What kind of things do you look at in a day? A computer screen? A newspaper article? A Facebook account? A book? A TV screen? A phone screen? Another person's eyes? It's amazing how many things a person can look at in a day! What is even more amazing is that which we often forget to look at--OURSELVES. What do I mean? We can so easily become infatuated with the world outside of us, the material things around us. But how often do we simply close our eyes? Simply close our eyes and find out what is going on within our own hearts? How much MORE FULFILLMENT would we find in the things around us if we knew how much they meant to us? If we knew why we desired them? Today, I challenge each of us (myself included) to look within ourselves and encounter the God who created us, He who gives meaning not only to those things around us but to our own hearts and our own lives.
Be not afraid to close your eyes in order to truly see.
You ever have days where it seems you continue to mess up, where it seems that no one understands you?
You ever go a day and wonder, Where was God in all of that?
Well, have I got some news for you!
You aren't alone.
Especially in the journey of our discernment of whatever Vocations the Lord may have planned for us, it is important to recognize that our Vocations are His and not ours. What a blessing that is! So why do we fret? Why do we fear?
...I ask myself the same questions sometimes.
Today, on this Monday of Holy Week, let us claim our discernment for the Lord. Let us press on into Jerusalem with the Lord as we prepare for our passionate love to be revealed and exposed in such vulnerability! Be not afraid!
May this simple but powerful phrase be our battle cry this week:
O drought of love! O font of mercy!
O desert! O wilderness sublime!
Unsatisfied, worn and dried,
Seeking comfort at Your side.
At Your side, I hide; I hide
For identity to be identified.
And what is sand but countless prayers,
Prayers so fair and skin so bare,
Bare to the bone of hunger and thirst?
You take Your throne, I take my hearse.
Your heart of love is about to burst.
Save me, Lord, before I make things worse.
"If today you hear His voice,
harden not your heart."
The Lenten season may be difficult for some of us. It may be a time when we realize how weak we truly are or how far we are from holiness. But what a humbling moment! What a moment for absolute surrender to our Lord! Let us not be afraid to rise up from the ashes. For the Lord is calling us. Can you hear His voice?
Well, you may have caught me. This Sunday blog is technically being written on Monday morning. And even this sentence is not completely true because this blog is not written, it is typed. Despite these many contradictions, I hope this blog brings life and refreshment to you in this desert of a liturgical season.
I have but one challenge for you this day. But it needs not end today (and it shouldn't considering this blog was written tomorrow...yeah, ain't that something?). And the challenge is this:
Do what you love, and do it well.
I was inspired to write this blog by the following video:
What a beautiful message by Carrie Underwood, a woman with an incredible gift, who chose to praise God with the very gifts He gave her. And how even more beautiful it is that she would share it with all of the world. Once again, I urge you to be not afraid. The Lord is prepared to do INCREDIBLE things with you. It's simple: let Him.
Did you receive Jesus in the Eucharist today? If so, did you allow it to change the way you live your life? Did you allow his love to permeate your entire being, your entire life?
As a simple reminder yet a difficult challenge, let us each live up to our potential (which is the very being of Jesus Christ, whom we receive). If we truly believed in the Eucharist, we would change the way we live completely.
...than the persons that gather in these structures.
It's more...
...than this earth...
...and the things...
...this world tries to offer.
It is...
...the Communion of Saints.
It is...
...a person: the stainless Bride.
She is...
...the Blessed Virgin Mary.
And how beautiful She is...
...when She stands up for Herself.
Today, more than ever, let us claim our Brideship. We are everything. And everyone. We are the present. We are the Church. We are one body, though we are made up of many parts (cf. 1 Cor. 12:12-13). Whatever our part is, whatever our place may be, let us unite ourselves to the Body this day. Let us stand as one!
To close with the words of our late Holy Father, Blessed John Paul II, I urge you, brothers and sisters: "Be not afraid."
"Do not be afraid to go out on the streets and into public places, like the first Apostles who preached Christ and the Good News of salvation in the squares of cities, towns and villages. This is no time to be ashamed of the Gospel (cf. Rom 1:16). It is the time to preach it from the rooftops (cf. Mt 10:27). Do not be afraid to break out of comfortable and routine modes of living, in order to take up the challenge of making Christ known in the modern ``metropolis''. It is you who must ``go out into the byroads'' (Mt 22:9) and invite everyone you meet to the banquet which God has prepared for his people. The Gospel must not be kept hidden because of fear or indifference. It was never meant to be hidden away in private. It has to be put on a stand so that people may see its light and give praise to our heavenly Father (cf. Mt 5:15-16)."
Homily of Pope John Paul II at Cherry Creek State Park, Denver, Colorado, on the Feast of the Assumption, 1993.
How much joy are you spreading this Advent season? Let it be contagious! Let us not be afraid to let the life spread from within us onto those around us, for we are an Incarnational people! How beautiful it is that the joy we desire already lies within us...we need only take hold of it and let it come to full fruition in our lives and the lives of those around us. AMEN!
