Father Perry D. Leiker, pastor.
By Father Perry D. Leiker, pastor
A reflection on the daily readings, for Wednesday of the First Week of Advent, by Father Perry.
+ Question: “When the Lord is very present to you, or comes into your heart, or is centered at the center of your mind, or holds you dear as you hold him dear — what do you experience?”
Is it just an exercise of the mind or emotions; or is it a real spiritual presence that brings peace, hope, faith, and a sense that all will be OK.
And if things are going badly, that “this too shall pass?”
+ The word of the Lord today is saturated with promises of total healing and reconciliation between and among all peoples — that we shall live in “God’s house” and on the “Holy Mountain.”
And I ask again: “Is this just a mind game or an emotional pretense, or is this a spiritual reality that affects the spirit within with promises and gifts that actually bring about peace and more faith and healing on many levels?”
+ Isaiah proclaimed it. Jesus preached it as he healed the lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute.
And in that place of so much healing and receiving and renewing, the Lord fed them all!
Yes! He took seven loaves — and we know the meaning of that number seven: wholeness and completeness and perfection — and all were satisfied.
+ There is great promise here for us — for all.
Let us be clear.
There is some necessary “knowhow” and needed “determination” to open our spirit to receive. It isn’t magic, but it is spiritual.
The deepest, truest and most profound part of our inner selves is where we must seek, desire, ask, hope for and pray, wait, and listen and seek to see and hear.
And mostly with the heart.
OPEN UP! BE ALERT!
And cry out the words so Advent-ish: “Come, Lord Jesus, Come!”
(I recommend this song by Anne Quigley. A bit repetitive, but I believe it to be one of the best and most succinct descriptions of prayer and faith. And the theology in it is superb: https://youtu.be/ygDMBgaTJQ0.)
