Lord Jesus Christ make us serve you and others without pushing ourselves forward, so that we may help our fellow men and women without humiliating them. Make us dedicate ourselves to everything that is lowly and unimportant in the world’s eyes, so that we may do the things that no one else takes on. Teach us to wait, to listen and not to speak prematurely. Make us humble and poor enough to accept help from others. Send us on our way in search of your name, today and everyday, forever and ever. Amen.
I built my house by the sea. Not on the sands, mind you; not on the shifting sand. And I built it of rock.
A strong house by a strong sea. And we got well acquainted, the sea and I. Good neighbors. Not that we spoke much. We met in silences. Respectful, keeping our distance, but looking our thoughts across the fence of sand. Always, the fence of sand our barrier, always, the sand between.
And then one day, -and I still don’t know how it happened – the sea came. Without warning.
Without welcome, even Not sudden and swift, but a shifting across the sand like wine, less like the flow of water than the flow of blood. Slow, but coming. Slow, but flowing like an open wound. And I thought of flight and I thought of drowning and I thought of death. And while I thought the sea crept higher, till it reached my door. And I knew, then, there was neither flight, nor death, nor drowning. That when the sea comes calling, you stop being neighbors, Well acquainted, friendly-at-a-distance neighbors, And you give your house for a coral castle, And you learn to breathe underwater.
Endeavor to be inclined always: not to the easiest, but to the most difficult; not to the most delightful, but to the most distasteful; not to the most gratifying, but to the less pleasant; not to what means rest for you, but to hard work; not the consoling, but to the unconsoling; not to the most, but to the least; not to the highest and most precious, but to the lowest and most despised; not to wanting something, but to wanting nothing. Do not go about looking for the best of temporal things, but for the worst, and, for Christ, desire to enter into complete nudity, emptiness, and poverty in everything in the world. –St John of the Cross
The soul contemplates the goodness of God in the mirror of material creatures, and rises to Him by recalling the parables which Jesus preached to beginners; 2) The soul contemplates the divine goodness in the mirror of intelligible truths, or the mysteries of salvation, and rises to Him by a spiral movement, from the Nativity of Christ to His Ascension; 3) The soul contemplates sovereign Goodness in itself, in the darkness of faith, circling round again and again, to return always to the same infinite truth, to understand it better and more fully to live by it. –Father Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange
The bridegroom rejoices that his chosen has said yes to his invitation to spiritual marriage. She wants the illumination of perfect love to end in its consummation. To be of one spirit with God is to be freed from rebellious imperfections. Also its resistances have to die a natural death like the old self she used to be. Only then can God complete in her the work he began so long ago. Only through such slavery can she be set free!
“What shall we do for our sister on the day of her courtship, for she is little and has no breasts? If she is a wall let us build upon its silver bulwark and defenses; and if she is a door, let us reinforce it with cedar wood.” — Song of songs
She wants the Holy Spirit to fortify the walls that’s surround her inmost chamber, making them secure against the attacks of intruders. Love brings her closer to that special room made of sweet cedar wood where she senses her mystical marriage shall at last be consummated. As a bride- to-be, she shall wait by the door to greet her groom with a Cordial kiss. She shall hold open the portal of her heart so that he may enter “through the complete and true ‘yes’ of love”.
Caught up in the moment, expanding horizons, loving beyond reach, a text exchange, sweet nothings arising to something significant. This is really how we speak to each other, while also planning and preparing for the future as adults.
It is dreamy to collapse into your arms.
Maybe for eternity, God will bless us, allowing us to repose in one another’s arms forever. No worries, all grace, praying for all souls, God would see to it that we never leave the embrace of one another. Enfolding together in heaven, forever abiding in each other’s love.
Amen my Sweet Love. It is enthralling to love you like a child.
The gift of fear, the prayer of awe, have their social purpose, too. They will help to restore a world living more and more on the surface of life: you must pray, and pray this prayer of awe, to give back the dimension of depth to life on earth…..those who try to escape from the terrifying reality of God by seeking refuge in the externals of religion: it is only one stage better than trying to forget reality by the endless pursuit of pleasure. Pray the prayer of awe, and living in docility to the Spirit’s gift of loving reverence, and then you will worship in spirit and in truth and help to restore to the world to the wholeness of the life of worship: you will help to teach a world proud and uncaring in its belief in its own maturity and self-sufficiency that there is no real life, and therefore no real happiness, except in poverty of spirit, except in the infinite life of God: and you will teach all this by being yourself a child, for of such is the kingdom of heaven. –Father Gerald Vann ‘The Divine Pity’
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