FRIDAY V LENT: I know all the time that it is my Father who is in heaven I am dealing with

Posted on March 31, 2023 by franksantucci

Can you say that the one whom the Father has consecrated and sent into the world blasphemes because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? If I do not perform my Father’s works, do not believe me; but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may realize and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” John 10: 36-39

I know all the time that it is my Father who is in heaven I am dealing with, who has at his right hand his Son Jesus Christ, our Saviour, who is our advocate, our mediator, who never ceases to make intercession for us, with that powerful prayer which has the right to be heard and which is in actual fact always heard if we put no obstacle in its way.

Letter to Henri Tempier, 10 October 1832, EO VIII n 436

REFLECTION

Dear Lord,
Help me keep my eyes on you. You are the incarnation of Divine Love, you are the expression of God’s infinite compassion, you are the visible manifestation of the Father’s holiness.
You are beauty, goodness, gentleness, forgiveness, and mercy. In you all can be found. Outside of you nothing can be found. Why should I look elsewhere or go elsewhere?
You have the words of eternal life, you are food and drink, you are the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
You are the light that shines in the darkness, the lamp on the lampstand, the house on the hilltop.
You are the perfect Icon of God. In and through you I can see the Heavenly Father, and with you I can find my way to him.
O Holy One, Beautiful One, Glorious One, be my Lord, my Savior, my Redeemer, my Guide, my Consoler, my Comforter, my Hope, my Joy, and my Peace.
To you I want to give all that I am. Let me be generous, not stingy or hesitant. Let me give you all—all that I have, think, do, and feel. It is yours, O Lord. Please accept it and make it fully your own.  Amen.

(Henri Nouwen)

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One Response to FRIDAY V LENT: I know all the time that it is my Father who is in heaven I am dealing with

  1. Eleanor Rabnett, Lay Oblate says:
    March 31, 2023 at 13:03

    For more than a week I have been struggling with the word “Father”, substituting other words, stubbornly allowing my old pain to dominate and distract me.

    This morning with this tender, exquisite prayer from Nouwen I find myself wanting to let go of what I am holding onto: a distraction and an excuse. Like a child I hang on to my grievance only for the sake of hanging on to it.

    And I hear a gentle whisper telling me to surrender, to bring my broken and cracked heart into your light and give it to you.

    I dare to repeat Nouwens words to my Beloved: “You are the perfect Icon of God. In and through you I can see the Heavenly Father, and with you I can find my way to him.
    O Holy One, Beautiful One, Glorious One, be my Lord, my Savior, my Redeemer, my Guide, my Consoler, my Comforter, my Hope, my Joy, and my Peace.
    To you I want to give all that I am. Let me be generous, not stingy or hesitant. Let me give you all—all that I have, think, do, and feel. It is yours, O Lord. Please accept it and make it fully your own.”

    Most beautiful surrender…

    Reply

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