Here I Am

A Catholic Man Answering the Call of the Father.

Feeling the Love

Christ suffered for all of us. The God of the Universe, the Creator of everything, the Absolute came down to earth, bound Himself in human flesh, and died for us. He suffered terribly, but He would not stop it. He had the power to end His suffering whenever He wanted, but He didn't.

Christ cried out on the cross, "I thirst." He thirsts for us. What did He see in that moment? What did He feel when He cried out for us?

Today, I felt what Christ felt, and I know what He saw.

I spoke with a friend tonight and made a sad realization. He doesn't seem to care about his eternal salvation. He mentioned that if he would die right now, he would end up in hell, and it didn't seem to phase him in the least.

I prayed for him before Jesus at St. Joe's, and asked God what I could do. I asked for guidance and understanding, but right now, I am lost. But I waited.

My reply was what He felt on the cross. As Jesus looked out over all of time at His death, He saw everyone of us and our entire lives. He saw all our desicions, all our sins, and He died for them. But before He died, He cried out. He cried out for those whom He loved. He saw those of us who would turn our backs on Him and live in our pain and suffering rather than in His Love, and He cried out to us. He saw the hurt on our faces when our world came crashing down around us, and He cried out to us. He calls us all in to His Love.

That is the most that He can give us: His Love. Love can sustain us through the hardest of times, it can shine in the darkest of nights, and it can heal the greatest of wounds. Love will pick us up when we fall, it will fill us with peace, and we will know true happiness.

I felt this pain of Christ calling out tonight, and I only have one phrase that can get the meaning of this message across. Whether I know you or not, whether I have seen you, laughed with you, cried with you, or have been hurt by you, know this. Nothing else matters beyond this: I love you with all my heart.

This echoes to us all. We are loved. He gave His life for us, everything He had. Even though we put Him to death, He still loves us. He loves us with everything that He is.

Those without love will perish. I hurt for the misery of the loveless.

posted by: CodyB at 02:42 | link | comments |

Venite Adoremus

First post, and praise God!

Last week, I attended an Adoration at Blessed Sacrement Church. It was a wonderful Adoration with praise & worship music and lots of teens. It is always wondeful for young people to get involved. One of the great things of the Adoration was the music, but not how you would think. Sure, the songs were good, but what was truly amazing was the involvement. All around me were teens praising God with their voices. Song rang out through every corner of the church.

At one point, my voice was going hoarse, so I thought about not singing for a while, but I then heard in myself a phrase from Jesus: "I tell you, if they keep silent, the stones will cry out!" (Luke 19:40)

I then realized that in His Prescense here, we cannot keep silent. Despite our trials, we must proclaim the Lord always, whether through our actions or words. Adore God always!

I am growing in the Spirit every day here at St. Mark's. When I first got here, I felt like all my trials had passed. Now that I've been here for six weeks, I can see that they have not passed but have changed. I am different from when I was at home. Here, I have developed a sense of myself. I have been given the time and ability to evaluate how things are going and how I am living my life. Since I spend more time in prayer, I am less likely to fall into some temptations that I would have fallen to prior. Now, though, new temptations have taken the place of old, and new struggles are fought where the old ones were.

This morning, at 3:30AM, I rolled out of bed to go to my first early-morning Adoration hour at St. Joe's Chapel. One of my brothers has an hour there from 4:00-5:00, so I decided to join him. Despite the earliness of the hour, I was side awake and ready to go as soon as awoke.

While I was there, I spent a good deal of time in reflection, and something hit me that I had heard before. Last week, Statia had been talking with me after mass about the importance of laying prostrate - how it means total surrender to God! Then came a story. Some of her friends were having a conversation, one was protestant and the other was a Catholic. Her protestant friend said that when she got to heaven she would run up to Jesus and hug Him and dance around and be happy. Then she turned to her Catholic friend and said, "And you Catholics say you'll just fall on your faces." Her other friend replied, "Yeah, I'll fall on my face! That's my Lord!"

These words had such an impact on me this morning. They just kept flowing over me as I sat in front of Jesus. That's my Lord! I was completely taken in. Unfortunately, the hour had to end, but what followed was a day filled with God.

Adoration is such a great form of prayer, because it is declaring that God is who He is. He is I AM, Yahweh, the Almighty, the Creator, Our Savior, Redeemer, Protector, and Helper! Never cease adoring his glory, power, wisdom, and might. Never cease praising Our God!

Know that you are in my prayers every day. Please pray for me, and keep your eyes on Him!

Peace to all! God bless!

posted by: CodyB at 19:56 | link | comments (1) |

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