Finding Inner Peace: Risking Trust - 5/20/19

“When we first take our Christian discipleship seriously and commit ourselves to accountability with other Christians who are doing the same, we find out that we have a lot of rough edges. Our personality is harsh, or we’re sharp in the way we relate to others, or we’re a bit out of shape in our prayer. But it is the process of following Christ that helps us to go deeper and deeper into ourselves so that we empty ourselves: prayer, the sacraments, commitment to a group, or spiritual direction. We empty ourselves completely so that Jesus can take up residence more fully within us. Jesus changes our sharp edges and makes us gentle. It’s a practical thing. It’s working with God in a real way. It requires sincerity, and once we love the truth above everything, God sets us free. That’s communion.”

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Touching the Sunrise - 2022: Like Mary and Joseph Let Yourself Be Swept Up Into God’s Purposes

  You are an indispensable instrument of God’s plan and in perfectly surrendering to the divine flow of love, as mysterious and incomprehensible as it sometimes appears, you will find your happiness. New Year's Resolutions often target weaknesses in order to increase strengths so we can be who we want to be. Mystery and divine providence often relies specifically on our weaknesses to be the places where the glory of God shines through as we play our part in the drama of the mysterious plan of salvation. In the end, life is Mystery:  not perplexing confusion, but the Wisdom that is larger than our strategies, the Future that is greater than our projects, the Love that will encompass all of our potential. Mystery means God has a plan for you that is perfect in every way, a plan that can encompass and save even suffering and disappointment. Mystery means God will use you just as you are for a plan that has existed since before the foundation of the world and will exist into the u...
Read more

When You Wonder How the Pieces Fit Together: A Midlife Reflection - 4/28/21

In his unpublished manuscript  The Wound of Existence,  James Moran talks about the game we adults play, the game of “happy ever endings,” overcoming every challenge, “blasting” through every obstacle. We find our consolations in the crutches of ego, predictable order and reliable control, measurements, outcomes, neat and tidy boxes where we label everything to keep it safe. We are all in this game that is stretched out on the surface of reality and only by remaining on the surface, contrary to every heart’s call to the deep, can we stay in the game. But life’s purpose isn’t fulfilled by games of child’s play. It is that uncontrollable twist of our life’s story that brings shipwreck to the games, casts our hearts into the nothingness of a future that we cannot control, and ultimately puts us into the arms of God. These twists and turns of our life can be dramatic or simple, but they are there to free us from illusion and deepen our joy in life.....
Read more

At Christmas, it‘s okay to feel just the way you do... - 12/14/21

I've been missing for 6 months because I've been home caregiving for my parents. What a gift, what a wealth of healing and mercy it has been. Today I share a story from a young mother whom I observed yesterday that was also a moment of healing and grace. As we gather near Jesus this Christmas season, we all have moments of tears, wistful memories of what could have been, empty places in our hearts and at our tables…. We sometimes shed tears, and are unable to explain exactly what they mean or what it is we need. God, like a good mother, says to you, “It’s okay to cry.” God wraps his arms around you, kneels down to look you right in the eye, and whispers, “It’s okay to feel the way you do.” In a season where we are told we should be happy and nostalgic and romantic and excitedly anticipating sleigh rides “over the mountains and through the woods to grandmother’s house we go….”, it’s more than okay if your heart also carries a weight that is tearing open the veil to eternity from...
Read more