ARK Ministries
for the glory and honor of God
Sunday, July 31, 2022
SPIRITUAL DIRECTION
Tuesday, July 12, 2022
OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL
Your name, O Mary, is a precious ointment, which breathes forth the odor of divine grace. Let this ointment of salvation enter the inmost recesses of our souls.
(St Ambrose)
Saturday, June 25, 2022
"BEHOLD! YOUR MOTHER."
“BEHOLD! YOUR MOTHER."
"It was through the Blessed Virgin Mary that Jesus came into the world, and it is also through her that he must reign in the world. Because Mary remained hidden during her life she is called by the Holy Spirit and the Church "Alma Mater", Mother hidden and unknown. So great was her humility that she desired nothing more upon earth than to remain unknown to herself and to others, and to be known only to God.
God the Father willed that she
should perform no miracle during her life, at least no public one, although he
had given her the power to do so. God the Son willed that she should speak very
little although he had imparted his wisdom to her.
Even though Mary was his faithful
spouse, God the Holy Spirit willed that his apostles and evangelists should say
very little about her and then only as much as was necessary to make Jesus
known.
Mary
is the supreme masterpiece of Almighty God and he has reserved the knowledge
and possession of her for himself. She is the glorious Mother of God the Son
who chose to humble and conceal her during her lifetime in order to foster her
humility. He called her "Woman" as if she were a stranger, although
in his heart he esteemed and loved her above all men and angels. Mary is the
sealed fountain and the faithful spouse of the Holy Spirit where only he may
enter. She is the sanctuary and resting-place of the Blessed Trinity where God
dwells in greater and more divine splendour than anywhere else in the universe,
not excluding his dwelling above the cherubim and seraphim. No creature,
however pure, may enter there without being specially privileged.
I declare with the saints: Mary
is the earthly paradise of Jesus Christ the new Adam, where he became man by
the power of the Holy Spirit, in order to accomplish in her wonders beyond our
understanding. She is the vast and divine world of God where unutterable
marvels and beauties are to be found. She is the magnificence of the Almighty
where he hid his only Son, as in his own bosom, and with him everything that is
most excellent and precious. What great and hidden things the all- powerful God
has done for this wonderful creature, as she herself had to confess in spite of
her great humility, "The Almighty has done great things for
me."
God has made her Queen of Heaven and earth, leader of His armies, keeper of His treasures, dispenser of His graces, destroyer of His enemies, and faithful associate of His great works and triumphs." (St Louis de Montfort).
"THE IMMACULATA ALONE HAS FROM GOD THE PROMISE OF VICTORY OVER
SATAN." (St. Maximilian Kolbe)
These words were spoken about the Mother of God by a demon during an exorcism:
"Every time that she (he would not speak her name) descends onto the earth, we sink even lower. Every one of her glances is a tearing of our brain. Every one of her steps is our end. We are looking to stop her, but we do not succeed because she is more powerful than us. Evil has no power over her. She (Mary) is the terror of hell."
She gives us, her children, a weapon of seeming powerlessness against evil but great might. She gives us the Rosary.
"BEHOLD! YOUR MOTHER.”
Friday, June 24, 2022
THE SACRED HEART OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD
Sunday, June 19, 2022
On This Feast Day of Corpus Christi
Wednesday, June 8, 2022
The Week Following Pentecost: The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit
At the spiritual birth of a new soul, and at the time of our physical death when our new spiritual life is about to be born into eternity, the Spirit of the Living God is working in most powerful, hidden ways.
"The essential rite of the sacrament of Baptism ...signifies and actually brings about death to sin and entry into the life of the Most Holy Trinity through configuration to the Paschal mystery of Christ. Baptism is performed in the most expressive way by triple immersion in the baptismal water. However, from ancient times it has also been able to be conferred by pouring the water three times over the candidate's head." (C.C.C. # 1239)
What is happening in the spiritual domain at these most sacred moments of our lives?
At Baptism, we watch as the ordained priest pours the waters of life over the child. He does this three times to call the soul into new life with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The Trinity beckons.
The soul's death to sin and the "configuration to the Paschal Mystery of Christ" have begun.
We often hear the baby crying when those cold, blessed waters touch his/her warm forehead but our senses are feeble witnesses to these moments of eternal awe. What our senses do not see is the silent, mighty rush of the Spirit of God whose power brings about death to sin and entry into life in the Most Holy Trinity.
We don't see the soul of the baby "leaping" with great joy at the arrival of such a Visitor Whose treasures will endure for the entire life of that soul which is now dead to sin.
We all look with love on this little baby dressed in white but our human eyes do not behold the Presence of the stunning Beauty of Innocence.
We do not weep holy tears to be so close to "Light Divine," present in the child, the soul's "most welcome Guest."
We do not hear the chant of the Heavenly Beings or the astonishing chorus of great joy from all of our ancestors who are praising the Trinity for this new soul's life "configured to the Paschal Mystery" of Christ Jesus.
And we do not wait with arms high and opened wide as that same Spirit, Who raised Jesus from the tomb of death, floods through the priest to the little child and beyond, to ourselves, standing in silent and reverential awe, praying that He will "fall afresh on us."
At the end of our lives, when Our Father calls us back Home and our physical bodies prepare to die, it is the Holy Spirit of the Living God Who once again moves in unspeakable and hidden ways. Have you known a dear one who has passed from this life after having been in a coma for some time? Or someone who has died having lost hope in Christ Jesus? Perhaps someone whose life-trials have fractured their relationship with God? Maybe someone who has not prayed or received the Sacraments for many many years? In the Gospel of St. John, Chapter 17, we hear Jesus Our Lord praying. He prayed first of all for Himself as He told His Father that His work was almost complete and that He was about to be glorified on His Cross. He prayed too for His disciples whom the Father had given to Him...
But then, He prayed another most wonderful prayer. He prayed for all those, of all time, whom the Father had also given to Him.
In His prayer, He saw you and me.
"I in them, and You in Me ... so that they may be brought to complete unity ...FATHER, I WANT THOSE YOU HAVE GIVEN ME TO BE WHERE I AM , and to see My glory, the glory You have given Me because You loved Me before the creation of the world....Righteous Father, though the world does not know You, I know You, and they know that You have sent Me." (John 17:22-25)
The Lord Jesus wanted those whom the Father had given Him to be where He is. Wherever we are, today, so is He.
If this is the desire of the Son, then it's also the desire of the Father, because they are One. He desires that we be where He is. The names of every soul that leapt when the Spirit of Life rushed into them at Baptism were immediately written in the Book of Life. At the descent of the Holy Spirit in that Sacrament, God named them and claimed each one as His Own.
What did He promise each one of us?
"Never will I forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)
"Never will I leave you.” (Isaiah 49)
God keeps His promises.
So, to those who are in a coma before death ... the Lord repeats, "Never will I leave you". The body may be comatose but the spirit of the soul is alert to the "sound of the low whisper " heard by the prophet Elijah (1 Kings 19:9-18).
As we kneel in prayer around the deathbed of that loved one, once again, our senses are feeble witnesses to the mysteries of God the Holy Spirit, moving without a sound in His child. We join Jesus in His prayer and trust His words ... that the soul of the loved one may be where He is.
What of someone who is dying and who has lost hope in Christ Jesus? Perhaps someone whose life-trials have fractured their relationship with God? Can this one too be where He is? The Lord Jesus prayed for them in person and tells them, now, at their moment near death, "Never will I forsake you".
At Baptism, the Spirit of the Living God descended into their infant bodies. AND THROUGHOUT THEIR LIVES, THE SPIRIT NEVER LEFT THEM. Christ can never abandon Himself.
At that moment of death, our Catholic faith reveals to us the astonishing mercy and staggering love of the Savior Who never abandons us.
The parable of the Prodigal son speaks to us about the power of God's Mercy. The Father looks from afar and sees His lost child, stumbling in sin, humble and almost broken by life's harsh ways, straining forward to reach the Father, to say sorry, to be allowed to come back to Him. God cannot resist humility because whenever it is present in a soul, He sees His Son. And we see the Figure of the Father, His great cloak billowing as He runs toward His child, tears running down His face, arms wide open to clutch his lost child:
"Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands." (Isaiah 49)
The Holy Spirit of the Living God has moved that soul to seek God, to seek His forgiveness, His mercy.
And God rushes in joy to receive him back.
GREAT PARACLETE, TO THEE WE CRY:"BEND THE STUBBORN HEART AND WILL;MELT THE FROZEN, WARM THE CHILL;GUIDE THE STEPS THAT GO ASTRAY; HEAL OUR WOUNDS --- OUR STRENGTH RENEW; ON OUR DRYNESS POUR YOUR DEW; WASH THE STAINS OF GUILT AWAY".
Sunday, June 5, 2022
On This Day of Pentecost
ON THIS PENTECOST SUNDAY, THE HOLY SPIRIT REVEALS SOMETHING OF THE MAGNITUDE OF THE SUFFERING THE LORD JESUS ENDURED IN ORDER TO "SEND OUT" HIS SPIRIT.
He did not cry "I am LIKE a worm" but "I AM a worm." Jesus, the TOLA'ATH, allowed Himself to be grafted on to wood so that my soul and souls of many may be washed with His crimson blood and in three days be given life through His Willed death.
On the Cross, Jesus had constructed His own cocoon of willed suffering, to enflesh Himself with
every sin, to absorb the horror of every soul's dark night, to confront evil's furious hatred for everything of God.
Christ, dwelling in my soul, within my self-made prison of trans-formation, renames my darkness. On the Cross, Christ absorbed all darkness of all humanity of all time and drew it into Himself. Christ became the darkness, the dense fog of my sin which seeks to destroy my soul. Jesus consumes my darkness and when I pray through that darkness, Christ renames it. It is He. When I allow Him to absorb my darkness, He raises me from it. When I offer to suffer with Him in my darkness, He draws me into His Act of Redemption. When I offer those whose burdens I "share" - they too are drawn into Christ's Redemptive act.