Son Behind The Clouds

O Lord, You are my Light and my Salvation!

Some days are sunny, bright,
Easy to love;
Some days are dark, cold,
Dreary to the spirit;
Some days are stormy and wild,
Disorienting, even fearsome;
But always, above the storm clouds,
The dreary fog, the depressing haze,
Shines the faithful sun,
Clear and bright, warm, unchanging. 

You, my Lord, are that sun to me.
Always, unchanging, is Your Heart of Love and Kindness.
Never need I  fear the clouds the world brings
For You, my Comforter, are still there.
These things, too, will pass, dissolve, move away,
But never You, even for a moment,
O Faithful One. 

So I look past the storm clouds,
Knowing You are there.
I place my faith, my trust,
In You, O ever-present, unchanging Love.
And know that even when You are hard to see,
Even when You are hard to feel,
Your Sacred Heart ever pours out your rays of Love
Even with the thorns, even with the Cross.
Your constant love is there, still, always.
Your Love endures forever,
Long after the clouds move away.

Floodgate of Love

O Holy Communion of Life and Love,
My Precious Lord,
I see as through Your eyes
That Upper Room
So warm, so full of Your Precious Love
And their hope in You.
Your heart wells up with Love,
Your eyes with tears
As you slowly gaze at them, so innocent...
How Your heart desires to hold this moment
How Your Heart desires to hold their faith
And touch their hearts with Your Love.
Your heart tears as You tear the bread
Knowing all too soon they will betray You, deny You.
How You long for their innocent love,
Their trusting faith, to hold in Your Heart
Protecting it from the darkness to come!
As You hold the bread in Your hands, hesitating,
Everything You are pours into this Bread.
As You break the Bread, Your Sacred Heart breaks, also.
The Passion begins.
Sharing Your Broken Body with those You love
Your Sacred Heart burns, longing for this moment.
"I have longed with all my Heart to share this supper with you."
You look deep into the chalice of red wine.
A tear drops and mingles with the wine of forgiveness,
A token of Your humanity and ours.
As You speak Your words of Love
The wine becomes Your Precious Blood.
As You gaze into the depths of the chalice
You see what is to come, drinking in with Your Spirit
Your Covenant of Love.
Passing the Chalice of Your Blood to Your people,
They drink of it, sealing their Covenant with You
In Your Eternal Love. 

O Holy Communion of Love,
You stand before us like a floodgate,
Aching to pour forth Your contents,
You long for and wait for our glance of recognition!
A faithful, loving glance and Your Host Body
Crumbles as the floodgate opens
And we are flooded with Your Graces and Love
And made new.

O Sacred Floodgate of Love
Break through our hearts and flood our souls!

 

Envy of Angels
(A Communion Prayer Reflection)

In this time of waiting for Your return,
You have left us a Treasure so wondrous,
Even the envy of angels.
So close You wish to be to us
That You have left Yourself,
Fully present in the Holy Eucharist,
Body, Spirit, human, divine,
In all the richness of the gifts of Your Heart,
In all the love and protection of Your Sacrifice,
In all the comfort of Your physical Presence;
You have left with us not just in a form
To be honored on our altars, but in a form
To be taken into our very bodies and souls,
To make us tabernacles of the Most High.

How little do we deserve such a privilege,
Yet how like You to give it anyway;
A love not to be outdone
By anything man can imagine.
The Sacred Treasures of Your Heart
Come to us,
As You came fully to us
In the simple form
Of a human child,
Now come to us
In the simple form
Of bread and wine --
A form to be consumed,
To be made a part of us,
Body and soul.

Becoming tabernacles of Your Graces
And witnesses to Your Love,
May we carry Your Presence
Which we now hold intimately
Within our human hearts
To the world in need of Your Presence.

 

So Like You

You came
So preciously wrapped
In the Body of an infant
Just like ourselves.
You did not enter our world
In the Glory which is You,
But in the humility which is us.
You did not need to come like this
For I would have loved You anyway.
But, so like You, You did.

You came
Healing our bodies with Your touch,
Healing our hearts with Your Love,
Healing our souls with Your Words and Life.
You did not need to die such a violent death for me
For I would have loved You anyway.
But, so like You, You did.

Your eyes of Love
Saw our need to have You with us,
To have Your healing touch, Your Love,
Your Life touching ours always.
So to remain with us as we desire
You poured Yourself out,
The substance of all You are
Wrapped in the form of Bread of Life;
You poured the essence of all You are,
A tincture of our God,
And our God's Love embodied,
You poured out into this wine,
Making it Your Blood.
You did not need to remain like this
For I would have loved You anyway.
But, so like You, You did.
Your Sacred Heart of Love,
Promising never to leave us,
Sent forth Your Spirit of Love
So You could remain always
In our hearts, within us, inseparable.
Your Spirit, a monument of Your Love,
Burns Your Eternal Flame in our hearts.
Did You need to remain so constantly with us as You did?
For I would have loved You anyway.
But, so like You, You did.

You grace my life
With all You are.
Your Sacred Heart a constant reminder,
Your Bread of Life a constant Presence,
Your Spirit of Love a constant inspiration.
You overwhelm my life with Your Love.
You did not need to give me anything more
For I love You anyway.
But, so like You, You did.

Enthroned

Mary, Mother so pure,
Holding your Precious Child
To your Immaculate Heart,
How sweet must have been the blending
Of Your Immaculate Heart with the
Most Sacred Heart of Your Precious Son.
As you held Him close to your Heart,
Pressing Him to you,
You poured out your love
To encompass your Child, as mothers do
While their child gently slumbers.
To be chosen to hold
This sweet King of Love
So near to your Heart,
How you must have been inflamed
With His Love,
Submerged in His sweet Sacred Heart.

Mary, Mother of Love Incarnate,
You were so gifted
To be the vessel, the sanctuary, the throne,
Of the first human beat
Of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.
This most Precious Heart
Formed in your body,
Nurtured in your pure soul,
Loved in your Immaculate Heart,
Lived within you so intimately
That He was a part of you.
He depended on your Heart to live.
He depended on your blood and the Father's Love
To form His Precious Blood,
Later to redeem us.
How could one of us be so gifted?

Mary, Queen of our hearts,
Open our eyes to our own giftedness
As we take His Body and Blood
Deeply into our bodies and hearts
Through His Most Blessed Sacrament.
Help us to hold Him close to our hearts
As you did and love Him dearly.
Open our eyes to our own Sacramental nature
As His Body and Blood
Enter and blend with ours,
His Sacred nature driving out all darkness,
Making us holy and pleasing in His sight.
As we come to Communion with Him,
Help us to become His Living Sacrifice,
His Living Sacrament to His people.
Here He saves us again
With His Precious drops of Blood
Enthroned once in you,
Enthroned now in us
In His Precious Sacrament
Of His Body and Blood.

 

Healing Waters

Water laps at Your feet
Cooling You from the heat of the crowd.
There by the water
You stand alone
Yet are surrounded by those who are drawn
To Your Heart so pure,
To Your Words so true
That they startle their souls,
Intriguing some, moving others
To the very foundations of their beings.

You dip Your hands in the water,
Cooling Your face.
Your thoughts rise above the confusion
To the Heart of Your Father.
Caught in that moment of Communion,
The breeze of the Spirit on Your face,
The warmth of the Father's Love surrounding You,
For a moment the crowd seems to disappear
And You are Home in Your Heart.

Lost in Communion
You gradually tune back in to the
Calling of the crowd:
Feed me, heal me, save me,
Make me wise, bring me power,
They call, they plead,
All with their needs,
All with their emptiness.
Your Heart, distracted, longing for Home,
Embraces their needs
Knowing the longing for something more,
The sweet homesickness of love wished for
Or love remembered.

Your hands and Your Heart
Reach out to Your people once again
And they are filled,
And they are healed.
You touch their hearts,
You heal their bodies
With a love that knows deeply
Their longing, their needs.
You, who have seen so many turn away,
Know their heartache.
You who have known the Communion of Love,
Know their cure.

Immersing Yourself in their needs,
You push aside Your own desire
For Communion, for love returned.
Moving among them like a warm breeze,
You heal every one.
Like the lapping waves,
They rise to You,
Then fall away, again and again.
And You are left in the sunset
With the colors of Your Peace
And the glow of Your Heart
As You climb the Mountain
To the Silence of the Eternal Heart.