To Set This One Truth Before Their Eyes

Oh, I love this from today's Office of Readings!  It's from a sermon on the Ascension by Pope St. Leo the Great:

Beloved, the days which passed between the Lord’s resurrection and his ascension were by no means uneventful; during them great sacramental mysteries were confirmed, great truths revealed. In those days the fear of death with all its horrors was taken away, and the immortality of both body and soul affirmed. It was then that the Lord breathed on all his apostles and filled them with the Holy Spirit; and after giving the keys of the kingdom to blessed Peter, whom he had chosen and set above all the others, he entrusted him with the care of his flock.   

During these days the Lord joined two of his disciples as their companion on the road, and by chiding them for their timidity and hesitant fears he swept away all the clouds of our uncertainty. Their lukewarm hearts were fired by the light of faith and began to burn within them as the Lord opened up the Scriptures. And as they shared their meal with him, their eyes were opened in the breaking of bread, opened far more happily to the sight of their own glorified humanity than were the eyes of our first parents to the shame of their sin.  

Throughout the whole period between the resurrection and ascension, God’s providence was at work to instill this one lesson into the hearts of the disciples, to set this one truth before their eyes, that our Lord Jesus Christ, who was truly born, truly suffered and truly died, should be recognized as truly risen from the dead. The blessed apostles together with all the others had been intimidated by the catastrophe of the cross, and their faith in the resurrection had been uncertain; but now they were so strengthened by the evident truth that when their Lord ascended into heaven, far from feeling any sadness, they were filled with great joy.  

Indeed that blessed company had a great and inexpressible cause for joy when it saw man’s nature rising above the dignity of the whole heavenly creation, above the ranks of angels, above the exalted status of archangels. Nor would there be any limit to its upward course until humanity was admitted to a seat at the right hand of the eternal Father, to be enthroned at last in the glory of him to whose nature it was wedded in the person of the Son.

Where Charity and Truth Prevail

"Only when truth and love are in harmony can man know joy.

For it is truth that makes man free."

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI

The children of the Bridegroom cannot mourn, as long as the Bridegroom is with them

The children of the Bridegroom cannot mourn,

as long as the Bridegroom is with them.

Matt 9:15

"These sweet and consoling words must be our Easter text: 'The children of the Bridegroom cannot mourn, as long as the Bridegroom is with them.' They are the key to the whole Liturgy of this Holy Season. We must have them ever before us, and we shall find by experience that the joy of Easter is as salutary as the contrition and penance of Lent." 

Dom Prosper Gueranger

St. Philip Neri, Light of Holy Joy, pray for us

One of my favorite spiritual writers, Philip Kosloski, has a great prayer to Saint Philip Neri here: 

Want to Be More Joyful? Pray this Prayer to St. Philip Neri

Check out Philip's website! 

Called For A Greater Purpose

A life-changing realization:

"There is something wonderfully sacred that happens when a girl chooses to look past being set aside to see God's call for her to be set apart." ~Lysa TerKeurst

This is a grace. The truth is, yes, I have been set aside, many times. All of us have, at one point or another in our lives, been set aside. And it hurts. But the greater Truth is that God, my Father (*my Father!!!) has called me through and beyond that hurt, wholly His beloved daughter, for a greater purpose. What I love about Lysa's words are this: Though I cannot change or control being set aside, I can acknowledge that it has happened and then choose (this is huge!) to look past this fact and see, know, and believe God's call *for* me to be set apart.  He has chosen me, and I belong wholly to Him.  Every moment of my life, past, present, and future has been redeemed by Jesus's life saving sacrifice and resurrection from the grave. All of me and every moment of my life belongs wholly to Jesus, and He has created me completely anew as God's beloved daughter.

Yes, I have been set aside. It hurts. And in that moment, I choose to turn to You, Jesus.  Help me to turn to You in every moment, for You have redeemed all.  I know and trust as I look to You that You have created me completely anew, set apart as a beloved daughter of God, Our Father. I praise You and thank You, Father. For I am wonderfully made and made new by Jesus. In Your Holy and Saving Name Jesus, I pray and I love You. Amen+

"Rest is a communion of love between them."

"Think of a child asleep in his mother's arms: the abandon with which he gives himself to sleep can only be because he has complete trust in the arms that hold him.  He is not lying asleep on that heart because he is worn out with anxiety.  He is asleep there because it is a delight to him to be asleep there.  The mother rests, too.  She rests in his rest.  Her mind and body rest in him.   His head fits into the crook of her curved arm.  Their warmth is mingled like the warmth of two softly burning flames.  She rocks to and fro, and her rocking is unconsciously timed by his breathing.  Rest is a communion of love between them.  It is a culmination of content: on the child's part, utter trust in his mother; on the mother's part, sheer joy in the power of her love to sustain his life."

Caryll Houselander

A heart burning with love is a joyful heart

"A joyful heart is the normal result of a heart burning with love. She gives most who gives with joy." -- Blessed Mother Teresa

Blessed Mother Teresa, when she cared for the desperately poor around her, never turned away from suffering. Yet, she always gave her heart to those around her with much joy, even despite her own interior suffering. That kind of joy comes from a heart burning with love for Christ.

Blessed Mother Teresa, pray for us!

To grow joy in your heart, nurture hope

+JMJ+

 



Several weeks ago during prayer ministry, I asked for the people praying for me to pray for an increase in the virtues of faith, hope, and charity in my heart, especially the virtue of hope.  It was something a bit more specific than other times where I did not know what to ask for, except to ask for healing.  I trusted that God answered those prayers for healing even if it did not seem evident right away.  Looking back over the months, it is true that much healing has occurred.

When  asking specifically for the virtue of hope, He started answering me amost right away.  It's hard to put into words all that He is teaching me, but I want to share just a little of how He is working in my heart.  I am thankful for the grace of asking for hope because it is during Advent specifically that this virtue is nurtured.  We wait in expectant hope for the celebration of His birth and to receive Christ in His Glory when He comes at the end of time.  The gift the Holy Spirit gave during that prayer ministry over me was to open in a new way my ears, eyes, and heart to Him, so He could teach me about hope.  He is shepherding me ever closer to His Heart.  Even in the darkness I know His light is here, and He is teaching me to listen to His voice.  His voice speaks to me through prayer, reading His Word, Holy Mass (both in prayer and in the priest's words), through spiritual reading, and in people and circumstances I encounter.

Over the past weeks, much violence has occurred in our own community, in our nation, and the world.  Along with that, there have been deep disappointments in my own life this past week.  It is tempting to despair in the face of such evil and in the face of our own suffering and trials.  But with Christ in us, we do not despair; we hope in Him; we know His presence; we trust His great love for us and intimate knowledge of our suffering.  We know His presence in the hearts of those who gave their lives in order to save others.  He is God with us, Emmanuel.  

Father Andrew has a beautiful homily at Catholic Vision on our need for joy in the midst of suffering and how Mary, coming as Our Lady of Guadalupe, teaches us.  I have prayed for an increase of joy before, but it seems as though abiding joy is fleeting in my heart, even absent such suffering.  Now I somewhat understand why.  Perhaps my desire for hope is a fruit of praying for joy?  Being an engineer, I understand that in order to do calculus, you must first know easier forms of math.  Not to say that the virtue of hope is easier than joy, but I am learning that hope is necessary for joy.  In nurturing hope, I trust God will give me joy.

How do I nurture hope?  In Spe Salvi, Pope Benedict XVI tells us, "A first essential setting for learning hope is prayer."  He goes on to say the following:

Saint Augustine, in a homily on the First Letter of John, describes very beautifully the intimate relationship between prayer and hope. He defines prayer as an exercise of desire. Man was created for greatness—for God himself; he was created to be filled by God. But his heart is too small for the greatness to which it is destined. It must be stretched. “By delaying [his gift], God strengthens our desire; through desire he enlarges our soul and by expanding it he increases its capacity [for receiving him]”. Augustine refers to Saint Paul, who speaks of himself as straining forward to the things that are to come (cf. Phil 3:13). He then uses a very beautiful image to describe this process of enlargement and preparation of the human heart. “Suppose that God wishes to fill you with honey [a symbol of God's tenderness and goodness]; but if you are full of vinegar, where will you put the honey?” The vessel, that is your heart, must first be enlarged and then cleansed, freed from the vinegar and its taste. This requires hard work and is painful, but in this way alone do we become suited to that for which we are destined.

A great resource on prayer is The Catechism of the Catholic Church, Part 4, Christian Prayer, particularly Section 1, Chapter 3: The Life of Prayer (CCC 2697-2758).  "We cannot pray at all times if we do not pray at specific times, consciously willing it" (CCC 2697). 

As we pray, we realize that this hope is not meant for us alone.  Pope Benedict XVI also tells us,

When we pray properly we undergo a process of inner purification which opens us up to God and thus to our fellow human beings as well.

Like Mary, our hope is to be shared, to bring the light we have been given to others.  And so, it is through prayer that God is nurturing hope in my heart.  By His grace, the hope He gives me, I share with others through action.  And it is with expectant hope, I await His abiding joy.

Mary, Mother of Hope, Bearer of Hope, pray for us!


  

My Only Love - Matt Maher

HT @RCYouthWorker