“It has become the altar of intimacy for me.

This is where I came to love Him, at last.

I see this bloody tree as the place of meeting.

But who can ever forget the place where you first

gave your heart to the one you love?

We never leave this continual death.

Are we called to daily resurrection?

…an offence that I now embrace with a whole heart.”

————————–

Pure life, pure poetry. Thank you.

Brian

Great post. The importance of knowing that, no matter what state of life we lead at present, that that is where God has led us: that that is the place where He is outpouring His love, in all its specificity and particular power and gentleness, in mystery that doesn’t ultimately defeat our hearts, but gradually opens them up somehow. It’s good to be reminded that at no point in our changing lives, does our basic belonging to God ever alter. That there is a great and sharp purpose to everything about us, and our present circumstances.

Brian

I really found this post of yours quite meaningful. Gracefully written thoughts on something that rests on my heart these days too.

Brian

Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val (1865-1930),
Secretary of State for Pope Saint Pius X

O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed,
Deliver me, Jesus.

From the desire of being loved…
From the desire of being extolled …
From the desire of being honored …
From the desire of being praised …
From the desire of being preferred to others…
From the desire of being consulted …
From the desire of being approved …
From the fear of being humiliated …
From the fear of being despised…
From the fear of suffering rebukes …
From the fear of being calumniated …
From the fear of being forgotten …
From the fear of being ridiculed …
From the fear of being wronged …
From the fear of being suspected …

That others may be loved more than I,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

That others may be esteemed more than I …
That, in the opinion of the world,
others may increase and I may decrease …
That others may be chosen and I set aside …
That others may be praised and I unnoticed …
That others may be preferred to me in everything…
That others may become holier than I,
provided that I may become as holy as I should…
——————————–

Brian

Being supple enough to bend to His “slightest touch.”

Being carried, being light enough to be carried by every little whisper that comes from His breath and from His mouth.

Beautiful thoughts, but often hard to hold on to; a consoling image to picture, but often clouded over by worry or anxiety about something or other.

Perhaps it is easier than I think: maybe one can really just reach out and even desperately grab–I suppose there really is a mighty, gentle Arm waiting out there beyond the rim of light to catch my fall, to reach out and steady my unsteady steps.

Brian

Somehow those words are so mysteriously wrapped in both a kind of intense pain as well as the freest, almost silliest kind of absolute freedom.

Brian

Brian