In a Virgin's Womb

Casual glances toward the morning's mercy,

that falls like rain on the wicked and the just,

Squinting into the sunshine rising,

there's a little of both in every one of us.

 

I may never get my mind around it,

this mercy and grace that knows no bound,

I see it in the dawn's early light beguiling,

But it makes no sense as it makes no sound.

 

Love is in the shape of a cross

Hope is in an empty tomb

Faith is in the things that we cannot see

And it all began in a Virgin's womb.

 

Pain comes rumbling into every soul,

and none can explain it, if the truth be told,

But the Child of Mary, Who never did grow old,

Carried all that pain up a Jerusalem road.

 

Nails and flesh were never meant to meet,

The sound it makes is a horrible scream,

From the mouth of the Victim, Sacrifice, and Priest,

That's Mary's little Baby hanging on a tree.

 

Love is in the shape of a cross

Hope is in an empty tomb

Faith is in the things that we cannot see

And it all began in a Virgin's womb

 

Casual glances toward the morning's mercy

That falls like rain on every one of us. 

 

(Where are our tears?

Why don't we fall on our knees?

When will we turn from our damnable sin?,

back to the Virgin Mary's Child again.

back to the Virgin Mary's Child again...

back to the Virgin Mary's Child again...)

 

wkm

Oxford Ms

 

 

 

 

Fully Alive

The instant we begin to will His will in the smallest things, is the instant we begin to fully live. We were created for full life, abundant life, which is a detached life. Sweet detachment is a state of grace that allows us to do what we see the Father doing. He came to bring us back to this fullness. Adam and Eve had this and lost it when they grasped at being equal with God, which is still our problem. Jesus did not regard equality with God something to be grasped at. Jesus was fully alive. His will is simple. Kindness, caring for family and friends when they do not seem to notice or respond in kind, reaching out to those who despise us with humility, helping the helpless, seeing others as more important than ourselves, spending more time on our knees, devotion to His Sacred Heart. Not easy, but simple. I can't do this stuff on my own, I can't keep it going for long in my own strength. It is His grace that I must respond to if I am even to will His will. It is His yoke that is "easy", according to His words, that we must wear. Every soul has his or her own cross to bear. This is why the Sacraments are so vital to being fully alive! Receiving His forgiveness in reconciliation is so beautiful and makes so much sense to the daily struggle. Thank You Lord for this! Receiving His Body and Blood in the Eucharist is food for this daily struggle to help us love our Lord, friends, and enemies. Thank You Lord for this! Our Beloved Jesus thought of everything when He began His Church! Fully alive, is there any other way to live?

 

wkm 

REAL CHANGE

"They please the world most who please Christ least."--St. Jerome

 

While watching the Democratic Convention last night, I saw something amazing. Americans want someone to save them. They want change, a new "good news".  In 1st century Rome, Ceaser was the answer to the worlds problems. In fact, there was the "good news" of Ceaser the king. Into this seemingly peaceful world came a new Good News, not of political ideals, but of the radical call to follow a carpenter from Nazareth. The call came to follow a Jew who had been crucified as a sinner, a failure, and a nobody. He was being proclaimed risen from the dead by fisherman, ex-tax collectors, and zealots as the True King with the True Good News. His Kingdom was not of this world. His message was the politics of the heart, soul, mind, and body. It was then, and it still is 2000 years later. His prayer in John 17 for His followers to be "one as He and His Father are one", was His vision for changing the world. When the world sees believers united in His Church, which is His chosen way to minister in the world, the world will find the "change" it truly needs. The "change" these folks on the TV were chanting about last night is at best, the same old thing. Especially when at the very center of their "change" is their dedication to legal abortion and their hope in contraception as being the way to "fewer abortions". Why would they want "fewer abortions" if abortion is ok?! And contraception led to more abortions in the 1950's and 60's when it was introduced as safe and accepted than before it came into vogue. The answer to no abortion and "change" is the call to take up our crosses and follow the Jewish carpenter from Nazareth. His Good News is still our answer to this relativism we are drowning in today in America. Either killing babies is evil, or it is not. Legally killing old people is next if we don't have real change, in our hearts.

 

wkm

Beauty ever ancient, ever new...

St. Augustine is my Patron Saint. He was a Bishop in the 5th century in Africa. A patron is someone you look up to, want to emulate, learn from, get to know, and ask the prayers of. Today is his feast day, the day he crossed over into the "Beauty ever ancient, ever new...". I chose Augustine for my patron because his heart was a heart of confession. He came late to the Catholic faith, "Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved You! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there I searched for you." When I was on my journey to the Catholic Church, I remember reading these words of Augustine and my heart broke. His words became my words in that moment. He goes on to say, "I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more.". I chose him not because I am like him but because I want to be like him. St. Augustine, pray for me that I will open my heart, my mind, and my life more and more to this "Beauty ever ancient, ever new...".

 

wkm 

Our Fountain

In John 7 Jesus makes it clear that He is the Living Water Jeremiah spoke of when he prophesied to the people of Israel. The children of Israel had turned their backs on their Bridegroom for Baal and other gods. The prophet sounded like a wounded lover while speaking for God. The people were seeking their drink from "broken cisterns" that held no water. Jesus is our unbroken cistern. His Blood is our unquenchable drink. He is our Bread from Heaven. He is the True Bread from heaven, He alone satisfies our desires. But there is something unique about this Living Water and Heavenly Bread, though our thirst and hunger is sated in Him alone, our hunger and thirst for Him grows deeper and deeper!  The prophet said, "Taste and see that the Lord is good.", This is why Holy Mass is never mundane to those who are hungry and thirsty for Jesus! And to stay hungry and thirsty is a grace given that we must humbly live in. I lose my hunger and thirst so easily if I look to other things for my drink and food. Things that are not His Body and Blood, His words, and His nearness, His sacred Heart. "Come to the Fountain....and drink." He is our Fountain.

 

wkm

The Garden

The Kingdom of God is a seed in the garden

smaller than any dream we ever had,

But it will grow with great limbs

for the birds to nest in,

It's the garden of the Son of Man.

 

wkm

You Alone..

If Jesus appeared to you right now, if you turned around and He was standing behind you, what would you ask Him for?    

 

If we answer with anything except, "You alone", we still do not grasp the message of St. Paul, "For me to live is Christ, to die is gain!". Paul had fallen madly in love with Jesus, the Son of God. Paul had learned detachment, even from the good things in his past life of dedication to Judaism. He said it was "dung compared to knowing Jesus his Lord.". If "You alone" is not our first thought, we are still attached to things we should glare at with disdain.  He said the road is narrow that leads to life.. Lord, help us choose the narrow road today, the road of prayer, devotion, humility, honesty, faith, hope, and love. Help us to turn to You this morning and say, "I want You alone my Beloved!"

 

wkm

Lord, who do You say i am?

A friend of mine said he was meditating on the passage in Matthew 16 where Jesus asked the 12 who people were saying He was. In the process, my friend Greg had the inspiration to ask the question of Jesus, "Lord, who do you say I am?" What an amazing thing to ask our Beloved! What will He say?  Who we are in His eyes is everything, and to hear Him tell us will be invigorating, challenging, and fill our hungry souls with His perspective! It is something I am going to start asking Him. I would rather find out who He says I am, more than what others, or even I myself think I am. As St. Augustine said, "...You, Oh Lord, know us better than we know ourselves." What a mysterious thing is our faith!

 

wkm

He wants to give us.

The silence we face in the honest and unselfish prayers we pray is a gift from heaven. For He is teaching us perseverance and this allows our hearts and souls to grow wide enough to receive the gifts He wants to give us.

 

wkm

Even in Winter

Autumn is in the air. It won't be long before cool nights will be upon us. The seasons change to remind us of the ever changing lives we live. We get used to it, but it is still refreshing when those leaves begin to turn and the smell of chimney smoke wafts upon the breeze. What we may never embrace by the changing leaves and shorter days is that death is coming. Winter is nature's death. The barren fields, the stark bare trees, even the light is different, and there is much less of it. Jesus said unless a seed falls to the earth and dies, it will not bear fruit. He was referring to Himself, but He was also referring to all of us. We all face winter; spiritually, emotionally, psychologically, and in the end, physically, just like our Lord. But since He was the first seed that died and went into the ground, but did not stay in the ground, we have a sure hope! He is the first beautiful flower in the garden of God's eternal life, and now, we are His seeds waiting to burst from the darkness of winter right along beside Him! Imagine the garden of God! In the mean time, we must learn how to love our Beloved, and those around us, even in winter.

 

wkm

acrobatic spiritual life

Trust is sometimes the hardest thing. We may feel abandoned, but yet, we know that Jesus said He would never abandon us. How quickly we forget our zeal we had for Him and the affection we felt for Him only a short time ago. Somehow we begin thinking we are "ok" and can live in our own strength. We end up betraying our conviction that we need Him alone and can do nothing apart from Him! Romans 7 must have something to do with this acrobatic spiritual life. Paul must have felt some of this when he said, "The very thing I hate I do, the thing I want to do I don't do, who will free me from this...?"  Our Father frees us again and again through Jesus. We must never forget that this is a journey, and we shall not arrive until we see His face.

 

wkm

The Wolves are never far from the Door..

How do we begin to embrace suffering and disappointment? Lately I have been around many people in various conditions. We all have. One man I know fairly well is close to death from cancer. A woman who is a friend of my wife has lost her job because of chronic illness and is now facing bankruptcy and a very unsure future on disability. And then there are the more common everyday problems, arthritis, back ailments, sinus infections from hell, headaches, etc..So much pain in so many facets, and that is without mentioning stress, anxiety, and mental disorders. The wolves are never far from the door. So how do we make it through this valley of tears? Thanks be to God for the Communion of Saints! Hebrews chapter 12 says that we are surrounded by a "great cloud of witnesses" that cheer us on. These people are the Church Triumphant who are with the Lord! From Abraham, to St. Maximilian Kolbe who gave his life for a fellow prisoner in Auschwitz, we have great encouragement from on High if we would but embrace their examples, and hope in their prayers. And when you read about the Saints you will not find one that did not suffer in some fashion. From torture to tuberculosis, to ringing in the ears, headaches, cancer, depression, and the list goes on. I often find myself asking friends in the Lord who are still on this earth, and especially the Saints who have left this earth, to pray for me and for those I love. What great comfort to know they are cheering for us and that they care. The other great example of what to do with our pain is given by Jesus Himself. The book of Hebrews says we have a High Priest who suffered in every way we do and can therefore relate to our suffering. He offered His pain and suffering up to the Father for our souls. We can do the same! We can offer up our conditions for those around us just like our Lord showed us, for we are to be like Him in all things. Glory to His name!

 

wkm

The Bread King

This election year gives us the spectacle of Obama and McCain feeling important and "called" to lead our country. Both want to be King Of America. 

 

A couple of times in the life of Jesus the people tried to make Him King on their terms. One of these times was just after He had fed thousands of people with a little boys meager lunch. The people wanted a bread king. They wanted a king that took care of their physical needs and for this they were more than ready to crown Him. What did Jesus do? He quickly put the disciples into a boat and sent them away. He then went to a lonely place on the mountain to pray. A few versus later in John 6, He tells the same people who were about to force Him to be their King that He will give them Bread forever, His Body, which is "real food". This Bread will give them eternal life. All but the 12 apostles leave Him!!  Jesus' Kingdom is a mysterious place. Its laws, rituals, and sacraments have to do with loving enemies, feeding the hungry, carrying a cross, dying to self, walking in humility, preaching the gospel, baptizing, holiness, unity, the Eucharist... He is the Bread King and His Body is our Bread. He told Pilate that His Kingdom is not of this world, but glory to His name, it is the hope for this world's kingdom of attachment and sin.

 

Whoever wins in November, let us pray that he will have a deep conversion to the Bread King!

 

wkm

Help!

Beloved Lord, once again, as always, I need Your help today.

 

wkm

Need

The more we cry out to The Ancient of Days with honesty, with candid hearts and minds..., whether we have doubt, confidence, or we kneel somewhere in between, the more we will know ourselves. The more we know ourselves, the more we know that something is missing deep within our being. Augustine said, "Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee, for Thou hast made us for Thyself." When it comes down to the nitty gritty of things, we Need something. No doubt is greater than our Need. No confidence is greater than our Need. Our Need is the one thing we all have in common whether we are rich, poor, sick, healthy, young, old, man or woman. We all Need something only the Ancient of Days can give us, Himself.

 

wkm

His View of Things

There is a gentle rain this morning in Oxford Ms. The soft weather reminds me of  four days I spent in Ireland a few years ago. Everything there and here is so green, so many shades of green. The silence out here in the country is deep and lovely. A friend of mine who has been to the Holy Land says that the view from the Mount of Olives is deep and lovely. He says to stand where Jesus stood and to see what Jesus saw is a mystical experience. I pray that no matter where we stand, that we can learn to see the world the way Jesus does. To expect the places we live, work, play, suffer, and love, to become the places of experiencing Jesus' Sacred Heart and Vision. The simple lives we live can become deeply meaningful because He is. In class today, or work, or even on our days off, may we meditate on His view of things.

 

wkm

Assumed

There is a doctrine in the Catholic Church and the Greek Orthodox Church that teaches the Mother of God's body did not see decay. When her earthly life was finished, she fell asleep and was assumed into heaven, body and soul. In scripture, this is no big deal. Elijah was assumed into heaven and did not die, so we know God can do this when He wants to. And, this was not something a Pope in the 20th century made up. It was made a doctrine of the Church when it was because people were attacking this 2000 year old belief. (Same with all doctrines of the Church.) The "Trinity" was made a doctrine of the Church when it was because there were so many heretics attacking this belief long held by the faithful. The doctrine that Jesus is fully God and fully man is another great example, there were attacks on this belief not long after the Apostles were all dead. A council was called to waylay the heretical teaching of that day that said Jesus was not fully human and fully God. The early Fathers of the Church assumed Mary's bodily assumption into heaven. It was never debated by anyone with any vigor until the "enlightenment" when pretty much all belief in everything was attacked. The "enlightenment" should have been called 'the disenlightenmet, the beginning of relativism'!

Today is the Feast of the Assumption. Mary, the Mother of the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, was taken into heaven so that her very important body, the body that carried God in human form and whose flesh and blood gave God His Flesh and Blood, would not see an iota of decay. One of her names in the early Church was the Ark of the New Covenant. (It's interesting that to this day both a location for her burial, or, the original Ark of the Covenant have never been established.) She did not ascend like Jesus, Who did so in His own divine power, but rather, she was assumed to Heaven by Jesus. Jesus is the One who did this, not Mary. Once again, she is the recipient of Heavenly grace. There is no Mary worship here, only honor for God's chosen Mother. Why did Father do this? Because He wanted to. And, to give us all hope! ("Oh death, where is thy sting?!") She is a human just like us, and look what devotion, obedience, humility, trust, and most all, grace did in this little life of Mary. If we say yes to His grace, He will use us to bring Jesus to the world too! When you stop and look deeply into this woman's life, you can't help but have a lasting hope, and she won't let you take your eyes off of Jesus.  

 

 Fiat!

 

wkm

Everything

Inside the deepest fear we face

In our longings for sweet grace

The only reason to hang on

The only thought that keeps us strong

is that everything, oh Lord,

is in Your hands

 

Inside the loneliness and tears

When all we do is jam the gears

The only thing that helps at all

Is knowing how You hold it all

and that everything, O lord,

is in Your hands

 

hands of mercy,

hands of peace,

hands that discipline and teach,

hands of comfort, hope, and grace,

And Your scars still say one thing,

That you gave everything

 

Inside the doubts that come and go

Like a gaggle of black crows

landing in the pure white snow,

of our confidence that knows,

You hold everything

You hold everything

 

Inside the bitterness we keep

toward a friend or enemy

Show us those scars so we can see

how even when it hurt so deep

You stretched out Your hands so we,

would give everything!

 

hands so tender

hands so strong

hands that lift our sinking souls 

hands of mystery,

open wide

We need those wounded hands to guide us Lord

In everything 

 

wkm

Oxford MS

8-14-08/ 3:39 a.m.

 

 

The Desert

Some days we wake up and it's as if everything has changed. The momentum has shifted from zeal for our Beloved to a strange malaise and a sense of loneliness. St. Teresa of Avila saw this as a good thing. She saw this as Father growing us up, maturing our faith, helping us with detacthment from feelings, and as a time of strengthening the will in obedience and trust.  In times like this we may realize that it is the good feelings of His closeness we crave and not He Himself. We want the good feelings of grace and favor and not so much the Giver of grace and favor. This is a struggle in my life. I am a very emotional person, I have a weakness for the feelings of grace working in my many weaknesses. St. Peter talks about this in one of his epistles, "Count it all joy my brethren when you encounter various trials...". I am glad he used the word "various". I would place spiritual dryness in the realm of "various". But sometimes we experience this feeling of separation from our Lord because of sin, that is completely different than the "various" trials Peter spoke of!  When it is because of sin that we sense separation, we should confess our sin! (I am so grateful for the Sacrament of Reconciliation.) 

Jesus endured His desert for 40 days and nights. Scripture says that even our Lord learned obedience through what He suffered. Surely we are not better than He! Teresa says that after a time, the Lord once again gives us His gifts of presence, just as after a time the angels came and ministered to Jesus in His desert. The goal of the desert is to teach us to trust our Father, and to learn to will the zeal for our Beloved Lord whether we feel it or not. To continue in prayer, fasting, devotions, and works of love for Jesus and those around us, in spite of what we feel, to embrace our cross. And when we fail, He is there to lift us up. Everything is grace.  Lord, have mercy on us.

 

wkm

YES

Every moment we take a breath we are loved into existence. Whether someone ever believes this or not, this fact never changes. Psalm 139 says that we are known before we are born. "Your eyes beheld my unformed substance." Since Roe vs Wade there have been 45 million abortions. Our Father in heaven saw each of these persons before they were murdered. He loved them into existence and our relativistic culture killed them. Pro choice has become another term for infanticide, and the Bride of Christ has to wake up and join in with the few who are trying to stop this. We must encourage the world with the good news that He has made us for Himself. Human life is unique.We are made in the image of God! How can this be? What a mystery! Our dignity comes first from being the only ones in His creation with a soul, the second is the Cross of Calvary where He Himself, after being knit together in the womb of Mary, suffered for our sins and defeated death. Our lives are not our own. We have misunderstood what freedom of choice really is. As soon as we think, "I can do whatever I want.", we become slaves to sin, our freedom becomes dark and ego driven. Choice lead us either to freedom in Christ, or slavery to sin. Eve proved this with her desire to be like God. Her 'free choice" brought about the suffering of the ages. Full of grace, Mother Mary reversed this for humanity with her YES to God's will. Mary's YES to God is our greatest weapon in the battle for the unborn! By grace, we must live this YES, and by grace we must teach this YES to a world gone mad. The new Eve said YES and gave birth to a little baby, the new Adam.

 

wkm

The Quiet Bread of Heaven

1 Kings 19:11, Elijah is called to the mountain to wait for the Lord to pass by. My priest, Fr. Joe Tonos, inspired this thought with his inspired homily yesterday at Mass. Elijah had just called down the fire of God upon the water soaked alter to show the people that God was truly God. He had just slit the throats of the prophets of Baal. Now he was told to go to the mountain and wait in a cave for God to show up again. First came wind that ripped pieces of the mountain away, but God was not there. Then came an earthquake, still no God, then fire, the very thing that God had sent for Elijah before, but still God was not in this. Don't we often want God to "show up" with drama and power? We want to see miracles and hear great words of prophecy, to feel as if we are important and special in the eyes of the world! We want God to bring down the fire and show His majesty! Of course, it is just like Jesus, Who comes to the world through the quiet Virgin, that here in this cave with Elijah, God comes in a whisper. He comes the same way to us today in our marriages, our jobs, our families, our art, our dryness, our schools, the studio, the office, the prisons, the chapel, our cars... Amidst all the winds of self importance, ego-drama, busy schedules, loud music, blah blah blah, amidst the earthquakes of the economy, the failed dreams, sickness, and fear. Wait! if we will wait, we will hear Jesus say, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." "I am with you always, even to the end." Let us cover our faces like Elijah, in humility, and listen to what our Lord has to say. Especially as we partake of the quiet Bread of Heaven.

 

wkm

Rose Window

The early Church Fathers used many symbols to express the truth. My favorite, thanks to Fr. Robert Barron, is the Rose window which reached its apex in the Medieval period. You can google Rose Window and find numerous links to explain this beautiful icon of faith. It speaks to us of the well ordered soul. Jesus is always in the center. Even at Notre Dame, which is of course is built in honor of the Virgin Mary, we see Mary holding Jesus who is in the center. Flowing out from the center is color and order, making for a symphony of beauty and high art. When our lives are totally centered on Jesus, there is a beauty and symphonic quality to our relationships, our devotions, our struggles, our pain and suffering, and our mission. The well ordered life is a life of digging. A life that is never satisfied with just knowing Jesus, but wants to fall madly in love with Him! The well ordered soul is a life of love, forgiveness, learning detachment, mission and prayer. The Rose window sometimes unfolds this way; Mary holding Jesus, then the next layer is the Apostles and Saints, all representing paths to Christ. The last great teaching of the Rose window is light. When sitting in a cathedral and the sunlight bursts through one of these windows, the color and beauty is awe inspiring, so is a soul in love with and centered on the Beloved.

 

 

wkm

necessary but not sufficient...

St. John of the Cross emphasized that our efforts in the spiritual life are necessary but not sufficient unto salvation. In other words, our sanctification is impossible on our own. Does this mean that we should not pray without ceasing? Does it mean that we should not take up our cross daily and follow? Does this mean that we do not buffet our body to make it our slaves, as Paul says? Does this mean that we become comfortable and complacent, or do we say with Paul, "Knowing that I have not yet achieved the goal, I press on... in Christ Jesus!". Our effort in the journey of salvation is a grace given to us so that we learn to burn with love for the Other for the sake of the Other. We are being prepared to see God!, or what the Fathers of the Church called, The Beatific Vision. This is why Paul said, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." Jesus told the crowd, "No one has seen the Father but the Son..." We are being prepared for this moment, to see the Father. Every day we wake up this side of death, we are given time, as Jesus said, "to be holy as your Father is Holy." In this life of sin and its consequences, He is especially at work within us to ready us for that all consuming moment, and He wants us to work with Him. Seeing the Father is no small matter. This is why He gave us His Church and the Sacraments, it is all for our wounded souls. Even now, we can be consumed in His nearness! St. John of the Cross knew deeply that our salvation is a gift from our Beloved, and that He alone is our salvation. Because of this, let us press in more and more to the bosom of our Beloved Lord and cry for mercy and courage in this journey to see God!

 

wkm 

SILENCE

This past Monday through Wednesday I was visiting the EWTN studios in Birmingham. The grounds are actually a Monastery with a television production company in the middle of it. There are Friars in Franciscan robes walking the grounds with sincere smiles and warm greetings. Pilgrims from all over the world come there to pray and support the call to bring Jesus to the world. All of this started by a Nun who knew nothing about television. She had never watched tv and from what I understand, still doesn't. I was there to record a show sharing my music and the story of God's grace in my little life. Glory to Him! Right in the middle of everything going on is a beautiful humble chapel. Everyday they have two Mass services and it is open for prayer and adoration otherwise. I have never witnessed such reverence! When people would come into the chapel, they would kneel and bow to the Tabernacle with such love and respect. The wonderful aspect of this is how it allows one to focus on The Beloved. Jesus is the center! Jesus is the Lord of all! His presence is so evident! The silence gives Him the loudest praise I have ever heard! I did not want to leave. As I would come an go to this chapel over the next three days, I noticed the simple yet wonderful stone tablet on the wall at the entrance, SILENCE.
 
wkm

Married Love

How do we love Father? How do we love Jesus the Son? How do we love the Holy Spirit, the Helper? John says we love because He first loved us. But what happens to this love? Does it change and mature into a deep married love or does it remain a mercenary love? Do we ever go beyond loving the Beloved not for what He gives us, but simply for His sake alone? A mercenary love is always a part of our experience. We need His help always and when He gives us grace we fall on our knees and thank Him for what He has given us, this is life. But what if a husband only loved his wife when she met some kind of need? This would not be the love that would hold them together for long. But when a man and woman grow through the years and find the company alone of the other as peace and joy, this is married love. This is a love that gives for the sake of the other as other. This is where we must strive to be with our Beloved! This comes through the mystery of grace and our will, saying the same thing the Virgin Mary said to Gabriel, "Let it be done unto me according to Your will." 

 

Jesus, my Beloved, help me to love You the way you deserve to be loved!

 

wkm

Come in Lord!

Deeper into God is where we are called to go. Into His endless ocean
of Mercy He bids us to dive heart first. This is His cry to everyone
who believes. We are never there. We have never made it. We are not
static in our faith and in our knowing the Other. St. Augustine, when
He came to God, cried out, "Late have I come to Thee Oh Lord!" St.
John of the Cross called Jesus his Beloved. We must each know this
Beloved and with passion we must dig dig dig into this treasure that
is His Church. There are so many rooms where grace is found. There are
so many moments to adore our Beloved! And this always begins with the
cross, and His never ending knock upon the door of our soul. Come in
Lord!

wkm

My Beloved

In the light of dawn standing in the southern mist
I hear what must be angels
chanting a song of bliss

a bliss full of longing for a moment to come
and the wonder in their voices
is ancient, deep, and long

Creation joins in and I feel the hills moan
and my soul joins in with a song
everything knows

Come Lord
we're waiting
Don't delay
Come Lord
we're fainting
to see Your face

so give us strength once again
to pray and love through another day
until we hear You say

I Am here
to wipe your tears away
so cry no more

My beloved
My beloved
My beloved!

wkm
Birmingham Alabama
8/5/08

Without our suffering...

Without our suffering, our work would just be social work, very good and helpful, but it would not be the work of Jesus Christ, not part of the redemption. Jesus wanted to help us by sharing our life, our loneliness, our agony and death....We are allowed to do the same: all the desolation of the poor people, not only their material poverty, but their spiritual destitution, must be redeemed and we must have our share in it. Pray thus when you find it hard, – "I wish to live in this world which is so far from God, which is turned so much from the light of Jesus, to help them - to take upon me some of their suffering."

Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Bread

Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Bethlehem means, "House of Bread".

Jesus was laid in a manger. A manger is a feeding trough for sheep.

Jesus called his followers sheep. He called Himself and His apostles shepherds. He told Peter to "feed My sheep".

Jesus told the crowd that He was the Bread of life, that His flesh was "real food" and His blood "real drink".

Jesus told the crowds that Moses gave them bread that parishes, but the Bread He gives is His imperishable body, and whoever eats His body has eternal life. Whoever does not eat His body and drink His blood "has not life." This was the only moment where followers turned away from Him saying "who can take this teaching?" Jesus let them leave, He did not stop them with an explanation. John 6:66

Jesus told the disciples in the Upper Room to "take and eat" to "Do this in remembrance of Me.", His last command, and the pinnacle of His earthly teaching.

Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

 

wkm

 

 

making haste!

Luke tells us about Mary making haste to help Elizabeth who was also with child. Here is an incredible moment that reaches out to us 2000 years later. Elizabeth was carrying the prophet John the Baptiser. Mary was carrying God become man. How is it that Mary rushes to help her older cousin? It seems that Elizabeth should have been the one making haste to help Mary. But even in this we find our Lord inspiring His own blessed mother to serve instead of waiting to be served. Luke says she stayed until Elizabeth gave birth. When Jesus is birthed within us, we can't help but serve! This is what Mary's example always teaches, to make haste, taking Jesus to those around us, to help them! And more to it, here we see a another beautiful teaching, we see ourselves in the womb of Elizabeth, prophets waiting to be born. At our baptism we are anointed with the oil of king, priest, and prophet. Mary still makes haste to all who carry this call, still inspired by her Son and King, to help with the birth of more prophets who will point the world to Jesus. How many in the Church never hear the call to serve the King? How many prophets never wake up to the joyful lonely calling of saying to every one who will listen, "Behold!, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!"? 

 

wkm

the adorable heart of our Lord

We must endeavor to the utmost of our power to enter into the adorable Heart of our Lord by making ourselves very little and humbly confessing our nothingness, thus losing sight of self entirely.

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque