Your Actions Here (Maureen Burn)

Why do people talk so much about heaven and hell? It’s unhealthy. Everything depends on your actions here: they can be one way or the other. You can help people, work for others, and be very joyous because of it. If you let the spirit of Jesus into your heart, then the kingdom of heaven is within you. But if you are out for yourself, you will be grumpy. You will never be satisfied, because you will always be wanting more.

It is the way we live now that should concern us. Certainly I don’t think one should fear. The old Persian Zoroaster says that ultimately Good will triumph over all. He will win over the Liar, the Evil One. So I think one should be joyful. And Teresa of Avila, the Spanish mystic, said, “Always be joyful. That is the only truly saintly state.”



Peace Forever,
Firacub.

Only Then (Romano Guardini)

Thomas appears to have been a realist - reserved, cool, perhaps a little obstinate. He wanted proofs, wanted to see and touch. Then again, it might have been rebellion deep within him, the vainglory of an intelligence that would not surrender, a sluggishness and coldness of heart. In any case, he got what he asked for…in that state of unbelief which cuts itself off from everything, that insists on human evidence to become convinced. But nothing that comes from God can be proven like 2 x 2=4. It must touch one; it is only seen and grasped when the heart is open and the spirit purged of self. Only then can it awaken faith.



Peace Forever,
Firacub.

Unless We Too Have Risen (C. F. Blumhardt)

So many people claim to believe in the Resurrection, and yet it means so little to them. It has no effect in their lives. It is not enough to celebrate Easter and say “Christ is risen!” Indeed, it is useless to proclaim it at all, unless at the same time we can say that we too have risen.

The long passage of time has brought with it a temptation to keep on speaking about Good Friday without being moved by it. We hear about Christ’s death, and we sit there bored, as if we were reading a newspaper. In fact, we would find a newspaper a good deal more interesting.



Peace Forever,
Firacub.

Christ on the Gallows (Elie Wiesel)

The SS hung two Jewish men and a boy before the assembled inhabitants of the camp. The men died quickly but the death struggle of the boy lasted half an hour. "Where is God? Where is he?" a man behind me asked. As the boy, after a long time, was still in agony on the rope, I heard the man cry again, "Where is God now?" and I heard a voice within me answer, "Here he is - he is hanging here on this gallows..."



Peace Forever,
Firacub.

It Could Cost Your Life (Edith Stein)

In the childhood of the spiritual life, when we have just begun to allow ourselves to be directed by God, we feel his guiding hand quite firmly and surely. But it doesn't always stay that way. Whoever belongs to Christ must go the whole way with him. He must mature to adulthood: he must one day or other walk the way of the cross to Gethsemane and Golgotha.

Will you remain faithful to the Crucified One? The world is in flames, the battle between Christ and the Antichrist has broken into the open. If you decide for Christ, it could cost you your life. Carefully consider what you promise.



Peace Forever,
Firacub.

A Question (Martin Buber)

“Where is the dwelling of God?” This was the question with which the Rabbi of Kotzk surprised a number of learned men who happened to be visiting him. They laughed at him: “What a thing to ask! Is not the whole world full of his glory?” Then he answered his own question: “God dwells wherever people let him in.”



Peace Forever,
Firacub.

Whose Will Should Prevail? (Johann Christoph Arnold)

Terri Schiavo’s mother has taken care of her as only a true mother could. My heart also goes out to Terry’s husband. One can understand both of their opposing points of view. But I find it frightening when the State intervenes in such a personal and intimate issue. God is left completely out of the picture, and we are left with legal hair-splitting over a disabled person’s “constitutional right to live.”

That an intensified struggle over Terri’s life is occurring right at Easter highlights the message of Good Friday, and the death of Jesus. His crucifixion remains the supreme example of suffering that was not in vain.

In Terri’s case, there will be suffering on both sides, no matter how the controversy is resolved. All the more, shouldn’t each of us lay aside our opinions and agendas and ask what Jesus asked – that God’s will alone be done?



Peace Forever,
Firacub.

Drowsing, Half-Faithful (Geoffrey Hill)

What is there in my heart that you should sue
so fiercely for its love? What kind of care
brings you as though a stranger to my door
through the long night and in the icy dew

seeking the heart that will not harbour you,
that keeps itself religiously secure?
At this dark solstice filled with frost and fire
your passion's ancient wounds much bleed anew.

So many nights the angel of my house
has fed such urgent comfort through a dream,
whispered "your lord is coming, he is close"

that I have drowsed half-faithful for a time
bathed in pure tones of promise and remorse:
"tomorrow I shall wake to welcome him."



Peace Forever,
Firacub.

Spring Cleaning (Meister Eckhart)

Jesus went into the temple and boldly drove out those that bought and sold. And when all was cleared, there was nobody left but Jesus. Observe this, for it is the same with us: when he is alone he is able to speak in the temple of the soul.

If anyone else is speaking in the temple of your soul, Jesus will keep still, as if he were not at home. And he is not at home wherever there are strange guests - guests with whom the soul holds conversation, guests who are seeking to bargain. If Jesus is to speak and be heard, the soul must be alone and quiet.



Peace Forever,
Firacub.

Roles with Our Names on Them (Barbara Brown Taylor)

The story of Good Friday is one that can happen anywhere at any time, and we are as likely to be the perpetrators as the victims. I doubt that many of us will end up playing Caiaphas or Pilate. They may have given Jesus the death sentence, but what about Judas, Peter, and all those who fled? Those are the roles with our names on them.

Whenever someone famous gets in trouble, the press focuses on his friends. Do they support him or do they say that they had seen trouble coming? One of the worst things a friend can say is what Peter said: We weren't friends, exactly. Acquaintances might be a better word. Actually, we just worked together. Not really even together. Just near each other. I didn't know him well.



Peace Forever,
Firacub.