the spectrum heart cathedral system

 

Mass day!
Cemetery stop
CAR SINGING
Fulton Sheen

Evening = panic attacks now happen at 5pm, haha. So it IS tied directly to the twilight.

Bulletin reading = SJE IS GETTING AN ADORATION CHAPEL????? OH MY WORD THIS IS AMAZING

PHONE BACKUP NIGHT
Music & prayers
GENESIS SINGING CODY FRY!!

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VOTD = We are meant to literally CARRY CHRIST TO OTHERS, like Mary, not just through our calling as Christians but also as PARTAKERS OF THE EUCHARIST.
We must live this out in simple, ordinary, everyday ways, just as CHRIST did during His Incarnation.
Examples given: saying hello and smiling, looking people in the eyes, genuinely asking how people are doing, asking "CAN I PRAY FOR YOU." No cowardly "pretending we're not religious"!! BOLDLY testifying to our faith in little ways, in ALL situations. But CARRYING IS ACTIVE. We must BRING CHRIST INTO OUR LIFE SITUATIONS, especially if He wouldn't "be there" otherwise!!! We are the "light of the world" ONLY AS AMBASSADORS, because the TRUE & ONLY LIGHT has sent us to REPRESENT HIM and to shine HIS LIGHT which He gives us in the Sacraments, by grace through prayer, etc.!!
But we must specially focus on the Eucharist, because that makes our "carrying" and "being light" LITERAL.
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The reflection =
"Picture it: a big city with tall buildings, a hilltop village surrounded by vibrant farms, an oceanside community on top of a giant bluff. Cities are impressive on their own, but they're undeniably radiant when they're high upon a hill. And, they're extra brilliant when they're saturated with light."
Laurie immediately commenting "that's how we need to rebuild our city."
We really do. It's crucial, critical. It's a literal crisis point. We HAVEN'T rebuilt SINCE 2018. We're existing in literal tatters of floating space currently, and have been for a while-- just scraps of memory loosely shaped into a room, with no anchor or foundational space; no city to speak of, just bleached ruins.
The color realms still exist but they feel like a game screen on pause? Like there's life there but it's on hold. Still, it's an expectant hold. There's a tangible "knowing it won't last forever" and vibrant living color will return soon enough.
But Laurie made the key point. We need to ACTIVELY REBUILD. No passive waiting for something to happen. We GET TO WORK, and we work FOR GOD ALONE. We use HIS blueprints. We set HIS cornerstone. And we have to build on top of a hill... which, I daresay, must be Calvary.
We miss the blood and warfare of our past. We need it. The problem is, we had it in the wrong way. We need Blood given as a compassionate sacrifice, to save the dying. We need Blood shed in the fight for Love and Justice-- we need warfare fought in defense of God and His Truth. We need our heart to be RED again, red with blood and life and love, as red as dawn, as red as roses.
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More from the reflection =
"We're chosen to represent God here on earth. We can’t do anything to earn this honor and responsibility of being a Light-reflector. It’s a title that’s given to us, not earned. Don't hide it. God’s light shines brightly when we're truly following Him; it is obvious and undeniable. But the purpose of carrying this light isn’t to draw attention to ourselves but to compel others to worship God."
Oh man this absolutely destroys false humility, just like the parable of the talents. Good; that message is always worth repeating.
Remember that God is Sovereign. "Thy Will be done." So what nerve do we have to passively refuse His Will when we tepidly fail to do what He CALLS and EQUIPS and TELLS us to do??
Of course we must never respond in pride, like we have "earned" such a calling, because the instant we feel that way we WILL have forfeited it.
The reading from None (2 Tim 1:9) actually fits into this perfectly, go figure=
"‭God has saved us. He has chosen us to live a holy life. It wasn’t because of anything we have done. It was because of His own purpose and grace. Through Christ Jesus, God gave us this grace even before time began."
Another translation =
"‭For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was His plan from before the beginning of time— to show us His grace through Christ Jesus."
With THIS proper perspective, we cannot be proud or falsely humble. This awareness makes us respond in purely joyful obedience. Of course I don't deserve to be chosen; but that very choosing of me anyway only glorifies God's Mercy all the more! THEREFORE I meekly accept the calling, and BY GRACE I can and will do what He has called me TO do... which is to BRING HIS LIGHT TO OTHERS. You cannot do that if you keep throwing a self-pity party over your "unworthiness," because those gloomy clouds will block out all the sunlight! Do you get the picture? We can only "be the light of the world" by abandoning all human notions of "deserving" or "earning" and just obeying with love.
That is what finally brings us to the next bit: DON'T HIDE IT. To deny such a calling is an act of PRIDE, done out of "fear of shame" or ridicule. It means you haven't embraced the calling as a gift-- as a divine charge for exalting your FATHER'S holy reputation! It's not about your ego!
Honestly this all proves that without a childlike heart, we CANNOT be lights to the world.
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Paraphrasing & adding to the prayer=
"When we live as God's servants and let Him inspire every thought, word, and action we have, His Light shines unhindered through us to illuminate the darkness of our world, drawing people to Him by our witness."
Again, this is how the System has to function as a united whole.
We've always had "light" as a key part of our soul, and this is why-- God has been calling us to this fulfillment of that predisposition.
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KVOTD = Acts 2:42-44. the importance of BOTH "daily holy habits" to "get to know God better" AND fellowship with other believers for that same purpose???
"Continual devotion," "giving their full attention to teaching the Gospel," "eating and praying together," etc. Emphasis on CONSISTENT & LOYAL REPETITION. We must specifically and consciously take time each day to pray, talk to God, sing hymns, learn about God's Character, etc.
That's all solid advice but I am so stunned by the inclusion of FELLOWSHIP. It's the injunction to do such daily holy habits TOGETHER.
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The verse makes a point that this fellowship BLESSED them, so much that MIRACLES were being worked through them AS A COMMUNITY OF BELIEVERS. Alone they would never have obtained such grace, and understandably not-- because the BODY OF CHRIST IS NOW THE CHURCH.
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"The more time we take each day to spend time with God, continually, the more we'll experience Him in our lives."

And dude THIS actually ties in with the Basilica's homily today!!
https://www.youtube.com/live/cSj7uruWtZY?si=5B9CHi6gqEI96JjA
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Starting the Expositor's Commentary today.
I really love these; they're more like sermons, and they're truly inspiring.

"They did not want to exclude Jesus, but they wanted to see someone else. So they went for a double motive. [They had] Mixed Motives: [acting] not for one reason, but for another reason, and for a third reason that may not take upon itself the form of words-- that other reason that always lies back of everything, that will not come to the front, that influences the whole intellectual and spiritual movement, and is yet an unconfessed or unavowed reason. Then what wonder that we should be the subjects of mixed motives in relation to the Christian religion, when we act under mixed motives [within] all the spheres and aspects of human development... We are in this respect as in others, wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. We dare not analyse our own motives; we sometimes, so to speak, slur them over, encouraging, it may be, the best of them, but still being profoundly conscious of the worst of them."
And therefore this is absolutely a necessary topic for System investigation & discussion.
1) The "one reason" is the professed reason, the apparently primary motive or goal, the evident & communicable reason. It is normal, proper, socially acceptable. But "another reason" is something more private & personal, for good or ill, that motivates us just as strongly-- maybe even moreso, secretly-- and which we will not disclose outright. "They wanted to see Lazarus." In a paradox, this "another reason" becomes our "main reason," despite being suppressed or even denied.
HOWEVER. THERE'S A THIRD ONE. And that's where the System needs to talk. After all, what is it that made them want to see Lazarus moreso than Jesus? What is that deeper, even visceral motive or desire, that definitive want or wish, that root of all your reasoning, that drives you onwards despite all the details? What general goal transcends all the particulars? What is it that you're REALLY looking for?
2) Those "third motives" I fear really are wounds, bruises and sores. What other kind of motive would hide so darkly, if not something so painful?
Note the differences too.
A bruise is an impact wound, an internal bleeding, that makes movement difficult and touch painful.
A sore is an inflammation, an unnatural irritation... putrefaction means it is already rotting alive.
A wound is a violent breaking-into, a breach of security and wholeness, a cutting or piercing or tearing, and it leaves you vulnerable and forced-open. You bleed.
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"[See] how merciful God is in taking us at our best. For example, in making a Christian profession we do not always make it 'for Jesus' sake only'. There are many reasons why some men attach themselves to the Church. A man may be in the Church and out of it at the same time; the soul may be far away from the very altar at which the knees are bent. We are here today, as on every other day, under the influence of divers feelings, mixed feelings, and God knows where the manhood is weakest and where it is strongest. Throw yourselves into the hands of God, and even your imperfect prayers and professions may be completed according to the scale of God's benevolence."
The basic consolation here seems to be, "even if your motives are mixed, Jesus is still one of those motives, and He has brought you to His religion and His Church. Even if you are torn and distracted, you have come to worship Him. Despite your human weakness and folly, you still come to kneel at God's altar. And even if your prayers are distracted and dry, even rushed or compulsory, you are still choosing to pray anyway. God sees your smoking flax and He will not quench it; indeed, in His gracious mercy, He may even stoke it into a leaping flame. So don't quit. Don't ever give up. Do not despair. However mixed your motives may still be, let them nevertheless lead you to God. He will meet you in the way, and your heart will be changed at last."


"My dear brother, engaged in any department of Christian service, preaching, or music, or visiting, or writing books, or doing anything whatsoever, take heart of grace in this thought, that God knows all about [your wounded motives]. It is better to fall into the hands of God than into the hands of men. When you hear the voices of hostile criticism, do not be too much cast down by it; there is another voice-- God grant that we may hear it!-- saying, "well done so far; try again, you have not yet attained, but keep on pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ; though you are faint, yet be pursuing, and though there may steal in upon your most spiritual moments some secular anxieties and degradations, leave all to God, and He will be just, gracious, and tender exceedingly."
This means a great deal to me.
1) Remember this is still under the general sermon topic of ambivalence of heart-- of "wounded motives," especially in tragic regard to Christian service.
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2) GOD DOESN'T SPEAK HOSTILE CRITICISM.
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3) That "other voice" is SO merciful i can barely believe it. Could God really be that kind? That's not a sin?
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"What is it that those whom we know, among the poor, quite as much as among the educated, who clearly see Jesus, what is it which has enabled them to see? ...an immense belief in the Holy Ghost. They really believe that the Holy Spirit takes of Christ and shows Him to us...The Holy Ghost has no favourites. Every layman, every woman can kneel down; the Holy Ghost, hovering over them, longing to sanctify them, will show them Jesus if they ask. In other words, prayerful dependence upon the Holy Ghost is possible for everyone."
Every time I read such a tender description of God-- a God genuinely concerned for our spiritual welfare, personally involved in our individual lives, and not just willing but longing to help us even to the utmost of His omnipotence-- it just... it amazes me. I never knew God was like this. He cares this much?? He WANTS to help us in our weakness? He's NOT disgusted with me? He DOESN'T want to avoid or ignore me? I'm astonished. It's almost frightening. I don't know how to respond to tenderness. It's that exact quote from Charles Bukowski: "I’ve had so many knives stuck into me, when they hand me a flower, I can’t quite make out what it is. It takes time." It takes the Holy Spirit.
...but I cannot deny it, either. As shocking as such divine gentleness is, I cannot possibly doubt it. Isn't that strange? I can absolutely express my bewilderment, but I'd never claim it wasn't God's honest Truth, pun absolutely intended.
But to continue with the commentary... to trust so completely and surely in the work of the Holy Ghost IS to trust in His tender care and love for us. For Him to show Christ to us at all IS a work of the most magnificent compassion and mercy. It's pure grace. It's also a direct response to our faith. WE NEED TO ASK HIM TO, FIRST. Grace is never forced on us. Grace is inherently cooperative. Grace doesn't just stands at the door and knock-- Grace also brings gifts, which He constantly offers and would gladly lavish on us if we would only have faith that He would give them, that we could receive them, and that they were real. I'm getting a bit off topic.
The Holy Spirit’s main job, as the Gospel says, is to "guide us into the fullness of Truth," because "He will speak only what He hears from God," and "He will glorify Christ" because "He will take what is Christ's and reveal it to us," and "everything that the Father has IS Christ’s." (This revelation of Christ is also how the Spirit "proves the world wrong about sin & righteousness & judgment," because our knowing the reality of those things depends on our knowing the truth that Christ is God Incarnate.)
So the Spirit only speaks God's Truth, which is "in its fullness" in Christ, and therefore reveals Christ in HIS fullness to us-- reveals the "many more things" which Christ couldn't reveal to us Himself as we "could not bear them yet". But in all this, the point is, the Holy Spirit enables us TO "see Jesus" in a way so real, so true, so personal, that nothing in this world-- not even the teachings of humans in the Church-- could ever compare. This revelation of Christ, this "giving us eyes TO see Him", is the Holy Spirit’s JOB, really, and He LONGS to do it... But we must ASK.
And then we must LET HIM SANCTIFY US.
First, No one can see Christ with diseased eyes. Second, remember Isaiah 6. Remember Revelation 1.
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(prayerful dependence)
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"Why it is that we should desire to see Jesus? Because He Wishes Us to See Him... the whole tenor of Scripture makes it plain that He wishes us to do so. He said 'Look unto Me and be saved, all ye ends of the earth,' and blamed His ancient people because they didn't look to the Holy One of Israel... surely we cannot expect Him to have changed in this respect! Who can doubt that He will welcome everybody who strives to see Him as He is?"
Oh man, this is an amazing paradox.
In the OT, to "seek God" was to DIE. But in the NT, to not see God was to die! And yet they are BOTH TRUE.
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Secondly... despite this difference in respect to one facet of language, the underlying and overarching truth in all of Scripture is that God wants to be seen. It really is everywhere. He wants us to "look to Him," "look FOR Him," "seek His Face"... the Incarnation Itself is incontrovertibly absolute PROOF that God wants to be seen, on an even more intimate level than the OT was ready or even able to comprehend. 
And God doesn't change. As a human, as Jesus Christ, God personally looked into the human eyes of the lowliest folks and He longed for them to genuinely meet His gaze. It's astounding. THAT is what God is like.
That last line shocked me though, because I've been TOLD by some people NOT to go "trying to learn more about Christ than what the Bible alone says." But the more devotional art I see, and the more approved private revelations I read, and the more I talk to Him in headspace... THAT is where I suddenly realize the aspects of His Character that ARE in Scripture but hidden like treasure within the words-- I couldn't recognize them well enough just by reading alone; I needed to experience them to understand. I needed to SEE HIM.
...Suddenly I realize WHY Jesus calls us to be "light to the world." Suddenly I understand Mother Theresa's perspective. Suddenly I get how and why the Church is INHERENTLY "us united with Jesus." God wants to be seen, and not just seen, but known-- to be heard and touched and welcomed and wanted. He wants to be seen as He Is-- as a Trinity, as a family, as a relationship, as Love. God wants to be seen as He has revealed Himself to us, and He did so in the Person of Jesus Christ-- God made Man, God sharing not just our joys but our sorrows, our weaknesses and fears, even our death... God forgiving us at the highest personal cost and paying off our infinite debt... God loving us to the end. God satisfying Divine Justice with Divine Mercy. God crushing sin underfoot but washing the feet of sinners. God making an eternal Covenant with us through His Own Blood.
It's not just words on a page. It's LIVING AND EFFECTIVE, right now. Jesus is alive and unchanging and He wants us to see Him... but without faith, we're blind.