Safe Haven

Well, it's almost here: Easter Vigil. This marks 4 years (liturgically) for me. Wild times. If you are getting ready to come in, try not to barf; you'll be fine, I promise. Jesus brought you here. And are these not His words to you: "I will never leave you, or forsake you"? "He who comes to Me, I will never drive away"? What do you have to fear? No one. Nothing except sin, which is the only thing that separates people from God. Even then, it is an undying force, Love, which pounds relentlessly on our hearts. The most wicked sinners are proof of it, because they hate all that is good, in the end. Do not be like those ones; keep that broken and contrite spirit. You may have a burst of zeal. Good; turn it to prayer as fast as you can. Make a plan. Stick to it; the fire doesn't burn on its own. Please trust me on this. Please. We all love you. Some more than others. Some, in fact, may be the older brother in the parable. Pay no mind, except to love and...

I used to say that I hated Good Friday. I did this because I always struggled when the sacramental presence of Our Lord Jesus left the tabernacle. Ichabod, we might say, "the glory has departed." I no longer feel this, although there is likely a chilly emptiness in all the Latin Rite churches today. All of us carry around those things from life that make it hard for us to relate to God properly. We are wounded. We might instinctively feel that God is abandoning us, as have so many others. Faith teaches otherwise, but only if it's strong enough to give us the strength to disregard feelings when necessary. What am I today? Excited. Because in little more than a day, Karen, and Katie, and so many others will come into full communion with the Church! I won't promise that you won't suffer, because if you love, you will suffer. But you aren't even aware of the magnitude of the nuclear Love explosion that is going to take place. You may be ready, and eager, and a...