Living in the flow of life, the currents blow as they will. Our wills, like sails, catch the currents and follow the patterns and plans drifting along. Sailing, serenity and tranquility embrace us reducing the tensions and frictions of life. Anxiety, stress, and strain become minimal. Life, as we think, ought to be tranquil, comfortable, almost leisurely and lazy as we enjoy the flow of life.
With joy, we drink in the sobriety of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
“Laeti bibamus sobriam profusionem Spiritus”
(St. Ambrose 4th Century Hymn)
The ultimate paradox is the Holy Spirit. He comes as a flame, the burning desire of our heart. He comes as a dove, pure and innocent. He comes a breath, a Holy Kiss, that breathes love into our hearts.
Our restoration into the life and love of God’s Fatherhood, comes through prayer. Prayer expresses Divine Love. The Holy Spirit is Divine Love. The Spirit, the binding love between the Father and the Son, binds us also into their communion. We become one with them, not because of our prayer to them, but their prayer for us.
Love begins with fear. This fear reveres, respects, and regards love’s awesome, amazing, and astonishing power. This fear stands aback, frightful of love’s intensity and immensity because love is not natural, but supernatural. A force that breathes forth life, liberty, and love. Love is the greatest wonder. It embodies justice, holiness, and is born of truth (Eph 4:23). It is born of God Who makes us wonder and ponder his mysterious presence…
Invited into relationship with the Father, Jesus exhorts: “Let not your hearts be troubled” (John 14:1). Yet, troubles surround us. The tragedy of betrayal, the horror of war, the pains of divorce, the onslaughts of evils come. Wave after wave, troubles flood our hearts; yet Jesus simply tells us, “Believe in God, believe also in me” (John 14:2)…
No story touches our hearts more than Jesus, the Good Shepherd. At times we feel Lost, broken, cowering. Yet, we, the lost sheep, may find ourselves healed, saved, freed from the onslaught of fear, feeling forsaken. Relief overwhelms us as Jesus delivers us from our captivity. As a soul enslaved in a prison, oppressed by the weight of our sin, abandoned in the clefts of the rocks, Jesus smashes the gates, reaching in and pulls us out of our misery…
Fearful and frightened, faith surrenders. Our confidence wanes and impatience increases creating anxiety which makes us act without reflection. Reason and wisdom, lost in the turbulence, no longer ground us. As David, tells us, we “walk through the valley of the shadow of death” (Ps 23:4) because we have lost the way. No longer does faith reveal and enlighten our minds imbuing our thought with the truth…
The Latin term, Misericordia, means a suffering heart. A heart so sensitive that any distortion, slight or grave, cuts causing pain and suffering. So sensitive to imperfections, a person pours out their pain pleading for healing, knowing that God is a God of hope who hears every prayer for He Himself understands suffering…
The glory of God reveals his authority. His authority, unlike human authority, takes nothing and makes something. He takes the destruction and reconstructs. He rules over life and death. The audacity to believe that God has the power and the plan to make something out of nothing bewilders even the most ardent…
The famous story of the Rich Young Man bespeaks of life’s hardest question. “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (Lk 18:18). Everyone seeks an eternity, looking for the meaning and purpose of life beyond the grave. To have purpose that transcends our very selves inspires us. It creates a legacy…
If a person placed in a dark room where no light enters, that person loses his sight all together. If he stays in the darkness too long, he will become blind. How true for each of us on our spiritual journey! If we stay in the darkness of sin, we will become blind to our sinfulness and no longer have eyes of faith to see where we walk…
We all seek greatness, but to achieve greatness demands heroic effort on our part. Heroism is not merely being at the right place at the right time. It is a lifelong commitment to excellence. It is a commitment to discipline, which builds character, which in turn, disposes us for greatness…
God gave us the Law so grace we would seek; God gave us the grace so the Law we would keep! The Sermon on the Mount is the greatest sermon, ever. Understanding the Sermon, however, is difficult. For many, Jesus is merely another preacher proclaiming another message among the many. The Sermon is more than a collage of beautiful, paradoxical sayings…
Perfection produces paradoxes because they create contradictions. Paradoxes are counter-cultural, anti-conventional. The paradox becomes apparent when life is anything but perfect. Following our own heart’s desires leads to the greatest sorrow and sadness, whereas following the heart of Christ leads to fulfillment, the perfection of our person. This is the great Christian paradox…
