This is a great day of Mercy. It is the final work of mercy when Jesus goes to prepare a home for each one of us: I go to my Father and to your Father, I go to prepare a place for you. In my Father’s House, there are many mansions.
It helps me appreciate this work of mercy, when I think of my own earthly father and mother who went to such trouble preparing a home for us. It happened quite a lot because we never really owned a home but simply rented a place, and every few years depending on working situations, we were on the move to a new home. I have vivid memories of all the loving caring work of preparation: carpets, curtains, lights and mirrors not to mention the mountains of bedding and kitchen stuff.
And in this work of preparing a home in heaven, the Heavenly Father wants our co-operation. God our Father has a great task in hands-- keeping this whole creation ticking over, seeing to it that souls are saved and getting all his faithful ones into heaven. He could do it all on his own, but he calls us to share in his work. While God has an infinite supply of mercy to pour out on the world, he ask us to share in his outpouring by being merciful ourselves.
Jesus says: Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. And in the Fifth Beatitude: Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. It would seem that to pour out his mercy, The Almighty has need of our acts of mercy. As the Frenchman, Leon Bloy has written: We have the privilege of being needed by him who has need of no one. We are asked to give from the little we possess, but only to receive much more in return:
Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, they will pour into your lap. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return. Luke 6:38
By way of illustration let me tell of a couple who loved to work together in their garden. But this day the husband was on his own in the back garden. He was preparing to dig out the stubborn roots of an old tree. He toiled and sweated for over an hour until at last he knew it was coming. There was a surge of pride.... but then another emotion took over. He wanted his wife to share his little victory with him. He wanted her to have the thrill of pulling the old root out together with him. He didn’t really need any assistance. At least not in the physical sense. He had all the strength he needed for that. For love’s sake however, he needed her. He knew that she would like to part of his achievement. So he called her and together they pulled the old root out and dumped it. Together is better.
You notice the same thing when a strong man wins a seat in Parliament. He calls up his wife to stand beside him to share his hour of glory. Don’t we all want to share, to be needed, to be part of the project. As long as he needs me, goes the song. On the other hand there is the trauma of not being needed not wanted, not on the team. It must be terrible to hear those words: Surplus to requirement! Rejected! redundant! In God’s plan of mercy, there is no redundancy. We all in it together. We have the privilege of being needed by the One who has need of no one. He has entrusted some work of Divine mercy to me which he has committed to none other. He wishes me to work alongside him in his own mission of mercy. Let me do so that I may find mercy in my hour of need.
Domine quo vadis? Lord with are you going, asked Peter as he was running away from Rome to escape death. Jesus met him on the way and replied: Peter, I go to Rome to be crucified again. Peter understood that the Christ who promised to be with us until the end was suffering in the mystical body which is his people.
Despite the storms and the scandals of our times, we have this blessed assurance that the Lord is still with us—until the end of time. If we are experiencing crucifixion, the Lord is enduring in the midst of us. He is meeting up with us.
Tent of Meeting And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting… and all the people would rise up---each at his own door and observe. Whatever we meet up with as the ground seems to be taken from under us in so many fields -- sacred and secular we have this inner tent—this inner meeting place with the Lord. This is where we go when we sit and meditate each morning and evening.
Living in the Presence of God For the Jewish people the big question was not the Existence of God, whether there is a God or not, but whether God was with them or not. Speaking to the successor of Moses, the Lord said: As I was with Moses, so I will be with you: I will never forsake you. That means : Behind you, supporting and encouraging you, going before you, as a Pillar of fire by night and as a Cloud of Glory by day.
The word to the Prophets and Leaders always was: I the Lord am with you. To Mary: Hail full of grace, the Lord is with you.
Little wonder that this promise and blessing has found it way into the Eucharist: Dominus Vobiscum. And we keep in mind the words of Paul: If the Lord is with us, who can be against us!
This is one of the characteristics of love: to stay around. A small boy came home and told his Mammy about his Grandad who was sitting alone crying. “But its all right now,” he continued: “I sat with him and helped him to cry.”
This is what gives us security and inner peace and lets us sit still in meditation. We know that the Lord himself sits with us, gathers up our tears and enfolds in his love. We do like that small boy, we sit with each other and live in the presence of each other. Fr. Gabriel: Dominican Priory, Tallaght, Dublin 24, Ireland. EMAIL: hartygabriel@yahoo.co.uk
Domine quo vadis? Lord with are you going, asked Peter as he was running away from Rome to escape death. Jesus met him on the way and replied: Peter, I go to Rome to be crucified again. Peter understood that the Christ who promised to be with us until the end was suffering in the mystical body which is his people.
Despite the storms and the scandals of our times, we have this blessed assurance that the Lord is still with us—until the end of time. If we are experiencing crucifixion, the Lord is enduring in the midst of us. He is meeting up with us.
Tent of Meeting And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting… and all the people would rise up---each at his own door and observe. Whatever we meet up with as the ground seems to be taken from under us in so many fields -- sacred and secular we have this inner tent—this inner meeting place with the Lord. This is where we go when we sit and meditate each morning and evening.
Living in the Presence of God For the Jewish people the big question was not the Existence of God, whether there is a God or not, but whether God was with them or not.
Speaking to the successor of Moses, the Lord said: As I was with Moses, so I will be with you: I will never forsake you. That means : Behind you, supporting and encouraging you, going before you, as a Pillar of fire by night and as a Cloud of Glory by day. The word to the prophets and leaders always was: I the Lord am with you. To Mary: Hail full of grace, the Lord is with you.
Little wonder that this promise and blessing has found it way into the Eucharist: Dominus Vobiscum. And we keep in mind the words of Paul: If the Lord is with us, who can be against us!
This is one of the characteristics of love: to stay around. A small boy came home and told his Mammy about his Grandad who was sitting alone crying. “But its all right now,” he continued: “I sat with him and helped him to cry.”
This is what gives us security and inner peace and lets us sit still in meditation. We know that the Lord himself sits with us, gathers up our tears and enfolds in his love. We do like that small boy, we sit with each other and live in the presence of each other.
You can write to me at Dominican Priory, Tallaght Village, Dublin 24, Ireland or email: hartygabriel@yahoo.co.uk
Motherhood of souls is Mary’s essential function. Without participation in that, there can be no real union with her. True devotion comprises the service of souls. It is not enough to praise, we are called to imitate, identify with Mary herself. She is a Queen Mother with a family as extensive as the whole Kingdom of God. Just as it is not enough to pray, thy kingdom come ,so we have to work to bring about that Kingdom. We have to play an active part. St. Paul used the daring expression: I fill up in my body what is wanting to the passion of Christ. Without our Legion apostolate of sharing in the motherhood of Mary, there would be something wanting to our devotion.
A mere verbal offering of our services to Mary can be as empty. Apostolic duties will not descend from Heaven on those who content themselves with waiting passively for that to happen. Those who stand idly by will continue in their state of unemployment. The only effective method of offering ourselves as apostles is to undertake apostleship. We have just to take the first simple step in faith and love and at once Mary embraces our activity and incorporates it in her motherhood.
How could the Virgin so powerful be dependent on the aid of persons so weak? It is a part of the divine arrangement which requires human co-operation. Mary's treasury of grace is superabundant, but she cannot spend from it without our help. If she could use her power according to her heart alone, the world would be converted in the twinkling of an eye. But she has to wait till the human agencies are available to her. Deprived of them, she cannot fulfil her motherhood, and souls starve and die. Legionaries are no dead instruments of Mary's action. There is question of a living and life-giving co-operation with her for the purpose of enriching and ransoming souls. Where the spirit of this partnership is honoured, Mary is never be found wanting. The fate of the enterprise may be said to depend entirely on the legionary, so that he must bring to it all his/her intelligence and strength, perfected by careful method and by perseverance.
One must pray as if all depended on that prayer and nothing on one's own efforts, and then one must strive as if absolutely everything depended on that striving. There is nothing lost of anything which is committed to the hands of the careful housewife of Nazareth. The legionary looks to Mary to supernaturalise the natural. She who is full of grace will see it that our human endeavour walks hand in hand with the grace of God
All over the world these days, the TV and radio are beating out a continuous story about the financial crisis that is upon us. The more we listen to the torrent of depressive words that are rolling over us, like a sunami the more we need to find a way of rising above the waves of doom and gloom.
This is where the daily dose of meditation such as the Rosary provides can come to our aid. The time set aside to ponder enter the wonderland of the Rosary seems to roll back the waters of darkness and depression. One ceases to let the tide of distress take over. We find ourselves at ease as we discover the inner land where Jesus and Mary live and all things are well.Miracles of healing and well-being are there for the asking.
I am reminded of the miracle that the Lord worked for the Israelites as the might forces of Pharo and the Egyptians was bearing down on them. With the burning sands of the desert behind them and the terror of the Red Sea ahead, the Lord opened a way through for them. Moses lifted up his rod, and with the might of the Lord on his side, made the waters pile up to provide a solid dry ground, so that the people could pass safely through on to the Land that flowed with wine and milk and honey.
That journey to the physical land is a symbol of the pilgrim soul moving in meditation to the inner land of the heart. There exists an inner space where amid the desert of desolation one may find security and serenity. The peace and the stability generated in those sacred times, radiate to the rest of the day.
The fragrance of those precious moments permeates our being, and brings all our ways to a creativity, and a consummation beyond our dreaming. We learn to live, no longer out of our own meagre resource, but out of the infinite supply of the heavenly Father. We rest in those words of Jesus, that the Father who feeds the birds of the air and clothes the lilies of the field is constantly looking after us.
Exodus 4: 18-31 Moses was on his way back to Egypt to see how his Jewish people were faring. They no longer saw themselves as the chosen people, but as chain-gang slaves under the Pharaoh. At a lodging place, that the Lord met him and wanted to kill him. Then Zipporah his wife took a flint, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet; and she said: Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me, because of the circumcision. Circumcision was the male Sign of the Covenant. The wife it would appear from this text was considered a Bride in Covenant Blood.
Hosea 2:17-19: I will make for you a covenant....and I will betroth you to me for ever...in justice, in steadfast love, and in mercy.I will betroth you to me in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord. Ezek. 16:8 I plighted my troth to you and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord God, and you became mine
Marriage covenant gives Security! Beauty of seeing a loving couple at Mass together joined together in the Body and Blood of Jesus. Marriage is not just an image of the Covenant, but an actual embodiment of it. Where it flourishes others can rest-- children, even visitors to the home. When one is in a loving union with another, there is harmony in the heart and an ambience of peace and contentment that enables one to settle in to the core and cavern of the soul. I overheard one woman say that while she was sitting at her work-desk, suddenly she was enlightened to as to the inner happiness and contentment she drew from her husband.
Spouses need quality/prime time on their own. When the little children are asleep in bed... and mini-breaks for resting alone. Even the children benefit from this. Loving spouses hold their family in their own embrace. They are enfolded in their love. My own memory is that the times I felt most secure was when my parents were close and content. When they were divided, we too felt divided and depressed.
Bridegroom/Bride relationship in God’s covenant So indeed, when we are deeply drawn into the communion with the Lord, so surely are those who are of God’s family and are entrusted to our care. The contemplative life, far from being selfish or closed in on itself is an open circle enfolding and embracing all people and all creation. When Lover and Beloved are at one, there is a creative energy between them, that brings forth new life. The union of male and female in marriage finds its fullest expression within the context of God’s covenant relationship with his people.
The Lover and the Beloved find nourishment for their souls in the Song of Solomon. 7:10-12. I am my beloved’s and his desire is for me. Come my beloved, let us go forth into the fields and lodge in the villages; let us go early to my vineyards. . . . There I will give you my love.
When Jeremiah prophesied of the institution of the New Covenant, he said, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt: which My covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them. This again supposes that under the terms of the old covenant, Israel were related to the Lord as a wife to an husband.
The charge laid against Israel, however, is that they proved unfaithful to their marriage vow.
Hosea experienced the heartbreak of desertion, and betrayal from his unfaithful wife Gomer . He heard the awful words of the Lord: You are not my people and I will not be your God. The adultery of his wife was an image of the betrayal of God by his people Israel. The woman Hosea loved was to be sold in the slave market. The brokenhearted prophet didn't know what to do. And God said. Hosea, do you love this woman in spite of all that she has done to you? Then go show your love for her in the same way that I love the nation Israel." In the end his ears would hear the consoling words of the Lord to this same people: Behold I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. I was reminded of all this, sitting before an open fire. There was central heating in the house and it certainly warmed the room and comforted our bones. But when someone threw a large oil-soaked fire-log on the open fire, a blaze of glory filled the room and made our faces glow and our hearts to be as it were on fire too. Love human and divine is like this. St John of he Cross in his work The Living Flame speaks of the Bridegroom or of the Beloved 550 times using such expressions for Christ as Light of the eyes, Lily of the valley, Sweet Nightingale!
Commenting on the Song of Songs, he says: A little of this pure love is more precious to God, more precious to the soul, and of more benefit for the Church, even though it seems to be doing nothing, than all those other works together. He writes: Enter within your heart and work in the presence of your Bridegroom, who is always present loving you. Even when John talks of nada nada, nothing nothing, it is never an empty space he envisions, but a an opening for an infilling with the presence of the Bridegroom.
In a modern writing Love Before my Face: one reads the following inspired message from Jesus: I will divinise natural love between persons who seek to love through my Divine Humanity. Celibates depending on my Divine Humanity will receive support whereby they may love humanly while remaining faithful to me. They will find freedom to show great affection. Trust in me, will carry them through difficulties.
By loving each other while placing all their trust in me, the love and gratitude of their hearts for me will be deepened. I will enter into your flesh and chasten it and make it sweet to love. Love without expression, if expression can help or heal another, is sterile. I have called you to love, and thus to love each other. If you do not first find me, you will be unable to love, with the love that profits for eternal life. I will be in your loving and you will find it sweet to love. If I am sought through human loving. If I am understood and accepted as the author, giver and source of love, then my support, my tenderness and my power will give to those who love, an understanding of the true meaning of love and of human life. True love is not confined to marriage. Single celibate persons are called to this: as evidenced by the Book devoted to the love between Jordan of Saxony and the nun Blessed Diana entitled, Love among the Saints. It must be understood that while we speak of love human and divine and of the many-splendoured range of love, spousal love, love between parents and children, love of country, and so on, in the end there is only one Love for it all finds its source and reaches it summit in the Trinitarian God who is Love itself.
Picture above: The Marriage Feast of Cana, which is much more than a matter of providing wine for the immediate occasion, but is a foreshadowing of the overflowing of the wine and milk and honey of the New Covenant./BlogWebSingle.doc
