A DAILY MEDITATION
WHEN have I experienced the life of the RISEN CHRIST ?
What an Awesome God we have!!!
If only I am patient enough...
He does connect the pieces nd finishes the puzzle
when it pleases Him and everything is in His order.
Let me try to explain...
During our Lenten Novena, which was a special time of daily prayer,
Mass and homilies to Saint Francis Xavier, there was,
as I now see it, an experience of the Risen Life in Christ!
I had hoped to be able to put that experience into words to share with you,
yet it didn't come into it's own complete life until today, six weeks after the novena ended!
Our Father,God, Yahweh, is always at work...quietly moving behind the scenes.
Today, while tidying up the clutter on the desk, I decided to put aside one
of the folders that contained some old poetry, notes and other papers...but...
I couldn't resist taking one more look at what was therein.
Some thing caught my eye and I will share it here, because it seemed to be a
piece of the 'unfinished picture!"
So here is the article written on Aug. 12,2010 from the Center for Action and Contemplation;
THE MYSTERY OF SUFFERING
When have I experienced the life of the Risen Christ?
Our usual definition of God depicts him as omnipotent, infinite, perfect in every way.
Yet if the suffering Jesus is the image and revelation of the invisible God ,(Col. 1:15),
this is totally at odds with all the other philosophical and theological definitions of a supreme
being.
Jesus doesn't fit.Even after two thousand years, it is hard to realize
what a revolutionary symbol Jesus is. He basically turned theology upside down.
He said,in effect: "Who you think God is, God isn't"
what a revolutionary symbol Jesus is. He basically turned theology upside down.
He said,in effect: "Who you think God is, God isn't"
You can't know this merely by study or theology or religion, but only through painful encounters with the living God where you feel like you are dying, and yet you do not die. Then you experience another kind of life, another kind of freedom.
Christians call this new home "the shared life of the risen Christ".
Here is my lived experience.
Here is my lived experience.
I have experienced most of my freedom through suffering!
Letting the suffering arise and accepting suffering, is never an easy task.
I spent most of my years suppressing hurt, running busily away from facing the hurt, fear
and anxiety that was hidden within...
not even knowing what it was I was running from.
Like Lazarus, wrapped and decayed, dead for days,Jesus patiently kept calling me forward
from the tomb I had built around myself.
Through the years, guided by faith and a loving family, friends, and a loving prayerful
community, Jesus began and continued to unwrap the bindings.
I really don't need to go into many details,we all have our inner sufferings.
What we do for ourselves to heal them is the important story.
Much of my story is in the early writings of these pages.
The bottom line is," staying the course...persevering;" and that is a Grace, a gift given
as an answer to prayer. Much prayer, many years of receiving the daily Eucharist,
and the quiet prayer of sitting in the Presence of God, allowing Him to sift out
the chaff from the wheat, so to speak.
It is all His work!
As the Novena to St. Francis Xavier continued through the nine days of mass, homilies
and prayer, the sacrament of Confession and Reconciliation was also offered on each day.
The Holy Spirit never rests!...(thank God), and I was in need of forgiveness and took
advantage of the opportunity. One of our former priests was there and I felt comfortable
to see him.
Well! Great novena, wonderful homilies, the Eucharist AND confession !
Wow! what a terrific few days!
My friend and I went out to eat lunch .
We even had dessert!
All was well!!!
The Holy Spirit NEVER rests!
God is always desiring my healing, which will bring me closer to Him and bring
me more Freedom to love God and neighbor and self !
At home in the quiet spaces, again, something began to stir deep within me.
In the deepest part of my being... pushed way down in the dark place, hidden under years of debris
arose the big "sunami" of a wave, rising to the surface!
I had come face to face, unexpectedly, with a dark side of self...like looking in a mirror.
Finally, giving it over to Our Lady and every saint I had ever prayed to, I
did SURRENDER and yield, longing to let it go!
It was the right time!
At that precious moment , when the priest said those words of forgiveness,
"Jean! YOU ARE FORGIVEN OF ALL YOUR SINS!"...those words echoed within,
reverberating into every fiber of my being!
JESUS was washing and cleansing every cell in my body!
I was being washed clean and given a new Life!
I had received a new Life!
A very alive sense of being!
"Transformed into a new dimension of living!"
I thought that I would die and
GOD gave me new LIFE IN JESUS!
ALLELUIA!
HE IS RISEN!
Letting the suffering arise and accepting suffering, is never an easy task.
I spent most of my years suppressing hurt, running busily away from facing the hurt, fear
and anxiety that was hidden within...
not even knowing what it was I was running from.
Like Lazarus, wrapped and decayed, dead for days,Jesus patiently kept calling me forward
from the tomb I had built around myself.
Through the years, guided by faith and a loving family, friends, and a loving prayerful
community, Jesus began and continued to unwrap the bindings.
I really don't need to go into many details,we all have our inner sufferings.
What we do for ourselves to heal them is the important story.
Much of my story is in the early writings of these pages.
The bottom line is," staying the course...persevering;" and that is a Grace, a gift given
as an answer to prayer. Much prayer, many years of receiving the daily Eucharist,
and the quiet prayer of sitting in the Presence of God, allowing Him to sift out
the chaff from the wheat, so to speak.
It is all His work!
As the Novena to St. Francis Xavier continued through the nine days of mass, homilies
and prayer, the sacrament of Confession and Reconciliation was also offered on each day.
The Holy Spirit never rests!...(thank God), and I was in need of forgiveness and took
advantage of the opportunity. One of our former priests was there and I felt comfortable
to see him.
Well! Great novena, wonderful homilies, the Eucharist AND confession !
Wow! what a terrific few days!
My friend and I went out to eat lunch .
We even had dessert!
All was well!!!
The Holy Spirit NEVER rests!
God is always desiring my healing, which will bring me closer to Him and bring
me more Freedom to love God and neighbor and self !
At home in the quiet spaces, again, something began to stir deep within me.
In the deepest part of my being... pushed way down in the dark place, hidden under years of debris
arose the big "sunami" of a wave, rising to the surface!
I had come face to face, unexpectedly, with a dark side of self...like looking in a mirror.
Finally, giving it over to Our Lady and every saint I had ever prayed to, I
did SURRENDER and yield, longing to let it go!
It was the right time!
At that precious moment , when the priest said those words of forgiveness,
"Jean! YOU ARE FORGIVEN OF ALL YOUR SINS!"...those words echoed within,
reverberating into every fiber of my being!
JESUS was washing and cleansing every cell in my body!
I was being washed clean and given a new Life!
I had received a new Life!
A very alive sense of being!
"Transformed into a new dimension of living!"
I thought that I would die and
GOD gave me new LIFE IN JESUS!
ALLELUIA!
HE IS RISEN!
