The Cross of “No” and the Church’s New Invitation
It is very clear that the doors to the sacraments are open to my son and that the hurdle I need to overcome is probably not a “no” coming from church leaders but the voice in my head.
It is very clear that the doors to the sacraments are open to my son and that the hurdle I need to overcome is probably not a “no” coming from church leaders but the voice in my head.
Compassion doesn’t take the place of love. Instead, it accompanies love and allows us to act with love.
To be a mother is to be an open wound. What a brilliant man Lewis was to use the phrase “coffin of selfishness.”
In the throws of genuine Eros, we find ourselves making ridiculous claims. Everyone except you knows it won’t last. That’s comical to the rest of us. Eros teaches us that we must laugh at ourselves.
I knew God was drawing me more deeply into this depiction of God the Father. It brought me to a quote by C.S. Lewis in The Four Loves, “It is easy to acknowledge but most impossible to realize for long that we are mirrors whose brightness, if we are bright, is wholly derived from the sun that shines upon us.”
Be naked. Be naked in love with your spouse. Be naked before the Lord. Be naked in sharing who you really are within friendship.
This meeting of love and sorrow, the power of redemptive suffering, it is a deep and real love that reaches to the depths of who we are.
Often, we left behind a bit of chaos at home or snuck out of an appointment a little early to arrive in time to gather together.