"...the divine is equally present in all things..."

 

"There is a great heaviness in truth..."

This is excerpted from a short post at the In Search of a New Eden blog. It assumes a level of belief that you might not share, but I know a few folks who can work with this. I don't share the dim views expressed here about what human beings can accomplish. This blog is about a hopeful universalism, In Search of a New Eden is different and more into mysticism. But it may help some folks to hear that their cries are being heard and that God actively engages in our sorrows. If it sounds like something that will help, give it a full read.

So, if you find yourself feeling a heaviness in your heart, don’t assume that means you are off track. If you find yourself mourning for the state of the world, then you are mourning with Christ. Do not fight the sadness, do not run from it. Be at peace with it. Be comfortable in it. And know that it is fleeting just like our meaningless lives. Learn to rest in the beauty of the Divine Sorrow. For not only are we empty in our being but God is just as much grief as love. If we are not tangibly soaked in the tears of Christ then we are not living in the truth. This is the sacred sorrow.

When it comes to sadness, as with all things, the presence of the sacred can be known by the presence of peace. Divine sadness is a peaceful sadness, a heavy sadness. If the sadness you are experiencing is accompanied by anxiety or anger then it is not the sadness of the Lord. There is something so pure about the sadness of Christ because it does not worry. After all, anxiety too is meaningless. Therefore the sorrow of God is peaceful and even beautiful. It is the reason the autumn colours which herald the season of death and bitter cold, captivate our hearts and eyes so well. It is a magnificent sadness worth relishing in!

On Holy Saturday...

 

We're not kidding when we say that the Divine is close to us all.

 

Jesus will carry you...

 

Be kind to everybody? Really?

 

("Pretty Ugly")

Click on this, read this down, and then read this up...

God's Peace Be Your Anchor...

 

"I know who holds my hand."

 

"Friend Of God" As Performed By Salem First United Methodist Church's MICAH Band

 

Jalesa McRae

So many times I have heard people trying to hit this in church, and usually getting there. You can hit it in the kitchen or your truck, too. Let it go.

Have you ever considered that God has fallen in love with you?

 

When you're incapable of praying or practicing your special virtues...

 

Some wisdom...

I saw this on the St. Alban's Episcopal Church Facebook page. I think that it has real wisdom attached to it.

Many priests too are now finding their own baptisms are "invalid" because many through the decades have used the wrong rite. And since you can't be a priest if you aren't baptized, none of the things they've done as a priest, weddings, last rites, communion, are "valid".

I do not share this to mock the Catholic Church, I shared it because this is the time we as siblings need to step up and support them and come along side and share our common love of Jesus and be there for them.

This is not the time to judge their beliefs as "silly" or "insane", our siblings are having a very real crisis in their ranks and it's time for us as a global community of Christians, no matter our denomination, to really show we are a common family, ready to help when another's leaders have slipped.

So please don't attack the Catholic church at this time...Help your Catholic friends and family as their church figures this out.

"Lord I Know You've Been So Good"-Hasan Green & Martha Holloway

Just how I'm feeling...

 

 

You may want to hold on to this....

 

Some instructions for using Holy Water from Micheline Hannoun

I'm not going to edit the wording here. I think that English-reading readers will get it. And this is not just for Catholic and Orthodox believers---everyone can do these things.

- There are 8 ways to use holy water in our daily lives, the first starts with blessing ourselves. But we should not be enough to do this Sunday only, because we need blessings and blessings everyday of the week. From here, it is very important to place a small jar of holy water near the door of the house, for the family to be blessed as visitors, especially before leaving the house.

-But our home is a tiny church that needs spiritual protection, we have to bless it. We can spray the holy water by ourselves all around the house, or ask a priest to attend.

- And ensure the frame of the family's blessing, we must use holy water to pray and draw the sign of the cross over the partner and the children before they go to sleep. In this way, we strengthen the link between family members and God. Let's keep a bottle of sacred water near our families for this purpose!

- Let us bless the place where we work, and spray it with holy water, not only for spiritual protection in the work environment, but to sanctify our daily work to the glory of God.

- Let’s not forget our cars. The car is perhaps the most dangerous place to pass an unappreciated time. Never underestimate the importance of holy water filtered in a car, it keeps you away from harm if used with faith and full trust in God.

- Bless your gardens! This was a common habit in the Middle Ages, and people used to spray their plants and their vegetables with holy water, since they relied on plants to live. And the use of holy water to sanctify and bless the plants was showing people's form of divine grace.

-Bless the sick with holy water, for this is considered an act of mercy. And if you visit a patient in the hospital, bless the surrounding area with holy water and leave a bottle of condolence near him when needed.

- Bless your pets, animals accompany individuals and families, and they often help them. And she can be blessed with holy water because all creatures praise God. In the same context, this could apply to livestock and farm animals that feed us.

In the end, we ask a provocative question: What do we say when we use holy water? As always ordered by catholiccompany.com we should know that holy water has blessed the priest's prayers, but we can recite a simple prayer through sprinkling water to determine our intention to use it, and to express our faith in its spiritual power. As we can recite the prayer of the Father, or even the prayer of Saint Michael. Don't forget that you can bless everything you use, for holy water is a spiritual weapon from God.

On Valentine's Day (and every day), love one another as Christ loves you...

From Hasmik Simonian on Facebook:

Time is slow for those who wait...
Fast to the fearful...
Long for those in pain...
Too short for those who celebrate...
But eternal for those who love...
On Valentine's Day, love one another as Christ loves you.

Matthew 25 For Every One Of Us

 

"Deacon Davis singing that old gospel song."