Yes.

"Child, to say the very thing you really mean, the whole of it, nothing more or less or other than what you really mean; that's the whole art and joy of words."

- The Fox (Till We Have Faces, C.S. Lewis)

Wisdom & Gentleness.

Don't you just love when the readings of Mass speak perfectly to your current situation? That's what happened to me yesterday. 

"Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us;... with revilement and torture let us put him to the test that we may have proof of his gentleness and try his patience."

 -Wisdom 2:12&19

Anybody can be gentle in the calm times but it is not until one is pressed and prodded, tempted and attacked, can virtue be 'proven'. It's a gift, really. If God never gave us hard times -- never pushed us to the limit -- it would be very difficult to perfect and better ourselves.

"For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every foul practice. But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peaceable, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without inconstancy or insincerity. ... Where do the wars and where do the conflicts among you come from?Is it not from your passions that make war within your members?" 

-James 3:16-17, 4:1

I do not know how loved I am. I do not know how precious each and every person is in Your sight. Your wisdom purifies and bring peace through clarity. Wisdom allows us to see the world as it really is; it allows us to understand Truths which lead us to a fuller understanding of the reality in which we live. The more we know of the laws that govern our world, the better we will be able to live in it. "..without inconstancy or insincerity." Who doesn't want that? This world is hectic and crazy; full of fallen, unreliable people. Truth is the beautiful, solid, untainted bond that holds everything together and makes it work. 

How incredible it is that we creatures are able to participate in such glory. How amazing that we are able to grasp bits and pieces of Truth. Wow. We are so fallen! We are dirt but we have been given the beautiful and glorious gift of an intellect. Knowledge raises up to the one we are knowing -- words cannot describe how awesome this is. ( I'll try to keep this in mind next time I am faced with a pile of homework :P )

Words..

It is silent. I am aware only of myself and Your presence surrounding me, circling me, capturing me. Nothing else matters. I do not have the words to say; my mind is empty, unable to describe You or  explain the worries of my heart. But they are not needed. I am Your handiwork, I am Your creature. My heart is wholly Yours.

Who Do You Say That I Am?

 'But you,' he asked them, 'who do you say I am?' - Mark 8:29
Who do you say He is? Do you see Him as Judge? Friend? Lover? Protector? The homily I heard this morning was on that topic. The priest said he meets many Catholics who know all the rules and don't cross the lines but they don't know who He is. People don't understand. Some people will think of Him as the one "out to get them"; they fear confession and only see Him as Judge. Others think they can lead a double life of pious prayer and heavy drinking and Jesus will let it slide because.. He's cool like that. 
Jesus is a person. Not just some far-off distant deity. He's a personal God who wants us to know Him. Who do I say that He is? My Beloved. Do I fail Him? Yes. Do I talk to Him as much as I ought? No. But will I ever love another so much? Will anybody else satisfy the longing of my heart as well? Never. It's a relationship and it's hard  but "true love is a choice" after all. He is deffinitly worth fighting for.

On Hope...

”A sinner cannot outrage the Deity more than by despairing of Divine mercy on account of the number and enormity of his crimes; for God's clemency is far greater than the iniquity and guilt of an entire world . . . Of God's mercy never despair.”

-Venerable Blosius

”Whenever you find yourself inclined to diffidence, lift up your heart lovingly to God, and be assured that your defects are, in the sight of His infinite goodness, but as a few threads of tow cast into a sea of fire. Figure to yourself a burning surface, as vast as the hemisphere we inhabit; if a piece of tow were thrown into it, would it not be so absorbed in the fire as instantly to disappear? "Our God is a consuming fire," and our imperfections, compared with His goodness, are what a piece of tow is to the furnace. When, therefore, we have fallen, let us humble ourselves sorrowfully in His presence, and then, with an act of unbounded confidence, let us throw ourselves into the ocean of His goodness, where every. failing will be canceled, and anxiety will be turned into love.”

-Saint Paul of the Cross

”As a mother delights in taking her child on her knees, in caressing and feeding him, so does our God delight in treating with love and tenderness those souls who give themselves entirely to Him, and place all their hopes in His goodness and bounty.”

-Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of the Church

It is beautiful

"It is beautiful. 'The beauty of creation explains the infinite beauty of the Creator.' (CCC 341) The doctrine of creation explains why we find nature so beautiful and satisfying, why it moves us so and makes us happy."

- Peter J. Kreeft 'Catholic Christianity'

Dry Prayer?

"Good is the Lord to one who waits for Him; to the soul that seeks Him. It is good to hope in silence for the saving help of the Lord." 

- Lamentations 3:25-26