IN Christ

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March 23, 2009 IN Christ

St. Andrew’s Discipleship & Bible Stories

Our introductory exercise this evening followed this format:

Pondering the Annunciation / Incarnation / Magnificat –

“God thank You for how wonderful I am, and God, thank You even more for how wonderful we are all becoming together – My name is : <Doug Logsdon from Alhambra, CA>; <Vincent from LAX>; etc.

Authentic spontaneity

The Ever Blessed Virgin Mary : My soul magnifies the Lord (proclaims the greatness of the Lord)

The FULLNESS of Her whole person is doing nothing but magnifying God –

<There was so much, Fr Paul, that you said on this and I wish you’d add more: I was (fingers couldn’t begin to keep up) zoned out in awe pondering/contemplating. But above is the substance. KRK>

Joseph breaking down the soul :

The soul is ONLY known by God: (we do not know the state of our own souls)

The perfect state of the soul is the union of the intellect (truth) and the will (good)

When we have union of intellect & will – we have Peace of Soul

Angels only have access to everything below the intellect and will (lower functions of the soul)

Concupiscence & irascibility (animal kingdom)

Imagination & memory

Before the Fall

(Original Sin of Adam & Eve)

perfect order (original Justice) higher faculties ordered the lower

Joseph drew a diagram for us:

God - Trinity

Mary

Angels – 1/3 fell -- 2/3 protecting us

Man

Animals

Plants

Matter

The only way to become Holy is to WILL IT – Charity/Love

AFTER THE FALL

Lower faculties in control of higher

Due to Fall the Intellect and Will are no longer in union

GRACE switches the triangle back right side up

1 Cor 15:45

Spirit – Soul : are these terms the same? No. Do the Scriptures distinguish them in any way? Yes.

45 The first man Adam was made into a living soul; the last Adam is a quickening spirit.

The first Adam was a living soul; the last Adam [Christ] is life-giving spirit.

It is the Spirit that gives Life––Divine life.

Heb 4: 12

12 For the word of God is living and effectual, and more piercing than any two edged sword; and reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit, of the joints also and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Hebrew: mind, heart, soul, spirit – one leader in a life-time –

(psycho) = mind not spirit

(pneumatos / πνευματόϛ = spirit)

Adam has a living soul

Christ – IS – a LIFE GIVING Spirit

God is Spirit – we worship God in Spirit and Truth by a disposition of Grace

There is a dispositional grace for us to start cooperating with

To move from grace to grace – this is development – growth “in Grace”

When Mary would receive another Grace she would ponder it in her Heart, and allow it to shape her – “Let it be done unto me according to Your Word” – don’t let me understand Your Word but let Your Word form me.

God’s Form-ation of our souls is compounding– as we cooperate with God’s Grace we are then ABLE to cooperate more

We practice natural virtues but we have infused supernatural Graces that accelerate our growth in natural and supernatural virtue – to grow into our inheritance – He wants to ACTUATE in us our potential, our inheritance

In Jesus Christ, in His natural life, His Divinity was hidden

Jesus Christ had the full unity of His Divinity and Humanity – bringing human nature into alignment with the Divine Will : Heb 5: 7-9 (Sunday 5^th Lent)

7 Who in the days of His Flesh, with a strong cry and tears, offering up prayers and supplications to Him that was able to save him from death, was heard for His reverence. 8 And whereas indeed He was the Son of God, He learned obedience by the things which He suffered: 9 And being consummated, He became, to all that obey Him, the cause of eternal salvation. 10 Called by God a high priest according to the order of Melchisedech.

Look in the Garden – if this cup …

Lk 22: 42

39 And going out, he went, according to his custom, to the mount of Olives. And his disciples also followed him. 40 And when he was come to the place, he said to them: Pray, lest ye enter into temptation. 41 And he was withdrawn away from them a stone's cast; and kneeling down, he prayed, 42 Saying: Father, if thou wilt, remove this chalice from me: but yet not my will, but thine be done. 43 And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony, he prayed the longer. 44 And his sweat became as drops of blood, trickling down upon the ground. 45 And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow. 46 And he said to them: Why sleep you? arise, pray, lest you enter into temptation.

(rest in Prayer and wake up in Prayer) –

Jesus is accustomed to prayer – get in touch with the REAL Jesus and get in touch with the reality we need to

Jesus needed to enter into deep, intense and frequent prayer – we read in Scripture: the He was in prayer – that He was all night in prayer

There might be a clue here

A watch in the night = 4 hours

Can you spend a watch (a soldier’s shift) – you’re only good for 4 hours – be with Me for a “watch” – “an hour” is calculated as “a watch” not 60 minutes but 4 hours

Jesus was used to stable, sober periods of alertness Himself – used to doing this in that Place (Garden of Olives, Desert, etc.) where He spent these big chunks of time

We don’t think we need to pray this way – that’s not a part of our life – or what we really think we need to do

We need to get very real about this – we act as if this were a metaphor – Christ is fully praying

– to stay in tune with and to advance in receptivity and readied capacity to what do as My Heavenly Father is doing – To be as my Father is being.

to stay in union in Spirit and in Truth – His faculties were edified, strengthened and consoled so that when He’s with a foolish St Peter – all His faculties need to be loaded in Prayer for these times – making more delicate and nuanced His faculties.

“His disciples followed Him … pray that you may not undergo the test… kneeling He prayed… Father if You are Willing… not My Will but Yours be done … He was in such agony … sweat drops of blood”

“Why are you sleeping ….”

I only do what My Heavenly Father is doing – if you want Me to do anything outside of that you’d better talk to the Big Guy

Our Lady says:

My soul … my spirit rejoices in God my Savior … lowly handmaid

The Almighty has done great things for me

His Mercy is from generation to generation

Dispositional graces – cooperates with those graces – God can DO wonderful things in her own nothingness – but God cannot do His Will in her without her cooperating -- her cooperation is allowing True Love to be occurring from her

We need a “personal trainer” – if your technique is a little off – you’re going to hurt yourself

– Our Lady is our personal trainer

Humility – what is humility : Virgin of Guadalupe look at her – magnificat

God WANTS to be glorified in Mary – God WANTS to be glorified in me –

Is it God’s will for me to be glorious with God’s glory

Without my trying very hard – let it be done unto me – it is HIS wonder – He looked on me in my nothingness (Mary)

Onus (burden) is on God – to glorify Himself in us

This will be easy and light (according to Jesus): “For My yoke is sweet (easy); My burden light” (Mt. 11:30)

Padre Pio – lower and higher aspects of soul

God wants us to be sharers in his divine self –

Only IS thee only ONE Christian – Jesus Christ

Ephesians 1:3 “In Christ” … “In Christ” … “In Christ” …. Is there a theme here?

Ephesians 1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, to all the saints who are at Ephesus, and to the Faithful in Christ Jesus. 2 Grace be to you, and peace from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with spiritual blessings, in Christ: 4 As He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unspotted in His sight in Charity.

We cannot become Christians – this entire Gift of Faith is all in Christ – we can insert ourselves into His own Christ-ian-ness –we always remain in Him as members of His ONE Christ-ness

The ONLY one Who will BE Good is God Himself – us in God in Christ – He is God He is God’s Will – Christ brought His Human Will into complete obedience – this obedience to His Will is part of who we are in Christ

We get all of the Jesus stuff in us – we do NOT have to be good with our own goodness. Then we cooperate with moral participation.

 

Ephesians 1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, to all the saints who are at Ephesus, and to the Faithful in Christ Jesus. 2 Grace be to you, and peace from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:   4 As He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unspotted in His sight in Charity. 5 Who hath predestinated us unto the adoption of children through Jesus Christ unto Himself: according to the purpose of His Will: 6 Unto the praise of the glory of His grace, in which He hath graced us in His beloved Son. 7 In Whom we have redemption through His Blood, the remission of sins, according to the riches of His grace, 8 Which hath superabounded in us in all Wisdom and Prudence, 9 That He might make known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure, which He hath purposed in Him, 10 In the dispensation of the fullness of times, to re-establish all things in Christ, that are in heaven and on earth, in Him.

 

 

Movement and power of God in us – allow movement of Grace and cooperate with Grace IN Christ Jesus

“so that we might exist for the praise of His glory – have believed in Him – first installment

2 Peter 1:3

His divine power has bestowed on us everything that makes us Holy in Christ

Thru the knowledge of Him

He has bestowed on us precious and very great promises

A share in the Divine Nature

after escaping from the corruption of sin

We are NOT “meditating” to discover – that we are God

Only He has all the Virtues to handle that much glory – otherwise it incinerates us –

With, through and IN Christ we can handle that much glory

The Ever Blessed Virgin Mary had a little snapshot of it

We are saved, sanctified, glorified

Glorification – we show forth God’s own Glory and Divine Nature

NO creature can claim they are God – Mary is the Mother of God but not God

God wants to share the fullness of His Divinity – I Am Who Am – God – development of that progression is taking place

Most effective mode – divinization process – through the Church through the Sacred Liturgy - The Sacrament of “My” Body and Blood

Transforming power of the Eucharist – central Sacrament for nourishing that process

St Augustine paraphrase – This Bread wants to Eat you Alive and Divinize you

“I Am the Bread of Life”

May we come to share in the Divinity of Christ

His process is to take us into HIS Paschal Mystery; His dying and rising; Divinization through participation – this IS the central work of God to bring us into Himself

Titus 3:6-7

Titus 3:4 But when the goodness and kindness of God our Saviour appeared: 5 Not by the works of justice, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us, by the laver of regeneration, and renovation of the Holy Ghost; 6 Whom he hath poured forth upon us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour: 7 That, being justified by his grace, we may be heirs, according to hope of life everlasting.

BAPTIZED INTO CHRIST JESUS

we cease to be as we were – only human –

we are united in Him in His death – there goes your best excuse * down the drain

* “ I’m only human ”

Prayer is Whose Ambassador ?

This evening, Father Francis Ilano began the meeting by sharing his journey of how God called him to the priesthood.

Father Francis:
I’m the Associate Pastor St. John Vianney. I was born in the Philippines. I attended high school and then came here in 1987. I was born in Manila. I have a Bachelor’s Degree in computer engineering. I altar served in high school with the seminarian who worked in the parish. There was only one priest in the parish. Everyday I would pass by the rectory and see the priest and the seminarian hanging out. I thought to myself, I have got to hang out and see what they do. When I was in high school, I was thinking about what to do. I was playing with the idea of the priesthood with my best friend.

In college, I heard that my friend was really sick. He had this amazing conversion experience. He entered the seminary and was discerning. It got me thinking about the priesthood once again. However, I made an economic decision to go into the field of engineering. I went back for my master’s in computer engineering at CAL State Long Beach. While at going through school, I got more involved in my home parish of St. Bernard. One time the alter server trainer said, “Can you help train altar servers?” When she left, I ended up training the altar servers. Eventually they asked if I would help with lector training. So, I got involved in both. I was spending a lot of free time in church anyway, so the priesthood would not be too much of a next step. I brought it up to my parents. They were totally against it! In my experience, Filipinos support vocations as long as they are not in their families. Other people’s families are okay. J So, I started to discern privately with the discernment group at St John’s Seminary. I had all these vocation books in my car. One time my mom needed a ride. She put her stuff in the back seat where I had my vocation books. That’s how my family found out I was discerning.

While discerning, somebody told me “as long as doors keep opening, keep going through them…” While I was in the seminary, I kept thinking…They are going to kick me out…I don’t pray as well as others. I like Star Trek and Disney… others are on their knees and I am watching DVD’s!

I went through first and second year theology. I did an internship at St. Joseph’s. Still, I kept thinking that they were going to kick me out. Someone said that one of these days you have to decide if you are going to be a priest. I decided I wanted to be a priest. It gave me peace and made me happy.

I was ordained 2 ½ years ago. Father Paul and I were classmates. Throughout all of my schooling I had very competitive ethics. Engineering is a competitive field. In seminary I carried the same competitiveness. Father Paul said, “We are all in this together…in the Church.” I became more collaborative. It was not about grades…it was about the pastoral experience…about God. That is the mode I have been operating with. I got ordained June 4, 2006 with Father Paul.

Roses:
How did your prayer change once you knew you were going to be a priest?

Father Francis:
My prayer became more honest. I used to pray, “God everything is good.” Once I got used to the fact I that I wanted to be a priest, I was honest with God whether I was angry or whatever. I would say, “This is your gig!”

John:
How did your pop culture change?
Father Francis:
It hasn’t changed much! (Lots of laughter in the room!) In seminary we snuck out of meetings to watch Gilmore Girls on Tuesday nights. (More laughter!)

Robert:
How do you like the structure of your life, like the hours saying Mass, Baptisms, Marriages?

Father Francis:
The hours are a killer for me. I am used to a routine. In college I would wake up at 5a.m. and take the bus. Everything had a schedule. Work was like that, too. What is disorienting about parish ministry is that people come in, you never know, you may schedule time to do homily preparation, but someone comes in. You have to adapt. There are some people who thrive on variety. You don’t get bored. It’s difficult though.

Robert:
How much time does it take to prepare homilies?

Father Francis:
It takes quite some time. We have Bible Study on Monday nights and it’s lectionary-based. So I start on Monday to prepare to teach that. Now, others are helping to instruct [so that helps.] I pray with the readings through the week. I usually don’t write the homily until Thursday or Friday, and then I come up with examples last.

Gary:
What is your greatest weekly joy?

Father Francis:
Confession and Anointing of the Sick are my favorite Sacraments. Confession is very life-giving for me. When I hear Confession, people want to be there. It is the most honest Sacrament. Anointing of Sick is like that as well. People are in their greatest need, so there is no faking it. Some people may say anything if they want to get married – you never know. Even with Confirmation, some kids are on fire with their faith; some are there because their parents make them come. Confession is probably the most life-giving.

Tabatha:
In the seminary, you do prayer communally. Once out of the seminary and in your priesthood, are there chances for you to pray within a community?

Father Francis:
In the rectory, everyone has their routine so we rarely do things together. We do eat dinner most days together. Saturday night is when we are required to eat together. Only by coincidence do we eat together at other meals. In the seminary, you do get used to the communal way of praying.

Ethan:
Aside from prayer your life with other priests, do you find opportunities to share? Let me backtrack…you are building relationships and forming bonds at the seminary…now you go into the priesthood where you are with priests you haven’t built that bond with yet.. is it tricky or do you just go with the flow?

Father Francis:
It is tricky; sometimes very tricky to bond. Sometimes it’s difficult to break into established groups. I do have a support group from the seminary. We connect once a month. There are four of us. I find spiritual direction once a month, my support group, my friends before seminary, while in seminary, and friends through the seminary are very important for me as well. They may or may not be priests.

Gary:
Is there anything we can do as laity besides praying to help priests who are so worn out?

Father Francis:
Being involved in ministry is very important. For example, at St. John Vianney, we have ministers that bring communion to the sick. We have others who help liturgically, the sacristans, religious educators all are helping us prepare. Sometimes all we need to do is establish a rapport with the parishioners and then administer the Sacraments because the prep work has been done for us. Lay involvement is important.




PRAYER IS WHOSE AMBASSADOR?
Conversation on the Liturgy of the Hours:

Father Paul: There was one little place in the Liturgy. Nicholas would you read, please.
In the Liturgy they have a reading of Scripture and then a reading of a Father of the Church or Saint -- a reading which has a lot of meaning to it. It’s like getting into the treasure chest of the Church. Nicholas has been venturing into this. It helps you pray through the day. Monks will be praying this. Let’s upon the treasure!

Nicholas: (From page 68 in the four volume Liturgy of the Hours: Friday after Ash Wednesday, 2nd Reading: A homily by Saint John Chrysostom, bishop)

“Prayer and converse with God is a supreme good: it is a partnership and union with God. As the eyes of the body are enlightened when they see light”

Father Paul: This one is tricky...they used to say you cannot see God and live. These helpful comments by John Chrysostom slow it way down to take a close look. That just gave you the key to let you know how that is possible.

Nicholas: “As the eyes of the body are enlightened when they see light, so our spirit, when it is intent on God, is illumined by his infinite light.”

Father Paul: God takes His own light. He gives us His spirit so that with our spirit having God’s downloaded light inside us, keeps that going. This is God’s own inner life. It gets deposited in us. This is St. John Chrysostom.
[Psalm 36:10 “In His light we see light.”]

Nicholas: (Page 69)
“I do not mean the prayer of outward observance but prayer from the heart, not confined to fixed times or periods, but continuous throughout the day and night.”

Father Paul: So this guy is talking about being a major user. What he is talking about is –– this Divine light in you. Once your spirit gets buzzed like this, it keeps going. Your spirit is not going to have a short range. This is the eternal light of God. Give it a little bit of space and our spirit has a capacity to get going.

Nicholas: “I do not mean the prayer of outward observance but prayer from the heart, not confined to fixed times or periods but continuous throughout the day and night.

Our spirit should be quick to reach out toward God, not only when it is engaged in meditation; at other times also, when it is carrying out its duties, caring for the needy, performing works of charity, giving generously in the service of others, our spirit should long for God and call him to mind, so that these works may be seasoned with the salt of God’s love.”


Father Paul: Can we breathe for a second? Does anybody have response to this? Are we getting a feel of what is going on here?

Ethan: I know sometimes when I get in some good prayer, Adoration, receiving the Eucharist, I get that buzz. When I meet other people, it is just going. I am actively a part of it; it is a living prayer. He is allowing me to respond… it’s difficult to put into words. It’s like I am part of the living prayer being lived out through me.

Kristin: You really see a difference when you are doing something on your own. With God, incredible things can happen when you are doing things with Christ.

Ethan: That’s it. I can go out and try to get things happening, or I can sit still and get buzzed. Then situations come in and I just respond to situations God is bringing to me.

Kristin: That’s the way it is when I am doing what God wants me to do, in the way He wants it done. When I don’t reflect in His Presence, it’s all too easy to spoil even the best work with my own weaknesses. Then, instead, bad habits flash back, and I don’t respond virtuously. You can’t be Virtuous without Christ. When you find yourself in the middle of difficult situations, it is much easier to forget Who you’re working for and slip back into the mode of taking over for (or from) Him. But what takes over isn’t Christ or Christ-like!

And more often than not, when you are working with and in Christ, everything you are doing that is good and perfect can be undone in an instant, because His Ways are not ours (Isaiah 55:8; Wisdom 2:15). You can simply ask one question in the right way, and everything seems to turn upside-down. I spoke, at the recommendation of a Catholic attorney, to someone – I discovered after less than a minute or two into the conversation – who had defended Abortion Clinics. I had no idea! He suddenly said to me “I only take cases I agree with politically” and repeated that statement several times until I really comprehended and accepted what he meant. The room began to spin and I felt like I was dying. But that was me. Christ prompted and I found the Courage to ask, instead, if he would refer me to someone as competent as he was by reputation in civil and constitutional law. Turns out he was sure he knew just the right attorney. He referred me to his opponent. Now, I offered throughout Lent this year to pray for my Enemies. That referral may just get him into Heaven! All that is Christ.

Rosemarie: The Lord brought a new friend to me. We have prayed together. She reminds me to get up one half an hour early daily to pray at my bedside. It is new to me. It has kind of duped me. When I get to Mass, my being has already been turned on by the early morning prayer. In contrast, I got up early and put my pillow over my head. Then I got up and went to Mass but I wasn’t quite there…because I was tuned by prayer. I see the difference when I put the time in. My antennae are tuned into the Liturgy.

Nicholas: When I read the last sentence, it speaks deeper to me. It’s not going to Mass or praying in the morning. It’s more offering what I do for others. I make that action an extension of my prayer. “…and so make a palatable offering to the Lord of the universe.” So, it‘s not just Mass and morning prayer, it’s my actions, my soul. Whatever I am approaching, I am doing that with a mindset beyond formal or set times of the day. The way you approach them becomes a prayer. Here it is action and not what is going on in your head.

Roses: When I walk with the Lord, I have a yearning to serve him. He may ask things I do not understand. It’s only afterwards that I can see what beauty it is. I just follow. The pleasure of following is so great. This is what I yearn for. It fills me. There is nothing else that brings happiness to me. It’s a feeling in the heart and the soul that nourishes me. It makes me want to serve, to bow down for the mercy He has given me. Why wouldn’t I want to do it? Jesus Christ gave his life for me so that I may have a new life. So, prayer for me is on-going. It never ceases. It’s in my daily activities. It’s what I hear; it’s what He wants me to do.

Father Paul: Are we ready to go on?

Nicholas: “Throughout the whole of our lives we may enjoy the benefit that comes from prayer if we devote a great deal of time to it.

Prayer is the light of the spirit,”

Bob: It’s where the spirit lights us, maybe like words on a page.

Gabriel: Prayer enlightens the darkness you might have inside of you. It scares away the shadows. Instead it brings light and hope.

Father Paul: This guy was writing a long time ago…before there was a USA or before there was a Europe.
How could someone have written this so long ago? How can someone not let this rip open their lives?

Roses: When your heart is not open, you can’t hear it.

Jessica: So, I wanted to share a little bit, but it was not the moment yet. I wanted to share that my mom was sharing Saturday night, while, my dad was away in Mexico, and I slept next to mom. We went to bed late and she kept talking really late.

Father Paul: Take it slow. Let it expand for us.

Jessica: So that night, we were blessed, because we had Mass in our home. My mom is not practicing every Sunday, but now she is becoming more diligent as she has seen me grow. She comes from a poor village. She was ignorant of instruction about God. She received her First Holy Communion and Confirmation at the same time in her village. I am blessed to see how far she has come. Still she does not have much knowledge. She is becoming more open. She has always had her heart there. No matter the struggles, she is the only one working. ..for 6 children…me in college my brother in college… she wasn’t diligent about going to church, but her heart WAS diligent. Recently she told me the story of guy in gas station. She said, “I am putting gas and I am tired. A man comes up and asks, ‘Can I have spare change?’” She says to hold on. She is walking to the car. The guy says, “Oh my God, I can’t handle this addiction!” My mom says, “Addiction? Sir, Sir, you know what, if you ask God with your whole heart, He is the only one who will take it. You can go to AA, but if you don’t ask God with all your heart, if you don’t ask him, it’s not going to happen. She said, “I wanted to cry, but I said, ‘You have to be strong for him.’” The words were rushing out of her for him to be strong. The man started crying, “Oh Ma’am, thank you.” She said, “I have some change.” “No, Ma’am, I am fine.” My mom asked, “God what did you do with me? I am ignorant? God worked in me? How did you use me?”

She understands what I go through. What God is showing us in our daily lives. It goes along with the whole heart thing.

Summer: Seems like she had the gift of prayer at that minute.

Father Paul: Big time!

Romeo: What I am hearing is basically our spirit is responding to God’s graces. It is possible to experience
God in the physical while the spirit is in the spiritual. Prayer is habit-forming. Addicting. Romeo shared that he has had an experience with the spiritual coming into the physical. He continued…Our spirit deep down tries to express it’s own spirituality, to come to the surface. We can experience God in the physical. He just wants to touch us, if our antenna is out.

Father Paul: That’s what this poor John Chrysostom was doing.
Please re-read sentence…

Bob: “Prayer is the light of the spirit, true knowledge of God.”

Lucy: He was saying light of the spirit. Jessica’s mom was in light of the spirit. She was receiving light to tell him that everything was going to be okay.

Father Paul: It sounds ambiguous–– what prayer is. Jessica’s mom was doing something physical. Prayer is light of spirit….sounds like her spirit was lit up like a fire bomb and released into this guy. They didn’t even think they were praying, but there it was, kind of in your face.

Scottie: I was talking to this guy today, and lately I have been knowing when someone is Catholic. I can feel like a really good guess…like when they walk in, I know if they are going to church.

Father Paul: What kind of coffee was that you were drinking? ––It might have been tea.

Scottie: I was telling this guy I know who is Catholic, but not going to church. I was telling him about God and true knowledge of God. He had some funkiness keeping him from church. I was telling him that the Truth of God is to learn how to Love. The rules are rules, and if you break the rule, you broke up the party. Before reading Scripture without a deep prayer life, it was not true knowledge of God. He is a cool guy and I am trying to let him know the God I know and the way of Life I know. I guess he needs to experience it through prayer.

Father Paul: The guy at the gas station wasn’t praying and got true knowledge of God.

Summer: Maybe it was also that you were praying for your mom.

Kristin: Jessica’s mom was baptized and confirmed at a very early age. The earlier you receive these Sacraments, the deeper the effect these Sacraments have on your soul because your soul is able to receive them more worthily. There are people who will go hundreds of miles to have a bishop baptize their young children. These little souls then have the strength of God’s athletes at a very young and innocent age. They often show the most surprising ability and desire to evangelize others. They may not know all the specific dogmas, but it’s amazing to see how Christ and His Grace operate in the souls of those who have received these Sacraments worthily – how close to Christ the example of their daily lives is and how prayerful in a very deep way.

Sage shared an experience where her life was threatened and she felt Jesus’ presence and spirit with her at all times, so she was not afraid ––call out with all she was and had. She said that the next day she went to work to show her customers that she is a soldier. Sage said to never be afraid. She said Jesus takes everything away, even our fears.

Father Paul had Bob read:

“Prayer is light of the spirit, true knowledge of God, mediating between God and man. The spirit, raised up to heaven by prayer, clings to God with the utmost tenderness; like a child crying tearfully for its mother, it craves the milk that God provides. It seeks the satisfaction of its own desires, and receives gifts outweighing the whole world of nature.

Prayer stands before God as an honored ambassador. It gives joy to the spirit, peace to the heart. I speak of prayer, not words. It is the longing for God, love too deep for words, a gift not given by man but by God’s grace. The apostle Paul says: We do not know how we are to pray but the Spirit himself pleads for us with inexpressible longings.”

Ethan: “Prayer stands before God as an honored ambassador. It gives joy to the spirit, peace to the heart.”
The feeling I got is that prayer is God …prayer is the Spirit. When I see the Spirit, I see God standing before God, the honored ambassador coming before us.

Nicholas: I have a comment. I don’t understand “true knowledge of God,” and even the line after it [mediating between God and man]. Is it modifying the spirit?

Father Paul: Ethan was taking it the same way. If it is an ambassador from God, it is God’s own ambassador.

Nicholas: We don’t have it.

Father Paul: This is something God is sending. We don’t know how to prayer. God is his own ambassador praying in us.

Nicholas: That’s the comment I have. I can start to digest it. “It is the longing for God, love too deep for words, a gift not given by man but by God’s grace.”

Father Paul: Like Father Francis feeling duped. He has given us an advance to seduce us so that we can take the next load.

Nicholas: It is something you participate in. I am thinking of something specific. You are longing for it, you are drawn to it. You nurture it.

Father Paul: We cannot have a longing for it if you don’t know what it is, but there is something in us that has had a foretaste for it before.

Summer: What is the connection between prayer and charity? Pope Benedict said that the highest form of love is charity [agape]. Do you have any suggestions for nurturing what is charity?

Father Paul: Basically, we have this prayer spinning and going wherever we go.
Our spirit is pre-loaded to God saying, “Coach it along that way, toward God.
What should our spirits be doing? It started as main energy–– as longing for God–– during all these other things. So, what you are talking about while doing other charities, we keep the longing––longing for God.

Gary: a couple of things are on my mind. I think what I am hearing is that true charity comes from God Himself. We are to be Christ for each other and be Christ to each other. I think of Scottie, I think of your mom, Jessica. I see Christ that is in you, Scottie. And that gift that is in your mom, Jessica. That is His charity.

Father Paul: This writer [Chrysostom] is putting warning signs to keep in touch with the source [longing for God], or you might be getting unplugged.
What Summer was referring to is what the Pope said of Mother Teresa: She would say, “If you are not giving God, you are not giving enough.” Rather than only giving charity, you better be giving the source of your giving [who is God] so that God is what they are getting.

Gary: We should see Jesus in the other person.

Bob: I work with homeless one day a week. I try to do this thing and reach out. They are homeless for a reason. Sometimes they are rough and crude. Sometimes when they come at you so hard, it’s hard not to re-butt with meanness. It’s hard to give Christ back to them. I pray for patience to give God back to them.

We re-read the part about the ambassador.

Father Paul: Whose ambassador is it? Whose ambassador is prayer?

Rosemarie: [Referring to Jessica’s mom and the man] I am moved that the ambassador of that man allowed Jessica’s mother to hear his cry. What are the chances she would hear him, and in return, he [the ambassador] was there to speak through her. And all this happened in her longing and her cry.

Rob: These events happen every day…I love these things we hear in here. I work in a restaurant, and it is the same thing I deal with-needy–– the restaurant clientele–– demanding people––just different faces than the “homeless” Bob was mentioning.

Nicholas: When I think of these people, I think it is important to remember we are all people and we are all difficult to deal with….there are all kinds of people…I just wanted to make that reflection. I am the homeless person… dependant on others’ patience and generosity. I want to be careful not to set aside a group as “they”. It is challenging to deal with people. I am difficult for people also.

Father Paul: It seems Rob and you are on the same side of that reminder.

Rob: Yeah. I am leveling the field. My experience in this moment is that it is all the same. I need to hear this. I tend to want my experience to be unique and be arrogant about it. It is the great leveler. I needed to be taken down a notch to realize this is the human condition. Every day these experiences occur –– from the Divine and human combination. [Jesus is present anonymously – both human and divine – in each person]. It blows me away. I am in a different realm tonight. It must be the caffeine. I love it!

Ethan: “When the Lord gives this kind of prayer to a man, he gives him riches that cannot be taken away, heavenly food that satisfies the spirit. One who tastes this food is set on fire with an eternal longing for the Lord: his spirit burns as in a fire of the utmost intensity.”

Ron: They are describing contemplative prayer.

Ethan: When you were just sharing about the Holy Spirit going back between, that is the relationship with the Holy Trinity--the Father is treating us like the Beloved Son.

Gary: The gift of contemplation is from the Holy Spirit. Like the gift of tongues, we cannot desire it for ourselves. It is the Lord’s prayer for us and for the others…that His desires become our desires.

We read #715 in the Catechism of the Catholic Church regarding the Holy Spirit. [Actually, we read CCC #2713 on contemplative prayer as a communion in which the Holy Trinity conforms man into His likeness–– but #715 is nice too–– about the Holy Spirit as God’s dwelling with men in peace].

Nicholas: It makes prayer sound like a great thing you want to experience, but what if you are a person who hasn’t experienced this kind of prayer? What makes you want to taste it? How do you seek it?

Father Paul: I am thinking of Jessica’s mother. Something in the Ambassador was putting a signal out to this guy, and how they were in communion with each other. It gave him something to take the next step–– to go to the next step. Although not every time you meet someone will you do a fireball.

Nicholas: Today’s lesson…we all read too quickly! (Lots of laughter in the room)

Nicholas and Bob both read: (End of page 69-70 in Liturgy of the Hours)

“Practice prayer from the beginning. Paint your house with the colors of modesty and humility. Make it radiant with the light of justice. Decorate it with the finest gold leaf of good deeds. Adorn it with the walls and stones of faith and generosity. Crown it with the pinnacle of prayer. In this way you will make it a perfect dwelling place for the Lord. You will be able to receive him as in a splendid palace, and through his grace, you will already possess him, his image enthroned in the temple of your spirit.”

Amador: I love pride…if there was a girl named pride, I would date her!

I want to show my gifts. I am good at A B C D. Do I have to showcase everything? Does everyone have to know my gifts? Can I allow someone else to step in or step up and let them exercise their gifts? Do I always need to step in? The answer is, “ NO!” I need to be wiling to step in on short notice, but I need to exercise modesty. I should give thanks to God, but more so, restrain myself…let them use their talents God has given them.

Martha: You kept asking, “Whose ambassador? It is God sending the ambassador?” Once we are touched, we are never the same. We now have an ambassador to go back to God the Father. Unfortunately because of our humanness, we fall. When we fall, we need to humble ourselves. Sometimes it is a yo-yo. It forever changes us. We are not the same today as we are tomorrow.

Kristal: I guess I had some thoughts going back to modesty. Last Friday I went to a Healing Mass. We talked about the modesty of a Sister saying it was her first healing Mass. To hear Father Francis say that we are not all special, but we are all on the same level playing field… That is the most modest we could get.

Ethan: Jesus said I am meek and humble of heart.

Amador: Not to us Lord…but to your name give glory!

Martha: Most people at a Healing Mass don’t feel worthy. Whose ambassador is it? Do we really accept it? Are we the same? The Healing Mass was beautiful. You could see the spirit was changing people. Some people looked different. There were others acting emotionally different and spiritually thinking differently. They were in awe. I think if you allow that prayer to be absorbed, it does change you.

Ron shared a story about being at a mall and a man who was a veteran asking for money came up to him. He said they looked a lot alike. Ron said he was thinking to himself, That could be me, and then he got in the car and the song came on the radio singing, “What if God was one of us?” He said he was shell shocked and thought to himself, “Only by the grace of God has He made you who you are…only 1 year earlier…that could have been me who was sent to Viet Nam. It is an awesome moment seeing a homeless person as yourself.

Amador closed by reading Psalm 115: page 1231 from the Liturgy of the Hours:

“Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to your name give the glory for the sake of your love and your truth, lest the heathen say: ‘Where is their God?’”


Next meeting: Monday, March 23, 2009 “Bible Stories”

In the Desert

Mark 1: 12-15 “And immediately the Spirit drove Him out into the desert. And He was in the desert forty days and forty nights, and was tempted by Satan; and He was with beasts, and the angels ministered to him. And after that John was delivered up, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying: The time is accomplished, and the Kingdom of God is at hand: repent, and believe the Gospel.”

Father Paul: Asked Jason if he has had any experience of being in “the desert.”

Jason: In the desert he was being tempted when he realized he was being called to be a priest. He was watching: ”The Passion of the Christ” when he heard Jesus say, “Will you help me?” Jason said he already felt like he had given up everything – what else! God said there was still more – let go of all relationships.

Rosemarie: I desire to go to the desert. I could not remain where I was and go to where God wants me to go….from a quiet place in Nazareth to proclaiming the Kingdom of God!

Father Paul: What was Jesus doing in the desert?

Sister Sheila: He had to be quiet, to go into the deepest level of relationship. The desert is such a quiet place with no distractions.

Father Paul: Even though Jesus is God, how is it He has to go to deeper levels of a relationship?

Jason: Grace comes to mind. We have it in us. When He proclaimed: ”The Kingdom is at hand, He said, “It’s ON!”

Father Paul : So, do we know the truth, now we just go and do it? We get some information. “Sophomore” means “Wise Fool.” We get certain truths that haven’t transformed us or integrated into the fullness of our being. Has anyone had this experience where you have one version of the truth and then set off with that?

Ethan: A couple years ago I was in a relationship and was going for other ambitions career-wise. I knew the relationship wasn’t right or what God wanted. I knew God was calling me to something deeper. I wasn’t practicing my Faith. I went to the beach one day and met some people with most of the truth, but it wasn’t a trusted truth. I began making sudden moves. I had to get quiet, still. As the Spirit brought me back to the Catholic Church, I had a fear of where my ambitions were leading me. I had a passion to know what the Truth was. I thought I better go slow. If it’s not coming from God, it can cause a lot of pain for a lot of people.


Gary: The greatest temptations I have ever had are women. I was dating this woman who looked like a supermodel, she was rich, had a limo driver, money and lots of gifts. The Lord drew me out of that. [In a manner of speaking] She wasn’t walking with the Lord, and I couldn’t get her to walk with Him. She had everything! I love the Lord. Now I drive right by her exit. I am happy where the Lord has me now. I need the Lord to the foremost. It’s wrong to love something in this world more than the Lord. That is twisted. The devil had me right where he wanted me. I need to stay with the love the Lord has for me so I can be whole and be okay without women [being more important than the Lord].

Mk 1:12-15 (We’re discussing this verse cited above)

The Word was made Flesh

Jesus as truly human can be seen in the gospel scene after his baptism and led to the desert –– after the long years in private –– leading up to his public mission of our Redemption.

Let the Holy Spirit guide us into the Father’s Will

He is driven into the desert and tempted– we may have the power to pull something off – but God may not be asking us to do so

Msgr. Toby English had been in the Air Force for 4 years, and he could have remained and had an excellent career. He could have continued but let that career go. He had the power to continue in the Air Force. But God may not have been asking him to do so. So instead of just going ahead with that career Msgr. English listened more deeply. Later another life would come into the very place where he let the military career go. He entered the wilderness and listened more deeply for God instead of automatically continuing with what he was able to do. So Msgr. did not re-enlist and followed the deeper grace of God that lead ultimately to the priesthood. He lived a different life by allowing God to live His mission through Msgr. Toby’s deeper call.

When we deeply listen, receive and stay true to God’s deeper call we don’t stay the same as we were – don’t have the same mission – letting the Grace of the Holy Spirit move us –– transform us to the next Place –– as we listen, obey and maybe even turn down lesser paths.

This IS the way of Obedience to God’s Will – we forget we are being transformed in this adventure – all of our relationships are deepening and Christ uniting our mission and His in this adventuring together within us – Part of us, that wants to be egoistically in control, doesn’t particularly like this transforming process –– the Mystery of dying and rising in Christ –– because we are control freaks. Obedience is a deep listening and transformation of ourselves –– and the world.

Who we are is not summed up by the term “rational beings.” Jesus Christ is the Word of God – as Christians we enter into who Christ is and share in His mission. –– The Word of God Made Flesh is who we are as Christians! We share the full inheritance of Christ –

Pope Benedict in His book on Hope tried to shift away from over-focusing on the individual call and response to the Lord – Yes we do have an individual part in our call and response ––we are not co-dependent –– but even our part of our response is in that Love that is relational – the Lord places people in our lives to help us grow together – 3 could hop the fence together whereas individually each could not. Catholic tradition is a Communion of Saints – a movement together in the Lord – this takes a little away from narcissism and super-individualism.

God says: You are my Beloved Son, and with you I am well pleased – sends Christ out into the desert. THIS is the time of fulfillment and yet the times can be dark and low (St John the Baptist is in jail !!!)

Abysmal – an abysmal experience – entering the wilderness. But it is NOT moving out to chaos – some people say it is just about letting go and becoming undone, of going with the flow –– but is NOT. It IS entering into God’s unseen real world of the Holy Spirit. – my egotistic identity and roadmap seems like it is coming undone –through a refining – and entering in Christ to becoming a greater expression of the Word Made Flesh – there is a continuity of “Who I am” in entering the desert now – and there is a difference – through lent in the wilderness we let go of worldly ambitions and ways and by become matured in Christ to continue in His mission, which becomes our own mission …

This is VERY deep but also very shallow (as it is fresh, simple –– of God) As we respond we meet others – whom God has invited and who have responded in living His mission. He has been preparing and unfolding within them the ways of God’s Kingdom on the inside –

At the same time – we invite people to live in this Good News – to stir up this spirit in each other – God has this wonderful choreography to unfold His Kingdom in us together.

Human persons are formed in relationships. Fr Paul was allowing this God who is already Good to unfold His Mystery within him at the same time with others­­­–– Fr Paul and others. Do I need to know exactly what Jesus is doing? No. I do need know that Jesus is active in this mission – If I stay in that Zone, then there is all sorts of freedom as to how that may occur. I don’t have to make the plan or control how that occurs. Let God be God.

God’s longing for Fr Paul to be a Priest is not Fr Paul’s (who does have to not have a human desire for the priesthood). God has an incredible care for His people – God needs to act on others –– through Fr. Paul – Fr. Paul does not have a control panel of discernment – all his charts and graphs flatline – Relationships exists between God and these other Friends of His – Fr Paul is just around and amidst these– Even though Fr Paul doesn’t get it clearly, that’s not the point. God invites trust: – “Just let yourself be transformed by Me – allow yourself to be reformed and allow Me to live My Love relationship with them and you” –

Christ is Our Head and the Wise Man Keeps His Eyes on Him: St Gregory N – Amador

Go into the wilderness as a way of interior prayer – that wilderness may not be geographic as much as interior –

Are you willing to draw others into this union that we have – do you want to grow in Love --? !!!

Contemplative Prayer

I want my kingdom to come – the soul doing its own will… not God’s

We soften up and loosen up – God is taking me and reshaping me and remolding me and I need to relax and forget this “little picture” of who I am and who everyone else is – while He allows a deeper Mystery of who I am and to bring that into a deeper communion with others whom He is drawing to Himself.

Our Lord is gently moving us along – keep allowing the Lord to take care of things – i
“Is someone betraying me, giving me what I deserve? – everything turns to plastic, gets brittle” – Our Lord says, “Let’s move back into the Mystery; let’s not keep score; let’s get fed by the Holy Eucharist, assure each other with gentleness.” We may walk with Him in His way –releasing from rigid-crystalline-shatterings and we re-enter by Christ back into the Mystery of transformation in Him – let’s start living on Earth as it is in Heaven as we will live forever.

World War II in England, children were moved during the bombing raids – two different reactions – when the parents were very freaked out and frightened the children were shattered – when the parents presented the moves as just another camping trip – “we don’t know where we are going – we don’t know exactly what’s going to happen or where we’re going to end up, but it’s OK” – a spirit of moving along with confidence and adventure – the children experienced no long term fears and traumas.

Disappointment and chaos results when we do not move with Christ in confidence in the outcome of the adventure and the Mystery that He knows and He comprehends the “entire picture,” history, outcome for all of us as unique persons and in relation to each other and as members of the Mystical Body of Christ.

Since before the time of Abraham the Lord has been trying to invite His own into this inner reality (of trust and faith in His love) – the Lord is taking care of us now, tonight, there is a rest and peace in knowing that He knows and Loves and cares for us – He wants us to have that reality today – the Lord says, ”Chill, rest – ”

Scotty in economics class, he had just eaten, there’s a side that wants to be [what he thinks is] the perfect saint and when he falls short of that he gets mad at himself, gets discouraged, -- his teacher is talking about world poverty – so Scotty is surfing the Internet and reading the Saints – they’re telling him in a sense to: “Listen to your teacher, be in your class –“ “I was checking out different saint’s writings and each was saying be obedient to your duties.”

Plants have an inner order – and individual parts may not understand the entire plan or order [as obviously they can’t since they are plants – but we can learn and see the order of those individual parts. But we still can’t see the extra dimensions beyond what our limited natural human reason deals with] – Abraham left himself open to God’s Mysterious Plan – he stayed in tune with God’s inner order (Abraham didn’t go skipping and running about on his own). God is trying to woo creation in this Love affair He has with His creation. God’s main gift is freedom and His creation must use its own inner freedom to move in accord God’s fuller Mystery of Creation. We use both reason and powers of faith within this matrix pattern we live in and are invited by God to open into ever-deepening inner life in God.
God needs to keep helping and coaching His creation until it can do this with God.

God says to Abraham, “You can start consciously moving with Me – walk forward with Me in a very intricate delicate way, but you won’t be able to control it – leave your homeland and start moving.” – But it wasn’t just a geographical journey that God was inviting Abraham to move in, but to live out the inner expression of God’s Holiness – to walk in that spirit to that trueness to God’s inspiration and God’s ways.

The exposition of Divine Union will take place in “ordinary blending in” – What might on the surface look like being, “just being another bump on a log” – it looks like nothing is happening – you will do that not only as a Catholic but as someone who graduates from a Seminary – does your assignments – Our Lord says: I’ll be doing the most unbelievable astonishing things but it won’t LOOK like anything is going on at all.

St Therese of the Child Jesus is the all time expression of this. She felt certain she was called to be a missionary and evangelist and yet – Our Lord gave her the call and then seemed to frustrate her living it out in an external way – She was a cloistered person with very limited contact with people in the world.
Anything good comes from God and she had this good desire to evangelize and desires have their source in God – God does not plan to fill all our desires in the way we picture in our unaided natural reasoning in this life.

Desire is for a perceived good that we are not united and that causes in yourself a movement toward it – we have an infinite capacity for God and we have a capacity for finite things, people, food – Sometimes we get God and goodness and good things blended together in one way –– our way. God may have another way, even better, but it may not seem like it. – ALL good things come from God – in the channel of God’s grace He accomplishes these things – we should ultimately want Him and God is not a thing. – St Therese’s desire [to be a Missionary/Evangelist] was never fulfilled in her lifetime – but deep within her God was uniting her to Himself who is love. Theresa is part of God’s people that she felt like she wanted to evangelize one after another but God was entering into her deeply and in invisible ways God’s love was entering into His people through inner connections by the human solidarity we all share. She became the entry spot. Theresa’s life was ordinary and unnoticeable on the outside and in the small picture, but The Mystery of God’s creation was opened in her inner life and God’s love was being shared without her noticing by the connections in the matrix we live.
1 John 4 :10 In this is charity: not as though we had loved God, but because He hath first loved us...



This is good – the experience of wanting to control things is largely an illusion – this is how dirt turns to gold – so we want to go really slowly here.

Control in this life is an illusion –– but the Gospel states that this life isn’t it – you can’t trust in Divine Providence unless you have Hope – even if you suffer, Christ rose from the dead and this as it seem to be the whole of life isn’t the whole of life – soooooooooo follow God – I may desire to be famous or wealthy (seemingly good desires) God has a way of fulfilling deeper desires that are within my desires. There is more to True Happiness the what seems promised by getting the things or goals I have. Theresa achieved the Happiness of others coming into God’s Love without achieving her felt-goal of being an “evangelist.” God can achieve through His powers we share of Faith, Hope and Love, in a far greater and better way than I can imagine and He cannot accomplish this and even greater perfections in me without me first completing this or that exercise. Allowing God’s trust to work in me may take an entire lifetime and I may remain feeling incomplete. Yet my soul and other souls may be opening in a deeper and hidden way to God’s love so that the abundant Life and Wealth and Fame and Nobility fall short of, so that what Jesus came to give us may abound even more fully than I could imagine were I to limit myself to merely building up my kingdom …]

He IS the one building and it is not us. The mechanism of action – how we get from here to there – the missing link – this promise, this inner longing and this place of rest – the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth – Thy Kingdom come on Earth as it is in Heaven – what is the dynamic that gets us from here to there – Ps 127 and 1 Jn 4:10 – The Lord blesses His Loved ones as they sleep. So I need to enter into the space where God FIRST Loves me. Allow Him to make an orderly Place for the Lord to work this tremendous Mystery and for Our Lord to accomplish this transforming union. Catechism 2713:


True. 2713: Contemplative prayer is the simplest expression of the mystery of prayer. It is a gift, a grace; it can be accepted only in humility and poverty. Contemplative prayer is a covenant relationship established by God within our hearts (Cf. Jer 31:33). Contemplative prayer is a communion in which the Holy Trinity conforms man, the image of God, "to his likeness."



How do we distinguish between our desires and God’s? Ultimately we need Christ for this, because only in Him does our ultimate happiness occur. In Christ we undergo a continual dying and rising so our goals and our measures of good are developing and transforming in Him. But in the meantime there are some limited helps. The key to following a desire is that it brings Peace [of Soul]. Peace presupposes Justice. To discern a good thing, whether I can do this action – is there an authentic and consistent Peace of Soul – Peace can only occur where there is Justice – we can only have Justice by Faith – Faith is Jesus’ capacity for Justice. We cooperate on the way and join with Christ in the ordinary ways of life while we are also part of a greater Mystery of Creation.

Kristin & Scotty: Scotty wants to be a Saint but has to do so while being a student. Kristin likes to give everyone the opportunity to exercise their Heroic Sanctity while trying to exercise hers at the same time. Everyone is buying and winning her Divine Lottery tickets whether they know it or not, but Our Lord sees that Scotty can and needs to win the jackpot. Two weeks of what looked like failed opportunities. She won’t give up. Our Lord is at work here. There’s work to be done and a Fortune to be made. Scotty is not excluded from the opportunity of exercising his preference for completing his duties as a student.

Matthew 5: 42 Give to him that asks of thee and from him that would borrow of thee turn not away.



St Therese states that to “turn not away” does mean saying “no” and letting one’s alms sweat in one’s palms.
The Mystery of Creation of allowing God to enter into us in deep rest in His Love also shows itself if the Ordinary Life:

Scotty checks his Palm at exactly the Providential moment – he has just a little “free” time between exams and classes to … add supererogatory acts of Charity to his day … Tired, thirsty laborers are given bottles of water – able hands are hired for 10 minutes of work – those not hired are consoled – in a matter of a few minutes Scotty has done and compounded many acts of Charity and returned to his studies. In 2 hours everything that had not been done in 2 months or 2 weeks is completed without a hitch and with an overwhelming display and grasp of the Gold of Charity. It takes two to Tango  and everyone who could NOT make the Dance has won Infinite Dividends with the Banker of Talents. Everyone involved benefits in Time and in Eternity.

2nd Peter 1:3-4 His divine power has bestowed on us everything that makes for life and devotion, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and power.
Through these, he has bestowed on us the precious and very great promises, so that through them you may come to share in the divine nature,
Galacians 4:9 also in but now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and destitute elemental powers? Do you want to be slaves to them all over again?
Hebrews –

In this sacred space – this little gap – Abraham wants to do the right thing – St Paul wants to do the right thing – in that space – where we want to fulfill God’s plan but we don’t have what it takes

His divine power has bestowed on us everything

We don’t have what it takes to get the good things – we don’t have what it takes to move into the Good – Jesus says who are you calling “good” – only God is good – we are longing to move into Goodness itself/Himself – He lends us the Divine Nature to get us to the Divine Nature – Pope Benedict XVI – Hope itself contains the power of the Kingdom –Hope And this Hope moves within us in a transforming way (we don’t have a Divine Nature to activate) Grace gives us the ONLY link to the Divine Nature which is Christ Himself – He makes this installation of His own Divine Nature in our nature to draw more and more of our nature into His Divine Nature.

In this space – the Place – where God first Loves me (God IS Love – all existence is held by God Who Is Love) we have a call to move toward the Kingdom of God but we can’t get there – we are made for you Lord – our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee – God’s Knowing IS Loving – He takes our place –the place of not being able to know, Love – in that inability – God purifies that inability: 2 Cor 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
1 John 4:10 “In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation”
“I will carry you to where you can’t go and I will go with you.”
“Unless you die with me, you cannot Live with Me.”

He helps us to rest – and awakens a deeper identity – and identity that is in union with Him and without the (outside of our) control.

What’s in this for me? Bits of my clothes stuck in the barbed wire, go back, continue dying and rising with Christ. The ongoing Liturgy is the ongoing movement – this deep transforming love machine – the Mass – one Mass one Christ one transforming union – dying with Him – rising with Him – and Christ gets to inhabit the center of her being (she is not just orbiting around Him) He is realizing that transforming union in her as she rests and in that rest God is WORKING.

Jesus could do miracles on the Sabbath because He was RESTING ¬¬–– and GOD was working !

We have a scientific positivistic concept of knowledge. The Israelites – perish for lack of knowledge of union with God – you are not allowing the God Who Loves you to rest with you and to do His work in you and through you

Catechism of the Catholic Church #1325 The Eucharist is the efficacious sign and sublime cause of that communion in the divine life and that unity of the People of God by which the Church is kept in being. It is the culmination of both of God’s action sanctifying the world in Christ and of the worship men offer to Christ and though him to the Father in the Holy Spirit.”

Jesus delivered us from the power of darkness – in Him we have the redemption from sin – the Eucharist IS the POWER to do this – to die to our own limited ability – to die to our limited selves – we do not have the ability to empty ourselves for the Lord that presumably would lead to divine happiness –
What? me empty myself for the Lord – HE is the only one with the power to empty in that way– Philippians 2:6 though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; 5 and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
Christ FIRST Loving me – now I can do it because He Loved me – NO – stay with step 1 – Christ will Love others through me – God IS Love – How can I Love unless I am God ? I am not. Christ is.

We are Christians united in Christ – He Loves the Father, He Loves the neighbor …

Romans 7 – St Paul – is long converted and after he is already a long-time good guy – here he is moaning and groaning about how he can’t get himself to behave…-- in fact we do not want to be well – until all the other members of Christ are brought into that wellness (Romans 9:1+).

Who will deliver me from this mortal body? I myself with my mind – with my flesh and the law of sin.

Jesus – now you’ve got the raw action. Jesus says: I want to be where you are sick – where you are cursed – let me in, to join you on your ride down – unless you go down you are not going to go up – ride the round trip ticket with Me. We will go down to where sin takes you –– death –– My Presence, My power, My joy, My Love will be with you transforming you and the horse you came in on.

The Eucharist lifts us up, gets our suspenders out of the door jam, pants off the barbed wire fence. Unless you die with Me you cannot rise with Me – everything seems to be dissolving into the biggest nothingness. I Love you completely as your are dissolving in every way you think you could be – I am taking that stamp into Myself – I will be in that really dark crazy spirit with you and in you and by and for you in my bond of your faith, trust in love which I am offering and that contains my power, because you cannot go into this place by yourself. – Your will upheld by grace and in Solidarity with others, keeps trusting My Will – I will support you (by the power of the Eucharist in the Mass) so take the full ride – go for what Jesus wants to give me – He wants me to be fully in union with Him and this is how it takes place – the Church starts becoming transformed – and everyone we are connected with starts getting the transformation of the Eucharist. A tiny bit of Divinity is way more than anything else that we think we have.

St Therese allowed God to Love her. This Teenager was simply allowing Jesus to Love her without her seemingly accomplishing anything – In the end, the Church received an incredible transformation, revitalized through one little person – not by political activity – but by the sense of the Holy Spirit within the book and within the readers, and not by the book itself (i.e., St Therese’s Autobiography of a Soul).

The Lord blesses His beloved as she rests –– allowing Christ to first love her.

St Therese doesn’t like a certain person but Christ’s Love works in St Therese. That person thinks St Therese likes her the most !

Gen 1:26-27

Then God said let Us make man in Our Image after Our Likeness… God created man in His image and in the Divine Image …

Matt 18:15 We must be Active and Receptive (not Passive) stand up – get out of our comfort zone – with Him we can –

If your brother sins against you, go an tell him your fault if he listens to you … tell the Church… then treat him as …

Go into the Eternal Divine moment of Christ dying – now let’s go inside – we’ll confront our brother – let’s use this Eucharist with this Divine dying of Christ – in this mysterious zone – open yourself up and let Jesus – you messed up, yet Christ in you and in me can be transformed. The with predictability of falling is joined to the one who takes us down together is his falls and in Solidarity graced faith, trust and love, he and we will be well. -- This is the power of contemplative prayer in the matrix of our “ordinary lives,” in the matrix of the Mystery of God.

CCC 2713
True. 2713: Contemplative prayer is the simplest expression of the mystery of prayer. It is a gift, a grace; it can be accepted only in humility and poverty. Contemplative prayer is a covenant relationship established by God within our hearts (Cf. Jer 31:33). Contemplative prayer is a communion in which the Holy Trinity conforms man, the image of God, "to his likeness."


The simplest expression of the mystery of prayer – a 15 year old French girl receives a Gift – a Grace accepted in humility and poverty established by God – the Holy Trinity conforms man to His likeness – while we are sleeping – this is a team (the Most Holy Trinity) you want to hire – are you humble and poor?