We are born again of water and the Holy Spirit

What did you see in the baptistery? Water certainly, but not water alone. You saw the levites ministering there, the high priest asking questions and consecrating. First of all, the Apostle taught you that we must fix our eyes, not on the things that are seen but on the things that are unseen, for the things that are seen are for a time, but the things that are unseen are eternal. In another place you may read that the invisible things of God, from the creation of the world, can be understood through the things that have been created, and his everlasting power and godhead can be known through his works. The Lord himself says: If you do not believe me, believe at least my works.Then believe that the presence of the godhead is there. You believe in its activity, and refuse to believe in its presence? How could there be activity if there were no presence beforehand?

Consider how ancient the mystery is, prefigured as it was in the creation of the world itself. In the very beginning, when God made heaven and earth, the spirit, God tells us, moved over the waters. Was the spirit not active as he moved over the waters? When the prophet tells you that by the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and by the spirit of his mouth all their array, realize that the spirit was active in this making of the world. The fact that he moved over the waters, and the fact that he was active, both rest on prophetic testimony. Moses tells us that the spirit moved over the waters; David testifies that the spirit was active.

Listen to another testimony. All flesh had become corrupt because of its sins. God said: My spirit will not remain in men, for they are flesh. God thus shows that spiritual grace is repelled by uncleanness of the flesh and by the stain of more serious sin. So God resolved to restore the gift he had given. He sent the flood and ordered Noah, the righteous man, into the ark. When the flood began to subside Noah sent first a raven, then a dove, which as we read, came back with an olive branch. You see water, you see wood, you look on a dove, and you hesitate to believe the mystery?

The water is that in which the flesh is dipped, to wash away all its sin. In it all wickedness is buried. The wood is that to which the Lord Jesus was fastened when he suffered for us. The dove is the one in whose likeness the Holy Spirit descended, as you have learned from the New Testament: the Spirit who breathes into you peace of soul, tranquillity of mind.

Elizabeth Kindleman wrote: I am going to record what the Blessed Virgin told me in [October of] this year, 1962. I kept it inside for a long time without daring to write it down. It is a petition of the Blessed Virgin: ‘When you say the prayer that honors me, the Hail Mary, include this petition in the following manner:

Hail Mary, full of grace . . . pray for us sinners,
spread the effect of grace of thy Flame of Love over all of humanity,
now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

May our feet journey together.
May our hands gather in unity.
May our hearts beat in unison.
May our souls be in harmony.
May our thoughts be as one.
May our ears listen to the silence together.
May our glances profoundly penetrate each other.
May our lips pray together to gain mercy from the Eternal Father.

Pray the rosary for the conversion of Russia.

Prayer and the Indwelling Christ

Your gaze have made it very easy,
Praying, that is.
Yet, for such as me,
It’s still very hard,
Not seeing You across the table.

Your eyes follow me.
I know You hear me.
“It’s not You, it’s me”,
As faulting lovers say.

Your gaze never leaves me,
I can feel it
In the depths of my being.
I am never alone.

You wait,
As I turn to trifles,
Or beat down troublesome giants.
You dwell upon my last words,
Feeling my joy or pain
Through every season of my soul.

Though my words can stop mid-sentence
Or conversation cease,
Still You know the whole.
With the patience of eternity, my God waits.

Eventually, I turn back to You.
Your eyes sear my soul,
O, that my heart
Could return that gaze.

On the best of days,
Unless You bind me to You, I flit.
A thousand trumpets vie for my ear
And I am torn.

New love has a magic,
Erasing the world, and becoming all.
Re-ignite that flame in me
To shut out causes, fears and strife.

Your Presence felt is strength and consolation,
Your tug is joy,
And Your conversation sweetness.
If pain be the messenger
That draws me back to You,
So be it.
Better to feel the torment
Of an earthly purgatory,
Than the foretaste of hell.

If it seems I sit at our table alone,
The note of sadness betrays the truth.
I miss you and the missing is from You.
You beckon anew.

Sup with me.
Dwell with me.
Gaze on me.
I am not alone.
My Christ is with me.

Prayer At Adoration

You, My Lord,
Light up my darkness.
I join my voice
To the bright “Hosannas”
Of adoring angels.

With the elect of Heaven
Here at my side,
I call upon these
Holy saints and angels
To remember
Before the throne of God
All who labor in Your vineyard.

Make me Your monstrance
That I may carry You in my heart
And be Your light
To all I meet today.
Amen.

Prayer in Hope and Celebration

All love,
All attention,
All in harmony and one,
Resting on Your strong arm,
Held fast by my desire to know You,
And Your almighty power
To draw the sinner to You
In complete freedom.

My desire: to console You
In the garden of Your sorrow and anguish,
Where You saw all my sins,
And longed to suffer my death.

I love because You love
And awaken hope in me,
Hope that flies in the face of earthly reason
To realms of holiness and joy.

Your grace, showered upon our Race,
By Your Birth,
and by Your Death on the Cross,
Make me welcome.

You bid the Lost come.
Loose all Sin
In clouds of forgiveness
And gracious forgetfulness,
For You remember our sins no more.

Alleluia!