Exhaling

Comment by JustMe

October 18, 2007 @ 2:16 am

Beautiful, and yes.

Some writer once mused how intimate is the Sacrament of His Body and Blood. Indeed, there is no greater intimacy possible that human life knows or can know. None. Not even life within a human womb is as intimate as His holy communion with us. All that we consider intimate or union is but a dim shadow of the totality of His sacred self given us– Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. It is most amazing that our feet still touch the ground as we return to our pews.

Comment by Ann

October 18, 2007 @ 11:49 am

‘The force of these words is too often lost to us…’ and the meaning of the Mass and the Eucharistic banquet is lost to us too. If it were not so, and the force and meaning had their rightful impact our churches would be full not empty, the desire to be present and participate in the holy sacrifice of the for Mass would be universally astronomical and there would be queues outside our seminaries..at least that’s what I believe.Thank you, Kathryntherese, for opening this discussion.

Comment by JustMe

October 18, 2007 @ 1:04 pm

I don’t know, Ann.. churches on this side of the pond are full to bursting –as is the Diaconate program. I know for a fact that the first doesn’t always reflect lay belief in the Real Presence, and one can only hope the Diaconate full-ness does. As best I can tell, seminaries are beginning to fill up again on this coast, and it seems that could only be because we are returning to roots of orthodoxy, and that can only occur via truer catechesis, which can only happen by clinging to Christ being Real-ly and substantially Present in Holy Eucharist, just as He says.

Comment by kathryntherese

October 18, 2007 @ 1:15 pm

Yes, some are full. And some… aren’t.
But whatever the population of the pews, the fact remains that this Mystery cannot be exhausted, and that throughout our entire life our appreciation of it can only grow.

Mystery is like that.

And this is the Mystery of Mysteries, of course. How God can love us so much. How He can make Himself personally present to each of us. How He can make Himself the very Food by which our souls are strengthened on this journey. And so much more.

When we look at the crucifix, we should see His total oblation. And Blood poured out. And Bread broken.

I want to explore this more. But now it is a little distracting around here.

Comment by Ann

October 18, 2007 @ 1:27 pm

Well, Justme, I’m truly delighted to hear your churches are full and things are generally on the up.
Sadly it’s not the case here in Ireland. Go to any church on Christmas eve and it’ll be a case of standing room only, and the same at the Easter vigil, but numbers are falling away week in, week out, So yes, improved and increased catechesis will surely help to bring souls back and invite souls into the fold. I’m glad to say the church in Ireland is taking all these things very seriously, and a lot of thinking is going on. To end on a brighter note, Ireland is to have a new Cardinal, Sean Brady, who is based in Armagh, and I have no doubt this man will bring to God in prayer the needs of Ireland in particular and the world as a whole.

Comment by JustMe

October 18, 2007 @ 3:02 pm

Ann, wonderful! A prayer for Sean Cardinal Brady!

I fear that Ireland is changing..and it takes not the deepest thought to understand why–and I don’t necessarily mean its human & economic landscape being so greatly changed by the EU. Rather, just as a priest who is Christ’s is more tempted than other men, Ireland is more tempted (because of her Catholicism) than are other nations. Please, God, Mary will Knock again on many closed/closing doors, there.

KT, there are so many crucifixes, here, even not counting those on rosary beads. There’s my mom’s –small, humble, plain; a movable prayer which moved about 19 times. There’s my grandmother’s — large, imposing, bloody. There’s husband’s from his old room (medium, neat) as well as all those that his aunt “inherited” from everyone in the family who died (who can give these away??), there’s the gold one from my uncle’s casket given me by my cousin, there’s the Celtic one I brought back here from home, and there’s my mother-in-law’s thick one, inlaid with mother-of-pearl with a sliding back that could hide relics.. and a Benedictine one given me in Canada, which is like the one son unearthed hours before his flight to mid-Iraq; one he did not pack, yet “found.”

But the one given me most recently — from a neighbor’s dead gay uncle — is the one that is ever in my mind as well as on the living room wall. The Corpus, like Pilate’s “INRI” above His Head, is gold-ish, nailed to some smooth, delicately scalloped wood. Someone has re-nailed His left hand (indeed).. His Feet are missing their spike, and I’m afraid they’ll remain that way. There is nothing much to draw one’s eye, here..the wood blends in with the paneling, and it is not lifelike in the least, so why am I so drawn to it? Perhaps because a dead gay man once looked at it, for whom I pray, which is likely why I was given this.

When I look at a Crucifix, I don’t see Someone I know, I see everyone I love, but more.. I see a mystery that my grandchildren will see and (I hope) will believe. A mystery of Love that died for Love, and a mystery of Love that rose for Love. As you say above, “When we look on the Cross, we should also see the continuous Gift of the Eucharist. When we look on the Eucharist, we should also see the Cross, where this Gift was given.” Amen.

Comment by JustMe

October 18, 2007 @ 3:04 pm

Ann, wonderful! A prayer for Sean Cardinal Brady!

I fear that Ireland is changing..and it takes not the deepest thought to understand why–and I don’t necessarily mean its human & economic landscape being so greatly changed by the EU. Rather, just as a priest who is Christ’s is more tempted than other men, Ireland is more tempted (because of her Catholicism) than are other nations. Please, God, Mary will Knock again on many closed/closing doors, there.

KT, there are so many crucifixes, here, even not counting those on rosary beads. There’s my mom’s –small, humble, plain; a movable prayer which moved about 19 times. There’s my grandmother’s — large, imposing, bloody. There’s husband’s from his old room (medium, neat) as well as all those that his aunt “inherited” from everyone in the family who died (who can give these away??), there’s the gold one from my uncle’s casket given me by my cousin, there’s the Celtic one I brought back here from home, and there’s my mother-in-law’s thick one, inlaid with mother-of-pearl with a sliding back that could hide relics.. and a Benedictine one given me in Canada, which is like the one son unearthed hours before his flight to mid-Iraq; one he did not pack, yet “found.”

But the one given me most recently — from a neighbor’s dead gay uncle — is the one that is ever in my mind as well as on the living room wall. The Corpus, like Pilate’s “INRI” above His Head, is gold-ish, nailed to some smooth, delicately scalloped wood. Someone has re-nailed His left hand (indeed).. His Feet are missing Their little spike, and I’m afraid They’ll have to remain that way. There is nothing much to draw one’s eye, here..the wood blends in with the paneling, and it is not lifelike in the least, so why am I so drawn to it? Perhaps because a dead gay man once looked at it, for whom I pray, which is likely why I was given this.

When I look at a Crucifix, I don’t see Someone I know, I see everyone I love, but more.. I see a mystery that my grandchildren will see and (I hope) will believe. A mystery of Love that died for Love, and a mystery of Love that rose for Love. As you say above, “When we look on the Cross, we should also see the continuous Gift of the Eucharist. When we look on the Eucharist, we should also see the Cross, where this Gift was given.” Amen.

Comment by JustMe

October 19, 2007 @ 1:24 pm

Ha.. I do know priests and others who say things twice for emphasis, but I don’t actually do that on purpose..it’s just that my comments are perhaps longer than StBlogs’ is used to, and it tells me it’s taking too long to upload and I should try again later. Then I get the same message again. Then it posts twice, lol.. Sorry!

Comment by gabrielle

October 21, 2007 @ 11:23 pm

kt, because of your post, and what you experienced, I just couldn’t help but think of St. Therese de Lisieux. I have a little book called “My Vocation Is Love”, by Fr. Jean Lafrance. Therese had a profound experience of God’s mercy flooding her heart, and Lafrance writes: “As soon as God’s charity began to burn in her and consume her, she was affected by mercy which made her grab that folly of the cross.” Sometime afterwards, Therese made her Act of Offering to Love, in which she begged our Lord to give her all of his Love which others were rejecting, so she would become a holocaust to His Love. And Fr. Lafrance tells us also that “Therese’s mysticism is lived in an ecclesial and sacramental context. It is in and through the Eucharist that she offers herself to merciful Love.” I can’t help but see all of these elements here, starting to come into focus, in this beautiful gift you received while praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet.

Comment by JustMe

October 22, 2007 @ 1:41 am

Good heavens, I’d never heard much of this, G. How wonderful.. I’d like to read this book! And KT, I will have to look at your poetry again in light of this light.. again, how wonderful!

Comment by kathryntherese

October 22, 2007 @ 9:51 am

Re-reading the poetry - I don’t know many people who have read the book even once! (Although the good bishop recently said he was re-reading the poetry book: “Now that I know you, I am reading the poems with a new understanding.” That would make two of you on the planet!)
Gabrielle, I have not seen this book, but it sounds beautiful; maybe I will see if I can get my hands on a copy somewhere. Though Therese is my patron saint, I confess that I have only read “Story of a Soul.” I do not often read hagiography, though I am always edified when I do!

I do not know if I have adequately expressed the idea in my heart here, but perhaps I will be able to expand on it soon. But you seem to have gotten the gist of what I tried to wrap in words here, so the Spirit must be at work. We cannot meditate on this enough! He has given ALL so that we might have all, and He wants us to live in gratitude - to live eucharistic lives - to live in union with Him so that we, too, can give all.

Comment by Gabrielle

October 22, 2007 @ 9:20 pm

I will give you the book info in case anyone can find it to order online (I think I got my copy at the giftshop at Cap-de-la-Madeleine or Sainte Anne de Beaupré in Québec):

“My Vocation is Love. Thérèse de Lisieux”. (by Jean Lafrance). Originally published as “Ma vocation c’est l’amour”, by Médiaspaul, 8 rue Madame, 75006 Paris, France. English translation by Anne Marie Brennan, OCD.

Mine is from:

Éditions Paulines
250, boul. St-François Nord
Sherbrooke, Québec J1E 2B9
Canada

Comment by Carol

October 28, 2007 @ 1:46 pm

Thanks, G.

Last night was yet another party we’ve gone to..these people love us dearly, and my husband is not the least bit dead and asked with great excitement, “Are we getting younger in our old age?” Partying is not my favorite thing to do, but I said, “I hope so”–there was one winter that found us eating supper before the tv..first watching the news, then Jerry Seinfeld reruns. (I know; it’s a wonder no one got the spades out, for we’d already begun to decompose.)

I find that I am a child of His..in the world. I have often struggled with being but an honorary member of this contemplative conspiracy, then, because I am one of those for whom St. Claude de la Colombiere had the greatest compassion: “all those for whom God alone is not enough.” When my 20-year old kissed me on the cheek to say goodnight yesterday, and waited for my own kiss (shocking!), I realized that I have to be love in many ways..I am not allowed to change that: the party partner, the tattoo admirer/scowler, the heron/swallow love-r, the bare-tree hugger, the post-er of the basic, the spider-rescuer, the lilac-herald. That’s probably as close as some of us can come..a herald of His heralds, and a contemplator of His contemplatives.

Comment by terry

November 4, 2007 @ 12:02 pm

I came across comments you wrote on Gabrielle’s blog regarding consecration to the Blessed Mother. I wanted you to know that the description of the Inside/Outside relationship with Mary was very satisfying and enlightening for me. I have been praying the rosary for 24 years and as a mainstream, middle-class, working stiff male, it is rather an isolated position.

Each year I go on a weekend retreat to the U.S. mother house of the Missionaries of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in New Jersey. There is a statue of Jesus and Mary in a garden near the entrance and it was what I immediately visualized when I read your words, “Because these Two Hearts will triumph!”

Your comments reached outside of the blog on which they were written. Thanks.

Comment by kathryntherese

November 5, 2007 @ 2:39 pm

Welcome, Terry, and thanks for taking the time to comment here. It is part of God’s Plan, I think, that we are encouraged by the gratitude of others; and I, in turn, am grateful to you.

You are right that you are not in the mainstream praying the Rosary, but you are not alone either. That’s the beauty of the prayer - its universality. And I think that whatever grace moved you from the combox was already earned and gaining interest, being held in store for you by a Mother who lets nothing be lost or forgotten. She keeps every prayer and sigh and question safe for us.

If you have not made the Consecration, I pray you will consider it. Maybe you will find the May blogging here helpful (don’t skip the Comments; others often say more than the Post itself can say!). And feel free to ask questions or post comments of your own.

Meanwhile, we pray for one another.