Loving God and Letting God Love Us

As I was reflecting on the creche, I thought of God, the Creator of the universe, being "confined" to the body of an infant.  Such thoughts came out of being confined for several days because of a minor contagious illness. However, I also thought of those confined to a prison cell for years, even for life, for a crime they committed.  Regarding God "being confined to a body of an infant", the Lord responded to me in prayer, as follows:  I hid myself in an infant's  body to communicate God's approach-ability, God's tenderness, God's love.  Come to me, Dorothy Ann (insert your name);  do not be afraid.  I love you.  I want you to hold Me, your God.  Hold Me as I hold you in love, in compassion, in mercy.  Let us cuddle. I know!  Cuddling with God seems ludicrous to you but not to me.  As Your Good Shepherd, I seek you always when you go astray; I find you and bring you back to the fold, holding you, cuddling you, and triumphantly happy in holding you against my chest. Recall John, who laid his head on my chest. I cherished that touch and I cherish yours, especially when you touch Me by touching others in genuine love!

May you and I grow in our love of God, in knowing God's approach-ability and His desire to show us His love, to feel His love, to cherish His love and return it to Him personally and through our love for ourselves and others.

Rejoice: The Lord is Near

We open today's liturgy with the antiphon: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near"(Phil 4: 4,5).

Each of us today awakened because the Lord called us to continue our existence here on earth. As we journey through this day, God will give us new opportunities to grow in grace and wisdom (growing in age is automatic); growing in grace and wisdom depends on our openness to God.  God, who entered the earth, coming down from heaven and being born as a helpless Infant, tender, loving, in need of care--the God who created the Universe and all that is in it, human, plant and animal--continues the act of Incarnation every day.  The Incarnate God exists within us, sustaining us in existence. The Incarnate God exists in all that has life. God's creative energies continue their creative gift of life in myriad of ways, including our own life as unique persons. God works with us and through us to become the persons God designed us to be. God patiently awaits our acceptance of our need to be saved; yes, our realization that we need redemption--God's mercy and love making us whole, making us increasingly more  pure and more authentic, more altruistic, more generous with time and talent in helping others; making us lavishly more loving, making us deeply more honest, even in the smallest of ways that we do not live up to our potential as human beings!

[R]ejoice  heartily in the Lord, in [your] God is the joy of [your] soul" (Isaiah 61: 1-2a, 10-11).

Preparing for Our Savior's Coming

As we are enter the second week of Advent, we continue readings from the book of Isaiah.  Today, Monday, the 11th f Dec., Isaiah again brings us a message of hope:  The desert and the parched land will exalt; the steppe will rejoice and bloom....The glory of Lebanon will be given to them, the splendor of Carol and Sharon; they will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God."  The prophet  asks us to "strengthen the hands that are feeble make firm the knees that are weak, say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not! Here is your God, he does with vindication; with divine recompense he comes to save you."

May our hearts rejoice at the coming of our God, a God as tender and loving as an infant, a God who has the power to melt those parts of us frozen by hatred, greed, or deceitfulness; a God who has the power to turn sin into holiness, a God who is able to transform that within us that which is  enslaved to God substitutes: power, pleasure, and control.  God "comes to save" us from all that causes division and from all that prevents us from loving freely and generously, from all that creates indifference among us.

Let us prepare for the coming of our Savior by taking time to call upon the Lord on a daily basis, reflecting on the Word of God in the Scriptures or in a favorites book that lifts our souls to the Lord in prayerful reflection on the meaning of Advent.

God's Instructions of Being Holy/Whole in His Sight

Today’s first reading, Leviticus 19: 1-2, 11-18, begins with the Lord asking us to “Be holy, for I, the Lord, your God, am holy” and then spells out ways in which we are not holy, namely, when we:

·         Steal, rob others of their rights, engage in fraudulent behaviors

·         Lie in any way, swear falsely, spread slanderous statements against anyone

·         Use God’s name disrespectfully

·         Curse the deaf and put stumbling blocks in front of the blind

·         Render unjust , dishonest judgments towards anyone

·         Show partiality toward the rich and famous as well as toward the weak and vulnerable

·         Do nothing when another’s life is in danger

·         Bear hatred in our hearts  towards anyone

·         Seek revenge and hold grudges

Lord, how unholy am I, how much in need of your mercy and forgiveness from you and others.

Dorothy Ann,   (your name), as “the height of heaven above earth, so strong is [God’s] faithful love for… [you] who [reverence the Lord].  As the distance of east from west, so far from [you] does [God] put [your] faults. As tenderly as a [loving, caring, forgiving] father treats his children, so Yahweh treats [you, his daughter/son]; [God] knows of what [you] are made, [God] remembers that [you] are dust."

Thank you, Lord, for your merciful, caring restorative justice, loving me into eternity, loving me into right relationships with you, others and myself.  Thank you for being merciful and understanding of my human nature, its downfalls and weaknesses, its sinfulness and efforts to do what is right before you, to “be holy as You are holy.”

The Graciousness and Kindness of our God

In today’s first reading, Is 49: 8-15, the prophet says to us:

Along the ways,…[you] shall find pasture,
On every bare height shall…your pastures be…
For…[God] who pities[you] leads [you]
and guides [you] beside springs of water.
[God] will cut a road through all [your] mountains,
And make [your] highways level.
See, some shall come from  afar,
Others from the north and the west….
Sing out, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth,
Break forth into song, you mountains.
For the Lord comforts his people
And shows mercy to his afflicted.

 As I meditated upon this passage, the thought came to me that the “bare height” where our pasture shall be is heaven itself, that God, who pities us, leads us to this Promised Land, cutting through the mountains of our lives, leveling the highways.  “See, some [come into eternal life] from the mud slides in the State of Washington, others from the watery grave  where the Malaysian plane’s  tragedy occurred, others from the devastating 8.2 earthquake off the coast of Chile.  So, too, does God remember those who die by the violent hand of another, those who  suffer because of a terminal illness, an ugly divorce, a domestic dispute. God knows and cares about all who suffer the brutal ravages of a war, all who are the target of ethnic cleansing, who are bullied because they are different from those who abuse them.      “Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you,”  God tells us, no matter how much it seems otherwise. 

 “I do believe, Lord, help my unbelief” (Mk 9:24).

God's love, affection and desire for our safety

Both of the readings of today’s liturgy, 2 Sam 18: 9-10, 14, 24-25, 30; 19:3  and Mark 5: 21-43, speak of the bond of love, affection, and concern members of a family have toward one another and God toward His family, us, his children. In the first reading, David is inconsolable when he hears that his son Absalom was killed, even though Absalom was hunting down his father to murder him.  In the Gospel, we experience the tenderness, the love, and the affection of God/Jesus toward the woman who touches the hem of his garment, the official of the synagogue whose 12-year-old daughter is dying, and the little girl herself.  God, a God of tenderness, compassion, and love, wants to heal us and make us whole.

David  and Absalom reflects God’s relationship with us. Though we may turn against God and choose our will over His, as Absalom turned against his father and David chose to commit adultery and murder, God does not stop loving us or wanting the best for us. He desires that no harm come to us .  His healing power flows into us, also,  when we, like the woman suffering from an illness for 12 years and at the end of her “rope,”   but touches the hem of Jesus’ garment, when we but come to Him in faith as did Jairus, asking that his little 12-year-old daughter be brought back from the gates of death.  God’s only response to our faith and trust is love and healing, tenderness and forgiveness, no matter how far we have distanced ourselves from Him. God does not ever walk away and, like David, Absalom’s  father, wants no harm to befall us. His will is to bring us safely back to our eternal home.  What is yours?