A reading from the first Letter of St John 4:7-16

A reading from the first Letter of St John 4:7-16
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.  Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.  In this way the love of God was revealed to us; God sent his only-begotten Son into the world so that we might have life through him.  In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another.  No one has ever seen God.  Yet if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us. 
this is how we know that we remain in him and he in us.  That he has given us of his Spirit.  Moreover, we have seen and testify that the Father sent his Son as savior of the world.  Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him and he in God.  We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us.
 God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.The Word of the Lord....

Meditation~Come to Serve

Freed from inner barriers,
unprotected from pain,
Jesus was more totally vulnerable to people,
a gentle lover
in love with each person.
From his eyes, his hands, his flesh,
his whole being
flowed this total presence to people
in their uniqueness.
Totally present to each person,
he received more fully the pain of each one.
He took that pain in him;
he suffered with each one;
he touched the deepest need in each one:
the cry for love, for value, for uniqueness,
for intimacy and for communion,
the cry to be.
But he also touched the fears,
the terrible fears of love in each person,
the pride, the need for independence,
the barriers that protect vulnerability,
the screams of "no,"
"I do not want you!"
One senses the broken heart of Jesus
when he says:
     "You refuse to come to me
      to receive life."
The heart of Jesus was so vulnerable;
it suffered more totally as he was pushed away by
   people.
The love surging up within him,
thirsty to give communion,
to give life,
and to rest in the hearts of people,
is shoved aside.
Gentle, humble lover,
silent lover,
rejected,
in anguish,
the broken heart of a lover.
He experienced pain more deeply than any of us.
~Jean Vanier

nothing more to say

Doing the Will of the Father

God alone can teach us to love God.  All we can do is prepare the inflammable substance as best we can and, as the physicists say nowadays, wait for the chain reaction.  All we can do, within the limitations of our miserable egotism, is listen for and help along that feeble cry that struggles to say;
Father!  Abba!

The conversion of the mind is difficult enough, but how much more so the conversion of the heart!
For the love of God is total, embracing all things, and jealous; it is at once personal and transcendent.  It beckons us to that path which leads to his heart of hearts, for God is love.  He is not too weary after all the miracles, or all the miseries in which we founder, or all the extremities through which our fortunes lead us, to reveal himself to us as our one hope of salvation.    Paul Claudel

Walking away...

I posted this to my Facebook page earlier today, because it is something that I have truly believed and practiced all my life for one reason or another, because of someone or something that has happened in my life, and so on.  It is a true and valid way of living and dealing with times in life that are tough.  Or is it?

Someone else posted just beneath this that being able to walk away singing a happy song is priceless....and that statement jolted me hard!

And I removed this from my Facebook page and have meditated on this all day.....thinking about the times I walked away. Looking back to times and people that might have worked out, rather than being OUT!  Were those times filled with wisdom?  Was I courageous in turning around and not looking back?  And in some cases, was the walking away in that
situation dignified?  Would it ever have been a better choice...more wise, more courageous, more dignified to have stayed and toughed it out, worked it out, tried harder to fix what was wrong? Who knows what my life would be like today, if I had not walked away all those times that I arrived at the conclusion.....that it was TIME!!

And so my thoughts turned to times in my life......

.... of love that I was so sure of;  Someone who was meant to be there for such a long time. It was so right and so good and so real.  And then...time and distance and gossip ended it all.  Other people had opinions and said things and did things that divided us.   All the love was gone, and the feelings were so raw....and it ended for both of us.  If I hadn't walked away, if I had not listened, and determined that it was time.....for the best...for everyone?

There were  times and people.....people.... who were so important.  Because you know every time you make a decision that it's time, that it's over, that you have had enough pain and cried enough tears; aren't those times mostly about PEOPLE in your life?  Can you be done with someone forever and walk away from them and not regret it...have regret, remember good....certainly there are situations that can't be resolved, but is walking away really the answer to those times or are there other choices....other ways...other pathways to walk?

Is this not about forgiveness and acceptance and humility and endurance and perseverance?  Romans 12:12 

And Love.... Yes, LOVE

Meditation ~Prayer~

Prayer in its turn gives us the weapons of true humility and blazing charity, because holy prayer gives us perfect knowledge of ourselves and our own weakness and of God's infinite charity and goodness.  And we come to know both ourselves and God better in times of struggle and when our spirit is all dried up.  We learn more perfect humility and conscientiousness from these (experiences).

So if we are wise enough not to serve our own selfish will in the guise of consolation and not to believe the devil, but with holy hatred (of our selfishness) persevere in prayer in whatever way God
grants it to us--whether with feelings of sweetness or with a sense of bitterness--we gain more...in the bitterness and pain, no matter in what form God sends it, than in the sweetness.
~Saint Catherine of Siena~

Place your hope in the Lord....

Place your hope in the Lord: Be strong and courageous in your heart and place your hope in the Lord~ Psalm 27:14  
Do not despair, do not give up; but with perseverance offer both body and soul for the glory of God.  Your reward will be abundant, and I will be with you in all your tribulations. ~ Chapter 35  The Imitation of Christ.

Throughout life, we are met with many trials, challenges, hardships, disappointments.  And there are times to wonder "How can this be what is intended for me?"  We are promised the joy of life, and the trials of life.

As a little girl my sanctuary was not at home... And I learned that what I saw as normal in other homes, the homes of my friends, was not there for me.  Instead I found peace and acceptance in another place, a peaceful place, in God's house.  I learned that I could return time and again and always find what I was looking for.  Love in Christ! Jesus has always been near to me.

Years went by and I became involved in putting the lives of young people who had made
wrong choices back together again.  As a counselor, these youth were often my own age.  Our organization accepted the responsibility for taking kids out into  the western wilderness to
demonstrate good choices, wrong habits, and critical thinking and teamwork.  We returned them to their families, changed and whole again...with the Lord in their lives.  It was magic to see the
transformation that this time of teaching brought into lives that were broken after turning away from Jesus. I saw The Lord touch lives in ways that were stunning...even though one might have wondered if He had been there before, there was nothing to doubt in the end!

In college,  I chose  European study, but not just any European study.  I chose communism; to live in, study in, work under, travel through the most dangerous and horribly oppressed countries and communities in a perilous political time in world history.  And I saw the Lord work in wonderful ways in dark circumstances, in terrible trials, in violence and in oppression...Jesus was there.  ...There was a time when I thought there was no hope, no way that He could help in a place where we could not be free.  We searched for a solution but we were bound by circumstances that seemed impossible.  IMPOSSIBLE, HOPELESS, and HELPLESS.  JESUS showed us that he was there for us...there was no doubt that The Lord was working even when there was no help...

Time and again throughout my life, no matter the circumstance or how black things seemed...there is no doubt, no reason to question, no time to wonder if it is true...
John 14:6 --Jesus is the way, the truth and the life...