The Rising Cloud

~~~ Exodus 40:16-21, 34-38 ~~~ Psalm 84 ~~~ Matthew 13:47-53 ~~~

How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, mighty God!

There is a hymn from the Taize community that came

 to me from the readings today...

I am sure I shall see the goodness of the Lord

in the land of the living.

Moses was granted the joy of experiencing the goodness of God.

Moses did not need a device to plan his journey.

He need only to watch for the rising of the cloud of God.

Whenever the cloud rose from the Dwelling,

the children of Israel would set out on their journey.

The dwelling place itself was filled with the radiance of God.

The brilliance of God is so bright one would cover their face.

The light streaming forth was more intense than the sun.

The dwelling place of the Lord was the most sacred and holy places.

God chose to reveal himself as light...pure light.

When Moses exited the holy dwelling place his face was changed...

it was sunburned with God's holiness.

All who looked upon Moses knew he had been with the Lord.

God wants to change us as well.

We too can radiate the light of God 

which shines within our soul.

We too must exit the dwelling place

 of the Lord a changed person.

The goodness of the Lord is made visible to us through others.

Are you making his goodness visible to others?

...at night, fire was seen in the cloud

by the whole house of Israel

in all the stages of their journey.

God used fire in the cloud 

to lead Moses in the darkness of night.

These signs from God were not to be ignored 

or mistaken as foolishness.

How lovely the dwelling place of the Lord...

for now he resides within you and me.

The more often we receive him in Eucharist

the brighter our light will become.

Blessings from the rising cloud of the Lord, God

Follow the rising cloud...

~~~Peace~~~

The Divine Interior Decorator

~~~ Acts of the Apostles 13:26-33 ~~~ Psalm 2 ~~~John 14:1-6 ~~~

 

“I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.”

 

I am going to prepare a place for you...

 

I will come back again and take you to myself,
so that where I am you also may be.

 

"Do not let your hearts be troubled..."

 

Jesus goes out of his way to reassure us of his love.

He shows us the way. He goes before us to prepare a place for us.

He promises to come back for us.

Why do we have such a problem trusting in his word?

Is it because we do not really believe he is real?

Are his promises just too outlandish and far fetched for us to accept?

 

Do we not believe anyone would do these things for us?

Who are we that God would care that much about our future eternity?

 

We hear things coming from the words of Jesus

that we often do not hear from those who claim to love us.

The people we know and live with day in and day out.

 

Jesus sincerely wants us to be with him for all eternity.

Sometimes our loved ones don't want to be with us for one day.

 

We become weary of empty promises, but God is different.

God never says anything he does not carry out.

He fulfills his promises far beyond what we could imagine.

Just maybe that is why he is God?

 

We have a magnanimous God.

Magnanimous literally means greatly generous...

being great of mind and heart.

 

Why would he want to prepare a place for me...a sinner?

 

His intense love for us is unstoppable and unquenchable.

God will never tire of loving us.

 

 

God's house has many dwelling places.

God is our divine interior decorator.

He is capable of working wonders with our heart and soul.

He can make all things new, shiny, and bright.

He can restore the most tattered and torn.

He has rooms to meet all of our human needs

if only until we are ready to proceed to one of the other rooms

 free from earthly ties.

 

Do not let your hearts be troubled for God

has the interior of his dwelling places perfectly planned for us...

beautifully furnished...adorned with his glorious love.

 

He has a place for you.

Perhaps the sparkling crystal chandelier will your attention

or the room with sounds of beautiful violin music.

But rest assured there is a dwelling place

prepared for you.

 

The Blessings of Easter just keep getting

better and better with each passing day.

 

What a Magnanimous God!

Sacred Temple Within

~~~ Ephesians 2:12-22 ~~~ Psalm 85 ~~~ Luke 12: 35-38 ~~~

 

"Through him the whole structure is held together
and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord;
in him you also are being built together
into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit."

 

Our growing into a sacred temple in the Lord is a continuous process

much as the work on our local highways.

God is urging us to be vigilant about being built together.

We are consistently being challenged into creating this dwelling place of God.

 

Lest we think of this place literally as a building we would be misled...

this dwelling place lies within our our own hearts.

 

We have been made a temple of the Spirit through our Baptism.

We are united with him who supports the entire structure.

It is only through his support that we are able to continue the building.

 

The temple of the Spirit is a constant work in progress.

We would not want it any other way.

If we stop building up the temple then deterioration is on its way.

 

 

 

In order to maintain this temple of the Spirit we must be vigilant.

We must be in a heightened state of awareness

even during the late night and early morning hours.

We must have the tample ready so that when we hear the knock

on the door we are ready.

 

"...Blessed are those servants
whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival."

 

We are making ready the temple of the Lord within our hearts.

It is by his grace that we can be vigilant.

If we maintain a state of readiness then it will not matter

what day or hour;

for when the bridegroom returns

we will be eager to swing open the doors.

We will be able to say...

Here I am Lord.

I am ready to do your will.

I have kept watch.

The temple is built to my best ability.

Only you, Lord, can complete the building of this temple.

 

For when the Lord does come he

"...speaks of peace to his people."

 

Attend to his Spirit dwelling within...

for you know not when he will knock requesting entry.

 

"...you are no longer strangers and sojourners,
but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones
and members of the household of God."

...A Place for You

~~~ Acts of the Apostles 13: 26-33 ~~~ Psalm 2 ~~~John 14: 1-6 ~~~

" Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me.

In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?"

Each time I read this scripture passage I recall a joke I once heard about St. Peter admitting souls into heaven with the advice to all non Catholics to walk quietly by a certain room because they, the Catholics, did not know anyone else was in heaven.

The visual of the Father having a house with many rooms is so realistic. I can picture a magnificent castle like structure surrounded by clouds and bright soothing light. Joyful music fills the air leading you across to bridge to the open door.

In preparing for house guests we usually prepare the guest bedroom before they arrive. We clean the room, put clean linens on the bed, I have even purchased new linens. We try to make things look and feel inviting for our guests. A few books or magazines, maybe even some fresh flowers. We have a rocking chair in our guest room.

If we go to all of this trouble to make one room beautiful, I can only imagine what Jesus has prepared for us. It is comforting to think we are expected.

We are expected to enter into heaven; we have been shown the way, by Jesus.

Jesus knows when to expect us and our room will be ready to receive us. I cannot think that once we get to heaven we will want to stay in 'our room' though.

We recently took a cruise. The first thing we did after finding our cabin was to go out and explore the rest of the ship. Exploring heaven will be like no other previous exploration. On the ship the promenade deck was like the central meeting place. I expect if there is such a central meeting place in heaven this is where we will be greeted by our loved ones. We might even have the pleasure of meeting those whom we never had the opportunity to meet while on earth.

Have faith in God...Do not let your hearts be troubled.

There is a place just for you...all that you need to be happy will be there...

Your room will be decorated just for you...you will feel at home there...

you will be at peace there...

In this place prepared especially for you by Jesus.