The Lord has nurtured and taught her; he has guarded her as the apple of his eye. As an eagle spreads its wings to carry its young, he has born her on his shoulders. The Lord alone is her leader.
--Deuteronomy 32:10-12
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Saturday, September 20, 2008
At His command...
"And so, Father, we bring you these gifts. We ask you to make them holy by the power of your Spirit, that they may become the body and blood of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at whose command we celebrate this Eucharist." -- Liturgy of the Eucharist
"A wife does not have authority over her own body, but rather her husband, and similarly a husband does not have authority over his own body, but rather his wife" --1 Corinthians 7:4
St. Paul writes that husband and wife no longer have authority over their own bodies but rather each others. They are to love and serve each other as themselves and be in perfect obedience to each other. Out of this obedience and trust can perfect love grow and blossom. This is true also in our union in one flesh with Christ in the Eucharist. It is at His command that we celebrate the Eucharist, that we, His bride the Church, are united with Him in one flesh-- yet by becoming the bread and wine He has given us complete control of His own body as well. Thus in the Eucharist we have the most perfect of obedience, trust and surrender of Love.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Incarnation
"In perfect love this law holds: that the lover become like the one he loves; for the greater their likeness the greater their delight. " St. John of the Cross writes this as the Father speaking to His Son, explaining the Incarnation--the Word made flesh. God our Bridegroom and Lover became like the one He loves--His Bride! He did not simply "take on" our flesh, He became our flesh because He loved us, His Church, so deeply. The Church in turn, through her love for Him, has become His body. Love is a transforming power. This should give great hope to the Christian soul--so long as it loves God, it will become like Him and find eternal union with Him in heaven.
Monday, September 1, 2008
"I am Raphael, one of the seven angels who enter and serve before the Glory of the Lord" --Tobit 12:15
To be an angel that may enter and serve before the Glory of the Lord!! What astounding Beauty they are honored to witness and serve, what love and light must flow from those that may enter Love and Light!! And it is one of these that is sent to wrestle the demon that had killed all of Sarah's betrothed, so that Tobiah and Sarah may consummate their marriage-- that they may join in the earthly union which mirrors our God in Heaven. God will go to infinite lengths to preserve the sanctity of marriage, our purity and love, if only we, like Tobiah, ask it of Him!!
"Be constant in prayer" --Romans 12:12
"If you want to pray without ceasing, never cease to long for God. The continuation of your longing is the continuation of your prayer; and if you cease to long for him, your prayer will also cease." --St. Augustine
Rocking the Baby
Why is it so soothing to us to be rocked?
The first motion we feel is our mother's breathing rocking us in the womb.
The first motion we feel is our mother's breathing rocking us in the womb.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Your character affects your body
Excerpt from Christian Self-Mastery by Basil W. Maturin pp. 175-6
"The deeds that the body does upon earth, the habits it forms, and the life it lives must as surely affect its future as they affect the future of the soul. Character is stamped upon the whole bodily frame; the way a man walks or sits or stands all help to show something of his character. We are told that every thought is registered in the molecular changes that it effects in the brain.
"And certainly the face is the mirror in which the soul is reflected, upon which it stamps with ever-deepening lines its thoughts, its passions, and its ambitions. The difference between the face of a child and the face of a ma is the same as that between a white sheet of paper and one covered in writing, or between a new garment and one that has been long worn.
"It has been said by a well-known and learned psychologist, 'I believe that we are subject to the law of habit in consequence of the fact that we have bodies. The plasticity of the living matter of our nervous system, in short, is the reason why we do a thing with difficulty the first time, but soon do it more and more easily, and finally, with sufficient practice, do it semi-mechanically, or with hardly any consciousness at all. Our nervous systems have grown to the way in which they have been exercised, just as a sheet of paper or a coat once creased or folded tends to fall forever afterward into the same identical folds.' [William James]
"Had we but eyes to see, we might take scalpel and microscope and read in the bodily frame the moral history of the life of the soul that was its tenant. Indeed, many a characterisitc is stamped so clearly that none can fail to see it. Many we fain would hid but cannot; the telltale flesh has, so to speak, materialized the thoughts of the mind, given them form and shape, and revealed them to the world.
"As the body lies still and silent in death, its mystery and its pathos is that it has been the instrument and cooperator, and remains the material record of the soul's life. No thought ever passed through the mind for one brief moment without the body taking its part and writing the record. Was ever history written with such unerring accuracy as is written the history of the soul in the body it inhabits?"
"The deeds that the body does upon earth, the habits it forms, and the life it lives must as surely affect its future as they affect the future of the soul. Character is stamped upon the whole bodily frame; the way a man walks or sits or stands all help to show something of his character. We are told that every thought is registered in the molecular changes that it effects in the brain.
"And certainly the face is the mirror in which the soul is reflected, upon which it stamps with ever-deepening lines its thoughts, its passions, and its ambitions. The difference between the face of a child and the face of a ma is the same as that between a white sheet of paper and one covered in writing, or between a new garment and one that has been long worn.
"It has been said by a well-known and learned psychologist, 'I believe that we are subject to the law of habit in consequence of the fact that we have bodies. The plasticity of the living matter of our nervous system, in short, is the reason why we do a thing with difficulty the first time, but soon do it more and more easily, and finally, with sufficient practice, do it semi-mechanically, or with hardly any consciousness at all. Our nervous systems have grown to the way in which they have been exercised, just as a sheet of paper or a coat once creased or folded tends to fall forever afterward into the same identical folds.' [William James]
"Had we but eyes to see, we might take scalpel and microscope and read in the bodily frame the moral history of the life of the soul that was its tenant. Indeed, many a characterisitc is stamped so clearly that none can fail to see it. Many we fain would hid but cannot; the telltale flesh has, so to speak, materialized the thoughts of the mind, given them form and shape, and revealed them to the world.
"As the body lies still and silent in death, its mystery and its pathos is that it has been the instrument and cooperator, and remains the material record of the soul's life. No thought ever passed through the mind for one brief moment without the body taking its part and writing the record. Was ever history written with such unerring accuracy as is written the history of the soul in the body it inhabits?"
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