Good Friday - Gazing Upon The Face of Christ

It is only with much perseverance and undeserved grace that our meditation and contemplation will bear fruit - fruit which we should share with those around us. On those occasions when we are so blessed, most of us will resort to sharing our experience with written or spoken words.

A rare few who ponder persistently the mysteries of our Faith and the life of our Savior Jesus Christ, and who have been blessed with artistic gifts, will receive a greater grace - the ability to share the fruits of their meditation and contemplation through the creation of penetrating, piercing, and powerful images of He Whom they have contemplated.

Take time this Good Friday (and from time to time thereafter) to gaze upon and ponder the drawing posted below. Let your eyes, heart, mind and soul take in every painstakingly created feature of this compelling representation of our Lord.

Ponder the depth of God's love for you as He suffered such a savage, barbaric and painful death in order that we might all have an opportunity of spending eternity in His loving arms. Are you satisfied with how you have loved Him in return?

No doubt the creator of this sketch - a man who spent time in prison - meditated and contemplated much before he put lead pencil to a blank sheet of copy paper. This visual gift - the fruit of this soul's contemplation - has remained in my home office for many years.  Others deserve to see it. May God use it to touch and stir the hearts and souls of all who visit here as He had so obviously penetrated that of the artist.

May the image's creator be comforted and encouraged this day knowing that God will use the fruit of his contemplation to draw others to Him. 

We owe this gifted artist our gratitude and unending prayerful support.

Our Priests, The Eucharist and The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

[What follows is a post from March 28, 2013]

When Jesus told His followers that unless they ate His Body and drank His Blood, they could not have eternal life, large numbers left and never returned. Their initial repulsion to this direction was understandable: who would want to eat the flesh and drink the blood of another living human being?

Yet, many had come to believe that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah. They had either heard of or actually witnessed countless miracles evidencing His Divine nature.  Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Why did they not realize that He would never ask the impossible of them or fail to provide them the means with which to fulfill His command?

His apostles had no greater understanding of, or fondness, for what Jesus was commanding them to do. But when Jesus asked them if they too would leave, Peter, answering for himself and for the other apostles save for Judas, replied: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

So they stepped out in faith, accepting this “difficult” teaching without fully understanding it. Their faith was rewarded at the Last Supper when Jesus, using the basic elements of a common meal - bread and wine – transformed the substance (but not the outward appearance of those items), into His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, gave them to His apostles to eat and to drink, and empowered His newly ordained priests and their legitimate successors to do likewise.  This world has never been the same.

Worth Revisiting - He Is Alive and Waiting For You!

We thank Allison Gingras at Reconciled To You  and Elizabeth Riordan at Theology Is A Verb  once again for  hosting Catholic bloggers at Worth Revisiting.

 

It is a privilege for us to share our work with them and their readers each week. Stop by for a visit now. 

 

This is my contribution:

 

He Is Alive and Waiting For You 

 (Originally posted on April 23, 2011)

 

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Our Churches will be packed this Easter Sunday, filled by an influx of infrequent visitors and with the pungent fragrances flowing from the multi-colored spring flowers that will surround our altars and fill our sanctuaries. How pleased Our Lord will be to see so many there. How hopeful He is that all will return.

The songs we sing, the Scripture readings we proclaim and the homily we hear will remind us that Jesus died and rose from the dead, so that we too would have an opportunity for eternal life – a priceless gift which we have done nothing to deserve but which we can too easily forfeit.

Our Risen Lord is alive! And He desires much more than your weekly attendance at Mass. He hungers to have a personal, life-changing relationship with you. How will you respond to His invitation? Hopefully, the same way “Charlie” did.

Eucharistic Reflection - He Returns Our Gaze

"During Eucharistic Adoration, it is not only we who behold Christ, but it is also He who beholds us. When we adore the Blessed Sacrament, we are not just gazing at a beautiful but inert object. The contemplative mode of prayer that we learn during adoration presupposes that Christ returns our gaze."

Archbishop Joseph A. Di Noia, O.P.

Worth Revisiting - Come Let Us Adore Him

Thank you Allison Gingras at Reconciled To You  and Elizabeth Riordan at Theology Is A Verb  for  hosting Catholic bloggers at Worth Revisiting.

 

It is a privilege for us to share our work with you and your readers each week. Stop by for a visit now.

[We must quench our Lord's thirst to be loved by those for whom He gave His life.]

Come Let Us Adore Him - Stirring Slumbering Souls

(Originally published December 18, 2017)

The greatest invitation ever extended to mankind – Come Let Us Adore Him - will be sung throughout our Catholic Churches this Christmas. As well it should. But that summons was never intended to be limited to Advent. Indeed, for more than 2000 years our Lord has pleaded with His people to spend one hour with Him. For centuries He has waited...and waited…and waited. 

Few have ever stopped by for a visit. Many no longer believe He is really and substantially present in the Sacred Eucharist. For all practical purposes, He is abandoned, ignored and disrespected.

Feel His pain and anguish over being abandoned, ignored and treated irreverently. Understand how thirsty He is for your love. Then love and treat Him as He deserves. We just have to love God enough to gift our presence to Him. Could there be any better time than now to do so?

Eucharistic Reflection - Do Not Be Discouraged

"Permit me to confide in you especially the ministry of Eucharistic adoration. I ask you to remain faithful, humble and patient, even if there is no encouragement given from those around you. Many have lost the sense of Eucharistic adoration, even among the priests, consecrated persons and theologians. 

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Do not be discouraged by negative comments or disobliging remarks that could demobilize you. Keep your faith alive in the Resurrected Christ who is truly present with His Body and Blood. Continue to witness the love of the Church that kneels before her Lord and who rests at His feet, as Mary of Bethany did, to listen long and to adore in silence."

Cardinal Marc Quellet