Prayer is not selfish! Whenever I stop and try to pray, I enter into my own heart. But also in some mysterious way I touch the lives of all who yearn for goodness and truth, and who lift up their hearts in prayer as I do. Through my prayer and theirs, the wide expanse of the world is lifted up before God. Some people’s whole lives are spent in this way – for instance, the Carthusian contemplatives portrayed in the 2005 film, Into Great Silence. These ordinary people who have been called to silence and prayer are devoted day and night to the mystery of the living God, and continually raise up the world and its needs before Him.
We each have our part in that great panorama of prayer - for when we stop to pray in the midst of our practical concerns, we enter the Sacred Space domain and are joined to a multitude of praying hearts across the world. In the film the text from Jeremiah 20:7 appears from time to time: ‘You have seduced me, Lord, and I have let myself be seduced’.Such strong language has a particular meaning when applied to the extraordinary location of a Carthusian monk.  But the words can also be applied to myself. When I feel drawn into quiet and prayer, I am being ‘seduced’ by God! Coming before Him, as best I can, with all my poor heart, the whole world and its needs are present as well.

Micah 5:2

Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

The Lord Jesus had goings forth for His people as their representative before the throne, long before they appeared upon the stage of time. It was "from everlasting" that He signed the compact with His Father, that He would pay blood for blood, suffering for suffering, agony for agony, and death for death, in the behalf of His people; it was "from everlasting" that He gave Himself up without a murmuring word. That from the crown of His head to the sole of His foot He might sweat great drops of blood, that He might be spit upon, pierced, mocked, rent asunder, and crushed beneath the pains of death. His goings forth as our Surety were from everlasting. Pause, my soul, and wonder! Thou hast goings forth in the person of Jesus "from everlasting." Not only when thou wast born into the world did Christ love thee, but His delights were with the sons of men before there were any sons of men. Often did He think of them; from everlasting to everlasting He had set His affection upon them. What! my soul, has He been so long about thy salvation, and will not He accomplish it? Has he from everlasting been going forth to save me, and will He lose me now? What! has He carried me in His hand, as His precious jewel, and will He now let me slip from between His fingers? Did he choose me before the mountains were brought forth, or the channels of the deep were digged, and will He reject me now? Impossible! I am sure He would not have loved me so long if He had not been a changeless Lover. If He could grow weary of me, He would have been tired of me long before now. If He had not loved me with a love as deep as hell, and as strong as death, He would have turned from me long ago. Oh, joy above all joys, to know that I am His everlasting and inalienable inheritance, given to Him by His Father or ever the earth was! Everlasting love shall be the pillow for my head this night.

The early Christians searched for a word that would express their bondedness with Jesus and with one another. They settled on the word koinonia. It means fellowship or community, and it connotes respect, equality, inclusion and bondedness. Koinonia describes the community established through the work of Jesus. This community is founded in the three divine Persons, and includes each one of us and our neighbour. Because it is founded in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, this community will last eternally. Because it is open to every human being, it offers a vision of universal reconciliation. This community took on visible form 2,000 years ago, in the shape of the Christian Church. It has had an extraordinary history, sometimes glorious, sometimes shocking and disgraceful. However imperfect it is, it is the divine solution, already operating in our world, to the mutual mistrust and dislike that lead to the fragmentation of human community when left to itself.

Images of the life to come must be carefully presented. Older images - of death, purgatory, hell, limbo – depicted God as a merciless judge who demands full payment for our wrongdoings. How can we portray more accurately the truth about God’s limitless love for us? read more...

Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman reminds us that the human mind can do no better than to work with shadows and images until it finally emerges into the full light of truth. ’We see now only dimly as in a mirror’ (1 Cor 13:12). So let’s concede the basic inadequacy of human thought and language to express the mind of God. St Thomas Aquinas, who wrote a million words on things divine, said that we merely stammer in speaking of God, and that what he had written was straw. All images of God must fall short, but they are all we have, so we must use them well. We need not despair of trying to say something helpful about God and the world to come.
Let us take heart from Vatican Two’s image of the pilgrim Church. Pilgrims edge along difficult paths, using all available helps to arrive at their destination. At crossroads they discuss the path that seems most promising, and they turn back if it fails them. A French theologian uses the image of swimming: with each stroke you push a volume of water behind you as you move toward your objective. You move beyond it, but without that water you would never get there. Good images hint at the real thing: they orient us in the right direction. There is a Zen saying about a farmer pointing to the moon with a carrot. It was the best he could do to get others to see this wondrous reality! As we approach the world of divine mystery an amber light glows: it does not forbid entry but warns us: ‘Proceed with caution!

"Strong Tower ".

When I wander through the desert
And I'm longing for my home
All my dreams have gone astray
When I'm stranded in the valley
And I'm tired and all alone
It seems like I've lost my way


I go running to your mountain
Where your mercy sets me free


[chorus]
You are my strong tower
Shelter over me
Beautiful and mighty
Everlasting King
You are my strong tower
Fortress when I'm weak
Your name is true and holy
And Your face is all I seek


In the middle of my darkness
In the midst of all my fear
You're my refuge and my hope
When the storm of life is raging
And the thunder's all I hear
You speak softly to my soul

Ronald Regan On Religion-A Man Of Faith

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=OvN1jTkzXbY

In hard times, it is important to remember that God has a springtime in
store for us and for our tired world. God will make everything new. Beyond all
our shattered hopes and dreams, something wonderful and transformative will
make us forget the tears and pain and drudgery of life. Have we any hint of
what this might be like?

Some years ago, a magic moment transformed a dull day in the Concourse of
the Train Station in Antwerp. The travellers were all going their own way at
the time, busy about their affairs. Some were happy, others sad, or serious, or
worried or relaxed. Suddenly a song from The
Sound of Music fills the Concourse. Actors in ordinary clothes begin to
dance. The onlookers can’t tell actors from spectators, so people stop what
they’re busy about and get in on the act themselves. Children get in first on
the dance, then adults who have the hearts of children. People are drawn out of
themselves by the fun of it all. Some hold their hands to their mouths in
delighted awe, others begin to cry for joy. Eventually the Concourse is full of
dancers. There’s space for everyone, whether they’re coordinated for dancing or
not. Nobody’s looking critically at how you perform your arthritic jig or that
you wave your crutch. The outer circle is littered with bags and coats which
people have shed in order to dance freely. Maybe the coat and the bag will be stolen,
but who cares? Only a few onlookers hold back, but even they are intrigued, and
others coax them in. Cameras flash so that this ecstatic moment can be recalled
and passed on to friends. Laughter and tears of joy mingle with regret when the
music ends.

Will God’s springtime break in on our unsuspecting world somewhat like
that, and happily last forever?