Grace abounds!!

"Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more." Romans 5:20

When faced with a situation which is full of evil be not afraid. Though you may be surrounded on all sides by people sinning, simply remember that it is here that grace abounds all the more!! It is not us who must fight but rather Christ who fights in us for the salvation of all. If anything we should be more confident when faced with evil, for it is simply an opportunity for God to shower more grace upon the world! Do not let fear close you to this grace, but rather open you, that you may stride forward confident in His love.

You Are Here

I remember when I was very small squished in the back of a rental van packed with family and suitcases. We were trying to leave the airport to begin our vacation and had found ourselves trapped: every road we tried to turn down was a dead end or looped back into the center of the airport. Frustration built as the chance to make it to our planned bed and breakfast dwindled and we found ourselves passing the same parking lot for the umpteenth time. My father pulled over, threw his arms up in the air and exclaimed "Where in the world ARE we?!?" We all saw the words written on the gate to the lot at the same time:

YOU ARE HERE

We parked in the lot and stayed the night at the adjacent hotel. The next morning we exited the airport without complication and proceeded with our vacation.

We need to remember that wherever we are, God has put us there for a reason. The important thing is not to understand but to be there. It is only through being that we can open ourselves to His work in us and His will can be accomplished. If we are too focused on getting where we think we should be, where we planned to be, then we will miss everything happening where we are. If we are too preoccupied with trying to figure out why, then we will never be present enough to find out why.

So remember: wherever you are in life, there you are. Be there.

Give us this day our daily bread

In Exodus, we see God giving the Israelites their daily bread- literally. They are allowed to collect only enough manna for that day and anything left over rots and is inedible the next. God thus weans them of their prideful belief that they can buffer themselves from misfortune and teaches them to trust that He will provide for them.

We must live a deep trust in our Lord. Any anxiety over the future, any inordinate desire and fixation on a certain outcome, is caused by our lack of trust. It is with cupped hands that we catch the water of life that He pours for us; as soon as we try to grasp the water in a fist it slips through our fingers to the ground beneath.

Trust that God will fulfill the desires of your heart! In this we follow Mary's example: her desire for the Messiah was so deep that He was placed in her womb. Only such a deep trust as hers would have made this possible. We must cultivate a deep trust in our Lord, trust that He has placed these desires in us for a purpose. Trust that His promises are true: "Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." (Luke 11:9)

One body

We are all one body in Christ. This is why it is so horrid to do anything malicious to another--it is self-injurious behavior. Those who are wounded often strike or pinch another part of the body in order to create a different, distracting pain, but this is ultimately self-destructive. We must instead turn ourselves over to the Great Physician that we may be healed, and in turn be His hand or eye in caring for the wounds.

Likewise as one body, we must be willing to accept the burdens of another part, for it is the burden of the one body. Should the feet give out, the knees and hands must be ready to bear the burden of carrying the body along the path; should the neck get tired the hands must be ready to support the head. In meditating on our Lord's body in His passion, we can see how the body must work as one to accomplish the goal of salvation.

If only...

What a prideful phrase this this! How we languish in guilt at times, thinking the whole world could have been saved if only we had answered that phone call or taken a different path to work. But how silly this is! God only allows things to happen from which He can create a greater good. If we stay in the past pridefully wallowing in guilt or wishful thinking, we cannot be a part of this greater good. We must move on, with our hand firmly in our Lord's, letting him lead us through the present into the future.

Ice Cream

Relationships are like ice cream cones. Planning is required to make sure that the cone to ice cream ratio is optimal from beginning to end. Constant attention and tending is required to avoid a drippy sticky mess. Just a moment taken away to focus on something else and yikes! Ice cream is melting all over! So why are they so popular when people could just eat ice cream in bowls? Because it is satisfying from beginning to end, and ultimately all that work is fun!

Prayer is hope in action. -- Benedict XVI

Potency of prayer is determined by authenticity of hope.
Authenticity of hope is determined by depth of trust.
Depth of trust is determined by certainty that God is Love.

A glance

"In the night watch just before dawn the Lord cast through the column of the fiery cloud upon the Egyptian force a glance that threw it into a panic; and He so clogged their chariot wheels that they could hardly drive. With that the Egyptians sounded the retreat before Israel, because the Lord was fighting for them against the Egyptians." Exodus 14:24-25

A simple glance from our Lord threw the entire Egyptian army into a panicked retreat. What have we to fear?

Keep still

"The Lord Himself will fight for you; you have only to keep still." Exodus 14:14

When an animal is caught in barbed wire, and struggles to get out, it will find itself more and more tangled, its flesh torn to shreds. However if only at the first prick the animal would hold still, its keeper would be able to free it from the wire with a mere scratch which would heal quickly.

We must do the same when we find ourselves caught in the barbed wire of sin. We must hold still, and let God cut us loose.

It is so prideful to be sad and melancholic after sinning. We think "how could I?" Well here's news for you: you are weak. The Good News? God has bestowed on us in Christ every spiritual blessing in the heavens! All we need do is open to our Lord and receive these gifts. As long as we are convinced that we are strong and believe ourselves to be self-sufficient, we will fall and tumble down the path to hell. The moment we humble ourselves and accept God's grace, we take flight on His eagle's wings to the gates of heaven.

Rest a while

"The apostles gathered together with Jesus and reported all they had done and taught. He said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while." People were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat. So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place. People saw them leaving and many came to know about it. They hastened there on foot from all the towns and arrived at the place before them. When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things." Mark 6:30-34

The apostles are exhausted as they strive to fulfill their vocation. The Lord draws them to a quiet place to rest, but the crowds already fill the previously peaceful place when they arrive. The apostles' hearts are torn between joy and exhaustion as they see the large crowds gathering to seek Truth. Their energy is drained, their bodies and minds exhausted, and their hearts give in to sinking as they picture the next hours of teaching and healing. However our Lord's heart is moved with pity not just for the gathering people but also His apostles. He Himself teaches the people, allowing His shepherds their promised rest.

Often in the apostolate exhaustion overcomes us, yet the souls and missions come to us in a never-ending flow of unfinished and often un-begun work. We must trust in our Lord that when we are tired and in need of rest, He will take over and accomplish what must be done. It is only through Him that we work at all! Let us not fall into prideful thinking that we are essential to every soul's salvation and every mission's success. Instead, like the apostles, let us sit back and watch our Lord in action once more, and allow our hearts to fill with His word and zeal for His kingdom. Let us take these opportunities to recall Who is responsible for all our successes and lean our full weight on Him for any in future.

"One new person in place of the two"

"Brothers and sisters: In Christ Jesus you who once were far off have become near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, he who made both one and broke down the dividing wall of enmity, through his flesh, abolishing the law with its commandments and legal claims, that he might create in himself one new person in place of the two, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile both with God, in one body, through the cross, putting that enmity to death by it."

Ephesians 2: 13-16

When we join with our Lord in the Eucharist, peace reigns; there are no longer laws and commandments governing relations between two people for there is one person, one love. We are reconciled to God through His sacrifice that put enmity to death.

What power lies in the joining of the flesh! In the love between man and wife also, two become one. Their love abolishes the laws and legal claims, establishing peace between them. Their daily sacrifices for each other put enmity to death, and they experience a piece of heaven on earth.

Mercy not sacrifice

"If you knew what this meant, I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
you would not have condemned these innocent men.
For the Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath." Matthew 12:6-8

Our Lord desires that we be humble and acknowledge that we are as prone to falling as those around us. He does not want the "sacrifice" of putting up with them, that age-old self-martyrdom that smacks of pride and self-righteousness. He desires instead mercy-- that spark of Love that ignites all it touches with divine fire.

The Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath for it is He who will on this day of rest and openness redeem us to bring about His kingdom on earth. The sabbath was given to us partly to remind us that we cannot do anything of our own power. To claim the greatness to which we are called we can only surrender to God what was His creation in the first place that He may mold it to His heart's content. Through observing the sabbath, we learn faith. It is a faith that contains the trust that God will provide, that God desires to provide, and it contains the humility that realizes no amount of work on our part can bring us to this greatness. It is a gift from Him Who chose to make us in His likeness.

The rest of the humble

"Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves." Matthew 11:29

Pride is the jailer of the heart, never letting it rest or sleep, always prodding with snide remarks and sneers, binding dreams in chains. Pride seeks to place our priorities on money and power; it seeks to have every thought, every action, every relationship, focused on self. How exhausting!! It is no wonder we are so burdened. Jesus teaches us the secret to carrying His yoke: humility. As soon as we place others before ourselves and lay down our lives at the service of our Lord, we find a huge weight lifted. We look up out from ourselves to find the world, His creation, breathing His majesty and love. We see that the world does not revolve around us, does not depend on us to have meaning or sustenance. When we can accept with humility that we are nothing, His voice calls to us through creation: "Talitha koum! For I know well the plans I have in mind for you, plans for your welfare, not for woe! plans to give you a future full of hope." (Mark 5:41; Jeremiah 29:11) and we find rest. Oh how peacefully the humble heart rests!!

"I must go over to look at this remarkable sight..."

"There an angel of the Lord appeared to him in fire flaming out of a bush. As he looked on, he was surprised to see that the bush, though on fire, was not consumed. So Moses decided, 'I must go over to look at this remarkable sight, and see why the bush is not burned.' When the Lord saw him coming over to look at it more closely, God called out to him from the bush, 'Moses! Moses!' He answered, 'Here I am.' God said 'Come no nearer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground...I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt...Therefore I have come down to rescue them." Exodus 3:2-8

You, as a disciple of Christ, are the bush which finds itself spitting fire, surrounded inside and out by flames.

Those who are fellow disciples will draw strength and guiding light from the flame you are bearing to the world. Others who do not know God will pass you by; they may not notice, or they may give you a wide birth. Some will look long enough to realize that this little bush is not consumed by the flames. When a soul decides to give this novelty greater scrutiny, his will moves towards the Lord. When the Lord sees this movement He will call out to the soul by name. If the soul answers, God will reveal the holy ground on which it stands. He will witness to the soul the affliction it has suffered and promise bring to it to a land of milk of honey.

"Prayer is savoring God Himself." --Servant of God, Catherine Doherty

How great is the prayer of communion? To truly savor God? To accept Him on your tongue, to carry Him in your mouth and body? And yet so many chomp and chew as though they were eating a cracker on the run between errands. Let us not be so silly! Savor your Lord. When you take the first bite of an exquisite meal, the explosion of flavor slows your chewing and erases conversation from your mind. How much more so should our Lord Himself have this effect on you? Be present to the mystery and the miracle every Mass.

If you cannot savor something so great as God, how will you ever find life appetizing?

Sealed with the Holy Spirit

"In Him you also, who have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and have believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy spirit, which is the first installment of our inheritance toward redemption as God's possession, to the praise of His glory." Ephesians 1:13-14

Being sealed with the Holy Spirit is only the first installment!? Being temples of the living God, having Him with us always, guiding our thoughts and deeds, is only the beginning? The Holy Spirit-- the very Love that is passed between the Father and the Son-- within us! Can you imagine the greatness that God has destined us for? Can you imagine what awaits?

Love without blemish

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before Him. In love He destined us for adoption to Himself through Jesus Christ, in accord with the favor of His will, for the praise of the glory of His grace that He granted us in the beloved." Ephesians 1:3-

God has chosen us to be holy and without blemish before even His perfection. And what is it that He has given us that we may achieve such a lofty calling? In love He destined us... With love He destined us to union with Himself and it is in love that we find the key to being adopted daughters and sons of our God. It is through being gifts that we find the meaning of being, through giving our lives that we find our souls. How much more so does this apply to the love between husband and wife? It is through being in love that we can lose our self and give all for the other. Through our sexuality we can find the path to being holy and without blemish. If you think this is a bold claim, something unfathomable, you must remember that He is at every moment blessing us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens-- all we need do is open to Him and our weaknesses become our strengths. It is this pure, passionate love which burns away imperfections.

By Your Side

Lyrics by Tenth Avenue North

Why are you striving these days?
Why are you trying to earn grace?
Why are you crying?
Let me lift up your face-
Just don't turn away

Why are you looking for love?
Why are you still searching as if I'm not enough?
To where will you go, child, tell Me where will you run-
To where will you run?

Cause I'll be by your side wherever you fall
In the dead of night whenever you call
Please don't fight these hands that are holding you,
My hands are holding you.

Look at these hands and My side
I swallowed the grave on that night
When I drank the world's sin
So I could carry you in
And give you life
I wanna give you life
...

Cause I, I love you
I want you to know
That I, I love you, I'll never let you go, no no
...

Here at my side, my hands are holding you

Allowing evil

"Even though you meant harm to me, God meant it for good, to achieve His present end, the survival of many people." Genesis 50:20

God only allows the evil from which He can create a greater good. He is the ultimate Architect, Who can create from every blow to His building a stronger, more beautiful one. If this is not the case, then the blow is deflected. We need not fear harm done to us, for God would not allow it unless He has something much greater in mind. Joseph's brothers plotted murder but chose instead to sell him into slavery. God deflected the evil murder, but allowed slavery to befall Joseph in order to raise him up and save His people from famine.

Enter in

"Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days; and on the seventh day He called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. And Moses entered the cloud, and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights." Exodus 24:15-24

To those who did not have the trust and intimacy with the Lord that Moses did, the Lord was fire. And not just any fire, but a destructive, devouring fire that raged over the entire mountaintop. They would have thought Moses lost, delusional, that he would have ventured to the top of this mountain because he heard a voice in the desert.

And yet to Moses, it is a cloud that covers the mountain. A cloud is difficult to see through, making it difficult to comprehend where you are and where you are going, but it is a peaceful place. You are surrounded by droplets of life-giving water and the sounds of chaos are dampened and quieted to a clear silence. And so he goes up the mountain, and into the cloud to wait for his Lord as he was asked. It is not till the seventh day that the Lord speaks to him again, and he is there with the Lord until the fortieth day. For this trust and steadfastness of heart, for allowing the Lord to guide his senses, Moses receives instructions for the construction of the tabernacle. Moses is given the work through which God will be physically present among the people at all times!! God is giving Himself to the people who feared Him as a devouring fire, in the form of a protective presence, that they too may one day see the cloud and not the fire.

We must be like Moses. We must not allow the fear and disbelief of others to convince us that His protective, guiding cloud is a devouring fire. We must enter His sanctuary, enter His presence and accept His gifts that He may be present to the world.

Angels sent before us

"Behold I send an angel before you, to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place which I have prepared. Give heed to him and hearken to his voice, do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression; for my name is in him. But if you hearken attentively to his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries." Exodus 23:20-22

God sends His angel before the people of Israel, always present among them to guide them and direct them. He does the same for us. The challenge in life is not to find our path, but to listen to the will of the One who knows our path. For if we listen, if we spend our energy straining for the silence in our life that we may hear the voice of the angel He has sent before us, then our enemies and our obstacles are His enemies and obstacles. If we stray from his path, we are in the enemies' camps. In the dark woods we will find ourselves turning to them for protection and food. In this we align ourselves with our Lord's enemies; woe to him who does so willfully! But the Lord will ransom us; if we long for His protection then He will come and take us away from these dark places. He will send His light through the dense foliage to guide you to His clearing.

If we search for the path ourselves when we find ourselves in the woods, then our lives become noisy auctions. Every distraction, every ambition, every prideful notion will bid for our attention, our life. No matter the price the bidder is willing to "pay" us, we are selling ourselves to bondage to an enemy in order to protect ourselves from another enemy. But our freedom is priceless, and is the only path to the safety of our loving Father who will protect us from all enemies. We must follow the voice of God on the path of freedom, the path where we are safe and satisfied.

"Take delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4

Delighting is love in the form of gratitude; it is rejoicing at the greatness of the gift. This greatness can only be fathomed by giving away all of ourselves, for any self left within shrinks our capacity to receive the gift. To the extent that we give of self, we will receive. When we truly delight in the Lord we give ourselves entirely away, removing all obstacles to receiving His love. There is nothing left in the way of His union with us, and as our Eternal Lover, He will always unite with us when we remove the barriers! Every desire or void we have is ultimately a desire for union with our Lover; once we are united to Him, the desires of our hearts have been satisfied. Thus our Lord's promise will never fail: Take delight in Me and I will give you the desires of your heart.

Wrestling with God

"He took [his family] and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. And Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day." Genesis 32:23-24

We must remember that when we are challenged by people or situations in our lives, it is not only always allowed by God but often God Himself with whom we are wrestling. This theme is constant through Christ's ministry. God-become-man was constantly troubling those around Him with the things that He said and knew and did. However every time it was to better those with whom He wrestled, to point out to them a fault or weakness and provide them the grace to overcome it.

It is when Jacob is alone that he is challenged to his limits. We are often find ourselves isolated, and it is in those isolated reaches where God will push us and teach us. It may be that we are separated from community, or it may be a retreat into our hearts. Without our usual crutches and distractions, we must admit our weakness and thus begin the journey of accepting His grace and healing. As we grow stronger spiritually, these wrestling matches become training grounds for the world. He teaches us new ways to conquer the enemy. He hones our reactions and intuition. We become bold, like Jacob, in acquiring His blessings.

When our hands grow weary

"Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed; and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands grew weary; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat upon it, and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; so his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua mowed down Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword." Exodus 17:11-13

We were created for community; the fact that we are relational beings is stamped in our bodies as the physical expression of our souls. As we travel on God's path for us, we will find that we cannot do it alone. We need others around us who can hold up our arms when we no longer have the strength to do so ourselves; we need to be there to hold up the arms of another who is laboring for the Lord. If we are all one body in Christ, His hands will be steady until the going down of the sun, and God's Kingdom will reign on earth.

"And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way...

...and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night; the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people." Genesis 13:21

Our Lord is always present to us in whatever form is fitting for our situation. He will never leave our side. However when we are used to traveling by day, and it becomes night, we often still look for the pillar of cloud and cry foul when we cannot see it. But He is there in the fire!! Casting light on the path we are to take. He knows that in the dark we cannot see the cloud, and so He uses the light and heat of the fire to light our way.

Then when the enemy approaches: "the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness; and the night passed without one coming near the other all night." Genesis 14:9-20. At times we may not see God standing before us leading the way, for He has positioned Himself between us and the enemy, to protect us from harm. We must always seek God open to whatever form He may be taking, and be aware that His choice for revelation can alert us to the state of our spiritual life and our soul's safety or peril.