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.
Showing posts with label God's love. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God's love. Show all posts
8.05.2008
7.21.2008
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.
“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.
7.20.2008
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.
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.
6.10.2008
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
