The Word

"Never before has anyone spoken like this one" ~John 7:46

How true this is! Never before, and never again.
The people in the crowd listening to the words of Jesus had such mixed reactions. Some were convicted that He was the prophet, and some said The Christ. Others could not accept that a person of such a lowly background could be the Annointed One, but the words of Jesus caused something. The words went to their hearts.

The Word causes something.
It caused creation. It was in the beginning, and it will be at the end and beyond.
Jesus is the Word, and the Word will always cause division, as it did in the crowd that day. The Word will always go to our hearts. It creates, it changes, it challenges, and we can either deny it or embrace it, but it will never be silent.
It is our very life. It is the only Truth.

For some people that Truth is very inconvenient. It is a thorn. It resonates, and the hearts that want to deny it can never rest. They have to keep searching for something that will silence it, something that will drown it out. They have to find a way to kill what is the life of the soul. The Word never stops speaking life. To become deaf to it requires a death.

But to embrace it, to give over to it, is life!
The Truth is a person, and He loves us so much! He lives, He saves, He changes everything about us.
We can rest, we can fall into Him, we can respond to that warm voice of our Lover.
Our restless hearts are at peace.
The fire of that love inflames our hearts and we should burn for the souls of the ones that He loves.
We should desire their wholeness and their healing.
What we are is a part of what He is. We are a part of The Speaking.
The Word continues to seek out hearts.
Please, God, help me to be one who brings the life of the Word to whoever You send me to.

Kings, Queens, and Little Princes

The prince of this world is strutting around with a tiny little crown on his head.
"Corona" means crown, and this one has people everywhere in his thrall.
He is roaring in our lack of control, he is roaring in our tendency to panic and the lack of faith that has become commonplace in our world.
He is roaring in all of the things that we are influenced by.
He is causing fear, anger, division and dissention and he is howling into the chaos.

This distraction comes during the season of Lent, when we are supposed to be deep in prayer, fasting and caring for each other.
There is so much misinfomation, so much anxiety and so much noise in the air.

While all of this is going on, we absolutely have to remember that we are children of the Truth.
The Truth is that nothing can separate us from the love of God, and the love of God is everywhere and always.

If we keep our eyes focused on the true King, we can see that this is all a time of penitence. This is a time to pray and fast. We need to remember that the true King is with us, and that He has promised that He will never leave.

"Behold, I am with you always until the end of the age." Jesus promises.
If he is with us, who can be against us? Not even a tiny little prince.

Are we surprised that this tool of the prince of this world came from a place where unbelief is the law of the land? Is there anything in that fact that makes us wonder? Are we blind to the implications?

The fact is that there is always danger. We are ALWAYS in the valley of the shadow of death, and we are called to fear no evil, for he is with us.

Let's not give the little prince any victories of anger, division, fear, dissention, bitterness or chaos.
Let us give him no quarter in our hearts.

He has a tiny little crown, but we are assured that the Queen of Heaven, who has been crowned and sits at the King's right hand, will crush him.
Let us pray that she crushes this particular effort of the little prince before Easter, so that we can join together to celebrate the Glory of the Resurrection!

When The Truth Hurts

It is a fact that there are some truths that are much harder to accept than others.

The truths about sexuality are some of the hardest.

When we know that people that we care about, who are truly good people, trying to live good lives, have disorders of any kind, we ache for them and we want them to be happy.
In a fallen world there are many different types of "dis"orders, because the order that God created into it has been disturbed.
There are disorders of the physical systems; whether genetic, metabolic, or any of a thousand others.

Mental Health disorders create challenges for more and more people in our society, and many of these are of undetermined orign, although many people seem to have depression and anxiety that has come through the family line.

Another area in which we are challenged are the disorders of sexuality. Again, many times this seems to be just built into the person, as is Down's Syndrome or Schizophrenia.
Disorders of sexuality used to be seen as perversions, a lack of good parenting, or mental health issues, and the progress that has been made toward understanding and loving people, regardless of their sexual inclinations is a gift.
These challenges are real, and they affect people in every segment of society, and these are all people that desire love, connection and acceptance of their persons.
The challenges that people with same-sex attraction, or gender dysphoria, or sexual confusion face can be overwhelming and we need to meet them where they are and offer them the same love and acceptance that we would offer any other person that we meet.

And in that offer of love, we can also offer them the Truth.
That God made us in His image, and that we are called to be like Him.

In our sexuality, He has created us to be a sign of the greatest truth of all, the truth of His love. In the marital embrace, when a "man leaves his mother and father and cleaves to his wife and the two of them become one flesh", we are most like the Trinitarian family of God than in any other way. This is the Truth of who we are and why we are made the way that we are.
Man and woman are literally made for each other. When the two become one, and the Spirit of God acts, another person is created. Man and Woman are co-creators with God.
As the love of the Father and the Son is made manifest in the Holy Spirit, so the love of husband and wife is the catalyst from which new life springs.
That we participate in the revelation of the nature of God, and that He has entrusted us with the gift of creating new life, is not just part of the natural order, it is quite supernatural. It is a participation in the very life of God.

We can't avoid this order. We can't undo it, and we can't change it. We can't wish, or legislate, it away. It is God's design. He is the author of life and truth, and what He has made, He has declared good. When He made us, He declared us "very good"!

We have to look at the way He made us, and recognize that in this design there is a very fundamental truth. The truth is written in our bodies.

Longing

 O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water. ~Psalm 63:1

We are in a new time, a different time, and it is calling for something that most of us have never experienced. Jesus is calling for renewed appreciation of the gift of the Mass.

Many, many of the Diocese across the world have had to cancel Masses in response to the very real threat of the Corona Virus.
This means that many of us will not have the opportunity offer the Mass and to receive Jesus in the Eucharist for an indefinite period.
For those who are used to receiving Him weekly or daily, this comes as a trial, a Lenten fast.

I see this as a time of Spiritual continence.
We are so used to going to Mass and receiving Jesus that we can become complacent. We know him as our Lord, but we think that he will just always be there, waiting at the altar for us to receive during Mass. We go, and we receive, and of course we thank him, but we can become like a married couple that just looks at each other with a love that is the stuff of habit, and not longing.

For those that have experienced the practice of NFP, there is a certain similarity.
When you have to practice continence, and you know that you can only gaze but not become "one flesh", for good reasons, the desire becomes stronger. You wait, and you offer up that time, because you know that when the time is right to come together again, the wine of the marital union will be that much sweeter!

While we cannot go to Mass and recieve the body of Our Lord, and as we gaze at Him in adoration, let's renew the desire that we have for union with Him. Let's look at Him with new eyes and with an increased appreciation for what we have in this Holy Sacrifice.

Let us long for the Lord.

The Wine at Jacob's Well

Dear Jesus, I praise you for your word and the gift that it is!!

John 4:5-42~
This reading is so beautiful! It is a little lesson in Salvation history and the journey of the bride to the Bridegroom. When I opened it this morning it was as if I had never seen it before! How often I have read this passage, but have not understood this wonderful gift.

You began the work of salvation back in the very beginning with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Jacob's well gave an earthly gift of water to the people of the Old Covenant. They were the bride waiting for the Bridegroom. Their "husband" was the old covenant, the law and the prophets. The Samaritan woman represents the bride. She is a part of the people of Israel that has been away from the law, and they have had many "husbands". You tell her "the one that you have now is not your husband." And there you are, the Bridegroom, with the living water with which you will wash the bride to prepare her for the wedding feast. This is the water that you give as Spiritual gift. This water is the water that flows from your side as the Church is given. This is the new well, and the New Covenant. This is the water "welling up to eternal life" that cannot dry up, that does not fail to quench. The old covenant people would always be thirsty, would always be searching for the Bridegroom, unless they recognized you and embraced you as the One that they had been waiting for.

Here you are Lord!! With your arms open wide and the water flowing to bathe us in a nuptual bath and to quench us! You said "I thirst" as you died for the object of your desire, and the water was given from your Sacred Heart. You thirst for the Love of your bride. You desire her and you want her to ask you for the water.
The Church is the Bride prepared. She is walking down the aisle to you. She is still awaiting the final vows, and those that are supposed to be her bridesmaids and your groomsmen are not always very faithful. The guests and those that are invited are up to all sorts of nonsense in the sanctuary. They lie, they cheat and steal, they throw mud at her and try to slow her down, but she keeps walking, and she is led by some that are very faithful. Your vicar walks her down the aisle and does his best to get her to you.

The wedding feast is getting started in Heaven.
The table is being laid by the Saints. They are ready to welcome the new couple into the throneroom.

So much has been given since Jacob gave his people that old well. That water served well for the earthly journey. It was enough for a time, but now you are sitting on the well of the past and offering the water of eternal life that needs no bucket or cup. It never dries up and it will flow forever. It will become New Wine!