Lamb of God, you take away the sins of world, grant us peace.

In Mass, it struck me-- Lamb of God, you take AWAY the sins of the world!! He takes them AWAY, they are gone!! We are free!! And through this, He grants us peace. I see so many people resigned to their sinful inclinations, and unwilling to root them out because they do not believe it is possible, especially when it comes to lust. But we must remember- Christ has come! We live in the time of historical man, but redeemed historical man. God did not send His only Son to earth, unite Himself with our human form and suffering, to be persecuted, tried, scourged, crowned with thorns, and crucified, descend into Hell, resurrect, and ascend into heaven (breathe) to give us coping mechanisms for our sins!! Christ came to set us free- to take away the sins of the world! This is the Sermon on the Mount- that Christ has come that our hearts may be changed, that we may come to see each other as God sees, with love and not lust, with compassion and not resentment, with joy and not hate. I pray that all of us may throw ourselves at the foot of His cross, and allow the blood and water spouting from His side wash over us and cleanse us; I pray that each of us may open our deepest doors to God and give over to Him our addictions, be they to sin and even more so to near-occasion of sin, that He might transform us into His spotless bride and fill us with true joy.

Man in the image of God

In yesterday's psalm, the psalmist praises God: "Blessed be the Lord, my rock... my refuge and my fortress, my stronghold, my deliverer, my shield in whom I trust" (Ps 144: 1,2). Through the parallel with Christ and His bride the Church, we know that this is what man is meant to be for woman. Woman's dream is to be able to say "Blessed be my husband (or brother, or father), my rock, my refuge and my fortress, my stronghold, my deliverer, my shield in whom I trust!"

when He was given up to death, a death He freely accepted...

Hearing these words in the Eucharistic prayer struck me the other day-- a death He freely accepted. Freely!! Freedom is the foundation of love. Our free will was given to us, that we might not merely obey God, but love Him! Without freedom, love cannot exist; actions are reduced to mere compulsion or slavery. But with freedom comes the ability to choose to love-- if one cannot say no, then one's yes means nothing! Christ, being fully God as well as fully Man, could have chosen to come down off the cross. He could have forgone the suffering, and not laid down His life for the Church. But He chose- freely- despite taunting from the soldiers who tempted Him to come down from the cross- to die for her, that she may have new life. Rather than save Himself, He laid down His life that His bride may be made spotless. If only man would give himself to Christ that he too would have the strength to selflessly sacrifice for the purity of woman! "For you were called for freedom, brothers!" Galatians 5:13.

Perfect love casts out fear

"There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment, and so one who fears is not yet perfect in love." --1 John 4:18

If we fear God, then we do not love Him, and we do not know Him. For God is love! God is an ocean of mercy. When you look upon His Son on the cross, how can you be afraid of Him? He will protect you and rescue you; He has sacrificed His only Beloved Son that we might be reunited with Him! He will not let satan take us if we choose Him. And how He longs for us to choose Him!!

Why is there so much fear and strife in male-female relationships today? Why is there such denial against the beautiful differences between the sexes? Because of fear. When women today refuse to admit their longing for male protection, and adamantly insist that they are strong on their own, it is their wounds speaking. And how deep those wounds go! If only men would take up their cross and sacrifice themselves for women as they are called to do by Christ, women would perhaps be willing to climb down from their own counterfeit and take their place of receptivity. For as JPII wrote in his letter to women, a woman's vocation is to be loved! And yet so few women fulfill that vocation, because to be loved means to be receptive, and to be receptive means to be vulnerable. How woman's heart aches to be vulnerable under the protection of love, but when love cannot be found, then she cannot surrender herself to it. For the men who do seek to climb up on the cross next to their Savior and fulfill their vocation to love, they are often cut down then by these wounded women, just as Christ was told to climb down by his bride. The men are told that they are demeaning women by trying to love and protect them. Men become wounded, and begin to use women as objects of lust rather than subjects of love. They begin to dominate woman rather than love her because in their hearts they know that it is their role to be strong for her and to sacrifice for her, but through their wounds this desire becomes twisted.

And where does this leave us? When wounds encounter wounds, it is a battlefield! And neither is able to fulfill their vocation that God has given them; often the wounds are so deep that they cannot even recognize their true longing! But through Christ, each can be healed, as the wounds encounter instead their physician. Men are reminded that true woman is worth dying for; unrequited love, and unappreciated sacrifice are a part of that cross. They must follow Christ's example of selfless gift! Women are reminded that true man does not dominate and manipulate, but protects and loves; he sacrifices himself for woman. They must follow Mary's example of receptivity to this gift! Only then can man and woman have the beauty of perfect love and cast out fear.

"I thirst." --John 19:28

Could it be that our Lord is craving more than water? What does He so intensely thirst for as His divine body, beaten and broken, hangs stretched on the cross? Does He thirst, not for mere water, but rather for our love? For our receptivity? Our Lord knows the pangs of unrequited love so intimately! As He lays down His life for His bride, as He hangs upon the cross she nailed Him to, He thirsts for her love! May we learn to open ourselves to His love, His living water, that He may drink His fill.

Man for woman; Woman for man

Man is God's gift to woman; Woman is God's gift to man. And what important roles each has in the other's relationship to God! Man, as the initiator of the gift, as the one who gives his love to his bride, signifies in his body and actions the love of God for humanity. It is through knowing man that woman can come to see and understand God's love for her. It is through seeing men in her life crucified for her, through men taking on the scourging and the crowning of thorns and hanging from the cross for her, that woman can come to understand her position of receptivity of the gift as she stands at the foot of their cross. It is through looking up at him crucified that woman learns that God is not a tyrant, will not dominate or manipulate her, but merely asks to receive His love for her, a love that serves and sacrifices. Man must show woman the meaning of the crucifixion. For the man it is through woman coming to receive his sacrifices at the foot of his cross that he both regains his strength and love that he might keep sacrificing, and comes to understand his own relation to God; that of the one who receives the gift. Woman must show man how to be open to God and conceive His life within. Thus it is through man and woman enacting their God-given roles for each other that they may show the other how to love and know God fully.

Anxiety

The best definition I have heard for anxiety was given to me by a priest: "Anxiety is the fear of losing something." As I reflected on all that I had confessed was making me anxious, I realized how silly it all was. What was it that I was afraid of losing? The only thing that I was actually truly afraid of losing was God. Which is ridiculous, because God is everywhere, in everything!! It is impossible to lose to God!!

Descent of the Holy Spirit

Reflecting on this third glorious mystery of the rosary, is it possible to believe that through Pentacost we participate in the eternal exchange of love that is God? It is so. God is love. If God is love, then God as Trinity makes sense-- for love to exist, there must be one who is the lover, one who is the beloved, and the love itself. God the Father's love for God the Son is so real and so strong that it becomes its own person in the Holy Spirit. When the apostles and Mary are showered with the Holy Spirit at Pentacost, it is not "merely" that one of the persons of the Trinity is with them always, but that person is the love that is eternally exchanged between the Father and the Son, and so we are all caught up in that infinite love which is God.

Beloved, we love God because He first loved us --1 John 4:19

I have heard this line many times, and never fully appreciated that within it is contained our entire relationship to God and our purpose in this world. All of mankind is feminine in relation to God, as per TOB. Masculine love in giving receives; feminine love in receiving gives. This is exactly what our relationship to God is-- the way that we love God is by receiving His love, by giving Him our yes as Mary did. So much spiritual stress can be released when one realizes that we do not need to DO anything for God to love us- and it is not by doing, but by receiving that we show Him our love. How sad for God to be up there, loving us and wishing to give us that love, but then having to watch us bouncing around like ping pong balls trying to do anything and everything to show our love for Him. How He must long to tell us "Be still and know that I am God. Let me love you! Receive my love!"

But we are gone too fast to hear His words.