Something Strange is Happening

     Something strange is happening -- there is a great silence on the earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear.
   

The Bitter Chalice

     “It is so consoling to think that Jesus, the strong God, who experienced all our weaknesses, trembled at the sight of the bitter chalice – the cup that He longed for so ardently.                     St. Therese of Lisieux


     We find it difficult, at times, to believe that Jesus, who is God, was ever anything but strong. We see Him as God, but forget He was man as well. Because of the affect of our fragile emotions, we often see ourselves as weak and helpless. Without responding to the grace of God, we would never be able to rise above our emotions and carry out the difficult aspects of God’s will. Unlike Jesus, we want to run from suffering when it comes our way.

Masters of the Meaning

     “Our freedom always has this marvelous power to make what is taken from us – by life, events, or other people – into something offered. Externally there is no visible difference, but internally everything is transfigured: fate into free choice, constraint into love, loss into fruitfulness. Human freedom is of absolutely unheard-of greatness. It does not confer the power to change everything, but it does empower us to give a meaning to everything, even meaningless things; and that is much better. We are not always masters of the unfolding of our lives, but we can be masters of the meaning we give them. Our freedom can transform any event in our lives into an expression of love, abandonment, trust, hope, and offering.”                                                                                          Fr. Jacques Phillipe


     Life is not fair! Innocent people suffer. Family and friends betray us. Good people get sick, lose their jobs, their house, their finances, or their lives. We sometimes struggle to take the next step, only to get knocked down by something else. When these things happen, how do we keep our inner peace? How do we believe and trust that, in spite of the circumstances, God still loves us? What can we do to acquire the freedom that Fr. Jacques writes about?

Begin Again

     “Have patience with all things, but first of all with yourself.”       St. Francis de Sales



     We are smack in the middle of the fourth week of Lent. We may have started out strong with our Lenten resolutions and practices. At times, it almost seemed effortless! We were pleased and amazed with our sacrifices and mortifications, well aware that it was indeed the grace of God that made it appear so easy. Then it happened – we left the valley of ease and began to spiritually scale the challenging peaks of Mt. Everest! We realize we are not mountain climbers and wondered how we even arrived here. It was not part of our plan. Our route was all mapped out. So what changed?

Do Not Lose Confidence in God

     “Do not surrender your confidence; it will have great reward. You need patience to do God’s will and receive what He has promised.”                                                                                                                                                                                            Hebrews 11 vs 35-36



     As I spoke to my spiritual director, he listened attentively. I was sharing with him struggles I was experiencing and how I was at odds with the situations. I wanted so much to be able to “fix” things, but knew I couldn’t. I didn’t understand why they were happening.

The Hour of Temptation

     “Lead us not into temptation. . . We ought to offer this prayer very seriously. Our Lord knew what it was to be tempted and what bitter struggles temptation may entail. Who can be sure of himself? When things are going well we let these words pass over us negligently, thinking very little about them as if they really did not apply to us at all. And then all of a sudden the sky becomes overcast -- a storm arises, and with the wind blowing from all directions at once, we do not know which way to turn.
      Take this journey of mine up the perilous face of my cliff. How many hours of weakness and despair have had to be endured in making that climb, hours of sheer helplessness, of doubt, not knowing which was the best course. How is it that conditions suddenly get distorted, their balance disturbed and their threads twisted and entangled, producing a pattern far from our intention and quite beyond our power to unravel?
     No one can escape the hour of temptation. It is only in that hour that we begin to sense our weakness and have a faint inkling of the vital decisions we are expected to make. If only I can manage to keep a hold on this perilous perch and not faint and let go.
     I have committed my soul to God and I rely on the help of my friends.”                                                                                                                               Father Alfred Delp, S.J.


     Oh the wisdom of Father Delp’s words! How often the phrase, “lead us not into temptation,” passes mindlessly through our lips. We have become so adept to praying the “Our Father” that the words have lost the meaning that Jesus intended. Christ was very deliberate in composing this prayer and did not haphazardly add this phrase without the knowledge of our need.

His Gaze of Mercy

     While I don’t really experience a lot of physical suffering, I was being plagued by interior suffering, and I was not faring well! Interiorly, I felt as if I were experiencing labor and could not handle it. I wanted to scream! I wanted to shout! I wanted to give birth without all the pain that goes along with it. I tried to unite my suffering with Jesus,’ but that did not seem to make a difference. I was struggling within myself between what I felt like doing or saying, compared with how I knew I should act. The duplicity in my heart made me feel like a hypocrite. I knew I was in need of supernatural help, so off I went to Confession.