The Cross versus the Bodhi Tree

He who would be enlightened need not sit with the Buddha under a tree for even though there be some enlightenment gained thereby full enlightenment comes only by being nailed with Christ to a tree which Sunday morning reveals to be the Tree of life bearing the fruit of eternal rest. Seek not to escape being united to the Suffering which Redeems for beneath such suffering there is a God/Man who loves and delights to bring order out of chaos: Jesus Christ the Lord. The only 'reincarnation' we should ponder is the one that 'RE'-fers us back to the 'INCARNATION' of Christ.

Bronze Serpent

Caught in the middle
wanted, yet not wanted.
Loved, but hated also.
Praised in addition to being detracted.
Suspended in the air by a love stronger then iron and more flammable then the finest wood.
It should have been me there in the middle.
Why wasn’t it me there in the middle?
When “I am lifted high I will draw all men unto Me.”

Exiled

‘Exiled’ and yet to speak in such terms is to further the perception of some that I suffer from some imbalance owing possibly to my upbringing or some other event in my maturation. Adherence to rules in the modern psyche is most often considered rigidity, an inflexibility that stems from a point of failed human development. It cannot be grasped, or at least with great difficulty, how one can seek to adhere to a set of rules, regulations especially ones claiming moral absolutes such as ‘Commandments’. Such adherence is a psychological hang up to the modern mind.
​When all other possibilities have been exhausted and only then is the virtue of obedience considered. This consideration is then employed by some in the hope of exposing the cause of obedience as stemming from some inner fear factor once again owing to some traumatic event in one’s human development. And then as the gnat is strained out there is the seldom-made acknowledgement that there is such a virtue as obedience which, ought to be commended but because it is so rare it is best off being relegated to the counselor’s couch. How cozy. Have mercy O Lord, have mercy.

Homily for the past solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

The Incarnation is the hidden life of the Most Holy Trinity made visible. But the Incarnation must be understood in the inclusive sense whereby the whole life of the God-Man Jesus Christ is considered from Crib to Cross to Cosmic throne. In a special way, however the Cross highlights the dimension of the Incarnation known as Kenosis, which is the self-emptying love of Christ, the revelatory pinnacle of the inner life of the Holy Trinity. This is the visible, living manifestation in time and space of the Eternal ‘goings on’ operative in the life of the Holy Trinity. The kenosis of Christ on the Cross reveals the secret to the mutual Indwelling of the Persons of the Trinity namely, you make room for the other by making empty one’s self of self but in the life of the Holy Trinity this self-emptying is always met with a mutual self-emptying which only the Spirit of Divine Love can accomplish. Suffering such as crucifixion therefore is the only way kenosis can be expressed by Infinite Innocence in a world where sin only permits of a conditioned indwelling. Our Lord says, ‘whoever receives one whom I send receives me; and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me.’ Jn 13:20 Does not this attest to the Incarnation’s continuance and with it a kenosis or Trinitarian revelation on mutual indwelling in every time and space? The kenosis of Christ has been sealed by the Spirit with the gift of perpetuity. The Incarnation survives the Cross as the Resurrection attests for Christ rose from death in the flesh wherein lies our salvation. Hence the Incarnational kenosis continues by the working of the Holy Spirit in us who have become Christ’s mystical body. So it should come as no surprise how meaningful the words of our Lord really are, ‘If you would My disciple be you must pick up your cross daily and follow Me.’ It is only in hoisting that repugnant wood upon our oil of olay shoulders that we best express the kenosis of Christ and therefore the hidden life of the Trinity who is love. The victory or vindication for our Christian kenosis is begun to borrow from Bishop Sheen when we bring before the Priest our lives symbolized by bread and wine which both had to undergo a certain death for bread consists in the death of wheat and wine consists in the grapes being put through the wrath of the wine press. Our lives therefore, our kenosis is vindicated as Christ in His Priest offers us with, through and in Himself to the Father by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. In the Transubstantiation of ordinary bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ we too are changed into his mystical body through our communion with Him. Symbolically speaking, we offer ourselves to God in the offertory as ordinary bread and wine that has undergone many deaths and much self-emptying and yet in return we receive vindication for the obedience of faith by being drawn into a higher life, the life known as eternal and supernatural. Our kenosis must reach the paten. Christ as Priest and Victim will do the rest to vindicate our offering of self. We give not in vain when we give ourselves to our daily cross for Christ consecrates us into a kingdom of priests for His God and Father, a holy nation, a people set apart for the mission of drawing, calling and summoning others to share in the Ecclesial kenosis, the Sacramental expression of the life of the Most Holy Trinity. If we do not accept our own call to kenosis by embracing our cross we will simply remain wheat in the field and grapes on the Vine without ever knowing the Life on the Paten or in the Chalice Divine. The Kenosis of Christ in time is but once because He is eternal and His self-offering bears that eternal imprint but for us who are finite beings who experience life sequentially we must practice kenosis again and again but we can rest assured that we receive infinitely more in Communion then we finitely gave in the offertory. I think this deserves a ‘Gloria in excelsis Deo.’

The Great Pianist from on High, plays so elegantly, that my soul cannot help but spread its wings and fly, in search of Him whose sound is so profound, that love must weep bitterly until He is found.

The Prize

You are beautiful in Your coming, O Finger of God,
Majestic and glorious in 'Your' descent.
You are all embracing, sin erasing,
The 'Prize' of life that no man should lose.
 
You fall upon us like a gentle mist,
And 'You' inflame the heart with comfort and warmth.
Every grace is 'Yours', not one escapes 'Your' grasp,
For 'Your' hand holds tight with authentic might.
 
You reveal 'Yourself' through revealing Truth,
And 'You' anoint with power to ennoble all.
You raise up the hand for to hold the heart so it may speak
The Truth the mind enfolds.
You lead the way upon this earth, and
You sprint the race at record pace,
'You' are the “Prize” before our eyes.
 
Shield us safely while the arrows fly,
As through the Trenches we pass on by,
For in 'Your' safety alone is how we wish to die.
 
Selflessly 'You' point to 'Him' from whom 'You' have come,
And without delay 'You' point further still,
To the 'One' made flesh who fulfilled 'His' will.
 
Now let our gaze to 'You' be turned for recognition is surely due,
For the selfless love 'You' show the world by pointing to the other 'Two'.
'You' declare the 'Father', 'You' proclaim the 'Son',
And in the Church all this 'You' have done.
 
So now equally sharing, what each of 'You' possess,
Is itself the Glory from which 'You Three' seek no rest, for after all
This is the race, that 'You' have always run, and indeed,
'It is the Best!'
 
Give me now the Grace, to run this race, and never run short on love,
For in this race, one must keep their pace, if they hope to finish on time,
And for myself this is my goal: to Cross the finish line,
Where all in all, You'll be my strength and forevermore my “Prize”.
I love You Holy Spirit. Amen.

Precious

Precious in the Eyes of the Lord is the Death of His Faithful: How precious for the redeemed is that moment when at last the veil of faith is lifted and they behold their true worth in the arms of satisfying Love. The arrows of doubt that sought to bring them down in this life will be replace by the certitude of faith's eternal reward – the Bridegroom of the soul.
​It must excite You so much my dear Jesus at the moment of death to be able to thrust Yourself so completely upon the children of grace. To know, Lord Jesus that You are the ecstasy of the human soul must make You impatient for the death of Your faithful ones. How must it make You feel knowing that You are everything and that in death Your faithful ones will come to experience in true undefiled purity the joy of the union which the soul was made to hunger for. You are that joy. You desire to give that joy to the world for You are Love Absolute.
​I long to be lost in that embrace My Beloved Jesus never more to emerge from the  inner chamber to my most worthy and exalted King. My pen seeks to scream Your praises with love beyond defect. You have no equal. You alone my dearest Jesus were found worthy to open the scroll which had been sealed with 7 seals, the same scroll  of which the book of Revelation speaks. This scroll contains my every need and desire and You have made Yourself worthy to open it by paying the demands of justice, which I could never pay by shedding Your delicious love-enhancing Blood. Your desire alone Lord to open the scroll with the seven seals is itself my crown of glory for to know that the God of all glory has desired Me and turned His glance toward me is enough to elate me for eternity.
​To hold Your hand and feel the grip of victory, sharing the joys and surprizes of Your resurrected wounds. Ah! This will be contentment. I know not if my eyes will be capable of beholding what You desire to share with Me.
​To be counted among the King's men: what honor, what joy, what supreme nobility, all at the price of Love, not mine but His. He will hold me and love me and at last I will know without interruption the ecstasy of being created, redeemed and sanctified by the Triune God. Amen

The weight of gravity bears heavily upon my feet as they strain forward through the narrow gate of Calvary’s Sanctuary to the Altar of the skull where time will curtsy as Timelessness dictates Heaven’s Treatise on Love: The Autobiography of the Word Made Flesh.
            The Fearful responsibility incumbent on me of making such an ascent to the height of the world through the valley of the shadow of death reminds me that my hands have been chosen to turn the pages of this treatise so that love may be unfurled in all its glory for all to see as death is written out of the plot of human destiny by the finger of God which in the mystery of time becomes my finger. And having arisen to this height to procure for my fellow man much more then the furniture of heaven I now descend from the Altar of the skull where revealed in a mosaic of blood dripping from every chapter of the eternal chalice is to be found the consummation of heavenly discourse wherein love invites all the illiterate to become learned in the sweet wisdom of a living library of love whose name is ‘Immolated’ and He will not abandon His post in the hands of the Priest as the Sacred Host until we say ‘I do’ or ‘Amen’.

Semper Virginis Mariae

O Chaste Curtain of Christ, your fiat led the Almighty to reveal Himself through your torn yet seamless virginity, which produces an awesome fragrance of purity to herald the Holy of Holies as He manifests Himself in the revered fabric formed within the inner sanctuary of your womb. O Chaste Curtain of Christ through which, the light of splendor shines lead us to the full radiance of His Divinity cloaked as it is in your fair flesh now stretched upon the Cross as the seamless Cloud of Heaven from which pour the rains of redemption.
            O Chaste Curtain of Christ, seamless were you in the pangs of birth yet torn at the foot of the Cross. Teach us the joy of Virginity’s abiding Truth by calling forth upon us from the Vault of Heaven the Divine Spirit whom your exalted womb calls Spouse.
            When the Holy Spirit got to the bottom of your Christ-Hungry heart He found your womb where He was exceptionally pleased to incarnate the Son within the walls of your Temple like womb precisely on account of the welcome He received in your ‘Holy of Holies’ like heart.