Thinking of the farmers as we are entering our 3rd day of planting. So far things are going well, with wonderful weather, and that wonderful rain that finally started to come and break the drought since July 1st of last year. We still don't have any subsoil moisture, so the rain must continue to come, and come, and come all summer, but it just feels like it can rain again... thank you, St Isidore and all you saints in heaven! It sure is nice to have you to come to with our needs. Speaking of heaven today is a continuation of John 6 in the Gospel - John 6:44-51 And Jesus is telling us about sending us our Bread from heaven...
"I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my Flesh for the life of the world."
And the first reading is that beautiful story from Acts about Philip and the Eunuch on the road from Jerusalem. How he tells this man about the fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah of Jesus... "Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opened not his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him..." Acts 8 So much power and Cross Beauty! By Cross Beauty, I mean that it is the beautiful necessity of suffering and death so that we could find freedom from sin and death... it is the taking up of the Cross and following HIM that we are called to do. His Bread of LIFE comes to us from that Cross and his sacrifice - just as the unblemished Lamb that was slain - after the blood was put on the doorposts in the Passover of the Angel of Death in Exodus was roasted and eaten with bitter herbs! It fed them, but with food that was merely food - not miraculous heavenly food of LIFE! Each time... every day in the Catholic Church... we are revisiting the sacrifice on the Cross of the Lamb in the celebration of the mass... and His Body and Blood are there for us to eat of HIM and carry HIM forth into our world! True Food and Drink for the Journey!
It was very touching to look up and see Mary and David holding hands as they walked along over the uneven ground on a beautiful summerlike day. Sharing the moment in this physical bond, and helping each other over the rough ground as they talked and walked. There is something so spontaneous and special in this human closeness and comfortable feeling of sharing. "What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light to the human race." John 1:3-4 Wow! This is such a great verse from John! If only we can embrace that LIFE that He holds out to us daily! I always smile when I think of a story that John shared with me about an experience at his Faternity the first year he lived there. There was a young man, who was so excited about his faith. He burst out with this comment one day; "Wouldn't it be wonderful if there was a church service everyday that you could gather and worship?" John and his best friend, Brad, looked at each other with amazement and told him..."But there is that available in the Catholic Church!" Too amazing and great for words! Come here to the Catholic Church... I have felt from the beginning of my journey into the Catholic Church and every day since - "It has everything figured out, and I can trust every single part of it!" I have not been disappointed by this ever!
Off to work today... Jesus, go with me as I serve with a smile those that have found their final home to be the nursing home. May I be a true and willing servant of yours, and may your Light and Love touch those around me. I am nothing without you, and I truly need to come to embrace my Most Cherished Cross, and see the Cross Beauty of it! See that it is truly the Tree of LIFE and has brought your eternal feast for us to eat and find LIFE! May we come to you often to eat of your Body and Blood "for the life of the world." May we become more and more yours and less and less selfish and confused by all that pulls at us in our lives. We are yours! Jesus, we trust in you. Amen and Halleluia, Halleluia, Halleluia!
Bless-bless, Barb
"I wish for my food to be the doing of your will, O my Jesus; that adorable will which is to constitute my whole life. I wish, O Lord, your will to be a Paradise for me, in spite of the sacrificces I am called upon to make. But what matters if I endure them for love of you? O Jesus, here present with me in the Sacred Host! I need that life of intimacy with you, that constant presence of the Beloved One. I want to live and breathe in your most Sacred Heart. I have need of you, O my Jesus, to live, to be pure, to sanctify myself. I wish for no other bead than the bread of life which takes away all hunger and thirst: the immortal bread; which opens the gates of heaven to those who partake of it. ... and this food which is the bread of the soul is yourself, my beloved Savior, whom I ardently desire to receive each moment,at every respiration, and at every pulsation of my heart."
Venerable Concepcion Cabrera de Armida (1937)
Wow! She has the words that I don't! Thank you, Lord! I am yours!
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