What has primacy over war, insurrection and natural disaster? Your witness to Christ

Christ, the Word of the Father, commands those who believe in Him, "Do not be terrified."  If we stand in the face of war and insurrection is breaking our society apart, and fires and floods and storms and earthquakes threaten at every side, "Do not be terrified."  If false prophets predict utter catastrophe and declare the end of time, "Do not be terrified."  To be terrified is to be so seized with fear that you are not able to do anything or think of anything.  But Christ commands us not to be terrified.  This is because what He reveals is more powerful than natural or manmade disasters.  Whatever the catastrophe - He is Lord and nothing can impede his power.  With Him there is always a future for each person and for all of humanity - no matter what happens.  This is why He declares that "before" any disaster that might befall us is His saving plan.  Before the worse catastrophe that we might imagine, we should expect to be imprisoned, mocked, ridiculed, humiliated in all kinds of ways.  Why does the Almighty God allow his beloved to suffer in this way?  Because before all the threatening circumstances and misfortunes of life - and actually into these very realities - He has sent his beloved to provide a word of hope.  He has sent his disciples, his faithful followers to witness to the exceeding love of God and to declare it so that those who might need it the most can find it where and when it seems absent.  With the love of God revealed by Christ, even in total disaster and insurmountable hardship, a man can stand firm with hope - because this eternal love opens to horizons the exigencies of the moment cannot hold back.  God's love shatters the prison walls of rancor, strife, animosity, bitterness and disappointment. God's love opens possibilities even in the face of grave injustice and horrific evil - a life line to those who are surrounded by death.  God's love sanctifies broken wombs and raises up to life those whose lives we have destroyed. God's love pricks the conscience of the hardest heart and brings to repentance those everyone assumes are set in their ways.  God's love raises out of the narrow confines of the pressing moment, raises above the social conventions of every historical epoch, and breaks open the dams of human potential - for those who know this love remember what it means to be a human being.  It is because of this love that Christ tells us, "Do not be terrified."  

Rosary Crusade on October 7, 2022 - you are invited!

Even in this time of worry, confusion, and darkness there are tremendous signs of hope, including a renewed devotion to Our Lady and the power of the rosary. We place our trust in her promise at Fatima that “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph.”

In that spirit, I’ll be helping to lead the Rosary online with the team of the Avila Foundation and thousands of other faithful from around the world on October 7, 2022, the feast of Our Lady of Rosary, beginning at 6:30 PM Central.

I’d love to have you join us for this free live event, “The Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.”  You will need to register in advance to receive the link to join in.  Here’s where to sign up: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/avilafoundation/707728/r/cc 

Hope to see you there!

Anthony

Our Lady of Knock

Mary leads into a deep Eucharistic Silence.  With the support of Joseph, she presents the mystery of Christ presence in the world - it is a real presence, a mysterious presence that communicates such glory as would transform the deepest center of humanity if only we welcomed Him. With the support of Apostolic ministry, in Knock the ministry of the Apostle John, she teaches the truth about Her Son's presence - so that we might enter into the silence that receives Him, that accepts Him, that makes a home for Him. This is why those who visit the Gable at Knock feel her presence with them when they go into adoration - she follows them into this Eucharistic moment that we might behold the Lamb.

The Threshold into the Heart of God

Christ's crucified and risen humanity is the threshold in the Heart of God. Catastrophe unfolds in all social conventions that we once relied on, but in this sacred place, we are secure. Alienated, lost and ashamed, our true homeland is just a prayer away. Through His Mystical Body, the Good Shepherd reaches out to touch us and His voice echoes in our hearts.  Through His Body and Blood, the Eucharistic Lord manifests and communicates inexhaustible treasures, riches we have secretly desired but never dreamed would be suddenly lavished upon us. Knocking at the door of our hearts, the Divine Pilgrim offers real connection, true understanding, meaningful love. 

Gazing at us and searching our depths, this True Friend comes to us in warmest vulnerability. Uncreated Wisdom of God, He understands us in ways that we do not understand ourselves. The Man of Sorrows, He empathizes with our weakness and offers to heal the most painful wounds. The Rejected One, He challenges us to the very core of our being.  The Revelation of the Mercy of the Father, the Healer convicts us, not to shame, but to forgive and to give a new beginning.  Such is the threshold into the deep things of God - not one that we cross as much as does God out of inexhaustible compassion. He opens the gate, reaches through the portal with outstretched hands, and revealing His wounds for our sake, He offers His Heart.  

Even as this yet unrecognized pilgrim walks with them, there are some who seek religious experience or else attempt great feats of spiritual industry.  They want results and attain what their hearts seek.  These achievements provide momentary relief and a sense of accomplishment. But as accomplishments limited to space and time, they are too limited for the heart. Too far beneath its dignity, the heart aches for something that is beyond its own power to achieve, for a Someone who alone can satisfy.

Even as this mysterious stranger questions their deepest fears, there are others who turn to created spiritual forces to gain security or find power. By degrees of deception, they are trapped into the realm of created things.  Whatever power we grasp for has power over us. Apart from God, the passing splendors of this life only stir lust, covetousness, and pride, fanning fires that will burn with destructive force for all eternity. Thus, the Lamb who was slain humbly calls out in harmonies that shake the foundation of the world, that shatter self-made strongholds and that cast down false altars of the heart.  Like a violent earthquake, the suddenness of the truth is unveiled and the opportunity to freely choose comes with shocking clarity. Blessed are they who He has moved to tears in this moment, for such tears quench fires unworthy of the heart's greatness.

Even as this mysterious Guest breaks bread before them, there are also some who want to give their lives to the One who they love. Even these find in their hearts such attachments, grievances, wounds and burdens that they are confounded.  They cry night and day over their own sins and the sins of their dearest loved ones, and they wait for their Deliverer.  They know that they will be measured by their own measure, so they humbly let go. The forgive and seek forgiveness. They stop trying to measure and they surrender - for a measureless love dawns upon them. In this Uncreated Light, they know that their hope does not disappoint and they long to see His Face. 

Prayer's Power in Human Weakness

In deep silences, the Lord speaks into our hearts even when everything around us falls apart.  Our weakness shouts at us and all we see is failure.  A cacophony of shame and accusation, fear and doubt assails us.  The voices of those who disdain us would be bad enough - but our own self-accusation seems to shake our core. How might we find Him, the One for who our hearts most long, our Savior and Deliverer when we are trapped and there seems no way out? Yet His voice is not silent. It whispers in gentle patience, inviting us out of chaos and into prayer.  

Loneliness haunts us and alienation from even our closest friends when all our hopes are dashed.  How true it is that we discover our true friends in the midst of crisis!  In such times, those who we assumed would be most steadfast disappoint us. We feel abandoned and misunderstood - or else the object of someone's misguided charity project.  Some actually want to relieve the plight and really do attempt to protect the dignity of the soul steeped in such misery ... how few they are!  Yet even these cannot bridge the abyss that yawns between the suffering soul and the rest of humanity.  Such is death - this is what it means to be placed in the tomb.

Here, in this deepest darkness, the Word of the Father seems most absent.  It is as if He let out his last wordless cry and breathed His last. At this moment, my soul and His soul are closest - united in the terrible mystery of death. This is where a new kind of whisper enters our hearts - a gentle movement so subtle that one never recognizes it until afterward. For there is a love that is stronger than death even if I cannot feel it. There is a reason for hope even if my mind cannot find it or my feel it. This is because He is with me always -- even in the shadow of death, even as waves of weakness engulf me.

Prayer's power in human weakness reaches a perfection in total disaster and complete failure. Only those who have been gripped with acute anxiety and suffer utter catastrophe know this power. It is a power Christ shares with His closest friends, those who He trusts most of all. If you are such a soul, know that your feeblest act of faith and most humble effort to love makes space for God to reveal His life giving glory in a dying world - through your smallest sacrifice, life giving splendor reaches out where it is most needed. Christ Himself accomplished his greatest work when He was annihilated on the Cross -- our salvation, and by faith your suffering is an extension of His saving work, raising up all human life in times when it is most needed.