A Morning Gift: Another Hymn to Set the Day

It is all so easy, so simple.  I recall years ago when His Real Presence started opening more my awareness of His presence, guidance, love, mercy, healing and friendship interacting always.  At first some thought or glimpse or sound of the inner senses I'd brush away, thinking, "Naw, that is nothing."  But He pursued me, in a way, and I started to realize that what was not, truly was and IS His Real Presence touching, embracing, whispering, presenting Himself.  Such a gentle Lover!

This morning I awoke, and the music to this hymn flowed through my being.  The only words I caught from the flow were "God is love, God is love."  Then as the tune through me again, I heard "all ye little children."  These were enough to do a Google search.  Listening to it on YouTube verified the tune.  It is a known children's hymn, author unknown but the music was written by British Baptist minister, Carey Bonner in 1904.

When hymns are given me at the start of the day, it is a message from His Real Presence.  The words themselves are a message; but the music aspect rather than His giving only a word message, is to tell me to lift the mind and heart to a higher level of communication.  Music and art are communications of a different level and mode of glorifying God.  Just as poetry is a higher form of verbal and written communication, music and art require a higher mode of interpretation through senses and symbol.  

Music can be quite healing as it takes the outer and inner "eyes" from the thinking effort and allows the inner and outer ear to absorb the benefit without much effort of the mind.  Especially with the following hymn's simple words of love and the touch of the Apostle John's oft-repeated sentiment, "Little children, let us love another."

It is said that when John was on Patmos and after, in his last years, he typically and repetitively addressed others directly with the greeting, "Little children."  We find this in the Letters of John in Scripture.

I pray that many of you are asking His Real Presence for a hymn.  The angels sing praise hymns in heaven, and when we begin to fathom that His Real Presence has made His abode in us, and that we are in Him, right now, always, we can begin to grasp that we may experience heaven on earth.  Who knows but that an angel is delivering the hymn to us.  

And by hymn, it can be a tune that we connect with some secular song, but the words and intent can very much be God's words and tune to us, or our singing to Him.  We can take any song of love and lift the intention to our love of God or His love of us.  

Music is a glorious communication and praise with God and to God.  The effects of music on our minds, hearts and souls, is the same mode and effect when we learn how to communicate as God and those in heaven communicate, by thought-flashing.  Thought-flashing is the best way I can describe the instantaneous mode of communicating on the other side of the veil separating the temporal from the mystical realms. 

 
I will share later this month, my death experience, and of which the state during Mass is the closest experience to it.  But all of you have experienced thought-flashing, yet perhaps you have not considered it as such.

Now the hymn given this morning (although they can be given at any time, day or night).  This one sets the tone for me, this day.  I hope it will sing in your minds, hearts and souls, too, as praise of His Real Presence and His merciful love and heavenly balm no matter our earthly situations.

 
Praise Him, praise Him, all ye little children,
God is love, God is love;
Praise Him, praise Him, all ye little children,
God is love, God is love.

Love Him, love Him, all ye little children,
God is love, God is love;
Love Him, love Him, all ye little children,
God is love, God is love.

Thank Him, thank Him, all ye little children,
God is love, God is love;
Thank Him, thank Him, all ye little children,
God is love, God is love.

A Woman Named Rita

I awoke quite early this morning, and rested in His Real Presence.  In the early hours, upon awakening, one can be quite aware of His Real Presence in the silence and freshness of having been for a few earth-hours, out of most conscious awareness and into that deep, still well of God-in-us.

A woman named Rita came to mind.  She is known more familiarly to some as Rita of Cascia, Italy.
She lived a few centuries ago, and I assume the Lord wanted me to remember her, as I read a book about her life several years ago.  The more I thought about Rita, I realized a week or so ago a friend had called and mentioned her name.  I had not pondered her situation, then; thus the reminder now.

Rita's husband was murdered, and their two sons attempted to avenge their father's death, against Rita's wishes.  She feared they would be killed, also, and that they were.  Rita's entire life as she knew it was stripped from her.  Eventually she was accepted into a religious order.  (I am shortening the story of her life, but I highly recommend her biography.)

When in the convent, at some point when Rita was praying, the Lord gave her a thorn in the middle of her forehead.  She could see it, and others could see the blood and also smell a horrible stench that came from this thorn He asked her to bear.  It marked her, and while in those times of no social media or technology, some people were aware, but not many, outside the convent.

However, among her religious sisters and the superior, the wound was obvious, even at a distance, due to the horrific odor that emanated from it.  Having an open, bleeding hole in one's forehead would present challenges in keeping it clean and dealing with blood flow. But there was nothing Rita could do about the stench.

As a result, none of the sisters nor her superior wanted to be near her.  She was ostracized, in a way, and isolated.  They were not intentionally being mean.  It was not that they disliked her, but it was human instinct to not want to be around someone who had an undeniable stench emanating from a bloody thorn-hole in her forehead.

Some of the sisters were going on a pilgrimage, and Rita wanted to go with them.  She asked her superior for permission, and the superior told her she could not go due to the horrible stench of the thorn wound.  The others could not tolerate that smell, and it would be all the worse for anyone else in the public who would smell it, in addition to seeing the bloody thorn mark.

So Rita begged God to remove the effects of this mystical phenomenon. She knew He knew why she asked.  He did remove it, and Rita was able to join her sisters and make the pilgrimage.  As far as she and others assumed, the phenomenon was gone for good.

However, on their way back from the pilgrimage, as they approached the convent, the thorn wound and the stench returned.  God had only removed it for the time period of the pilgrimage, granting her wish so the superior would allow her the pilgrimage.  Once back in the convent, her shunning began anew.  The sickening stench God allowed with the thorn in her forehead was just too much for others to endure.  Rita had to endure it, though.  There was no escaping it.

I forget if at her death, the odor became that of perfumed roses.  I know that some people who experienced the phenomenon known as stigmata (any one or several of the wounds of Christ imparted to their physical bodies either in visible or invisible form) had a perfumed odor emanate from their wound or wounds.  Only God knows why He chose perfume for some and stench for Rita.  For her, what one would consider a gift from God became that which isolated.  It certainly would be difficult for others to see any good fruit of this experience.  It was hard to believe that something so nasty and unedifying on the face of it, so to speak, as coming from God.

Such matters remain a mystery.  God only knows, and sometimes the person thus marked or afflicted with mystical phenomena have an idea as to His plan and purpose.  Such matters always affect various levels of meaning, significance, and outcome.  His will always includes the soul's progression, and the suffering required includes the soul's conformity to Jesus Christ.  The soul must undergo whatever necessary to prepare it for union with His Real Presence.

God bless His Real Presence in us and us in Him!

What Kind of House Did You Buy?

 I had another phone conversation with a spiritual friend.  I reminded him that the last time we spoke, he asked with some exasperated emotion, "What kind of a house did you buy, anyway?"  He has been concerned about the living conditions, and he well knows how the outer aspects covered over much that was wrong with this poor, old farmhouse.  Plus, he understands how people can deceive out in the big world.

But I had an answer for him.  I had asked His Real Presence the same question my spiritual Father had asked me.  Immediately came the response:  You have bought the Church.

This caused me to smile, but I also suggested that this house is also my soul.

Yes, I am finding out all kinds of things that need repair or that others did not do correctly, not to the laws of building codes, not to contractor licensing laws, infested with critters doing what is instinctual, not insulated against the weather, and with messes at every level.  There have been people in here not to be trusted, some immoral users and takers, and also, now, a good soul with his workers.  I've had to give in and ask back one who started out with good effort but slacked some.  He brings too much of the world in here, but I will guard against such and keep praying for his good.

However, the foundation is now good, and the structure is intact.  Yes, it is just that once I started to do some cosmetic repair, I discovered aspects under the surface that needed to be rid out, corrected, improved, or rebuilt.

My spiritual Father laughed and said, "Yes, that is it!  It is kind of like St. Francis rebuilding the Church, of sorts."  And I reminded him this house also represents my soul--not just the Church.

So we discussed the points expressed above, and I have my work cut out for me regarding my soul and the Church, in all that I do to try to "make all things new" in Christ in here.  It is all a marvelous but accurate metaphor.  This house represents a conglomeration of all of us in the Church, for it is people who reflect by thought, word and deed, and sometimes the reflection is too much of the world and our sins rather than of His Real Presence Who Is in us.

We just forget, I suppose, or have not yet had that nuptial kiss of God.  Once we experience the reality of His Real Presence and that we are in Him and He is in us, the picture grows clearer, brighter, lighter, more faithful, hopeful and charitable.

Yes, I have bought the Church, essentially, and such as today, my own temporal body has too much pain to be able to do much tangibly to hang drywall.  I need to either figure out some kind of brace to help hold pieces of wallboard in position on a wall so that I can secure with screws, or to pray that Francesco or Raphael might stop by and lend a physical hand, briefly.  I have all the pieces measured and cut.  I have noted some causes and news out in the world for which to pray and continue with my usual, inner conversation as as well as the absence of other than resting in His Real Presence.  There is much suffering but also much holy hope.

I have planted some scented, colorful perennials to beautify  and honor Te Deum:  You, God.  I watered the blueberry patch and pray they grow and develop in order to yield good fruit.  Once the afternoon heat abates and the back is rested, I will attempt pre-drilling so that a critical support partial wall, holding the ceiling joists, can be secured by 6" screws.  A worker last fall neglected that necessary detail.  I also will shoot nails into the opposite ceiling joists, as he neglected to nail those, too.  They are resting on the header plate of an exterior wall.

So, we see how to make the metaphor extend from this house to God's house to the Body of Christ, His Church, of which we are Her members.  I suppose the hiring of the worker who neglected to do some of his job relates with the local priest who avoids much to do with pastoral and spiritual involvement.  I suppose my own neglect at times of His Real Presence in me--whether it be when frustrated or feeling despair, or in spiritual or temporal acedia--finds its equivalent in the metaphor.

This is the house, and I am in it, and you are in it; and all within and without are affected for good or ill.  It is a temporal place yet also a spiritual place.  It represents all aspects of God's creation; it contains the hindrance of all manner and levels of sin.  It also has hope and faith and love of that which is seen and unseen, of God and of God-in-others.  It is His Church and we are the Body--somehow, someday to be made whole and perfect, subsumed and in union with all facets of His Real Presence.

I am here, and I am in the process of making all things new through, with and in His Real Presence.   This house and my soul, the Church and all souls, are purposeful realities in temporal and mystical connectedness.  This house is God's, yours, mine.  We remain in His love, and His Real Presence makes His abode in us.

The Let-Go Prayer and Two Other Prayer Intentions

I enjoyed a phone conversation last evening with a young woman who is also wife, mother, daugh- ter and sister.  When she married over five years ago, her hus- band had a job about four or more hours' drive from her par- ents and siblings.  Now with two child- ren of her own, her parents continue to apply pressure that she should live close to them.  They persist that she is unhappy where she is and in her marriage.  They resent she does not visit them often nor move back.

Her parents do not visit her.  Perhaps this is due to their having several younger children.  But it is their mindset that all their children should remain in their area, and the young woman is the eldest.  The parents simply cannot let go and have enlisted others with hopes to influence her.  The stress is horrible upon a young woman who has struggled with the transition, as it is, with marriage, living in a more remote area, giving birth to two babies, and now burdened with what has become unhealthy and sometimes nasty, parental pressure.

I had told her about the Furniture Prayer and its marvelous success...and being so simple and meaningful a prayer.  We decided to pray together for the intention that her parents learn to let go:  let her be the adult, married woman and mother that she is.  So we devised the Let-Go Prayer. 

Since her life is burdensome and serious from facets of her parents' subterfuge (although she has compassion for their sense of loss of control), we felt she needed some kind of letting go in a fun way.  She bakes prize-winning cookies, so she suggested she bake cookies once a week for nine weeks, and she will let them go to whoever God brings to her mind to gift them.

What flashed in my mind as to my part, came after marvelous lessons in a car service center and in a Lowe's (home project store).  I was reminded that I have not "let go" of the many workers who have cheated me and taken advantage financially, in the past year in particular.  While it is good to be prudent, I had developed an attitude of mistrust and assumption in situations, but also I kept regurgitating the memories of the many who had "ripped me off."  So I said I will practice letting go of these past situations for nine weeks--that it would probably take me awhile to let go of what had become an assumed attitude. 

Then she thought of two other intentions.  One is for a man she knows who is worn out with working long hours and who snapped at a customer and is on probation with his job.  He is a lovely, Christian man and not typical of him to lose his temper.  So we thought something very positive as a prayer effort would be good.

She knits baby hats, so she is going to knit some "fun" ones, and think of him as she does so.  I said I will plant the 19 lovely, purple verbena plants I got on clearance, as my prayer of uplift for him.

The other is for a woman who wants to marry and have children but feels she is unattractive due to being overweight.   My young friend knows this woman from college days; she knows the woman is also depressed due childhood memories of her father not being faithful to her mother.  So the idea popped into our thoughts to simply light a candle daily and pray for the friend's spirit to be uplifted and for His Real Presence to lighten the loneliness and light up her life.  Who knows?  May God's be done regarding an earthly husband in her life!

We have great anticipation and joy in beginning these prayers today.  What fun!  His Real Presence and us together--praising and praying!

A long-time friend emailed last night that what I'd written to her of my letting go lessons--particularly the Lowe's incident--reminded her of the hymn "I Surrender All."  I looked it up, as I had forgotten this classic, written by a humble, Midwest art teacher-turned-evangelist in the early 1900's.  

The lyrics are lovely.  I even listened to it on YouTube and watched the video of Oprah Winfrey's love of this hymn (and why her connection with it).  I've decided for my part of the Let-Go Prayer, that I will listen to this hymn each day for nine weeks as a beautiful prayer for myself and others to let go of what hinders us from full surrender to His Real Presence in all aspects of our bodies, minds, hearts and souls.

I Surrender All 
by Judson W. Van DeVenter 

1. All to Jesus I surrender;
   All to Him I freely give;
   I will ever love and trust Him,
   In His presence daily live.
   • Refrain:
     I surrender all,
     I surrender all;
     All to Thee, my blessed Savior,
     I surrender all.
2. All to Jesus I surrender;
   Humbly at His feet I bow,
   Worldly pleasures all forsaken;
   Take me, Jesus, take me now.
3. All to Jesus I surrender;
   Make me, Savior, wholly Thine;
   Let me feel the Holy Spirit,
   Truly know that Thou art mine.
4. All to Jesus I surrender;
   Lord, I give myself to Thee;
   Fill me with Thy love and power;
   Let Thy blessing fall on me.
5. All to Jesus I surrender;
   Now I feel the sacred flame.
   Oh, the joy of full salvation!
   Glory, glory, to His Name!

Order of the Present Moemnt: Reminder

Raphael happened by a couple days ago, unexpectedly.  I was outside watering and planting a couple more clearance perennials, doing what is familiar, comfortable, and beautiful.  Raphael immediately asked what progress had I made with the inside of the house.  I admitted I the workload inside was overwhelming me again, and that I'd even had doubts I would ever be able to finish.

He took a look inside.  I had plumbed the drain and vent system for the bathroom sink.  I had re-nailed the 10 or so electric outlet boxes to the studs on the wall we made new, level, and plumb.  But that was it--not much to show for the work effort.  I also explained I only the day before was able to retrieve photos of where the electrical wires needed to be re-threaded to the outlet boxes....

Raphael encouraged me to get that wiring finished, and he'd send Francesco later in the day to help me hang drywall on the high, vaulted ceiling wall.  So I got to work on the project and encountered obstacles.  My drills were not powerful enough to drill 1" holes through the double and triple header plate--the 2x4's to which the top of the wall studs are secured.  While I was able, with much effort and patience, to drill holes through the vertical studs and thread the wires through them, the remaining was beyond possible given my drill's limitations.

Francesco showed up just when I was at the end of what I could accomplish.  Four hours later, we had the drywall installed--up to the top 15-inches or so.  That last bit needs to be boxed-out because a worker hired last fall put in a board supporting the vaulted ceiling joists--crooked!  But, it seemed as if that was something I could build the next day, as well as to finish off the remaining lower walls needing drywall, plus get the seams taped.

I awoke yesterday with goals in mind.  After some necessary watering (hot in this desert-like dryness), I started to hang more drywall.  Then I discovered that another stud in yet another wall, was not plumb.  It took an hour or more to remedy that situation.  

Then when I climbed the tallest ladder to attend to the area needing to be boxed out around the crooked board running the length of the room up near the ceiling line, I discovered yet more obstacles.  The man last fall had not nailed the supporting joist wall into any joists below.  Nails were merely driven into areas not stable and not penetrating solid support joists or the header plate.

While these details and jargon may be unfamil- iar and tedious, they reflect required but frustra- ting, time- absorbing efforts. 

Next, I turned to another task--that of removing a huge piece of drywall, unscrewing each screw, in order to shim it out better, plus raise it from the sub-floor a half-inch.  (I had not known to do so a few weeks ago when my daughter helped me install it.)  The shimming effort ran into some problems, though, requiring yet more time, only to realize shimming out would not necessarily help.  But at least I got that piece of drywall hung properly and re-screwed.  

I then had to remove a top piece of drywall--quite heavy--but I managed to get it leveraged down to the floor where it remains, leaning against another wall.  I will need help lifting it up to re-hang.  For that piece, some shimming at the top is going to be essential.

I lost track of time in all this effort, tedious as it was.  I noticed the sun shifting and the room heating.
Hours of prayer of the meditative type had accompanied the work process, but weariness and grumpiness led me to checking the time on my little flip-phone.  I had but another hour or two of light enough to work!  

The day was spent!  I had not accomplished even one full aspect of my three-pronged goal!  I yet had a major obstacle to figure and correct--not even a clue yet as to the remedy.

And, I had lost track of the Order of the Present Moment--that order that Jesus Himself had told me was my "Order", some 18 years ago.  And that Jesus and His carpenter dad, Joseph, is the Patron of that Order, and whatever I happen to be wearing in the present moment is my "habit."

Suddenly, it came clear once again.  Do not establish set goals or expecta- tions of what I will accomp- lish in the next hour, day, month, or year.  We do not know the day or hour, after all.  Yes, I can keep the desire to make progress and have a general hope of what might be.  But to set a goal of what I will accomplish in any future of earth time, is not a done deal.

So it is with my soul, my spiritual progression.  The whole point is that in the Order of the Present Moment, only that moment can be effected and affected.  The moments build upon moments, in a flow of God's will and progression...not mine.  

I had become far too ensconced in what exactly I thought I would get done, and then what the next day, and the next, with a goal that by Saturday I would be installing the wood flooring and soon after bringing in the cabinets to install.  But no, there are some hurdles to clear first, and a main obstacle to my progression was the very fact that it was I who set an end-point-in-time of some set, temporal accomplishments.  God did not accommodate my set plans.  

Instead,   His Real Presence reminded me of the Order of the Present Moment and of His plans.  He planned for a couple phone calls that took time, but they also gave me more people to pray about.  He planned for me to learn anew that the temporal is a soul-teaching aid, not a goal in itself.  The goal is to glorify God in all things, and to pray, and to love, to learn to love.

Today I am going to do some manual labor.  I will put in the prayerful time and focus, and whatever is accomplished is that which is accomplished.  I will not shirk nor skimp with my efforts, yet I will not assume this or that is going to unfold easily or be finished by the time I must stop working.  The spinal headache and increased bodily pain due to yesterday's efforts and frustrations, are factored into the present moments of this day, moment by moment.

It is all God.  It is being reminded of the Order of the Present moment, and that in each present moment, He is in me--and I am to be in Him.  I am not in a manual labor, self-set goal, good as goals may be if the goal is glorifying God and remaining in His love.  Then the temporal goals flow from His will, not from my intellect or my time frame.  It is all God--the goals, the time, the unfolding of the present moment.  

Malls Versus Solitude

Yesterday I left my brief visit in "civilization" to return to Te Deum House--this barely habitable abode.  I can't say I wanted to return to hardship, but the needs here and work load are not going to disappear on its own.  Somehow, all this is what God has chosen for me; I must seek Him in the physical and emotional challenges of such renunciation.

On the return, I had to find an Apple Store.  My iPad was not charging, and this posed a critical threat to continuing with working on the wall I had to remove and rebuild.  I already have replaced the plumbing.  But an electrician had fed the wires to the outlet boxes, and had installed the outlet boxes.  I took measurements of each outlet box location, and I took photos with the iPad to show the wires (yellow and white coated wires) leading through the studs to the various 10 outlets. 

Without the photos, I had a huge, temporal problem.   Finishing the wall could not progress.  Nothing more could be accomplished toward the end goal of drywall, taping, mudding, priming, painting, floor leveling, floor and cabinet installation, insulation in rafters, wood ceilings cut and nailed, and final light and plumbing fixtures.

Finding the mall was for me a challenge in courage.  I called upon Joan of Arc with whom I've had an encounter, in person, a few years ago.  That is another sharing.  But she gave me something back then, and placed it on the left side above my heart.  It was a solid gold bar of 5 chevrons.  It was made known to me that the chevrons are given for courage--to have courage and to take the gift of courage.

Today, remembering that spiritual experience, I knew also to call upon my guardian angel.  Calm arrived along with courage, and some common sense.  I followed a few signs and from there on followed the bulk of cars in whatever lanes or turns they made.  His Real Presence reminded that most people would be seeking the mall.  That was a correct thought, and I arrived prior to its opening so found a parking space near an entrance.

I have not been in a mall for a few years.  I avoid them due to traffic, congestion, so many souls moving about in the vast, commercial space--and the disorientation and weariness that results.  But there are always encounters--and I am praying for the clerks who assisted me.  I have their names, and I have their essences. I also pray for a few shoppers I was drawn to observe.

But when in the immense Apple Store, so many customers of all ages, so many clerks, so much noise--my head began to swim and ears felt plugged.  When the clerk was speaking, I could focus on her.  (It first looked grim for the iPad, but thankfully it is charging enough thus far to have drawn a sketch of the wiring from the photos.)

When the clerk helped others while I waited for the iPad to charge so she could double check it, I  wanted to be away from the consumer chaos.  So I observed some people, but with so many milling about in a large space, I found refuge by going within my soul to pray in the inner solitude and silence.  It was the only recourse, as increasingly my senses were overloaded with the whole mall experience, despite lovely people all about needing help and receiving help from lovely clerks.

There is nothing unusual or particularly interesting about this scenario, other than it depicts how the body, mind, heart and spirit can become content with solitude, silence, slowness, stillness, simplicity, stability and serenity.  I'd have to call this past year an "immersion program" of eremitic [hermit, religious solitary] life, of a type of desert exile from a bulk of the clamoring world, and an opportunity for interior growth.

The world!  The world!  I am lost from it, lost to it, lost in it's chaotic and treacherous potentials. God bless the world and all peoples in it.  God bless the clerks and the customers.  God bless the people (mostly in China) who make the products being sold.  God bless the materials He created that are used in production of tangible items.

Yet how thankful I was to be finally passing through the mall door by which I entered, and returning to Precious Blood (my used, dark red, pick-up truck).

At one point within the mall, trying to get out and away from the hustling clerks and bustling crowds and all the stuff, stuff, stuff--I exclaimed to the Lord, "I hate this world!" 

But immediately the ugliness of the word "hate" moved me to apologize to Him. 
Yes, I remarked within to His Real Presence, that those who come to the mall are no doubt more used to stores and crowds and the commercial aspects of life.  

Employees earn their necessary livings by working in Malls.  The goods sold in malls can be helpful goods, and consumers either need or want them.  The need can vary, for there is little we actually need from Malls.  But I certainly needed (or found helpful) the iPad to charge so that I could see the photos of the former, electrically wired wall .

I wonder if the difficulty with being comfortable in a mall is the effect of being more of a contemplative person?  Malls seem to be temporal worlds within the temporal world.  They seem antithetic to God's created nature other than what natural materials are used in construction and products.  I usually have to become singly focused on an item, person, and purpose for being there.  There are so many stores, so many items, and so many people that it seems a false environment with no windows to the earth and air outside.  Many people seem to be there as a form of entertainment, to pass away [God's!] time.

But I have often passed away God's gift of time in other forms of distraction.  Perhaps it is done in less hectic and crowded conditions, but I have passed His time in watching British dramas or years ago in reading mystery novels.  And often enough I have passed His time in non-heroic suffering or in daydreaming negative thoughts.  What difference is that from those who pass His time meandering the malls?

All this has analogy for our souls and the spiritual life.  I'll stop writing now and ponder them.  But I'll not be back at any mall, any time soon, I hope and pray.  His Real Presence--Father, Son and Holy Spirit need to be my "mall".  God provides all the goods and services my soul needs.  Even though in  earthly malls sometimes we do need the tangible items, there we can yet recollect our souls amidst the hustle bustle, and go within His Mall, of sorts.   From within His Mall we can bring out His love and insights to share Him even if by kindly word, glance, or silent prayer. [I forgot until just now!  I always wear a large crucifix when out.  What greater love advertisement than His death for our salvation?]

There is nothing quite as sweet as being within His Love in the interior while at the same time being within His Love in outer times and places.

Awakening for Night Praises

How quickly and easily to forget something good and simple.

The other day after reading a Psalm, there was the reminder to praise God upon waking "at midnight".  The Psalm mentioned the psalmist doing that.  So I told myself again to remember to do that--not that I always awaken at a certain time.  But at first awakening tonight, I already forgot.

I always am awakened sometime in the night by my life-long companion and teaching aid:  intractable, physical pain.  Tonight it was 3 a.m. awakening, which is a good hour or "watch" of the night because it reminds me of the hour of mercy which is 3 p.m.  Turning to the daily Scripture readings, the Psalm happened to contain a reminder to praise God.

His Real Presence helps us so much when we desire to improve our spiritual practices...but forget!
Psalm 145: 1-2

I will extol you, my God and King,
   and bless your name for ever and ever.
Every day I will bless you,
   and praise your name for ever and ever. 

This and other Scriptures speak to us personally.  At least I always have taken them into my heart and considered, especially after I was being removed more and more from the world years ago after car accident and earthly spouse left, and surgery results brought disability to continue a career.  

Scripture began to be opened up to me in a most personal way, and I pray the Living Word becomes thus to all of us.  That is one aspect I have learned as a result of the mystical state:  the power of His Real Presence is very much alive and interactive, and desirous of our utmost devotion, in the Scriptures.  

The Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit are in the Word and the Word dwells in us and us in the Living Word:  His Real Presence.

Let us take delight in and receive His grace and love whenever we hear or read or think upon His Real Presence within His Living Word, the Scriptures.

I am praising God in the night, right now, and as the first vestiges of daylight dawns.  I praise Him silently, in my heart that is His Heart, as we dwell in His Real Presence, bound by His Living Word as a Sacrament of praise, within, flowing out.

God bless His Real Presence in us (and us in Him)!