Monthly Archives: April 2015

Fortitude: seek that which is above

Brothers and sisters:
If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above,
where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.
For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Epistle of Paul, Letter to Colossians chapter 3

“The kingdom of heaven is to be taken by storm, and it is only the violent that carry it away”. (Matt 12)  And, as when you go against the tide, you must always row without ceasing, and when you stop but for a while, you find yourself drifted far from the spot you had rowed to; so here you must still push forward, and make head against the current of your depraved passions, unless you be content to see yourself quickly carried far back from that degree of perfection which you had before attained. –St Alphonsus Rodriguez ‘The Practice of Christian & Religious Perfection I’.

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Easter Morning

Heavenly desires brought low by harsh cruel fate, a car crash,
Ugliness, interior, within, broken, beaten, battered, and shattered, ten miles of bad road,
Hurting, sorrow, pleading, where is the road I follow? Lead me,
Renunciation on the morning of resurrection, birds singing upon no path, a trail always ending,
Who knows whether he deserves love or hatred?
…though Thou wast angry with me, Thy anger turned away, and Thou didst comfort me.

…”Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.”
…he took the bread and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them.
No one left, solitude, alone, perception, the Eucharist adoring, radiating, calling, healing, loving, hearts and minds made pure,
Words of consultation, calming, an old woman bedridden upon years, a century in the making,
Bright-eyed, reading, telling stories of youth, a rascally little girl recalled, innocence, prayerful, a spirit grateful, blessed with cheer, an example, a road to follow away from myself,
On into the Risen Christ, seated at the right hand of the Father, arise through, with, and in faith, hope, and charity.

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Christ reposed

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2 Why is thy apparel red, and thy garments like his that treads in the wine press? 3 “I have trodden the wine press alone, and from the peoples no one was with me; I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood is sprinkled upon my garments, and I have stained all my raiment. 4 For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and my year of redemption has come. 5 I looked, but there was no one to help; I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold; so my own arm brought me victory, and my wrath upheld me. Isaiah 63:2-5

I cry with my voice to the LORD, with my voice I make supplication to the LORD, 2 I pour out my complaint before him, I tell my trouble before him. 3 When my spirit is faint, thou knowest my way! In the path where I walk they have hidden a trap for me. 4 I look to the right and watch, but there is none who takes notice of me; no refuge remains to me, no man cares for me. 5 I cry to thee, O LORD; I say, Thou art my refuge, my portion in the land of the living. 6 Give heed to my cry; for I am brought very low! Psalm 142

6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? 9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it was the will of the LORD to bruise him; he has put him to grief; when he makes himself an offering for sin, Isaiah 53

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Conclude Farewell Discourse: 3:00 PM Good Friday

Gospel of John chapter 17

16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; thy word is truth. 18 As thou didst send me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be consecrated in truth. 20 “I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 22 The glory which thou hast given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and thou in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them even as thou hast loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom thou hast given me, may be with me where I am, to behold my glory which thou hast given me in thy love for me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, the world has not known thee, but I have known thee; and these know that thou hast sent me. 26 I made known to them thy name, and I will make it known, that the love with which thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

End chapter 17

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Farewell Discourse

Gospel of John chapter 17

12* While I was with them, I kept them in thy name, which thou hast given me; I have guarded them, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I am coming to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14* I have given them thy word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I do not pray that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil one.

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Farewell Discourse: of the Father

Gospel of John chapter 17

6 “I have manifested thy name to the men whom thou gavest me out of the world; thine they were, and thou gavest them to me, and they have kept thy word7 Now they know that everything that thou hast given me is from thee; 8 for I have given them the words which thou gavest me, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from thee; and they have believed that thou didst send me. 9* I am praying for them; I am not praying for the world but for those whom thou hast given me, for they are thine; 10 all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11* And now I am no more in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to thee. Holy Father, keep them in thy name, which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.

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Mystery Embrace

I
No
Longer
Reprimand
Myself visible
In the light seen
Disappearing on into
The reflecting of the Father
Adoring, consuming, the Son
The Holy Spirit interior kiss
Disambiguation deny
Clarity not at all
Enigma rest
Blessing
On
I

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