Sinners

With enough love, all sinners can become Saints.

Ora et Labora

To declare that God must do all, to deny human work, is sloth.  To believe that we can do all, to deny God's work, is pride.  So pray, as the Saints say, as if all depends on God, and work as if all depends on you.

Assumption

We should remember upon this Feast of the Assumption that all things of Mary point to Christ.  The Rosary is a prayer which draws us into Christ's life, reveals it to us through the eyes and experiences of Mary.  This is obvious for most of the Mysteries, but perhaps less so for today's, the Feast of the Assumption.  The Assumption is not about Mary, so much as it is about the perfection of our hope in the Easter promise.  Mary is not only a witness to the Risen Lord, her Assumption is the first fruits of the Resurrection, she is the first human besides Christ who is brought body and soul into Heaven by the power of God's love and Grace.  The meditation upon the Assumption is not meant to focus our eyes on Mary, but to focus them on the God who has brought her so totally to Himself, that we might truly "imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise."  She is the lens by which we see His desire for all of us, what He would make all of us to be, if we but cooperate.  On this Feast of the Assumption I give myself to Mary that she might bring me to Christ, for she herself has been brought completely to God, not through herself, but through that humility which says, "yes" wholly to the will of the Lord.  As she says, so say I.  Totus tuus Maria!

Mary

It is true that without Christ, there is no Mary.  It is also true that without Mary, there is no Christ.

The Potter and the Clay

Today's first reading talks about how God is like a potter, and Israel like the clay.  How apt a metaphor for the soul's conversion!  We are shaped by the Hands of divine Providence, He forms us, sculpts us, into images more beautiful than the Pieta, vessels into which He will pour His own Spirit through His own Sacred Blood.  We will not enjoy the shaping, indeed, we will often fight it, hardening ourselves against Him into flawed vessels that cannot withstand the flame of the kiln.  We surely will not enjoy the firing, when all flaws and impurities are purged, when we are completed as His work, which means we must also admit we are not our own.  Yet if we persevere and do not harden our hearts to Him, we will be made most beautiful, most holy, most wonderful.

Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday.  I am now twenty-eight.  I feel, probably wrongly, very old.  But even if I am not that much older, I think I have become somewhat wiser in this past year though through no fault or effort of my own.  So on behalf of those celebrating birthdays today, and every day throughout the year, remember that every birthday is the result of an Incarnation, the Incarnation of God's love for you.  As you have a birthday, Christ has a birthday, and through His revelation we come to know the importance of our human incarnation, for He has made us in His own image, and ever desires us to become more fully His.

I guess what I am trying to say is, Happy Birthday!

The Poor

The poor to serve are all around us. Maybe not always in money, though they are always with us, but in faith, hope, and charity. I realized working today that these are really prevalent in American society today, particularly where money abounds. Nothing new to some, I think, but an important realization for me.

Deus Vult

How often do we say, "Lord, thy will be done," and mean, "Lord, thy will be done if it happens to be mine too?"

Bless You

Whenever someone says to you, "God Bless You," or one of its many variants, think, "He has, He has given you to me to love."

Luminescence

In the dark, our sufferings always appear inky black, roiling and turbulent like a storm wracked sea. But in the light of faith, we see suffering how it truly is, the clearest of waters, filling us at times to the brim, and often overflowing from us. But because it is so clear, and because we have been filled with light, our sufferings become joy, and they pour out from ourselves to bring that light to others who are still in darkness.

Robe and Sandals

A friend of mine told me about how some men at his church were shamed by how much better he dressed than they, remembering their childhoods and the instruction of their parents that they dress as if going before a judge or a king.  His answer was that the only king they were going to see was one who dressed in a robe and sandals.   This is true, but looking deeper, we can see that the King we go to meet in the Mass is much more.  He is divinity who clothed Himself with humanity - true humility that we might know and love Him.  And what is more, He went even further to take on the appearance of mere bread and wine in the Eucharist, that we might enter into His life.  God reaches to us with every thing and in every way that He can.  Reach back!

Unlovable

How quickly our pretensions and illusions of Saintliness vanish when we are called to love that which is unlovable! Yet charity is nothing if it is not given to those we love the least. Pray that each day God will enter into you and give you His love, which loves the unlovable so well. Step back, and let God do the loving!

Smile

Smiling makes even that which is plain beautiful, while anger contorts even that which is beautiful into something horrible. So smile, and reveal the beauty of God's Creation.

Grief

The Enemy will try to turn your sorrows to rage, that you might be brought to sin. Wrath he can use, but grief, pure and true, is a thing of love, and he detests and abhors it, it cannot be made to serve him. Blessed are they who mourn, for consolation shall be theirs!

Justice and Mercy

For every time you've desired vengeance for your hurts, satisfaction for your grievances and for the petty slights done to you, even for legitimate justice to right a wrong, look to the Cross.  There you will find Justice, but also the Mercy which you should show to those who've hurt you.

Single

To be single is not a curse, nor a disease, nor anything that demands condolences or sympathy. Singleness is the universal vocation, the one vocation that all people have at one point in life or another, sometimes at many points, sometimes only at a few. We all know it. We all associate loneliness with it. But loneliness exists even with those who live in community, or who are part of the brotherhood of priests. And it certainly exists among those romantically linked into pairs. Loneliness is the soul's longing for its end in God, and the loneliness we feel for others is only a portion of this need, for we are to love God first, then our neighbors. Being together with another romantically is not an end, it is a beginning. For those called to it, it is the path they walk to God, to the real end of loneliness, and loneliness will be a struggle all their lives, even together in the community of the family. To be single is not to be doomed to loneliness and misery, but to have the opportunity to approach that end individually, to enter into God, and if He so wills it, to be brought through and by Him to the other He means for you.

Dance

There is a certain Joy in movement which music often demands of us, and this I think is the origin of dance. This is our special privilege, that we may dance, and in dancing learn all things that are good, be they love or worship or respect. Dance is how we learn to communicate with our bodies, it is how we learn to touch the other sex with respect and not lust (though it can certainly be abused), and alone among Creation to our knowledge can we dance for our God. Even the angels have not the ability to dance for the Lord as David did. Be happy, O my soul, for you have a body, and you may dance!

Mass

You know, it is not one's preference for language, orientation, or music in the Mass which reveals a Saint, but rather simply one's preference for the Mass itself.

Fatherhood

The fullness of fatherhood is found in the priesthood, not the laity. Why? Because every mother feeds her baby Eucharistically, by that I mean with her own body and blood, first in the womb, and then by her milk if she so chooses (and I confess I hope she does). Compared with such unity, such provision, what do fathers have with their children? Fathers make many great and magnificent sacrifices of their time, energy, and lives (hoping and praying to be one, I would never deny it). But they cannot so feed their families with their very life blood. The sublime dignity of the priesthood is such that it allows men to know the fullness of such provision, granted to men by the Providence of God Himself. In this way they enter into Christ and so feed their flocks with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, which for that moment have become theirs, as Christ is the Father's. By the working of the Holy Spirit, they are united with the Father Himself, through the Sacrament of the Altar.

War

A beautiful and wonderful young woman, whom it is my privilege to know, recently reminded me of the words of St. Josemaria Escriva, "There is need for a crusade of manliness... to counteract and nullify the savage work of those who think man is a beast. And that crusade is your work." It is indeed. In counsel with St. Josemaria and the Blessed Mother, I have a request for all Catholic men. Pray the Rosary. Pray it everyday. And pray it for the sake of your wife (present or future), and your children (present and future), for all women and all children, and for all Catholic men who seek to defend them, that they might have the Graces and virtues necessary to do so. Do this in addition to whatever other prayers and daily Rosaries you might already be doing. This is our work, please spread the word. For as our beloved and Blessed Pope John Paul II said, "God has assigned as a duty to every man the dignity of every woman."

Mass and Music

The beauty of the Mass is objective, it is there because God is there.  What mars it, if anything, is abuse of the liturgy (obviously) but also when we let ourselves be affected by things that don't please our personal aesthetics.  Bad music or architecture or art or what have you.  Let the Mass bring these things up to God, don't let them bring you down to Earth.

Princess

Have you ever wondered why so many men love Disney princess movies (they do, even when they won't admit it)? It is because men want to marry princesses just as much as women want to marry princes. Sadly, as many women seem have given up trying to *be* princesses as men seem to have given up trying to be princes. You were born to be Lords and Ladies of Creation, do not give your bodies or your souls over to the World.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Strange

Such a sad, strange thing - that people in the wealthiest, most affluent period and place in human history believe themselves too poor to have children! Indeed, they are poor! They are afflicted with a most terrible poverty - poverty in charty...

Immaculate Conception

As the Holy Spirit loved its spouse, Mary, preserving her from sin, willing for her good from the moment of her conception, and protecting her for the whole of her life, so should all men love their spouses. For in the Holy Spirit's espousal of Mary is the example which Christ followed in His own marriage to the Church - not because He needed an example, but because in His love for us He desired that we should have one. As the Spirit willed for Mary's purity and goodness all the days of her life, so too does Christ wish to make us holy and pure. She becomes a microcosm of the Church, the spouse of God, and is given to us as a gift from the Cross.

Walk

We can walk only the path which God gives us to walk, love only as He who is Love lets us.

Partake

To the Protestant, if you would understand the Eucharist, you must start at the Passover.  Was it sufficient for the Israelites to sacrifice a lamb, to coat their lintels with its blood alone?  Or was it also necessary, even commanded, that they partake of the passover sacrifice by eating the lamb without blemish?  If so, woe unto you who deny the Body of the Lord in the Mass, for how can you partake in His sacrifice if you do not partake in His Body and Blood?

Shadows

Before Christ we were not men but the shadows of men - absences of grace cast by the denial of God which is sin. It is when Christ inhabits us, steps into us, that we become creatures truly - beings of flesh and blood, His Flesh and His Blood, most holy and precious. It is thus that we become more ourselves through Christ - without Him we are not us, but phantom negations.

The Life of Grace

The culmination of the life of sin is the life of grace.  For it is by realization of sin that we realize our need for grace. And it is grace that terminates the life of sin, transforming it into true life, from shadow to reality. Just so, the broken life of man on Earth becomes the fullness of life promised by Christ and fulfilled in the Resurrection.

Heart

Oh Lord, give me a new heart, replace this heart of stone with one for love alone.  Through and in this Eucharist, give Your own Sacred heart to me, that I might love as You love!

Communion

It is absolutely vital - it is utterly essential - to our understanding of the Sacrament of Marriage that we understand and appreciate the Eucharist.  For the Eucharist is that sacrament which, like marriage, we can partake in every day.  Understanding it, fully appreciating it, will aid us in appreciating every day the joy of communion with our spouse.

Prayer

Half a lifetime spent in prayer is not enough.  Only the whole will suffice.

Real

So much of our lives are lived in a fog of vanity and illusion.  Joy and Sorrow, these two are real, and are more dangerous to all the designs of the devil than anything else.

Today

Today, I will meet hundreds of people who hunger and thirst for Love. God will bring them into my life, and me into theirs, that we might Love as He Loves. And we will fail – I will fail. But by His Grace maybe I will Love one more person than yesterday.

Forgive

Forgive me, for I have sinned.  In my thoughts, and in my words.  In what I have done, and in what I have failed to do.  And I ask Mary, the ever-Virgin, all the angels and Saints, and you my brothers and sisters to pray for me to the Lord, our God.

The Cup of Sorrow

Drink deeply of the cup of sorrow, for it is the cup of Christ. It is like water - needful for all life, for all growth, for all strength; the sign of birth in a Fallen world made a sign of rebirth into the Kingdom; and it will be transformed into the best of wines, that we might know Joy and wedded bliss with our Divine Lover - that wine which is His most Precious Blood, the cup of the New Covenant.

Bad Catholic

There is no such thing as a good Catholic, only bad Catholics and bad Catholics who come to the Sacraments.

Mystery

It is no great mystery or surprise to see people incandescent with Joy in the presence of God.  Indeed, the great question is why there are so few.

Pride Revisited

Pride is best at recognizing itself in others. This is so because two wills that refuse to bend will always conflict when they encounter one another, and in that conflict there is recognition. Thus we should remember that if we are recognizing pride in another, it is most likely because we ourselves are too proud. We pray then for the grace of God, which is humility, that the plank might be removed from our eyes.

Misery

You will find that misery is a very small thing next to Joy.

Garb

If the Lord won't accept me in humble clothes, then rich ones will not matter. Dress a sinner up all you desire, he remains a sinner. Prepare, then, your hearts and souls for Mass. Enrich them in purity through faith, hope and, love - and let your garments be what they'll be.

Procrastination

Procrastination is the Devil's handmaiden.

Serve

To serve is Joy itself.

More on Magic

Magic is simply this: the attempt by the human will to control that which is not itself, to dominate natural things for itself. To do so the will must reach out to powers that are neither its own, nor natural. [...]  And so one of the principle dangers of magic is highlighted; that to dominate with your will, your will must invoke powers neither of God, nor of Man, and so it becomes a slave.

Disturbed

Am I the only one disturbed by the fact that as Divine Mercy Sunday ended, last day of Easter, the great celebration of the new and everlasting life of Christ, most American Christians were celebrating death and damnation?

“I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you [...]. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same?”

Holy

The only thing worth being in this life is holy. All the other good things we can be; fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, priests, religious, etc. are different and yet the same in this:  They all exist to bring us closer to God. Their good is solely in how they aid us in becoming holy.

Grace

The gift of reconciliation is a gift of grace. God cares nothing for great works and mighty deeds, loving and desiring instead a contrite heart. Sin hardens us with hatred and despair, producing misshapen and flawed vessels likely to shatter in the furnace of love. But grace softens us that the Potter may form us as He wills; into beautiful vessels for His Spirit, tempered by divine flame.

Confession

Every confession is a miracle, the salvation of the soul from sure destruction. Every reconciliation is a consolation for Christ on the Cross.

Sin

Sin leads to shame and guilt, which can result in self-loathing and hatred. This hatred is a willing of evil for the self, the root of despair. Repentance is the will moving towards its good, which is God who is Love, and away from sin. Self hate arrests this movement. So sin traps the soul, preventing us from moving to God, or even accepting love from Him and others, and ultimately bringing us to self-destruction.

Doctor

I wanted to be a Doctor of the Church.  But that is such a small thing next to the love of God.

Magic

Those who work magic cannot perform even the smallest feats of humility or charity and remain in the occult. But those who are humble are given powers far greater than those who seek it. The gifts of God can be used for others, but all the powers of magic can be used only for the self. Ultimately they destroy even that, for the powers of magic use even the user, while the powers of God heal even the healer.

Family

This world fears the family for famine. We fear to increase our families because of the loss of material comfort. The families we do have separate easily, for we are afraid to give ourselves to one another. We are afraid of the sacrifice involved in the family. Be not afraid. In sacrifice do we find penance, and with the family comes consolation, just as Joseph sacrificed much and yet was more greatly consoled.

Pleasure

We purchase cheap pleasures instead of holy penance. Yet the removal of pain and the pursuit of pleasure only turns pleasure into a terrible idol and master called addiction. Pain tempers and disciplines pleasure and pleasure helps make pain bearable. Thus our perfection is not to be found in fleeing from pain but in embracing it, in offering it up for others, like Christ on the Cross.

Treasure

We are a people of full bank accounts and bankrupt souls. Why? We can't take our money with us into death. All we can take is love. Ultimately, our lives are nothing save an opportunity to build up treasure in Heaven, and that treasure is our love - for everyone and everything. A love which begins in Christ, as Our Lady's has.

Siblings

God made older sisters so young men could be instructed on the mysteries of femininity. And God made younger brothers so young women would know what they were getting into. But older brothers exist to protect those who come after, and younger sisters exist to remind us that there are things worth protecting.

Saints

Our priest quipped at Mass that a young boy once told him, in reference to the Saints depicted in stain glass windows, that "Saints are those the sun shines through." Beautiful imagery and also very true. Many seem to fear that dying to themselves and living in Christ will make them less themselves. The imagery here reminds us that the Saints are not made less, but rather more distinct through the light of Christ.

Secrets

Secrets and lies serve only our sins.  They hide in the shadows of our shame.  Only by being revealed and exposed can sin be expelled.  Only through the Grace of God can we open ourselves to His light.

Broken

I am broken and ruined, yet somehow God loves me.

Carpentry

Jesus spent His human life as a carpenter, but His best wood work was as God. Carpentry prepared the way for the Cross.

Pride

Pride is best at recognizing itself in others, for proud people cannot meet without a conflict of wills. And pride is worst at recognizing itself in the self, for proud people cannot believe they are less than what their pride claims. Obedience, then, is a fitting cure, for even one who believes himself great can obey, and in obeying, be in truth humble.

Parish

You can measure the health of any given parish by the lines for confession.

Blow

Chesterton suggested that a blow is bad because it humiliates, not because it hurts. If true, we should turn the other cheek! Remember, if you can be humiliated then you're not humble enough. Interestingly, this also means that defense motivated by factors other than our pride may be perfectly legitimate, dispelling the “Jesus is a pacifist” and “all violence is evil” arguments.

Love

"Love" is an answer easily given, but not so easily lived.

Satan

Satan has no sense of humor.  He, like all proud creatures, cannot tolerate laughter, because they can never take themselves lightly.  And Satan must be taken seriously for his temptations to tempt.

Generous

Never regret being generous.

"-isms"

Christ, not capitalism, is the cure and hope for the world's poor. Christ, not communism, is the sure source of justice.  For who but Christ has shown such charity while sharing such poverty?

Surprised?

Is anyone really going to be surprised by this, if it is true?

http://networkedblogs.com/dJVWr

Lusts

The only escape from the lusts of the Devil are the pains of the Cross.  Lord let me always have Thy Cross to cling to!

Desire

If we desire greatness, we must be humble. If we want to be strong, first we must be weak. If hungry for power, then fast through helplessness. If glorified, then first we must glorify. If we wish for life, we must die. For it is only after we glorify God, that He can give us His glory. It is only in embracing Christ's death that we can live. It is only in admitting our own flaws that we can be healed.

Searching

To those who say they are searching: Love does not hide. By its nature it proclaims itself to all, it stands brazen against the horizon. If you're searching for Love, it is not because Love is in hiding, but because you are in hiding. Stop searching, your search is an excuse for your ego to remain hidden. As long as you remain searching, you are not finding. Open up to Love, die to yourself, follow Christ.

Cross

"The Cross cannot be defeated, for it is Defeat."

G.K. Chesterton

For Man

The Sacraments are not for God, but for Man.

Bread

“In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth, out of which thou wast taken: for dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return.”

“Through your goodness we have this bread to offer, which earth has given and human hands have made. It will become for us the bread of life.”

We offer simple bread yet it becomes the Bread of Life. We too, though humble in nature, are called to become Christ.

Laughter

Jesus Christ wept openly for all to see. He shouted in anger at the corruption in the temple. He showed compassion to all in the streets. He taught in calm and reasoned discourse. But He never, ever laughed in the Gospels. Tears heal but a laugh at the wrong moment can shatter a soul instead of heal it. I wonder if perhaps He knew that the laughter of God could hurt us more than all His anger or tears.

Perilous

The most perilous thing in the world is the Eucharist. The second is sex. The third is laughter. The danger of a thing is commensurate to its innate goodness, its peril relates to its pleasure. The Eucharist is, of course, God Himself, sex is how we take part in the creative act of the Divine, and laughter is how we best know Joy itself.

Incarnation

The Incarnation can be summed up thus: The Son of God became the Son of Man so that the children of Man might become children of God.

Sufficiency

There is no such thing as sufficient faith, hope or charity.

Gratitude

Lord, I don’t have words of eloquence or extravagance. I have no silver tongued soliloquies. I have no hope of adequately expressing this in words worthy of your Incarnate glory.  So I am forced to say, in most humble, human fashion, “Thank you.  I am so sorry.  I love you.”

Merry Christmas to all, may we all know love, repentance and gratitude this day!

Sacraments

We must learn unity in body for the Sacrament of Marriage by dedicating ourselves to unity in Body through the Sacrament of the Lord's Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. Thus it is the Blessed Sacrament, the Sacrament of Communion, the Sacrament of Sacraments.

Doubt

Faith is a thing of firm, steadfast purpose. The voice of the enemy is ever one of doubt, doubt of what is good, what is true and what is beautiful. The purpose of faith is reconciling Man and God. And so the purpose of the enemy is ultimately doubt of God's love and forgiveness.

Consolation

Lord, let me stand beside Mary at the foot of the Cross.  Let me be your consolation, and you mine.

Order

Order in our exterior lives helps build order in our interior lives. It is thus that cleanliness is next to Godliness. By keeping your exterior home clean, you help keep your soul's castle clean, that He may come and live within it.

Christ

All you Christians remember: You might be the only Christ someone meets today. Or this week. Or this month. Or this year. You may be the only Christ someone ever meets. “Christ has no hands or feet but yours,” says St. Teresa. Be Christ to the world. And remember, Christ openly showed His tears but hid His laughter. Perhaps because He knew that tears would always heal, while laughter could always hurt.

Vice

We cannot be afraid to live for fear of our vices. Instead, we must turn even our vices to the service of God by showing the beauty of repentance and forgiveness to others.

Joy and Sorrow

The Cross is a first step to knowing Christ, but there is always more of Christ to know. Experiencing Christ in this Moment we know the reality of joy and sorrow intermingled. We know how happiness can exist in great suffering. And so we know how we can offer up our own sufferings, and remain as happy as the Saints. This is the next step to the Hidden Joy.

Suffering

The first step to experiencing God is to meet Him where He came closest to Man. This is Christ. Yet Christ's life has one Moment in which He was more understandable, and this is His Eucharistic sacrifice. Suffering, because of its universality, is the place in which we can most easily grasp Him. We can hold fast to the wood of the Cross. We can cling, if only to His feet, and understand some of His pain, and so Him.

Joy

Share His Joy!

Providence

There is no coincidence, only Providence.

Purity

Everywhere we look we can see passion in this world.  But where is purity?

Humility

If you can be humiliated, you're not humble enough.

Augustine

"Unlearned people are taking Heaven by force, while we, with all our knowledge, are so cowardly that we keep rolling around in the mud of our sins!" St. Augustine spoke these words in shame. Let us lift them up in triumph, for the same man who lived them has become a Saint manifest in glory. God loves the fools and the favored! Even the most gifted can be Saints, should they become humble enough to Love and serve!

Russell

"So far as I can remember, there is not one word in the Gospels in praise of intelligence." Bertrand Russell meant this in a sarcastic, disparaging sense. And yet, thank God! God loves the fool as much as the favored. Russell shows us how pride makes love impossible, and intelligence is no guarantee of grace. It may even become a great stumbling block in our path to God. Beware your gifts!

Riddle

I am often challenged, as a theist, to answer certain questions about the relationship of God and Creation. Amen, amen, I say to you the real riddle is not Creation, but Man.  Of course God creates, Love always creates. The ways it begets are manifestly obvious. No, the riddle is Mankind's apparent discomfort with being Man. Fish do not complain of water being too wet, yet Man complains of men being too selfish.

Feelings

Feelings are not a guide to truth, they are a testing flame.

Day

Day by day
the world grows worse
yet in suffering does love come first

For if the world is to be better
so it must first know chain and fetter

And dreary dreams
turn to love and splendor
day by day

Holiness

The couple that seeks holiness must do so together, for they are two that have become one. It is not enough for husband or wife alone to be a Saint. Marriage can never be about me or us and only then God. It must be God first and only then us. This is because marriage is the most intimate reflection of Trinitarian love we have, and only with God first can we realize this and so become Saints.

Opportunity

The world is full of opportunities to Love.

Submission

If the husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the Church, presenting her before God blameless and pure, to die for her that she may live, then we may say that his love is to will for her good before his own, always. It is to this love that wives are to submit, to this will that they must bend their own.

After all, if your husband wills for your good before his own, and you refuse, what are you rejecting?

Far

Love can never say "this far and no farther."  Its arms must always be outstretched to their utmost, like the Man on the Cross.

Apathy

In Christianity you will certainly find those who are willing to turn the other cheek, and even those who are willing to turn others' cheeks, but you will at least not find those who doubt they have cheeks to turn.

Likewise, in Christian teaching you will find empathy, and even enmity, but you will not find apathy.

And why? Because it can never be said that Christianity doesn't teach that there are things worth fighting for, even if it teaches that the best way to fight for them is not to fight at all.