I will be away from May 8 until May 16. Dip into some old posts, and I’ll look forward to re-connecting when I return. God bless!
Sopranos and basses
Remember to look for God and His love for you in all things today. Listen for His voice:
The bird on the branch, the lily in the field, the deer in the forest, the fish in the sea, the numberless companies of happy men, all these proclaim with great joy: God is love! But from below, and as if carried by all these voices, like the moaning bass below all the high sopranos, we hear, de profundis, the voices of the sacrificed victims [i.e. the martyrs]: God is love.” (Kierkegaard)
Fear is a trial of faith
I mentioned Fr. Dajczer’s book, Gift of Faith, Monday night at the Witnesses to Hope talk. I have previously quoted from his book here, but thought I would give you another “teaser”. As I said, I can’t recommend this book highly enough.
When St. Paul asked Jesus to remove some kind of difficulty from his life, Christ answered him that power is made perfect in weakness (cf. 2 Cor 12.8-9). . . . So how great is the role of your fear in God’s economy? It is there to provoke an act of faith within you. Fear is a trial of faith and that is why God allows it, so that you may grow in faith. Trust and faith are made perfect amidst fears.
Fear can contribute to illness in many people. Fear lies at the basis of neuroses and psychoses. But it can be an outlet to total abandonment to God. Everything depends on you. Fear is a challenge issued to you. What will you do with it? Will you allow yourself to be enslaved by its weight? Or, instead will you try to perform acts of abandoning yourself to Him who is infinite power and infinite love . . . . We cannot rid ourselves of fear as an emotional state, at least not always. Fear, however, can become a factor that deepens our faith, just as each temptation can. (pp. 52-53)
The Hill Mizar
Did you ever wonder about Mizar in Ps 42–where it was and what was its significance? (Maybe you didn’t, but have I piqued your curiosity?) Here’s Amy Carmichael’s take on it:
Ps 42.6 The Hill Mizar
Did you ever feel that you had nothing great enough to be called a trouble, and yet you very much needed help? I have been finding much encouragement in the hill Mizar. For Mizar means littleness–the little hill. The land of Jordan was a place where great floods (the swelling of Jordan) might terrify the soul, and the land of the Hermonites was a place of lions and leopards [FYI: these are the places mentioned in this verse]; but Mizar was only a little hill: and yet the word is, I will “remember You from . . . the hill Mizar”, from the little hill.
So just where we are, from the place of our little trial, little pain, little difficulty, little temptation (if temptation can ever be little), let us remember our God. Relief will surely come, and victory and peace; for “the Lord will command His lovingkindness” (v. 8), even to us in our little hill.
Let the little children . . .
Sometimes things become clearer about the spiritual life through what children say. They can help us to both take life less seriously and more seriously. I’m resurrecting another blog, Catholic Kids Say the Dearest Things, since I recently came across some more material to post. Check it out if you want to smile. 🙂 (You can also access it from the blogroll in the column to the right.)
May 20: Very Early Morning
It’s Sunday and time for me to share a poem. I love this poem by Luci Shaw. I think it’s one of the first I ever read of hers and always comes back to mind this time of year. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. I think it’s one that benefits greatly from being read aloud. (There are shades of Hopkins in this poem.)
May 20: Very Early Morning
All the field praises him/all
dandelions are his glory/gold
and silver all trilliums unfold
white flames above their trinities
of leaves all wild strawberries
and massed wood violets reflect his skies–
clean blue and white
all brambles/all oxeyes
all stalks and stems lift to this light
all young windflower bells
tremble on hair
springs for his air’s
carillon touch/last year’s yarrow (raising
brittle star skeletons) tells
age is not past praising
all small low unknown
unnamed weeds show his impossible greens
all grasses sing
tone on clear tone
all mosses spread a spring–
soft velvet for his feet
and by all means
all leaves/buds/all flowers cup
jewels of fire and ice
holding up
to his kind morning heat
a silver sacrifice
now
make of our hearts a field
to raise your praise~Luci Shaw
Substitute blogger
I’m on my way out the door early today, so I’m sending you somewhere else to read this morning–to Amy Julia Becker’s blog, Thin Places. I think you’ll enjoy her reflection today on imitating God. You can read it here.
True beauty
. . . last September Our Lord told me that He wished that I would look at Him much more in people, that He would like to be loved and reverenced more in people and “discovered” and recognized even in very unlikely people. He would like people to be told and shown “their glory”–which of course is Himself. (Caryll Houselander quoted in That Divine Eccentric by Maisie Ward)
That quote of Caryll’s came to mind this morning when we sang this line from a song during morning prayer: “You have illumined our spirit and Your eternal light is reflected everywhere so that in that light man might discover true beauty and all become luminous.” (St. Gregory Nazianzen) How else can we see the true beauty in each other except by His illumining our spirits? There are many gifts that the Holy Spirit gives, but I believe this is the greatest: to love and reverence each other (“even very unlikely people”) for their worth in Christ, to see “true beauty” in each other. And some times–maybe most of the time–that means seeing that “true beauty” in ourselves. Come, Holy Spirit, and enkindle the hearts of Your faithful . . .
One sentence
Sometimes one sentence can say it all. From Hans urs Von Balthasar:
What is uniquely Christian begins and ends with the revelation that the infinite God loves the individual man infinitely.
Speaking of one sentences, I came across this attempt by a protestant woman to summarize each of the books of the Bible in one sentence, actually by one verse from the book (a little more challenging to do). If you’re interested, you can peruse her attempt here.
My ways are not your ways . . .
Sometimes I just have to repeat myself. I was browsing through my journal last night and came across this quote from Caryll Houselander which I love. I know I posted it awhile ago, but maybe your memory is like mine and you won’t mind reading–and pondering–it again.
I often think that the ideal of our perfection that we set up, and often go through torture to achieve, may not be God’s idea of how He wants us to be at all. That may be something quite different that we never would have thought of, and what seems like a failure to us may really be something bringing us closer to His will for us. (Caryll Houselander, quoted in Caryll Houselander, That Divine Eccentric by Maisie Ward)
Also . . . I just put up a new homily by Fr. Ken McKenna (at “Other Talks” at the “Talks” tab). You can also listen to it here: “Pure Faith, Hope, and Love.” If you haven’t listened to him before, free up ten minutes and give yourself a little treat.
Witnesses to Hope 