He is Coming!

The Word of God is not something to be locked away. The Word is not meant to be a mere idea, a structure in our minds. Rather, the Word is meant to be expressed; it is meant to be told. By its very nature, it longs to be spoken. And most of all, the Word is a person; no, THE person--the person of Jesus Christ. And He says, "My little ones, listen closely to the womb of my Mother. Press your ear to her womb in hopes to hear me growing. The time is coming; I am coming. I am coming to you, my little one. Feel my leaping within her womb, for I long to be in your presence! Prepare the way. Again, I say prepare!"

And the Lord will indeed come. And He will appear smaller than all of us. But, as has been long expected, He is bigger than all of us. And as if this wasn't humbling enough, He gives His own life for us who are lesser. Let us rejoice at his coming! Let us anticipate the Lord by allowing His presence to grow within us and purify our hearts with the spirit of his humble Mother. May God be with us and in us.

Blessed Phillip Rinaldi, pray for us.

Spiritual Direction

   In light of the Lion King coming out again in theatres, I thought it would be effective to use this particular scene from the movie. To set up the scene, this conversation occurs between Simba and his father Mufasa just moments after Simba "deliberately disobeyed" him.

Watch closely as many great truths pour forth from Mufasa's words:

   We can see in this scene the stern yet gentle character Mufasa has for his son. This is love. For in loving Simba, he must correct him and teach him a lesson. This is the importance of spiritual direction. For in truly loving another, I want him to actualize or attain his full potential.

   But something else, something very great occuring in this scene is the idea of Simba's smallness. He is so small compared to his father, and he feels so imcompetent. But this is formation. This is what we are called to as seminarians. There are such huge footsteps that have come before us! Luckily for us, it is not our job to rewalk those footsteps, to somehow fit our steps into theirs. Rather, we are called to further their footsteps. We are called to continue the journey from where they left off. In this, we can each attain greatness; each of us can attain holiness. May we not be afraid of being directed or corrected in our ways. For the ultimate goal is this greatness.

Today, let us not be overwhelmed by great pressures or expectations to do great things in our lives. For, as Mother Theresa said, it is more important that we do "small things with great love." This is what we are capable of, and this is what we are called to. Let us not be afraid of greatness.

Blessed Mother Theresa, pray for us.

Posted by: Jared R.