in His hand is the soul of every living thing

From the Book of Job, Chapter 12: (KJV)

7 But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee;
and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee:

8 or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee;
and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.

9 Who knoweth not in all these
that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this?

10 in Whose Hand is the soul of every living thing,
and the breath of all mankind.

11 Doth not the ear try words?
and the mouth taste his meat?

12 With the ancient is wisdom;
and in length of days understanding.

13 With [God] is wisdom and strength,
He hath counsel and understanding.

Did you ever stop to notice the crying Earth, these weeping shores?

Today was Earth Day. Though it has very secular origins, I believe it can most certainly be reclaimed for Christ. There is no reason whatever why we as Christians cannot have a special day to remind everyone to take care of our Earthly home, God's beautiful Creation, of which we are a part.


For today, I am sharing with you a song by Michael Jackson, one of my favorites. It's called 'Earth Song,' and is not only about animals and nature - but about that and people, too. It demonstrates how we are all connected - humans, animals, plants, the Earth...

And Michael asks us in the song if we care. Do we care about what's happening all around us? Do we care about the cruelty and injustice? What are we going to do about it? Caring about the animals or the forests isn't "un-Christian"; on the contrary, it is very Christian. If we care about our quality of life and that of our children, grandchildren, etc - then we will care about the planet. Everyone deserves clean water, clean air, forests to explore, animals to love and learn from, fields to play in - as the Celtic Christians saw, there is the Book of Scriptures - the Bible - and the Book of Creation - learning about God through Creation.

Please take the time to watch these. You won't regret it!

Official music video.


One of the best live performances of Earth Song. (please watch, too.)



Lyrics:

What about sunrise?
What about rain?
What about all the things
That you said we were to gain?
What about killing fields
Is there a time?
What about all the things
That you said was yours and mine?

Did you ever stop to notice
All the blood we've shed before?
Did you ever stop to notice
The crying Earth, these weeping shores?

Aaaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaaaaah
Aaaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaaaaah

What have we done to the world?
Look what we've done
What about all the peace
That you pledge your only son?
What about flowering fields
Is there a time?
What about all the dreams
That you said was yours and mine?
Did you ever stop to notice
All the children dead from war?
Did you ever stop to notice
The crying Earth, these weeping shores?

Aaaaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaaaaaah
Aaaaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaaaaaah

I used to dream
I used to glance beyond the stars
Now I don't know where we are
Although I know we've drifted far

Aaaaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaaaaaaah
Aaaaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaaaaaaah

Hey, what about yesterday?
(What about us)
What about the seas?
(What about us)
The heavens are falling down
(What about us)
I can't even breathe
(What about us)
What about the bleeding Earth?
(What about us)
Can't we feel its wounds?
(What about us)
What about nature's worth?
(ooo, ooo)
It's our planet's womb
(What about us)
What about animals?
(What about it)
We've turned kingdoms to dust
(What about us)
What about elephants?
(What about us)
Have we lost their trust?
(What about us)
What about crying whales?
(What about us)
We're ravaging the seas
(What about us)
What about forest trails?
(ooo, ooo)
Burnt despite our pleas
(What about us)
What about the Holy Land?
(What about it)
Torn apart by creed
(What about us)
What about the common man?
(What about us)
Can't we set him free?
(What about us)
What about children dying?
(What about us)
Can't you hear them cry?
(What about us)
Where did we go wrong?
(ooo, ooo)
Someone tell me why?
(What about us)
What about babies?
(What about it)
What about the days?
(What about us)
What about all their joy?
(What about us)
What about the man?
(What about us)
What about the crying man?
(What about us)
What about Abraham?
(What about us)
What about death again?
(ooo, ooo)
Do you give a damn?

Aaaaaaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaaaaaaaah

Aaaaaaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaaaaaaaah

"Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying"

I just read this.

Wow. Now I want to see that movie, since I haven't. Very interesting, very thought-provoking. Do please read it and share your thoughts! :) Excerpt:

But when all was said and done there was no real hope because there was no evidence that the magic worked. The old gods were silent. The priests were impotent. The pyramids and temples and ziggurats had crumbled. Then in the Springtime of the year comes Christ the Tiger. The Lion of Judah arises. The Great Aslan. The radiant, golden-maned beast who rises like the sun, or like a bridegroom emerging from his chamber.

(That line in my title is very Switchfoot-y and Jon-ish, isn't it?) ^_^


**My note to certain readers: our beloved Switchfoot's often-heard cry of truly living today, truly being alive, living in the moment, "Today is all you've got now" is NOT Epicurean. Clearly, the guys are calling us out of a kind of daily lethargy; it is true, after all, that "tomorrow never comes." Live this life to the fullest, for death (and eternal life with it) comes sooner than we think. Live out your faith now, before it's too late. We know they are Christian. There's nothing unChristian about "seizing the day" for Christ. Truly living each day does not = a life of excess. :)

**Note the second: liking pizza or "fine things" also does not mean you are "Epicurean", lol. Fr. only means it with regards to viewing such things as the only end in life, nothing else. Living in excess, living only for those things. That's where the problem is. :P

A power beyond the reach of any magic

I knew I wasn't crazy. I still say that Harry 'saved' my life in 6th grade. Even though eventually, in a weird way, the books became both my healing balm and my poison, overall it was balm more than poison. ^_^

Harry Potter for Fighting Depression

"That which Voldemort does not value, he takes no trouble to comprehend. Of house-elves and children's tales, of love, loyalty, and innocence, Voldemort knows and understands nothing. Nothing. That they all have a power beyond his own, a power beyond the reach of any magic, is a truth he has never grasped.”

~ Albus Dumbledore in The Deathly Hallows

Like a sunset dying with the rising of the moon

Just now I thought I would try to listen to "Gone Too Soon" again. Since normally I just can't listen to it.


Well, I didn't make it past the first verse.

It hurts too much. 10 months it's almost been, yet it hurts too much.


The ache sort of wells up inside me and I feel it in my throat....

and the tears form hot and thick in my eyes, roll down my cheeks....


It just hurts too much.


Memories of June, July come flooding back.


Of images and pictures everywhere, and TV specials, of ugly rumors in the tabloids, and heartbreaking scenes from across the globe.


It just hurts too, too much.


Of candles and prayers and tributes, of flowers and teddy bears....of tears and smiles, dancing and singing, arm-in-arm.....

Of 3 little children on a stage, fighting back tears...

Oh, God!


How it hurts.


My heart breaks and bleeds once more.


And I realize that....this will never go away. Not really.


What have we lost? Oh, oh, oh................


It hurts too much.


And so with tear-streaked face I write -

Like a comet blazing 'cross the evening sky

Gone too soon




I love you, Michael. The world misses you. <3

Upon this Rock...

This is so refreshing and lovely after being assaulted with lies and vitriol about our dear Holy Father.

Papa Benedetto, we love you and are praying for you!

Rambling on forever when I should be asleep

Basically, I have only one month of school left. Just one month left of my freshman year of college.

Where the freaking HECK did the year go???????

On one hand, yes, time does feel like it has passed. In a normal fashion.

On the other hand, I feel like I blinked around last July or so and it's now April of the following year.

Excuse me??

sigh.

This is a post for another day, this about time, the passage of time, the rushing around of our post-modern existence (I'm tired of just existing, too), this blinking and literally hours passing.....

what has happened to us? I feel so crazy and un-whole and fragmented. And quite honestly, the one thing that seems to cause, in part, at least, this 'phenomenon', is modern technology.

Anytime I distance myself from the internet, etc, suddenly time slows down.

I feel more alive.

And yet how greatly God has blessed me through the internet! And technology....

sigh. What do You want me to do?

Yes, I know, moderation in all things....

Except perhaps love. One can never love too much.

We've all got a disease
Deficiency of love


Anyway, check this blog out, it's one of my favourites. I love it. :)



Maybe this summer I will write more proper blogs. I don't know. Maybe this summer I will take long extended breaks from being online, and (weather permitting, I hate excessive heat and also sunburn ridiculously quickly) spend more time out in our garden, building up my long-neglected herb garden, start a Mary garden with ma Maman ....

Sew again...if I can remember how, lol, read more books more often, write more physical letters,

spend more time with friends in the flesh,

cook and bake again,


master Thriller for the fall (I will do it! I know I can, I almost did in October) :D


I want to feel more connected to God and the Cosmos again.


I hate feeling sick inside. Like this. Perpetually fatigued. The weight of the world on my small shoulders. I am no Atlas.

I am not Christ, Who bore that weight already so I don't have to, through His Cross. So none of us have to.


Daisy, let it go
Open up your fist
This fallen world
It doesn't hold your interest
It doesn't hold your soul
Daisy, let it go


Pray for me, any and all who read this. I will keep you on my heart and in my prayers, too.


Ad Jesum per Mariam....


and why does my heart hurt like this? What is this strange, nameless pain? Humanity

Wounded and bleeding


I want to wake up kicking and screaming
I want to know that my heart is still beating
beating
beating
I'm bleeding...



O Jesus, King of Love, I put my trust in thy loving mercy.


Build up trust in me, Lord. Please, grant me this grace.


I've been listening to a band a little bit lately that I haven't much listened to since the summer of 2008.

That was a weird summer.

And feeling those feelings again is weird.

And how epically inadequate are those words to describe it? -___-


I was ... depressed .. that summer.

I saw the world through a bizarrely clear lens. A lens, a prism that clarified some things and horribly distorted others.

The ache was raw and suffocating. Just there. All the time. Sort of dull and sharp at the same time.


I feel weird now. Actually, the word I want to use is queer, as it is the only English word that really fits the feel I mean. Peculiar, strange, bizarre, odd, weird, and so forth don't cut it, and that word has been stolen from me, and I have not been given an adequate replacement.

sigh again.






"How happy I am to see myself imperfect and be in need of God’s mercy."

~ St. Thérèse of Lisieux



And so I end this rambly, sleep-deprived, semi-depressed, stressed-out state-of-mind-written post.

To repeat in each of us

Christ Himself vouchsafes to repeat in each of us in figure and mystery all that He did and suffered in the flesh. He is formed in us, born in us, suffers in us, rises again in us, lives in us; and this not by a succession of events, but all at once: for He comes to us as a Spirit, all dying, all rising again, all living. We are ever receiving our birth, our justification, our renewal, ever dying to sin, ever rising to righteousness.

John Henry Cardinal Newman, From the sermon ‘Righteousness not of us, but in us’ (1840) Click here for the full text

He is risen from the dead!

I got this in my inbox this Easter morn, I pray you let me share it with you. :) Easter joy and blessings upon you all! Remember, Eastertide is 50 whole days, so don't stop the celebrating just yet. ^_^

Let us never forget that in proportion as our love is “rooted and grounded” in the next world, our faith must branch forth like a fruitful tree into this. The calmer our hearts, the more active be our lives; the more tranquil we are, the more busy; the more resigned, the more zealous; the more unruffled, the more fervent. This is one of the many paradoxes in the world’s judgment of him, which the Christian realizes in himself. Christ is risen; He is risen from the dead. We may well cry out, "Alleluia, the Lord Omnipotent reigneth." He has crushed all the power of the enemy under His feet. He has gone upon the lion and the adder. He has stopped the lion’s mouth for us His people, and has bruised the serpent’s head. There is nothing impossible to us now, if we do but enter into the fulness of our privileges, the wondrous power of our gifts. The thing cannot be named in heaven or earth within the limits of truth and obedience which we cannot do through Christ; the petition cannot be named which may not be accorded to us for His Name’s sake. For, we who have risen with Him from the grave, stand in His might, and are allowed to use His weapons. His infinite influence with the Father is ours,—not always to use, for perhaps in this or that effort we make, or petition we prefer, it would not be good for us; but so far ours, so fully ours, that when we ask and do things according to His will, we are really possessed of a power with God, and do prevail:—so that little as we may know when and when not, we are continually possessed of heavenly weapons, we are continually touching the springs of the most wonderful providences in heaven and earth; and by the Name, and the Sign, and the Blood of the Son of God, we are able to make devils tremble and Saints rejoice.

Such are the arms which faith uses, small in appearance, yet “not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds;” [2 Cor. 10:4] despised by the world, what seems a mere word, or a mere symbol, or mere bread and wine; but God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the mighty, and foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and as all things spring from small beginnings, from seeds and elements invisible or insignificant, so when God would renew the race of man, and reverse the course of human life and earthly affairs, He chose cheap things for the rudiments of His work, and bade us believe that He could work through them, and He would do so. As then we Christians discern in Him, when He came on earth, not the carpenter’s son, but the Eternal Word Incarnate, as we see beauty in Him in whom the world saw no form or comeliness, as we discern in that death an Atonement for sin in which the world saw nothing but a malefactor’s sentence; so let us believe with full persuasion that all that He has bequeathed to us has power from Him. Let us accept His Ordinances, and His Creed, and His precepts; and let us stand upright with an undaunted faith, resolute, with faces like flint, to serve Him in and through them; to inflict them upon the world without misgiving, without wavering, without anxiety; being sure that He who saved us from hell through a Body of flesh which the world insulted, tortured, and triumphed over, much more can now apply the benefits of His passion through Ordinances which the world has lacerated and now mocks.

~ John Henry Cardinal Newman, from the sermon ‘Keeping Fast and Festival’ (1838) Click here to see the full text

That I may grieve with you

Pietà, by Franz von Stuck

O Mother, fountain of love,
make me feel the power of sorrow,
that I may grieve with you.

Grant that my heart may burn
in the love of the Lord Christ
that I may greatly please Him.

Holy Mother, grant this of yours,
that the wounds of the Crucified be well-formed
in my heart.

Grant that the punishment of your wounded Son,
so worthily suffered for me,
may be shared with me.

Let me sincerely weep with you,
bemoan the Crucified,
for as long as I live.

To stand beside the Cross with you,
and for me to join you
in mourning, this I desire.

When my body dies,
grant that to my soul is given
the glory of paradise. Amen.

~ from here.

A great silence and stillness

The Harrowing of Hell by Fra Angelico, c. 1437-1446

A homily for Holy Saturday, Bishop Melito of Sardis, 2nd century.


Something strange is happening – there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear.

He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he who is both God and the son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him the victory.

At the sight of him Adam, the first man he had created, struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone: "My Lord be with you all." Christ answered him: "And with your spirit." He took him by the hand and raised him up, saying: "Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light."

"I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. Out of love for you and for your descendants I now by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to come forth, all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell.

"Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we form only one person and we cannot be separated.

"For your sake I, your God, became your son; I, the Lord, took the form of a slave; I, whose home is above the heavens, descended to the earth and beneath the earth. For your sake, for the sake of man, I became like a man without help, free among the dead. For the sake of you, who left a garden, I was betrayed to in a garden, and I was crucified in a garden.

'See on my face the spittle I received in order to restore to you the life I once breathed into you. See there the marks of the blows I received in order to refashion your warped nature in my image. On my back see the marks of the scourging I endured to remove the burden of sin that weighs upon your back. See my hands, nailed firmly to a tree, for you who once wickedly stretched out your hand to a tree.

"I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side for you who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side has healed the pain in yours. My sleep will rouse you from your sleep in hell. The sword that pierced me has sheathed the sword that was turned against you.

'Rise, let us leave this place. The enemy led you out of the earthly paradise. I will not restore you to that paradise, but I will enthrone you in heaven. I forbade you the tree that was only a symbol of life, but see, I who am life itself am now one with you. I appointed cherubim to guard you as slaves are guarded, but now I make them worship you as God.

"The throne formed by cherubim awaits you, its bearers swift and eager. The bridal chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open. The kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity".

Shrouded in tears

Do please read this, I found it especially good. :)

Excerpt:

So what does a “jeweled cross” indicate? It means that the suffering we endure for love has value—and even more so when joined to the salvific work of Christ. His is the cross that gives merit to our pain, and he is the one who shows what love can accomplish.

While we meditate on this truth in Lent, every tragedy, such as the loss of a child, can become its own Lent—of seeming endless duration. Its Easter mysteries may be shrouded in tears, and the victory of love over death may be clouded by the very ache of such love so tinged with fresh sorrow. That is entirely understandable...

All creation wept

BEHOLD I shall tell of a most marvelous dream---what I dreamed at midnight, when men and their voices were at rest. It seemed to me that I saw a tree, more wonderful than any other, reach high aloft, bathed in light, brightest of wood. All that beacon was covered with gold. Four gems were set where it met the earth, and five more stood on it high about the crosspiece. There looked upon it many host of angels, fair in the form God gave them of old.

This was surely no felon’s gallows, for holy spirits beheld it, men upon earth, and all this glorious creation. Wonderful was the triumphant tree, and I stained with sin, wounded with wrongdoing. I saw the tree of wonder, adorned with clothes, shine brilliantly, decked with gold; splendidly had jewels covered the Lord’s tree. But through that gold I might see wretches’ ancient agony, for now it began to bleed upon the right side. I was sadly troubled, afraid of that fair sight. I saw that beacon, changeable, alter in clothes and in color: now was it wet with moisture, drenched with blood’s flowing, now adorned with treasure. But I lay there a long while looking upon the Saviour’s tree, troubled in mind, until I heard it give voice; the noblest of trees began to speak.

“It was long ago---still I remember it---that I was hewn down at the wood’s edge, taken from my stump. Fierce foes seized me, shaped me into the spectacle that they wished, bade me lift their felons. Men carried me on their shoulders to a hill where they set me down; foes enough fasted me there. Then I saw the Master of Mankind listen with all His heart because He wished to climb upon me. I did not dare against God’s word bow or break, though I saw earth’s surface tremble. All foeman I might have felled, but I stood fast. The young Hero stripped Himself---He who was God almighty---strong and stouthearted. He climbed upon the high gallows, valiant, in the sight of many, for He would redeem mankind. I shook when the Warrior embraced me, yet I dared not bow to earth, fall to the ground’s surface: I must stand fast. A cross was I raised; I lifted up the Might King, Lord of the Heavens; I dared not bend. They pierced me with dark nails---on me are the wounds seen, open hateful gashes. Nor did I dare do harm to any of them. They mocked us both together. I was all wet with blood shed from the sides of that Man by the time that He had sent forth His spirit. Many bitter things I had endured on the hill. I saw the God of Hosts cruelly racked. Darkness had covered with its mists the Ruler’s body, the bright splendor. Shadow came forth, dark under the clouds. All creation wept, bewailed, the King’s fall: Christ was on Cross.

“Yet from afar, ready and willing, there came some to the Lord . I saw all this. Sore was I troubled, yet I bent to the hands of the men, with all my heart humble. They took Almighty God, lifted Him from His great torment. The warriors let me stand, stained with blood. I was all wounded with arrows. They laid Him down, limb-weary, stood at His body’s head, gazed upon Heaven’s Lord; and He rested Him there a while, exhausted after the great struggle. In the sight of His slayer warriors began to build Him an earth-home, carved it out of bright stone, set therein the Wielder of Triumphs. Then they began to sing for Him a song of lament, sad in the evening. Then would they depart, tired, from the great Lord. He rested with small host; yet we stood in our places a good while, weeping. The song of the men rose up. The body grew cold, the spirit’s fair dwelling. Then they began to fell us to the earth---that was a fearful fate. They buried us in a deep pit. Yet thanes of the Lord, friends, hear of me there . . . decked me with gold and silver.

“Thou might now understand, man beloved of me, that I had endured suffering of evils, of grievous sorrows. Now is the happy time come that far and wide men upon earth adore me, and all this glorious creation prays to this beacon. On me the Son of God suffered for awhile; therefore now I tower glorious under the heavens, and I may heal every one of those that hold me in awe. Once I was made the hardest of torments, most loathsome to men, before I made open the true road to life for all who have voices. Lo, the Lord of Glory honoured me above all the trees of the wood, the Ruler of Heaven, just as his Mother also, Mary herself, Almighty God for the sake of all men honoured above all woman’s kind.

“Now I bid thee, man beloved of me, that thou tell this vision to men. Reveal with thy words that it is the tree of glory on which Almighty God suffered for mankind’s many sins and for the deeds done by Adam long ago. Death He tasted there; yet the Lord rose again in His great might to help mankind. Then He ascended into Heaven; but He will come again hither to seek mankind on doomsday, the Lord Himself. Almighty God, and His angels with Him, that at that time He who has the power to judge may judge each one as in this transitory life he deserves. Nor may any be unafraid of the word that the Ruler will speak. Before His multitude He will ask where the man is who in the name of the Lord would taste bitter death as He did on the Cross. But then they will be afraid and will little know what they may begin to answer to Christ. Yet there need not any be afraid who bears on his breast the best of beacons. For through the Cross shall every soul who thinks to dwell with the Lord seek His kingdom in his earthly journey.

Then blithe-hearted, confident, I prayed to the Cross, there where I was alone, without company. My heart was drawn away from earth’s paths. Often I endured weariness of spirit. Now is there hope of life, that I may seek the tree of triumph, honour it more often than other men, since I am alone. Great is the desire of my heart of the Cross, and my hope of protection rest in it. I have not many powerful friends on earth, for they have gone from the joys of the world, sought for themselves the King of Glory; now they live in Heaven with High Father, dwell in glory. And every day I expect the time when the Lord’s Cross that I beheld here on earth shall fetch me in this transitory life and bring me where bliss is great, joy in Heaven, where the Lord’s folk are set at the feast, where bliss is eternal. And may it place me where I may thereafter dwell in glory, enjoy with the saints their delight. May the Lord be my friend, who here on earth suffered for man’s sins on the gallows tree. He redeemed us and granted us life, a heavenly home. Hope was restored, with glory and bliss, to those who suffered in fire . The Son was victorious in that foray, mighty and successful. Then He came with many, a host of spirits, into God’s kingdom, the All-Powerful Ruler, and the angels and all the saints who then dwelt in Heaven rejoiced when their Ruler, Almighty God, came where His home was.



~ The Dream of the Rood, 7th (?) century, Anglo-Saxon