The heavens and the earth drink there...

For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd;
He will lead them to springs of living water. - Rev 7:17

Worship of the Lamb of God – Central detail Ghent altarpiece ~ Flemish VanEyck brothers (1432)

"That eternal Spring is hidden

             yet I know well where it flows...

            I know that there can be

            nothing else so beautiful

            and that the heavens and the earth drink there...

            I know well that its bottom cannot be found

            and that no one can penetrate its depths...

            Its clarity is never muddied,

            and I know that every light has come from it...

            Well do I know how vast , how mighty is the flow

            of the stream born in this Fount...

            This eternal Spring is hidden

          in this living Bread to give us life...

            It is here calling to creatures

            and from its water they quench their thirst...

            This living Fount that I long for

            I see in this Bread of Life..."

St John of the Cross

Doctor (mystical theology) of the Church

Spain ~ 1542 - 1591

Carmelite priest and reformer

Co-founder Discalced Carmelites

w/St Teresa of Ávila

FEAST DAY - Dec 14

 

“In the evening of life, we will be judged

on love alone.”  ~ St John of the Cross

"Where there is no love, put love --
and you will find love." ~ St John of the Cross

Click here: St. John of the Cross - YouTube (2 mins) Apostleship of Prayer

Click here: St. John of the Cross - YouTube (3 mins) CCTN

Click here: Fr. Barron at Tomb of St. John of the Cross - YouTube (3 mins)

  
St John of the Cross, pray for us!

Child of the Dove ... Come!

Veni, Veni, Emmanuel!

 

 

Advent antiphons 

 

From Mary's sweet silence

Come, Word mutely spoken!

 

Pledge of our real life,

Come, Bread yet unbroken!

Seed of the Golden Wheat,

In us be sown.

 

Fullness of true Light,

Through us be known.

 

 

Secret held tenderly,

Guarded with Love,

 

Cradled in purity,

Child of the Dove,

 

COME!

 

Sr M Charlita, I.H.M

 

Entrusted with a treasure...

“Where is my heart? …

May this question accompany us this whole week.”

- Pope Francis, Palm Sunday homily (2014)

Click here: Whispers in the Loggia: "Who Am I? Where Is My Heart?"

The Missal, John William Waterhouse (1902)

"We need to implore his grace daily, asking him to open our cold hearts and shake up our lukewarm and superficial existence. Standing before him with open hearts, letting him look at us, we see that gaze of love which Nathaniel glimpsed on the day when Jesus said to him: 'I saw you under the fig tree' (Jn 1:48).

How good it is to stand before a crucifix, or on our knees before the Blessed Sacrament, and simply to be in his presence! How much good it does us when he once more touches our lives and impels us to share his new life! What then happens is that 'we speak of what we have seen and heard' (1 Jn 1:3).

The best incentive for sharing the Gospel comes from contemplating it with love, lingering over its pages and reading it with the heart. If we approach it in this way, its beauty will amaze and constantly excite us. But if this is to come about,

we need to recover a contemplative spirit which can help us to realize ever anew that we have been entrusted with a treasure which makes us more human and helps us to lead a new life. There is nothing more precious which we can give to others."

From Evangelii Gaudium, 264 – Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation

Simply present, simply said...

Thou dost show me the path of life; in thy presence there is fullness

of joy, in thy right hand are pleasures for evermore. - Psalm 16:11

 

 

"How useful it is every so often

to remain in contemplation before the tabernacle -

without forcing ourselves to think of lofty things!

 

To be able to tell Jesus simply: 'You are my Master.

You have given me an example.

I want to do as You did.'"

 

Bl James Alberione

Going to the end of our being...

“...for our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power

and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction” - I Thes 1:5a

"The single greatest need in the world today is the practice of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.  How can we say this? Logically! We have seen that the conversion of our country calls for an outpouring of marvelous power from God. Christ promised to move mountains at the words of a person who believes.  We conclude: there is no greater profession of faith than during prayer before the Holy Eucharist.

Why should prayer before Christ in the Eucharist be so potent in obtaining miracles of conversion? Because it is prayer that is animated by extraordinary faith. ... There is no miracle too great, and no miracle is greater than the conversion of sinners—provided we believe.

That is why we can say and say with complete security; the single most powerful means on earth for the conversion of America is for Catholic Americans to mobilize a crusade of prayer before the Eucharist for the conversion of our nation."  ~ From The Conversion of America Through the Eucharist -  Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J. (1998)

  

 

 

FEAST* of the CONVERSION of ST PAUL

January 25

*This feast is at the conclusion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, an international Christian ecumenical observance that began in 1908, which is an octave (eight-day observance) spanning from January 18 (observed as the Confession of Peter) to January 25.

"Being converted is simply meeting yourself for the purpose of going to the very end of your being.  Conversion means a willingness to see the truth of things and conform one's conduct to it" (A. Serillanges). In the Voice and the Light that Saul encounters on the road, he sees the truth of things and willingly conforms himself to Jesus Christ. "That dear preacher Paul ... was a wolf, but he became a lamb, a gracious vessel of love - and the fire with which Christ filled his vessel he carried through the whole world" (St Catherine of Siena).  "It is clear that Paul wholly fled from himself and cast out all his own will, and that his will was active only in relation to Christ.  Since with Christ there was nothing undesirable or repugnant to his will, it follows that his was a wondrous pleasure which was always present and with which he always lived (Nicholas Cabasilas).  

Excerpt from: Magnificat, Vol 15, No 11, January 2014 (pg 362-3).

 

Click here: Conversion of St. Paul - YouTube

St Paul, pray for our continued conversion!

Holy passing of days and nights

  

 Woman with a candle - Godfried Schalcken

“I desire, and ask it from Your love

to dwell always close to You,

in body or at least in heart;
to behold your Eucharistic beauty and glory;
to feed ever on Your love;

to pass my days and nights, as far as you allow,

in blessing, in loving, and in contemplating You!”

St Gertrude the Great

Remaining with Him...

"Pause before the tabernacle by yourself,

for no special reason, even without saying a thing,

simply remaining in His presence,

contemplating the supreme gestures of love

contained in the consecrated Bread. 

Learn to remain with Him, to be able to love like Him."

Pope Blessed John Paul II

To dwell, to behold...

Jan Davidsz de Heem

“I desire, and ask it from Your love – to dwell always close to You, in body or at least in heart; to behold your Eucharistic beauty and glory; to feed ever on Your love; to pass my days and nights, as far as you allow, in blessing, in loving, and in contemplating You!”

St Gertrude the Great

Friends of the King

Prayer after communion ~ Vigil Mass National Prayer for Life - 2012 (St Louis, MO)

“Beneath the accidents of bread, Jesus is accessible – if the King disguises Himself, we can converse with Him without ceremonies and court etiquette:  indeed He seems to have waived His claim to them by appearing incognito.

Take pleasure in remaining in His society:  do not lose such precious time, for this hour is of the utmost value to the soul, and the good Jesus desires you to spend it with Him.

When you have received our Lord, since He really dwells within you, try to close the eyes of your body and to open those of your soul; look into your heart.  … He will reveal Himself to you, in proportion to the desire you have of seeing Him.  …

He will not show Himself openly or reveal His glories or bestow His treasures, save on souls who prove that they ardently desire Him, for these are His real friends.”

Excerpt from The Way of Perfection 34:9-11

St Teresa of Avila (1582 +)

Pausing... to grasp a presence

Transitional deacon Ben Little with holy monstrance.  St Paul Seminary, St Paul, MN

  

Our Holy Father said that Advent "invites us to pause in silence to grasp a presence."

He continued: "It is an invitation to understand that every event of the day is a gesture that God directs to us, a sign of the care He has for each one of us. How many times God makes us perceive something of His love! To have, so to speak, an 'interior diary' of this love would be a beautiful and salutary task for our life!

Advent invites and stimulates us to contemplate the Lord who is present. Should not the certainty of His presence help us to see the world with different eyes? Should it not help us to see our whole existence as a 'visit,' as a way in which He can come to us and be close to us, in each situation?"

 

Pope Benedict XVI

First Vespers, Saturday

November 28, 2009

 Happy St Nicholas Day!

Trusting you got a few goodies

in your shoes this morning!

Click here: St. Nicholas - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online

includes a short and sweet UTube by Fr James Kubicki, SJ

St NicHolas, ora pro nobis!