Devotional Discussion THought of the Day:

⁹  O God, we meditate on your unfailing love as we worship in your Temple. Psalm 48:9 (NLT)

⁷  Yet no one calls on your name or pleads with you for mercy. Therefore, you have turned away from us and turned us over to our sins. Isaiah 64:7 (NLT) \

436      God’s love for his creatures is so boundless and our response to it should be so great that, when Holy Mass is being said, time ought to stand still.

Without question, it is the high point of my week.  It is where time does seem to stand still, where the struggles of life seem to be of absolutely no matter. It is an experience that is “otherworldly”.  It is definitely beyond logic or reason, and it’s beauty and peace cannot be explained.  Right now, because it is more frequent, I rejoice, my days seem brighter.  Because of that, I would say I am addicted to it….

A simple move, my hand placing in another’s hand Something so precious, and words softly spoken, that change everything.

“Take and eat, the Body of Christ, broken for YOU.”

As I say these words, some hear them so well their body’s change, the relax, they smile, some even weep with joy.

It is that moment, as they receive the gift of the Sacrament, that life makes sense.  The presence of God is made clear, and that changes everything.

It is not that discussing God’s presence and praying with near strangers over breakfast is less, or praying at the bedside of someone having surgery, or helping two at great odds with each other know God’s peace isn’t as great of a moment.  All of ministry, all of life is filled with the presence of God.  We come to know peace in all things, in all places. His grace is needed in all those places.

But those are moments in this world, and there is something about the sacraments, about baptism and absolution and the Lord’s Supper that gives us a moment of heaven. It is, as St. Josemaria says, the moment time stands still.  A moment of clear communion with God.  It’s the time where our pleas and cries for God’s loving mercy are answered.   What is a brief second becomes without measure.

Over the last week, I’ve come across a word a number of times, kenosis. It means the  “emptying”.  The moment where everything in life is shed.  It is the description of Christ, emptying himself in order to become a servant.  As we receive the Body of Christ, that happens to us as well, all is stripped away, save Him.  Except His love. His mercy, His peace. It is the stripping away of sin, of all unrighteousness,  It is the reliving of our baptism, of our being united, forged to Jesus Christ.

Emptied of all that isn’t God, we find out how we have been united to Him, How He makes us whole.

God’s glory, revealed to us as love conquers it all.  All our sin, all our brokenness, all our rebellion and trauma.  It is pictured in the Old Testament, where God gathered the leaders into His presence, having lefft Egypt far behind… and as they feast in His presence.

Receiving the Body of Christ is a great joy, as is see those who God called to that moment.  The meditation and thought of that moment… that alone should compel us to know Him more deeply, to hear the stories of those He’s sustained, especially those in scripture.  The sacraments do that, they help us realize our dependence, our need on the presence of God, and reveal to us that He is here.

Such is why i love to dwell on the Eucharist, and why such a little thing is such a tremendous blessing to me. tO see this happen to 50, 60, 100 people, is amazing. ( If there is a reason I am envious of those with larger churches, it is perhaps this!)

The promises of God, delivered to us, that we dwell in peace.

(and we who serve are blessed to deliver it!)

Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 1681-1682). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.