- writing to a married friend -
“Your question is both simple and complicated. Of course it is possible for a married person to attain to the very pinnacle of mysticism. And knowing you as I do, your deep faith, your sense of God’s presence, your love of your family, your concerns for the poor, I feel quite sure that you are called. . . So, Maria, surrender to God and go on your way with confidence and
joy.”
- William Johnston [20th C.], “Letters to Contemplatives”
(Substitute your name for “Maria” and hear the summons to “go on your way with confidence and joy.”)
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Acts 22:30; 23:6-11; Ps. 16:1-2a, 5, 7-11; Jn 17:20-26
R. Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope.
Keep me, O God, for in you I take refuge;
I say to the LORD, "MyLord are you."
O LORD, my allotted portion and my
cup,
you it is who hold fast my lot.
I bless the LORD who counsels me;
even in the night my heart exhorts me.
I set the LORD ever before me;
with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.
Therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices,
my body, too, abides in confidence;
Because you will not
abandon my soul to the nether world,
nor will you suffer your faithful one to undergo corruption.
You will show me the path to life,
fullness of joys in your presence,
the delights at your right hand forever.
Reflection on the Scriptures |
Jesus gave us basically only two prayers. (Recall: “prayer” in the New Testament almost always means petition.) The first is the “Our Father”, which tells us what we should ask God for (“establish your kingdom now”), and the second is Jesus’ own prayer to His Father, which is the subject of today’s Gospel and which tells us pretty clearly what Jesus himself wants for His people. He wants unity – unity between the
branches of the Christian church, unity within the branches of the churches, unity within parishes, unity within families. Jesus wants us to be one, as He and the Father are one. Such unity, so hard for us to achieve, is a principal sign of God’s presence. It is, in fact, the one feature of the Christian church that will be sufficiently attractive to outsiders that it will draw them in. By contrast, division and discord drive people away. Division and
discord surely do not manifest Christ’s presence.
Remember: unity does not mean uniformity. We can and should differ. None of us is wise enough or knowledgeable enough to have the whole truth. Differences allow us go get a more complete grasp on the complexities of life and church. Unity means we respect one another’s understanding, views,
and priorities.
- by Robert Heaney
Revelations of Divine Love - by Julian of Norwich
Eighth Revelation, Chapter 18
“When He was in pain, we were in
pain”
HERE I saw a part of the compassion of our Lady, Saint Mary: for Christ and she were so oned in love that the greatness of her loving was cause of the greatness of her pain. For in this [Shewing] I saw a Substance of Nature’s Love, continued by
Grace, that creatures have to Him: which Kind Love was most fully shewed in His sweet Mother, and overpassing; for so much as she loved Him more than all other, her pains passed all other. For ever the higher, the mightier, the sweeter that the love be, the more sorrow it is to the lover to see that body in pain that is loved.
And all His disciples and all His true
lovers suffered pains more than their own bodily dying. For I am sure by mine own feeling that the least of them loved Him so far above himself that it passeth all that I can say.
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