I’ll share a writer’s moment:
Some time ago, a newer member of our OCDS group read my nametag and said energetically, “Did you write To Sing You Must Exhale?” And I replied energetically, “YES! Did you READ it?!” To my utter amazement, she said, “I LOVE that book!”
Well. You never know who might actually READ something you’ve written.
I will try not to stay away quite so long again. But of course, we can continue to pray for one another in the interim.
Keep going forward.
Like St Paul, we must keep “forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead” (Phil 3:13). We have a tendency sometimes to examine our consciences or our pasts too closely, and then we risk becoming terrified that we are missing something, that we have done nothing pure in God’s sight, even that we need to confess again what we’ve already confessed because we see it more clearly now and it seems even worse than we thought; as if we need to explain every nuance of our sin before it can be fully forgiven, or that we will never move forward unless every scrap of the past is “cleaned up.”
But no. This is only a temptation to remain focused on ourselves and distract our attention from God, from His will, from His work. Because God truly does cast all our sins behind His back (Isaiah 38:17), so we should not keep running back and holding them before us again. He does not demand that our past remain our present; He calls us forward to walk in newness. He does not demand that we go back again and again to scrutinize every detail of our motivation and culpability in each sin; He tells us simply, “Go, and sin no more” (Jn 8:11).
We should simply go, and sin no more.
There is no room in a heart that has accepted the grace of forgiveness for looking back or trying to convince others (or herself) how horrible her sins have been; in embracing the gift of mercy, our hearts are too filled with grateful rejoicing in love. This gratitude and love spur us on to praise Him and joyfully serve others.
Looking back at the sins already forgiven, wondering if we are really free, only keeps us in bondage to them. This new “slavery to sin” (Jn 8:34) constricts our ability to move forward on the path to Him, to serve others for love of Him, to seek His Kingdom first. It keeps us small and crawling.
But He wants us to soar.The freedom offered to us is so complete that even the TRUTH about our past cannot obstruct the radiant Truth of now – right now, He is loving us; right now, He is saving us; right now, He is calling us into the light of His presence and into the peace of His Kingdom, where His Heart – human and divine- reigns with mercy eternally.
Right now, we must reject the temptation to look back.
Right now, we must ask for the grace to keep our eyes on HIM.
…………………………………………………… ………………..
I stood on the edge of forever
as if I had forgotten that
I will never end
and
the universe is expanding
so
I am becoming even smaller.
Remembering this suddenly,
opened up within me
infinite capacities to hold
the Infinite
and
be held by Him.
I’m here to say that seeing is NOT believing.
Seeing is seeing;
believing without seeing is believing.
Abraham hoped against hope
and not seeing, grew in faith
and became the Father of many.
Moses saw the Face of God
because he had faith,
but did not
enter the Promised Land.
Stand in the gap where love should be.
Become love in the world; love like Me.
“I don’t know how…” but then I see
Love poured out for all, on a Tree.
Selfward hearts renewed by Your touch
Become ready wineskins
Awaiting the rich new wine
The Spirit outpours.
Thirsting for Truth
We draw near Your
Wellspring of grace deep within us
Released at last.
We are made in Your image but
Our capacities remain hidden until
We are ready for the scales to fall from
Re-focused eyes.
New-bright eyes see endless spaces in which to
Pour love. New wineskins
Are meant to pour out new wine for
All who thirst.
I love this feast.
I chose this for my Carmelite name: “of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.” It’s all there. Everything we need to know, all that draws us, is contained in that wounded Heart, poured out for us. It encompasses the Incarnation, Mercy, the Eucharist, the whole of salvation history. I won’t wax poetic, or I’ll destroy what good sentiments you might have (some things are so sublime, words only crush them).
I want to remind you that this day is also the World Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests. That was John Paul II’s doing, and a profound doing it is.
Because St Therese is one of my patrons (have I already said how it seems I should be a lot smarter, having been named after the only three women to be designated Doctors of the Church?!), I will share her prayer for today:
‘O Holy Father, may the torrents of love flowing from the sacred wounds of Thy Divine Son bring forth priests like unto the beloved disciple John who stood at the foot of the Cross; priests: who as a pledge of Thine own most tender love will lovingly give Thy Divine Son to the souls of men.
May Thy priests be faithful guardians of Thy Church, as John was of Mary, whom he received into his house. Taught by this loving Mother who suffered so much on Calvary, may they display a mother’s care and thoughtfulness towards Thy children. May they teach souls to enter into close union with Thee through Mary who, as the Gate of Heaven, is specially the guardian of the treasures of Thy Divine Heart.
Give us priests who are on fire, and who are true children of Mary, priests who will give Jesus to souls with the same tenderness and care with which Mary carried the Little Child of Bethlehem.
Mother of sorrows and of love, out of compassion for Thy beloved Son, open in our hearts deep wells of love, so that we may console Him and give Him a generation of priests formed in thy school and having all the tender thoughtfulness of thine own spotless love.’
Amen, my sister in Carmel.
