When your eyes are tired the world is tired also. When your vision has gone no part of the world can find you. Time to go into the dark where the night has eyes to recognize its own. There you can be sure you are not beyond love. The dark will be your womb tonight. […]
I was listening to the homily for today’s morning Mass on EWTN radio as I drove to work. The homilist, Fr. Joseph Mary, paraphrased Dietrich von Hildebrand: The essence of purity is reverence. Fr. Joseph Mary added, “…reverence for the person, reverence for my own dignity, and reverence for God. That is what the essential […]
God is everywhere. That’s easy to say, but do we really believe it? Are we willing to admit that God is present even in what looks nothing like holiness or love, i.e. in our sin—before, during, and after? Here’s a powerful poem from Presence: An International Journal of Spiritual Direction, September, 2008. After the storm, […]
From Fr. Boyer’s homily on Sunday on the Transfiguration of Jesus (Mark 9:2-10): If Peter, James, and John no longer saw a man from Nazareth but the glory of his exaltation, then we no longer see bread on this altar; but what it becomes for us. If Peter, James and John no longer saw the man […]
You will walk toward the mirror, closer and closer, then flow into the glass. You will disappear some day like that, being more real, more true, at the last. You learn what you are, but slowly, a baby, a boy, a man, a self often shattered, and pieces put together again till the end: you […]
“Angels tremble to gaze at things we yawn at.” (Peter Kreeft)
From Br. Joseph — There is a philosopher’s axiom that says, “Whatever is received is received according to the mode of the receiver.” In other words, how you see is what you see. This is best illustrated by a little story. A fat, overweight Buddha was sitting under a tree one day. An arrogant, young […]
The term Body of Christ means three things: 1) the actual physical body of Jesus; 2) the Church (with a capital “C”) because we as individual persons are church, parts of the Body, branches on the Vine; and 3) the Eucharist, the Blessed Sacrament. (Note: Some believers have issues with the third one. There is a plausible explanation […]
I was talking with an older friend whose wife is the middle of battling the second stage of a debilitating disease. They chose to adopt two children years ago instead of passing this 50-50 chance, hereditary disease on to the next generation. Early in their marriage, he witnessed his mother-in-law progress through the disease that […]
My deepest desire and most longing want is to see the face of Jesus Christ. Based on one of the Beatitudes, my daily prayer is for God to purify my heart so that I may see Him, see Him in others, and for others to see Him in me. I often think or imagine or […]
Breath is as essential attribute of one’s person, whose existence we may only infer through other media: the sight of our chest rising and falling, the sound of air rushing into our sinuses, the disturbance of the atmosphere near our skin. We mentally connect this evidence-of-breath into a coherent whole, and then label it “my […]
As one has to learn to read or to practice a trade, so one must learn to feel in all things, first and almost solely, the obedience of the universe to God. It is really an apprenticeship. Like every apprenticeship, it requires time and effort. He who has reached the end of his training realizes […]
Something today reminded me of an analogy I had once read by Simone Weil. Joy and sorrow are like two sentences painted on a wall in different colors. Most people do not know how to read the language it is written in, and so only notice the difference in colors. Those who can read it, […]
To see joy in another is to see Christ in them. To see sorrow in another is also to see Christ in them. I don’t want to see Jesus as sorrow, but He is there. I cannot deny Him. It saddens my heart. And sometimes in the midst of sadness and tears, when I remember […]
Just heard a beautiful but somewhat sad Christmas song by Gloria Estefan . The refrain is the best line of the song. I want this for next Christmas. I wanna see Christmas through Your eyes.
Christians! Notify your face. Let others see Christ in you. — Seen on a billboard
At times, there is a big difference between reading scripture and hearing it. Case in point was in this Sunday’s Gospel reading from Mark 10:46-52: As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus, sat by the roadside begging. On hearing that it was […]
Are you holy? This question was asked by the guest speaker at a conference I attended this past weekend. No one raised their hand. The speaker went on to say that she has asked this same question for many years. No one has ever raised their hand, except for one person. The speaker asked this […]
The song “Bring Me to Life” by Evanescence as been playing on popular radio stations lately. It has an edgy rock sound, and the lead singer has an incredible voice. But when I read the lyrics (after my previous entry), it gave me goose bumps…
Love, do you tend to see it as a noun or as a verb? [Be honest. Answer this question in your mind before you read further.]
Today is the Feast of Saint Thomas, the Apostle. I have a personal affinity towards Thomas because it took me so long to find my faith. The skeptic in me would not let me step outside of my doubt and let myself be found. I needed a strange sequence of events, and more importantly, the […]