Behold a Sacred Host towering over the hearts of men in royal attire where silence is the language of love and communion the ecstasy of the soul. A flaming Chalice burning with the light of love has purified my way through a darkened vineyard. Now I can see what hope had hidden beneath the fruit of the vine where faith is fully realized in the sweet taste of love that is Truth.

Love was slain in the process of unfettering truth. But the light of heaven shone through the signs of slaughter revealing the undeniable victory of love as the one truth that can never really be fettered.

A novena of love

A novena of love prayed upon knees of faith as tears of hope flood my cheeks with the warmth of the Word made flesh, who’s glory I now receive in the mysterious novena of love; the one prayer I so happily wish to repeat.

Without first having

None of us can properly kneel in service of our brothers and sisters without first having knelt in adoration of Him whose love illumines the way to genuine service of both friend and foe. To kneel before a brother without due regard for the Truth of our brother's highest calling is to rewrite the Gospel, an authority however none of us possesses.

When indifference comes home

When lighting strikes with Aryan might and flags of hate unfurl over German skies life as we know it descends into the madness of a mein kampf which in the face of our indifference proves to be our struggle as well. When our indifference allows another to hail victory at the expense of six million stars it won’t be long before we find a plethora of bleeding crosses littering the landscape of our own backyards.

Consecration in the Hands of the Consecrated One

My Jesus, Lord, I follow where holy faith leads. It leads to where my intellect cries “how?” It leads to where my senses say “never”, “impossible.” And yet I follow where holy faith leads because it leads me to You? And so here I am kneeling before You, adoring You, loving You, praising and thanking You while my proud intellect learns to submit to sacred silence as the mystery of faith seeks to enlarge its territory within my heart.

I consecrate my proud intellect to Your Divine Presence here in the Eucharist where sharing in the burden of Your love I hope to unlearn all those things which would have me doubt a Presence so Real, so True, so Substantial.

Your Presence here, is the abiding testimony of Your desire to reconcile through Your sacrificial victimhood the human will with the divine will. To honor Your Divine Presence I now consecrate to Your reconciling victimhood my weak will with its inclination toward love of self. The consecration of my will I make in the hope of knowing fully someday the peace of reclining upon Your bosom just as You are eternally leaning upon Your Father’s bosom.                                  
Finally, I consecrate my selfish heart to Your “pure, holy, and spotless” victimhood here Present in the sacramental mystery of the Word made flesh. Your silent abiding is the Altar upon which all love is purified and made ready for Trinitarian Communion the joyful vision of which I beg Your merciful indulgence in my soul’s regard. Amen

Why Christ is irrelevant in the modern world?

The modern world apparently seems to deny guilt. It seems to confuse guilt and sin with sickness having no moral implications. If sin is only sickness that can easily be explained away in sociological, psychological and statistical terms then it is no wonder why Christ's relevance in the modern world has taken a nose dive. Christ is irrelevant therefore in a world where there are no sinners only the infirm. The Christ who seems to be relevant to the infirm is the sociological Christ whose relevance waxes and wanes in proportion to His ability to establish the earthly kingdom. If Christ has become irrelevant in the modern world it is because we have made Him so through trivializing sin, guilt and individual moral responsibility. If Christ has become irrelevant it is because we have relativized truth either directly through preaching or indirectly through ambiguity in word and deed regarding issues pertaining to Truth. Christ becomes irrelevant to the extent that we divorce His Victimhood from His Priesthood. If Christ has become irrelevant in the modern world it is because we have denied the real implications of the Incarnation(God becoming man) and the firm possibility of knowing the 'real Christ' whom the modern world has convinced itself is to be distinguished from the Christ dressed up by later doctrinal formulations of Scripture and Tradition. The modern world (including many in the Church) in many cases denies the abiding power of Pentecost because it is continually seduced by the prospects of unmasking and excavating the "real historical Jesus" thereby denying the capacity and ability of the Catholic Faith to transmit the truth of Jesus. The modern mind almost searches for the 'Real' Jesus as if He were buried beneath the rubble of the New Testament account of Him.
Christ is made irrelevant to the degree that we downplay the gift and virtue of reverence in the context of the Church and the Holy Mass. Reverence in the Church and especially during Mass can inspire faith in Christ's relevance. Lack of reverence inspires ambiguity regarding Christ's relevance. Irreverence inspires eyes for everything else but a relevant Christ.

A Premature 'I do"

In search of love I donned his ring; slowly saddened by what it did bring. It didn't bring love for love was not in the ring but in the will and he had not the will nor I the discipline to heed love's call to discern the Truth for love's sake.

We can expose God's love to spittle

Crucified love is what truly challenges us. It challenges our pride because we see in it no room for advancing our own cause because we are loved despite ourselves. We are helpless to control the one thing that counts - God's love. We can expose God's love to spittle, lips blistered with betrayal, thorns, and finally death but we cannot suppress it. The truth is - none of us can endear ourselves to God, which means that we cannot make God need us and so to stand in God's Presence means we must get off our high horse because He sees what we are without it.

I tried every trick in the book to make Him hate me and in the end He loved me no less. Faced with this love I realized that the power of His love is beyond mine to control or manipulate.

If You choose, You can make me well

Have anger and resentment made sterile my hope? Why is darkness so dark? I see not even a flicker of light. How long will this pilgrimage of uncertainty, injustice and obscurity last? I know not the contours of this mission. How is hope to prevail, walking blindfolded through a busy city street? Is hope sufficient in dark days such as these? Must hope be the only light in a scapegoats journey to the edge of the cliff? When one must ponder uncertain, whether they are the victim or not, proves to be a victimhood well declared. Where does the scapegoat find time for forgiveness? Will justice remove the scapegoats haunting memories before they become etched in a heart of stone? Welcoming the scapegoat back into the fold may be easy but returning as the scapegoat is not as easy for its a lot harder not recognizing the fingerprints left on your head by your comrades. Knowing not the source of one's suffering is suffering enough. How long must "knowing not" be the only thing of which I am certain? Teach me forgiveness O Lord lest I harden like mud on a sunny day. Clay in the hands of the potter am I. Forgive me Lord for fighting angrily against Your loving design. Your silence or my perception of Your silence has resulted in me trusting less in Your plan mostly because I recognize not the contours of the path before me. Adrift where the sea will freely take me. Need I know where?

I live in the hope of a splendid day when quiet sunlight will brighten my imaginative hunger with concrete encounter. Many lesser days occupy and interrupt my capacity to yearn for what is best. Darkness appears to be the only light given me in these moments. Faith and hope are the wings that bear me up while love seems to have hidden Its face. Angered at love for what is not love's fault at all but my pride grows impatient in the absence of direction. Where am I to rest? Should I rest or carry on? All questions seem to be without answer and yet the answer Himself beholds all things clear while I in darkness bump and stumble along a path that leads where only God for certain knows. Grant me the grace to persevere O Answer Most Sublime.

A prayer before Our Eucharistic Lord

In the Spirit's gift of unconquerable faith I fall to my knees in recognition of the real presence of the sacrificial Victim by whose death You've willed to reconcile us to Yourself. I bow before His substantial Presence in gratitude for His reconciling Victimhood, a Victimhood that abides shrouded in silence which I hope to enthrone with my praises, the defects of which I ask Your pardon.
Jesus, Lord, You are the Word made flesh at whose invitation I find myself kneeling in adoration in the hope of beholding even a glimpse of Your glory as You silently, patiently, and lovingly 'tabernacle' among us. Lure me into Your bosom where beloved disciples are made and nourish me thoroughly upon the love that has been lifted up where heaven and earth unite in the mystery of love to the end, the very mystery I now seek to penetrate with eyes of faith, eyes often clouded by the blindness of sin. Forgive me, hold me, love me. I beg You to 'tabernacle' in my heart so that I may discover the joy of being immolated in imitation of Your reconciling victimhood.

But perhaps

The creative will of God could have produced an act of creation so sublime and dignified that it would win Him endless praise from His other already existing creatures but instead He chose to create you but perhaps you are this act of creation whose life is deemed capable of winning for God the sublime praise of His other creatures. "Cast out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch."

"It is the Lord"

He is Present in the Tabernacle for the Sick. The Eucharist was first reserved in Tabernacles for the sake of the sick who could not be present for the Holy Mass. Some will argue as others already have that there is no need to spend time before the "Reserved" Sacrament and for that matter Our Lord never intended such. This practice is simply the result of circumstances affecting the early Christian community. Whatever the circumstances be, whatever the origins of the Most Blessed Sacrament being 'reserved' in Tabernacles - the heart of a beloved disciple cannot help but say, "It is the Lord", and the person truly in touch with their baptismal grace will not be able to refrain from following St. Peter's lead in diving into the mystery before him so as to encounter the Risen Lord from whom flow the words, "Do you love Me, more then all these?" Theologians can tackle all manner of questions regarding the reservation of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Tabernacles and the origins of such practice but this will never offset the reality that "It is the Lord" there in the Tabernacle.

Reconciling Victimhood

In Eucharistic Prayer III, the Priest entreats the Heavenly Father to “recognize” in “the oblation of the Church” present on the Altar under the appearance of Bread and Wine - “the sacrificial Victim by whose death” He has “reconciled us to Himself.” If we as Roman Catholics entreat the Eternal Father to “recognize” in what appears to be simple Bread and Wine upon the Altar His very own Son then who are we not to “recognize” in the Eucharist the same sacrificial Victim by whose death the Father has reconciled us to Himself? Does this act of “recognizing” cease with the final blessing of the Holy Mass or are we called to continue “recognizing” the Presence of this sacrificial Victim in the Tabernacle where His Presence is an abiding, substantial Presence? St. John in chapter 1 verse 14 of his Gospel says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt (Tabernacled) among us and we beheld His glory.” By taking time to prayerfully “recognize” the Presence of Christ in the Tabernacle we are in fact proclaiming the Gospel for we are at that moment "beholding the glory” of the “Word made flesh” who “Tabernacles” among us precisely in the “flesh” which He “gives for the life of the world”. John 6:51 As we behold the flesh which He gives for the life of the world we are “recognizing” the sacrificial Victim by whose death we are reconciled to the Father. The Tabernacle houses this Divine Victim of reconciliation and while one can seek to “recognize” the Presence of God in all times and spaces we must remember with the deepest attitude of gratitude the continuing Presence of Christ in the Tabernacle which far from being simply one mode of Presence among many, is the very Presence in which His Sacred Humanity is accessible to the faithful. Why should it be considered the most exalted manner of spending time in the Presence of God? The clearest and to me the most convincing reason lies in the word ‘gratitude' for the mystery of the Incarnation (God becoming Man, the Word made flesh) with its inseparable Eucharistic link to the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ. The Humanity of Christ was made sacred by virtue of the hypostatic union (the union of the divine nature and the human nature in the 2nd Person of the most holy Trinity whom we delight to call JESUS), a union which began by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The 2nd Person of the Trinity became a man so that He could offer as an unblemished sacrifice His life as the sacrifice which brings atonement. So when we take time to “behold” or to “recognize” in the Most Blessed Sacrament - “the sacrificial Victim” whose “glory” is the glory of the Word made flesh, we are expressing our utmost, heartfelt devotion for the unmerited gift of the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross. So it is that in the Tabernacle ‘we behold’ or at least we are called “to recognize” that Christ is Present in the humanity in which He suffered for me and for YOU. Why would we wish as a regular occurrence to “recognize” prayerfully the Presence of God elsewhere when Christ Himself chose to “stay with us” in “love to the end” within the tiny walls of the Tabernacle?

I shudder to think

Does the Most Holy Eucharist have an objective significance, value, worth and importance or is the significance of the Most Holy Eucharist one of subjectivity? Is the Eucharist important primarily because of what "It" can accomplish within the recipient or communicant? Is the Eucharist important on account of how we benefit from "It"(Him) or would it be more in keeping with a heart animated by the Spirit of Glory to maintain that the Eucharist is important because the Eucharist is Jesus whose dignity and significance rests within Himself and not in our ability to receive Him worthily. Just as your dignity does not rest upon your surroundings so too with the Holy Eucharist because the Eucharist is not so much an "It" as it is a "Who", the very Person of Christ, the Word made flesh. Christ's worth and value are independent of us. Who among us if we had walked the roads of Galilee say around the time Christ turned 30 years old and was about to begin His public ministry would have said to Him, "Jesus, the only thing about you that really matters is how you can make me more like You"? Wouldn't this have betrayed the sense that His worth or dignity consisted in what He could do for others and not because of who He was? I shudder to think of a world in which we think and act in relation to one another based on this mentality and yet I have heard this in relation to the Eucharist. I have heard it said, that what's really important about the Eucharist is not that "It" is the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ but rather how "It" makes me and you more like Christ. While the fruit of Christ's Real Presence in our spiritual development is of the greatest importance, it is an importance that flows from the Dignity of the Very Person of Christ who in the Eucharist is God in the flesh. We must maintain a distinction between the Dignity and the Fruit of the Eucharist. The Dignity of the Eucharist pertains to the Incarnate Word. The Fruit of the Eucharist pertains to us?

The Eucharistic Presence of Jesus

The Second Vatican Council in addition to later magisterial writings teaches that Jesus is Present in the Priest, the Gathered Assembly, the proclaimed Word, and in the Holy Eucharist. The Church clearly teaches however that while the Presence of Christ in these four modes is a true Presence it reserves the term REAL for the Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. It also clearly teaches a point that often times seems overlooked by many nowadays regarding this REAL Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. It is this, that in the Eucharist the faithful are to give what is called Latria. Latria is a latin word which in the tradition of the Church has come to mean, 'worship or adoration that is due to God alone.' We do not give Latria to the Saints, not even to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Latria is given only to Christ. Now of the four modes of Christ's Presence in the Church as articulated by Vatican II and later Magisterial writings it is only the REAL Presence of Christ in the Most Holy Eucharist that is worthy of the worship known as Latria. Neither the Presence of Christ in the Priest, the Gathered Assembly or the proclaimed Word is afforded the worship known as Latria. This is so because while Christ is Present in the Priest, the Priest IS NOT Christ. While Christ is Present in the Gathered Assembly the Gathered Assembly IS NOT Christ. While Christ is Present in the word-proclaimed the word-proclaimed is not Christ Himself but rather Him speaking. BUT, in the Eucharist Christ is Present and the Eucharist is Christ.

Luftwaffe

A mandate of hate commanding the air, showers its shells embedding with fear, all victims of hope now victims of war. Spreading its wings and harvesting night, this mandate of hate sought to covet the sun’s light. How bitter the sheaves, that darken one’s sight, as to hail a cross that’s disfigured, disfigured by hate, in a mandate of death reaching unto the sky but reaching no further. Thanks be to the Cross of Christ that reaches into the very heart of heaven bringing forth the great commission of love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.