Love is Repaid by Love Alone

For Catholic Radio Indy

2009-11-17T12:56:00Z

A special prayer for the intentions of Catholic Radio 89.1 FM this morning. May the funding meeting go well!

Love so strong and so misunderstood

2009-03-07T10:55:00Z

Lord is there too much You in my life? Are You more in my mind than a part of my whole being? Do I set You before others rather than be filled with You as I stand before others?

I am Yours. I am through with being the owner of this body. This life. You are the owner and I the servant. But what would my owner, my mster command of His servant. He says, "Do unto as you would have them do unto you." He says, "Love as I have loved you" and love your enemies the same way. Your servant Francis gave his all, acting out Your love totally and through embracing acts of love and charity. In joy. Can I give as he?

My Lord, I had an epiphany as I knelt to You in prayer the other night. I felt so lost in my translation of my love. I could not be seen as I believed and the anguish was great. Then I thought of You on the cross, true God and true man. How it must have hurt so deeply that this people You had come to save had so misunderstood and used You. That part of You that was man must have dwelt upon this irony, though it was a momentary expression within the mission about which You were about - Your Father's work.

Then I remembered impassioned cry, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!?" My sorrow was at that moment joined with Yours. The ultimate love misunderstood by His people and even put to death for His purpose to fulfill their desires. Peace filled me as I considered my frustration set against that moment's outcry that joined mankind's frustration - their salvation crucified!

Lord, may I love You with all that I am. And may that love find its fullest expression among those closest to me. I find myself inadequate to the task because the grand mystery of Your love fills my mind and my actions do not render well Your simple love, even to my spouse. Help me to follow Your servant Francis in his ample expression of Your love that expressed itself through the most simple, loving acts. It did not labor over thought but loved, moment by moment. May that be my love, too.

The baby Lord, power laid down out of love

2009-01-07T12:57:00Z

Lord, so small. Lord, the baby. Lord, the entirety of creation. Created in man.

The Epiphany is Your coming out to the peoples of the earth. The foundation of Your people is the stage upon which Your word becomes apparent to all. A small baby heralds God's penetration into the minds of humans in a comprehensible form, yet a mysterious form. The God man given to all, to live 30 years, to preach the Good News, then just as humbly as His birth, to accept the call for His death.

To follow, to love, to honor His revelation among humankind is the challenge laid before us. Lord, may my every moment this day and those that follow resonate with Your presence. Amen.

Dark night request

2008-12-19T11:44:00Z

Lord, You know my heart, my soul, my desires, all that is created in me. I would return the love that caused creation to You and to those around me. Is there an earthly guide for my travel to You? I pray to find him or her. I fall short my attempts to do Your will and serve Love by loving in return.

Lord Jesus, I know You acquiesced to the trial and path toward the Cross. Is that my current journey? Is it my part in our family to be misunderstood and scorned in my pursuit of You? Have I become blinded to true and better ways of finding Your truth? Do I return You love in ways unintelligible to those around me, especially my spouse?

I pray for guidance, Lord. I pray for acceptance of Your will and that even now in the midst of renting emotions, I may serve this particular path well, because it is part of Your plan. Amen.

You are all

2008-07-14T11:03:00Z

Today I rise to give You thanks and praise! What is this life if not lived in the certainty of Your presence? Only this moment seems to belong to me. Yet within it is eternity, and You await.

My Lord, bless the work of my mind and words today. Bless my family, wife daughters and sons. Thank you for another sunrise and the witness of creation. I dedicate this moment and all those that follow to You, in praise and gratitude. Amen.

Thankfulness and praise

2008-05-22T10:07:00Z

Lord, I have walked through the valley in the shadow of death. And You were with me. In my search there was only You, at times, there to guide me. Sometimes I could not follow. I was and am weak, still. I could not always even follow Your law. I dispaired.

I have emerged from the shadow; a new gift of earthly labor lays before me. May I know You always in this new journey. May my soul always thirst for You. May I praise You always.

You are the Alpha and Omega of all activity. This dust became alive when You encased it in flesh and breathed life into it. By Your presence it is sustained, in sickness, health, trial, and triumph.

Lord, make of me all that I may be to serve You. In serving You, may this dust be a blessing to Your people. Amen.

The morning after the day You rose

2008-03-24T10:41:00Z

This morning I arose to recall that You have risen. Death did not end the story. The tomb did not contain the love and forgiveness, the memory of Your life and final moments on the Cross.

We have a new mother. We have a new path. The Lamb slain for our sins has returned to glorify the Father and magnify the Word made Flesh.

Hope is reborn.

Agnus Dei, qui tolis peccata mundi,
Lamb of God, who take away sins of world,

miserere nobis.
have mercy on us.

Agnus Dei, qui tolis peccata mundi,
Lamb of God, who take away sins of world,

dona nobis pacem.
grant us peace.

The eternal Lamb, briefly present on earth, gives itself over

2008-03-20T10:00:00Z

My Lord, You lived Your life fully human and fully part of Your earthly community.

For nearly three decades no one could fathom that in You, God's Word was ripening for the world. You knew the daily toils of man, the work and pains of everyday life. Joys. Sorrows. Then, You left, full of this earthly life and experience, to empty Yourself of God's Word, wrapped in the experience of Your life. And the world opens to heaven and all may be reborn in this Word.

Now is the time we recognize the close of Your earthly mission. The final hours are approaching when the love of Your father is fully consummated with the Word and the gift of life is delivered in sacrifice to death.

In the garden of Your delivery to the hands of man I watch. Fully human, I prepare for the divine sacrifice. To realize it. To share in it. To embrace the death of self to more closely follow You. Amen

In silence there is God's whisper

2008-03-13T11:26:00Z

Lord, I retreat from this world to find You. This body and its senses are awash in Your creation and in man's recreation of Your worldly things. For myself, I would withdraw for long periods, like the desert fathers. To contemplate with this mind, given by You whose thoughts return naturally to You. In Silence.

For today Lord, may I know You in my mind, in my heart. And my my words and thoughts be guided by Your presence. In this crucible, which is Your creation, may the tussle of senses, thoughts and actions all be offered to You and through You. Amen.

This package of gifts

2007-12-28T14:12:00Z

My Lord, You are among us. Your birth joined Heaven and Earth, spirit and body, God and man.

Each of us by our birth is a package of gifts conceived by creation and destined to be some part of this world. May that path that is ours be shown before us. May we know You Will to choose that path. May we be filled by the awareness that Your love became incarnate, so that we might never travel life's road blindly, but always with Your guidance.

Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.

Love to match my Lord's?

2007-11-03T08:45:00Z

What love of mine could match yours, oh Lord?
Nothing that is within me is worthy.
I love instead with that love you gave mankind to share.
Your Love is a treasure nearly incomprehensible!
May I learn to embrace the full wealth of Your Love, return it fully to You
And share it well with all those to whom It is offered
-Amen.

A prayer for His will in two lives and the lives of others

2007-10-08T10:33:00Z

St. Therese, what wonderful graces flow from the examples of our saints and holy ones! Thank you for your Little Way -- the simple means of seeking perfection and entering the love of God.

I ask your intercession for two servants, Joe Ajamie and Adam Barth, that the glory of our Father be shown through them to those living and following His Son's mission here. His will be done in all of our lives.

Amen.

For me, life means Christ, and death is gain

2007-09-13T11:35:00Z

A sermon by St John Chrysostom

The waters have risen and severe storms are upon us, but we do not fear drowning, for we stand firmly upon a rock. Let the sea rage, it cannot break the rock. Let the waves rise, they cannot sink the boat of Jesus. What are we to fear? Death? Life to me means Christ, and death is gain. Exile? ‘The earth and its fullness belong to the Lord. The confiscation of goods? We brought nothing into this world, and we shall surely take nothing from it. I have only contempt for the world’s threats, I find its blessings laughable. I have no fear of poverty, no desire for wealth. I am not afraid of death nor do I long to live, except for your good. I concentrate therefore on the present situation, and I urge you, my friends, to have confidence.

Do you not hear the Lord saying: Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in their midst? Will he be absent, then, when so many people united in love are gathered together? I have his promise; I am surely not going to rely on my own strength! I have what he has written; that is my staff, my security, my peaceful harbour. Let the world be in upheaval. I hold to his promise and read his message; that is my protecting wall and garrison. What message? Know that I am with you always, until the end of the world!

If Christ is with me, whom shall I fear? Though the waves and the sea and the anger of princes are roused against me, they are less to me than a spider’s web. Indeed, unless you, my brothers, had detained me, I would have left this very day. For I always say “Lord, your will be done”; not what this fellow or that would have me do, but what you want me to do. That is my strong tower, my immovable rock, my staff that never gives way. If God wants something, let it be done! If he wants me to stay here, I am grateful. But wherever he wants me to be, I am no less grateful.

Yet where I am, there you are too, and where you are, I am. For we are a single body, and the body cannot be separated from the head nor the head from the body. Distance separates us, but love unites us, and death itself cannot divide us. For though my body die, my soul will live and be mindful of my people.

You are my fellow citizens, my fathers, my brothers, my sons, my limbs, my body. You are my light, sweeter to me than the visible light. For what can the rays of the sun bestow on me that is comparable to your love? The sun’s light is useful in my earthly life, but your love is fashioning a crown for me in the life to come.

Dark night of the soul's anxiety

2007-09-01T09:51:00Z

Lord, my desire to respond to your love fills me! How do I respond to You with the earthly response to "love others" in the fashion that would I love You? While I am so aware of and fight my own sinfulness, I do not know how to respond to those close to me who would be a cause of sinfulness in others close to me.

There is the great and wonderful gift that is the realization of John 3:16 and each of us is a specific recipient of the most tremendous gift of love that any being could share with another. We might initially be given to understand "One Lord giving Christ to all." The act of one human giving to another is what it is, but certainly the individual caring element is lost when the act is repeated to two, three or more. For an eternal being apart from time, Christ's birth and death occurred in our time, but the Love is not in the past. Apart from time, it is eternal. It is now and always. It was directed just for me. Just for you.

Lord, I pray to love fully those around me! Receive my dispair in my own and others' sinfulness as an offering that I might present at Your Cross! May I find ways to commuicate from Your love without judgment, but in yearning to share the earnest desire that is response to the ultimate love.

Beloved in You, e1

Jesus showed His Father what He wished for and feared, but left it all in his Father's hands

2007-07-04T14:24:00Z

The Way of Perfection" of St Teresa of Ávila

What person, however careless, who had to address someone of importance, would not spend time in thinking how to approach him so as to please him and not be considered tedious? He would also think what he was going to ask for and what use he would make of it, especially if his petition were for some particular thing, as our good Jesus tells us our petitions must be. This point seems to me very important. Could you not, my Lord, have ended this prayer in a single sentence, by saying: “Give us, Father, whatever is good for us”? For, in addressing One Who knows everything, there would seem to be no need to say any more.

Eternal Wisdom! Between you and your Father this was quite sufficient. This is how you made your request of him in the garden of Gethsemane. You showed him what you wished for and what you feared, but left it all in his hands. But you know us, my Lord, and you know that we have not given ourselves up to the will of your Father as completely as you did. For us, it is best to pray for specific things, so that as each of them comes to mind we can pause to consider whether it is something good that we are asking for; so that if it is not, we should refrain from asking for it. Otherwise (being what we are, free will and all) we will not accept what God chooses to give us even if it is far better than what we asked for, simply because it is not exactly what we asked for. We are the sort of people who cannot feel rich unless we feel the weight of the actual coins in our hand.

Now the good Jesus bids us say these words, in which we pray that the Kingdom may come in us: Hallowed be thy name, thy Kingdom come. See how great our Master’s wisdom is! I am thinking of what it is we are asking for when we ask for the Kingdom: it is important that we should understand this. His Majesty saw that because of our weakness we could not hallow or praise or magnify or glorify the holy name of the Eternal Father in a way adequate to its greatness. We could not, that is, do it by ourselves, if His Majesty did not help us by giving us his kingdom here on earth. And so the good Jesus places these two petitions – Hallowed be thy name and Thy kingdom come next to each other, so that we can understand what we are asking for and why it is important to beg for it and to do all we can to please the one who is able to give it to us. Let me explain how I understand it.

Now, then. The greatest joy in the kingdom of heaven (the greatest among many) seems to me to be that we will no longer be tied up with earthly concerns but will have rest and glory within us – rejoicing that gives joy to everyone, peace that lasts for ever – satisfaction in ourselves, a satisfaction that comes from seeing how everyone is praising the Lord and blessing and hallowing his name, while no-one offends him. Everyone loves him. Each soul has no wish other than to love him: it cannot stop loving him because it knows him truly.

If only we knew him like that even here on earth, we would love him in the same way – not with that degree of perfection, of course, but in a very different way from the way we love him now.

No one has ever ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven

2007-05-17T08:16:00Z

From a sermon by Saint Augustine, bishop
(via Universalis)

Today our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven; let our hearts ascend with him. Listen to the words of the Apostle: If you have risen with Christ, set your hearts on the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God; seek the things that are above, not the things that are on earth. For just as he remained with us even after his ascension, so we too are already in heaven with him, even though what is promised us has not yet been fulfilled in our bodies.

Christ is now exalted above the heavens, but he still suffers on earth all the pain that we, the members of his body, have to bear. He showed this when he cried out from above: Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? and when he said: I was hungry and you gave me food.

Why do we on earth not strive to find rest with him in heaven even now, through the faith, hope and love that unites us to him? While in heaven he is also with us; and we while on earth are with him. He is here with us by his divinity, his power and his love. We cannot be in heaven, as he is on earth, by divinity, but in him, we can be there by love.

He did not leave heaven when he came down to us; nor did he withdraw from us when he went up again into heaven. The fact that he was in heaven even while he was on earth is borne out by his own statement: No one has ever ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.

These words are explained by our oneness with Christ, for he is our head and we are his body. No one ascended into heaven except Christ because we also are Christ: he is the Son of Man by his union with us, and we by our union with him are the sons of God. So the Apostle says: Just as the human body, which has many members, is a unity, because all the different members make one body, so is it also with Christ. He too has many members, but one body.

Out of compassion for us he descended from heaven, and although he ascended alone, we also ascend, because we are in him by grace. Thus, no one but Christ descended and no one but Christ ascended; not because there is no distinction between the head and the body, but because the body as a unity cannot be separated from the head.

Oh Lord, You are the Head of the Body of Your Church; may I be a fingernail of that Body. Without the merest presumption, may I assist the Body when the itch of earthly distraction compells my use. May I be clipped well in humility, yet to maintain my useful sharpness, while I remain unpainted and unadorned. Amen.

The joy of Easter, the longing for the eternal

2007-04-25T12:09:00Z

Your priest Luther could not find the forgiveness he searched for in the sacrament of Reconciliation. The connection to an earthly line of priests bestowed with the power to forgive was lost to him. So, he remade Church tradition to offer forgiveness to all by default, upon Jesus's sacrifice upon the Cross. What then and where will the Holy Spirit intercede some more on behalf of the Church?

This life provides little joy, and I long for the eternal joy of heaven. But, is not this life also a trial and journey to share the love of Christ with the living sons and daughters of Him? I am rubbed thin by the continual material concerns and social criticism close to me. I am joined to it, but cannot turn away because those I love depend upon it. I seek a unity in this life which is not there; I am alone in purpose.

Lord, open my heart to embrace all, beginning with those closest -- only because Your will was to love all, fiends and enemies. How can I resist? My I find a community of believers with whom to share spiritual joy and spiritual trial. May I fall back upon only Your presence, in the end, to sustain me. For You made all things, and Your love powers all that is good. Amen.

You have spoken, may I hear

2007-03-13T11:55:00Z

Lord, I would ask for a sign, but You know the time and place for such a proof. I would read and pray. I often find no comfort, but persist. You are there, I know. I would follow, but I am so slow to put my full faith in You.

Jesus, you died for my and my and my unbelief. May I bind my hurt and pain to that love which took the Cross. Holy
Spirit, the love cast from the Cross, the radiance that shows forth from His death and resurrection: I pray a soul empty of self, to be filled by Your guidance. St. Therese, may I follow your little way in all things, large and small.

Lord, there is such unrest on this earth. May I serve as Your instrucment in whatever manners You deem fit. Bless those who follow the King of Glory, not earthly power. Grant health to Your servants, Janice, my daughters, my sons, and wife. Be with our neighbors who are sick and old, that they may be comforted and healed, to Your glory. Bless Your servants who serve in the consecrated life, that they be delivered from temptation and empowered by the Spirit to continue to do Your work. Bless America and those founding virtues that linger in those who employ earthly power to good ends. Bless those who defend those virtues and this country. Amen.

Fear of the Lord is learned, not fear as humankind's weakness

2007-03-08T11:18:00Z

The meaning of "the fear of the Lord"
From a treatise on the psalms by Saint Hilary, bishop

“Fear” is not to be taken in the sense that common usage gives it. Fear in this ordinary sense is the trepidation our weak humanity feels when it is afraid of suffering something it does not want to happen. We are afraid, or made afraid, because of a guilty conscience, the rights of someone more powerful, an attack from one who is stronger, sickness, encountering a wild beast, suffering evil in any form. This kind of fear is not taught: it happens because we are weak. We do not have to learn what we should fear: objects of fear bring their own terror with them.

But of the fear of the Lord this is what is written: Come, my children, listen to me, I shall teach you the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord has then to be learned because it can be taught. It does not lie in terror, but in something that can be taught. It does not arise from the fearfulness of our nature; it has to be acquired by obedience to the commandments, by holiness of life and by knowledge of the truth.

For us the fear of God consists wholly in love, and perfect love of God brings our fear of him to its perfection. Our love for God is entrusted with its own responsibility: to observe his counsels, to obey his laws, to trust his promises. Let us hear what Scripture says: And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you except to fear the Lord your God and walk in his ways and love him and keep his commandments with your whole heart and your whole soul, so that it may be well for you?

The ways of the Lord are many, though he is himself the way. When he speaks of himself he calls himself the way and shows us the reason why he called himself the way: No one can come to the Father except through me.

A prayer in time of trial

2007-02-27T12:33:00Z

In You there is rest. In You there is hope. Against trial and chaos, You are the guiding light leading us to joy. Your Son calls us to brotherhood with Him; in time of sorrow He is there and His own life He did not spare in proving how far He would share our trials. He died for sinners to bring joy to those who look to Him.

Make me a worthy vessel of Your grace. Your love. Your hope. That I may share it with those around me, to inspire them to work toward the ultimate end of life, every day embracing this gift of life, assisting others to carry their crosses, while also shouldering ours.

True happiness is found in You. Despite all, joy is found in serving You. I reach my hand to touch Your corss, in my mind, and know that the ultimate destiny has already been purchased by Your Body and Blood. Thank you for the bounty that is ours, and for the trials that remind us of of You. Amen.