“My God, if you exist, make your existence known to me,”
Never having seen the stars of glory,
‘Til encountering them in You.
A mansion of grace without walls
Sheltered him in desert wastes.
The good in his heart was God.He was a monstrance
His life was Gospel
Preached by a beating heart,
On fire to win man for God.He lived preparing to die.
He expected martyrdom,
And lived in happy anticipation.
Desert priest and brother of all,
Pray for us,
Who still don’t see the stars.By Joann Nelander
Daily Archives: January 5, 2011
The Call
There is a Call on your life.
Have you heard it?
A harmony of happiness and joy.
Yet, pain in good measure.Joy for the worldly,
The giddiness
Of pleasure,
Like a purse with holes,
Emptiness,without treasure.Deep and abiding joy,
Mark the Call of God.
Like a song played
In the Darkness
To herald the Light.The fearful man,
Unwilling to love,
Afraid of loss,
Gobbles life.
Heedless, peace-less,
Fearing to miss out,
His way becomes a ploy,
Losing the Eternal in the bout.A call embraced,
Won’t shield you from mistakes.
Rather impels us onward,
Love covering a multitude of aches.Perfection left to our Lord,
Prudent, not perfect,
Polished only in your dyings.
Dying and rising, the rhythm of a Call.Rising to the challenge of Christ,
“Be perfect as I am perfect,”
His Call, pruning and repenting,
Perfected only in your Christ.By Joann Nelander
Yad Vashem – What’s in a Name?
Yad Vashem Hall of Names / Wikipedia
As the New Year begins, the Church reminds us of the importance of a name. We celebrate the Octave Day of Christmas, the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, and on the Monday after the Epiphany we celebrate the Most Holy Name of Jesus.
Octave means eight. The Gospel for the day relates:
“When eight days were completed for his circumcision, he was named Jesus, the name given Him by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.”
On this eighth day the infant was circumcised and a name given. The name was so important that it was announced by an angel. So important was the Name to God!
The Old Testament reading from Numbers for this day speaks of another Name:
“The Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace! So shall they invoke My Name upon the Israelites, and I will bless them.”
What’s in a name? Mystery! Holy Mystery!
As we begin our year, and as the liturgical year unfolds, celebrating the History of Salvation, let us remember the inhumane of Human History as well. Herod’s holocaust sought to wipe away all hope for humanity, the plan of the Evil One. that might makes right as the world has come to believe.
Yad Vashem, written sometimes as, Yad VaShem, literally “hand and name” means “memorial.”
In the Hall of Names, the victims of the Holocaust of our time are remembered.
“Remember only that I was innocent
and, just like you, mortal on that day,
I, too, had had a face marked by rage, by pity and joy,
quite simply, a human face!”
Benjamin Fondane
Murdered at Auschwitz, 1944
“If we wish to live and to bequeath life to our offspring, if we believe that we are to pave the way to the future, then we must first of all not forget.”
“If we wish to live and to bequeath life to our offspring, if we believe that we are to pave the way to the future, then we must first of all not forget.”
(Prof. Ben Zion Dinur, Yad Vashem, 1956)
(Prof. Ben Zion Dinur, Yad Vashem, 1956)
Be Holy! 