Monthly Archives: April 2022

Apr232022

Brighter Light

Faith, the theologians say, is a certain and obscure habit of soul. It is an obscure habit because it brings us to believe divinely revealed truths that transcend every natural light and infinitely exceed all human understanding. As a result the excessive light of faith bestowed on a soul is darkness for it; a brighter light will eclipse and suppress a dimmer one. The sun so obscures all other lights that they do not seem to be lights at all when it is shining, and instead of affording vision to the eyes, it overwhelms, blinds, and deprives them of vision since its light is excessive and unproportioned to the visual faculty. Similarly the light of faith in its abundance suppresses and overwhelms that of the intellect. For the intellect, by its own power, extends only to natural knowledge, though it has the potency to be raised to a supernatural act whenever our Lord wishes. –St John of the Cross “Ascent of Mount Carmel”

St John of the Cross. Euclid, Ohio.

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Apr082022

When Mary Weeps

When Mary weeps, her mother heart
Is full to overflowing:
When Mary weeps, pain’s piercing dart
Stabs Him beyond all knowing,
Who is by sinners crucified,
Blasphemed, forsaken, and denied.

When Mary weeps, God’s holy wrath
Is kindling cruel fires;
When Mary weeps, poor mankind’s path
Leads through war’s blood-soaked mires
And makes all human mothers moan
In love and pity for their own.

When Mary weeps, it’s time to pray
To have our sins forgiven;
When Mary weeps, each night and day
By sorrow must be riven
Until His and her children will
Once more seek peace on Calvary’s hill.

When Mary weeps, we all must try
To dry her tears of sorrow;
When Mary weeps, we too must cry
To glimpse a brighter morrow,
When her Son’s name is recognized
And all in love adore the Christ.

– Father Frederick Lynk

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Apr062022

He spoke this way

Jesus said to the Pharisees: “I am going away and you will look for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going you cannot come.” So the Jews said, “He is not going to kill himself, is he, because he said, ‘Where I am going you cannot come’?” He said to them, “You belong to what is below, I belong to what is above. You belong to this world, but I do not belong to this world. That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins.” So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “What I told you from the beginning. I have much to say about you in condemnation. But the one who sent me is true, and what I heard from him I tell the world.” They did not realize that he was speaking to them of the Father. So Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me. The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone,  because I always do what is pleasing to him.” Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him.

Gospel of John

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