Encamped in the world surrounding
Is the Darkness found, Darkness engulfing...
What can we do with the blazing fires,
Fires made for blazing pillars, blazing spires?
The Darkness surrounds but cannot overcome,
Cannot overcome the grace given, the grace now begun!
Enkindle in your hearts the fire He wishes to blaze,
Do not run from the Darkness—Engage!
Spirit of Love, light on fire the World,
Light on fire the World to save!
Light the Light of Faith!
Engage!
Showing posts with label Holy Spirit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holy Spirit. Show all posts
Monday, September 23, 2013
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Love Requires Communion
Love does not require two people, and yet, at the same time, it cannot be forced or coerced. It must be a gift to be accepted or denied, received or rejected. Love is not a pure emotion, though emotions and passions can drive it, but a willed act. It cannot be as fickle as the winds or the rain, or exacted like a science or weather phenomena. Love cannot be predicted for the simple fact that it requires a free will ready to return that love which has been first given, and thus to be shared with the Other, with each of the ones surrounding. Love requires Communion.
It is there that Love takes on all its properties and all of its varied and diverse forms. It is here in this moment, when it is shared that the seed of faith grows, that hope is renewed, and that Love takes root.
Any setback, any humiliation, any perceived foible or failure possibly seen by others, any heartbreak, any loss of possession, any separation of affection and touch, or even the sense of abject failure need not go unpurposed, unused, or wasted in the pursuit of this Communion of Love. The Spirit of God gives us fruits of grace especially in these humble moments when the consolations dry up and the earthly happiness ceases. The rains of grace shall come again, and the new day shall dawn once more and break from on high. This temporal winter so too shall pass. And even in these dry moments, there Love is.
And so it is, Love through Communion and Communion through selfless love. It isn't so much that we go wandering the world in search of Love in all the wrong places; it is that we have forgotten that it wasn't we who first loved but that we must realize that we must first be loved before we can learn to speak adequately in the language demanded by Love and of the One who created us. No single response is exactly the same to the demands of love. And those demands, which may seem high and distant at times or number many, distill into each the basic callings that each person receives as the seed to their very "vocation to love," as St. Therese of Lisieux once said.
Her struggle to win herself over to her "Little Way" is as legendary as it is simple: to be all things to all, she must first be love for the other in her own distinct, simple, child-like way. She was not everything, and yet through Love's massive expanse she became, through the Communion of Love and through the Faith and Hope she professed, the Love she desired so much. She did not allow the stumbling block of fear to obscure the "lamp upon [her] feet" and "light of [her] path" (cf. Psalm 119:105).
Love has no other ultimate end besides Communion with God, who is Love. And so, while the impostor examples placate in the interim, anything that does not lead us to that ultimate end of Communion with Him—be it trifle or tempest, longing or largesse, silence or speech, climax or desolation, height or depth—we find ourselves unable to be filled, by which we are unable to be in lasting peace, and in the end through which we are unable to have everlasting life itself without this aim. No matter its tried and noble path, if it not end in love, then it would be all dross. Without this Love, supreme of all virtues, we would be nothing, for without Him we are. And with Him, no matter the past, Love conquerors all not by force but by simple unending Truth in Communion with the Creator Blest. "We love because he first loved us." (1 Jn 4:19)
Where else but first at the Sacrifice of the Cross at Calvary in the bloody form and then at the re-presentation at the Altar under the unbloody form of the Eucharist first instituted by Christ himself as a Sacrament of Love? Where else can Love come down to be poured into all the Faithful to both strengthen them and to show them Love's most sublime way of entering into Communion with His bride, the Church? Love has no end, except in Him. Let us return in love by whom all loves so beautifully excel in bringing one another God, in whom we are strengthened for the blessed race still to be run but that has already been won, and through Him we have everlasting life.
It is there that Love takes on all its properties and all of its varied and diverse forms. It is here in this moment, when it is shared that the seed of faith grows, that hope is renewed, and that Love takes root.
Any setback, any humiliation, any perceived foible or failure possibly seen by others, any heartbreak, any loss of possession, any separation of affection and touch, or even the sense of abject failure need not go unpurposed, unused, or wasted in the pursuit of this Communion of Love. The Spirit of God gives us fruits of grace especially in these humble moments when the consolations dry up and the earthly happiness ceases. The rains of grace shall come again, and the new day shall dawn once more and break from on high. This temporal winter so too shall pass. And even in these dry moments, there Love is.
"Love and truth will meet; justice and peace shall kiss. Truth will spring from the earth; justice shall look down from heaven." Psalm 85:11-12
And so it is, Love through Communion and Communion through selfless love. It isn't so much that we go wandering the world in search of Love in all the wrong places; it is that we have forgotten that it wasn't we who first loved but that we must realize that we must first be loved before we can learn to speak adequately in the language demanded by Love and of the One who created us. No single response is exactly the same to the demands of love. And those demands, which may seem high and distant at times or number many, distill into each the basic callings that each person receives as the seed to their very "vocation to love," as St. Therese of Lisieux once said.
"In this is love brought to perfection among us, that we have confidence on the day of judgment because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment, and so one who fears is not yet perfect in love. We love because he first loved us." 1 John 4:17-19
Her struggle to win herself over to her "Little Way" is as legendary as it is simple: to be all things to all, she must first be love for the other in her own distinct, simple, child-like way. She was not everything, and yet through Love's massive expanse she became, through the Communion of Love and through the Faith and Hope she professed, the Love she desired so much. She did not allow the stumbling block of fear to obscure the "lamp upon [her] feet" and "light of [her] path" (cf. Psalm 119:105).
Love has no other ultimate end besides Communion with God, who is Love. And so, while the impostor examples placate in the interim, anything that does not lead us to that ultimate end of Communion with Him—be it trifle or tempest, longing or largesse, silence or speech, climax or desolation, height or depth—we find ourselves unable to be filled, by which we are unable to be in lasting peace, and in the end through which we are unable to have everlasting life itself without this aim. No matter its tried and noble path, if it not end in love, then it would be all dross. Without this Love, supreme of all virtues, we would be nothing, for without Him we are. And with Him, no matter the past, Love conquerors all not by force but by simple unending Truth in Communion with the Creator Blest. "We love because he first loved us." (1 Jn 4:19)
Where else but first at the Sacrifice of the Cross at Calvary in the bloody form and then at the re-presentation at the Altar under the unbloody form of the Eucharist first instituted by Christ himself as a Sacrament of Love? Where else can Love come down to be poured into all the Faithful to both strengthen them and to show them Love's most sublime way of entering into Communion with His bride, the Church? Love has no end, except in Him. Let us return in love by whom all loves so beautifully excel in bringing one another God, in whom we are strengthened for the blessed race still to be run but that has already been won, and through Him we have everlasting life.
"At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic Sacrifice of his Body and Blood. He did this in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the centuries until he should come again, and so to entrust to his beloved spouse, the Church, a memorial of his death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a paschal banquet in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us." (Sacrosanctum Concilium 47)
Monday, July 16, 2012
Being Animated by the Holy Spirit
The greater the gift of self and the desire to give it, the more one wants to be out of the time and space of the moment. We are finite creatures in an infinite universe. Why shouldn't we yearn for this completion?
The trick then turns out to be making the present moment a result of that very desire to give that gift to the fullest. It is here that the motion from the first moment to the subsequent takes place and all is animated. As it is, to be animated is, by its very root, to be indwelled with the Holy Spirit. What more can we pray for? This indwelling lifts the moment from the static page and makes it a motion picture of grace. The moment multiplies. Time now takes shape and even starts to fly. The dimension which was static to the total gift of self becomes a movement along a divinely-willed plane. As it is, our Creator did not want us to be static but rather dynamic.
So when we forget why we are where we are, let us remember that this is only a stage, a place on the dimensional plane, that spans from the finite to the infinite. Our gifts are not wasted if they are being stored as they ought to be for the appointed time and place. Grace can never be wasted, so as long as we cooperate not just in one moment but the trail of moments that follow until the Spirit that dwells within these enfleshed temples of the same Holy Spirit parts with the souls who strive toward that holy desire of greater gift of self. For in the end, that desire that was put on the heart of the soul indwelled at conception will finally see the fullness of the desire complete; it shall see that restless heart's desire consummated. It shall see God face-to-face.
The trick then turns out to be making the present moment a result of that very desire to give that gift to the fullest. It is here that the motion from the first moment to the subsequent takes place and all is animated. As it is, to be animated is, by its very root, to be indwelled with the Holy Spirit. What more can we pray for? This indwelling lifts the moment from the static page and makes it a motion picture of grace. The moment multiplies. Time now takes shape and even starts to fly. The dimension which was static to the total gift of self becomes a movement along a divinely-willed plane. As it is, our Creator did not want us to be static but rather dynamic.
So when we forget why we are where we are, let us remember that this is only a stage, a place on the dimensional plane, that spans from the finite to the infinite. Our gifts are not wasted if they are being stored as they ought to be for the appointed time and place. Grace can never be wasted, so as long as we cooperate not just in one moment but the trail of moments that follow until the Spirit that dwells within these enfleshed temples of the same Holy Spirit parts with the souls who strive toward that holy desire of greater gift of self. For in the end, that desire that was put on the heart of the soul indwelled at conception will finally see the fullness of the desire complete; it shall see that restless heart's desire consummated. It shall see God face-to-face.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Rush Upon Me
O distant dream, O rushing current,
Spirit of the Lord rush upon me...
That each of us do see the gifts given,
The Love in opening our eyes to see
The Vocation given to each of us to be.
We shared a dance or two that night before
With music of angels, of joy, of life below...
Awakening our hearts a joy from before,
Opening our hearts to wisdom, to joy, to love bestowed.
O distant dream, O rushing current,
Spirit of the Lord, rush upon me...
Let me see the Vocation to be given to me.
Spirit of the Lord, rush upon me.
Give me the strength to be;
Give me the strength I need.
Spirit of the Lord, rush upon me.
Spirit of the Lord rush upon me...
That each of us do see the gifts given,
The Love in opening our eyes to see
The Vocation given to each of us to be.
We shared a dance or two that night before
With music of angels, of joy, of life below...
Awakening our hearts a joy from before,
Opening our hearts to wisdom, to joy, to love bestowed.
O distant dream, O rushing current,
Spirit of the Lord, rush upon me...
Let me see the Vocation to be given to me.
Spirit of the Lord, rush upon me.
Give me the strength to be;
Give me the strength I need.
Spirit of the Lord, rush upon me.
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