Tuesday, July 2, 2019
Tuesday, June 25, 2019
Inbox Inspiration: June 19, 2019: Saint Catherine of Siena
June 19, 2019
Saint Catherine of Siena
Dear Friends,
Catherine was born in 1347 in the small Tuscan town of Siena.
From an early age, she sought to follow the way of Christ as fully as possible.
While never becoming a professed religious or living in a religious community, she was a member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic.
In effect, she lived as a secular Dominican.
I would say that Catherine was hundreds of years ahead of her times.
In a very patriarchal Church and culture, she was an influential spiritual leader.
A group of followers gathered around her – priests, religious, and lay.
She gave them spiritual instruction and led them in caring for the sick and the poor.
Catherine even got the respect of Popes.
She lived in the time of the Western Schism when Christianity was divided between two and then three claimants to the Papacy.
Catherine travelled to Avignon in France to persuade the Pope to return to Rome.
She spent the last two years of her life in Rome, working to restore peace and unity to the Church.
Catherine died in 1380.
Besides being canonized as a saint, she has been honored with the title of Doctor of the Church – one of only four women with that title.
This is in recognition of her keen spiritual insight and wisdom.
Perhaps women especially can turn to Catherine for inspiration in using their God-given gifts, even in situations where patriarchal ways continue.
Catherine of Siena’s feast day is April 29 in our Catholic calendar.
“Eternal God, eternal Trinity…You are a mystery as deep as the sea; the more I search, the more I find, and the more I find the more I search for you. But I can never be satisfied; what I receive will ever leave me desiring more. When you fill my soul I have an even greater hunger, and I grow more famished for your light. I desire above all to see you, the true light, as you really are.”
From The Dialogue on Divine Providence by Saint Catherine of Siena.
“All you holy men and women, Saints of God, pray for us.”
Father Michael Schleupner
Tuesday, June 18, 2019
Inbox Inspiration: June 11, 2019: Saints and Other Holy Ones
Saints and Other Holy Ones
Dear Friends,
I have decided to do a series of Inbox Inspirations on saints.
Saints have always played a part especially in our Catholic Christian tradition.
We call upon saints for their help and intercession with God at certain times –
for example, when we are sick,
or when we are dealing with something that feels hopeless,
or when we don’t know how to respond to a rebellious child.
We invoke the name of a particular saint and ask for his or her help.
We also see the saints simply as our companions.
They inspire us with the example of their own lives.
They accompany us on the journey of life.
They now live with God in eternity and, at the same time, are supporting us and wanting us to join them at the time God decides.
In the next four weeks, and then from time to time, I will reflect on some of our saints.
And, I will also include some of the holy ones who have not been officially canonized as saints but who also clearly inspire us in faith and can be our companions for the journey.
“Of course some might argue (and some do argue) that all you need is Jesus. And that’s true: Jesus is everything, and the saints understood this more than anyone. But God in his wisdom has also given us these companions of Jesus to accompany us along the way, so why not accept the gift of their friendship and encouragement? And there’s no reason to feel as if devotion to the saints somehow takes away from your devotion to Jesus: everything the saints say and do is centered on Christ and points in his direction.”
From My Life with the Saints by Father James Martin, S.J. (1960-. Jesuit priest, editor at large of America magazine, author of many books and articles).
“All you holy men and women, Saints of God, pray for us.”
Father Michael Schleupner
Wednesday, April 24, 2019
Inbox Inspiration: Easter: April 24, 2019 - June 5, 2019
April 24, 2019
Easter - Life
Dear Friends,
We all want to live.
We do not want to die.
Within us is this undeniable desire – to live fully and to live on and on and on.
We have other deep desires – to love and be loved, to have meaning and purpose.
However, I think the strongest of our desires is to live.
I believe God has placed this within us.
In fact, isn’t this very desire God acting within us?
Isn’t this the spark of the divine within us?
Where could this have come from if not from the One who is life itself?
How could this be within us if it had not come from the One who is eternal?
The resurrection of Christ confirms that our desire is authentic, that it will not end in frustration, that physical death is not the end.
It confirms that we too will be transformed and raised up as Jesus was.
This is Easter.
Christ is risen. Alleluia!
“We Christians believe and know that Christ’s resurrection is the true hope of the world, the hope that does not disappoint. It is the power of the grain of wheat, the power of that love which humbles itself and gives itself to the very end, and thus truly renews the world.”
From Easter Sunday Homily, April 15, 2018 by Pope Francis (1936 –. Ordained to priesthood in 1969, consecrated bishop in 1992, named Cardinal in 2001, elected Pope in 2013).
[For more reflections on Easter, see the Inbox Inspirations for next week and following.]
“The mystery of faith: We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection, until you come again.”
Father Michael Schleupner
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May 1, 2019
Easter - Now
Dear Friends,
Resurrected life is life with and in God.
In some way, we will be transformed.
We will rise to a new life, different from this life, definitely fuller.
In fact, we are promised that it will be the fullness of life.
That is, in a way, future, not yet.
I say “in a way’ because it already has begun.
The risen Christ lives now with us and we with Him.
We have already begun to live in God through the Spirit of the risen Christ.
This can transform our earthly journey and our human experience.
Things can look different and we can see them, all of life, in a new perspective.
We can experience our own life in a new way – far different from what it would be without the risen Christ.
And so, we can again say:
Christ is risen! Alleluia!
“The resurrection places Jesus on this side of the grave – here and now – in the midst of this life…On the morning of the resurrection, God put life in the present tense, not in the future. He gave us not a promise but a presence. Not so much the assurance that we shall live someday but that he is risen today…The proof that God raised Jesus from the dead is not the empty tomb, but the full hearts of his transformed disciples. The crowning evidence that he lives is not a vacant grave, but a spirit-filled fellowship. Not a rolled-away stone, but a carried-away church.”
From The Substance of Faith and Other Cotton Patch Sermons by Clarence Jordan (1912–1969. New Testament Greek scholar, farmer, founder of Koinonia Farm in Georgia, instrumental in founding Habitat for Humanity).
[For more reflections on Easter, see the Inbox Inspirations of last week, April 24, and for next week and following.]
“The mystery of faith: We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection, until you come again.”
Father Michael Schleupner
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May 8, 2019
Easter - Believe
Dear Friends,
“Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed” (John 20:29).
These are the words of the risen Christ to Thomas and all the apostles.
We hear these words every year in our liturgy, on the Sunday following Easter.
The reason for this is that Easter invites us to believe.
The risen Christ calls us to have faith.
I, as a person, choose to believe.
I choose to place my faith in the risen Christ.
My faith is first and foremost a relationship – a relationship with God as my heavenly parent or creator, with the risen Christ who is the Son of God, and with the Holy Spirit who is God with us and within us.
My life makes sense because of this faith.
My faith is the glue that holds it together.
I often think that my experience of life supports my choice to believe.
I experience a fullness, a coherence, a grounding and a purpose that I do not think is possible without faith.
So, yes, Easter calls us to faith in a way that no other religious celebration does.
“I believe that faith might be precisely that ability to trust the Big River of God’s providential love, which is to trust the visible embodiment (the Son), the flow (the Holy Spirit), and the source itself (the Father).”
From Daily Meditations by Father Richard Rohr (1943—. Catholic priest and religious, Franciscan friar, author of books and articles, Director of Center for Action and Contemplation in New Mexico).
[For more reflections on Easter, see the Inbox Inspirations of April 24 and May 1 and for next week and following.]
“The mystery of faith: We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection, until you come again.”
Father Michael Schleupner
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May 15, 2019
Easter - Hope
Dear Friends,
Easter calls us to hope.
I find that my faith in the risen Christ leads me, almost automatically, to hope.
For me, in one way, the hope of Easter is in the future and the other-worldly.
It points toward our own resurrection after the passage of physical death.
It is consoling and addresses our deep desire to live and to live with the One who is life itself.
In another way, the hope of Easter is in the present and the this-worldly.
It is the trust that God will always be with us –
in joys and sorrows, in accomplishments and losses, in health and sickness.
This hope moves us to keep on going when we are worn.
It moves us never to give up on bringing the gospel alive in our world and even in our Church.
Easter is about the trusting hope that God stays with us every step of the journey.
That hope, based on faith, leads us to the third central virtue of the Christian life: love.
I will reflect on this next week.
“This is what Christian hope is: having the certainty that I am walking toward something that ‘is’, not something that I hope may be…Christian hope is the expectation of something that has already been fulfilled and that will certainly be fulfilled for each one of us. Our resurrection too, and that of our departed loved ones, therefore, is not something that may or may not happen but is a certain reality, because it is rooted in the event of Christ’s Resurrection. Thus, to hope means to learn how to live in expectation. To learn how to live in expectation and find life.”
From On Hope by Pope Francis (1936 –. Ordained to priesthood in 1969, consecrated bishop in 1992, named Cardinal in 2001, elected Pope in 2013).
[For more reflections on Easter, see also the Inbox Inspirations of April 24, May 1 and 8, and for next week and following.]
“The mystery of faith: We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection, until you come again.”
Father Michael Schleupner
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May 22, 2019
Easter - Love
Dear Friends,
My 1) faith in the risen Christ leads me to 2) hope, as I shared last week.
Among other blessings, this hope moves me never to give up on bringing the gospel alive in our world and in our Church.
Doing this calls into action the other foundational Christian virtue which is 3) love.
It is difficult to define this virtue.
Usually, I speak of the behaviors that express love instead of using the word itself.
With that in mind, the faith and hope of Easter lead us to be:
- Giving of our time and ourselves for another
- Giving up some of our own preferences to provide for others
- Comforting those who are suffering lack or loss
- Challenging those who need to look more fully at the way of the gospel
- Forgiving someone who has hurt me
- Seeking forgiveness from one whom I have offended
- Letting go of my attachments to so many things
- Hanging on to my faithfulness to persons and commitments.
These are just some of the expressions of love.
Our faith and hope in the risen Christ empower us to be alive with love in everyday life.
“Contemplatives of all traditions agree on one certain thing – the spiritual life is all about love…This love, divine in its nature and glimpsed only through the gift of divine light, is the greatest of all mysteries. It is the source, means, and end of all life, yet no one can explain it… love’s true nature remains forever beyond the grasp of all our faculties.”
From The Dark Night of the Soul by Gerald G. May (1940-2005. Medical doctor, psychiatrist, author, staff member of Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation).
[For more reflections on Easter, see also the Inbox Inspirations of April 24, May 1, 8 and 15, and for next week and following.]
“The mystery of faith: We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection, until you come again.”
Father Michael Schleupner
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May 29, 2019
Easter - Companions
Dear Friends,
It is difficult to do the journey of life alone.
We all enjoy companionship or friendship with others.
Most of us also seek the special love shared with a spouse or significant other.
This is all part of being human.
In addition to this, we also need companions for our faith.
Believing in Jesus and following his way is not easy to do alone.
We need faith companions when we question and seek, like the apostle Thomas.
They can help us to realize once again the glue for life that believing in the risen Christ can be for us.
We need faith companions as we grow and mature.
They can help us to go beyond the faith of our childhood or earlier life and come to a richer relationship with God that is appropriate for our adult years.
And we need faith companions in a world where many choose not to believe.
They can help us to feel assured of our choice to live a spiritual life and to center our lives on God.
Yes, companions are important – a great gift from God!
“To walk alone is possible, but the good walker knows that the great trip is life and it requires companions.”
By Archbishop Dom Helder Camara (1909-1999. Ordained to priesthood in 1931. Archbishop of Olinda and Recife in Brazil, 1964-1985).
[For more reflections on Easter, see also the Inbox Inspirations of April 24, May 1, 8, 15 and 22 and for next week.]
“The mystery of faith: We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection, until you come again.”
Father Michael Schleupner
*************
June 5, 2019
Easter - Companions
Dear Friends,
It is difficult to do the journey of life alone.
We all enjoy companionship or friendship with others.
Most of us also seek the special love shared with a spouse or significant other.
This is all part of being human.
In addition to this, we also need companions for our faith.
Believing in Jesus and following his way is not easy to do alone.
We need faith companions when we question and seek, like the apostle Thomas.
They can help us to realize once again the glue for life that believing in the risen Christ can be for us.
We need faith companions as we grow and mature.
They can help us to go beyond the faith of our childhood or earlier life and come to a richer relationship with God that is appropriate for our adult years.
And we need faith companions in a world where many choose not to believe.
They can help us to feel assured of our choice to live a spiritual life and to center our lives on God.
Yes, companions are important – a great gift from God!
“To walk alone is possible, but the good walker knows that the great trip is life and it requires companions.”
By Archbishop Dom Helder Camara (1909-1999. Ordained to priesthood in 1931. Archbishop of Olinda and Recife in Brazil, 1964-1985).
[For more reflections on Easter, see also the Inbox Inspirations of April 24, May 1, 8, 15 and 22 and for next week.]
“The mystery of faith: We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection, until you come again.”
Father Michael Schleupner
Wednesday, April 17, 2019
Inbox Inspiration: Holy Week: April 17, 2019
Holy Week
Dear Friends,
This is the week that we call Holy and we do this for several reasons.
First, we remember during this week the foundational events of our faith:
the death and resurrection of Christ.
We remember these holy events in the way that Jesus directed at the Last Supper.
Our celebration of the Eucharist, on Holy Thursday and every Sunday and every day, is our way to sacramentally remember the death and resurrection.
We also name this week Holy because we are really remembering the person at the heart of the events.
Our focus is on Jesus, the Christ, who gives of himself completely for us.
We celebrate Him whose resurrection is the hope of Easter.
Finally, we name this week Holy because it calls us to holiness.
The death and resurrection call us to become like the One who dies and rises.
These events call us to be centered on Christ, to be giving of ourselves and our lives, and in that way to become fully alive in Him – to become holy persons.
May each of us experience the powerful potential of this Holy Week.
“We have not so much as a thread that was woven into his garments…We were meant to have more than the relics of Christ. We were meant to have, and are meant to have, Christ Himself. If His garments had been preserved, they would have been relics to draw pilgrims from all over the world, only to kneel in front of them, perhaps to kiss the reliquary that contained them. Christ meant something much more than that for us. Just as when He was stripped of His garments he put on the nakedness of our shame, we were meant by Him to put Him on like a garment, to put on the shape, the purity, of His body; the shape of his labors, of His human nature; His sleeping and eating and journeying, His austerities and His delights in the good and beautiful things of creation.”
From The Way of the Cross by Carol Houselander (1901-1954. English Catholic laywoman, artist, author.)
“The mystery of faith: We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection, until you come again.”
Father Michael Schleupner
Wednesday, March 27, 2019
Inbox Inspiration: Lent: March 27 - April 10, 2019
March 27, 2019
Lent - Sacrifice
Dear Friends,
As I look back on my childhood, I recall that my parents gave up a lot for my brother and me.
They gave up buying new cars and going out to dinner often and many other things.
And they did this out of love for my brother and me.
They wanted, above all, to give us the best education possible.
They sacrificed for us.
Usually, during Lent we are encouraged to give up something.
That something might be chocolate, desserts, beer, pizza, soft drinks, or whatever.
We are to do this giving up, this sacrifice, out of love for God.
We may do this as a way of repenting for sin.
Or we may do it as a self-discipline, a way to grow in our strength to avoid evil and do good.
But beyond these motives, we sacrifice during Lent because we recognize the One who is above and beyond us.
We sacrifice out of love for the Divine Other, for God.
So, as with the personal sacrifices made by my parents and probably also yours, our Lenten sacrifice is very other-centered.
It is a statement that there is something, Someone beyond us for whom we live.
“When you make a sacrifice, you don’t just give something up, you acknowledge a realm greater than yourself. ‘Sacrifice’ means ‘to make sacred.’ You go beyond self. You make room for a greater mystery.”
From Dark Nights of the Soul by Thomas Moore (1940 –. American, author, psychotherapist and Doctor of Religious Studies).
[For more reflections on Lenten themes, see the next two Inbox Inspirations, April 3 and 10.]
May we be transformed more and more fully into the likeness of God, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Father Michael Schleupner
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April 3, 2019
Lent - Prayer
Dear Friends,
Back in the seventh century, Saint John Damascene defined prayer as
“…the lifting up of our minds and hearts to God.”
Many of us, including me, learned this in our faith formation classes.
There is much richness in this definition.
The idea is that prayer is the centering of our inner self on God.
It is being aware of the longing in our hearts for God –
for being close to God, for having God be present with us right now.
It is the focusing of our awareness –
in one sense, beyond ourselves, on the One from whom we have come,
but in another sense, on ourselves, on the One who is at the core of our being.
Above and beyond anything else, our prayer is simply being with God.
Whatever words we say or whatever passages we read,
prayer is being with God.
God is already there – here – with us – within us.
The Season of Lent calls us to make sure that we pray.
What this really means is that we are to lift up our minds and hearts, open our inner selves simply to being with God.
“…prayer contains an impulse towards simplicity. Prayer can be a ‘being with’…Beyond praise, petition, or begging for pardon, the impulse in prayer is towards presence, being with, being with the person…In the gospels people do indeed ask Jesus for things... But there is a deeper movement, expressed by the attitude of sinners whose concern is to ‘sit with’ him (Mark 2:15).”
From The Impact of God by Father Iain Matthew (1940 –. British, Carmelite priest, Doctoral Degree from Oxford, author, chaplain, retreat director).
[For more reflections on Lenten themes, see the Inbox Inspirations for last week, March 27, and for next week April 10.]
May we be transformed more and more fully into the likeness of God, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Father Michael Schleupner
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April 10, 2019
Lent - Charity
Dear Friends,
Our traditional Lenten practices are fasting, prayer, and charity.
We hear Jesus speaking of these in chapter six of the Gospel of Matthew.
I see fasting or personal sacrifice and prayer as leading to charity.
So, when we sacrifice or give up something – snacks between meals, beef, candy – when we do this, we choose some physical self-denial.
One of the effects of this choice of going without something is to put us in touch with those who go without life’s necessities without any choice in the matter.
It puts us, at least spiritually, in touch with those who are hungry or homeless or without health care and without hope.
Again, when we pray, we lift up our minds and hearts to God who is love itself.
One of the effects of this is to put us in touch with the compassion of Jesus.
It puts us in touch with those in need who were always primary in Jesus’ ministry.
So, our sacrifice and prayer during Lent lead us to charity.
They lead us to look and see those who are in need.
They move us to treat them as our brothers and sisters, as God’s daughters and sons.
“Charity is the live wire along which the power of God, indwelling our finite spirits, can and does act on other souls and other things, rescuing, healing, giving support and light. Such secret intercessory prayer ought to penetrate and accompany all our active work. It is the supreme expression of the spiritual life on earth. It moves from God to others through us, because we have ceased to be self-centered units, but are woven into the great fabric of praying souls, the mystical body through which the work of Christ on earth goes on being done.”
From Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals by Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941. British, Anglo-Catholic, author on religion and Christian mysticism, retreat director.)
[For more reflections on Lenten themes, see also the Inbox Inspirations for the last two weeks, March 27 and April 3.]
May we be transformed more and more fully into the likeness of God, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Father Michael Schleupner
Tuesday, March 5, 2019
Inbox Inspiration: God and Me: February 27 - March 20, 2019
February 27, 2019
God and Me - 1
Dear Friends,
Deep down, all of us are seeking God.
All human beings have a desire to seek and find God.
There is a radical or existential incompleteness in each of us.
We desire something, Someone beyond ourselves.
Philosophers and theologians say that we seek the transcendent.
We have this hunger built right into us – we are “hard-wired” in this way.
Saint Paul says that God created us “so that [we] might seek God… and find God, though indeed he is not far from any one of us.” (Acts 17:27)
Saint Augustine says it beautifully in his memorable prayer:
“Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.” (Confessions)
Of course, for a long time Augustine looked for God in the wrong places.
We can do the same thing and next week I will focus on that.
“Though we seldom recognize it, our senses seek the beauty, the sweetness, the good feelings of God. Our mind seeks the truth and wisdom of God. Our will seeks to live out the goodness, the righteousness of God. Our memory and imagination seek the justice and peace of God. In other words, we yearn for the attributes of God with every part of ourselves. Human beings are two-legged, walking, talking desires for God.”
From The Dark Night of the Soul by Gerald G. May, M.D. (1940-2005. Medical doctor, psychiatrist, author, staff member of Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation.)
For more reflections on God and Me, see the Inbox Inspirations for the next three weeks, March 6, 13 and 20.
Gracious God, move us to seek you and to be restless until we rest in you. Amen.
Father Michael Schleupner
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March 6, 2019
God and Me - 2
Dear Friends,
Last week I said that deep down, we all seek God.
All human beings have a desire to seek and find God.
The problem is that sometimes we mistakenly look for God in the wrong places.
Sometimes we get tripped up into thinking that being able to buy and own what we want, or having more money or more recognition by others, or having physical comfort and pleasure will bring us happiness.
Sooner or later, maybe in mid-life, maybe later, we sense that we have been seeking things, maybe perfectly good in themselves, but things that are limited.
We sense that they still leave us unsatisfied, unfulfilled, maybe even unhappy.
Maybe we have been seeking goods instead of the Creator of all good things.
When we become aware of this, we get in touch with who we really are as persons.
We get in touch with our deep, undeniable desire for God.
And then we start seeking God, consciously and intentionally.
Next week I will pick up on this desiring and searching for God.
“Because we can’t encounter God directly through our senses and concepts, we are naturally drawn to the things we can feel and see and grasp. We gravitate to the things of God, to things that we sense are good, true, beautiful, and loving. We expect these good things to satisfy us. We do not realize that we love them not for themselves, but because they whisper to us of their Creator, the One we really long for.”
From The Dark Night of the Soul by Gerald G. May, M.D. (1940-2005. Medical doctor, psychiatrist, author, staff member of Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation.)
For more reflections on God and Me, see the Inbox Inspirations from last week, February 27, and for the next two weeks, March 13 and 20.
Gracious God, move us to seek you and to be restless until we rest in you. Amen.
Father Michael Schleupner
*************************************************
March 13, 2019
God and Me - 3
Dear Friends,
We can seek God and maybe even feel God’s closeness to us in various places:
the ocean, the mountains, a piece of music, a painting,
the gospels, the crucifix or tabernacle in a church…
These are some of the places where we can seek God.
One place that we may easily forget is within ourselves.
God is within us.
Some of our great spiritual writers have said that union with God or closeness with God is not something that can be achieved.
It already exists.
We just need to awaken to God’s presence within us.
Our hunger for something or Someone more,
our desire for the Light that will help us to see,
our desire for the Love that both grounds and moves us,
and our desire for the Life that is a fullness for us even now –
these are signs of God within us.
In fact, these desires are God, acting within us.
Let’s make room to be silent and still enough to seek and find God right there.
“…God is closer to us than we are to ourselves. We are born in union with God and we ‘live and move and have our being’ in God throughout our lives (Acts 17:28). In keeping with the root meaning of ‘nature’ (‘natura,’ birth), this union with the Divine is our human nature. It is so essential to our being that John [Saint John of the Cross] says we could not exist without it.”
From The Dark Night of the Soul by Gerald G. May, M.D. (1940-2005. Medical doctor, psychiatrist, author, staff member of Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation.)
For more reflections on God and Me, see the Inbox Inspirations from the last two weeks, February 27 and March 6, and for next week, March 20.
Gracious God, move us to seek you and to be restless until we rest in you. Amen.
Father Michael Schleupner
*************************************************
March 20, 2019
God and Me - 4
Dear Friends,
As I have said in recent weeks, we all seek God.
One of the places where we can find God is right within ourselves.
We are born in union with God.
God is at the core of our being.
I accent the word our.
God is within each person, every human being.
Sometimes it is hard to see God in others –
especially if they have a grating or abrasive personality,
or if they are very self-focused and even narcissistic,
or if their moral standards are contrary to what we believe is right,
or if they are criminals or terrorists,
or if they are simply very different from us.
Yes, at times it can be difficult to seek, much less experience God in others.
But, it is still true: God is within all of us – within all persons and within all that is.
In fact, some of our great Catholic spiritual teachers
state that the more we grow and mature in the spiritual life,
the more we realize that we are part of and not apart from –
part of all of humanity and all of creation, and not apart from anything.
So, the more we grow spiritually, the more we are able to discern
God within, maybe hidden at times, but still there, within all that is.
“To understand this union of which we speak, know that God is present in substance in each soul, even that of the greatest sinner in the world. And this kind of union with God always exists, in all creatures.”
From The Ascent of Mount Carmel by Saint John of the Cross. (1542-1591. Spanish mystic, Carmelite friar and priest, theologian, poet, and Doctor of the Church.)
For more reflections on God and Me, see the Inbox Inspirations from the last three weeks, February 27, March 6 and 13.
Gracious God, move us to seek you and to be restless until we rest in you. Amen.
Father Michael Schleupner
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