I love October!

I apologize for the neglecting of worldAblaze this month thus far. I had a final for Nuptial Body, one of my classes, and that took priority. I also went to Connecticut for the weekend, which was wonderful :)

Anyway, October. The pre-cursor feast, The Archangels, is September 29.

 Then we begin with my favorite, St. Therese of Lisieux, on October 1.

Then October 2 is the Guardian Angels

and October 4 is St. Francis of Assisi.

Yesterday, October 5, was St. Faustina.

I rest my case.

What I wanted to briefly reflect on was the common thread running from each of these feasts to the next.
It is nothing but the abject love of Christ.

Do we realize this is the exact same invitation he has extended to us?
What made Therese able to suffer through so much pain, to experience rejection and lonliness and confusion and doubt, and still remain at peace? What enabled Francis to cast off all the things of this world and devote himself so fully to the Lord that his very body revealed the depth of love in his heart for Christ on the cross?
What lead Faustina to such a sincere devotion to Our Lord that she would bear his message of Mercy to all who would have ears to hear about the truth of God's love?

The only answer I can find is radical. Radical love. Love that is consuming. "Who of us can live with the consuming fire?" says Isaiah 33:14. Truly. How can we live without it? How can we ever exist outside of him?

I challenge us all, myself above all, to pray. We need to be in communion. We need to be still and silent. If I cannot kneel before him and hear his voice teaching me about his mercy, how will I have the courage to share it with others? How will I even have the courage to go to confession? If I do not believe in hope, how can I posses it? Faith comes first. Faith that cannot be stemmed. Faith that will not accept limitations. Faith that believes the Word of God, that takes him at his Word, at his life. Can we do that? Will we? We must.

We are his children. My goodness, the number of times when I was little and my dad would say to me, "do this" or "no you can't go" and not give a reason! The times I would hound him, following him everywhere, just saying, "why?!" over and over. I wanted to know what he knew. I wanted to be sure I could trust his judgement. Little did I understand how wise he was. Little could I perceive what he could see, the fullness of his understanding. Nor did I know his love. If I had understood his love, I don't think I would have needed a reason at all.

We must strive to know his love. And then, like these beautiful saints, we must strive to throw ourselves into his arms and allow his strength to be our strength, his life our life, his love our love.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, we place all our trust in you.