So overjoyed by this verse today in morning prayer from I John 1!!! Speaking about how God came to earth in the form of man - Jesus Christ, and revealed to us the Word of LIFE! Eternal LIFE!!!! He is the LIGHT in the darkness of this world! He shows us the way to find happiness here on earth and to find True and lasting LIFE and LOVE. But it baffles us in the form that it takes - the Cross - our Most Cherished Cross! As Little Sister Hallel told her sister, Nancy, on the occassion of her getting engaged - "My heart overflowed with joy for you. How beautiful to know that you have found your... most cherished cross. While I have never had the experience of being married, from what I hear is that he will truly be your cross. But not your cross as human eyes look at it, as a thing to run away from, as a thing of torture but rather as that which is truly the tree of life. It is only when clinging to the cross that one can truly live, it is the source of all life and of all love. Your marriage to Bill will be this, not something to run away from when it gets hard and when it hurts, but something to hold tight to, especially when it hurts because it is in this that you will find life and love. Know that it is through your marriage that Jesus wants to show you his great love for you and also that the best example that you can give to the world of Christ's love is a marriage lived in truth." Yes, the Cross has become the Tree of LIFE! Christ shows us the Word of LIFE in how He now comes to us through the Holy Spirit dwelling in our hearts, minds, and souls!
I walked into the gathering space at Church for Adoration and discovered these two side by side there... I was filled with such deep appreciation to the Lord at work in the lives of all my children! To see these two listening to His call to come close to HIM and serve HIM through a calling to serve His Church - so amazing! Today the meditation of the readings from mass lead to the idea of those that carry the Gospel forth into the world. John in seminary is already reaching out through outreach programs that they keep them involved in. Hallel's order goes door to door begging for their food from the poor and carries the Gospel with them. So when we prayed today for those today - "You yourself are the Word you sent your disciples to preach: -enrich in prayer all servants of the Gospel, that they may feed your people abundantly with the word of LIFE. The harvest is plentiful, O Lord: send us laborers!" I think of both Hallel and John, but also our other children, who are also sharing the Gospel - the Word of LIFE with their families and those around them!
Lord, Your Truth and LIFE come to us each day through Your Church and Your Spirit alive in our inner temples. May we carry forth your JOY and Peace - all the fruits of your Spirit into our domestic Church/family! Galations 5:22 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." Lord, we long to be more open and receptive to Your Holy Spirit, and may our Tree of LIFE have such fruit laden upon it. We long to serve YOU without counting the cost. Jesus, we are weak and lowly and turn to YOU. YOU raise us up and carry us forth down the path of LIFE, and LOVE and into the LIGHT! May we find all that we need to deny self and follow YOU through the graces and sacraments of Your True Church! We are forever blessed!!! Jesus, we trust in YOU. Amen and Halleluia
Bless-bless,Barb
"What then have we to do? We must realize that God is our tremendous lover, that he is our all and that he has done all our works for us. We must believe in God and not in ourselves; we must hope in God and not in ourselves; we must love God and not ourselves. As St Augustine told us, there is no man who reaches to the extremities of the universe and unto the end of time. We have to enter into this one man - this one Christ - by faith, hope, and charity. We have to find our all in HIM. He is our full compliment and our perfect suppliment. No matter how weak we are, he is our strength; no matter how empty we are , her is our fullness, no matter how sinful we are, he is our holiness. All we have to do is accept God's plan - to say as Christ said coming into the world: 'A body thou hast fitted to me; behold I come to do they will, O God.' We have to accept the self, and the surroundings, and the story, the God's providence arranges for us. In humility we must accept our self - just as we are; in charity, we must accept and love our neighbor just as he is; in abandonment, we must accept God's will just as things happen to us, and just as he would have us act. Faithful compliance with His will and humble acceptance of his arrangements will bring us to full union with Christ. For the rest, let us gladly glory in our infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in us. In our weakness and in our love we shall thus become one with him, and there shall be one Christ loving himself."
Dom M.Eugene Boylan, O.C.R. (1963)
Praying for Ruth and the new LIFE within her! Lord, keep them both healthy and safe!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOOFAaUGfRE Laura Story - Blessings
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50144236n Watch this!! It was on the evening news last night!!! How crazy that they would have this on CBS!
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