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