We never grow closer to God when we just live life. It takes deliberate pursuit and attentiveness.
--Francis Chan
And this is faith: to welcome God-Love; to welcome this God-Love who gives himself in Christ, who moves us in the Holy Spirit; to let ourselves be encountered by him and to trust in him. This is Christian life. To love, to encounter God, to seek God; and He seeks us first; He encounters us first.
He who speaks light into darkness, breathes life into dry bones, and creates out of nothing is with you and for you.
--Kyle Winkler
But what do I love when I love my God?... Not material beauty or beauty of a temporal order.
not the brilliance of earthly light;
not the sweet melody of harmony and song;
not the fragrance of flowers, perfumes, and spices;
not manna or honey;
not limbs such as the body delights to embrace.
It is not these that I love when I love my God.
And yet, when I love him, it is true that I love a light of a certain kind, a voice, a perfume, a food, an embrace;
but they are of the kind that I love in my inner self,
when my soul is bathed in light that is not bound by space;
when it listens to sound that never dies away;
when it breathes fragrance that is not borne away on the wind;
when it tastes food that is never consumed by the eating;
when it clings to an embrace from which it is not severed by fulfillment of desire.
There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer… Evolution and all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness and open-hearted vision of a people who embrace life.
If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.
--St. Francis of Assisi
Brothers and sisters, let us not be afraid to strip ourselves of worldly trappings and return to the heart, returning to what is essential. Let us think of Saint Francis, who after stripping himself embraced with his entire being the Father in heaven. Let us acknowledge what we are: dust loved by God, called to be dust in love with God. Thanks to him, we will be reborn from the ashes of sin to new life in Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit.
--Pope Francis
Today is the Feast of St. Francis, one of the patrons of our Archdiocese!
In the second creation story in the Book of Genesis, the man recognizes the woman as bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. It is a reference to kinship, to a connectedness so profound as to create true union, in which the two of them become one flesh. The stories of creation are all about relationship: relationship between the man and the woman, relationship between all things created and the Creator, relationship between humankind and all of creation. Relationship is God’s desire and God’s purpose. We see this reflected in Psalm 128, where the Lord blesses humankind all the days of our lives, generation after generation: your children shall be like olive plants around your table, their identity firmly grounded in their relationship with Lord who created them.
When, in Mark’s Gospel, the Pharisees challenge Jesus’ understanding of the relationship between man and woman, Jesus cites the Book of Genesis to demonstrate that God’s intent was always that the man and woman should be one: from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female and the two shall become one flesh. In a true marriage, God is the bond between the man and woman, the power that makes them one. But as Jesus is well aware, humankind’s hardness of heart has sometimes allowed for the dissolution of this relationship. The choice is ours: whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it. It is up to us to choose relationship, not only in the day to day, but with God over all else.
The most extraordinary example of God’s desire for relationship is the Incarnation, when Jesus became fully human and took on flesh, that he might experience death on behalf of all. And, having become fully human, Jesus can take all of creation with him through death to everlasting life. Moreover, Jesus is the origin of all things, for it is he from whom and through whom all things exist, the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us. The union Jesus shares with all humanity through the Incarnation enables him to call us brothers and sisters; he chooses relationship with us. Will we choose relationship with him?
This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com
I've had my fortune, had my share of fame
Been around the world, I guess I've played the game
Put my attention into everything but You, mm-mm
It's taken me this long to understand
It's taken being broken time and again
To realize that all I really need is You, only You
When all hope is gone, when it's out of my reach
I will hold on, I will believe
That You've got my heart and You won't let go
I feel You liftin' the weight off of my soul
Like only You can do, yeah
Like only You can do, Jesus
Every time I try to do it all alone
Every time I try to make it on my own
That's when I realize no matter what I try to do I still need You
And when all hope is gone, when it's out of my reach
I will hold on, I will believe
That You've got my heart, You won't let me go
I feel You liftin' the weight off of my soul
Like only You can do, yeah
Like only You can do, Jesus
Only You can turn my night into day
Break through the prison walls and rescue me
No one else can change a heart the way You do
Only You, yes You
When all hope is gone, when it's out of my reach
I will hold on, I will believe
That You've got my heart, You won't let me go
I feel You liftin' the weight off of my soul
Like only You can do, yeah
(Only You can do, only You can do)
To hear Gloria Gaynor, vocalist most well-known for her hit, "I Will Survive," sing this song from her new gospel album, “Only You Can Do,” click on the video below:
There is a story of the renowned violinist, Joshua Bell. The day before his sold-out concert, he played the very same songs in the subway. But everyone was too busy to notice and walked right by.
This week, flowers are blooming around us. The air is sweet with spring. The earth is reawakening. And we can too … if we take the time to notice!
Yes! The springtime needs you. Often a star is waiting for you to notice it.
A wave rolls toward you from the distant past.
Or as you walk under an open window, the sound of a violin calls out to you.
All of this has a purpose. But can you recognize it?
Or are you constantly distracted by your own expectations?
(Rainer Maria Rilke, Duino Elegies)
--Mirza Inayat Khan, Lenten Reflection, March 13, 2024
To hear Joshua Bell perform Vivaldi's Four Seasons, click on the video below:
