I know that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be hindered.
I have dealt with great things that I do not understand;
things too wonderful for me, which I cannot know.
I had heard of you by word of mouth,
but now my eye has seen you.
Therefore I disown what I have said,
and repent in dust and ashes.
Job the final chapter
…whatsoever things are true, whatsoever modest, whatsoever just, whatsoever holy, whatsoever lovely, whatsoever of good fame, if there be any virtue, if any praise of discipline, meditate on these things. –Philippines
Owl Butterfly: Cleveland Botanical Gardens
The structure did not seem very attractive from the outside, but when I entered, the white and colorful interior almost took my breath. The altar and sanctuary were marvelous. How those friars cherish and adorn that little yet heavenly chapel! I felt so happy kneeling there alone before the radiant Tabernacle. Truly, I felt as if I were in a haven of Glory. After Confession, I walked over to the altar of the Blessed Virgin in order to burn a vigil light there and again consecrate myself to her as her Knight. I pleaded that she guide me wisely and protect me closely as I venture along the disastrous paths of battle. Other earnest prayers followed in which I asked blessings on all of you at home. Moments such as these before the Blessed Sacrament are the only true consolation, solitude, and peace a soldier can find nowadays. I seek those moments at every opportunity that is given to me, for there lies my hope and contentment. –‘Our Lady’s Knight’
..be thou an example of the faithful in word,
in conversation,
in charity,
in faith,
in chastity.
Till I come, attend unto reading,
to exhortation,
and to doctrine.
Neglect not the grace that is in thee,
which was given thee by prophesy,
with imposition of the hands of the priesthood.
Meditate upon these things,
be wholly in these things:
that thy profiting may be manifest to all.
Take heed to thyself
and to doctrine:
be earnest in them.
For in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee.
1 Timothy chapter 4
Gathering Water: Cleveland Botanical Gardens
This severe purgation comes to pass in few souls—in those alone whom He desires to raise to some degree of union by means of contemplation; and those who are to be raised to the highest degree of all are the most severely purged. This happens as follows. When God desires to bring the soul forth from its ordinary state—that is, from its natural way and operation—to a spiritual life, and to lead it from meditation to contemplation, which is a state rather heavenly than earthly, wherein He communicates Himself through union of love, He begins at once to communicate Himself to the spirit, which is still impure and imperfect, and has evil habits, so that each soul suffers according to the degree of its imperfections; and at times this purgation is in some ways as grievous to the soul whom it is preparing for the reception of perfect union here below as is that of purgatory, wherein we are purged in order to see God in the life to come. St John of the Cross ‘Living Flame of Love’
Lamentations Chapter 3
I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of His wrath;
He has driven and brought me into darkness without any light;
surely against me He turns His hand again and again the whole day long.
He has made my flesh and my skin waste away, and broken my bones;
He has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation;
He has made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago.
He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; He has put heavy chains on me;
though I call and cry for help, He shuts out my prayer;
He has blocked my ways with hewn stones, He has made my paths crooked.
He is to me like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding;
He led me off my way and tore me to pieces; He has made me desolate;
He bent His bow and set me as a mark for His arrow.
He drove into my heart the arrows of His quiver;
I have become the laughingstock of all peoples, the burden of their songs all day long.
He has filled me with bitterness, He has sated me with wormwood.
He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes;
my soul is bereft of peace, I have forgotten what happiness is;
so I say, “Gone is my glory, and my expectation from the LORD.”
Remember my affliction and my bitterness, the wormwood and the gall!
My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me.
But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:
The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, His mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.
“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”
Two Mass readings feeding upon one another.
My child, conduct your affairs with humility,
and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts.
Humble yourself the more,
the greater you are,
and you will find favor with God.
What is too sublime for you, seek not,
into things beyond your strength search not.
The mind of a sage appreciates proverbs,
and an attentive ear is the joy of the wise.
Water quenches a flaming fire,
and alms atone for sins.
‘Sirach’
Brothers and sisters:
You have not approached
that which could be touched
and a blazing fire
and gloomy darkness
and storm
and a trumpet blast
and a voice speaking words such that those who heard
begged that no message be further addressed to them.
No, you have approached
Mount Zion
and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
and countless angels in festal gathering,
and the assembly of the firstborn enrolled in heaven,
and God the judge of all,
and the spirits of the just made perfect,
and Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant,
and the sprinkled blood that speaks more eloquently than that of Abel.
‘Hebrews’
…so, therefore, that mortal man who hath more of joy than sorrow in him, that mortal man cannot be true—not true, nor undeveloped. He will always strive. With books the same. The truest of all men was the Man of Sorrows, and the truest of all books is Solomon’s, and Ecclesiastes is the fine hammered steel of woe. “All is vanity.” ALL. This wilful world hath not got hold of unchristian Solomon’s wisdom yet. But he who dodges hospitals and jails, and walks fast crossing graveyards, and would rather talk of operas than hell; calls Cowper, Young, Pascal, Rousseau, poor devils all of sick men; and throughout a care-free lifetime swears by Rabelais as passing wise, and therefore jolly;—not that man is fitted to sit down on tomb-stones, and break the green damp mould with unfathomably wondrous Solomon.
But even Solomon, he says, “the man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain” (i.e., even while living) “in the congregation of the dead.” Give not thyself up, then, to fire, lest it invert thee, deaden thee; as for the time it did me. There is a wisdom that is woe; but there is a woe that is madness. And there is a Catskill eagle in some souls that can alike dive down into the blackest gorges, and soar out of them again and become invisible in the sunny spaces. And even if he for ever flies within the gorge, that gorge is in the mountains; so that even in his lowest swoop the mountain eagle is still higher than other birds upon the plain, even though they soar. –Herman Melville ‘Moby Dick’
The bride says:
On my bed at night I sought him whom my heart loves
I sought him but I did not find him.
I will rise then and go about the city;
in the streets and crossings
I will seek Him whom my heart loves.
I sought him but I did not find him.
The watchmen came upon me as they made their rounds of the city:
Have you seen him whom my heart loves?
I had hardly left them
when I found him whom my heart loves.
Song of Songs
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