Enter by the Gate

May 7, 2009 by Be Holy

“I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture” John 10:9

“I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” John 10:11

Looking at the large image, that hangs in my church during the Easter season, of the Resurrected Christ with His wounds visible, the wound in Jesus’ chest captured me. Jesus had called Himself the Good Shepherd and also referred to Himself as the gate. I wondered at the two positions He took in this discourse in John 10. It could be confusing, but as I looked at Christ’s side, the open wound was like an open invitation. It became my gate into the Heart of Jesus, the Good Shepherd.

Weapons of War – Hot Coals

April 19, 2009 by Be Holy

The Anchoress got some disparaging email in response to”See How These Christians Shove One Another. She was articulating “that we Christians are being ‘way too “earthbound” and over-worldly in the way we process and engage in politics.” The response of readers prompted her to print an email that she thought made her point, He says it so much better than I. In a nutshell, the writer said, in citing the story of Joshua and the battle of Jericho, “The Israelites did not attack Jericho head-on in a conventional way but chose instead the mystical path and gave the Holy Spirit room to do His work.

I’ve been struggling along these same lines. Blogging makes me painfully aware of it. I start the day with Mass and the Divine Office and come home to enter the fray. I bounce between the spiritual and not so spiritual with my own war of words. I read Archbishop Charles J. Chaput’s “Render Unto Caesar” hoping to gain some footing. He confirmed the battle for me but didn’t give me my marching orders. I believe I need to use all the tools God has placed at hand.

The Rosary is called “a weapon” by those who know its power. Mass and the Divine Office are like heavenly dynamite empowered by the Holy Spirit. Faith turns up that power and places it in the hands of the angels to do battle in the realm the Apostle Paul tells us about. “For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evils spirits in the heavens.” Ephesian 6: 12

I know, too, I have other tools at my disposal: thoughts, words, deeds. I know I mess up and will mess up, leading me back to prayer and repentance to begin again. Like Jesus on the Way of the Cross, I have to keep getting up and get myself up the mountain of Calvary for the Battle that wins the war. I don’t feel like a warrior, I think of myself as the little donkey carrying the Christ into Jerusalem for the climactic encounter between Good and Evil. That’s were I am and I am tired.

When I complained of being tired though the battle has hardly begun, a friend wrote me saying,

“Remember the Narnia series?

Remember in “The Witch, The Lion and The Wardrobe”

how the children were confused, frightened, at the end

of their resources……..when they heard that Aslyn was

“on the move”. Of course, they still had great battles

ahead but Aslyn had arrived….. Have you had any such thoughts/feelings? I hope that it is not wishful thinking on my part.”

I don’t think it is wishful thinking. I think Aslyn is on the move. It doesn’t really matter if I fall on the battlefield. I’m on the right side and Christ is more than a Conqueror. He is a Savior and in His hands our efforts and prayers strike at the hearts of enemies with the same Mercy that bought me to His side.

The side of Christ is pierced that we all may enter. Today, Mercy Sunday, is a good day to think about that and the signature “Jesus I trust in you” that signs the Divine Mercy Image. I think of that signature as my name confirming Christ’s image in me.

With my weapons in hand, all I need is a battle cry. Semper Fidelis is a worthy battle cry. Cam Beck says,

What is left unsaid in the motto is also notable. The phrase is “Always faithful.” It isn’t “Sometimes Faithful.” Nor is it “Usually Faithful,” but always. It is not negotiable. It is not relative, but absolute.

For me, it’s Jesus Christ who is Always Faithful.

Prepared by Repentance -Enabled by Faith

April 14, 2009 by Be Holy

At Easter, we see the Resurrected Lord and are bathed in the Light of His conquering Love. The Church places Jesus before the eyes of our hearts. It is precisely because, only a few days ago, we beheld His pain and suffering, His Love unto Death, that we can grasp the triumph of His Love, this Agape.

Carmel is a reminder that Love must be lived to be authentic. Not that we can live it with perfection, though that is the Call, but that we try day by day in all humility. For me, it is always beginning anew. Repentance prepares us and faith enables us.

The Secular Carmelites share in Meditations from Carnel the words of Pere Jacques:

“We are at Carmel only for this: to love!

To love, of course, requires that we give proof of our love. This love expresses itself in constant prayer. I say “constant,” because this state of prayer must be our life not for only two hours a day, but all day long. Our life must be a constant, silent prayer that rises unceasingly to God. That is what constitutes our duty in life.

We must not confuse this state of prayer with religious sentimentality, or with pious feelings unrelated to authentic prayer, which can sometimes be piercingly painful. That love, which is our life’s duty, must express itself in vibrant, zealous deeds, all aspects of which compel our careful consideration.

Only with deepest humility can we recognize how far we are from our goal. Only those souls who have attained a lofty level of holiness can truly acknowledge how far they still are from their total fulfillment. For example, the Cure of Ars considered himself more wretched than the notorious sinners to whom he ministered. He realized that many of these fallen souls, had they received the same graces that he had received, would perhaps surpass him in holiness. Only with humility can we recognize the torpor of our love.

Prayer is our primary duty. Prayer is the reason why God has placed us on earth. We learn truly to prayer, when we are in the presence and company of Christ. Therefore, we must contemplate Christ for long periods of a time and seek him our persistently. Consider those closest to Christ. Saint John the Apostle grasped what was indispensable for a clear understanding of his master. John never tired of probing and querying Christ. We can see how John thus gained richer insights and fuller explanations, precisely because he went to the bother of approaching and asking Christ to clarify each day’s lesson. I picture John, walking close behind Christ, as he made his way about the Holy Land. Thus, John came to gain a wealth of intimate knowledge, which the other apostles did not acquire. Herein lies the explanation for the special character of the fourth Gospel. While the other apostles traveled across the then known world on their missionary journeys, John’s unique apostolate was to remain close to the Virgin Mary, whom Christ had entrusted to him. Thus were these two great souls conjoined in love and prayer”.

In silent solitude, let us seek to realize that we truly can be in contact with God. It is God whom we should aim to encounter in prayer. It is God who is both the breath and the fulfillment of our life. Amen.”