Category: Other Writing

The voice of the Beloved:
[W]ith your entire will offer yourself upon the altar of your heart as an everlasting sacrifice to the honor of My name, by entrusting with faith both body and soul to My care, that thus you may be considered worthy to draw near and offer sacrifice to God and profitably receive the Sacrament of My Body.

The altar of my heart… I have to wonder how the altar of my heart appears to my Lord.  Broken.  Filled with rubbish.  Scarred.  Desecrated.  So much is laid there that there must be no room remaining for the Body of my Savior to rest.

If a man does what he can and is truly penitent, however often he comes to Me for grace and pardon, “As I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live”; I will no longer remember his sins, but all will be forgiven him.

“What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24-25)

“And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.'” (Revelation 21:5)

The beginning and end of the chapter Thomas à Kempis writes (primarily written for priests, but it was in the meditation following that I found a truth for us all):

Had you the purity of an angel and the sanctity of St. John the Baptist, you would not be worthy to receive or administer this Sacrament. It is not because of any human meriting that a man consecrates and administers the Sacrament of Christ, and receives the Bread of Angels for his food. Great is the Mystery and great the dignity of priests to whom is given that which has not been granted the angels…. When the priest celebrates Mass, he honors God, gladdens the angels, strengthens the Church, helps the living, brings rest to the departed, and wins for himself a share in all good things.

Each and every time I consider that God has made me a priest through the laying on of hands by the Bishop, I shake my head in disbelief.

Here is my heart, Lord.  My mind.  My soul.  You only need glance upon the surface of each to know with certainty that filth covers them all.  Please, dear Savior, do not look to see what is within, my shame would crush me.  Yet, through the great mystery of grace, forgiveness… Love… You chose me.  So, there I stand, hands outstretched over the bread and the wine, praying for your presence.  Praying once more for you to come to us, your people.  I’ve seen the mist of Your Spirit upon the wine and the drops of Your blood on the bread and I’ve seen the wine “stirred up”, and I am… no words.  We bow before you.  We approach Thee.

When you approach the world, when you approach others…

Thine endeavor should be to cherish within thee throughout the day the same dispositions with which thou shouldst approach the altar.

We must seek to approach the world and others in the same manner, with the same reverence and holiness and awe and fear that we approach Jesus on the altar.  Here, in this one, in this many, is God.

Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.” (Matthew 15:32)

Jesus had given so much of himself in the healing of the crowd, yet he continues to have compassion for them and their needs.  Therefore, he feeds the 4,000 with seven loaves of bread and a few small fish.

Jesus also has the same compassion for us as he did for that crowd.  Yet, the food he gives to us is himself.

While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”  Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. (Matthew 26:26-28)

Brother Thomas writes:

Therefore must I often come to Thee, and receive Thee as the medicine of my salvation, lest perhaps I faint in the way, should I be deprived of this heavenly food.  For so thou, O most merciful Jesus, when thou hadst been preaching to the people and curing the various maladies, didst once say: I will not send them fasting to their home, lest they faint on the way.

The Lord does not send us away with our soul’s fasting.  He nourishes us with his body and blood.  No greater love.

TAK = Thomas à Kempis

IOC = Imitation of Christ

Last year I had the opportunity to visit the National Cathedral in Washington D.C.  It was spectacular and truly I could have spent several days there poking into the various rooms, chapels, and nooks.  I would have liked the time to stop and pray here and there and allow my soul to drift upwards.  It seemed, for whatever worldly reason, that I was nearer to my God.  I would not call it a religious experience, but it came close.

Many people travel far to honor the relics of the saints, marveling at their wonderful deeds and at the building of magnificent shrines. They gaze upon and kiss the sacred relics encased in silk and gold; and behold, You are here present before me on the altar, my God, Saint of saints, Creator of men, and Lord of angels!

Often in looking at such things, men are moved by curiosity, by the novelty of the unseen, and they bear away little fruit for the amendment of their lives, especially when they go from place to place lightly and without true contrition. But here in the Sacrament of the altar You are wholly present, my God, the man Christ Jesus, whence is obtained the full realization of eternal salvation, as often as You are worthily and devoutly received. To this, indeed, we are not drawn by levity, or curiosity, or sensuality, but by firm faith, devout hope, and sincere love.

I wonder and am ashamed.  Here in my church in Enid, Oklahoma, below the sanctuary lamp and within the chamber of the Tabernacle is my Lord!  Why is it that I do not desire and seek to know the Living God, to explore Him as I did that great building of wood, stone, and mortar?

Turn the eyes of my soul to Thee, my God, that I may behold the glory of Thy Presence.  That I may seek Thee where Thou truly are.