Post # 250

+JMJ+

Ave Maria!

Blessed Feast of St. Louise Marie de Montforte...and St. Gianna! What a day. In honor of my dear friends in Heaven, I just ordered a 100% upgrade for my MacBook Pro--super excited to finally have Leopard, iLife '09 and iWork '09. I'll need to spend some serious time getting familiar with the new OS: really want to make the most out of it for the New Evangelization!

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The world continues to become more dramatic. I've been immersing myself in Kreeft and Von Speyr (well, Speyr is not surprise, at least). I want to read more Pensee, for some reason...it is maybe the vingette style that attracts me. And then, I am craving Newman and Papa John Paul sprinkled with a little Edith Stein. I feel like I just need a vacation with all my theologian friends!

Curious how a book can set your heart on fire. I was pondering that earlier today as I read "Love is Stronger than Death" by Kreeft. It isn't so much that the book sets my heart on fire: rather, the truth that is revealed by the words! It directs me to Christ.

I've been witnessing some intense horrors lately--particularly the affects of choice...more specifically, the affects of bad choices. The brokeness compounds upon itself. There seems no way to stop the burn, to stop the pain...and I see people pour more salt on their open wounds. They can't stop. They just can't heal.

But healing is a choice, too, isn't it? You have to take that first step. I think about how John XXIII, when asked why he called Vatican II, resonded something to the effect of: "I was looking for another St. Francis...since I couldn't find one, I called a counsel."

I've probably said it before, but the world truly needs another St. Francis...the world needs the Franciscan Spirit. We are celebrating 800 years for the Rule of Francis. Why has it prevailed? Surely, it is the simplicity, the authenticity of living the Gospel. Seriously: it is NOT THAT HARD. We make it hard.

I think about my own life, and realize how much I must commit, choose to cooperate in rooting out my own sinfullness. I understand more clearly how crucial purity of heart is. Think about it: we are surrounded by wounded people. Don't think trust is ever easy to gain. Injury piles upon injury--only the pure of heart can reflect Christ to this wounded generation.

The time is now to take life seriously, to take your vocation seriously. I say this as much for myself as for anyone who may read this blog. We have a world that celebrates sin and misery. There is no time to wait for tomorrow to be fully who God created each of us to be. There is no time to wait. Right now we must:

+ Pray MORE
+ Fast MORE
+ Desire humility
+ Seek no honors, save those that please Christ
+ Committ fully to conform ourselves to Christ

Check out the Gospel of Matthew my friends. Right after He was Transfigured, Jesus stumbled upon a crowd...and a spirit that could only be cast out by prayer and fasting. We are over 35 years with LEGAL baby killing in the U.S. The poor are pushed aside. Sexual abuse is common, and violence escleates. The world is getting darker. If the spirit that has attacked humanity is not countered with purity, prayer and fasting...we will witness the end of Western Civilization.

Jesus Christ, through His Resurrection, has CONQUORED DEATH, PEOPLE! If you beleive that, than you must LIVE DIFFERENTLY. Don't wait until tomorrow.

Now is the time to put on Christ.

mercy.

+JMJ+

Ave Maria!

He isn't hiding. He's just there, waiting. I don't remember the first time I realized this, and the older I got, the more intruiged I was. Since I'm human, the unknown fascinates me...and the more I turned to the Mystery, the more the Mystery turned to me. I started to fall in love.

Mercy. Today is His day. The world is bleeding. When hasn't it been?

Deaf. Blind. Dumb.

All we want is love, but we refuse it right in front of us. Living in the Tabernacle, present He begs...He yearns more for us than we do for Him. His love's depth is deeper than humanly fathomable.

Divine Mercy, today, right now, in the moment. Sometimes, God smacks us with mercy. Tough Love. We shrink away. He gives us the grace to look again. Mercy. Right there, before our eyes.

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Today is the 10th Anniversary of Divine Mercy Sunday. Jesus' message to St. Maria Faustina is as real today as it was over 70 years ago when she recieved it.

Mercy is love and justice in action. Embrace it...just as He embraces you, no matter how broken you are.

Christ Our Hope

+JMJ+

Christos Anesti! What a joyous, joyous day. I had the particular grace, during the Easter Vigil, to experience an intense longing to be completely Christ's. It was a beautiful grace, I literally felt 'set apart.' Yet, accompanying that grace was the pain of anticipation. But, how glorious! Even if there is sorrow, there is joy--for they go hand in hand!

There were little miracles of grace during the Triduum, among friends and family, for which I am so grateful. Truely, every day, more and more intently, I have the desire to be an invisible instrument of Jesus' love. It is unfathomable to consider how we, so sinful, are (like Mama Mary) Living Tabernacles...and even on Good Friday, when Jesus is NOT reposed in the Holy Eucharist in our Churches, still He is reposed in the Faithful who receive Him. What a profound gift!

As I read Papa Benedict's Message for Easter, I was so joyfully struck by these words:

Ever since the dawn of Easter a new Spring of hope has filled the world; from that day forward our resurrection has begun, because Easter does not simply signal a moment in history, but the beginning of a new condition: Jesus is risen not because his memory remains alive in the hearts of his disciples, but because he himself lives in us, and in him we can already savor the joy of eternal life.

Wow! A NEW CONDITION!! Does that NOT put our privileged experience in a new light? This new condition is that we are truly Living Tabernacles. We have the opportunity, every day, to bring Jesus to the streets...to the people starving for His love!

Papa Benedict went on to say:

Christ is looking for men and women who will help him to affirm his victory using his own weapons: the weapons of justice and truth, mercy, forgiveness and love.

Don't you want to be one of those men? One of those women? I cannot think of anything in life that would be more meaningful that to proclaim Christ in...

Justice

Truth

Mercy

Forgiveness

and Love!

Don't those seem to be the five pillars of the Civilization of Love which Papa John Paul spoke about? This civilization is ultimately realized in Heaven. Yet, this civilization can be born out of our hearts, if we are in union Christ. As Papa John Paul once asked,

"Do you think there can be anything greater than to bring Jesus to people and people to Jesus?"

May that questi0n transform us, so that we may truly become those witnesses to Christ, the true Hope for which the world yearns!

Death

+JMJ+

Good Friday 2009.

The psalms and letters of Paul keep running through my head.

"He didn't deem equality with God something to be grasped at"

"He emptied Himself unto death, even death on a Cross"

"A Man of Sorrows"

Ecce Homo.

There He is, raised high on the Cross. Christ became sin for us, for the salvation of the world.

I was so taken by St. Alphonsus today, who reflected that when Christ spoke, "I thirst", He was not yearning for drink, but for OUR LOVE. Can you imagine? Christ died on the Cross, suffered the most despised death out of love for us...and He knew that many would reject that love.

What a position we are in! To have the freedom to reject Christ, to reject His love...to deny our Creator love! Imagine the suffering...and there, at the foot of the Cross, the Lady stands--the Virgin Mother. And she, in sharing with the suffering of her Son, knows that her suffering causes Him to SUFFER MORE! And yet, she cannot detach herself, she is His mother...and her mission is intimately intertwined with His. This, too, is her moment...a moment of Fiat so painful, yet so pure.

It is Consummated.

The perfect Victim, offered by Christ the High Priest...on the Alter of the Cross. And the world is never the same.

Scourging

+JMJ+

Tuesday.

Holy Week.

Tied to a pole, like a criminal. They take the whips, little hooks, pieces of bone affixed. They rip His flesh. Gaping wounds begin to emit puss and blood as germs mix with His sacred flesh. Is this truly the God-man?

Yet, there He is. Innocence became sin, for our redemption. And yet, the little crosses we are asked to carry are too heavy? Really?

She was standing in the shadows, watching as they lash Him. With every impact, her whole body feels the blow. Her suffering is inexplicable. Never having sinned, and yet, she, too, bears the burden of sin. And this, Balthasare reflects, in ways we shall never know.

Immaculate Mother watches. Immaculate Son becomes a perfect Sin offering. Think about it, close your eyes. Do you wince when you hear the whip hit His sacred side? See the blood in pools upon the dusty ground--can you see your reflection? You are in that blood...He shed it for you.

Beloved, may we recognize the full weight of our sins. Imbue us with humility and gratitude, so that we may faithfully take the whip right beside you. May we never tire of suffering, knowing it leads to Redemption. Amen.

The Agony

Holy Week 2009.

Monday.

He is there, leaning up against the stone. Was it less than an hour before that He had offered the unbloody sacrifice? And now, His pores emit blood, sanguine, rich...penetrating the dirt beneath His knees as it drips intentionally down that rock He clings to.

Balthasare reflects: What a moment...God triumphant vs. God suffering. And, isn't it funny, like St. Paul says, few would lay down their lives even for a just man. Yet, Christ lays down His life for us, sinners!

But, He isn't without Human Nature.

"Father...if it be Your will...let this cup pass."

"But, not My will, but Thine be done."

That was the moment...that was the Fiat...setting the seal upon the Salvation of Humanity. Christ didn't wait until the nails affixed Him to the cross. It was in that moment in the Garden, when He fully immersed Himself into the Passion. In that moment, He made a perfect offering to the Father.

Priest. Victim. holocaust.

Christ, the High Priest...Christ, the Victim...now prepares for the holocaust.

"Every time I feel my powerlessness and inability to influence people directly, I become more keenly aware of the necessity of my own holocaust." Those are Edith's words...she knew what Christ knew. Even the God-Man could not, would not force hearts of stone to accept His love. The holocaust must be.

Yet, He came in and out of Agony in Gethsemane. He called His friends...and discovered they slept. Things do not change! In the midst of crisis and attack on the Church, even today, Christ's friends sleep. Those most directly entrusted with the care of souls (priests and religious) are particularly mentioned by Balthasare in his reflection. Why could they not wait, not watch one hour? Was it too painful? Is it better to sleep in ignorance than to stay at the foot of the Master, and unite in His suffering? It all must come to a choice.

Will we put on Christ this Holy Week? Will we choose Him, His mercy? Will we die to self, and all those things that prevent us from uniting fully with Christ?

Jesus, in your Agony, let us see clearly your love for us. Let us welcome your penetrating spirit, and be renewed. May you increase, Oh Beloved, as we decrease...so that only Your radience may be recognized by those we encounter. May a sweet Fiat greet every holocaust to which you invite us, Oh Ancient Beauty! May we become one with You. Amen.

Credo

+JMJ+

Ave Maria! It is almost Monday of Holy Week. Here is a talk I gave last Fall in Cincinnati at the "Credo, I Believe" Retreat. It is about 35 minutes long...and it is about Faith and Prayer. Hope it helps you draw closer to Jesus!

HB 2354: Revisted

+JMJ+

Palm Sunday

Wow.

March 2009: The month that will be etched on my psyche until I breath my last breath. HB 2354: ate it, drank it, slept it...etc. Insane.

Mobilized.

Lobbied.

Phone Calls.

Emails.

YouTubes (yeah, I actually produced one of the videos).

Analyzed legislation.

Schooled State Reps.

And, Praise Jesus, the bill was not called...because ACLU and PP were 10-15 votes short. No joke.

Now, since Springfield is the land of corruption, we cannot discredit the vague possibility of a mysterious HB 2354 resurrection, but for now, it is off the table.

What was so bad about 2354?

1. Terribly written: Bridged, who works for PP, and admitted to writing the bill, couldn't even explain what some of the points, if enacted, would entail (for example, the rights of conscience issue, the 'medical health professional' vs. 'physician' for those who could perform abortions...). It is kind of pathetic when the bill drafter cannot even explain how the bill would play out if it became law.

2. Abortion a fundamental right: Doesn't that go against the Constitution? I mean, most people, even if they are pro-choice, agree that life begins at conception. So...in our Constitution, doesn't it say all are endowed by their Creator w/ certain unalienable rights, including LIFE? Last time I read it, that was still there. Since abortion ends life, I don't see how it can be a fundamental right (by the way, for those who read the bill and interpret it vs. actually read the text, that was in there, within the first 5 sections, I believe. Let me know if you want me to send you a highlighted copy).

3. The "Amendment": Abortion rights activists are insane. So, they amend the bill, thinking that would help. In the section re: health care professionals cooperation with abortion, they change the word from "assist" to "refer". And, they don't define the terms. That is great. We live in the land of self-determination. How I define refer and how you define refer could be totally different...just opening Pandora's Box for more court cases, if you ask me...

4. Fixing problems? What really pisses me off about the abortion industry (beside the fact that they make millions off of killing children, they are eugenic and still target minorities, like the black and hispanic/latino communities...) is that they go around trying to push these rediculous bills, in an attempt to 'solve' a problem. Lets face it: HB 2354 was not going to solve any problems in Illinois. It was just another pathetic attempt at band-aiding our gaeping state wound. You put a bill like 2354 into law, and you are gonna end up with ceaseless court cases and drown thousands if not millions of state funds to litigate this thing. Rediculous.

I can go on and on. I am sure my level of articulateness is not pristine, but forgive me, since I have not slept much lately. I am just tired of people who are uneducated and brain washed, like many of our state reps. I talked to Lisa Hernandez from Cicero on Thursday morning, and she had the audacity to tell me that "HB 2354 is not about abortion at all" Hum, wonder who she gets her talking points from. It is pathetic. And, if the people in Cicero knew about her, she'd be out of offic in a heart beat.

All I can say is, HB 2354 is gone for now, but you better beleive the aboriton industry is gonna come back with something bigger and more diabolical next season for Illinois. Now is the time to get our game on and organize the pro-lifers across the state, so that we can defeat whatever comes our way in 2010--and, I am so ready to get a good bill out there, and get it enacted: What about campaign finance, for example? Maybe if we fixed that, Personal PAC would not be able to threaten legislators into voting pro-abortion. It is so disgusting. These people are horrible. Money-hungry and unethical, they do whatever they want cause they have the cash to back them up. Not too democratic, if you ask me...

In any event, I am done talking politics until after the Octave, unless there is a major emergency...Time to be immersed in Holy Week. I look forward to blogging about that! God bless you all!