Catholic Hermit: The Royal Law

Sometimes doesn't it seem as if His Real Presence truly knows exactly what we need?  Of course He does--but sometimes it seems so very real, so actual, so lived!

A long-time friend (Protestant) celebrated a birthday the other day.  We keep in touch with a birthday note and a Christmas letter.  Otherwise, the friendship rolls along, year after year, without knowing details of our lives other than the twice-yearly, usually brief, correspondence.  

Increasingly, it seems this nothing consecrated Catholic hermit is closer than ever to whoever comes to mind.  Thus, it seems as if there has been more personal contact than what is the temporal reality.  So I decided to call this friend on her birthday and ask for her email address; I wanted to do a Scriptural Prayer-Gift in honor of her life.  What book of the Bible would she like?

James.

So, each day I'm reading a chapter of James and reflecting upon the content of the verses.  I pray for insights from the Holy Spirit so as to email the friend, each day, in what ways the Word of God through James represents her life.

Today I read the second chapter of James in honor of this marvelous Christian friend.  Lo and behold, there it is again:  God's law of which St. Paul writes in Romans is the "fulfillment of the law" and above all other laws:  God's law of love.  Love God.  Love others.

Here it is, written by the Apostle James.  He calls God's law "the royal law."

"If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, 'Love your neighbor as yourself,' you are doing right."

Then a few verses later in chapter two, he writes further regarding being judged by this law and describes it as the law that gives freedom.  In what way? With mercy--and James explains that  freedom occurs when mercy triumphs over judgment.

"Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful.  Mercy triumphs over judgment!"

There is much more to the second chapter of James.  The Apostle demonstrates, also, that faith is revealed through what one enacts that demonstrates a lived faith.  If we say we have faith but do not live God's royal law, the law of love of others, then faith is not substantiated.  And consider the truth that mercy always wins, over judgment.  Be merciful to others.  Triumph in mercy.

When my spiritual father called this afternoon--and such a loving surprise--we discussed the seemingly recent, repetitive lessons from Scripture regarding the law and which law is supreme (and simply so) over all other laws:  God's law of love, the "royal law."

We can't go wrong if we adopt the royal law and if we live it.  Yes, if we truly love our neighbor as ourselves, we will be "doing right".

God bless His Real Presence in us!  Little children, let us love one another!  Let us embrace fully God's royal law and do right!

A Psalm by Which to Live

Ps 105:1-7

O give thanks to the Lord, call on his name,
   make known his deeds among the peoples.
Sing to him, sing praises to him;
   tell of all his wonderful works.
Glory in his holy name;
   let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
Seek the Lord and his strength;
   seek his presence continually.
Remember the wonderful works he has done,
   his miracles, and the judgements he has uttered,
He is the Lord our God;
   his judgements are in all the earth. 

Sometimes we may forget that His Living Word dwells in us, and us in Him, each and every present moment.  Scriptures breathe in us and have meaning and actual being, for they are His Being: living and active and a double-edged sword.  They have soul, for they have His Soul.  And they thus absorb into His Real Presence, our beings and our souls.

This song the other morning caught this hermit's body, mind, heart, and soul.  All of a sudden it realized that these words are alive with the Being and Breath of God.  It is a call to present moment holiness.  Each line gives us instruction in how to live, how to feel, how to be.

Each adjuration, each exhortation, each delight in thought and exclamation, is a plan of life, specifically and essentially. If we took just this Psalm as a guide by which to live one day, we would be living an ultimate, holy purpose:  to glorify God.

Of course, the power of His Living Word exists in the fullness of Scriptures.  It is a joy to remember this truth.  His Real Presence IS the Word.  Since the Most Holy Trinity comes to make His abode in us and invites us to live in Him, we become one with His Living Word.  It enlivens us and breathes through our beings.  And since God Is Love, His Living Word is love, as well.

Living with His Real Presence in His Living Word, daily and nightly, always produces love through, with, and in Him.  The Scriptures are filled with His Real Presence.  Each Scripture has the power and glory of God.  He lives in each, and we may live in Him and share in living and loving within His Living Word.  Then it breathes and speaks love to others in thought, word, and deed.

This is truly simple, is it not?

Let us try to live in His Real Presence and breathe and be and love in His Living Word.

God bless His Real Presence in us!  Little children, let us love one another, for love is of God.  Remain in His Love!

His Living Word

Severe pain presents itself in the Order of the Present Moment.  Low back is on fire like hot embers consistently burning and then with eruptions of sparks into flames, spontaneously, from time to time. No wonder the high level spinal headache yesterday, tenacious against any medications.

How challenging to attempt conversations in which one person asks about our lives, but when we ask about theirs, the other remains tight-lipped.  It is a way to control the situation and seems to be the result of some hurt or offense that was taken and is being held captive and not let go.

Thankfully, we have the Living Word of God in which to communicate and from which to receive communication.  If we remember to ask Jesus about His life, He will tell us.  He speaks to us of daily situations and of life in general. He speaks to us of souls and how to exist as souls, one with another and with Him.

His Living Word is glorious, per usual.  His Living Word is very much of the Order of the Present Moment and for all souls for all earth and all time.  These, His Words, come on the breath of the Holy Spirit.  He guides us, comforts us, teaches and chastises, truly present to each moment in our lives.  This is how God reaches into us.

Each person who reads His Living Words, the Scriptures of the Holy Bible, or who listens as others proclaim aloud, or who ponders the Word from memory of certain verses and content, is personally and individually touched, affected, altered by His Real Presence:  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Despite all our unique flaws and personality quirks, the living Word of God communicates with us, in us, for us, without any passive aggression or control mechanisms.  He gives freely and openly of life-sustaining and life-altering, life and soul-improving Words.

Truly, this is a great gift from God and a marvel, an on-going, living miracle for everyone.

God bless His Real Presence in is!  Little children, as we are, let us love one another!