breath and life itself.

Happy Pentecost to all of you!

Gazelle

What is Church?

A Reflection on the Readings for Sunday, June 1^st.

By: Larry T

What is church? Is it just a building with a steeple, a basilica, a cathedral, or simply a place of worship? Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines church as a building that is used for Christian religious services, or as a particular Christian group. Dr. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the outstanding Lutheran theologian, said, “Where a people prays, there is the church, and where the church is, there is never loneliness!”

How badly did the disciples need church in the days between the Ascension of the Lord and Pentecost? What an emotional roller coaster! Being with the Lord during his earthly ministry – joy! The abomination of His scourging, crucifixion and death – despair! His resurrection - jubilation! His ascension into heaven – bewilderment! How abandoned, depressed, lonely, even hopeless might they have been feeling? Instead of shrugging their shoulders, kicking at the dirt and dejectedly returning to their pre-Jesus lives they clung together in spiritual love and prayed to God. This Sunday’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles tells us that they became church.

¹² Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away.

¹³ When they entered the city they went to the upper room where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James.

¹⁴ All these devoted themselves with one accord to prayer, together with some women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers. – Acts 1:12-14 N.A.B.

Jesus hand-picked and spiritually formed the apostles for a special mission. They were going to be sent into the world to make the Father known to the world just as the Father had sent Jesus into the world to make the Father known. This group had listened to Jesus pray earnestly to the Father for them during his last discourse. As they became church they might have been clinging to the intercessory words of his prayer:

⁶ “I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.

⁷ Now they know that everything you gave me is from you,

⁸ because the words you gave to me I have given to them, and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me.

⁹ I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me, because they are yours,

¹⁰ and everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them.

¹¹ And now I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you. - John 17:6-11a N.A.B.

Why did Jesus pray for them? Francis J. Moloney S.D.B. (The Gospel of John, Sacra Pagina) writes, “Despite Jesus’ words on the disciples in verses 6-8 they remain fragile in a hostile world and they will not survive unless the Father keeps them in his name.” They had heard Jesus’ intercessory prayer to the Father for them, and they had church (prayer, fellowship, spiritual love for each other), but was that enough? As time passed they were expelled from the synagogues, persecuted by the Jews, and suffered Roman persecution and martyrdom. Was it all worth it? Understandably they needed reassurance, and in 1 Peter they got some.

¹³ But rejoice to the extent that you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that when his glory is revealed you may also rejoice exultantly.

¹⁴ If you are insulted for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

¹⁵ But let no one among you be made to suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as an intriguer.

¹⁶ But whoever is made to suffer as a Christian should not be ashamed but glorify God because of the name. - 1 Peter 4:13-16 N.A.B.

The first Christians depended on church, clung to the memory Jesus’ prayer to the Father for them, and desperately needed assurance that their faith was not in vain. How easy is it to be a faithful Christian in our society? Does it seem as though our faith is under constant attack in our country, and even in our own cities and towns, and sometimes even in our own families. Can we sympathize with Jeremiah?

⁹ I say to myself, I will not mention him, I will speak in his name no more.

But then it becomes like fire burning in my heart,

imprisoned in my bones;

I grow weary holding it in,

I cannot endure it.

¹⁰ Yes, I hear the whisperings of many:

“Terror on every side!

Denounce! let us denounce him!”

All those who were my friends

are on the watch for any misstep of mine.

“Perhaps he will be trapped; then we can prevail,

and take our vengeance on him.”

- Jeremiah 20:9-10 N.A.B

Jesus prayed to the Father for his disciples. Did He also pray for us? Yes!

²⁰ “I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,

²¹ so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me.

²² And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one,

²³ I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me.

²⁴ Father, they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am they also may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

²⁵ Righteous Father, the world also does not know you, but I know you, and they know that you sent me.

²⁶ I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them.” – John 17:20-26 N.A.B. 

How fragile are we (modern Christians) in an increasing hostile society? There is wisdom in the ability to recognize when something in unchangeable even when those around us are saying that it is. Abortion is contrary to God’s law – that will never change. God’s chosen Holy Family consisted of a man, a woman, and a child – that will never change. Jesus told us that the second greatest commandment is to love one another – that will never change. If we can’t recognize the principles of our faith that are unchangeable, it won’t be long before we won’t be able to recognize our faith. To remain steadfast we need to remember that Jesus prayed for us, we need the encouragement of Scripture, guidance of the Holy Spirit through the Magisterium – and we need to be church!

Stretch Upward to the Son

"The truth is that the Son of Man was revealed as Son of God in a more perfect and transcendent way once he had entered into his Father’s glory; he now began to be indescribably more present in his divinity to those from whom he was further removed in his humanity. A more mature faith enabled their minds to stretch upward to the Son in his equality with the Father; it no longer needed contact with Christ’s tangible body, in which as man he is inferior to the Father. For while his glorified body retained the same nature, the faith of those who believed in him was now summoned to heights where, as the Father’s equal, the only-begotten Son is reached not by physical handling but by spiritual discernment." From a sermon by Saint Leo the Great, pope

Time to begin the Pentecost Novena!  Spiritual discernment is something that I pray for always, and it is a good intention for this Novena.  This is the discernment to follow the direction of the Spirit, and not my own -- or the worlds.  The disordered desires that we all have very often convince us that our comfort and our personal honor are enough to guide us to make decisions that are right for us.  These decisions cannot draw out of us great love for others, but imprison us to lesser loves.

Let the words of Saint Leo inspire us all to stretch our minds upward, and order our desires on what will draw each one of us into the heights of the Father's love.

Peace and many graces to all of you!
Heidi

Update:  Here is another site with a beautiful Pentecost Novena :  Discerning Hearts Pentecost Novena

Show us the Path of Life

That very day, the first day of the week, two of Jesus’ disciples were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus, and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred. And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him. 

Luke 24:13-16

The disciples on the road to Emmaus are discouraged and downcast, heading away from Jerusalem:  The site of the resurrection, the place where they are to go and await the Lord.  They have heard the rumors of resurrection, but they cannot believe after such a disastrous and seemingly definitive end to the life and mission of Jesus.  Their hope is crushed, their courage has failed them. Have you ever found yourself wandering away from the path set before you by the Lord in the wake of the sorrows, trails and sinfulness of this world?  Jesus, who will never abandon us, meets the disciples where they are and probes their hearts.  He gives them His mild rebuke: “Oh how foolish you are!  How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke!”  He then gently instructs and redirects them with the power of His Word.

 You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.  Psalm 16:11

If there is one thing that we spiritual sojourners constantly face it is the the disorientation of our own sinfulness.  Walking toward the Light can be discouraging, like driving into the sun, every spot on our windshield shows.  I often find myself tossed to and fro between despairing self-condemnation and blinding self-justification.  Both extremes will divert us from our journey into a deeper relationship with the Lord.  We fail to move with conviction, or sometimes without our complete awareness, we change our direction and move farther away from the Light at the slightest failure.  Like the two disciples, in times of discouragement and sorrow, sometimes we discover we are on a path heading away from our true destination.  

I bless the LORD who counsels me; even in the night my heart exhorts me. I set the LORD ever before me; with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.  Psalm 16:7-8

And where specifically does Jesus council and redirect the faltering steps of the disciples?  To the Mass! We see in the account of this encounter with Christ the power of the Mass in our growth as Christians.  When we go to Mass we first allow our hearts to be convicted of our individual tendencies to veer off the path of life in the penitential rite, the Word prepares us to see and believe not only with our eyes but also with our interior vision  The intimate fellowship with our Eucharistic Jesus is where our interior eyes are opened and our wounds are healed. And then, with this interior vision refreshed and strengthen, we are sent out redirected and with a mission to bring His light to those who we encounter in our daily lives.

So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem…Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of bread.  Luke 24:33;35

The interior vision that we are to cultivate during our time of sojourning is so crucial to staying on the path that leads to resurrection.  It is also difficult to really abandon yourself to, because at some point you will have to see that you are in need of redirection!  Who wants to see that they have failed?  Yet, we are not created to be surface dwellers in the flesh, content with making things look nice and feel comfortable, we need to pierce the veneer and see the dead man’s bones that lie underneath.  If we do not push through the despair and pride and allow the light of the Lord to reveal our wounds, fears and failings, we will end up on the road leading away from Him.  When we encounter the Lord in our failures  -- and you do; He does not abandon you  -- we need to respond and ask Him to stay, to feed us and heal us.

you will not abandon my soul to the netherworld, Psalm 16:10

Allow the Lord to redirect  you, lift up your despairing eyes, shed your prideful blinders.  Yes, when you walk toward the light your flaws become so visible, but rejoice!  He is Risen, and He comes to you now just as you are to be your strength, to be your righteousness, to feed you and fill you with His joy.

conduct yourselves with reverence during the time of your sojourning, realizing that you were ransomed from your futile conduct, 1 Peter 1:17-18

Easter Joy to all!
Heidi
Scripture passages from the Mass readings for the Third Sunday of Easter