A Happy Thought

Today, while I was washing dishes, I was considering the fact that since the best that man could offer (gold, palaces, fine food, servants, etc.) is still not worthy of so great a King as our God, Creator, and Savior, and that God would still have to do without so much to be with us anyway, He decided to go without ANYTHING at all and be born in a cave, with no comforts of home, in the cold, and having to invite his own worshipers to boot and then flee for his life. Having nothing at all is more useful to Him than the paltry we could offer. Our best is still too meager. This made me think further...

Since God is so great and demanding of perfection ("be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect") and it seems like we as a people are acting so base these days that he should have enough of us any day now. It's a wonder He still puts up with us. But it's a joy in knowing that since we can't give Him anything good enough, He has supplied the perfect worship for us. We have only to participate in the meager way we can. We can not offer Him perfect worship without the Mass, no matter how hard we try. We are so inadequate. If mankind continues to become worse and completely degenerate, we will still continue to endure as long as some continue to offer the Perfect Sacrifice. Thank you, Jesus!

Lord, have mercy. "His mercy endures forever!" May the Mass endure on earth forever. Pray that it does.

Merry Christmas!

Silence!

Oh, this was so good I just HAD to share it. For prayer time lately, I've been working my way through the devotional, My Daily Bread, and I just reached the end of the section called "The Way of Purification" which is about half way through the book. The whole meditation was awesome, but the prayer at the end reads like this:

Dear Holy Spirit, my God, teach me to talk well and wisely. Let me avoid useless conversations. Help me to speak often for You. Grant that my words may never hurt men of good will. May my words always bring consolation to those in sorrow, guidance to those who are confused, light to the ignorant, hope to those who despair, comfort to those who are troubled, and good advice to those in need. Take my lips and make them Yours. Take possession of my mind and make it an instrument of Your goodness and a channel of Your truth. I hope to become a man of silence, that is, one who preferes to talk to God rather than to men. In my human conversations, may I always bring You closer to them and them closer to You. Amen.

Spiritual Thoughts

Well, now that the new CD is out there and getting good responses, I can turn my attention from Catholic music to talking about more spiritual matters.

I just came back from my yearly Lay-Carmelite silent retreat. Oh, I love the silence. and was thinking that it would be a worth-while idea to share some spiritual gems from time to time, so hear is one that has been of utmost importance in my life, especially with the busy, business of everything around here and the fact that there are just not enough hours in the day to get it all done. I just have to do my best and let God do the rest.

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church 2193: "'On Sundays and other holy days of obligation the faithful are bound (BOUND!)... to abstain from those labors and business concerns which impede the worship to be rendered to God, the joy which is proper to the Lord's Day, or the proper relaxation of mind and body' (CIC, can. 1247)."

I have found this to be very liberating. I am COMMANDED to NOT WORK. Phew!! Thank you, Jesus. I really need a break and now I don't feel guilty for not being "productive." I hope you all can take joy in the rest of the Lord.

Twitter

I've been thinking lately about how you will never get a "tweet" from me via Twitter. What might seem interesting to some is that I sincerely hope you never WANT a "tweet" from me - or from anyone else for that matter. It is my prayer that you are very serious about your prayer life and relationship with God and won't get sucked into today's culture that wants to dissapate our recollectedness, distracting us from the one true goal, which is to "love God with ALL our heart, ALL our mind, ALL our soul and ALL our stregnth..." Lk 10:27 There is plenty of very important things to think about ESPECIALLY today. Don't let Satan knock you off course and interrupt you into silliness. Simplify as much as possible. Be a warrior. Don't allow yourself to be "Tweeterpated."

Part III - Every Symphony Unfinished

Song and Celebration

The hungers of the heart are ultimately good. And food abounds in God's creation. Those things which properly nourish those hungers, which speak to that deep down ache, should be celebrated. We hunger for wholeness, intimacy, justice, peace. There are family, friends, places, prayers, experiences which God provides for us to give us sustenance on our journey.
But, truly enjoying God's gifts sometimes is difficult for us. It goes against our Catholic suspicion that behind every good thing lurks a catastrophe. The Irish lady was greeted with, "isn't it a great day!" She responded, "Yes, and we'll be paying for it!"
We will "pay for it" if we cling to the good things of creation, trying to tease from them the nourishment only God can give. But to enjoy them properly, holding them in freedom, and giving thanks, can bring us life. And surprisingly, we may discover a deep-down joy. We may even hear ourselves humming, "Jesu, joy of man's desiring..."

Part 2: Every Symphony Unfinished

Transformation of Desire

But, our hungers and our desires can lead us down troubled paths. Our God-given spiritual longing, which may be expressed in many ways, including creative, erotic energy is dangerous for us if not carefully tended. We need to be realistic, and have a reverence for that energy within us. One contemporary spriritual writer comments: "Spirituality is about finding the proper ways, disciplines, by which to both access that energy and contain it." The goal is not the annihilation of desire, but the transformation of desire.

Over a lifetime, our desires, which often dissipate and fragment us, are gradually shaped through discipline and grace. We are not getting tougher. Our desires are changing. The desires of our hearts are more and more in accord with God's desire for us and the world. We begin living in a consonance of desire. Or, as Saint Teresa of Avila said simply, "And now, I want what you want."

Every Symphony is Unfinished

As a Lay Carmelite, I read the Carmelite Review periodically. This article, I thought, was worth posting.

...an excerpt from the Carmelite Review by Father John Welch, O.Carm. - Prior Provincial, Part 1:

God is the first contemplative.
Christians believe that the true story of our lives is a love story. One telling of the story says that God, the first contemplative, gazed on us, and made us alluring. Attracted by one hair of our head, God had to fall in love with us. It is not we who first loved, but God who first loved us. We are born loved. And that love wounded our heart, making it ache for love's fulfillment.

Our pilgrimage through life is to find the One who made us this way. We want that One to come back and finish the love affair. Our search takes us through God's creation. And we ask that creation to tell us something about the One who wounded us. Creatures do speak of their Creator, but then point down the road, urging us to continue the quest.

It is natural to be restless, unfulfilled, ill-at-ease, never finally settled. Certainly, there can be a neurotic restlessness, but a low-grade ache for more tugs at most of us. One theologian observed: "Every symphony is unfinished." In every possession, in every relationship, in every accomplishment, there is an incompleteness.

We are made to yearn, to desire, to ache, to hunger and thirst until we find something or someone that meets the depths of our yearning. The Christian story tells us that only God is sufficiant food for the hungers of our heart.

"We were made for you, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you." - St. Augustine.