Tag Archives: meditation

Perspective for a New Day

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Beginning another day and trying to get some perspective.

My Imitation of Christ Book I, chapter2:

Many words do not satisfy the soul; but a good life eases the mind and a clean conscience inspires great trust in God.

The more you know and the better you understand, the more severely will you be judged, unless your life is also the more holy. Do not be proud, therefore, because of your learning or skill. Rather, fear because of the talent given you. If you think you know many things and understand them well enough, realize at the same time that there is much you do not know. Hence, do not affect wisdom, but admit your ignorance. Why prefer yourself to anyone else when many are more learned, more cultured than you?

If you wish to learn and appreciate something worth while, then love to be unknown and considered as nothing. Truly to know and despise self is the best and most perfect counsel. To think of oneself as nothing, and always to think well and highly of others is the best and most perfect wisdom. Wherefore, if you see another sin openly or commit a serious crime, do not consider yourself better, for you do not know how long you can remain in good estate. All men are frail, but you must admit that none is more frail than yourself.

Things Hidden and Brought to Light

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The Anchoress talks about “things being ‘hidden’ and ‘brought to light’.”  She says ,

“We all of us make instinctive moves to hide those parts of ourselves of which we disapprove, or which we fear others might hate. Hating ourselves, we project that hatred onto others, and then assume the worst: that people will be ungenerous, rather than generous, hateful rather than accepting.”

Once again the Anchoress pulls back a veil that reveals the beautiful person. Isn’t that what her writing has already brought to light? I’m uneasy when she jabs at herself. I can feel it.  I’ve done that myself. Say it before someone else says it!

She speaks of “Irish thighs” and here I thought we Italians had a corner on that market.  The memory of my mom’s weight looms like a prophetic utterance. However, beyond my own fears, it is the Anchoress’ revelation of her fear that touches me.  She has dissected it and found that in hating those unacceptable parts of herself, the really beautiful parts of the package get lost. Wholeness is halved or quartered or…you know what I mean.  She’s tempted to become less than she actually is.

The Anchoress writes about her brothers “coming out” and the peace that followed.  I’m sure that didn’t end the struggles but was a big step into the light.  Our crosses certainly come in all kinds and complexities. Our pain brings to light our real need which isn’t perfection.  The Anchoress speaks of the need to love herself.  For me realizing Who loves me changes everything. My battles, my wins and loses,all find meaning, as do I, in a Heart which treasures all.

Fr. Benedict Groeschel, in his Healing the Original Wound, says that one of his favorite groups of the wounded are the alcoholics of Alcoholics’ Anonymous.  “When asked,’Well, when are you going to completely recover?’  ‘When we’re dead.’ they will tell you.” No easy platitudes or solutions here, just a continuing struggle, knowing that you are loved by that One great Love.  Armed with the knowledge of Whose Arms embrace you this side of Heaven carries you onward, or at least that how I go on (and with a little love from my friends.)  Fr. Groeschel puts it this way. ” Hello, I’m a recovering sinner.  I’m becoming a saint.”

So I have no answers.  My loved ones, come in all shapes and sizes as do I depending at what time in my life you’ve  known me.  My friends have assorted temperaments and problems, none of which hides their beauty.  Fr. Groeschel says that with crosses “we need to turn to the mystery of Salvation.”

“Indeed, if the cross, with all that it represents, with all that it signifies, symbolises and indicates, of sufferings, sicknesses, disasters, various afflictions, catastrophes, pains and injuries to which all people are subject, if the cross is a constituent reality of all human life, there is an obligation for all people, like Jesus, to carry the cross together, in order to disburden the one charged with it and together to bear it with love and solidarity. (From a letter by Patriarch Gregorios III of Antioch (Melkite) for  Lent)

The Glory and the Tragedy of the Church

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“In Lent, we grasp our humanity” says Fr. Jeffrey Whorton.  That we need a reminder at all amazes me. I am in awe of the fact that I, a soft bodied creature, am still alive, after more than half a century, in this universe of whirling planets, exploding stars and expanding space. Extrapolating from today’s Gospel, Fr. Whorton points to the hedges God places around us for our survival. In Jesus’ parable, He tells of  a landowner who planted a vineyard and put a hedge around it (Matthew 31: 23)

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Pieta Icon

In nature and the Cosmos, Earth is protected by natural laws which set the rhythms of the tides, confine the seas to their basins and keep the very air we breath from drifting off into space. While in the spiritual  life, God’s children also have a hedge.  Before we knew the Grace of God, we were given the Law of God.  God’s people were to live not unfettered by human respect but by a Golden Rule which revealed the freedom of morally.  When the Grace of God arrived incarnated in Jesus Christ, love went beyond this Law to lead us to lay down our lives for one another, the supernature wed to the natural.  Lent points to our failure in this respect. It is precisely here, that we find another hedge protecting us from the Accuser and self-condemnation by an Incarnated Mercy, Whose love and forgiveness knows no bounds.

In daily life, the teachings of the Church provide a hedge against a license and an immorality that would favor the animal side of our natures.  Without the hedge of revealed Truth and instruction, we are deprived, and left to our sinfulness, which is more an inhuman nature.   Our humanity was glorified by Christ once Jesus put it on as a mantle clothing His Divinity.  However, it still needs the individual response of our consent and cooperation. Now, we are hedged by the very flesh of our Savior, and called to be truly human as revealed by Christ.

According to Fr.Whorton, “The glory and the tragedy of the Church is that the Church is on display.”  In our world of brute forces and competing philosophies and errors, we are called to shine like stars (Phil.2: 15), like sparks among the stubble (Wisdom 3:7). Fr. Whorton asks, as does Lent, itself, “Am I displaying the glory or the tragedy?”

That They May Be One, Father

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As the 14th day of Lent draws to a close, Nelson shares these thoughts from the letter of Patriarch Gregorios III of Antioch (Melkite) for  Lent that I’m passing on:

“Indeed, if the cross, with all that it represents, with all that it signifies, symbolises and indicates, of sufferings, sicknesses, disasters, various afflictions, catastrophes, pains and injuries to which all people are subject, if the cross is a constituent reality of all human life, there is an obligation for all people, like Jesus, to carry the cross together, in order to disburden the one charged with it and together to bear it with love and solidarity.  In this letter, I am urging my faithful sons and daughters of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church in the Arab world and throughout the world to be in solidarity with each other and stand shoulder to shoulder with their brethren, friends, neighbours and fellow-citizens to bear the cross together on the way of the cross, especially during these days of Great Lent on our common spiritual Lenten way towards the Feast and the joy of the glorious Resurrection.”

I pray that all Christians may be one and bear faithful witness to the One who is all in all.

Fear of the Lord – St. Hilary

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From the Office of the Day – St Hilary, Early Church Father & Doctor of the Church:


“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.
From the Office of the Day – 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.

Comfort, Give Comfort

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Isaiah speaks the words I need to hear this morning.

Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God.

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated; Indeed, she has received from the hand of the Lord double for all her sins. Isaiah 40: 1

The day is new and as they say” hope springs eternal.” The world has definitely been heavy on my mind. I need to turn the page if only at the beginning of this day.

Hope springs eternal in the human breast:

Man never is, but always to be blest:

The soul, uneasy and confin’d from home,

Rests and expatiates in a life to come. (Alexander Pope – An Essay on Man)

This is a gift to myself today.  It speaks to the heart of love and memory that even crosses the line between Man and Beast.

Have a wonderful day!