Today's Gospel is about the Sabbath and the "rest." One of my favorite women Catholic writers, Caryll Houselander, spoke of Proper Sabbath Rest this morning... "Rest, far from being relaxation, is a culmination, a fullness of gathered peace, like the fullness and stillness of waters gathered to a flood tide. Think of a child asleep in his mother's arms: the abandon with which he gives himself to sleep can only be because he has complete trust in the arms that hold him. He is not lying asleep on that heart because he is worn out with anxiety. He is asleep there because it is a delight to him to be asleep there. The mother rests, too. She rests in his rest. Her mind and body rest in him. His head fits into the crook of her curved arm. Their warmth is mingled like the warmth of two softly burning flames. She rocks to and fro, and her rocking is unconsciously timed by his breathing. Rest is a communion of love between them. It is a culmination of content: on the child's part, utter trust in his mother; on the mother's part, sheer joy in the power of her love to sustain his life."
How I love to visualize this picture of mother and child, and with Maria and her 4 little ones here with us... I can experience it visually and personally with my times of closeness with baby Romeo, now 4 months. How did all this come about today when we are told by Jesus that "the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath?" A deeper look at "rest." With the troubles, and worries, and anxieties, that surround us with the distractions, and sins, and hardships, and noise, and activities of little ones, and caring for the elderly at the nursing home, and a house that won't stay clean, or the rug that buckles and you have to continually straighten, and the phone talker that talks and talks, and all that comes into that inner sanctuary to disturb the peace... "hold fast to the hope that lies before us. This we have as an anchor of the soul, sure and firm, which reaches into interior behind the veil, where Jesus has entered on our behalf as forerunner..." Hebrews 6 - the first reading for today. Jesus is where we find our rest/PEACE! "God could not need rest. He could not be tired by creating the world. His rest was the infinite peace of infinite love." Caryll Houselander (1954)
Jesus, there is much crowding you out in our day to day life... may we come to find you in our inner chapel - filled with the knowledge of your unconditional love and forgiveness for us. If we get off the path due to sin and darkness and lies of Satan - all we need do is come to you in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and lay our burdens at your feet. Jesus, your peace brings "rest" to our minds that are going a mile a minute as we pursue things of the world and listen to the lies that bombard us - "This vacation will make you happy." "Being skinny will make you happy." "You deserve this vacation, and all the food and drink and stuff... then you will have so much happiness!!!" Fleeting happiness that does not last more than a brief time and then makes us hungry for more. Where do we find lasting happiness? By embracing our Most Cherished Cross and although we suffer pain and loss and find humility we find LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT everlasting in Jesus and His Bride, The Church. Jesus, we trust in YOU. Amen and Hallelujah
Jesus is our all in all!!!
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Josh Wilson - Fall apart
Francesca Batistelli - Lead me to the Cross
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