Christmas Thoughts

My Lord and God,

It is in You that I Live and Move and Exist.

How can it then be,

That You have Come to Dwell within Me!

Oh Holy Night,

Where has your Darkness gone!

What was Hidden is now Revealed.

Love has given Birth.

Our God has come to live Among us.

A Babe has Changed the world!

                                                     A Heart’s Prayer

 “Listen daughter, pay careful attention: forget your nation and your ancestral home, then the king will fall in love with your beauty.  He is your master now, bow down to him.” (Ps 45:10-11)

 

Father God,

       It is You, who with a Word, spoke our Vast and Glorious universe into existence; and, it is in You, that all things Remain and find their Meaning.

       It is You, who sent your only Son, to exchange his Life for us -to be our Lord and our Savior -even as we vainly chose a life of Death.

       It is You, who Redeemed us from sin, who Opened our minds to your Truth and our hearts to your Love.

       It is You, who like an earthly father giving away the bride, you give our souls over as Bride -to be ever Espoused in love to your Holy Spirit.

       It is You, who has Gifted us with our Blessed Mother, who leads us into that Surrendered Yes -to your Plan for our life.

          Now, we too, in the words of our Mother, are driven to say, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord and my spirit exalts in God my savior”.

       Father God, you have Wonderfully made us -in the image of your Son, and poured into our hearts the Tender Love of your Holy Spirit.  

I bow down to you, my Alpha and Omega.

With Joy By The Holy Spirit

With Joy By The Holy Spirit

“It was then that, filled with joy by the Holy Spirit, he said, 'I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children. Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do.” (Luke 10:21)

              

How provocative to our imagination!  What wonder could have precipitated this impulse of Joy within our Lord?  Were his arms stretched tight toward heaven …trying to get as close as he could to his Father?  Were his eyes welling with tears as this Praise was thrust forth from his soul?

           Luke is silent to these questions, only recording that Jesus then turns to his disciples and declares how privileged they are to witness this unfolding of the Kingdom of God.

 

Luke captures the disciples in the act of being Reborn, Re-Created into a Child of God who sees: what is hidden from the arrogant; what is oblivious to the complacent who have eyes that cannot see 'Jesus-The-Word' planted in millennia past, within a mere a ripple, but now a Tsunami of Love …crashing upon creation …crying, “Behold the Lamb of God!”

The Holy Spirit is Fire and Power and Joy.  This, is what seized Jesus to Exult with Praise to his Father.  This, is what seized his disciples, what drew them from the seen to the Unseen, from the hidden to the Revealed -were Surrender flows into Unknowable Glory.

Holy Spirit seize me!  Re-Create me into a mere child with the eyes of your Father.  Possess me with your Tumultuous Love, that in serving you I too, will be filled with joy by the Holy Spirit; that I too will give witness to your Saving Power, to your Presence within my smallness; that all I am and do will Exult and Praise and Glorify your Holy Name.  May this please you to do.

A Child’s Prayer

A Child’s Prayer 

                My Lord and My God, behold Your Small One.  I am prostrate before you …not out of a holy humility, but of my smallness.  How can it be that you call me your Child?  Yet you prize me as the Apple of Your Eye.  I cannot see beyond my barrenness …you see what you created me to be.

           

          How else can I hope in you, that I dare to presume your Mercy?  So it is that I kneel before you, begging for this Great Exchange.  I bring to you my Sinful Soul and Broken Body, with nothing to give but a child’s desire to receive …knowing that you will offer me New Life. 

          

           You envelope my surrender with a Knowing Trust …as a Swaddled Babe held at breast.  Though I yet touch what I long for, I am at rest in Your Bosom, My Father.  I can only praise you, My Lord and My God.

Ask, Seek, Knock

Ask, Seek, Knock

“I tell you, Ask and you will receive; Seek and you will find; Knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Luke 11:9)

              

My Lord Jesus, I am Asking you.

I am admitting my utter dependence on you.

I am standing before you empty.

You alone are my Hope.

          My Lord Jesus, I am Seeking you.

I am desperate for your Perfect Will in my life.

You have only Good things for me.

My Soul is ready.

          My Lord Jesus, I am Knocking on the Door of your Heart.

I am tugging on your Cloak of Mercy.

Your eyes behold my every need.

How can I be afraid?