The two Hearts.

Dear friend in Christ, today the Church celebrates the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, following the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus yesterday. Through the mystic and victim soul Berthe Petit, The Lord revealed heaven's desire that the Devotion to the the two hearts be promoted for the glory of God. In 1917, our Lady said to the children of Fatima, "in the end My Immaculate Heart will triumph." The world will recognize and know the very special place God has given to the Virgin Mother of His Son in the plan of salvation. Blessed is she who believes that all that was spoken to her by The Lord will come true. I would like to share with you today a prayer of consecration which The Lord has led me to say everyday, not only for myself, but also for all those He puts into my life. It is derived from the prayer of Consecration in the beautiful story of the messages of Our Lady given in Akita Japan in 1973. Here. is the prayer with some addition on my part. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus truly present in the Holy Eucharist, through the most Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, I consecrate my body and soul to be entirely one with Your Heart being sacrificed at every instant on all the altars of the world, giving praise to the Father and pleading for the coming of His Kingdom. Please Lord accept this humble offering of myself, use me as you will for the glory of the Father and the salvation of souls. Most Holy Mother of God, never let me be separated from your Divine Son, please defend and protect me as your special child. Amen. Dear friend, say this prayer daily, and every time you can remember during the day. I assure you that you will benefit from it and slowly come to know the Lord's and His Mother's protection. I also want to tell you that The Lord has slowly taught me to say it for others using the name of another person close to you and saying the prayer in the third person. In time it will become a sort of private ministry for you, consecrating those whom The Lord brings into your life. Only in eternity will you fully understand the fruit you have bore by this prayer. May God be with you always.

The Lord who is to come.

My friend in Christ, during these weeks of Advent we open the morning Liturgy of the Hours with the Invitatory antiphon which says, "Come, let us worship the Lord, the King who is to come." During this season of waiting for the Lord that leads us into the Christmas Celebration of the Birth of the Christ Child, the Church officially proclaims Her faith in Christ the Lord who is to come. How beautiful it is to pray with joy to Him who promised us His coming, when all evil will be banished from this beautiful planet and all creation will be restored to it's full glory with the freedom of the sons of God. This advent season is a time of joy, when all God's faithful children prepare for the coming of His Divine Son. G.K. Chesterton once said that peace and joy constitutes the greatest secret of Christianity. Those in whom the Lord dwells are filled with peace and joy in the knowledge that with every passing day the Church, the people of God, draws ever nearer to that Glorious day when God's promise will be fulfilled. These are the words of St. Peter in 2Peter 3:13. "But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells." Let us enter into the spirit of the season and await with joyful hope the coming of the Lord, the Prince of peace.

The Jew Who Died For Me.

Dear friend, let us reflect in silence on this Good Friday, on the God who dared to die for us. He became flesh and did not spare His own life, but gave it up for the benefit of us all.
Let us look at Him crucified and weep in gratitude for what He has done for us.

Who is this man I see,
Covered in blood and sorrow,
Crowned with a crown of thorns,
That I may live tomorrow.

Why has He been condemned,
Scourged, mocked,
And crucified.
Weeping for love,
So cruelly denied.

He is the Christ, the Son of Mary,
He is the Lord I see,
The God made Man.
The Jew who died for me.

Lent, a time to weep with God.

My dear friend, Christ died for you and me because of His great love for us. This is a mystery and a gift that we can hardly comprehend. During this holy time of Lent we start the morning Divine Office with the great antiphon; "Come let us worship Christ the Lord, who for our sake endured temptation and suffering." then we read in the accompanying psalm, (psalm 95) "He made the sea, it belongs to Him, the dry land too, for it was formed by His hands." The One who owns the sea and the whole planet, and every star and planet in the whole universe, He who made all these things, and who by His providence guides the universe and all that is in it every moment, even as I write, and as you read at this very moment. He who is Almighty and All Knowing, has endured temptation and suffering for our sake. My friend, love can only be repaid by love. He does not necessarily expect big things from us, for He knows how small we are, but He expects small acts of great love from us, for He has put in us the capacity to love, to will to obey Him, to adore Him by everything we do at every moment of our lives. What an awesome way to live, to spend every moment of our lives in His presence and in His friendship, knowing that after these few short years of suffering in this earthly life, He has promised us endless days with Him in eternal, infinity glory, beholding Him who has no beginning and no end. Eternal incomprehensible beauty. St. Paul says "no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him" (1Cor. 2:9)
And so let us make good use of this period of Lent, who knows, it may be our last. God is inviting us to share in His weeping and the weeping of the Most Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of His Mother, who suffered so much with Him. We do not have to look very hard to see many things in this world that cause His Sacred Heart to weep. And so we weep and suffer now by accepting all that God sends us, silently singing in our hearts, "Jesus, remember me when You come into Your Kingdom."

The year is over, but God is good.

My friend in Jesus Christ, the time has come again to close the old year and open a new one. God, who is the Lord of history and the Knower of all that will come, has graciously led us through many obstacles and challenges, and protected us from the constant dangers which haunt our earthly existence. the Psalmist said of God, "through the desert His people He led." He guides every step of our journey. As I write this I remember a favorite prayer which I wrote years ago and which I try to say and live by everyday to this day.
Before the new constitutions for the Discalced Secular Carmelite Order came into effect in 2003, we, as Secular Carmelites, had the Rule of Life. it was a beautiful little document, and in it we had the three ideals that as secular members of the Order had to live by. These Ideals were, a deep sense of faith in God's infinite love for me, faithfulness to contemplative prayer, and a love for the apostolate. They are three true pillars on which one can build a happy and joyful path in this chaotic world. As I said, in those years I compiled these three ideals into a prayer which sums up a recipe for a life well lived. I would like to end the year by sharing this prayer with you, hoping that by the grace of God you will journey towards a similar direction, trusting in His Goodness and seeking to serve Him every day of your life.


Eternal Father,
Help me today to live the ideals of Carmel. Grant that I may always have a deep sense of faith in Your infinite love for me, that I may know that You watch over me every moment of my life, and that nothing happens to me without Your knowledge and consent.
Make me faithful to contemplative prayer, grant me the spirit of detachment it entails.
Lead me O Lord, to an ever fuller union with You.
Eternal Father, fill me with Your love, that I may practice fraternal charity with perfection, and that I may grow ever more generous in the work of the apostolate.
May I live out these ideals under the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother and Queen of Carmel, through Christ our Lord, Amen.

"May the God of peace make you perfect in holiness. May He preserve you whole and entire, spirit, soul, and body, irreproachable at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls us is trustworthy, and He will do it." 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24.

Trusting The Good God.

Trusting God in everything is the wisest path one can take. Keeping free from sin and making time to be with the One "who loved the world so much that He gave His only Son.", is the most excellent strategy, bar none. All the other escapades into work, or money, or pleasure or knowledge, fade in comparison to a life seeking to be God's friend. In today's second reading we hear St. Paul telling us "He who called us is trustworthy, and he will do it. How good and reassuring it is to know that God is trustworthy, that He will never let His friends down, that we can sign a blank contract with Him and let Him fill the conditions. The Blessed Virgin said to the angel who brought Her the news of God's plan for her, "I am the servant of the Lord, let it be done to me according to your words." if we can truly trust God and confidently say to Him everyday, Lord, let it be done to me according to Your will today, tomorrow, and always. Then there is no reason for us to worry, to be anxious, and to fear any situation. he has already given us His own Son, will He not with Him also give us everything else? Why should we be afraid, have we no faith? The psalmist confidently says. "The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?"
My friend, always seek God's friendship, resist sin with all your might, and always seek to find God in the events of your life. He is there always. He will never let you down, and when you find yourself wondering if He actually did let you down, watch and wait, and you will see that you were wrong in doubting His trustworthiness.
As we come closer to celebrate the coming of the Christ Child, let us ponder the joy this Divine baby brings to pure hearts. What bigger and better gift can we ask for? God is good, God is good, God is very good. Blessed be God forever.

Keep awake.

My friend in Jesus Christ, do not think that because I have not posted on this blog for several months I have forgotten all about you. On the contrary, you are always on my mind, and of course, in my prayer. The liturgical year has ended, and today we celebrate the beginning of a new one. We do not know which number it is, but it is probably safe to say it is well over two thousand years have passed since the very first one. And the Church still waits for His glorious coming. All the many generations that passed waited hopefully with the Church, but each one of her members has encountered the Glorious Christ as each of them moved into eternity. We too shall pass through that gate in the not too distant future. And that is a good thing, for we are made for Him. Today's liturgy reminds us of His promised coming, and in the Gospel Jesus tells us, "What I say to you I say to all. Keep awake." (Mark 13:37). This is probably the most important advise the Lord has to give us. To keep awake. I have often thought that my last words to the ones around my death bed would certainly involved these two words. keep awake. St. Teresa of Jesus too has something to say in this regard. "Hope, my soul hope, for you know neither the day nor the hour. Watch carefully, for everything passes quickly, even though your impatience makes doubtful what is certain, and turns a very short time into a long one." Indeed our life here on earth is very short, and quite often we get caught in the worries of this passing world and forget our eternal destiny. This too is my advice to you my friend, "Keep Awake" for you do not know the day nor the hour. "pray always that you may have the strength to go through all the things that are to happen, and to stand before the Son of Man." (Luke 21:36). May the good Lord keep you in His peace and may He find you ready to stand before Him when you cross the threshold. The alternative is eternal enmity with God.the tragedy of tragedies.

Now Begin The Glorious Forty Days.

He is Risen, These were the words of the angel who appeared to the women who went to the tomb of the Lord. The greatest event since the fall of Adam and Eve. Death is not the winner anymore, it does not have the last say. He who is Life itself, and who came to die for us, rises from the depths of death to a new living dimension never seen before. The forty days that followed were the most unique in the history of humanity. Imagine those simple men who were chosen to be His disciples. They saw Him many times, He invited them to touch His wounds, to eat with Him, to sit and listen to Him as He taught them about their upcoming mission to go and preach the Gospel, and to baptize. No one else in history had such a magnificent experience happen to them. How they must have finally understood what God really planned for us, that we would live forever without the limitations of our sin laden bodies, prone to suffering and illness, and death. How they must have rejoiced as they went to their beds to sleep, having discovered the great glory God has in store for us. No wonder Thomas's response when he saw the Lord was " My Lord and my God." It is the cry of a man who has crossed the threshold of doubt into full understanding of the new reality.
Easter is a time to rejoice, it is a time of celebration of the victory of humanity gained through its one and only Savior, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us be still and rejoice, for now we know that through Him we can only win. "I thank you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent, and have revealed them to mere infants." ( Luke 10:21.)  May Your Name be blessed forever.
The great writer G. K Chesterton once said that "Peace and joy constitute the greatest secret of Christianity." A true Christian is a person full of hope and joy, knowing that eternal glory is his reward. I can imagine the angels singing to the Blessed Virgin the "Regina Caeli".

Queen of heaven rejoice, alleluia,
for the Son whom you merited to bear, alleluia,
has risen as He said alleluia.
Rejoice and be glad O Virgin Mary, alleluia.
For the Lord has truly risen, Alleluia.

This is the meaning of Happy Easter.
 

Blood On The Door Posts.

Dear friend in Christ.

On this Holy morning of Good Friday, the day God died for us, my heart is filled  with the desire to share with you this awesome mystery that paid for our sins and  brought us back to life. Yesterday, at the Mass of the last Supper, the Church celebrated the institution of the Holy Eucharist.  " Jesus, on the night when He was betrayed took a loaf of bread and when He had given thanks He broke it and said, 'This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way He took the cup also, after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes." (1 Cor. 11. 23-26).
On this night we encounter again the command about eating which God gave to our first parents in the Garden. Only the command is now inverted. In Genesis we read. "You shall not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die." (Gen.2:17). But tonight, only a few hours before His death on the cross, He commands us to eat this bread which is His body, and drink this cup which is the cup of His blood. " Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood you have no life in you." (John 6:53.).
In today's Office of Reading, there is a reading from the letter to the Hebrews ( Heb 9:11-28.) explaining how God prepared His people in the old testament by commanding them to sacrifice an unblemished lamb and eat it, and also to sprinkle the blood of the lamb on their door posts to keep the angel of death away. St. John Chrysostom continues ( in the second reading.) by saying that the blood sprinkled on the door posts is a prefigurement of the blood of Christ smeared on our lips when we drink of the cup of His blood. Our lips being the doors of the temple of Christ.
Here we can understand what the Eucharistic St. Paul means when he says. " if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." (Rom 10:9). This is the true confession of faith, the saying of Amen at the moment of receiving the Body and Blood of the Risen Lord. A mystery hidden from unbelievers, but revealed to those who are being saved.

"How deep are the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God. How inscrutable His judgements, how unsearchable His ways."  Now, through His passion and death we can participate in the command to eat, so as to repair the damage done be the disobedient eating in the Garden.
As we celebrate God' gift of Himself on this Friday, let us meditate on the last moments of Our Lord on the cross, when He shed His blood to the last drop, and try to begin to understand how much He loves us.

God, The Great Investor.

My brother,
On this Holy Week, I write to you that I may share with you some thoughts about our loving God, "Who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for the benefit of us all." ( Rom. 8:32)
During these days, the Church Liturgy calls us to remember and meditate on the events that led to the last days of our Lord's life on earth.
The first five weeks of Lent have been preparing us for this very moment. The Son of Man willingly surrenders Himself to the Enemy, that the great drama of the redemption of humanity from the tyranny of death might unfold.
Through prayer and penance, we open our hearts that the Heavenly Father might give us the grace to comprehend what Jesus and His Mother went through in these final days on the way to the cross.
It is sad to think that God's greatest gift of love had to be mingled with sinful humanity's vilest acts. After a long period of machinations and plotting to destroy the Lord of Life, He is betrayed by a close friend, denied and abandoned by those who had promised Him loyalty, lied about, and made victim of the most shameful piece of lobbying in the history of humanity, condemned by a cowardly politician, even though he knew he was condemning an innocent man. He was jeered, scourged, crucified, and humiliated, then killed by violent men gone wild, who manifested what lies hidden in our sinful hearts.
This, the greatest event, reveals to us the unimaginable love God has for us. He was willing to invest this most precious gift of Himself, that He might, in the future, reap a harvest of love. For love can only be repaid by love.
Now, my brother, consider that God is not sadistic, Scripture tells us "He does not grieve or afflict anyone willingly." ( 3:33.) All that Jesus suffered He sufferred because it had to be suffered. If God had to make His Son suffer so much. How ugly must sin be that it needs so much to repair for it?
God, the Great Investor, "out of the very love He has for us, even when we were dead through our transgressions, brought us alive together with Christ." ( Eph. 2:4.).  He chose the Cross as the instrument of His investment, and thus turned the world's suffering brought on by sin, into a precious jewel made perfect in the dimension of the cross sanctified by Christ.

Is it a wonder then, my brother, that great friends of God teach us to treasure suffering? St. John of the Cross advices us that when something unpleasant happens to us, we ought to look at Jesus crucified and be silent. And, he asks, "What does anyone know who does not know how to suffer for Christ?" As we go through the mystery of our Savior's death on the cross, we rejoice in the knowledge that it leads to His Resurrection and victory over death. And, if the All Knowing God turned the hideous cross into a priceless investment instrument, how much ought we to treasure it and learn to see all the events of our lives as steps toward this now precious cross that will lead us to life?

I used to think of life
a chain of hits and misses.
But now I make of it
a garland of God's kisses.

I used to gauge each act
a change for gain or loss,
But now I know that all
combine to make the cross.

For God has said to me,
through grace.
My thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor your ways, my ways.

Our Suffering God.

Dear friend in Christ,
                                 It has been a while since I last posted. The past month was a very hectic time for me, in more ways than one. But God's mercies never cease, and so, with His help, here I am with the first blog of 2011. 2010 is gone for good, dumped in the junkyard of time with the billions that came before it. A mere speck in the vast ocean of eternity. All we have of it are memories in our minds, and experiences that further cooked our hearts on the journey to God. We will only take with us to eternity the good and kind deeds we performed in the name of love, for as St. John of the Cross says, "In the evening of life we will be judged on love alone".
One of my favourite contemporary artists is Paul Simon. Beautiful music, a gentle voice, and powerful lyrics that shoot piercing arrows into the human heart. In one of his songs (Slip sliding away), there is a very poetic and haunting verse that says, "I know a man who wears his passion for his woman like a thorny crown."  Who of us does not know someone who fits this description? We all struggle to love, and suffer, as we do so in this imperfect world we live in. Love hurts us, whether it is between a man and a woman, or between parents and children, or friends, or neighbours, Loving is a constant struggle. Whether we like it or not, since the Fall of our first parents, pain has been one of the ingredients of love.
But this verse can also truly and sincerely be applied to God.  "I know a God who wears His Passion for His children like a thorny crown." God is not idle or aloof, He chose to enter into our world of suffering by becoming one of us and sharing with us everything but sin. He did not make a wounded world, for everything He made was good. Recently I was reading the story of creation in the first chapter of the book of Genesis. In those 31 verses, seven times it says that God saw that what He made was good. And He saw that the light was good, He saw that it was good, He saw that it was very good. But with original sin everything changed, everything that is, except the immutable love of God. I have often thought that after the Fall of Adam and Eve, God had to make some executive decisions, one of which surely was that He would have a policy of infinitely generous forgiveness, knowing how weak and fragile humanity has now become.
God, who is rich in mercy and compassion, chose to suffer and weep with us. Even to this very day He suffers our ingratitude and our indifference.
We have just celebrated Christmas, the feast of the birth of the God made Man. It is of course, a joyful feast, for in the Christ Child we, who lived in darkness, have seen a great light. But few of us perhaps consider the fact that in the few days after Christmas the Church reminds us of those who suffered for Him and with Him, On the 26th of December we celebrate the feast of St. Stephen who was stoned to death for Christ. and on the 27th we celebrate the feast of St. John the evangelist who was exiled for Christ. And on the 28th. we celebrate the feast of the Holy innocents whom Herod killed when he found out through the wise men that a King of the Jews was born in Bethlehem. So the coming of Christ among us, while filling us with joy, also unites us with His redemptive suffering. We are all given this great opportunity to share in His suffering and be one with Him in His death.
And so I wanted to start this new year with the image of God as someone who wears His passion and love for us like a thorny crown. It is a beautiful  image, fully manifested in the Passion of Our Lord. The King of kings and Lord of lords, mocked and humiliated by the very ones He created to love Him. It is the image of Christ wearing His passion for the Church with all the sins of her members,, like a thorny crown. St. Paul says, "Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, love never ends."
I do not know where Paul Simon stands when it comes to God, may he, and his family, and all of us, come to know this God who loves us and suffers for us, who wears His passion for us like a thorny crown.

God is a Pillow.

A long time ago, as a young man, I spent some years working on oil tankers in the merchant marine. It was a crude existence, a rough adventure which, unless for somewhat dire financial reasons, only fools and hopeless romantics dare to embark on. But looking back I realize that those years and those experiences shaped my life in so many ways that even now, decades later, I still find myself surprised at how much that period of my life helped to form my own view of the world and its reality, of God and His power, and of my own inner workings and strengths.
I think seafaring is in some sense very much like mountaineering, or even farming, One is exposed to the beauty and majesty of nature which, though challenging, is also addictive and formative of character. One falls in love with the sea, with the mountains, or with the land, perhaps subconsciously, and  in spite of oneself. The saying is true that it takes a few years to put the sea in a man's blood, but it takes a lifetime to take it out.
Any good seaman will tell you that the sea must be navigated with prudence and respect, for in its power it can be a merciless and sometimes lethal enemy. The skill of a good captain is to let his ship be like a pillow, bending, twisting, and giving in to the forces of nature which, if resisted, will crush everything in their path. It is an art to sail a seagoing vessel safely through treacherous wind and waves, to help it gracefully peak and ebb with the raging surface of a storm powered sea. The ship, and her crew's safety, depends on her ability and willingness to be flexible and to adapt, to lose many battles in the hope of winning the war and making it back safely into port.
God so does with us, He is patient and flexible like a pillow, He allows us to impose our stubborn wills, He is willing to lose many battles with us hoping that one day He would win the war for our hearts. We know that He manages to win some wars but that He also loses some, Sadly hell speaks so eloquently to that fact, but in the end it is always our choice.
And we, like the Psalmist, ought to be grateful for God's great and infinite mercy towards us, "If You, Lord should mark our guilt, who would survive?" (Psalm 130). He does not behave like a wall with us, rigid and unbending, if He did He would crush us in a minute, we would not survive. But He is like a pillow, one can bump against a pillow and not get hurt, because it constantly gives in by changing its shape according to the forces imposed on it. I think the image of a pillow is a good image for God, if we only realize what this means. That this awesome and powerful God who "made the sea, it belongs to Him, the dry land too for it was formed by His hands." (Psalm 95.) is willing to bend His will and stoop down to this lowly creature who is man. St.Paul expresses this reality so beautifully in his letter to the Ephesians, "God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love He has for us, even when we were dead through our sins, brought us alive together with Christ." (Eph. 2:4) We cannot even begin to imagine how much He loves us.
And where does this leave us? Love can only be repaid by love. We ought to respond with heartfelt gratitude by reciprocating His love with our love for Him and for our neighbour. And we too ought to be like pillows with those who oppose us, for so does He do with us.

Let Me Suffer.

Those who work in prison ministry can surely understand the anguish of people caught in the iron grip of the justice system, and the anguish of their families. A beloved son convicted of a serious crime and condemned to life in a penal institution, or even worse, to death, leaves a parent hopelessly heartbroken. Watching the child he or she raised, and loved, and hoped for,and dreamed for, now destined to a life of suffering and shame, to a life of unreached potential and broken dreams. No wonder Our Lord included prison ministry as an act of mercy, "I was in prison and you visited me."( Mt. 25: 36.). He should know, for God has long suffered the anguish and the pain of a convict's parent.
Imagine the day of the Fall, long ago, God, who in His infinite kindness, had set His hopes on our first parents, had given them everything, and allowed them to live in His Presence. He kept them from death, "for God did not make death, nor does He rejoice in the death of the living." (Wisdom 1:13).  He gave them dominion over all creation, He gave them free will, it was a gamble for Him, but He knew that love demands freedom, and that the first ingredient of a successful relationship is mutual consent. He wanted them to consent to His love by the way they lived in obedience to His command. "If you love Me you will obey my commandments." (John 14:15).
Jesus said to His disciples, whoever has seen me has seen the Father also. John the evangelist writes what is perhaps the most beautiful verse in Scripture, and all literature, "Jesus began to weep." ( John 11:35). Imagine the God of the universe, the God who has no beginning nor end, and who is all powerful and omnipotent, weeping, If we see Jesus the Son, weeping, then we see also the Father weeping for us. This verse of the Gospel of John is a window into God's heart, tender and loving, and in pain. Who can read those beautiful texts in the books of the prophets Jeremiah and Hosea and not share in God's anguish and pain? Jeremiah prays to God saying, Lord because of Your forbearance do not take me away, (Jer 15:15). Some translations write, "Because of Your long-suffering"  And Hosea quotes God saying;  "My heart recoils within me , my compassion grows warm and tender.( Hosea 11:18). Here we have Scripture's own testimony that God has long suffered and that His heart recoils with pain and compassion. This is something that those who are close to God do not overlook. St. Padre Pio says that we must hide our tears from Him who shed tears for us and continues to shed them because of our ingratitude. And sharing His pain is the task of those who love Him. Like the Son and His Mother who suffered so much for the Father and for us all.
In the book of Genesis we see how God answers the question to His question to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" and Cain answers shamefully, " Am I my brother's keeper?" (Gen. 4:9). God answers Cain's question with silence He does not answer with words but with action, by sending His only Son to suffer and die for our sins.
This is how God gives suffering a redemptive meaning, united with the suffering of His Son, our suffering is not just meaningless pain that destroys man's spirit, but a gift that ennobles and glorifies him because he is sharing in the loving mission of God.
In our vocation as Secular Carmelites we share in the mission of the Order which St. Therese so beautifully expresses in her book "The Story of a Soul."  "I stated what I had come to do in Carmel, I have come to save souls, and most of all to pray for priests." In other words I have come to share Your anguish Lord, I have come to share Your pain. To suffer with You and  for the sake of my brothers. It is a great mission.  Our Holy Mother Teresa of Jesus wrote in her "Interior Castle." That it is a great alms to pray for those who are in mortal sin.
Great is that day in our spiritual life, when we can say with joy, Good God, let me suffer with You. It is not necessarily to ask for suffering but to accept joyfully whatever comes. It is our prison ministry.

LET ME SUFFER.

Let me suffer in silence my God,

for You and for the sake of my brother.

For in anguish and pain

since the day of the Fall long ago,

You bear in Your Heart our disdain.

Let me suffer in silence my God,

with You on the cross.

You gambled with us,

You gave us free will, and You lost.

But You gather jewels of love

from the dust.

Let me carry Your cross,

as also I must.

Let me suffer in silence with You.

That not One be forbearing, but two

Let me share in Your hurt,

all my days on this earth.

Till the day You have planned,

till we all understand,

You are Love.

The Tomb, the Workshop of God..

Burial is a distinct sign of the presence of humans, for only humans bury their own.
It is amazing how the experiences we have in our childhood lie simmering gently in our heads until one day, years later, everything crystallizes nicely and we make sense of many things we could not understand before.
Keeping watch in prayer we can also discern God's loving hand throughout this growth process, and we may eventually come to somewhat comprehend why God led us through that specific path.
Some of my strongest childhood memories belong to a period in my life when as a young altar boy of nine or ten, my mother used to send me out to assist in almost every funeral celebrated in our parish. Celebrated is hardly the proper word, especially for a child, for those events had a macabre and melancholic odor about them that I was particularly sensitive to.
In those days people who died in their homes were kept there, generally overnight, until on the following day the priest, as minister of the Church, and some altar boys representing the faithful, would walk from the church to the afflicted home, and after a brief ritual of blessing and prayer, all would process slowly, bringing the dead to the church for the funeral Mass amid the mournful tolling of bells.The Mass was in Latin, and hardly comprehensible to a young boy. But even then the sense of the Divine was not lost on me.
After the liturgy we would then accompany the coffin to the horse-drawn hearse waiting outside. The elaborate woodwork gilded with gold and powered by two enormous Clydesdale type horses, snorting and fidgeting as they patiently waited to begin their trek to the cemetery. Behind the hearse, a horse-drawn black coach with leather seats which carried the priest and two altar boys as they accompanied the dead on the final journey. I remember those clipclopping trips that slowly made their way to the huge cemetery forty five minutes away. Then came the business of reaching the grave site, navigating steps and narrow pathways amid the countless statues, marble slabs and portraits that marked the graves. There the burial ceremony immediately took place accompanied by sobs, and silence, and  the occasional wailing of relatives. And I would watch the whole process quietly, mentally storing the experience for retrieval  and discernment in some distant future day.
I write all this because years later I came to realize the value and the beauty of funerals. God, the Great Psychologist, willed, that though the soul left the body at the moment of death, He would still be present even in those remains through His Divine immanence. He is present in all creation and in the living organisms that would eventually help the body to return to dust from which it came.
Here we see the love and kindness of God who allowed for a period of mourning and closure for those left behind. Furthermore and most importantly, in His infinite wisdom He provided for the future fulfillment of Scripture as St. Paul tells us. "for I handed on to you, as of first importance, what I in turn had received. That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried and on the third day He rose again in according with the Scriptures." 1 Cor. 15: 3-4)
God provided for the future burial and resurrection of His Son to give us victory over death. The damage done in the Garden was repaired in the Tomb.

St. Faustina's Vision of Hell.

 



Without a doubt, one of the greatest spiritual books that came out of the twentieth century is the Diary of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, "Divine Mercy in My Soul". Faustina was born in Poland on August 25 1905, and died on October 5 1938, she was 33 years old at the time of her death. In 1925 she joined the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy in Warsaw, and in February 1931 Jesus began to reveal to her His plans to make her His "Secretary of Divine Mercy". She was to be the instrument through which is spread devotion to His Divine Mercy and "You will prepare the world for My final coming" (429) This book is a treasure of mystical experiences, and in it is found the great goodness of God who reveals the depths of His Mercy. "It is a sign of the End Times. After it will come the Day of Justice." (848). Jesus tells Faustina that " In the Old Covenant I sent prophets wielding thunderbolts to My people. Today I am sending you with My Mercy to the people of the whole world. I do not want to punish aching mankind, but I desire to heal it, pressing it to My Merciful Heart. I use punishment when they themselves force me to do so; My hand is reluctant to take hold of the sword of justice. Before the Day of Justice, I am sending the Day of Mercy." (1588) God who loves us warns us and offers us all  the means to return to Him so that He does not have to punish us, "for God did not make death, nor does He rejoice in the death of the living." (Wis. 1:13)

In His Mercy, one day, Jesus showed Faustina a vision of hell so she could tell the people of world to turn to the Mercy of God, so as to avoid going there.

Here is St. Faustina's own testimony.

"Today, I was led by an angel to the Chasms of Hell. It is a place of great torture; how awesomely large and extensive it is! The kinds of tortures I saw:

The First Torture that constitutes hell is:
    The loss of God
The Second is

     Perpetual remorse of conscience.
The Third is
     That one's condition will never change.
The Fourth is
     The fire that will penetrate the soul without destroying it. A terrible suffering since it is a purely spiritual fire, lit by God's anger.

The Fifth is

     Continual darkness and a terrible suffocating smell, and despite the darkness, the devils and the souls of the damned see each other and all the evil, both of others and their own.
The Sixth is
The constant company of Satan.
The Seventh is
Horrible despair, hatred of God, vile words, curses and blasphemies.
These are the tortures suffered by all the damned together, but that is not the end of the suffering There are special tortures destined for particular souls. These are the torments of the senses. Each soul undergoes terrible and indescribable sufferings related to the manner in which it has sinned.
There are caverns and pits of torture where one form of agony differs from another. I would have died at the very sight of these tortures if the omnipotence of God had not supported me.

Let the sinner know that he will be tortured throughout all eternity, in those senses which he made use of to sin. I am writing this at the command of God, so that no soul may find an excuse by saying there is no hell, or that nobody has ever been there, and so no one can say what it is like.

 "I, Sister Faustina Kowalska, by the order of God, have visited the Abysses of Hell so that I might tell souls about it and testify to its existence.I cannot speak about it now; but I have received a command from God to leave it in writing. The devils were full of hatred for me, but they had to obey me at the command of God, What I have written is but a pale shadow of the things I saw. But I noticed one thing: That most of the souls there are those who disbelieved that there is a hell.When I came to, I could hardly recover from the fright .how terribly souls suffer there! Consequently, I pray even more fervently for the conversion of sinners. I incessantly plead God's mercy upon them. O My Jesus, I would rather be in agony until the end of the world, amidst the greatest sufferings, than offend you by the least sin." (Diary 741)

God's Ambition.

The Bible has often been called a love letter from God.

I want to start today's blog with a poem I wrote some time ago. It is called, "The Love that loved me."


                                                              

If I knew of God and

never tried to seek Him.

If I heard Him call,

and simply carried on.

If I broke His laws,

though written all around me.

And in my troubles

I merely soldiered on.

If in my heart I

stubbornly refused Him,

relying on my strength,

and went about my ways.

Then, I have failed to love

the Love that loved me.

Then, all I ever did I did in vain,

and squandered all my days,



One day someone tried to lay a snare for our Lord and asked him, "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest? He said to them, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment."  (Matthew 22:36-37)

Those of us who remember learning catechism as children, may remember the first, or one of the first questions we were asked and were made to remember by heart. Who created you? God created me. Why did God create you? God created me to love Him and serve Him in this world, and to be with Him forever in the next.

Very simple questions with profound answers that ought to give us all a strong sense of purpose for living our finite number of days on this earth. Yet very often the noises and the passing attractions of the world distract us and leave us lost in an aimless fog that slowly but surely separates us from the real reason for being put here in the first place.

Perhaps in the last two thousand years there has never been a generation of Christians so educated and knowledgeable in the ways of the world, and yet so unlearned and infantile in the ways of God. We have collectively lost our sense of direction, and are wondering aimlessly, dazzled by our endless pursuit of earthly happiness which leaves us empty and spiritually poor.

One of the primary reasons we do not seek to love God with all our hearts is that we simply do not know that God desires union with us. God is so madly in love with each and everyone of us that "He did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for the benefit of us all." ( Romans 8:32). He wants us to be united with Him in everything that we do. "Then you shall be my people and I will be your God." (Ez 36: 28).

A writer of love letters is a writer in love, Love letter writers reveal the secret desires of their hearts, their ambition, their reason for acting the way they do. This is God's driving ambition for us, that we shall be His people and He will be our God. That we will all live happily ever after.

If all of us knew this beautiful secret, then there would be no crimes, no suicides, no addictions, no emptiness. No squandering of our days.



The Angelus.

 

The Angelus is a beautiful prayer proclaiming the Mystery of the Faith, that through the Virgin's "yes" to the angel's annunciation, the "Word became flesh and dwelt among us." (John 1:14)
The tradition of praying the Angelus started in the thirteenth century, and by the sixteenth century it had become a custom to pray the Angelus three times a day, At six in the morning, at noon, and at six in the evening. The church bells tolled in those hours to remind the faithful to stop and pray this Marian devotion.
The nineteenth century artist Jean-Francois Millet  immortalized this beautiful and holy tradition in his famous painting above. Two farmers working in the field stop their work to pray at the sound of the bells. Upon meditating on the painting, one can sense the deep devotion of the faithful peasants, and one can almost hear the bells tolling from the distant country church in the background. The famous painting is now displayed at the Louvre Museum in Paris.
The Church attaches an indulgence of 100 days and plenary indulgence once a month granted to those who pray the angelus everyday.

Here is the prayer:

The Angelus

The Angel of the Lord declared to Mary:
And she conceived of the Holy Spirit. 

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of
our death. Amen. 

Behold the handmaid of the Lord: Be it done unto me according to Thy word. 

Hail Mary . . . 

And the Word was made Flesh: And dwelt among us. 

Hail Mary . . . 

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray: 

Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts; that we, to whom the incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection, through the same Christ Our Lord.

Amen. 

---

"Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you" (Lk 1:28) 

 "Blessed are you among women,
 and blessed is the fruit of your womb"
(Lk 1:42). 

---

 

Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity.

Today November 8, the Church celebrates the feast of Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity. A Discalced Carmelite nun who was a member of the community of the Carmel of Dijon France.
She died on November 9 1906, at the age of 26 of Addisons disease, for which at the time there was no cure. Pope John Paul II beatified her on November 25 1984.
Elizabeth is best known for her Trinitarian Prayer which she composed on the night of September 21 1904. On that day, the feast of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary, the nuns of Dijon renewed their vows as they did every year.
The Prayer not only sums up her experience and life in God, but is also a map of the spiritual journey of all of us.

"O my God, Trinity whom I adore; help me to forget myself entirely that I may be established in You as still and as peaceful as if my soul were already in eternity. May nothing trouble my peace or make me leave You, O my Unchanging One, but may each minute carry me further into the depths of Your mystery. Give peace to my soul; make it Your heaven, Your beloved dwelling and Your resting place. May I never leave You there alone but be wholly present, my faith wholly vigilant, wholly adoring, and wholly surrendered to Your creative Action.

O my beloved Christ, crucified by love, I wish to be a bride for Your Heart; I wish to cover You with glory; I wish to love You...even unto death! But I feel my weakness, and I ask You to "clothe me with Yourself," to identify my soul with all the movements of Your Soul, to overwhelm me, to possess me, to substitute yourself for me that my life may be but a radiance of Your Life. Come into me as Adorer, as Restorer, as Savior.

O Eternal Word, Utterance of my God, I want to spend my life in listening to You, to become wholly teachable that I may learn all from You. Then, through all nights, all voids, all helplessness, I want to gaze on You always and remain in Your great light. O my beloved Star, so fascinate me that I may not withdraw from Your radiance.

O consuming Fire, Spirit of Love, "come upon me," and create in my soul a kind of incarnation of the Word: that I may be another humanity for Him in which He can renew His whole Mystery. And You, O Father, bend lovingly over Your poor little creature; "cover her with Your shadow," seeing in her only the "Beloved in whom You are well pleased."

O my Three, my All, my Beatitude, infinite Solitude, Immensity in which I lose myself, I surrender myself to You as Your prey. Bury Yourself in me that I may bury myself in You until I depart to contemplate in Your light the abyss of Your greatness.  Amen."


Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity, pray for us that we too may come to experience the presence of the Most Holy Trinity within us, and that we may come to love God with all our hearts, and minds, and souls.

Elizabeth of the Trinity is patron saint of the sick and of those who lose their parents.

God's friends are our friends.

Mary and the angels,

When they entered the house, they found Jesus with Mary His mother.

Matthew 2:11


In the presence of the angels I will bless you. Ps. 138.



Come let us rejoice and praise the Lord in the presence of the angels.