Desire versus Reality

[Father_La_Fleur]

Thank you Sister Helena,

Science, knowledge without humility puffs up, says St. Paul, especially knowledge about God. We know too much about God but we do not talk enough to God, and we listen even less. Jesus was All-Knowing as True God, yet walked the earth every day as True Man, for thirty years, listening…obeying…loving the Father’s Will and showing us how. According to the mystical math of Jesus’ Life we should listen 10x more than we should speak to God, since He spent thirty years of discretion, listening and silence before proclaiming the Good News for only three years. Did He waste His Time?simply obeying and being faithful to the Father?Obviously not, nor did His Mother.

We have all experienced what Sister Helena is alluding to, especially this generation that has access to the most information ever since the dawn of social communications, and ironically is the least mature, committed, decisive and consistent in all of history as a result, in general. We are so puffed up like balloons of spiritual pride because of our mental computers, we need to be pricked by a thorn of Reality and deflated, or simply unplugged to enter God’s School of Higher Learning: The Cross. We are the most educated generation and the least wise, and, the most spiritually ignorant. We know many things, but we have so much trouble choosing the better part…Obedience.

We are used to obeying on our own terms, which is obeying only ourselves. If we seek Spiritual Direction, we seek to direct the Director which amounts to being our own SDirector and so on. We want to serve God’s Will and our self-will. True Love and Obedience saves us from this.

If disobedience and pride got us out of Eden, only humility and obedience will get us back. Jesus and Mary, the New Adam and Eve show us the spirit of true obedience-As You would have it Father, not I…and Let it be done to me, as you say. Their is obedience is blind to self-will and only sees God’s Good Pleasure. Theirs is a discerning, intelligent obedience; How can this be since I do not know man?..asks Mary. Father, let this Cup pass me by…prays Jesus. Obedience is the highest act of intelligence, love, mercy and willpower, and, consequently of human dignity since, the more an Authority is trustworthy, good and wise, supreme and powerful, the more our obedience is due. God fits that description very well.

I see obedience as simply trusting Someone you love at His Word, or giving my will to live in the Will of Another, the Divine Will. Obedience is a meeting of wills that can become a Marriage of wills-there is temporary seperation but we must always reconcile with God. The better I obey the responsabilities of my Vocation, the happier I am, the more I become who I am. Slave of God, liberated man and woman of God. Obedience saves me from myself, from doing my own will. The Saints greatest fear of self-deception, keeping their own will and calling it God’s will. Thank you Lord for obedience, unto death and death on a cross! The three nails traditonally represent Poverty, Chastity and Obedience according to our State in Life. The Crown of thorns remember, reminds us, among other things, of our refusal to obey the Sacred Head- the Authority of the Church on its various levels.

From the virtue of our Baptism, we are all called to obey, we are all consecrated to God’s Will from this standpoint. Nothing less than perfect obedience enters Heaven. That is motivation enough for me. I never heard of a disobedient angel or saint, remaining in heaven. Lucifer and his crew were fired long ago…

Fr. Dominic

 

[Humility101]

Thank you Sister Helena,

Science, knowledge without humility puffs up, says St. Paul, especially knowledge about God. We know too much about God but we do not talk enough to God, and we listen even less. Jesus was All-Knowing as True God, yet walked the earth every day as True Man, for thirty years, listening…obeying…loving the Father’s Will and showing us how. According to the mystical math of Jesus’ Life we should listen 10x more than we should speak to God, since He spent thirty years of discretion, listening and silence before proclaiming the Good News for only three years. Did He waste His Time?simply obeying and being faithful to the Father?Obviously not, nor did His Mother.

We have all experienced what Sister Helena is alluding to, especially this generation that has access to the most information ever since the dawn of social communications, and ironically is the least mature, committed, decisive and consistent in all of history as a result, in general. We are so puffed up like balloons of spiritual pride because of our mental computers, we need to be pricked by a thorn of Reality and deflated, or simply unplugged to enter God’s School of Higher Learning: The Cross. We are the most educated generation and the least wise, and, the most spiritually ignorant. We know many things, but we have so much trouble choosing the better part…Obedience.

We are used to obeying on our own terms, which is obeying only ourselves. If we seek Spiritual Direction, we seek to direct the Director which amounts to being our own SDirector and so on. We want to serve God’s Will and our self-will. True Love and Obedience saves us from this.

If disobedience and pride got us out of Eden, only humility and obedience will get us back. Jesus and Mary, the New Adam and Eve show us the spirit of true obedience-As You would have it Father, not I…and Let it be done to me, as you say. Their is obedience is blind to self-will and only sees God’s Good Pleasure. Theirs is a discerning, intelligent obedience; How can this be since I do not know man?..asks Mary. Father, let this Cup pass me by…prays Jesus. Obedience is the highest act of intelligence, love, mercy and willpower, and, consequently of human dignity since, the more an Authority is trustworthy, good and wise, supreme and powerful, the more our obedience is due. God fits that description very well.

I see obedience as simply trusting Someone you love at His Word, or giving my will to live in the Will of Another, the Divine Will. Obedience is a meeting of wills that can become a Marriage of wills-there is temporary seperation but we must always reconcile with God. The better I obey the responsabilities of my Vocation, the happier I am, the more I become who I am. Slave of God, liberated man and woman of God. Obedience saves me from myself, from doing my own will. The Saints greatest fear of self-deception, keeping their own will and calling it God’s will. Thank you Lord for obedience, unto death and death on a cross! The three nails traditonally represent Poverty, Chastity and Obedience according to our State in Life. The Crown of thorns remember, reminds us, among other things, of our refusal to obey the Sacred Head- the Authority of the Church on its various levels.

From the virtue of our Baptism, we are all called to obey, we are all consecrated to God’s Will from this standpoint. Nothing less than perfect obedience enters Heaven. That is motivation enough for me. I never heard of a disobedient angel or saint, remaining in heaven. Lucifer and his crew were fired long ago…

Fr. Dominic

I so needed to hear this, Father. Thank you for posting.

God bless,
~Rae

 

[Father_La_Fleur]

Concerning Oaths and Vows,

I suggest one look it up in the Catechism, Article 2102 on promises or vows and 2152 on swearing oaths. We are called to take oaths, to make promises or vows based on our Eternal Covenant with God. We promise to be sensitive to the Presence of God, to not misuse or abuse His Name or His Authority but to glorify God by our Yes and by our No, basically. This is the meaning of vows that stem from the Sacraments of Service, Holy Orders and Marriage and of Initiation.

Obedire, from the Latin, litterally means submission to a command, an inferior submitting to the higher authority of the superior. Cold, military, despotic, not very romantic. Yet, this presupposes something else and, in other biblical languages, different imagery is used. Obedire presupposes listening with love and trust, like a child to a parent, a student to a teacher, like one friend to another, like one lover to another(The Song of songs of Solomon is about the love of obedience and the obedience of Love if you will); to hearken, to heed, to take seriously. To open the ear, or to incline the neck to listen, is the expression used in Scripture. God obeys man in a sense, when He listens to our pleas, His ear pressed to our lips when we pray, says the Psalms. You stiffed neck people!(that do not incline), you have closed your ears, hardened your hearts…if today you hear God’s voice, harden not your hearts, Priests and Religious pray this Psalm every morning practically. The Lord has given me the ear of a disciple, says Isaiah, I incline my ear every morning, I do not rebel.

You see listening to God’s voice always paired up with Commandments and Obedience and prophecies and Wisdom. You see this in all of Jesus’ Parables and Teaching, different levels and degrees of obedience.

The image of obedience is the Infant Child listening to Our Lady’s Heartbeat as She listens to His…or St. John, the Beloved Disciple, leaning on His Heart and listening to the pulse of His Passion for us. True obedience is the language of lovers of God, not of mercenaries, of prisoners, employees or slaves, or pets, beasts of burden.

There are different levels of obedience of course-I will if I have to, I will try if it doesn’t hurt or cost too much, I really want to out of pure love for You, from a donkey, to a hired-hand or a freeloader, to a true friend. I call you friends, Jesus says. He longs to be able to call us friends. We rise and fall on these levels, sometimes several times a day, depending on the task at hand-never acquired once and for all. Little storms between transitions from one level to another. All with experience with obedience know this.

The other question is, how to obey and whom to obey, if I am not a Priest or Religious or Consecrated soul. Obedience for the Lay person in the world-very challenging. I see another thread has already been established for this. I did not have time to do it myself, I was busy obeying I suppose…

Fr. Dominic

 

[choliks]

Concerning Oaths and Vows,

I suggest one look it up in the Catechism, Article 2102 on promises or vows and 2152 on swearing oaths. We are called to take oaths, to make promises or vows based on our Eternal Covenant with God. We promise to be sensitive to the Presence of God, to not misuse or abuse His Name or His Authority but to glorify God by our Yes and by our No, basically. This is the meaning of vows that stem from the Sacraments of Service, Holy Orders and Marriage and of Initiation.

Obedire, from the Latin, litterally means submission to a command, an inferior submitting to the higher authority of the superior. Cold, military, despotic, not very romantic. Yet, this presupposes something else and, in other biblical languages, different imagery is used. Obedire presupposes listening with love and trust, like a child to a parent, a student to a teacher, like one friend to another, like one lover to another(The Song of songs of Solomon is about the love of obedience and the obedience of Love if you will); to hearken, to heed, to take seriously. To open the ear, or to incline the neck to listen, is the expression used in Scripture. God obeys man in a sense, when He listens to our pleas, His ear pressed to our lips when we pray, says the Psalms. You stiffed neck people!(that do not incline), you have closed your ears, hardened your hearts…if today you hear God’s voice, harden not your hearts, Priests and Religious pray this Psalm every morning practically. The Lord has given me the ear of a disciple, says Isaiah, I incline my ear every morning, I do not rebel.

You see listening to God’s voice always paired up with Commandments and Obedience and prophecies and Wisdom. You see this in all of Jesus’ Parables and Teaching, different levels and degrees of obedience.

The image of obedience is the Infant Child listening to Our Lady’s Heartbeat as She listens to His…or St. John, the Beloved Disciple, leaning on His Heart and listening to the pulse of His Passion for us. True obedience is the language of lovers of God, not of mercenaries, of prisoners, employees or slaves, or pets, beasts of burden.

There are different levels of obedience of course-I will if I have to, I will try if it doesn’t hurt or cost too much, I really want to out of pure love for You, from a donkey, to a hired-hand or a freeloader, to a true friend. I call you friends, Jesus says. He longs to be able to call us friends. We rise and fall on these levels, sometimes several times a day, depending on the task at hand-never acquired once and for all. Little storms between transitions from one level to another. All with experience with obedience know this.

The other question is, how to obey and whom to obey, if I am not a Priest or Religious or Consecrated soul. Obedience for the Lay person in the world-very challenging. I see another thread has already been established for this. I did not have time to do it myself, I was busy obeying I suppose…

Fr. Dominic

beautiful Fr. Thank you for this.

 

[someguy14]

kjvJames 5:12-13

12 But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.

13 Is any among you afflicted ? let him pray . Is any merry ? let him sing psalms.