Lights

This morning as I was praying the Gospel, where Jesus promises that He will send the Holy Spirit, I heard a dove outside in the tree, calling, and a ways away there was another dove answering. It was such a beautiful gift from the Lord, through creation. One voice calling, and another answering the call. Lord, may I always hear and answer the call of your Spirit, the spouse of my soul.
Come Holy Spirit.

Later I was praying through the Awakening Love retreat, and the image was one of Jesus helping us on the path, which is aften difficult and rocky, sometimes very steep.
I thought of all the "rocks" that I have seen as stumbling blocks on the way. Sometimes I have climbed them and even cursed them, but it's funny how, when you look back, they don't look like obstacles, but like stepping stones.

The Lord has asked me to follow him, to let him carry the pack and walk in His steps.
The view from the top is going to be wonderful!

Reading the Lord of the Rings, I had a thought about the language of the Angels, which are represented by the Elves. They have a beautiful language that is from all eternity.
The language of Heaven is given to us by the Holy Spirit. The gift of tongues.
Frodo was able to speak the language of the elves. I hope someday to be able to hear the language of Heaven, and understand.

Amen, Amen

In pondering the Resurrection of Jesus, I love to picture the moment when His heart is infused with Divine Life, and begins to beat once again. The moment when everything, in time and eternity, changed.

 This Sacred Heart, which had been pierced by a sword at His crucifixion, is pierced with the Love of the Father and this Heart begins to beat again with glorified life. Every part of His body is alive again, and is not just alive, but new. There is power, glory, love and divinity in every single cell.

His Heart beats and He doesn't just wake up, He RISES. He comes forth. He is still incarnate God, but now His body is something entirely new in all of time, eternity, and creation.
This new body, this new heart, He has given to us!

When we receive Him in the Eucharist, we receive His heart; not a lifeless heart, pierced by a sword, we receive His glorified heart! The same heart that began to beat again at the resurrection and has never stopped. That heart infused with the very life of God. Every cell.

If this is true, then we would be incredibly and underservedly Blessed to receive it even once in our lives. Once would be a miracle, yet we are able to receive this miracle EVERY day!

It is true. He said so. He is the Truth.

Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.54Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.55For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.56Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.57Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. ~ John 6: 53-5758

A Meditation on the Phantom of the Opera

The Iconic story of the Phantom of the Opera has been a favorite, mostly since Andrew Lloyd Weber put music and lyrics to it, for decades, and I have practically memorized it.
However, in prayer I received the most amazing gift of insight into the love of God for us.
This story is a beautiful meditation on Salvation history.

Jesus says "Love me, that's all I ask of you".  This song is a duet, a song that is sung by two people in love, and it fits perfectly within the context of Jesus calling out to the soul, His beloved.

The whole story parallels the story of the soul, the world, the flesh, satan, our Savior, and redemption.

As the story opens, Christine is singing a song, and she surprises all those that know her as a chorus girl in the theater. They don't know that she has been taught by an unseen "teacher". The Angel of Music, that she thinks her father has sent to her from the other side, since he has died. This "teacher" gives her music and tells her what to sing, much like the world gives us something to call our own and teaches us that what we desire is an end in itself. It offers to give us something, and we make the deal. Christine takes what is offered and then later realizes that it has been "given" with many strings attached. She is no longer free. The Phantom holds her, and the whole theater in his power, by instilling fear in all those who work in the theater, and greed in the men that run it. The Phantom requires a stiff repayment. Just everything.

The themes in the story are so clearly laid out by the music.

Dark and dischordant, light and sweet and sweeping.
The underworld and the rooftops.
Childhood innocence and lost fatherhood.

The Phantom is a dark character, that "haunts" the theater and lives in the depths underground. He is hidden, but always present.
It seems that he represents the world, the things that promise to fulfill our deepest desires.
He also has a demonic side to him. He wants Christine, who seems to represent the soul.
He wants her, he craves her, and he seduces her.

Christine at first innocently accepts what the Phantom is offering, but she starts to see that in order to keep receiving his "benefits" she will have to give more and more of herself to him.

Meanwhile there is Raul, who is the image of the Savior, in so many ways.
His love for Christine is pure, and only seeks to be returned.
He only wants her to love him, and he goes to her, he woos her and she responds to this love that is more than she has ever known, however she still wants to keep the Phantom in the wings, and she is torn.
She tries to negotiate, to keep the fame and success that the Phantom has brought her, and to love Raul as well.  She keeps their love hidden and secret, because she knows that the Phantom won't be pleased. The Phantom wants total control over her. He seems to love her, but in the end it is a desire to possess her.

Christine can't have both, and as she takes the role that the Phantom has "arranged" for her, she steps into a deal that she will not be able to get herself out of.  She is taken into the underworld of the Phantom and she sees who he really is, still she doesn't want to let go of what she has bargained for, and still she is trying to negotiate. He gave her his music, and he has given her what she wanted, now he wants her to stay with him and give all of herself to him, forever. His deception and cruelty begin to show, and she realizes that she has made a deal with a dark force. She exposes his weakness and the reason that he had hidden himself, but it seems that the distortion of his face is minor compared with the way that his soul has twisted.

Raul meanwhile is searching for her everywhere, he will not let her go without a fight. He descends to where she is, and he offers himself. She is powerless and when she realizes that Raul will give himself for her, she sees what true love is. She chooses Raul, but the Phantom escapes.

Evil will always exist. We can choose Christ, but the evil lurks as long as we inhabit this earth. There will always be a dark presence that wants to possess our souls, and our desires can convince us that we can give "just a little" to get what we want.
It is a dangerous game, and we are children playing with fire.

Jesus' desire for us is bigger and stronger than any darkness that has it's tentacles around us, but we have to call out, we have to desire to be saved, more than we desire the fruits of the "deals" that we have made with the world.

All He asks is that we love Him.