"Never mention anything concerning thyself which people account praiseworthy, such as learning, goodness, birth, unless with the hope of doing good thereby, and then let it be done with humility, remembering that these are gifts of God."
- St. Teresa of Avila [16th C], Maxims -
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ACTS 18:1-8; Ps 98:1, 2-3AB, 3CD-4
JN 16:16-20
Jesus said to his disciples:
“A little while and you will no longer see me,
and again a little while later and you will see me.”
So some of his disciples said to one another,
“What does this mean that he is saying to us,
‘A little while and you will not see me,
and again a little while and you will see me,’
and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?”
So they said, “What is this ‘little while’ of which he speaks?
We do not know what he means.”
Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them,
“Are you discussing with one another what I said,
‘A little while and you will not see me,
and again a little while and you will see me’?
Amen, amen, I say to you,
you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices;
you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.”
Reflection on the Scriptures |
Hungering and thirsting for Jesus is not all fun; it calls for our entering the darker places in our lives and dealing with all the nitty gritty of who we have chosen to be, but unless we do that we can never recognize Him when He lets us feel His presence and activity in our lives and in our world.
It actually doesn't matter in some ways. Seeking and finding God is certainly a matter of missed opportunities as we look at our lives, but that is one wonderful thing about God: no matter what we have done or what we have made of ourselves by ignoring Him, He is always right there where we are – and we are at that moment – to help us find Him and to know His compassion and forgiveness.
We do not have to meet any requirements for Him to be willing to hear us and to heal us and draw us to Him.
But taking that path is for those who believe in doing things at the last minute, like the imprudent virgins of Matthew 25:1-13.
Maybe we could pray especially hard today to find Him where He is, right now, close to us in His Spirit. And pray that the Good Shepherd might lift us, in our weakness and ignorance, and carry us home to His Father's house.
- by Chas Kestermeier, S.J.
Revelations of Divine Love
- by Julian of Norwich
Sixteenth Revelation, Chapter 75
"We shall see verily the cause of all things that He hath done; and evermore we shall see the cause of all things that He hath permitted."
I saw that God can do all that we need. And these three that I shall speak of we need: love, longing, pity. Pity in love keepeth us in the time of our need; and longing in the same love draweth us up into Heaven. For the Thirst of God is to have the general Man unto Him: in which thirst He hath drawn His Holy that be now in bliss; and getting His lively members, ever He draweth and drinketh, and yet He thirsteth
and longeth.
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