One of my favorite writers wrote the meditation for today, and it did not disappoint either! He wrote at great length about how "Christ seems to have fallen in love with our suffering, so passionately that he laid hold of it and made it his. He is known to the whole world as the Man of Sorrows. Yet he came to give us life, life full of JOY. It was not our suffering that Christ fell in love, but with us." Caryll Houselander (1954)
This just intrigues me as I look upon the daily frustrations encountered in our domestic Church, our jobs, our interactions with others on social media and elsewhere... it seems that there are the good times - joyful could describe them, but along with those come the times of irritation, frustration, and anxiety which is easily described as suffering. Of course, there are the huge times like John's brain cancer which changed all our live, as well as the traumatic birth of Patrick, and even further back and spaced through our childbearing years - the loss of our 7 in miscarriage and still birth! The JOY of our years of being open to LIFE/family was seasoned well with much very profound suffering!
Today in the Gospel of Mark - a leper reaches out to Jesus to be made clean. "I do will it. Be made clean." Mark 1: 40-45 The leprosy caused him to be unclean and humbled to the point that he had to live outside the town with other lepers and no one could touch him - this attracted the attention and pity of Jesus... "Our woe and oppression" dispose us to God's mercy! So true - we are weak and unable to do it ourselves - we must turn to HIM! When Jesus took on our humanity out of LOVE for us to be our salvation from the darkness of sin and death..."He made himself subject to our limitations: to discomfort, poverty, hunger and thirst, and pain. He knew fear, temptation and failure. He suffered loneliness, betrayal, unrequited love, utter desolation of spirit, the sense of despair and death. He suffered all these things, and all the secret, incommunicable things known to each individual, which can never be told; and he overcame them all." Caryll Houselander
"Jesus took our humanity, just as it is, with all its wretchedness and ugliness, and gave it back to us just as His humanity is, transfigured by the beauty of his living, filled full of his JOY." Caryll Houselander
Yes, it is possible to find JOY in our lives - we do slip in and out of the darkness of sin and pride. If we only look to Jesus and His wise and beautiful Bride, The Church, we can find that little piece of heaven here on earth!
Jesus, we long to find that happiness here in this time and place in our lives. We are humbled by our own "leprosy" our sickness and weakness and uncleanness - all of which YOU have taken upon yourself. May we leave behind our selfishness and allow your Spirit to come and dwell within and bring into our lives the fruits of the Spirit! Galatians 5:22" But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." By their fruits you shall know them, O Lord! May these fruits overflow to all those that are in our lives - most especially those in our domestic Church/families. It seems that the self- control piece is very large in quelling those moments of sudden anger and impatience with those that are the closest to us. Even in the midst of the storms of LIFE when the emotions of fear and terror fill us - may we realize that YOU, O Lord, are in control and we need only Trust in YOU. Jesus, we do Trust in YOU. Amen and Hallelujah
It seems the storm has arrived! Lord, protect all those out in the weather/blizzard.
"He identified himself so wholly with our suffering, because our lives are necessarily made up of it. It is the inescapable consequence of sin. No one can escape it; everyone must somehow either make friends with suffering or be broken by it. No one can come close to another, let alone love him, without coming close to his suffering. Christ did far more, he wed himself to our suffering, he made Death his bride, and in the consummation of his love, he gave her his life. Christ has lived each of our lives, he has faced all our fears , suffered all our griefs, overcome all our temptations, labored all our labors, loved all our loves, died all our deaths." Caryll Houselander (1954) Much to ponder here - but I think that merely saying that Jesus is in control in our stormy life - we are HIS and He loves us and forgives us unconditionally is saying this in another way! Laying our burdens at His feet in the conditional and humbly asking for him to make us clean! "I will do it. Be made clean." Mark 1
Finding JOY in the midst of the storms of LIFE!
Joy that knows no bounds!!!!
The Church gives us so much to persevere no matter what - Prayer and the Saints watching out for us all surrounding their Savior, Jesus Christ!
A picture of crazy JOY on Maria's first communion day - How could we not know JOY with all these to share our journey here on the earth with? The loss of the 7 added up to great suffering, yet we long to meet them in Heaven and they keep our eyes heavenward as we carry our Most Cherished Cross and follow HIM!
The Most Cherished Cross - through the Cross we find LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT
"The world needs LIGHTS." Patrick Verly on our engagement weekend when I asked him if we were being selfish to be open to family - want a large family. All my fears evaporated with those words from the Holy Spirit!
Casting Crowns - Praise HIM in the storm
Mark Schultz - give us clean hands - it was one of those 2009 Christian songs John and I listened to as we fought the battle and won over brain cancer!
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