Gazing Upon the Lord

 

"To see the face of God is my heart's desire.

To gaze upon the Lord is my one desire."

- Manoling Francisco S.J.

 

I love these two lines!  They are so beautiful! They have been coming to life in my mind a lot lately, especially during times when I am engaged in completing an assessment evaluation or when reflecting on what a person may really need and how this can be brought forth in therapy.

I remember someone sharing with me years ago that prayer will be most alive in ministry. Now I realize how true this is. It is our Lord who desires so much for a person to heal, but often times He needs and invites us to collaborate with Him, to be his partner in reaching the other person. He is truly at the heart and core of healing work. To collaborate with Him then, is prayer in a very pure and sacred form.

"My dearest Lord, with every person who is before me, from the start you already know the person thoroughly, even before he or she could speak. Share with me your vision and your wisdom. Use me in any way you wish. In every instance, let it be only and always your love that will flow through to this person, so that he or she may gradually become empowered to make the healing choices that will help him or her to grow into the person You desire him or her to be. And may he or she learn to trust in You, the love that one can truly trust.

My dearest Lord, all I ask is to be able to see and gaze upon your face, while assisting You in this healing work so close to your heart."

 

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Connectedness

On a recent trip to China, I realized for the first time that I actually felt at home there. I enjoyed walking anonymously in the streets, just observing the ordinary men, women and children as they went about their daily activities. 

I even imagined that sometime in the retirement future, we could possibly rent a place for a whole month and just live the ordinary day to day life there. We could also find our way to the outskirts of the city, in order to enjoy some of the countryside scenery, which can be breathtakingly beautiful. Some Chinese nature paintings do capture the sight quite well - an old man standing on a hill looking at the distant mountains, the ball of sun at dawn peering through. In many places, there may also be music floating in the background, either the voice of melancholic singing, or the melodious sound of the flute or accordion coming from a street corner and wafting in the air. 

And then the people... though they may be strangers, when I close my eyes and ponder further, I realize that we are truly of the same flesh and blood, no different from all of them physically, and with a long shared history. 

Last month, I felt our connectedness to them quite strongly. And yesterday, Chinese New Year's day, I again experienced this same feeling of inner connectedness. 

I couldn't help but close my eyes and pray to our dearest Lord, that He truly bless and take care of all who are within this circle of connectedness. 

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Advent Ponderings

It's so nice to just sit and watch the flames of the Advent candles flicker, while the wax drips down slowly. It gives a very soothing and peaceful feeling.  Together with it is also a quiet joy that lingers in my heart when I think about how, yes! God really and truly loved man so much - why esle would He go all the way in taking on our human nature with all its challenges and idiosyncracies.

I've come to know for years, that He is never outdone in generosity and love. So even if we think we love Him and try to do so to the best of our ability, His own love is still a million times more than ours! We may have a flame burning in our heart for Him, like these flickering Advent candles, but His own flame is really THE great big ball of fire.  The fire of His love.  The light that He promised He will never extinguish. One that He assures us we can always count on, even in times when we might feel impoverished and diminished like a smoldering wick.

When we started out listening to the gospels during this Advent season, at first it was just like the usual. But as the days have been passing, the gospel scenes resonating within leave me with a growing desire to cut down on the hustle and bustle of  the usual activities, in order to get into the silent night of His heart, to watch and wait with the shepherds, Mama Mary and St. Joseph, till I can better recognize and truly welcome His  presence in people and events all around with the same joy like in the nativity story. 

May we all be able to experience this quiet joy during the remaining few days till Christmas, and also for all the days for the rest of our life.

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Advent Possibilities

The point when Mary realizes that "nothing is impossible with God" and when this certainty fills her heart inspite of the uncertainty of how all that lie ahead will unfold, is for me, one of the most poignant moments within the Advent story.

"Nothing is impossible with God." Nothing that is good is impossible with Him, who is the source of ALL that is good.

This line is especially comforting and strengthening when we are in the process of shedding off long-time and hard-to-be-rid-of attachments and ways, when we are tempted to think that our desire for change cannot be fulfilled, when we doubt whether our collaboration and partnership with Him can be sustained for the long term and bear significant fruit.

"Nothing is impossible with God." -  a most beautiful mantra of trust. An act of love that flowed through Mary's heart, and one that we can let flow within our own heart and mind and will too  :-)    

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Christmas Rose

I like to think of the poinsettia as the 'Christmas rose'.

The red of the rose is very attractive, especially against the backdrop of green leaves. During Valentines and other many special occassions, roses are given and received as a symbol of love.  During the feast of St. Therese,  her image is adorned with roses, in honor of her special way of loving Christ: great love through 'the little way'.

Similarly, poinsettias usually have very attractive red petals, and these are additionally highlighted by the green leaves underneath.  The reds and greens of Christmas. The moment poinsettias are in sight, you know that Advent, as well Christmas, is really here.  And when you no longer see poinsettias around, you have to concede that the season is over. How synchronized its timing is with this special occassion.

More than color though, what the poinsettia has in common with the rose is its connection with love. Like the rose, the poinsettia in its association with Christmas, can also be seen as a symbol of love:  Love that reached out to us in the form of a fragile, vulnerable baby born in a poor manger. Love that chose to take on flesh and blood like our own, because He is truly in love with us, His special creation. "Love that's freely given, and that wants to freely be received... Love that longs to share His life with us, in hopes that it will grow... and until He finally calls us home..."

The Christmas rose...  reaching out, indwelling, waiting to be loved back...  our dear God, WHO IS Love!  

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Identity

                                                       Photo by R. Gross

"And yet, Yahweh, you are our Father;

we are the clay and you are our potter;

we are the work of your hand." 

- Isaiah 64:7

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Faith and Courage

There is a cute, old song by Frank Sinatra entitled, "Love and Marriage" where the lyrics go, "Love and marriage, love and marriage, go together like a horse and carriage." Using the same tune, my mind however has been playing the lyrics, "Faith and courage, faith and courage, go together like a horse and carriage"...

I find that the more I desire to move towards greater courage in my choices and actions, the more it is my faith that becomes strengthened.  Faith in Him. Faith that it is He who plants this desire for greater courage. Faith that it is us together who will move forth in pursuit of His Will. And the more my faith grows, the more I am able to gather the courage and confidence to let go of security blankets and venture outside of comfort zones. Faith and courage.  One can't do without the other. They are so interlinked.

Lately, I have also been reflecting on courage as experienced during yoga classes. For one not really physically inclined, working on the seemingly unreachable and difficult yoga poses (e.g. shoulder stand!?!, back bends using the chair, all kinds of literally challenging stretch poses, etc.) has taught me that as long as our spirit desires to have courage, and if the mind wills it, the body can eventually achieve the goal, albeit little by little.  Stretch.. stretch...stretch... until one day, the happy discovery that "Oh my gosh, I can do it!" arrives.  

The amazing interaction between the body, mind and spirit can really give birth to faith and courage - not only in yoga, but in all else that matters with our life   :-)


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