Longing

It is Jesus you seek when you dream of happiness; he is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you; he is the beauty to which you are so attracted...it is Jesus who stirs you to do something great with your lives.
Blessed Pope John Paul II

Trust in the Lord

Do not be anxious about your life...Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be giving you besides.  Matthew 6: 25 & 33

With this Jesus turns our focus off of ourselves and onto the Father. There is much to be anxious about—even in the cloister!—but as Christians we are called to seek first the kingdom of God.

Cast all your cares on Christ because he cares for you. 1Peter 5:7

A Dare

I dare you: spend five minutes before the Blessed Sacrament–in silence–and I bet you won't walk away the same.  Just as you can't eat just one chip, so you can't take just one look.  Often converts to our Catholic faith say they were converted by the Real Presence in the Eucharist, meaning, they knew God was truly present.  They somehow wander into a church and fall in love with God in the Eucharist.  Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament lead to my "yes" to my vocation as a religious.  The Catholic belief in the Real Presence is also the most controversial of all doctrines of the Catholic faith.  When a Catholic Church is desecrated it is done by harming the Blessed Sacrament for they know He is our real Treasure.  This Sunday we celebrate "Corpus Christi" which is a feast celebrating Christ's Real Presence with us in the Eucharist; His promise at Ascension to never leave us.  So take my dare, or are you too scared it will change you?

Communion in the Trinity

God's very being is love. By sending his only Son and the Spirit of Love in the fullness of time, God has revealed his innermost secret: God himself is an eternal exchange of love, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and he has destined us to share in that exchange. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, [CCC], par. 221)

The mystery of the Trinity is the central tenant of our faith, but trying to wrap your mind around how God can be one-in-three and three-in-one is a good way to get a headache. 

We are made in the image and likeness of God, and we can get a small glimpse of the communion and unity that exists in the Godhead by observing human life.  The sacrament of marriage has an awesome power: two people become one.  In total love and self-giving to the the other, their love actually takes on flesh and becomes another person in the form of a child.  In a small way, family life mirrors the Trinity where the love and self-giving between the Father and the Son is so real as to become another Person, the Holy Spirit.

Religious are also called to incarnate the union in community that is the Holy Trinity.  Religious living together in community are bonded together in love and unity, a true family gathered together in the Lord's name.  Made up of individuals, the community has one heart and a common goal, to fulfill God's will as laid out for them in a particular charism.

In creating man and woman in his own image and likeness, God created them for communion. God the Creator, who revealed  himself as Love, as Trinity, as communion, called them to enter into intimate relationship with himself and into interpersonal communion, in the universal fraternity of all men and women.
This is our highest vocation: to enter into communion with God and with our brothers and sisters.
(Fraternal Life in Community, 9)

Come Holy Spirit

The Spirit is the source of holiness, a spiritual light, and he offers his own light to every mind to help it in its search for truth. By nature the Spirit is beyond the reach of our mind, but we can know him by his goodness. The power of the Spirit fills the whole universe, but he gives himself only to those who are worthy, acting in each according to the measure of his faith.

The Spirit raises our hearts to heaven, guides the steps of the weak, and brings to perfection those who are making progress.  He enlightens those who have been cleansed from every stain of sin and makes them spiritual by communion with himself.

Through the Spirit we become citizens of heaven, we are admitted to the company of the angels, we enter into eternal happiness, and abide in God. through the Spirit we acquire a likeness to God; indeed, we attain what is beyond our most sublime aspirations—we become God.

—From St. Basil the Great

Go to Galilee

Jesus said to Mary Magdalene,
"Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me." (Matthew 28:10)

Why Galilee?  Galilee is the place of beginnings, where they first met the Lord, where they were called to follow him.  A place of miracles and deepening faith, new-found purpose and pristine zeal.  We each have our own Galilee, the place where we first met the Lord and where he spoke to our hearts.  We also have our own Jerusalems, places of denial and betrayal, of suffering and confusion.  Doubts and questions, the darkness of the tomb.  After the Resurrection, Jesus is gentle: "Go and tell my brothers to set out for Galilee, and there they will see me."  Remember, return to your roots.

So we return to where we began, but we are not the same.  Our experience in Jerusalem has made us more humble, less self-sufficient.  Pain has widened our hearts, we are more open to grace.  We remember and return to our first fervor, but now with a little more wisdom and understanding.  We meet the Lord; he says "Follow me," and we find ourselves back on the road again.

"Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me."
Do not be afraid: go to Galilee and there you will see him.

The Gift of the Cross

How precious is the gift of the cross, how splendid to contemplate! In the cross there is no mingling of good and evil, as in the tree of paradise: it is wholly beautiful to behold and good to taste. The fruit of this tree is not death but life, not darkness but light. This tree does not cast us out of paradise, but opens the way for our return.

Image via Wikipedia

By the cross death was slain and Adam was restored to life. The cross is the glory of all the apostles, the crown of the martyrs, the sanctification of the saints. By the cross we put on Christ and cast aside our former self. By the cross we, the sheep of Christ, have been gathered into one flock, destined for the sheepfolds of heaven.

(Saint Theodore the Studite)