"O death, where is thy victory?"

Christ Jesus wins the victory, when we bring ourselves to Him in all of our brokenness and allow Him to live in us, and to love through us inspite of our selfishness. Yes, Christ is our Mighty God, our Warrior, the one-man army that fights on our behalf, winning easily every time. For Christ, to fight is to win. Victory is the only expected outcome for Him - there are no what ifs. Christ wins everytime, anytime, everywhere. Defeat is a foreign idea to Him, like an island that is too far off for the ship's captain to ever see, because the island isn't even on the horizon yet, nor will it ever be.

Christ the Lord is our Risen Lord. Death has lost its sting and has been utterly vanquished by Christ who is Life Himself, the fullness of Life, the very Source of Life.

"O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?" (1 Corinthians 15:55) You have been utterly, utterly destroyed and decimated by Jesus Christ the Risen Lord. Death, thou art decimated, destroyed, obliterated. Oh, see how the eagles of the night and the phantoms of death are vanquished, and see how they howl in pure anguish for Christ is resurrected, and death is no more.

Eden is Rising

Amidst the wailing of the woeful winter winds I hear one speak, in joyful tones, celebrating all of existence and creation. He was not a prince or king, but an ordinary pilgrim in this passing world: 

I am a man of the world. I belong to no place, yet I belong everywhere. I do not think in terms of countries and towns and provinces, for everywhere is home to me.  Every person is family to me. Wherever I set foot, I claim it as home. Whosoever I converse with, I claim as my family. 

My Mother is Jewish. So is my Brother, my God. My brothers and sisters include a vast array of Saints from every time and place. I belong everywhere, and to everyone. 

A strong new world. A utopia that is finally, finally real. An Eden that has been planted again for us exiles in this valley of tears.

This is it. Catholicism.

Experience all the truth, all the goodness, and all the beauty of the Catholic Church. Let yourself be blown away by its breathtaking love and joy. And be you forever changed. For Christ Jesus has made all things new. 

And I said, So be it. 

Christ Jesus the Good Shepherd

St John 10:11-16 (DR version)

[11] "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep. [12] But the hireling, and he that is not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and flieth: and the wolf catcheth, and scattereth the sheep: [13] And the hireling flieth, because he is a hireling: and he hath no care for the sheep. [14] I am the good shepherd; and I know mine, and mine know me. [15] As the Father knoweth me, and I know the Father: and I lay down my life for my sheep. [16] And other sheep I have, that are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd."

In the Gospel of Saint John, Jesus says that He is the Good Shepherd who really had concern for us, each one of us. Jesus loves us even if we are sinners but it is important to realise what Jesus told the sinner - sin no more. Repentance is becoming of the sinner. To say that God is okay with the sinner remaining sinful is wrong and has negative implications for the moral sphere, as what is wrong is always wrong. But Christ calls us to greater things - greater joys beyond those of this passing, fleeting world that we trod upon.

Christ Jesus says in the above Gospel passage, "I am the good shepherd; and I know mine, and mine know me." Yes, Christ knows us inside out, knows what we are going through, knows our pain, our worries, our fears, our anxieties, and He also knows what is best for us and what exactly is the solution, the course of action we have to pursue, and what we have to do to reach Him and to do His holy will, which is all that must occupy our minds every waking moment if we are to live heroically. Christ Jesus, the Good Shepherd, knows us as we are, in our brokenness, in our misery, in our nothingness - and He calls us His. But the gentle imperative remains: "Go, and sin no more." But He would never command us to do what He would not promise to help us with. Christ is our helper and fortress, every step of the journey. We belong entirely, undeniably to Jesus the Good Shepherd.

Blazing Hearth in the Coldest of Winters

 

Keep very close to the Virgin Mary, 

    don't ever forsake her, 

as we need this good Mother 

    like the earth needs the sun to survive,

else it would wither off and die,

    and be forgotten forever.

Hail Mary, the sinless, the spotless. 

    Our life. Our sweetness. Our hope. 

The immaculately conceived One. 

Hail Mary and let the Ave Maria

    Be always on your lips,

For Her name is life to the languishing soul,

    Her name is beauty in a searching world,

And the love of Her Immaculate Heart is

    blazing hearth in the coldest of winters.

O Thou who wert Immaculately Conceived,

    by the grace and mercy of God,

O New Eve, pray for us in exile from Eden. 

transience

 

we know not how much longer

    the light will remain on this veiled land

we know not how much longer

    we will wander through this misty world

before we are taken into the next

and that next world is so much

more real

more true

more lasting

and more fulfilling 

than all the 'worlds' we have created 

in this fleeting, transient world, 

if we live what life we have left for God alone

so let us live every moment of this present day, 

and every day that we each have left,

burning, burning, for the love of God our Father,

Christ His Son,

and the Holy Spirit our Helper

what else could you ever want

here am i,

trying to write again.

i think to myself,

what would i write?

what words must i twist or distort

or shape or arrange

to speak of the deepest of realities,

which is 

Thee.

i am no dante 

to wax poetic and 

to sing of that love which 

moves the sun and other stars.

i am no shakespeare

to write verses that will remain forever.

my words may never be an

illiad which will be forever etched

in the world's culture.

my words may only waft along the gentle 

breeze of the quiet spring

unnoticed,

unread,

like words written on the shore, 

washed away 

and gone forever

in the high tide.

but write i must, 

i think to myself,

and i begin to write 

a postmodern poem,

writing of my own writing. 

in an era where any poem 

could as well be just cooked up 

in miliseconds

with some tech-savvy tool,

i type along in a new notepad file

on my laptop,

letter by letter,

like some caveman from a different era.

but it bothers me not.

for i write of Thee

and hopefully for Thee.

You know the meanings of my poems.

You are my audience. my everything. 

but hush - all i can think of now 

is how transient life is.

Jesus, every passing moment, 

even this very now,

ushers me 

towards my death on earth. 

although i am reluctant 

and defiant 

and although i do not want to face that end,

i am carried forwards to that end.

but buried under all these words

and hidden under all of my anxieties,

my fears, 

and the unknowns, 

yes, hidden under the frightening reality of 

the death of my body

is a beautiful reality that will never die,

a reality that has never changed, 

and will never change,

a river of crystal clear water

that will never peter out

but will always quench the thirst

of this my bleeding

hurting

thirsting

soul:

the love of Jesus Christ

you see my every moment

bringing me closer to you.

you see my fear of death

and tell me to look at you.

you see my never-still,

always fretting mind,

and tell me, 

be still, my child, 

for I am here.

you are Mine 

and I am yours, 

what else could you ever want.

I love you

with a love that is always alive and burning, 

a love that is real and always certain.

what else would you need, My child. 

what do you search for

when you have all you want and need.

why do you search at all

when you have

Me

"That Mountain Which is Christ"

 

            Life here on earth is certainly a great mystery. It is short but has such a monumental influence of our endless eternity. It is difficult at times to keep on trusting God and to keep on believing in the life-giving truths of the Catholic Church, but persevering in the same gives us eternal life. We have to keep on believing and proclaiming with our lives that Jesus Christ is Lord.

            At times in our lives, a day may seem to be unexciting, or monotonous, or meaningless, and we may fail to be able to summon up, so to speak, the strength to keep going on. But even in those dark times must we relentlessly trust in Christ Jesus, with the simple faith of a child who knows his father is near though perchance unseen. “Jesus, I trust in Thee.” Thus may we continue to ascend that “mountain that is Christ” (from I think the Collect of the Traditional Latin Mass of St. Catherine of Alexandria). And though we may be living as though in fire, “in the midst of the fire I was unburned” and “in the heart of the flames I was uninjured” (not the exact words, but from that same Mass).

            For this same reason we must ever be on our task, and ever continue to do that which is God’s holy will, in every place and in every circumstance. Seldom should we be idle, but instead we must forever work towards building the Kingdom of God on earth, so that all peoples may rejoice together in unity and peace. Across all time and space, may God’s holy will be done and may his Kingdom come, and thus may all that exists speed towards its destiny, its telos, its final end, may all things ever tend heavenwards, towards the Fatherland, towards that mountain which is Christ.

            May all things ever tend towards Thee, Christ Jesus.