"Love hopes all things." --1 Corinthians 13:7

"Hope always draws the soul from the beauty that is seen to what is beyond, always kindles the desire for what is hidden through what is perceived." -- St. Gregory of Nyssa

Unnecessary Words

We spend so much time trying to come up with the right words for our prayer. We agonize over what to ask for, how to ask for it, what we could possibly say to express our gratitude, our love, our agony. We worry when we have dry spells and simply cannot come up with any words at all.

How silly we are! Truly we need no words to communicate with our Father in Heaven. He knows all that we feel, all that we experience, and all that we need better than we ever will. A prayer is a sigh to heaven; it is a complete surrender to God. It is a heart placed upon the operating table, content to be operated on and healed without ever knowing what took place unless the Surgeon deems it necessary to ensure the continued health of that heart.

Prayer is time. Time given to our Lord that He may make us His. It is time when we place ourselves within His fold, to be counted as one of His sheep. It is time when the wounded lamb comes before the shepherd to be carried until he is once again healthy enough to walk. Words are never necessary for prayer. Only a complete surrender of the heart and mind to God.

"Be still, and know that I am God." --Psalm 46:10

The Beat

Every human loves a good beat-- it moves us, draws us in, motivates or soothes us. A beat brings us to dance. Where does this love come from? Why does it have this power over us?

A priest recently suggested we look at our beginnings. What is the first sound our ears must hear? The beating of our mother's heart. This is why babies are often soothed simply by resting their head against their mothers' chests. There is something beautiful and comforting in that beat.

Through rap music, Satan takes this fact and uses it to lure us into his trap. He hooks in his prey with the strong beat, and then whispers his evil to them, and perverts the beauty of our mothers' hearts.

Beauty Conquers Evil

Beauty is God's greatest weapon against evil. Satan has many ways to distort this truth. He may try to convince us to seek a false beauty, which is commonly seen and experienced by all. But for those who are not convinced, who have experienced and understand True Holy Beauty, he takes a different tactic. He tries to convince us that Beauty invites evil. He tries to convince Beautiful women that they cause men to lust and that they should be afraid of and hide their Beauty. He tries to convince all people that Beautiful things must be sinful or cause sin, since false beauty can be seen to do so. But in truth, True Beauty is like the coal the angel places on Isaiah's lips-- it is purifying. Beauty is an encounter with eternity; it is an encounter with the divine. It lifts us to contemplate things greater than ourselves, and calls us to this higher plane. Beauty is Truth, Life, and everything Holy. Is this not Mary's great power over evil?

Sacred Heart

When we offer up prayers to the Sacred Heart, let us not suppose that we are pointing out unknown wounds. His Sacred Heart is throbbing with love for us all, and bleeding profusely from the innumerable wounds that we have inflicted on it. Each of our concerns, each of our hurts, is causing the Heart to bleed. When we offer up our prayers it is as though we are cupping a few drops of that most Sacred blood in our hands and offering it back to Jesus, honoring His sacrifice for us and trusting in God's divine plan and mercy.

Trust

Who hasn't at sometime thought "I want to trust in God, I just don't"? What silliness. If you truly want to trust God, then you will. Everyone must have the journey from the head to the heart, through prayer and grace. But truly-- to trust in God, we merely have to want it and ask for it. God will be more than happy to oblige us. And what joy and peace come from such trust!! God proves Himself ad infinitum. How beautiful His works, how beautiful His plan!!

Simplicity

Everything is so simple. Faith in God is a simple matter--living a holy life is a simple matter. We need never fear, never grow distraught, never feel hurt and pain. All of this must always be turned over to God, we must always submit to His will. It is so simple. People say that it is not really that easy-- that it sounds easy, but that in reality it is hard, it is a struggle. But it does not have to be so. It is, in actuality, that easy. Our disordered attachments tell us to hold on to our pain, and so it becomes a struggle. Our complicated nature tries to rationalize sin, twisting our minds and hearts into Gordian knots. We must let Christ come and cut the knot, and free us from our complications. In reality, it is so simple; it is easy. A holy life is purity, clarity, and fulfillment. It has a love that warms like the sun on a beautiful day, encouraging all to thaw, relax, and blossom.