ELISHEBA BLOGLaura, Ivonne, and Rick
write about their lives in the Eucharist. |
ELISHEBA BLOGLaura, Ivonne, and Rick
write about their lives in the Eucharist. |
I looked out the airplane window and saw the most beautiful landscape below. Close to the Grand Canyon, shades of orange and brown edged the earth below. A sigh escaped my lips as the desert beckoned me from below. There is something very appealing about the desert… the vastness, the stillness, the quiet. My heart was quickly moved to praise God. A few minutes later, still looking down from the clouds, I could see a clear demarcation line between the wilderness and civilization. Suddenly there were houses upon houses, neighborhood after neighborhood. Why were they so packed together when there is so much land available? A muffled announcement came over the PA system; we were going to start our descent into Las Vegas. I removed my headphones so I could hear the flight attendant’s instructions, and immediately the noise in the cabin overwhelmed me. My noise-cancelling headphones had done their job. If there is one word I can use to describe my experience of Las Vegas, it is noise. From the moment we landed, my brain has been bombarded with sensory overload. Men found the most secluded place in the desert to create an oasis of noise. There is a difference between going to the desert and going to a deserted place. Las Vegas is in the desert, yet it is most definitely not deserted.
The disciples had just returned from their mission and were depleted. Jesus knew they needed to regain their strength. Mark’s comment on the fact that they had not had an opportunity to eat reminds me of the story of the prophet Elijah, when he was fleeing for his life, afraid of Jezebel:
Lent is coming soon, and it is coming right into the circumstances of our lives. It’s coming into the noise and the chaos of family life, of parish life, of work life. We will be invited to enter into the desert, into the wilderness, the place with vipers and dangers. It is the place where Jesus faced the tempter, and it is there He will face him, in us, again. But before we go to the desert, we are invited to rest in a deserted place, by ourselves. He is calling us to sit under our “solitary broom tree”. It is there where we come face to face with our weakness, our limits and our fears. It is there where we lay it all out and say, “Enough Lord!” The place where we finally come to accept that we can not do this on our own. In humility, in truth, we surrender all and rest. We leave the rest to God. And what does God do? He knows we need nourishment, so He gives Himself to us. In the Eucharist He feeds us, He strengthens us. He then sends us to the desert… not to rest, but to face the temptations in the wilderness. To walk forty days and forty nights with God. Emmanuel, God is with us. When He calls, we know we can trust and go. But, how can we hear Him calling, if our senses are overwhelmed with noise?
Noise-cancelling headphones work by creating opposite sound waves, by creating anti-noise. We can do this in our spiritual lives by constantly singing praise to God. This will cancel the noise of the anti-Christ and allow us to listen to the still small voice of God. We will be able to hear the “cry of the poor”, in the midst of all the noise. We will hear Jesus say to us, “Give them some food yourselves.” (Mark 6:37). So, let us make time each day to pray, to sing the psalms, to cancel all the noise. A very practical way to do this is to pray the Liturgy of the Hours. These prayers mark the day, pausing our activity to sing together in praise as Church, as the family of God. You can find the prayers of the day on this website: https://divineoffice.org
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In these turbulent times that we live in, I often feel called to pray for the ones who are alone. So many of our brothers and sisters are ill, elderly, lonely, and separated from their loved ones, and it breaks my heart. Yet, this time is an opportunity for all of us to help carry each other’s burdens in physical action and mindful prayer.
May we always pray for and support one another, for where one might fail, two might succeed by helping each other. It is in our fellowship that we express our unity. Those of us who follow the way of the cross, are aware of the weight. We may be encouraged when we find someone walking with us to lighten the burden, in this we become of one mind and heart. If you ever had the chance to hear a heart synchronized with yours, then you know how joyful it is to come together like that… I visualize us as a rowing team, a group united in fellowship, a choreography of movement, working together as a singular effort to the urging of a guiding voice. This sounds to me like the Christian life for those of us out in the world, as it is in the sharing of a purpose and in the merging of our actions that we come together in Christ. Sharing this heavenly purpose makes us part of something greater than our single selves and closer to what we are called to be: the body of Christ. It is like the image of Moses and Levi from the Book of Exodus, with the Hebrews following shoulder to shoulder as they cross through the desert together (c.f. Exodus 32:26). This is meant to be the same way for us today. Our priests do not walk alone but alongside God and abreast of us, the lay people. We are a modern version of the Exodus, leaving the old world behind... but while our walk through life looks different than a desert crossing, the mission of hope is still lived, suffered, and shared together. We are still meant to go forward in the fulness of hope, active in faith and with charity towards our fellow brothers and sisters.
Let us consider that what we do with our lives really does mean something, and our sacrifices are not so insignificant as to have no value in the eyes of God. On the contrary, they are as much a treasure to share and offer as those of anybody, for their real value is tied to our dignity as the beloved children of the Heavenly Father.
Our fellowship has value, and our hope helps define us. With God’s help, we shall continually strengthen our hope that our stride may be purposeful on our path home.
During the Exodus, Moses, in anger, lost the right to step foot on the Holy Land… but even then, he kept his hope… so our merciful God allowed him to glimpse at the land of milk and honey (c.f. Deuteronomy 34:1-5). In time, those of us, brothers and sisters who persist in our faith and our hope, shall also get to see the promised land, for it has been promised by the One who is worthy. In fact, whenever we partake of the Holy Eucharist, in that most beautifully intimate moment when we commune with Christ directly, we glimpse Heaven in fellowship with all the faithful! Let us embrace our hope and continue along our path, together in fellowship with our brothers and sisters that walk alongside Christ. May we go through our modern Exodus and prevail on the blessed road to Heaven. Let us pray: Lord, help us remain faithful and hopeful. May we stay firmly together on the road to Heaven. Amen.
Dearest Eucharistic Family, In the Gospel of Mark, the crowd proclaims that Jesus is out of His mind. (cf. Mark 3:20-21) Perhaps Jesus is out of His mind and in His heart. In a heart that beats to glorify God, Our Heavenly Father. We are in ordinary time after a busy Christmas Season, with Lent only a few weeks away. We have received the gift of the Christ Child. We are in Ordinary Time now to serve Christ's Church and soon to recall the Passion of God's love for us. What keeps us out of our minds? Prayer! Prayer aids us to find the pulsation of God within. The world is dismissed in its madly manner as we pray, and the divine life is revealed.
To find the loveable within comes from an annihilation of the spirit, an emptying of self and grace to find its way from the mind to the heart. For God so loved the world. His mind was animated by the perfection of love, and the heart of God gave us everything; He gave to us His only begotten Son. In the world's creation, there was love in the heart of God. In the creation of humanity God was crazed with hope for loveable children.
It may be a good time to examine our minds and hearts. In prayer, we can find truth in our relationships that may need mending. Working from the heart to reach out and pray for souls is possible. With Mary, we can accomplish more, for Our Mother aids us in our heart's desires.
Mary lived by the heart, her mind submissive to the beat within by the Incarnation of Christ's Eucharistic love for the world, creation, Mary exemplifies to us how we live in God’s love. Many live in a fury of spirit, trapped in their victimhood. It is Jesus who releases the bonds of death that the mind can trap us into. Jesus calls Satan out. We are to call out the demons of our lives since we are invited by our baptism to live in the heart of the Eucharist.
In this reality of spirit, we live in the glory of the Kingdom of Heaven now. We function as the loveable ones; when we fail, we humble ourselves to reconciliation with God and one another. To live in the heart of Christ is to live a newness of life. Christ born to us, gifted by the wise with an epiphany of hope. Ordinary time becomes a manifestation of glory and a happy issue of mind to spirit. Mary shows us the way to live this pathway to God. Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament never wavered, even holding the Body of Christ dead to the world in its mind of manor—the heart of God with Our Lady and the triumph of Jesus' love surpassing everything.
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AuthorsWe are Ivonne J. Hernandez, Rick Hernandez and Laura Worhacz, Lay Associates of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament, and brothers and sisters in Christ. |