*Awesome* Catholic App!

Attention my Catholic brethren and sisteren! :)

Awesome new app I just downloaded called "Discerning Hearts." Tons of beautiful novenas, prayers, talks of every topic conceivable from some of the best spiritual teachers of our time, etc. all with audio available feauturing beautiful accompany music. Also other daily readings and cool stuff!

Their website is www.discerninghearts.com and is worth a look, too! If you ever want something good to listen to over a private meal or maybe you want to listen to a great talk in the car this is the app for it! Check it out!!!

Last summer I listened to Dr. Anthony Lilis' reflections on the retreat which Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity wrote.  I listened to these reflections over several quiet meals and it was awesome.  What topic are you interested in? Marian devotion? Discernment of Spirits? Contemplation? There's something here for you!

What has flesh and blood revealed to you? Broken mirrors and the perfect Mirror

I was struck by Christ's words to Peter in this past Sunday's Gospel reading at Mass.  After I found myself focused on the words "...for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my Father Who is in Heaven."

Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you...

My thoughts wandered to a question, "What has flesh and blood revealed to you?"  What I mean is "What have you learned about God and His ways from other human beings?" More to the point, "How has your image (concept) of God been damaged by the images of God (other people made in His 'image and likeness.'")

While not exactly where Jesus was going with Peter at the time Christ's words are nonetheless Divine and so transcend time - they speak to all times and to where I was at at the time.

God's Word (Jesus) says something about God.  In fact, it (He - Jesus) says everything about God.  Jesus reveals God totally.  He's the perfect image of God His Father because He is the full expression of God's Mind.  The Father has a perfect, eternal thought and it is of Himself.  This utter perfection (perfectly uttered through and in His love, the Holy Spirit) is perfectly like the Father but is distinct from the Father.  The Word of the Father is the full and perfect expression of the Father yet is not the Father.

Jesus, the Word become flesh, is Himself a perfect and constant "vocalization" of Who the Father is. (If you need to hear what the Father is like - and you do - listen to Jesus and listen to His Sacred Heart because it beats to the same rythym as the Father's Heart.) Jesus is the living, mirror image of the Father.  To see Jesus is to see the Father reflecting on you.  (For the Father always thinks of you and always shines His face upon you.  He reflects on you in both of these senses. That is His delight and you, therefore, are His delight.)

But flesh and blood - our earthly fathers, our mothers, our friends - though made in God's image - are fallen and broken mirrors.  The "Adams" and "Eves" in our lives (those who are supposed to show us God's love and true nature reflecting and shining through them) have not fully and faithfully imaged God to us.  How could they have? A cracked mirror will, of course, give a distorted image of anything it reflects.

This is one reason why the Father's Word (His perfect, eternal self-expression) became manifest as "flesh and blood."  The Word became flesh and blood so that we could see what the Father is really like.  Children need to see.

"And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." - John 1:14

  "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete." - 1 John 1:1-4

That Word, the very LIFE of the Father, became tangible, visible, sensible.  God wanted us to know Him so intimately that we could taste Him.  Indeed, that was Christ's plan all along.  To give us His flesh and blood that we might "taste and see" Who God really is:  Good.

The "flesh and blood" people we've encountered have taught us in various ways that God cannot be trusted totally; that He is not good.  We have been hurt by His "images" and so why would we not be hurt by the One being imaged?  Our concept of God has been broken by broken images.  

But Jesus gives Himself to us - His very flesh and blood - in the Eucharist to SHOW us that God IS good.  The Father is good.  The flesh and blood of the Word of the Father (The Word of the Father became flesh - think about that) proves this.  God swears He is trustworthy and good.  He gives His Word.

So what has flesh and blood revealed to you?  Whatever faulty and incorrect concept you have of God may you allow Jesus to show you the Truth - Himself.  May God reveal to you - as He revealed to Peter - Who Jesus really is and, when you experience (encounter and live with) Who Jesus really is you will know and experience Who your Father really is: Good.

Feeling overwhelmed?

Sometimes that's how we feel inside.  We feel like screaming our faces off.

Luckily we don't have to do that.

Even though the demands of life (both from outside influences and inner pressures we place on ourselves) can be overwhelming at times we have to remember that we're made to experience a continual peace and joy even amid the sufferings that at times rise up in our lives.  This really is possible through our continual outpouring of love.  We have to be generous especially when we feel that much is being demanded of us.

The one who truly gives will truly receive.  However, even in the good that we do  oftentimes we *raises hand* often have motivations in our hearts that aren't "true" or pure.  We can get resentful when our efforts aren't apreciated or we can feel angry that our turn doesn't ever seem to come around when we want it to (or as we think we deserve.)

But what if we always gave love without ever counting the cost. As cliche as that may sound it really is among the deepest desires of the human heart: to totally forget ourselves out of love.

Imagine loving so much that your life was a constant delight. Imagine having a heart so full that you would willingly suffer anything for love of another.  Imagine forgetting yourself for a second...

That would be the first second of Heaven..

Remember that the fall happened when man and woman stopped looking at God and each other (love) and started looking at themselves (selfishness aka sin.)

So if you're concerned about your own happiness...forget about it!

Your heart will begin to remember the thrill of love.  And it will smile.

"Forget not love." - St. Maximilian Kolbe

Are you pretending to be what you're not?

"Be still and know that I am God." - Psalm 46:10

How counter intuitive that in a time that calls for action we ought to not act but let God act.  And more than let God act.

We have to let God act.

We love acting, don't we?  (I mean that in a double sense.)

We love to do and we love to pretend that we're in control or ought to be in control.

Ever since the fall we've tried to grasp at what we think is best and we've put ourselves in God's place (which never works for us.)

Gods response to our active usurping of His role?

"Be still - and know that I am God."

When God is God we don't have to try to be.

We need to know that God is God down in our very bones.  When we know that God is God then we'll know that we are not; that we are dependent on Him for everything.  I've heard this attributed to both Julian of Norwich and St. Catherine of Siena but God said to one them in prayer once , "I am He Who Is - you are she who is not."  Was God being mean?  No, of course not.  Our pride always tries to put ourselves in the foreground in order to say "Look at what I am!!"  But the Lord knows what we really are of ourselves without Him (nothing at all) and He says to our self-exertions, "No, I am!" 

We need to experience God as He is - our Father. Otherwise how will we ever experience ourselves as we really are - His children?

We don't have to be anything more than that and we're not meant to be. 

If we try to be more than the child that we are then we'll just end up unhappy.  To solution?

Be held by and listen to the Father, "Be still - and know that I am God."

To find happiness stop looking for it

Though the Gospels don't cite this, in Acts 20:35 St. Paul draws from the oral, Christian tradition when He quotes Jesus as saying "It is more blessed to give than to receive."

This makes me think of the prayer of St. Francis which has it that "It is in giving that we receive."

Or how about the old adage "Virtue is its own reward?"

I think each of these phrases sheds light on the truth that love is a very generous thing.  It doesn't just give to the receiver but it even gives to the giver!  

What do I mean?

When we pour ourselves out in authentic love we are mysteriously filled up by the very act of pouring ourselves out.  To give love is to receive the joy of loving. To give ourselves away in love is to find our authentic selves.

We were made for love and we were made to love.

I've seen studies that note that Catholic Priests have the most fulfilling jobs and I think that's because they give so much of themselves away.  They typically dont have all the normal consolations which others have in life yet they're happier than most.  Why?

It is because they give away so much of themselves in love that they are just as often filled with the joy of having loved.

That's the secret to finding happiness.  Don't look for it.  

The secret of happiness for anyone - whether a Priest, a businessman, a mom, a student... - is to find out (and live out!) how you are to love.  

Because ultimately we're not only looking for happiness.  We're looking for love and true happiness will only come to the door when we've welcomed in love.  Happiness is the fruit of love.  So don't just look for happiness.  Look for love and, when you find how to love, happiness will find you.

"Where you do not find love put love and there you will find love." St John of the Cross

-MM

What is our ending?

Barlowgirl - Beautiful Ending

Click the link and have a watch and a listen.

I came across this song earlier and was inspired in a way I normally am not.  I'm grateful for that. 

The lyrics hit me but also the video itself.  I found the former to be honest and passionate and the latter to be symbolic of what I believe is one of the deepest desires of our hearts which is to find, and to be found, by mom and dad.

I have often thought that one of the unfortunate effects of Adam and Eve's original sin was a deep wound of rejection which slashed itself onto the hearts of all of their children after them.

Our first parents rejected us.  In saying no to God's plan for life they said a strong, intentional "no" to their children, too.  Thus, death was brought into the world and forced upon multitudes who never wanted it.  Many children - you and I - were rejected by the fore bearers of life - Adam and Eve.  We were orphaned.

(Adam and Eve with their dead son, Abel - his death being the eventual fruit of their own sin.)

Though God has always accepted us at the deepest level of our being we can't help but feel from time to time that initial - and all too often repeated - rejection from those who were supposed to image that love from God.  Instead of being shown Images of God we were simply rejected.  There is no pain greater than to be rejected, abandoned.

In the music video the little boy is reunited with his parents who have gone off in search for their little one.  A band member eventually lovingly points the boy in the right direction; the direction of his parents. The ending is how we all desire it to be - beautiful.

But the lyrics leave the question open for us.  "So tell me what is our ending? Will it be beautiful?"

I've shared before that one of the most meaningful passages in Scripture for me is where Jesus says, "I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you" (or "I will not leave you desolate; I will come to you.") It's meaningful for me because I have meditated upon that sense of orphanhood that we can all feel; that sense of rejection and abandonment not only from our first parents (Adam and Eve) but from so many others.  "Why didn't they want me?" We can feel alone, unwanted, desolate.

There is no way to heal a wound caused by a lack of love except through a greater love.  If our first father and mother rejected us it is nonetheless true that God intended to heal that human rejection by human means (hence why God became a man in Christ.) We know that, from the very beginning of the Church, Christians have seen Jesus and Mary as that New Adam and New Eve who did not say no and reject us but gave an all embracing yes us their spiritual children.  At the site of the fall there is a tree, a sinful man and a sinful woman.  At the site of the redemption there is also a tree - the Cross - but not there is a sinless man and a sinless woman (the one who is "full of grace" in Luke 1:28) Jesus turns to the "disciple whom He loved" (always symbolic of me and you) and says "Behold, your Mother."  (John 19:27)

He did promise, after all, that He would not leave us orphans.  Every child deserves a father and a mother.  I believe the fullness of the Christian life is experienced only after there is a reunification both to Jesus as the New Adam and perfect Image of the Father but also an acceptance of Jesus' mother as our mother and New Eve (as that beloved disciple did who "took her into his very home" (John 19:27 - have you taken Mary into your home? Into your heart as Mother?) She is the perfect Mother whom our little orphaned hearts have so long looked for.  Perhaps we never thought God was good enough to fulfill such a deep desire; to have a perfect Mother as well as a perfect Father.  A long for the perfect human Mother and Father we were supposed to have.  Did God somewhere along the line forget that we needed a Mother in addition to needing a Father?  Yes, God is our eternal Father; our source and goal and Jesus, the God-man, brings us into God's divinity.

But even the God-man needed a Mother.  That's why He gave her to us:

"Behold, your mother."  

We wouldn't be fully human without a Mother and, I'll be bold enough to say, we can't be fully Christian either.  If Jesus really did give Mary as a Mother to us "beloved disciples" then we are missing out on so much if we don't yet have a personal relationship with our mother.  

"So tell me what is our ending? Will it be beautiful?"

Mothers always make things beautiful.  

In fact, Jesus' mother formed the most beautiful thing ever created - the humanity of Christ.  Let let the Holy Spirit, through Mary your mother, form your humanity, too, so that you can more perfectly image the beauty of her Son, Jesus.  Accept not only the New Adam as a father but the New Eve as a mother.  This is God's plan for His children - not to leave us orphans.

-MM

The grace of graces for a Magdalene heart

I think if we saw our sins as God sees them we'd cry for days.

Think about it.

If our minds were opened to truly see the infinite (read infinite) love God has for us and the terribly inadequate response on our part we'd simply cry for not loving God the way He deserves.  We'd realize how unfair we are to God.  We'd know how delicate His heart is and how brutal our sins really are - even the lightest offenses.

Mary Magdalene was a Saint who knew her sins through and through and, because of such knowledge, was able to love God with tremendous ferocity.  In fact, after the initial Christian persecution in Jerusalem it led her to live the remainder of her life as a hermitess in southeastern France.

She only later reached such a point of desire for God because she had first realized God's desire for her - and how deeply her sins had betrayed the love which inflamed His desire.

All of us have hurt God.  More to the point our sins have hurt ourselves.  We're blind and insensitive to the truth of God's love.  If we accepted the whole reality of His love for us we'd be instantly transformed into a Saint.

There is a grace we must pray for.  It is, in essence, a great Wisdom which comes through a true sorrow for our sins.  We need to see our sins as God sees them.  The clear sightedness which will result from our tears of sorrow - tears which wash away spiritual blindness - will show us the way of love.  Repentance gives birth to the new life of love.

St. Mary Magdalene is a beautiful, powerful Saint for obtaining for us true sorrow for our sins (or perfect contrition.)  She's a model for complete repentance.  She held nothing back from God.  Her repentance (in fact, the repentance of all the Saints) was what made her such an ardent lover of God.  She saw reality - she saw what her sins really did to her God.

They crucified Him.

(Magdalene meditating upon a skull; a reminder that the wages of sin is death.)

This is why she weeps so bitterly in the depictions of the crucifixion which we've seen so many times.  She saw her responsibility for the Cross and Christ's loving acceptance of it - in order to bring her soul back to life.

"Woman, why are you weeping?" were Jesus' words to Magdalene after His resurrection.  She hadn't yet realized He was risen.  He was no longer dead because of her sins but was now alive -and she, too, was alive - because of His love.  May we find ourselves sorrowful for our sins and then allow ourselves to be found by Christ's love.

(Don't be disheartened or afraid at the thought of sorrow for sins.  When God grants such a bitter grace it is made sweet by His tenderness.  He holds us even as we crumble before Him.)