LITTLE
THOUGHTS TO LIVE BY
SILENCE
HAS A VOICE:
In
this my occasional reflective editorial -- my spiritual thoughts to you via website, I first wish to
express my “thank you” for allowing me to use this powerful tool of the
Internet and its website. In so doing, and with you reading some of these
spiritual concentrations which I derive mostly in my daily hours of prayer
before the Blessed Sacrament in my home chapel, you allow me to share with
you these meditations.
They
originate from moments with Jesus, and they come to me when I fulfill his
daily invitation to spend time with him.
This is the product of his invitation to rest awhile and be silent.
Daily
moments with God are not squandering moments. The become
stepping-stones to a successful and powerful existence. God uses our burdens
to speak to us. He allows us to be humble enough to say, “ I just can’t do it anymore.” At this precise instance a powerful new birth
becomes your moment of “power of powers.”
This is why our Blessed Heavenly Father and his dear Son Jesus gave
and gifted us consecrated servants in religious life a vocation to be with
him first and then to bring him to others.
From my fifty years in the priesthood, with twelve
years in the seminary prior to ordination, I have found that the only successful
people are only those who believe in prayer, and live its dictates both
for themselves and for their assignments. They being faithful to clean,
clear thinking prayer do not lose their first love;
and therefore, they enjoy their zeal in action because they have not lost
love. St. Augustine says, “Qui non amat, non zelat - he who has no love, does not have zeal.”
Nothing in the long analysis really matters except the daily fact that a
praying person will be faithful to his or her union with God, one’s Commander in Chief. Then such a person brings to the people the messages and the gifts God
conveys. The world today, and especially
the teens of today, need
a Voice which they can Trust.
We
who are dedicated sincerely and sacrificially to God
and to his causes owe you, the people,
this our lives. We were born for you.
In the long run it is the voice and the cries of the people which
can win right causes. It is necessary to listen to the cries of the people.
Nobody, be they civil officials or churchmen, can outwit the voice and the cries of the people in their humanity’s search for answers --truthful answers
to this perplexing and complicated human disorder.
So, dear friends, I thank you for allowing me
and the Apostolate to come to your home, to your hearts through this remarkable
tool of computer and Internet. “To Serve is to Reign” according to
It
is, however, at this crossroad of earthly encounters that a fatal moment of discouragement, despondency,
frustration interjects its forces. It
is similar to saying “Finis Capitis” -- the end
of the the chapter? It is in these precise moments by which God is speaking
to us. He exhorts us to stop and to come into his presence
with the power of the silence of our hearts in union with his. Just try
it. You will experience a divine rendezvous between lovers – one human,
the other divine. You will experience peace. When peace enters into one’s spirit and souls then as the French word indicates,
disease falls away and healing enters into our constitution. “Disease - French – desaise -des –dis – eise – ease i.e. to
take away ease.”
Silence
is the most powerful language one can experience. If you do so with your
Creator, your Father in Heaven, you are on the right tract in living victoriously.
Nothing in all the world can hurt you, no matter
how hard and difficult. Friends who at times can become enemies have no
authority to conqueror you. Never
be afraid of anything nor anyone who can kill the body. Be afraid of anything
or anyone who can kill the soul. Your soul is so precious. It will never
die. Be jealous of your soul. As you live your soul
in thought, emotions, in will expressing itself in love, all this is what you will bring when that inevitable moment comes – that closing
earthly journey when we all must
bid farewell to this sentient, material and fading away world.
In
Psalm 37:7, God through his writer
of the psalm invites us to meet him in those daily moments in the quiet
“requiem of silent prayer.” His Heart
meets our heart; His Spirit interacts with our spirit. Love divine meets
and enriches love human be it torn, wounded, tired, worn, or in moments of happiness, joy, thanksgiving
and praise. A new sparkle of insight bursts forth into power sublime. Life
begins, yes, at the feet of Jesus just like Mary Magdalene did. When she
found him, she recognized love in and at its best. “Be still and know that I am God” ( Psalm 46:10). She was always after her conversion at the
feet of Jesus.
Don’t
let the Lord wait! You have a rendezvous with your Saving Lord. If you belong
to a Sacramental Faith, the Tabernacle holds that Prisoner of Love. Christ
Jesus in his Eucharistic presence awaits your visit to him as he dwells
in that Gilded Cage as a Prisoner of Love. Let your heart beat afresh before
his presence, if it is possible for you to go to a Tabernacled Altar.
If there is not the opportunity for such a visit
to the Blessed Sacrament, then just
pray – just pray often and daily- with
the most precious book of prayers,
the prayer book of your heart. You can do this anywhere, anytime. The best
place, of course, is
in the chapel of your heart. If your
heart is like a stable, then he can turn it into a chapel, a cathedral.
In your heart is where the miracle becomes a “born again” adventure
.
When
our Blessed Lord Jesus
resides in His Eucharist Tabernacle, and figuratively
speaking, he is not a cracker in a cup. In simple statement, he is the reality of a God who has not forgotten to
tell us in the words of Rocky Graziano, “Somebody up there likes me.”
Helpful
Scripture Passages for Your life in Prayer:
2
Chr. 7:12 “…
I have heard your prayer.”
Psalm
6:10 “… The Lord has heard my prayer.”
Psalm
37:7 “…
Be still before the Lord, wait for the Lord.”
Hebrews
3:13 “ Encourage
each other while it is still today.”
Psalm 46:10
"Be still, and
know that I am God"
Reflective
Cries, Reflective Applications:
O
God, I cried, I am in trouble
-- help me.
The
Lord God says, I am ready to hear …and to grant
their requests. Let them but ask.
Don’t
be afraid, for
the Lord will go before you, and will be with you; he will not fail nor
forsake you. When he calls on me, I will be with him: in trouble, and rescue
him, and honor him.
God
sometimes uses sorrow
in our lives to help us turn away from sin and seek eternal
life.
Be
strong with the strength Christ Jesus gives you.
Application:
Prayer
could be considered as a miniature Bible – especially compared to and in the Book of Psalms which narrates all sorts of emotions. Your life in
the pages of history could be equaled to a miniature drama of “ up’s and down’s” just
as they were in the ages of old.
They are still present
in human living, and will be experienced over and over again
in the many days of future human existences. Our lives when we examine
its detailed pages in our own autobiography certainly narrates and expresses
all the feelings a person like you and me will ever have.
Converse
with your Father in Heaven, his Son who has loved you and died for you –
yes, you, just as you are. Pray in unison with the Holy Spirit, and be filled
with the gifts and charisma of the Holy Spirit.
The world in which you are assigned will respect and love you. Why? Because
you will definitely be a Voice and a Life they can trust. Somebody wants
to hear you and assist you. That Someone is God.
Express your emotions, your desires, your faith, your hope, your love.
As
one writer once said, “We were born with this book of life in our every
bones.”
God love and bless you
+
Father Ralph
A. DiOrio