Thursday, October 13, 2005
Michael Brown has a lovely article on his website about the faith of Jacinta, one of the three visionaries at Fatima. Beautiful read.
http://www.spiritdaily.com/Jacinta.htm
I always had a special fondness for Jacinta, because she had such a burning intensity of love.
This is a trait of a many of the great saints - St. Therese is another who comes quickly to mind, another of those whose great love often seems to burn a soul touched with it out early in life, as if the flame of of their love of God consumes their bodies more quickly than the rest of us.
I long to love like that, and perhaps it comes to me in fits and starts, but like the rest of us, I find the call of everyday life makes it so hard to sustain that intensity. I want to be able to say with the psalmist, "As a deer pants for water, so my soul longs for you, O Lord."
But on the other hand, love isn't just pitched emotion, feelings of exhilaration. It is choosing to do the loving thing even if one doesn't want to. And all of us, no matter how weak or strong, can grasp for that.
It can be simple. Cooking dinner when I'd rather be writing or reading is a good example. Choosing not to yell at my kid in the morning because he didn't wash the dishs like he said he would. Choosing the healing way over the hurtful way because Jesus asked us to be like that. Offering this up to God is a form of prayer in itself, if we do it with that intention.
Blessed Jacinta, pray for us here on earth, that we can learn from your example of lovingly embracing sacrifice for the love of God and the sinful in the world. Amen.
http://www.spiritdaily.com/Jacinta.htm
I always had a special fondness for Jacinta, because she had such a burning intensity of love.
This is a trait of a many of the great saints - St. Therese is another who comes quickly to mind, another of those whose great love often seems to burn a soul touched with it out early in life, as if the flame of of their love of God consumes their bodies more quickly than the rest of us.
I long to love like that, and perhaps it comes to me in fits and starts, but like the rest of us, I find the call of everyday life makes it so hard to sustain that intensity. I want to be able to say with the psalmist, "As a deer pants for water, so my soul longs for you, O Lord."
But on the other hand, love isn't just pitched emotion, feelings of exhilaration. It is choosing to do the loving thing even if one doesn't want to. And all of us, no matter how weak or strong, can grasp for that.
It can be simple. Cooking dinner when I'd rather be writing or reading is a good example. Choosing not to yell at my kid in the morning because he didn't wash the dishs like he said he would. Choosing the healing way over the hurtful way because Jesus asked us to be like that. Offering this up to God is a form of prayer in itself, if we do it with that intention.
Blessed Jacinta, pray for us here on earth, that we can learn from your example of lovingly embracing sacrifice for the love of God and the sinful in the world. Amen.
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