Two Scriptures leapt into the mind and heart today. Upon waking, read the daily Mass Scriptures. St. Paul in Ephesians and St. John in the Gospel.
St. Paul gives the lovely exhortation that Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity took as her motto, as her battle cry through the end of her young life. Excerpt from Ephesians 1: "...set our hope in Christ that we might live for the praise of His glory."
What St. John wrote in the Gospel of John 1 is pertinent to the on-going acceptance of this nothing's path and calling. "...and His own did not accept Him."
We must keep a sense of humor mixed in with the anguish of the world and all of us trying to exist in varying degrees of awareness of ourselves, and of our purpose for existence. And yet for those of us who desire something other, and are aware of His Real Presence, we must keep our sights on Christ, on His life and also on His death, hanging on the cross, and then His resurrection.
Oddly enough, the verse of the rock singer Ricky Nelson floated into the mind yesterday. "Garden Party": You can't please everybody so you've got to please yourself. The truth of matters is that we won't be able to please other people, nor they us, not deep down in, nor all the time, for we are inadequate of ourselves and increasingly pathetic when given over to the world. The reality and truth is, in order to endure with our fellow man, and more intimately, with our family and friends: We've got to please God.
Yes, we've got to please God.
And that takes prayer and praising and striving and loving and depending upon, upon His graces that we might be lights, be epiphanies of the praise of His glory. Like the wise men and women who sought and seek and found and find His Real Presence (Father God of all, Jesus Christ His Son, and the Holy Spirit, the Comforter and Paraclete), we, too, must be wise in who and what we seek and find, that we might live for the praise of His glory.
Yes, we try to meet people where they are and show interest in their interests. But as His Real Presence makes His Abode in us, and us in Him, we do become refractors of His Light. No amount of masking can or should blot that Light.
Darkness is not going to ever like Light. We must remain in His Love and let Him deal with the darkness. We must set our hope on Jesus Christ-Light, that we might live for the praise of His glory. Our own may not accept us, not even our own in Catholic parishes or Protestant congregations, not among family members at any particular given time. But some day, yes, we will be accepted into His glory, and our light which is His Light from the Abode He has made in us, will shine like the stars of the universe, and will help others to find the Christ born in the darkness, destined to be a great Light.
God bless His Real Presence in us! Little children, let us love one another for the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit has made His Abode in us, and we are in Him. Remain in His Love! Praise Him! Please Him!
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