“While imprisoned in a tiny prison cell for his attempts to reform the Church, sixteenth-century Spanish mystic John of the Cross composed many of his now classic poems of the soul’s longing for God. This poem is, “Dark Night of the Soul.” On a dark night, Kindled in love with yearnings—oh, happy chance! — I went forth without being observed, My house being now at rest. In darkness and secure, By the secret ladder, disguised—oh, happy chance! — In darkness and in concealment, My house being now at rest. In the happy night, In secret, when none saw me, Nor I beheld aught, Without light or guide, save that which burned in my heart. This light guided me More surely than the light of noonday To the place where He (well I knew who!) was awaiting me— A place where none appeared. Oh, night that guided me, Oh, night more…
Category: <span>Healing Cross</span>
“The world? “The world is not interested in us. Today everything is possible, even the crematoria…” His voice broke. Father, I said, “If that is true I don’t want to wait. I’ll run into the electrified barbed wire. That would be easier than a slow death in the flames.” “…everyone around us was weeping. Someone began to recite Kaddish, the prayer for the dead. I don’t know whether, during the history of the Jewish people, men have ever before recited Kaddish for themselves.” “…May His name be celebrated and sanctified…whispered my father.” “For the first time I felt anger rising within me. Why should I sanctify His name? The Almighty, the eternal and terrible master of the universe, chose to be silent. What was there to thank Him for?” One who suffered deeply was Elie Wiesel, so written in his book, “Night.” Men facing the harshest of the harsh bend…
“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!” And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.” “So I said: “Woe is me, for I am undone!”Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The LORD of hosts.” Isaiah 6:1-5 “Then one of the seraphim flew to…
“Simon, son of Jonas, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” “Simon, son of Jonas, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” “Simon, son of Jonas, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to Him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Jesus questioned Simon Peter about his love for Him using the Greek word for love, “agape.” Simon responded with another Greek word, “phileo.” This happened twice but the third time Jesus led with “phileo.” Peter recoiled at the third inquiry, but assured Jesus of his “phileo” love for…
“Drug addiction is another possible effect of powerlessness.” “The basis of addiction is ‘a lot of weakness’ and ‘a blocked anger.’” “The weakness takes the form of ‘I can’t meet the demands of my family.’ ‘I can’t get a job,’ ‘I am sexually impotent,’ ‘I am a no person.’” “The anger takes the form of the addict’s revenge upon his family and the world for forcing him into this painful position of powerlessness.” “The heroin wipes away all the discomfort of perpetually feeling weak.” “No more inferiority, no more worry about being a failure in the working world, no more fear of being a coward in battle, no more disappointing one’s parents — all of these oppressive feelings evaporate.” Rollo May from his book, “Power and Innocence.” The 70’s were the experiential background for Dr. May’s observations. Feelings of being “no person” and anger toward family were the familiar tune…
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? — shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” “As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:35-39 Friends, we all, as sheep have gone astray, all to our own way, but God has laid on Christ the iniquity of us all. As humans we go astray like sheep go astray, we drift, we wander, we fall…
“…what is capable of strength must be made strong. This is the Divine Law throughout all of life…” The Expositors Bible., “The world is ‘a vale of soul making,’ a great sculptors shop, and we are the statues.” “…the statues must endure many blows of the chisel and be hardened in the fire.” “This is not optional.” “…without it we have no face with which to face God.” Kreeft quotes C.S.Lewis from one of his allegorical books, “How can we meet the gods face to face till we have faces?” “That is the meaning of life: getting a face, becoming real…” Peter Kreeft. A person acquires a face? “Aaron, the high priest, went into the Holy of Holies once a year, he had to burn incense on the coals coming out from the outer altar so that he couldn’t see the mercy seat. He had to look up, because he wasn’t…
Wonderment, bewilderment, elation, happiness, joviality, dreaming, wishing and hoping; 1. sleepy and groggy 2. excitement 3. pure joy 4. especially nice 5. tipsy and giggly. 6. arguments 7. happy 8. gluttony 9. impatience 10. Absolute delight 11. fit to burst. 12. competitive 13. Laughter and cringing 14. Uncomfortably full 15. Sleepy but proud 16. Delirious 17. dozy but content. From housebeautiful: Feelings happen Yule-tide but then there’s a unique one to the season: “The holidays can bring nostalgia, an emotion with important benefits, according to a nostalgia expert.” “Holidays bring holiday memories, and, often a sense of nostalgia for good times long gone, perhaps even loved ones long gone.” “This bittersweet nostalgia helps us feel connected, both around the holidays and at other times. And, it can be a salve to those suffering through hard times, according to nostalgia expert Krystine Batcho, a professor of psychology at Le Moyne College in New York. it was originally coined in 1688 by a medical physician as a term to indicate homesickness in young soldiers. He viewed homesickness as a physical illness…
Are you walkin with God my friend, are you walkin with God? Are you holdin the rope so tight, are you walkin in light? Or awaitin some sign, awaitin so dumb? Avoidin His blessedness, eatin the crumb? Are you walkin with God my friend, are you walkin with God? Are you walkin in love, like God above? Are you walkin The Spirit way, in comfort’s Dove? or walkin the hum, of the devil drum? Are you walkin with God my friend, are you walkin with God? Are you walkin with acuracy, atop that wall? Are you walkin, steps ordered, follow’n the Word? or random sloth with fuzzy thought, and mostly bored? Are you walkin with God my friend, are you walkin with God? Are you walkin the valley, or high-handed fraud? Are you finding His presence, ever so near? or running half-maddened, to far reaching career? Are you walkin with God my…
“Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” Job 38:1-2 “How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily?” Psalm 13:2 “O my God, my soul is cast down within me:” Psalm 42:6 “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me?” Psalm 42:6 “lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death — hope thou in God.” There are four characteristics of a person who hides in their self counsel. First, they live in self-preservation. Secondly, a person who is hiding in Adam lives in self-defense mechanisms. The third characteristic is self-absorption. Fourth, self-occupation According to Dr. Carl H. Stevens, founder of Greater Grace Church in Baltimore Md. these 4 characteristics progress in the self-counseled soul. The self-absorbed become distracted and blinded to God’s viewpoint and…