Safe Haven

 You hear people say things all the time like, "Death is a part of life." That's true as far as it goes. The crucial truth, however, is that death is not supposed to be part of life. That's why it's always so shocking, so unwelcome. I've never met a boring person in my life. Even the people who had a skill at being boring were hilariously boring. There is a charm in those who draw a contrast in life, by deliberately not attempting to be interesting. Such a person is his own kind of interesting. I suppose what I mean to say is that people are special, and life is meaningful, even if it's hard. And that we should not get used to death, or even accept it. I'm not advocating reality-denial; I more boldly suggest that we live in a truer reality. If people are unique and unrepeatable, how much more unique and unrepeatable is the God who made us? This is the God who came down, and shared our reality with all its sorrow, even knowing that he would raise up his...

 This is one of those times where we may not know why He even bothers with us. We are commanded, "do not grieve the Holy Spirit," and we often do. But His love is relentless, because the "desire" of God is relentless. The Holy Spirit is the power for us to keep the law of Love. We have no power on our own. We talk a good game about this, but if we really actually believed it, I think we would understand our sins and the struggle against them much more clearly. You cannot grit your teeth, and please God by your own efforts. You can plead with the Holy Spirit. Quoting the poet, Paul said, "in him we live and move and have our being." Something Bishop Barron said once is floating into my brain. Something about the gentleness of God in Providence, that there is no violence or coercion in God's governance of the world. And yet, being the feeblest of all, we have the most trouble being gentle with ourselves. We are indeed proud sometimes, maybe most of the t...