-Sept. 26 Homily is in the library ->
-Scriptures for Oct. 3 are at USCCB.org ->
-I will celebrate Sunday Mass at 9:30 & 11:00
Rigor of the heart!
I can't think of anything more encouraging than St. Paul's words "stir into flame the gift ...". It is a common gesture to take a stick or piece of paper and turn the smoldering embers in a fireplace Into a living flame. Don't we need to do that with our faith?
Rusted gates, stroke victims' legs and hands, even our minds and hearts can be habituated into deadly posture. Simply over use in one direction with insufficient resources for healthy renewal causes us to static appearances. It is atrophy...hardens in position.
When this happens in our spiritual or religious life it can be so gradual that we neither know that we are dead or when it died. Suddenly we have dry, empty habits where we once had living gestures of faith. This can he the case for us as a Catholic community, as religious orders or ministries or as a parish. There's movement but no meaningful life.
Let us stir the embers of faith in our hearts, marriages, ministries, and church into a raging fire of life and love in the world!
4 comments:
Rigor of the heart...atrophy..
Those two words got my attention. That is the way my heart feels very often in relation to my prayer life. I call it, as many others do "dryness of prayer" " no appetite" to even sit down for a minute and talk to God, seems like I gave up my spiritual life.
The door of my heart is rusted, yes! It can not be open.
I question myself, is this lack of faith? Where is the flame of love for God I felt in my heart before?
Deep down I know I haven't nurtured that flame as I should, I haven't prayed consistently and I know dryness is part of the result of it, it doesn't feel well.
Paul is inviting me to tend that flame in my heart that is almost extinguished, FAN the flames keep then high. That flame has to be nurtured daily with prayers, Eucharist and Divine Reading with plenty of reflection.
With this I know my heart will be alive, burning with love and very strong to accommodate God very comfortable in the center.
Nice to try, no? Gitana
It's something that you speak of a fire. In my backyard I have a small fire pit. I brought the bricks from my last home. I love the fire, the warmth the images. But I more love the nurturing, the encouraging that builds the fire. I have been know to have a fire going after more than two weeks. Coming home to only a warmth deep in the earth only to add small amounts of kindling, waiting, watching and knowing that the fire will prevail. This is faith.
That's a beauty!
This is a little off the subject, but in Sunday's liturgy, the offertory hymn was "You are near". The refrain used to be "Yahweh, I know you are near". The word Yahweh has now been replaced by the word, Lord. The footnote says that the word Yahweh is not to be used in hymns anymore.
Why is this?
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