Vatican YouTube Website Opens

I am very excited about the new site where we can see and hear the Holy Father on the Vatican YouTube site. Have some fun, see Papa, and learn you faith here.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Christ as Husband of Church: Pope Benedict XVI

Today in the Pope Paul VI Audience Hall the Holy Father gave a general audience where he said this:

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Continuing our catechesis on Saint Paul, we turn to the “twin” letters: Colossians and Ephesians. Similar in language, they are unique in developing the theme of Christ as “head” – kephalé – not only of the Church, but also of the entire universe. These letters assure us that Christ is above any hostile earthly power. Christ alone “loved us and gave himself up for us” (Eph 5:2), so that if we remain close to him, we need not fear any adversity. It was God’s plan to “recapitulate” all things in Jesus “through whom all things were created”, so that “by the blood of his Cross” we might be reconciled to the Father. Christ’s headship also implies that, in a certain sense, he is greater than the Church in that his dominion extends beyond her boundaries, and that the Church, rather than the entire cosmos, is referred to as the Body of Christ. These letters are also notable for the spousal image they use to describe how Christ has “won” his bride – the Church – by giving his life for her (cf. Eph 5:25). What greater sign of love could there be than this? Christ thus desires that we grow more beautiful each day through irreproachable moral conduct, “without wrinkle or defect” (Eph 5:27). By living uprightly and justly, may we bear witness to the nuptial union which has already taken place in Christ as we await its fulfilment in the wedding feast to come.

What I want to highlight here is that Jesus' bride is the Church and that each of us awaits the wedding feast to come when we get to heaven. Each of us is to become more beautiful as a bride as we strive to always do what is right and grow increasingly morally perfect. Christ is our husband, and the more we give ourselves entirely to Him, the more we look like Him and the more He bears good fruit in us by our good actions.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

God is a Spring of Living Water

I just ran across a great quote by Saint Louis de Montfort: "Pray with great confidence, with confidence based upon the goodness and infinite generosity of God and upon the promises of Jesus Christ. God is a spring of living water which flows unceasingly into the hearts of those who pray."

This ties in well with my thoughts on the heart as the tree of life and the four rivers flowing in the garden of Eden.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Pope's Address to Religious on 11.20.08: The Call to Marriage to Christ

Recently, Pope Benedict XVI addressed the participants of the plenary assembly of the congregation for institutes of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life. Here is the first full paragraph of the body of his address:

This year the Plenary Assembly of your Congregation has focused on a topic particularly dear to me: monasticism, a forma vitae that has always been inspired by the nascent Church which was brought into being at Pentecost (Acts 2: 42-47; 4: 32-35). From the conclusions of your work that has focused especially on female monastic life useful indications can be drawn to those monks and nuns who "seek God", carrying out their vocation for the good of the whole Church. Recently too (cf. Address to the world of culture, Paris, 12 September 2008), I desired to highlight the exemplarity of monastic life in history, stressing that its aim is at the same time both simple and essential: quaerere Deum, to seek God and to seek him through Jesus Christ who has revealed him (cf. Jn 1: 18), to seek him by fixing one's gaze on the invisible realities that are eternal (cf. 2 Cor 4: 18), in the expectation of our Saviour's appearing in glory (cf. Ti 2: 13).

The form of life known as monasticism takes its inspiration from the newborn Church birthed at Pentecost. The aim of this life is seeking God through Jesus. The next paragraph from his address is my main focus; it follows here:

Christo omnino nihil praeponere [prefer nothing to Christ] (cf. Rule of Benedict 72, 11; Augustine, Enarr. in Ps 29: 9; Cyprian, Ad Fort 4). These words which the Rule of St Benedict takes from the previous tradition, clearly express the precious treasure of monastic life lived still today in both the Christian West and East. It is a pressing invitation to mould monastic life to the point of making it an evangelical memorial of the Church and, when it is authentically lived, "a reference point for all the baptized" (cf. John Paul II, Orientale lumen, n. 9). By virtue of the absolute primacy reserved for Christ, monasteries are called to be places in which room is made for the celebration of God's glory, where the mysterious but real divine presence in the world is adored and praised, where one seeks to live the new commandment of love and mutual service, thus preparing for the final "revelation of the sons of God" (Rm 8: 19). When monks live the Gospel radically, when they dedicate themselves to integral contemplative life in profound spousal union with Christ, on whom this Congregation's Instruction Verbi Sponsa (13 May 1999) extensively reflected, monasticism can constitute for all the forms of religious life and consecrated life a remembrance of what is essential and has primacy in the life of every baptized person: to seek Christ and put nothing before his love.

The precious treasure of monastic life is preferring nothing to Christ. “When monks live the Gospel radically, when they dedicate themselves to integral contemplative life in profound spousal union with Christ…monasticism can constitute… a remembrance of what is essential and has primacy in the life of every baptized person: to seek Christ and put nothing before his love.”

When men and women religious have a contemplative prayer life as a spouse of Christ, they are a witness and a reminder to all Christians of what is most important: seeking Christ and loving Him above all else. The point the pope is making here is the main point of all that I am saying in this blog: all of us are called to an intimate spousal union with Christ.

The Holy Father’s next paragraph is here:

The path pointed out by God for this quest and for this love is his Word itself, who in the books of the Sacred Scriptures, offers himself abundantly, for the reflection of men and women. The desire for God and love of his Word are therefore reciprocally nourished and bring forth in monastic life the unsupressable need for the opus Dei, the studium orationis and lectio divina, which is listening to the Word of God, accompanied by the great voices of the tradition of the Fathers and Saints, and also prayer, guided and sustained by this Word. The recent General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, celebrated in Rome last month on the theme: The Word of God in the life and mission of the Church, renewing the appeal to all Christians to root their life in listening to the Word of God contained in Sacred Scripture has especially invited religious communities to make the Word of God their daily food, in particular through the practice of lectio divina (cf. Elenchus praepositionum, n. 4).

The path to a deep, intimate union with Christ is through the Word of God. Our hunger for God grows and is satisfied through immersion into His Word, and we love His Word the more we desire God. We are to make the Word of God our daily food by listening to Him together with His friends, the Fathers and Saints, and through our conversation with Him.

The pope next paragraph is his concluding one. Here is a portion of it:

Let us invoke Mary, Mother of the Lord, the "woman of listening", who put nothing before love for the Son of God, born of her, so that she may help communities of consecrated life and, especially, monastic communities to be faithful to their vocation and mission. May monasteries always be oases of ascetic life, where fascination for the spousal union with Christ is sensed, and where the choice of the Absolute of God is enveloped in a constant atmosphere of silence and contemplation.

Here the Holy Father prays that the “woman of listening” who sacrificed all for the love of her Son may help monks and nuns, “in a constant atmosphere of silence and contempation,” forsake all else for the choice of God and the relationship of Christ as their spouse.

All of what I am saying goes back to this foundation and wellspring: that each person is made to be a spouse of Christ. This is the teaching of the Church as evidenced by this short address by our Holy Father.


Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

God's Jealousy and the Lukewarm

Did you know that God is jealous? I thought jealousy was a bad thing, so how could God be jealous? There is a bad jealousy and a good jealousy. Jealousy comes about when a person detects that what is due to them in a relationship from another is not given. The jealousy is sinful when one makes a rash judgment and so improperly detects infidelity or when one expects more than is warranted from the relationship. An example of this would be when a guy and a gal are friends, but he really likes her than more than just friends. He might be tempted to jealousy if she starts to date another guy. Their relationship does not warrant the jealousy, but he wants to have a more exclusive relationship, and so he feels hurt that she is with another.

The good and healthy type of jealousy is when a couple are committed, especially in a marriage, and one of the spouses is not faithful. It is right and good for the other to be hurt and jealous for the exclusive love of the unfaithful spouse. Marriage is a permanent, exclusive relationship entailing the complete gift of self to the other for life, and when this is lacking, it is right for the other to cry foul and set things aright.

There are a number of passages from the Bible talking about God’s jealousy. The first two are from the book of Exodus; notice that God is jealous when the people go after false gods; He says that worshipping other gods is harlotry.

Exodus 20:4 “You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Exodus 34:13 You shall tear down their altars, and break their pillars, and cut down their Asherim 14 (for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), 15 lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they play the harlot after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and one invites you, you eat of his sacrifice, 16 and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters play the harlot after their gods and make your sons play the harlot after their gods.

The next passages come from Deuteronomy. Here God is not only jealous, He is also a consuming fire. The image is of a husband consumed with the fire of his love for his beloved.

Deuteronomy 4:23 Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make a graven image in the form of anything which the LORD your God has forbidden you. 24 For the LORD your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God.

The next book in the Bible after Deuteronomy is Joshua. In that book, toward the very end, it states this:

Joshua 24:19 But Joshua said to the people, “You cannot serve the LORD; for he is a holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. 20 If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm, and consume you, after having done you good.”

Two passages from the prophets come both from Zechariah, and the emphasis here is on the immensity of God’s jealousy. God is not only a little jealous:

Zechariah 1:14 So the angel who talked with me said to me, ‘Cry out, Thus says the LORD of hosts: I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion.

Zechariah 8:1 And the word of the LORD of hosts came to me, saying, 2 “Thus says the LORD of hosts: I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I am jealous for her with great wrath. 3 Thus says the LORD: I will return to Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city, and the mountain of the LORD of hosts, the holy mountain.

God is so jealous of us because He views us as His spouse. We owe Him our perpetual and exclusive complete gift of self as one spouse to another, and He is jealous when we do not.

I was explaining a passage from the New Testament to my junior high students the other day. We were looking at God’s words to the church in Laodicea that Saint John recorded in the Book of Revelation. Speaking through the angel, God said:

Revelation 3:15 “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth. 17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing; not knowing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. 18 Therefore I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, that you may be rich, and white garments to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see. 19 Those whom I love, I reprove and chasten; so be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. 21 He who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”


The point I want to highlight is that it seems that Jesus would rather we were completely bad than being partly good and partly bad. That doesn’t seem to make sense. Wouldn’t He rather that we were at least somewhat good than being entirely bad? Isn’t it better to be a person who does some good but occasionally falls into sin than a person who can’t even be good at times? Isn’t the generous glutton better than the cold-hearted killer? In a juridical sense, certainly, he is. But this is not what Jesus is talking about to the church in Laodicea.

Jesus is not talking juridically so much as He is relationally. In a romantic context, we want either a “yes I am interested” or a “no I am not interested.” The one thing no one wants is the “I’m not sure if I’m interested,” or the “I really like you (as a friend).” What is even worse is someone who is interested one day but not the next. In romantic, spousal relationships, we want all or nothing.

This is the sense of Jesus’ words here. He thinks of the lukewarm as so much vomit that He can’t wait to hurl so He can feel better. He wants the church of Laodicea, and all of us, to be exclusively His, not the one who is a sometimes Christian. The rest of the message to Laodicea makes it more clear: they are the ones who are rich and do not think they need Jesus. They do not think they need to pray everyday. Jesus advises: be zealous and repent and pray: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”


Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

"The Heart" by Saint Escriva

I give you thanks, my Jesus, for your decision to become perfect Man, with a Heart which loved and is most loveable; which loved unto death and suffered; which was filled with joy and sorrow; which delighted in the things of men and showed us the way to Heaven; which subjected itself heroically to duty and acted with mercy; which watched over the poor and the rich and cared for sinners and the just.

I give you thanks, my Jesus. Give us hearts to measure up to Yours!

– St. Josemaria Escriva, Furrow, #813

Go here to read my thought on the heart.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Sarah Palin's Pro-Life View

Today in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Governor Sarah Palin spoke about her views on protecting the most vulnerable in our society. Go here to see this beautiful talk on a video from CNN.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Scott Hahn spoke today in Minneapolis

I hadn't seen Scott since the last time he spoke here in 2004; it is always a blessing to see my old professor, mentor and friend. After his two talks about the Holy Name of God, oath swearing and covenant making, taking the name of the Lord in truth and sincerity, and the Eucharist as the paramount taking of God's name, I asked him a question. I asked him why taking an oath creates sacred family bonds.

Assuming that I could follow how fast he spoke, he answered quickly. I am not sure I understood all that he said. I don't remember all the words he used, but I think I have taken away the point of what he said. In my own words and with some extrapolation, this is the essence of what he said: that God's Word is effective; it does what it says. God is love and He is Family as a Trinity of Persons so the Word He speaks is The Word, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. From all eternity the Father fathers the Son; from all eternity He speaks His one Word. In heaven, God has always and will always give His Word, which is the Son.

God created so that He could share His life of love with us, creatures. He elevated us to make us His very sons and daughters in the Son and to make us part of His Trinitarian family. What God is doing for all eternity in Heaven He wills to do in creation. The means for achieving this is taking the name of God, swearing an oath. When we call upon the name of the Lord and enter into a covenant with Him, we become his children and enter into His family. When we take His name and give our word, He gives His Word and draws us closer into our relationship with Him. In other words, what God always does in the ever present we call eternity, He does in time
via oath swearing and covenant making. He gives Himself and shares His Trinitarian life in time through our faithful use of taking His Holy Name in Truth.

Dr. Hahn said it with a lot fewer words and referred to a paragraph of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (I think it was 300 something). Hopefully, I haven't botched what he said too badly.

Thankfully, Scott clarified via email his answer to my question. Here you can witness firsthand just how badly I botched his answer by comparing what I wrote above to what he wrote here. Here is what he wrote to me:

First, I referred you to the hugely important paragraph, CCC 236, where we read about the inseparable bond between the "oikonomia" of what God does is history and the "theologia," which refers to Who God is, from all eternity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit); the former reveals the latter, while the latter illumines the former. Second, the eternal communion of the one God-in-three-Persons consists of two eternal processions: 1. the procession of the Son (as the Word/Logos) from the Father's act of eternal generation -- by way of intellection (i.e., the Father's eternal knowing of divine Truth, Who is the Son); and 2. the procession of the Holy Spirit from the eternal act of spiration by the Father and the Son (i.e., the Filioque) -- by way of volition (i.e., the mutual act of the Father loving the Son, and the Son imaging/returning that love to the Father -- their mutual love, Who IS the Holy Spirit). Third, what God does in salvation history, by way of the divine covenant (i.e., speaking the word of promise and then swearing the oath that binds persons-in-communion; cf. Hebrews 6:13ff. and the two "unchangeable things in which it's impossible for God to prove false" -- the promise & the oath), is thus an historical revelation of Who God, as the eternal Trinity. This is almost exactly the way that it's stated in CCC 236: what God does reveals Who God is; and conversely, Who God is illuminates what God is doing throughout salvation history (speaking the WORD of promise & binding persons in covenant communion). In sum, covenanting is what God is doing throughout the economy of salvation history -- to impart divine kinship/communion to His people -- because a Kinship/Communion is Who God eternally is... I realize, of course, that this is still very dense and difficult (I offer a slightly simpler explanation in First Comes Love). In any case, I hope this helps.

Thanks a million, Scott!

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007-2008.
All rights reserved.

Free Logos Commentary

My Bible program and electronic library is offering a free commentary for a limited time. Go here to check it out. I love my Logos Bible software and electronic library.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Dependence on God: Walking on Water

"Learn to depend on God alone and serve Him with a wholly pure and detached heart. Then you will be able to say 'I do not regret that I have given myself up to Love.'"

This was said by Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, otherwise known as Saint Edith Stein.

She also said, "It is this faith that unites us to him as the members are joined to the head and opens for us the stream of his life. And so faith in the Crucified--a living faith joined to loving surrender--is for us entrance into life and the beginning of future glory." This comes from page 123 of The Science of the Cross, The Collected Works of Edith Stein.

God wants us to be dependent upon Him. He wants us to lovingly cling to Him. This faithful clinging unites us to Him and fills us with life. Abundant life is the fruit of a faithful, loving, complete clinging to God."

One of my main points is that the four rivers coming from one source in Genesis 2:10 is the tree of life mentioned in Genesis 2:9, and both of them represent the heart. Since what we treasure is where our heart is, if we treasure God, our heart is with God. Our heart is the center of our being and is capable of holding all that we value. Treasuring God and what pleases Him opens our deepest self to Him, and since He is existence itself and life itself, our heart is what is capable of holding Life itself. As the receptacle of Life, the heart is the tree of life. As Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross said above, "It is this faith that unites us to him...and opens for us the streams of his life.

God desires such unbounded trust from us. In today's Gospel, Matthew 14: 22-33, Jesus tells Peter after he had the faith to step out of the boat in the storm and walk on the water toward Jesus, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" He chides Peter because Peter got frightened by the strong winds as he was walking across the water, and so he started to sink. Jesus desires us not only to step out of the boat and walk across the water, He also wants us to constantly keep our eyes fixed on Him and not be disturbed by anything, even a very strong wind and storm while we are walking on the sea! How much Jesus wants us to trust Him, and how little we do.


Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

"Prayer is the inner bath of love"

Today is the feast day of Saint John Vianney. One thing he said was:
“Prayer is the inner bath of love into which the soul plunges itself.”

It is prayer that is the means or receptacle for receiving God’s grace, God’s very life. God pours Himself out like water, and since God is love, God pours out love. The “water” of God’s life is love, and we tap into this superabundance when we pray. Indeed, it is prayer that opens our hearts more to receive the awesome graces of the sacraments. When we pray, rivers of living water flow out from our hearts because prayer is the inner bath of love. Prayer cleanses us and re-invigorates us and fills us with God’s love.

From the deepest part of our hearts, God dwells and gives Himself to us. Since He respects our free will so much, He waits deep within our heart to give Himself more fully to us. As long as we are in the state of grace, He is there abiding with us. We do not become a flowing spring of God’s love and light until we give ourselves more completely to Him and open ourselves to Him—which means we must pray each day. With daily prayer we open the “faucet” of God’s splendid shower of love. It is that infusion of God’s love which gives us the strength to do all things for love of Him.


Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

"The Paradise of God is the heart of man"

In the adoration chapel today I picked up a book by Saint Alphonsus de Liguori entitled, How to Converse Continually and Familiarly with God. I was actually looking for another book I had picked up last week, but then this one grabbed my attention. I read a few chapters (they were very short), and then I read the chapter “The Paradise of God.” I found a shortened version of the chapter on the Vatican website.

One of the main points of my theory is that our hearts are made for God, that God created them to be His home, that, in the Garden of Eden, the tree of life is the heart. In paradise, man’s heart is the tree of life. If Adam had trusted God in his heart and obeyed, he would have found life.

God’s paradise, that is, His Eden, is man’s heart. Eden means delight. God’s delight is our hearts. He made us so that we could be His. He does not force Himself on us. He does not show us His infinite glory, which would essentially force us to worship Him.

He humbly hides Himself and does a million different things to show us He loves us. We are His delight. If we choose, we can give ourselves to Him completely; only in doing so will we have abundant life. When we give Him our heart, it becomes the tree of life. It is through the love we have for God that we have life, that He fills us with His life.

Here is the summary passage from the Vatican site:
The Paradise of God is the heart of man
"Deliciae meae esse cum filiis hominum(‘My delights were to be with the children of men.’ Proverbs 8:31). The paradise of God, so to say, is the heart of man.

Does God love you? Then love you Him. (…)
Become accustomed to talking to Him face to face, familiarly, with confidence and love, as to a friend, the dearest friend you have, who loves you so much.

It is a great mistake, as we have seen, to treat God with diffidence (…) An even greater mistake is to suppose that conversing with God is nothing but tedium and bitterness.

No, it is not true. Non… habet amaritudinem conversatio illius, nec taedium convictus illius (‘Her [Wisdom’s] conversation hath no bitterness, nor her company any tediousness.’ Wisdom 8:16). Ask those souls that love Him with a true love, and they will tell you that amidst the sorrows of their life they find no greater and truer relief than in conversing lovingly with God.
You are not yet required so to apply your minds as to make you forget all your business and all your pleasure.
It is only required of you that without neglecting your occupations you should act towards God as you act towards those whom you love and who love you.

Your God is always with you, indeed inside you: In ipso… vivimus, et movemur, et sumus (‘In him we live and move and be.’ Acts 17:28).
There is no doorkeeper, for whoever wishes to speak to God; indeed, it is God’s pleasure that you should talk familiarly with Him.

Speak to Him of your business, of your plans, of your sorrows, of your fears, and of all that concerns you.
Above all do it, as I have said, with confidence and with an open heart, because God is not accustomed to speak to the soul that does not speak to Him. Such a soul, being unused to dealing with Him, will not well understand His voice when He speaks.
When you desire His love, without waiting for you to approach Him, He will anticipate your desire and will make Himself present to you, bringing all those graces and remedies of which you stand in need. He is only waiting for you to speak, to show you that He is near and is ready to listen to you and to console you (…).

Our God dwells in the highest heavens, but does not disdain to pass days and nights with His faithful children, allowing them a share in His Divine consolations, any one of which surpasses all the delights and pleasures of the world. Only they who have not tried such consolations have no desire for them: Gustate et videte quoniam suavis est Dominus (‘O taste and see that the Lord is sweet.’ Psalm 33:9)."

From the “Ascetical Works” of St Alphonsus of Liguori (1696-1787).


Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Out of Our Heart Flows Rivers of Living Waters

The readings for Mass today (yesterday, at this time of night) were wonderful. The first reading was Jeremiah 2: 1-3, 7-8 and 10-11; here it is, and notice the marital analogy, the fruit language, and the mention of water:

“This word of the LORD came to me: 
Go, cry out this message for Jerusalem to hear! 

I remember the devotion of your youth, 
how you loved me as a bride, 
Following me in the desert,
 in a land unsown. 
Sacred to the LORD was Israel, 
the first fruits of his harvest;
 Should any presume to partake of them, 
evil would befall them, says the LORD. 

When I brought you into the garden land 
to eat its goodly fruits, 
You entered and defiled my land,
 you made my heritage loathsome. 
The priests asked not, 
“Where is the LORD?”
 Those who dealt with the law knew me not:
 the shepherds rebelled against me.
 The prophets prophesied by Baal,
 and went after useless idols.

 Be amazed at this, O heavens,
 and shudder with sheer horror, says the LORD. 
Two evils have my people done:
 they have forsaken me, the source of living waters; 
They have dug themselves cisterns,
 broken cisterns, that hold no water.”

At first, Jerusalem loved God as a bride loves her husband, and Israel was the first fruits of God’s harvest. God’s people went after other gods; they abandoned the true God who is the “source of living waters.” Our hearts should be turned toward the source of life and living waters and not be consumed with what is not God. Here, the heart, as the source of love, and water are connected.

The Responsorial Psalm was 36: 6-11, and again notice the emphasis on water and its connection with the heart:
R. (10a) With you is the fountain of life, O Lord.
 O LORD, your mercy reaches to heaven;
 your faithfulness, to the clouds.
 Your justice is like the mountains of God;
 your judgments, like the mighty deep.
 R. With you is the fountain of life, O Lord.
 How precious is your mercy, O God!
 The children of men take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
 They have their fill of the prime gifts of your house; 
from your delightful stream you give them to drink. 
R. With you is the fountain of life, O Lord. 
For with you is the fountain of life, 
and in your light we see light.
 Keep up your mercy toward your friends,
 your just defense of the upright of heart.
 R. With you is the fountain of life, O Lord.



God is the fountain of life who is abounding in mercy and justice. The water language is overflowing: flowing, mighty deep, delightful stream, drink, and fountain of life. The upright of heart are they who receive this overflowing mercy from God. Here the heart motif and the water motif are joined together.

The Gospel is from Matthew 13: 10-17, and the main word in this passage is heart. Everything else is built around the word “heart” which stands in the middle and makes sense of the whole. Here is the passage:



The disciples approached Jesus and said, 
“Why do you speak to the crowd in parables?”
 He said to them in reply, 
“Because knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven 
has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted.
 To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; 
from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
 This is why I speak to them in parables, because 
they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand. 
Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says:

 You shall indeed hear but not understand, 
you shall indeed look but never see. 
Gross is the heart of this people, 
they will hardly hear with their ears,
 they have closed their eyes, 
lest they see with their eyes
 and hear with their ears 
and understand with their hearts and be converted 
and I heal them.

 “But blessed are your eyes, because they see,
 and your ears, because they hear. 
Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people
 longed to see what you see but did not see it, 
and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” 


Why does Jesus speak in parables? Is it so everyone can understand more easily what He is saying? Jesus says that He speaks in so that some people will not understand Him. Why don’t they understand Him? It is because their heart is “gross.” Their heart is not sensitive as it should be; it ignores and doesn’t care about what is most important. They look and hear, but nothing is registering as significant or worthy of attention. They don’t care. They don’t want to see or hear. God is boring. The things of God don’t matter. They are there more out of curiosity or some ulterior motive but not because they really care. So the little they had is taken away: they understand nothing of Jesus’ message.

To see and understand and have Jesus heal us, our heart has to turn to Him and open up and want to see and understand what He is saying. If our heart loves, trusts and obeys Him, then we will able to perceive and understand the Gospel. Those who have faith, who have love, who do obey have what it takes. They have a responsive heart, and those with such a receptive heart will be given more faith, hope and love to better love, trust and obey. The good heart will become a very rich heart. Jesus is not speaking about material riches; rather, He is speaking about having abundant faith, hope and love. Those who turn away from God, who don’t need Him, who close their hearts to Him, are not able to receive the good gifts He desires to give us. The more we open up to Him, the more He is able to fill us with every good gift.

Tying the three readings together, when we are God’s bride and open ourselves to Him completely, He is able to fill us and make us rich in faith, hope and love. When our heart turns toward Him, we drink deeply from the fountain of life and goodness, we drink deeply of Him, and so we become fully alive. When our heart is in the right place, it is connected to God who is the “source of living waters.” When we are connected to the source, out of our heart flows rivers of living waters.


Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Benedict XVI's Farewell for World Youth Day 2008

On Monday, July 21, the Holy Father gave his farewell address from the international airport in Sydney, Australia. I have taken some excerpts here, and what I want to highlight again about his trip to Australia is his emphasis on the heart. Toward the beginning he said:
“To the host families in Australia and New Zealand who have made room for the young people in their homes, I am especially grateful. You have opened your doors and your hearts to the world’s youth, and on their behalf I thank you.” The families opened their hearts to give the youth a place to stay.
A little further on he said:
“As I look back over these stirring days, there are many scenes that stand out in my mind. …And without doubt, the gatherings at Barangaroo and Southern Cross were high-points of my visit. Those experiences of prayer, and our joyful celebration of the Eucharist, were an eloquent testimony to the life-giving work of the Holy Spirit, present and active in the hearts of our young people. World Youth Day has shown us that the Church can rejoice in the young people of today and be filled with hope for the world of tomorrow.”
In the events of World Youth Day when Benedict XVI was with the young people, he saw the Holy Spirit present and active in those young people’s hearts. That indwelling of the Holy Spirit in those young hearts is cause for rejoicing and for having hope for the future of the world.
The Holy Father ended saying:
“Dear friends, as I depart from Sydney, I ask God to look down lovingly upon this city, this country and all its inhabitants. I pray that many of their number will be inspired by Blessed Mary MacKillop’s example of compassion and service. And as I bid you farewell with deep gratitude in my heart, I say once again: May God bless the people of Australia!”

For the third time in his short address, Benedict XVI mentions the word, “heart.” This time it is in reference to his own heart and the deep thanks he has for all the events of the past few days. It is the heart which is the center of our being, it is what needs to open if we are to be generous to others, it is what needs to open if God is going to dwell within us, it is what needs to open if we are to take in what happens around us and give thanks for it. Above all else, it is our heart, and its state of spiritual health, that matters.


Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Benedict XVI's Angelus Reflection at World Youth Day 7.20.08

Yesterday, Pope Benedict XVI gave a little meditation before the noon Angelus at World Youth Day. His reflection revolved around the angel Gabriel’s message at the Annunciation that Mary was to be the Mother of God. Mary was “utterly overwhelmed at the prospect that lay before her.” God provided for her need with the power of the Holy Spirit.

“It was the Spirit who gave her the strength and courage to respond to the Lord’s call. It was the Spirit who helped her to understand the great mystery that was to be accomplished through her. It was the Spirit who enfolded her with his love and enabled her to conceive the Son of God in her womb.”
“This scene is perhaps the pivotal moment in the history of God’s relationship with his people. During the Old Testament, God revealed himself partially, gradually, as we all do in our personal relationships. It took time for the chosen people to develop their relationship with God. The Covenant with Israel was like a period of courtship, a long engagement. Then came the definitive moment, the moment of marriage, the establishment of a new and everlasting covenant. As Mary stood before the Lord, she represented the whole of humanity. In the angel’s message, it was as if God made a marriage proposal to the human race. And in our name, Mary said yes.”

The Holy Father uses the image of marriage to describe the personal relationship between God and His people. He uses the words: courtship, engagement, marriage, marriage proposal, and yes. The New Covenant is the establishment of a marriage between God and the whole of humanity.
“In fairy tales, the story ends there, and all “live happily ever after”. In real life it is not so simple. For Mary there were many struggles ahead, as she lived out the consequences of the “yes” that she had given to the Lord. Simeon prophesied that a sword would pierce her heart. When Jesus was twelve years old, she experienced every parent’s worst nightmare when, for three days, the child went missing. And after his public ministry, she suffered the agony of witnessing his crucifixion and death. Throughout her trials she remained faithful to her promise, sustained by the Spirit of fortitude. And she was gloriously rewarded.”
Saying “yes” to God, saying “yes” that we will be His faithful spouse is only the beginning of the story. Struggles always ensue. Mary had a sword pierce her heart on a number of occasions as a consequence of saying yes to God. Yet, she always remained faithful to her personal commitment to her God, her Husband.
The Holy Father ended the Angelus reflection with these words:
“Dear young people, we too must remain faithful to the “yes” that we have given to the Lord’s offer of friendship. We know that he will never abandon us. We know that he will always sustain us through the gifts of the Spirit. Mary accepted the Lord’s “proposal” in our name. So let us turn to her and ask her to guide us as we struggle to remain faithful to the life-giving relationship that God has established with each one of us. She is our example and our inspiration, she intercedes for us with her Son, and with a mother’s love she shields us from harm.”

God desires to be our friend. He desires to be the most intimate of friends, for which we use the analogy of marriage between a man and a woman. Mary said “yes” to the proposal, and as such, she is our guide, example, inspiration, intercessor and mother who will bring us closer to our best friend and husband, Jesus. He will never fail us. His invitation to intimacy to me personally is the singular life-giving relationship that makes me fully alive. And that is why He came…so that we may have life and have it abundantly.


Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Benedict XVI's Homily at World Youth Day 7.20.08

Today, the Holy Father celebrated Sunday Mass at World Youth Day. The first reading of the Mass was the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles when Jesus tells the apostles, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you” (Acts 1:8). This passage is the springboard for Pope Benedict XVI’s wonderful homily. In the second paragraph, he said:

“In these days I too have come, as the Successor of Saint Peter, to this magnificent land of Australia. I have come to confirm you, my young brothers and sisters, in your faith and to encourage you to open your hearts to the power of Christ’s Spirit and the richness of his gifts. I pray that this great assembly, which unites young people “from every nation under heaven” (cf. Acts 2:5), will be a new Upper Room. May the fire of God’s love descend to fill your hearts, unite you ever more fully to the Lord and his Church, and send you forth, a new generation of apostles, to bring the world to Christ!”

The Holy Spirit, the fire of God’s love, wants to come to fill our hearts and unite us to one another in His Church and unite us to Christ Himself. Our hearts are made for the Holy Spirit because our hearts are made for love, and the Holy Spirit is the mutual love of the Father and the Son.

The Holy Father continues:

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you”. These words of the Risen Lord have a special meaning for those young people who will be confirmed, sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit, at today’s Mass. But they are also addressed to each of us – to all those who have received the Spirit’s gift of reconciliation and new life at Baptism, who have welcomed him into their hearts as their helper and guide at Confirmation, and who daily grow in his gifts of grace through the Holy Eucharist. At each Mass, in fact, the Holy Spirit descends anew, invoked by the solemn prayer of the Church, not only to transform our gifts of bread and wine into the Lord’s body and blood, but also to transform our lives, to make us, in his power, “one body, one spirit in Christ”.

Notice that the pope again mentions the heart and the Spirit’s filling the hearts of those who welcome Him through the sacrament of Confirmation. At Mass, not only are the bread and wine transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ, but each of us is made into another Christ, insofar as we give ourselves to Him to be made new.

In the next paragraph, the Holy Father explains the power of the Holy Spirit:
But what is this “power” of the Holy Spirit? It is the power of God’s life! It is the power of the same Spirit who hovered over the waters at the dawn of creation and who, in the fullness of time, raised Jesus from the dead. It is the power which points us, and our world, towards the coming of the Kingdom of God. In today’s Gospel, Jesus proclaims that a new age has begun, in which the Holy Spirit will be poured out upon all humanity (cf. Lk 4:21). He himself, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin May, came among us to bring us that Spirit. As the source of our new life in Christ, the Holy Spirit is also, in a very real way, the soul of the Church, the love which binds us to the Lord and one another, and the light which opens our eyes to see all around us the wonders of God’s grace.
The Spirit hovered over the waters in the beginning and raised Jesus from the dead. The Holy Spirit is poured out over all humanity and is the soul of the Church and the light of the world.

Two paragraphs later, he continues the connection of the Spirit with water:
The power of the Spirit never ceases to fill the Church with life! Through the grace of the Church’s sacraments, that power also flows deep within us, like an underground river which nourishes our spirit and draws us ever nearer to the source of our true life, which is Christ. Saint Ignatius of Antioch, who died a martyr in Rome at the beginning of the second century, has left us a splendid description of the Spirit’s power dwelling within us. He spoke of the Spirit as a fountain of living water springing up within his heart and whispering: “Come, come to the Father” (cf. Ad Rom., 6:1-9).

The Holy Spirit is like an underground river drawing us always closer to the source of true life. And then he quotes the first Saint Ignatius who said that the Spirit is a fountain of living water flowing out of our hearts quietly, drawing us to the Father. Saint Ignatius was making a reference to John 7:38 when Jesus says, “Out of your heart shall flow rivers of living water.”

The Holy Father mentions heart three more times in the next paragraph:
Yet this power, the grace of the Spirit, is not something we can merit or achieve, but only receive as pure gift. God’s love can only unleash its power when it is allowed to change us from within. We have to let it break through the hard crust of our indifference, our spiritual weariness, our blind conformity to the spirit of this age. Only then can we let it ignite our imagination and shape our deepest desires. That is why prayer is so important: daily prayer, private prayer in the quiet of our hearts and before the Blessed Sacrament, and liturgical prayer in the heart of the Church. Prayer is pure receptivity to God’s grace, love in action, communion with the Spirit who dwells within us, leading us, through Jesus, in the Church, to our heavenly Father. In the power of his Spirit, Jesus is always present in our hearts, quietly waiting for us to be still with him, to hear his voice, to abide in his love, and to receive “power from on high”, enabling us to be salt and light for our world.

For God’s love to transform us, we have to be open and receive His gift, and so we must pray. We pray in the heart of the Church through the liturgy, and we pray in the quiet of our hearts where Jesus is always present and waiting for us to spend time with Him.

After asking the young people what they are going to do and what difference they are going to make, the pope said:
Empowered by the Spirit, and drawing upon faith’s rich vision, a new generation of Christians is being called to help build a world in which God’s gift of life is welcomed, respected and cherished – not rejected, feared as a threat and destroyed. A new age in which love is not greedy or self-seeking, but pure, faithful and genuinely free, open to others, respectful of their dignity, seeking their good, radiating joy and beauty. A new age in which hope liberates us from the shallowness, apathy and self-absorption which deaden our souls and poison our relationships. Dear young friends, the Lord is asking you to be prophets of this new age, messengers of his love, drawing people to the Father and building a future of hope for all humanity.

The world needs this renewal! In so many of our societies, side by side with material prosperity, a spiritual desert is spreading: an interior emptiness, an unnamed fear, a quiet sense of despair. How many of our contemporaries have built broken and empty cisterns (cf. Jer 2:13) in a desperate search for meaning – the ultimate meaning that only love can give? This is the great and liberating gift which the Gospel brings: it reveals our dignity as men and women created in the image and likeness of God. It reveals humanity’s sublime calling, which is to find fulfilment [sic] in love. It discloses the truth about man and the truth about life.

Again, the Holy Father uses the imagery of water with the empty cisterns. Those who have cut God our of their lives are empty deep inside; those filled with the Holy Spirit have streams of living water welling up within them. We are made for life and love, and only in them, in God, do we find fulfillment.

He continues:
The Church also needs this renewal! She needs your faith, your idealism and your generosity, so that she can always be young in the Spirit (cf. Lumen Gentium, 4)! In today’s second reading, the Apostle Paul reminds us that each and every Christian has received a gift meant for building up the Body of Christ. The Church especially needs the gifts of young people, all young people. She needs to grow in the power of the Spirit who even now gives joy to your youth and inspires you to serve the Lord with gladness. Open your hearts to that power! I address this plea in a special way to those of you whom the Lord is calling to the priesthood and the consecrated life. Do not be afraid to say “yes” to Jesus, to find your joy in doing his will, giving yourself completely to the pursuit of holiness, and using all your talents in the service of others!

Again he mentions the heart and giving oneself completely to Christ. In the next paragraph, he continues the analogy of water and refreshment:
In a few moments, we will celebrate the sacrament of Confirmation. The Holy Spirit will descend upon the confirmands; they will be “sealed” with the gift of the Spirit and sent forth to be Christ’s witnesses. What does it mean to receive the “seal” of the Holy Spirit? It means being indelibly marked, inalterably changed, a new creation. For those who have received this gift, nothing can ever be the same! Being “baptized” in the one Spirit (cf. 1 Cor 12:13) means being set on fire with the love of God. Being “given to drink” of the Spirit means being refreshed by the beauty of the Lord’s plan for us and for the world, and becoming in turn a source of spiritual refreshment for others. Being “sealed with the Spirit” means not being afraid to stand up for Christ, letting the truth of the Gospel permeate the way we see, think and act, as we work for the triumph of the civilization of love.

The Holy Father ended his homily with one last call for every heart to open its doors to Christ:
Through the loving intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church, may this Twenty-third World Youth Day be experienced as a new Upper Room, from which all of us, burning with the fire and love of the Holy Spirit, go forth to proclaim the Risen Christ and to draw every heart to him! Amen.


Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Pope Benedict's Address at the Vigil of World Youth Day, July 19,2008

Today, the Holy Father spoke at the evening vigil at World Youth Day. I am providing some of his words here. What struck me are his references to the heart, God’s love, the Holy Spirit and the spring of living water. It is striking not so much that he mentioned them but that he connected them. Below are the excerpts; go here to read it in its entirety.

APOSTOLIC JOURNEY 
OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI 
TO SYDNEY (AUSTRALIA) ON THE OCCASION 
OF THE 23rd WORLD YOUTH DAY 
(JULY 12 - 21, 2008)
VIGIL WITH THE YOUNG PEOPLE
ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
Randwick Racecourse 
Saturday, 19 July 2008


Toward the beginning he said:

Friends, when reciting the Creed we state: “We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life”. The “Creator Spirit” is the power of God giving life to all creation and the source of new and abundant life in Christ. The Spirit sustains the Church in union with the Lord and in fidelity to the apostolic Tradition. He inspired the Sacred Scriptures and he guides God’s People into the fullness of truth (cf. Jn 16:13) In all these ways the Spirit is the “giver of life”, leading us into the very heart of God. So, the more we allow the Spirit to direct us, the more perfect will be our configuration to Christ and the deeper our immersion in the life of the Triune God.

This sharing in God’s nature (cf. 2 Pet 1:4) occurs in the unfolding of the everyday moments of our lives where he is always present (cf. Bar 3:38). There are times, however, when we might be tempted to seek a certain fulfilment apart from God. Jesus himself asked the Twelve: “do you also wish to go away?” Such drifting away perhaps offers the illusion of freedom. But where does it lead? To whom would we go? For in our hearts we know that it is the Lord who has “the words of eternal life” (Jn 6:67-68). To turn away from him is only a futile attempt to escape from ourselves (cf. Saint Augustine, Confessions VIII, 7)….

The third insight – the Holy Spirit as gift – Augustine derived from meditating on a Gospel passage we all know and love: Christ’s conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well. Here Jesus reveals himself as the giver of the living water (cf. Jn 4:10) which later is explained as the Holy Spirit (cf. Jn 7:39; 1 Cor 12:13). The Spirit is “God’s gift” (Jn 4:10) - the internal spring (cf. Jn 4:14), who truly satisfies our deepest thirst and leads us to the Father. From this observation Augustine concludes that God sharing himself with us as gift is the Holy Spirit (cf. De Trinitate, 15, 18, 32). Friends, again we catch a glimpse of the Trinity at work: the Holy Spirit is God eternally giving himself; like a never-ending spring he pours forth nothing less than himself. In view of this ceaseless gift, we come to see the limitations of all that perishes, the folly of the consumerist mindset. We begin to understand why the quest for novelty leaves us unsatisfied and wanting. Are we not looking for an eternal gift? The spring that will never run dry? With the Samaritan woman, let us exclaim: give me this water that I may thirst no more! (cf. Jn 4:15).
Dear young people, we have seen that it is the Holy Spirit who brings about the wonderful communion of believers in Jesus Christ. True to his nature as giver and gift alike, he is even now working through you. Inspired by the insights of Saint Augustine: let unifying love be your measure; abiding love your challenge; self-giving love your mission!
Tomorrow, that same gift of the Spirit will be solemnly conferred upon our confirmation candidates. I shall pray: “give them the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of right judgement and courage, the spirit of knowledge and reverence … and fill them with the spirit of wonder and awe”. These gifts of the Spirit – each of which, as Saint Francis de Sales reminds us, is a way to participate in the one love of God – are neither prizes nor rewards. They are freely given (cf. 1 Cor 12:11). And they require only one response on the part of the receiver: I accept! Here we sense something of the deep mystery of being Christian. What constitutes our faith is not primarily what we do but what we receive. After all, many generous people who are not Christian may well achieve far more than we do. Friends, do you accept being drawn into God’s Trinitarian life? Do you accept being drawn into his communion of love?....

In the end, life is not about accumulation. It is much more than success. To be truly alive is to be transformed from within, open to the energy of God’s love. In accepting the power of the Holy Spirit you too can transform your families, communities and nations. Set free the gifts! Let wisdom, courage, awe and reverence be the marks of greatness!


The Holy Father ended with these words:

And now, as we move towards adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, in stillness and expectation, I echo to you the words spoken by Blessed Mary MacKillop when she was just twenty six years old: “Believe in the whisperings of God to your heart!”. Believe in him! Believe in the power of the Spirit of Love!


I say: the Holy Spirit is the love of God which fills our hearts as a spring of living water, speaking to our hearts and giving us the strength and energy of His love to be transformed into Christ and so transform those around us. God desires to give us the Holy Spirit ever more fully as a pure, undeserved gift. All we have to do is open our hearts and accept this most wondrous gift. Come Holy Spirit!

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Fire Within--Finished

I finished reading the book Fire Within by Father Thomas Dubay, S.M. I've owned the book for many years, but I only read bits and pieces of it until recently. This time I was determined to read it from cover to cover and write notes in it as I read. I plan to re-read and meditate on it to let its message soak into my brain. The biggest and most important task is to put into practice what I have learned. For me right now, what I need to do is to set time aside each day to pray and to give myself more fully to the One who loves me. When I give myself to Him more and more generously in every aspect of my life, God will give me more and more of Himself. Christianity is a relationship, a radical love relationship, with God. I just need to live it better. There is no end to how well that relationship is lived and how intimate and close one becomes to God.

I want to share a few thoughts from the first chapter of Fire Within.
"A second thing I have learned is what St. Teresa herself learned regarding the sanctity and prayer of her companions in the early years of the reform: they were saintly women, and most of them had lofty infused prayer. That combination, holiness of life and radiant contemplation, is no mere coincidence. So it is today: men and women in any vocation who live the revealed word as Thomas More (married man), John Vianney (diocesan priest) and Catherine of Siena (consecrated virgin) lived it do enjoy a profound intimacy with the Lord they serve so completely and untiringly. Life-style and prayer grow or diminish together. If people today or in any age lack mystical prayer, it is not because it has been tried and found lacking. It is the Gospel that has not been tried" (p. 9).

Two pages later it continues:

"'I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and how I would that it were already blazing.' How perfectly this captures the contents of this book. The radiant Image of the Father's glory has come to light a fire in us, a burning love, a consuming yearning. There is nothing lukewarm about the God of revelation. Always radical and total, never does He reduce what He expects of us to fractions. Our communion with Him is to become a blazing fire, a perpetual ecstasy. These strong words will sound strange and exaggerated only to those who have not tasted that the Lord is good. They may have studied and read, but they have not drunk deeply.

"Reflecting like mirrors the very brilliance of the Lord, we are even in this life to be 'transformed from one glory to another into the very image that we reflect--this is the work of the Lord who is Spirit'. This text, too, is an excellent summation of much of this present work, namely, the gradual but inevitable transformation of a generous person that accompanies parallel growth in depth of communion with the indwelling Trinity. They who think that fullness of contemplation is meant to be confined to an elite few do not understand the contents of Sacred Scripture. Nor do they understand the great patristic commentators (e.g., St. Gregory of Nyssa in the fourth century) who join with John and Teresa in writing of this transformation (p. 11).

"'Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it dawned upon our human imagination what things God has prepared for those who love him.' This pauline statement, astonishing however one understands it, refers not only to our final destiny in beatific vision and risen body but also to the unspeakable, indeed unimaginable, gifts God has in store on earth for totally generous lovers" (p. 11-12)

Everyone is called to this deep union with God; that, indeed, was why we were created. God made us to be His house, temple, bride and spouse. He is the Divine Bridegroom.


Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

Pope Benedict XVI's Angelus Message of June 1, 2008

Following is the message from the Holy Father:

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

On this Sunday, which coincides with the beginning of June, I am pleased to recall that this month is traditionally dedicated to the Heart of Christ, symbol of the Christian faith, particularly dear to the people, to mystics and theologians because it expresses in a simple and authentic way the "good news" of love, compendium of the mystery of the Incarnation and Redemption. Last Friday, after the Most Holy Trinity and Corpus Christi, we celebrated the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the third and last feast following Eastertide. This sequence calls to mind a movement toward the centre: a movement of the spirit which God himself guides. In fact, from the infinite horizon of his love, God wished to enter into the limits of human history and the human condition. He took on a body and a heart. Thus, we can contemplate and encounter the infinite in the finite, the invisible and ineffable Mystery in the human Heart of Jesus, the Nazarene. In my first Encyclical on the theme of love, the point of departure was exactly "contemplating the pierced side of Christ", which John speaks of in his Gospel (cf. 19: 37; Deus Caritas Est, n. 12). And this centre of faith is also the font of hope in which we have been saved, the hope that I made the object of my second Encyclical.

Every person needs a "centre" for his own life, a source of truth and goodness to draw from in the daily events, in the different situations and in the toil of daily life. Every one of us, when he/she pauses in silence, needs to feel not only his/her own heartbeat, but deeper still, the beating of a trustworthy presence, perceptible with faith's senses and yet much more real: the presence of Christ, the heart of the world. Therefore, I invite each one of you to renew in the month of June his/her own devotion to the Heart of Christ, also using the traditional prayer of the daily offering and keeping present the intentions I have proposed for the whole Church.

Next to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the liturgy invites us to venerate the Immaculate Heart of Mary. With great confidence let us entrust ourselves to her. Once again I would like to invoke the maternal intercession of the Virgin for the populations of China and Myanmar struck by natural calamities and for those who are going through the many situations of pain, sickness, material and spiritual poverty that mark humanity's path.

My thoughts:

The center of the Catholic faith, the source of truth and goodness, and the font of our hope is the Heart of Christ. Pausing in silence, we are to sense, at a level deeper than our own heartbeat, the heartbeat of Christ Who is always with us. Our life revolves around our awareness of and meditation upon the heart of Jesus beating within us. From His heart we have light, peace, joy and truth.
Mary, the one whose heart was most in union with the Heart of Jesus, shows us the way to give ourselves totally to Him. Entrusting ourselves to this most loving of God-given mothers, we have great confidence that she will be there for us and bring us more into conformity to her divine Son.


Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.

The School Year is Over: The Plan for the Summer

Now that the students have gone home for the summer and all the many tasks that I do doing the school year have for the most part come to completion, I have more time once again. I have a multitude of things I need to do this summer, but my primary task is to make significant progress in my writing once again. Actually, the most important task for me is to live out what I am saying, to put it into practice. That means I must pray and be very committed to my prayer life. That means that I must take my personal relationship with Jesus very seriously, as the most important relationship in my life. I must take a good chunk of time for prayer each day, and I must make all I do a prayer. God made me with enormous and seemingly insatiable desires; those desires are the consequence of making me to be a home, temple and spouse of Himself. I am made for God; I desire to be perfectly known and loved; I desire to be completely happy forever, and all this makes the joys of this world to be of little consequence. The joys of this world can't begin to fulfill me--they are too little. Only God can and does give me the life and joy that, in my deepest self, I desire. The Good News is that my enormous desires are made to be fulfilled and that there is hope. That hope and fulfillment is a person: Jesus Christ.

Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.